Be Ready & Willing December 25, 2008

This should cover everyone!

Be Ready & Willing, what do I mean, that could be applied to so many things. For me right now it has a special meaning, but I am speaking of Being Ready and Willing to Have a Good Day. That is part of actively Making it a Good Day. Certain things may happen (or not happen) to you that you are not ready nor willing to let happen, both positive and negative and the outcome or lack there of one will be base solely on how willing and ready you are for them to happen. The negative is pretty self- explanatory, yet complex enough to be a blog in itself. Lets talk about the positive, something that may totally be a good thing, may bring great new opportunities or just may make you happy but if you are not open, not Ready and Willing then you may not even see it, let alone embrace it for all it can be. And what is sometimes even more unfortunate is you may see it and not take advantage or embrace it because you are not willing or ready or some combination of the two. I am speaking from experience. As I grow older and mature and become more willing and ready for the positive I also have to  understand that even being willing and ready does not make certain situations any easier or  less works JUST makes the outcome better and make me all the more appreciative.

I am sending warm holiday wishes and the most positive happy vibes your way today this Christmas Eve especially. Right now, just when I thought the year had brought all that is was going to bring and was just trying to gear up for a Good 2009, I got a phone call, and I am Ready and Willing this time and that IS  gonna make all the difference. It does not really matter who the phone call was from for this post, just that it is not really the phone call that made the difference but me, my attitude. The same  phone call could have come and if I was negative, close minded, hardheaded, unwilling and not ready it might have just as well been a telemarketer.

Make It a Good Holiday!

I myself, tonight while I wait for my kids to fall asleep, so I can do what needs to be done, wink wink, this Christmas Eve, as reminded that tomorrow is Jesus Birthday, and I am thankful for my family and to be a child of God. From my family to yours, may you be Willing and Ready for all that is possible. Family is what is important, my kids are my life and show me what is really important.

So TRUE

Merry Christmas! Happy Holiday!

Smile and Make it a Good Day!

SMILE ~ Meredith

Smiles & Yawns December 7, 2008

Strange blog post title huh? Probably wondering what one has to do with the other? Let me start with a little story…..

The other night I was talking on the phone with my Granny, which I do a couple times a day, it was late and I just called to say “goodnight”. While talking I yawned, guess what happened a couple seconds later, you guessed it ~  she yawned. Then I yawned again…….as we continued to talk we passed that yawn back and forth at least a dozen times. Yawns are contagious! It happens when you are around someone who yawns or even over the phone.

So this brings me back to my title “Smiles & Yawns”…Smiles are contagious TOO! Smiles are so many wonderful things including Contagious. This blog is all about doing things, being proactive, to make your day/days good. Anything good, I have found, is worth working for. Maybe some people have one great day after the other, more power to them., I am not one of those people. I have a wonderful life and all that, but each individual day is its own challenge for me. I want to have a good day. I want to MAKE it a good day. Sometimes my most challenging days, the ones that I am working all day to MAKE It good, not to let whatever is going on, dictate my day or more my Attitude about my day, not to give anything THAT much power. And yes, I am not ashamed to admit, some days it is way more work than others. I am human, have kids that have their “moments” , have a husband who I love to death, but not always a bed of roses, really close, more like daisies,lol, anyway, I am what I feel is normal. I do have days when I feel like, gosh this is just a bad day, then I remember the whole, letting something have that much power thing, and the stubborn gal I am, that is not the way it is gonna end. So here are a couple things I am finding, I am not going to write ‘that I have found” because I am no expert, and I am using these little tips myself. I am practicing what I preach so to speak….some day I even need to come back and reread my own words. My first tip is SMILE!

SMILE~ I write it on a lot of e-mails, tweets (posts on twitter), letters, I write it often! Many would think I am a smiley happy person sitting here spreading my smile, not so much, more I am reminding myself- maybe passing on my reminder so someone else. I even have the word “SMILE” as my screen saver on my computer……big and green, bouncing around the screen ~ SMILE. I have noticed that when you smile it is hard to be mad, hard to stay “pissy”, and hard to say your are having a bad day with a smile on your face. Try it sometime, smile, really smile, not one of those cheesy smiles, smile deep, so it shows through your eyes, and say” This is a bad day”. Granted, it can be said like that, but you are gonna feel silly.

Smiles are contagious, I have several friends that always have a smile on their face and they make me want to smile, not sure why I want to smile but I do. Okay let me take it one step further, I have three that I can think of, friends on twitter who’s avatar (little picture that comes with their post) is of them with the most inviting, prettiest smiles I have seen, and EVERY TIME they post and I see their smiles come across my screen I wanna smile. I call them my smiley friends, they should know right off if they read this who they are, and everyones Smiley friends are probably different, but we all have one, or more hopefully. See their smile is contagious through the computer screen. In fact, it is often taught during training for phone jobs/interviews and whatnot that a smile can be heard over the phone. And it is true, you can pick up a lot from a persons tone of voice and whatnot, including a smile.

A few interesting things I found out about smiles for this post (also found it interesting, that I have had this post in my mind for several days and today there where several news clips and a study that came out in some journal~ medical I think, about this same topic- one even was about your neighbors happiness affecting your happiness ~ even if you were not friends). Okay to a few interesting things about smiles….~~~~~

• This is an interesting article on About.com about how smiling is directly related to the longevity of your life. Gives “Top 10 Reasons To Smile” by Mark Stibich, Ph. D……# 10 is directly related to my post (#10 Smiling Helps You Stay Positive) http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongbeauty/tp/smiling.htm
• This is a cute wikihow article on How TO Smile ~ sense we didn’t cover how to smile ~JUST WHY! http://www.wikihow.com/Smile
• And here are some of my favorite Quotes on Smiles (found at Quote Garden a great site for quotes of any kind~~ http://www.quotegarden.com/smiles.html )

1. A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks.  ~Charles Gordy
2. A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you’re at home.  ~Author Unknown
3. Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it.  ~Author Unknown
4. Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.  ~George Eliot
5. If you don’t start out the day with a smile, it’s not too late to start practicing for tomorrow.  ~Author Unknown
6. Smiling is infectious,
   You can catch it like the flu.
   Someone smiled at me today,
   And I started smiling too.
   ~Author Unknown

So SMILE if not for you for others, before long it will help you no matter what your reason for doing it to begin with. Smile and Yawns are contagious, one is usually more welcomed than the other. Ha ha. Now that you know all this doesn’t it make you wanna smile, try it, it just might work for you too, and make you live longer, and help someone else smile too!

Make It A Good Day! SMILE!

You Have to WANT It. November 19, 2008

Let me start this out by saying that I have spent the last 20 minutes sitting by my pond, one sure fire way to Make It A Good Day!

Since writing my first post “Make it a GOOD Day, not have a good day“, I have made a conscience change in my tweets, conversations and most importantly, my “inner dialog”. My “inner dialog” is what I say in my head to myself, and to be honest, sometimes I can be pretty hard on myself, like we all can. In fact I am probably my hardest critic by far. Well since switching my “Have a good day” to “Make it a Good day” I have notice a change in mindset, an almost immediate change in mindset ~ whoo hoo!

Now I have come to my next conclusion, and found a way to put it into word out by my relaxing spot by the pond, where even after the dog knocked over my coffee I wrote {that is an improvement in my case, cause I love my coffee, and it was part of my “perfect” setting to write}. The only way to “Have a Good Day” is to WANT A GOOD DAY! Seems simple but I think it is often overlooked, and I can only speak for myself, and I know that I have been way more that overlooking it, I was ignoring it. You can go full force, high speed, ready with “make it a good day” but if you do not WANT it, you will not make it happen.

My pond in front yard ~ sure spot to make it a great day

Let me give a short, now funny, example, first thing yesterday morning right after my feet hit the floor and I took 10 steps, I ran wide open into a corner of a wall, it would take to long to explain the layout of my house, but we have live here long enough for me to know where every paint chip is so the wall I should have not come in contact with! I mean I hit it with my forehead on the corner so hard I about feel back off my feet. Usually this would have been it, I would have said, “see look how my day started already, it is gonna be one of those day, wonderful“, in a smart mouth way, not meaning the wonderful part at all. But I kinda smiled, okay not a big smile, but I kept walking rubbing my head, to make sure I wasn’t bleeding and continued on my path to make the coffee. Anyway, when my husband got up I told him and was able to laugh as he felt my “goose egg”. This was me making the decision to make it a good day because I WANTED to have a good day. No wall was gonna stand in my way, literally and/or figuratively. My action to have a good day started the night before because I was already having that inner dialog that I wanted a next day to be good day, so I got the kids school stuff in order and made mental list of my goals I wanted to accomplish the next day and how I was going to try my hardest to get as many done as possible. I must also say here that while making my mental list they already have a priority ranking, like kids stuff is usually must do, then I also accept right then that there WILL be stuff on my list that will not get done. That is also part of setting myself up to have a good day, wanting to have a good day.

When you Want a Good Day, you will take steps toward making it a good day, I could go on about self fulfilling prophecy here, but will save that for another day, Great topic though. Every decision that you make, every reaction to someone, something or some situation either works Toward Making it a Good Day or just having a bad one. Having a bad day is letting the days circumstances or actions or decisions of others dictate the outcome of your day. Do you really want to give anyone or anything that kind of power? I don’t!

So I MADE yesterday a good day and did it again, so far, today because I WANT A GOOD DAY, and I want to make it a good day. I am committed, determined even, in every way , most importantly in mindset, to Make It A Good Day and you know what? It Is Working! And it worked yesterday even with all the days bumps and bruises ~ including the one on my head. =)

SMILE & MAKE IT A GOOD DAY!

Make it a GOOD Day, not have a good day! November 16, 2008

“Have a good day”, I say it often, write in e-mail and other correspondence, twitter it, hear it, now I think it is time to LIVE IT.

Not “Have a good day”……MAKE IT A GOOD DAY!

This blog is going to be that, things have made my day good, will make my day good, or even better can make both (me and you) have a good day. On my best days I hope to reach the Great days….but for now will work on good days.

There are so many little things that can make your day, it does not have to always do with~making money, meeting a goal of yours, or something obvious….it can be the most unobvious, little thing that made you smile. So that is what this is gonna be about.

I could not start this off with out giving the reason for my days, What makes everyday worth living and what can just about always make me smile….MY TWIN BOYS! Their smile is like a wildfire spreading through my heart to my lips. I can be sad, mad, angry, worried, sick and they will do the smallest little thing, like rub my back, give me a hug, or just say “I love you” and it can turn my entire day around.

Here are those two smiles, sometimes missing a front tooth or two….that light up my life!

The two smiles That ALWAYS make me Smile!

Another thing that made my day good today is the start of this blog which is going to be so much fun. Part of the way I might be able to make your day good one day is by a give-away here or there. Oh yeah, we all like free stuff.

Here is what I have pondered and think either way you spin it you come out on top…..IS it…..

Do Well, Be Better, or Do better, Be Well

Remember MAKE IT A GOOD DAY…..& SMILE!