How Far Will You Go...?

What are you willing to give up to get where you want to go? How long will you fight for a dream if there is no evidence of it ever coming true?

To get to where we want or become that person we know we can truly be, it takes a lot more then being talented or passionate…it takes sacrifice. You can usually determine how bad you want something by how much you are willing to give up in order to get it. We sacrifice our time, beauty rest, money, personal needs and overall self-satisfaction, but what if that is still not enough?

What if we have to sacrifice living our comfortable and moderately satisfying lives in order to become more then what we are right now?

Too often people fall victim to their current circumstances and throw away their drive and ambition to the expectations of others. They lose themselves in the familiarity of relationships, friendships and even jobs, because it is much easier to stay comfortable in a situation then allow ourselves to venture out of our all too familiar comfort zone.

Take a look around at the circle of people in your life right now and I guarantee the majority of them stopped fighting (or never even began) for what they really wanted for themselves.

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark places where it leads

So what are you willing to give up and how far are you willing to go to get to where you truly want?

Because in the end, it is all up to you how far you will go...

Abandon ship even though it's scary as shit

I wish we could tear out pages in our lives as easily as we do in our journals. Leaving little to no trace of its painful existence.

Perhaps beginning a new page entirely is better then trying to twine together all the missing pieces. Accepting that what was lost is now gone forever and all we have left is the empty spaces of a new blank page… awaiting our arrival

Change is scary as shit. Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent; it is the one most adaptable to change”

Eventhough change is never easy for anyone, how fun would life really be if the tides didn’t throw us overboard every once in awhile?

So what if you are a horrible swimmer and prone to sea sickness? It doesn’t matter if you have to pant like a dying fish until your floppy fins turn into wings, sometimes that is what it takes in order to fly.

We have to be willing to go outside of ourselves in order to tap into who we can truly become.

And if pain is what it takes to redefine the mess we've made of our lives, then I guess its a good time we start toughenin' up

Imma Do It

We are our own worst enemy. Make no mistake about it, our skin is the prison we are in.

We are the ones who build bars of seclution and isolation from the people we love and dreams we have yet to allow ourselves to pursue.

Sure we can come up with a laundry list of excuses as to why we can't do or be with the people we really want, but at the end of the day...we know we are the only ones who stand in the way of ourselves. So why do we so often torture ourselves with a lifetime sentence of confinement?

Perhaps we are afraid.

We are afraid to fail, and yet we are afraid to succeed. We are afraid to venture outside of our comfort zone and at the same time we are afraid of standing still, or even worse-standing alone.

But what will happen if we break out of the steel bars and barbed wires we so cowardly place in front of our fear and actually fight for the person inside we know we can be?

If we are all hidden or driven by fear, who would we be...?

Un Momento

Everything changes in a single moment of realization.

And it is in this moment, where the defining line that once divided you from your future will begin to slowly fade away.

It will fade right through the past which no longer can define who you are or what your worth.
It will fade along with all of the so-called mistakes and heartbreaks you've felt along the way.
This moment will fade out all of the voices who told you that you weren't good enough
And this moment will keep you fighting, fighting for another day

You'll fight for all the people who no longer have the strength to.
You'll fight for all of those whose spirits are all that remain.
You'll fight for the little girl or boy inside of you who used to believe anything was possible.
And you'll fight until there is nothing more standing between who you are and all that you are meant to be

And once that moment truly hits, you'll realize.... everything you are is all you ever needed to be

My Lil' Miracle Man

Whatever you are doing at this very moment, whether your eyes are anxiously scouring over these words, or your fingers are fiddling with a piece of paper, if you allow yourself to fall slowly into each passing breath you can actually feel the presence that reminds you that you are here.

"The rest of my life is going to last as long as I can hold my breath"

Each day we find ourselves struggling for purpose, paying the bills, fighting with family members, laughing with friends and yet how often do we actually feel that we exist?

Yesterday I found myself watching an 8 pound newborn take his first breaths and for a brief moment, it was as if nothing else in the world mattered but his presence. We had only just met and I could already feel the love I had for him fighting back tears of joy and appreciation for his mere existence. I immediately wanted to protect him from all of life's inevitable pain, capture all of his innocence, lock it away in a safe and throw away the key.

How could I possibly love someone so much? Especially since this person has yet to know I (or even he) even exists yet! I guess this is what life is all about...

These miraculous moments where we care more about each other then we do for ourselves. Where we can actually feel a love so powerful that its pain can bring you to your knees and yet its beauty can take you to a place in yourself that not even you knew existed.

Here's to my family's newborn Miracle Man and all of the other miracles we keep breathing for every day...

And they said it was impossible!!!

What started out as ideas scribbled on napkins and torn up notebook pages has somehow managed to become the root of my being.... A few years ago I would have never imagined I would be where I am now and after last weeks assembly and our amazing workshops today, I am more confident then ever in the future of TRU.

I want to thank all of the incredible students I have met in the past week for sharing your powerful stories and reminding me and my TRU Crew why we do what we do!

Stay TRU and always remember YOUR possible!

Dream Walkers

When your dreaming with your eyes wide open it is near impossible to find time to rest. With your heart on your sleeve you wipe away tears of frustration and fatigue as they fight their way down your face. You know there is no real place to put those moments of weakness that tempt you back into complacent sleep, so you just tuck them away for another day.

As the hours fade into the night, the only thing keeping you awake is that pen and your dreams. Its ink will leave trails of a fortune to follow and you'll lose yourself within its pages. And soon you'll find yourself in a sea of dissembled words and forgotten phrases that leave you standing alone on the last page. But you can’t trace back your steps, dream walkers never can.

So you’ll open your eyes once again and dream while your wide-awake.

You’ll dream of a new beginning, or even a better end. You’ll dream you knew where you were going or better yet where you’ve been. You’ll dream of the day you weren’t standing alone, or even more, you’ll dream of a path that could lead you back home…

Just make sure you dream with your eyes wide open and that this dream is all your own.