On July 4th, the United States celebrate her independence from Great Britain with festivities all over the country. It’s personally my favorite holiday as it falls in the summer and there are fireworks! I love going to see the fireworks in downtown Chicago and spend time with friends. It’s also a great time to reflect on the privilege our fore fathers bestowed on us by allowing freedom. Perhaps not a perfect nation (although I find perfection in imperfection), yet we have so many freedoms that other world citizens currently don’t have.
 
Wherever you are in your life today, whether you are living the life of your dreams or dealing with contrasting experiences, I encourage you to look at the freedoms given to you. You have the freedom to choose. Perhaps it doesn’t always feel like it during a contrasting experience, but you truly do. You have the freedom to choose love over fear. You have the freedom to choose peace over war. You have the freedom to choose kindness over hatred. You have the freedom to choose flow over stagnation. You have the freedom to choose empowerment over victimization.
 
Today I ask you to celebrate your freedom. Today I ask you to appreciate your freedom. Today I ask you to take a moment and send loving thoughts of freedom out to ALL world citizens, especially those living in fear over love. One-by-one, thought-by-thought we can bring more love and less fear into the world by loving yourself, others, and life.

(S)he Said: 

“Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.”  ~ Voltaire

 ”Freedom lies in being bold.”  ~ Robert Frost

 ”Everything can be taken from a man but…the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”   ~ Victor Frankl

 ”Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”   ~ Gandhi

 AFFIRMATION: I am free to live my best life.

 Soulful Links:

 Sweet Freedom       

~ Michael McDonald

 Freedom      

~ George Michael

 Philadelphia Freedom

~ Elton John

 Simple Song of Freedom    

~ Bobby Darin

 For the next week, I invite you to celebrate your freedom and independence by choosing to:
 
Live your highest self without fear of failure, disapproval, or rejection.
 
Recognize how amazing you are as a part of this wonderful world filled with billions of unique people.
 
Affirm your freedom as YOU choose your destiny; YOU choose your dreams; and YOU choose your desires.
 
See the positive in any given set of circumstances knowing you are free to make the right choice for you
 
Send loving thoughts to others who live in a state of fear over love.
 
Mostly, my wish for you is a week filled with gratitude and appreciation for your freedom of where you are today, where you’ve been, and where you will go by knowing every experience you have serves a purpose in your soul’s growth.
 
Until next time, shine bright, bold, and free!

Hugs,
~Carol
 
Looking for a way to stay focused on Living Life Fulfilled? Make sure to surround yourself with people who lift you up, inspire you, support you, and simply love to laugh and have fun.

“When men speak ill of you, so live that nobody believe them.”

 ~Plato.

What a great quote. However, I invite you to see this quote, not from others speaking of you, but rather what you say to yourself. When you are judging yourself for decisions or lack of decisions you’ve made, live knowing your ‘true’ self doesn’t believe them. When you are judging yourself for any form of insecurity, live knowing your true self doesn’t buy it. Know you’re  true self comes from a space of love. Your truth is kindness, compassion, brilliance, peace, happiness, joy, and simply living abundantly.

When you catch yourself placing negative judgments on yourself, see them for what they truly are, and that is fear. Fear comes in a variety of deceptive packages. Fear that the world won’t see your true self, fear in sharing your true value to the world, and fear in failing. For you truly can’t fail in being you. You get to make all the choices on how to live your life. Any decision you make at any moment can be changed, added on to, and even forgotten. So when you speak to yourself, speak of love, not fear.

Quotes of the week:

“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.”

~Mark Twain

“For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.”

~ Ivan Panin

“Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi

AFFIRMATION: I live my truth through authenticity and love.

Soulful Links:

The Truth     

~ India Arie

For the next week, I invite you to honor your truth by:

Being gentle with yourself as you shift into affirming your value to the world

Laughing and enjoying the life you are living and allowing yourself to create an even better world through loving thoughts

Compassion for your past beliefs about yourself and past beliefs of others as when you see through the eyes of love, you know everyone is doing the best they can at that moment.

Mostly, I invite you to start your morning off from a loving space asking yourself how you see your day going that will honor your truth. As when you honor YOU, then you honor your friends, family, community, and world.

Until next week, it is an honor knowing you.

Hugs,

Carol

Happy Wednesday
 

Have you ever thought about life as being one big spice rack? You get to choose which ingredients to add to your life. You can choose loving ingredients, or you can choose fearful ones. You can choose peaceful or hateful. You can choose abundance or scarcity. You can choose light or dark.
 
Be the best chef in your life by taking a pinch of several ingredients you choose, blend them together, keep them at a nice simmer, add more as needed, and enjoy your Happy Life recipe.

Quotes of the week:

“What is the recipe for successful achievement? To my mind there are just four essential ingredients: Choose a career you love, give it the best there is in you, seize your opportunities, and be a member of the team.”
 ~ Benjamin Fairless

“There are three ingredients to the good life: learning, earning, and yearning.”
~ Christopher Morley
 
“The ingredients of health and long life are great temperance, open air, easy labor, and little care.”
 ~ Philip Sidney

“Only you know the perfect ingredients for your best life” 

~ Carol Miller

This Week’s Affirmation: My life is tasty and perfectly blended.

Soulful Links:

Recipe for Love       

~ Harry Connick Jr.

For the next week, I invite you to create your recipe for a Happy Life by mixing the following ingredients:
 
Gratitude: A healthy blend of gratitude is a key ingredient. When you can be grateful for your contrasting experiences it is a tasty treat of knowing you are on a path for a happy life. You simply know this is just a momentary experience that is helping you grow and evolve.
 
Love: loving you, loving life, and loving others should be a daily ingredient and used often. When challenges arise, ask yourself, ‘What would love do?’
 
Forgiveness: forgiving others is truly a benefit for your well being. Even more importantly is forgiving yourself for allowing others misdeeds to permeate your being. Forgive yourself for taking things personally or your involvement in the contrasting experience.
 
Trust: Trust in yourself knowing that each experience you choose whether caring or contrasting are part of your life path – you chose, so trust you chose well.
 
Allow: Everyone’s path is slightly different, some have more bumps, twists and turns, but each is the right journey for that person. Allow everyone to mix their ingredients for their life without judgment.
 
Mostly, I want you to remember that even the best cooks ruin a recipe on occasion. But a true chef doesn’t give up, (s)he just works on perfecting it. Have fun blending the ingredients to create your perfect recipe.  
 
Until next week, happy cooking!
Hugs,
~Carol
 
Looking for a way to stay focused on Living Life Fulfilled? Make sure to surround yourself with people who lift you up, inspire you, support you, and simply love to laugh and have fun.

Have you ever noticed that a particular word that makes you smile might make another person cringe? Similar to how the smell of wet grass after a spring rain might make some people feel light hearted while others are thinking allergies. Words are powerful and when used to your benefit, such as affirmative words, they can be used to lift you up. Used to your detriment such as ‘that was dumb, I failed, you were wrong, etc., etc.” are equally powerful and can continue to hold you down.

Certainly a positive word is Joy. And I often accentuate that word when given a chance. EnJOY your day. Have a JOYous day, etc. I even have it written on my bathroom wall I like it so much. A good friend of mine is named Joy. Another good friend is Jim who has quite the sense of humor. When he visits, he wants to know where his name is on my bathroom wall and often signs his emails EnJIM. He jokingly cringes at Joy and smiles at Jim, so it just shows you words are a personal choice. I have so much fun with the Joy/Jim conversation and often laugh a lot due to it.

The importance and power of words is what it means to you personally. A word that may have a negative connotation to me might bring a smile to your face. So pick words that make you happy, smile, laugh, giggle, smirk, and simply elevate your spirits to your highest good.

Quotes of the Week: 

“Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” 

 ~ Mother Teresa

“Perhaps you will forget the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them for a lifetime.”

~ Dale Carnegie

“Words are the key to the heart.” 

 ~ Chinese Proverb

“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seeds of either success or failure in the mind of another.” 

~ Napoleon Hill

AFFIRMATION: I am gentle with myself and with others.

Soulful Links

More Than Words

~ Extreme

You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth         

~ Meatloaf

Words          

~ BeeGees

For the next week, I invite you to:

Be aware of your self talk. Do you choose words that lift you up? Or do you use words that perhaps bring you down?

Become aware of how you talk about situations in your life? How often do you say things are ‘hard, impossible, tough, etc’?

Reframe those situations from hard situations to opportunities to expand your consciousness.

Celebrate the positive words you catch yourself saying as being aware of them will help make that your natural self talk.

Celebrate the times you catch yourself with negative self talk as awareness allows you to shift into a positive state.

Mostly, I invite you to choose words that let you show the world how truly amazing you are. Choose words that are gentle, kind, loving, care free, hopeful, trusting, empowering, beautiful, amazing, and simply make you smile.

Until next week, have a Carolful kind of week.

This past weekend I had the privilege to fly on a single engine Cessna airplane. We took off from a suburban airport and then flew around downtown Chicago. I love the freedom of being in the air. When you are in the thick of Chicago on the ground it seems so big. The buildings tower over you and everything seems larger than life. Flying above the city gives you a new perspective. Everything appears smaller yet there is a vastness in the overall view.

It made me think about looking at our everyday life from a new perspective. Whatever you find yourself going through today, step back and look at your circumstances from a new perspective. Look from a 1,000’ view and see how small your problems really are. From a 1,000’ you see the light at the end of the tunnel. From high above, you can see the sun through the cloud cover. You can see many paths to choose from to get to your destination. You can also see destinations you didn’t even know existed from your previous perspective. So fly above your current situations and allow yourself to soar higher and higher.

This Week’s Affirmation: I fly high with infinite love and possibilities as I am in control of my journey.

Quotes of the Week:

“The reasons angels can fly is because they take themselves lightly.”

~ G.K. Chesterton

“You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen its shadow from the sky.”

~ Amelia Earhart

“Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute.”

~ Gil Stern

“The butterfly is a flying flower”

~ Ponce Denis Ecouchard Lebrum

Soulful Links:

Leaving on a Jet Plane        

~ John Denver

Leaving on a Jet Plane        

~ Peter, Paul, and Mary

I believe I Can Fly             

~ Yolanda Adams

For the next week I invite you to fly high by:

Appreciate where you currently are; appreciate your yesterdays as it brought you to today. Enjoy your today as from a space of joy your tomorrow’s will be better.

Loving your journey, even any turbulence (contrast) you go through as it too is part of the journey simply there to remind you to adjust your flight pattern towards your dreams and desires.

Listen to the control tower (your intuition) as when you pay close attention, you will be alerted to the best flight pattern for your personal journey.

Mostly, I invite you to know where you want to go and enjoy every moment of the journey. When you are living in happiness, happiness finds you. When you are living in love, love finds you. When you are living in abundance, abundance finds you.

Until next time, fasten your seat belts, we will be cruising at an altitude that I refer to as heaven.

Hugs,

Carol

Summertime is here and to me, that means – it’s SAILING SEASON!  I simply love being on the water whether it is day or night. I love the sunrise, sunsets, calm seas, big waves, and I love partaking and witnessing in the natural flow of water and life from the perspective on a boat.

For 12 years I raced sailboats competitively on Lake Michigan and loved it. I enjoyed being part of a crew and the camaraderie of accomplishing a common goal – sail the fastest course possible. You sail your best while looking for the marks (goals) around the race course. Depending on the size of the course, you often don’t even see the marks until you are close. Once you have the mark in sight, you still can’t sail directly to it as you need to move angularly toward the mark to catch the wind in your sails. You are constantly trimming (adjusting) your sails as the wind direction and velocity fluctuate. A well sailed race puts you in perfect harmony with the flow of the wind and the water.

Life can be very much like a well sailed race. By keeping sight of your goals while allowing your journey to take different directions to achieve them, you will reach your destination with fun and ease as you sail your course with the flow rather than against it.

Quotes of the day

“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”

~Seneca

“Not to have control over the senses is like sailing in a rudderless ship, bound to break to pieces on coming in contact with the very first rock.”

~Mahatma Gandhi

“Who is staring at the sea is already sailing a little.”

~Paul Carvel

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

~Jimmy Dean

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

~Mark Twain

This Week’s Affirmation: I smoothly sail through all experiences with infinite love and gratitude.

Soulful Links:

Sailing          

~Rod Stewart

Sailing          

~Christopher Cross

Come Sail Away      

~Styx

Sailing Ships  

~Whitesnake

For the next week, I invite you to smoothly sail through life by:

Knowing you are on the right course for you. Regardless if the goal seems impossible, hold on to knowing you can accomplish anything by adjusting your course as needed.

Appreciating your current course by knowing whether it’s smooth seas or big waves, all experiences are part of your course. See the big waves (contrasting experiences) as simply adjustments towards your end goal of living the highest and happiest version of you.

Loving your journey by getting excited about where you are, where you’ve been, and where you are going.

Mostly, my wish for you is to adjust your sails to journey through life with a calm breeze at your back leading you to the happiest possible life filled with your biggest dreams.

Until next time, who wants to go sailing?

Have you ever listened to a toddler learning their ABCs and how proud they are when they can sing them? You cheer for them and tell them what a good job they’ve done. Everyone is in a place of happiness and joy with this new found talent and their confidence continues to grow. It’s a magical, yet a simple time in their life.

It is possible to live life as simply and magically as knowing your ABCs.

Quotes of the Day:

“Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future in not guaranteed.”

~Wayne Dyer

“Life’s like a play; it’s not the length but the excellence of the acting that matters.”

~Seneca

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”

~Buddha

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

~George Bernard Shaw

“We are creating the future.”

~Gunter Grass

Soulful Links:

ABC             

~Jackson Five

Alphabet Song         

~India Arie

ABC Song     

For the next week, I invite you to live your ABCs by:

Acting as if your life is exactly where you want it to be. Act as if you are so full of love that there is no room for fear.

Being in the now and finding the beauty in your today, appreciating your yesterday, and being excited about your tomorrow.

Creating the life of your dreams by knowing all experiences, even the contrasting ones, are part of your journey. You get to create each moment of your life by choosing what feels right for you. Your choices allow you to create a life of love over fear, hope over despair, happiness over sadness.

Mostly, my wish for you this week is a week filled with happiness, love, and fun! A week filled with the knowledge that your inspired action and being in the now allow you to be the powerful creator you are. I wish you a week of childhood innocence, simplicity, and humming the ABC song.

Until next week, now I said my A-B-Cs, next time, won’t you sing with me?

Hugs,

Carol

With the old saying “April showers bring May flowers,” I planted my flower boxes this weekend. As I looked at my flower boxes, I realized it used to be you would plant seeds, nurture (water and fertilize) them and watch them sprout, grow, and blossom. Now you buy them already blooming and already showing their potential. You know they are going to be beautiful whereas when you placed the seed in the soil, you hoped it would sprout and blossom. Whether a seed or a grown plant, you still water and nurture them as they grow into their full potential. It seems to me that tending to flowers is very similar to tending to our dreams. Plant, nurture, and watch them grow.

When you have a new dream that has yet to materialize (the seed) it requires faith to nurture it along into reality. However, once you’ve had signs that it’s coming true or you see progress towards success (blooming), then it becomes a little easier and even more fun as you know its happening. You get more excited about it and that excitement helps your dream grow bigger and faster.

Nurture your dreams as you would nurture your garden.

Quotes of the week

“Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.”

~Lao Tzu

“Each relationship nurtures a strength or weakness within you.”

~Mike Murdock

“He who nurtures benevolence for all creatures within his heart overcomes all difficulties and will be the recipient of all types of riches at every step.”

~Chanakya

“We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.”

~John Lennon

This Week’s Affirmation: I create my world through infinite love and gratitude.

Soulful Links

Secret Garden                       

~ Bruce Springsteen

Garden Party                         

Ricky Nelson

Rose Garden                         

~ Lynn Anderson

Empty Garden                       

~Elton John

For the next week, I invite you to nurture your dreams by:

Tending to your thoughts: by being positive and knowing you deserve greatness, you allow your dreams fertile space to grow.

Loving the process of creating your dreams: enJOY the journey. Get excited about the process of nurturing your amazing life. Understand weeds (contrasts) have a purpose too and when you realize that, you can easily clear the path for your dreams to unfold and bloom.

Allowing: asking yourself what love would say or do will continue cultivating trust, faith, and knowing, and it will become your protective net keeping pesky insects (fears) out of your garden.

Mostly, my wish for you is to walk with love over fear, hope over despair, happiness over sadness, and simply walk the path of your highest self. Dream big, live big, love big and blossom in everything you do.

Until next time, happy gardening!

Do you feel overwhelmed that you have too much on your plate? Or perhaps your band-width is being stretched to the limit? Do you feel so much is being asked of you in an average day that you should have a ‘now serving’ machine so there is some order on what to do next?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed in today’s busy lifestyle and the seemingly unending ‘to do lists’. However, if you refocus and choose calm over anxiety, love over fear you will find your busy lifestyle being less stressful and even fun! See your day as service. Serve yourself, your family, your friends, your colleagues, your community, and your earth by putting your best foot forward at each moment. Your best self is kind, compassionate, loving, caring, and fun. When you start feeling stress, ask yourself is your true self shining or is it fears of not living your truth?

Quotes of the Day:

“It is high time that the ideal of success should be replaced by the ideal of service.”

~Albert Einstein

“Teach the triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.”

~Buddha

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

~Mahatma Gandhi

“Every day use your magic to be of service to others.”

~Marcia Wieder

This Week’s Affirmation:

 Serving others is truly serving me, for what I put out there comes back to me lovingly.

Soulful Links:

We Are The World    

American Idol Gives Back

~Daughtry    

American Idol Gives Back

~ Groban     

Sing   

~Annie Lennox

For the next week, I invite you to serve by serving:

You – be kind to yourself. Appreciate and celebrate your successes. Be gentle to your ‘perceived’ weaknesses and always put your best foot forward.

Others – be kind to others. Appreciate and celebrate their successes. Embrace diversity knowing that each person matters. Be gentle to their ‘perceived’ weakness and simply know they are putting their best foot forward at that given moment.

Love – when you work from a space of love of self, love of others, and love of life, your day is gentle, kind, and fun.

Mostly, my wish for you is ask yourself “How can I serve?” How can you make your day better through serving you, others, and the world at large. Rather than putting worried, fearful, stressful energy into your environment, serve your body with a deep breath and fill it with kind and loving thoughts.

Until next week, now serving – one person at a time.

Hugs,
~Carol 
 
Looking for a way to stay focused on Living Life Fulfilled? Make sure to surround yourself with people who lift you up, inspire you, support you, and simply love to laugh and have fun.

About Team Positive Focus:

Team Positive Focus is a dedicated group of amazing people who are looking to spread love around the world and I am truly grateful to lead in our vision as peace leaders. We are coaches, motivational speakers, healers, artists, and mostly we are world citizens connected to the all and loving it. 

 Positive Focus Board:

Carol Miller

Kirsten Swanson

Shantal Alonso

Dr. Sharyl Truty

Steffani Fort LeFevour

Lena Salonikas

Gary Jacob

Carol:

Carol is the Founder/President of Positive Focus and has her hands and ideas in every aspect of the organization. J

About Carol: My passion is inspiring and uplifting people to live life fulfilled through loving guidance, support, cheer leading, and lots of fun and laughter. Seeing people’s highest good, coming up with fabulous ideas and inspired action towards implementing them, and creative inspirational writing. I am committed to being a beacon of light shining the truth on each person’s greatness and what they bring as individuals to the World. For years I have been a positivity consulting with people on personal and professional goals. I’ve written materials from press releases, newsletters, advertising copy, personal letters that were emotionally charged, business letters, and letters addressing companies on service issues. My creative juices are running 24/7.

Personally speaking, my other passions include: My family, friends, dog, and tropical vacations, being on or by the water especially sailing, fireworks, and enjoying every experience.

Why Positive Focus? I created PF to share my vision of positive thinking as it has been a huge influence on my life and when you surround yourself with positive people, good things happen.

Kirsten

Kirsten is Executive Vice President of Positive Focus and assists in every aspect of the organization. She is also the Executive Buddy for PF Gives Back and PF Green event divisions.

About Kirsten: