Seven Paths to Freedom by Curtis Rivers

Curtis Rivers

Curtis Rivers wrote a book with this title which will be out sometime next year. He also has a free seven day course with the same title. I thought this course may just be the ticket to help me on my journey to inner peace and happiness.

I am blogging about this because I want to share it with you in the hope to inspire those who also want to make some positive changes in their lives - who want to enjoy living life with passion, having the courage to transform dreams into reality. Even if you don't follow me, you can check out the site, Seven Paths to Freedom.

So why aren't I where I want to be? Let me think this one through. 

Hey. I am pretty much where I wanted to be at this point in my life. I have a lovely home, a job I love, a nice car, wonderful friends, a loving family to share my life with . . . What else could I want? 

I want to up my "standard of living" so I can spend more time with my family, time to pursue other interests and finacially help friends and family. 

I want financial freedom. Everyone's dream, right? Not exactly. As a teenager I wanted to live in a house that I owned, have children and a job doing something I enjoyed.

I got what I wanted. Didn't I? Of course I did. But I got a little older and a little wiser I hope. 

Now I want something else too. And that's okay. People change and their needs/wants change right along with them. 

I want financial freedom. So what is stopping me?

There are so many barriers to my destination and I know it can be a difficult journey. We all have preconceived perceptions and fears to overcome. 

For instance, I was raised to believe that money doesn't bring you happiness. But I beg to differ. We need money to survive in this world and to maintain happiness we need at least enough money to pay our bills, put food on the table, get us from point a to point b and provide some of the niceties in life. Without the money for all these items, we are filled with stress, unhappiness, depression, low self esteem. You get the the picture.

Perhaps my Mom taught this to me because money was tight when she was growing up. And after my father died money was tight for us. She learned how to get by and make the most of it. Her mother lavished her with love and attention and my Mom did the same to us.

Tobacco Sucker Between
Stalk and Large Plant

I also grew up thinking you have to work hard for your money. Not  a completely true statement is it? I know there are many people in the world that do have to work extremely hard for their money. 

Tobacco Flower

As a matter of fact, I remember working very hard, as a child, along side my mom and younger sister. My little brother was somewhere playing by our feet. We suckered tobacco and broke off the flower tops.



The predominant thought back then was yuck and gross. We wore kerchiefs to cover our hair and over sized clothes to protect us from the sticky, tarry build up you get from the leaves rubbing against you. Our hands were black from the tar. I call it tar but I'm not sure what it really is. It is almost black in colour and it covered us from head to toe. 

Tobacco Caterpillar

Yes the tar was gross but accidently squishing a tobacco caterpillar instead of grabbing a sucker is really gross. I can't even say it without distorting my face in disgust. Just the thought makes me want to jump up and do the "oh my gosh that is so disgusting" dance.

My mom says we also picked strawberries and tomatoes but I don't remember that. 








I do remember picking apples.  My sister and I picked what we could reach on the trees while standing on the ground and we put them into a small basket which was dumped into a large wooden bin. I think Mom got twenty dollars a bin back then.


We also picked the "grounders" which were the apples that fell from the tree and sat in the long grass basking in the sunshine. I can almost smell the strong aroma of fermenting apples. 

Grounders

It didn't take too long before my sister and I were begging for gloves. So many of the apples were rotten, even moldy. Poking your fingers through an over ripe apple was not a favorite pastime. And actually we had to fight with the long grass to give up the apples because it would be entwined all around the fruit.



On the funny side, you never knew when gravity would pluck an apple from the tree and toss it to the ground. Bombs away!

Tobacco. Apples. Hard work. Very little money.

www.findingdulcinea.com

Now on the other hand, once I became an adult I learned there are people in this world who love their jobs, who do not think of their jobs as work and some actually make a nice living. I often wonder who those people are, where they are and what they are doing? :)

Another perception is that people who have "money" are stingy, self absorbed, maybe "stuck up." 

The rich get richer. That's because they rip people off, take advantage of the poor and weak. So you don't want to have loads of cash because you will become one of "them." Ebenezer Scrooge is not the kind of role model you aspire to become when you grow up.

My debit card for my bottomless bank account.

Fears. Most of us fear failure. We are afraid of what people will think about us. Having to start all over again. Afraid of the dark. Afraid of crowds....

I want to be a money magnet. Money comes easily and frequently! I want to fulfill my dreams and desires. I want to be happy. I want to break free from this small confined space I have boxed myself in. I want to enjoy everything that life has to offer!

I am ready to make a change! Are you?

Day 3 - Magical Relationships

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."

Thornton Wilder (1897-1975),

Writer and Playwright.

My beautiful granddaughters. Three Magical Relationships.

Magical Assignment

Today's assignment is to choose three people in my life who I am grateful for and list some reasons. 

The Challenge

Just three people? This is extremely difficult. I'm sure it is hard for you too because there are so many people in our lives who are important.

I am so grateful for so many people because I have been blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life throughout the years.

How can I choose one Daughter out of three? How can I choose one Granddaughter over another? Or one friend? I am grateful to each one for different reasons.

Maybe I am going about this wrong. The instruction doesn't specifically say to choose the top three - it just says three. If this magical practice is to be grateful for people just as they are, then I should challenge myself by choosing someone that our relationship is strained.

With that in mind, I have two people for today's assignment. So who shall be the third? Someone easy to be grateful for? I have it now!

My Magical Relationships

Three People I am Grateful For;

1. I am so unbelievable grateful for my Mom. I choose my mom first because it is so easy to be grateful to her - so many reasons to be grateful. 
• Thank you Mom for always supporting me.
• Thank you Mom for always being there for me, day or night, good or bad.
• Thank you Mom for teaching me the importance of family.
• Thank you Mom for guiding me, teaching me how to be a good person.
• Thank you Mom for showing me by example how to be a strong, responsible compassionate person.
2. I am grateful for my Husband. I love him very much, we have been together for about twenty years and I can't imagine my life without him. But, yes there is a but, he has untreated post traumatic stress disorder and that makes him a very difficult man to live with right now.
• Thank you Gary for telling me every day that you love me.
• Thank you Gary for treating my two daughters like your own.
• Thank you Gary for all the little things you do to make my day that much nicer and easier.
• Thank you Gary for making me feel still wanted after all these twenty years.
• Thank you Gary for making me laugh.
3. I am blessed and grateful for my youngest daughter. When she was born I saw perfection. My little angel. I know I spoiled her - still do. She acts and thinks she is so much older than her years. This can cause friction between us. Yet we still have a close relationship with mutual respect and love.
• Thank you Christina for giving me a granddaughter.
• Thank you Christina for helping me out when you can.
• Thank you Christina for wanting to spend time with me.
• Thank you Christina for being silly with me.
• Thank you Christina for allowing me into your world.

Gratitude Rock

After reviewing my gratitude list from yesterday, I am most grateful for my Granddaughters because their exuberance for life is contagious. I can't help but smile when I look at them and I feel so happy to be alive, to be part of their lives.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Here is my magic rock (gratitude stone). As you can see I have not painted it red yet. I am procrastinator. Something I need to work on.

Gratitude Journal

I Am Grateful For: (Day 3)

1. My Mom because she came here today just as she does every week day to take care of her Great Granddaughters and her baby - me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
2. My Oldest Daughter because she will be giving me another grandchild.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.
3. My sight so I can revel at all the beauty in this world.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.
4. Another radiant hot summer day so I could enjoy the outdoors with two of my Granddaughters.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.
5. My Oldest Daughter for blessing me with her visit and providing supper.
6. Christina for spending time with her daughter.
7. My washer and dryer so I can do my laundry any time I want to.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.
8. The Armoire which I was able to purchase for forty-two dollars at Saint Vincent De Paul. It is the perfect addition to the kids play area because it houses all the toys and makes the area look clean and de-cluttered. It was exactly what I pictured for that spot. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
9. To Craig for lending me a steam cleaner and the chemicals to remove stains in the furniture.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.
10. For the clothes which I was able to purchase all at reduced prices. (Money comes easily and frequently.) Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 I don't understand why that was so hard to start but once I got on a roll is was easy peasy. Thank goodness.

I had a little difficulty again today thinking of new items to be grateful for.  But I did it. I wonder what I will be grateful for tomorrow?

It is now three thirty in the morning. Time flies way too fast. I am going to bed now and I won't forget to hold my magic rock just before I lay down and think of the best thing that happened today. I will update you tomorrow.

Goodnight.

Have you decided which three people you would like for your Magical Relationships List? 

If you liked this post feel free to tweet it. Thanks and have a magical day.

Tomorrow is  Day 4: Magical Health