Enjoying the Journey as Much as the Destination

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

Check out my coaching journal at:

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Dealing with the REAL me....

Cicero’s Six Mistakes of Man (according to Arthur F. Lenehan):

1.The delusion that individual advancement is made by crushing others
2.The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected
3.Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it
4.Refusing to set aside trivial preferences
5.Neglecting development and refinement of the mind and not acquiring the habit of reading and studying
6.Attempting to compel other persons to believe and live as we do.

"A regard for reputation and the judgment of the world may sometimes be felt where conscience is dormant."
— Thomas Jefferson

"Our depressions, jealousies, narcissism and failures are not at odds with the spiritual life. In deed, they are essential to it. When tended, they prevent the spirit from zooming off into the ozone of perfectionism and spiritual pride." ~Thomas Moore

"The only reason for doing the right thing is that it is the right thing to do; all other reasons are reasons for doing something else" ~F.M. Cornford

There is this constant paradoxical battle within me....and I am learning that it is not JUST me......that goes on between the REAL me and those parts of me that war against me. My biggest problem in life many times is I just can't get away from ME! I have to deal with myself ALL DAY LONG! It can get rather ridiculous if it weren't just so dang exasperating!

I read a LOT.....not many novels or stories.....mainly books about life. I love to learn and grow. I love to stretch my understanding by getting insights about life from others. I don't always agree with everything....but even that is challenging because I push myself to figure out WHY I don't agree. One of my favorite authors is Brennan Manning. He is quite a character!!!!!! He was a Catholic priest, who had a major drinking problem, who left the priesthood to marry his wife....and now leads silent retreats all around the world. His honesty and call to integrity is refreshing and real. One of his purposes in the silent retreats..... and I have some friends who have been on one and they REALLY are silent for DAYS!....is to move people into their hearts.....to move people to the place where they FEEL!"

"...feelings put us intouch with our true selves. They are neither good nor bad: they are simply the truth of what is going on within us. What we do with our feelings will determine whether we live lives of honesty or of deceit. When submitted to the discretion of a faith-formed intellect, our emotions serve as trustworthy beacons for appropriate action or inaction. The denial, displacement and repression of feelings thwarts self-intimacy."

~Brennan Manning - Abba's Child

My daughter had the opportunity to experience the exact reality of silence breaking through to the heart and feelings. When she came to us for help, we prayed for quite a while about WHAT to do......HOW to help her. We were at a loss. We knew so many who had gone to treatment after treatment....to no avail. At our wits end....which actually can be a good place, I found out!.....we discovered the "Blackwater Outdoor Experience" and sent her on a real live "Survivor" for 3 weeks. She went to the Florida Everglades and canoed for 10 hours a day in the Gulf, from island to island. Once out there, she was sent on a "Solo"....where she was given a small tent, water, some food and a flashlight. For the first time in years she was alone.....alone with herself....for 4 days. She had no option but just to feel. She has shared with us that she had been so afraid of being alone.....and here she was.....all alone. She cried for 4 days. She had not cried like that ever before....didn't want to cry...but at that point she could not help herself. It was a powerful experience that began her journey back to a life she truly wanted....a life that is healthy and loving... a life that is accepting and authentic. She now can be alone with herself and love it! The transformation has been amazing....and her enjoyment of her own inner life shows up in her outer life! She is a joy to be around as she enjoys all the life she has.

Her experience has caused me to look at my own life...my own issues with being with myself and the reality of my life....my inner life. It has called me to ask the WHYS and deal with those first.....to take personal responsibility for my own choices, behaviors and beliefs....to accept the truth of my life for what it is rather than create a masked ego personality, an imposter who is not really who I am, for the world to see and somehow possibly accept. It is risky business....and hard work....it is the real journey of this life.....learning to enjoy it is many times the most challenging work of all.

"This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it." ~Isaiah 30:15 (New International Version)

Kathy Douglas

President/Owner

Extreme Dreams, LLC

8203 Schaffer Ln.

Houston, TX 77070

Office - 281-890-5034

Fax - 281-469-0267

Cell - 713-398-7304

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

Check out my coaching journal at:

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Dancing towards God....

"I was raised to believe that the quality of a man's life would greatly increase, not with the gain of status or success, not by his heart's knowing romance or by prosperity in industry or academia, but by his nearness to God. It confuses me that Christian living is not simpler. The gospel, the very good news, is simple, but this is the gate, the trailhead. Ironing out faithless creases is toilsome labor. God bestows three blessings on man; to feed him like the birds, dress him like flowers, and befriend him as a confidant. Too many take the first two and neglect the last. Sooner or later you figure our life is constructed specifically and brilliantly to squeeze a man into association with the Owner of heaven. It is a struggle, with labor pains and thorny landscape, bloody hands and a sweaty brow, head in hands, moments of severe loneliness and questioning, moments of ache and desire. All this leads to God, I think. Perhaps this is what is on the other side of the commercials, on the other side of the curtain behind which the Wizard of Oz pulls his levers. Matter and thoughts are a canvas on which God paints, a painting with tragedy and delivery, with sin and redemption. Life is a dance toward God, I begin to think. And the dance is not so graceful as we might want. While we glide and swing our practiced sway, God crowds our feet, bumps our toes, and scuffs our shoes. So we learn to dance with the One who made us. And it is a difficult dance to learn, because its steps are foreign."

~Donald Miller excerpt from "Through Painted Deserts"

"Great faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs can only come out of great trials."
~Smith Wigglesworth

"We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed."
~ A. W. Tozer--The Pursuit of God

"God's Word does not say, "Call unto me, and you will thereby be trained into the happy art of knowing how to be denied. Ask, and you will learn sweet patience by getting nothing." Far from it. But it is definite, clear and positive: "Ask, and it shall be given unto you."
~E. M. Bounds

"God always makes a way for those who believe and obey."
~ Joy Dawson--Forever Ruined for the Ordinary

Prayers have come our way from so many of you.....prayers for our safety through Hurricane Rita. It was so pleasant to receive so many sweet and loving emails....calls and....from my mom, requests to "get out of town" before the big storm hit. I did plenty of praying myself and as I felt no urging or direction from God to leave and head north....or west, for that matter.....and my husband, Jack did not either.....we both felt quite comfortable with the decision to remain at home, prepare for the worst and trust that God would take care of His children however He chose to take care of each one.

As I sit here at my computer, I am aware that each one of God's children are called to seek His face and walk in the light that He gives them. I am so happy that God lead us to stay! We DID have a slight feeling of apprehension on Friday morning and early afternoon as the weather reports began to waver in their expectation of the storms landfall site, as it "wobbled" across the gulf, confusing the projections.....we wondered what God might have in store for us! As the first storm clouds began to come from the Northeast over our house, I ran out to watch the spectacle of swift moving clouds flowing in an ordered fashion across the sky. I looked up to see a faint, yet distinctive rainbow stretched across the entire eastern sky. It reminded me that many had prayed for us....and I sensed that God wanted me to know He had heard. Around 10pm, Dr. Neil Frank confirmed that the track was stabilizing and landfall would be further east than many had projected. We looked at each other and breathed a sign of sweet relief! We went to bed with calm winds and soft rain.

When I awoke this morning my first thought was "well, we dodged that bullet! We didn't even get any strong winds!" I went down stairs to talk to Jack who was preparing our morning coffee and told him that it looked to me like we had completely missed the storm. His answer was " You slept through ANOTHER hurricane!!!!" ( I slept through Hurricane Alicia in 1983!) He had been awaken several times in the night by the pounding on our windows by the heavy gusting winds that slammed into our house and shook the surrounding trees. It was good to know, as the girls got out of bed, that I was not the ONLY one to sleep right through. AND it was good to know that Jack was on guard to protect and take care of us should anything have happened.....I am quite sure I would have slept right on through!

As we went through this adventure, watched the television reports, and considered all that was happening....it occurred to me that many times we miss what God is doing in our lives. We get afraid, panic and "take off " for safety. We experience long delays, other scared people, detours and backtracks, long lines, shortages and a long return back to where God wanted us to be. I have done this in my life before.....in the late 80's I gave into my fears and violated my own integrity with the thought that I was not responsible for the actions of someone who I was leading. "She is making those decisions" I told myself, and though I knew they were wrong and the consequences would be difficult, I looked the other way. I said nothing, I did nothing. I took the safe trip to "Oblivion" for fear that if I said anything about her choices she would become angry and create havoc in my unit and business. I wanted her to be successful, I wanted her to achieve her goals.....the experience of success was short lived.

The road back was long and hard.....I virtually lost everything I had built as a result of my choice of abdicate my leadership. It took another 8 years to get back to where I had begun.....the line was long, I met many other scared people along the road, there were many detours and backtracks along the way and I experienced many shortages in various areas of my life as a result. Many of the delays, detours and shortages were due to my focus on the HOWS rather than the WHYS....."HOW can I get back???" "HOW can I go forward???" "HOW can I change my situation????" .....it was not until I started to ask the "WHY" questions.....that things began to turn around. "Why did this happen?" "Why did I abdicate my leadership?" "Why was I going this way??" "Why was God allowing me to go through all of this???" Through this experience the main lesson I learned was to ask the "WHYS" .....and from the answers to the "WHYS" I can begin to learn the "HOWS". As I began to listened to God's reply.....I began to learn about myself and my God....I began to learn about leadership and the responsibility I have for those who follow me.....I began to face the realities of my own fears and my own direction in life. I began to learn to respect my followers and those I was developing as leaders. It was no longer "HOW do I get them from point A to point B" ....rather "WHY am I in their lives and WHY are they in mine??". It was no longer HOW can I change my situation?" ...rather it was "WHY is my situation the way it is??". Many of you have heard me say again and again...."People are where they are for a reason!" This is where I learned that.....I was where I was for a reason. I had made choices...some good and some not so good. The only way I can even begin to change that is to ask the question of myself.....WHY???? The HOWS just seem to show up when the WHYS are answered.

The sun is out now, several of the youth from our church are over watching "Hidalgo", one of my favorite movies!!!!!! Life is full and I am reminded of God's Love for me in this beautiful adventure....filled with danger, excitement and uncertainty. When I place all my trust in His hands, He shows me amazing displays of His glory. When I ask Him WHY ........He reminds me of His great love and purpose for my life......to enjoy this journey, this dance, towards the destination.....a life with Him forever!

"So don't throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It's still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God's plan so you'll be there for the promised completion."

~Hebrews 10:35-36 (The Message)

Kathy Douglas

President/Owner

Extreme Dreams, LLC

8203 Schaffer Ln.

Houston, TX 77070

Office - 281-890-5034

Fax - 281-469-0267

Cell - 713-398-7304

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

Check out my coaching journal at:

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Life is hard....

"Both your attitude and your behavior towards another person will be congruent with the way you see them.....To try and change outward attitudes and behaviors does very little good in the long run if we fail to examine the basic paradigms from which those attitudes and behaviors flow......the more aware we are of our basic paradigms, maps or assumptions, and the extent to which we have been influenced by our experiences, the more we can take responsibility for those paradigms, examine them, test them against reality, listen to others and be open to their perceptions, thereby getting a larger picture and a far more objective view......paradigms are inseparable from character. Being is seeing in the human dimension. And what we see is highly interrelated in what we are. We can't go very far to change our seeing without simultaneously changing our being and vise versa....my change of vision is a result of - and limited by - my basic character."

~Steven Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

"A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams."

~John Barrymore

"We do not really feel grateful toward those who make our dreams come true; they ruin our dreams."

~Eric Hoffer

"Resolve says,"I will." The man says,"I will climb this mountain.They told me it is too high, too far, too steep, too rocky, and too difficult. But it's my mountain. I will climb it. You will soon see me waving from the top or dead on the side from trying." If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary."
~Jim Rohn

"Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night. You cannot solve a problem until you acknowledge that you have one and accept responsibility for solving it."
~Zig Ziglar

"Asking is beginning of receiving. Make sure you don't go to the ocean with a teaspoon. At least take a bucket so the kids won't laugh at you."
~Jim Rohn

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
– Antoine de Saint

Life Is Hard (God Is Good)

You turn the key
And close the door behind you
Drop your bags on the floor
You reach for the light
But there's darkness deep inside
And you can't take it anymore
'Cause sometimes living takes the life out of you
And sometimes living is all you can do

Chorus:
Life is hard, the world is cold
We're barely young and then we're old
But every falling tear is always understood
Life is hard, but God is good

You start to cry
'Cause you've been strong for so long
And that's not how you feel
You try to pray,
But there's nothing less to say
So you just quietly kneel
In the silence of all that you face
God will give you His mercy and grace

Jesus never said it was and easy road to follow
He only said that you would never be alone
So, when your last thread of hope
Begins to come unraveled
Don't give up, He walks beside you
On this journey home
And He knows

Chorus:
Life is hard, the world is cold
We're barely young and then we're old
But every falling tear is always understood
Life is hard, but God is good

Those of us that are on this journey know the truth of that song......and every time I hear it sung I cry. Truth makes me cry....I don't fully understand why, it just does. If I am really listening and tuned in from my heart....I am crying. Living from my heart is very hard on my eyes, I see things that I don't want to see, and things I do..... I cry a lot now. And my eyes are hard on my heart...they keep it broken as I surrender to the truths of what I see in my own life....my own failures, my own self-centered paradigms, my own dreams, my own "out of whack" perspective....and surrender my life to God's plan. Sometimes I cry tears of joy, sometimes they are tears of pain, sometimes they are tears of regret and sorrow......and sometimes they are tears of deep connection. I look forward to the day when God will wipe all my tears away.....and I will see His face and rejoice forevermore...for I will be finished with this journey and welcomed into my home.

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. "

~Revelations 21:1-4, 22-27

Kathy Douglas

President/Owner

Extreme Dreams, LLC

8203 Schaffer Ln.

Houston, TX 77070

Office - 281-890-5034

Fax - 281-469-0267

Cell - 713-398-7304

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

Check out my coaching journal at:

Friday, September 16, 2005

On Loving Unconditionally.....

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
— Count Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist (1828-1910)

"Men's minds are too ready to excuse guilt in themselves."
— Titus Livius, Roman historian and philosopher (59 BC-AD 17)

"Once integrity goes, the rest is a piece of cake."
— J.R. Ewing, lead character in the 20th-century American television show “Dallas”

"It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not."
— Andre Gide, French author (1869-1951)

"The ultimate test of a relationship is to disagree but to hold hands."

-Alexandra Penney

"Don't be afraid to fail. Don't waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures
and go on to the next challenge. It's OK. If you're not failing, you're not growing."

-H. Stanley Judd

"All of the significant battles are waged within the self."

-Sheldon Kopp

".... some of us want God to give us a little help while we do our best, instead of coming to understand what God wants, and to say: "I can do nothing. God must and will do all." Have you said: "In worship, in work, in sanctification, in obedience to God, I can do nothing of myself, and so my place is to worship God, and to believe that He will work in me every moment"? Oh, may God teach us this! Oh, that God would by His grace show you what a God you have, and to what a God you have entrusted yourself-an omnipotent God. He is willing, with His whole omnipotence, to place Himself at the disposal of every child of His! Will we not take the lesson of the Lord Jesus, and say: "Amen; the things which are impossible with men are possible with God"? "

~Andrew Murray

"Nothing is more pathetic than having a small character in a big assignment. Many of us don't want to give attention to our character, we just want the big assignment from God."
~Henry T. Blackaby--Experiencing God

"Anything worth having is worth fighting for."
~Author unknown

Loving unconditionally...what an unbelievable assignment. How can we ever begin to love others unconditionally???.....without a set of criteria that says "yes, no, yes, yes, ok, no, etc." How can anyone expect us to surrender the rules of loving up to God when there appear to be so many rules for living a healthy and happy and godly life? Yesterday I proposed that an artist must love his/her audience unconditionally....even extravagantly!!!! One of them wrote me back and said....

I need to love those folks I perform for. I never thought about it, but that is my purpose. It is easy to get wrapped up in hitting the right note, remembering the words, what do I say, do I look okay.....do they like my songs....???? ALL ABOUT ME! It should be about the hungry ears out there who are listening to messages...To be in a place where God has placed me as a messenger is so important to yield to His will...to love the lost and encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Her response was a great challenge to my heart.....am I loving my audience unconditionally??? Am I loving those who God has put in my audience with His heart of love and compassion...or am I judging them for the lives that they are living, the things that they are doing OR not doing, the choices that they are making or not making. Am I putting a list of criteria on those hearts and souls that says they are meeting the mark of what and who I feel "called" to communicate to.....and provide for....and supply "my gift" to..........like it belongs to ME.......like I own my Gift, or even my own life!!!!!! or something absolutely ridiculous like THAT! What I came to realize as I looked at all of it.....is that it is a lot easier than it looks......and yet the most difficult thing in all the universe......it is an absolute surrender of all I am to ALL HE IS......to allow Him to have the say of where this journey goes....and who we serve and touch along the way. It really takes the pressure off!!!!

"Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with Him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

~Galatians 2:20 (The Message)

Kathy Douglas

President/Owner

Extreme Dreams, LLC

8203 Schaffer Ln.

Houston, TX 77070

Office - 281-890-5034

Fax - 281-469-0267

Cell - 713-398-7304

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

Check out my coaching journal at:

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Arrows to the heart....

ARROWS (Michael Hedges/David Crosby)

Arrows turned inward are good for the soul.

I have a thing about arrows and diamonds and coal.

Pressure turning carbon to jewels.

Slowly they aim at my iron mark, flaming,healing arrows.

They beat at my heart, angels turning metal to tools.

I don't care what you think has got you down

You can turn it around, I don't care what you think.

Turn it around, turn it around, turn it around.

The times that I knew I could never get through

That's when I grew up the most, and alone sounds so sad

But alone I found the best friend I had

I don't care what you think has got you down

You can turn it around, I don't care what you think.

Turn it around, turn it around, turn it around.

Arrows turned inward are good for the soul,

Piercing through every callus, they always get through

My target is a heart no-one fools.

I love the responses I get from these emails.....and one of the precious souls that honors me so much in her regular response to each email is an amazing songwriter herself. She has a storied past and when I sent out the email - Turn, Turn Turn......she shared with me that she knew David Crosby, who wrote that song...... and sent me this song by him also. Thank you, Nancy......what powerful lyrics....and so appropriate to all that God is and has been doing in my life over the last 4 years. It reminded me that He loves me enough not to leave me like I am, this lump of coal... He is determined to make me into a diamond...and the pressure of it has about done me in. He loves me enough to allow the arrows to pierce through my calloused heart and break that heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh....a heart to know Him, a heart to love Him and others.

God has been using these lyrics for the last couple of days in my life to remind me that the pain I go through has a purpose....and I can surrender to it or I can become bitter and angry about it. It is my choice....I can turn it around. It has been in the times when I have been so alone that I have come to know the very best friend I had....the Lord has never left me or forsaken me and through it all He has become my very best friend.

Songs are so powerful....they are arrows shooting past the intellect straight to the heart. Great songs are songs that speak to our deepest heart cry....and move us to tears or make us laugh with joy.....great songs are songs that connect our hearts to one another....that help us to love one another. A songwriter or a performer must love his or her audience enough to "love them out loud".......to set aside their own need for love and reach out to the audience, who has come there thirsty and hungry for love.....and serve them up a huge helping of extravagant love. This is the call that, if answered, is the greatest call of a musician and an artist......to love their audience unconditionally. What an awesome privilege it is to work with God's messengers of the heart.....and encourage and love them on their journey as they love the lost and lonely souls who God has put in their audience.

"We, though, are going to love--love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first. If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both."

~1 John 4:19-21 (The Message)

Kathy Douglas

President/Owner

Extreme Dreams, LLC

8203 Schaffer Ln.

Houston, TX 77070

Office - 281-890-5034

Fax - 281-469-0267

Cell - 713-398-7304

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

Check out my coaching journal at:

Monday, September 12, 2005

True Giving

"The most important thing in any relationship is not what you get but what you give.... In any case, the giving of love is an education in itself."
~Eleanor Roosevelt, American First Lady and social activist (1884-1962)

"It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely."
~ Leo Buscaglia, author and university professor (1924-1998)

“We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.”
~ Seneca, Roman statesman, dramatist and Stoic philosopher (4 B.C.?-65 A.D.)

“You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who cannot repay you.”

~Ruth Smeltzer

God usually brings victory in the darkness.... If you're going through some times where it looks like devastation in your life...and things look very, very disgusting and discouraging, I want to remind you of something: Holy Spirit is right outside your door, in the dark, evaluating the situation.... Holy Spirit knows how to move in your darkness.... He's examining and inspecting and evaluating your situation. And believe me, it might seem like God is not up to nothing; it might seem like you don't see anything happening, but Holy Spirit is looking it over. He's coming up with a plan, and believe me, He won't just look it over; He'll return and He'll help you.
~Pastor John Kilpatrick--a sermon, Nehemiah, Portrait of the Holy Spirit

He [Jesus] has a right to interrupt your life. He is Lord. When you accepted Him as Lord, you gave Him the right to help Himself to your life anytime He wants.
~Henry T. Blackaby--Experiencing God

"A gift is pure when it is given from the heart to the right person at the right time and at the right place, and when we expect nothing in return"

~Bhagavad Gita

I always considered myself a giving person....actually, I receive great joy in giving. Recently though, I have had that part of me called into question....and it has been something that both hurt me and cause me to re-evaluate myself and ask Jesus to open my eyes to where my wounds have prevented me from living out who I truly desire to be....a giving person.

I am helping to lead a study at my church on John Eldredge's book "The Sacred Romance" and today I had to work on the chapter called "The Message of the Arrows". As I followed the questions and opened my heart to what God was doing I began to realize that the "arrows" of my life had brought me to the place of believing a lie. The lie that:

"I am unlovely and unlovable and that people when they really get to know me, find they don't like me.....so I must give everything I have to the relationship so that I don't cause them to have to abandon me, giving even to the point of hurting myself and my relationships with other people outside the relationship, because if I don't, they will leave me for someone or something better and I will be abandoned and all alone."

Now....before anyone who knows me feels the need to jump on the computer and refute that lie......I want EACH of you to KNOW that I recognize that it is a LIE!!!! At the same time I recognize that I have been hurt by the lie....and that as a result of that hurt I made a vow at 12 years old to protect myself from the pain of the lie....as John says:

"If I don't want so much...I won't be so vulnerable"....Instead of dealing with the arrows, we silence the longing.........Our deepest convictions are formed without conscious effort, but the effect is a shift deep in our soul. Commitments form never to be in that position again, never to know that sort of pain again.....Even though we may no longer feel the pain of our Arrows, they are shaping us still. The commitments are the deep resolutions we make in our hearts to live a certain way, forevermore. They really are something like a vow....Unresolved emotional wounds create spiritual strongholds in our heart."

I made a vow...I even remember exactly where I was when I made it....and it was VERY real....and it stuck.

When I lived in Germany, I was in 6th and 7th grade....and it was the first time I had been in a situation where there were "classes" of people all lumped together in the same place. The "General's" kids did not talk to the "Sergeant's" kids....the "Private's" kids did not associate with the "Sergeant's" kids....and so on. But I was a "Civilian's" kid.....and so I was a free-range kid...I could associate with anyone...and anyone could associate with me. HOWEVER, what I did not understand until the point when I got caught between the rules....is that the kids I associated with marked me with the others. It all hit the fan in 7th grade.....up to that point I had easily floated between the "classes" ....and at some point I was given the unspoken choice to decide which side I was going to be on.....and I felt I had no way of making that decision. Somehow, and for the life of me I can not to this day figure it out....I was out of BOTH groups. And not only abandoned by both sides, I also became a target for the "upper-class" of "Officers" kids who began to verbally and even physically abuse me. I thought that if I would just "turn the other cheek" as they told me to in Sunday School....God would rescue me. But the Arrows stuck....and hard. AND they were mostly aimed at my appearance. I had VERY thick glasses.....I am as blind as bat and with rather big eyes that were enormous behind the thick glasses! So I gained names that were very painful and was called them regularly. I didn't know how to defend myself so I just cried, sat alone and avoided all that would hurt me. I was quit pitiful!

THEN it happened....my dad was sent on a Summer assignment BACK to the States...and we spent 3 months in New Jersey. My parents decided that contact lenses were sufficiently advanced enough for me to be able to safely get a pair.....and there was this new "Born Blonde" hair coloring that PROMISED to make one beautiful!!!!!!! I got both....the contacts and the hair coloring....and in my mind a "whole new me" ......and with the transformation, I made a vow...to no longer care what ANYONE thought about me ever again.

"Quite often for healing to really be complete, we must renounce the place we've given the lie and the Liar. That's why we renounce the vow.....It is so important for us to grieve our losses. It is the only honest thing to do. For in grieving we admit truths. We lost something very dear, and it hurt us very much. Tears are healing. They help us open and cleanse the wound."

~John Eldredge

Today I renounced that vow....and I surrendered my heart to Jesus to cleanse it, heal it and defend it....in doing that I realized that I am not a giving person. Not really.....not like I know I want to be. I realized that I give TOO much.....hoping that in the excess of my giving I will be loved and accepted in return. I don't give freely....without expecting something in return....some sort of response that says that the person loves and accepts me. I actually do THINK that I am not expecting anything in return.....but in actuality I am judging......judging that other person as either selfish and as someone who is using me or as a good and loving person......all dependent upon their current response. I make my giving circumstantial rather than a true gift. It is ugly and painful to realize this about myself.

So today I ask forgiveness from those I have judged....and not given myself freely to them. That is not loving....or giving....it is just ugly old self-centered, selfish sin. I ask that you would please forgive me. And I commit to surrender my giving to the Lord daily....so that I become an instrument for His heart to give through me...and as an act of service to Him as I go on this incredible journey with Him.

"Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself. You've seen them in action, I'm sure--"playactors' I call them--treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that's all they get. When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. Just do it--quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.

~Matthew 6:1-4 ( The Message)

Kathy Douglas

President/Owner

Extreme Dreams, LLC

8203 Schaffer Ln.

Houston, TX 77070

Office - 281-890-5034

Fax - 281-469-0267

Cell - 713-398-7304

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

Check out my coaching journal at:

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Turn, Turn, Turn....

Turn, Turn, Turn

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

I loved that song....I remember as clar as day, being in my best friend's kitchen in El Paso, Texas....we were in 5th grade and we loved this new song by The Byrds.....and we got spoons from the drawer and pretended that they were microphones and danced around the kitchen singing along with the radio as that song played. I didn't know at the time that The Byrds had gotten the lyrics from the Bible......and how timeless those words were. I just loved the song....I was in 5th grade and the "times" of my life at that time were good and happy and pleasant.

Later on in my life....when I became a Christian....I learned about these verses in the Bible and others like them:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

~ Romans 12:14-18

I have been reading this book...."Blue like Jazz" and it has challenged so much in me....and has rung so true in my heart, with the heart of Jesus. And I have realized, as I have read the book, how poorly I have represented Jesus to a world who wants to know Him and needs to know Him. I have realized how selfish I have been in my representation of Him......how I have been a stumbling block in front of people who really want to know the real Jesus. I have this personal relationship with Jesus and I rarely let people in on the depth of that relationship....I have been getting in the way of Jesus reaching out through me to people who want to know Him. It is like I am trying to keep Him to myself.....my relationship with Him is so precious to me....and yet when I look at who He really is and who He was in Paul and Peter and all those others.....I realize I am so very selfish.

People are hungry for God....they were back when I was in 5th grade in 1965...."Turn, Turn Turn" was a #1 hit song....and it was a Bible verse. God has reminded me that I am even MORE than a Bible Verse, I am a temple of the Living God...His Spirit lives in me, He has taken up residence in me.....He wants to reach out and love those who are living through all those different "times" of their lives....He wants to BE my life and express ALL of His love through me, to others and to me......it is so selfish to keep it all to myself. Then I am convicted that all this really means is that I have not fully accepted the love God has for me.....so I hold on to what I have and in my mind I am unwilling to share because I am afraid there will not be enough for me......and yet my heart knows that this is a lie.

"...to be in a relationship with God is to be loved purely and furiously. And a person who thinks himself unlovable cannot be in a relationship with God because he can't accept who God is: a Being that is Love. We learn that we are loveable or unlovable from other people....That is why God tells us so many times to love each other."

~ Donald Miller - excerpt from "Blue Like Jazz"

To the extent that I love others is the extent that I walk in the Light of God's love.....to the extent that I hate others is the extent that I walk in the darkness and I am blind. I have this painting on my wall.....I painted it 29 years ago. It is a painting of a man who's face is light on one side and dark on the other.....and it says:

"Somewhere I read that when two people love deeply, living together sharing, caring, giving, forgiving, eventually they begin to resemble each other. Lord, How long will it be before I look like You?"

This was my heart's cry 29 years ago....it is my heart's cry today.....and the answer still seems so far away......and yet so very close. I believe that we are all called to live together...as One Body.....loving deeply, living together sharing, caring, giving, forgiving......and as we do....we begin to resemble each other because we begin to resemble Jesus.....and people who want to know God begin to recognize Him in us. What an extreme dream that is, Lord......and the journey to that place is what You have called me to.....

"My dear friends, I'm not writing anything new here. This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you've known it from day one. It's always been implicit in the Message you've heard. On the other hand, perhaps it is new, freshly minted as it is in both Christ and you--the darkness on its way out and the True Light already blazing! Anyone who claims to live in God's light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It's the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God's light and doesn't block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn't know which end is up, blinded by the darkness."

~I John 2:7-11 ( The Message )

Kathy Douglas

President/Owner

Extreme Dreams, LLC

8203 Schaffer Ln.

Houston, TX 77070

Office - 281-890-5034

Fax - 281-469-0267

Cell - 713-398-7304

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

Check out my coaching journal at:

Friday, September 09, 2005

Quite Impossible.....

"I was wondering the other day, why it is that we turn pop figures into idols? I have a theory, of course. I think we have this need to be cool, that there is this undercurrent in society that says some people are cool and some people aren't. And it is very, very important that we are cool. So, when we find someone who is cool on television or on the radio, we associate ourselves with this person to feel valid ourselves. And the problem I have with this is that we rarely know what the person believes whom we are associating ourselves with. The problem with this is that it indicates there is less value in what people believe, what they stand for; it only matters that they are cool. In other words, who cares what I believe about life, I only care that I am cool. Because in the end, the undercurrent running through culture is not giving people value based upon what they believe and what they are doing to aid society, the undercurrent is deciding their value based upon whether or not they are cool."

~Donald Miller in an excerpt from "Blue like Jazz"

Recently I shared my big hang up.....that I am not cool....never have been and continually fail at the feeble attempts I make at being cool!!!! My 3 daughters laugh hysterically at my occasional attempts....and I try hard at times cause they will come home from a friends house and tell me how "cool" that friends mom is....and I will feel that somehow I have once again missed the mark ...the "coolness" mark. I like to think that I have risen above this.....but I have been reading Donald Miller's book..."Blue Like Jazz...nonreligious thoughts on Christian Spirituality".... By the way....I absolutely love this book! I feel like I have connected with a guy who knows what my inner life sounds like! I have laughed so hard at his thoughts.....cause I have the same ones!!!!!!! I have cried and ..as he says " made noises" about what he has to say....cause I connect so deeply with the realities that he shares. He is so real, so authentic in this book. I love it.

This quote hit me hard....cause in the music industry it is ALL about being cool!!!!!!!! I realized as I read this....that really NONE of the people feel like they are actually pulling it off.....when they are alone with themselves. Anymore than I feel like I am pulling it off when I am alone with myself....and for me.....especially when I am in public!!!! I spill things all over myself, I say things when I should say NOTHING (if I was really cool!!), I don't know what to do with all this stuff in my hands, etc....and I have deep beliefs and convictions about EVERYTHING. AND I tell people those things...definitely NOT COOL!!! They just come flying out of my mouth.....I have tried to stop them....but that only makes it worse cause then they come out in ways that are even less effective than if I just let God speak through me. It is like I

I make them go round and round in my mind and which simply gets them all mixed up with my fears and insecurities.....mainly about not being cool and not being capable of the ability to be cool!!!!

The vision for Extreme Dreams is to:

"Inspire and Influence the growth and development of music that is both spiritually and personally based on integrity, honesty and love. We call this music, "integrity - based" music. We do this through the management and mentoring of singer-songwriters, musicians, and music industry personnel who will then in turn inspire and influence the popular culture."

It has occurred to me that this is impossible.....from man's perspective....cause the popular culture wants us to be "cool" ......I know I am not cool....in fact, I am a failure at being cool. I am realizing that the EXTREME DREAM is really quite impossible......and in fact is completely CONTRARY to the popular culture......unless God shows up and does the impossible. WOW....what an incredible journey this is!!!!!!!!

"Then who has any chance at all?" the others asked. "No chance at all," Jesus said, "if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it."

~Luke 18:26-28 (The Message)

Kathy Douglas

President/Owner

Extreme Dreams, LLC

8203 Schaffer Ln.

Houston, TX 77070

Office - 281-890-5034

Fax - 281-469-0267

Cell - 713-398-7304

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

Check out my coaching journal at:

Monday, September 05, 2005

a privilege to love....

"Do all things with love."

-Og Mandino

"Love is a fruit always in season and within reach of every hand."
-Mother Teresa

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
-Antoine De Saint-Exupery

"Heat is required to forge anything. Every great accomplishment is the story of a flaming heart."

-Mary Lou Retton

"The only gift is a portion of thyself."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Last night I was given the opportunity to personally help one of the victims in the Katrina Hurricane disaster. Through a simple set of circumstances that connected me with a publicist of children's musicians and their work....I have been given the privilege of reaching out on behalf of an award-winning children's artist, Johnette Downing http://www.johnettedowning.com., who has lost everything.....her cd's, her documents, all her shows that were scheduled throughout the Louisiana region and New Orleans region......her home, her business, her files, everything. Nothing works.....no phone, no cell, no email.......she has to go to an internet cafe to get any communication out. Just the expense of replacing 5 full length CD's will be overwhelmingly expensive. Every independent artist knows exactly what I am saying....and the reality is poignant and tragic. If you have any thoughts on shows she can be booked to perform...please let me know.

The beautiful thing I heard in her plight was the truth of her 16 year successful career......

"I brought little with me when we evacuated; therefore, I will have to replace everything. But, I will overcome this."

I don't know Johnette, but I spoke with her last night and heard her great heart......I can't wait to meet her....to help her succeed as she faces these challenges. She has so much more to offer the world, to offer children.....as a result of what she is experiencing. She will overcome this......as will so many others. She will do it because that is who she is.....and those around her in the music community will help her to overcome....I have watched them do this time and time again.

Johnette is a beautiful picture of what Extreme Dreams is all about.....loving artists who bring inspiration, creativity and heart into this world through their honest music. She was a picture to me last night of hope and integrity. She told me how that many of her fans and friends were wanting to send her money....but she turned them down....she wants work. She is a single woman who makes her entire living from her independent music business.....and she is incredibly successful at it. She travels the world, bringing to children and their families the joy of her Louisiana culture with it's variety of food, speech and fun. She brings people together in a spirit of acceptance and growth.

I called her last night to let her know that someone cared about her situation and would work with her to help her through all of it. I called to give to her and I received so VERY much back.....so much encouragement from a highly successful artist who has been at this for 16 years. We ended up talking for close to an hour.....and we connected on a deep level as she shared who she is....and I shared who I am. Johnette will not be able to return to the brand new home she had just moved into for 6 months...as the Orleans Parish will not return to being a safe place for that length of time. At that time the repairing of her own household will begin.....I can't even imagine what that must feel like. In the meantime, Extreme Dreams has the opportunity and privilege to love Johnette and her great heart. What an incredible journey God has us on!!!!

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always "me first," doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sins of others, doesn't revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end. Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing Him directly just as He knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."

~Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians 13 ( The Message)

Kathy Douglas

President/Owner

Extreme Dreams, LLC

8203 Schaffer Ln.

Houston, TX 77070

Office - 281-890-5034

Fax - 281-469-0267

Cell - 713-398-7304

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

Check out my coaching journal at:

Sunday, September 04, 2005

A New Day.....beginning with the end in mind.

"The difference between a warrior and an ordinary man is that a warrior sees everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man sees everything as either a blessing or a curse."

~Carlos Castaneda in "A Separate Peace"

"What would you like to be able to say about your life after it's too late to say anything about it?.......All you need to do is begin living your life AS IF IT WERE IMPORTANT. All you need to do is take your life seriously. To create it intentionally. To actively make your life into the life you wish it to be.....simple??....yes...Easy??....no....But absolutely essential if your business is to have any meaning beyond work....If your business is going to become a component of your Primary Aim, you have to let your business know what that Aim is!

I believe great people to be those who know how they got where they are, and what they need to do to get where they're going. Great people have a vision of their lives that they practice emulating each and every day. They go to work ON their lives, not just IN their lives.........I believe it's true that the difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing. The difference between the two is living intentionally and living by accident.

Once you have a picture of how you want your life to be, and you come to the realization that it's more than just things to have and things to do, once you realize that what you and I really want to have is the room, the openness, to expand, to grow, to be more of ourselves, whatever that means, and to find out what that means is what's most important to us, once you see that, you can then turn to the business that going to help you get there; you can then turn to the development of your Strategic Objective. Your Strategic Objective is a very clear statement of what your business has to ultimately do for you to achieve your Primary Aim.

In this context, your business is a means rather than an end, a vehicle to enrich your life rather than one that drains the life you have. Your Strategic Objective is NOT a business plan. It is a product of your Life Plan, as well as your Business Strategy and Plan. Your Life Plan shapes your life, and the business that is to serve it. Your Business Strategy and Plan provide the structure within which your business is intended to operate over time to fulfill your Life Plan.

An Opportunity Worth Pursuing is a business that can fulfill the financial standards you've created for your Primary Aim and your Strategic Objective. If it is reasonable to assume that it can, the business is worth pursuing. If it is unreasonable to assume that it can, then no matter how exciting, interesting, or appealing the business is, FORGET IT....Walk away from it. It will consume too much of your precious time and prevent you from finding a TRUE Opportunity Worth Pursuing. How do you know whether you have an Opportunity Worth Pursuing? Look around. Ask yourself: Does the business I have in mind alleviate a frustration experienced by a large enough group of consumers to make it worth my while?"

~Excerpts from "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael E. Gerber

I have had this little revolution going on in me and in Extreme Dreams for the last year and a half. On Wednesday I received in a book that a friend and colleague in the music industry recommended that I read. I took her advice very seriously because she is a respected author and artist manager in the industry.....and I respect what she has to say and how she has chosen to pursue her career. She has been very encouraging to me and believes in me. So I took her advice, ordered the book and began reading ferociously. It was "like Deja' Vu all over again" !!!! I have felt like I was back in Mary Kay experiencing all that I was trained and taught to do and think......with all the training and thought processes that I have been experiencing over the past 18 months mixed in. It has been exhilarating and challenging to be able to connect all the dots of what I learned in and from Mary Kay.....and all that I have learned from my Life Coach, Jim Spivey.....and see it crystallized into one book so directly and clearly, so systematically and logically....it is a beautiful thing to behold!!!!!

I have been working hard on all the steps that the book leads through...all the thought processes that lead to the development of a healthy business. What is exciting is that I have realized that I have done ALL of these before.....in Mary Kay. AND it has affirmed to me that I have just needed to do what Jim has continually and patiently told me to do....remember what I already know. I created an Opportunity Worth Pursuing in Mary Kay.....I was not only successful myself, but I was able to replicate it over and over and over again in my consultants and directors. The systems I had in place were ones that I had tested and documented and tweaked to get the results that made the business work. They were so successful that the Corporate Mary Kay started using them and teaching them throughout the company. My assistant had a manual on each step she was to take to help new consultants get started, each step she was to take to get the newsletter out, each step she was to take on ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING about the business. I had several assistants through the years who added their own unique ideas to the manual and made it a thing of beauty and made the business work like a happy little sewing machine!!! To read the steps that are outlined in the book was to remember all that WORKED in my Mary Kay business......and know WHY it worked!!!!!!

I had a VERY clear Primary Aim....and it remains my Primary Aim. It is to Love God with all my heart, soul, mind and spirit, and love my neighbor as myself. - it was to be a light to the women that I worked with and to future generations, so that they could feel loved in their lives and loved by God. I had a VERY clear Strategic Objective - to build a Mary Kay business that would inspire and develop women to become all that God had created them to be. In doing that for 20 years....I began to realize that God was inspiring me and developing me to become all that He had created me to be...so that I could inspire and develop all sorts of people to become all that God had created them to be......and that was the beginning of Extreme Dreams.

Somewhere during the transition between Mary Kay Cosmetics and today......I forgot what I already knew about developing a successful business model.....I forgot to create the operations manual AS I LEARNED the music business, I forgot to create the management system that makes it all work like a "happy little sewing machine"........I have done the THINGS I needed to do....I had just forgotten to put the systems in place that makes it so ANYONE can do it!!! The great news I was given this week was that I can do it NOW! And yesterday I began!!!! AND I AM SOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!

I have a small business....and it has a HUGE mission, purpose and goal....the vision of it gets me up every day and excites me throughout the day. Today is a new day in Extreme Dreams......and I am beginning this day with the end of it all in the forefront of my mind.....clearly seeing artists who are inspired and inspiring; who are developing into all that they are created to be and developing OTHERS to be all that they are created to be and a company of people who are each inspired and inspiring, who are developing into all that they are created to be and developing others to be all that they are created to be.......THAT is the Extreme Dream.....and the journey to get to that place is going to be so much FUN!!!!!

"The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

~Zephaniah 3:17

Kathy Douglas

President/Owner

Extreme Dreams, LLC

8203 Schaffer Ln.

Houston, TX 77070

Office - 281-890-5034

Fax - 281-469-0267

Cell - 713-398-7304

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

Check out my coaching journal at:

Friday, September 02, 2005

Work your plan...

"The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem."

~John Foster Dulles

"Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it."
~Colin Powell

"Define your business goals clearly so that others can see them as you do."
~George F. Burns

The recipe for personal success:
Find a need that beats your drum.
Create a plan, then make a dent.
Trust that your rewards will come.
And credit them as heaven sent.

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

--Thomas A. Edison

"Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential."

--John Maxwell

"Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it's holy ground. There's no greater investment."

--Stephen Covey

"The real opportunity for success lies within the person and not in the job ."

~Zig Ziglar

I am so excited!! I usually am! It is part of my nature. At times I don't allow it to come out...it is one of those things that some people make fun of me for.....and yet it is deeply who I am. So much excites me.....and one of those things is the business I have the privilege of being a part of.....and the privilege of working on. It is an extreme dream in reality. It has taken a tremendous amount of work this past year to develop a plan for this business....to successfully plan the direction that all the pieces, that have been worked on and created over these past 6 years, will go. It has taken a tremendous amount of sacrifice, emotional soul-searching and regrouping to withstand the "gates of hell" that desire to undermine the vision of this business.

We all must plan.....plan for the future..... in planning and then executing that plan, we can realize the success that we are meant to experience. However, there are tremendous barriers to successful planning.....and they are so powerfully illustrated in the disastrous events surrounding Katrina......and those disastrous events surrounding our everyday lives. The barriers are in many cases physical....water, TOO MUCH WATER, lack of necessities, lack of shelter, etc.......and some of those barriers are within ourselves....fear, anger, resentment, pain, bitterness, etc. The physical issues of the hurricane will eventually...albeit, not soon enough for those who are suffering......be resolved to some extent. The barriers that are within will be a greater challenge.

One of my favorite authors and speakers, John Maxwell, says that the barriers to successful planning are:

1.The Fear of Change

2. Ignorance

3. Uncertainty about the Future

4. Lack of Imagination

As I look at the choices that lie before myself and so many others.....I realize that I have been given an opportunity to choose....each of us can choose to tear down the barriers that prevent us from successfully planning our journey.

We can:

1. Change

2. Learn

3. Create a Plan

4. Imagine!

All of this takes a tremendous amount of hard work, honesty and integrity. It takes facing things that we have not faced about ourselves, our choices and our lives.....and then making the changes necessary to be open to learning, REALLY LEARNING.....and then we are free to create a plan........with a fully engaged imagination that sees the future that God desires to give us. With eyes of faith we can grow into the dreams that God has for us.....and enjoy a journey that only God can imagine for us!

"I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit--not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength-- that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. God can do anything, you know--far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us."

~Ephesians 3 16-21( The Message)

Kathy Douglas

President/Owner

Extreme Dreams, LLC

8203 Schaffer Ln.

Houston, TX 77070

Office - 281-890-5034

Fax - 281-469-0267

Cell - 713-398-7304

"Helping people enjoy the journey as much as the destination"

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