=&0=& =&1=&  Your mind starts whirling with questions:  Did you deserve such a nice compliment?  Would you seem too full of yourself if you agreed?  Should you simply look away and say a quick thank you and then change the subject? Now imagine how you feel when you give someone a compliment. They did something very well, and you want to let them know that you recognized it. So you tell them, and they immediately deflect it or dismiss it or ignore it. How does this make you feel? I bet it hits you right in your gut and makes you sad. It probably feels like you gave them a gift that they immediately sent back. And you’ll think twice before you compliment them again.  And this is how your loved ones feel when they compliment you.  =&2=& =&3=& =&4=& =&5=& =&6=& =&7=& This is a hard lesson and might not come easily to some of us – me included.  After receiving some recent press for our business, we’ve had the completely foreign experience of being recognized several times in our daily lives. It’s something that I hadn’t prepared for and takes some getting used to. Seeing yourself through the eyes of others is a great lesson – being told that we have inspired them is wonderful to hear, especially if we can learn to own it instead of deflect it. This is what it’s all about for us. We love helping people, and we are thrilled that our books are doing just that. So I’ll continue to work on being able to fully receive the love that you all are giving us. And the next time someone asks me to sign their book, I promise I won’t get all flustered. I will simply thank them and sign it. And hopefully you can do the same in your own life. The next time someone gives you a compliment, simply accept it, smile, and say “thank you.”

We recently converted our journals into ebooks and began selling them on Amazon.  It’s such a thrill when we see that they have been purchased – knowing that we are spreading gratitude electronically is a wonderful feeling! I was thinking about this last night before I went to sleep and wondered if there were other websites where we could sell our ebooks as well. I told myself that I would start looking into it in the morning.  Today when I woke up, I checked my email and noticed a new Twitter follower. I clicked on their profile and guess what? They own a healing ebooks site with a large selection and many subscribers!  Some would call this a coincidence.  =&0=& =&1=& Things like this happen to all of us all of the time.  We just have to be conscious and aware to notice it. =&2=&=&3=& There is something very empowering about realizing our ability to create the exact life that we want – to bring our dreams into reality. This can be scary at times because we have to take responsibility for our lives. If we believe that we create our own reality, then we realize that if something isn’t working the way we had hoped in our lives it’s because of us. Somehow we brought that situation into our life. And this isn’t always the easiest to hear and process. But it works for the positive parts of our lives, too! If something is working (you have a great job, a wonderful family and friends, high self esteem, etc.) it’s because you attracted it into your life!  =&4=& If you would like to start small to see if it really works, then do that.  Think about what you want in your life and what you need to create that life.  Set an intention to attract that into your life.  Be as specific as you can.  Believe it. Feel it. Be open. And then let it go. Surrender it to your higher self.

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