Day 28, Remember the Magic

"That's the thing with magic. You've got to know it's still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you."

Charles De Lint (B. 1951),

Writer and Celtic Folk Musician

Rhonda says, "There is no set number of blessings to find from yesterday, because every day is different. But I can assure you that every single day of your life is full of blessings, and when you have opened your eyes to see the truth of this, you will have opened your heart to the magic of life, and your life will be abundant and magnificent." Page 237, The Magic.

The Assignment

Today's assignment is to ask yourself: What are the good things that happened yesterday? Remember as many blessing as you can think from yesterday and write them down.

Last Nights Gratitude Stone

I was most grateful for the awesome sleep I had  last night. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I Am Grateful: (Day 28)

1. That I was able to get an appointment so quickly with the Optometrist. Being diabetic, I am suppose to have my eyes checked annually but it has been more than two years since my last check-up. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
2. For my healthy eyes so that I can see all the wonders of the world and the faces of my loved ones. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
3. That Faith's first day of school went well. She really enjoyed herself. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
4. Christina got up with Faith this morning, dressed her, did her hair, and walked her to school. on time. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
5. That I was able to see my Mom today. It has been four whole days since she last came here to visit. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
6. That Faith went to sleep easily. She was over tired from the long day at school. She was easily upset and those kind of nights can be terrible. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
7. For the beautiful day because the girls were able to go for a swim after school. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
8. For the rain. All the plants in the garden were droopy and extremely thirsty.Thank you, thank you, thank you.
9. For our garden, the girls were so excited to see the large number of gourds growing in the yard.Thank you, thank you, thank you.
10. For my health. I just realized that I have been headache free for a long time. I can't recall right now when the last one was. Nicole and I were just talking about this the other day. We are so use to headaches that we don't even realize when we have one. We will be feeling a little grumpy then figure out it is due to an extremely bad headache.Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The First Day of School.

The Challenge

I am grateful for these good things that happened yesterday:

1. That our furniture was delivered yesterday.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.
2. That Nick moved the old furniture out to the garage. We were well overdue for new furniture. The sofa was about fifteen years old. The cushions were flimsy. The cushion covers were ripped. One side of the couch was being held up by my red tool box.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.
3. That we were able to fit the new furniture into the space in a pleasing arrangement.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.
4. That Gary didn't freak out because I wanted to keep the two wing backed chairs from the old set.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Conclusion

My problem is I was having trouble remembering what happened yesterday. It is a blur. I am sure there was so much more to be grateful for but I just can't think of it right now.

And even though the twenty-eight days are over now. There are two last chapters to the book called Your Magical Future and The Magic Never Ends so I will have at least two more blogs. 

I hope your memory is much better than mine. How did you do with today's practice? I would love to hear all about it. Share with me!

Day 27 - The Magic Mirror

"The appearance of things changes according to the emotions, and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves."

Kahlil Bibran (1883-1931),

Poet and Artist

Rhonda says, "Negative feelings about yourself cause the greatest damage to your life, because they are more powerful than any feelings you have about anything or anyone else. Wherever you go and what ever you do you take those negative feelings with you in every moment, and those feelings taint everything you touch, and they act as a magnet, attracting more dissatisfaction, discontentment and disappointment with everything you do." Page 230, The Magic.

The Assignment

Today's assignment is to say thank you every time I look in the mirror and mean it more than ever before.

Gratitude Stone

I was most grateful for having the day all to myself to do what I feel like doing, when I feel like doing it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Sometimes it feels like I am being pulled in ten million directions all at once. Everyone needs my attention or my help. And although I love my family more than life itself, it can be overwhelming at times. For the most part I thrive on being surrounded by my loved ones but sometimes, Mom, Grandma needs time to herself too.

I Am Grateful: (Day 27)

1. For the  gourds  growing in the garden. At first we thought the plants were pumpkins. Then we thought they may be watermelons. Turns out they are  ornamental  gourds. It makes me laugh. I often throw  food pieces in the gardens to decompose and we get surprises pop up in the summer. Once we all recognized the plants, I remembered throwing some guards into the garden last fall after Halloween. Faith and Sidney were so excited to cut some very unique looking gourds from the garden. 
2. That Faith slept in today and that meant I could sleep in too. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
3. For Nicole making pancakes and bacon for everyone. Bacon is a real treat around here. We had to cut the little ones off so someone else could have some. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
4. For the dishes being done by Nicole. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
5. For the cool refreshing day. I opened all the doors and aired out the house. It was wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
6.  For the candle Nicole had in her washroom because it came in handy when the power went out this evening. It was kinda freaky. We are used to power outages when there is an electrical storm but there was no storm tonight. It was pitch dark in the house and outside the house. Freaking scary. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
7. For my laptop's light because it lit the area I was sitting in when the power went out this evening. Otherwise I may have had a heart attack. Silly me, a grown woman afraid of the dark. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
8. That Nicole is afraid of the dark too so I had to be courageous and lead the way. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
9. For our indoor plumbing. I drank a lot of pop today and had to use the washroom many times. When my Aunt was alive, we use to visit her on the Six Nations Indian Reserve. She had an outhouse. It was stinky and suffocating in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. Come to think of it, I use to sleep over at my cousins house before they got indoor plumbing and we had to use the slop bucket in the middle of the night. It was so gross. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
10. We did not have a zombie apocalypse or alien invasion when the power was out. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, seriously, I am grateful the time while the lights were out was uneventful.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Hand picked by my sweet granddaughters and mounted on the sill.

The Challenge

This is probably the most difficult assignment for me. I am one of those people who hates looking in the mirror or having my picture taken.

What can I say, I have low self esteem - always have. My earliest memory of self loathing is kindergarten.

A few months ago, I was looking at some photographs from my childhood. My Mom wasn't in very many pictures because she was the one operating the camera. I wished there were more pictures of my Mom.

It dawned on me, there aren't many pictures of me in our photo albums and it wasn't just because I was operating the camera. I often ducked out of sight when the cameras came out or hid behind someone. So many, many years from now, after I have left this world, when my children and their children are looking through our family albums, they will be disappointed that there are so few pictures of me. They won't care if my hair is a mess, what I am wearing, how much I weigh or about the wrinkles and grey hair- not that I have grey hair yet. They will just want to see me.

Having my picture taken? Not so much a problem - I just won't look at the pictures. As for my reflection, I avoid looking at it as much as possible.

To do this assignment I couldn't avoid looking at my reflection. I was brave. I looked into my eyes and tried to imagine what my family and friends think when they look at me.

Thank you.

Conclusion

I am diffidently going to keep practicing this assignment. I think is important for me - everyone to be grateful for being just who they are. We accept our loved ones for who they are so why are we so critical of ourselves?

I do admit as I have grown older, it has become easier to accept myself as I am and to be less critical. I wonder does it work like that for most people? What do you think?

Feel free to share. I'd like to know what is on your mind.

Day 26- - Magically Transform Mistakes Into Blessings

"Turn your wounds into wisdom."

Oprah Winfrey (B. 1954),

Media Personality and Business Woman

I actually have three comments by Rhonda that I would like to include today. 

The is the first quote. "We have the freedom to make our own choices and that means we have the freedom to make mistakes. Mistakes can hurt, but if we don't learn from the mistakes we've made, the pain we've suffered from it has been for nothing." Page 222, The Magic by Rhonda Byrne.

Jeff Groins has this to say about making mistakes. " About a year ago, I wrote a guest post that completely failed. It was for a large writing blog, and over the following few days it got about 20 comments from people who all disagreed with me.

It felt like someone had poured ice water over my shoulders, kind of like football players do to their coach for a winning football game. Except I didn't win.

It was painful. Embarrassing. Humbling.

However, I learned more about writing from that post than from 10 posts that were well received." (http://goinswriter.com/fail-faster/)

If you think about this you will see the truth in it. Everything we have experienced in our lives has molded us into the person we are today. It is through mistakes that we grow as a person and become wiser.

It is for this reason that I have no regrets in my life. I refuse to entertain the idea of doing things differently in the past. I rather look at it as ancient history from which I would like to learn.

And this brings me to the second quote. "To learn from a mistake, we first have to own it, and this is where many people can become undone, because they often blame someone else for their mistake." Page 222, The Magic by Rhonda Byrne.

I am sure you know a few people who never seem to take responsibility for their mistakes. I know I do. It can be very annoying to be around someone like this but more importantly, they are not learning a thing.

I'm not perfect. I have caught myself making excuses for my mistakes. It's a knee jerk response. 

Sometimes I am so stubborn that even when I realize I have made a mistake, I hate admit to it to others. But I do admit it  and try to figure out how to make corrections to avoid the same mistake.

And I am sure there have been times that I placed blame for my mistakes on someone else without even knowing it. I guess the trick here is awareness. Mindfulness. 

Last but not least is this quote from Ms. Byrne. "No matter how bad something may seem, there are always, always, many things to be grateful for. When you look for as many things as you can to be grateful for in a mistake, you magically transform the mistake into blessings. Mistakes attract more mistakes, and blessings attract more blessing - which would you prefer?" Page 223, The Magic by Rhonda Byrne.

How true, how true. It is all in our perception and there are many sayings that mimic this quote. For example, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And, when one door closes another door opens. It's seeing the good in what at first seems bad then learn from it.

The Assignment

Today's assignment is to think of one mistake and list ten reasons you are grateful for that mistake.

Ah, I will have to think of a good one here. Something big.

Gratitude Stone

Before I move on to the assignment I am going to share last night's gratitude stone. When I held my stone at bed time and reviewed all that I had to be grateful for that day, it was easy to choose which I was most grateful for.

I know I should  be most grateful for the medication my husband takes for his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because it has made a huge difference in his demeanor. But I think I will just take that for granted and pick something else.

Just kidding. I am grateful for my husband's medications and the subsequent change for the better in his overall mood. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Gratitude Journal

Sorry but before I move on, I have to complete my regular daily exercises so here is today's entry into my Gratitude Journal.

I Am Grateful:

1. For having the day all to myself to do what I feel like doing, when I feel like doing it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
2. The opportunity to blog, to share this experience with others because I hope it helps us all find happiness and helps us fulfill all our dreams and desires. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
3. That Cole will continue with her Magic Practices. She just hit a bad patch and intends on getting back on track. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
4. For the abundance of energy I had today because I was able to get so much cleaning done. (For the last week I have been feeling sluggish and tired.) Thank you, thank you, thank you.
5. That Christina helped me tidy up my room because it is usually the other way around. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
6. For the magnificent day. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
7. To Christina for making kraft dinner and hot dogs for supper. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
8. For my health. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
9. That Faith went willingly with her Nana this morning. (At first, Faith didn't want to go to her Nana's today. She said she was sick and has a fever. What a cutie. She told me she was burning up and had to stay home. I find it amazing that this came from a four year old. Well, once Nana told Faith that they were going to the trailer, Faith came running back to me to tell me she changed her mind. So cute.) Thank you, thank you, thank you.
10. For another beautiful day. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The Challenge

I was trying to avoid what I consider my biggest mistake but I have decided to work on it because it didn't just impact me, it affected my whole family.

Where to start? My husband and I were doing well financially. We weren't rich by any means but we had great credit, a house, two good cars and didn't have to worry about money. I had savings and RRSPs.

Then we made a decision that we thought was a good one. Big, big mistake. It turned ugly real fast. 

In the end we were left holding the bag. The other couple sold their house and filed for bankruptcy. They took their money and ran leaving my husband and I with a huge debt.

For simplicity sake, let's call the other couple, Mr. and Mrs. Crud.

At first I was so angry that they did this to us. Ripped us off. Left us with a huge debt while they were someplace else living like nothing happened. The consequences for us? Bad credit. Huge debt that we are still paying for five years later.

The real bummer is our kids will on occasion remind us that this was a big mistake. I can't blame them. 

We struggled financially. I wish I could say we lived pay cheque to pay check but that would have been a luxury. Our money rarely made it past the weekend. There were times where the utilities were shut off. The kids heard the word "no" many many times. 

My husband blamed Mr. and Mrs. Crud. He wanted to get back at them. He wanted them to pay up.

I didn't blame the Cruds.

He also blamed me. He threw it in my face many times.

I didn't blamed him. Although if I used his mentality I could have easily found blame in him. He had a choice. He jumped at it too.

I blame myself. I was blinded by the visions of success -  money and I did not see what type of people the Cruds were. I jumped in without looking first.

I do not regret the mistake. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I just wish the consequences weren't so long lasting. I guess it was a lesson that needed to be learned in a very harsh way. It sucks.

So here I go. Blessings from my mistake.

1. I am really grateful that my eyes have been opened to the kindness and generosity of other people in this world. I was pessimistic about the motives of others because I had been taken advantage of many times and ripped off and hurt. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
2. I am really grateful to have learned again to see where my blessings are instead of concentrating on the negative. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
3. I am grateful that I learned other people have their own agenda's and will do whatever they have to even it means hurting others. Just kidding. I am very grateful that my eyes have been opened even wider to the trials and tribulations of my neighbor. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
4. I am really grateful that we were able to find several resources in our community that assisted us and that I am able to share that information with others. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
5. I am really grateful to have learned, again, not to take what I do have for granted. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
6. I am really grateful that I now believe each day of life is a blessing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
7. I am really grateful that the importance of family and friends has been reinforced and strengthened. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
8. I am really grateful to this experience for compelling me to actually put into action my self improvement. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
9. I am really grateful that I can now recognize the type of person who will have a negative impact on my life so I  can avoid them. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
10. I am really grateful that I am now surrounded by caring, loving people. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Conclusion

You know, I initially thought this was going to a difficult assignment but it turned out to be one of the easiest so far. Maybe it's because I am on day 26 now and I have had some practice in finding things to be grateful.

Writing a gratitude list for my big mistake has really put the experience into perspective for me. I mean, I knew, or thought I knew I should not regret the mistake. My reason, as I mentioned earlier was mistakes shape us into who we are but there really is so much more to it.

I am feeling pretty good about it right now. I wonder if that changes back later or I will be left with this wonderful feeling of euphoria. Time will tell.

If you have a mistake that has left you feeling bitter or angry about, I hope you try today's practice. It is liberating. I am not exaggerating. I feel really good right now. 

And I hope you will share your experience with me. Please leave a comment.

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