Enjoying the Journey as Much as the Destination

Affect & Effect in Existence.....

2007-02-19T06:50:00.000-08:00

"I suppose it is comfortable to think of an unchanging world, but change is fundamental to existence. The stability paradigm offered a false hope of a world devoid of major challenges. History sometimes reaches turning points, and we ignore them at our peril. The question then becomes whether we will seek to shape events or be shaped by them, to lead or to stand aside."

~James S. Robbins

"Existence is the very nature of God. It is the thing that truly characterizes God and not us. If we did not exist, if we were never created, He would still be. If He were not, nothing would be. We have our being, our most constant predicate, from the One who alone constantly is.

God has no beginning, no middle, no end. There is no difference whatsoever between God at one point and another, because God does not exist within time. God does not exist merely forever, because He exists before forever begins and after it ends. He exists in a realm where questions of time cannot even be brought up.

To make a long tangent short, the complete otherness and pure existence of God requires that He be above everything and unaffected by it all, which is very difficult to maintain without error. Yet therein we will find the stability we seek."
~Michael Anthony Abril

Affected - adj.

Acted upon, influenced, or changed.
Emotionally stirred or moved.
Infected or attacked, as by disease.

Effected - verb

To bring into existence.

To produce as a result.

To bring about.

How arrogant are we in this world, somehow thinking that we can "affect" the long-term direction and shape the outcomes of this world and the events of this world??? Or how desperate can we be to develop a picture of God that is disconnected and "unaffected" by the world He created when in reality He loves us so much that He invaded the space-time continuum to become a man and "effected" our rescue from death and destruction by offering His own Life in exchange for ours....who loved us in action and sacrifice so much, so that He came to win us back???

It has occurred to me on my travels this past month that the struggle to understand God's eternality and existence and His "otherness" has left this world in a sense of hopelessness and despair and a worldview that is characterized at its deepest level by the Postmodern perspective that there is no truth and all that is considered truth is relative. And that we have so detach God from this world, so "otherize" Him in our feeble attempts to clarify Who He is that we are losing the deeper essence of His character......Love. If existence is His very nature....then Love is that existence.

Our hopelessness in this age of Postmodern thought is steeped in this belief....that there is no God, and if there is, He is "unaffected" and therefore we are still on our own.....adrift on this planet created by a God who has better things to do in the Universe than be "affected" by us and our little problems.

We, however, are completely "affected" by this disease called sin.....it permeates our entire being and we have no cure in and of ourselves. No mantra, no exercise to get ourselves "centered" or course to help ourselves completely eradicates the reality of this disease. As all disease....its eradication requires the "affect" of an "uninfected" source to permeate the existence and "effect" the cleansing of the "affected" person, without becoming "infected" itself. Hence, God's character and existence outside of time and space left Him as the only solution for our freedom from this disease.

AND yet.....I find myself in response to this deep truth still seeking that cure in my daily relationships.... through the response of those around me, the actions and attitudes of those who I love and say they love me....or at least like me, and the recognition that I am important to them somehow coming from them in some sort of meaningful way. And this morning I once again sense the reality of God's feelings....that all He is asked of me is to respond to His great love for me, acknowledge Him throughout my day, recognize that He is important to me in some sort of meaningful way and be completely "affected" by Him who has been so "affected" by me.....hence experiencing the only cure for my disease.

Transformation is the "effect"....the journey I am on with Him is clear only to Him and I can rest in the truth that He is "affected" by me and at the same time the only Source that "effects" my transformation....that wholeness I seek, that security I struggle to gain, that surety that I am so lacking....that Love that is so available and yet so last on my list. It is such a scary thing to surrender ALL of it to an unseen and yet so powerful God, who I can't understand or even grasp the reality of His eternal existence.....without that very surrender. It is a fleeting experience....I have known it for only seconds at a time and can not conjure it up for the life of me on my own....and yet the reality of Him is more real than anything I can see in this every day life....and He brings peace beyond explanation when I fall into His arms.

This is the way God put it:

"They found grace out in the desert, these people who survived the killing.
Israel, out looking for a place to rest, met God out looking for them!"

God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will.
Expect love, love, and more love!

And so now I'll start over with you and build you up again, dear virgin Israel.
You'll resume your singing, grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.
You'll go back to your old work of planting vineyards on the Samaritan hillsides,
And sit back and enjoy the fruit oh, how you'll enjoy those harvests!
The time's coming when watchmen will call out from the hilltops of Ephraim:

'On your feet! Let's go to Zion, go to meet our God!'"
~Jeremiah 31:2-6 ( The Message )

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.com/
www.indieextreme.com
www.indieextrememusic.com
www.exdevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.com

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Everyone is where they are at for a reason.....

2007-02-13T05:59:00.000-08:00

"Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time."

~Mark Twain

"People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built."

~Eleanor Roosevelt

"Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open."

~Elmer G. Letterman

"People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix."

~Christina Baldwin

"It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not."

~James Gordon

It seems my life has been filled with observing people.....including myself......who are trying to figure out why they are where they are in their life. They usually want to be somewhere else, someplace else or someone else.....that goes for me too! Facing the fact that everyone is where they are at for a reason has been a very sobering observation for me as I have watched others and myself struggle with the life we live.

The greatest challenge in my own life is discovering WHY am I where I am at???? What is the reason that I am here, at this time, this place continuing to do what I am doing......do I REALLY want to change or am I what my Dad sometimes muses....someone who would "complain if they were hung with a new rope!!!" In other words, do I just LIKE to complain??? Do we all just LIKE to complain, has it become such a habit and integral part of our daily life that we can not stop and change????

Recognizing those areas of life where we sabotage our dreams is tough work. We must surround ourselves with people who will tell us the truth and follow through with the steps it will take to change our patterns of sabotage.....give up our long held strategies of destroying our dreams and surrender to the Goodness and Graciousness of God as He pours out blessing upon us.

As I stand on the edges of a dream that is becoming a reality.....my daily struggle is to examine my sabotage strategies and head them off at the pass!!! I am reminded of the truth I learned many years ago....that an eagle must throw himself off a precipice and spread his wings as he descends, looking for the wind currents that will lift him to the heights. That descent is instinctive and necessary for flight.....and the wind currents are the source of support and stability.....both essential to the journey.

As Moses went up to meet God, God called down to him from the mountain: "Speak to the House of Jacob, tell the People of Israel: 'You have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to me. If you will listen obediently to what I say and keep my covenant, out of all peoples you'll be my special treasure. The whole Earth is mine to choose from, but you're special: a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. This is what I want you to tell the People of Israel."
~Exodus 10:3-6

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

If nothing changes....nothing changes!

2007-02-10T15:11:00.000-08:00

"Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change."
~Jim Rohn

"We must accept through faith that the means to complete our tasks will appear. Then our plans, goals, and actions are aligned with our faith. Surrender brings the resolve to withstand life's stormiest tempests and truly make an enduring difference."
~Steve Brunkhorst

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
~Helen Keller

"Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together."
~Eugene Ionesco

I am back from a series of trips that have taken me to such varied and vaste places....both physically, mentally, and emotionally. I have been stretched and expanded in various directions....realizing as it was happening that the old saying is true...."once stretched, you can never go back"....or something like that!! I am realizing that this process is changing me, stretching me out beyond myself....to a place that I know nothing about and have no idea what it will look and feel like.

AND yet I am so ready for it....in a strange and wonderful way I feel I have been prepared for it throughout my life and that I have finally come to the place I am supposed to be. And since I am completely convinced that God is sovereign over ALL the affairs of "man", I am clear that it took all it has taken to get me to this place. All the pain, all the anquish, all the suffering and trials AND all the dreams, all the joy, all the miracles, all the inspiring experiences with friends, and family! All of my life makes up who I am and has prepared me to step into this new place.

What I know about myself is I love people. I love being with each one, learning and experiencing everything about and with them....getting to know their history, their stories of their lives....and really connecting with them on a level of relationship that transcends the everyday niceties of our modern culture. I occasionally get the privilege of going on a trip with the artists I work with.... my travels this past month included just such a trip.

We took off for Canada, a place I have not been....one of the few! Travelling with Matt Brouwer and Jackie Key to experience the beauty and the people of Matt's homeland.....meet industry folks and attend an awards ceremony Matt and Jackie were performing in. The awards ceremony was an experience in itself that I will not go into here! The beauty of the Canadian Rockies were unbelievably breathtaking....and Calgary was wonderful! But my favorite part of my entire time was the time I spent talking with Matt and Jackie as we drove around the city and through Alberta. I learned so much about each of them....and gained an incredibly new and powerful perspective of their hearts and their lives...and I think they learned a lot about each other also!! I realized that we all have this deep need within our souls to "know and be known" by others....and that we don't tend to take the time to listen and really hear the hearts of those people whose lives surround us. We find ourselves alone and lonely in a crowd of friends who, to some extent are strangers.....we have accepted a perspective that keeps us emotionally separated from the people that we spend so much of our lives with....

All this to say, that I sense this arrival at a place where, though it is a scary place at times, I am committing to the diffcult and sometimes treacheous challenge of going deeper with the people whose lives fill up my days...to learn of their hearts and their lives...to really know them and be known by them...far away from the stress and strain of our everyday "hustle and bustle " ....and to call each of them up to BE the person God has created and prepared them to be, as they go forward on their own journeys.

Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored His name.
~Malachi 3:16

kathyd@extreme-dreams.com

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Love your work....

2007-01-22T08:13:00.000-08:00

Are there times when you were having fun or sincerely helping someone or deeply appreciating an experience? Recall those times. How do they make you feel mentally, emotionally and physically? Do they add quality to your day?

~ Doc Childre and Sara Paddison

Time pressure starts to subside when we shift to the heart to find quality of mood and ease. It's our unmanaged emotions that turn time into an opponent and make life a rat race. Managing time with the heart is the ultimate time management tool.

~Doc Childre

People always make time to do the things they really want to do.

~Anon

Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life. You must never miss the opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you.

~ From "Cheers

Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.

~ M. Scott Peck

I realized as I came across these quotes that valuing our time and our relationships can have conflicting perspectives if we are not clear about who is the master of our lives. Our pastor spoke on one of my favorite set of verses yesterday and I was reminded that whether I like it or agree with it.... or don't, God is the master of the Universe....and my time is in His hands. And when I think about that....I am relieved!!! Thank goodness that it is not all left up to me!!!

Some people have looked at my life and wonder why I spend my days like I do....some think I work too much, some think I don't work enough, some think I don't spend my time on the "right" priorities, whatever those are.....and others wonder why I prioritize at all!!! Through the years I have come to realize that God is the only One who I need to look to in answer to how and where I spend my time.

Years ago I was in a class and the speaker said something so profound that this one sentence changed my life. He said, "Nothing in this world lasts except the Word of God and people, everything else will burn up." I made a decision that day to spend my life and my time on what lasts....loving God with all my heart, mind, soul and spirit and loving others as I love myself.

This choice has lead me to enjoy all my life....the people, the job, the experiences and the lessons. I remember years ago my husband, Jack, pointing out a truth to me....that I didn't really have a job, because I had too much fun doing what was my job!! AND he was right!!! I love what I do....it is more fun than fun! I love the people I work with ....they are the most amazing people on the planet!!! I love the artists I work with, they are such a gift in my life, they teach me so much about risking it all, about opening up to all the possibilities.

Tomorrow morning I head out with Matt Brouwer and Jackie Key to Canada...to attend the Shai Awards event in Edmonton,Alberta....I have never been there! I love to travel and see new sights and meet new people....I have enjoyed the excitement of seeing so much in my life and experiencing so many cultures and wonders in this world. The fact that my job allows me the opportunity to experience this new adventure with 2 incredible artists....well God, You have blessed me beyond belief AGAIN!

But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I've had a good look at what God has given us to dobusywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its timebut He's left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether He's coming or going. I've decided that there's nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That's iteat, drink, and make the most of your job. It's God's gift.
~Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 (The Message)

kathyd@extreme-dreams.com

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Dreams REALLY do come true....

2007-01-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

If you have a desire you cannot forsake, you have the first ingredient for achievement: a dream. Your dream is all you need to start with; it is a blueprint for the future.
~ Steve Brunkhorst

If and When were planted, but Nothing grew.
~anonymous

Life makes you walk that delicate balance between making it happen and letting it happen.
~Rick Beneteau

Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.
~Cherie Carter-Scott

Today marks the first day of a brand new year....and a year that I have been preparing for over the past 7 years. I have no real and concrete idea of what it will end up looking like as I look back at it this time next year. However, I have a deep sense that it will change my life and the lives of those I love in a powerful and wonderful way, much like 2006 has changed each of us and our lives in an incredible and unpredictable way!

For the past 4 years I have been envisioning and working on an idea that has truly been "a desire I can not forsake"....I have TRIED to forsake it so many times along the way. There was never a point when I could "make it happen"....I tried that one too! I just had to allow it to grow and expand and work its way into the realm of possibilities. I had learned from years of hanging out with dreamers and learning from one of the biggest dreamers of all time, Mary Kay....not to give up on this dream. And even if I had .....it was not going to give up on me. Hey....I tried that too!

Last year I surrendered to the reality that this dream was going to come into fruition and I was going to be an important part of it. Once I did, all the pieces started showing up! People began to show up who had dreamed of this for years! Had tried to even create it themselves....and had some piece of the puzzle that made the picture come together! It has been AMAZING to watch!!! I have this sense that I sort of know how Noah felt!! Building something I have no idea HOW it will work or WHY I am building it or WHAT will happen once I do or IF it will be of any use to anyone once it is ready!!! And in saying that, I am CERTAINLY not implying that what has happened can in any way be compared to Noah's Ark.....FAR FROM IT!!! Yet, here we are.....and each person has shown up seemingly out of nowhere.....to get on this boat and bring their part to the project...... and now we are ready to launch!!!

Who will become a part of this now that we are ready to receive??? I have no idea of that either!!! From what I have learned this year, the WHO will come just like everything and everyone else has.....they will show up and they will be looking for us and we will be ready to serve them!

You can visit the storefront of this dream at www.indieextreme.com .....and though it is still being expanded and developed.....it represents the work and vision of this team of incredible dreamers! Our board of Managers, Vinny Ribas, Jim Spivey, Jeffery Armstreet, Harvey Cooper and our financial consultant, Mark Hakemack have worked tirelessly to take this vision and birth it into this world! And our office team, Cindy Pool, Greg Thibodeaux, Zach Crosby, Marita O'Donnell, Carol Lockwood, and Lisa Schneider who has carried out the vision in the day-to-day working out of the details, tracking the results and preparing the systems that make the dream work. AND our attorneys, Carol Guess, Maria Speth and Michelle Hallsten who have directed us through the scary waters of preparation for all those legal issues that must be taken care of!!! And the two artists, Paige Stroman and Matt Brouwer, who believed that what we were envisioning would make a difference in their music careers, their lives and their futures. They took the risk with us and stepped out in a faith that believed that God was doing something....our thanks to both of you for your trust and belief!!!

This new company, Indie Extreme Label Management, LLC represents the work and the hearts of each of these incredible people. They are each a gift that God has sent to me in answer to my prayer in July of 2005....and God could not have answered that prayer in any more beautiful and powerful way than He did when He sent each one of them! The reality of the vision lies in our people....their hearts, their vision, their genius, their work ethic, their belief and their dedication to serve and support the independent artists and record labels who will come. We are people who love and believe in the power of music, the power that it has to communicate at a heart level and change lives. We are here to love and serve those souls who are called to create and give to the world their gift of music. God's Dream has really come true......and therefore, OUR dream has really come true!

Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet.
~Paul in a letter to the Ephesians 6:18

kathyd@extreme-dreams.com

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Doing the impossible.....

2006-11-10T01:09:00.000-08:00

God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible- what a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.

~A.W.Tozer

The block of granite which is an obstacle in the pathway of the weak becomes a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong

~ Unknown

Imagination continually frustrates tradition, that is its function.
~ John Pfeiffer

All you must do is accept all that is unacceptable to you.

~Cheri Huber

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

~Albert Einstein

Everything you can imagine is real.

~Picasso

I had an experience of "dejavu" yesterday while I sat beside a friend at our weekly gathering called Love Machine. I listened to him share is pain and I felt the same pain I had experienced myself. It washed over me....and then I was able to let it go. It was a wonderful experience to know that I completely "felt" his pain and could honestly tell him that...and yet I did not have to live in it anymore.

I realized this morning that this was an important experience for me and it was timed perfectly....just as yesterdays message was perfectly timed for me. I am being asked to lead an impossible journey and it is scary because of the pain that washed over me yesterday as I listened to my friend share is very real pain. I am not qualified to lead this journey and by all human standards I am the last person anyone would choose to lead such a venture. AND yet I was reminded yesterday that God has a way of picking the most UNPREDICTABLE people to be the vessel He chooses to work the impossible through.....I guess that is why His working looks like a miracle...when in His reality it is just everyday stuff!!!

God can do anything, you knowfar 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.
~Paul in a letter to the Ephesians 3:20 ( The Message )

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.extremedreamsevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Working by faith....

2006-10-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

When they arrived at Capernaum, the tax men came to Peter and asked, "Does your teacher pay taxes?" Peter said, "Of course." But as soon as they were in the house, Jesus confronted him. "Simon, what do you think? When a king levies taxes, who payshis children or his subjects?" He answered, "His subjects." Jesus said, "Then the children get off free, right? But so we don't upset them needlessly, go down to the lake, cast a hook, and pull in the first fish that bites. Open its mouth and you'll find a coin. Take it and give it to the tax men. It will be enough for both of us."
~Matthew 17:24-27 (The Message)

True creativity quite simply starts with balancing your emotions and activating the power of the heart. Through practicing emotional management from the heart, you tap into the highest form of creativity possible--recreating your perceptions of reality.
~Doc Childre

Every era has a currency that buys souls. In some the currency is pride, in others it is hope, in still others it is a holy cause. There are of course times when hard cash will buy souls, and the remarkable thing is that such times are marked by civility, tolerance, and the smooth working of everyday life.
~Eric Hoffer

Our lives can become cluttered by many things. Some are obvious, such as material things, the stuff we collect. I really wish I were able to give a lesson on how to prioritize the material things-how to sort them, dispose of some, and put the rest in order-but I'm not qualified... But how well I know that we can surround ourselves with the material things to the extent that we have no time for the spiritual. Look around and you will see all the gadgets and toys and the nice and the fun things that cause us to squander and pay and to wander and play.

~ William R. Bradford

Running a business is a balancing act of the heart. Things can become clouded by the bottom line of financial expediency so very easily and I can forget that the Creator of the Universe lives in me and He is and will always be enough to provide for me and my business.

I tend to put issues and ideas into nice little boxes and categories and then make decisions based on how I have sorted and filed them from my past experiences and training. God has been spending an large chunk of time in my life breaking open those neat little boxes and splattering the contents all around me. All the while asking me to look at the sense that the chaos is truly making.

I haven't written this journal in a while, mainly because I didn't feel I had much to say. Then this morning I have this story of Jesus and Peter wandering around in my heart and head.....and I am "seeing" how easily I have fallen into Peter's perspective and just looked at the "reality" of life rather than the "eternity" of life. Then I realized that Jesus sent Peter BACK to what he had been called to LEAVE and abandon as a vocation and means of providing the "cash" of life in order to pay a fee that he could not pay....by the way, not only for himself, but for Jesus also!!!! Peter went back to "fish" for the money to pay the tax. But he was told very specifically to just catch the one fish and the need would be provided through that one fish.

I then realized how often I place the activity I have left behind to follow God as the thing I am no longer to do than the essence of what that activity had become for me. Peter trusted in fishing for his life's sustenance. He was again and again shown that the activity of fishing was not a "why".....the point nor the problem .....just a "how" choice to be surrendered into God's hands to use as He wants to.....and He seems to just love blowing our minds with crazy provisions like finding our tax money in the mouth of a fish!!

I want to live in the miraculous.....and yet how often do I demand that the miraculous fits into one of those neat little boxes or categories that I have "figured" out. God seems to be reminding me of late that the "how" is really not an issue.....He is completely capable of providing abundantly in ways I can NOT even begin to imagine. I have watched this happen over the past month is various areas of my life and business. AND I am learning that the training that I have and continue to go through is part of what God has prepared me to lead others through. How fun is that?????

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

~Paul in a letter to the Ephesians 3:20-21

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.extremedreamsevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

The loss of a friend....

2006-10-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.

~ George Eliot

In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends.

~John Churton Collins

A friend is someone who can sing you the song of your heart when you've forgotten it.

~ Unknown

When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it.

~Edgar Watson Howe

Care is the ingredient that keeps true friendships alive despite separation, distance, or time. Care gives latitude to another person and gets you past the dislikes and annoyances. Quite simply, caring sustains love.

~Sara Paddison

On Monday evening, one of my dear and best friends died. Toni Fitzgerald has been an important part of my life for over 18 years. I first met her as a consultant in Mary Kay. My girls can even remember the day we went to her "open house" to celebrate her winning her first Mary Kay VIP car! Sara and Sydney were just little girls....maybe 3 years old....and they remember Keith and Toni taking care of getting cake and setting them a little table to eat at. I guess that was the day I simply fell in love with Keith and Toni. They loved and cared for my children and that was all it took for me to see their great heart.

Through the years Toni became a Sales Director and we shared meetings, training seminars, and so many laughs and conversations. I remember the first time she admitted to me that I intimidated her! I was so shocked to hear that I intimidated anyone much less HER.....and she laughed and said she completely understood cause when she got to know me, she couldn't imagine being intimidated by me either!! We became fast friends from that day forward.

Toni was the one who was there for me when the challenges of starting Extreme Dreams was in its infancy. I would have trashed the whole thing many times had it not been for her constant and firm belief in God's dream....and my part in it. The most powerful gift she gave me was a word from God that He gave her in the shower in May of 1999....to understand the difference between Hope and Expectation. I spent a full day focusing on what God had to say in the Bible....and it changed everything. Toni has been a part of this Extreme Dream from the beginning.....and will ALWAYS be a part of it.

Toni and her husband moved to Oklahoma shortly after that....and we remained close through phone calls and visits....she left me with one of my favorite CDs as a parting gift...."Touched by an Angel". I listen to it so often....and think of her every time for she was God's angel in my life. Now she is singing with those very angels in His Presence. It was in Oklahoma that the cancer returned to Toni's body.....in 1999. And it was my turn to hold her up and encourage her. She fought a valiant fight....and we would share our battles and encourage one another......I will miss her beautiful and strong voice.

Toni is no longer here physically to talk to, to write to, or to see......I miss her.....and will until the day I see her again. I hope that each of you have a friend like Toni......whose presence is so powerful in your life that it will always be there even when they are not.

Don't leave your friends or your parents' friends and run home to your family when things get rough; Better a nearby friend than a distant family.

~Proverbs 27:10 (The Message)

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.exdevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

The heart of the matter.....

2006-09-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

The universities, then, directly and indirectly, dominate the world; their influence is so pervasive and total that whatever problem afflicts them is bound to have far-reaching repercussions throughout the entire fabric of Western civilization.

~Dr. Charles Malik

The True Measure of Greatness

A young student once asked his old teacher, "Teacher, what is the true measure of greatness?" The teacher looked far away into the mountains and gave the following reply:

"Some measure greatness in height and weight, but great people are never so tall as when they stoop to talk to a child or bend their knees to help a hurting friend.

Some measure greatness in physical strength, but great people are never so strong as when they shoulder the burden of the downtrodden stranger.

Some measure greatness in terms of financial gain, but those who show generosity to their family and friends, they are the ones who are truly rich.

Some measure greatness in applause and accolades, but those who seek opportunity to serve in the quiet places of the world, theirs is the higher reward.

Some measure greatness in commitment to achieving in material ways, but those who spur others on to reach their goals is great indeed.

Great people have vision and do not keep the truth to themselves. Great people have passion for life and are not ashamed to show it. Great people expect the best from others and give the best of themselves. Great people know how to work and how to play, how to laugh and how to cry, how to give and how to receive, how to love and how to be loved. There are many people who are by the world called great, but those who bear honor in their hearts, who can, in the evening hours, lie upon their beds and peacefully close their eyes, knowing that they have done all that is within their power to live their lives fully and fruitfully, those are truly great people."
~ Randall S. Weeks

If you win the whole world and lose the mind of the world, you will soon discover you have not won the world. Indeed, it may turn out that you have actually lost the world.....Responsible Christians face two tasks - that of saving the soul and that of saving the mind.
~Dr. Charles Malik

It is so hard to really know that the direction you have chosen to go in your life is the best choice....the choice that you were meant to go....and that will be the choice you will look back on your life and realize was what you were created to be. We get all mixed up with what our parents want for us, our friends and family want for us and even what our culture wants from us.

This past weekend I received a newsletter from some friends that Jack and I have known for 33 years. They have surrendered their lives to true greatness....and that has not always looked like what the world would call greatness. When we first met them we were in college and they were committed to caring and loving college students. I, for one needed a LOT of that as I was so lonely and depressed in my college experience. I was lost in the masses of the University of Texas and felt friendless and hopeless. The friendship and love that Jack and Diane Parker shared with me was a lifeline of hope that began to pull me out of the pain of that sea of despair I was in. Through the years I have watched them leave their homes and country to go and love others around the world. They have just returned from living in Eastern Europe for the past 25 some odd years, loving college students in Hungary who are much like I was....back to a college campus here in the US, where they can love another group of people....university professors!

Jack and Diane are truly great people.....they have exhibited a commitment to greatness all the years I have known them. They have been role models to my life without ever saying or teaching anything to me beyond the choices that they consistently make. They have 4 children who are now grown and are making strong and great choices for their lives. I am so looking forward to seeing them more often than the one day every 4-5 years we usually get to be with them....and getting to know them again on a deeper level. Welcome home, Jack and Diane!!!!!!

As I listen to my own daughters and their experience at college....I am reminded of the many other young lives that are being shaped by that same experience. Their minds and their hearts are being shaped.....yes, that "thinking brain in the heart" is being challenged and questioned in every area of life. Small incremental decisions are being made, in both the mind and the heart, that will affect not only their own lives but the world. What a perfect place to be....

Within minutes they were bickering over who of them would end up the greatest. But Jesus intervened: "Kings like to throw their weight around and people in authority like to give themselves fancy titles. It's not going to be that way with you. Let the senior among you become like the junior; let the leader act the part of the servant.

~Jesus in Luke 22:24-26 ( The Message)

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.exdevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

The thoughts and ways of the heart....

2006-09-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

Today, see if you can stretch your heart and expand your love so that it touches not only those to whom you can give it easily, but also those who need it so much.
~Daphine Rose Kingma

You have heard that it was said, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy." But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
~Jesus in Matthew 5:43-44

Wealth and want equally harden the human heart.

Theodore Parker

All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast. Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil. Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.

~Proverbs 15:15-17

When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the word of God, because you will have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness, and your own duty.

~Woodrow Wilson

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty.

~ Jeremiah 15:16

There is lots of talk these days about the heart, it's the "new thing" in the human research and personal growth arenas.....and yet, God has been talking about the heart....both man's and God's heart for thousands of years! Now there is an entire website and non-profit research organization centered around the "brain in our heart"!!!! http://www.heartmath.org/ Actually I stumbled across this site last year looking for quotes to use in this journal. This past March I learned more about some of the amazing research that this organization has done concerning the physiological aspects of the heart and the "thinking" connection it has to our brains!

We all seem to recognize on some level that our hearts are truly part of our emotional thinking process, but for most of my life, I was taught that it was a figurative word used to signify the seat of our emotions. And yet, as I look through a LONG list of references to the heart in the Bible http://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=heart&qs_version=31 I am amazed at the number of references to God's heart....and man's heart from a position of decision making, speaking and thought. And it occurs to me that the scientific research of the past 20 years has only proven what the Word of God has been revealing to us for these many long centuries, the TRUTH of God's wisdom, creation and our own likeness to Him as He created us in His image.

Taking the pure research information provided by the Heartmath Institute...... independent of the references and applications to evolution or religion or the various worldview perspectives of the writers and researchers.....we can begin to recognize the reality of the God's clear and straightforward motivation in communicating to us through the writers of the Bible......that we are "intricately and wonderfully made" and we can not ignore our hearts or our thoughts or our souls or our spirits.....they are each real, and integrally connected whether or not we BELIEVE it! Our belief or disbelief does not change the facts, nor make it true or untrue. Science has once again proven what the Bible has said for thousands of years.

As I talk with people, I find that so many seem to be ignorant of the encouragement that God gives us in the Bible to do the same things that the Heartmath Institute is teaching people to do......choose to think and act in a compassionate, loving and caring manner.....and don't get consistently and overly angry, anxious and worried.....because our hearts tell our brains what to think, feel and act based on the consistent and regular state of our choices to think in either manner.....which are most of the times directed by the past experiences and memories that we have stored up in the brain cells of our hearts!!http://www.heartmath.org/research/our-heart-brain.html

Because of some of these very real past experiences and memories, many have come to a perspective that God is a heavy handed "rule maker", ready to slap our hands every time we get out of some arbitrary line and ultimately send us to eternal torture if we mess up one too many times.....and how many of those mess ups constitutes "one too many" is up for EXTREME debate....leaving everyone in a foggy fear of unknowable failure and seemingly unfair retribution......rather than experiencing the loving and graciously merciful forgiving God revealed in the Old and New Covenants. Removing God from the picture all together or at least relegating Him to an impersonal force in the universe that can be manipulated through various disciplines, seems to provide some short-term sense of relief from this impending fear - based perspective in people who hold this perspective. Personally, I think that most of us have had this perspective at least at some point on our lives.....or.like myself, fall into it by subconsciously forgetting the truth that God has done everything possible and even "impossible" in order to demonstrate His great love for us and desire for us to know Him and love Him.....even telling us throughout the ages and demonstrating it through the very personal death and resurrection of Jesus....calling to our hearts to surrender to His great love for us.

And I begin to wonder why I am just now finding these scientific truths out....and how I can look at applying them to my own life in ways that bring me closer in my personal relationship with God and in my relationships with others. To follow the only "rules" that Jesus told us God has laid out for us.....to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and spirit and to love our neighbor as ourselves......and the only ones that bring us true joy on this journey.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

~Proverbs 4:23

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.exdevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

In the middle....

2006-08-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

"Everything that is done in the world is done by hope"

~Martin Luther

When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.

~G. K. Chesterton

Worship helps people see God in the midst of their troubled lives.

~Paul Anderson

We make a living by what we get out of life, but we make a life by what we give.

We are never more like God than when we give."

~Charles R. Swindoll

A man's spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God.

~ C.S. Lewis

Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.

~G. K. Chesterton

This has been an amazing weekend of music, family and friends.....and the most incredible experience with a group of 1200 PLUS worshipers.....and God Himself in the midst of it all. I have thought that I could share it but each time I have tried to explain what I experienced....I am clear that it has fallen WAY short of the reality of the experience.....and yet I am driven to get this out.

It is like that time when I first realized that God was real.....and that He was aware of me.....and was seeking me. Yeah, that is what it was like....the wonder, the awe, the healing beauty of it all. He wrapped it all up again in the events and experiences of the last 48 hours. Almost as a reminder and a foretaste of things to come.

This music business is filled with surprises....each concert is a gift waiting to be opened with all of it's own surprises packaged inside. This one was no different.....and yet it was the most incredibly unique experience I have ever had. It started out quite normally.....getting to the venue, setting up, preparing, checking the sounds.....making sure all of the logistics were in place and prepared for whatever was ahead. Then the surprises started.....

We had thought we would be eating dinner in the cafeteria....and we were surprised by the gift of dinner out....so we enjoyed a wonderful meal as a team.....sharing, laughing, getting to know one another, bonding.....it is my favorite part of the preparation. The time when everyone just shows up as themselves....not as musicians, not as professionals, not as anything but the wonderful person that they are......and we all get to enjoy one another.

We arrived back to the concert hall to a theater filled with excitement, an electric atmosphere.....the young people were gathering.....and they were EXCITED...to say the least! Then the singing started....and what singing it was....I have never, and I MEAN NEVER heard or experienced singing like that....so beautiful, SO LOUD.....every voice singing out with all that they had in them.....hands lifted in unison up to touch the face of God. And the most amazing part of it was that He was clearly there to be touched....and He was loving every moment of it!

All of this was preparation.....I look back on it now and realize that God was inviting all of us into His presence....into the love affair.....it was a taste of heaven....right there in Cullen Performance Hall. Zach and I knew we were watching and witnessing something very special....and went back stage to prepare the band somehow, someway for what we recognized was occurring. They were already aware....and preparing themselves.

I have been in a lot of concerts.....in the audience, backstage, in the back watching the event.....from every angle expect as a musician.....and in ALL of these experiences.....I have never experienced what I did last Saturday night. I went to ever angle I could.....to see what was happening and experience it fully. And from every vantage point I was enthralled. Not by the concert itself.....or the musicians.....but by the audience!

The concert only seemed to be God's next loving gesture in a night of well orchestrated romance, to woo His lovers into His arms......His lovers in the audience and His lovers on the stage. And He was in the space between them.....receiving it all and giving it all.....uniting all in the Oneness of Himself.

It was hard to not get totally lost in the experience of this great love affair happening before my eyes....the audience was giving and receiving.....the band seemed overwhelmed and amazed by the power of the love that was flowing towards them...and their response was powerful in return.....giving back their gift of music, song and stories from a grateful heart....broken and aware of their own inadequacies.....clear about the reality that what was happening was beyond them.....they were simply invited to participate in the experience.

I kept wishing it would never end.....and then I knew in my heart that there would come a day.....when this would never end. When we would not unplug the amps and turn the lights off .....and go back to our quiet lives. Instead, God would have His dream come true.....we would know Him completely....touch His face and experience the love that we can only glimpse in experiences like the one on Saturday night.....for all eternity.

Afterwards...I became even clearer that all of our inadequacies are part of God's plan.....God doesn't need our proficiencies or our talent and great skills.....He wants us just as we are.... with our messes and our brokenness....to come and experience all that He is. It is then and only then that we realize that He is enough. He is all we need, He is all we really want. He IS the journey.....enjoying Him forever.

"I looked again. I heard a company of Angels around the Throne, the Animals, and the Eldersten thousand times ten thousand their number, thousand after thousand after thousand in full song:

   The slain Lamb is worthy!
   Take the power, the wealth, the wisdom, the strength!
   Take the honor, the glory, the blessing!

Then I heard every creature in Heaven and earth, in underworld and sea, join in, all voices in all places, singing:

   To the One on the Throne! To the Lamb!
   The blessing, the honor, the glory, the strength,
   For age after age after age.

The Four Animals called out, "Oh, Yes!" The Elders fell to their knees and worshiped."

~John experiencing heaven in Revelations 5:11-14

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.extremedreamsevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Three Generations......

2006-08-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

" For only as we ourselves, as adults, actually move and have our being in the state of love, can we be appropriate models and guides for our children. What we are teaches the child far more than what we say, so we must be what we want our children to become."

~ Joseph Chilton Pearce

"As adults, we must ask more of our children than they know how to ask of themselves. What can we do to foster their open-hearted hopefulness, engage their need to collaborate, be an incentive to utilize their natural competency and compassion...show them ways they can connect, reach out, weave themselves into the web of relationships that is called community."

~ Dawna Markova

"I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it."

~ Harry S Truman

"Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said."
~Anonymous

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang up my first painting on the refrigerator, and I wanted to paint another one.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a stray cat, and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my favorite cake for me, and I knew that little things are special things.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I heard you say a prayer, and I believed there is a God I could always talk to.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I felt you kiss me goodnight, and I felt loved.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I LOOKED....and wanted to say thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.

~Connie Back

Today my girls, Amy, Sara and Sydney, and I go with my mom to celebrate her birthday.....it is not today....it was Tuesday. And yet today is the perfect day to celebrate as we will all be together....three generations of women...celebrating the one who went before us.

My mom has done a wonderful job of passing along the legacy of the prior generations of our family to me.....and my hope is that in my own self-centeredness that I will not drop the ball and their legacy will be lost for the future generations of women in our family. I grew up hearing all the amazing stories of my mom's family....how the Bratton family had walked from Pennsylvania, after the Revolutionary War, to Ohio to receive the payment for their father's service in the war....land.

Then I heard about....and have even gone to see....the little church in Independence, TX where Kate Hudson and Sam Houston's wife used to sing their duets for the congregation and teach in the very first buildings of Baylor University. The stories I grew up hearing about the women who went before me inspired me then....and ring strong in my heart even now....they were courageous and strong women....and their legacy runs true through my veins and the hearts of my daughters.

My mom has loved each of us with a depth of love and care that I rarely see in lives around me.....and yet I am so aware that each mom loves her children beyond words. I grew up being told daily how much I was loved.....and I remember even saying that she "had" to love me....cause she was stuck with me. Isn't it weird how we never seem to appreciate what we have....the ole "grass is always greener on the other side" syndrome???? I didn't feel loved by others outside our family....so I made up the story that I wasn't really LOVABLE by anyone.....and yet love surrounded me throughout my childhood and to this day.

Receiving that love has been a powerful and beautiful result of becoming a mother myself.....understanding the truth that I was loved by my mom in ways that no one else on earth could express in words....not because she had to....out of obligation or even my own "belief" that she was "stuck" with me....but out of a complete and total amazement of the person that I am.

Mom's have the hardest job of all.....their hearts are joined by invisible satin ribbons to the hearts of their children. The children don't see the ribbons.....but the mom's forever see and feel them pulling and toughing on their hearts. My mom, Charlotte Faye Wylie.....has shown me again and again how to see and feel those ribbons with a powerful and forgiving love that accepts the truth that our children don't belong to us.....they are simply a gift that we are given by God, to oversee on behalf of our Father who created all of us.....until that time when He decides they must step out in faith and walk with Him.

People come and go in my life......and I have loved and been loved by many of them.....some haven't loved me at all....and some have simply not taken the time to even find out if they do or don't. I have learned through all of it that my mom and my dad know me better than most and love me in the midst of all that they know of me with a love that goes beyond words or actions....it is a love that only parents know in their hearts for their children.

So today I say thank you, Mom.....and to the mom's in our family that went before us.....for passing down through your daughters the love that we experience today.....you have trained us, loved us and prepared us to be wonderful wives and mothers.......and now through your counseling service, you pass that on to so many others.....you are amazing!

"Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives."

~Paul in a letter to Titus 2:1-6

The difference a year can make......

2006-07-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

Come to me now And lay Your hands over me Will You find me tonight Say it will be alright And I will believe  Broken in two I know Youre on to me That I only come home When Im so all alone But I do believe  That not everything is gonna be the way 
You think it ought to be  It seems like every time I try and make it right It all comes down on me Please say honestly You wont give up on me And I shall believe  Open the door And show me Your face tonight I know its true No one heals me like You And You hold the key  Never again will I turn away from You Im so heavy tonight But Your love is alright And I do believe

~Sheryl Crowe

If you ever get a second chance in life for something, you've got to go all the way.

~Lance Armstrong

If you're going through hell, keep going.

~Winston Churchill

Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth- that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too.

~W.H. Murray, The Story of Everest

One year ago.....so much has happened and so much has changed.....and I am getting clearer about the reality of how life goes for me. I am beginning to accept that change is a constant that God has and will continue to work again and again into my life...whether I like it or not. Sometimes I wish He would just give up on me.....because going through the pain of change is so very hard and then on the other side I am so grateful that He has not given up on me! I have reaped the rewards through the years of allowing Him to change me....OK....actually it is more like finally giving in to His plan to change me.....to transform me into His image.

Things are WAY different than the way I thought they would be. One year ago I was ready to throw in the towel and accept defeat. I couldn't see how anything could work out....everything seemed to be falling apart...and as Sheryl Crowe so beautifully wrote...." coming down on me"......I was at my lowest point I had ever been, I felt abandoned and rejected, used and abused, not only by those around me but by God Himself.

As I look back over this year, I realize He never abandoned me, He never rejected me, He wasn't using or abusing me, He had a plan all along.....and it was all for a good work He was doing in me.....His Dream for me and for those He has called and trained me to support and help in their music careers, was moving forward in ways I knew nothing about....and couldn't have imagined in a million years.

I made a decision at this time last year to hang on....to commit to the vision that God had placed in my heart years prior....even if I was the only one who wanted to keep going....I made the decision to give it all of me. I took what I had....and began praying for God's direction and guidance.....and He gave it freely. None of it was easy...and things didn't get better, actually they seemed in many ways to get worse. And yet I could not give up....no matter how hard I tried to convince God of why I was not cut out for this and how incapable I was of what He was asking me to do.....He just would not accept my attempts to bail on this dream.

In the midst of all of it....when I was so scared that it would all come down on me once more....God stepped in again to encourage me. My partner, Jeffery, asked me to have lunch with him and a friend of his who was a contemporary Christian artist, Matt Brouwer. I had gone to the lunch appointment with no expectation of anything but a nice meal and to listen. I walked away with the information that he had a hit single on Christian radio and a CD. My first step was to listen to the hit song and see what I thought. I cried all the way back to my office as I listened to the lyrics written by Sheryl Crowe and the voice of Matt Brouwer. I felt God reached down and heard Him speak right then and there to the pain I had been going through for over 4 years, that had culminated in the complete and utter brokenness and defeat I had felt last July....and I felt His presence and His voice saying to me then and even now " I have not and never will give up on My Dream for you!"

Even if getting that song to me was all that God had planned for that meeting.....it would have been more than enough!!!!!! It was the beginning of the healing process for me...the point at which I can look back and realize that God reached through all of my pain and fear......to begin unlocking the doors to where He is taking His Dream. The song continues to reach through and touch my heart in ways that I could never explain in words......and I am grateful to Sheryl for bearing her soul and to Matt for taking a song that meant so much to him and sharing it with all of us.

As I sit here today....one year later. I can hardly take in all the incredible things that God has done this year. Dreams really do come true.....and this dream that God has, well..... it is really happening. It still is really hard....and it still doesn't always turn out like I thought it would. I am holding all of it with an open hand....and trusting that He will shape and mold everything to His plan.....and it will be more beautiful than anything I could ever dream or imagine.

Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

~Paul in Philippians 1:6

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.extremedreamsevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Releasing our pain to love....

2006-06-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

But a somewhat more liberal and sympathetic examination of mankind will convince us that the cross is even older than the gibbet, that voluntary suffering was before and independent of compulsory; and in short that in most important matters a man has always been free to ruin himself if he chose.

~G.K. Chesterton

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

~Helen Keller

You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: make use of suffering.

~Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the first suffering, how we can turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers.

~Leigh Hunt

The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt.

~Thomas Merton

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Hanging on....that is what I am really good at. Sometimes it is a good thing....and it is called persistence, endurance and perseverance. Then there is the side of it that is NOT a good thing.....and it is called nagging, pestering, wallowing, pity-party, resentment, bitterness and unforgiveness. And it can all come from the same circumstances.....things that are painful and cause great suffering in my life and the lives of those I love.

I don't know why it is I can't let go. When it is one of those "good things" that people want from me....like the persistent belief I have in someone's dream, or the endurance I have to work through a problem to the solution or even the perseverance I have to see something through to the other side.....then I am applauded and thanked for this quality. But when it shows up as a negative...and I can't let go of the pain that I am feeling....and the baggage that inevitably comes it with....everyone disappears and leaves me alone with the pain and sense of loss.

I tried for years to just "suck it up" and be cheery in spite of it all.....looking for the good in all of it....so that others wouldn't abandon me in my pain and leave me all alone. But that didn't work....for some reason it just showed up in other ways that confused people and made me mad.....and then I was mad about EVERYTHING...big things, little things, whatever! I tried "letting it go" and that didn't work either.....it was like a boomerang that kept coming back at the most inopportune times....whacking me in the head and knocking me for a loop! I tried staying away from pain and that didn't work either.....it moved into my house and took over all of life. I tried talking about it.....and actually that did help! I found that there were other people who were going through things similar to mine and I found some solace in commiserating with others.....and we would have HUGE pity parties and we all suffered together and got mad together and at least I wasn't alone. But in the end, I knew that this was not the answer either.....it was just a way of not being alone in the suffering and pain.

I have learned over the past several years that the most beautiful place to take my pain and suffering is into the presence of God.....and lay it at His feet and allow Him to pour out on me the grace and mercy and love that allows me to leave the pain and the suffering with Him.....and allow Him to replace it and fill me with forgiveness, love and joy. Talking about it still helps....but it is a different kind of talking that comes from a place of surrender to God's grace and love.

I have watched and listened and encouraged a young artist over the past several weeks as he has walked through a painful part of his life.....the death of his sister. And as he heads out today to be with his family and say his good-byes and honor her life at the funeral...I am so clear that he has learned so many of the difficult lessons on pain and suffering and he has helped me to process my own in a new way as I have listened and watched him walk through this with such honesty and grace. He has shared with me a lot of what God has done in the life of his sister as she has been preparing for this day....the growth of her faith and her ever increasing surrender to love and the power of forgiveness, the pouring out of God's Word to those around her in love for them, her selfless focus on ministering to her friends and family. Her life and death has been a powerful witness to him and from him to me and so many others. God has used her walk with Him through this to work in the lives of people across the world...for the healing of many lives. She stands right now in His presence, surrounded by so many of her loved ones who have gone before her, rejoicing in the light of His deep and eternal love for her. There is no doubt that he and his family will miss her beyond comprehension....but he would never take away from her the beauty and joy that she is now experiencing. Her journey here has ended....a new one has begun, one more amazing that we can ever imagine. From all that I have heard about her....I wish that I had had the privilege of meeting and knowing her. And yet in a small way, I feel I do...and when I arrive at heaven's gate...she will be one of the first I look for to say "Thank you" to.....for her life has blessed mine so beautifully.

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."

~Psalms 116:15

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.extremedreamsevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Dreams coming true....

2006-06-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

"The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen."

~Frank Lloyd Wright

"In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true."

~John Lilly

"Remember that what you believe will depend very much on what you are."

~Noah Porter

"Unless you believe, you will not understand."

~St Augustine

"To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act."

~Anatole France

"Whatever God's dream about man may be, it seems certain it cannot come true unless man cooperates."

~Stella Terrill Mann

"If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory."

~William Hazlitt

Step by step the dreams I have held in my heart for Extreme Dreams are coming into shape......one by one, each of them are forming and coming out of the foggy chaos of my dreams. When God placed on my heart the acorn of a dream 7 years ago, it would have blown me away to see all that is coming into being had I had the full picture of what God had in mind. Today, I have grown and walked in the training that was required to see the fruition of that first vision.

I have this wrinkled piece of paper that was taken from a "Million Dollar Banquet" when I was in Mary Kay....it was part of the program and we each had it on our plate to remind us of why we were there. It struck me so deeply then that I folded it up and put it in my evening bag......and stored it away. When Cindy and I were moving into the office last fall, I found it in the files.......it was a beautiful reminder to me....and it is now tacked to the bulletin board in the office to remind us every day of the truth.

If its in your mind, it is a Dream.

If it's on paper, it is a Goal

If you have a Plan and act on it massively ....it will become REAL.

I have no idea who wrote this.....but it is what I am experiencing today in the dream of Extreme Dreams.

There are tremendous obstacles in the way of this dream....have been all along. Last summer I almost gave up....but God reminded me that it was NOT my dream to give up......it was HIS Dream.....and if I gave up, He would find another. So I chose to trust that He was capable of accomplishing His Dream....even through me.

I am quite aware....and when I forget, there are plenty of people around me whose THRILL in life is to remind me.....that I am totally INCAPABLE of accomplishing this dream. There are far more of those people than the ones who hold me up and encourage me on the road. I have made a conscious decision to surround myself with those few who believe in this dream.....who hold me relentlessly accountable to the truth of my calling and to the plan and the goals of the vision. If I get too confident on my own abilities, God has an interesting way of tugging on my chains and reminding me that I can do nothing except IN HIM. Last week it was a fever that wiped me out for DAYS......and I am still taking antibiotics for!!!!!! And yet the clarity that came as a result of being sick all week has been uncanny! Not that I recommend it!! But the reality is that I have come back to the Dream with greater vigor and commitment!!!!!

I have been asked to speak at "Vision to Succeed" Women's Empowerment Conference coming up this weekend, sponsored by Stand Magazine. It has been YEARS since I have been a speaker at such a conference and at first I was a bit fearful that I had nothing to say or at least, nothing worth sharing.....but I took it on faith that God was once again bringing into fruition part of the dream....and accepted the engagement. As I worked on my outlines to send in for the attendees notebooks, I read through the past journals I have written over this last year.....and there it was....the entire class. I smiled at God and realizing that He had been working on this for a year.....preparing what He wanted me to share with His precious daughters so that when he time came.....it was already done....I would have no excuse. I have this feeling there are some other classes He has been preparing in these journals!

So many other parts of this dream are coming into clear view.....things that a year ago I could not even have imagined. Each horizon that we cross has brought forth new possibilities....and I have learned once again to hold each part of the vision with an open hand as God shapes and molds it into the Dream that He has for me and Extreme Dreams.

"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned outplans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for."

~ Jehovah in Jeremiah 29:11

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.extremedreamsevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Independently Dependent.....

2006-05-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last."

~Sir Winston Churchill

"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."

~Sir Winston Churchill

"The conception of two people living together for twenty-five years without having a cross word suggests a lack of spirit only to be admired in sheep."

~Alan Patrick Herbert

"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life."

~Rita Rudner

"A great marriage is not when the 'perfect couple' comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences."

~Dave Meurer

"Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might have found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to."

~J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973), Letter to Michael Tolkien, March 1941

Last Sunday my husband, Jack, and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary...and it has been 30 years of growth, excitement, conflict, annoyances, mistakes, regrets, forgiveness, anger, fear, patience, IMpatience, appeasement, passivity, laughter, FUN, travel, pain, ignorance, wisdom, love, stuggle and great joy.

Jack and I are VERY different.....anyone who knows us gets that immediately. In our initial marraige counselling by the pastor who married us....we were asked if we REALIZED how very different we were and were we prepared for the challenges of life together. We were 21.....we were clueless, arrogant and quite sure we knew better than he did that "love would conquer all"! What he did not realize is that we were more than "in love"....we were committed to one another.....we actually needed to be who we are for one another.....we knew it then and we are still very aware of it to this day.

As I look back on these 30 years....I realize that what the pastor foresaw was the difficulties that a highly emotional and strongly opinionated, blunt, fun-loving, spirited woman married to a quiet, calm, reserved, analytical, homebody-type, peace-loving man would create some interesting challenges for the future. He was not far off base! We have had a wild roller-coaster ride these 30 years!!!

We are the balance for one another.....like two weights on a fulcrum.....balancing life for one another. Our extremes of personality provide the needed "equal but opposite reaction" that maintains stability in our lives. Jack has been for me the safe place from which I can "jump off the cliff" and fly..... he isn't going anywhere....he will always be there.....watching and giving me the needed input I require as I spread my wings and take on the challenges that I seek out and take on. It use to scare him....probably still does.....but he has supported me in my ventures and my growth as a person, even when he didn't necessarily agree with my methods and plan. Many times I needed his disagreement to actually create the energy to move forward...like a rocket needs the earth to remain solid and in place as it takes off with the force of the engines firing against gravity to shoot into the air and out into space.......to take on the challenge to prove to myself and to others that I could accomplish my dreams....to become fully "independently dependent".

Certainly there were days, even months, when I wanted to choke him in his sleep......and I am quite sure he has had thoughts of wanting to push me off that cliff and be done with the insanity of life with me! The thoughts of living in prison for the rest of my life for murder was a big deterent, at least for me....and the mood usually passed as we talked things out. AND we have had it out with each other..... man, have we had it out with each other!!!!!! And not spoken to each other for extended periods of time......we have both thought the other was crazy or aweful or whatever.....and then have come back around to accepting the truth that we are just very different and that the differences are what make our marraige great.

The greatest compliment Jack has ever given me through all of it was a couple of months ago...when in the midst of a heated discussion....he told me that he appreciated that he ALWAYS knew where he stood with me. That felt so good...it felt so respectful of who I am....it honored me in ways that I can't even explain. And to come from him meant more than a thousand accolades from anywhere else.

More than anything, I love my relationship with Jack.....it is honest, faithful, clear, loving and independently dependent. I can count on Jack. We choose to be together because we want to be together. Neither of us "needs" the other....and yet we are our best when we are together. We call each other up to a higher level of integrity, love and challenge. My mom once told me that we were a "matched pair"......and I agree. In all these years I have not wanted anyone but him.....never even considered wanting anyone but him.....it is just not who I am.

Life is about to change again for us....our twin daughters are graduating from high school on Saturday....and going off to college in August. With Amy already married and on her own.....we will be back to just Jack and I.....back full circle to where we began. The next 30 years will be interesting.....and I am quite sure filled with growth, excitement, conflict, annoyances, mistakes, regrets, forgiveness, anger, fear, patience, IMpatience, appeasement, passivity, laughter, FUN, travel, pain, ignorance, wisdom, love, stuggle and great joy. AND I would not trade life with Jack for anything out there!

"Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."

~Ruth 1:16-17 ( the verse that we selected to be on our wedding invitation 30 years ago)

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.extremedreamsevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Savoring the dreams for my children....

2006-05-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

"True creativity quite simply starts with balancing your emotions and activating the power of the heart. Through practicing emotional management from the heart, you tap into the highest form of creativity possible--recreating your perceptions of reality."

~Doc Childre

"Love does not only transform our mental/emotional nature, it also involves the physical system of our body which goes through profound changes as well."

~David McArthur

"To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to."

~ Kahlil Gibran

"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart ... Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."

~Carl Jung

"Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the gratefully and appreciating heart."

~ Henry Clay

"One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter."

~James Earl Jones

Last night I sat at dinner with my three beautiful daughters and my son-in-law. It was one of those times when I could not express in words what was in my heart. I was so overwhelmed in that moment.....so proud, so relieved, so encouraged and so loved.....and soooooooo much more. It was our "Mother's Day " dinner to be together....as well as to honor Sara and Sydney's accomplishments as they finish up their High School years.

Four years ago, Amy was graduating.....and it was a time of celebration for her sticking through VERY tough times and challenges.....and MAKING it to graduation. It was an incredible achievement in the face of circumstances that were overwhelming and seemingly impossible. She showed an extreme level of commitment and strength as she walked across that stage.....and we all breathed a sigh of relief! Her life has taken turns that no one could have foreseen and she has battled through as a true warrior and become a powerful woman. As I sat next to her last night....I reveled in the joy of the woman she has become. There had been days that I would hold onto the dream of her life.....what I knew in my heart that she wanted and desired....a husband, a family and friends who love and honor her, and a job coaching gymnastics where she can grow and flourish. She is creating that life, and I am so thankful and grateful for the opportunity to see her life begin to blossom.

Four years ago, Sara and Sydney sat at Amy's graduation and dreamed of theirs. Sydney wanted to have all of those achievements around her neck that she saw on the top students. She set her sights on graduating in the top 10% of her class .....she is in the top 8%! She has received many honors that will be hanging on her graduation gown on May 27th....she has achieved what she dreamed about those many years ago. Sara also dreamed of many of those honors and she will also wear the National Honor Society shawl and other designations of her achievements. Her goal has been to play tennis in college, and that she will...on a scholarship that she worked hard to receive. Last night I watched my daughters cross the stage at the Senior Awards night at their High School as they were recognized for the scholarships for their academic achievements, their athletic scholarships in tennis and soccer, and the music scholarship that Sydney has received. It was a great joy to watch them cross the stage they had dreamed of four years ago....and receive the awards they had set their sights on and worked diligently to earn.

The most beautiful part of the evening was the discussion we had at dinner. It was a great joy to hear my girls tell me that they were very clear about the truth that enjoying their lives while achieving their dreams was the greatest reward. They shared that many of the top achievers last night were unhappy and stressed and their lives were a mess....and as they have watched their friends OVER-work and OVER-achieve.....they made decisions not to let their goals become their god....but to simply do the best they could and enjoy the rewards of their achievements. Hearing those wise words from their young hearts gave my heart such a level of peace and comfort as I reflect on the future.....their heading off to a far away college in North Carolina.....knowing that they are so prepared for success in life.

It was one of the best Mother's Days of my 22 years as a mother. There have been 22 of these days for me.....some have been great fun, others unbelievably painful......all have brought me and my children to this one.....the best one! The journey was what it was and I have been fully present to all of it.....and the beauty of what has become real as a result of all of it is breathtakingly beautiful. I am so enjoying this leg of the journey....and have this sense that the fun has only JUST begun!!!!!

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."

~ John in 3 John verse 4

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.extremedreamsevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Traveling through the storms of life....

2006-05-01T08:05:00.000-07:00

"One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half."

~Winston Churchill

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."

~Miriam Beard

In our lives there is bound to come some pain, surely as there are storms and falling rain; just believe that the one who holds the storms will bring the sun.

~Anonymous

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

~Robert Frost - The Road not Taken

It seems we have had a lot of storms here in Texas lately. Texas storms can quickly become what my dad calls "toad stranglers".....must be a west Texas thing! These storms can be dangerous and yet beautiful....and they usually come when the land desperately needs the rain.

One of my favorite parts of my business is the opportunity I get to travel. Having moved so much in my life, there is a sort of comfort I get from traveling....almost like it is the norm for me....it is where I find myself most able to focus on what God is doing and saying to me in my life.....almost EVERY great conversation I have had with God has been in a car!!!

Every once in a while I get to travel with one of the artists I work with, which gives me the opportunity to get to know them better.....to learn about their lives, to talk about the things that matter most to them, to hear their heart....to see and observe them as they really are. The road seems to do that for people.....the long drive gives plenty of open space to meander through conversations....and get past the everyday niceties that cloud our daily exchanges.

I had one of these opportunities a couple of weeks ago with the newest artist on our roster, Matt Brouwer. We packed a lot into the conversations in that drive up to Dallas because I was intending to stay in town with my brother and visit with some friends the next day.....while the band returned back to Houston after the show. Everything went better than planned when we got to Dallas.....we even got to hook up with an important radio programmer who we were concerned we would be unable to catch! Then we arrived at the site for the concert....and it was pouring down rain! The college students who had planned the event did not cover the stage and it was finally decided that the rain won.....the bands were unable to perform. Everyone was disappointed.....and it was very early to have to give up....but things were getting worse, not better. These things happen in the music business and it is best just to cut the losses and go home. In the meantime, I found out that the friends I had planned to hook up with the next day had to go out of town.....and I found myself feeling that there was so much work to do back in Houston that I needed to go home too. It was early and the drive would get me back at a relatively early evening.....I THOUGHT!

In making that decision, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.....but God in His infinite wisdom knew....and He prompted Matt to ask if I would like for him to ride back with me. I had originally looked forward to a good long time alone in the car with a good long conversation with God......but immediately I sensed that this was a great offer, so I gladly accepted the company.

The road home was nothing less than treacherous!!! A storm, that later I learned had tornadoes in it!!!!!!!....was sweeping through Central Texas. A drive that took us 3 1/2 hours to come up to Dallas took us 5 hours to return. It was a journey that God has used to teach me so much as I look back on it.

We had a choice to make at every mile.....to enjoy the show or allow fear to overwhelm us. We ended up swapping stories about the incredible storms - rain and snow - that we had experienced in our lives. It wasn't a conscious decision....it was one that came as a result of the peaceful knowing that in the past, we had each gone through these things and we had been OK.....and sharing the stories seemed to be God's way of reminding me that He was and always has been there with me, in the midst of the storm....and if my traveling companions are calm and trusting, they are able to support me in the challenges along the road that would otherwise have washed me away.

At one point, the storm was so bad that we had to get off the road and get under the shelter of a gas station overhang. The wind was so powerful that the rain was horizontal.....and impossible to see through! We were able to call the other car and check on them....and they were having quite a time themselves! Thoughts of finding a restaurant and hanging out until the storm passed ran through my mind....but quickly I saw that the rain was coming down vertically and sensed that it was time to continue moving forward. Soon we outran the storm and breathed a sigh of relief as we finished the journey on drier roads.

What occurred to me the next morning as I listened to the thunder and watched the lightening light up the morning sky at home....was that the storm had followed us to Houston. If we had decided to wait out the storm and let it pass somewhere along I-45....we would have simply gotten behind it and had to go through it ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!!! It was far better simply to continue on....and get to the other side of the storm. No matter how difficult the circumstances of our lives, I was reminded in that storm that God's provision for our well-being is always available. I was so glad to have Matt along with me, his calm demeanor, his sense of awe and wonder at the beauty of the lightening and the grandeur of the power of the storm helped me through, he was God's provision for me to help me focus on God in the storm rather than my fear....I am quite sure that though I would have made it home that night had I been alone.....I would have been scared out of my mind!!!!!

How many times in life has God provided for me someone to walk or ride through the storms of my life??? How many times have I chosen to accept that gift and how many times have I thought in my arrogance "I don't need anyone's help...I can do this alone!" I am incredibly independent and confident in my own abilities to handle life.....and I can fall easily into the hole of thinking that I don't need other people, it is my wound usually talking and my fear of being hurt by others that causes me to strike out on my own....but Matt has reminded me so many times that we are made for community......and we need one another. Thank you, Matt for the continual reminder.....and the gift of your company as I drove home through that storm. I learned so much from you that day.....and look forward to all the lessons God has to teach me as we enjoy this journey that God seems to have us on!!!!

"Then the LORD will appear over them; His arrow will flash like lightning. The Sovereign LORD will sound the trumpet; He will march in the storms of the south, and the LORD Almighty will shield them."

~Zechariah 9:14-15a

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
www.extremedreamsevents.com

kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Change is the constant....

2006-04-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

"Innovation is not the product of logical thought, although the result is tied to logical structure."

~Albert Einstein

"Do not innovate to compete, innovate to change the rules of the game."

~David O. Adeife

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

~Winston Churchill

"Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless."

~Thomas Edison

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."

~Thomas Edison

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and

we reach it."

~Michelangelo

Ahhhhh.....another painter/sculptor......a genius who was criticized for his innovation and style. I remember the first time I saw one of his paintings. I was 12 years old and I was standing in the back of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, complaining, like any good preadolescent, about having to see ONE MORE "old church" ....and how much my feet hurt! Yes..my feet hurt, hey it was 1966 and we were ALL dressed up and walking all over Rome on tour after tour....cramming every possible site imaginable into TWO days! I was looking at all the painting and distracted by the travel guide who was telling us the story about how Michelangelo painted the GIGANTIC fresco at the front of the chapel depicting Heaven and Hell.....and the constant badgering he received from critics inside and out of the church. He pointed out to us how Michelangelo let his painting speak for him.....he painted his worst critic on the far right hand bottom corner of Hell. Hmmmm.....innovative! I had some people in my life at the time that I wanted to paint in the far right hand bottom corner of Hell!!!!!!

It is easy to aim low.....and reach it. Critics are those who's aim is to keep themselves and all around them aiming low....it was the perfect poetic spot for the critic! Change, innovation, growth, imagination.....these are the birth places of creation. And God....being who He is.....is ALWAYS creating.....He has not changed who He is and never will. SO change is a constant....and yet we resist it with every fiber of our being. It scares us.....it hurts....it is dangerous....it is out of our control.

Change is happening in and around my life.....my oldest daughter, Amy is now married, her sisters, Sara and Sydney are graduating from High School....and tomorrow they sign their letters of intent to accept athletic scholarships to Brevard College in North Carolina. This August they move far away from home.....and it will be back to just Jack and I.....and a huge change will occur. A very QUIET HOUSE!!!!

Extreme Dreams is changing daily.....and the excitement and innovation that is coming to the forefront in the office and in the lives of our team and our artists is almost overwhelming!!!!! Genius is showing up all over the place and I am quite aware that it is not from this corner of the office....it is the creativity and powerful innovation of God working within the confines of our humanness to love each other and those He has placed in our lives to care for. I have been here before.....and it is an exciting journey to watch God put on His show!

"I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world."

~Jesus in John 16:33

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Walking in circles.....

2006-04-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

"Nothing is easy to the unwilling."
~Thomas Fuller

"The shape of our lives is defined by our insertion into institutions and systems whose interlocking power generates the "virtual reality" we experience. Such 'knowledge' is so thoroughly a part of our worldview that it simply would not occur to most people to question it. Yet underneath this reality is another, subinstitutional reality in which very different responses are simply acted out. This is the reality in which everyone, until very recently, lived."

~David Schwartz

"Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth- that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too."

~ W.H. Murray, The Story of Everest

"We want the facts to fit the preconceptions. When they don't, it is easier to ignore the facts than to change the preconceptions."

~ Jessay West

"If you are still being hurt by an event that happened to you at twelve, it is the thought that is hurting you now."

~ James Hillman

There is a simple profoundness in this last quote....stuff happens.....and we can accept that reality, hate what happened, recognize that it hurt, and let go of the thought that KEEPS HURTING US! And yet....we hang on to it for some strange reason....thinking that thinking about it is going to somehow change what happened! I have found in my life that all this process has done is water the root of bitterness until I have a healthy growing anger and a strong stalk of entitlement spreading throughout the garden of my heart. The root killer that must be applied to this weed in my heart is the herbicide of forgiveness.....complete and full forgiveness.....the kind that gives up the "thinking" and "analyzing" of the situation.....so that it can live only in the past and no longer keep hurting me here in the present.

The biggest hurdle I usually have to get over in these situations is myself....and getting OVER MYSELF is a pretty big hurdle!!!! Until I do that I find that though I feel like I am moving forward.....I have found I am usually just walking in circles. It is just an appearance of moving forward.....that seems to get me right back to where I started....with no resolution to the issues that got me there! It is not until I recognize that I am on this circular track that I can choose to jump the fence and head out in a new direction...the direction of my dreams...and truly change, truly surrender myself to God's dream for me......a dream that is bigger than what I want....a dream that He has had for me from the foundations of the earth.....a dream of walking with Him into all of the excitement and thrill of knowing and loving Him. Now THAT's what I am DREAMING OF and learning to enjoy on every leg of this journey.

"So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace--a new life in a new land! That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country. If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection."

~Paul in a letter to the Romans 6:1-8

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

It is all in the timing......

2006-04-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

"Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience; wait it out. It's all about timing."

~ Stacey Charter

"Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits."

"Hell, there are no rules here-- we're trying to accomplish something."

"I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun."

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

~Thomas Edison

I have had so much fun this past month!!! And I can look at all of it and see that it has all fallen into place because of TIMING....I am ready to receive ALL of it and it has arrived! I have been preparing and planning and getting READY for it.....and now that it is here....it is soooooooo much fun!

I believe that life is too short to be doing something that is NOT FUN! There are SQUILLIONS of things to do with your life.....and to choose one that is not what you LOVE to do....is insanity! My entire life has been about choosing what I love to do and having fun doing it!

NOW....do I always love it??? No! There is work involved that is tiresome and difficult and sometimes even painful.....and I do get weary. HOWEVER....I have found that when my attitude is one of choosing to enjoy this journey....I find ways to make the road a fun one! It has made all the difference.....and I have had incredible moments in my life that have been filled with joy unspeakable because of this mindset.

Dreams are the children of our hearts desire.....and as we nurture them to maturity, keeping the fun, awe and wonder resident within each new discovery.....we can receive each experience with the full realm of emotions and feeling....knowing that there are no rules.....and there are VERY few TRUE emergencies.....and life is what it is, so we might as well enjoy every itsy, bitsy piece of it.

I sat in my seat at the Nashville Star live show last night and I realized that I was surrounded by 2 women who I love dearly....Lisa Schneider and Stephanie Urbina Jones......our lives have been woven together in a beautiful tapestry of work and play. It was a perfect setting....and as I watched the contestants perform....I was reminded that God's purpose for each was to give all that they had and trust Him with the results. I have done this in most of my own career....and it has been a WILD ride.....and yet God's timing is perfect. I come home from the leg of this part of the journey with new perspective and new friends that I have connected with....people who 2 years ago I would have never dreamed of meeting and discussing doing business together. Surrounded by these 2 precious women....loved by them and feeling so honored by their choice to love me.....I realize that the journey has been SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."

~Jesus in John 15:10-11

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

True Happiness.....

2006-04-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

"Authentic happiness is true joy that lives within the soul. It is not a reaction to material possessions or events. It is a deep inner appreciative joy that follows us in spite of circumstances."

~Steve Brunkhorst

"Love does not only transform our mental/emotional nature, it also involves the physical system of our body which goes through profound changes as well."
~ David McArthur, The Intelligent Heart

"One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter."

~ James Earl Jones

"The heart is the first feature of working minds."
~Frank Lloyd Wright

It has been a while since I have written....and yet the days have been so full and I find myself unable to set aside enough time to really download ALL that is happening in my life and heart. I am learning so much as what seems the speed of light!!!!

Today I sit in my hotel room in Nashville. I have had such a relaxing and yet full weekend.....meeting with people who are and will be important parts of the future of Extreme Dreams. It has been a time to rest, seemingly for the first time in a month.....and yet I realize that my days are quite full. Then I remember that rest is more an attitude of the heart than a physical state. And it brings everything into such beautiful clarity.....that abiding is all there is to do.

Last week I sat in a hotel room in Los Angeles....where I had been the Sunday before also! I realized today that I have not been to church in 3 weeks and I miss it! AND yet at the same time I realize that God has me on a journey that requires that I spend my entire time in His Presence......for I can not do any of this myself....Abiding is REQUIRED!

At the conference in LA, I learned an amazing thing....that when we are developing as a tiny baby...we have millions of connectors in our developing brain. As they are stimulated and used....the patterns are reinforced.....and those that are not eventually disappear. BUT WAIT....what happens to the brain material??? WELL....come to find out it travels down and settles around our hearts......and are we mature this process continues.

So when we "think" from our heart.....we REALLY are using "thinking" to do this!!!!!!! What also became apparent as the studies revealed more insights, was that as we continue to mature we are able to connect our heart and our head.....and our soul directs the thinking. They found that this usually happens later in life....like the 50 - 60 year old range! God calls that WISDOM! What blew me away is that God told us all of this THOUSANDS of years ago.....and now science is confirming all that God has already told us in the Old Testament! I just LOVE that when He does that!!!!

So here I am walking in a new understanding of HOW God has worked to give me a NEW HEART....a heart to KNOW Him....through the miracle of His Spirit abiding in me....His Spirit guiding the "thinking" of my head and my heart, rather than the fleshly soul of my own experience. What an incredible journey we are on together....and what a GREAT and AWESOME Companion He is to me!!!!

"I will talk to the Father, and he'll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you."

~John 14:16 (The Message)

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

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The Integrated Life.....

2006-03-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

"Unlearning"

has anybody ever gotten down

from this picture perfect high back to solid ground

and lived to tell what they had seen from there

how everything looks different from way up in the air

we're going deeper if we dare

we're flying higher to anywhere

has anybody ever gotten down

to the depths below the surface to see what can be found

among the broken lives and honestly

well can you find a place there for me

can you take these empty handed dreams

and turn them into purer things

can you make me better than I am

of all the stories we've ever been told

deconstructing lines from a century ago

of those words which ones are really true

well, i have got a question or two

going deeper if we try

flying higher tonight

if all i knew was make believe i'm reaching out for you

to save me now

can you save me now

will all these scenes run into one and tell of all that's

yet to come

oh what have we become, what have we become

~matt brouwer, "Unlearning" CD

Last weekend I watched two different movies.....and both had the same story....but with very different endings.....and yet not so different. Both were true stories...which are my favorite kind of stories.....and both were quite bloody....which are NOT my favorite kinds of stories. Both were about the struggle of people to be free....free from hatred, free from tyranny, free from power for power's sake......and the most amazing part of both movies that became apparent to me as I pondered the truth within each, is that so much of our struggle for freedom starts with our own release from the love of power and the love of money. As Matt's song states....unlearning.

Two years ago I began a journey with my dear friend, Debbie. Our quest was to grasp the reality of what it means to live a life of authenticity, integrity and love. To really live honestly....to be who we really are and be that person in every situation, every environment and every relationship. To stand when we need to stand and surrender when we need to surrender. To understand what it means to love God, others and ourselves. To learn what it means to live from the inside - out. To accept people for who they are and love them exactly for who they are and where they are....without strings attached or expectations of change. AND to accept ourselves for who we are, coming face to face with our own inadequacies, insecurities and failures as well as our loveliness and beauty.....and love ourselves for exactly who we are, knowing that we are loved completely and perfectly by the One who knows us better than we can even imagine! The result of that journey was a 9 week study we did for a group of women that summer.

The journey has not ended.....it continues on. As I moved from my "home" office into our new offices, I found some materials from a workshop I had developed about 15 years ago. That material was the foundational material for all that has brought me to this leg of the journey. I had forgotten about it....and actually thought, at one point, I had thrown it away! The truths that lie within that material are vital to the truths that Debbie and I found in our study.

This past Tuesday another dear friend, Sofia.....brought me a surprise gift. I absolutely LOVE gifts....and I LOVE surprises! SO as a result I felt incredibly loved and cared for by my sweet friend....and by my God. She shared with me that she had heard me wish for something.....and when she was out one day she saw the thing I had wished for....and knew she was supposed to get it for me. It was a beautiful Russian Nesting Doll.....with a rose painted in her clasped hands. What a reminder to me that God has a plan for the study that Debbie and I had developed. The doll was a "visual" of the concept of abiding.....living an integrated life.

This week, as I have walked through an amazing series of events.....I have pondered the movies I saw for the first time last weekend...."The Last Samurai" and "Braveheart".......and the gift of the Russian Nesting Doll....and this incredible song from Matt. I am now clear that the time has come to go forward and begin a newsletter that I have had on my heart for over a year....and have slowly surrendered to over the past few months. It started with this coaching journal....and surrendering to the idea of sharing the insights and lessons I have been learning throughout my life. What I am clear on now is that many others are on the same journey....and their insights and experiences are both important and valuable to all that are choosing to live the Integrated Life.

So watch your email box for the first edition VERY SOON!!!! It will have articles from artists, speakers, writers and friends. AND I will be sharing the material that I found in my files as well as insights from the study "The Integrated Life" that Debbie and I found along our journey. I encourage you to send me any insights that you have found, or stories of your struggles, challenges and victories in living an Integrated Life. We are all somewhere along the path.....we are all in desperate need of encouragement and strength. We are all a community of people....called to love one another as we love ourselves and to love our God with all that we are and have. I am so thankful that you are on this journey with me.....thank you!

"I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere Him."

~Ecclesiastes 3:14

In pursuit of our passion....

2006-02-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

"Courage is, with love, the greatest gift. We are, each of us, defeated many times, but if we accept defeat with cheerfulness, and learn from it, and try another way, then we will find fulfillment."

~Rosanne Ambrose-Brown

"Confidence and courage build great dreams. Fear, however, shatters the hopes of those who spend much of their lives trapped in a zone of comfort. It fills the unaware with regret over a past they cannot change. They envision great objectives, yet fear holds them back from action."

~Steve Brunkhorst

"I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism."

~Charles Schwab

"We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves. The consciousness of wrongdoing makes us irritable, and our heart in its cunning quarrels with what is outside it, in order that it may deafen the clamour within."

~Henri Amiel

"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do!"

~Walter Bagehot

"Trust your instincts. Your mistakes might as well be your own instead of someone else's."

~Billy Wilder

"Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling."

~Vincent Van Gogh

The last quote here seems to sum all of it up for me....Van Gogh sold very few of his paintings......and yet he is considered a genius and his paintings now sell for millions!! His paintings, drawings and various pieces hang in museums across the world....he is studied at every university of one of the most passionate and innovative artists ever to live. AND YET.....in his time he struggled not only with his finances but with his mental health.

To spend my life doing what I know I was put on this earth to do with passion and intensity......WOW.....it takes commitment and vision.....courage and confidence.....most of all, it takes love and surrender. Surrender to the truth of myself and God's love for me. Surrender to who I am when I am alone with myself and God......surrendering to the unbelievable love He has and continually demonstrates to me. What a life!

Lately, I have been admonished by people who know me well, and people who hardly know me at all.....to trust my instincts. As I look back on my life, the times I did NOT trust and follow my instincts were times that proved, in the long run, that my instincts would have been the beneficial choice of action! Whether it is "women's intuition" or "The Holy Spirit" or just plain old good common sense.....whatever that "oomph" in my heart and soul that either I follow or go against.....is not something to be discounted.

Today Jack and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch with Amy and Ryan.....hearing that Amy has stepped out and followed her heart's desire to be a gymnastics coach.....hearing that she is having the time of her life coaching kids who are just beginning their experiences! Yesterday she coached her girls through a small recreational meet....and she was beaming with excitement as she shared her experiences. Gymnastics has always been her passion....to watch her step into a profession where she lives her passion has given me great joy! Ryan also lit up when he shared that he had taken a part time job as a mobile DJ....doing what he has always dreamed of doing.....DJ-ing as a profession!! It was so exciting to see our children pursuing their dreams!!!!!

This past week, Sara and Sydney made decisions to pursue their passions also.....at Brevard College in North Carolina....together! Each will play the sports they love to play for the school, be involved in ministry, and pursue degrees in fields that excite them! They are following their instincts about this life and making choices to live in pursuit of their heart's passion.....which thankfully includes the decision to spend the next 4 years rooming together!

I have learned that trusting my heart has lead me to where I am......enjoying the journey of my life with "such passion and such intensity that it has become spiritual in calling"

So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision--you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it.

~Paul in a letter to the Philippians 3:15-16 (The Message )

Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.net/
kathyd@extreme-dreams.net

"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"

Visit my coaching journal at:

http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/

Giving up or giving Up.....

2006-02-23T06:25:00.000-08:00

"The opposite of courage is not fear. It is conformity.The most exhausting and frustrating thing in life is to live it trying to be someone else."

~ John Mason

"The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position."

~ Leo Buscaglia

The past 8 years of my life have been a journey towards complete surrender to who I really am.....giving up the struggle to be who others want or need me to be....and giving Up to the truth of who I am. Giving up is not all bad. It depends on what we are giving up or if we are just giving up completely.

This past summer marked the end of my struggle to not give Up and finally surrender....recognizing that surrender is the beginning of release. I learned that releasing is not quitting ....but instead it is giving Up to God what I can not do and surrendering to His Ways.....which are higher and far superior than mine. It is the beginning of RECEIVING.....true peace and joy.

It has been 8 years of releasing areas of security and relationships that I depended on. And in these 8 years, I have learned that the only One I can depend on has been there all along....teaching, training, loving and leading me to this place. I have also learned that I am not the only one who is going through this.....or who the lesson is for....but that I am to share my journey with others who are some where along the path....so they can be encouraged and will continue on through the pain and struggle.

"Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters--yes, even one's own self! -can't be my disciple. Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple.......Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple.......Salt is excellent. But if the salt goes flat, it's useless, good for nothing. Are you listening to this? Really listening?"

~ Jesus in Luke 14:25-25

So for me this has looked like....

Releasing the security of the 401K that I had built up for years to pay the debt that I had incurred from the very first attempts that I had made to produce 6 concert events.
Releasing my secure Mary Kay business that I had built for 20 years!
Releasing my support system of all my Mary Kay friends and associates!
Releasing my anger, hurt and disappointment as my family life disintegrated
Releasing my expectations of what the Christian life should look like and bring to my life
Releasing my small dreams of the life I thought I would have....
Releasing my pride as I continue to walk in the world of the music industry where I still know so little of how to do or how to be what I am....
Releasing my clients and their dreams up to their own keeping....and embracing my own dream!
Releasing my business partners up to God, who is my only true business partner.

Seven years ago last October, I answered the request of God to build. It costs to build...it costs dearly!!!!....and God has provided all that has been needed....and will continue to provide all that is needed to build what He wants built. My only responsibility in all of it is to continue to release ( give Up ) any and all that pulls me away from completely following Him. When my security and well-being relys on anything beyond my relationship with Him.....I can be quite sure I will be asked to release it.....and the sooner I do.....the sooner I have begun to experience the peace and joy that I long for. I am learning daily that He and I are in this together....and Who better could I want to have in all the world than YOU, Lord!

"You can't force these things. They only come about through my Spirit,' says GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies."

~ Zechariah 4:6