Take Your Clues From Nature

As this summer season turns into Fall, we begin to see the subtle changes that come with the most beautiful season of the year.  As the leaves begin to turn into magnificent hues of red, yellow, & orange, we marvel at the timeliness and beauty of the season.  I’d like to share a few things that I have come to appreciate about the most beautiful gift that God has given us – Nature.  Ecclesiastes 3 says “to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heavens.”

Do you know what I admire most about nature?  Harmony. Year after year, God has blessed me to experience the most beautiful symphony of change that there is -- the changing of the seasons.    We may even take it for granted because we KNOW what’s going to happen and we EXPECT it to happen every year without fail. We admire its beauty without having to do anything special except BELIEVE that we will RECEIVE it. Sound familiar? 

Spring brings forth the RENEWAL of nature.  The flowers bud, animals come out of hibernation, and the weather warms to begin the growth process.  The rains come to nurture the seedlings so that everything becomes beautiful and bountiful.  The birds can be counted on to sing their songs of praise to God at the rising of every sun.  Spring makes me think of Hebrews 11:1…the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen. Spring can also be likened to the scripture in Romans 12:2:  “Be not conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Spring reminds us to avoid getting stuck in complacency. In order to evolve, we must grow spiritually. 

Summer brings with it the PROMISE (Genesis 9:13) of increase and manifestation (Leviticus 26:4, Galatians 6:9, Deuteronomy 6:3).  In due season, we shall reap the rewards of our prayers.  What a celebration!  Remember what it was like on Christmas morning as a child?  All year long we waited for this special day.  We were so excited about the gifts we would receive that we could hardly sleep!  We must remember to keep that same level of excitement when we pray.  Don’t just pray – feel the excitement and celebrate the manifestation of your prayer!

Winter used to be my least favorite time of year (I used to live in Chicago…brrrrrrr), but I’ve learned to appreciate its special beauty.  Everything is taken down to bare bones. Naked. Winter reminds me that I arrived to this world NAKED and will return in the same manner (Job 1:21).  It is only in this season that nature is stripped down to its simplest form. Everything in nature is vulnerable to the whims of winter.  It is a time for reflection and stillness. We must still our minds and remain centered on God and His purpose for us.  Our acknowledgement of the presence of God helps to direct us to our path in life.  "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:9).

Fall.  This is my favorite time of year -- 1) because I made my debut in the Fall of 1959 and 2) because it gives us the most clues about how to live a life of purpose.  Even though this season symbolizes death, it’s not the kind of death to mourn but the kind that makes room for new birth.  Falling leaves reminds us to not fear death, but to embrace it (Psalm 23:4).  Death is the one true constant in life.  We all have an appointment to meet with it, but once we understand the true nature of God, we no longer have to fear death (John 14:2, Job 14:13).

The cooling of the temperature indicates change. We cannot get through this life without change.  It is inevitable.  In some areas of the country, this change is more uncomfortable than others, but the drop in temperature reminds us to prepare ourselves for the cold days ahead (Luke 1:17).  

Nature reminds us to be obedient.  The seasons change every three months without fail.  This is obedience at its finest (Romans 16:26). 

Our magnificent Father has given us everything that we need to live an abundant life.  Nature should not be taken for granted.  It is infused with clues as to how we should live.  We are not separate from nature – we ARE nature.  We can live our best life knowing that God’s hand is unchanging. He provides us with what we need over and over and over again.  We are reminded throughout scripture that we can TRUST and BELIEVE in his plan for us, whether we know what it is or not.  This tells us that we can lie in hope no matter how dire our circumstances.  Psalm 30:5 “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”.

Blessings to All,

  

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

As we gallop toward the new year, many of us have wondered “Where did the time go?” The year has flown by so fast and some of us may be thinking that we did not accomplish everything we set out to accomplish in 2013. But that’s okay. Because with each new day comes a new opportunity. You may have begun a project, business, or other venture and it may not have manifested in the time frame you set. But don’t give up. Never give up.

Our economy has forced many people to consider a home business who otherwise would not have, and many of these people don’t have an income to speak of so urgency is paramount. They need money yesterday. If your home based venture isn’t doing what you need it to do right now, you may need to put it on the back burner for a brief time while you consider other options however, it is a certainty that it will never manifest if you quit.

You will miss 100% of the shots that you never take.

Building a business is one of the most back-breaking, difficult, and emotionally charged things you ever do in life and it does not happen overnight. But it is also one of the most fulfilling things you will ever do.  Some people get lucky in the beginning and make large amounts of money but most do not. Don’t let the “overnight success” stories set the blueprint for your own success. Be patient with yourself.  It takes time to create something worthwhile.

Rome ne s'est pas faite en un jour!

I'm unemployed...now what?

Many people believe that home-based businesses are beyond their reach and that the income they can make is either not enough for them to consider quitting their full-time jobs or that making a 5, 6 or 7-figure income is just too far fetched. However, studies have shown that in the wake of our economy, a large percentage of people have gone the route of home based businesses. Why? Unemployment runs out and bills need to be paid. Too much competition for the jobs that are available. Or simply, just a matter of being sick and tired of the corporate rat race. Whatever the reason, success with a home business is highly attainable as are the 5-6 and 7-figure incomes associated with them.

So where do you begin? Self examination is a great starting point. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What do you truly enjoy doing? Are you a great public speaker or do you prefer speaking to people in a more intimate setting? Are you good with computers or are you technologically challenged? Start with a list of things you’re good at and go from there.

What’s important to you? Being able to spend more time with your family? Pay off some debt, help a loved one? Determine your Why (and make sure it’s a strong one). A desire to be financially wealthy is a dream that most people have but surprisingly, it frequently fails as the #1 reason to motivate. Your reasons must have depth and meaning.

Next, talk to people who have attained success in their businesses. Pick a few brains! Ask questions and when you’ve gotten those answers, ask more questions. Conversely, research the competition. By familiarizing yourself with your competition, you can determine whether you can tweak your price points. If you don’t have the capability to do this, a killer marketing strategy is crucial to showing potential customers why they should purchase your products or service.

Promote your business every…single…day. Use various methods but you want and need to connect with people every day. Your success lies in the number of people that you put your business in front of. The more, the better.

With these tips in hand, achieving success in having a home based business is not as intimidating as it seems. Like anything else in life, knowledge accompanied with the drive to do something works hand in hand in achieving success.

The Best Gift

It was 1986 in the dead of a cold Chicago winter and my husband and I were sitting in a doctor’s office awaiting test results. When the doctor entered the office in his crisp white lab coat, my gaze immediately shifted to his face to see if I could read the results from his countenance. He was not smiling and his eyes stayed on the folder that he slowly placed on the desk before us. My heart sank. When he began to speak, all I heard were the words “I’m sorry”, “sterile”, and “in vitro”. The rest of what he said was lost to me. He thanked us for coming and we walked out into the cold. We didn’t know what to say to each other so we rode home in silence. When we arrived, we were greeted by our 7-year old daughter who ran up to us and asked “so am I going to have a little sister or brother?” The question was like a knife in my heart because I knew that we would never be able to provide her with the sibling that she so desperately wanted and the child that I would never have. So I retreated to my bedroom and cried for what seemed like an eternity.

My depression lasted for a few weeks but eventually I was back to my old self. At work one day while talking to a coworker, she asked me if I’d ever considered adopting a baby. I looked at her like she had 3 heads and said an emphatic “No!” I wanted to have my own child and adoption seemed just too far fetched to me. Besides, I’d heard that it was too expensive and the wait too long, so it was not worth considering. She admonished me to check into it because she knew a couple who’d adopted a child through an agency in Chicago and they were very happy. I didn’t want to think about it at the time but the idea kept popping into my head over the next several weeks for some reason. I reluctantly mentioned it to my husband who was surprisingly open to the idea. So we went about our business in looking for an adoption agency. The process was nothing like I had imagined and went fairly quickly. I was still not completely sold on the adoption idea but I thought, why not at least check it out?

The year was now 1988, the beginning of Spring when everything was just starting to come to life. The day finally came to meet our baby candidate. He was 5 months old and was born to a teenage mother who’d already had 2 children and could not care for him. The baby had been in foster care since he left the hospital just waiting on a family to take him home. When I walked into the room, this chubby little boy with a crop of curly hair and Michelin tire arms looked up at me and immediately reached out his arms for me to pick him up. I did and my life was forever changed. We made eye contact as he tried to pull my earrings from my ears. He had the longest eyelashes I’d ever seen and the softest, chubbiest cheeks that begged to be nibbled. He even looked like us! So we spent the next hour or so getting familiar with him and learning about his background from his foster mom. He was a very happy little boy and he took to us immediately, which shocked his foster mom. She said that she’d never seen him take to strangers the way he took to us. Well, that sealed it for me.  At that moment, I knew that we'd been given the best gift -- the son that we had prayed for.  God showed me that unconditional, heart-stopping love for a child does not have to be one that comes from our loins. My heart melted when I held him because I knew that this baby was made just for us. 

Fast forward 25 years later, I am the proud mother of a brilliant young man who has a quiet strength about him. The love I feel for him is absolutely no different than if I had birthed him. My daughter got the brother she wanted and I got a son who has made me proud hundreds of times over. He is now a dad himself to a beautiful daughter who will be 3 years old on Christmas Eve. She is the spitting image of her daddy with the Michelin tire arms and soft kissable cheeks that I nibbled 24 years earlier. She is another blessing and I’m so glad that I acted on the urging that would not let me leave it be. 

God has blessings for us all wrapped up in packages that we don’t think we’d ever open. This one was the best gifts that I've ever received and I'm so, so glad that I had the honor to raise this phenomenal human being who has blessed my life in countless ways.

The Millionaire Mindset

If we were in a large meeting room filled with 150 people and I stood before you on stage and asked you one question: Will all the millionaires in the room please raise their hand? How many people do you think would raise their hand? 10? 25? 100?

The problem with this is that only the “actual” millionaires raised their hand. Be honest, you thought of a number and it probably wasn’t 150. But that’s okay. I did that too the first time I was asked the question. The problem with this is that the ones who didn’t raise their hand will probably never be millionaires. Why? Because you have to be a millionaire in your mind FIRST. The person who raises their hand but doesn’t have two pennies the same color is the person I want in my organization because no matter where they are financially, they have a wealth mindset. 

Wealth begins with a single thought. Is your mind conditioned to focus on wealth or lack? Look at your current financial situation and you’ll get your answer. Let’s expand on this just a little bit. Thousands of thoughts run through our minds daily. Some stay for a while; others are fleeting. Your fleeting thoughts can be particularly dangerous because they come and go so fast that you don’t have an opportunity to edit them before they’ve disappeared. We must be mindful of every single thought that enters our mind. Negativity is thrown at us by the bushel every day. We’re so conditioned to see and receive negativity, that we think it doesn’t affect us. But it does. Big time. Our eyes see (deceive) and we process what we see. Our subconscious picks up the thought and aligns it with our dominant feeling. What we see manifested is the marriage of thought and feeling. 

When we learn to be more mindful of what we read, watch on TV, listen to in conversations, music lyrics, people around us, etc., we begin to process just how much we are being influenced by these factors. The words, can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, and don’t should not have any place in your vocabulary when referring to Self. We must replace our negative thoughts with positive ones.  Thoughts and words that speak life have the ability to change your life in ways that will amaze you.

You can be wealthy in many areas of your life. But in order to create true wealth, you must have a wealthy mindset first. Develop your millionaire mindset and watch your blessings unfold. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

If you can't find it in 30 seconds, it's in the wrong place!

Have you ever gone into a closet to get something, pull it out and the entire contents of the closet falls down on your head? C’mon guys, I know that I’m not the only person that’s happened to (smile). What did I do? Stuffed it right back in there with a half-hearted promise to myself that I’ll get to it later. Then later turns into a month, six months, or a year. And during this time, I'm still piling more stuff on top of the stuff that makes the closet so stuffed that I refuse to even open the door anymore. Whew...it's exhausting.

Let’s face it. Life is short. You ask “What’s that got to do with anything?” Well, the whole rationale of getting organized is to create time, space and energy in your life for the people and things that matter the most. Think about the time you spend looking for “stuff” that you know you left “around here somewhere”. This results in frustration and lost time. One key aspect in eliminating clutter is that it helps you determine what’s most important to you and by knowing this, it will help to simplify your life. Less clutter means less to weigh you down and you can use the time to pursue the things that bring you the most happiness and satisfaction.

I know, organization is usually the last thing anyone wants to do (myself included) especially if things have gotten out of hand. But the time spent now will reap benefits ten-fold in the future. It is a challenging task not only because of the time and commitment factors, but it forces us to change certain behaviors. You must ACT. A=Assess, C=Commit, T=Take action.

Here are some suggestions:

===> Have a “Getting organized” party and invite some friends over to help. Play some oldies, serve some snacks, and have girl talk all while getting things done.

===> Try planning your organization day on the day before trash pickup. This way you won’t be tempted to put stuff back.

===> Focus on one area at a time. Don’t try to tackle 2 or 3 rooms at once. You’ll probably end up with a bigger mess.

===> Use labels such as Give Away, Sell, Trash, Keep.

===> Have a garage sale and use the money to purchase items that will help you stay organized.

 ===> Sell stuff online. Ebay, Craigslist and SFI are great places to start.

If the task is just too daunting, hire a professional. Hold others in your household accountable. If they throw it down, make ‘em pick it up. I used the Reverse Allowance analogy with my children and grandchildren. I termed it “The Quarter Game”. When I gave them a weekly allowance, I still had to remind them to pick up after themselves so they really didn't earn it. So I got smart. Allot them $5 in quarters (or other amount you desire) at the beginning of the week. But each time they make a mess without cleaning behind themselves, take back 1 quarter (or 2 depending on your rules), and perhaps give them an additional chore to earn it back. You’ll see very quickly that their motivation and awareness increases because they already have the money and don’t want it taken away.  It works!

Happy organizing!

Take Your Personal Growth Inventory

I recently attended a seminar where I learned in three days more information than I've learned in my entire career. It was enlightening and somewhat painful at the same time. It was like spending time with a really, really good therapist. The lesson that jumped out at me was the necessity to evaluate the ingrained or subconscious thinking that holds us back in life and business. The very interactive exercises are designed to get you thinking about the core values that either stagnate or propel you. If you're considering making some changes towards personal development, these tips can help you take those first steps. Evaluating your current position in life will make it significantly easier to make a clear path to your goals.

1. Write down your goals. When you write down what you plan to accomplish in your life, you can then take the necessary steps to achieve what you plan. Write down both personal and business or career related goals, then reflect on these goals weekly to see how your actions in the past week have brought your closer to your goals.

2. Visualization will help you stay focused on your goal. Whenever possible put a picture of what you want in an area that you will see every day. A picture of a flat stomach on the fridge will help steer you towards healthy food choices, while a picture of a vacation destination on your desk will help you save money.

3. Envision success. If you can see yourself succeeding within a reasonable range, you are more apt to succeed. If you can imagine yourself performing a task well, then imagine yourself celebrating your success, you will have less performance anxiety and it positive thinking will help you reach your goals.

4. If you want to be a better you, it is so important that you help others. Whether you do community service or simply help someone you see walking down the street, your good deeds will never go unnoticed to others or even to yourself. Helping others will really make you feel like a better you!

5. It is crucial that we recognize that it is not just a matter of being in the right place at the right time to realize success; it is being the right person, in the right place, at the right time.

6. Express your gratitude to the universe for every blessing that you receive, no matter how small. We receive 86,400 seconds in each day. If we spend just a few of those seconds saying "thank you", imagine the possibilities that will open up for you.

As you can see, personal development requires a customized approach. Your path to personal development will only succeed if you respect your own world view. By utilizing the above tips and staying true to your personal character, you can take the first steps to creating better habits and building a stronger you!