Hope

Once you choose hope, anything's possible.  

~Christopher Reeve

Hope
Hope is...
a healer of wounds.
the knowing that it will get better.
the smile that soothes a restless soul.
a way out of a bad situation.
the belief that you can always start over.
the catalyst for change.
an unbelievable force of change.


Without hope, we live a very dark and dreary existence.  With hope our world turns from black and white to full of color.  Hope gives us the seed that our dreams grow from.  Always have hope and never give up on the belief that it can always get better!

Harmony

When your inner and outer energies radiate in harmony, 

you are blessed and spiritually magnetic.

~Terri Guillemets

Harmony
Finding your place of peace, loving with every fiber of your being and allowing yourself to find the joy in everything leads you to a place of harmony.  When you can see the bigger picture of life and embrace it all, you can achieve the balance you are striving for.  Harmony does not come to those who try and grasp it.  It only flows to those who finally can release control and let their inner voice guide them through their journey.  We can all achieve harmony.  We just have to be willing to let go!

Joy

Skipping is just jumping for joy, step after step.  

~Jessi Lane Adams

Joy
Celebrate life today! We are meant to have fun. We are meant to laugh. We are meant to be full of joy. Take a look around you. Take in all that life has to offer. Be grateful for all that you have. Be happy about the abundance in your life. Be willing to let yourself feel the joy rising inside of your soul. There is nothing stopping you from having the best day of your life except you ~ so don't let yourself do that. Go on and have a blast today...well actually have a blast every single day!

Love

Love has no desire but to fulfill itself.  To melt and be like 

a running brook that sings its melody to the night.  

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and 

give thanks for another day of loving.  

~Kahlil Gibran

Love
We all want to be loved so badly but how much are we willing to love another? 

• Do we take more than we give?  
• Do we tune out more than we pay attention?
• Do we say one thing but do another?
• Do we embarrass instead of praise?
• Do we take advantage of instead of support?
• Do we talk more than we listen?
• Do we get annoyed more than we are grateful?

Love only comes when we first love ourselves completely. That's when we understand how to truly love another being. In order to receive love big, you have to be willing to give love big. Love is a powerful emotion, actually it is the MOST powerful emotion that we can feel. So break down that wall, love yourself and then turn that love onto the world!

Peace

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.

~Seymour Miller & Jill Jackson

Peace
We are all striving for a life of balance, serenity and peace. It is very easy to get swept up in the emotions of other people or their situations. Well not anymore! If you want a life of peace, create it. Purge the toxic people out or keep them an arms length away. Do not accept drama in your life, in all shapes and forms. Do not take on other peoples burdens. Stop allowing negative ideas to be dominating your thoughts. Watch your words and actions for life will mirror what you put out there, good or bad! Peace is not hard to obtain but it's a challenge to stay in that place if you don't work at protecting it. You are worthy of a life full of serenity so don't accept otherwise.

Completion

Life is full of obstacle illusions.  

~Grant Frazier

Completion

There is a project or projects that you have started but have not finished.  You have let them linger for long enough.  Whether it's because it seemed a bit overwhelming, you didn't have enough motivation at the time or you were just lacking resources but now is the time to finish it up.  It's time to put the pieces together to get an end result.  You have everything you need to complete this project so stop contemplating it and start acting on it.  Finishing up a goal will give you the sense of completion you are looking for and will open up your path to new and exciting things once that space is cleared out of your life.  

Rest

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day 

is the rest we take between two deep breaths.  

~Etty Hillesum

Rest
Sometimes you need to just stop and let your body rest.  You run around so much that you can get exhausted, both physically and mentally, and this brings harm to your body.  Know when you need to take some time for yourself to rest, relax and rejuvenate.  You are worth your own time and energy.  Shut off the phone, shut out the demands from others and just take some time to be at peace with yourself.

Protect

A celebrity is a person who works hard 

all his life to become well known,

then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized.  

~Fred Allen

Protect
There comes a time when we need to pull back, when we need to protect our feelings and our boundaries.  This is one of those times.  With our stress levels elevated this time of year, remember to take a step back and look inward.  Let's protect our character, who we are and not let anyone get the best of us.  Stay grounded and stay peaceful.  Don't invite anyone in to your circle who doesn't have the best of intentions.  

Hmmm

Tell a man there are 300 billion stars 

in the universe and he'll believe you.  

Tell him a bench has wet paint on it 

and he'll have to touch it to be sure.  

~Murphy's Law

Hmmm
There are things in life we do that make us go hmmm, why did we just do that?  Maybe we do risky things to feel that rush that we are still alive.  Maybe we just aren't paying close enough attention in the present moment. Maybe it's our way of feeling like we matter in the universe. Taking the time to analyze our own behavior is so difficult.  It's so much easier to complain about someone else's annoying habits rather than take a look at our own.  Paying attention to what we say and what we do is hard and sometimes even uncomfortable. Yet it's one of the most powerful things we can do for ourselves.  It makes us live completely present in every moment of the our day. It makes us accountable for our actions and our words. It allows us to grow and to evolve.  It gives us the chance to change what we put out into the universe.  It gives us the opportunity to change those hmmm moments into wow!

Get Inspired

Better to lose count while naming your blessings 

than to lose your blessings to counting your troubles.  

~Maltbie D. Babcock

Get Inspired
What motivates you?  What moves you into action?  What makes you inspired?  Take some time today to seek out that feeling that stirs within your soul.  Let that be your guiding force.  Let it inspire you to create new dreams and create greater visions.  There is inspiration all around us and within us.  Let the inspiration that surrounds you wake up your soul to new possibilities.  Let it be your driving force.  


To get really inspired today, watch the video below:
http://yearinreview.yahoo.com/2011/blog/1263/inspiring-video/

Service

I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, 

then there is no hurt, but only more love.  

~Mother Teresa

Service
When you give of yourself, you truly grow.  There is not greater service to this world than to do something that helps another soul.  If we walk around believing that the world owes us something and all we want to do is take from this life, then we will never feel fulfilled.  Realizing that you are meant to be of service, that you are meant to help others and that your life is more enriched when you connect to another human being, well that is when your world will expand and overflow with so much love and joy you won't be able to believe it!  Give of yourself and when you can't give anything else, give even some more.

NAMES

Names Project, AIDS Quilt on Display at Suffolk County Community College

today, 12/1, in honor of World AIDS Day.

When in doubt, wear red.

~Bill Blass

NAMES

Despite all of the education, the knowledge and the resources out there, AIDS is still an epidemic in our World and in our communities.  Over 16,000 people die each year in the US of AIDS and around 50,000 people become newly infected.  This is a preventable disease and yet we are still burying our loved ones.  Let's all make a conscious effort to not partake in any behaviors that put us at risk, to love and support those who are living with this disease, and to educate our communities.