If you haven't noticed, I'm huge fan of Abraham Hicks, and I recently stumbled across a video titled "How to Identify Your Talent." (Click here to watch the video.) The woman in the hot seat asked, "How do I begin to identify which God-given talent I should focus on in order to fulfill my purpose here."
Abraham Hicks: "Follow the fun trail."
And if you have multiple fun trails... "Follow the funnest trail."
There is less resistance and more momentum when you are surrounded by what you enjoy. And that general sense of joy will help deliver more of what you want. Most importantly, you will experience more fun and happiness along the way. The actual receiving of what we want occurs in such small proportions in relation to our time spent on the journey to get there that it is essential that we learn to love our journeys to get the most of out of life!
We hear all the time that we should follow our passions. Do what you love. And there is absolute truth in this. If we do what we love, then our work is not work; it is a playful journey of experiences. Yet there is something more to this, and I challenge you to take ownership of this from both ends.
I do believe we are at our best when we are doing what we love. And I also suggest that we need to learn to love where we are RIGHT NOW to help us get what we want. If we chase whatever it is that we want without changing our attitudes and beliefs about where we are right now, we are setting ourselves up to have a life that won't be entirely satisfying until we attain our goals. That perfect job that you are madly in love with...the dream home...the loving sensitive spouse...they are all components of life that are OUT THERE.. that which you do not have now. If you can learn to create happiness where you are now, then not only will you have more enjoyment in your life immediately, you will also have less resistance and you will be aligned with your "bigger dream" of where you want to go.
For example:
In 2008, I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace seminar. We had to write our #1 goal in the top of our notebook. At the time I was living in Knoxville, TN and was in graduate school while working as a manager for a fitness company. My goal was "own a house on the cliffs of Malibu." It still is. I have had many love affairs with my Malibu house, and have worked so hard to manifest it (too much efforting, perhaps!). I have made vision boards, searched online for listings, wrote about how the house feels, had dreams about it, found local restaurants I love, and recently started a Sunday dinner routine by the beach in Malibu (I now live in southern California!). And yet despite doing all of these tasks, I still did not feel like I was truly any closer to my house. I recently got a hit (my lingo for an inspired action) to start designing the interior of the house, so I reached out to a family friend who is an interior designer and asked him what his process is with clients before they start renovating homes. He said, "start scrapbooking any images you like." And so that is exactly what I did. And yesterday, while scrapbooking for the second time, I got another hit: make your apartment feel like your Malibu beach home."
And then I got it.
I've been studying happiness and positive psychology for a large majority of my life in different ways, and recently I've consistently come across research that states that the quickest path to happiness is finding love, enjoyment, appreciation and gratitude in where we are RIGHT NOW. And this is a very specific example of what the Universe was telling me. "Amy, do not think that you will feel better when you get your house in Malibu. Feel better RIGHT NOW." I looked around my apartment and realized that many of the types of furnishings that are in my clippings are actually sitting in my living space RIGHT NOW. They need some straightening up, rearranging, and perhaps I can add a few other items to finish my look. But the truth is, the feeling of that relaxing, comfy, family-oriented home is RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW. And if I live in that satisfaction and savor the good feelings, Law of Attraction states that more of it will come.
Aha! Well done, Universe.
And the same goes for finding a dream job. Manifesting what you want requires you to feel good (so get happy anyway you can), and it also requires inspired action. I think many of us get stuck because we feel really excited about a particular direction or dream job, but we haven't the faintest idea of what action to take toward making it happen. So instead we stay where we are, feeling stuck and unhappy.
Go back to the basics. Find enjoyment where you are. One of the best steps you can take when you don't know where to go is to find happiness exactly where you are. There is certainly something that you like about your current job, and it is your responsibility to find and remember that. Focus on that and only that. Be determined to make your experience with your job the best one you possibly can, and go after that mission day in and day out until your momentum shifts. And I promise you, it will. Beliefs are just thoughts that you think over and over again, so if you have a belief that your job is terrible, you can change that. It takes practice and patience, but you can absolutely create a different belief that your job is wonderful and satisfying by seeking positive thoughts and reinforcing them throughout the day. Remember with Law of Attraction, like attracts like. So if you can create happiness and job satisfaction where you are, then more of it will come. Little doors will begin to open up and you will be met with inspiration to take the smallest of steps to move you in the direction you want to go. You may run into a new contact in the field that you'd like to change careers. You may run across a job posting and find you know someone in that company. Or you may have a moment of clarity in which you suddenly know what you want to do and have an exciting step to take. The opportunities are endless.
So in sum, do what you love, and love where you are. You will create happiness where you are immediately, and will develop momentum to take you in the direction that you want to head.
Cheers,
Amy
Monday, July 28, 2014
Saturday, July 19, 2014
4 Lessons from NTC
What I learned from my two days on Nike campus:
1. Take care of your people, and they will take care of you. I have never felt so accommodated, appreciated and welcomed by any other organization in my life as I did this week by Nike at Nike Training Camp. When you experience great service, you cannot help but want to be of service to others. The energy and inspiration that I experienced at NTC was indescribable, and I will forever be changed by it.
2. When you have a goal, take a step of any size toward it. Linear paths to where we want to go are rare. Be comfortable taking two steps to the right, as long as they are accompanied by one step forward. Just keep moving. The path to your dream does not need to be a straight line, and it most certainly will never end up exactly how you planned it. Expect that, and embrace it. And remember that any step is a productive step. Taking no step leaves you exactly where you are, and no one ever won a race at the start line.
3. Knowing what you don't want clarifies what you do want. So those steps to the right---they help you figure out that you want to go forward next. Life is full of experiences that provide us feedback. So stop that silly talk about failures and successes. Every single experience has value and will take you toward your dream if you are willing to learn from it. Time well spent.
4. Always be yourself. You should be joyously celebrated throughout your life, and that starts each day when you look in the mirror. Know who you are, and be you without abandon. People crave and respond to authenticity, and there is a reason that there is only one of you in the world. Own it.
A huge thank you to Geralyn Coopersmith and her Nike team, Michol Dalcourt, Jason Brown and Julz Arney for sharing your thoughts and experiences that resonated with me. And to the stranger who sat next to me on the flight home--you inspired me to take action and believe in myself, and it couldn't have come at a better time.
xoxo,
ALL
1. Take care of your people, and they will take care of you. I have never felt so accommodated, appreciated and welcomed by any other organization in my life as I did this week by Nike at Nike Training Camp. When you experience great service, you cannot help but want to be of service to others. The energy and inspiration that I experienced at NTC was indescribable, and I will forever be changed by it.
2. When you have a goal, take a step of any size toward it. Linear paths to where we want to go are rare. Be comfortable taking two steps to the right, as long as they are accompanied by one step forward. Just keep moving. The path to your dream does not need to be a straight line, and it most certainly will never end up exactly how you planned it. Expect that, and embrace it. And remember that any step is a productive step. Taking no step leaves you exactly where you are, and no one ever won a race at the start line.
3. Knowing what you don't want clarifies what you do want. So those steps to the right---they help you figure out that you want to go forward next. Life is full of experiences that provide us feedback. So stop that silly talk about failures and successes. Every single experience has value and will take you toward your dream if you are willing to learn from it. Time well spent.
4. Always be yourself. You should be joyously celebrated throughout your life, and that starts each day when you look in the mirror. Know who you are, and be you without abandon. People crave and respond to authenticity, and there is a reason that there is only one of you in the world. Own it.
A huge thank you to Geralyn Coopersmith and her Nike team, Michol Dalcourt, Jason Brown and Julz Arney for sharing your thoughts and experiences that resonated with me. And to the stranger who sat next to me on the flight home--you inspired me to take action and believe in myself, and it couldn't have come at a better time.
xoxo,
ALL
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Feeling Good...Because You Expect To!
There's something that I want to share with you on the topic of expectations. We know that you will attract whatever vibration you hold. So if you're feeling happy, happy finds you. And if you're feeling ornery, then ornery finds you. It's really quite fascinating, actually. And if you're ever unclear about which vibration you're holding, pay attention to the experiences and people that arrive in your life. If you find that grumpy people check you out at the supermarket...well...I think you know what your vibration is. Doh! (Yeah, you do that to yourself.)
But I started this conversation (okay, it's really a monologue, but I can totally feel you with me) on the topic of expectations. So there's also something else you should know. Ready for it? Say yes. Your experiences will match your expectations. Have you ever been speeding in your car and just known that there was a cop somewhere on the freeway catching people? And then, BAM! Out he pulls onto the freeway. And of course, if you were really worried about being pulled over, he starts chasing you down the road, right? Right!
Or how about this one: did you just know that you were going to hit horrible traffic on your way home because you're in a rush and you need to be somewhere in a hurry? And by golly, you're right!
It's true. These things happen. The universe coordinates exactly what you expect. It is impartial. It has no bias over whether your expectations are positive or negative. It just wants to deliver exactly what you expect to happen. Isn't that lovely? (Nod your head yes.)
So here's my challenge to you: next time you just know you're going to be inconvenienced by something, change your mind. Decide that something different will happen. Look, I live in Los Angeles, and I spend lots of quality time bonding with the 405 freeway. I'm sure you can tell this by my examples above. But once in a while, for some strange reason, traffic actually moves. And dang it, if it can happen once, it can happen a million times! It's kind of irritating to have to own the experiences of your life like that. I know. I lived in that thought for a little while, too. But c'mon, you know it's true. Hey, people win the lottery all the time. Why not you? Well, right now it's because you really don't expect to. The odds are terrible, so you're sure it won't happen to you. You hope it will, but you don't really expect it to. But I promise you this: when you truly expect it, when you know it in your gut, it absolutely will happen. It's law. (The Law of Attraction, of course.) It has to. Chew on that one for a bit, eh? Imagine the possibilities.
All of a sudden you're really paying attention to your thoughts, right? And if you're like me you will go through a phase in which anytime you realize you're expecting something annoying to happen, you freak out and and think, "No, no, that's not what I meant! I know it can be awesome. Totally, yeah, no, I'm really looking forward to my work meeting with all of these lovely people in my office." But eventually you will genuinely get there...when you realize that it actually is possible to find joy in everything that you do. You won't be there all the time, and that's ok. (Whoopsie, right?) But you will have more and more moments when you realize that you can create happiness in all situations. And, well, to use my dad's famous line, "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right." You will always prove the Law of Attraction true.
So, cheers to expecting great things...and to being right!
ALL
But I started this conversation (okay, it's really a monologue, but I can totally feel you with me) on the topic of expectations. So there's also something else you should know. Ready for it? Say yes. Your experiences will match your expectations. Have you ever been speeding in your car and just known that there was a cop somewhere on the freeway catching people? And then, BAM! Out he pulls onto the freeway. And of course, if you were really worried about being pulled over, he starts chasing you down the road, right? Right!
Or how about this one: did you just know that you were going to hit horrible traffic on your way home because you're in a rush and you need to be somewhere in a hurry? And by golly, you're right!
It's true. These things happen. The universe coordinates exactly what you expect. It is impartial. It has no bias over whether your expectations are positive or negative. It just wants to deliver exactly what you expect to happen. Isn't that lovely? (Nod your head yes.)
So here's my challenge to you: next time you just know you're going to be inconvenienced by something, change your mind. Decide that something different will happen. Look, I live in Los Angeles, and I spend lots of quality time bonding with the 405 freeway. I'm sure you can tell this by my examples above. But once in a while, for some strange reason, traffic actually moves. And dang it, if it can happen once, it can happen a million times! It's kind of irritating to have to own the experiences of your life like that. I know. I lived in that thought for a little while, too. But c'mon, you know it's true. Hey, people win the lottery all the time. Why not you? Well, right now it's because you really don't expect to. The odds are terrible, so you're sure it won't happen to you. You hope it will, but you don't really expect it to. But I promise you this: when you truly expect it, when you know it in your gut, it absolutely will happen. It's law. (The Law of Attraction, of course.) It has to. Chew on that one for a bit, eh? Imagine the possibilities.
All of a sudden you're really paying attention to your thoughts, right? And if you're like me you will go through a phase in which anytime you realize you're expecting something annoying to happen, you freak out and and think, "No, no, that's not what I meant! I know it can be awesome. Totally, yeah, no, I'm really looking forward to my work meeting with all of these lovely people in my office." But eventually you will genuinely get there...when you realize that it actually is possible to find joy in everything that you do. You won't be there all the time, and that's ok. (Whoopsie, right?) But you will have more and more moments when you realize that you can create happiness in all situations. And, well, to use my dad's famous line, "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right." You will always prove the Law of Attraction true.
So, cheers to expecting great things...and to being right!
ALL
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Whoopsie!
I created this happy blog to keep me focused on all the wonderful things I have and want to invite into my life. I have transformed quite a bit spiritually in this last year, and one of my biggest excitements is staying focused on what feels good, noticing what doesn't, and stopping my momentum on the not-so-good thoughts very quickly. And I am going to let you guess what I say to myself when I am focused on those not-so-good thoughts to get me back on track. Yes! You got it! Wicked smaht. (Indulge me, I'm from Massachusetts.) I say "Whoopsie!"
When I was in high school I was a total perfectionist. I graduated with a 4.979/5.0 GPA. And I think I spent the majority of my spare time replaying the experiences that deducted those .021 points away from my perfect 5.0. I used to replay the track of the mistakes I made all the time. In fact I did that so often that I would repeatedly find myself shouting out "No!" in the middle of a class or conversation that I was disengaged from. I was trying to stop myself from making the mistake again in my head. I know. Pretty sad, eh? It's ok. Happy ending. Happy blog, right?
With time I grew out of that undesirable habit. Yes! And with more time I sunk back into it. Doh! Let's be honest, if we are not aware, we can quickly slip back into a negative focus. It happens to all of us a lot of the time. And Law of Attraction states that whichever behavior we practice is exactly the one we become better at. And not only that, the momentum we create from the chosen thought will keep more thoughts and experiences like it coming right back at us. Which is great news if you're focused on happy....but what if you're not? Then you "Whoopsie!"
We all need our own "Whoopsie!" A little phrase or trigger to help you let go of the negative, have a little giggle, and move on. The "Whoopsie!" moments are wonderful for us. They are completely necessary to help us identify what we don't want to happen. And when we know what we don't want, then we know what we do want. And once we know what we do want, we get happy and keep our attention there. And voila, our desired manifestations come as long as we are in vibrational alignment with them!
The "Whoopsie!" moments also prevent us from getting stuck on a negative track of reliving our mistakes. The tell us, "Oops, it's okay, just move forward because it really doesn't mater. You can create something new right now. And now. And now." And consequently, we no longer attract the negative vibrations that would follow if we went down the negative path.
The "Whoopsie!" moments also prevent us from getting stuck on a negative track of reliving our mistakes. The tell us, "Oops, it's okay, just move forward because it really doesn't mater. You can create something new right now. And now. And now." And consequently, we no longer attract the negative vibrations that would follow if we went down the negative path.
So for today, I am grateful for my "Whoopsie!" moment. I started working with a beach volleyball coach, Jeff Alzina, and I time-warped back into the 19 year-old unforgiving college athlete I used to be. I wanted to play perfectly. Flawless passes, accurate sets, no room for error. Jeff is a talented coach, and I wanted to impress him. No mistakes. Clean perfect play.
FAIL. (Shocker. Life is all about mistakes!)
One of the first things he said to me after I made a poor pass and shook my head in frustration was, "If you think you're going to play a perfect game on the beach, you can shut off that mindset and let it go right now. Or else you're done."
"Whoopsie!"
And with that, I was able to make a comeback. I laughed at myself. I had been living on my spiritual high horse for a few weeks. "Aren't I so cool that I started a happy blog and really have this positive thinking thing down? I am going to get happy and stay in the vortex forever." I was pretty sure I had figured it out and was going to help and inspire any negative-thinking people I attracted to me (Did you catch that? We attract what we are, so why would I be attracting negative vibrations anyway?) And then... "Whoopsie!' ....for sure. I'm one of the negative thinkers too! We all are, and that's beautiful! That's what inspires us to dream about we want to manifest! So let's all keep getting back at it! Do anything you can to get happy, and then...
And cheers and appreciation to your wonderful "Whoopsies,"
ALL
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
The Not-So-Monkish Spiritual Mentor
Jan 7: What a wonderful day to send love & light to my adored Soul Sister, Rachel. Ain't she sweet? What a beauty! Can't you see her Ray of Sunshine? *LOVE*
I had asked the universe to send me a spiritual mentor. I was expecting a Buddhist monk. Instead I received a pile of books. They came from Rachel, who I had recently met through a volleyball group. At first it seemed strange to me that she was giving me all this 'spiritual stuff.' It was a personal subject to me, so I wasn't sure what kind of agenda this girl might have with me. True, we did have a good conversation, but it was just a conversation. And after living in Tennessee for five years, I've had my fair share of interesting 'conversations'. So I let the books sit on my shelf for months. She felt very pure to me, but I wasn't ready to get involved just yet. And then one day the book "Ask and it is Given" jumped out at me. Changed my life. And that was just the beginning. After numerous 'random' spiritual encounters that all stemmed back to Rachel--conversations, more books, light work--you name it, I finally got it. Oooooooh, Rachel is my spiritual mentor. You see, I expected this mentor to spout out all the 'right ways' and 'truths' of my spiritual evolvement. I was waiting to be educated by the wise one. Only, that's not how my spiritual mentor arrived. Instead of teaching me the lessons, she has guided all of the right information into my path to reach me at exactly the right time when I am ready to hear it. I still get the pleasure of doing my own work, but she helps me arrive at it all in perfect timing.
So on Jan 7: Thanks, Raychaychay of Sunshine for always sending me exactly what I need. You are a beloved Soul Sister, spiritual mentor and friend. I love the light we share, and I look forward to even more fun adventures together!
Cheers, hugs & ladybugs,
ALL
Jessica's "Daily Affirmation"
My dad was a salesman, and I learned from him how to be an eternal optimist.
"Hey Vic, how are you?"
"I'm terrrrrrrific!"
You can feel it in his presence, can't you?
He was a jolly gent. A gentle giant. And a wonderful daddy. And he helped me program myself to have the best life ever.
I have spent the last few years getting back to the wisdom that he imparted on me before I even hit double digits. I couldn't have been 8 or 9 when he first taught me how to do self affirmations. As a traveling salesman, he had tons of sales tapes in his car, and they were always playing (that is, if Neil Diamond was taking a break). One day my dad was 'feelin it,' and he had me join in.
"Amy, pull down your mirror, and look deep into your own eyes. Repeat after me. I LIKE myself."
"Okay, Daddy. I LIKE myself."
"That's good. Do it again. I LIKE myself. I like myself. I LIKE myself."
And I followed suit. "I LIKE myself. I like myself. I LIKE myself." And I burst into giggles.
"See Amy, you can't help but feel happy when you know how much you like yourself."
And he was right. I'll never forget it. He explained to me how important it was to love myself. That however I felt about myself is exactly how everyone else would feel about me. That I could be anything I wanted to be just by saying it. Period. My dad was very specific about the words he used to describe me, and he made sure I was just as careful to pick the right words about myself, too. He knew that those words following my use of the word "I" would write the story of my life, present and future. He instilled in me a belief that I could have or be anything, and that all I had to do was feel good about it. What a gift.
So for Jan 6: My appreciation is for affirmations. For the ones my father taught me, for the ones I made on my own. And for the affirmation below, of Jessica. A little girl who reminds me of me, completely and totally in love with and absorbed in her life.
Cheers & love to yourself. We LIKE ourselves!
ALL
"Hey Vic, how are you?"
"I'm terrrrrrrific!"
You can feel it in his presence, can't you?
He was a jolly gent. A gentle giant. And a wonderful daddy. And he helped me program myself to have the best life ever.
I have spent the last few years getting back to the wisdom that he imparted on me before I even hit double digits. I couldn't have been 8 or 9 when he first taught me how to do self affirmations. As a traveling salesman, he had tons of sales tapes in his car, and they were always playing (that is, if Neil Diamond was taking a break). One day my dad was 'feelin it,' and he had me join in.
"Amy, pull down your mirror, and look deep into your own eyes. Repeat after me. I LIKE myself."
"Okay, Daddy. I LIKE myself."
"That's good. Do it again. I LIKE myself. I like myself. I LIKE myself."
And I followed suit. "I LIKE myself. I like myself. I LIKE myself." And I burst into giggles.
"See Amy, you can't help but feel happy when you know how much you like yourself."
And he was right. I'll never forget it. He explained to me how important it was to love myself. That however I felt about myself is exactly how everyone else would feel about me. That I could be anything I wanted to be just by saying it. Period. My dad was very specific about the words he used to describe me, and he made sure I was just as careful to pick the right words about myself, too. He knew that those words following my use of the word "I" would write the story of my life, present and future. He instilled in me a belief that I could have or be anything, and that all I had to do was feel good about it. What a gift.
So for Jan 6: My appreciation is for affirmations. For the ones my father taught me, for the ones I made on my own. And for the affirmation below, of Jessica. A little girl who reminds me of me, completely and totally in love with and absorbed in her life.
Cheers & love to yourself. We LIKE ourselves!
ALL
Friday, January 3, 2014
Abraham Hicks - "Get Happy"
Listen up, y'all! GET HAPPY!! A fun little ditty for your Friday night!
"That's what getting happy is. It's making peace with where you are...all you gotta do is find a reason to feel good." -Abraham Hicks
Much love, fun & cheer,
ALL
Get Happy and Start a Blog
I said to my husband last night, "J, sometimes I am just so happy that I don't know what to do with myself!" He responded, "Start a blog." What a coincidence! (Not really.) I had already started this one a few hours before our conversation. And that, my friends, is exactly why I'm writing this. I want to share with you the incredible journey of purposeful creation, and case and point: I am so good at attracting exactly what is right for me...I put the happy blog in the vortex without even realizing it!
I'm in the business of feeling good...of attracting what I want into my life. And I do that when I "Get Happy and Then..." So this blog is dedicated to all of the ways I get happy, and I hope it inspires you to find yours. And wouldn't it be fun if we manifest exactly what we want at exactly the right time just because we are so focused on feeling good? I think so too!
I came across this video today about how to 'get yer happy on' and find appreciation for something wonderful in your life every single day of the year. Grateful365. Perfect! A fun way to celebrate your life, and if it speaks to you, I encourage you to do the same.
Jan 1: So incredibly appreciative of my husband, who played along with my wedding dress-up game so I could end the year as his bride, and he as my handsome groom. What an unforgettable and Happy New Year's celebration!
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Jan 2: A shout out to my delicious bed that gives me the warmest and most welcoming hug every single night. It is like laying amongst the clouds and floating into my dreams.  Jan 3: Beautiful hydrangeas, basking in the sun. I feel just like them, soaking in the yummy goodness from the sky, completely and totally relaxed in a state of allowance. And we both get little drinks of water to keep us refreshed. Such a lovely, lovely day. |
So I hope you continue along with me, and eventually (or immediately) join me in creating and manifesting everything you have ever wanted in your life! It's such a neat game of purposeful creation, and it all starts with getting happy. So that's all you've got to do...find ANYTHING that brings a smile to your face and a warm fuzzy feeling in your heart, and focus on that. Feel good, feel happy, and then....you just wait and see...your new world awaits you.
Cheers!
ALL
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