The Power Of A Dream Board

Or even the mere thought of it…?

I was tidying up a shelf the other day and came across something that stopped me dead in my tracks and had me cracking up in the moment as I felt the “universal elbow in my ribs” and heard the cascading of a bunch of little events overtime all click together! It was also great motivation for me to get to this blog post I’ve been wanting to share with you!!

On January 30 I posted to my blog about having made my first dream board ever…
A Report Back From T. Harv Eker’s “Master Your Mind”!

(Click on the picture for a larger view.)

Well the Universe has had fun with me and that since then…

On February 15th I received an email from Melissa Wadsworth – the workshop facilitator. She had found her way to my blog and asked permission to use my dream board as an example in her future workshops.

Receiving her email was in and of itself a manifestation of a previous desire. I immediately recalled that while back at the workshop as I blissfully created my dream board, I found myself wanting an interpretation from Melissa on my board. I didn’t really think too much about it after looking around the room and realizing the chance of that happening may be slim. I was in the back corner of a very large room full of 1400 other people much closer to the facilitator. I was distracted by something in the moment and forgot all about it until this time.

In her email to me she said:

“Julie, Your dream board is fantastic! I would love to have your permission to use the visual of it for future presentations. If this is acceptable to you, please share with me a few lines about what your board is showing you.

I appreciate your consideration. Uplifting others is so much about sharing the dynamic energy of people like you. Your board just radiates power and movement.“

After reading her email I felt like a true master of manifestation…sitting in that room with 1400 other people I was clearly in exactly the right vibe as I launched my rocket of desire to connect with her!

In our email exchange following, I was able to receive her interpretation of my board. There was particular mention made of the little speaker being held by the hand. To me it represented my life-long desire to have a Bose stereo system, for Melissa it represented something more metaphorical:

The speakers are very interesting. I know that they have a literal meaning for you. Maybe the second meaning is about your voice or the “volume” you project being totally in your hands.“

This statement immediately landed as true for me! And, at the same time a little voice in my head said, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” I remember the thought distinctly because it was a thought that didn’t seem to fit in the moment…

I was delighted and thoroughly appreciated the expert input that Melissa provided me! I also learned that over time the intuitive and underlying meanings would continue to present to me!

Fast-forward to March 15th…

I’m sitting at my computer and it occurs to me I wanted to check on my VISA points. For every dollar charged to my credit card I get a point that I can use to get all kinds of cool stuff. Albeit a grand experience to get something for free I am made well aware by my point balance that as an aware consumer, I am indeed contributing to the health of our economy in a very big way! I use my credit card for everything I can. (Yes, I pay it off every month!)

As I browsed through the online catalogue of goodies I was delighted to find lots of new things that I wanted, and then it happened, I clicked over to the home audio section and there it was!! It was like the clouds parted and the angels sang…there was a page of all the Bose products and, I had more than enough points to get the one I always wanted!!

The list of things I had previously considered was quickly tossed aside…I immediately hit “add to cart” and proceeded to the checkout, I didn’t need to see any more!! I was finally getting my Bose!

What’s funny about this is that it isn’t about not having the money to buy one. I truly believe that money isn’t a variable when we truly desire something. I’ve always been able to buy it, I just always had lots of other things that took priority when it comes to my money, a $600 stereo seemed a decadent treat. Clearly, it was time to treat myself…

3 days later it arrived! As I received it from the UPS dude I recall thinking how great a job it must be delivering presents to people all the time! I was delighted and surprised he was there so soon, the website said 2 to 3 weeks!

It took all of 10 minutes to have it up and running. It sounds divine – even better than I remembered! It has a sexy little remote no bigger than a credit card – no buttons on the unit – and I can plug everything into it!

It is here, in perfect timing, all is well in the Universe and…damn I’m good!

But wait…there’s more…

Remember how this whole post started…?

Fast-forward to last week…

As I’m tidying the shelf I discovered a folder set aside for later. It contained all the leftover pictures I cut out during the dream board exercise back in January, I hadn’t room to put them on the board and saved them for a bigger board or my file of pictures and pleasing images…

As I flipped through the folder, I realized I had forgotten all about them, then came the surprise! In the folder was a cutout of the very Bose stereo I had received back in March. It didn’t make it to the dream board because it was too big…I immediately recalled I put the small picture on the board as a representation of my desire, a practical move at the time because it fit the space I had available.

I can now say and know, “I believe in the power of a dream board.” In the moment I found that picture I realized that making the time and space to focus on what I really want is the work…everything else has come from doing that work!

As I continue to let go of the attachment to stuff and money…I continue to be blessed with the perfect stuff – without regards to money – and I’m experiencing more money than ever before!!

And for some reason I am now making sense of the thought, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

So, what’s up on your board?

The Radiant Chocolate Goddess
ChocolateManifestations.com

Do You See Orbs?

Do You See Orbs?

“Your life is an occasion.
Rise to it.”
- Mr. Magorium

This past Friday my BFF and co-chocolate Goddess, Jeannie called me up to see if I would like to attend a “Sacred Vibrations Wellness Seminar” with her the next day.

“Absolutely!” I replied. “What time are you pickin’ me up?”.

I’ve attended dozens of seminars and workshops over the years and realized in that moment that and I had never participated in an “all-ladies” event – at least not since I was a little one gathering with my aunties and cousins for baby or wedding showers!

Saturday morning we arrived at the 150 year old Mountsberg schoolhouse after a beautiful sunny country drive and immediately knew we were at the very place when we opened the door and were greeted by flowing draperies, smiling Goddesses, lovely scents of sage and lavender and soothing, rythmic music.

We pulled up a yoga mat and spent the next several hours surrendering ourselves to the wonderful direction of the sacred space and collective higher vibration.

Linda led us in some Yoga trance dancing. Debra – a fellow Aber – facilitated a group meditation and Reiki session that had some of us seeing vibrant colors behind our eyes and rushes of energy waves rolling through our bodies.

The morning was followed up by a delicious home-made-with-love Ayurvedic luncheon. Before we dined, we filled out a questionnaire to determine our “dominant doshsa” and applied the appropriate colored bindi to our 3rd eye. Then we ate, laughed and shared some of our life’s experiences together.

At the end of it all, in our collective higher vibration, we gathered for the group picture below…

I had heard about orbs appearing in photographs and I had never actually seen one myself. When Debra sent us the photo this morning she mentioned in her email that she saw 3 orbs in the picture…and, I see more!

Jeannie was wondering who the orbs are in the picture, my response was,

“Everyone that has ever been and everyone that will ever be.”

I like to believe that the big obvious orb is Abraham…seeing as how it’s nestled in amongst those in the group that know of – and live – Abe’s teachings. There are various orbs floating around above our heads and a couple in the foreground, they are visible to various degrees, some have a very faint orb and the dot of light in the middle is clearly there…

Now that I know what an orb looks like in a picture I’ll have to go back to some of my own shots and see if I’ve just missed them all along!

Linda is our yoga facilitator in the front, she is leaning on Debra, I am directly behind Debra with Jeannie to my left…

Cool eh?! My life so rocks!

The next session they’re bringing in a belly-dancer! I’ve always wanted to learn belly-dancing!

Have yourself a blissed day!

The Radiant Chocolate Goddess

Have you had your chocolate today?

The Diamond That Chocolate Bought…

What a perfect day to finally post this story! The ultimate chocolate and diamonds day…I hope this finds you in a place of feeling well loved.

So are you wondering what to invest some of your golden goose in next? As an Ambassador for connection on the leading edge of thought, I would be remiss if I didn’t let you know about this [ahem] “gem” of an opportunity…

I’ve been wanting to blog about this for a year now and until these past few days it just didn’t feel “right”, like something was missing. I was excited about telling the story and yet I couldn’t bring myself to write it – it lacked “substance” or “credibility”. It needed a punchline, without it there was no “moral to the story”, no real learning. I now have the valuable hindsight available from the broader perspective of 1 year later…

As I look back over the last year I get the giggles, I can clearly see much different results in my reality. I asked for some things fun and new and the Universe delivered with resounding clarity! It pulled some things out of the box I could never have imagined!! Two things stand out, healthy chocolate and colored diamonds!

Exactly 1 year ago today I met on the phone with one of the world’s foremost experts on diamonds, Colin Ferguson of Carats.com. Investing in colored diamonds was the topic of the first call I showed up for through the Freedom Investment Club, an organization I joined through T. Harv Eker’s work. Investing is not something I feel a strong desire to learn, myself aside, learn something I must if I wanted to grow my money like “the big guns”. So I asked the Universe to send something I could do without having to get a degree or accreditation for, I wanted something fun, simple and effective.

After a very fun and informative hour or so with Colin Ferguson – out of Victoria, BC – on the phone I couldn’t help but give the order to go for it! I agreed to have him find me the perfect diamond to begin my collection with! He knew how much I had to invest and off he went in search of the perfect match. At the time a small voice in the back of my mind was questioning whether I was doing the “right” thing, and yet it was so “in alignment” with who I am and what I asked for! It “just felt good”, everything about it seemed “the right thing to do”.

Happy Valentine’s Day To Me!

My Argyle Diamond
This stunner is the first of my collection of investment gems.
For my investment portfolio the Universe sent me
“stealth wealth“, “real estate in my pocket” or
“the world’s most concentrated form of wealth.”
I’d say that’s pretty good manifesting!
Isn’t it gorgeous!! I am going to go visit it soon.

My diamond pictured above rests comfortably in a vault at Carat’s offices where it is insured by Lloyd’s of London and waiting for the perfect buyer at the perfect time! I’ve committed to hanging onto it for 3 to 5 years. I’m working up to having one custom cut that I’ll actually wear, a purple trillian is what I am wanting – it will be called “THE DiamondJul Diamond”. I feel such a connection to my gem, like me it has come from being a lump of coal under a lot of pressure over time…my perfect rock is out there waiting to be uncovered, cut and polished to the level of perfection it is, I can almost hear it calling to me!

Since a year ago I have been learning what a great decision I did indeed make! My diamond is one of my “chocolate manifestations“. After watching the video at the link below I’m feelin’ proud as a peacock and thinking this was the best Valentine’s gift ever!

I could hear the sucking sounds as the Universe refilled the vacuum I had created just a couple of months before, I wanted an investment other than real estate or the stock market, I’d say I got it!

Watch the video at the Rare And Precious Gems Investors site!

Rare Gem Investor Presentation

I’m off to eat some more chocolate so I can go shopping for the next one!

The Radiant Chocolate Goddess
Experience chocolate like you never have before!
ChocolateManifestations.com

My Fellow Canadians I ask you, “Fhat The Wuck?!”

I have started the process of getting clarity on what I want my next vehicle to be…I am loving the idea of owning an electric car!!

I as I headed out to do my research I found I could have a whole fleet of electric cars if I want!! I had no idea there were so many in production and in use!! The Tesla Roadster makes me wriggle a bit…

And, I found some interesting (CBC Consumers Report) and entertaining (see below) surprises along the way!!

I want a ZENN (Zero Emissions No Noise) car most of all now…the (now respected) rebel in me has emotionally reacted and grabbed a hold of being told,

“You can’t have it here…“!!

Oh yeah?!!!

Watch…this video is a riot!!
(I really like Rick Mercer!)

You Tube Video

Tom Hanks on Letterman promoting electric cars…very funny!!

You Tube Video

The Radiant Chocolate Goddess
Chocolate Manifestations.com

Know How You Manifest!

Everybody’s Freeeeee To Feel Good!!

This was the theme song of my weekend fun with some of the most conscious people on the planet!!

And I stand convinced that if you want to get the hang of your own processes of manifestation and allowing you need to get out into the world – even if it’s virtual. Go on an adventure, put yourself out there where “cool things can happen to and for you”!

Whenever I take myself out of my own habitual environment I am far more open to the messages from the Universe. Each time I go on a trip or into an unknown situation I am on fertile ground for learning my own inner processes for personal manifestation.

I have just returned from the best seminar that T. Harv Eker has put together yet!! 1400 of us gathered in Los Angeles, California for the first run of “Master Your Mind”, it was a huge success!

(And yes Mom, I know I always say, “this was the best one yet!” It’s true! It’s true!)

Like the students of his learning systems, Harv keeps getting better and better at what he does! It is a reciprocal relationship, I am knowing as the teacher I usually learn far more than as the student…

I had the most pleasant and fun trip from all angles – Yes! Even the flight!!! It was good to share the space of some great friends from afar and be in the bubble that’s conditioned for Success! 3 years and 12 events later and it’s been worth every single penny I’ve invested – joining Peak Potentials Quantum program was the greatest gift I’ve ever given myself! I listened to hishome-study audios for 2 years before that!

I am gently analyzing how I manifested that bit of perfection on the weekend so that I can duplicate these experiences again and again for myself and those around me!

The Universe says next time I should treat myself to a first class ticket…bigger game indeed…

I took few notes this time, choosing to remain engaged and in the moment. As usual I simply showed up with the intention to have the Universe provide me with exactly what I needed, and as sure as the sun rises and sets, I got it in bucket loads!

I am always amazed at how powerful a single phrase can be in shifting my whole perspective on a topic. After that, everything changes! The subtle phrases invoke huge ahas, of which I had many!

This latest seminar was all about “Mastering Your Mind”. I really can’t think of anywhere else on the planet where I could learn what I did this past weekend!! I have returned home with simple, powerful and effective results-based tools to enhance the creating of my personal reality!

Cool thing is, the tools are free!!! The technology exists inside us, tools everyone already has access to, and the free will to use them.

Riding The Leading Edge Of
Behavioural Change Technology

T. Harv Eker – Host & Course Creator

T. Harv was masterful and energetic as always, and it seems to me he is having more fun these days! He lead us through some phenomenal processes of his own, we had the opportunity to listen to his perspectives and stories every day. I have been fortunate to be on the leading edge of the growth of his work and enjoy attending the debuts of his new courses. He over-the-top delivered yet again! I am always amazed at Peaks’ mastery at logistics, everything flows smooth as silk…very Juicy…

Lisa Nichols
Lisa-Nichols.com
This lady has a whole different stage presence than that of her appearance in the movie “The Secret”! My favorite speaker of the weekend! She’s holds herself as an excellent example of strength, passion, fire and good ol’ fashioned fun! Lisa took the stage and hung out with us for a couple of hours. I was moved by her work and involvement in “Motivating the Teen Spirit”! I am all over anything that teaches our young ones how to create their perfect world! Through Lisa’s heart-warming authenticity and connection with the audience she held us transfixed as she acted out and told her stories! My ribs were aching after listening to and laughing with her!

Wyatt Woodsmall, Ph.D. – NLP
“Secrets Of The Time Masters”
For the first time I have an effect method for visualising and organizing my visions! And I now see how time travel is possible if we use the technology of our mind to do it! Wyatt was what I refer to as an “unlikely character”, I knew right away I stood to gain a lot. He had a totally different presence than the other speakers and I found his processes and teaching invaluable! As we listened to his telling of the story of the Big Magi and the Little Magi he taught us how to travel along our own life’s time-line including our memories of the past, experiences of the present, and expectations of the future.

Marci Shimoff
Happy For No Reason
Buy it!! Buy copies for your friends and family!! The title speaks for itself! For the first time in our history a book about happiness is 1 on the reading lists!! Shift is happening!! Thanks to the wave of awareness caused by The Secret and the intentions of those that created it, we have a solution to an epidemic of “unhappiness”. As one that was born with the “happy gene”, I am in great appreciation for the release of this gem of a book!

John Kehoe – Mind Power
About John Kehoe
John was another favorite speaker for me! He was warm and authentic and really knew his stuff!! He is one of Harv’s first teachers, a fellow Canadian and has a masterful grasp of how all our unobservable parts work together! I could clearly see where Harv had modeled him and expanded on his work.

I did take notes from John’s talk, and I bought his program!! I’ll be studying with him some more myself! I can’t wait for it to get here.

4 Techniques For Eliminating Negative

1. Cut it off and insert something better. Negative thoughts are not to be in our consciousness.
2. Lable it – “a negative thought”, negatives only have control over us if we react to them.
3. Exaggerate the negative until it is utterly ridiculous, make up a fantastic story that makes you laugh.
4. Counteract the negative with the exact opposite – turn your “don’t want” into a “do want”.

• Mind/Conscience is the gate keeper for the subconscious.
• My subconscious mind is my partner in success – it is the Manifester.
• Beliefs = Choices

Laura Silva
The Silva Method
Continuing on in her father’s work, the daughter of the famous Jose Silva spoke to us of “Developing Your Inner Power”. She is an energetic and fun lady who’s passion for her work radiates from the stage!

As a being we are 5 parts; Physical, Mental, Spiritual, Emotional and Intuitive.
Four fifths of who we are is invisible and intangible!

One of the most subtle and yet powerful things I learned came from her talk! Ms. Silva was teaching us how to go into the “alpha state” and talked about how the thoughts in our head should be viewed like watching the traffic go by on a busy street, don’t react to them, don’t grab onto them, don’t try and chase them, just let them go by…that caused a shift in my meditation experience that made all the difference from that point on!

Brian Alman
Self Hypnosis.com
Dr. Alman packed all his best stuff into a couple of hours for us! We learned a list of great 5 minute meditations and processes to provide ourselves a shot of well-being, relaxation and focus in any situation! He sure shifted my perspective on the effectiveness of self hypnosis, which, I figured out I’ve been doing for many years by instinct! He’s the man with the domain and has a refreshing way of teaching others how to help themselves.

Dr. Masaru Emoto
Messages From Water
Dr. Emoto joined us through video conference as his interpreter and family were on location to show us his amazing work with water crystals! Important work since we are made up of mostly water, and so is our planet. You may recognize Dr. Emoto from one of my all-time favorite productions, “What The Bleep Do We Know?”.

Jennifer Steed – Yoga and Body Movement
Yoga Jen
I’ve been in front of several yoga facilitators over the years and Jen is by far my favorite! Jennifer Steed was one of Harv’s original facilitators years ago and returned to his stage to guide us all in some great movement and stretching exercises throughout the day and first thing in the morning.

Melissa Wadsworth – Dream Boards
MelissaWadsworth.com
“Personal and Professional Enrichment and Abundace Using Empowered Awareness”
So I ask you, “How do you spend a Saturday night?”
If you can, imagine 1400 people all flipping through magazines, cutting and pasting and chattering about their dreams and their aspirations together in one room!! What fun!!! It was just like being in kindergarten again, except no one ate their glue stick…at least not in our circle!

(Click on the picture for a larger view.)

I finally have my own dream board!!! It was something on my “todo” list and now – for now – it is done! What fun!! I have to admit I didn’t hear many of Melissa’s words before I was totally swept up in the dreamy world of my own future reality!

I showed up at the magazine’s pages and let the Universe paint a picture for me of my subconscious desires and future events. From picking out the magazines to arranging all the pieces on the board, I followed the Universe’s lead, the resulting story on the board is fascinating, and packed with my own energy!

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You’re Awesome!

The Physics of Information: What the Universe Doesn’t Want You to Know

I have just spent the better part of an hour being thoroughly entertained by the recording at the link below!!! I’ll likely be about a week or two or the rest of my life, rolling around the delicious insights it has provoked for me.

As a deliberate creator and a natural scientist, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the place where our physical perspective meets our broader perspective! It is the place where I get to map MY OWN set of beliefs. I can plug into all that I already know and mix and match new information to that which both makes sense to me and feels good too…

I have been to the “Perimeter Institute”, it has a very fun and allowing bubble of energy about it…as I wandered around and encountered some of the people there I felt quite “at home”.

What else would one expect in a playground for the world’s most brilliant!? They are there to figure out what makes the Universe tick…

Download the MP3 and give it a listen!! It just aired today – 2007 01 05!

It is geared for a public layman’s audience, you’ll get caught up on what the latest “accepted theories” of the nature of our reality from our scientific community’s perspective.

Perimeter Institute News Release

CBC.ca – Quirks & Quarks MP3

What I did this summer…

Well I’m just a few days into my 46th year as a physical being on this jewel we call planet Earth. Yet another profound summer has just whizzed by in a blink and again I’ve come the end of it looking back over my shoulder asking, “What the heck was that?!”

In conversation with an old friend a couple of days ago, we talked about how as children, we seemed to always grow quicker in the summer. As soon as school was dismissed, it was like someone hit the “turbo button” on life, there always seemed to be an exponential boost of growth in the few weeks before the next school year began. I always owed the phenomenon to the added sunshine and outdoor activity – we are just like plants in a lot of ways I figure. I recall the many times as I was growing up, receiving comments upon my return to “real life” like, “Wow, you really grew fast over the summer!” Later, as a new Mother I was able to see the same dynamics play out watching my son grow.

My friend and I came to the co-creative realization that those dynamics are still alive and well indeed, and playing out as we continue to grow mentally and spiritually! As I look back over the past 3 or 4 months, I can authentically say to my Self, “Wow, you really grew fast over the summer!”

I question my own theory now though, I’m not entirely convinced the growth is so much about the extra sunshine and outdoor exercise…now I know it’s more about the additional freedom, ease and letting go of a lot of what we “should” be or are programmed to be doing. Can you hear it yet? “No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks!” That’s an incredible amount of instantly released resistance; expansion is always freer to flourish when the resistance is gone. We go forth into our summers expecting different things to show up so we manifest different results!

In fact, I think I sang that same song above just 3 years ago when I found out I was leaving my corporate position…no small coincidence that I have experienced exponential growth since my release from that!

On this first day of fall, summer 2007 was by no means an exception to the phenomenon; in fact, I see it as the epitome of it! I have always instinctively been drawn to want to reflect on and recap my summer’s activities…sort of an essay to myself on “What I Did This Summer”. I now see that I’m programmed to respond that way, the reflection is always a mixture of delicious emotions and happy memories. By writing it all out I can recapture the feeling and later use those vibrations to inspire me onto the next one!

I’m a work hard and play hard kind of being. I’m getting the hang of letting go of the former (still) and that it’s the latter – the playing hard – that produces the stellar results in my life and causes the forces of manifestation to respond in kind.

I was blessed as a young teen, and I am largely grateful as I realize my summers were nothing short of “magical”. Between the ages of 12 and 15 or so, my grandparents were semi-retired and had taken the job of managing a beautiful, charming and well established northern family resort for a company based out of my home town. SC Johnson & Son was originally called “Johnson’s Wax” way back when my Grandfather cut grass for them as a teen. The resort was a perk for the employees, charged a minimal fee, one could take their family on a beautiful week’s vacation almost entirely on the company. Decades later, Papa left “the plant” as a successful manager and technological innovator, taking my grandmother with him – newly added to the SC Johnson payroll – to live out their days in nature’s bliss. My grandmother’s older brother and his wife had run the resort previous to them so “The Resort” was familiar to our family because we had all stayed there as guests over the years.

Every summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and March break I would be there like a shot! I had my own room, my own boats – motor, sail and canoe, my own snowmobile, water skis, snow skis, a beachfront on a pristine lake, a fresh rotation of new friends every week (two maximum), lots of untouched Precambrian nature to explore, a boys summer camp up the road and VERY allowing grandparents; all in exchange for just Being more of Me…and a few hours of cleaning cottages on Friday and Saturday mornings, cutting some grass, raking the beach once in a while after a storm blew in, bailing out boats, running small errands, oh and, filleting the fish the guests caught because they didn’t usually know how. I spent my time off in perpetual celebration from the time the school bell rang for the last time of the last semester until the day before I had to return to it!!

As I celebrate my 45th birthday this past week I am well into the 4th Harry Potter book, I am loving the luxury of getting lost in the story of Harry!! I am grateful I acted on the decision to read Rowling’s masterpieces! I am also enjoying the story of Harry Potter as a close metaphor to my own life.

“The Resort” was my Hogwarts, and summers were indeed magical and experiential! Today I still create the venues for my learning and growth in some unconventional and fantastically fun ways!

This summer has certainly been one of adventure and growth and more than a touch of magic – but mostly it’s been about “letting go”, of learning how to tap into the flow of my own life and get more in tune with my own “nature” and the dance of it. My day’s activities have shifted, become more focused, more efficient; I am getting back to the necessity of simplicity and ease and learning the art of living all of life as if it is “summer” all year ’round!

From the declarations bestowed upon us at Harv Eker’s “Never Work Again” in June, my favorite one states, “The less I work the more I earn.” As a programmed work-a-holic, getting to the feeling place of believing that has been “the work”.

I have literally “reinvented” myself, my daily activities and the ways I “work” over the summer weeks. I got good and mad at myself at some point, rolled up my sleeves and got to the work of learning how to play and get paid! The results of doing things differently are obvious and showing up all around me! I am slowly figuring how to “get out of my own way”, it’s a process, and patience with my Self is virtuous!

I learned from Tim Ferris while devouring his “The 4-Hour Workweek” book, the distinction between “efficient” and “effective” and shifted my focus to achieve mastery in the latter…

Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way” has been a daily practice the last month and a half, again I am amazed by the simplicity of what works for me. This book has been in my sphere of influence for 10 years and I clearly see why NOW is the perfect time for it to present itself to me. I don’t know what my day would be like without writing out the morning pages before it starts…and, I don’t take the chance of skipping them to find out!

All in all, after the summer seminars, camping trips, the perfect books and rich experiences with a diverse set of good friends and just the perfect amount of contrast, I am somehow much bigger now than I was this Spring, causing me to remark with pride again, “Wow, you really grew fast this summer!”

The Radiant Chocolate Goddess

ChocolateManifestations.com
Raise Your Vibration With Healthy Chocolate!

Kudos for “The 4-Hour Workweek”!

“Ask and it is given…every single time, no exception!“
Abraham-Hicks

I just finished one of the best and most entertaining books I’ve ever read! Upon being lured into the bookstore by my inner guidance as I passed by it, the book almost jumped off the shelf into my hands. I have always had the best results when I let a book pick me! It’s a great way of letting the Universe provide the answers and solutions I have been asking for. It is exactly what I needed to hear to both alleviate anxiety through confirmation and fill in some pieces that I felt were missing…thing is I don’t always consciously know what pieces are missing until they find me!!

Timothy Ferriss’s “The 4-Hour Workweek” is a must read for anyone “dissatisfied” with any aspect of their lifestyle. It is a targeted to both employees and entrepreneurs. He defines the term for a new subculture called the “New Rich”. It is encouraging to me to know that I am very comfortable in this “subculture”. One of the biggest “ahas” I personally had was the fact that I am still operating in many way like a “corporate employee”, despite having left the corporate game almost 3 years ago!

A few days ago I was having a discussion with my house mate, Kat. The discussion centered on the reading of books, specifically the fact that it is becoming increasingly more challenging to find a book that captures our attention and focus all the way through. Years ago I would read a book or two a week, gobbling up almost everything in it!

After having eaten personal growth for breakfast for so many years, most books I pick up and flip through smack of the “same-old-same-old”. That’s not to say they are not valuable, nurturing, confirming and mind-expanding for most, it just seems many of them are saying the same things in different ways to me, to the point where it seems as though “I’ve heard that before.” I know that if I read the book anyway I will inevitably discover a golden nugget here and there…and, I find myself asking, “Do I want to read a whole book to capture the odd nugget?” And besides, I caution myself about using the phrase, “I already know that”, it’s a statement that I find mind-closing.

I realized that my own work and experiences have caught up to – and in some cases exceeded – the perspectives of those I call “mentors”. I also realized this is a function of living on the “creative leading edge of thought”. As my friend Abraham says, “There’s never a crowd out here on the leading edge.” As a result of this “analysis” and my conversations with others it has become clear that it is time to share my own perspective in a much bigger way! It has me asking some different questions of myself, provoking some refreshing and different answers that have ever come back before!

Timothy Ferriss is certainly an individual on the leading edge! His book is just plain fun and appeals to my naturally rebellious nature. In it, he lays out a process and system for showing others how to re-organize their lives and enjoy their retirement NOW, not 20, 30 or more years from NOW. In essence he has made total sense of the magic I have witnessed in my own life, the message coming in loud and clear is “get free first, then get rich”. Tim isn’t the only one touting this message lately! And I can clearly see how my priorities were bang on by instinct when I finally cut the ties to my own corporate career. It was a life-saving decision made with little to no fear or hesitation once the timing was “perfect”.

I read it cover to cover first, laughing out loud to the point of snorting – the author’s a riot! I started reading it at the mall over lunch and people were looking at me funny as I read and enjoyed my meal. I read it all the way home as I walked, still laughing all the way. Hearing the giggling coming from my room, my house mates could have labeled me as insane if they weren’t the cool and allowing people they are…and besides they bought their own copy to enjoy! I am going through it a second time with highlighter and pencil in hand, it’s one of those books that I could highlight every line! I intend to capture and model the “missing pieces” that I sent the Universe to find for me.

Below is a few of my favorite quotes and passages, wander on over to the website to read part of the book yourself! It’s available in audio and e-book as well as hardcover.

The 4-Hour Workweek
Escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the New Rich.

The “New Rich”:

• Follow an uncommon set of rules.
• …are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design.
• …can be separated from the crowd based on their goals, which reflect very distinct priorities and life philosophies.

“Life doesn’t have to be so damn hard. It really doesn’t.”

“It’s time to have fun and let the rest follow.”

“I’ll show you how a small underground uses economic sleight-of-hand to do what most consider impossible.”

“The commonsense rules of the “real world” are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions.”

“Reality is negotiable. Outside of science and law, all rules can be bent or broken, and it doesn’t require being unethical.”

“People don’t want to be millionaires – they want to experience what they believe only millions can buy.”

“$1,000,000 in the bank isn’t the fantasy. The fantasy is the lifestyle of complete freedom it supposedly allows. The question is then, How can one achieve the millionaire lifestyle of complete freedom without first having $1,000,000?“

“The objective is to create freedom of time and place and use both however you want.”

“Most of the role models in this book didn’t go to the Harvards of the world, and some are dropouts. Top academic institutions are wonderful, but there are unrecognized benefits to not coming out of one.”

“So, what do you do?”…”The beauty is, I’m not a multimillionaire, nor do I particularly care to be.I never enjoyed answering this cocktail question because it reflects an epidemic I was long part of: job descriptions as self-descriptions.”

“…what I do with my time and what I do for money are completely different things…I work less than four hours per week and make more per month than I used to make in a year”

“Options – the ability to choose – is real power.”

“…each path begins with the same first step: replacing assumptions.”

“Don’t follow a model that doesn’t work. If the recipe sucks, it doesn’t matter how good a cook you are.”

Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid.

-Heinrich Heine, German critic and poet

Everything popular is wrong.

-Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

Pssst!

I have a 2-part audio interview that was done for Harv Eker’s online community the “RichLifeClub.com”. If you would like to listen to them send me an email and I’ll send you the link to download the MP3 files. Contact me from my website: TheDiamondsMine.com/Contact
Eat Chocolate…Get Healthy…
Lose Weight…Make Money…
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Family Reunion Time!

(Click on any of the pictures to view them bigger or surf the whole album.)

It’s been 6 years since my son and I joined the rest of the family for a few days of summer fun and frolic at our favorite spot in Northern Ontario.

I’m pretty sure I learned more about myself in the few short days with my family than I learned in the previous 2 seminars I attended just days before!

My son and his cousins represent the 5th generation on Red Cedar Lake Camp! My Great Grandfather helped to build one of the fishing camps on the lake. 250 miles North of Toronto, my Grandmother talks of 12 hour drives on rutted roads sleeping on the floorboards of the family car as a child. Today the drive is just under 5 hours with widened and paved roads!

Our summer getaway is a serene and fairly untouched lake. It sits on Crown land and there’s very few private property owners on the lake itself. The energy of the place rejuvenates the soul and quiets the mind, even though it takes a couple days to acclimatize to the slower, more relaxed pace! We catch the most fish too! After 5 generations we are “at one” with the fish…

Jeff Coombs

I’m always pleasantly surprised at how “functional” our family is in this environment, the drama and challenges get put aside and left behind – fun is the focus of the days. Rich customs and rituals have developed over years of gathering together for the annual time-out. July is a month of anniversaries – Mom & Dad’s 46th this year, birthdays and first times in the water!

We had so much fun, next year we have reservations to stay for a month!

Until then…keep a tight line eh?!

Do You KNOW Unconditional Happiness?

It’s been 10 years since I read John Gray’s classic book
Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.
Reading that book was – as usual – perfect timing for where I was at at the time!

While listening to John Gray speak at Seminar of the Century a couple of weeks back, I was quickly reminded of how much I love his stuff and why! I was also presented with lots of “emotional memories” of a time when my whole world was shook.

John Gray was an energetic, entertaining and engaging speaker! He presented us with some new and cool information and solutions.

At the seminar he gave out 500 copies of his book to the first at the table, today I checked out Amazon, one can get a copy for 19 cents. Don’t let the pricing affect your perception of value, it seems that John Gray wants to give this one out! It’s too important not to!!

The Mars & Venus Diet & Exercise Solution
Create the Brain Chemistry of Health,
Happiness, and Lasting Romance

Funny thing…it’s been on my bookshelf for 6 months. That’s where it landed when it arrived with my Isagenix startup kit. Although I loved John Gray’s previous work, this one said “Diet & Exercise” on it so I filed it for later…it wasn’t calling to me at the time. I figure if I had noticed the sub-title of the book I might have been more motivated to read it, and the 2 words that triggered me are most prominent!!

So as I sat “gloating” over the fact that I already had a copy of the book, I was also aware of the fact that I hadn’t really noticed it yet. It is now off the shelf and on the reading table! I bet that with everything I’ve got going on now that it has to be one of the most perfect books for me!

So far I have been applauding all the way and am inspired to share a small excerpt that blew me awaywhen I read it…

I don’t think anyone I’ve read or listened to so far has so eloquently described the state of “unconditional happiness”, it is encouraging to me to know that I recognize it – this description IS what I live and what I want for others to KNOW!

Excerpt from The Mars & Venus Diet & Exercise Solution pg 29:

UNCONDITIONAL HAPPINESS

“Unconditional happiness means you smile for no reason at all, execept for being alive. Certainly, life has its ups and downs, but through it all you are happy. This happiness is not an abstract concept but a tangible feeling that pervades your life with such emotions as enthusiasm, excitement, joy, and pleasure. Put simply: Even little things make you happy, and big problems don’t knock you over. At difficult and challenging times, when things upset you, you are quickly able to come back to a warm feeling of gratitude for the good things in your life. In the bigger context of all the good in your life, the negative no longer has a grip on your mood.

Unconditional happiness doesn’t mean that you are not dependent on circumstance to make you happy. Whatever the circumstances, good or bad, you are rooted in your ability to see the whole picture. You don’t drop into a depressed state by focusing on the negative and forgetting all the good in your life. Whenever someone is unhappy or depressed, that person has temporarily forgotten the good things about his or her situation.

In the zone of unconditional happiness, you may feel sad or disappointed after a loss, but not unhappy. You may feel angry and frustrated when you don’t like what has happened, but not unloving. You may feel afraid in the face of loss or danger, but you are still in touch with your inner confidence. To be courageous does not mean you have no fear. It means you act in spite of your fears.

All imbalanced mental states – worry, hate, anxiety, depression, for example – result from focusing on the negative in life to the exclusion of the positive. These states of imbalance can now be measured by brain SPECT imaging, which gives a picture of the imbalance of activity in the brain. Different parts of your brain become overactive or under active. With balanced brain chemistry you are able to see the whole picture and avoid focusing on the negative.

No matter how bad things get, there are still many things to be grateful for. If you are in balance and things upset you, you quickly regain your balance by feeling the positive feelings as well.

Experiencing unconditional happiness is like lying in a warm bathtub and enjoying the waves of pleasure that come from moving in the water or feeling the water move over you. Some things make you more or less happy, but you are always connected to your essential nature, which is to be happy. When the water is still, you may even forget that it is warm, but once there is movement you feel it again. Likewise, you may forget you are happy, but all it takes is doing something enjoyable and a wave of happiness fills your being with joy and gratitude.“

10 years ago when I read “Men Are From Mars…, I was at the apex of a somewhat emotionally messy separation from a partner that – to this date – co-created a situation that has been a catalyst for some of the most important lessons thus far in my life. My partner read the book straight after I finished it and what could have been disaster was largely relieved. Since that time I have held John Gray (and the Universe) responsible for my psychic and personal safety overall.

I stand in pure appreciation for the experience, without it, I wouldn’t be typing this to you now I suspect!

A little understanding goes a very long way, in hindsight, the situation at the time was a clear example of how one little shift in understanding can create a HUGE and positive end result!

I’m off to read the rest of the book now…

Have You Had Some Healthy Chocolate Today?
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