I’m delighted to have my friend, Jodi Chapman, write a Guest Post today. I have been following Jodi’s blog, Soul Speak, for a long time. Through her personal stories, vulnerability, and fine writing, Jodi’s words can have a powerful effect on the choices you make as you journey through life.

Are You Ready To Wake Up To Life And Live Fully?

After years of working on herself coupled with a lot of creativity, and hard work, Jodi is launching Coming Back to Life E-Course. It’s a 6 week journey that begins on October 1st. A guide, compilation of tools, and a community infused with love to help you when you’re feeling numb or unsure about the next step to take, this is a course you won’t want to miss.

3 Inspiring Quotes that Help You Wake Up To Life And Live Fully

We all know that there are tons of amazing quotes out there that are inspiring and motivating. There are quotes that are so powerful that they make us want to get out of the rut that we’re in and make lasting life changes.

I would guess that each of us has a list of quotes that make our hearts beat a bit faster and make us want to immediately embrace life and reach for our dreams. I definitely do, and I’m happy to share three of them with you. They have changed my life, and I hope they have a positive impact on yours as well.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 So many of us (myself included) live much of our lives in silence. There are so many reasons why we may choose not to speak up: Maybe we aren’t sure of ourselves and don’t want to appear like a know-it-all. Maybe when we were a child we were abused and were told not to speak up. Maybe we just don’t have the confidence to stand on the rooftop and tell the entire world what we know is true.

Whatever the reason, each moment that goes by where we don’t speak our truth, our light dims more and more. We all have so much to share with each other, and the only way to let our truth out is to speak it!

As someone who knows what it’s like to live in the darkness, afraid of what others will think if and when I actually shared what was inside of me, I can truthfully say that my life is so much bigger and brighter now that I’m finally speaking! And I can guarantee that yours will be, too.

And the day came when the risk it took to remain in a tightly closed bud became infinitely more painful that the risk it took to blossom. – Anias Nin

My husband, Dan, is the king of analogies and metaphors – he has one for almost every situation that I tell him about, which I love. They always help me see the world in a different way.

Recently, we were talking about some childhood emotional pain that I really didn’t want to deal with. I just didn’t want to give it energy – I had moved on (or so I thought), and I just didn’t want to go back and relive it.

Dan likened my resistance to trying to keep a beach ball under water. If you’ve ever tried this, you know how hard (and oftentimes futile) this can be. The ball just won’t stay down! But think of all of the energy you are putting into trying to keep it down. And when you finally let go, it will most likely pop out of the water and make a splash but the ripples will quickly settle and the water will be peaceful again.

And that’s what this quote reminds me of. It takes much more energy to keep ourselves small and stuck than to allow ourselves to let the pain out and give birth to our true selves.

It may seem painful at first to begin this process of emergence, but you’ll quickly see how extremely essential and absolutely worth it it is – especially when you’re completely at peace and finally a beautiful blossom.

 My life is my message. – Gandhi

One thing that I love about this world is that we get to rediscover ourselves every single day. When I was young, I wanted to save the world. Then I wanted to be a lawyer. And then I wanted to be a writer. And as I got older, I decided that I wanted to be an editor. And then I wanted to be a business owner who created things for a living. And then I went back to wanting to save the world, but this time it was through first saving myself and then allowing my own message of love and healing to permeate through my writing and my creations.

When I was younger, I tried to push my values onto others – I couldn’t understand how they couldn’t see things the way I did – how they couldn’t care the way I did. As I’ve matured, I’ve realized that change begins within and then works its way out. And so, as I have become more tolerant and loving and forgiving and kind, each of these parts of me has flowed out into the world.

Living my life by example and actually walking my talk is a powerful way to impact others – much more powerful than preaching and trying to forcefully change others. My life truly is my message. What you see – through my writing and art – is the real me: human, flawed, still learning, but also loving, sensitive, and wise. All of these are a part of me, just like they are also a part of you.

I would love to know which quotes have impacted your life in a positive way. I love how we can take these wise words, allow them to sink in, and then apply them to our own lives. Words are powerful, and they  really do change lives.

Coming Back to Life Ecourse

Jodi’s new e-course is starting on 10/1! It’s called Coming Back to Life, and it’s a 6-week journey to help you reconnect with your soul and plug back into your life! It’s a helping hand, a loving community, and concrete tools and techniques to help you come back to life all wrapped up into one loving course. And when you sign up, you’ll receive over $175 in bonus gifts immediately!

This is an amazing way to say yes to life. I hope you’ll join Jodi and over 35 contributors who are committed to living fully! Click here for more details and to sign up: Coming Back To Life E-Course.

Jodi Chapman is the author of the inspirational blog, Soul Speak; the upcoming book, Coming Back to Life: How an Unlikely Friend Helped Me Reclaim My True Spirit; and the bestselling Soulful Journals series, co-authored with her husband, Dan Teck.