The Haves and the Have Mores

This summer, my husband and I decided to celebrate our fifth anniversary by visiting Hearst Castle, in San Simeon, California and it truly was a wonder to bear witness to. What appears to be an endless estate perched high up on a hill that overlooked the sea, was built during the Great Depression, during abject poverty.

I was struck by how Hearst was able to imagine such a kingdom, in a time when all around him was going bankrupt. There were times Hearst himself faced financial hardships, but what differentiated him from the rest of the world, was his belief that he remained affluent and abundant, even through the depression. He had an attitude of abundance and his legacy was assured, simply because he believed and imagined.

That’s the lesson for me in visiting Hearst Castle – one must keep an attitude of being wealthy, abundant, and healthy, if they are to have those attributes begin to show up (and stay) in their lives. The dips of financial wealth do not bind our future  to poverty – but a lack mentality will most certainly lock you to a fate of struggle. Do not allow negative feelings towards your today’s lack experience to color your tomorrow’s financial experiences.

Tying your worth or even your ability to generate money energy by your current bank account balance will surely keep you in a low funds lifestyle. Tying your overall health and wellbeing to today’s pain and suffering, will surely foster more future agony. I say this from a place of knowing real, true physical and emotional pain and with the authority that even with all the pain there is in this world, you can still carve out a few seconds to allow yourself to feel your way into manifesting how you truly want to feel.

Even for just a few seconds a day, hold your highest goals and thoughts in your heart and mind – to begin the paradigm shift needed to change course to your right direction.

You must look past the current circumstances and how you do this is by setting goals, creating and saying affirmations daily, and taking action steps in the general direction you’re trying to go. As with any change in life, initially there will be evidence of struggle and at times chaos, but in time, as your thoughts begin to purify from lack-filled ruminations to ones of abundance, your life will start showing signs of change for the better.

Right or wrong, for better or for worst, Hearst held the belief he was to have and hold abundance for generations to come and guess what, that’s what he got. All you and I want in this life is to experience a colorful, abundant life. Let’s be like Hearst and know abundance is already ours for the taking.

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley 

 Goodbye 2016, Welcome 2017!

Happy New Year! A new year deserves a proper welcome and the old one warrants a proper goodbye. Aside from the usual resolutions and wild parties, have you given thought to new traditions you’d like to honor your new year by?

It’s important to set intentions on how you wish to bring forth a beautiful life in the days ahead and no time like the new year to do it.

There were some things about 2016 that I wanted to leave behind and some things I wanted to carry into my new year. I usually create or enhance an existing vision board each year, write my intentions, and spend time with family. I decided to do all of that AND round it off with a beautiful ritual at dusk to signify 2016’s sunset and the sunrise of 2017.

My sister and my three children got together to work on our intentions and visions for next year. We poured over magazines, ate food, sipped on sparkling apple cider as we created our vision boards.

While my family created boards, I continued to work on my existing “book of visions” and my new Bloom Vision Planner – which has a space for a vision board. The photos below will demonstrate what I worked on towards my life’s vision.

As the day drew to a close, I asked my family to write on tiny slips of paper what it was they wished to gently release to 2016. My own personal release statements included releasing impatience and lack mentality. We burned each of the slips of the paper, as we said, “_________ I release you and gently leave you behind in 2016. Amen and so it is.” As the room became dark, I said, “The sun has died, the old year has passed.” I then had each of us light candles. Once the room was filled with candle light, I then said, “The sun has rose, the new year has come.”

We felt a sense of resolution to what we wanted to release and let go and an excitement for what’s to come in the new year. Our family needed this ceremony, after the hellish year we had nearly losing my son Daniel in a near fatal auto accident in the first part of 2016.

Three books I consulted on creating a ritual for my family to participate in were Spiritual Clearings by Diana Burney, Real Life Rituals by Karyl Huntley, and The Smudging and Blessings Book: Inspirational Rituals to Cleanse and Heal, by Jane Alexander.

I now feel ready to embark on my new year with fervor and focused intention. There will be nothing tethering me to the old year.

I invite you to look at ways to release the old and to make room for the new.

I wish you a very blessed and prosperous New Year!

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

New Year…Now What? Effecting Total Transformation in 2016

Once again a new year is upon us. There’s the proverbial new year’s resolutions. The sincere promises to be better and stronger in the new year.

All the good intentions in the world will not bring one any closer to their new year’s desires, without some inner re-tooling and awareness.

New habits have to replace old ones. New thoughts have to be paved over old, non-serving ones. Patterns have to be reviewed and considered whether they need to come with on the 2016 journey, or be left behind in 2015.

In the creative process, there’s the affirmative thoughts/processes and there’s the action component.

May McCarthy of the awesome book The Path to Wealth (which I highly recommend) says “If people want to effect change, be healed of a disease, or attract something different they must ‘deny’ the condition or disease and follow it with a statement of what they want, called an ‘affirmation.'” She further points out “affirmations and denials are tools to support the change process. Using affirmations alone can bring you a long way on your journey toward your good. But adding denials, or a strong claim that anything that is not for your good is removed, is a powerful way to help eliminate negative beliefs, fears, or any other thoughts that arise and appear to be blocking your path.”

When you affirm what conditions you do want with affirmations, you are stamping the Universal energy. From that stamped desire, inspiration in the form of intuition will guide your next actions steps to take.

Your job is twofold – to affirm the “whats” in your life and to take inspired, action steps when you receive intuition to act. God works out the “hows” of getting your good to you. There’s no need to expend precious energy on how something will come about. If you are following your job tasks, the “how” will reveal itself.

I wish you blessings upon blessings in the new year and beyond. You do not have to believe in new year’s resolutions to effect real change in your life, but there’s no time like a new year to jumpstart your transformation. Remember – focus on the “what” and the “why” you want the “what” and God will tend to the “how.”

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley 

While I Was Away…Abundance Abounds

This blog post is dedicated to my generous sister, Jennifer, who lovingly blessed me with sharing her laptop computer. My computer crashed this past summer and it’s thanks to her generosity that I’m able to crank out a blog post today from the comforts of my desk at home. I love you Baby Sis and I thank you for all your love and support. 

Hello! I’ve been away from my blogging community for a spell and I’m sorry I left without so much as a “goodbye” or a “see you soon.” I was on hiatus from writing and even checking my personal emails. I only had enough energy and time to care for my two teenagers and preschooler, work my insurance gig, and manage my home. This fall, I squeezed in time to work for the American River Review, a community college literary magazine, which has given me great experience in creating an award winning publication. I attended a much needed women’s spiritual retreat in the great Mendocino County in mid-September. Shortly after the retreat, an ultrasound revealed several uterine fibroid tumors and I had a revelation about the cause of my pulmonary embolism condition (more on that in another blog).

I was not compelled to push through my so-called writer’s block. Instead, I was in a space and season of self-reflection and internalization.

I’ve been attending my beloved church, Center for Spiritual Awareness (CSA) of West Sacramento (http://www.csasacramento.org/church-services.html). Reverend Georgia’s three part “Path to Wealth” series inspired me to get back on my morning inspirational routine:

Here are some podcasts I checked out while I was away:

• Summer McStravick’s Flowdreaming September 8, 2015: How You REALLY Use Law of Attraction (https://flowdreaming.com/)
• Summer McStravick’s Flowdreaming October 13, 2015: Creating Strong Healthy Boundaries
• Summer McStravick’s Flowdreaming October 20, 2015 Create Easy, Smooth Energy Toward Your Goals…and Ditch that Hard Stuff!
• Lynn Crocker’s Create Your Reality October 26, 2015 Mastering Your Habits  is the Key to Living a Healthier, Happier, and Fulfilling Life (https://createyourrealityradio.wordpress.com/author/lynncrocker/)
• Janice Campbell’s Receive Your Life October 1, 2015 Faith in Life, Faith in Yourself (http://www.receiveyourlife.com/)

Janice Campbell’s own summertime hiatus from her podcast Receive Your Life gave me permission to take my own break. Just like her, I needed a break to focus inward and to readjust to new opportunities that were coming my way. Now, I can give renewed and invigorated energy to my blog.

The books I’m reading right now tie in nicely to the above mentioned church services and Podcasts:

A Path to Wealth by May McCarthy. CSA’s Reverend Georgia used this book as a basis for her three part series on building wealth (please see above videos). May provides a fun and easy way to strengthen your bond with God and honoring what it is you already have and what’s to come. A definite must (and easy) read. She reminds us we are stewards of God’s gifts and when we turn to our God Source, we receive all that we need to live a truly abundant life.

Giving Thanks: The Art of Tithing by Paula Langguth Ryan. True tithing comes in many forms, not just the paper money we typically think of when we are giving back. Tithe your time, heart, talent, and gifts and you will see an abundance of time, heart, talent and gifts bestowed unto you. Tithing is the spiritual currency we use to give and to receive. This is a gem of a book that takes the mystery out of true tithing.

Thank you readers and fellow bloggers for reading my blog and always being such great sources of support and inspiration for me. I’d love to hear about what you’ve been creating and manifesting in the comment box below and discuss ways we can further support each other in our quest for an abundant life.

~Your Curator of All Things Abundant, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Your Problem’s New Street Name is Opportunity!

Are you saddled with problems? Are you wrapped up in what’s not working, that you’ve neglected to focus on what is working and what opportunities you do have to change your circumstances? Well, a definite must-listen-to-twice Podcast is Rae Zander’s Everyday Attraction’s Friday, July 17, 2015 show, “Getting Current With Who You Have Become” (https://www.unity.fm/episode/EverydayAttraction_071715).

Rae asked in her show, are you loving your life, even when the shit hits the fan? We’ve come here to sometimes muck things up. Life isn’t meant to be one long, easy ride. Can you imagine how boring life would be if everything was vanilla and smooth? Me personally, I like a hellishly fun roller coaster ride to let me know I’m alive.

Stop looking at your problems, as problems! Look at them as answers to your prayers. Money troubles, health issues, relationship woes, career snags, the big Ds (divorce, debt, death), are not here to kill you, they are here because you can sculpt a blob of clay into a beautiful piece of art. The blob of clay is your life waiting for you to create what you want with it. Once you stop looking at your problems as evidence of everything going wrong, switch it around and think of it as everything going right. Practice this with seemingly small “problems” and watch how everything shifts and moves in the “right” direction. Even if you have remold your clay of areas in your life over and over again, remember there’s no right or wrong way to create your life’s masterpiece.

Now that these areas in your life have your attention, what are you going to do with it? Are you going to continue to manifest more contrast with negative thoughts about your “problems?” Or, are you going to change course and move in a different direction? Maybe a new word to use in place of “problem” is “opportunity.”

The reason more “bad” things happen is because we dwell in the negative emotions that come with dealing with so-called problems. The more angst and anxiety around a certain subject, the more you align to that emotional vibrational frequency. Look at problems as opportunities to do and feel something different.

The truth is, “what’s going on in your bank account today is yesterday’s news,” according to Rae from Everyday Attraction. She opines we’ve already manifested the low funds and crying over the present circumstance is a waste of energy. Sure, you could cry and tell the story to all your friends that you are broke, but guess what? All that’s doing is perpetuating the circumstance you’re trying to move away from. Shift your perception to what it is you DO have and want. That’s why gratitude journals are so useful. They remind us how we are abundant.

Abundance is not just money. If you can breathe, you are blessed. If you can read this blog post and understand what its saying, you are blessed. If you have no pain, you are blessed. And, if you have love in your heart and are loved, you are abundantly blessed. Stop telling stories of lack, and start celebrating and holding into gratitude what’s going right in your life.

I love the term “divine discontent.” I read a Facebook post recently from a co-worker asking if her friends knew of any companies that are hiring. I know from working with her that she’s in a highly stressful job and I can relate because three years ago, that was me, too. But, I also know that her discontent is divinely sent. The uncomfortableness of her stressful job has her searching for something better, more in alignment with where she truly wants to be. She may not have articulated it in that fashion, but that’s what it is. She’s calling out for something better because her discontent is showing her she’s unhappy. And, her taking the simple step of asking friends if there are other jobs out there is signaling to herself and the Universe that she’s ready to do something about her discontent.

The uninformed person would whine about their stressful job for years before they decide to change their thinking to open up to new possibilities. But, the enlightened person takes action when they feel the lower vibrational energies stirring inside them. They realize the present circumstance is a manifestation of yesterday’s thoughts. They know their present circumstance does not bound their future – unless they allow it to. Your power is ALWAYS IN THE NOW. Act like the Co-Creator you’ve come to earth to be and get out of the victimhood mentality.

Rae says when you start to shift your perception of what’s going on is when you finally come to a place of finding more balance in your life, no matter what is actually unfolding in the present moment.

Stop looking at problems like fifteen ton weights holding you down and look at them as possibilities to set you free!

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

I Am In a Supportive Universe

I am in a supportive Universe and ALL my needs are absolutely met.

I am in a supportive Universe… is one of my most favorite, powerful affirmations I say on a daily basis.

When you say (and believe) you are in a supportive Universe, you are activating all that will support that claim.

The Universe supports you in helping you to be the fullest expression of who you are. When you shine your light, in only the way you can bring forth the Light, the Universe expands and grows. Others are moved by your expansion. It is your love of life that pushes the folds of time and space to the edges of eternity. Your natural, curious, loving self is connected to the Universal Flow. Your raised vibrational energy helps to heighten our Collective Consciousness. It is vital to us all for you to have all you need to reveal more of your authentic self.

It is important to know that not only do you benefit from the Universe’s support, the Universe depends on you to be who it is you were brought here to be. The Universe will surround you with people and things to support you and your vision. Universal support is always there, always shaping and molding matter into what it is you need and want, directed by your thoughts.

Miracles happen all the time, why not be a recipient of all that is available to you? In order to receive, you have to first believe you are worthy, then you have to allow what it is that is trying to get to you. To feel worthy is to void all feelings of inadequacy and undeserving emotions, and instead filling up with self-love.

We tend to forget we have already inherited God’s gifts of life, love, and liberty. We wrongly believe there’s separation between ourselves and God or ourselves and that which we want. It is this perceived separation that causes our suffering. Old church doctrines of God being vengeful is where it likely started. This perceived separation is further fed by guilt and shame we hold towards ourselves. We suffer when we forget God dwells in and around us, not in some heaven mothership. We suffer when we focus on lack, instead of abundance and sustenance. We suffer when we forget to align our thoughts with gratitude, appreciation and thanksgiving.

You will get to a point in your manifestational journey when you recognize every thought is answered, every desire birthed and fulfilled. You will understand that all thoughts are creative and influential and will be careful on what you decide to focus on.

Even through your discontent and contrast (of not having what you want), there is a support from the Universe to bring you closer to contentment. You will get to a place of trusting in the Universe and God to provide ALL you need in abundant supply. Abundant supply in health, love, family, friendship, happiness, peace, and joy.

Tools to deepen your understanding:

Podcasts:

• Think, Believe, and Manifest Show. Constance’s April 24, 2015 show with her guest Minista Jazz, titled, “Turning Your Test Into a Testimony.”
• Everyday Attraction. Show date June 19, 2015, “Why Are You Going It Alone When Source Is Whispering in Your Ear?”
• Everyday Attraction. Show date June 26, 2015, “Can You Let Yourself Have It All?”
• Receive Your Life. Show date, June 25, 2015, “Deliberately Growing Your Faith Thoughts.”

Affirmation:

The church I attend, Center for Spiritual Awareness of West Sacramento provides weekly affirmation cards. When you find yourself feeling less abundant, shift your thoughts to the following message:

I live in an unlimited Universe. Unlimited in love, in money, in forgiveness, in next steps, and unlimited in connections with others. I am never alone because the Presence of God is within everyone I meet.

How do you know you are in a supportive Universe?

~Your Curator of All Things Affirmative and Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Your Fertile Ground: Fertilize Your Manifestational Soil

We have to fertilize our thoughts and lives with righteous seeds. Seeds that will take root, blossom and sustain all the dreams you have. To fertilize your dreams means to take time and space to feed your soul with practices and prayer. What are your fertilization methods in your own lives? Have you neglected your garden? A richly fertilized soil will produce a mighty, strong fruit continuously. Weak and neglectful tending will yield poor results.

• Be thankful. Be thankful from the time you wake up, until the time you slip into your sheets to go to sleep. Be relentless in thanksgiving – inward and outward. Be thankful for the tiniest of details to the loftiest dreams fulfilled.
• Pray. Pray all the time to yourself and out loud. It doesn’t have to be all pomp and circumstance, with a bible and rosary in hand (but hey, if that works for you, go for it). The Universe is listening to your prayers, so be mindful of your prayers and what you are calling into your life. The emotions in prayer are the Universal language and can move time and space. Be a relentless, praying Being.
• Play. Have a good time doing whatever it is that feels really good. Many of us have forgotten to have fun along the way. That’s okay, you can start having fun this moment. Laugh! Allow the inner child to lead for a little while. For me, sometimes it’s writing all day. Other times, its hanging with friends. Sometimes its listening to live music, or sitting on the beach. Play! Something as simple as being playful on how you execute your day can turn the mundane into a fertile playground. Check and monitor your attitude throughout the day until you are used to having a positive disposition.
• Meditate. Just five to ten minutes each day is a healthy dose. We make time to watch trash television, to gossip, or to play Facebook games. But, are we taking time to reboot our minds? Use one of your 10-15 work breaks to meditate. Do a walking meditation, or book a conference room to meditate, or meditate at your desk. Morning meditations are an awesome way to start the day, but don’t beat yourself up because you don’t do meditations when others deify morning mindfulness. Meditation anytime of day is fine, and some even find nighttime mindfulness to work better for them than morning time. Find a time that works for you and stick to it.
• Generate new ideas. Are you creating and generating new ideas? Some fun ways to generate new ideas is create vision boards. I am going to try a new idea of having a book of vision boards with an 80 pound sketch pad (edit: 80 pound refers to page thickness), with themed vision board pages. Themes can include any area of my life that I’d like to view images of to support goals in those life areas. Another idea is to write out your goals and dreams in each area of your life in a journal. Scratch off what you manifest as evidence of your creative power. Driving or commuting is a great time for new ideas to pop up, so keep a recorder (on your phone or a handheld one) to easily capture those ideas that come to you.
• Visualize. Visualization is a potent fertilizer of dreams and it’s easy to do. When you visualize states of being or desired experiences, it makes it easy for you to allow what you are visualizing to come, easy for the Universe to respond, and easy for you to receive it. Over time, you will visualize more often, and will see faster results for manifestations to blossom.
• Claim success. As opposed to always assuming you’ll never get what you want or focusing on what you don’t want, shift your focus on claiming what you do want. Claiming success gives the Universe no choice but to give you success. So many times we shoot ourselves in the foot by second guessing ourselves, allowing negative self talk to take us a down a few notches. But, the person who claims success is usually the one that reaches success. Practice claiming the good in your life and watch it manifest sooner than you’d ever could imagine.
• Be open. Your blessings may not come in the package you thought it would or should, but that doesn’t make it less of a blessing than if it came in a package you thought would be better. Remember, your job is to nurture and tend to your dreams by guiding them with affirmative directions, so if you’ve done your job, you do not need to be anxious over every single outcome that doesn’t appear favorable. Some people can see the blessing in every thing – because there really is a blessing in every circumstance. Be open to all the possibilities that come your way, letting your intuition guide you to act only on what’s in alignment with your values and desires. Being open is a person who was fired then later find a better suited job that makes them ten times more happy than the one they got fired from. The unopened person will wallow in the sadness of getting fired, whereas the one who is open to all possibilities quickly rebounds by thinking and doing things that take them to their next level. Don’t let present circumstances thwart your trajectory.
• Be grateful. A grateful person is an abundant person. An abundant person honors the manifestational cycle by being grateful first, receiving second, and being grateful once more. Gratitude touches every positive, emotional electron in our Being. Gratitude signals to the Universe you’re grateful for what you have, and you’ll have more of that, please. To kick your manifestation into high gear, be grateful for what is here and what is yet to become. Gratitude communicates to the Universe that you recognize, acknowledge and accept the blessings that are coming to you, small or grand. Keep a gratitude journal and the things you were grateful for that day. The journal will remind you of how blessed you truly are and to see what can be added each day.

Just as the farmer tends to his apple orchards, he doesn’t see apples on his trees now, but he knows the fruits are coming. He keeps his soil fertilized and gives the trees what they need in order to flourish and grow. He handles the tending, and God handles the rest. It’s all about working in concert with the Universe.

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Stop Worrying About the “How” and Just Be in the “Now”

Your job is to generate and to allow your creative thoughts to come, shaping matter into manifestation. To nurture creative thoughts by being fertile ground for them to sow and grow. To be an allowing vessel for blessings to flow to and through you. To be ever present in the now is to slow down enough to savor what is and to be confident in what is to yet to be.

God/The Universe’s job is to handle the “how” in bringing forth the manifestation or your creative thoughts and ideas.

Your “now” lays the foundation for your tomorrow. If your “now” is filled with worry for the “how” of things you want to create, all you are creating is more worry about not having what you want. We live in affirmative universe, that gives us what we focus on and believe. To effect change in one’s life, one must look at what they believe and are focusing on.

Let your “now” be filled with gratitude and appreciation. Let your “now” be filled with peace and creative moments. Let your “now” have times of respite and reflection. Let your “now” be void of dissatisfaction and boredom. Your “now” should have no room for boredom, dissatisfaction, anger or resentment.

Don’t prematurely pull up your creative seedlings, by allowing doubt, worry, and fear to uproot them. Be like the farmer who tends to his plants, but doesn’t hover over and crowd them. The farmer is patient, all the while knowing that what he has planted will grow in its own time.

The lover lives in the “now,” the worrier lives in the future, and the naysayer lives in the past. The naysayer relies on information about their life from what they’ve seen and only what they’ve seen. The worrier relies on information on fears of what they cannot see. The lover relies on the love they are experiencing right now and will continue to experience. Be the lover. Lover of creativity, lover of life, lover of all there is.

Know that all is truly well and working in Divine Favor for the best life has to offer you. Resolve to enjoy life, right now, and to refrain from needlessly stressing over things, for stressing will never bring what you want closer to you.

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Be Abundant

You are already abundant.

Like the oceans, you are inherently abundant. All that you need is in you, and through you by God.

Take a look around. Feel the sensations in and outside your body. Notice your breaths and deepen them. Thank God for each breath and the ability to deepen them – not everyone can. Notice the twitch in your right big toe, or your stomach signals of fullness or hunger, or how you have goose bumps. Behold your extraordinary body! Behold the abundance you already are and that’s around you.

Your body is the vessel for your soul. Nurture it and be grateful for the great health you continuously experience. Be grateful that at age ___, you’re still able to __________ (name something that’s awesome that you can do, no matter what it is and no matter what age you’ve selected).

Your connection to Source is what sustains you – and you are forever buoyed by this Knowing and Being. Your Source is not external of you, but can produce external things as the fruits of your Creative Thoughts and cooperation with Spirit. Source is not just internal of you. It can be anything and everything – the only limitation is the beliefs you continue to hold on to. Spirit is intrinsic of you and you are intrinsic of Spirit.

Be the abundance you seek. Once you realize your Source comes from within and radiates out, then you will know true abundance. Once you know there is an eternal spring of Source to tap into, you will know you are eternally abundant.

Turn within, look within and be within. The answers to your questions, needs and wants are not outside of you, but are within and from within. Sometimes, stillness is where the answers lie, and sometimes movement and fellowship the answers will come. The only way to know which way to go is to look within and see where Intuition and Spirit is guiding you.

It’s important to take a few moments to sit in stillness. Take five to ten minutes each day this week to sit in stillness, keep a notepad close by so when you’re done meditating, you can jot down the revelations you’ve received.

To walk and be in abundance should come easier with this Knowing. This Knowing is evidenced all around you and is a Universal truth so many deny themselves. Don’t deny yourself this truth – you ARE an abundant being.

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Freedom Consciousness: Part Five – Freedom to Be Your Authentic Self

Your light wants to shine through, but your filter system is cluttered with debris. Debris of people pleasing, of being okay with being dissatisfied, of compromising. The debris gets caught up in your Authentic Self filter and is making it difficult for your Light to shine through.

When we are belittling, minimizing, downplaying, or oppressing our (or others’) life’s desires for practicality and familiarity, we are cluttering our filter. You want your Authentic Self filters (belief systems and actions) to be un-gunked as possible with debris that is not serving you. Your Light will always try to shine through, but help it out by releasing the beliefs that limit or bound you.

Are you free to be who you want to be? Are you allowing others to be who they want to be? What or who is dimming your inner Light?

We have to be gutsy in our journey to bliss. To be gutsy is to sometimes be the unpopular voice in the room. We have to be our own advocate and the voice of the voiceless. We have to stay focused on that which we truly want, versus focusing on the worldly noises and distractions.

We are blessed to be on life’s journey to fall in love with ourselves, others, and life itself. When we find ourselves not at peace and unhappy, we need to see why we are choosing a less vibrational match than what we truly want to be aligned to. Too many times we are surrendering our power to the external, which leads to our unfulfilled potential and untapped power. If we are relying on others to shape who we are or how to feel, we are simply going through life on someone else’s direction and not our own. We came to this planet to direct, guide, and steer our life – there is joy and everlasting peace in that freedom!

This is YOUR life! Stay grateful for what is making you happy and aligned. Stay present and remember to set your intentions (write, say, and believe) to what you’d like more of in your life.

If you are not investing a few minutes each day in joyously imagining, visioning, writing about how your Authentic Self, you’re missing out, my dear ones. Aren’t you worth it? Your Authentic Self craves your attention and direction.

Imagine a life where you wake up, and you say what’s on your mind, feel how you want to feel, do what you want to do, and be what you want to be. Now, think about things that keep you from shining your inner Light brightly. Are there people who cause you to shrink or retract your Authentic Self? If so, imagine who you would become without those things or people who are not in alignment with your freedom flow. This is how you can assess whether or not people or situations need to manifest into something that IS in alignment with who you really are and what you’re about.

So many times, we are reacting to external circumstances, not ever taking time to set intentions for what is to unfold. That constant reaction inhibits us from being free to be our Authentic Selves.

We try to change external situations to align with internal desires – and we’re hurt when nothing we want manifests or lasts. Your power is in the Internal First, the External will follow.

There’s no room in this human life experience for incessant people pleasing or niceties, especially if it’s compromising your Authentic Self. You want don’t feel like doing something? Don’t. You want to cut all your hair off or grow it long? Do it. You want to be creative and wouldn’t mind being paid to be, be it. You want to be more spiritual or you’re not feeling too enlightened, let it all hang out. Do you. Be Authentic, and the rest will surely follow.

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Freedom Consciousness: Part Four – Freedom to Dream Big

The definition of a dream: A strongly desired goal or purpose.

It takes courage to trust, and trust evolves into faith and knowing. So, for those who are in the shaky first steps of their spiritual journey, it may seem farfetched and ridiculous to dream big. If we remember to first sense what it is we want, believe it will come, then the natural step is to trust and allow the Universe to bring what you’ve dreamed of into fruition.

Where many of us get tripped up is in the trusting and allowing. Some of us may get tripped up in missing the divine signals from the Universe to take action or to be still. While others get tripped up in not dreaming at all.

When was the last time you took inventory of your dreams? Dreams do not have to be lofty, out of reach and only for the select few who can achieve them. Dreams are a strongly desired goal or purpose that you can have. You can first have it in your mind as you daydream about it, then you can later have it in your reality. Finally, you can have it in the memory of experiencing the dream in reality.

What does your dreams say about you? Are they in alignment with the essence of who you are? Or, are they symbols of someone else’s reality? Your dreams should reveal a lot about who you are and where you’d like to be. Are your dreams authentic or generic – soul or ego driven?

You will know when you have an authentic or ego driven dream by how it makes you feel when you think of it. Whenever I think of an ego driven dream, like when I used to desire buying large homes, I felt a slight pang of anxiety from wondering how it was ever going to happen, then worried how I’d take care of and fill those homes. When my dreams shifted to wanting a cozy, warm space, that was perfect for my family and a sanctuary for myself and others, I felt peace and a knowing of already having it in me – my authentic dream.

Dreams that are in alignment with your soul will come to be. Dreams that are ego driven may or may not come, but in time, they may not be sustainable if they are not in alignment with your life flow and the essence of who you are.

Here are some ways to stay in touch with your dreams and to make them a reality for yourself and others:

• Create a dream journal and scribe every single dream you have. Periodically read your journal’s pages – when you feel good and when you feel less than good. As you grow, so will your dreams, both in manifesting and your faith they will come true. In time, you will see pages of dreams fulfilled and your dreams will also become more tailored to who you are and where you want to go.
• If you are in the shaky first steps of having faith your dreams will come true, look to your smaller dreams to blossom so you can start to have faith in the bigger dreams. Baby steps in your dream making will help you build the trust and faith in Divine Spirit to hasten your dreams to come true.
• It is okay to start with small dreams, but don’t remain in a place of limiting your dreams to small ones. Dare to dream big, so the Universe has more ways of getting Its good to you.
• Action – deliberate, good old fashioned baby steps towards your goal. Leaps are wonderful, but baby steps will get you there, too.
• Thank God for placing those dreams into your heart and be thankful whether they have manifested in physical form or not.
• There’s varied advice on whether or not you reveal your dreams to others. I see the benefit in holding your dreams close to you, just as I see the benefit in sharing them with others. It is all in how you feel about sharing your dream. Some are meant to be known immediately by others, while other dreams need to remain close until close to fruition. For me, I do both. Many of my dreams, I share with others so a) my dreams can escape the confines of my mind and b) to encourage others to dream as well.
• Honor your dreams by acknowledging them, celebrating when they move in the direction of manifesting, and dwell in a state of mind that creates more and more dreams.
• Do not be a dream crusher to others – instead, uplift others by encouraging them to pursue their dreams and celebrate with your friends on their accomplishments. It is people’s dreams and pursuits of their dreams that makes the world better. And, what makes the world richer are those who support others in making dreams come true.

We are blessed to have the ability to dream. So, I dare you to dream wild, dream often, dream big!

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

References:

“Dream.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 17 Aug. 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dream&gt;.

Freedom Consciousness: Part Three – Financial Freedom

To be abundant is to know and remember who you are, why you’re here, and where you’re going.

An abundant life can be expressed in having lots of money, but that is a limited way of looking at abundance. Abundance can be expressed in the love you have, or the home you’ve created (physically, mentally, spiritually), or your job with all its good benefits and perks, or when others share free meals, gifts, and windfalls of money with you. When you focus on money alone, you are limiting the Universe in being able to provide and support you with all the streams of abundance It has the ability to send your way.

How would you feel if all your needs were met and your desires were unfolding? If you trusted all your needs are truly being met in divine timing? Getting to the space of knowing you are truly well requires exercising moments in faith.

Who are you?

You are a child of God, and your Source is God. You bless the world by being uniquely you and allowing God to express through you, as you. When you know who you are, it is easier to discern what you do and don’t want in your life.

You can quickly assess whether a certain situation or experience is in alignment with your divine purpose. Knowing yourself helps to recognize, alleviate or neutralize contrast and resistance. In life, resistance and contrast are your friends. Contrast and resistance quickly reminds you of what you don’t want, causing you to begin creating and molding what you do want.

From how much to pay on a bill, to picking out a new home, to exploring debt resolution options, to knowing what salary to ask for when applying for a job – all the answers are already in you – if you just listen to your intuition and discern it from negative self talk and others’ feelings.

Why are you here?

You are God revealed. God’s light shines through your talents and abilities. The more you reveal your authentic self and ooze gratitude, the more God is revealed through you. We all came to this life to experience being human – with life’s highs and lows deepening our love and compassion for others.

What are your talents? What are your divine purposes? I believe we have many divine, little and a few big divine purposes. We only have enough room in this human experience to do what we are spiritually guided to do. You must be able to discern what it is you want, and not adopt what others feel is best for your life. Your spirit talks to you everyday – listen to what it is saying and trust it, too.

What do you wish could reveal more of in your life? For me, my divine purposes are loving, laughing, sharing good times with others, expressing myself creatively in writing, decorating and styling, and being a mother (not just to my own biological children, but a guardian to ALL children).

Where are you going?

There’s so much emphasis in the world on where we’ve been, but we need to take a look at where we are going and where we want to go, in order to tap into our well of abundance. What’s going on right now in your life? Are you headed in the general direction of your dreams, or do you feel like you are hitting wall, after wall, after wall? The good news is, your Good is already with you, you just have to get into alignment with it. The best news is our power is in the now. So, spending time focusing on where you see your life going by visioning and meditating will help you get “aha!” moments more quickly and the next thing you know, where you were going is now where you are!

Is it by accident, luck, divine intervention that some people have a lot of financial freedom, while others struggle?

The Universal Laws is in effect for everyone. There are some more aligned to their abundance than others, and the good news is, everyone has the ability to have financial freedom should they choose to have it.

Nothing is more liberating than living within your means. After going through major shifts in my own life, I realized I never really adopted living on a realistic budget. I was always in a feast or famine paradigm, the pendulum swinging wide and fast. One moment, I could afford a vacation, the next, I was trying to figure out how to pay all my bills. Recently, I dissected all of my finances and realized I was living way beyond my means. By finding ways to save money, including downsizing to a smaller place and selling an extra vehicle, I realized I could live a good life with what I have right now, albeit with a budget.

In my quest to better understand my finances, I realized I had a lot of abundance in my life. From the great employee benefits I have, to a good salary, to resources that have helped me to transition and manifest the life I truly want. I became more aware of the abundance around me and intuition spoke to me on what action items I needed to do next. Finally, I acted quickly on those intuitive action steps.

I misunderstood what and how abundance showed up in my life. I used to equate abundance with having designer clothes and accessories, being able to afford the things I want. As I grew awareness, the more abundance revealed itself – and it had nothing to do with a designer handbag or even a vacation. It had everything to do with how each life experience I went through shaped my consciousness and brought me one step closer to a life I truly desired. Abundance was just one of many ways for revealing who I am, why I’m here, and helping me get to where I’m going.

The Dance.

Examples of inner dialogue and dance with Divine Spirit.

I need to become more healthy. I wish I had a gym membership. Oh, wait, I do have an elliptical machine in the living room, and various weights, and great workout videos. I have what I need to work out at home. Wow! I’ve implemented 30 minutes of activity in the morning before I start my day. I am healthy. I have all I need to be what I want to be. I am so happy I AM healthy and abundant. I do not need to spend anymore money to get healthy, because I am healthy.

I am in over my head with mortgage, credit card bills, and car and student loans. There’s financial counseling through my workplace, who connected me to an attorney. The attorney is walking me through the steps of short selling my underwater home and filing bankruptcy – and the attorneys fees are paid by my employer. A few months later, I am debt free, albeit with a bankruptcy and short sell on my credit report, but I now can live comfortably. I have taken courses at my local library on how to live within my means and I have even started investing small amounts in a portfolio I started recently! I AM abundant.

Being abundant means I have faith that all my needs are met and that I am co-creating with God a life that illuminates love and light to others. God sustains me as I reveal more and more of myself.

True abundance is allowing God to support and guide to you to all the Good that awaits you. Listen, watch and be in the abundance that is already yours.

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational and Abundant, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Freedom Consciousness: Part Two – Freedom In Your Affairs

To be able to speak your mind to whomever needs to hear your voice. To be free of relying on others for defining your self worth. To have peace in your relations with yourself and others. To have an uncluttered mind, body, home and spirit. This is what having freedom in your affairs is all about.

A coworker was recently discouraged by being written up for her work performance. She felt like she was not a value to her team or the company. I told her to remember her power is in the Now. She could choose to give her power away to the thought that she wasn’t a valuable employee, or she could choose to know her own value and worth. She could take it a step further and know that she could learn from this write up on how to best improve her work. Or, she could choose to ignore it and set herself up on a path to losing her job. Her freedom to choose how to feel and respond is where her power lie. The power would not be found in her present circumstance.

Are you a sum of your boss’s assessments? Or something bigger and more expansive? Do not shortchange yourself and lump yourself into yesterday’s performance appraisals? Let your tomorrow be shaped with your good intentions today.

You let go of what others think. You let go of limiting negative beliefs. You stop resisting. And, that’s when the real growth and expansion takes shape in your life.

Janice Campbell of Receive Your Life Podcast http://www.unity.fm/program/ReceiveYourLife/ discussed how to reclaim the freedom in your life in a few of her recent radio shows. Her July 10, 2014 show, titled “Today Is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life” discussed how you have the freedom to redo each day and the freedom to choose the reality you desire. The July 17, 2014 show titled “Cleansing Your Consciousness While You Clear Your Clutter,” discussed how there is freedom in honoring your possessions by releasing when it’s time to let them go, and to use the items that still have purpose and presence in your life. Her most recent show on July 24, 2014, “The Ease and Effectiveness of Nonresistance,” is a must listen to. In her show’s write up, Janice offers, “Similar to river rafting, learning to work with the natural flow of the current allows us to leverage our power and effectiveness.”

Summer McStravick’s Podcast, Flowdreaming’s July 15, 2014 show, titled, “Your Emotional Endpoints” at the 5:40 mark, is a gift https://flowdreaming.com/video-radio.php. Summer provides a beautiful explanation on how to get to your desired emotional endpoint for anything you desire through your feelings. She effectively demonstrates how to get into an imaginative, super, manifesting state. One of Summer’s best Podcasts to date on how to experience freedom in creating the life you want – from receiving good news on a daily basis, to having your dream job.

Before long, freedom in your affairs becomes a way of life. Like my coworker, I was once in a vicious cycle of write ups. I began to envision and imagine what it would feel like to begin and end a job, on my own terms. I began to affirm my own worth, and cultivated my talents and abilities. Over time, I went from barely holding on to my job, to becoming an MVP.

Meditate on how you can experience more freedom in your life. What areas in your life are you already experiencing freedom? What are some areas in your life that needs to be set free?

Life is easier when we recognize who we are and why we are here – we are Divinity on Purpose. Your divine purpose is what you remember when circumstances cloud your view of life.

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Blog Series: Freedom Consciousness

Abundant Life Initiative’s next blog series explores freedom consciousness. We will explore the following:

1. Freedom in your spirit
2. Freedom in your affairs
3. Financial freedom
4. Freedom to dream big
5. Freedom to be who you want to be
6. Freedom to choose

So many of us know and experience the physical form of freedom, but are we toting that same freedom consciousness in other areas of our lives?

1. The first installment is Freedom in your spirit. What does it mean to be spiritually free? We will explore how many of our old belief systems adopted from our teachers and parents’ own spiritual interpretations shaped what we believed. Do these old beliefs still serve you, or are they limiting and minimizing who you are as an evolved person? Some beliefs may still work, while others may need to be let go. In this post, we will explore how religion and limiting beliefs shape and many times hinder a person’s spiritual growth instead of evolving or enhancing it.
2. The second post discusses freedom in your affairs. Your affairs include your personal and professional experiences. Are you enjoying your job and where you work? If not, why? What about your personal relationships and experiences in your everyday life? Let’s explore what makes you feel more restricted and less free in your business and personal matters. What will it take for you to feel a little more free each day?
3. The third blog installment discusses financial freedom. Some people seem to have it all and never have to worry about money. There are those who do not have a lot of money and express how rich they are anyway. Then there are those with or without money that bemoan what little they have. Abundance is more than just money in the bank, it is maximizing on what you do have, while making spiritual and physical room to receive more from the Universe. The best part of the abundance cycle? Sharing what you have with others! We will explore different ways to look at your situation so you can become more grateful for the financial freedom and abundance you do have.
4. The fourth blog post explores freedom to dream big. Dream big, but take measured, action steps to get to what you want. Dreaming big, then bigger, then biggest prepares you to receive more. Often people are too afraid to dream big, for fear of getting let down. Are you constantly dreaming too small or becoming too narrow in your search for what you want to manifest, limiting the Universe to give you bigger and better? Lets find ways for you to begin to dream big and dream often.
5. The fifth installment discusses freedom to be you in any and everything you do or encounter. Do you find yourself changing your tone and personality from person to person, and then losing your own voice in the process? What is it about you that makes you run away from becoming the person you truly want to be? Knowing your worth allows you to stay true to yourself and your values. We’ll explore how to always be your authentic self and why it’s good for manifesting.
6. Finally, the sixth installment deals with the freedom to choose. Choice and free will is God’s gift to mankind. My people, we can choose! Now, it is time to learn how to practice this freedom and to rely on your intuition to always guide you to where you want to go and where you need to be.

I will include blogs and Podcast recommendations to further deepen our understanding of ways to incorporate more freedom in every area of our lives. I love hearing from my readers, so please share your thoughts on the upcoming freedom blog posts or suggest other topics we can discuss in the future.

~Your Curator of All Things Uplifting, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Freedom and What it Means to You Today

America has summertime holidays of freedom – Juneteenth commemorates the announcement of African American Slaves freed from slavery; we also celebrate freedom from British rule on the 4th of July. As we look upon these holidays as reminders of our freedom, we should also review what freedom means to each of us today, in terms of physical, spiritual, emotional, financial and spiritual.

Have you assessed how free you are to be yourself? Do you feel restricted in any areas of your life? If so, what areas and where are these so-called restrictions coming from? Do they feel like outside forces crowding in on you or do you feel like it is yourself that limits the freedom you feel in a situation?

Make a list of what in your life right now allows you to feel as free as you can possibly be. Now, make another list of areas where you are restricted or feel in bondage. The things that make you feel free in some areas of your life has the ability to make you feel free in ALL areas of your life.

For example, you may feel free when you are writing stories, none of which are published yet. On the other hand, you may feel bonded and limited in your ability to make more money at the current job you have. When you start focusing your attention and intention on what is making you feel your true, authentic, abundant self, you are closer to living a life that is free and supportive of your desires. By sticking to writing your stories, you will get better and more confident to submit them to be published. Next thing you know, you are feeling free in a new area of your life – money is coming in from your publications! One area can bleed into other areas, both positively and negatively.

It is important to always check in with yourself on your freedom gauge in your life. How free do you feel in any given moment? How can you adjust that freedom gauge up in areas where it is turned all the way down? Visualize yourself turning up the freedom nozzle in your life and watch how your demeanor, mood and influence change.

The truth is, we are only as free as we believe or allow ourselves to be, no matter what outside forces are doing. Our beliefs shape how and what we feel about freedom. Yes, even those imprisoned can have a freedom state of mind.

In the spirit of freedom, assess how free you are today and what it will take for you to feel even more free from today forward. As God’s children, we are free. Now, it’s time for us to start expressing freedom in a new and powerful way.

~Your Curator of All Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Default Creating, Part Four

Default creating is when we do not set an intention on what we’d like to create, and instead, our random, unchecked thoughts guides and shapes our experiences. It is not to say that all random thoughts are bad or that intentional thoughts are good. But, you will have a much smoother ride in life if you are setting your focus and intention on what you do wish to create, rather than going on the whims of outside forces and random thoughts.

There is never a wasted moment, thought, or situation. Whether we perceive a thought as negative or positive, there is wisdom, insight and guidance in that thought, shaping and molding our experience. The contrast that we feel when we have an undesirable experience is just guiding us towards what we do want to create.

We are dynamic expressions living in a dynamic Universe. There are moments when what we deliberately created represented what we wanted at that time. There are instances where we have created by not doing anything, or operating in default mode.

We gain new information and new insight, which may result in adjusting and realigning to new ways of being and thinking. God knows your true desires and you should know that nothing you’ve created is not a blessing to you. Even when you’ve deliberately created good health, and now you have a disease. The disease is a gift, whether you deliberately created or whether old thought patterns and beliefs brought it to you.

Here are some signs that you’re operating in default mode:

• There is no time in your day, even five minutes, where you are quieting the mind and focusing in on what you want.
• Many, unexpected and disturbing events, from minor to major pop up in your life and you can’t pinpoint how or why they appeared.
• Your emotions are high and low, and especially is swayed by outside influences.

What is very helpful is we can always turn off the default mode and start setting intentions on what we’d like to create right now, so that the next second, minute, day, week, and so on is what we’d like to see unfold, instead of random manifestations.

There will always be some contrast in our lives because not all of thoughts and emotions cannot be checked, and that’s okay. It’s how you manage the contrast in your life that shapes how your deliberate creation will unfold for you.

Homework: Check out the book, “The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent: Living the Art of Allowing by Esther and Jerry Hicks. This a great foundational piece to understanding the relationship or yin/yang of Deliberate Creation and Allowing.

~Your Curator of all Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Weaving Gratitude Into Deliberate Creation, Part Three

A dose of gratitude goes a long way in life, especially when we are affirming what we already have and what we want more of. The emotion of gratitude is how we communicate to the Universe our appreciation for what has been given.

Gratitude signals we are in a place of receiving and acceptance. To be in a place of receiving is a blessed thing – always. Even when we receive what we perceive as negative situations – like traffic, disease, debt, or divorce.

The trick to appreciating the undesirables that pop up is having compassion for yourself, recognizing when you created what is now a present day annoyance, you were using old spiritual modalities or not creating with intention, instead creating by default. Also, what may seem “negative” could very well be holding your biggest blessing yet.

Examples:

• A person who has to file for bankruptcy – on the surface seems like a devastating thing to have to go through. It would be easy for that person to get into a cycle of self-pity. But, after a fresh start, the person was able to rebound and find their true selves in the midst of what looked like turmoil and failure. I’ve known people who’ve faced bankruptcy and now live very abundant lives. The once bankrupt person is grateful for going through the valley of debt to reaching the mountain high of true abundance and prosperity. Just google success stories following bankruptcy – you’ll see countless examples of renewal.
• Or the cancer patient who prior to being diagnosed, was working sixty hour work weeks and chasing someone else’s dreams of what their life was supposed to be instead of following their own divine path. The patient survives and is now living their authentic life, healthier than ever. The disease signaled their physical body was no longer able to sustain a life void of real peace and purpose; a body and mind only motivated by trying to please others and keeping up with the Jones. The patient is able to be in a constant state of gratitude for what was and now is. The old them died and a new state of being emerged through the illness.

It is when we wholeheartedly open our hearts in gratitude, that our perception of what is widens. We can see the gift in every single thing and experience we have. We can see beyond bad days and heartbreak, because when we are open to receiving and grateful for what comes, the blessings buried in an undesirable situation is revealed and we are able to move in a direction towards what we want, versus staying in a place of constant reaction and despair. Be grateful for the journey as well as the destination.

As ever-expanding Beings of Light, we should understand the power of gratitude and its role in any and everything we do and experience.

Take Aways:

• Gratitude is paramount in manifesting.
• When saying affirmations, always infuse it with gratitude, whether you are affirming what you’ve already received or what is on its way to you.
• All experiences, whether we intentionally create them or was default creating, are shaping the clay of our lives into what we want to create.
• Just like molding clay, sometimes you have to smooth over and start pressing on in a new spot. The clay is bumpy in some areas, smooth in others – doesn’t mean it can’t still be shaped into what you want it to be (or don’t want it to be). Be grateful for having this experience to mold your life, even if you can only mold a small area.
• Remember to express gratitude for the big and small things that happen – be an example for others who may have a harder time experiencing gratitude. In time, you will find you cannot go through the day without feeling and expressing gratitude and neither will the people around you.
• Gratitude is a nice way to center your thought and intention. When you’re grateful, there is little room for doubt, anxiety, disappointment and frustration.
• Gratitude opens you to receiving more of good vibing feelings and peace.
• Gratitude helps with having compassion for yourself, so you don’t stay in a place of constantly trying to “right” something that seems “wrong.” No need to dwell in what was, be grateful for where you are now, so you can move on to bigger and better manifestations.
• If you have to start with something as basic as “I am grateful for each breath I take,” start there. In time, you will be able to show gratitude for what’s to come, because you practiced gratitude with what you know to be true.

~Your Curator of all Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Practicing Deliberate Creation, Part Two

Deliberately creating experiences we want is fun and fulfilling. Practicing deliberate creation on small things is how you feel more comfortable creating bigger things.

May 7th I woke up and affirmed I was going to have a great day and eat a delicious lunch. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted when I first woke. I also knew I didn’t want to travel far, nor did I want to pay a lot of money for my meal.

Around eleven AM that morning, I stopped by a friend in another department to say hi. She had a bag full of containers and she explained she and some co-workers were having a late Cinco de Mayo celebration and they were having a nacho bar. I realized at that moment, I wanted nachos. She said she’d save me some fixings. At lunch time, my friend brought the nacho fixings to my desk. I went to our office’s break room to heat up the meat and cheese and realized I could really use some olives and green onions. Just as I said that, some other friends from the claims department came in the break room and heard me say that. They invited me to their “Siete de Mayo” celebration and had all the olives and green onions I could want. There was even more offerings at their table. I fixed myself the most delicious nacho plate – ever! 🙂

Let’s break it down:

• I set the intention and affirmed I was going to have a delicious lunch that I did not need to travel far or pay a lot for.
• I trusted I was going to receive a delicious lunch.
• I did not fret over how it was going to happen or worry over how I was going to pay for it. I relaxed into the knowing that it was already manifested and waiting for me.
• I received the offerings from friends. They felt good sharing their food and I felt good receiving it.
• What I received was far better than if I could have taken it all into my own hands, spent $10 on some nachos from a restaurant.
• I was grateful before, during and after receiving my delicious lunch.
• I enjoyed every bite of it.

There are areas in your life that deliberate creating comes naturally for you and others where you need practice.

Take baby steps and you will be richly rewarded. Although you can take leaps, sometimes our faith and trust has to catch up to the desires that wants to be birthed through us. It can be painful when what we want seems too far out of reach and then we try to believe that it will come. Instead, take baby, deliberate steps to creating an experience.

Remember, it is not your job to worry about the “how” something you want will manifest. All you have to do is set the intention and allow God to fill in the details.

Your homework:

Manifest something by deliberately creating it. It can be a deliberately creating the perfect parking space, or all green lights on your way to work, or an unexpected surprise. Whatever it is, try it and make a note of the experience so you have a resource to remind yourself how powerful and creative you are.

~Your Curator of all Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Deliberately Creating, Affirming and Allowing, Part One

I was asked about deliberate creation, from http://justmeandyoukid.com/: I still don’t understand deliberate creation. How do you deliberately create a great day? Is it a self-mantra that you repeat, an attitude? How does this happen for you?

I am thankful for the questions above because we will answer each of them this week as we delve into what deliberately creating our life is all about.

The answer is when we make a conscious decision to deliberately create our thoughts and our lives, everything changes from that moment forward. The Universe conspires to bring forth your desire. Things will begin to shift to bring you closer to what you desire.

To deliberately create is to decide and to say to yourself what it is you wish to create (and to believe, have faith that it will be done). You can affirm aloud or to yourself. You can write in a journal or paint it in a picture. You can create a dream board or daydream. All of these are modalities in deliberately creating what you want.

The key is to be honest with yourself about your life’s desires and values and stay focused on them. This way, you are not wasting time creating a mish mash of what you do and don’t want.

We can haphazardly create our lives, with no focus. We all know what our lives look like without deliberately thinking about what we want to create.

Think of a business plan, as compared to deliberately creating. You can write a business plan, but do you do not know all the specific results that will come of it, nor can you anticipate all that may come up. You know generally that your business plan will garner certain results, as opposed to not having a business plan at all. The same with an outline for a novel or an actual outline of drawing. You know generally what is being created because you’ve created the outline. Now, picture your drawn outline image, and God coming in to fill in the colors and depths of that image. That is how deliberate creation works.

You are creating the outline, which is the what and why, and God is filling it up with the who, when, where and how. Always remember your role and part in deliberate creating. Your job is to deliberately create what you want, remain in a place of allowing and gratitude, remain faithful and then to be thankful when you’ve manifested what you want.

Your unique desires are direct expressions of God Spirit, so of course God says “Yes” when you ask and affirm what you wish to create.

Deliberate creation and allowing work hand in hand. When you deliberately create (your business plan or novel outline), information is sent out to the Universe to bring forth what you desire back to you. When you allow the fruits of that creative thought to come back, the easier it is to manifest what you want. Sometimes the fruits do not look like what you wanted to bear from your deliberate thoughts. But, always remember there are different vantage points to things and situations, and the blessing is always there, just not yet revealed to you in a way you can comprehend or see yet.

It is important to think about your values and desires for your life, and listen to your intuition. Your intuition will guide and tell you when you are hitting resistance or when you are flowing with Divine Spirit.

I will leave you with a list of my own affirmations that I said this week and last, so you can see the modality of affirmations in play in deliberate creation. Borrow or create your own and say them regularly.

• I am an extension of God.
• For in Him, I live, and move, and have my being.
• I am abundant.
• I am well, whole, perfect and complete.
• I am love.
• I am peace.
• I am free.
• I am creative.
• I am a friend.
• I am triumphant in everything I do, no matter the outcome.

~Your Curator of all Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Everything’s Coming Up Roses!

This week, we will be exploring deliberate creation, in conjunction with allowing, to manifest what we want. We will kick off this deliberate creation series with an area of my life that I have little resistance in creating – my work life.

The photos of the roses above demonstrate the ease and balance of deliberate creation and allowing. A seed was once planted – deliberate creation – and the seed was allowed to grow. Below is my diary entry where I made the decision to deliberately create and allow a glorious work day. As we move into the series, I will discuss what deliberate creation is and how to manifest using it.

Thursday, May 1, 2014:

I woke up grateful and ready for the start of the day. I declared it was going to be a great day, full of surprises and it was! I arrive at work and my manager sent an email to our team, informing that I won two arbitrations that I wasn’t sure I was going to win. Then, I got the big news of my arbitration career. I filed arbitration to recover $175,000 on a claim against a certain huge insurance company (the one with the cute, little gecko). In the world of insurance claims, this was huge and I broke a record on the most recovered in one claim through arbitration.

It felt like a long shot to prevail in the $175,000 case and to win was huge! I jumped and laughed out loud. We high fived and I celebrated. It was the grace of God and me setting the intention on having an awesome day. But, it didn’t end there. As we were leaving for the day, my manager said she received an email from the same auditor that reamed me in another audit (I discussed the first audit in another blog and it is a compliment to receive an email from an auditor), saying I did a great job on an arbitration filing and that I won that case, too!

All the pieces worked together. I deliberately created an awesome day and allowed the new day to unfold in its own way. Each time I touch a new arbitration filing, I set the intention that only the best outcomes for me will manifest. And, time and time again, it does. I will now practice deliberate creation in other areas of my life where resistance is more dense and prevalent.

~Your Curator of all Things Beautiful, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Wherever I Go, God is With Me

Sunday, April 27, 2014 – Value: My Spiritual Evolution

“Wherever I go, God is with me. In the scary places, God is there. In the gorgeous places, God is there. In the places I swore I’d never go again, God is there. In the mirror, God is there with love and appreciation for who I am.” – Brende Lambert, church affirmation, this past Sunday at Center for Spiritual Awareness.

To help jump start my abundant life initiative, I went to church. My husband was out of town, so instead of leaving my three year old at home like I usually do, I brought her and my eleven year old son with me. She was quiet, thanks to slipping a few Cherrios to her from time to time.

I decided to do something different today and take notes of the church service so I can refer back to them later. Thank goodness I did because it felt like today’s sermon was directed towards me.

Here are my notes from today’s service and how it was so applicable to my life:

• Form follows thought.
• We can turn what happened to us into victory.
• We do not need other’s tragedy to feel good about ourselves.
• Watch the movie, The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes, every five years for reminders on visualization.
• Always have at least one active dream going in our lives. The pursuit of the dream spirals us upward and moves us into the direction we want to go.
• We can either be pulled by a vision or pushed by a circumstance, says Dr. Michaels. Love this! I’d rather be pulled by a vision.
• Gratitude is super important – we are open to receiving what we’ve received and more. We cannot hold gratitude at the same time we hold lack. Makes sense to me.
• Reverend Georgia also says to Act as if…you already have what you want. She also warned for metaphysical folks to not take this to mean “just spend it now, the money will come later.” It is better to manifest the money first, then spend it later. – It felt like she was ministering just to me.

Great timely lessons from church. God is giving me signs that I’m on the right track.

~Your Curator of all Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

The New Dealing with The Old

Saturday, April 26, 2014, Value: Keeping It Simple

I cried today. A blubbering, slobbering, and insides raw cry. My husband’s college friend died of a heroin overdose – we thought he was only into pills and had no idea how depressed he really was. April 26th was my husband’s birthday and he was flying out for a funeral. My sixteen year old wants to move four hundred miles away with his vagabond father (can you tell he’s my ex?) and I was dealing with some old feelings in my new self.

I cried because my New Me was dealing with some Old Me stuff. I wanted to veg out to reality TV or go on a shopping spree.

On the way home from dropping off my husband at the airport for his friend’s funeral, I went north on Interstate 5, when I should have gone south. I had to travel miles before I could exit the freeway to turn around. I got lost, and wound up on my way to Redding, when all I wanted was to go home to Sacramento. The New Me didn’t panic, but the Old Me wanted to hurry up and get back on the right track. It felt like forever before I got to an exit to turn around. Much like my careless spending and my excessive television watching – lost, but now I am found, and now I am turning around.

The family (myself included, kicking and screaming) made a decision to cancel the cable subscription. We’d been toying with the idea for a while, as we wanted to have more time for family and my writing. Now, it was a matter of necessity. I am a self-proclaimed television addict. My particular drug of choice is reality shows and investigative murder mysteries. Now, the new life, with the pain of change – was in full effect.

I wrote a list of bills and realized that cutting cable made sense. Some other benefits to eliminating cable was extra time for meditating, reflection, family bonding, getting physically fit, writing and homemaking. Eliminating cable is supporting all of my values. So, when I look at it like that, it’s not so bad after all. I also can pay off my other bills faster by eliminating the huge, monthly three digit cable bill.

I looked at why I kept going through the cycles of paying things completely off and then racking up debt. I also looked at why the Old and New Me liked to watch so much television. I realized these vices were my Old Me’s security blankets. When things went awry in my life, I resorted to shopping and television. There was a void that these two old friends temporarily filled. Now, I found the old vices ill-fitting and not mine to have anymore.

I know from all my spiritual studies that in order to lay down new tracks in life, I have to build over the old ones. I have to be brave and face what I’ve created. Much of what has manifested today is from my yesteryear’s lack mentality and lack of understanding the spiritual being that I am. Now, the New Me knows how to handle the Old Me. This time with compassion, forgiveness and a new way of being.

I haven’t called the cable company – yet. When I do, my focus will be on all that I will gain from letting go of the lessor as I make room for the greater.

~Your Curator of all things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Your Values Are Always Your Guide

I used to think values had more to do with morals than they did with desires. Values are what guide us towards what we truly want for our lives.

Each of us have values that are exclusively unique to our selves. If we are constantly doing things to sabotage or dim our values, we find ourselves in constant resistance to alignment with our Spirit.

When we dissect an area of our life, we should know what we value and always ask if what we are about to say or do is in alignment with our unique values. Our values are the key to our life’s purpose and the foundation to our eternal peace and knowing. Our values are divinely contracted by God to each of us, so we can live the best life we can and be the vessels of God’s purpose.

My ten top values are:

• My spiritual evolution
• Living a healthy and fit lifestyle
• Spending time with my kids
• Spending time with my husband
• Creativity
• Things of beauty
• Friendships/Kinship
• Freedom
• Life’s work that feeds my soul and the souls of others
• Keeping it simple (includes finances, choices, home life – a way of life)

If my values are shining bright, I’m a happy and aligned woman. When my life is cluttered with things I don’t want to do or circumstances that collide with my values, then I am out of alignment with Spirit and probably not in the best of moods.

Now that I’ve identified my values, it’s time to look at how much of my life is filled with experiences that support what really matters most to me. From here on out, everything I think and do must be aligned with these values.

Whenever you’re confronted with a choice, from small to big, ask yourself which is the better option that is more in alignment with your values. Always pick the option that supports your individual and unique values. Not the values of your mother, or your spouse. Too often we are looking at other people’s values and trying them on, only to find they are ill-fitting. We can’t wear other’s values, and the more we try, the more we suffer.

People with similar values typically flock to each other. If you find yourself in a situation where your values are not in alignment with family or friends, don’t worry about that. Focus in on your values and how to flesh them out more. Those who resonate with your vibrational frequency will get closer to you, others who are not a match will go away, gradually or quickly. Fortunately, like attracts like.

What are your top ten values? What can you do today, for five minutes, to squeeze out more juice in your life by supporting your values? Are there pockets in your life that causes you to be pushed further away from your values, like constantly working, living above your means, spending time with people who drain you? Knowing and tending to your values will set you free.

~Your Curator of all Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

My Abundant Life Initiative

What does initiating an abundant life mean for me? I will show you. I am starting with myself – focusing on areas of my life and seeing where I am six months from now. I will share my values and dreams and the highs and lows, frustrations and ecstatic moments of attaining and maintain them.

I am initiating abundance of love, friendship, freedom, and spirituality in my life, and will take each of you on the journey with me. It is my hope that you will read about my experiences and then see areas in your life that could use a soul stirring transformation.

I will name the areas I am focusing on and will devote at least five minutes to them each day. It is my hope the minutes will increase and over time, that area will have transformed. I will devote a blog post a week to where I am in my areas of focus.

When I first started this blog, I envisioned a website where people could come for information on how to live the life they truly want. Many people have lost touch with the life they truly want to live. I wanted this initiative to be a collective effort and encourage people to take initiative in creating an abundant life for ourselves and others.

What better way to illustrate how to initiate an abundant life, than to document and share my own experience. Thank you for going on this journey with me.

~Your Curator of all Things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Seasonal Closet Cleaning

I live in an abundant universe, which is why I have to constantly share what no longer serves me to make room for what does serve me. Making room for our ever evolving desires is how new things come more easily to us.

When our closet (and lives) are filled to the brim with too many things, we cannot make room for what we presently want. We are too busy holding onto what we used to want. When there’s too much stuff, we are constantly in a state of being overwhelmed, and less in a state of appreciation and gratitude for the items we have and the new things on their way. We can’t even see all that’s in our closet (and in our lives) because there’s too much to see – sensory overload.

Donating allows me the chance to share clothes and shoes with others, maximizing the life of an article of clothing. Selling clothes can be a test in futility, especially if they are not designer, because many shops, such as Crossroads Trading Company have a very specific look they are looking for. Also, donating feels a lot better than gaining a few dollars.

I am donating the shoes pictured below to a women’s shelter. It’s a win-win – I am giving/sharing my shoes to someone who will wear them and I am making room for my new sandals.

As I remove and store my winter clothes, I pull out the clothes I did not wear at all during that season and set aside for donations. I also try on clothes for fit and check for tears/stains to see if these items should remain in my closet. I do this for each season, which helps me track what I own so I do not make repeat purchases.

For the items I’m donating, I snap a picture for record keeping, just in case the IRS comes knocking and as a reminder that I do give.

It is fun assessing what trends I already have and find when it comes time to shopping, I rarely have to buy whole new wardrobes because of this practice of seasonal closet cleaning. This leaves more budget and closet space for accessories and other quality staples (like shoes) to add to an already sustainable and stylish wardrobe.

One tip I am going to start doing is taking photos of the upcoming season’s clothes that I will be wearing, which will prevent me only wearing a small section of my summer (or whatever upcoming season). I’ll refer back to my outfit pics so I can remember that I have lots of choices. I bet there’s an app for that :-). Happy spring cleaning!

~Your Curator of all things Abundant, Kimberly Jo Cooley

What’s Your Choice?

I had a conversation with a friend of mine, upset over her new boss. She just knew her boss hated her. We spent a good part of the conversation discussing how she can’t stand the lady and how she, herself was cold and distant when her supervisor asked how she was doing. She replied with a curt, “I’m fine.” But, she wasn’t fine. She was fired up and pissed. And, she was focused on the negative aspects of the situation.

I wanted to hear about what she did like about her boss and her job. She actually works at an awesome workplace, enviable for most. Instead, she focused on her disdain for this woman.

What we focus our conscious and subconscious on is what will come to pass. It has no choice but to align to what you are focusing on – not what you desire, not what you wish. Faith + Focus = Alignment with the Universe. A sure way to slow down momentum for greater things is lack of faith and lack of focus. A clear, defined focus set in your mind has to take place.

I know people who fret over the beginnings of a cold or an achy stomach. They focused and complain so much about the undesirable symptoms, they never focus on the seconds and moments they had relief.

It’s really a choice on what we choose to focus on and direct our energy to.

Yesterday morning I was feeling a little queasy. Instead of focusing on my turning stomach and increasingly moist mouth, I shifted my focus to the parts of my body that actually felt good – really good. My lungs – breathing in and out, my legs carried me, my head and my nasal passages clear. I said aloud, “I AM feeling awesome right now.” I turned away from the small and focused on the big. The “big” was my overall good health. As soon as my attention and focus shifted, I instantly started to feel better and I wasn’t nauseous for the rest of the day.

So, to my friend – I offer you this. Focus on the aspects of your boss that you do like. What is it about her that makes her special? Despite what you may believe, there are likely redeeming qualities about her that you could appreciate. Can you find a way to celebrate the good, while shifting away from what feels bad? And, most importantly, how can YOU infuse love into the situation?

My friend may say that I’m always being positive when certain situations or pains don’t always allow for it. And, yes, there is a season for feelings that are less desirable, but let those feelings be your guide back to what it is you truly want. Don’t wallow in the less desirable, but be empowered to feel differently. Ultimately, the Universe will conspire to bring higher vibrational energy and your focus will be aligned to receive it.

I’ve had my share of bad bosses. Each time, I shifted my lower frequency vibrational thoughts (such as lack, depression and anger) to feelings I wanted to feel towards my boss, and over time, the physical experience matched the emotional signals I was sending out and calling the Universe to bring forth. Those undesirable bosses were promoted, got fired, laid off, died, joined a cruise line, or literally took a hike. But, that’s not the best part.

The best part is not the loss of an incompatible boss, but gaining an awesome one, or for some, becoming your own boss. How will you get to an awesome boss when all your energy and emotions are geared towards what you don’t want? It’s okay to be in that place for a moment, but over time, you have to shift gears and move towards solutions, resolutions and love. You will not get there if you are constantly focusing on what you don’t want instead of what you do want. Exercise your power of choice.

Today, challenge yourself to look at the other side of the coin of a difficult person or situation. The power of choice, having faith and focus will guide you back to your highest desires.

~Your Curator of all things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

6 Reasons why Affirmations don’t Work

Affirmations are a great spiritual and mental modality that help center your intentions and speak to Higher Source on what you have and what you are bringing into your physical reality. It is a bridge from the sub-conscious to the conscious. When your affirmations are in alignment with what you want – which is to feel great in all areas of your life – they help to shape your thoughts  and shift the ”now you” into the “new you.” Here’s a list of ways to sabotage the effectiveness of affirmations and three quick tips to overcome these roadblocks.

6 Reasons why affirmations don’t work:

1. Setting unrealistic or highly ambitious affirmations.
2. Limiting beliefs that need to be rooted out so new belief systems can planted. An example of a limiting belief is “you have to work hard in order to deserve more money.”
3. Listening to others on why affirmations don’t work. Many people will say they do not work, but it could be the naysayers were too ambitious, or perhaps they rarely said or believed them, resulting in failed results.
4. Failure to say them on a regular basis.
5. Failure to adjust your affirmations as your life changes (for the better!).
6. Failing to believe what it is you are affirming.

2 Tips to Ensure Success with your Affirmations:

1. Have your affirmations represent being in that which you are affirming. Use words, such as “I AM” “I HAVE” and if necessary, “I WILL.” This is not a hard and fast rule, as there are some that do not start with those beginnings, such as my favorite affirmation, “I BEGIN and END my jobs on my own terms.”
2. Give yourself room to grow in your affirmations.” For example, saying “I am a millionaire” will likely not resonate with you as much as “I am EVOLVING into a millionaire” or ”I am evolving into a CEO of a successful company”. The subtle difference is the word “evolving.” It denotes you are moving toward millionaire status, but acknowledges you’re not there yet. The other example is “I work out everyday.” That sets a person who is just starting a workout regimen up for failure. Instead, say “I am healthy, fit and find ways to incorporate health and wellbeing in my day.” No matter what, believe your affirmation as fact, even if you may not be experiencing it yet.
3. Be patient. It is important to  be patient with yourself as you play with the affirmations modality. If you don’t see results right away, that’s okay. Oftentimes, we are unable to see what has already started manifesting in our life, hidden amongst all the things we do and don’t desire. Allow the blessings to come in their own time and trust they will.

~Your Curator of All things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

5 Reasons Why Positive Affirmations WORK!

We know negative affirmations work, because we can look around at all the pain and suffering amongst us and see them at work. What about positive affirmations? Here are five reasons positive affirmations work:

1. When affirmations are created by the person saying them, they have more power and resonate more within that person. Come up with personal “I AM” affirmations you can use everyday.
2. When believed and said on a regular basis, positive affirmations can change your whole outlook on a situation, therefore raising your vibration to a place of receiving that which you are positively affirming.
3. Positive affirmations over time will curb and replace negative limiting beliefs.
4. Positive affirmations are a quick way to center your thoughts during non-stressful times, such as during guided meditation, and stressful times, like when your boss sends you an email with a subject line, “we need to talk, meet me in my office.”
5. Positive affirmations said in the morning will help steer your day towards what you’re affirming.

The Universe is ready and waiting to answer your affirmations with a resounding YES. What positive affirmation do you use to get you in a high vibrational frequency?

~Your Curator of all things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

Leaving Life on the Table

Here’s the familiar expression – “leaving money on the table” and its definition: leave (something) on the table v. phr. to refrain from taking the utmost advantage of something; to not address every aspect of a situation; in the form leave money on the table, to negotiate a deal that is less financially beneficial than is expected or possible. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary).

You’ve probably seen this phenomenon occur when negotiating a settlement, a new car deal, buying or renting a new home, or a new job offer.

Well, how about leaving life on the table? That’s what we do when we play small, don’t take chances, allow fear to take over, try to keep up with the Jones and live our lives the way others feel is best…we leave life on the table, when there’s so much more we can juice from our life experience.

Here’s a short list of how to juice all you can from life, leaving nothing on the table:

1. Spend some time each day pondering what it is you want for the following day, week, year and even the rest of your life. This is not a long endeavor – a couple of minutes can truly change your life experience from blah to amazing. Some people journal what they want, while others just daydream away. Envision the life you want and take steps towards moving towards it. It is your imagination that you draw your goals and dreams from…imagine, daydream, manifest.
2. Life’s full of choices – how do we choose? Especially in “real time” with all the advents of technology? Take a moment to feel how a particular choice resonates with you. Do you feel peace with one over the other choice? Are you doing something out “keeping up with the Jones” syndrome or out of obligation? Is there a choice that allows you to embrace it wholeheartedly? If not, why? Take a moment to think about the choices you’re making to make sure it is in alignment with your dreams and goals. Do not compromise on taking a moment – that is definitely one way to leave life on the table by making hasty decisions. Successful attorneys know how to do this step well – they will walk out of negotiations and come back to the table when they’ve had a chance to consider an offer. Begin to exercise this in your life. You’re worth it!
3. What’s life without a little risk? Take a chance! Yes, we all have responsibilities, but what is a life without a bigger-than-ourselves dream to run towards? Please take a moment to think about what makes you happy and see how you can bring even five minutes of that joy into your life. For me, it’s writing and I’ve found ways to slide it into my hectic schedule. Take the time for your dreams, otherwise, you are definitely leaving life on the table.
4. Plan a vacation. Get away and enjoy yourself. Just the act of planning a vacation is a joyous occasion. Each paycheck, I set aside $25.00 towards my vacation fund and I’ve already funded a science camp trip for my son. Next trip? A girls’ road trip from Northern California to Oregon, to attend the annual tulip festival – there will be laughs and lots of memories created, and I manifested it by taking a moment to focus in on what I truly want out of life.

This list is not exhaustive, but it is a start to taking steps on owning your earthly experience and leaving nothing in this life on the table.

~Curator of all things Inspirational, Kimberly Jo Cooley

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Gratitude Game Part Deux

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Your Point of Power is in the Now