Category Archives: Law of Attraction

January 1, 2012 · 9:47 AM

New Year, new plans

I say these words every year – every year – but, I love New Years.  I do.  And it’s silly really, because it’s a day like any other day.  ANY day is a good day to make a change.  ANY day is a good day to try something new.  ANY day is a good day for a fresh start.  I know that, and I practice that.   But there’s still just something about that 1/1 on the calendar… that promise of newness and hope and possibility… that makes my heart flutter.

I haven’t done resolutions for a while now, but I do do (heh, I said do-do) goals.  And for the past three years, I’ve made a virtual dream board.  I save it, print it out, and it then looks back at me from my bulletin board all year long.

Because life is circular, not linear, and because a lot of pursuits don’t start or end with the new year,  my boards tend to look very similar year after year.   In fact, this year I just changed a couple of things.

It all starts with faith and family, so that will always remain front and center.

I don’t ever want to stop traveling, exploring, and enjoying the outdoors, so that’s there too.  Last year was a nearly month-long cross-country road trip.  There won’t be such a trip this year, but we are planning a ten-day vacation in San Diego this fall, as well as many local excursions to the beautiful desert and mountains.

In the upper left-hand corner is my consummate reminder to continue focusing on paying off our debt.  It’s not sexy, but for better or worse it plays a rather pivotal role in how we live our lives, so there it is.  This year, my hope is to not only reach our number goal by the end of the year, but to surpass it.  I want to contribute to the cause myself this year, by bringing in some money of my own for the first time in a long while.

My favorite part of the board this time – and the part I’ll be focusing a lot of energy on – is the entire right-hand side:  The playing, the creating, the inspiring, the JOY.  The girl is about to be four years old, and when all the boys were four I also had a brand-new baby.  This time there will be no more babies.  While I’m at peace with it, and am very much enjoying this stage of all the kids’ lives, there’s a part of me that is profoundly sad to know that that chapter in my life is over.   I don’t want to focus on the sad.  I want to focus on the joy… both the joy I find in the kids, and the joy I find in my own creative pursuits… those things I willingly set aside when they were babies.   I can’t wait to devote some time to creating again.  Creating music, art, words, jewelry.  I am re-learning how to play the piano.  I just started playing with chain maille.  I have some specific ideas for my blog, and for the e-books I keep threatening promising to finish.  AND, God-willing, this spring I will enroll in the yoga teacher training program I have been eyeing for the past three years, and have my RYT by the end of July.   If for whatever reason it doesn’t happen this year, as long as I’m still working towards it – as long as I’m still learning and trying and creating and practicing and yoga-ing – I’ll be happy.

Happy 2012.  May it be full of new and exciting and beautiful things.

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Filed under about me, Law of Attraction, New Years, passions, plans

January 4, 2011 · 10:22 AM

My 2011 Dream Board

I’m not a fan of Oprah Winfrey – not even a little bit – but I do have to say that I love her little “dream board” creator. I first discovered it last year, played with it for an entire day, and printed and immediately tacked up my creation when I was done. Today I decided to do an updated version in honor of the new year.

I used a few of the same pictures and sentiments from last year, and a few that were new.

My dreams/visions/aspirations for 2011:

Faith – I feel like I’m at a crossroads with my faith right now.  It’s been on my heart in a major way, and something needs to change.  Or get shaken up. Or turned upside down.  Not because I’m doubting it, or weak in it, but because….. well, I don’t know why yet.  I just know that no matter what this year – or life – brings, it needs to begin with faith.   I have to start there.  So that’s in the middle.

Love – Second to faith has to be love, and in particular my family.  These five people that live with me are my heart and soul and my rock.  This year, like every year, is about them.

Freedom – I couldn’t do what I do, or live the way I live, without tremendous amounts of freedom.  Freedom to keep the kids out of school, freedom to parent them in the way we choose, freedom to enjoy the earth, freedom to explore, to learn, to embrace, to discover.  Freedom TO BE.  I never take advantage of our freedom, and only seek and appreciate it more and more.

Explore – Exploring is a running theme of unschooling in general… all of LIFE is an exploration!…. But this year, it also refers to a trip that’s been a long time coming:  a nearly month-long drive and visit back east this summer.  It’s a big trip for a lot of reasons, one that we weren’t ready to take until this year.  My hope and prayer for this trip is that it’s a smooth, memorable, and enjoyable trip for all six of us.

Gratitude – I can always have more gratitude.  A few specifics this year:  1) gratitude for the ability to pay off our debt.  It won’t be completely paid off in 2011, but we will be very very close by the end of the year.  I feel a LOT of emotions when I think about that, but it begins with gratitude.  And 2) gratitude for our home.  I’ve been guilty this year of getting mopey and whiny and ungrateful for our house.  We were not intending to live here longer than a year or two, and it therefore never felt like “home.”  I want to move so very badly.  I get frustrated by the market, frustrated by all the people walking away from mortgages which drives our value down even more, frustrated with the feeling of being “stuck.”  Frustrated that the kids can’t all have their own space.  I need to stop.  We’re here for right now, for whatever reason, and this our house.  I want to appreciate it, and I want to make it beautiful and comfortable and make it our HOME. (Yes, four years after we moved in)  This is the year I will do that.

Believe – Simply because none of it will materialize unless I believe in it.  Corny,  but true.

Balance – Along with gratitude, another thing I am constantly, constantly seeking… especially this coming year.  Balance between work and play, solitude and fellowship.  Balance of mind, of body, of spirit.  Balance between being mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend… and just me.

Create – In regards to that balance, I’m not me unless I’m able to create…. something.  This year, I’m excited about seeing two big writing projects through to completion:  one on my own, and one with a friend.  I’m also looking forward to lots of blogging and lots of picture taking (once I get another camera)  Oh and I plan on more cupcake creating too.  For me, creating usually begins with pen and paper, which is why I chose the picture I did.  Coffee always helps too.

Joy –  It’s all about the joy

Inspire – Finally, and perhaps one of my biggest goals for the year… Not only do I want to continue to be inspired by the amazing people I have in my life (many of whom live in my computer) but I want to inspire others as well, in any way I can.  My unschooling voice has gotten bigger and more confident as I’ve grown, and I’m thankful that I’m able to use it to connect with others.  And from a practical standpoint, last year I started formally studying wellness and nutrition, and decided to lay the groundwork for a future yoga/wellness/holistic health venture.  I’ve completed the nutrition portion, (in the sense that I’ve completed the required amount of hours that I committed to – not that I will stop learning about it!)  and will begin the yoga teacher training in just a couple of months.  By the end of the year, I want to be sharing both of them with others, and hopefully inspiring someone along the way.

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July 22, 2010 · 1:16 PM

The Rice Experiment: Called on Account of the Smell

If we were to follow this experiment the way it was written, we would have kept and observed the rice for thirty days. Unfortunately, I hadn’t factored in 1) Summer in Phoenix, and 2) the inexpensive, not-very-well-sealed, dollar store containers I put it in. We got to about Day 5 before the smell of decaying rice threatened to take over our kitchen (and by extension our entire house).

All three containers ended up molding, but in very different ways…

The hated rice was by far the worst. It had turned brown, and slimy, and stuck together. The tiny of spot of mold had rapidly grown into huge, black, ugly splotches of cancer.

The ignored rice was next.  It also got the big, black spots of mold… several of them, in fact… but the rice itself stayed relatively white and fluffy.

And our loved rice?  It had started to change colors like the hated rice, and it got some fluffy white mold on the top.  The biggest difference though, was the lack of black mold.  It had just a couple of small spots, and was not overrun with it like the other two.

It occurred to me at some point that we were unfairly influencing the experiment because we wanted the loved rice to stay clean the longest. We believed that it would make a difference. Then I realized that that was sort of the whole point… that we BELIEVE the positive energy that we’re sending.

I believe in the Law of Attraction, because I see it manifest itself in my life (and in others’) again and again. And I see it manifest itself because I believe.

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Filed under Law of Attraction, science