Autumn on the coast of British Columbia is, generally speaking, wet, blustery, and at times a punch to the gut from Mother Nature, reminding us that summer has come to an end. To be completely honest, I am a summer girl. I love the heat, the patio dinning, beach BBQ’s, and all things that go along with the footloose and fancy free season. This autumn however, has demonstrated just how the season between summer fun and Christmas can be a magical symphony of vibrant colors and delicious, crisp autumn air.

I have been lapping up the change of season happening beyond my window for several weeks. It has been a slow but stunning transition. When the first leaf turned red, I honestly thought the rain would follow fast on its heels. To my delight, autumn has been anything but rainy.

Yesterday was reminiscent of my younger years when as a family we would pile into the station wagon and go for a Sunday drive. We didn’t always have a destination, nor did we have an expectation of anything other than that which the drive provided.

My husband and I ventured out early yesterday morning. The sun was bright and promised a glorious day. We drove the back roads taking in farmers fields, sleepy farm animals, and the most amazing landscape of color every way my eyes turned.

The local mountains, rich with a jumble of shapes and colors, suddenly had depth to their towering masses. Even the berry fields have tinted themselves a festive cranberry color in celebration of the season. If you are lucky enough (and thankfully we are) to live near the ocean, the contrast of the blue water against a fireworks display of autumn is a sight one is not easy to forget.

Yes, autumn is certainly giving us a show this year and I am truly grateful for the opportunity to experience it.

Today, thankful thoughts are at the forefront of my mind. It is, after all, Thanksgiving Monday in Canada. Today, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media will be littered with gratitude filled thoughts. This of course, is a very good thing. Most certainly it is a trend I would like to see more of.

My  belief is, that which you focus on is equal to that which you experience. This belief is the reason I guide my thoughts daily through meditation, gratitude exercises and such. If we only ever have control over how we perceive and react to the world beyond our own minds, then surely we can find a little time each day to take care of those thoughts. 

Several of my previous posts have focused on mindfulness, seventy three of them to be precise. You can read more of my “mindful” posts here. Mindfulness is not merely a state of mind, but also an active, doing, sort of approach to life. It involves being aware of our surroundings just as much as it involves being centered and grounded in our own peacefulness. Mindfulness asks us to be present in the moment and have gratitude for whatever that present happens to be.

Being authentic sounds easy enough. I mean how difficult is it to be the real version of yourself? You, after all, are already perfect for the job of being you. You’ve been training for it your entire life, evolving, growing, shifting. No one can tell you, “you are doing “you” wrong”. Being you, being authentic, is a key element to experiencing your life’s joys, successes, and opportunities.

Can you imagine living your life by way of another person’s expectations? What if your family wants you to be one thing, your boss wants you to be something else, and your best friend expects yet another version? Exhaustion would hit you before you even put your feet on the floor each morning.

Here is the kicker….in the above example, you would be behaving as if you knew precisely how those individuals expect you to be. But, you never truly know another person’s thoughts, you would be making life choices based on what you interpreted someone else wanting from you. To me, that is the epitome of a hamster wheel on high speed.

So, how do you be authentic?

Love yourself first:

Give yourself permission to love yourself. If you do not see fit to love yourself, just think of how much more difficult you are making it for others to love you. When you love yourself, you tell yourself good stories about who you are. You don’t let negative self talk derail the good qualities you carry with you. Nobody is perfect, but we are all worthy of love. Start with you and watch it grow.

For more information on how to love yourself first check out my I Am Love blog post.

Do what you love:

How many people do you know that are living a life that doesn’t resonate with them? Whether it is a job or another area of your life, doing what you love is a direct route to being authentic. Just to be clear, doing what you love doesn’t mean you neglect responsibilities. I don’t exactly enjoy taking out the garbage, but if I didn’t take out the garbage the ramifications most certainly wouldn’t make me feel more authentic.

I have a 70/30 rule (you can check out the blog post here). In a nutshell the rule states if you are enjoying or for our purposes here, are being authentic for 70% of your day to day activities, the other 30% isn’t nearly as distracting. This rule allows you to focus the majority of your life on things that you love and the rest, well, it just kind of takes care of itself as you work your way through your day.

Give of yourself:

Being authentic isn’t a solitary path in life. As humans, we seek out communion with others. To be authentic, it is important to find a way to give of yourself to others. These acts of giving should not come from a place of obligation, but instead from a place of true desire to share with others that which you enjoy.

Random acts of kindness remain at the top of my list for a direct route to feeling fulfilled. If you ever find yourself in a slump, get up immediately and go and do or say something kind to another individual. You will magically change two lives in one moment.

An authentic life:

I do my best to live an authentic life. Seldom does a day go by where I don’t show myself love and kindness. I love what I do and have gratitude for the opportunity to work from home as a writer each and every day. Giving of myself is a natural part of life for me. Sometimes it is through volunteer work other times it is with heartfelt connections with others in all kinds of otherwise mundane situations.

Recently, in anticipation of the release of Stealing Mr. Smith, I offered a giveaway. I had so much fun with the giveaway and it reminded me just how much I enjoy sharing books with others. Seldom does a book remain on my shelf once I’ve read it. I am always excited to give it away to family and friends and share the joy of the story that I found within its pages.

So, starting this October, I am excited to announce that I will be offering a monthly giveaway for books that I have enjoyed. I can’t wait to share them with you. Sign up for my newsletter or follow me on social media to find out how to enter the monthly giveaway.

Don’t forget… Stealing Mr. Smith releases on September 25th.

Priorities are those items in life that we put above others. Priorities should and will shift as we navigate the waters of our life. In the early years when my son was a toddler, he was my priority. He was my focus and I spent my days teaching, playing, and enjoying his young life experiences. Now that he is a young adult (how did that happen?!?!), my priority is not to ensure he gets enough sleep, eats well, and has outside time everyday.

Though my son’s wellbeing continues to be important to me, his day to day choices are out of my scope as they are now his responsibility. Different ages and stages in life elicit a varying list of priorities. I tend to reboot with every change in season. With autumn hot on our heels, I am reminded to update my beliefs on what is important to me in the coming months.

Autumn’s Priorities #1

Meditate daily. I love to meditate. I am well versed in the benefits of meditation and I experience first hand how amazing it feels to begin each day with hope and love in my heart.

In fact, I am delighted with a special mediation I experienced just a couple of days ago. There I was sitting on a cliff above the water’s edge. The ocean waves crashing below me. The wind gently kissing my face. The morning birds calling to one another in song.  With out the rhythm of music or the guidance of thought, just me, my breath, and the sounds of nature, I went deep into a restorative state of meditation.

It would seem likely that with a recent experience such as the one described above, I would leap right out of bed each morning and put meditation first on my to do list every day. Priorities can be challenging. They can argue, cajole, and try to convince you to do them later. I noticed this morning that my priority of mediation tried some of those tricks, listing off all the other important tasks that needed doing.

In order to stay true to my priorities, I need to silence the voice of all other things and focus on taking care of the things that are important to me first. This is one reason why I keep my priority list to a small number. I fully believe I can do anything I want to do in this world, I just can’t do all of them at the same time.

Autumn’s Priorities #2

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