Discover Your Bliss

Never Fear, I'm Back in Gear

Yes, I know I've been away from my blog for a couple of days. 

I flew home yesterday to be with my mom after her foot surgery. 

If I get the green light, I might put up photos of her foot - yet I bet she will veto my Frankenstein foot photos - no matter how cool they might be (she has over 60 stitches in her left foot). 

My mom was so happy to see me - because I hold the key to her heart - I am mobile and I can't stand a dirty house - therefore - I will clean like crazy since she is currently on one foot and a wheeled scooter. 

I am grateful to be able to come home and help my mom after her surgery.  I am grateful to have an enthusiasm for cleaning and can help my mom out while she's less mobile. 

I declare today - gratitude Friday.  What's a gratitude you have today?  What's a gratitude you have for the week?

I'd love to hear your gratitudes and comments.

Simplify Your Life Tip - Save Money, Gain Joy

Keeping with last week's theme inspired by Oprah's show, here's this week's simplify your life tip:

Two items that most people want more of are time and money. 

Sometimes having a surplus of one or the other can generate more of the one you desire. 

Let's say that you have a surplus of money - you can use that money to buy time-saving items or hire someone to do your laundry, clean your house or cook for you - so you will have more time. 

Most of the time, we feel like we don't have enough of either and can not fathom where this surplus of time or money will appear in our life. 

What would you do if someone handed you an extra 30 minutes a day?  How would you use those 30 extra minutes? 

Answering these questions first is key to the next part of this tip, so gather your answer - what would you do with an extra 30 minutes a day? 

Do you have your answer?  Good, then we'll continue.

To make things easier, we're going to generate 30 extra minutes a week first so we can start small and build up to 30 minutes a day. 

Where's 30 minutes a week that you can subtract from your television watching or computer surfing?  If you break it down by the day - that's only 6 minutes a day.  Is it possible for you to reduce your television watching or computer surfing by 6 minutes a day?  What's your first step in shifting 6 minutes a day?

After you practice shifting 6 minutes a day - how does it feel?  Do you finally have time to exercise or are you spending that extra 30 minutes a week connecting with others? 

Now that you've cleared 30 minutes a week, how does it feel?  Up for a challenge?  Move onto 30 minutes a day.  Be sure to build up slowly - go from one 30 minute section to two 30 minute sections of extra time each week. 

Celebrate you ability to shift your time to the things that you want and are important.  Acknowledge yourself.  Express gratitude for these gifts. 

You can do it - I know you can!

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries. 

Facebook + Craigslist + Travel = GeckoGo.com

One of my secret travel "weapons" is craigslist.  I log onto the travel message board and let everyone know where I'm going, when I'm going and what I want to know. 

I might say - hey I will be in New York's Hell's Kitchen area between August 8-12 - any good and inexpensive Mexican restaurants?  Or where's a good internet cafe?  The people on craigslist have always given me top notch information and I've used it when traveling all over the world.

I've discovered a new travel site that combines aspects of Facebook, craigslist and travel knowledge all in one place - GeckoGo.com. 

What's so nifty about this site is its features.  Want to know if you can ski in Chili in July?  What about hiking in Indonesia? 

The site combines the knowledge of its users from around the world in a Facebook-like format/profile, encourages them to give travel tips from the areas they've traveled and offers you the ability to connect directly with those that are currently "online."

If you set up a profile, be sure to create a few tips or articles for others to enjoy - that's the whole point of the site.  If you don't, your profile will read - have the knowledge but haven't shared it. 

There's also a have a question/give an answer section where you can either post a question or answer someone's question - just another give and take feature.

There's a lot to explore on this site which might support you in your next travel adventure.  Just remember to create an energy exchange.  When you read a little, then share a little. 

How does the honor system support your bliss?  How does it feel to share your knowledge to support others? 

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries.   

Social Networking Insight to Travel

Love social networking like Facebook?  Love to travel?  Why not combine the two for a double-dip of blissfulness. 

The following three takes combine travel via the Internet (aka social networking) and physical travel:

• Matador - love to travel, write and take pictures?  Then this is the place for you.  On this site, you can become an "expert" on an area and advise others.  Best of all, you can get paid for your writing if you pick up an assignment on the site's Bounty Board.  The pay won't buy you a house, yet it can buy you a meal. 
• Geckogo - this site has some interesting features.  Want to know when the best time to ski in Sweden?  Or camp in Brazil?  Geckogo is a goldmine when it comes to matching interests to a supportive environment for those interests.  Maybe you prefer great nightlife - that, too, can be found on this site.  This site also offers visuals with maps to support its users and travelers.
• Tripit - if you want to get organized when you travel, then Tripit is the place to be.  Besides creating an organized schedule of your trip (as a result of forwarded emails from confirmations) , TripIt also provides supplementary information (like weather, maps and restaurant suggestions).  This site is also big on sharing - arranging airport carpools or volunteering to be someone's personal guide while in a location. 

Besides offering travel support, there's also the opportunity to meet others and widen your social circle.  What bliss.

How does the idea of widening your social circle feel?  Overwhelming?  Exciting?  Unsure?  What's the benefit to keeping your social circle small?  What's the benefit of expanding your social circle?

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries. 

Ready For Some Mental Stimulation This Valentine's Day?

Even if you don't have a partner to celebrate Valentine's Day this year - fun can always be had with friends and family.

I read about this really cool game where the exploration is in another person's likes and dislikes. 

The game is called Mind Games:  A Box of Psychological Play.

Here's a brief description:

"How well does your partner know you?  In this game, couples look at illustrations of various houses, chairs, gardens, and other objects, and guess which style or environment the other would favor.  Your preferences - interpreted Rorschach-style by the game's authors - can be more revealing than more intimate conversations."

What bliss in guessing and learning about another's preferences as well as having others do the same for you.   

What comes up when you think about another person guessing your likes and dislikes?  How risky is it for you? 

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries. 

Super Bowl or Super Connection?

For many people, the Super Bowl is an exciting day filled with football, food and...well, football.

If you're like me, football isn't the most exciting thing in the world.  In fact, it's not on my top 100 list either. 

That leads me to another exciting aspect of the Super Bowl - super connections. 

The Super Bowl provides a wonderful opportunity to connect with others in an unlikely environment. 

This year we're headed to our friends' home (whom we haven't seen in months) to watch the big game.  I'm excited to see them and have the opportunity to catch up since we last were together. 

 

Sure, the game will be on (we usually Tivo it and start late - I'm not even sure if we finished the game last year) yet what will be more exciting will be the company. 

I find that it's important to focus on what's working or what I like when there's something that I don't like in the mix - if I don't, then my focus will be on what's going wrong instead of what's going right.

In years past, I saw the game as a negative distraction and longed for the moment it was over.  Now, I focus on what I enjoy - the commercials, food and friends. 

If you're watching the Super Bowl today, then enjoy.  If you're not watching the game today, then enjoy. 

How can focusing on what's going right support you?  What would it look like to find the gift in something you perceive to be negative?

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries.

How to Take the Mess Out of Christmas Stress

Merry Christmas to everyone and if you don't celebrate Christmas, then Happy Holidays. 

To loosely quote the Griswolds from the film, Christmas Vacation, "It's the holidays and everyone's miserable." 

Please don't get me wrong - this is not a negative or bummer post.  I just thought I'd have some fun this Christmas. 

With Christmas often comes family stress - extra people in your house, the food turning out poorly or that hope that your uncle Jim won't bring up how much you weighed last year. 

Here's a clip from Christmas Vacation where everything could appear to be stressful or go "wrong."  If you pay attention to Eddie, he doesn't see the negative or stress.  He's happy as a lark with his "positive vision." 

I just love this film.  It's so funny. 

What's your number one stress at Christmas?  What do you need to take the mess out of your stress?  How does having a "de-stress" Christmas plan support your holiday?

Many people experience zero stress at Christmas - which is fantastic - so for those of you that do have some stress - please remember the Griswolds and give thanks. 

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries.

5 More Ideas to Make a Difference

Hungry for more way to make a difference in the world?  Excellent.  I love passing along ideas that can help others.

Five more ideas to make a difference:

• Become a reading mentor for third to fifth graders at in2books.com.
• Visit a local nursing home or shelter the week after Christmas when the excitement of giving starts to die down.
• Staying at home this year?  Donate your unused air miles to charity.
• Save 200 square feet of forest for $50 at oneacreatatime.com.
• Support a middle or high school student documenting the disrepair of her school for $75 at criticalexposure.org.

What's something local you can do to make a difference?  Do you have a neighbor or know of someone that could benefit by your gift of time? 

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries. 

5 Ideas to Make a Difference

Want to make a difference this holiday season (and throughout the year)?  Browse these five ideas to discover how you can help:

• Love the earth and wrap gifts in newspapers or your old calendars.  Remember "reuse" is an important step to peruse before "recycle."  And who says you can't sponge stamp the newspaper or find fun headlines to use as ribbon.
• Pick a day to count how many homeless people you see.  Decide on a dollar amount ($1, $5, $10, etc.) and multiply that number by number of homeless people you see (if you see 10 homeless people and choose $5/person, then that's $50).  Donate the total to local shelter.
• Host a knitting or crocheting party donate soft hats to preemies in the NICU (call head to make sure they are in need).
• Have old electronics to donate?  Check out dogoodchannel.com to search for non-profits in need of particular donations.
• Traveling for the holidays?  Offset the carbon produced by planes and cars at terrapass.com.

How does something as simple as wrapping your presents in newspaper feel?  Cheap?  Wrong?  Uplifting?  Joyous?  How can connect with your creativity to make a difference?    

I'd love to hear your discover and comments. 

Give the Gift of Giving

In this time of gift-giving many people want to do more and give a gift that will help others. 

If you'd like to give to a charity as a gift to another person, then you might want to check out the following sites to insure that your money will be put to good use.

• CharityNavigator.com lets you check out the finances and general suitability of more than 5,300 groups - so you can have a better idea how each one spends money.
• GlobalGiving.com/green lists two dozen choices that support emissions reduction, reforestation, green technology and climate-change education.
• GivingCircles.org brings together individuals so they can pool ideas and money to make a bigger impact.

How does "gifting" support to others feel?  What would it look like if you could give a gift to a person that helps others?

I'd love to hear your comments and insights.