Beauty in Words… entry #10

“May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.  May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are.  Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.”

In the last day this has become my new mantra, I love what it says on every level – each new sentence has so much wisdom I can hardly wait to read the next. But this came to me at the exact moment I needed it too, a reminder of the journey and of all the infinite possibilities there are in this life. No one is held to their circumstance, that is just the right now and you have the ability to change it in that moment – to look at the positive and to remind yourself of all the amazingly beautiful gifts you have been given and then to go out into the world and share them.

xo nicki

Beauty in Words…entry #9

” always be creating”

These 3 words have become my life’s mantra, my life’s goal and my life’s celebration. It is both simple and intricately beautiful – no fluff, no excuses. I see it both in the literal sense and a much deeper one.

I know myself well enough now to know that when I am being creative and expressing myself through ‘doing’ I am a much happier me. It can be baking cookies, hand-making cards, working in the garden or carving pumpkins – my soul feels at peace when I am using my two hands to create.

However I also look at this quote and it invites me to “create” the life I live – it beckons me to make wise decisions, work towards my dreams every single day and never ever stop – even though I may get a version of it, keep ‘creating’.

I love quotes that push me to keep going, that give me the nudge I often need, so needless to say this is now posted above my computer screen – so every time I look up, it warms my heart and invites me to keep going, stitch by stitch.

xo nicki

Beauty in Words… entry #8

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I feel as if I am forging on unknown territory, with my machete in my hand and a flashlight for hope, I am forging into the unknown – except when I am here, I feel more at home then I do any other time of the day. I was uncomfortable with the notion of exploring around inside my own head; my feelings, I figured only people who wore hemp clothing and played the guitar had the freedom to become ‘one with themselves’ – I figured people would look at me and think I’ve completely lost it, that I’ve gone all woo-woo on them. 

But today (I am actually writing this on Sunday for the Thursday post, now due to me going back to work) I am feeling more raw than normal, more committed to achieving that inner gnawing that has been relentless the last few months – which means I write, I write and then peace overflows my soul and then what lies within me starts to pour out.

xo nicki

Beauty in Words…entry #7

“Whether You Think You Can or Can’t, You’re Right”
Henry Ford

This quote has popped in and out of my life and every time I see it, it always gives me chills. We are always so quick to tell ourselves whether or not we can do something, be someone – and we are always right. What if we always told ourselves that we could – that there were no limitations? Each of our belief systems seem to dictate what level of success we will have, how our relationships will end and whether or not we will ever be truly happy.

I really wish they would teach this in schools, instead of how to do long division – I think it would get each of us so much further in life. And although I know this logically, I am still humming and haaing over whether I am ready to release The Daring Woman Project into the world- because in all honesty, I am dealthy afraid of it failing and even though I have moments of brilliance, where I almost hit publish on my website, there is still that little niggling voice saying ‘we’re not quite ready’… but very very soon I will be telling that little voice to step out of the way and watch me fly.

xo nicki

Beauty in Words…entry #6

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
Buddha

I stumbled upon this quote and got me a thinkin’- I really struggle with living in the current moment. I generally am always moving forward, thinking into the future and focusing on creating it but its not too often throughout the day that I just ‘be’.

As the month of ‘ME’vember begins to wrap up, I have realized several things about myself and what I need to work on and this is at the top of my list. Logically I know this, I’ve read books on it (The Power of Now anyone?) but for some reason it just doesn’t stick, perhaps subconsciously I am hitting the eject button over and over again and its not until I see something like this that it reigns me back in and refocuses me.

I certainly spend to much time anticipating the future, planning and mapping it out; far to much time remembering what it was like to be young and I seem to forget the middle part- the here, the right now. This is the only truth; we are never guaranteed our tomorrows and focusing on our past only seems to make us miss our opportunities now.

xo nicki

Beauty in Words…entry #5

“There is a subtle difference between a mission and a promise. A mission is something you strive to accomplish – a promise is something you are compelled to keep. One is individual, the other is shared. When a mission and a promise are one and the same… that’s when mountains are moved and races are won”.~ Hala Moddelmog

I love a good Starbucks- pumpkin spice lattes, gingerbread lattes and plain old tea always seem to taste better there and I think it has to do with the cups. Reading “The Way I See It” on each cup always made me feel like I was cuddled up with an old friend ready to have a deeply inspiring conversation about life. It appears the campaign is over but I still have a few of the quotes cut out and hanging on my bulletin board in my office, so I thought I would share some of them and why I was compelled to cut them out.

I love being on a mission, the idea of having concrete goals just waiting for me around the corner, really gets me moving in life. I will never be the person who just stops and says “OK, I think I’m good now”. I really believe there is always more to see and do and there is especially always room to grow- to become better than we could ever imagine.

I have been on lots of short missions over the years and always think of them as mini mountains in one very large mountain range- ups and down, bumps, bad weather, rocky starts and uplifting victory’s- you coast downhill sometimes but hit rugged terrain around the next corner. But I love what this quote is saying when you combine the two- a mission and a promise and what can be accomplished because of that commitment. So many of my missions & goals in life are ones that I keep to myself or a few select people in my life but this quotes reminds me of the power that when we share ideas and dreams, we really can move mountains.

xo nicki

Beauty in Words… entry #4

“Whatever you think your path is, don’t doubt yourself and put off your dreams” Caesar Milan

I am often intrigued by celebrity stories of how they reached fame, many of them starting off in similar situations that we all live in. I’ve never really believed in luck- I would rather hang my hat on determination and a whole lot of dreaming.

I am not sure if I was a huge ‘dreamer’ when I was a child but certainly as I got older, I saw the impact it had on my life when I would drift off to la la land and daydream. Generally that is the place where I begin to turn my dreams into reality- I dream about all the possibilities of my life and how I can get there.

This quote, like so many, hit home for me when I was flipping through a magazine- it’s like the words just jumped off the page and slapped me in the face. I translate it to say “Nicki, stop worrying, you know what you want. Stop giving a s**t about what other people think and just go for it. Stop worrying about failing and especially about being exposed, otherwise you are never going to really start living”.

So thank you Caesar, for giving me that little slap I needed!

Now lets start putting those dreams into action

xo nicki

Beauty in Words…entry #3

I woke up in the quiet darkness this morning, much earlier than I have lately and it gave me a few precious moments to think and digest and although this isn’t the way I had originally wrote the book of my life, someone had something different in store for me, which brought me to my quote for today…

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometime courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow” mary ann radmacher

And that is exactly what I must do- just simply try to get through the next day and the day after that focusing on the joys that exist so abundantly in my life.

xo nicki

Beauty in Words…entry #2

I recently saw a documentary on CTV entitled “4 Paths to Peace”. It followed 4 people from very different walks of life as they attended the Vancouver Peace Summit 2009- which the Dalai Lama spoke at. I was instantly interested in the program- this is sooo up my alley. I actually had wanted to attend this conference but life seemed to get in the way and I now wish I had made it more of a priority to go.

I am sure everyone will agree with me when I say I think the Dalai Lama is an amazing individual- right alongside Mother Theresa. I was deeply moved by this small piece of one of many of his teachings…

“ONE GREAT QUESTION underlies our experience, whether we think about it consciously or not: What is the purpose of life?  I have considered this question and would like to share my thoughts in the hope that they may be of direct, practical benefit to those who read them.

I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy.  From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering.  Neither social conditioning nor education nor ideology affect this.  From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment.  I don’t know whether the universe, with its countless galaxies, stars and planets, has a deeper meaning or not, but at the very least, it is clear that we humans who live on this earth face the task of making a happy life for ourselves.  Therefore, it is important to discover what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness.”
Tenzin Gyatso; The Fourteenth Dalai Lama

We all seem to be searching for the purpose in our own life and for most that generally translates into what job we will have and the size of our paycheck and although that can be one piece of the happiness puzzle, we all know its not the whole piece.

Being happy, truly deep down happy involves a huge degree of self awareness and self acceptance far beyond what I currently posses but hearing this and remembering it will certainly keep things in perspective for me.

xo nicki

to read more from the Dalia Lama go to http://www.dalailama.com/

Beauty in Words…entry #1

Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE QUOTES! There is often so much wisdom and truth in just a few words sandwiched in-between quotation marks and although some people say that there is no truth in words, I beg to differ- they have the power to motivate, hurt, express your inner thoughts, give you new perspective, heal old wounds, tell a love story… I really believe that they can change the world.

So for my love of quotes I am starting a weekly post “Beauty in Words”. Every Thursday will feature a new quote that hopefully you will find you as inspiring as I do.

“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.”
Ralph Waldo EmersonI am always my biggest critic- always and if sometimes I would just step out of my own way I can only imagine the possibilities. My business coach used to tell me to be like a lighthouse- shine you light and for those that are looking for it, will most certainly find it. I always seem to struggle with that- shining my light so brightly that the world could see it.

Some people may laugh at that notion- I don’t have an issue with being the centre of attention for public speaking or performing, after all I was on a reality television show but that after all is not really “me”- that’s just the person I chose to project that day- the strong, nothing scares me, confident, nothing will stand in my way Nicki- but is that really me… sometimes yes but I am so much more vulnerable then most would think. I have fears that are the size of the ocean, just like anyone else, and being ‘me’ just ‘me’ in front of the whole world is by far the scariest thing I can think of but I guess that is what I started this blog for after all- to strip down and let that light shine.

xox nicki