SIMPLE IS THE BEST

Often I am asked what is the easiest way to bring a more positive outlook into your life.  I stress doing little things everyday until they become a habit is one of my favorite ways to start.  To that end, a good friend brought to my attention another great thing I recommend printing out and placing on the bathroom mirror, next to the coffee maker or wherever you will see it everyday.  Try reading this simple 5 line mantra every morning.  ideally you should try to feel the emotional truth behind each statement, however even reading it will change the outlook on the day.  Again, like all of the tools offered here, I recommend reading it first thing in the morning and last thing before you fall asleep as this when the mind is most susceptible to suggestion.  This mantra is from a book by Catherine Ponder a great author I suggest looking into.

I AM health, strength, peace, happiness and prosperity

I AM strong, well, vital

I AM beautiful, peaceful, poised

I AM eternally youthful

I AM happy and free

Now try reading those five lines first thing every morning, and last thing every evening.  It should take all of 1 minute, what could be quicker and easier than that?  Try it for 21 days and notice what happens when you start to remove years of negative programing.  Trust me, you will not want to stop.

SMILE

“Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love”

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa has always been a great source of inspiration to me personally.  Her service to people most of the world would rather ignore is to me the definition of compassion.  Like other aspects of her life, this quote gives us a great way to bring light and love to the world.  A lot of people ask me “what’s the big deal with a smile?” I always tell them, if you feel a smile is no big deal then why not share one with everyone?  Let’s be honest, can’t you remember at least one time when you received a smile at a most unexpected time?  Maybe from a stranger?  I must confess to being guilty of not sharing my smile as often as I should, but when I do, it never fails to amaze what doors it opens.  I have made more new friends with a smile, then with most anything else I can imagine.

A HAPPY CD

This little project takes a few minutes, but to be honest can offer years of rewards.  Everyone, no matter how positive or enlightened has a bad day.  Just the other day I was informed my job may be eliminated.  It happens, sometimes outside circumstances throw us for a loop.  What to do then?  There are steps we can take to ‘soften the blow’ of these less than cheery days.  Working with either your gratitude journal, or vision board is far more effective when you are in a positive state of mind.  So I strongly suggest in being proactive and having several tools ready for days when we are just not on top of our game, for whatever reason.

Music has a strong influence over how we think and feel.  Everyone has different tastes.  In fact, my sister and I regularly debate the merits of different musical artists.  Weather you like rock or country, jazz or hip-hop, there are songs we all enjoy dancing to and that make us feel happy and alive.  Now I’m not talking about just songs like “Don’t worry, be happy” although if that works for you, use it.  One of my favorite is “Toes” by Zac Brown as it makes me think of a tropical vacation.  Whatever your taste, take time to compile a list of all the songs that inspire you.  This can be done in an afternoon or over several days.  Then either burn them all onto a cd, or add a playlist to your favorite mp3 player.  My only caution is to avoid songs that contain angry or negative lyrics.  Not to say that music does not have merit, I certainly find some to be great for working out to, but in this case keep it happy and uplifting.  Then when sad, angry or anxious feelings come knocking, as they do for us all, you have an hour or so of music that can alter your state.  Now I am not saying this will fix or even change whatever is the cause of your feelings, but it can but you into a better state to deal with them. Combine this with some of the other tools we have listed or that are yet to come and you will conquer whatever life will throw at you! Stay strong, stay positive my friends!

VISION BOARDS

One of the main complaints I hear when discussing how to make the lives of those around us, not to mention our own, more positive and rewarding is the effort it takes. After all, in this age of job uncertainty and just trying to ‘make ends meet’ who has the extra time to worry about happiness. My first response is usually to point out that focusing on surviving will keep you in a constant state of just barely getting by. After all it has been proven what we focus on is what we attract, so why not focus on your dreams? I do not wish to discount this concern though. During the holidays especially it can seem we have 25 hours worth of things scheduled in a day. So I am always on the lookout for ways to make achieving a positive life easier and almost automatic.  Here is something even better, this one can actually be fun! It’s something you can do with your spouse or even with the kids! Continue reading “VISION BOARDS” →

ATTRACT MONEY NOW!!!

This is a title of a book by Dr. Joe Vitale. You may remember him from the movie “The Secret”.  This is not a blog about making money, but about living a more rewarding life.  Well it is true money can’t buy happiness, let’s be honest, it can make life a lot less stressful. The reason I mentioned this book is that the author has agreed to make the online copy free to readers of this blog. The book itself is filled with both practical and metaphysical ideas for attracting abundance to you. I encourage all of my readers to check it out. At the price of free, what do you have to lose? Please let me know what you think.  It is another great tool to lead a positive and rewarding life!

www.attractmoneynow.com

THE OPTIMIST CREED

Quite often I am asked if there are any “quick fixes” for starting or maintaining a positive rewarding life, well here is something I believe can truly help. First published in 1912 in a book titled “Your Forces and How to Use Them” I encourage everyone to print this off and read it every morning upon waking, and every night before retiring to start and end the day on a good note, with good focus.
THE OPTIMIST CREED
Promise yourself…
to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the bestl.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.
To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deads.
To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

weather you take a line a day or try to do it all, this is a great tool to help us all remain positive and bring light and love to the world!

IN THE FACE OF TRAGEDY

Recent events in CT may leave us searching for ways to deal with such senseless violence. First things first, we must realize there truly is no sense to it. Trying to understand such malicious acts is not going to get us anywhere. Of course neither is saying ‘how bad the country is getting’ or ‘how terrible people are now’ Personly, I am not sure if either of those statements have truth to them or if technology has made such events more available to us. Either way, it is a heavy burden on all of our hearts. There is however, a gift to be found even in such tragedy. Instead of focusing on the evil of this situation, thus giving it more energy. I feel it is fair to point out the heros who gave their lives to protect children. Not to mention how it pulled our nation together. So while we take time so send our love and prayers to all those involved, let us not forget to be grateful. Grateful for the brave first responders. Grateful for the children who are safe. Grateful for the reminder to be more patient with our own children. Remeber to rally for peace, not against violence. Now more then ever it is more important to learn to listen to and love one another.

falling off of a cliff

one interesting thing about living a positive and more rewarding life, and one you should be prepared to face once you venture on this path is challenges. Ironicly I am not speaking of lifes challenges to your positive spirit, although there is sure to be some of those, but people challenging the validity of being positive. At first this made no sense to me. Why would anyone not like a positive person? What is wrong with trying to live a life that is not only more self satisfying, but rewarding to others as well? We shall look to answer those questions and more in a future post, but I want to share with you an example of just such a situation that a coworker approached me with the other day. “what good is a positive attitude if it doesn’t change anything?” she asked me. “What do you mean?” the example she gave me seemed to shed light on one person’s view on the world. “Well, if a negative person and a positive person both fall off a cliff, will they not both hit the ground and die no matter what kind of attitude they have?” This is a good question. I think the answer may be found in the ‘life to years and not years to life’ paradigm. While it is true a positive attitude sure can help your longevity, my goal is to help you enjoy whatever time you have here, be it long or short. So what was the answer I gave this lady? Before I answer that, let me remind you of a very important lesson. People who disagree, challenge and maybe even mock or dislike you for trying to better yourself are more a reflection of themselves then of you. I know this thought may not help in the moment, but always look for the lesson. Are they forcing you to look at things a new way? Are they showing you why it is important to maintain a cherry disposition? Either way, be grateful for they are teachers wether they know it or not. My answer by the way, “Yes, they both will die, but who do you think will have more fun on the way down?” So remember, it is important to have fun every day, you never know what cliff may be around the corner!

“Be the change you wish to see in the world” – Gandhi

This has always been one of my favorite quotes. How often do we find ourselves lamenting a certain situation, event or person. I used to be as guilty as anyone of complaining the news was always negative, or people just seemed not to be as friendly as they used to be. Although i truly believe these observations to be accurate, what purpose did they serve? Sometimes events can seem to big for any of us to control. After all, what chance do I have of changing the way the nation broadcasts the news? Can I hope to make everyone treat each other with kindness? Of course the answer to both of those is no, but that forced me to revisit this quote. Sometimes the best way to begin changing the world, is by changing our own world. Now when I meet someone I try to share the positive news I have. If nothing uplifting has happened that day I may make mention of something I am grateful for. I also have made it a point to be friendly and even smile at complete strangers. To be honest it irritates a few and confuses a great many, but 90% of the time I am greeted with a smile in return. The point of all this? The strangest thing has happened since I’ve started doing this, people now make it a point to share their good news with me, and I have made quite a few new friends through my innocent smiles. So by attempting to be the change I wished to see in the world, my world has slowly changed. So I challenge you all, next time you are upset about something try to figure out what you could do to bring the opposite into being.

GRATITUDE

Gratitude, a simple word, yet few of us realize how powerful it can be. It should be fairly obvious that expressing gratitude t0 others can certainly make them feel appreciated. What many of us may not think of is what having a grateful state of mind can do for ourselves. Someone once said it is impossible to be fearful and be grateful at the same time. I would like to add ‘upset’, ‘angry’, ‘depressed’ and a host of other undesirable emotions to that list. I encourage you to challenge that theory. Compose a list of things you are truly grateful for. Make this a list of heartfelt items. Keep this list with you in a pocket or a purse for about a week. Read it upon waking, right before retiring and one other time during the day. As you read your list do your best to feel the gratitude as well as read the list. All three times should take around 5 minutes of your day. Try this for one week and let me know the positive changes you notice. Today is thanksgiving, a good day to start compiling your list. After a week you may wish to make every day thanksgiving. Live with Love my friends!