My baby step to health

After posting a suggestion yesterday to take one baby step to start you on your path to prosperity, I took my own advice. I went to a chiropractor using a gift certificate given to me by An Apple a Day Wellness. Being healthy is a big part of prosperity and I had been challenged recently with problems interfering with my daily walking.

I had a brief moment of non-joy when the doctor suggested that I stop my walking program for awhile and only do non-weight bearing exercise. Monkey mind (you know that little monster that sits on your shoulder and tells you all the reasons why something isn't going to work?) took over when Dr. John suggested swimming and aqua exercises. "I don't have a pool.' "I can't afford a gym membership." "It's takes too long." Chatter...chatter...chatter.

Fortunately, I tossed that monkey back to the jungle and stopped at a local gym on my way home. It has a great pool, lots of aqua classes, and is fairly affordable. I took their materials and will join when I return from Maine. Since we are vacationing at a home right on Lake Sebago (thanks to a generous friend), I can swim there every day.

My baby step appears to be leading me in a different direction than I intended and that can be a good thing. Tomorrow I'll share another solution I just found to keep up my exercise routine.

If you haven't taken that baby step to prosperity (however you define it), do it today and let me know what happens.

When people ask me about my business, they want to know about my use of the term prosperous. Catherine Ponder, a Unity minister and one of my favorite inspirational authors, defines this term exactly the way I use it:

" You've heard much in recent years about positive thinking. Out of the recessions and lean years, another term has been born ; 'prosperous thinking'. The word 'prosper' means 'to flourish, succeed, thrive, to experience favorable results.'
You are prosperous to the degree that you are experiencing peace, health and plenty in your world. While prosperous thinking means many things to many people, basically it gives you the power to make your dreams come true, whether those dreams are concerned with better health, increased financial success, a happier personal life, more education and travel, or a deeper spiritual life."

This is a fitting quote for the economic times we are seeing in 2008. What makes it even more interesting is that it was written in the 1960's!

Take five minutes out of your busy day today and think about which one of the areas of prosperity you would like to work on. Then take one baby step to start your journey to a more prosperous life.

A Roundtable: One Path to Joy and Prosperity

One of the challenges of being an entrepreneur/small business owner can be the lack of a support team to help you have faith in your big dreams - and achieve your goals. More than two years ago, I joined a Roundtable (some call them Mastermind Groups) and discovered the power of a small group of women meeting monthly to focus on their businesses. We get together for coffee and conversation focusing on a specific topic that we all agree is important. We begin with a brief update of what's been happening the past month, focus on the topic, then conclude with each member committing to a specific goal (or goals) to achieve before our next meeting.

Read what some of our members have to say about being in this Roundtable:

"It has been a respectful, safe and friendly group with a variety of experiences and expertise that has helped me round out my business acumen. "

"The meetings force me to look at what I have accomplished and what more I can do. Without this time to reflect on your businesses, you can easily go months without looking at the bigger picture."

" I know if I needed input on something quickly, I could and would feel comfortable sending an email to this group. I have built some great relationships because of this Roundtable."

"Being in a Roundtable is wonderful, with great people, fabulous ideas, good camaraderie, intelligent critiques, new insights - like having best friends and business partners all at the same time, for those of us who work alone!"

For me, being in this Roundtable is a perfect example of joy and prosperity in action - and it doesn't cost a penny! If you want more joy and prosperity in your life by creating a Roundtable, simply reply to this post and I will send you the basic format we used to create ours.

The wisdom of wishes

I can remember the joy as a child wishing as I blew out the candles on my birthday cake. I don't remember the wishes....but I do remember how I felt and I loved that feeling. I also smile as I think of one of my mother's favorite sayings "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." Obvioulsy, Mom didn't believe in the power of wishing!

I do - and something happened this morning to reconfirm this belief. I start each day with a brief prayer/meditation practice part of which is to write down five things that I will be grateful for this day. As I was flipping through the pages of my journal, I came across a Wish List that I wrote on April 3rd. There were eleven wishes - and, to my amazement, seven of them had come true. These included a grant for a group that I volunteer with, healing for a friend's granddaughter, finding the perfect business coach, and purchasing a particular item (more on this in another post). Of the ones that have not yet come true, all but one are long-term wishes and seem to be on their way to reality.

Somehow, putting my wants out there for the universe to see helped my wishes come true. Many business authors affirm the idea that one must write down goals to achieve them. Maybe this is also true of wishes. I know that I immediately added ten new wishes to my list. I'll let you know in three months how many of these come true!

The Surprising Value of a Vision Board

Even before The Secret was published, many people had waxed enthusiastic about the value of creating a vision board to help you achieve your dreams. There seemed to be as many ways to do this as people had dreams and it all seemed like nonsense to me. How could creating a poster with words and pictures make anything happen?

Well, it can, but not in the way that most people seem to talk about it. One of the problems I had with all the hype surrounding The Secret was that it seemed to me to be an oversimplification. Maybe the authors never meant that all you had to do was hold the vision in your mind, but that's what I heard.

What made me change my mind? Once I really understood that the vision was just the first step towards achieving a dream, that I would need to take action to make my dreams come true, then I was willing to create a vision board as a first step. And the real key for me was to be clear about the life's intention that my goal would support.

Okay, enough jargon. One of my prime life's intention is to be physically fit and healthy. One way to do this is to become more active and creating a goal worth playing for made it more likely I would do this. So, the first thing I put on my vision board was the statement "I will explore ten new trails at least 30 minutes in length by September 15th." This gave me six months to achieve this goal. Then I decorated the board, left spaces to fill in for each trail, and put it where I would see it each morning on arising.

And something amazing happened. Once I did the first walk and filled in the board, I began to get excited about the next one. Each morning I was reminded of my goal, and this focused my intention. I'd see the board when I went to bed each night and dream about wooded trails. I kept a trail guide right where I could see it and was constantly finding new places to explore.

It didn't take me six months; I finished in less than three months and all of the walks exceeded the minimum time. I had explored ten new places, increased my energy, felt better, and decided to create another board to support my new goal of going on ten interesting walks of at least 45 minutes in length by September 15th.

I did the first one last week, in spite of the bugs and the heat, and felt a great sense of accomplishment. One down...nine to go and I can't wait!