Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Annie Notestein

Here is a Valentine’s Day Heart Connection Meditation for you:

Breathe love in with each in-breath. (This love can be from God, your spirit guides, nature, etc.)

With each out-breath, breathe that love into your heart.

Do this until your heart fills full of love.

Now, breathe the love in your heart outward around you until you feel surrounded by love.

Really bask in that love. Notice how it feels to be surrounded by this love.

Now, send some of this love outward to someone you love or someone who may want more love in their life.

Imagine this love creating a glow around them. Please let me know what you experience!

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What Goal Will Inspire Your 2011?

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Annie Notestein

We all have great hopes for the New Year but as the days go by we often lose sight of those hopes. Life seems to get in the way of achieving our dreams and we may just try to get through the week. Then when the weekend comes we may be too tired to remember our dreams.

That’s what so often happens with our New Year’s Resolutions. Have you ever made a resolution that you started out being motivated to achieve but by the end of January you were berating yourself for not staying motivated and in action toward your goal? I certainly have.

The problem isn’t you. Rather, the problem is the method that we’ve been taught to use to achieve our goals. We’ve been taught that if we just try to force ourselves to achieve a goal worth achieving, that we will arrive there. Or, if we just hope against hope, maybe it will happen.

Let’s look at this process in more detail. How successful have you been in losing weight by avoiding desert? How successful have you been in going to the gym when you really didn’t want to go? Continue reading →

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What’s Your Happiness Set-Point?

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Annie Notestein

It was only a few days after my surgery and I was down in the laundry room, taking care of the laundry. Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed that I would be elated to be doing the laundry. But here I was, down in the windowless laundry room with a big grin on my face. I even hummed a happy tune to myself! So, why was I so happy?

I was happy for absolutely no reason that anyone would think of as extraordinary or as an actual cause for happiness. Yet here I was, exuberantly happy.  Continue reading →

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Attracting the Life You Desire with Your Heart

Posted on February 20, 2010 by Annie Notestein

You’ve heard the phrase, “Follow your heart.” But, how do you follow your heart to utilize the Law of Attraction to bring you what you desire? How do you invoke your heart’s power?

As a child growing up and as a young adult, I believed that following my heart would get me into trouble – I’d end up doing wild and crazy things that my more practical mind would have nixed long before I went too far and I ended up in deep trouble and deeply regretting my actions -or at the least feeling very stupid and maybe even embarrassed. Certainly, my heart was not to be trusted. Didn’t following my heart mean acting on any whim that was currently making my heart flutter with excitement?

So, instead of following my heart, even a little, I grew up learning to trust and follow my mind. Wasn’t my mind the rational part of me – the part that would keep me following the practical and well thought-through path in life? Continue reading →

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Happy Valentines Day!

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Annie Notestein

I woke up feeling inspired to connect with all of you and send you a Happy Valentine’s Day message. Then I went to a church service on “keeping the fire burning deep in our hearts” and the power of love between friends. That made me think again about how I feel after I talk to a friend. It can be the high point of my day and keep me happy for hours afterward. Here’s an interesting quote from the Latin: “Alter ipse amicus – A friend is another self”.

Valentine’s Day used to mean to me only romantic love but now it means that and so much more. It means really listening and connecting with the people around me, hoping to leave them feeling enriched by spending time with me. And I can only give them that gift if I am feeling really connected with myself and loving myself. I’ve found that keeping in touch with how I’m feeling and what I need is something I need to do every day. And, even more importantly, I need to act on what I learn. Continue reading →

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Holiday Survival For Sensitives

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Annie Notestein

Christmas is coming. Are you coming along for the ride or are you dragging your feet – none too eager to perhaps repeat what you experienced this Thanksgiving or in Christmas’ past?

Sensitive and Highly Sensitive People (HSP’s) are often quite conscientious and want the people around them during the holiday festivities and especially their dear ones, no matter how trying, to enjoy themselves at this special time. Yet, these sensitive folks often forget to put themselves in this special category of deserving a good time. Is this you? How do you feel when you remember your last holiday spent with family?

Wait! Before you quit reading because it may be too painful to think about – I’d like to ask you what would make the upcoming holiday one that you could enjoy? Maybe not every single moment, but a lot more than in the past. Continue reading →

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How’s Your Money Relationship?

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Annie Notestein

What is your relationship with money? Does it come over and walk through your door when you invite it in or do you have to work hard to get it to even look your way, much less come home with you?

If you would like more money in your life, it’s necessary to become aware of how you view money and what your relationship with it has been up to now. Continue reading →

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Are You (Too) Sensitive?

Posted on August 30, 2009 by Annie Notestein

Have you been told that you’re “too sensitive”? Did you feel that that person just didn’t understand you at all and that they were being insensitive to the situation and to you? If you’ve been in this situation over and over, you actually are not alone! There is even a name for this trait, called the highly sensitive person or HSP. Elaine Aron, a research psychologist, herself an HSP, has done quite a bit of research on the trait and has interviewed and surveyed thousands of people to help her define the trait and get a clear picture of the challenges experienced by highly sensitive people. She’s written many books on the subject. This month’s newsletter includes a review of her first book, The Highly Sensitive Person. Continue reading →

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It’s Not Too Late!

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Annie Notestein

Did you make that list of activities you want to do, activities that make you smile, and create happy memories you’ll be able to fondly cherish years from now, that make your life merry – that I suggested you do in last month’s article so that you have a merry month of May?

If you did or even if you didn’t, now is a great time – now that it feels like summer weather is finally here – to make a list of how you can make this summer really special and memorable.

I updated my list this morning Continue reading →

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The Merry Month Of May

Posted on May 10, 2009 by Annie Notestein

I adore May. I can finally partake in my favorite past time of enjoying the spring ephemerals (the flowers that bloom, fade, and disappear by the time most of the trees have fully leaved-out). It’s that between-time; between the cold of early spring or the warmth of rain in April and the sudden heat of June.

May feels decidedly romantic and is the month idolized in Thomas Dekker’s poem, The Merry Month of May. My husband and I return to taking long walks in the forest and pointing out the tiny, beautiful wildflowers to each other.

So, what will you do this month to make your life merry? Continue reading →

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