Start And End Your Day With Inspiration - Art For Your Room

A few weeks ago I started looking into the feng shui of my house to see what I can do to increase the positive chi or energy in my home. I found a lot of things that were "off" and set out to rectify or improve what I could without breaking the bank. One of the things I decided to do was create a motivational piece that I  could wake up to every morning and see before I go to bed. Now, you don't have to believe in the whole feng shui business, but I think that this is a good idea for anyone. Sometimes we just need a little reminder. So pick a quote or even a single word that means a lot to you and put it on a canvas.

One thing that I have learned is that I have a greater control over my emotions than I thought. Emotions are a choice and we can find many things in our current lives to satisfy the choices of how we want to feel, but we may not conscious of these choices. If we want to be angry, it is easy to find something to be angry about. If we want to be happy, we are bound to find happiness somewhere if we are willing to look for it and be open to it. It can sometimes make us vulnerable, but vulnerably is what makes us real. I wanted to remind myself of this everyday and I wanted it pretty immediately so I went right to my craft room and had at it.

It's not the most artistic piece of mine, but it's the message that counts right? :) Just pick your favorite colors and get a wide brush and blend them for the background. In my case I had a tiny brush, so it took a bit longer. Then, write your message in a contrasting color. My walls are a light minty green, so I picked calming colors that went with my wall and bedding. When I see it, it makes me smile.

Quick Tips For Your Next Presentation

We've all heard that most people fear public speaking more than death itself. Do you feel the same when you are put in a situation where you have to talk in front of people? I am a bit shy and awkward as it is sometimes! I have given some decent presentations throughout my college career and do get some sort of adrenaline rush out of it. I have a certain amount of confidence when speaking in front of my college peers only because I know that each and everyone of them will be in my situation. However, speaking to my professional community frightens me terribly. I decided that the only way to get over this fear is to actually DO IT and PRACTICE. This is where my personal and career development goals kick in...

I was nominated and accepted to be a Diversity Ambassador for my work and my main responsibility is to provide internal and external presentations about the diversity efforts, programs, and potential within the company. I am one of two individual representing the IT department and there are a total of thirty Ambassadors. Once I become fully certified, I will need to make presentations regularly. I was hesitant to accept the nomination because I didn't want to speak in front of people at work. It wasn't until the last couple of hours of my acceptance window that I finally decided that I needed to challenge myself and face one of my biggest fears. Someone believed in me and I needed to learn to believe in myself too. I had to attend a series of quick courses on presenting and jotted down a few key points. Here is a link to my notes that you may find helpful: Presentation Tips.

I was at a work conference last weekend and I was really in awe of how well my CEO and the attending SVPs and guest speakers presented. It's easy to think that all these individuals were born with the skills to speak in front of a large audience, but they admitted that very few were good at presenting from the beginning. Here is where I go off on a small tangent... Seeing where they are in their careers now and understanding their dedication and hard work to get where they are was an eye-opening experience. We may not all have exactly what it takes to be a CEO no matter how hard we try, because there can only be so many... However, as long as we are realistic about what our potential is given our circumstances and environment, there is only one thing or person that can absolutely stop us on our path to personal success. US. If we decide that we cannot do something, we may not exert enough effort to be able to do it. If we decide that we don't want to do something, we may not do it at all. Our most immediate limitations are ourselves. Persistence and dedication will take us to the furthest point of success, while apathy and complacency leaves us at a standstill.

Challenge yourself to be better at something!

8 Minute Mediation - Week 1

I have been reading and following the book 8 Minute Mediation by Victor Davich and just wrapped up Week 1. Here is a preview of the book: Preview. The concept behind the book is pretty simple. The author makes meditation simple and quick by guiding readers through eight weeks of meditation with a different method each week and just eight minutes each day. The book is not focused on achieving Enlightenment or reaching some sort of spiritual epiphany through meditation. It would be great if you did along the way though! The main objective that it focuses is to use meditation as way of de-stressing and finding a calmer inner-self. Anyone can do it and it takes virtually no time at all. The book is extremely easy to follow and I feel like meditating, in combination with other improvements in my life, have helped make me a calmer person. You just have to take eight minutes of your time to sit and do absolutely nothing. The author also stresses that it's not necessary to think of nothing. I am not sure that is possible for me anyway :). The point is not to block thoughts, but rather to allow yourself to feel and think what does come to you. Allow the feelings to come through and accept/acknowledge them and simply let them go. This is the "Catch and Release" method and it is what the first week is based on. Once I started doing this in my meditation, I started noticing myself adopt this in my everyday life. I quickly found myself less aggititated, calmer, and less anxious. These are the instructions for the first week as found in the book:

Preparation:

• Set your timer for 8 minutes.
• Take your meditation position on your chair, comfortable and alert.
• Gently allow your eyes to close.
• Take a long, deep inhale that sweeps up your current worries, hopes, and dreams. Hold it for a moment. Then gently and slowly "sigh" it out.
• One more time. Deep breath. Release any remaining tension.
• Start your timer.

Instructions:

• Notice if you are controlling your breath. If so, release control. Relax.
• Notice that place in your body where you are most aware of the sensation of breathing. It may be your chest, diaphragm, or nostrils. There is no "right" place.
• Gently direct your attention to that place. We call it the "anchor point".
• With your attention on the anchor point, observe the natural rise and fall of the breath. Try to view this as not "your breath" but "the breath".
• Allow... allow... allow. There's no need to become involved or figure anything out.
• Thinking? No problem. Simply notice this. Gently return to your anchor point, your breath.
• Try to follow just one full in-and-out cycle of breath. If you can, then follow another. If you can't, fine. Just start over.
• Frustration? Irritation? Just notice these sensations. And return to your anchor point.
• Continue in this way. Simply observe the natural cycle of breath at your anchor point.
• Can you follow just one breath?
• Do this until your timer sounds.
• Repeat this technique for 8 minutes a day for one week.

Good luck and I hope you are on your way to a calmer you.

Compliment Cards

I worked at retail stores during most of college. Most of my work involved sales, so it was heavily customer service oriented. I am someone who cares a lot about my work, so naturally it was important that did my job well and gave my all to my customers. Perhaps because of this, I truly value good service experiences. People who deal with customers everyday see a variety of personalities and experience a range of customers' moods. There are always a few not so great experiences. Also, they are only human, so sometimes they might already be having a bad day themselves. I really appreciate it when someone provides me exceptional service despite that. I always try to find a way to thank them for being exceptional. It can be as simple as being an awesome customer in return. I thought a lot about this a couple weeks ago, and I came up with an idea of something small and simple... "compliment cards". Originally, I had planned to print business cards with a message like "Thanks for your help today. You were awesome!". It was going to be for my barista or maybe someone at a store who provided great assistance. However, I decided that I would leave them blank so I could write a personal message for each scenario and it didn't have to be service-related. I wanted to give compliments to anyone who I observed doing a kind act for anyone, not just me. I felt a little silly handing the cards out, but I finally gave two away today and it felt good! Here is an example of my cards:

Sure, it's a little cheesy but something simple like this can still put a smile on someone's face. If I can do something so simple and achieve that, then I am okay with being a cheesy :)