“Did You Enjoy Your Meal?”

No, I hadn’t…even though it had been as delicious as ever!  Confused by this realization, I was relieved when the waitress was beckoned by the next table. My next thought really stunned me.  I hadn’t actually enjoyed a meal in a long time; I’d merely eaten whenever the clock said it was meal time. Having been blessed with access to an abundance of delicious food, I’d grown numb.

A few days later, I happened upon the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.  I’m overweight like most Americans, but quite healthy, so this was not the sort of documentary I’d ordinarily watch.  Divinely inspired (Aren’t all transformational acts?), I watched and wondered: what if I juiced for a few days to detox my body and then explored a new relationship with food?  I was shocked to see that I only had one meeting scheduled at a restaurant the entire week; this galvanized my plan.

After the lethargy and caffeine headache my first day of juicing (micronutrient organic juice blend with added bee pollen and lots of water with apple cider vinegar) passed, I felt amazing all week!  I had energy to spare despite cutting my caloric intake more than in half!  I won’t say I was ready for the weight room at the gym, but I eagerly parked along the shady edges of hot parking lots and walked with extra bounce in my stride to my meetings and classes, up and down stairs instead of using elevators.  I had more clarity of thought in work and study and more peace in prayerful meditation than ever!

Never actually hungry, what I missed most was the rich myriad of tastes I had taken for granted.   I’ll never forget that first bite of freshly made guacamole!  I savored it on my tongue and recognized each spice and vegetable individually while ecstatic over the result of their blend.  The smallest amount of food eaten in this manner indulged and satisfied me.  Yes!  I enjoyed my meal!  This continues today.

The challenging epidemic of obesity facing our nation is complex.  We throw lots of money into products and gimmicks in dazed and frustrated confusion.  Yet for some of us, we have developed an unhealthy relationship with food and don’t understand or examine what we eat, why we eat, or the lifestyle that drives our unhealthy habits.  Fasting not only helps us appreciate foods and our abundance of them, it helps us become hypersensitive to what, why, and how we eat, and make permanent lifestyle changes.

I have developed a much more loving and grateful relationship with my body and the foods I eat. Beyond improving my weight and helping to ward off cancer, diabetes, and increase my lifespan, I’ve made great advances in aligning mind, body, and spirit.  I will continue juicing at least one meal a day, and en-joy-ing every bite of food until my next fast.  ENJOY your meal, my friends!

Yours in this Journey,

Sheryl Sitts, Founder & CIO (Chief Inspirational Officer)

Journey of Possibilities

Divinely Inspired by Nature

You Can’t Take It With You…Or Can You?

Don Henley sang that there are no hearses with luggage racks.  This is true, yet don’t we all forget, ignore, or deny this?  Caught up in our own perpetual busyness, we become consumed with pursuing some modern day vision of success as defined by family, friends, the media, our community, etc.  We focus on earning enough money to buy this or keep that, dressing to mimic or please whomever, being accepted by this or that crowd, or going here and there to impress heaven-only-knows-who.  We smile on the outside while staying busy enough to ignore the emptiness and lack of fulfillment on the inside. We tell ourselves we’ll be happy one day on this road despite ”wrong way’ signs everywhere.  Is it more tragic to never slow down enough to realize what truly fulfills us, or to know and ignore it?

We all know we can’t any of this ‘stuff” with us, and we wouldn’t need it if we could.  At some point we also realize that we can’t take our parents or children or true love or family and friends with us either.  (Sometimes, we recognize this most fully if/when they leave us here first.)  In truth, we will not have any attachment from this world after our final breath. However, that does not mean we don’t take anything with us when we go.

We of faith believe our souls continue beyond death.  That suggests our spiritual journey is the most important and only permanent aspect of this life.  Discovering our own unique and Divine Purpose, that passion and gift placed deep within our heart and mind, is the only action we need concern ourselves with pursuing despite circumstances or excuses.  How ironic that this requires internal rather than external busyness.  Yet only when we find and fulfill this most genuine aspect of ourselves will we find our deepest joy and create the one thing we truly can take with us when we go: a Spirit both honored and fulfilled.

Yours in this Journey of Possibilities,

Sheryl Sitts, Founder & CIO (Chief Inspirational Officer)

Shattering Our Illusions

Let’s play a quick mind game.  Think of a situation in your life right now that you would most like to resolve.  It doesn’t matter whether it is a relationship or circumstance and whether it is business or personal.  Have you got one clearly in your mind?  Good.  Now think about all the various ways you’ve considered that situation might be resolved.  Don’t limit it to what is feasible, or what you think is most likely.  Anything you’ve considered may be a solution, however desirable or dreadful, is fair game here.  Are you still with me?  Great!  Now I invite you to recognize that God has solutions we have never and would never consider.  God has solutions that we can’t even conceive of existing in our limited capacity, no matter our degree of intelligence and spirituality.  We call these miracles.

The better I become at letting go and letting God have every aspect of my life, the more miracles appear.  I have most recently begun to truly release some childhood issues I’ve been actively working on for years.  These include messages like, “You know there’s no money for things like that”, “take what you can when you can because it may not be there later”, “we can’t take too many risks because that’s just being foolish”, and so on.  When my Spirit moves me, instead of internally debating about it, I’ve begun taking bigger risks and giving my fear to God.  When it arises, I consciously breathe in Faith and breathe out fear.  I breathe in Adventure and breathe out boredom.  I breathe in God and breathe out control. And you know what?  I am allowing God to manifest miracles in my life that I was unconsciously blocking with all of that fear and control!!!

If we allow, God will eagerly shatter all of our illusions about what is Possible in every aspect of our life!  The best we can imagine still diminishes all that is possible in God’s Imagination.   Think again of that problem that is heaviest on your heart.  Now breathe in faith, breathe out doubt.  Breathe in God and breathe out control.  Breathe in Love and breathe out fear.  Breathe in Divine Healing and breathe out sickness.  Breathe in Abundance and breathe out lack.  Breathe in Miracles and breathe out worries.  Pray for the answer and then get/stay out of the way to allow Divine Possibility.  Please let me know how this works for you.

Sheryl Sitts
Your Founder & CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer)
Journey of Possibilities

A ‘Gratitude Attitude’ Adjustment

Laid off recently like many others in this challenging economy, I find myself transitioning from being gainfully other-employed to being gainfully self-employed.  I notice some things changing within me as I experience this.   One powerful shift has been my degree of gratitude.

Every morning for the past many months, I have purposefully acknowledged all that I am grateful for in my life.  My prayers generally included my health, my friends and family, and a job I love making a difference for others.  The list went on, but typically with that degree of recognition.

While I still give thanks in gratitude each morning, I find my degree of focus changing.  Whereas I previously ended my prayer and would not resume until that night or the next morning, I now give thanks often throughout each day.  I give thanks when I realize I can buy food.  I give thanks that I can fill up my car with gasoline.  I give thanks when I have enough to cover the unexpected incidents that always occur.  I frequently give heartfelt thanks and find myself living closer to my Source every day.   I also give thanks for that, as I believe this is how we are meant to live.

How close have you been living to the Divine throughout each day?  Thankfully, we don’t have to wait for a significant event to cause this shift within us.  We can allow the shift itself to be that significant event and begin to immediately reap the rewards that can only come from living a spiritually inspired life.

Sheryl Sitts, CIO (Chief Inspirational Officer) for Journey of Possibilities

Entrepreneurial Focus

As entrepreneurs and small business owners, it is easy for us to want to cast a broader net to attract more clients and grow our business. This is particularly true during challenging economic times or slower seasons.  However, this is the worst mistake we could make.

Each of us brings to our work the sum total of our education, life experiences, insights, personality, and spirit. These things make our product or service uniquely different from every other. We believe so deeply in what we provide to the marketplace, our unique contribution, that we were inspired to go into business for ourselves.

When we dilute this by generalizing our products and services or our customer base, we have removed value from our product or service and ourselves.  Why would anyone buy what we have to sell then?  We’re are no longer distinctive and we’ve taken away the advantage.  We have sold out.

Instead, these are the times that we need entrepreneurial focus!  Let these times remind us to get very clear about our distinct contribution to the world.  We need to be able to state clearly and succinctly what sets us apart from everyone else. Then we can determine who will best benefit from exactly what we have to offer…who can we best help?  Only when we identify those individuals and set about developing the best possible relationships for their benefit will we find sustainable, rewarding success.

Sheryl Sitts
Founder & CIO (Chief Inspirational Officer)
Journey of Possibilities

The Abandoned House

Today I went walking and found myself at an abandoned house I became aware of recently. I have kept this discovery quiet so I could return privately to explore and wonder at how someone could desert a place so obviously once treasured. It doesn’t take long to recognize that this intriguing place is owned by a person who had great hopes and dreams that were suddenly discarded. It is as if a year or two ago the owner simply closed the blinds and doors, walked away, and forgot.

There is too much of everything in this house. Food once meant to nourish now sits unrecognizable and waits to be removed. Signs everywhere suggest generations of diversity, hardship, determination, and love around this house. Images of raising children and having fun…framed symbols of graduations, marriages, births…broken picture frames…a wedding album torn in two…obituary clippings. This house tells a rich story of love and loss without uttering a word.

Then I found it! In the corner there was a light. When I explored further, I discovered a prism reflecting the sun’s rays from a crack in the blinds. This prism sent light shining brilliantly and symbolically upward and I took this as my sign.

You see I abandoned this house when the pain became too strong. This house is my body. I have opened the door to awareness and begun regularly bringing curiosity, love, and spiritual Light to the darkness I find inside. I will continue the diligent process of filling this house with hope, love, and Light. I will work hard to carefully examine all that I find here and consciously choose what to keep and what to discard. I am once again home in my body and will not abandon it until another Light beckons.