Everyday Life and Happiness

Finding happiness in the details

Key #1: Develop a bright future vision for 2011

Ready to make 2011 the best year EVER? Follow Bill Phillips’s 5 keys to making New Year’s Resolutions stick!

Instant Happiness ~ 12 Tips To A Cheerful Mood

Feeling Sad?? Use these 12 Tips to find Instant Happiness right now!

The Man Who Plants Flowers In Potholes

I saw this article while out surfing the web today and it really made me smile!!! The fact that there is someone out there making something beautiful out of something we all think of as a burden is just wonderful! Being from Chicago – we know ALL about potholes I’d love to see a [...]

Change your Thoughts…Change your LIFE

One of my absolutely favorite authors has to be Dr. Wayne Dyer. His books and audio tapes truly have inspired me to make some very positive changes in my life! One of his most memorable quotes : Change your Thoughts and Change your Life When I first heard him say this it really didn’t hit [...]

Tips for Creating a Monthly Family Planning Calendar

If your family is anything like mine, we are constantly on the go! Between Scouts, tutors, pre-school, playdates…our schedule is typically full all the time! Now I used to be the queen of post-it notes. If there was something we needed to do, I wrote it on a post it note. The problem was that [...]

Blizzard of 2011 – SNOWMAGEDON!

February 3rd, 2011

Julie

Wow! Now THIS is a LOT of snow!

We officially got 20.2 inches and I’ll tell you … I know every bit of that much is sitting in our backyard…

Take a look at this picture of our lab Bella…she’s full grown my friends…

So in our house – this is officially being called SNOWMAGEDON!!! Seriously…20.2″ of snow is just way too much for any human being to handle.

Along with the snow came 2 consecutive snow days ~ something that my 12 year old is absolutely thrilled about! No Illinois state constitution test until at least Monday and his math test has been postponed until next week too. Not to mention 2 days of non-stop video game playing with his little brother. Wow…life is good

Although…the did find a little time to get out into the snow yesterday:

As for me today is WORK day. So, I’m off to answer all the calls that ask me how bad the snow really was here in Chicago. Ugh

Key #2: Clarify specific goals which are aligned with your vision

January 2nd, 2011

Julie

Changes The next step is to clarify which goals are specifically aligned with your future vision.

Bill Phillips says an easy way to figure this out is to take a few deep breaths and visualize your future self. What things does your future self do? Then ask yourself what things does my future self do that I’m not currently doing. This is how you can get some really specific goals which are aligned with your future vision and will help you really get clear on where you need to go.

You need to make sure your goals are very specific and that you have put a definite deadline in there. Open ended goals do you no good…it tells your brain that you have virtually ‘forever’ to reach the goal ~ so what do you do? You sit back and have Scarlett O’Hara syndrome ~ you talk about how you can do things ‘tomorrow’. This is why you need to put a specific deadline for yourself. Positive pressure is a great thing when it comes to helping you follow through!

Here are my goals for 2011.

Within the year 2011 :

1. On 1/1/11 I weighed 283 pounds. Within the year 2011 ~ I will weight 180 pounds.

2. I will go every 24 hours without the over eating or binging.

3. I will spend 30 minutes a week meditating on my future vision.

4. I will do one random act of kindness daily for my husband and two children.

5. I will write at least 1 blog post a week about my journey to inspire others.

6. I will work to identify 3 significant resentments which are weighing on me and I will let them go through the process of forgiveness described in Chapter 8 of the Transformation book.

The Transformation book is what I’m using to change my life this year. It’s written by Bill Phillips and it’s full of not only great information about how you can lose weight and get healthy, but it also goes into all of those internal struggles you have with weight loss too. I like to think about it being my internal doctor…it helps me fix the problems from the inside out.

If you are interested in joining a whole community of like-minded people who are all striving for the same goals ~ check out www.transformation.com . This is a website / community built around the core principals that Bill Phillips is trying to teach. Plus…they have a contest where you can win $50,000 just by applying these principals and changing your life for the better. Talk about win-win!

Key #1: Develop a bright future vision for 2011

January 1st, 2011

Julie

I’m so glad that you and I are having this conversation today because I’m excited to share with you all of the wonderful things that have happened to me over this part year!

I remember that exact moment that you gave us a challenge to develop a bright future vision of ourselves. This was my turning point ~ I dug down deep and created a vision of my life and what I wanted it to be. What I didn’t expect was for that vision to come to life in ways I never thought of.

I know you can SEE that things have changed for me. I’m pregnant, isn’t that great? I’m 41 and pregnant and I’m excited to have a new little bundle of joy coming in the new year. My kids are out of their minds too. But that’s not the surprise…the surprise is that I’m pregnant with TWINS! It’s still too early to tell if they are boys, girls or one of each…but I feel just so blessed right now.

My heart feels so light and it’s like a fog has lifted from my brain and everything is crisper, sharper and more heart focused than ever before. I’ve finally be able to release that anger that I’d been holding onto for so many years and it feels AMAZING! Every day I wake up with a smile on my face excited to take on my day and to spend it inspiring my family and others to do the same.

My body feels so alive and amazing! It’s like I can feel the individual cells in my body tingling all at once ~ kind of like a vibration, you know? I feel so good now ~ feel like there are no limits to what my body can do. I ran a 5K and then I ran a half marathon. The feeling of exhilaration was so amazing! Love my new, strong muscles and how everything I put on fits perfectly now. It’s awesome to walk into a store and look forward to putting things on!

My husband was so inspired by my changes that he made changes himself. He lost over 100 pounds and he’s working on toning now ~ but what a different person he is inside! We smile and laugh every day ~ every day is bright and fun like when we were dating. Every aspect of our relationship gets stronger everyday.

My kids are loving how we run around with them now. They spend more time outside with us and their friends and we are a family that goes out and DOES things now. We go for bike rides and jogs. We head over to the park and run around playing frisbee and sometimes a few heated games of tag. We’re a competitive family ~ and we love it. My kids smile all the time and have grown so much with their self confidence and attitudes this year!

Everything in my life clicks now. It’s truly amazing and humbling…it’s like I finally found that missing puzzle piece that I needed in order to make all my dreams come true.

I’m working on growing these two babies right now and I’m also online on my own blog inspiring others to take the same kinds of actions that I took. I am so honored and humbled to be being the change for so many people around the world. I even have people from Europe and Australlia who I work with too!

My life has become a rewarding, beautiful reality. When Bill Phillips named me a Transformation champion it changed my life. We now are debt free and our lives are so much easier now. I’ve really enjoyed traveling around and talking with others about the changes I’ve made in my life. It’s been such an amazing experience, and I thank you from the bottom of my now grateful heart!

Yearly Reflection – Day 31: Core Story

January 1st, 2011

Julie

Day 31 – Core Story

What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world? (Bonus: Consider your reflections from this month. Look through them to discover a thread you may not have noticed until today.) (Author: Molly O’Neill)

I think that I need to tell the core story of what I envision for 2011.

My core story is about comfort and joy. It is about laughter and smiles. It is about honoring self promises, loving myself and emanating that love to everyone around me. It is about being the change that I want to see in the world ~ and inspiring others like you to take action in your own life to life your best life to it’s fullest.

I share my core story with the world through this blog and how I conduct myself every day in my life.

This #reverb10 has been such a blessing to me. I’ve not only learned tons about myself but I’ve had the privilege to read so many others’ stories and journeys. I will absolutely do this again next year and hopefully I can get some of you to do this with me through my blog.

Wishing you love and peace this beautiful New Year and may you get everything you wish for.

Bella’s Revenge – An Eye for a Sock

December 30th, 2010

Julie

Bella (our 1 yr old Lab) has decided that revenge is a dish best served up quickly.

Monday our Bella decided to eat a sock. Why? Because she’s a Lab…that’s what Labs do…they eat foreign objects like marbles that cost $1800 to remove from their bowels. You can see where this is going with me, can’t you?

So…getting back to my story…Bella eats a sock and we administer a home remedy of doggy puking aid in the form of 1/4 C. of hydrogen peroxide per our vet’s instructions. Within 2 heaves out comes the sock.

But…what I failed to realize was that the look on this poor dog’s face after we gave her the antidote wasn’t one of feeling uncomfortable…she was plotting her revenge. She was divising the ultimate plan to get back at me for taking away her sock…and making her puke all night.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. I was on the couch with our Bella and leaned over to snuggle with her. This is when she carried out her revenge by lifting her paw and clawing at my eyes ~ which subsequently caused a large scratch on my eyeball. I howled out in pain as she ran off. I could swear I saw her stop…look back at me writhing in pain…and then smirking slightly as she trotted off for the living room couch.

So…this is the way it is to be…an eye not for an eye…but for a sock.

Now things are all quiet (except for my winces when it feels like the boulder in my eye shifts a little). I’m hoping that she now feels vindicated and will not subject me to any further torture. Man…she’s good