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Method 8: The Courage to be Faithful

Stepping out of your fears and into your greatness requires great courage.  Sometimes we are so busy with the work of life that we don’t sit still and take the time to listen to our heart. Being courageous means not allowing life to steal, kill, or destroy your dreams, hopes, aspirations, and plans but living in the now, the moment, the presence of your power to receive life, and the fullness of all life has to offer and even more abundantly.  It takes courage to be honest with yourself, acknowledge your personal truth, and be present in your quest to live that truth.  The easiest thing for high achievers to do is be successful.  But living in the fullness of who they are – and want to be – while also maintaining their success takes true grit.

Method 9: – Exponential Living

Exponential Living is achieved through excellence in your Personal, Spiritual, and Emotional health, and balance in all aspects of your life – with yourself and others.  It is achieved by building and maintaining spirituality; loving and caring for yourself (hobbies, exercise, “me” time); spending quality time with and appreciating yourself and your family; recognizing your success; and living in your own truth.   When living exponentially you are comfortable with who you are, separate from what you do.  It’s when you live in a state of true contentment, being present with yourself and others while also pursuing and maintaining excellence in all aspects of your life.

Often, high achievers are limited by their success because they are only living in the accomplishments in one area of their lives.  They have achieved or have the drive to achieve high levels of professional success but are not truly fulfilled with their lives overall.  Or, they have reached their career goals but now know there are other facets of life they want to pursue but don’t know what/how/why/when.  Exponential Living gives such high achievers the power of being true to themselves and achieving a balance between work, family, friends, healthy living, and spiritual commitment to manifest a life that is genuinely complete and content.

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Method 6: Happy is a Choice; Contentment and Joy are Lifestyles

One of the definitions of the word overwhelmed is “to give too much of a thing.” When you truly desire to live a life that is fulfilled in all areas, you are destined to have more to do than you have the time, energy, and ability or help to accomplish or complete.  The feeling of being overwhelmed is when you have what you need and are overflowing with what you want.  When you have so much success, opportunity, potential, clients, projects, options, prosperity that you can’t “handle” or manage everything, your reaction is that you are overwhelmed.  So what about those times when you’re overwhelmed with challenges, struggles, health issues, and other life concerns?  Know the plan for your life is perfect and the struggles are never to defeat you but to make you stronger and uncover your true power.  Surrender and find peace living in the overflow, joy and abundance of being overwhelmed.

Method 7:  Building Lasting Confidence

Believe it or not, whatever you want is available to you if you have the confidence and belief that you can have what you want and that you deserve it. This does not mean confidence in our degrees, our knowledge, job titles, position, social status, etc. Instead, it is about having a pure and honest confidence in the person you are. Many successful people have achieved career success through their fear of failure.  And while such fear can be a powerful and effective motivator, it can also limit your sense of accomplishment and impede growth in other areas of your life.  For many high achievers, confidence is built on external validations like applause, accolades, wins, or promotions.  And their ensuring quest to feel this rush keeps them from being engaged in other areas of their lives.  True confidence should come from a life well lived and enjoyed…not the proverbial feathers in your cap.

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Method 5:  Stop Working So You Can Maximize your Opportunities

When you are constantly working, you seldom recognize your achievements.  Without taking these moments to recognize your accomplishments, you are constantly stretching for what’s next and never appreciating and enjoying what you have completed.  This cycle often leads to burn out, health issues, personal relationship issues, and low self esteem.  And, many times, it does not have a clearly defined end of moment of victory.  When you change your mindset from working to maximizing opportunities, you reposition your thought process and how you approach your life.  You are able to separate and segment your work from other areas of your life because maximizing the opportunity has a beginning and an end.  You are quicker to recognize when to end or remove your self because you understand what you are spending your time on is meant to be an opportunity not a burden you spend time on with out benefit or value.

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Method 4: Live in Your P.O.W.E.R ™

High achievers should strive to tap into their personal P.O.W.E.R., which is Perspective, Ownership, Wisdom, Engagement, and Reward. Perspective cultivates recognition of what is draining your life and what is enriching your life.  This leads to Ownership of your relationship with yourself and with others.  It allows you to establish your personal boundaries and define what and where you are to give of yourself and your time.  This understanding of your own truth is a major component of Wisdom, which is gained from how you implement your life experiences into your life and evolve your thinking and decisions through expanding your knowledge and good judgment.  This enlightenment brings consistent Engagement in the quality of your life.  Your desire, energy, and personal encouragement will motivate you to commit yourself to stop spending 100% of your time on 10% of who you are – this is your Reward.

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Looking for some fun books to help your little ones get in the spirit of the Halloween season? We’ve got some great pics for you! Check out some of our recommended reading for this upcoming holiday and share the adventure of a new book with your child!…

Scaredy Mouse By Alan MacDonald and Tim Warnes

This book follows the story of a “small mouse, a scared mouse, a stay-at-home mouse” as he gains courage from his big sister to venture out into the scary territory of “the big ginger cat with green eyes”  in search of a special chocolate treat. Your kids will love this cute adventure as he “runs this way and that, harum-scarum, round and back” on his way to becoming a “bold-as-a-lion mouse”! The clever illustrations and misunderstandings as Squeek tries to understand the world around him are truly priceless and will have your kids giggling as he overcomes his fear of the unknown with the help of his sister.

Disney’s Scary Storybook Collection

This book is a treasure trove of 5 minute Halloween spins on traditional Disney stories. If you’re kids are even remotely fans of Disney’s arsenal of creative characters, they will love seeing their heroes and villains figure out their Halloween fears with humor and wit! Each story is only about 5 minutes long, making this a favorite bedtime choice for my kids since each one can pick out their own story and we can fly through them before bedtime with no trouble at all! The illustrations are of course first rate (after all, it’s DISNEY!) and are in several different styles appropriate to the stories and characters they are depicting.

John Pig’s Halloween by Jan L. Waldron and illustrated by David McPhail

This is by far our favorite pick of the season! We have read it so many times, it has now become a memorized favorite! The rhyming cadence of the story lends itself well to a singsong story telling adventure! David McPhail’s incredible water color illustrations truly capture the imagination and the excitement of the story. Follow John Pig as he decides he’s too scared to go out trick or treating with his friends and instead commits to “sit in the shadows, with no costume on”. But he gets a spooky fun surprise when a witch arrives at his door and decides to teach him what Halloween is all about! She invites her ghoulish friends and shows John some “tricks” for his “treats” as they whip up a monster bash not to be forgotten! You be the judge whether John missed out on trick or treating or whether his friends missed out on staying at home!

Tags: children's books, education, entertainment, Family and Home, fun, holiday activities, product reviews
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By Julie Smart for Ideas That Spark

What can we say, when you get kids motivated to clean, if nothing else...they're FAST!

Here are my top four tips on getting — and keeping — your house super-clean without much effort.

1. Have a basket contest.
Are you playrooms and bedrooms messy and completely disorganized? Give each of your children a basket and have a contest to see who can get the most items in the basket in two minutes. Reward the winning child with a small prize.

2. Sing, dance and clean.
Put on a sing-along, and have everyone sing and dance while cleaning. For young children, try the Barney cleanup song: It’s fun and short enough for a young child to learn.

3. Reward donations.
When children clean out a toy box or room, it may be hard to get them to depart with things they don’t really need. Set a number of items for them to get rid of, and reward them for donating a certain amount. It teaches them to depart with items they don’t really use, and it cuts down on clutter.

4. Give a child a spray bottle.
This tip worked great for my own kids, since every child wanted to help and not feel left out: For children that are too young to help with cleaning, give them each a clean paper towel and small spray bottle filled with water. Ask them to help you by cleaning the refrigerator door or something in the area that you are currently in.

I recommend buying a new, empty bottle that didn’t previously have cleaner in it in case your children spray it in their eyes or mouth. When you’re done, children can put away their “special” spray bottle of cleaner until next time.

Julie Smart is the mother of five wonderful children and a blogger at
couponsavingfamily.com

Copyright © 2010 Studio One Networks. All rights reserved.

Tags: chores, Family and Home, homemaking, housekeeping, parenting, tips and tricks
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Ideas That Spark: Mom2Mom Get Clean on a Budget By Renae Chiovaro for Ideas That Spark By Renae Chiovaro Cleaning products are a necessity in any home, but for tough jobs in big houses, costs can add up. It is possible to spend less on cleaning products without cutting your cleaning power. Whether you have $5 to spend on cleaning products or $50, these simple tips will help you clean house on a very limited budget. 1. Use old-fashioned soap and water. Dish soap is a mild cleanser that can be used on multiple surfaces. To clean countertops, use hot soapy water. 2. Clean a little every day. Put some effort into cleaning at least one thing every day. Cleaning will be less daunting and require gentler cleaning products if it occurs regularly. 3. Clean the dryer vents and refrigerator coils regularly. Appliances run more efficiently when they are properly maintained. Plus, you will extend the life of your machine. 4. Less is more when it comes to dishwasher and laundry soap. Using too much soap can lead to appliance damage — plus, it’s a waste of costly detergent. Follow the instructions on the package to use the appropriate amount of soap. If you have soft water, you can use even less soap than the manufacturers recommend. 5. Implement a “no shoes rule” in your house. This will cut down on the amount of dirt and debris tracked in the home. Place a basket at the door to serve as shoe storage. 6. Reuse used items. If you’ve just used a paper towel to dry off washed fruit, use the now-wet paper towel to quickly swipe over stains or spills on kitchen counters. A sponge that was once used to clean dishes can now be used to get small spills of the floor. Renae Chiovaro is a mother of two boys who blogs at madamedeals.com on how to save money in all aspects of life.

Tags: chores, Family and Home, homemaking, housekeeping, tips and tricks
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Get inspired! Write a poem for your pet and win!

If you have a child that loves to write and loves animals, we’ve got the perfect combination to help them celebrate National Poetry Month! The 3rd annual “Paws for Poetry” contest is in full swing and is a great opportunity for children ages 5-12 to showcase their poetry prowess! To enter, kids need only to write a poem to, and provide a photo of, their favorite animal friend.The contest is co-sponsored by kids’ virtual field trip web site Meet Me at the Corner and Flashlight Press. Teachers and parents, this is a great opportunity to not only encourage your kids to write but also get them excited about it!

Poems must be original work and can be submitted in one of two categories: Group One (ages 5-9) and Group Two (ages 10-12). One grand prize winner ine ach category will receive a $50.00 Amazon.com gift card. Two runners-up in each category will receive a $25.00 Amazon.com gift card. Winning poems and pet photos will also be highlighted in an upcoming Meet Me at the Corner video pod cast. The pod cast will be videotaped at New York’s Angellicle Cat Rescue Center. Local students will present the winning poems.

The contest judge will be Thad Krasnesky. Thad is a children’s author and poet as well as an Iraqi war veteran. He will also be providing contest winners with an autographed copy of his new book, “That Cat Can’t Stay”.

Celebrating the 3rd annual Paws for Poetry contest inspiring kids to celebrate National Poetry Month!

The contest deadline is April 15, 2010. All submissions should be mailed to:

“Paws for Poetry” contest
c/o Meet Me at the Corner
20 West Del Norte
Colorado Springs, CO 80907

Good luck to all our young Emily Dickensen’s and Edgar Allen Poe’s! We hope you will all take a crack at this contest as we take a moment this month to appreciate poetry in all it’s literary forms! wRite on!

Tags: announcements, education, Family and Home, holiday activities, pets, teachers
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Valentines Day is about showing other how much we care about and appreciate them. This is such a wonderful holiday for helping kids to think outside of themselves. To consider and show appreciation for the talents, abilities, and importance of others is a difficult but very important skill we all struggle with. Sacrificing time and energy (rather than just mom and dad’s money) to create these messages of thankfulness helps children (and adults!) show a spirit of true consideration. Are you scrambling for some fun, low budget ideas for helping your kids make this Valentines Day truly memorable? Well, we’ve got a few winners for you!

Buying Valentines Cards is certainly easy and sometimes affordable. If you’re little one is working on writing their name, it can be a great way to practice this skill since they will have to write their name several times over in one sitting. If this is a skill you are working on, it can help if you have fairly large valentines cards so that they will have room to write (early writers rarely have the control and coordination required to write very small). It might also help if you draw a line if one does not already exist so that your little one has a reference as they practice their name writing. Without the guidance of lines, you may find this to be a very unproductive and frustrating practice time.

But for those who have mastered their name writing and are looking for a fun alternative to the standard “card”, we suggest a “Valentine’s Mouse”. This little critter requires very little cost for a very fun outcome! The materials you will need are:

• colored paper
• red/black marker or glitter glue
• pipe cleaners
• bag of Hershey Kisses
• glue/tape

Take the colored paper, fold it in half, and begin cutting half-heart shapes along the fold (this will ensure your finished heart will be symmetrical). These small hearts will be glued to the bottom of the Hershey Kiss to form the “ears” of our mouse. Next, take a pipe cleaner and curl it around a pencil. The will be taped to the bottom of the Hershey Kiss as well and bent to resemble our mouse tail. Next, take the marker and make eyes (using a black marker) and a nose (using the red marker or red glitter glue)  for your mouse….and voila! You have your very own valentine critter to deliver!

For a fun surprise for a teacher, parent or grandparent…consider giving them a “heart attack”! This is a simple, easy and inexpensive craft that is lots of fun for the giver and truly memorable for the receiver. First cut as many hearts as possible from several different colors of paper (the more sizes and colors, the more fun!). Next, take a marker and write on each heart something you like, admire, or a special memory about the person. If you have children that are not writing, special pictures are also wonderful. Again, the more, the merrier! Take the finished hearts and tape/post them all over the person’s bathroom, bedroom, front lawn (be aware of sprinklers!), office or any other space that the person spends a lot of time in. The key to success here is to not get caught posting the hearts! When the person returns, they will be greeted with their “heart attack” of special messages from their children. This is a wonderful way for kids to learn to “count their blessings” and be truly thankful for this special someone by remembering all the things they love about them and writing them down. The best reward is the look on the person’s face when they enter the room!

Whatever crafts you decide, make sure you take the time to explain why this holiday is so important. Help your kids remember that showing someone you love and appreciate them is truly one of the best ways to not only make their day, but also make your day a little brighter!

Do you have some fun crafts that have worked well with your family or classroom? Share ‘em! Visit our Teachers Forum under classroom activities!

Tags: arts and crafts for kids, Crafts, education, Family and Home, fun, holiday activities, holiday crafts, tips and tricks
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When I initially set out to write this series, I was a little disheartened by the lack of information available through my school. But I was most impressed with the outpouring of information from the many people who handle kids with peanut allergies on a daily basis. With all the information out there though, nothing can compensate for a childs own ability to self-manage their allergies. Parents with allergic children need to prepare their child for life in busy crowded situations like school by giving both the child and their teachers as much information as possible to be prepared.

A teacher with ample information to send home to a child’s classmates parents will be able to provide a much safer environment than a teacher with no tools to supply their parents and students. As Elizabeth Cowles Johnston, a member of School Nutition Association states, “schools want to ensure that sutdents are also cognizant of their own allergy risks – another reason tables or areas of “peanut0free” are more prevalent than complete bans as they are more manageable to monitor.” Elizabeth offered us two great printouts entitled “School Foodservice and Food Allergies: What We Need to Know” and a comprehensive “Food Allergy Action Plan” that parents can fill out for their kids to take to school and give to their teachers, parents or other involved faculty members.

Lor Aronsky from Food Allergy Ally shared some more suggestions of “nut free” treats and alternatives to send to school:

• Instead of Peanut Butter, try Soy Nut Butter (IM Healthy) or Sunflower Butter (Sun Butter).
• Treasure Mills Allergen Sensitive Snacks make school safe treats such as brownies, chocolate chip treats, oatmeal raisin cookies, etc. and are sold at Whole Foods Stores.
• Divvies makes delicious treats for school.
• Vermont Nut Free has amazing candies, treats, etc.
• Entenmanns makes several nut free deserts and many popsicles and water ices are safe but a caution with these products…READ LABELS as not all of these products are made without nut contaminants.

Lori also offers some suggestions on home safety should you have a child with nut allergies over to play. It is fine to have nuts and peanut butter in your home but keep them out of reach and even out of sight if possible. If you have prepared peanut butter sandwiches on your table tops, simply wipe them down well. Remember to check labels before giving any food to the child. Recognize that they can safely eat fruit, vegetables, cheese, yogurt and MOST Mac and Cheeses and MOST pizza snacks but again…CHECK LABELS! Be sure the parent leaves 2 epi pens and they train you how to use one in case.

Other suggestions for classrooms are to make sure if you have a child with allergies, to bring a bag of “safe” treats to school for your teacher to keep on hand should someone unexpectedly bring questionable treats to school for the kids. Most teachers prefer kids bring in pencils, markers, stickers or other school supplies as an alternative to treats anyway.

Always wash hands after snacks or lunch to make sure that nut contaminants are not transferred to classroom materials.

A great web find was the Stuck on You labels. They offer many customized stickers, bags, labels, bracelets and school supplies that will help parents protect children by alerting caregivers to their specific allergy. They have some very fun ideas and supplies worth checking into.

Another suggestion came from Alana Elliot, Founder and President of Nonuttin’ Foods Inc. She suggests providing a large, color poster to the school with a picture of the allergic child, their food allergies, and no more than 3 simple steps to follow if an allergic reaction is suspected. Make enough copies for the child’s classroom, the staff room and the office. “While some people may be concerned about their child being labeled,” Alana says, “it’s advisable to have all in the school aware of your child so they can respond accordingly in an emergency and not all staff will know the child so must have a visual to refer to.” She adds,”Safety trumps privacy in this situation.”

Alana also recommends keeping your child’s epi-pens on their person. “A teacher in the playground with your child will not have time to go get an epi-pen in the school and return to your child.” Kat Eden, an employee at Education.com and mother of an allergic child, suggests a “teaching” epi-pen is worth having around so that parents can take a moment at the beginning of the school year to educate a teacher or other faculty member how to use the pen correctly without fear.

Kat also  has taught her son some choice phrases to help him communicate with the other children about his allergies. Politely refusing treats with a “no thank you” or even a more direct “I’m allergic to peanuts” will alert kids but may also invite teasing. So Kat suggested her son try a little humor of his own by saying “my body doesn’t like peanuts and if I eat them or touch them I’ll get very sick. But my body LOVEEESSSS chocolate!”…she adds, “I’m not sure why but that cracks him up every time!”.

Here are a few more helpful links worth checking out…

• Nut and Peanut Allergy Diet
• Allergy and Special Needs
• Kids and Food Allergies: Facts, Tips, and Resources

We hope you have found our unfortunately rather long blog posts this week helpful as we strive to keep our kids safer in school. It is also our hope that you will take this information and share it with as many others as you can so that we can continue to understand this allergy better, with less fear and with more understanding. As Jessica Cohen, a parent of a child with multiple food allergies, states “the more the people around him understand the seriousness of it, the more we can all work together to keep children like mine safe.” Mike Spinney, another concerned parent, adds “clearly communicating the reality of our daughter’s situation opens eyes, and when they know there’s a potential for death, they pay attention.”

Tags: education, Family and Home, food allergies, parenting, product reviews, safety, teachers, tips and tricks
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