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.
“I’ve had enough,” Carol exploded. “It’s been a bad week: I’ve lost my favourite scarf, my house is a mess, my teenage son is failing school, and my husband spends all his time working or watching TV.” She burst into tears. “And when I stepped on the scale this morning, I’d put on three pounds.”
Overwhelmed by the sheer pace of her life, Carol, my normally fun-loving and competent client, was at the end of her rope.
“I’m mad at myself – I can’t find any joyful thoughts,” she continued. “And now I’m worried that with all these depressing thoughts the only thing I’m going to attract is more depressing events.”
Have you ever felt like this – worried, frustrated, and overwhelmed? It happens to all of us from time to time.
When you are feeling worried and overwhelmed, you don’t have access to bliss – sometimes you can’t even get to just OK. But it takes reaching for joy to turn things around. What a paradox! So what can you do? continue reading Remedies for Rotten Moods
I love inspirational quotes! I find that short pithy one or two liners are really helpful when I’m trying to find a higher perspective or to elevate my mood. Sometimes I’ll make a bright-colored post-it out of a favorite saying and put it on my fridge, filing cabinet, bulletin board or vision poster. I may use a favorite quote to illustrate a point in my writing or speeches; I may print one out as a bookmark to give away to a friend; or I may post one on my social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
A few weeks ago I had an idea – to offer an eBook of my favorite quotes to the subscribers to my ezine as a free gift. Over the years, I’ve collected thousands of inspirational quotes so I found it quite a challenge to winnow my favorites down to just 101 for this collection.
It was a dark and foggy evening. Char and I were driving home along a country road when, a few meters ahead, the bright red lights of a railway-crossing barrier started flashing.
The warning bells clanged and the barriers came down and Char pulled her van to a stop. A fast moving train rushed out of the darkness and roared passed, the railcars illuminated by the flash of crossing lights. As if we had been pulled into another world a sudden silence settled upon us. continue reading What is the Message Here?
This morning I stopped in to visit a girlfriend. She invited me in; she made us a lovely breakfast of crepes with strawberries and we had a lively discussion of ideas for making our businesses grow.
When I was preparing to leave I noticed that my car and house keys weren’t in their usual place in my purse. I checked my coat pockets. No keys. My sweater pockets. No keys. Strange, I thought, I’m not one to misplace my keys. continue reading to find out how this mystery was solved
My sister Lydia sent me these beautiful pictures that she and her husband Ray took on a recent hike with two friends to Lake O’Hara in Yoho National Park. The pictures are so beautiful that I look at them over and over again.
I want to be able to hike in nature, like these folks. I want to be in great physical shape too like these folks.
But…
But… I resist walking outside in the rain. I don’t feel like jumping on the trampoline when it’s wet outside. I’m even reluctant to drag my butt off the chair and do a set of tai chi in the multi-purpose room.
My wonderful summer was not without a few hiccups. I probably hit the low point on a family road trip through British Columbia. The cure came from a most unlikely place.
We had planned a 3 day canoe trip down the North Saskatchewan River on the August 3rd long weekend. My husband (Howard) and son (Ben) and I were travelling through the interior of BC to meet up with my sister and her husband and others at a campground outside of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta.
After a rest stop at a restaurant in Revelstoke, BC it was Howard’s turn to drive and I got in the back seat. I had barely kicked off my sandals before he sped out of the parking lot. A moment later he was making a left turn at an intersection and my car door, which hadn’t been latching properly since a neighbour backed into it a few months ago, swung open. I quickly grabbed the door and slammed it shut and settled into a comfortable position for a nap.
Two hundred kilometers later, at another rest stop, I discovered that one of my beautiful new and expensive Keen sandals was missing; it must have fallen out when the car door swung open. I’d bought these sandals with the covered toes especially for this canoeing trip and I had no other footwear except running shoes, which needed to stay dry for our nightly camping. We couldn’t go back, we’d gone too far already. continue reading Inspiration from a Map
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
Lucky and I met through Twitter, an online social networking, instant messaging service that allows users to stay connected through very brief messages called tweets.
Lucky is passionate about helping people find ways to reach unshakeable peace and one of my tweets caught his attention, which led him to read my blog. Since we share a common focus, he decided to contact me directly. How cool is that?!
We talked about how the law of attraction responds to the way we feel and why it is so important to return to peace and joy. I told him one of my favourite stories about a fight I had with a neighbour and how I resolved it. I shared several tips about how to release upsets and get back to feeling good again.
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.
