self esteem activities – Page 2

Use the Universe.

Always seek out Books on Motivation to help you with stress. There will be times when you will feel overwhelmed, and you may wonder how you are possibly going to accomplish everything that you want to accomplish in your life, or even in your day. When you feel this way, you need to know that you are not alone in achieving your dreams. The Universe is waiting to help you, but it needs you to provide guidance. You need to be true to yourself about your dreams, and about the results you want to see in your life. Keep a journal and consistently write things down. This is one way to connect with the Universe about your desires and feelings. Writing things down solidifies them in your own mind, and gets you working on things at a subconscious level. It’s like taking action in your sleep! You will be amazed at what the Universe will do for you when you are willing to put yourself out there. Opportunities will start showing up from every angle, and you will find yourself spending time assessing these opportunities instead of worrying about how you are going to get it all done.

And when opportunities are presented to you, be sure to say thank you to the Universe in whatever way feels good to you. Giving thanks, and appreciating the small things that happen, will ensure that more is sent your way. So chase all your dreams, even if they seem scary and unachievable. You don’t have to do it alone. Namaste.

Rock Inspired Inspiration

You never know when inspiration is going to hit you. The other day on my drive home from Edmonton, I was inspired by a Trooper song. These were the lyrics that spoke to me…

“If you don’t like what you got, why don’t you change it?
If your world is all screwed up , rearrange it”

While this particular inspiration proves that I am a rocker at heart, you don’t have to be a rocker, or even like rock music, to see the inspiration in it.

If you are not happy with the results you are seeing in your life, you need to know that you have the power to change it. Grab onto that feeling of control, and make a change in your life, even if it is a small one.

I also like the reference to rearranging things in your life. I love to organize! Rearranging a room in your home can have a tremendous impact on your life. So make a concrete change to something in your home that has been bugging you. Doing this will not only change how you feel about your surroundings; it will also change how you feel inside.

Have an incredible Monday!

Good Bathroom Graffiti

Now, I am not one to condone writing on the walls in bathrooms. That is not what this is about. We have all been in a stall where someone has defaced the walls with whatever they have on their person; pens, markers, pencils or just something sharp they can use to scratch it in. Often, the things written are either cruel or mean, or it is someone professing their love for someone else. (T.O. + R.O. 4-Ever). I hate to generalize on this, but I would say that most of the graffiti is done by younger adults.

Today, I was inspired by some high quality graffiti in my stall. It read:

Love yourself for who you are

I absolutely adored this wall message and it made me think fondly of the new generation of young adults. Yeah, they’re writing on the walls, but at least they are writing about truly important things!

And it’s true. You need to love yourself for who you are. When you love yourself, you will start treating yourself better. You will find it easier to provide your body with healthy things and avoid things that are not good for you. When you love yourself, you will talk nicely to yourself and it will be easier for you to succeed at whatever you want.

So embrace the inspiration to love yourself! Small, inspiring quotes can be everywhere…. even in your bathroom stall. Be ready! Namaste.

Inspiration is Everywhere!

This morning when I went to make coffee, I noticed a little saying on the tray where the coffee was stored. It said “Enjoy your life”. Funny, I have made coffee everyday for 5 days, and yet today is the first day that I actually noticed this little message. I guess I needed a little inspiration today.

My 3 beautiful children were up at 5:30 this morning (and we are on vacation!), and the sun had not even peaked up out of the ocean. Good thing I went to bed early last night. But really Tina, come on. You are on vacation, you have 3 lovely, healthy girls, and you got to watch the sun rise over the ocean blue this morning. Enjoy your life! Because it is truly amazing, and everyone needs a little reminder of that sometimes.

Inspiration is everywhere in your life, but you have to be looking for it and you need to be perceptive enough to see it and understand it! Enjoy every moment of every day, no matter what gets thrown at you. Smile and breathe. Relax and don’t worry. Keep your eyes open… the Universe is waiting to inspire you!

Living differently.

Being on vacation in Roatan is amazing… and different. We are staying in a house, not a resort, so we are pretending that we live here. We are buying our own groceries and cooking all of our own food. Others have told me that this is a lot different than it is in North America, but I really did not believe them. Until now. The first noticeable difference is at the till and on the shelf. A bottle of wine costs 173 Lempira’s, which equals about 9 US dollars. And when your grocery bill totals 2000 it can seem a bit scary! (That’s about 100 US Dollars).

Everything that is not grown on the island has to be imported, so almost everything costs more here than it would at home. Due to the heat and humidity here, maintaining the freshness of food even in the grocery stores is an issue. The meat in the grocery stores looks very different than what we are used to, and I still cannot bring myself to buy it. You have to look carefully at expiry dates, and a lot of times the stuff you want to buy (like milk) may not be in stock when you choose to shop. Yesterday for breakfast, I was fully prepared to make pancakes with a yummy pancake mix that was in the cupboard. We had a bunch of bananas that had just been cut off a tree and I had mushed them up to add to the mix. When I opened the bag of pancake mix and looked inside to measure out a cup, the mix was crawling with tiny little bugs. I promptly threw the whole bag in the garbage and moved on something else. These little bugs are common place here, and I suppose one either gets used to them or you don’t eat certain foods. Today, I cooked up some Macaroni Noodles for lunch. When I opened the box and saw movement, I thought “oh, well. At least they are going into the boiling water.”. I dumped the noodles in, rinsed them well once they were done cooking, and we all ate our yummy lunch. A girl has gotta do what a girl’s gotta do for herself and her family. Rest assured that I may be sticking to more fruits and vegetables while we are here from now on, and I will be asking others who live here how to compensate for the interesting foods here.

For now, I have some counters to wipe off so the sugar ants don’t come. I am officially playing “Survivor Roatan” and I feel like I’m going to win!

Cooincidence?

I am required to volunteer once a month at my daughters preschool, which I love. If I cannot do my scheduled shift, it is my responsibility to find someone to switch with me. Recently, I needed to swap a shift in February. I have a class list at home, but I was pressed for time and wanted to take some action right away. There is a communication book that the parents write in if they need to communicate with the teachers, so I thought I would just write it in there and hope that one of the moms would be able to cover it off, and that they would chance to look at the book (most of us only ever look at it if need to write something in it, never otherwise).

A few days later, one of the moms came up to me and said, “Hey. I was wondering if you would be able to swap volunteer days with me…I am not able to make it on my scheduled day”.

She had not even seen the note in the book, and she did not know that I was looking for someone to swap with also. Ha ha! Thank you Universe!

We ended up swapping out days, and both of us walked away happy and knowing that a piece of our lives had just been handled. Oh yeah.

And all I had to do was write it down. I put it out there to the Universe, and then just went with the flow.

Start questioning the cooincidences that happen in your life, and try to track what you did to make that happen. When things work, keep doing them. You are in control. Namaste.

Make Things Happen!

The other day I was excitedly showing my book off to a lady at school. Her response was “Wow! I can’t believe this is happening to you!”

My reply was, “Oh, well I am making it happen!”

Things will not just randomly happen to you. You have got to take action and make things happen in your life! And the more action you take, the faster things can happen for you.

Just last February, I thought to myself “I am going to write a book!” And I did it! And it is now available in bookstores! That is so cool!

You can do anything if you put your mind to it, take action, and grab opportunities as they are presented to you. Go do it now! 🙂

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today is the start of the Chinese New Year, so Happy New Year to you all! (or in Chinese, Gung hay fat choy, which means “Best wishes and Congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year.”) Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days, and on the 15th day a lantern celebration is held. A lot of food is shared over these next 15 days, and many interesting traditions involving superstitions are upheld, including not eating meat or sweeping ones home on the first day. Interesting!

The Chinese Astrological Calendar is symbolized by animals, with each year being represented by a certain animal.

Today is the start of the Year of the Dragon. If you have ever asked yourself why I have a Dragon on the cover of my book, Be That Girl, here is your answer. I was born in the year of the Dragon. To me, the Dragon is a mythical symbol of power, strength, and confidence … traits that all of us could use a little more of at times in our lives!

The year of the dragon promises to bring excitement, unpredictability and opportunity. This is the perfect time to create change in your life.

Have a wonderful day! Namaste.

Better a relationship in your life today!

Life gets so busy that we sometimes forget to take time to let the people we care about know how much they mean to us. Make time today to show the people you love that you care about them, and are thinking about them. Here are some ideas on how to let them know:

Send flowers and a meaningful card, or have flowers waiting for them when they come home (or bring them with you when you meet)
Send an e-card, or mail an actual card
Call them and tell them outright how you feel about them
Plan a date night
Cook their favorite dinner or dessert
Buy some rose petals and sprinkle them on the bed
Do something to make life easier for them, like washing their car or taking out the garbage / recycling
Put a note in their lunchbag, or on / under their pillow

It is amazing how good it feels to share with others. And don’t forget about you! You should be the most important person in your life. So be sure to do something nice for yourself today too. Flowers are nice… Namaste.

Have Goals.

On Sunday, our oldest 2 daughters had music recitals for piano and violin. In the morning, when I reminded Kayley (who is almost 6) about her piano recital, she said “Yeah! I’ve been waiting for this day my whole life!”

Ah, perspective. No matter how old you are, you need to set goals. And you need to get excited about achieving those goals. Always strive to reach your goals, no matter what those goals are. Remember, your goals are personal. Stay excited about your life, and your dreams. And when you reach your goals, reward yourself and then set bigger ones. Conquer the world one small goal at a time. Namaste.