One Door Closes, Another Opens

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  1. As the door closes on 2017, give yourself time to make a list all of your accomplishments during this year, big and small, in the important areas of your choice: family, work, health, money.
  1. Then read over your list and acknowledge, savor, and plan to celebrate all that you achieved in this past year.
  1. If you noticed a, “Yes, but…” regarding incompletions, list those separately. Then re-read that list and make declarations as to what you’ll proceed with and renew your efforts toward, or declare satisfaction with your progress and declare it complete, finished or not. You get to say.
  1. Choose some rewards and enjoy planning, scheduling, and

creating your celebrations. (At the very least, for small successes, give yourself a High-Five in the mirror!)

  1. Design and declare new intentions for this new year of 2018.

The following poem illustrates this combination of strength and flexibility, holding and releasing:

“Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds’ wings.” Rumi

Completion is a form of balance. It frees our time, attention, power and focus. It allows us to be ready for what’s next.

What will you open the door to in 2018? If you need inspiration, go to Napoleon Hill’s 1937 classic motivational book, Think and Grow Rich. Not just about money, Hill’s program for goal-achievement will

help you take the first step and focus on your “definite chief aim.”

Write the one thing you wish to accomplish this year. Declare it possible and write a vision for how it feels and what life is like now that this goal has been achieved. Create actions to take and find others to support you in your endeavor. Energize your vision every day and bring enthusiasm to your work.

Know that you are up for every challenge and that the Universe is supporting you.

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” – Goethe

Embrace the magic and have the happiest of New Years!

I will serve others in every way that I can and I will practice what I teach about Wonder Woman: to be the Badass Wonder Woman Goddess I came here to be!

From this exercise, you’ll notice how you can release the past and hold fast to what and who supports you in every circumstance in the future.

“My point is, life is about balance. The good and the bad. The highs and the lows. The pina and the colada.” Ellen DeGeneres

  • What will you acknowledge and honor about 2015?
  • What can you release, bless and be complete with?

Let’s make sure we have both the pina and the colada!

Beat the Blues With Bright Spirits This Holiday Season

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Declare your intention to be happy and upbeat during the holidays. Your word carries weight and your declaration will be a promise to yourself to stay in the spirit of the season. Be Love, Joy, and Blessings.
Be your own event-planner. Don’t be at the mercy of others or the victim of
traditions you no longer enjoy. Carefully craft a list of exactly how you want to spend each part of the holiday and who you want to spend it with.
Gratefulness is an antidote for stress and depression. At the end of each day, ask, “What or who, made me happy today?” “What or who inspired me?” And, “What or who made me feel deep comfort and calm?” At a holiday dinner, let each person around the table express three things they’re grateful for. Drink a toast celebrating your abundant blessings.
Honor loved ones who have passed on by placing a special ornament on the tree for them or lighting a candle.
Delight every one of your senses: Play music that makes your ears tingle and your heart soar; burn scented candles so fragrance meets you in every room; treat your taste buds to sweet and savory foods; wear soft cozy clothing so you can snuggle and stroke and touch the textures. Splash bright colors into every space you occupy- a bowl of red and green ornaments in the family room, a basket of red, green and yellow peppers in the kitchen.
Practice Supremely Supportive Self-care for the Season: Make a food plan
that’s nutritious and also allows for a few splurges. Keep moving through your regular exercise routine, or ramp it up a notch; add a new class you’ve
never tried before- and believed you never would! Practice self-compassion.
Laughter is good for the immune system. Yell “Laugh Attack!” every  afternoon at three no matter where you are. I guarantee people will join you in laughter, or think you’re crazy, or both.
Make cards or string popcorn or cranberries with children– your children or someone else’s. Do something “crafty.” The feeling of caring and engagement with the next generation makes us feel more alive.
Contact someone you care for, but haven’t seen in a long time. Catch-up and share what’s gone on in your lives.
Wear something outrageous on New Year’s Eve- add bangles on your wrists and bells around your ankles. Before midnight, write yourself a note on a beautiful card thanking yourself for all you’ve accomplished this year.

A New Year, A New Life – With Intention

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  1. Why do our New Year’s resolutions lack RESOLVE ? What is it that has us drop them after a few short weeks? While they seem like good ideas, (we do want to lose those extra pounds; we would like to save toward that vacation), our motivation may be based on our weakest rather than our highest values. For example, wanting to lose weight to look good at the next high school reunion won’t be as powerful as using the HS reunion as a springboard to support the high value you place on increased health and longevity -to be lively and strong for your children and grandchildren.
  2. VALUES are the power behind the success of our Declared Intentions. If you value integrity, commitment, loyalty, it’s more likely you’ll follow through on your resolutions. It is values that keep us accountable and responsible. Values are the power behind our word.

Consider this : If you tell your child you’re picking him up from school at a certain time, when the time comes to leave for school, you would never say to yourself: “I don’t really feel like doing this today. He won’t mind if I say I forgot just this once.”

You would never let your infantile, selfish voice sabotage your commitment to being a loving parent! BUT WE DO THIS TO OURSELVES routinely!

  1. We are not ACCOUNTABLE to ourselves; we are not RESPONSIBLE to ourselves; we do not RESPECT ourselves. We do not LOVE ourselves enough to do what’s possible and what is in our highest interest. We rationalize, we deny the importance of our wishes and our dreams. “It’s not a big deal,” we might say. “I’ll start next week.” IT IS A BIG DEAL! Let’s not derail our dreams this year!
  2. Viktor Frankl, the Viennese psychiatrist who lost his entire family in the death camps during World War 11, survived 3 years of hard labor and emerged barely alive with a few others who survived Dachau, the camp where 30,000 died.

Several years later, after dealing with near-suicidal grief, he was instrumental in creating the new field of Humanistic Psychology. In his most famous book, Man’s Search For Meaning, he is insistent about his belief that what keeps us going through the biggest challenges and the deepest suffering are our strongest values. He believed these values to be:

1. LOVE

2. CONTRIBUTION & Commitment to Others

3. RESPONSIBILITY and a DETERMINATION to OVERCOME SUFFERING

Please support your aspirations and dreams this year. Create your resolutions with Focused Intention and Strong Self-Regard:

Here’s an exercise:

  1. List your 3 strongest Values
  2. List 2 ways to express each one
  3. Declare your Intention to practice these 2 things (now 6 things)

Every day for three months! Your word is all-powerful!

Write it and Post it for all to see.

  1. Use an Accountability Buddy: someone who knows your plan to hold you accountable for follow-through
  1. Make a list of rewards and give yourself one at end of each week (Food must not be on your reward list! Be creative!) If (when) you fall off your plan, do the following:
  1. Forgive yourself
  2. Open your heart to success and get back on your plan
  3. Be grateful for your past successes and the ones that are now to come!
  4. Give yourself more love this year!

Have a Happy New Year and a Happy New Life!

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Email: gfwrites@comcast.net