Back in October I wrote about an article I had seen on a woman with MS who had followed the advice of her spiritual leader to give away 29 gifts in 29 days. The woman followed her advice and completely transformed her life. I had been inspired by the article and had intended to follow through with the 29 days but after about 2 days got lazy and forgot the project. Then yesterday I was at the library with my kids and took a second to check out the new books that came in and this woman’s story, her book, immediately caught my eye. I plucked the book from the shelf, checked it out, and we headed home. As my kids started to nap I began to read it and became completely enthralled. I become so engaged in this book that I woke up at 3:30 this morning to keep reading it and have finished the book in less than 24 hours. I never do that anymore, mostly because I have kids, but this book was worth less sleep. And, after having read it, I feel much more alive and inspired than I have in a long time.
The book is entitled “29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change your Life” by Cami Walker. Walker was suffering from debilitating MS, lost her job, and had a great deal of debt because of this. She was newly married when she was diagnosed and her and her husband struggled with their new life together. I would love to review the book here for you, but I think it’s much more powerful to read it on your own. Her stories are empowering, relatable and inspiring. It’s hard to take her words and sum them up in a short synopsis. I highly recommend everyone to read this book.
I would however like to talk about an important concept of the book. The book is about giving to others and how it can change your life. One of the biggest things I took from the book was that giving and receiving go hand in hand. One does not exist without the other. One of the struggles that she had, and many other people have, is accepting the receiving part. There are so many times when, for example, someone takes us out to lunch and we are immediately thinking about when we can return the favor. Or someone compliments us on our outfit and we say, “Oh, this old thing. I’ve had it for years.” It often seems hard for people to simply say “thank you” and enjoy the compliment, or lunch, or whatever gift they have been given. The art of receiving is equally important as the art of giving. One cannot coexist without the other. So it is important that if you set out on a journey to give that you be willing to receive something back from the universe. Now, this doesn’t mean that you give to someone because you are expecting back. That would not be a pure intention. However, when you give with your heart and with no expectation, the world will give back to you, and it should be taken as easily as you gave.
Again, I would like to encourage everyone to get this book. Buy it, check it out from the library, or head to Walker’s website to be part of the challenge - http://givingchallenge.ning.com/.
I would like to leave you today with a thought from Walker’s book. It is a quote from her spiritual leader, Mbali Creazzo – “Healing doesn’t happen in a vacuum, but through our interactions with other people. By giving, you are focusing on what you have to offer others, inviting more abundance into your life. Giving of any kind is taking a positive action that begins the process of change. It will shift your energy for life.”
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
February 19, 2010
You will notice that I have not been writing my blog on a consistent regular basis. To be honest, it’s because I have been feeling a little bit depressed and deeply wondering how much this positive thinking stuff really works. I have been uninspired and it’s been hard to look at things positively, much less ask other people to do so.
This weekend I had a rare opportunity to run into a bookstore all by myself (no children). I was just kind of browsing around when a colorful book caught my eye. It was written by Louise L. Hay and entitled “The Power Is Within You.” It is a book of hers that I have not read and I knew instantly that I needed to read it. I thought that I would read through the entire book in one night, but when I got home and started to read it, I realized that it was something that I would go through very slowly. Why? Because it is incredibly powerful and makes you stop and seriously think about your life. While the reading is easy, the content is deep and requires a lot of contemplation.
One of the most important things that I have grasped from the book thus far is the power of affirmations. The point of affirmations is to focus on what you want in life and help you remove any limitations you have from negative beliefs and self-talk. Hay points out that we must believe that we deserve good in order to receive it. Thinking and believing negative thoughts impedes our goals and dreams. I have always thought of myself as a pretty positive person, but after reading her information on affirmations, I spent a day paying close attention to the thoughts running through my head. I was shocked at how negative they were. Negative thoughts were literally bombarding me several times every hour. My mind is a constant track of worry and negativity. While I may appear to be a positive person on the inside, the inner workings of my mind paint a very different picture. After seeing how many negative things were running through my mind during a day I started to realize – no wonder things are not working out for me. I am not spending this year thinking in a positive way. I may have thought I was doing so, but I am really just a walking piece of negative energy.
After realizing how many negative thoughts were coursing through my body, I then decided to write down one of my biggest goals/worries. I wrote down all the negative thoughts I was thinking about this subject and then on the opposite side of the page I wrote down two positive thoughts. I then immediately started saying these thoughts. Sometimes aloud and other times quietly to myself. It’s been a couple of days since I started this and I will say that at first it didn’t feel authentic. But I kept saying them because that is the only way to change our thought patterns. It still doesn’t feel authentic, but it is starting to bring peace to me when I say them. Part of all of this is that the negative thoughts are still there. In fact, they seem to be even more prevalent. I think the thoughts are testing me. Every time a thought or worry penetrates my mind, I immediately counter it with a positive thought. And, like I mentioned, it doesn’t seem true yet, but the positive thought instantly relaxes me and pushes the negative thought out of my mind.
I have been quite concerned about money, so I have been affirming a better financial picture. It’s only been a couple of days, and at this point nothing has changed. But Hay reminds us “affirmations are like planting seeds in the ground. When you put a seed in the ground, you don’t get a full-grown plant the next day. We need to be patient during the growing season.”
And that is where I am at – growing seeds of prosperity. I can’t tell you how powerful this exercise has been for me. While nothing physically has changed, yet, I can feel my mind and spirit changing. I will say, this is really hard work. It’s hard to change years and years of negative thinking and patterns that have led you to where you currently are. But I am tired of being run by negativity and I desire to have change. Changing my thoughts is the only way this will be possible.
This weekend I had a rare opportunity to run into a bookstore all by myself (no children). I was just kind of browsing around when a colorful book caught my eye. It was written by Louise L. Hay and entitled “The Power Is Within You.” It is a book of hers that I have not read and I knew instantly that I needed to read it. I thought that I would read through the entire book in one night, but when I got home and started to read it, I realized that it was something that I would go through very slowly. Why? Because it is incredibly powerful and makes you stop and seriously think about your life. While the reading is easy, the content is deep and requires a lot of contemplation.
One of the most important things that I have grasped from the book thus far is the power of affirmations. The point of affirmations is to focus on what you want in life and help you remove any limitations you have from negative beliefs and self-talk. Hay points out that we must believe that we deserve good in order to receive it. Thinking and believing negative thoughts impedes our goals and dreams. I have always thought of myself as a pretty positive person, but after reading her information on affirmations, I spent a day paying close attention to the thoughts running through my head. I was shocked at how negative they were. Negative thoughts were literally bombarding me several times every hour. My mind is a constant track of worry and negativity. While I may appear to be a positive person on the inside, the inner workings of my mind paint a very different picture. After seeing how many negative things were running through my mind during a day I started to realize – no wonder things are not working out for me. I am not spending this year thinking in a positive way. I may have thought I was doing so, but I am really just a walking piece of negative energy.
After realizing how many negative thoughts were coursing through my body, I then decided to write down one of my biggest goals/worries. I wrote down all the negative thoughts I was thinking about this subject and then on the opposite side of the page I wrote down two positive thoughts. I then immediately started saying these thoughts. Sometimes aloud and other times quietly to myself. It’s been a couple of days since I started this and I will say that at first it didn’t feel authentic. But I kept saying them because that is the only way to change our thought patterns. It still doesn’t feel authentic, but it is starting to bring peace to me when I say them. Part of all of this is that the negative thoughts are still there. In fact, they seem to be even more prevalent. I think the thoughts are testing me. Every time a thought or worry penetrates my mind, I immediately counter it with a positive thought. And, like I mentioned, it doesn’t seem true yet, but the positive thought instantly relaxes me and pushes the negative thought out of my mind.
I have been quite concerned about money, so I have been affirming a better financial picture. It’s only been a couple of days, and at this point nothing has changed. But Hay reminds us “affirmations are like planting seeds in the ground. When you put a seed in the ground, you don’t get a full-grown plant the next day. We need to be patient during the growing season.”
And that is where I am at – growing seeds of prosperity. I can’t tell you how powerful this exercise has been for me. While nothing physically has changed, yet, I can feel my mind and spirit changing. I will say, this is really hard work. It’s hard to change years and years of negative thinking and patterns that have led you to where you currently are. But I am tired of being run by negativity and I desire to have change. Changing my thoughts is the only way this will be possible.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
February 9, 2010
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about “aha” moments. You know those moments when you discover your true passion, or you decide to make a big change in your life. “Aha” moments are what inspire people to make permanent weight changes, for example. You can know all the right tools to lose weight, and you can even have some temporary success, but you will never really succeed until you are completely inspired to do so. You have to really want it!
I started this project because I wanted to change my life. And while I think I have made some small improvements, I think I am still lacking an “aha” moment. But how does that happen? Does it just smack you over the head one day when you least expect it, or do you have to put in some sort of effort for it to happen?
I was at the library yesterday picking up some books for my kids and I started browsing. A book entitled “Mommy Millionaire: How I Turned My Kitchen Table Idea into a Million Dollars and How You Can, Too” by Kim Lavine, caught my attention. I started glancing through it and eventually decided to check it out. I brought it home and as I started reading different sections I noticed a theme: persistence. I don’t have an interest in marketing a product I have created, but my writing is my product, and I thought in that sense the information was relevant. She notes in her book, “persistence in the face of resistance brings success.” I think that is never more true than when the resistance is your own fear. She further points out “there is no reward without risk, and the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.” Have you ever noticed some of the biggest success stories come shortly after someone hits bottom or has $10 in the bank? I figure this happens for one of two reasons: (a) They have risked everything and it is finally paying off and/or; (b) they were finally desperate enough to throw all caution to the wind. Risk is hard for me because I like to know what’s coming next. What I think I forget is we never really know that anyway. I also think I’m not quite desperate enough yet – although I think that time is quickly approaching. I am starting to build up some ideas in my head of what I want and they are becoming more and more pronounced every day. One of these days I will want it bad enough.
I am pushing forward though. I have submitted a recent article I wrote to three different magazine publishers. I have also written a story for a contest and applied for a writing job with About.com. I am proud of myself for doing these things – stepping out of my comfort zone. I have not had an “aha” moment just yet, but when I do, I think I will be prepared to move forward with it!
I started this project because I wanted to change my life. And while I think I have made some small improvements, I think I am still lacking an “aha” moment. But how does that happen? Does it just smack you over the head one day when you least expect it, or do you have to put in some sort of effort for it to happen?
I was at the library yesterday picking up some books for my kids and I started browsing. A book entitled “Mommy Millionaire: How I Turned My Kitchen Table Idea into a Million Dollars and How You Can, Too” by Kim Lavine, caught my attention. I started glancing through it and eventually decided to check it out. I brought it home and as I started reading different sections I noticed a theme: persistence. I don’t have an interest in marketing a product I have created, but my writing is my product, and I thought in that sense the information was relevant. She notes in her book, “persistence in the face of resistance brings success.” I think that is never more true than when the resistance is your own fear. She further points out “there is no reward without risk, and the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.” Have you ever noticed some of the biggest success stories come shortly after someone hits bottom or has $10 in the bank? I figure this happens for one of two reasons: (a) They have risked everything and it is finally paying off and/or; (b) they were finally desperate enough to throw all caution to the wind. Risk is hard for me because I like to know what’s coming next. What I think I forget is we never really know that anyway. I also think I’m not quite desperate enough yet – although I think that time is quickly approaching. I am starting to build up some ideas in my head of what I want and they are becoming more and more pronounced every day. One of these days I will want it bad enough.
I am pushing forward though. I have submitted a recent article I wrote to three different magazine publishers. I have also written a story for a contest and applied for a writing job with About.com. I am proud of myself for doing these things – stepping out of my comfort zone. I have not had an “aha” moment just yet, but when I do, I think I will be prepared to move forward with it!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
February 2, 2010
One of my biggest challenges in life has always been keeping my house organized. I’m pretty good at making sure things are always clean, it’s the clutter that seems to bury me. It is even harder when you have small children. I thought that when I became a stay home mom I would have a perfectly clean house. Little did I realize that I would actually have less time to clean. Lately, I have been feeling a strong desire to get the house organized. It could be my pregnant nesting instinct. It is also a little bit of my fear that the clutter will completely consume me when I have three children. Therefore, I have resigned myself to get my house under control once and for all.
I think part of the problem is nature. You know how there are always people when you drop by their house, unexpectedly, and it’s clean. No matter what, their house always seems clean and in perfect array. My mom is one of those people. While I have been blessed to receive many attributes from her, a perfectly organized house gene somehow didn’t get passed on. It’s not for lack of trying though. I wake up every day and say “today will be the day” and I go to bed at night staring at a pile of laundry or stack of bills I didn’t get to. I truly love being in a clean, organized home and have a tremendous amount of respect for those who keep their homes up. My husband always teases me because I am pretty obsessive about cleaning and organizing before company comes. I like to give the illusion that my house is always clean. He refers to it as playing “fake house.” It infuriates me when he says this, but he’s right. I think I am, however, finally ready for our “fake house” to be that way on a regular basis.
The problem with a disorganized house is that it bleeds in to other areas of your life. It makes you feel stressed, chaotic and often overwhelmed. In the book, Simple Steps – 10 Weeks to Getting Control of Your Life, authors, Lelas, McClintock and Zingarella point out that “messy drawers, cabinets and closets drain us of our energy.” Furthermore, their research has shown “clutter and chaos in the home appear to be linked to eating as an emotional escape. There is a connection between organizing clutter and losing weight.” If that’s not motivating what is? Louise L. Hay agrees, pointing out that in order to make room for the new in our life (and not just stuff) we must have a place to put it. Hay notes “cluttered closets mean a cluttered mind.” I, for one, know this to be true. Your house can look clean from the outside, but God forbid anyone open a drawer. When your life is lived this way it feels as though you are hiding and even though the outside looks good, you are still well aware of the work needed to be done on the inside. Hay says by cleaning closets and drawers we are making a symbolic gesture to the universe that says we are ready for change, and “the universe loves symbolic gestures.”
While all of this is enough to make you want to clean out every drawer of your house, I am going to be reasonable and set a goal of cleaning up one drawer/area every day until it’s complete. I will get rid of that which I no longer use, including those size 6 jeans that I have been planning to wear for 5 years, and I am going to make room for a new baby and a new life. I often feel my house is too small, and it is in many respects, but it doesn’t help that I don’t have things clean and organized. I am tired of the drawers and closets of my mind being cluttered and am ready for a fresh new start!
I think part of the problem is nature. You know how there are always people when you drop by their house, unexpectedly, and it’s clean. No matter what, their house always seems clean and in perfect array. My mom is one of those people. While I have been blessed to receive many attributes from her, a perfectly organized house gene somehow didn’t get passed on. It’s not for lack of trying though. I wake up every day and say “today will be the day” and I go to bed at night staring at a pile of laundry or stack of bills I didn’t get to. I truly love being in a clean, organized home and have a tremendous amount of respect for those who keep their homes up. My husband always teases me because I am pretty obsessive about cleaning and organizing before company comes. I like to give the illusion that my house is always clean. He refers to it as playing “fake house.” It infuriates me when he says this, but he’s right. I think I am, however, finally ready for our “fake house” to be that way on a regular basis.
The problem with a disorganized house is that it bleeds in to other areas of your life. It makes you feel stressed, chaotic and often overwhelmed. In the book, Simple Steps – 10 Weeks to Getting Control of Your Life, authors, Lelas, McClintock and Zingarella point out that “messy drawers, cabinets and closets drain us of our energy.” Furthermore, their research has shown “clutter and chaos in the home appear to be linked to eating as an emotional escape. There is a connection between organizing clutter and losing weight.” If that’s not motivating what is? Louise L. Hay agrees, pointing out that in order to make room for the new in our life (and not just stuff) we must have a place to put it. Hay notes “cluttered closets mean a cluttered mind.” I, for one, know this to be true. Your house can look clean from the outside, but God forbid anyone open a drawer. When your life is lived this way it feels as though you are hiding and even though the outside looks good, you are still well aware of the work needed to be done on the inside. Hay says by cleaning closets and drawers we are making a symbolic gesture to the universe that says we are ready for change, and “the universe loves symbolic gestures.”
While all of this is enough to make you want to clean out every drawer of your house, I am going to be reasonable and set a goal of cleaning up one drawer/area every day until it’s complete. I will get rid of that which I no longer use, including those size 6 jeans that I have been planning to wear for 5 years, and I am going to make room for a new baby and a new life. I often feel my house is too small, and it is in many respects, but it doesn’t help that I don’t have things clean and organized. I am tired of the drawers and closets of my mind being cluttered and am ready for a fresh new start!
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