A WILL FOR THE DEMONS IN YOUR LIFE

I walked into the MICU room, the sound of what I viewed to be a massive respirator greeted me. There on the hospital bed was my uncle - my favorite uncle. Yet, the lifeless shell said something very obvious - he was no longer there. Sure he had aged, he had grown thinner, though he was never a large man. He was gone. The task of removing him from life support still had to be made, yet as I stroked his hair on that Friday evening and rubbed his shoulder, I thought about how life really is available only for the second we inhale and exhale.

My uncle officially died on a Saturday morning, yet for him, for a man who lived his life by his terms, not caring what anyone else thought - he died the moment that determination to be him left. It left, according to the doctor with the initial stroke that landed him in MICU. I thought about all of the little things he had taught me over the years - through his spoken advice and his actions. While I did not always agree with what he did, he was always true to himself, even admitting that the he could not overcome the narcotic demons that had plagued him since his military service in Vietnam. He lived his life, by his terms, yet tormented by demons. Demons - addictive, negative, defeating, disturbing, damning, damaging and tormenting behaviors, habits, practices and mindsets.

I can say the same thing. For there are some "demons" figuratively and perhaps even literally speaking that have struggled with for years. If we put aside the spiritual arguments, jargon and rhetoric long enough, most of can confess to the same thing. The demon may be of a sexual nature, a financial nature, a health nature or even an emotional nature - yet we struggle with it and every once in awhile it gets the best of us. Until we decide enough is enough and send the demon back to hell. I have often heard older women say to younger women involved in bad relationships, "baby when you get good and tired, and you have had enough then you'll do something about it." I believe the same holds true for our demons.

These boogers (ok yuck) put a significant part of our lives on respirators breathing for us. We have to get to the point when we decide to take the demons off of life support. Their living will has been the presence and participation in our lives in a haunting and often devastating manner. A dear friend and mentor, is also an attorney, specializing in estate plans. I have marveled at the details of some of the cases she handles and have witnessed firsthand how accurate she is in proclaiming every one should have documents in place detailing their desires in the event of incapacity and death. I realized as we watched my uncle's body react to the welcoming seconds of death, that I did not want to go a step further in my life with the pressure of negative behaviors and practices weighing me down.

I have decided to write them out of my will. So why don't you do the same? This will is a bit different, because in it, you are going to list each and every demon. Instead of listing what you are leaving them upon your demise; you are listing what you are taking back from them and restoring in a powerful and meaningful way in your life.

To the demon of making financial decisions out a place of desperation, I take back every dollar lost in the process by creating and diligently following a sound budget and financial plan.

To the demon of obesity, I take back good health by making wiser eating choices and by following an exercise plan that is effective and comfortable for me.

You get the picture. How wild is that, writing a last will and testament for the demons that subconsciously become intrinsic parts of our nature? To those demons leave a first class ticket back to hell.

Arise, Write, Release,
I'm E. Claudette Freeman

TALK TO THE HAND

Can you believe she said that? And said it with some sense of power in your life. Can you believe he had the intestinal fortitude to say something that off-hand about you? Even more bewildering, he had the audacity to say it with some sense of power in your life. Well, how about that!

I’m often around people who feel it necessary and absolutely okay to say whatever they choose about my decisions and my capacity of being. That would be okay if I asked for their opinions – which are usually negative, based on their world or far away from my divine conversations. I have learned to engage in a disengaged conversation with them until they are done preaching their correction to me. It has also been my experience that opinions can not be solicited from everyone. You see, some believe that once their OPINION is voiced, it is in fact a DIRECTIVE that you should act on immediately. Troubling is the reality that for many of us we do take the opinions of others as mandates for our lives.

For a long time, I would obsess on the things those people said or thought about me, my personal vision, my personal dreams, my no sense of fashion, the fact that like to keep my finger and toe nails long - even my hair style. Then I started writing the left of what they thought was right. In other words I would write the truth - my truth - and that overruled their opinion. I honestly believe that anyone who gets caught up in the exterior of anything never fully sees its beauty nor experiences its spectacular abilities. So those who offer sought and un-sought opinions, may say it is right and perhaps it is - for them, or even for you. But the decision as to its proper place in your world must be yours completely. A decision to live someone's personal responses also means you make a decision to live someone's consequences.

Remember in pre-school or kindergarten, when you would take your favorite colored-crayon and trace your hands - wasn't that the coolest? Take a look at your hands now, trace your left hand and pen what is left in your life after you silence all of the other opinions, beliefs, notions and attitudes. If everything is silenced, you have QUIET, in the quiet you should begin to HEAR - your true spirit, which means you will sense DIVINE DIRECTION. Imagine that you have never heard any opinion or thought about what you should do and instead with each life line you draw on that left hand: list a purpose for your life, list an item or person that brings a smile or sense of joy, list something silly that makes you laugh. On your life lines dream again - what would you be if you could be anything in the world and how would you become it. Strange, look what you created without everyone's input? A dream and a plan to go get it.

It is something about that left hand. What is left? Left is to edify you, left is to remind you that it is your thought patterns and God’s thought streams that matter, left is to direct you to divine power – for you can do all things… you are more than a conqueror, and why would you expect anyone to understand a "peculiar people." Peculiar are those who would put extreme faith in the unseen and bring its truth to dynamic realities. What is left? Left is your power, in your hand, to be used for your edification. Talk to the hand and it will certainly tell you some awesome things about YOU!

Arise, Write, Release,

I’m E. Claudette Freeman

ARISE, WRITE, RELEASE: THE MORNING HOUR JOURNAL

An e-book full of inspiration and invitations to write your new vision.

THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL

It’s the middle of a horrible week and you feel totally overwhelmed. If one more thing gets added to your schedule YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY GO CRAZY! Oh God - there can not be another problem centered around me - can there? Clutter chokes even the most simple thoughts. You really want to just find a quiet spot to awaken it with your screams.

When we find ourselves in the place of too much and not enough of to get through it – we have to remember to one pivotal thing - just stop for a minute. Stop thinking. Stop processing. Stop accessing. Stop the what if. JUST STOP!

Look at the writing on the wall. Seriously, take a big sheet of paper, it does not have to be a Post-it pad (although those are beautiful); it can simply be a paper bag ripped open or a piece of construction paper. Do not get caught up in the paper! I say that because we are inundated with problems, perplexities and negative possibilities we begin to fixate on all the things that can not help us focus on pushing through the darkness. So, do not allow the paper to become a continuing invitation to stay in darkness. Instead rip up the invitation, by simply grabbing some paper - any kind of paper. Now tape it to the wall and write words, BIG WORDS, little words - but write. Write words that say what you feel. Write word that say what you want to feel. Write words that describe what you felt when.... whatever happened - happened. Write words that say what God is speaking to you - even as you write all over the wall. Here's a little secret, this works just as effectively when you use your computer as the paper and pen.

Now breathe, you’ve released it. Pull out your journal or start a journal, (again don't get caught up in the paper) and have a talk with you about each big word on the wall and watch the clutter organize. You see you begin to breathe as clutter, strife and stress leave your psyche; once you do something happens - peace fills the spot where overwhelmed had become comfortable. Peace clears the way for fruitful and productive thought streams. Your mind and your spirit become centered again and now the words on the wall change.

Remember what I learned the hard way - you can only take care of the things that you can, the others are in the hands of the divine -God and when He feels you are ready to deal with those - He will give you the wisdom to do so. I make it sound real easy, don't I? I assure you it is not. I have been through emotionally-wrenching, professionally-insulting and spiritually-tumultuous times that have left me physically drained and of ill countenance. These were times that were eradicated or eased only through prayer and through my ability to write my truth without intimidation. My big words on the wall surely were similar to yours: STUPID, DESPERATION, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, DAMN FOOL, GOD DO YOU EVEN CARE. I know that our pain is never easy but it is a challenge of life than can be defeated and used as an awesome stepping stone to our ultimate life, spirit and soul success.

Do not fret about tomorrow, baby it will bring its own stuff, I want you to remember this powerful truth that I am learning to be ALL TOO REAL - Sufficient is the grace you have for today.

Arise, Write, Release,

I’m E. Claudette Freeman

Hey, by the way, join me January 30-31, 2009 at this funky little hotel called HOTEL BIBA in West Palm Beach. It is my first literary empowerment conference and I would love to vibe with you. Here's the link: http://soearise.eventbrite.com.