One for One

How many pairs of shoes do you have in your closet?

If you’re anything like me, you’ll probably have a pair to go with your favorite jeans or dress, along with a range of comfy shoes, sexy shoes, working shoes, walking shoes…you name it.  I’d bet you have several pairs that you can choose from to fit your mood.

What about your kids? Do they have shoes for every occasion?

Soccer cleats, football cleats, dance shoes, tennis shoes, sandals, winter boots, slippers…the list goes on and on – but all of them are essential!

What if you could not provide shoes for your children?  Would they be able to go to school?

I was recently made aware of an amazing company called Toms Shoes.  You may have heard of them or seen their ads on TV, but the TV ads don’t really do justice to the impact that going without shoes has on kids around the world, and how Blake Mycoskie is out to change the lives of children, one pair of shoes at a time.

Toms Shoes was founded by Blake Mycoskie in 2006.  His idea for Toms Shoes came about when he was in Argentina learning how to play polo, which he himself has been quoted as calling, ”The least noble cause in the world for me to go to Argentina, which goes to show you never know what is going to happen in your life.’

While on that trip, Blake observed the polo players slipping out of their boots into shoes called Alpargatas.  The Alpargata are traditional Argentine shoes that have been worn by the Argentines for hundreds of years.  That shoe was the basis for the Toms Shoe design.

Blake had zero experience in fashion or shoes, to which he says, “I think sometimes when you don’t have experience, you don’t know the rules; you don’t know which ones you are breaking and you end up creating true innovation.”

The name Toms Shoes actually started out as Tomorrows Shoes.  It was shortened because Tomorrows Shoes was too long for the logo tags found on the side of the shoes.

The best part is – Blake was determined to donate a new pair of shoes for every pair purchased.  One for One.  How amazing is that!

For each pair of Toms Shoes that is purchased, a pair is given to a child who does not have shoes. Blake and his team focus on three criteria for gifting the shoes:

1. Does it help a child go to school? In some places, if you don’t have shoes, you can’t go to school.
2. Does it prevent a specific disease? For example, the disease Podoconiosis (Podo) is found in Ethiopia.  Podo is caused by silica that goes through the pores to destroy the lymphatic system. Not only is it incredibly debilitating, it ostracizes people from their community.  Podo is completely preventable with shoes!
3. Does it promote general hygiene? In areas where children walk on unpaved roads, there is a higher risk of scrapes, cuts and abrasions – all of which eventually lead to disease and infection.

Toms Shoes also has a focus on sustainability.  One of their collections is 65% post-consumer plastic bottles and 35% hemp, which is more sustainable than using organic cotton.

So while you are counting your blessings, making entries in your gratitude journals and hunting down that missing shoe in your kids’ room, take a moment and remember to give thanks and appreciation for the shoes you have on your feet.  There are many children who are not wearing any.

If Blake Mycoskie has his way (and I am sure he will – with your help and the help of many others) children all over the world will be able to experience the pleasure of having a new pair of shoes.

And what a great Christmas gift – for yourself or a loved one! My personal fav is the Heller TOMS.  No surprise there – with the Peace sign right on the toe! I just picked up a new pair and I can hardly wait for their arrival.  And even better than my eager anticipation of my new shoes is the smile and joy that I know the new pair of shoes will bring to a child across the globe.

One for One shoes – magnificent indeed.

To learn more about Toms Shoes, be sure to check out their website HERE.

Just one more thought…

Everyone wants to teach their kids about the joys of giving…what better way than to find something like Toms Shoes to put on their list to Santa? What are some of your creative ideas for involving your kids in the holiday spirit of charity and goodwill to their fellow man (or fellow kids!)?

How do you know when to say yes...or no?

Well, it’s official – I’ve entered into more than one retail store over the past few days to find it transformed into a Christmas wonderland, complete with music, new staff uniforms, and a spirit of joy that doesn’t seem to come at any other time of the year.

But wait a minute…

Didn’t we JUST have Halloween?

I suppose it’s inevitable that the stores are always going to seem to start Christmas earlier every year – particularly this year when they’re so eager to get a jump over the somewhat dismal performance of recent economic downturn.

As much as I enjoy the early holiday spirit, I notice that it always seems to call for an increase of targeted advertising – particularly relating to children. One of the areas I’ve seen this most is among the mobile phone companies, who seem to be targeting younger and younger audiences all the time.

While these ad campaigns used to have a clear target of mostly teens and twenty-something’s, they’ve now shifted over to the ‘tween’ sector. The actors in the ads are younger – there’s even one ad that has a tween asking her dad if he signed her up for a calling plan yet. In another, the entire family is in the car with both kids in the backseat – the younger one is texting while the teen is arguing with her mom about expired minutes!

Last year, my daughter began to ask for her own mobile phone.  Her asking became begging, and her begging became desperate acts of pleading and yearning. But throughout all this desperate pleading, she could not actually tell me why she wanted a mobile phone – other than repeating, “Everyone has one – and they are cool!”

The truth was, there wasn’t really a need for her to have a cell phone. She is on a closed campus during the day for school, and has access to the office telephone should she need to contact me. When not at school, she’s with me. Despite her arguments of, “Other people in my class have one mom – it’s just not fair!” she did not get a mobile telephone. I did not feel in alignment with giving her a mobile phone, so she did not get one.

Even more importantly than my alignment with her having one, it was very clear to me that she was really not in alignment with having one. She could not give me any real reason that she wanted one, other than everyone else has one, and they are cool

It can be such a difficult struggle when your child asks you for things like this. It can feel like you’re asking your child to earn his or her wellbeing. It can feel like ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’.

But it doesn’t have to feel like any of that.

Many times parents struggle with saying, “Yes, here is the money, go buy this or that.” It can be difficult to give openly. Yet many parents know that by virtue of Spirit (God, Buddha, Law of Attraction – whatever feels best for you) all things are possible. After all, if you have the means to give to your child and you don’t think that what he or she is asking for is harmful, why not?

What I have come to realize is that when I continue to give and give, it feels as though I am saying, “I am doing this for you because I do not believe that you are capable of doing it for yourself.” That is a contradiction that I am feeling within myself.

I have also come to realize that I want to be a path of inspiration for my child – I do not want to be the only way in which her wellbeing flows.

• Now, I pay attention to how I am feeling when my daughter asks me for something.
• I ask her why she wants what she wants.
• I remind her to pay attention to her own feelings, because they are her built-in guidance system – her very own GPS.

When she is asking from a place of pure expectation and she can give me reasons why she wants what she wants AND she is asking with the knowing that what she wants will come to her – not necessarily through me – but it will come, then I know she is in alignment with herself and the object of her desire.

But if she gets out of whack – gets wonky or sideways with her energy and in her asking; if she comes from a place of, ‘you won’t give it to me, so what’s the point’, or if she is asking to fill a void or asking because the other kids will think she is cool, that would be off. I can feel the difference in her place of asking.

It is at that point that I need to go to my own guidance system. If I ignore my own guidance system and give her what she wants because she is nagging me to do so, when her asking is off, I am actually doing her a dis-service – a HUGE dis-service!

So what do I do?

I lovingly say to her: “I promised that I would never do anything with regard to you that feels even the slightest bit off.”

I explain to her that it’s important to tune into her own GPS and recognize whether she is asking from a place of feeling good about asking, knowing that what she is asking for will come to her, rather than a place of begging and pleading and being fearful that she will not get what she is asking for – that she doesn’t want to come from a place of being needy, because coming from that place makes it harder to get what she is wanting.

I also let her know that if I can make the whole idea of a mobile phone feel good to me, then we will move forward with the idea – but I don’t move forward with anything if it feels even the slightest bit off. I check in with my own guidance system and I give to her from my desire to give, not from a sense of responsibility or ‘giving in’ just to stop the nagging – and that feels really good to me and her.

And yes – my daughter now has her mobile phone. She got to a point where she could easily list out the whys behind the reason she wanted one – none of which included anything remotely close to ‘because it will make me cool’.

Ahhh, yes – being able to use my own guidance system and teaching my daughter how to tune into her own GPS made this an easy manifestation for both myself and my daughter in the end.

Getting your kids to tune in this way isn’t nearly as difficult as you may think. A lot of it begins with getting yourself to that place first – just like you would put the oxygen mask on yourself first in an airplane – setting yourself up to be ABLE to help the ones around you who need it.

If you want to find out how to tune into your own guidance and start getting your kids to find that GPS system of their own, I invite you to listen in on this audio – The Magnetism of the Awakening Parent – a one-hour tele-training that will teach you how to begin this process of blissful transformation within your own family.

As the holiday season approaches, wouldn’t it be nice to have these systems in place for yourself and your family before chaos even has a chance to ensue?

This could be your best holiday yet…

Sit back, relax, and listen in!

As the holiday season FAST approaches, it seems like there’s just no time left in the day to get everything accomplished. I’ll tell you a secret – while some people like to shake their heads at things like microwave steamer bags for vegetables, crock pot liners (to save on washing!) and coffee pot timers – I’ve gotta tell you, I love ‘em! As a parent, pretty much anything that can save me time is a GOOD thing.

In the spirit of saving you time, I’ve recored two audio versions of what it means to apply spiritual parenting skills and energy management practices to your experience – allowing for the beginning of what I love to call Blissful Transformation among the family life that for so many just seems to boil down to chaos!

If you’re getting tired of the chaos and looking to begin transformation, take this opportunity to listen to one (or both) of these recordings – created especially for busy parents like YOU!

It was an honor to join the Queen of Joy, Velma Gallant, on her Welcome Changes Radio show, where past interviewees include people like bestselling authors Guy Finley, Christine Kloser, and Masha Malka, as well as amazing experts like Kathleen Gage and Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein. :

Velma’s easygoing and welcoming helps make an instant connection between host, guest and audience, where you’ll be sure to feel drawn right into the conversation – just like sitting down with a good friend! It was truly a pleasure to join Velma on her show – when you listen in, you’ll hear a lot of tips I haven’t shared anywhere else!

This next audio is a recording I created especially for my community – a one-hour tele-training called “The Magnetism of the Awakening Parent“. You’ll find a wealth of useful information here – and best of all, the tips and tools you get in this call are fast, easy, and ready for you to apply right away for almost immediate results!

Listen in to the recording by visiting here now: The Magnetism of the Awakening Parent

If you have any comments or questions on what you are hearing, please feel free to get in touch with me  at Cyndi@blissfullytransformchaoticfamily.com. I look forward to connecting with you again soon!

How Are You Viewing Your World?

Guest Post By: Ruth Hegarty

As I meander through my days I talk to a lot of people, and I often hear how hard things/life/etc. are, especially around this time of year as the holiday bustle approaches. It seems as if life can sometimes feel like one big chore and that the holidays, which are supposed to be restful and joyful, are just a whirl of hassle and disappointed expectations.

Now, I love taking it easy and I love the holidays, and I have spent many years working with the issue of why some people find it so challenging to take it easy. So, as my gift to you today, I’m not only going to ask the question: “Why is taking it easy so hard?” I’m also going to give you the answer (just to prove how easy I love to make things!).

First, let’s make it clear that the reason so many people find it hard to take it easy isn’t what you think it is. It has nothing to do with not having enough time, having too many responsibilities, other people’s demands, or any of the other excuses that are so popular.

The real reason why you find it hard to take it easy is because (drum roll, please) you THINK it MUST be HARD. Seriously, that is the ONLY reason life feels hard. When you choose to believe that life has to be hard because that’s just the way it is, then you are deliberately (even if maybe unconsciously) creating the experience of difficulty in your life.

In order to take it easy in your life, you simply need to come from a place where you believe it’s possible. Now, I know it isn’t always comfortable to change, which is the main reason we get caught up in staying in situations that don’t feel good. However, I promise you that deliberately creating a life that you love is more than worth the initial discomfort.

There is always – ALWAYS – a way to do something that feels good and doesn’t feel like work.

The key to remember is that even actual work doesn’t have to feel like work. That is what ease and effortlessness are all about. It’s a mindset that orients you toward looking for a better way to get things done.

This mindset come through anything from hiring someone else to do things for you, finding the simplest and most comfortable strategy for getting things done, or deciding that it doesn’t even need to happen (this one is great for anything you think you “should” do.) You can delegate tasks to staff, family, etc. You can also delegate tasks to technology. This is one of the ways I get so much done myself – I take a little time to automate my systems, and then they pretty much run themselves.

Ease can mean different things to different people. It doesn’t mean lazy, though it can include lying around. Ease can include lots of activity so long as it feels great to you and feels effortless. All of the behaviors of ease follow naturally after you create the mindset.

The ease mindset begins with your intention – your unequivocal decision – to live joyfully and meaningfully no matter what your current situation. Joy and meaning breed ease. The bottom line is that ease is about choosing to adopt a particular perspective on life and then following through with only the actions that support that mindset. To help you get started creating this mindset for yourself, I’ll share something that helped me tremendously when I began my own journey. It’s a quotation from the Dalai Lama:

“I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience, I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.”

Creating an internal landscape that highlights your desire to live happily, prosperously and with ease is the first step toward manifesting an outer life that includes all of the people, places and things that you desire. Doing the inside work first allows you to effortlessly manifest the family, work, and life of your dreams.

This quotation from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is one of my personal inspirations for my inner life:

“How we feel about ourselves, the joy we get from living, ultimately depends directly on how the mind filters and interprets everyday experiences. Whether we are happy depends on inner harmony, not on the controls we are able to exert over the great forces of the universe.”

What this means is that your mindset/attitude is what creates the internal landscape that allows you to manifest ease in your life. You absolutely get to choose what mindset you will adopt on any topic and how you view the world. Is your glass half full or half empty? Since I’m on a quotation kick with this article, here’s one of my favorites on choice by the very wise Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft & Wizardry:

“It’s our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

So, where do you begin to create a mindset of ease and joy in your own life? Start with what makes you happy.

• What makes you smile?
• What brings on a deep belly laugh?
• Who, when you think of them, makes you happy?
• What is your favorite color and do you see it every day?
• What is your favorite food and when was the last time you ate it?
• What about your favorite client makes him/her your favorite client?
• What tasks do you absolutely love to do in your life/business, and how much of your day do you get to spend doing that?

Are you starting to see a pattern here? You begin to create a mindset of ease and joy by thinking consistently about the people, places and things that feel joyful and effortless to you. Once you get to that amazing feeling place of ease and joy in any area of your life, you can begin to deliberately apply it to any and all of the other areas of your life.

Ask yourself what is effortless and joyful about your home, your relationships, your community, your stuff, etc. Spend more time around the joyful and effortless stuff and less (if any) time on everything else.

As you are asking yourself these questions, begin to imagine what your life will look and feel like once you are living with ease. For example, picture yourself in the perfect work situation with a family life full of love and cooperation and lots of free time to relax and play on your own and with loved ones. How will it be when you are experiencing more freedom, fun, financial bounty, energy and recognition in your life?

Imagine all the outrageous possibilities for your life!

Ruth Hegarty helps women entrepreneurs work smart, earn more money and have more time for fun, self and family. It’s what she calls Effortless Success. Ruth has an MS in Education and is a certified educator, as well as a certified Law of Attraction coach and practitioner. She is founder and lead coach of the Effortless Success Business Building Club for Women Entrepreneurs, a nationally known speaker, and co-host of the popular Law of Attraction radio show: The Art of Joyful Living. Ruth is a leader in entrepreneurial women’s empowerment and an avid promoter of self-determination for women. Learn more at http://www.CoachRuth.com

Ruth will be joining me tonight on my complimentary teleclass, The Magnetism of the Awakening Parent. We would love to see you on the call – find out how you can join in by visiting here now!

What's Your Wish?

For the past nine years, I have been a mother, business woman and executive at a Fortune 100 Company. As a Coach and Energy Worker who is at the forefront of spiritual training, it is my passion and my purpose to discover and introduce programs that will enrich and bless your parenting life.

Today, I want to ask you a few questions and then tell you a personal story…

• Have you ever wished parenting could be easier?
• Have you ever thought, “There has got to be a better way!”?
• Have you ever wished LIFE could be easier?
• Have you ever wondered – as I did – why some people always seemed to have that golden touch – always being in the right place at the right time – something it seemed would never happen to you?

Nine years ago, I felt the same way.  My marriage was ending, my father had just been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, I had a newborn, and I was making a career move! Against all odds and conventional wisdom, I doubled my income in less than one year.  In less than 2 years, I was elevated to an executive position at a Fortune 100 company.

People were surprised at what I accomplished; they even congratulated me.

But I didn’t have the energy to congratulate myself. I was just exhausted – and I couldn’t imagine how in the world I would manage another year of the same. It was just not possible. All I wished for was an end to what seemed like constant chaos.

In hindsight, I know I did lots of things the hard way. I worked late nights and weekends – and I felt guilty ALL the time. When I was with my family I felt guilty for not working and – yep, you guessed it – when I was working I felt guilty for not being with my family!

On more than one occasion, I was ready to give up. I knew I couldn’t continue much longer at the same frenzied and chaotic pace. Then, it dawned on me!

I realized I needed to apply the same process to my personal, professional life and business that I had successfully used with my clients to help them overcome personal challenges and explore pioneering solutions for their problems.

And it WORKED!

It worked so quickly, so silently and so smoothly, that I wasn’t sure at first that it was working at all!  But the results spoke for themselves.  It was a powerful domino effect!

In fact, there was no denying the results. I applied a systematic, highly successful method to my life as a parent that I came to know, if shared, would without a doubt transform the lives of millions more parents globally – it was that big.

This whole system – The Magnetism of the Awakening Parent – is about creating what I call an AWAKENING REVOLUTION.  I’m not talking about the violence typically associated with revolutions. I’m talking about a nonviolent, peaceful effective revolution that allows you to reinvent yourself from the inside out.

So many parents have come to me, telling me that they are sick and tired of trying to do it all. No matter what they do, they can’t seem to maintain thriving personal and professional lives – finding the right balance between being the best parent to their kids, actually enjoying their work, and truly living the life of their dreams seems so completely out of reach that most people don’t even consider it as a possibility.

The truth is, having all of that doesn’t have to be a pipe dream. You can bring transformation from the chaos, stress, and trouble you may be experiencing on a daily basis along with so many parents – and a big part of doing that is bringing a powerful, synchronistic, inner and an outer approach to everything you do. That’s the Magnetism of the Awakening Parent!

As the founder of the Blissful Transformation of the Chaotic Family programs, I am here to support you to accomplish your goals with more ease and flow by tapping into The Magnetism of the Awakening Parent.

I have been called to make an individual contribution to your empowerment. I am driven by my passions to continue to make a difference in the world … in your world. I know from firsthand experience what it’s like to want so badly to do the best for your kids, and feel like you’re falling short every time. I want you to experience the peace and true bliss that IS possible in your family life – and I’d like to give you the opportunity to find out how as a special gift to you today.

This Thursday, October 29th, at 6:00 pm., PDT/9:00 pm., EDT, I will be hosting a one-hour FREE call to offer you practical pointers and tangible, easy to implement How To steps in bringing blissful transformation into your life.

I invite you to join me on this special call – to sit back, relax, and soak in the love and support that will be there for you, along with tools you can begin using right away to transform your experience from the inside out. Visit here today to find out more about this call and how you can join in.

Is Your Child Living an Empowered Existence?

It’s October now, and the school year is in full swing. You’re settling back into the homework and the before and after school routines. After a long break and the excitement of school beginning, it can nice to have everything settle down a bit – but with kids it also serves as a reminder of how quickly time does fly.

One of the things I’ve really noticed this year is the vast difference in how children behave from one grade level to the next. It wasn’t so long ago that my daughter was starting kindergarten, and now she is fast approaching the high school years!

This really came to light as she and I were on the way home from school the other day. When I picked her up I noticed that she seemed just a little bit ‘off’ – not her usual vivacious, outgoing, tell me all about her day self.

She was quiet – really quiet – and after about ten minutes of driving, she turned to me and said, “You know what Mom? I just don’t understand how someone can be your friend one minute and then be really mean the very next minute – like leaving you in the dust and ignoring you.”

To this I replied, “Hummmm” – wanting her to get in touch with her own feelings (and not wanting to influence her away from her own guidance).

Within seconds, my daughter’s eyes lit up and she said, “Well Mom, you know something? What I think is that the way my friend was acting wasn’t about anyone else. It was really about how they were feeling about themselves; about what was going on inside themselves.”

She went on to say, “And I know that I can choose to look at all of the things that make me happy about being her friend. Plus, tomorrow is a new day, and I believe everything else will turn out just fine!”

WOW – what a rewarding thing to hear from a child!

This is what raising and empowering children in spirit is all about. When I think back on my own childhood, I know I would never have had an awareness of the kind of inner resources and guidance that allowed my daughter today to come to that conclusion.

This is the amazing reward – for both her and me – of taking simple steps in allowing kids to grow up in real awareness of the guidance and power that exists inside of them. It reveals that the chaos on the surface – the popularity contests, the acting out, the low self-esteem that many children experience, does not have to be the reality for everyone.

You can gift your child with this knowing. If you want to learn more, I invite you to join me for a complimentary tele-training I’ve created just for you – a loving parent who is searching for a better way for your kids, and yourself. Join me on Thursday, October 29th at 9:00PM EST for The Magnetism of the Awakening Parent free event. Visit here now to find out more.