now blogging at http://nicoleevafraser.com/blog/

"It's completely possible that your dreams are coming to you with or without your worry or your watchful eye. It's within the realm of imaginable goodness to even trust that your dreams can come without your confidence or courage."

Quote via MondoBeyondo.org

Image via  Victoria Erickson, Serenity board on Pinterest

Legend Says...

legend says, when you can't sleep at night, 

it's because you're awake in someone else's dream

From RebelleSociety.com - Releasing What No Longer Serves You

"Releasing what no longer serves you: 2 things to ask yourself" by Melissa Rubin on RebelleSociety.com

From Melissa...

"Whenever I am triggered, my feelings alert me to the uncomfortable feeling, and at the same time, I check in with myself and ask two things: What is this feeling? And… is this mine?" 

On RebelleSociety.com: "Look in the mirror and love what you see..."

{Christian Schloe Fly Me to Paris / Via Redbubble.com}

From "Falling in Love Again" by Shavawn M. Berry

"All it takes is a moment of grace. All it takes is a willingness to be gentle and kind and compassionate with the wounded child we all harbor.

I do love that small, terrified, glorious child.  However, I don’t need to bury her in sweets or hide her inside a fortress of flesh to protect her. I am strong enough to risk deep love.

Starting with the woman I see in the mirror every day. Yeah, her.

Time to fall in love with her."

Day 5 Inner Sparkle - AffOrmations

AffOrmations are Tia's alternative to affirmations when "I am always in the right place at the right time" and "I am freakin' awesome" aren't cutting it.

AffOrmations are "empowering questions that immediately get your subconscious (and consheeeuuss) mind to start thinking positively instead of nega-torily.. yep, totally made that word up ;) " (quote from Tia).

They're empowering but also intended to be fun and lighten the energy. 

Example: I'm not feelin' the affirmation, so instead I ask myself, "Why am I freakin' awesome?"

I might answer, "Because I can siiing and dance!" and then squawk and flail around my living room.

Or "Because I just AM," or anything I want really.

Definitely good to have this in my back pocket for the days when I'm not feeling like Sparklepants.

Day 4 of Inner Sparkle

Day 4 of Tia's Inner Sparkle ecourse is about how to work/play with resistance to affirmations

It showed up in perfect synchronicity with "7 Affirmations to Tell the Person in the Mirror" by Macaile Hutt on Rebelle Society's website.

Using my fave affirmations from Macaile's article, I tested Tia's fun/funny suggestions for dissolving resistance and felt fabulously affirmative and uplifted when I finished.

You are flawed, imperfect, and unique…and that’s GOOD.

Your body deserves a “thank you” every so often.

YOU deserve a “thank you” every once in a while, too.

Thanks, self. Thank you for being so freakin’ awesome.

You may not be where you want to be, but that’s no reason you can’t be happy right where you are.

Rather than place your happiness on a later date, why not allow yourself to be happy right now?

Right this very moment, incomplete, not-quite-there-yet, diamond in the rough, now.

Keep your eyes forward, but don’t forget how far you’ve already come.

You are already great. You have already done wonderful and amazing things. Don’t get so focused on the future that you fail to remember your past and how far you’ve already come.

Goodreads Giveaway - The Hardest Thing in This World - register by Halloween!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Hardest Thing in This World

by Nicole Eva Fraser

Giveaway ends October 31, 2013.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER – 7 Best Episodes

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER – 7 Best Episodes

Great article by Nathan Peterson!

My only addition to his list would be my fave episode of all --  "The Gift."

A Self-Made 12-Step Program for Living an Authentic Life.

This article rocks.

A Self-Made 12-Step Program for Living an Authentic Life.

Freewheeling conversation...

Freewheeling conversation with awesome Jim McIntyre on his public affairs show "The 11th Hour" on AM 1420 (click link to podcast)...I sat in the same chair as Cleveland greats James Renner and Les Roberts!

http://am1420theanswer.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-hardest-thing-in-this-world-by.html

Trust

“Do not lose hope — what you seek will be found. Trust ghosts. Trust those that you have helped to help you in their turn. Trust dreams. Trust your heart, and trust your story.” ~ Neil Gaiman

Trust – A word worth a thousand pictures.

8 Wondrous Ways to Restore Your Wild Spirit.

Victoria writes, "Tonight I write from a fierce place, a place made of fire, and a slow burning truth. She inhabits my ribs and breathes her flames, sometimes quiet, and sometimes a roar I cannot purge. It is nights like these when she presses until I can no longer stand her howls, rising like the moon and forcing me awake. She is a force and familiar memory, the primal me, the warrior, and the human. The human in us all.

To be fully human is to be wild..."

8 Wondrous Ways to Restore Your Wild Spirit.

crazy

“‘There’s a good kind of crazy…’ he insisted softly, reaching out to wrap his warm hand around mine. ‘It’s the kind that makes you think about things that make your head hurt, because not thinking about them is the coward’s way out. The kind that makes you touch people who bruise your soul, just because they need to be touched. This is the kind of crazy that lets you stare out into the darkness and rage at eternity, while it stares back at you, ready to swallow you whole.’” (Rachel Vincent)

tell your story

Day 3 of Sparklepants: Zoom out from my problems

Tia gave us a prompt about zooming out from a challenge to get that higher perspective. I've used that prompt idea before, but Tia has a fresh approach that made me say "let's try it again!"

And it was cool. Felt new. My zoomed-out, eyes-closed notes say:
(i am)
easy
free

(my problem is)
not hard
not scary
small, tiny

(where i am is)
open
space all around

Goodreads Giveaway - 2 copies of The Hardest Thing in This World

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Hardest Thing in This World

by Nicole Eva Fraser

Giveaway ends October 31, 2013.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Climb Your Mountain: Lauryn Ballesteros at TEDxAsylumHill

Climb Your Mountain: Lauryn Ballesteros at TEDxAsylumHill

LaurynBallesteros-TEDxTraverseCity2012.mov

Unique, uplifting, surprising article: "A Lost Art: The Spiritual Side of Sales"

A Lost Art: The Spiritual Side of Sales. @heylaurynbee

If you're not in the arena getting your butt kicked, I'm not interested in your feedback. 
- Dr. Brene Brown

Take off your Mask: The Flaw with Being Flawless.

Take off your Mask: The Flaw with Being Flawless.

You are a soul-fire Supernova: Live like you mean it.

You are a soul-fire Supernova: Live like you mean it.

Day 2: Future and Present Me

For Day 2, Tia gave us rich/juicy journaling prompts to find out what Future Me wants to say to Present Me...

After I did my journaling, I went to futureme.org and sent myself an email including what I wrote. It will be delivered to me one year from today!

For Renee

"BUFFY WILL ALWAYS BE SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR'S MOST IMPORTANT ROLE BECAUSE: FEMINISM"

Awesome Buffy article by Alida Miranda-Wolff.

"What if our dreams are really just our intuition telling us what we're meant for? Something we somehow knew all along was always meant to happen?"
-Andrea Scher

Day 1: aligned with my values?

Using the prompts and the link Tia provided....

I id'd my top 5 values like so:

1. affection & belonging (family, friends, community)
2. endurance & victory (integrity, strength)
3. humor & ease (fun, silliness)
4. originality & ingenuity
5. adventure (confidence, daring)

...then had to rate myself re: "Am I living my life/making decisions aligned with them?" 

I'd say...
I'm on the high end of the rating scale for affection (value #1) and endurance (2) -- lots of focus on these.
Mid-range for humor (3) -- still too serious in my head.
High for originality (4) -- focus on this via my new book.
Low for adventure (5) -- haven't spontaneously traveled to other hemispheres recently, as I used to :-)

Inner Sparkle 21 day ecourse with Tia

I'm starting this tonight and will blog about it for 21 nights!
Inner Sparkle 21 Day eCourse

My teacher is Tia Sparkles Singh, CPCC
Inner Sparkle Activator & Awesomeness Inciter
Website: yourlifeyourway.net   |  Facebook:  yourlifeyourway

surprising superpower

"Vulnerability is one of our most potent superpowers. It seems ironic if you interpret vulnerability as being weak, but it is quite the opposite. It takes courage to dream, courage to love, courage to yearn for something dear and deep. The more we can place ourselves squarely inside of our vulnerability and practice finding our strength there, the more the magic will unfold."

-andrea scher

Cats, Books, and...More Cats!: Remniscing about....BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER!

Cats, Books, and...More Cats!: Remniscing about....BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER!: Who better to kick off a "Spooktacular Hop" than Buffy the Vampire Slayer???????????????? I've always been a big vampire ...

Buffy: "The hardest thing in this world is to live in it..."

Now available on Amazon

The Hardest Thing in This World is now available on Amazon

The Unaired Pilot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Click here for details.

trapezing

“Letting go asks you to believe that across the Big Tent of Life, there will be another trapeze bar that you can take hold of after you’ve let go of this one. It’s an act of terror and freedom, of trust and faith that when you let go, you will find something new, better, different.”

—	Daphne Rose Kingma via Sharron Bannon

One who is uplifted and zealous is invincible even in the face of great adversities. Therefore, with an unswerving mind, I shall bring disaster to adversity…I shall overcome everything and not be overcome by anything…I shall acquire this self-confidence for I am a Child of the Lions, the Jinas.

-Santideva

You can trust this dream.

The primal cosmos was universally experienced, for countless millennia, as tangibly and self-evidently alive and awake—pervasively intentional and responsive, informed by ubiquitous spiritual presences, animated throughout by archetypal forces and intelligible meanings—in a manner that the modern perception does not and perhaps cannot recognize.

- Richard Tarnas, Cosmos and Psyche

“Who knows what might emerge from the box marked DON’T DARE! if I managed to open it more than a crack? There really is such a thing as fear of success. Who would I be if I stepped out of my doubts and deferrals, my carefully budgeted sense of possibility?”

—	Noelle Oxenhandler, The Wishing Year

Mondo Beyondo

We are asking you to consider something unexpected, powerful and good could happen to you.

Bring your whole self to this experience.

Bring your reservations and your fears, your courage and your curiosity.

Bring the messiness of your life and all the places you are scared.

We can start wherever you are.

-Mondo Beyondo

"Everything Changes" video

If this film speaks to you, please share. And...join us for more radical acceptance, belonging, and hope: hopefulworld.org/join

ZenPen E-Course: Body-Based Writing for Healing, Personal Growth, & Tran...

Starting this e-course on 9-30!

Retro Recap: Buffy the Vampire Slayer S4E6 — “Wild At Heart”

“Or you’re the wolf all the time. And this human face is just yourdisguise.”

Click here to read at persephonemagazine.com

NAMI Walk in Greater Cleveland 9/7/2013

Channel 19 sponsored Saturday's NAMI Walk in Greater Cleveland -- click here for their coverage, including a video of the walkers and pre-walk speakers.

tattoo views

From Flavorwire.com

NAMI Walks Greater Cleveland 2013

Tessa and I did the NAMI Walk in Cleveland this morning!

Bring Change 2 Mind "Schizo"

The Hardest Thing in This World

The Hardest Thing in This World by Nicole Eva Fraser

Sexy, smart-mouthed Melody Sawyer is an underachiever, a home health care nurse with good intentions and a chip on her shoulder. Her troubled daughter Renee recently dropped dead at 24, but Renee’s ghost keeps popping in on the family. And Melody has no clue about her married daughter, Kayla—who since age 16 has been deep in a clandestine affair with pro baseball player Baron Lee Presley. Join the Sawyer women on their offbeat, darkly funny, and sometimes tragic journey as they try to conquer the hardest thing in this world. 

ISBN 978-1-938101-59-5
Publisher: Second Wind LLC
Publication Date: October 17, 2013

Click here for NicoleEvaFraser.com