positivevibes

“Life Is Always Changing”

/ Anne Dennish / 2 Comments

Life is changing, I can feel it to my toes and it’s happening quickly. There are days that I have to remind myself to breathe, that it’s all happening just as it should.

And experience has taught me throughout the years that it always is happening as it should.

I’m so excited about my new book and am praying that it brings the changes in my life that I want, perhaps even need. 

So each day I wake up I’m grateful.

Each day that I wake up I try to do better.

Each day that I wake up I try to do what it takes to turn my dreams into my reality.

And each day that I wake up I remind myself to keep moving forward and never give up on my dreams. 

Life is always changing.

Dreams can be turned into reality.

And each day is a chance to do it better than the day before.

Keep moving forward, no matter how difficult the path may be that day.


Everything is happening just as it should.

You have to believe.

And you have to have faith.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

Advertisement

“We’re Dreamers ‘Til The End”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

“A dreamer is a realist with faith.”

Faith in their dreams and faith in themselves.

I was in Virginia a few weeks ago to celebrate my nephew, Gavin’s, high school graduation. It was the first time in years that so much of our family was under the same roof for the night and we all had a good time.

I was in Virginia a few weeks ago to celebrate my nephew, Gavin’s, high school graduation and I got to spend some time alone with him. We had a conversation I’ll remember forever: he shared his “dreams” with me. 

Yes, we spoke of college and his football career, but most of the conversation was about his dreams. 

And he said he must get that “dreamer” thing from me.

And I couldn’t have been more proud.

Gavin told me that he wants to make a difference in the world, even if it’s making a difference to just one person. He told me that he’s not looking to be famous, but if he is he wants to be famous for helping people and changing someone’s life for the better. He told me his “dreams” of a better world and I understood exactly what he was talking about because I dream of the same. Gavin and I aren’t just waiting for our dreams to come true, we’re doing what it takes to turn our dreams into a reality.

I received a “thank you” card from Gavin and this proud auntie shed a tear at the last line of the card: “We’re dreamers together ‘til the end!”

And we will always will be.

I believe in the “dreamers” because I’ve been one for as long as I can remember. When I was much younger I  remember being told that it was okay to have dreams as long as I understood that they were just dreams, not reality. I used to believe that a dreamer was just a person who went through life with their head in the clouds, but that’s not true.

We dreamers have our feet planted firmly on the ground, yet we have enough faith in ourselves to believe that we can turn our dreams into reality; we have an intense passion for our dreams; and we believe in our dreams and in ourselves.

I believe in my nephew, Gavin, I believe in me, and I believe in all of you.

Thank you, Gavin, for letting your aunt know that she made a difference in your life.

After all, that’s what us “dreamers” are all about…

And it’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

gavin dreamer

“Podcast 3 – Stay Out Of My Bubble”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

“Strength And Weakness”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

I wrote this 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 into my brain? I woke up. I realized that I had allowed him the freedom to treat me that way. 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 when I did that 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 that I was able to. I’m grateful for each and every one of them.

I learned so much about myself and that loving myself first was the answer to preventing anyone anyone from treating me that way. You’d think it would never happen again, yet I’m human; we’re all human. Sometimes life brings you back to 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 now 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 the 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 in those moments that we find our balance again.

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

And love yourself.

If you do nothing else, love yourself.

Anything and everything is possible if you begin with love.

It’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~strength and weakness

 

“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~

 

“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~

 

“I Wish You Enough”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

A good friend of mine reminded me of this poem this morning. It’s a reminder to be grateful for both the good days and the bad; that without the bad days we’d never know what a good day was; that without feeling sadness we’d never know joy; that without a moment of feeling weakness we’d never know the feeling of strength.

Every day you wake up is a good day, and all the emotions you feel throughout it are a gift…a gift of life lessons; a gift to learn more about yourself; a gift to see your life as it truly is.

The “down days” happen to remind us how many more “good days” we truly have to count, and they remind us that it won’t be like that forever, just for that day.

Embrace every day, good or bad; embrace your emotions, happy or sad; embrace the lessons you’re being taught.

No one’s feelings are ever wrong, they just “are.” Sometimes there are reasons for the down days, sometimes there’s not. And that’s okay. We’re all human. Just be sure you don’t sit in those down days for long. Feel them, cry through them and let it all out…tears are cleansing our soul of all that we hold inside, and there’s nothing wrong with that…in fact, tears are our release, whether in sadness or in joy.

Feel what you have to feel and take those down days, be grateful for their lessons, then release them, let them go, and move forward into the new day ahead.

It’s a good thing. 

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

i wish you enough

“Maybe It’s Not Your Door”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

Life is filled with doors: doors to close and to open; doors that are right for us and those that are no; and doors from the past and doors to the future.

So often I hear people complain that the things they wanted in life weren’t going as planned; the job wasn’t working out, the relationship didn’t progress or that every dream they’re trying to catch ends up in rejection or less of what they had hoped.

Maybe you’re opening the wrong doors. Maybe the door you want to OPEN isn’t your door. And maybe you haven’t closed the doors to your past and made peace with it so that the doors to your future can open.

Don’t worry if a door you want to open doesn’t. It just means it’s “not your door.”

And trust me, the right door, YOUR door, is waiting for you…

After all, as I always say, “when one door closes, let the French doors open!”

It’s a good thing… 

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

wrong door