A Thought on Positive Thinking

Success Laws: Be careful what you wish for?

On January 10, 2013, I was reminded once again NOT to be careful what I wish for! Here is my crazy “little” story.

Our family has 2 vehicles, the “mom wagon” (The Mini Van), and the “fun car” (The Mini). While I was packing for the first part of my Canada book tour, I realized that my husband Ryan would need to keep the van to run the kids around, and I would have to take the Mini on my tour. Taking the Mini to Edmonton was no issue…I was by myself and I only had one book signing to deliver books to. My tour to Western Canada, on the other hand, involved driving from Calgary to various cities in British Columbia, including Kelowna, Vancouver and Victoria. The BC trip would involve myself, my faithful book partner and cousin, Julie, and for a few days, my incredible niece, Brooke. Three high maintenance girls with luggage, twelve boxes of books and eight days of intense road tripping through the Rocky Mountains in winter was not going to work in the Mini. I started freaking out, and wondering what I would do. I discussed my options with my Business Manager, and she cleverly suggested that I try to switch vehicles with one of my family members. I knew I had a bit of time to think about my options (a week!), but I knew I was not satisfied with taking the Mini to BC. I put my “issue” out to the Universe and decided not to worry any longer. Plus, I had my Edmonton trip to worry about first!

While I packed the Mini for my Edmonton trip, I was surprised at how much room there was. I was also surprised at how much luggage one girl could need for two days! My trip to Edmonton was incredible…two tv appearances and two book signings, and then it was time to head home. When I left Edmonton, the weather was beautiful and the roads were clear, but I knew I was headed back home to a blizzard in Calgary. While I drove out of Edmonton, I consciously put my “Invisible Shield” on, cranked the tunes and started singing my heart out. Almost halfway through my drive, I heard a huge **SMASH**, and then heard the sound of wind coming into the car. While trying not to swerve all over the highway, I looked around the car. All of the windows were in tact, so I looked up. There was a huge hole in the roof where the sunroof had once been…and I was alive! The retractable mesh screen on the sunroof saved my life. I was AMAZED that I had survived.

I did not stop the car. I called Ryan (handsfree), and he told me to pull over as soon as possible. Luckily for me, Red Deer was just 10 minutes away. I pulled over and opted for a gas station with bright lights. I got out of the car, looked at the broken glass all over the car and in the sunroof, and I had no idea what to do.

I was about to get back in my car and cry when two guys in a big black truck stopped in front of me and asked if I needed help. At that point, I didn’t know what I needed!

My “Knights in Shining Black Truck”, Chris and Justin, reversed in beside me and assessed the situation. It was freezing outside that night (-15 degrees C). Chris went to work pulling out chunks of glass from the top of the car, while Justin went to ask inside for tape so they could seal the hole. These boys were troopers! There was no tape at the gas station we were at, so they drove to a different gas station, purchased a roll of strong tape and came back to me. They proceeded to tape a black garbage bag down to the top of the Mini. Poor Chris had cut himself on the glass and was bleeding, but that did not stop him from sealing that hole!

We proceeded to exchange contact information. They gave me their business cards, and I gave them each a signed copy of my book. As if what they had done for me was not enough, they said “hey, we’re heading back to Calgary too. Why don’t you follow us?”. So I did.

It was only an hour and a half to home. The roads were still clear when we left Red Deer, but within a half an hour we ran into a blizzard. It was dark, and the snow was coming down so hard it was like a whiteout! I stuck right close to my new friends, and trusted them to get me home. As I drove behind them, I felt protected, safe and happy. I could not stop smiling the whole way home, even though my fingers were gripping the steering wheel and the wind was howling loudly into my car. Once we hit Calgary, I took my
turnoff and I watched my “Knights” go riding off down the Deerfoot. The plastic bag stayed on the whole way home.

The Mini is in the sho 015 p awaiting a new sunroof from Germany so I ended up getting a rental Mini Van through my insurance company to take on my trip to British Columbia…so big, so comfortable, and so safe! Just what I wanted.
I contacted my “Knights” to thank them for not only keeping me warm on the way home, but also for ensuring that I made it home on those crazy Alberta roads. Surprisingly, one of them responded to me by saying “I am a believer in Karma, and greater forces in the Universe…was beginning to lose a little faith in the universe lately but meeting you let me know that I should never have doubted anything!”

The “morals” of my story…

I don’t know what smashed my sunroof, and I will probably never know. Sometimes, the little details don’t matter.
Ask, and you shall receive.
Things do not always happen the way you think they will, and that is OK!
The Universe is ALWAYS watching out for those who ask for, and are grateful, for help.
Be thankful to be alive!
“Situations” ARE “Opportunities” when you think positively.
Don’t be careful what you wish for. Just keep your wishes awesome.
You never know when you will meet amazing people who have something for you.
THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES.

Enjoy your life, smile more, have more fun, relax, laugh, don’t worry, and hug each other. These are the things that really matter. Namaste!

Tina O’Connor

President & CEO

Be That Books Inc.

Publishing the Best Books for Self Help.

• www.bethatgirlnow.com

• twitter.com/BeThatBooks • facebook.com/BeThatGirl.SimpleStepsToHappiness

Success Law: Grab a Thread.

Things will happen in your life that upset you. Things will happen that do not feel right, and don’t feel good. Situations will come up that are unexpected, scary, and hard to deal with. One of the hardest things to learn in this life is to let go of your negative feelings about things and situations. Life will get hard and things will always change. You can measure your own success by how quickly you can change the emotion of a situation from negative to positive.

I had the pleasure of meeting an incredible man this weekend. A man who had lost his wife suddenly in the last few weeks. Knowing of his loss, but not knowing him, I expected to meet a broken, sad man. I was wrong. The man I met was a pillar of strength, positivity, and calmness. His smile and his energy said it all. He had made peace with the loss. He had let go of the sadness, and was enjoying every moment of the life that he still vibrantly had, and wanted to shared with everyone around him. His strength made me realize that the recent emotional turmoil I was going through based on a recent change in my own life was simply unnecessary.

Every problem that arises in your life is actually an opportunity. Focus on seeing the positive outcomes of every situation as quickly as possible, and you will be able to turn your negative feelings into positive ones. Do not get stuck in a black hole of self pity. Things happen. You have the ability to control how you react to the situations.

Do not take things personally. EVER. You are amazing. You have the power, the stamina, the strength and the determination to achieve everything you think about. So make sure you think about great things.

Let go of the negative emotion. Grab onto the little threads of positivity all around you and start knitting yourself something. Perhaps you will start with a pair of slippers. Soon, you will have knitted a blanket of positivity that you can wrap yourself and your family in. If you keep pulling in the positive strings, and continue creating positivity, you will be changing the world, one thread at a time.

It’s OK to feel happy, even when bad things happen. Challenge yourself to see the good in EVERY situation. Namaste.

Focus on the Good.

Success Law: It’s all in the Perspective.

On a rainy Tuesday morning, my alarm woke me up with a great song by Trooper…
“We’re here for a good time,
not a long time,
so have a good time,
the sun can’t shine everyday!”

This was exactly what I needed to hear this morning, and it’s so true. We never know how long we have in this particular life, and it is too easy to get caught up in the negative things that come our way.

While the sun can’t shine every day, we can enjoy every minute of what we have no matter what the sun is doing! While hauling liquor in the pouring rain this morning, one of my dream team members told me how she just loves the rain and would happily haul booze in it any day! What a fabulous outlook!

Let’s face it. Shit happens. The Universe can’t just keep sending you rainbows and flowers and unicorns everyday. Otherwise, you’d get bored and you wouldn’t appreciate it when those things did come to you. So the next time “shit happens” to you, remember that something magical will be heading up the rear (ha ha). Have a good time. Enjoy the small, special moments in your life while you are on your journey to greatness, and smile through all the other stuff that gets thrown at you. When you are in the middle of a rainstorm in your life, remember that this too shall quickly pass, and a rainbow will appear. Have a wonderful week.

My, Oh My.

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday! Today’s inspiration is a song that you won’t mind having stuck in your head…

“Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin’ my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay” -lyrics by Ray Gilbert.

Today is your day. Harness the power, and know that everything you need is on its way to you today. 🙂 Sing it! Namaste.

Appreciate the small stuff.

The other night, in the midst of a crazy Calgary spring snowstorm, our power went out for 2 hours. Thankfully, the shutdown happened just as we sat down to eat our dinner. Having no power helped me realize how lucky I am to have the everyday luxuries of running water, a heated home, indoor cooking facilities, and lights that can be easily be turned on and off.

Sometimes, it takes going without something to really appreciate the value of having it. When we are used to having things, we tend to forget how much enjoyment and value we get out of them…until they are gone. Today, I would encourage you to write down 3 things that you are thankful to have in your life, and send out a “thank you” to the Universe for providing it. Happy Saturday!

Make Monday Fun!

A thought on positive thinking about work.

The Seven Dwarfs always seemed happy (except for Grumpy, of course), so what was their secret? Was it because they were mining diamonds all day? Perhaps. But I think it was because they chose to whistle while they worked!

So today, no matter what you do with your time, “whistle while you work”. And if you can’t whistle, add some music to your day somehow.

Enjoy your Monday!

Get what you want…or at least what you need.

I want to inspire you today with two of my favorite music quotes.

“Oh, you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”

-Rolling Stones

Followed by….

“All you need is love, love. Love is all you need’

-Beatles

Take some time today to consider what you have in your life right now. Are you constantly chasing what you want when in actuality you already have everything you need? Embrace the love that exists all around you and allow yourself to feel supported and content. Namaste.

The Power of the Mind.

I recently read a book to my 3 girls called “Little Miss Giggles”, part of the Little Miss Collection.

In this story, Little Miss Giggles wakes up one day and she has lost her giggle!

Mr. Happy, who of course cannot stand to see anyone not happy, figures out a way to help her get her giggle back. He gives her an empty box that says something like “Contains 1 Giggle”. She opens it up and says “There is nothing in here!” And he says, “of course there is”…

and then she starts giggling!

This story just reminded me of how powerful that computer is that you have inside of your head. You can truly create everything you want and need with your mind. You need to know how powerful your mind is, and you need to start using it to benefit you everyday. Let’s start a giggle revolution by making some boxes of giggles, and sharing them with others around us. Soon, we will will all be laughing our way through every day. What could be more perfect? Namaste.

Be Free.

On her 8th Birthday, my daughter Trinity wore a shirt with the following small, inspiring quote on it:

Free to Love, Dream and Be ME!

Give yourself the freedom to love, dream and be YOU everyday.

Just Be Free. Namaste.

Adventures in Roatan, Day 1.

Today marks the first day of our well-deserved family holiday in Roatan, Honduras. Yesterday, my 4 year old, Payton and I practiced running around the house with her backpack on, pretending that we were going to miss our flight. I wanted to make sure that she could handle carrying that bag by herself, and she did great!

Our vacation this morning started with a 3 am alarm, which one never minds when it means that you are off to somewhere special. The morning in Calgary was spectacular, and watching the sunrise as we took off into the air for Houston was spectacular. Interestingly, a freak lightning storm delayed our arrival, and we landed in Houston with mere minutes to spare to catch our flight to Roatan. Good thing Payton and I had practiced! We had to run like we have never run before to make that flight… but we ended up making it. Our luggage, however, did not make that flight! We are all praying that our swim suits and clothes show up tomorrow.

The swarm of bats dining at the hummingbird feeder and the sound of the waves crashing made me somewhat forget that I may be wearing the same set of clothes for a couple of days. And hey, I may just get a chance to buy another new bathing suit… (and one for Ryan, and Trinity and Kayley and Payton…) Who needs clothes anyway?

It’s all in the perspective. Enjoy every moment of every day. Most events that seem stressful are really laughable afterwards. Laugh at them while they are happening, and it will remove a lot of the stress. Cheers from Roatan!