Thank and Grow Rich

A dear friend of mine had been encouraging me to get into audio books for quite some time now. I had been declining because not only am I a “paper-back” kinda girl, I had made a point of turning off my radio quite some time ago in order to simply enjoy the peace and quiet during my 30-minute commute home.

Although my life is just as busy as the next person’s, I had made it a priority to work on self-development and recently made a commitment to myself that every morning, during my second cup of coffee (’cause let’s face it, a girl has gotta wake up first), I would read a chapter out of my latest personal development book I was reading. I had just finished reading “You are a Bad Ass” by Jenn Sincero (which I highly recommend by the way), and was ready for my next book, so I decided to heed my friend’s suggestion and downloaded Audible to my phone.

She had suggested “Thank and Grow Rich” A 30-day experiment in shameless gratitude, by Pam Grout. Although the title was a bit deceiving, I was confident that this was most likely NOT a “get rich” kinda book.

I was right. (But I was also wrong)

Image result for thank and grow rich

Now, I don’t know about you, but audio books can take a bit of getting used to if your mind tends to wander like mine. And wander it did, but not before I tuned in to the part where the author challenges you to ask the Universe for 3 things: a sign, a totem, and present.

The next morning, although I couldn’t’ recall all the particulars around two of the 3 things, what was clear in my mind was the totem. For those of you , like me, who may not know what this means, a totem is a natural object or animal that is believed by a particular society to have spiritual significance.

I decided to take the author up on her challenge, and put forth my “request” the next morning, and then I simply carried on with my day. By the end of my day, nothing extraordinary had happened, although I had been making a conscious effort to be inwardly and outwardly grateful throughout my day (a challenging task in itself taking into consideration the busy and sometime stress inducing law office that I work in).

Image result for swallowThe next morning during my morning commute (and right on the heels of  my thoughts whispering “maybe I heard wrong“, I just happened to glance up at the sky at the very moment when a symphony of swallows did the most lovely synchronized dance right in front of me before landing on the power lines above my head.

Image result for flying crow

Goosebumps took up residence on my arms.

I was absorbing what I had just saw when I looked up again, and a large black crow swooped over my car a little higher in the sky than the swallows.

“Oh, wow”, I thought.

Image result for bald eagleThen I looked up again, and was in complete awe as a beautiful bald eagle majestically flew high overhead, directly across the path of my vehicle.

Now, you can bet that by the time I got to work I made a point of looking up the meaning of  these “totem symbols”, but what  most amazing was my discovery was that each one of these birds symbolized something very personal and relevant to what was happening in my present life.

I will end this here.

If you are at all curious, read or listen to the book. This was a profoundly powerful experience. I had absolutely forgotten just how connected our thoughts and actions are to the Universe, and just how magical life’s mysteries can be.

 

2019 Vision Board Project

I have been watching and reading about vision boards for the past year. It all started with the book The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne about 6 years ago. This book essentially opened my mind to the idea of the Law of Attraction and how it works, but before I had ever heard of this book, a co-worker of mine gifted me something very powerful.

I had always dreamed of going to Italy. I had been to many places in my 50+ years, but never before had I been to Europe. When I found myself a single parent in 2012 with two teenage girls to support on a limited income I began to tell myself that I would probably never get to see Europe.

I was wrong.

Cinque Terre, Italy 2018
Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore, Italy – May 2018

It all started in 2013 when I was gifted a calendar by a co-worker. It was a beautiful calendar of Italy with 12 months of stunning Italian vistas. Every month when I turned the pages of that calendar I would get to stare daily at some inviting, dreamy Italian imagery. This simple gift changed my life. For the next 2 years this same co-worker gifted me a new wall calendar that featured Italy.

Soon after, I met and later married my now husband who also shared my dream of travelling to Italy. As a wedding gift he bought me the Rick Steves “Best of Italy” book and from that day on, we began to put our thoughts and wishes out there into the Universe and believed that it was no longer “if”, but rather “when” we would get to go. Fast forward 6 months and we bought our airline tickets. Then another 12 months later we found ourselves on an airplane on route to Venice, Italy. We traveled that beautiful country for 4 weeks consecutively. We soaked up every minute of every day, of every region that we visited into our souls.

Oh, and did I mention we managed to pay in cash for our trip?

best of italy

In essence, that first wall calendar was my first vision board of sorts. So this year, I am taking things a step further. Along with continuing to visualize the desires and dreams of my heart, I created a Vision Board to help manifest them.

Creating a sacred space that displays what you want actually does bring it to life. What we focus on expands. When you create a vision board and place it in a space where you see it often, you essentially end up doing short visualization exercises throughout the day.

I created my vision board (shown below) on New Years Day 2019. I chose this day with intention. I thought carefully about the things I wanted to feature on my vision board. I searched for images with purpose, and I hung my completed vision board on my bedroom wall where I will see it every day.

If you have never done this kind of exercise, I invite you to go ahead and give it a try. Your vision board can be an old-school cut and paste project, or it can be done digitally on your computer. You can even create a Vision Board on Pinterest. Whatever you decide to try, I hope I have inspired you (even just a little) to try it.

Perhaps our inability to see our dreams and goals to fruition is due to the fact that we are often the product of our own self-imposed limitations.

vision board