Plain and Simple

I let a guy go ahead of me in line. He looked impatient and I could sense that he wanted to hurry. So I just stepped back and ushered him forward. He was a little taken aback for a minute. I suppose he wasn't expecting me to do that. Then, he went to the cashier, did his business and moved on.

It felt good to be unattached to hurrying. I'm not always good at that so it was nice to practice it. I would like to practice that skill a little more often. Thankfully, I got the opportunity with that guy.

Money

Money is such a touchy subject for so many people. But money is just the representation of value on a piece of paper. Money is an agreement. You agree to provide a good or a service and I agree to trade you my money for that. It's just an agreement. Yet, we make such a big deal about it. Wars are fought over it. Marriages dissolve over it. It holds so much power over us.Yet, it just represents value. It is a result. Therefore, it is a reflection of value provided.

I work on detaching from my attachment of needing money. I like money. I want money. I like to use money both in getting it and giving it away. Most importantly, I respect money. My good deed involves lending some money to a friend. One thing I have discovered about lending money to a friend. You can't do it if you are attached to getting it back. Of course, I want it back but I am not attached. That's the paradox. Money flows where attention goes.

A Friend in Need

I was tired last night. Really tired. I am in the middle of teaching an NLP Practitioner course so my days are long and filled with energy. I was concerned on my way home that I hadn't really done a good deed for the day in all the busy-ness. Yes, I gave my all to the students. Yes, I really made a difference in their lives. But, it didn't feel complete.

I got the opportunity late last night to go the extra mile for a friend in need. My tiredness fell away as I came into the state of helping my friend. It was amazing. I was listening and just being there, not necessarily trying to fix it or offer advice. Rather, it was just a witnessing of my friend in a tough spot. I was really overwhelmed with the honour of being able to witness his shift. I know he was grateful for my support but I was surprised at how much I changed as a result of my intention. What a gift!

Kiddies

I love looking for a way to help people. Even when I'm feeling really crappy it changes my focus and therefore my emotional state. I went for a huge snowshoe on Saturday afternoon with my sister-in-law and a some other friends. It was hard work. I was wiped out completely afterwards. My sister-in-law got a big headache that turned into a migraine. There must have been something in the air. She had to cancel her plans to go out that night and just hit the sack. It seemed that everyone in our family was wiped out, including me. I was in bed by 8pm.

That being said, I was up early. I'm an early riser on most days but after an 8pm bedtime, it's a given. With my new focus, I decided to give my sister-in-law and brother-in-law the gift of sleeping in. I got their daughter from her crib and cuddled with her and then set her playing with her cousins. Then, I put on the extremely slow coffee maker so it would be ready when they got up. Finally, I set to the task of making mickey mouse pancakes for all the kids (hers and mine). They loved it. And I felt so good to be giving (even the smallest gesture). I really love this project. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

Simple Things

Yesterday I did the dishes for someone. I know it doesn't sound like much but there were a lot of dishes. There was a party the night before so there were piles of dishes and some of them with caked on goodness. I get up early most days so I decided to tackle the dishes before anyone got up. They were all done before the slightest peep from the bedrooms. No one knows who did the dishes so I guess they won't ever know unless they read my posts.

Friends

Good deed for yesterday involved bringing dinner to a friend's house. Her husband was away on a business trip and she has two kids. I know what it's like when you're solo-parenting so we cooked up some dinner for all of us. It was a fun night with great conversation and good wine.

I am finding that looking for good deeds to do has me focused in a totally different manner. I am always on the lookout for what I can do next. There are days when I like to pre-plan my deeds and other days when I like to fly by the seat of my pants.

Bring Your "A" Game

My good deed today involved giving my "all" when I wanted to give up. I had a very challenging situation yesterday - almost more than I could handle. Almost. But not, quite. A little voice inside my head reminded me of my commitment and my passion and my vision. It reminded me what I was all about. Somehow I found the strength to do what needed to be done. And it made a huge difference for someone. Plus, it changed me.

It felt like the part of the movie, The Grinch, when the Grinch's heart grows three sizes. I felt something inside of me grow out of nowhere. The challenging situation actually made me a stronger person. I was looking for a way to help yesterday. I was looking for a way to serve. I found it. And it served me.

Give it Away (Good Deed #3)

My good deed for the day was a donation to the Canadian Athletes Now Fund. This donation request came as a result of an athlete's birthday wish. She asked people to donate to the organization in lieu of birthday gifts for her. What a altruistic move. I was so moved by her passion that I couldn't not donate. I was compelled.

Her whole story can be found at
http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=1051743&langPref=en-CA&Referrer=http://www.canadianathletesnow.ca/

My focus is changing and I am spending more time looking for how I can be of service to people. This is a big shift in my reality. The benefits are endless.

Good Deed Done #1 & #2

The first good deed that I did was create a scholarship program for my trainings. One of my special causes is the Canadian Women's Foundation and I am committed to helping them improve the lives of women and girls. To that end, I have sponsored my first student for my courses. She is amazing and I look forward to teaching her everything I know.

The second good deed was yesterday when I was out getting my lunch during my NLP class. I walked past a homeless woman who was asking for money. I didn't have any cash, just my credit card. So I went into the organic food store and bought her a few things for lunch. In the end, it actually cost me more than if I had just flipped her a toonie but I realized that the value was even bigger because it was a beautiful whole meal. She was speechless and a little surprised. I just handed it to her and walked away. I like this project.

The Law of Focus

You will always find what you are looking for. This is the power of focus and the function of your reticular activating system. What you focus on expands. Always.

Side Project - 100 Days of Goodness

Inspired by two of my friends, I am going to dedicate the next 100 days in my 365 days project to a sub-project called 100 Days of Goodness. Starting today, I'm going to do a good deed for someone else every single day. My goal is to give instead of always making goals to get. Let's see what happens, shall we?

Strength

Canadiens are tough. And a little crazy. It was about minus thirty today with the wind chill factor. Yet, there we were out ski racing in the freezing cold. My feet are still thawing out.

I saw an ad on my way home today. It was for a travel company and it read "maybe the geese have the right idea". I laughed. But instead of hibernating and hiding from the cold, we embrace it and play IN it. It took a lot if strength today both from the kids and the parents.

Void

Yesterday got the best of me. I completely forgot to choose a state for the day. One thing led to another and before I knew it the day was almost over. And let me tell you about the day. It was chaotic and scattered. I felt like I was going in all directions. I don't enjoy feeling that way. It hit me about halfway through the afternoon that my day was chaotic and scattered because that was my default setting for the day.

I didn't make a conscious choice and therefore was left to pick up the prevailing state around me: chaos. What a lesson it was. A huge lesson. So, even though I've only done this project for a few weeks now, I am already seeing and experiencing the results in a real way. Tomorrow, I will be conscious in my choice and I'll let you know how it goes.

Peace

I chose peace and it was a relatively peaceful day yesterday. The snow was falling all day but it was gently falling. In fact, the air felt peaceful when the snow was falling. It wasn't until after the snow stopped falling that the wind picked up and it felt like winter again.

I was walking down University avenue and I happened to notice the Canada Life building. This building is famous in Toronto because the lights atop the building are a weather indicator. The bulb at the top was flashing red which indicates that the weather is going downhill. The lights were moving downwards which means the temperature is dropping. Many Torontonians do not even know about the Canada Life building and it's weather function. However, I've known about since moving to Toronto some 20 years ago. Seeing it give me a sense of peace because it's predictable and dependable. Or maybe my choosing peace gave me the opportunity to experience it again.

Patience

Many people know that patience is not my strongest virtue. In fact, that's the understatement of the year. So it was a big day for me to constantly choose patience. However, something magical happened when I made up my mind to be patient regardless of the circumstances. It actually made my experience more enjoyable.

It didn't change my circumstances at all. I still found myself waiting on my children to put on their snowpants. I still found myself waiting in line behind an unbelievably slow person. In fact, one of the funniest experiences was riding an elevator to the top floor and having the elevator stop at every single floor. No joke. However, my choice to be patient changed my entire experience.

Gratitude

I spent the day looking for things to be grateful for. It started out slowly. I found myself having to seek out the little things. However, once the initial resistance wore off then it became easier and easier to find things to be grateful for. The resulting evening was one of the most peaceful evenings I've had in years. The kids were up in their rooms reading and writing stories and I was sitting in the living room reading a book. At one point the kids and I spent a half hour looking through old baby photos and wedding photos. It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of giggling and closeness. It was a great night and seemed to be made possible by the choices that I made earlier in the day.

Love

It was an ironic day with LOVE. I thought it would be all magical and fairy-tale like with examples of love surrounding me everywhere. Interestingly, it was almost the exact opposite. It was one of the hardest days I've had in a long time. It seemed that everywhere I turned I was being tested as to whether or not I really wanted to stay in my LOVE choice. Almost no one was nice to me all day. I kept having to exercise my choice again and again. There were times when I faltered. This was an interesting observation. The day came to a climax with one of the biggest challenges I've faced in a while. At first, it seemed to go very wrong but then, from deep within me, I found a new reserve of love that I didn't know was there. I'm starting to think that I may have opened Pandora's box.

Enthusiasm

I was determined to be enthuiastic no matter what happened. I was presented with my opportunity right away. We were out skiing and one of the women we were skiing with was super excited to do a lot of runs. I tend to be more of a social skiier with lots of time to chat between runs. However, I found myself racing from run to run. You know what? It was a lot of fun. I did the best skiing I had done in years. And we had good chats on the lifts too.

Beauty

Beauty was the focus for the day. I decided this while I was walking from the subway to meet a friend for a ride. I happened to notice the sunlight was streaming down in shafts of light. It reminded me of angels and I instantly thought of beauty. So, I decided to focus on beauty for the day.

Within minutes, I arrived at the doors to shopping centre and was greeted with "Hello, gorgeous!" right on the door to the mall. It was so cool that I had to take a photo of it. All I could think was "what you focus on expands".

Change of Plans

I've been fooling around with this new project for 2011 and have decided to continue writing on this blogspace instead of creating a new space. I have retitled this blog to Projects365 but I want to keep the Sunrises365 project archived where people can find it. The 365 day Project for 2011 will be called Choices365 and will be about choosing my state for the day and then writing about the resulting circumstances on the following day. I'm out to show that your circumstances really do arise out of your responses and that anything is possible if you start with the belief that it is. Stay tuned for tomorrow' post.

Enthusiasm

I decided this morning that I would put enthusiasm into my day. I vowed to be enthusiastic in all of my endeavours today. I was tested from the get-go. My daughter and my husband were sick this morning. However, I was in a good state of mind to tend to their needs. I approached my work differently today as well. I had to do a lot of logistics today and being enthusiastic made a big difference. I'm getting into the groove of this project and starting to notice that when I set the pace for the day then I feel more empowered regardless of what comes my way.

Determination

I spent 15 minutes today meditating on the Emperor archetype. It is said that his archetype represents the self-consciousness of man; the ruler of mental activity in human personality. I felt detached during this meditation; almost aloof. I think I need to spend more time with this one so that I feel a connection to this energy. I let go of my negative emotions at 4:30 this morning during a brief waking period involving one of my kids. I couldn't go back to sleep so I used the time to free myself of the negative emotions of anger, sadness, fear, hurt and guilt. Then, I fell back to sleep. When I woke up I chose the emotion of determination to set the course for my day. The result of my choice was a very productive day with a great deal of focus. I like this project already.

The Final Post

Attention Followers:

I have started a NEW blog for 2011. It's called Choices365 and you can find it at www.choices365.blogspot.com. I hope you'll join me at the new blog. Thanks for following this one :)

Welcome to a New Blog

Hi everyone

For those of you who have been following my Sunrises365 Blog feed and have enjoyed reading (and seeing pictures) about the sunrise, I would like to introduce my new project.

It is called Choices365.

A new year of writing for me. This time, writing about making positive choices. You can visit the Blog URL at www.choices365.blogger.com or you can just read it here on my Facebook fan page at www.Facebook.com/GinaMollicone.

CHOICES 365
Your emotions don't arise out of your circumstances. Rather, your circumstances arise out of your emotions. Therefore, I have elected to do a new project for 2011. Daily, I will clean the slate and let go of my negative emotions using Time Line Therapy™. Then, I will meditate on the archetypes and choose an empowering emotion for the day. I plan to write about the results. Join me and see what happens.

p.s. I will probably still share some cool pictures as well