I did it!

In keeping true to my commitments and intentions, today I found a real estate education service offering my course materials at a good rate. I planned to get this done by the end of February, and I did it - something that is easily procrastinated if you let it. I'm investing $338.72. Many of the other educational service companies out there were charging between $400-$500 or even more for the same coursework. But this place offers support from experienced staff if I have questions and I can take the final exam online.

Basically I signed up for a correspondance course for obtaining my real estate broker state license. I'm required to take 8 courses: 3 electives and 5 core subjects and all are college level courses. I have to pass the final exam for each course with a 70% or higher, which will be no problem because I'm going to understand it all quite well (my own pep talk there). I hope I can finish all the classes within 6 months. I'm going to have to do a lot of reading to get through more than one book per month and really absorb it. But I can do it. I really want to.

I'm on my way!

Dreaming BIG

Oh what an inspiration Oprah's show was last night. She had a special on about her Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, and what an accomplishment. What a wonderful person Oprah is.

The audacity to dream and to think that it could be possible is the first step in realizing that dream. Oprah has embodied the Law of Attraction for years and you can just look at her and her accomplishments and her aspirations and where she started with her poor background to show what can be done with one's life.

I've now been following her example to start with and that is to ask at the start of every day, "How may I be of service?" She has said on more than one occasion on her show that this is what she asks every single morning and that she also gives thanks and has gratitude every day, multiple times per day.

I'm doing that as well. I want to give more. In different realms of life that I've been studying, from spiritual to sales techniques, it's the same: GIVERS GAIN. That's the slogan I got at that seminar on how to be a mortgage broker back on the 13th.

And more than once yesterday the subject came up in subtle forms: You must have the courage to ask. From negotiating price to a candidate for Oprah's school asking if she was good enough to be in the academy. Oprah said that girl was the only one with the courage to ask that question. It does take a tremendous amount of courage to ask someone anything for it risks rejection. Who wants to be told no? But so many times you'll get a yes, esp. if it's a reasonable question. We're so conditioned to taking what we're given or accepting things the way they are that we feel uncomfortable beseeching the universe about what it is we want. We can't even ask ourselves what it is we want.

So today I'm focusing on GIVING and ASKING.

New Suit and Shoes

Yesterday I took Aidan with me to the mall. I had a couple of gift cards from JC Penney, totaling $125 and I needed to start getting into the role of a sales person/loan officer. So my mission was to find a nice interview suit and a pair of pumps. I hadn't been to a mall in well over a year and sometimes I miss shopping. It was so much fun to go and Aidan was a good, good boy. That makes all the difference.

I got so lucky! Penney's was having a sale and I found a beautiful A-line skirt and jacket. It was a deep chocolate brown with tiny soft green dots making up a diamond pattern - all small and it made a very nice effect. I really didn't want a boring black or navy blue suit. I picked out a size 10, not sure if that was even my size. Tried it on and it couldn't be more perfect. I don't need a tailor to take anything in! Best part: on sale for $80, normally $180!

Shoes - call me a fashion slave, but I love the pointy high heel pumps. I found a pair on sale and I did get the black ones instead of brown, thinking practically in that it would go with more outfits. I tried them on and they were actually comfortable. Normally $55 I got them for $40. I was really pleased. I only spent $13 of my own money, since I also bought foot cushions for the balls of my feet because realistically speaking, wearing heels means your balls are gonna hurt. I don't want sore balls.

Intentions, Plans, Progress

I've been really proud of my commitment to my 15 minute meditation every morning. I don't beat myself up when my mind starts being overly active, which happened for the first time today. I don't mind having thoughts, but when they become disconnected, choppy and fast (like watching too many TV commercials) I gently remind myself and slow down. Just the fact that I noticed and corrected it is a good sign that I'm on my way to mastering my thoughts.

Its fun watching small manifestations taking place. On Sunday when we went to the flea market, we were slightly later than we usually are and the weather was sunny and beautiful, meaning lots of people. Just before we got to the 2 areas we look for parking I said that we would find a good spot. We did - the last one in the parking lot! I was so jazzed about it!

I'm making plans too. The first of March I plan to order my books that upon comleting the readings should prepare me for the Real Estate license. That will cost me $448 for eight books. In the meantime, I've just been reading and studying uplifting positive material and avoiding any negative in any media as best I can. I also plan to go to the mall sometime this week and use my JCPenney gift cards and get some clothes for my future career. A good interview suit would be the best to start.

Good things are happening. :)

Lastly here's a photo of Aidan at my parents' place out in the country. We planted a tree that's about the same age as he is and we took a picture to show n compare as years go by. I plan to etch in a date, February 2007 to mark the starting point. Isn't it so cute though, two babies. :)

Stiff n Sore

Yesterday I went to my first community yoga class! That was something I had been wanting to do for over a year now, but for one reason or another (maybe I felt I was undeserving?) I finally went. I'm SO glad I did and I intend to go once or maybe even twice a week because the community class is only $6. It happens to be just about the time Aidan takes his nap, and yeah, I don't get grocery shopping, online work or cleaning done, but I do care for myself. It took some convincing on my part (still!) that it's OK if some things don't get done when it's a once or twice a week event that lasts an hour and a half total, including walking there and back.

It's becoming more apparent to me how important it is to care for my body lately. Especially as I get older, I'm becoming less flexible, and I truly feel that when your body is more flexible through stretching you FEEL younger, better and stronger. My left hip joint bothers me from 18 years of power walking - I don't want to have a hip replacement years down the road. So today I'm stiff and sore from stretching, not from gettin' old, and it actually feels GREAT!

DJ Aidan!

Baby in the blinds!

Making New Changes

Before posting about the changes I'm making, let me first give a heads-up that a follow-up to the first Oprah show last week about The Secret is this coming Friday. Apparently it made such a huge impact on people that another show is needed! So tune in tomorrow.

Right now I'm reading a book called The Master Key System, by Charles Haanal. It is designed to be a 24 week correspondance course on how to use the Law of Attraction. You may get the book for free via this PDF file here. You will have to create an account with the website to download, though.

This is a huge document, so I'm printing it out, section by section to do one chapter per week, as is suggested to do. I want to do this right. One of the things I must do is meditate every day for 15 minutes to half an hour. I've been challenged in the past with doing this, but I've decided I'm going to master it once and for all. I wake up and my mind is not centered, but with practice every day, I can begin my day focused and with intention.

It feels strange starting a new activity. I get up at 5:15 to be able to do this before Aidan wakes. I have to spend 5-10 minutes just getting myself awake enough to sit alertly and not feel like falling back asleep. I'm playing a CD I got in Bangkok called Sacred Chants of Buddha. It's so beautiful and you feel like you're in the Himalayan monestary. Each chant is just over 15 minutes, which is the perfect amount of time for me starting out.

I've also been doing pretty well with my yoga in the morning too. Tomorrow I'd like to try going to a community class in Alameda, which is only $6 vs. the $15 normal price. It's part of my self care. I'm keeping up on doing my nails so I don't bite them, care for my skin so I don't damage my face as I get older, and don't go too long without a haircut. When I neglect myself, it affects my mind and I must cultivate positive thoughts. It's working out well so far.

Look what my sweetie got me! (BRAG)

I've got the best guy! He did come home with a dozen red roses, a bottle of wine and a two-pound box of dark chocolates (which we are sharing, BTW). I got the cute Valentine's Day card from Mel and Daryll. Thank you!

Happy Valentine's Day

The last few years I've really been enjoying Valentine's Day. It is now the 3rd year anniversary of Golf's proposal to me! Golf had taken me to a jazz bar in Bangkok called Saxophone and we had a romantic dinner and he proposed to me! I'll never forget it.

Tonight he is going to prepare salmon teriaki with Japanese rice and a salad. Yumm-O. And after that we'll finish off with some See's dark chocolate. I think he's going to be bringing me flowers too. What a lucky wife I am! :)

Oprah talks about The Secret

Oh it's a special day! Today's my mom's birthday and we're out at her place to celebrate. I gave her The Secret book to read and she's already loving it a lot!

On top of that, the author and teachers featured in the book and movie are featured on Oprah today! Don't miss it if you can!

It's been so therapeutic out here in the country. I've been longing to dig in the dirt and make something beautiful. Well, my mom's been working on a stone walkway from the steps of the house to the driveway, and their property has tons of rocks. She got the walkway started, but she can't do much cause it hurts her back. So I took over and I'm already nearly finished! It's so much fun, my mind is feeling the best when I'm in that creative zone and when I'm outdoors in the fresh air and getting exercise from the hard labor, I'm getting full benefits!

What a fantastic day!

Getting back to yoga and a thought

As I was showering this morning, I thought of some ways to quiet my mind in the morning and feel physically and mentally good every day. Uh, how about using my dust-covered yoga DVDs I have? I have one particular one, AM & PM Yoga, where each session is a mild stretching and only takes about 15-20 minutes. That would be a perfect start to my day! The nearby yoga studio also offers a $5 community class once a week, and I asked Golf if that would be something I could do. He said he certainly would watch Aidan while I run down there and enjoy the weekly class. I know I feel SOOO good and at such peace with myself and my body when I do yoga. It will help me in my newfound quest to make the laws of attraction work for me.

And on a funny note: I called my mother shortly after my shower and she was just getting ready to do her yoga session!

Another plan: I am addicted to listening to AM radio. I listen to a local channel here, KGO radio. It's an award-winning station and the hosts are all middle of the road politically speaking. But it's so dang entertaining because the hosts I listen to talk about social issues and also they'll speak with all sorts of guests from tech reporters to authors and doctors. But I wonder if I'm doing too much. There was a time that I'd never even listen to music anymore. My radio was always on, and sometimes I'd still listen if it was a topic that didn't interest me much, like some sports story.

Well, I've decided that I'm cutting back on the radio and I'm going to put my music on more often. I've already done it for Aidan's sake. He needs to hear music and it puts me at such peace, especially my ambient channels I put on at Live365.

So there are two ways I'm intending to improve my life's outlook: More music, more yoga. You simply cannot go wrong there!

**************************

My thoughts: Just looking at my New Year's post when I made my vision board, I can see how much negativity I was wallowing in. I was covered in negativity all of last year, and frankly, that was a major reason I didn't blog much. Often times I wouldn't be able to think of anything to blog about that wouldn't be complaining about something, so I decided not to write anything at all.

In a matter of days I am a changed person. It is all in a small shift of perception. What's also really wonderful is that I was able to share fully my enthusiasm about my discovery of the Law of Attraction and The Secret with Golf. He understands me completely and practices it himself to a degree because of his Buddhist upbringing. I was a little wary at first about sharing with him because I was afraid he would laugh or think this is silly stuff. But I was so glad I made myself vulnerable (one should be able to be vulnerable with one's own spouse!) and our conversations have been inspiring and uplifting.

Now I have so much on my mind that I want to share. I think I'll be writing a lot more this year.

The Secret

I'm really excited about discovering The Secret! Remember my vision board from New Year's Day? Well, I got the idea from a show I happened to have on before Oprah came on. It was a local variety show that I never watch normally, but I had it on for some reason that day and the guest on there was talking about making a vision board and about this book called The Secret.

It's basically about the Law of Attraction, and what you put out there to the Universe, you get back reflected to you. So you can have anything in the world that you want, you just have to ask for it, have gratitude for what you have already, and focus on abundance.

I've known about this, but had forgotten about it in my own spirituality. I read, a long time ago, The Celestine Prophecy, which talks about the same principles, generally. My explorations of Hinduism, Buddhism and some New Age spirituality also describe the Law of Attraction. The only problem I have is that I forgot all these teachings. It's like I know it intellectually for I have read many books on it and have gone to ashrams, temples and seen lectures on it (saw Deepak Chopra once too, a long time ago!) but the knowledge imparted to me slipped through me.

For years my emotions ruled my life and those (mostly) negative and self-depreciating feelings manifested themselves in my life later on. That's how I ended up living in Thailand for nearly 4 years - I was trying to escape the life I had here. Why hadn't I learned anything? I'm still, to a large degree, living my life today from the thoughts that ruled my life for years.

But that changed a few days ago. My attitude and outlook on life has changed. The story of how The Secret came into my life is a story of the Law of Attraction in itsself. I was watching that show and the title of the book looked so neat that I burned it into my memory. I knew I wanted that book. So in the meantime, I started planning my vision board, and a week later it was on my wall.

I did eBay searches on The Secret and discovered that it also had a movie made! See, I wanted the book, but I didn't have a lot of extra funds for what I thought was a book that was not necessary for studying to get ahead in life, so my goal was to get it for free, somehow. Now I wanted to see the movie too, but the book and DVD set I saw selling like hotcakes on eBay were going for close to $70!

Well, I kept trying. Looking around online for good deals. I had a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card I earned from My Points, but the store didn't have it and I didn't want to pay for shipping. (I've earned about 4 nearly free books from them - I cash in on the $10 gift cards but I have to pay about $7 per book with the cost of shipping). Then one day I opened my credit card statement and it said that I had like 6,000 points I could use for free rewards, so I went to the website and discovered I could choose a $25 gift certificate. Cha-ching! Here was my opportunity! I ordered the book the day my gift card arrived in the mail. Thank you Chase credit card!

So I'm reading The Secret and discover the daily affirmations on YouTube, linked from the official website. I posted the most inspiring one. What happened next blew me away. Michelle, my former Bangkok colleague and friend gave me a free link to the entire movie!

There you have it. I got to read the book and see the movie without spending any of my own money. I yearned to get The Secret and I put that energy out there and the Law of Attraction told me that my wish was my command. It happened. I'm so enthusiastic about this.

More soon and I shall also blog about my progress.