Kathzoofus

"Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better." -Sydney J. Harris

Today my daily appreciation is my organizational skills! There is NOTHING worst than feeling like your life is somehow chaotically out of control and I am so glad that mine is NOT! Clean closets and never being late for meetings makes me giddy!

WOW! My passion was active today! I had a tremendous personal victory today - a phone conversation alerted me to huge success in an area I have been spending a lot of time, money and energy on. I was giddy on the phone and didn't try to conceal or downplay my excitement. I WON DAMMIT! Victories are to be CELEBRATED so I made several calls to share my excitement - my passion!! I am so thrilled that my passion was touched today in such a monumental way. This has been a long time coming.

I love being passionate! Things that I care about usually impact me emotionally and I love that I can take my passion for things and turn it into the energy that is needed to create change - change that makes improvements and brings me and those around me into a better space. I love that I laugh and cry and feel the way I do - and while at times I wish I could do a better job of hiding my emotion - I acknowledge that this passion that I have - the emotion that I show - this is ME. It is a part of who I am and I love that.

Have you ever woke up and after a few hours realized that while you don't feel entirely sick, you don't feel entirely well either? That is how I felt this morning by the time I got to the office at 7:30am. Sluggish, maybe a cold coming on. Clearly not feeling well. I wrote "I love my red hair" half heartedly on a post-it note and stuck it up on my monitor and just stared at it in a morning daze when I thought, wow...you know I really DO love having red hair. If I could change it I don't know what I would change it to. Red really suits me - it works great with my green eyes and red for sure is a great match for my firey personality. I focused all day on how much I truly LOVE my red hair and I just now realized that I don't feel like I'm getting sick anymore. I feel GREAT!

I LOVE my red hair!!

Appreciation 1: I have created for myself a tremendous circle of friends – bright, funny, intelligent and supportive – there is no shortage of big hearts and brilliant minds in my world. Benefit 1: I wrote Appreciation 1 in a moment of absolute madness. It was the day that my 2 month old laptop became infected with spyware. I had been banging my head against my desk trying to beat the spyware and I was getting my ass kicked. I took a break to read the email from Babs which challenged me to this 30 day game. I was instantly excited about the idea and without thought wrote my first appreciation about the great people I know. I don't remember if I emailed Yvonne before or after reading the email from Babs but it was later on in the day when Yvonne helped me resolve my spyware issue. I was sooooooooooo relieved. Words cannot express how completely stressed out I had felt all day. Thanks to Yvonne, my computer is virus-free and my appreciation has been validated. There ...

I appreciate my ability to find the lesson…the bright side…in the things that come my way. Optimism is powerful.

"Up for a game?" That was the subject line of an email that I recently received. The person that sent it to me is a friend, mentor and business partner: Barbara Van Deinse, EverBetter Coaching This was the rest of her email: I've been reading this book called " Excuse me, your life is waiting " and one of the key concepts that I like talks about how much of our day is spent in negative (or even neutral) thought and how difficult it is to be in a positive state. To demonstrate, the author encourages you to notice how many times in one single day you catch yourself even just thinking or perhaps saying out loud what it is you DO NOT like, or DO NOT want, or DO NOT have, or criticizing yourself or others, even if in jest. I consider myself to be a very positive person and yet I when I took this on for one single day, I was stunned! Until you make yourself conscious of it, you really have NO idea! So, I took her suggestion and every time I ca...

More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren't so busy denying them. - Harold J. Smith

Deal with one minute at a time. Minutes lead to hours and hours lead to days...time heals. What helps you get through tough and stressful times?

I think that failure is a state of mind. If you see failure - then there is failure. If you believe in failure...it believes in you. If you think you've experienced it...you have. If you think you are surrounded by it...you are. Change your perspective from 'failure' to 'experience' and it is impossible to fail. *jumps off soapbox*

At the very least you've got to try. If you don't try you will always have what you have now. Does that satisfy you? If you try, you cannot fail. Failure belongs to those that do not try. Failure belongs to those that can visualize, see, smell, hear, taste and touch precisely what they want but choose to do nothing to get it. Failure belongs to those that do not try. Those that do not take a chance on themself... ...on another... ...on an experience... ...on a new idea... ...on living... You've absolutely got to try.

Did you know that moods are contagious? Ever been around someone that is consistently down and out and notice that it doesn't take long for your mood to drift to an equally blah state? Have you ever woke up in the morning and started your day with the feeling of 'blah'? I know I have. Did you know that you can fake a good mood with a few other people and actually improve your own mood? It's a little trick that I call "fake it till ya make it". Here are some ways that you can fake it till you make it: 1. Send an email to someone and in the closing wish them a super-fantastic and amazing day. End it with a lot of exclamation points and a smiley face for good measure. 2. For no reason at all other than to say HELLO! send someone an e-card. 3. Send someone a link to a comic strip that made you laugh. 4. When you talk to someone show a genuine interest in how they are doing. If they don't volunteer the information ask them if they ...

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most.

When I picked up my 7 year old from school today I saw the quote below written on a diversity art project made by a fellow student: "What you see depends on what you are looking for." I don't know if the student authored it but I really liked the statement. All the glass half-empty people in the world...the ones that don't get that this could very well be their one and only spin around the block of life...they are looking for the wrong things. They are missing things like budding trees, the smell of the lilacs and frogs singing...they are focusing on the mosquitos and the bunnies that eat their gardens. Life isn't supposed to be easy - the bunnies are hungry...plant two gardens - one for them and one for you. Life isn't any easier for me, than it is for you, than it is for the people down the road from either one of us. Enjoy what you have...focus on what IS working, what IS making you happy, what you ARE achieving...that positive energy at...

We crazy Americans are trained and wired to GO GO GO! Things must be done NOW, YESTERDAY, IMMEDIATELY. We rush through trying to get to the end goal - be that goal a stable, committed and happy relationship or completing a project around our house. Some things are meant to cook slowly. Simmer, baby, simmer.

" I would rather have the challenge of reigning in a race horse then having to kick a mule." ~Unknown Go be a race horse today and see who around you can keep up with your productivity, enthusiasm and SPEED!

People who matter are most aware that everyone else does, too. ~ Malcolm Forbes

Some things are worth repeating .

I believe that if we stand up and take responsibility for our mistakes we risk many things but the knowledge we gain is worth much, much more. I believe that risk and failure and success and experience and about a million other things build character...or take away from it. I believe happiness is not about good luck or good fortune but rather a decision that we make with each experience that we have. I believe that all peace and happiness starts within and moves without. I do not believe you can reverse that. I believe we can waste a lifetime blaming ourselves or blaming others for the problems in our life or our world or we can spend a lifetime doing something about it. I believe whether you make a conscious decision or not, you are setting an example for somebody. I believe like attracts like, who and what do you want to attract? I believe good memories are better than good inheritances. I believe what you say isn’t half as important as what you do. I be...

"I know God promises not to give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much." ~Mother Teresa

We live in a very noisey world: Traffic, people, computers humming, washing machines, dishwashers, vaccuums, music, televisions, phones, doorbells, alarms, alarm clocks, answering machines, hard soled shoes on hard floors... When is the last time you sat in silence? Have you ever, at the end of a busy day, stopped for 5 minutes to lie in silence on your living room floor, your couch, your bed? Five minutes of silence. Try it.

"Regrets are a waste of time. They are the past crippling you in the present." ~Katherine (played by Lindsay Duncan) Under The Tuscan Sun

"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it." -- Norman Schwarzkopf

Play what is in your hand. Wishing that you had better cards will get you nowhere. Discarding what you have in your hand makes room for new cards.

Nothing meaningful ever comes to us quickly or easily. "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." ~Unknown

Lately I've been thinking a lot about POWER. In my charisma class I explain the three power types: 1. Power Over 2. Power With 3. Power Within I teach these power types with regard to how we interact with people, not in relation to objects. All three power types can be both positive and negative. Obviously, being annoyingly optimistic and generally sunny *ahem* in disposition, I tend to focus on the postive of each. But lately, I've been thinking of the things that we give power to...sometimes necessarily, sometimes not. The objects that I don't focus on in class. Lately, I have been giving a lot of power to time. It has had Power Over my life in the sense that I don't feel like I have been doing a good job of managing it. What are some other things that we give power to - is there anything in your life these days that seems to have more or less power than it should? Discuss...

I truly believe that sometimes, we are the best company we can be in. I love the company of others. There is nothing more exciting, more invigorating than dialogue and interaction between people. Exchanging ideas, information, thoughts and feelings can be a powerful and exciting exchange. But if life is about balance, shouldn't we try to spend time in our own company? I have so many great friends and a close and wonderful family. We share many laughs and create incredible memories on a regular basis. But I also create my own memories. When I sink deep into my pile of throw pillows and sit in the absolute quiet of the night I am able to climb into the depths of my own mind...my own soul. I make myself laugh, take a walk down memory lane and create new ideas for a new present and reconsider where I want to journey to in the future. My journals are filled with page after page of thoughts and ideas. Life philosophies, spiritual beliefs, reminders of how things on...

Ta-Da!

Character is built in the valley. It is good to not only have character, but be a character. What are your thoughts on character?

"Life asks us to make measurable progress in reasonable time. That's why they make those fourth grade chairs so small - so you won't fit in them at age twenty-five!" - Jim Rohn

My girlfriend Denise sent this to me: To realize The value of a sister Ask someone Who doesn't have one. To realize The value of ten years: Ask a newly Divorced couple. To realize The value of four years: Ask a graduate. To realize The value of one year: Ask a student who Has failed a final exam. To realize The value of nine months: Ask a mother who gave birth to a still born. To realize The value of one month: Ask a mother who has Given birth to a premature baby. To realize The value of one week: Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper. To realize The value of one hour: Ask the lovers who are waiting to Meet. To realize The value of one minute: Ask a person Who has missed the train, bus or plane. To realize The value of one-second: Ask a person Who has survived an accident. To realize The value of one millisecond: Ask the person who has Won a silver medal in the Olympics. To realiz...

"I have learned that self-esteem is just that--SELF-esteem. Not wife-esteem or lover-esteem or even sponsor-esteem. It has to come from ME, not from other's opinions of me." One of my closest friends sent me that quote the other day. It comes from an al-anon book and when I read it I just nodded my head and wondered how many people are truly capable of this? So many of us rely on the nice things that others say to build our esteem up and when it stops we begin to feel deflated. When we don't get the support and love and respect from another we begin to crumble. Sometimes slowly. Sometimes quickly but nonetheless what others think of us, how we are treated and how they make us feel impact how we think of ourselves. There are probably endless things we can do to build our own self-esteem. I do a few things. Sometimes I meditate to clear away the muck and bring in clean thoughts, ideas and feelings. I've used a pendulum to keep me tuned into my intui...

I found this on Alexia's site and decided I needed my own list. List 25 things that are good for the soul. 1. Laughter 2. Really great friends & family 3. My kids, my kids, my kids 4. Playing with pets 5. Cuddling 6. Long walks 7. Time alone 8. Meditating 9. Massages 10. Good books 11. Lattes, Mochas, Chai and Cappuccino 12. Reiki 13. Ice cold drinking water 14. A career I love 15. Cleaning 16. Things that smell fresh and clean 17. Catnaps 18. Stretching my mind 19. Creating new rituals 20. Trusting my intuition 21. Fresh air 22. A hand to hold 23. Giving a kiss 24. Getting kissed back 25. Dancing in the living room What feeds your soul?

"Nothing is lost upon a person who is bent upon growth; nothing is wasted on one who is always preparing for his work and life by keeping eyes, mind, and heart open to nature, men, books, experience. Such a man finds ministries to his education on all sides; everything cooperates with his passion for growth." ~ Hamilton Mabie Are you keeping yourself open to everything that comes your way?