Saturday, December 31, 2011

Come On In In 2012!

Instead of setting goals or making resolutions as we welcome in the new year, I like to reflect on what I would like to welcome into my life in 1212. The first step to making it real is consciousness. Then sharing. Tthe magic, mysterious unfolding of life reveals the rest.

Here is some of what I welcome:

  • Food, shelter and love for everyone
  • Feeling really good
  • Health
  • Happiness
  • Opportunities to share what I've learned
  • Opportunities to share what others have learned
  • Wonderful books to read
  • Good times with friends and family
  • Inspiration for The Connection Breakout Course
  • Peace on earth and in my heart
  • Laughter, lots of laughter
  • A bunch of happy surprises, beyond my wildest dreams

Thank you for reading this. I would love to know your heart's desire for 2012 so I can join in to cheer you on! Just click "Comments" below.

Happy New Year!
Love,
Mandy

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Joy to the World

Jot to the world! Why not? Maybe it's having an 18 month grandchild in the family, all full of wonder and curiosity, studying up on how to talk  -- and how to climb really high. Maybe it's the sad but welcome end to the war in Iraq. Maybe it's looking at how far we have come on the path to equal rights for women, African Americans and gay people. Whatever! This year as the holidays wrap themselves around us, my abiding desire is joy to the world!

It seems so real. If we will just do it. We can  fill our individual hearts with joy and good wishes for everyone! OK, if you can't go that far yet, how about your family, your neighbors, yourself?!

It seems so real that we who have a little or a lot extra can share some to help those in need. Everyone can have enough to eat, shelter and love. Surely there is enough to go around.

It seems so real that the idea of war can become absurd, the idea of peace real and possible.

It seems so real this year. Joy to the world! Why not?

Wishing you the happiest of holidays and many blessings.

Your comments are always welcome. I love to read about your thoughts and insights and think that people we do not even know will be able to read them too.

Mandy

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Words Make Something Happen

Emery is 17 months old. She discovered that words make something happen. Can you imagine her delight? More. Wow, that gets you more of something you like. All done gets them to stop giving you food when you don't want any more. Hi makes people smile and say it back. Bye- bye works pretty much the same way, only when people are going away.

Emery works happily all through the day to capture the magical powers! At night she practices as she drifts off to sleep.

You have probably conquered the magical powers long ago. Remembering the magic and the power is the tricky part and the important part.

The same words that convey love or how to build a house can also start a war or break someone's heart. They bring thoughts into reality with their vibration – literally; the spoken word vibrates through the air into our ears where we interpret it. The written word we figure out with our eyes. Amazing!

Emery is my granddaughter. Her gift to me this Christmas is a new awareness that words make something happen. She encourages me to use them well and kindly to make things happen that I want to happen. Like:
  • Thank you for reading this so we can share some thoughts
  • May peace prevail
  • Joy to the world
  • I wish you boundless success and happiness
Got words to share? Make something happen by leaving your comment.

Love,
Mandy

Find life enhancing gifts at the Breakout Store http://mandyevans.com/the-breakout-store/

Monday, December 12, 2011

You Are The Present

How are you doing? As the holidays draw near, the days fill with opportunities to connect with friends and family, everyone really – or not.

I don't know about you, but I have spent a few tense holidays, unconscious, on automatic pilot. Growing up in an alcoholic family, my version of that was an exhausting attempt to make everything work out for everyone. Yikes!

This year I plan to break out from the well worn groove and connect with myself and others "presently". Maybe in quiet ways no one will notice, I kind of hope so.

While celebrating our connection and wishing you peace and joy, I think of breakout experiences to share.

When that gate shut behind us in the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in the Catskill mountains of New York, I knew something big had really closed. We would not walk back through that opening until someone in a uniform told us we could.

Members of the NAACP there had invited us to speak about famine in East Africa because we were involved in a project to raise awareness of about world hunger. As a guard escorted us below tiers of cells, inmates screamed down at us in such a roar I couldn't pick out what anyone was saying -- probably a good thing. When we reached an auditorium, he took us backstage to meet our sponsors.

As I waited backstage, I peeked out at rows and rows of black men wearing white tee shirts and green tennis shoes. The first speaker walked on stage, a thin white guy with glasses. They jeered. They howled. He continued with his talk as if nothing were happening.

I was next! As my pulse sped up, I thought the only thing I can do is be present, connect, not go unconscious like a robot on automatic pilot.

I walked out, took the microphone, and stood there -- gazed out at that green-sneakered sea of difference and let it in. Suddenly, as if it had a will of its own, my voice blurted out, "I've never been in a prison before." Over a ripple of laughter another voice from the back rows rang out, "Neither had I, honey."

When our laughter died down, that group of men, incarcerated in the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in the Catskill mountains of New York listened in total silence while I presented statics on infant mortality and starvation in Somalia and the horn of East Africa.

Those guys donated several hundred dollars, their gift to alleviate suffering across the world, an amazing amount considering their meager resources.

As I've worked with all sorts of people over the decades of my coaching experience, over and over we discovered that the present of our presence is always enough.

As you ponder your holiday lists of things to cook and presents to buy, how about including your presence, the most splendid present of all? What a gift you are!

Wishing you golden moments of happy, present holidays.

Love,
Mandy

For other presents look at my Amazon Author page for two books. Give the gift of happiness with Emotional Options. Give the gift of recovery with Travelling Free http://amazon.com/author/mandyevans

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Speaking of Miracles

Want to experience a miracle? Several to choose
from came up in a Skype interview with those
delightful women, The English Sisters today.

Miraculously, it's already up and available on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ej-VpPf4cA

Rome to Palm Springs! A little jerky, but hey,
across the world and free!

More about Accepting Miracles! If you are looking
for holiday gifts (don't forget yourself) please consider
the "Accepting Miracles" video at the Breakout Store.

http://mandyevans.com/archives/accepting-miracles-video/

For $7.95 you can give it 3 times! We set the delivery
so it can be downloaded and saved 3 times. When you
buy it, you can send the link you get on your receipt to
2 other people. Let's see, that's $2.65 each.

Arithmetic aside, the live presentation in this video drew
a big standing ovation because it opens the door to
accepting miracles. They are available to us all, but so
easy to miss if we get caught in the quicksand of stress,
worry and fear. It's ironically common to lose track of our
blessings during the holidays meant to celebrate them.

Here's to accepting and celebrating the miracles of connection, love, and happiness with you!

Love,
Mandy

Readers and I love to hear what you think and share your
miracles. You can post them here by clicking on "Post a comment"below.