When you give yourself the freedom to be exactly who you are, you have space.

When you allow yourself to take up space without having to explain yourself to anyone else, you have enough room to breathe and to be. You have the right to exist, and you know why you’re here.

You are here to learn who you are. This isn't anyone else's job, only you can do it. You have permission to make your own decisions without waiting for approval from anyone else, when you choose to be yourself.

On this first day of a new year and decade, I'm inspired to share one of my favorite quotes about the political act of optimism.

Being optimistic, especially in times of darkness and uncertainty, helps us evolve and grow. Conscious optimism is a vibration of energy to embrace in 2020.

Optimism is an act of the spirit, a conscious choice. Being optimistic doesn't mean that we don't face the reality of current events, it means we don't allow ourselves to be beaten down by those events. Instead, we do our work, we show up, we grow, give, love, heal, and forgive. Only in this way do we create consciously.

If you’ve been waiting until the time was right to reinvent yourself, what are you waiting for?

There has never been a more perfect time than now. If you’ve been waiting for permission to grow, consider announcing to yourself that the time is now. You don’t have to say anything to anyone else if you don’t want to. You don't have to make it nice and explain yourself and your changes. Just do them.

Sometimes people wait to take big steps until they’re certain that others won’t notice, or mind, or get upset that they are changing.

The most sought after and precious gifts you can give won’t cost you a dime.

You can’t buy them online or at the mall. What's more, these valuable gifts are available for you to give freely, anytime. You don't need to wait for a special occasion. One size fits all, and no matter who you give these gifts to, they are a good fit. There’s no worries about gift receipts, returns, or guessing whether your gift will be the right one.

And what’s even better – when you give one of these to someone else, you give the same to yourself.

Gentleness is sometimes mistakenly interpreted as weakness.

To a culture that prides itself on its show of strength, people who prefer to work in a gentle way are seen as being weak: unable to protect, defend, or fight for themselves. The prevailing wisdom in our modern American culture is that might and violence are necessary to 'save the day' and get things done.

Non-violence, to this belief system, is considered weakness, and therefore completely unable to create positive change.

Transformation time is upon us, all of us, everywhere on this brilliant planet we share, this beautiful earth.

We learn more about the world around us by the minute. New creations, inventions, and discoveries are showing up every day. The earth itself is transforming before our eyes, and we are being reminded to make more thoughtful, conscious, and intelligent choices about how we treat our home and the other beings who live here with us.

The great news is that the really big changes are happening within us. Opportunities for personal spiritual growth and awareness are endless.

Several years back, I went to Joshua Tree State Park to see the annual blooming of the Joshua trees.

I joined a fascinating talk given by one of the park rangers, called ‘Meeting the Joshua Tree’, and learned about the mystical growth of these special trees. Each tree is unique and different, often markedly so. There is no genetic predisposition to become a perfect Joshua tree shape – each tree is a perfect Joshua tree and each is one of a kind, like fingerprints.

What if people sang out loud, just because they felt like it?

What if this was a normal thing to do, to express one’s feelings with music instead of judging whether one was ‘good enough’ to be allowed to do so?

What would it be like to hear ‘hello’ from every stranger you met?

What if cars had no alarms?

What if leaf blowers were never used?

It isn’t all that difficult to create an atmosphere of peace on earth.

Each of us can do this, daily. When you and I carry the energy of peace along with us, we’re bringing healing energy wherever we go. This becomes a gift to whomever we see, whether we know them personally or not.

Not only that, but each of our individual loads is lighter as a result of choosing to carry peace along on our daily travels. This is because peaceful energy is a much lighter and brighter vibration than non-peaceful energy. Peace is a conscious energy.

Earth is your home.

This is your world, and it also belongs to every other being on it, (yes, even the mosquitoes). The earth is endlessly bountiful, generously providing us all with enough riches to support a whole world full of living beings.

You have the right to be here. Everything you have is made from the earth; your cell phone, shoes, food supply, car, books, computer, money. Everything we needed to grow, evolve, heal, and entertain ourselves, was already here.

One of the main 'side effects' of becoming conscious is the transformation and changing out of personal habits.

Most of us have an unconscious habit or two that we'd like to change. As we become more aware of how our energy gets sucked into these programmed habits, we more easily shift our energy into doing things differently, and we change.

Daily habits are routines that are part of our lives, with varying degrees of awareness attached to them.

Yes, meditation is fun!

If you're having fun, you're doing something right. Meditation is one of my favorite practices for bringing more fun into my life.

Is it fun to feel good? Do you enjoy being validated, feeling creative, energized and healthy, being able to decisively take action when you know you want to do so? Do you want to know more about who you are? All of this is about being able to find your own energy, and have your space. Personally speaking, I find all of this stuff fun.