Month: July 2016

Humans crave connection, to be heard, to be understood. What we really want, what we need, is to know someone else will go to the nines for us, will throw down, will show up. This kind of connection isn’t easy to find.

I am speaking to something greater than mere lovers, and something beyond mere blood ties. While some are blessed enough to find their people among family members or in a lover, not all are so fortunate. Indeed, not all are so fortunate to find their people at all.

I am speaking to those rare human bonds of Soul-level connection. They’re the people who come along and change you as a person – for the better. The people who you lose track of time with, who make you laugh, who get your inner-weird, who celebrate (and often share, or at least happily tolerate) your idiosyncrasies.

Beyond the joy your people bring, they remember not just your birthday, but the anniversary-dates of when you lost loves ones. They hold your hand and wipe both your figurative and literal tears.

You can tell when you’re with a person who is “your people,” because your vibration will be elevated and you’ll feel more alive. It’s a connection that ignites that spark of life. It Sources you.

I’ve been blessed to have found a few of “my people” over the years. I call these people my Soul Tribe and my Soul Family. I consider it a blessing that I can count these people on more than one hand, though it is still less than two.

A sage adage claims that people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Some of my Soul Tribe were lovers or friends who were simply not meant for a lifetime. This doesn’t mean the connection was not real, or that the connection was not important.

Lack of longevity does not call into question the validity of someone’s contribution to your life, or yours to theirs. Give gratitude for all that was brought into your life and honor what once was.

When people you’re really connected with exit your life, trust that the Universe will guide you to new people, to members of your Soul Family you have not yet met. Hold yourself open for new connections. Remember that friendships can be forged in the most unusual ways, in the most unlikely places, between the most implausible of comrades.

Find your people, because each of them completes a part of you, and you a part of them.

“I love us!”

– Jenni & Amy’s Declaration

“You’re my person.”

– Grey’s Anatomy, Meredith & Christina’s Motto 

“My dad said to me growing up:

‘When all is said and done, if you can count all your true friends on one hand, you’re a lucky man.”

– Josh Charles

written by Jenni

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A toast to those going against the grain!

Society’s cookie-cutter approach to the Stages of Life are a one-sized fits all solution that may not even fit most. Marriage isn’t for everyone. The predictable, stable 9 to 5 may not add up to happiness. Raising healthy, well-adjusted children certainly isn’t a task everyone is equipped for. Assembly line K-12, plus 4-years, doesn’t address the needs or abilities of all.

The people who are not the shape of “one size fits all” are not celebrated. In fact, I argue they are feared. Further, people trying to forge their own path are met with resistance, judgment, naysayers — everything that isn’t support. Only if/when a rebel becomes wildly successful does the support and celebration follow. It is easy to applaud J.K Rowling’s $1 billion dollar net worth and status as the world’s richest author. But how easy is it to applaud the unemployed, single-mother drafting a novel by hand in an Edinburgh tea & coffee house?

The road less traveled may not have much traffic, but it isn’t paved. Journeying into the unknown is scary, especially sans support.

People tend to cling to the cookie-cutter ideals, and they want others to do the same. It makes them uncomfortable when someone doesn’t want to conform. As if the person going against the grain calls their own choices into question. The brave soul who forges their own path shows the “what could be,” and maybe people are afraid to take a look at that.

Study after study of elderly people nearing death teach us that the most common regret people have at the end of life is that they did not live the life they wanted to live, but instead lived the life they thought they “should” live, the life they thought others expected of them.

“To thine own self be true…”

– William Shakespeare

To those who examined the choices, who know what makes their heart sing, who discovered that they are the “all” for the “one-size,” more power to you! You’re not a cookie-cutter conformists. I celebrate you, your white picket fence, 2.5 children, and employer-matched 401(k).

To those brave souls enduring those first shaky steps on the road less traveled — I celebrate you! To those round pegs who boldly rejected the square holes, and have found joy and success (however you define success) — I celebrate you!

To the Kindred Spirits answering the call of the road less traveled — I raise a glass to you!

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

– Apple’s “Here’s To The Crazy Ones” Ad Campaign, Steve Jobs

“A guy walks up to me and asks, ‘what’s punk?’ So I kick over a garbage can and say, ‘that’s punk!’ So he kicks over the garbage can and says, “that’s punk?’

and I say, ‘no, that’s trendy!”

– Billie Joe Armstrong

written by Jenni

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