Thank your peeps!

Tongue-tied?  Not sure who in the world you could send a card to ~ let alone 30 people?  Is that all that’s holding you back?  Well, I’ve made up a little list below to see if I can help you out.  You see, there are tons of people in your world who make your life easier, some of whom you don’t even think to thank for what they do!  Or perhaps you don’t know how to thank them?  Or you feel silly thanking them?

Honestly, wouldn’t your heart fill up and a big smile highlight your happy face if someone thanked you for what you do?  Well, guess what ~ when you thank someone else, your heart gets filled up too!  Talk about a real Win-Win situation!  Giving and getting back at the same time ~ spreading sunshine and feeling good ~ PRICELESS!

So for less than the price of your cup of daily coffee for a month, how about venturing out into the gratitude movement to take 5 minutes a day to choose a card, write a note and click SEND ~ SendOutCards will do the rest for you!  And you’ll be making a difference in many lives with just one click!

Give it a try today…I guarantee it will change your life!

It’s changed mine ~ for the better!

Join the 30 Day Gratitude Challenge!

xo

Here are a few people whom you might want to send a real card to in order to thank them!

Your close family.  Your spouse.  Your children.  Your parents.  Your brothers and sisters.  Your grandparents.  Your friends/best friend/frenemies.  Long lost relatives.  Long lost relationships.   Cousins.   Your aunts and uncles.  Your in-laws.  Your spouse’s relatives.  Old relatives who are alone. Someone in a nursing home/assisted living.  College roommates.  Childhood friends and neighbors.  Your dentist.  Your hair-dresser.  Your nail salon/barber/spa employee.  Someone in the military.  Your doctor/nurse.  Your work friends/boss.  Your auto-mechanic.  Your food delivery ~ pizza to your home.  Your travel agent.  Your neighbors.  Your coach or your child’s coach/dance teacher/piano teacher, school teacher etc.  Your real estate agent.  Your tax/accountant.  Your favorite bank teller.  Your newspaper deliverer.  Your lawn service.  Your favorite coffee barrister.  Your favorite restaurant.  Your florist.  Your pet’s vet.  Those who would do you a favor today.  Those who would bail you out of jail.  🙂  The person who has given you good advice.  The best teacher you know.  The most optimistic person you know.  The person who needs a caring note.  The person who needs to hear from you most!

The list can go on and on…just think about it! 

Our lives are filled with people for whom we are grateful!

Can you think of more people to add to the list?

Tell me please!

xo

Gratitude Made Easy…

Gratitude is a habit and like many habits, it takes time to develop.  Being thankful for all things in our lives and all people in our lives can sometimes be a challenge ~ especially when Mother Nature wallops you with unforeseen, epic storms.

However, it’s sometimes when life is darkest that you can find gratitude in the most minute things that can increase your life’s abundance exponentially.  I gave out the 30 day Gratitude Challenge yesterday and I thought I’d follow up today with some suggestions.  I know that before I took the challenge myself, I floundered at the thought of 30 different people to thank, but as I went along, every morning, I popped out of bed excited to find my next person to thank ~ and magically they were delivered to me!

Here, you will find my first gratitude card that I began earlier this year.  gratitude-day-1    I did the gratitude challenge which morphed into something bigger as time went on for me.  It changed me just like the death of my Dad did.  Perhaps that’s why I’ve reached out to my cousins and found peace.

Life is short…don’t live with regrets…now’s the time to say how you feel…enjoy the beauty in the written word.  It doesn’t have to be fancy nor cost a lot…it just has to come from the heart!

Hugs to you!

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xo

Recognize yourself? A little giggle for you!

A card can say a lot. 

Your words

ALWAYS

say more ~ for less $

with SendOutCards!

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xo

Trick and Treats…from SendOutCards!

A Happy Halloween Video for YOU!

(Click on the link above!)

Halloween is easy to enjoy with SendOutCards!  No need to leave your home to send a personalized card and you can even include candy, cider, Mrs. Fields cookies and brownies, perhaps a Starbucks gift card and even toys can be sent for Halloween this year!

Have a special someone who needs to hear from you?  Want to reach out to say Happy Halloween?!  Give it a try today with a free account…

Happy Halloween…Here’s your treat

from me to YOU!

xo

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Manifesting Butterflies

I saw the above card as a gift in the SendOutCards gift catalog and I sent it to KAngel with a heartfelt card because she had just gotten a special butterfly tattoo & I wanted to honor it.  The funny thing was that I wanted the gift for myself as well ~ it’s a simple card, like a credit card that you can put in your wallet to remind you or you could put it on your desk…I’ve been carrying mine now for a few days as a symbol of strength because my friend BAngel sent it to me!  She didn’t even know that I wanted it!  Imagine my thrill when I got an unexpected greeting card in the mail with the same present that I had sent and wanted for myself!  Woo Hoo!  It made my day! **

In the meantime though, I’ve had a lot of butterfly encounters lately and it made me think about animal totems.  So I looked it up at butterfly-animal-symbolism.html

Butterfly Animal Symbolism

“Overwhelmingly, cultural myth and lore honor the butterfly as a symbol of transformation because of its impressive process of metamorphosis…

What a massive amount of transition this tiny creature undergoes…Imagine the whole of your life changing to such an extreme you are unrecognizable at the end of the transformation. Mind you, this change takes place in a short span of about a month too (that’s how long the butterfly life cycle is).

Herein lies the deepest symbolic lesson of the butterfly. She asks us to accept the changes in our lives as casually as she does. The butterfly unquestioningly embraces the changes of her environment and her body.

This unwavering acceptance of her metamorphosis is also symbolic of faith. Here the butterfly beckons us to keep our faith as we undergo transitions in our lives. She understands that our toiling, fretting and anger are useless against the turning tides of nature – she asks us to recognize the same.

Interestingly, in many cultures the butterfly is associated with the soul – further linking our animal symbolism of faith with the butterfly…Its connection with the soul is rather fitting. We are all on a long journey of the soul. On this journey we encounter endless turns, shifts, and conditions that cause us to morph into ever-finer beings. At our soul-journey’s end we are inevitably changed – not at all the same as when we started on the path.

To take this analogy a step further, we can look again to the grace and eloquence of the butterfly and realize that our journey is our only guarantee.

Our responsibility to make our way in faith,

accept the change that comes,

and emerge from our transitions as brilliantly as the butterfly.”

After reading all of this, I realized that it was quite fitting that the butterfly is my animal totem now…

Do you have an animal totem?

Please share…I’d love to hear your comments!

xo

**Does this gift speak to you as well?  You can find it & others by logging onto your free account in SendOutCards ~ 126830 Just hit join now and you can send a card with a gift in just minutes!  Let me know if you need any help!

SOC Replay

In case you missed it, webinar replay is available…just click on the link below!

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Seasons Change, Life Changes, You Change…

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

Nature’s peace will flow into you just as sunshine flows into trees.

The winds will blow their own freshness into you… while cares will drop off like leaves.

Well my friends, it’s almost the end of summer and I am hanging on to its vestiges with every fiber of my being.  I know most of us are already thinking in terms of fall since school has started but alas, the Fall Equinox officially begins on in the Northern Hemisphere on September 22, 10:49 A.M. EDT.   The word equinox comes from the Latin words for “equal night.” The fall and spring equinoxes are the only days of the year in which the Sun crosses the celestial equator.   From here on out, the temperatures begin to drop and the days start to get shorter than the nights.

My Dad passed away on June 21st which was the first day of summer which was his favorite season so I guess moving into fall would be just another first to add to our collection.  We’ve endured my parents’ first wedding anniversary without my Dad, my nephew’s & brother-in-law’s birthdays, my husband’s and my wedding anniversary, the first day back to school went by without his traditional call to ask how the day went and various holidays ~ July 4th, Labor Day have already been celebrated without his earthly presence.

I guess that’s where this all ties in together for seasons change…life changes…we are born, we live, we die…and then…?  I won’t go into what happens next, because I am concentrating on the NOW…the PRESENT that we’ve been given.

My suggestion to you is to video tape your loved ones talking about something special…get their voices on tape…take pictures now while life is good because we only have today…we only have my Dad’s voice on the answering machines since he was always calling us.  I am grateful that I kept his last few messages.  My sister took a video of him when he was first put in the hospital, before he started to really go further downhill and it is one that I am ever grateful for because he sent me a message ~ one that I’ll forever cherish.

Which brings me to my passion ~ sending out love.  What’s the legacy you’re leaving behind?  If today was your last day, would your loved ones know how you feel?  Would there be kind words left unsaid?  I used to keep cards from my family that said something very special ~ you know, that note that said how proud of you they were and how much you are loved…those kinds…now I keep the last card sent from others because I’ve now found first hand how much it means to see a loved ones handwriting especially when it says something good.  You see, we all need to feel loved and to feel special.  An unexpected card in the mail, amidst the junk and bills, is a smile giver ~ telling someone now how you feel is a sure-fire way to not feel that there are words left unsaid.  Sending a card with your heartfelt words gives a concrete, hand-held reminder of how you feel ~ one that will be cherished.  And with SendOutCards you can even write it in your own handwriting, but from the comfort of your computer, in your pjs without leaving home!

Do you have 10 minutes and $1?  Of course you do…now use it…be the change you want to see in your life, in your relationships…you can’t change others, but you most certainly can change yourself!

Don’t FALL back into the routine which you’ve know for years…

branch out, let your cares fall like the leaves

and blow the freshness of a new season into your life and into the lives of others!

I’ll help by getting you started…

www.sendoutcards.com/126830

xo

Make Someone Happy!

Everywhere you go you always seem to spread sunshine.

Ok, think fast…to whom does this card belong?  Whose name popped into your head first when you read this quote and saw this card?  That’s who needs to hear from you today.  Did you think of someone?  Know their address?  Someone deserves to hear how you feel about them!  Sending positivity, increases sunshine and breeds positivity which makes more sunshine which makes the world a happier place.

Life is about connections ~ we pass along many amazing awards so easily to each other in order to show how we appreciate our connections, our relationships and our positivity.  We are there for each other, we read each other’s posts, we get to know other bloggers as time goes on.  I’ve already made some amazing connections here in cyberspace for which I’m grateful.  But what if when you opened your mailbox, amidst the junk mail and bills was an envelope with your name on it?  Imagine the excitement you would feel ~ similar to getting a comment on a beloved post, don’t you think?

There are people in your life to whom you’re connected and know their physical address ~ I would love to help you give them that priceless feeling of happiness! Making someone else’s day shine with your thoughtfulness gives them the feeling of being appreciated and gives you the feeling of gratitude.  By far, a win-win situation for sure!

See the video below ~ in a little over one month we have sent over 1MM cards of gratitude worldwide!  Imagine the ripple effect if everyone who blogged sent a card every day for 30 days?  I’ve done our gratitude challenge and I’ve seen other bloggers participate their own way in a gratitude challenge!  I love when we all connect!

Interested in learning about how you can participate in the Gratitude Challenge?

Click here!  www.socgratitude.com/126830

Happy Thursday to YOU!

xo

Sunshine

Sunshine

I’m back on sunshine mode…can’t help it really…I figure I’m on the 7 day countdown to my next surgery so I’ve got to spend each day as happily as I can before I go under the knife again.  So, indulge me please.

My story is not uncommon you know…many people have surgery these days for all sorts of issues.  This next one is a typical sports injury ~ torn meniscus.  Of course, I had to go off and tear it vertically and horizontally because that’s what I do!  I do it to the MAX as the Valley Girls used to say!  Oops…did I just age myself?  Who am I kidding!  I am happy to say that this is the first surgery in 10 years that has nothing to do with breast cancer!  Woo Hoo!  Who knew that I’d be whooping it up for such a silly thing.  But hey, I just continue to be grateful for every dawn and dusk that I’m here.  Know what I mean? 🙂

One of the things that help when you’re homebound after any surgery is hearing from a friend.  Sometimes phonecalls are too taxing though because pain meds can make you very sleepy.  Texts and emails are good when you are feeling like you want to communicate and dive back into the cyber world.

However, cards…yes I know I’ve said it before, but cards are the easy answer…takes 2 minutes, a guarantee smile deliverer to the recipient and if you’re feeling frisky, a few Mrs. Field’s brownies, or a small token of thoughtfulness or a gift card for when the patient is up and around is always a nice way to make someone’s day.

As a frequent patient, I can attest to the fact that the mailbox can be a friend or foe.  Medical bills and confusing EOB’s come through that familiar rectangle and junk mail also seems to increase when you’re stuck at home.  Lucky for me, I have a family of friends who know the sheer delight I get when I open the mailbox to find an envelope with my name on it which isn’t a bill, isn’t junk mail and doesn’t require anything else but a smile from me!

I’ve also shared my secret with them that makes it easier on the pocketbook or murse if you’re a man.  It doesn’t require you to change out of your pjs, get off of your computer nor open your wallet each and every time you do it!  You can even schedule your cards up to a year in advance so you can be ready for my next one in October!

I attached a video I just made from a few of the gratitude cards ~ just thought I’d send some love to all of you!  Pick the thank you card that fits you best and know that if I had your address, I’d send you a real one…and if you want, email me and I will…but if you don’t want to share that info with me, just enjoy a little bit of music and some cards to brighten your day, to thank you for reading my blog and to bring you…

SUNSHINE!

VC9EstLEh81utZUlWqAxjg

Happy Monday to YOU!

xo

Gratitude Day 22 ~ A New Chapter

Video of Song

I Hope You Dance

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance   ~   I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances but they’re worth taking
Lovin’ might be a mistake but it’s worth making

Don’t let some hell-bent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance   ~  (Time is a wheel in constant motion always)
I hope you dance   ~ (Rolling us along)
I hope you dance   ~ (Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder)
I hope you dance   ~ (Where those years have gone)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

Dance   ~ I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always)
I hope you dance   ~ (Rolling us along)
I hope you dance   ~ (Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder)
I hope you dance   ~ (Where those years have gone)

Songwriters: Sanders, Mark D.; Sillers, Tia

Today is my elder son’s graduation which is a happy day for us all ~ it’s so exciting to close one chapter and start a new one for him.  I love the song above which was sung by LeAnne Rimes ~ I love the lyrics which is why I posted them.  I thought that it was a great reminder to LIVE!  I am so grateful we are here today to celebrate his accomplishments!

But for me, it’s a bittersweet moment as well as neither of my parents will be in attendance.  My Dad now lays quietly with a ventilator breathing for him and Mom will continue to hold vigil at his side ~ telling him that she’s taking him home this weekend ~for, in case he can hear, he will believe that there is hope that he is getting better (her words).

I am reminded yet again, we only have this life, this day, these Presents of Presence in which to Live…Please don’t look back on your life and wonder where the years have gone ~ use everyday ~ use the PRESENT that is TODAY!  It’s Your Life ~ Create it and Make it Memorable to You and Others!

Everyday is a new day ~ a new opportunity to start a new chapter!

I’m so thankful for my family!

xo