Do you guys know about the Optimist Creed?  It was written over 100 years ago by Christian Larson.  I love it when something so old is completely and totally relevant today…such a classic!  It’s beauty also lies in the fact that this can be used for anything…illness & disease, business, sports, motherhood, fatherhood, relationships, teachers…it’s just a great over all way to live.

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Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.

To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

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I think I’ll print this out and add it to my mirror so I can read every morning and night!!

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This is such a great affirmation.  The entire thing is probably a bit too long to memorize, but just the beginning of it is pure greatness!  This is by Ester & Jerry Hicks.

Life Will Always Be Working Out For Me. . .

I like understanding that things are always evolving, and while there are many things that could be better where I am, it is not really a problem because “where I am” is constantly changing to something better. I like knowing that as I look for the best things around me where I am, those things become more prevalent in my experience.  It is fun to know that things are always working out for me, and as I watch for the evidence of that . . . I see more evidence of that every day.

Life Will Always Be Working Out For Me!

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One of the things that yoga has taught me is to be nonreactive.  I’ve learned, and am still practicing, that if my body is in an uncomfortable or stressful position that I should take a deep breath and relax into the sensation rather than freak out!  I practice developing a calm, nonreactive mind, and in doing so I feel confident, strong & peaceful.  In this confident, strong & peaceful state I realize that I can handle anything.  I realize that I have more power in letting go, than in fighting.  I realize that my yoga practice is just as much mental as it is physical.  I can do this.

Nope...not me!

I’m sure we’ve all had thoughts like this:  “Yea, you better get out of that pose, you’re going to hurt yourself”.  “How much longer are we going to hold this, I’m about to die!”.  Or, “I can’t do this any longer.  Why is this crazy ass teacher making us hold so long?  She’s not doing this pose, so she has no idea what we’re going through.  I can’t do this”.

I’ve noticed that when thoughts like this go through my head it just makes the pose so much worse.  Taking a deep breath and just allowing the sensations to be there, without judgment, opens me up to a more peaceful world.  It takes me deeper within myself and I begin to feel a sense of calmness.  When I get to this calm state, then I find this intelligence and it guides me.  That’s what tells me if I really need to come out of the pose because I may injure myself, not my mind.  My mind will make up all kinds of things!

So I’ve learned this and continually practice it on my mat, but what’s really cool is that I can take what I’ve learned on my mat and use the same principals in my normal everyday life.  When life throws me an unexpected curve ball, how am I going to react?  What am I thinking?  Am I dwelling in how awful things are (or could get)?  Do I want to bail out or hide and ignore the situation?

When that curve ball first appears my immediate reaction might be to cuss, pout, be bitter, mad, or sad, but soon (if not immediately) I remember my yoga practice.  I remember that I have more power in my peace, than in my rage.  I remember that no matter what is going on around me, my strong, positive mind will make it all better.  I remember that if I can just connect to my inner intelligence, I’ll know what to do.  I shift my perspective and look for the bright side in the situation, or if I don’t see a bright side at that particular moment, I realize that regardless everything will be okay.   Just like on my mat, my hip isn’t going to fall off…Everything will be okay.

**Hell no, that’s not me in the photo!**

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Day 13 of the 21 day gratitude challenge – I’m loving this challenge, but wow it is a challenge!  I’m not used to blogging so much, but glad (and thankful, of course) that I am.

So the assignment is this –  Pick three friends or family members you see regularly. View their actions and gestures through a positive lens, assuming their goodness and witnessing their best intentions.  –

Nearly all my family and friends are positive people.  Of course they have negative thoughts at times (who doesn’t?), but for the most part they’re positive.  When they’re not, they become aware they’re not (which I think is what’s important!).  I’m extremely grateful to be surrounded by their light.  I think we all help each other shine brighter!

In watching and listening to some of my family and friends here’s what I’ve discovered.  It’s enlightening to witness when life gives you lemons.  At first there may be some bitterness, some stress and some anxiety but in the end it always works itself out.  I’m fortunate (and oh so grateful) that I learned this and grasped onto it a long time ago…so I rarely get stressed.  I just sit back and wait for the lemonade!  But, I see this happening with people around me (and in myself at times)…  A life situation arises (not enough money, not enough time, etc) and at the moment it seems horrible…maybe there’s some bitching, complaining, and just negativity.  We all handle stress in a different way.  At a point, though, there’s a shift.  We see just a little glimpse of light in the darkness and there’s hope.  We start to see a little more lightness and the positivity comes back…more hope, more faith, more confidence, more smiles!

I think that entire process is pretty cool.  I see it play out in different people and with different situations.  For some, the gap between the “horrible” situation and the glimpse of light is wide.  It takes a while.  And in some (depending on the person & the situation), the gap is much shorter.  I’m so thankful that my gap is typically really short, and I’m thankful that I have gotten to witness this and write it down.  I think it totally helps it stick.  It helps me remember that there will be light, there will be lemonade!

So thank you to my family and friends for letting me learn from you.  Thank you for being who you are, for having genuine goodness in your heart and for having only the best of intentions.

I’m thankful for having such positive people in my life.  I’m thankful that we all have hope and faith, and I’m really grateful that I’m aware of this!

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We all know how crummy Mondays can be…especially rainy ones!  So last night before I fell asleep I decided to imagine how great my Monday was going to be.  I envisioned everything I was going to get done and how productive and efficient I would be.  I felt what my day would feel like, and what a good mood I would be in.  And guess what??  It worked!

I had an amazing day.  I had a lot of catching up to do…paper work, pay bills, get organized, phone calls, etc., and I was able to get most of it done.

I felt great paying bills, knowing that I have the money to pay them and they’re all on time (some even early!).  I’m so grateful for this.  I’m grateful that money flows in and money flows out.  I have tremendous appreciation that we have the means to pay our bills and that our credit score is excellent.  Thank you!!!!

I also had to make a few phone calls.  Those kind that are easy to put off; knowing that you’ll be on hold forever and that the person on the other end could dispute what you’re requesting.  BUT I got them done!  I decided before each call that I was going to be positive, kind, patient and thankful.  It really helped.  I felt great for being so nice and I’m sure the person on the other end appreciated it too.  Everyone was so helpful and my requests were made.  Thank you so much to all the customer service type people that helped me today, and thank you, God that I’m not one of them

Thank you for the positive day I had today.  It feels refreshing to get caught up on paper work type stuff, and like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  I’m thankful for all the people that helped me today.  I’m reminded that treating people the way I want to be treated is definitely the way to live.  I always try to do this, but today I was really aware of it and I’m so glad and thankful I was.  It made my day a whole lot easier.

Mondays, I love you!

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Day 12 of the 21 day Gratitude Challenge…when will you start?

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I can honestly say that I can’t think of any negativity in my life right now.  Wow.  Writing that feels really good and almost seems impossible, but it’s true.  I work at always finding the positive in all situations, and it looks like it’s paid off!  I also work at being grateful for the things in my life, good and bad.  That’s what I’m here to do today too – to give gratitude for the negative things.

I’m by no means perfect and I absolutely do have negative thoughts at times, and “bad” things do happen, but I realize pretty quickly that negativity is swarming my brain.  When I realize it, I switch my thinking immediately.  Sometimes the negativity will leave almost instantly and sometimes it takes a little while, but I know it’s there so I will focus elsewhere.  Soon it’s gone.

I’m very grateful though for the negative things I do experience, whether in my head or in my so called “reality”.  (Isn’t it always in your head though?)  So…I’d like to give my negative thoughts and feelings a little message.

Dear Negativity,

I’m so grateful you exist.  Without you I wouldn’t know the positive.  In order to know what I want (a positive) I need to know what I don’t want (the negative), so it’s good that you’re around.

Negativity, you teach me so much and for that I’m thankful.  When something happens in my life that I perceive as negative, I always know that there’s a lesson to be learned.  Thank you for that.

And lastly, you challenge me and encourage me to be creative.  When something is not working or I’m feeling my limitations, you nudge me to find a new way.  I like that about you.  Thank you for encouraging me to grow.

With love,

Katrina

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According to Webster’s, appreciation is defined as an expression of admiration, approval, or gratitude.  But more than that, it’s a feeling!  It’s a feeling of being in awe, a feeling of something having great value, and a feeling of positivity.  When we have true appreciation, we are energetically vibrating at a high frequency.  When our energy is vibrating at a high frequency, we attract more of the same…which means we attract more things to be appreciative of.

I think Abraham-Hicks says it beautifully:

The key to experiencing the absolute absence of resistance; of achieving complete alignment with all that you have become and all that you desire, and of bringing to your physical experience everything that you desire – is being in the state of appreciation.

Here’s a few ways to appreciate.

1.  If you normally have a negative emotion about something, start to feel appreciation for it instead.  It may take some time, but eventually that negative feeling will fade away and your appreciation of it will become more dominant.

2.  Feel appreciation for something you want to have in your life.  While you may not currently have your desire, act as if!  Appreciate as if you’ve already achieved it.  The Law of Attraction doesn’t know time.  It only knows the present moment, so in this moment act/think as if you already have what you want, appreciate it, and you will attract it.

3.  Write in a gratitude journal.  Write down things you have that you are grateful for, as well as things that you want.  Read back what you wrote down, and when you read it really feel the appreciation.

Another thing you can do to cultivate a sense of appreciation and to keep that feeling alive throughout your day is to use one of my “Be Charmed” charms.  I have one on my purse and use it as a reminder to be present, connect to my Self, and just Be, but now I think I’ll use it as a reminder to feel appreciation!

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No matter how “bad” things seem to you, or to someone else looking at your situation, you have a choice.  You can choose to accept the situation and find a positive perspective, or you can choose to look at the situation as awful.  Regardless of what you choose, you are right!

Here it is perfectly said by Ester & Jerry Hicks:

Nothing needs to be fixed. Everything is unfolding perfectly. So when you stand in your now accepting that all is well, then from that vibration, you become surrounded by more and more evidence that all is well. But when you’re convinced that things are broken, that there is pollution, or that things have gone wrong, or that the government is doing conspiracies… then what happens is you get caught up in that vibration, and you begin to manifest that kind of stuff, and then you say, “See, I told you that things were going wrong.”

— Abraham (this excerpt was taken from a workshop they did in LA in March of 2000)

I choose wellness.  What do you choose?

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One of the things I’ve learned, and still practice, in yoga is to be nonreactive.  As I practice breathing, relaxing, and letting go while my shoulders are burning and my thigh is yelling at me, I become aware that my mind is more calm and I get a sense of ease, strength, and peace.  It can be so easy to have a negative reaction when the teacher calls out a pose I don’t like, or when a sub walks in that I wasn’t expecting, but all that does is make the situation worse.  If I change my reaction to these things and make them more positive, or don’t react at all then my outcome is way better.

You choose how you want to respond.

As I take what I’ve learned on my yoga mat and apply it to real life, I realize that everything we experience (good or bad) is because of our reaction or response to it.  This same nonreactive principal that I’ve learned in yoga can also be applied to our life.  Jack Canfield has a formula that he teaches:

E + R = O  (Events + Responses = Outcome)

The idea is that everything you experience is because of how you responded to an earlier event in your life.  If you aren’t enjoying the outcomes that you are experiencing right now, there are basically two choices you can make.

1.  You can blame the event for the outcome.

There’s a ton of external factors that we can blame.  We can blame the economy for not having a job.  We can blame our boss or our clients for having a bad day.  We can blame the rain for not working out.  We can blame our lack of money for not starting our dream business.  We can blame a lack of time for eating fast food.  Excuses.  Excuses.  Excuses.

We’ve all done this right?  I know I have.  Going back to yoga…I was in a workshop last week and I noticed I was making excuses for why I wasn’t getting into a pose.

There’s no doubt that these blame factors exist, but it’s up to us to overcome them.  There are tons of people who are still employed and very successful.  I see people out walking in the rain all the time.  For every impossible thought we have, there are many out there that think it is possible.

OR

2.  You can change your responses to the events until you get the outcomes you want.

Can we respond differently to the events that happen?  If we get fired, maybe we take the time to educate ourselves and learn a new skill.  If the boss is being a hard ass, maybe we have some compassion for him rather than gossiping with other coworkers about how awful he is.  He may be having a lot of personal issues at home, or had a father that was hard on him.

We can change our thinking, the way we communicate, and our behavior because really that’s all that we have control over anyway.  We don’t necessarily have control over any extremal event.  All we have control over is our responses to them!

We tend to get stuck in our habits and the way we respond  to our children, our spouses, the traffic, and our bosses.  So we must gain control of our thoughts, our behavior, the images we hold in our head, and our dreams.

We need to know what we want, and then everything we think, say, and do needs to align with our goals, our intentions, and our values.

In the words of Jack Canfield: If we all experience the same EVENT, the OUTCOME you get will be totally dependent upon your RESPONSE to the situation.

If you don’t like your outcomes, you must change your responses.  It’s that simple!

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This morning when I woke up I thought about my brother and how I should call him to see how he’s doing.  It had been a while since I have spoken to him, so I just wanted to call and say hi.  The thought entered my head as I was getting dressed, but then like that, it was gone.  I just let the thought go and didn’t think of it again.  Then at about 11:00 this morning my phone rings and guess who it is?  My brother, Kody!

I’m not a big phone person, and he’s WAY not a phone person.  Typically, if he calls me it’s for a certain reason.  But not today…he was just calling to see how I was.  I’m sure you’ve had this type of thing happen to you as well.  We all have.  When I told him I had thouht about him this morning he said “great minds think alike”.  I said “Yes they do, but this isn’t a coincidence.  This is the Law of Attraction“.  Then he said “What?”, and I said “Never mind!” haha (Can someone forward my blog to him?)

The Law of Attraction (LOA) is at work ALL the time, whether we know it or not.  It’s working through the vibration that our energy puts out.  Our thoughts are energy.  If we think positive thoughts, that raises the frequency of our energy.  (Negative thoughts have a low frequency.)  However, just having positive thoughts is one thing.  If you couple your positive thoughts with feeling good and having good feeling emotions, then you’ve really raised the frequency.  When you live with a high frequency, then things like thinking of someone and then suddenly they call, will happen all the time and without any effort.  This morning I briefly thought of my brother and then let it go.  There was absolutely no effort on my part.  He just called and I got to speak to him like I wanted.

So it occurred to me that if something small like a call from someone or getting a great parking space can happen with little effort, then why couldn’t something REALLY fabulous happen, something that you really want and desire also happen with little effort?

If I can elevate the frequency of my energy even higher, then the possibilities are limitless because as the LOA states “like attracts like”.  The more I stay and live with a high frequency, the more I can manifest what I want.  In other words, the greater my frequency, the greater the gift.  If I can elevate the frequency of my energy even higher, then I can manifest more and more and more of the things that I truly desire.  I can manifest bigger and better things (no offense, Kody!).  If I can live my life in a constant state of high positive thoughts, energy, and feelings then I can have everything that I want with little effort.  Life is easy and smooth sailing!

Don’t get it twisted!  I’m not saying that I have positive thoughts and poof I have a new car (although this did happen to me!).  Okay, maybe I am saying that, but what I’m really saying is that I’m going to have positive thoughts and feelings and raise my vibration to a level that awesomeness can occur WITH effortless effort!!

So, what in the hell is effortless effort, you may be asking.  Great question.  I’ll blog about that next but basically it’s a doing that doesn’t feel like doing.  It’s like trees growing.  They “do”, but without “doing”.

I’m on a path to higher and higher vibrations.  I know this LOA stuff works.  If I can easily get someone to call me out of the blue, then how exciting is it to manifest something even greater.  Want to join me?  Let’s see how high we can go!

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