Posted on September 7, 2015September 8, 2015 by Amanda Viviers — 1 Comment

Life is short, love what you do…

One of my closest friends, lost her husband suddenly. It was the most terrible of times. The last letter he ever wrote to her finished with this profound prophetic statement;

Life is short, love what you do

To watch my friend walk bravely out her days without her amazing partner has been the most deeply moving journey. She has grieved, she has stamped her feet, she has waited, she has questioned, but at the same time she has moved into days where she is living out the legacy of his vision for her days.

She shifted from New Zealand to Cambodia alone in her fifties, starting again, to live a life sown. It has been a hard journey, as she was robbed near her new home, watched the people she has been serving loose their life. Sickness, tragedy and heart ache has filled her days. She has not allowed the depths of these stories to shrink her though, she has stepped forward, felt the fear and brought her broken hallelujah.

She is living bravely in her moment, using the depth of her grief to minister and help a generation of young people in another country to live the life of their dreams.

I know her man would be immensely proud of her.

I know he would be watching with a gentle, quiet smile, a raise of his quirky eyebrows that quietly said “Look at my girl go…”

A life of serenity is not necessarily a quiet, retiring one.

Serenity is a place of peace, found in the midst of living a life of purpose.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

One day at a time, having the courage to live the life you have always dreamed of. When we stay stuck in holding patterns of the past, we are unable to live one day at a time, understanding that life is short.

It is short.

We just don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

What if we spent our today stuck in the pain of yesterday and missed out on the absolute sheer brilliance of living a life sown in our today?

What would you do, if you embraced the messy moments of fear, grief, disappointment and shifted forward into your unknown anyway?

My lovely friend Annie inspires me so much.

She hasn’t just moved on, she has dug deep into the very recesses of her soul and determined that she will live a life of purpose today.

Yes, living in her brave, courageous, today.

She is not sure about what the next five years will bring, but she knows in her today, that she needs to bring hope and courage to teenagers in Cambodia. A courage that despite the very hard parts of our story, that Love wins.

Loving People.

Loving Stories.

Loving Humanity.

Loving the hard parts.

Loving the mess of people and transition and change and living beyond ourselves.

What can you bravely do today, to live in this moment?

Take that step,

Make that phone call,

Book that appointment,

Write that piece,

Live surrendered in your today.

After 6 months of being in Cambodia, Annie knows she can’t go home to New Zealand, her work is not done yet, so if you want to help her stay, you can transfer funds to:

With the name Annie Cambodia.

New Zealand Accounts:

ANZ: 06 0383

0164749 04

Australian Accounts:

ANZ: 016141

299685840

Posted on September 5, 2015September 5, 2015 by Amanda Viviers — Leave a comment

Praying those doors open.

Prayer is not really a popular topic these days, mostly because of the shame attached to people’s expectations of us. Something I find quite peculiar though is this, the one in Whom we are praying too, doesn’t ask for much more than a simple chat.

A lean of our heads.

A quietening of our minds.

A sneak peak into the unknown.

Prayer is all about communion, common union between the unseen and the seen, the known and the unknown and a humble stretch that says ” I do not know everything and need a little help.”

That is what prayer is, it is just a opening of ethereal doors into a new perspective.

Maybe that’s why it was created.

A space of trust.

A place of peace.

A realigning of purpose and perspective.

As I seek serenity in my days, one could think it is a settling down, a shrinking of a life lived sown, so that we can handle the task list, the people, the plans.

Lately I have been reminding myself that Serenity is allowing the Greater Plan, to become my plans. I have been reminded that my way is not the only way. I am learning to wait and see, that He is so good.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Today I am seeking wisdom in my walk towards the next in my life.

Wisdom to know how to accept things from the past I cannot change, wisdom to know what I can change and the courage to actually do something about it.

I see people stay in places of in-between, like a holding pattern of unknown, because they are unwilling to do the little things that will take them to the next place of knowing.

When I pray, I find wisdom.

When I wait, I find serenity.

When I gain perspective, I can see what needs to change and what I need to let go.

Prayer is the vehicle that carries me to these places.

Lately though my prayers have been really simple. They have consisted of very basic words.

“Not my will be done, but yours.”

“Open Doors, open doors.”

I’m not struggling and striving hoping someone will notice, I am waiting, hoping, trusting and knowing that He brings all things together for good.

I know that He sees.

What is it that you are hoping for in this season?

What doors are you praying would open?

Serenity would tell us, have the courage to let go of what has passed, the tenacity to say yes when the new comes into our present and the wisdom to know the difference. I made this little poster for a friend today and it got me thinking.

It’s all in his hands.

The rest of this place brings serenity and peace.

Speak tomorrow

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Amanda Viviers — Leave a comment

Having courage to change the things we can…

Humans are beautiful, humans are complex, humans are brilliant.

Every person we meet, every story we encounter is bathed in the harsh reality of humanity.

We are a swarming mix of emotions, agendas, passions, beauty, innocence, detail, forgetfulness and desire.

When Reinhold wrote the Serenity Prayer I am sure he was deep in the mess of humanity.

I can see him at his desk, with his pen in hand and his heart reeling in his throat, at the pain of trying to make a difference with his life in the midst of human story.

What part of the human story holds you back from letting stuff go?

What part of the human story compels you to step forward into the new?

I have found as I sit and listen to peoples story, many of them hold onto the stuff that they cannot change and then struggle to have the courage to change that which they can.

We get so stuck.

Do you feel stuck?

I often do.

The one thing I have been trying to do of late though is to start living the life I have always imagined. I have been stuck before because I realised I was waiting for someone to create the safety net in case I fail.

The more I step out and start doing the things I dream of, the more I realise that failure is just part of the human story. The question of those who are living deeply fulfilling lives is not whether they failed, it is whether they used the emotions and lessons from those failures to begin again.

Failure brings either two things;

Belittlement. Where we allow the failure to define us.
Wisdom. Where we learn and grow, living a life that is defined by what we have learnt in the failure.

My prayer this September is this…

“courage to change the things I can”

What can you change?

Do you need to ask someone for help?

The life you have always imagined to live is on the other side of fear. Yes, the brokenness of humanity means that there are some things we can never change, but what if we changed, what we can.

You might not be able to change where you live, but you can change your perspective.

You might not be able to quit your job, but you can start to build something in your life that brings forth your passion.

You might not be able to launch that dream that has been in your heart forever, but you could sit with a coach or mentor and find baby steps to start your journey toward it.

What is something that you can change?

This week I emailed another magazine editor with one of my manuscripts, I took a deep breath and just had a go. I find often in my life, the courage builds as I just step out and do it.

Taking small steps towards the massive goals I have always dreamed of.

What are you going to change today, to bring forward something new in your tomorrow?

Posted on September 2, 2015September 2, 2015 by Amanda Viviers — 6 Comments

How to find serenity

If I was completely honest with you (yes, really), the last few weeks have carried with them many highs and lows. There has been no real reason for them, but I have been delving deeply into places, that are often swept under the carpet so that I can move forward into the new.

The dark night of the soul, is not something to be ashamed of I believe when we embrace it and learn from it we are able to step into our purpose with clarity.

Tonight as I was reflecting on some of the emotions that have bombarded me, I was reminded of a simple prayer that I told someone to pray everyday when they were going through a similar time.

I think it is now my turn.

This is the prayer that was made famous by Mother Teresa and I thought I would start a new series from it, going through it verse by verse, day by day. Its wisdom for my today is so timely.

It was written in the early 1900’s by Reinhold Niebuhr

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
Amen.

To accept the things I cannot change…

Often the things I worry about the most are actually the things I cannot change.

I cannot change someones beliefs.

I cannot change the way someone feels about me.

I cannot go back and change a situation.

I cannot make someone include me when they don’t want to.

I can’t change the past.

I can’t take back words that have been spoken.

This is life.

The things that plague me, are often those thing that my thoughts and worries will never change.

What I can do though is ask God to grant me the serenity (the state or quality of being serene, calm, or tranquil; sereneness.) to accept these things.

To accept them.

To accept people.

To accept the past.

To accept words that have been spoken.

To accept that some people don’t see me.

To accept that there are days that my motive will be misunderstood.

To accept.

When we finally face those things in our days, that battle and wear us down, saying I cannot change these things and I will accept them.

I will not dwell on them.

I will forgive them.

I will look forward into the future.

I am thinking the days that I rely on God for these small victories, they will be fine days indeed.

These are the days I am bringing into my tomorrow.

Want to join me?

Let’s pray this prayer together each morning of this series through September.

Posted on August 20, 2015August 20, 2015 by Amanda Viviers — Leave a comment

gather with those who care…

The world can be a cold and unforgiving place.

Agenda’s thrive, people disappoint, we feel misunderstood, speak a different language and seek to be heard.

If I just post one more post, share one more thought, filter one more image, then maybe someone, anyone might notice.

Last night I gathered with a group of women.

Creative souls who have a penchant to wander.

Women in midst of transitions.

Frustrated, emancipated, unsure, belittled, hopeful, idealistic, creative souls.

Girls who have not given up hope, but the thread is unravelling.

The lonely who need to know there is someone who will listen.

An environment that is not based on competence, but founded in inspiration.

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.”

Brené Brown

Who doesn’t want to live an inspired life?

I know I do, but inspiration leaks.

I start off so focused, then the berry stains on my new cushion trip me up and I give up on the possibility that I will ever do anything of substance again.

We all need our tribe.

We all need people in our lives that we can be completely honest with face to face.

Not through a screen, not through a speaker phone, we need to sit in complete honesty in front of someone who cares.

The kinaesthetic lover inside our souls needs to be touched.

The inspiration factory is awaiting more fuel to tick over once again.

We need each other.

Even if we are afraid to admit it.

I felt a reassurance that the purpose of last night was far beyond the gathering that was present.

“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”

Isaiah 43: 19

Later this year we are running a retreat for creative women looking for an authentic community that will support, collaborate, love and live honestly.

Bloggers, photographers, entrepreneurs, singers, speakers, radio hosts, journalists, painters, writers and list goes on and on.

Last night we gathered to meet and greet, so that the first night of the retreat, is not full of comparison and competition.

It was sublime.

I could hardly sleep when I snuck into the shack after midnight.

Food, creativity, spoken word, honesty, original songs.

The heartfelt conversations whispered to me “welcome home.”

To gather is at the very foundation of our hope for belonging.

Step away from the computer in your in-between and find someone who cares.

Category: inspire 15