Do Some Good

Have you ever heard someone say doing things for others makes you feel better? Or maybe doing good makes you a better person? I have and I do! One of the charities I'm involved with is Soldiers' Angels. SA is an all volunteer 501 (c)(3) non profit organization that supports our military members (including Veterans) and their families during and after their deployments.

As an Angel I've adopted a soldier (well in my case I have a Paratrooper, a Marine and a K-9 Team: handler & military war dog) with the commitment to send 1 letter or card per week and 1-2 care packages (doesn't have to be large or expensive at all) per month. I'm also a Team Leader for the Letter Writing Team and a member of the VA (Veterans Affairs) Team. This is an AWESOME fulfilling experience. Every time I hear back from my soldiers or someone I've written from the letter writing team, I feel such a rush of the "warm fuzzies". It feels so good to help. You wouldn't believe how many of these guys and gals don't receive mail. Just to hear their name at mail call boosts their morale. I love it!

So how can you get your own case of warm fuzzies? Well, you can join Soldiers' Angels or you may want to sponsor a "make your own stuffed animal" kit from We Stuff 4 Soldiers. If you're sponsoring a kit or making a donation to We Stuff 4 Soldiers, you may want to check out the contest going on over there. You can receive a "Stuff On Us" Plushie Gift Card from StuffandPlay and be entered into a drawing for a $50 Amazon Gift Certificate. How's that for making a case for "it's good to give AND receive"?!

Why I Love Larry Winget

Since we're still working on the Mental aspect of the Total Living Routine, I wanted to share with you one of my mentors from afar. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the "Pitbull of Personal Development", Larry Winget! (insert crowd applause and cheering). For those of you who don't know who he is, let me have the pleasure of telling you. He's one of the most real people you'll ever have the fortune of being exposed to. His way of whipping you into shape mentally sets you up for success in all the other areas of your life, especially your finances. That's the number one reason why I just love him. It's great to see an actual role model of someone who had nothing rise into success. It makes us believe that we can all do it. Larry has such a love for people and it's genuine. He reminds me of well...me.

How about picking up a few of Larry's books or checking out his A&E show on Saturday mornings. You'll fall in love with him too!

Develop Your Total Living Routine: Mental

Part of the "Can You Afford Health" Series

Originally my plan was to give you the information all in one post to assist you with how to "Develop Your Total Living Routine". However, as I began writing, I realized that I would be doing a disservice to you by cramming it all into one post. For one, it would have been too long. For another, it wouldn't have given you time to digest the pieces and give them each their proper "due". Part of developing your total living routine is internalizing and refocusing yourself with each component as they come together as a whole.

The words "internalizing" and "refocusing" go hand in hand with "reimaging" which all make up our first component of Total Living--the Mental aspect.

Get Your Mind Right

Yep, I've issued a challenge. Get your mind right! Change your outlook. Reimage negatives into positives. I was in a discussion on a blog post talking about opportunities being everywhere. This post combatted the popular belief that "opportunites only come once in a lifetime". I agreed with the poster that opportunities were abundant. You have to train your mind to look at opportunities differently. Once you do, you'll find them in many things. Once you've reimaged your mind you've increased your opportunity quotient. And guess what? I'm so proud of you!

How do you reimage your mind?

1- Start reading positive books. What you feed your mind has a direct impact on what your "vision" is.

2- Create a Dreamboard/Dreamcards. What are your dreams? What are your goals? Find images that correlate with what you've dreamt up for yourself. Assemble these images and words on posterboard (or corkboard) and hang it in a place where you'll see it daily...multiple times per day. Dreamcards are very similar. Use index cards to write down your goals and personal absolutes. Post the cards in different areas of your living environment. Be creative, colorful, festive when making your dreamboard/dreamcards. You want to make them exciting to look at...which will make you want to look at them more. Constant visual images of your dreams, goals and personal absolutes will manifest into reality.

These are two key steps to "getting your mind right". Once you've become a positive image photographer, you'll find that it's a bit easier to tackle the other components of the Total Living Routine: Spiritual, Physical and Financial. I'll be back with posts dedicated to those! YAY!!

DREAMBOARD EXAMPLE
(Courtesy of Successful Inspirations)

Can You Afford Health? Pt. 1

How much is your health worth to you? I'm hoping that you'll say priceless. In fact, I'm willing to bet most of you will say priceless. But are you just saying that to have something to say? To conform to what you think others are saying or want you to say?

I can't count how many times someone has said "I want to be healthy" on their way to the fast food spot. Or "I need to get more exercise" while still sitting on the sofa. What? Being healthy is not a fad. It should be part of your living routine. What's a living routine? I've devoted a whole post to it that will be published tomorrow. But basically, it's a routine that you've developed for your life that encompasses total health (mental, spiritual, physical, financial).

This series is dedicated to answering the question of "can you afford health"? Or better yet can you afford NOT to be healthy? We'll see...

Eye On Carrots

I'm sure many of you have been told from an early age that carrots improve your eyesight because of the beta carotene. Well that's not entirely true. Even though carrots ARE a prime source of beta carotene. It's the beta carotene that, when consumed in excess rather than moderation, can cause more harm than good.

You see, your body converts carotene into Vitamin A. Vitamin A is a top player in eye health and is responsible for good and bad eye sight. Many of the diseases and eye illnesses result from a Vitamin A deficiency. But before you go on a "What's up Doc" carrot eating marathon, too much Vitamin A is toxic to your body.

Hypervitaminosis A is a fancy way of saying you've taken in too much Vitamin A. This causes, amongst other things, liver problems, hair loss and jaundice. Remember being told if you eat too much of something you'll turn into it? In the case of jaundice, you'll turn into a carrot or squash...at least the same color.

For those kiddies reading this, no use trying to tell your moms and dads that I've told you veggies are bad. I'm not saying that at all. Just eating in moderation is the way to go!

Little known carrot fact: Carrots are a highly refined version of the weed, Queen Anne's Lace and are native to Afghanistan. Who'd have thought?