The Way to a Balanced and Stress-Free Life  consists of seven simple steps that will enable you to live a life that is stress-free and balanced. One of the steps is not be around energy thieves, which I have discussed before. But yesterday as my husband and I celebrated our thirty-third wedding anniversary, (yes, that’s thirty-three years of marriage to the same man) I thought about all the people I know who have not enjoyed a “marriage of true minds.” They change partners like I change cars, and their lives are stressed. They spend so much time trying to undo the marriage, then they go out and find the same kind of person, and repeat the cycle all over. Several people who work for me have been married five and six times!!!! One person has had restraining orders placed against her husband who hits her, then revoked. There is so much trauma-drama in this person’s life that she has little energy left.  Now I do believe there are times that divorce is healthy for a couple who have grown toxic to each other over time, I believe that many people do not put the energy needed to create a healthy marriage. Marriage, like any relationship, needs to be nurtured and developed. I feel it is a blessing to spend your life with a person who knows and loves you for who you are–and it’s much less stressful than constantly being on the hunt!

This is earth school. If we fail the lessons set out to us by our higher self, they will present themselves again, and again, following us into the next life if we do not learn. This is a good time to sit back and examine your life and see how many times the same lesson surfaced. I know there are times when I have been stubborn and failed to learn the lesson, so I have to repeat! The goal in this lifetime is to complete our lessons and evolve into a more spiritual person. But life is stressful, that is why the seven steps of The Way were dictated to me. Following these seven steps will help you evolve into a stress-free, loving, and compassionate person so you can life a full life. Today is a holiday for many of us, a good time to invest our energies into what is important and to give thanks to the men and women who have faithfully served our country and gave the ultimate sacrifice. Today give thanks that you live in a wonderful country where opportunities are everywhere. Today do not listen to the talking heads and political hacks, but listen to the small voice inside and give thanks.

I’ve always liked the wisdom of Joseph Campbell and especially this saying: “When you follow your bliss, doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors.” First one has to define what their bliss is. I’ve found that my bliss has changed as I’ve traveled through this journey called my life.  Things I enjoyed twenty years ago I don’t necessarily enjoy now, or I’ve outgrown them. (One of the steps of The Way is to let go.) Also, it’s easy to get side-tracked off our path. Life throws challenges at us.  But following the seven steps of The Way has helped me focus on my bliss and create a stress-free life. I have learned that the moment I stop saying “if” and start saying “when” is the moment my dreams become a reality.  Something has shifted, awakened in my soul and I am staring at life with fresh eyes. All around me I see opportunity and I will not let others skepticism influence me. So, today I am going to follow my bliss. I will finish that chapter, work in my art journal, plant a few flowers, and go to my grandson’s and help build a fort. We all need a fort to escape to, to play and create in.  Life doesn’t get any better than this!

Aldous Huxley once said, “There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving and that’s your own self.” This statement could not be more true for we only have control over ourselves, and if I can get more specific, our thoughts. Do you long for a stress-free life? Do you desire good health, more energy, creativity, peace of mind, and a connection to the Divine? Within the pages of my upcoming book you will learn how to live your life with less  tension and make a contribution to yourself and to the world by following seven simple steps. The Way will guide you through these steps and help you transform your life. Once you have achieved this, it will automatically travel to those around you.

One of the main tenets of The Way is self-reliance, which is important in living a stress-free life. I have found living this journey that is my current life that I can not rely on anything or anyone outside my self to direct my decisions. I am the master, the captain of my soul. While there are wise souls I meet on this profound journey and wisdom they impart, it is I who is responsible for my life. The buck stops with me! I have to be careful when I listen to advice and use discernment in applying others advice it to my own life. It is amazing to listen as people blame everyone but themselves instead of taking responsibility and action to correct a problem. I just finished two days of meetings–sitting in a packed room for eight hours. Now, this is not something I like to do.  If you don’t try new ways and embrace change you will wither and die. I find meetings boring, but it is something that, for the moment, I have to do. Sitting there in that room forced me to live in the moment, one of the steps that is the hardest for me, but I was forced to listen and observe.  I have grown on this journey. No longer do I try and convince people to try other ways.  After listening, I give advice once. If they don’t want to listen or make excuses to why they can’t change the behavior or business practice I release it and go on. I slept well last night. I did not misuse my energy. I tried, but I can not force others to change because they must be the change they wish to see in their lives.

For many women who were raised in the fifties and sixties (like myself) we were taught to bend our wills to others, to always be the good girls, to let others “eat first and take the leftovers”. Then the revolution of the seventies occurred, and we burned our bras and changed our consciousness. Well, not all of us did, which brings me to the third step of The Way. In order to live stress-free and a full life, we need to be aware of energy thieves. These are people who steal your energy for their own use.  Sometimes I like to think of them as vampires. They suck our energy, but they feel better and leave us depleted–with a headache or a stomach ache. Now, take a step back and examine your own life because I know you have some of those people in your life. We all do. It is important in creating a stress-free life that we choose not to be around these negative and manipulative people and we learn the art of gracefully saying, “No.” I’m giving you permission to say no. It’s okay. The world will not crumble around you. God will not strike you down. As for us “good little Catholic girls” we will still get to heaven. I am lucky. I’ve had the ability to see people’s energy (auras) for years and when I see someone with darkness around them I go the other way.  Sometimes if the energy’s really dark I run!  If you have not developed your sight of energy yet, I know you can feel other’s energies. We all can. Start using this gift and you will discover that the negative and manipulative people will drop from your life because you will not be giving them what they need to survive.

Day 2 of my experiment, and it happened to fall on my art day. Since I live up in the mountains, on these days it is rare that I see a living soul, and this makes it easier to follow The Way because there are no distractions, with the exception of my puppy who epitomizes the balance and stress-free living that I aspire to. One of the hardest things to do is live in the moment. We have been trained since birth to lament the past and worry about the future. So, yesterday I did not listen to any news and focused on my writing and art. The day passed blissfully and I accomplished quite a lot. I followed Lulu’s suggestion of when to stretch, when to eat, and when to take a nap. When the sun came out, we sat in its rays and soaked up its warmth. I had no worries, no concerns. I have had a dog since we married, over thirty-two years ago, and I can’t imagine not having one in my life.  When the world gets crazy, all I have to do is look into her brown eyes and remember that all that there is this moment. Blessings for a beautiful day.

This is the first day of The Way blog, or how to live a balanced and stress-free life. Last year I had written a book called The Way to help a friend with his ideas. But life got in the way, oh, the pun, and even though the book was published and many people bought the book, the project did not work out. But I really liked my story, especially Wanda McBroom the wise woman who resides in all of us, so I prayed for a way to revise the book so I could take this book where I think it needs to go. In the night, she came to me with the seven steps to balance and stress-free living. I meditated on these steps, discussed them with a wise friend, and rewrote the book. It will be released later this spring.

In the book, which is written as a novel and has workbook pages, the reader follows the lives of three women who  have endured horrific circumstances and are in search of balance and stress-free living. The Way helped them achieve their goals.

I have decided to “practice what I preached” and implement these steps into my own life. I had written in my journal for years, which many times seemed like “bitch” sessions, followed and taught “The Artist’s Way”. There is no time line on this blog, just my growth.

You can follow me as I struggle to live a balance, stress-free life in the midst of owning and operating an RV dealership, husband, children and grandchildren, and my labradoodle, Lulu. I hope you learn from my struggles.