Archive for Affirmations
10 Ways to Create a Sparkly Christmas
If you’ve found yourself feeling a bit ‘over’ Christmas in recent years, going through the motions with no real joy, then it’s time to ‘sparkle’ things up a bit!
How do I define ‘sparkly’? Well, for me, it means seeing Christmas as the embodiment of all that it is good in the world. Connecting with people you love, and really celebrating life and beauty. A time when all that glitters really is gold!
Here are a few ideas for adding celebration and sparkle to your Christmas. I’ve either ‘done’ these myself, or plan to. Please don’t feel overwhelmed by this list – if you spot a couple of ideas that really resonate with you, why not just give those ones a try this Christmas?
1. Create a beautiful, welcoming wreath for your front door or the inside of your home.
2. Create personalised Christmas cards. We’ve done this every year since our girls were one year old, because I thought it would be easier to have one card that included a photo update of our children, rather than printing and sending photos with conventional cards.
Until last year, I had our DL-sized cards designed and printed at Snap, but last year I created my own and will have fun doing that again this year! I love taking the photos of our girls for these cards – they have a lot of fun!
Here’s a scan of our family Christmas card from a few years ago:
If you live in the US, Pinhole Press has a fantastic range of beautifully designed templates that can be personalised with your photos.
3. Help out at a food shelter – bring your family on board. If you can’t help out in person, perhaps donate some food, or consider donating to Oxfam via its Unwrapped Christmas-gift project.
4. Remember the power of intention, and create an affirmation that helps you attract the type of Christmas you’d love to have (for help with creating affirmations, check out the Affirmations: Your How-to Guide PDF bonus when you invest in Dream Life Affirmations audios.
5. Make a set of special, long-lasting decorations that can become family heirlooms (perhaps some Santa tree ornaments or napkin holders?!).
6. Take healthy sweet treats around to your neighbours on Christmas Eve, beautifully packaged – you could make the White Christmas recipe in this month’s ezine, or check out the recipe for decadent Orange-Choc Bliss Balls in Monkey Mike’s Raw Food Kitchen: An Un-Cookbook for Kids.
7. Watch a suitably Christmassy movie such as the original Miracle on 34th Street, or the Christmas scene from Mr Bean’s Christmas! (And then there’s always Love, Actually.)
8. Add a bitta ‘bling’ to your life with sparkly decorations in your home and office. There’s something so special about glitteriness. Just remember that ‘sparkly’ can be tastefully done (tinsel doesn’t have to feature, if that ain’t your thing). Candlelight makes everything shimmer – and what about adding sparkle to your clothing? Check this out for inspiration!
9. Pretend you’re a child again, and put out a stocking at the end of your bed.
10. Create your own Christmas crackers. We did this for the first time last year, and it was so much fun.
We (my children and I) bought the inner tubes and cracker snaps from Riot, and we filled the crackers with a cracker snap, a wrapped Lindor chocolate ball, a handwritten Christmas joke, and a handmade paper crown. We then wrapped them in tissue paper, tied ribbons on the end, and put a small photo of the recipient on the front of the cracker!
Note: don’t make the tissue paper wrapping too thick. We did, and it was a little difficult to rip the crackers open…
Oh, a bonus tip – if you’re a ‘planner’, like me, you’ll love Alison May’s Brocante Home Christmas Planner, which features heaps of inspiration and dozens of checklists.
I hope this list has inspired you – and if you were feeling a bit jaded about the whole thing, I do hope that it’s reignited your Christmas spirit!
PS I’d love to hear what you love about Christmas – what traditions do you love to repeat every year? What new tradition/s would you like to start? Leave a comment and let me know!
Dream Life Affirmations are Here!
Do you realise the power of your thoughts?
Just reflect for a moment. What are your dominant thoughts? Do you tend to be positive and optimistic, or fearful and pessimistic? Or perhaps you’re a mix of the two, depending?
Many of us have old ‘tapes’ running in our head, from our past, that limit the actions we take today. Those same thoughts also affect the way we feel, which determines the type of vibration we emit.
Why not give yourself a great chance of creating a *dream life* future by starting to change your predominant thoughts?
It’s easy to do this with affirmations. They’re just one tool in implementing change, but they’re a very powerful tool.
Today, I’ve launched a beautiful affirmations product called Dream Life Affirmations.
I could tell you more about this here, but why not head over to the information page to discover more?
For one week only, you can invest in these life-changing affirmations at a very special rate, so head over there now to snap up yours!
By the way, you ARE allowed to even consider having a *dream life*. Did you come down to earth to live a not-dream life? Didn’t think so! So what are you waiting for?
What Do You Think About Affirmations?
I really want to know!
Do you think affirmations work?
Do you have a favourite affirmation that you repeat to yourself?
Or do you think it’s all a crock, and that affirmations really do not work? (Have you tried them and been disappointed?)
Let me know what you think, in the comments below.
Your Personal Environment – It Matters!
If a seed is grown in optimal conditions, it will grow to its full potential, and flourish. A sight to behold!
Now, imagine that you are a seed. If you plant yourself in suboptimal conditions, you simply won’t reach the potential that is latent within you.
And that would be a shame.
We may not have been responsible for the conditions in which we were raised (when we were ‘seedlings’, so to speak!), but as adults we are now responsible for our personal environment and for our growth. Completely and utterly.
This is liberating and empowering, but it’s potentially scary, too.
So, what’s your environment like? Are you nurturing yourself and your dreams? Is your environment set up to support you?
Or do you feel overwhelmed and negative a lot of the time?
You don’t need me to tell you that in order for the law of attraction to bring wonderful stuff into your life, you need to be sending out a positive vibration. Honey, it’s universal law.
So, if your personal environment could do with a little love, here are five fabulous ways to create a nurturing environment that supports and inspires you.
Read
Become a sponge for personal development information. Have life-transforming books as your bedside reading. (Catch a glimpse of some of my recent bedtime reading here.)
Affirm
Listen to affirmations audios while you exercise or do jobs around the house (by the way, I’m in the process of creating a fabulous audio of rich, radiant, real affirmations – keep an eye on your inbox for details!). Also, write down your favourite affirmations and have them in easy view throughout your day. Let’s build fresh neural pathways that affirm beliefs we’d like to have!
Go Mobile
Create a mobile personal development library by playing positive audios and CDs in your car (why not load Rich Radiant Real teleseminars onto your MP3 player, and connect it to your car’s stereo?).
Get Coached
Even if you aren’t yet ready to invest in personal, one-on-one coaching, I’d advise being part of a group-coaching program. Get yourself coached in any way that you can, but remember that you’ll get the very best from coaching when you invest money in it – if you receive free coaching, you’re not as likely to give it all that you’ve got. Sometimes you’ve just got to invest, in order to reap the harvest.
Connect with Your Tribe
Your family and current friends don’t understand why you’re changing or why you’re trying to ‘think positive’ all the time? Then shore yourself up by connecting regularly with people who share your values and beliefs. You can do this in many ways, but a highly accessible way is to participate in online forums with positive people – for example, see my recent blog post about Jack Canfield’s Inner Circle membership club, where you can connect with like-minded people in the club’s forum.
So, there you have it. Five high-quality ways to support yourself in creating a life you love!
Remember, we all have the chance to ‘bloom where we’re planted’. As an adult, you get to choose your thoughts, your beliefs and the influences you allow into your life.
Are you going to allow yourself to bloom into your full magnificence? (I believe in you. I know you can do it, with the right environment!)
Your Emotions Create Your Life
This video is sure to start your week with a bang!
I first watched it a couple of months ago, at Sandy Forster’s Melbourne ‘Secrets to Prosperity & Success’ event, and it blew my mind!
It shows Gregg Braden (one of my favourite people) explaining the very real power of emotions. Watch as three doctors at a medicine-less hospital (yes, you read that right) in China cure a lady’s cancer tumour in three minutes, all by focusing their energy on her and imagining her as already healed. Watch the tumour shrink before your eyes.
If you don’t think that you have the power to change your world, think again. Focusing your energy regularly on a positive, desired outcome, and expecting that it will eventuate, is all that you need.
But if you’re having trouble getting your mindset to that point, and you don’t know what to do, then email me at joanne@richradiantreal.com and we’ll schedule a free, 30-minute discovery session. Every ‘problem’ has a solution, and sometimes all it takes is a shift in perspective and the use of the best tools.
PS Gregg is such a compelling speaker, and is so passionate about this subject – his enthusiasm is intense, and contagious. For a great interview with Gregg, see the bonus features on the Louise Hay DVD called You Can Heal Your Life, the movie, expanded version
The Four Words You Should NEVER Say
Our thoughts and our words are pretty important when it comes to creating our reality.
Actually, they’re super important.
Your thoughts and words help you create a vibration of a certain frequency, which radiates out into the world and attracts vibrations of a like nature. When there’s a better vibration going out, better ‘stuff’ comes back to you! It’s at times like these that we love the law of attraction.
So, I implore you. Please put your hand on your heart, and swear to never again utter the following words:
‘I can’t afford it.’
How do those words make you feel?
If you’re like most other human beings on this planet, the words ‘I can’t afford it’ make you feel:
- anxious and fearful
- helpless (like a victim of circumstance)
- despondent
- any combination of the above
OK, so the ‘reality’ might be that your budget reflects a certain amount of expenses, you have a certain amount of income, and you have a certain amount (or lack) of money in your bank accounts.
None of which seems to tally with whatever it is that you’re wanting to buy, or invest in.
So, what can you do or say to change this?
Why not try saying this:
‘How can I afford it?’
or even better…
‘What can I do to afford it?’
See how much more empowering these statements are? They open up possibilities for income, instead of placing you in the role of victim. Practise saying these questions whenever a need for money arises, and soon they’ll become second nature. You’ll start catching yourself before the words ‘I can’t afford it’ even start to form in your thoughts.
This approach has a remarkable, uplifting effect on your vibration. Honestly, amazing, unexpected things really do start to happen! Opportunities can open up, gifts can appear… it’s miraculous.
If ideas for income generation (such as taking on extra or different work) don’t start coming to you, or if the needed funds don’t appear as quickly as you’d like, you could always say:
‘I’m choosing not to purchase this right now.’
This statement, again, puts you in an empowered position, and leaves open the possibility of purchasing the item or service in question in the future.
If money is needed to pay for an emergency situation, or you know intuitively that your life will be genuinely enhanced by purchasing a particular product or service, go back to the earlier positive questions – a way will always be found if your desire is strong enough (although remember to keep the feeling behind your desire ‘positive’, rather than ‘desperate’).
This mindset shift will make a huge difference in your life. Practise it, and see how quickly the universe responds to your new, improved vibration!
The Power of Affirmations
Louise Hay is one of my favourite people in all the world. Her healing work (including the work of teaching others how to heal themselves) has helped so many people around the globe.
For many years, I’ve referred to a beautifully boxed set of her affirmation cards, called Power Thought Cards.
Every now and then, I pluck out a card, and am surprised at how well the message of the card relates to an issue I may have in my life at that time, or reflects something that I’ve been mulling over or analysing.
Today, I picked:
‘Everything I touch is a success’
Aah, what a nice sentiment!
To some people, these beautifully illustrated cards, each embellished with their words of wisdom, may seem to be frivilous. They doubt that affirmations work.
Well, I’m tellin’ ya that they do. If we want to ‘reprogram’ ourselves out of old beliefs that don’t support us, then we need to constantly soak ourselves in a new way of thinking. We need to surround ourselves with words that reflect the way we want to live. I’m a huge believer in affirmations, because they play a great role in helping shape our inner environment, which, in turn, shapes our outer.
But these things can take time – if you’ve tried affirmations before but became frustrated by an apparent lack of progress, I ask you to be patient. Quieten the inner critic that screams ‘but this isn’t true!’ when it sees or says an affirmation about something that isn’t true for you yet (or at least, doesn’t appear to be true). If you want to create something in your outer world, it must first be created in your inner world. So let affirmations be a part of your transformation, even if they seem to take a while to work. It took you your whole life to get you to where you are now, so don’t expect things, or yourself, to change overnight!
If you’re new to affirmations, I highly recommend Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life Affirmations Kit
Jessica’s Affirmation
I’ve shared this video before on Facebook, but I feel compelled to share it again here.
I love Jessica’s brash positivity! If you haven’t seen this before, it’s sure to bring a smile to your face.
Have a happy day!
Joanne's coaching was exactly what I needed to help me focus my precious time and money on finding work and making money! What I like most about Joanne’s coaching is that it's gentle, supportive and empathetic, rather than pushy and 'ra-ra-ra'”
...if there’s something that you’ve been putting off doing, because it’s so big and overwhelming, then by coaching with Joanne you'll definitely find a way to do it, to finally reach your goal.”
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