NOW is the Time for You to Start Living!

"Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance,

 but to do what lies clearly at hand."

~ Thomas Carlyle

Today's post is HUGE. Why? Because, I am about to share with you the BEST thing I have EVER done for myself. I am about to share with you the second secret to happiness.  It's one of those things that is so easy when you live it everyday from your heart.  

Are you ready? 

Here it is:

STOP WORRYING!

Yep, that's it. The best thing I have ever done for my happiness is to stop worrying.  True happiness is found by being 100% present in each moment. Worry puts you in the past or the future, never in the present.  That means letting go of the need to be right, to be in control, to win at all costs, even to have everything you need right now. To worry is like being a fish out of water, gasping for air when all you have to do is slip back into the flow.  Choose easy folks!

In Dale Carnegie's book "Stop Worrying and Start Living" he advises us to shut off the past and cease to carry nervous worries of what may happen tomorrow.

"Let the dead bury the dead...shut out the yesterdays which have lighted

 fools the way to dusty death...the load of tomorrow, 

added to that of yesterday, carried today, makes the strongest falter.  

Shut off the future as tightly as the past...The future is today. There is no tomorrow.  

The day of man's salvation is now.  Waste of energy, mental distress and 

nervous worries dog the steps of man who is anxious about the future..."

Each day remember, one step enough for me.  Your peace of mind is to important to let even slight worries take hold.  It often serves me to picture my life as an hour glass in which only one grain of sand may pass through the narrow neck.  When I wake up in the morning I often feel that there are a hundred tasks that deserve to be done before the end of the day.  But if I do not take them one at a time and let them pass through the day slowly and evenly I notice that I begin to struggle and worry. That is when the frustration begins to mount.  If I don't take care of it right away my physical and mental body begin to break down.  Meaning I get sick, fatigued, nervous, agitated, spaced out or depressed.  My body always tells me before my mind.  

The secret to stopping the worry is to live from your heart.  When you live from the space of your heart it's easy to remember to take life one grain of sand at a time.  It becomes easy to take one task at at time and always with love and gentle kindness to yourself and others.  It becomes easy to live in the moment.  A dear friend of mine that lived 2,000 years ago gave us the sage advice to have no worry about the morrow.  Be focused on today, because today is all you have.  Allow time and space to accomplish the days tasks.  

When the time was right, the sea parted, the walls fell down, the lions went hungry, the sun stood still, the star appeared, the waves were calmed, five thousand were fed, the sick were healed, the stone rolled away.

Everything in your life is perfect just the way it is.  You are experiencing exactly what you deserve to experience in the most perfect way for you.  All in Divine timing.  I have learned that God is never early and He's never late and His plans for you are good.  NOW is the time for you to start living!!

When I Grow Up, I Want to be Kind!

"I want to be kind to everyone, for that is right you see. 

 So I say to myself, remember this. Kindness begins with me."

This beautiful children's song is so lovely and innocent.  The words remind me that I get to be first in showing kindness to others.  Go First! Be first to show love.  Be first to admit when things are not working.  Be first to call a friend or loved one. Be first to use this approach and I guarantee miracles will happen in your relationships. 

I learned from a very young age that being kind to others is a very admirable thing to do.  I was taught to forgive, be patient and supportive. Yet somewhere along the way I also learned that being kind to myself was a sign of weakness.  Massages, long naps, facials, even food falls under the category of pampering.  Taking care of our bodies and wanting to be beautiful falls under the category of being vain.

Somehow, somewhere, someone decided that kindness is something that can only be bestowed upon others.  Allow me to offer another interpretation of this beautiful children's song.  Kindness begins with me! Folks! Are you listening to this? Kindness to yourself is vital to your happiness, and your happiness counts!

My favorite word is Genshai.  I learned it from Kevin Hall, a delightful, bald, and inspiring man.  Genshai means never treat anyone small INCLUDING YOURSELF.

Why? Because they way I treat myself reflects the way I treat my children, my neighbors and my friends.  Are you noticing the ripple effect?

I believe Genshai is the secret word to unlimited happiness.  How many times each day do we scold ourselves and say critical things to diminish ourselves?  Be honest!

When you treat yourself unkindly by worrying, complaining, blaming, and belittling yourself it will reflect in your circumstances, your friends and your whole life. Honestly accepting our shortcomings but not diminishing ourselves is the key to making Genshai work.

Be good to yourself because no one else has the power to make you happy.

How can you honestly ensure your families happiness if you are not feeding yours?

I am reminded of this every time I am on a plane.  The flight attendants are always careful to remind us to put our own oxygen mask on before attempting to help anyone else.  When you feel happy and peaceful, you want to reach out to others and get that peace and love all over them.  But you can only give love if you love yourself first.

Let Genshai live in all of your thoughts and actions.  If your thoughts are filled with worry and doubt, you will begin to see it everywhere you go.  On the other hand, when you begin to think thoughts that are kind, gentle, loving and truthful you open yourself up to participating in miracles of love, joy and abundance!

Come into this moment.  Be present in the now! Wake up your Divine Light by truly loving and being kind to yourself.  Go about your day in peace and grow knowing who you are right here, right now.  When one's life is lived with such harmony, it is much easier to look in the mirror and love yourself more completely and wholeheartedly because you have afforded yourself every kindness possible.

Read any good books lately?

In the last 4 months I have been reading like mad!  Anything I can get my hands on.  Wow!  I have learned so much!  I'll be sharing bits and pieces with everyone.  I hope it helps and inspires you!
Here is a list of books I have read lately:
1. Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki
2. Awaken the Giant Within - Anthony Roberts
3. The Jack Rabbit Factor - Leslie Householder
4. Portal to Genius - Leslie Householder
5. Hidden Treasures: Heaven's Astonishing Help with Your Money Matters -    Leslie Householder
6. Why We Want You to be Rich - Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump
7. The Friendship Factor - Alan Loy McGinnis
8. The Seven Keys of Great Teaching - Oliver Demille
9. Aspire - Kevin Hall
10. Core and Love of Learning - Oliver and Rachel Demille
11. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind - T. Harv Eker
12. The Healthy Home - Dave Wentz and Dr. Myron Wentz
13.  The Attractor Factor - Joe Vitale

14. And as always the Book of Mormon.  I'm completely captivated by Alma 26, the whole chapter.  Read it, it's amazing!

What good books have you read lately?

A Change of Focus

Having a road map of life would be nice.  Then you would know where your going, what your supposed to be doing and why.  Boy that would sure end a lot of worrying, wondering, blaming, and crying.  All of those very real and very deep emotions that come along with just not knowing what the future holds.

And lets face it, the future doesn't seem to look very bright.  What with wars, health care, the economy, the housing market, oil prices, energy prices, food prices.  Need I go on?  How many of us are lying awake at night wondering what on earth you are going to do, wondering how your going to just survive.

The good news is that there is something you can do. It doesn't involve changing the world.   I'm not going to lie, it's not as easy as many people say...until you get the hang of it.  It involves lots of time thinking.  And thinking by the way is not hashing things out in your mind, mulling things over, analyzing the situation and worrying.  That is just busy work.

So here is the most simple place to start.  Start with you.  This simple step is the key to getting rid of all the worry, blame and guilt.  It gets rid of the what ifs and the negative self talk.  But it takes work, did I already mention that? 

OK, are you ready?  Here it is, Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.  Did you know that you have everything you need, right in this moment to change your circumstances?  Do you have a pen and a piece of paper?  You do?  Good.  Then you have what you need.  Now use that pen and paper to write down what you want.  Do you want more time with your family, more money, travel, more time to help others, a cleaner house, a good night sleep?  Whatever it is, write it down.

Now look at that list.  How do you feel about those things?  Do you feel good?  If so, your on the right track.  Now here is the hard part.....keeping that good feeling when everything seems to be going wrong.   Success is not determined by thinking good thoughts sometimes, but by thinking good thoughts all of the time.

Review your list several times per day.  Look at it when you are feeling down, stressed out or worried.  This helps to put perspective into things and changes your focus.  It may take a few days or several months for you to truly develop the habit of changing your focus.  But, knowing what you want is a good  first step.

My new mantra

"I act in spite of fear.

I act in spite of doubt.

I act in spite of worry.

I act in spite of discomfort.

I act when I'm not in the mood."

-T. Harv Eker

I just got done reading the book, "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind," by T. Harv Eker.  Wow!  I am totally blown away!  I did not realize how many contradicting thoughts I have that keep me from achieving my goals.  The above quote is one of the millionaire mind declarations from the book.  It really hit home for me.  So I memorized it.  And now when I am worrying, doubting, feeling discomfort or fear about having to talk to people or just being lazy and feeling not in the mood, I say this quote as many times as I need to until the negative feelings go away.  Then I am ready for action.

Walk the Walk!

So, I guess this blog is sort of a journal of my journey to success.  I have no choice but to be successful.  I have kids counting on me!  Well, it's probably true that at this point in their lives they don't know any better.  But I do.  And isn't it my responsibility as a parent to lead them down the path that will make them most successful?

I have spent the last three weeks reading.  I've read a total of nine books and learned ALOT!  I'll admit though, I am TERRIFIED of actually having to talk to people.  I joined a network marketing company to learn sales and marketing.  How on earth am I supposed to learn this if I don't talk to anyone?  I figure if I can sell nutritionals, I sell anything.

 However, I can spend all the time in the world talking the talk, but if I don't walk the walk it's never going to happen.  Even as I write this I'm STILL TERRIFIED!  I'm hoping that by writing about it I can rally my people for support.  And I'm hoping that sometime in the future this will be useful for someone, somewhere, who is also terrified of their own success.

Here's hoping I can do it!  YIKES!

What questions are YOU asking?

"He who asks questions cannot avoid the answers."

-Cameroon Proverb

Last week I was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes.  My five year old was firing off question after question after question.  I was trying very patiently to answer his questions, keep the two year old from unloading the dishwasher and the dog from sitting on the door, all at the same time.  Suddenly my head felt like it was going to explode.  Right before I yelled, "Everyone STOP!," I remembered....questions are how we learn, how we put stuff together.  And for my little 5 year old boy, these questions are going to form the basis of most of his belief systems when he is older.

Anthony Robbins says in his book Awaken the Giant Within, "Remember, ask and you shall recieve, if you ask a terrible question, you'll get a terrile answer.  Your mental computer is ever ready to serve you, and whatever question you give it, surely it will come up with an answer.  So if you ask"Why can't I ever suceed?," it will tell you - even if it has to make something up! It might come up with an answer like, Because your stupid," or "Because you don't deserve to do well anyway."

You can change how you feel and what you believe simply by changing the questions you ask.  You can say, "I feel good, I feel good, I feel good." or you can ask yourself, "What do I feel good about right now?" "If I wanted to feel good right now, how can I do that?" or "What would it feel like to feel good right now."

The key is to begin a pattern of asking questions that empower you.  Everyone is going to have problems and setbacks, the difference between those who succeed and those who don't is the questions they ask.  They ask questions like,"How can I turn this around?" or "What is good about this situation?" or "How does it get better than this?"

Once you start to ask yourself these kinds of questions, you begin to get answers that empower you as well.  Asking the right questions propels your thinking forward and opens up possibilities that were once closed to you.  You find that you have more resources, time and energy that simply wasn't there before. 

I encourage you this week to spend you time asking beautiful questions, then write down the beautiful and inspirational answers that you receive.  You just might be surprised!

"Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question."

- E. E. Cummings