Monthly Archives: November 2012

Bright-Side of the Web: Soul Pancake

You avid Oprah.com fans may already know about Soul Pancake but they are a new discovery for me and one I am so happy to have found.  I can’t tell you how much time I have spent watching their videos.  They are inspiring!

Soul Pancake is a small group of people who set up interesting, innovative and exciting ways for people to share their joy.  I want to join their team! How great would that job be?

Here are links to just a few of my favourite projects and seriously, I had a difficult time narrowing it down. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry (in a good way) and I’m sure you will continue to explore the site and discover the rest for yourself. (Sorry, I can’t do anything about the commercials at the beginning of some, but at least they are short).

Soul Pancake: Chatterbox.  I love this one!

Soul Pancake: Heart Attack  Not what you’re thinking. Trust me, you’ll like it. 

Soul Pancake: Listen Up!  Hmmm, kinda like my post “Go Ahead, Make My Day!”

Soul Pancake: Good News.  My philosophy exactly!

Soul Pancake.  A very Bright-Side of the Web!  Happy Friday!

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30-Day Challenge – Day 16

We’re half way through the November 30-Day Challenge!
How are you doing? Still sticking with it?
Don’t worry if you had a slip-up or two.  Just re-focus and forge ahead!
So far, so good for me. There were a couple of close calls. Habits are hard to break but luckily I remembered about the challenge in time to catch myself.  What I have noticed though is there are so many pizza commercials!! 

15 days down, 15 to go. 

photo credit: http://photopin.com
flickr.com/photos/_sk/3333996738/

8 Signs You Need A Break

8.  You’ve been standing for ten minutes beside the coffee maker waiting for it to brew before you realize that it is not plugged in.

7.  You open your lunch bag and it is empty.

6.  You find the cereal in the refrigerator and the milk in the cupboard.

5.  You eat the discards from your child’s plate then praise them for finishing their entire meal.

4.  In the morning, you put your underwear on backwards and don’t notice until bedtime.

3.  Filling out a questionnaire, you can’t remember your own date of birth.

2.  Someone asks what you take in your coffee and you shout “How in the h*‡# am I supposed to know!”

And the number one sign that you need a break:

1.  Your big presentation is today and you are running late. You race into work and arrive with only three minutes to spare.
Then you realize it is Saturday.

Stress contributes to many health problems prevalent in today’s society.  Continuous stressful situations can lead to heart disease, depression and obesity, to name only three.

You need to put yourself at the top of the list.  Step back and evaluate your priorities.

What can you do to relieve some stress and give yourself a break from the overwhelming chaos that is your life?

  • Try going for a walk in the woods. Studies have shown that walking in nature greatly reduces stress.
  • Go for a run or to the gym. Strenuous exercise can work out some frustrations.
  • Take a long hot bath. Add lavender oil to the water to aid in relaxation and listen to soothing music.
  • Get a massage. You likely have knots that need to be worked out.
  • Meditate. Even just sitting still and breathing deeply will help to relax you.
  • Watch a funny movie. Laughter can lighten the load.
  • Get together with good friends. A sympathetic ear and someone to laugh with will do a world of good.

Remember: there is only one you and someone out there needs you to be around for them. De-stress and increase the time you have together.

Share how you de-stress.

Photo credit: http://photopin.com
flickr.com/photos/amymctigue/3161095736/
Image

Quotes That Make You Go Hmmm…

How Well Do You Treat Your Best Friend?

We often focus on tending to the needs of others: our children, our spouse, our parents, our boss, our clients, our friends, our acquaintances, the cashier, the waiter.

We think about past conversations and how we could have said things differently.

We obsess about the one thing we wish we didn’t say in the heat of anger.

We read book after book on how to nurture our children so they grow up to be caring, productive individuals of society.

But we often forget to foster a relationship with the one person who will always be with us, through thick and thin, for better or worse – ourselves.

Who else gets up in the morning and faces all that you face?

Who else reacts exactly the way you do?

Who else is there for you every moment of every day, ready or not?

Who else knows your deepest and darkest secrets and consistently stands by you?

The answer: No-one else.  Just you. The ole Me, Myself and I.

Each and every one of us has this special person in our lives.

The one constant person who is with you from the moment you are born to the moment you die. 

So, what is your relationship with yourself?

Do you treat yourself well? I don’t mean do you treat yourself to gifts, although that’s important too – sometimes, to a certain degree.  I mean do you treat yourself with respect, kindness and forgiveness?

If you wanted to set yourself up for a date with the friend of a friend, how would you describe yourself to the friend’s friend? What words would you use?

What words do you tell yourself when a conversation doesn’t go as smoothly as you had hoped? Be careful. Words can hurt so speak gently.

What are the nicknames that you call yourself?  Are they endearing or demeaning?

Who do you see when you look in the mirror? Friend or Foe?

Do you like yourself?

You are going to be with yourself for quite some time so if things aren’t going well, now is the time to change all that.

Go easy on yourself. You’re only human.

Don’t beat yourself up if you screw up – and you will undoubtedly screw up from time to time, likely many times. Everyone does. Instead, learn from your mistakes and pledge to do better the next time.

Be your own best-friend; the kind of friend you are to others.

The better the relationship you have with yourself, the less you will stress over the relationships you have with others because being you, knowing yourself, and doing your best, is all people can expect of you and all that you can expect of yourself.

In your quest to be your own best friend, the first thing on your to-do list should be to give yourself an AWESOME nickname because when you’ve said something stupid to the cute guy you’ve been hoping for months to meet, instead of saying to yourself “Nice one, Dummy.”, wouldn’t “You are one unpredictable gal, Stellar Cosmic Chicana!” feel so much better?

What AWESOME nickname are you going to give yourself?  
Share it below. 

Photo credit: http://photopin.com/
flickr.com/photos/camil_t/82015664/

Positive Ponderings: Excess

What is one excess that you currently have but could live without?

If you gave it up, would you really miss it?

Is it worth trying to live without it now?

Bright-Side of the Web: Charlie Brown

Take a walk down memory lane with this week’s Bright-Side of the Web.
See how many of the lyrics you can remember.

Watch “Happiness” from “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”
(song begins at 1:30)

What is Happiness for you?

Photo credit: http://photopin.com
flickr.com/photos/branditressler/3311035390/
Video credit: Youtube

What Is Your Chocolate?

Chocolate covered almonds. Chocolate covered raisins. Chocolate covered peanuts. Chocolate covered chocolate.

Chocolate = Happiness. 

Chocolate = Satisfaction.

Chocolate is not only soothing and comforting, it can be used as an analogy to life’s pleasures.

A smile on the faces of family members, a hearty straight-from-the-depths-of-your-gut laugh, a hug precisely when needed, a baby’s cooing, dancing with abandon, someone to talk to when you need to vent, helping someone, making a difference in someone’s life or in the world are all examples of “life-chocolate”.

Enriching, satiating, elevating.

Basic food, water, safety and shelter are the meat and potatoes; the main course. The sustenance you need to survive; the means to keep you going to the next day.

But chocolate, ah! That is what makes life…well, life.

The sweetness that makes the drudgery bearable.

Without chocolate, there would be nothing to look forward to at the end of the ‘must do’.  No special treat with which to reward yourself.

Some of us have chocolate all around us but can’t see it. They live in the ‘hot/cold’ game.  They get close to it but walk right past it.  If no-one says “You’re getting warmer”, they don’t take notice or the time to seek it out.

Maybe that is why an Easter egg hunt is so much fun.

My chocolate may be your pie, or ice-cream, or cheesecake. The medium can change, the meaning remains.

Start filling your basket with all the chocolate you can find.  Just the act of starting to look means you are getting warmer.  And if you look around and realise that you are ‘burning hot’, get a bigger basket, then share it with your friends.

What is your chocolate?  Where did you find it?

photo credit: http://photopin.com
flickr.com/photos/elpatojo/267017020/
Image

Quotes That Make You Go Hmmm…

What Is The Price Of Change?

~

When you think of change, what is the first thing that comes to mind?

Change of seasons?
Change of tactics?
Change of scenery?
Change of pace?
Change the channel?
Change your mind?
Change a tire?
Change a diaper?
Change your clothes?
Change your attitude?
The correct change?
Change for the better?
Change is as good as a holiday?
Change is what you need?
Change can kick-start a whole new outlook?

“People are always telling you that change is a good thing.  But all they’re really saying is that something you didn’t want to happen at all, has happened.”
Meg Ryan, You’ve Got Mail

True or False: Do you think change is for the better?

I have always said that I love spontaneity – but only if it’s my idea.
Do I feel the same way about change?

If you believe as I do, that everything happens for a reason, then I guess you could conclude that change is a good thing.  Or is it?

Perhaps change is simply inevitable.  

There are many inevitable things:

Life = good
Aging = good for a while
Death = not so good

So then is change something that is out of our control?

Some changes we purposely create, for better or worse (I’ll let you categorise them for yourself):

Moves – to new jobs, houses, cities, countries
Face-lifts, nose-jobs, tummy tucks, tattoos
New hair-styles or colour, clothes, shoes
Live together, split up, marriage, divorce

What is positive change for one person could be devastating for another depending on their life circumstances and how much control they had over the change.

Some changes we have collectively and inadvertently created:

Climate change
Ozone depletion
Extinction of species

As humans, we are not perfect and we make mistakes.

 What we haven’t learned yet is how to learn from our mistakes.

Some changes we refuse to make, or make quickly enough:

End to world hunger
End to wars and civil unrest
End to poisoning our air, soil and water

They seem simple enough to change when you see them in black and white, especially when you realise that all three boil down to one thing – greed.

Do we categorize good change as that which we can affect and bad change as that which is out of our control?

Whether on purpose or not, good or bad, some change is inevitable. Some might even call it fate.

But where we have control over change for the better, particularly where the health of ourselves and our planet is concerned, why wouldn’t we act to bring about change – now?

How about this for a change: let’s change our tune.

Let’s change our reaction – or non-action – into making a difference before inevitable becomes irreversible.

 Change your perspective.

 “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mother Theresa.

Positive Ponderings: Six Word Positive Memoir

Have you heard of the ‘six word memoir‘?

The idea is to describe your life using only six words.

I would like to put a twist on that.  A Pollyanna twist.

Using six words, write about something positive in your life.

Here’s mine:

Love, laughter, family, friends; lucky girl.

What’s yours?

photo credit: http://photopin.com
flickr.com/photos/lwr/101653179/

30-Day Challenge: Day 5

How is your 30-Day Challenge going? Did you make it through the weekend? Don’t be discouraged if you didn’t.  Stick with it and ignore the slip-up. You can add a day to the end if you like. 

So far, I’ve managed to keep bread at bay and it has not been as difficult as I had feared. I’ve had soup with salad a couple of times and eggs with no toast. The tricky thing for me is just keeping it at the front of my mind and not unconsciously making a sandwich out of habit. 

Well, 4 days down, 26 to go!  

How is your challenge going? (Don’t forget to share your 6-word positive memoir)