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I woke this morning inspired for walking. 

Where I usually bring some tunes to rock to or a cd to hang out with my buddies Wayne, Deepak or Tony, today I was clear, I only wanted to hear the morning. It is overcast and there is a breeze. The kind of morning that has that hint of going back to school. Picking mums and snap dragons from the garden for teachers, dew on the grass.

The cicadas sound a constant trill, different from the waves of clacking that signals mid- day, in morning they sound more like the orchestra warming up.  Strings tuning. This morning has me overwhelmed with the joy of life and the beauty of my neighborhood. 

Majestic houses set back into wooded yards, their inhabitants still asleep.  I walk under the canopy of trees that cover the red cobbled road. It is dark under here, peaceful.

What adventures will today bring? 

All will be revealed. But for now, I will rest with the morning.

Good morning to you.

Joelle

Perfection!  I cannot go through a week of coaching without some talk of perfectionism and the striving for bigger, better, more.  “When I finally get this straightened out, then I will be ok.” “If I could only get there, then life will be good.” “If I could just be that, then I would be lovable.”  

It breaks my heart every time because it is such a lie and it is such a habit we have as human beings to always be thinking that we should be something other than what we are.

This particularly hit home last week when someone very dear to me shared that she could not see someone loving her because they (possible suitors)  have every right to expect perfection and she was less than perfect.  You see, she has some bumps on her back from some moles that got removed and in her world, this put her into the “less than perfect” category.

Can you relate?  Maybe you don’t have bumps but…

Maybe you have a few extra pounds. Maybe you don’t make as much as so and so. Perhaps you have something in your past that in your mind makes you unworthy of good things or happiness or great love.

I was quick to share with her that in the world of perfect, Coach Joelle missed it on a lot of levels. Never mind that I had an entire finger cut off when I was 10, if you ever talk to Meave Drapak and what I did to her closet after a particularly rowdy party in high school, she will certainly agree with the statement “Joelle is not perfect!”

Sing it from the rooftops…

I, JOELLE PROCHERA AM NOT PERFECT!!! And none of this has anything to do with my worthiness for great things, happiness or love.

Not even one little bit. 

Besides!  Who holds the monopoly on perfection?  Who says what’s perfect and what’s less than perfect?

Read the entire article…….

The invitation:   I invite you to try on that you are already perfect just the way you are.  For even just one day, take on fully believing that every little bit of you is just the way it is supposed to be at this moment in time. Don’t worry, being perfect doesn’t mean you are done and there is nothing left to do.  Perfection does not mean there is no where to go from here, it just means you can go there with a lot more ease and joy and a lot less disappointment, sadness and self abuse. 

It means FREEDOM baby!!

Woohoo!

   I thanked a lemon today.  

I have taken on a new practice of freshly squeezing a lemon into a glass of warm water to start my morning.  It is supposed to be good for cleaning the liver and I figure cleansing the liver sounds like a pretty good idea, as far as good ideas go.

So I am squeezing the juice out of the lemon and this thought comes to me… “Thank you for giving me your life essence to cleanse and nurture my body.” Hmmm, that is a new thought.

I had recently reread the Body Ecology Diet ( a great book about restoring healthy balance in the body) and it said something about only eating fresh fruit and vegetables instead of canned because with the canned vegetables they have “lost their chi, their life essence.” In the moment when I was squeezing that lemon I had sudden clarity that this lemon had sacrificed its life essence for me and I felt it appropriate to express my gratitude.

Then I had the thought, what if I had the same level of reverence for every berry, every, leaf, every fish or animal that gave their life for my survival and I suddenly got it! I have heard people take that stand before but I never fully understood.

So I am taking on a new level or awareness and appreciation for this fabulous planet of life forms that gave their lives so I could have mine.

“Thank you lemon.”

love Joelle

Last night I went looking for an adventure and I found it. 

My dear friend Sheri decided to have a birthday celebration for herself ( happy bday Sheri) and the rest of us, whether we were celebrating this week or just sometime in the past year.  There were 5 of us and the evening started with dinner and wine at Sheri’s downtown condo and then took a casual walk down to the river front venue where we had tickets to see Sheryl Crow.

As I set out for the evening I created the intention of play and delight. After a day that involved some fear, some hormonal upsets and a couple tears, I was ready to really enjoy my evening.  As we entered the concert area we were immediately embraced by friends. It seems my girlfriends knew half the place so it was fun to see the excitement of unexpected meetings of old friends and acquaintances.  For me, I just took it all in.  I love the lightness in the air, the mill of the crowd as the opening act crooned in the outdoor venue. 

As I looked around at the people I was truly impacted by their beauty.  Everyone looked totally beautiful to me and I thought that I really must get out to do this more often. We grabbed our drinks and headed to our seats in the stands for the main act.  We had opted for bleacher seats so we did not have to try to peak through heads on the floor. 

Suddenly, a woman grabbed us, asked us how many of us there were.  She then said she had tickets for us but we could only have them on two conditions.

1) we had to stand for the concert

2) we had to stay to the end done and done! 

So we gave our new tickets to the usher who promptly escorted us up to the FRONT ROW CENTER STAGE where there were exactly five seats waiting for us.

What a night!! We danced, we sang our hearts out and I had tears running down my face for the first hour of the show.  Some of my earlier discomfort and fear was around performance and judgment.  It seems every time I take on a new adventure I get to fight through some concerns around self worth and approval ( yech!  Looking forward to kicking that habit!) and when I saw Sheryl singing her heart out, I thought… Sheryl has no room to wonder what we are thinking… her job is to sing and give us everything she has and each of us will take away what we take away. 

I was moved by her passion and her commitment to her craft and everyone in our group was completely inspired just to watch her. 

Thank you Sheryl. So this delightful turn of events is just one of many, it has become a very common occurrence for those close to me to be the person pulled on stage at a live event, escorted back stage to meet the celebrities or winning the grand prize in the raffle.   Life with intention is a true blast and I am grateful for the gift the universe delivered yesterday.

Onward and upward!

Joelle