Journals for Positive Change

This morning I received an e-mail from someone telling me how much my journals and writing had inspired them. It came from out of the blue and boy, did it get my motivational juices flowing!

I was in the middle of charging around with my iPod (following my own advice per my last blog), packing up today’s journal shipment and generally multi-tasking to the beat, when I received a short, simple, but truly fantastic note of appreciation from a complete stranger.

Talk about getting inspired… I was ignited! I stretched my planned 30 minutes of dance-around-the-house-and-do-chores into 60 minutes of pretty intense, up-and-down-the-stairs-shake-it-baby cardio. The combination of music, movement and that appreciative message made me feel so good I almost went through the roof.

And it got me thinking. I pass along motivational tips through my journals, my blog and online articles — and boom – a dose of motivation comes roaring back to me in a really intense and positive way. It certainly supports the concept of “what goes around comes around.”

This is a cycle I want to support. I want my seeds of positive encouragement to grow in someone else’s yard, but I certainly have no problem if some of the fruit falls back into mine. We just never know how sincere positive messages can affect someone else.

So today, I am going to make a conscious effort to openly acknowledge and appreciate the people in my life who make a difference. I plan to start with my children.

But I won’t stop there. I’ll write a note of thanks to the lovely lady I met over the week-end who gave me a free Tarot card reading and shared some great tips and ideas with me (thanks, Sue!).

And I’ll go one more step and try to spread positive energy with other people I meet… a smile in the grocery store line, a wave at a neighbor I don’t really know, patience if another driver needs to get there ahead of me.

I plan to keep on investing in the cycle of positive energy and motivation through sending out regular messages of kindness and appreciation. I hope you’ll decide to join me.

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Lovelier Thoughts, My Dear!

Does anyone remember the scene in Peter Pan where Peter teaches the children how to fly?  All it took was a dash of Tinkerbell’s fairy dust and some “lovely thoughts.”  As each child let go of skepticism and embraced the the best thing they could possibly imagine, they slowly rose into flight.

That may have been one of my earliest messages about the power of positive believing.  I admit I had a bit of a let-down though, when I stood on top of the TV, thinking positively brilliant and lovely thoughts… but lift-off never occurred.  I always blamed that failure-to-launch on lack of proper fairy dust.

So, while believing I could fly never did get me airborne, it nevertheless got me to try.  I believed I could do it, so I gave it a go.  No fear of failure kept me from blasting Mary Martin on the record player, pushing a chair up to the mammoth black-and-white TV console, climbing aboard, flapping my arms and singing “I’m Flying” at the top of my lungs. 

Looking back, I don’t remember being disappointed in the outcome.  I didn’t really have an investment in the outcome; I was more interested in the experience.  What I do remember was being lost in the moment… of imagining I was soaring along with Peter and Wendy and feeling as joyous and free as trusting young children can.

Many of us lose that against-all-odds ability to believe in ourselves.  That’s the belief that fuels our passions and forges dreams.  It is so often replaced by fear of failure, a demon that erodes self-confidence and convinces us we shouldn’t even try.   Every missed opportunity to “give it a go” takes us farther away from being the person we dream about being.

Where are you along that continuum?   Are you pursuing your dreams today?  Is your belief in yourself strong and thriving? Or has fear of failure crept in and prevented you from daring to try something new and exciting?

Here’s a Positive Change strategy:  Take a moment to recapture your own early memories of I-can-do-anything belief.  Is there a defining experience you can re-live or share with someone else?  Dig deep and really go for it!  Get back in touch with childhood enchantment and optimism and see if you can re-ignite your belief in yourself and become inspired to take a step closer to achieving your dreams today.

Yours in Positive Change,

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