March Madness

No my dear friends, I’m not talking about basketball, but instead about the energies that we find here lately. Yesterday was a very windy day and it has continued today. A polar vortex in our area has arrived even though just last week we had mild spring-like temperatures. However, as you well know, March can be a tricky month weather-wise. My Mom was famous for saying, “March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb.” Have you heard that saying too?

I’m noticing a lot of people are on edge as well these days. The unrest world-wide with all that’s swirling doesn’t make it easy to navigate as there’s a lot to take in, a lot to process and many people are just plain tired. I hope that you’ve all been doing well. I haven’t been writing here lately and I miss you.

Daffodils always remind me of my Mom as she had them in the middle of the kitchen table (from her garden) during my birthday month. Those bright happy flowers never cease to make me smile when I think of her. Do you have any flowers that remind you of someone special?

Shine On!

xo

Remembrance on All Saint’s Day

Today is All Saint’s Day on the Catholic calendar.  It coincides with my deceased father’s birthday which makes the day one of remembrance for me.  I think of all those who have passed before me and I took a moment for each of them this morning when I awoke to say a prayer for them.  I think it’s important to remember those who have gone before us and the gifts that they have given to us, the lessons we learned and the knowledge that we now have because of our experiences with them.

A new month for me is a beginning, just like each dawn heralds a new day and another chance to begin again.  Peacefully I lay my head on the pillow at night, resting my brain and allowing whatever foibles of the day to be forgiven.  I arise in the mornings with a fresh slate to do the best I can for myself and everyone else with whom I come into contact.

It is a blessing to be here today as it is everyday.  I am grateful as I am sure you are too to be able to breathe, to live and to love.  Sometimes it’s hard work to get through the day, but at the end of it, I hope that you find a soft, comfortable place to lay your head, your heart and your mind.  Today, I am reminded to communicate with my soul and with others on a soul to soul level for each of us carries the baggage of life experiences.  Oftentimes, at least for me, I find I forget to reconnect my heartstrings to my soul’s essence, to find gratitude in the experiences I’ve been delivered and to look for the blessings in each and every moment.

So today, take my hand…let’s walk baby steps towards the light.  Let’s remember those who have passed with gratitude for their heartlights.  Let’s connect with those who are here on Earth and appreciate them.  Let’s smile, laugh and love all those souls.  Let’s be the peacekeepers here on Earth.  Let’s look to the Heavens with our heartlights shining and embrace the love that is ours by Divine Right.  Let’s be in this moment, filled with peaceful loving energy and know in our hearts that we are embraced by God’s light and love.

Shine On!

xo

P.S.  And don’t forget to say, Rabbit, Rabbit! ♥

What Counts

“Count your age by friends, not years.

Count your life by smiles, not tears.”

~ John Lennon

I love my birthday week ~ the birthday eve, the birthday itself and then following days which I find blissful.  I have always loved my birthday and I can only say that it’s become more precious to me as the years pass.  Probably because I continue to be so grateful that I am still here after all I’ve endured.  I find the dawn most pleasant for the new day ~ the optimism which embraces me as I rise to greet the morning.  I love dusk as well, for as I prepare to lay my head on the pillow, I hold most sacred that I have tried to be a good person (and if I haven’t, then I ask forgiveness).

I have been blessed with an abundance of birthday greetings which nestle into my heart to hold for the coming year.  Knowing that I have had so many sweet people take a moment out of their busy lives to say hello and wish me well has swollen my heart and soul with so much love!  My heartfelt thanks to all of you! ♥

I love the above quote which I got via email from Contagious Optimism today.  How perfect for me to share today!  I begin my mornings by reading a few positive emails from different places and this is one of my favorites!  You can sign up to receive a quick inspirational quote every morning from them.  Make sure you take a moment to check them out!  Just a little tidbit of positivity for you!

May you find peace within today and always.  May your lives be filled with love and joy.  May you feel blessed, for you truly are.  Thanks for connecting with me.  You are simply the best!

Shine On!

xo

You Are Simply the Best!

“The more you praise and celebrate your life,

the more there is in life to celebrate.”

– Oprah Winfrey

This is my birthday week celebration and I want to share it with you ~ let’s celebrate, for we have today ~ let’s embrace The Presents of Presence as we feel gratitude for this day, for this moment in time that we share together.  Come join me in celebrating our lives, our connections and our friendships!  Let’s be grateful that we can enjoy this moment together!

I am grateful for so much in my life, even the hardships that I have endured.  I am grateful for the happy and sad moments for they have taught me well.  I am grateful for the strength that I have found within and the supportive friends and family who have helped me through many trying times.  I am grateful to God for every breath that I continue to have and for the blessed life that I have lived thus far and I pray that I have many more years of life given to me.  I am grateful for the willingness of myself and others to reach out daily through blogging, texting, phone calls, cards and emails etc. in order to support, love and connect with each other in order to increase the love in this world through kindness.  I am grateful for every prayer.  I am grateful for the angels who surround me and for meeting human angels along my path of life.  I am grateful for my feline friends as well who give unconditional loving fur therapy when most needed (and even when not needed).  There’s something about being loved by an animal which is precious as well.  I am grateful for my mind, soul, heart and body which have endured breast cancer etc. and continue to thrive daily, even under unspeakable circumstances.  I am grateful to Mother Nature for daily delivering such a beautiful dawn which inspires me, even when I feel under the weather.  I am grateful as I count all of the blessings, big and small, in my life.

So today, please celebrate with me ~ celebrate your life, yourself and your connections with others both big and small.  Celebrate your life well-lived and your present moment.  Choose to feel the tranquility of gratitude, the quiet reminder that you are here~ perfect, whole and complete and you are appreciated for who you are.

For I am grateful to all of you!

Shine On!

xo

 

Be the one who remembers…

2012 was a rocky year for me, 4 major surgeries, the passing away of my Dad, the added responsibilities that accompany closing down his business (of which I know little about) and the taking care of my Mom who relied on my Dad for everything.  AAngel (my sister) and I have been dealing with all of the nuances of this literally life changing event in our family and it’s been sad and hard and frustrating.

However, it’s made me realize how grateful I am for everyone and everything in my life.  There’s a saying that I heard which says without the clouds, you cannot experience the rainbow…so as the rains came, I knew that eventually the sun would emerge and I tried to simply be in that moment and not fight the sadness.  It was a huge shift for me and one that I am grateful for experiencing.

My goal this year is again, to be present, to enjoy the Presents of Presence as it were…and to be grateful for the experiences of 2013.    Part of being grateful I believe is to show your gratitude and connect by sharing it with others.  With my Dad’s death, I learned how much of an impact he made on so may people simply by calling them on their birthdays.  I learned that he called all of his clients on their birthdays every year and sang the first line of the birthday song to them.  Now you may think that is nothing, but I can’t even begin to tell you how many emails, how many notes, how many phone calls I’ve received from people in the last 6 months telling me how their birthdays weren’t the same without my Dad’s traditional birthday call.  Something so simple and yet so powerful…I love the legacy that he left for so many people…

In the same vein, although with my own twist, I’ve done the same thing with my business ~ except since my choral days are over, I’ve turned to card sending which for me is a bit more concrete because you have a card to hold, to cherish and to be a loving reminder for years to come.  How I wish my Dad had written more cards to us instead of calling ~ imagine how wonderful it would have been to have held his loving words in my hands when I needed to hear from him now that he’s passed?  Imagine your loved ones holding your priceless words of encouragement, your pictures, your videos in the palm of their hands for years to come?

Are you a card person?  Or are you like AAngel and find having to drive to the store to then stand in front of the shelves until you find a card that costs between 4-6 dollars which doesn’t quite say what you want appalling?  You want to be that person who remembers everyone’s special day, but quite frankly, you simply don’t have the time to add one more ‘do’ on your to do list?  You have an entire family and work schedule to keep track of so how can you keep track of anyone else’s stuff?

Well, the solution is simple…SendOutCards is a free system which keeps track of all of that for you ~ and acts like your own personal assistant whether you use it for business or personal use!  Need reminders of friends’, family members’, clients’, customers’ birthdays, anniversaries, children’s names or need to write notes about them?  There’s an online address book which allows you to put everyone’s special days in the calendar so you never miss sending a card and even a gift!  You can be that person who remembers everyone and makes them feel special!  You simply log onto your computer, iPhone, iPad, kindle or android at any hour, from any place and send a card/gift on time ~ saving you time, saving you money (a card costs less than $1) and getting the card that you want instead of trying to be satisfied with something that only feels ok from the store.  Add pictures?  Add a video?  Add your logo?  Sure!  Write in your own handwriting?  Yup!  Pick a card from our catalog or make your own from scratch!  Add a gift card?  Mrs. Field’s cookies?  A toy?  Jewelry?  A trinket?  Yes!  You can even schedule your cards to be sent out up to a year in advance!  Or send the same card to many people but personalize each one!  It takes 5 minutes to do and yet, SendOutCards is not a household name…yet!

We are an INTERNATIONAL company with distributors in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom and Singapore.  But you can be a customer from anywhere and you can send cards and gifts to anywhere!  That’s the beauty of the free system!  Buy only what you need ~ there’s a pay as you go option or a subscription ~ whatever works best for you!  Yes, it’s that simple!

So come join me and be the one that remembers ~

Give the priceless gift of thoughtfulness

You’ll be glad you did!

http://www.sendoutcards.com/126830

Shine On in 2013!

xo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JJic3b_MU9Q

May Your 2013 Be Blessed!

may your 2013 be blessed!

Well, it’s here again…New Year’s Eve!  The night when party revelers ring out the old year and ring in the New Year with champagne, family and friends, kisses at midnight and plenty of resolutions for the coming year!  For me, it’s a cancerversary and looking back at last year, I realize how far I’ve come.  https://misifusa.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/a-new-year-a-new-decade-welcome-2012/

Last year at this time, I was full of happiness as I’d lived 10 years since diagnosis of breast cancer.  I was very excited for the coming year as I was sure it would be full of happiness ~ for hadn’t I suffered enough in the last 10 years?  But it didn’t turn out as I’d planned at all for 2012 for in astrology terms, being the year of the dragon, https://misifusa.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/hope-in-the-year-of-the-dragon/  it was going to be a bumpy ride…and it surely was for me.

So today, which happens to coincide with my Mom’s birthday, another first without my Dad since he passed 6 months ago, will be a bittersweet and grateful day for me.  I am grateful that my sister AAngel and I can spend the day with my Mom, lunching at her favorite restaurant, and just enjoying the fact that we are all healthy and together ~ and able to celebrate with her.  However, it is bittersweet because last year, my parents insisted that we begin the new year with a family brunch to celebrate my 10 years so on January 1st, our entire family met for brunch.  We plan on meeting again tomorrow, but it will be sad without my Dad because we’ll officially be starting the year without him.

I’m not one to make resolutions since quite frankly, I break them.  The strain of making resolutions to last a year is too much for me.  On the flip side, I believe that we can begin new habits and break old ones everyday since each dawn ushers in a new day in which to begin again!  It’s not so much this monumental “I have to make resolutions” as it is, this habit needs to change today and because it is a new day, a new moment and new dawn, so shall it be.

So it is with peaceful resolve that I begin this morning…grateful as always to awaken to a new day, and excited to see what gifts will be showered upon my soul today since it is a bit of a celebratory day.  After lunch, tonight we will host and gather some of our family to celebrate another good year’s ending and the birth of a new year as well.

I want to thank each and every one of you for reading my blog, for commenting on it and for your sweet thoughts, prayers and support this year.  I am so grateful to all of you and I appreciate our connections and community!

I wish you a year filled with much

love, understanding, support, health,

wealth, joy, laughter and happy memories.

May your burdens be light, May your smiles be plentiful and

May you feel blessed every morn’ when you awaken!

(yes, I made up the above).

Shine On in 2013!

xo

Life After Death?

They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it.

Death cannot kill what never dies. – William Penn

Well, we made it through our first Christmas without Dad.  In case you didn’t know, my Dad passed away 6 months ago so we’ve been dealing with many firsts in the last few months, my parents’ first anniversary and his first birthday (is there such a thing to celebrate when he’s not here?), the first Halloween, Thanksgiving and now Christmas.  In the near future looms New Year’s Eve and my Mom’s birthday.  According to helpful friends, the year of firsts without Dad are the hardest which I imagine is true having been through a bunch so far…but it is supposed to get easier with time which is a relief.

I awoke this morning pondering life after death and thought I’d ask you ~  my blogging community ~  to help me again navigate these muddy waters.  Many of you have special gifts that you’ve shared with me so I figure if anyone can help, it would be you.  I”m too close to see the forest for the trees so I’d like to rely on you.

Do you believe in life after death?  Do you believe you can come back to be with your loved ones even for a little bit?  Do you believe that spirits can rattle windows or become squawking birds?  How about hovering around the house and moving objects in a mischievous manner?  Can they enter our dreams to show us that they are happy?  Do they possess the ability to play with electricity?  Can they leave us signs?  Can they turn into cardinals or butterflies to show us they are nearby?

In case you weren’t able to guess, the above happened to our family ~ although I am a bit skeptical since not all of the above were experienced by me.  But to my Mom, they are definite signs of Dad.  In fact, she knows that he’s been back to visit her, to let her know that he’s still around watching over her.

I’d love to hear your experiences if you have had any and if you’d share with me.  Because I think that especially around the holidays, the empty chair of a loved one who has  passed is most felt now.  We tried to make it easier for my Mom by changing it up this year and my sister AAngel hostessed Christmas Day so that we wouldn’t have the memory of Dad’s empty chair.  For the most part, I think it worked well ~  she subtly lit a white candle on her table for him which I thought was most caring.

Have you experienced any after death visits?

Do you believe in the ability for loved ones to come back to visit?

Do you have any suggestions on how to get through the rest of the year of firsts?

Any and all suggestions, stories and experiences are appreciated!

Shine On!

xo

I found a few blogs who had a bit to say on the subject as well ~ I thought you might like to check them out too!

http://rickalonzophoto.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/life-after-death/

http://sarahsana.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/the-two-hearted-woman-in-love-with-an-itsy-bitsy-spider-man/

http://sharingacrosstheveil.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/from-tamara/

http://globalsearchfortruth.com/2012/12/17/is-there-life-after-death/

http://theowlsmoonsoulsupport.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/spiritual-mainframe-qa-2/

Gratitude Day 5

You are a real treasure in my life. A constant source of Joy and Happiness.

To My Dearest Son,

I cannot believe that today is your 14th birthday.  It seems like just yesterday you were born and our lives changed for the better in an instant!  You are an amazing young man and we feel so blessed to know and to love you.  We are so very proud of you and we are so proud to be your parents!  You are everything we ever wanted in a son and more!  My heart fills with happiness every morning when I hug you good morning and I love watching you as you go about your day ~ I love how kind, loving, caring and beautiful you are both inside and out ~ you are handsome, intelligent, compassionate and athletic.  Your gracefulness in how you treat others and how you move throughout your day is astounding to me.  With such amazing ease, you travel your days and nights and I am so blessed to watch as you live your life in such a loving way.   I love to hear about your day when you get home from school and I am grateful that we can chat like friends and like Mom and Son…I love that you share your day with me and that we can talk about anything.  I love that you have built friendships with many different people and that you are friendly to everyone.  I love that every night when we kiss and hug goodnight, I now have to put my head on your shoulder…I am amazed how fast you’ve grown up and I am proud of who you are!  I was so happy to make your favorite meal last night which was one of my meals…I was so happy that you like my cooking!  I am very excited today to celebrate your birthday with you ~ and have our entire family together to celebrate YOU!  What a beautiful day it is today!  The sun is shining, the weather is perfect ~ all is as it should be in order to celebrate YOU!  You continue to make us so proud of you in everything that you do…thank you for being our perfect son!   We love you with all of our hearts for always and forever!  xoxo

I hope this says it all…I always believed in praising my children and disciplining them as well…but I always want them to know how special they are to me and how much they can make a difference in life by being kind.  I am very blessed to have such amazing children and during this period of time, I thought it appropriate to be grateful for them!  So here it is!

Have you told your family how grateful you are for them?  Perhaps today’s the day?

Have a grateful Sunday!

xo

A Grateful Heart

A Grateful Heart Knows No Bounds

I have a grateful heart and I want to share it with you today because it’s Thankful Thursday. 🙂  I believe that when life happens to hand you a few speed bumps, you have a few choices in how you deal with the situations that arise ~ you can have a pity party and stay depressed, you can grow angry with the “WHY ME?” and stay that way, you can ignore it and keep on truckin’ or you can flow through it and deal with what comes as it comes along and come out in the end with a grateful heart.

Enjoying the Presents of Presence means staying in the moment and just ‘being’ grateful for what we have right now…no doubts, no pity, just a moment of calm in the sea of life!  When the speed bumps seem to come in waves like the ocean on a stormy day, I try to take a moment here and there to connect, to calm and to breathe.

In those moments, I ‘distract’ myself by thinking of who needs to hear from me today.  Honestly, I send at least a card a day…and the list above is supposedly the top 10 reasons to send a card.  But if you listen to the smaller moments in life, you can add a billion reasons to that list.

Recently, I sent a card to an assistant in a doctor’s office who not only did her job, but she went above and beyond the call of duty to help me…I just wanted her to know that I appreciated her help.  I sent a card to a friend who’s feeling down and has to have surgery, just to let her know I am thinking of her.  I sent a card to a woman whom I recently met simply because she was such a ray of sunshine!  I could go on and on!  The best part is hearing their happiness when they call to tell me that nestled among the junk mail and bills was a heartfelt, personalized card just for them!  That to me, is the priceless part of connecting!  It made both of our hearts sing ~ and who doesn’t want a happy tune in their day?

But the reason is that I have a grateful heart ~ I appreciate so many people who are kind, who smile and who care…and if you don’t have smile, I will give you mine.

Who are you grateful for?

Have you told them lately?

It’s Thankful Thursday…

Take a moment and know

I am thankful for you!

xo