The power of gratitude

This morning I awoke to a beautiful sunrise, the light was so pretty as it shone on the trees in their various stages of brilliant colors. I immediately felt grateful for experiencing that in my day. I’m also grateful for having coffee and cream and sugar at my fingertips, my cat playing with me, the book I am enjoying, a refrigerator stocked with food. Get the picture? Being grateful raises your inner vibration. It makes you happy. And when you are happy and grateful, the Universe sends more of what you want your way. It just does.

I know this may sound simplistic, but that’s how the Universe works. I won’t explain it in this post, but I will challenge you. Make a list of twenty things that you are grateful for, right now, today. These can be things you have or to add a different twist – things that you desire that you believe to be coming to you.

Look at your list and really feel that warm feeling of gratitude. Put it down. Pick it up again later today or in a few hours and read each one, then feel that warm feeling of gratitude again.

Do this for a couple of weeks and notice if there are any changes in your attitude and/or any unexpected things/opportunities that show up for you.

Take it easy

Well, now that Halloween’s over, that can only mean one thing – the holiday season is here.  Thanksgiving and all that food you either have to make or the flurry of travel to the relative or friends house.  All that last minute preparation and/or packing.  The stress of just getting family together, let alone whether the gravy will come out lumpy or if you should try that new recipe for pumpkin pie.  And, there’s all that shopping and fighting crowds and AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH.

If you get stressed out every year at this time, you are going to get stressed out this year also.

UNLESS

You try a different approach.  It’s really that easy.  For example, if you’re not sure of the recipes for the Thanksgiving meal practice them in smaller quantities on your family now.  Make that new pumpkin pie recipe and serve it to your family.  You can make homemade cranberry sauce in advance and freeze it, same with whipped sweet potato casserole.

Now, if it’s the family dynamics that makes you crazy – you have control over this one too.  While you don’t have any control over what your nutty relatives do or say, you can control how you react.  Don’t let them bother you.  If you usually get aggravated – just don’t let that happen.  You are in full control of your emotions, they can’t control your emotions no matter what they do.  Just set the intention before the holiday that you are going to fully enjoy the day – no matter what happens.  If the turkey is over or underdone – so what, if Aunt Betty drinks a bit too much hard cider – so what, if someone spills wine on your new tablecloth – you get the point – so what?

Practice this now.  Pick a day and just set the intention that you are going to enjoy your day – no matter what.   If you’re stuck in traffic and that normally ticks you off – let it go.  Pop in your favorite CD or audio book and enjoy the time.   You get the picture – turn what is usually a negative into a positive.

You’ll be amazed how it changes your day…..

Fail fast, fail often –

And success cannot elude you.- Carrie Wilkerson, The Barefoot Executive.

Thank you Carrie for reminding me that I have failed at so many things and couldn’t be happier about that. It means that I’m that much closer to my success. But, also, it reminded me that I really don’t like using the word failure. Because I don’t think I failed at any job or business or relationship. I just think that I didn’t achieve the results I had thought I was going to achieve.

A short story to make my point. The Wright brothers wanted to conquer the sky – to give wings to man so that he could forever soar with the birds. They did achieve gliding, but real flight – that they failed at. But, perhaps they should be remembered as two of the most successful failures in history.

What!! How dare I make that claim? Well, because through research I have come to find out that a man by the name of Glenn Curtiss was really the father of modern day airplanes. Mr. Curtiss, along with a mastermind group that included a Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, designed a plane he called the June bug that not only took off under its own power, but stayed aloft and actually flew.

I think more importantly than that, Glenn Curtiss’ planes were also as safe as aircraft could be in those days, compared to planes made with the Wright Brothers design. Planes made by the Wright Brothers had a nasty tendency to crash and kill their pilots due in part to an error in the design of the wings. This made the Wright Brothers a bit cranky and they wound (well, the surviving Wright brother) wound up suing Mr. Curtiss for stealing their patented plane design until World War 1 came along and the government stepped in and told both parties to kiss and make up because they needed planes to use in battles.

In closing, although Wilbur and Orville failed to make safe planes – they made a name for themselves that history will long remember.

So, I embrace failure – or should I say – I embrace not achieving my desired outcome – And you should too!

I feel your pain

No, I don’t.  How could I?

As I’m not that intuitive I can only feel mine.  But, I can understand your frustrations.  Maybe you are feeling stuck in a rut in your life or you have challenges that you’re facing.  Is your relationship with your spouse making you unhappy?  Do you have a weight issue?  Is there too much month left at the end of your money?

Well, listen up, and you may not like what I’m going to say.   Whatever is going on in your life right now, at this very moment – is all of your creation.   You have created the reality that is your life – no one else.

Don’t like that?  It’s true.

Hey, I’ve created some really crappy stuff in my life too.  And, I’m sure that I’ll create/attract more.

But, I am not a victim.  I realized that I have the power to change my circumstances if I choose – and so do you.

But, you have to change something – your mind.  You have to change the way you think.  You have to stop blaming others for your crap.  They are responsible for their crap.  And so it goes.

You want relief?  Here are some steps that can change your mind and change your life.

1.  Make a decision to change – right now.  And, that decision means that you are committed to your new way of thinking and won’t ever, ever, ever let yourself go back to the way of thinking you had before you read this.  You have to have a big reason WHY you want to do this.  Example: I tell you to give me $5000.00, but you only have $2000.00 in your bank account.  I tell you that if you don’t give me $5,000.00 in twenty four hours I am going to burn your house to the ground, with your pets inside.  How committed will you be to getting that $3,000.00?   You wouldn’t stop, you would do whatever it took (ethically and legally, I would hope) to get that money.  And, you wouldn’t stop when you got tired, you wouldn’t stop because you didn’t feel you were worthy of the money, you wouldn’t stop for any reason.   That’s the level of commitment to change that you need.  Get it or stay where you are.

2. Don’t blame others for your circumstances.  Blaming makes you a victim and victims have no personal power.  It’s your mess, admit it and that will free you to move forward.  Don’t blame yourself.  What?  Then who are you going to blame.  Nobody, that’s who.  You are just going to look at your circumstances as a learning experience, that’s what they are there for.

3. Fall in love.  What?  Fall in love – with yourself.   We are taught from a young age not to think too much of ourselves – HOGWASH!!  You have to love yourself to be good to yourself and to be able to love and give to others.  So, cozy up to that bathroom mirror and give yourself a big SMOOCH!!  Fall in love with who you are.

Okay, that’s enough for today.  Do steps 1-3 above.  Do them if you want change.   No excuses – just DO THEM.

And, get ready for magic…..

Are you a Beatle or a Rolling Stone

Here’s the thing about this post – be yourself. The Beatles took the country by storm with their long hair, their music and everything that made them Beatles. They were truly different and truly themselves. Then, the Rolling Stones came along and although they were from England, they didn’t try to be Beatles. They are different, their music is different and they are truly always themselves.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (Beatles song reference:) – but what does this have to do with me, Lee Ann, get to the point.

Be yourself. There’s immense power in being truly who you are. When you can honestly say that you don’t care what others think of your actions because you know that you are acting in true accordance with your true self. Mick Jagger knew that his success was in NOT being like Paul McCartney – and he was right.

This being yourself can be very tricky. I know for a long time I tried to fit in with the crowd. I socialized with a group of ladies, but I never quite fit in. I joined their bowling league, their mah jongg club – I tried to talk about subjects they talked about, have their interests become mine – and I was miserable. It just was a bad fit, they really didn’t like me. And, here’s the kicker – I thought it was me!! I thought that there was something wrong with me and if I could just fix it, I would fit in. What was wrong with that picture? Everything!!  When I realized that I couldn’t deny who I was and and trying to “fit in” would just not work – I realized it was impossible to fit in because I was hanging with the wrong crowd.

When I changed who I hung out with – I was liked for who I was.  There was nothing wrong with me.

That’s the lesson.  And, it involved a tough decision.  I had to basically make all new friends, and I was lonely for a while.  But, the friends I have now – are truly soul mates.  I enjoy their company, nothing is forced.  And it feels wonderful.

Your past is your Present

In a previous post I said that your past doesn’t exist to harm you.  That is true.  The only reason it’s there is to be a rudder, a guidance.  If you cut yourself – the skin closes quickly.  If it stayed open for a long time bacteria would flood in, which would end in your eventual demise from a massive infection.

Same with a mental wound – it needs to close.  Your only takeaway from a wound is what you can learn from it.  Use the wounding not to punish and beat yourself up – but as a wise teacher that has taught you an important lesson.  In my life I have had to forgive people who wounded me.  I learned that from my wounds I gained strength as I realized that they had no power over me.  When I realized that they were just events and they didn’t define me as a person.  When I could truly say that I love,  honor and respect myself too much to let events and circumstances define me.

Therefore your past is a present, a gift.   It’s a gift to learn a lesson from.    If you felt abandoned because you’re parents divorced – realize that their divorce had nothing to do with you and everything to do with their relationship.  Let that feeling of abandonment go and accept the fact that you are the same good person you were before the divorce.

You are awesome.  Gotta love that.  🙂

And, if you want to attract the good stuff into your life – you gotta believe it.

There is only one You

I am accelerating the journey towards finding my Self and purpose by being a part of David Neagle’s mentor study program. I am on the verge of letting go of the baggage that my Ego wants me to hang onto, I h ave done it before and am doing it again. When I let go before in my life, amazing things showed up. When I realized that there was only one me and I was unique and special and loved myself for that (Yes, that’s a necessary component). When I did that I got a dream job of mine as talk show radio producer and I met my husband. Why didn’t I stay in that place of self-love and non-judgment if those good things were happening?

Don’t know. But, I think it’s because I let the past, my past drive my bus again. You know, that stuff that we carry around that defines us. Those, I’m not good enough feelings that were implanted years ago. Well, no more of that for me. I realize now that there is no past. If it did exist – where is it? It only exists as memories or pictures or old movies, but not in anything tangible. Here’s an analogy. You are a boat – make yourself whatever kind of boat you want – and you are on the ocean. As you move forward, behind you (the past) there is a wake. You look behind and see that the wake exists for a short time and then it just blends in with the rest of the ocean. The wake of the boat is your past. It can have only the control of your Self as you give it.

So, let it go. Let it merge with what it really is – nothing. From today forth – repeat this mantra to yourself. There is only one Me, I am unique and special and I love who I am.

You are not the third grade teacher who told you that you would never amount to anything, you are not the parent who scolded you or whatever negative events happened in the past.

You are an entirely new person, there is not even any cell of your being that is the same as when you were in the third grade (unless you are currently in the third grade!). All those cells have died and been replaced by new cells.

There is only one Me, I am unique and special and I love who I am.

Try it. And go through your day with that thought in mind. Your life will change – it has to.

You have immense power

Consider this thought for the day.  If you cut yourself shaving you don’t use your conscious mind to heal that wound, do you?  You can’t tell your blood to clot, your cells to form a scab, new cells to generate to create new skin – you don’t consciously do any of that – it just happens with perfect precision.

If you have an emotional wound – then why would you try to use the same mind that can’t heal a cut to heal your emotional wound?  You can’t and never will be able to.  Instead you have to just let your subconscious mind do what it’s meant to do.  Your part in the process?  To neutralize any opinion of the wound.  In other words don’t qualify it as having any size or that it is good or bad.  Instead, think of the wound as just being or think of the event that caused the wound as just neutral.  The event was neither good nor bad – it just was.  It is your build up of that event that gives it energy.  You can neutralize that negative energy by just saying to your Self that it was merely an event.  The only power or energy it has to harm you is what you give it.   So, choose to give it none.

This is not to say that an event like segregation or slavery isn’t “bad”.   However, consider the woman who is segregated and then grows tired of being looked down on and acts accordingly.  Let’s give that woman a name – Rosa Parks.  Rosa was not the only woman of color to be segregated – they all were.  However, Rosa  through her action, united a world that put the wheels in motion so that segregation as she knew it would cease to exist.  Therefore for Rosa – that act of segregation was good, not just for her, but for all her brothers and sisters of color.

This is proof that it is never the event that is “good” or “bad”, but our reaction to it instead.

It’s something to think about…

What will be different about today?

Do you want to move closer to your dream life today? Then what are you going to do differently today?

If the answer is yes then do this – change your attitude. Today make it a point to not react negatively to anything – anything that happens through your day. And, I mean anything and everything.

Example: if you’re stuck in traffic on your wayto work and you usually get stressed – change that today. Just be calm and if you can’t be calm – look at yourself being tense and observe what’s going on. Try to just look at your tension as an impartial observer and ask yourself – “Why am I choosing to have this experience?” In other words – why does being in traffic make you tense. Sit with that – you’ll have time….

Throughout the day when you notice your negative reaction to any situation, if your spouse says something that normally would tick you off – Ask yourself this question – Why am I choosing to have this experience? If you spill coffee on your new tie, stub your toe, your car won’t start, WHATEVER…

Do this for one day and take note of the results..

OMG – it’s my fault

After I posted yesterday, I sat and thought about what was going on.  Then a voice popped into my head – it came from a seminar I just attended – “Whatever experience you are having – you created it – you need to take 100% responsibility and just ask yourself why you are choosing to have that experience.”

So many times things go badly and we’re inclined to say &*^$ happens.  I’ve learned that’s a dangerous place to be because it strips you of all your power.  If you believe that stuff just happens to you, then you are operating from a victim mentality.  Then, you get to blame other people – again – not a good place to be.

And, I knew all the above – and yet I still chose to react badly to the experience of the day.  I know now why I did that.  It was to raise my awareness.  When I realized and admitted that whatever was happening I had the CHOICE to react with either a positive or negative attitude – it all changed.  I simply realized that I could choose to feel positive and WHAM-O – I felt better.  The anger dissipated – it was just neutralized.

I went from being frustrated and pissed off to being grateful for other things in my life that were going right.

So, when the (*^& is hitting the fan – ask yourself – why am I choosing to have this experience?  Then focus on some of the things that are going right.  Some days, it’s tough, I know – so I focus on the fact that I have a roof over my head, hot and cold running water, a loving family – hey, when you start looking for good stuff, sometimes you gotta dig.  But, you’re digging in the right place to fill your heart and your mind with positive energy.  And, that feels so much better, try it – you’ll see.

I knew all