These days Howard and I are writing and editing our three chapters that will be submitted in Round 3 of the Next Top Spiritual Author contest on Monday, August 16.
A panel of judges will then review all submissions and about four weeks later four finalists will be selected from the top 25. From the final four, one winner will be selected who will receive a publishing contract with Hampton Roads and $50,000 for marketing.
As I review my highlights and low-lights of the past 2o years for our memoir called Feel Great Naked – One Couple’s Quest for Heaven on Earth, this wonderful poem about the journey of self-discovery comes to mind.
I have been fascinated by the power of thought from the time I was six years old. That’s when my father successfully convinced me I could cure warts with chalk. My warts vanished and I told everyone about it, until my father took me aside. He told me, “I know nothing about warts or chalk, but I do know that what you believe becomes true for you.”
Louise L. Hay
My passion for learning to create on purpose, with the power of thought, led me to study with Louise L. Hay, author of the book, “You Can Heal Your Life.” Louise led me to practice positive affirmations and visualizations with delightful results. I attracted my dream job, my dream home, and the man of my dreams!
Last night I did not follow what I know to be true. I know that I need to reach for good feeling thoughts before I jump into action – especially if something about the action I need or want to take is bothering me.
If I first soothe my anxiety often the thing that is disturbing my peace of mind dissolves, sometimes even without any action on my part, and any task or activity I undertake unfolds simply and easily. I’ve had countless of affirming experiences that from a peaceful perspective any action required becomes inspired – no action is wasted.
Recently I found myself committed to giving a speech I didn’t want to prepare for. I was puzzled; when I had accepted the invitation the prospect of giving this talk excited me.
As the date of the speech approached, it became more and more obvious to me that the thought of writing another speech, let alone memorizing and practicing it, was eating into my peace of mind. And yet I felt I just couldn’t bow out – others were counting on me and it wouldn’t look very good. I knew that, if I kept up this resistant train of thought, I might end up, ultimately, embarrassed and disappointed with myself. continue reading “Easiest Speech Ever (Part 1 of 2): What-If-Up”
This morning I recorded my first ever JOY FIRST show on BlogTalkRadio.
The short and sweet solution to ease holiday stress.
No reading required.
Just sit back with your favorite beverage and listen to this 20 minute December special for the season of hustle and bustle.
In this program I explain exactly what steps to take to create the kind of holiday season you want with lots of good examples so you’ll be inspired to start right away.
Too busy to even go to the bathroom? No problem. You can also download the show to your computer or ipod and listen where ever you are.
If you are visiting this site after the holiday season, listen to the radio show anyway. The tips for shifting from a feeling of overwhelm to a feeling of joy are timeless.
At the beginning of this summer I set an intention: to have every day feel like a vacation day. To my great delight, this summer has been full of wonderful adventures. I’ve been to beautiful gardens, toured other cities and cohousing communities, enjoyed fun filled gatherings with family and friends, went whale watching off Vancouver Island, hiked in the mountains, camped in Paradise Valley, and canoed down an almost raging river (my sister called them ripples, but I swear they looked like rapids to me). Heck, I even enjoyed wonderful vacation days lounging in my back yard. … Until today.
Where's that receipt?
When I got out of bed this morning, it didn’t feel like a vacation day. It felt like a workday. After weeks of resisting, I had finally agreed to do the annual review (2009 and 2008) of our community’s books – a throwback to my days as a financial controller and auditor. Accounting is a job I’ve come to dislike and I resist committing to accounting projects whenever possible. So it was with a great deal of trepidation that I contemplated what I’d committed to. I expected that this project would take at least 50 hours over several weeks – not the usual good feeling generating, deeply satisfying coaching, writing, socializing and internet training work that I generally fill my days with.
I knew I had to shift my attitude. My mantra is, after all, “Joy First. Then anything else I have time for;” enjoying my journey through life is a high priority for me. So I asked myself, “How can I look at this situation in a way that feels better?” Lying on the trampoline, watching the clouds pass by, I pondered this question. Finally, a new perspective came to mind. continue reading My Vacation Crunching the Numbers
I believe that we are here for the joy of the journey. I am so passionate and committed to creating a delicious life from joy that I call myself the “Joyous Renegade.” My calling is teaching people how to create lives they really love by choosing JOY FIRST. If we’re not enjoying our lives, we’re missing the whole point.
Here are my own rules for creating a magnificent life with ease and joy.
Joy is the Measure of My Success
I measure my success not by the money in my bank accounts or the stuff that I have (although I like my stuff!) I measure my success by the joy that I feel. I set goals for the joy of having a direction to move towards. I enjoy the journey to my goals, whether I choose to lie on the beach or surf the biggest waves. continue reading Rules for the Joyous Renegade
I have been fascinated by the power of thought from the time I was six years old. That’s when my father successfully convinced me I could cure warts with chalk. My warts vanished and I told everyone about it, until my father took me aside. He told me, “I know nothing about warts or chalk, but I do know that what you believe becomes true for you.”
My passion for learning to create on purpose, with the power of thought, led me to study with many teachers including Louise Hay, author of the book, “You Can Heal Your Life.” Louise led me to practice positive affirmations and visualizations with delightful results. I attracted my dream job, my dream home, and the man of my dreams!
However, in spite of my success, I felt like something was missing and awareness of that gap nagged at me. Sometimes affirmations didn’t work; why was that? Was there some sort of missing link between affirmations and successful manifestation that I was missing? How exactly was it that we create what happens to us and how could I be more effective at it? continue reading Joy First is Key to Success with Law of Attraction
Have you ever noticed that when you walk into a room you can sense the energy; you can tell if the room’s occupants have been fighting, even though everything is now seemingly peaceful? Similarly, you can sense peacefulness in a nurturing atmosphere, like when you step into your favorite spa.
We are Energy. Energy vibrates.
How is this possible? It’s a fact that we live in a world of energy – everything we perceive and everything we cannot perceive is actually energy that is vibrating at different rates. We have physical sensors that interpret these different vibrations. Our ears interpret sound vibration so that we can hear sounds, and our eyes interpret light vibration so that we can see. This is relatively common knowledge, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that living beings, like ourselves, are also formed of energy – energy that is vibrating at different rates. And our most important vibrational indicator is our feelings because our feelings indicate how aligned we are with the vibration of Source energy. continue reading Feelings are your Guidance from Source
Last Friday morning, a shocking message from my sister, Lydia, appeared in my email box. The subject: Mom’s in hospital again.
My heart began pounding as I sat down to read the message.
“Mom has been admitted to the hospital with a small bowel obstruction. They’re prepping her right now for the operating room. They will do a laparoscopy (insert a tiny scope through a small incision in her stomach) and look at what’s going on inside her.”
My Mom is 82 years old; she lives in Edmonton, Alberta – a 12 hour drive from where I live in Langley, BC. Usually, she is the picture of health but this was her second trip to the hospital in a month. I felt concern; but what could I do to support her from here?
In circumstances like this, it used to be my practice to worry, to dwell on the worst that could happen, and to torment myself by imagining how awful it would feel to lose her. Now I know that worry doesn’t support her or me. continue reading How I lost my worry when Mom got sick
It felt like a workday. After weeks of resisting, I had finally agreed to do the annual review (2009 and 2008) of our community’s books – a throwback to my days as a financial controller and auditor. Accounting is a job I’ve come to dislike and I resist committing to accounting projects whenever possible. So it was with a great deal of trepidation that I contemplated what I’d committed to. I expected that this project would take at least 50 hours over several weeks – not the usual good feeling generating, deeply satisfying coaching, writing, socializing and internet training work that I generally fill my days with.
