Lucky Penny Walk

Lucky Penny Walk

Want to add some positivity to your walk? Take a Lucky Penny Walk. Each day at lunch time I walk along the water front at Shoreline Village in Long Beach and once a week, I take a Lucky Penny walk. I walk with 10 pennies in my pocket and I drop them along way with a Lucky Penny Prayer: “I love you, Please Forgive Me, I’m Sorry, and Thank You...here’s to making someone very lucky today.” And I throw the penny on the side of the walkway where someone will find it. This combines Ho’noopono and the karma of good luck in one. I imagine that anyone who happens by my lucky penny will pick it up and say to themselves, “I’m having a lucky day.” “My luck has just changed” “Good luck is about to come my way.” Or “Oh, look, I found a lucky penny.”

This encounter with my lucky penny will put a smile on their face, a bounce in their step, and the chain reaction will be far-reaching.

It is like the Felix Felices from Harry Potter. You just have to believe that it is your lucky day, and it will be.

If  you decide to take a lucky penny walk and make someone’s day today, come back here and let me know...and you know what, the added bonus is that it is your secret that puts a bounce in your step and a smile on your face as well.

Sonríete,

Con un pan y cafecito,

Seguimos ADELANTE!!!

Zulmara

Life Choices and Created Options

Happy New Year… What Options are you creating this year? 

Life is not about the choices you make, but the options you create.

If you have lousy options, you will make lousy choices…

If you have good options, you will make good choices…

Are you creating options?

For example, if you have cultivated 3 or 4 business proposals, then you can choose the best one. If you have only cultivated one and it is not very good, then you are stuck.

The same holds true for all of your relationships. The more relationships you cultivate the less you will feel like you have to choose between a rock and a hard place. You will be able to choose the ones that work for you and you will be saying…”Wow, I can’t go wrong with choices like these.” Abundance comes when we are present, in the moment, and taking action.

Buena suerte with all your options,

Con un pan y cafecito,

Seguimos ADELANTE!!
Zulmara

Children Learn What They Live

As I reflect on the New Year and plan my goals and whimsical resolutions, I have decided to share some of my inspirations. Here is another one.

con un pan y cafecito, seguimos adelante,

Zulmara

Children Learn What They Live
By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.

http://www.empowermentresources.com/info2/childrenlearn-long_version.html

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

Copyright © 1972 by Dorothy Law Nolte

The Paradoxical Commandments

If you have not seen or are not aware of the Paradoxical commandments, these are awesome for reflecting and reminding us of what is important as we choose our actions and responses.

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

http://www.paradoxicalcommandments.com/

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.

Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.

Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001

con un pan y cafecito, seguimos adelante,

Zulmara

Erma Bombeck...If I Had...

This is one of my all time favorites and I make sure to read it regularly...just as a reminder that I need to count my blessings and live in the moment. Love Erma Bombeck, may she rest in peace.

If I Had My Life To Live Over

by Erma Bombeck

The following was written by the late Erma Bombeck
after she found out she had a fatal disease.

If I had my life to live over, I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love you's".. More "I'm sorrys" ...

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it ... live it...and never give it back.
© Erma Bombeck

Con un pan y cafecito,
seguimos adelante
Zulmara

Win a Copy of Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul

WIN!!! Celebrando la vida Latina!!!

The first 3 people who respond to the Proust Questionnaire will win a copy of Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul. All you have to do is answer the Proust questionnaire and follow my blog, and I will send you a signed copy of this wonderfully inspiring book, for Latinos, by Latinos.

Con un pan y cafecito, seguimos adelante.

Disfrute!!!

Zulmara

(PS You can see my responses in a previous post).

This is a questionnaire that allows us to look deep into ourselves and see what resonates with us and what makes us tick. Take a minute to answer some of most of the questions.

The Proust Questionnaire

http://www.chick.net/proust/question.html

• What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
• Where would you like to live?
• What is your idea of earthly happiness?
• To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
• Who are your favorite heroes of fiction?
• Who are your favorite characters in history?
• Who are your favorite heroines in real life?
• Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
• Your favorite painter?
• Your favorite musician?
• The quality you most admire in a man?
• The quality you most admire in a woman?
• Your favorite virtue?
• Your favorite occupation?
• Who would you have liked to be?

Ann and Abby

For years, these were my most favorite New Year's column and I would read them to my kids on each New Year's day. What traditions do you have in your family around the New Year?

Ann Landers New Year’s Resolutions

http://www.operationlettertosanta.com/new%20years/ann_landers.htm

Let this coming year be better than all the others.  Vow to do some of the things you've always wanted to do but couldn't find the time.

Call up a forgotten friend.  Drop an old grudge, and replace it with some pleasant memories.  Share a funny story with someone whose sprits are dragging.  A good laugh can be very good medicine.

Vow not to make a promise you don't think you can keep.  Pay a debt.  Give a soft answer.  Free yourself of envy and malice.  Encourage some youth to do this or her best.  Share your experience, and offer support. Young people need role models.

Make a genuine effort to stay in closer touch with family and good friends. 

Resolve to stop magnifying small problems and shooting from the lip.  Words that you have to eat can be hard to digest.

Find the time to be kind and thoughtful.  All of us have the same allotment:

24 hours a day. Give a compliment.  It might give someone a badly needed lift.

Thing things though.  Forgive an injustice. Listen more. Be kind.

Apologize when you realize you are wrong. An apology never diminishes a person.  It elevates him. Don't blow your own horn.  If you've done something praiseworthy, someone will notice eventually.

Try to understand a point of view that is different from your own.  Few things are 100 percent one way or another.  Examine the demands you make on others.

Lighten up. When you feel like blowing your top, ask yourself, "Will it matter in a week from today?".  Laugh the loudest when the joke is on you.

The sure way to have a friend is to be one. We are all connected by our humanity, and we need each other.  Avoid malcontents and pessimists. They drag you down and contribute nothing.

Don't discourage a beginner from trying something risky.  Nothing ventured means nothing gained.  Be optimistic.  The can-do spirit is the fuel that makes things go.

Read something uplifting.  Deep-six the trash.  You won't eat garbage - why put it in your head? Don't abandon your old-fashioned principles.  They never go out of style.  When courage is needed, ask yourself, "If not me, who? If not now, when?"

Walk tall, and smile more.  You'll look 10 years younger. Don't be afraid to say, "I love you". Say it again. They are the sweetest words in the world.

© Ann Landers

Dear Abby's
New Year's Resolutions

http://www.alighthouse.com/happynewyear.htm

Just for today, I will live through this day only, and not set
far-reaching goals to try to overcome all my problems at once.
I know I can do something for 24 hours that would overwhelm me
if I thought I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

Just for today, I will be happy. Abraham Lincoln
said, "Most folks are about as happy as they make
up their minds to be". He was right. I will not
dwell on thoughts that depress me. I will chase
them out of my mind and replace them with happy thoughts.

Just for today, I will adjust myself to what is.
I will face reality. I will correct those things
that I can correct and accept those I cannot.
Just for today, I will improve my mind. I will not
be a mental loafer. I will force myself to read
something that requires effort, thought, and concentration.

Just for today, I will do something positive to
improve my health. If I'm a smoker, I'll make
an honest effort to quit. If I'm overweight,
I'll eat nothing I know to be fattening and
I'll force myself to exercise ~ even if it's
only walking around the block or using the
stairs instead of the elevator.

Just for today, I will make a conscious effort
to be agreeable. I will look as good as I can,
dress becomingly, speak softly, act courteously,
and not interrupt when someone else is talking.

Just for today, I'll try not to improve anybody
except myself. We know so much more about nutrition
and how much exercise and sensible living can extend
life and make it more enjoyable; so just for today,
I'll take good care of my body so I can celebrate
many more happy new years.

Just for today, I will have a program. I may not
follow it exactly, but I will have it, thereby
saving myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.
Just for today, I will gather the courage to do what
is right and take the responsibility for my own actions.

© Abby