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

Jim Rohn - Apples

"Some things you have to do every day. Eating seven apples on Saturday night instead of one a day just isn't going to get the job done."
-Jim Rohn


Oh, how this makes me laugh at myself. I always think, well if I miss a work out today, I'll just double up tomorrow. Then when the week ends, I wonder why I don't get the results I wanted.

If you missed brushing your teeth one morning, would doing it twice that evening make it all better? Not really. We must, must set our priorities for the day and follow through on them. There are many things that have to be done every day, telling your family that you love them, getting physical activities, eating your veggies, etc. If you are lacking in one of the areas that you want to improve, find something small to do every day to work towards that goal. You'll find that if you stick to it, it just comes naturally after a while.

And just think of having to eat 7 apples in one sitting, talk about a chore!



Have a Blessed Day,

Brandy Deming

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

Jim Rohn Day 2

"Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the fundamentals."
-Jim Rohn


This week I have been teaching my son how to fry an egg. There is quite a bit of skill that goes into frying the perfect egg: cracking, opening, distance of release from pan, temperature of the pan, proper grease, seasoning, timing of the flip, the flip itself and then completion. All these things most of us do without thinking to create a successful breakfast of fried eggs. He is learning, going through all the steps, sometimes missing a step and not getting the results that he wants, but he will try again tomorrow. There has been tears, and frustration, and dissapointment, and a little bit of anger. But he keeps doing those same steps over and over again, and that is all any of us can do.

There are definite activities that we must do to reach success in our chosen area. Sometimes we know all the steps, sometimes we have to research them. If my son gives up today, then tomorrow, next week and next year, there will be no fried eggs for breakfast. If you give up on the basic steps you need to be successful, there will be no success. But, if you apply those steps every day, every week, month after month, success will come. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day and for the rest of your life.

Have a Blessed Day,

Brandy Deming

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

Jim Rohn Day 1

Time for my tribute to Jim Rohn, he passed away in December of 2009. Definitly one of my favorite inspirational speakers.

"There are always a half-dozen things that make 80 percent of the difference. A half-dozen things.

"Whether we are working to improve our health, wealth, personal achievement or professional enterprise, the difference between triumphant success or bitter failure lies the degree of our commitment to seek out, study, and apply those half-dozen things."
-Jim Rohn

In an article I once read, it stated that the average number of things most people can remember is 7 things. I disagreed, there are 7 sins and 7 dwarfs, I can never remember all of them. Usually I remember 6. So a half-dozen things are easy to remember.

Thinking on this concept I tried to apply it to many aspects of life, it turned out to be so very true. Having read lots of self-help, inspirational and instructional books; they all say the same things from different angles. Could it be because there are really only 6 things we need to work on to improve our lives? Let's take a look:

Health:

1. Exercise at least 20 min, 4 times a week
2. Eat whole grains
3. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables
4. Avoid Fat
5. Eat Lean Meats (may fall under #4)
6. Watch Your Portions

That's about it. Easier listed then applied, but those 6 things can create a world of difference.

Personal Development:

1. Do what you say you're going to do.
2. Keep in contact with friends.
3. Spend time with your family.
4. Read something inspiring every day.
5. Do something good for someone else at least once a week.
6. Be abundant with gratitude.

Hmm... There seems to be a pattern here.

Business:

1. Write it down! (goals, daily planner, business plan and marketing plan)
2. Keep a good contact list.
3. Follow up with customers and potential customers.
4. Try to meet at least 5 new people every week.
5. Do something every day to advance your business.
6. Know when to get help.

Some may vary business to business, but there are certainly only a few things that make the biggest difference. If you get in the habit of doing #1 then 2-6 will fall into place.

Personal Finance:

1. Save then spend.
2. Know your wants vs. needs.
3. If you can't pay cash for it, you don't need it.
4. Planning leads to success.
5. The best things in life are truly free.
6. Know when to get help. (one of my personal mantras)

I'm pretty sure I can go on all day with my lists of 6, but that would be dull. There is a pretty easy way to make your own list of 6.

First write down what you want to accomplish (weight, happiness, savings), then think about what has to be done to get there (lose weight, have friends, better spending habits), write out as many of those things that have to be done as you possibly can. Then go over your list and find those 6 things that everything on your list has in common. Keep that list posted on your bathroom mirror so you read it every day. That way you know what to concentrate on!

Have a Blessed Day,

Brandy Deming

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

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

Does It Hurt Enough?

One day when traveling, I walk into an old General Store. You know the kind with wood flooring? There's a dog laying by the counter, groaning. Every few minutes he'd let out a little groan. When I put my items on the counter to pay for it I ask the man there what was wrong with the dog. He stated that the dog was laying on a nail. I asked why he didn't move. The man replied, "It doesn't hurt enough."

I heard this the other day on a Leadership Training CD. The man spoke of how many of us complain about different aspects of our lives, but never do anything about it. How it's because it doesn't hurt enough yet. It's shocking how true this is!

There are things about our lives that we all want to change. Everyone knows by now that I am a self-improvement junkie. It's amusing that there are a lot of people out there who think that only losers and those with low self esteem read self-improvement books. When, in reality, a lot of successful people have a huge library of self-improvement books. It's a matter of being the best you that you can be. Why wait until it hurts to do something about it?

Millions of people complain every day about how much they hate their job, their body, their living situations, etc. Day in and day out they do the same things and then scowl at the results. They never do anything to change it, because change is difficult. It's like voting. I hear tons of people that complain about our political situation, yet only 1/4 of us actually vote. One of the things I ask people when they are on a political rant is if they vote, 3/4 say 'No'. My response is 'If you're not going to participate in the system and try to do something to change it, don't complain.' Just like everything else in life, if you're not doing something to try to change what you dislike about your life, don't complain about it... you're the one making the choices.

Being that ideal vision you have of yourself takes hard work and lots of practice. You can't wake up one morning and decide you are going to run a marathon, 26.5 miles in a day is a LOT of running. You have to train, you have to practice, you have to come up with a fee for participating, you have to have the proper equipment. All this for one little marathon. Think about your personal goal. Break it down. Work on it a little every day. Practice the skills that you need to reach that goal.

Wealth, health and positive attitudes don't appear over night. It just doesn't. We have to step out of our comfort zone and reach for it. Sometimes we don't succeed the first time, but we must keep trying. Keep an open mind, don't listen to the nay-sayers. Don't sit there an let your life hurt you, get up and do something about it. We only have this one life, make it good.


Have a Blessed Day,

Brandy Deming

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

Visualization and Action

I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That's the thing. You can't just visualize and go eat a sandwich.
-Jim Carrey



When trying to change your life in any way, using positive affirmations is an incredibly useful tool. I know there are many people who have never heard of this concept so I'll start with a brief explanation:

Positive affirmations is a positive activity that you want to have happen. They are written as if they have already happened. Your affirmations should be read at least once a day, though twice is twice as good. They are especially effective if red before going to bed and again when you first wake up. Mine are written in a card that I carry around with me everywhere. Here are some examples of affirmations for different situations:

For losing weight: I am 130 lb. I am a healthy, fit, energetic person.

For quitting smoking: I am smoke-free. I am breathing better.

For school: I am a college graduate. I am passing all my tests.

For business: I am attracting the right customers to my business. I am attracting wealth in abundance.

If you have any questions about your affirmations, or would like some assistance, you can always contact me and I will be glad to help.

Affirmations must be used in combination with activities to assist in reaching your goals. You cannot repeat 100 times a day that you are going to be healthy and fit, then not exercise and eat fast food 3 times a day. Affirmations are there to push your subconscious mind into creating positive choices through your day.

Just like hypnotherapy and subliminal messaging, without a real drive and personal interest in making changes, affirmations cannot work by themselves. Your day should be punctuated by the positive choices you have made. Celebrate your success and the success of others. Many small steps will construct the journey of your life.

Success Corner: I want to congratulate Terry, Angie and Tammy for their recent positive choice to make a better life for themselves, both financially and health wise. They have done what a lot of people choose not to, they have committed to daily activities to grow a business and live healthy lives. Way to go!

Have a Blessed Day,


Brandy Deming



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

Help the Community to Help Yourself

Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.

-Anthony J. D'Angelo

Being a part of the community (online communities too!) can help boost your sense of worth. Sometimes being a part of something bigger then yourself can give you a larger goal to work towards. Solidifying your place within your own community can take years, but there are some great ways to get started.

Town hall meetings are a great way to meet the most influential and active members of the community. At school, being active in the PTSA. Also look into local clubs, Masons, Eagles, etc. By being around those who already have roots in the community, you learn more about ongoing important local issues. One cup of coffee with a few folks who have been living in your area for ten or more years will give you more information then the local paper. Not only do you get to increase your standing in the community, make new contacts, you get to have fun!


Shopping local is another great way to meet people. Especially in the non-tourist season, mostly local people shop local. Start a conversation with a fellow shopper or the owner (usually the one behind the counter), this can certainly help you get the feel of the community. The economic value is incredible as well. If you shop at a big chain like Wal-Mart, only about 9% of what you spend stays local, by shopping local you can boost that percentage to 50% plus. Not to mention that the money that is spent at a local shop is usually spent local as well. A dollar spent locally gets re-spent 4-8 times.


I'll end with volunteering. The food bank, the school, the library and the local chamber of commerce almost always need volunteers. Helping others always gives me a boost. I think that if more people were helping other people, we wouldn't need so many anti-depressants. Nothing can snap me out of a funk faster then helping someone in need.


Besides the positive effects on yourself all of these activities can lead to a healthier business for you. People that participate in all these activities show a higher leadership potential and usually have more contacts then those who do not. Good for you, good for your business and good for the community!




Have a Blessed Day,


Brandy Deming


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

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

Accepting Life. No returns, no refunds.

Each one of us is given a life. That life is like a block of wood waiting to be carved. Everything that happens, good and bad, takes a small shaving off. We don't know what we end up with, but must accept the shape that it takes.

-Me

When things go terribly, horribly wrong in our lives, we have a habit of asking "Why me?". Knowing that we didn't deserve something this bad to happen. We've done good, we volunteer, we help our neighbors, pay our taxes, so why do bad things happen to good people?

The shaping of character comes from not only the good things in life, but also the bad. But I only know of a hand full of people that will stop when everything is well and ask "Why me?". There's a lot more people out there who only find faith, hope and strength in times of need. Only when in a desperate hour to they call on friends and family. We tend to ignore life when it is good and curse it when it is bad. This all occurred to me about 3 weeks ago listening to the Travis Smiley (i think) show on NPR. I just caught a few moments of it, he had said "At the end of each and every day, we must ask ourselves 'What's the lessin and what's the blessin?'." The 'each day' struck me.

I realized that I had become really good at looking at the not-so-great moments of my life and picking the positive out, then moving on. Finding that diamond in a dung hill and letting the other crap go. But what about my good days? Was I seeking out positive reinforcement on those days? Was I reading my motivational books then? Not really. I was waiting until things started to go awry until I sought out an uplifting message.

This all reverted me back to Deep Practice. We must be thankful at the end of each day. Good and bad. We must practice on our good days to be thankful so that on our bad days it comes to us easier. We need to stop looking to the Heaven's asking "Why me?". We need to look to the Heaven's and say "Thank You." and then look within and say "Why not me?"

When the truly tragic happens, would you be willing to push all that sorrow onto someone else? Would you be willing to crush a complete stranger's life to make your's easier? I thought about these questions for a long, long time. And I say No. Even though I would love to have my friends, family and loved ones back. I would not give up the hurt and sorrow that filled me when they passed. It shaped me. Everything I have ever done has shaped me, and if I gave or pushed out any of the good or the bad things that had happened I wouldn't be me. And that would be a tragedy in and of itself.

Enjoy life, enjoy each other. Accept what you have been given, be thank full for the good and the bad. We should not presume to know what life lessons are in store for us, or how they will shape them. Just know that one step at a time, one breath at a time, we get through this life, together.

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

CH-ch-ch-changes

"In the end, everybody knows what the goal is and how to achieve it. This is common knowledge, and it's been around for a long, long time. Success is about knowing these things and having the will to go after them without giving up, making excuses, or getting sidetracked. It's about the uncommon application of common knowledge."

-Dr. Ivan Misner



We all have a habit we'd like to kick or a little something about ourselves that we would like to change. Have you ever been struck by that 'Ah-ha!" moment when you realize exactly what you need to do to change it? Do you know how to change it, but just can't seem to do it? It's OK we have all been there, like watching our lives from the outside. Seeing ourselves do these not so great things, knowing that we are better then this, but just seeming like we can't do anything about it.



I have gone through my fair share of not so good habits. Being obese, compulsive eating, drugs, smoking, nail biting and a not so good mother. It's not that I woke up one morning and was a think, non-smoking, grade-a mom. It takes time to dissolve old habits. Lots of time, will power, support and tears. I didn't even quit smoking until this last week. That means that I have been dumping bad habits for the last 9 years. And the work is never done...



Let me tell you a story.. when I was in 8th grade we did an experiment. The teacher had asked if anyone knew origami (having learned how to make a 'ball' in 4th grade, I raised my hand), I then stood up in front of the class and showed over and over again how to make the ball. Then the teacher split us into two groups, and gave us 3 minutes to make as many balls as possible. Pitted us against each other. And both sides numbers grew. After 3 rounds we were making twice as many as we started. The teacher uses this as a business lesson in motivation and constant improvement. By pitting different shifts against each other, you can cause a competitive reaction to make the shifts do better and improve a little more each time. Constant improvement is still with me today. Thank you to my 8th grade Teacher, though for the life of me I can't remember his name.



We just have to remember that when we make a big change in our life, to take small steps, reward ourselves. Try to make tomorrow a little better then today. And if we should stumble or fall in our task. Not to get too upset, not to chastise and speak poorly of ourselves. To get up and try again. Because we are doing something, we have stopped just talking about doing and started doing. For that you should reward yourself.



Yes, I have lost 50 lb, I am drug-free and I am a non-smoker. It's a long, hard road back from these places, but together we can walk through it. You can be the person you see yourself as being. Just map out the road to get there and put one foot in front of the other. I believe in you.





Have a Blessed Day,



Brandy Deming


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