18. Ordinary Sparkling Moments. Reflect on the ordinary moments that bring you joy (e.g., the tea pot whistling, the sun setting). What moments would you like to relish in the coming year?

For this prompt, I decided to approach my response using a more visual technique. I created the mosaic above to reflect ordinary sparkling moments from 2011—moments that I hope to continue to cherish in the coming year. This mosaic represents such extraordinary happiness. I highly recommend putting together a little personal collage of happy moments/memories from 2011 that you can look back on at any time and feel a surge of joy :).

My Technique (Love reading others’ step-by-step processes so I thought it would be fun to share the nitty gritty details!)

(1) I spent about five minutes journaling ordinary sparkling moments from 2011. After this exercise, I had a list about a page long of happy moments + memories.

(2) Next, I brainstormed how I wanted to share this list. I could type the list and publish it in its raw form or capture the list in a more visual form. Since I have relied on words for most of my reverb11 responses, I chose to move outside my comfort zone and use the visual approach.

(3) I selected a mosaic photo template created by Pugly Pixel for Photoshop.

(4) I searched for photos* to capture a few of the ordinary sparkling moments on my list. After finding about 20 photos, I cropped and edited until I got down to just the right number of photos for this particular mosaic. I knew I was done when I looked at the mosaic and felt a strong emotional response to the collection of images all together :).

*I keep track of images that I find online by creating a new bookmark folder for particular blog posts. For example, for this post, I created a bookmark folder with the name: OSM (Ordinary Sparkling Moments). As I find photos, I bookmark the photo and save it to its post folder so I can easily find the image sources to link back to when I’m finalizing my post. I very rarely will share an image if I can’t find the source to reference.

Ordinary Sparkling Moments 2011 (Image Sources and Notes)

Blogshop Boston (Group Photo) | Carolyn + Lila Rose (Oct. 2011—I remember playing with Lila and feeling such joy. It was a weekend evening and my hubby and I were having a casual cosy night in. I asked him to take a spontaneous photo to capture this ordinary moment of bliss.) | Twinkle Lights (always make me happy) | Pink + Gold Wrapping (this is my new favorite color combination and inspired me to get more creative with my own holiday wrapping this year!) | Book Styling Photo (Leah Verwey shot and styled the most beautiful photos of my book. Looking at this photo and acknowledging this experience makes me incredibly proud and grateful for my book’s journey.) | Carolyn + Ben (Oct. 2011 in Paris—This photo was taken at a fabulous bistro in Paris on our first night. We were so excited to be celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary in such a special place, just the two of us.) | Cocoa and Hearts Painting (My hubby bought me this painting for our apartment. It has the most beautiful pinks and golds in it. In the evening, the gold sparkles and just looking at it brings a smile to my face.)

Related posts:

1. Ordinary Sparkling Moments
2. 11 Books from 2011
3. Beautiful people do not just happen.

Today, I’m sharing my responses to four of the Reverb11 prompts (prompts 14 – 17).

14. Marvel. What have you done well over the past year—the little stuff and the big stuff? How do you celebrate the positives?

• I had my wisdom teeth removed (something I’ve been afraid to do for awhile).
• I completed a semester of difficult coursework.
• I ran 21 participants in my research study (all in about one month!). I analyzed the data and presented my research on three separate occasions. I completed my research thesis.
• I completed a year long clinical practicum.
• I persevered through some really difficult situations and have become truly resilient.
• I wrote regularly on A Beautiful Ripple Effect.
• I participated in Blogshop and am practicing my new Photoshop techniques.
• I created a bucket list!

Celebrate the Positives

Over the past year, I’ve been trying to recognize and celebrate more of the positives. It’s easier to do this when we’re younger because a lot of the positives are celebrated by others—ribbons, awards, recitals, graduations, and so on. As we get “older,” it can feel a bit obnoxious to celebrate oneself. But it’s pretty easy to berate oneself, especially to others. Without practice, one can forget to celebrate the positives and simply focus on the negatives. Consider it part of your self-care routine to regularly check-in with yourself and find little ways to recognize what you’ve done well (even if that means simply writing down one thing you done well at the end of each day). Below is a few ways I’ve celebrated the positives over the past year.

• Daily Gratitude Journal: I began writing down one thing that went well during my day each evening. This new ritual enabled my mind to shift to a more positive focus before retreating to bed. Sometimes, I simply wrote that I opened my gratitude journal (yes, it’s really that simple and has a profound effect).
• After my wisdom teeth were removed, I downloaded a few favorite movies to watch while I recovered and really relished this time to myself to enjoy some much needed me time. It was my little celebration.
• After completing a very difficult semester, I celebrated by attending two of my closest friends’ weddings. I loved looking forward to these events during the long days and even longer evenings!
• My husband helped me celebrate receiving my master’s degree by wrapping up my diploma as a surprise present :).
• Celebrated a year of perseverance and triumph with my husband for our 1 year wedding anniversary.

15. Fear. The easiest way to overcome fear is to confront it. Rather than brainstorm ways to avoid your “fear,” shift your attention to the reasons for confronting your fear. What fear would you like to overcome in 2012?

Fear of the unknown. I would like to cultivate an attitude of curiosity rather than worry when it comes to dealing with the unknown.

16. Transitions. Over the past year, have you experienced any major/minor life transitions? How has your life changed?

YES. A major part of my life has changed over the past year. It’s something I’m still trying to figure out in my own way, in private. My life is changing a lot, and I look forward to the moment in time when this change is not so raw and tender. At that time, I’ll begin to share this transition in my life—what happened, what I’ve learned, what I’m learning (and need to learn), and how I move forward and see this transition as something that has only helped shape me into the person I will become. I’m slowly getting to this place (note: slowly), but when I arrive (which I can’t wait to occur), I know that I will have a treasury of new knowledge to help others dealing with difficult transitions in a truly profound way. That is what I know. And that is what fuels me to get through the difficult days, to see the glimmer of light that is beginning to appear.

17. Bliss. What are three things that make you feel the most blissed out? What can do in 2012 to invite more of that into your life?

Yoga | Writing | Creating

I need to prioritize these three activities—to recognize how important they are for me and to respect that truth. I am worthy of bliss, worthy of time dedicated solely to bliss.

image: once wed

Related posts:

1. The Freedom of Limits
2. Practicing Ease
3. The Fear of Rest

Today, I’m sharing my responses to four of the Reverb11 prompts. I’m feeling festive (and ready for some yummy holiday sweets) so I’m thinking of this post as a scrumptious 4 layer reverb cake.

9. Superpower. If you were a superhero, what would your power be?

I can’t pick just one power! So I, as the superhero, choose to have the power to change my superpower as needed/wanted. Now, that sounds like fun!

10. Soul Food. How do you nourish your soul? What activities are essential nutrients for your soul’s well-being?

journaling. yoga. reading. playing with lila rose. quiet time. lighting a calming candle. connecting with loved ones. blogging. self-compassion. planting gifts for my future self. mindful giving and receiving. writing thank-you notes and just because notes. getting a manicure. creative + imperfect projects. creating structures and systems and plans. organizing. gratitude practice. dreaming and believing and trusting.

11. Anticipation. What is the one thing that you are most looking forward to in 2012?

My sister’s wedding!!

12. Mistakes. It’s easy to focus on our mistakes—to reflect with 20/20 hindsight and berate ourselves for what went wrong. Bring your awareness to a mistake you’ve made over the past year. Unveil one positive lesson from that mistake. How can you actively use this lesson moving forward?

I allowed myself to take on the victim mentality this past year. This mentality was new for me and introduced a new emotion: anger. I held tightly to this identity as victim and this emotion of anger. I felt that anger was my way of gaining control. But I’ve learned that anger is toxic. I began to treat myself poorly, truly believing that I didn’t deserve to be treated better. This was a huge mistake, but one that I needed to make.

Positive Lesson: I can’t control how others treat me or how others value me, but I can control how I treat and value myself as a person. (this distinction is huge!)

Moving Forward: I will try to notice when I begin to feel that I am placing more value on what other people think about me than what I think about me. After noticing, I will gently redirect my focus to protecting my self-worth (magic ingredient: self-compassion).

image: alissa olivares via pinterest

Related posts:

1. Practicing Ease
2. Beautiful people do not just happen.
3. If You Could Eliminate One Word from Your Brain Forever

8. Limits. We often learn our limits the hard way. Were there any limits you realized this past year? Alternately, what self-imposed limits were you able to move beyond this year?

I’ve noticed quite a few limits over the past year. Some of these limits I’ve moved beyond; however, for many of the limits I’m still working on decreasing their power within my life (one little action at a time).

- Reality vs. Vision. I’ve limited myself by thoughts of where I imagined myself to be at this point in my life. When my reality has not aligned with my planned vision, I have focused solely on how to regain this alignment—how to “fix” what has gone wrong. This thinking has limited my ability to create a new vision and realize that just because life is different than I imagined, that I don’t need to “fix” it. This new vision can be exciting. I can continue to dream big and trust my intuition even though things didn’t work out the way I had originally planned. I am working to weaken the self-imposed limits and look at my life with a bit more curiosity rather than certainty.

- Past vs. Future. I’ve let my past (successes and failures) hinder my ability to rewrite the future—to create new habits, new dreams, and so on. This limit is difficult to move beyond, but something I hope to focus more attention on in 2012.

- Actions vs. Emotions. I also realized that I’ve limited my actions based on my emotions. When things got tough, it was easy for my emotions and thoughts to dictate my actions. I realized this limit during 2010, but during 2011 have made great strides in challenging the extent to which I allow my emotions and thoughts to control my actions.

- Blogging. I’m no longer trying to be the “perfect” blogger. I am playing with different topics and having much more fun as a result. It’s becoming easier for me to let down my guard and be more vulnerable in a public forum and at the same time to continue to write inspiring posts about lessons learned. I’ve learned it’s okay to show that you’re human and filled with flaws. It doesn’t devalue what you do know and the knowledge you can share with others. I’ve learned a lot from wearing so many hats and want to continue to share knowledge from my different experiences. I don’t fit into a particular “category” within the blogging world—design, fashion, lifestyle, family, diy, business, extreme personality, etc.. I’ve tried to make myself fit into a category in the past, read countless e-books on blogging, taken courses on the topic, etc.. and while it’s interesting intellectually to understand the culture of these different blog communities, I’m okay not following the rules and letting myself organically manifest my own genre of blogging.

- Paper Products. I have an extreme love for beautiful paper products. However, I’ve always limited myself to being a consumer or simply a paper groupie. But over the past year, I’ve begun creating sketches for different designs and ideas. And I’ve thrown out many of these sketches—attributing them to the products of daydreaming. But I can’t stop thinking about them and realize that there is no need to limit myself because this feels so indulgent and crazy! I told my husband about this crazy idea and he didn’t understand why I wouldn’t go for it. I’ve done far scarier things in the past. Why not give it a try? Finally, I took the first step and reached out to the one person I trust completely to help me bring this dream to life. And in 2012, I’m going to make this dream happen. I’m releasing this self-imposed limit. I’m going to bring this idea to life.

- Structure and Flexibility. I am most productive when I’m in my normal day to day routine. I crave the structure of knowing how and where my day will unfold. My office space is my landing pad, the place I feel organized and prepared to attack any project. Over the past year, I’ve been traveling far more than usual which has challenged my ability to feel grounded while on the go. And I haven’t done too well! I realize that I need to create a bit more structure for myself when I’m away from my “landing pad” so I can maintain a certain level of productivity. There are emails to answer, posts to write, projects to move forward, and so on. This self-imposed limit is going to be the most difficult to diminish, but one that is necessary for me to confront in order to feel a bit more at ease when traveling.

image: artsyville

Related posts:

1. Beautiful people do not just happen.
2. Marvel, Fear, Transitions, and Bliss
3. 4 Layer Reverb Cake

4. Beauty. How have your standards of beauty shifted in the past year?

While reflecting on the topic of beauty, I’ve recognized two common threads: self-confidence and self-compassion. And these two threads are nourished by each other. When I look at a photo of myself, I don’t notice the outfit that I’m wearing or the makeup on my face but rather the expression in my eyes. Did I feel confident in that moment? If so, I see that reflected in the photo and I see beauty. Recently, I’ve also noticed that I receive compliments about random items (e.g., the color of my eye shadow, the pattern on my top) when I am showing up from a place of self-confidence. I think we feed off of one another’s confidence—it has a very positive ripple effect. When I do receive a compliment, I am mindful to say “thank you” rather than belittle the compliment (e.g., “what, you mean this old eye shadow that I got from the bottom of my junk drawer?”).

Over this past year, I’ve noticed the need to infuse more self-compassion into my life. Self-compassion directly impacts my confidence and enables me to remain (mostly) in control of my confidence rather than allow external forces to dictate my current level of confidence.

What I do know: Beauty is complex and deeply personal. Each person sees and feels something different when they look into the mirror. What we see and what we feel doesn’t stem from a number on the scale, the label on our clothes, or the color of our skin.

To say to yourself, “I am beautiful,” is a gift worthy of your attention. To nurture this gift, we must be willing to be vulnerable, to ask ourselves tough questions, to dig deep and give ourselves compassion (especially when we don’t feel that we deserve it), and hold onto our worth with clenched fists.

image: sketch your heart out (modified by me for a beautiful ripple effect)

Related posts:

1. The Freedom of Limits
2. 4 Layer Reverb Cake
3. Ordinary Sparkling Moments 2011

Dream Home: Bringing Your Dreams Into Your Home

When you think of your dream home are you thinking about the size, layout, location, and architecture? Or are you imagining a place that supports your most cherished values and reflects your highest aspirations—an instrument for realizing your dreams? A dream home should not only contain everything you want in a space, but also everything you want in your life. This gives new meaning to the expression dream home!

Our homes are a reflection of who we are. And when we change the reflection, we also change. Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our dwellings and afterwards, our dwellings shape us.” Just think, if your home does indeed shape your life, it serves you to consciously create a space that reflects your dreams. You can do this by creating visual representations of your intentions, values, and aspirations in your surroundings. Your home will then become a source of inspiration and a place of transformation.

As we often say, your home may support you, inspire you, and become the vehicle through which you manifest your goals. You can realize dreams with the help of your home…

Here’s how it works:

Step One. Create a life vision by writing down your goals. This is a powerful first step. Many times, when our goals are not manifesting it’s because we’re not entirely sure what it is we want. When we are clear with our intentions, often things just start to happen with little effort on our part. To learn more about creating your life vision, or life design as we like to call it, read our blog post: Designing Your Life.

Step Two. Bring your dreams into your home. You can do this by placing visual affirmations in your home or by creating the experience of living as though your dreams were fulfilled. For example, if you desire a romantic relationship, place visual reminders of your ideal relationship in your home. This could be a work of art that symbolizes love, or it could be letters, photographs, or objects that represent the relationship of your dreams. You could also take your written intentions from step one, and put them in a special place—perhaps on a table or shelf with some other special objects, under a plant or flowers, in a beautiful box, or under a book about love. Or you can create the experience of romance by designing a romantic bedroom for two—two bedside tables, two reading lamps, and soft, cozy linens. If your goal is to attract more wealth, then create a home or room that looks expensive or feels wealthy. Decorate with objects or hang artwork and photographs that symbolize wealth—they don’t actually have to be expensive—they just need to represent wealth to you—like a photograph of a place you’d like to vacation. You can also give yourself the experience of abundance—such as sleeping on high thread count sheets that feel luxurious or treating yourself to chocolate covered strawberries on a pretty tray. If you would like to improve or change careers, place reminders of your ideal career around your home… you get the idea! Visual affirmations are very personal and individual—what represents ideal love, wealth, and career will be different for each person, so just be creative and trust your instincts. Creating these visual representations of your dreams will shift the energy in your space, and within you, helping you remain focused on your intentions and attracting the people and circumstances to make your dreams a reality.

Here’s why it works:

This process is similar to visualization—only in your home you have the chance to take it a step further by creating a tangible expression of your desires—from your mind into your environment. Once you’re focused on your dreams and goals and are feeling good about yourself, you’re more apt to attract positive people and opportunities. It goes back to the universal principle that what you put out into the world comes back to you—or in other words, “like attracts like.” When you begin to think, feel, act, and live a certain way—you’re more apt to be that way.

When you create a true dream home, your home is an extension of who you are and can embody what you want in your life. Your home becomes a solid foundation where you begin and end the day surrounded by your dreams. Not only will your words and thoughts shift, but your feelings and personal energy shift as well. You then carry the energy of your home with you out into the world, thereby attracting more of the same.

By clarifying your intentions, defining your goals, visualizing positive outcomes, and creating an environment filled with symbols of your goals, you will be able achieve your goals with ease.

Sisters Laura and Alison are authors of The Peaceful Nursery: Preparing a Home for Your Baby, bloggers, consultants, and co-founders of a home and lifestyle company called Inspired Everyday Living. They believe that by making simple changes in your home, you can transform your life. For more information about their work visit www.inspiredeverydayliving.com where you can read their blog, view press clippings, learn more about their book, eGuides, and apps, or watch video clips.

Related posts:

1. Inspired Everyday Living: Transform Your Home and Life (Week 2)
2. Inspired Everyday Living: Transform Your Home and Life (Week 1)
3. Inspired Everyday Living: 14 Steps for Changing Habits that Create Clutter (Week 4)

Why are you doing what you are doing? Without a goal to connect to your actions, it is difficult to maintain momentum and motivation. When the actions of a task are tedious and not intrinsically exciting, it can feel as if there is no larger purpose to them. But there is always a goal, and without acknowledging it, you are walking down a dark and windy path with no map in hand.

Reconnect with Your Overarching Goal

Get Excited. Reframe your work in a way that excites you. What will spark your energy? Use your imagination to create a compelling reason to attract you to your work. Try thinking about how you could persuade someone else to do what you do, and be as genuine as possible. Find the silver lining and magnify it. In his groundbreaking book, The Now Habit, Neil Fiore writes, “The type of work and commitment that is more compatible with the Now Habit is a commitment to a mission that focuses your energies and brings about inner harmony, a commitment that comes from a pull toward a goal and an excitement about the process of getting there.”

Create a Goal Statement. There are many ways to create a goal statement that you can use to remind yourself of your greater purpose. For the purpose of overcoming analysis paralysis, I try to create a statement that is specific to the task at hand and has a deadline within four weeks. Let’s start with an example that I recently utilized (Thank you to Aby Garvey for teaching me this wonderful goal-setting technique!).

“Today is September 1, 2010. I am confident and calm now that my research proposal is complete.”

• Include a specific date in your goal statement. Mark this date in your calendar.
• What will you complete by your set date? Don’t set yourself up to fail. Keep your expectations realistic.
• How will you feel when you complete this goal?
• Create your goal statement using the steps outlined above and display it where you can see it throughout the day in order to maintain focus on why you are doing what you are doing! It can be helpful to create sub-goal statements as well if your project is especially long and arduous. To create a sub-goal statement, you follow the same formula as outlined above, but use specific milestones toward the main goal. For example, “Today is August 12, 2010. I am confident and calm now that my research proposal’s appendix materials are complete.”

Restart Your Engine with Intention and Ease

Now that you have faced your analysis paralysis head on, you have tremendously weakened its resolve. Spend a few minutes refocusing on the task at hand. Do you have everything you need to complete your work? Collate all of your materials near your command center. Then, determine what actions you want to take today. Rather than focus on completion, concentrate on starting to maintain momentum.

Create a Mind-Map. If you are still feeling resistance, utilize a mind-map to break down the actions into micro-actions (each action should take less than 5 minutes). In the middle of the mind-map, you want to write your main goal to keep it front and center. For reference, you can see my simple example below.

Focus on Action. You are ready to take action! Often, preparing to take action can become quite draining so you need to rev yourself up again to actually make progress. To help give you that much-needed push, try the following focusing exercise from The Now Habit. The exercise below is a shorter version than the one outlined within the book (the full exercise begins on page 150 of the paperback copy of the book).

“Focusing is a two-minute procedure for shifting rapidly to the flow state by replacing guilt and stress with stress-free focus on the present.”

With each breath I am tapping into my creative self, opening more and more of my brain power to approach my task. My conscious mind may not know yet what to do, just as it doesn’t know how a puzzle will look until it’s finished. I may not know how I’m going to do this, but soon something will come to me, and then a little bit more will come. I will find the process very interesting, because while I don’t know yet what the solution will be, I do know that I will do it, and that part of me already knows how to do it. It will also be interesting to see how time feels different at this level of the mind and to discover about how much I will accomplish in such a short period of clock time.

Counting up from 1 to 3, I am becoming more quietly alert, and I am now ready to work in a focused, concentrated way, rapidly going from not knowing to knowing how to start: 1. I am more alert, relaxed, and energized, ready to use the superior wisdom of my subconscious mind. 2. I am ready to come all the way up to full alertness with my eyes open, eager to work in conjunction with the creative faculties of my mind. 3.

By taking action, you will begin to create momentum by weakening the resistance you feel between you and the finish line. Moving forward, you will likely confront analysis paralysis again, but each time you do, you can approach it with strength rather than letting it seize your control.

Chime in! What are your thoughts on getting more done or analysis paralysis? Or just say hello, it’s always nice to know that others can relate :).

… For some great discussion on the topic of inspiration, head on over to Spring for a brand new video!

Related posts:

1. How to Take Action on a Daunting Project
2. How to Talk Your Way to Greater Productivity
3. Get More Done #1: How to Confront and Weaken Analysis Paralysis