Giving Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving holiday in the US. Now this is a holiday I like! It’s all about good food and appreciation. What a great reason for a day off. Although we don’t celebrate it here in the UK, it’s a good reminder to appreciate what you have. All to often we go through life just focusing on what is missing.

So today, Happy Thanksgiving to you guys in the US, and congratulations on having a fabulous holiday about appreciation. I salute you! And for the rest of us, let’s take a few minutes today to count our blessings. We have so much to be thankful for. And I would like to thank YOU for reading, for commenting, for being the reason that I write blogs. I appreciate your presence on my blog more than you will ever know. Thank you.

Love

Donna.x

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Bills, Beautiful Bills

An excerpt from “110 Ways to Heal Your Money” by Donna Higton

When you see bills, how do you feel? Do you feel great that you can pay them, and that somebody trusts you enough to bill you, knowing that you will pay them? Or do you feel anxious, fearful, stressed, shocked? Many of us complain bitterly and endlessly about our bills. We dread seeing them, we ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’, we wait as long as possible to pay them, and we stress about them and generally feel bad about bills.

Bills are a fact of life, unless you live on a commune, and it is a terrible shame if we allow something that will always happen to get us down. A few years ago when I went self-employed, I would panic and stress whenever I saw a bill – I hated bills. Now, I see a bill, I pay it as soon as I can (usually the same day I receive it), I am grateful than I can pay it and I do it with ease. The difference in experience is profound and wonderful.

Often we think the only answer to the misery of bills is ‘more money’ but I am talking here PURELY of a change of attitude. It is amazing how much a change of attitude and perspective will change your experience. Picture it: you have in your hands all your bills. Instead of your usual reaction, you are happy to see the bills, know that you can easily pay them and are grateful to have the goods and services they represent. When my friend Claire gets her mortgage bill, she points to the bricks on the wall and says “paid for that one and that one and that one over there”.

What difference would this make to your life, your happiness, your energy if this was your regular experience with bills instead of the usual worry, stress and fear? If you can usually pay your bills, this scenario is well within your grasp. Even if you struggle to pay them, this is a possibility for you…I know, I did it without significantly changing my income.

Do you ever stop to appreciate the ease with which you pay your bills? (Once you’ve stopped bitching about them!) Maybe you are too used to seeing your money go out hand over fist, or have got into the habit of making bill-paying a difficult, grudging process. Remember why you are paying those bills, the services and goods that you’ve received, and remember to appreciate that you can pay them.

To find out more about this downloadable ebook, click here.

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How Do You Choose to Spend Your Time?

Tell me this, if I asked you what’s ‘wrong’ in your life, how long could you talk for on this subject?

And if I asked you what’s good about your life, how long could you talk for?

And which do you choose to talk about more?

I have spent a lot of time (for me) over the past few days telling people about how my life sucks. But the thing is, everyone has things ‘wrong’ with their life – the question is how do you choose to spend your time? Moaning about how life is crap, or appreciating just how good you have it? (And if you don’t think you have it good, spend a bit more time on thinking about what is good – air in your lungs is a good one!)

I chose to spend a goodly portion of my life over the past few days whinging (and I enjoyed it too!), but I know deep in my heart that I have much more to appreciate than I do to moan about, and now I’m choosing to remember that, and use that air in my lungs accordingly.

Love

Donna.x

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Seriously Grateful

This weekend I finished reading “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini. It’s a tale of two women in Afghanistan, and like his first novel “The Kite Runner”, it’s a compelling story that will get its claws into your heart. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I noticed that when I closed the book after reading the final page, my overwhelming feeling was one of gratitude.

You see, I was able to have an education. I have the choice of who I marry (or not). I was not sent away to live with a stranger 3 times my age at the age of 15. I do not live in fear of a beating daily. My home is not under threat of rocket launchers, bullets, or people who will punish me for watching tv. I don’t have to wear clothing that I can’t see through, and will trip over (unless I choose to).

I am not punished for not having children. No one considers me their possession. No one tells me what to do. I am not considered a second class citizen just because I have a womb. I could go on and on and on. And then this morning I was listening to an old song from the 70’s “Streets of London” by Ralph McTell. I’ll just give you a little excerpt from the lyrics:

In the all night cafe
At a quarter past eleven,
Same old man is sitting there on his own
Looking at the world
Over the rim of his tea-cup,
Each tea last an hour
Then he wanders home alone

So how can you tell me you’re lonely,
And say for you that the sun don’t shine?

I am seriously grateful for these two very poignant reminders that I have everything to be thankful for. Ok, I might not have the £millions I desire, or a fit bloke, or daily sunshine, or a maserati. But I do have freedom, friendship, opportunity, and today even sunshine. I am seriously blessed. Are you?

Love

Donna.x

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Reflect Upon Your Blessings

…Reflect upon your blessings, of which every man has plenty, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some… – Charles Dickens

Do you spend more time reflecting on what a shame it is for you or on how lucky you are to have plentiful, running water; to have enough food to live; to have so many possessions you desperately need to clear clutter; to have access to any kind of education at all; to be able to express your opinion without being in fear of your life; for the air you breathe; for the sunshine; for spring flowers?

I could go on forever. Of course life is not perfect, but it’s a heck of a lot better than we give it credit for!

Love

Donna.x

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The Brick

I found this story in my e-mail while I was doing a mail clutter clearout this morning. You know why this story came to you today.

THE BRICK

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown.

The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, “What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?”

The young boy was apologetic. “Please, mister…please, I’m sorry but I didn’t know what else to do,” He pleaded. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop….” With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. “It’s my brother, “he said “He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.”

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. “Thank you and may God bless you,” the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy! push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: “Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!” God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don’t have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It’s our choice to listen or not.

Thought for the Day:
If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.
If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.
He sends you flowers every spring.
He sends you a sunrise every morning Face it, friend – He is crazy about you!

Love

Donna.x

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Look to Your Source, Not to Your Spouse

All the things you look to the outside world for – approval, guidance, love, validation – your source has in greater abundance than another person could ever have. Stop asking other people to give you what they themselves are lacking, and tap in to the vast resource of love and joy in your existence your source (soul, divinity, guides, angels) has in overwhelming plentitude.

Love

Donna.x

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Discovering Your Strengths

I’ve recently been reading “Authentic Happiness” by Martin Seligman. It’s an interesting book, but not necessarily one I would recommend, because I’m not finding it easy to read!! The style is slightly too academic for me, and can sometimes be hard going for that. However, I do have to recommend the website – www.authentichappiness.org – I went along today to do a strengths test, and although I am normally a bit sceptical about the value of personality tests, I found this one really interesting.

After 240 questions, it will tell you your top 5 strengths and show you the 24 strengths in order. not so that you can improve your weaknesses, but so you know what strengths you can focus on. Seligman advises us to pay attention to your top strengths and find ways to use them more often. This is an approach that I wholeheartedly endorse – focus on what you are brilliant at, and do that more…life gets so much better then.

The site also has other personality tests and resources – and it’s all free! So, if you’d like to find your top strengths, go along and check it out (it’s the VIA signature strengths test I did). Let me know what you find out!

Love

Donna.x

PS My top 5 strengths today are: Curiosity and interest in the world, gratitude, humour and playfulness, capacity to love and be loved, and love of learning. Yep, sounds like me!

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS one and all!

I hope you are having a lovely day, that you got everything you asked Santa for, that you are having lots of fun, love and laughter. Remember today to appreciate all that you have – all of the presents, all of the love, all of the quality television (Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing – GET IN!) Gratitude is one of the most beautiful things, and the more you can appreciate what’s already in your life, the more you will enjoy all that you have.

Wishing you all the joy you can stand!

Love

Donna.x

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A Little Kindness Goes a Long Way

So, another bereavement…that’s 7 people I know who’ve died in the last 18 months. I wonder if the Grim Reaper is on overtime? Anyway, once again I’ve been struck by the kindness of my newsletter readers, friends and family. So many people have been in touch to give their sympathies and to offer a little kindness. People often say to me that they don’t think they make a difference in this world (because they’re not running the entire universe!), but the difference you make is more profound than you think.

Just by sending an e-mail, making a call, giving a kind word or gesture you could be making a world of difference to one person. And that difference might just mean the world to somebody. I would like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart – each of those messages I received helped me to feel just a little less alone and down. Those moment of kindness profoundly affected me, and the people behind them didn’t even need to move the world 3 inches to the left!

Be aware always that you do have a huge impact on the world you live in and the people you share with, and that small, random act of kindness which you think nothing of is being received with love and gratitude.

Love

Donna.x

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