Are you having enough fun?  We are midway through summer and before it slips by completely, I want to encourage you to consciously choose to have as much fun as possible. And, ladies, this means choosing pleasurable activities that will not only be fun, but also rebuild your oxytocin levels and reduce stress.  And guys, this means choosing some testosterone building things (playing sports, watching sports, working out, having beers with your buddies) that will help you reduce your stress levels.

Let’s face it. Boredom has a bad rap.

Or, at least it had a bad rap with me for the longest time. I grew up thinking that there was almost nothing worse than being bored. So, I worked, and I worked, and I busied myself, and I did everything I could to try and stay two steps ahead of the old boredom curse.

Do you struggle with finding the right words to say? Are you afraid to say the wrong thing?

There is a method you can use to always say the right thing in every situation. To do this, you must practice speaking from your heart, instead of your mind. This method is both very empowering and effective.

Your mind is logical and is constantly trying to guess what the other person wants to hear, based on its perceptions of the other person. Your mind is creating conversation based on a series of guesses about what the other person is about.

Many times, I have received calls from people who thought that their animal friend was angry at them. Ninety nine percent of the time, this was not accurate. Often an animal communicates with heart-telepathy but is not heard. Next the animal uses eye contact. A slight change of behavior may be a third attempt. At last the animal does something highly evident as a last resort of communication.

You’ve finally built up the courage to make a change. You felt it was time for a shift and you’ve taken the first step; the hardest part. The wheels of life have been set in motion. Now comes the next challenge – being patient and giving yourself time.

“Summer is a great time to rethink how we are working, how we are learning, how we are consuming our food, our energy, and our time. It’s a great time to rethink our lives and how we are living.”

Last week our granddaughter graduated from Oregon State University. Linda and I were thrilled. The guest speaker surprised everyone. Instead of the usual encouragement to climb mountains and follow dreams, he suggested that the graduates be kind. “As you grow older,” said this wise and accomplished Turkish businessman who also has founded a four-year university in Turkey, “you will find that your most fulfilling moments will be times of giving or receiving kindness.” I agree. Dreams, aspirations, and successful ventures are not difficult to accomplish compared with developing kindness toward others and toward yourself. When you are encapsulated in a frightened part of your personality – such as anger, jealousy, despair, superiority and entitlement, inferiority and need to please – how can you experience kindness for others or for yourself? How can you experience kindness when a frightened part of your personality wants to kill someone or kill itself?

Life is filled with decisions.

The decisions you made yesterday got you to where you are today.

The decisions you make today will create your future tomorrow.

With your decisions, you have a power to sculpt your destiny.

Yet given the increased choices we have in our high tech age, making decisions on one level has become easier, you can now do it with the touch of a button. On the other hand, it can also be more difficult since we have so many more options to choose from.

Why do we not do things that make us feel good? It’s that old adage, “Misery loves company” and we get trapped in living a life that we never thought we’d be living. I have found so many times that we stay stuck because financially we’ve pigeon-holed ourselves into lifestyles, marriages, family expectations, and all those “stable jobs” we think we have.

I remember the first time I heard this statement 30 years ago, and, (as a newly minted magical thinking new ager) I took it to mean that I would “easily and effortlessly” manifest what I want. After all, if I desire something should I not be able to manifest it?

Hey friends… As you may or may not know, I have recently published my first book, as a publisher, not as an author: 365 Days of Angel Prayers. I also recently wrote my 20th book. Not all of the books are mine alone. Several are co-authored with amazing people doing similar work, and some are compilation books. Many are self-published by SDJ Productions and several are published through traditional publishing companies. I have learned a lot about witting … and publishing … and self-publishing. I have really gotten to experience many aspects of this industry… and I really love it. I love it because … it might be hard to believe … I was someone who did NOT like to write … not for anything besides personal journaling anyway. But, the message became more important than my dislike or fear … it became a BIG part of my purpose. Which is why I love this industry. It allows us to help others through our experience, it gives you a voice in a different and powerful way, and opens up a healing that I truly believe serves the masses, not just the self. That’s why I have asked Shanda Trofe to share with my readers little tips and tidbits to support you and your writing.

One of my favorite pastimes is to sit looking out at the ocean. I love the sound of the waves as they reach the shore.

I’ve observed that some of the waves come crashing in with an abundance of energy and force behind them. While others don’t make much of a fuss as they barely reach the shore. The waves parallel the differences in the way we live life.

One of the most painful experiences is the feeling of being betrayed, especially by someone you love and trusted.

When your romantic partner cheats on you with someone else.

When you are being taken advantage of or treated unfairly.

When certain agreements you made with another gets changed without discussion.

The other day I had the chance to meet up with the amazing, incredible, super smart Mike Dooley(from The Secret and Notes from the Universe), and we had a blast comparing notes about all the things we have in common, from the college we both went to, the books we have read, the music that rocks our world, and our “knowing” that the Universe always has our back….

Earlier this year, our founder, Helen Tomei, accompanied our group on the journey: “Maya Temples of Transformation with Freddy Silva & Miguel Angel Vergara: A Sacred Journey from Palenque to Tikal”. She took several videos during the journey on her iPhone that nicely reflect the spirit of this tour.

Before you watch the video below I just want to remind you … You are deserving and worthy … simply because you are here in physical form. It’s time to own your power and allow yourself to be recognized, by YOU, for the amazing being that you are …

We're all familiar with that moment you walk in a room and all eyes are on you. It feels amazing and you never want it to end.  You might think it's because of that amazing dress you have on, but the truth it it goes way beyond your clothes to truly turn heads. What's really happening?  

Your essence is thriving and that makes you magnetic.

By now most people have heard that a Theory of Everything is within reach in the near future, meaning a unified explanation of the physical forces in the universe. Yet "the near future" has stretched out for several decades. This apparent overconfidence and undue optimism points to some serious and as yet unexplained oddities and paradoxes afflicting the flagship theories of science, which are unable, in stark contrast to the prevailing confidence of the past, to explain the vast majority (96%) of the universe. The presence of dark matter and energy, for example, has caused some expected calculations in quantum mechanics to be off by a staggering 120 orders of magnitude.