I’ve had several close, personal friends come to me lately for advice.  Considering this to be a huge compliment and ultimate faith in my ability to give good advice I, naturally, want to help.  Most of these people are now avid readers of this blog and know my philosophies, so they have come to me out of a sense of, “This isn’t working for me and I can’t figure out why – can you?”

About 98 percent of the time, every desire not yet manifested, and nearly every problem, stems from four basic areas.  Whether it’s something that you’re trying to create, or a situation you’d like to change, consider these 4 questions and you’ll find your blockage almost immediately.

Have you identified your desire in detail? Have you used your imagination to picture the new car, house, people treating you better at work, etc?  Your imagination is your most useful tool in recreating your life.  Since I just wrote a post on this, Facing Reality, I’m not going to spend any more time on it here, just remember to use your imagination, as you did when you were a child, to visualize your desired outcome – whatever that is.  (Most of you are getting pretty good at this.  That’s great!)

Do your thoughts reflect your true desire? What is your internal dialogue like?  You know what I’m talking about; when you’re going about your daily routine, or just sitting and mindlessly watching television, are your thoughts positive or negative?  Are you thinking about what you want and getting excited about it?  Or are you imagining “worst case scenarios” for other areas of your life?  Read How to Conquer Persistent Negative Thoughts if you think this is an issue for you, and if internal banter is a problem, check out, How to Control Your Internal Dialogue.

Do your words reflect your desire? What do you talk about?  I’m not saying that you have to share your goals with everyone you know, in fact, I usually advise against doing so.  I’m also not advocating that you talk about your dreams all the time.  But all of that gossip, negativity, bringing other people down for no reason whatsoever, or reliving how someone hurt you - all of it lowers your vibration and keeps you from getting what you want.  This is probably the biggest room for improvement in the lives of most of my friends.  You say you want one thing, but then you talk about all of your problems, everything that’s going wrong in your life, and all in the excuse of needing to talk about it.  You would be better off spending that time alone, visualizing your ideal day, interacting with no one, than participating in the latest water cooler scandal.  When you sit down for lunch with your co-workers, do you share all the good things that are happening in each others’ lives, or do you talk about the people who aren’t there at the moment, or the boss, or the company, or about how hard it is to make a living working there, etc?  Your mother was right:  If you don’t have something good to say, say nothing at all.

Read Achieve Success by Surrounding Yourself with a Positive Environment for more on this topic.

Do your actions reflect your aspirations? Are you “acting as if,” in faith?  Or are you letting other things get in the way?  Are you doing everything you can to be the person you say you want to be right here, right now, in this very moment?  Remember, determine what you want to be and then be that; do what you feel inspired to do; and you will have everything you want to have.  If you truly believe that your desire is possible, if you believe in God and the universe, and if you believe that all things are possible, your actions will reflect that belief.  You will no longer speak unkind things and you will guide your thoughts and develop the ability to focus on your true desires.  Once you accomplish this, the world is your oyster.  Wouldn’t that be worth it?

Until next time,
Live joyfully!

Technorati Tags: Motivation, Success

Posted under Law of Attraction, Leadership, Motivation, Success, Weight Loss

Wouldn’t you love to wake up every morning with a zest for life, feeling blissfully happy in virtually every moment? I learned how, and I’m willing to show you how to as well. If you will apply just a few of the techniques I teach in this e-book, you will never be depressed again. You will live joyfully, each and every day. Here’s how it works:

Have you ever read something - whether a single line, statement, or idea - that changed your life?  I have, and since I create systems for a living, I’ve developed a system for creating the life of your dreams.

When you download my e-book, “Wake Up and Create the Life You Want,” you will discover:

• How to get complete control of your life and be self-empowered. You’ll never feel like a victim again.
• How to decide what to do with the rest of your life. Never wonder again if you’re on the right path or just wasting your time. You will know after you’ve read this e-book.
• How to set goals you can actually achieve. Find out when to “think big” versus being realistic – what truly works and what doesn’t. You won’t waste your time and energy just to end up discouraged again.
• How to create your own, personalized, step-by-step action plan to get you excited about your life. I teach you the difference between the daily effort and action you’re putting forth now and the inspired action that you long for – and deserve. You’ll wake up eager to start your day.
• How to motivate yourself into action. Sure, motivational books are wonderful, but I teach you how to write your own motivational book. Learn how to Live Joyfully NOW!
• How to maximize your personal productivity. Sometimes, we feel like we’ve wasted a lot of our time being depressed or not on the right path. Not to worry, I’ll show you how to get up to speed in no time! (I use this process every day, my days fly, I get amazing amounts accomplished, and I’m blissfully happy in doing it! You will be, too.) And you can download this e-book right now.
• How to raise your vibration and feel good no matter what. I teach you the specific techniques that I use to be in a good mood and feel great about myself no matter what is going on in my life or what someone has said about me. You will always be in control of your mood. Get Wake Up now!
• How to look and feel your best every day. You’ll understand why it’s worth it and why I don’t do anything until I’m “in the mood.”
• How to figure out what is holding you back, and - no matter what it is - how to fix it.

Read this letter from one of the first people to buy and read my book: (printed with her permission)

Dear Debra,

I bought your ebook last week and feel strongly compelled to say Thank You!

You have addressed a gap in the self-development market by emphasizing action with pointers on how to go about it. I love your practicality.

My mission: To go through your Guide from beginning to end, picking up pointers and implementing them in my life. Already I can see results, with more action being taken towards my goals instead of being side-tracked or endlessly planning without action.

Once again, thank you.

Cheers,

Fiona Arbuthnot

I have received tons of e-mails and letters just like this one and I want to get one from you! You want this too - Why don’t you give it a try? You will also get the following free bonuses:

* My Special Report on “The Science of Getting Rich,” which is a summary of the book by Wallace D. Wattles (made available by Rebecca Fine) written with my personal approach to Mr. Wattles’ work. One reader applied my techniques just from this report alone and was able to buy a new van for his family within one month! What would you do with an extra $30,000 this month?

* “The Science of Getting Rich,” is included in the free report outlined above. It is a wonderful guide that proves my methods have withstood the test of time.

What would it be worth to you, to never be depressed again?

What value would you place on having a personal coach, on your computer, that, when you’re feeling low, you consult her and she lifts you up, instantly?

I’ve seen coaching programs sell for as high as $50,000, seminars like this start at $1500, but you can get the same results by just buying my e-book for $27.

Are you ready to take charge of your life?

Why my e-book? Because I’ve been exactly where you are, I’ve come out of it, and live every day in joy. I know what it’s like to feel completely powerless, like your stuck in a situation with no hope of getting out of it, depressed beyond your wit’s end, in complete and total despair.

But now I also know how to get control when something happens to set me back on my heels. I’ve documented everything that works, how it works, why it works, and how to use it. I share this information in my seminars, but I’d really like to get it into the hands of as many people as possible so that we can all lead happy, healthy, spirited, joy-filled lives full of excitement.

Technorati Tags: mission, action

Posted under Motivation

When I’m asked to give an impromptu speech or share my coaching tenets, there are seven basic proficiencies that come to mind.  Whether you’ve just started your business or have a long record of success, take a moment to check out these tips to make sure you’re in great shape.

1. Be friendly.  Be the type of person others want to be around and you’ll have no trouble with getting clients or employees.
2. Show appreciation.  Let your customers, employees, business associates, vendors, suppliers, friends, and family know that you appreciate everything they do for you.
3. Be a good listener.  The answer to any problem is always right in front of your face.  Sometimes the person in the midst of it can’t see it because they’re too involved.  By listening calmly, you can often help them find the solution quickly.
4. Avoid arguing; it consumes too much of your energy.  Proving that you’re right to someone who is not going to do business with you is never worth it in the long run.  Move on; they’ll figure it out and possibly come back if you didn’t make them angry.
5. Be noticeable.  (In a good way, of course!)  Play up your great qualities.  Dress the part.  Find a persona and develop it.  Find ways to be the person – and the business – you want to be.
6. Sincerely praise others.  We always remember those who uplift us and leave us feeling a little better about ourselves – be that person to the people in your life, even if it’s just the people at your luncheon table.
7. The absolute best way to improve your business is to improve yourself.  Be vigilant about self-improvement.  Improve the owner and the business gets better automatically.  There are thousands, possibly millions now, of self-development courses, books, coaching programs, and websites.  Take part in all of them!  Invest in yourself just as you would your business.  When you’re a business owner, you are your business.

Of course, between writing this and posting this, I’ve thought of several more, but I’ll save those for another time.

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Get Inspired! What do you want to create? Wake Up and Create the Life You Want: A Guide to Self-Empowerment has helped hundreds of women business owners create the life of their dreams. You can read their stories here. If you choose the downloadable version, it comes with my free report on “The Science of Getting Rich.”

Get Organized! Learn the secrets of getting and staying motivated and organized with the Eliminate Clutter and Organize Your Life E-book. This inspiring book gives you step-by-step instructions for getting control of every area of your life. No woman should be without this powerful guide. Click here for the table of contents and to purchase.

Be sure you’ve signed up, downloaded, are reading through and utilizing all of the freebies I’m giving out for the New Year. If you missed them, you can sign up now.

Posted under Motivation

The easiest way to get sales in any business is to be seen as the leader in your industry.  To do that, you have to stand out from your competitors.  The best way that you can stand out from your competitors is to position yourself as a business partner, always looking for ways to improve your client’s business.  Never assume that they’ve already thought of or tried your idea, and always be on the cutting edge besides.

Help Your Customer’s Business
When you deal with a business person, you can be sure of one thing: that person thinks about her business day and night. It is very close to her. It is dear to her heart. And if you come in and talk to her and ask pertinent questions about the business, looking for ways to help her run her business better, the customer is going to warm up to you and want to be associated with you and your company.

Differentiate Yourself from Your Competitors
As a partner, you should always be looking to help your customer to cut costs and improve results in his or her area of responsibility. You should look for ways to help your customer in non-business areas as well. You should position yourself as someone who cares more about the success of your customer than anything else, even more than you care about selling your product or service. This approach to partnering in profit with your customer is a key way to differentiate yourself and to keep your customer for the indefinite future.

Don’t Criticize
The biggest mistake people make when first applying this concept, is to find fault and express it in a horrible way.  Don’t do that!  Soften whatever you need to say with, “I see you’re very successful at . . . .  Have you ever thought about . . .?  I could help you by . . .”  Then use your standard closing of, “would you like to hear more about that?” or even “Is that of interest to you?”

Practice the Reciprocity Principle
There is a principle of reciprocity in business that is very powerful. It is simply this: If you do something nice for someone else, they will feel obligated to do something nice for you. You should be looking for opportunities to go the extra mile, to do more than you are paid for, to put in more than you take out. By extending yourself, you improve your positioning in the customer’s mind and increasingly differentiate yourself and your company from your competitors who are after the same business. If you do this long enough and strong enough, you will eventually develop the partnership to the point where your competitors don’t have a chance against you.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

1. Think about how you can help your customer’s customer with your product or service. Take time to understand how your customer uses your product to do her business better.  Create a list and add to it when you think of something new, then review the list before your next meeting.
2. Focus on increasing your customer’s profits and financial results.  Use your list and work with your client to reduce costs and increase sales volume.  Show your customer that doing business with you is both satisfying and profitable in the long run.

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Get Inspired! What do you want to create? Wake Up and Create the Life You Want: A Guide to Self-Empowerment has helped hundreds of women business owners create the life of their dreams. You can read their stories here. If you choose the downloadable version, it comes with my free report on “The Science of Getting Rich.”

Get Organized! Learn the secrets of getting and staying motivated and organized with the Eliminate Clutter and Organize Your Life E-book. This inspiring book gives you step-by-step instructions for getting control of every area of your life.  No woman should be without this powerful guide.  Click here for the table of contents and to purchase.

Be sure you’ve signed up, downloaded, are reading through and utilizing all of the freebies I’m giving out for the New Year. If you missed them, you can sign up now.

Posted under Education, Leadership, Success

With a new year often comes big changes and this year is bigger than ever for me.  I am changing the direction of this site in order to be more of a resource for women business owners.  While motivation, education, and inspiration, are concepts anyone can benefit from, I’ve been inspired to re-organize all of my websites and it makes the most sense to spin this site to be geared toward helping female entrepreneurs.

Some of the changes you will see very soon are:

The weight-loss articles are moving to their own site.  They are generating enough traffic and comments to warrant it and they have been a distraction to what I want to express here.

All of the dental practice management articles will spin off to their own site as well.  I recently sent one person to this site for the DPM articles and he thought I was out of business in that arena because of all of the “unrelated” articles.  It just goes to show how much you need to focus if you’re serious about doing business on the web.

What does all of this mean to my current readers?  If you enjoy my writing style and get benefit from it, you will continue to do so.  If you subscribe to my We Are All Self-Employed philosophy, every post will continue to inspire you.  I have frequently written my articles from a woman’s perspective, (not much choice there!), and since I am a woman business owner, most of what I write comes from that perspective as well.

I will obviously provide updates as the new sites are developed, once they are up and running.  You will likely see changes weekly.  I am expanding my speaking and consulting businesses at the same time, so the time frame for completion is one year.

Hopefully, you will notice the more streamlined approach to this site and be able to find the information you’re looking for much easier.

Until next time,
I Invite YOU to Live Joyfully!

Posted under Leadership, Motivation, Success

Have you ever changed your mind?  Of course you have – we all do.  Why is that?  Because things change.  Circumstances change, things happen, we get new information, we receive more or less money that we had expected from a project and that causes us to change a decision.

If you’ve been reading this blog for very long, you know that I’m a big planner.  I like to plan everything.  I wasn’t always this way, I’ve developed the habit over the past 25 or so years, and it gets stronger all the time.  Why is that?

The reason I like planning so much is because it gives me such a thrill.  Why is that?

As someone who believes in living in the moment and listening to the call of source, and as someone who knows the power of listening to your instincts and that feeling of inspiration, I still whole-heartedly believe in planning.   Here’s how I see it.

Planning is an exercise that makes me use my imagination.  I use planning as a tool to pre-pave my future with my current intentions which makes me think about and utilize the resources I have at my disposal right now.  In many cases, especially when planning a long-term goal, I know that there will be many intermediate steps along the way that I can in no way fill in right now while I’m planning.

However, the important concept to consider is, what am I doing in my now to make my dreams a reality in the future?  Since my only power is in the now, if I don’t do something now toward accomplishing my goals, they will stay forever in my future.

A lot of people confuse planning with procrastination.  You can’t allow a lack of planning to keep you from taking the next logical step, and vice versa.  When you feel inspired to do something, do it.  Don’t over-analyze it.

When you don’t feel inspired, just start planning your future reality and see if anything comes to mind.  You might be surprised – and delighted!

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Conscious Creation, Inspiration, Motivation, Success

I refuse to focus on problems.  I am solution-oriented instead.  You cannot be focused on something without activating the vibration of it and therefore attracting more of it.  Focus on all of the well-being in your life and you will get more of it; focus on the lack of something and you will continue to lack it.

When a problem arises in your life, bless it.  That’s right, I said, “BLESS IT!”  Contrast from our desires helps us find solutions and achieve our desires more quickly.  When someone comes to me with a problem, (and this took a while to do consistently, by the way), I immediately ask them, “What do you want from me?”  Or, “What do you want me to do about it?”  And sometimes, I just ask, “What do you want?”

I refuse to sit and listen to problems, because, in my mind, there are no problems; there are solutions waiting to be found and they had to get your attention in some way.  Let me put that another way:  A problem is nothing more than a solution trying to get your attention.

I don’t usually write poetry.  In fact, I’ve never written a poem outside of a classroom assignment.  But during my regular writing session today, I was inspired to write the following.  I hope you enjoy it, but more importantly, I hope you embrace it.

Bless this problem, O Lord, I pray,
Bless each problem, from day to day.

I know that from contrast, I find my best,
It is in the solution, I find my zest.

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Conscious Creation, Inspiration, Law of Attraction, Leadership, Motivation, Success

Many people get time off this time of year.  Between Advent, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, Soya Luna, Dong Zhi, Boxing Day, Omisoka, and others I’ve left out, we should all get some days off in December.  Are you going to make the most of them?

I know, I’m making it sound like work, which is what you’re trying to get away from, but bear with me on this for a few paragraphs.

The holidays are an excellent excuse to develop one of the most important skills you can have – social.  Happiness in life, to a large degree, comes from good relationships with other people, in your family and personal life, as well as at your work.  The work on emotional intelligence by Daniel Goleman and others suggests that your social skills will have more of an impact on your success than your intellectual ability, education, and experience combined.  How are your social skills?

Fortunately, social skills are both learned and learnable.  Some of us come to them more naturally than others due to our personality types, but there is much to be said for how we were brought up as well.  If you had a parent who was naturally the “life of the party,” you either embraced their talent and easily mix with others, or you shied away from social situations and feel uncomfortable even today among family, friends, and peers.

While there are many points I could make about social skills, the biggest mistake I see people make in social settings is that they get too wrapped up in themselves.  No one joins a pity party, so never start a conversation with everything wrong that’s happened to you over the past year.

Instead, be interested, not interesting.  Ask questions.  How’s your spouse?  How old are your children now?  What colleges are they pursuing?  Be on the lookout for ways you can genuinely help someone else.  Maybe one of your employees’ teenagers is trying to get into an internship program and the person making the decision is in another one of your social groups.  A “good word” from you just might be the spark that establishes a win-win for both parties and makes you look like a hero.

Of course at some point you’ll need to share a few things about yourself, and without being untruthful, describe your life in the best light possible.  Expressing an attitude of, “I lost my job in October due to cutbacks in my company, so I’ve had a lot of time to research myself and my talents and I am eagerly awaiting the next opportunity,” will inspire others to help you in whatever way they can, while an attitude of, “I got canned and I’m waiting for MY government bailout,” will make others want to “move on.”

Spend quality and quantity time with your immediate family.  Create memories.  Plan vacations and local outings that everyone will enjoy.  Most importantly, let your intention be to have fun, then relax and let it happen.

When you dedicate yourself to creating and maintaining a wonderful personal life, the quality of every other area of your life will improve.  You will be happier, healthier, more rested, relaxed, and productive.  You will experience greater happiness and satisfaction at home, and you will be far more effective and capable when you go back to work.

Have an inspirational holiday!

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Inspiration, Motivation

An enthusiastic attitude is one of the most important aspects to a successful life.  Yet, enthusiasm is really an art – it must be practiced in order to be performed well, and enjoyed on a regular basis.

I have two friends right now who are new mothers, working full time, and starting online courses in January.  One of them came to me the other day asking for advice.  ‘”I’m beginning to wonder how I’m going to do all of this.  I know you’re a positive thinker, can you give me any words of wisdom?”

My first thought was, “how much time do you have?”   I’m a motivational speaker – I can give you weeks’ worth of profound wisdom and advice!

But since this was a close, personal, friend whom I’ve come to know very well, I decided to just give her the truth about what I see.  I didn’t come right out and say it, but I had been wondering how she was going to do it all as well.  From my observation of people throughout the past 20 years, the ones who accomplish the most and are the happiest are the ones who embrace and develop enthusiasm.  Successful and happy people, the ones I know personally, are high-energy, positive thinking, very focused, and just generally upbeat people.  They always have strong faith, (although no particular denomination stands out), and usually will readily deject or at the very least get away from negative thinking and negative people.  They have boundless energy and are always smiling.

My friend, despite her good intentions and determination, does not have these qualities.  But then, I don’t know of many of us who do have them naturally.  You have to want to be enthusiastic, and then you have to focus on that desire long enough to develop habits that support it.  What I want to share with you today, are some ways I have found to develop enthusiasm.

1. Don’t sleep too much, and don’t worry about insomnia.  An enthusiastic person is a high-energy person and I’ve never met a high-energy person who sleeps a lot.  Now, we all have different requirements when it comes to sleep, so I’m not going to give you a number.  You know what your number is.  If you’re taking sleep aids to help you sleep and caffeine to help you stay awake, your sleep habits are off balance.  If you’re working on a project that you’re excited about, you can probably get by on as little as 4 hours a night for awhile.  Once the project is completed, you’ll likely go quickly back to your normal hours.  Instead of worrying about not sleeping, use that time to channel your energy into something positive.  Work if you want, relax and watch TV, read a book – use that time to chill out.  The advantage to working is that it just might help your mind relax so that you can go to sleep.  I usually look at my next day’s schedule, do a few little tasks, and then relax knowing that everything else will get done tomorrow.  Sometimes, just staying up an extra hour helps me unwind and then get a good night’s rest.
2. Work out – get on the treadmill.  Do something to get your body going.  Your body is the housing, the casing, if you will, for your mind and is the robot of your spirit.  It needs to be in good working order.  Don’t exercise to lose weight, just do it to feel good.  In time, you’ll likely look good, too, but at first, just focus on how good it makes you feel now.
3. Read more. Knowledge about what you’re doing, getting ready to do, or would like to do, is very empowering.  Empowered people are enthusiastic people.  There is nothing that builds self-esteem faster than going to work, going to class, or going to a social event and knowing that you’re going to get it right.  You have the latest information and you know it cold.  When you approach your work, school, and life with enthusiasm, learning will not feel like a chore, it will feel like passion.
4. Focus your thoughts on what you want – what will it look like and how will it feel once you’ve achieved your accomplishment?  It’s okay if you don’t know exactly, just how to you think your life will be when you’ve achieved your goal?  Don’t get too caught up in the details.  Set your thoughts on what you want and define only as many details as you can and still feel good.  Don’t get caught up in being too specific on how your desires will come to you.  The universe will take care of that.  Listen for inspiration and follow it when it comes.
5. Demonstrate the enthusiastic attitude that you’d like to create.  Pretend.  Fake it until you make it.  I know a lot of people this has worked for.  You can get a vision of who you want to become so vividly, and then play the part so well, that before long, even you believe you are that person.  Why is that?  Because your actions define you are and will become.
6. Appreciate where you are now.  Right now on a sheet of paper or word processor, list 5 things you’ve accomplished in the past week.  Look at all you’ve done and how far you’ve come.  Yes, you will always want more.  But even when you accomplish that, you’ll still want more.  That’s how we grow and become more – by wanting more.  Being satisfied with where you are while enthusiastically expecting more is the fastest way to creating anything you want.
7. Stop complaining. Stop finding fault.  Stop speaking your discord.  Eventually, as you stop saying negative things, you’ll stop thinking negative things.  Once you start speaking and thinking positively on a regular basis, your experience will get better and better.  But don’t take my word for it – try it and see for yourself.
8. Train your brain to find the positive aspects of every situation.  Do you believe that within every adversity is a blessing?  It’s true.  Every obstacle is an opportunity to discover something about yourself and become better.  See every problem from that perspective and you will never have a bad day every again.  In reality, there are no bad days, there are just some days when you grow more than others!  (Stop and think about that one for a moment.)
9. Smile.  Greet people cheerfully and genuinely.  This is the first sign I get that a person is truly enthusiastic and either is or is going to be successful in life.  When I meet someone and they divert their eyes, are distracted constantly, or have to force a smile and cheerful greeting, I know they either don’t want to be there, or are miserable on the inside in some way.  The good news is that by smiling and focusing on the other person, you will momentarily forget whatever it is that is bothering you.  This is called relief and it can have a huge impact on your thought processes.  Various studies have shown that smiling releases endorphins much the same as exercising.  Try it.  Let me know how it works for you.
10. Plan.  There’s just something soothing and energetic about a well-laid-out plan.  Now, you don’t have to stay rigidly adhered to a long-term plan.  I’m a believer in going with your gut, listening to your inner being and taking what feels like the next logical step.  But for me and many other successful people that I talk with, having a plan to start with is energizing and helps keep you motivated because it keeps you on track and helps you notice those serendipitous opportunities when they come along.
11. Get organized and simplify.  What do you really want?  Pick two or three things for now and put everything else on the back burner – you’ll get to it one day.  (If it’s meant to be.)  What’s important to you now – right now – this very moment?  One idea I shared with my friend was to focus on just the roles she’s bound to already:  Mother, wife, employee, and student.  Housekeeper, gourmet chef, landscape artist, part-time blogger, and other things that are stressing her out need to go on the back burner for now.  In the future, if she finds herself bored, she can pick back up with any of those.
12. Dale Carnegie had the best advice of all:  Stop Worrying and Start Living.  Enthusiastic people have trained themselves to focus on solutions and finding them quickly, instead of dwelling on the problems.  When something happens in your life that displeases you, make your mind go immediately to “how can I fix this?”  or “What is it that I do want? And how can I get that?”  If the answer doesn’t come immediately, go for a jog.  Clear your head.  Go dancing.  You’ve experienced situations when you dwelled on an issue for hours on end and came up with nothing.  Finally you gave up and a few hours later what happened?  The solution “came” to you.  You were probably either in the shower or taking a nap or doing something else completely unrelated.  We’ve all had that experience.  People who are successful – and by that I mean happy and satisfied with their life, but eager for more – have trained themselves to not worry about anything, but instead think about solutions using all three parts of their being - body, mind, and spirit.  In our Western culture, we tend to put all of the emphasis on our mind, leave our spirit out of things, and let our bodies suffer.  My friends, the sooner you embrace the connection of your spirit to what your mind is thinking and your body is doing, the sooner you will find the success, inner peace, and happiness that you seek.  How can you tell when you’re on the right path?  You’re enthusiastic about it.

Your assignment for today is to follow the calling of your inner being.  While reading this article, you have felt inspired to do something.  Do it.  Trust me, you’ll be glad you did!

Related Articles:
My Intuition Saves a Child’s Life
7 Ways in Increase Your Enthusiasm
The Power of Momentum
The Power of a Smile

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Conscious Creation, Inspiration, Law of Attraction, Leadership, Motivation, Success

It’s the time of year again where we all take on more than we probably should:  Extra parties, extra chores, extra shopping, extra expense, extra devotion of our personal time, and extra of just about everything.  All of that “extra”vaganza can leave us feeling overwhelmed and burned out.  Today I want to share with you a couple of ways I’ve learned to chill out during the holiday season.

Pace yourself. This might require a little forethought and planning, but will be well worth it.  For example, in decorating the house and the office for the Christmas holiday, I started early, and spread the projects out over 2 weeks.  I’ve found that if I try to do everything in 2-3 days, I end up physically exhausted for two weeks anyway.  By spreading things out, I have more time to think about how I’m going to decorate, making my projects better in the long run.   I have time to shop for additional items to make everything truly special.  I enjoy the process instead of dreading it.

Meditate. Have you heard about this?  It’s not just for metaphysical, new age, positive-thinking junkies anymore.  More and more studies at top research facilities around the world are documenting scientific evidence of the health and longevity benefits of meditation.  In fact, it’s become a widely acknowledged fact that daily meditation is not just good for you, but has been proven to actually extend your life.

Now, like many of you, I find it very difficult to find the time and/or patience to sit down, quiet my mind, and let go of all those thoughts racing around in my head.  I know I should, I believe in the benefits, but getting even 15 minutes of uninterrupted time during a workday can be tough, and if I can make it happen, I feel like I should do something with those precious moments!

So what I do instead, is schedule time during my lunch break where I listen to either my favorite classical music CD, or my Immrama Institute CDs.   Fifteen to twenty minutes is all it takes to feel both physically and mentally refreshed.

If you have the patience and discipline to meditate without these aids, you probably don’t need me to give you any advice and you already know the benefits.  I have one friend who uses music for the first five minutes, and then meditates without it after that – what a great idea!

Your assignment for today is to start pacing yourself a little more this holiday season, and make some time to meditate.  If necessary, make your meditation time an appointment on your calendar and combine it with a treat, like a bubble bath, cup of hot cocoa, or reading a few pages in a favorite book – whatever would help you get the process started.  Gradually add your ritual to your daily routine and enjoy the benefits of a less stressful, happier life.

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Conscious Creation, Inspiration, Motivation