When You Walk With Your Head Down

… you walk into walls.

It’s common sense.

When you’re not looking where you’re going, you’re most likely going to end up somewhere you don’t want to be.

Most of us sleepwalk our way through our lives — running the mouse wheel of life. We are so busy trying to make a living that we completely miss the significance of our lives. We miss the small moments that are on our path to teach us.

Believe it or not, you are only here to learn, NOT to amass large amounts of material goods, real estate, money or collegiate accreditation. Your focus should always be on your relationships and your challenges — these are your mirrors that force your growth. They make you better, wiser and stronger. They change you. They bring you to a better place. In other words, your struggles are your guidepost to greatness; don’t ignore them.

Pay attention to your life, it’s trying to tell you something. If you don’t keep your head up, you’ll undoubtedly end up somewhere you don’t want to be. Life’s too short to keep your head down; there’s a world in front of you — keep your eye on it, it might just change you.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Book, “Life Lessons,” click here.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Weekly Column at the NY OBSERVER, click here.

Follow Donnalynn on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. 

If you would like more information on Life Coaching Sessions with Donnalynn, click here.

If you would like to schedule a session with Donnalynn, click here.

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

When You’re in the Flow

… everything moves with you.

And when you are not, nothing works.

When you are in the flow of your life – flowing downstream — everything flows along side you. When you are out of that flow – pushing upstream — things are much more difficult.

How do you know the difference? Ask yourself how it feels? If it’s hard, you’re pushing your boat upstream. If it’s easy, you’re flowing with the stream.

Your life path should be obvious and it will flow together easily when you are in the right place at the right time. If something in your life isn’t working, stop pushing, there is a reason why it is not coming together. Resistance is your friend, never your foe.

When you’re where you’re supposed to be in your life, things come together easily. If they aren’t coming together easily, they aren’t meant to, clearly there’s something better waiting to come together.

Don’t try to force something outside your flow. If it’s too hard, it’s not yours. Step away from it. Find your flow first and let it naturally carry you to what is right for you. It can be no other way.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Book, “Life Lessons,” click here.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Weekly Column at the NY OBSERVER, click here.

Follow Donnalynn on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. 

If you would like more information on Life Coaching Sessions with Donnalynn, click here.

If you would like to schedule a session with Donnalynn, click here.

Read Full Post »

Making A Mistake Doesn’t Make You Broken

… it makes you BETTER.

When you make a mistake, you learn better who you are and what you need to do differently in order to become more whole.

The mistake isn’t a statement of imperfection, it calls attention to the areas within you that are in a state of growth and expansion.

Mistakes are constructive  — they are the stepping stones along our path of personal growth. They take us higher into an understanding of ourselves and what we need to live our best life.

Mistakes don’t make you broken, they make you better. They change you. They highlight areas of improvement for you. They evolve you. They teach you what you will NEVER do again. They make you wiser and put you on a much better life trajectory.

Don’t feel as if you are broken because you made a mistake. Recognize that the mistake is bringing you to a much better place within yourself.

Don’t get caught up in the mistake — Let go of it — take the learning from it, transform yourself and make your life better because of it. You’ll be glad you did.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Book, “Life Lessons,” click here.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Weekly Column at the NY OBSERVER, click here.

Follow Donnalynn on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. 

If you would like more information on Life Coaching Sessions with Donnalynn, click here.

If you would like to schedule a session with Donnalynn, click here.

 

Read Full Post »

Life Isn’t About Finding the Time

… it’s about MAKING the time.

Time has an elusive quality — we never seem to have enough of it and we always seem to be chasing it. But little do we know — time is malleable and can be manipulated.

The most important thing to note is that — It’s not about the time; it’s about the moment. This is what we tend to lose sight of. The moment has everything you’ll ever need and when you’re in the moment, time expands — it seemingly lasts forever. Anyone who has ever stared at a clock for 15 minutes can tell you that.

But we never live in the moment. We happen to be in a moment but we are never really present to it — our minds are projecting us into the next future moment and the next and so on. So we never get to experience the depth and richness of that moment and therefore it quickly passes us by.

If we could learn that time is about being in a moment, not doing something in that moment, then we would find that we feel less rushed and less hurried and our experience of time would slow down. This is because time is an experience of being, not doing or achieving.

But many of us don’t want to be present to our lives because we don’t want to feel emotion, so it’s just easier to fill our schedules with things to do and subsequently we run out of time to do it.

Learn to look at your life differently — learn to be in the moment and feel it for everything it is offering you and let it transform you. You will soon come to see that life isn’t about finding the time to do things, it’s about making the time to be — be with yourself and be with others. When you can make that time to be present in the moment, you’ll have all the time in the world to do everything you need to do in every moment.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Book, “Life Lessons,” click here.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Weekly Column at the NY OBSERVER, click here.

Follow Donnalynn on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. 

If you would like more information on Life Coaching Sessions with Donnalynn, click here.

If you would like to schedule a session with Donnalynn, click here.

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

It Isn’t What You Know

… it’s what you’ve experienced that makes up true intelligence.

How smart are you? Intelligence isn’t based on standardized tests or gpa; it’s based on wisdom from experience. How do you really know something unless you’ve lived it? 

Words don’t teach. Only experience teaches.

Knowing something isn’t enough to teach you its value in your life. LIVING IT IS. The experience is everything.

The mind can only answer half the equation. The mind can provide you with the recipe, but if you haven’t made the meal yet how do you know how delicious it will be? Or if it will be too spicy for you? Only the experience will give you the wisdom to know.

Don’t just know something – LIVE IT. Don’t waste time gathering facts, spend it LIVING YOUR LIFE. And don’t worry about making a mistake. Have as many experiences as possible — make your life as messy as possible, it shows you’ve lived it. And through living it, you’ll truly KNOW what’s right for you, because in life, IT ISN’T WHAT YOU KNOW, it’s what you’ve EXPERIENCED that makes up true intelligence. 

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Book, “Life Lessons,” click here.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Weekly Column at the NY OBSERVER, click here.

Follow Donnalynn on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. 

If you would like more information on Life Coaching Sessions with Donnalynn, click here.

If you would like to schedule a session with Donnalynn, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Pushing For Answers

… keeps you questioning.

We all push for immediate answers to our most pressing concerns, but answers don’t work that way — they only come in their own time.

Answers on your path are a natural progression of your experience. Solutions cannot be given before you are ready to receive them. You’re not looking for a perfect solution, you’re looking to evolve yourself through step by step experiences. The joy isn’t in a future promise; it’s hidden within in this moment.

Answers are given when you’re ready to enter a new phase. If you don’t have the answer, it’s because you’re not yet ready to move forward, there’s learning in the space where you are right now. Stay there — enjoy it — live it — it has something for you. When you are ready, your experience will give you every answer you need to move in the direction that is right for you. When you grow, you know.

Don’t beat yourself up for not having all the answers. Life isn’t about having all the answers, it’s about making the best decision you can in this moment based on the experience you have so far.

You cannot know where you are going until you are there. Pushing for answers doesn’t bring them sooner — it just highlights the uncertainty. You can run yourself in circles demanding an answer or you can trust the process of your life to bring you to the answer once you are ready to receive it.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Book, “Life Lessons,” click here.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Weekly Column at the NY OBSERVER, click here.

Follow Donnalynn on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook.

If you would like more information on Life Coaching Sessions with Donnalynn, click here.

If you would like to schedule a session with Donnalynn, click here.

 

Read Full Post »

Transformation Gets Ugly

… before it gets better.

No one ever said making change is easy. Growth takes hard work.

To become a beautiful butterfly, you have to live through the dark phase of the cocoon.

Giving up and staying in the cocoon isn’t an option. The struggle to get free of the cocoon is the struggle of transformation. How badly do you want to transform your life? Accepting the status quo will never get you out of that cocoon. To get to the light, often times you have to fight your way through the darkness.

Transformation is a lifelong process; it doesn’t happen overnight. Transformation is a series of steps that tend to make things appear worse before they can become better. It’s like any detox process, in order to cleanse the body and heal, the infection or toxins need to first rise to the surface before they can leave the body. So the darkness is temporarily exaggerated before the light of transformation can prevail.

To become something great, you have to do something great. Being great means using your inner strength to fight your way through your own cocoon of darkness. Remember giving up is never an option. Just when the catepillar was ready to give up his struggle, he transformed into a beautiful butterfly and flew away.

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Book, “Life Lessons,” click here.

If you would like more information on Life Coaching Sessions with Donnalynn, click here.

If you would like to schedule a session with Donnalynn, click here.

Follow Donnalynn on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook.

 

 

Read Full Post »

Being In This Moment

… brings you to the next.

Projecting into a future moment — leaves you stranded.

Being in the present moment is the roadmap to our lives. Living in a future moment sends us careening off-course.

Life isn’t about the future destination of where you’re headed, it’s about the present moment journey into yourself. And every great journey is born out of one step, because one step brings you to the next one, which brings you to the next one, and so on.

Being in the moment secures you on your path. When you are open to the wisdom of the moment, you are infinitely guided to the next step along your journey because you are moving along a path you are standing on. But when you’re living ahead of the moment and projecting yourself into a future moment (which doesn’t yet exist), you are throwing yourself off your path into the bushes and blind guessing where it might lead.

The future doesn’t have your answers. The moment has every answer you will ever need.

Don’t ask your future where you’re headed. The roadmap to your life is secured in this moment. The future moment may never come. If you base your destination on a future moment, you will have missed the richness of all the moments along the way.

Being in this moment brings you to the next. Never make a decision in the future based on a probable outcome which may never come. The only moment you have is in the NOW. When you make your decisions based on this moment, you’re on your path. When you make decisions based on a future moment, you are off in the bushes. Where do you want to be?

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s Book, “Life Lessons,” click here.

If you would like more information on Life Coaching Sessions with Donnalynn, click here.

If you would like to schedule a session with Donnalynn, click here.

Follow Donnalynn on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook.

 

Read Full Post »

Don’t Give Up The Fight

… until you don’t have any fight left.

If there is someone or something you want in life, you fight for it. Otherwise you lose it.

How do you know it’s worth fighting for?

If its presence in your life makes you better, makes you happier, lifts you, supports you and challenges you to think of things in a new way — it’s worth fighting for.

If its presence in your life doesn’t shift your consciousness, doesn’t make you feel happy & supported, doesn’t uplift you, doesn’t push you beyond yourself, and doesn’t encourage you to be a better version of yourself — it’s not worth the fight.

Just because it’s difficult DOESN’T MEAN it’s NOT worth fighting for.

Anything worth the fight is worth fighting for. And anything difficult that’s worth fighting for, is challenging your sense of commitment and dedication.

If something is right for you, there will always be solutions. If it is NOT right for you, options will seem impossible.

Listen to how you feel. Your emotions tell you everything you need to know about what is right for you. If it feels right to you, fight and fight harder; if it doesn’t feel right and you’re exhausted and depleted, walk away and give the situation time to heal.

Don’t give up the fight until you’ve lost your will to fight. Decide what is worth fighting for, put forth your best effort, and let the universe do the rest. Answers ALWAYS come when YOU DON’T GIVE UP THE FIGHT. 

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s new Book, “Life Lessons,” click here.

If you would like more information on Life Coaching Sessions with Donnalynn, click here.

If you would like to schedule a session with Donnalynn, click here.

Follow Donnalynn on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook.

Read Full Post »

Stress Isn’t About Your Schedule

… it’s about your state of mind.

So change it.

Reducing your stress level (about your schedule) is about controlling your mind, NOT your schedule.

Understandably so, most of us become stressed due to the schedules we work under. We’re time-impoverished and that creates a source of stress in our lives.

But believe it or not, stress is a choice. It’s a choice in perception.

You can either allow your schedule to “stress you out” or you can change your perception of your schedule. In other words, your schedule doesn’t have to be a source of stress, but the way you mentally label it will be.

You may not always be able to control your schedule, but you can always control HOW YOU REACT TO IT. So, know that you can change the way you are viewing your schedule. For instance, you can either see your schedule as “full and fulfilling” or it can be seen as “busy and overwhelming.”

A schedule is just that, a schedule; the mental perception we attach to it is the way we will experience it. The same holds for anything in life – an event/situation/person is just that, but the perception we attach to it, is how we will experience it.

Do you want to feel more in control of your life? Do you want to have less stress? Learn to redefine what you’re looking at. When you redefine your situation, you will experience it very differently. You are always in control of how you see things. Just know that stress is never about your schedule, it’s about your state of mind as you make your way through it. 

Read more inspiration in Donnalynn’s new Book, “Life Lessons,” click here.

If you would like more information on Life Coaching Sessions with Donnalynn, click here.

If you would like to schedule a session with Donnalynn, click here.

Follow Donnalynn on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook.

Read Full Post »