Guest Writer: Sara Wales -
 Author of " A Little Dose of Sunshine With Some Rays of Thought to Ponder"
Find Sara on Facebook: "On The Brighter Side"

Have you ever wanted to do something but your FEAR got in the way?  Have you thought about a new endeavor but wondered what people would say or think?

One of the biggest things that hold us back from so many opportunities is FEAR.  We FEAR the unknown, what might happen or what people will think.  FEAR is something we must overcome in order to move forward and do what we want to do so that we don’t have regrets.  We have one life to live and it is our job to live it to the fullest.

Think of some of the things you are afraid of and ask yourself why?? Look at what you are afraid of with a different perception.   Think of the positive outcomes that could happen if you do what you are afraid of??  What then??  Remember getting out of your comfort zone and doing things you fear helps you grow as a person and soon your fear is gone. I can remember be little and afraid to sleep in my room at night because I was scared of the dark.  My parents assured me I was safe and there was nothing to fear.   Night after night they continued to make me sleep in my room until soon I wasn't feeling scared anymore.  As children our parents made us face our fears so that we would overcome them. We must push ourselves as adults to do the same thing.  We just have to move forward and endure until there is nothing to fear.  Find the positive and think how proud you will feel once you have faced your FEAR.  

That is my STAY POSITIVE
 thought for the week

Guest Writer: Sheila Burke
Author of “BOOYAH! Spirit” ♦ "Whispers of the Soul" ♦ "150 Ways to Get Your Zen On"

The Internet is a funny place.

 It can be used for good and evil. Right at our fingertips we are presented with the ability to reach out and connect with people we would never, in a million years, have had the opportunity to meet. I can be sitting in my pajamas in my own living room, sipping coffee, and chatting with someone on the other side of the world. Everyone is so addicted to Facebook and some think it's a bad thing, or a waste of time. Personally I think it it's a wonderful tool that is misused by many. Social media presents humanity with an endless avenue to do good. To spread love and hope; to help each other and lift each other up.

We develop friendships, real friendships, with the outside world. Many of which, for me, have become true sisters and brothers. Some will never meet face to face and others will if they are lucky. The point is that we are all searching for something deeper, it's our soul tap, tap, tapping on the inside of our skull, guiding us to seek out that which it requires. Sure, in the meantime we're posting funny status updates about wine and chocolate, pics of cats and dogs with goofy quotes, but the bigger picture includes finding those connections that we need to further our own journey and help others along on their own.

I have been able to establish a core group of dear friends that I've met online. People from all walks of life, and all over the planet. Everyone searching for and finding those highly sought after connections. From my living room in Ohio, I can laugh with a friend in a third world country and support her along her own journey. In each other we find a piece of our own puzzle, glean wisdom on each other’s faith, beliefs, and an understanding of culture is fostered and appreciated.

We innately gravitate to others online just like we do in person, the only difference is we do so blindly at first. We follow that "pull" sight unseen many times, without the deterrents of real life such as physical attributes or annoying habits. We can log on and off and spend time with those we truly care about, while keeping others at bay. Sure there are going to be some bad apples, just like in real life, and over time they will get weeded out.

So I say to you, in your online life, you have been given a beautiful avenue to reach out. Don't waste the opportunity by dulling your mind with the endless passing along of nastiness and meaningless dribble. Please use it to do something good in the world. Seek out the things that will strengthen your own personal and spiritual alignment. Of course, have fun along the way but the Internet is so much bigger - so far reaching! Someone across the globe may need your advice or your smile. In turn you might make those life long connections you have been seeking, if you just open your heart to receiving them.

The majority of us do not have the means financially to travel on a regular basis. We are geographically challenged. When we have that problem it's difficult to imagine circumstances other than our own. We become fixated in our own world and fail to appreciate the world outside. We can expand our mind to understand the plight of so many, from a child battling cancer to world hunger. We can actively participate in causes such as paying it forward, or supporting autism, or the rights of others. It's all in what we, as the human race, deem worthy of sharing with the world. Some of us have fan pages where we share this information; some just have personal FB pages. It doesn't matter how big your audience is, it's simply about what we are putting out there into the world - for what you put out there will come right back to you.

  It's how the universe works.