If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it ~  William Arthur Ward.

Creating  a clear and detailed vision of your goals, your dreams, and your life purpose is  vital to receiving precisely what you want. If you are not clear in what you  ask the universe, the results you receive will also be unclear. It is the Law  of Attraction. You get back what you  send out. The more clarity you have, the better! That is why having a vision and creating something like a vision board is so important. Once you see the vision you build your plan precisely as you see it. Some people find it easy to write their goals, their dreams, and their visions down on paper. They draw a few pictures and it comes to life for them. Most do better with a vision board.

Vision  boards have been used to display images of goals and dreams for decades. They  are also known as goal maps, dream boards, treasure maps and story boards. The Vision Board is a powerful tool for manifesting and finding pathways to  achieving your dreams. Traditionally, the vision board was created by simply  cutting out desired images from magazines or books and gluing them on cardboard or poster board, creating a collage of your life plan. This is important because putting your thoughts on something tangible communicates to your subconscious what it is that you outwardly want. Because sometimes it is the subconscious, inwardly, that is holding us  back.The subconscious works well with pictures and affirmations so find  things with true meaning to your life and purpose, draw images that represent  your goals, and create a collage that represents your desires, your dreams, your  needs, what you want your life to look like and feel like. What do you want your  future be? Picture it in motion, picture it now. Then create the visual. As you  place your images on the board and add your own drawings, you are virtually building a bridge between your thoughts and this tangible board that you can see  and feel. This is an action of manifestation, an amazingly powerful way to put  your dreams into motion. Find images that allow you to see your dream as a  reality.  If you want money for a car, write out a check with the price of the car on it and place it with a  picture of the car on your vision board. If you want a new home, draw a picture  of it with the perfect landscaping surrounding it and you sitting on the front  porch. Include  affirmations; they are the essence of positive self-talk. By declaring your  "wants and desires" to the Universe, you are one step closer to having them as a reality.

 Once your vision board is created, put it where you will see it  several times a day. Take a picture of it so you can see it at work or when you  are shopping. Use it as your computer screen saver or on your phone. Hang it on  a wall or make it the centerpiece on your kitchen table. Look at if often. This  will remind your subconscious throughout each day of the amazing things you are  welcoming into your life. 
The  concept of vision boarding has been around for a long time, its popularity  aning through the last couple of decades. But it has become incredibly popular  in recent years due to the success of the well-known documentary, The Secret.  In this documentary, John Asaraff demonstrates his use of a vision  boarding.  Within a few short years  of that demonstration, he attracted his dream home. 

It  is your unique set of gifts and talents, those attributes that assure this world  that you are like no other, the seeds of your success that have brought you to  this place. Organize your desires on a Vision board. Draw the journey. See the  paths, draw the connections.  Will  you draw a map or glue on a university brochure. Perhaps you see a sandy beach;  you’re walking barefoot, laughing, in love, in peace. .Make it your own, Live  it, love it, and it will be yours. 
 
Nancy  teaches dream board classes in Washington and they are tons of fun. Call for a  schedule 818-445-9274

 Do just once what others say you cannot do and you will never pay attention to
 their limitations again ~ James  Cook

 Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail, Explore, Dream, and  Discover  ~Mark  Twain


You  have an awesome, unique set of gifts and talents, attributes that assure this  world that what you have to offer is unlike what anyone else has to offer. You  have your own niche going on, a life purpose, and to pursue it allows you to
live your dreams. But  to live your dreams and know your life purpose you have to take action. You have  to seek it, work towards it, focus on it, believe in it and never stop  believing. You have to run with it knowing your greatness will, without a doubt, carry you through.

 Many  people never know their life purpose or pursue their dreams, or if they do, they  lose faith; they stop believing. They get so caught up in the rules of life they  lose site of the laws of success and passion and abundance. They forget about  tenacity, persistence, self-belief, the Law of Attraction, Conscious Creation,  rules and tools that create the knowing that, “I can do this.”   It is a realization that comes as you become accountable for those  talents and gifts, the very seeds to your own success  story.

"Faith is taking the first step even when  you don't see the whole staircase."-Martin  Luther King

 Truth is you will always be who you think you are. So think big, think positive, know  that you deserve all that is good. Get to really know yourself, your qualities,  your achievements and possibilities. Who you are has nothing to do with how  others see you, what they think of you, how they speak to you or how they treat  you. 

Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by  your permission.  Ralph Waldo Emerson.

But  who you are has everything to do with how you see and think of yourself.  And although knowing, acknowledging,  believing in yourself and telling yourself you are wonderful are attributes far from the humble way we were raised, they are the exact behaviors we need to embrace, to live our dreams. 
 
Suggested  Download: listen to Doreen Virtue’s Angel Therapy for Abundance MP3 free
download, http://mp3skull.com/mp3/angel_therapy.html

 Suggested reading:  Who Are You Really, and What Do You Want,written By Shad Helmstetter Ph.D.

  Elizabeth  Scott M.S. shares in her article, Develop the Positive Self-Talk Habit, helpful  ways to learn tools of positive self-talk. http://stress.about.com/od/optimismspirituality/a/positiveselftak.htm. 

By Nancy Merrifield RN, URMP, CCP
Life Solutions Coaching &  Reiki Training Center
Mill Creek, Washingtion
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I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward."-Thomas A. Edison

If you are on a dream seeking excursion, but you haven’t figured out how awesome you are yet, you haven’t found that place of absolute faith that assures you that you will achieve the life you seek; start an all about me journal. Write down all of your past successes and what you see for your future. Write down everything you have done that you are proud of. Things like taking something back to the store that you accidently walked out  with. Helping grandma clean her house on Fridays or getting a promotion at work. Write down things that other people think are cool about you like you are well read, you are a great dancer or you are just plain fun to hang out with. How about failing a test, only to study harder and ace it the next time. How about the time you lost five pounds. You may have only kept it off for the summer, but you lost it, and that is a success worth journaling about. If you have an idea why you did not keep off the weight, add that to your entry as well.

The all about me journal should be written in the now or as though it has already happened. For example, “I have raised two healthy, happy children. I have true friends who care about  me. Everyone compliments me on how carefully I pack groceries; I nurture my garden every day and it grows beautifully. I helped the neighbor with her  children when she was sick.  I am happy, I am positive and I persevere,” and so on. Make a lengthy list, one that reminds of your greatness and successes.

If  all you see are negatives about yourself, even though you have searched for the  positive, it is time to seek help. You cannot reach your goals or live your dreams without assist in seeing who you really are. Wellness coaches, as well as other professionals, are trained to help you learn the process of seeing life and yourself with an optimistic perspective.

Read, Who Are You Really, and What Do You Want, By Shad  Helmstetter Ph.D.  But most importantly, understand that you are an awesome successful person and  with help, you will totally see that this is true. Consider Janine’s story.

Janine came to me with over one-hundred pounds to lose .She felt people staring at her and judging her based on her weight. They did not understand how hard she had worked trying to lose weight. They did not understand how much she wanted to comfortably fit into a coach seat on an airplane, how much she wanted to look good so that her spouse and her children would be proud of her, or how much she wanted to have more energy and be healthy.

Janine rarely went out to restaurants because she could feel people watching her, judging her while she ate. She attended her daughter Jessie’s kindergarten orientation; Jessie was excited for her mom to meet her teachers and friends at school. But what Janine felt was stares and surprise when the teachers and other parents saw how overweight she was. Her husband always said he loved her but he also avoided taking her to any work related gatherings.

Janine saw nothing wonderful about herself. She cooked, cleaned, made sure that her children finished their homework and she watched TV.She  avoided being active with her children. It was just too difficult. Janine could not find anything good about herself to write about in her journal. After
working with her, she began to see a little bit of her greatness. Here is her initial journal entry, formed with the help of her coach.

• I have provided a warm, loving environment for my family.
• I am raising two very loving, happy children
• My children love me and are excited to share me with their friends
• I know My husband loves me
• I am a great cook
• Extended family love coming to our house for holidays
• I Love having family over because they are always impressed with my creative ideas and hospitality
• When it comes to losing weight, I persevere, having tried every new program out there. I am persistent

Finding the positive was difficult for Janine. But she began progressively seeing her own attributes, possibilities and successes. Within the first few months of the coaching process, as we were developing her plan, she stumbled upon her life purpose. It was something she had dismissed long before. She also recognized a multitude of strengths she could build on. Her journal entry after three months  of Wellness coaching looked like this:

• I am evolving my home into a bed and breakfast
• I am changing my recipes to be more heart healthy yet still offering lots of flavor
• I am learning to read food labels
• Every saturday is family adventure day. We are trying out all of the interesting things to do in the area so that when our bed and breakfast opens we will be a good resource for our guests.
• We go to the farmers market each week using locally fresh produce to create seasonal meals
• I go for an after dinner walk with my family three evenings a week
• I play music a lot and love to clean my house to songs like staying alive and we are family
• People look at me now because I am happy and joyful.
• I feel healthy and strong
• I have goals and I am taking action to achieve them
• Because of the new changes in my lifestyle I am slowly and progressively losing weight
• I am a success story

Janine  now believes in herself. She knows she is successful in many things and has a lot of potential for starting her own business. The only thing that has changed is the way she thinks about herself.She always has and always will be exactly what she thinks she is. Only we can impose limits on ourselves. No one else has the power… unless we give it to them. 

Nothing can stop the person with the right attitude from achieving their goals in this world. Nothing on earth can help the person with the wrong attitude.~Thomas Jefferson 
  
Part of what Janine had to do to achieve such marked change in her life is learn to  see life with an optimistic perspective. She also had to learn and practice Positive self-talk. Without a positive attitude and outlook on life you will not attract the life you want to live. 

Consider Wellness Coaching for the best chance of achieving your goals. If you have not found your greatness. Please accept this Free Consult

The Buddha said "What we think, we  become."

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Reiki has been categorized by some as the new age stress management tool. But it is not  so new.  Reiki was first developed in Japan in 1922 by Micao Usui and was  brought to the west fifteen years later by Hawayo Takata and it has  progressively been gaining in popularity. Today, there are over 800 hospitals who offer Reiki alongside traditional medical care and patients claim they feel better and have less anxiety after a Reiki session.

There are no double blind, peer reviewed studies that prove Reiki decreases stress. Truth is there have not been many good studies done on Reiki. The evidence supporting Reiki decreasing stress or not supporting it is still out there,  waiting to be discovered. But the Center for Reiki Research, www.centerforReikiresearch.org,  has done a comprehensive,  peer review study of all the Reiki studies published in peer review journals since 1985. That review has given us direction as to what kinds  of studies we need to do to prove or disprove the efficacy of Reiki.  It has given us guidelines for designing and implementing future Reiki studies. This review is ongoing, allowing it to maintain its status as the best tool available to gauge the efficacy of Reiki research.

What we do have is lots of  anecdotal evidence that supports the theory that Reiki decreases stress. Patients report a profound sense of deep relaxation during and after Reiki. Nurses report their patients have a decrease in anxiety, sleep better and are more relaxed after Reiki. A study out of Hartford hospital shows a decrease in nausea and pain after Reiki and that their patients sleep better.

It is reasonable to consider that Reiki would decrease stress. After all, Reiki  increases our supply of life energy, what some call chi, Ki, or prana. This life  energy is known to scientists as biofield energy. When our life energy is full  up we sleep better, relax easier, our immune system is more effective and we  handle our stressors more easily. Our thinking is more clear and concise. Our outlook on life is positive. Understandably, it is the patients and nurses who  have provided this antidotal evidence who rightfully feel that Reiki, for them, wipes out stress!

Life solutions can assess your level of stress and your reaction to your stressors. Sometimes it is important to change our perspective when addressing stress or consider positive self-talk and looking at how to see life more optimistically.  If you would like to talk to a wellness coach or receive our newsletter please click and then check the appropriate boxes. Be sure to leave your email address and any comments. You are well appreciated.