Good-Bye Fluff - Hello Good Stuff

As I was organizing my office today, I noticed that all my "fluff" books that used to reside on my night stand because I couldn't live without them, had taken up a spot on my office bookshelf (they're actually collecting dust as I type). My "good stuff" books have taken their place over the last 12 months and have more than satisfied my reading desires. My "fluff" books mostly consist of Nora Roberts and Nicholas Sparks (I LOVE their books, probably because I'm an ENFJ). I used to wait for their next books to come out, so I could run over to Barnes and Noble and buy them. Heck, every Christmas and birthday list included their titles. Wow...I have changed. Reading "fluff" books helped me to escape my thousands of thoughts per day and allowed me to be a part of a fictional characters life, whose life was of no stress to me. It was a nice way to unwind from the day. Again, wow...I have changed. 

Now, I yearn for the "good stuff" books. You're probably wondering what those are, right? "Good stuff" books to me are books that help make my life better (self-improvement books). When I venture into Barnes and Noble, the Self-Improvement section seems to call, rather, scream my name. Boy, what a change, since I used to be so embarrassed to even be seen by that section, let alone to be caught looking at a book in that section (I actually would intentionally walk around it's aisles). The Self-Improvement section is near and dear to my heart. It's the section that has helped me understand who I am and continually helps me improve my Self. I am hungry for knowledge...I am no longer hungry for an escape from my thoughts. I welcome my thoughts and treat them as learning experiences. I never know where a thought will lead me...

When I was younger, I used to read a series of books that said, “reading is the key to take you where you want to be,” (I don’t know what series it was from, so I can’t reference it). That saying has been stuck in my head ever since I first heard it. I used to read “fluff” books because they took me where I wanted to be, which was anywhere that my stressful and negative thoughts weren’t. Now, when I read “good stuff” books, they take me where I want to be, which is to a place where I can grow and learn about my Self. Reading is the key to take me to a place of knowledge and growth.

These are the books that are currently on my night-stand, either currently in the process of being read or waiting to be read (if it seems like a lot, it is. I just had a birthday and guess what I asked for ;):
-The Voice of Knowledge: A Practical Guide to Inner Peace, by Don Miguel Ruiz
-When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, by Pema Chodron
-Operation Beautiful: Transforming the Way You See Yourself One Post-It Note at a Time, by Caitlin Boyle
- Life is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally, by Patti Digh
-Don't Bite the Hook: Finding Freedom from Anger, Resentment, and Other Destructive Emotions, by Pema Chodron
-You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise L. Hay
-The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living, by the Dalai Lama
-My Spiritual Journey, by the Dalai Lama
-Tranquilista: Mastering the Art of Englightened Work and Mindful Play, by Kimberly Wilson

"Fluff" books, at the current moment, do not interest me...it's all about the "good stuff" books. I LOVE reading them! Now, I'm not saying that I won't ever read a "fluff" book again, I really do enjoy them, but I am saying that they aren't, and probably won't ever be again, residing on my night-stand.

Have You Had Your Daily Dose of Gratitude Today?

I recently attended a class (thank you Kurt and Tracy) that helped me realize that I had been missing a daily dose of gratitude from my life. I've always been grateful for the people and things in my life, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I actually started spending part of my day listing a few of those people and things. Now, I begin each morning sitting outside in my backyard with my 12 ounces of caffeinated coffee and two wonderful doggies. I sit back in my chair and bask in the coolness and peacefulness of the early morning. I listen to the hundreds of birds greeting each other (I LOVE the sound of birds) and can't help but begin my daily dose of gratitude by saying that I'm grateful for the birds. Then, the gratitude comes pouring out of my mouth...I'm grateful for the chair I'm sitting in, I'm grateful for the cup that is holding my coffee, I'm grateful for the robe that is keeping me warm, I'm grateful for the sound of my husband's alarm clock going off in the background (that's because he'll come out shortly and give me a kiss good morning :)), I'm grateful for my hands that are holding my coffee, I'm thankful for my ears that allow me to hear the sound of the birds, I'm grateful for each breath that I take, I'm grateful for....the list keeps going. Once I'm done saying my daily dose of gratitude, I feel a wonderful feeling of peace, love, and compassion spread throughout my body. I am grateful for getting to be grateful.

As a teacher, I enjoy trying to incorporate my new lifes' lessons into my educational lessons whenever possible. I've taught my students about affirmations (they say, "I am smart. I can do anything").  I've taught my students about speaking things into existence...if you always say you're not good at reading, you'll never be good at reading; instead, say "I am good at reading."I wanted to teach my students about gratitude.

When I first thought about using the word gratitude in my classroom, I realized that the only time I ask my students to tell me what they're grateful for is during Thanksgiving. I wanted them to be grateful for someone and something EVERY day...not just once a year. Therefore, I decided that I wanted to start "Gratitude Journals" where the students would respond to the same sentence frame "I am grateful for _____ because ______," every day. Can you imagine how many things they'll be grateful for by the end of the school year?  When I first asked my 4th and 5th graders to tell me what they were grateful for and that it had to be non-living (they always say "family" so I wanted to change it up a bit), they asked, "How can I write about something I'm grateful for if it's not alive?" I ended up giving my students examples (the funnier the better). I told them I was grateful for my blow dryer because it dried my hair in the morning. I told them I was grateful for having glasses because it allowed me to see their beautiful faces. I told them that I was grateful for having a classroom because it allowed me to teach their brilliant minds. After some examples, they started writing. I was pretty surprised at how hard it was for them, especially the "because" part. I know they'll get the hang of it.

Why is gratitude so important? Well, from my ENFJ perspective, it's because the Universe gives us everything we need and when we say we are grateful for something, that makes us feel like we are abundant, as opposed to, not having enough. Gratitude fills you with positive energy; craving, yearning, needing things fills you with negative energy. When you say what you're grateful for, you realize that you have so much!

I broke my tibia and fibula one year ago. I ended up having surgery and was introduced to new forms of transportation...a walker, a wheelchair, and crutches. I am SO GRATEFUL for the many lessons I learned from my experience. It made me a better person. I am planning on contributing one of my future posts to explaining my experience, but not right now. I just wanted to tell you a little about it because I was and am so grateful for it. There are many "I'm grateful for's" that were created because of it.

What are you grateful for? Try saying a few things every morning...it will feel so good!

P.S. In my last post, I said I'd talk more about affirmations...obviously, I didn't follow through :) I promise to talk about affirmations again, but I'm not going to say when. It will end up being whenever I "feel" inspired to :) This gratification post was calling my name.

You Are What You Think (oh yes, it's true!)

We've all heard that you are what you eat, but what about you are what you think? I am a firm believer that, "beliefs are ideas and thoughts that we accept as truth," (Louise Hays, You Can Heal Your Life). What we hold in mind creates our present and future experiences. If you have negative thoughts/voices in your head about yourself, you will continually perceive those thoughts to be true in your life. If you believe that you are not pretty enough, smart enough, funny enough, ___ enough, those "nots" will become the truth. You see yourself the way you think about yourself. If you want to feel pretty, smart, funny, _____, think that you are those things.

Sound strange and just down-right weird? That's what I thought at first too. Negative self talk was constantly in my head and I had accepted the thoughts as the truth, thinking they were just part of my every day life. It wasn't until I found out that  I could change my thoughts and speak things into existence, that my life changed (for the better I can ensure you). "ALL THAT WE'RE DEALING WITH IS A THOUGHT, AND A THOUGHT CAN BE CHANGED," (Louise Hays)...powerful sentence, don't you think?

Before I tell you the key to changing your thoughts, I thought I'd point out that I still struggle with negative self-talk, but I now have the tools to change those thoughts...I don't roll-over for those thoughts any more...they do not control me.

Ready for the "key" to changing your negative energy thoughts?!?!?!?

POSTIVE AFFIRMATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is a positive affirmation? A positive affirmation is a conscious positive thought that you think to/tell yourself. For example, if you are struggling with the negative thought that you are not good enough, you can say, "I claim for myself high self-worth and self-esteem. I love and appreciate myself on every level," (Louise Hays). Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Yourself is loaded with affirmations for anything you can think of. It’s an AWESOME book! Below are a couple of her affirmations:

If you believe: "I feel like a failure." Your affirmation could be: "My life is a success."
If you believe: "Nothing works for me." Your affirmation could be: "My decisions are always perfect for me."
If you believe: "I'm scared of being alone." Your affirmation could be: "I express love, and I always attract love wherever I go."

Did you notice that the affirmations were in PRESENT TENSE? It is important to say your affirmations in present tense...you are speaking them into existsence, so you need to say the words as if they are happening now. You don't have to use Louise Hay's affirmations...come up with your own :)

To sum up my many words, positive affirmations are present tense sayings that you can tell yourself when you initially think a negative thought. Replace your old, no good feeling thoughts, with new, wonderful feeling thoughts! Oh yeah...if you want another challenge, say the affirmation in the mirror...VERY POWERFUL :)

I only talked about positive affirmations to heal your negative thinking about yourself in this posting, but there are many other ways to use affirmations (i.e. getting rid of sickness, money problems, bad feelings about work, etc.). I'll talk about those in my next post. Thanks for reading!

Nobody's Perfect...Or Are They?????

I grew up hearing, "nobody's perfect," whenever someone made a mistake. When I became a teacher, it was only natural that I use that saying in my classroom with my students. I said it because I didn't want them to feel bad about themselves when they made a mistake, but in actuality, that wasn't helping them. It was taking away their accountability...they did make an error. What I do now (I was going to say, what I should have done, but I don't believe in the word "should"...to me, it's just as bad as the other "s" word :)), is tell the students that it's okay, they are doing the best they know how to, and then we fix the mistake together.

For example, one of my students used the word "watched" incorrectly in a sentence. Instead of correcting him and then saying, "nobody's perfect," in attempt to console him, I simply waited until he ended his sentence and then said, "you did the best you knew how to, now let's talk about the word watched. You used it as "washed", but that is a different word with a different meaning. "Watched" is talking about seeing something." I gave him a sentence and then had him use watched in his own sentence (second attempt)...he used it correctly.

We are always doing the best we can based on what we know, even when we are watching TV...in that moment, we are doing the best we can do. We are all perfect (what a change of thinking for me). I feel like the saying, "nobody's perfect," has been hardwired in my brain (well, it has). I actively work on changing that hard wiring. One way I do that, is by singing Pink's F*ckin' Perfect song (I like the clean version :)) every morning. I actually have it taped to my bathroom mirror and I sing it while I blow dry my hair.

CHORUS
"Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel like you're less than, less than perfect.
Pretty, pretty, please, if you ever, ever feel like you're nothing, you are perfect to me."

Try singing it...it may change your perception of yourself and the others around you. And remember…YOU ARE PERFECT!!!!!

Climbing the Levels of Consciousness...Huh?

Levels of consciousness aka. "LOC", refer to different levels of energy fields in our Universe ranging on a scale from 1-1,000. 199 and below are very low levels of energy. People in the lower levels of consciousness perceive life to be miserable, evil, hopeless, tragic, frightening, disappointing, antagonistic, or demanding, depending on their level  (not very positive). 200 and above have higher levels of energy. People in the higher levels perceive life to be harmonious, meaningful, benign, complete, or perfect, depending on their level. As a "feeler", it definitely doesn't feel good to view life in a negative way :) The higher the level of consciousness, the better ALL experiences feel.

There are seventeen levels, starting from shame (scale of 1-20) going up to enlightenment (scale of 700-1,000). I am actively working on climbing/transcending the different levels.  The Universe looks like a different place with each level that I experience. You perceive that which you are...if you perceive the world as a scary place, the world will reflect back just that (a scary place). If you perceive the world as a loving place, the world will reflect back just that (a loving place).

Check out Dr. Hawkin's book called Power vs. Force if you want to see a Map of Consciousness and learn about the specific levels.

What Exactly is an ENFJ?

Before I start posting random post's throughout the upcoming weeks and months, I'd like to start off telling you a little bit about an ENFJ, so you'll be able to understand where I'm coming from. There are  four main tempermants (check out Please Understand Me II by David Keirsey), one of which, is an NF. NF's are Intuitive Feeler's. We are known to wear our hearts on our sleeves. We use our feelings to guide our decisions. We like charms and we like to feel special. We are other directed and value friendships and relationships. The E in ENFJ, stands for Extraverted. I test as an extravert, but I'm going back and forth between that and an introvert. The J in ENFJ, stands for Scheduling. I LOVE schedules! Oh! I better tell you that I tend to get excited and jump from thought to thought, at least I do that when I'm talking :) If you read a post and wonder why I'm bouncing around from one idea to the next, it's because ideas/topics make me think about things that I shared with people in my life and then I want to talk about those experiences. Okay, getting back on topic...ENFJ's are titled "teachers". I LOVE our title because I actually am a teacher...imagine that :)