Lesson 1: Introduction

Ah...fresh and clean and new...I even put a new skin on this blog so that it matches my work at home website. Awesome!

First, let me just start by expressing gratitude. I am so grateful for my life! The sun is shining, the air is crisp. I live in a beautiful home in a safe, secure, lovely area. We live close enough to the city to have all sorts of good restaurants, night life, theatre, etc. at our fingertips, and yet we live just far enough away to not feel crowded, be in good schools, have access to nature and fresh air. It really is perfect.

And I'm so grateful for the Beyond Freedom community. Last night on Shannon's call we shared experiences and breakthroughs and insights in this grand adventure of life and personal development. It is SO heartening to hear how other people have changed and grown, and it gives me such confidence to introduce this program and this community to anyone--anyone who truly takes advantage of it WILL succeed here.

Exercise: Ultimate Day

I wake up refreshed and renewed with the sun. I love the cool crisp air, and I breathe deeply. I linger only briefly in bed, enjoying the light and the silence--perhaps a few birds are chirping, welcoming the day.

I get up out of bed and enjoy the solitude--I am the first one up. I get dressed, wash my face, and brush my hair, and then I head downstairs where I enjoy the view of water--perhaps a lake or the ocean. The newness of the sun and all of nature around me gently waking up fills me with joy and gratitude for this beautful earth and the time I get to spend here. I practice my yoga, feeling the stretch and enjoying the strength of my body. I am pleased with my figure and proud of how I have had the self discipline to sculpt it into something I enjoy living in and looking at.

Next I enjoy some physical exercise--perhaps a jog or a bike ride. Maybe a swim if it's warm enough. As I exercise my body, I again feel the joy of my strength and persistance. Look! I have the body I always wanted! I am overcome with joy and struggle to hold back a few tears at the thought.

I return home just as my family is waking up. My husband and I take a shower and enjoy a delicious breakfast of fresh, bountiful fruit with the children.

After breakfast, we spend time as a family. Maybe we play a game, maybe we go outside, maybe we talk about our lives and what we want to accomplish while we're here. Maybe we read or laugh or just hug and love each other.

Our lunch consists of a large, fresh, green salad. We take our time and enjoy the crisp, delicious goodness.

After lunch, we go our separate ways. I work on a project of some kind--maybe it's a little business, maybe it's paying bills, blogging, scrapbooking, or writing letters. Maybe I am taking a class and doing homework. Something to focus on and stimulate my mind for a few hours.

For dinner, Dan and I and a few friends go out for some fabulous vegetarian cuisine. Afterwards we head to the theatre, where my production company is getting ready to present one of our signature empowering plays. People have come from all over to see it. They know that when they come to see one of OUR shows, they are going to leave feeling good about themselves and the world. And they will feel like they can accomplish anything they set out to do.

After the show, there is a reception and people keep coming up to me to tell me how much they enjoyed the production and what a great concept our production company is. They tell me stories of how our productions have changed their lives and the lives of people they know.

Dan and I leave--not too late--and soak in the feelings of gratitude and accomplishment. We feel we have really made a difference.

We come home pleasantly tired--not exhausted--and Dan tells me how grateful he is to have married a woman with such vision and drive, and he wonders aloud what his life would have been like without me.

We end the evening intimately, passionately, and with complete satisfaction that we have lived the ultimate day.

Wow. What a powerful exercise. I have done it before, of course, and I was tempted to just go get my previous journal and write in here what I wrote before. But I was too lazy to get up and go get it, so I decided to just write it out again. And wow. The feelings that came up! I should write that out every single day! I want to live that day!!!!

Exercise: Advice

The best advice I ever received was from my friend Sylvia. It was the summer before our senior year of college, and I remember I was housesitting for a friend of mine while she was on her honeymoon. I had signed up with a temp agency and was hoping they would call me with work. I hadn't worked in several days, and money was running out. I remember I was talking to Sylvia on the phone, and I said something like, "If they don't have any work for me tomorrow, I'm going to be so mad." I have never forgotten Sylvia's response: "Margie, don't look forward to being in a bad mood."

I can't say I have always followed that advice, but I CAN say, it was the best advice I ever received. Focus on the positive. Don't anticipate, hope for, or look forward to the negative!

Sometimes we focus on negative things just so we can have something to talk about--we think it makes life more interesting. But it doesn't make it more interesting, it just makes it more negative.

Another piece of great advice I recently received from reading the book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker. He writes about how he had come across a particular native tribe (in Hawaii?) who had a saying, "Bless that which you want." This has also been really eye opening for me. You see, I have always resented and cursed people who have what I want--beauty, fame, fortune, and (when I was single) a boyfriend/husband. But if you do this, you will NEVER achieve these things! Because it creates a paradox in your mind--are these things good or bad? You say they're good, but they must be bad because you always say/think negative things about people who have them!