You SPOKE, I'm LISTENING

So many of YOU fabulous readers have taken a moment and thanked me for my post

"FINE TUNE YOU." 

Well I want to turn right around and thank you right back.

I'm just here pouring my guts out because my writing lets me get things off my chest and see them for the first time with clarity. 

Your comments are an added bonus, because of you I know I must not be crazy! Because of your comments we now have a platform to delve deeper into the thought at hand.

 Sarah said...

see, I have the same problem. For the first time in 7 years, i don't have an infant to care for. Sure my youngest is only 2 and I homeschool, so I have a lot to do, but I want something just for ME. my hard part is the organized home. I cannot get a handle on it. I am trying to find a way. I have tried several online cleaning lists, but they don't seem to fit my needs. But I am working on it. Thanks for being so inspiring.

October 6, 2011 9:41 AM

Thank you Sarah for writing this. Seriously who has or will ever have home organization together. If someone says "I do" I totally don't believe them. I have a few tips, and I do mean "a few." I'll share them here soon. Let me know what you come up with! Honestly if you're a Mom who works everyday you've probably already accepted that you're home won't be perfect sometimes if at all. If you're a stay at home Mom like me you've imagined there is some higher expectation on you. The laundry has to be washed, folded and put away. The kids have to be fed, bathed, read to, played with, shuttled, nursed, and then you still have to make time to be the MILF of a wife every husband must dream about. Well why the hell do we hold ourselves to such high standards? Standards that we actually meet on a good day, then cry about on a bad day. I for one am trying to let myself off the hook more often. I hope you will too. :)

 Kty said... 

"I think so many of us feel a lot of what you're saying. I think it is so true that it is easier to care and worry about the others in our life and then say what about me? No mother, wife, friend, wants to come off being selfish. And, if we were to, oh boy. Either our husbands look stunned at this new profound confidence, our kids stomping their feet in desperation for more of your attention, or your friends showing annoyance and disbelief that you might come off mean; but in reality they are secretly disappointed with themselves for not being more selfish.

I, myself, am trying to remind myself, it is a process. It may be slow at times and definitely overwhelming. Where it's easy to be pulled back to others and use them as the excuse not to focus on "you" and face your own needs and fears. 

But, reading your blog entry, reminds us that it is essential to our core to satisfy those needs and face those fears, stick to your dreams, and just make the mistakes that will make us better women, mothers, wives, and friends. I'd rather hear another's mistakes because it tells a lot about a person. 

My problem is that I never had a clear vision of my dreams, until lately. I'm not saying it's clear and all in tact but it feels good as I work towards a goal. I'm scared, lack the confidence that I once had, but I know something good will come out of it. Failure (I hope not) or success. Either way, i'm doing it, learning, and reading your blog as I go. 

Thanks for sharing. I know I'm not alone."

October 6, 2011 10:56 AM

Thank you for this Katy! I had to highlight this part you wrote because really, I so did not say exactly that. Thank you for adding an even more powerful layer of clarity to what I did say. Your statement was really powerful and even more inspiring to me to stay the course. It is our essence as human beings regardless of gender to evolve. It is because we are women, that we are so in tuned with our essential selves. Possessing that which makes us unique also makes us Goddesses, being of the quality to be "god like." We rarely speak of men as gods unless we are talking about physical power. But God is not a physical manifestation. God is very much an energetic manifestation one which we are completely tied into. Goddesses we exist aplenty. We just need to visualize our dreams, precisely what you said!!!! Our vibrations mold and shape our world. 

Kty also said...

"Was that too long? I think I was thinking too much about myself. Sorry. Woops did it again. Saying sorry for my actions. Gotta stop doing that. :)"

October 6, 2011 10:57 AM

I'm gonna do what you did. LOL, what I said above, was I too blunt? Did I come on too strong? NO! Like my Dad always says, "be the blade or be the block."  "If you know, then know that you know."  NO apologies needed. You F***Ken Rock Katy! There I said it! Did I have to say that? ;)

Jenny said...

"OMG!!! I love your post...I show love the same way - always putting the people I love and care about first. There is TOTALLY nothing wrong with that, but your glass needs to be refilled as well. I read that in a book (i might still have it -If I find it, I will share with you). But, if you're not filled with love and happiness, then how are you to give it? Good for you!!!! Take care of number one and all else will fall into place."

October 6, 2011 12:21 PM 

Hey Jenny I'd love to read something that you enjoyed. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. This blog has become a place for me to finalize my thoughts and just observe and stay present for what flows from my fingers and my heart. I share my posts with anyone who is interested because as women our potential is so great to truly evolve closer to our essential selves. In which state we are the Goddesses we were intended to be. This isn't at all a religious rant this is an observation of a organic, energetic normality. Women simply are the best! ;)

Thank you again to all of the people who left me a comment or just mentioned in conversation that they liked this post. I'm really hoping to spark a fire in all of our hearts. That we may begin to "visualize our dreams," and cultivate our essential selves. Because what else could be more important. 

Nothing is more important!

Ready? Here it is! 

You wanna know what's wrong with the world?

Women!

We are not living up to our potential. I don't mean financially, I'm talking about essentially. We are not listening to our inner voices, which means we are not connecting to our essence. 

We're too damn quiet, and apologize too damn much! 

We're too nice, too cute, to safe. 

We are too scared, to be who we are supposed to be!

I just want to start the conversation. Agree, disagree, Be outraged, feel disturbed, be angry I said it. 

But let those feeling out and let's talk more about it. 

I could be wrong, I doubt it, but anything is possible.

If you have a daughter I beg you, lead by example. 

FINE TUNE YOU!

As always.........

Won't you please leave me one? Say Anything!

Let Inspiration Find You

Inspired by this blog, Joy The Baker, I'm writing to you today. 

The photos are people who inspire my every breath.

My Grandma Gray

To see the inspiration I find around me when I take a moment, I have a "thing" I do.

Taking a moment sounds easier than it is. 

So once you understand what I'm really talking about, I hope you'll feel inspired to take a moment of your own. 

My Mommy

I'm talking about being as simple as possible. 

Reducing yourself to 

one 

breath 

at a time.

 Deeply, breathing in, taking air into your lungs and slowly releasing it. This is what I do.   

This is how I find moments of gratitude. 

This is the way I keep those crazy moments under control:

 I remember myself, and the one thing I must do to survive the day. 

BREATHE.

In the moment you spend taking a breath of air you can inhale a whole new perspective. You can be the person you struggle to be. With one deep breath you can find 

Inspiration. 

Magic really. With one vital thing. Oxygenating your brain. 

My Dad

Clarity is possible. Now use your senses.

What do you hear?

Take. Another. Breath.

What do you smell?

Take another breath.

What do you taste?

Takeanotherbreath.

What do you see?

I've been talking about gratitude for a while now. I've also been talking about reaching my highest potential, Fine Tuning myself.  Breathing is very simple but because of our busy lifestyles we often neglect this simple thing.  

I've found my self holding my breath all day long, stuck on a particular worry or thought. How's that for irony, breathing is part of our circulatory system and I'm literally shallow breathing with concern over something I can't seem to resolve. 

My Breathing Partner

Well hello! In retrospect breathing is exactly what I need. Breathe through a problem. Many mothers have experienced breathing through birth. Why don't be hold onto that tool and do some Lamaze breathing through a grocery store tantrum, or while balancing the household budget. 

There should be in a hand book somewhere. Goddess 101, don't forget to breathe!!! 

I thought this was especially Inspiring! The definition of the word Inspiration from the free dictionary.com read #6 first.

Inspiration:- noun 

 1. act or quality that influences or arouses the mind, creative imagination, or emotions 

 2. something so inspired, as an idea 

 3. thing or person that inspires 

 4. result of such influence 

 5. divine influence or the quality of writings or words that seem divinely inspired 

 6. drawing of air into the lungs; inhalation

My Little jewels

Inspiration.

My Sissy

My Best Buddy

Fellow Goddesses

I hope you enjoyed all my pictures. 

I hope my friends and family don't mind I posted beautiful pictures of them. 

Inspiration is around us like the air we breathe. 

If you would like more guidance through a breathing exercise try any of the Cerra Moments. Each one will take you through a helpful way of using your breath to clear your heart, and mind and find inspiration.

What do you think about that?

Would you please leave me one?

YOU are Enough!

When you're unorganized or just have too much stuff its hard to see,

that what you have is enough.

It's hard to be grateful when your possessions overwhelm your life.

When you can't find the things that you need, you will buy something you don't need. 
When you buy things you don't need you drain your financial and emotional resources.

It's hard to find anything when you have too much stuff.

FINE TUNE YOU

Sometimes I feel like I'm an after thought.

I blame myself, it really is my fault.

I put everyone else first.

I give them my time and attention. 

That's how I show my love.

I put my career on hold to stay at home with my children, and relocate for my husband's job.

I put everyone else and their needs before my own because that's how I show my love and devotion.

Lately, I've been thinking about this, and the truth is,
 caring for others is just plain easier then thinking about myself.

Really it is,wanna know why?

You don't know this about me, but I'm COMPLICATED.

I'm a BIG, COMPLICATED, EMOTIONAL, ENERGY.

I've got more talent than I know what to do with.
When I let the flood gates loose I think a mile a minute and drop thousands of ideas.
 I think my self to sleep at night.
I have dozens of journals full of business ideas, recipes, restaurant concepts, business solutions, cures for disease, female world domination, the end of world hunger, and the end to all wars.
I brainstorm human enlightenment.
I'm.
A.
 DEEP.
Thinker!

Put simply and less bipolarish, I have LOTS of dreams!

My dreams are complicated.
I have 3 kids, I don't have time for complicated.

But there are so many things I'd like to do, places I'd like to see.

Ideas I would love to make a reality.

All my dreams and big ideas are a little over whelming for me.

So worrying about other people and their problems is a lot easier.
A lot easier.

Except that now, I'm getting tired of other people's problems.

 Now I think that I was stunting my own growth.
Making me unhappy, affecting my confidence, and steeling my joy.
Imagine that, because I wasn't pursuing my passions I was letting the people I love, unknowingly steel my joy.
My fault or theirs? MINE!!!

I love my family.
Watching them grow and become more independent, awakened me.
I see now that, I need to find something else to do.

If you're lucky enough to plant a seed and watch it grow, at what point do you see your self standing in front of that beautiful flower and realize it doesn't need you anymore.
Well I don't wanna be that person.
I want my girls to see me inspired and motivated, not standing around watching them.
I want to encourage them to live full lives. I will lead by example. 

Besides, If I can manage other people's lives, my dreams and ideas are just as manageable.

And I don't have to give up one for the other. 

I'm going to begin to bring myself back into focus.

I'm going to focus on things that will strengthen who I am.

I'm going to nurture my inner Goddess.

A stronger ME makes my family stronger.

A focused, goal driven mother encourages and inspire little girls to achieve.

These are my first steps:

Get Organized

Smart women have control of their households, and run their families like well oiled machines.

Without organization personal pursuits will feel like selfish distractions.

Record your DREAMS

This is an exercise in self indulgence. 
What do you dream about? Who are you?

What will you do with your life, when your children get a life?

Write your dreams down in a journal, or make a vision board.

Record our dreams so you can SEE them, not just THINK about them.


Make A Plan
This is the part when you realize, "oh shit, I bit off more than I can chew!" Personal dreams can be overwhelming, because passion brought them to you without reason or common sense. 
So, Make a detailed plan of action. Even if your plan is to get more information.
Once you know what your going to do take the time to plan how it will get done.


Ask for Help
No great thing can be accomplished alone. 
Make a list of people you can ask for guidance and advice, look for local resources, or instructional classes, DIY help, or the time of a friend or family member.


Celebrate Small Accomplishments
Your on your way to becoming your true self. Your allowing a passion deep inside to flow and guide you through this life. Your managing your family and your personal passions. That's a lot!
Any accomplishment you make deserves acknowledgement and  a moment of celebration. 
Even if its just you quietly saying "yeah baby!"
Celebrate and be grateful for every detail.


For me, taking this journey feels like a more balanced approach.
The more parts of me I explore, support, and fine tune,
 the more joy I will have in my life.

What's your dream?

Are you ready to pursue them?

Let's catch a fire together!

Let me know if your with me!

Children Are The Best Teachers

Kids are the absolute best at this age.

They are the essence of gratitude.

Simply because they live in the moment.

They enjoy simple pleasures, and find joy in everything.

This was Livi after dinner.

She loved the Asian Noodle Bowl I made for her.

This is my variation on a recipe I picked up from my buddy Jen.

It has baby bock choy, carrots, snow peas, chicken, and mushrooms.

The chicken is slow cooked in the crock pot with star anise, soy sauce and water for most of the day. Really I just put it in and forget about it.

You can't mess it up in the Crock Pot.

The chicken has a very fragrant sweet, smokey, fruity licorice flavor. The meat falls from the bone and is succulent and tender.

About an hour before I'm ready to serve dinner I throw in the Asian wheat noodles, they soften very quickly but hold their bite.

Then I add my veggies which are ready almost immediately. They only need moments to steam and gently green.

Then I just set the table and call in the family.

I strip Livi down to eat this dish because I know how messy those little noodles can get.

She eats with a fork for a while then dives in with her fingers.

What a great feeling it must be skinny soft noodles between her fingers.

She gets so involved, examining each noodle then tasting it and eyeing it some more.

What must she think about those little noodles?

She eyes a handful of noodles and laughs as they fall into her mouth and onto her lap.

Mostly on her lap.

I just watch her. She finishes her bowl.
Can you see the love?

She's so present for the experience, and I just observe my little teacher.

I need to be more like her, her ways have wisdom, simplicity.

She doesn't know about germs, or food borne illnesses, or nutritional value, or portion size.

No. All she knows is how the noodles look, feel, smell and taste. She knows how they fall on her lap and stick to her belly and legs. She has just the right amount of information for the present moment.

Us adults are too smart for our own good. We know things that don't help us a bit, in fact they hold us hostage in the past or scare us about the future.

We need to be more like our children.

Throw our educations to the wind once in a while,

and just be grateful,

in the moment

with a bowl full of Asian Noodles.

(Click for the recipe)

Good Day!

Today is/was national Coffee Day. 

Thank goodness for coffee because today I really needed some! 

My new bed time has become 2:00am. 

I get so much accomplished around that time. 

It's my most productive time of the day. 

Trust me, I know this routine can't last. 

Honestly, I have no idea how I'm making it through the day with so little sleep. 

Especially around 1:00 or 2:00 o'clock my body just starts to shut down. 

I run for the coffee machine in desperation. 

So here's my moment of gratitude for you coffee.

Thank you for helping me keep my eye open. 

Yes, I promise, I'll get some sleep soon!

Have you had your coffee today?

I take mine with soy milk and 2 Splenda. 

I like it light and sweet just like me. 

How do you take your coffee?

Will you please leave me one?

Imagine Carseat Flying

Livi showed me a new trick today. 

With the windows rolled down, and the wind in your hair, stretch your arms and feet in the air. 

You can fly.  

That's the beauty of your imagination. 

Imagination is Hope. 

Imagine big things for yourself.

Thank You Livi,
Mommy Loves You!

What do you imagine for yourself?

One of those Days

Today was one of those days!

When you feel like you just can't catch up.

I made a list of things TO DO.

Even after I did all my To Do's there were still things I'd forgotten.

I'm feeling a little "in the weeds," as us culinary folks would say.

Last week was a busy week.

I devoted myself to helping friends and family.

I let go of my routine, and lost my flow.

Which I wasn't bothered by; I was glad to do it.

Except now I gotta get it back together again.

So this week is a catchup week.

I hate ketchup weeks. :-)

I have yet another list of things I really wanna get done. Ideas I need to iron out.

Like this Halloween Party we're having.

Well, if and when I can get the invitations out, uugghhh!

Or,

My blog.

I have so much to say to all of you, well whoever's out there reading this (Hi Dad!).  I'd would like to say something about gratitude everyday. I just need to get organized.

Bare with me, it will happen.

And then there is the rest of my life. I've decided to dive back into my passion:

Lehigh Valley Cupcakes is back up and running. But, that too needs some organization.

Can you see a pattern here?

It's definitely going to be one of those weeks!

So now as I type this its a quarter to eleven. The day has passed me by. I've managed to get one child to and from school, -well not from. Thank you Katy for getting Ane off the bus!

I managed to make dinner, and cut the grass, (cutting the grass wasn't even on my TO DO list.)

I washed 4 loads of cloths.

Washed, not fold them and put them away.

Just washed.

Oh! And I did get a shower, personal score for me, but brush my teeth I have not.

Toothbrush come find me!

So if I sound a little off center, frazzled, tired, melancholy, well maybe that's okay.

You can't be on top all the time.

Sometimes you need to fall apart or get behind schedule to appreciate order and function.

I would have told you that today was a long day and I'm grateful its over.

Except I'm realizing "talking" with you, that even a long day like today has purpose.

I'm grateful for the silver lining.

And even on a day like today, I still got to squeeze this little munchkin.

Now that's two things to be grateful for.

It's getting better by the minute.

Tell me what's going on with you?

Do schedules help you organize your life?

Are you lost without a schedule?

How do you get things done?

Do "TO DO" lists really work?


Thank You!

The Goddess Life, My Philosophy

The Goddess Life, My Philosophy 

"Mommy Gratitude" has become such an inspirational force to me. 

Writing on this subject has given me new clarity in my life. 

So after a lot of thought I've come to a revelation. 

I should say I will not stop talking about my mommy gratitude. I just have even more to talk about.


I've wanted to talk more about my life from the unique perspective of being a strong, confident, evolving woman. 

I've wanted to find a way to share with you more about ME. 

The woman that I am, and the woman I so desperately want to be. 

I'm a wife, and a mother, and that is the most I have time for most days.

But there's another part of me still alive and well. 

A part of me that I don't always have time to nurture and groom, but I want to set her on fire.

I call that part of me the   Goddess.

I was born a Goddess before everything else. 

Being a Goddess means you recognize your potential to be God like. 


This is my personal philosophy:

I believe that women more then men (sorry guys) have the greatest potential to experience life through the full human experience. 
Women align their lives and the lives of their children, husbands, friends and families with our inner sense of human perfection.  


If we ourselves are on the path to becoming fully our lives potential then we touch others with our vibrations. Enriching our family and friends.  

A good woman, a Goddess, improves all she touches.

This is our POWER, this is our GIFT, this is what makes us Goddesses. 

Yes, I have used my womanly body to bear children and caring and loving those children makes me a mother. I believe the more I teach my children the better mother I am.

Yes, I have found love and joined my life with another person and that has made me a wife. I believe the more I share my life with my husband the better wife I am.

Understanding all that, I also recognize that being a wife and a mother is only posibble because I am a Goddess. 
If I don't acknowledge and nurture my own dreams and aspirations I will never fully come into my power or realize 
my true potential. 


There are many things that I must learn to live The Goddess Life. 

As women we must use our full range of senses. Not just our bodily senses, sight, smell, vision and taste. 
We must use our sense of INTUITION we must trust our inner voice.
We must CENTER our EMOTIONS, and live with clarity.
We must find CONFIDENCE in our own bodies and embrace our femininity. 


Okay, so that's enough of my personal philosophy. 


I challenge you to step out of your box and embrace all the things about you that make you unhappy. 
I challenge you to try something new and be conscious of the way you carry yourself. 
 I will be bold, and brutally honest with myself and I'd like you to share in the same way with me.


The Goddess Life is about, 

Knowledge of Self

 Knowledge of Body

Strength of Mind 

Unwavering Self love.

Welcome Goddesses! Feel free to visit there


The Goddess Life is a new segment of Mommy Gratitude that will live a separate but equal life at 
http://goddessgratitude.blogspot.com/ .  Feel free to visit there.






Tell me what you think!

Thank You!

 


Hi everyone!
 I'm guest posting over at "It's a Turtle's Life for Me."
So come visit me there. Just click here or the picture.
A huge thank you to Natalie for letting me hang out over on her blog!
Thank you Natalie!

Aneley's Faith and Love, finding Gratitude.

Sometimes at the end of a long day, after you've given your all and you have nothing left. It's hard to find something to be grateful for.

That's when I look to others for gratitude. 

Today Aneley found this. 

She remembered one of my childhood stories.  

I told her about  being a kid and having fun searching through the grass looking for 4 leaf clovers. 

One day I found one, and it was so wonderful and exciting. 

Aneley remembered my story and went out and found her own lucky clover.

Her faith in my story, her love of me in remembering my words, well that's gratitude.

There' s always Gratitude in there some where.

This week is almost over, hang in there. 

Who do you look to for gratitude?

Mompact, Get Good Carma and Giveaway

Hi Friends, this post is part of the MomPact blog hop. Follow the links and enter to win 120 different prizes.


Do you believe in Karma? I do. Kind of. I'm either superstitious or a little OCD.

Really, I'm just a product of my environment.

I have a few quirky great aunts that think slices of raw potato in a pantyhose placed on bruises will take the bruise away. Crazy right? Well it actually works. These same aunts believe a piece of brown bag stuck to a babies forehead with spit will make hiccups stop. I have no experience with that. They're "voodoo" must make them feel useful. They will offer any one of their cures and swear by it.

Then there's my mom. She's kind of a collector. Nothing too crazy, she has a rock collection, an owl collection, sand, shells, beenie babies, she's not a hoarder or anything like that. She just holds onto little things that make her feel good. Happy things. Her collections seem to emanate good vibes for her.

Then there's me. I think I got this from a crazy friend in high school. I knock on wood when the time is all the same number, like 11:11 or 4:44, or 2:22. Do you do that?  Am I the only one? The knocking, only on wooden objects or surfaces, feels like a nod to the universe. "Hey Universe! I see your symmetry and I love the order!"

If I lose an eyelash, I put it on the tip of my finger and blow it away while making a wish. No idea where I got that from but I love that! 

It's not often that I loose an eyelash so it feels like such a gift to make a wish once in a while.

Also,  I feel a little bothered inside if I "split the pole" or let a pole or parking meter come between the person or people I'm walking with. It just feels bad! Splitting the pole makes me feel separate from whoever I'm walking with. Almost like I'm telling the universe "I'm not with them." It just feels like bad Karma to " split the pole."

My new thing is this bag of gemstones I got from Get Good Carma.

 Basically, you get 7 precious stones.  Agate, Amyethyst, Hematite, Amazonite, and Tiger's  Eye. The stones together are supposed to "radiate positive thoughts and inner peace."
"A complete unison of mind, body, soul."

 Hello,sign me up, I need that in my life.

So the instructions say to place the bag of hand-picked gemstone in your car to bring you inner peace and a safe journey. I'll gladly take that, especially riding in the car with my bunch of chatterboxes. I drive around listening to them arguing about which DVD movie to watch in the car, which is ridiculous because the only movie my sister and I ever watched in the car was the one happening outside our windows. Nothing to argue about there.
What I do like about Get Good Carma is that it serves as a reminder that god thing are coming my way.  Good Karma, safe journey's, and thus gratitude. 
Get Good Carma.

Like I said, I'm weird. But all my quirks are my acknowledgment of my connection to the universe.

Small things have power, for that I am thankful.

Now here's your chance,
As part of  Mompact Get Good Carma is giving away (1) of their
"Get God Carma Pouches."

Enter to win below and don't forget to visit all the blogs and maybe win even more prizes,120+! After you enter this giveaway Click here to visit the next blog.   


Giveaway disclaimer: I received product but no monetary compensation for posting this giveaway. This post contains affiliate links from Mompact.com and Get Good Carma.com. This giveaway is not associated with or related to Facebook.