Day 14 of 30 Days of Fun

By Madison Grace Lovewith

 

This is Day 14 of my 30 days of Fun, and halfway into it, it has been a broadening experience.  By nature, I’ve been much more of a homebody, so doing this has allowed me to expand my experiences and way of thinking.  I was just talking to my mom about this challenge because it really is helping me clear some of my self-imposed blocks in my life.  I mentioned to her how I would love to meet new people and expand my social circle but how do I do that sitting in the comforts of my home all the time.  So in that regards, it is really helping me out. 

As I do different and fun activities, I go back and forth between scheduling something for me to do versus asking Gratitude what she wants me to do.  Either way that I do it, Gratitude ends up working things as she wants to work it.  For example, on Day 2, my intent was to visit one particular museum.  I couldn’t find it for whatever reason, and I was lead to visit a museum that I hadn’t even known existed featuring African art and another museum featuring a variety of art forms.  I had a great time nevertheless.

And then there are other days when I ask Gratitude where she wants me to go.  And she leads me to where she wants me to go.  On Day 9, I walked an area of my town that I hadn’t been before/hadn’t been to in a while.  The day before, I went to Whole Foods to buy some kitty litter for my cat.  The kitty litter at Whole Foods isn’t my favorite, but I needed some while I still searched for the kitty litter that is right for me.  Whole Foods was out of the kitty litter, so I figured I would have to return there once they restocked on the litter.  While walking my roads yet not trodden for my activity of the day, I discovered a little doggie shop.  Even though it was a doggie shop, I decided to drop in to see if they sold any cat items.  And they did have a nice selection of cat items.  I bought an all-natural kitty litter that I hadn’t tried before and some new toys for my kitten.  The kitty litter so far is really good, and I’m thinking I just may have found exactly what I was looking for.  And I would have never discovered this little boutique doggie shop had I not followed Gratitude’s guidance.  Another nice little thing about following Gratitude’s guidance is that a few days after visiting the doggie shop, I was taking a closer look at the receipt and realized that the kind cashier gave me a 10% off membership discount (even though I’m not a member of their doggie obedience school).  I was thrilled by that little gift from Gratitude.

On some days, because of my homebody nature, I have to force myself to get up and do something different and fun.  It’s a form of resistance.  Even though I know that doing activities is good for expanding myself and my experiences, I don’t always want to do it.  That’s where Gratitude comes in because by feeling Gratitude for my ability to do some activities, my meeting people and putting myself out there, and even some of the resulting experiences that I’m having, I’m definitely benefiting.  Additionally, because I’m doing something different everyday, I’m gaining new experiences and insights that I’m applying to my creative writing.  It’s allowing me to broaden my mind to become a more imaginative creator, a better writer.

It’s also interesting how Gratitude somehow springs different expanding situations my way.  Two days ago, I get a call from my out of town mom saying that she was in the area and wanted to drop by.  You can imagine how ruffled I felt trying to get things cleaned up around the house at the last minute.  And I felt bad because the timing was all wrong.  I had to work the day that she got here and the following day which was Friday.  We couldn’t do anything on Saturday because I had already made plans to go to an amusement park with a group of friends.  But it all worked out.  I was able to take the time off of work on Friday (today) to spend the day with her.  We talked for hours and went to an Amish farmer’s market to do some grocery shopping.  It was interesting to see how Gratitude worked her magic during our shopping visit.  Everything worked seamlessly, and when we got boggled down in our thoughts and got off track, Gratitude worked circumstances to put us back on track.  For example, I had bought some specialty cheese, got a grossly incorrect change back, but was so excited about my purchase that I didn’t notice.  A few minutes later, my mom was paying for her purchase at a different counter when the cashier noticed that she overpaid for her purchase, and he gave her extra change back.  That was my clue about my not receiving the correct change back (I was supposed to receive $11 dollars in change, but only received a $1).  When I noticed the error when buying some fruit at a different counter, I immediately went back to the cheese counter to alert them to the mistake.  They were very kind and gracious and immediately gave me my $10, without question.  I almost didn’t go back to let them know about the mistake because I thought they would have to do a time consuming money assessment on the cash register.  It all worked out.  And I was happy that I got the correct $10 owed to me.    

 
Gratitude is making so much happen with my 30 days of fun.  The main thing is that so far, I’m having a great time and it’s forcing me to look beyond myself and enjoy my world around me.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I Ask and Gratitude Answers

By Madison Grace Lovewith

 

For a couple of weeks, I had been thinking about my next 30-day journey (after having completed a 30-day self-love journey).  It’s funny how when I decided that I was going to do a 30-days of fun journey, that the Universe heard and immediately began bringing life and circumstances to help me achieve my goal.  And I hadn’t even started the journey yet!

Last week out of the blue, my childhood babysitter, who I haven’t seen in over 20 years, called saying that she was visiting the area and wanted to see me.  Her sister moved to the area for work a couple of months ago.  So what I thought would turn out to be a one-day dinner thing, turned out to be a three-day hanging out having fun affair.  And all the while, everything just worked out seamlessly.  The sisters treated me to dinner both nights, which was very gracious of them, in particular since it was my friend’s birthday.  I think it was the “caregiver” mentality.  Even though my friend is only five years older than me, she’ll probably always view me as like a baby sister.  The second night, I took them to a really nice restaurant, right at the waterfront, where we enjoyed the mesmerizing water view.  I gave them a little tour of my Old Town area.  It was raining, and raining rather hard, but we enjoyed our time together.

Then that Saturday, we went on a 2-hour gospel cruise.  It was so fun.  And I could really see the power of Gratitude in action.  They more they gave, I gave Gratitude in return, and the more I gave, I felt Gratitude in my giving.  It’s so important to feel Gratitude in both giving and receiving.  A Course in Miracles, a self-study book that teaches on love and forgiveness says, “To give and to receive are one in truth.  I will receive what I am giving now” (Workbook Lesson 108).  It is so true that whatever energy we are giving out, we receive back in return immediately.  So when you’re giving out Gratitude energy, you can feel the Gratitude because that Gratitude energy is what you’re receiving from what you give out.  You reap what you sow.  It’s such a lovely yet powerful Law of Nature.    

I gave in return, and felt Gratitude for everything, the giving and the receiving.  And Gratitude just worked continuously, with this giving and receiving cycle.  The cruise had a gospel singer and a band who came and played some really nice spiritual songs.  They also acknowledged that it was my friend’s birthday.  At the end, as we were walking back to the car, the singer stopped us, gave us a hug, and then began to go on her way.  But after a minute, she called us back and said she wanted to give my friend one of her CDs, as a birthday gift.  My friend was so pleased.  It was interesting though, because my friend had already bought two of the singer’s CDs, one for herself and one for her sister.  So my friend kept the CD the singer gave her, and she gave me one of the extra CDs.  We all had CDs then!

Gratitude keeps on making a way for my 30-days of fun journey.  Again, out of the blue, my coworker wanted to give me a giftcard for a restaurant of my choice.  He said he didn’t want anything in return, he was just giving from his heart.  My coworker had previously given me some giftcards to restaurants, as he’s a foodie and loves for us to talk about the restaurants that we enjoy.  I was thrilled.  I told him that I appreciated his kindness and that his offer came just in time for my 30-days of fun journey.

Nevertheless, I haven’t started my 30-days of fun and already I’m having a ball.  It’s wonderful how everything just works out according to God’s will, if you allow it.

More on Self-Love

By The Happy Chance

 

 

Last month, after writing my posting on self-love, I decided to embark on my own 30 days of self-love.  During these 30 days (and a bit more), I used my morning meditation/Gratitude routine to embed this sense of self-love into my life.  I would meditate on self-love and also listen to affirmation CDs. 

For most of my mediations, I listened to The Chopra Center 21-Day Meditation Challenge™ - Life Wisdom Trilogy, the Love CD.  This was a meditation program that I learned about after taking the Oprah and Deepak 21 Day Meditation Challenge-Perfect Health.  That was an amazing program, that I’m so grateful that I learned about.  For my affirmations, I used Louise Hay’s work.  If you haven’t been introduced to Louise Hay and her wonderful affirmation CDs, I highly encourage her CDs such as, “Self Esteem Affirmations” which has a lovely array of affirmations set to music that fills you with love and peace about yourself.  I used Louise Hay’s affirmations on a daily basis, usually in the mornings but sometimes during the day.   

 

Throughout the day I used affirmations such as, “I love myself,” “I am worthy,” “I am so grateful to be me,” or a simple “I love you,” and filled myself with as much Gratitude as I could while saying this.  When self-critical thoughts come up, I would say one of the affirmations and fill myself with Gratitude.  When undesirable situations came up, I would tell myself, “I love you,” and feel grateful for being me.  One of exercises from The Magic by Rhonda Byrne, Day 27, The Magic Mirror, requires you to say “thank you” whenever you get in front of a mirror.  I did this as well.  Instead of focusing in on some of my undesirable physical qualities, I took the time to say thank you for being me.  I loved it.

Other things that I did was treated myself to some of my simple pleasures.  It had been a couple of years since I last did this, but I made a homemade lavender-peppermint sugar scrub.  I love the scent of lavender, which as an essential oil, has a calming and relaxing effect.  I soaked myself in a warm bath (and I’m normally a shower type of girl) and used the body scrub.  I also had a professional massage, something that again, I hadn’t done in years.       

The self-love I practiced felt really good.  And I noticed over time that people started to respond to the self-love that I was giving.  People were smiling at me and giving me compliments.  Normally, I get nice compliments, in particular since I’ve integrated Gratitude into my life, but now that I was targeting Gratitude into love for myself, the love that I was seeing in my outside world seemed at a higher level.  A couple of people asked me why am I always so happy.  When you’re emitting love of self, others can feel that love and they respond.  And as you’re showing love for yourself, your point of attraction changes.  As a result you begin to attract people and circumstances that match this new love vibration.    

 
It is interesting that some of my most simple pleasures, I hadn’t done in years.  This 30-day self-love practice taught me that I should treat myself with loving kindness all the time.  It also taught me that my thoughts of Self need to reflect the same love and Gratitude that I show others.  I have ended my 30-day self-love practice, but I am so much more careful with my thoughts of self and learning to be more loving to myself.  I think in the near future, I may resume the practice and perhaps make it a 90 day or 120 day practice, just to really spearhead my results.  At the moment though, I’m thinking of a few other 30-day practices I may want to embark on next.  I got this idea for doing different 30 day practices from the article 30 Days to Success by Steve Pavlina.  If you haven’t visited StevePavlina.com, his site is a great resource for self-improvement articles.