Another amazing summer day in Chicago. We hugged it out for four hours and it went by so fast. There were 18 huggers and some joined us along the way. Some of the memborable pictures:

Noah got a surprise hug from the back by this young man.

There were lots of hugs to give to the children and Joann obliged this young man.

Our new friends, Team Reflect, were there in full force. Check out their website for some awesome affirmative shirts! We are so excited to be teaming with them on some custom hug shirts for Global Hug Day. And if you join us for Random Acts of Kindness Day, get their “I change Lives” shirt as you are doing it with Random Acts of Kindness.

This lovely lady came through twice. I love it when they come back for more!!

Here are many of our amazing huggers. We had such a fabulous time and you should come join us!

For more pictures and a video montage, click below….enjoy…..and make sure to hug!

Pictures

August 30th Free Hugs

Hugs to you all!

Carol

Happy Wednesday!

Happy Labor Day! As the country celebrates Labor Day, I encourage you to do what you love, and love what you do by celebrating your natural talents that have made you who you are.

Two work theories that I find interesting are: you have to work hard to get ahead and be successful, and do what you love to do and you will be successful. How many times have you heard these phrases? You have to work hard. You must pay your dues. You must put in your time.

How many of you scoff at the idea that you can be successful by doing what you love to do? That’s not surprising as you’ve been taught to be successful you must work hard and put in your time. When you are doing something you love (which is often something that is a natural talent) it comes easy to you, it’s graceful, it’s fun, and it’s simple. Time passes quickly as eight hours feels like four. How could someone pay you for something that is so simple for you to do and you enjoy doing it? Our natural talents are often taken for granted because they come with such ease for us. Think about someone else’s talents that you are in awe of. They come with ease to that person, so I guarantee you someone is amazed by your natural talents as well. Do what you love, and love what you do!

Quotes of the day:

“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of abundance in your life.”
~ Wayne Dyer

“If you find out what it is you love to do and give your whole life to it, then there is no contradiction, and in that state your being is your doing.”
~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

“You’ve got to love what you’re doing. If you love it, you can overcome any handicap or the soreness or all the aches and pains, and continue to play a long, long time.”
~ Gordie Howe

“If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time.”
~ Billy Joel

Soulful Links:

Happy Working Song

Whistle While You Work

The Work Song

For the next week, I invite you to love what you do by:

Appreciating your natural talents and sharing them with others.

Dreaming about what you love to do and allowing your natural talents to be your pathway to success.

Loving yourself, loving life, and loving others as when you are working from love, all is right in your world.

Mostly, my wish for you is to work from a space of love regardless of what you are doing. Whether your job requires 4 hours a day or 14, when you love what you are doing, all is well. Whether you are living in your dream job, or working at what others consider a ‘dead end’ job, bring your highest self to it. Show up in a space of love, compassion, trust, honor, serving, and a fun spirit. When you bring your highest self to ANY situation, you will find it fun, easy, graceful, and loving.

Until next week, have a FUN, EASY, AND SIMPLE week at work.

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.

What a beautiful night in Chicago last night. Thousands gathered at Butler Field/Grant Park to watch the 1978 musical, Grease.

Sharyl, Myke, Joann, Dawn, and I had a fabulous time along with thousands of our closest friends. People sang along with the songs, danced, wore 50s’ costumes, and cheered loundly after a musical number finished. There were so many people that it was often hard to see the screen as people continued to seek spots to sit.  Regardless, the five of us had a great time, and Grease is the word!

Carol and Sharyl attempting the hand jive.

Five of us came together Saturday evening to do our first random acts of kindness event. Two people who weren’t able to come donated $10 each to the cause. We had two hours to work with and $70 to share.

We brainstormed several great ideas, many of which we’ll be using in future Random Acts of Kindness, and decided to purchase gift cards and hand them out to people on the street. We first went to Jimmy John’s and found out they don’t do gift cards. Our next stop was Walgreens and to check out gift cards, but we opted to give a homeless man our first $5 act. We went into Walgreens with $65 to purchase gift cards and the smallest denomination was $10. So we bought 6 gift cards for Subway and each took one to share with someone on the street and one had two.

It was such a great experience to see who we were drawn to share with. From a small child, to an elderly person, and a police officer, all of them were very appreciative on receiving this random gift! And if you do math well, you’ve figured out we still had $5 left over.

As we were walking back, still with one gift card to hand out, one of the RAK team members ran across a good friend who is competing in the triathlon tomorrow. So we gave him the $5 and told him to pass on the kindness. He was looking forward to choosing someone to give it to!

We will definetely be doing this again, and I hope you choose to join us!

Hugs,

Carol

 About Sharyl

I am a board-certified family practice and sports medicine physician who also actively practices acupuncture. I have a particular interest in the mind-body aspects of Integrative Medicine. I am currently in private practice at Park West Family Physicians and also faculty at the St. Joseph Family Practice residency program in Chicago, IL 

 To learn more about Sharyl, visit her website: www.drtruty.com

 About Dawn

About Shantal

Shantal is a creativity & transformational life consultant, event & program manager, Reiki practitioner, Raindrop Technique facilitator and holistic marketing consultant for individuals and organizations.  She has over 10 years of experience in marketing, event planning, program management, fundraising, member relations and PR.  Her passion is to empower individuals to transform their lives and nourish their creative dream-making process by providing creative and holistic “soul-lutions” for personal growth and healing. In her spare time, Shantal takes creative writing and dance lessons, crafts hand-made greeting cards and serves on the board of blingthing.org – a non-profit organization providing education in the arts to underprivileged kids. A native Spanish speaker, Shantal holds a B.S. Degree in French Literature from Georgetown University, with minors in Marketing and Italian, and is also in the process of completing her studies at the University of Chicago Law School.

Why Positive Focus? Being and feeling creative, joyful and inspired has been part of my essence since I can remember. Inspiring others to savor the wondrous joy of living, to embrace their true selves, bring to light their creative passion, and to heal within and without is my passion and soul’s calling.  Positive Focus is a natural channel for me to be able to serve as an integral catalyst in sparking a genuine shift in consciousness by opening the hearts, minds and spirits of those seeking a genuine transformation, which brings harmony, balance, love and healing to their lives. What better context to celebrate, share and spread joyful living!

About Joann

Joann is currently taking Teacher training from her yoga studio and has started to pursue a career change to making a living in glass (stained glass, fused glass, lampworked beads), jewelry and handmade cards. She has 5 years of experience in project management, 7 years of experience as a technical software development manager and 5 years of experience as a software development engineer.

Her current spiritual path started gaining momentum in 2005, after her divorce. She’s been greatly influenced by Power of Now and A New Earth as well as a more disciplined yoga practice. What the Bleep, Moses Code and Happier Than God have been great for crystallizing many concepts for her as well. Her purpose is to learn about and experience spiritual concepts as she is led and to share experiences with others on similar paths, in order to live a more fulfilled life, meaning being more present, making decisions more consciously, accepting herself and others more honestly and fully, living with less drama and more wonder, co-creating her life, being engaged in activities that bring joy and love, rather than fear and suffering, and having a great time doing it. She also seeks to encourage, help and share with others around her who are not currently on a similar path, who are suffering and may be ready for a change.

Why Positive Focus? I’m just open to exploring/learning about living a more fulfilled life. I think the tagline in the logo is what drew me to the group. At first, I wanted others to discuss A New Earth, but realized that I wanted to meet and befriend others of like mind. I wanted to meet people who are also open to new concepts, strive for living in the Now and making conscious choices without judgment, strive to apply law of attraction principles, to understand the power of our thoughts and choose the positive and are loving, encouraging and accepting and most of all fun!

About Helen

Living life positive, life coach for 6 years adapted and incorporated into Reiki practice, energy and crystal work during last two years. I love helping clients find clarity in their lives. It is my intention to help people see their worthiness in this world.

Why Positive Focus? Having transformed my life I wanted to meet like minded people who are interested in Law of Attraction. I wanted to meet people who are inspired to find ways to bring more joy and happiness into their lives as well as others. To be conscious of life itself. PF supports my vision of a positive world, spreading good vibes to all. Being involved in Positive Focus brings so much positive energy its growing in leaps and bounds.

About Chris

Who am I? 

Let me begin by describing who I am not.

I am not my body.

I am not my mind.

I am not any one or the sum of the roles I play or have played.

I am not my beliefs.

I am not the collective sum of my experiences.

So many people define themselves by what they do, what they think or what they look like. In so doing they limit themselves unconsciously, becoming inextricably tied to that label that they define themselves as. I feel for these people, for should they ever lose that label, they lose their identity, or a part of it, and then feel lost, not knowing “who they are.”

A wonderful thing happens when you let go of labels and don’t attach your identity to them. You simultaneously feel free and at the same time secure. You are free to be exactly who you choose to be in any given moment, without limits or bounds. You are secure because nothing can take away who you really are.

Who I am is simply an extension of Spirit having a Human Experience.

What does that mean? It just means that while I’ve had (and continue to have) all kinds of diverse experiences in this existence, I simply do not define who I am by those experiences, or even this existence.

I simply am.

 Learn more about Chris at: His Blog