inspiration

this is the real me

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I’ve been blogging for about 4 months now.  Basically just letting off steam.  And that was ok, but I was feeling like I wasn’t really expressing myself.

I’m done with that.

It’s time to let loose and write the way I was meant to.  I’m inspired by the movie Seabiscuit.  He was a little horse who didn’t realize that he wasn’t physically supposed to win races against bigger, supposedly better horses.   His owners didn’t understand him, because he didn’t act like a champion.  He slept and ate too much, he was too complacent.  so, they tried to make him run the way they thought he should.

It didn’t work.

It screwed him up so badly – he forgot how to run.  He forgot how to be the horse he was capable of.

Until – he was found by people who believed in him.  Who saw that inside beat the heart of a champion even if it was covered by the body of a horse who didn’t act like the other race horses.

And, Seabiscuit responded.  He remembered his true horseness.  He remembered how to run.  And, most importantly, he remembered how to win.  Seabiscuit became not just a horse who won races, but a symbol for everyone who had gotten beaten up by life, everyone who had lost a few races, everyone who had lost hope.

Great line in the movie – “You don’t throw away a life, just because it’s been beaten up a bit.”

Well, who hasn’t been beaten up a bit?  Who besides me has forgotten what it was like to be your true self?  How many of us have lost a few races, have been misunderstood?  Am I alone in feeling like I was just repeating the same bad tape over and over again – not living or acting the way I was born to?  Just a year and a half ago I had a business fall apart.   I had to declare bankruptcy and just when it looked like my bankruptcy would go through I got notice that I was being sued not only to prevent my bankruptcy from going through but for serious charges and spent a year and a half in the process of a court case.

Last month I both won and lost that court case.  My bankruptcy was not discharged, so it wasn’t allowed to go through and everyone who was suing me for money before was allowed to go after me again.  But, I was exonerated of the other charges against me.   Freedom came with a price – I was exposed again to have my creditors from my bankrupt business come after me.  Sheesh.

I had gotten so caught up with the negativity and the fear of being sued that I forgot who I was and what I was made of.  That stops now.  There is still fear, but I’m going to work past it.  I’m going to keep moving forward, furlong by furlong.  I’m going to do whatever it takes to cross the finish line ahead of the pack.  Even if there are people ahead of me, bigger than me in the field – I don’t care.  I’m not going to be looking behind, I’m going only to be looking ahead.  To feel the excitement and the thrill of pushing past mile marker after mile marker.  To enjoy the race, not just the win.  To feel connected to the Source of all through creation, through what I will be creating.

If you want to come along on the journey – come on.   I’ve entered the starting gate – and the doors are about to open.  There is a sense of excitement, anything can happen.

But, nothing will happen, you can’t win, hell – you can’t even be in the race – unless you join me on the field.   Ready, set….

The power of gratitude

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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.

Do you believe in magic

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I love Chris Angell, street magician.  He makes what he does look real.  But he does it so well – my belief is suspended and I believe that he actually levitates and does all the other amazing illusions I’ve seen.  My logical brain can’t see the trick and so it has to believe.

Now, follow me here.  Chris Angell and any other magician never, ever really saws women in half, or makes the Statue of Liberty disappear or any other such thing.  But, for the sake of enjoyment we believe what we see or don’t see.

What if I told you that you have the power to create real “magic”!  But, in order to do it – you would really have to believe or else it wouldn’t work.

I am in the process of writing a book that will be published in a few months.  In it, I’ll be sharing formulas, actual duplicatable ways that you can create magic in your life.  You’ll learn from women who have achieved great success in their business lives.   One turned her life around from being broke – to being a millionaire.   None of these ladies are magicians – yet they all have discovered this “magic” formula.

You may have heard about a little something called the Law of Attraction, I don’t like to mention it – as i think the movie the Secret didn’t really do it justice.  But, the Law of Attraction is just part of the formula – there are other Laws of the Universe that these ladies have tapped into – and you can too.  In fact – it’s your birthright.

Stay tuned for more on this.  There will even be an excerpt from a chapter.  it’s great stuff.

I feel your pain

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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…..

There’s no joy in Red Sox Nation

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Last night, for fellow members of the tribe in Red Sox Nation, we witnessed an event we’re not used to – the Sox lost and aren’t going to the World Series. The Rays jumped all over each other, yelling and screaming and no doubt had a champagne and cigar fest in the locker room. They were a wildly happy bunch of guys.

When the camera panned over to the Red Sox dugout – it was quite a different scene. The players were packing up their things, it didn’t look like there was much talking going on.

It didn’t have to be that way.

In other words, I would love 🙂 to see players congratulating each other on a game well played – even if it meant they didn’t get to go to the World Series. Because if you can’t find some good in every situation – life just ain’t as much fun.

Just my opinion.

But, it’s my blog 🙂

Keep it up

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On Sunday, I posted that this was going to be accountability week.  I hope you got your list of things you just had to get done for the week.  It’s Tuesday – are you on track?  Do you need a push?  Have you even made your list yet?

One of mine is that I have to make a pie on Thursday.  The list doesn’t all have to be big things.  But, I have company coming and I know that it would be nice for my visitor if they were treated to a big piece of homemade pie.

I can’t list my biz lists here – this is my personal blog (for the moment).  Well, I’ll tell you a couple of them – I have to transcribe two interviews for chapters in my upcoming book.   And I have to have them transcribed by Saturday.

I also have to finish a proposal for some contract work by tomorrow.  (this is a big job and one of those “scary goals”).  But, I’m on it!!

There, now I’m publicly accountable.

Oh, and I have to come up with a topic for a real blog post by the end of the day….

I’m cheering you on.  Let’s have a productive week together.

Who do you answer to?

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This is all about accountability. Where the rubber meets the road. Where you actually do and follow through with what you commit to.

Since it’s Sunday, I wanted to give you an idea that can make you have a great, productive and happier week.

See, it’s a cycle. You make a decision to do something, then you follow through, you feel a sense of accomplishment, that’s a reward to motivate you to do more, so that you get that good feeling again. Here’s the opposite – You make a decision to do something, then you don’t follow through, you might feel a sense of wanting to beat yourself up, not physically – that would look weird. Mentally – which is worse. Then you have a bad feeling and what’s worse is you’ve broken trust with yourself. Now, you can’t trust yourself to follow through, and if you can’t trust yourself – who can you trust??? Yikes. You don’t want to go there – because it sets you up for bad vibes.

So, Lee Ann, how can you make this process easier?

Steady, grasshopper. Sit down, take a deep breath. Exhale (second, very important step to breathing). Now, repeat after me. Accountability buddy.

CRACCCKKKK!!! This is where the lightning bolt hits. Now, touch your forehead with your forefinger and say to yourself – That’s easy, I can, hey wait a minute, what does she mean by that?

Here’s how this works, it’s so diabolically simple and profound, it’s very often overlooked. Find someone you like and who likes you. Tell them your decision, tell them what you are absolutely, positively going to get done in the next day, two days and/or week. State your goal out loud. If possible, check in with your accountability bud at the end of every day of next week. keep each other on track. If you see your buddy not doing what they said, gently ask why. Ask them to do the same for you.

At the end of the week – tally up. You will have completed some of your tasks and celebrate. Nothing elaborate unless you want it to be. You can simply virtually high-five each other over the phone or email.

**************Advanced Tip****************

Choose a scary goal, take what you set out to do and push yourself just a bit past your comfort zone. This is where magic and momentum start to happen.

If you want – you can post your goals for the week as comments to this post. I’m very good at holding people gently, yet firmly accountable.

There’s no time like the present.

Do you wanna be on Oprah?

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I’ve been to a few seminars recently and at each one Oprah’s name is mentioned. Authors – they want to get on Oprah, speakers – they want to get on Oprah. It seems as if they think Oprah is the Holy Grail and their key to the castle.

I don’t need to get on Oprah. Don’t get me wrong – if she sees my book and wants to talk to me about it in front of a few million of her closest friends, I’m all over that. But, if it never happens, I’m ok with that too.

Why?

Because of a message here:

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Food for thought. Oprah didn’t have an Oprah.

What does that mean to you? Think about it….

The Sky is falling – at least that’s what the experts tell us

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From what I hear, there’s a recession going on. It’s tough economic times and people are stressed and scared. Personally, I am facing a lawsuit brought against me by an ex-business partner with a trial in less than ten days. I can’t post specifics until it’s over, but needless to say that could cause me stress as well – ya think?

Well, I don’t watch the news, and here’s why. The media is scaring you all that watch it and focusing you to focus on the negative. It helps them sell ads and make them money. It does nothing good for you. Turn it off. Unplug yourself from the downward spiral of negativity. Believe me, if there is news that you must hear – it will find you through people that you come in contact with.

I just spent a week at two seminars learning wealth, business and mindset strategies from some of the most successful internet marketers, speakers and authors on the planet – and almost all of them said this exact same message. Unplug yourself. Mark Victor Hanson said it. I listen to a guy that’s built an empire on the back of one brand.

It may be a bit scary at first – but, try this for a week. Trust me on this one. Hey, just reclaiming the time you spent watching that negative newscast is worth the effort. Now, with the time you’ve reclaimed – do something to move you forward. If you have a dream – here’s a perfect opportunity to decide if that dream is something you really want to do. If the answer is yes, you can start actions to make that happen. If the answer is no – like my friend and mentor Marcia Wieder says – “Dump it” – and start working on what your new dream should be. Who do you want to be? Who do you want to help? What impact do you want to make on the world?

To help make that easier – unplug yourself. In order to look inside yourself for the answers, you need to be less stressed and you need some quiet time – without the noise and barrage of stuff that flies our way every day.

I promise that to be true. So, here’s to the start of the 7 day break from the negative newscast. Let your imagination soar. It’s time to reclaim your dreams.

Ready, set, go.

Reality films

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I know that there is reality tv, but they’re not my reality!!

I like to take lessons from films instead. This lesson comes from the movie Glory. I watched it last night and while I thought it could have had more character development – it was a good story.

The basic story was of the the black soldiers (and their white colonel) who joined the 54th regiment from Massachusetts and weren’t content with just doing menial labor – they wanted to go into battle. They didn’t have to. They could have just done their time, gotten paid (they weren’t paid that much as black men, in fact, many were slaves) and been done with the whole war thing. Instead, they were thinking that they wanted to contribute in a bigger way to a cause that was greater than their lives. Freedom from slavery. But, also to prove that a black soldier could be just as good in battle as a white one. That their blood was the same color.

And, half of the 54th regiment were killed during an assault.

The lesson I take away is this. We are all here for a reason, and it gets clearer when you start asking yourself – how do I contribute to the bigger picture? What am I here to do that will make it a better place to be? It’s time to tune out radio station WIIFM (What’s in it for me) and tune to a new frequency – what can I do for others.

Try this today. Go practice random acts of kindness. Notice how it feels. Really notice how it feels. Even if you’re not acknowledged for the kindness, like if someone just blasts through a door that you held open and that ticks you off, this is when it’s especially important to feel good about what you did.

Don’t let anyone’s negativity poison your feeling good. Try this for today – the whole day. And, let me know the results.