What is in your Fortune Cookie?

I've had a great Summer so far, filled with celebrations and newness and reconnections and collaborations and expansions... and as always life is peppered with lessons for growth... and I have to admit, I do choose to live life that way... open to the lessons that it offers. 

One of these lessons came along during the Summer when I joined a "gaggle" of friends for a surprise birthday! It was a joyful gathering and the birthday surprise was held at a local pub. Part of the surprise was to have dinner at the nearest restaurant which is a Chinese Restaurant :) and the plan was to go to the pub afterward, where there was live music etc. and unbeknownst to the birthday girl, everyone was waiting with her SURPRISE 30th in full swing! 

As per usual, at the end of the dinner when we received our bill, the "customary" fortune cookies were placed on the table. Everyone picked up their cookie and broke open their fated futures in anticipation! So I waited a while and took the remaining cookie in fun and in the spirit of the evening! And broke it open... now at this stage, most of the gaggle had already opened and read their fortunes out loud with great sighs of relief and laughs - so all eyes were on me... waiting to hear what my fortune holds... 

There was n-o-t-h-i-n-g in the cookie!

I actually turned the two ends upside down as if to shake something out, but nada! I smiled, to the message that came up for me... and some of the party was horrified! "OMG! What does that mean?" You have no fortune!!"

The lovely hostess was laughing and nervously plucked out her mobile phone to "google" what it means when there is no message in your fortune cookie! I sat next to a friend... and she whispered: "What the '@*&$ does that mean?" I laughed and said to her... "it only means that my fortune is in my hands, I get to create it or not..." and it felt like I hit the jackpot message! Because I truly do believe that!

Even when "life happens" and horrific things happen or great things happen... I create the response to what happens, which in turn creates how I experience what has happened, which in turn creates what life is like for me... 

This is a topic I often speak about and many clients know I use the phrase, its either Sh%t or it is Fertilizer! We can choose to wallow in it or we can choose to grow from it! 

So life unfolds as it will, and how I experience life is up to me...

There, of course, is another layer to this which is: through the thoughts you think, the emotions you feel and beliefs you have, you create more of the same... a kind of you reap what you sow principle, but perhaps we can talk about this another time. :) 

So back to the restaurant... The lovely hostess, in her effort to "soothe" my lack of fortune, told me that google came back with... "it means that the person who made the cookie forgot to put in the message" Ha! So there you have it!

Go and create beautiful fortunes and futures, my friends! Remember you are a spiritual being having a human experience! Enjoy life to the full! Every bit of it, and create beautiful experiences out of anything you go through! Do not let anyone decide your future or your fortune for you, go and write it yourself! 

Lots of Love, 

Jo-Anne x