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We’re Going To Be Friends
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Click on the image or link above for a $0.99 download of this awesome song!
On Simplicity, Sophistication, & Sweet Music
mindfulness
The Best. Day. Ever
Guard, the Party Dog
C’est tout bon! Photobomb your own life today.
Paddy & Cleary’s spontaneous beach detour on their way to the Irish pub up the street . . . theunseenwordsproject.com
You just never know what you are going to discover on any given day.
Sure, these guys aren’t wearing a Speedo or a pair of board shorts, but they sure look like they are having fun. And these unlikely lads remind me to embrace the moment, even when I feel like I don’t quite belong. Like in those moments when I feel oddly ill-prepared for what is happening.
I think we all feel this way at times. Like when it feels like everyone got the call of the memo but me. Not so much like a duck out of water . . . as a duck actually looks pretty cute when waddling around . . . but more like when everyone has some sense of camaraderie or upbeat awareness or knowledge of this-or-that going on that I am not quite feeling. I guess the word is Outsider. Like when I am on the outside looking in on something that I am already a part of.
But then I look at these two jolly fellows, and I realize that nothing says Insider like being comfy with yourself in that very moment of your life. Being present. And feeling pretty darned comfortable, even though no one told you to bring your bikini and your beach towel because everyone is heading to the beach and you are part of the collective Everyone.
Embrace. Be. Opt for happy. Know that this moment, too, shall pass if it isn’t exactly a well-suited one. You don’t even have to kick off your shoes and feel the sand between your toes if you don’t want to. You can be you in the way that works for you and have a good time even it it isn’t exactly conforming to some presumed norm.
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Maybe being present is a reward unto itself. It’s enough to know that this is now and that was then and paradigms shift. That I might find myself on the beach today dressed like the girl-version of a leprechaun and that’s okay . . . because after a day at the beach, the gang is all heading to an Irish bar that will include fiddling, cheering, clogging, tipping a few pints back . . . and I’ll be ready and in my element then, if not a bit saltified and sandified.
Moments pass. Times change. Life isn’t always going to feel Picture Perfect. So why not do a little photo-bombing on yourself today. If you are feeling like an Outsider do something fun for you that will make you laugh out loud. See yourself in your own life, even if it feels you’re a displaced leprechaun . . . or even a skinny Santa playing the fiddle while roaming the beaches of O’ahu.
C’est tout bon! It’s all good.
Be you.
The Sunday Share: A Perfect Way to Spend a Sunday Morning
It’s Sunday morning and what better way to enjoy a Sunday morning than to grab a cup of well-brewed coffee (with some raw sugar and organic half-and-half added to it) and a journal. I just ordered this new journal (see below) that I simply love. It is one of those super cool organizers that has dream-planning and monthly goals built into it.
I can easily answer each of the questions below with a resounding YES!
❶ Need to Transform Life With Yearly Goals ?
❷ Want to Set Motivating Monthly Goals ?
❸ Ready To Make Every Day Count ?
Boost Quality of Life by Investing In Your Future Now:
Tools4Wisdom Planner 2016 2017 Calendar July to June – 4-in-1: Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly Goals Organizer (8.5 x 11 / 200 Pages / Spiral / Academic Year)
You can click on the image (or on the hyperlink) to take a look at it. I love sharing things like this and have already ordered another one (with a different cover) for a friend who is in the midst of re-defining her life by starting a new business.
I sometimes feel like a Goal Nerd because I so enjoy mapping out my many dreams and ideas on paper. The great part about this book? It lets me step away from my scribble-y white board in my office and actually organize what it is that presents as the next steps. I truly appreciate innovative people who create organizers like this. I have been trying to find one exactly like this for several years . . . and here it is.
I so wish you a happy Sunday and happy planning as well. I sometimes think that planning gets a bad rap from those who think that too much structure creates its own brand of chaos. While I can agree with the thought behind this opinion, I know that I always feel an added benefit to writing down my creative ideas so that I can see them, rather than just think them. I am ready to make every day count!
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Your Dreams Know the Way
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- What are you really good at?
- What do you love to do?
- Where do you love to be?
- What have you always dreamed of doing?
- Are you ready to follow?
Go for it. You’ve got this.
True Directions & Higher Ground
Wise words and beautiful music to point you in your true directions:
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“To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.” – Seneca
“To accomplish great things we must dream as well as act. – Anatole France
“Determine that the thing can and shall be done and then we shall find the way.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.” – Napoleon Hill
Happy Tuesday, good people. It is my hope that you have a day of True Directions. Follow that dream.
Please, click Play and listen to this fantastic music from Playing for Change: such beautiful people offering such wonderful music. If I watch this once, I have to watch it twice.
What colors are in your dye pot today?
What colors are in your dye pot today?
Think positive thoughts.
In this age of mindfulness, abundance, and positive thinking, we can’t help but read and hear a lot about the importance of thinking positive thoughts. We read the anecdotes and the stories from those whose lives have been richly blessed by the positive effects of mindful manifesting, and we wonder if the same would work in our lives. Does positive thinking work? I believe so. Actually, I think so — with the most positive thoughts I that can create and think. And after all, the alternative — negative thinking — isn’t all that great of an alternative.
According to the wise words below, what we think actually leads to our destiny, to our outcomes in life . . . a truth which certainly encourages me to stretch, to ponder, and to be mindful.
Watch your thoughts for they become words,
watch your words for they become actions,
watch your actions, for they become habits,
watch your habits for they become your character,
watch your character for it becomes your destiny.
—Ralph Waldo EmersonPlant a thought and reap a word;
plant a word and reap an action;
plant an action and reap a habit;
plant a habit and reap a character;
plant a character and reap a destiny.-Bishop Beckwaith, mid-1800s
thoughts –> words –> actions –> habits –> character –> destiny
I remember a teaching position I held at a college that prided itself on helping struggling first-generation students to graduate. I had the planting-version of the quote above taped to my office door. It was my hope that a student might be moved to pause, read the words, and feel some encouragement to go forth with a renewed sense of positivity.
The program chair stopped by my office one day, walked into my office, and asked me to remove the quote from my door. She said that it didn’t look very professional and, if I stepped out of my office and looked at the other office doors down the hallway, I would see that they had only their office hours posted and that this was what she expected.
Hmmmm . . . I stood there and watched her retreat down the hall before removing the quote from my door. I said to my colleague Rick whose door was open next to mine, “Did you just hear that? Or am I imagining it?” Rick confirmed, “She has spoken. Just take it down. You can put it back up when she self-destructs.”
Rick was so right. Her destiny definitely followed her thoughts. Her demand for being in charge, arguing with students, and creating crazy rules and restrictions for faculty led to her being “let go” quite suddenly. Hallelujah! We all rejoiced on her last day. I didn’t exactly wish her ill . . . It’s just that I was so happy that we were to be liberated from the reigning negative thinking. Weird story, right?
“The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” What colors are in your dye pot today? Are you consciously choosing which shades and tints that you want to add to your soul today? I think about this quote and the word mindful flashes in shades of green, blue, and pink in my mind.
Life is a color wheel. There are infinite hues that can be created with just a touch more of this or a little bit less of that. What would my day be like if I minded my thoughts as carefully as I do my palette when I am painting . . . when I am looking to mix that perfect shade of robin’s egg blue for the canvas I am painting? I am thinking it would be pretty amazing — like creating a gallery-worthy day.
thoughts –> words –> actions –> habits –> character –> destiny
What colors are you adding to your dye pot today?
Be good to your soul.
Create a gallery-worthy day today with your thoughts.
Do you laugh at least 400 times a day?
Free your mind. What does this feel like for you? How do you free your mind?
One way I can describe freeing my mind are those times when I am with a friend and we are absolutely helpless with laughter. Bent over, sides hurting, and howling with laughter. There is just something about experiencing this kind of laughter and being lost in the moment. It is like a transaction of abandon that feels like I left the planet for a brief while. And it is such a pure connection with another human being. A moment when I feel free to be exactly who I am.
And the moment lingers long after you have parted ways with your friend. You think of it the next morning when you are standing in line for your morning latte and you feel the power of that very same laugh burbling up from within. A small laugh escapes you and the person ahead of you turns around and smiles with you. Another connection.
Laughter is a gift that is one of life’s daily miracles. It redeems us from those moments that do not feel exactly stellar. It invites us to embrace spontaneity and maybe even some forgiveness. Laughter leads to a moment of exquisite freedom. It is you feeling like what it is to be totally you.
One of my research projects involves looking at the effects of laughter in an educational setting. The statistics that I uncovered in my reading vary a bit, but it is said that the average child laughs approximately 400 times a day; the average adult somewhere between 4 to 11 times. What do you think? Do you laugh anywhere near 400 times a day? Do you laugh more than 11 times a day? This disparity would be funny if it weren’t so sobering. It has definitely encouraged me to seek more moments of laughter in my day. The more I laugh, the more I free my mind. Or maybe it is the other way around. Either way, it is a cycle that I happily embrace.
In the ways of research, the findings regarding laughter in the classroom were somewhat predictable and also somewhat surprising: Laughter can be a wonderful way to make amazing learning connections in the classroom; additionally, learning can be enhanced by engaging the limbic system — which is great for learning. Have you ever wondered why you simply didn’t feel comfortable in a learning environment? Laughter, used with empathy and sensitivity, is also effective in lowering the affective filter — a term Stephen Krashen has used to describe how negative factors in the classroom block how we learn and how we process a learning experience.
But caution is advised concerning our use of laughter. What you think is funny, could very possibly offend or confuse another –> thus spiking the affective filter to go up and to raise a wall — which is not not so good for learning. So there is the whole respect factor where laughter is present. You have to be aware and you have to be sensitive to others when you’re trying to have fun. It’s all good when you think about it: the presence and the absence of laughter. They both signal connection and respect.
Which, I believe, are two good components of freedom: connection and respect.
Free your mind. This Playing for Change recording is so very captivating. If I listen to it once, I have to listen to it again. So simple and complex and rich. And beautiful. And speaks to collaboration, beauty, talent, and freedom.
Enjoy Today’s Harvest
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on my morning commute . . . taking the time
Earth laughs in flowers.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Unseen Words Project 