Ray of Sunshine: New Horizons

Even if the horizon feels far away, keep going, keep pursuing your dreams. There's joy to be found on the journey!

Blessings for your day and week. Spread sunshine. Be the light.

Ray of Sunshine: A New Year

Today’s the perfect day to dream big! Think about your hopes, dreams and aspirations for your life in this new year. Take the first step toward making them come true. 

Blessings for your day and week. Spread sunshine. Be the light.

Sunday Sunshine: Soar!

If you were to say in a sentence what you want for your life, what would it be? Put a name to those desires, those aspirations, those values, those dreams. When you name them, they become more real to you.

Perhaps this is the year you want to explore a new hobby or visit a new place (even if it's only virtually). Perhaps this is the year to learn how to play the piano or bake a fancy cake or write poetry. Perhaps this is the year to adopt a pet or adopt a new healthy habit.

What first steps might you take in order to make your dreams come true?

Take flight! Let your heart be swept away on the wings of your dreams!

Today, this week: Set your sights on your dreams. Soar!

Sunday Sunshine: Desires and Dreams

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? What activities could you do for hours and lose track of time and space? What did you daydream about? 

As a child, we encourage dreaming, for it often leads to becoming. The same can be said in our adulthood. Just because you're grown up doesn't mean that you can't dream and become the person you wish to be. 

Think about this: What do you dream about? What are your wishes and your desires? What are you doing to fulfill them? What first steps might you take today?

Today, this week:  Reflect on your desires and dreams and what steps you might take to make them come true. It's not too late to dream and become.

Sunday Sunshine: Keep Going

While out on my daily walk one day this spring, I came across a cheery, hopeful message written in various colors of chalk on the sidewalk ahead of me. "Just keep going," it said. Over it was a bright chalk rainbow.

During this strange and often frightening time of COVID-19 where all that has been normal seems to have been upended, I felt as if I needed that encouragement to just keep going. And likely, so do you.

The road isn’t always clear. A sudden detour can take us on an unfamiliar route. It’s okay to check your surroundings and get your bearings. 

But, don’t let the detours of life stop you. Just keep going.

Even if the horizon feels far away, just keep going. 

Keep pursuing your dreams, keep spreading your light, keep taking good care of you, keep taking good care of others. Whatever you do, it’ll be worth every step. Good things will be waiting for you. 

But you have to keep going.

Stay strong, stay focused, stay hopeful. Look for the rainbows after the rain. 

When the way ahead is unclear, rely on your faith, hang onto hope and have confidence that the path will reveal itself -- exactly when the time is right. Just keep going.

Today, this week: Stay strong. Stay focused. Stay hopeful. Stay centered. Just keep going.

Sunday Sunshine: Pursue Your Dreams

We all have hopes and dreams. 

Sometimes, the reality of our lives causes for our dreams to be postponed, cast aside or ignored altogether.

Perhaps you want to write a novel, backpack through Europe, go back to school, take up the piano, move to a big city or to a country retreat, or start a business.

What dreams do you have that are burning to become reality? What step might you take today to help make one of those dreams come true? 

Just one small step will help set you on the path. You can do it! You'll be so glad you did!

Don't look back one day with regret that you didn't give your dreams priority.

Today, this week: Think about the dreams you have for your life. Then, take that crucial first step.

Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: Bright Desires

Spring is that glorious time of year when we witness new beginnings as the earth springs forth with growth and beauty. We tend to our gardens and we watch the plants grow.

Now is also a glorious time to look at what needs to spring forth in your own life and to cultivate and grow those desires and dreams.

What hidden, bright desire do you want to bring forth into your life? Perhaps it’s a new hobby, a new relationship, a new community, a new job, a new book to read, a new hill to climb.

Spring into action! Your season is here!

Today, this week: Be your true, best self. Don’t waste time or energy on regret. You can make great things happen!

Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: Be a Dreamer

If you were to say in a sentence what you want for your life, what would it be? Name those desires, those aspirations, those values, those dreams.

Perhaps this is the year you want to learn how to play the piano or go scuba diving or run a marathon or adopt a pet or write poetry. 

What first steps might you take in order to make your dreams come true?

Today, this week: Set your sights on your dreams. The horizon looks bright!

What Do You Wish for Your New Year?

The start of a new year is an exciting time, one to reflect on the previous 365 days and also to dream of what will take place in the next 365. What do you wish for your new year? 

I believe that our own positive energy has the power of attracting more positive energy into our lives. One way to stay positive is to engage in self-love and self-respect by speaking well of ourselves and to ourselves. I particularly like the use of affirmations. 

Here are twelve to consider using in this new year:

1.  I know with confidence what I consider to be achievement and success.

2.  My hopes and dreams that have been protected deep inside of me are now manifesting themselves in exciting and new ways.

3.  I assess as I go on this amazing journey, setting priorities and looking ahead.

4.  I embrace who I am with enthusiasm and love.

5.  I ensure that my relationships are healthy, trusting and nurturing.

6.  I radiate love from within and without. The more love I give, the more love I feel in return.

7.  My world is filled with generosity, goodness and kindness. My heart is blessed beyond measure.

8.  I take care of my mind, body and spirit as a high priority in my life. My well-being is important to me.

9.  I dedicate time to silence as a gift of renewal.

10. I take positive action with ease.

11. I'm calm and at peace.

12. I freely tune into my heart, and I like what I hear.

You might adopt one of these affirmations for each month of this new year, saying that affirmation aloud to yourself several times per day. You might also write them down, as one woman told me that she was going to do, place them in a jar, and then pull one out each day to say to yourself.

Use this new year as a time of exciting anticipation as you shower yourself with positive energy and then cast that positive energy out into the world. Happy New Year!

Affirmations excerpted from my book, Find Your Heart, Follow Your Heart: Get to the Heart of What Matters and Create Your Abundant, Authentic, Joyful Life, published in July 2017 by Balboa Press. Available in hardcover, softcover and e-book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Balboa Press and other fine retailers.

Dreamin'

An insightful and thoughtful friend recently gave me a slim journal with a beautiful cover filled with inspirational messages and a magnetic closure on which was embossed the word "Dream."  Deb knows that I love to write and she suggested that this journal could be a place in which to gather my inspiration for my writing.  In addition to Deb's journal, a note card sits on my home office desk, featuring an intricate black and white sketch by Julie Sutter Blair of an amaryllis bulb "dreaming" of what it is destined to be. In another place of honor on my desk is a birthday card I received from my late mother, featuring a lush, green natural scene and the words, "In your heart, keep a safe and secret spot where dreams my go."  All of these items, along with other treasures, have been placed on my desk at home to encourage creativity and to focus my energies on those things that will direct me on the spiritual and tangible paths I am meant to follow.  It's so easy to become distracted, but these lovely items keep me energized, focused and at one with my authentic self.  I believe it is crucial that we dream, for it is out of our dreams that wonderful, new things are born.