Are the things that happen to you related?

Everything is determined by your actions, values or beliefs which ultimately determine your choices.

What does the underlying pattern of your life look like? What keeps popping up? Is there a flow of learning? Can you connect the dots?

If you ask for help, listen to your higher self, intuition or soul: you will be making the right decisions for you and only you, perhaps.

Leave your ego at the door, as they say and check in with the stuff your best self is made of.

The most powerful thought I can have is to believe in myself.

Is it tangible? No, but it can translate to wonderful successes!

I create the life I was gifted with an attitude of joy and thankfulness.

I release all toxic people, ideas and past events. Instead of I am not worthy, good enough, young enough, talented enough or strong, disciplined, etc. enough….

I say to myself, “Self, guess what? I am a talented, organized and enthusiastic woman who writes, gardens, cooks, paints, learns and teaches well. I am enough. I am worthy. I am gifted and use my talents to bring beauty, order and joy into the world.”

These words are invisible beliefs that can transform my world!

Especially during the holidays, when everyone seems to be rushed, busy and stressed, stay true to your gratitude diary. Few people are caroling around you but you can make the Christmas spirit come alive by jotting down in a journal or an app how much you appreciate; big and small things, inner and outer accomplishments, important and seemingly insignificant circumstances, friends and moments.

All you need to do is write a gratitude list. Write 5 things you are grateful for, everyday. It immediately adjusts your perspective. Do it for the next 10 days till Christmas and you won’t believe how quickly it can change your happy meter. You will want to make it a daily habit and continue it into 2017.

It can be about anything.

I am grateful for this new day. It is a blank slate. I can ingest, digest and share love and self care today.

I am grateful I don’t have a “fixed” schedule, per se and can follow my own timetable.

I am grateful for the awesome view from my bed, outside the balcony.

I am grateful for our newer, beachy, whitewashed floors that feel so good on my feet and are so easy to clean.

I am so grateful for my blog my son gifted me (back in Dec 24th of 2011) so I can just write whatever, any way I want to.

“I’m going to make everything around me more beautiful. That will be my life.”

– Elise de Wolfe, a famous designer/decorator

“Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your soul.” 

-Mario Quintana

“…in demanding attention from someone else, you are giving away pieces of yourself that are too valuable to lose.” – Iyanla Vanzant

“Authentic self listens to the ‘voice’ which supplies all the imagination. – me

“It’s in the grey area extremes and lows where light and dark become whole.” – me

Writing down my soul is an important spiritual practice because it brings me closer to my inspiration, my authentic self. It helps me clarify, see, believe in my power and in my gifts.

Words, language, syntax and tone are in my bones.

In detachment, you can observe and respond rather than react. You can watch your own thoughts and decide to feel and behave in an appropriate manner. By focusing on you, and not what is external, you can be the calm in the storm. You can produce and be while others are falling apart and unravelling. Screaming, shouting or overreacting is a sure sign of taking everything personally and attaching yourself like a barnacle to the rock that plummets and sinks into the deep sea.

I take in a slow breath, bring it to the belly and then release it with an audible sigh. After the pause of an inhale, exhale, I can become emotionally independent, unhooking from the fishing line of a made up story in my head.

I know a wise woman who takes care of herself and her home like precious jewels without being conceited in the least or overly concerned with her housekeeping. She is a joy to be around, refusing to submit to bitterness or negative impulses. She knows what is hers and what is not, taking responsibility for her own actions and words, never apologizing for another’s comport.

She teaches me to make every minute count. I learn to uncover my inner resources. Transforming all my fears, flaws and unhelpful attributes into blooms of flowers, happy silver linings, lessons learned, positive statements and gratitudes gives me courage and strength not fanciful weaknesses as the world would have you believe. Try it sometime.