So often we get caught up in our daily routines only to forget the most important element in our lives, our health and well being. We are so busy taking care of everyone and everything else that we ignore ourselves until we either get sick or end up at the doctor with an injury. While none of us will ever admit to having the time to be ill or injured, we often don’t allow the critical time for health and wellbeing. When we honor ourselves and our bodies we will have a greater opportunity to experience the wellness necessary to keep up with and care for our families, enjoy time with our friends, succeed in our work, make a positive difference to ourselves and others.

*I am not a medical professional and all recommendations here are based on extensive personal experience and that of family and friends. I would encourage you to speak with a trained medical professional regarding your own physical limitations and challenges before following any advice.

Here are even more great ways to celebrate your health and fitness:

Happy Smiles

Regular dental care is also a vital part of our overall health. Fortunately with the advent of tooth whitening many more people have become aware of the significance of dental health and the relative ease to have a great smile. Teeth cleaning twice a year, x-rays to determine cavities at least once a year are good preventive maintenance steps, they are also often covered by dental insurance and if not the cost is reasonable and worth it to avoid much more costly work down the road.

Masterful Massage

Not just for special occasions anymore, massage is often recommended monthly or even weekly to relieve stress, work on overused muscles, and improve relaxation. The key is to find the best masseuse for you and they do vary widely, just as there are many different types of massage. Whether your preference is shiatsu, deep tissue, or finger touch you can do some simple research either through a doctor’s office or online and often get a discounted initial session to literally get a feel for the professional touch.

If this seems too extravagant or you want the ultimate in massage convenience look into the many massage chairs currently on the market. It is amazing how effective technology can be in delivering a truly refreshing and soothing experience. Many such chairs offer as many as six different types of touch and are engineered to cover your entire back and some even have built in leg and foot massage as well.

Now you have no excuse not to feel good and get rid of some of that stress we all carry around so well.

Take a Deep Breath

Have you ever been really anxious about something or you’ve been moving much too fast and someone has said to you “slow down and take a deep breath,” and you do and it helps? Very few of us truly breathe correctly using our diaphragm muscle. More often than not we are just doing a quick shallow breathing that keeps us alive but isn’t really imparting the benefits of oxygen to our entire bodies. If we focused more on breathing (typically pivotal in meditation) we would find ourselves calmer, more centered, more alert and aware.

This is especially true if we have a chance to get some really fresh air during the course of a day, not easy with constant transitions from car to interior spaces so often polluted with off gassing materials, airborne germs and more. And just going outside is no guarantee when you are tuned to listen to smog alerts and realize the number of contaminants present in the air around us.

Music for Your Ears

When was the last time you had your hearing checked? Why is it that as children we get everything checked regularly and as adults we wait for a problem? Our ears are constantly bombarded by not just vocal noise, but musical noise, TV noise, traffic noise, computer noise, children noise, electronic noise, and many other types we aren’t even aware of. Have you ever had the power go out when you didn’t think there was any noise? Suddenly you realize how loud quiet really is. When the power goes out, clocks stop ticking, computers stop humming, fluorescent lights stop whining and so much more that we don’t even tune into but it is there. Our ears are constantly assaulted and it behooves us to have them checked at least every couple of years to assure continued health and great hearing.

Windows to Your Soul

Yes, I do mean your eyes and I’m betting you haven’t had them checked lately or if you did it was to get a new prescription! When I was growing up my sister had what they call a lazy eye. She didn’t wear glasses but did do eye exercises daily that strengthened and corrected this. She is glasses free to this day some 30 years later. Unfortunately many of us don’t take care of our vision, we read computer screens until we are blind, don’t pay attention to proper lighting, and generally abuse that delicate instrument known as our vision.

It is so much easier to go in for an annual checkup than to wait until it is too late. Many challenges at the early stages can be corrected by exercises or better care. Later may require Lasik surgery (I know many have experienced great success with this, but any time you can maintain health and avoid surgery is preferred, there are no guarantees.) and much more. Glasses are often not necessary at all and most of us don’t want them. (Sun glasses are increasingly important in this day and age of global warming and the loss of the ozone layer. The glare and UV today takes a serious toll on our vision daily.) Contact lens can be a real hassle. There is no reason to presume that you will need glasses particularly if no one in your family history wears them (yes, genetics does play a role.) Keep the windows to your soul open and without visual aids.

Take care of yourself, honor your body and mind and celebrate health and well being for life.

Be sure to check out Celebrate Your Health and Well Being, Part I for more great ideas on honoring yourself! To get the book, Celebrate Your Life! featuring 101 ways to honor and embrace the best of life every day, go to www.theartofcelebrating.com. For more about author and lifestyle expert Melissa Galt, check out www.melissagalt.com.

So often we get caught up in our daily routines only to forget the most important element in our lives, our health and well being. We are so busy taking care of everyone and everything else that we ignore ourselves until we either get sick or end up at the doctor with an injury. While none of us will ever admit to having the time to be ill or injured, we often don’t allow the critical time for health and wellbeing. When we honor ourselves and our bodies we will have a greater opportunity to experience the wellness necessary to keep up with and care for our families, enjoy time with our friends, succeed in our work, make a positive difference to ourselves and others.

*I am not a medical professional and all recommendations here are based on extensive personal experience and that of family and friends. I would encourage you to speak with a trained medical professional regarding your own physical limitations and challenges before following any advice.

Here are some great ways to celebrate your health and fitness:

Daily Exercise

Make a point of establishing a routine that works for you. If you are a morning person and can add in even 30 minutes a day at the front end for a brisk walk, a spin on a bike (stationary or otherwise), yoga stretches, Pilates, or whatever makes you feel good, do it. I have found that I literally block my fitness time on my calendar and won’t schedule anything over it. It is my time to feel good, get my heart rate up, and break a sweat! So many of us spend so much of everyday sitting in a car, in an office, on the sofa, at a table, we really do need to make an effort to keep our body active and in tune.

If you are a night owl and prefer to schedule your routine later in the day, make that commitment and create it to work for you. Usually doing exercise right before bed is not recommended as it tends to generate more energy than rest, but perhaps after work or before dinner you can salvage 30 minutes for fitness.

Often we get trapped in the thinking that if we can’t devote at least an hour, it isn’t worth it. This is inaccurate thinking and creates an excuse for not stepping up to take care of ourselves. I have found as have many others that a short regular routine that I do literally every day energizes me and renews my commitment to myself.

Meditation or Prayer

I like to add this on to my exercise routine as this is exercise for the mind and heart. While I know you can go to classes on meditation and that most programs demand 20 minutes to over an hour, I find that even 10 minutes at the opening of my day and 10 minutes at the close of my day can give me greater peace of mind and quiet any anxiety and concerns I may have.

This is an invaluable opportunity to clear your mind of all the priorities, obligations, challenges and more that we each experience daily and just tap into that inner quiet place we each have. (Yes, you do have it too!) This may seem almost impossible first as few of us are accustomed to sitting completely still and quietly for any length of time at all. We always have something distracting us whether it is a computer, television, phone, or someone else in the room. This is time free of distractions and interference, time with just you.

If you have time, do explore the meditation and prayer classes offered at local centers and churches. You may find your own road to peace of mind that much faster.

Cleansing

While I do have friends that swear by a regular colon cleanse, this can be time consuming, not always comfortable, and costly. You don’t have to go to extremes to get valued results. Cleansing can be as simple as taking one day a week or month to rid your body of the accumulated toxins by drinking at least half your body weight in ounces of purified water only, (if you weigh 150 pounds, drink 75 oz. of water, a good daily practice as well), no soda, no coffee or tea, no juice, no alcohol, and consuming nothing more than raw fresh fruits and vegetables.

If you prefer you can find any number of prescribed cleanses both online and in health food stores that will allow you the chance to get your body back in balance and give it a break from all the junk we so often consume. This is also a chance to become alcohol and caffeine free. Giving up white sugar and flour products can also be very freeing. Many of us have accumulated allergies to foods we eat regularly and just ignore the uncomfortable side effects. When we cleanse and allow our bodies the opportunity to rebalance, we will notice an increase in our energy levels, we often need less sleep, and we will enjoy sharper mental clarity.

Healthy Eating

IBS, otherwise known as Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Acid Reflux are all new diseases caused by reactions to foods we have been eating for a long time and the fact that our lives are usually overloaded with stress and anxiety. Rather than add a lot of pills to conquer the symptoms of these illnesses, it makes more sense to find out the root cause and deal with it directly. Often the medications only mask a larger problem and don’t address something as simple as lactose intolerance or an allergy to gluten (yes this does knock out a lot of foods, but there are just as many that are still available and delicious and won’t cause painful side effects when eaten.)

One of the keys to getting back our balance is to reevaluate our diets and pay more attention. This is not about going on a permanent diet unless you want to. I hate the word diet; it implies limitations and inability to enjoy what I want. I prefer instead to eat consciously and pay attention to what my body is asking for. Rarely is it screaming for the cookies, muffins, and desserts I think I want, or that are fast and easy. Instead it is wanting a balance of protein, carbs and fats that will leave me with energy and vitality. We all know how when we indulge in a large lunch loaded with carbs like that Mexican taco special or the pasta buffet that we are ready for a major nap by mid afternoon. We also know that if we indulge less and instead reach for a salad with chicken or tuna and skip the bread and pasta we’ll be more productive, less forgetful, and stay better on track through the remainder of the day. It is easy to get lazy, but the only one we hurt is truly ourselves when we don’t honor our bodies with healthy eating. Are you listening to your body?

Believe me, I have tried just about every diet on the market at one time or another with very little success or success that lasted a week to a month and no more. From Atkins and South Beach to Optifast and just plain old fasting, I’ve done the ketosis diet, the cabbage and orange juice cleanse diet, Weight Watchers and more. I’ve battled weight almost my entire life, but I have found that what works the best is listening to your body and knowing the consequences of ignoring it. Even 10 extra pounds will leave you feeling lethargic, uncomfortable, and uninterested in activities you might usually enjoy. We all make excuses, we are short for our weight, we are fluffy (my favorite!), we are overweight not fat (what is the difference?), we are bloated (everyday?), it’s hormones, it’s PMS, it’s our job, it isn’t. It is simply we are out of control and not honoring our bodies and celebrating the health we deserve.

Please know that I am not suggesting that you replace all your favorite foods with organic substitutes as often you will be dissatisfied with the lack of flavor and cardboard consistency! I know, I have tried this. I have also learned that attempting to find an energy bar that tastes as good as a balanced meal is virtually impossible. They should be used sparingly and as a meal on the go. Too often I know folks that have substituted these for candy bars, or added them to their diet multiple times a day as a snack, not realizing that while the calories may be better allotted to protein instead of carbs, it is still extra calories that will add up at the end of the day, and show up on the scales at the end of the week and month.

Regular Check Ups

How often do we make sure that our kids are well cared for by the pediatrician and that our aging parents get to the doctor regularly but we ignore our own needs for regular checkups. Our bodies are like cars and need to go in for periodic checkups and sometimes tune ups. We are far more likely to avoid significant illness if we stay on top of our health. I am not suggesting going in for every ache or pain, but regular preventive maintenance can be far more time and cost effective than periodic major overhauls and breakdowns.

Women don’t enjoy mammograms anymore than men look forward to prostate exams, but they are necessary to ensure our continued good health and to head off any possible challenges as early as possible. When you are scheduling the kids and your Mom and Dad, take time to schedule yourself.

Be sure to check out Celebrate Your Health and Well Being, Part II for more great ideas on honoring yourself! To get the book, Celebrate Your Life! featuring 101 ways to honor and embrace the best of life every day, go to www.theartofcelebrating.com. For more about author and lifestyle expert Melissa Galt, check out www.melissagalt.com.

Home is truly our external heart and as such it needs a lot of care and attention in its decorating and development. Invite friends and family to contribute to the creation of your home. A house is merely a dwelling; it becomes a home when you use your heart to express your environment in a comfortable and inviting manner.

Here are even more great ways to celebrate your home with friends and family.

Build the Deck Bash

I’ve got too many do-it-yourself friends, not to mention handy guys I know, that think decks are the be all and end all of projects. And there are a wealth of manuals on the market for just such a design dilemma. Now generally this is best if coming just off the back of a house with a low drop-off (foot or two), or you need to have someone who really knows their stuff on hand. Often you may not be building new but simply replacing existing decking with new boards or adding a new railing, both appropriate do-it-yourself tasks.

You provide the lumber, food and refreshments and invite friends in the know to bring tools, tunes, and a desire to work. What would have taken you a month of weekends, can now be done much faster with the company of good friends and turned into an experience rather than the project that wouldn’t end. Be sure you have a plan to either dispose of or donate the old lumber if this replaces an existing deck.

Celebrate your home and the great outdoors with a Build the Deck Bash

Deck the Walls Celebration

Got all your furniture in place, but nothing to deck the walls? Make it an event and have guests bring you art for your home. Now, I know it is a little dicey to rely on someone else’s taste so you provide guidelines. You can also register and it doesn’t have to be at some expensive gallery (though go for it if you can!) Consider art from national sources like Pier 1 Imports, Z Gallerie, and Crate and Barrel, many of the major retailers and catalogue companies have registries and not just for brides anymore.

Alternatively, you can rely on just providing a color palette and style, such as Tuscan Countryside, Urban Sophisticate, Coastal Breeze or Classic Traditional. This gives a bit more latitude and creativity to the gift giver. While you may not love it all, you will know that they gave it some thought and you can always pass it on later. (I don’t believe in saving gifts because of who gave them. I also don’t ever check my friends homes for the gifts I’ve given, goodness, I don’t usually remember what I gave!)

Once everyone has arrived, be prepared with a hammer, tape measure, pencil and picture hangars to literally hang it all on the spot. Or, hire an installer during the celebration to do this for you with guidance on placement. Everyone will want to see their treasured gift displayed and know they made a beautiful difference in creating your home.

Celebrate your home with a Deck the Walls Celebration!

Dress the Bedroom Bash

Bedrooms are all about rest and romance. Keep the exercise equipment elsewhere and the desk for work in another room. I’ve also found that too often the bedroom is the last room decorated and often waits until after the great room, kitchen, kid’s rooms and more are done. Yikes! Your bedroom is your haven and deserves to be a priority. Don’t wait; celebrate it with a Dress the Bedroom Bash.

It is up to you to furnish the bed and that means headboard, footboard optional, and a bedding scheme. The rest you can leave up to friends. They can either provide actual furnishings in the form of night stands, lamps, pillows, window treatments, a chair or gift certificates. On the invite include a picture of you lounging on the bed, or your favorite Fido or Rover doing the same and invite them to fill in the gaps.

Yes, you can register pieces if your friends are decorating challenged or you just don’t trust their taste! Most often you can make returns, and it may be fun to see what someone else has in mind with your bed style. You just might find yourself stepping out of the box and getting something more than you expected.

Celebrate your home and optimize your rest and romance opportunities with a Dress the Bedroom Bash!

Knick Knack Party

Perhaps you’ve gotten all your major furniture pieces in place and even have some artwork hung but lack the finishing touches that really make a house a home. So invite your friends to help provide the accessories!

Again, you can register for specific pieces like picture frames, candles, glass bottles and vases, wrought iron figures, florals and greenery, or you can trust your friends, with just a bit about your style in the invitation and a picture or two to give them a head start.

Of course, gift certificates do give anyone an easy out and ensure you get what you want. And you can always do an exchange later. The more information you provide the more likely you are to get tasteful elements that really add polish and flair.

Celebrate your home with a Knick Knack Party!

Spa Bath Moment

It seems every party I go to someone brings the hostess a basket of bath goodies. This is usually much appreciated (except by those of us that are strictly shower types!) and is an easy way to get friends together to celebrate.

Plan a spa bath moment that includes sharing your favorite scents and colors. Do you enjoy lavender or eucalyptus? Lemon or Grapefruit? Are you into fruit or flowers, herbs or grasses? There are so many lotions, potions, aromas, potpourris, candles and more to choose from.

You provide your preferences and consider bringing in a manicurist or masseuse for mini treatments for your friends. Yes, it is usually a girl’s night only. But you can always expand it to guys being included if you have a handy project, like a tub to be replaced or maybe you just need a new shower head installed.

Celebrate your home, relax and rejuvenate with a Spa Bath Moment.

For more great ideas on celebrating your home, be sure to check out Part I of this article. And if you are ready to get the full scoop on Celebrate Your Life! The Art of Celebrating Every Day, go to www.theartofcelebrating.com. Author and lifestyle expert Melissa Galt speaks with audiences nationwide on how to add the celebration to life every day by honoring ourselves, our family, our friends, our careers, our travel and adventure, our health and much more. You can find out more at www.melissagalt.com.

Home is truly our external heart and as such it needs a lot of care and attention in its decorating and development. Invite friends and family to contribute to the creation of your home. A house is merely a dwelling; it becomes a home when you use your heart to express your environment in a comfortable and inviting manner.

Here are some easy ways to celebrate your home with friends and family.

Housewarming by the Room

So few people it seems remember to throw a housewarming or if they do it is a couple of years after moving in. So, to get this ball rolling, don’t wait for the entire house to be complete; instead, celebrate room by room. Very few folks decorate their entire home at once anyway, and it counts to measure the small successes, even if it is a powder room, not to mention the big successes like a kitchen or bath remodel.

How many entertaining opportunities have you missed by waiting to get your house complete? Remember if your friends are waiting to see your drapery and not you, you might want to consider some new friends! Life is in the connection, not in the stuff. Celebrate every step rather than waiting for just one big one.

Celebrate your home with room by room housewarmings!

Stock the Pantry Party

No one likes to show up at a party empty handed and this is an easy way to get guests to bring what you need and want, while you share the welcome of your home and hospitality.

Create a master list of pantry stockers desired or even register if you are including kitchen appliances like blenders, toasters, and food processors. Let everyone know what you are into, whether it is a pantry full of bottled water, chips and dip or you are a bit more of a cook and want great exotic spices, tins of imported specialty foods, and international flavors. Sure flour and sugar are necessary staples, but I bet you can get more creative.

On appliances and kitchen tools, think hard about what you want and what you’ll use. Sure some are almost required like the blender and even a toaster still, but what about a divine bread maker, the latest ergonomic palm held peeler, a butterfly trash can by Simply Human, or a classic wine rack. You can even suggest gift cards from favorite big box retail kitchen good stores like Bed Bath Beyond, Williams Sonoma, and Crate and Barrel.

Celebrate your home with a stock the pantry party!

Grow the Garden Party

This is one of my favorites as I’ve come relatively late to the realization of a green thumb. The grow the garden party is ideal if you enjoy potting house plants, or dream of a cutting garden, or perhaps harbor visions of growing your own herbs and vegetables. Invite your friends to an outdoor picnic and while you provide the food and drink, ask them to provide a plant or garden tool.

Of course you may want to suggest gift cards from local nurseries for those that are green thumb challenged, and you’ll want to specify full sunshine or shade for desired plants. The point is that you get a more eclectic mix and when all are in bloom, they remind you of each guest and their personal contribution. You could even name each plant with tags after the person that provided it.

Celebrate your home and Mother Nature with a Grow the Garden Party!

Demolition Bash

Okay, you’ve made the decision to remodel and it is a big project. Kick it off in style with a Demolition Bash. Perhaps you are tearing out the kitchen or bath making way for a major update or reconfiguration. In any case, it’s got to go. Be sure you time this with your contractor’s schedule, and invite friends to bring a dish and a camp out in your newly emptied space.

(If you have handy careful friends you can actually invite them to assist with demolition, but be cautious in mixing a party atmosphere with hammers and other serious remodeling tools.)

It is always rewarding to enjoy even a day of the space unfinished before the work of putting it all together gets underway. Do be sure you have made all of your decisions at this stage and you don’t open up the event to brainstorming. Too many opinions will only result in confusion and frustration.

Remodeling can be an exhausting and sometimes chaotic process so celebrating at demolition can make it that much more tolerable. Be sure to plan the next bash at completion!

Paint Party

Personally, I can’t think of anything I’d rather avoid, but I can do it myself if necessary without training. (Heck, I once sponge painted my whole house, since the contractor had reversed the paint colors in the final coat!) But I do have friends that not only enjoy painting but actually find it relaxing, imagine it.

So if you have one or two rooms to get done and would be willing to do the same for friends or family (turn about is fair play in this), plan a painting party. You supply the paint, of course, but I’m betting you have friends with extra drop cloths, ladders, and even brushes that will be game to come and join you for an afternoon or a day of painting to be rewarded with pizza and beer or a cold cut sandwich buffet and icy sodas.

This can save the cost of a contractor and actually make an otherwise mundane and potentially arduous task fun. Many hands make light work, so invite others to help.

Celebrate your home with friends that will help you transform a room or two and a Paint Party!

For more great ideas on celebrating your home, be sure to check out Part II of this article. And if you are ready to get the full scoop on Celebrate Your Life! The Art of Celebrating Every Day, go to www.theartofcelebrating.com. Author and lifestyle expert Melissa Galt speaks with audiences nationwide on how to add the celebration to life every day by honoring ourselves, our family, our friends, our careers, our travel and adventure, our health and much more. You can find out more at www.melissagalt.com.

More than a third of our lives are spent in pursuit of our livelihood. Too often this is not a celebration but instead an obligation and a decision by default. We are put on a career track before we even know what we truly want to pursue and by the time we figure it out we have already achieved a level of success and financial reward that to start anew would mean setbacks and sacrifice. Unfortunately without the willingness to take risks and sometimes take a new path, we wind up living our work life by default rather than by our own design.

Regardless of where you find yourself in your career there are ways that you can celebrate that commitment and benefit from your unique skills and abilities (even if your genuine talent rests on another path.)

Lunch with the Bunch

Both for business owners too busy in their own fields to connect to others and for those in corporate America who feel pigeon holed in their own specialties, mix it up. That is make a point once a month to lunch with others outside of your expertise. For business owners this means connecting in a meaningful way with other entrepreneurs in other fields. It can create new perspectives and allow us to see new ways to do old things. As a member of corporate America take a look at what other areas of expertise your company offers and connect with some of those individuals. It will give you a broader understanding of what your company brings to the table as well as provide opportunities to explore unique synergies amongst diverse divisions.

So often we are too close to the forest to see the trees. Broadening our circle of influence is a successful way to expand our own potential and affiliations.

Supplier Thank You

Do you regularly say thank you to those that supply your business? Even if corporate do you know what your company does to say thank you to vendors? No business can survive in a vacuum and while we all are suppliers to someone else, we often forget that we are kept afloat and our success depends on those that supply us. I often send or deliver boxes of Godiva chocolates to my vendors as random thank you. I don’t wait for the holidays as we all are inundated then, it is the season for thank you. What about the rest of the year? When the ladies at my drapery workroom are really slammed, I’ll send in pizza for lunch and at least twice a year I send flowers for no reason at all, just to brighten their offices.

Think about your printer, your computer tech, your advertising executive, the cleaning service, the phone repairman, the security system expert. When was the last time you showed them thank you, not just said it.

Celebrate your career by being gracious with others.

Women/Men on the Move

There are many opportunities to grow your mind and your career if you pay attention and make the time. There are roundtables you can become an active member of, and groups for both men and women dedicated to grooming top executives or cultivating entrepreneurship. These are great chances to connect with others beyond your field and learn about their expertise and find potential synergies. It is a question of whether you are ready to lead the same life everyday or create a new and unique experience daily. All of life is about growing and it is only when we stop growing that we truly start to die. Pushing our boundaries, challenging out limitations, and growing our potential can give us a present beyond our dreams and a future without limits.

Continuing Brilliance

Many of us have requirement for continuing education built into our careers with necessary certifications or levels of achievement. Even without this it is essential that we stay on top of the latest developments and introductions with classes offered by professional industry organizations, trade shows, guest speakers, and more. We often do this early on in our careers but then get caught up in our success and progress and forget to continue our brilliance. We leave these opportunities on the table for those in the early stages of their careers and in doing so run the risk of becoming the dinosaurs we read about.

Technology can make learning more accessibly and convenient but it can’t replace the synergy of a live group and often more is gained by discussion and listening to other queries than by the actual lecture itself.

Celebrate your career by expanding your mind and maintaining your edge.

Conferences to Connect

Anyone who has been knows that trade shows and conventions are a lot of work. I don’t mean just for those that do the planning but also for the attendees. There are always tough choices to be made between sessions to attend and then there is all the connecting you want to take advantage of. I often find that the true experts are most accessible at these events. It seems everyone else thinks they will be unapproachable so don’t even try, leaving a wide open entrance for me to share in their experiences. Try this next time you attend and event and single out one or two of the presenters you’d like a minute with. Sometimes you can wrangle an hour of their time consulting or snag a seat next to them at lunch or dinner and glean a tidbit or two that can transform your journey from the on ramp to the fast lane.

Be brave and take a chance. We too often are intimidated (even if we won’t admit it) by someone else’s perceived success and stature. There will always be those greater than us and those lesser than us, it is up to each of us to determine where we will stand.

Share the Wealth

Be generous with your time, your expertise and your rewards. When I taught “Interior Design as a Second Career” at Evening at Emory for over a decade I was always amazed when my students (busy professionals) exploring the interior design career told me that I was the first professional to truly freely share with them the inside scoop including salaries, hours and the nitty gritty. In fact my favorite compliment came from a gal who came up to me after class and thanked me for showing her that design was not for her but she had decided what was and was thrilled to have made the decision to pursue it. You see my job wasn’t to convince or sell anyone but just share my knowledge and experience wholly and completely so any one person listening could make up their own mind. There are others who felt empowered and encouraged by what I described and have decided to pursue it.

By simply being ourselves and contributing our personal experiences and wealth of talent to others we can make a world of difference.

More than a third of our lives are spent in pursuit of our livelihood. Too often this is not a celebration but instead an obligation and a decision by default. We are put on a career track before we even know what we truly want to pursue and by the time we figure it out we have already achieved a level of success and financial reward that to start anew would mean setbacks and sacrifice. Unfortunately without the willingness to take risks and sometimes take a new path, we wind up living our work life by default rather than by our own design.

Regardless of where you find yourself in your career there are ways that you can celebrate that commitment and benefit from your unique skills and abilities (even if your genuine talent rests on another path.)

Strategic Alliances

I have found that as an independent business owner, my business appears much larger and stronger by the strategic alliances I have formed with fellow businesses. The same applies to any corporation that aligns itself with other organizations to create a masterful synergy. As an individual, no matter where you work, you can create strategic alliances that will grow your own career. These can be fellow business people whose business goals complement yours and you regularly work together. It can even be a competitor with whom you are able to mutually appreciate the idea that there is enough pie to go around and the more you work together, the greater the share each of you gets.

Take a look around you both within the organization you work for or have created and outside of it to identify your strategic alliance partners. Usually it is an informal agreement, though at times you both may benefit from a more structured format with scheduled meetings and planned outcomes.

Give to Receive

The old adage “what goes around comes around” is all too true and so it is that by giving of ourselves, our expertise, our talents and abilities that we truly become rich and will receive the bounty of others. Establish charitable goals for your business, your department, or your position. Make your contributions unique and measureable, though it is likely their value will be infinite. Focus on giving and you will be surprised at the gifts that will return to you. Too often we can get caught up in looking for the return. Rarely does it show up as we might expect but bigger and better than imagined.

Mentoring

Not everyone can be an effective mentor but it is an invaluable gift to others when you can. I have sponsored many an intern over the last decade plus and find it incredibly rewarding to be able to show them a true view of my career path and help them see what parts they excel at, where they need further study, and what path they may decide to pursue.

Mentoring can be formal or informal in structure. It can mean a lunch monthly, a phone call twice a year, daily interaction such as with an intern, or a once time meeting of minds to share hopes and dreams, experiences and lessons learned. Mentoring is as much about teaching as it is about learning from those coming up.

These are just three of the many ways available to celebrate your career by sharing your knowledge, expertise, and wisdom with those around you because together we will go farther.

Be sure to look for Part II!

Valentine’s weekend was awesome! My new beau (I feel too old for a boyfriend) came up Friday afternoon and we got an early walk in up to Sunset Rock, a lot of fun despite clouds and cooler temperatures. Dinner at one of my favorites, Cyprus, was Mediterranean in flavor complete with a flaming appetizer (always good for sparks to fly, LOL).

Spoiled me delightfully! Saturday we strolled Highlands, and “he” was decadent with a handful of stylish new acquisitions to my wardrobe. Great to find a man who enjoys unique finds despite his conservative tendencies. Dinner was a riot as there was another couple that got engaged very quietly and I’d been admiring her handbag. After my fifth comment, “he” congratulated them on their occasion, pulled out $100 and said he’d buy her bag for me. I was thunderstruck and giggling hopelessly. She promptly dumped the contents of her purse and handed it over, evidently it had been an outlet mall find! The entire restaurant was agog!

Got a hike in! Sunday we made it up Whiteside Mountain with incredible views and fresh air. The weekend forecast had been littered with rain, but it held out for us. Next plan is the last weekend this month with Cirque du Soleil and Chairish the Future. I have to confess being spoiled is great fun and it has been a very long time since that happened!

Back to work! I’m still hearing that many of you need websites and aren’t sure what to do about it. I will do another website teleseminar but solo this time with the nuts and bolts of how to get your materials together and make it cost effective and profitable. Look below for the MARCH 2nd Social Media Teleseminar!

Prospering by Design, ARE YOU?

MG

We all have a creative spirit whether it manifests itself in a talent for home improvement, sewing, craft projects or perhaps computer programming and writing music. Too often we suppress this side as a part of ourselves we will indulge when there is more time. There won’t ever be more time and we need to develop and nurture our creative spirit at all times. This will help us to be better balanced and rounded individuals and allows us to share gifts with others on another level.

Here are even more opportunities to celebrate your creative spirit!

Garden Magic

I know you are thinking you have a black thumb, well get over it. I thought I did to but just until I really started to dabble in my garden and realized that if something didn’t make it, it might not have anything to do with my thumb, but instead the neighbor’s dog, too much sun, or just a finicky plant disposition. Sharing plants and planting tips is a wonderful way to indulge your creative spirit.

Pick a Saturday and plan to spend the time in your garden and a friend’s sharing gardening tips and digging in the dirt. Be sure to take a pot or two to say thanks for the help and these can go in the garden too. (While I love indoor live plants, my pets love them a bit too much too!) I tend to like an organized chaos of blooms with layering of color and species, others are much more orderly and formal in their choices. There is no right or wrong just what blooms and what needs extra care.

Grow your creative spirit with travels in the garden.

Photo Memories

One of the best gifts I ever got was from a friend that had spent Thanksgiving at my home with another friend. She had taken photos and put them in just a small album. They chronicled my oven catching fire with marshmallows from the sweet potatoes (you do know this tradition, don’t you?) then the arrival of the fire department much to my embarrassment. I offered the brigade a bottle of champagne for their trouble but they politely declined. This same friend then proceeded to land the no longer flaming sweet potatoes on her blouse during dinner! It was a riot and the picture album stayed on my desk for over a year, a happy reminder of a wonderful holiday with friends.

The power of photos is often underrated and while until digitals appeared I had the unique knack of cutting off people’s heads and being perpetually out of focus (thank goodness for digital do-overs), I now take photos everywhere and share them widely. It is a way to capture the present for the future. Celebrate your creative spirit with digital memory making, keep it simple.

Paint a Plate

Sometimes we can take a lesson from the craft projects kids bring home. I often see painted plates in client’s homes and I am familiar with the trend of the last few years to go to a do-it-yourself pottery source where you can paint your own plates and have them fired for use at home. This is an easy creative outlet and fun to wrangle friends or family into joining you.

You can either make the plates for decorative purposes or for everyday. You could even make one as a gift and have everyone sign it with a quote or quip. Personal makes a difference in a world where we can buy everything.

Sign a Pillow

I used this idea when I was back in grade school and realize I am going to resurrect it for my next bash. A large canvas style pillow and a package of colorful sharpie markers can take the place of a guest book and then be tossed into your décor for a memory making accent. Each person that comes in signs the pillow with a comment about the event, and it becomes a personal reminder of a great time.

If you really want to carry this a step further, have everyone sign a flat piece of fabric and then when you have collected enough of these from a few years of celebrations they can be put together to form either a wall tapestry of memories or a floor cloth (sealed with polyurethane). Tap into your creative spirit for preserving moments of celebration.

Jewelry Making

There is such a wealth of bead making places available now, sometimes at a craft show but even at the mall. This is another fun way to realize your creative spirit with handmade baubles and bangles. Whether you make something for yourself or family or friends, it is personal and unique.

This won’t appeal to all. I’d just be interesting in picking the beads out and then moving on and letting someone else do the assembling, but then rumor has it I have ADD! There is still creativity involved and I have friends that would defer on the bead selection and delightedly sit patiently and string them all. (It is great when opposites attract!)

Celebrate your creative spirit with the making of bright and shiny objects.

Home Improvement

You may be one of those TV wonders that keeps up with all the DIY shows and can actually DIY a project! I admire you and applaud you, I am not. This is a creative gift and can save you a lot of money in labor costs, and be a rewarding celebration of your own creative spirit.

Whether you want to tackle a dog house complete with lighting and air conditioning (yes, a friend just did this!), or build a deck off the back of the house or maybe you’ll try something on a slightly smaller scale and complete a simple bird house on a stake, have fun with it, get the kids involved if you have any and be open to help from friends and family.

It is not about doing it yourself but in sharing your creative spirit with others in a generous manner that really makes the difference.

The joys of mountain living! I came home from Atlanta and was finishing taking down the Christmas tree (hey, I’ve got a life and it was an artificial tree anyway so don’t look so surprised!) when I saw them. About a dozen little carcasses that resembled oversized ants with wings. No they aren’t termites. Terminix came out and identified the culprits as carpenter ants, the kind that swarm to find a nest but haven’t yet found one. With luck they’ll decide my home is inappropriate and keep moving on. Right now all I can do is be vigilant!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Yes, “he” is coming up for the weekend. “He” has promised a very special V-day and already got it off on the right foot with a pair of lovely double heart earrings in silver last weekend. He’s far more romantic than I am, LOL!

Cash for GOLD! I know we’ve all seen the commercials and probably many of us have been invited to a gold party. If you haven’t, go! I took a box of my old stuff, my Mom’s and even my godmother’s in and was very pleasantly surprised at the abundant outcome. If you aren’t wearing it, don’t love it anymore, and don’t need it, get rid of it and get some green to show for it. This beats any Goodwill or consignment as you get the green in cash upfront! Go for it.

Prospering by Design, Always

MG

We all have a creative spirit whether it manifests itself in a talent for home improvement, sewing, craft projects or perhaps computer programming and writing music. Too often we suppress this side as a part of ourselves we will indulge when there is more time. There won’t ever be more time and we need to develop and nurture our creative spirit at all times. This will help us to be better balanced and rounded individuals and allows us to share gifts with others on another level.

Here are some opportunities to celebrate your creative spirit!

Craft Corner

Establish a craft corner or room in your home. This can be as simple as converting the spare (guest) room closet into a place for projects that might include sewing, hot gluing, collage making, scrap booking and more. It could be as significant as devoting an entire room to these pursuits or creating an exterior work room/tool bench for the pursuit of significant home improvement projects.

You are more likely to cultivate your creative spirit when you have dedicated space to it and organized the tools and materials in an accessible and fun manner. Baskets and boxes of assorted craft materials with a table surface to work at is often all that is needed. You may even be able to create a make shift space in a laundry closet by designing a drop down cover to place over the washer and dryer and using shelving above to store art supplies.

The key is to unleash your creative spirit in a way that works for you. This can also turn into a place for children to work on their school projects.

Scrapbooks/Scrap-pillows

Scrapbooking is now an actual art form. Gone are the days when it merely meant sliding photos between sticky pages and leaving it at that. Today it is about incorporating all manner of mementos with photos and including clever captions, family sayings, and priceless quotes. The challenge is still of course when will anyone slow down long enough to truly enjoy such artistry. I encourage clients to create wall collages instead that can be displayed on stairwells and enjoyed by all in the family every day.

Scrap pillows is also a unique idea that would make a great gift for family. It entails creating a memory pillow with a silk screen of photos stitched to the pillow and other mementos adhered for collage effect. This is often most effective in a country or Victorian decorating scheme.

Greeting Card Originals

I have a faux finisher and artist friend that makes his own holiday cards. Each is a work of art and I have to confess I never opened my birthday card as he had caricatured on the envelope and I don’t want to destroy it! You don’t have to be an artist and it may be easier to do this for the occasional birthday than to tackle a major holiday with a host of cards all due. You can use computer imagery, color copies, original photos, and collage items (coins, fabric scraps, charms, trinkets) you can make this a personal statement and it can even become the gift.

I remember growing up that whenever we asked my Mom what she wanted the answer was always the same, a letter from each of us. Yikes, I couldn’t buy that and it sounded too easy, for years I ignored the request and loaded her birthdays and holidays with scarves and picture frames and other goodies. The year I finally listened, she burst into tears she was so pleased.

Handmade is so rare these days, it means that much more. Tap your creative spirit so share an original greeting with a friend or family member.

Recipe Swap

Yes, I can cook and very well when I want to but I hate to follow recipes and tend to keep my favorites in my head, under six ingredients with limitless variety of add-ins to make it special (or as some friends say “weird!”) Other friends are awesome in the kitchen turning out dishes that my caterer asks for the recipes! Let’s level the field a bit and do a recipe swap.

Now the fun in this is that you get to sample all the goodies you are getting recipes for. Often this is done at holidays with a cookie swap but since I am never big on following rules, do this a couple of times a year and make one appetizers and another salads or casseroles. It is not limited to the ladies by any means, many men are better cooks and really enjoy it. Do a kebob recipe swap, a novel idea and it will get everybody grilling. Or plan a beverage recipe swap just in time for the heat of summer so you get some fresh punch and summer cooler ideas.

Looking for more fun way to celebrate your creative spirit? Be sure to check out Part II of this article on Best Life Design.