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

Loving Yourself or Abusing Yourself?

Self-love is not opposed to the love of other people. You cannot really love yourself and do yourself a favor without doing people a favor, and vise versa.

-Dr. Karl A. Menninger

Our biggest critic is ourselves. We are taught to try to be perfect, to get everything 'just so', but do we really, really have to have everything together all the time? Too often we run ourselves ragged trying to live up to our perceived expectations and then when we don't meet them we beat ourselves up about it. We must start being happy with what we have done and not be so down on ourselves about what we haven't been able to do, or didn't do well.


Even our language can effect the way we feel about ourselves. If we fail to meet a goal, or stumble off our path we say that we failed. We did not fail, we just didn't quite succeed. We need to brush ourselves off, reassess the situation and move forward. Be proud that we tried. I was in Pilates class yesterday with about 10 other women and the instructor said a wonderful thing, "Don't worry if you cannot complete the moves this time, you are here, that's what counts. You are now better then everyone else out there who isn't even trying."


What a great way to think about life!


If you are trying to build a business and you didn't achieve your goal. Don't worry. At least you are trying. Think about the millions of people out there who are grinding away at a dead end job every day, making no progress at all. You are at least trying. And the more you try, the more you'll succeed. Maybe other people haven't had set-backs in their business, but at least you took the initiative and started your own business! Celebrate your courage and determination, not the parts that are less then successful.


Trying to loose weight is another doosey. If you feel you are falling behind on your health goals, don't worry, just keep at it! There are millions out there who constantly complain about needing to loose weight, but you are doing something about it! Feel fabulous that you are trying, because... the more you try, the more you'll succeed!


Let's see if we can add a little more self-love into our lives. Celebrate all the wonderful things we do. Dismiss those things that don't go right. Get back up and try again... and again! Life is a journey, not a destination.



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

You Got to MOVE IT!

To will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring one to that goal and then hold to that action till the goal is reached. The key is action.

-Michael Hason

Our whole life is made up of actions, big and small. Even sleeping and doing nothing are actions. What we need in our lives is more purposeful actions. Along your day stop and ask yourself what this action is doing to help you reach your goals.


If you goal is to spend more time with your family and you see yourself playing on a computer or agreeing to work an extra shift. Stop. Redirect your action to something more productive to spending time with your family. If you are working that extra shift, take some of that extra money to save for a family outing. If you are playing on the computer, ask yourself if making that extra level will really satisfy you, or will reading your kids a story?


In business success, we often spin our wheels on menial tasks. Spending 45 minutes check email, then rechecking email, then checking our other email. It may be more effective for you to make a phone call instead of replying to an email. Even though typing and hitting send may only take a minute and the phone call may take 5, you are getting through to that person more effectively. Creating a positive bond between you and that individual. And we all crave connections.


Just think about what you are doing, or not doing, and try to redirect some of those actions to your goals. Success is the some of small actions, done day in and day out.




Have a Blessed Day,


Brandy Deming
CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com

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

Deep Practice

To be able under all circumstances to practice five things constitutes perfect virtue; these five things are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.

-Confucius (551BC - 479BC)

Out of every class or book we read, no matter how bad, we can find one or two gems of information and/or wisdom. No matter who we talk to there is always something new we can learn from them . One of my favorites for the week is the term 'Deep Practice'. Here in the West if we know the basics of how to do something, we know it. In the East, we don't know something until we know how to do it right. With Eastern Philosophy we would spend lots of time doing the same task over and over again, just to say we know how to do it. This is what Deep Practice refers to.


We too often think of things to practice as physical acts. We practice our music, sports and crafts. But how often do we practice ways of thinking or reacting? Positive thought and positive actions cannot just be something we idly strive towards or tentatively know. We must practice them day in and day out until it becomes part of us. Deep Practice.


You can set up goals for your new positive mindset. Try going an hour without saying or thinking anything negative about anyone else or yourself. Make it to and from a destination without insulting a fellow driver. Set aside time each day to re-affirm the positive things about yourself. You must set aside time to practice your positive lifestyle. The more you practice, the better you will be.


Same goes for your small business. We aren't born with the ability to talk or walk, we practice. So why do so many think that the second we sign up for a home business we become great entrepreneurs. We have to practice it. We must practice our pitch, we must review and learn about our products, we must learn how to approach people, how to set up our demo, etc, etc. Most people have a curve of 6m -12m. A curve being the amount of time it takes you to become proficient in your business. Expect poor results the first 6 months, better results after the first 12 and then you should hit your stride in your 2nd year. This is true about all businesses. Home based and brick and mortar. Expect to loose money your first 2 years. Anything better then that and you ROCK!


Listen to your mother, "Practice makes perfect". Use it for your whole life. Loosing weight, being a good friend, positive thinking and work. The more you work on improving yourself the better you will be.



Have a Blessed Day,


Brandy Deming
CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com

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

K.I.S.S.

You don't need to outdo the competition. It's expensive and defensive. Underdo your competition. We need more simplicity and clarity.

-Jason Fried

We all tend to over-complicate our lives. Even taking a shower can be a complex string of choices and options. Do I scrub, wash or exfoliate? Is my hair in need of volume, shine or deep cleansing? Does my skin need more moisture or anti-aging? And that's just the first 15 minutes of our day. Everything has become a complicated with so many options, it can make your head spin.


We need to be less harsh on ourselves and simplify. There is no way of turning back the clock to simpler times, so we must cope with what we have. By simplifying and changing the way we react to stress, our lives can become more livable.


Over-Committed. I find myself in this situation more often then not. We must learn to say No. Do one project at a time. If you haven't finished that basket for the fundraiser on Friday, don't agree to have another one ready by Monday (unless baskets is your business and then go for it!). When your trying to find time to squeeze in a hike for a Scout group, don't agree to host a party the same week. We want to be helpful, make people happy, but too often we sacrifice our happiness for the good of others. Try what you can to do one thing at a time, you'll thank yourself later.


Under-Paid. We often don't get paid what we are worth. We get stuck in a job that we can stand, but as the cost of living goes up, our pay doesn't. And when we actually do get a raise, it's never quite enough. There are several ways to try and cope with this. Don't be afraid to ask for a raise. There has been plenty of times when someone is complaining how they haven't had a raise in years, but never asked. Leave your options open. Don't accept that just because things have always been one way, they will always be that way. Do a search every couple of months to see what else is out there. And if there is an opening for what you do and the pay is higher, go for it. Turn your hobbies into money. There are lots of services that people are willing to pay for. If you quilt, start letting people know that you teach classes, or create patterns to sell online. Work on cars? A little back yard wrench slinging can pull in some cash. Like books? There are ample opportunities to buy and resell books. Two for one, you get to shop then you get to sell!


Not Appreciated. We don't get thanked for a lot of things we do. Start patting your own back! make sure you take time each week to award yourself for all that you do!


Over-Worked. Business owners and the working person both have this problem. We want to get more done then our competitors, make sure we get that raise. So we add more hours to our work week. We need to work effectively and we can't be effective if we are run down. We skip our breaks, lunch and then stay an hour or two later. Even if you feel that you get more done in that extra hour then you've gotten done all day, chances are you'd get more done within that 8 hours if you had some time during the day to refresh yourself. Take a break. 15 minutes of stretching or a brisk walk not only will help you feel energized, but will add a better boost to your day then an extra espresso. Quit at quitting time. At least twice a week, stop working when you are supposed to. That extra hour or two will add much more ease to your life and boost your work then the little extra money you would have earned working late.


Just take a look at all you are doing, be proud of what you accomplish. Take time for you and your family to increase your relaxation and inner happiness. See what you can cut out of your life if you are over-committed. Above all, don't take any of it too seriously, life is temporary after all!



Have a Blessed Day,


Brandy Deming
CelticBlessings4U@Gmail.com

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