I’ve been a little busy lately. I have so many projects that I want to tackle and I feel my head is a swimming a little.

I’ve experimented with setting directions as opposed to specific goals. I found it didn’t work so well for me. While I know what direction I’m heading and where I’d like to eventually end up I find I’m completely inefficient and get a lot less done than normal. It probably takes me twice as long to accomplish things than if I had set out specific goals and deliverables.

So how do I keep track of 5-6 roles or responsibilities and keep things moving along at a decent pace? A task grid.
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I’ll tell you right now I’m not really into poetry. I suppose a more fair statement would be I have yet to find a style of poetry that resonates with me and that I can get my head around. I came across this poem though and I thought it was beautiful.

Poetry is very personal what is liked by one won’t necessarily be liked by another, as with a lot of things in life.

I like this piece of writing because it focuses on our extreme greatness. How we shouldn’t be scared to live and do great things because it may make others look bad.

You deserve to be happy, to be the best you can be and to shine! Never apologize for working hard, going after what you want and for being successful.

I want to share this poem with you and hopefully it inspires you to go on and do great things.
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This seems like an odd question. You can substitute cooking for many things we claim to do.

The example I present here is with respect to cooking. I hear you tell your friends how much you love to cook. They come over to your house and see a plethora of cook books sitting on a shelf in your kitchen and even more in the bookcase in the den. To your friends, it’s obvious that you love to cook.

You get to preparing a meal and burn the potatoes, your roast is drier than dry and the souffle is a sou-flop.
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From acceptance to catching some Zzz’s, Alphatudes: The Alphabet of Gratitude provides an excellent example of how to methodically search for positivity in everyday.

Struggling with insomnia and out of ideas, author Michele Wahlder began “counting her blessings instead of sheep”. Starting at A – for apples she continued through all 25 remaining letters and in doing so she found her solution to those sleepless nights!

She began sharing her strategy with clients and friends and from this Alphatudes was born.

I would classify the book as “new-age” and despite its 128 pages it’s a short book and a quick read. It’s a beautifully assembled book and each chapter is dedicated to a letter of the alphabet. An inspirational quote accompanies each letter followed by a page of reflection by Michele on the thing we could be grateful for, and a prayer. It’s laid out in a way that you can pick it up and read a couple of entries when you need a little pick me up or a bit of a nudge to find something to be grateful for.

If you’ve been reading Serene Journey for a while now or have had the opportunity to browse the archives you know that I am a fan of the gratitude journal. Nearly a year ago I challenged readers to keep a gratitude journal for 30 days.  By looking for things that you are grateful for each day you automatically start seeing the positive side of everything. You begin to focus on what you have rather than what you don’t.

I don’t keep a physical gratitude journal anymore (although I’m re-thinking this) but I do keep a running list in my mind each day. I have found over time that simply choosing to identify the good, the positive throughout the day it becomes second nature. I’ve noticed I’m a lot less critical, judgmental, and negative. There is definitely something to this gratitude thing.

Some of the entries I can relate to are:

Choices.

If we want to reach our goals and life dreams, we must mindfully explore all of our options and make fresh, new choices that align with the life we truly desire.

Forgiveness.

Alexander Pope once stated, “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” When we offer sincere, heartfelt forgiveness, we function from the divinity that resides in all of us.

Giving.

Giving is its own reward. When we give to others, we share our divine inner light with them and help the world become a brighter, more illuminated place in which to live.

Laughter.

Charlie Chaplin said, “A day without laughter is a day wasted.” When we laugh, we choose to explore the world of optimistic possibilities.

Obstacles.

The German-born physicist Albert Einstein once said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Obstacles are gifts, disguised as difficulties, scattered along the path of life.

Serendipity.

Serendipity occurs when we unexpectedly discover something fortunate while looking for something else entirely. Tobi Tobias … writes, “Serendipity is putting a quarter in the gumball machine and having three pieces come rattling out instead of one – all red.” … Some call “luck” or “coincidence.

Work.

Work is ideally an adult version of play.

I couldn’t relate to the entry for X – eX’s as I don’t have any but Michele provides a healthy perspective on how the exes from your past can be viewed positively and as a gift to your life.

When we “get” the lesson, we cease attracting that particular type of relationship. We then move into new relationships that continue to challenge and expand our capacity to give and receive love.

All in all Alphatudes: The Alphabet of Gratitude is a really lovely book. Would I buy it? Not for myself, but I know a person or two who will be getting a copy. It’s an inspirational read and even those who feel they don’t have much to be grateful for will likely have their eyes opened a bit after picking this one up.

At 9.32 it won’t break the bank either. You can order your copy or find out what other’s have to say about it on Amazon by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of: eNil

Just a quicky to let you know about another fabulous free book just in time for Valentine’s Day. It’s a collaborative effort of some of the best relationship writers on the web … and me .

It covers everything from keeping your relationship in the forefront of your mind to damage control to providing new ideas to add a spark and rekindle what you have.

This book is 30 pages long and did I mention it’s absolutely free? Feel free to download LOVEveryday here and email it to whoever you think could benefit from it. I think everyone did a fabulous job and special thanks to the editors: Chelle Stein, Stu Gray, Dustin Riechmann and Lori Lowe for pulling this all together and to Brad Chaffee for the lovely cover design.

I hope you all enjoy the book and are having a great week so far!

How many times have you seen something that didn’t make sense or witness someone do or say something that you totally disagree with?

How many friends or family members do you have that do things completely differently to how you do them or have vastly different interests than you do?

When thinking about these questions how often do you chalk it up to people, circumstances or things just being weird?
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Firstly, I would like to thank all of you for hanging in there with me these past couple of weeks. My Grannie passed away and it’s been really tough to deal with. We were very close but time heals all and it’s already getting a bit easier. So thank you for chatting amongst yourselves the last little while and sticking with me.

Okay and now, Seek Advice and Find Success. This is one of my two contributions to Mark Foo’s fabulous free e-book The 77 Traits Of Highly Successful People.

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If you want something done right, best to do it yourself. Right? I know I’ve said that a few times in my life so far and let me just tell you it rarely, if ever, works out. There are so many facets to subjects, places, people and things how could you possibly know everything about everything? You may be very intelligent but don’t let your ego get in the way of true success.
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So Gwynn and I were floating around the Interwebs the other day and happened upon a YouTube video of Lady Gaga in concert. She sounded good and was dancing around the stage putting on quite the show. Suddenly the sound track stopped and there was no music. At all. A bit awkward for a music concert.

She acknowledged that they lost the music but instead of taking a break until it was “game on” again she kept singing. <gasp!> Unlike some entertainers she was actually singing the songs live and not merely lip syncing.
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There are countless articles, books, websites and blogs that touch on the area of personal development, self improvement or whatever you want to call it.

It’s encouraging that there are so many people wanting to make positive changes in their lives and share it with the masses.

However, there are also a lot of platitudes out there and I’m guilty of writing a few of them here as well. But there are some things we aren’t told either because people want to be nice, they are trying to remain positive or maybe just don’t get it. So here are a few things that you may be unaware of or maybe just need a bit of a reminder.
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Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Henri of Wake Up Cloud.

We all have our fears. The problem with how we look at fears today is that it keeps us from taking action and creating the life we really want. Fear isn’t dangerous, unless you make it so. The fear of fear is scarier than the actual fear.

This applies to almost everything we procrastinate on or put off. One good example of this is starting something, such as writing for bloggers. I had the same problem when I was a poker player. Starting to play (or work) was the hardest, but once I got started it was easy.
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