Posts
It hardly seems possible that another year has passed by since last Thanksgiving. This year has practically flown by. Madison is 6 1/2 months old and started crawling over 2 weeks ago, she even started pulling herself up already. Xavier is just over 2yrs and I swear he acts like he is 5. He speaks in full sentences and surprises us with his cleverness everyday. He keeps asking for roller skates from Santa. I brought him to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society fundraiser that a friend and I coordinated last weekend. It was at the roller skating rink. I was hesitant to bring him, I thought he was too young, but he had a great time.
When I look at my kids I know everything in life is perfect. Our family has so much to be thankful for, I don't even know where to begin. Every night as I rest my head on my pillow and drift off to sleep I run a "Thank You" list through my head. I thank God for all the great qualities in my children and my husband. I thank him for our friends and family. I thank him for the experience that have brought me to where I am today. The list goes on until I fall asleep. Sometimes it takes 10 minutes and sometimes it takes 20, either way it puts me in a peaceful state as i drift off.
I figure with tomorrow being the national day for giving thanks, it is most appropriate to remind everyone to take a few minutes and be thankful for all that we have. The law of attraction says that having gratitude is a fundamental part of attracting goodness into our lives. We have to learn to appreciate what we already have before we can be blessed with more.
I wish everyone a Very Happy Thanksgiving. And I urge you to take a moment and appreciate all that you have and appreciate the time that you have with your families (even if they make you crazy).
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
5 Pillars
I was able to attend a great teleconference today on my lunch break (thanks to Debbie for covering for me). It was hosted by my favorite mentor, James A Ray. He talked about the 5 pillars of our life that are the foundation of our spiritual well being and all around happiness. The 5 pillars he spoke of are; financial, relational, intellectual/mental, physical, and spiritual. I want to give you a brief overview of what I learned about each of the pillars today.
#1 FINANCIAL: He began by explaining there is a common misconception about money. Have you ever heard the saying "Money is the root of all evil"? I have, but I never really knew where it came from until today. He explained that in the bible it actually says "The love of money is the root of all evil." Money is good and an important part of every body's well being as long as it does not rule them. He went on to explain that you have to love people and use money to help others, where we run into a problem is when people start loving money and using people. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense, most of the truly wealthy we "know" or see in the media do use money and love people. Think about Oprah Winfrey, Montel Williams, Jenny McCarthy, Robin Williams, Jim Cary. That is a few that I can think of off the top of my head.
#2 RELATIONAL: James Ray explains the most important relationship we have is the one we have with ourselves. We have to truly love, care about, and respect ourselves before we can have a genuinely loving and healthy relationship with anybody else. The expectations we set for ourselves will set a baseline for the people around us. If we hold ours in the highest regard and strive to always better ourselves mentally, physically, and emotionally we can't help but be a better quality friend, which will grant us better relationships.
#3 INTELLECTUAL/MENTAL: Since I have been following James Ray's teachings I have heard him say "If your not growing, your dying." about 1000 times. He quotes this as a common law of quantum physics. We have to keep our mind sharp by learning and experiencing new things. He asks the question, "How do you use your marvelous mind?". If we are locked into a subconscious "hum" of getting up, going to work, coming home, watching tv, and going to bed everyday without challenging ourselves then we are not growing. We are not challenging ourselves to grow. Think about a common house plant, when it stops growing it begins to die, right? He states that we grow in direct proportion to the amount of resistance that we can withstand and disipate.
#4 PHYSICAL: When he speaks of physical he means everything in its physical form; our bodies, our cars, our homes, our vacations, our toys, etc... Of course the most important is our body. Many religions view our body as our temple. In order to take the best care of our body we have to take care of our health first and fitness second. We need to nourish our bodies with healthy foods and lay off the junk. Our body is the vehicle that our spirit uses t get around and we need to keep it tuned up, like our favorite car. When we have good health the fitness follows. The other physical items are important too. We all need to have a nice place to live and a car to drive and vacations to create memories and experiences.
#5 SPIRITUAL: He says this is the hardest one to explain because it is different for everyone. He explains it as our 1 on 1 relationship with our creative source, or our connection to something bigger (God). If you pray in a closet a few times a day or if you go to church on Sunday it does not guarantee you more spirituality than your neighbor who does not go to church but is constantly talking to God. You have to make your own choice and be okay with it for yourself.
Once we have mastered these 5 key areas, we will have "HARMONIC WEALTH" as he calls it. Life will flow like a dance. A lot of people may read this and say this "sounds like a lot of work" and " I don't really have the time to do all this", but if you are serious about finding harmony in your life and having happy & fulfilling relationships with your friends and family you will find the time. Remember, "How do you use your marvelous mind?" Do you want to challenge yourself to be better or do you want to get caught up in the subconscious "hum" of a mindless routine? Quantum physics explains that everything is made up of 99.99999% energy, including our body. 1 cubic meter of energy is enough to boil every ocean on this planet. There is no way you can convince me that you do not have the energy to better yourself or read a book or bring your kids to the library. You have the energy, you are just choosing to waste it on the everyday mindless "hum". Choose to direct your energy for 1 hour each day on one of these 5 pillars and it will not take long for you to start seeing positive changes in your life.
#1 FINANCIAL: He began by explaining there is a common misconception about money. Have you ever heard the saying "Money is the root of all evil"? I have, but I never really knew where it came from until today. He explained that in the bible it actually says "The love of money is the root of all evil." Money is good and an important part of every body's well being as long as it does not rule them. He went on to explain that you have to love people and use money to help others, where we run into a problem is when people start loving money and using people. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense, most of the truly wealthy we "know" or see in the media do use money and love people. Think about Oprah Winfrey, Montel Williams, Jenny McCarthy, Robin Williams, Jim Cary. That is a few that I can think of off the top of my head.
#2 RELATIONAL: James Ray explains the most important relationship we have is the one we have with ourselves. We have to truly love, care about, and respect ourselves before we can have a genuinely loving and healthy relationship with anybody else. The expectations we set for ourselves will set a baseline for the people around us. If we hold ours in the highest regard and strive to always better ourselves mentally, physically, and emotionally we can't help but be a better quality friend, which will grant us better relationships.
#3 INTELLECTUAL/MENTAL: Since I have been following James Ray's teachings I have heard him say "If your not growing, your dying." about 1000 times. He quotes this as a common law of quantum physics. We have to keep our mind sharp by learning and experiencing new things. He asks the question, "How do you use your marvelous mind?". If we are locked into a subconscious "hum" of getting up, going to work, coming home, watching tv, and going to bed everyday without challenging ourselves then we are not growing. We are not challenging ourselves to grow. Think about a common house plant, when it stops growing it begins to die, right? He states that we grow in direct proportion to the amount of resistance that we can withstand and disipate.
#4 PHYSICAL: When he speaks of physical he means everything in its physical form; our bodies, our cars, our homes, our vacations, our toys, etc... Of course the most important is our body. Many religions view our body as our temple. In order to take the best care of our body we have to take care of our health first and fitness second. We need to nourish our bodies with healthy foods and lay off the junk. Our body is the vehicle that our spirit uses t get around and we need to keep it tuned up, like our favorite car. When we have good health the fitness follows. The other physical items are important too. We all need to have a nice place to live and a car to drive and vacations to create memories and experiences.
#5 SPIRITUAL: He says this is the hardest one to explain because it is different for everyone. He explains it as our 1 on 1 relationship with our creative source, or our connection to something bigger (God). If you pray in a closet a few times a day or if you go to church on Sunday it does not guarantee you more spirituality than your neighbor who does not go to church but is constantly talking to God. You have to make your own choice and be okay with it for yourself.
Once we have mastered these 5 key areas, we will have "HARMONIC WEALTH" as he calls it. Life will flow like a dance. A lot of people may read this and say this "sounds like a lot of work" and " I don't really have the time to do all this", but if you are serious about finding harmony in your life and having happy & fulfilling relationships with your friends and family you will find the time. Remember, "How do you use your marvelous mind?" Do you want to challenge yourself to be better or do you want to get caught up in the subconscious "hum" of a mindless routine? Quantum physics explains that everything is made up of 99.99999% energy, including our body. 1 cubic meter of energy is enough to boil every ocean on this planet. There is no way you can convince me that you do not have the energy to better yourself or read a book or bring your kids to the library. You have the energy, you are just choosing to waste it on the everyday mindless "hum". Choose to direct your energy for 1 hour each day on one of these 5 pillars and it will not take long for you to start seeing positive changes in your life.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Why Do I Care?
Recently I had someone ask me why I put some much time and energy into this blog. They said "Don't you have enough on your plate?" and "How do you find the time?". My answer was, "Well, you can always find time to do things if you think they are important enough." That was sort of a "get off my back" cliff version of the whole explanation. I am going to attempt to explain myself a little more thoroughly with the expectation of "that person" eventually reading the post.
The reasons are simple, I have read numerous books and listened to even more audios on personal development, the law of attraction, positive living, etc... and there is one thing that every single author has said. They all say in order to be truly successful you must take the time to teach others. They also say that to truly master anything you must be able to teach it to others in a way that they can understand it. It seemed only natural for me to start this blog. I love to write and I can reach more people on a daily basis than I ever could by talking to them in person. At first I thought it would be great to write for my friends and family. I was excited to tell them all that I know. Now my vision has grown. I have realized that I am going to be spending the same amount of time writing no matter how many people are reading. My new goal is to reach 1000 people everyday. I am sure by the time I reach this goal I will have an even bigger goal in mind. But for now that seems big enough.
Think about how great this world would be if everybody made a serious study of bettering themselves. They would not only be bettering themselves, they would be bettering the world! Jim Rohn tells it best when he tells of the agreement he makes with his friends. He says "I will take care of me for you, if you will take care of yourself for me." The point being, when you make a serious study of bettering yourself, you are giving a great gift to your friends and family. Who wouldn't want a friend who was truly happy and fulfilled. Someone who is always able to find the good in everything and brighten any situation. Someone who's judgement you can trust to be fair and honest.
Having 2 young children growing up in today's society makes it even more important for me to reach as many people as possible. Happy people make for a better environment for our children to grow and experience life. Happy parents and teachers raise happy and well balanced children. Happy and well balanced children make for better peers for my children. I want my children to have the privilege of growing, learning, and experiencing a happy harmonic world. I will do all that I can to make that possible.
I hope this explanation is satisfying and I apologize for the shortness of my original response.
The reasons are simple, I have read numerous books and listened to even more audios on personal development, the law of attraction, positive living, etc... and there is one thing that every single author has said. They all say in order to be truly successful you must take the time to teach others. They also say that to truly master anything you must be able to teach it to others in a way that they can understand it. It seemed only natural for me to start this blog. I love to write and I can reach more people on a daily basis than I ever could by talking to them in person. At first I thought it would be great to write for my friends and family. I was excited to tell them all that I know. Now my vision has grown. I have realized that I am going to be spending the same amount of time writing no matter how many people are reading. My new goal is to reach 1000 people everyday. I am sure by the time I reach this goal I will have an even bigger goal in mind. But for now that seems big enough.
Think about how great this world would be if everybody made a serious study of bettering themselves. They would not only be bettering themselves, they would be bettering the world! Jim Rohn tells it best when he tells of the agreement he makes with his friends. He says "I will take care of me for you, if you will take care of yourself for me." The point being, when you make a serious study of bettering yourself, you are giving a great gift to your friends and family. Who wouldn't want a friend who was truly happy and fulfilled. Someone who is always able to find the good in everything and brighten any situation. Someone who's judgement you can trust to be fair and honest.
Having 2 young children growing up in today's society makes it even more important for me to reach as many people as possible. Happy people make for a better environment for our children to grow and experience life. Happy parents and teachers raise happy and well balanced children. Happy and well balanced children make for better peers for my children. I want my children to have the privilege of growing, learning, and experiencing a happy harmonic world. I will do all that I can to make that possible.
I hope this explanation is satisfying and I apologize for the shortness of my original response.
Friday, November 21, 2008
30 Days to Create a New Habit
I recently came across some amazingly interesting information. I have heard and read on numerous occasions from various sources that it takes 30 days to create a new habit. In some of James Ray's teaching he says it takes 30 days or so to train or trick your subconscious mind into believing and acting upon our visions. Jack Canfield also teaches that it takes 30 days t create a new habit. But this information I am going to share with you will blow your mind!
The government was doing some tests regarding how the human body reacts to being in outer space with zero gravity. They had these special glasses made that made everything look upside down. They had a group of test subjects wear them for variant amounts of time; 20days, 30 days, and every other day for 30 days. Amazingly enough, what they found out was somewhere between the 25th and 30th day the test subject's brain had inverted the image automatically to make the image upside right! The people who wore the glasses for the 20 day period never did get their image inverted and the people who wore their glasses every other day for 30 days also did not get their image inverted. It was only the people who wore the glasses continually for 25-30 days.
Having worked in the optometry field for almost 12 years, this just about knocked my socks off. The human body is so amazing and the subconscious mind is so powerful and adaptable. It is designed to adapt and give us exactly what we need or "ask" for in order to survive. The trick is to "ask" for what we want, not what we don't want.
I want everybody to think about this information over the weekend and realize how amazing we all really are. Have a great weekend!
The government was doing some tests regarding how the human body reacts to being in outer space with zero gravity. They had these special glasses made that made everything look upside down. They had a group of test subjects wear them for variant amounts of time; 20days, 30 days, and every other day for 30 days. Amazingly enough, what they found out was somewhere between the 25th and 30th day the test subject's brain had inverted the image automatically to make the image upside right! The people who wore the glasses for the 20 day period never did get their image inverted and the people who wore their glasses every other day for 30 days also did not get their image inverted. It was only the people who wore the glasses continually for 25-30 days.
Having worked in the optometry field for almost 12 years, this just about knocked my socks off. The human body is so amazing and the subconscious mind is so powerful and adaptable. It is designed to adapt and give us exactly what we need or "ask" for in order to survive. The trick is to "ask" for what we want, not what we don't want.
I want everybody to think about this information over the weekend and realize how amazing we all really are. Have a great weekend!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Quote of the Day & a Thought
"Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced everyday; while failure is simply a few errors in judgement, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgements that leads us to either fortune or failure"
~~JIM ROHN~~
~~JIM ROHN~~
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I'm thinking it may be better to postpone our vision board making party til after the new year. I had originally planned on having it Saturday Nov 29th, which is the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but there are a few people who will be out of town or that have family coming into town for that weekend. I have fundraisers scheduled every weekend from now until the end of December and my marathon is January 11th, so if we postpone it will have to be closer to the end of January. It will give everybody more time to collect their pictures and ideas. And of course everybody likes to start the new year with "resolution", so why not make it a visual new years resolution.
Well, let me know what you guys think and we will work something out.
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
New Link
You may have noticed that I added a new "friends" link to the left margin of the blog. I put a link to Jim Rohn's and James A Ray's websites. They are both filled with tons of valuable FREE information and I recommend you visit them in your spare time. You can sign up for a free e-zine from both of them. The price is always right when it 's free.
FEAR
What is fear and how does it effect our lives?
Fear is a response that we CHOOSE when we are dealing with a situation that makes us uncomfortable. Remember my favorite saying; "You are the boss of yourself." it should be followed by "And you are the boss of your emotions." Fear is nothing but a state of mind, we can choose to feed it or address it and move on. Keep in mind that if we do not address our fears we are indeed feeding them and they will only get worse. Think about the last time you were dreading a phone call you had to make or the last time you had to make a speech in front of a crowd. The longer you put it off, the more you thought about it. The more you thought about it the worse you felt about it. Until eventually your stomach was tied in knots and you were full of fear and anxiety. But as soon as you had done that which you were dreading/fearing all your feelings of anxiety were vanished. Why not address the fear quickly and save ourselves and our stomachs all the anxiety?
In "The Magic of Thinking Big" David J Schwartz PhD says that we should " Use action to cure fear and gain confidence....Action feeds and strengthens confidence; inaction in all forms feeds fear. To fight fear, act . To increase fear- wait, put off, postpone..."
You have all heard me say this more than once but here I go again, "Energy flows where attention goes." and "What you resist persists." (James A Ray), which means according to the law of attraction when we focus our energy on what we don't want or what we are fearing it is only going to attract more of what we don't want into our lives. All the more reason to address our fears and get over them quickly.
Fear is a response that we CHOOSE when we are dealing with a situation that makes us uncomfortable. Remember my favorite saying; "You are the boss of yourself." it should be followed by "And you are the boss of your emotions." Fear is nothing but a state of mind, we can choose to feed it or address it and move on. Keep in mind that if we do not address our fears we are indeed feeding them and they will only get worse. Think about the last time you were dreading a phone call you had to make or the last time you had to make a speech in front of a crowd. The longer you put it off, the more you thought about it. The more you thought about it the worse you felt about it. Until eventually your stomach was tied in knots and you were full of fear and anxiety. But as soon as you had done that which you were dreading/fearing all your feelings of anxiety were vanished. Why not address the fear quickly and save ourselves and our stomachs all the anxiety?
In "The Magic of Thinking Big" David J Schwartz PhD says that we should " Use action to cure fear and gain confidence....Action feeds and strengthens confidence; inaction in all forms feeds fear. To fight fear, act . To increase fear- wait, put off, postpone..."
You have all heard me say this more than once but here I go again, "Energy flows where attention goes." and "What you resist persists." (James A Ray), which means according to the law of attraction when we focus our energy on what we don't want or what we are fearing it is only going to attract more of what we don't want into our lives. All the more reason to address our fears and get over them quickly.
Quote of the Day
"Don't join an easy crowd; you wont grow. Go where expectations and the demands to perform are high"
"Get around people who have something of value to share with you. Their impact will continue to have a significant effect on your life long after they have departed"
~~JIM ROHN~~
"Get around people who have something of value to share with you. Their impact will continue to have a significant effect on your life long after they have departed"
~~JIM ROHN~~
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Just Let Go And Float
Lets go back to a time when we were just learning to swim. Remember the fear of sinking to the bottom of the pool or river. Remember trying harder and harder to grasp on to the water. The harder we grasped at the water the harder it was to stay above. And then finally we learned to just let go of our fear, relax, and float. Amazing, all we had to do was just let go and float.
How many of us are still living our lives this way? Kicking and fighting, trying to grasp on to anything and everything. We get so caught up in the way we think things should be that we end up forgetting to live. Think about how much time and energy we would all save if we would just let go and float. Once we realize that nothing happens by accident and that every person and incident is given to us for a reason it is much easier to "float". The trick is to find the good in everything. Find a reason to be thankful for it.
James A Ray states that "All of life is a dance." and Jim Rohn (http://www.jimrohn.com?kbid=9487) calls it "the seasons of life", either way the point is the same. The tides come in and go out no matter how hard we try to stop it, why don't we just sit back and enjoy it. Think of a leaf floating down a river. The leaf symbolizes us and the river is life. As the leaf floats down the river it will probably bump into a few rocks along the way, but eventually the wind changes and the leaf is set a sail again. Nothing is forever, the hard times will come and go and they will go much quicker if we address them, find the good in them, be thankful for them, and just let them go. Just let go and float, try it.
How many of us are still living our lives this way? Kicking and fighting, trying to grasp on to anything and everything. We get so caught up in the way we think things should be that we end up forgetting to live. Think about how much time and energy we would all save if we would just let go and float. Once we realize that nothing happens by accident and that every person and incident is given to us for a reason it is much easier to "float". The trick is to find the good in everything. Find a reason to be thankful for it.
James A Ray states that "All of life is a dance." and Jim Rohn (http://www.jimrohn.com?kbid=9487) calls it "the seasons of life", either way the point is the same. The tides come in and go out no matter how hard we try to stop it, why don't we just sit back and enjoy it. Think of a leaf floating down a river. The leaf symbolizes us and the river is life. As the leaf floats down the river it will probably bump into a few rocks along the way, but eventually the wind changes and the leaf is set a sail again. Nothing is forever, the hard times will come and go and they will go much quicker if we address them, find the good in them, be thankful for them, and just let them go. Just let go and float, try it.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The Perfect Day of Play
Those of you in the 3% club are probably starting to feel like your vision statement is a reality. You can probably rehearse it without even looking at your paper. You may be noticing little changes starting to unfold, you may have met a new friend, things at work may have changed, or maybe your home life has started to evolve. Whatever it is, don't be afraid, remember change is good. If we're not growing we're dying.
It is time for us to move on to the next vision statement topic, THE PERFECT DAY OF PLAY. When you write this vision statement I want you to visualize every detail of how you would spend the perfect day dong something recreational. You could be going to Paris, Vegas, or Disney. Or you could be taking your 10 favorite friends out on your new yacht or maybe flying to Miami to go shopping. Whatever it is, make it big and vivid. Remember your vision has to "turn you on", it has to get your emotions going in order to be effective.
EMOTIONS = MOTION = RESULTS
Below is my perfect day of play vision statement. It was originally written May 2007. I updated it today, the original version had us with 2 boys and me pregnant with a girl. Since then things have changed and we have decided to stop at a 2 for 2 parent/child ratio. I will be honest and tell you I haven't been reading it like I should, but after reading it today it has me excited again so I am going to start reading it everyday like I should.
It is time for us to move on to the next vision statement topic, THE PERFECT DAY OF PLAY. When you write this vision statement I want you to visualize every detail of how you would spend the perfect day dong something recreational. You could be going to Paris, Vegas, or Disney. Or you could be taking your 10 favorite friends out on your new yacht or maybe flying to Miami to go shopping. Whatever it is, make it big and vivid. Remember your vision has to "turn you on", it has to get your emotions going in order to be effective.
EMOTIONS = MOTION = RESULTS
Below is my perfect day of play vision statement. It was originally written May 2007. I updated it today, the original version had us with 2 boys and me pregnant with a girl. Since then things have changed and we have decided to stop at a 2 for 2 parent/child ratio. I will be honest and tell you I haven't been reading it like I should, but after reading it today it has me excited again so I am going to start reading it everyday like I should.
The Perfect Day of Play
It is the Friday before Christmas, 5am, the vehicle was packed the night before and we are off to the Orlando airport. We are meeting my brother and his family in NYC for a long weekend get together. We have made a tradition out of this and have done this every year for the last 4 years. My husband, myself, and our kids are piled into the car and we are off. We stop at Chick-fil-a and get breakfast (drive-thru). Then it is off to I-4, normally they call this the "parking lot", but today seems to be our lucky day, traffic is moving smoothly. It only takes us 45 minutes to get to the airport. We park at the Parking Spot and they give us a ride to the airport check-in. We are only going to be in NYC for three days, but from there we are headed to upstate New York to spend the holidays with the rest of the family. Therefore, we have a lot of luggage to check, five large suitcases and three carry-ons. Once our luggage is checked we go through security and head to our terminal. We are flying Jetblue direct flight and it will take about 3 hours to get up there. We wait about twenty minutes before loading begins. The baby, who is 19 months old, sits on my lap and Xavier sits between Rod and myself. Once the plane is loaded it does not take long before we are taxing out and then we are off. Xavier is a seasoned flyer, he has been doing this since he was one yr old, but this is the first time the baby has ever flown. Much to my surprise the baby falls asleep and is not bothered by the altitude. Once we are at the appropriate altitude and speed they allow people to get up and move about the cabin. The flight attendants come by with drinks and snacks. We take water and pretzels. Xavier and Rod are listening to XM radio with their disposable headphones. I am just sitting back looking at the clouds. Time goes by quickly and before we know it they are telling people to get back in their seats and put their seat belts back on. We are approaching our destination. The sky is clear and the flight was very smooth. We circle the airport and make our approach. Landing was just as smooth as the flight. It takes no time for the flight crew to get us off the plane. It is now 11:30am and we are already at the baggage claim. We get a luggage cart and patiently wait for our luggage to come around. It takes about twenty minutes or so and then we head to check my brother's flight. The board shows it landed on time. We decide we would just meet in front of the Budget rental place. So we head over that way. Jason, Sandy and the kids are already there waiting for us. They have a lot less luggage since they are going home in three days. We both rent a SUV, so we have plenty of room. Now that we are together and have our rentals loaded up, we are on a mission to get some lunch. We find a cute little pizza shop to stop at and we go in to eat. We are all starved and New York pizza is the best. The kids are happy to see each other. They are full of energy and are telling stories about what Santa is going to bring them for Christmas. And as usual, they are wondering if Santa will be able to find Xavier and Madison all the way in New York. I cut into the conversation and say "Of course he will, he hasn't missed you yet". Xavier just smiles and says "I know, mom". The server comes to the table and we order three large pizzas and our drinks. We chat some more and before we know it the pizza is being placed on the tables. The server always serves the first piece of pizza in New York, so once we all have the perfect piece we get the kids to settle down and say "Thanks", then it is time to dig in. We eat almost all the pizza, we were all craving NY pizza and it really hit the spot. For desert we get cheese cake and canolli and split it between all of us. By this time the kids are getting antsy and it is time to get to the motel. We are staying at the Embassy Suites. We each have a large bedroom with two queen beds, a separate living room, a large bathroom, and a micro kitchen. We get unpacked and comfortable and meet downstairs in the lobby. We have our coats and mittens on and we are going for a walk. We are going to go see the big Christmas tree in Central Park. I don't know who is more excited, me or the kids. The air is crispy, but not too cold, and there is a very light dusting of snow flurries starting to pile up. The street lights are twinkling in the flakes as they fall. It is absolutely beautiful. Halfway there we stop in a coffee shop and get some hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. Once we get to the park we take a ton of pictures and just stare in amazement at how big and beautiful the tree is. It seems like it gets bigger and better every year. There are people caroling. It is so festive, it is at this moment when we feel the spirit of Christmas. The kids are starting to get a little chilly and hungry. We decide to go to the deli down the street and get soup and sandwiches. Once we are all full and recharged we decide to bring the kids to the skating rink. All the kids, except the baby, play on a hockey team, so they are pretty good at skating. Xavier thinks it is neat to skate outside, because in Florida he has to skate inside. The kids skate for about an hour, then we head back to the motel. The snow has started to fall much harder. The weather is calling for 3 inches by tomorrow morning. Once we get back to our rooms, the kids take showers and get into their pajamas. Jason, Sandy, and the kids come to our room, we pull out the couch bed and rent a Disney movie for the kids to watch. While the adults sit at the table and talk, the kids fall asleep on the pull out bed. It is now 11pm and it is time for us to go to bed, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. Jason and Sandy leave the kids on the couch bed and they go back to their room. Rod and I go to bed as well. We set the alarm for 6am. Tomorrow we are going shopping and the kids are going to Macy's to see Santa. It is the perfect ending to the perfect day of play.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Accountability Partner
So I have had a few people contact me via email and one via the blog regarding getting set up with an accountability partner. I know it seems like a big scary committment to have to check in with someone everyday, but I think it is a great idea. Remember only 3% of the people walking on the face of this earth make a serious study of success and personal development. I don't want anybody to miss out on this. Those of you who have not signed up can change your minds at anytime.
The Tentative Date
So the wheels have been turning since this morning, I have made a few phone calls, and I am setting a tentative date for our vision board creation party. It's penciled in for Saturday Nov 29th, lets plan on meeting at my house around 6pm. Everybody needs to bring a few magazines and a pair of scissors.
Other things we will need:
index cards
glue
metal shower curtain rings
construction paper
markers
hole puncher
pictures
food & drinks
good ideas & positive energy
Like I said this morning, I will buy a hole puncher and a pack of index cards. I have some construction paper somewhere around the house. A couple people will need to bring glue and markers (my son uses crayons so I don't have any markers) and once I get a head count I will see how many metal rings we need and we can go from there. I also think that everybody who comes should bring a friend.
Other things we will need:
index cards
glue
metal shower curtain rings
construction paper
markers
hole puncher
pictures
food & drinks
good ideas & positive energy
Like I said this morning, I will buy a hole puncher and a pack of index cards. I have some construction paper somewhere around the house. A couple people will need to bring glue and markers (my son uses crayons so I don't have any markers) and once I get a head count I will see how many metal rings we need and we can go from there. I also think that everybody who comes should bring a friend.
Portable Vision Board Idea
Just a quick idea as I am on my way to work. I want to set up a get together for the local readers. It will probably have to be on a Sunday afternoon and we will have to work it in around the Leukemia/Lymphoma fundraisers that are already on the schedule. But I think it will be fun. I want us to make little portable vision boards, made with index cards. Who ever comes will need to bring scissors, glue, and 2-3 magazines and some pictures that they want to use. I will buy a hole puncher and some shower rings to loop the index cards together. If anybody already has a hole puncher you can bring it so we have extras.
If anybody wants to step it up a notch we can all bring something to munch on.....
We can talk it over later, gotta get to work.
If anybody wants to step it up a notch we can all bring something to munch on.....
We can talk it over later, gotta get to work.
Andrea's Tip of the Day
#12. Get public acknowledgment for completing your task.
I've developed a contact at my local newspaper. When I do valuable thats in the public interest, I call her. Already she's done three stories on me and my accomplishments. Just thinking about getting in the paper energizes me. And putting the resulting article up on the wall keeps me inspired.
I've developed a contact at my local newspaper. When I do valuable thats in the public interest, I call her. Already she's done three stories on me and my accomplishments. Just thinking about getting in the paper energizes me. And putting the resulting article up on the wall keeps me inspired.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Andrea's Tip of the Day
#11. Embark on a "passion walk."
Go outside into the fresh air- the physical movement is important- and think about whatever goal is important at the moment. Walk briskly as you start vividly imagining what it would be like to accomplish that dream. It is much easier to "act" your way into feeling motivated- to pretend that you are- than to actually get yourself to act. Imagine first, and let the passion that it inspires stimulate you into doing the required task.
Go outside into the fresh air- the physical movement is important- and think about whatever goal is important at the moment. Walk briskly as you start vividly imagining what it would be like to accomplish that dream. It is much easier to "act" your way into feeling motivated- to pretend that you are- than to actually get yourself to act. Imagine first, and let the passion that it inspires stimulate you into doing the required task.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Procrastination......
Is procrastination one of the seven deadly sins? If not, it should be. We are all guilty of dragging our feet on occasion, well I know I am. It seems like the human thing to do, right?
I attended a very interesting and informative teleconference today. One of the topics of discussion was procrastination. I want to share the information I learned with you because I feel it is highly valuable and I think we could all benefit from it.
To start the discussion my mentor started by addressing the 4 causes of procrastination:
1.) fear
2.) the "should do"
3.) no strategy
4.) higher priorities
Lets just start with #1. FEAR. The fear of failure, the fear of embarrassment, the fear of ......well you name it. There are so many fears out there that actually cause people to not take action. Think of a middle school kid procrastinating on a presentation assignment, perhaps the procrastination is not due so much to the intelligence of the child but more so the fear of doing the presentation in front of the class.
#2. The "SHOULD DO IT" mentality is a very uninspiring feeling. When you feel like you should do something opposed to wanting to, love to, excited to, etc... things just feel like a drag. Nobody likes to feel like they are having their arm twisted into doing something and sometimes the things we "should do" feel just this way. The uninspiring feeling of "I should do this" leads to procrastination.
#3. Having NO STRATEGY is where I find myself on occasion. Lets say I/you have a mental list of 5 or 6 things I/you need to do by the end of the day. I/You know I need to get them all done and I have plenty of time to do them, but I don't get a strategy together and I don't write it on paper. I spend a third of the day trying to remember the 5 or 6 things on my mental list and another third of the day I spend trying to make sure my least favorite thing is at the end of my list, so I potentially don't have to do it, and the last third of the day is used for actually getting a few things on the mental list done. I have actually came up with a strategy system that works very well when implemented. Instead of a mental list, I get a piece of paper and a pen and write a hard copy list. I then prioritize by level of importance and flow of accomplishment. For instance, if I have to do laundry, mop the floor, do dishes, go to the grocery store, and get gas, I will start the laundry and let it wash while I do the dishes, then mop the floor. Then I put the laundry in the dryer, run to the gas station, and stop at the grocery last (so the ice cream doesn't melt). When I get home and have the groceries put away I will fold the laundry and put it away. Having a well thought out strategy always works better for me. Having a hard copy list is a must for more than one reason, first I can't trust myself to remember everything that needs to be done and second it feels good to cross of each task as it gets accomplished.
#4. Having HIGHER PRIORITIES is the last common cause of procrastination. When something ranks low on your priority list it is easy to push it aside. We have all fallen into the rut of having something better to do. The thing is if we just take a few moments and get that nagging task out of the way it would free up so much more mental energy and make us more productive in the long run.
Along with giving the 4 common causes of procrastination my mentor also went over 3 steps to putting an end to procrastination all together. They are as follows:
1.) get into action
2.) set consequences for yourself
3.) have an accountability partner
The simple act of getting into action is the most fundamental. If there is something you need to do, just do it! There will be times when I don't feel like doing the dishes, but they need to be done. After I start doing them the momentum starts going and by the time I leave the kitchen the counters and table are cleaned too. The act of just starting the process is the hard part, once you start finishing is easy.
Setting consequences for myself is new to me, but I feel it has potential. The example he used was a student of his that kept saying she wanted to start a business cleaning and organizing people's garages. She had been thinking about this business idea for approximately 3 years, but never acted on it. He asked her if she thought it was possible to find one friend, family member, or neighbor within 2 weeks time that would let her organize their garage. She said "yeah". Then he asked her teenage daughter if she would be willing to accept $200 from her mother if within 2 weeks she had not accomplished this one task, of course the daughter said "yes". The next time they spoke his student had accomplished her goal and had more garage organizing jobs lined up. It was the painful consequence that motivated her to move forward with her business idea.
Having an accountability partner sounds like a great idea. He explains an accountability partner as somebody who will hold you accountable for the things you say you are going to do by the time you say you will have them done. This does not need to be someone you know intimently and will usually work better if it's not a spouse. He says in the 7 day live events that he holds people get paired up with accountability partners. The requirements for a good accountability partner are to find someone consistent and interested in personal development. They also have to have the ability to dish out some "tough love", which means they will not except your excuses when you slack off. And of course the 2 of you have to have good chemistry, you have to at least like each other to help each other especially since you will be talking to this person everyday. He says to set a time of day (typically in the morning) where you meet on the phone for a few minutes , discuss the prior days goals and how you reached them, then discuss your goals for the day ahead. Your partner writes your goals down and you write their goals down and the next day you make sure each other accomplished the list. And so on.
I think the accountability partnership is a great idea. I want to get set up with somebody who can/will hold me accountable for my daily goals. I think it would make my days and weeks more productive. If anybody is interested let me know either by posting it in the comments section for this thread or by sending me an email (tonya.therightdirection@gmail.com). If I get a lot of people interested I can probably pair people up with partners in the same time zone so the phone calling doesn't present a problem.
Now that we all know and understand the 4 common causes of procrastination and the 3 steps to putting an end to procrastination we should all become much more productive.
I attended a very interesting and informative teleconference today. One of the topics of discussion was procrastination. I want to share the information I learned with you because I feel it is highly valuable and I think we could all benefit from it.
To start the discussion my mentor started by addressing the 4 causes of procrastination:
1.) fear
2.) the "should do"
3.) no strategy
4.) higher priorities
Lets just start with #1. FEAR. The fear of failure, the fear of embarrassment, the fear of ......well you name it. There are so many fears out there that actually cause people to not take action. Think of a middle school kid procrastinating on a presentation assignment, perhaps the procrastination is not due so much to the intelligence of the child but more so the fear of doing the presentation in front of the class.
#2. The "SHOULD DO IT" mentality is a very uninspiring feeling. When you feel like you should do something opposed to wanting to, love to, excited to, etc... things just feel like a drag. Nobody likes to feel like they are having their arm twisted into doing something and sometimes the things we "should do" feel just this way. The uninspiring feeling of "I should do this" leads to procrastination.
#3. Having NO STRATEGY is where I find myself on occasion. Lets say I/you have a mental list of 5 or 6 things I/you need to do by the end of the day. I/You know I need to get them all done and I have plenty of time to do them, but I don't get a strategy together and I don't write it on paper. I spend a third of the day trying to remember the 5 or 6 things on my mental list and another third of the day I spend trying to make sure my least favorite thing is at the end of my list, so I potentially don't have to do it, and the last third of the day is used for actually getting a few things on the mental list done. I have actually came up with a strategy system that works very well when implemented. Instead of a mental list, I get a piece of paper and a pen and write a hard copy list. I then prioritize by level of importance and flow of accomplishment. For instance, if I have to do laundry, mop the floor, do dishes, go to the grocery store, and get gas, I will start the laundry and let it wash while I do the dishes, then mop the floor. Then I put the laundry in the dryer, run to the gas station, and stop at the grocery last (so the ice cream doesn't melt). When I get home and have the groceries put away I will fold the laundry and put it away. Having a well thought out strategy always works better for me. Having a hard copy list is a must for more than one reason, first I can't trust myself to remember everything that needs to be done and second it feels good to cross of each task as it gets accomplished.
#4. Having HIGHER PRIORITIES is the last common cause of procrastination. When something ranks low on your priority list it is easy to push it aside. We have all fallen into the rut of having something better to do. The thing is if we just take a few moments and get that nagging task out of the way it would free up so much more mental energy and make us more productive in the long run.
Along with giving the 4 common causes of procrastination my mentor also went over 3 steps to putting an end to procrastination all together. They are as follows:
1.) get into action
2.) set consequences for yourself
3.) have an accountability partner
The simple act of getting into action is the most fundamental. If there is something you need to do, just do it! There will be times when I don't feel like doing the dishes, but they need to be done. After I start doing them the momentum starts going and by the time I leave the kitchen the counters and table are cleaned too. The act of just starting the process is the hard part, once you start finishing is easy.
Setting consequences for myself is new to me, but I feel it has potential. The example he used was a student of his that kept saying she wanted to start a business cleaning and organizing people's garages. She had been thinking about this business idea for approximately 3 years, but never acted on it. He asked her if she thought it was possible to find one friend, family member, or neighbor within 2 weeks time that would let her organize their garage. She said "yeah". Then he asked her teenage daughter if she would be willing to accept $200 from her mother if within 2 weeks she had not accomplished this one task, of course the daughter said "yes". The next time they spoke his student had accomplished her goal and had more garage organizing jobs lined up. It was the painful consequence that motivated her to move forward with her business idea.
Having an accountability partner sounds like a great idea. He explains an accountability partner as somebody who will hold you accountable for the things you say you are going to do by the time you say you will have them done. This does not need to be someone you know intimently and will usually work better if it's not a spouse. He says in the 7 day live events that he holds people get paired up with accountability partners. The requirements for a good accountability partner are to find someone consistent and interested in personal development. They also have to have the ability to dish out some "tough love", which means they will not except your excuses when you slack off. And of course the 2 of you have to have good chemistry, you have to at least like each other to help each other especially since you will be talking to this person everyday. He says to set a time of day (typically in the morning) where you meet on the phone for a few minutes , discuss the prior days goals and how you reached them, then discuss your goals for the day ahead. Your partner writes your goals down and you write their goals down and the next day you make sure each other accomplished the list. And so on.
I think the accountability partnership is a great idea. I want to get set up with somebody who can/will hold me accountable for my daily goals. I think it would make my days and weeks more productive. If anybody is interested let me know either by posting it in the comments section for this thread or by sending me an email (tonya.therightdirection@gmail.com). If I get a lot of people interested I can probably pair people up with partners in the same time zone so the phone calling doesn't present a problem.
Now that we all know and understand the 4 common causes of procrastination and the 3 steps to putting an end to procrastination we should all become much more productive.
Andrea's Tip of the Day
#10. Ensure that your innermost beliefs support, enhance, and further your goals.
What do you believe about yourself and your chances of reaching your goals? Do you believe that you can reach them? Will it be easy or hard? Can you do it alone, or will you need help? Will reaching your goal help you or not? Beliefs are a key part of your ability to reach your goals. Pause now, and re-affirm your belief in yourself. Take that sense of security and confidence and start again. This will enable you to successfully acomplish any job you set before yourself.
What do you believe about yourself and your chances of reaching your goals? Do you believe that you can reach them? Will it be easy or hard? Can you do it alone, or will you need help? Will reaching your goal help you or not? Beliefs are a key part of your ability to reach your goals. Pause now, and re-affirm your belief in yourself. Take that sense of security and confidence and start again. This will enable you to successfully acomplish any job you set before yourself.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Andrea's Tip of the Day
#9. Attach positive values to each of your tasks.
If you have to clean up the kitchen, realize that the accomplishment of the project will make you feel good about where you live. If you have to write a business proposal, associate it with making more money and gaining financial security. If you have to call a friend to dicuss an uncomfortable situation, think of the call as a means of gaining courage, reducing stress, and building greater trust.
If you have to clean up the kitchen, realize that the accomplishment of the project will make you feel good about where you live. If you have to write a business proposal, associate it with making more money and gaining financial security. If you have to call a friend to dicuss an uncomfortable situation, think of the call as a means of gaining courage, reducing stress, and building greater trust.
What is Your "Consuming" Thought?
We've all heard the saying "What we think about we bring about". So what is it that you've been thinking about? In your spare time are you thinking about where you want to be in five years or are you consumed with thoughts of what you don't want?
I caught myself wasting mental energy on disempowering thoughts today. I was steam cleaning the living room carpet, the machine was so loud that the only thing I could hear were my thoughts. I caught myself thinking about something that had annoyed me in the past and was totally irrelevant to today and tomorrow. I'm not even sure how long I was thinking before I realized what I was doing. When I finally did realize what I was doing I asked myself "What are you even thinking about that for? It's a waste and it doesn't even effect your life anymore". Then I went into our bedroom and looked at our vision board for a moment, which redirected my mental energy to the positive, and then I finished with the steam cleaning.
My point is anyone and everyone can and will occasionally get tangled up with a disempowering thought, the trick is to not let it consume you. When you can address it quickly and refocus your energy to the positive you will be happier. Using our vision board was the quickest and easiest way to get a new image in my mind. Looking at a picture of something you want or something that brings joy to your life stimulates your mind both visually and emotionally. This dual stimulation makes these thoughts easier to hold on to.
The next time you catch yourself thinking about something or someone that is annoying or dreadful take a moment to redirect your thinking to something happy and joyous. Remember, "What we thing about we bring about".
I caught myself wasting mental energy on disempowering thoughts today. I was steam cleaning the living room carpet, the machine was so loud that the only thing I could hear were my thoughts. I caught myself thinking about something that had annoyed me in the past and was totally irrelevant to today and tomorrow. I'm not even sure how long I was thinking before I realized what I was doing. When I finally did realize what I was doing I asked myself "What are you even thinking about that for? It's a waste and it doesn't even effect your life anymore". Then I went into our bedroom and looked at our vision board for a moment, which redirected my mental energy to the positive, and then I finished with the steam cleaning.
My point is anyone and everyone can and will occasionally get tangled up with a disempowering thought, the trick is to not let it consume you. When you can address it quickly and refocus your energy to the positive you will be happier. Using our vision board was the quickest and easiest way to get a new image in my mind. Looking at a picture of something you want or something that brings joy to your life stimulates your mind both visually and emotionally. This dual stimulation makes these thoughts easier to hold on to.
The next time you catch yourself thinking about something or someone that is annoying or dreadful take a moment to redirect your thinking to something happy and joyous. Remember, "What we thing about we bring about".
Andrea's Tip of the Day
#8. Set goals that move and inspire.
There are no unmotivated people, only unchallenging goals. Make your goals believable and exciting-
and make sure that they challenge without discouraging you. Set goals for health and vitality, and for improving relationships and character. Lackluster goals will remain on the shelf like a bad book. But powerful goals will ignite your hottest fires so that you get them done.... NOW!!
*****EMOTION = MOTION = RESULTS*****
There are no unmotivated people, only unchallenging goals. Make your goals believable and exciting-
and make sure that they challenge without discouraging you. Set goals for health and vitality, and for improving relationships and character. Lackluster goals will remain on the shelf like a bad book. But powerful goals will ignite your hottest fires so that you get them done.... NOW!!
*****EMOTION = MOTION = RESULTS*****
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