Need a little Inspiration?

Wait! There is more!

I got to thinking about EVERYTHING I have gone through in the past year. I know many of you have experienced a similar year, and I wanted to take some time and send you a little inspiration.

Between jobs and jobs lost, between hearts that become one and those that are broken - between losing the one you love, to loving to lose the one you are with.. I wanted to share a few songs I have on a playlist I listen to when I drive.

Lately I am looking for inspiration, to keep that stride. That bastard known as insecurity rears it's ugly head from time to time.. and I like to squash it.

Here are a few tunes that make me smile.. and remember. Those dark days are dissipating, and I hope you can find a little inspiration from these songs.

Enjoy. :-)

That song just really speaks to me. Sort of like - nothing is going to keep you down. A bit of resilience. This one is a great reminder. Whether it is someone bringing you down, or the love of your life treating you bad. The lyrics are awesome. Nice little anthem!


 Finally - Awesome!

Spring brings flowers, showers and sunshine

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." ~John Ruskin

**disclaimer - I do not recommend getting a sun tan, that's not "soaking up the sun" type of advice I am giving. I am all for healthy, young skin & 0 cancer!

Welcome home Spring (my second favorite season of the year.) Or maybe it is my favorite. I go back in forth with Autumn and Spring...

Regardless, these beautiful skies we are experiencing is almost too much. How can you NOT smile? Though, I can assure you - when you a have a few Eeyores in your life, those black clouds come swooping back in.

According to my car, it was a beautiful 88 degrees today. Yeah - 88 is Spring for us, and it only lasts for about 1 month, then we dive right into the depth of summer weather. My windshield had a bit of pollen on it, and there are a couple of bumble bees swarming around my window. They were mating, I assume - and pollinating the world.  Earlier today I went into the bathroom, and noticed a small bumble bee was at the window. At first, I panicked. I thought - eek.. I need to kill it. Then I thought, wait a minute - this is a smaller bumble bee, I assume it is young (I really don't know) - so, I just left it, thinking - well, it will probably die.

Then I noticed it was buzzing at the window next to the couch, trying desperately to get out. I saw the other bees buzzing around that very window (from the outside.) I decided to try and save the little fellow. I got a cup and a cd case. I trapped the guy and quickly covered the opening of the cup. I took him outside - and away he flew. I am sitting here now - looking out the window at the two big bees.. and guess who has joined them - the little guy. Who knows? Maybe they were a family - regardless.. I know they have a LOT of work to do.

Those adorable bees made me think of my own life. They are working so hard, and carrying a body that technically their little wing span should not be able to keep afloat. They come out and pollinate our yards - and in turn, the beauty of spring is upon us. They are the messengers of love. They take that pollen and make other flowers grow. It's a beautiful thing. I will I could bottle up their motivation and have a cup of it each morning.

A cup of sunshine is needed, oh so needed, right now. I have decided on this first day of Spring to purge the toxins and dirt from my life. That includes the "sucky" attitudes of those I love and am acquainted with. I think I will create a protective bubble that will keep me safe. I need to try that whole affirmation thing. I need to pray more. I need to create more. I need to soak up more sunshine. (It is supposed to be a natural mood elevator.) As well as - exercise... it will make me feel loads better.

Spring has to be a rebirth for the world, and now it can be rebirth of my mind. This is it folks.. we are on borrowed time. No time to waste. The older I get, the more cynical I get and the less I trust people.  It doesn't matter how it all ends (heck we all end up dead) - I need to pull out that fabulous girl I used to be and just radiate the light that God has given me.

I was looking through some articles online, and I actually found some advice on how to chase away the dark clouds and bring more sunshine in your life! There are so many tips.. 9 ways to do this.. 7 ways to do that.. I am going to cut and paste the options I think would best fit my life:

Nicole's Way to More Sunshine in Her Life

1. Appreciate as much as you can. This is one of those very simple things you can do to bring more positivity in to your life. I have also found appreciation to be a great way to turn an angry, sad and frustrated mood around to a more positive one.What about you? What do you do to keep more sunshine in your life??


2. Stop comparing yourself to others. If you don´t then you´ll just create a lot of unnecessary pain in your life. If you pass one person then you´ll just find another person more successful than you. And your brief sense of being a winner will transform once again into anxiety, fear, tummy-aches and possibly heart-attacks.

3. Realize that it is possible to choose how you react. You don´t have live your life in reaction. You have a choice. There is always a gap between stimuli and reaction. If you focus on that gap it will widen and although it might seem in the beginning like stimuli and your reaction are tied together that is not the case.

4. Educate yourself. Self-education can be a great help to live a more positive life. Read great books on the areas of your life you want to improve. Maybe it’s it your financial situation. Or your health. Or your relationships. Ask people with more success in that area than you what they did to improve.

5. Act as if. Your emotions work backwards too. So even if you don´t feel positive, confident, calm or decisive you can act like it. And after you have done that for a few minutes, guess what happens? You will actually start to feel positive, confident, calm or decisive.

6. Live in the now. Don´t let your thoughts drift into the past or future more than necessary. It’s often a sure-fire way to start negative loops of thoughts in your mind.

7. Do some mental rehearsal. This is great way to improve your performance and decrease anxiety in any upcoming situation. Maybe you´re heading into a meeting soon. Then visualize now how great the events will unfold – see and hear it – and also how great will you feel at this meeting.

8. Redefine failure. Michael Jordan once said: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

9. Focus on what you want, not on what you don´t want. One common problem is to focus your thoughts on what you don´t want rather than what you want. If you do that then it will be hard to get what you want in life. If you want to improve your finances then focus on having a great financial situation rather than your lack of money and your debts.

Rocking' it on Wednesday

Truth be told - I am feeling a little melancholy, but I will use my whole "new attitude" to pull myself out of the funk.

It is mid-week (workwise) and it is time to pull our spirits up out of the muck and into the fabulous week that still lays ahead.

How do I do that? I am a big believer in MUSIC. This stuff is better than any drug you can take. Who needs meds when you have the sounds of an amazing voice, the pounding of a drum, the screeching of a guitar - it's all good.

Maybe it is the dancer that still lurks inside - but I can't help but stop and listen to music. Or maybe it is the writer inside, absorbing every well-thought out lyric. Whatever it is - it works. My plan for today will include making sure I have music on the entire day. Good stuff too. I will tune into Pandora.com and create a few excellent playlist for work. I will plug in my ipod in my car after work -(going, I HAVE to listen to NPR.)

I thought I would give you a "Best Of" in music for me. I always play these very song when I feel a little down - or need a little pick me up. Silly stuff, but I am into silly this week!

Positive Music, if you will - to get your day going. Take a moment and push play!

P is for Positive

Mark Victor Hansen says,      “Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”
That's sort of the philosophy of the day. Plus, I think that is the greatest piece of advice anyone could actually accept.

Part of the "Life is a Journey, Not a Destination" quote that I love the most is just that core piece that Hansen mentioned above - "Don't wait until everything is just right." That is probably the biggest lesson I learned in my 30s. I am never going to be thin enough, rich enough, smart enough, perfect enough to "start" anything. Never. But if I keep waiting for this or that to come into play, I may end up losing some really valuable years of life. We are NOT guaranteed tomorrow, why wait?

That's where the POSITIVE attitude has GOT to come into play. Hell No, I am not suzy sunshine, nor will I ever be. But that is OKAY. That does not mean I am not optimistic.

The picture above is someone holding a plant that seems to be growing and standing tall - and a little ray of sunshine is beaming down. The little sprout does not seem to be worrying if he is in the right garden, or planted in a green house. "He is Growing Where He is Planted." Haven't we all heard that before? Grow where you are planted? I think the rest just works itself out.

God how I wish I could get some of my friends and family to read those words. Some of them are still in the phase where everything else needs to line up before they can begin their lives. STOP WAITING. Grow. Believe.. and honestly.. trust. I put my trust in God. You may put your trust in your family, or the universe. Whatever - just know that we were made to evolve. Staying stagnant is not an option.

People pick on me all the time about all of the silly classes I take, or volunteer activities I join, or dozens of books I read a month, and that's okay. But I have always found one thing to remain true - we're not growing, if we aren't living.

I have tons of crap I deal with, but one thing remains true - I always pick myself back up, brush myself off - and try again. I am spontaneous, but not in a destructive way. I get it. I get that there is more to this life than what we see. I get that I only use a little bit of my brain on a daily basis - I want to change that. I get that there is a whole BIG world out there for me to see, and God willing, I will get the opportunity to see more. But I don't wait for all of my finances and vacation time to accrue - hence the international exchange students. I decided a while back, I will bring the world to me instead. Even now, I seek friends from other countries. I read as many books as humanly possible. Ask anyone!

I will leave you with one more nugget of truth. No, I cannot take credit for it - but we ALL need to start at this moment and - CARPE DIEM. (Seize the Day.)

Let them eat cake!!

I think I was channeling one of my favorite historical figures today - Marie Antoinette.

Sure, she was a bit  compulsive and indulgent and well.. ever so slightly pompous - but I really don't think it was her fault. She was bred that way.

Like me - I can be a bit compulsive.. and indulgent.. maybe on certain subjects I might come off "pompous" - but I really do MEAN well. ;-)

It's about to be Postive Tuesday for me! My new "attitude" adjustment.

I am positive - for one, I have absolutely NO meetings on the books. That requires a Woot Woot!

No - I still do not have coffee and creamer (update: I DID get a doubleshot espresso and one cup of coffee at the conference. Can I get a Triple Woot Woot Woot!) BUT - on a positive note, I will learn to enjoy the cheap coffee at my office. And hey, you never know -if I throw positivity around the office maybe, just maybe - someone will want to make ME happy and brings me a little Starbucks.. or they will call the state hospital to check my sanity.

OR cake. OMG... Marie Antoinette had it right - "LET THEM EAT CAKE." Why in the world am I craving CAKE? Seriously. C-A-K-E. What is strange about this craving, I rarely crave sweets. I am more of a bag o' chips type of girl. I WANT CAKE. If you are friend of mine on FB (and yes, my dear Blog Followers - if you REALLY want the inside scoop - send me a friend request.) - I had 2 cake status updates. I WANT CAKE. Cake Cake Cake. Positive happy cake.

Sorry.. I 'm hungry.

(It happens to be Monday night - and I just got back from Body Jam class and I ate healthy tonight.) Booo..

BUT on a positive note - it's all good. God willing, in time - the pay off will take place.

For now.. 'LET ME EAT CAKE.'

Maybe a miracle cake will arrive at my office tomorrow.. maybe. I have a optimistic, positive attitude. ;-)

PS - I promise to give you a REAL post in the morning. I am just rambling.. ramble ramble.. wanting CAKE!

Not Naturally Positive

A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.

~H. L. Mencken

I've got this little problem. I can see the good - but I always think it will be short lived.
 
I have hope that things will get better - only to fall apart again.
 
Perhaps it is just my experience, but life seems to be one BIG roller coaster ride, and I am no fan of the adrenaline rush.
 
I try really hard to talk myself into being "positive." Not that I am a depressive person, I just tend to always have a snide thought running through my head.
 
I wish I could have a procedure, similar to lasik, where my eyes are permanently tinted with rose-colors. Then, perhaps I could see things less clearly.
 
And that's just it - I see things too clearly sometimes. I rarely get caught up in the excitement. Yes, I do get excited. Yes, I have expressed it here. But it is usually short lived.
 
With that being said, I have tried to find websites that teach positive thinking. Over and Over they say to give yourself affirmations. To a cynic - that is just plain ridiculous. However, they say that the unconscious mind will believe what you tell it, and respond accordingly.

How funny that would be -if it really worked. (Which I highly doubt!) Here is what I would tell my unconscious/subconscious brain:

1. You are soooo skinny. You look awesome, no worries for you!

2. Man, you are the most graceful person in the world.

3. WOW - You are waaaay smarter than most people.

4. Eating?? Nah - you don't need it. Just take a vitamin, drink lots of water and ignore those dizzy, weak signals.

5. You have an amazing singing voice. I think you should audition for American Idol.

6. While you are at it - head over to America's Next Top Model, because you ARE about 6 feet.

7. Fuel for the car is over rated. Who needs to stop and get gas??

8. Bills? They don't exist.

9. Taxes - Nah.. neither do they. You do not need to pay them. Don't worry - no one will get mad at you, or haul you off to prison - because you are AWESOME.

10. You should really tell people what you are thinking, and hand out tons of advice, because you are the most wonderful person anyone has ever met.

Ahhh... positive thinking! What would you add to my list?