Alissa Okrent is the mastermind behind this Confidence Compass column. Alissa has dedicated her time to educate and guide us through our own confidence compass. Your journey is forever evolving each day, and it is crucial to become aware of your internal guide. In this article, Alissa focuses on how courage plus consistency always leads your to confidence.
I love “ah-ha” moments, especially the experience that are an abrupt stop-in-thinking, movement and awareness. It’s bigger than “I could have had a V8” and a smile comes across my face. A deep feeling of “wow” comes out of my mouth. It can be an exquisite mindful moment, profoundly impacting our heart and soul’s desire. Frequently, these occur for me when I am out in nature, walking or jogging and I begin to notice the quietest sounds, like a trickle in the water, or catch the flight of a hawk above my head. Quite awesome! These are moments of complete mindfulness that fills my body, mind, and soul. What I have learned, is a lesson in life is about to reveal itself to me. What happens for you?
Maybe your experience is a broad smile across your face, you might feel like dancing, moving, yelling ‘yippee’ or ‘woohoo’…your heart opens…it might appear as laughter or tears. What you know for sure, is you have clarity, perspective and a new approach to an old pattern or habit.
As I considered what to share during the last month of 2013, mindfulness is my holiday them and here a poem for you.
Mindfulness is silly and comical
Mindfulness is solo
Mindfulness is deep, rich and healing
Mindfulness is fun, sweet, present and abundant
Mindfulness is trusting in the here and now
Mindfulness is joy, tears, and sorrow
Mindfulness is connection to self, soul and purpose
Mindfulness is gratitude in unlimited experiences
Mindfulness is divine
Take a moment.
Open to the possibility that in bringing awareness to the “ah-ha”, you are on the path of your passion. Those moments change us, change our perception, bring awareness, and open our heart to be compassionate with ourselves and others.
Close your eyes and reflect on one of those experiences in your life. What are you feeling right at this second? When you open your eyes, how are you perceiving the world around you? Do you notice greater clarity and crispness? What do you see with a new perspective?
Identity Magazine is all about empowering women to get all A’s in the game of life — Accept. Appreciate. Achieve.TM Every contributor and expert answer the Identity 5 questions in keeping with our theme. As a team, we hope to inspire and motivate ourselves and inspire you to get all A’s.
What have you accepted in your life that took time, physically or mentally?
I appreciate that being a loving spouse for 30 is not written in any novel, or on any movie screen. I believe my capacity to love has been tested and challenged in ways that have fortified me and only as I look back on the “whole” of my life, can I look forward with a deep sense of appreciation and love.
What do you appreciate about yourself and within your life?
I appreciate that I am open to learn from my children and that as they are becoming independent adults, I am learning to develop a different relationship with them that will sustain us through respect, admiration and love in addition to being their “mother”.
What is one of your most rewarding achievements in life? What goals do you still have?
My most rewarding achievement is that I truly am grateful for every experience in my life. I know, in the depths of my heart, that every single experience has broadened my perspective on living, as this past year has challenged every fiber of my being. Whatever my future holds, I am determined to embrace with a sense of compassion for myself and others that previously did not exist.
What is your not-so-perfect way? What imperfections and quirks create your Identity?
I snore! Haha… apparently quite loudly, so I must accept this, with laughter and at times, sleep in another room!
How would you complete the phrase “I Love My…?”
I love my need to be out in nature, walking, smelling, looking, and observing; in particular those conditions when others might say “are you kidding me?” I receive such a deep sense of calmness and overall wellness that I must speak of it as a “love affair”!
