Great Mother Dwells Within You

Most women agree that there are several phases to a woman's life. In the beginning there was Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Times have changed, we're no longer married off in our teens to spend all of our days barefoot and pregnant.

As our lives extend and we embrace our power, more phases have been added. Maiden, Warrior, Mother, Queen, Crone.

Maiden is our phase of innocence. Warrior is the phase where we fight for what we want in life. Mother is where we find abundance, fertility, and fulfillment.  Queen is when our children have left and we rediscover ourselves. Crone is the final phase where we become the guide and a beacon of wisdom.

I am discovering how to be a mother when I am not a Mother.

I've made the decision not to have children and for a very long time I worried about how that would impact my sense of myself as a woman. That I would just float along directionless while all of these beautiful, glowing, mothers bypassed me with their beautiful, glowing, babies and actually made something of themselves.

How could I ever measure up? I have secretly always felt this sense of inadequacy around Mothers. For a long time I even felt like this blog couldn't be what I wanted it to be because I was not a mother. How could I help women to make time for themselves when I don't understand what it means to balance a life and motherhood? How can I help a mother love her body when I can't fully understand the changes that body goes through.

How can I be 'good enough' to help women that know so much more than me, have experienced more than me, and have been initiated into something that I will ever know. It took me awhile to see my value beyond that.

I think I've finally begun to discover the Mother Phase for myself and what it will mean for me. I'm not quite there yet but I can see it on the horizon and I know that it is meant for me. It is my path and I am looking forward to the moment when I set my feet upon it.

It is my time to nurture, to embrace the abundance in my life, to fall into bed exhausted but contented, to feel fulfillment in my heart and a deep knowing that I am living my purpose. My path is my own and just as beautiful as everyone else's, just as important. I know that now.

I have discovered that you don't have to give birth to a baby to create something wonderful or to live your life with purpose.

I no longer look at the future and fear that there will be a long stretch of nothingness. I no longer feel like my life has to be empty or I have to feel like something is missing. I have something to give the world. Something to nurture and something to love.

There is a mother inside all of us. Universal Mother, Great Mother, that spirit dwells inside of you. We are all part of that energy.

When did you first start to feel like a Mother? 

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How I Talk To Goddess

One of the tools that has been so important to me getting my life together has been writing. It has helped me to manage my depression, it has allowed me to dig deep spiritually, and it's always been my way of working through the big stuff.

My Journal is a book of conversations. 

Conversations with my demons, conversations with my inner wise woman, and conversations to and from my Goddess.

I allow Her to speak through me. When I need advice I just allow myself to write and eventually the answers I need at that moment come to me.

Sometimes it's just an overwhelming feeling of comfort as sweet words pour onto the pages, soothing my heart in just the right way.

My Journal is prayer written on paper.

When I need help I write down what I need and somehow the solutions seem to find me, or I discover them. When I am feeling grateful it allows me to express it and be thankful.

A few years ago I was going through a terrible time. I'd rush to my journal and write down a plea for the pain to stop. Within those pages, as I wrote out my agony and the tears fell, the pain would subside.

My Journal is my place of healing.

When I write, I don't just write I transport myself to a safe place, mentally and emotionally. Most of the conversations in my journals take place after I write the scene. Sometimes I imagine myself sitting next to Goddess on a warm sandy beach at twilight with the moon reflecting on the surface of the ocean. I write down the scene in as much detail as possible, along with details on how Goddess looks to me. It puts me into a semi-meditative state which instantly calms me.

If you want to delve deeper into your spirituality then start a journal.

It allows you to document your spirituality, connect with yourself and your God, and figure out what works for you.

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Shine Sun on the Winter Blues

We're in the midst of Winter, and I don't know about you but I'm really starting to feel it. I'm getting grumpier than usual and listless and I have spent way too much of my time playing solitaire on my phone.

Time to go within and connect with myself.

I've been thinking about some things that make Winter-time easier to deal with, at least for me.

If you are feeling lazy take the time to stay connected.

During those times when you don't feel like finishing projects, or doing much of anything, take the time to connect with your friends, loved ones, or those people that just light you up. Winter is the time for hand-written letters full of doodles and stickers, long e-mails full of heartfelt thoughts, or ya know, facebook messages with a "Wassup?". Winter is a great time for connection. Back in the day, that's how our ancestors passed the time, sitting around talking, telling stories, and sharing. It's good stuff.

Make lemonade out of lemons. Or hot chocolate out of chocolate.

Instead of thinking of all of the things that Winter is taking away from you, think of all of the Exciting Opportunities (My boss at the day job says this all the time) you're being given. Think of the lethargy as an exciting opportunity to finish that book that you forgot you didn't finish reading. Or being snowed in as an exciting opportunity to rearrange the furniture in your living room or clean out your closet. Winter is the best time for that.

Honor the cycle.

Winter is different than Summer, true story. So don't try to make Winter into Summer. You can't do the same things, your body isn't going to feel the same way, you're going to need different things, go with the cycle, both of the season and of your body. If you're not a vibrating ball of passion and energy, just go with it and allow yourself to use these months to relax and refuel.

Wear colors and soak in light.

Winter doesn't have to be gloomy and glum. Surround yourself with vibrant, happy colors to offset the browns and the grays of the outside. Just having a space that is colorful and all your own can make a huge difference in how you feel. Make yourself a Woman-Cave! Make it bright and beautiful and if it's near a window where you can get a bit of Sun, even better! Don't be afraid to spend some time outside, the Vitamin D from the Sun is good for you!

What are your best ways to beat the Winter Blues?

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Don't Let Fear Hold You Back

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I've got diamonds at the meeting of my thighs

If you took my survey you might have seen the part where I ask you what you want me to write about. A lot of you wanted me to explore the Sacred Feminine, and you know what? I think that's a great idea.

What is the Sacred Feminine?

The Sacred Feminine is about seeing women as sacred and divine and exploring that connection. 

I realize that I spend a lot of time encouraging you to see yourself as sacred and beautiful but I want to delve into the knowledge that all women are part of something sacred.

I'm going to start showcasing things that embody the sacred feminine. Stories, women, poetry, thoughts, that inspire you to see women (yourself included!) as this beautiful force that you are. Women are amazing and I think that when you begin to see yourself as part of that energy and beauty, then loving yourself will come easier, you're totally a part of that beauty! 

I want to share with you an excerpt from the poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. I saw it on facebook a few weeks ago and I was just struck by the beauty and the power of it.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

I love those lines, they just speak so eloquently of our value as woman and embracing our sexuality.

How do you feel when you read those lines?

Are you able to embrace your sexiness? Feeling sexy can be really difficult, especially if you have body image issues. When I reached adulthood my body image was so bad that I never felt sexy. Eventually I got my first boyfriend and the only time I felt sexy was when he told me I was.

My sexiness and my value was given to me by someone else. 

If he treated me like I was nothing then that was the value I then assigned myself. It took me a long time to realize that it was my job to assign value to myself, not someone else. It took a lot of inner work for me to realize that my body is sexy, and that sexy is my own definition. I look at my body and I see luscious curves and smooth skin and jiggly bits and that is sexy.

I create my own definition and my own value.

How about you? What value do you put on yourself?

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Pray For Faith

One of the things that keeps coming up for me, and a lot of people that I know is what do you do when you lose faith. Or when you're not as devoted as you want to be.

Pray for faith.

It sounds silly, but it works. There's a musician, Jai Uttal, that I absolutely love and he talks about faith and devotion and the paths that we take.

Paths are rarely smooth or constant. Just like everything in life they follow spirals and cycles and circles. When you start to acknowledge that, it takes the pressure off, it gets easier to find your way again. Sometimes your heart will be open and sometimes it won't be. Sometimes you will have faith and sometimes you won't.

Imagine that you are walking a path in the forest and you get lost. You can do so many things. You can stand there, being still, and wait. You can start freaking out because you are lost. You can backtrack and try to find your way back, or you can just move forward, having faith that you'll end up where you are supposed to be eventually.

Even when it feels like you have no faith, praying for faith is the first step.

Prayer can be translated in so many ways. Some see it as meditation, ritual, chanting, silence, talking out loud, in sacred space, through sacred music, while kneeling, while in a trance, while sleeping, while laying down, or speaking different languages.

I believe in praying how you want and to who you want.

"There are many paths up the Mountain, but the view of the moon from the top is the same."

If there's something missing in your life and you want to fill that space, then start praying. If you don't know who to pray to then pray to the Universe to guide you. You don't have to have everything figured out, you don't have to know your destination, you just have to start the journey.

Faith, like everything is a journey and it's the journey that counts.

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Treat. Yo. Self.

One of my favorite comedies (and believe me I have a lot) is Parks and Recreation, it's a great show and really funny.

I love the episode where Tom and Donna have a "Treat Yo Self" Day.

Once a year they get together and go shopping to buy themselves extravagant things, or indulgent things that they might not otherwise buy. It's a day of saying yes to everything that you want.

Sounds pretty awesome right?

They bring along one of their co-workers who's not really into it but he ends up treating himself by buying something that he really wants. A Batman Costume.

I love this episode because not only is it about pampering yourself and giving yourself permission to get what you want, it also shows that different things make people happy and that's okay. One thing that I absolutely love about Self Care is how personalized it is.

You get to pick what makes YOU happy.

Even if it's a Batman costume.

So here's what I want you to do. Plan a day sometime in the next few weeks when you can treat yourself. You don't have to do anything extravagant, you don't even have to spend any money. Just do something for yourself to make yourself happy.




I plan on having a date with myself to go and see the movie Warm Bodies when it comes out in February. I am so excited!

What are you going to do to treat yourself?

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I hate my name.

I have never been very fond of my name for a variety of reasons. It's always felt like this baggage that I have to carry with me and can't let go of.

It's reminiscent of the baggage that I carried with me when I hated my body. It's very similar. We sometimes define ourselves by how we look and we also define ourselves by what we are called.

I hate my name because I feel like it has always been something that separates me from everyone else.

It has caused a lot of resentment towards my mother, if you can believe such a thing. Sit back and I will tell you the story of why.

I was my mother's first child. My mother, who is white, was dating my father, who was black when I was conceived (This ends the part my bio-dad plays in this story). By the time I was born, she had broken up with him and had already married someone else, who was also white.

I was named Dominee Rochelle Malina Wyrick.

I was raised as his child, along with my sister and brother who came after me.

The rumor is that my father didn't even realize that I wasn't his biological child until I was older. I don't know how true that is because it's not a topic that I ever bring up with my family. I was told that I was not his biological daughter when I was around the age of seven, my mom said I cried a lot that day.

It was when I began to feel like the Other.

My whole entire family was white and I was not. I often felt like I didn't belong. I remember telling other children on the playground that I had spent too much time in the sun and that was why I wasn't white like my sister. I don't know why, but it always felt like something I should be ashamed about. I would never look the same and I felt like my last name was a lie, a name that did not really belong to me.

My sister was named Rachel Ellen after our Grandmother and Great Grandmother and my brother was named James Preston, after his father and Grandfather. I was named weird ol' Dominee, a name that had no ties to my history or heritage. A name that didn't fit in with the simplistic traditional names of my siblings. Mine was a name that everyone always got wrong, and after awhile it just seemed to reflect everything about me. My name was wrong, my skin color was wrong, my hair texture was wrong, and all I ever wanted was to fit in.

My name was a personification of the things that held me apart from everyone else.

Once I got online I never used my real name. I went by my middle name, Malina. I went by Talya, one of my favorite book characters, Ephiny (from Xena), MuddledClarity, anything but my own name.

That is until I joined the Goddess Circle and made this blog. I decided that I didn't want to hide behind a name that wasn't me. I didn't want to be anyone other than who I am, right down to my funky name, my stretch marks, and depression. I didn't want to hide anymore.

I also learned what my name meant.

dominee (in South Africa) a clergyman; especially a settled minister or parson. A spiritual leader of the Christian Church.

The name Dominee may not be particularly beautiful to me, but it does have power. It represents me and who I have become. I have made it my own and I have allowed it to represent me. In doing that I have changed what it means to me. 

It no longer represents to me that I don't fit in. It no longer means that I am not part of anything. My name has become part of this huge online family with people from all around the world, and my name fits in to that family perfectly. We're all odd and strange in our own ways, we're different colors, we speak different languages, we live in different places, yet we are all connected. 

Names cease to matter and all that does is our soul and our heart.

What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet;

I don't think that I would be the same person if I had a different name. However, finding love for myself has allowed me to love my name, and to love my body, and to love those things about myself that were different or unwanted or strange.

That is what my name has taught me.

How do you feel about your name?  Like it? Love it? Hate it? What does it mean to you?

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Discovering my path...

Ahoy there! I've been loving all of the responses to the 2013 survey on where I should head in this next year. The direction has been amazing.

Thank you so much.

I figured I'd share the results (so far) with you guys. If you are interested in filling it out, you still have until January 31st to do so, I'd love to hear your opinion! I really want to listen to you and allow you to guide me. We're a democracy! I am so grateful I get to do this. If there's something that doesn't resonate with you or something you disagree with, take the survey and let me know!

Favorite Blog Posts

93% of you are loving Self Care Sunday, where I post about Self Care and Self Love. Since this is the topic that I am most passionate about, I am so glad that you are loving it! Thursday's Oracle Card posts came in last with only 32% so that might be something that I need to re-think!

What You Want More Of

Self Love! Is that any surprise? I am so glad that you are all so interested in it, and wanting to learn about it. I have a million ideas for future posts so it makes me so thrilled that you want more Self Love Lovin's. In second place we have Spirituality and then Goddesses and the Divine Feminine. I'm pretty excited about incorporating more of that into what I do and what I share.

3 Words to Describe Me

I got so many amazing responses to this question! You all think that I'm bright, inspiring, and helpful. I really loved all of the sweet words you attributed to me. You all are amazing!

Future Products You're Excited About

The two options that are the most popular are Embrace the Goddess Within You (ebook or e-course on seeing the Divine within you) and Discover Your Goddess (How to find + connect with + honor ancient Goddesses). Yay for Goddesses! I can't think of anything that I would love better than helping you all to see the amazing Goddess spirit that lives within you!

Your Dream Products (Some of my favorites)

Inspirational T-Shirts (yes! yes! yes!) I love this idea!
How to tap into your Intuition
How to accept yourself in the moment
Daily reminders to remember to have fun daily in my life

What I Learned

You guys aren't too big on the business stuff. The most important feedback that I got is that you don't want this to become a blog about running a business. I totally hear you! I used to be absolutely in love with a blog, it was everything that my heart and soul needed, and then it changed, it became about business all of the time and it kind of broke my heart.

I know that with success comes a certain amount of pride, as well as a desire to share that with others. I'm thinking that the Business Stuff will probably be something Newsletter-y that those that want to learn about it, can sign up to do so.

At the end of the day, this is your space! I am here to serve you!

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How To: Self Love

This morning, a lovely lady named Anne commented on the Blessing Manifesting Facebook page.

"I want some positive advice on how to learn self love."

I then realized that out of the over 300 blog posts here at Blessing Manifesting I don't think any of them accurately cover what that question asks.

After a little bit of thought I came up with what I believe is the best way to start the journey and to begin loving yourself.

You can also read about my Self Love Journey in the 2013 Self Love Planner!

Fix what needs to be fixed. Accept what needs to be accepted.

Right now I could tell you that you should love and accept yourself just how you are, and that's true to some extent. You are deserving of love just as you are in this moment, no matter how flawed or broken you perceive yourself to be.

But...

To really love yourself, you gotta be someone worth loving, in your own opinion. I'll tell you a little bit about me. Before I started my self love journey I was extremely depressed, I had so many anger issues, and I had terrible impulse control. I was a big ol' meanie. Was I worth loving? Absolutely, but I couldn't do it.

So I fixed what I needed to fix. I started trying alternative methods to improve my moods, I researched anger management, I did the work and when I started to see the results and the subtle changes not only did I feel proud, but I felt the love.

I'm not saying that you need to change yourself, to love yourself by any means. I think the first step is to look at yourself and look at your life and ask yourself:

What's stopping you?

Sit with that answer, feel it out, and ask yourself if what happens next is change or acceptance. There's no 'right way'. I have tons of flaws, believe me, they are there and sometimes they are glaring, but none of them stop me from loving myself. I accept them as part of who I am. I know that I am not perfect and I know that I don't need to be.

Which brings us to point number two...

Realize that you don't have to be perfect to be loved.

Truer words were never typed. If you wait until you are perfect to love yourself you will be waiting forever. If you aren't a parent, imagine you are, the minute you see your child, you fall in love with them simply because they exist.

You probably have someone in your life that you love unconditionally don't you?

Why do you love them? Because it's worth it, because they are worth it. Reflect that back to yourself. No matter what, you're worth loving. You hold so much awesomeness right inside of you, so much love for other people, so many big dreams and hopes and if all that isn't worth loving, then I don't know what is.

Get to know yourself.

Seriously! Figure out who you are and what you want. Discover what you believe and know what your values are. It's just like dating someone new, you really have to figure out who they are before you fall in love.

Forgive yourself.

Let go of past, let go of your bad deeds, let go of your shame. Live your amends. If you've done something bad, then live your life in a good way, in a positive way. Putting that out into the world does more good than hating yourself ever could.

Forgive other people too. If someone put you down, if your parents or an ex-spouse or partner made you feel like you weren't good enough, or you weren't worth loving, let that go and forgive yourself. Holding on to that serves no purpose for you or anyone else. Letting go of that baggage is so (veryvery) hard, but it's worth it. Cross my heart.

Practice Self Care.

Make time to do things for yourself. Making time for the things that you love and the things that make you feel good is so important. It's putting into action what you are already feeling. Self Love and Self Care go hand in hand, one is the feeling and one is the action. It's the equivalent of a big ol' hug, or a passionate kiss, to yourself. You wouldn't love someone who never showed you affection or did anything nice for you now would ya!?

Don't give up.

Rome wasn't built in a day. If you're just now starting your journey, it might be rough going for a little while. You might get frustrated, you might feel like giving up, or that it's too much work, or it's stupid, or you'll never be good enough, or it's not important enough but let me tell you a secret:

If you don't give up, it's going to happen.

It's worth your time.

You are so worth the time and the effort.

What's your #1 Self Love how-to?

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Wanna help me out?

Hello there!

What's going on in your wonderful part of the world? Hopefully nothing but good things! So it's the new year and I've been thinkin' about stuff, where I'm going and where I've been with ze business. Leonie Dawson's Biz Planner is making that fun and introspective!

Blessing Manifesting is growing beautifully! It's blossoming, stretching, shifting, transforming and I am so excited for what is to come. I've got massive ideas, so many that I don't even know where to start.

Secret: I feel confident.

I'm not sure I've ever felt confident about anything ever ever. I feel that changing. It's pretty amazing. I whole-heartedly believe in my vision and my personality, and what I have to bring to the table that is uniquely me. I do need a little bit of a point in the right direction...

That's where you come in!

I need your help. I need to know what is resonating with you the most, what you are enjoying the most, what you are anticipating the most, and what you really need from me. At the end of the day, Blessing Manifesting is about you. I feel like it is its own entity, I just guide it to do what it needs to do. She's a jolly mistress to have.

I'd love for you to fill out the 2013 Survey. All I need is a little bit of guidance as to where we need to go in the future. What blog posts are you absolutely in love with? What can I do better for you? I'd love to hear your feedback on what I can create for you! If that's not awesome enough, at the end of the month there will be a random draw and someone will win a $20 Amazon.com gift card.

I also want to showcase what you are thinking about my stuff, so I present to you the testimonial page. Here you can submit your testimonials of my products in an easy and efficient way! There's a spot for you to upload a photo of yourself as well as provide a link to your website. Free promotion for you, which is always awesome.

You might have noticed a little bit of interior design going on here with the website. I keep changing the designs and the fonts and I'll fall in love with it for a little while and then I'll want it to look fresh and new and more "me", whatever that means in the moment, so expect things to change and be beautiful and whimsical!

Oh, and if you haven't already, check out the freebie page, everything is new and updated, and I think it looks fabulous, especially the e-books! (*squee* They look beautiful!!)

Thank you for your support and your love, and your wonderful shining spirit that collides with mine in this wonderful space to make. magic. happen.

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Are you cared for, nurtured, and cherished?

How's your New Year going so far? Whether you've made it a time for new beginnings or it's the same ol' same ol' I hope it's been fabulous.

Mine has been 10 days of minor ups and downs. I've been feeling a subtle sense of discontent. I don't know what it is yet, it requires more investigation, but I'm ready for the work, and I think good things are going to come from it.

I also managed not to go down the spiral. If you've been hanging out with me for awhile then you know that every time I release a new product I jump head first into this deep, dark, stinky, pit o' despair.

I skipped it this time around.

I'm still not quite sure how I did it (as you can see this seems to be the year of general confusion!) but I did and it overjoys me. I think a lot of it was belief in myself and confidence in what I do, I think it's about damn time I found that, eh? Since that happened I've been seriously thinking of all the things I can create now. So many ideas, and I can only hope and pray that I keep the motivation to allow 2013 to be the year Blessing Manifesting shines.

Today's card is all about embracing new beginnings and nurturing them to growth. How appropriate! The Maiden is a wee little faery who wears a crown of light. She represents smiles and flowers and dancing and all of the things that bring joy.

Even though the Maiden is powerful and wonderful she is still a child, she's still starting out, and she needs to be cared for, nurtured, and cherished. When she takes the form of a flower someone must see that she gets enough water and sunshine.

Are you allowing yourself to be nurtured?

The maiden has an openness to life and to love. Every moment for her is filled with adventure, playfulness  and hope. She is innocent and awakening to the world. The possibilities are endless.

What possibilities do you see? What needs nurturing in your life? 

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The Goddess Artemis

One of my wishes for the New Year is to reconnect with my spirituality. It's really been put on the back burner lately as I put my focus on self-care and business. I know that it's something that I need and want to focus on.

My relationship with the Divine has been constant, if sometimes quiet. I embrace both the masculine and feminine aspects of God.

I tend to connect with the Greek/Roman pantheon. The most influential Goddesses in my life have been Hestia and Aphrodite. A few days ago I began to hear the call of Artemis.

I realized that it is time to learn what Artemis has to teach me.

It happens when a Goddess wants my attention. She keeps popping up when I least expect it and I randomly find thoughts of her in my head. The other night I was at work and had my mp3 player on shuffle when an Artemis Meditation popped up. I've listened to it before, but it especially struck a chord with me.

Artemis is a Huntress and Greek Goddess of the moon, the wilderness, and childbirth. She is one of the twelve Olympians, or main deities in the Greek Pantheon. She is the twin sister to Apollo who is the God of the Sun.

I think the lessons that Artemis has to teach me is about fierce independence, embracing my wild side, and coming into my own as a woman.

I see lots of great things coming from this and I can not wait to share it with you!

What Goddesses have popped up in your life? What have you learned from them?

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Are you detoxing?

One of the things that comes up a lot of the time with my peoples is why does it hurt to change? When you start changes, good changes and positive changes, why do things start sucking even more?

Because you are detoxing.

When you give up the bad-for-you-things, whether they are physical or emotional, your body and your mind rebels.

If you are an avid coffee drinker give up coffee and see how you feel, or stop smoking, or eating sugar, or start exercising after a long period of inactivity. Usually it's a huge pain in the ass.

Then look at yourself two or three months later. You'll be freakin' rocking it.

That's the nature of change and transformation. It's painful. 

If you want to be happy start thinking happy thoughts and it will happen. That's usually a big pile of b.s. sorry to disappoint you. If you are the most negative person on the planet and you decide that you want to change all of that and be positive you have some work ahead of you.

First you're going to have to deal with the people in your life. They're going to be used to negative, glass-half-empty-you, and chances are, they're probably the same kind of people. So you turn up happy and positive and they're going to be very confused or resent you and not be happy for you. Which is going to bum you out and make you want to go back to negative you.

What are you going to do the first time something doesn't go your way? You get a flat tire on the way to work and forget your lunch and get in trouble for being late. How are you going to deal with that? You'll probably roll your eyes with an "Of course this was bound to happen because nothing ever good happens to me so why do I even bother?"

Positive change takes a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it, it's awesome.

Everyone has a certain set of default reactions, feelings, emotions, and coping mechanisms inside of them. We can change them, but it's not easy and it takes more than a few days, weeks, and sometimes even months and years.

It takes time for those changes to stick. The problem with New Year's Resolutions is that people expect it to be easy, they expect the good things to click right away and to override the bad or negative habits that are the default.

If it were that easy, then we'd all be perfect. 

If there's something that you're working on, something good-for-you, and you keep seeing all of this negative gunk coming up in your life as a result, acknowledge that you're detoxing. It's allowing you to get it out of your system, to deal with it, or to learn new ways to deal with it.

It doesn't mean you are failing.

It doesn't mean you should stop.

It just means that you need to keep going, keep leaning into it, because when you really come out the other side. You're going to be so damn proud.

What positive changes have you made that caused nothing but struggles for you in the beginning?

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My Word of the Year

Last year I chose a Word-of-the-Year instead of making a goal or a resolution and I loved it. I'm not sure that I did 'Surrender' proud last year, but I do know that I let go of a lot of things and that it did help me to keep that theme in mind.

Choosing a Word-of-the-Year is like picking the title for the next chapter of your life. It's good stuff. It's also a nourishing process, it helps you to get your head in the right place and gives you a focal point without the pressure of a goal or resolution. You just do your best to honor that word in your life and there's no failing.

My Word-of-the-Year is SHINE.

I'm a very shy person, and let me tell you, owning a business where I have to show my personality was a huge struggle in the beginning. I didn't know how much of me to reveal and I didn't know how far to push myself outside of my social boundaries. It is still a learning process but I am getting better. After jumping in head first, floundering for awhile, I'm finally getting the hang of it.

I was thinking about what I want from this year and part of it was self-confidence and part of it is implementing all of the wonderful ideas that I have in my head, and the other bit is not being afraid of myself.

I am afraid of my brilliance.

Does that happen to anyone else? There's the fear of failure on one end and then on the opposite end there's the fear of being so so big that you just can't handle it. You just want to dwell in the comfortable middle because it's... well... comfortable and you know that you can handle it.

That is why I chose the world shine.

It also goes well with my anthem of the year.

"You could be the star, you could shine so bright. You could be your own spotlight."

How are you going to shine this year? What is your word of the year and what does it mean to you?

I need my lovely loyal readers to take a few minutes to fill out this survey (if you would be so kind) you'll be entered to win a special prize if you do!

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Are you feeling it too?

Happy new year my bright, shiny, sparkly lovies!

How's it going so far? Are you full of planning and potential, and just waiting to jump-start this year and create the best year ever?

I am, or at least I was. I get so excited about the new year, every year I just can't wait to let go of the former year and embrace the new one, as if there's something completely different about each one. Like it's going to be wonderful and magical and perfect just because.

In the wee hours of New Years Day I cried.

I cried because I was having a horrible night. My boss said something insensitive, my best friend hurt my feelings, and you know that idea of a New Years Kiss? Well, I just found that the most depressing idea in the world.

A wonderful way to start the New Year right? It was oh-so-tempting to throw a temper-tantrum and a pity-party (okay, maybe I did just a wee bit) but then I realized that was a crappy way to start the year and that I could do one of two things.

I could keep letting my day suck, or I could change it around.

That's what we all wish for the New Year isn't it? For it not to suck in the ways that it sucked the year before. A lot of that has to do with our attitude.

We hold the power of the non-suck. Like a scepter we can choose to wield or shove in some dusty corner of the closet because it's too heavy, and it's too much work.

If you don't want this year to suck like the last one, then don't let it.

If you want this year to be different than the year before, then make it happen.

If you had a crappy day yesterday, guess what? Today is a new day. Make it not suck. You always have the option, right now, to change your course. Nothing is set in stone, and even if was, that's what a hammer and a chisel is for. Make it happen.

Now is the time.

Today's card comes from the Angels, Gods, and Goddesses Deck by Toni Carmine Salerno and I thought it was quite fitting!

An exciting new chapter of your life is about to unfold. 

The Angel of New Life is here to announce that a new chapter of your life is about to unfold. Over the coming days and weeks you will begin to feel a sense of renewed clarity, purpose, and direction. New, magical, and exciting things begin to happen as you are intuitively guided to explore new avenues and possibilities for your life.

Through this process you will uncover aspects of yourself that you didn't know you had. Embrace this new and exciting period of your life and know that the past is now behind you. Your life is forever changing and you are forever evolving to ever greater spheres of light and love through the wondrous spirit of creation. Enjoy the journey and all the blessings coming your way.

That's what we all want, so let's make it happen! 

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Embracing the Goddess in 2013

Why hello there 2013, it's quite nice to meet you! Welcome Wishcasters as well! Today Jamie Ridler asks us what is our wish for 2013. So many wonderful plans and ideas and inspirations. (In fact, if you'd help me out with that by taking my survey I'd love you forever)!

There are a lot of things that I want to do in this new year. 2012 gave me a whole heap of confidence as to what I am capable of. It was busy and bustling and full of miracles and magic, however there was something missing.

I kept trying to recapture it but then I get distracted and I always ran out of time.

I wish to make the time to delve deep into my spirituality. 

It's such an important aspect of my life but it is also one that gets pushed aside in favor of things that involve do-ing instead of be-ing.

It is time for silence, for stillness, and for embracing those things within me that wait silently for notice. I look forward to the changes that it creates within me and in my life.

I am wishing you a wonderful new year!

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