MaXIMIze - Manifesting Gratitude

Wow - Thanksgiving is right around the corner! The one day of the year specifically set aside to give thanks for the year's bounty - at least here in the States.

In the last post, we discussed how to share our bounty with others.

In this one, I'd like us to pull inward and think about the things we are thankful for in our own lives and what we would like to keep manifesting in the years to come.

So my challenge to you this week is to make a manifestation board of all the things, people, etc. - past and present - you are thankful for in your life. You can do this as individuals, as families, or as whatever group you wish to do it as.

Then, as you sit down to dinner on Thursday - Thanksgiving Day - I want this visual to be front and center and for you to share and think about all the good things, all the abundance that has shown in your life to this point.

I for one am grateful to you for taking the time to read this blog, for sharing this time and space with me and the others who read this blog.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Gratitude - Sharing Thy Bounty

I meant to post this last week and didn't get that far…so y'all get two posts for the price of one this week!

I noticed the annual food drives have started for the holiday season - the kids' canned food drives, the various grocery stores offering a bag of groceries to buy and donate, even the local CSA - Farm Fresh to You - asking us to donate the box of food we will not be needing this holiday week. The local TV station - KCRA - had their annual turkey drive, and the Rocklin firefighters were collecting food in front of the WalMart grocery on Pacific Ave this AM. Also, the annual Coats for Kids and Sleep Train's drive for helping foster kids have started for the season.

One way we can show our gratitude is by sharing our abundance - our money, things and time - with those people and charities who embody our values and share our ideals with others.

Whether it is your local homeless shelter, food bank, animal shelter, place for homeless children and teens, or charities like Habitat for Humanity or Heifer International and other charities who empower others to help themselves, please consider showing your gratitude by sharing your abundance now and throughout the year.

With our next post, we will continue the gratitude theme. Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Gratitude - Preparing for the Holidays

It is fitting that this post is coming out on 2 November - Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead - a day when we remember, honor, and celebrate loved ones who have passed on.

While preparing for the holidays does mean the frenetic planning, cleaning, cooking and shopping we all seem to experience at this time of year, it also means preparing for and dealing with the thoughts and feelings that well up as families and other closes ones gather together (or not) during what is supposedly the happiest season of all.

The holiday season can bring up all sorts of memories - good and bad - and the feelings that go with them. It can bring up feelings of guilt, regret, remorse, loss, and lack that can sometimes be overwhelming.

I know this firsthand. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving in 1977, my father passed away from lung cancer at the age of 56. I was a mere 13 years old at the time. Some years have been better than others, but I still feel his loss most keenly during the holiday season. And that's okay.

Yes, it is okay that sometimes we are not happy during the holidays, that we are dealing with negative emotions more than positive ones.

The trick is to not let those negative emotions get in the way of appreciating what is is front of us - and that is true all year 'round, not just during the holiday season.

We do this by acknowledging our feelings and then choosing which ones to focus on - positive or negative.

Take some time when you are preparing for the holidays to consider how you deal with the "holiday blues" and what you can do to mitigate those feelings, where else you can focus your energy, thoughts and emotions.

When my father passed away, I was not yet mature enough to see his foibles and his sheer human beingness - he was still my hero in the strong innocent belief in shiny knights on white steeds that many young girls have.

So, it is easy for me to remember the good things - how he let me be a kid, banging away with a hammer and nails in the backyard, watching the Muppet Show and Hee Haw on Sunday evenings, making fried bologna sandwiches.

I lost my mom early too - in February 1987. She would have been 64 and I turned 23 that year. We had survived my teen years, and she saw my older two children come into this world with me.

Her I miss most at Halloween - she loved the spirit of the season and the costumes. I remember the Halloween that she dressed up as a fortune teller to pass out candy.

It's the good things I focus on and am thankful for this time of year - the rest is just noise to be ignored.

So again - instead of focusing on the negatives, focus on the positives and what we are thankful for in our lives, right here, right now.

Next week we'll discuss Sharing Thy Bounty.

Until then, Namaste!