Today Is Your Lucky Day!

I'm a firm believer that we create our own luck...and that we create our reality, our destiny.
When I was growing up my mom use to say to me, "You must have been born under a lucky star". Back then, I never really understood what she was talking about. Now I know that she just didn't see what I saw, possibilities where others may see the end of the road, hope where there is despair and belief in my vision, somehow knowing it was on it's way to me because my believing kept it alive. Just how "Lucky" do you want to be? It's really all up to you.

Here is a wonderful article I found online:

How To Make Your Own Luck By: Daniel H. PinkWed Dec 19, 2007 at 12:41 AM
Some folks do have all the luck -- and psychologist Richard Wiseman can teach you how to be one of the lucky few.
"It's better to be lucky than smart." "You make your own luck in life." "Some folks are just born lucky." In an environment marked by rising tensions and diminished expectations, most of us could use a little luck -- at our companies, in our careers, with our investments. Richard Wiseman thinks that he can help you find some.
Wiseman, 37, is head of a psychology research department at the University of Hertfordshire in England. For the past eight years, he and his colleagues at the university's Perrott-Warrick Research Unit have studied what makes some people lucky and others not. After conducting thousands of interviews and hundreds of experiments, Wiseman now claims that he's cracked the code. Luck isn't due to kismet, karma, or coincidence, he says. Instead, lucky folks -- without even knowing it -- think and behave in ways that create good fortune in their lives. In his new book, The Luck Factor: Changing Your Luck, Changing Your Life: The Four Essential Principles (Miramax, 2003), Wiseman reveals four approaches to life that turn certain people into luck magnets. (And, as luck would have it, he tells the rest of us how to improve our own odds.)
Wiseman's four principles turn out to be slightly more polished renditions of some of the self-help canon's greatest hits. One thing Wiseman discovered, for example, was that when things go awry, the lucky "turn bad luck into good" by seeing how they can squeeze some benefit from the misfortune. (Lemonade, anyone?) The lucky also "expect good fortune," which no doubt has Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking, grinning in his grave.
But if these insights aren't exactly groundbreaking, neither are they wrongheaded. For instance, Wiseman found that lucky people are particularly open to possibility. Why do some people always seem to find fortune? It's not dumb luck. Unlike everyone else, they see it. "Most people are just not open to what's around them," Wiseman says. "That's the key to it."
Wiseman began his career as a teenage magician who joined London's prestigious Magic Circle society and journeyed to Hollywood to perform for thousands. "Magic is very good training for seeing the world from somebody else's perspective," he says. Wiseman's latest research makes several forays into areas where most scholars rarely tread: He has investigated the psychological underpinnings of magic, the dynamics of deception, and the psychology of the paranormal. In 2001, he achieved international notoriety conducting a yearlong search for the world's funniest joke, testing how some 350,000 participants reacted to 40,000 jokes.
Fast Company was lucky enough to catch up with the hip and affable professor at a café overlooking London's Hyde Park.
How did a serious academic like you become interested in a squishy subject like luck?
Round about 10 years ago, I was talking to people about why they'd ended up where they'd ended up in their lives -- the people they were with, the careers they were in, and so on. And the words that kept coming up were things like "luck" and "chance." People said, "I met my partner by chance." Or "I'm in this particular career because I just happened to go to this party." I knew from the psychology literature that psychologists avoided luck. They said you couldn't do science with it. So I decided to test that. I did some research that asked people, "Do you consider yourself unlucky, or lucky?"
Over time, we built up a database of about 400 people from all over the UK, all walks of life, who considered themselves especially lucky or unlucky. The people in both groups were saying, "I've no idea why this is the case; I'm just lucky" -- or unlucky. But I didn't believe that for a minute. I thought there was something else going on. So in the Luck Project, we've had them take part in experiments, interviewed them, had them keep diaries -- all sorts of things -- trying to piece together why you'd have one group of people for whom everything would work out well and another group for whom things would be completely disastrous.
Isn't there a distinction between chance and luck?
There's a big distinction. Chance events are like winning the lottery. They're events over which we have no control, other than buying a ticket. They don't consistently happen to the same person. They may be formative events in people's lives, but they're not frequent. When people say that they consistently experience good fortune, I think that, by definition, it has to be because of something they are doing.
In other words, they make their own luck.
That's right. What I'm arguing is that we have far more control over events than we thought previously. You might say, "Fifty percent of my life is due to chance events." No, it's not. Maybe 10% is. That other 40% that you think you're having no influence over at all is actually defined by the way you think.

Some folks do have all the luck - and psychologist Richard Wiseman can teach you how to be one of the lucky few.
What are some of the ways that lucky people think differently from unlucky people?
One way is to be open to new experiences. Unlucky people are stuck in routines. When they see something new, they want no part of it. Lucky people always want something new. They're prepared to take risks and relaxed enough to see the opportunities in the first place.
How did you uncover that in your lab?
We did an experiment. We asked subjects to flip through a news-paper that had photographs in it. All they had to do was count the number of photographs. That's it. Luck wasn't on their minds, just some silly task. They'd go through, and after about three pages, there'd be a massive half-page advert saying, STOP COUNTING. THERE ARE 43 PHOTOGRAPHS IN THIS NEWSPAPER. It was next to a photo, so we knew they were looking at that area. A few pages later, there was another massive advert -- I mean, we're talking big -- that said, STOP COUNTING. TELL THE EXPERIMENTER YOU'VE SEEN THIS AND WIN 150 POUNDS [about $235].
For the most part, the unlucky would just flip past these things. Lucky people would flip through and laugh and say, "There are 43 photos. That's what it says. Do you want me to bother counting?" We'd say, "Yeah, carry on." They'd flip some more and say, "Do I get my 150 pounds?" Most of the unlucky people didn't notice.
But the business culture typically worships drive -- setting a goal, single-mindedly pursuing it, and plowing past obstacles. Are you arguing that, to be more lucky, we need to be less focused?
This is one of the most counterintuitive ideas. We are traditionally taught to be really focused, to be really driven, to try really hard at tasks. But in the real world, you've got opportunities all around you. And if you're driven in one direction, you're not going to spot the others. It's about getting people to have various game plans running in their heads. Unlucky people, if they go to a party wanting to meet the love of their life, end up not meeting people who might become close friends or people who might help them in their careers. Being relaxed and open allows lucky people to see what's around them and to maximize what's around them.
Much of business is also about rational analysis: pulling up the spreadsheet, running the numbers, looking at the serious facts. Yet you found that lucky people rely heavily on their gut instincts.
Yes. You don't want to broadly say that whenever you get an intuitive feeling, it's right and you should go with it. But you could be missing out on a massive font of knowledge that you've built up over the years. We are amazingly good at detecting patterns. That's what our brains are set up to do.
What are some other ways you found that lucky people's minds operate differently?
They practice "counter-factual thinking." The degree to which you think that something is fortunate or not is the degree to which you generate alternatives that are better or worse.
Unlucky people say, "I can't believe I've been in another car accident." Lucky people go, "Wonderful. Yes, I had a car accident, but I wasn't killed. And I met the guy in the other car, and we got on really well, and there might be a relationship there." What's interesting is that both ways of thinking are unconscious and automatic. It would never occur to the unlucky people to see it a different way.
Isn't there something delusional about that approach -- sort of a modern version of Dr. Pangloss's "All for the best in the best of all possible worlds"? Suppose I said, "I just wrote this article, and the article stinks, and nobody read it. But hey, at least I have two arms."
What's so delusional about that? If it keeps you going in the face of adversity and softens the impact of the fact that no one read your article, and therefore you think, "Well, I can write another article, and I'm going to learn from the mistakes of the past one, and I'm going to keep on going," I think that's fine. It would be delusional if you took it to the extreme -- especially if you weren't learning from your mistakes.
But can we acknowledge that sometimes bad stuff -- car accidents, natural disasters -- just happens? Sometimes it's purely bad, and there's nothing good about it.
I've never heard that from a lucky person.
So if you buy that way of thinking, then there is no bad luck.
That's right. That's what was weird about conducting some of the interviews. Subjects would say, "I'm the luckiest person alive" -- and they'd come up with dreadful stories. They'd have the same life events as the unlucky person, but they'd look at them entirely differently.
Isn't that just a fancy version of the power of positive thinking?
There's more science to it -- as opposed to the classic "Just think positive, and you'll be successful." I think if you understand a little about where it's coming from, it's a bit easier to adapt into your life.
We had a subject named Carolyn. When she would come to the unit to be interviewed, it would be just this whole string of bad-luck stories: "I can't find anyone. I'm unlucky in love. When I did find someone, the guy fell off his motorbike. The next blind date broke his nose. We were supposed to get married, and the church burned down." But to every single interview, she'd bring along her two kids. They were 6 and 7 years old -- very healthy, very happy kids who'd sit there and play. And it was interesting, because most people would love to have two kids like that, but that wasn't part of her world, because she was unlucky in her mind.
How do you get people to begin thinking like lucky people?
We've created a Luck School that teaches people certain techniques. One thing that we do is have people keep a luck diary. At the end of each day, they spend a couple of moments writing down the positive and lucky things that happened. We ask them not to write down the unlucky stuff. Once that starts to build up, what they're doing is adding on, each day. So they look back, and it's five days' worth of positive events, and now it's day six. After doing that for a month, it's difficult not to be thinking about the good things that are happening.
What are the applications of your research to business?
We've just done our first Luck School with an entire company. We took all 35 employees through it. The CEO was very open to change. The ideas resonated with him because that's how he has lived his life. So when he heard them, he said, "I want everybody in my organization to think like this." If we did nothing but make his employees feel better about themselves, he'll be a happy man. If it has an impact on profits and productivity, he'll be a very happy man.
Do you think that lucky organizations really exist?
Yes. Whether it translates to just percentages of lucky people, or whether it translates to a particular mixture, where some score high on one principle and others score high on another, I don't know. In the sense of organizational culture and identity, I think that some organizations will be seen as lucky and successful and others will be seen as unlucky, in the same way that individuals are.
According to Richard Wiseman, these four principles can create good fortune in your life and career.
1. Maximize Chance Opportunities
Lucky people are skilled at creating, noticing, and acting upon chance opportunities. They do this in various ways, which include building and maintaining a strong network, adopting a relaxed attitude to life, and being open to new experiences.
2. Listen to Your Lucky Hunches
Lucky people make effective decisions by listening to their intuition and gut feelings. They also take steps to actively boost their intuitive abilities -- for example, by meditating and clearing their mind of other thoughts.
3. Expect Good Fortune
Lucky people are certain that the future will be bright. Over time, that expectation becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because it helps lucky people persist in the face of failure and positively shapes their interactions with other people.
4. Turn Bad Luck Into Good
Lucky people employ various psychological techniques to cope with, and even thrive upon, the ill fortune that comes their way. For example, they spontaneously imagine how things could have been worse, they don't dwell on the ill fortune, and they take control of the situation.
Daniel H. Pink (dp@danpink.com), author of Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself (Warner Business Books, 2002), is writing a book about the rise of right-brained thinking in modern life. He considers himself one lucky guy. For more information on the Luck Project, visit the Web (http://www.luckfactor.co.uk/).

Thank you Daniel H. Pink

Today look for ways to be luckier. See all the possibilities around you.

Appreciate that good things are available and on their way to you...if you're "lucky" enough to notice it.

I appreciate knowing I create my reality and my own good luck.

I appreciate having fun, happy go lucky people in my life.

I appreciate all the great writings and information available on the internet.

NOTE:

This is SO cool....
About a half an hour after posting this my husband and I went out to run some errands. We had to stop for some gas and on the way to the gas station I was telling my husband about the blog I just finished writing. I told him it was titled "Today Is Your Lucky Day."

A few minutes later while at the gas station, some kids walked by our car carrying their beach gear and boogie boards. One of them, a boy, reached down and picked something up from the ground. We think it might have been some money. He said very loudly while running to catch up to his friends..."This is my lucky day!"
My husband looked at me and said "Did you just hear what that kid said"?
I replied "If you hadn't heard it too, I might not have believed what I was hearing"
Then we went over to get a bite to eat a near by restaurant.We were sitting there eating and I overheard the guy next to me talking to his friend. He was going on and on about a client he was working for, designing a web site.
He continued talking to his friend and my attention drifted from his conversation until I heard him clearly say, "This must be my lucky day!" I don't know why he said it or what he was saying it about but I heard it.
It was almost the exact phrase the kid had said minutes earlier.
After we were finished eating I stood up and walked over to the guy that was talking to his friend. I apologized for ease dropping and asked him if he designed websites. He said he did and gave me his card.
I've been looking for someone to design a new website for my book Danny and the Dolphin.
Talk about Law of attraction! Believe it folks...this stuff works!!
What we put our attention on grows.

Is Your Cup Half Empty Or Half Full?

Here are a couple of articles I found online that I really like:

Is your cup half empty or half full?
How do you typically embrace the world? Are you constantly waiting for the storm to arrive, or do you look forward to a day of uncertainty? Do you typically see the good in most situations, or are you constantly looking over your shoulder?

I am a firm believer that the lens through which you see the world can color all your experiences in life. I was lucky enough to have been brought up in a loving and enriching home, where we expected the best and survived the worst. My mother fought illness after illness with a grace that to this day I cannot comprehend, and still she stopped to smell the roses. She always saw life from the vantage point of the cup being half full, even at her worst.

We are all dealt situations in our lives that can alter and shift our foundations, diminishing our feelings of safety and security. We have the power to choose how to respond to these circumstances. Sometimes it is easier to have a pity party, which can be therapeutic. But then it is important to brush ourselves off, raise our heads, and move on with living.

Would it not feel better to walk into an unknown situation prepared and expecting the best than preparing for the worst possible outcome and then creating just that? Mentally preparing yourself ahead of time for a positive end raises your confidence and creates an atmosphere that supports your desired result. Even if the end result is unknown to you at the time, you have the power to think positively and expect the best. I guarantee you that the act itself of thinking more positively will create an environment that supports a positive outcome.
Let me share with you from personal experience exactly how this has worked in my own life. I have always assumed things would work out for me, both personally as well as professionally. This is my attitude in general—a bit of naïveté, if you will. When I embarked on my coaching career, I attained more in the first year than most coaches attain throughout their careers. I am not talking financially—I am referring to getting my name and brand out in the media. Within the first couple months the newspapers were printing my articles. Within the first six months I was a regular expert guest on a major morning radio show. Several months after that, a major television news station created a coaching segment with one of my clients and me. All this happened because I simply believed that it would. I had no reason not to believe that all these doors and opportunities would open for me. Again, I assumed the best and made it happen. The opportunities continued to present themselves to me, and again, I just kept going in the same direction. Assuming the best will give you an attitude of not giving up because you know it will happen at the right time. Your attitude and energy leave an imprint on those around you—how do you want to be remembered? Commit to looking at life from a different angle and see what doors open and how you feel. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed with the results.

Follow some simple tips to begin your progress in the right direction.

Action Tips

Track your thoughts. Just as you would log your finances to see where your money is going, track how many negative thoughts pop into your mind on a daily basis. Many of us are unaware how often our negative thoughts cloud our choices and decisions. Make a commitment to track your negative voice for a couple days. Make a mark every time the voice pops up, and at the end of the day, tally your marks. This will give you a visual of how you are influenced by the voice in your head.

Change your language. Now that you have tracked your negative thoughts, you need to replace them with more positive dialogue. What are you most critical of in your life? Do you put yourself down regarding your appearance? Do you criticize the job you do at work? Replace these thoughts with more constructive words that support you. Every time a negative thought pops into your head, stop it and reframe it more positively. A good tool to use is to buy yourself 10–20 index cards. On the front of the cards, write down the disempowering thoughts that cloud your mind on a typical day. For example, you might write “I am unattractive and fat.” On the opposite side of the index card, write the exact opposite. You would then write “I am beautiful and healthy.” I want you to read the positive index cards several times a day. Reading the positive cards will help you begin to see yourself in that light, thus creating an environment that supports those statements.

Start your day on a positive note. The way you begin your day, your outlook, lays the foundation for the rest of your day. No matter what the day has in store for you, take control by lifting yourself and your spirits right from the beginning. You can say a positive affirmation, focus on your strengths and natural gifts, or just create a positive tone before you embark on your day. Again, this only takes a couple minutes every day, but it will set a standard that you will ultimately reach for.
This was written by:

Author's Bio
Leslie Gail is a certified life coach and owner of New Life Focus Coaching. Leslie conducts seminars, appears regularly on a morning radio show, KOSI 101.1 in Denver, and publishes articles in The Rocky Mountain News. Leslie sends out a newsletter via e-mail every Monday morning entitled “Monday Morning Tips” that will jump-start your life every week. Sign up for these tips directly at http://www.newlifefocus.com. Leslie supports her clients in achieving personal and professional success without compromising their values. Contact Leslie directly at http://www.newlifefocus.com or call (866) 779–0731.

Here's another one I like:

Maybe

Maybe.. we were supposed to meet the wrong people before meeting the right one so that, when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.

Maybe.. it is true that we don't know what we have until we lose it, but it is also true that we don't know what we have been missing until it arrives.

Maybe.. the brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; after all, you can't go on successfully in life until you let go of your past mistakes, failures and heartaches.

Maybe.. you should hope for enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy.

Maybe.. the happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

Maybe.. the best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.

Maybe.. happiness waits for all those who cry, all those who hurt, all those who have searched, and all those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of all the people who have touched their lives.

Maybe.. you should do something nice for someone every single day, even if it is simply to leave them alone.

Maybe.. there are moments in life when you miss someone - a parent, a spouse, a friend, a child - so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real, so that once they are around you appreciate them more.

Maybe giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they will love you back. Don't expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in their heart; but, if it doesn't, be content that it grew in yours..

Maybe.. you should dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because today’s MOMENT becomes TOMORROW’s MEMORY.

Enjoy every moment, good or bad, because the GIFT of LIFE is LIFE itself."

Today:
I appreciate all the positive information I have access to online.
I appreciate that I have the choice to view events in my life as positive or negative.
I appreciate the law of attraction and the awesome way it never fails to work.
I appreciate having people in my life that view their cups as half full.

Flirting With Love

Love is a funny thing.
It's what we are...we all have it in us, we all want more of it and we all have the choice to use it's power or ignore it.
I've been flirting with love lately.
Looking for ways to feel good and excuses to put my love out there, into the world.
Appreciating the beauty around me is one way I've found to play with love.
I've noticed butterflies everywhere I go since I've been doing this. It's pretty amazing actually.
One day while sitting outside, I saw a beautiful butterfly dancing from flower to flower. Then I started seeing butterflies everywhere I went. I've even witnessed them fly by while riding in the car!
A couple of days ago while sitting by the pool, I noticed a big beautifully colored butterfly fluttering by me. I put my attention on it and it came closer and then flew above me and all around me while I was admiring it. I've seen it for several days now flying about and hovering on a flower or a shrub. When I've come near, it has stayed on the flower, flapping it's beautiful wings. I've been able to observe it up close and see all the intricate patterns and colors. Nature is amazing with detail.
Another fun thing I've been doing when out in the world, is looking for people to play with.
Babies are the best mark and are always eager to play.
A few days ago my husband and I were at the market grocery shopping. We saw a really cute baby, about a year old, in a shopping cart. The adults she was with had their attention on shopping and she was looking around for some fun.
My husband and I played with her by smiling and walking away, then turning back to smile at her again. She lit up with a huge smile. A minute later we turned the corner and there they were in the next aisle. We smiled at her again and she burst out in a joyous laugh.
It was fun and clearly made us all feel better!
We have the ability to turn this on anywhere we are. What a wonderful thing love is.


Today I appreciate love,
I appreciate knowing I can choose to feel love
and that I have an abundance of love to give away.
I appreciate those that share their love.

Manifesting Money

The word money can bring up so many different emotions.
For some it can be a fun word that brings a sense of excitement, and in others the mere mention of the word can induce stress.
Money can be the reason that people marry, and divorce. It has been blamed for so many things, yet is still the object of focus and desire in most.People spend their entire lives trying to collect as much of this stuff as they can. They talk about who has the most and what they can do to get more.
We've given so much power to this green piece of paper and need to remember it's simply, just a note of exchange.
Here's what Wikipedia says about the history of money:

History of money

Money is what you use to buy things. The idea of trading things is very old. A long time ago, people did not buy or sell with money. Instead, they traded one thing for another to get what they wanted or needed. One person who owned many cows could trade with another person who owned much wheat. Each would trade a little of what he had with the other, and support the people on his farm. This is known as barter. Other things that were easier to carry around than cows also came to be held as valuable, and were used as trade items, such as jewelry and spices.
When people changed from trading in things like cows and wheat to using money instead, they needed things that would last a long time, still be valuable, and could be carried around. The first country in the world to make metal coins was called Lydia, sometime around 650 BC, in the western part of what is now Turkey. The Lydian coins were made of a weighed amount of precious metal and were stamped with a picture of a lion. This idea soon spread to Greece, the rest of the Mediterranean, and the rest of the world. Coins were all made to the same size and shape. In some parts of the world, different things have been used as money, like clam shells or blocks of salt.
Besides being easier to carry than cows, using money had many other advantages. Money is easier to divide than many trade goods. If someone own cows, and wants to trade for only "half a cow's worth" of wheat, he probably does not want to cut his cow in half. But if he sells his cow for money, and buys wheat with money, he can get exactly the amount he wants.
Cows die, and wheat rots. But money lasts longer than most trade goods. If someone sells a cow for money, he can save that money away until he needs it. He can always leave it to his children when he dies. It can last a very long time, and he can use it at any time.
Not every cow is as good as another cow. Some cows are sick and old, and others are healthy and young. Some wheat is good and other wheat is moldy or stale. So if a person trades cows for wheat, he might have a hard time arguing over how much wheat each cow is worth. But money is standard. That means one dollar is worth the same as another dollar. It is easier to add up and count money, than to add up the value of different cows or amounts of wheat.
Later, after coins had been used for hundreds of years, paper money started out as a promise to pay in coin, much like an "I.O.U." note. The first true paper money was used in China between 600 and 1455, and paper money was also printed in Sweden between 1660 and 1664. Both times, it did not work well, and had to be stopped because the banks kept running out of coins to pay on the notes. Massachusetts Bay Colony printed paper money in the 1690s, and this time, the idea was here to stay.
Today, most of what people think of as money is not even things you can hold. It is numbers in bank accounts, saved in computer memories. A large number of people still feel more comfortable using coins and paper, and do not totally trust using electronic money on a computer memory.
There are several online sites and videos that help us to change our attitude towards money.They work on our subconscious programming that we've all heard about money.When we realize what money really is, then we can adjust our thinking to have more of it available to us when we want and need it.
A couple of youtube clips on money:

Money manifesting affirmations :

Money comes to me effortlessly, endlessly and abundantly.

Money is always available for me to use as I want and need.

Money is a useful tool.

Money is mine to use as I wish.

I attract money to me in easy and fun ways.

All the money I want and need is on it's way to me right now as I read these words.

Today I appreciate having what I need to create what I want in my life.
I appreciate that I don't always need money as an exchange to get what I want.

I appreciate knowing that money will show up when I need it.

Sprinkled With Fairy Dust

Have you ever had a day that felt like EVERYTHING was going right, and it was as if you had a Fairy Godmother sitting on your shoulder?
Yesterday was one of those days for me. It felt like I was sprinkled with fairy dust and everything I wanted was unfolding , one thing after another!
It was the opposite of Murphy's law.
It was "Whatever can go right will go right" and it kept on getting better and better. I noticed phrases like "Today is your lucky day" and saw a flag hanging in someones yard as I drove by that said "Just another day in Paradise".
Everyone I ran into and spoke with was pleasant, friendly and helpful.
People even smiled at me from their cars!
It sounds magical but really isn't.
It's just the Law Of Attraction in action...again.
It's actually ALWAYS in action.
We like to pretend that when things aren't going our way, that it just "happened" to us and when things are going right, that it's somehow a miracle.
Life is suppose to be fun, and good things happening is a natural occurrence, if we just allow it.
Yesterday when I was "sprinkled" with fairy dust, I was deliberately looking at all that was good and I kept my vibration revved up in a state of allowing all the wonders...the wonderful things that are always available to ALL of us....ALWAYS.
It's fun to see it manifest so quickly and consistently. Life sure is easier that way!
My grandmother was from Ireland, and in Ireland there's a lot of talk about leprechauns, fairies and pixies. This may be folklore, but it may be they actually do see these things and fairies actually do exist. Maybe they come out to assist us when we're happy and more fun to be around.
Or it could just be the humble way that the Irish explain all the "Luck" of the Irish.
Here's a fun site to check out. It's a leprechaun web cam:
www.irelandseye.com/leprechaun/webcam.htm
Let me know if you spot one!

Today I appreciate that I can create what I want,
I appreciate fun people,
I appreciate my life,
I appreciate being Irish.

Be Happy

Isn't that what it's all about?
Enjoying our lives, feeling good, being HAPPY.
Feeling good is what motivates us to do what we do. It's really what we all seek.
We think if we had enough money or the right relationship or didn't have to do this or that,
or had more of this or that, THEN we would be happy.
We all have excuses for WHY we're not happy and WHY we're not living a life we love.
Today...instead of having excuses for NOT having what you want, and reasons for not being happy NOW, look at all the ways you CAN have what you want and ways you CAN be happy, right here, right now.
Quit blaming other people and situations for your unhappiness and start creating your life the way you want it to be.
NOW is all we ever have, so you may as well make the best of it and while you're at it, mock up the future as being how you want it to be.
You CAN be happy AND you CAN have your life be what you want.
It's up to YOU to create it that way. It's all YOU.
The way you see your world is how you choose to view it.

Here's a video clip of what Abraham-Hicks has to say about being happy:



Here's a video clip of Bobby McFerrin singing "Don't Worry Be Happy"




Here's are some good articles I found on Google:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Change-the-Way-You-See-the-World---Change-Your-Life&id=2266280

Create your own happiness

By SALLY ANDERSON
Published June 24, 2003

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Dale Carnegie once said, "Happiness doesn't depend on who you are or what you have. It depends solely on what you think."
While no one can expect to be happy all the time, there are some people who seem to radiate happiness more than others.
It's not that happy people are unaware of life's downs, but they have learned how to balance the bad with the good. They are better able to cope with anxiety and distress.
Unhappy people approach life with a different mind set. They often place the blame for their unhappiness on something or someone other than themselves. They tend to become cynical and have difficulty trusting others.
True happiness has little to do with money or material things, but has more to do with how you nurture your mind.
If you want to bring more happiness into your life, start by investigating some of the negative habits you have been harboring. Once we create the habits, the habits then create us.
Here are strategies that could help boost your happiness level.
1. Take charge of your feelings.
Recognize the value in working toward your own happiness and assume responsibility for your actions and feelings. Do not waste time feeling like you are a victim; it's better to take charge and focus on ways to solve your problems.
2. Learn to deal with negative emotions.
Anger and anxiety are the No. 1 enemies of happiness. When they occur, don't deny the feelings, acknowledge them, then step back and give yourself a time-out by counting to 10 and taking deep breaths. This will help you regain control of most situations; patience and tolerance are antidotes to negative mind sets.
3. Energize your life.
Research has shown that when people lack energy, they worry excessively and the most minor problems seem insurmountable. By contrast, high energy creates upbeat, positive moods.
Exercise can make you feel better by reducing tension and increasing your energy level. When your energy level is low, go for a 10-minute walk. Energy begets energy; if you put a little energy into motion, you will receive double energy in return.
4. Give out a little sunshine.
Acts of personal kindness such as paying a compliment to someone, sharing in a conversation or just taking time to listen might make someone's day a little brighter.
5. Put on a friendly face.
Smiling, even when you don't feel like it, will make you feel better. Project the mood that you want to feel; positive actions produce positive emotions.
6. Think gratitude.
Count your blessings. Make a list of all the things you have to be thankful for: family, friends, home, etc. Then write a gratitude list, include everything that happened during the day, for which you can be grateful.
7. Choose to be an optimist.
Attitude is everything. How you react to situations is your choice. Optimists have a sense of control. They believe good things will last a long time and they label bad things as temporary events.
A pessimist suffers from what psychologist call "learned helplessness" - always expecting the worse. If you tend to be a pessimist, set aside one day a week where you start to confront the habit. On that day, try not to criticize or complain.
8. Make lemonade out of lemons.
Choose to turn problems into opportunities. After you have dealt with the problem, ask yourself what have you gained from the experience and how can you grow from it.
9. Find a hobby.
Hobbies give you a reprieve from the daily responsibilities of life, by helping you to downshift from the stresses of daily living.
10. Be realistic in your expectations.
Many people believe they can alter their unhappy feelings through the love of another person. It is unrealistic to expect others to be responsible for your happiness. You may receive support from a loved one, but you are the only person accountable for creating your own happiness.
Make today the best it can be.
Make TODAY the BEST DAY EVER!


Today I appreciate the love I feel and have in my life,
I appreciate knowing I'm responsible for creating what I have in my life,
I appreciate that not everyone wants to take responsibility for creating their own life,
I appreciate the contrast and that I can always choose,

I appreciate my health and well being.

Living With Passion

Living with passion gives meaning to ones life.
To be passionate means to live from your center, your heart and your soul. Because the term evokes different emotions in different people- excitement, meaning, love, commitment, enthusiasm, delight, fervor, wild abandon - before we can integrate passion into our lives, we first need to know what stirs it in us.
It doesn't mean you have to love everything you do, but to have at least one driving force that keeps you going. Something to look forward to.
When you're passionate about what you do, you can't wait to get out of bed each morning and start your day.Work really can be like play instead of drudgery, that we drag ourselves off to and count the minutes until we can be released from the torture we've endured.
When you love what you do for work, to earn a living, then every day becomes exciting and a new adventure! You can work for hours and it feels like minutes. The time really does fly when you're having fun.You know when you're doing what you love when you'd keep on doing it even if you didn't get paid. Usually when you love what you do the money follows.
There's a book by Marsha Sinetar called "Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow"
http://www.amazon.com/What-Love-Money-Will-Follow/dp/0440501601
Some say that we should make the best of any situation and our attitude is what matters.
I agree and I also believe if we all followed our passion and were true to ourselves then we wouldn't have to try to make the best out of the situation...it would be the best situation!
A world full of people following their bliss would be a world full of happier people.
There's a reason we like doing what we're passionate about. It's the souls way of saying what your life purpose is, it's your self expression. We all have something to contribute, something we're good at. What are YOU good at? What are YOU passionate about?
The people that I see enjoying their lives the most, are those that have created MORE of what they love in their everyday lives and LESS of what they don't enjoy.
Joseph Campbell says:
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls”
To find out more about Joseph Campbell go to:
http://mythosandlogos.com/Campbell.html

Here's a short article that shows some ways to discover what you're passionate about:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0846/is_7_22/ai_97875672/

Anthony Robbins seminars show people how to live with passion:
http://www.tonyrobbins.com/Home/Home.aspx

Today, I appreciate being passionate about writing.
I appreciate computers and the internet.
I appreciate all the like minded sites that I have access to.
I appreciate the CCOR site and all the positive people I relate with.
http://www.cocreatingourreality.com/