Day 7: Think good thoughts

Boy, oh, boy! Day 7 was quite the challenging day for me. I know it had something to do with the full moon, but some of my recent decisions also dictated the day’s less-than-stellar outcome. 

That may have been why it was so hard to take in. I had to accept responsibility for manifesting the day’s events. It wasn’t out of my control. I had let it spin out of control. 

Dear friends, we all make mistakes. We’re all human. We’re always growing and learning. The difference lies in how you handle it. You could sit and continue to drag yourself down. You could rebel and blame it on everyone else. You could deny, deny, deny. 

As I learned from a wise Army major, first you need to breathe. It’s hard sometimes. Believe me, I know it. 

“Why is she telling me to breathe,” I asked myself. “Doesn’t she know how much this hurts?”

I went home, shut my bedroom door and cried. I listened to some uplifting music. The following song always lends me perspective.

Feeling better after a little musical therapy, I decided to take some time to sit and break it down. Get real with yourself. 

Once again, I’m going to go Army and flip it After Action Review (AAR) style. I’m going to mix it up a little though, so work with me, Army folks. Hee hee!

What happened? What could’ve happened? How will I sustain the good parts of the situation? How will I improve the lesser parts? Be brave and give it to yourself straight! I’m fortunate enough to have leaders that won’t let me fail. They will take the time and set me straight when I’m blinded by the chaos.

Whether you have that in your life or not isn’t as important as you being honest with yourself.

Regroup and carry on. This is a GREAT time to pull out your vision board and work on it. It will help you turn your challenges into lessons. 

Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.

-Norman Vincent Peale

In the book ‘Positive Imaging’, Peale states that affirmations need to be filled with gratitude. Imagine them as if they have already come true. 

Write them down. Record them. Say them out loud every day!

And for Pete’s sake, don’t take yourself so seriously, awesome you! Smile--it’s contagious!

Day 6: Love is a verb

When you hear the word love, what do you think of? I think of Logan and then, although I don’t want to admit it, my mind wanders off into soul connection, true love territory. Questions starting with ‘what if,’ how and when start to surface. I question love. 

Great news, folks! Love is a verb! 

“My friend, love is a verb. Love — the feeling — is a fruit of love, the verb.” 

-Steven Covey

Spread the love! Are there road blocks on your path to loving people? 

Remove the blocks. I think it was Avianna Castro that challenged her friends to remove any blocks you have on Facebook. Release it. Let it go. It’s actually very liberating. Do it with intention and you’ll be amazed. 

I ‘unblocked’ an old friend that I hadn’t spoken to in years. He contacted me almost immediately and I realized that I hadn’t completely released the pain that I felt he had caused. I emailed him back. I just explained how I felt and why I was upset. He was understanding and apologized. He then shared a few life updates and that was that. 

Simply love, my friends. The more you release, the more fluidity you give to your love.

Get your journal and write out some love affirmations. Here are some examples:

• I love therefore I am loveable.
• Love comes from within me at all times.
• I love myself unconditionally.
• I accept love from others.
• The Universe has an endless supply of love. The more I give, the more I receive.

Now that you’ve reigned in the love, try one or both of these exercises. 

• Write a letter to someone you need to forgive.
• Write a letter to someone who believed in you even when you didn’t believe in yourself.

Whether you deliver the letter(s) or not is up to you. 

Remember that we aren't perfect. There WILL be rough days. Don't feel bad if you're having a "french fry dipped in Frosty" type of day. Acknowledge it, cancel the negative speak and affirm your truths.

After a day like today, I think I'll reward myself with some vision board time! 

You are loved for you. Let your love light shine brightly and keep spreading smiles!

Day 5: All you need is love!

What a beautiful day! Do you know how amazing you are? You truly are. You’re totally and completely LOVED! 

Sometimes we get so caught up in the hustle and bustle that we forget to love ourselves. What happens then? What are the consequences?

I have a little demonstration to show you what I think happens.

You have to love you before you can love anyone else. As a mom, I know this is easier said than done. I know how selfish I feel when I take time for myself. But, what I’ve found is that I’m a better mom when I take the time to recharge. 

This is a little embarrassing, but I feel the need to be open and honest on this blog. So, after the divorce I threw myself into the dating scene. I was on a mission. I didn’t want to waste time being single. 

You can probably see where this is going and if I had really paid attention, I probably would’ve seen the ‘red flags’ (*wink wink* JR). 

Turns out that I wasn’t really happy with where I was. I felt overwhelmed with my 13-year old brother (moved in with me in August) and 2-year old son. My son’s dad was out of town a lot training for a new job. I had this impression that asking his family for help was admitting failure. 

My dating life was my escape. It was my time to be a women, to be me. For a couple of hours I wasn’t responsible for making dinner, checking to see if the homework was done, changing diapers, washing the laundry...I know, I know. Woe is me, right? It sounds ridiculous that I was complaining. I could see the blessings in my life, but my challenges were outweighing them. It was like an eclipse. 

One day, I was talking with some wise Army guys at work. Yes, you read that right...wise Army guys. They asked me some hard questions. What are really looking for? Do you really want to be in a relationship? Are you even giving these guys a chance?

Then the boys went to stay with their dads for Christmas. I missed their hugs, cooking dinner for them, asking how their day went. I took time for myself to figure make my lists of sustains and improves. I asked myself what was important to me. I LOVED myself again.

The eclipse is gone. There are still rough days, but I’m able to unplug from the unnecessary energy drainers. I plug into the things that I want to. I stay strong for the boys. I lead by example.

http://aniinthesky.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/love-is-all-you-need.jpg

Take the time to fix your cracks. Take time for yourself. Your journal prompts for today are:

1. What makes you unique?
2. How would you describe yourself?
3. What do I love about myself?

Smile! You are so awesome! 

Day 4: How are you spending your energy?

You’re on a roll, right? You’re doing your affirmations daily and working on your vision board. Now it’s time to step up your game. It’s time to let your light shine brightly, my lovelies!

How do I do this, you might ask? It’s starts with your thoughts, which then translates into your actions and then spreads to others. It’s amazing, really. 

Let’s do a little exercise. How was your day today? What’s the first thing that comes to mind? Long? Difficult? Fun? Tiring? Exciting? Just alright?

Now, go through the day’s events. Is there anything that happened that you could’ve changed the outcome? Think hard, dear!

I’ll give you an example of something that happened during my day. I got to work and needed to submit a design by 10:30 a.m. Not impossible, but challenging. Well, it became even more challenging when I found out that the new work computer I had picked up the day before was missing Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. These are key for me. 

No worries. I always bring my personal computer to work, which has the Adobe Creative Suite on it. Too easy! So, I fired up my trusty Mac and realized that a file that I was planning on using for this design was in InDesign format. That’s the only Adobe product I don’t have. Ugh...I’m starting to panic at this point.

I stopped myself and asked, “What’s going to happen if this is not done by 10:30?” I could get in trouble, lectured, scolded and so on. Would I get fired? No. Next step...call the computer gods.

They say they can tap into my computer from their location and get the software loaded. A ha! Problem solved, right? Well, it was, but not quickly.

*Tick*

*Tock*

*Tick* 

*Tock*

During the tick and the tock of the clock, I took two minutes and wrote out some affirmations. I thanked my angels for the ability to get my job done on time and to standard. I said out loud, “Thank you for making the software download go smoothly. I’m grateful that I have what I need, skills and supplies, to get this job done”

It’s now 10:00 a.m. Instead of being frantic and trying to hurry and spit something out, I was calm. I knew that it would get done and it did. 

I know this is kind of a silly example, but something that you can hopefully relate to. 

So, what are your examples? What could you have done differently?

I use the traffic example a lot, because I think most people have experienced frustration on the roads. 

You’re driving along when some guy comes along, weaving in and out of traffic, and cuts you off. 

Instead of flashing your brights, flipping him off or cursing, try saying a prayer. Pray that he gets to his destination safely. Visualize yourself sending him love. A nice calming love. Who couldn’t use some of that?

He may not slow down. You can’t control others. But, what you did do is control yourself. You controlled your reaction and refused to ‘plug in’ to his energy. 

Check out crazy Daybelle in the image below. Look at how she spend her energy. She's plugged into so many darn things!

Every person you come in contact with, every experience has the potential to drain a little bit of your energy. By starting each day with meditation, you should be at around 100% in the morning. See where you can be at noon. It’s time to make dinner now, where are you at? Feeling drained? Put on some fun music and dance while you cook! It works, I promise! =-)

So, Daybelle grabbed her worries and turned them into positive affirmations. Check it out! It's AMAZING!

Before you lay your head down, write down how you changed your outcome today. How did you manifest reality? Is it helping you with your sustains and improves?

I keep a notebook by my bed. It takes me a minute to write a few affirmations and make a note of something I learned that day. Thank your angels and end your day with an attitude of gratitude! Try it, you’ll like it!

Keep smiling, dear friends! You motivate me and YOU are amazing!

Day 3: Manifest your reality!

Now that we’ve started down the path of loving ourselves, it’s time to put those vision boards to good use. Whenever you think you don’t have time, think about how much TV you’ve watched within the last week. I’m totally not playing the guilt game, because this journey is about self-love. These are just motivators that have worked for me and I want to share them. 

I’m starting each morning with ten minutes to myself. It’s my gift to me. Ten minutes to visualize, affirm and start my day with an attitude of gratitude. I’m not saying that I don’t hit snooze every now and then, but the power of intention will amaze you. 

“Our subconscious minds have no sense of humor, play no jokes and cannot tell the difference between reality and an imagined thought or image. What we continually think about eventually will manifest in our lives.”

-Robert Collier

So, now onto manifesting our reality. What’s that, you say? Can I REALLY manifest my reality. Cancel and delete that thought. Now is not the time to plan or to question or to try. We are not trying to sustain actions or trying to improve them. We are doing. Now is the time to do. So, let’s go...

*Note: An affirmation for the ‘true love’ example in today’s video is: “I am thankful for my soul connection.” This affirmation helps me manifest the one and only partner that’s out there. He will appear at the perfect time, just as the rest of our life plays out. 

I want to share an example of how affirmations, visualization and the Law of Attraction has worked for me. Ever since taking in my 13-year old brother and going through a divorce, my finances have been touch and go. I had a very rough December and I was feeling overwhelmed and helpless. 

Avianna reminded me about the Law of Abundance checks. You can learn more about these from Maria Shaw. She had me write one out on the spot. I wrote it with love and intention. I held the check several times throughout the day and thanked my angels for the abundance that they provided. The very next day I found out that I had been selected for promotion, one that had seemed nearly impossible. 

After receiving this blessing of abundance, I tore the check up and wrote another one. I meditated on this check for several days. I felt it. I owned it. Today I found out that I qualified for an extra enlistment bonus that I was previously told I couldn’t get. Out of the blue, my unit representative says, “Oh, and you’re eligible for an extra $5,000 bonus.”  

Now, let's go, amazing people. You are unique and loved. You are worth it!


In the words of Yo Gabba Gabba, “Try it! You’ll like it!”

Remember to smile! Today is an amazing day!

Day 2: Get your vision on!

Each January, many of us review the past year and come of with a plan of attack for the next year. How many of us actually keep up with the plan and monitor our progress? 

I have a little secret for you...I can’t even tell you what my resolutions were last January. Don’t worry though, wonderful friends! I’m here to help and together we can end this unproductive cycle. 

“Our intention creates our reality.”

-Dr. Wayne Dyer

My problem is that I sometimes forget my intentions. They get lost on the way to daycare, while doing laundry or sitting at drill all weekend. I start the year with a laundry list of amazing intentions. I’m full of hope. I’m free to fly.

As each day slips away, a little hope goes with it. Each person that hurts me, also hurts my confidence in myself. Enough is enough, right?

“Thought is the sculptor who can

create the person you want to be.”

-Henry David Thoreau

A-ha!!! Thought is the bridge between intention and reality. So, in order to train our thoughts, it’s essential that we spend time each day doing just that...training. A runner can’t win a race by just hoping that the race goes his way.

There are so many ways to train yourself. You can journal. Write out affirmations and put them in areas that you’ll see everyday. 

Create a vision board! Here’s a little peek at mine...

Now, let’s be honest here, dear friend. Did you just think to yourself, “I don’t have enough time to do that,” or maybe even, “I’m not that creative and don’t have the resources.”

As my amazing friend Avianna would say, “Cancel, cancel, cancel, delete, delete, delete.” 

Say the words “cancel” and “delete” out loud. Cancel those thoughts. Move forward and take charge of your thoughts, love! You can start with whatever works for you. Maybe it’s simply a picture of a place that you want to visit. You set the rules!

Take time each day to do these things for yourself. Meditate on an affirmation. Look at that dream vacation photo and picture what you’ll do while you’re there. Don’t worry about how you’ll get there or when. That’s limiting your thoughts. 

Check out my video for some ideas on how to get your vision on. 

As always, please share your thoughts and remember to smile!

Day 1: Starting the New Year off right!

“We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched.  Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential.”  ~Ellen Goodman

The Army does things very backwards sometimes, but one thing I think they do right is the AAR or After Action Review!

So, now that 2011 is a thing of the past I’ve decided to do an AAR of my own. Instead of looking for flaws through the lens of negativity, I’ve decided to make a list of things to sustain and list of things to improve. 

One thing I’m sustaining is my blog, DajonSmiles! One thing I’m improving is my blog, DajonSmiles. For the next 31 days, I’ll be posting daily. These daily posts will include challenges that I hope will start your new year off right. 

Please join me as I spread smiles over the next month! I would love for you to share your stories as well!

Please watch the video for today's challenge!