Vision Boards

April 2011 Vision Board

I have been working on this Vision Board for several days and I finally completed it tonight, after procrastinating and then putting one together without gluing it...which the dogs came in and knocked the pictures all over the place.  I had to start over.

I have always created Vision Boards but back when I started they were called collage and IF you put a clear paste like medium over it...they were called decoupage.  In any case I loved doing it and after every collage I always felt a sense of emptying, a creative intensity...a release of of ideas, thoughts and emotions on to the page.  They started out with more pictures then words and not that I have been writing more...I seem to create or collage with words instead.  I LOVE collage/Vision Boards...as they tell a story or show where my head was at that time in my life

If you have ever taken a Vision Board class...tell you to break up the field in to four spaces with a center that place your most prominent picture, thoughts, words, phrases. Simply, each section can represent certain parts of your life, like: Love, Family, Work, Play or Health, Happiness and Wealth.  

The Vision Board you see above have several sections that align with what I learning and using a The Ultimate Game of Life Challenge.

In the next few days, I will be looking further in to the power of Vision Boards and how everyone needs to do at least one in their life.  If you would like to learn more about Vision Boards, the BEST resources are John Assaraf's - The Complete Vision Board Kit and Joyce Schwartz - The Vision Board.

Learn how to direct your story, affirm your life and work...focus on where you want to go!

The Compass Movie - Official Trailer

If this is the time for "CHANGE"...then it is the time for The Compass! Find your direction by pre-ordering the next phenomena since the The Secret...The Compass! Go to this link and click on to pre-order your copy today. http://tinyurl.com/ch4vwo

Guest Blogger: The Lazy Women's Guide to MidLife Reinvention

With all due respect to Oprah, the life coach industry, and my overly-enthusiastic friend Y. who keeps insisting I live an "authentic" life, I'm beginning to think this midlife reinvention stuff is strictly for the birds.

It sounds simple enough in theory. Relying on the wisdom and experience that comes to us at midlife, we take a leap of faith and pursue our deepest passions. Armed with little more than faith in ourselves and a copy of The Secret in our hands, we go forth expecting good things to certainly come our way. 

And let's be honest - after decades spent raising kids, climbing the corporate ladder, and living with the same, predictable man, who among us isn't ready to shake things up a bit? 

Aiding and abetting us is an entire industry that's sprung up to support our ventures. From books to videos to weekend retreats, there is no shortage of charlatans - oops, I mean professionals - lining up to tell us how to get to the next big thing in our lives. 

At 47, I've ploughed through my fair share of reinvention attempts. From the would-be crafting business ($700 in supplies yielded three scarves, one sleeve and zero sales) to the "youthful and playful" hairstyle my new stylist talked me into (he goes by the name of Jean Paul but I prefer to think of him as Edward Scissorhands on speed), I've tried diligently to reinvent myself but sadly, never quite made the grade. 

Reflecting on my failures to launch, I believe I've learned a thing or two about the awakening that comes at this stage of life. As a gesture of support and solidarity for the midlife women who might be reading this, I'd like to pass on some thoughtful advice to make your own midlife reinventions go just that much more smoothly. 

The Lazy Woman's Guide To Midlife Reinvention

1. It's more fun talking about reinvention than actually reinventing.
The planning stage is by far the most rewarding part of the process. What can beat long, contemplative walks, detailed list making of our strengths and interests and endless discussions with friends over dinner about hopes, plans and dreams. 

Play your cards right and you can remain in this stage indefinitely.

2. Don't write a book - read a book.
For those of you who dream of penning the great Canadian novel, try reading a book instead.

Most of us are so busy that we barely have time to read a book. Wouldn't it be a challenge just to start one and finish it in a reasonable amount of time?

And I'm not talking about the dry and slightly depressing Canadian literature your book club insists on reading because it makes them feel intellectual. I'm talking about a good, juicy, Chick Lit read that you can't put down, even if it makes you feel slightly dirty when you're done. 

3. Forget being a Cougar, chasing sexy, younger men. Go after the old guys instead.
Not only is the competition less stiff, older men are much easier to catch. I mean come on - which 40-something woman among us can't outrun an octogenarian in a wheel chair?

4. If you're itching to start a business, keep things on a small scale.
Sure we hear about the success stories but if the truth be told, most businesses fail within a year or two of start-up. 

If you really must scratch your entrepreneurial itch, might I suggest taking a cue from all the mompreneurs of Generation X. Create a simple product and market it from the comfort of your own home. 

I, for one, am waiting for some enterprising midlife woman to invent much needed products like Flash Memory Cards to combat those embarrassing short-term memory blips that come with middle age.

5. Skip the makeover - just get rid of your mirrors.
Why spend thousands on Botox, fillers, a new hairstyle and wardrobe? You're still the same, wonderful person inside that you've always been. 

--Karen Hamilton lives in Toronto, Canada, where she publishes The Best Kept Secret, an e-newsletter and Web site for women over 40. Like the proverbial Seinfeld of the perimenopause set, Karen is fascinated with “the little things” of midlife. You can reach Karen via e-mail at karen@thebestkeptsecret.ca, visit her Web site at www.thebestkeptsecret.ca or enjoy more of her quirky humour at The Best Kept Secret Blog http://blog.thebestkeptsecret.ca/ .

MidLife Mindset - You Always Have the Power!

I have been taking a much needed break from all my blogging at various web sites to work on my upcoming book on Women in MLC. Indeed, there is very little out there for women who are going through Mid-life Crisis...in fact, the age for the crisis keeps on dropping...but the textbook quality of what is happening is not changing...just what we are calling it. Most books on MLC skim over the pain, hurt, confusion and frustration...they expect every woman to be able to breeze through the change or just pick themselves up by the boot straps and move on. The women that can do this are NOT in crisis...they are merely in transition. Transitioning women have the needed coping skills, the needed support and a positive mindset to work through the changes that are occurring in their lives, while those who are in crisis become lost, confused and frustrated... they don't have the tools to fix or deal with what is going on....they need to go back and get or replenish their life's toolbox.

Hitting mid-life is not necessarily a criteria for falling into life crisis...it is very apparent in my research that our younger sisters and daughters are also having difficulty in finding the meaning to their lives. Thirty year olds are now having the Quarter-Life Crisis (QLC), the Twenty year olds are being lumped in with QLC's but I call them Bi-centennial-life Crisis (BLC)...if anyone knows the real name for this age...tell me...I can't find it. BUT...all of these women are struggling with their identities, their significance, what makes them excellent; worthy...they want to create meaning in their lives...find happiness and abundance. Why? The meaning of way we live our life in our society has changed over the years...what used to be taboo is no longer AND we live lives that are at a much faster pace with larger expectations attached. We are inundated with messages...definitions that do not correlate with the way we were raised or the way our parents were raised. In our day and time...just about anything goes...we consciously believe that we can live without boundaries and deal breakers BUT the fact that our family histories or legacies rule our days subconsciously, we tend become fragmented, unbalanced...confused. In the end, whatever your age, no matter what triggers or symptoms that you believe is causing the crisis...it all goes back to your perspective or your mindset...it is what you believe to be true about your life!

Knowledge, understanding, a positive mindset...an understanding about the way your brain works, along with a strong life strategy is the foundation and framework you need to live a life of significance, success and abundance. If you don't have these things in your toolbox...it is time to go back and get them. Only you can do this...it is hard work...it takes perseverance, strength and a willingness to go full out! If you are at the point that you will do anything and everything to be happy...then start with your inner being first...do NOT rely on others to steer your life's ship...YOU must be the master and commander of your life's direction. Destructive behaviors, such as affairs, addictions, divorce, over spending are NOT an option...the mess you will make with these behaviors will only destroy you in the end. Do you really need to have others tell you their stories of how these behaviors destroyed them? Only teenagers believe that they are invincible...you are long past this stage...let's start where you are! Discernment will be your best friend throughout this change...you will have to sift through all the information that is given you. Start using your brain first...your heart always follows...in fact...it is your brain that controls the heart...not the other way around. Wrap your mind around this understanding...if you can do this...you have made a grand step forward!

Please stay tuned because I will be posting articles and creating a new blog named " Mindset for Life. on this subject that will help you, but in the mean time, I highly recommend anyone wanting to get a head start, please purchase or download a copy of John Assaraf's book, "Having It All: Achieving Life's Goals and Dreams". The audio version is excellent because Mr. Assaraf reads the book himself and his passion and knowledge on the subject is electrifying. Mr. Assaraf is a highly successful business man and he applies his theories and strategies to every aspect of his life....you can too by listening, learning and doing the techniques outlined in his book! I have had great success and abundance in all aspects of my life since reading, learning and using the techniques that John Assaraf teaches.  Please take the time to go my video bar and watch Mr. Assaraf speak on "Having It All".  If you ever have the chance of  seeing John Assaraf in person...GO....you will glad that you did!

Finally, it really doesn't quite matter what your age is anymore...all human beings move or transition through the seasons of life...this we have no control over...BUT...we do have control of HOW we transition...we can either choose the transition, work and adjust to create positive change OR we can fall in to crisis, turn our lives upside down...destroy what is good and regret the bad and allow the change to eat us from the inside out. It IS your choice...which do you want...or should I say...which do you NEED?  

You have always had the power...the power is in positive mindset!

"Dorothy: Oh will you help me? Can you help me?
Glinda, the Good Witch of the North: You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.
Dorothy: I have?
The Scarecrow: Then why didn't you tell her before?
Glinda, the Good Witch of the North: Because she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.
The Tin Man: What have you learned, Dorothy?
Dorothy: Well, I - I think that it - it wasn't enough to just want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em - and it's that - if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with!"

Taken from Wikipedia on November 10, 2008. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz

Join us at Women in MLC: The Dorothy Syndrome at:

http://www.womenimlc.lefora.com/forum/

Am I Becoming Too Cynical or Bitter?

See the woman to the right....this is the woman that I fear I am becoming...OMG...please don't let this be!!

Since turning 50 years old, I have become more opinionated, less patient, frustrated with the world-at-large....everything seems to rub me the wrong way or will get a rise out of me...and don't forget to add in the new experience of having hot flashes at the most inconvenient of times. Coming of age, yet again, has been just as trying for me as embarking on my teenage years back in the 70's. I struggled then, as I struggle now with all the many changes in my body, in my mind and in the world that revolves around me!

Oprah wants me to find my purpose, while "giving BIG"; The Secret wants me to have a vision and reach for the stars; along with all the many second adulthood books for women out there who want me to jump out of airplanes, climb Mount Everest or give up my career and pursue the one dream I have always held near and dear to my heart....this usually involves wine tasting in France or Napa or renovating an old Victorian home as a Bed and Breakfast. I am supposed to do this while doing Pilate's or yoga fives days out of the week, watching my carbs and eating Omega-3/Antioxidant filled meals, plying my face and body with over priced natural creams and exlirs...ensuring I get eight hours of sleep...all in the pursuit of making sure that my eyes won't puff, my rear end won't drag and my muffin top (a residual from bearing my five children) will not hang over the top of the low-rise jeans that I am forced to purchase because no one carries a jean that covers a muffin top any more that doesn't look like pants that my 80 year old mother would wear.(WHEW!)!

Don't even get me started on plastic surgery, Botox and boob-jobs! My boobs are just fine, thank you very much!!

Do most people really have the extra pocket change to invest in all of this junk? Even though I do have extra money, these things are not what I want my money going toward just because the new way of keeping up with the Jone's is not only having the $800,000 and up custom built home, but being custom built ourselves...this is what will get us through the second half of our lives...Yes, indeed. It is all so temporary...all so material....superficial.!

Somehow I believe we are missing something here. In our effort to find our purpose and discover "the secret", we have raised the bar on ourselves yet again. We no longer view life experience and growth, knowledge and understanding as a priceless commodity...age and wisdom are dismissed. We will risk anything and everything to have what Mr and Mrs. Jones2008 has gotten for themselves. (Here's a Secret: Mr. and Mrs. Jones is in just as much debt, having the same trouble with their kids, is just as unhappy, if not more than most folks in the neighborhood...don't let Mr. Jones's sport car in the drive or Mrs. Jone's botox filled forehead & boob job fool ya!)!

We wrap our lives around celebrity, wanting to look, act and live like people we are not. Women have lost their elegance trying to look like they've walked out of the pages of a magazine, while men fear that being of noble character will some how offend the many women AND men in their lives...in the end men have been put in the position of being doormats.!

Simplicity is no longer simple...there is even a proper media dictated method of going about this also. Even in today's society trying to keep your life easy going, calm, uncomplicated...simple is work.
!

Now I ask you my friends...if all this be true...is there any wonder on most days that I worry that I will one day end up looking like the lady above? Maybe a good airplane jump or a trek up a mountain would do me some good....maybe a pinch of Botox in the corners of my mouth to force a smile.............NAH!!!!!!!

Small Pearls of Wisdom: Positive Attraction/Intention

I have been trying to work out my brand, writing a book, writing a column at Fabulously40, encouraging men and women at Path Partners, trying to get my own web site created and running.

In much of this effort of trying to fulfill my goals, reaching and hoping for the vision I had placed on my Vision Board over a year ago...I have slowly come to realize that none of this happens as quickly as one might think that it will...this is yet another 'secret' to the "The Secret".

On a daily basis I still struggle with 'reclaiming my womanhood"...my family and children eat up my time...I am constantly putting out fires. paying bills, contacting the workman that didn't quite do his job to the best of his ability, not seeing the nuance in the school's rules and regulations on attendance and tardiness...realizing that after all this time I should have been making carbon-copies of the notes I write to my kid's school. I find it hard on some days to utilize the power of positive attraction...when being bombarded by the negative forces of daily life.

And then, I realize this thing called life is really truly work .

I may struggle at it every day...it may be weighing me down at times...but in the end it MUST be done.

A lovely lady that I know through Facebook sent me this today:

"You must avoid breaking when things don't go your way.You'll always be secure to the degree that you accept change.True security comes from being able to bend your insecurities.Recognize and accept that change will inevitably take place.You'll become secure, not by standing still, but by growing,moving, and staying energized.Be secure in the knowledge that you can deal with anythingthat happens to you.Have the courage to bet on your ideas.Take some calculated risks and act on your dreams.There is no permanent security on this earth, there is only opportunity." JoAnn Donahue

I think in this moment of being burned out by the fires of my daily life, I will flood my thoughts with the wisdom of the hope that is held within these words from this extremely positive ray of sunshine.

Thank you, JoAnn.

I hope that maybe someone out in cyber-space receives this cyber hot flash and it moves them through yet another day...filling it with positive attraction and blessings.