I found this video through Swissmiss (a blog that I find many great things) and I am a fan of Toni Robbins. I particularly like the message behind this video. FYI the video is about 20 minutes long.

“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” - Arthur C. Clarke

This quote pretty much sums up what has been going on in my life that has kept me from blogging (apologies by the way). I decided about a month ago that since I was committed to changing my financial standings I was not going to turn away any jobs/projects. Previously I’ve used the fact that I’m self employed as an excuse to pick and choose my clients. Then I decided it was ridiculous to turn away money. I decided I’d test out taking on as many projects as come my way. Consequently I’ve now hired sub contractors and my business has grown exponentially. I’m excited and I’m loving every minute of it. Really my only regret is that I’ve had zero time to devote to my lovely freaders here at GenPink.

I do plan on making time to get back to GenPink very shortly. In the mean time I post mini-posts fairly regularly on my tumblr - check the archives and find some of my favorite quotes, photos, and linkage from around the web.

The Little Engine That Could taught us that all it takes to accomplish something is to say “I think I can, I think I can”. Are you still living your life off the lessons you learned in nursery rhymes? You should be!

The truth of the matter is, you are what you think you are, you can do what you think you can do. If you start your day thinking you can’t do this-that-or-the-other chances are you will not create greatness in your day.

Negativity in your thoughts and focus create more negativity. If you spend a large part of your life whining and complaining you create a filter for yourself to watch for negative things in your life to complain about.

I’m not saying that everyone’s life is filled sunshine and butterflies. I have been through my fair share of tough times. At this stage in my life though, I choose to focus on the positive and start each day by saying “what can I do to make this day great.”

At the end of the day I feel accomplished and get to say “I thought I could, I thought I could.”

I’ve got a lot of big things in the works right now, both professionally and personally. All I can do is be my best and have faith in my self and know that I CAN!

After A While
by Veronica A. Shoffstall

After a while you learn
the subtle difference between
holding a hand and chaining a soul
and you learn
that love doesn’t mean leaning
and company doesn’t always mean security.
And you begin to learn
that kisses aren’t contracts
and presents aren’t promises
and you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of woman, not the grief of a child
and you learn
to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow’s ground is
too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down
in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much
so you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone
to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
you really are strong
you really do have worth
and you learn
and you learn
with every goodbye, you learn…

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the days following the holiday that I get to talk to my friends and hear what gifts they received. Being a designer, most of my friends are pretty creative. I usually like to create gifts rather than purchase them. My gifts usually entail photos of some nature, I create collages in photoshop or make photo-books with some of our favorite memories together.

Today I found some cute printable gift tags that I plan to save for my next gift giving time. My favorite one says “I made this, just so you know. So don’t say anything mean about it.”

What’s the most creative gift you’ve ever given or received?

• first and foremost the people in my life - my family, my friends and my blogging buddies
• new music, playing old music on repeat and singing at the top of my lungs, mixed CDs from friends - I am all around thankful for the abundance of music in my life
• being more than half way to my goal of being debt free by my birthday in February
• moments of relaxation with friends and grey’s anatomy - who needs more?
• making life changing decisions with no regrets
• cute text messages that let me know others are thinking of me
• being awarded a blogging award
• late night phone calls
• insights to life provided by oprah
• my health
• the little pleasures in life
• living in the moment and living my best life now

What are you thankful for?

Reason #849 that I love music … sometimes there is a song that I swear was written for me. A song that says everything I am feeling/experiencing at that moment in time. That song for me right now is Anyway by Martina McBride.

The lyrics to this song sum of how I choose to live my life right now.

You can spend your whole life building
Something from nothin’
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain’t good
And when I pray
It doesn’t always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This world’s gone crazy
It’s hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
In a moment they can choose to walk away
Love ‘em anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain’t good
And when I pray
It doesn’t always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
Yea - I do it anyway

You can pour your soul out singing
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they’ll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yea, sing it anyway
Yeah, yeah!

I sing
I dream
I love anyway

Love Martina. Love her voice. Love the message behind that song. Love the video as well …

It’s Friday night and for the first time in months I had a whole evening to myself. I chose to spend it catching up on Oprah that had been recorded over the past few weeks.

The episode I just finished watching was about women in their thirties - Thirty Something in America. At first I was going to skip over this since I am only 25. After a second thought, I decided that I should give it a listen. For the most part the issues the women in the show were facing were a bit out of my reach at this stage in my life.

My favorite part of the show was at the very end Oprah asked a few women …

"What do you know in your thirties that you didn’t know in your twenties?"

These were the answers that spoke to me:

• "I think one of the things that I know now is that life is life. So, you just have to kind of go with the flow and go with your gut, go with your instincts and not hold on to bad experiences and bad people too long waiting for them to change or evolve into something else. You just need to move on and count it all as a lesson." - DeChane
• "The one thing I have learned in my thirties that I did not know in my twenties is how valuable my friendships are … Once you are sucked into your thirties and trying to figure out where your life is going, it’s the friends that really make the difference in your world." - Molly
• Oprah’s closing thoughts: "There is a common thread that runs between us all … We all have the same desire to be valued regardless of where we come from or what we may be going through, and to love the people most important in our lives and that is our connection to each other. So I say thank you."

Another reason I love my DVR … rewinding to write down that great line that Faith Hill said on Oprah.

You wake up healthy .. and you wake up happy … and your family is safe, healthy and happy then everything else pales in comparison. - Faith Hill

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Photo Credit: stock.xchng

Yesterday I was watching Oprah that I had recorded on my DVR from Friday (I don’t know how people live without these babies). The episode was about self image and developing confidence in yourself. She ended the program with an interesting thought and a new challenge. Oprah challenged her viewers to join her O Girl, O Beautiful Revolution.

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