We All Need Reminders

This morning was rough.

I was tired and sore. I was running behind. My car was frozen. I got to the office and I couldn't quite get it together. I had meetings that I just was having trouble with and it was not looking too good for my shine. My light was dimming by the second.

But then, somebody asked me what I love today. She helped me try to refocus. Coincidentally she has been exposed to the shine and is apart of our group. So what did I learn today. One, unfortunately for me every once in awhile, I just might not be the Suzy Sunshine that I desire to be. And two, if I have shared enough love and sunshine with others, they will have it for me when I need it.

So for the next few days, focus on who you are sharing your love and positive energy with. Take some time every day to let a little light shine for someone else. You never know when you will need it back.

Share the Love

I thought I had a good plan for this month's challenge focus, but for the last few days I just keep getting the message to Share the Love. I even saw it on a commercial today, while at lunch in Applebee's. If that isn't a message from above I don't know what is. So I will be obedient and share love with you and I hope that you will join me in sharing the love beyond our group.

First let's talk about our daily practice. If you were apart of our group last year you may remember this challenge. Each day in your journal you will make a list of things that you love. Since this is the month of February, let's make the list 28 items long daily. You don't need to go into detail about the items on the list unless you feel led to do so. Also, you can list anything that you love. They can be items that you own, places you've been, things you are grateful for. Really just list things that you love and appreciate.

Last year when I did this challenge my son also got involved. He knew when I was journaling and often times asked to add things to the list. So eventually when we were riding out in the morning it just became our time of reflection of things that we loved. As a part of our practice this month, share this experience with others. Maybe you can get a child, sibling, spouse or friend to try this with you. Focus on things you love and then share those thoughts and ideas with each other. It really beats sharing all the things that you dislike about life, and helps you to focus on more positive thoughts.

Aside from our daily journaling practice we will also have a some regular FB posts about other ways we can share love for the month of February. I hope that you all will enjoy this month and look forward to sharing the love!

I love Me!!!

So I am sitting here tonight jamming out to some Meghan Trainor. My Fitbit says I should be going to bed, but I really wanted to write to my lovely sunshines today and just got caught up in the business of the day. Then when I finally got a minute to express my love for you my PC decides to have a personal battle with the internet. So while they are not on speaking terms I can at least write in my word processing program. Hopefully they will reconcile and I can once again share my thoughts with you.

Anyhow the month of February is associated with many things. Most notably, Black History and Valentine's Day!!! For us, the whole month is about love, love, love.  (Side note if you like to dance, you should really listen to some Megan Trainor, I feel groovy and empowered all rolled into one. )

Back to our loving experience. Our first days are all about loving self. When you can love yourself, you become a much better lover of others. When we are critical of ourselves we struggle with how to be open and honest. Openness and honesty are qualities that help to build the most meaningful and strongest relationships.

Today take sometime to list 28 things about you
that you love. They may be physical attributes or skills and abilities that you possess, but take the time to think about it and write it out. The process will be empowering and then whenever someone tries to steal your shine from this day forward you will have this list to keep your light shining bright.

Second Chances

I am truly blessed to have people in my life who will tell me when I have made a mistake, because it means they care enough to see me improve.

When children make mistakes we usually comfort them and tell them to try again. We work with what they know and help them to gain more knowledge. The goal is to keep helping them improve. However, as adults we give ourselves and each other much less leniency when it comes to not being perfect. For some reason there is an age where everyone is no longer allowed to make mistakes without being ridiculed for them.

Our goal for today is to learn to be grateful for our mistakes instead of frustrated or angry. Our mistakes open our eyes to things that we can change and learn for the better. In the book, “The Magic” the author Rhonda Byrne uses the example of being pulled over by the police. More often than not we are more upset with the police for pulling us over than grateful for the fact that they raised our awareness of the lack of concern for our safety and others on the road.

Today, consider a mistake that you have made and find ten reasons to be grateful for that mistake. This would look like a list of things that you learned from the outcome of the mistake.  Hopefully by taking the time to appreciate you lessons you will also decrease your likelihood of making that same mistake in the future. 

We are ONE

I am grateful today that I understand oneness, because I know that I have the power to effect change for my fellow man. 

Lately in the news we are bombarded by all of the division our world is experiencing. There is political division, color division, gender and sexuality, and division of nations. Everyone seems to want to have distinction in who they are, but these distinctions simply bring about more and more discrimination. It seems the one thing we are forgetting is that no matter what distinctions we ascribe to we are all still have something in common, our humanity.

Regardless of our differences we are all one. In many spiritual and religious traditions they discuss the concept of oneness, but often the oneness is only including those who believe in their particular teaching. The truth is belief in traditions or not no one is exempt from the oneness that we just naturally have.

So what does that mean? That means that you have the power to effect change in yourself and others through your understanding of oneness. This concept is a bit hard to try to explain in a short blog post. But here goes. When you encounter, people in your life that are struggling you have choices in how to help them. You can give them advice. You can leave them alone and let them figure it out. You can pray for them. Or your can help them. But, I bet you didn't know that you could effect change in their experience.

It may sound crazy, but when you feel and understand the concept of oneness, you realize that we all have the opportunity to change the life of others. Oneness means that if a brother or sister is hurting, you are also affected because they are a part of you. They are not separate from you. When you truly understand this you will be able to start feeling gratitude for the positive experiences of others because you realize the connection you have with them. When you begin to feel gratitude for their positive experiences you will start to see the lives of those around you start to improve as much as your own.

For today, your goal is to practice feeling gratitude for the well being of others. Choose three people in your life. Imagine them as happy and healthy. You may not know exactly what they want out of life but you do know that you are connected with them as you are with everyone. Feel the gratitude of being blessed by your connection to them. The more you acknowledge blessings for them and ultimately yourself, the more you will see change.

Magical Cues

I am grateful for magical cues, because before today I never knew they existed. 

When I read today's practice I was intrigued, because I never even thought like this before. The title of this chapter is Cue the Magic. In it the author talks about seeing things in our lives as cues to be grateful. I am going to share directly from the book because I cannot say it better:

The Universe knows you have to feel gratitude to bring forth your dreams, so it plays its part in the game by giving you personal cues to remind you to be grateful. It uses the people, circumstances, and events that surround you in your day as magic cues to be grateful. It works like this:

If you hear and ambulance siren, then the magic cue form the Universe is to be grateful for perfect health. If you see a police car, your magic cue is to be grateful for safety and security. If you see someone reading a newspaper, it's your magic cue to be thankful for great news.

The author goes on to talk about how seeing things in our day should remind us to be grateful for things in our lives. One of the others she mentions is seeing and ATM should remind you to be grateful for plenty of money. I am excited to try this practice because, well, you can never have too much to be grateful for.

So today let your world inspire your gratitude through magical cues.

Just Breathe

I am truly grateful for the world that I live in, because life is an amazing experience. 

There is an older woman at my church. She is a church mother and everytime she is asked to share a word with the congregation she just says "Grateful". At first you might think she is taking the question to literally or maybe she just has a ritual she wants to stick to, but one day it hit me. I felt what she was saying. She has lived over 80 years here in this life and on this earth. She has seen many historical tragedies and victories. She has experienced joys and hurts with her family and friends and she knows the wonder of life.

We will all experience ups and downs joys and hurts in our life, but life itself is intricate and amazing. Think about all of the things that have to happen in order for you to be born. Your parents must be fertile. You have to survive many weeks in the womb. You must exit your mother's body with no complications and then you get to take your first breath. That first breath leads to a lifetime of breathing. No matter what you go through in life, breath is with you. It sustains your life from the time you are born until the time that you die. Breathing sustains your bodily functions and allows you to experience everything that you experience on a daily basis.

But the fact that you can breathe is only one piece of the puzzle there must be air for you to breathe. So that means that the earth is perfectly placed in the universe and the elements on the earth are more than adequate to support the breath that you need. WOOOOOW!!! When you really get a hold of the concept of the intricate nature of life, you will be amazed. You may even be grateful.

Today, just breathe and say thank you for your breath. Be grateful for all that your breathing has sustained you through. Feel gratitude for the divine order of the universe that allows you life here and say Thank you.