Best~Day~Ever Part 1 of 3

Memorial Day 2011, May 30th

In a spontaneous and slightly disruptive move, our family threw caution to the wind and took a sudden trip to New Hampshire...a trip that, according to my horoscope for May, was "imminent"....indeed.  We hatched the travel plans while on a routine trip to the hardware store where we bought some coolant and windshield wiper fluid.  As we sat in the Benny's parking lot...David adding the fluids and me and the children chatting...the idea came up about a road trip.  The kids latched onto the idea and soon we were headed home to pack an overnight bag.  A few quick checks of hotels near Storyland and we had nailed one for the right price and proximity to our destination.  I recommend them if you are ever heading to Glen NH:

http://www.villagermotel.com/

The children enjoyed the amenities there:

These photos are of Annika and Lex playing in their large playground.  The manager Semi and her husband are friendly and very accomodating and their grounds and rooms are very nicely maintained and clean.  They had everything we needed for the lowest price around. 

We left Warwick RI at around 2:30 sunday afternoon and drove for 4 hours to get to Bartlett.  We fueled up at an Irving gas for $3.77 gallon just before arriving at our motel.  This location was wonderful...sandwiched between the National Forest and Attitash Mountain Ski resort, we were 5 miles from Storyland.  We checked into our hotel at around 6:30...grabbed some dinner at DQ and then took a nature walk around the property at The Villager.  After showers, we hit the sack for a full day of park time coming the following morning.  In the morning, we had a free continental breakfast...coffee, juice, milk and we even made our own waffles!  It was a really great stay!

We left around 8:30 am to head to storyland, fueling-up before we arrived at the park.  Thankfully the gas station near Storyland sells amazingly strong coffee which we tanked-up on as we waited in line to enter the park.  It was a real storybook moment for me when the doors opened because we were all forming one line to enter, and then several little huts that lined the entrance suddenly opened and created about 6 registers so we were in the park at 9am with no wait.  We had a wonderful Guest Service person named Phil who didn't charge us for Alex.  We were so grateful!  Phil really made the start of our day extra happy.  We have been inside Storyland before (last August) and that time was our first visit so this year, I knew how my kids and David would react and what they would need and want.  I packed towels, clothing changes and I MADE Annika wear her swimsuit under her outfit.  She objected while she was dressing that morning but later enjoyed it a lot!!

The first character we encountered as we entered the park and took a left to head toward YumYum Junction and the Antique Cars Ride, was Mother Goose..a white-haired lady in a rocking chair holding a puppet goose.  She was so adorable we just had to say hello.  They choose such friendly people to play the characters in the parks...she let Lex hold her goose.  It was the only way we could get him into the picture!

After leaving Mother Goose, we stopped by the Drivers License Booth to make Lex his first Drivers License.  Annika still has one from last year.  throughout the park there are wonderful animatronic puppets with stories to tell and anectdotes.  These two fellows in the car had me laughing with their Canadian accents talking about "ca's"...not a New York Accent, it was definitely further North!!  They were silly and add to the charm of this nicely kept Amusement Park.

We decided to ride the Antique cars first.  On our maiden visit, we circled the park from the right to the left and the cars were our last ride.  At that time we waited about 45 minutes to get on and the park was about to close.  On this trip we paired up:  Annika with Mom and Lex with Dad.  The kids got to "drive" the cars.  Lex had a purple car and Annika's was hot pink.  I personally love the sculpted course with the details like the covered bridges, Gas Station, cows and Moose...

So cute...but then, I sort-of have a thing for cows.  The park is pretty small and on Memorial day weekend it had just opened...it was open from 9 to 5.  There are plenty of shows to see inside the park.  There are about 5 places to see performances.  The only performance we were really interested in, and it is a MUST SEE...I LOVE THESE FOLKS...the Hannaford Circus.  They are 4 or 5 families who perform wonderfully every year!  We are huge fans of the Alvarez family Gymnasts.  The Children who are about 12 are Ariana and Gianni and they perform with their Mom and Dad.  We are not allowed to photograah inside the tent so I have no pictures, just warm memories!

The biggest draw for Lex was the Train ride which circles the park allowing you the best view of everything, and a nice break if your feet are tired.  For Annika, what she most enjoys is meeting the Princess, riding the boats and playing in any type of squirting water.  Fortunately for her, there is a small water park called Oceans of Fun and another fun little water-spurts spot near Dr. Geyser's Raft ride where the kids get soaking wet!  Of course, there is also the Raft ride itself where we rode twice and DID get soaked!  David enjoys the Antique Cars and the Circus.  He took Lex on the Buccaneer Boat while I took Annika on the Swan Boat.  We pretended our ships were attacking one another (boys against girls)!  After we got off the boats we met to ride the carousel.  I didn't take a picture, but the carousel is an unsusual rocking-horse style.  There are only 2 like it in existence and the sister to the one at Storyland is in Munich Germany...a fact I found very interesting.

As for me, aside from just watching the kids have a great time, I LOVE the views from the rides.  My favorite ride in the Park is the Polar Coaster, which Lex came on with me and Annika is too scared to ride again.  I also really enjoyed the Flying Fish ride which I went on with Lex because Annika refused to ride.  I originally objeted to riding the Balloons but even though it was a long wait to board and unboard, the views proved to be my favorite part of the whole day.  Go figure, huh?  The thing you nearly didn't do turns out to be the highlight of your day.  Check out the photos I got from up there...they are my favorite part of the park trip.

We left the Park at 4:30, ending our day with an ice-cream cone for the ride and some fudge for Daly who we left at home.  David bought the kids a toy and we drove the 4 hours back...which took 5 hours because of traffic.  The drive home was my favorite part because I love looking at the mountains glistening in the fading sun of a glorious day away from home.  It was so fun to be at home one day and in New Hampshire the next and then home again!  I love how days like that make you realize that you are powerful and free and can take life...and get what you want and need out of it!  I will end today's blog 1 of 3 with my favorite Mountainviews from the drive Home.

~Namaste



Take a random day to be Thankful

Everyday you should give thanks...lots and lots of THANKS for everything around you.  These are not just words I think I should say, but that I actually do say.  I do say it and I do try to live each day gratefully.  It is not always easy to give thanks when we are experiencing loss, devastation or destruction or just feeling sadness.  However, if we fail to say Thanks today then we most likely will forget tomorrow too and before long it is just one more habit that we have created for not being mindful of our thoughts and behaviors.  So take any random day and let that be your starting point.  It is easy, I promise.

Today will do I think.  Today has plenty within it that I could bitch about.  I am wise enough to know that this is counterintuitive to my real dreams for my life.  I never grow when I complain.  I never succeed when I compain.  Just like no one can eat only one of  Lays potato chips, I can never just complain once.  There is always a string of complaints in a row.  So instead, today, when conflicts arise, I will say THANKS.  I am glad that I have people in my life who care to be botherd by me or to bother me.  I am thankful that I do not live all alone by myself with no one to see everyday.  I am Thankful and grateful for the fact that I am able to earn a living and contribute to my household not only in financial ways but by being here for the people who live here.  I am Thankful that I get to clean the toilets, match the socks, vaccuum the floors and watch the children.  I am Thankful that I do not have a perfect body because that fact motivates me to get down on the floor and play with the kids and burn off a few extra calories!  I am glad to be here.

Sometimes I want to mentally "check-out".  We all feel that way and some of us feel it often which means we really have separated ourselves from our gratitude.  I wished it was sunny out today but it isn't...a fact over which I have no control and neither do you.  But perhaps this is the perfect time to feel grateful for not being overly hot from the sun or to be grateful we do not need to apply sunblock.  If it rains outside, well, maybe I needed to really focus on some of my household chores, right?  Let me set my mind and body and spirit to what I have been given to do, use, have and appreciate and attend to that fully and without the distraction of a negative mindset.  No one is perfect...maybe you, like myself, experienced a minor setback today.  It's fine to admit it.  Just say it!  I HAD A MINOR SETBACK.  It could have dragged me down all day.  But instead, I turned it around.  Some people would say, "one day at a time"...they would be right.  Live in the moment.  What a brilliant idea.  I tried it and here were my results:

I stayed in the moment with the kids and observed their patterns of activity.  This will help me to intervene when I hear an argument arise later over the same toys or activities...because now I know which child favors which item and what they are likely to argue over.  Thank you!  And then when my son, who slept late this morning was fighting his usual nap, I decided to live life in the moment.  He isn't going to be my baby boy forever, so I picked him up and rocked him like I use to do when he was an infant.  He fell asleep in my arms as I watched his little eyes drfit and droop.  THANK YOU!  There really is no way to top that...that will be the best part of my day.  I had an argument this morning with someone.  I could have spent my day getting more angry with that person or about the things they had to say.  But I chose instead to meditate on thoughts of them and I being in agreement.  I asked myself if I was really thinking of that person's needs at all?  Was I of any service to them at all?  Could I be more so?  The more I considered the question, the more revelations came to me about how I could be more generous, helpful, attentive, kind and loving to that person.  Before long I was eager to do those kind things for them.  Thank you for that change of heart.

You can do this in your life too.  Just believe that you are powerful, and strong.  Your ability (mentally) to overcome any obstacle is absolute and infathomable.  No one is more equipped to deal with your problems, your life or your situations than you.  You are the one and the only who can relate, although you are not alone in experiencing troubles.  But your troubles truly are temporary and fleeting if you allow them to be.  any attitude that you sit too long in, begins to take on it's own life form and physical form.  Get rid of all that worry, it does not serve you!  It is meaningless.  It is all meaningless.  Live for today.  Embrace it.  I will be there too, living in day-tight compartments and believeing in the Law of Attraction and it's resulting goodness in my life.
~Namaste

Another way to think of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Seasonal Affective Disorder, otherwise known as SAD is a condition that some people experience.  Here is a definition I located on the internet:

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) refers to episodes of depression that occur every year during fall or winter. Symptoms improve in spring and summer.
from PubMedHealth  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002499/

I personally experience something similar to this, although I do not consider my winter duldrums to be depression or depression-like.  Instead, I feel "affected" by seasons in a completely different way from this.  Perhaps other people feel this way too?  I will describe it in this article.  I first noticed this as a teenager and thought my youthful hormones were playing a part in it but I now think it was more that I simply am affected by seasonal changes due to my sensitivity to heat and light or cold.  I have a very good friend who does suffer from the clinical type of SAD and so I must first explain that clearly, it is a serious condition that requires treatment and is not to be taken lightly.

Let's start at the most prominent season of all...the one New Englanders hanker down for.  The season of the longest, dreariest, most challenging and exhausting days. The season of Winter.  Here in Rhode Island, Winter sets in after Thanksgiving.  We all start to weatherize our homes before Thanksgiving and then settle in and expect snow.  Winters here are varied. The days themselves vary from dreary overcast freezing temperatures to slushy snow-laden days that drag on.  This runs from Late November until Mid-March, so four months.  And honestly, it does not feel much warmer even in the late part of April or May either, so Springtime brings some changes but Winter really sets its teeth deep into the land here.  It also sets itself deep into our psyhological well-being.  I hear a lot of complaining and grouchiness from people all winter long around here.  I personally dislike being cold, so I can understand the anxiety caused by this set of conditions.

Thankfully, Spring brings about the warming we New Englanders need to recover from the cold.  When temperatures start consistently staying around 50*, I personally feel human again.  I happily shed the warmer clothing and get back outside to soak in the sun's rays.  There is a burst of energy seen not only within the persons, but within nature itself.  The first week of May brings the Lilacs to bloom and that is exactly when I spring to life.  Anyone who knows me may notice it, perhaps never really realized the extent of the "aliveness" I feel at that particular interval of the year.  It is a powerful experience for me that makes me feel very much renewed and "awakened"...spiritually, physically and emotionally.  My sexual desire is greatly heightened and my interest in travel is enhanced.

How can Summer top this?  The best thing that summer has to offer is that the heat is more intense than I am.  It actually wears me down.  I love the feeling of the heat on my face and body.  I enjoy watching the children play and every chore seems easier to manage.  Matters always carry less stress and feel less burdensome.  There is virtually no day of summer that I cannot say is perfect in every way.

Fall is the most spiritual time of year for me.  Just like the seasons of the year, Autumn with it's falling leaves is synonomous with the shedding of my worries, fears and burdens.  I allow myself to come down from the buildup of the year and it's powerful affect on me.  Fall colors and the crisp smell of cold air rolling in, coupled with the burning smell of firewood all point to a period of introspection that will later be turningpoints for my life.  Every autumn, as children and college students start a new school year, I feel the start of new period for myself.  The start of preparations for the long cold winter.  I start to search for new ways to recreate my art forms in whatever way I can.

Right now, at the start of Spring, I am feeling reborn and looking so forward to a Summer of fun and travel and growth. No matter what outside influences attempt to penetrate us and affect us, the important thing is to remain strong inside of ourselves.  This is not an easy task and one I am constantly challenged by.  In 2011 I feel more connected with my mind and body then ever before.  I am happy to embrace the challenges and enjoy the benefits of being me...just me.  I wish for all of my friends and loved ones to find acceptance of themselves.  This is a short blog, but as always, I wish my readers Love, Peace, Harmony, Wholeness, Health, and Wealth.

~namaste

How to Break Into Your Dream Career

Today's Blog is a recap of a recent conversation I had with a Colleague in the Wedding Industry.  I am creating it as a Blog Entry in order to document my progress throughout my career change.  Changing Careers is a huge thing to do.  It has massive implications.  It really is no different from losing a job and needing to find another.  No matter if you are in need of the answers because you are broke with no income at all or just because you want to make the change, the process is and will always be the same.  The only way to learn, DO, accomplish or succeed at anything is to allow the Law of Attraction to pull your dream out of the fantasy land and into reality.  The first ingredient is Love.  It is always Love. 

So my Dream, for those out there who do not know it, is to become a Professional Wedding and Event Planner.  I want Planning to be my source of income and fullfill my business goals.  I have been thinking about this for a career for many years now.  The first time I admitted it out loud was last summer and since then I have been working to create a viable Professional Image and obtain Projects, Training, Instruction, and Income with and from it.  Mostly feeling clueless about it I began to take the steps I deemed necessary to initiate some experience and I did collaborate with people on some small projects.  Since February however, my ideas and my efforts have mostly been on hold while I have been busy managing my daycare and my daughter's Acting Career goals.  But recently I see that if I really Love something, I should always make steps toward it, even if they are very small.  My life, and my energy needs to reflect the things I truly care about doing.  There are three ways I would like to make a living and I plan to do all three simultaneously.  1. Event Planning 2. Managing a Youth Actor (mostly a labor of love) and 3. Published Writing.

After reviewing some new ideas and meditating over them, I agree with my colleague, who's advice was to not look at jumping in with 2 feet and thinking Wedding Jobs would just come to me, but rather to be agressive about learning all I can about the Business of Creating, Managing and Running such events.  So here are some great steps we discussed:

1.  Be an apprectice (assistant).  I admit, I am a fan of many people in the Wedding Business.  I have favorites all over the place!  I love Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine.  She is from Rhode Island!  I adore David Tutera, and follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Tv of course!  I listen carefully when these people talk and when they share about how they got where they are.  I want to follow in their footsteps.  It will be important for me to find someone I can learn from here locally.  So many amazing weddings happen in Rhode Island every year.  People travel from other places to be married at Mansions in Newport.  It is important to reach out and meet the people who plan and execute the functions.  These are the people I need to be learning from.

2.  Be Bold.  Making contact with Business Professionals is a key to being remembered.  I always try to make a good and honest impression when I meet new people.  I like to let them see my enthusiasm for life and my capacity for hard work.  It would be normal for any person to feel some level of intimidation or possibly inferiority which may keep them on the sidelines too long.  I may be slipping into this category but I vow to correct it now.  The Law of Attraction will work if I let it and all the right people, places and situations will be drawn to me and the path will be opened.  I just need to put my thoughts and Love for it into the right perspective.

3.Start Small, Go Slowly.  The main attribute of the Best Planners (of Weddings) is that they come with experience.  You cannot buy experience or even count on gaining it, it needs to come in its own time.  By being willing to work with others and learn from them, in time I will come to have the same kind of experience in the field of Wedding and Event Planning that I do in the field of Childcare or Subsidized Housing (I have extensive training and experience working through HUD).

4.  Be a Sponge.  I had forgotten how I learned all the things I now know how to do so well!  from the time I was ten until now I have been caring for children.  It stared at home being the oldest sibling of 4, then a daycare job after school, some babysitting jobs on weekends.  It continued to Nanny Positions, Home daycare assistant to Lead Teacher to Running my own Childcare from Home.  I always learned from others around me and I was always in a place where my help was needed and so I grew and gained momentum.  It is not easy to start as the new girl, but I have done it before and I can do it now.

5.  Never Ever give up.  This I got from Donald Trump, I have to admit.  Many others of course have said it, but recently I heard him say it to LaToya Jackson on Celebrity Apprentice and it really resonated with me.  So this is a new motto for me.  I will never ever give up on my dreams!

I want to Thank my friend Bob from RDP Photography for the good sound business advice.  It really put things into perspective for me.  Now without further "talk" on the subject...it's time to go "Do".

~Namaste

Write what you know

I love to write.  I enjoy a well-crafter email or a handwritten card as much as a meaningful essay or even a book report or review.  I enjoy reading them and writing them.  The written word is full of expression and drama.  These are my favorite reasons for writing.  In each person's life, the written word will bear significance and be necessary.  You cannot accomplish much in life without knowing how to read and write.  Plus, the more languages you can do it in, the better!  I only read and write in English.  That being said, I find it worth while to try and read other languages and I do so all the time...including following Twitter feeds from places around the world.  Opening up our minds and expanding our experiences to reach out like that is the way to learn about the world.  I am thankful for words because without them I would be trapped in world of flowing imagery that needed definition.

I am 36 years young and writing has been a part of who I am and what I do since childhood.  I can recall writing (documenting really), the events of Hurricane Gail.  I was about 10 years old or 11 maybe.  I handwrote the account and it was close to 20 pages...I remember it was that yellow school paper.  I no longer have the work I wrote, but that is owing to the fact that I was either careless or had no supportive network to help me embrace my abilities with writing.  Later as I entered High School, I excelled in my Reading/Literature and Creative Writing and was a part of the advanced courses in my Senior Year.  I wanted to go to College as an English Major but I went against my better judgement and followed the path of Music when I received a Scholarship to perform as a French Horn Player.  I used to regret this decision but I no longer allow it to have any affect on my present life.  Instead, I choose to see that there are many paths still laying before me that I may choose.

So last year, in August of 2010 when I became aware of the Law of Attraction and began to grow closer to the true desires of my heart, I discovered the latent passion that I still had for writing.  Writing, in many forms can be used to generate a viable income and support almost any type of lifestyle imaginable.  I decided I wanted to be a published writer.  How, I had no real idea, but I figured practicing writing might be the best place to start.  I updated my technology...got a laptop and printer/copier.  Started my Blog.  Then Advertisements on the Blog.  Then I started another Blog.  Next I looked for places to share my Blog where I could acquire followers.  I opened a Twitter account for this very reason.  Now I post my Blogs on Twitter and Facebook.  This is a process...I know.  But I will work at it until the day I die because I LOVE to write.  Being a cerative person is my whole life and I cannot be anything but that- now and forever.

I write what I know, and when possible, what I love. I am most inspired to write in the morning when the activities of the day have not cluttered my thoughts with worry or frustrations.  How and when we do things is as essential to the process as what we think and feel while we are doing it.  I empty my mind of extra thoughts and focus on the ideas that pertain to my particular subject.  My focus is fine tuned now thanks to my daily practice of meditation.  This allows me to work with clarity in an otherwise chaotic environment.  My house is a little bit like life on Mars...not exactly a comfortable one for writing.  I often have to write amidst myriad distractions...telephones, tv and children and other types of conditions similar to these.  I find myself "stealing" time to write...skipping a meal or staying up late...getting up early.  I carry a notebook and pen in my purse wherever I go.  I even journal all the events surrounding my daughter's path toward being an Actor and Model.

Diversity makes a difference in becoming a better writer.  I write for a variety of reasons.  I write leisurely...and I write letters of business...I type, and also write in handwriting.  I write on various types of paper and with different fonts or colors.  I have a Love-Affarir with words and this has lifted me to a happier place in life.  It creates a feeling in me that my spirit will live on after I am gone.  I know it will.  I wish all my readers a joyous day.
~Namaste~

Are you in Love or Lust?

I hope that title caught your interest because I am really trying to increase the traffic on my Blog.  I promise to deliver on it.  I have plenty of insight on this subject to share with the world.  The question at the end will be am I credible?  I have heard people ask other people about their opinions about Love and Lust.  We all do it...we ask everyone who will listen and then we attempt to glean the truth from the vast variety of opinions we have gathered.  Very few of us will do any real research on the subject.  Well, I AM one of the few.  Over the course of many years, I have done extensive research about Love and Lust.  I have read countless books by professionals and articles online.  I have viewed Love and Lust from the Scientific perspective, attempting to quanitify it or discredit it.  I have read classics of literature renowned for their thematic influence on the world's view of Love.  I have studied poetry by more authors than I can possibly recall.  To dig up the shear numbers of poems, books, articles and stories or clinical studies I have explored in formulating my strong ideas, would take me a month of Sundays.  I will for the moment splurge and divulge my information with confidence as the expert I feel I have become.

Let me start by saying that I LOVE, LOVE.  It is my favorite thing.  I crave Love.  I desire Love.  I give Love.  I want more Love.  I want to be in Love with everyone and everything.  I want to make Love.  I Love the taste and feel of things and the smell of things.  I  Love the idea of other people being in Love.  When I discovered the book that really changed me:  The Secret, I was thrilled by the discovery of Love being the greatest and most effective power available to mankind.  Just like it is written in the Bible, Love can conquer all things...cover over a multitude of sin and recreate who you are.  Love can save you, heal you and forgive you. Love completes you in every way.  I know a lot of people, who just like me, want to feel Loved and Completed by something or someone.  Every person I know does.  Any person who claims to not need love is a fake.  When I became a pupil of "The Secret", I decided that my symbol as a reminder of the power of love, was a heart.  My Wedding Planning Business Icon is interconnected hearts. 


So how can you tell the difference between what you are Lusting for and Loving?  Well to start with, Lust has no power.  It is rooted in selfishness.  It is fickle and unproductive.  Any object for your affection that you do not truly Love, will not prosper.  If you only Lust for it, you may eventually acquire it but it will not fully satisfy you or last very long.  This applies to people AND things.  These things could be business success, a home, a car...anything.  But if you truly feel love and desire for something or someone, your passion will be based on something substantial and long-lasting.  That "emotional" connection will remain and grow and deeper.  Your Object of affection will thrill you even in the dullest moments.  It will never disappear.  If it is gone for a while, it will return.  It will appear and reappear throughout the course of your life.  It will feel like your attention is always drawn to it or something like it.  When you feel that draw, you will be compelled to follow it and see where it leads.  Do so cautiously because this could be the object you Lust for.  Love never leaves...never goes away and never weakens.  It deepens, widens and becomes more intense with the passage of time. That which you love will appear in your dreams, your ideas, your work and your activities. 

Love makes you do noble things for it.  Lust makes a fool out of you.  When you truly Love something or someone, you desire to pursue it or them and you wish to possess it.  The same is true for lusting something.  You must learn to differentiate the two because without clarity on this, you will surely cause trouble for your life.  Do not be fooled.  That which you love you will care for too much to jeopardize.  You will want what is best for it.  If you Love your family, you will do what is best for them.  If you love your home, you will take care of it and make it the best it can be.  Now if what you love is a person, these things all apply and become much more significant.  Clearly you must consider whether they want to be loved by you.  If they in fact feel the same as you.  It's tricky to distinguish.  How can you tell?  Bear in mind that if that person Loves you, the same rules need to apply.  They cannot possess you.  They must Love what it is that you need and want and what it is that makes you who you are.  They must appreciate you to the point of being willing to let you go.

Most of these concepts are pretty self-explanatory.  Most of us know this, right?  We all struggle to have more Love in our lives.  the best way to attain it, gain it and keep it is to give it...give it away!  Give your Love freely and it will come back to you from the most unexpected sources.  You will have no idea how or when but blessings of Love will just come to you.  It will be your Kharmic payback for deciding to do things the Right Way...follow the Right Path.  I long to hear your journey.  Please share it with me.  Feel free to comment on the blog or write to me personally if you wish.  I Love to be inspired and hopefully I inspire you too.  I am thinking of my friends, Loving them...and my family...especially my chidren.  I wish you all the Greatest Loves of your Lives!
~Namaste~

How to count your Blessings

I have often been told to count my blessings in life.  Up until about 9 months ago I was not sure what it truly was to be "blessed".  Let's discuss the meaning of this word.  The Free online dictionary uses the following definition:  Something promoting or contributing to happiness, well-being, or prosperity.

A blessing, when given out, is a bestowal of these qualities.  A blessing when perceived is acknowledgement to the receipt of the happiness, well-being or prosperity.  The state of being blessed would suggest any manifestation of this happiness, well-being or prosperity.  So if we were to count our blessings, we would simply have to ask ourselves one question.  That question is this:  "what makes me happy"?  The best part is that even if we are not presently receiving the thing that makes us happy, we have the ability to think about those things and dream about them and if we can do that...well then we can surely manifest them also.  The Law of Attraction states that whatever we think about we desire.  The more we think about it and with passion, the closer we draw it to us.  If we therefore, love something, all we need to do to draw it to us is to think about it. By thinking about the object of our love or affection, we draw ourselves toward it.  with the knowledge of this, we can alter the state of all things.  Anything we desire to change we can change.

Counting blessings should be a daily task and one that improves with practice much like all other of life's tasks.  Yoga and exercise are a practice.  Cooking takes practice and so does gardening.  Also, parenting takes practice.  This world is not made for the lazy man.  It is divine for the ambitious and miserable for the lazy.  Everything that is worth having is worth building.  Anything that will be built must first be mentally conceived and visualized to the smallest detail.  Each thought our minds can create is a blessing and a gift for us.  We may only have it for ourselves and never share it out loud, but it is our gift...it is a blessing and ought to be counted as one.  Some days, I wake up and I just feel deeply satisfied about my life.  Even if I am still half asleep, I can tell how I feel and that feeling defines me.  My feelings and your feelings and everyone's feelings define them.  These emotional states we experience as human beings are designed to show us where we are at.  Do we feel blessed and full of life?  If the answer is no, then there is work to be done!  And it must be done quickly.  You must never linger in these dark emotional lows.  It is a dangerous place to be and there are definitely no blessings there.

When I count my blessings, I start with the most simple or obvious things.  I begin at the beginning.  I express my gratitude for whatever it is I am specifically feeling at that moment.  For instance, first thing in the morning I say Thanks for the sun and for the morning and for the fact that I woke up.  I proceed to express gratitude for my kids and my family as a whole; for the coffee that I get to drink; for the view of the ocean from my kitchen; for the fragrance of lilacs wafting through my windows; for the thoughtful cards and letters hanging on my walls; for the flowers I was given; for the day ahead!  Being thankful for the day ahead sets my pattern for the day.  Each morning I visualize (not just think about it, but picture it as it is happening), each arrival of children for the day...each departure of parents.  I see the playtime...I picture the children playing together without fights and arguments...peacefully.  I sometimes create lists of key words and ideas that stimulate happy emotions for me.  I make these lists each time I feel that my situation is lacking sparkle.  If I am not entirely blissful, then there is a need to create more powerful emotions.  Making these lists is the perfect way to "count" your blessings, particularly if you were looking for a tally.  I myself just like to write them down in my best swirly lettering on plain white paper.  The writing is part of the process that increases my pleasure.

Another way to Count your Blessings is to create Vision Boards.  It is easy and you may have done it before without calling it a Vision Board.  When Annika wanted to Audition for celebrity Actors Camp and to begin her Acting Career, I had her create one.  We located photos of places we dream of going and of people we admire.  At Michaels, we purchased large white poster boards and glued and drew a collage of the vision for our lives.  We wrote sentences, words and phrases about what we love and included them in the picture.  Our Vision Boards hang in our bedrooms.  Mine is directly over my bed.  I look at it when I need inspiration.  My vision Board depicts my life living in Florida in a Hacienda-Style spcaious one level home with a wonderful garden and fountain and pool.  In my vision I am there for my family, we are provided for financially without having to do the kind of 9 to 5 job that we do not love, but instead money just flows from sources that we love.  I believe my vision can be achieved.  It is my goal to never work for anyone besides myself ever again. 

Vision Boards really are important.  They are a necessary step to creation.  After they are made, the only thing to do is continuously keep the vision in your mind and give it life!  Make it feel real!  I can close my eyes and picture my kitchen as I want it to be.  And you know what has happened since then?  I find myself more and more content with the kitchen I have.  I used to really despise my tiny kitchen but I suddenly find it a lovely, comforting room that I want to spend time in.  See?  I keep giving so much love for the thought of the kitchen I desire and I end up feeling more love for the one I have.  I have to know that I have received the blessing...of being happy...in my kitchen.  And it works in every area of life.  Each area of my life has improved without fail by using the Law of Attraction as a tool for creation and by consistently expressing gratitude for what I see in life that I love.  I wish all my readers the same blessings now and into the future.
~namaste

How losing Negativity will vastly improve your Life

The trick to my favorite ever Disney Movie quite: "keep moving forward"...lies in the magic of a seed.  You take a little seed and you plant it right?  You put it in soil and you water it and give it a vitamin and leave it in the sun where it can begin to recreate itself.  If you have never grown anything from a seed before just create a mental picture of the little seed buried under the heavy damp dirt and just sitting on your patio in the sun.  You could even place another container beside it with dirt but no seed and to the average person, the two pots appear the same.  Without knowing the power of the seed, you may think the two pots contain the same exact potential when in fact, they are destined for different outcomes.  The pot with the seed is about to experience a remarkable act of creation.  The pot of dirt on the other hand is due to experience whatever arbitrary condition it falls upon.  Some bit of dandilion or other thing may drift into it and cause something to grow but it also may not.  Ultimately, with care and time, the seed will develop into something new.  That will be a gift of life...an act of birth and creation.

The pot that is about to experience the arbitrary conditions of "whatever happens" truly represents how I spent a lot of time in my life.  I wandered through life in an inaffective manner causing a series of events...some with good outcomes and others not so good.  Still other outcomes I never even saw.  Who knows what those actions may have produced...I am unaware.  Likewise, my life and experiences are partially due to the choices and actions of others' affect upon me.  We all intertwine on this planet and where our lives touch in any way has the potential to create some affect or effect.  After reading "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne, I became aware of how the Law of Attraction works in my life and everyone's life.  I began to understand many things I had been trying to understand for years in my life...to no avail.  I clearly connected the failings of past endeavors to my ability to use the LoA in these situations. Without knowing it, I had been drawing into my life many negative situations, people, circumstances and outcomes.  It is frightening for me to think of the path I had been on for so long...and where it may have taken me had I not been saved by the knowledge of the Secret to life which is applying the Law of attraction.

I am so thankful for the fact that attraction exists.  Attraction works everyday...every hour of the day and in every situation.  If I go through my day with negativity as my focal point, my situation grows increasingly negative over the course of the day.  BUT, when I turn that negative self talk off...and count my gratitude...and really say "THANK YOU"!...I manifest the greatest outcomes.  Everytime I apply this it always works without fail.  In my lifetime, I have always drawn people to me and this is due to the fact that deep inside, I do have a warm and loving heart...my soul just radiates the joy of life.  BUT...I have often chosen to allow insecurity and fear and negative thinking to weaken that glow and that radiance.  Because this has been a lingering pattern, I have created many damaging situations and circumstances for myself.  Thankfully, these are within my ability to manage and I feel happy right now that I can manage them.  That being said, I feel I am in a bit of a dry spell lately.  I desire to turn it around. 

Changing the patterns of negativity can be difficult.  You may wonder where to start.  I wondered how I was going to start...how I was going to overcome certain feelings that seemed to intense for me to work through.  But with time and patience and consistency and practice, I was able to turn them around completely and make my negatives work for me instead of against me.  The primary place I had difficulty applying the LoA back in August of 2010 was in my relationship with my husband.  This is the situation to which I am primarily referring in this paragraph.  If you feel that nothing works but it needs to work...or you need to have more positive feelings about a person than you are having...well, that can very hard to manifest!  But with time and patience and consistent practice, I was able to focus more on the behavior of his that I loved and less on what I did not love.  I came to accept ...I mean REALLY accept the parts of him that I would never be able to change.  Only he can do that.  We can only ever change ourselves.  If others are going to change anything, it will be in their own time and by their own choosing. 

So now it is May.  My life has changed a lot since last August.  Most of the changes I know have been internal.  So now that I feel internally changed, I am empowered to recreate my physical life.  I now give myself permission to do so.  This looks and feels like a period of inactivity that I am experiencing...and it feels like that too.  When this "lull" comes along, the only thing to do is refocus my energy on my thoughts and feelings of happiness, joy, gratitude and hopes.  Time spent in silent meditation can only improve this period where although it cannot be seen, the seed of wonderful things have been planted.  The seeds are there in the soil.  I have planted many.  They are growing and sprouting and in different stages of creation at this point in time.  These hopes and dreams and future glories are due to present themselves at just the right time.