Feb 28, 2011
I love Oprah’s new network,
OWN. I have admired her since I was young and grew up watching her show. I love how she has evolved into using her show to inspire and show us all how we can live our best lives.
In one of the new shows on
OWN, lucky viewers were chosen to compete for their own show. It was a great show to watch and see what each person wanted to share with the world – what they thought their strengths were – and how they chose to inspire people. It just ended a few days ago with Oprah choosing the winner and offering a great surprise! (I won’t say what that is if you haven’t seen it yet and want to watch.)
It got me thinking about my own life and if I had the opportunity to have my own show, what would it be about? It’s fun to dream about this, and it really got me to focus on what I see as my life’s purpose – what is the message that I want to share with everyone – why am I here – how can I help others – what do I see as my strengths, etc?
While I would still like to take some more time to journal about this and dream a bit more, I know that my show would be very More
Feb 27, 2011
I thought it would be fun to post questions/writing prompts from our Soulful Journals from time to time.
A question from our
Journaling Within book is up first!
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Really take some time to think about this and then write what words come up.
If you would like to take it a step further, write about how you feel about these words.
Did any surprise you?
Are there any that you are proud of?
Are there any that you would like to change?
Would you want to be friends with someone who had these traits?
Have
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Feb 26, 2011
I first learned about saying affirmations many years ago after reading
Louise Hay’s books. She is an expert on them, and they were a huge part of her recovery from cancer.
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If you haven’t said affirmations before, it might feel a bit strange at first. Especially when what you are saying doesn’t feel real yet.
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You created this affirmation because this is what you want for yourself – this is how your ideal life looks.
However, at the present moment, your life may be far from this. That’s okay. We all have to start at the beginning. Say this affirmation to yourself and out loud often throughout your day. Look at yourself in the mirror and say it. Write it onto post-it notes, and hang them all around your house. Even if it feels strange at first, keep saying it – keep believing it – and before you know it, it will sink in, and you will be living a calm, balanced life.
They really do work, but you have to keep at it and keep believing in it. When you say it to yourself, really feel what that calm balanced life feels like. Really remember why you created this affirmation to begin with. Really imagine yourself living this life each time you say the words.
Affirmations are amazing tools for visualizing and creating our authentic lives. They are wonderful for our self esteem and our well being.
Spend some time today writing down your affirmations. This is the fun part of the process – you get to dream and really think about what kind of life you want to create! When you write your own, make sure to write in the first person whenever possible.
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I created this screensaver for myself years ago, and I still use it today. I am happy to share it now with you! It comes with 12 affirmations – each paired with one of our paintings.
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Simply put “affirmations” in the subject line. We’ll then email it to you with instructions.
Have fun creating your affirmations, putting them up around your house, and saying them! You’ll be amazed at how much your life will change once they start to sink in!
Feb 25, 2011
There is always so much to be grateful for. Even in the toughest of times, you can always find even the littlest thing to be thankful for. And studies have shown that expressing your gratitude daily helps create a happier mindset, which in turn leads to a healthier, longer life.
You may want to spend some time today and write a list of what you are grateful for. When Dan and I first met, we each kept “Things That Make Me Happy Lists.” We would continue to add to them – and we had tons of entries. From the bigger things (like each other) to the smaller things (like someone letting you go ahead of them in the grocery line). These lists are great to post somewhere in your home where you will see them often. And be sure to update them frequently, too as your interests change. If you are ever having a rough day, you can go back to your happy list, and I guarantee it will immediately cheer you up.
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| A once-in-a-lifetime moment…they really aren’t friends. |
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| Here they are on the day they were born. |
Two years ago, we had just lost our sweet cat, Pato, after a 2-year battle with kidney failure. We were absolutely devastated and heartbroken. He was an amazing cat, and our lives revolved around taking care of him. More
Feb 24, 2011
This is a really important (and sometimes really hard) question to answer.
In an ideal world, we are living for ourselves and only doing things that make us feel great and are on our authentic path.
But…it doesn’t always work this way. It’s normal to want to please others. It’s normal to want to be liked. But ask yourself at what expense are you willing to sacrifice your own wants and desires to fit in.
Think of how you live and the decisions you have made and continue to make.
Are you making them based on what you think people will want or expect you to do?
Are you making them because someone else’s voice (a parent, a spouse, a friend) is inside of you directing how you live?
Are you making them because you don’t want to upset anyone?
Are you making them because that’s how you’ve always done it?
And now think about how you want to live. The answers are always within us if we just take the time to listen.
As the answers come to you, write them down. And as you write them down, make sure that it is your authentic voice coming up with the answers. This is an exercise that you can keep coming back to with every part of your life – every decision, every action you make, every second of how you live your day.
Make sure you are living YOUR life – whatever that means for YOU.
There may be friction…
Sometimes when you start coming into your own power – your own authentic self – the self you know you were meant to be – friction occurs with those around you. When someone we love changes, it can sometimes be seen as threatening. It can bring up emotions, fears, and questions about our own life. This is why so many people resist it and why so many of us live lives that we know aren’t our best lives – comfortable, “I’m not rocking the boat” lives. And through this process of finding your own voice, you may have to let go of the voices you have carried within you – and this may mean letting go just in your mind or letting go of that person in reality as well.
Sometimes the perceived friction is only in our heads…
We all know how active our imaginations can be. When we are consciously deciding to live our best lives, we can start imagining how rocking the boat will lead to anger, disconnect, and complete withdrawal from those we love. We just know they won’t support us or understand this new person we are becoming. We get ourselves all worked up just thinking about showing them our authentic self. We are so afraid we won’t be accepted. And sometimes we aren’t. But more often than not, our loved ones completely support us and are completely okay with our changes. And we wonder why we were so worked up about it in the first place.
Showing ourselves and the world who we really are can More
Feb 23, 2011
This is a continuation of yesterday’s post where I talked about how we create our life with our thoughts. In this post I focus on our beliefs about our own worth.
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It all comes down to our thoughts, our beliefs about ourselves, and our self worth.
To give an example – imagine you are looking for a life partner. All you have ever wanted in life is to find someone who loves you for you – who appreciates you – who cares about you – and who would give anything to be with you. You know you deserve this.
And yet…the partners you actually end up with are afraid of commitment, treat you horribly, don’t appreciate you, and don’t More
Feb 22, 2011
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This is one of my favorite quotes because it’s true. We all have active imaginations, and we are all thinking a million thoughts each day – many of which we aren’t even aware of.
Have you ever had someone ask you what you were thinking and realized that it was hard to put it into words because either 1.) you were thinking many different things at the same time or 2) you are so used to being on auto pilot that you had absolutely no idea.
Regardless of whether you are conscious More
Feb 21, 2011
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If you are a planner and like to be in control, this can be an unsettling fact. But if you can learn to roll with and embrace change, it can truly be seen as a welcome and much needed adjustment to your life when it appears.
We are going through some pretty major changes with our business, and I have to keep reminding myself that change is a good thing – knowing that without it we wouldn’t grow, learn lessons, or expand our horizons.
Our changes involve moving more toward our passion More
Feb 19, 2011
It’s easy to have faith in life, the universe, and yourself when things are going great.
The challenge is to still believe that everything is going to work out even when things seem tough and out of sync.
When you hit a rough patch in your life, take some time to write about why you might be going through this phase.
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Trusting, surrendering, believing, and having faith in life. If we can learn to do this, our lives will flow beyond what we thought was possible.
So if you are currently in a rough spot in your life, take a moment and breathe, believe, ask, and receive.
I promise it will get better.
