Tag: joy

@emyminzel

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

Positive Expectations *

February 13, 2018February 12, 2018 Emy Minzel

I saw a message recently that resonated with me, because of the philosophy behind it. It said, “When you focus on problems you’ll have more problems, when you focus on possibilities you have more opportunities.” I love this for many reasons.

I find that it is more common for humans to find and look for all the ways things can go wrong in everyday situations. Rarely is our first thought “Heck yes, I am going to rock this day, or this obstacle!” We tend to think of the worst-case consequence before we rationalize our thoughts to the last possible outcome that might work out in our favor, then we will end that thought by telling our selves “I doubt it.”

Why do you suppose we don’t automatically think of the best-case scenarios or outcome of a situation? Sure, we’ve all had experiences that didn’t work out for the best, but are they truly as often as we expect them? Usually not, but it seems we would rather be pleasantly surprised as opposed to let down, and this does sound rational sometimes.

However, what kind of energy are we bringing to that situation if we are expecting the worst? If we are holding the intention of being disappointed, why wouldn’t the Universe respond by answering them in the same way. Does it really make a difference in the outcome if we hope for the best? If we look for possibilities to make the situation work in our favor we often find opportunities or solutions that help.

Consistent complaining about a problem in no way helps the situation, when we can step back take a deep breath look for opportunities, they usually come in some form or another. It is because we are asking the Universe to help us with our intention of better outcome by searching for and expecting one that it offers us one. You are letting the God/The Universe know “I expect you to take care of this for my highest and greatest good, I deserve a positive resolution.”

Here is the thing, you can lift your problems up to God and ask them to be taken care of, but you must put yourself in the path of help. If you want assistance and ask for it, you got to put effort and intention towards resolving your boggle. Following the breadcrumbs, the signs, and signals that God sends you is a must for you to make positive progress your are seeking.

Nobody climbs Mount Everest by training with Netflix on the couch. You must put yourself in the path where you are most likely to find assistance. Do your part in progressing to a better solution, a better life or where ever you desire to be. If you are always complaining and accepting the crap situation, that is where you will stay, in your victimhood, weighed down with your heavy backpack of problems that you just accept are yours to carry through life.

This isn’t always the case, taking responsibility for your situation, gives your clarity. I am not saying you can’t be bummed, pissed, sad or any other emotion that might flood you, this is normal. What is not normal is holding onto those negative attitudes because that is what keeps you stuck. When you take responsibility to ‘fix it’ or solve your boggles you take back your power and energetically refuse to be a victim to outside forces.

Taking back your power allows you to focus on possibilities to open doors of opportunities. I have found this to be true in my life in many ways and many situations. It’s been only recently that I have been using this advice myself, and I find that doors of opportunity are opening, my path becomes clearer, and there is no mistaking where I am headed in the future.

It seems to me, by not complaining (okay complain a little but then get over it and move forward immediately!) I can reroute my brain and energy to finding solutions and clearing my thoughts enough to see that maybe God was just clearing the clutter out of my life, so I am able to see where my next steps are supposed to be directed. I just had to get out of my head and out of my own way!

Now that I have finally learned to get out of my own way I see that I am smack dab in the middle of an abundant forest of opportunities. I see it’s up to me to follow the breadcrumbs left for me by the higher power for my highest and greatest good. I know that God wants me to succeed in all I do, when I let the signs of the Universe help me along and see the ‘difficult’ situations as guide posts too, I can hurdle them, and want success for myself as well.

“When you focus on problems you’ll have more problems, when you focus on possibilities you have more opportunities.”

What opportunities are you seizing today?! I would love to hear about them!

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

@emyminzel

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

Keep your head up!

January 29, 2018January 30, 2018 Emy Minzel

I talk a lot about the importance of staying positive even on days that aren’t our easiest, or life isn’t going according to the plan. I know there’s plenty of negative happenings in life that shake you up, knocks you off kilter, and make you wonder “What the heck just happened here?” It can be difficult to trust life at times we feel pain so acutely like, suffer a failed marriage, lose a job, succumb to depression or illness, or lose someone we love. You want to know “What is there to be positive about at times like that?” My answer to that is there is always, always, something to be thankful for.

We are not meant to suffer endlessly in our mental prisons of depression or anxiety causing us to worry about what might happen, for endless hours. You deserve to have small joys, and happy times even when life sucks socks. I am not saying that you can’t go ahead, have a small pity party for one. Scream, cry to your favorite heartbreak song while driving down the highway, or be good and pissed off occasionally. There are times that call for these reactions, but there’s no good outcomes of extended periods of wallowing in our misery. There is scientific proof that prolonged stress, and negativity will wreak havoc on our immune systems and state of mind; leading to a lesser quality of life.

I believe in the power of positivity, and that there is always, always, always something to be thankful for. It is in these moments of despair that we need to see what we are thankful for the most. When you have the most terrible week at work and you get to sit down at the dinner table with the family that loves you, be thankful that the love of your family is there to help you get through, and you are blessed with enough to eat. When families fall apart, we are thankful for the blessing of supportive loyal friends. When we lose a loved one, we are reminded to cherish the loved ones you still have standing, making your love seem to grow even deeper. If you lose a job, I believe the Higher Power does that to give you something better, move you forward to something more suitable for you. It maybe a struggle financially, but the perks are getting to see the people you love, hang out with your kids or spouse, and finally give them more of your time, love and attention (all things that money cannot buy.)

In our consumerist money driven society, we often forget that quality time, love, and attention are things you cannot buy in a store or make more of when you want it. Being positive means to me that we focus on the blessings we have here and now, even if you feel you have nothing, you do have yourself and your will to make life look the way you want it to. It is our choices that move us forward or keep us in the same situation. When times are tough it is then when we must look deep within ourselves and ask our soul what we really need.

It is often in times of struggle and pain we are able to ask our higher selves “Well, this sucks, what’s the best plan now? Where should I focus my next steps? What is the best direction for me?” When life makes you uncomfortable it is because it is time to move forward from what is no longer serving your best interest. (Maybe not in the case of death but in most other instances that cause us strife like work, relationships, or dramas; these are signs to work on yourself.)

By being positive during these transitional periods helps us look forward to days with longer stretches of joy. Having something to look forward to, is essential to keeping your head up, keeping your eyes on the prize, helping you put one foot in front of the other. It can be as simple as a dinner date with your best friend, or a vacation that’s eight months away. It is something positive that you can put your energy to as opposed to doing laps around your mind; just stirring up vortex of crazy negativity that even unintentionally, yet undoubtedly will spread through the rest of your life and to the people in it. It is our own responsibility to take ownership of our energy/thoughts and how we use it. If we go around complaining about everything and anything all day long, you will be looking for more things to complain about to keep you in your vibration of unpleasantness. Often trying to bring others down with you, because their joy makes you uncomfortable.

That’s how energy works, there is negative and positive flow, if you touch them together it doesn’t feel good. That’s why happy people avoid negativity and negative people look for more negative situations or news to keep there vibes just where it feels comfortable to them. Joy and positivity take practice, I see that even some people are afraid to be happy because they think it’s too good to be true or it won’t last. That’s a shame that you can’t enjoy the moment when it is offered to them, it is sad that we give our power of joy away to the power of negativity when we do have the ability to choose which one we would rather feel.

Keeping positive takes practice, by purposely adding people or events into your lives, scheduling time doing anything at all that helps you nurture the joy inside of you is the best healthy habit that you can give yourself. Being thankful for a good night’s rest so you can face the day, enjoying the beauty in the sunset/sunrise, really feeling your heart swell when you hear you child belly laugh, or a meaningful conversation that makes you feel heard, are the small golden movements we dismiss for having no value because you can’t buy them, when they should be cherished for the same reason. Money cannot buy happiness, you will not find happiness at the store you must be able to see it, and accept it into your daily practice if you want to cultivate more of it.

Practicing positivity brings you inner joy, inner joy brings outer glow, outer glow vibrations will attract love, luck and situations that pull more good things into your energy field. Simple as that. Practicing positivity, keeping your head up in times of adversity, loving at times you don’t feel loved yourself, will help you be the person you want to be. The Universe/God will not give you more than you can handle, I believe it is how you handle the things that come your way that makes up the quality of your life. Trusting our life path even when it doesn’t go as planned is part of the journey, it is up to us to if we want to sit on the cactus we’ve been given, or we can nurture it and water it until it blooms into something beautiful.

Psalm 23:4 – Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

I am not a religious person, but I do find tremendous value in the core of all religions teachings, it is about love, acceptance and trust of your life path. It is the resistance to change that causes the pain, if we can accept what is, look around to find what is also great, we can choose to move forward by taking purposeful steps toward greatness. That is the whole point of the power of positivity, when you can see it, use it and keep your eye on it, choose to keep your head up and aim right for it you will hit the mark or at least get somewhere closer to it then you were before. I believe that makes all the difference in the world to what kind of day you will have. It’s every single day of choices you make that add up to your life time, what kind of life do you choose to cultivate?

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. ~ Aristotle

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

The Adventure Sisters on Instagram
@adventuresistersbwca

What being an Adventure Sister means

January 24, 2018 Emy Minzel

Being an Adventure Sister means that I am someone who goes on adventures and also inspires adventure, it means I enjoy encouraging others to inspire themselves. My dream is to motivate others to feel the same sense of delight and satisfaction I feel when doing something I find exciting and invigorating by getting off the couch and jumping into my life. This reminds me of a saying that I love. “The only difference between, fear and excitement is, your attitude about it.” I find this to be true. There are many times I’ve felt frightened, and excited at the same time. The difference in my experience was decided by my attitude while going through the journey.

I became an Adventure Sister when I realized that I was deeply moved by my experiences in nature. I was hooked on the feeling of personal accomplishments, doing things I’ve never done before, addicted to the feeling of pride that adventure provided! Was it the adrenalin of boldly sauntering into the forest of unknown activities and occupants? Was it the excitement of mysterious endeavors and events that kept us on our toes? Not knowing everything that’s going to happen seemed to lend itself to the magic of synchronicities that appear to motivate our fun outcomes.

Adventure Sister Stacy and I have survived waves that were so large when we dipped our paddles into the water it only hit air, then wildly splashed inside the canoe. We’ve battled waves that muted each of our strokes, so powerful they pulled our canoe to the middle of the large lake no matter how hard we tried to keep closer to shore. We’ve survived athletic feats we were in no way prepared for. We’ve even accidentally popped a gas tank on a rental car in Florida, that leaked so profusely the firemen said, it likely could have been very dangerous. Yet we continue to make it home safely and in one piece each time we dared to be brave. I feel like I should give a shout out and giant expression of gratitude to my guardian angels and guides right now, they’ve helped through some wild rides.

Who you choose to accompany you does matter when on an adventure, and Stacy is great because she doesn’t fuss while working as hard as we needed to. We were able to turn hard-core camping excursions into spiritual adventures that helped us gain confidence in ourselves while building trusting supportive relationship with each other. We grew our spiritual practices simultaneously which became a special type of bond like the one lots of people cherish at church. Only our church nature. It is a blessing to have someone to help you grow in meaningful directions, and inspires you to be a better you. The bond of sisterhood that Stacy and I have founded in each other through our expeditions together has added depth that seem to make our adventures more enjoyable and meaningful.

You just never know where you’ll end up on an adventure, that’s what so exciting about it. Leaving your schedule open to be being able to take that invitation, or the scenic route on vacation can be one of the best ways to find excitement. Going off the beaten path leads us to have new experiences lets us see things I would not have if everything was scheduled on a strict itinerary. Support is essential to a joyful adventure, its important bring someone who you like and trust. It helped that I felt supported by my family who had my back when going out of my comfort zone.

I want to inspire others to bring excitement and play back into their lives, by telling them them how I found Joy in my life, that just so happened to be inspired by adventure. What I find exciting may not be to you, or vice versa, I am not recommending you bungee jump off a bridge if you are frightened of heights. Or go ahead if you want to be courageous! I found the feeling of honor in doing something I never thought I could is one of the best feelings to be in my body for. Not all adventures have to be dangerous, thrill seeking events. Finding courage to write that book, to have a baby (or not) to change careers, or make any change that makes you feel good about yourself are adventures. It’s all in the way you look at them.

I believe with all my heart, you’re never too old, too young or too anything to do something that makes your heart sing. It makes your heart sing for a reason, because that’s your song to sing! I want to inspire the bravery in others to find courage you need to sing your song by being fearless in pursing my own unique melody. To be an Adventure Sister means to inspire greatness in all of life’s adventures, from babies to grandbabies, from college to retirement and everything in between or after, it is never too late to feel great!

What makes you feel brave? What makes you feel proud? Are you an Adventure Sister too?

I would love to hear what inspires you to inspire others!

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

The Adventure Sisters on Instagram
@adventuresistersbwca

Ripple of hope

January 20, 2018January 19, 2018 Emy Minzel

Adventure Sister Stacy has always been like a big sister to me. She isn’t much older, yet she seems to have more kindness and wisdom then the average soul and that makes her someone I look up to. She is a nurse like my grandmother, I admire nurses, I also admire her leadership skills because leads in a positive way. She always encourages others to see things from a different perspective so that they can help themselves. She does not help you, she helps you help yourself. I view this as a gift. They say that you are attracted to the people you need in your life and I am thankful to be blessed to know my soul sister Stacy.

How does she do it? Great leadership skills, kindness, compassion and positive attitude are not always things that go together, in fact I believe it is rare to have all these qualities. I understand why she has excelled in her career, she deserves every opportunity she receives because she’s worked very hard to get there. She’s no slouch, she does her part and expects you to do yours, while also encouraging greatness for both of you. She sees the uniqueness in others, asking questions of you until she finds the rawness underneath of what manifested the perceived problems. Stacy seems to magically pull the truth of the real feelings that are masked by the ego, insecurities or fears, and she does it in a gentle way that makes you feel nurtured not interrogated.

Stacy and I realized that we make a great team not because we play well together but because we complement each other’s strengths and encourage each other in areas that aren’t our strong suites. Astrologically we are exactly 6 months apart to the date, which makes us balance each other like the Yin Yang symbol, our relationship seems to be very easy and complimentary. We tend to see and bring out only the best parts of each other. Isn’t that what friendship should be about?

I can be outspoken, wear my heart on my sleeve, swear more then I should and I am not afraid of conflict. I don’t like conflict, I am just not afraid of it. If I feel there is an injustice happening around me, I will stand up and say so. She has had more practice at expressing herself with diplomacy than I, yet she encourages me to speak up reminding me to keep my vibes positive. Somedays I like to think that it must be easier for her to stay positive, but I know that it is not, it is a habit she is learning to cultivate, just like I am. I do not compare myself to her, because it would be like comparing apple to bananas, we are different for a good reason.

I try to emulate her positivity that makes feel people feel safe and nurtured so I am able to inspire change not try and demand it. I work very hard at making changes I desire in my own life, so I respect the hard work it takes to change characteristic or habits like trying to stay positive when life and its situations are not always joyous or happy. I believe we do not have to add to the negative, we can choose to bring others up, not let others bring us down.

We can choose to see the pain underneath the bravado of anger, bullying or complaining, by acknowledging it, when we are able to talk about it we are then able change it. Instead of blaming and pointing fingers when we feel wronged seeing the good in others allows us to recognize the motivation under the actions. I truly believe most everyone is good at heart, I believe that there are more humans that are good then ‘bad’.

I see a sad trend in society seemingly assumes that everyone but themselves are dumb, irritating or jerks… am I wrong here? Who thinks not one soul on the road knows how to drive as well as they do? Or who thinks the woman who butted in line a head of you is just rude and selfish, without giving her the benefit of the doubt that just maybe she didn’t even realize she butted?

Stacy isn’t Saint Stacy she is just a woman doing her best to practice joy, kindness and acceptance. She has been practicing longer then I so the practice seems comes a little more naturally to her because she’s been practicing! Look how I have portrayed my friend, as a kind and good person, because that’s what I choose to see and believe to be true in her. When, we choose to look for only the bad, so we have something to complain about, that is all we will see, even in the people we love.

Stacy has taught me in the kindest way, that I cannot change others I can only change myself. In doing so, I can only hope that the positive changes I’ve made in myself ripple out as hope and love into the rest of my life. I believe that I can start a ripple of hope right now. I believe that God knows just where it needs to go, I trust that my hope will get where it’s needed at the right time. I believe that for you too. Raise your vibes, ripple out rays of hope and love friends! It feels good.

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister