Love it! You go girl!

You just blow my friggin' mind, girl!
Wow. What an incredible communicator you are. Thank you for your comment- and for being the brave, awakening soul you.
With great love
Lissa

Yeah, so I'm seriously behind on this one!! Lol. Anyway. . . Have to think about the blog post! As for the rest, I lived and died, and loved like a rockstar! Not in the traditional sort either, but as in, I only did what I wanted to do, loved who I wanted to love, grew attached to people I wanted to be attached to, and did or didn't do things with said people, because I did/didn't desire to, not because someone else wanted me to! So, another way to put it, not your traditional groupie, that people think of nowadays when they hear about a woman hanging out with a rockstar! I rocked it in all parts of my life and am/always will be, a rockstar in my own way!

In a blog or in front of 10,000 people, I'd talk about my experiences of radical self acceptance and how practicing it leads to self love. Then, I'd encourage them to dance with me in whatever way felt good and right to them at that time. Get that self acceptance in the body.

Last words: This was great. What's next?

Tombstone: She lived out loud

I love this post. this is my first time commenting on anything here, but I've been a reader for months.

Not sure where to begin... I've dealt with a lot of sexism and age-ism in my life. being told I can't do something because it's for boys, or because I'm too young is a short summary of how I grew up. I took those things to mean that I wasn't normal because I didn't fit in. I think that for a long time, all I wanted to do was actually FIT in a box. a normal box. I felt like an outcast because I couldn't find a box that felt right for me.
but I've grown! and after reading this it's come to my attention that at some point in college, I decided I didn't want to fit into a box anymore. I can be pretty and academic. I can play volleyball in the mud and go rock-climbing, play video games, and then watch chick flicks and eat chocolate.

I'm thriving outside the box. for the first time in my life, the freedom outside the box isn't scary, lonely, isolated... it's exhilarating.

owning my space outside the box...
- A

It took working with a close friend to finally let my guard down. She has a childlike enthusiasm about her that I have let the Business world suck out of me. Upon her finding a better position I started to revert back to the quiet, businesslike person I was before she worked here. But Upon her absence I have boiled my life goal and dream down to One thing. I am a very honest, Intelligent, blunt, goofy, geeky, cuddly person and from this day forward I have decided to be Irrevocably ME.

What do I want engraved on my tombstone? LOVED <3
What last words would I utter before I died? I Love you
What one blog post would I write? People, Accomplishments and other things I should have taken more time to be Proud of.

Thanks for the inspiration!

I've been fighting with that damn box my whole life....at one point I just brought my pillow and sleeping bag in there and called it a year or three. I found that very dreary and pretty sad. I decided to get out of that box and it has been hard! I walk in the world of nursing and academia so WOW, two worlds that LIVE IN BOXES! I pride myself on being the "quirky one" on campus and love helping my students see the alternatives to situations. Lately thought I have been feeling more and more closed in...like I have brought the folding lawn chair into the box...a slow start to the moving back in process. SO I have said "no way Jose" and decided to make the leap and apply for midwifery school so I can have my own holistic woman's practice. Take THAT you pesky box.

On my tombstone I want: She f*cking rawked....hard.
My last words would be: Bye love.

:) This is fun.

Lissa -

Gorgeous post! I have this thought about putting myself or others into boxes: My daughter was watching a Discovery Channel program about the universe when she was 5. She asked my husband, "What is the universe?". Hubby replied, "It's the box that everything we can see fits in." She pondered a moment, then asked,"But what's outside the box?". Kids have it, that connection to the Universe & themselves. Their Zen-like ability to just go with the flow of life and be free in their imaginations and self-expression.

I realized this year that no one can put me in a box, the only who can do that to me is me. "Narrowing your focus" may feel constraining (which you're resisting) because of the word "narrow". Since our words create our world, consider using language that more aligns with what you want to accomplish. Perhaps consider yourself as a beam of sunshine hitting a focusing lens, then you become a spotlight, a laser beam of energy shining in one specific area with intention and a goal. There are sunshine days where we warm the world around us, then there are laser beam days where we accomplish specific tasks with measurable results.

Either way, do embrace being you, the best you only you know how to be. As for that snarky snide woman you mention at the beginning...she's jealous & afraid. In my experience, 90% of comments like that have nothing to do with me, and everything to do with the other person's own fears & limitations. Just smile & nod, smile & nod. ;)

Pinkly yours,
-Kelley

It is like you crawled inside my head and read my thoughts! Too many of us are fearful of even APPEARING to think outside the box. After fighting my own fears of revealing my true self for way too many years, I finally got the courage to let everyone know that I REJECT the box. I used to define myself by my title - attorney. I now embrace and use all of my many talents - writer, jewelry designer, speaker, mom, entrepreneur. Like you, those around me look at me a little funny when they learn about all of my 'projects', as I wrote about here: http://metamomphorsis.com/2011/02/04/being-at-home-does-not-mean-your-br... But, I no longer let the sideways looks stop me striving to always be my authentic self. I now proudly walk through life as more than a 'title'... rather I am the sum of all of my talents! Thank you for reminding us that we are not alone in our journeys toward authenticity!

This blog post reminds me of something I read years ago:

"Sometimes you have to think outside the box; somethimes you have to just throw the box away!"

And I don't have a clue as to who said it!

Love love love this post! THIS is why I keep coming back to your words, your blog, your message! Because I feel the same way......it's always all about LOVE! Love ourselves, love others, love the planet, love our time here, be present and live each moment like it matters!
I am in a dance production this year, for the first time since 1988, my senior year of high school. One reason I decided to do this....well,...you. I wanted to find something to get my MOJO back. Your message kept playing out in my mind. And syncronistically, I found a production that called to me. And...it's about Legacy. What is our legacy? Does it matter what we leave behind, or how we live today? Do we play out our legacy day to day? Moment to moment? Do we matter? So your post today, really really resonated with me!
I thank you for being you and OWNING you! I am miles away from you, OWNING me! Cheers sista!
Karen

I know what my post would be because I've already written it. It's very much in line with yours.

I understand your feelings of being pulled and pushed into a box. I believe we've all been there and it's not a good feeling never feeling as if it's okay to be ourselves.

I have certainly struggled with this too and I am continually learning what my potential is and who I am. It's a neverending journey and it's not always easy, but always inspirational.

I have included my post. I hope you enjoy it.

There's nothing you cannot do

I looked at my horoscope today and realized that it was strangely prophetic and good advice considering what I've been thinking about recently.

It said, "Keep telling yourself that there is nothing you cannot do in this life and you will go a long way in a short space of time. What would you choose to do if there were no restrictions? Do it right now."

Restrictions...what are they exactly? Are they financial, personal,physical, emotional?

I heard recently in the news about a 92-year-old woman who won at the Senior Olympics, and she didn't start training until she was 77! Does she believe in restrictions? I really don't think so.

I realize that everyone's life situation is different and people have their own issues, situations and realities that they have to accept and deal with. I have had my own share of them too and I know that life can throw you a curve ball when you least expect it and sometimes when you're at your most vulnerable. Life is filled with happiness, sorrow, hard work, heart ache, joy, fun, love, anger, frustrations and choices.

But believing that you cannot do something will definitely stop you from doing it. I think restrictions are all in our heads. The only constant in life is change, so what was true yesterday may not be true today. The only true moment we have is now. I find this idea very liberating because if we live our Now moments with purpose the rest will follow. Even my horoscope says, "Do it right now." And the questions is, when else can I do it?

So, if I can do it right now then what I believed before doesn't matter anymore, only what I believe now matters.

I think I will believe and live as if I can do everything that I want to do. How quickly will things change? How quickly will I start to see results? I'll let you know.

But I do think it's all about belief. I'm sure Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and Marie Curie, among many others, would say that change begins in our brains and hearts, and then the behaviours follow.

So changing what I believe now will change my soon-to-be future as well. What I believe will move through my life like a gentle lapping wave that will grow larger and more powerful as my belief grows with it. That belief momentum will push me forward and wonderful, amazing things will happen in a very short time.

There is nothing I cannot do. I believe it for me, and I believe it for us all.

Peace and love,

Jacqueline Snider

I am saving a copy of this post to give to my daughters.
This is exactly what I want them to grow up to be able to do - to be unapologetically themselves...completely.
I want them to grow to be strong, confident women that can do anything they want to do.

Shakespeare's Polonius said "To thine own self be true..." I think this is something that so many people have forgotten how to do.

We need to be "ourselves" which is ever evolving, changing, as we go thru this wonderful life. We need to be confident and look to ourselves for satisfaction and not rely on it from others around us. Too many bad decisions in my earlier life were made as a reaction to someone else...doing what I thought would make others happy, or rebeling & doing something totally stupid because I knew it was a way to "get" at someone.

But if I would have simply been true to myself, and approached life with strong, confident, loving sensibility & listened to my true self within I would have saved myself a lot of grief.

Luckily my inner self can be quite loud sometimes, so I finally woke up and heard the screaming from within...and once again started being the true Me I wanted to be.

There are so many wonderful facets to people, why must we pigeonhole them into one category or the other?
I agree -- all we need is love & acceptance.
It really is an easy thing to do & the Peace that follows is so totally worth it!!

Thanks for such a great post!

Bless you for resisting being put into a box. You can boil it down to a soundbite: "I owned pink!" and that still means so many things! And I love that! Things change, people change, but the one thing you can apply to your ever-changing life is to own it. Own Pink. Own who you are, even if you are a million things. Aren't we all a million different things? Maybe that's part of what you're here to teach the world. We are not soundbites. We're human beings with complex lives. :)

Thank you so much for sharing so openly. I feel exactly as you described nearly 100% of the time! For years I thought that I had to hide away some aspect of myself to allow another area to flourish. I believe that 'getting over this' is a sign of SANITY and not the other way around!!!

In my own online/small business career (baby that I am--6 months into this) I'm discovering that being more patient with my progress toward the stratosphere (where I believe I truly belong) allows me to stay 100% authentic throughout this process. I won't be bought or sold, for that matter, for someone else's benefit! My message isn't going to bless anyone else if I allow it to be watered down, distorted or misused--this is a sacred trust!

My tombstone-She loved many.
My last words-Lord have mercy.
My 10 minutes--my latest blog post where I defined the ME I am http://adamsorganizing.com/2011/02/19/recovery-chaos-organizing/

So comforting and encouraging to know that other women (strong, beautiful women-BTW :-) struggle with this as I do!

~Elise~

Your purpose is to be fully alive and experience all emotions, knowing that none are permanent.

Every day, feel ALIVE!!

Joyous!

Eat more Nutella! Love more openly! Hug strangers! Smile a lot :) Love yourself. Have giggle fests! Be spontaneous. And always, choose love.

That's what I'd say :)

What would I say to 10,000 people? Nice to meet you, hope you felt the same about me.
What do I want engraved on my tombstone? Never animal tested.
What last words would I utter Before I die? This soon? Can I stay a little longer?
What one blog post would I write? I'm never tired of meeting interesting people.