I’ve read a bunch of New Year’s Eve quotes today, but I think this is my favorite and how I intend to live during the next year and beyond.

“We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”  ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Living everyday with the word “opportunity” in the forefront of my mind.  What will I do with each day?

As mothers, we have such high hopes for a new year.  A great finish to the school year, happiness, health and a feeling of accomplishment for our kids.  2008 has been such a mess on so many levels that it doesn’t seem as if it would take much to hit it out of the park in 2009.

But without focus and a clear vision for every day, every week, every month for the upcoming year, one blink and it will be December again.

I’m working on a list of “energy drainers” (the things that weigh on me so heavily where some days, it’s impossible to be productive toward fulfilling my other business, personal and parenting goals) and I’m putting it in writing to make sure ‘accountability’ is my friend and not my enemy.

My goal is to get these energy drainers dealt with and out of my brain by the end of the first four weeks of the year.  My list is coming, but in the meantime, what drains your energy?

I’m wondering how badly food pantries, shelters and charities that normally generate a big chunk of dough during the holiday season will suffer as a result of the messed up economy.

As the wife of one of the thousands if not millions of laid off husbands, it’s tough to think about breaking free of even $5.00 to drop in the bucket as I leave the grocery store.

But, I do know, from all my years in Catholic School and just living on this earth that you do reap what you sow.

Even some of my favorite Internet Marketers are planning to use Twitter and other ‘connective’ online tools to generate awareness and funds for holiday charity events.  The gals at the SWBN (Secret Women’s Business Network) are supporting Twitter For Christmas #TFC.  Great idea Sheryl and SWBN gals!

I just finished helping my daughter study her 3rd Grade spelling words.  My neighbor told me about this website called Spelling City.  She said it’s an automated way for a child to study their spelling words.

This site, Spelling City, is the coolest thing. It was developed by parents and it’s completely kid friendly.  You input the child’s spelling words, then the child can work through games and mock tests to practice.  There is an audio function that audibly pronounces the words and even uses the word in a sentence.

I don’t know if every word in the English language is included on the site, but it contains over 35,000 words, so I’m thinking that will cover most spelling tests for several years.

Practicing spelling words using a computer also helps kids become familiar with a computer keyboard…another bonus!

And my daughter actually had fun studying tonight.  Spelling City is completely free.  Now that’s a Big Dream Come True!

Never Stop Dreaming!

I just read this article on one of my favorite sites, Ladies Who Launch.

It’s called “7 Steps To Realizing Any Dream” and it’s written by Lotta Alsén from Los Angeles. As I read it, I noticed how even though everyone’s dreams might be different, the tools we need to get there are virtually the same:
- courage
- stamina
- action (this is a big one for me!)
- integrity
- hope/faith
- joy

And with the exception of action, everything on this list comes from the inside. 5,000 people could tell you that something is possible, but if you don’t believe it yourself, it’s nothing more than a myth. For all the training and education that we go through to learn a skill, perhaps we should take as much time training our minds to know that the possibilities aren’t just possibilities. They are truly POSSIBLE.

Thank you Lotta for reminding me!

“What? It Can’t Be Done? Hogwash!”

I wonder if the person or people who dreamed this idea said that (or something to that effect) when the naysayers told them “it can’t be done.”

I’m talking about the creators of the World’s Largest Swimming Pool.

At the gorgeous resort, San Alfonso del Mar, in Chile, lives the world’s largest swimming pool. It’s my newest dream … to vacation there someday!

But I have to believe that when the engineers came up with this idea, their dream, they had dreamkillers all around them telling them it was impossible.

These kinds of feats give me hope that whatever I dream can actually become reality.

San Alfonso del Mar

Boy, that’s a dangerous thing to do! I’m so much better at managing self-comparisons that I used to be.

Because I’ve always aspired to do ‘more’ (whatever that ‘more’ was at the time), I’ve also been victim to making comparisons. Comparisons lead to jealousy. Jealousy leads to envy. Envy leads to unproductive ugliness. And unproductive ugliness leads to crushed dreams.

It’s easy to look around you and see how others are succeeding. They could be succeeding in their marriages, in their parenting, in their careers, in their personal goals, even in their outward appearance. But the truth is that no one ever knows what is going on inside a person’s home or in their own minds.

My path is different than everyone else’s path on this earth. That’s the way God created it. It’s tough to remember sometimes, especially when impatience gets in the way.

The only way to achieve our dreams is to keep pressing on, by shooing the evil comparison gremlins out of our brains and remembering that our path is uniquely designed for each of us.

Everything we do; everything that happens, everything we think is ours to make the most of. And wasting time on unproductive ugliness is only going to delay everything we want and are meant to achieve.

Never Stop Dreaming.

I waited until the first week of school to publish the first post on this blog.  It just seemed appropriate to start something new at the same time my kids were starting something new as well.  And if you couldn’t tell by the title of this site, I’m all about Dreaming.

Not about the kind of dreams that are so pie in the sky that there’s not a chance that they’ll come true.

I’m about the kinds of dreams that women sometimes feel they have to push aside in order to be or do what everyone else thinks they should.

I don’t believe in limits and I don’t believe that a woman has to give up one thing in order to do another.

It’s a challenge. A journey. But I hope you’ll join me in sharing your dreams, your bumps in the road, your life lessons and ultimately your successes.

Never stop dreaming.