THE RISE AGAIN BLOG

Fear or faith, fear or faith, fear or faith? A new unintentional mantra for me of late? I keep hearing it over and over in my head, like the soundtrack of Oz’s munchkins replaying: Which one will you choose, Megan? Fear or faith? Fear or faith? I’m used to choosing fear. That’s the old pattern. But, over the last few years, I’ve been pushing myself to choose faith more often. I’m doing that again right now. I am getting ready to be courageous and take a risk on many new front

Every day we have a choice. Choose joy, or sorrow. Even in the depths of despair, we have this choice. I have been at the lowest of my low, in a space where I’d given up on life in so many ways, and still I knew, it was up to me to make this choice. There are times when it can be the hardest choice you have to make – when staying stuck in the pain and the sorrow, the fear and the anger, seems so much easier. I think there are times like this that we use our fear and anger to

Meet my tea kettle. She's broken and beat up, but she's mine & she's beautiful. She is me. Broken and beat-up, but beautiful. Meet my tea kettle. She’s not pretty, but she does the job. My tea kettle has been with me a long time – years in fact. She’s moved four times with me, even across states. She heats water for my organic green tea, for my kid’s Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal. For some reason, I have never wanted to look inside my tea kettle. I’m almost embarrassed to say,

Editor’s Note: I’ve made some minor changes to this post, as I prepped Part 2 and new directions unfolded. When you are facing a hard circumstance, it may feel like a black cloud has settled over you, and you have become one with that cloud. Your life becomes a dark rain storm, pouring down deep drops of sorrow and suffering into your life. Perhaps you are going through a divorce, a job loss, facing financial issues, feeling the betrayal of a friend, or watching a loved one f

A beautiful story for you… An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining and so, one morning, sent him for some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. “How does it taste?” the master asked. “Bitter,” spit the apprentice. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, “Now

"The World Revs Its Heat Engine" Photo credit: from NASA on Flickr, no known copyrights exist Hello, Nice to meet you. Thank you for greeting me so warmly. I’ve recently begun my own WordPress Blogiverse journey, and find myself to be quite content here in the WordPress hemisphere, because, well, you guys are awfully nice. I love meeting bloggers from all sides of the globe, and I’m thankful for my “homeroom” WordPress peeps! I feel like I’m now a part of something – part of

I can hardly begin to compose myself to write this blog tonight. Today was – simply – one of the TOP 5 BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE. Yup, weddings, babies, then today. That’s how my list would go. #499 on the invisible, unwritten Bucket List of my heart – completed. Eleven beautiful, stunning, ROCKSTAR Mamas walked into my life today, and changed me forever. They were in Sedona to be part of Camp Soaring Eagle’s Winter Oncology Retreat, designed specifically for families of children

I woke up yesterday morning scared to death of what I had done. I hardly slept the whole night before. It was so scary to tell you how I really feel, what I’ve really been through. I was afraid you’d think of me as a failure, because at times I haven’t been able to figure out how to pick myself up again. I was afraid you’d think, “What she’s going through doesn’t begin to compare to what I’ve been through.” Or, maybe you’d think I’m just a whiny little self-absorbed brat. But

I’m afraid to share what I have to say. I’m afraid of what you’ll think of me. I’m afraid you don’t want to hear it. Just incase you don’t know my story already…in the last three years TWELVE people in my life have died. I have sat at the deathbeds of five. I watched Cancer (and yes, in my book it gets freaking capitalized because it’s a monster) eat four of them alive, slowly and painfully. 90% of them were under the age of 50. One was five. If I averaged it out, I’ve been t

“Guest Perspective” Published in the Sedona Red Rock News 1-11-12 This year, I knew we weren’t going to have a spend-crazy Christmas. My husband and I worked out a modest budget, and decided it was best spent on making the holiday memorable for our kids which meant no gifts for the other forty-two family members. At first I felt sorry for myself. But, after I tore up the letter I started to the President, demanding he abolish Christmas because it’s just a bunch of meaningless

I love this image & what it says – it’s a powerful quote by the great Marianne Williamson – who is a well-known author and speaker. Here, it’s shown as a wall decal you can buy on Etsy through Willow Creek Inspirations…and yes, it does inspire me so I wanted to share it. I think we should all read this every day to remember that it’s our purpose to shine… It’s a little hard to read so here it is again… “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that