Love the One You’re With

I ♥ Me!

Stop for a moment.  Without thinking, answer this simple question,

“Do you love yourself?” 

What was the answer that came out of your mouth first?  Was it an enthusiastic YES!  Or was it hesitant silence?  Or was it a quiet “maybe” or was it a shake of the head meaning “no.”  There’s no right or wrong answer at this time.  It matters not what your immediate answer was because we are starting with baby steps.

We are starting this 2014 with LOVING YOU!

So let’s begin…

Commit to Loving Yourself this year. 

Every bit of you from the tip of your head to the tip of your toes!

1.  Find a mirror, look at your beautiful self and repeat to your image…

“I Love Me.

I Love You (insert your name).”

2.  How did it make you feel?  Were you uncomfortable?  Were you happy?  Did you smile at yourself?

3.  Whatever your reaction was, it was perfect for you at this time!

Take my hand and with time, we will make it an even better one!

One baby step at a time!

4.  Your job today (should you choose the Love theme of 2014) is to do the above exercise 3x today.

Note how if makes you feel when you do it!

That’s it!

You are loved.

Shine On!

xo

Exercise from Louise Hay’s book, You Can Heal Your Life.

Have you ever read it?  Did you like it?

Fairy Tales Can Come True

So the Daily Prompt asks us to write an ABOUT ME page of the future ~ 10 years from now.  Here goes…

About Me:

If someone had told me 10 years ago when I began blogging that I would have been able to have yet another dream come true, I would have felt grateful for their positivity and would have tried to believe that Fairy Tales Can Come True.  It’s not that I am not a positive person, nor that I don’t subscribe to beliefs, affirmations and belief in the Laws of Attraction.  I most certainly do.  But I had already had a few of my dreams come true so I figured it was enough.  But God/Universe/Life had other plans for me and I am truly grateful for what I have received and been able to share with others.  For I have seen my dreams explode in a way that I could never have imagined, they have developed world wide which helped me to return to my love of traveling internationally as well.  I guess that’s what happens when you continually try to stay on the path of your red carpet!

This is my third work opportunity come true ~ the first being find a job out of college where all I wished for was to use my Spanish (I didn’t care what else it entailed ~ I went into banking, then sold tennis racquets internationally),  and then my second was that I wanted to be a role model for students who were studying the Spanish language I was teaching them so I became a teacher to teenagers which was an amazing time in my life ~ and  then I had a dream I would survive the breast cancer that riddled my body as well as my life and check ~ that dream came true.

Then I was dream-less for awhile.  Lazy, hazy days of hmmm…what do I want to accomplish?  I’m simply a ship bobbing along the surface of the sea without oars, just knowing that I wanted to make a world-wide difference in the lives of others.  I wanted to find a way to help them to heal their lives by teaching baby steps on which to find peace.  And then it happened.  My prayers were answered, my dreams came true!  I received The Presents of Presence that I’d been sending out ~ they came back a hundred fold, a thousand fold and I am forever grateful to all of you for sticking with me, for sharing my presents and for sending out love and receiving the love that I was sending to all of you.  Thank you to all of you!  I am forever grateful!

Shine On!

xo

Daily Prompt: About Page of the Future

Write the About page for your blog in 10 years.

Photographers, artists, poets: show us FUTURE.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/09/daily-prompt-about-page/

Find A Purpose To Serve

“Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live.” – Criss Jami 

Goal-achievement-quote-apr-21-2013

My heartfelt thanks to Paul at Goal Habits who daily brings me a quote to begin my day ~ and it’s always a keeper!  (You know what that means right?  When you’re fishing and you catch one that is just the right size, what do you say?  It’s a Keeper!)  I know this is an older quote, but I thought it was perfect for today!

There’s a lot of mumbo jumbo about finding your purpose, being your best self and fulfilling what you are meant to accomplish by learning the lessons you’ve been given in order to live this life.  Truly, I don’t feel like it’s all mumbo jumbo, but I do feel like I hear a lot of people yammering about it, but not DOING anything about it.  Does that make sense?

I guess that’s why I like this quote because I believe that when you find your purpose to serve, whatever is necessary in your life will come.  Does that make sense to you?

So what is it that is your purpose?  Whom are you to serve?  Do you know?

I’ve met so many inspiring people through blogging from all different corners of the world.  What I adore is that I learn from each of you, something special that inspires me to live a more gracious life ~ to be lifted a bit higher than I was and to yearn to connect even more with others.

I’m floating these days, awaiting the start of the school year which as a former teacher, I always found exciting ~ on par with New Year’s because it’s a new beginning ~ although to be truthful, every Monday feels like a new start, every 1st of the month when I utter rabbit-rabbit is a new start ~ heck every dawn is a new start, don’t you think?

So today I’m asking you, what’s your purpose to serve?  Whom are you serving?  And if you don’t know, please think about it and with tomorrow’s dawn, come back and tell us!  Perhaps we can all connect even more and help each other!  Come on, find that Inner-Hotshot, you know the one who listens to her intuition, her gut and connects!

What’s your purpose to serve?

Shine On!

xo

Monday Morning’s Inspiration for Your Life

How to Make a Beautiful Life

Love yourself.
Make peace with who you are,
And where you are,
At this moment in time.
Listen to your heart.
If you can’t hear what it’s saying
In this noisy world,
Make time for yourself.
Enjoy your own company.
Let your mind wander among the stars.
Try.
Take chances.
Make mistakes.
Life can be messy
And confusing at times,
But it’s also full of surprises.
The next rock in your path
Might be a stepping stone.
Be happy.
When you don’t have what you want,
Want what you have.
Make do
That’s a well-kept secret of contentment.
There aren’t any shortcuts to tomorrow.
You have to make your own way.
To know where you are going
Is only part of it.
You need to know where you’ve been, too.
And if you ever get lost, don’t worry.
The people who love you will find you.
Count on it.
Life isn’t days and years.
It’s what you do with time
And with all the goodness and grace
That’s inside you.
Make a Beautiful life…
The kind of life you deserve.~unknown

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found the poem above this morning and felt that it must be shared with you.

May you make yourself a beautiful life,

the kind you deserve.

I know you can do it…hold my hand.

We’ll do it together!

Shine On!

xo

Early Bird AND Night Owl

Daily Prompt: Your Time to Shine

Early bird, or night owl?

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/daily-prompt-shine/

I wasn’t planning on writing this morning, but when the Daily Prompt came through, I had to jump on it ~ early bird?  I just wrote about that here!   I love my precious mornings!  The dawning of a new day filled with promise ~ the sun rising to light up the earth ~ I imagine it’s the beginning of an all day smile!

But night owl, oh yes!  I can do that too!  Especially since many nights I wake up and can’t fall back to sleep!  Yes, I endure insomnia as well.  But this night owl can also hoot it up and party when needed ~ although the next morning, her early bird may be dragging a bit.  I can’t hoot like I used to anymore, but I always enjoy going out!

So…to answer the Daily Prompt ~ I SHINE ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT!

How about you?  Early bird or night owl?

Shine On!

xo

Need a role model?

Meet Nick Vujicic

Are there moments when you feel you just can’t ________(whatever, you fill in the blank)?  Well, Oprah and I KNOW FOR SURE that Nick’s inspiring story will be one you won’t forget and one that you’ll carry with you.   This morning’s spotlight is on a happily married fellow from Melbourne Australia whom you may have seen on Oprah recently.  Nick was born without limbs as you can see on the card above that I made from photos from his website listed below, but that hasn’t stopped him from living a life of joy, faith, hope, love  and a powerful will to inspire every single person whom his amazing story touches.  His courage, his fearlessness and his faith will continue to astound you ~ he’s truly an extraordinary, inspiring person who shines!

If you do nothing else, take a moment and watch this video ~ it’s sure to inspire you today!

Nick recently graced the stage on Oprah’s LifeClass with Pastor Rick Warren  You can find Nick’s spotlight during that class by clicking http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/nickhugsoprah/.

Nick’s website is abundant with ways to change lives and to inspire you to make the best out of your life!  http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/

Nick has written a few books…click on them to find out more!

You can even find more in Nick’s store ~ http://store.lifewithoutlimbs.org/

You can attend this segment of  Oprah’s Life Class by clicking http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/Oprah-and-Pastor-Rick-Warren-Winning-the-Hand-Youre-Dealt

I hope you enjoyed today’s inspirational person! 

Happy Sunday to YOU!

Shine On!

xo

What’s In a Name?

Hello…my name is MUD!

When I was in grammar school I knew a boy named John who wanted to be called Mud…so we all called him Mud!  I don’t recall the reason why he wanted that nickname, but he did.  It wasn’t a bully nickname, it was one he’d picked for himself.  So when I saw this card in my SendOutCards catalog, I giggled and immediately thought of John.  Funny how something so simple can immediately bring you back to childhood in an instant!

But the real reason for my post today isn’t about mud…it’s about names!

So I ask you, what’s in a name?  When you are introduced to someone and you tell them your name, how do you feel about it?  Because I want to know if you like your name ~ the one your parents gave to you ~ the one that’s on your original birth certificate.   Not the one that perhaps you go by (like Mud) but the legal one.  It’s interesting to me how something so special, so intimate to our whole lives is picked by someone else and we have nothing to do about it.

My Mom tells the story that she and my Dad were walking through a cemetery in Canada and happened upon a gravestone which had the name Yvonne on it.  Since my family has some French ancestry, they decided to name me Yvonne.  It’s a name which I like and I dislike at the same time, but one that I’ve had now for so many years, that I can’t imagine any other name.  For awhile, and actually during one job in my 20’s,  I went by the name Tommie which I thought to be different and cute (and because shockingly there was another Yvonne in the office!)  In fact, I still have my business cards which read Tommie and all of my clients knew me only as Tommie as did the office staff.  The only people who knew my real name was Yvonne was the payroll department and my boss who had asked if I could use a middle name instead.  For me, it was fun to have a different name for awhile and akin to playing dress up as a young girl!  It was fun, exciting and I could change my outer image a bit to match what I thought my inner Tommie was!

I like my name because it’s different but I don’t like it because it’s different and if that doesn’t make any sense to you, don’t worry because it makes no sense to me.  It’s simply how I feel and sometimes feelings don’t need to make sense!  I have thought of changing my name like my good friend Amy who when we were 18, had her legal name changed to Lindsay because she wanted to change it.  In fact, her parents paid for the change and began calling her Lindsay!  More than 20 years later, I call her Lindsay, but sometimes the name Amy slips out simply because most of my childhood memories are with her being named Amy.

So what’s in a name?  Do you like your name? 

Have you changed your name?  Do you have a nickname like Mud? 🙂 

I find it so fascinating so I’d love it if you would please share!

Shine On ~ whatever your name may be!

xo

A little Romeo and Juliet for you ~ Enjoy a bit of the 1936 balcony scene!

Who’s to Say I’m Normal?

Daily Prompt: Far From Normal  Many of us think of our lives as boringly normal, while others live the high life. Take a step back, and take a look at your life as an outsider might. Now, tell us at least six unique, exciting, or just plain odd things about yourself.

I saw this Daily Prompt this morning and I figured I’d hop on board to do this one as well!  Since I love hearing about you, take a moment and give me a glimpse of you in the comment section or better yet, join me in the Daily Prompt!  I love connecting with you!   In the meantime, here are 9 things about me!

I AM A….

1.  Wife, Mom, Daughter, Sister, Friend and Jersey Gal.   I love all the roles that encompass my life!  They make me happy to be a part of so many people’s lives whom I love!

2.  Writer  ~ Blog, E-book and Book (all in progress).   This is going on for awhile now and I have to really begin to pay more attention to these works in progress so I can finish them!

3.  Breast cancer survivor ~ 11 years and counting!   I love helping others who are enduring breast cancer and I am very grateful that I am healthy!

4.  Princess ~ affectionate nickname given by my Mother-in-Law (who really is a very good friend!)   My MIL and I are really close…she’s a blessing in my life!  When people meet us, they often think that I’m her daughter and not her DIL ~ so we allow them to think whatever they want because the In-Law part is just a title…she’s my Mom as well and I love her!

5.  Traveler ~ I love experiencing different cultures, places and foods!   I’ve been all over the world, but there are still many places that I would love to visit!  I’ve got a big Bucket List!

6.  Short gal ~ 5’2″ tall ~ haven’t grown since I was 14!   My one son towers over me now and the other one is almost taller too!

7.  Very Affectionate Person!   I can’t help myself so my family gets lots of hugs and kisses daily!

8.  Birthday~aholic because I LOVE my birthday!   I try to celebrate for at least a month every year!  There was nobody who didn’t know when I hit 40!  I was so excited to be alive (and still am!)

9.  Grateful gal who lives a blessed life!   I can honestly say that I love my life!

I have had more than my share of crazy drama in the past, but today my life is happily peaceful ~ as much as it can be!  I wanted to say something outrageous like I’m a former spy, but I just can’t lie to you!

Be Happy with Your Life!

Shine On!

xo

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/daily-prompt-abnormal/

Enlighten, Guide and Motivate

Daily Prompt: Mentor Me

Have you ever had a mentor?

What was the greatest lesson you learned from him or her?

Whew…this daily prompt is a loaded question in my life because I have been blessed with many mentors who come into my life as angels dressed in human form.  I have had so many sweet helpers along my life’s journey that I simply cannot choose one because each one has been instrumental in helping me to be where I am right now.  If even one of those mentors were not to have done their job, I wouldn’t be who I am today, nor would I have experienced all that I have endured in order to write to you.

I am blessed to say I’ve had many mentors in my life and they continue to show up almost daily for me!  You see, each of us can help others simply by being ourselves, by reaching out to connect with another person, to hold their hand and to care enough to be instrumental in their lives.  I have been blessed with some miraculous people in my life who continue to be there for me (and I for them) for years and years.  So please know that the small list below in no particular order, is just a few of my longest running mentors!

KAngel ~ Since age 9, we have been inseparable and I can’t thank you enough for being my best friend forever!  There’s nothing like knowing you have a friend with whom you share love and understanding always. xo

BAngel ~ I met you at age 10, you were my teacher then and you continue to guide me even now.  I love that our connection is so indescribable.  It’s as if we play leapfrog and help each other along the way.  You changed my life in so many ways.  I am so very grateful to connect with you. xo

LAngel/BAngel ~Our connection is such a delightful mixture of mom/dad/daughter/friend for which I am eternally grateful.  Your love and support have been immeasurable in my life.  Having known you since I was 18, you’ve been role models, inspirations, comforters and advisers for so many years.  You are always in my heart even when we are separated by miles.  xo

HAngel ~ By my age 14, you saved me, you nurtured me and you led the way for my breast cancer recovery.  Our mom/daughter/friend connection continues to thrive even when health issues occur.  It’s that understanding without words that binds us and for which I’m grateful. xo

AAngel ~ Getting it when it comes to dysfunctional family dynamic, only a sister can be there for you, to mentor you when you just don’t understand and to comfort you when you need love and understanding.  I am blessed with a sister such as this for which I’m grateful. xo

MAngel ~ Mom, your love shines in my life and I am blessed to be your daughter.  xo

DAngel ~ Dad, you taught me forgiveness even when I didn’t want to learn the lesson.  I am blessed to be at peace. xo

NAngel ~ My breast cancer friend who lead me down my journey a year ahead with her diagnosis, holding my hand the entire way.  Even now 11 years later, our bonds are never broken.  For sharing your journey and experiences with me and for allowing me to open up to you, I am so grateful. xo

BAngel ~ You taught me what love truly is, through sickness and in health and I most certainly would not be here if it weren’t for your steadfast support, love and guidance.  Without you holding my hand for the past almost 18 years of marriage, my life would have been so empty. xo

Have you been blessed with a mentor in your life?

Have you ever been a mentor to another?

Please share and…Shine On!

xo

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/daily-prompt-mentor/

Daily Prompt ~ All About Me!

Explain why you chose your blog’s title and what it means to you.

When I first began my blog, I used the name Misifusa’s Blog because I felt it suited me (and I still do).  Because I knew ZERO about blogging or wordpress or anything else in the blogosphere, I just picked my nickname which I’ve used for over 20 years, since I lived in Spain.  Because it was different, I thought it would be fun to use!  Have you ever heard of the name Misifusa?

Then I began my SendOutCards business and incorporated the SendOutLove which reverberated within my soul as well as I enjoy making connections with others and putting a smile on their faces with my greeting cards.

And then, awhile back,  I awoke in the middle of the night with the title The Presents of Presence blossoming in my mind. It was as if I was being given the gift of a breath of fresh air, a way to open up to inspire others and to share my story.  So with that, I added the subtitle to my blog.

My blog was going to center on my survival of breast cancer, but as I began writing, it metamorphosed into hopefully a blog that you enjoy reading because it inspires you, it lights up your day, it gives you interesting books to read, and it allows you to enjoy just being here on this planet with others.  It promotes the connections which we find blossoming when we allow ourselves to be open.  It’s the kind of blog that is an outstretched hand to hold when you need a friend.  At least that’s what I’m aiming for ~ it’s a work in progress, just like me.

To me, life is a gift.  I open my eyes every morning without fail happy to start and new day and being grateful that I am here to experience whatever the day has to offer me.  I am thankful for my family and friends, for the connections I have made and for the experiences which I have endured.

You have a choice every morning ~ to awaken with a smile and a grateful heart or not to~ to me every moment is precious and I am going to enjoy The Presents of Being Present in my life each and every day, because the future is promised to no one!

We only have this moment to shine ~ and I’m taking it.

So take my hand and let’s connect!

Thanks for reading my blog!

Shine On!

xo

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/daily-prompt-all-about-me/