May 23, 2011
Today’s post is a continuation of yesterday’s post about
Mirror Work, where you say, “I love you” to yourself each time you pass by a mirror.
In addition to feeling a bit goofy and awkward, this exercise can also bring up feelings of insecurity. Your inner critic may appear and start pointing out all of your physical “flaws.” If this happens, here is a great writing prompt from our
Journaling Further Within book to help combat this voice and move on in a positive way:
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By choosing to focus on what we like about our appearance instead of picking out our so-called flaws, we give energy to positivity instead of letting our inner critic control our lives.
You could even take this exercise a step further if you would like.
The next time you are standing in front of a mirror, make sure you have a pen and notebook with you. Look at yourself from top to bottom and write down every single thing that you like about your body. Leave out anything
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May 22, 2011
I love that last month’s post about
Mirror Work is one of our most read posts.
I think this is so great because I feel that self care and self love are essential for lasting happiness, and mirror work is one way to begin to love yourself.
I hope you have been participating in my 30-day mirror work invitation:
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I have found that if you can commit to something for 30 days it truly becomes a habit, and you are much more likely to continue it throughout your life.
(That’s how I started this blog, actually. I committed to myself that I would do it every day for 30 days and see where it took me – and now I am almost at 100 days! It’s become such a crucial part of my routine that I would miss it if I didn’t write each day.)
And it’s the same with mirror work (or anything else you commit to).
Louise Hay (a woman that I truly admire and look up to) believes that mirror work is the essential most powerful ingredient toward self love and self esteem.
I was listening to
Hay House Radio last night and the wonderful Lisa Nichols was speaking about mirror work as well! (You may remember her as one of the prominent speakers in
The Secret.) A caller asked her what is the quickest way toward feeling worthy and deserving of love, money, happiness, etc.
This is what she recommended:
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I am proud that you…
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I forgive you for…
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I commit to you that…
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Imagine how loved, acknowledged, and validated you will feel after doing this each day!And remember that it’s completely okay if you don’t have seven things for each category. The point is to get into the habit of acknowledging yourself and praising yourself. If you have one thing that you are proud of, make sure you say it!
Mirror work is such a great way to start loving yourself and realizing just how wonderful you truly are! Give it a try today and see how it feels! Remember that it may feel awkward and silly at first, but keep at it! Soon it will feel completely normal and wonderful. And soon you’ll start to notice positive changes happening in your life – all because you have begun to put yourself back on your priority list.
And if you miss a few days, it’s okay! (I know that I definitely have.)
Just start up again and recommit to making self care a habit.
Your soul will be forever grateful!
May 20, 2011
Have you ever felt the need to create something truly wonderful?
You get a great idea and are so excited, motivated, and can’t wait to start.
And sometimes you do just that and the magic happens.
And other times you sit for a bit too long on the idea before taking action.
Your mind kicks in and starts to wonder if it’s really a good idea to create at this moment in your life.
You think about how busy your life is and wonder if you should be adding yet another thing to your long to-do list.
And this great, inspired idea that you had goes to the back of your mind and gets filed as a “dream,” and never really makes it to an actual “creation.”
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One way to do this is to stop the overwhelming feelings before they start.
When you get a creative idea, immediately make space to bring it to life.
If your creativity comes out in a physical form (e.g., painting, crafting, etc.), clean your studio to make room for your new creations.
If your creativity comes out in the form of words, clean up your desk – recycle all of those old papers that are just taking up space.
Fill your workspace with positive mementos/photos/quotes.
Get organized in your mind and in your surroundings.
Get rid of the energy zappers in your life.
Unfinished projects.
Lists and lists of to-dos.
Messy studio spaces.
When you do this, you will immediately feel the energy flowing again.
And by clearing out the energy drains around you, you now have actually made more space for something positive and creative.
This will help you from feeling overwhelmed from the start.
And even if you don’t have something creative in mind – just the act of clearing space and making room will allow creativity to come out and blossom.
I will be doing this process over the next few days, too.
Give it a try and then come back and share with us what you were able to create because you made some space!
🙂
May 19, 2011
I woke up today thinking about yesterday’s post where I wrote about
Sanctuary One.
I am so inspired by the wonderful ways they are helping animals, people, and the planet.
I believe that we all want to be of service in some way. We all want to help others.
And maybe we are clear about how we share our gifts.
Or maybe we need a bit of guidance to figure out what we can give, see what our talents are, and learn how others could benefit from them.
Dan and I were filling out some paperwork yesterday for an authors’ program that we are a part of. We came upon the question, “What can you do to help others?” That is – what gifts do you have to offer that are unique and beneficial?
We really had to think about it (and are still thinking about it, actually). The answer didn’t just flow out for either of us, which got me thinking about how deep this question really is and how important it is to really feel and be able to embrace what we are able to give to others and to the world.
This seemingly innocuous question really has us thinking about our lives and going within to find out what gifts we are truly able to bring to others. What talents do we possess that will ultimately help others live their ideal lives? What can we offer in terms of skills, talents, personality traits that will be of service somehow?
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We will be spending the day really thinking about this question, and I thought it would be great if we could all think about it together.
What gifts do you bring to the world?
What do you have to offer that would be helpful and make someone’s life better?
It could be a specific skill that you are trained in (e.g., computer knowledge, editing, etc.)
Or it could be a personality trait that you have (e.g., listening, compassion, etc.)
How do you use your gifts to help others?
How could take it a step further and use your special talents to reach more people?
Opportunities to go within and get to know ourselves better sometimes appear unexpectedly, such as this questionnaire. And staying open and seeing it as a way to learn and grow is a great way to embrace your own inner wisdom and learn what your gifts truly are. And once you know what your gifts are, you can share them with the world!
May 18, 2011
It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to write a post about gratitude!
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May 18, 2011
(This was originally posted on 5/12/11. I’m so thankful that it wasn’t lost when Blogger reprogrammed their site. Here it is again!)
Today’s writing prompt comes from
Journaling
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May 17, 2011
As many of you know, Dan and I are about to do something that we’ve never done in the history of our company: stop production for one month to focus on our writing.
This is a really big deal for us and a big lesson in faith.
Our lives revolve around working with our wonderful customers, making products, and filling orders. Our livelihood depends on this.
And while we feel completely grateful that we have been able to live in this way, we have also realized that our lives are very much out of balance.
We realized that we work for our business instead of having our business work for us.
We wake up thinking about journals, make them throughout the day and late into the night, and then dream about making them while we sleep.
And so we knew needed to do something – to actively change the way we work – or things would always stay the same.
So we are taking this month to be quiet, reflect, go within, and see what comes out in the form of words.
We are getting back into the driver’s seat of our own lives.
And believe me, this transition hasn’t always been the smoothest.
Even today there are lessons to be learned and little tests put in front of us where we have to really go within and think about how much we want and need this change.
We are so used to reacting and saying yes to anyone who asks us to do something.
The need to please runs very deep.
And now we’ll turn that need to ourselves for one month and see how it feels.
I can’t wait to fill up my own tank.
And hopefully I will be able to give you all more of me when I return.
We are just waiting to tie up a few loose ends today, and then our shops and business will officially be in vacation mode for the next month.
Our
ebooks will all be available though (it’s an instant download), and they are all 1/2 off this entire month!
We are so grateful for all of your support.
Thank you for honoring us on this journey and encouraging us to follow our hearts.
I would encourage each of you to do the same and see where it leads…
May 16, 2011
A writing prompt from Journaling Further Within: 50 More Prompts for Self Exploration.
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Spend some time today looking back at your life.
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May 15, 2011
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And because we are all creatures of habit, we don’t always realize when we may have boxed ourselves in or gotten stuck in a comfort rut.
I had the great fortune to speak with Star Ladin from
Star Marketing Media a few months ago. She is a branding/marketing expert and really loves to help women entrepreneurs take their businesses to new levels of success. While she had tons of great advice and observations, one thing she said really stuck with me. We were talking about Etsy, which Dan and I have had some success with. At the time, our products were only available for retail sales on our
Etsy site. We had just been the
featured sellers and were feeling pretty great about how things we going.
The observation she made that day was that while Etsy was great, it was only a small drop in a world filled with endless possibilities. Why were we limiting ourselves to just one avenue of reaching people?
I was blown away by this comment – it was a true aha moment for me.
I had boxed myself in and gotten comfortable with the ways things were.
I wasn’t even aware that there were more avenues to go down.
This was such an eye-opening experience for me.
We have since started selling our journals on our own
website and have begun to truly expand our horizons in so many other ways!
I am so grateful for Star’s advice that day!
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When we get real with ourselves about everything in our lives, we can begin to consciously create our ideal life. And the best part about this process is that the possibilities are infinite! Have fun expanding your own horizon and staying open to what’s to come.
P.S. – Today is the last day to order before our one-month writing sabbatical begins!
Here are our shops:
thisisit – journals, notepads, jewelry, and wedding goodies
soulful journals – writing prompt journals
quality craft supplies – handmade paper and beautiful beads
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