Category Archives: life style

Just till the next Traffic Light

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TrafficLight2

There is only one way to complete any daunting task…

…one step at a time!

I love the way my marathon training is teaching me about life and business.

Yesterday I was pushing myself over a hill as I ran the 6 mile Central Park loop. Boy, did I want to stop! I was not interested in waiting for my body to hit the runner’s ‘zone’ at all. All I wanted to do was give up. How could I possibly make 6 miles? Talk less of 13.1 miles on race day???

But then I remembered how I had made it through my last melt down (when I was only running 3 miles a couple of weeks back) and I looked up seeking the next traffic light.

See, the park drive is spotted with traffic lights to make it safe for runners and cyclers when car traffic is allowed in through the park, so I use these lights as markers during my runs. If I feel too tired to go on, I tell myself that I just need to make it to the next light. And I keep on. At the next light, if I still feel like giving up, I allow myself to slow down to a brisk walk..up until the next light. Usually, by the time I get there, I have caught my breath enough to take another go at running…so I do….until the next light, or further, if I am able to.

Before long, I have finished the entire 6 mile loop, and with more running, than walking!

This ties into life and business so neatly; We set these HUGE goals for ourselves. Nothing wrong with that, but if we look just at the goal and begin to work towards it with no real plan, we soon become overwhelmed. The Goal looks too big, we can’t do it, it will take too long, we give up!

BUT!!!…if we break that huge goal into smaller goals, smaller achievements that we can celebrate along the way…sooner rather than later…we will reach the goal.

You want to make $10,000 a month? It is not impossible! But first you will probably make $25. Maybe $100…but if you don’t give up at that, and you just keep working to the next sale and the next sale, soon enough your check will have $10,000 written on it.

All you have to do is make it to the next traffic light!

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.

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2014 – The Year of the Horse

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The Chinese Year of the Horse begins on January 30th. earth-horse

My son informed me that he had learned this in school. We promptly looked it up on the internet to get some more information about what this would mean.

The Horse year is a time of fast victories, unexpected adventure, and surprising romance. It is an excellent year for travel, and the more far away and off the beaten path the better. Energy is high and production is rewarded. Decisive action, not procrastination, brings victory. But you have to act fast in a Horse year. Read more…

Look at that! An excellent year for travel…Great, cos I love to travel and we are already planning a family trip in the Summer. Fast victories? Wonderful…we all want those. Unexpected Adventure…What fun! Surprising Romance?…A chance to re-fall in love with my loved one 🙂

But I am truly loving the last parts of that quote –

Production is rewarded – That’s it!!! Keep doing the work. You WILL be rewarded…works every time! The only way you will lose out on the reward, is if you quit. Remember the saying; Winners don’t quit, and Quitters don’t win.

Decisive action, not procrastination, brings victory – I LOVE this!!!! Even though I knew that it was an unhealthy relationship, Procrastination was a long time friend of mine. But I am happy that I can say WAS in that sentence. Experience taught me time and again that procrastination ALWAYS…not sometimes, but ALWAYS made me lose out. I began to make active changes last year, but 2014 brings decisive action to the forefront for me. I threw away fear and everything that comes with it, including Mr. Procrastination himself, and I am taking leap after leap of Faith…Decisive and massive action….and looking forward to the VICTORY!!!

So don’t sit back and wait for something exciting to happen…BE that exciting thing yourself 🙂 Get in the Saddle! Let’s go!

Love and Blessings.

The Simple Life

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502032the-simple-life-fox-tv-reality-show-posters

NO NOT THAT!!!!

More like…….

country family jaquel-bedroom

When I was a wee youngster, I used to be enamored by what I called “the simple life”. I used to watch shows like “Little House on the Prairie” and be moved by the fact that all you really needed was Love. A log cabin, a hand pump for water outside, a few chickens and a couple of horses would complete the picture. 🙂

I actually can vividly remember a dream I had a few times of myself and my family living in such a cozy little home, in which I had to climb a ladder to get into my loft hay mattress bed.(we had to be vary careful with the candles we used to light the home) I carried the belief in a simple life always with me. Looking with disdain upon people who glorified riches and material possessions. I loved and believed only in the goodness of the heart and the pure joy and love of the Arts, which was totally a pathway to God.

Older and wiser now, I see how my romance with poverty attracted it and made it a reality in my life. Well, I am not living in the romantic way I envisioned it, and I am not nearly one of the statistics that would be counted in the poverty bracket, but the fact is…as far back as I can remember, even though I came from a regular middle class home, I just never had any money. As soon as I got it, it was gone with nothing to show for it.

I moved out on my own to New York City in the late 90’s and can still not explain why, living on my own…no family, no responsibilities, no kids….only my dreams…why on earth was I always broke???

Other single friends, would plan vacations and trips and I would always back out for financial reasons. Sometimes, when we went out to dinner, my friends would pay for me, because “I had no money”…even though we all worked at the same company and followed the same artistic dreams. How does that make any kind of sense????

I attracted it to myself.

My self image was one of not having money. This is what I had wanted, right? –  “the simple life”

Well, how many of you know that the “simple life” I envisioned is much more easily lived WITH money…than without it.

See, I still am not a materialistic person. I still believe in Love and the goodness of the human heart, and the joy of creation in the Arts…all that good stuff. As well as, organic living, green energy, saving the planet and all that as well. But now I have come to realize that I can’t have that ranch on the hill, with my animals and my own vegetables and a house that is solar powered without paying for it!!! LOL 🙂

I realized that it’s not the money I was supposed to be hating. It was the principle of materialism and consumerism. I could be perfectly rich, with lots of money in the bank and STILL not buy into those concepts. I wanted a “simple” life…not a “poor” one. Phew! What a relief! I did not have to feel guilty about the fact that I was feeling bad about not having money anymore! There is nothing wrong with wanting some more cash flow…as long as it is just that…FLOW! not stagnant! (hoarding money is not being rich…but that’s another blog entry for another day)

So I started working with the Law of Attraction to attract more money to myself. But it didn’t happen much. Little things here and there, but nothing life changing. And then it clicked…I was still holding on to the romantic image of having no money. This was still the image I identified myself with. This had to change.

So that’s the new mindset. I do deserve money in my life. I love money (not hate it). Money enables me to do what I love to do and to live how I love to live – Simply!

Here’s a cute book I found that you might like to try on for size:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009FKUGDW/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B009FKUGDW&linkCode=as2&tag=onewho-20

Overcoming F.E.A.R. – A necessity!!!

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Procrastination, creative blocks and frustration are well documented unwanted effects of fear. It’s our sense of fear that derails success more often than actual failed attempts at success.

However, the truth of the matter is that often, it is not actual fear that we are dealing with…it is F.E.A.R.

Fear is a Good Thing

Fear is an emotional response to an actual threat, and it’s a fundamental survival mechanism that’s served us well throughout human history. When you’re in immediate danger, fear tells you to get yourself to someplace safer.

Fear is also a true emotional response when we’re about to lose someone or something that’s important to us. So it’s not just about our personal safety – we can fear the loss of a loved one to illness, or our home to foreclosure due to unemployment.

That is talking about “real” fear, but here’s the problem. The sensation people experience in the face of taking action to achieve their dreams – business, personal, spiritual, whatever – is usually NOT true fear.

It’s F.E.A.R.

fear is a liar

What is F.E.A.R?

F.E.A.R. is an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real. There’s no true threat of immediate physical danger, no threat of a loss of someone or something dear to us, actually nothing there at all.

F.E.A.R. is an illusion. Something we fabricate in our own minds and pretend is real. It’s a fairy tale we tell ourselves that keeps us from doing what we really want.

False evidence appearing real.

The common label for F.E.A.R is anxiety, a less fundamental emotion that arises purely from our own thoughts, not external reality.

How to Conquer F.E.A.R.

“Anxiety is nothing but repeatedly re-experiencing failure in advance. What a waste.” ~Seth Godin

Are past failures real evidence that justifies fear of future failure? Nope, because unless you keep doing the exact same thing over and over and expecting different results (one definition of insanity), you have no real evidence that your next approach will fail.

Past failures generate false evidence appearing real. To the contrary, it’s likely you learned things from your past failures that instead provide evidence that your odds are now better than ever.

The worst-case scenario, of course, involves those who’ve never failed, because they’ve never tried. These people have zero real evidence of anything, and are living in the purest imaginary prison of the mind.

Guess what? Healthy, well-adjusted people take risks, without all this deep dread over specific outcomes. The journey is what you’ll relish, and it just might take you somewhere better than you initially hoped. No matter what, each journey teaches you what you need to know to take the next one.

Here’s some news for you – “WE HAVE A CHOICE”!!!

Yes, we have a choice in how we think or act! F.E.A.R might grab a hold of you, but YOU can decide whether to give into it or not.

OR….I challenge you to take your False Evidence Appearing Real and turn it into a much more positive Acronym:

Feeling Excited And Ready!!! (thanks Neale Donald Walsh for that one)

So come on….bring on the F.E.A.R.!!! I am about to do something INCREDIBLE!!!

Cheers! 🙂

New Years’ Resolution Numero Uno – NOT TO BE BROKEN!!!

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STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE!!!

This is a big one! and a really good one since, as we have all heard before, Life begins at the end of our comfort zone.

life begins

When I was younger and straight out of college, I lived outside my comfort zone just fine. Probably drove my parents insane. But as I “grew up”, I settled down. Got a “real” job and began to live a “regular” life. SNOOOZE!!!! BOOOOORING!!!

Not only did I get bored, frustrated and unhealthy, I also got…BROKE!empty pockets

How on earth do you get broke in your comfort zone?….doing all the right things your parents told you to do??? That makes no sense.

But look around you. What do you see? An endless number of people running the endless rat race and endlessly trying to pay off the endlessly growing debts.

What is so “comfort”able about that “comfort” zone???? Nothing! I can tell you that!

Look, we are not all looking to be the next Warren Buffett, Donald Trump, or Mark Zuckerberg, but wouldn’t it be nice to be able to plan a day out with the family without first happy familycounting out all the bills that are hitting your paycheck this week. 

How about a date night out with your hubby – NO kids (I did say “date–night”, didn’t I?) Call in the babysitting service and go have a parents date nightball…you can afford it!

Or how about NO Family at all…How about a day just for you. Maybe a day at a fancy spa??? Get a facial, a massage, mani AND pedi…Why not?? You CAN afford it!

spa day

These are not tall orders…they are basics…and YES…you CAN afford them. Just saying’!

I, for one, am stepping way out of my comfort zone this year. I am so done being “comfortable”. I am ready to have some life and adventure in my life again. I am ready and willing to try something new and watch it pay off. Yeehaaa!!!!

Come on Folks!!! Let’s do like Nike…Just do it! 🙂 nike-just-do-it-hd-wallpapers-bikv0uh8

Love and Blessings