I Suck At This!

How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved success.
-Elbert Hubbard



Over the last month I have been homeschooling my son. It is a growing experience for us both. I have always appreciated teachers, they do something that I would not even try to do in my wildest dreams. This experience has made me appreciate them even more. As we struggle over grammar, spelling, math and Spanish, I hear myself repeating the same words over and over again.

"I suck at this!" he will cry out.

"You don't suck, you just don't have enough practice." I tell him, "No one is good at anything their first try, they have to practice, practice, practice. Just be patient"

It struck me today how true that is. It's not that we really try to limit ourselves and what we can do, it's more like we expect our god-given gifts to appear to us. As if one day we shall wake up and know that we are supposed to write a great novel, or be a great business person, or even to be the best parent. Unfortunately many of the talents and gifts that we need and want in life have to be learned.

Learning is a hard process that takes much patience. I am a seamstress, by no means the best seamstress, but I can stitch together many types and styles of clothes. I sewed my first dress when I was 11. Even after so many years of sewing, there are things I have to learn and many, many things I have yet to do well, let alone perfect. I can think back to so many scrapped projects, panels sewn in the wrong way, mis-matched button and button holes, crooked hems, bad seams and just general disasters that have lead me to this point. This point where I can take a tissue pattern, some thread, cloth and notions and bring forth a beautiful gown.

Thinking about all the work and mistakes that have gone into this learning process, I have to ask myself why I think that, in just a few years, I could change my life. Why I would be so down on myself for not succeeding in all of the tasks I set out for myself?

It is my personal lack of patience. I told myself I was being patient at 6 months and a year. That my success was right around the corner. But then after that year had passed, I started to think I must be doing something wrong. That maybe I had chosen the wrong path, that this was fates way of telling me to do something different. I spent a lot of time thinking about it, and I say "No!". It's not the wrong path, I am just learning.

I am taking steps down this long, winding, difficult road of self-improvement and self-realization. One day I will have what I want and do what I want to do. I just need to keep learning, keep reading. I will one day be able to help those around me to succeed in their endeavors. I will find those people who will help me by helping themselves. I am absolutely positive that we are not all lost causes and have a set life laid out before us. I have faith that we can be whatever we want to be in life.

This belief guides me and keeps me on my path of learning. This learning will never be done, ever. And I am thankful for it.

Have a Blessed Day,



Brandy Deming

CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com
http://www.womenswealthandwellness.com/celticblessings

We Are The Dreamer Of Dreams

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.

-T.E. Lawrence

We all dream. We buy a lotto ticket and think of all the things we could do with 200 million. We think of how it would be if all of our troubles just up and vanished. But very, very few of us actually dissect those dreams into manageable chunks.


When my son was around 5 I realized that I didn't want the life that I had. I'd drop him off at daycare around 6:30am and pick him up around 6:30pm. I remember spending hours thinking how nice it would be to have someone take care of us. Just to be able to take him to school and pick him up was something so far out of my reach that I'd stress over it. Then there came the turning point, it started to affect him.


He'd act out in school, then the school would call me and I'd come in. Then he'd start acting out more. I then realized that the hours spent away from me wasn't just a necessary evil, it was harmful. That's when I took action. I started looking at all sorts of ways to work at home. I saw myself being able to get to the school in the middle of the day, I saw myself getting him on the bus, I FELT that this WAS GOING TO HAPPEN! Then a job offer came through and it was working from my home and it was mostly what I was looking for. This was the first time I had used pure determination and positive thinking to make my world better. I have been working from home for 4 years now and it has been one of the best decisions of my life.


Dreaming and hoping are good. They are a fantastic way to feel out what you want in life. I have a dream board. If I want something, I break it down. How much will it cost? What do I have to do to get it? What is a reasonable timeline to set myself to achieve this dream? I get pictures of what I want and I put it on my dream board. I look at that board many times a day. It keeps me motivated on my goals. I KNOW I will get everything on that board, I see myself several times a day driving that RV, smelling the Scottish air, driving that new car. The best feeling in the world is when I go up to that board and take something off of it.


Find the difference between fantasy and dreams. You can reach your dreams. Anyone can, it's just a matter of how.




Have a Blessed Day,


Brandy Deming


CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com
http://www.womenswealthandwellness.com/celticblessings
http://www.twitter.com/brandysbiz

Faith & Hope

Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.

-Sopia Loren

There is a sign on a church on the way into town that states, "Hope is praying for rain, Faith is carrying an umbrella." I used to think that hoping for something and having faith in something are one in the same. After thinking on it more over the last few months, a striking difference has occurred to me. I want to thank whoever put that up on the churches billboard.

When we hope for something, it may or may not happen. We tend to make a backup plan in case things go wrong. Not that there is anything particularly wrong with ever having a backup plan. But it means we have explored our own doubts about the outcome of the situation. We have allowed ourselves an out if things don't go the way we want them to.

Putting our full faith in to something takes away any doubt that it will happen. There is no back up plan, no doubt, only the honest, true belief that this outcome will happen. Knowing that something has to be, often gives us more motivation and pushes us farther. Just like love, there is risk, but we put all other cares aside.

So how does this drive us?

When trying to accomplish a goal, going to college, loosing weight, building a business, we have to have some form of hope or faith to get us through difficult situations that come with reaching any goal. Hope can get us so far. We can hope we pass a test, hope we lost weight, we can capture that customer. Hope can get us so far. Hope is like gambling, we could make it/we could not.

To assure success you must have faith that you can do what you put your mind to. You have to push all doubt out of your mind. Write down your goal, visualize yourself accomplishing that goal, make sure that you KNOW that you will succeed.

When you start living with less and less doubt in your life, you will be amazed at what you see. You stand taller, talk with more confidence and are just more at ease with yourself and those around you. When we are more sure of ourselves, the world sees it, likes it and wants to know your why.

Have a Blessed Day,


Brandy Deming

CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com

http://www.womenswealthandwellness.com/celticblessings
http://www.twitter.com/brandysbiz

Trust

You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough.

-Frank Crane

In this day and age, and maybe in every other day and age (I lack the personal experience to speak on other days and ages), trust is a rare thing. I hear quite often how someone "doesn't trust anyone" or "doesn't trust anyone they don't know". This makes me smile. Doing research to verify what someone is telling you is one thing, not trusting anyone is another. If you are a person who prides themselves on not trusting people, you should probably stop reading here.


You trust people every day, you trust people you never have, nor probably never will, meet in person. 'I DO NOT!', you say? Well, if you leave your house, use electricity in your house or turn your water on you do. We trust that the people driving behind us will hit their brakes and not hit us. We trust that the person driving next to us will stay in their lane. We trust that the power company employees will go to work today. We trust in the person who made the food we are eating (even the person who fills the Mac N Cheese box!). There is an entire army of people who we trust every day to do the right thing, get their job done right and have common courtesy. Think on this one, the first few times I realized this, I was really, REALLY, nervous driving home.


This is a great story about a professional golfer, I cannot recall from what era or what his name is, but it's a great story:


He had been on the professional circuit for about 2 years. He was having a remarkable game one day and actually took 1st place. But because of an error by his caddy, a mis-add that would have actually improved his score, he was disqualified. An error in scoring is an error in scoring, good or bad, and is an immediate disqualification. He was not mad, caddy didn't get fired, he simply said "We all make mistakes and I still had the best game of my career, even if it didn't count for winning."


Two weeks later he beat his best game and won $15,000. Being very proud of himself, he took his time washing up and getting changed. Just really enjoying the moment. As he was walking to his car a young, disheveled woman came up to him... She had no money, no job, her baby was sick, dieing in the hospital, she couldn't pay the medical bills and she was about to loose their car and their apartment. Could he please help? Without a second though, he sighed the $15,000 check over to her.


The next day one of his friends who had seen the interaction, informed him that she was a con artist. She had stolen from him. There was no sick baby, just a greedy woman. "Your kidding?" he asked. "That's the best news I've heard all day. There's no sick baby. I was up all night worrying about a poor child in the hospital."


You see sometimes when you focus on all the bad things that people do and have to offer, you miss out on some of the really great stuff. You stress yourself out, become suspicious and may loose out on great things that can come your way. The way the golfer reacted is amazing, completely ignoring the wrong that was done to him, relishing in the positive of what happened. In his world, there is now one less sick child. Fabulous!


I'm not saying that you should put your trust in everyone that you meed. Just to be a little less distrustful. Give a dollar to that homeless guy, does it really matter if he spends it on food or booze, that's going to be HIS conversation with his maker, not yours. Yours will be of kindness. Donate to charity that comes to your door. Sure, it may be a scheme, but in the long run $5 won't make or break you. But it can be a meal or help that someone else really, really needs. Lets work together to make this world a better place. One blind kindness at a time.




Have a Blessed Day,


Brandy Deming

CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com
http://www.womenswealthandwellness.com/celticblessings
http://www.twitter.com/brandysbiz

Give it away!

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.
-Dale Carnegie


Ever needed that shoulder to cry on or just a good hug? Someone to give you an uplifting word? I have. Every body has. Sometimes we get it, sometimes we don't. There is a secret for it always to be there for you.... give it to someone.

In friendships, relationships and business, it is often easier to accomplish what you want done by helping someone else do what they need to do. Letting friends know they can call you at any time if they need to talk, giving that extra little bit to let them know that you appreciate them, all comes back to you eventually. When you need them, they will be there, as long as what you are doing for them is out of kindness, not because you have a big move coming up and you need help.

Go that extra mile in relationships too. Stop and pick some flowers (or buy them) for no reason at all. Surprise her (or him) with night out. Right them a poem. Plan a picnic in the park. And let them know how much you care.

In business, always try to improve your customer service and your service to the community. People love shopping someplace when they know it does someone else good. The lovely woman who owns the BBQ Pit in Mt. Vernon feeds hungry and homeless people once a week. Do you think I eat there? Every chance I get, the food is great and I know that by supporting this business I support our community. You can designate a certain percentage of sales to a charity, or open your place up for fundraisers, offer your services at a discount to non-profits. And let everyone know that you are doing this. You'll see people more often coming in to support you and your cause.

There is lots of good you can do in the world as a friend, spouse and business owner, do it. Do as much good as you possibly can. Get interested in other peoples causes and other peoples lives. By taking the focus off of your woes and your current issues, focus on someone else or a charity. You'll meet tons of new people that way and know that at the end of the day, you've made a difference in someones life.


Have a Blessed Day,

Brandy Deming

CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com
http://www.womenswealthandwellness.com/celticblessings
http://www.twitter.com/brandysbiz

Faith In You

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.
-Norman Vincent Peale

In order to succeed, we have to believe we can succeed. In order to be healthy, we have to believe we can be healthy. To be happy, we have to believe we can be happy. If we don't have faith that we can do something, we will always be looking for ways to NOT do what we want. SOMETHING will always go wrong and prevent us from reaching our goals. Let me repeat that one again SOMETHING WILL ALWAYS GO WRONG AND PREVENT US FROM REACHING OUR GOALS. If we are looking for a way out, or a sign that we shouldn't be doing this, or some excuse that will give us a good cop out, we will find it. Now let's flip that.

If we don't allow any excuses, NONE. And we start reinforcing faith in ourselves, we can do anything. Say that out loud 'I CAN DO ANYTHING!" It's an amazing thing, even if we don't believe in it immediately. It's like a personal revival. You are now rebuilding faith in yourself. Start with a good foundation of self-respect, then build the You that You want to be. No excuses. Find a way.

Think of all those people who overcame massive odds to do great things. You can do it. Is it any more impressive that Lance Armstrong overcame cancer to win the Tour d'France multiple times, or that a woman can raise 4 well adjusted happy kids while holding a job and having inner happiness? I don't think so. It takes the same self confidence and self love to overcome disease and despair as it does to conquer every day life. And once you are successful in one, you can do anything you put your mind to.



Have a Blessed Day,

Brandy Deming
CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com

http://www.womenswealthandwellness.com/celticblessings
http://www.twitter.com/brandysbiz