The Top 24 Things I Realized in 2011

Although, one could easily argue this is a lifetime of knowledge, here it’s tid-bit-ed down to a year of wisdom::

1. If something in your life is not giving you the love you think you deserve, you’re prolly not giving it to yourself first.  Step back, go in.  Love on yourself.  If he/she/it does not come around when you’ve rebalanced, it’s not yours to have.  Give it up, bless + move on.

2. Nature is efficient.  Grace is efficient.  Unless they are love letters, five-paragraph long emails are not graceful.

3. Love letters are not gone from this world.

4. Clarity + passion + surging from your heart can make the world move mountains for you.

5. Leadership is not about who is loudest or most enthusiastic.  If you are willing to give up power/fame/money to hold to your ideals, you are honoring yourself and the wider collective.

6. It doesn’t matter how hungover they try to make Bradley Cooper look in a movie, he is still always ridiculously hot.

7. Dirty, tough, uncomfortable turns out to be more intimate than clean, easy and comfy… but you have to be willing to get dirty.

8. When you’re clear, you’re clear.  Hold fast.  That is your truth.

9. If someone doesn’t change your mind about something every once in a while, you’re not listening to life.

10. The measure of a person is not that he/she is never a douche; it’s the time between being wrong + ‘I’m sorry’ that designates the level of douchebag-iness.  You decide how long you endure.

11. Nothing comes to you until you are ready for it.  By that point, you probably don’t need it anymore + so it doesn’t define you.  Get busy not needing and you won’t be able to keep it at bay.

12. This year, people told me I was both afraid of the divine and too obsessed with the divine.  People I love.  Your relationship with your higher Self is your business.  Period.

13. It’s perfectly acceptable to aim for a vegan lifestyle and have a burger every so often.  Just make sure it’s f***ing spectacular.

14. If you let go of yoga + meditation in a burst of vacationing/new love/new job/summer outings, you will get bitchier and more scattered.

15. When you get bitchier, eat kale, drink more water, move and rebalance.  The world around you will thank you for this.

16. The more fiercely I love + cherish my mother, the happier my life.

17. When you’re at a destination wedding in Miami and you want to wear your hair straight but your environment makes it impossible, just go curly.  This pretty much applies to any resistance.

18.  Never hold back tears.  No matter how uncomfortable it makes someone else.

19. Keep people around you who think you are marvelous.  And if you can’t love them for who they are, they are not your people.

20. Some like to hold signs.  Some like to protest.  You don’t have to be one of these people, but for goodness sakes, please be thankful for them.

21. Revolution is evolution with l-o-v-e spelled backwards in it.  When Love is right side up, revolt will no longer be necessary.

22. Being closed, angry or mean comes from pain.  Go easy on people.

23. Cherish those who show up.  If they don’t show up for the good things in your life, they sure as sugar won’t be there when the sh** hits the fan.

24.  Now now NOW.  This moment.  That’s it.  That’s all there is.  Always.  Forever.

Hey 2012.  We’re ready for you.  Welcome.