Try this!

Hello,



Try this; think of someone or something and within forty eight hours that person or that event that you were thinking of will come back to you in some form. My husband and I have been doing this "mind" exercise for the past year and it works. Most of you reading this are probably wondering where this is coming from and what have I been smoking or drinking?

Last year my husband had a motivational speaker named James Spooner come and speak to his insurance reps. James is the owner of the Bentley Club in Harrisburg PA. In very simple terms he coaches people on the power of positive thinking and how anyone can earn the riches they want. His philosophy is based on the Napoleon Hill Foundation or the law of attraction; which is based on an essay written by Andrew Carnegie called the Gospel of Wealth.

My husband told me all about this guy Spooner and I was skeptical at first. But then we started playing this game where we think of someone or something and it almost immediately comes back to us or at least within forty eight hours. Let me give you an example. We had a huge snow storm last weekend here. I was watching the weather channel and my husband was outside shovelling snow. I watched a segment stating the importance of checking our outdoor heating unit for excess snow. The reporter said to make sure that you clear off your unit otherwise the weight of the snow could cause an unnecessary shut down of your furnace and that would not be fun during a nor'easter.

I hollered out to my husband and told him to check the unit; he smiled and said,"Spooner." I asked him what he meant and he said our neighbor had just given him the same information. Another "Spooner" philosophy is that everything is connected and there are really no coincidences. Later that day I had mentioned an old favorite movie of mine that had not been on in a while and later when we were flicking around there it was listed on the guide as being on that evening. That same day I had thought of my dad in Florida and how I needed to call him. As I was walking in the door from the grocery store the phone was ringing and it was my dad giving some information that I had suspected; my step mom is really sick. I suspected something was wrong when I hadn't heard anything from them in weeks.

Now you are probably saying, so what. Yeah things like that happen to me all the time. They are called coincidences. Maybe so but as I started thinking more and more about it I realized that the more you pay attention to this stuff the more it happens. When we first started the experiment it was maybe once a week, now it is daily. Why is this important you ask?

Part of the other Spooner or Napoleon Hill foundation is that we have the power in our minds to make things happen. Whatever your mind can conceive and believe your mind can achieve. You can achieve whatever you put your mind to regardless of your education or your past failures but you have to have positive thinking. We are all energy and the energy we put into the world is what we become. Remember Negative Nancy in one of my past blogs? There's a prime way to put negative energy into the world.

There are some key things that you need to do in order for this to work and the first thing is to write down in a notebook what it is you want to succeed at. Next you need to write down what you will give back to society as a result of your success, then you need to memorize both statements and repeat daily. Lastly,and this blew me away as I have recently written a blog on gratitude( again there are no coincidences) , you need to say a prayer of gratitude. The prayer goes something like this: I ask not for more riches but for more wisdom from the gifts I've been given at birth. We have all been given gifts at birth we need to remember what they are and put those gifts into motion; the first step is believing in our dreams! You must believe and then take action to put it out into the universe, the rest will take care of itself. Think of the possibilities!Now there is one other part to this and that is that you have to be open to it and if you are not then it will not work.

Why does this matter? I wanted to share with all of you this information as I want to become a successful author, in doing so I will give back by entertaining and informing a large audience, and I will give back by being able to donate money to important charities for children. It seems so simple and I believe it can really happen.

I think of my life with my husband. We started from humble beginnings. He has bought into this idea of positive thinking for years. He is a successful manager in a large firm; he struggled for years but once he told himself over and over that he would be successful then it happened.

I think of how many successes I've had as a triathlete. There is one thing I say to myself over and over as I am racing: I am going to finish, I am not going to be last and I have trained for this so I can win. Guess what? I have finished, I have not been last, and I have won my age group many times.

One last powerful example. A family member almost died before Christmas, in fact many family members said goodbye. It was the belief of one doctor that gave everyone hope that he could possibly make it back. Family members believed he could make it back from a coma and he did; in a short eight weeks time! The power of positive energy along with the grace of God sent him home this past Friday.

Whatever your mind can conceive and believe your mind can achieve. Try it!



I believe!
Kelly

More from new story... Food is Love

The three of them came barreling down the escalator. Jessie was carrying Darcy. Dakota was pulling his own suitcase on wheels and carrying his monkey which was hanging by one arm. Darcy was about to lose his blanket and my sister looked like she was about to lose her mind. She had multiple suitcases on wheels which she was trying to maneuver along with her two very active children. She had on a beautiful brown fur coat, I was not sure what type of animal it was or used to be but it was stunning. Leave it to Jessie to be dressed to the nines. She had on a skirt and boots and a cashmere sweater to match her ensemble.
The kids looked like they stepped out of an L. L. Bean catalog; in matching outfits. Their angelic look did not match their sparkling personalities. I knew I was in for a long drive to my aunt’s house.
“Can you take him?” she asked.
“Hi Jess, how about saying hello first?” Suddenly I was overwhelmed with the smell of throw up. I spotted something on Darcy’s red crewneck sweater. Dakota was whining that he was hungry.
“Sorry, the delay killed us. I had everything timed to a tee and then with the cancellation we ate too early and then Darcy got sick on the plane. Because we ate too early now they’re hungry again. I can’t win. How are you?” she said kissing me on the cheek.
“I’m fine, except for the smell.”
“Oh give him back to me I’ll go change him before we get into your car,” and like that she whisked him away to the restrooms down the corridor.
“So,” I said to Dakota, “How’s it going dude?”
“I want Mommy!” he whimpered.
“She’ll be right back; she just went to change your brother. He smelled bad.”
“I want Mommy!” he screamed.
Then out of nowhere a security guard came over. Accusingly he said, “Everything all right here?”
“Perfect,” I smiled.
“I want Mommy!” Dakota yelled.
“Are you his mother?” the security guard asked.
“No, thank God,” I said jokingly.
He raised his eyebrow and said, “What?”
“No, I’m his aunt; his mother is in the bathroom changing his little brother.”
The security guard just looked at me and then just stood there. You could tell he wasn’t a real police officer but he took his job very seriously.
***
We found our way to the car and the kids passed out immediately. Silence really is golden. My sister seemed preoccupied and we just enjoyed the quiet for a while until I couldn’t take it anymore. “So are you going to tell me where Derek is?” I asked.
“He had to go out of town. He couldn’t watch the kids for me so I had to bring them.”
“Don’t you guys have a babysitter that helps with that sometimes?” I asked.
“Yeah, Beth but her finals are next week.”
Derek was a very successful insurance wholesaler and his job did require travel. I wondered how it was every holiday, every reunion, every family event, Derek conveniently had to work and my sister seemed perfectly comfortable with the arrangement.
“That’s convenient,” I slipped.
“Rachel, I didn’t come here to fight with you. Our grandmother has died for God’s sake. Can we change the subject please?”
“Fine, it would be nice for your husband to pretend sometime that he is part of the family.”
“Rach? What the hell did I just say?”
“Fine.”
“When is the last time you saw Grandma anyway?” Jessie asked.
“I don’t know. It’s been a while. I think last year at Christmas.”
“Last year?”
“I thought you didn’t want to fight Jessie,” I said.
“You haven’t seen her in a year?”
“I’m busy. I do have a full time job.”
“Oh, like I don’t.”
“You have more flexibility than I have,” I said.
“Yeah and I live all the way in Denver! It’s not like I can get back here that easily. I have little kids Rachel.”
“I guess I haven’t been a good grand daughter. I don’t have a great relationship with Grandma. She wasn’t the nicest growing up. She was always yelling at us…”
“You don’t have any relationship with her Rachel. You never did.”
“When is the last time you saw her?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Oh so you are going to criticize me on Grandma? How long has it been Jessie, like three years?”
Jessie was quiet. I guess she didn’t feel like getting into it at the moment. I thought back to when our mother was alive and realized that my sister and I really didn’t have much of a relationship with our grandmother. My mother never said anything bad about Grandma but she would make comments like, “Your grandmother once told me that my cleaning lady did such a nice job with our house.” We never had a cleaning lady. Once my mother told me that my grandmother made the comment, “It’s your dad’s house; he can do whatever he wants.”
I knew comments like this sent my mom into a tizzy. She and my dad had many heated arguments over my grandmother’s nasty tongue. Mom would say, “Bill why can’t you stand up to that woman?” Dad would just shake his head and tell her that it was his mom and what was he supposed to do? The excuse was always that she treated everyone like that. Mom was just supposed to suck it up like everyone else.
I guess that’s why we never really visited much growing up or now. I wondered if everyone else in the family thought the same thing about Grandma. I felt a little sad thinking this; I felt even worse knowing I wasn’t really sad that she was gone.

My Aunt Debra’s house was a four bedroom colonial that set on top of a hill. The two acre property backed into a corn field. She once awoke to a herd of cows in her yard. There was a dairy farm down the road and the cows decided to go for a walk one day and ended in her yard.
Aunt Deb loved company so when we showed up with my sister’s kids she was never happier to see everyone. She had a large house and now that my cousins were grown she said it reminded her of the old days to have young kids here. I’m sure she was especially reminded when Dakota threw his stuffed monkey at her glass vase from Tanzania. She had done a Peace Corp stint over there years ago and this was one of her prized possessions she had brought back from some village.
“I’m so sorry!” Jessie said grabbing Dakota.
“It’s okay, I can probably glue it,” Debra said.
“I show up with my two kids and now this. How can I ever make this up?” Jessie said close to tears.
“No worries. We have enough to think about in the next couple of days. Why don’t you girls go upstairs and get settled. I made some chicken stew for dinner. I’m sure everyone is hungry.”
“Yeah that it part of the problem. Our plane delay caused a lot of problems.”
“Where’s Uncle Jack?” I asked changing the subject.
“He’ll be home soon. He could have retired but he insists on working.”
My Uncle Jack was a principal at an elementary school. He had been there for thirty years, but I guess he loved it.
“I thought he’d be home by now,” I said.
“They had a meeting tonight.”
“Go on and get cleaned up and by the time you do that it’ll be time to eat.”
We climbed the stairs and our rooms were next to each other at the end of the hallway. There was a Jack and Jill bathroom adjoining our rooms. Jessie took the room on the right as it had a double bed and a trundle for the kids to sleep on. My aunt had bought that for when her daughter comes to visit with her little girl. My cousin Stacy was a piece of work. She wasn’t able to come in for the funeral. She was a District Attorney in D.C. and couldn’t get away from a case. I flopped down on the queen bed and closed my eyes for a minute. I wondered when Dad was going to show up. I wondered what his new girlfriend was going to be like.
***

The doorbell rang. I looked out the window and there was Dad and the new girlfriend. I figured I would check her out before going down to meet them. She was tall and blonde, athletic looking. Dad had mentioned that she was a runner and they had met at a 5k race a few months ago; The Race for the Cure, which my dad ran every year since mom died. I pulled at the locket around my neck; I didn’t need to open it to remember the picture of mom with her head shaved wearing her pink tee shirt the day we all ran it together. I wondered if she was watching us now.
“Hi Dad.”
“Hi Rach! Come here I want you to meet someone.”
“I’m Rachel,” I said.
“I’ve heard so much about you. Your dad talks about you all the time.” She said trying to hug me.
“I wish I could say the same. What’s your name again?” I said reaching to shake her hand. Dad gave me the look.
“Rachel, you know this is Sharon,” Dad said irritated.
“Right, I am so bad with names,” I said smiling.
Aunt Deb said, “We are just about to eat some dinner. Rachel why don’t you help your dad and Sharon take their things upstairs.”
“Okay,” I said and grabbed Dad’s duffle bag from him. “Follow me you guys.”
Dad grabbed Sharon’s large suitcase and dragged it upstairs. I looked behind me and said, “You guys bunking together? There’s plenty of room in here with me Sharon.”
Dad gave me another look and then I ducked back into my room before he could say anything. Shortly after my slighting Sharon there was a knock on my door. Dad didn’t wait for me to respond he just appeared. “So do you want to tell me why you are acting like you are sixteen instead of twenty five?”
I went to feel for my locket again. “How could you Dad?”
“How could I what?”
“Mom has only been gone for two years and you already have someone else. And then you bring her here, to Grandma’s funeral?”
“First of all it is really none of your business. But I will humor your little tantrum. I miss your mom terribly; no one could ever replace her. I am trying to move on with my life Rachel. I am lonely. I just want someone to go out to dinner with or go for a run. I’m not looking for anything permanent. Sharon was on the board to get Race for the Cure started in our area. We have a lot in common. She lost her sister to breast cancer.”
“Whatever Dad. I don’t think it is appropriate to bring her to a funeral.”
“She insisted. She is very supportive. I have become attached to Sharon. She is easy to be around. I’ve had enough drama the last couple of years. Be nice Rachel.”

Dinner went well. Aunt Deb had given the boys some snacks while everyone else was settling in so they actually sat nicely at the dinner table. We kept the conversation pretty light and everyone seemed tired from their travels. That is until Uncle Jack asked me about work.
“So Rachel,” Uncle Jack started, “How is work going?”
“Fine. This week I had one case of herpes, a kid who was talking to himself because his ADD medicine was off, one teen who thought it was okay to have oral sex…”
“This is at the middle school?”
“Yep, it’s a lot different than when we were in middle school. The worst thing I ever told the school counselor was that I had hidden Amy Alden’s training bra in another locker in gym class. She had to go the rest of the day without her bra.”
“What’s oral sex?” Dakota asked.
My sister gave me the mommy look.
“What’s herpes?” Darcy chimed.
“I think it is time for you boys to help me get the apple crisp out of the oven,” Aunt Deb said, saving the day.
“So you are a school counselor?” Sharon asked.
“Yep. Didn’t Dad tell you?”
“What do you like most about it?” Sharon asked avoiding my question.
“I don’t know. I guess I like helping the kids.”
“What is the worst problem you’ve had with the kids?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“Rachel,” Jessie said with her mommy tone.
“Well maybe she just wants to take the focus off of herself,” I said. “Shouldn’t we be asking you questions? We barely know you.”
“That’s enough Rachel.”
“Apple crisp is served,” Aunt Debra said.
***

Technology- Techscmology

Hello,

So my husband and I were conversing over dinner the other night; yes our family actually tries to sit down and eat together, several nights a week, without the television on, without the cell phones(God Forbid) without the Blackberry. Mind you some of these devices go off but usually my family will look at me and then instantly know that if they get up to go to any of these devices they might not ever return to the dinner table.
The kids asked to be excused; I know we even have manners, hard to believe. My husband continued to tell me about a present that he did not get me for Christmas this year but that he had thought I might like. "Well don't keep me in suspense I replied. A present of any sort is always appreciated," I added. Secretly I was hoping it was some expensive jewel that was simply so rare and so hard to obtain that he was going to tell me that it was on the way from Zimbabwe.
He informed me that he was going to get me a Kindle but after careful consideration decided not to. Humm. I thought a minute and then the debate started. While the idea is okay I assured him he made the right decision. How could anyone take a wonderful book away? Well he explained that the Kindle was a book on a handheld device with many bells and whistles. You can download any book right away onto it. But why would I want to do that? "It'll save you so much time." Oh yes, that.
One of my absolute favorite things to do is go to a bookstore. I will seek out bookstores on vacation just to go in and look around. During "free" time my favorite thing to do is head to Barnes and Nobles or Borders where I can look from section to section and dream of the many places I might visit with the countless books in the stores. I love the different book jackets, the different sizes of books, the different print inside. Call me a geek but reading from a handheld doesn't seem like much fun at all. Most of the time I read I am trying to escape from the everyday stresses, like technology! Oh yes it makes some things easier for sure but does all the technology really make things better?
When I was a little girl my favorite place to ride my bike to, imagine we did not have Wii Fit so I had to go outside for exercise, was an old Tudor house that was converted into a library. There were small rooms, large rooms, even a tiny room that was once a pantry, filled with wonderful books. The house had some water issues and some of the rooms were a bit musty and as a result some of the books had a musty smell. There was a room with an old radiator in it that hissed and steamed and I loved going in that room in the winter when it was cold out.
There was an old librarian and she was not the friendliest. She was always at me to check out my books and be on my way. And where was my mother, she would always ask me? I would spend hours wandering around trying to make my decision and then when I finally made up my mind I would sit a the large wooden table in the room with the big windows. I'd look around at the men and women and kids sitting in the library. I'd wonder what they were reading and where they lived and what they liked about this place. Then I'd read for a while. Then I'd watch. Then I'd read.
I'm sorry but you can't get the same smell or feel of a book from a Kindle. You can't ask the store clerk if she liked the book you are about to buy and the librarian won't be on the Kindle wondering where your mother is. You can't get a coffee and wander around a Kindle. You can't make eye contact with another customer on a Kindle and spark a conversation. You can't touch the cover and feel the newness or oldness of the paper.
We have gotten so into our technology that we have taken away experiences. I love the experience of getting in my car or riding my bike or walking to the bookstore or library. It is part of that experience that brings me to a place where I can buy or borrow a book. It is the sight, smell , touch of the book and surroundings that keep me coming back for more. It is the conversations that I'll have or over hear. I'm sure I could talk to the Kindle but will it answer me?
Before my trip to France last year I was at Barnes and Nobles; imagine. I wanted a travel book on Southern France to help me navigate and know where to eat and stay. There were so many choices. I spotted two girls standing next to me looking at Italy travel books. Excuse me I said," I can't decide between these two books. I've never been to Europe, which do you think is better?" They both replied that the Rick Steves book was by far the best one. They chimed,"He'll be your new boyfriend! He is so awesome. He'll tell you exactly how to walk places, where to eat, what to see, all on a budget!" Wow, I replied and said thank you to the girls.
I stood talking to the girls for another few minutes. They told me they were going to Italy. I waved goodbye and thanked them again. Then I went to pay for my new treasure and the cashier said she had gone too and this was a great book. I know the Kindle could not have done all that.
You chose wisely smart husband! Meet me at the bookstore where I'll be smelling a Starbuck's and looking for a new book.