Rabbit Food

If I liked eating rabbit food, I would look like someone who ate rabbit food.  ~Moi


It is no real secret that I don't like salad, or raw carrots for that matter. To me those things taste like cardboard. Not that I don't like my veggies and fruits, I just like them cooked... and covered in butter. The true reality is that I like, no LOVE food. All kinds. I can't even pick a favorite, because I'm afraid one of the others might get jealous and stop agreeing with my taste buds, or even worse, my digestive system.

You may be thinking, "What [TF] does this have to do with  positive choices or success?", well... lots. You see, there's a lot of us out there who have to make daily and hourly decisions based on what we like and what we have to do. Just the facts of life.

There is a dreamland that I like to visit where eating red meat, smoking and drinking are not only acceptable behaviors, but healthy. As a matter of fact last night I had a dream about eating a HUGE plate of fluffy white cake with butter cream frosting while having the best chilled mocha and a tasty smoke. Sounds sad, but true. I also looked great. The reality is, if I eat what I want, when I want, do what I want when I want, the next 10 years of my life will definitely be the last and I'll spend them lounging around on the couch looking like the sexiest Jaba you've ever seen.

We all have to make choices, some are easy, some are hard. I'm trying to be here for you to help you make them match the goals that you have set for yourself. I bounce around a bit, because everyone has different goals, but the desire to build will power and instincts are all the same.

So, sit back, pretend that the rice cakes are the best smoked ribs EVER and hopefully you learn something... or at least get a good laugh out of it.

Have a Blessed Day,

Brandy Deming

CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/brandy.deming

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy.

"It's a heck of a start, being able to recognize what makes you happy."

-Lucille Ball


Over the last year my son has be increasingly obsessed with stuff. He always wants to get stuff, anything: toys, mail, candy, etc. He will explain to you in great detail how happy it makes him to be on the receiving end of gifts. He likes to get stuff to give stuff away. And it worries me.

It worries me because he is not happy without it. It worries me that when he is not happy, he doesn't know why. It worries me because I was the same way when I was his age, though mine was not the getting stuff, it was just a general unhappiness.

I've spent years and years trying to fill that void where happiness should be. I went through my teen years feeling hopeless and terrible unhappy, I had The Void. I've tried filling it with food, drinks, relationships, you name it, I tried it. None of it every worked, I'd get a temporary relieve from The Void, but over time The Void always came back. All I was doing was avoiding the what and why of happiness.

There is no certainty that you or I will ever find what truly makes us happy, but a little inner searching can help you distinguish why we do what we do.

Does money make me happy? No. Some people really love money, I don't. It pisses me off. I have to dedicate so much of my time to earning it, managing it and spending it, that it takes away from all the stuff I really want to be doing. I want it, lots of it, just so that I can go about my daily life without the money questions lingering in the back of my mind.

Does food make me happy? Kinda. Food is an odd sort of fellow. I love the fact that you can take all these seemingly unrelated items and create a fabulous experience of the senses. I like the fact that several times a day I can pull off a creation. The question is does food itself make me happy or is it the joy I get from the experience of working with it? I'll have to think about that question for a few more years.

I can go on and on with habits that are both good and bad and the 'Does it make me happy?' question. What I do know is I have a list of things that I know I get a kick out of: I like experiencing new things, I like creating things and I love learning something new. If I am doing any of those things, I fell happy and fulfilled, at least for a little while.

We all are different and our ability to acquire happiness is as varying as our personalities. You just have to ask yourself if what you are doing is making you happy. Long term success is based on how happy and content you are with your daily actions. If you continue to do things that go against your happiness, you will stop doing them or turn into a bitter and often angry person.

So, lighten up. Let some joy in. Who cares if you are 55 and still finger painting and playing with dolls. If it makes you happy, then do it!



Have a Blessed Day,


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

Perfection is Not Required

Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.

-Eugene Delacroix

A look into history you will find that our obsession with perfection is relatively new. Only in the last few centuries has the need for everything to be 'just right' really driven us. The only saying "cleanliness is next to Godliness" comes from centuries of not having running water, fire in the house and a complete void of disinfectants. And yet there were great successes.


Many times I have hesitated or even not completed a task because I thought that I wasn't doing it right or that the results weren't up to par. In sewing I have tossed entire projects because of faults that, looking back, I'm sure only I noticed. Hours of work and materials wasted, all for my need to make something look 'perfect'. Handiwork isn't the only area of our lives where our drive for perfection can distract us from progress.


I speak to a lot of people who are all or nothing. They refuse to make any forward progress because of a hundred different reasons why they can't do something. They are waiting until after the holidays to lose that weight. As soon as football seasons over they will put the time in to build that business. There is always a reason to delay, ways that the timing isn't perfect.


We discount trying. Just getting going and doing something is better then nothing at all. When trying to lose weight, small steps can lead to big results. I started by switching from regular coke to diet coke, then not ordering french fries with meals. Small bits that can be easily maintained and over time lead to a total overhaul of my lifestyle. The weight didn't fall off, but it stayed off. I'm not perfect, sometimes I have fried food, sometimes I have cake. I just consistently work on making good choices and in the end it pays off. It's not perfection, it's progress.


Same goes for a lot of our lives. No one does anything perfect the first time. In many philosophies there is no way to ever do anything perfectly. If there is anything you want to do, you should do it. Let nothing stand in your way. If you're doing it wrong, you'll learn. We learn more from doing something wrong then from doing it right the first time. Don't worry about perfection, keep your eye on success.




Have a Blessed Day,

Brandy Deming

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

Back From Vacation.

To love what you do and feel that it matters- how could anything be more fun?

-Katharin Graham

I am refreshed and back from vacation. I know I've said on here how important it is to not only spend quality time with your family, but quality time with yourself. I had such an amazing 8 days off. 4 of which were spent with my best friend and 4 days with my son. I just had a blast. No worries in the world.


There's a lot of you out there that can't possibly take a multiple day vacation, so today I'm dedicating to the mini-vacation and stay-cations. It is so important to your soul and well being to have fun, that I think everyone should attend a class on enjoying life. I'm going to share some great ways that we have made a fun injection into our over-worked, stressed-out lives.


First close your eyes and think of a time where you were so happy your face hurt, or maybe you laughed until you cried. When I did this I thought of many years ago when my best friend and I went camping together with some friends and how terribly much fun we had. I called her up that same day and told her we HAD to do that again. So we set up a time and nothing, NOTHING, got in our way of going.


There was also a time when we were sitting around talking about how much fun we used to have on Saturday mornings. We would wake up before our parents and build a little fort in the living room, eat Captain Crunch and watch Gummy Bears, Smurfs and He-Man. We got a good laugh out of reminiscing about our childhood, but it got me to thinking. So I went down to the library, found Smurfs, Fraggle Rock and (as much as I hate to confess) I already had He-Man on tape. So I woke up really early, made chocolate chip pancakes, woke up my son and made a fort in the living room with our old sheets. We giggled and watched my old time favorite cartoons. Talk about a boost to the week. I giggled about that for a month.


A stay-cation is another great way of getting your family together. It can be one day or a weekend. Google recreation in your local area and pick a few things that your family can do together. A few months ago I had an appointment in Anacortes, it's only an hour away, but I packed us all up. When the appointment was done, we scooted over to the Deception Pass Bridge and out to Oak Harbor. It wasn't much, just a little hiking and walking along the beach. But taking time out of your busy schedule for the ones you love makes the biggest difference.


We all want more money, time and nicer things, it's only natural. The most valuable thing we have is Time and we absolutely must share it with others. Spend it wisely and splurge it on those you love, it turns out for the best in the end.



Have a Blessed Day,


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

Smile

Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile, when it is difficult to smile. Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family.

-Mother Teresa

There are many places in life that you cannot get to without a smile. Namely, people's hearts and minds. I picked up a saying awhile back, 'Smile when you feel like frowning, laugh when you feel like crying.'. I'm not sure who I picked it up from, but it helps. In our down and out moments doing the opposite of what we feel like can do a world of good.


Smiles are also contagious. You will open more doors in life with a sincere smile and looking people in the eyes, then you can being cleaver. I am reminded of a story I heard about Mrs. Gretchen and Mrs. Smith.


Mrs. Gretchen and Mrs. Smith went to the same church and attended the ladies brunch together on the first Saturday of the month. Mrs. Smith never took a liking to Mrs. Gretchen, and didn't know why. She would smile at her, and Mrs. Gretchen would scowl back. She would ask her how her week went, Mrs. Gretchen would give short answers with a nasty tone that made Mrs. Smith feel sorry for even asking. And so after a while Mrs. Smith just accepted the fact that Mrs. Gretchen didn't like her. And that's the way it went for a long time.


Then one day Mrs. Smith got to thinking about it again, and it made her sad and angry. Sad that they didn't like each other and angry that Mrs. Gretchen never gave her a chance. So Mrs. Smith started taking ingredients out of her cupboards. She mixed up the dough for the pie crust, thinking about all the times she had smiled at Mrs. Gretchen and not gotten a smile back. She boiled the pudding on the stove thinking about how they always seem to sit at different tables during brunch. She whipped up the meringue thinking how she always set so far away from Mrs. Gretchen during church. Then when her perfect lemon meringue pie was done, she looked down at her feet and said "OK, start walking."


With her stomach in knots, she started down the street. Wanting a million times to turn around and go home, she crossed the tracks. Then she looked around at this run down neighborhood. No color, no kids playing, no sprinklers, all browns and greys. And she felt a little sad. Feeling about faint, she knocked on Mrs. Gretchen's door. "What do you want?!" was the answer she got. "I made you a pie and would like to share a piece with you." Mrs. Smith replied. They went in and shared that pie, and coffee, and it wasn't that they miraculously got along from that day to this, but it slowly got better. And now they are friends, not best friends, but friends nonetheless.


It's not a miracle to be nice to people, but it can be difficult. Smile. Smile. Smile. It will help. And when it seems that someone hates you and you feel like hating them in return. Do something extra nice for them. You may not be best friends after that. But it will lessen the anger and after a while, the anger will be gone.


Have a Blessed Day,


Brandy Deming

CelticBlessings4u@Gmail.com

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

Listening

"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."

-Sir Winston Churchill

This wonderful thought occurred to me yesterday. We tend to see ourselves and others as either a success or failure. We accomplish or fail. There is this whole entire grey area between failure and success that we call life. We should find a different yard stick to measure ourselves by. Lets put aside bank accounts, cars and clothes. Lets look at our lives, that grey area. Are you happy? Are those around you happy? Do you have that special someone? Do you have friends? How's your extended family? Think about it. Give yourself a pat on the back if you had a positive answer and reaction to all the questions... heck... if you have 3 out of 5 you're doing good.

The point is not that we don't need money and the like to be successful, the point is that the small efforts we make to ensure personal, family and relationships succeed are the same set of skills used to be a success in business. If you know how to listen, when to have which emotional reaction, can give advise when needed and are pleasant to be around, more people will flock to you and your business.

Lets take listening as an example, verbal and non-verbal. When your wife [or husband] is telling you how their day went, do you smile and nod or listen? If you can't actually remember how your significant other's day went yesterday, you were just going along with the conversation, and not really listening. Mind what they are saying, try to take mental notes [write them down when you are done if you tend to forget things easily] look at how they are standing, keep eye contact. Does it look like there is something else they want to say? Do they look like they want a response from you? Are the just venting? Now, the next day try and recall how their day was. Check your notes. Try doing this activity 2-5 times a week. If you don't have a significant other, try it with a friend or roommate.

How does this pertain to business? Listen, listen, LISTEN!! To co-workers, management, clients, bartenders, whomever. You never know when your next jewel of information will come to you. For example, with Send Out Cards, I use the Internet to send a physical card through the postal service, with a first class stamp. Did you know that the postal service was going to cut back a day of delivery because of lack of mail? [not a joke or plug http://kuow.org/program.php?id=1646 ] I now feel that sending cards is patriotic. I want to support my postal service. How did I learn about this spin to my business? Listening to a conversation in line at Albertsons.

Listening will also get you more customers. I know people who will drive an extra 45 minutes to go to a dentist because they see him as a part of their extended family. And how does he do it? He has trained himself and all the staff to take notes of the small talk that they have (names of dogs, ages of children, painting the house, buying a new car, etc.). Then the next time they come in, or when he send them their birthday card, he can add in a personal note ie. How is the new puppy? I hope your enjoying the new car! How was Cindy's 9th birthday? Amazing! How to stay above the game!

Try and remember to listen and pay attention to your loved ones. A truly loving, compassionate companion is not only a hit with their family and friends. But the positive energy and uplift you'll start radiating will attract others to you creating a influx of customers.

Have a Blessed Day,

Brandy Deming

CelticBlessings4u@Gmail.com

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