The greatest gift you can ever give to the world is yourself. If anyone or anything in your life has ever made you feel ashamed of “you” it’s time to recognize fully that they were wrong. Don’t waste any time or energy being angry at them, just recognize that they were mistaken and probably ashamed of themselves. Forgive them complete and quickly move on. You are needed and you have been missed! This world is desperately in need of you…all of you! Anything or any part that you hold back because of fear or maybe just because you think it doesn’t matter or isn’t good enough is really a waste. You are actually robbing the people around you of the greatness and the beauty within you. Just because not everybody you meet sees the treasure, doesn’t mean that no one ever will. You just haven’t found the right audience yet!

How many times have brilliant ideas been rejected before they finally meet someone who sees their worth or value? How many record producers saw and turned down the Beatles before they were signed to their first record label? (5 to be exact) Can you imagine what the world would have missed if they would have given up after the first five? Thank God they never gave up and neither should you! Love yourself and who you are, fully! And give others the chance to do the same!!

One of my all time favorite inspiring movies is called Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. It personally speaks to me on a deep spiritual level. I really relate to the main character Mahoney who is Mr. Magorium’s apprentice at the toy store. She is experiencing a personal identity crisis and feels “stuck” in life. At one point in the film, she sees a sign on the subway posing the question “Do you have a sparkle?” It floors her.  Later she asks the accountant working at the store what he sees when he looks at her. She wants to know if he sees a sparkle, “Like something reflective of something bigger that’s trying to get out.” Do you ever wonder what people see when they look at you? Do they see a sparkle or shine…something great? The truth is, usually other people can see the greatness in us, but sadly,we can’t see it in ourselves. Mahoney believes and knows that the store and Mr. Magorium are both wonderful and magical but she doesn’t see it in herself.

At the end of the movie, the accountant  finally begins to believe in the “magic” of the store. He gets the revelation that it’s Mahoney’s faith and belief that can make the store come to life. He tells her “It’s you, Mahoney. What you need to believe is not the cube and it’s not the store and it’s not me. What you need to believe in is you.” And with that realization she finally begins to sparkle! Everything comes to life in the store at her direction and orchestration. It’s beautiful!!  Thank you Zachary Helm for giving me a visual for this amazing spiritual truth!! I will be forever grateful!

I don’t know about you, but I want to create and design and sparkle all over this earth! That’s truly what you and I have been created for. All we have to do is believe that we are special and there is no one else just like us. All that we need to sparkle and shine is deep within us, we just need to believe that fact and have the courage to release it! So be inspired and go be your AWESOME self!!

“YOUR LIFE is an occasion… Rise to it!” – Mr. Magorium

My whole life, I’ve always wanted to write songs, but everytime I tried I never liked the outcome. About 8 years ago, I had a dream where I was at a big concert event and while the band was on stage performing, I found myself distracted and wandered down to the front of the stage and I found an old broken down piano there. I started quietly playing and singing a song that I had never heard before when all of a sudden I noticed that the band on stage had stopped playing in the middle of their song. As I looked around I realized that everyone was listening to me even though I had been playing so softly that I thought no one would hear. I woke up and remembered the song that I had been singing was a new song. The next day, I became inspired in the middle of the day and my first song came pouring out of me in a matter of 10 minutes. This one I loved!  It wasn’t forced or manufactured like before… it was inspired!

Since then, I have written around 30 songs, each one of them coming from a thought or moment in time when I was inspired. Inspiration is a beautiful thing and something to be cherished. You can’t make it happen, it just comes, oftentimes unexpectedly. So, my goal is to never ignore it or push through it, but just let it come and enjoy every moment of it and birth whatever it is that is trying to come forth. Whether it’s a song or a painting or a dance or any other creative expression, it is something unique, never to be repeated again. How precious is that?! 

It’s priceless…