This came to my inbox this morning and I just love it.  It’s an excerpt from the book “Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Wealth and Happiness” by Jerry and Esther Hicks.

Love and appreciation are identical vibrations. Appreciation is the vibration of alignment with who-you-are. Appreciation is the absence of everything that feels bad and the presence of everything that feels good. When you focus upon what you want – when you tell the story of how you want your life to be – you will come closer and closer to the vicinity of appreciation, and when you reach it, it will pull you toward all things that you consider to be good in a very powerful way.

I find this to be so true.

I have a gratitude journal that I write in everyday…okay, not everyday, but 5 or 6 times/week!  And what I’ve found in doing this is that out of the blue, almost when it’s least expected, I’ll have this overwhelming feeling of appreciation.  It’s this amazing feeling that just comes over me out of nowhere.  Sometimes it’ll last for just a few seconds, and other times it’ll stay with me longer.

It makes me smile just thinking about it!

Each journal entry starts with “I’m so happy & thankful now that…”.  I’ll list things that have happened (or I’ve gotten), things I currently have, things I want to happen, and how I want my life to be.  So it’s important to understand that it doesn’t just have to be things that have happened, but how you want your future to be…all put into the present moment.

My suggestion today…get a gratitude journal!  Quick!

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Image by Hamed Saber via Flickr

I love being aware of the Law of Attraction (LOA) at work. If you’re familiar with the LOA you know that it’s working whether we know it or not. Well, it gets even cooler when you see it happening!!

Here’s the LOA at it’s finest. I received an email from a friend of mine this morning. I didn’t have time to read it so I just left it in my inbox. When I sat down to do this blog post, or at least attempt it, I was thinking about what I should write about and more so do I have enough time to devote to writing a post today (I have 2 small kids and I can’t have them watching Dora ALL day long!). Everything that I thought to write about I knew would take a while, so I decided to just let it go. Now, since I have all this “spare” extra time I decided to open my friends email and read it.

The email was a Powerpoint presentation on Great Advice. Thank you, Gail! Now I have a blog topic!! (Let’s hope I can type fast… Dora’s almost over!!)  And, thank you to whoever put this Powerpoint presentation together.  Good stuff!

1. Walk 10 – 30 minutes everyday, while smiling.
2. Sit quietly for at least 10 minutes everyday, in isolation if necessary.
3. Upon arising every morning, one must immediately say “My goal today is…”.
4. Listen to quality music everyday. This is nourishment for the soul.
5. Live with the three “e’s”: energy, enthusiasm, and empathy.
6. Play more games than last year.
7. Read more books than last year.
8. Look at the sky at least once a day, appreciating the majesty of the world that surrounds us.
9. Dream more while awake.
10. Eat more foods that come from trees and plants. Eat less manufactured foods.
11. Eat berries and nuts. Drink green tea, plenty of water, and a glass of wine each day; toast something beautiful in life, and if possible in the company of a loved one.
12. Try to make at least 3 people laugh everyday.
13. Eliminate clutter in the home, the car, and the office. Let a new energy enter your life.
14. Don’t spend your precious time immersed in rumors, things from the past, negative thoughts, or things beyond your control. It is better to invest your energy in the positive present.
15. Life is a school and we are here to learn. Problems are lessons that come and go; what we learn from them will serve us our entire lives.
16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a beggar.
17. Smile and laugh more often.
18. Do not let an opportunity pass to hug a friend.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating someone.
20. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Nobody else does.
21. It is not necessary to win every argument. One must accept that the other person is not in agreement, and learn from his position.
22. Make peace with your past, so as not to ruin your present.
23. Don’t compare your life with others. You have no idea of the highways they have traveled during their lives.
24. Nobody is responsible for your happiness, except yourself.
25. Remember well that we have no control over what happens to us, but only what we do.
26. Learn something new everday.
27. What others think of us is not completely under our control.
28. Appreciate your body and it’s marvels.
29. Whether the situation is good or bad, it will change.
30. Work will not take care of us when we are sick. Our friends will. Stay in contact with them.
31. Reject everything that is not useful, amusing, or beautiful.
32. Don’t lose time. We already have all the things we need.
33. The best is yet to come.
34. Nothing is as important as sitting, standing, getting dressed, and helping others.
35. Have fantastic sex, always in harmony with the other person.
36. Phone your family regularly, and tell them “Hi, I was thinking of you”.
37. Each day before going to sleep say: I am thankful for_________. Today, I succeeded in _________.
38. Remember that we have too much that is good to be stressed.
39. Enjoy the voyage. There is only one chance to be successful.

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If you were to walk into my bathroom right now and look at yourself in the mirror, not only would you see your beautiful self but you’d also see this:

Gratitude

$$$

What is your relationship with the present  moment?

Abundance

Ease

All you have to do is feel good now!

Only good things come to me!

What do I want?

I wrote all this on the mirror with red lipstick so that while I’m brushing my teeth, my hair, or washing my face I can be reminded of these things.  I love starting & ending my day with the awareness of the present moment, the awareness of all I have to be grateful for, and the awareness of the things I want to manifest in my life.

It’s so easy to go throughout the day and never once be conscious of your breath.  For that matter, it’s so easy to let weeks, months, and years go by without ever getting out of your head.  We tend to live in our thoughts, and when we do that we’re either thinking about the past (I can’t believe he said that to me!) or worrying about the future (if I don’t get this job, how am I going to pay my bills?).  There’s such a peace when we get past all that head stuff!

Being a yoga teacher and a student to spirituality, I know to pay attention to my breath and get present, to notice how I react to things, and to be aware of how I am thinking and how I feel, but it takes more than just knowing these things.  It takes practice…and lots of it!  I’m not going for perfection, just that place where I’m in touch with my Being.  That place where my Being (true Self, Higher Self, Spirit) is leading me in all I do so that life is easy and I’m just going with the flow.  I want to be in a place where opportunities comes my way and I’m awake enough to see them.  I want my actions to be inspired by my Being, not a reaction out of fear or stress.  I want to always be learning.  And, I want to live in peace!

I say all that to say this:  I have created another way (besides my bathroom mirror) for me to remember to connect to my Being.  I started making charms that I call BE Charmed.  These charms can hang from just about anything.  I have one on my yoga bag, one on my diaper bag, and one on my handbag (they make great keychains too).  The idea is that when you see your charm you connect to your breath and find your stillness.  You’re not thinking, not judging, not doing, you just BE Charmed!

If you’d like to be reminded of the present moment, or even have a personal affirmation you’d like to repeat, then these are for you!  You can either order one, that I’ve already made, from my website or send me an email and I’ll custom one for you.

Until next time, Be well and BE Charmed!

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Think about this scenario for a moment…every month your bills are due, and every month you’re worried about not having enough money to pay them.  In your mind there’s constant worry.  Every time you buy something (lunch, gas, or a cup of coffee) there’s anxiety as you hand over the money.  You’re in a constant state of feeling lack.  This feels horrible, right?

Now, think about this…every month your bills are due and every time you write a check, pay online, or use your debit card you feel gratitude for having the money to spend.  You reflect back on what you’re paying for and have great appreciation for whatever it is (how great is it to have electricity, food, & water?).  You know there’s always a flow of money coming in and money going out.  You have a feeling of abundance and you know deep within that you’ll always have whatever it is you need at that moment.  This feels good, right?

You can always choose to feel good.  It takes no more energy to feel the second scenario as it does to feel the first one.  In fact, I would think the first scenario would take a lot more energy, and it’s such a draining energy at that.  The second scenario may take more discipline, but I would way rather be disciplined than have that negative, stressful, draining energy.

I think back to my younger years right after high school (sounds funny for me to say that as I still think of myself as young!).  I had a roommate who would always worry about how we were going to pay rent.  She had a hard time sleeping, and I know now it was because she worried so much!  Sometimes she would ask me if I’m worried about it and my answer to her was always no.  This would freak her out!  How could I not be worried??  One day I turned to her and asked her if we’ve ever gone without paying our rent.  Her answer was “no”.  I told her this is why I’m not worried.  We’ve never gone without paying our rent.  We always ended up getting the money (we both waited tables at the time).  I remember telling her that I had never gone without, so I just wasn’t worried.  I knew I would get the money somehow.  I didn’t always know how I was going to have enough, but I always did and that’s all that mattered.

YOU HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE YOUR LIFE HOWEVER YOU WANT IT!  When we begin to understand that it’s all in our mind, we then realize we can live our life however we want.  We can live in stress, worry & anxiety or we can live in freedom from those things.

My husband always tells me “it’s sunny and 70 in Katland”!  He jokes with me about it, but I seriously take it as a great compliment (thanks, Honey!).  It’s your choice.  Do you want to live where it’s sunny & 70, or dreary & 48?  Do you want to live in constant fear of lack or in continual abundance?

There’s really nothing to worry about!  If you can keep your eye on what you want, if you can keep your mind in the light rather than the darkness, and truly believe that all is good then I promise you you’ll always have what you need (if not more)!

It’s all just a perspective!  You choose how you want to perceive something.  I’m choosing sunny & 70!!

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Okay, so here’s the Volvo story!

A couple of years ago I learned about the book, The Secret.  I read it – loved it!  Watched the DVD – loved it!  Read it again – loved it!  So I decided to see if this “secret” really works.  It all made sense to me, even though at first it may seem silly, or on the surface could even seem absurd.  I mean you can just think about what you want and get it?  Yeah right!!  For some reason though, I really connected with the idea and the more I studied it (“it” being the Law of Attraction) the more it made sense.

There’s a part in the book where Mike Dooley talks about visualization, and how you should take a look at your hands and really study them, and then imagine your hands wrapped around the steering wheel of your brand new car.  So, I began to do this.  I found a picture of the car I wanted and posted it on a bulletin board.  Then it was really interesting because I would notice that car on the streets everywhere.  I started talking to my son about this car.  When we’d see a Volvo XC90 on the streets, I would say “look Max, that’s our next car”.  He was about a year old or less when I would talk to him about this car, so it was nice because he didn’t ask me why, when, or how!!

Now at the time I was visualizing this new car, the car I was driving was fairly new…maybe a year and a half old, and I actually loved that car.  I was truly grateful for it.  It was a 4-Runner and loaded out, so I didn’t need a car at all!  But like we all do, we’re always wanting something better (that’s a whole other blog!!).  So, I was always grateful for what I had but I also made it a point to be grateful for my new Volvo (which I knew would be my next car).  I had no idea how I was going to get this car, but that didn’t matter.

I really BELIEVED this Volvo would be my next car.  I had no idea how we were going to afford it and I already had an almost brand new car, but I didn’t care about all that.  All I knew was that my next car would be that Volvo.

About a month or two after I started this process of gratitude, visualization, and truly believing, I got a call from my husband, Ben.  It went something like this -

Ben: Hey Honey, How would you like to go out of town this weekend in a new car?  (I was headed to Austin)

Me: WHAT?

Ben: You want one of those Volvo SUV’s, right?

Me: WHAT?  Are you serious?  Don’t B.S. me!

Ben: What are you doing right now?  Can you come up to the dealership and switch out the cars and car seat?

Me:  WHAT?  Are you there now?  I’m on my way!

When I arrive at the dealership I hug & kiss my husband, cry, talk to the sales guy about the bells & whistles, cry some more, switch out the car seats, and drive off.  As I’m driving out of the lot I notice the radio is tuned into some random station that I’ve never listened to or even heard of.  The radio hosts were talking about The Secret!  I about lost it.  I can’t describe in words how I was feeling, but it was something of excitement, freaked out, and in awe.  I stopped the car to take a few deep breaths and gain my composure.  HOLY SH*%!!

This works…this really works!!

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