Fabulous Finds Friday!

It’s another Friday and I’ve found a couple of really fun things to share with you. I hope you enjoy them!

1. SmartyPig

Smarty Pig is really cool!  It’s like a free online piggy bank.  Instead of being charged a high-interest rate by your credit card company after you buy something, why not be paid high interest and get cash back for simply saving up for it first? What I love is that friends and family can help you save with gifts at birthday or whatever so easily!  A terrific idea to get kids involved in understanding money and savings.

2.  Give Away of the Day 

Every day there is a new free software program offered.  Often companies want to get feedback and you can read what others have said about the program before you download.  It is very simple, straightforward and so easy to use. I myself have gotten some great stuff from here.  You may not find that you want everything (I certainly don’t)  but every once in a while I come across a fabulous find on this site so it is worth checking every day.  The offerings are time sensitive so be sure to check daily.

3. Yola

If you need or want a website but don’t have the funds here is a super easy way to create one! Yola’s free website builder makes it quite simple.  You can host your site yourself or Yola will host if for you — free!  Do note that if you use Yola’s hosting the url will include yola’s name but if this isn’t a problem you are in luck.  The templates are easy to use, very simple to customize and the support is really terrific.  Yola also has more advanced templates and web building for those who are willing to pay a little.  A really great way to begin!

4. 50 Things to Do this Summer

The name says it all.  A list of fun things to do for kids of all ages.

Don’t forget to come visit me for more about living fabulous on facebook and join in on twitter!

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Kudos to some Kids

Many know that I hold a teaching degree and this summer I’m dusting it off for an amazing experience.

I am working with a group of children who want to learn English. Not too bad in and of itself but super amazing when you find out that these kids are from Korea. They won contests to come to Canada for a couple of months to experience Canadian culture and practice their English. They did not bring their families but instead are staying with host families.

Wow, brave right?

There are about 50 of them from many places. They don’t know each other but you’d hardly know that! Kids are so amazing at making friends.

Consider that they are ranging in age from 10 years old to 15 years old you have to be amazed.

Makes me inspired to look for my own possibilities to make my world bigger and brighter!

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Affirm in the postitive

Quick post today. It is a short but important point I want to make today.

First, we all use affirmations, even if it isn’t intentional. Everytime we repeat something in our heads to ourselves we are affirming a belief. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Now, we have choice as to what we listen to and repeat. It can take some practice but we need to start being postitive affirmers (is that word?).

First step in doing this is allowing yourself to become aware of what you are hearing. The next step is deciding if it benefits you to hear this or if you need to begin the process of changing the pattern. It can be done with some practice and effort.

Find a really great, positive affirmation and repeat it deliberately to yourself today. Look in the mirror and believe it!

Here is one to get you started. “I am great and I deserve good things”.

Be aware, you are always able to make a choice about what you are reinforcing in your belief system and what you are able to let go.

Make it a choice that affirms the postitive because you know what? You ARE great and you DO have a lot of fabulous to offer the world!

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Personal Responsibility

Don’t you love it when someone asks you one of ‘those’ questions? You know the ones that you know the answer to and seems so simple to explain until you try to put it into words?

Yup, I had one of those.

One of the reasons I love this blog is it gives me a place to work out some thoughts and get great feedback. So here goes!

The question was about personal responsibility. The person with the question said they were responsible; that they paid bills in time, walked the dog and attended all the kids events.

Lovely and yes very responsible and I was glad to hear it. However this isn’t what personal responsibility is about.

Completing your daily duties, having good judgement is taking care of your responsibilities.

Personal responsibility means understanding you have a choice in how you respond to circumstance. It brings with it conscious choice to design and create your life.

Personal responsibility creates a foundation upon which you build your integrity and your way of living.

It removes the idea of blaming others for your own reactions. You become aware that you are choosing and can change your choice of reaction.

Once you have learned to respond to life rather than react to it, you begin to understand happiness comes from you; no one and no where else. You understand that you are in charge of your feelings, thoughts and actions. You own your mistakes as much as your success.

Truly a precious gift. Perhaps it would make more sense to call the concept the Responsibility of Self?

It takes a lot of courage to take total responsibility for everything you think, feel and do.

Consider in what areas of your life you can assume more personal responsibility?

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A Line in the Sand

You know that proverbial line in the sand? The one where we decide where enough is enough? Or where we decide to change something…finally? 

I’ve had to draw this line a number of times recently.  You need to understand that I drew it on purpose in order to make some choices and move myself forward.  These lines were made consciously and in advance of their actual need.  I was prepared for the eventualities that were coming my way. 

What did I learn?  Sand is a lot more fluid than it looks.  And that is a good thing.  Imagine if we drew all our ‘lines’ in something less able to change…like concrete?  The great thing about making choices is you can learn and change. 

Be flexible.  Be able to move that line when you need to; either from new information or new-found strength and wisdom.

I drew my lines in the sand so that I could have a place in my mind where I knew it would be time to let go of something I was pursuing.  I created a self-imposed limit so I wouldn’t waste my time and energy.  I do this often in fact, but on occasion some new piece of information can make me move that line back a bit.  Sometimes I just have to adjust because my line was more of a guess than based on good hard facts.  That’s okay.  Sometimes that’s all we have to work with and it is still better to shoot for something and have to adjust than sit still and do nothing.

So know your limits, understand your choices, be aware of where you have drawn that proverbial line in the sand;  but also be aware that you can move your line if you need to. Just brush away the old one and draw a new line.  Life isn’t static or fixed, it is constantly changing and checking in with goals and plans is a smart move.

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