a fish that has nothing to do with this post*

fish_seattle.jpg
fish, aquarium, Seattle, Canon Rebel Xti

Some early morning transmissions from the universe:

Go slow. Be even more patient than you think you are capable of.

There is plenty of time.
Really.

The grass always looks so green over there until you hear the real deal, with all of its missteps and imperfections. We feel comforted by the real deal because it resembles our own messy lives. It is okay to be comforted by this. It is okay to let go of the facade that our pastures our green and manicured. We are more capable of connection when we let our messy truth be revealed.

Left to our own devices, we will make up the worst case scenario in our heads.

When you are feeling low in spirit, fragile and insecure, sometimes the best thing is to harness the warrior energy in you. Do some yoga, get into warrior pose, do a dance, run around the neighborhood. In the last few days I see how much strengthening my body can strengthen my spirit and help me to access the sleepy, but very powerful energies that exist. After you have honored the grief, the sadness, the disappointment, try using your body to literally lift your spirits.

Get a life.

This is an expression I don’t like so much… but it came to mind as I am writing. When we are obsessing, wondering who likes us, where we belong, if we’re going to be okay, if they’re going to call us back, if we’re ever going to be a success (sound familiar?) we are in full-on icky 7th grade gremlin mode. When we get a life, that is, when we connect to what we are really about, when we connect with what we are really wanting, when we honor who we really are in the world, those voices feel small and petty.

Get a life, better said, is more like “What are you passionate about? What did you come here to do? What is the big picture? What are your gifts? What are you really wanting?” and begin to inspire yourself. Take one step today to start doing it.

“I recovered my immense will to live when I realized that the meaning of my life was the one I had chosen for it.”
– Paolo Coelho

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Hi, I’m Andrea

On this blog you’ll be learning with me how to use our voices, share our creative superpowers and live life in full color.

As an artist, photographer, life coach + mentor, I’m redefining what it means to be a SUPERHERO — ‘cause in my world, it’s got nothing to do with capes, spandex or sidekicks and everything to do with tenderness, intuition & baby steps of bravery.

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40 Comments

  1. mccabe

    I LOVE THIS.
    wow.
    xoxo
    mccabe

  2. Lu

    That fish has EVERYTHING to do with this post…just keep swimming, just keep swimming. Get a life, find your passion, it is all the same.

  3. meenu

    this post speaks to me so much. I got diagnosed with thyroid cancer a month ago and last week was actually at sloan-kettering cancer center in nyc.
    In their patient recreation room they had a fishtank and my partner and I watched this exact fish swim slowly around and look so interestingly strange.
    so I think this is a very fantastic synchronicity!
    the Universe is speaking through you!
    Much Love,
    Meenu

  4. Gypsy Alex

    I like how raw this post is! It came in the exact right moment. Just gonna say here that we sabotage ourselves when not keeping this message straight! Thanks for the reset, girl!

  5. Kirsten Michelle

    oh how i need this.
    thank you
    thank you
    thank you
    so very much.
    xoxoxoxoxo

  6. amy

    Andrea, I am literally tearing up and trying not to cry in front of my students. You have no idea how badly I needed to read these words today. I am printing this out to keep as a reminder when I need it. Which is always.
    Thank you for this gift today.

  7. krista

    you ARE a superhero….i LOVED this.

  8. krista

    you ARE a superhero….i LOVED this.

  9. krista

    you ARE a superhero….i LOVED this.

  10. rachael

    you are wise and beautiful and soo on-point. a friend said to me last night, “the place where we are honest enough to be truly vulnerable is the place where our lives expand with opportunity.” honesty’s the way to go. thanks for going there in public. your gifts are so appreciated.

  11. blair

    “7th grade gremlin mode”. That is really funny, and so bang on. But thank you for the “go slow”. I really want everything to move fast right now and I needed the reminder. You have a wonderful voice.

  12. Emily

    hi andrea ~
    it is only now and then that i write something out word for word and stick it somewhere i can see it, and this is definitely one of them. It reminded me of another post of yours which I also wrote out where you quoted : “Often we tie ourselves in knots in our minds. Though frustration comes from the head, often the best way out of it is through the body.”
    thank you so much for sharing! i love to read your blog 🙂
    ~ emily.

  13. mary catherine

    ahhh…thanks for sharing, universe…

  14. anna

    thank you … again
    you are a blessing

  15. Carla

    I regularly find myself reaching for my notebook when I read your site, so that I can write down snippets and the beautiful quotes you share. Thanks. 🙂

  16. stacy kathryn

    Funny how the words we need to hear or read in this case are there for us just when we need them.

  17. Shelley Noble

    Thank you. The line about time got to me.

  18. Fatemeh

    Thank you! What I need to hear.

  19. Shannon

    I so needed this – thank you for sharing!

  20. Shannon

    I so needed this – thank you for sharing!

  21. Jodini

    This hit home today & is exactly what i need to hear.
    Thanks superhero!
    xo
    ps, grade 7 ickyness was the worst.

  22. Em

    I have spent this week standing on scaffolding, drilling, gluing stuff,painting scenery,sewing things back together and safety pinning small children into their costumes for an amateur theatre production. I spent most of my time from 11 to 24 doing this stuff and then stopped. When you do something that you really love to do all the questions stop in your head and it goes quiet and calm in there. I had forgotten this! I feel included. I feel useful. I feel like me. I feel whole.

  23. Robyn

    Andrea,
    Your words are so ‘dharmic’. Everything you write is most often exactly what I need to read…..
    Many thanks,
    Robyn
    PS- I am so asking Santa for a starburst necklace!

  24. Nicole

    Could you write something bad once in a while, so the rest of us don’t feel so small in comparison.
    Actually, no, I take that back. Because if you stopped writing beautiful things where would I go for my dose of uplift? Thanks for sharing!

  25. Jenna/The Word Cellar

    Wise words. And that fish looks rather wise, too. Sage, even. 🙂

  26. Stephanie T.

    she woke up in tears and in pain for the 6th night…more meds…lots of soothing and hours later, after finally getting my little one back to sleep, i made some tea and read your post…just when i though i would break into tiny, shattered, tired bits…i’ve read it again and again
    thank you for lifting my heart
    today is a new day

  27. jackie

    i do believe (though I am a marine mammal person…) that the picture is of a unicornfish.

  28. gem

    thank you for sharing these “early morning transmissions from the universe”, Andrea. they are help*full.
    warmly,
    gem

  29. Mariella

    Well said!! Thank you. xoxo, ~ M.

  30. vanessa

    oh my, that last little quote- perfection.
    it really is up to me to decide, and that is a scary yet wonderful thing.

  31. HeatherK

    I love how things find you at just the right time. Like this post. And that little shop update new in my inbox. thank you.

  32. Heather B.

    I have to agree with you on the ‘get a life’ bit. I’ve been telling people – including myself – that for days. Especially those who take work or EVERYTHING too seriously. Only trouble is that I have a hard time taking my own advice. Must work on that.

  33. Charmaine

    Thank you! I’ve been reading this a couple of times throughout the day when I needed it most. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Can’t say that enough!

  34. Puanani

    Always perfect timing. I have been struggling with walking away from a job that was making me so unhappy. I realized, I did have a choice. My choices are mine, there are still loose ends and I am not sure of my next step, but my choices are mine. My will to live, to awake to each day, to see the bright light instead of the darkness, it is and always has been, in my hands.

  35. alicia

    Andrea
    Thank you. Truly for all the times you speak the things that I need to hear. Blessings

  36. Maya

    Wow! I needed to read this right now…perfect timing. Thank you.

  37. fussball

    Gute Arbeit hier! Gute Inhalte.

  38. Eyoeyqzj

    nD6y0n comment6 ,

  39. Eyoeyqzj

    nD6y0n comment6 ,

  40. Kelly

    great read. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did any one hear that some chinese hacker had hacked twitter yesterday again.

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