Light your day with Smiles

Identify at least 20 + ways to reduce stress by focusing on what makes you smile. These are opportunities for both Home and Work implementations.. I thought I would publish my list because I was reviewing it today and I'm way past 20! Just reading the list makes me smile.

1. Jasmine (my daughter)

2. Ron (my guy)

3. nature walk

4. flowers

5. rollerblading

6. music pachebel

7. swans

8. photography

9. calligraphy

10. jewelry

11. sparkles

12. sunsets or sunrises

13. Fire in the fireplace

14. little red doll I made (make more!)

15. valentines

16. gazebos

17. french doors

18. Little cottages

19. Beaches

20. Palm trees

21. writing card or letter

22. making gifts for people

23. scrapbooking

24. markets

25. candles

26. clean room

27. other people smiling

28. my mom's talents and smile

29. my dad's smile and organization skills

30. my sister Kathy's talents and patience

31. inspirational cards/posters/photos

32. birthdays, mine and others

33. exercising with Karlyne

34. shopping at Costco with Ron

35. Ron's dinners

36. Watching Soccer

37. Movies - Charming dramas,mystery

38. Movies - good music - August Rush (music)

39. Music - Classical, Easy Jazzy, Pop Rock,

40. Music - Christmas, choirs,

41. Music - Strings - Guitars, Violins, Bass,

42. Music - Flutes, Harps, Dulcimers

43. Music - Bells

44. Music - Church singing

45. Mexico

46. California

47. Arizona

48. Florida

49. Washington

50. East Coast USA

51. West Coast USA

52. Oregon

53. Waterfalls

Light of the day

Decided to change my blog header photo to something more appropriate to thinking positively. Of course I love quotes that are uplifting as well. When I get up in the morning I love to see the sun rising if I can. Our bedroom has a window which faces east, making that much easier to do for the most part. However, this is Seattle and there are many gray and foggy mornings. Surprisingly, there are many sunny and bright mornings as well in the area. The one thing I do when I'm on vacation is watch the sunset. I'm usually too tired to see the sunrise and sometimes the sunsets are just easier to see since the sun sets in the west and we tend to vacation on the Pacific Coast.

Here is a great photo of a sunrise I caught on a recent vacation in the Cruise port coming into Mazatlan.

Talk about lighting the day. It was a great start to a fun day. I wish I knew the answers to lighting tomorrow with today for everyone. I know that the seeds we sow each day are what germinate and manifest themselves for the future. I'm a strong believer in the thought that letting your light shine through each day can't help but light tomorrow for you and those around you. Doing something nice today...what a great idea!

The Gratitude Dance

I'm on twitter now and as of this morning I'm trying to send my blog posts RSS feeds to the twitter feed. I'm experimenting with the best way to use it and thought one good way to use it is to get a direct feed to twitter of my blog posts. So far it hasn't updated yet...not sure how it works. However, as I was up on Twitter I noticed a post from my friend Theresa, which really made my day.



Her post linked to a site which showed a video of two guys who made up this dance called the gratitude dance: http://daily.finerminds.com/spirit/gratitude/the-gratitude-dance-you-dont-even-need-rhythm-to-do-this/ . I loved it and it really made me smile. I think it will make you smile too.



Considering that I'm sitting here with a broken leg and it still made me smile I figured that qualified it for a pretty good entry. I was thinking, I'm grateful that I only broke one leg! Even though my soccer days are numbered now...I think zero would be that number...:) I am grateful I got to play for a few games before my injury. It was so much fun. I have to admit that my bones are just too soft for me to take any more risk of injury to play again. That's just the breaks. (ha, ha).

Thinking but not posting is ok! Sometimes.

Aha! You may have been wondering about the positive thought a day and where did it go? It didn't go anywhere! I'm still having positive thoughts every day even though I'm not posting them! I hope that you are having positive thoughts as well. There is power in sharing them so I have decided to make the extra effort to post more often. We all get busy and priorities set in to keep us from sharing as much as we like. The power of sharing is unbelievable. I've discovered that power again after reading a great article from Toastmasters on Journaling to realize your dreams by Joy Lardner. It's in a back issue from January of 2008 but well worth the read..here is a link: http://www.toastmasters.org/ToastmastersMagazine/ToastmasterArchive/2008/January/Departments_1/HowTo.aspx . Reading and journaling can help us dream and fulfill our dreams. What is written down has a much better chance of getting done. What we read shapes our dreams. What we share of our dreams helps others as well as ourselves. That's why thinking but not posting is ok for one person but thinking and posting our dreams and hopes benefits even more poeple. A good thing to consider when that writing slump period sets in as it will do from time to time!



Joy writes:

How To: The Joy of Journaling
Write things down and change your life!

By Joy Lardner, DTM

Write things down and change your life! When you embrace the joy of journaling, astonishing things begin to happen.


I think she is write...oops I mean right!


We wrote down that we wanted a sidewalk in our front yard....and voila....it happened!

It's Hazy but nice

Even a hazy morning looks good in the sun. I like the palm trees on the Mazatlan, Mexico horizon too. Something about the filtered light makes me want to stay here forever and daydream. Funny how the words haze and daze have connected meanings. Haziness is about uncertainty and being in a fog. Being dazed is about not being fully cognizant of your surroundings...in a sort of mental fog. In any case, the point is that sometimes when it's hazy it's nice. However, being in a daze can be nice because I think daydreams are like being in a daze.......so let's revel in those hazy, crazy days of summer and get to daydreaming! That does bring back some summertime memories for me. Good ones.

Keep Flying if you want to fly

My goal to post a positive thought each day is still a valuable goal. Even though some days I cannot make a post due to other priorities...what I'm learning is that if I want to fly I need to keep flying...keep it up..... The flying is worth it. That's my thought for the day. I'm reseting my goal to be more realistic for me right now to posting a positive thought as often as I can...possibly daily and possibly less often! Now, reseting my goals let's me soar a little....:)

Success and Sacrifice

So what do these surfboards have to do with success and sacrifice? They are the visible signs of an entrepreneur in process! A young man started a water toy rental business near where we keep our boat. He is fully committed! I believe that to be successful you do need to make some sacrifices..for example it you own a business you need to be there and on top of what is going on in that business or you lose out. However, it is much better if you are doing what you love. the young man who owns this business loves surfing. It is an amazing thing to watch his business take shape and become successful. What is his sacrifice? He is at the shop instead of surfing! I think that is what success is about..knowing what to do next and what not to do next....

Now, how's that for inspiring?