Christy’s Blog

Do you take the time each day to count your blessings?

When I was little my mom would tell me to be thankful for everything I had whether it was perfect or not.  She told me that if I wasn’t thankful I could lose whatever it was that I wasn’t thinking thankful of.  I have shared her personal story with my friends and they, like me, will never forget it.

When my mom was not quite ten years old her dad was building a garage on their house.  We was a bricklayer.  He had set up a small scaffold, maybe a foot of the ground.  She was playing on it like a balance beam.  Unfortunately she wasn’t the only one in her family that was playing with the scaffolding.  Her older brothers had been shooting glass bottles off of the scaffolding with a sling shot and the broken glass was laying under the scaffolding.

You guessed it, my mom lost her balance and stepped down off the scaffolding.  She landed right on top of a broken jar and cut her foot where her toes connect.  Her dad scooped her up and rushed her in the house.  He put her in the tub because she was bleeding bad.  They were afraid she would lose her toes.

She did not lose her toes but my mom learned a lesson to be grateful of her “short, little toes”.  She was glad to have toes even if they were not perfect.  They were hers.

I am grateful for my mom’s story.  She has taught me many wonderful things.  Of course I am grateful for my mom.  I have been blessed to have such a positive person in my life.

What are you thankful for?

Best Wishes!

Pennies … do you respect your pennies?

I think I am having a penny dilemma. I have always respected the penny. I think pennies are as important as all the other coins in the Universe. When I hear news articles about dumping the penny I am “outraged”.  The penny is important in our system, it has it’s place.  If we lose the penny everything will be more expensive, right

The dilemma is am I in need of a change in my thinking. I think I am keeping myself in a penny pinching attitude because I am holding so tight to the value of a penny.

I feel good when I find a penny on the street or even in the couch. I know I am not rich but I always think they are a symbol for something else. Just his morning I received an email from a friend about pennies being from Heaven, actually from Angels. When an angel wants to let you know they are there, or they want to make you smile they leave a penny. More positive reinforcement for the penny, right?

Last week I read an article by Erin Pavlina titled See a Penny, Pick it Up. Erin says that when you pass by a penny you are telling the Universe that you don’t need money or accept money in your life. Respect the penny, pick up pennies and be thankful for them. Sounds great!

Okay, I have been accepting pennies, I collect them, my husband has a bucket he throws all his change into and a couple times a year he rolls it and gets $20 or $30 to buy a dinner or a few beers. Is this limited thinking?

Again, those Pavlina’s get your thinking … Steve Pavlina wrote a post about Contribution and Quality this week. Steve points out that we get what we pay for and when we are thinking frugally we get a cheap life (those are not his words, read his post to get the full meaning, it is a great article).

I have been very proud of my frugality these past few years. When I started this blog I was considering sharing all the great things I have discovered I can do without spending a dollar. Interestingly enough, in two months of blogging I have not blogged once about bargain shopping. In fact my thoughts have switched over to abundance. I have changed my attitude completely and I am now shopping for brand new cars, clothes, computers, furniture, etc.

Steve points out that I have been stuck in a world of scarcity because of the thoughts in my head. I have been playing the “outrage script” in my head. I have been outraged when I hear of a movie starlet purchasing a purse for $2,000 (or was it $20,000?). “Do you know what I could do with $2,000?”, is what would go through my mind. Then I would discuss my disgust with my family, friends or anyone that would listen.

It is funny how the Universe works.  The day that Steve posted that article I was getting a message that I need to stop thinking frugally, I needed to think about purchasing $20,000 purses, shoes, or anything because I could if I wanted to.  I then received Steve’s article and reinforced the message.  Wow!

So, back to the tiny dilemma.  Are pennies abundance thinking or scarcity thinking?  I agree that accepting them is a good thing.  Pick them up and feel good about it.  I think I am going to give up the “Save the Penny” campaign though.  I will be indifferent on that front for now.  Years ago, maybe 100 years ago, we had a hay penny or half penny.  It was retired.  All good things must come to an end I guess.  What will be will be.

I don’t know if I solved my dilemma but I know I am changing my thinking.  Here are my new positive thoughts on money and abundance. I am accepting pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, dollars of every denomination into my life.  I am an abundant thinker and I am grateful for all the abundance and joy in my life.  I am contributing to the world and creating value for others.

Penny … how about a nickel … for your thoughts?

I have come along way on my quest to improve my life and find more joy and happiness this year. I am being nudged to share my life purpose here so here it goes.

You see, these past two months I have been doing major soul searching. I have been teaching myself to dream again and really find what it is that I LOVE aside from my family and friends, etc.

I continue to pray and meditate on it and those practices have directed me to books, blogs, websites and everything I can gobble up on the subject of living an abundant life. I have used several techniques to find my purpose and I came to a conclusion after putting them all together.

The first exercise I found in the book, Breaking the Money Barriers (read more about it here). The exercise revealed that I love to laugh, draw/paint and pray. I am good at (according to me) drawing/painting, giving and prayer. The things that complete my life are prayer, love and self-improvement. And according to me I am born to help others, draw and be successful. Doesn’t sound like much does it?

The exercise tells you to write a statement using the previous information. Here is my conclusion … My purpose is to help people laugh, love and improve their lives through art (painting/drawing) and prayer.

How was I going to do this? I didn’t feel complete joy with this statement but I knew that it did describe the things I enjoy.

In a conversation with my mom a few days earlier we discussed how when we win the lottery we will help widows who can’t pay for the funeral of their partner after a sudden death. Our family has experienced this and it would feel good to help someone else not fall into the hole we have been in. In discussing this we felt really good and we have made it our intention.

A few days after I completed the first “purpose” exercise, I woke up feeling gratitude and thinking about helping people financially. I received a message that I would create a foundation to help people financially and emotionally deal with grief and other difficulties. I live with my mom so I wished her a good morning and told her of my message about the foundation, she thought it was an excellent idea. As the day went on the message continued to stream to me. The foundation would be run by my family, we would name it after my dad, The Terry Portofe Foundation. I told my mom immediately and the strange thing was that at the same moment she was having the same thought (Twilight Zone music inserted here).

The feelings of joy were so overwhelming that as I spoke of the ideas coming to me so naturally I was in tears! I will be blogging more about the foundation in the future. I know I am on the right track.

A few days later I discovered another exercise to reveal your life purpose at be Conscious now. K-L used a technique that Steve Pavlina recommended. You write (or type) ‘My purpose is ____ ‘ and you keep filling in the blank with the things you think your purpose is. You do this exercise until you bring up an emotion that brings you to tears. That emotion reveals your true purpose. I really wanted to test this thinking pattern I was on.

I let go of the things I had already discovered before I started this exercise. Within in one and half pages and maybe twenty minutes I had tears, I had my purpose. I wrote, My purpose is to share my dad’s life lessons (I felt the emotion). So I expanded, My purpose is to share my dad’s love for life, work, family and God (the tears were there).

I know that the Foundation will entail all the things I love. First my family, laughing, helping people, art and so much more. Yes, I said art. I am planning an art therapy area were folks of all ages can create inspiration to help them through a tough time. I am so excited about this project!

I have been making lists and drawing pictures of what I want the foundation to be. After drawing a picture of the building I discovered that I have been driving past it for several years and it is for sale! It gets my heart leaping for joy just sharing it with you.

I know I don’t know a lot about starting a foundation but I have no fear. I am already doing research and reading books about non-profits, grants, etc. The Universe is putting the information in front of me. God is making every step easy and I think the foundation will be running before the end of the year. It is my purpose! I have been urged to share my purpose. I appreciate your good thoughts and encouragement, every little bit will help me achieve my purpose!

I received a suggestions from Tristan Loo at Synergy Institute Online to expand my About page. I couldn’t agree more so I spent a little time on it today and I will change it as I see fit from time to time. Thanks for the suggestions Tristan.

When I started this blog two months ago I really didn’t know what path I would be taking with this blog. The path has unfolded in front of me and though I cannot see a destination I can see the theme and it is in a word - journey.

I am truly enjoying blogging. If I sound surprised that is because I am. I didn’t know I would be so comfortable sharing my thoughts and stories. I have to confess my motivation for this blog was money. I wanted to make money blogging. So far I haven’t made much money blogging but I have grown by leaps and bounds in the blogosphere. I have been introduced to many helpful people, blogs, life lessons and so much more. I even won an MP3 player!

I am looking forward to the next leg of my journey. I hope you will come along, converse with me and keep me company on the path.

I have been using the law of attraction and my life is getting better everyday!  It is so amazing and exciting when you see it working in your life.  If you are skeptical here is some proof.

About two weeks ago I blogged about b5media’s new music channel.  (They have a long list of blogs about music, something for every music lover!)  b5Media offered a contest. Everyone who blogged about the new music channel was entered into a random drawing to win an iPod and several other prizes.

Over the past couple weeks I have thought about the opportunity to win an iPod and I have assured myself that I AM a winner and I would be winning something from that contest.  I just knew in my heart that I would win.

This morning upon checking my emails I received confirmation from Shai Coggins at b5Media that won a Memorex MP3 Player!!  I am so excited!  I am a winner!

In the past I would have not even entered because I would have listened to that negative voice inside that tells my I am loser.  I don’t hear that voice much anymore, when I do I tell it it is wrong.  I am a winner!

Thank you Shai, b5Media and the Universe!!  You made my day!