No Need to Water the Weeds!

"You must weed your mind as you would weed your garden." ~Astrid Alauda


If you have ever had a yard or garden, you know that weeds have the ability to sometimes
take over! It can be frustrating to walk outside and see these weeds covering the fruits of your labor! Most of us tend to pull the weeds out or spray them with weed killer to try to rid our yards of these unsightly creatures. We certainly don't water them or nourish them to encourage them to grow! We want to get rid of them as soon as possible so that our grass, flowers or vegetables can grow and flourish!

Well, this the concept of *weeds* in the garden can also apply to *weeds* in our
life! We want to share with you some gardening tips that you can incorporate into
your life!

Weeds (like tolerations) are negative things in our life. So, just as you would
deal with the weeds in your yard, you can tend to the weeds in your life the same
way. PULL OUT THE WEEDS! If weeds are left unattended to, they will continue to
grow and kill your grass. Don't water the weeds. In other words, focus on the positive
not on the negative things in your life. Rid yourself of the negative thoughts,
people, and situations (the weeds) in your life!

Another gardening tip that you can incorporate into your life is to rake the dead
leaves up. If you let the dead leaves stay on your grass, the new life will not
be able to flourish! In our lives, this relates to letting go of the past. Get rid
of the heavy weight of the past and look forward to the future. If you carry your
past around with you, you won't be able to move forward and grow.

The final gardening tip is to install an automatic sprinkler system! Grass and plants
need water to grow and blossom. And they need it on a regular basis. You don't just
wait and hope for rain, you install a sprinkler system to insure they get the water
they need. In life - our automatic sprinkler system is the positive energy, people
and reinforcement we surround ourselves with.

Make time in your life (on a regular basis) to receive the positive things in your
life! These are the positive habits and people in our lives. What are you doing
on a regular basis to water YOUR yard?

Tune in this week to our podcast, and hear more tips and suggestions on how to keep
your life blooming! And remember, Don't Water the Weeds!

Make today a Masterpiece!
Jen and Leah

What Attitude are YOU wearing?

‘You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.’ Ruth E. Renkl

Do you know people that just always seem happy and upbeat? As if nothing in the world can bring them down? They keep a smile on their face and a positive attitude in their heart. When you are around this type of person, their positive energy tends to *rub off* on you and you feel more upbeat and alive!

Conversely, do you know people that always seem to be grumpy or in a bad mood? You know the type, the negative Nelly that just refuses to see the good in anything or anyone. When you are around this type of person you can almost FEEL them draining your energy!

Well, these two types of people really have a lot more in common with each other than you think! The commonality is that they both have the opportunity to CHOOSE how they want to look at life.

For example, when you are getting ready to start your day you probably look in your closet and CHOOSE which outfit you want to wear based on how you are feeling that day, or what the weather is like outside. Well, the same is true about our attitudes. We really do get to pick how we want to view our lives! We can be positive and upbeat, or we can be negative and unhappy.
In life everyone will face their own challenges, obstacles, and not so happy situations, that is inevitable. You cannot know joy if you don’t experience pain. However, you can choose how you want to deal with it! You can release the anger and sadness and move forward with a positive mindset, or you can hold on to the unhappiness and let it fester inside of you until you can’t see the forest for the trees!

So, next time you are around someone who is positive, upbeat and happy….thank them for making such a wise decision on what attitude they chose to wear!

Make today a Masterpiece! Leah & Jen

Go For the GOLD!

"An athlete gains so much knowledge by just participating in a sport. Focus, discipline, hard work, goal setting and, of course, the thrill of finally achieving your goals. These are all lessons in life.” — Kristi Yamaguchi, world champion figure skater

Did you all have the opportunity to watch the Winter Olympics? What an exciting time! You couldn’t help but be inspired, motivated and PROUD as you watched these young athletes give it their ALL for their team, their sport, and their country!

The quote above by world champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi does an excellent job of summarizing exactly what motivates these athletes to win and HOW they do it. This quote is also an excellent metaphor on how we can live our lives. It provides us with a blueprint on how to win in the gold medal in the game of life. Think about it, each day are you practicing these five principles?

Focus: Do you know what you are striving towards? Have you clearly identified what you truly want in life? It is important that you become crystal clear in this area so that you can focus on what you want. Visualize your Success!

Discipline: It takes a lot of discipline to reach our goals! If you’ve ever been on a diet, you know the importance of discipline. It is really about focusing on the long term results and having the control to pass over the short term gratifications that throw you off track. Simply put, it is skipping desert in favor of going to the gym…practicing self control to reach our goals.

Hard work: Nobody ever said life was going to be easy. It takes hard work and perseverance to attain our goals. The Olympic athletes spend countless hours practicing and perfecting their skills to compete in the Olympics. In life, we also must work very hard to reach our goals. We must not accept being average, we must strive to be the best!

Goal Setting: Once you know what you want in life, the most important thing you can do is set specific goals. You can bet that every Olympian’s goal is to win a GOLD medal for their country. Once that goal is set, the next step is to create the action plan (and strategies) to achieve that goal.

Achieving your Goals: This is the thrill of the victory! The GOLD medal of life! Your pay off for having focus, practicing discipline, working hard and setting specific goals. When all of your hard work pays off and you have reached your goal!

It's FALL! Let's celebrate the change of seasons!

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~Stanley Horowitz

Have you noticed anything different lately? The air outside feels a little cooler, the trees are starting to lose their leaves, and the mercury in the thermometer is not going up quite as high these days! The weather is changing! Not by leaps and bounds, but slight and subtle changes that let us know a new season is approaching.

Yahoo! Fall has finally arrived! To many of us that call Florida home, this is a welcome relief from the hot, humid days of summer.

The changing of the seasons is always a good time to reflect on the changes in our lives. It’s like Mother Nature’s gentle way of reminding us to slow down, take stock in our lives and remember that the only thing constant in life is change.

Like the seasons, our lives are also changing each day, month, and year. As we grown and evolve, we receive wonderful opportunities to change, re-invent, re-evaluate, and re-focus on who we are and what we want out of our lives!

Remember, even simple changes can lead to big results!

This week we challenge you to think about your own life. Are there areas in your life that need to little bit of tweaking? Think about the 5 areas of your life (we call this your Balanced Palette) and ask yourself what you really want from each area! Write it down and set some goals to improve in each of your 5 areas: Relationships, Financial, Physical Environment, Health & Emotion, and Spirituality.

If you need some encouragement and support along the journey, check out our new CD Series: Creating Your Masterpiece: A 30 Day Guide to Becoming the Artist of YOUR Life! This is an awesome cd created specifically for those who are ready to take their life to the next level! To order, visit http://www.CreatingYourMasterpiece.com