It's amazing what happens when you open up your mind even just a wee bit and let yourself see something from a different angle.  I spent my day today in a real estate continuing education class.  The class was focused around increasing sales, generating new leads and gaining new clients.  Generally speaking, many of these classes have the same content, and I have been to A LOT of these classes in the last few years so I wasn't surprised when we got to the "affirmations" section of the book.  Most instructors will tell you that all successful Realtors have affirmations that they speak aloud to themselves every single day.  The idea is that the positive thoughts can actually change the way you think and will bring positive things to your life. If I'm being honest- I am NOT a fan of speaking affirmations to myself every day and it just feels really goofy to me.  I tried it for about a week during a previous training program.  I really couldn't buy into the idea that something great was going to happen just by listening to myself saying that it will over and over every day.  

But today I had a mind blowing breakthrough- this instructor asked us to write a few affirmations down that we would commit to reciting to ourselves every day.  Affirmations are supposed to be phrased as though the goal or commitment has already happened- so for example, I wrote down "I have complete financial freedom",  "I look forward to exercising every morning " and "I love the exciting challenge of making cold calls."  Of course none of these are true, as much I'd like them to be.  As I begrudgingly wrote down silly affirmations, the instructor continued on explaining their importance and said something that completely changed the way I view affirmations.  In essence, he was saying that we all subconsciously  speak affirmations daily, though, most often they are negative rather than positive.  He gave the following examples of how you use negative affirmations- and you say them enough that you actually begin to believe they're true-
"Everything I eat goes straight to my hips."  
"I have the worst luck of anyone I know."  
"I never meet any new clients at open houses."  
"I'll never have enough money,"

He was right!  I do this in some way or another almost daily.  It seems negative thoughts are easier to accept as "true" or "possible" than positive ones. 

This was genius.  If we can repeatedly say something negative and make ourselves believe it to be true, why do we struggle to believe that positive thoughts could have the same effect?
Mind=blown.   

Well I've finally done it!  It's a new year and it's time to start putting that business plan I worked so hard on preparing last year into action! This blog has been a long time coming.  I'm not new to blogging- I had a blog a few years ago.  I guess I got busy living my life and just didn't have the time to stop and write about it all!  I have had a lot of requests to pick back up posting my vegan cooking experiences and providing recipes so I'll be incorporating a lot of that here as well.  Just before the holidays I had begun a low carb/Keto diet (like just being vegan wasn't crazy enough!) and I abandoned it for the holidays and spoiled myself rotten with carbs, cookies, potatoes and dips.  It was blissful. Aaaaaand my body is feeling it.  So, back on the wagon I go.  Low carb/low sugar is pretty new to me but I'll be documenting along the way and feel free to ask questions.  I can tell you that in the 3 weeks I had been following the diet prior to the holidays the results were phenomenal and I felt AMAZING.  I'm anxious to get back on track.  I've asked my hubs to hide the remaining junk foods as to avoid temptation. I look forward to sharing my thoughts, successes, failures, experiences and everything else with you all and you can also look forward to an occasional real estate post.  Whether it's info on the market, a new listing, maintenance tips or just one of those days I want to cry my eyes out and drown in a bottle of wine.  Those days always make for good stories.