Practice Makes Progress

I love my life!  It's perfect just the way it is with all its complications and challenges and joys and abundant opportunities.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  

Last night I experienced a huge letdown.  For a week I had been excited about a trip to Cancun that was in the early planning stages.  Early stages.  It had only been announced June 18.  I thought about it all week.  I was delighted each time it came to mind.  I savored it until it felt already real to me.  Thinking about it made me so happy that I decided to make the financial commitment - a really big decision that I made even more quickly than I had anticipated.  But when I called to book the trip, I found they had sold out!  In a week!  An entire resort for next April!  

I felt like the wind had been kicked out of me.  I never dreamed it would sell so fast.

Now, the six-day trip in question includes a four-day seminar with Esther Hicks on the art of enjoying life more by practicing the art of positive thinking.  Since I started practicing the art of positive thinking two and a half years ago, I do enjoy my life more.  More all the time.  I enjoy life exponentially more now than I did before I heard of Esther.  A source of great joy for me suddenly felt a source of great disappointment.  

But I didn't feel that way for long.  I distracted myself by watching some mindless and mildly entertaining TV.  I consoled myself with the fact that I could call and put myself on the wait list.  Most importantly I reminded myself that everything is working out for my highest good.  If I don't go to Cancun, it's because the Universe knows I'll like something else much more!

Practicing positive thinking doesn't mean I'll get happy and stay happy and live happy forevermore.  All lives have challenges and disappointments and uncomfortable experiences.  I used to let these things knock the wind out of my sails and make me unhappy for days on end.  

The important thing is knowing how to navigate myself back to happy from life's little detours in a fairly short amount of time.  

And that's just what I did.  The more I practice, the better I get at this.  I'm on the wait list for Cancun.  I have no doubt that next April, Jeremy and I will be spending an amazing, uplifting week in Mexico with Esther and Abraham and a whole bunch of happy people enjoying divine weather, enchanted evenings, stunning beaches and magnificent rendezvous.  

Oh!  I better get a passport...

~ Cyndi 

Practicing Happiness Daily

You deserve to feel amazing and healthy and relaxed and happy and vibrant every day of your life.

P.S. ~ Update on June 30 - I saw Esther Hicks' streaming broadcast this morning and she said the Cancun trip sold out in 4 days!  BUT - they are currently in negotiations to rent out a second and possibly a third resort hotel for the event!  I am going to Cancun!!

Create Joy. Sprinkle Generously.

I have recently spent many hours watching live streaming broadcasts 

of Abraham-Hicks.  (Info here.)  Whether live or recorded, listening 

to the wisdom of Abraham is one of the fastest ways I know to raise my vibration.

Several questions posed to me lately from different people went like this:  Who is Abraham?  Where did you learn that there is no death, that we are all eternal?  How do I allow all the well-being of the Universe to flow to me?  How can I feel joyful when there is so much wrong in this world?

The answers to all of these questions begin here:  abraham-hicks.

I was first introduced to the teachings of Abraham and the work of Esther Hicks by my friend, Annie, who warned me that it was a bit "woo-woo."  Being a long-standing supporter of woo-woo, I dove in head first.  I fell in love with the book Annie gifted me, Ask and It is Given.  I offer this book as a brilliant place to begin anyone's introduction to the idea that we are vibrational beings in a vibrational Universe capable of changing anything in our lives simply by changing the vibration of our habitual thought patterns.  Some will find this a radical notion.  I find it comforting beyond words.

This is a topic for study and Esther has a huge library of resources including recordings of over 25 years of seminars on DVD and audio available.  Here is a list of links to some of my personal faves:  Introduction to Abraham, Getting into the Vortex, The Master Course, Hooked on the Vortex, Guided Meditations.  

Another book to help integrate the spiritual path of appreciation into your life is Feng Shui Your Mind co-authored by Jill Lebeau MFT.  Esther's books are written from the perspective of Source energy - Abraham.  While intensely inspirational, this perspective is slightly difficult to comprehend from our current physical perspective (Though Esther's enormous library explains it patiently and repeatedly to help us remember).  Feng Shui Your Mind provides a clear human perspective on many of the same principles that Abraham teaches (we are eternal vibrational beings who deliberately came here to connect with Spirit, live in joy and uplift ourselves and others).

Practice is an important part of learning to appreciate your entire life (even unplanned things like auto accidents have value and can be appreciated).  Daily affirmations have become one of my favorite tools to practice a vibration of appreciation.  

Affirmations can be truths that already resonate with you:

Or truths that you want to integrate into your knowing: 

Or simple words to guide us back to our own intentions:

I love the affirmations!  If you want to incorporate affirmations into your practice,
it is fun and easy to create your own.  My affirmations can be enjoyed on Facebook (follow the link to "like" my art-full affirmations) or you can buy my purse-sized, take-with-you-anywhere book of affirmations on my website.

Walking the path of appreciation has increased the joy in my life a hundredfold!  My worries and anxieties have diminished to nearly non-existant.  Things still pop up
to worry about, I simply choose to practice NOT worrying because I know it is all working out for my highest good.  I love coming to understand the truths of the Universe, and I love sharing this uplifting information!

This is my path ~ the "path of appreciation" I have come to love calling it.  

All this path requires is an open mind and a desire to live the life you have always dreamed.

~ Cyndi 

Practicing Happiness Daily

You deserve to feel amazing and healthy and relaxed and happy and vibrant every day of your life.

Happiness is Folding Warm Laundry

Just a quickie to brighten your afternoon...

I was folding laundry this morning - a repetitive daily task for every massage therapist - and thinking about a hundred other things when I realized that I was squandering my "now."

So I stopped to appreciate my present.  I appreciated the warmth of the laundry in the cool room.  I watched my newest fish, Artemis swim in his tank.  He is pale yellow and round as the moon.

I smiled at the silly puppy sleeping upside down on his heated blanket.  I caught site of my T-shirt in the mirror.  It told me "Life is Good."  I burst out laughing with the pure joy of the moment!  If that makes me crazy, then sign me up for the funny farm.

Do not take one single beautiful moment for granted!  Appreciate the moments of your life!  Appreciate the exciting moments and the mundane moments.  Appreciate the quiet moments and the chaos.  Find a reason to appreciate each moment.

Enjoy!

~ Cyndi

Practicing Happiness Daily <-- Click the new PHD link to go like my new FB fanpage for this blog, my books and my art!

You deserve to feel amazing and healthy and relaxed and happy and vibrant every day of your life.

Express Yourself!

I am so excited!

Some of my favorite photographs have found a new home on a website that is an artist's dream!  Fine Art America is a platform where patrons around the globe can view and purchase YOUR art!  The artist has no overhead.  No printing fees.  No hauling all your originals to art shows all over the country.

FAA made this super simple.  Upload your art.  Tell them how much you want to earn for each piece.  They add their production costs and set the prices.  You arrange your galleries and they present your pieces in a beautiful format that displays your art at its professional best.

The artwork can then be printed in a variety of formats when patrons worldwide place their orders!  I personally have decided to sell enough Yosemite prints and beautiful greeting cards to pay for a trip to my favorite National Park annually.

Here is the link to galleries that contain all of my images:  Cyndi's Art

Rainbow above Mist Trail ~ Yosemite

Here are some links to pages where you may find some of my art listed with the works of other artists:

California Greeting Cards
Landscape Photos
Yosemite Framed Prints
Waterfalls Photos

What a fabulous way for artists to gain a broader audience for their work and get PAID for some of it too!  I uploaded my photos.  They also accept other media, images of paintings and drawings that they will reproduce.  Artists have the option of listing sales prices for originals if they care to sell them.  Print On Demand (POD) is what they call this marvel of the modern computer age and I am head over heels in love with it!

CreateSpace is a similar POD service for authors and filmakers!  I first heard about CreateSpace from my friend, Michael Fox, who published his book with them.  He enjoyed the experience and highly recommends the site. I ultimately did not use them for my book because they did not have a size format suited to my photographs, but I looked into it and CreateSpace is a simple site to use.

I am delighted to say that Michael's book sells very well!  Your CreateSpace account includes an ISBN number for your book and a sales page connected with Amazon.  You can purchase Michael's final product on Amazon.

I also know three people making use of  CDBaby.  CD Baby offers a sales platform to independent recording artists including print on demand CDs.  Isn't this incredible?  Local artists can now get international exposure and CD sales!

Frank Anger is a friend from college.  He has three rock albums on CDBaby.  I was a fan of his the first time I heard It Begins.  It's an awesome project that I have listened to hundreds of times.  His second album, The Second Road To, features a song I co-wrote with him!  Give a listen to Never End.

My friend Teacher Kay is a preschool teacher who recently created an awesome CD of positive affirmations for kids.  This project came out last month and she has already been downloaded internationally!  Go Kay!

Annie Marie is a talented musician and song writer whose friendship I treasure.  Her Tee Fee Swamp Boogie has two CD's on CD Baby.  Her new band, Fiddlin' Around is in the studio now and plans to have new music on CDBaby soon!

I would love to hear from others who are enjoying POD for artists.  Send me an email with links if you'd like to be added to this blog post.

Your artistic soul is calling.  Get out there and express yourself!

But first, go click on my art links and tell me how AWESOME I am!

~ Cyndi

Practicing Happiness Daily <-- Click the new PHD link to go like my new FB fanpage for this blog, my books and my art!

You deserve to feel amazing and healthy and relaxed and happy and vibrant every day of your life.

Take Your Joy Where You Find it ~ Then Savor It!

If it makes you happy, hang on to it!  Whatever "it" is, if it makes you happy, savor it like the delightful morsel it is!  Take your joy where you find it.  Collect joyful moments or thoughts and keep them somewhere where you can look at them often.

My friend Carol is a fan of Abraham-Hicks and was inspired to create this quote that makes us both happy:

She shared it with me and I threw it on a photo and added it to the collection I look at each day.  My collection grows ever larger because I am constantly looking for thoughts that make me happy.

I found the next one posted on a social media page.  It was a plain black square with pixelated white words.  I kept that crappy little gif on my desktop for weeks and looked at it often because it lifted my spirits every time!  Now I've made it awesome:

These are not my own words.  These affirmations will never grace the pages of my book.  But they are bits of joy I keep on hand to remind me that joy is an option I can choose every day.  Or to lift me on days when I have forgotten I have the power to choose joy.

My friend Melanie took this photo in Bermuda:

Melanie is a prime example of choosing joy.  Her life inspired the affirmation I added to her photo.  She has wanted to be a dolphin trainer since before I met her. Years of training and schooling on top of her 40-hour commuter, computer job led her to adventure in January of this year when she left her home and her pets behind for an 18-week internship at Dolphin Quest inside the National Museum of Bermuda.

Her husband was wonderfully supportive staying behind with their home and his work and visiting a few times while she lived the adventure she had dreamed.  Melanie has another internship lined up for late summer (husband and pets will be happily in tow) and is applying for work in her new career.

Marley & Melanie

She has graciously allowed me to share this joy-filled photo.  Marley was one of the seven female dolphins she worked with at Dolphin Quest.

This is Melanie's adventure, but I absolutely thrive on the joy of it!  That's why it's in my toolbox with the others.  I create joy wherever I can.  I treasure the joy others create.  I hold those joys in my heart.  When I focus on the joys steadily, I watch more and more joy being attracted into my life!

We absolutely must savor the joy wherever we find it.

~ Cyndi 

Practicing Happiness Daily

You deserve to feel amazing and healthy and relaxed and happy and vibrant every day of your life.

Happiness is a Choice

The other day one of my clients accused me of "being born cheerful."  I would like
to set the record straight.  Sexual preference is something you are born with. Happiness is a choice!

Like all humans, I emanate the vibration that I practice.  Happiness is a choice I make every morning.  Or not.  Some mornings I choose doubt, like most humans. The particular morning I was accused of being born cheerful was a tumultuous one for me, and I had felt pretty crappy in the early hours of the day.  But I know that happiness is my Divine birthright - as is free choice.  When something is bothering me, I stop focusing on it and focus on anything else, something that makes me happy.

That's where affirmations come in!  Instead of wallowing in the feeling of being unappreciated, I focused on my positive affirmations.  I think I produced 20 new pages for my next book that day.  I felt fabulous by the time I got to the office to serve my clients.  It's such a simple process, many dismiss it before they try it because they assume that feeling better requires something more!

Find or create affirmations to practice and practice them!  Use ones that others have written that feel good to you.  General ones are wonderful to start changing your vibration right away.  These are perfect if you are new to affirmations or if you are feeling generally melancholy without being able to name why:

Remember, a belief is just a thought you have practiced repeatedly.  If you do not believe the simple statements above, give yourself the gift of practicing them until you do believe.  Practice anything long enough and it becomes part of your vibration.

Finding Balance Brings Joy

I have a habit of falling in love with books and wanting everyone I know to read them too.  Here is the newest title on my "Oh my God you have to read this!" list:

Being in Balance: 9 Principles for Creating Habits to Match Your Desires

by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

From the minute I laid my fingers on this book I knew it was special.  The hardcover is supple and inviting.  The pages are many colors and adorned with pretty butterflies.  It makes me happy just to hold it!  Skip the Kindle edition on this one.

Besides being a work of art that pleases the senses, Being in Balance is an inspirational work that feeds the spirit.  Whether your "issue" is being misunderstood, ill-health, financial scarcity, loveless relationship, no relationship, addiction, overweight, fear, lack of faith, low self-esteem or distorted self-image, Dr. Dyer has a short concise, uplifting chapter to help you change your habits and bring your life into balance.

"You Can't Discover Light by Analyzing the Darkness" is the title of the chapter on "balancing your desire for prosperity with your habits of scarcity."  In it Dyer explains why "Scarcity isn't a problem because of where you were born or what your parents accumulated or the state of the economy."  He advocates a shift in thinking that can make a huge difference.  (Complete table of contents here.)

It's our habits of thought that define the life we lead.  If we are not happy in some aspect of the life we are leading, it is imperative to change our thought habits.  Let me state that again, because it sounds so simple.  If we do not enjoy what we are living, all we need do is change our thinking.

The book is beautiful and uplifting.  It inspires us to dream the life we deserve.

~ Cyndi 

Practicing Happiness Daily

You deserve to feel amazing and healthy and relaxed and happy and vibrant every day of your life.