From the leaders of tommorrow- written by 15-17 year olds

Courage is the discovery that you may not win.
And trying when you know you can lose.


Honor is standing for what you believe-
Not for what you know.


Life isn't about living without problems.
Life is about solving problems.


If you plow the field everyday-
The only thing that grows is resentment.


Compassion is passion with a heart.


The only thing in the whole universe people need to
Control are their attitudes.


How a person wins and loses is much more important
Than how much a person wins and loses.


If you only do what you know you can do-
You never do very much.


There are no failures-
Just experiences and your reactions to them.


Getting what you want is not nearly as important
As giving what you have.


Going on a journey with a map requires following
Directions-Going on a journey without a map requires following
Your heart.


Talent without humility is wasted.


If you don't want it bad enough to risk losing it-
You don't want it bad enough.


When life knocks you down you have two choices-
Stay down or get up.

Let Go

As we let go, we let go of the EGO. As we do that the EGO can also be. In this space of letting go the unknow becomes known.

Listen to the instructions as if your true self was speaking to you. Let go. Without a word, let go. Let go of fear. Let go of judgments. Let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around the head. Let go of the committee of indecision within. Let go of all the "right" reasons. Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, just let go to hear our voice, the voice of our divine self clear without the chatter of the EGO.

Don't ask anyone for advice, don't search the scriptures, just let go. Let go of all the memories that hold us back. Let go of the anxiety that keeps us from moving forward. Let go of the planning and all the calculations about how to do it just right. Don't promise to let go. Don't journal about it. Don't write the projected date in a Day-Timer. Make no public announcement and put no ad in the paper. Don't check the weather report or read the daily horoscope. Just let go. Don't analyze whether we should let go. Don't call friends to discuss the matter.

Don't utter one word. Just let go. No one will be around when it happens. There will be no applause or congratulations. No thanks or praise. No one will notice a thing. Like a leaf falling from a tree, just let go. There will be no effort. There will be no struggle. It isn't good. It isn't bad. It is what it is, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, let it all be. Allow a small smile. Let go to let all be known and felt. The unknown holds the space of creation. The unknown is the space for our authority and voice to declare what is. Here in the unknown we know our self, see our self and here we hear what is true. Within the sacred unknown, we are known and met with love. The sacred unknown is a sanctuary of wisdom and truth. Let go, let it all go. Release what grips and what is in our grips. Open our hands and feel the space of the unknown. Let these same hands be of creation, free to create, open always to the unlimited and possible. Let go of impossible and feel I'm possible. Let go. Now stop. Notice. Feel our selves as miracle.

UNCOVERED- the Masterpiece YOU!

Love uncovers the truth by simply illuminating it. The truth is love is a stream of brilliant thought that will dissolve the veils to reveal the masterpiece we and our life have always been. Love is an unbridled artist that distracts our attention from the everyday to show us we have a purpose. It has been a long journey to discover this. Many rocks were turned over before we remembered what Michelangelo did to create David. He lifted nothing in search of his masterpiece; he simply liberated that which was already there. How much time do we waste actually under the rock justifying our search of self, only to forget what we’re searching for and then just stay there? This is about getting the lessons from the rock and freeing the masterpiece. We are here to remember we are the finest form of art, an original, an absolute divine creation. We are that which inspires the art we have become awestruck by. We need to see ourselves as the source, the light of love, masterfully achieving brilliance, with dimension and clarity, in our own life.

 

Michelangelo worked knowing the image of David was already in the block of stone. Our pure essence is also found within a block of stone called our life. Chipping away the layers of stone, freeing what he knew to be already there, is how we must free ourselves from the darkness created by our mind’s own perception. As we become free, our hearts will begin to radiate so completely that we will finally see our full selves for our self…once and for all. And it will be for all, as just one realization will begin a cosmic cascading of fully aware dominos, illuminating the closest student to become the next teacher… and so on.

 

Michelangelo chose the subject of this work from the Old Testament story of David and Goliath, in which the young David, future king of Israel, flings a stone from his slingshot to kill the giant Goliath. In his success he then saves his nation. The statue represents not only the daring spirit of the young hero but also of Michelangelo himself. He established himself as a master and hero with this work. When art imitates life and lives imitate art, love is at work. Our goal is now to be at work, committed to love. Love will once again transcend itself, to become the dedication of taking one determined step after another away from our Ego to move in the direction of our true self. It is on this path we will heroically stand and face the memory of our divinity and dare our selves to realize the truth of who we are.

When Michelangelo worked he would naturally sweat. The mind’s thinking has also become hard work because of its requirement to arduously gather evidence to support our Ego. In the past our natural state has been sustained by the work of the Ego and we would develop a similar condition to attract. While Michelangelo created, the marble dust would mix to become mire that would splatter all over his face and body. As dust would continue to cover him, he would begin to resemble that which he was creating. Just like Michelangelo, the Ego’s work creates as each thought acts and exists as a vibration. Each thought we have is literally a magnet to then stick to us, creating who we are in each moment. As Ego finds more evidence, we experience the old emotion which attracts more of the same result. Are you a replicated version of an illusion of thoughts from the past, or a unique creation honored by present moment awareness for your immense magnitude and purpose?

We know his method was to chip away to reveal the greatness of David. Imagine each day as he would honor that which was chipped away by seeing it, understanding it and at the same time knowing it was to reveal the greatness of David. It may have been a momentary illusion that the dust of David he was covered in created the greatness of Michelangelo. We believe he could see for himself as he would clean up for the day, pieces of stone covering his own greatness that he also needed to cast away. We are here to realize that exact same process. Our tools will be the mind and our intention. Our creation will be ourselves as awe-inspiring. We will become masters of controlling the only stream of thought that holds the truth. This stream of thought with its own intention is love.

What were the intentions Michelangelo used each day to achieve his masterpiece? Let’s trust, while he was working, his single minded focus was seeing David explicated by thoughts and beliefs of who he was as his highest or pure self. How often do we do this for ourselves and for others? What would David have looked like if he was thought of for all the trite miscommunications, wrong doings, should haves, or didn’ts? We must adopt this same single minded focus to retrain our brain to remember its brilliance as it radiates exacting thoughts of love towards ourselves and others. What would our life look like if you wiped everyone’s slate clean? Who would we become? The slate while in this presence of now, now free of all judgments would become a sparkling frame to mirror the light of love back to us, as us.

The challenge will be to reclaim the parts of our selves that fear and pain have in their grips, by seeing all experiences for what they have truly been. We will do this by revisiting significant memories in the presence of love. By moving fear and pain into the presence of love we will see each experience as it was intended. Each experience will transform itself from an energetic block to a free flowing force that will ultimately have us choose to take a stand or not, for love. We will release the experiences, no longer our destiny but our way of deciding, to allow our true essence to be fully restored. We will not only become dazzlingly lit but will reveal a beauty reserved for our personal and universal elation.

Excited about the 40 day challenge!- join the The Artistry of Living!!