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I and–I feel fairly confident making this assumption–many of my readers tend to take on too much. At any given moment, we’re juggling the demands of our primary job, perhaps an extra or freelance gig or two, our families, our friends and social lives, our marriages or relationships, our health and fitness, our hobbies, and our churches, charities, or volunteer organizations. Our plates are pretty darn full. Sometimes, we just don’t know when to say when.

Your husband (partner/friend/family member/coworker) may ask, as mine has of late, why don’t you just not do some of this stuff?

To which I reply by chucking my overstuffed day planner at him, laughing maniacally, and running off into the sunset. (Note to men: This is NOT what you should say to your overworked, overstressed wife who is balancing a full-time job, a part-time job–my Examiner page, which launched yesterday, a website, and an overpacked social calendar ALL WHILE BUILDING A HUMAN. I’m just saying, word to the wise.)

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I’m so excited! The fruits of my successful intention-manifestation experiment are finally… um, fruiting.

Anyway.

Hop on over to Examiner.com/dc and check out my page.

Oh, and let me know what you think of my first article!

My husband and I had a plan for the next few years. It was a good plan. It had us paying off all of our debts (including my student loans), aggressively saving for retirement, and setting aside enough cash for a 20% down payment on the home of our dreams, AND it left room for a few dream vacations–New Year’s in Argentina, a trip to the Dominican Republic with my best friend, and a cruise to Alaska.

God, I loved that plan.

And then…

Then…

Something unexpected happened* (something wonderful, but earth-shattering) that has totally shifted our priorities, rendering our perfect, amazing plan irrelevant given our new circumstances. Continue Reading »

“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” - John Wayne

 
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I’ve been thinking a lot about fear and how it affects my life. Fear of failure has been holding me back for years from trying to earn a living as a writer. The most maddening thing is that acknowledging the fear and realizing that it’s holding me back doesn’t make the fear go away. As much as my heart wants to quit my job and go for it, my fear STILL controls me. As you might image, I find this situation completely unacceptable.
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My last experiment with intention-manifestation was a smashing success, and I’d like to try another community experiment if anyone’s interested in playing along. This round of the experiment will run from August 1 to August 31. (Any interest in doing a longer time frame next time around, maybe September 1 to December 31?)

Here’s a refresher on how to participate:

• Find a place to be alone. (You’ll need a pencil and a piece of paper.)
• Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and relax.
• Look inward and ask yourself you’d like to achieve/manifest by August 31.
• Open your eyes and start writing ideas as they come to you.
• Once you have a few possibilities, select the one that you feel most passionately about. It also needs to be something you can truly believe in.
• Write a specific goal statement, which ends with “Make it so!”
• Read your statement out loud with as much feeling and conviction as possible. Feel that mental “click” as you DECIDE to achieve your goal.
• Leave a comment or send me an email to let me know that you’re participating (you don’t have to disclose your goal).
• Be on the watch throughout the month of August for the manifestation of your goal. It may not appear in the form you’re expecting…
• Report back and let us know how you did!

My goal is to receive $500 from sources other than my salaried income by August 31, 2008. Make it so!

I wanted to try a money goal not because I need $500, but because needing money in order to feel “secure” is something that holds me back from pursuing writing full-time. It’s hard for me to contemplate leaving a regular paycheck for the uncharted (and potentially unpaid) waters of the writing profession. Knowing that I can “manifest” money would be a huge confidence boost when it comes to taking the plunge and quitting the old day job!

What goal did you choose and why?