Tacos and Tiaras

I'm just being all-zen-and-shit

Change

Keep Going

Beginnings, Change, Gratitude, Happiness, Hope, Intuition, Leadership, Luceat Lux Vestra, Mindfulness, Perspective

Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.”

– Bill Bradley
On 1 April 2021 I had 27 subscribers. Ninety days ago I had 312 subscribers. 31 December 2021 I had 480 subscribers. Steady growth.

I missed my goal of hitting my milestone 500 YouTube subscribers yesterday, but I feel happy anyway. 🥰 In less than nine months, I grew my channel by 453 subscribers, and in the past ninety days, my channel grew from 312 to 480 subscribers. It may not sound like much, but five hundred subscribers earns my Community page on which I can share out videos from other creators’ channels. It’s also halfway to my goal of 1,ooo subscribers, which is one of the qualifications for monetizing a channel.

I feel grateful for the steady growth because my channel has remained very manageable for replying to comments and supporting other channels. Not only do I have subscribers who are more likely to stick with me but also I follow back other channels whose content provides something that helps me in some way – motivation, inspiration, collaboration… anything that raises the vibration! I feel grateful for all of the feedback that affirms I am accomplishing what I set out to do – BE THE LIGHT. LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE!

Here we are at the start of a new year, and people tend to begin with resolutions for new habits. I can’t remember the last time I made New Year’s resolutions. Somewhere along the way I stopped using 1 January as the starting point because it was just too easy to set myself up for failure. I realized I was making New Year’s resolutions for the sake of making them, without any real planning and, in some cases, without any true commitment to keeping them!

What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.”

– Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now

No matter what date you decide is the start of whatever you wish to change, you can set yourself up for success by following the advice (and tips for manifesting) that you’ve mostly likely heard here or there:

  • Set goals that are aligned with who you are, your mission, and your purpose.
  • Write your goals and plans. Create a vision board.
  • Be specific and capture the necessary details of your goals and plans. “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
  • Focus on what you want, not what you don’t want.
  • Believe in yourself and that you deserve to attain your goals.
  • Express gratitude for everything – the goals you met, the lessons learned, the unmet goals that steered you to your true path. The grateful heart receives abundantly.
  • Setbacks or missed goals are opportunities for learning, improving, and changing. Go with the flow, and be okay with changing course, especially if you discover that your original goal is not aligned with who you are.
  • Failing to meet a goal is only the end if you allow it to be.
  • Keep going. Ambition and persistence will pay off.

Luceat Lux Vestra.

Graceful Exit: Another Calendar Year Gone

Beginnings, Change, Divine Orchestration, Gratitude, Hope, In Media Res, Intuition, Kindness, Leadership, Love, Luceat Lux Vestra

There’s a trick to the ‘graceful exit.’ It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, or a relationship is over — and let it go. It means leaving what’s over without denying its validity or its past importance to our lives. It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving up, rather than out.”

– Ellen Goodman
Photo from recording day for a collaboration cover of Aerosmith’s “Angel” with YouTuber, KAUSI

In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.”

– Buddha

I didn’t plan on writing a post today, but Facebook memories reminded me that three years ago, we buried my mom and that four years ago I shared the Ellen Goodman quote at the top of this post. 31 December 2017 was the last time I wrote I nightly positive post on Facebook; it wrapped up four years of ending each night by posting a positive thought. (Please see How This Blog Came to Be.) The time arrived for me to move on and do something that reached further than sharing positivity and gratitude on my personal Facebook.

My Facebook post on 31 December 2017 ends with, “May 2018 be a year of graceful exits and solid beginnings.” I didn’t know what exits, beginnings, departures, arrivals, or changes were in store for me in 2018, and after my mom’s funeral on New Year’s Eve day in 2018, I knew that 2019 would be different without my mom. Over the years I’ve learned how to live more mindfully in the present and to allow the future to arrive. (Please see Dance the Dance, Love the Love.)

I started this blog a little more than two years ago, feeling called to write, so I let it flow to become whatever it was meant to be. I gave it time for topics and rhythm to arrive and evolve, but last year I also fell into sharing my ukulele journey. This past year I recognized that music comes naturally for letting my light shine. (Please see Shining… Glowing… Authentically.) I feel that my smiling, singing, and playing ukulele is enough for brightening someone else’s day, but being invited to collaborate and be the vocalist for someone else’s music raises my vibration. I feel happy contributing to another creator’s project.

More collaborations are in progress, and I feel happy and grateful for my YouTube channel‘s growth the past eight months. In April I started with 27 subscribers and set a goal to reach 500 subscribers by 31 December 2021, and the past couple of days it has fluctuated between 480 and 483 thanks to YouTube’s automated “clean up”. I’m short of meeting my goal, BUT I feel grateful for the subscribers who affirm that I’m fulfilling my mission and purpose as a lightworker, AND I feel happy knowing that I will reach 500 subscribers in January. I look forward to sharing the work of other creators and helping them grow their audience by doing for them what others have done for me. 💜GRATITUDE💜

I may not be able to see what is coming in 2022, but I feel grateful that I’m on my way. I feel grateful to everyone who makes time to give me feedback, such as “You’re a bright spot in my day” or “You always looks so happy singing and playing”. They affirm I’m on my path and doing what I set out to do – be the light.

Do it because you fucking love it.”

– Count Me In, documentary

Luceat Lux Vestra.