Living Beautifully: You're The Queen

YEARS AGO I had an opportunity to hear Miss America 1980 Cheryl Prewitt-Salem speak at a ladies conference.  She was an inspiring speaker and I'll never forget the one thought she shared on being happy...how we as women had have the ability to choose to be happy... any time, any place, any situation.

As a young woman, I was surprised to learn that the choice for being happy could be within my reach.  I guess I'd assumed up until that point, when the grumpies made their appearance, I just had to live with it (as did everyone else around me) until the mood passed, and happy came back.

It was such a startling idea for me.  You mean I didn't have to let the bad mood run its course, that I had the ability to choose?  Every. Single.Time?  Even on those PMS days?

Yes, yes... when I took hold of that idea, I found it to be true. And it changed my life!

I learned that we do not have to pick the ball even if it's been thrown into our court.  I don't know if Queens hold out scepters to their subjects, but if they do, as the Queen of my world, I do not have to 'hold court' with grumpy bad moods.

I get to choose who lives in my sphere.  I get to choose whether my mood rules me... or... I rule it!

Most times it's such a split second choice -- between going ahead and 'letting it all out' -- or being more graceful and deciding to be happy even if I'm not 'in the mood'.  

Let's be honest here.... some days it is not easy.  At all.  Sometimes I don't choose happy in that first moment, but, what I have found is that the decision I made that day long ago has governed most of my days ever since.  (I think that's a good batting average.)

Being in charge... being able to choose to be happy, no matter what, literally changed my life. for. the.better...the.more beautiful!

It can do the same for you!

Be the Queen..... choose to be happy.... live beautifully!


 ***

"Most folks are about as happy
as they make up their minds to be."
~ Abraham Lincoln


***

Photo source:  miss america.org

Graphic source:  glitter graphics.com

We're Posting Tomorrow!

"Living Beautifully:  You're the Queen"

 

Something I learned from Miss America 1980

that changed my life!

See you then..........

Living Beautifully: Live From Your Heart

WE LIVE in a society where the language of the mind—reasoning and logical ideas—rules. But I have come to recognize in my own life, especially as a woman, that when I live more out of my heart than my head, I am more alive and more in tune with who I really am inside.

Author and speaker Mark Virkler considers the language of our heart to be pictures, emotions, spontaneous thoughts (intuitive), and faith. The language of the heart speaks beauty and hope. It speaks truth in love. It is different from the language of the mind.

I've talked before about choosing work and projects that make our hearts sing. When I’m working on a project because my mind tells me “It’s a good idea, you’ll make good money at it,” but my heart says, “I don’t like it, I don’t care how much money’s involved,” guess what,
only my head is happy. But if the project touches beauty, love and hope in some way, as well as money, then my head and my heart are both happy.

Grace Note:

We’ve all heard the phrase a picture is worth a thousand words. So right now, picture a project that makes your heart sing. Something that matters to your heart.  When we live from our hearts, we love, we care, we reach out and make a difference because our heart is touched. If we would allow our hearts more time on the floor, I believe we would be happier, more content, and more passionate about our lives.

Watch for Updates

We've got some new materials in the works...

and we'll be posting soon.

In the meantime, do as the snowman suggests

and think happy thoughts.

Wishing you a wonderful New Year!




Photo source:  Rose Petals from Heaven

Living Beautifully: Are You Craving Colour?

DO YOU EVER get so busy or you've worked so hard on something that you've grown weary in body and soul? Or maybe the weather has been rainy or snowy for weeks, and the world just doesn't seem as bright and beautiful at the moment? In fact it begins to look a little gray around the edges?


Well, that's how I must have felt one morning a few years ago when I made a visit to my blogging friend Katherine's blog at Sew Me Something Good. I felt as if I'd been dropped into a large paint tray or a new box of crayons. My soul must have been craving colour! I felt like a sponge soaking it all up.

If you've noticed your world looking a little gray, here are 13 ideas that might help you add a new splash of colour and zest to your life:

1. Visit Katherine's blog.


2. Visit a quilting/fabric store in person.


3. Buy a big new box of crayons (the biggest box you can find) and a colouring book or blank art book. Now spend some time playing with all the wonderful shades and hues.


4. Go to the nearest scrapbooking, stationery or paint store and let your eyes rove over the displays of paper and colour samples.


5. Add more colour to your home. If you've got beige walls, buy some new cushions in some stunning new colour.


6. Alexandra Stoddard puts brightly coloured pencils in a holder and sets them on her desk.


7. Fill a jar with jellybeans or jube-jubes. A friend once gave me a jar full of jube-jubes -- they looked like bright jewels on my desk.


8. Buy a new scarf for your fall jacket. If you are normally conservative in your choices, be bold and outrageous -- choose a colour you wouldn't normally pick.


9. If you've still got fall colours in your neighbourhood, go for a walk in it. Bring autumn branches and berries into your house and set them in a large vase.


10. Visit an art gallery. Or visit your child's school -- their walls are often displayed with vibrant and joyful art.


11. Buy a magazine with lots of great photos, e.g. art, photography, quilting, scrapbooking, sewing.


12. Buy a handful of blossoms from the florist shop.


13. Enjoy checking out the new season's line of lipsticks.

   

Now go live your life more beautifully...

 photo source:  glitter-graphics.com

Now Is Always Best Time

"Never ever, ever leave a place of learning
without taking immediate action.

~ Jenny Flintoft

former Director of Association of Work At Home Women

WHAT? You mean right this minute? You mean I can't just add that great new idea to my pile until I find the time to tackle it?

No! No! Not according to Jenny Flintoft, an online businesswoman dedicated to helping women in business.  In a recent tele-seminar, she challenged her listeners to take immediate action when you learn something new.  It's crucial if  you want to change a habit or complete a project. It's especially so, if you are serious about moving forward in your business.

The more I think about it, the more I recognize that far too often I've been a 'hearer of the word and not a doer', not just in business but often in my personal life as well.

Hearing and giving assent to a great idea it is NOT the same as taking action to implement and make it a part of your life.

How often have I heard something new, been totally inspired, and then added the idea in my already bulging mental notebook, somehow thinking that just because I got 'goosebumps' from some amazing piece of information, it would automatically change my life. Maybe I thought it would happen by osmosis (smile).

Jenny closed her seminar by challenging her listeners to choose one thing they had learned and to take immediate action to implement it -- just as soon as we got off the phone.

My first thought You mean right away? Oooooo....I have to admit, it seemed abit too fast for me. But that's exactly what I needed!  A fast start, so I wouldn't lose the momentum and end up putting that idea in the same place where so many others have ended in the past.

When will there be a better moment? I'm reminded of a line I heard from that classic movie, The King and I, with Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr, where the King says:

"Now is always best time."

Yes, now is always best time.  I'm ready to action that, are you?

Photo source:  Glitter-Graphics.com

Living Beautifully: Clear Out the Clutter

A SIGNIFICANT ASPECT of living a beautiful and successful life includes taking the time to clear out the accumulation of waste and clutter.  Whether it's our homes, our desk or home office, as Alexandra Stoddard tells us in her book entitled Living A Beautiful Life:

"...we must clean out the excess baggage in our lives on a rational and regular basis. ... There comes a time when you must take action; make a ceremony out of serious straightening up.  Plan for it."

Alexandra goes on to say that when she worked as an interior designer years ago, at her office, they had one day once a month where they made no outside appointments and they would attack their files, clean up all the clutter and create order.

"A few hours of chaos and suddenly you feel exhilarated, just from throwing out. ... A regular, serious attack on mess and unnecessary clutter, performed with a glad heart, makes you feel in control of all the parts of your life you care about."

Whether your home needs it today, or your workspace or office, turn on some glad music, put your heart into it for a few minutes or hours.  Let your fingers clear out the mess and set things to rights.  If you're like me, you'll find as you do that, your mind also starts clearing out its own confusion.  And before you know it, ideas uncover themselves in unexpected ways.

Take time this week... to set your physical space in order.  You'll be glad you did.

Now go live beautifully... and successfully!