If you're like me, you probably have had a gut feeling way more than once in your life.

It may be just knowing whether or not to do something.

It may be a sense of something that just doesn't feel right.

It may be knowing that something is 100% right...but still not something you can proceed with.

Twice in my life, I have heard people frantically calling my name in my sleep. In once case I called my friend before six-thirty in the morning. It was a life-saving call...but since I am not telling stories that aren't mine any more, if he reads this and wants to share, he can go for it. :-)

I wasn't in touch with the other friend and I sent an email via Classmates.com. Seriously. I didn't know how else to get in touch with them. Many years later I was in contact with them and they had never received that email, but, they were alive and kicking and that was all that mattered.

I have heard specific voices in my head at different times in my life. Last year I heard, "Don't worry. Everything is gonna be alright." And then the Bob Marley song came on later that day. (OF COURSE IT DID!)

Songs. A voice. A feeling. Just knowing. We all have it. We just have to figure out how to use it. The universe is listening...

So...has your intuition kicked in? Do share.

I found this and thought to myself, "THIS is a kick-ass woman."

I instantly fell in love with her. 

Go out there today and follow your bliss - and wait for the universe to open all those doors that were once walls.

My 16 year old son "made" me listen to this song a few weeks ago. (You never know what that could entail, the kid loves rap...) 

It is as fierce as Bliss Woman. You can hear the universe on your side making giant holes in the walls. Listen...

This is an important post to write.

It is also very hard.

I have a young friend who is not quite 17. She has gone in and out of depression many times in her young life. She is loved by so very many.

But she isn't as loved by herself as I so want her to be.

I had her read these posts last week:

• Worthy
  
• Look Within
  
• I Believe In Me
  

I made her listen to THIS song:

And despite love from many, a hug from me and being an amazing girl, she doesn't feel worthy. Her thoughts go to a dark place mine have never gone. 

I am so proud of her for knowing she needs help. It's can't be easy when the bad thoughts overtake the good. I am so proud of her mom, who remains calm during these periods of times when her daughter doesn't feel she has anything to live for. I am so proud my young friend knows she can tell her mom when it's all just too much. There's the love.
 
We live in a stressful world. 

I firmly believe the teens of today have it much harder than I ever did. I didn't have social media capturing my every move. I didn't have harassment via text or Twitter or Facebook. Conversely, the resources available for help weren't as easy to find either.

Jenny Lawson, AKA The Bloggess, writes so eloquently about depression and suicide. THIS post was written on September 10, 2012, which is World Suicide Prevention Day.

I am taking this directly from Jenny's post:
"If you or someone you know is thinking of suicide call 800-273-TALK, or click here for resources."

And so, today, I ask you to think kind thoughts about my young friend. To really look at your own kids and make sure they're in a good place. To look inside yourself and know you are worthy, beloved, amazing and indeed, a gift to the world.

Be well, my sweet friend. I can't wait to hug you. xo

This song is just for YOU ~ lyrics HERE.
(I know you like when I give you the lyrics.)

Once again, I ask you to share this post - you never know who may need the support.

UPDATE 2-4-13 - my young friend is back home. You can read her mom's blog piece about that HERE.

As you are well aware, I have been living in this basement for a solid two weeks now. 

I have gotten A LOT done, and I delighted to say that I have thrown out a ton of stuff as well as auctioned off items on eBay. Granted, there is still a ridiculous amount of work to do, but, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter by the day.

Maybe as bright as yesterday's sun on the Hudson River. Bar none, this is my favorite shot of the day. It makes me ridiculously happy.

So, why the river? Well, when I am feeling overwhelmed this river brings me immediate serenity. I hate that it's so cold out because I spent my spring, summer, and fall walking this gorgeous river.

These are the pictures I took yesterday. It is glorious in it's frozen splendor, isn't it?

OK, so I made it to the new Adrenalin Gym this morning. I got there by 6:40 and was delighted to put in 3.5 miles on the elliptical. I took two pictures there this morning as the gym is on the Hudson now as opposed to across the street.

Just so you know...

I intended on putting Led Zeppelin's "Winter Sun" as the music video of the day. I can't find it. I can't find just the audio. I can find the cover versions but it's not the same.

So, since this came on yesterday while I was walking AND at 7:14 this morning (don't ask me why I looked at my phone...) I figured it was a sign.

The truth is, I love this song. I listen to it at least once a day.
(I never watched the video until today - it's a fun one.)

There are even more songs with "SUNDAY" in them than moon.
Decided on this because it was very calming.
What would you have picked?

I was just driving and saw the moon. I knew I had this quote in my "to be used someday file" and realized we can ALL use health, wealth, love, and happiness.

SO many moon songs! 

Seriously, search your iTunes library, which is where I always start and then head to google. It's mind blowing. That said, tonight I am going to go with the Grateful Dead. I went with the studio version versus the typical 10 minute live version. This is a marvelous song, maybe a little depressing but still filled with great hope and of course, love. Give a listen!

What's YOUR favorite moon song?! Do share, please.

I first met Jo in November 2012, at The Awaken Fair in Tarrytown, NY. It's an event where many talented healers and artists gather to showcase their work. (Sort of like the gift show at the Javitz Center but for the spiritually minded.) 

When I walked through the double doors, Jo's paintings took center stage in my head. Glorious. Explosive. Radiant. Colorful. 

I was fortunate enough to be at the event with my friend Cate, who is a friend of Jo's. I was already in love with her work without knowing her. Then, she said, "Hello," in her British accent, we had a hug, and I was a goner.

I am honored, excited and delighted that Jo is teaching one of her classes at TGHR next Friday, February 1. Find all the details HERE.

Check out her website HERE

To see more of Jo's work, check out her shop HERE

To "LIKE" her work on Facebook, click HERE

I know I came into the world believing in myself. Like so many of us, I got lost for a while.

I'm back!

I have an an amazing, gorgeous, fabulous daughter who has believed in herself from the second she came into the world. (We may have helped a little with that.) My goal is to make certain she always does.

It's been a busy week - taking actions, bearing witness to gorgeous vision boards, sharing in the lives of many beautiful and special women.

May we always believe in ourselves. May we give our kids the tools to do the same. And if you need some encouragement, listen to the song. It hits on everything I am teaching her at TGHR.

Lyrics HERE.

As always I look forward to your comments. xo

Yesterday was fabulous - in a nutty way.

Yes, I am still in this godforsaken basement clearing out.

AND, we found out the pipes upstairs are frozen. THAT'S why it was so cold up there. The main floor is a balmy 75 degrees as we attempt to get heat upstairs. We are also running space heaters with the hope that they will out-heat the freeze that is happening outside...it might take a few days.

I had an over-the-top massage from my friend Alisa who is currently in school for it. She will SO be a part of TGHR when she's done.

BUT, the best part of the day, bar none, was my one-on-one coaching call with the amazing Jennifer Louden. In twenty-two minutes she called me on the carpet for some negative beliefs I was stating, gave me an action plan, and by the time the hour was up, I realized she had my number better than I did.

I left the crazy hot though freezing house, for the aforementioned tremendous massage, with a mission statement in my head and a plan or two or maybe even a dozen.

I have big plans. I have big dreams. I have a bright light within that is going to start blinding people. And I have the courage to take some radical chances.

I am so thrilled you will be part of the journey.

Music today a la google search - I thought the picture was significant and the music glorious.

As always, I hope you will share your thoughts here. 

I don't believe there is a person on the planet who doesn't feel unworthy at some point in their lives. It's when that feeling remains with us that we get into all kinds of emotional trouble.

I have spent parts of my life feeling unworthy. It can last for a l-o-n-g while, or it can be fleeting. 

Thanks to some great therapy and deep inner work, it tends to be more fleeting these days.

My mother, a very wise woman (I can so easily write those words at 51, those words would never have been typed as a teenager...) says to think about our friends as a mirror. Go ahead. ll give you a second...

Now, what do you like about them? Admire about them? Love about them? What makes you laugh when you're with them? You got all that?

THAT'S what they love about you. I KNOW! It's such a simple concept and yet one we have such a hard time grasping. It's phenomenal what happens to our inner voice when we give ourselves credit for being worthy and lovable and fun. 

It hit me square on the head when I was walking this fall and Melissa Etheridge's song, "Heaven on Earth" came on my iPod.

These lines stopped me right in the middle of the path:
Open up your eyes 
I'll show you what your worth

They literally took my breath away. Why is it someone else can show me what I'm worth? Why can't I look in the mirror and see the same thing? Why did it take two lines from a song to make me step back and examine the self talk I was constantly having? I still have no idea why, but, they did help me change the way I think about myself and I am proud to say, that 99% of the time, I AM WORTHY. I believe it. I walk it. I talk it.

So, think about this today and KNOW - YOU ARE WORTHY!

Lyrics HERE.

I come from a family of intensely curious people  We want to know all about you. Whatever you are willing to share with us, we are giddy with excitement to hear.

Despite my tendency to chat with nearly anyone on the planet, I am a very discreet person. I am honored to be privy to many of my friend's stories. I don't share them unless I can be vague about it or if I have permission to do so.

Every once in a while, I screw up.

I did so recently and the result was a friend ended up very angry with me. It was most certainly not intentional. It was most certainly not done maliciously. I shared their story to help with my own story, but, in the end, it was not my story to tell.

I did apologize. I did say I was so very sorry. I don't know if they have forgiven me. I hope they will.

My sincere hope is that my friend knows I never set out to hurt them or make them angry or uncomfortable. My hope is that they know just how much I love them and THAT is the feeling they have when they think of me.

Have you ever experienced this?

Music is called "Through New Eyes" ~ a gorgeous piano piece.

Today, I will try to live up to the many aspirations of Martin Luther King, Jr. As always, I will work from a place of love. I may not always succeed at this, but I give it my best shot every day.

This version of the song and this video are exquisite. I'd love to know what you think.

This uncluttering of the basement is highly overrated. Seriously.

It is definitely cleaner down here. I added a bookshelf to move a bunch of books out of my living room, bedroom and office into the Magic Basement.

I managed to get eight listings onto eBay last night and ask for boxes on Facebook. Some SU! stuff and some other stuff that's been sitting unused and collecting dust in the basement for years.

I am finding it infinitely easier to just toss stuff the longer I am down here. I am tired of looking at it all. 

I am on a deadline; I'm teaching classes on Thursday.

And despite the Magic Basement morphing to TGHR, so much of the crafty stuff will stay because I will use it in other ways. The hundreds of stamp sets will go. The ink pads except for black will go. Packs of paper I know I won't use - they're out of here.

So, I sit here at the laptop and watch my worlds collide. Crafts, books, music, candles, various decks of Oracle cards, assorted crystals, the dreadmill, assorted weights and a huge freaking mess STILL on the basement floor. 

I remind myself to just take it one task at a time, to not get too off track, to keep plugging along. I am THIS much closer to less clutter in my space which will equal that much less clutter in my head.

THAT'S the relief and the end goal.

A person I truly admire wrote an excellent blog post about how less is more for her this year. Check out Jen Louden - I expect to be heavily inspired by her this year.

Another awesome artist, Lisa Congdon wrote about needing LESS this year.

One of my favorite mixed media artists is Kelly Rae Roberts. She announced on her website yesterday that her word for the year is UNLEASHED: (your joy, your creativity, your truth). 

I can't say I have any one word, although I am thinking CLEARING would be awesome - my stuff, my mind, the shadows in my head, the confusion of my life...it's a good word.

What do YOU think of a word for a year? Or about less? Or about the articles I linked? I would love to hear from you.

And as always, I thank you for sharing the love that is TGHR.

Love this music. The video is calming and relaxing as well.

Just sit and savor it. I will with the intent to clear my very busy head.

I am fortunate to know the two amazing Jen's who created this fabulous business. With kindness, compassion, regular check-in's, texts galore, and a sense of humor, these two women changed the way I eat and work out.

By work out, I mean, I actually DO physical fitness now. As opposed to just thinking about doing so.

Jen Z. put me on the road to nutritional health. Before last January I didn't know words like quinoa or agave nectar and I wasn't overly familiar with a protein shake as a meal.

Jen C. taught me what a plank was and how to hold it. She had me cringing less at the thought of a burpee. Many people may not love the idea of a tabada workout, but Jen has realized I love it. It works for me. 

You do not have to live locally to be a part of their world - they can and do work with anyone, anywhere.

They are excited new co-owners with John and Carlos at Adrenalin Gym and they are hosting an amazing seminar THIS MORNING at the new gym location.

I invite you to check out their website and see what they can do for you. They are on Facebook HERE. You are worth it!

I have an entire playlist of workout songs. I wanted to put out THE one song that makes me GO: on the elliptical, the dreadmill or at the river on a walk run. It was tough to pick my favorite. Flo Rida had to win this round.

Warning: this is a long post, but oh so worth it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you were to ask me what I thought my greatest gifts are, I would have to say my ability to bring people together and create community, my ability to heal with humor, and my ability to use music to set a tone. 

In Januaury 2002 I went to my first Stampin' Up! party. I knew within minutes THIS was for me. I could color, I could use markers. I could use glitter! SIGN ME UP! Within months, Stamped the pINK Way was born.

My years with SU! provided me with my first real stomping ground into what would morph into TGHR. When I stopped stamping, THE single thing I missed the most was the community of women who would gather each month to create, laugh, share, cry and just be together.

We created in the Magic Basement. We created at Blythdale Children's Hospital. We created at Sherri's beautiful mountain top home in NJ. We created at parties. We created at each and every SU! sponsored event I ever went to.

SU! introduced me to some of my dearest and closest friends. With many different backgrounds, and many different faiths, we all shared a passion for the craft and art of rubber stamping. 

I was addicted to the AOL Chat Boards back then. I searched the boards for SU! people and I met soul sisters of stamping. Although stamping was the focus of the board, our lives intertwined as we got to know each other through our back and forth conversations, often more than once a day. It was on this board I met my friend, Amy.

Amy is my friend from Indiana. My friend who drove across the country with two of her four kids to come to a SU! Team Meeting I was having. She married the love of her life at a crazy young age and has a daughter and three sons.

She also has a heart that misbehaves. Far too much. She has cardiomyopathy. It is as horrifying to the body as it is to spell. She has a pacemaker. She has some other gizmo that was helping her which was installed in the spring and changed the quality of her life for the better. It was installed two days after she buried her brother from the same disease. She is not yet 40.

Through it all, it is her faith that keeps her grounded. Bar none, I was her most cynical friend. (Anyone who knows me well could easily chime in here...questioning faith is something I have done my whole life.) I am kind. I am generous. I am loving. But I was always, ALWAYS questioning. 

When Amy first went into the hospital over a year ago, I did something utterly out of the ordinary. I went onto Facebook and asked for a prayer chain. ME. I did that. Well, five days later when her doctor couldn't get over the miracle of her recovery she informed him that some pretty amazing people had been praying for her and as such, God took a good listen. (For the record, I was still pretty darned skeptical but I was paying a tad more attention...)

Amy is a walking, talking miracle. I love her dearly. I respect her. She loves me despite my endless questions. As a result, my cynicism began to fade away. I decided to cross the street to the faith side. I still search for answers. I will more than likely never belong to an organized religious group. But faith...yeah, I've got it.

And a funny thing happened when I let go and let the universe take over;   miracles started happening. Faith and love. They will move mountains.

I ask you, humbly, if you are reading this, to pray for my friend Amy today. She is facing yet another battle of health vs. heart. Her family needs her. I need her. The world needs her...she is a wise teacher and one who has taught me invaluable lessons.

As of this morning she will be hospitalized for a few days. If her early morning FB post is any indication, her sense of humor remains intact.

I ask you to share this so that the prayers will go far and wide and be as loud as they can be. 

It seems like an awesome thing to do on a Friday.

Music courtesy of Carrie. Lyrics HERE.

UPDATE from Amy herself at 3:36pm this afternoon:
Great news! The swab for that nasty flu came back negative. That is an answered prayer. So just getting more antibiotics to fight whatever infection it is. Should know more tomorrow.


UPDATE from Amy on 1-19-13:
I appreciate all of the prayers. I have a long 2-3 weeks ahead of resting and was told that I will just generally not feel well. Bronchitis and a touch of pneumonia. Just going to be a long recovery period but so thankful to be home!

As I look around at the lessening mess I think to myself  JUST do it.

My amazing trainer would like me to use that same phrase and get to the gym with more regularity, and, it's on my list of things to do. 

However, this morning, we all slept too late. I drove the kids to school. Thus we're running on the jet-pack fuel called adrenaline. And despite the late hour, we remained calm, no one yelled; I had time to make coffee while the teens did their thing. All in all, I followed the lines above.

Make it a great day and please, if you are so inclined, share the love that is TGHR.

Every day I get a little closer to answering those callings; to freeing myself. I had a friend for dinner last night and brought her down to the "getting there" basement and explained my vision of what would be happening down here. It's getting there...

Funky instrumental for your day.

Here's the truth behind ANY great clean-up. It's a painful, messy, exhausting process. If you are easily distracted - "SQUIRREL!" - it takes far longer than it should. Here's where I stand as of now...
(I am writing this at 6:45 on Monday night to start - see, anything but cleaning up...)

And now it's 7:35am ~ the only update is that all the shelves have been thoroughly cleaned with Lestoil; my daughter announced it smelled "gross" - I like the smell. My basement. I win.

Field trip today to gather a few items to make the putting it back together process that much prettier. Later, I will start categorizing and photographing the items from SU! to get out of here.

Today's song was found via a google search - love the title; love the lyrics. Applicable to life no matter what.

Thanks for reading ~ have a marvelous day ~ share the love that is TGHR.

It has been very foggy here in NY for two days. Granted, I have been ensconced in the basement - cleaning, clearing, getting rid of clutter, throwing out. 

I hope, when the fog clears, so too will my basement. This is a huge task and one I put off for more than four and a half years.

I have given myself a 40 hour work week to muddle through all of this. I think that's realistic and allows me to take necessary Facebook breaks.

If you recall my post about Surrender, this, in many ways is a surrender of sorts. I am loving looking through the many magnificent creations I actually created. But I am not remaining sentimental about them. Yes, I will keep a few, but mostly, I am going to match creations to stamp sets and sell them.

Here's to cleansing - your basement, the cobwebs from your head, your soul - whatever it takes to be healthy and happy. 

I was introduced to this song in November at a women's symposium. I listen to it every day. I hope you love it too.

For almost ten years I was a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I taught many a class in the Magic Basement and I taught many a person how to stamp and scrapbook in their own homes.

Over the years I accumulated an insane amount of crafting supplies. Frankly, it borders on hoarding.

For nearly FIVE years I have been saying, "I need to purge, clear-out, get rid of, sell the millions of items in the Magic Basement." 

All that "stuff" was literally weighing me down.

The single step started last night.

Of course I procrastinated a little by writing about it on Facebook (and then responding to comments). It was nice to know others are in the same boat as me.

So now, there are giant piles all over the floor of the basement, and on tables, and on shelves...

I will offer it up for sale on Facebook and via email to local people. I will package most of it up and put it on eBay. Somewhere there is someone who has been patiently waiting for whatever it is I am going to list. 

I am keeping a teensy portion of what I have. 

It's a relief to have started this.

My Facebook picture of the day is listed HERE. It's how I really feel. 

Your turn...