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Tag Archives: focus

When the Universe Winks Back at You

11 August 2016

That's just the universe winking back at you
Have you ever noticed when you are living your dreams, things start to work out more magically than they ever did before?  It is as if the universe is conspiring to help you along on your journey.  It brings circumstances and people to you that help you benefit in your endeavors.  They are all heavenly tools designed to help you along your journey in becoming your true self.

When you are living your dreams, you start to notice how your world is changing.  You are becoming the person you always dreamed you would be.

But be careful, because you’ll feel a lot of self-doubt along the way.  You’ll question yourself and if you’re doing the right thing.  In religion, we say that’s the devil talking to you, trying to stop you from becoming the person that God set out for you to become.  Don’t ever listen to the naysayers, the people that don’t believe in you, the dream killers, and that inner voice that seeks to sabotage you.  They have no place in your future.  To listen to them turns your dream into a nightmare.  It turns your dream into a fear.

Listen to your heart.  It is guiding you to become your own best self.   Don’t let the negative forces out there stop you from becoming your true self, because God knows, the negative forces will try to stop you.

It’s similar to the Temptation of Christ.  When the Devil tried to tempt Jesus, it was right before he set off to become God’s messenger that would commence a new global religion.  The Devil tried again and again and again to tempt Jesus.  It was by knocking the Devil to the curb that Jesus was able to focus on being true to himself.  It was only when he told the Devil to go away that the angels came down to help him.

You have to push away all of the negative things that try to prevent you from seeking out your dreams.  Once you’ve done that, everything is smooth sailing.  It’s like the universe conspires to help you achieve your dreams, but that is only after you have decided to walk away from all of the negative influences surrounding you that are trying to say that you can’t be the person you know inside of you is the person you are meant to become.

Your Biggest Obstacle

Your biggest obstacle will always be yourself.  We oftentimes have dreams of how we would like to live and then we tell ourselves that it can’t happen.  We thwart our own progress and opportunities.  We become afraid to become the person we want to become.

We create our own obstacles along the way.  Instead of waking up early to write the next great novel, we sleep in.  Instead of working out, we look for the first excuse we can find to get out of going to the gym.  When we diet, we create temptations that make us succumb to cheating and then that leads us to completely failing our diets.

We can become our own greatest enemy.  Instead of focusing on what could go wrong, focus on how you feel when you are making progress with your dream.  Dreams don’t just come true overnight.  It takes a lot of work, a lot of steps, a lot of misfires and a lot of setbacks.  If you keep watching what works and follow that direction, you’ll find things work out magically.  Everything becomes synchronistic.  It’s the universe winking back at you saying that you are on your way.


Focus on that “I’m Doing It” Happy Feeling

There is nothing more amazing than that feeling you get while you are working away at your dream.  You feel like you are accomplishing something magnificent when that feeling hits.  You are actually doing something about that dream.

When you feel that “I’m Doing It” happy feeling, keep going.  Remember every single time you step away from the dream to work on something else that you need to get right back to that happy feeling again.  Let that happy feeling be your drive to seeing your dream to fruition.

The dream is about the journey you take, not the end result.  Enjoy every single second of that dream.  Become involved in every single aspect that goes into your dream, even the small stuff, because when the big stuff happens, it will mean so much more to you, but you’ll also remember what little stuff went into creating the big stuff.  It’s the little stuff you’ll remember more.


Enjoy the Ride

The things you’ll love about following your dreams are the incredible moments that happen along the way.  That song playing the right tune at the right moment, you’ll remember that always.  That person you spent 10 minutes with that you’ll never see again, what they said in those moments will become a newfound direction.  That person you meet that’s already living their dreams, shares a bit of their passion in life with you…that’s the move that inspires you to keep going.

There are incredible things that happen when you are living your dream.  I’m living proof of that.  One thing and then the next and then the next happens and you’re standing there thinking, “What does all this mean?”  That’s just the universe winking at you, telling you…this is your life now…go forward and be prosperous.

Enjoy every moment of the ride.  It’s about the journey, not the end result.  The journey is what is so incredible.  The end result is just a moment, and the sign of a journey’s end.  You now have to go find another dream to live.  It’s the journey to get there that is the incredible dream.  After all, when we dream, it’s not the end result that makes the dream fantastic.  It’s the story of what led up to that moment that we remember.

Living our dreams is about deciding to live in the story that we have created for ourselves.  We become the author, the narrator, the actor and the director.  We become the story we want to live.  We stop letting everything else in the world dictate our story for us.  Our story we have written for ourselves becomes our own reality.

What is stopping you from living your dreams?  Go after them.  Live each and every single dream.  Don’t be afraid to live in the unknowing.  You know this is what you want, so go for it.  Never be afraid to be you.




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Weekend Reading: Feel Good Stories and More

17 June 201616 August 2023

How is everyone’s summer so far?  We’ve been graced with this absolutely perfect 70+ degrees weather in NYC.  With Father’s Day this weekend, I’m sure there will be a lot of feasting, barbecuing and I Love You’s all across America.

Here is my weekly wrap up of some of my favorite things that caught my eye this week.  Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there.  Kids, make sure to spoil your daddy!

Feel Good Stories to Read This Weekend

I always love reading the good stories out there.  It really makes our hearts smile.

    1. Boy With Brain Tumor Gets His Very Own Dragon.  I am so jealous of Brody.
    2. NFL Player Adopts a Pitbull.  You have to see the look on the dog’s face on his way home from the shelter.  It is priceless.
    3. What happened when an Orthodox Jewish Congregation went to a gay bar to mourn Orlando.  This was an amazing read.  This story needs to be shared a gazillion times.




Stories Worth Sharing this Weekend

1. Some Amusing Little Things in the US  You have to read this just for the laughs.  It’s funny to read stories of newcomers to the US and how things are so different here for them.  I always find it funny discovering differences when I travel to new countries.  I remember learning “Take Away” meant “To Go” in Ireland and London.  I remember standing there going, “HUH?” when she asked me about take away.  Then I saw there was a sign up that displayed two different prices for dining in and taking away.  Then it made sense.  Take away meant TO GO!

When you ask for hot sauce in some countries, they give you some weird version of sweet salsa (it’s disgusting) [Prague, Czech Republic].  When you’re in Africa, wee-fee means wifi.  In Ireland, there are XXXX number of ways to use one curse word.  Believe me when I say within the first 5 minutes of arriving in Dublin, I learned about 20 different ways to use one curse word.  I’m sure the woman had more meanings to it, too.  I was just like…welcome to Ireland.

2.  Bucky Fucking Dent.  Need something for your book loving Dad this Father’s Day?  Does he like baseball?  This book came on my radar this week when I attended an event with the author, David Duchovny (you know, Agent Fox Mulder and Hank Moody).  Who knew that this actor has a serious background in literature?  That’s what he went to Princeton and Yale for.

Here’s the Amazon synopsis:

Ted Fullilove, aka Mr. Peanut, is not like other Ivy League grads. He shares an apartment with Goldberg, his beloved battery-operated fish, sleeps on a bed littered with yellow legal pads penned with what he hopes will be the next great American Novel, and spends the waning days of the Carter administration at Yankee Stadium, waxing poetic while slinging peanuts to pay the rent.

When Ted hears the news that his estranged father, Marty, is dying of lung cancer, he immediately moves back into his childhood home, where a whirlwind of revelations ensues. The browbeating absentee father of Ted’s youth tries to make up for lost time, but his health dips drastically whenever his beloved Red Sox lose. And so, with help from Mariana―the Nuyorican grief counselor with whom Ted promptly falls in love―and a crew of neighborhood old-timers, Ted orchestrates the illusion of a Boston winning streak, enabling Marty and the Red Sox to reverse the Curse of the Bambino and cruise their way to World Series victory. Well, sort of.

David Duchovny’s richly drawn Bucky F*cking Dent explores the bonds between fathers and sons and the age-old rivalry between Yankee fans and the Fenway faithful, and grapples with our urgent need to persevere―and risk everything―in the name of love. Culminating in that fateful moment in October of ’78 when the mighty Bucky Dent hit his way into baseball history with the unlikeliest of home runs, this tender, insightful, and hilarious novel demonstrates how life truly belongs to the losers, and that the long shots are the ones worth betting on.

Bucky F*cking Dent is a singular tale that brims with the mirth, poignancy, and profound solitude of modern life.

I purchased a copy of the book after hearing Duchovny talk about writing.  Not acting, just writing. I’ll have more on that talk this weekend.

3. About the Night.  I’ve been reading this book for the past couple of weeks.  It’s the current selection for next month’s PW Book Club.  I had downloaded the Kindle version, but then ordered the book when it was released to the public on 6/1.  This was one of those books that had so many deep, heartfelt words that I had to buy one for my personal library.  I wanted to be able to highlight all of the beautiful words that touched my soul.  This is a story about an Arab man falling in love with a Jewish woman and then a wall divided them in Jerusalem.  It’s such an incredible story.  I’m only 2/3 of the way through it.

If you’ve ever loved someone greatly and then they were ripped away from you…you will understand this suffering.


ENTERTAINMENT

  1.  Mads Mikkelsen Wants Hannibal Back.  I love this man.  He loves Hannibal just as much as any Fannibal.
  2.  Battle of the Bastards.  If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you know the battle between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton is coming.
  3. Orange is the New Black Has Dropped.  Well, apparently all your plans this weekend have been cancelled for Netflix.  OITB was dropped today.  Let the binge-watching commence!

Food To Try This Weekend

  1. Pho, ramen and more slurp-worthy slow cooker Asian noodle soups.  OMG.  Definitely doing this over the summer now that I’ve switched to crockpot mode.
  2. Simple Trick that Makes Cupcakes Look Fancy.  It’s the little things that bring so much joy.
  3. 9 Best Bacon Breakfasts for Father’s Day.  Did someone say bacon?




Fashion Buys for the Weekend

1. Green Ombre Dress from Banana Republic.   I am in love with this dress.

br1
Banana Republic Ombre Dress

2.  Neiman Marcus Sale on Sale.  Neiman Marcus is having a sale on their sale.  Summer whites are on my radar.  Here are a few of my favorites.

nm1
For the Weekend Summer Wedding

Sachin & Babi dress.

nm2
To Beat the Heat During the Weekend

French Connection top.

nm3
For the Weekend Evening Out

Jill Jill Stuart Jumpsuit.

3.  Oscar de la Renta.  If you saw my Instagram post of this beautiful necklace, you’re probably wondering why I’m wearing a necklace valued at $990 to the office.  And then there are some who say, “HOW?”  or “WHY would you pay that much for a necklace?”

odlr
Oscar De La Renta necklace.

One of my earlier posts [How to Rent Your Wardrobe] explains HOW.  This is just an example of the many items available under Rent the Runway Unlimited.  The dress in the photo is also from RTRU.

RTRU is a great way to add couture designers to your daily wardrobe without adding to your clutter.  For those who Kon Mari’d their wardrobe, you don’t really want to add any more items to your closet.  Renting is great for those who have minimized their closets, but still want something new to wear every now and again.  For $139/month, you can rent couture designer items (3 out at a time).

[If you click on the Rent The Runway Unlimited link in this post, you can take $30 off your first month.  You can cancel at any time.]




A Better You to Try Out This Weekend

    1. My Most Simple, Most Effective Productivity Technique.  For those who are looking for ways to focus and get things done, take a look at this article.  I’ve been practicing this technique.  It is a challenge, but it will help you to focus on the task at hand so you can get more things done.
    2. 4 Ways to Improve Your Memory.
    3. 12 Habits of Highly Productive People.




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