Heather Eldred » happiness

Live a Happier Life – apply 80/20 Law to Life

Heather — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 20:50:52 +0000

Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time. -Victor Hugo Check out this arctile by Billy Shall: http://billyshall.com/blog/post/paretos-principle Here are the higlights. With Pareto’s Principle you can: Accomplish More in Less Time By focusing on activities that produce the most results and eliminating or outsourcing trivial activities, you can free more of your time while accomlishing more. Reason: 20% of activities produce 80% of results. Improve your Finances Everyone’s budget is different, but most major expenses are from debt (credit cards, mortgage, student loans). By attacking prior debts and not acquiring new debt, you can improve your finances dramatically. Reason: 20% of financial decisions result in 80% financial results. Make more Money With increased production resulting from more time spent on vital activities, you will have more time to focus on providing more value. The more value you produce, the more money you make. Reason: 80% of income is derived from 20% of sources. Eliminate Stress Find the small portion of activities that produce the most stress and eliminate them. Reason: 20% of stressful activities produce 80% of the stress. Purge the Clutter How many dust collectors do you really need? Try to donate or sell the possessions that you hardly use. They are contributing to 80% of the dust. Reason: 80% of the space on shelves hold clutter. Loose Weight If you cut out the small percentage of foods that contributes the most to weight gain, (fatty foods, fried foods, sweets). And exercise regularly, not only will you loose weight, you’ll have more energy and feel much better. Reason: 20% of foods contribute to 80% of weight gain. Improve Relationships Focus on nurturing the small percentage of relationships that provide the most value (spouse, family, close friends). Moments spent and memories made improve the quality of your relationships. Reason: 20% of relationships provide 80% of value. Travel Lighter Most luggage is not necessary, By traveling light, you eliminate most of the hassles of carrying extra baggage. I personally travel with extremely minimal luggage, (one carry on bag). If you think you might need it, leave it. If you can’t live without it, bring it. Reason: 80% of luggage is excess 20% is essential. Eliminate Information Overload Constant bombardment from news, emails, advertisements, and articles are taking up time and head space. Cut down on the information consumption to the small percentage that is necessary. Reason: 80% of information useless is 20% is crucial. Live a Happier Life More Free Time + Improved Finances + More Money + Eliminated Stress + Less Clutter + Weight Loss + Improved Relationships + Lighter Luggage + Information Elimination = Happier Life!

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Soul Food – The Universe is not Stingy

Heather — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 17:17:18 +0000

“The Universe is not stingy. We are. Some of us have very stingy souls. Perhaps not in how we treat others – our family, friends, and those less fortunate — but in how we treat ourselves. Yet how can Spirit give more to us if our fists, hearts, and minds are clenched tight? Abundance is about finally learning how to release feelings of poverty and lack and replace them with feelings of prosperity and affluence”. ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach Today be kind and patient with yourself. Do not beat yourself up. Don’t be so afraid that you will screw up or that life will get worse. Let yourself believe that you are a wonderful, worthy soul that has the best of everything headed your way. Fake it if you can’t fully believe or grasp it. Every night before you go to bed repeat, “I am a wonderful, generous & worthy person that has the best of everything headed my way.” Then visualize what “the best of everything” looks like in your life. Don’t judge yourself and if negative thoughts come your way, gently push them aside and get back to your mantra.

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Your own Lightening Bolt

Heather — Sun, 01 Sep 2013 20:58:07 +0000

I am completely inspired today after watching ‘Super Soul Sunday’ on OWN this morning and Oprah’s interview with Panache Desai. What a wonderfully inspiring man. For the last 5-6 years, I’ve heard from people frequently that I have an “aura”. Usually this was in a bar and I figured it was some kind of sexual frequency (or maybe just pickup lines). But then I’d hear it from co-workers as well as family members. I guess there must be something more to it than sexual energy. I then thought it was about self-confidence. I’ve always been blessed with self-confidence and have been told on more than one occasion that I exude this self-confident energy. Ok, then new theory, maybe that is what it is about. Then it dawned on me that this “aura” that attracts people to me like bees to a flower, came about or became more pronounced after I started becoming more spiritually aware. Also, as I mentor others at work and in life, I find myself seeing past all their “stuff” (we all have it) and seeing their “aura”. It’s funny how it is generally much easier to spot it in others than ourselves. Back to Panache – he believes we all have this beautiful “soul signature”… this vibrational energy that is perfect, unique and magnificent. He says that we don’t need fixing or need to learn to be good but at some point we have to believe that we are enough. That we are enough. You are enough. He talked about the Harry Potter series being his most inspirational books. Because we are all special, we all have that lightning bolt on our forehead. We all are magical. We just have to believe. I love that. You are enough. You are a wonderful, magnificent human being. You have a soul signature that is unique. By finally believing & knowing that you are enough, that you are special, you will become aligned to your soul signature and have your own aura. You’ll begin attracting the glorious life that is waiting for you. And in turn, you’ll help others find their own unique soul signature. I recommend watching Super Soul Sunday each week as well as checking out Panache’s website. http://www.panachedesai.com/ Heather

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Gigantic garden finds.. discovered bread wonders

Heather — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 17:18:39 +0000

This is the first year I experimented with a veggie garden. I’ve been an avid (well avid for about 6 weeks a year) flower gardener and amateur landscaper for 14 years. I grew up in Idaho where my Mom always had a large garden (and frankly I never appreciated because it involved what seemed like many hours of rock gathering, weed pulling & picking slugs off tomato plants – still eww!). Finally fed up with the produce we get in Alaska (where cucumbers are really just for color and half way decent tasting tomatoes cost more per pound that New York strip), I decided to give a little garden a shot. So one day mid April (with 6 feet of snow still in my yard), I went to the hardware store to get some pre-made gardens. I ended up having to wait until Memorial Day to put them in seems how it snowed about 12 inches May 19th! I talked (or maybe bribed through use of power tools) my 11 year son into helping me put the beds together, threw some dirt & fertilizer in and went to the greenhouse. When I got back, my son said, “Mom, I think you are going to need a LOT bigger garden.” Ya well, needless to say, things were a bit squished. So you can somewhat understand how as I was digging around in the garden today, I was completely surprised to find a gigantic zucchini squash hiding out under the overgrown and crowded foliage. Alaska is famous for gargantuan vegies (think 138 pound cabbages) http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/giant-cabbage-sets-world-record-alaska-state-fair. But my ambitions for my zucchini was not to take to the fair, but to eat! So I called my Mom, “what to do with this huge zucchini”. She said really there is only one good use for large zucchini (which suffers greatly compared to it’s smaller counter part – hint – pick zucchini small!) -make a bread of some kind. I got a great recipe from my mother in law for Pumpkin Zucchini Bread – it was excellent and the kids loved it! Give it a try if you too have an overabundance of pumpkin or zucchini or you just want to try something new and yummy. Pumpkin Zucchini Bread Ingredients: 3 eggs, lightly beaten, 2 c sugar, 1 can pumpkin, 1 c melted butter, 1 TB vanilla, 3 c flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. each of baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg & cloves, 1 c shredded zucchini and 1 c chopped walnuts (optional). Combine eggs & sugar. Add pumpkin, butter and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Stir in zucchini and walnuts. Pour into two greased & floured 9x5x3″ loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 45-50 min.

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Fake it Till you Make it

Heather — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 17:12:43 +0000

About 7 years ago, I went through one of the most difficult times of my life. You know those life altering events such as selling a business, starting a new job, losing a parent and getting a divorce? I had them happen all in a 6 month period. Looking back, I wonder how I survived. But that’s the thing about survival mode, you put your head down and power through it. What else are you going to do? Roll over and wallow in self-pity? Well maybe for a day. But the next morning, it’s just time to drag your ass out of bed and get on with it. Try like hell to put a smile on and if that doesn’t work, just try to keep the grimace off. That is when I really started to understand “faking it till you make it”. By having faith that it would all be ok (what other option was there?) and keep on trudging through, after a while it wasn’t so hard to smile. Before long, you’re singing along to the radio and even have moments where you are truly ecstatic. You savor it more than you ever did because you had the advantage of seeing the contrast. I was thinking about this with regards to living in the present moment. Around this time in my life, it dawned on me that I wasn’t very self-aware and although I had great kids and a very successful career, I wasn’t living my life from a place of passion. I had no idea what my life path was or even what direction to turn to get on the “path”. I was trolling for a new novel at the store one day and came across “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. It was absolutlely not in my wheelhouse but something made me buy it. That booked changed my life. It was such a simple concept. Bottom line: pay attention to your life stupid. I’d always been a “go a million miles a minute” person, with five thousand thoughts going through my head at any given time. The simple act of breathing and being by myself started my shift toward self-awareness. I remember reading that book thinking, I pay attention. And then when I started paying attention to my not paying attention. You know, driving home and not remembering the drive because you were re-hashing the business meeting, listening to your kids tell you about their day with your, “uh huh” and “oh good, honey’s” without really hearing a word they had to say. I realized I really had no idea even how to start being self-aware. So I just started faking it. When I was talking to an employee, I’d move away from my computer and sit across from them and actually try to listen and stay engaged. When I went through a grocery store line, I’d actually make eye contact and engage the cashier in some minor conversation. I quit reading email on the way to work (you know you […]

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