Experience Leadership

Very recently I shared with this blog several videos that I found to be the most inspiring. I remarked on the beauty of inspiration and all the remarkable effects it has on the world we see. Indeed, we all see the same thing differently. No matter how physically close we stand together and no matter how similar our personalities and experiences appear to be, my eyes will never perceive what your eyes perceive. Still, I believe there is something I can do to make you feel the same way I feel. I believe there is something I can create from being inspired that will only create more inspiration for you. Perhaps you will not be affected to the same extent, but despite our differences, I know we can share in that same inspiration to whatever varying degree. Because this blog serves as a sanctuary (holding my most sacred thoughts and experiences) I feel it is necessary to also share my most sacred production.

I believe to be inspired is to be in spirit. In my previous blog post, I explained the meaning of this. My explication of inspiration is certainly comprehensible intellectually. It can speak to your mind. Now, however, I choose to transform that practical understanding of inspiration into something more emotionally stimulating. So it can also speak to your heart.

That's exactly what inspiration does to me. It not only speaks to my mind but also to my heart. That's exactly what all those inspiring videos taught me and that's exactly what I've learned.

And so I took with me the essence of all those qualities: perseverance, persistence, tolerance, and forgiveness along with many others, I took the lessons that all my past experiences have taught me, and I created something out of nothing. I created a video that embodies the core values and life lessons that make us into something bigger than ourselves. I narrated a compilation of several clips with the intention of bringing out our absolute best.

I produced a video that embraces the experience of leadership.

“The best example of leadership is leadership by example.” It is recognized by those who envision a dream and it is understood by those who take action to make that dream real. Leadership itself cannot be defined by words alone simply because it takes more than words to become a leader. Indeed, there is a leader within us all. The idea then is to bring out that leader within us by learning from our life experiences and thus by leading by example. 

A true leader sets the right example by conjuring up ideas that inspire actions and ensuring that those actions speak louder than words. A true leader does not back down in the face of adversity, instead, he stands up for what he believes in and fights to make sure every voice is heard.  A true leader does not give up after making countless mistakes, rather, she learns from her mistakes and works hard to correct them. A true leader sets out on a mission and does everything he or she can to follow it through. When confronted with what appears to be an “impossible” obstacle, true leaders do not become fearful, instead, they become inspired and work together to overcome all obstacles that lead to making a positive difference. A true leader experiences hardship just like everyone else but does not allow their failures to undermine their accomplishments. They are ordinary people who live an extraordinarily life by simply being the difference they want to see in the world.

To be Inspired is to be In Spirit

Have you ever given so much of yourself that sometimes you wonder if it is worth it all? Have you ever been kicked over and over again even when you find yourself already on the ground? Have you ever stood up in a way that made it seem like you've never even been knocked down before? Have you ever fallen so many times to the point where you just can't get up anymore?

I've won my share of battles but indeed I've suffered on the battlefield too. I've learned it takes more than just good intentions; I've learned it takes every single part of you. In the best of times and the worst of times we all turn to different things, we each have our own outlets, we each translate our thoughts into creative energy. Some people produce the most beautiful songs or the most eloquent poems to voice their inexplicable emotions. Others turn to exercise, sports, dance, or any other type of aerobic physical activity.

However, when times for me become remarkably wonderful or even increasingly difficult, I find myself doing a variety of things. Sometimes I'm lost in the myriad of spiritual books I find focused on self-awareness and self-discovery. Other times I'm completely glued to the incredible amount of inspirational videos that are available on YouTube.  As a result of watching these incredible motivational videos, I now truly understand that to be inspired is to be in spirit.

I believe Spirit is our Reality. When we become inspired we become who we are. We ignite the fire within our hearts. We illuminate the path for others by enlightening our minds. We then transform into passionate and compassionate beings because of the incredible inspiration that permeates through our lives.

I have found these videos below to be the most inspiring mainly because I feel they bring out the best qualities within us all. Perseverance, persistence, hardwork, tolerance, and forgiveness all resulting in unwavering peace.

Even though each of these videos was made individually, the message remains universal and it is very simple: Don't quit trying. 

Please Note: I am not the producer of any of these videos. (Content and Music All rights reserved to their proper owners.) Also, this section can be updated so keep a lookout for more inspiring videos! Enjoy (:

Famous Failures

Never Give Up

 

This is How Winners are Made

   How Great I Am

 The Gift of Forgiveness

Indeed we lose more than we win. We fall more than we fly. But these videos in particular have inspired me to continue giving my absolute best no matter how many times I have to try. Abraham Lincoln, the man who freed the slaves and saved the United States during the Civil War, was defeated in eight elections and was clinically diagnosed with severe depression. He is known as one of the most successful presidents to this day. No one gets to the top of the mountain without getting hurt once. The key to mastering hard work is to work hard. Indeed, the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. Nevertheless, the fact that life can be such a difficult maze is what makes it so amazing. It is during our most trying times we learn the most valuable life lessons. Just as the seedlings must endure the rain to blossom into beautiful flowers, so too must we experience the pain that transforms our brokenness into something beautiful. For those who persevere the time will come when they will see, from our horrible failures and our wonderful victories, success follows excellence and persistence precedes opportunity. I hope these videos inspire you the same way they inspire me~

You Are Lovable

Are you Lovable or are you Unlovable? It's a question you probably ask yourself every now and then. Maybe after a heart-breaking breakup? Or whenever you fail miserably or fall down one too many times? What about when your closest friends betray you? Or when your mother or father yell at you and tell you that you are their biggest disappointment? During such difficult times, we may question our ability to love and be loved especially when everything else around us makes us feel absolutely worthless.

But even then, despite all the problems, in spite of all the hatred, do you really truly believe you are still loved or have you already accepted the false belief that you are unlovable?

To believe you are unlovable, even for a nanosecond, is to believe you are something you are not. The false belief that you could possibly be unlovable is merely a chaotic perception of yourself projected outwards resulting in different forms of more chaos.

Along my spiritual journey of  "A Course in Miracles," I have come to understand the beauty of being Lovable simply because we are Love itself.

The following article written by Martha Lucia Espinosa, founder of Another Way, LLC, and author of Spoken Miracles elaborates on this. With her granted permission, I share this inspiring article with you (:

Please note: Quotes are from A Course In Miracles

Are you lovable? From Miracle Principle #33

(Martha Lucia Espinosa)

"Miracles honor you because you are lovable. They dispel illusions about yourself and perceive the light in you. They thus atone for your errors by freeing you from your nightmares. By releasing your mind from the imprisonment of your illusions, they restore your sanity."

(ACIM T-1.I.33.)

What a beautiful reminder of your reality. You ARE lovable. Isn’t that what we all struggle with? Isn’t that the pervading belief that drives all of our insane world’s happenings? If Hitler had understood that he too was lovable, there would have been no Holocaust. If Pol-pot had seen himself as lovable, there would have been no killing fields. If Id- Amin had known himself as lovable, there would have been no bloodshed in Uganda. If the perpetrators had seen themselves as lovable there would be no serial killings, no slavery, no crime, no violence of any kind. No Rwanda, no Poland, no Berlin Wall, no racial cleansings, no child abuse, no domestic abuse, no war, no addictions. If only…

Let us look at this world and see it (our inner world, of which the outer is but a reflection) as it REALLY is: Lovable.What terrible things have we all not thought, or done, because we see ourselves as not lovable? Not worthy of Love? Filled the void with alcohol? Smoked it away? Fed it with excess food? Masked its pain with the false and temporal euphoria of drugs? Sought the ‘Happy Dream’ through hallucinogenic drugs? Mistreated those whom we see as mistreating us? Starved our bodies through crazy diets and excess exercise to make it ‘fit’ and therefore acceptable and lovable? Hated those who hated us for not being lovable? Punished the body (ours or others') for not being lovable?

“Miracles honor you, BECAUSE you ARE lovable.” They honor God’s Creation, which is absolutely Lovable and Perfect. How could it not BE? A perfectly loving creator cannot create a pile of unworthy, unlovable junk. Remember that if a faulty bridge collapses, the error in calculation and design was made by the faulty mind of the Architects and Engineers that designed and built it. Being Perfect, all that God creates is Perfect like Himself.

Any idea that you are not Perfect as you are, is an illusion. And miracles (changes of mind, mind shifts, instances of forgiveness) “dispel illusions about yourself and perceive the light in you.”

Any time we are not seeing a lovable world, inner or outer, we are experiencing a nightmare. By setting the record straight and reminding you of your true nature, miracles atone for any mistaken idea of what you are. As you perform miracles (as you apply the true forgiveness process taught in A Course in Miracles) your mind is slowly healed, “By releasing your mind from the imprisonment of your illusions, they restore your sanity."

To think that you are not lovable, and to act accordingly is to be insane.

I had a dream about slavery last night, and about release. It was very period accurate, very detailed. The furniture, the architecture, the clothing. A slave was hoping for release as his owner prepared to go to an auction where he was to be sold. Even though the slave was expecting to be sold to another master, he was happy with the prospect of trading masters. He saw that as a form of release and was quite happy and smiling about the changes forthcoming in his life.

I see those dreams as teaching/learning dreams. Sometimes we trade one illusion for another. We were listening to a Byron Katie CD yesterday, and in it one of the participants was talking about her issues with body weight. Her complaint was that she felt unlovable, undesirable, unfit. Her body took up too much space. Katie “worked” her through the thoughts, and offered up this: If only I were thin I would be happy. Is that true? After thin, you might get: not pretty enough, not rich enough, wrong boyfriend, wrong job, etc.

We are always seeking for evidence of not being good enough. And if one proves true, and for some reason it gets ‘resolved’ (i.e. the overweight woman loses the weight), the unloveliness then gets chalked off to some other illusory cause. Then it’s not the weight that’s the problem, but the finances, the looks, the relationships, the profession, the car, the house, etc. In reality it is the guilt in you wanting to drag you down into this belief system of unworthiness and lack. It is the ego’s thought system, which our present and past physical world as a whole very well reflects and vividly represents, being alive and well in all our minds.

In that we are all the same, we are all lovable, and yet we all share a wrong-mind part of the mind that constantly and raucously screams: “No you’re not!” Like ‘ghost busters’ then, who are you gonna call? Who are you going to believe? The Holy Spirit within you reminds you constantly, consistently and in the quiet stillness of your inner sanctuary that YOU ARE LOVABLE, or the ego who constantly shrieks in this noisy world and in every corner of your conscious and unconscious mind: “No, you’re not!”

“My brothers and my sisters, choose once again…”
(ACIM T-31.VIII.3.)

Copyright © 2010 Lucia Espinosa Biemiller, DBA Another Way, LLC.

Give yourself completely to Him and you will know what You are (:

 ~Choose Truth. Choose Love. Choose You~

Living is the Hardest Thing

Living is the hardest thing you ever have to do. Once you realize the light at the end of the tunnel isn't for you.You begin to tread a path that should not exist. You begin to think even persistence and perseverance have quit.You wonder when the day will come when all your pain will be gone.You wonder if it really makes a difference to hold on. Still, something deep inside you says you will make it through. The angels you never knew you had stand closely right beside you.

After all these trying times, you will come to see, the pain was worth it all because it has made you the person you always wanted to be...

Your helpless heart will run to help those who feel unloved. Your powerless mind will empower others to know when enough is enough.The gaping hole within your soul will encourage others to recognize all that they have.Your silent lips will kiss away the cries &
give voice to those who have forgotten how to laugh.Your tearful eyes will finally see who your true friends are and who never will be, yet that won't stop you from giving everyone vision,a cherished conversation, or your inspiring wisdom.Your innocent ears will continue to listen; your arms will remain open, as you hug away the pain to heal those who also feel like they are going insane.Your hopeless spirit will give everyone hope while your dark existence will enlighten the world.Your weak belief in the Higher Power will spring forth a faithful river of strength, it is then when you will realize you were never alone; you could not have overcome any of it by yourself.Your torn-up tired hands will then give a beautiful present
to everyone who wants to awaken from the past. Your chained feet will walk towards a path where others can taste freedom at last.

Now you must be wondering how it is entirely possible for someone so broken to become so beautiful. But don’t you forget it takes an incredible amount of strength and most of us that have been down this road must learn from it in the end. Now I don’t believe there is a reason for all the pain we feel. Nothing & No one can ever justify the irrationality of this insanity. But I do well believe there is a lesson to learn in every situation; there are no accidents in life when everything is a teaching session. Feel free to disagree or disregard my integrity. But one day you yourself will see,

Because you have tasted misery, you will feed everyone joy.
Because you have endured the pain,
You will enable others to overcome their cries.
Because you have been hurt, you will only want to heal.
Because you know what it's like to die,
You will live your life completely.

Indeed, it's hard to see the world like everyone else does...especially once you've experienced it like no one else has. But even though some of your wounds may never heal...sometimes scar tissue isn't such a bad thing. Take it from me, if you allow Life to break you into who you always wanted to be...then all the pain, all the tears, all the agony...will someday in its own way set you free~