MelodyFreebird

A new adventure...."Little Brave Girls"

For a very very very long time, we have been wanting to implement classes for little girls, preteens and teenagers. We have done some little "test" classes...but last week...we did a mother/daughter weekend....and it was WONDERFUL...and it was so successful, that you can expect in the next year to see LOTS of online classes for girls...and especially targeted to do together as mother/daughter.

It really is amazing how receptive these girls are to this curriculum and material...I mean..they really really really get it....they do. They are thirsty for it and they LOVED IT. During our share time, they had insights that brought tears to my eyes...they are so much smarter, sensitive and full of individuality, hopes and dreams than I even imagined they would be. They are just like we are....just littler.

I LOVED the conversations going on...I LOVED the interaction between the mothers and the daughters...I LOOOOVED the way they talked about their art to each other....I LOVED most of all, the way they had such conviction about what they made, and what it meant, once they were done. I love how they believed in WHO THEY ARE, and WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF. I loved hearing about their hopes and dreams. I want to help them keep this spark before whatever it is that happens, happens...that thing that steals the spark from so many girls once they become women.....and how they have to fight to get it back. I want to help them to never really lose it........they are such beautiful and powerful little souls.

So many wonerful things happened that week for all of us. To be able to be a part of this sealed the deal for me.....that we MUST be here for each other...WE MUST remind each other of all of the things that we forget. We MUST take responsibility for the protection and teaching of our daughters and our friend's daughters....we must make sure that they know what they need to know...and that they get to keep shining..that their lights stay lit...we need to do all that we can to make sure that nothing blows their lights out...and when it does happen...that they have tools to know what to do about it.

Girls are powerful, amazing and strong. Boys are too........I love my boys...oh how I love my boys...but there's something so special and unique and sparkling about the soul of a girl......how her heart is so full of love and promise...and nurturing and enthusiasm.....we are just like these little girls, we are just bigger...older....we are still just like them. We just have adult stuff to deal with now.

It was a spectacular, special and unforgettable couple of days.

Much will come from it.

We want to make it so that you can do this too....share this kind of stuff with the special girls in your life....make sure they know what they need to know, and in the process, make sure that you get reminded of what you need to know...so that we can all just keep reminding each other...

Life is good...

Life is beautiful...

We are all so full of this goodness and beauty, all of us.

We are all so different...

We are all so important...

We all need each other so much...we need each other's kindness, we need each other's support, we need each other's wisdom and strength and stories.

We all have so much to give.

We all have so much to learn and to experience.

We all have so much that we can do.

ALL OF US.

I love what I do.

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

xoxo

melody

Social Media Rehab....Day 21ish (or day ONE)

They say that after 21 days, you have created a new habit.  The new habit that I am attempting to create is to live through my skin, my eyes and my hands instead of through a screen. This is something that I know for sure for sure for sure is happening....day by day by day....but every day...I let myself feel, think and remember that it is actually DAY ONE again.....and I begin with all of the freshness, excitement and grace that you begin a new endeavor with....I usually even have the fear and apprehension that accompanies something new...but I know for sure that for the rest of my life, I am going to let every new day be DAY ONE...because the decision to do so has changed everything for me. Although I have kept my commitments, kept my own rules, and have quieted down, slowed down and made dramatic changes....I am accepting the grace of knowing that tomorrow I get to start over again, no matter what.

 

DAY ONE AGAIN

melody ross

Today is DAY ONE of the rest of my life
when the day’s done, I will let it be done
tomorrow I get to start over again
on another amazing DAY ONE

I may have started up and failed
on day one hundred and one
I may have started up and failed
when I had only just begun

I may have started up and failed
or I may have actually won
the thing I must remember
is that every new day is DAY ONE

Today I did the best I could
tomorrow I will too
I also did my best yesterday
this is absolutely true

Today is the only day I have
and it started with a rising sun
If I have a precious tomorrow again
the sun will rise as DAY ONE

No more pressure, no more shame
no more pushing myself too far
all I can do is all I can do
no more unfairly raising the bar

No more worrying, no more stress
no running faster than I can run
it’s time to stop and let it be
and remember it’s always DAY ONE

Today is DAY ONE of the rest of my life
when the day’s done, I will let it be done
tomorrow I get to start over again
on another amazing DAY ONE

 

What day 21 has brought is a sense of calm. A settling in.......a feeling of deep and healing relief and finally feeling like I am doing enough, having enough, being enough. I have so much more to write about...very soon...concerning feeling like ENOUGH, concerning WHAT IS REAL....concerning SOUL CONFUSION that comes from incessant comparing and overloads of information......concerning QUIET......

Quiet is so so so so sooo good. I wish that for you.

Maybe today could be your day ONE?

Sending you so much love...

melody

 

 

 

Facebook Rehab...Day 14ish

So last week....we took the social networking break to a whole new level...and I gave my phone to my assistant because my phone does everything my computer does, and had her change my password to my email account and only sign me in for 15 minutes at a time. She took care of all emails for me that were not absolutely critical. My husband promised he wouldn't let me falter...that he would be my coach. What I have learned about myself is that I don't have tremendous discipline and I need others to help me out in this area... I wish I could do this on my own....but I don't know if I can.

Here's what I want you to know.

1. This has all been very very difficult.

2. This has all been very very worth it.

3. I have to re-decide every single day if I can keep this up and if it is worth it. 90 days is a long time.

There have been some serious tests along the way. This weekend I was supposed to be at a fabulous event thrown by my friends Shea and Debbie of A Gilded Life that I have been looking forward to all year......but something very important came up in our family and I had to cancel. I know that was the right decision....but, it was so hard! Little tests like this keep coming up. I am trying so hard to keep my promises to my family and make the right decisions.

I am going to write a whole post later on some of the poor decisions I have made in the past regarding my family.....and how that has taught me things that have changed me tremendously. But for now...I want you to know that every day....I fall deeper and deeper in love with these souls who are my family. Now that I can...I want to spend as much time with them as I possibly can....and this has meant making tremendous sacrifice. Every day, it seems, I am having to choose again...THIS OR THAT? I want to choose them. I want to keep choosing them. They are my everything.

I found a photo this week from 2005. This was a time when we did not have a dad. I was doing everything I could to hold things together...and I was hoping every day that my husband would get better...I didn't know that we still had 4 or 5 years to go until he would be better.....during that time, I did everything I could, but I just didn't have what it takes to hold everything together, I made a lot of huge mistakes......but I did my very best to do all that I could to hold my family together...and my marriage too.....we clung to each other...

I showed this photo to the kids and we decided that we would take another one...hahahaha....only this time, Dad wasn't in his bed sick, he was at his shop working...and we have him back..and that is so awesome...

As you can see....we are missing one of us in the photo now......it is crazy to think about having my own son, living across town in his own apartment....getting ready to get married. One of the other big things we did this week was get engagement pictures for my son and my soon to be daughter in law...I adore them. I love the way this whole break has brought on a new, calm dimension to all of our relationships...I love that we can sit and plan a wedding without the distraction of cell phones, computers and tvs. I love the conversations we have all been having...I think last night we sat and talked, without a single interruption, for more than 2 hours. I think this is what they used to do in the olden days...sit and talk to each other, face to face.  I feel like I have been missing out on the most incredible people on the planet.........but I get to choose, every single day.....what and who I want to spend time on...I choose them:

This getting quiet stuff is hard because of all of the quiet time that is left to think.....to think about decisions I have been making. I have watched my husband and how he lives his life...and it is just so simple. He has such simple concepts about what to do each day, what matters, what voices matter, what measurements matter...what success is. Being off of the screens has left so much time for talking.........and we have been talking a lot. He is teaching me so much. We are making up for lots of lost time. I loved this man before, I love him more every day.

This weekend I had the opportunity to capture a lot of family memories. We have 3 big weddings in our family this summer....I am so excited to take more pictures. My nephew got married over the weekend, my niece is getting married in a few weeks, and my son is getting married in August. I want to really "BE THERE"...you know? I want to be there with my family.......SEE THEM, LISTEN TO THEM, SEEEE THEM. See their souls.

I got a new flash.....we tried it out before we headed out for family time this weekend. My family let me use them as models...I love that. As I look at these photos, (a few of them are by some of my photographer friends) I wonder how I ever got so lucky...to be a mother to these amazing people...to even get to be in their lives. I want to capture these times, I don't want to stop seeing what I am seeing........and they see me too. They see me in a way that is so healing, so validating and so real. It is worth this. I hate that I did not start seeing all of this sooner. But I have now...we all do. I have now to make better choices and to stand by those choices. I hope with everthing in me that I can do that........I loved my family before....but every day, when I really really really stop and look and listen, and shut out every other voice.......I know that there is nothing nothing nothing worth more than this time. I am so thankful for what I am learning.

My littlest man was a very willing model with my new flash.......

can you resist this face? I can't....

I want to do better, I want to choose better.

...and I get to...because every day is a new day.

I choose them.

xoxo

melody

 

 

Come on..........come with me!!!

Next Tuesday, we start SOUL RESTORATION PART 2....I totally want you to come along on this adventure with me!! WHY? Because it is going to be SO FUN..and because I know for sure that it will enrich your life. TOO BUSY, you say? WELLLLL.....if you just get up an hour earlier a few days a week this summer, I am quite certain that this class could help you have the best summer of your life.....I KNOW THIS because it has already done so much for my quality of life...I am doing the lessons right along with you.

I wanted to show you some of the projects we will be doing, too......these are the first few weeks fo the 6 week class...and these are just little sneak peeks........I hope you can join us! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE! SEE YOU THERE!! Xoxo

 

What it's like....

* ALL OF THE PHOTOS IN THIS POST ARE BY PHOTOGRAPHER EXTRAORDINAIRE, Maria Simpson

So.........I really had an unforgettable week. I hope you did too. It is pretty amazing all of the stuff you can pack into one week when you carefully choose how you will spend your time...and who you will spend it with, too. I have to say...that I get to be with the kindest, most wonderful, hard working & talented people every day. I want to show you what a day is like when we are working on a big project...

There were so many hilarious moments this week that I ended up in tears from laughing so hard, I really do ADORE the people I am with every day, and we laughed A LOT this week...I am so thankful, because the beginning of the week started with an enormous meltdown that brought buckets of weary & sad tears.....but...sheesh....that is life, right? Mr. Ross made everything right in my world and put me back on track...and made me remember why I am taking this little break that I keep talking about. Change is HARD and I am making tons of changes right now. I am doing SO MUCH evaluating and trying to be so honest with myself and I'm pruning the branches of my tree of life...and that hurts a little bit sometimes.

Did you know that my sudden "courage" to make enormous changes in my life came as I was writing curriculum for my next online class, SOUL RESTORATION 2? Well, this class, my friends, IS seriously life changing. All of us who are working through it for the test run are finally getting off of our booties and making big changes in our lives and moving forward into doing things we have always wanted to do...and things we just started to want to do too. We are refocusing, and remembering, and we are working hard to stop wasting time and procrastinating. We are giving up things that make us feel miserable and small, which is opening up time and space and energy for things that help us grow, feel bliss and give us wings. It has been a COMPLETE BLAST and it has been SO HARD TOO.

One thing that I was not expecting from all of it...is that I have lost almost 15 pounds since I started writing it and working it...most of the time without trying.........and I have a theory on why this is happening which I promise to tell you very soon...but....

....what I wanted to do here is show you WHAT IT IS LIKE when we are shooting videos. It is seriously so much fun......we decided partway through Soul Restoration 1 that we would start making our video shoots into little adventures...because WHY NOT? And we started going to all sorts of locations, even though it was Winter. Now that it is summer.....we can go SO MANY MORE places...and in Idaho..there are a million beautiful places to go. We are having the time of our lives shooting videos for this class.

It's so fun because I will get an idea....tell Kim and then she will start sending out text messages to our little local circle of adventure girls.....and most of the time they will say HECK YES I WANT TO COME!!! So, we all pile into a car and head out...or we just hang out at the clubhouse and do it.....we often stop for some eats....we often stop and take photos at random places and we always always always have tons of laughs and fun...

Anyway.....last week was the greatest....and when Maria gave me these photos documenting our filming adventure...I knew I had to share them with you. It's all about making each and every moment as fun and spectacular as you can...getting outside, seeing the beautiful world, letting the wind blow in your face, hearing the flowing water, seeing the growing trees, CROSSING BRIDGES.

If you want to know what the heck is going on in these videos (and I promise you will LOVE KNOWING!!!!) you can sign up for SOUL RESTORATION 2 and join me for 6 weeks of seriously life changing fun.....I know for sure that if you do these lessons with us...you will start to move forward into a life that you will LOVE. This stuff WORKS! I SOOOOO want you to be with us on this journey!! COME ON!!! YOU WILL HAVE THE BEST SUMMER OF YOUR LIFE!!! YAY!

We even stopped at our old High School (which is now condemned!) and sat on the grass and had a little chat like we used to 20+ years ago......

Hope you make some time this weekend to do simple, beautiful things, with people you love, who love you right back. I hope you make lots of time for the people who see who you are, what you are capable of, and love you exactly as you are.......and who inspire you to get off of your tush and go for it...

HAPPY WEEKEND!
xoxo

melody

 

 

 

 

Over 10,000 Facebook fans....and I missed it :)

Hello All!!

I just wanted to thank everyone here for helping us get to 10,000 fans on our Brave Girls Club Facebook page, someone called me yesterday and told me! YAY!! I hate that I missed it......but I am keeping my promises!  SO THANK YOU FROM KATHY AND I FOR SUPPORTING BRAVE GIRLS CLUB!!! We love you more than you know!

Ok...so I am just over a week into my 90 day Facebook/Social Media cleanse.....there are too many things I want to tell you about this to even start telling you right now...but I promise I have lots to share coming up...it has been good and it has been difficult....and it as taught me and shown me SO MUCH MORE than I expected already. I am thankful for friends and family who are helping me along right now and supporting this decision......

Lots more blog posts to come!!! I want to tell you the crazy side effects of this break..weight loss! What the heck? And how I have taken up dancing, and how this last year's beautiful reconnection with friends who have known me since I was just a girl has helped me make sense of a whole bunch of things....

ohhh....and the wedding plans we are working on for my son's August wedding.

So much to share! Hope you are having a wonderful day.

xoxo

melody