We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
-Aristotle

What are you repeatedly doing or not doing? Is this building habits that seem to be part of your everyday fabric?

I wanted to start off with this Aristotle quote because it shows that when we repeatedly do excellently, it forms a habit of excellence. When we are always doing our best, the best becomes a habit. Whatever we do, breathe, say, and think all sends a message to the Universe. When you are constantly sending the same message it begins to manifest in your life. By doing excellently, you will attract only excellence.

Today I would like to encourage all OM-ers to confront something that you have been procrastinating about. Perhaps it is washing clothes or dishes, or maybe it is cleaning your room. Maybe it is donating clothes to a local church or painting your bedroom walls. Confront this procrastinated thing with an approach of excellence. For example if you have wanted to remodel your kitchen for a long time, you might not be able to do that all today, but what you can do is call a contractor and get some quotes today or go to Home Depot and pick out some of the items that you want in your new kitchen. Approach all the things that you are procrastinating about with the detail of excellence and accept excellence as your habit.

Here is another quote to leave you with:

“Excellence is in the details. Give attention to the details and excellence will come.” - Perry Paxton

Today confront your procrastination and do it with excellence!

OM.2 - Day 6: Confrontation

“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." Christopher Robin to Pooh

~A. A. Milne quotes

“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing. Use the pain as fuel, as a reminder of your strength.”

~August Wilson

The English dictionary defines the word confront as "To bring face to face with:" Over the next couple of days I will be encouraging us to confront some of the issues, emotions, perhaps even people that we have locked away and has become apart of our unconscious. When you decide to rent storage space and put your furniture and miscellaneous items away, you still own these items and they still exist. Similarly we sometimes decide to store feelings, emotions and negative habits into our metaphysical storage units and keep them there until we are ready to deal with them.

Today I am encouraging you to begin the journey of making change by opening those storage units and letting out some of the stored items and cleaning it out!

Today on Day 6 I encourage you to begin keeping a list of fears and "bad" habits you are ready to let go of. If you feel ready, today I encourage you to confront one of your fears.

People may think they are fearless, but dig deep. What makes you hesitate? What makes you scared? Do you stay at your job because you are scared you won't get another? (start editting your resume) Do you experience moments of resistance when your phone rings with a number you do not know or that is a "Private Caller"? (Pick up the phone! Confront what is on the other line) Do you fear offending someone? (Speak your mind!) Begin to examine and note when you feel fear, hesitation and resistance. If you feel ready, start to actively confront those issues. But worry not, because writing it down and acknowledging it is an act of confrontation in itself. And once you confront it, it cannot bother you as much as before.

Have a great day!

OM.2 Day 5

“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” - Coco Chanel

Day 5 will encourage us to look at our daily habit of how we get dressed for the day. Today I encourage you to make some changes to your appearance in perhaps one of the following ways: 1 - Wear something you have never worn before 2 - Style your hair differently 3 - Wear something that you have been nervous about receiving criticism from 4 - Change your routine, and perhaps take time to get dressed slowly and pay particular attention to your clothing (i.e make time to iron or steam clothes) I am a firm believer that the person makes the clothes, and the clothes do not make the person. I also think that because we make the clothes, we must acknowledge that our appearance is wholly based on our choice of priorities. If you ever feel not 100% satisfied with your appearance, let Day 5 be the day that you proclaim satisfaction in your appearance and that you take the responsibility and the time to create the appearance that you feel right about.

Day 4: Spicing It Up

Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor. - Wiliam Cowper

Today's area to add change or newness to is to which we consume food-wise. Today I suggest trying a new food or beverage. Eat somewhere new, try a different coffee, cook a new dish, try a new item from the Whole Foods salad bar! For some people this may be VERY hard, and for others this may be VERY simple. Despite the difficulty level of this, we all reap the same benefits from this action which is expansion. We are sending a clear message to the universe that we are open and ready for new energy in our lives and that we are easily adjusting to change. We are expanding our comfort zone and welcoming positive new experiences and people into it!

OM.2 Days 2 + 3

"Just because something feels familiar doesn't mean its the most powerful use of your energy. Take responsibility. Life ebbs and flows. You create the quality of your life with your choices, and your power comes from learning how to navigate the ebb and flow..." - Brenda Anderson, "Playing the Quantum Field"

Over the weekend I suggest you continue to look at your routine. Think about what your "usual weekend" is like and try to break it up or add some spice in it. If you often run errands and feel like the weekend is full of tasks, do something to comfort yourself as well. Make yourself and self care your priority! If you feel like your weekends are times of vegging and "doing nothing", create something for yourself to do - perhaps complete a project at home you have been wanting to finish. Listen to your instincts and what your mind wanders off to.

Here are some suggestions:
-Wake up a new time and try a new habit. Perhaps wake up earlier and take a walk outside with no intentions but to give thanks, or wake up earlier and start your day with a prayer and or meditation. Mornings are a great time for a meditative practice and can really shape the rest of your day.
-Spend time in new spaces: Go to a different place for brunch or your morning coffee, try a new supermarket at a different time
-Take a new approach with some of your household chores. Does doing it with a smile make it more pleasant?

Observe your moods through the day and continue to note where you are feeling great and when you are feeling not so great, this will be useful when we begin to tap into changing moods and outlooks on things.

Life is to be lived and to enjoy every single moment!

Operation Manifestation (OM) 2 Returns: Making Changes

Happy Day 1! I love that today is July 10 because 10 = 1 from a numerological standpoint (1+0=1). 1 is the number of initiative and starts so I am confident that today will be a great day to start the rest of our lives!

"Your choices will change the world" - from a Traditional Medicines tea bag

Sometimes it may be hard to see, but it is true, our choices affect and change the whole world. When we smile at a stranger at the street, we send them love and compassion and then they may be encouraged to also send love and compassion...it is a domino effect.

Today's suggested area of habit/routine to make change in is in travel or transportation. Perhaps:
*You travel a new route to work
*You approach walking with new eyes to see all the beauty around you
*You give an extra big thank you to your bus driver/taxi driver
*Walk down a different street that you hardly walk down

While this may seem like a tiny choice, it will affect all the rest of your choices today, and will also affect your ability to make new choices and open your mind to new ideas and habits!

Note: Feel free to make a change in another area of your life. These are just suggested areas. All actions of making change or doing something different count!

July's New Moon in Cancer 6/22/09 @ 3:35p

Today we will receive a new moon in the sign of Cancer, while the sun is currently in Cancer as well! Cancer is ruled by the Moon, so intuition will be running deep today, and we must listen to it and allow for it to speak to us. The sign of Cancer is typically associated with words like: emotional, moody, protective, nurturing, intuitive, maternal, domestic and touchy. Cancer naturally rules the 4th house, which is the house that defines our domestic affairs, the nature of our home and often one of our parents. So this may be a great time to tap into our home lives and renew our values and goals there.

Our original home though is our body. Our body is truly the home of ALL the atoms and molecules that make us who we are. The body houses are bones, flesh, muscles, thoughts, and breath. Our breath being our key to life and our connection to something outside of our body homes. During a new moon we naturally have energy favoring new habits, new forms and new changes. We are able to tap into this energy if we intend to. The new moon in Cancer prompts a certain energy or sway towards home life and towards the feelings listed above. Our bodies store all emotions, thoughts and memories. They are stored in organs, cells, muscles and body parts and while we may not even be conscious of them, they are there. Listen to the body and listen to the wisdom of the body that you cannot necessarily see with your 2 physical eyes or hear with your 2 physical ears, but that you are still able to sense and work from. What is it telling you? What is affecting your body home? What is making your body home not reach its optimal existence?

It may be time to change something, and it might be something small or something big. There is a quote attributed to Albert Einstein that says,

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

If we do the same thing over and over again, we are reaping the same exact results. And if there is an area in your life that you want to change or improve, it has to start with doing something different. That something different can be anything - it might be the way you think about it, it may be a small minor change or a large change. It has to start somewhere though.

Today I challenge you to start somewhere towards your goals. It might be scary, but fear is inevitable and once confronted will cease to paralyze you ( I have to tell myself this daily as fear is constantly trying to make a way into my home).

Choose to do something different everyday. Try something different, wake up at a different time, take a new route to work in the morning, start thinking about things differently, and see what doorways it leads you to.