courage Archives - Writing From The Kitchen

Love Your Messy Truth

September 3, 2019September 3, 2019by Erika K RothwellLeave a Comment

Love your messy truth – It’s beautiful! Your truth is not ugly. Believe in the beauty of your truth.

Frame your point of reference in grace and acceptance. And allow yourself to be reborn.

The birth process can be visually messy. Yet we find ourselves in awe of the beauty of new life.

In fact, the birth of anything is a messy process. Our lives are also generally messy, our pasts littered with indiscretions and uninvited challenges. But to accept oneself through it all is courageous and beautiful.

Truth is where the beauty begins. Embrace authenticity. Find truth within yourself and share it with the world. Trust in the process. Do not deny yourself by denying your inward truths.

As the tight bud of a flower unfurls its petals, unguarded and opening to the possibilities, we must expose our deepest selves, providing the seeds of tomorrow.

Denying that we hold these seeds only leads to an unfulfilled life and a timeline of “what ifs?”

Joyfully release these seeds, for holding onto them too tightly will not spread the beauty.

More importantly, only in the acceptance of our deepest truths are we allowed to gaze upon the beauty of others.

courage, Creativity, encouragement

Hiatus and Back to the Path

July 23, 2019July 23, 2019by Erika K Rothwell7 Comments

I wrote this a week ago and did not publish because I was so empty I was afraid to share. However, as this sits in the past and I celebrate placing it there, I want to encourage all out there who have hit the wall. Empathetic relating to your situation has brought me to openly share my personal detour off the path.

“ A hiatus is a pause in which nothing happens or a gap where something is missing.” Definition provided by Collins English Dictionary. Yet life does not exactly have a pause button.

It may be incorrect to state that I’ve been on hiatus, as so much has actually happened. However, there has been a gap, a “ginormous” gap where something is missing. And that something is me. I have suddenly found myself missing. Missing feelings, missing thoughts, missing a connection to my center. Life’s happenings appear to have executed full domination creating a major gap in my ability to function on a functioning level.

Needless to say, this gets in the way of productive energy and creativity. The standstill is rock solid and difficult to penetrate. I stand motionless and empty.”

Because I was searching for words of encouragement and did not have the strength to ask for them, I present words for you without you having to ask.

This soon shall pass. Momentary burnout and “this” seemingly helpless state will produce strength in you beyond what you imagined. You may question how this emptiness ricochets into a strong force that moves you along your destined and individually created path.

Every moment has its place. Every place has its time. And the path waits for you.

Your path. The path of your life. A unique path that is sometimes self-dictated, sometimes courageously followed, and sometimes simply faithfully followed, moving you in a forward direction.

This is the path you must stay on. This is the path you were born to follow. And in my most recent experience, I have learned it is a path you cannot always control the direction of, but one you can accept and embrace with positivity assured that forward is the only way to go. Gracefully acknowledge that detours and an unexpected hiatus only delays the inevitable direction. The direction of your dreams.

I encourage you today. You will recover. Stay on your path. Let your heart guide you.

©Erika K Rothwell

courage, Creativity, Discovery

Color Outside The Lines

April 11, 2019April 12, 2019by Erika K Rothwell4 Comments

“Do one thing everyday that scares you.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Challenge your boundaries, allow them to stretch your status quo, courageously step out of bounds at times even if not within your comfort zone and expand your creative horizons. Protecting what we have always been, doing what we have always done will bring us the results we have already received.

Perhaps our past experiences, fears and expectations of others and ourselves have darkened the outlines of our potential, holding us back. Sadly, we may hide behind walls containing our gifts neglecting the work that defines our unique contribution to this world.

Follow the lead of a child where lines don’t seem to exist, only possibilities. Flawless work is not the ultimate goal and individual expression comes naturally as they move freely and fluidly through their creative process.

Through years of setting up borders and boundaries for ourselves, we unknowingly create an outline of our envisioned lives hardened with continuous and tedious strokes keeping us functioning safely within the lines. Over time, after producing generic pictures colored within the lines of our own making with repetitive skill, it’s no wonder that creative inspiration often fades away.

Don’t let your self-imposed limitations close you in. Allow your creative imagination the expanse of an entire coloring page of life, rendering your authentic self in your artistic expression, as you relearn to color outside the lines.

P.S. I love you all.

courage, encouragement, hope

Hope – The Fuel of Courage

January 19, 2019January 23, 2019by Erika K Rothwell2 Comments

“And one has to understand that braveness is not the absence of fear, but rather the strength to keep on going forward despite the fear.” — Paulo Coelho

Slowly, I trudge on. Fear tries to stop me in my tracks. When I speak of fear, it’s not panic or fright dreading something horrible. Rather, an uneasiness that lightly gnaws at my confidence causing me to believe that perhaps I may be a little too bold to tread in a world of unknown outcomes with only hope in my backpack.

My writing has grown from the seeds of momentary epiphanies to an appreciation so great, I desire to encourage and inspire with insight. This monumental endeavor creates small episodic heart flutters and vague insecurity. From a past of seeking accomplishment for recognition, my concern is remaining authentic on all levels.

Yes, we all write what we know, but some days I feel I just don’t know.

This unknowing creates a stumbling block that could potentially grow into a mountain. It is here where I seek to encourage myself with words of resilience and put fear where it belongs, buried by hope. And so, I have reset courage and continue my journey.

– Erika K Rothwell

hope

Hope Dances – A Note on Optimism – Day 15

January 17, 2019by Erika K Rothwell3 Comments

“Life has its own rhythms, we just have to learn how to dance.” – Cristian Andrei Nica

Self-expression is discovered in each individual’s dance style. We all feel the rhythm differently, uniquely perceiving the tempo as each of our steps moves according to the way we feel it.

It’s difficult to think your way through dancing. You must embrace and engage the music with your heart.

When you feel what you write, your words dance with the rhythm of your life.

There can be no naysayers as they look upon your heart. When we don’t feel well with our soul, we may look upon someone else’s joy as self-serving. Yet it is the example of a joyous heart that feeds us hope.

Lately, I question whether I’ve become a little too optimistic. And I realize I may have just learned to dance without worrying about what onlookers may think. Others who have ventured before me have given me that courage. I share openly with an audience I do not know personally, yet feel connected to on another level.

Am I offended that you may not like the way I dance?

No, I appreciate your perspective. For it is in the differences that we connect.

I believe it is not for us to examine another’s motivation. Optimism drives my hope that we can all learn to appreciate someone near or far who has taken the struggles that life has handed them and learned how to dance!

I look forward to continuing my journey while reading and being inspired by yours. You make “dancing” all that much more special for me.

-Erika K Rothwell