STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES

LIFE is short, , have you stopped to smell the roses? I have been away for the past few weeks, life has been giving me a beating. But, I did not become discouraged, I became encouraged. The world just keeps on moving and whirling by as fast as it can. Life happens--- we have no control over the circumstances, but we do have control of our attitude. When I feel like I am on a roller coaster I regain my focus by stopping and appreciating what I have in my life. I stop and look at the beauty which surrounds me and do indeed stop and smell the roses. Have you stopped to smell the roses lately? As our world moves in to a new direction with President Elect Barack Obama, how will you appreciate the beauty in our world? What type of roses or beauty will you add? Seriously what will be your contribution to making our country great?

A penny for your words!

This is the cell of the Count of Monte Cristo
Chateau D'If in Marsielle, France



A penny for your words!

Think! What if your words had value? It is a thought. If my words had value, I would weigh every word two to three times before I spoke them. I would ask myself does this statement or question edify the world or does it tear it down? Gossip, slander, backbiting, negative stories how do these make our world a better place? That is just it, it does not make it better, it makes it worst. Everyday I try to move one-step closer to my destiny by making good decisions about my tongue. The Bible says, “Life and death is in the power of the tongue. How many people have you killed with your mouth? It is time to stop committing murder and start performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Bring life to this world with your words…stop and imagine there was a charge associated with every word, what would you not say. What would you put back in your mouth? In the few weeks really stop to ask yourself is it worth saying?

Are you walking in your purpose?

Statue of King Leonidas in Greece

This is a picture of King Leonidas, yes from the movie 300! It sits on the side of the road in Greece. But as I look over my pictures and recount the story of King Leonidas, I think about purpose.



King Leonidas was bred to be king. Without compromise, or apology he was born to be a warrior. How lucky he was to know his purpose!! How many times have you asked whether (verbally or silently) why I am here? Well, the answer is there, if you just seek it. We all have a purpose. We walk on this earth for a reason. The question now is what is that reason? What thing would you do without any compensation? What would you do just for the fun of it? What do you dream about, even while you are awake? You know the answer, be honest with yourself. There is a plan for your life. Stop and take inventory of the things you longed for as a child, before you were bombarded by technology and became too busy to think for yourself. Remove yourself away from the busyness of life. so many times we are so busy, just being busy.




Life awaits you! As Randy Pausch stated learn your lessons before dying, live your childhood dreams. Children are pure hearted and instinctively know the right thing to say and do. The world is waiting for you to walk in your purpose. don't disappoint it, it is waiting for you.

Is your house clean?

Mykonos, Greece

The old saying is “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” However, did you know cleanliness is next to happiness? It is true-- a clean space allows one to process thoughts in an orderly fashion. I am not a neat freak, but I feel as if I am going CRAZY if my space is not in order.

Many times, we find ourselves being overwhelmed and just don’t know why? Our lives seem to be going well, but all of a sudden we feel like the bottom is falling from underneath us and we can not getting our footing. If this has happen to you look around in your office, car, or house and see if these spaces are tidy. If they aren’t, try to clean them out and see if your perspective doesn’t change. Clutter brings a cluttered mind. Eliminate your trash literally and figuratively.

What do you need to throw away? Who did you need to throw away, trash, clothes, people, or pounds? What do you need to purge as you walk into your purpose? Many times your blessings are found in places you have choosen to neglect. Clean your house today.

What will be your legacy?

What will be your legacy?

In life, we meet many people along the way. Sometimes we are to give something to their lives other times they are to give something to our lives. Take a minute to reflect on the people you have met along the way and what they left with you. I have had the privilege of meeting many friends along way. In my travels around the world and in my travels from day to day I have been blessed to meet wonderful people. They have all offered something meaningful to me.

My friends have offered me a room to rest my head in New Zealand, Switzerland, Bahrain, and Portugal. They have also offered information, protection, and just genuine friendship. I love my friends and I hope they love me. They have blessed my life in such tremendous ways.

What legacy do you leave? As you travel through life which mark will, you leave. How do people remember you? What have you offered to people who are on your parallel path? Remember we are all going through our metamorphosis, do not have to repeat your caterpillar phase.

Make a choice today to walk with purpose along life’s jagged road and make a purposeful choice to be positive, passionate and leave your mark in a favorable way on someone’s life today.

Control the Controllable

Statue in Greece--This is a statue of a man watching in worry of a chariot race in Ancient Greece.

What worries you today,your health, your job, your family, an unfinished task? We all have worries. The funny thing is the things we most fear will never happen. Thank God for that! However we spend most of our energy worrying about things, which never actually happen. Just imagine if we focused our time and energy on believing that good things will happen.

Your mind is a powerful tool, which brings goodness and grace to you if you just believe. If you focus on POSITIVE things it will bring CALMNESS, and POSITIVITY in your life.

An old friend once said to me Control the Controllable...what a mouthful. Take a moment to just think about that statement. Think about what you CAN control. Write a list of those things. The list will be very SMALL! You know why! Because, the only thing we control are our bodies. We CAN NOT control our children, our spouses, our supervisors, the traffic....etc. the list goes on and on. But, you can take control of your thoughts and your reaction to situations! Is it easy ? NOWAY!! Let the UNIVERSE take care of your problems and accept the consequences,. Will this task be easily accomplished? ABSOLUTELY NOT but it can be done. Make a conscious effort to not become upset or easily angered over something you can not control and watch how calm your spirit will become!

Good Luck--give it a try!!! I walk with you. Mariposa : )

How do you nourish your soul?

Picture taken in Seward, Alaska
S.R. Hoffler

Where do you get your nutrients?

What nourishes your soul? What makes you happy? These seem like simple questions, but they are not. We spend so much of our lives pleasing others doing-- what our parents want, what our friends want, what our mate wants that we lose sight of what we want. It becomes as if we are on our own personal island and people are coming to vacation on us, but we never get rest. As we stand on the cliff of our lives, we have to make a choice to nourish as we meet the needs of others.

Recently, I have been reading excerpts of, The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale written in 1952. That is right 1952! It speaks of simple message believe in yourself, have faith in your abilities and success will come to you. However, it brings up one question what are you good at doing? Many of us do not know ourselves well enough to answer this simple question and to make proper decisions for our lives. I challenge you to set your eyes on a goal, and take steps to reach it over the next few weeks you owe it to yourself. Nourish your soul as you nourish others.

My current goal is to lose 30 pounds by the end of the year. I have taken steps by joining Weight Watchers and committing to attending meetings. I have already lost 6 pounds. What is your goal? Share, share, share!!!! --

What is in your horizon, caterpillar?

Nadi, Fiji

S.R. Hoffler



As we continue to look at the development of the butterfly, allow us to focus on the caterpillar and its exploration for what we will call "nutrients." As I spent time with old friends this weekend I started reflecting on my own metamorphosis and development. I have always been a reflective person, prone to spending time alone and thinking about the world around me. The picture above was taken at the bow of a ship in Nadi, Fiji on my own personal journey. In the summer of 2007, I took a trip around the world alone. I did meet friends along the way, and did reconnect with old friends. But, essentially the journey was alone. I tell this story because the trip was my nutrient gathering caterpillar experience. I learned so much about myself as I travelled around the world. I learned that my experience is not the only experience and my experience is not the most important experience, it is an experience in parallelism. Many people moving along their own path, but travelling all the same. We all must gather information in life but we must respect the journey of others.

In the next few post I will explore my metamorphic journey and how our journeys are tied to the journey of others.

The caterpillar

Picture taken in Lisbon, Portugal

As we acquire knowledge and grow, whether in childhood or in mental childhood, we are gathering information from the world around us; this is what the caterpillar does in nature. It is taking in " nutrients" or information to be able to survive through the cocoon phase. The phase were it must depend on what it has acquired to survive in order to become a beautiful butterfly.

As people we do the same. As women we really simulate this experience. We learn from our parents, from our teachers, from our friends, from our partners, from our children . We are the consummate vessels of acceptance. We truly carry the world on our shoulders, carrying every one's problems.

The problem is as we move through this caterpillar phase we should be gather information to help us as we move from this phase into the next, but sometimes before we move to the cocoon phase a phase trial and testing we must realize that we must throw some information back into the world. Are you taking on too much caterpillar? Choose your "nutrients" wisely all food is not good food.

Butterflies around us!

Picture taken in Lisbon, Portugal

How do we change our lives? We can look at the metamorphosis of the butterfly to look at our stages of development. A butterfly starts its life crawling on the ground, taking in all of its surroundings. How do we as people simulate this behavior? Tomorrow we will examine the caterpillars development.

Today I change my life!!!

Picture taken in Auckland New Zealand

Today I decided to change my life and make a decision to focus on positivity and not negativity.
I am the person who always has a story to tell. Some are positive, but some are negative. I found that when you re-tell a negative story you give it legs to walk around and grow larger. every time a negative situation or story is told it emotionally pulls you back to that negative space and time.

We may not realize it but it keeps us imprisoned to negativity. Always pulling us back into the Abyss of negativity. We must break free of what ails us. Negativity has effects on our work life, personal life, health and weight. In the next thirty days join me as I transform my mind and body in to place where I want to actually hang out. Come with me!!! Make a commitment to consciously take a hold of negative thought and throw them and way.. We can do it Pledge to do it for a day, a week a month, whichever suits you and see if the universe will not bring you happiness and returns beyond anything you can imagine.