Happy February!

This weekend my friends and I had our annual New Year’s dinner. Usually we meet at a new restaurant and over a meal we talk about what we hope for ourselves in the New Year and steps that we are or will take to achieve these goals. Luckily, we know ourselves enough to have this event late in January or early February to buy us more time to asses or reflect on some obtainable and realistic goals. This year we actually had the event at Yolanda's new living space. It was great to see her in her current environment and see how happy living there makes her. Also, her commute has been reduced significantly (she is literally steps away from campus). Eva from Pretty Blessed organized an activity to assist with the goal setting. She asked us all to collect some old pictures of when we felt the happiest, funniest, sexiest, smartest, kind, adventurous, delicious, etc. We all went around and shared what our pictures symbolized for us and how we would incorporate more of what was happening in the picture (physically, mentally, spiritually, etc.) to our daily life to get us back to that space. I truly enjoy the company of all my friends and this activity and meal just reminded me that indeed I am on a path of discovery and I know that 2010 is my year. I really don’t want to put too much pressure on myself but I also recognize that if I do not put a timeframe to my goals I will not achieve them. For me naming a goal is key. Here are a few pics I shared:

All of these pictures show me at a happy, accomplished, adventurous and grateful time in my life. Oddly enough all of these times and pics took place last year.  I just want to keep this motivation going for 2010!

Happy February everybody! I thought this article complimented no only this weekend for me but also gave me something to aspire to in this month of February. Enjoy!

An Inspirational Thought By Russ Stiffler
Love is a prime motivator in life. With Valentine's Day, February is a month that brings people's focus to love. They think about sharing that romantic evening. They look for that special card or gift to show their love. They feel sad because that special someone is not in their life. But February is also a good time to focus on another type of love, the love of life. The love of life can be as important in the quality of your life as your love relationship.

 Utopia is the ideal life. You love everything about your life. You love where you are. You love whom you are with. You love what you do. Everything is perfect. You could say Utopia is loving your life completely. Utopia is an ideal. Utopia does not exist, except as an ideal to dream about and to try to achieve. But an attitude of love can open the door to you perceiving life in a utopian way.
Your perception goes a long way in determining what your life is like. Is the glass half empty or is the glass half full. Only you have the answer for you. Is life hard and full of scarcity or is life wonderful and full of abundance?
You decide, for yourself, everyday, by how you perceive the events of your life. Let's say you're having a rough time at work. Everything is going against you. Your partner seems to want to fight you in everything you do.
You can look at this scenario anyway you want. You can say, "I can't take this anymore," and quit. You can say, "I hate this, life stinks." Or you can look at it from another angle and say, "This stinks, something is wrong here. If we can figure it out maybe we can get over this and be better than ever." Each scenario is correct depending on your perception. Your perception will have something to do with how this scenario plays out.
If you quit, it doesn't matter what happens there, because you'll be gone. If you say "life stinks," you only add to the sour atmosphere. If you lovingly look for a solution, maybe you can help turn things around. If you can't improve the situation and it really is better to quit then you have learned some valuable lessons that may help you down the road.
Your perception affects the results of any situation. That means your perception controls reality from any point of view. How you perceive anything is up to you. Choose to look for the positives in every situation. You will start to see possibilities to for improving the situation. The negatives may diminish because you will be focusing improving things instead of worrying about all the catastrophes that probably will never happen.
February is a great time to open your focus to a loving attitude. Taking a loving approach to your life brings more acceptance for people and situations for what they are. And even if it is not the utopia you dream about, your loving acceptance takes much of the stress away. Use the love focus of Valentine's Day to look at your life through loving eyes. Accept what isn't and be grateful for what is. Open your heart and let others see your loving acceptance and create a more utopian reality to live. 

Link to article:  
http://www.wow4u.com/loveandfebruary/index.html