Happy You Day!!!

Well, it's royal wedding Friday and as I was sitting and watching the amazing event and the throngs of people who had turned out to show their support I realized that all of those people had essentially taken part in their very own holiday. Oh sure, it was for the furture King and Queen of England, but it sure did feel like a national holiday from where I was sitting. After my second cup of coffee it occurred to me that why shouldn't you and I deserve a holiday of our very own?
We may not be royalty or achieved anything of historical worthiness, but sometimes doesn't just getting through the day feel like a grand accomplishment in and of itself? So why shouldn't we celebrate ourselves? I realize that birthdays are kind of like our own sort of holiday (at least I like to look at it that way anyway), but what if we picked one day....not just annually, but maybe seasonally and made that day our own? What if we took a day off from work smack dab in the middle of the week, stayed in our pajamas and gave ourselves one entire day to do nothing but the things we wanted to do for ourselves? We deserve at LEAST that much, don't we? Of course we do!
You work hard...probably a heck of a lot harder than you give yourself credit for! Maybe you have a demanding job, children that you have put your heart and soul into raising well (one of the MOST demanding jobs) or maybe you just work tirelessly every single day to make ends meet. Whatever your days are like, I am betting that you could use a break! I'm not talking about one of those days where you consider a trip to the mall to run an errand a break, I mean a truly authentic, it's-all-about-me sort of a break!
Between checking email 40 times a day, coordinating schedules, running around like crazy people and trying to keep one thousand balls in the air, we just do not take enough quality time for ourselves! So today I propose a very rewarding sort of a challenge...and you might think it's silly, but I think that if you give it some thought, you will recognize that it is essential! Today I want you to committ....absolutely committ to claiming a holiday for yourself! One full day where you hand off all responsibilities, put the email on auto-response, set the phone to voice mail and do ONLY what YOU want to do! Naturally something this grand can not be planned spur of the moment, but no good holiday ever is! Think about all of the effort you put into planning the perfect Christmas dinner, or birthday party for your kids! Do you ever put that much time planning something fabulous for yourself? You deserve to! You need to!
If you're thinking that it sounds selfish, then look at it this way...how much more productive would you be if you just gave yourself one full day of down time every so often? Think of it as an investment in your quality of life, and you know that when you're feeling good, it is far easier to put that good back into the world, right? So today, how about if we just take a look at the calendar and plot our very own holiday? Give yourself some time to do a little advance planning so that you are truly committed to doing this and make a promise to yourself that it WILL happen! Once you have chosen your day, I would challenge you to share it here as a comment....put it on your calendar IN INK and let everybody know that whatever date you have chosen, it is etched in stone! Then do a little planning to make it special! Will you get a manicure? A massage? Will you gather your girlfriends together and invite them out for a lavish dinner to help celebrate your holiday?? What will you call your special day? Will you brew a fabulous pot of coffee and just stay in bed for a few hours? Treat yourself to some decadent chocolates? Let your imagine out to play for a while....it's your day and it can look like anything you want!

You, sweet friend, deserve a holiday, and as of this moment it is of utmost importance to your well-being that you give yourself permission to pause, exhale, and take whatever steps are necessary to make that holiday happen!!!

I can't wait to hear what you come up with! Happy You Day is just on the horizon! Get out those date books and start planning!
Happiest of Fridays to you!!
Heather

Look What Happens When You Keep Watering the Seeds!

The Fine Art Of Patience and Hope

I woke up yesterday morning filled with anticipation. I had an interview scheduled with a potential client that I was genuinely looking forward to, an optimistic to-do list, and it was Monday....another opportunity for a week of endless possibility. But sometimes, no matter how optimistic we are, the Universe seems to have other plans. My appointment never showed up, and the phone calls and emails I was expecting never happened, add to that a misunderstanding with a potential client and by the end of the day I was ready to push the pause button on the week and get back into bed for a month. Yes, it was one of those days. The sort of day where you feel like no matter what you do you are just running in place while wearing painful stilettoes. Those are the days where if you are paying attention, and when you least expect it, the Universe will serve you up a life lesson on a glistening silver platter. My lesson came from a tiny little packet of seeds.


About a week ago I decided that this year I was going to grow my own flowers and vegetables from scratch. I purchased a handful of various types of seeds, planted them all in those little eco-friendly cups and waited. Like a little girl on Christmas morning I have been bouncing down the stairs every day in anticipation of seeing some sort of indication that my little seeds were coming to life. Day after day, I was greeted by the same thing; dirt in a cup. I'm admittedly not the most patient girl in the world so after about four days of watering dirt and waiting for something to happen, all hope for my beautiful garden was essentially gone and my patience had officially run out. After all, I had done my part with the very best of intentions....I planted the seeds, talked to those little cups of dirt, given them plenty of water and light and in return they did nothing.


But then suddenly and without warning, on the fifth day, those little cups magically came to life. Where there was once only dirt and frustration just one day prior, was now an array of tiny little stems barely popping their little heads out above the soil. Hope was restored!! Hour after hour, those amazing little stems seemed to almost double in size and within about three days there were actually little tiny leaves. I am happy to tell you that today, almost every seed seems to have burst wide open and my little cup garden is just a few weeks away from its new home in our yard.


Being the sort of woman who believes that the Universe is always sending me little signs and messages, I looked at those seeds like a great life lesson. Here I was making all of these plans, doing the work, planting the "seeds" and no matter what I did, it felt like nothing was happening. Things were not progressing as quickly as I had hoped and my patience was wearing thin. But if I give up and just throw in the towel, how will I ever know what "could" have happened? How would I ever find out what those seeds might have become if I just stopped watering them?


There are days when it feels as though nothing is happening. The orders are not coming as fast you had hoped they would, people are not calling back, nobody is lining up to show their support for what you have worked so hard to create and life feels as though it is at a stand-still. Those are the days when you have to push yourself the hardest because in the blink of an eye it can all change. The fact of the matter is that although we create timelines and deadlines for ourselves sometimes the Universe is just running on a different schedule. That doesn't mean we give up and it certainly doesn't mean that something fabulous isn't on the way. It might just be that all those little seeds you have been planting are slowly working their way towards the surface, and just because you can't see them growing today, well tomorrow you just never know what can happen! So, the moral of the story is simple.....plant your seeds with the best of intentions, water them daily, nurture them with care, and most importantly, stay patient and hopeful because one day when you least expect it, those little seeds are going to burst wide open and where there was once only dirt will magically be a bright and beautiful flower!


Wishing you a day filled with patience and hope!

Heather

Girl Seeks Good News....

When I turned on the computer this morning and clicked over to the internet I was instantly bombarded with glaring headlines of all the bad things happening in the world. Celebrities gone mad, gas prices rising, somebody was killed, somebody is angry, and the list goes on and on......and on. I found myself literally searching for good news in the midst of all that chaos and I have to tell you, it wasn't easy to find. It felt almost as if the entire planet was collectively in a bad mood and had nothing worth celebrating. But I know that just can't be true! SO, since I am one of those people who actually enjoys hearing good news, I decided to share some of my own and I hope that if anybody ever actually finds this blog that maybe a few more of us will contribute something positive. My good news is that I finally launched a brand new Network that I have been dreaming about in one form or another since the early nineties; it has evolved and changed a bit in my mind over the years, but the concept has always been the same.....empower, inspire and celebrate women. I think I carried this idea around with me for so long because it is so idealistic in theory that I had this fear that if I ever really took the steps to make it a reality, and somehow it wasn't well received, I would be destroyed. That's the funny thing about dreams....I think we protect the ones that really matter because the risk of the outcome not being what we had hoped is sometimes more than we can bear. But for me, well, I got tired of worrying about something that may or may not happen, so I finally said "to heck with it," and jumped. I am happy to tell you that so far things are going exactly the way I had hoped, and really, I am only scratching the tip of the iceberg..... The network I have created is intentionally designed to be positive, inpspiring, informative, and ultimately to celebrate female business owners and to encourage women to actively support them. The most amazing thing about this endeavor up to this moment has been the women I have met. Sadly, I sometimes think that women get a back rap, and this goes back to the whole GOOD NEWS topic again. We hear so much negative buzzing around that we forget all about the really good and selfless women who are living unconditionally good lives and selflessly out there making the world a better place. Well I am proud to tell you that the ladies involved in my new network are frankly, quite extraordinary and living examples of just what this world needs more of. They are doing what they love, they are happy, and it comes through loud and clear each time I speak to them...they don't talk about money, they don't tell you if business is good or bad, they just radiate light and can't wait to tell you why they created their companies.. They are an example of what it looks like when you take ownership of your life and come what may, you make a conscious effort to be nothing but positive...reagardless of what circumstances might be like! They are a collective group of the "good news" that this world needs and I am proud to know and support each and every one of them. Each and every day, you and I have a choice. Do we perpertuate the bad news, the gossip and the negative, or do we take matters into our own hands and be the woman who stands up a little taller and uses our voice to share good news? When I told friends and family that I was going to create an entire network of women dedicated to being positive and supportive of each other, a lot of them told me I was a dreamer.....and that it would never happen. But I know in my heart....without a shadow of a doubt that at our core, each of us just wants to be happy....and I believe that if we actively pursue whatever our version of happiness is, and choose to loudly support the people who are in the midst of their own bliss instead of resenting them, then there will never be a shortage of good news. There will be suddenly be a shift in the what we notice around us, and instead of stopping to look at the 'train wreck,' and tell our friends about it, we will instead pause when we learn about someONE or someTHING fabulous and use our voices to celebrate the good news! I'm not so naive as to think that bad things don't happen, because I know first hand that not every day is filled with people handing me chocolate and fabulous shoes.....but how we choose to process the not-so-wonderful events, and what we CHOOSE to put back into the world is ultimately up to us! Though I will admit that it's not always easy, I have to tell you that I choose the good STUFF! In my experience, it is far more fun, and infinetely more exciting to have an intentionally GREAT day versus hiding under the covers waiting for the other shoe to drop. So, today and every day.....I truly hope that you will take extra time to see the good things happening around you.....to celebrate happiness and to consciously decide to have a really good day! The good news is that you absolutely deserve it! Wishing you an exceptionally fabulous day! Heather PS....you can check out my new Tell A Girlfriend Network by visiting www.tellagirlfriendnetwork.com!