Saturday, December 24, 2016

Merry Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

I hope this message finds you doing something you love.

I always enjoy the notions that come with the Holiday Season: giving gifts, thinking of others, peace on Earth, and goodwill towards others.

If we could embody these principals all the time, imagine what the world would be like :)

One thing I was able to appreciate this season is how much I enjoy Christmas lights (I mean I have always recognized that, but this year there was a little deeper appreciation).  In fact, I think I am going to keep them up and turn them on (often) year round.

What about you?  What have been some of your favorite memories and aha's from the 2016 Holiday Season?

Another special moment I wanted to share, very quickly with you:

As a kid Home Alone and Home Alone 2 became part of the Christmas tradition.  My favorite scene from the franchise has always been the scene where Kevin is standing in front of the Rockefeller Christmas tree in New York and is eventually reunited with his Mom.  I love everything about that scene: the setting, the sweetness, the Christmas revelations, and especially the music (I included a Youtube video below).




On a recent trip to New York I fulfilled a long standing goal of recreating that moment - something I have wanted to do for a long time. I still catch myself humming the song as I reflect back on that special moment. You can watch it here





Sending you lots of love, health and happiness. 

I hope our paths cross in 2017.

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

http://www.jessebrisendine.com
http://www.facebook.com/1year1000challenge

P.S.

I would love to help you get a jump start on 2017!  On New Years Day, I am hosting a live Goal setting training that you can attend for free!!  Click here to register.  So far we have folks from more than 13 countries participating. Hope you can be a part of it too. :)

Sunday, December 11, 2016

I Cried When I Sold my Car

A couple weeks ago I bought a new car and as a part of that process traded in my old car.

The last few years I have had ongoing back problems which has limited a lot of the things I enjoy doing physically. 

For the last year I have been pulling the magnifying glass out and looking at day to day behaviors in an attempt to asses where I can reduce certain movements and the toll they take.

One of the more taxing movements was getting in and out of my car.

Realizing this I began the process, about six months ago, to look for a new car.

I say "began the process," because I was not overly motivated to look.  I still liked my car enough and it still had plenty of miles left in it, but as time went on it became more evident of what I was giving up by not moving forward.

Have you ever felt like that?  Felt like you were giving something up by not moving forward?  Felt like your unwillingness to change was keeping you from something more?

I did my research and when it finally came time to make a decision I began to feel sad at the prospect of saying goodbye to my "Little Car," (a name I have affectionately called it for the last eight years).

When I signed the papers for my new car, I walked outside to look through my "Little Car" to make sure I had got all my possessions and say goodbye.  As I did this I began to cry.  In that moment I was flooded with this deep feeling of gratitude I had for my Little Car.

I looked at it and saw so many memories in the 109,000 miles we had traveled together. 

My Little Car was home to 1000's of laughs and tears. It was the vehicle that took me to so many amazing sunrise's and sunset's.  It always got me safely from point A, B, C - Z and back again.  It was what carried me to my Mom's house, in silence, after learning my Dad had died.  It was where countless heart to heart's happened. My Little Car had so much good news shared within it's interior as well as housed a number of heartbreaks too.

All this and more came rushing back to me as I said goodbye to my Little Car - a Gratitude for it I had never felt before.

When I finally drove away from it, my heart was so filled with love and appreciation for it that I found myself thinking: "I want to feel this level of gratitude all the time."

Gratitude adds a deeper level of meaning in life and when you live your life from a place of gratitude you will find that there just isn't a lot of room for the "other stuff."

I am grateful for all the amazing moments experienced in my Little Car.  I am extra grateful for the final amazing moment we shared together and the valuable life lesson that was contained within it: the importance of living each day from a place of love and gratitude.

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

http://www.jessebrisendine.com
http://www.facebook.com/1year1000challenge 





Sunday, December 4, 2016

Honoring Those You Have Lost

If you live you will lose - as they say two things you can be certain about are death and taxes.

Loss can be one of the most devastating and life altering events you will ever go through. It can rock you to your core and the aftermath of it could derail your life, permanently, if you do not deliberately take steps to get back on track and move forward after your loss.

The challenge of course is "how." How do you do that after you have lost someone you love so deeply.

How?


In the last few years I have lost three very important people in my life: one of my best friends to suicide, my Dad unexpectedly two weeks after being declared cancer free (you can read those stories here) and my best friend to a car crash.

Each of these deaths came with additional life struggles... relationships ending, struggling to "fit in," unmotivated, uninspired, etc...

Through all this, I kept coming back to the question of "how?" How do you move forward after loss?  How do you move forward to not merely exist, but to truly live?  How do you move forward to live a happy and fulfilling life?

Having gone through the challenge of loss myself, as well as with numerous clients from all over the world what I have found to be most effective in doing the above is deciding on a path that honors your loved one and traveling it.

When we allow ourselves to begin to live a life to honor those we have lost, it can give our lives a renewed sense of meaning and purpose.  Two vital ingredients to a fulfilling life.

Recently I shared a video of an event I have hosted for the last three years... it is part of an ongoing mission to live my life in a way that honors my best friend.  Every year, on his birthday, people take a photo of a sunrise and/or sunset and share it on social media.  I take several of the photos and put them together in a video which you can see below.



If you are reading this and you are at a time in your life where you find yourself struggling with loss, I encourage you to look within and ask yourself, "how can I begin to live my life to honor who I have lost?"

Your answer may present the meaning and purpose you seek.

Carpe Diem and with Love,

Jesse

P.S. I also lovingly invite you to check out my "Healing from Loss" program You can learn all about it by clicking here.

http://www.jessebrisendine.com
http://www.facebook.com/1year1000challenge