I Am…who I want to be…

I Am…who I want to be

So I’m sticking with the latest theme…probably because today marks 2 weeks since my Dad died.  Wow…it’s been 2 weeks since I stood by his bedside while his heart ceased beating on its own ~ even though his breathing was being done for him by the ventilator.  It seems like years ago and in the same breath, it seems like just moments ago.

To me, this whole experience has just reinforced my determination to be able to say the above sentence with courage, with happiness and without regrets. Do me a favor, go to the nearest mirror in your home and say to your eyes which stare back,

“I AM who I want to be.”

How do you feel?  Can you say this truthfully?  And are you happy with who you are?

If you felt great with it ~ Woo Hoo!  I am so happy for you!  Now your job is to go spread your sunshine to others!

However, if you have trouble saying the above, then there’s a bit of work to do for you.  I think we are always evolving as we are always learning.  I know that I feel that I am who I want to be, but I always want to improve myself.  I am always reading and trying to learn about how to improve my life, myself and to be able to better hone in on my purpose in life.  I haven’t quite gotten my purpose figured out yet.

Sometimes I just think it’s a work in progress until God/Universe decides to give me another cosmic kick in the rear ~ although quite frankly ~ breast cancer 10 years ago, 7 surgeries in the last 10 years ~ with 3 more to go this year~ my Dad dying and leaving us his business to take care of ~ and other little trinkets that have been passed to me ~ I think are enough.  I just wish I knew more precisely what my purpose is…until I do, I think I’ll continue on the path I’m stepping and see where it takes me.

In the meantime,

I Am…who I want to be…

And I hope you are too!

xo

Live the Life YOU Have Imagined

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

Live the life you have imagined. Henry David Thoreau

Do you have a dream?  Are you living the life you imagined you’d have when you were younger?  Do you remember what your dreams were for yourself?  Can you look at your life today and be happy with it or are you searching for something else?  Something more?  Something different?

Have you lived your dream and now need a new one?  Is it time for a new chapter in your life?

As July begins, it signals the 2nd part of the year and with it, a reminder that we still have plenty of time in 2012 to live the life we have imagined!  And the best part is YOU have the POWER inside of YOU!

For myself, I am now trying to flow with the transition within my family now that my Dad has passed.  I imagine that as I allow energy to flow easily, all will fall into place the way it should be.  I have restarted my affirmations which I had stopped for awhile and am keeping my brain open and happy.

After all…it’s SUMMER ~ and life is good!  I keep counting my blessings, my family, my friends and my incredible support system.  I imagine how I want my life to be like everyday ~ healthy, happy, joyous and full of love.

What about you? You deserve to live the life you have imagined.

Don’t let anything or anyone stop you!

Live Your Life!

xo

Gratitude 30 ~ Challenge Complete

Today marks my 30th day of the gratitude challenge…and it’s not how I thought it would end at all.  I had thought that I would be sending a card a day to different people (which I did) and hopefully sending love along the way to so many.  Spreading sunshine as it were to all those who touch my life ~ so that they would know how much I appreciated them.  But along the way, Dad passed away and today marks the anniversary of his first week which is hard.  I’m told that the first year is marked by 1sts along the way which become easier as time heals.  Right now, I’m still a bit overwhelmed, but I am grateful that he is at peace.

I enjoyed sending my cards everyday which was so easy because there’s always someone to thank and to be grateful for if you take a moment to just look at your life.  I’ve learned and shared that we only have today in which to make a difference in someone else’s life.  We only have today to tell those whom we appreciate, whom we love, whom we care about ~ how much they truly mean to us.

I loved hearing the excitement in their voices when the card recipients called me ~ telling me over and over how much I made their day.  Going out to the mailbox, expecting junk mail and bills and finding a personalized enveloped tucked inside with a heartfelt message from me…reading how much they mean to me, how much they are loved, how important they are ~ my personalized message and sometimes even pictures ~ I know for me, with the passing of my Dad and my last surgery, I received many heartfelt, personalized cards which never failed to make me smile, even when I was so very sad.

Cards have a special way of making others feel good ~ spreading sunshine ~ making the world a brighter place.  And that’s what I’m all about…I want everyone to know how special they are ~ and I want to do it easily, conveniently and cost-effectively which is why I love SendOutCards…

Regrets are for a lifetime and I don’t want any regrets.  I’ve found that what you give out, you receive in abundance…So if I can offer you any wisdom from my 30 days, let it be this:

Appreciate…Love…Forgive…Love…Smile…Love…Cherish…Love…

Remember…Love…Care…Love…Repeat…

 www.socgratitude.com

Sponsor # 126830

Gratitude Day 15 ~ Grateful for Life

“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
 Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.”
~Mother Teresa

I love this quote from Mother Teresa and chose it this morning because I’m so grateful for my life and for the lives of my loved ones.  This journey that we’re on with my Dad is not the first one we’ve endured with him as he’s been hospitalized before this and he’s fought his way back to health.  For as much as he can be persnickety (just love that word!), the fight within him continues and enables him to elongate his life.

But it brings home that realization as well that “Life is Short” ~ a quote we’ve heard repeatedly from older generations ~ one that I know, I’ve brushed off myself when I was younger and before I knew I had breast cancer.  “Tomorrow, tomorrow…you’re only a day away” rang in my ears because when you’re young, there’s always tomorrow!  I’m not saying that we don’t have a tomorrow in our futures, but what about TODAY ~ NOW?  We have such power in the Present of Presence ~ of being here and now and enjoying this moment for what is it ~ good, bad, sad, but never indifferent…to live a life that is full of precious moments so that on our deathbeds, we are not regretting all of the woulda, coulda, shoulda’s that we may have missed.

Mother Teresa had it right ~ life is all of the above ~ so live it! 

Enjoy it!  Revel in it because it’s YOUR GIFT!

With a grateful, loving heart, flow along with your day and enjoy this gift of life.

You’ve earned it!

Happy Wednesday to You!

xo

Gratitude Day 14 ~ Times like these…

It’s times like these that you find out who your true friends are

and how lucky you are to have them in your life!

Wow…I am overwhelmed by all of the many people who have reached out to my family while my Dad continues to be in ICU at the hospital.  I sent a mass email (following Dad’s orders) to his contact list on email so that everyone knew what was going on with him.  I have received so many heartfelt messages back that I am simply speechless.  What’s brought me so much joy has been reading how everyone knows him and the many stories that they are telling me including how long they have known him and how long their families have known him.

My email went out blindly as the addresses weren’t named and many that were named, were not names that I was familiar with so it’s been an interesting 24 hours.   What amazes me is that he didn’t participate in a gratitude challenge (at least I’m not aware of it) but he has simply touched so many lives simply by being himself.  Now I am not putting him up for Sainthood as he is not perfect and is rather persnickety ~ truly an understatement ~ but he has given of himself to others which has helped them.  What a great legacy for his daughters and wife to experience while he is still here…and for him as well!

Which brings me to why it’s so important as I continue to stress, to live in the moment, to enjoy THE PRESENTS OF PRESENCE ~ the GIFT of NOW!  Tell those that you love that you love them, hug them close, tell them how grateful you are and take a moment to send a heartfelt card.

We only have today my friends ~ I don’t want to wait until it’s too late to hear that I mattered to you ~ and you don’t want to not hear it as well ~ make today count ~ take a moment to tell a friend, a stranger, a family member how you feel about them!  You’ll be glad you did!

Happy Tuesday!

Grateful Day 14 ~ my life is changing for the better ~ come join me and change your life!

xo

Gratitude Day 9 ~ Being Thankful is So Easy!

www.thethankyouchallenge.com

Coach # 126830

Today’s gratitude card is above which I made especially for this occasion.  Although I’m not sharing what I wrote inside today to one of my parents’ friends who helped us immensely yesterday as my Dad is in the hospital.  DAngel stayed and visited with my parents, helping to sort out all of the complications of my Dad’s illness.  I am unfortunately not allowed to visit nor be in the hospital due to my own recent surgery and complications so it’s been very hard to help by phone.  My sister AAngel has been our ROCK and has taken over helping my parents daily, but she’s got her job as well as her own busy family ~ I am amazed at her ability to juggle so many hats in such a caring and loving way.  My heart goes out to her as she’s taken over the care taking of everyone while still taking care of her own responsibilities, family and life. xo

Our family appreciated DAngel and his wife LAngel just stepping in and helping my Mom when the doctor came around as more ears hear better ~ especially when you are hearing information that may sound foreign to you (medical speak you know!)  So that’s why I am sending this card to them.

I also thought I’d take the opportunity to share a bit more about the Gratitude Challenge by posting a website and a bit more information on the how to do it yourself.

If you click on the link above, you will see more information on the challenge that I’m participating in which is bringing me so much joy!  Although I didn’t create this website, you can easily put my Coach # 126830 in and send a card or 2 for free so that you can get the gist of what it’s all about!  Isn’t there someone that you’d like to thank?  Someone who went the extra mile to make your day brighter?   It’s all about karma, the law of attraction and giving ~ sending out love just brings more joy to your life!  I guarantee it…it’s changing mine so quickly!  The more grateful I am, the more I have to be grateful for it seems…and I am loving the changes in my life!

I find that sending cards brings so much joy to my life in so many ways.  It’s been over a week of gratitude already and I am finding that everyday brings more reasons to be thankful to more people who are showing kindness to me in my life.  It’s the little things, the big things and even the mundane that bring me so much joy!

Don’t let today go by without telling the special people in your life how you feel…

We aren’t guaranteed anything except this present moment…

Enjoy The Presents of Presence…on FB!

xo

Gratitude Day 7 – Timing is Everything

Dear Michele,

I loved how we connected today at the Salon and I feel very honored that you shared with me about the loss of your Dad.  My heart goes out to you as I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for you to lose someone so dear.  What a blessing to have had a Dad who was such a great part of your life ~ and who was both a Mom and Dad to you.  What an extraordinary man he was!  And what an extraordinary daughter he raised!

You are such a sweet, kind and caring person.  I am so glad that you have adopted your darling Frankie!  I love the name and the significance of it! He is truly adorable ~ God’s timing was perfect, wasn’t it?

I am blessed to know you.  I just wanted to send you a hug to let you know I’ll be thinking of you on Father’s Day…Your Dad surely watches over you everyday!  I am so glad you feel his angelic presence!  Thanks for being YOU!

Warmly, xo

Misifusa

Yesterday I went to my favorite salon and while I was getting a coffee before my appointment, one of the skincare professionals was standing there.  She is a remarkable woman with whom I’ve had the pleasure of having facials!  She truly has beautiful skin and when I complimented her on it, she attributed it to her father’s genes.  I told her that she should tell her Dad that on Father’s Day to which she told me that her Dad had recently passed in January.  Insert FOOT here…I hugged her and told her how sorry I was and she went on to tell me all about her Dad.  What a loving tribute to a man whom she said was both Mom and Dad to her!  The connection we shared was instantaneous and I was so happy to share in that moment with her.  When I asked if she felt his presence, she said she did and told me a special story about her new puppy named Frankie and an experience she’d recently had on the beach the past weekend.  I was so happy she’d shared so much with me that I wanted to send her a card to let her know that I am thinking of her, especially with Father’s Day around the corner.

I love my life in that I seem to connect with others so easily sometimes.  It’s like she needed to tell the story of her Dad and I was there, willing to listen and to experience it with her…how blessed am I that she chose me to share with ~ and how blessed is her Dad to have such an amazing daughter!

I hope you connect with someone special today!

xo

Gratitude Day 4

Thank You! xoxo

This card will be private as it’s to my loving, supportive husband of 17 years…a man who has been my rock and who has endured more than any husband should have to in a lifetime.  His unfailing loving arms have held me as I’ve cried, have consoled me as I have endured so many surgeries and yucky treatments…and he has been there every step of the way.  I can never thank him enough for all that he has done for me.  I am so very grateful for his love and I adore and love him with all of my heart.

For you, dear readers, I want to reiterate how uplifting it feels to live in a grateful state of mind!  I am having a blast every morning and evening as I think about my day and to whom I can reach out with a card…below is a list that you can copy if you wish ~ it’s what I am using myself.  As I go over my blessings everyday, I’ve been getting a spark of inspiration as to who is next on my list.  I keep writing the names down of the people and then as I send them a card, I write down the date I sent it.

It’s not difficult to think of the people in your life who make your life sweeter ~ and as you go through your day, you’ll find that the millions of little things that are done to make your life better, add up to a happy day.  Why not give back some of that happiness?  Oprah’s LifeClass, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay and many others have spoken of listing your blessings which is great…now let’s take it a step further and TELL those to whom you’re grateful!  Give them a card to remember you by ~ your heartfelt message written for them to always keep…or at least to acknowledge that you are happy that they’re in your life!

30 Day Gratitude Challenge

“Guaranteed to Change Your Life”

                                                                                            Card Sent

Day 1 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________      /    /

Day 2 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________      /    /

Day 3 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________      /    /

Day 4 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________      /    /

Day 5 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________       /    /

Day 6 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________      /    /

Day 7 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________      /    /

Day 8 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________      /    /

Day 9 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________      /    /

Day 10 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________    /    /

Day 11 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 12 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 13 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 14 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________    /    /

Day 15 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 16 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 17 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 18 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 19 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 20 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 21 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 22 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 23 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 24 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 25 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 26 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 27 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 28 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 29 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

Day 30 Who Am I Grateful For? ________________________     /    /

100 Posts ~ Gratitude Goal!

Thank You!

Today celebrates my 100th post on my blog and I want to begin by thanking all of my readers.  I started this blog to reach out to others, to inspire, to be of service and to spread the knowledge I’ve gained through my life experiences.  Using cards as my springboard, I’ve tried to bring an inspiring message to you with every post.

I’ve had a bit of time to think lately as I’ve been recuperating and I’ve come up with a goal that I am hoping you might want to participate in.  I’ve been talking a lot about gratitude these days and I’ve got a lot to be grateful for in my life…and I’ve a lot of people to be grateful for in my life.  I’ve written a ton of thank you notes recently as many people have come to the aid of my family and me by bringing dinner over, sending flowers, sending little gifts in the mail, sending prayer cards and even just sending ‘thinking of you’ cards which have brightened my every day.  Truly I am blessed.  I loved getting that unexpected card in the mail among the bills and junk mail.  My eyes lit up every time someone brought me an envelope with my name on it because to me, it was like a little piece of Heaven…you thought of me enough to pick out a card, write a heartfelt message, address, stamp and mail it to me so that I could have something special to open…how fantastic is that!

There are many books out now, like The Magic, which reiterate that we should be grateful, be cognizant of the blessings we have already and as you concentrate on those multitude of blessings that you already have, more come your way.  I agree with counting your blessings and living a life of gratitude.  I’ve kept a gratitude journal a la Oprah which has helped to keep my positivity in check…and has grown my blessings and miracles enormously.

But I’m finding that I want to do more, globally and reach out to others with that gratitude.  A smile, a polite thank you in our daily lives to those who show us kindnesses is one way to show gratitude, but what if we were to take it a step further and say it…say thank you with a card…a heartfelt message to someone to whom you are grateful?  Imagine the amazing benefits to you and to the recipient if you were to write a heartfelt message of gratitude to a friend and the priceless feelings it would give that person when they opened a special card from you saying thank you.

Maya Angelou wrote,

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

My goal is to send a heartfelt card a day to someone whom I am grateful for ~ I’m going to do it for 30 days ~ a card a day.   I will post my journey each day so that you come along with me.  I’d love for you to join me as my goal is to get 100 people to send a card a day for 30 days.  Imagine what we could do by sending out love & gratitude  everyday for 30 days to 30 different people?  Imagine the impact it would make on our little world…of course, my mind races with what if’s…what if 1000 people did it for 30 days and so on…

If you’re interested in joining me, let me know…it’ll cost about $1 a day, you can do it from you computer and you may even change your life…what if we started a movement of gratitude?  A wave of gratitude which knows no bounds…

Join me on this journey…let’s change the world, one card at a time…

Thank you for reading my blog…I am grateful to all of you!

xo

Be the One that Did.

All The Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas Layin’ In The Sun,

Talkin’ ‘Bout The Things They Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda Done…

But All Those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas All Ran Away

And Hid From One Little Did.  

~ Shel Silverstein

Be the one that did…powerful words there….have you ever woulda coulda shoulda’d?   Felt upset because of it?  Remember what we’ve talked about here…you have the power my friends.  This is your life and we’re all connected!  Need a little push?  Well here it is..

Be the One that Did…

You will be happy you did!

xo