Grateful for Choices

Posted on June 8, 2011 by admin

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to write a post about gratitude!

Feel free to click here (or below) to learn more about our Gratitude Project.

Okay – now for today’s post:

A writing prompt from

The Gratitude Book:

50 Prompts to Keep the Grateful Feelings Flowing

We all make choices every day in our lives.

Which choices have you made that you are the most grateful for?

These choices could range from big ones that impacted your life drastically (such as where to live or who to be in a relationship with) to small ones such as what to have for lunch or what music to listen to at any given moment.

While the big choices are sometimes the super stars and the ones that get noticed, you may be surprised at how the little choices can add up quickly and have just as much of an impact on your life.

Let’s say you like going for walks, and you usually take the same route each day.

And then one day you decide – just on a whim – to take a different route.

And while on this route you meet someone that you hadn’t seen before and wouldn’t have seen if you had gone the other way.

And you introduce yourself and begin a conversation with this person who you instantly feel like you know.

You find that you had an instant connection, and you begin a friendship that will quickly become more and turn into a lovely marriage.

This is how Dan and I met – all because I made a choice to walk a different route.

We are constantly making choices in our lives.

Some big. Some small. And some small that turn into big.

Take some time today to think about some of the choices that you have made.

It’s easy to be grateful for the choices that have led you to your ideal life, but also try to find gratitude in the choices that didn’t seem to go as well as you would’ve liked.

What did you learn from these choices?

How have you grown?

How are you grateful for them today?

It’s amazing that we all have the power to choose.

I am grateful for that.

And if we choose one path that doesn’t feel quite right,

we can choose to take a different path.

The choice is always ours.

A Day of Celebration

Posted on June 7, 2011 by admin

I was born 36 years ago today. What a journey it’s been so far, and I’m just getting started!

I have learned so much and had some really great times and some really horrible times – all of which have made me into the person I am today. All of which have gotten me closer to living my true life on my true path. All of which have led me closer to my life purpose.

I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many supportive friends and family – people who truly are on my team and who are rooting for me.

Thank you so much to everyone who has shared birthday wishes for me today! My inbox and facebook page were all filled up with love, which fills me with warm fuzzies.

I woke up to a sweet serenade from my dear hubby – he learned two songs for me: You Gotta Have Faith and Faithfully (this is my year of taking a leap of faith). And then he took me on a scavenger hunt filled with clues about what my year would look like (amazing!), which ended with the biggest, sweetest present of all. He wrote a screenplay for me about the journey that I am on right now that is leading me to my true calling. It’s a screenplay and a vision board in one, and it’s simply wonderful.

Even after almost 10 years together, I still pinch myself that he’s real.

It’s so nice to be celebrated and to feel loved.

That’s really all anyone could ask for, and today I feel it coming from everyone so fully and so completely.

Thank you so much!

Celebrating Our Differences – Part 2

Posted on June 6, 2011 by admin

I had so much fun celebrating our differences in yesterday’s post that I thought today’s post would be similar – just going a bit deeper with it.

This writing prompt from Journaling Further Within: 50 More Prompts for Self Exploration is perfect to help us begin to embrace our differences and celebrate how we are all unique.

Think of someone on the opposite side ideologically from you – really try to see their viewpoint. Write about how and why they see things this way (e.g., their past experiences, their upbringing, their religious views, etc.).

When we start to see how similar we all are and try to understand why someone would have a belief that differs from our own, we can begin the process of supporting each other. We can begin the process of being sympathetic instead of judgmental. We can begin to understand that being different isn’t bad. If we were all the same the world would be a very boring place. Our differences add so much color to our lives. And this is such a great part of living!

So spend some time today thinking about someone in your life that differs in many ways from you. By putting yourself into their world and practicing compassion and understanding, you can begin to see that they are just doing the best they can with the tools that are available to them. This is true for each of us. We are each good at our core, and our differences are there to help us learn empathy and compassion. They are also great simply to show us another path – another option available to us. There are so many ways to spend our time on this planet – let’s celebrate our differences instead of seeing them as threatening. Let’s enjoy how unique we all are. They do say that variety is the spice of life. 🙂

Celebrating Our Differences

Posted on June 5, 2011 by admin

I absolutely love Haagen-Dazs Mango Sorbet. Seriously – I am in love with it.

They were on sale the last time we went to the grocery store, so we bought two.

Dan and I thought it would be fun to each have our own and see who finished first.

And in doing so, we learned something about each other – even after almost 10 years of being together:

we eat our ice cream completely differently!

My container had one hole in it that went deep down. I stuck with what worked and didn’t venture off of that course.

His container was evenly smoothed over – so he when he got to the bottom, it would be completely finished – nothing left behind.

And this really didn’t surprise either of us at all – both ways seemed to fit with each personality.

While we each wanted the same result (to finish the ice cream), we went about it in completely different ways.

And one way wasn’t better than the other – they were just different.

I think this is a really great metaphor for life – we are all living our lives and striving to do our best. We are all learning to love ourselves, our friends, and our family. We are each following our dreams and living our ideal lives.

And we each get to that place in a different way, which is the magical part – the beautiful part.

I love this – we can each learn so much from each other because we are each so different yet also so much the same.

See, I told you it was good sorbet! 😉

Saturday Selection – The Psychic Pathway

Posted on June 4, 2011 by admin

This week’s selection is a book that I just started reading:

The Psychic Pathway

by Sonia Choquette

From the publisher:

A practical, step-by-step, 12-week interactive program that teaches you how to develop the intuitive sense that lies within you and to live in accordance with the soul’s purpose by discovering your center of spiritual power. The Psychic Pathway refines intuition into a life-enhancing tool that can be used every day.

We are all intuitive and have the ability to use our sixth sense – we just get distracted and forget to pay attention to it. This book helps you tap into your inner wisdom through meditation, exercises, and reflection.

I’m really excited to begin this process, and I wanted to share it with you as well!

Sonia also has a weekly radio show called Trust Your Vibes on Hay House Radio.

I hope you enjoy this selection. I’ll keep you posted throughout the weeks on my own progress.

Pushing Through the Obstacles

Posted on June 2, 2011 by admin

Sometimes we are on a roll in our lives where everything feels like it’s going really well and flowing effortlessly.

And then we add something new – something that is out of the norm from our every day life. We stretch a little bit out of our comfort zone and expect things to continue flowing.

And sometimes they do.

But sometimes we come across obstacles where we didn’t expect them to be.

Sometimes we even come across road blocks that seem to be right in the way of reaching our dreams.

When this happens, take a look at these obstacles and notice where they are coming from and what messages they are conveying.

Are they coming from fear – is our ego stepping in and warning us that it might be scary to try new things?

Are they coming from outdated beliefs that we have about achieving success and finding true happiness?

Or maybe we haven’t stretched our adventure muscles in awhile and just need more practice.

Over the past week, I have been writing my book, and I have stumbled upon many obstacles – some that I had a feeling would show up and others that I’ve been surprised by.

And while I recognize them for what they are (old fears and distractions coming up to keep me comfortable), I still have to work through them and move them aside. This dream is too big to allow anything to stand in my way.

I was listening to a powerful telesummit yesterday with Jack Canfield where he was talking about how we can live our ideal life – even with the obstacles.

He brought up the great point that we are always going to have obstacles – but our response to these obstacles is entirely our choice.

We get to choose our thoughts, which means we also get to choose our outcome.

So the next time we are reaching for our dream and we come across an obstacle – take some time to go within and try to get to the bottom of the message it brings up. And then thank it for showing up and teaching you more about yourself, and either push through it or go around it. Keep moving forward.

We are all learning lessons every day. And with each lesson, we are all getting closer and closer to our truest self – our divine soul.

And every obstacle and road block is helping us do just that. They are also great tools to show us just how passionate we are about achieving our dreams and living our ideal life.

Every obstacle we push through and every barrier we eliminate

leads us closer to our dreams.

A Gratitude List

Posted on June 1, 2011 by admin

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to write a post about gratitude!

Feel free to click here (or below) to learn more about our Gratitude Project.

Okay – now for today’s post:

Happy June!

Today’s post is about keeping a gratitude list.

There are so many ways you can do this – and you get to decide what feels best for you.

Some will choose to have one notebook (like our I Am Grateful For… book) that is designated to hold list upon list of all that you love about your life. Some may keep this list on their computer. Others may just tell their loved ones around the dinner table each night what they are grateful for.

It’s completely up to you!

You may choose to write a gratitude list every day, once a week, or whenever the mood strikes.

And that’s completely okay!

When we focus on gratitude and everything that is going right in our lives, our thoughts end up attracting more positive events and feelings. This is the kind of snowball effect that we can welcome with open arms!

So let’s all take some time today to write our gratitude list.

And then continue this practice when it feels right.

Here is mine:

I am grateful…

that I have a great start on writing my new book: 50 pages written so far, and an outline for the rest!

for self-care days – staying in my pjs all day, lying around, reading, and doing exactly what I want to do – whatever that may be.

that today is one of my self-care days!

for healthy green smoothies.

for a loving husband who supports me in everything I do.

that things seem to slowly be working themselves out between our new kitty and the older one who likes to bully her.

for sun showers – beautiful and refreshing.

that my sweet Biddle cat is such a mama’s boy – perfect for every day, but especially a self-care day.

that I am keeping my word and not working during this sabbatical.

for so many exciting possibilities and opportunities on the horizon.

for our local library – I am constantly amazed by their wonderful selection of books.

for all of your wonderful comments and feedback about this blog.

for a supportive community that understands that going within and taking care of ourselves is crucial for lasting happiness and finding our way in this world.

In gratitude,

Jodi

Hearing Fear Out

Posted on May 31, 2011 by admin

Have you ever embarked on a wonderful new adventure that you were super excited about, and just when you really started to get into it with both feet in – fear stepped up and started listing all of the reasons why it’s probably not a good idea for you to do this after all and tries to get you to see how much safer it would be for you to just step back into your comfort zone?

When this happens, what if we took some time to listen to what fear has to say?

It’s there to protect you – it doesn’t want you to get hurt or fail or be disappointed.

So the next time this happens for you – take some time and write down everything that the fear inside of you wants you to know.

Get it all down on a piece of paper. Give yourself the time and space needed to go within and bring up any reason why your new adventure might not be a good idea or why it’s a scary place to be.

And then you can crumble it up and throw it away.

Or…

You can go through your list one by one and turn it around.

Fear is ego-based and faith is soul-based.

Give your soul a chance to counter each point that your fear brought up.

I think you will find that if you really dig deep and go within, you no longer need fear to protect you on this journey. Your old patterns of letting fear take over will no longer work in your new life.

In my own life, I am writing my first full-length book. It’s a very personal book for me to write, and it requires me going within and really looking at myself and my life with what feels like a magnifying glass. And this can be a hard process that my ego doesn’t want me to go through – it can be painful and yucky and sad to relive certain events or examine my patterns and habits that haven’t always served me. And yet my soul knows that in sharing my story – in putting it out into the world – it will not only help to heal myself, but hopefully others as well who are sharing similar experiences.

So when my fear starts taking over (and boy is it strong!), I recognize it for what is is: a scared ego that just wants me to be comfortable.

And I thank it and let it know that we can’t learn and grow if we always stay comfortable.

And then I get back to writing.

So please take some time today and look at the role fear plays in your own life. Give it a voice – let it be heard. And then either crumble it up or counter what it had to say with all of the reasons why these fears and ways of sabotaging your spirit will no longer work in your new, soulful life.

And then get back to what you know you need to be doing to grow into the you that person you were meant to become.

Creating a Vision Board – Part 2

Posted on May 30, 2011 by admin

I’m thrilled that yesterday’s post about creating a vision board received so many views and comments here and also on our Facebook page! It is so wonderful to know that so many of us are taking action to manifest our dreams!

I spent hours yesterday working on my board. It is hanging right next to me here in my office, and it has such a great energy to it. I love standing in front of it and really feeling my life through these images and words.

One of our wonderful Facebook fans made a great point yesterday.

She has been creating vision boards for years. It’s actually a continual work-in-progress that changes as her vision changes. She wrote that she wished she had taken pictures of it through the years because since it is always changing, she doesn’t have any record of what was on it previously.

I thought this was such a great idea and something we can all do: periodically take pictures of our vision boards.

You may remember John Assaraf from The Secret. He really is a mastermind at manifesting what he puts onto his vision board. Many year ago, he put his dream home on his vision board, truly felt what it would be like to live there, and now it’s his home! He has an entire wall in his office dedicated to his many vision boards. He has them broken down into categories that work for him – such as career, family, abundance, etc.

One thing that I especially love that he does is he has created a bulletin board for everything that he has manifested. So when something that was on one of his vision boards happens in his life, he moves it over to the manifested board. I can imagine that it would be a real boost to look over and see how much you have accomplished just by imagining it were your reality. So I’m definitely going to do this, and I can’t wait to begin to move things over from one board to the next.

He has a Complete Vision Board Kit, which can help you get started in creating your own vision board.

I would love to hear any additional ideas you have about manifesting your ideal life. Please share them here with all of us.

Let’s all continue creating the life we know we were meant to live by visualizing it, feeling it, and taking action!