Spreading Sunshine
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Spreading Sunshine A monthly ezine to brighten your day and make you smile! Issue 7, December 2, 2007 Join Us! Welcome! By receiving this newsletter, you are part of a group of people making their dreams come true. If you like what you read, please forward this message to your friends and family, and invite them to join us too! Click here to subscribe to Spreading Sunshine now! Now, Where Was I? © 2007 Laurie Smith It started with the sound of water pouring through the ceiling of our hallway. I sprinted upstairs to discover a waterfall guzzling through a light fixture in the ceiling, sudsy water pouring down the wall like a fountain. Quickly, I found a pot to catch the drips, turned off the fuse box, shouted at our three-year-old son to stay away, made frantic phone calls, and somehow, managed to find my way into our neighbor’s unit above to discover a washing machine on its last legs, spewing water everywhere. Our comfortable, (somewhat) sane little world was suddenly turned upside down. The saga that followed included three weeks of big fans blowing, water remediation, demolition, asbestos abatement, new drywall, carpets, paint and too many fumes and toxins for us to stay in our home. (All of this happened on the same day as the oil spill in the SF Bay!) I would like to say I was spreading sunshine through it all. I would like to say my outlook was rosy, and I smiled brightly. I would like to say I focused on all my blessings rather than hardships. But to be honest, through it all, I was worried, fearful for the health of our child, feeling inconvenienced and very human. Sometimes things happen. Our seemingly static lives turn upside down and we are left to cope in whatever way we can. The beautiful thing about experiences like these is they not only remind us what matters most, they also give us an opportunity (often after all is said and done) to consciously recommit to a positive way of living. While I can’t say I remembered all these things in the heat (or the puddles) of the moment, here are a few tools that can help when facing challenging moments: 1) Breathe. 2) Count your blessings. Say a word of thanks that it isn’t worse. 3) Get it off your chest. In other words, complain! Not often—but find a good friend who is willing to listen. Sometimes, we have to clear our path before we can move forward. 4) Be quiet. Take a few moments (as often as possible) to tune inward. Still your mind and listen to your intuition instead. 5) Make a plan. When we feel like events are happening beyond our control, it can be helpful to make a list of the steps that are in our control—small things we can do to make the situation a bit better. 6) Take a break. Get physically away from the situation. You will come back renewed, or at least with some new ideas and a fresh perspective. 7) Surround yourself with positive people. Even when you’re down and out, being around others who have a bright outlook can rub off on you. 8) Do something special for yourself. Taking care of ourselves makes a big difference. 9) Thank those who are helping you. 10)Find the lessons. Pretend a mischievous friend planned the whole thing to help you learn something, or to get a message. What might that be? 11)Be gentle with yourself. We are all human, after all. 12)Laugh. Find what’s funny about what’s happening! Something always is. At long last, the turmoil is behind us. After being ousted from our home, we are now back. We have suitcases to unpack, possessions to put back where they belong, and a few rooms that still need airing out. Overall, though, to say we are happy to be here is putting it lightly. All the upheaval in our little lives has definitely deepened my compassion for those who don’t have a safe place to call home. I feel very grateful. As I strive to pick up where we left off, I can’t also help but feel a bit mystified by the mysterious workings of it all. I believe that everything that happens to us is truly a miracle in disguise. Secret blessings from this disruption have already started revealing themselves, and I’m sure will continue to do so as time goes by. When we are able to shift our perspective and truly see, we can recognize a powerful, positive energy showing us gifts we didn’t know existed, and guiding us through the darkness of our lives back to brightness again.
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New Course—Great Holiday Gift! I am delighted to announce the launch of my online course Miracles: Creating Your Magical Life with Energy and Intuition through the awesome website www.SelfHealingExpressions.com. The course is being sold for $34.95 (they also have a great two for one offer so you can take it with a friend at no extra costs—a great deal!). You can elect to receive the 14 lessons via email on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Each lesson includes approximately 8-10 pages of written material including inspirational quotes, exercises using cool, interactive web tools, and a 5-10 minute audio meditation you can listen to through your computer, designed to help you integrate the course information on a very deep level. During the process of developing and doing the course myself, I experienced many amazing, wonderful miracles in my own life. I hope you do too! Here is a sense of what the course is like, from Jane from the United Kingdom (Thanks, Jane!): “Thank you for your course. Three months ago I experienced a profound miracle, so came to this course as an absolute believer wanting to know how I could more intentionally allow miracles to happen through me. There were so many miracles to choose from when asked to focus on one, but the one that was going to make the quickest and most profound change to us was relief from our bad money situation. This would relieve the stress to allow other miracles to happen. During the course I experienced an intense beautiful ball of light/energy above my head that sometimes came down and joined with my physical body taking away "me" and just leaving "oneness" with the universe. It was/is wonderful! On a more practical level I received a cheque from a cousin that I have only seen once in 20 years for £1000 ($2,000). He said he just had a feeling it was the right thing to do. It is a wonderful demonstration of a true miracle. All I need now is 20 more cousins to do the same thing :-) I would just like to encourage anyone taking the course to actually follow the steps suggested. It is easy to say "oh, I know all that", and yes we do, but we have to actually put these things into practice for them to work. I am so grateful to the universe for offering me the opportunity to experience a miraculous life and can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring. My intention is to get my life sorted enough to be able to intend miracles for others. Thank you again Laurie!” New Book Available! I am thrilled to announce that Book Two in my Miraculous Living Series—Spirit In Disguise is now available for purchase! In my last newsletter, I announced the release of Soul Wisdom: A Guide to Miraculous Living, Book One. Together, these two books together make a beautiful gift set for anyone interested in deepening their connection with that all-loving, all-knowing aspect within. Make your shopping easy this year, and click on the links above to order now through Amazon.com. I am also happy to send out you copies with personalized notes—you email me your requests to LaurieSmith@comcast.net.
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Good News! Here are some recent good news stories that made me smile this month. Happy reading! (Click on the headlines to link to the original news stories.) Local Philadelphia celebrity Charles “Charlie Mack” Alston, personal assistant to actor and fellow Philadelphian Will Smith, and community activist Paul “Earthquake” Moore are calling for 10,000 African men to join together to begin patrolling the streets of southwest Philadelphia to fight crime. The campaign is supported by the local police and non-profit organizations, who are joining together to train volunteers to fight crime peacefully by the presence of sheer numbers of men trained in community outreach. Volunteers will learn such as how to steer residents to education, jobs and drug treatment. Thousands of African American men have already signed up. One volunteer Kenneth Blakeney said, “We need to give brothers hugs. We need love back in this community.” Yesterday was the 20th World AIDS Day. Around the world, events signaled successes to date as well as called for more action. In New York, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon held a midnight ceremony at St Bartholomew's Church in New York, calling on governments around the world to allow universal access to HIV prevention and treatment. In Johannesburg, South Africa, Nelson Mandela spoke at a concert attended by than 10,000. During the event, South Africa's deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said, "It's about preventing the infections. It's about caring for the people who are already sick ... it's about rolling out the treatment, and ensuring we empower women who are at the frontline of the battle." AIDS activists are hoping the events will remind the world how important outreach is for those infected. Groundskeepers at one of New York City's largest apartment complexes have released 720,000 ladybugs to help control pests like aphids and mites. Each ladybug can take care of an area measuring about 19 square inches, eating up to 50 pests a day, plus insect eggs. "In most cases, we reach for a can of pesticide -- and we kill not only the 'bad guys,' but the 'good guys,'" said Eric Vinje, owner of Planet Natural, the company that supplied the bugs. "All we're doing here is putting more of the 'good guys' to tip the scale," he said. Not only is this strategy good for the environment, according to superstition, the 720,000 ladybugs should also bring New York City lots of good luck! New research done at Yale University shows babies as young as six to 10 months old can discern “helpers” (people with good intentions) from “hurters” (those with bad intentions). During the study, babies watched a wooden toy made to look lifelike trying to climb roller-coaster hills. Then, another similar toy came by and either helped it over the mountain or pushed it backward. The babies were then presented with the toys to see which they would play with. Nearly every baby picked the toy appearing to be helpful over the one who was not. The babies also chose neutral toys over the bad ones, and the good toys over the neutral ones. ''It's incredibly impressive that babies can do this,'' said study lead author Kiley Hamlin, a Yale researcher. ''It shows that we have these essential social skills occurring without much explicit teaching.'' One billion trees were planted around the world this year, meeting the goal of an ambitious initiative launched by the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize winner and Kenyan Green Belt Movement founder, Wangari Maathai. "I am elated beyond words at the global interest and action that was motivated by the Billion Tree Campaign. I knew we had it within us as a human family to rise up! We called you to action almost exactly a year ago and you responded beyond our dreams!" Individual families and households made up half of all those who participated, each planting one to three trees. While the numbers are still coming in, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) said the top-ranking countries appear to be Ethiopia, over 700 million trees planted; Mexico, 217 million trees; Turkey, 150 million; Kenya, 100 million; Cuba, 96.5 million; Rwanda, 50 million; Republic of Korea, 43 million; Tunisia, 21 million; Morocco, 20 million; Myanmar, 20 million and Brazil, 16 million. "There had been a few cynical smiles and shaking of heads when the Billion Tree Campaign was launched," said Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director and UN Under-Secretary-General. "Some said it would never happen, but citizen after citizen, community after community and country after country, have proved the doubters wrong and demonstrated an abiding truth in 2007." Yummy Quotes -George S. Patton -Mae Sarton “Nothing fruitful ever comes when plants are forced to flower in the wrong season.” -Bette Bao Lord And, a favorite saying of our son Devin, inspired by the Little Blue Engine: “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can!" -Watty Piper Enjoy the Holiday Season! As the holiday season is upon us, my wish for you is that you find some time to pamper yourself, appreciating the miracle that you are. May you take a deep breath, experience true peace and joy, let go of an old tradition or two, and adopt a new one filled with deep meaning for you. May you find simple pleasure in the happy things of life—the laughter of a child, miracles in nature, a happy, safe home, and the genuine, warm smile of a friend. May you feel sunny, yet on those days when you feel less so, may you be gentle with yourself and know this too shall pass. I wish you all the magic this special time of year can bring. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my soul! Wishing you warm sunshine and miracles, Laurie Smith Visit me at: http://www.lauriesmith.com Subscription Information Spreading Sunshine is brought to you courtesy of: Laurie Smith P.O. Box 692 Tiburon, CA 94920 If you like what you read, please forward this newsletter to a friend! To receive this monthly newsletter, click here to subscribe to Spreading Sunshine now! I am extremely committed to privacy and simplifying life. You received this newsletter only because you have subscribed or someone close to you thought you might enjoy it. If you would like to be removed from our subscription list, click here to unsubscribe to Spreading Sunshine. Have a happy day! All information in this email is copyrighted © 2007 Laurie Smith. All rights reserved. |
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