September 27, 2020

Transformation Begins in the BODY Not the Mind

Have any of you tried manifestation practices, but got discouraged when things did not happen as you expected? You heard about the magic of the law of attraction and how you can create your own life and the relationship of your dreams. So, you dream big, set off rockets of desire hoping you will achieve your goals, attract the right partner, re-ignite the spark in your relationship, come into an abundance of money, but then it doesn’t happen. You get frustrated. You claimed what you want but are not physically seeing and experiencing things manifest like you desire. When this happens, there is a gap between WHAT you desire and how you FEEL about your desire.

Unfortunately, this experience happens to so many of us. We unintentionally create resistance that blocks us from manifesting what we truly desire. Like an emotional upper level limit problem. The hard truth is that you can’t just say affirmations and expect things to manifest.

The reason for this is simple…Most of us don’t really BELIEVE the statements we say. As a result, we are not able to raise our vibration to meet our desires.

Studies show our subconscious mind runs the show and drives 95% of what we create in our lives. Over the years, we have been programmed with a variety of beliefs. If those beliefs are running the show, no amount of positive affirmations alone will change those beliefs.

We must be open and ready to FEEL the vibration of our affirmations and beliefs not just THINK them. Thinking is in the MIND, but feeling is in the BODY. When we allow ourselves to be in tune with our body, we can shift our energy and begin to raise our vibration and FEEL into the belief of our desires. When you are connected to your body, you open the pathway to connect directly with source energy. If we are disconnected to our body, it becomes a struggle for us to FEEL that belief and conviction. This is where doubt sets in and gets in the way of what you truly desire. The challenge we have is that any sliver of doubt creates uncertainty and a lack mentality. This questioning disturbs our faith and belief that something will happen and keeps us in a resistance pattern.

So how can you raise your vibration so that you are in alignment with your desires?

You can’t THINK your way into it, you must FEEL your way into alignment. You can have faith and hope that something will happen, however the magic begins when you have the conviction of knowing something. You don’t need to prove it to anyone. It is a KNOWING deep in your core. You can feel it. Real transformation begins with the BODY, not the MIND. When you are tapped in, tuned in, turned on and connected with your body you
– FEEL the conviction and deep knowing
– Release resistance to shift your energy
– Raise your vibration to close the gap and meet your desire
– Experience the physical manifestation of your desire

April 26, 2017

Should I Spend Money on That?

How many of you find yourself struggling with “SHOULD I SPEND MONEY ON THAT?

What have you been taught about money?  Have you been taught the following?:

Money is the root of all evil
Money is not that important, its just money
Money doesn’t grow on trees, it is a limited resource
You need to save for a rainy day
It is selfish to want a lot of money

These are just a few of the top money and abundance blocks out there. I have personally struggled with my thoughts and beliefs about money.  It is never something that I really focused on.  However, as I created intentional focus on my thoughts and beliefs about money, I have seen some shifts in my life.

Money is a representation of the value that you provide to others.  It is an exchange for goods or services rendered.  It’s all about defining the VALUE that is created by the exchange.

How often do you make decisions based on a lack or scarcity mentality as opposed to an abundance and and prosperity mentality?  Many times we don’t invest in ourselves, because we are afraid to spend the money.  Which is the exact opposite of what we really want.  We allow ourselves to punish or sabotage ourselves unknowingly by not being true to ourselves and our desires.

KayakI remember last summer I was reintroduced to my love of kayaking.  One day I decided to take two of my boys for a surprise and went to the Naperville Riverwalk so that we could rent a kayak and go on the water,   When I got there, I looked at the price of the paddleboat vs. the price of the kayak.  While I REALLY wanted to rent the kayak, it was like $25 MORE than the paddleboat.  So I stood there, and questioned myself.  WHAT SHOULD I DO?  WHAT SHOULD I SPEND MY MONEY ON?

I almost rented the paddleboat and then something in me said NO.  You came here to kayak, so spend the extra money and get the kayak.  That is the REAL EXPERIENCE you want to have.   There is value behind the experience of having your boys experience a kayak vs. the paddleboat.  Don’t sell yourself short.   I did choose to rent the kayaks and we had an AMAZING experience.  I felt so good about my decision and the experience we had.  If I wouldn’t have spent the money, I would have felt bad that I didn’t listen to myself and would have wondered what we might have missed out on, however in the past I have deprived myself or chosen NOT to do something and ended staying in my comfort zone.  This felt SO MUCH BETTER and because I was true to myself and in alignment with what I wanted, I started to see shifts with my kids.  That was reason enough to say yes to my own desires.

How many of us, stop in our tracks and don’t spend money on what we REALLY want, thinking another option might save us money.  Each situation and person is unique on what they define as valuable, however, what I learned about myself was that when I saw VALUE in something, I would invest the money on it, however, if I saw it as wasteful or not worth it, then I wouldn’t spend the money.

I encourage you to think about WHERE YOU SPEND OR INVEST YOUR MONEY.  Do you invest in things for yourself?  If NOT, I would encourage you to reflect on why you are not valuing yourself enough to invest money in yourself.   Things shift for us when we are willing and open to shift our thinking. What could happen IF YOU INVESTED IN YOURSELF TODAY?

August 24, 2015

10 Commandments of a Winner

As the kids go back to school this week, I wanted to start them off with some foundational lessons to set the intention for a GREAT year. There is so much pressure and competition whether it be in school, sports activities or life itself. I came across this artice on the 10 Commandment of a Winner. I shared it with my kids and wanted to share with you. The moral behind the story is that winning isn’t about beating the competition, getting straight A’s, getting the starring role in the play or getting that promotion. Being a WINNER is about taking responsibility for your actions and putting forth the effort to DO YOUR BEST with INTEGRITY.

1) When a winner makes a mistake, he says “I was wrong”,
When a loser makes a mistake, he says “It wasn’t my fault”
2) A winner credits good luck for winning
A loser credits bad luck to everything
3) A winner works smart and has more time
A loser is always too busy to do what is necessary
4) A winner shows he’s sorry by making up for it
A loser says I’m sorry but does the same thing over and over
5) A winner goes through and embraces challenges
A loser resists and avoids the challenge
6) A winner knows what to fight for and compromise on
A loser compromises on what he shouldn’t & fights for what isn’t worth it
7) A winner says “I’m good, but know I can always be better”
A loser compares himself to others & says “I am not as bad as alot of other people”
8) A winner would rather be admired than liked
A loser would rather be liked than admired and is even willing to pay the price for it
9) A winner respects those we are superior to him and tries to learn from them
A loser resents those superior to him and tries to find things wrong with others
10) A winner feels responsibility for more than his job
A loser says I only work here and show up because I have to

As much as I would love for my kids to get straight A’s in school, what I really want for them is to put forth their BEST EFFORT and live by what it means to be a WINNER. I love the line from the movie Facing the Giants “We praise him when we win and we praise him when we lose”. It’s not about winning the game, it’s about winning the game of life and teaching character to our kids.

I hope there is something here that resonated with you, that you can apply in your own life or share as a lesson with your teams or your children.

July 2, 2015

4 Different Boys, 4 Different Joys and 4 Different Challenges

Having teenagers isn’t always the easiest job in the world and some days it might not seem gratifying either. I am still new in the teenage years, and I am sure many of you can relate to this story, but it touched my heart so deeply that I felt the desire to share with others.

I have 4 boys ages, 15, 13, 11 and 6. Over the years, we didn’t play alot of tea party in my house, but there was plenty of opportunities for physical contact and play. In addition, most of my boys are not as vocal and chatty as I am, so I had to be very strategic about how I could bond and get information from my boys. I would love to have my kids come home from school and share with me all the details about their day like many of their female friends did, but that is not typically how my boys rolled.

When I read this article, tears welled up in my eyes and rolled down my face, as I thought about one of my boys. He and I don’t have the ideal mother son relationship a parent dreams they would have with their child. In fact, our relationship is one in which we continue to butt heads over and over again. In his eyes, I always tend to be the “mean” parent. I love him dearly, but just can’t seem to understand him and his choices. My heart cries out in pain when I think about how he must be feeling, but he continues to shut himself away from me.

He is very different than me, so I know that I have to be sensitive and use a different approach than with my other kids, but even still, I sometimes find myself challenged ready to pull my hair out not knowing if what I am doing is right or wrong.

While this article touched my heart, it also made me realize that I am not alone. Other parents and teens are feeling this way as well. I didn’t expect parenthood to be perfect, but its helpful to see the pain like this that someone else faces, to know that I didn’t screw up. It’s easy to doubt myself as a parent, wondering, “Did I do the right thing? Did I say the right thing? What could I have done different?

The answer might be, that I did exactly what needed to be done. My son might not like what I said or did, but he knows deep down that I love him. He knows that I will always be there for him no matter what.

My two favorite lines from the article:

– “This is the fight that will teach me that my shadow is not bigger than my light.”
– “Don’t give up on me. Don’t give up on this fight. I need it.”

From what I have learned, I can’t change my son. I can encourage him to make different choices, but in the end, it is his choice. If I try to save my son, and spare him from the pain, I will be doing him a dis-service. The best thing I can do is pray for him everyday that God will lead him in the right direction and ask God for the strength in how I need to support him. He is here on this earth to fulfill a purpose. What it is, I don’t know. He might not even know, but his soul does and God does. I need to trust that I am doing everything in my power to provide him with a good solid foundation for learning how to be the best HIMSELF he could be. When I stand in my power and stay true to myself, I am modeling the example for him to do that for himself. When he is ready for it, he will choose in the direction of his heart, in God’s time, not mine.

For now, I will lead by example, pray, have faith and will desperately hold onto the other end of the rope.

Here is the full article

September 10, 2014

Letting Go of Control

As a busy working mom, I know that I need to block out time in my calendar for the important things in life in order to create any kind of balance. With the start of the new school year, I wanted to create an updated calendar and family action plan so that everything was organized. I decided it would be a good idea to spend an evening with my husband so that we could sit down, discuss and write down our dreams and goals for the family for the school year.

It sounded like a reasonable plan to me. It’s logical that these are things that I believe are important. And I wanted to ensure that we would be able to do this together. I was going to be prepared and put together an excel template that we could use to make things simpler. I might even have some items already filled out to help facilitate the process. I thought I was prepared for a great discusssion. AND THEN….

As I proceded to speak about my intentions and my approach with my coach, she had a few good questions and observations for me. She asked if I had tried this approach before and if it worked. I told her, that I had tried many times before to encourage my husband to do this type of activity together but it never turned out like I expected. Her guidance was that if I do things the same way as I have done before that I will get the same results. I came to the realiztion that my approach of bringing my laptop and taking notes, was NOT the way to attract the right attention and engagement from my husband. Her recommendation was…

LET GO OF CONTROL!!! YIKES!

Really? But this is something that really needs to happen and I really want his input. I realized that I had high expectations and in previous scenarios like this, my husband would withdraw and let me take control, because I was going to end up doing it anyway so why should he bother.

But this time was different. I allowed myself to shift my perspective and let go of control. I shared with my husband at the start of the evening that I was going to be doing something uncomfortable for me, that I was going to let him lead the discussion and I would talk less and listen more. He gave a little smirk, as I am sure he wasn’t sure how the evening would go. I will tell you this was NOT an easy task. There were many periods of silence and I tried to allow him to speak more and me to listen more. There were times I had to bite my lip to just SHUT UP and not say a word. At the end of the evening he said that he would put the family calendar together and write down the ideas and goals we discussed.

Amazingly enough, the next day he bought new posterboards and put up the entire family calendar on the wall for the next 3 months. (With a family of 6 you could only imagine the # of activities and the color coding for each). Then the following day my older son said he wanted to be in charge of creating and managing chore charts for the family. I thought, WOW. This is great. These are 2 things that I wanted to ensure were taken care of and now I had other people in my family willing to step up and take responsibility for them, all because I allowed myself to LET GO OF CONTROLLING the outcome.

Just imagine, the possibilities that could open up for you if you were to let go of control. What area in your life do you think you could let go of control of? Imagine what the outcome could look like if you shifted your perspective on control. I encourage you to identify one area where you could let go of control and see how your results might be different.

September 2, 2014

Take Time to “Simply Be” the Start of this School Year

With every new school year comes a new set of experiences, challenges, opportunities and life lessons. After a long summer, each year I look forward to the beginning of the school year as it is always a good time to make change and start some new routines. Being the analytical Accenture person that I am, its time to make new chore charts, calendars, schedules and new expectations for the year. I have lots of ideas floating around and want to create the best year for my family.

As I started to reflect, this year happens to be a nostalgic one for me. My oldest son Chris (14) is a freshman in highschool. My son Matt is 12 and is in 7th grade, my son Danny is in 5th grade and will be in his last year of elementary school, but lastly, my little guy Andy is starting Kindergarten. (sniff, sniff)

The older boys take the bus early in the morning, so they are up and out the door before the younger ones are awake, so taking 1st day of school pictures happened individually. As I walked my two younger ones to school I kept thinking how this was going to be the ONLY year that my two youngest boys would EVER go to school together. After this year, Andy will be in school all by himself. It totally makes me want to really enjoy this last year where they are both together.

I love seeing my boys when they want to connect and love one another. I am sure all siblings have their squabbles, but when you have a house full of all boys, the testosterone can sometimes be too much to handle. But something struck me this year about taking the time to BE, and I mean to be really present in the moment.

andy monkeyOn the first day of school, rather than rushing to drop Andy off, we sat in front of a tree and cuddled to talk about what it was going to be like going to school. We played I Spy, watched other people walk around and talked about what he most wanted for the year. He wanted some friends his own age, “A best buddy” to hang out and play with. We took a couple of selfies (per his suggestion) and then he showed me what a monkey face looked like. These are such precious times, that as the kids get older, I don’t get the chance to experience the same kind of moments.

It is truly amazing what our kids can teach us if we take the time to “Simply Be”. The next time your child says something crazy that they want to do, stop and take them up on their offer. You never know what gift they might be bringing you that today. A friend of mine reminded me that our kids are a gift to us and we need to cherish the gifts and lessons that they teach us every single day.

You know how there are some days and experiences you just remember. Well Andy’s first day of school will be one that makes the list. Not because of the cute picture he took and because it was his first day, but because of the emotional and energetic connection we made together. These are the moments that life is all about.

As you try to implement some new routines and expectations this year, remember to take some time to “Simply Be”.

August 24, 2014

First Impressions

We have all heard the importance of first impressions, however, the experience I had this week was a memorable one. One day this week I was working in my office when the doorbell rang. Of course, this happened to be a time when no kids were in the house so I slowly left my office to see who was there. To my surprise there was a women in an orange Springbrook shirt wearing a bike helmet. It turned out to be my son Danny’s 5th grade teacher.

Mrs. Provost has been a teacher at Springbrook elementary school for many years and every years she rides a bicycle around to all of the students homes to welcome them into her class. This was such a cool experience and great example to set for the kids. As a parent I was able to meet the teacher and share a few pieces of information about my son. Danny plays AAA travel hockey and will miss school for touraments at least a couple times a month. The teacher was very understanding and said all we needed to do was let her know and we would work around the schedule.

My son wasn’t home, but was at a friends down the street, so Mrs. Provost walked with me to the friends out and awaited Danny to come outside. She introduced herself and welcomed him to the class. Danny just smirked and didn’t say much. He was so shocked to see his teacher visiting him. I can only imagine being a kid and seeing your teacher come to your house. Danny was used to teachers coming to see him play hockey, which always meant alot, but this was different. His brother shared outloud that he was hoping for an “easier” teacher this year and said he was going to get a lot of homework. So Danny was a little timid meeting her as she was not his first choice as a teacher.

She encouraged him that the stories of her being mean were not true and was excited to have him in her class. She tried to open up a dialogue with him and said that she even had family close by to where he played hockey that maybe she would stop by and catch a game. He still just stood there and totally didn’t know what to say. Of course my little guy Andy then wanted to know when his teacher was going to come to the house and say hello. I had to explain that this was something unique that only this teacher did to welcome her students and make them feel special. Each teacher has different ways of connecting with the students in their class.

Danny didn’t really know this teacher, but heard stories about getting a lot of homework. Now he got the chance to meet her in person for the first time, NOT in a school setting. I wish I could be in his little head wondering…. She seems really nice.. Could she really be that bad? This was kind of cool for my teacher to stop by…. I hope she doesn’t give me a lot of homework… She might come to see me play hockey… She is cool with me missing school, thats pretty cool… Who knows what goes on in the brain of a 10 year old boy. I usually try to get it out of him, but he doesn’t say much.

What I can say is that I know she left a good first impression on him. As I reflected on this experience, I thought of all of the wonderful many lessons to share with all of kids about this experience an 1) how important first impressions are when you meet someone and 2) it is important to get to know someone BEFORE you make judements about what other people say.

I am so excited that we had the awesome opportunity to meet this teacher and look forward to a great year. I encourage you to think about the first impressions you have experienced. Are there any that stand out in your mind? What made them so memorable?

April 15, 2014

Egg Hunt Ideas for Teens

When my kids were younger they love Easter time.  Coloring eggs and going on an egg hunt was always so much fun.  However, I have noticed the past couple of years my older boys have said that Easter hunts are boring.  They are too old for that “kiddie” stuff.  So I have been on a mission to come up with some new fun creative ideas that they will think are fun.

 Sunset Egg Hunt

Rather than doing a hunt during the day, wait until the evening to create an unforgettable Sunset Egg hunt.   Make your eggs glow in the dark by painting them with glow in the dark paint or use glow stick bracelets which you can find at the dollar store really cheap.  Hide the eggs outside and pass out flashlights or glow sticks to aid in finding the eggs to let the fun begin.  You can make it more exciting by putting on some fun music to aid in the fun.

Easter Hunt

Ticket Egg Hunt

While filling eggs with candy is great, look beyond the sugary snacks for your next hunt.  Fill plastic eggs with tickets and hide them all over the house or yard.   Allow the teens to “cash in” the tickets for prizes just like they would at the arcade.   You could even use play money from a monopoly game for an added bonus for special prizes or claiming “extra tickets”.  I know my boys always liked finding “The GOLDEN EGG”.  Maybe you can have “THE GOLDEN TICKET”.  I like to buy a roll of tickets at Hobby Lobby or Michaels.  You could choose to put a number on the ticket, so that each one represents more than just 1 ticket.  Then offer prizes in exchange for the tickets.  Some ideas could be gift cards to their favorite restaurant, itunes, or money are usually good ideas. For something that doesn’t cost much, offer some options like adding extra time to the curfew or staying up late

 Would love to hear any other fun creative ideas you have done in your family.

 

 

 

November 22, 2013

Gratitude This Holiday Season

As the holiday approaches, the month of November reminds us about focusing on gratitude and things we are thankful for. We all know that we need to focus on the positive, but sometimes we don’t realize what we have until its gone. How many of us ever say to ourselves that we take someone we love for granted, whether its our spouse, parent, child or friend.

It’s usually when something bad happens, that it reminds us of being present and appreciative of the people in our lives. A friend posted this sad story on facebook today and I felt called to share this with you. You can read more of the details in the link below, but a friend of mine just lost her two month old cousin this week.

http://www.youcaring.com/memorial-fundraiser/zachary-s-legacy/108335

Death is not easy for anyone, but when it involves a small child, in this case a young infant, it totally breaks my heart. My heart goes out to the family. When I spoke with my friend yesterday she mentioned that the little boy was in the hospital and was just about to be released, when he took a turn for the worse. He was in his car seat still in the hospital. The parents were excited to take their son home from the hospital, and then God had other plans for this sweet little boy. I can’t even begin to imagine what this family is going through. What I can do is stop and take a look at my own actions and remember what is important in life and also encourage others to do the same.

Go home and hug your kids. Tell your spouse that you love them. Give your mom a call if you haven’t talked to her in a while. Let people know how much you mean to them. It is relationships that really make a difference in the world.

Love and Peace. God Bless and have a great weekend

October 22, 2013

A Healthier Choice for Trick or Treaters

If there’s one thing that scares me about Halloween, it’s the candy. It’s not just the sugar and high fructose corn syrup, that makes our kids bounce off the walls, but most treats these days are also packed full of artificial colors, flavors and chemical additives. Halloween Candy makes my skin crawl more than seeing a mouse darting across my living room floor. As a kid, I loved candy, of course. As a mom, I wish it didn’t exist. But I believe that depriving my boys of the Halloween experience, candy included, would cause more harm than a couple of days of gluttony. Fortunately, I’ve discovered that there’s a whole new world of options out there that will satisfy both of us. It’s still a snack food, but it’s not made of junk. If you’re going to be handing out snacks to the trick-or-treaters this Halloween, consider stocking your big candy bowl with some of these better choices and healthier selections. All of these come in smaller individual packets that you can feel safe giving away.

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1. Annie’s Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks or Surf Sweets – these sweet treats are better than the average fruit snack. While they still contain sugar they are not made with any added colors. You can feel safe knowing there are no additional chemicals in these yummy gummies and also provide a serving of Vitamin C.
2. Archer Farms Fruit Leather – look and taste like all-too-familiar junk food, but are made from real organic fruit, with no artificial additives or added sugar. You can buy them in natural food stores and many supermarkets, or online.
3. Ghiardelli Chocolate Bites – Most chocolates contain fake vanilla as a flavoring agent (known as vanillin, which is actually made from petroleum) as well as other added chemicals in the processing of their chocolate. This is a great alternative which is made from dark chocolate and contains no artificial flavors or preservatives and is also good antioxidant.
4.Pearsons – Mint Patties – Pearson’s Mint Patties feature a creamy mint center covered in real dark chocolate with 66% cacao and are naturally low in fat. Pearson’s Mint Patties set a standard of excellence earning national recognition within the confectionery industry and retailer community.
5. ZBar – are low in fat, made with whole oats, high in fiber and fortified with 12 essential vitamins and minerals. They are free of hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives, and artificial flavors or colors. They come in a variety of different flavors: Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Brownie, Blueberry, Chocolate Chip, Honey Graham, Peanut Butter and, S’Mores. Trader Joe’s sells them for $.69 each, and they’re often available online for even less.
6.Pirates Booty –You can still have a crunchy low calorie treat with this gluten free corn based chip substitute made with all natural ingredients and found at local grocery stores. 7. Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops and Candy Drops come in flavors like Pomegranate Pucker and Wet Face Watermelon. Free of gluten, nuts and corn syrup, these candies are also certified organic and kosher. They’re available at Whole Foods and other natural foods stores, and online at www.YummyEarth.com. Lollipops are about $3.50 for 15, and drops are about $2.59 for 25.
8. Little Pretzel Packs – Many of the chip type snacks today are made with hydrogenated oils, trans fats and added chemicals. Another better alternative for a salty treat instead of Doritos, Cheetos, or flavored chips are pretzels.
9.Barbaras Snackimals – better than traditional animal crackers, which usually contain trans fats and little flavor. These cookies are made with organic ingredients and come in Chocolate Chip, Snickerdoodle, Vanilla and Oatmeal varieties. They’re about $.89 per bag, and available at most natural food groceries and online at www.WorldPantry.com.
10. Other – If you do not want to send the trick or treaters off with a sugar buzz, consider these alternatives:

  • Tiny plastic animals, figurines, finger puppets, whistles
  • Buttons, pins, spider rings, trinket jewelry, bracelets, friendship rings, hair barrettes, ponytail holder
  • Halloween stickers, coloring books, puzzle books, pencils, erasers, note pads
  • Crayons
  • Trading cards
  • Restaurant coupons
  • Money (How about quarters)

When you hand out these treats at your door this Halloween, while they might be a little more expensive than conventional options, you can feel a little better knowing that you’re doing your part. If your kids are willing, you can even swap their junk for the good stuff. This year I am going to buy an assortment of healthier treats, set up a store where the boys can shop for them, and let them pay for their purchases with their trick-or-treating loot. They can even buy cash instead of the alternative snacks. It may be a bit of a trick, but in exchange they get a far better treat. Don’t be fooled, all of these items are still snacks and are not providing nutrition for our kids. We still need to watch the quantity of what our kids are consuming, as they are still filled with sugar, but are definitely healthier than the conventional choices.