Happy Friday!!So it’s the time of year for costumes, candy, and trick or treating. We put on costumes to become a different character for fun. Kids are out knocking on doors to get treats and if they don’t get them, then come the tricking part. I invite you to look at these Halloween traditions in a new light and simply have fun with them in a different manner.I invite you to wear your truth costume as you dress each day, costume yourself for the successful, intelligent, kind, giving, person that you are and be the character of your highest good.

I invite you to treat yourself well this week in mind, body, and spirit.

I invite you to trick yourself out of any false beliefs you might be carrying around on fear, lack, and judgment.Costume quote of the day: “I liked seeing myself in different costumes and doing different actions. It’s a chance to be something you’re not.” ~ Bill PaxtonCostume yourself:
In a big smile that tells everyone just the amazing person you are.In an outfit of confidence and stay in awareness that you are the confidence you dressed in.Treat quote of the day: “An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.” ~ Charles KetteringTreat yourself:
To a nice hot bubble bath.On a long walk admiring the fall changes in nature.To inspirational reading material, a funny story, or something that expands your mind.To the idea that a ‘perceived’ failure is simply a practice shot.To some quality time for just you to sit with you and enjoy it – not thinking about what is next in the day, but rather what is right here now – your SELF.

Trick quote of the day: The fox has many tricks. The hedgehog has but one. But that is the best of all.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Trick yourself:
That worry is an old pattern of thought until it no longer has a hold on you as you truly feel all is well.That you are worthy of greatness until it becomes your new belief that you are great.

That today is where you start living your life fulfilled until it becomes a new pattern that each day is a day of fulfillment.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.Feel free to include your comments on gratitude to attitude for gratitude blog page.

Have a fantastic weekend and until next time.All My Best,
Carol

I often hear that one of the most important things in a healthy relationship is trust. To me trust is a cornerstone on growing a relationship in a fashion that brings out the best in all involved. Yet it seems we place trust on the outside of us. I need to trust you. You need to trust me. How about I need to trust me? If I trust ME to make the right decisions for ME, then all of my actions will be based on love and trust to make the right decisions for me. I trust (insert person) as I trust myself SO MUCH that I chose to include (name) in my life. I trust this (insert event) will work out perfectly as I trust myself SO MUCH to make the right decision and know all is good. Whether it’s an event I love, or a contrasting event, I trust all is well and timely in my life. Trust is so empowering! I invite you to practice trusting that:
YOU will make the right decision for (insert topic – your job, your home, your relationships, etc) today, knowing that as you grow and expand, that your connections will grow and expand with you.YOU will make the right connections today (insert connection – boss, co-workers, loved one, stranger, etc.) today, knowing that as you grow and expand, that your connections will grow and expand with you.YOU will take the right path (insert direction – relationship path, career path, spiritual path, etc.) today, knowing that as you grow and expand, that your connections will grow and expand with you.YOU are enough!Every moment of today YOU are love, kindness, compassion, fun, joy, goofiness, and trust.If you are facing current challenges, trust that (insert challenge) is just a circumstance of today and you are empowered to grow through those challenges in the most loving manner for the betterment of you and all involved. Get out of your way; don’t beat yourself up, TRUST – TRUST – TRUST. Sit back, breathe and listen to your heart, knowing that all is well.When you allow trust in yourself, trust in other people, other circumstances, and other events come naturally as YOU will make the right decision for you in the right moment.Quotes of the day
“Self trust is the first secret of success” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” ~ Golda Meir

“Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Looking for a way to stay in a feeling of trust? Make sure to surround yourself with people who lift you up, inspire you, support you, and simply love to laugh and have fun.All My Very Best,Carol 

I’ve recently seen a television commercial that I find clever, fun, and I simply love it. I find myself hearing the tune in my head throughout the day. Now, I don’t watch a lot of TV, yet I seem to catch this commercial on a lot and just smile each time. How can you not smile as it shows adorable babies and toddlers having fun with the products? I’m not their intended market as I don’t have young kids, so why am I so intrigued by these ads of Play, Love, Grow? Then I realized — AHA – Fisher Price has captured the essence of being alive. I’m here to play, love, and grow.

Play! Quote of the day: “Life’s like a play; it’s not the length but the excellence of the acting that matters” ~ Seneca Play everyday on how playing looks to you. Find the fun in everything. Be silly. Laugh a lot. Laugh out loud! Let your inner child out. Play at work by making your work fun. Sometimes when we are in challenging situations in our life, playing seems like the last thing we should do – we need to work harder. I encourage you to see these challenges as perhaps your reality of today but it isn’t your essence, so play anyway.

Love!Quotes of the day: “Whoso loves, believes the impossible” ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 “When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.” ~ Dalia Lama

Love is where life begins and where it should remain. Everything is easier when viewed from the eyes of love. Each day take note of the love in your life – from a significant other, a child, a pet, a sibling, a friend, or the soft bed you woke up in. If faced with challenges, ask yourself what would love say? What would love do? Love enhances your greatness and lessens your sorrows, so love anyway.

Grow! Quote of the day: “You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing in” ~ Heraclitus

Life is consistently moving and changing, so grow with it. Appreciate all of your experiences as each situation is a chance for growth and expansion and becoming a greater you with each day, so grow anyway. It’s not about buying toys – it’s about being the best you by playing, loving, growing. Thanks Fisher Price!

NOTE: I wrote this week’s message on an airplane heading west. When I got home, I saw the commercial again and realized the line is actually ‘Play, Laugh, Grow,’ After I stopped laughing, my first thought was I needed to come up with a new message for today, but that was soon replaced with how cool – as it was a great example of taking the message that worked for me and leaving the rest behind, which is something I say all the time. Play, Love (Laugh), and grow in the upcoming week and see your life open and expand.

Looking for a way to stay focused on playing, loving (laughing), and growing? Make sure to surround yourself with people who lift you up, inspire you, support you, and simply love to laugh and have fun. Have a fantastic weekend and until next time.

All My Best,  Carol  

Happy Friday!

First and foremost, I truly appreciate the notes I get back from you that my messages have been helpful or ‘just what you needed’. I absolutely love sending them as I love helping others become their best selves and I certainly learn along the way too. I don’t have a list of this week I’m going to discuss gratitude and next week affirmations. At some point during the week, the message just flows into me and I stop at that moment and create it. I might tweak it a bit before sending on Friday and/or I might send it early as it just needs to be sent. Whatever the message, the reason for it, and the timing of it, I absolutely love sending them and I trust that you take what is meant for you and leave the rest out.

Quote of the day: “If you want to know your past - look into your present conditions. If you want to know your future - look into your present actions” ~ Chinese Proverb

When you think of Law of Attraction, the key is you are 100% responsible for your world as you’ve created the perceived good and bad in it. That is incredibly powerful and can be a bit intimidating as well. In the book ‘Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting’ which is what we are currently studying mentions that even the most ‘positive’ person has a lot of negative thoughts flowing through them that they just don’t label as negative.

As we now walk a path of creating our best selves, our brightest lives, and emit this greater vibration out to the betterment of the World, we are learning about our 100% responsibility. We’ve learned to realize that for some reason we’ve allowed people to treat us less than our truth believes. We realize we chose to work in this environment for x,y,z reasons. And we realize that by understanding our responsibility in it that we can move forward rather than staying in the perceived ‘stuck’ state. We’ve learned to take responsibility for our don’t wants.

Yet – when you sit back and realize that you are 100% responsible for your life, do you pat yourself on the back? I don’t mean pat yourself on the back for taking responsibility for your involvement with anything bad, however kudos to you for taking that responsibility. I mean PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK for all the good you’ve created in your life.

Say YAY ME when you are having a fantastic time, as guess what — YOU brought that into your life.

Say YAY ME when you are taking care of yourself and perhaps ‘indulging’ in a massage, a new outfit, or something else that makes you feel good, as guess what – YOU created that in your life.

Say YAY ME when you are appreciating the great friendships you have, as guess what – YOU brought them into your life.

When you catch yourself going down that negative path of ‘he said/she said,’ say YAY ME, as guess what – YOU created the ability to stop those thoughts coming into your life.

Say YAY ME, YAY ME, YAY ME!

If you have attended Positive Focus events and loved them, or simply enjoy my weekly messages, say YAY ME, as guess what – you brought Positive Focus into your life. I certainly know that I say YAY ME all the time on the great connections I’ve made through Positive Focus and an amazing life in general.

As I said, I love shining the light for people to see how truly amazing they choose to be. I didn’t create your amazing selves, I just hold up the mirror at the right angle for you to see your greatness — so SHINE BRIGHT! Enjoy, appreciate, and simply love being responsible for your life in the upcoming week.

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.

Feel free to post to the message board any ideas on what Living Life Fulfilled means to you and/or ideas for others on how to refocus on living a full life.

Have a fantastic weekend and until next time.

All My Best,
Carol 

Happy Friday!

Quotes of the day: “Reflect upon your blessings, of which every man has plenty, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” ~ Charles Dickens

“Not what we have But what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance” ~ John Petit-Senn

There was a time in my life that the word abundance meant money wealth, rather than overall abundance of all good. Now my life has always been good, but I hadn’t thought of it as abundant as I saw abundance as having great wealth of money. When I truly sat with the word for awhile and realized that the word abundance encompasses all that is good, I realized how truly abundant my life was and continues to be. I have great love, fun, joy, and events that inspire me daily to continue on my path of abundance. And when I’m faced with an event that could be perceived as sad, bad, or negative, I have so many examples of abundance to refocus my intention to the life I am meant to live. The life I desire to live. The life I love to live.

For the next week, I invite you to reflect on the abundance in your life. It might be easier to review them as the big and little abundance things you have, yet realize they are all measured as abundant reflections of the love you have in your life. From a small puppy kiss, to the love of a child, the love of a life partner, the love of a friend are all reflections of your abundance. Being able to witness others abundance and truly being excited for them is a source of your abundance as well. What does the word abundance mean to you? Enjoy, appreciate, and simply love the abundance brought to you in the upcoming week.

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

Have a fantastic weekend and until next time.

All My Best, Carol

Happy Friday!

Quote of the day:

 “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Okay, when I’m inspired to write, I just have to, so truly Happy Thursday! I had so much fun (as I always do) coming up with this weeks message as I found many brilliant quotes on perception, so many in fact, that I will add them into the quotes post on the Positive Focus message board.

Knowing that it is your choice on how you perceive anything in your life is so incredibly empowering. How fun is that that you get to choose?

You get to choose to see it as happy or sad.

You get to choose to see it as a challenge to rise above or an impossible hurdle.

You get to choose to enjoy your time in your car perhaps listening to great tunes on your commute to work, or choose to get aggravated with the traffic.

You get to choose to see the rain nourishing life or choose to see it ruined your golf game.

Whatever your choice is, enjoy it and own it as yours. A great example of perception that I have succumbed to myself is: Chicago, any year: March 10 - the sun is out and it’s 50 degrees – people are running on the lakeshore in shorts and tee-shirts and the weather conversations center around the anticipation that spring and summer are on there way. Days are longer, life is bright.Chicago, any year: September 10 - the sun is out and it’s 50 degrees – people have warmer clothing on and the weather conversations center around summer is over, get ready for snow. Days are shorter, life could be perceived as dreary.

What a rich word perception is! Just by changing your perceptions of any situation, gives you complete control over how you want to be in this world. If your current reality is such that reframing your perception is a bit challenging, here are a few suggestions that I invite you to consider:

First and foremost, take a step back from the situation and BREATHE. Take in some deep breaths and calm your mind, knowing that if you choose, this experience is a catalyst to a better feeling and place in life.

Secondly, perhaps see the situation as it happening to a loved one. I find it easy to elevate other people’s feelings to make them feel better. So think of how you would help a loved one see another angle to the situation.

Thirdly, simply know that whatever state of feeling you are in right at this very moment is where you need to be. It’s growth, it’s inspiration, it’s contrast, it’s simply A-OKAY. You are exactly where you are supposed to be at this very moment and will be exactly where you need to be in the next moment – it’s your choice – your perception.

Looking for a way to stay empowered? Make sure to surround yourself with people who lift you up, inspire you, support you, and simply love to laugh and have fun.

Have a fantastic weekend and until next time.

All My Best, Carol

Happy Friday!

Quote of the day:  “When men speak ill of you, so live that nobody will believe them.” ~ Plato

 What a great quote. However, I invite you to see this quote, not from the outside, but rather the inside. When you are judging yourself for decisions or lack of decisions you’ve made, live knowing your ‘true’ self doesn’t believe them. That your true self is about warmth, love, compassion, brilliance, energy, peace, happiness, joy, and simply living abundantly. See those judgments you’ve placed on yourself for what they are – fear. 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 you live. Any decision you make at any moment can be changed, added on to, and even forgotten. For the next week, 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.

 Looking for a way to stay in a feeling of honoring your truth? Make sure to surround yourself with people who lift you up, inspire you, support you, and simply love to laugh and have fun.

Feel free to post to the message board any ideas on what honoring your truth means to you and/or ideas for others to honor their truth.

Have a fantastic weekend and until next time.

 All my best, Carol

Happy Friday!

WOW what weather Mother Nature has given us these last few days. I trust that all of you are safe and sound with minimal damage.

Have you ever had a moment where you felt completely alone in life? I think we all have at some time or another. However, I’d like to challenge that belief as we’re in this life together all connected through energy. So if you stop and think about it for a moment, you may realize you aren’t alone – what you are feeling at this exact moment is felt by thousands. That you as ONE person truly does matter in the world as you are a part of it. Perhaps knowing (or remembering this) will make the challenges you face in life a little less scary. Perhaps it will make your victories feel even bigger knowing you are sharing them with ALL.

An interesting story of people who on the surface you might feel sorry for, truly knew that there is a connection between us all and that we truly go through this life together. It happened at a Special Olympic track event. The gun went off and these athletes started their journeys striving for victory. Shortly after starting, one fell and started crying. A few of the athletes turned back to comfort their fallen friend. They helped him up, told him he would be alright, and returned to finishing the race – together. I’m sure each one of these athletes wanted to win. And in the end were all winners regardless as they saw the connection and elevated their spirits.

As you go through this next week, I invite you to be aware of connections and allow it to elevate your life by knowing that we are connected. We may live thousands of miles a part, follow a different religion, and have different life experiences, but we are connected as part of this world at this time in space.

Looking for a way to stay connected? Make sure to surround yourself with people who lift you up, inspire you, support you, and simply love to laugh and have fun. Feel free to post to the message board any ideas on what connections means to you and/or ideas for others to stay connected.

Have a fantastic weekend and until next time.

All my best,
Carol

Happy Friday!

Quote for the day: I can live for two months on a compliment. ~ Mark Twain

I’ll be on the lake for the next three days in a regatta, but I didn’t want to forget my Friday email – something I hope you enjoy each week.

I’m sure we’ve all had a complete stranger say something nice to us or did something nice for us that just immediately put a smile on our faces? So today’s message is acts of kindness. As you go through this next week, take moments to be kind to loved ones, people you don’t know, and certainly YOURSELF. This is a great way to re-align you too! When a negative emotion comes up ‘oh say rush hour traffic!!), that is your chance to say shift, re-align, HA, or whatever works for you and think a kind thought. Do a kind gesture. Say a kind word.

Kindness comes best from your own ideas, but some ideas I’ll offer up are:

Give a compliment out no matter how small — sincere of course.Instead of getting mad at yourself for (insert whatever here) tell yourself all is well and laugh it off.

Hold the elevator door for someone who is trying to make it just in time.

Smile at the person in traffic who normally frustrates you.

Have eye contact with strangers on the street and smile or simply say hi as you pass by.

Looking for a way to stay plugged into a state of kindness, surround yourself with people who lift you up, inspire you, support you, and simply love to laugh and have fun.

Feel free to post to the message board any acts of kindness that you’ve done this week or suggestions for others. Have a fantastic weekend and until next time.

All my best
Carol

“I met Carol Miller under my favorite circumstances - with her dog. Carol had originally hired me to help her with her dog Mika’s confidence levels .What began as a purely dog-centric relationship has grown into so much more. Carol has become a most treasured individual in my life, both personally and professionally. She has given me insight and tools that have helped me immensely in both my professional and personal lives. I have been very fortunate to attract Carol’s dynamic outlook, organization and honesty. Carol has a gift for giving support in a way I’ve never known. I have recommended many people to seek Carol’s guidance and support and will continue to do so. Positive Focus isn’t just the name of her company; it is the way she lives.”