You are light, love, and beauty

Good Morning!!  Today I challenge you to take 5 minutes or even 3, to just relax and breathe.  Focus on your breathing with the intention of recognizing your true self who is pure love, light, joy, and beauty!  Know that you are amazing!!  Fall in love with your true nature.  This will not result in narcissism - that is loving your own ego too much.  This will result in finding inner peace and love and acceptance of yourself and everyone else.  You are amazing and I love you!!!  Comment below on what comes up for you!

The Power of Positivity

It is easy forget how powerful our thoughts. But our thoughts lead to our behaviors which lead to actions and consequently influence our outcomes.  Today, try to assume the world is out to do you good!  Assume that everything will work out for your highest good.  Put a smile on your face, knowing that miracles are happening right now in your life!!  If something happens you don't want, know that something else is happening that you do want.  Just keep that knowing, that faith, and watch the miracles unfold right before your eyes!!!

Please feel free to share your experiences (past and present) in the comments.  Have an amazing day!!  I know miracles are happening right now!!

Love

Just a reminder that all things are possible with love!  Yes, love brings peace inside ourselves and throughout the world! Spread love and watch the ripple.  

Find Your Joy Friday

Do you ever feel like you are just getting through the day, the week, the year?  Do you feel like you are always busy but not accomplishing anything?  If you answered yes to either of those, it's time for a change!!

It's time to find your passion and pursue it like your life depends on it!!  Sometimes people get so caught up in making a living that they stop truly living!!

If you know what you are passionate about, are you pursing it?  If not, today is the day to start.  We find our purpose in our passion.

If you are confused about what you even like to do or what you are passionate about, then take some time to just sit and relax.  Ask yourself the following questions, or better yet, journal about them.  When was the last time I felt super alive and happy?  What was I doing? What did I love as a kid?  What did I want to do with my life when I was a kid?  Am I doing it?  Do I still want to do it or something similar?  What books do I like to read?  What makes me passionate?  What do I love to do?   Give yourself time and just write - don't censor what comes up, just write and write.  Ask yourself the question over and over and see what other things come up.  When you determine what makes you happy and where your passion lies, take one step in that direction.

Life is meant to be enjoyed!!!  Here's to a meaningful, happy, abundant life!!  You deserve it simply because you exist!!

Begin Each Day With A Grateful Heart

 It really is that simple!  If we start each day with a grateful heart and focus on all that we have to be grateful for, the day will be much better.    It is easy to wake up and think about all the things we "have" to do and all the "problems" we need to fix in our lives but that puts us in problem mode rather than solution mode.

For the next week, wake up and immediately focus on gratitude.  Be thankful that you woke up.  Be thankful for the fact you have somewhere to sleep.  Be thankful for friends and family.  Be thankful for the clothes you have. Be thankful for an indoor bathroom with running water.  Be thankful for the ability to think. Be thankful food you have to eat.  There is so much to be grateful for and we often take it for granted because we are focused on the things we want and don't have.  It's easy to switch the focus.  Try it for a week and let me know what changes you see in your life.  We always get more of what we focus on!!  Let's make it something we actually want :)

Have a magical, grateful day!!

What is "fitting in" costing you??

For years, I tried to fit in.  No, let me correct that.  I did fit in.  I did everything that was "expected" of me.  The problem with that is that I lost sight of what I wanted.  I made everyone else happy but I was slowly losing myself to everyone else.  I didn't even know what I wanted anymore.  Does that sound familiar?  Sometimes we become a shell of our true self.  Sometimes we lose our authenticity because of that outer facade we put on.  It's time to look at what you really want.  Who are you?  What do you want for your life?  It's time to make that a reality.  Be gentle with yourself since sometimes it's a hard journey to see our life may not reflect what we want.  It is safe to be you.  You can have the life of your dreams.  Go back to your long lost dreams and see if they still make your heart sing.  If they do, go after them.  You can do it.  It's time.  You can change your life no matter what it looks like now.  You can stand out.  You can have everything you want as soon as you decide what you really want and why.  Then relax and know that you can do it.  

What We Need...

We need people to encourage us.  We need to encourage others.  Always look for the positive - remember to support each other because we are all in this world together.  We all have hopes and dreams.  We all do things well and we all make mistakes.  We all want to love and be loved.  We all have emotions and fears.  And we all are the best we can be at this very moment.    Remember to look at everyone with compassionate eyes and encourage them on their journey.

You are perfect and deserve the best.  If I can help encourage you to follow your dreams and your passion, please leave a comment.  You do deserve the best and never forget it!!

Reap what you sow ....

Today is the day to sow love, kindness, generosity, and joy.  Make someone's day!  Smile for no reason and have faith that you will be filled with love, kindness, generosity, and joy as you bring it to others.    

Enjoy

Make the most of everyday

Loving Kindness Metta Meditation

30 Day Challenge: Take a few minutes each day and just listen to this meditation.  Fill yourself with loving kindness and spread it throughout the world.

Report back and let me know the miraculous changes to begin to notice in your life!!

Namaste!!

Expect miracles

For some of us, it's that time of year when we think about miracles.  I've been thinking about how amazing life is, and how everything is truly a miracle.  I'm ready to spend more time expecting miracles.  Remembering that life is out to support me in my endeavors.  How about you???

Just for today, expect great things to happen for you.  See the beauty in nature.  See the beauty in other people.  See the beauty in yourself.  You are amazing!  You are pure love at your core and you deserve the best.  You deserve miracles and today is the day to allow those miracles to appear in your life!!

Let me know all the great things that do happen!!

Laugh - it's good for you!

Oh my... it's been forever since I've been out here.  I've been doing some amazing inner work and I'm learning new skills to help others with.  But today, I want to remind everyone to laugh.

Laughing is important on so many levels.  It is great for you physically.  It can offer a great workout if you laugh long enough.  It is great for the stomach muscles.  It helps to move stale air out of your lungs and bring in new air which is essential for physical well-being and healing!!

And not to be ignored... it feels great!!  It is good for the soul.  Allow yourself a good laugh.  In fact, go out of your way to make yourself laugh.  Laugh for no reason.  Feel silly - that's good.  You are adding cheer to your life and the whole world with your laughter and silliness!!  Enjoy!

Let Go and Enjoy

I guess I could be called a Type A personality.  I have tried to control everything and get everything done. As a parent, I have quickly learned (although I resisted it and still do at times) that you really do not control everything or everyone.  In fact, you truly only have control over yourself. (And sometimes even that feels iffy!  But we do have control over ourselves.)

Lately I have started reciting the Serenity Prayer many times during the day.  God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference :)

It's important to just accept what is and welcome it. It will change since change is the only constant in life. But if you accept what is - even if you take steps to change it - you will be much happier.  That's kind of what Byron Katie's work is all about (although it goes much deeper).  But just for today, don't get angry about what is.  Accept it. Welcome it.  If you want it to change, then take steps to change it. But accept it right now because it is the way it is right now.  There is an incredible peace when we do that.  There is happiness and power.  Yes, power.  Because once we accept things the way they are, we can change them.  We can change our thoughts and our actions.  Enjoy your day and please remember to have fun.

Life is meant to be enjoyed.  Everything is okay!!  Everything works out for our highest good.  And so it is.

Something Wonderful is about to Happen!!

Too often we worry about what could go wrong.  Today I challenge you to think about all the things that could go right.  Let your imagination go wild.  Have fun.  Imagine outrageously wonderful things happening in your life.  Expect them!  Don't be disappointed if you don't see it immediately.  Know that it is on it's way.  Let me know how this goes and what good things popped up in your experience today!!  Keep it up for a month and see the results.  Wonderful things are on their way to you right now!

Be Happy - That's What Life is All About

I absolutely love this John Lennon quote.  It is so true.  Today, as you go through your day, remember that life is meant to be enjoyed.  Are you enjoying your life?  Are you making choices that make you feel happy?  What can you do differently today to feel good, really good?

I know I am often guilty of looking and planning and getting to my next "achievement" that I forget to enjoy the process.

The perfect example is that I'm doing my first half marathon on Sunday.  Some wise and wonderful friends reminded me to just enjoy the run.  Look around and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  I'll get the finish line but it's more important that I enjoy the process than that I worry about getting it done.  My training has very much focused on getting to x miles during the run.  That's not fun!  If I keep that up, I definitely will not keep up running because it needs to be enjoyable.  In this case, it's especially true for me since I'm not trying to win.  I'm not even trying to be in the top half of of the people who complete it!!  My goal is to complete it so why not slow down and enjoy the process.

When we live life only focusing on the end result, we miss years of fun and enjoyment and happiness!!  That's not the way it needs to be.  It's not the way I want to live my life anymore!!  How about you?  What are you going to do?  You can still set high achievement goals and reach them but please remember to enjoy the process.  Enjoy life.  That's what it's all about!!

What's Life About?

Sometimes we get so caught up in achieving more and more that we lose sight of what's really important.  Life is a journey.  Take time today to stop and smell the roses.  Enjoy your life!!

Remember that your life is made of all the little things that happen every day.  It's not only about the achievements.  Just don't let it pass you by!!  Enjoy every moment along the way.

Take a break today and just enjoy the moment.

Let me know how it goes and what you took the time to enjoy today!!

10 Happiness Habits

Happiness really is a choice and even though it doesn't always seem like it, it is in our grasp at every moment.

Here are some things to try when you are not feeling happy:

1. Smile - the act of smiling produces physical changes in your body that automatically improve your mood even if it is a fake smile.
2. Laugh - yes, laugh for no reason.  I love laughter yoga which is basically that - laughing for no reason!  And just for the record, fake laughter helps you as much as real laughter.  I have usually found that my fake laughs quickly turn into real laughs!
3. Read an uplifting book - the topic is personal to you because it needs to be something that makes you feel happy, hopeful, inspired, loved, etc.
4. Write in a journal - getting your thoughts on paper has been shown to be very healing on all levels.
5. Help someone else - helping people and being of service provides us with a feeling that can not be matched.
6. Write or think about what you have to be grateful for - this may seem obvious or if you are really down, you may have to work at this.  It can be that you are alive; that we have running water and electricity and indoor plumbing; that you can walk, think, talk, hear, see; that you have someone you love or that loves you; that you have food to eat; that you have a roof over your head; or, that you have a means to read this.
7. Exercise - get moving.  Even going for a simple walk will improve your mood.
8. Go out in nature - Being in nature has a way of grounding us and improving our mood.  It doesn't matter if it is the beach, the mountains, or a city park, it will help.  Take in your surroundings and feel your mood improve.
9. Meditate - If quieting your mind seems impossible, try a guided imagery type of meditation.  There are so many different ways to meditate and you can find the one that works for you. Just spend some quiet time with a simple focus.
10. Pray - If you don't feel comfortable with praying to God - think of it as asking your highest self to answer your prayers.  It can also be angels, saints, ancestors, whomever you feel comfortable to call on for assistance.  Studies have shown that prayer works.

I invite you to incorporate these into your daily life and let me know what results you notice.  You will start to feel happier.  I am certain of it.

Never give up on your dreams!!

Take Action Today

What can you do to take action toward your goals today?  Pick 5 things that will move you in the direction of your goals and do them.  If you have only done one, you will still be moving in the right direction.  Too often we get caught up in every day life and not only fail to take steps toward our goals and dreams but sometimes even forget that we have them.

Today, join me and recognizing your ultimate goals and taking at least one action in that direction!  You can do it!!  Let me know what your goals are and what step you are taking to make them a reality!!