I get a daily affirmation from this great site, theuniverse@tut.com. This morning's was right on schedule for me...

Ever notice how, when someone dreams of happiness, abundance, health, romance, or friendship, they never have to wonder if it's in their best interest?But when someone dreams of a specific house, employer, love interest, deadline, dollar amount, or diet fad, they often end up contradicting themselves?Keep your "end results" general, . Everything else is just a how.
To the big picture, The Universe

I love it!

If envy is the green eyed monster does that make insecurity the red eyed demon? Insecurity is one of the most damaging of all the emotions. It kills the spirit and destroys the belief in one's self. Insecurity manifets itself in many different ways...compulsive shopping, obsessive eating, destructive decisions which then manifests in bad habits that we pray to get rid of. This red eyed demon gives the illusion that where you are in your life is where you will always be...broke, sad, lonely, overweight, underweight, addicted; but demons can be destroyed. The church preaches that when one sees a demon one must pray until it, the demon, is gone. And what is prayer? In my opinion it is positive affirmations, visualization, meditation of things to come. So I agree, pray that red eyed demon of insecurity AWAY. Use constant affirmations that you are a confident, secure, able, willing and growing, strong, courageous woman. Think it first, speak it next and believe it by the second...and that demon will disappear.

I would love to make money doing something that I positively LOVE! In the meantime I spend over 8 hours a day in front of a computer, typing away, authorizing cases, sending cases to peer review and .....it's robotic like work! There is no passion and excitement in my life as a Care Advocate. Granted, I do work from home full time. I get up in my pj's, turn on my computer, print out my day's assignments and work comfortably from my home office. I waited a really long time for this day and it is a blessing. I need to remember the benefits that I have in my current position. It is a blessing and there are plenty of women/mothers who would love the opportunity to work from home. I just need to find a balance and continue to work on finding my passion and generating an income from it.

It's been raining cats and dogs all week. This morning I woke up thinking of henny penny and the sky is falling. I imagine that at times I'm like henny penny. The sky is falling...I may never get out of this financial mess. The sky is falling...I may never get married. The sky is falling...look at all those other women who are better than I am. The sky is falling...will my child ever make honor roll..and on and on...internally at times I'm convinced that the sky has fallen. As my good friend Juanita posted on her blog...www.mindfulintentions.blogspot.com...negative emotions are our enemy and we have to work hard to squash those negative emotions and focus on the positive and what we have control over. So understand that the sky falling may be situations, people, things that we have no control over. But what we/I do have control over is how I prepare for the sky to fall and my response if it does fall. But in the meantime...it's blue skies...

What most often weighs you down and brings you misery is the past, in the form of unnecessary attachments, repetitions of tired formulas, and the memory of old victories and defeats. You must consciously wage war against the past and force yourself to react to the present moment. Be ruthless on yourself; do not repeat the same tired methods. - pg 15

Let go of people, situations, memories, behaviors, places and things that are a part of your past. Allow them to be what they were and move forward to win your new victory.

Or should I say, are relationships our projects? And do we need it to be a project in order for it to be more exciting, exhilirating, alive? What about when a relationship fits like a puzzle. The pieces just fit together. Does that make it less thrilling? I want my love, my relationship to be like a puzzle that fits well. If it's a project, I am constantly working on changing or fitting or making something work. I don't want a relationship that I have to make work, like putting a square peg in a round circle. I want one that fits. This doesn't mean I don't believe in the hard work required to maintain a successful relationship. I welcome the challenges and the elbow grease that I'll need. What I don't want to do is believe that the "more I have to work on this" the more it means we're supposed to be together. There is security as well as excitement involved in a "good fit." It means that despite whatever may come our way we can succeed together. Our energy is focused on the solutions instead of the project....just my point of view...

Iyanla Vanzant is one of my earliest spiritual teachers. I would devour her readings and receive a blessing each and every time. I ran across this gem while checking out her site...
http://www.innervisionsworldwide.com/Inner/Services/sevensteps.html

Wherever you are in your life it is important to remember that you cannot force, coerce and demand change.
Change is a process that unfolds when the individual mind comes into alignment and cooperation with the flow of life, the universe at large.
Change is a journey. You must engage change one-step at a time.
Change is not linear, meaning do this and that will happen.
Change is uncertain and uncertainty gives rise to fear. When fear is present we must have a vision and engage in strategic planning.
Change requires that we work from the top down (from the mind to the heart) and from the bottom up (from the experience to the cause of the experience) at the same time.
Change often creates problems in our environment. Problems are our friends! Without problems we cannot learn. Without problems we have no idea of the depth of the change that is required of us. And, whenever there is change going on in your life, you need help and support.

Forever (which is really about a year or so) Tuesdays have been my least favorite day of the week. It's usually the day a certain someone would fly away for the day to a place he wanted me to imagine him to be. I'm learning to embrace Tuesdays and I think I'll reclaim it as Trusting Tuesdays. But it's not trusting him to be where he says he'll be or anything. It's trusting myself enough to know that I always have a voice in my journey. I don't have to be reactionary. I can make choices about my life and I can decide when it's time for me to change the course of action. So on this trusting Tuesday as I begin the day I'm breathing in and out and repeating to myself that it's going to be a good day. I have not a thing to fear about this day....

I absolutely love the marriage builders website by Dr.Haley. http://www.marriagebuilders.com/graphic/mbi3550_summary.html
I think it offers great insight and suggestions for those who are interested in successful relationships. I read this article again this evening; it's a really long article so I just copied a few points...

Basic Concept #1: The Love Bank
Within each of us is a Love Bank that keeps track of the way each person treats us. Everyone we know has an account and the things they do either deposit or withdraw love units from their accounts. It's your emotions' way of encouraging you to be with those who make you happy. When you associate someone with good feelings, deposits are made into that person's account in your Love Bank. And when the Love Bank reaches a certain level of deposits (the romantic love threshold), the feeling of love is triggered. As long as your Love Bank balance remains above that threshold, you will experience the feeling of love. But when it falls below that threshold, you will lose that feeling. You will like anyone with a balance above zero, but you will only be in love with someone whose balance is above the love threshold.
However, your emotions do not simply encourage you to be with those who make you happy -- they also discourage you from being with those who make you unhappy. Whenever you associate someone with bad feelings, withdrawals are made in your Love Bank. And if you withdraw more than you deposit, your Love Bank balance can fall below zero. When that happens the Love Bank turns into the Hate Bank. You will dislike those with moderate negative balances, but if the balance falls below the hate threshold, you will hate the person.
Try living with a spouse you hate! Your emotions are doing everything they can to get you out of there -- and divorce is one of the most logical ways to escape.
Basic Concept #3: The Most Important Emotional Needs
How can you deposit love units into each other's Love Banks the fastest? That's a question I asked literally hundreds of couples when I was first learning how to save marriages. Eventually their answer became clear to me -- you must meet each other's most important emotional needs.
You and your spouse fell in love with each other because you made each other very happy, and you made each other happy because you met some of each other's important emotional needs. The only way you and your spouse will stay in love is to keep meeting those needs. Even when the feeling of love begins to fade, or when it's gone entirely, it's not necessarily gone for good. It can be recovered whenever you both go back to making large Love Bank deposits.
First, be sure you know what each other's most important emotional needs are (complete the Emotional Needs Questionnaire). Then, learn to meet the needs that are rated the highest in a way that is fulfilling to your spouse, and enjoyable for you, too.
It's likely that you and your spouse do not prioritize your needs in the same order of importance. A highly important need for you may not be as important to your spouse. So you may find yourself trying to meet needs that seem unimportant to you. But your spouse depends on you to meet those needs, and it's the most effective and efficient way for you make large Love Bank deposits.
Basic Concept #4: The Policy of Undivided Attention
Unless you and your spouse schedule time each week for undivided attention, it will be impossible to meet each other's most important emotional needs. So to help you and your spouse clear space in your schedule for each other, I have written the Policy of Undivided Attention: Give your spouse your undivided attention a minimum of fifteen hours each week, using the time to meet the emotional needs of affection, conversation, recreational companionship and sexual fulfillment. This policy will help you avoid one of the most common mistakes in marriage -- neglecting each other.
This Basic Concept not only helps guarantee that you will meet each other's emotional needs, but it also unlocks the door to the use of all the other basic concepts. Without time for undivided attention you will not be able to avoid Love Busters and you will not be able to negotiate effectively. Time for undivided attention is the necessary ingredient for everything that's important in marriage.
How can couples work their way back to the state of Intimacy once they find themselves trapped in the state of Withdrawal? And once they are back, how can they stay there? The answers to those questions are found in the next Basic Concept.

Picture of Erykah Badu at Listal

You know those women. Strong and confident. You can easily spot them out. It's not necessarily what they are wearing or even how they look. It's their energy. Really powerful and confident. You can tell they're at ease in their skin and their bodies. It doesn't seem like they're trying to impress anyone. just themselves. I love it! That's the kind of woman I strive to be.