Letters from A Better Me and YouTube: Answering the Calls

A Call to Move

I’m a person who trusts my intuitions, instincts, and signs. I’ve felt calls to do things for as far back as I can remember. Each time I feel clear about the call, I feel safe in where they bring me. I’ve called people in the exact right timing. I show up at a place where I meet someone I either learn from or have something to teach. I miss a major accident. I’ve learned to trust the calls I get about when and when not to show up, along with what and what not to do. Sometimes, I have lessons to learn, so I don’t expect that just because I answer the call it’s going to be sweet and rosy. No matter where I’m led, there are blessings. Sometimes I have to dig a little deeper to find them, other times I can see the beauty in the instant I start taking action.

As the coronavirus moved into the United States is exactly when my book tour for Letters from A Better ME was getting started. I was able to do one event before the rest of the tour was shut down. The one event was in Atlanta, Georgia at a new-age store called, Phoenix & Dragon Bookstore. This setting was perfect. I felt like I was surrounded by people (and cats) who were conscious of each other’s spaces. The room I was in had plenty of space for people to spread out safely, and the numbers were very small. I knew that the people who were there were the ones who were meant to be there. I felt called to go there and I’m so happy I followed the call. Being there was just what I needed to go into the next call I received, which was to completely stay at home.

A Call to Stay Home

I knew that after the event, I had no further need for being out and about. I spent the rest of my time in Marietta, GA listening to the birds and trying to spot deer. When I got home, I felt content in my space. I’ve left the house to be in nature, walk, and get necessities. I read something on Facebook, which sat with me.

Do not change your behavior to avoid being infected. Assume you are infected and change your behavior to avoid transmitting.

-Anonymous

Being a very healthy individual, I’ve been driven more by the possibility of me carrying coronavirus and not knowing it. I’ve also considered all the people who HAVE to be working with the public right now and trying to make life easier for them. The best I can do to reduce my potential of being a carrier is to stay centered and grounded at home, so that is what I’m doing for my family, community, and myself. The more conscious and calm I am, the healthier I stay. This enables me to hear the Universe’s call to serve when it’s my turn.

A Call to Remain Conscious and Calm

If there is any call in my head that is stronger than anything else right now, it’s the call I feel to be conscious and calm. I’ve had to use many of the tools I’ve learned through the years to keep bringing me back to this place, because I do slip. I keep reminding myself to do the best that I can. I’m not going to navigate this perfectly. I do feel like it’s my job to remember that wherever I go in my head is my choice. Chapter 8 of Letters from A Better Me is focused on practices to keep us grounded and centered in the present moment. Beyond the tools in the book and the ones available in the 90-Day A Better Me Series (Free), I go back to these statements that I’ve shared before from my Becoming the Butterfly Workshop:

A Call to Serve

If you follow my work, you know I offer A LOT of tools to navigate the dark places in our lives and in our heads. With the cancelled book tour, I’ve been remaining open to figure out ways I can serve. One of the signs that became very apparent after multiple nudges from the Universe was to make videos of some of the reading I did at Phoenix & Dragon and to share different tools and practices that can really help people who are not used to slowing down like we’ve been asked to do.

The funny thing is that I’ve been putting off creating a YouTube channel for years, which is when the nudges began. I just didn’t FEEL called to make anything. The timing just never felt right, because it wasn’t. With a cancelled book tour and time on my hands—Now is the time. I watched a YouTube video on how to use my iMovie app and got to work. I’m serving double-duty of getting my book out there and offering readings and tools from the book that I know could help people during this challenging time. I will keep posting what I feel called to share. It’s important to me to honor the calls.

A Call to Use YouTube as a Tool

During this time, I’ve noticed I’ve been using YouTube more than I ever have before. I find it’s giving me bite-sized pieces of what I need in the moment. I’ve found my facts, inspiration, comic relief, meditations, and how-to projects all with taps of my fingers. I’m choosing what I watch wisely! When I’m not conscious of what information I’m filling myself with, I start feeling stressed and my sleep patterns pay. I have to reel myself back in. When I do that, I sleep better. We can get the information we NEED without being inundated and getting drug down into the darkness. It’s more important than ever to BE WHERE OUR FEET ARE! Practice mindfulness and staying present wherever you can.

Making Myself Available

I’ve been doing my best to make myself available to anyone who needs some extra support right now through all my social media channels. I hope you will find the support and encouragement you need on my pages. If you need more, please feel free to contact me (here). I will do what I can, because I know if you are called to reach out, there is some form of emotional support that I can offer.

I hope if you read this, my words bring you comfort.

With Love, Compassion, and Gratitude,

Rachael Wolff ©2020

If you are interested in buying the paperback edition of my book right now, I urge you to support the local bookstores who are struggling right now. This link is helping to raise money to keep local bookstores going. Whether you are purchasing Letters from A Better Me or something else. If you can’t support your own local bookstore, please consider ordering from here: https://bookshop.org/books/letters-from-a-better-me-how-becoming-an-empowered-woman-transforms-the-world/9781642501407

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Virtual Book Tour: Letters From A Better Me

How Quickly Plans Change

As you can probably imagine, my book tour was cancelled due to COVID-19 coronavirus. I get it, and I want to do my part by staying home so that healthcare workers can do their best and hopefully get a break in the near future. I will tell you, I have become very aware of how much I use my hands and how many people touch the same things I do. I’m sure like many others, my hands are cleaned to the verge of cracking, so I added a 20 second lotion ritual to my 30 second hand washing ritual.

Doing My Part

Since my book can actually help people through these challenging times, I REALLY wanted to find a way to get Letters from A Better Me out into the world. Perspective can definitely be what empowers us or keeps us prisoner right now, and Letters is all about becoming aware of where our perspectives are taking us and how to make sure they are aligned with the life we actually want to be living. This is CRITICAL in times like we are in right now.

Virtual Book Tour

I decided to make a series of videos which will include readings, practices, and tools from the book. You are welcome to ask questions and contact me here or in the comments below. Don’t forget to follow the blog via e-mail so that you will be able to see the latest videos.

When we go within, we empower ourselves to make the best choices and stay conscious and calm while doing what is best for ourselves, our families, our community, our country, and our world. I hope you will join me on this journey and make the choice to rise together. I’m committed to find the blessings and lessons that will make me a better human. Embrace the journey, because we are about to do deep!

Letter from A Better Me: How Becoming an Empowered Woman Transforms the World

Get it in paperback, e-book, or audiobook:

Other Buying Options:

Http://FromALovingPlace.com/book/

With Love and Gratitude,

Rachael Wolff ©2020

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Releasing My Inner Victim with Love: A Letter from A Better Me

Dear Inner Victim, 

I’m done with you. You have served your purpose, and now it is time to leave. My attachment to you is holding me back from the life I want. At one point, I needed you. Now that time is over. I don’t need to keep going back and getting stuck in the story of my past. I need to forgive, not for anyone else, but for me. For my sanity, I need to release the pain of my past traumas and find a new and lighter place to dwell. Through prayers, meditations, education, and actions I will find a more peaceful place to transform into the person I know is buried under all the pain.

I’m sorry for all the ways I helped your pain grow bigger and fester as I got stuck in the story of victim. Though I have been a victim, I don’t have to choose to live in the role for life. I can choose to move past the title and grow from the experiences that helped me find a greater compassion for myself and others who have their own struggles at overcoming traumas. 

I now know that how I feel on the inside will manifest a reality for better or for worse. I’m done with taking the “for worse” path. I’m committed to fix the inside parts of me where I didn’t love and honor myself. I have to stop focusing on you, my inner victim and focus on the love inside me instead. When the love inside me shines brighter than any darkness, I am ready to live life as a better me. 

I got the lessons I needed from the pain, and now it’s time to transform into love. In my caterpillar skin, I found my strength, power, and perseverance. Now, I will let the old hurts become the brightest colors in my wings of love. These wings will carry me and help me to see an outer world as beautiful as the one that has been created on the inside. When the transformation is complete, I will be one with life on my inside and my outside. Connecting to nature and all it’s magnificence will remind me to be at peace.

Thank you for serving me. Now,  I send you off with love.

Thanks for the lessons.

With Love and Gratitude,

A Better Me

Rachael Wolff © 2020, 2018

1 Day Until the Release of Letters from A Better Me!

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Differences between Taking Responsibility and Blaming

Learning the differences between taking responsibility and blaming was one of the most powerful tools I’ve learned to live a fulfilling life. Now, I’ve been getting lessons on this one since I was a teenager. I think my mom’s favorite lines were, “I can’t make you do anything.” Along with, “I can’t make you feel anything.” She helped me to see (while fighting, dragging, and clawing to hold onto blame) that I have more power than I was giving myself. What took me a lot longer to figure out was the difference between taking responsibility versus self-blaming. I would self-blame relentlessly to the point of suicide attempts. 

For someone in the stage of contemplating suicide knowing the difference can mean life or death. For someone who is so full of rage over someone else’s poor choices, it can be what gives them the power to rise above and take care of their own energy, so that they are not dragged down to respond with violence. 

We can’t MAKE anyone do anything to serve the highest good, but we can choose to be responsible for what we are doing. Our thoughts, beliefs, actions, and reactions matter, so taking care of those can and will make a difference in how we CHOOSE to live our lives. Being able practice this tool means first understanding the differences between responsibility and blaming.

Here are some of the differences:

  • Taking responsibility opens our minds to possibilities of solutions and change. Blaming creates wars both internally and externally while focusing on the problem instead of the solution.
  • Taking responsibility takes down defensive walls, while blaming builds them.
  • Taking responsibility empowers us to be human while celebrating it and learning from it. Blaming disempowers us.
  • Taking responsibility is healthy, which includes healthy self-talk and healthy communications with others.  Blaming is unhealthy and can include abusive thinking and/or actions towards ourselves and others. 
  • Taking responsibility involves aligning with positive energy. Blaming buries us in our own darkness.
  • Taking responsibility focuses on what we want. Blaming focuses on what we don’t want.

Taking personal responsibility involves being aware of how our thoughts, feelings, actions, and reactions affect our choices. Once we become aware of our part in any choices that had a negative outcome, we open ourselves up to make better choices in the future. We give others a tool on how to work with us better in the future, even if the future is within minutes away. Taking responsibility takes the toxic weight of blame and shame out of the room. 

Blaming is the foundation of toxic problem-solving. When we use the negative energy of blame to come up with solutions, our energy is working against us. Our focus is in the problem, which tends to create more problems. This works the same inside us as it does outside of us. When we hold onto negative energy of someone else’s choices, we are responsible for that energy. We are responsible for feeding the beast.

Taking responsibility doesn’t mean it’s all your fault, it just mean you see where you can do better. There is no self-abuse. 

Sometimes we just have to ask ourselves

  • What perspectives, thoughts, and beliefs am I holding that are contributing towards and energy I don’t want?
  • How can I change what isn’t working?
  • What actions can I take to remove myself from unhealthy people making unhealthy choices?
  • How do I stand up for what I believe without putting my energy into what I’m against?
  • What did I do to confuse this situation? What can I do to fix my part?
  • What can I contribute to a positive solution?
  • What choice in actions will make me feel better about what happened?
  • How do I keep my side of the street clean?

What other people do is there business. You only have to consider the energy flowing through you and what you want that to look like. Nobody else’s poor choices are worth us going down internally with them. Our minds, bodies, outlooks, and beliefs can be empowered or disempowered and the choice is ALWAYS ours. 

With Love and Gratitude, 

Rachael Wolff ©2020

38 More Day Until the Release of Letters from A Better Me!

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#PerspectiveChallenge: Love Hurts

PERSPECTIVE: LOVE HURTS

I hear this one a lot, and at one point in my life, I would fully agree. First, I want you to think about what your definition of love is where you can say that love is what hurts you. I’m going to get personal with you here because this is obviously a topic that is at the heart of everything that I write about.  

My definition of love used to be so warped that it would include me putting up with unacceptable behavior because I believed it was done out of love. I was in my thirties before I saw that fear is what led all the behaviors, actions, words, thoughts, and feelings that I was or felt hurt by (there is a difference there too). 

I was at my lowest point when I finally heard the call to look up the definition of love. This is what came up:

Love is patient; Love is kind; Love is NOT envious or boastful OR arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; It is not irritable or resentful; It does not rejoice in Wrongdoing, But rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, Hopes all things, endures all things.

—Corinthians 13.4-13.7

What about that definition has the potential to hurt? Everything that is mentioned about what love isn’t definitely has the potential to hurt. All of those things stem from fear. With that, my perspective that LOVE HURTS shifted to FEAR HURTS. It has even shifted more since those dark days, but the first step for me is giving love back the power it so much deserves. 

Now my definition of love is what anchors me and gives me a measurement of where my thoughts are in the moment. It shows me whether I’m living according to fear-based perspectives or love-based perspectives. We can choose either at any given moment, but if we don’t have a solid definition of love, we can get quickly confused between the two.  

When this perspective shifted, my life started changing. That is when I realized that in order to really live by this definition, I had to treat myself that way. That is when EVERYTHING changed for me. I was FINALLY able to break so many of the old patterns that came with my warped definition of love. Love Lifts is what I believe now. Love connects, and fear separates is what I believe. LOVE HURTS is just fear trying to use love as a cover-up. 

TODAY’S PERSPECTIVE CHALLENGE 

Write down all the reasons you believe that LOVE HURTS. Then use the definition above to see it is really love that is making you hurt. Write out as many perspectives of love that feel more true for you than LOVE HURTS. Check-in with your body to see what perspectives feel good and what ones don’t. The shift can feel extraordinary when it really sets in. 

Have a perspective-filled day!

With Love and Gratitude,

Rachael Wolff ©2020

43 More days until the release of Letters from A Better Me: How Becoming an Empowered Woman Transforms the World. 

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#PerspectiveChallenge: Money is Evil

PERSPECTIVE: MONEY IS EVIL

If anything guarantees you a horrible relationship with money, it’s telling yourself and the Universe that money is evil. If money is evil, anytime you have money you will sabotage it staying in your life. If money is evil, you make excuses for some people’s poor choices and look past others kind and loving choices that involve money. 

  • Is money evil or is some people’s relationship to money evil?
  • Do some people who have money give themselves the excuses to do evil because they believe that money is evil? 
  • Is the reason you resist being financially successful tied to your belief that money is evil?
  • If the reason why you can’t seem to hold onto money because you don’t want to let it’s evil rub off on you? 
  • Is the belief that money is evil hiding a bigger set of destructive beliefs?
  • These are all questions to ponder when we challenge the perspective of thinking that money is evil. 

TODAY’S PERSPECTIVE CHALLENGE

Investigate your relationship with money. Get personal with yourself to discover your beliefs around money. Do the work to heal any negative perspectives you hold that could be keeping you from having a healthy relationship. I can promise you—money won’t do anything to you, it’s a piece of paper. You are the only one that holds the key to healing any relationship you have with it. Whatever energy you put into it, you will get back. What energy do you want to put into that piece of paper?

  • What comes up for you when you think the thought money is evil? 
  • How is your relationship with money?
  • Does money always show up when you need it?
  • Do you have everything you need to survive this moment?
  • Do you focus on the choices that unhealthy people are making and blame it on having too much or not enough money? 
  • Do you do things in fear of not having enough money?
  • When you think of money, where do you feel it in your body? Do you feel light or heavy inside?

Have a perspective-filled day!

With Love and Gratitude,

Rachael Wolff ©2020

46 Days until Letters from a Better Me: How Becoming an Empowered Woman Transforms the World can be delivered to your door. 

Upcoming Events

Speaking – “Becoming the Butterfly” (1 of 6 speakers)

Dream Con/ St. Petersburg, Florida on February 29, 2020

Book signing 

Phoenix & Dragon Bookstore/ Atlanta, Georgia on March 15, 2020 from 4-6pm

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#PerspectiveChallenge: I Hate Mondays

Perspective: I Hate Mondays

One of the greatest ways to find peace is to find where our own perspectives are going against the peace we want to feel. Here is a prime example in a perspective that sets many of our weeks up for challenge and struggle. 

I hate Mondays can also be referred to as: 

  • Mondays Suck
  • Mondays are the worst
  • Can’t we just skip Monday
  • Well, it’s Monday…

When we believe these thoughts, we open ourselves up to focus on everything bad about Mondays. When we focus on everything bad, we attract more bad. Where is the peace in that?

When we become aware of how we are working against ourselves, we become open to make new choices in our thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions. What you choose right now can set a whole new chain of events in motion, and it all begins with what is happening between our own two ears. 

TODAY’S PERSPECTIVE CHALLENGE

Today’s #perspectivechallenge is to write down at least 5 positive perspectives about Mondays. Then EVERY time you find yourself thinking a negative Monday thought: say, write, and/or sing three positive perspectives. 

Feel free to share some positive Monday perspectives in the comments section.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

  • Mondays are an opportunity to introduce something different in my weekly routine.
  • Mondays give me an opportunity to serve my community.
  • Mondays offer me new learning experiences.
  • Mondays are for finding ways to make work fun.
  • I love Mondays!

With Love and Gratitude,

Rachael Wolff ©2019

Don’t forget Letters from A Better Me: How Becoming an Empowered Woman Transforms the World is available NOW! Order your copy today from one of your favorite book retailers.

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Feel-Good Friday Book Series: The Four Agreements

FEEL-GOOD FRIDAY

BOOKS THAT GAVE ME SEEDS TO THRIVE (Click link for the introduction to the series)

Don Miguel Ruiz was my voice of reason through many of my dark times. In The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom his writing really did show me a path to freedom. I honestly believe that by planting the seeds he gave me, I am where I am today living an authentic life. It was amazing how many lessons I have applied to my life since the first time I read the book over 11 years ago. The first time I read the book, I wasn’t ready to apply the ideas. The second time, I was so desperate to change for the sake of my sanity. Now, I get to look back and see how far I have come and get some reminders to keep me going. This is a book I will continue to recommend to anyone who wants to live a more peaceful life. He repeats concepts and ideas in multitude of ways. This gives the reader the best chance of being able to absorb the material. The better I am at applying the agreements to my life, the more amazing my adventures become.  

THE FOUR AGREEMENTS

  1. BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD
  2. DON’T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY
  3. DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS
  4. ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST

-Don Miguel Ruiz

There are so many powerful messages  throughout the book.  I hope you will pick it up for the first time or for a re-read. It is important to get the reminders, because we always have something we can work on. It really is so hard to pick one quote, so I will give you two.

Favorite Quote from The Four Agreements:

(click on the book title to check out the book for yourself)

“If someone is not treating you with love and respect, it is a gift if they walk away from you.”

Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements, p. 58

With Love and Gratitude,

Rachael Wolff

Catch up on Your Feel-Good Friday Book Series Here:

I Am What’s Wrong 

Your Creative Brain

Hope for the Flowers

The Tao of Pooh

A New Earth

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Dreams Coming True: Becoming the Butterfly

Dear Dreamers, 

I’m writing this today simply because I am beyond excited for what is going on in my life right now. As I reflect on my journey so far, I’m simply amazed at how each and every event in my life has played such an important role in where I am right now. If you follow my writing, you understand that I use nature a lot to make sense of the journey. I want to bring you into my mind’s garden.

My Internal Garden

As a child, my garden was filled with weeds, smuggling vines, and invasive species that tried to kill off any of the beautiful life I would try to plant. So much so that it almost smuggled the life right out of me. It was in 1996 when I realized that I could clear out some of these weeds. That’s when I was launched into a career of public speaking. I planted flower after flower and tree after tree, but what I didn’t realize is that because I didn’t fix the foundation my garden was on, one day I would sabotage this dream come true. 

Those smuggling vines took over my garden once again and I went on a downward spiral. I had so much to learn. Looking back I’m so grateful for all my lessons in my time of darkness. I was living life as a caterpillar that spewed toxic venom because of the environment I created. There were still trees of life and wisdom trying to survive which would lead me to seek help when I was desperate enough to realize that I didn’t like the person I had become. Looking back I was given so many amazing seeds during this time, and it was a message from a pastor that finally led me to really invest myself in not only cleaning up the invasive species from my garden, but to clean up my foundation so that my trees could grow and provide the food that the caterpillar needs to transform into the butterfly. 

His message was that we only allow ourselves as much happiness that we believe we deserve. If we exceed that level of happiness, we will sabotage it. 

You better believe I started getting really dirty in my garden to figure out why I didn’t believe I deserved happiness in my life. As I dug deeper, and got dirtier, the work brought me peace. The more peace I found digging in my garden, the healthier my soil became. I started taking care of those seeds that were given to me. My caterpillar self, started to build a chrysalis. 

I sat for a long time in my chrysalis gaining strength, reflecting, and transforming. In the chrysalis is where I learned the power of letting go and forgiveness. The person I needed to forgive the most was myself. From there, I found away to learn from all the traumas in my life.

What I learned gave me power to plant more amazing trees and let them flourish. I absorbed lesson after lesson of on perspectives to understand how powerful each and every person is at creating their own gardens, and that what others chose to plant was not my business. All I can ever do for someone is to offer seeds in the way that I know best. I also have to take responsibility if I learn that the seeds I’m passing aren’t healthy.

In my chrysalis I found stillness, presence, and mindfulness to keep me in the mindset of maintaining my garden. I realized that any belief that causes me pain doesn’t HAVE to be in my garden, that is a choice I’m making. I have the power to choose my feelings, thoughts, beliefs/perspectives, actions, and reactions. I will learn from each decision I make and I will allow this choice to set me free­— with that, I became the butterfly. My garden now healthy and well maintained provides me with all that I need to keep me nourished, energized, rested, and able to soar. 

This doesn’t mean I won’t need to go back on a caterpillar’s journey again, because each time I do go back, I learn more. I no longer resent the journey, I embrace it, because I know it leads to breakthrough. I gain more perspective, and I become a better version of myself. I just don’t stay in the caterpillar state as long. I move into my chrysalis absorb my lessons and come out more empowered and colorful each time. 

Why Am I Sharing this Journey with You?

I created a program called, “Becoming the Butterfly” that I’m launching at a Dreamer’s Paradise *Now or Never event in St. Petersburg, FL, Oct. 26, 2019. As I’ve been preparing for this moment, I’m flooded with emotion because this will be my first event since 2002. I started my public speaking career in the Tampa Bay Area and now I’m going back there to re-launch my career with so much more to offer. I’m coming home. I’ve been standing up in front of crowds since I was 14-years old. I went on to earn awards in high school for public speaking, English, and guidance, yet back then never knew that it would lead to a path that I loved being on. My garden is exactly how I want it right now. I’m ready to share the seeds that helped me to create it.

This comes in perfect timing as my first book is coming out on February 18, 2020. Make no mistake; there is a reason the butterfly is on the cover. You can read more about it and *pre-order your copy today. 

If you want to start getting dirty right now, you can go to my *90-Day A Better Me Series. 

Just remember we are the ones who create our gardens.  We have to provide ourselves with the right food to nurture us to become the butterfly. Watching butterflies soar above us, won’t give us our wings. If we want to live the life of our dreams, we can’t just admire the butterflies around us. We have to do the work it takes to become the butterfly. Only then will we soar.

Thank you for being on this journey with me by reading my work. I started writing this blog in 2016 as way to help me maintain my garden. Focusing on perspectives that keep my energy in a loving place has been such an empowering tool. It keeps my foundation filled with love, which is what encourages all the seeds I want in my garden to grow. I am beyond grateful to each individual who has told me how my seeds have helped her/him. I can’t make anyone plant seeds in their gardens and nobody can make me plant seeds I don’t want in mine, so when I know that a person made the conscious decision to do it, I’m truly honored. 

I hope you will join me in spreading the love on social media. The *Facebook.com/FromALovingPlace page offers lots and lots of daily encouragement from pages who have a like-minded visions of  raising our collective energy. You will find all my social media links at on the main page to the left. I hope you decide to work on your garden so that you can be living the life of your dreams. 

With Love and Gratitude, 

Rachael Wolff 

*Links for more information

Read more about my perspectives on cleaning up our internal gardens here.

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Feel-Good Friday Book Series: The Tao of Pooh

FEEL-GOOD FRIDAY

BOOKS THAT GAVE ME SEEDS TO THRIVE (Click link for the introduction to the series)

I’m so grateful that this book was written for multiple reasons. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff was my introduction to the Tao. As a lover of Winnie the Pooh, Hoff gave me the perfect vessel to understand the meaning of the Tao. Little did I know how much I would need to understand this when it came time for me to read the Tao Te Ching by LauTzu translated by Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo in college. Let’s just put it this way, I pulled out my Tao of Pooh in class multiple times to address my understanding of specific passages. 

The Tao of Pooh takes the reader on a journey that is easy to process and understand in the simplest of ways. The first time I read this book, I was around twenty years old. At the time, I wouldn’t have been able to pick up the Tao Te Ching and see the deeper meaning, but through the eyes of Pooh, I got it. After I read the book the first time, I met someone who had also read it. We raved about the beautiful and simple messages and connected to the pure energy of joy within us.  She got me the figurine pictured above, and it still sits on my shelf of inspiration as a reminder to keep it simple. 

Almost twenty years later, I picked the book up again to read with my book buddy. I could see how much effect the book had on me over the years without even knowing it. The lessons were buried in my subconscious, but they were there guiding me and reminding me that everything is happening exactly the way it’s supposed to. I don’t need to fight what is, because when I do, I’m missing an opportunity to learn from the moment I’m in.  For someone who likes to be in control, this is a REALLY important reminder that I need on a regular basis. When I remember, I’m at peace. And I’m much more productive because my energy is aligned with solutions instead of problems. 

One of the greatest lessons I take with me from the Tao of Pooh is that we aren’t all here to do things exactly the same things. We each have our own journeys, and it is important to figure out and honor our own paths. 

Favorite Quote from The Tao of Pooh

(click on the book title to check out the book for yourself)

“When you know and respect your own Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don’t belong. One man’s food is often another man’s poison, and what is glamorous and exciting to some can be a dangerous trap to others.”

-Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh, p.41

With Love and Gratitude, 

Rachael Wolff

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Rachael Wolff5 Comments