New Direction

With life you sometimes find out that something isn't working or just doesn't flow for you.  So in the spirit of both I'm adjusting the way this blog runs and might do so again in the future.

Thanks to a friend I realized that I couldn't find joy in life if I kept waiting or isolating myself from it.  I learned that it is healthy to keep a good social life and be active.  This has a different meaning for everyone.  I joined living social since it sounded like something that would require my socializing or encourage it.  So to test it out I bought a movie ticket for $9 that was worth two tickets at anytime of day.  My son was the beneficiary of the second ticket and he loved me much for this move.  Then I bought a $10 gift certificate that was worth $20 for Glunz Winery of course I search their website first.  I took almost three weeks before I could make it there.  During that time I discovered an empty bottle of theirs in my parents pantry that looked familiar but I couldn't remember the taste. So here's where the story get's sweet and the point gets made.

The closest Glunz Winery was in Long Grove.  I read about the charm of the town but didn't know what to expect.  Apparently once in an attempt at a short cut I'd driven through the town and wondered at it.  My GPS kind of left me hanging.  It pointed the spot but when I totally couldn't see the name on any sign or the address on a tiny main street I pulled over to the closest parking after driving up and down. After a look around at some beautiful artistry and finally stopping in a bakery- required self control not to purchase anything- where I received directions.  I found the place as described and purchased the wines from a very friendly lady who taught me that a winter wine is best drunk hot to warm.  Then on the way out I discovered the thing that proved why we need to socialize and be open to new experiences, The Pastry shop.  Why was this so important, simply the previous day I had seen the most exquisite cake on a Better Homes cover that just made me want to eat it.  For the first time ever I spoke to my sister about actually finding a real life version.  So this is why this pastry shop suddenly became a beautiful site and in I went.  So I find that yes the baker who is the brother to the lady in the shop who's mom is consultant and worker in this same shop.  Then this lovely lady and I play out this cake as I describe it and discover that the red berry's along side the blue berries in the picture are actually lingonberry, a berry that IKEA has taught me in their soda selection to be a sweet and em lovely flavor.  Then the glaze becomes a bit tricky cause it did have a slight tint to it in the picture so for a second I confused the basic sugar topping for a cream cheese glaze which we sorted out.  After a phone consultation with her brother via phone due to his filing his taxes it was discovered that a good source for Lingonberries were not available at this time. Of course we decided that when this was no longer the case that they would contact me. Then came the sweetest part of the visit.  Then she told me that she was that way with clothes and that she would find the cheapest look alike to what she liked and then have her tailor alter it to have the perfect clothes.
Now I'm telling you if you don't know.  I am embarking on this journey to bring my clothing designs to life and this woman just gave me the motivation I had been needing.  Just at the start of the trip out to get the wine my free Vista Print business cards I ordered, which lead to my purchase of a completely designed website and the transferring of my already owned web address, had arrived.  This woman was the icing on the cake. I had been going back and forth with the idea of purchasing other peoples clothes to fill my site but in this tiny shop I finally decided that no I didn't need a full site of 80 or 500 clothes I just needed to start and my passion would drive me and others who understood would support till I could make sense to the mass public.  This is how I found joy today.
 I hope this was motivational to you reading, please be willing to take the steps that lead to your joy.

Break Time

There is no harm in taking a break.  Just as long as it is just a break.  A break is meant to refresh and reorganize the exhausted or over worked.  A break is meant to be a time of productive rejuvenation.  Resting is productive when it serves a needed purpose.  It is not however a way of avoiding or keeping from completing tasks that feel tiresome.  Don't run away from your life and obligations.  Yes take time when you need it but don't abuse it and keep within a considerable time.  Yes everyone in America would love an hour lunch break but not everyone's work schedules have room for it.  Keep this in mind when you are contemplating abusing your use of time by overstaying or over using a rest or break time.  Abuse or miss use of your time leads to waste.  Just like mothers eat their kids left overs to keep from waisting the food.  Waist never moves you forward but slows or deters forward movement in life.  So when next you think of being lazy ask your self if it's worth the loss to self or cost to self.  Choose wisely.

Feel Sick

Do you ever just get sick and tired of everything.  When this happens do you shut down and mope or work harder.  I've found that nothing other than feeling sad for yourself gets accomplished.  If your life feels like it's not moving or moving too slow then think about how you are spending your down time.  A good time to re purpose is your times of feeling sick and tired. What aren't you sick and tired of and would be willing to keep doing despite your negative attitude and feelings towards your success.  Yes that is what sick and tired is.  It's when you are tired of progression that is either slow or not showing results fast enough.  We have a tendency to feel that all result should be visible within our own expectation of time.  But what is result and where is it coming from. Do you ever get the feeling that what you expect to be the results of your hard works are not the real results.  Have you ever thought that your idea and expectations of what you should be getting might be wrong. What is the true value of your hard work and what is it really meant to produce as an out come of your labors. So this is one of many ways to spend your sick and tired of everything moment doing.  Instead of being negative open your thoughts and mind to new thinking.

Sharing is Caring

When we hear from or read about someone who has or is going through a similar situation it's often helpful. So feel free to add your life scars born on your race or journey through out your life.  You never know who you could help just by making a simple statement in an article or blog there by creating a visual of what really has affected or happened to you.  So feel free to comment or share.  Let's light up, uplift, and change the world together one person at a time.

wishing and wanting

Find yourself wishing and wanting.  Why not tell someone?  When you tell someone that is one step closer to it being real.  It's no longer a thing solely for your imagination.  Who knows they might have the ideas that lead to having and end the wishing and wanting.  Sometimes they point out something you didn't notice before or they simply ask you about the progress of it and even that could finally give you the push to get the ball rolling, if it were still not in motion.  Even hearing the idea out loud while you say it to them could help you fine tune the idea shedding all the excess parts.
If you don't feel comfortable saying it to someone right away try writing it down.  Sometimes when we write it down we can come back and look at it or even build on the idea with strategies and road maps of how to get to the having.  So stop wishing and wanting what you want most but make a step towards having today.

Happy?

Have you ever asked yourself honestly if you were happy? I know that I learn differently but most importantly I like new ways to learn.  Here is a quiz on what you really know about happiness.  I'm recommending it cause it brings out different perspectives on happiness. I'm sure you'll begin to see happiness in a new light.     http://www.webmd.com/balance/happiness-rm-quiz?ecd=wnl_wmh_030911

Happy?

Have you ever asked yourself honestly if you were happy? I know that I learn differently but most importantly I like new ways to learn.  Here is a quiz on what you really know about happiness.  I'm recommending it cause it brings out different perspectives on happiness. I'm sure the thought of are you happy will not quite mean the same.     http://www.webmd.com/balance/happiness-rm-quiz?ecd=wnl_wmh_030911

Motion activation- Motivation

Just like misery loves company so dose motivation.  Can't find any then give some! To get the kind of motivation that takes you the distance you sometimes need to given some.  Give a little get a little. What dose it mean to give motivation?  Why what kind of motivation do you need, the people around you need, or are there any situations where you can motivate others? [ Remember that this is to be a form of selfless giving and you should not equate your giving to an estimated out come.  You should understand that you are just enacting a basic life principle that pays back in an unmeasurable but guaranteed yield return.]  There is some kind of rush that comes from actually making someone feel better it only has positive results.  The best solutions to problems are free and  don't take anything but your effort. 

Stress

The road we all travel on in life leads to stress at one point or another but for some stress is the unwanted passenger.  Be it for long hauls or just quick trips stress shouldn't be able to dictate the radio station if you are driving nor should it decide where you have to stop at for rests.  It's your car and your driving so pick the radio station and where you choose to rest along this journey we call life.
How is it that people give stress the ability to dictate their lives.  When you start allowing the focus of everything in your life to be about the things that aren't working, you can't afford, or just don't want to do but have decided to do then stress is choosing the radio station and where you stop.  Getting control of your car takes you making some decisions as to what your focus needs to be and defining your limits.  Stress is defined as what you feel when you have to handle more than you are used to, feeling worn out. Key things to know and stick to: 1) What's important  2) What can't you  avoid doing   3) Timelines  4) What doesn't need doing.  If you still feel everything needs doing remember this if you are stressed now your body is coming close to it's limits so decide whether or not it's worth physical damage or physical discomfort to your body. No pain no gain! But How much pain and how much gain?

Learning to simply enjoy yourself despite your situation and circumstances

The one thing I can control is my attitude and how I react to things.  This to most people seems so little.  In a world that advocates more control this is seen to some as a joke.  Though one thing I have learned in this life is the simple and the least meaningful are actually the most important and the most meaningful.  Smiling at someone though simple and almost insignificant can do so much more than paying that person to care.  Simply put you get more out of the things that required little effort and more care. 

 How we care is a form of attitude adjustment.  No one single human being is perfect not even the ones we look up to or picture ourselves looking like if we were perfect.  Not even your parents got much right raising you and if they did a good job, it's cause they were able to get you to understand that they cared.  So when you just want to yell out in anger or have a good rage stop and think.  What if I were happy instead.  Just be willing to think it and know that it will change the way you react to the things around you.  A few weeks a ago I was told at a mechanics shop that my pleasant cheerfulness was appreciated.  Why was this important?  The man who said this had just finished dealing with a man that he described as so depressing to be around that he didn't understand how his wife could deal with him and felt sorry that the woman had to suffer such a man. That the man's mere presence brought sadness.  I'm not saying become a ray of sunshine but please don't be this man even on an off day.  

Miete's Tears of Joy: Acting on an idea

Miete's Tears of Joy: Acting on an idea: "Count with me how many ideas you haven't yet done anything with. If there are more than five please tell me none of those is something..."

Acting on an idea

Count with me how many ideas you haven't yet done anything with.  If there are more than five please tell me none of those is something you really want to do.  If it is, please do something even if it's something as simple as a note to encourage you to do it, do something about that idea today.  Can you just imagine if five people you know created at least five ideas they've shared with you, that even you agreed were good ones, how much more comfortable life might just be.  Sometimes an idea is just doing something for someone else.  We never know how far an idea can take us till we just take that first step.  After all your not five and your ice cream didn't just fall after your first lick and if it did wasn't it at least worth that one lick you got out of it.  Try! If not for you do it for someone else. Just in case there's no one to tell you- Thank you for trying!