anne_dennish

“Keep Looking Up”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

I’m a big believer in always “looking up,” and not “looking down.” One seems to be positive and the other is negative.

Think about it…what do you see when you look up? The sky, the sun, the mountains, the stars, the moon, the clouds…the list goes on. And when you “look up” it’s as if you’re seeing the endless possibilities that life has to offer you. You’re seeing the vastness of the Universe with no limitations.

Now, about that “looking down.” When we look down it’s at the ground or more often than not these days, most people “looking down” are looking at their phones, at their computers, at their social media…and that list goes on as well. Yet looking down is restricting you from seeing the beauty around you; it prevents you from seeing the people that love you; it steals precious time with the world around you that you’ll never get back.

How many times have you found yourself “looking down” only to find that when you looked up you missed something amazing? You missed the sunrise or the sunset, you missed the one you love smiling at you, you missed an opportunity to communicate with another human, or you simply missed something that you’ll never have a chance to see again.

I know there are times we have to “look down” but don’t let that become your priority. Make that “looking down” thing but a brief moment in your day…make that “looking up” thing a priority of your day.

Trust me, more negative experiences and situations happen when you’re looking down all the time…

And trust me when I say that more positive experiences come from looking up…

And looking around…

And looking forward.

It’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

look up

 

“Never Forget How Far You’ve Come”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

The older we get the more experiences we have under our belt, yet there are times we forget how far we’ve come on this life journey.

We all go through rough days and tough times, no matter our age. It’s in those moments that we wonder how in the world we’re going to make it through, how we’re going to get past this difficult experience, how we’re going to find strength in a soul that is exhausted.

Yet we do.

And do you know how to do that?

You need to remember what you’ve already gone through and that you made it through…and sometimes by the skin of your teeth, but you made it through. And you made it through stronger, different, and better.

Never forget how far you’ve come…never forget the lessons you learned, and some you learned through the worst of times.

And never forget that you never thought you’d make it through, but you did.

You got through a day, slept through a night, and woke up to a new day in the morning.

A new day with no mistakes in it.

A new day to do it all differently than the day before.

A new day to change your life.

And that day is a very good day.

Life will always throw a challenge or two your way, yet it’s so important to remember that we’ve been through difficult times before and we made it through.

“Never forget how far you’ve come.”

Remember that…

Always remember that…

It’s a good thing. 

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

never forget

“Do You Know Your Value?”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment
value yourself
 

Everything begins with you…and I can’t say that often enough to you. There are moments even I have to remind myself of that.

And those moments seem to come when we place more value on others than we do on ourselves, and when that happens, well, everything hits the fan!

We find ourselves seeing the true colors of friends; we see that they weren’t who we thought they were; and when that happens we find ourselves feeling betrayed, hurt and angry. We wonder why they couldn’t be as loyal to us as we were to them; we wonder why they turned their back on us; we wonder why they crossed our boundaries of friendship.

We wonder what happened, why things went the way they did, and what did it all mean…in other words, we want to know WHY it happened.

No one can control another; no one can make another loyal and trusting to you; no one can make someone love them.

We can only control ourselves.

And that’s a great power to have: the power to make decisions that are best for YOU!

You see, you lost sight of how valuable you are; you valued someone else so much that you forgot to value yourself; you placed way too much importance on someone who hurt you.

If you can’t see how valuable you are, how do you expect anyone else to?

It all begins with you.

Walk away from those who bring you down; wish them love and light, be grateful for the lessons it taught you, and move forward.

Let go of the negative people you’ve allowed in your bubble and make room for the positive people to come in.

Know your value…know your worth.

It’s a good thing!

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

 

“Those Waking Up Moments”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment
“It takes but one moment in your life that you find yourself waking up.”
~Anne Dennish~

 

“Waking Up” was the title of my last book and of the song I wrote to go with it. It was born out of my journey with breast cancer when a nurse asked me on my last day of treatment how the experience affected me. My answer was quick: “It woke me up.”

And it sure did.

But you don’t need to go through an illness to “wake up” to your life and how you’re living it.

I believe we all have those moments of “waking up” in which we see a situation differently…we see it with open eyes and more clarity. We see the truth. We see what’s working in our life and what isn’t. We see who belongs in our bubble and who doesn’t.

And then we have the choice to change it.

I’ve been going through a few “waking up” moments myself and while there are moments of sadness in what needs to be changed, there’s many more moments of happiness because of the change.

“Waking up” moments bring us life lessons to be learned so that we can live our life to the fullest and for our Highest Good.

Change isn’t always easy but I can promise you that it will always be worth it.

Because “YOU” are worth it!

Know the value of who you are…

It’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

it takes but one moment

“Embrace Your Inner Dreamer”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment
 

“There is a dreamer who lives in a world,
Of endless possibilities…never any boundaries.” 

by Anne Dennish

 

Just a little something I wrote two years ago about my life as a dreamer, yet it’s a song for everyone who has a dream…and I hope that’s all of you. We all have a “dreamer” inside of us just waiting to break out.

I often write about setting boundaries in your life that are best for you, yet where dreams are concerned, there should be NO boundaries! Dream as big as you can and take that leap of faith to catch them!

It’s a good thing!

Enjoy my song called “The Dreamer.”

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

 

“Who’s In Your Bubble?

/ Anne Dennish / 1 Comment

My friend, Peg, called me the other day to ask my opinion about a situation. She was feeling hurt over someone crossing her boundaries and in seeing the truth of them: that what she thought them to be wasn’t really who they were. She asked me how to get past that emotion of feeling hurt and betrayed.

I thought about it for a moment and came up with this analogy, one which I hope helps everyone.

Picture your life as a bubble and you’re in the center. Let’s say you’re only allowed 10 people in there with you. If you have 6 positive people and 4 negative in there then it’s full…there are no seats left for any other positive people to get in. Your bubble is full to capacity.

I can’t tell anyone enough that it is your decision of who you allow in your bubble, and you should always love yourself enough to want to surround yourself with positive people: people who are loyal to you, have your back, love and respect you, lift you up, support you, and more importantly, are honest with you. You want to keep your “vibe in the tribe” as positive as possible, because negativity breeds negativity and you don’t want an epidemic of that in your bubble!

So, when you realize there’s some negative people in that bubble and you want more positive people taking their place, do the math. You need to end your relationships with the negative people, wish them love and light, be grateful for the lessons they taught you, and move forward. And when you do that, hard as it may be, you’ve just opened a few more seats up in your bubble and have made room for the positive people to come in.

We all find ourselves in this situation now and again, yet it’s important to understand that these experiences happen to teach us a lesson about ourselves. Each of us has the control of who we allow in our bubble and each of us had a choice of keeping it positive or allowing the negative to take up residence.

Who do you have in your bubble? Is the vibe in your tribe a positive one? Are there more negative than positive people in there with you?

Only you know the answer to those questions and only you can choose what’s best for you.

Think about it.

It’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

 

“Opening the Right Door”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

Did you ever wake up one morning only to realize that the situation or relationship you’re currently in just isn’t working? What was so wonderful for a time no longer holds those feelings; the good times are replaced with stress and drama, hurt and heartache.

We’ve all had a moment or two of that, yet what do we do?

We know that we want more and we deserve more, and we still hold onto the hope that the situation or relationship will change…but it doesn’t.

It’s served its’ time, taught you some lessons and made you realize that you were settling, and truth be told, it was holding you back.

There’s always some pain at the loss of something you thought was the right thing, yet I’m here to tell you that once you heal and get past those emotions, the world opens doors for you that you didn’t even know were closed.

Keeping negative things in your life, no matter what or who it is, will always keep out the good things just waiting to come into your life.

Love yourself enoughto know that you deserve all good things; wish the situation or person that you need to walk away from lots of love and light, and thank them for all that they taught you.

And let the next door open wide for you!

It’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

door

“My Strength Is Their Weakness”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

strength and weakness

I wrote that quote many years ago near the end of my 20 year marriage. As I began to heal physically and emotionally from all the turmoil of that, I realized that it was at my moments of anxiety, sadness or depression that he became strong. At first I thought he was showing true signs of kindness, yet in time I realized what was really happening: I was feeding his ego and he was starving my self-esteem.  He felt like “the big man” helping the poor, defenseless, broken woman. The woman HE broke. The woman he was abusive to; the woman he told over and over again was stupid and ugly; the woman he told would never be loved by anyone.

And I believed him…until I stopped believing him.

Are you wondering how I stopped believing all that negative stuff he had embedded onto my brain? I woke up. I realized that I had allowed him free reign over me for many years and that by doing that, the behavior continued. I allowed him to speak down to me and allowed him to be disrespectful to me.  So, one day I woke up and stopped allowing it, and the marriage was done and over with.

I went through years of healing myself mentally and emotionally, and of course it was with the help of many spiritual teachers and a wonderful tribe of true friends.

I learned so much about myself and that loving myself first was the answer to not allowing anyone else to treat me that way. You’d think it would never happen again, yet I’m human; we’re all human. Sometimes life brings you an experience that you thought you had learned the lessons from…yet life knows when you forget the lesson. And the Universe will put a similar experience back into your way until you wake up and realize that what you stopped allowing years ago, you’re allowing once again.

Even after that divorce I would find myself meeting someone whose ego was strengthened by my weakness, and for those that know me, they know I’m anything but weak. It would sporadically happen here and there throughout the years, yet know I’m much more able to recognize it when it’s happening. I’ve learned that those people lack control of their own life so they try and control mine; they lack self-respect and are unable to respect anyone else; they don’t feel strong unless they’re paired up with someone weak.

And I am no longer that girl.

I want to be treated the way I deserve and the way that I treat others: with love, kindness, compassion, consideration and loyalty. And I won’t settle for anything less. I want to be loved for the person I am, quirks and all, because I love that person that I’ve become.

We all have moments of feeling weak and that’s okay; it’s those moments that help us to find our strength again and stand back up on our feet even stronger.

We all have moments of finding ourselves back in a situation that we thought would never return and that’s okay; you’re given that situation to remind you of the lesson you forgot.

And we all find ourselves staring into the mirror, looking at ourselves and wondering how we got here and what happened to us, and that’s okay; keep looking in that mirror long enough and you’ll once again see the person you thought was lost.

It’s those moments of feeling lost that we’re actually finding ourselves again, and we’re finding an even better and stronger version of the person we once were.

Life is about balance and we all fall out of balance every so often. It’s when the world around us is spinning out of control that we see the truth of everything, and it’s those moments we find our balance again.

Don’t let anyone make you feel weak; surround yourself with people that make you strong.

Don’t spend your precious time feeding someone’s ego; spend your time feeding your self-esteem.

And don’t rely on anyone loving you the way you want to be loved; love yourself that way first and the rest will fall into place.

Everything in your life begins with YOU.

Stop allowing what you don’t want to continue.

Forgive yourself when you forgot a lesson you learned and get back on track.

And love yourself.

If you do nothing else, love yourself.

Everything is possible when you begin with love.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“The Lesson In The Pain”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

I find a lesson in everything…even in pain, and the last 11 days have been no exception. I’ve been battling severe sciatica. Some days the pain has been excruciating, other days it’s been manageable, yet throughout the last 11 days of being able to do nothing but rest and take it easy, I’ve found myself changing.

Life and all its’ little problems were still knocking at my door, begging to come in with all their stress and drama, but guess what? I didn’t answer the door. I left all that “negative stuff” on the front porch, knowing that it would soon go away if I ignored it…and it did.

Living with pain is a horrible thing, yet it taught me that nothing else mattered except my healing. The pain reminded me that I’m just as important as anyone else, and that this time was mine to rest and get well. And it taught me to let go of things quicker and easier…and be done with them.

I guess you could say this amount of pain for this long of a time changed my behavior and perspective on situations that bring me stress or are filled with drama. I see them differently and learned to quickly dismiss them, not let them bother me, and focus on what’s important: my family, my loved ones, my tribe and ME!

I’m on the mend and it’s been a long, painful 11 days, yet it wasn’t in vain and was for a reason: to learn another life lesson. And while my leg still hurts, I can tell you that my heart doesn’t. I can’t worry about what I can’t change in others, I can only change how I react to them.

And sometimes “no reaction” is the best “reaction” to someone trying to bring their stress and drama into your life.

Try it.

It’s a good thing!

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

 

“Round Two The Show – AirMax Day NYC”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

“It’s turning imagination into reality. It’s taking an idea and it’s bringing it to life.” ~Sean Wotherspoon~

Of all the shows my nephew has been in, this one has to be my favorite. It’s “Round Two The Show – AirMax Day NYC!” I hope you take the time to watch it as he talks about the 2018 Nike AirMax shoe he designed and his entire NYC experience throughout the process.

It’s more than being his proud aunt, and proud is an understatement, but it’s about watching this young man believe so much in his dreams that he has done everything it takes to turn it into a reality…and with much success! He never stops dreaming or imagining or working towards turning all those into a reality. He believes that it’s all about taking an idea and bringing it to life!

Dreams turn into reality when you believe in the dream and in yourself. My nephew is such an inspiration to many, especially to me. I love that he’s a dreamer because I know firsthand what that feels like. And I know how excited he is about his dreams turning into his reality, because I’ve felt that emotion as well.

So here’s to all your dreamers out there…just believe, just have faith, everything else will fall into place! Take that leap of faith, believe in yourself and your dreams, and just go out and do it!

It’s a good thing!

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~