A Do it Yourself Life Makeover; can a self help book help you change your life?

Day 31 Your Wealth Depends On You

2010-03-15T21:35:00.000-04:00

Your Wealth Depends on You

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.

-Walt Disney

Essential Ingredient #6

Life Lesson #5 Your Wealth Depends on You

Money never starts and idea; it’s the idea that starts the money.

-Mark Victor Hansen

As much as I love my job there are times when it’s hard to bite my tongue, be patient, and allow the client to discover that they know the answer. Yes there are times when I would love to just hand them a “to do” or “to don’t” list, but I know how empowering the experience is when they “get it”. So the best course of action, the only course of action for a good coach is to allow the session to unfold even when you know they know “it”.

When you coach someone you have to go into a session free of any predetermined answers. You have to be able to let go. No, it’s not always easy. You want them to succeed and pulling back until the preverbal light goes off, is at times like watching a really close football game; you want your team to win, you know they have the skills and the “know how”, but you’re on the edge of your seat because on any given day anything could happen.

Most of us can relate to how easy it can be to “see” the answer to someone else’s issue- and how difficult it is to see the same answer or any answer for ourselves…even when the circumstances are similar. So yes it’s hard to sit back and watch as people hold themselves back from achieving their goals, however in order for the answers they seek to be powerful they need to be willing and ready to let go of their negative habits, their excuses and allow the answers to flow. Once we “let go” and learn to allow our focus becomes aligned with our desires and what we need to do, where we need to be, and the decisions we need to make become clearer.

I remember having a conversation with a young man who was turned down for a promotion. He was so bent out of shape because he thought that he would have been a great manager. Truth be told he was an intelligent young man, but he wasn’t ready, he wasn’t mature, he had very little “work place smarts”. He complained all the time, never put in any more effort than he thought he needed to in order to get by, and he was always goofing off. The advice I gave him, or rather the comment I made was this; you need to behave like a manager and then you will receive the promotion. You don’t get the promotion and then start behaving like you’re a manager. By doing the behavior first you allow the opportunity for the promotion to come your way.

We all have desires, dreams, and goals but is your behavior allowing you to achieve them or keeping you stuck in your current situation?

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1

Today, allow things to unfold easily. If you catch yourself pushing a task through or trying to talk someone into giving you your way, stop. If you find yourself worrying about something turning out the way you want, stop. Breathe.

Allow the Universe to assist you. If a friend or colleague can take the load off you, ask. If you were the king or queen of the kingdom, how would you handle it? How easy are you willing to let it be? Practice ease today.

Beware: allowing yourself to receive may be addicting. We highly promote it.

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #7

Acts of Faith

Smile Often

Barbara

Day 30 You’ve Got It All

2010-03-08T21:04:00.000-05:00

You’ve Got It All

Think BIG! You are going to be thinking anyway, so think BIG!

-Donald Trump
Essential Ingredient #6 Your Full Potential

Life Lesson #4 You’ve Got It All

The amazing thing about love is that it is the best way to get to know ourselves.

-Rollo May

Ever notice that when something doesn’t go the way you want it to, or that when you hit a “bad” patch, how easy it is to focus on absolutely everything that has ever gone “wrong” in your life? If things are tough for you right now, have you been spending time thinking about all the things you are not? All the things you don’t have? All the situations that just didn’t work out, all the “poor” choices you’ve made? How much time and energy have you spent beating yourself up, putting yourself down?

It’s extremely common for negativity make itself at home in our minds when life throws us a curve ball. When this happens it can be difficult to see all the positive things, all the possibilities. As hard as it might be to believe beauty doesn’t go away, we just get so wrapped up in the negativity it becomes hard to see beyond it, so it builds…and builds. We lose sight of who we are and all that we have accomplished. The lessons that we’ve learned and the successes that we’ve had are quickly forgotten and the only things that we recognize are those that we can use against ourselves. It’s almost as if we’re on a mission to “prove” all of the negative thought’s we’ve ever had.

Well if you’re in a tight spot and you find yourself doing any of these things, stop now. Stop right now. Open your eyes. Open your heart. Re-read all these lessons, start each day listening, reading or doing something positive. Read your Prosperity Journal…and if you haven’t created one then go back through all the exercises in this blog and create one. Change your view, find the beauty, appreciate and enjoy it. Remind yourself of everything and everything you have that you are grateful for and give thanks…and if you think you have nothing to be grateful for, look around you, who or what would you miss if it wasn’t there? Doing so might just remind you of who you are and what’s important to you. Doing so might just open up your eyes and help you see the ‘wide screen” version of your life. Once you do you no longer blind yourself to the possibilities. Your intuition kicks in and the effects of the negativity lessen.

What we need to achieve our dreams we have, we only need to believe in ourselves and draw upon it. We only need to stop telling ourselves what isn’t possible and start reminding ourselves what is.

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1

Who are you really? What qualities make up the real you? In your Prosperity Journal, take a moment to do a self-inventory. Ask a few people who know you well to list five or ten words describe you. This will help you get a clear picture. Do your best not to judge any qualities. If there are some that you can’t quite bear to embrace, ask yourself how this quality may serve you. What if being quirky turned out to be what people find most endearing about you?

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #6

Life Lesson # 5 Your Wealth Depends on You

Smile Often
Barbara
Excuses Stop Here
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Day 29 If You Want It, You Can Have It

2010-03-04T19:14:00.000-05:00

Your Full Potential

There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing until they believe they can acquire it. Before anything can come to us, we have to envision it and believe it is ours.

-Napoleon Hill

Essential Ingredient #6

Life Lesson #2 If You Want It, You Can Have It

Your mind is a powerful magnet that will attract to you the things you identify yourself with.

\--Alfredo Karras

Last night I was standing at my kitchen counter making a big bowl of egg salad when I noticed I was smiling. It wasn’t just a little smile; it was a big grin, one that I knew came from deep inside. It felt so strange to me, and for a brief second I didn’t understand why I was smiling. I was alone in the house so it’s not like someone made me smile and although I like egg salad it’s never had this effect on me before. Yet there it was, and at that very moment I felt…happy.
For those that truly know me, you understand the stressful negative things that have been going on in my life and knowing that might make you wonder what the heck I was smiling about. Strange thing is; at first I wasn’t sure myself and yet there I was looking and feeling like I had just scored the last piece of fudge cake. I’ve been carrying that feeling with me since then. It’s truly amazing and somehow odd, although I now understand what’s going on…Yes that moment when a light goes off and you realize something that you think should have been obvious…in coaching it is referred to as an “Aha” moment.

It’s entirely true. One “Aha” moment after another and it’s sinking back in…I hadn’t faced it (although I knew I had done it) but there was a point when something negative happened and all I saw was the negative side. I saw it, talked about it, lived it, and things began to snowball to the size and description that my mind had made them out to be. It started with an exception, and although there are exceptions to every rule once you have made one it becomes easier and easier to make another. My advice to you; if you are considering making an exception, reconsider, make certain that the price you end up paying isn’t going to affect you in a way that will jeopardize all you want to be, do, or have…no matter what happens as a result be sure that you can hold true to you and your vision (the positive one).

Little by little I had stopped doing the things that I made habits. The things that brought me the positive results I wanted. The things I knew would bring and were bringing me in the direction of my dream. I don’t mean that I stopped doing the “work”; I mean I stopped doing the things that supported me. The things that helped me grow as a person and a coach. The things that help me develop strength and conviction in my intuition. Although doing so didn’t close my mind for others it closed it for me and in doing so had an effect on others. How could it not have? If I’m not myself and I’m acting and reacting out of the norm, how could it not have?
So what changed? What woke me up? This journey. This book. Some lesson you need to review several times throughout your life…there’s always room for improvement, always more to learn. Working my way through this book helped me shed some fear, take responsibility, remember who I am, recreate my vision, see my own value and realize so many opportunities. I am back on track and enjoying all the things I had stopped doing in order to fit in more “busy work”…busy work only takes you right back to the starting point so you can begin again tomorrow from the same point.

The author’s of Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life are trying to help us. They are using the stories within the book as a way to help you see how each Life Lesson has “your” world applications. The exercises help you to refocus your energy from negative to positive. If you have not read the book do it now, you may not “get it” right away but if you do the work it will have a positive effect on you and your life…then you too may have an egg salad smile.
• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1

Create Reminders to reinforce the belief that nothing is keeping you from success. Write these reminders as inspirational quotes or daily affirmations that are strategically placed so that you can’t help but see them often.

Your belief about what is possible is the core of the Law of Attraction, and more directly, the key to success and abundance. The only boundaries that can be placed on you are self inflicted. Shed your limitations and get ready to embrace your destiny and vision—the vision that you hold for yourself, full of passion, promise, happiness, and success. If you want it, you can have it.

Note from Barbara
The “scary” things haven’t gone away, but the fear has eased and my heart is lighter and because I put the effort into growing, some amazing things have been happening, coming it seems from nowhere yet everywhere…and now my eyes are once again and I can see them.

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #6

Life Lesson # 4 You’ve Got It All

BEING HUMAN
Smile Often
Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 28 One Giant Leap for the Life You Love

2010-03-03T19:53:00.001-05:00

Your Full Potential

A dream is not something that you wake up from, but something that wakes you up.

-Charlie Medges

Essential Ingredient #6

Life Lesson #2 One Giant Leap for the Life You Love

Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: the potential for greatness lives within each of us.

-Wilma Rudolph

For today’s post I would like to share with you something that I wrote last November.

What’s stopping you from doing the things you need to do in order to have a career you love, a family life filled with joy, enough money to buy the things you want, attract more clients, enjoy more vacations, lose weight, or to take care of you? I know what stopped me and if I were to venture a guess I would say you have used some of the same explanations or better yet excuses to justify why you haven’t reached your goals.

Maybe you have no time, no money or perhaps the alarm didn’t go off…again. It could be that you have no support, not from your spouse not from your children and certainly not from the rest of your family or friends. It’s also possible that you’re not educated, no college degree, right? Still not it, well maybe you’re simply exhausted.

I understand, really I do, been there said that and more. The truth is we all have things that we want to accomplish yet time after time we find ourselves never getting to the finish line. How is it possible that we can declare our burning desire to achieve a goal and almost as fast as we get started, the task, dream, or goal is brushed aside leaving behind the thoughts that we will use to beat ourselves up with over and over again?

It is a powerful question, one I have learned to use to my advantage. Every time I find myself avoiding something I stop and ask, “OK B what’s stopping you now?” And you know what the real answer is? It’s always the same and it’s the same for all of us. The real answer is the only thing stopping us from achieving the things we want, is US! That’s it, it’s just that simple. I stop myself. I set my own road blocks and you set yours. Not our spouse, not our kids, not the dog, or the alarm. Bottom line, we do it to ourselves.

Fear not, there is an up-side; because we do this to ourselves we have the ability to stop doing it. It’s all about choices and excuses. Our choices brought us to where we are today. Our excuses keep us here. But, and here comes the good news, if we don’t like where we are now our choices can take us somewhere new…somewhere better.

I know what you’re thinking, easier said than done, right? Isn’t everything? Life is what happens while we are waiting for the perfect circumstances to come along. I don’t know about you, but I finally got sick and tired of waiting for that perfect moment. So I began questioning my excuses and stopped looking for someone or something other than myself to blame and low and behold, the road blocks started to disappear. It’s empowering to not only be able to get things done but by doing them, not have to deal with the situations that are created because we did nothing.

So the next time you find yourself avoiding something you need to do in order to get one step closer to your goal don't allow yourself to explain or excuse it away. Instead ask yourself, “What’s really stopping you? “And “Is what’s stopping you more beneficial than achieving your goal?”

After all what could be easier than asking yourself two simple questions?

I know I don’t have all the answers, but the one thing I know (and from personal experience) is; no matter what reasons/excuses we have for not living the life we want to live and having all that we want to have, the only thing truly stopping us can be found when we look in a mirror, and that’s the bottom line. Stop saying you can’t because…just start doing. If you do then one step at a time, piece by piece you will build the life you have dreamed of.

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life.

Exercise 1

1. Make a list of five things you would like to change, create, or experience. Once you have selected them write a paragraph about the five things that will help you bring them to life. Do this as if you’d actually achieved each one and are living the life as you created it. When you’re finished with the descriptions select the one that really makes your heart beat fastest. This will be your goal for the month, your single focus.

2. Map out how you will accomplish the goal. This is your first stepping stone in creating the life you love, so be detailed while you assemble your action plan. Don’t just say you’re going to lose ten pounds. Determine what specific steps you are going to take. For example, are you going to fast, diet or exercise? If you are going to exercise are you going to do it at a gym or at home using equipment or a home video or DVD? These are the types of details that will focus you toward accomplishing your goal. The more detail provided, the less room for ambiguity.

Get on board now. Take that one small step today for the giant leap toward the life that you will truly love—the one custom designed by you.

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #6

Life Lesson # 3 If you Want It, You Can Have It

Smile Often
Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/
BEING HUMAN

Day 27 Live Life Fully

2010-03-02T20:52:00.000-05:00

Your Full Potential

The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good.

Brian Tracy

Essential Ingredient #6

Life Lesson #1 Live Life Fully

It’s not so much what happens to us, as what happens in us that counts.

Tim Mansel

Two and a half years ago on Route 128 during rush hour, my brother was in a motorcycle accident. Didn’t recognize him, in a coma and the doctor’s didn’t think he’d make it, couldn’t lose him too. So many things left unsaid.

Four years ago on Route 93N my life changed. It didn’t take long and the details of how it happened are still lost somewhere in my mind, but on that sunny Sunday afternoon life as I knew it and as I thought it would be, had vanished from possibility. I survived, he did not…don’t understand, we had so many plans. Being left behind, I felt like I had died…I think somehow he saved me.

Seven years ago a drunk driver runs a red light; his truck hit my driver’s side door. Spun me and flung me across the street and into a tree…less than a mile from my house. Could have been so much worse, I could have died; I must have had an angle watching over me. What would happen to my girls, would they know me…my hopes & dreams, did I share enough and do enough with them…never enough time?

Twelve years ago daughter walking to school had a gun put to her head by another teenager…it wasn’t loaded…didn’t know it at the time. I was so scared…I could have lost her. Does she know how much I love her, did I say it every day.

Thirteen years ago in the living room of my Salem New Hampshire home my Mom looked and me and said “Barbara, you have to let me go sometime” I asked her if she was ready and she said “Yes, and I love you”. My Mom told me that she was tiered and she couldn’t fight anymore and I told her that I loved her and that it was ok. My Mom used to call me 25 times a day just to say hello, it drove me crazy, made me laugh…I sure do miss it…I sure do miss her.

The above are examples of times in my life when I stopped and thought about the things I wished I had done. As to my mom, I miss her but I have no regrets. I took the time to be with her. I was able to ask her what she wanted to do before she passed and then helped her do it. I may miss her but I am thankful and have no regrets.

There have been times in my life when I thought; I wish I had done …”this” or I wish I had done “that”, wishing alone doesn’t get it done and life is too short for dreaming alone you have to get out and live it. Don’t waste time waiting for a better day, enjoy every day. Every day we have here on earth is a gift; gifts are special and meant to be enjoyed.

Take it from me, life is short, it can change it an instant.

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1

Take a deep breath, close your eyes and imagine how you’d respond to the following scenario:

You’ve been told that you only have two weeks left to live.

Now after the shock wears off what would you do next? How different would the next two weeks be compared to the way you have been living thus far? Would it be any different at all?

Take a look around at the day to day lives of your friends and family members. It seems to be human nature to put off one’s idea of happiness until…”I graduate”, “I earn more money”, “I get married”, or “I’m done raising my family.” Then, I’ll be able to play, to have fun and travel, or pursue my dream”. What’s up with that?

Why should all of the other things come first? Why not simultaneously? Have you wasted very precious time by putting your life on hold until—whenever?

Somewhere along the line, society seems to have programmed us into believing that the majority cannot live life and be happy simultaneously. But there are many who throw caution to the wind and believe they can have the best of both worlds…and they do. They are living proof that it all comes down to belief. If you believe that you can have the life you want, do the things you want with the people you want by your side, then the Universe will make it happen for you.

Would you have a long list of things to get done in those final two weeks, or would it be perhaps a more aggressive continuation of your day to day living?

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #6

Your Full Potential

Life Lesson # 2 One Giant Leap for the Life You Love

Smile Often
Barbara
Being Human
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 26 Close Your Eyes and Dream

2010-03-01T09:41:00.000-05:00

Baby Steps Lead To Avalanches

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

-Albert Einstein

Essential Ingredient #5

Life Lesson #4 Close Your Eyes and Dream

Dreams are powerful reflections of your actual growth potential.

-The Joy of working

I know just as well as anyone how easy it is to get caught up in the everyday “get through’ the day type of stuff. Actually most people who don’t take the time to “see” things, to dream things any other way know it all too well. Simply dreaming isn’t enough. We need to learn to believe in them. To believe in us, that we deserve whatever we want, whatever we are dreaming. We need to take time to be happy with ourselves and our world so we can be happy in the life we dream to live. The more real our dream is, the more we believe it is going to “be”, the easier it will be to create it. When you believe in something with your heart and soul, when it is so real to you that you can close your eyes and see, smell, and touch it you let go of your fear, you let go of “just getting through”. You no longer are willing to accept life as it is, you are living life as you choose.

The book mentions that “life changes in an instant”, I certainly know the truth of that, however I also know that we all spend a lot of time waiting for the instant that will change our lives. We don’t have to sit and wait for things to happen in order for our lives to change. Today can be our new beginning. Today we can choose to stand up for ourselves and our right to live a better happier life. What do you want your life to look like? What do you want, the merry-go-round, or the dream?
I understand, easier said than done, right? Well let me ask you this; if you aren’t living your happiest life, if you’re already “stuck” in a crazy, stress filled life, then what do you have to lose, why not give it a go? Why not trust in you, in your dream? Why not give yourself the opportunity to get off the merry-go-round and onto a ride you create for yourself? Remember we are always “at choice”. At any point in time if you were not happy with what you are creating you have the power to make a new choice and change it…so why not try?

Dreaming illustrates your hidden capacities and your unawakened ability.

- Peter Daniels

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book “Life LessonsLife Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1

In a previous section, we talked about playing the “what if” game. This time instead of playing what if…why not play I am…? How does one play? It all comes back to being. You can be what you want if you can picture yourself being it, living it, experiencing it. Close your eyes and imagine that you are successful. You live in a beautiful home. You have delicious relationships and vibrant health. You have a wonderful life. You are able to relax and enjoy life to the fullest. You are content, and all of your worries are gone. Use all five senses.
Now take a step forward and elaborate from there. In your Prosperity Journal, Create your Dream Scene. Take a specific situation, circumstance, dream or desire and write out the scene or the story about it in your journal. Describe the way you want to see it unfold, and the way you want it to turn out. Remember, you are the star of your own Dream Scene. Write as if you can see, taste, touch, smell, and feel your desired result. Know that you are already there in your mind’s eye. The key is that it must feel good while doing this process. The more detailed you can make it and feel good about it, the better.

Let’s say you want a new home. What kind of house do you live in? Where is it located? Is this your summer home? What does the air smell like when you arrive home? Is it by the sea? Is it in the country? Can you see it clearly? How does it make you feel? Do you feel like it is really yours? Do you feel as though you have earned it, that you deserve all that you are visualizing? This too is part of the process. When your feelings are one with your thoughts and beliefs, and they are truly focused on your positive goals that you have set—the picture that you are holding in your mind’s eye—they will begin manifesting. In essence, you are using your thoughts to attract the people, ideas, situations, and more that will bring you the vision you are holding of yourself. Thus, you create your reality.

Let go of limiting thoughts and begin by embracing the life that you want, desire, and deserve. Let the picture you see in your mind support your goals, and you will help them materialize that much faster. Let the dreams be the guide to your future and the road to your success. You just have to close your eyes and…dream.

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #6

Your Full Potential

Life Lesson # 1 Live Life Fully
Smile Often,
Barbara

Day 25 How to Make Fear Your Ally

2010-02-25T20:43:00.000-05:00

Baby Steps Lead To Avalanches

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Albert Einstein

Essential Ingredient #5
Life Lesson #4 How to Make Fear Your Ally

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall.

-Confucius

This was an exhausting, eye opening, and wonderful week and today it just caught up with me. I was so drained I came home early and passed out on the couch for a few hours. When I woke up I was a bit shaky and didn’t feel much like picking up the book and working on today’s lesson…but I did. I did because I had a tug of war going on inside my head. One side was telling me to “pick up the book” and the other side was giving me excuse why I didn’t have to pick it up.

It was a close battle. The excuses were making perfect sense and my energy was extremely low. Then came the flashback, I remembered the lessons we worked on last week, and I picked up the book. Although it didn’t seem to fit at the time I understand now why I was being pushed to read today’s lesson…it could have been about me. As a matter of fact the first paragraph hit so close to home that I had to read and reread it several times just to be sure that I hadn’t written it…I hadn’t of course.

Most people have no idea of the powerful effect that focus and their beliefs have on their lives. They spend most of their time worried about everything not realizing that by focusing on the worry they are attracting more situations/things to worry about. If you tend to focus on the positive side of things you will attract more positive situations/things. That is not to say that you will never experience something that is not positive, however by focusing on the positive your experience will be less devastating and will cause fewer traumas in your life. In fact something positive may come from it.

Fear eats people up inside. Fear destroys lives. Our fears hold us back. They prevent us from moving in the direction of what we truly want. Because of fear people settle for things and situations that are less than what they truly want. I understand that it can be difficult to let go of your fears. I know that when things don’t go your way that it’s hard not to see all the other things that have gone wrong in the past. However looking at the past to support your negative beliefs is a choice and a habit. Luckily for us habits can be broken.

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1

Get out your Prosperity Journal and use these five steps to cross the barrier from fearful to fearless.

1. Identify your fear our fears. Make sure you are aware of the entire situation. It is not uncommon for more than one fear to be at the root of a problem, or a fear from long ago resurfacing to couple with a new one.

2. Identify what is holding you back from being doing or having whatever you desire. You need to have a clear understanding of what must be overcome in order to combat it.

3. Identify what you would do if you didn’t have that fear. Visualize what your life would be like if this albatross did not exist. How would you feel? How many more opportunities would be available to you? How many more adventures would exist? How much happier would you be?

4. Identify situations when you faced fear and moved beyond it. With a little thought everyone can identify situations where they moved beyond fear to reach a desired outcome (a new relationship, a new job, graduation, a wedding and more). This can be any situation in which you faced your dragon and triumphed. Use these times as touchstones that you can carry in your pocket and to remind you that you can do this again.

5. Identify the qualities in you that helped you succeed. These qualities are the foundation for your success and, typically, the foundation for you as a person---tenacity, integrity, zeal, confidence, being able to see the big picture, to name a few.

So how are you letting your fears stop you? How can you take the Pause button off of your life? What are some of the qualities that you have drawn upon in the past to overcome your fears and reach your dreams? Now is the time. Seize control of your life again.

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #5

Baby Steps Lead To Avalanches

Life Lesson # 5 Close Your Eyes and Dream

Smile Often
Barbara
LifeTude
Being Human

Day 24 Pay It Forward and Create Miracles

2010-02-24T20:00:00.000-05:00

Baby Steps Lead To Avalanches

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Albert Einstein

Essential Ingredient #5

Life Lesson #3 Pay It Forward and Create Miracles

I think of all the lessons in this book, this one will be the easiest concept for many to grasp and the shortest one for me to write.

Most people believe they have an understanding of what paying it forward means and how to put the behavior into practice, but how many actually do it?

A random act of kindness; putting a quarter in a meter that’s just about to expire, paying the toll of the driver behind you at the toll booth, or maybe the person in front of you at the grocery store is a little short and you chip in the extra couple of buck. Kindness comes in all shapes and sizes and has been known to be highly contagious.

Paying it forward is about doing random acts of kindness without expecting or wanting anything for yourself in return. If you do something for someone and they ask you how they can pay you back tell them by paying it forward. By asking them to pay it forward you have given them the opportunity to experience the joy that comes from helping someone with no strings attached, no expectations, no rules, no if’s, ands or buts.

Random acts of kindness have the ability to bring a smile to the face of everyone involved. I think it has something to do with the fact that there are no strings attached, and since there are no strings all that is left is the joy of giving.

My friend Steve buys flowers and hands them out at the gas station, I pay the toll of the person behind me at the toll booth, Lucky takes care of our neighbor’s driveway whenever it snows, Sally brightens a friends day by picking up phone just to let them know how important and special they are, once a month someone bakes a cake and delivers it to someone who’s feeling down, and Mariann drives 25min out of her way to bring a sick friend some homemade soup.

Kindness, to a friend or stranger has an amazing impact on all of us. Next time the opportunity presents itself will you be ready? Next time someone does something nice for you pay it forward.

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1

1. Look for an opportunity this week to do an unselfish act of kindness for someone and ask them to pay the kindness forward to someone else.

2. In your Prosperity Journal write about what the experience was like for you and how it made you feel.

3. From now on whenever someone does something nice for you, look for two opportunities to pay it forward.
Be prepared to sit back and watch the rippling effect of how powerful and positive this is. It will help make this year better for many…as well as for you!

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #5

Baby Steps Lead To Avalanches

Life Lesson # 4 How To Make Fear Your Ally

Smile Often
Barbara
LifeTude
Being Human

Day 23 The Power of Being 100 Percent Responsible

2010-02-23T18:08:00.000-05:00

Baby Steps Lead To Avalanches

Success is failure with the dirt brushed off.

Mamie McCullough

Essential Ingredient #5

Life Lesson #2 The Power of Being 100 Percent Responsible

I was in a meeting with a fellow BNI member when they asked me if there was anything in my past I would change, now although I’ll admit that there are more than few times when I could have made better choices I truly would not go back and change any of them. Even as awful as my first husband was, I wouldn’t go back and skip over him…my daughters are a combination of the both of us and I love them more than life itself so although his contribution was minimal, without it Kelli and Jessica might have been Dick & Jane.

It’s easy to look back at things we have said or done and say “if only” but what’s the point? We can’t change the past and you never know what might be missing from your life if you were to change something. Each decision we make points us in a direction that direction intersects with other people places and things and if you were to go back and change a choice maybe you would lose a whole lot more than you realize.

So as I look back sure it might be nice if a few things turned out differently, but even if they did there’s no guarantee that things would be any better, it’s just easier to think that they would. I try not to waste time on regrets, life passes by so quickly and I know I can’t change the past so I chose to focus on now and what I can do to move from where I am to where I want to be. I think taking steps towards the life I want is a much better use of my time than trying to change the past with wishful thinking.

Having choices is a wonderful thing. We always have them…even if we don’t like what we have to choose from. Even when we tell ourselves we don’t have a choice, we actually do, we always do. So now that you know you always have a choice what are you going to do about it, about your future? It’s up to you to choose.

No matter where I go I always seem to run into someone who isn’t happy with their past, and is miserable in their present but hesitates to take a chance and do something to create the future they want. I took the following quote from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction; “Change begins first with a thought, followed by a choice, which becomes an action.”

Do you want your life or parts of your life to change? When you visualize the life you want does it look like the life you are living? If not you have a choice to make.”

Don’t waste time looking back with regret and anger. This moment, right here, right now is the first moment in the rest of your life. The choice is yours.

When you decide to take 100 % responsibility for your life and stop wasting time complaining and blaming you acknowledge that everything that happens to you is your own doing, wanted or not. If you want different results you need to think and act differently.

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life
Exercise 1

1. Get out your Prosperity Journal and write at the top of the page, “How did I create this issue in my life?” Notice this isn’t a list of how someone else created the problem. The question releases all blame and victimhood. This is your opportunity to identify your role in creating this situation. What were the choices you made the perspectives you held, the things you said or didn’t say, the assumptions you made? You are taking 100% responsibility for having this situation or issue in your life.

2. At the top of the next page in your journal write, “What can I do to resolve the issue?” This is your opportunity to focus on what you do want, putting your energy on the results you’d like to experience. Again you are taking 100% responsibility for your life.

3. From your list of answers in step 2, determine your next action and take it.

4. When setbacks occur, remember to hold your focus on your intended outcome and ask “What can I do to resolve this?” and get back into action.

5. Be sure to congratulate yourself for taking back control of your life!

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #5

Baby Steps Lead To Avalanches

Life Lesson # 3 Pay it Forward and Create Miracles

Smile Often
Barbara
LifeTude
New Blog "Being Human"

Day 22 Baby Steps Lead To Avalanches

2010-02-22T22:56:00.003-05:00

Baby Steps Lead To Avalanches

Essential Ingredient #5

Life Lesson #1 The Power of A Single Step

Welcome back! Thank you for allowing me to break away and follow some inspired action of my own. I made a commitment to you last week. I said I would share the action planned to take and what my gremlin said to try to talk me out of it.

One of the toughest lessons I have ever had to learn was that I didn’t and don’t have to be Wonder Woman…although I really like the costume. Seriously, I think I spent so much time with the single mom mentality that I forgot it’s ok to be human. Being human doesn’t stop me from being a great Mom, friend, sister, lover or coach. Being human helps me relate, keeps me humble and reminds me that I am not alone. Being human is part of what makes me great.

My intuition, told me to share my struggle. My inspiration was to do it via a new blog. So as hard as it may be to share something this personal, something I have struggled with for the last 18 years I have decided to take a risk and listen to my intuition. I welcome you to my new blog “Being Human”, I hope you will check it out and share your thoughts and comments with me.

"Courage is resistance to fear; mastery of fear - not absence of fear."

-Mark Twain

Back to Life Lessons

Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.

Napoleon Hill

The last week has been interesting to say the least. We haven’t made it through all the lessons in this book and yet I can’t help but notice how it has helped me. The strange thing for me is the way in which it is taking place…things are falling into place, not as I first expected but as I worked through the exercises for inspired action and followed my “gut”, the pieces of my puzzle began to fall into place. All I did was take the first step and the information, support, and ideas I needed showed up.

It seems like the entire world is in such a rush. It’s not that everyone wants something; it’s that they all want it yesterday. Although there are times when ‘NOW” would be ok with me, I understand that if everything happened now life would be over. I also understand that progress doesn’t always happen at the speed of light.

When you look at all the things you have been through, do you feel like you have learned from your experiences? Have you looked for the opportunities these experiences held? Do you place blame on yourself and others and use excuses to explain your circumstances? If you do you are probably missing out on a ton of opportunities.

Taking responsibility for your life and your choices is important; however I’m not saying that you should take on all the responsibility. I will say that placing blame on others is a waste of time and energy. By taking responsibility for our lives and our choice we gain power, we take control…why would you want to place control of your life or the experience you go through in anyone’s hands other than your own?

Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified. -Samuel Johnson

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book “Life Lessons

Exercise 1

1. Take out your Prosperity Journal and draw a line down the middle of the page. In the left hand column list the areas in your life where you feel challenged. In the right hand column, identify the opportunity within each challenge.

2. Next, for each opportunity, identify one step you can take now toward the opportunity you’ve identified.

3. Then decide when you will take that step. Put that date next to your action step. One next step is all you need to get the momentum going.

4. Now as Nike says, “Just Do It”!

5. Once you have taken that step, identify what your next step will be. Set the date by which you’ll have taken your next step and resolve to go for it.

6. Repeat steps two through five as often as necessary.

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #5

Baby Steps Lead To Avalanches

Life Lesson #2 The Power of Being 100 Percent Responsible

Smile Often
Barbara

Day 21 Trust The Voice

2010-02-17T18:13:00.001-05:00

One new perception, one fresh thought, one act of surrender, one leap of faith can change your life forever.

-Robert Holden

Essential Ingredient #4

Inspired Action

Life Lesson #5 Trust The Voice

I have so many goals and just like all of you I have an overwhelming amount of everyday “stuff” that has to be dealt with. As I was reading the chapter for yesterday’s lesson two things stood out; first how important the topic of inspired action was to the authors of Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life and second they were trying to get their point across to me. I believe in the Law of Attraction, so once I realized they were speaking to me I told my gremlin to shut up and I took a step back (a small one). I am still feeling like I need more, like the small step back wasn’t enough. However it was important for me to let you know what was I was doing and give you something to keep you moving forward.

So what did that step back teach me? It taught me that inspiration can’t be rushed, bought, forced, or borrowed and that my little gremlin is a persistent little brat. Lucky for me so is inspiration. Best of all, after reading the lessons and doing the work I now know how to tell the two apart.

Inspired action can save us a lot of time and aggravation if we would only listen to it and act on it. The lessons that are included in Essential Ingredient #4 are there to help us understand how it relates to the Law of Attraction as well as how inspired action differs from our “gremlin”. A few things that are important to keep in mind are:
1. Inspired action comes from inside

2. Gremlins also come from inside

3. Inspiration is short & sweet (to the point)

4. Gremlins are long winded and give details and explanations.

5. Gremlins love to cloud inspiration.

6. Inspired actions may not make sense to you at the time.

7. When you take inspired action you attract more of what you want/need to create the life you want.

8. Getting quiet or meditating is a great thing to do if you want to connect with your inspiration.

9. Don’t worry or panic if you don’t hear your inspired voice, be patient and it will come to you.

I will not be posting tomorrow or Friday as I did hear from my inspired voice and plan to take action on it tomorrow and through the weekend. When I return on Monday I will share the action I was inspired to take and how my gremlin has been keeping it at bay for some time now. Until then follow the exercise below, and spend a little time sitting still with your eyes closed, you may be amazed at what you learn.

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1

In your Prosperity Journal write down two to three times in the past when you got an inspired idea and acted upon it. What was the outcome?

Now write down two or three times you got an inspired idea and your gremlin kicked in and you did not act on it. What was the outcome?

Today be aware of your intuition and ideas that come to you and be willing to take inspired action. When an idea sparks or you feel guided to do something follow it. Be curious

Monday: Essential Ingredient #5

Baby Steps Lead To Avalanches

Life Lesson #1 The Power of a Single Step

Smile Often,
Barbara
Get to know more about Barbara

Day 20 Relax Awhile and Allow

2010-02-15T21:38:00.000-05:00

It’s not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing that matters.

-Mother Teresa

Essential Ingredient #4

Inspired Action

Life Lesson #4 Relax Awhile and Allow

When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.

-George Washington Carver

It’s hard sometimes to just sit still. There’s always something to do. There’s always something going on. Not making any real progress, always in a rush, most of the time we’re going nowhere fast. Yet as crazy as it might sound sometimes the best thing we could do in the name of progress is stand still…and take a deep breath.

For some learning to take a break or give themselves a break can be one of the most difficult lessons of all. Most people wait until they run themselves into the ground and their body screams “stop”. Even then there are those that do not heed the warning signs and will continue until they are emotional and physically drained or they start making costly mistakes. Either way it’s truly not the best way to go.

I know that when I am exhausted mentally and/or physically I don’t think straight. I tend to see all that is wrong in my world and lose sight of everything that I believe in. I see all the challenges I am facing and turn them into problems, hopeless situations. I begin to imagine the worst possible outcomes, and forget all that I have overcome. I forget how strong I am, how creative, intelligent, positive, resourceful, and open to possibilities I am. As aware of all of that as I am I also realize that since the moment I knew what I was meant to do/be I have learned to take time to breathe before I crash & burn and although I have my moments I get through them a lot quicker, happier and more motivated than I once did.

Becoming a Life Coach was a long journey. It started long before I was even aware of it and I’m constantly adding experiences and learning lessons that allow me to relate to and support my clients as they move towards achieving their goals. I have never enjoyed or experienced a more rewarding career. Watching my clients grow and achieve their goals is amazing and as much as I help them navigate their journey’s they help me stay true to mine.

Goals are important, so are priorities. However, sometimes our goal needs to be to clear our head and our priority to breathe. When life gets so hectic and you seem to be treading water taking a step back from chasing your dreams can be just what you need to clear the fog and allow your creative juices to start flowing again. You are not doing yourself any favors by chasing a goal and taking uninspired action. If you’re not excited about your goal step back, breathe, take a break from the goal and come back to it when you are excited and inspired to do so, you will make up for the time “lost” with your renewed enthusiasm.

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1

Do you have a goal that get’s put on your list every year, but you don’t seem to do anything about it?

What if you were to take it off the list? That’s right. Let it go. To keep seeing it there when you don’t believe the situation is going to change is like a black cloud looming over your self-confidence. Wait until you are truly ready and excited to go for it.

Have you been trying to figure out something and the answer is not coming? Give it a rest! Chill out. Let the answer find you when the time is right. You can’t force a solution or idea, but you can create space for it.

You’ll find that taking a break from anything is a good thing. Have you ever gotten out of your head and into your heart? That’s a really great thing.

Choose to relax about one goal you’ve been trying hard to manifest. Maybe the effort has been in your head and not in the doing. The desire that should have been here yesterday needs you to relax and allow it to manifest. Choose to put it on hold for a week. Relax about it. Let the Universe take over for a while.

How do you know when to stop resting? When it feels good to do so. You never need to be concerned about being inspired. There will always be an ebb and flow. You’ll find yourself inspired for days, and then you may just want to relax with books and movies.

Trust that you will be inspired again. The timing of it all is none of your business. That’s the job of the Universe. If you feel inspired from a place of abundance to take action around it, go for it.

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #4

Inspired Actions

Life Lesson #5 Trust “The” Voice

Smile Often

Barbara
LifeTude

Day 19 Stop, Look, and Listen

2010-02-12T19:02:00.001-05:00

Things do not happen; things are made to happen

-John F. Kennedy

Essential Ingredient #4

Inspired Action

Life Lesson # 3 Stop, Look, and Listen

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

-Albert Einstein

When someone does something that hurts or upsets me I used to start recalling every little thing that they had ever said and done that I either disagreed with or felt wronged by. It didn’t take my mind long to paint a fairly nasty picture of a person who in truth wasn’t so bad. I rarely do that anymore. In fact I worked very hard to change my habit of sliding down a very steep negative slope. I have been so successful at it that sometimes my friends think I hold myself back by being too forgiving, too positive (in their eyes a little blind). I have no regrets. I love my attitude, my outlook on life. I still have a lot to learn however my ability to see situations from several different perspectives has brought me a lot more happiness than not.

Every day we collect data (or as the book states evidence). We pick and choose the data that we want to collect and we use it to support our beliefs both good and bad. Our minds then use the data direct plays that support our current focus. So if you are focused on a belief that your mate is an idiot then you will collect the data and build a story that supports that belief. On the other hand if your focus is how thoughtful they your mind will pull together the evidence it needs to support that belief. It’s important to note that the mind couldn’t care less if your focus is based on truth only that you believe it to be.

When I made the conscious effort to change my perception I did it because it felt better. It felt like I was more in tune with myself, the type of person I wanted to be and the life I wanted to lead. That does not mean that I paint everyone as master piece no matter how they treat me, it means that I have a choice when that happens and I don’t need to ski down that slope to make it. I can acknowledge the negative and then change directions. I am only as stuck and as hurt as I choose to be, I am always at choice.

Think about the data you collect, is it the data you want? Does it support all you want to be, do, or have? Is it in line with your values? Will it help or hinder you achieving your goals? Is the data you’ve collected directing a movie that supports how difficult it will be to attract what you desire?

Remember yesterday’s lesson, the one about inspired action? If you don’t know what action to take ask for guidance. So if the data you’ve collected is pushing further away from your dreams, it’s time to get quiet. It’s time to stop. To breathe… deeply, and check in with how you are feeling. What’s your intuition telling you? Can you tell the difference between inspiration and the gremlin we talked about on day 16? According to the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life if it’s your inner guidance it will be short and sweet and if the message is from the gremlin it will be filled with unnecessary details. They like to explain and justify at length. Ignore the gremlin, wait for the inspiration.

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1

In your Prosperity Journal, answer the following questions:

1. What clues about my desire are being presented to me?

2. What opportunities lay at my feet?

3. What evidence can I see that things are unfolding perfectly for me?

4. What one next step do I feel inspired to take?

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #4

Inspired Actions

Life Lesson #4 Relax Awhile and Allow.

Have a great weekend, see you on Monday.

Until Then, Smile Often

Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 18 The Time Is Now

2010-02-11T20:36:00.001-05:00

It is the nature of thought to find its way into action.

-Christian Nevell Bovee

Essential Ingredient #4

Inspired Action

Life Lesson # 2 The Time Is Now

The more you can dream the more you can do.

-Micheal Korda

Have you ever experienced a time where out of nowhere something came over you and a thought or idea popped into your head and told you to do something? It might have been as simple as call a friend or family member. It might have been to buy a particular book or maybe something much bigger. It doesn’t matter if it was something large or small the important thing is that you recognize the feeling, the voice. It’s like something was giving you a bit of a push…that’s your intuition and when you make a move based on that it’s called inspired action.

Now sometimes our intuition seems to make no sense at all and that’s ok as long as it feels right, good. You don’t have to know why at that very moment, you only need to aware of how you feel about it. If it feels right (even if you don’t understand why) do it.

So what do you do if you don’t experience any inside push? In this case the best thing you can do is find a way to relax, get as quiet as possible. Go to a place that makes you feel good, a place where you can put your troubles aside and focus on the moment, on being still (for me it’s the beach or my special spot by the river). It may take some practice but be patient your intuition will lead you in the right direction. If you can tune into your intuition and take the inspired actions they will lead you in the direction of your dreams.

It’s important that you pay close attention to the feelings you have surrounding any nudge. Does it feel good or does something not feel quite right? Maybe it feels right but your still a little scared, in this case your timing could be a little off or the fear might be a little misplaced. The fear could be attached to other things going on in your life and not to the actual action your gut is telling you should take, so I’ll repeat again that it is very important for you to clear your mind and become as still and quiet as possible. You need to be able to let go and as it says in Essential Ingredient #3, Life Lesson #4 Let Go To Let It Flow.

• Reminder; all exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1

Imagine you have completed all the tasks in your life that have a deadline attached to them. Your tax preparation has been completed. Projects for the kids, work, and house all have a checkmark next to them. Done! You’ve already got your body and your finances in shape.

What would you spend your time doing? What would feel like a luxury? What have you been saying you will do someday when you have time? You may find you have many inspired ideas and desires. Make a list of them in your Prosperity Journal. Which one is calling you forth.

What if you took one action this week regarding this inspiration? What if you gave it fifteen minutes of your time? Do it. Just for the sheer joy of taking inspired action. See how it feels. Remember, maybe the inspired action is to read a fiction novel. Inspired action is not to be equated to productivity. It’s supposed to feel good simply because you enjoy the action. Yes the outcome might give you a feeling of accomplishment. But the purpose is truly joy.

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #4

Inspired Actions

Life Lesson #3 Stop, Look, and Listen

Until Then, Smile Often
Barbara
LifeTude

Day 17 Inspired Action

2010-02-10T15:01:00.000-05:00

To will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring one to that goal, and then hold to that action until that goal is reached. The key is action.

-Michael Manson

Essential Ingredient #4

Inspired Action

Life Lesson # 1 First Things First

Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today’s lesson is about a subject that is covered in my office on a daily basis. Although I at times will use a different term for it, I think that nothing suits it better than “inspired action”. Action is the piece that many people seem conveniently unaware of its importance in accomplishing any goal, in making any change. Without inspired action you tend to move in the opposite direction of your wants, desires, dreams.

There was a short story about a family’s journey to discover what was truly missing from their lives, how to get it back, the measures they took, and how each step forward had them manifesting what they needed to live their dream life. Although the story may seem like an extreme example of someone evaluating their life and values I understand that sometimes you have to tear down the walls so that you can get to the foundation.

There are times when the repairs or adjustments can be made without going that far, however if the foundation itself is not strong and you only patch the walls eventually you could find yourself in the same situation. It can be very difficult to look at yourself and your life that closely. To examine how you live and work and discover that the road you are on isn’t going to get you where you want to be…where you would be truly happy. That what you value most has been left by the wayside and your journey has become not much more than what you do to survive. I understand how this happens, how it feels.

It’s 5:30 Monday morning and the alarm is piercing through your ears. You reach over and hit the snooze (for the third time) and think to yourself I hate Mondays, another day, another fifty cents. You put the coffee on, wake the kids and pray just this one time let it be a peaceful morning…no fighting…please. You turn on the TV, change to the news and think “Can’t they report any good news, it’s is so depressing”. You yell up to the kids that they’re going to be late, scramble for change to give the kids for lunch money and notice it’s all you have left. You think about the stack of bills on the counter and wonder how you are going pay them.

I know that the above story doesn’t end there and that there is so much more that happens on a morning like that. I am also aware that days like that tend to form viscous circles that are easy to get caught up in. You tend to lose track of time because your main focus is making it through the day. Nothing ever seems to get better, not much if anything ever changes for the good and words like someday become a regular part of your vocabulary. My question to you is; are you ready to make “someday” a reality? If you answered yes my second question is; Are you ready to take action in order to break free from the rat race and create the life you want?

Trust—expecting the best to happen, believing in your ability to create what you want, and knowing you deserve to have it—can be demonstrated in many ways. It is demonstrated by believing in something even when the outer world seems to reflect something else.

Sanaya Roman and Duane Packer

Having experienced it myself I know inspiration happens both during good and difficult times. When we are in the zone and feeling great our creativity may soar. Our minds are open during this time and it can be easy to tune into which actions and opportunities suit you best. However when we are in the middle of a challenge that has us weighed down it can be difficult to tune in because of all the negativity that we surround it with.

The key in either situation is that you must take action and that action must feel good. If you are going through a rough time and you are having trouble figuring out which action will feel good, and then look for an action that will bring you some level of relief. Even a small amount of relief is good. You can build on it and as you continue to take small steps and build upon the relief your load will lighten. Your mind will open a little more and you will attract more ideas, more opportunities, and more solutions.

It is worth repeating that you must take action and you must feel good. If there is fear surrounding all of your choices then start small and the small steps will build upon each other until you get to a place where a larger step feels good, feels right. Taking action is very empowering and this method (small steps) Kaizen Method is a very effective way of building your level of belief and as you do you will attract more of the inspiration, resources, and situations you require to live the life you want.
Since the book ( Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life ) did not list an exercise for today’s lesson I would suggest checking out the book One Small Step Can Change Your Life : The Kaizen Way. Its a quick read and a great book. The method described in the book is one of the simplest and easiest metyhods for accomplishing a goal that I have ever used.

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #4

Inspired Actions

Life Lesson #2 The Time is Now
Until Then, Smile Often
Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 16 Empower Yourself for Success

2010-02-09T17:20:00.002-05:00

What you become is far more important than what you get. What you get will be influenced by what you become.

-Jim Robn

Essential Ingredient #3

Life Lesson # 5 Empower Yourself for Success

Until You Value Yourself…Don’t Expect Anyone Else To.

The above statement is true but the act itself holds so many of us back. I can’t begin to tell you the number of clients that come into my office complaining about how their clients treat them. Their customers complain about their rates, don’t pay their bills but expect to be first on the list for service, disrespect company policies, and want the farm for free. The amazing thing is that not only do they give them what they want they do it in such a way that screams their worth is below that of their clients.

It’s a tough lesson. You may think you are in a tug a war with your values and that by placing the importance on your company and your own needs you are not holding true to who you are and the values you hold. Well if that is the way you think I would like you to challenge it.

Let’s first remind ourselves of why we “work”; to support ourselves and our families. To be able to enjoy some of the wonderful things the world has to offer and to be able to help others, and share our good fortune.

Now ask yourself and be honest, if you needed to hire someone to do what you do would you expect them to do it for free? Personally I wouldn’t, I would expect to pay someone well not only for the service I offer but for the extra mile I am willing to go for my clients. For the investment I am willing to make in helping them achieve their goals I certainly would be willing to and expect to pay someone else very well.

Ok now ask yourself; if your daughter or son, husband or wife, friend or relative came to you and said that their clients treated them in the fore mentioned manner what advice would you give them? My guess is you would not tell them to keep working for free and I am almost certain you would not tell them that they should just grin and bear it, after all who can survive like that and how happy could they possibly be?

So if you wouldn’t advise anyone else to do business that way and “put up” with that treatment/behavior from their clients why on earth would you? Now if you begin to get a little defensive and start to think “the customer is always right” I am going to let you in on a little secret…NO they are not. Sometimes they are wrong and sometimes they are testing the waters and we are not doing them or us any good by allowing it to continue.

I was a customer service manager for many years and I used to tell my employees that “the customer is always right, even when they are wrong” then I would teach them how to address the ‘wrong” customers without insulting them or devaluing the services we provided. I was very good at what I did and my customers knew it, I had more than one customer say thank you for knowing how to say no to them without actually ever using the word. They told me it made them feel like I was on their side, even when I couldn’t give them what they wanted I would find an answer that would work for both them and the company…I would find the “win win”. I realized that great customer service did not have to come at the expense of the company, and that the company values, reputation and stability did not have suffer at the hand of the client. I also learned that just as every sock does not fit every foot, every client does not fit every company. Sometimes letting go is more in tune with your values than allowing behavior to continue that in the long run will not benefit anyone.

Most books about financial success tell us to pay ourselves first. However most small business owners (and people in general) do not, in fact we take a back seat to everyone and everything. What message are we sending ourselves by doing this? How long can we support ourselves and our families on nothing? Now before you get too upset let me just say I understand. I have worked for myself for a long time and am guilty of not paying myself first. That changes today.

This lesson was a wakeup call, a reminder. I’m not saying that you need to pay yourself a huge salary, I’m saying whatever the amount is pay yourself first. First value your service, your work, your company, if you don’t why would anyone else? Second once your company gets paid pay yourself first. Decide on a set amount or percent per job, per week or even per month (start small if you must but start). Learn to value you and what you have to offer and others will also. Give yourself increases as business increases and incentives as you would an employee that was showing steady improvement, constant effort. Treat yourself as you want to be treated. If you can’t be good to yourself how can you expect someone else to?

So by now you may be asking yourself what all of this has to do with the Law of Attraction, the simple explanation is that if you do not think, believe and act as if you value yourself and the work you do (and I do not mean in an arrogant self absorbed way) how are you going to attract people or clients into your life who feel that way. If the vibrations you send out into the universe surrounding your clients are mainly negative then you are telling the universe to send more of the same your way. It may not be want you want but it is what you are telling the universe to deliver.

Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.

Betty Ford

Our thoughts are an extremely powerful tool. They can help us achieve greatness or assist us in staying stuck in a life that is less than fulfilling. Think about a goal that you have struggled with and continue to struggle with. Now think about the thoughts you have surrounding your relationship with that goal. As you reflect back what type of thoughts stand out; negative or positive? What are your current thoughts on a new attempt at achieving that goal? Listen carefully to what the “unspoken” voices inside your head are saying. Are they negative? Are you condemning yourself before you begin? Are you hearing all the reasons you will fail? Are you preparing all the excuses you will use if things don’t work out? If you answered yes do yourself and me a big favor DON”T BEAT YOURSELF UP FOR IT. Acknowledge and accept responsibility, this will give you power, power to change it.

Close your eyes and take a deep breath, because once you realize that you have the power to change your thoughts, to quiet the negative gremlin inside your head you are on your way to finally achieving the goal that has avoided you as well as accomplishing anything that you set your mind, heart and effort to.

Reminder: All exercises come directly from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Exercise 1
Learn to recognize the gremlin for what it is: a thief that stifles creativity, hinders success, and paralyzes growth. Begin to listen carefully for that voice and cut it off before its effects can take root. Here are some ideas:

1. Wear a rubber band on your wrist for a month and giving yourself a “zing’ whenever you hear that gremlin beginning to discourage you. Talk about a reminder! We’d rather zing the gremlin than ourselves any day!

2. Surround yourself with positive, happy people who do not allow gremlins to steal their successes. First, it becomes very difficult to continuously hear about positive things without some of your own to add. You’ll start looking for ways to join the crowd. Second, the more you are around positive thoughts, the more real they become, and the more you attract the same back to you.

3. Recall the times when you successfully combated your gremlin and let those instances serve as your road map. Write about these times in your prosperity journal. Writing things down allows you to explore feelings, thoughts, and circumstances that surrounded the experience. Details that are typically glossed over when focusing on the big picture can be extremely beneficial when later explored. Knowing that you have what it takes to face any challenge and overcome any obstacle is just the thing to bolster your confidence and self-esteem—two of the things that gremlins seem to sap out of their victims. Don’t be a victim any longer; be a victor.

So are you ready to step up to the challenge? We know you can do it! Learning how to silence your gremlins is a tool that will be beneficial for life. Isn’t it time to empower yourself and position yourself to succeed at all you set out to accomplish? Yes, yes, and yes!

Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #4

Inspired Actions

Life Lesson #1 First Things First

Until Then, Smile Often
Barbara
LifeTude

Day 15 Letting Go to Let It Flow

2010-02-08T20:21:00.001-05:00

Finally, after five days of stomach flu woes I’m back and ready to tackle the next lesson. Thank you for all the well wishes I know they helped me stay positive and recover faster.

Money is neither my god nor my devil. It is a form of energy that tends to make us more of who we already are, whether it’s greedy or loving.

-Dan Millman

Essential Ingredient #3

Life Lesson # 4 Letting Go to Let It Flow

A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.

-Everett Dirksen

Although I consider myself a positive person I know that there is always room for improvement and I welcome any all opportunities. I am also well aware that there are some lessons that we do not learn the first time we encounter them. Today’s lesson is one that I could relate to on a few different levels and if I need to read, practice and reread in order to convert the negative baggage into positive beliefs I will.

When you grow up as a poor kid in a rich town your lack of money is thrown in your face every day. I went to school or came home from school crying…kids can be cruel. I knew money didn’t grow on trees. I knew that there wasn’t much to eat. I knew that people would make fun of my clothes and I knew that something had to change.

Some lessons don’t get through the first or even the second time. Some lessons are learned not when you think you’ve hit bottom but when you truly do. It’s not this way for everyone and I want it to come easier for you than it has for me. If you will adopt this lesson and throw out some of the negative ways you think about money you can change your financial magnetism.

In order to become a money magnet you first need to identify how you think, feel and talk about money. Are your beliefs limiting your ability to have an abundance of money in your life? Do you think that rich people are greedy uncaring individuals without a clue? Do you think it is morally wrong to want more money? Maybe your thoughts are always focused on what you can’t have be or do because you cannot afford it. Whatever your thoughts are the first step is becoming aware of them and identifying if they are mainly negative or mainly positive. If you are leaning towards the negative side you may recognize some of these:
 I’m always in debt

 I’ll never make enough money

 I don’t deserve wealth

 Only people who cheat have money

 I’m always worried about money because there is never enough

 Money is evil

 I can’t afford……………

 I never have any money

 I’m broke…again

 I can’t pay my bills

 It’s wrong to want/desire money

 Being poor keeps me humble

 I live pay check to pay check; I’ll never get caught up

According to the Law of Attraction if you are struggling with money and it seems as though it is a constant struggle then your beliefs are keeping you stuck in a pattern of lack. In the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life it states that “Poverty consciousness can be easily changed to prosperity consciousness by clearing your deeper beliefs and replacing them with new ones.” They also state that along with creating new beliefs you will create new behaviors with money. Some of the prosperity belief examples they give are as follows:

 I recognize prosperity everywhere and rejoice in it fully. There is plenty for me.

 The abundance of the Universe is available to everyone, including me.

 I spend money wisely and comfortably.

 I am open and receptive to new avenues of income.

 I am comfortable with large sums of money.

 I am using money to bless my life and others

 I am wealthy, generous and spiritual.

 I am a money magnet

After reading through the lesson I realized that there are things that I say that help keep me stuck in a place of lack. The example they gave that hit home was; when some asks you if you have any money…what’s your response? If your answer is no then you are sending the universe a message that you have no money and you will continue to experience the same. The Universe doesn’t know our bank account status, only the signals we send out to it.

Exercise 1

1. Draw a line down the center of a clean page in your prosperity journal.

2. At the top of the page write: My current Limiting Thoughts about Money.

3. In the left hand column make a list of all your current limiting thoughts you have about money.

4. On the right hand side reach for a better feeling/thought about money.

In the book they state that the change is easy, I would say the formula for change is simple and the answers are out there…if you want to succeed at something imitate someone who has. If you want to lose weight reduce your calorie intake and increase your calorie burn…simple, but easy? Solutions are as hard as we make them out to be.
The world is filled with success stories. These successes fall in many different categories from weight loss to billionaires and within each category there are a variety of ways at which people achieved the bottom line (SUCCESS). All you have to do is Imagine, it, Believe it, Live it!
Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #3

Transforming Thoughts

Life Lesson #5 Empower Yourself for Success
Until Then, Smile Often

Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 14 Seeing the Glass Half-Full

2010-02-02T21:25:00.001-05:00

To be upset over what you don’t have is to waste what you do have.

-Ken S. Keyes Jr. Handbook to Higher Consciousness

Essential Ingredient #3

Life Lesson # 3 Seeing the Glass Half-Full

A funny thing happened today, I don’t mean funny ha ha I mean funny strange…but then again it really wasn’t strange either it was what I needed when I needed it, Law of Attraction in action? Anyway after I read today’s lesson it seemed so straight forward to me that I wasn’t sure where to go with it. I had been tossing ideas back and forth most of the day but couldn’t settle on one. Nothing seemed to hit home and then there it was an email from a group I belong to on LinkedIn; Motivation Nation.

I have to tell you that it has been a while since I have been on LinkedIn, or even participated in any of the discussions taking place in many groups I belong to, but something pushed me towards this one. The email was about a discussion taking place called “How is Your Attitude?” I couldn’t resist, didn’t want to and extremely glad I did not. There were so many great comments from all sides of the spectrum. People who complained about the “self help gurus” and the advice they give, people promoting being happy all the time, as well as comments from the guys hanging out in the middle of the road. Loved it, loved it all. If you would like to check out the discussion here is a link http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=8896097&gid=1693527&trk=EML_anet_qa_ttle-d7hOon0JumNFomgJt7dBpSBA …not sure but you may need to join the group first and if that is the case I say join.

One of the things I took away from the discussion was a higher appreciation for the LifeTude I have adopted and it was truly an uplifting experience to read so many posts from like minded people. Although you will need to visit the above link if you want to read both sides of discussion I will share what I wrote here:

Having a positive attitude doesn’t mean you ignore the tough times in your life, or that you don’t have a clue about what has happened, is happening or will happen. It doesn’t mean that you are unaware of what has caused the hair on the back of your neck to stand up, or that you ignore the foreclosure notices posted outside your door.

Being positive is a choice, a frame of mind, a way of life. Positive people look for solutions to the challenges before them; whereas negative people have trouble seeing past the problem. Positive people see the glass as half full and know that there are several ways to accomplish filling the glass. Negative people see the glass half empty and are so focused on not running out that they miss the opportunity to fill it.

Positive people don’t ignore fear or grief. Four years ago my husband and I were in a horrible car accident…he didn’t survive. I know grief. I know fear. The difference is my LifeTude (as I have come to call it) allowed me to pull myself off the floor and start over. My LifeTude helped me celebrate all that I was blessed to have shared with him. It allowed me to experience the grief and face my fears and do what I needed to do.

Positive isn’t perfect, it’s happy. Negative people are not happy they just don’t know how to stop being negative, because they are so focused on the problem and not the solution.

Are you a glass is half full type person or do you always see the empty side of life? If the empty side of life best describes your view then it’s time for an attitude adjustment (or as I like to say a “LifeTude” adjustment). However if you look at the glass and see it is half full you have touched on the Law of Polarity.

The book (Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life)states (and I’ll paraphrase) that the Law of Polarity is like a reality check, a glimpse into the bright side, the fun successful side. It helps reduce negative energy, negative vibrations. When applied you create positive energy vibrations that make it close to impossible to stay negative…an instant does of sunshine.

You can read more about the Law of Polarity here http://www.abundance-and-happiness.com/law-of-polarity.html
Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #3 Transforming Thoughts
Life Lesson #4 Letting Go To Let It Flow

Until Then, Smile Often
Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 13 Where Thought Goes Energy Flows

2010-02-01T21:01:00.003-05:00

Have the daring to accept yourself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the game of making the most of your best.

-Henry Emerson Fosdick

Essential Ingredient #3
Life Lesson # 2 Where Thought Goes Energy Flows

It’s fairly easy to be upbeat and positive when life is cruising along in the direction of your dreams. When the money is rolling in, the bills are all paid and all seems right with your world, smiling seems to come naturally. But what happens when you’re cruising and the road gets a little rough, you feel like you’re constantly dodging the sink holes and you become uncertain of which way to turn? Does the smile fade from your face? Do you come to a complete stop? Do you turn back and call it quits?

Remember whatever game you play, 90 percent of success is from the shoulders up.

-Milfred “Deacon” Palmer

When our road gets tough we have the opportunity to shine our brightest. When you come up against a challenge and you look and see the possibilities instead of the black hole you have in a scenes turned a corner that will allow what you want to flow to you more easily.

Do you know someone you consider “lucky”? Someone who seems to know without a doubt that they will come out of every situation smelling like a rose? This person is always happy always going for “it” and getting “it”. Have you ever wondered what makes them so different from you? Why can’t you be like that...well, you can. Change your attitude, change your perspective, and change your life.

I know what you’re thinking; easier said than done, right? Change can be difficult, but it can also be very rewarding and isn’t the reward worth the effort? I know that in my case I believe that it is so much better to go through life with a smile rather than a pout and according to the Law of Attraction if you are spending the majority of your time complaining, pouting, gossiping, putting others down, envying, worried, and wishing things were different then you will attract more situations, things and people into your life that will make it easy for you to keep on experiencing those same feelings.

The good news is that you can break that cycle. You can at any moment decide, commit, and make a change that will allow more positive and less negative into your life. I’ve heard it said that it takes 30 days to create a new habit or break an old one. The gentleman in today’s story took that challenge and finally after 30 years of emotional ups and downs he freed himself. He used positive affirmations. After reading chapter 12 “Thirty Days to Breakthrough” from “Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting” and learning a technique call “Flip Switching” he was finally able to changes his thoughts and his life.

For the full explanation of the technique you can pick up a copy of Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting: The Power of Positive Feelings, however the basic method he used was to substitute a negative thought or fear with a positive affirmation about himself.

It wasn’t complex, in fact it was a very simple statement that he could remember, that he believed and repeated over and over again every time the negative thoughts or feeling crossed his mind. It was tough at first but became easier and easier as the time passed and by the end of the month he was successful at changing the way he felt about a particular situation.

Consider for a moment how much time you spend thinking about negative thoughts versus positive thoughts? Think about all the time you spend talking about bad days, people, friends, husbands or wives that are less than perfect. Truth is, the average person wastes the majority of their time on negative talk, thoughts and actions. Are you beginning to see just how the flood of negativity finds its way into the better half of your time? Would you like to change it? Would you like your day to be filled with more joy than sorrow, more highs than lows?

You can reprogram your thinking. You can change your perspective. Start now. Change whatever you need to. Refuse to gossip, hangout with like minded positive people. Whatever it takes, this is your life and by dismissing the negative and refocusing on the positive you will reshape your life.

Exercise 1

Give positive actions, thoughts, companions your undivided attention for one month. As great things happen, mark them down in your prosperity journal and review your list frequently. You’ll soon become addicted to the success that flows your way. By all means open those positive flood gates!
Tomorrow: Essential Ingredient #3

Transforming Thoughts
Life Lesson #3 Seeing the Glass Half Full

Until Then, Smile Often

Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 12 Don’t take it personally

2010-01-29T18:40:00.002-05:00

First comes thought; then organization of that thought into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.

-Napoleon Hill

Essential Ingredient #3

Life Lesson # 1 Don’t take it personally

As I was reading today’s short story I once again found myself face to face with a lesson that I was meant to experience at just that particular moment. My belief is that when you begin to tune into yourself and your values the universe steps up to see that you are provided with the right tools to make things happen. Apparently I’m right where I need to be and the tools I need have been finding me right here Monday –Friday.

Attitude is the reflection of a person, and our world mirrors our attitude.

-Earl Nightingale

My take away from today’s story; our biggest roadblock s in achieving our dreams is ourselves. I knew that, but I’m always learning new ways we accomplish it. We find ways to both internally and externally, consciously and unconsciously impede our progress. Imagine for a second all that we could accomplish, all that we could be do and have if we would only stay out of our own way. Think for a moment about all the time wasted on anger, excuses, and blame…now forgive yourself for it, let it go and move forward.

There are many things that block us from receiving the prosperity we desire one of which is blame. In today’s lesson they not only discuss this type of blockage but they give you a method for clearing it…FORGIVENESS. Forgiving someone for doing you wrong is tough enough and can be unimaginable for some depending on the circumstances. However forgiving one’s self can be even harder.
Now if you, like me believe in the Law of Attraction you understand that what you put out into the universe you attract back more of the same. So if you are angry and miserable and holding a grudge against yourself or anyone else it stands to reason that you will attract more situations into your life that will produce similar feelings and outcomes. However if you let go of the anger and forgive (truly) forgive yourself and others for everything you remove the roadblock and clear your path to receive more of what you want.
At this point I want to back track a step and let you know that the story also talks about the Laws of Prosperity (The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity). In Randy’s story he mentions that there are seven prosperity laws that we should live by and that they are all interrelated. It is the Vacuum Law of Prosperity is the law that is in effect during forgiveness situations. If you have a prosperity block he would recommend three simple steps;

1. Mentally forgive everyone you are out of harmony with.

2. Mentally ask forgiveness from the people you have wronged in the past, gossiped about, in a law suit with or any other disharmony with.

3. If you have accused yourself of failure or mistakes, forgive yourself.

Once you have completed these steps you will clear your path and open your door for prosperity.

There was a time in my life where I commuted from Hampton to Boston for work. I did this for nine years through all sorts of weather. During that time I developed road rage…everyone was out to get me, cutting me off, slamming on their breaks for no apparent reason, not letting me on the highway, and just all around rude. I didn’t know what I did to them but apparently I had done it to a lot of people. That anger would linger at both the start and end of my day. That was then.

These days when someone cuts me off I try to remember that everyone has a story and I always say “They were in such a hurry I hope everything is ok”, no anger to carry through my day and I feel so much better and all I did was change how I saw the situation, I changed my perspective, let go of the anger and mad my commute, days and evenings a lot more pleasant.
Exercise 1

In your prosperity journal write the name of a person you have felt resentful towards lately.

Write down the perspective you currently hold about the situation.

Ask yourself what’s a different perspective that I could hold and feel better about?

Try to identify at least six different perspectives.

Read through all of them and decide which one feels better.

When you‘ve felt even the smallest amount of relief in how you feel, you’ve done your work!

So the next time someone does something and you notice that you are taking in personally and allowing it to effect you remember the above exercise and try looking at the situation from a different perspective. You’ll be surprised how the quality of your life can improve simply by changing your perspective.

Final thought for the day:

In life, we will encounter hurts and trials that we will not be able to change; we are just going to have to allow them to change us.

Ron Lee Davis

Tomorrow:

Essential Ingredient #3 Transforming Thoughts
Life Lesson #2 Where Thought Goes, Energy Flows

Have a great weekend, Smile Often
Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 11 Call In Your Team

2010-01-28T18:50:00.003-05:00

Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.

-Stephen Covey

Essential Ingredient #2

Life Lesson # 5 Call In Your Team

Sometimes the lessons we learn are hard…very hard. The situations we get ourselves into can be even more difficult to get ourselves out of (most of the time because we make it that way by believing it to be that way). However with everything I have been through I have learned a couple of things over and over again…I’ll be ok and things work out. They tend to work out better and faster when I make choices that align with who I am and the values I hold. I’ve also learned that we never have to go it alone…sometimes we just choose to.

Great moments wait around every corner.
-Richard M. DeVos

So if life is filled with ups and downs and ups and downs are filled with lessons and lessons are filled with choices and choices become the stones that pave our path to our desires, how do we navigate our way through it all? Well you could go it alone. That’s one choice or you could do as this lesson is titled and “Call in Your Team”.

I have a team. Each member of my team has a special purpose. Some people are there as shoulders to lean on, they listen ask questions and give hugs but offer little advice. My coach is there to help me work through challenges and help me stay on track. I also have an attitude person, who helps me stay in a positive frame of mind. My point is that I have different people I can go to for different reasons. They are family, friends, and professionals and as I travel through life on my journey to achieving my dreams I call on them for support, advice, reminders, even hugs.

Today’s lesson talked about not only having a team in place but having the right members on the team and calling on them for the right reason. Simply put if you needed financial advice you should probably think twice before calling on the friend who has a gambling problem and doesn’t have a penny to his name.

The book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life also mentions that your team can also include classes and/or retreats. The authors also says to keep personal history in mind when working with people that have a personal history with you, the more objective your team the better.

It’s important that when you call on your team that you be very specific when you are asking them for help with what you need. When you make a request be sure you receive a yes. This is a powerful team you are putting together and the interaction may take practice for all involved. Some may give you what you need and others may need to be reminded, but it’s up to you to you to get what you need.

Exercise 1

In your prosperity journal answer the following questions:

1. Who’s on your team?

2. What role do you want them to take on with you?

3. How do you want them to support you?

4. Are you forcing anyone to be on your team? If so why?

5. Who else could you find who’s more suitable?

Note: Please keep in mind that although I use excerpts and exercise from the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life, I do believe that you can and will benefit from reading the blog and following the exercises. Having said that I also think you miss out on the stories and larger explanations that may provide you a deeper understanding of the material. If you don’t want to purchase the book you could ask a friend if you could borrow it or check your local library.

Tomorrow:

Essential Ingredient #3

Transforming Thoughts

Until tomorrow, Smile Often

Barbara

http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 10 You Are Always at Choice

2010-01-27T20:23:00.004-05:00

You always do what you want to do. This is true with every act. You may say that you had to do something, or that you were forced to, but actually whatever you do you do it by choice. Only you have the power to choose for yourself.

-V. Clement Stone

Essential Ingredient #2

Life Lesson # 4 You Are Always at Choice

I don’t know about you but for me the last ten days have been like a ride on a rollercoaster. My journey has been an interesting one to say the least. I have experienced ups and downs highs and lows. My life seems to be following this blog and making sure that I experience all that I can so that my journey becomes a value to you as well as myself. At first I didn’t think it was so funny and I certainly wasn’t enjoying the ride, but then I stepped back and started following my own advice as well as the advice of the authors. However now I know, it was meant to be. I’m learning a lot that I will be able to use to help others and for that I am truly grateful.

Yesterday’s lesson really helped me release the “now what” and simply allow myself to live the present moment, to stay true to who I am and the values I hold. As I reread a couple of the lessons I realized that I did not have to work through them alone and I picked up the phone and called on my support team (my coach, my attitude shifter). Do you have a support team? People who truly hear what you have to say and help you stay centered and on track? Positive influences, not negative energy hogs? I cannot stress enough how important it is to have some type of positive support in your life, negativity is a very slippery slope.

Freedom, then, lies only in our innate human capacity to choose between different sorts of bondage, bondage to desire and self-esteem, or bondage to the light that lightens all our lives.

-SRI Madhava Ashish

One of the things I have noticed over the years is that some people get very upset (even though it is said in a non-judgmental way)when you mention that they do what they do because they have made a choice to do so, or they are where they are in life because of the choices they have made. Although I have my theories I am not 100% sure why people react this way. Choices are good; it’s great to have them. When you get to the stage where you are aware that you always have a choice you deflate many of your fears.

The authors of Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life say that knowing you have a choice and consciously choosing your outcome or claiming your dream is very different from being in a situation and simply wanting, wishing it to be different. If there is a situation in your life that is frustrating for you, you are the only person who can choose to change it. You need to put yourself behind the wheel; you need to take charge of your options.

If you think you can or you think you can’t you’re probably right.

-Henry Ford

Don’t settle for less than you want. If you believe that something isn’t possible or is out of your reach your effort at achieving your dream will be minimal. However when you decide that a desire is possible and are ready to have it the universe will assist you and things will begin to unfold.

So what do you do? In the book they suggest stepping back. Stop exhausting yourself take some deep breaths over and over again, allow yourself to relax and let in thoughts not bound by the issue. When you settle down enough to focus on you, your body & how you are feeling, you can begin to accept what is going on and accept responsibility for your situation. By accepting responsibility you are taking control , giving yourself back the power to change it and best of all you can turn any situation around no matter how dark or deep.

Exercise 1

What are you choosing to claim for yourself today?

What do you want to feel?

Take five minutes to see this choice as a movie on the screen of your mind.

Close your eyes and take some deliberate breaths in and out to relax, allowing yourself to tap into your heart.

Imagine there is a twenty foot wide screen in front of you. See the scene of your choice playing out in front of you. Listen to the sounds. Is there a conversation happening? With whom? What is the scene? Where is it taking place? Do you look happy and peaceful or are you experiencing another emotion?

Step into the scene. Place yourself in the movie. Notice how you feel. Once you feel the scene becoming real, enjoy it. Take a few minutes to be there. Then close the scene.

Doing this type of visualization generates a lot of movement toward your desires. Even though you may not see it you are amping up the vibration. This may be the most important action to take today toward fulfillment and joy.
I truly hope that you will follow the suggestions of the authors so that you can experience this journey and its joy as I am…it’s your choice, choose.
Tomorrow:

Life Lesson #5 Call In Your Team

Until tomorrow, Smile Often
Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 9 Where You Currently Stand is Perfect

2010-01-26T21:11:00.001-05:00

We do not see things as they are; we see them as we are

-The Talmud

Essential Ingredient #2

Life Lesson # 3
Where You Currently Stand is Perfect

Have you ever been so worried about something you made yourself sick? So worried the only things you could concentrate on were all the ones you did that didn’t work out? A situation that you had no idea how to fix (and you kept telling yourself that) or how you would survive it? If you said yes you are not alone.

I have experienced it. Stranger thing most of the time I realized my worry was much larger than the actual issue. It’s a vicious negative circle that when looked at closely is usually fueled by our negative thoughts and fears…we make things worse. Our imagination climbs on board the train and out of nowhere we go from a board missing off the track to the bridge being out. We forget about all that has gone right. We forget about what we have gone through. We forget that we always have a choice and that choice could lead be our ticket off the train.

It’s like that bill collector you’ve been avoiding, he calls and calls and you never pick up the phone. Instead you cringe when your phone rings and worry about the next time he’s going to call. You may even take it a step further and start complaining about him and all he’s trying to do is his job. It’s not his fault he’s calling you.

Most bill collectors know that they are calling people who are struggling. That doesn’t change the fact that they want their money and would like to know when you can give it to them. You probably feel like you have no choice here so you don’t answer the phone you avoid it at all cost. Truth is you do have a choice…avoid or pick up the phone. Why not communicate with them and lessen the load. They may not stop calling but maybe they work with you. Maybe they call less often. The point being you may not like your choices but you always have one.

I use the example above because so many can relate to it and I know it must be hard for those who don’t know me that well to put their faith in believing I understand where they are coming from, but keep this in mind; everybody has a story. My story could fill several episodes of Oprha, without even trying. It is these experiences that have brought me to where I am today and what help me to relate so well to my clients.

I’ve never been poor only broke.

Being poor is a frame of mind.

Being broke is a temporary situation.

-Mike Todd

My interpretation of today’s stories is; learning to live in the moment, letting go of the outcome, freeing your mind so that you stay in a “place” where possibilities and opportunities become clear. When you are in a crazed no hope frame of mind you close yourself off to both. I am not saying ignore, or toss in the towel simply live this moment, believe that opportunities to improve are everywhere and the possibilities are endless. To borrow a line from the movie “The Santa Clause 2” Seeing is not believing, believing is seeing.” Have a faith…look how far you have already come.

I know what you are probably thinking. You’re probably thinking “easier said than done”. Been there said that. However I also believe in the Law of Attraction. I also have experienced all of this enough to know that it is true. But most of all I know that if you think about your state of mind when you have experienced a situation like this then you know how difficult it can be to have faith and see anything good when you are so crazy with worry.

So what do you do? In the book they suggest stepping back. Stop exhausting yourself take some deep breaths over and over again, allow yourself to relax and let in thoughts not bound by the issue. When you settle down enough to focus on you, your body & how you are feeling, you can begin to accept what is going on and accept responsibility for your situation. By accepting responsibility you are taking control , giving yourself back the power to change it and best of all you can turn any situation around no matter how dark or deep.

Sound too good to be true? It’s true. As hard as it may be to believe you are in the perfect place right now. You have been moving away from your dream and what is happening is actually happening to help you make the corrections you need to make.
It Matters not how many times you fall, but how many times you rise.

There may be bumps in the road but what matters is how you respond to them.
So give yourself permission to be exactly where you are. Whatever the current state of your relationships, family, finances, health, or life balance, accept that you are fine. Stop comparing, stop self criticizing.

Straight from the book:

Exercise 1

Here is a great way to be at peace with your life even if you’re not anywhere near living your dreams.

Call to mind any areas in your life where you feel negative judgment about. (Its easier if you write it down)

Do you have any constant negative judgment or guilt about your financial status? Debt?

Do you have any frustration about your mate (or lack of one)? What about your family? Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Write down every nagging situation that you wish were different.

When you are done choose one topic you would like to release. Imagine you could hold all the negative thoughts about this issue in your hand. You can begin to look at them from a different perspective. Take a nice deep breath in. Continue to take deep breaths in through your nose then releasing through your mouth. Imagine squashing all the thoughts into a ball the size of an orange

Keep breathing. As you become more centered ask yourself some questions about the ball of thoughts you are holding. What’s it made of? Is there a texture to it? Does it feel light or heavy? Does it have color?

Decide what you would like to do with it. It’s your ball of thoughts and you get to decide its fate. You can drop it, burn it or dissolve it. You can shrink it to the size of a pin head. You can toss it in the ocean. What about an imaginary laser beam breaking it up into dust? You can blow it into the wind. You can put it anywhere you want. Choose.

Good. How are you feeling about the issue now? Continue your breathing. Remember you are bigger than it. These thoughts mean nothing about you. You can continue releasing these thoughts one by one.

Tomorrow?

Life Lesson #4

You Are Always At Choice

Until tomorrow, Smile Often
Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 8 Breakthroughs Don’t Have To Be Hard

2010-01-25T17:24:00.001-05:00

At any moment I could start being a better person...

But which moment should I choose?

-Ashleigh Brilliant

Essential Ingredient #2

Life Lesson # 2
Breakthroughs Don’t Have To Be Hard

The dictionary defines “defining moment” as; a point at which the essential nature or character of a person, group, etc., is revealed or identified. I would like to add that it is a point at which one obtains clarity. They get “it”. In coaching terms it is referred to as an “aha moment”. For me, reflecting back over my own defining moments tells a story, reminds me of what’s truly important, points out just how far I have come, and all that I have overcome and accomplished to get here.

Each of us has moments in our lives that stand out... Moments that have either taught or reminded us something about ourselves. For me these moments range from simply biting my tongue and keeping a particular thought to myself to the time when the Doctor told me that the humane thing to do was to not tell my Mom what was going on and instead just to allow her to bleed to death. My point is defining moments come in all sizes and we experience them at different times in different situations. The moment itself doesn’t need to be large for there to be an “Aha” sometimes it comes down to a saying yes or no when your usual response would have been the opposite.

One of the things I have always been good at is helping people see things from a different perspective. Seeing things differently can help you go from fearful to proactive, from trapped and hopeless to open and filled with possibilities. These moments, life defining moments build you up, give you strength, teach you about life and yourself and get stored in your memory for a future time when you need a boost of confidence, or to recall how you dealt with a similar situation.

What you learn or gain from one moment can be used to help you through others and make your life better, happier, more fulfilling. The situation may be different, but the process is not. In the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life the authors note that the three step process is always the same;

1 Decide what you want.

2. Give your attention to it in a way that feels good.

3. Follow your inner guidance to take the steps that will be perfect for your journey.

Give me a kiss to build a dream on, and my imagination will thrive upon that kiss.

-Louis Armstrong

Exercise 1

What are your Life Defining Moments?

In your prosperity journal list at least 10 situations, moments that turned your life toward a more fulfilling path.

Look back on your life and appreciate all you have done, all your accomplishments. Feel joy, celebrate, relive it, relish it, and remember it as vividly as you can use all your senses to paint the picture.

Next identify those thoughts and practices that served you in each instance. This information is your road map to your desires.

The easiest time to forget what we have been through, how far we have come, all the road blocks we have knock down, all the times we succeeded, and all our accomplishments is when we are on the verge of another defining moment. That is why taking the time to look back, remember, celebrate and use what we have learned about who we are, who we want to be is so important.

Tomorrow
Life Lesson #3
Where You Currently Stand Is Perfect

Until tomorrow, Smile Often
Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 7 You’re Never Stuck!

2010-01-22T14:33:00.001-05:00

I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.

-Booker T. Washington

Essential Ingredient #2
Life Lesson # 1
You’re Never Stuck!

Burnout doesn’t occur because we’re solving problems; it occurs because we’ve been trying to solve the same problems over and over. The problem named is the problem solved. Identify and confront the real problems in your path.

-Susan Scott

I was recently talking with a friend who wanted to know what kind of people I work with. I told her that I work with people from different walks of life. These individuals are in a wide range of careers and are at different stages in their lives. I also told her that my ideal client was someone who was; sick and tired of being sick and tired, ready, open and willing to change, committed to living a better life and have at least one goal.
It is your responsibility to see that your life works out the way you want it to. No one else can do it for you. The power to change your life is within you. –Heidi Baer

The short story that goes along with today’s lesson is said to be a rags to faith to riches story. After reading the story it was clear to me that it was riches to rags to faith to riches story.

The short version is that this woman left one marriage (where she was well off), received a settlement. Invested it with someone she trusted. Lost everything, filed bankruptcy, and had to start all over again (large family in tow). It’s an amazing true tale of someone on the verge of falling apart, recommitting to her dreams, holding tight to her faith, and coming out on top.

This woman understood the stakes were high. She was scared and knew the journey would be a tough one. She fought through the fear and rejection she faced along the way and was rewarded in the end.

Have you ever felt “stuck”? Is there a situation in your life that you are unhappy with yet still you “put up” with? Maybe the stuck is too mild a word. What keeps you up at night worrying how you are going to fix or solve it?
No doubt about it, it’s a terrible situation to be in. Worrying, unhappy, seeing no way out. Most of us have been there, many of us still are. If you are at the stage where you have had enough and you are not going to put up with it any more then you are ready.

I’m going to share a secret with you, one that’s important you know: You’re never truly stuck. It’s the way we interpret the situation that holds us back or pushes us forward and no matter where you are on your journey you have the power/ability to turn your life around. You do not need to figure out the how this very second. You only need be open to change.
Exercise 1

Today’s exercise asks us to identify an area in our life that we are tiered of? Define and record it in your prosperity journal. Look at the situation and ask yourself if you are ready for it to be different.

The authors ask us to then define the real problem not the side effects (I have included the example from the book( Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life ) below).

Example:

Side effects- I’m overwhelmed, I have too many people emailing me and I can’t handle them all. Even when I’m with my family I’m stressing about all the -emails in my inbox and not enjoying my family.

Real Problem- The lack of structure with my schedule has me feeling overwhelmed. I’m reacting to the outside circumstances verses designing a schedule and structure that works for me.

Now next to each problem you have written down describe your ideal outcome. Every part of the outcome should feel good to you. Once you do all of that go back over them and make a conscious decision about each. Are you ready for them to be different? Don’t worry about how you will do that right now just make a choice, are you ready or not and it’s perfectly ok if you are not. All you have to do at this point is make a choice; ready or not, yes or no. The act of deciding alone can be very empowering because you are not allowing the choice to be made for you.

Once you complete the exercise let me know how things are going and if you have any questions.

Monday

Essential Ingredient #2 continued

Defining Moments

Life Lesson #2 Breakthroughs don’t have to Be Hard

Until Then have a wonderful weekend and Smile Often

Barbara

Would you like help achieving your goals? Want to know if you are a good canidate for coaching? Follow this link and take the "Are you Coachable" quiz http://www.lifetude.com/Are_You_Coachable_.html

Day 6 The Power of Intention, Not Attachment

2010-01-21T20:37:00.001-05:00

Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.

-Dr. Samuel Johnson

Life Lesson # 5
Life Lesson #6

The Power of Intention, Not Attachment

You don’t give up the intention, and you don’t give up the desire. You give up your attachment to the result.

-George Bernard Shaw

Understanding can come from the strangest most unexpected places. It was a busy day for me. Running back and forth between my office and my home, trying to get everything on my to-do list accomplished by 5pm. Since I normally work late I knew this would be a stretch, but nothing was going to stop me from trying. Well here it is 4:54pm and trying isn’t getting it done…maybe tomorrow.

In the mad rush to get things done today I also had to deal with the unexpected interruptions of the normal day. The problem wasn’t the interruptions themselves the problem was that I neglected to schedule in any cushion time. So at 4pm when my phone rang I had a choice to make; reread Lessons 5 & 6 so that I could figure out how to interpret them for this blog, or answer the phone...I answered the phone. It was after all an important call; little did I know just how important it was.

Actually although the call was important what happened during the call was the answer to the question I had been pondering most of the day; how to convey the point in today’s lesson. I was at home sitting at my desk, talking on the phone when my dog Cha Cha came out of nowhere jumping, barking and trying like crazy to get my attention. I tried, without much success to get her to settle down but she was just too wound up.
The person on the other end laughed a little but kept talking and Cha Cha kept barking. I snapped my fingers and the loud barks turned into low whimpers. She sat right in front of me alternating the whining and barking. Then she started jumping and pacing back and forth side to side. I snapped my fingers again, and she sat once more. It wasn’t long before the person on the other end of the phone realized that Cha Cha didn’t care how important the call was.

I hung up the phone and Cha Cha sat in front of me waiting. I knew what she wanted. I knew her buddy was outside and she wanted out. But I had a preverbal bone to pick with her, so I made her wait…not long, but long enough for her to calm herself a bit, I’d say 30 seconds and then I gave her what she wanted. Kuma was there waiting for her, and she was in her glory.

As I watched Cha Cha play in the snow with her friend I realized that she had the right idea; she knew what she wanted and she persisted until she got it. She backed off just a little when she didn’t get anywhere but still she kept the goal in mind coming back to it little by little approaching the goal in different ways. Now this may seem like a small thing to you but to her getting outside and playing Kuma is like winning the lottery and Cha Cha’s strategy paid off because she eventually realized her goal. Her persistence paid off.

Today’s lessons are about setting intentions, letting go of the outcome and being persistent. I know that the above story might be a simple example of today’s lessons, however sometime the simplest explanations are the best.

I’m not a dog whisperer or anything like that, but I know Cha Cha well enough to say that she doesn’t give up easily. I also know that what she did do had nothing to do with giving up. She may have backed off a little, but she did not give up…she altered her approach. She changed her approach…and she came out on top.

So what did they want us to take away from these lessons? Set your intention on the dream and allow your persistent to propel you towards it, and don’t let your focus be the outcome. Know your dream, talk about it, but don’t be so distracted and attached to the outcome that you lose sight of the journey and end up creating more roadblocks for yourself.

If along your journey you encounter a roadblock or two, what would you do? How would you handle it? Quit? Throw in the towel? The advice the authors give is don’t quit and the advice that I would give you? Don’t quit. Take a step back, acknowledge your progress, celebrate your accomplishments, re-evaluate, change the path, take smaller steps, turn the road block into a question or a request that you can ask yourself or someone else. Get support, don’t give up.
Exercise 1

1. In your prosperity journal identify a goal or dream that you have encountered a road block in your progress.
2. Determine if you can break it down into smaller steps.
3. Turn the road block into a question or request
4. Review and notice which one you are inspired to work on and go with that.
5. Acknowledge the progress you have made, celebrate.

Today’s lessons complete the 1st Essential Ingredient. It may be a great time to go back over all the lessons and exercises and see where you are with each and if you have any questions. If you do have questions, comments or suggestions please feel free to post them.

Tomorrow

Essential Ingredient #2

Defining Moments

Life Lesson #1 You’re Never Stuck

Until Then, Smile Often

Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 5 The Power of Your State of Mind

2010-01-20T20:49:00.001-05:00

Abundance is not something we acquire.

It is something we tune into.

-Wayne Dyer

Life Lesson #4

The Power of Your State of Mind

The People who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.

-George Bernard Shaw

It’s been said that; good things come in small packages. Today’s lesson may have been small in terms of written words, but it was huge in terms of the impact it had and will continue to have on me.

So far when I have talked about The Law of Attraction I have given you the basic bottom line explanation. In other words I gave you a car without giving you any gas. Much like gas fuels a car today you will learn what fuels The Law of Attraction.

Today’s story was about a business that was going down fast and how the owners with the support of their staff used The Law of Attraction to improve the financial situation.

The company was suffering. It wasn’t until one of the owners discovered The Law of Attraction and it’s catalyst that everything began to change. They learned that the basic explanation was; whatever you focused on you would get more of, wanted or not. They also learned that there was a little more to it. They found out that the “Law” is fueled by emotion. Think about it; emotion is filled with energy. Sometimes the energy is positive and sometimes it’s negative either way that energy causes vibrations. Those vibrations act like magnetic waves that channel from you out into the universe and the universe has no choice but to give back to you what you gave to it…you get what you give.

With the walls caving in on them they needed to find a way to change the energy that they way and their staff were emitting into atmosphere. During the time when they were researching the “Law” they came across the Abraham Hicks website (www.Abraham-Hicks.com) and a game called “The Prosperity Game”. The game became the vehicle they used to shift their energy as well as their staff’s and in doing so changed what they thought was the enviable future of the company.

It’s a great story, a true story and this book is filled with them. If you haven’t already purchased this book I highly recommend that you do, truly a small price to pay when you consider all the benefits you can receive.

The prosperity game is like an imaginary bank account, a bank account that replenishes itself on a daily basis. On the first day you deposit $10,000 and spend it. On anything your heart desires. One the next day you increase the deposit by $1,000 (so your deposit is $11,000) and then you spend that. The next day your deposit will be $12,000 and continues like this until there’s nothing left for you to buy or you no longer need the assistance of the game to shift from lack to abundance. I Love this idea and I am beginning my prosperity account tomorrow.

Exercise 1

With so many homeless and hungry people in this world it can be truly tough believing in abundance. However with all the food that goes to waste and all the empty home it plain to see that we do not have a shortage problem we have a distribution problem.

In order for us to receive we need to believe, so it’s time to believe in abundance. It’s time to understand that you having everything and as much of everything as you want in life you are not depriving anyone else of having the same There is more than enough to go around. So believe and receive.
Get some index cards and on them write one “I am” statement each.

Here are the examples in the book Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life:

I am so happy & grateful that money is mine to receive, invest, grow, & share.

I am so happy & grateful that money flows to me easily & effortlessly.

I am so happy & grateful that I am outrageously successful in everything I do.

I am so happy & grateful that I embrace abundance, & abundance embraces me.

The above statements are great affirmations, I encourage you to use them and/or come up with some of your own.

Once you have written and are happy with your “I am” statements read them, and not in a haphazard way but with emotion, conviction, believe it is so. Do this at least twice a day (try it while looking in a mirror), once in the morning and again before you go to bed. Consistency is important so commit to doing this every day, it takes about four weeks for it to become a habit and for the belief to kick in. If you want the reality do the work…recognizing the abundance that surrounds you is one heck of a pay off.

Tomorrow

Life lesson, #5 “The Power of Intention Not Attachment”
Until Then, Smile Often
Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 4 Releasing the “How” So the Dream Can Unfold

2010-01-19T15:58:00.002-05:00

When the truly great people discover they have been deceived by the signposts along the road of life, they shift gears and keep going.

-Nido Qubein

Life Lesson #3 Releasing the “How” So the Dream Can Unfold

Some people create their own opportunities; others go where the opportunities are the greatest; others fail to recognize the opportunity when they are faced with it.

-Walter P Chrysler

I’m sitting in church and the minister begins his sermon, although I haven’t sat through a Sunday Mass in a very long time, as he continues on one thing becomes perfectly clear; he’s talking about me. Have you ever experienced anything like that? I have, and I experienced it again when I opened to today’s Life Lesson and begun to read. This is one lesson that hits close to home as I have always wanted to know the “How” of it all. I have been told a time or to that relaxing isn’t my strong suit (even by my chiropractor). I have come a long way and have become better at ‘Releasing the How” but there is always room for improvement.

There is very good reason to release the how. When we focus on the how of a dream or goal we tend to see the road blocks instead of the possibilities. In many cases, the “how” ends up freezing our dreams in their tracks. The book goes on to say that by focusing on the how we are trying to control our future instead of creating it using the Law of Attraction. They suggest we focus on the what, where, when & who and put the how off to the side suggesting that it will unfold latter.

We are asked to be specific, have as clear of a vision of our goal as possible. Our job is the vision and the clearer the vision the easier the how of it all will show up. They give the example of going to a restaurant and placing your order with the waiter, the clearer more specific you are the more likely your food will show up the way you wanted…you don’t need to know the how of it all for it to happen.
As you become more and more specific with your vision pay close attention to the feelings you experience. As you get more specific if you start to feel a bit tense, anxious or that your focus is being drawn away from the vision and is back on the how, it’s probably a good idea to back off the specifics a little until you are once again feeling positive when you think of the goal. Remember the more positive energy regarding a specific goal that you send out into the universe the more that will return to you.

You want to feel good when you think about your dream; it’s not going to work if your focus ends up being given to the thing about your dream that makes you feel tense and starts you back on a road to negative self-talk.

Exercise 1
Today we are asked to go back to our Journals and get specific with the dreams/goals we have written down. This means focus on the; who, when, what, and where of it all and not on the how. As you record the specifics notice your thoughts and feelings surrounding the goals. Make sure you get as specific as possible with each goal without bringing yourself to the point of feeling negative (stay in a “happy Place”).

If you do start feeling negative about any of the goals write the negative thoughts down and find ways to flip the negative statements around to positive ones.

Next go back over each of the goals and ask yourself why you want them. How will you and your life benefit from accomplishing this? By doing this we discover not only what we want and why we want it, but what we do not want as well and it is good to be aware of that also.

Taking our focus off the how and placing it back on the dream may not be easy at first but after realizing that so many of the dilemmas I have been in could have been avoided had I changed my focus, I would have to say it’s worth the effort.

Have you always focused on the how and all the negative feelings that are associated with doing so? Curious..."How's that working for you"? Are you ready to try something new? How do you turn your bad/negative moments around?

Tomorrow’s Life lesson, #4 “The Power of Your State of Mind”

Until Then, Smile Often

Barbara

http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 3 “The Power of Your State of Mind”

2010-01-18T21:39:00.003-05:00

I don’t know about you, but for me this is a very interesting journey.

I spent sometime over the Holiday weekend going over the first two lessons and thinking about the exercises we were asked to complete. One thing that just kept jumping out at me and one that my clients often ask me about is; “that annoying little voice inside your head”. I know that sounds funny however I also know most of you if not all, know exactly what I’m talking about. Sometimes referred to as “the annoying little voice inside your head” and sometimes referred to as negative self-talk. I don’t think it matters what name you use, only that you have a way of quieting or changing it from negative to positive.

We all have moments when the road we’re on gets a little rocky and it’s a good idea to have a plan in place for how to quiet the voice or change the negative self-talk. This subject weighed on me until I decided that it was important enough to address it before we moved on to the next lesson. So I pulled together a list of things that I use to shift my negative thoughts and or moments to positive ones, I call them my “Lifetude Helpers”;

 Test my negative self talk

Ask questions such as

Am I 100% sure that it’s true (or going to turn out that way)?

What evidence do I have to disprove it (look for positive things to dispel the negative)?

If a friend came to me saying these things about themselves, what advice would I give to them?

What is the best thing that could happen, why not focus on that?

Is thinking this way helping achieve my goals or stopping me?

There are so many different questions you can ask yourself. Write a few of the things you normally say to yourself when the negative self-talk starts creeping in and see what questions you can come up with to turn the negative statements into a positive ones. Once you have changed the negative statements to positive ones write them on index cards and put them some place they will be readily available.

 Sing a song (this is one of my favorites)

Sing a silly funny or up-beat song, one that makes you feel good

Have you ever tried this? Well it’s very difficult to stay in a bad mood or have negative thoughts while singing a silly song. It might seem a little strange at first but it works for me and I have a few clients who use this method as well.

 Gratitude Stone

I have some wonderful river rocks that I have associated the things I am grateful for with. I carry one or two in my pocket, keep another in my car and one at my office. All I have to do is see it or touch it and I see the smiling faces of my daughters, family, and friends. I only need to look at them to recall who’s waiting at home for me, and all the great times we have had together. I have so much in my life that I am truly grateful for and the Gratitude stones are a subtle reminder.
 Meditate

On your own or guided can be very calming as well as have other positive effects on you and your body.

 Affirmations

I believe that positive affirmations on a regular basis can help you change negative self-talk into positive self talk.

 Take a step back and see the situation from the outside.

What can be changed? What can you do differently? How would you help someone in the same situation?

 Hypnosis

 Call a friend or someone that is a positive inffluence in your life.

The above is a small list of ways to shift negative energy to positive. You can use one, all, any combination, none, or if none of these work for you are welcome to email me at Barbara@lifetude.com and I would be happy to help you discover some other options.

That brings us to our next Life Lesson, #3 “Releasing the How, So the Dream Can Unfold”, which we will cover in tomorrow’s entry.

Until then, smile often you never know whose day you'll brighten.

Barbara
http://www.lifetude.com/

Day 2 What You Think and What You Feel Are Always A Match

2010-01-15T19:18:00.003-05:00

What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity?

Our attitude toward it.

Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity.

-J. Sidlon Baxter

Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

Life Lesson #2

What You Think and What You Feel Are Always A Match

It isn’t every day that opportunities present themselves…or is it?

We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations

.-Chuck Swindoll

Today’s short story was about opportunity, attitude and commitment. I’m a firm believer that opportunities are everywhere. It’s not opportunity that is in short supply; it’s the level of commitment that one is willing to give in order to turn the opportunity into the outcome that is desired. In short what are you willing to do in order to have what you want?

We all know what opportunities are, although we may not recognize or be interested in every single one that comes our way. But what about attitude and your commitment level, how committed are you to turning the opportunity into a personal win? Are you ready to give it all you have? Or has it been your experience that you start out strong and then a week, maybe two into it you hit a wall and suddenly it doesn’t seem like such a great idea. Suddenly you have something else to do. Suddenly there are at least five or six good reasons why you “can’t” continue. Where is that can do attitude now?

Don’t feel bad, you are not alone and you can break that pattern right here, right now. If you haven’t yet committed to joining me on this journey it’s never too late to start. Go back and read Day One complete the exercises and then re-read Day Two and complete the exercise over the weekend. By Monday morning you will be energized and ready to go.

So far we have started identifying what we want to be do and have, and we have talked a little bit about opportunities, attitude, and commitment. Now they ask us to think about the questions doubts and feelings that are coming to the surface …you know that nagging little voice in the back of your mind. The one that seems to say the same thing over and over again. Things such as:

• I Can’t do it

• I don’t know how

• What if it doesn’t work

• What will people think if It doesn’t work

• I can’t afford it right now

• Nothing else has worked

Take some time to think back and try to recall the opportunities that didn’t turn out the way you wanted. What were the thoughts and feelings associated with those events, are they positive or negative?

Now think about the times when things did work out. What were the thoughts and feelings associated around those events, were they positive or negative?

This is where the Law of Attraction comes in, remember like attracts like; what you focus on and where you put your energy will determine if you attract more positive or negative situations. So if you walk around most of the time with a negative attitude, complaining and feeling sorry for yourself you will attract more things or situations to complain and feel bad about. However if you are happy, grateful for what you have and spend the majority of your time living and behaving in a positive manner you will attract more positive things and situations into your life.

The good news is that no matter which category you place yourself in (positive or negative) you are in control of your life and you can learn to use the Law of Attraction to improve it. You will need to reduce the negative thoughts and behaviors but it can be done.
I know this seems too simple, and my guess is that the negative voice inside your head is saying “too good to be true”. My thoughts? Simple isn’t always easy, but I know this works I have tested it with simple things and over and over again it has worked.

Exercise1

1. In your journal review all the “wants” from yesterday’s exercises and list any limiting beliefs you have regarding each of them.

Examples would be

a. I always make really bad choices

b. I don’t have any time to do what I need to do in order to accomplish my goals

c. I fail at so many things

d. Nothing ever works out for me

2. Now replace these thoughts with ones that support what you want. Record all of this in your journal. Replace old thoughts with the new ones.

a. I have made some great choices in my life (after all you chose to read my blog and that was a great choice )

b. I am willing and ready to commit the time required to accomplish my goals

c. I may not have found the answer yet but I know that I will

d. I am ready to put my energy into creating a better life

The last part of this exercise is to release, rid yourself of your limiting beliefs by throwing it away, burning it, or even burying it.

Final thought for the day? Life is too short to allow ourselves to set up road blocks that prevent us from living the life we want. We are the biggest obstacle in the way of achieving our dreams and the good news is we can change that. Take some time this week and become aware of the things you say to yourself when nobody else is listening are you more negative or positive? How can you improve yourself talk?

Until Monday, Have a great weekend and Smile Often

Barbara

Day 1 Let Your Passion Be Your Guide &

2010-01-14T20:24:00.004-05:00

There’s a little ceramic plate on my kitchen window sill that says “The best way to predict your future is to create it”. I love that saying, and having it stare me in the face every morning helps to remind me that I am in control of my own future. I can create the life I want. Having said that, one thing that many of us conveniently forget, or simply ignore is that the word “create” is a word of action. In order for us to change the lives we have into the lives we want we need to take inspired action.

Today I began a journey that I hope will inspire others to “create” the life that they want instead of settling for the life they have (unless the life they have is the life they want). I also hope to show people that the answers they seek could be as close as their bookshelf, local library, or book store and that you don’t need to wait until you make more money in order to start living a better life. There are simple things we all can do right now, today, (many refer to this as planting the seeds) that will shape our tomorrows.

Remember today, for it is the beginning of always. Today marks the start of a brave new future filled with all your dreams can hold. Think truly to the future and make those dreams come true.” –Unknown

Let’s start planting!

Tools needed for this journey (only if you plan to join me on the journey, if you choose to follow only you do not need any of these tools…but what if it works, where would you be one year from today)

Book: “Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction”

Prosperity Journal

Pen

Your Imagination

“Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction”

How the book is laid out

The book consists of “7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life”. Each Ingredient is a chapter. Every chapter is broken up into 5 “Life Lessons” that contain positive quotes, a short story, and one or two exercises (or assignments).

Each day (Monday-Friday) I will read one lesson, complete the related exercises (even if I have done this type of exercise in the past) and share my progress with you.

Introduction (If you have the book don’t skip this, it’s a brief but clear explanation of how the Law of Attraction works).

Ingredient # 1 “Here’s How It Works”

Lesson 1 “Let Your Passion Be Your Guide”

All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination. Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind energy into accomplishment and wealth.-Napoleon Hill

Today’s short story message was about allowing the “good” to flow into your life. For those of us who know something about the Law of Attraction we understand that “like attracts like” but understanding that simple rule doesn’t make it easy to follow…I think whoever defined simple in the dictionary should have mentioned that simple doesn’t always mean easy.

So what are they trying to tell us when they say “like attracts like”? Have you ever noticed how when you are in a bad mood everything else seems to go wrong? That’s because the more negative vibrations we send out the more that come back to us. The flip side of that is the more positive vibrations (energy) we send out the more positive things, people or situations we attract, and there in a nut shell is the Law of Attraction.

Life Lesson #1 Let Your Passion Be Your Guide

In the first lesson they ask us to take some time to think about (in detail) who we want to be, and when you can see yourself as that person and you look back at your life what do you want to recall about your journey, what were your mile stones?

Exercise 1 & and 2

Exercise #1 was to write a letter to myself detailing where I will be one year from this date based on the visualization I did in lesson 1. Once the letter was written I was to place it in an envelope, date it and put it somewhere safe where I would be able to find it one year from today.

My experience

This was an easy exercise for me, because I did something very similar last year. However I decided I would start from square one.

The first thing was to find a quite place where I could sit with my journal, close my eyes and truly visualize myself and my life one year from today. I didn’t visualize the life I thought I would have based on where I am today, I visualized where I wanted to be, what I wanted to be doing, who I wanted around me, and what I wanted to have…be, do, have. Then I put it in an envelope, sealed it, framed it and will hang it in my office.

This was very interesting for me and I found that some things had changed drastically since I last did this exercise, including me.

Exercise #2

Record in your journal all the goals, desires and accomplishments you want to achieve in your lifetime. Yes I did say Life time. I know this is could be huge and they ask that we write each goal on a separate page…I may need two journals. Now this might be the truly tough part but you cannot censor yourself even if it seems silly or unattainable. Include both long and short term desires, no holding back. Go for things that will lift you up and make you feel like you were on top of the world. Things that make your heart race and you smile.

The second half of this exercise was a little tougher for me only because it’s a very long list…I have a great imagination. So this I decided will be an ongoing exercise for me.

Day one was an interesting experience. I know that this is not going to be a quick fix for any of us…but experience tells me quick fixes don’t last. So big commitment or not I’m all in, ready to go open to every possibility and grateful for the opportunity to share this experience with you.

Until tomorrow, Smile Often

Barbara

Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life

2010-01-13T17:03:00.002-05:00

Almost everyone has at least one self help, self improvement, life changing, dream fulfilling book. It's not that these books aren't good or even great, it's just that most of us buy them with good intentions, read them, get excited, tell friends how great they were and then do nothing…a few months later we buy another book looking for answers to the same questions. Let’s face it, intensions alone, no matter how good, get us nowhere. My blog is a place where you can follow along, or join my journey as I put myself and one of my purchases to the test.

Beginning on Thursday January 14th I will work my way through the lessons in this book and share my experience with you. I have posted a link to the book in hopes that you will not only follow me but join me on this journey.

Smile Often, you never know whose heart you'll touch.

Barbara