The Life Maze

By Cindy LaVigne

Sometimes we just get stuck in life and don't know how to move forward. The Life Maze provides critical tools for you to live a happy and fulfilling life including: Rebuilding your confidence through positive practice phrases: Understanding your uniqueness with self-assessment exercises; Learning how to interact with others using the step-by-step guid and Successfully navigating life to become the person you always wanted to be!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cindy LaVigne
• Release date: Aug 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781732293304

Cindy LaVigne

Cindy L. LaVigne is a unique, imperfect soul with special gifts--just like you! She is a certified life coach, Jikiden Reiki practitioner, Empath and Herbalist. Life's too short to be unhappy, unsure, or unfulfilled. Since 2014, Cindy has helped her clients break through the obstacles that seem to be holding them back in life. Cindy loves writing motivational non-fiction and fantasy fiction; and finds inspiration while getting her hands dirty in her moon garden.

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book would never have been completed if not for these amazing people:

My awesome husband, Chris, who believed in me even when I didn’t.

Markie G. who offered his expertise, sarcasm, whiskey and friendship.

Big B who inspired me to soar during our long walks.

Andrea who taught me the secret to having a Plan A through Z!

The Firm for lighting the fire under my butt.

Cheryl Weir and Associates for the use of their Needs & Values document.

Our furry kids Barney, Paddy, Dugan, Rachel and Emma; and their unconditional loe.

1 INTRODUCTION

We are intrigued by mazes. From Halloween country corn mazes to the ancient and well-known Hampton Court Maze found in England, we have a fascination for solving their puzzles. Who can forget the scary finale of The Shining as Jack chases his son, Danny, through the massive topiary maze during a snowstorm? Jack never made it out.

Merriam-Webster defines a maze as a confusing intricate network of passages. These pathways are wrought with dead-ends and open spaces. They can lead to a sense of confusion and frustration.

Just like life.

The Life Maze is not easy to navigate. We enter the maze as unique individuals; and are transformed by the positive and negative influences as we grow. By the age of six we have already formed our self-esteem whether it be for good or for bad. As we grow, angry and hateful words can weaken us physically, mentally and spiritually. Our shoulders carry the weight of stress that bombards us from all angles making it almost impossible to maintain a positive mindset.

The hedgerows in The Life Maze display inviting lush doorways or thorny forbidding openings. But, which is the right choice? Oftentimes, the overgrown bramble path leads to unique, beautiful opportunities waiting to be discovered. Sometimes, the clean-cut entryways are facades for treacherous travels ahead.

Our lives are built on the results of our choices. Good or bad, our decisions form the foundation for our existence and for our growth. Growth is key to surviving The Life Maze. It doesn’t matter if the outcome is bad or good, what matters is what did you learn? What will you do different next time?

How will you survive The Life Maze?

2 ENTERING THE LIFE MAZE

Birth of a Unique Imperfect Soul

Prince began his song, Let’s Go Crazy with Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called ‘life’.

There are no guides or phone apps for understanding life. Maybe going a little crazy is good sometimes. At my first birthday, I removed the huge candle on my birthday cake and gazed into the gaping hole. I then smeared icing all over myself. To this day, I love a good food fight!

We are truly unique when we are born. From our skin to our eyes and everything in between we represent a rare individual unlike anybody else. We dropped onto earth to begin a new journey. Now what happens?

Good question.

The answer depends on you, and ONLY you. This statement will be a common theme throughout the book. If you’re looking for a quick fix, stop reading. If you think others are responsible for your situation, stop right here.

You come into this world with unique gifts and it’s your decision on whether you use them. The world is harsh and we’ve all had our share of crap thrown at us. But, are you going to stand there reeking of feces or will you clean yourself off and move on?

The choice is always yours!

I was sexually molested at the age of 8 by a family friend. Wham...that’s some shit thrown at me. It would have been so easy to blame my parents, but I never did. It certainly would have made sense for me to blame myself, but I never did. Hard as it was, I moved on and continued to search for the good in the world. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but I was practicing the Law of Attraction, which I’ll speak more of in Chapter 3.

Achieving Imperfection in a Perfect Way

Perfection is defined as the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects.

We feel the pressure to achieve perfection in every aspect of our life. Even as a child, our performance was measured. How were your grades? Did you win the game? Social media floods us with likes and comments, including some unsavory remarks placed by trolls. And, this barrage of opinions chips away on our self-esteem.

Working adults fear making mistakes at work. I know that pain. I was chastised for omitting a period on an important presentation. Everything else was fine, but that period threw my manager into a rage because she felt it made her look foolish in the face of her own manager. Can you feel my manager’s stress in trying to achieve perfection with her own boss? Downhill stress gets bigger and bigger as the tiny snowball at the top slams into you at the bottom as if it was a huge frozen boulder.

We are born unique individuals. If everyone is different, then how can you measure perfection, and by whose standards? You can’t! Perfection simply does not exist. The best you can do is achieve imperfection in a perfect way. I hope I just blew your mind.

And, I’ll one up it.

I’m a self-proclaimed perfectionist, correction, I used to be. Everything had its place and had to be done on time. Woe to those who interfered with the plan! I would get angry and emotional, sometimes taking it out on others, mostly directing it inward and berating myself. Perfection is a fictional bitch!

Understand this now. You will NEVER make the ideal choice. So, don’t waste the energy dithering about what you should do. You will simply make a decision based on the information you have at the time. There will be an outcome. Sometimes it will work for you, other times it will fail. It’s how you embrace that failure that will successfully propel you through The Life Maze. Standing on the wall of adversity offers you a brilliant view of all the possibilities.

I’ll talk more about hurdles and opportunities within The Life Maze in Chapter 3.

Your Personal Power

Managing your imperfect life takes strength. Each child is born with his or her special gifts. You may be wondering about your own gifts. These are not super human abilities or an endowment of riches, although these could result from applying your gifts.

It is widely believed that all babies are born with ESP (extra-sensory perception), yet not all parents encourage their children to strengthen their sixth sense. Imagine if everyone flexed their gift of telepathy (read other people's thoughts), clairvoyance (see events or objects happening elsewhere), precognition (see into the future), retrocognition (see into the distant past), mediumship (channel dead spirits) or psychometry (provide information by touching something physical). Perhaps you already are.

The gifts I speak of are the inherent abilities that reside in all of us and run on auto-pilot when the situations present themselves. Gifts like compassion for others in difficult times, the ability to listen and not judge, the inclination to nurture those in pain, the courage to protect in the face of adversity, the desire to calm or inspire others through your