Keeping a Gratitude/Evidence Journal

This is a great new technique I recently came up with, although I certainly can’t take all the credit for it. It’s a combination of a few popular techniques which I’ve heard about from different sources over the years, and I’ve simply combined them into a fun and easy tool to assist you in raising your overall vibration and quickly manifesting your desires.

You’ve probably heard of gratitude journals (you might even keep one!), in which you list things in your journal every day that you are grateful for in your life. Oprah made these popular awhile back when she admitted that keeping a gratitude journal was the single biggest practice that changed her life. You may have also heard of positive evidence journals, which are popular in law of attraction circles, and used to track evidence that something you are desiring to manifest is on its way to you now.

Rather than keeping two separate journals, I decided to combine the two! I've been doing this for about two weeks now and am really noticing a difference.

Here are the instructions:

First, think of a goal or desire you'd like to try this process on. It's best to start with one desire, and once you begin getting results you can introduce new desires into the mix. Your goal or desire can either be something you’ve been trying to manifest for awhile now, or a more recent desire. It can be large or small, or something that means a lot to you or not so much (for example, the love of your life or parking spots close to your office).

Then, every night before bed (or another similar time), take out a journal you’re going to dedicate to this practice and list five things in your life that you are grateful for and that are evidence that your particular manifestation is on its way to you now. Therefore, if you’re trying to manifest more abundance in your life, you could list such things like:

• “I found a ten-dollar bill in the laundry today.”
• “My boss bought me lunch today.”
• “I received a coupon in the mail for a restaurant I have been wanting to go to.”

Once you’ve done that part of the exercise, then list five things you are grateful for IN ADVANCE of your manifestation coming true. This is where you get to use your creativity and imagination to go to the future and think about things you would like to come true with respect to the particular desire you are focusing on for this exercise. So if your manifestation had already happened, what would you be grateful for? Returning to the example of manifesting more abundance, you might list things like:

• “My boss told me I'm getting a raise! (Even though this hasn't happened yet in your reality, it is something you hope to create.)
• "My husband got an expected bonus at work!"
• "My ebook is selling hundreds of copies per month!"

This exercise is extremely powerful and its potential is huge, so don’t underestimate its simplicity. By focusing on evidence you have noticed in your life, no matter how large or small, you are focusing on the fact that your dream or desire IS in fact on its way to you. This is particularly helpful on those days when you begin to doubt that what you want will ever come true,and will help keep you focused on what you want to attract.

Furthermore, by being grateful for things in advance, you are not only raising your overall vibration, but you are actually setting the stage for those things to come to pass in your life. What you focus on consistently becomes your reality, so the more you focus on what you want to create, the quicker and easier those things can come to you. Finally, gratitude or appreciation are some of the highest vibrations you can flow.

Doing the above will already go a long way in helping you manifest your goal or desire, but to *really* add some juice to this exercise, mix up the two categories when you list them rather than listing the two categories separately. This means that instead of listing five things you're grateful for now, and then five things you're grateful for in your future manifestation, mix them up in one list so there's no division between the two. This actually tricks your subconscious into thinking every single thing on your list has already come true, and as a result your subconscious gets busy creating results in your life ASAP. Once you start doing this on a regular basis, your goal or desire is practically a done deal!

I have been doing this exercise for a few weeks now, and have been getting so much out of it I've decided to do it permanently. I hope you'll join me and report back to me on the fabulous results you're getting!

Allowing Miracles

If you saw my last blog post, then you know I was recently in South Africa for work. I headed over there for two weeks to visit our South Africa office, and assist with a particular project that was falling behind schedule. However, the couple who runs the office was out of town for their anniversary and had no access to phones or email. Therefore, they had no idea I was coming, and more importantly, I had no idea if anyone would be there to pick me up at the airport or if I would even have a hotel room when I arrived!

Needless to say, as I prepared for my trip, several people around me were very anxious and asking a lot of questions:

• Where would I stay?
• What city in particular was I going to?
• How would I get around?
• What about security issues?
• Would I have a security guard?
• Would I get to visit any of the national parks?

I didn’t know the answers to these questions, and quite frankly I didn’t care. I was super excited, packed my bags, and got ready for a grand adventure! I literally boarded the plane not knowing which specific city I was going to in South Africa, or if anyone would be at the airport on the other end to pick me up.

When I arrived, after a long 15-hour flight, I was thrilled to find that not only were there people at the airport to pick me up, but they were absolutely delightful and what ensued was two wonderful weeks that I will never forget. They were great people to work with on a daily basis, and they truly treated me as part of their family. I know I will be life-long friends with them.

In addition to feeling so loved by them, they showed me all around their city, treated me to outdoor barbeques to sample all the local food, and even took me on an all-day safari on their dime, where we had the pleasure of seeing an elephant up close as he walked down the road directly in front of our jeep for a good thirty minutes (that's him above!). Not to mention, they drove me around every day, made sure I had everything I needed, and even taught me a few key phrases in Afrikaans.

I tell this story because before I left, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I’d never been to South Africa before, but more importantly, I wasn’t really provided a lot of information about my trip. No one from my office had ever been, so in all fairness no one had much information to give me. It was just expected that I would get over there and figure it all out!

However, and this is important, I TRUSTED that all would work out for me. And it did! There is not a single thing I would change about my trip. I had a fabulous time, met some great people, and have memories to last a lifetime. I was open to experiencing miracles, and I did! Unfortunately, this is a quality I notice is missing in a lot of people who are not currently living lives they love or are very excited about.

So many people spend the majority of their days worried or scared, about money, their boss, their job, their parents, their kids, their next vacation, and on and on and on. And yes, there are of course several things in our world and our lives that could go wrong on a daily basis. There are, however, also several things that could go RIGHT in our world and our lives on a daily basis, if we would just open ourselves up to them. Opportunities and miracles are everywhere, if we just allow them!

I had no idea what to expect when I agreed to go to South Africa. In fact, the reason the trip was offered to me in the first place was because the person who was originally supposed to go backed out at the last minute. Rather than being scared about my trip and overly worried about the details, though, I trusted in the Universe and myself to make things work out for the best. I always expect things to work out for me in the best possible way, and they usually do! I expect to always be provided with enough money at the right time, and I am!

Some might call this luck, but it’s really not luck at all. Our thoughts create our realities, and the more you focus on positive thoughts and expectations, the more positive experiences you will create in your life. This is not to say that sometimes you don’t have to exercise caution or common sense. However, in my world I would rather have a positive expectation that things will work out and deal with any issues that arise, versus always being on the lookout for things that could wrong. What about you?

If you read my last post, you’ll see that on my way home from South Africa I had planned to stop over in Paris for three days and take a bit of a vacation. Due to the volcano in Iceland, this turned into eight days! That’s an entire story in itself so I won’t go into the details here, but needless to say I had another chance to trust in the Universe and expect that everything would work out for me. And it did, just like magic! ;)

Creating a Life You Love!

If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been the past month or so, there's been a lot going on! I took a last minute two-week business trip to South Africa, and then ended up having an "extended" vacation in Paris due to the volcano in Iceland. During my almost month-long sabbatical from my regular life, I learned many very important and beneficial life lessons and will be posting several blogs in the upcoming weeks about what I learned. Keep your eyes on this space if you’re interested. Above all, I learned that LIFE IS GOOD and just keeps getting better!

To make a long story short, I was returning to the States from South Africa and was planning on spending three days in Paris on the way home. Three days turned into eight days due to the volcano that closed down virtually all airports in Western Europe! After adjusting to the shock that I was literally “stuck” in Paris, I spent an additional five days creating an absolutely magical vacation. What better way to turn an absolutely absurd situation into an excuse for loving myself and creating my ideal life!

I *LOVE* Paris, absolutely love it. I'm a real Francophile and always have been. I lived there for two years following college and when I'm there things just fall into place for me like you would not believe. (More details in my ebook if you're interested). I feel more connected to who I really am while in Paris, and part of me secretly wonders if I was French in a former life!

However, I also noticed something interesting the other week while I was there. In addition to feeling extremely fulfilled every time I'm in Paris, I also go out of my way to create a life I love when I'm there. I'm out of my hotel super early every morning and don't come home until super late. I spend the days going to outdoor cafes, browsing in shops I love, dining at my favorite restaurants, journaling and relaxing in parks and gardens, taking pictures of the blooming flowers, etc. Everything I do in Paris is a *sensory* experience, from eating my favorite foods, to visiting museums and admiring the artwork, to sitting on the side of the Seine and really soaking in the atmosphere. I make every minute count, and the same was true when I lived there, not just when I’m there on vacation.

It got me thinking about my current life in Washington, DC. Just because I live in DC and not Paris, there’s no reason I can’t create a life I love here in DC just like I do when I’m in Paris! In many ways Washington is very similar to Paris, especially the particular neighborhood I live in. There are cafes, shops, bars, restaurants, outdoor markets, museums, giant cathedrals, parks, beautiful flowers, etc. However, I don't currently spend a lot of time actually enjoying these things and taking advantage of them like I do when I'm in Paris. That's when it hit me: it's time I stop wishing I lived in Paris and start revelling in my life here, right now!

Let me ask you this: How many of you are actively creating a life you love on a daily basis, versus feeling sorry for yourself because you’re not currently experiencing your ideal career, or relationship, or living situation, or weight, etc? That’s no excuse to not be creating your ideal life! There are things you could be doing right now to enhance your enjoyment of life, even before that thing or situation you are wanting arrives. So start doing those things! Sure, it might not be *exactly* the same as if you were truly already living your ideal life, but it’s a start… a great start, in fact!

The law of attraction brings you more of whatever you spend the majority of your time focusing on and feeling. Therefore, the more time you spend in delicious feelings of happiness and fulfillment while entertaining thoughts about how much you love your life, the more the Universe will bring to you to match these thoughts and emotions, including your ideal job, weight, financial situation, relationship, etc. Isn't this great news?!

So I invite you to stop feeling sorry for yourself and start creating a life you love, right this very minute! Especially with summer right around the corner, now's a great time to commit to creating a life you're absolutely ecstatic about. Why not take the next few months to concentrate on doing activities that bring you joy and fill you with a sense of fulfillment and enjoyment, every single day? I'll definitely be doing this, and I encourage you to do the same!

And be sure to check out my ebook, Secrets to Creating Your Ideal Life, to learn more about how I manifested my ideal life in Paris for two years straight out of college. It's all I could think about the other week when I was there!