Has it been "awhile" ?

It's been awhile for me - I haven't written this blog in over a year and I felt like returning to writing this morning.  I've missed it and as I sit here on this early Thursday morning, I can almost feel the gratitude of this day washing over me.  Our house is so quiet, peaceful, serene.  The sun light is grazing my cheek from the bay window pouring in and illuminating my thoughts and surroundings.

Wow. This is my life.  I look around the living room, kitchen, scan the backyard... its all ours.  Chloe, our 8 year old Maltese shifts position and I hear let out a small "sigh" - ahhh... she is mirroring my inner most feelings.  Ahhh.... how grateful I am for this day.  For the life we have created.  For this beautiful home, my friends, my health, my marriage, our families.  I am so aware of how precious it all is.

This gratitude work that I have been doing daily has been the most beautiful start and finish to my day.  I begin each day now with writing 10 things/people etc. that I am grateful for and why.  Then, I finish each day and try to find the moment I was most grateful for - as I prepare to fall asleep thinking about how many things I am grateful for from the day I realize just how truly blessed I am.

How do you practice gratitude? Do you have techniques you utilize?

Make it your best day yet...

Love
Marni

Email marni with your thoughts! marniblythe@gmail.com

When a Bad Thing Becomes a Great Thing...

On Tuesday March 6th at 11:15AM, all employees at the advertising agency I worked for received an email that the company would be unexpectedly shutting its doors for business that day.  It turns out that the owners were allegedly involved in embezzlement of investor and bank funds to the tune of about $30 million dollars. 

When I received that email, thankfully I was with my friend and co-worker - Anne Marie Bass. The survivor in us roared as we realized we had both been preparing for this opportunity our entire careers and about an hour later over lunch and a beer we began forming our new company.  


Front Row Communications was born - a phoenix rising from the ashes - as we began to realize how blessed and how aligned for success we truly were and are.  

From a place of pure integrity, hard work and intention - we began putting this new company together, being supported by Spirit in every way possible.  We have marveled at how ready clients are for a new paradigm and our new company is based on a platform of education and empowerment for marketers and business owners in today's world.  


Anne Marie and my business partnership is based upon core values and true integrity - while we could get caught up in ego stuff like money and power - we both realize that the whole is so much bigger than the sum of its parts.  We work hard every day at clear communication and making sure our egos stay in check.  We have brought in vendor partners to fulfill the needs of our clients - and we are awed by the years of experience, talent and creativity that's emerging.  


By far the most incredible part of all of this has been the natural ebb and flow of allowing and accepting in each moment of each day. Constantly remembering to ask ourselves, "what wants to happen here?"  Realizing that sometimes we have to wait and allow things the time they need to grow.  This has been a challenge for me and a practice! Anne Marie helps me stay in balance - we help one another - and I am so grateful.  


We received our first payment for services from our first client on Friday March 30th - just 18 business days after we opened our doors - and we know that's just the beginning.  As long as we remember who we truly are and what our purpose is we will be extremely successful. 


Accepting and allowing - realizing that sometimes a thing that seems bad can be really really great! 

Does Talking to Myself Make Me Crazy?

Living in NYC for 12 years I passed my share of people on the street who would be having full out-loud conversations with themselves, I'm sure you know the type.  


We usually classify those folks as being "crazy," despite the fact that all of us are having those same internal conversations only we keep them neatly tucked away inside our own heads.

Do you know what I'm speaking of? The record player of incessant thought, that voice inside of us that can be our biggest critic, naysayer or harbinger of disaster? The voice that can keep us stuck in the muck?  


If you know what I'm talking about, congratulations - you just made the first step toward awareness of your ego voice and that first step of presence is truly a gift.  Being on the road to finding your highest self is a life long practice! 


The beautiful part about our journey here on this Earth at this exact moment is that you and I are the ultimate creators of our lives.  


We have a choice in EVERY SINGLE moment about what we are allowing ourselves to think.  


Our thoughts create our reality.  When you change one single thought, you literally change your experience on this Earth. 


                                           STOP for a moment and think about that. 

   ~When you change one single thought, you literally 

change your experience on this Earth.~

It's something so simple ~ yet can be really difficult for all of us.  Here are some simple steps that I use and find helpful:

Awareness is the First Step

What are you thinking about? How do those thoughts make you feel? Are you joyful? Or do you feel sad, mad, angry, afraid? Remember that your thoughts are merely the sum of all the experiences you have had in your lifetime.  It's important to stop and see if those thoughts are based on truth or on a fiction you have created.  It's really easy to tell ourselves stories and make those stories real. 

"Your Higher Self is pure joy. You know what is not aligned with your Higher Self by how good it feels. If you feel good, then it’s aligned with your Higher Self. 

If you feel bad, then it’s not aligned." - Anna Conlan

Create a Sacred Space to Meditate In

This doesn't have to take up a lot of room - just a space where you can go to sit and work on quieting the mind.  If you have never meditated before, try just focusing on your breath as it enters and leaves the body.  Try it for 2 min, 5 min etc. and increase your time as it feels comfortable. If you feel the mind wandering - gently bring your focus back to your breath.  

Practice Journaling 

Journaling is an excellent way for us to examine our thoughts and see where they are coming from.

How do you practice being of "no mind" ? What is your experience like?

Please share this with others!

Love

Marni

The Power of Integrity

Scratching my head this morning, trying to remember when it was or where it was that I read the definition of integrity.  

"Integrity is being the same person you are inside your 

house as you are outside of your house." 

We go through life and sometimes we believe that in order to advance ourselves in our relationships or career that we have to be someone else.  Take on a different persona, play a different part.  Have you ever noticed someone's behavior change when they are with different people? 

The beautiful part of being in integrity is that you never have a sleepless night wondering if someone will "find out" that you hid the truth.  

I read the Wisdom Commons post this morning and loved how they talked about integrity:

"Integrity means being true to ourselves and being honest, upright, and decent in our dealings with others. When we are guided by integrity, our thoughts and words are in line with each other; our actions align with our principles. Our conduct speaks for us, more eloquently than words ever could. It becomes the basis for both reputation and self-respect. Integrity demands courage but delivers untroubled sleep.

Developing integrity requires internal honesty, because we can’t be honest with others unless we are honest with ourselves. It requires self awareness, since we cannot accurately communicate what we do not know.

People of integrity can be counted on to stand up for what it right, even if it is unpopular, and to behave with honor even when there is no one around to see. Integrity allows other people to trust us because they know that we value our commitments and seek to live by them. It is one of the cornerstones of loving relationships and shared endeavors."

What would the world be like, what would your life be like if we were all just a little more honest with ourselves?  

The Language of Your Soul

"Feelings?" It's a tough one to define, let alone try to understand within our own experience.  According to the dictionary, feelings are defined as, "capacity for emotion." 

  
I have recently discovered through the loving encouragement of my future husband and my foray into this spiritual/internal quest, that I used all sorts of tactics for years to keep my true feelings at arms length. 


I disavowed any feelings outside of joy & happiness for a long time because it was just too painful to allow the other feelings in (e.g. anger, sadness, fear) however, the funny thing about not allowing yourself to feel those other emotions is that they start showing up anyway. (That stomach ache that won't go away... IBS attacked my body for years, the migraine headaches, etc.) 


Whether you ascribe to the metaphysical, hippy/dippy, mind/body/spirit philosophy or not ~ its hard to deny that there is a connection between our emotional state and our bodies.  Doctors agree that, when we feel good in our heart and mind, we usually feel good in our bodies too.  When we have pain and "heartache" our bodies respond to that as well. 


We all have the innate ability to heal or hurt our bodies.  Ever heard the expression when someone is just "sick over something?" Usually it has to do with some experience in their lives which is manifesting itself in the body as sickness.  


So how do you begin the journey to understanding your own feelings? Here is my process:

1. Awareness - Just becoming aware that you are feeling something is a huge step in the right direction.
2. Define the Emotion - Keep it simple: Mad, Sad, Glad, Hurt, Afraid.  Try each one of these emotions on until you find the correct one. 
3. Consider Journaling - My friend Donna Belt taught me this! This isn't the kind of journaling you may be thinking of. This is journaling in a stream of consciousness kind of way that allows you to deeply into your own spirit and ask yourself the tough questions that only you have the answers to.  Most times (especially women!) go to their friends & family seeking council when the first step is to turn within and have some self exploration time first. 
• Tips for journaling 
• Purchase a special journal that you feel excited to write in - one with colors or design that appeals to you. 
• Purchase/find a special pen that you enjoy writing with - one whose ink is pleasing to you 
• Make a ritual out of it - purchase a candle (Soy Signature has some great ones!) and light it each time you get ready to journal. Create sacred space in your home.
• See what comes up for your naturally and then write it down - for example if you are feeling mad about how your boss is treating you at work you may write down "I am angry about my boss and the way she is treated me"the next question would be, "Why do I feel angry" then you would write "I feel angry because..." then write what comes up for you.  
• Remember you are not writing this for anyone else but YOU! So write with an open heart, don't edit yourself and see what happens.

I would LOVE to hear about your process and how journaling is helping you.

Love,

Marni 

In Honor of Valentine's Day, I wanted to Republish this Message from my teacher Joseph Russo, you can subscribe to his Thoughts to Live By: A Guide to Creative Consciousness or you can email him by clicking here

CREATING LASTING LOVE

When we feel a special ‘chemistry’ with someone we may be tempted to believe that we’ve met our soul-mate and fall helplessly in love. But this kind of uncontrollable romantic reaction is unpredictable, and if it happens is unlikely to last.


This is why dating can provoke high anxiety and why many romantic relationships soon struggle or fail, even if they start off with great chemistry -- at any moment a new desire, judgment or turn of events can cool or upset things.

As wonderful as it may seem or be, romantic love is usually based on undependable subjective reactions which make it very chancy.


To keep love alive, romantic love needs to grow into a higher and more stable form of love -- a more mature true love.

Mature true love doesn’t arise from subjective chemistry as romantic love does. It arises from conscious will. It doesn’t just happen. It’s a deliberate free choice made at a clear, calm moment of conscious self-possession: to commit, care and give unconditionally to another person. At this level one fully accepts another -- failings and all -- 

and places their well-being on a par with their own.

So if you’re seeking true and lasting love, don’t look to accidental chemistry ... look to a higher-will capacity.

That’s where the power to produce lasting love lies. At a mature consciously willing level, two people not only select and deliberately choose to love each other, they make that choice daily, again and again and again, continually growing their feelings of love.

Thus, while romantic love may only be an capricious accident of human nature, true lasting love is a deliberate ongoing creative act of mature human will.

Goodness and joy to all, Joseph.

TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE, EMAIL: joseph.russo3@att.net

SPREAD AWARENESS ... WHY NOT FORWARD THESE THOUGHTS TO A FRIEND? SEE BELOW FOR SOCIAL MEDIA SHARE BUTTONS OR

Paying It Forward ~

Yesterday, I was getting a coffee at Dunkin' Doughnuts and something within me said, "pay for the guys coffee behind you." It was so much fun and I especially enjoyed the DD worker's expression and reaction when I told her what I wanted to do. She looked at me a little like I was crazy. My only request to her? "The message is to pay it forward." After all...

What you put out there, is what you receive....

Found a wonderful blog this morning called www.thehalfwaypoint.net, and here were the 50 tips on how you can pay it forward.

Enjoy!

I have learned from experience that when we commit an act of kindness for others, for strangers, it’s only a matter of time before that kindness comes back to us.  Being kind is a gift that gives both to the giver and the receiver.  Call it “what goes around comes around”.  I don’t even think we need to learn or listen to or engage in all this talk of universal laws and the law of cause and effect, the law of attraction, etc. 

I propose something simpler and more direct: how about we see for ourselves through practice?

So, what little, simple acts of kindness can we do to pay it forward today?

1. put a quarter in a meter, any meter, that’s about to expire
2. leave a copy of a really great book you’ve read in a cafe for someone else to enjoy
3. be nice to the customer service people who are trying to help you with your technological difficulties
4. tip your restaurant server generously
5. thank the cooks, waitstaff and bussers personally
6. say something nice or funny or goofy to the toll booth attendant (like, “Don’t drive too fast, now” or “Glad to have encountered you today”, or something less hokey)
7. forgive a driver directing road rage at you
8. buy or pack a meal for a homeless person (or give him/her your to-go box from a restaurant)
9. give a warm coat to a homeless person
10. offer to do pro bono work on a project where your skills are needed
11. mentor someone
12. make a donation
13. say a prayer or whisper a kind wish for someone
14. compliment a stranger
15. send a box of donuts or bagels or muffins to a construction site
16. next time you leave a foreign country, give all or some of what’s left of your currency to someone who resides in that country
17. next time you’re at the airport, offer to pull the bags belonging to a woman or a mother with child out of the conveyor belt
18. praise generously
19. give local tips (re: restaurants, sights, etc.) to a tourist
20. show respect equally to all human beings
21. put a tip in a street musician’s jar
22. let someone cut in front of you at the grocery store
23. tell a funny joke to a stranger
24. give someone a chance to prove him or herself
25. encourage someone to pursue their dream
26. allow someone to let his or her light shine
27. show support to an artist or writer or musician
28. hold the door open for someone
29. tip a cab driver generously
30. teach a child something you wish you knew at that age
31. smile at someone who’s sad
32. smile at strangers
33. offer sincere, kind words to someone who’s hurting
34. visit a hospice and spend some time with a terminally ill patient
35. volunteer at a battered women’s shelter
36. spend some time with a senior citizen living alone
37. give up your seat on a crowded bus or train or ferry
38. inspire someone to be the best that they can be
39. give someone the benefit of the doubt
40. offer to babysit for a single mother
41. offer the FedEx, UPS or DHL delivery person something to drink especially on a warm day
42. help a pregnant lady
43. sit and talk with a homeless person and learn their story
44. loan something to someone and forget about it
45. loan money on Kiva
46. contribute to a friend’s child’s education fund
47. give blood
48. show respect to a soldier regardless of your pacifism
49. donate to or volunteer for the Make-A-Wish Foundation
50. replace an angry or bitter thought toward someone with a loving thought (or at least try)