Month: November 2016

Dark Closets

Our minds have dark closets, with scary, sad moments locked inside. We can huddle outside the door, afraid to open up. We can tell ourselves we “can’t go there” because we are Afraid of the Dark, and the pain, and the monsters lurking inside. We can find people that agree with us. “Oh NO! We can’t go THERE! It is too dark!”

But here is Good News! When we OPEN the door to a dark closet, we can just TURN ON the LIGHT! Darkness is banished where light is shining. Try it and see. Light always wins. We don’t FIGHT darkness. We just turn on light. Pretty simple stuff.

The same is true of panic, depression & mental illness. It is exhausting to FIGHT depression. It is much easier to let in a little light. Then more and more light.
Yes, we can choose struggle, and believe “I’m not READY to see what is inside.” But why suffer?

Because when the light comes on, we see clearly – NO Monsters! Just a bunch of stuff. Beliefs. Stories we tell ourselves. Some good, some not.

WE CHOOSE. Sort it out.
KEEP the good stuff – good memories, useful beliefs, helpful thoughts.
TOSS out the worn out stuff, ragged, too small… Old limiting beliefs we wore when we were three years old, or picked up as a teenager. If it doesn’t fit, isn’t useful, or isn’t true, Let it Go!
Look for the old scary/sad stories we used to tell ourselves. That we were too little. And all alone. That no one cared. That nothing can change… We all have MANY old stories.

Today, with the light ON, we can look at our stories and CHOOSE.
KEEP the Truth – how strong we are, how much we have learned, that we are deeply loved, and our future is so bright.

And let’s bag up the worn out beliefs, and get rid of them. They have no place in our minds anymore.

Joy Principle: This is MY mind. I shine Light in all my dark places, and choose my thoughts. I keep only true, loving, useful thoughts that bring me peace & Joy.

Love,
Felicia
Post #13 Nov 28, 2016

Surprise

Your Journey of You is like Archeology. You don’t use a bulldozer to rip up your life and uncover your true self. You patiently brush off the layers of NOT YOU. And then, sure enough, sooner or later, there you are! Like a diamond in the dirt.

But what happens if you get surprised by what you find? That happened to me yesterday. I uncovered a part of me that I didn’t expect. It was scary at first… like my whole identity fell off. Who I knew myself to be was NOT ME. The person I THOUGHT was me is just another layer – a very crusted stuck-on layer of dirt.
And the ME underneath? My real self is very much like my Dad.

Let me explain. In my old story, to “be like my Dad” was a horrible curse. I left home at age 18, thinking that my folks were all nuts, and I sure didn’t want to be like them! I spent the rest of my life being as UNLIKE my family as I possibly could. I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. But I lost myself in the process.

Then I went on a Journey to remember who I am.

I began to suspect last year that I was (shudder) “like my Dad.” The very thought shook me like a rumbling earthquake. The summer evening I first had the thought, I was awake most of the night. I went for a walk in at midnight, and started singing out loud every song I remembered my Dad used to sing. I laughed and cried as I remembered his JOY of living, his generous heart, his Good Samaritan acts of kindness, funny stories, how much I love him.

As the buried memories came pouring out. I thought, “Wow, I am like that amazing man, Vinnie Lategano.” That night, a funny, happy me started waking up and peeking out.

Since then, I brushed off many layers of old beliefs, silence and shame. The Real Me began to show up. That’s the Me that is a Limitless Gladiator, dances ballet, makes funny videos and sings like Jimmy Durante.

But yesterday, another big chunk of NOT ME fell off. A layer of protection and defense and hiding cracked apart and fell off like old clay. And in that moment, I was STUNNED! For all these years, I thought I WAS organized, orderly, on time, detail oriented, efficient and precise.

Yesterday, I saw that “Organized Felicia” was my elaborate defense and very successful strategy. And underneath that is a mind that would be labeled ADHD, if I was in the school system today. My mind is bursting with a million ideas, and is so easily distracted that I would float away like a helium balloon without my lists, charts, schedules, and sticky notes to anchor me to earth.

I was truly shocked. And for a day I wondered, do I REALLY want to unleash the Real Me? What ELSE will I learn? Is it SAFE to let the Real Felicia loose?

Life with my family was chaotic, full of drama, cars breaking down, tears and fears, soaring highs and deadly lows, even mental illness, sorrow, hospitals… Do I want to risk THAT to find the Real Me? Can I do that?

The answer from my heart is YES. No matter what. I love and accept myself. I have gained the tools to live and to thrive. I have support. I am not alone anymore. This time, when I open the dark closets, I have NEW beliefs in place of the old beliefs about silence, shame and needing to hide.

Just in time, I decided to love and accept my family just as they are. I see the greatness in them. I see their magnificent capacity to love, their gifts and talents. My healing came just in time, as I now see that I never left my family after all. That I AM like them. And I can love myself.
Or perhaps it is the other way around. I could not see myself until I could love my family.

JOY Principle: I love and accept ALL people, and that includes me. The Real Me brings Joy to my life.

Love, Felicia

Post #11 23 Nov 2016

Walking to Freedom


Post #10     At the Limitless event in Provo Utah, we spent 3 days learning how our minds have great power. With our beliefs, WE DEFINE what we can and cannot do. Don’t like what we have? We can choose new beliefs that help us grow.

On Day 2, we were invited to walk barefoot on broken glass.  In that dramatic moment, when I declared “I Am Limitless!”  I vowed to do WHATEVER it takes to be really me, break every chain, replace every limiting belief, and create a future of freedom. The catch is, Freedom does not come automatically. Freedom is a choice.

Why choose freedom? Because this is MY Life. I am the one who places limits on what I can do or be. Only I can remove them. It is not the job of government. No president, no employer can give me freedom. No law can be passed . No police can enforce it. No court judge can set me free from the slavery of my own beliefs. Only I can say I Am Limitless. Only I can believe it. And I must do my own work to make it so. It happens moment by moment, day by day.

That’s the good news. And the bad news. Each person chooses for himself. All over the world, throughout human history, it has always been so. I have no time to complain about politics, winners and losers, fair or unfair. I have work to do. I Am Limitless.

Joy Principle: Only I can choose for myself. I choose to be my greatest self. I choose to love and accept myself and others as we really are. With that, I choose Joy.

Love, Felicia
Post #10
November 23, 2016

Brian and Felicia Nagamatsu

Felicia introducing Brian at Your Journey Of You.  Brian has very different talents from Felicia. He is an engineer and works on creating the videos and website.  You may find out more about Brian by clicking on the tab labeled Brian’s Place.   Brian and Felicia have discovered that in a marriage when you combine the talents of the two spouses you can create a powerful team in reaching towards a common goal.   Appreciate the different talent that your spouse brings to your marriage.  Comment by Brian

Roses Planting JOY

Like replacing old plants we can remove them and plant new and exciting thoughts into our life. I invite you to study your life and to choose to bring something new that brings JOY into your life. Today, I invite you to try bringing something new and exciting into your life! I know that you can do it!  Brian

Super Moon

Day 28 of 90     As I looked at the Super Moon today, I was thinking of You. How you, and I and everyone on earth can look up and see the same moon. We are scattered all over the globe, yet we are so connected.

In the video, I sing you a love song – Jimmy Durante’s theme song I’ll Be Seeing You. Jimmy sang of people who were far apart. Like you and me.

Well, it may SEEM like we are far apart – that distance and time zones come between us. But it isn’t true. We are one people. One heart beating. If you are quiet, you can hear the earth singing one song.

Scientists tell us that we are all literally connected, in some amazing way. If you are happy, it ripples out into the world. If you are in pain, it is my pain, too. When cousin Ric Colonna was in the ICU, I could feel it in my world. Just like he could feel the strength of our love and prayers. It’s real.

So today, as I look up at the moon, I think of you. All the funny moments, the beautiful places we’ve been, the sunny days, the work we did together. I treasure those, and along with that, I cherish how strong and good you are in the hard times. When we have to pull it together. Like when we gather to hear the doctors’ news and what it means for our future. Or last week, when we got the call that our friend Jane McGarvey died suddenly. How you gathered then, and sang, and wept. That’s part of my journey, too.

Because the Thanksgiving feasts, birthday parties and dance recitals are wonderful. But it is the love that matters. Real love heals all things, endures all things, believes all things, hopes all things, breaks every chain, and ALWAYS wins in the end.

JOY Principle – Good times or bad, it’s our Journey of Love. We are in it together. And I count it all Joy.

Let It Go!



Day 26 of 90 Gathering some stuff to donate to charity, I bagged up used clothing and household items that we don’t need anymore. I started thinking… It’s the same with limiting beliefs. There are a BUNCH of old limiting beliefs that I don’t need anymore. I’ve had them for years. They are all worn out. These beliefs don’t fit me anymore. Beliefs like “I’m not good enough… That’s too big for me. I can’t do it… It’s all their fault.” And my personal bugaboo, “I better shut up. If I say it, I might hurt someone’s FEELINGS!”

Well, it’s time for me to let those beliefs go, like worn out old clothes. Time to put on some new beliefs. “Yes, I can do hard things. I can speak up. I can be really ME, and stop hiding.”

Funny, I found that people LIKE me, when I actually show up and be me. It moves me to tears, sometimes. When I take a chance, and let people inside my wall, I found there is so much love, it takes my breath away. I walk into church, look at a Facebook post, or turn on Skype and see YOU – the people I love so much. Thank you for sharing the Journey of life with me.

Hey, what if we all rummaged around in our closets, found some old beliefs we don’t need anymore. We could bag them up and take them away. You know the ones. We could get some shiny new beliefs. Like “We are ALL different, and that’s FUN!” and “I love you!” Those are two of my favorites. 🙂 What are YOUR favorites?

Joy Principle: I remove old limiting beliefs from my mind, Let it Go, and WALK AWAY. I embrace new beliefs that work much better. Words of life, hope & love. Words that lift and heal. I choose JOY, every day. And it is so.