mary anne radmacher: courage doesn't always roar

courage doesn't always roar.
sometimes courage is the quiet voice
at the end of the day, saying,
"i will try again tomorrow."
- mary anne radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way

As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: Living in the present moment

Living in the present moment requires discretion toward memory. Without memory we’d have amnesia. What good would there be in that? Offer discretion and discernment for our past with a broad spectrum of forgiveness. As for our present moment, delight. And dedication to remain fully present to all the possibility.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: Leverage opportunity AND seize joy

Manage the remarkable balance between acting from your heart and close to your gifts with completing the obligations that your labor and tasks require of you. Leverage opportunity AND seize joy.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: Some of the freshest lessons I learned from my dog

Some of the freshest lessons I learned from my dog:

It’s always a good time for a walk.

Love doesn’t lie, can’t pretend, doesn’t withhold.

I have to really like you to share my food with you.

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: You’ve got to come see this. Grab your camera.

I remember the night I was a guest in my good friend’s home.
Exhausted I had fallen early to bed. My shoulder was shaken. A gentle whisper came to my ear, “I know you’re tired, but you’ve got to come see this. Bring your camera. You’d be sorry to have missed this.” My hand fell heavily onto my camera and quietly up the stairs, I followed my friend.

On an air mattress in the middle of the living room floor was her daughter. Her arms intertwined with our good friend, an ailing black Labrador who was not well enough to make it upstairs. The little girl did not want the big dog to sleep alone. His paw rested over her palm as if they were holding hands. They were.

In your days – things like this happen to you. You get a tap, a nudge, a gentle shake and life whispers to you,
“I know you’re tired – but I don’t want you to miss this.”
Listen. And grab your camera!

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: There stands a friend

We listen. We listen. We move.
We sit. It rains. The sun comes out. (there stands a friend)
We listen. We laugh. We share.
We sit. We dance. It rains.
There stands a friend.
We listen. We share. We sit. We dance.
The sun comes up.
There. I stand, a friend.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Happy Valentine's Day - Love Without Limits

My husband melted my heart the day he asked me,
“Can I participate in your wonder?”
In whose wonder do you get to participate today?
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: See beauty in unexpected places

See beauty in those unexpected places.
(she asked herself how people could let Bach be background noise.)
See the opportunity in what looks like inconvenience.
(she steered clear of the traffic jam and went to the bakery she’s been meaning to stop at.)
She embraces the undeclared possibility in what seems like just another ordinary day.
(her friend is scheduled for cancer surgery and suddenly everything around her seems so very precious.)
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher:Find your balance and stand with it

Find your balance and stand with it.
Find your song and sing it out.
Find your cadence and let it appear like a dance.
Find the questions that only you know how to ask and
The answers that you are content to not know.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: What are the proper grounds for joy?

What are the proper grounds for joy? Is it circumstance which will determine the stature of my spirit? Ah, no. It is choice. It is always a choice – in the face of any event – for joy.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: BUILD UP YOUR CIRCLE

BUILD UP YOUR CIRCLE….
A mind that perceives
What can rationally be.
A spirit that sees
Innovative possibility.
A heart that is open to
Both beginnings and ends.
A firm hand that fits readily
To the reach of a friend.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: Manage through the uncertainties

Manage through the uncertainties. Practice appropriate actions and participate in healthy choices. Value and celebrate the loyalty of the individuals around you: celebrate their competencies and successes, as well as your own. Build up your circle and reinforce it at every opportunity.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: USE this time of fresh beginnings

USE this time of fresh beginnings. Use it as an impetus, the force or energy toward change. Become stronger, a better leader, more focused in your thoughts. Exert more influence over your dreams by bringing them closer to your thoughts, every day.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: Persevere in the midst of turmoil

Protect your vision.
Prevail over adversity.
Persevere in the midst of turmoil.
Passionately act upon your convictions.
Purposely walk into the day.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: Old Beginnings versus NEW beginnings

Old Beginnings versus NEW beginnings….

I was relating the details of a conflict to my coach. In my mind it was fresh to a life long issue. It was new information and I was pleased with my approach. My coach asked, “Why have you done the same thing you have always done in this circumstance?”

I told her I didn’t understand the question. She offered the candid observation, “I know you think you’ve made a new beginning. But really all you’ve done is used different words with the same approach you’ve always used. Really! You need to reach for a NEW beginning … not the same old beginning you’ve always used.”

The irony has remained with me. Hmmmm. A beginning that’s actually OLD. The phrase “new beginnings” at first seems redundant. It’s actually a profound challenge.

Have your new year’s resolutions been a new beginning for you or have they, like my approach to an old conflict, just been different words on the same old beginning? Maybe now’s the time to establish a new pattern of viewing your life fresh for 2009.

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: AN INSPIRED LIFE: I HAVE A CHOICE

AN INSPIRED LIFE: I HAVE A CHOICE

My key to living an inspired life involves
Embracing my history,
Understanding the function of expectations and gently learning to have none;
Recognizing the power of attentive and conscious choices.

In all circumstances I acknowledge this,
IN ALL THINGS AND ALL WAYS, I HAVE CHOICE. My choice resides in my perspective. While I certainly do not control climate and markets and roadways and others, I do control myself and my response to all those circumstances. I do indeed.

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: HEROISM IN ORDINARY MOMENTS

HEROISM IN ORDINARY MOMENTS

The opportunity for greater courage comes in the most ordinary of moments.

The holiday season promotes a heightened sense of community. It draws our chins up and helps us look above and over the limiting fence of our own events, activities and preoccupations. The opportunity for a heroic gesture can tap you quietly on the shoulder in the midst of a holiday bustle. If you are attentive, you will notice the gentle touch and will be able to respond. Remember,
There are no small acts of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: AS I PREPARE FOR THE NEW YEAR

AS I PREPARE FOR THE NEW YEAR
I recognize that it is a cultural event that celebrates the transition from one night at midnight to the dawn of the following day with such fanfare. In truth, New Year's Eve is just another transition from one day to another. That it has become a marking point for clarifying values and identifying ways of betterment is something of a unique opportunity.

As I prepare for 2009 I want to fully articulate the roads and ways, which will travel me to my best self.

I want to be authentic and live openly, directed with my passions and priorities but without rigid agenda; I want to love with a strong sense of my own internally, fully calibrated compass;
I want to embrace the opportunities of 2009 with unfurled love and vanquished fear. I welcome discipline and ease to the front of the classroom of my days and invite visiting instructors to draw out the finest parts of my soul.

In 2009 I offer continuous gentle invitations to myself...to become the most inspired version of my self possible.

In all my ways of seeing - may I use new glasses, a telescope and a microscope. And my I always allow myself to see a circumstance through the tender hearts of my friends.

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary Anne Radmacher: MAY I TELL YOU HOW IT IS FOR ME?

MAY I TELL YOU HOW IT IS FOR ME?
Relating my personal experiences is my way of shepherding my life lessons to my readers. My way of saying, "Look at how it is or was for me and see if you can draw any value from it for yourself."

Girlfriends ask each other for advice all the time. "What do think?" follows the most intimate disclosure from one BGF to another. Life coach and radio host (A Better Tomorrow), Steve Maraboli said to me, "Advice is what we seek when we already know the answer but really want it or like it."

Steve's provocative comment, which I still ponder upon, led to a couple of measurable shifts. I work to no longer say things like, "This is what I think you should do," or even, "Why don't you try doing this....?"

I am trying to own my own opinions and offer what I know as an option, just as I would present a tray of appetizers for my guests. Here are several choices that I have created - if one looks good you are welcome to take it. In other words, I am training myself to say, "May I tell you how it is for me?" When I ask the question, it means waiting for the invitation to share. It also means being prepared for my friend to say, "No." They don't want to know.

- Mary Anne Radmacher