Good Opinion of Yourself
January 20, 2010 by Chris Oldcorn
Filed under Growth, • Feature
“Be a friend to thyself, and others will be so too”
Thomas Fuller
Everyday, we come across people who are miserable and negative about themselves. We think about how much of a downer it is to be around them whether they are co-workers, classmates, friends, or family. Sometimes, I feel like telling people to just snap out of it and look at all the positives in their life. They have a job, friends, family, and nice possessions. I live in North America so the poorest people in my country are staggeringly rich in other countries. However, do we ever stop and ask ourselves if we are one of these people? We acknowledge everything wrong but don’t see their blessings all around us.
Most people don’t realize how negative they are everyday. How do we recognize if we are one of the negatives? Our thought lives and body language. If we think defeating thoughts then we act defeated. If we carry ourselves defeated then we act defeated. The key issue here is acknowledging that we suffer from defeatism and need to move toward positivism. Most people are too hard on themselves. One small mistake and they ruin the rest of their day if not week or longer. No one expects you to be perfect so don’t be a perfectionist. Only seeing what you do wrong and not what you do right is a horrible way to live. It is hell on earth. Spending your time on thinking about how too fat, too tall, or not smart enough is a waste of time. You need to love yourself before you can love someone else. This was probably the hardest lesson I have learned in my life. Without self-acceptance, there is no opportunity to accept someone else.
The opinion that you have of yourself is the most determinant factor of how others perceive you. If you constantly send out unworthy messages, you will receive unworthy responses. You will miss great relationships because they can never really become great without you having a great relationship with yourself. If you cannot have a great relationship with yourself, you do not truly understand how to have a great relationship with others. Being your own best friend is the key to being a best friend to others. If you honour and favour yourself, you can do the same to other people. Compliment yourself just as you would complement those around you.
What really matters? How you feel on the inside is more important than what you look like on the outside. Hold your head up high and shake off your failures. Start your day thinking about your successes and not your failures. Think to yourself, “So far, so good.” Find the good that you do. Say to yourself, “I am strong, healthy, and victorious! There is nothing I cannot accomplish if I put my mind towards it.” Dwell on your good qualities and not your bad. You are empowered and have all the talents necessary to fulfill your destiny.
“Before a person can achieve the kind of life he wants, he must think, act, walk, talk and conduct himself in all of his affairs as would the person he wishes to become”
Zig Ziglar
Action Exercise:
Don’t say anything negative about yourself for a day. You will see how much better you will feel about yourself. When you are at a mirror say, “I am awesome and I will let others know by how I act today.”
VividLife.me Contributor
Chris Oldcorn
Inspirational Speaker and Writer
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“Whatever you do, you are creating your own future.”
Believe to Receive
January 6, 2010 by Chris Oldcorn
Filed under Growth, • Headline
“You must believe before you can receive” Chris Oldcorn
Each of us has a special power inside that is waiting to be let out. It is creative, empowering, and filled with unlimited potential. Changing the way you think about your situations, talents, abilities, and relationships is just the beginning of your best year yet! The source that we all originate from has empowered you with unlimited ability to live a greater life than those who came before you.
A great example of this power is from the biblical story of Abraham and Sarah. Abraham came home one day and told Sarah that they were going to have a baby. Both of them were past their prime baby years. They were approximately one hundred years old and this was before any medical technology that could assist them in getting Sarah pregnant. They had to do it the natural way. Sarah did not believe she could become pregnant so she sends Abraham to sleep with one of their maids and have a baby. They raised that child for twenty years while Abraham kept trying to make Sarah believe she could have a child. Eventually, Sarah began to believe that it was possible at the ripe young age of one hundred and twenty to have her first child.
Maybe you have spent your whole life being told that you would never amount to anything, you are as dumb as a rock, or no one will want to marry you because you are ugly. People around you have made you buy into a negative self-image. Today is the day that you will walk away from that negative self-image and believe that you are special. Throw away the coat of negativity and step into your new future filled with unlimited potential.
Your New Year’s resolution should be to perform at a higher level in every area of your life. Change your thinking and hope for a better future in the coming year. No one will believe in you until you believe in yourself. It is not being conceited but having a positive self-image and a healthy feeling of self-worth. You get what you expect whether you like it or not. You cannot receive if you do not believe.
This is the year you become financially secure. The love of your life will cross paths with you. The unlimited potential will rise up and match you with the career you have been waiting for your whole life.
“Rise above the rest and be your best”
VividLife.me Contributor
Chris Oldcorn
“Whatever you do, you are creating your own future.”
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Poetry of Being – Nature Speaks
December 2, 2009 by Nicholas
Filed under Arts, Spirit, • Headline
Whispering of the wind as it caressed my face… the heat of the sun as it warmed my soul. The flutter of wings. The bearing of gifts. The spectrum of colors in full bloom. Yes, I witnessed the butterflies as they kissed the vast blue sky. I shared this canvas – their world of mystical bliss. Their soft breath spoke of an unconditional love. Silence in motion. Motion of time. These beautiful creatures so divine.
I sat under a tree, along a bubbling brook, and watched as it made its last decent before meeting the great lake. Visualizing its vast journey from the sky … over waterfalls, over rocks, around bends, twisting, churning, and finally arriving with these characteristics – adaptability, flow, incredible strength, remarkable softness, integrity, to be alive. The inspirational voice of nature… a way of life.
VividLife.me Contributor
Nicholas Franklin Bray
With many film and stage roles to his credit Nicholas Franklin Bray has recently finished the lead role in the film “Alter”, which was accepted by the “Big Apple Film Festival in New York. Nicholas’s next project is the lead in a film “The Tale of True Blue”, and will also be in the film “Boys of Summer”. He also has film projects in New York, Los Angeles, Michigan, and Phoenix. Nicholas summed up his acting career thus far with these words:
“By living my dream and embracing my passion, I hope to inspire others to do so also.”
Nicholas Franklin Bray
www.nicholasfranklinbray.com
So, What IS Feng Shui For Your Spirit?
I knew when I started my practise a few years back that most people had only a vague idea of what Feng Shui is all about, but it wasn’t until my teenage nephew totally cracked me up by asking his mom if she was using “Aunt Mary’s Hippie Magic again!” that I realized just how shrouded in superstition Feng Shui really is.
Well, there’s truly nothing magical about it! In very simple terms: Feng Shui is an ancient science based on the movement of energy. It has roots in China dating back about 5,000 years, as well as in other cultures worldwide that have also been studying the art of balancing and harmonizing energy flow. Additionally, modern science has proved that everything from rocks to animals, to our human bodies and Spirits is made up of energy and that all things vibrate in sync with the universal energy that surrounds them. (Check out the film or book What the Bleep do we Know?)
The purpose of contemporary Feng Shui is to find the best environmental arrangement for people to live and work up to their fullest potential, physically, mentally, emotionally and Spiritually, so positive intention ~ an energetic thought form ~ is also part of the energy or life force Feng Shui works with, because everything in our universe is energetically connected.
Too many people still think the chaos they experience is created by external energetic forces, so they come to me looking for quick Feng Shui fix hoping a well placed mirror and a new colour on the front door will make all the difference to their troubled existence. Although adjustments to our surrounding help make us feel better in the short term, I have proven to myself time and again that our thoughts are the energies that create our reality, so in order to apply effective and long lasting Feng Shui enhancements to our environment, clear, heartfelt thinking is imperative first.
When confusing, hectic or disordered thoughts haunt us, achieving this clarity is much easier when using what I refer to Feng Shui For Your Spirit©, which assists in moving energy from our heads to our hearts so we can stop thinking chaotic stuff and start acknowledging how we feel about things instead!
Feng Shui For Your Spirit© incorporates the Bagua Map traditionally used for mapping our homes, in a unique way. I use it as a Soul-searching guide to discover where we’re losing our positively charged life force. The Bagua Map is divided into eight areas (surrounding a grounding centre section), which relate to all aspects of our physical, mental, emotional and Spiritual existence:
WEALTH ~ ABUNDANCE ~ PROSPERITY
FAME ~ REPUTATION
RELATIONSHIPS ~ LOVE ~ MARRIAGE
CREATIVITY ~ CHILDREN
SPIRIT ~ HELPFUL PEOPLE ~ TRAVEL
CAREER EDUCATION ~ KNOWLEDGE ~ SELF CULTIVATION
HEALTH ~ FAMILY
ALL sides of life deserve equal attention and respect, which in turn create balance and harmony, so by creating a personal Feng Shui For Your Spirit© Bagua Map and exploring the positive and negative feelings we hold about each area, we can easily recognize our blessings as well as issues that require the attention of loving energy.
To support Feng Shui For Your Spirit© growth I’ve also developed a card system to be used in conjunction with the Bagua Map or on it’s own. Addressing our inner work allows us a more complete understanding of what we feel in every situation. Meditating on these or other heartfelt concepts found in the Feng Shui For Your Spirit© Card Deck for a few minutes everyday will allow divinely guided energies to create flow in your life.
Accept that this moment is all you ever have.
A peaceful, loving world starts with you.
Generosity is good for your soul.
Trust your inner wisdom.
Stay present.
Loving energy heals all.
Disengage from heartache.
Live free from negative thought.
Gratitude is the only prayer you really need.
Your own ego is the only thing that leads you astray.
Combining these two simple Feng Shui For Your Spirit© techniques makes it much easier to recognize and implement the enhancements we need in our internal and external environments, which help maintain inner peace and create a stress free life!
~ Go with the flow!
Featured Contributor
An award winning Television Producer/Director/Writer for over 30 years, Mary Giuffre sidestepped mainstream media and created SoulWater EnergyWorks to focus on the greater good. An Emotional Empath, Mary has been a student of metaphysics, energy and spirituality since her early teen years. Studies under a Native American Shaman, Energy Healers and many Spiritual Teachers have enhanced her natural ability to tap into the energetic flow of our inner and outer environments and she has been identified as a Master Energy Mover. Now a Motivational Speaker, Workshop Leader, Certified Practitioner and Mentor practicing and promoting Feng Shui For Your Spirit©, Mary’s finely tuned abilities adjust energetic balance to enhance harmony, prosperity and overall well-being, Creating Flow in Your Life!
Mary Giuffre ~ Specializing in Feng Shui For Your Spirit© Mentoring
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Executive Producer/Partner ~ inspirtainment inc. www.inspirtainment.com
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www.ActsOfJoy.com
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Poetry of Being – Perfect Illumination
November 18, 2009 by Nicholas
Filed under Arts, • Headline
As I watched a beautiful fall leaf descending upon the current of a soft breath of air. Mesmerized by its colors of red, orange, and golden brown. Never losing its shape or integrity. I noticed the arrival with no real control, but of design. Bearing a message for me… let go, enjoy… breath, observe, give, receive, love. We are now at the perfect place and time in our lives. All is well… let’s dance.
The brilliant yellow turned into a radiant orange and then red ablaze. This spectacular sight slowly descended, reflecting off white caps, splashing against its face. The glow radiated permeating the sky a florescence in turquoise, resting upon the sands of time. I gazed into this illuminating heart a portal of such beauty … the celestial voice, reverberating of love … Love that flows through each and every one of us.
Contributor
Nicholas Franklin Bray
With many film and stage roles to his credit Nicholas Franklin Bray has recently finished the lead role in the film “Alter”, which was accepted by the “Big Apple Film Festival in New York. Nicholas’s next project is the lead in a film “The Tale of True Blue”, and will also be in the film “Boys of Summer”. He also has film projects in New York, Los Angeles, Michigan, and Phoenix. Nicholas summed up his acting career thus far with these words:
“By living my dream and embracing my passion, I hope to inspire others to do so also.”
Nicholas Franklin Bray
www.nicholasfranklinbray.com
Poetry of Being – Rainbow Wings
November 5, 2009 by Nicholas
Filed under Arts, Spirit, • Headline
I witnessed the heart of the divine … as it opened up and shared the most beautiful set of rainbows I have ever seen. The colors so vivid, so serene – moisture still hanging in the air – reflecting the sun as they sparkled everywhere. I could see one where it touched the ground. The contrast of the pines in the background. My heart sang of the love so profound … a wonderful peace in my heart … a home.
I stood in awe as I watched an eagle take flight with such grace, courage, focus and intent. It soared to breath taking heights, and then floated as if suspended in the big blue sky. Circling upon the currents of time … allowing life to unfold and to flow within … sharing its passion for life. Inspired to live life with courage. Rise to extraordinary heights. To focus with pure intent, and to walk in grace.
Contributor
Nicholas Franklin Bray
With many film and stage roles to his credit Nicholas Franklin Bray has recently finished the lead role in the film “Alter”, which was accepted by the “Big Apple Film Festival in New York. Nicholas’s next project is the lead in a film “The Tale of True Blue”, and will also be in the film “Boys of Summer”. He also has film projects in New York, Los Angeles, Michigan, and Phoenix. Nicholas summed up his acting career thus far with these words:
“By living my dream and embracing my passion, I hope to inspire others to do so also.”
Nicholas Franklin Bray
www.nicholasfranklinbray.com
An Evening with Lisa Nichols
November 4, 2009 by Chris Oldcorn
Filed under Growth, • Feature
This past Friday night, I had the privilege of attending the Lisa Nichols event at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (Toronto, Canada). The VividLife crew was there in full effect as we were a national sponsor. The evening started with a VIP reception with an incredible spread of food. We met Lisa at the VIP reception and we have some photos with this article. She is an amazing woman in person and is as real on stage as she is one-on-one. Her bubbly laugh and humourous story about going to Winnipeg in the middle of winter with sandals on was quite adorable.
Lisa speaks without a prepared speech that she reads from or a teleprompter. She was supposed to have a half hour intermission in her talk but she wanted to keep going and everybody wanted her to continue. I have never sat through a 2 hour plus presentation and have it feel like 15 minutes. Lisa gave a behind the scenes look at “The Secret.” When she was selected to take part in “The Secret” movie, she had no idea what “The Secret” was. She knew about the law of attraction and had practised it for years. She spoke for four times in the original movie and seventeen times in the mass market version of “The Secret” that most people are aware of.
Lisa told a story about her appearance on Oprah. She had always wanted to sit on Oprah’s cream couch. When she was on Oprah talking about “The Secret,” she was disappointed that Oprah’s couch was gone. The five guests sat on stools because they all could not fit on the cream couch. Lisa has her own show coming up on the WE network (Women’s Entertainment). The designers put a cream couch on the set. This was Lisa’s example of the law of attraction. Instead of sitting on Oprah’s cream couch, she had her own cream couch. She used this example to show how the law of attraction doesn’t always work the way we think it will but it does work. That is the message I took away from the event. We never know exactly how we will attract certain things or situations into our life but we will attract them. We just need to be open to accepting them.
Featured Contributor
Chris Oldcorn
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“Whatever you do, you are creating your own future.”
Seva
September 30, 2009 by Chris Oldcorn
Filed under Growth, • Feature
“Bless the things that hurt us”
Seva? What does that mean? Why have I heard that word more frequently in the last year? Could it be from the rising economic catastrophe? The lack of ethics in multi-national corporations who only care about making more money in this quarter then five years from now? Just to boost their exorbitant bonuses! The minimum wage is less than the living wage yet white collar criminals get bailouts from governments to keep their Manhattan penthouses while their clients get foreclosed and booted out of their modest homes.
If I sound a little ticked off this column. It is because I am. It seems that some corporations are too big to fail yet their clients can fail and no one thinks twice. The few greedy people who put us in this mess are motivated by money. The Bible talks about “Money being the root of all evil.” Most people will probably agree with that statement. I believe we either put positive or negative energy into this world. A few’s negative energy caused a lot of pain.
Time to go positive! Regular readers of my column know that I believe we receive what we give. That is the definition of Seva. Seva means selfless service. We are seeing this from charitable organizations and humans who care about others. To be altruistic is to give without the slightest expectation of getting something in return. God is seen in being there for each other.
Action Exercise:
Tap into your inner spirit and help others. Deep down we are all perfect. Some decide to ignore their true nature and do harm to others. Pray that others can become aware of their true divinity. We are all in this world together. This planet rises and falls on what energy we put out into the world.
Featured Contributor
Chris Oldcorn
“Whatever you do, you are creating your own future.”
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Superwoman & The A-Ha Moment
“It’s taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.”
This anonymous line from an e-mail packed with insightful gems sums up exactly what I’ve been feeling lately.
Years ago while attending a Pow Wow, I was privileged to sit in an Aboriginal healing circle. As individuals shared their grief for the benefit of healing, although I revealed nothing from my own life, I wept non-stop for over two-hours. When I asked the Shaman leading this circle the reason for my reaction she explained, “You are a channel. It’s a gift from the Great Spirit. You cry the tears others cannot.”
For over twenty years now I’ve gratefully used this gift with pride, spontaneously assisting individuals with the expression of their heartache, so when I opted to write this column, I believed myself to be Spiritually mature, well poised to provide streams of wisdom to the masses and confident in my ability to ride any Spiritual wave with balanced energy fit for stormy seas.
Now, you may remember from my last few articles that there have been some very unsettling events swelling up around me. Each incident has left me a bit more off balance, but because of the nature of my gift and even though this most disturbing sinking feeling was never part of the experience before, I allowed myself to believe what was pulling me under was the unintentional channelling other people’s grief. I could see no other possible explanation so I intended to weather the storm.
I knew I was in trouble because as I started working on this week’s piece, I did so with rolling trepidation. Staring into an immense white void, I wondered if my inspiration had dried up completely, until I received this loving comment online:
“I believe this (article) is a gentle reminder from Spirit to me…I am definitely a work in progress my friend…a spiritual being having a human experience…you are the instrument that Spirit is using, to help get these messages out to the universe.” ~ Deborah
In one humbling A-Ha Moment I realized I’d unconsciously been indulging my ego’s need for SuperWoman Spiritual Elite status! I had myself completely convinced that this dis-ease I felt belonged to someone else. It couldn’t possibly be mine ~ I had a much better understanding than this! It had also seemed sensible to assume my gift of flow-through-channelling instantly transformed into a sponge, soaking up all the grief of friends and family. This was certainly more acceptable than facing my own pain directly in the eye ~ wasn’t it?! But now it was so obvious. With my ego clearly in charge, I’d been smearing my own emotional state on their circumstances as a way of avoiding personal heartbreak and that sinking feeling was clearly my own sorrow screaming for liberation.
As is the nature of our Divine universe, I was provided with several enlightened insights because of Deborah’s note. Through her I received the clarity to recognize how easily we can be fooled by our humanness. I’ve been reminded that Spiritual growth has everything to do with our experiences, and what we allow ourselves to feel from them; that Spiritual maturity is shaped by wisdom, not pride and that messages channelled from Spirit will never pull you under. Most importantly is that this gift of channelling is not exclusive. Through Deborah I received exactly what I needed, because we are ALL one with the Divine and we are all share equally in these gifts.
Yes, it IS definitely taking me a long time to be the person I want to be and this is why I am so very grateful for the comments I receive from you, our VividLife readers. They help take me one step further and remind me of how truly blessed we all are.
~ Go with the flow!
An award winning Television Producer/Director/Writer for over 30 years, Mary Giuffre sidestepped mainstream media and created SoulWater EnergyWorks to focus on the
greater good. An Emotional Empath, Mary has been a student of metaphysics, energy and spirituality since her early teen years. Studies under a Native American Shaman, Energy Healers and many Spiritual Teachers have enhanced her natural ability to tap into the energetic flow of our inner and outer environments and she has been identified as a Master Energy Mover. Now a Motivational Speaker, Workshop Leader, Certified Practitioner and Mentor practicing and promoting Feng Shui For Your Spirit©, Mary’s finely tuned abilities adjust energetic balance to enhance harmony, prosperity and overall well-being, Creating Flow in Your Life!
Featured Contributor
Mary Giuffre ~ Specializing in Feng Shui For Your Spirit© www.SoulWaterEnergyWorks.com, www.ActsOfJoy.com
Executive TV Producer/Partner ~ inspirtainment inc.
www.inspirtainment.com
Co-Creator/Partner ~ W.A.V.E. Web Design & Marketing www.WeAreVirtuallyEverywhere.com
If reposting this article please upload my full bio information as well.
Along Came A Spider
Death has been on my mind lately. It’s not that I’m concerned about my own inevitable passing, but because I recently received a heart wrenching e-mail, from a wonderful woman who, while caring for her husband as best she can, is watching helplessly as his body, shrunken from the ravages of chemotherapy is slipping away from her.
“I am a mess of emotions,” she explained. “To know ahead of time that you are leaving and will not be with the people and everything you love so much is so cruel. To know ahead of time that someone you love so much is leaving you is so cruel. People say to me to make the best of the time we have left together but it is so difficult not to just cry all the time.”
Feeling the sting of her unbearable sadness and knowing I was at a loss to console her with anything I might say, my day continued with mundane chores and seemingly endless reflection on the frailties of life, until down from the ceiling, dangling on a long silken thread, a delicate little spider lowered herself gracefully into my line of sight.
Now, spider is one of my totems and she drops in on me occasionally, so unlike many people who would run for a broom (or for the hills), she’s welcome in my environment. According to Native American Spirituality, Grandmother Spider is said to have woven the original web of the physical world, which was used as the foundation for all life forms and her two-lobed body represents an infinity symbol. As there are no mistakes in God’s unlimited Universe, I knew Grandmother Spider was there to impart her wisdom once more and I was immediately reminded of what I know from the depth of my Being to be true.
I see our physical body as a fancy new outfit, woven from the fabric of our external world that we choose to wear during the current incarnation of our Spirit. I also believe that the process of dropping our bodies must be like the freedom we felt as young children being allowed to run naked on a beach. Liberated beings ~ unclothed ~ unencumbered ~ infinite innocence, capable of endless love and creativity. So for me there is something wonderful about death.
I received this message today. “He passed away very peacefully yesterday, without pain or medication. He died in my arms with the kids at his side and took care of us right to his very last breath, as he didn’t make us suffer watching him die a slow and painful death. For this, I will always be grateful.”
As the Spirit of a loved one is released from this plane, earth’s energies shift, and a ripple is felt deep in the Souls of those left behind. At this time the rise and fall of emotion will beg for attention and we’re offered a unique circumstance to examine our own lives from a whole new perspective. If we open our eyes to the possibilities, and listen very closely, we’ll hear the answers to our heart’s desire for healing from that Spirit, who never really left us at all.
~ Go with the flow
An award winning Television Producer/Director/Writer for over 30 years, Mary Giuffre sidestepped mainstream media and created SoulWater EnergyWorks to focus on the greater good. An Emotional Empath, Mary has been a student of metaphysics, energy and spirituality since her early teen years. Studies under a Native American Shaman, Energy Healers and many Spiritual Teachers have enhanced her natural ability to tap into the energetic flow of our inner and outer environments and she has been identified as a Master Energy Mover. Now a Motivational Speaker, Workshop Leader, Certified Practitioner and Mentor practicing and promoting Feng Shui For Your Spirit©, Mary’s finely tuned abilities adjust energetic balance to enhance harmony, prosperity and overall well-being, Creating Flow in Your Life!
Featured Contributor
Mary Giuffre ~ Specializing in Feng Shui For Your Spirit© www.SoulWaterEnergyWorks.com, www.ActsOfJoy.com
Executive TV Producer/Partner ~ inspirtainment inc. www.inspirtainment.com
Co-Creator/Partner ~ W.A.V.E. Web Design & Marketing www.WeAreVirtuallyEverywhere.com
If reposting this article please upload my full bio information as well.
