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Happy New Year!

12/31/2010

First, I want to thank you for being part of my world. 2011 is a New Year with unlimited promise and potential, so step outside your comfort zone. When you reflect back on the past year, and think about what goals you met and which ones fell away … it can either bring disappointment or motivation. The first step is to accept what is:

I accept what is. That is why my life has become so simple. - Eckhart Tolle

Then decide: either to do it and then actually do it … or decide to let it go and not worry about what you should have done. Think about the time and energy spent in having ideas you have not acted on, and where that time and energy could be put to better use rather than beating yourself up. If you are not willing to take the steps needed to make something happen … then let it go. Maybe the timing is not right. Think about what else you could be doing that would be a better reflection of who you are now.

·         You ALWAYS have a choice … just balance your heart and your head and choose wisely
·         Cultivate ease, joy and fluidity
·         Trust your body, inner wisdom and intuition … observe and allow
·         Laugh often … surround yourself with happy, creative and fun people
·         Change is inevitable … live in the now and don’t take yourself too seriously
·         Take risks … nothing happens if you stand still … each choice brings unexpected results

·         Mistakes are okay as long as you learn from them … don’t worry what others think

·         Choose love over fear … be generous and compassionate … give a smile or a hug

·         Appreciate the grace and joy and abundance in your life

·         Let go … of anything and everything … Surrender to what is … accept your imperfections

·         Breathe in peace, gratitude and connection

·         Know and share your authentic self

·         Live your passion

·         Receive gracefully

Here’s knowing that 2011 will bring sanity and peace to this crazy world and may this be your best year ever! Happy New Year!

2011 Power Symbol

12/30/2010

Create a power symbol for 2011 that exemplifies the traits of who you wish to be in the new year. Spend some time thinking of which aspects of yourself that you want to emphasize and imagine or meditate on how they can be expressed in a symbol. For me, I know that I want more ease in my life ... which brings to mind flowing water which just gracefully <or not> meanders toward the path of least resistance. I also want to emphasize laughter which could be a waterfall signifying emotions. If you are familiar with power animals, you can choose a spirit guide. If you are familiar with crystals, choose a crystal that has the traits you want. Color or a certain geometric shape could be important as well for the symbol. Once you have a symbol in mind, look on the internet for images that portray it <or if you have an artistic bent, draw it for yourself>. Then print it and display it where you will be reminded of it daily. Just have fun with the process ... you never know where it will lead!

Supermoms and Perfection

12/29/2010

I came across something I had written down a while back which I found to be an interesting concept and worth some further thought. “I apologize if I made you think I was supermom and I don’t need any help because I trained you to believe only I could do it right.” It was a paraphrase of something I either heard or read and it really resonated with me. There was a time that part of me believed that my way was the right way and maybe inadvertently I led my kids to believe they shouldn’t even try to please me. I am happy to say that most of the time I don’t do that anymore. But over the holidays it popped up again regarding wrapping Christmas presents with my kids. They wanted me to do theirs as well because I did it better. I encouraged them to wrap their own gifts, but I found myself trying to correct the way they were doing it because they were wasting paper and maybe it didn’t look as “pretty” if they had done it my way. I stopped myself thankfully and let them do it their own way while silently kicking myself for my error. I don’t demand perfection in myself anymore … and I certainly don’t demand it of my kids. How boring would this world be if everything were perfect! I know we are all doing the best we can with what we know at any given time. Now if only I could un-do some of my past parenting mistakes … and accept more help from my kids <of course they would have to offer their help first>.

Plan Now for a Less Complicated Holiday Next Year

12/28/2010

Make a list of what your family enjoyed: activities, meals and decorations; these are the keepers for next year

Notice what didn’t seem to matter to them; ask if they could do without it next year <there’s no point in continuing to do things year after year that no one really cares about>

Decorations: notice what you didn’t put out this year. Are you ever going to use them? Do they matter to anyone you know? If so, give them away to those people. If not, give them to Goodwill.

Label boxes: sort items as you put them away so you can find them easily next year. For example, next year when you have a few minutes to decorate a particular room and it would be overwhelming to open every box, by having all the items you use to decorate that room in the same box you can get it done quickly without having to go through everything. If you like to put up the outside lights first, have all the lights together. Likewise, put all your ornaments and tree lights together. You can even break down ornaments into a “favorites” box for each person so those go onto the tree first <it helps to get the kids interested in helping, and I found they used to fight for the “best” spots on the tree for their favorites>. I have lots of Harry and David boxes and store my delicate ornaments in there because the padding and dividers keep things from getting broken. I also like to color code my storage boxes, so if you have the money, invest in red or green boxes to indicate Christmas. I put the things I use first in clear boxes so I can see at a glance what is in there <like Christmas cards, the advent calendar, wrapping paper and ribbons, wreath hangers, hobby items, etc>.

Think of how you use your decorations and I am sure you can think of ways to make life easier next year.

How to Map Your Bedroom with Feng Shui by Annie B. Bond

12/27/2010

1. First, draw a roughly square outline of your bedroom on a piece of paper. The wall that has the primary entrance to your room in it should be the lower line of the square.

2. Divide the square into nine equal squares, three rows of 3 squares each.

3. Start with the lowest row of squares that describes the areas when you first walk into your bedroom. The far left corner of the room when you first enter is the area of Knowledge. The center square relates to Career, and the right-hand square is Helpful People/Travel.

4. Now look at the central row of squares that describes the middle of your bedroom. The far left square relates to Family/Health. The central square is the Tao, or Center, and the right-hand square is Creativity/Children.

5. Lastly, look at the top row of squares. The far left square relates to Wealth, the central square to Fame/Reputation, and the far right square to Relationships/Romance.

Your layout should look something like this:

Wealth-Fame/Reputation-Relationships/Romance
Family/Health-Tao-Creativity/Children
Knowledge-Career-Helpful People/Travel

6. Here are some objects that will work best for each area of your room, helping you to attract more of what you need.

Knowledge: Bookcase, books, tools for self-development.

Career: Mirrors or water-related items. Images to support your career goals.

Helpful People/Travel: Pictures of your helpers.

Family/Health: Family photos, heirlooms, plants.

Creativity/Children: Art supplies, artwork, computer.

Wealth: Money, jewelry, fish, fountains, anything red, purple or gold.

Fame/Reputation: Candles, awards, plants, anything red, orange or purple.

Relationships/Romance: Round or oval mirrors, anything pink, pictures of loved ones, paired objects (like two candlesticks or two crystals).

Cleaning Silver

12/26/2010

If you have a small job, the best silver polish is white toothpaste. Dab some on your finger, and rub into the tarnish.

For bigger pieces, use baking soda and a clean, damp sponge. Make a paste of baking soda and water. Scoop the paste onto the sponge, and rub the paste into the silver. Rinse with hot water and polish dry with a soft, clean cloth.

For badly tarnished silver, leave the baking soda paste on the silver for an hour or so, before cleaning off with the help of the sponge and hot water.

Merry Christmas!

12/25/2010

"Life is made of millions of moments, but we live only one of these moments at a time. As we begin to change this moment, we begin to change our lives." -Trinidad Hunt

Christmas is my favorite holiday … always was and always will be. Ask anyone who knows me and some would say I go overboard but I enjoy it and I have learned to scale back and only do the things I truly enjoy. I ask my kids each year what matters most to them and they can never really pinpoint things, so it is up to me to decide. I have found that when I attempt to eliminate certain traditions that really do matter to them, they speak up so that has been my way of figuring out what matters to them. It’s kind of a round-about way, but it works for us. Many people can say what they don’t like more easily than what they do like.

One of the things that made my Christmas special this year was when one of my sons came home and commented that it didn’t really feel much like Christmas until he walked through the door. So it was all worth it for me. I also enjoyed making lots of our traditional foods even though some of them are time consuming. Having a teenage daughter at home who doesn’t appreciate my cooking, I love that my sons expect and enjoy our holiday cooking traditions. We were even lucky enough to have 9 inches of snow today, so we took a walk in the snow tonight and took pictures. We played lots of games as a family, and then we went to our own separate spots to do solitary things only to come back later as a family and eat and play some more. I fondly remember that when their grandparents were alive, we would have multi-generational pool marathons over the holidays … fun times and memories for all! I’m just glad that this year, right now … we are celebrating Christmas together. Change is inevitable … who knows what next year will bring!

Re-Gifting

12/24/2010

In the name of simplification and no waste, as you clear out your clutter and find items you don’t love, need or use … I would suggest you consider re-gifting. We all want to save money during the holidays and sometimes we have things that are in perfectly good shape but for whatever reason we just don’t want them. There is a tactful way to re-gift however:

            *Be sure you don’t give it to the person who gave it to you – or anyone in your common circle of friends.

            * be sure the person would appreciate the gift … it would be something you would buy for them anyway knowing their preferences

            * be sure the item is brand new, unbroken, and fresh if it is food

            * be sure you remove any old gift tags from the gift … don’t give away a book that has a written dedication to you on the front flap

If you have second thoughts about giving something as “new” … then just give it to the person unwrapped and say you can’t use it but thought they might be able to. If they don’t want it, you can always donate it to Goodwill.

Take A Moment to Finish Up Loose Ends

12/23/2010

Rather than waiting until January 1st to look at what needs to be completed from 2010, I am scheduling time next week to tie up all the loose ends that can be done. I will set my timer for 15 minutes and work on them in 15 minute increments. To keep it interesting, I will write down all the things that I have been procrastinating about and put them in a “Project Jar” and then randomly pick out a piece of paper. The rule I make with myself is that I must do whatever task I pick from the jar … just for 15 minutes. Then if I am still not done, I put it back in the jar for the next random selection. This way, it is always a surprise and I don’t spend time dreading the task. If we just make a little progress in baby steps, we will eventually complete them. I can guarantee that those things that are dreaded will take much less time than anticipated!

Make a promise to yourself that you will spend time between now and the New Year to clear up your loose ends so you can start the New Year with a clean slate. Don’t even start thinking about your 2011 goals until these are cleared up. Some ideas to put in your Project Jar:

Update your address book

Clear out your email inbox

Finish up items on your to do list

Take decluttered items to goodwill

Clean off all surfaces in your house

Schedule time / put away holiday decorations

Update your new planner with addresses, appointments, information

Clean out your tickler file

File papers

Forgive someone

Call someone

Use the 15 minute increment grid

Time Management Eye Opener Grid

12/22/2010

This is my 15 minute increment grid which I use to look at how I currently spend my time so I can use my time more wisely in 2011. It is extremely beneficial to know how we spend our days, and by using this method we can’t fool ourselves. You can break it down according to how you generally use your time, but these are the breakdowns I use:

sleep
work / $
computer purging
teleseminars
facebook / e-mails / games
blog / mastermind group
self care / massage /
TV
meditation
family / friends
meal prep / eat
chores
exercise

I color code each section and then use highlighters to color code the grid as I go through my day … NO JUDGMENT!

I realize that there may be items in my list that are considered time wasters … but if that is how you relax it is ok. The key is to have balance in your life. When things don’t flow smoothly, it is usually because your values and actions are out of whack. This is a way to see clearly in living color where you spend your time. If you see a color that is dominant you might then consider breaking it down further and eliminating or reducing the time wasters in that category.