The Power of Affirmations

"I live and dwell in the totality of possibilities.

Where I am, there is all good.

Life is wonderful and I am always moving to the greater good."

I'm an avid believer in affirmations, in fact I have several I repeat on the way to work every day. Some days other trivialities of the world take up space in my mind and I'm not affirming on the drive... in fact, I'd fallen out of the practice until Wednesday, October 27, 2010. For some reason, on that eight minute drive I said those affirmations over and over and over with such force and belief that I was WILLING it to be!

It was about 8:45am when my leader came and asked me to meet with him.

I knew what it was about.

On October 1, my company had announced they were exiting the medical insurance business and that, because of that decision, several employees would be laid off. We would find out prior to November 1 if we were affected and, if so, when.

As we walked to a meeting room, I sighed a BIG sigh.

It had been a good run. Twenty-six years and counting. A position I loved. Had learned alot along the way and increased by skills. Had greatly enlarged my network of contacts, friends and associates. And it had provided me security and income as I raised my three children. I rationalized that it was okay, they were all raised now, with children of their own.

We sat down at the table and my comment was "Just give me a good date :)", referring to the lay off date. We all knew they would be staggered and I was hoping for one in the future since I was scheduled for surgery in just a few days on 11/2.

I received a "second quarter, 2011" date.

I know I was in shock but honestly, I was okay.

I knew it would all work out.

After all... I'd reminded myself on the way to work:

"Today is a new day. I am now in charge.

Now is the moment in which I am creating the future in my life and my world.

Life is a joy and filled with love.

I am healthy and filled with energy.

All is well in my world.

I prosper wherever I turn. My income is constantly increasing.

I am willing to change and grow.

I am loving, lovable and loved.

Everything I need comes to me in the perfect time sequence.

It is becoming easy to make change.

I am free of the past.

I live and dwell in the totality of possibilities. Where I am, there is all good.

Life is wonderful, all is perfect in my world and I always move to the greatest good."

And so it is.

In Abundance,

Anita Lewandowski Brown

Almost a year ago

Just remembering (which is a funny term since I was so out of it I can't remember anything much that happened for about six weeks) a year ago.

Had ulcer rumblings that went untreated and ended up with a perforated ulcer which caused all kinds of hurt (organs shutting down, lung collapse, blood clots and the list goes on...)

Just reflecting with gratitude for Dr. McBride and her staff at the University of Nebraska Med Center in Omaha and all those who offered up prayers on my behalf.

What blessings I received, what lessons I learned... it's all good. Life is grand. God is good.

Stop and smell the Roses? Stop and Look and Listen to All You're Missing

• Do you stop and look at the sky, maybe watching the clouds as they move across the sky, always changing and moving?
• Do you stop and listen to the cacophony of noises at dusk, when the birds and other animals are settling in for the night?
• Have you ever noticed how many colors of green there are? Or marvel at the way the sun skips off the top of moving water? Or smile over the playfulness and awkwardness of young puppies playing and rolling around, tripping over their own big paws? Or listen - just listen - to your favorite CD, whatever it is? Not driving, just sitting, eyes closed, enjoying?

How much beauty do we miss in the average day?

I read the following and it made me ponder the questions - what do I not even notice? or what do I notice but no make the time to enjoy and be grateful for?



In a Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007, a violinist played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately two thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After three minutes, a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

• Four minutes later, the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.
• Six minutes later, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
• Ten minutes later, a three year-old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.
• Forty-five minutes the musician played. Only six of the people stopped and stayed for a while. About twenty gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32.
• An hour later he finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded. There was no recognition.

Now, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story...
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces every written, with a violin worth $3.5 million. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theatre in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised - Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music every written, with one of the most beautiful instruments... What else are we missing?

What are you missing?

Checked at http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/bell.asp

Are you stressed: Make another choice

Are you stressed?
Do little, ordinary things that go wrong in your daily life just...
PUT YOU OVER THE EDGE!?

They do me sometimes. In fact, let's be honest... A LOT of times. It could be the person who doesn't speak when you answer the ringing telephone (because it's a machine calling most likely) or the person in the car in front of you who is going f-i-f-t-e-e-n m-i-l-e-s a-n h-o-u-r and you are the biggest rush to get to work, to an appointment... wherever it is you probably should've been there 10 minutes ago because your schedule is thistight every day, all the time. I could go on and on with the things that stress me out but I'm sure you are picturing your own scenarios.

Let's switch gears for a minute.
Have you ever seen a gerbil in their cage? watched them run on their little "wheel"?
Have you ever noticed how they get off the wheel?
Think about it... Let me tell you what happens. They run on their little wheel until, because of exhaustion, the FALL off! They fall off and knock themselves out!

And... when they come to.... they immediately get back on the wheel.

Now my next question to you is... "How many of you are gerbils?"

(My hand sheepishly goes up.) I teach this stuff! I know this stuff! But, time and time again, I rush, rush, hurry, hurry, stress, stress until... I get knocked out. Happened just this week (again) when I ended up at the ER, complications of chronic ulcers... caused by ... stress. And after about four days of doing absolutely nothing (my equivalent of being knocked out), I come to (can actually function again) and here I go, jumping on the darned wheel again. I'll take a shower in a minute and run to give a presentation at a local church. I'll run by work (haven't been there in four days) and catch up a bit. Come home, do dishes, laundry, probably vacuum and go to bed at a decent time (one point for me there for actually planning to go to bed at a decent time. I do know sleep is important.) Tomorrow I'll get up early, get to work, work till noon then take off on a 2 1/2 hour trip, visit and home by about 11pm. I hear the hum of the "wheel" already.

You may be nodding your head saying "Yes, that's the way I've always done it, too." But I have news for you! Today... today you can "choose to do it different!"

I choose NOT to get on the wheel today.
I have committed to the speaking engagement, but afterwards I choose to visit and spend time with my 98 year old grandma. I choose to come home and make the most beautiful piece of peanut butter toast (about all I can keep down right now) and serve it to myself on a beautiful plate and make the presentation exquisite! None of this standing at the sink and inhaling it today. I choose to spend some time with that book I've been wanting to ready for six months and can never "justify" spending my valuable time on. I choose to just lay on the couch and listen to my newest "Wicked" CD and get lost in the music. I choose to journal about my feelings. I choose to NOT get back on that wheel. At least for today. To honor my self, my spirit, my emotions and my body and take care of it and treat it with love today.

I know this stuff. I teach it.
A wise Ralph told me... "The longest journey is the one from the head to the heart."
Making what you KNOW part of who you ARE.

I'm working on it.
Now, next time you fall off that wheel when you come to just lay there for a minute and think before you act. Before you get back on that wheel, reflect and discover how YOU can honor yourself today.

Because loving yourself is the best thing you can do for those you love.

In abundance,
Anita Lewandowski Brown

Honor to the Survivors: Learning from them

History. His Story.
Let me share some of His Story about living in Nazi concentration camps.

My eleven year old granddaughters and I recently attended a special event at the Strategic Air and Space Museum where a Holocaust survivor was to speak. The Museum had hosted a photography exhibit entitled "Portraits of Survival", with photos of survivors and brief comments about their life during that time and now. It was life-changing for all three of us.

The exhibit hosted over 57,000 visitors from around the world in the last 90 days. In reading comments left by those who experienced the show, I believe that they, too, had their lives altered in some way.

Following are some of the things I read and learned that touched mine.

• "People should learn to be kind and find ways to support one another in this world." - A Survivor. What a truth we should all follow! If only we could love other people as our brothers and sisters. And know that "What affects one, affects all."
  
• Fred's mother sent him outside the train station as she knew they were going to be sent to the camps. Fred was four. Can you imagine the feelings of the mother as she did this? Sending her child to the unknown because she knew the known?
  
• "I can't hate anymore because I saw what hate did." - Joachim, an Auschwitz survivor. How can you hate people you don't even know anyway? I cannot understand this.
  
• "We worked hard not to be a burden in this country, we left Europe with nothing." - Katherine, an Auschwitz survivor. This lady and her husband are successful business people in Omaha.
  
• Bea shared that the first English words she learned where "gum" and "chocolate". "All we knew was that American always had it."
• "I don't complain. I don't waste anything - somebody else does not have what we have." - Fred, World War II and Jewish survivor. If we could all be so grateful for whatever it is that we have.
  

And in another manner, I found out about... Irena Sendler

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an ulterior motive because being German she KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews. Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack for larger kids. She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids' and infants' noises...

She managed to smuggle out and save 2500 children. She was caught and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived and reunited the family. Most had been gassed. The children she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

What stories. The incredible stories of what happened, how people endured, coped and kept positive attitudes. What incredible insight that we can all learn from. From His Story.

Control: How to have all you want

Do you have control in your life?
How does it feel to have control? To have no control?
What do you do? How do you handle the emotions and feelings?
Let's explore...

First, a visualization... Consider the room you are in.

THE WALL OF NO CONTROL

The wall to the right of you is the Wall of No Control. On this wall are all the things in life that you have No Control over. What lives on this wall?

• The weather. We certainly have no control over that!
• Traffic. Again, no control.
  
• If you live in Grand Island, Nebraska... Trains! We have so many trains in this town AND train tracks to navigate around. When you have one stuck on the tracks, stopped - try controlling that!

Anything else?

• What about... other people. Once you figure out that other people live on the Wall of No Control and you accept that, your life will get oh-so-much-easier! One of the best things I got out of going to Al Anon meetings is my knowledge that this is so - I have no control over other people. I can try to influence...but I cannot control. We don't even have control over our children when they are small! Ever try to make a small child quit screaming?

How do you feel when you're in that place of No Control? Perhaps you feel scared, anxious, mad, sad... Because those aren't normally feelings we strive to have, let's keep reading.

THE WALL OF COMPLETE CONTROL

On the wall to the right, we had the Wall of No Control. And to the left of you is the Wall of Complete Control. On this wall are the things in life that you have absolute positive complete control over. What is on this wall?
.....
.....
I'm waiting....

• Y O U. That's it. What you say, what you think, how you feel, what goes into your mouth, what comes out of your mouth, your attitude, your actions. YOU. That's the bad news, right? No, that's the good news because you CAN control ALL of you.

You can control what you say. Each of us has the ability to think and then speak. Unfortunately, it's easier to "blurt" and oftentimes we say things that are not what we intend. Take a minute and THINK before you speak.

You can control what you think. What?! Yes you can. Choose to focus on the positive. Choose to look for the positive. Your brain is a computer that only does what you tell it to do and if you wake up and roll out of bed mumbling, "This is going to be an awful day," your brain will go about it's daily duties looking of EVERY AWFUL thing it can find! However, roll out of bed grateful and thankful for the opportunity to go about your business this day and your brain will LOOK for every wonderful blessing and joy there is in life. Honest!

You can control how you feel. Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." How true! And no one can make you feel sad or mad or... even happy unless you choose to! These are YOUR feelings, no one else's. You control them. And how do you FEEL when you're in compete control? WONDERFUL, happy, joyous!
We HAVE control over the most important part of our lives - US!

THE VOID IN BETWEEN

More to ponder lies in knowing there is a void between this Wall of No Control and the Wall of Complete Control. Know that even when you can't control, you CAN adapt to the situation or influence the person.

• Live with the knowledge that there are things outside your control, but you can adapt.
• Live with the knowledge that there are people who may act in a way that you do not want, but you can influence.

And when it's all said and done, we have choice. Choice to be grateful and happy for the life we are given.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

How does it feel to have control over your life?