Tell me your thoughts about "The Secret"

[Imzadi]

Now this is what everyone on this thread needs, their very own:

http://www.amazon.com/Accoutrements

 

[Disneynutbsv]

Now this is what everyone on this thread needs, their very own:

http://www.amazon.com/Accoutrements

And its on sale too! They would be cute as little gifts though....

 

[DreaminDisney]

Oh look at what a deal if you buy it with the magic 8 ball!!!

 

[Disneynutbsv]

I made my employee a grooms cake for her wedding today. It was in the shape of a Dune Buggy. I had it all done and decorated yesterday....this morning I got up and my dog had climbed up on my chair and ate it off from my pub set table!!! Grrrrr...

So, I am telling myself that it happened for a reason and this one will come out better than the first...trying to stay positive...

 

[JodyLynC]

I made my employee a grooms cake for her wedding today. It was in the shape of a Dune Buggy. I had it all done and decorated yesterday....this morning I got up and my dog had climbed up on my chair and ate it off from my pub set table!!! Grrrrr...

So, I am telling myself that it happened for a reason and this one will come out better than the first...trying to stay positive...

Did you have a chance to redo it yet? How did it turn out? We're all rooting for you!!!

 

[Disneynutbsv]

Did you have a chance to redo it yet? How did it turn out? We're all rooting for you!!!

Yes, I re-did it and it came out great....I guess I was just supposed to do two! Actually its funny because at the wedding one of the guests came over to me to ask me to do a cake for a fundraiser for a humane society and I've been itching to do a carved dog cake!! So, now I get to do that, lol

It was a beautiful day yesterday and I'm grateful that my employee had such a great day for a wedding

 

[beckmrk04]

Any ideas/good books that can help me deal with procrastination issues? I am really struggling with it, and I need some outside advice/ideas.

It has always been like this for me: I put off doing things until they become HUGE problems I have to deal with- academically, financially (especially in this area), etc.

I need some extra help in the financial area. I'm struggling with remaining positive, and I'm struggling with not worrying- I have anxiety issues anyway, and I worry incessantly about money. Which, logically, I know it comes, it goes, and it's not really a big deal in the long run. The short term though, seems so hard to deal with.

 

[JodyLynC]

Any ideas/good books that can help me deal with procrastination issues? I am really struggling with it, and I need some outside advice/ideas.

It has always been like this for me: I put off doing things until they become HUGE problems I have to deal with- academically, financially (especially in this area), etc.

I need some extra help in the financial area. I'm struggling with remaining positive, and I'm struggling with not worrying- I have anxiety issues anyway, and I worry incessantly about money. Which, logically, I know it comes, it goes, and it's not really a big deal in the long run. The short term though, seems so hard to deal with.

Procrastination - I let that happen sometimes, too. I don't have any specific book recommendations, but I do have some suggestions from Stephen Covey.
1) Write a list of what needs to be done.
2) Place that list in order (1st - Important and Urgent, 2nd - Important and not Urgent, 3rd - Not important and Urgent, Last - Not Important and Not Urgent.) Exceptions are due dates. If you have something due by a certain date. Place in order accordingly.
3) Start working on the first item. Give yourself an end date. (ex: clean closet by Sept. 1st) Don't worry about the other stuff. Commit to this item.
4) If it is a big job, break it down into pieces. Start with the big stuff first.
5) Write it down and check off as you complete each item. If you break big jobs down into small steps, write the steps down and check as each step is done. When you see the progress you are making, you will be inspired to continue on.

I'm starting this, too. Hopefully, we will be able to inspire each other.

Finances: Such an ugly word. I've gotten myself into a little trouble and I keep worrying about getting myself out. I'm getting to the point where I am surrounding myself with negative energy. I am now trying on surrounding it with positive energy.

I am trying to be generous with my time and money. I've started giving the girls an allowance each week. They have 3 cups. $1 goes into spending, a quarter goes into savings, and a quarter goes into giving. No matter what my situation, they get this money.

At my new church, I have committed giving $25 a month in offering. Plus I have signed up for volunteer opportunities. There is a prayer that we say in church before the offering plates go around. I also say this prayer before I donate any other items or money:
My gift goes forth to heal and bless and prosper. It does its good and perfect work, and returns to me multiplied abundantly. And so it is.

I know that when I am at most need, my gift will return to me. By keeping the cycle of abundance and generosity going, it will return to me.

I also wrote up an action plan. I listed the areas that I can save some money. I have due dates for each action. When I start worrying about finances, I ask myself "Is there anything about it I can do at this moment?" If there is, I do it. If there isn't I say "I expect miracles. I create my own reality. I see my debt decreasing and my financial situation improving." Then I let it go to the Universe. Each time, my mind brings this worry up, I go thru these steps.

I also state that I am grateful for my well-paying job, my lovely house, my well running cars, etc. (Even if they aren't these things, I make these types of statements.)

 

[beckmrk04]

Jody, those are good thoughts. Since I posted I have been researching on the Unity Church websites, and I have found so much cool stuff!

I found this especially helpful:

"When paying your bills pay attention to your thoughts and feelings. Remember that you have already been blessed by the utility, house, or car, so it is your time to give unbegrudgingly."

I had never thought of it like that!

 

[JodyLynC]

Jody, those are good thoughts. Since I posted I have been researching on the Unity Church websites, and I have found so much cool stuff!

I found this especially helpful:

"When paying your bills pay attention to your thoughts and feelings. Remember that you have already been blessed by the utility, house, or car, so it is your time to give unbegrudgingly."

I had never thought of it like that!

Nice!! I am putting that quote in my Spirit Guide.

 

[KikiFan]

Update- I found a Christ Unity Church really close to where I work (which isn't TOO far away- about a 35 min drive). I have been researching the Association of Unity Churches, and it seems like it might be a good fit. I am going to e-mail the church and see if they offer child-care, and if not, if it would be ok for me to bring my daughter. I really, really liked their views on children and spirituality!!

I am excited! If this church feels like a good fit, I will be so happy. I have searched high and low trying to find a spiritual "home" and nothing I have seen really felt quite right. I have a good feeling about this, though.

Oh I'm so happy for you! I've been attending Unity Churches for a long time and I think they are wonderful. It's been a powerful force in my life.

Any ideas/good books that can help me deal with procrastination issues? I am really struggling with it, and I need some outside advice/ideas.

It has always been like this for me: I put off doing things until they become HUGE problems I have to deal with- academically, financially (especially in this area), etc.

One technique that's helped me is the 15 minute rule. The idea is that instead of letting yourself get overwhelmed by the magnitude of the job; break it up into 15 minute jobs. Tell yourself that you'll work just 15 minutes on cleaning that garage. Most times you'll get motivated and keep working. But even if all you do work is 15 minutes you'd be surprised how much you can accomplish in a week if you do 15 minutes everyday.

Jody, those are good thoughts. Since I posted I have been researching on the Unity Church websites, and I have found so much cool stuff!

I found this especially helpful:

"When paying your bills pay attention to your thoughts and feelings. Remember that you have already been blessed by the utility, house, or car, so it is your time to give unbegrudgingly."

I had never thought of it like that!

There is a technique called "Seeding your money" Basically it based on the Biblical principle that everything you put out there will come back to you multiplied by 10. It's also about being grateful for what you have. So when you spend money, you seed it like this:

If you have a $100 electric bill to pay, you say something like this, "Thank you for this bill and everything it represents! Thank you for my electricity, for the comfort and safety it brings to me! Thank you for all the workers who make this possible in my life!! I thank you also for the $1,000 I have also now received!"

It's really helped to change my attitude towards my bills. I think that when you stop being resentful about a bill you attract the money you need to pay it easier.

 

[JodyLynC]

There is a technique called "Seeding your money" Basically it based on the Biblical principle that everything you put out there will come back to you multiplied by 10. It's also about being grateful for what you have. So when you spend money, you seed it like this:

If you have a $100 electric bill to pay, you say something like this, "Thank you for this bill and everything it represents! Thank you for my electricity, for the comfort and safety it brings to me! Thank you for all the workers who make this possible in my life!! I thank you also for the $1,000 I have also now received!"

This is going in my Spirit Guide as well!!! Thanks KikiFan!!!

 

[beckmrk04]

Kikifan- that is a good idea! Thanks for the tip! And I'm going to a service this Sunday at the Unity Church closest to me (which is still about 35 miles away)- but to me, the drive is worth it if I like the place. Fingers crossed!

 

[Imzadi]

I love JodyLyn's Thought for the day - 8/27/08 today. It seems to be a current theme of what's happening in this thread, too from finding the dog has eaten the cake, having the fridge break down just as the kids are off to college, to negative habits like procrastination. In school, we're all taught the basics of how to get & have jobs. They don't teach us life skills - how to cope, how to respond, how to plan, strategize, how to pick ourselves up after a crisis or situation and how to be more effective in our interactions with people to make situations better for all involved.

This is a great thread, it shows us, we're not the only ones going through this stuff. The best thing is there are skills we can learn to make situations better.

Disneynutbsv, I'm so glad you got right back to work & made another cake. After your initial reaction of shock, horror, disbelief, frustration, anger, etc., you picked yourself back up & started again. You made a conscious choice to keep moving forward. Sometimes, when life throws us curve balls, that's the best we can do. That alone, is being positive. Even if it doesn't work out the second time, we made a conscious choice to try & move our lives forward & out of paralysis. Sometimes, that is enough.

And how you were asked to make a cake for a fundraiser for a Humane Society afterwards, was just like my made up cakemaker story a few pages back, of how you never know where & when abundance will show up! If you had reacted badly to the dog eating the cake & didn't move forward to make another one, the Humane Society opportunity would never have shown up!


I really like Stephen Covey's work. Very sound principles. And I love the "Seeding your money" technique.

 

[Disneynutbsv]

I love JodyLyn's Thought for the day - 8/27/08 today. It seems to be a current theme of what's happening in this thread, too from finding the dog has eaten the cake, having the fridge break down just as the kids are off to college, to negative habits like procrastination. In school, we're all taught the basics of how to get & have jobs in school. They don't teach us life skills - how to cope, how to respond, how to plan, strategize, how to pick ourselves up after a crisis or situation and how to be more effective in our interactions with people to make situations better for all involved.

This is a great thread, it shows us, we're not the only ones going through this stuff. The best thing is there are skills we can learn to make situations better.

Disneynutbsv, I'm so glad you got right back to work & made another cake. After your initial reaction of shock, horror, disbelief, frustration, anger, etc., you picked yourself back up & started again. You made a conscious choice to keep moving forward. Sometimes, when life throws us curve balls, that's the best we can do. That alone, is being positive. Even if it doesn't work out the second time, we made a conscious choice to try & move our lives forward & out of paralysis. Sometimes, that is enough.

And how you were asked to make a cake for a fundraiser for a Humane Society afterwards, was just like my made up cakemaker story of how you never know where & when abundance will show up! If you had reacted badly to the dog eating the cake & didn't move forward to make another one, the Humane Society opportunity would never have shown up!


I really like Stephen Covey's work. Very sound principles. And I love the "Seeding your money" technique.

Actually, I can't wait to make this cake for the humane society too!!!
Can I just say, that I love how you word things
On another note, I am determined to start saving money for groceries so I've been couponing, lol. But hey if I can save some money to feed my brood of 5, I'm all for it !

 

[Huskerfamilyof5]

I have so needed help lately with negative feelings in regard to finances. Thanks so much for the posts, I will put this to work asap!

 

[Imzadi]

On another note, I am determined to start saving money for groceries so I've been couponing, lol. But hey if I can save some money to feed my brood of 5, I'm all for it !

I LOVE couponing! I am an expert at it. When I lived in the "Land of Doubles," I used to go home from the supermarket with a ZERO balance on supermarket receipts. Usually I had to buy something cheap & frivolous to make a the balance $.12 that I had to pay, just so it wouldn't screw up the computer on the cash register.

I'll post my Couponing Basics later.


Back to the dog eating the cake incident, most motivational experts will tell people that the difference between a successful person and one who is not is that the successful person will do ONE more thing that the non-successful person will do. The successful person will get up and hour earlier, stay at work an hour later to get the job done.

The non-successful people would like to attribute success as "Luck" because it takes the responsibility off their own choices for not taking action. They will often discount the actions, the intelligence, the training and the determination the successful people put into a project to succeed.

Disneynutbsv, you went and baked & decorated another cake with all the time and detail it took to do that.

Tony Robbins often says that the difference between the people who are Excellent vs. the people who are Outstanding is often by a few inches or milliseconds.

He often uses the Olympics as an example. The difference between the bronze medalist & the person who placed fourth is now by a hundredth of a second. That is the difference between world renown fame & nothingness. A person is the fourth fastest person in the world, but we don't honor him in the same way.

In last week's Olympics, after Michael Phelps won either his 6th or 7th gold medal, the commentators had side-by-side underwater footage analysing him and the silver medalist coming in to touch the wall. The silver medalist stopped stroking when he got within 18" of the wall and glided in. Meanwhile Phelps made one last half-stroke and that pushed him into the wall by a hundredth of a second faster.

In life, sometimes, that's all it takes, a half-stroke more.

 

[Disneynutbsv]

I'd love to hear more about your couponing

Thanks about the kudos for going back and make the cake....its just something that I needed to do. And lol, I'm always staying later to get stuff done just because I feel I should (not because I have to...).

Plus, i've been putting more in my gratitude journal for now and intentions (I swear my now list is so long!) But I'm so grateful for all there is around me

 

[KikiFan]

In last week's Olympics, after Michael Phelps won either his 6th or 7th gold medal, the commentators had side-by-side underwater footage analysing him and the silver medalist coming in to touch the wall. The silver medalist stopped stroking when he got within 18" of the wall and glided in. Meanwhile Phelps made one last half-stroke and that pushed him into the wall by a hundredth of a second faster.

In life, sometimes, that's all it takes, a half-stroke more.

That is such a great point! Sometimes it's the tiniest thing that makes the biggest difference.

 

[beckmrk04]

I have decided to buy a planner- similar to Jody's idea. But I also need a notebook to go with it... I'll have to look around at the office store tomorrow. But, it is going to be my spiritual guide/weightloss planner. I am going to schedule exercise like I would an appt. I want to put motivating quotes (spiritual and otherwise) in it. Track my progress.

(OT- This Universal halloween banner is scary and awful).

But, I feel like it will give me sort of a touchpoint. I am also going to write down some affirmations so I can go to this place when I need some picking up or some motivation.

I also am going to keep a list of healthy choices from various fast-food places and their calorie counts so that I can always be prepared.

The notebook part will be for gratitude, journaling, etc. Writing down my food/exercise each day.