"Why Playing the Cards Life Deals You Serves You"

I've spent the last year hobbling around on crutches due to a foot surgery done badly. I've received many a suggestion for distracting myself from being disabled and awaiting bones mending enough for a second surgery. One of the suggestions I received from more than one person was to check out the BBC series "Poldark". After my second/remedial foot surgery in June, I found "Poldark" available on Amazon Prime Video and decided to check the series out.

Well! Several viewings later and the purchase of the next series of Winston Graham books for reading, I've come to realize why "Poldark" has captivated me so. Yes there is eye-candy a-plenty of both the natural as well as the 2-legged variety. And while I love a good historical drama, this did not explain my need to watch "Poldark" over and over again. The discomfort I was feeling at being so consumed by the series I knew signaled a jewel of sorts awaiting my discovery. 

What I've come to realize about my borderline obsession with "Poldark" was not an infatuation with Aiden Turner (altho' an interesting person and talented actor) as my friend Peter had teased me. Themes of hope, of redemption, of the mystery and challenges of love beautifully played by actors and actresses with those accents we Americans love to listen to. "Poldark" beautifully unfolds how playing the cards life deals you serves you and the people life has you playing with. And the preciousness and beauty of your life when you choose to live your life using the GPS of your honor and your compassion.

While social marketing (and one's childhood) can lead to you feeling as though you or your life somehow lack, what if you picked up the cards life dealt you and played them? Instead of apologizing for being "too sensitive", embrace being so and honor your sensitivity "card" in how you live your life. Living your sensitivity-not defending it nor hiding it away-shares the quality of sensitivity with those life has you playing with and learning with. Campaigning for the changes you seek in the world rarely is as effective as simply living them in your life and your relationships.

We are all diamonds in the rough who become more clear and beautiful through how we challenge and are challenged by those we love and are in relationship with. Trying to be different from the cards life dealt you for playing only keeps you from being happy and successful as you are. For not all which inspires us to become better as human beings is comfortable nor easy as many a new mother will attest to.

A powerful way to change the world for the better is by bringing more of who you are to light and for living. While we may believe we know how things should be, the truth is there are many many more factors at play in your life than your mind alone can realize. Life evolves, refines itself through you and me taking up not only what we call good, but the imperfect of life as well. Your happiness has a better chance of unfolding in ways magical and beautiful when you play the cards dealt you for serving you and your life.

"What Happiness Will Demand of You"

We live in a time when information is abundant about pretty much everything, including how to be happy. Even the US Declaration of Independence offers "unalienable right" to happiness as guaranteed by it's government. And yet happiness seems to be elusive as realized by any manner of measuring the happiness of the human race. So what gives?

Happiness lies in being congruent with your soul and purpose and living your sovereignty. Yet we have been taught our soul is for matters not earthly and to conform for keeping safe and being considered normal. And therein lies the rub-claiming your right to happiness will require you to get uncomfortable, to take risks, to be true to yourself first.

Living your sovereignty-living in congruence with your deepest values-is essential for being happy in your life and your relationships. Learning to do so does not come without challenges for untangling from the pain of what is familiar is not always easy. And knowing what is wrong is not enough to make things better. 

Taking on what is causing you pain or is not working in your life takes courage as well as wise guidance and support for keeping on track for realizing your intended changes. Too many women settle for simply complaining about their unhappiness and blaming others for it. Or fall into the trap of embracing their fears as more powerful than the grit and the grace they come endowed with as women. 

Consider yourself blessed if your life or a relationship challenges you, for at the heart of the challenge is the call for you to live more of who you truly are. Yes, it will mean you will be uncomfortable at times and question choices you are currently making. Yet unlike what you've been taught, happiness comes through how you respond to what life brings you, not the false belief you can control life or others for your happiness.

Happiness is your birthright and what your heart and soul desire for you. Creating a happier life or relationship will require you to make changes in your choices through your actions. Doing so may not be easy at times, yet learning to flex the muscles of your soul and your grace as a woman will yield much better results than blaming others for the state of your happiness. Life has a way of insisting change happens and as the saying goes, what we resist, persists!