Cloud9000 - Special Contributors

Hi y’all. Well, I have been gone for a little bit. After the last couple of blogs that I wrote on that “feeling of nothing” and time to make a change, well…. yeah, we did.

The day I wrote my last blog, my fiance’ (oh yeah, he asked!!! I said yes!!!) and I had a very emotional discussion on what was going on with our finances. Though we both took FULL responsibility for all the “potential problems” we came up with some great solutions. (Writing this now, it is nice to see that we are looking forward at potential problems and not at them as they blowup around us). So we opted to move out of his house, back to mine and make some other financial decisions (oh… and get engaged).
So we moved, repaired and got the house on the market in under two weeks, had it in contract in two days of being listed, participated in 2 Halloween parties, did trick-or-treating, took family pictures and started the process of unpacking a house that was now filled with 3 adults, a teen, three pre-schoolers, a new baby, two dogs and a puppy. Hee Hee…. at least life is all around, all the time.

So, I am now back at the home that I (looking back again) really took a break from while I figured out some other aspects about my life. I had “changed the sheets”, and it is now time to come back and repair, change and take back the aspects of my life that were good and needed attention.

Small…. Though I do value down time, time to watch a movie with the family and to watch a sunset, life around me, as stated by my fiance’, is never boring. And as one of my best friends mentioned, “You never do anything small.”

A special thank you to Michael for all the times you have been there to bounce my thoughts and “create”. Thank you to Rob for seeing the beauty of a life through all the chaos. And to Rebekah for the advice on “changing my sheets” and great advice that I couldn’t hear internally at the time!

Have a blessed day all!

Kim

ABC’s - You are unique of all God’s creations. Nothing can replace you.

I am sure that we all bounce around this one in many ways. And the reason… yeah, we are all unique. ha ha ha.

The way to true freedom is to allow others to be themselves and to allow yourself to be you. All the parts of you that are unique. I had always believed that I was unique and that there was no one like me. I can’t say that I always believed that was a good thing at the time or that my uniqueness was of any value. So for a long time I strived for “normal”. But then, what is normal when everyone is unique? hhhmmm… And, how then could you reach perfection?

Since going through this past year and recognizing what is important to me, and allowing myself to be me, I really have found a new level of happiness and can say for the first time in my adult life, I am truly happy. I enjoy my kids more. I love my relationships with friends and family. I enjoy spending time by myself. And you know what….? A slew of songs on the radio now make more sense. I smile more and I “bounce back” from disappointments faster.

I am not “just” a mom, a daughter, a sister, an ex-wife, a partner….. I am all those roles and have those relationships, but I am bar none…. KIM. I am unique in my own right and deserve to as happy as anyone else. Oh, and, it is not my responsibility to ensure that the rest of the world is happy before I am allowed to be. (gotta tell you, that lifted a lot off my stress load)

You all have a blessed day!

Kim

ABC’s - Xcellerate your efforts

Basically, if you want to excel your efforts, then clean up your “house”. By which I mean, “Mind, Body and Soul”. Reconnect these three as they all can get you where you want to be. And then, amazing speed, agility and miraculous things can happen.

This includes how you feel about all of your “relationships”: Getting to know your emotional guidance system

* With Self - spiritual, intellectual, physical.
* With People - I do this by role type: Parents / Bosses, Children / Employees, Friends / Colleagues, etc.
* With Things - Money, Property, Heirlooms

As you find out how you Feel about things as they “are”, Ask yourself these questions:

* What about this is important to me?
* Is it something I want to keep or remove?
* If I choose to keep it, were does it belong?

Then, fill your tool box: Now that you know what is important, is “how” you cared for that still working?

* Now that I know what is important to me, how do I feel about how I cared, got, did this before?
* Did I feel tired? Did I feel refreshed? How do I do it better for me?
* Do I have the answer for that or do I need new information?

I have found for me, I have a yearly cycle. My “year end” is May 13. My “Start of Year” is May 14. The week following is for transitioning closing down and opening up. And through this past “year” I now can hear my soul with clarity. And I now see that I have always done this and have put out what I will accomplish in the coming year.

May 2006 - I took stock in my marriage, my family, my children and my job. By May 2007, I had changed ALL of those situations. They were all closed and I was staged for something new. I had completed my education.

May 2007 - I took into consideration all that I had learned and now went for what I wanted. I have now found my soul partner, my children are accelerating and I have time for them. I have found my business partners and am starting that as well. My relationships with those closest to me are now solid and flourishing. This will be one amazing year in full creation.

My toolbox is full. I have the skill and know how. I can determine quickly if it is a want for me or others and determine it’s importance and priority in my life.

So understand your want, visualize it fully, listen to how you ask for your wants and then Xcellerate it by filling your tool box with exercises that help you do this with each decision you make.

Have a blessed time creating.

Kim

ABC’s - Visualize it

You know, I struggled with this one through the years. My Sports Coaches would say it, my Professors would say it, my counselor, my boss…. but I still didn’t quite get to the “goal”. So I thought. I had, however, started an internal dialog that said “I don’t know how to do that”. I was also incorrect there.

Through the last few months I have found that I did know how to visualize and I was quite good at it. The truth was, though I didn’t reach the goal that my coaches, parents, teachers, bosses, etc had wanted (or visualized) for me, I had reached mine. I enjoy sports, but my want was not to be a sports star, my want was to study sports and understand how to “coach”. And, I was successful. I also enjoy learning, and though I didn’t “complete college” what I really wanted was to understand what was needed to transition from high school to college. And, I was successful. And I can do this for each of the places in my life that I had originally marked down as “unsuccessful” previously.

See, what I had found was though I didn’t not reach the end result that others would have wanted, I had reached the end result for me. I wanted knowledge on “how” things were done. This included and most importantly “parenting”. And I can now with full honesty to myself… I am successful. (I will safe more on that for a later blog.)

What ever means works for you, from what ever source that is safe for you… I recommend taking time to fully understand what “visualization” is. And how it works for you. This includes all the senses and emotions that come with it. When you do, you can dramatically effect change in your life and get to your wants with amazing precision and speed.

Have a most blessed day!

Kim

ABC’s - Read, study and learn about everything important in your life

Actually, from “Women at Heart / Word of Heart” I got something that fit for this so well. I have included that below. I can say, that once you find your “true center” the “struggle” goes away. And true understanding and happiness starts.

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LEARNING TO BE REAL

“What we learn with pleasure we never forget.”

– Alfred Mercier

Educator John Holt contended that learning is a natural process that happens to anyone who is busy doing something real for its own sake. We don’t have to be taught how to learn. We begin learning about life in the womb and if we remain curious, we never stop.

A young student, Jamaal M. Watson, has offered a beautiful new twist to the concept of education: “Each of us has a one-of-a-kind identity – just as we all have one-of-a-kind fingerprints – and what education means is to develop that unique personality so that we each know who we are. Self-discovery is at the bottom of being somebody real. …To discover yourself and find your path through life, you need to have lots of firsthand experiences, mostly on your own in tough situations. It doesn’t do much good to get these experiences second hand from books.”

“You can learn new things at any time in your life if you’re willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you.”

– Barbara Sher

ABC’s - Quitters never win and winners Never Quit

Well, you know, for the first blog I think I have come across, I don’t think I have much to add. This one is pretty self explanatory.

Ah…. I know what I can write on this one. I think it is also important to understand when it is time to “walk away”. I tried harder and harder and harder to save my marriage. I was raise with the mantra above. And if you just work harder, and don’t give up, then all will work out.

Well, I guess it did in a way right? I worked on me. Went to counseling, studied myself, learned how to grieve, re-affirmed my faith and found, oops, chose wrong. I am not one that would want to “change” anyone else, but there are times when you must just realize that the person you may be with, though they may be good with someone else, just isn’t good with you or vice versa.

So, not to say that I “quit”, I just chose to get back to thriving versus surviving. And, re-affirming that sometimes, a body needs a break. Time to recharge, time for fun. If you are constantly “working so hard” you leave no time for the blessings to shine around you, for life to fill you. (pst: vacations are important)

So for all of you that “work” as hard at things as I did, you are officially asked to take a time out. Time to reflect, recharge and remember why you are doing what it is you do in the first place.

Have a blessed day!

Kim

Hang on to your dreams.

This one sounds really easy. But this is probably one of the hardest things to do. We start by putting our dreams on hold while we take care of what we are “responsible” for. We do our classes, we make the grades, we get the jobs, we get the home, we have the kids, we tend to our relationships, we do for others.

Now, don’t get me wrong, those all all blessed things as well. However, if we don’t tend to our dreams, then we are not tending to ourselves. We are dismissing the energy that is ours. It is not to say that we have to be “perfect” or that the picture of what we dreamed won’t change, but the dreams must be there.

After the birth of my last child (as I have written previously - a most horribly trying pregnancy) I found I was missing something…. my heart, my desire, my want. I knew I wanted and loved my children, but I didn’t feel whole. Something was missing. Then, I was training someone on how to do an interview, what to look for on a resume and application… and why we look. When I hit the question of “hobbies”, I found I didn’t have any. How is that possible at 30+ years old?

Well, one by one, I put my dreams on hold. Though some of my dreams were present and accounted for, the parts that were mine alone were missing. My energy was going OUT, but I was not allowing for anything to replenish that which was me. I am a mom, a homemaker, a business woman, an employee, a friend, a family member…. but, outside of all that, I was nothing. I had not allowed myself the time to celebrate and “play” with my dreams.

So, during the two and half years since my last little blessing arrived, I started to do things… see what I liked. I have found that I like to take pictures. That I LOVE music… singing, dancing, listening… getting completely lost in the music. I like to do things with my yard and to grow things. I like to do projects and make things look better than they did. And, thus the creative part of self started to come back. A drive that I want for more.

Now, that isn’t to say that then I had to work through that I also deserved to have more. That I, just like all other souls, have the right to be treated with respect, to follow my dreams and to be happy.

So, hang on to you dreams. And make a conscious effort to bring them out and play with them on a regular if not daily basis. It is important to who you are, to your energy source, to your happiness. They are what make you uniquely you!

Dare to dream a little dream today. Do a jig at the end of your day for all you go done. Sing a silly song. Smile.

Have a blessed day.