Archive for the ‘Appreciation’ Category

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

Alright, the time has come and it is now in this present moment for you to be the the glorious perfect being that you are.  Dare to stand out and stand up and live the life you deserve.  Allow your inner light to burst forth.  Show the world your magnificent beauty.  Nothing is impossible, nothing is too grand, nothing is unreachable.

Just think about how different life would be if each one of us decided to use Marianne Williamson’s advice attained our God given potential.   What would that mean for you personally?  What would it mean for the world?  Inspiring?  You bet!   Stop for a moment and try to picture that in your mind.

Let’s set an intention for today that we will allow the light locked inside our being to come forth and shine with undeniable luminosity.  Let’s set an intention to release our fear of being powerful and embrace our potentiality.  Let’s be an example for others so that they may be inspired to do the same.

Written by Amy Spradlin
Co-Founder
Seeds of Intentions
“Plant Yours Today”

Liz Gracia, one of the writers for this Seeds of Intentions journal writing  blog needs your help please. She is a contestant in the Next Top Self Help Author book writing contest. She has been setting her intentions and planting her seeds for this book to come into being. The experience she is about to share happened close to 8 years ago.

This contest came into her awareness and is the perfect venue for getting this book written…it provides structure, guidance and importantly…deadlines!!! Woo Hoo!

The contest is a 6 month process, four months of which requires each writer to perform certain tasks. The first month of the contest is a video about the authors’ book. Similar to American Idol, the publishers’ hosting the contest want to see votes and support for the book. It is not the only thing that advances an author here (because as we know law of attraction is always at work!), but it is one aspect of the judges consideration.

So..

Click here to view my “About the Book” video and VOTE for Me if you are so inspired!

Below is the video you will be viewing on the voting website:

Liz Gracia is an up and coming self help author now residing in Colorado. Her first nonfiction self help book is based on her true story of a quantum spiritual awakening that took place on the enchanting Island of Nantucket. It was over a period of 8 months during the year 2003 that this story unfolds. This compelling, magical and mystical story is the basis for her ability to provide self help and wisdom to all of us on the awakening process within and the realization of eternal connectedness and divinity.

For more about this true story visit: www.aUniqueVoice.com where you can read more about the book, vote for choosing a title for the book and read a Teaser to get you more interested in the book.

“We see things not as they are but as we are”…a quote by HM Tomlinson.

At our Seeds of Intentions blog we like to consider inspirational quotes as journal writing prompts. It also offers us an opportunity to set our own intentions differently and from another perspective.

Here’s our take on this Hm Tomlinson quote:

What we can take from this is that we all have our own filters of perception and perspective. Many of us have a “rut” of perception and perspective. The opportunity here is to appreciate that we are all here to create and express in our own unique and divine way, but we as humans tend to perceive through the state or filter we are in at any given moment. So if you tend to be cynical, or one that has to be “right”, then you limit your experience to your “rutted” way of being…..

Divinity is limitless and infinite and cares to express throughout eternity.

Knowing that divinity, and all of us for that matter, is  all eternal, why not allow all things to be seen from that perspective…as divine expression at all levels?

Don’t you love to be appreciated for your unique contribution? Then feel that same way for another and offer that to another by  being open to another way.

Appreciate that we are all expressing at our own level of awareness and in the best way we know how for any given moment. This is where compassion and kindness make it easy to be open and loving and to come into the experience of “…seeing things as they truly are…not as we are”

Your life experiences become rich when you open yourself to limitless ways of being, expressing, and creating in this world. I invite you to practice this and see for yourself.

For this quote and nine others with similar reflections, please sign up for our FREE E-Book on the top right hand side of this page.

Written by:
Liz Gracia
Co-Founder
Seeds of Intentions

Liz Gracia is an up and coming self help author now residing in Colorado. Her first nonfiction self help book is based on her true story of a quantum spiritual awakening that took place on the enchanting Island of Nantucket.

She is currently a contestant in the “Next Top Self Help Author” Writing Contest (Feb 2011-May 2011) where the winner will be offered a publishing contract with Conari Press, a major player in the self help publishing arena. Visit her website www.aUniqueVoice.com where you can be the first to read chapters of her book as they become available, vote for a title for the book, vote for this book to get published, read a Teaser and more!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  It’s simple, it’s delicious, and it’s intentions are for us to be in a state of gratitude throughout the day.  Maybe you could use this Thanksgiving as the catalyst for being reminded each and every day about the things that you’re grateful for.

Me?  I’m grateful for the fire my husband had going when I came home last night.  Our home oozed of comfortable ease and soft glowing embers.  I’m thankful for my father’s silly voice mail where he pretended to be Charles Lindbergh in a high pitched voice that reminded me more of Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie.  I’m thankful for the fox that decided to cross my path on a clear night and then made eye contact with me for a few sacred seconds.  I’m thankful for my dreams that bring me messages about life and how to live it.

One way to be in an attitude of gratitude more consistently, and not only one day a year, is to keep a gratitude journal.  It’s a way to focus on all of the wonderful blessings that life has bestowed upon you.  Even on our most challenging days, we can find those bright moments how ever fleeting they may seem.

Here are a few simple ideas for a gratitude journal:

1.  Create a collage of photographs of all of the people in your life you’re grateful for.  Take a photograph of your collage and send each person in the collage a quick email with the image attached telling them why they made it onto your gratitude collage.  They will love receiving that special email.

2.  Write a quick Haiku poem of gratitude for the day.  In a Haiku, there are three lines.  The first line and last line are five syllables in length and the middle line is seven syllables.  The process of Haiku writing is much more complex than this, but I wanted to share a simple way to write them.  Here’s an example of one of mine:

My Mother

flower of beauty

my soul’s musical heart song

life’s gift of safety

3.  One last gratitude journal idea is to think of one idea that you are thankful  for, and then write only verbal phrases to describe the idea. This type of writing can bring a clear visual image back into your mind and help you focus on the idea of gratitude and not on the other things about your day that you’d like to forget. For instance, here is what I wrote about the fox I saw the other night:

Mr. Fox

crossing the asphalt path, moving cautiously, stopping for headlights, freezing so not to be seen, darting away and over the hillside, searching for a next meal

Gifts of gratitude are always appreciated.  We, at Seeds of Intentions, have a wonderful selection of gifts of thanksgiving.  I’ve included a few in this post as well as in the video below.  Be thankful and know that you are blessed.

Written by Amy Spradlin
Co-Founder
Seeds of Intentions
“Plant Yours Today”

Please visit our community of websites and blogs where our intentions are to provide highly conscious information and products  for self improvement and personal growth. Visit our Shopping website for beautiful and inspirational writing journals,  inspirational gifts, unique gift ideas,  thoughtful gifts and meaningful gifts you will be remembered for.

Visit our sister blogs for spirituality and personal and spiritual growth, law of attraction topics and understandings, daily journal writing prompts and topics and using the power of intention to create the life that you choose.

This video is an affirmation to the good that is out there seeking to exist.

Today focus on giving thanks and here’s five reason’s why:

1. When you give gratitude, your focus becomes expansive instead of resistive.  You are able to see that joy exists moment by moment even in chaos.
2. Gratitude allows you to stay in the present.  When you are in the present moment, you are fully living and not just existing.
3. Your gratitude is felt vibrationally like a sonic wave.  It reaches further than you can comprehend.
4. A state of gratitude heals yourself and simultaneously heals others.
5. Saying “thank you”, puts your body into the parasympathetic nervous system which calms and restores the physical body.

At Seeds of Intentions, we realize that gratitude has many blessings.  Therefore, we offer several inspirational gift ideas to give to someone to whom you’re grateful.  Click here to see some ideas.

You can also watch this video for unique thank you gift baskets.

Written by Amy Spradlin

Co-Founder

Seeds of Intentions

“Plant Yours Today”

Please visit our community of websites and blogs where our intentions are to provide highly conscious information and products for self improvement and personal growth. Visit our Shopping website for inspirational gifts, unique gift ideas, thoughtful gifts and meaningful gifts you will be remembered for.

Visit our sister blogs for spirituality and personal and spiritual growth, law of attraction topics and understandings, daily journal writing prompts and topics and using the power of intention to create the life that you choose.

Copyright 2010 Amy Spradlin and Seeds of Intentions

Today is Earth Day and we invite you in your journal writing efforts  to consider the following:

• setting your intentions  for how you can contribute to the healing of the planet
• setting your intentions for how you can help the sustainability of the planet
• setting your intentions towards appreciating all aspects of this wondrous planet we live on. Write down everything you can think of that you so cherish and appreciate about this Mother Earth.
• sit down and watch the videos Planet Earth or all the magnificent ones out there and really admire the beauty and wonder that this planet truly is
• decide to be the type of person you feel you want to be that can assist in offsetting the negativity of the planet…for starters

So, how absolutely perfect that this is coming to you on this Earth Day, April 22nd 2010! We want to share with you an Earth Day video, a moving and beautiful documentary film with you.. a film about people in this world who care to heal this world and restore the planet to its natural state of being and harmony with all living things.

The Movie is titled For The Next 7 Generations. Here’s a little bit about it:

Synopsis:

In 2004, thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers from all four corners, moved by their concern for our planet, came together at a historic gathering, where they decided to form an alliance: The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. This is their story. Four years in-the-making and shot on location in the Amazon rainforest, the mountains of Mexico, North America, and at a private meeting with the Dalai Lama in India, For the Next 7 Generations follows what happens when these wise women unite. Facing a world in crisis, they share with us their visions of healing and a call for change now, before it’s too late. This film documents their unparalleled journey and timely perspectives on a timeless wisdom.

Grandmother’s Mission Statement:

“We, the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come. We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We believe the teachings of our ancestors will light the way through an uncertain future. We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer and through projects that educate and nurture our children.”

Please view the beautifully moving trailer below. After that, visit their website and purchase the movie if you’d like.

For The Next 7 Generations Trailer from Laughing Willow on Vimeo.

Again, we encourage you on this Earth Day 2010 to support these filmmakers and the indigenous Grandmothers involved. Visit their website. Buy the film. Appreciate the message. Join in their conscious efforts. You don’t have to join any group or make any grand statements either. You can simply be the person you care to be.

Talk about inspirational movies and educational movies….here is one! Write about it, journal about it, use it to launch other journal writing topics, ideas and prompts. be moved!

Do You Want to See This Movie?

• If you want to come see a showing of the movie For the Next 7 Generations,
• and you want to listen to two of the Indigenous Grandmothers in person
• and you live in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado…click here and let us know you want to be informed of our showing of the movie and our schedule of events for this.

If you are familiar with our discussions on consciousness, you know that there is tremendous power in offsetting the negativity of the planet on an individual level. You DO NOT have to DO anything.

Simply BE the person you want to be. In fact, I encourage you to read some simple tools on how you can be a powerful contributor to healing this planet on an individual and local level. Click here to read more.

Liz Gracia Co-Founder Seeds of Intentions

Written by Liz Gracia
Co-Founder

Seeds of Intentions
“Plant Yours Today”

Please visit our community of websites and blogs where our intentions are to provide highly conscious information and products for self improvement and personal growth. Visit our Shopping website for inspirational gifts, unique gift ideas, thoughtful gifts and meaningful gifts you will be remembered for.

Visit our sister blogs for spirituality and personal and spiritual growth, law of attraction topics and understandings, daily journal writing prompts and topics and using the power of intention to create the life that you choose.

Copyright 2010 Liz Gracia and Seeds of Intentions

When wondering where unconditional love resides, look into the heart of a child.

As a teacher of sixteen second graders, each day I am blessed with the  giving and receiving of unconditional love.  It comes from the familiar “good morning” smile exchange which I believe is a soul to soul recognition and acknowlegement, and the”Hey, Mrs. Spradlin, I got my new puppy last night!  It’s so soft and cute.  But I didn’t sleep at all because it cried,” stories.

Sometimes it comes through the  tearful moments when life gets you down and the only medicine is a hug.  Children are my biggest teachers in life.  This month I would like to honor my students individually and thank them for their wisdom of unconditional love.

• Eli, thank you for showing me love through your gentleness.
• Sebastian, thank you for showing me love through your compassion for others.
• Emily,  thank you for showing me love through your dedication to all that you do.
• Izzy, thank you for showing me love through your belly giggles.
• Lucio, thank you for showing me love through your honesty.
• Gabe, thank you for showing me love through your creativity and individuality.
• Alex, thank you for showing me love through your vulnerability.
• Tamara, thank you for showing me love through your inner and outer beauty.
• Amanda, thank you for showing me love through your enthusiasm for life.
• Beatriz, thank you for showing me love through your stories of family.
• Brandon, thank you for showing me love through your resiliency.
• Ian, thank you for showing me love through your humor and teasing.
• Carlos, thank you for showing me love through your loyal friendships.
• Cesar, thank you for showing me love through your joy in small moments.
• Hunter, thank you for showing me love through your empathy.
• Ismael, thank you for showing me love through your intensity.

To get to the heart, look to the children.  Unconditional Love can always be found there, in the heart of a child.

Amy Spradlin, Co-Founder Seeds of Intentions

Written by Amy Spradlin
Co-Founder
www.SeedsofIntentions.com

Visit Our Website for products and information…things we like to call “Power Tools for Conscious Living”

Appreciation is a matter of applying grace and awareness to any situation or issue no matter how you may or may not have responded to or appraised a similar situation or issue in the past. It is always in your best and highest interest as well as in the best and highest interest of others to be present in your now and then you will catch on more easily to appreciating the moment.

Practice Grace. Grace is a natural way of responding to and appreciating your life through your heart. Feel your way through your day. Pay attention to your emotions as well as your lack of them. If you had a tale that wagged when you were in a good direction or moment, feel that in your heart and let that lead.

Please be aware even when you are uncertain. This willingness to let it in puts you in a state of allowing which will bring you closer to your source vibration-your natural way. Simultaneously, let it go through you.

Realize all ways. You may feel good about some and neutral and not so good about others. It does not matter except what feels good for you.

Eventually you have begun to filter out what does not serve you. You have learned to pay attention to your own life, your own business. It serves no one to involve yourself unsolicited or otherwise in another’s business.

Come to your senses. Literally become one with your own feelings as you go about your day. Be glad your inner guidance – or early warning system – is up and running.

Interrupt less than positive thoughts. Hit the delete button. It lets you know where you thought you thought you were going. In fact if you were thinking the interrupted thought you were activating a low vibration of a “some” day situation.

Always say Thank You. Say it to others. Say it to God.

Teach others by allowing them to see this good feeling and the authentic person you are.

Easy. It is all meant to be easy. Appreciate that.

Fran Picco Contributing Writer and Integrated Energy Therapist

Written by:
Fran Picco
Contributing Writer

If you are interested in more about Fran or would like to schedule a private consultation or Integrated Energy Therapy treatment, CLICK HERE! or email her at: FranisClear@yahoo.com

Lenado, CO October 2009 – My husband set off a few weeks ago on his long anticipated Native American Vision Quest. Before he left, I watched him measure and cut 405 pieces of colorful cloth, pinch 405 clumps of tobacco, pray 405 separate times and string 405 prayer ties together; a common ritual prior to this vision quest. I watched him eliminate his cup of coffee, his sweet treat before bed, and his daily news fix. I watched him pack his bag, load his truck and drive away.

Even now I am moved to tears as I think of his unbelievable strength and sacrifice.

This was Danny’s first Native American vision quest and my first time supporting a “questor”. I have to say it is on my list of the top five things I’ve witnessed another human being endure and accomplish.

At this present moment, traditional sentences and complete thoughts can not come close to conveying my level of appreciation for my husband and his chosen spiritual path. Because of this, I have decided to write about the moment, I first saw him and the other vision quest participants after their four days of solitude and fasting, in phrases that make sense to me:

Drums pounding
Voices chanting
Flute singing

They’re almost home!

Sun shining
Wind whispering
Leaves falling

They’re almost home!

Eyes spotting
Heart skipping
Tears flowing

They’re almost home!

Feet stumbling
Arms raising
Smiles radiating

They’re home!

Souls recognizing
Eyes locking
Spirits connecting

He’s home!

Ancients witnessing
Ancestors celebrating
World elevating

Thank you Vison Quest – ors.
Welcome home!

There are so many moments in time to appreciate. Some are big and life changing while others are tiny and heart touching. The size of the event is insignificant. All that matters is that you noticed. Please take the time to be aware of life’s gifts, big and small. We are so blessed. Thank you Vision Quest – ers!

Amy Spradlin Contributing Writer and Vision Quest Observer

Written by:
Amy Spradlin
Vision Quest Observer
Co-Founder,
Seeds of Intentions