“I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”
Live while you’re alive, right now this moment, this one and the next, these moments are your life.
Live in all your bones, don’t settle for someone else’s version of you or your life.
You came here to be you.
Live that amazing self out loud.
“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it is over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”
-Mary Oliver
Sometimes life calls us to take unplanned yet vital journeys into necessary self care. Shock and bereavement from sudden, multiple losses in my family took me into one of these journeys over the past months.
Those who know me personally or through my work, know I advocate, validate and honour the need for grief, privacy and space for all. Self care is imperative, it is no different when that grief is my own.
Most recently (a few short weeks ago) I lost one of the most beloved people in my life. He mirrored very much the heart I have for this world. We were twin like in that way. Having a birthday (both his, and mine soon) without him, highlights the great space he held in my life and I want to honour that space for a moment here.
He was a gifted singer/musician and incredibly intelligent, loving man, his songs and conversation, his great love for me and this world live limitlessly in my heart and thoughts.
I am blessed to call him my brother, he was my first hero and remains a hero. For all he endured he continued to love deeply and give to others however he could throughout his pain and illness, he was one of the most selfless people I have met.
I have always said life is here and now, this moment right here is our life. More than anything loss is a reminder to live wide and deep in each moment we have. I’ve spoken often on how each moment is also a new years eve. Again loss reminds us to claim and own ourselves, our moments, our lives.
My brother was young, the moments we had together too brief, I cherish each moment and rise with grace and dignity in honour of those who didn’t get the chance to be here long or long enough.
This moment right here, right now, this is your moment, the most precious one you have, love and own them all, stay as present as you can and relish any you get to share with another. There are no time guarantees.
Live out loud.
Live while you’re alive.
Love to you all.
“Contrary to what most have been told, championing and believing in yourself is your birth right, and the key to successful living…
Successful living?
You might ask, ‘What is that?’
Well let me assure you, it involves much more than just surviving this life…
It means living it with all your callings and passions pursued and relished.
Life is in the living.
This moment right here, right now? It’s not a draft; it’s the real deal. Don’t waste a minute more.
You want to saturate yourself in your life, live in all your bones with all your heart.
This means being on your own side, talking with respect to yourself. It means listening to what your ‘self’ is telling you, and caring deeply, with priority, about those wants, passions and needs.
This person you are, the human you came in to be, that person is at your mercy, treat them well, with dignity, respect, encouragement and belief.
Know you are worthy and start living it…
Everything else is conditioning; everything else is someone else’s agenda.
And remember, living a self-empowered life means helping others along the way, who have forgotten.
When they stumble over the self-denigration minefield, put out your hand and remind them, tell them; they are worth the push it will take them to stand back up.
Never underestimate how much this world needs you to be good to yourself so you can inspire yourself and others, toward an authentic, full life.
Self-esteem is not a dirty word.
But putting yourself down, not believing in the immensity of who you are?
That is foul play.
And you rob this world of the light you came in with… and that is the real you, not the filter others and you have placed on yourself. Clean the lens!
Be who you are and be damn proud of it.
We are all wise enough to know this isn’t about an over inflated ego… it’s about gutsy, show up for yourself honour.
Let that stuff shine.” ~ Lynika
“You are the real warriors and heroes in this world and you deserve immense respect, especially your own. You matter.” ~ Lynika
High Fiving YOU! You reading this right now.
Thank you for rising and living. You being here means everything.
Keep breathing, keep going.
This world needs your stories and your light. ~ Lynika
“So much of the ordinary is extraordinary, we often don’t pause long enough, to see the daily miracles tucked inside our days.” ~ Lynika
Running water, education, shelter, safety… to name a bare few. It’s good for the soul to notice the blessings we do have. ~ Lynika Cruz
“For some folk, holidays and celebrations are the loneliest of times.
A time when the absence of support and care are even more prevalent to the person in isolation.
Be it through age, illness or other reasons, there are lonely people on this planet, some who are suffering great pain…
And your kind word or shoulder squeeze can mean the difference between giving up or holding on.
Never underestimate the power of kindness and don’t wait until it’s too late…
Open your heart to someone in need and help make this world a warmer place for somebody today.” ~ Lynika Cruz
“If you think you have nothing to be grateful for, here’s two things alone you can count as major blessings every day…
Every week your garbage is collected. Every time you turn on the tap you have water.
Not snazzy enough? Take a minute…
If you couldn’t conveniently dump your trash out front in a convenient, allocated trash can that is picked up and emptied miraculously each week. What would you do with it?
Where would you put it? How often would you have to go to the tip? Would the tip exist? Would you have to pay? Would your neighbours be just as pro-active in ridding themselves of their trash or would it grow and encompass their yard, your yard, the street?
If you had no running water at the flick of a faucet… how would you deal with your thirst, wash clothes, cook, bathe, flush the toilet, clean? Where would you get your daily water? Would it be hygienic? Clear? Safe? Free?
Taking things for granted is not okay, it robs us of knowing how blessed and rich we are, every day.
People this very moment are dying without these two precious things.
We have so much to be grateful for, so very much. ~ Lynika Cruz