Bliss or Bust

Life is About

An excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts follows.

Life is about wanting and growing. You will be better tomorrow than you are today if you can go with the flow of that.

It is good to want. It is good to allow. It pulls life through you. You want more and that is the juice of life.

Can you enjoy the wanting of what you want? Don’t pine away for it! Be glad there are things on your want list. Be glad you want to get better at something or that you want to feel something more. That is a sign you have more living to do.

Now, enjoy what you want in your mind before you even have it.

Tiny and Powerful Shifts

An excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts follows.

There is power in tiny mindset shifts. Like a breath of fresh air, you can turn a habitual thought around — and it doesn’t take much. With clarity of intention and presence of mind, you can make new distinctions that change your whole perspective.

Knowing the feeling you are seeking makes all the difference. Now you know what thoughts to keep and reproduce. Once that tiny shift in perspective is found, it brings a refreshing outlook that has the power to help you improve your results across the board.

Always Another Level

An excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts follows.

Will you get to that place where you no longer feel frustrated, afraid, angry, or stuck? Do so and listen. Sense your intuition. You will know the perfect time to take inspired action. Once you start doing that on a regular basis, your life will be enhanced. It can get better. There is always another level. Walking with a calm mind makes the path light up. You’ll know what step to take and when.

Falling Out of the Flow

An excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts follows.

As a spiritual being having a physical experience, there are times when finding the flow is easy. The better you get at recognizing that sweet spot, the more painful and frustrating it can feel when you fall out of the flow. The thing to remember above all is that falling out is only temporary. You can, and you will find your way back. So keep your thoughts general and positive. You are, after all, alive and still wanting to create and experience more, and that is great! That is how it should be. So find some nice ways to nurture yourself. Soothe yourself. Rest.

Silence Option

An excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts follows.

Speaking is intention in action. What you talk about demonstrates the direction of your momentum. What you choose to say out loud is revealing. You show where your focus is and where it generally hangs out by the words you put together and release into the world.

Listen to yourself. Use what you say as additional feedback as to where your focus is. Consider, do your words reflect the love side of the scale or the fear side of the scale? Much better to practice silence if you discover that you are demonstrating the fear side of the scale more than you realized.

Using All Senses

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

Intuitive guidance is always present and can be tapped every step of the way. Are you using it? Life will flow better for you when you do. Intuition is well recognized as the sixth sense. It’s a body sense just like sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. It’s like your whole body is an intuitive antenna. So using intuition is just a matter of paying attention to the incoming signals and learning how to interpret them. When you do, you will be using all your senses as you go through life.

Powerful Clarity

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

When you know exactly how you want to feel, you become undeniable as you stay the course. Let the power of your clear desire propel you forward. Take inspired action toward what you want, consistently, from this moment forward. Entertain no thought of whether you’re worthy of it or not because that’s irrelevant. You are worthy. Enjoy the process.

Watch Not Broken

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

The watch is not broken. Nothing needs to be fixed. Everything is as it is. Find peace with that. You are where you are and where you are has its perks. Find them.

What can you appreciate at this moment? Go big if you must. Are you breathing? Does your heartbeat? Did the Sunrise? Do you see to it that all that occurs as it should? No, but you are a beneficiary of it. You are lucky.

What other abundance is in your life? Appreciate as much as possible and often. Appreciation is the key.

A Cornerstone for Self-Improvement

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

If you want to make a permanent change to improve yourself in any way, then the importance of feeling good cannot be overestimated. Many people don’t realize that they can feel good whenever they want to and without needing exercise, food, drink, drugs, permission from others, approval of others, or any other crutch they may have developed over the years.

The first step is to realize that the way you tend to feel will repeat over and over and that whatever you focus on directly affects how you feel. So spend more time feeling better to get momentum for self-improvement. Make a minute-by-minute practice of caring about how you feel and managing your focus and thoughts so that you feel your best.

Like What You See

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

Many people have a habit of noticing what’s not “right” about others. They may feel judged themselves, so they are passing along the pain. Or, maybe they like the drama. The thing is, the more attention given to behaviors that are mock-worthy, the more mock-worthy behaviors are noticed even about oneself. Then one lives in fear of being mocked.

If you recognize that it’s a mental habit of yours to notice what’s wrong with others, it’s time to make a new habit—one of detecting what you like about others. Practice seeing at least one thing you like about every person you see or come in contact with. If you can’t find something you like fairly quickly, then ask yourself, “What is the opposite? What do I like instead?” Take your mind off in that direction.

Noticing Inspiration

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

Plan ahead to feel inspired. You can anticipate feeling inspired soon and often whether it is about a certain decision you want to make or just in general. Calmly move forward knowing that inspiration is all around you. Notice it now. You will likely find yourself accidentally inspired a couple of times a day even when you first begin to feel for it. You can plan on realizing more and more inspired moments as you go through your days.

Learn to translate the signals of your intuition in your own unique way by developing an agreed-upon vocabulary. You can trust your intuition. You are loved wholly and unconditionally, similarly to how you would look upon a dear child. An important first step is to learn to distinguish the difference between the mental chatter of fear and the warm knowing of intuition.

Present Focus

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

All that happened before is part of the process that brought you to now. And that is all. Just a step along the way. If you notice that you often look back with regret for how you handled a situation or decision, try letting it go. You can be sure you did the best you could with the info you had at the time. You can also try switching your thinking to something more relevant — like how you want to feel now. 

The past does not deserve any of your present focus unless you can use past memories to help you feel good now. For example, remembering how you felt during especially joyous experiences in your life, or remembering times you’ve felt certain ways that you want to feel again: like when you’ve felt lucky, adventurous, inspired, sexy, or proud.

Our Homeschool Adventures

The beautiful red rocks of Sedona Arizona.

I’ve got a great view today as I take my son and his friend to Sedona, Arizona, to visit the mountain bike festival. They are too thrilled to get a chance to go, if only for a day due to tight schedules, and I am happy to be the driver and escort.

After perusing the vendor tents quickly and, of course, seeing what lunch has in store at the food trucks, the boys wanted to make a run to a trail they wanted to hit while here. It’s like a dream for them, and we’re getting it done before the rain comes.

How cool it is that I can sit on this rock during a break in my hike and write a post to share and send out right away and from right here!

Trips like this have been the joy of homeschooling for me. Traveling is expensive and often inconvenient, but our adventures provide bonding time, priceless memories, and learning experiences for us all. We talk about budgeting and logistics and how to work within the system, among other things like the culture and history of the area, and all these things come up naturally in the process.

My next favorite part of the unschooling process has been how the kids get me interested in activities that I quite likely never would have explored otherwise.

It was quite a switch; I have to admit, to learn to pull back on what I wanted to show them and let them show me what they wanted to show me instead, especially about athletic activities.

A woman taking a hiking break sitting on the red rocks of Sedona Arizona.

I placed my kids in all the sports that my husband and I liked to play as kids, such as swimming, gymnastics, soccer, basketball, volleyball, and tennis. They pretty much wanted nothing of it except for swimming when they were tiny and tennis when they were in elementary school. That dumbfounded me because I loved those activities so much.

But after a couple of years of homeschooling, I learned to sit back and let them come to me with ideas, and I would occasionally ask them what they wanted to try when lulls occurred. It was magical how they stepped up with enthusiasm in many activities that I never thought to offer.

I learned that when I gave them space, they took the lead, and that’s precisely what I wanted to develop in them, personal responsibility and the ability to take the initiative.

Intuitive Messages

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

There are many ways your intuition can get a message to you. You will start to pick them up once you’ve learned to quiet the mental chatter. 

You might notice a certain song gets stuck in your head out of nowhere or when listening to music you might notice some words suddenly get highlighted. Or, you might notice images that seem to be brought into focus. 

Someone who speaks to you could say certain words that bridge a connection for you, or you might just feel a tingle in your body that lets you know an idea is resonating. 

Very importantly, notice the words you say to others. Those words are often meant for you too, especially if you find opportunity to say the same things over again to different people in the same day. Others are a mirror reflecting us back to ourselves.

Look for these types of signs and don’t be afraid to say to yourself, “I note the emphasis on blah right now. What does it mean?” Often your intuition will supply the answer through something else noticed or felt. By asking, you will begin to develop a vocabulary with your intuition. 

Be Expansive

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

Whatever you like about yourself, appreciate that specifically and often. The most important thing is that you feel good. Take it easy on yourself.

Pay attention to your emotions and do something about it when you notice you aren’t feeling good — change your focus! Be open and expansive about allowing yourself to feel good. It’s not easy to let go of how you’ve been thinking, but it’s worth the effort if you want different results.

You are where you are, but you can start again at any time. It doesn’t matter what happened before. What matters is what happens next, and your results going forward are directly related to feeling good now.

Practice Larger Perspectives

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

When feelings of justified anger arise, find a larger perspective. You can practice diffusing and releasing feelings of anger. Do it for your own wellbeing, not for their sake.

Looking at all the details of the situation fuels the fire. So take the opposite tactic to snuff it out and redirect your creative energy where it can serve you best.

Get general and give the benefit of the doubt if you want to get back to the love side of the scale. You can soften your response to frustration or irritation rather than anger. Soothe yourself. Learn to give “outs” to whoever or whatever you feel angry about. Go as big as you need to in order to feel better.

Give ridiculous outs. Laugh as a silly thought that excuses them pops into your head, and you’ll feel less angry. It’s vital that you do so you can move up to a more powerful feeling on the love side of the scale rather than continuing down the fear side of the scale.

Women Explorers

I’m trying out the reblogging feature after one of my posts was reblogged this week for the first time ever as far as I know. Thanks to Gloria Michael for reblogging my post, “Teaching and Learning.” Very cool.

This is my first reblog of another blogger’s post. See, “Women Explorers – Journey to the Last Frontier” by Alec J. Rosen.

Today is the first day of Women’s History Month. Let’s take a look at some women explorers and adventurers that changed world history, for the better: Amelia Earhart, Bessie Coleman, Junko Tabei, Valentina Tereshkova, and Ann Bancroft […]

Women Explorers — Journey to the Last Frontier …

Ask for a Refill

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

Notice those times when you feel deflated. Nothing is really wrong. Your mind might feel quiet yet not entirely calm. It is more of a ho-hum feeling. At those times, recognize that it’s time for a refill. A refill of love. A refill of clarity. A refill of bliss. Ask your spiritual self to fill you up again. Take a deep breath and allow your soul to fill your body up. Soak in the rejuvenating bliss for a minute and feel your body brighten up again. You can feel lighter and brighter anytime you want to. Just ask for a refill.

Learning and Teaching

What follows is an excerpt from my book Bliss Or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts.

Life is a continuous journey of learning and teaching. Do it again. Do it again. Do it again. You will know when it’s time to move on and learn something new.

Learn-able material is everywhere. Teachers are everywhere. You can learn from everyone who enters your space, no matter their age or experience.

Self-reflection is integral to the learning process. We are all mirrors for each other while exploring and learning. Instead of resisting, enjoy the process.

Be an eternal student eager to learn more about what you want to create. Teach through your ability to hold a high vibration and fearlessly create your life story. Teach by answering when asked. Be generous with your knowledge, information, and positive energy.