People are becoming more aware of how their day-to-day choices about things they used to think of as pretty insignificant, actually have an impact on the environment, and ultimately, on their future quality of life. “Paper or plastic” is no longer just a throwaway line at the grocery store. There are definitely things everyone can do right at home that will have a positive effect, especially when combined with similar small changes made by others. Even one small change multiplied by ten, or a hundred, or a thousand or eventually a million other people, quickly adds up to a huge contribution to preserving the health and wholeness of Mother Earth.

Just start with an examination of the products that are part of daily life, with an eye on whether those things are energy-efficient, earth-friendly, ethically produced, and either recycled or recyclable. Even with a busy and demanding lifestyle, it is possible to decide on one small area at a time to tackle. “Greening” your home doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming, nor does it mean you need to don a pair of overalls and start digging in the compost pile.

For a long time the mantra of the Green movement has been “reduce, reuse and recycle,” and keeping those three words in mind can be the beginning of a new, ecologically sound outlook.

Reduce

Reduce pollution, toxic substances, waste and energy use for starters. Think about cleaning products. At the grocery store, you could choose a citrus-based or vinegar-based cleaner, rather than a product built on toxic chemicals. Many of the new natural products smell fantastic and work every bit as well as, or even better than, the old harsh chemicals, and are better for your family and the environment. This is also true of things like shampoo, laundry detergent, and lotions. Choosing organic products could be the first area where you make a small change of even one or two products, each time you shop.

You can reduce energy use in some very simple ways. Becoming aware of things like turning lights off when you leave a room, turning off the TV when no one is watching so it’s not just expensive background noise, turning the thermostat down just a few degrees in the winter and up a few in the summer all can make a huge difference in overall energy use. Repair leaky faucets and toilets as soon as you notice that there’s a problem. Even one drop per second from a leaky faucet can waste as much as ten gallons of water each week! And if you need to replace an appliance, choose one with an Energy Star rating. You will reap the rewards in your monthly energy bill.

Reuse

Think “upcycle.” This refers to taking something you own or possibly picked up at the thrift store, and turning it into something else that you can really enjoy. Some folks have made this into a personal challenge to come up with the coolest upcycled items. Fabric is number one on the list. Thrift stores are a real bonanza if you’re even a minimally good sewer. Outgrown jeans can become attractive, sturdy tote bags for the market that can be reused for years, and forever eliminate the “paper or plastic” issue. But you don’t really need to be craft-minded to reuse things. Reuse small boxes to send things to loved ones and friends out of state. Donate magazines you’ve read to your doctor’s office waiting room. Start a book exchange in your neighborhood and ask if the local library will let you use them as a drop off and pick up point. Old cell phones can be donated to a Domestic Violence group and given to victims to provide access to 911. Used eyeglasses can be donated to Lions Clubs or often at your eye doctor’s office. You surely can think up many more things to share and “upcycle” once you get started.

Recycle

This is probably the most familiar to everyone because so many places have started recycle programs. Many cities provide brightly colored bags or barrels for recyclable things that will be picked up right at the curbside. You will be absolutely amazed at how much less trash you actually have once you begin to separate out recyclable items and you will be doing something wonderful for the environment. If your city has a recycle program they will provide you with a list of things they accept and what condition they must be in. For example, you won’t need to remove labels from jars, but you will need to rinse the food out of them.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to greening your home, but the first step is the most important.

Tom writes for HeatingOilShopper.com, a leading source of information on a range of topics related to heating oil and home heating options, enabling consumers to find the best Lowell Massachusetts heating oil prices.

Silver & Grace Approved Products

Living a ‘green’ life is part of living a passionate life. Looking for books on bringing passion to other areas of your life? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available on Amazon.

Work with Passion in Midlife and Beyond: Reach Your Full Potential and Make the Money You Need
What Should I Do With the Rest of My Life?: True Stories of Finding Success, Passion, and New Meaning in the Second Half of Life
Ideas in Reality: Making Your Ideas Happen

For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

Ready to live your life full of passion, but not sure what that passion is? You have one! Let’s work together to discover what it is with through my intuitive mentoring. Looking for tools for developing your passion? Check out these fun workshops and courses.

Tip #1: Heat only the rooms you need. Assuming you use central, forced-air heating, it takes a great amount of energy to keep an entire house warm in the winter. There is no benefit to warming a room that you will spend little to no time in.

Do not close heat registers to stop from unnecessarily heating a room. The closed register can cause stress on your ducts and forced-air system. This can lead to leaks in your ducts and costly wear and tear on your system. The better option is to lower your thermostat and supplement with space heaters only where you need them.

Space heaters can be purchased for as little as $20 and can be very economical if you are heating a single room. Gas and kerosene style heaters may save you money but are not as safe and you’ll be breathing spent fuel which isn’t pleasant. Electric heaters have become much safer than the kind you may have had in your home as a child. Most electric space heaters have a tip sensor and are designed to keep little fingers from touching the heating element. What were they thinking with those 1970s designed models?

Tip #2: Use your programmable thermostat. Between heating your home in the winter and cooling your home in the summer, a programmable thermostat can be one of the wisest investments you make all year. Actually programming it will be one of the smartest 15 minutes you’ll spend.

There is no value to heating a home while you are away. Some people contend that it costs more money to reheat a home after allowing it to drop in temperature through the course of the day. This is absolutely not true. The best use of your heating dollars is to start warming the house shortly before family members arrive home. You’ll find that it will actually take very little time to raise the temperature to a comfortable level. To maintain a heated home when nobody is around will cost you far more money as your generated heat will find myriad ways of escaping to the outdoors all day.

Experiment with how low you can keep your thermostat at night – particularly when using a space heater, electric blanket or heating pads, warm bed clothes, socks. Some families I know can actually crank the thermostat down to the low-fifties while sleeping quite comfortably.

Tip #3: Use ceiling fans. This one might be surprising – but the warmest air in your home will be found near the ceiling. A fan at low speed will circulate that warm air back where the people are. If the fan is not quite slow enough and feels like it’s creating too much cool wind, change the direction so the fan slowly blows up. A ceiling fan is one of the least expensive ways to create more comfort in the summer and winter.

Tip #4: Dress warmly. It costs nothing to insulate your body heat with warmer clothing and comfortably enjoy a home temperature several degrees cooler. In particular, always wear socks. Cold feet mean a cold body. You can save about 3% on your heating bill for every degree that you set back your thermostat according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. If you were to lower your temperature just 3-4 degrees this would mean $20 saved on a $200 monthly bill. Put another way, it would cost you $20 a month to wear shorts and t-shirts in your home.

Tip #5: Get a home energy assessment. Watch this video from energysavers.gov to see what typically happens in a home energy assessment: http://sa2.me/energysaver. An experienced home inspector may reveal some major problems in your home’s energy efficiency that could be costing you hundreds of dollars a year in the winter and summer months. If you’d like to conduct a free home audit and receive a number of ideas for saving money in your home, you can analyze your use at http://energyguide.com.

There are many other ways you can reduce your home heating bill this winter. Spend some time and learn about this subject. Your time spent learning how to be more energy efficient will pay you back many time over when your utility bill arrives each month.

Josh Elledge is the Chief Executive “Angel” of SavingsAngel, Inc. – launched from his Holland, Michigan home in January 2007. A husband and father of three, he now appears each week on television, many radio stations and newspapers, teaching families how to cut their grocery bill in half using the Internet. Elledge created the technology found on SavingsAngel.com through the desire to save his own family’s money. Successfully able to cut his own grocery bill from $600 a month to less than $300 a month, his message has reached hundreds of thousands of families. SavingsAngel.com is now growing rapidly throughout the country.

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Looking for books on finances and saving money? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

The Couple’s Retirement Puzzle: 10 Must-Have Conversations for Transitioning to the Second Half of Life
Lost and Found: Unexpected Revelations About Food and Money
LIVE CHEAP AND FREE! Strategies to Thrive in Tough Economic Times

For other Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

My 14-year-old son is my best teacher of staying in the now. I call him Present-Moment Man. He somehow manages to structure the vast majority of his present moments so that they’re filled with the things he loves, and he becomes so deeply absorbed in these pursuits that it’s impossible to pull him out.

I believe present-moment awareness comes naturally to kids, and we adults usually do everything we can to screw it up for them. Kids know life should be fun. Kids know you should follow your bliss, engage in things that excite you, and learn whatever you are naturally, in that moment, inspired to learn.

My son will enthusiastically and quickly comprehend an impossibly-worded manual for some advanced electronic device that I’d rather cut my foot off than attempt operating. He’s a skilled and avid videographer who seems to intuitively know how to use any complicated equipment related to this passion. But the basics of middle-school math elude him; the monumental burden of actually writing down and following through with homework assignments repeatedly proves insurmountable; and I still have to ask him to brush his teeth in the morning.

I confess that I’ve spent many years trying to “rehabilitate” my son – to cure him of his insistent present-moment tendencies so that he would more successfully fulfill teachers’ and society’s expectations of him. But he has proven himself incurable on that front. He is the funniest, kindest, most insightful, happiest person I’ve ever known, in spite of frequent academic failures and the ensuing consequences I impose on him. He simply, peacefully, refuses to expend any genuine effort or energy on anything that does not resonate with him. I still try – valiantly and in vain – to teach him the importance of caring about all of his schoolwork. But secretly, I’m envious . . . and a silent part of me cheers him on.

For most of us, living in the now requires lots of dedicated practice and I’m far from an expert at it. Here are a few techniques I’ve found helpful:

Recharge Your Energy and Joyful Vitality by Dipping into the NOW:

1. Meditate daily, in whatever form and to whatever extent works for you. Meditation has repeatedly been proven to quiet busy mind chatter, providing meditators a far greater capacity to enjoy their present circumstances.

2. Whenever I catch myself ruminating or notice I’m feeling distracted, I use that as a cue to deliberately focus my attention on whatever is taking place in that immediate moment. (When my beautiful, loquacious preteen daughter asks a lengthy question and I blankly answer, “Huh?” I know it’s time to refocus.)

3. When you want to center yourself in the now, deliberately feel. Your thoughts are almost always about the past or the future, so the present moment is a feeling zone rather than a thinking zone. My favorite trick: Just decide, in that moment, to feel your divine self within your physical body. Focus on the sensation of life in your hands, your legs, your toes as you wiggle them. We take it for granted all the time, but it’s a really cool sensation to intentionally crank up your awareness of the buzzing vitality that animates every cell of your being.

4. Move. I love to stretch, feeling the aliveness in my body and knowing that aliveness is my God-self. When you’re focusing on the presence of your God-self inhabiting your form, you’re automatically released from your mental activity. I like to acknowledge in that moment, too, that I extend beyond my body. I can feel the energy in my form, but the energy that is me actually extends beyond my physical self, and I can intentionally extend it as far as I please.

5. If that’s too freaky for you, just focus on your senses. What are you seeing, hearing, touching, right in this second? You can’t focus on your senses while you’re consumed with thoughts, so this automatically brings you into the present. Admire the juxtaposition of colors in your current surroundings. What does your underwear feel like against your skin right now? What does the person next to you smell like? I’m a big fan of the tactile sense. As a mindfulness practice, I really enjoy touching my own skin or interesting fabrics or sticky things, and putting all my attention on the tactile sensations. My art-loving Katy’s Play-Doh is perfect. So yielding, so compliant, so submissive, squishy and warm. Find some Play-Doh and just revel in the texture, the feel of it, that funky smell, those disturbing colors. Listen to it squish. Go ahead and taste it. I won’t tell anyone.

Take a vacation from your exhausting thought patterns by dipping into the now as often as you can.

Unconditional love expert Lisa McCourt is a dynamic speaker, seminar leader and author whose 34 books have sold more than 5.5 million copies worldwide. Her new book, Juicy Joy – 7 Simple Steps to Your Glorious, Gutsy Self, teaches people to embrace “radical authenticity” to fully experience unbridled joy in life. Lisa lives in South Florida with her two children. For a free Juicy Joy audio program, visit http://www.LisaMcCourt.com.

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Looking for books on becoming the best possible you? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

The Hardline Self Help Handbook: What Are You Willing to Do to Get What You Really Want?
Ugly as Sin: The Truth About How We Look and Finding Freedom From Self-Hatred
How to Save Your Own Life: 15 Inspiring Lessons Including: Finding Blessings in Disguise, Coping with Life’s Greatest Challanges, and Discovering Happiness at Any Age

For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

So many hints and tips exist on how to recharge your batteries? But which ones are right for you? We are all unique and recharge in our own way. Through my intuitive mentoring we zero in quickly on your energy blocks and the best way for you to bust through them. To learn more check out Eliza’s Mentoring.

This all started because I did a Tarot reading for myself using a fun layout that looked at different aspects of my femininity. In each post I will share my reading with you and then expand upon the concepts that make up our Inner Goddess. We will cover:

• Mother
• Virgin
• Siren
• Sorceress
• Wise Woman
• Fairy Godmother
• Wife
• Hag
• Amazon

Let’s get started!

Mother – What do I nurture? What do I create?

VIII Swords – Swords represent intellect and communication. The number 8 denotes a completed cycle, but not quite ready to start a new cycle. I nurture communication and my intellect. Using these two abilities, I create the means for women over forty to see  which cycle they have come to the end of, and guide them through the transition to the start of the next cycle. The woman in this Tarot card is wearing a blindfold. I help women to take off that blindfold.

The Mother in Your Inner Goddess

Creation and nurturing is pretty much second nature to women. We are programmed to desire children and to nurture them. This ensures the continuation of the human race. Of course, the desire to actually have children is a generalization. Not all of us desire motherhood. But, it is safe to say we all want to nurture and create in our own ways.

Actually, it is more than a want. We need to nurture and create. When we are blocked from doing so, we suffer. I know all about this in both my personal and business lives. I was so blocked from creating ideas and nurturing people in one job, that my husband literally drove me to work each day with me sitting beside him crying.

My solution to this was to become very clear on what aspects of myself I love to develop. Well, I love communication. Not just nurturing communication between me with someone else, but nurturing it between other people as well. I also love to push my intellect to its limits, in particular finding ways to use my intellect to guide and mentor others.

After a gestation period, which involved the same highs and lows of an actual pregnancy, Silver & Grace was born. The Mother in my Inner Goddess is now perfectly content.

Take a look at the Mother in your Inner Goddess:

1. Is she happy and content, or does she feel blocked and unfulfilled?
2. What does she nurture, or what would she like to nurture?
3. How does she express her creativity?
4. Is there something she would love to ‘birth’ and watch grow?

Not sure of the answers to some of these questions. Ask her! She will tell you. After all, she’s a mother. She loves to give advice.

Discover the Incredible Power of Tarot

I love working with Tarot. It is a powerful tool to explore answers to life’s challenges or simply bring out wondrous information about yourself. It is also a very simple tool to use once you learn some very basic common sense concepts. I have created a guide to get you up and running reading Tarot quickly. Click here to learn the basics for just 99 cents: Tarot & Oracle Card User Guide.

Want to learn more and perform richer readings? Sign up for my fun and interactive online Tarot courses by clicking here: Tarot Online Workshops

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

Having trouble communicating with your Inner Goddess to discover what to nurture and create? Let’s work together through my intuitive mentoring to bring you the contentment that comes when you are completely in touch with your passions. For details check out Eliza’s Mentoring.

There are many styles of yoga and therefore the benefits of practicing yoga will vary depending on the style you practice, on the instructor, and on your dedication to your practice. I have practiced several styles of yoga and have been practicing and teaching Kundalini yoga for almost 17 years but I am definitely not an expert in yoga in general. In this blog, I will briefly describe what yoga is. In my next blog, I will talk more specifically about the spiritual and physical benefits of Kundalini yoga.

The first thing many people ask is: Is yoga a religion? The quick answer is ‘No.’ I think the question really asks: “Am I going to be led into some beliefs that are not me?” The answer to that question is clearly ‘No!’ I feel the need to be clearer. Most yoga practices originated from Hinduism. The Kundalini yoga lineage I follow comes from Sikhism. So yoga practices are related to religions. To understand one needs to get a sense of the difference between Eastern religions and Western religions. In India, at least before western influences, there was no separation between one’s religion and one’s spiritual path or one’s lifestyle. Every moment of one’s life is orchestrated around sacred rhythms. Yoga is an aspect of that. So even though yoga is not a religion in and of itself – and those who brought yoga to the West made sure to remove all connection to spirituality at first as to not turn us off, and made it a physical practice – yoga is originally a practice to connect us to universal consciousness.

Yoga literally means yoke, or what unites things together. The practice of yoga is therefore a practice to experience unity or oneness. Oneness happens by being one with universal consciousness.

When people talk about yoga, they refer to the practice of certain exercises (asanas), breaths (pranayamas), meditations (dhyana), and relaxation, but that’s only one aspect of the practice. Yoga is so much more!

Yoga can simply be translated as being mindful, being in a state of meditation, or if one is not there yet, every moment consciously letting go of distractions and welcoming what is. For instance you can be practicing yoga while gardening, doing the dishes or cleaning up your house, paying attention to everything that happens around you and within you as you do your work. This is called karma yoga. Or you can be practicing yoga while having fun being creative, playing with your kids, or swimming. The yoga of relationships with yourself and others is called White Tantra. It can be done with exercises and meditations or by living it. The yoga of sexuality is Red Tantra. This can be used and abused. To be yoga it needs to be done respectfully, sacredly, with devotion and therefore from the heart, and your entire being (all your chakras as one), not just from the sexual centers.

Patanjali was a physician who became a sage some time between 200 BC and 200 AD. He left us with a treatise on yoga that is still considered the fundamental text on the system of yoga. In it he describes the eight-fold path (or eight limbs) or yoga: Yama (social behavior), Niyama (inner discipline), Asana (posture), Pranayama (life force), Pratyahara (Going within letting go of distractions), Dharana (mind stillness, focus), Dhyana (meditation), Samadhi (Bliss, Unity). Only a few yoga styles are complete in the sense that they include all of these limbs.

Hatha yoga is a style of yoga that is the most popular in North America. Hatha yoga is not complete as it is for the most part limited to postures and relaxations, and includes very little breath work and meditations, although this depends on the instructor. Different schools have come from Hatha yoga: Iyengar yoga (precise alignment oriented, a class is run posture after posture, with instructions and corrections), Anusara yoga (derived from Iyengar but with elements of Hindu spirituality), Kripalu yoga (flowing, often with meditative music and sometimes with incense ), Bikram (Hot yoga, classes are scripted), Sivananda, Integral and restorative yoga. And this list is not exhaustive!

Kriya yoga is a yoga of devotion and was introduced in the US by Yogananda. I recommend his book: Autobigraphy of a Yogi because it is rare that yogis write their own biography and because it is a great source for understanding life directly through the eyes and experience of a spiritual master, not through one of his students. In it he describes his life from before his spiritual awakening and his quest to meet with the saints and gurus or his time.

Ashtanga yoga (literally eight limbs of yoga), or power yoga, is complete and is taught a little at a time through series.

Kundalini yoga is also a complete yoga. It is called the mother of all yogas. It focuses on awareness more than on alignment. It uses everything about yoga even for beginning classes: postures; finger, eye and tongue postures; breath work; mantras; meditations; and relaxation. Kundalini yoga is not taught by instructors but by teachers.

All yoga styles have a common guideline to experience a posture and use the breath to ease into postures. It is this practice that connects us to our body and helps release stress. Iyengar yoga goes at it by asking students to perfect their alignment and stay in postures with the help of props until ultimately the use of props is no longer necessary. Kundalini yoga goes at it the opposite way, less interested in perfecting postures, it is interested in awareness. It is awareness that guides one to perfecting one’s own posture.

Luc Watelet is a passionate Kundalini yoga teacher and Life mentor. He welcomes your questions. He does passion-based counseling, working from people’s love and passion first and then strengths, rather than strengths alone or fixing pathology, to help them on their path. You can find him at: InnerWearth Blog or on his facebook page by searching Luc Watelet. Please send him a message first to let him know who you are and how you know him before asking for a friend request!

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Looking for books on spirituality? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

The Source of Miracles: 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life through the Lord’s Prayer
Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth
The Message: A Guide to Being Human

For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

Life so busy you have lost touch with your spiritual self? Draining, isn’t it? But how do you even start the journey back to you? With a helping hand, that’s how! To learn how my intuitive mentoring can help you quickly get back in touch with your pure essence check out Eliza’s Mentoring?

We all started out gloriously authentic, but our authenticity was beaten out of us. Over and over, we got the message, implicitly and explicitly, that “image is everything,” and “you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.” My friend who works in sales for a mega-publishing company likes to quip, “Anybody who says you can’t judge a book by its cover never tried to sell one.” The cover is all we judge by!

And all of us want our covers to be the shiniest, most impressive covers we can manage to project. But where does that really leave us in terms of self-love and genuine connection with our fellow humans? Our inauthentic tendencies are often woven so deeply into the fiber of our beings that we have no idea they’re even there. People-pleasing is an all-too-common and insidious addiction in our world, and I know I will forever be a recovering addict in that regard.

At the root of all people-pleasing tendencies, and most inauthentic tendencies in general, is a fear of being judged. Many of us grew up with some degree of a fear of abandonment from being found unlovable if we were judged and came up short. And we all judge ourselves to varying extents. If you think you don’t judge yourself, it probably just means you have a judgment about judging yourself.

If you’re sensitive to the criticism of others, consider this: The extent to which you feel hurt by anyone’s judgment of you is directly proportional to the degree to which you subconsciously judge that trait in yourself. If I called you a jerk, you might feel insulted, because most of us have a fear, deep down, that we have the capacity to be jerks. But if I called you a rhinoceros you’d probably just think I was nuts and shrug it off. You know you’re not a rhinoceros, so there’s no way I can insult you with that—unless you have a big nose or a big butt that you’re sensitive about, in which case your own self-judgment would cause you to be insulted.

When you catch yourself in those inevitable moments where you’re not expressing your deepest truth, celebrate it! Celebrate it because you caught yourself and that means—in that moment at least—you’re glimpsing your real self. Any acts of self-improvement must always start with awareness. Becoming ever more aware of the masks you wear will have the marvelous effect of revealing to you—by way of contrast—the one who resides beneath those masks. That’s who you’re looking for. That’s who you want to love.

Steps to Start You Living More Authentically Today:

1. Every time you catch yourself saying yes when you want to say no, smiling when you feel like scowling, or nodding politely through a long conversation you’d rather walk away from, say the words “not me” silently in your head. You won’t be able to change long-held patterns overnight, but just starting to identify them to yourself will put you on the right track.

2. Once you’ve begun noticing which people and situations bring out the “inauthentic you” most frequently, make a list of the perks of that relationship or situation. What are you getting out of it? You may find that you get very little from it, and choose to extricate yourself from those situations.

3. If you find that you do get substantial benefit from remaining in the situation that you’ve been inauthentic in, start looking for small ways to introduce more of the real you into that situation. Sometimes an honest, heartfelt conversation is all that’s needed to clear the air and get you some breathing room. Give the other person the benefit of the doubt, and go into the conversation with the full expectation that you’ll be liked and respected even more for demonstrating your authenticity. (“Mom, I’m so touched by how much you love to cook for me, but tonight I really feel like something lighter. Let me take you out for sushi instead.”)

Worst case, Mom will be offended, but if you consistently express your truth with love and compassion, she’ll get used to the new you and it will eventually inspire her to be more of who she really is as well. Authenticity is the surest route to deepening your relationships with others as well as your relationship with you.

Unconditional love expert Lisa McCourt is a dynamic speaker, seminar leader and author whose 34 books have sold more than 5.5 million copies worldwide. Her new book, Juicy Joy – 7 Simple Steps to Your Glorious, Gutsy Self, teaches people to embrace “radical authenticity” to fully experience unbridled joy in life. Lisa lives in South Florida with her two children. For a free Juicy Joy audio program, visit www.LisaMcCourt.com.

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Looking for some books on how to live authentically? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
You Are Not Your Brain: The 4-Step Solution for Changing Bad Habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking, and Taking Control of Your Life
The Hardline Self Help Handbook: What Are You Willing to Do to Get What You Really Want?

For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

As women we can get so busy nurturing outwards that we lose sight of the importance of nurturing inwards. We then become drained of energy and end up no good to anyone, especially ourselves! Through my intuitive mentoring I will guide you back to you. To learn more check out Eliza’s Mentoring.

The characters are so well explained you can almost see them in your head. You just get the feeling you are right there with them. Sometimes you love them and others not so much, but as the book goes on you find yourself feeling like one of the pack! If you like True Blood this book is a must read … it is destined to be made into a movie! The story line could be considered a fantasy, but Deb and Wendi make you feel like it is just a part of every day life!

When I finished this book, I thought about it every day for months, it just sucks you in and you don’t want it to be over!

Genre: Fantasy; Romance

Michele Burge is a Silver & Grace Book Reviewer. She owns a small business where people love to come just to talk and visit. She has grown and changed just like her business and has recently started her own Reiki Practice which is so much more than a Reiki session. If you are looking for happy, uplifting, and positive thoughts follow Michele on my blog Not always perfect…But always happy ~ A simple guide to a happy life! Be well..Be happy..Be Blessed~

Silver & Grace Approved Products

Bonds of Blood & Spirit: Loyalties has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent book for women. It is available on Amazon.

Bonds of Blood &Spirit: Loyalties

For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Products For Women By Women

I am passionate about providing the Silver & Grace community of vibrant women with reviews of excellent books and products. I am also passionate about supporting the women who pour their creative hearts and souls into these books and products. I invite you to join me in these passions! To become a Reviewer click here for details. To request a review of your book or product click here for details.

It is a common state, but it is also an exhausting state.

Sanaya Roman’s book Personal Power Through Awareness is a guide for clearing away the fog. It is a how to book on living proactively as opposed to reactively.

It all starts with taking the time to be aware.

Aware of your own state of mind, allowing you to understand someone else’s state of mind.

Aware of your own energy flow, allowing you to understand someone else’s energy flow.

Aware of your own emotional triggers, allowing you to understand someone else’s emotional triggers.

Aware of your own body language, allowing you to understand someone else’s body language.

This book was a really important one for me. As an emotional intuitive, I run the risk of blending my energy and emotional state with everyone I come into contact with. We all do it to some extent, but emotional intuitives run the risk of becoming overwhelmed. It’s like being plugged into a huge machine that is draining our batteries at an alarming rate.

The techniques described in this book, however, provided me with instant results.

Take something simple like body language:

If you are leaning forward, you are giving away your energy and trying to push in on other people’s space. If you are leaning way back, you are avoiding their energy, and they are coming at you too strongly. When you are sitting or standing straight, with your shoulders square, you are most in your power, for that is definitely the position of balance and centeredness which allows you to control the energy around you.

After reading this, the very next day I had to sit through six hours of meetings. In these particular meetings I end up extremely frustrated and several of the participants invariably end up hostile to each other. I sat through the entire six hours upright with my shoulders back and relaxed. I remained serene for the entire time. And for the first time ever, no word of a lie, all the other participants remained calm.

Personal power through awareness? Heavy emphasis on power I would say!

Silver & Grace Approved Products

Personal Power Through Awareness has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent resource for women. It is available through Amazon.

Personal Power Through Awareness: A Guidebook for Sensitive People (Book II of the Earth Life Series)

For other approved products check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent, and real you

When we spend a lot of time in reactive mode it is often difficult to break the cycle and move into proactive mode. Need a helping hand to reach in and pull you out of the fog? I have mentoring packages to do just that. Looking for specific tools and techniques to live an aware life? Check out these fun workshops and courses.

More women than ever are now going mobile, and it’s not just with the latest smartphone either. The world of the tablet computer has really been taking off recently, and more and more women are deciding that having one of these devices is the perfect way to utilize the opportunities that mobile technology offers; whether it’s greater use of the mobile phone in their work life or when conducting errands.

Specification meets price

However, if you’ve decided to take the plunge then it can be a little tricky deciding which device to go for. If you fancy a tablet then the obvious candidate is the Apple iPad 2 with its stylish and high performance specification. These devices are pricey though, so if budget constraints prevent you from getting one, there are still rich pickings to be had on the tablet front.

Another route to take could be any of the tablets running the Google Android operating system. You can get a device using this solid and dependable OS for much less than the Apple counterpart and it has a well proven track record. Chances are you may already be using a smartphone that has it installed and, if so, then you’ll know just how dependable a platform this can be.

Modern tech

Another angle worth exploring if you’re a woman who enjoys a mobile working life is of course the mobile Internet dongle, which can be plugged into your laptop or netbook to keep you online, no matter what the location. A great new twist on this though is the MiFi, which is a fairly recent technical innovation that turns mobile broadband on its head.

What this gadget allows you to do is hook up to a mobile broadband account and then share out your signal with up to five other authorised users. So, if you’re a group of women on the move, perhaps travelling together, then by authorising your family, friends or work colleagues travelling with you, the mobile broadband supply can be used simultaneously by everyone.

It’s worth remembering that any data allowance, which is the amount you are allowed to download during a specific period, is divided up between the number of people using it. This means that if you have people who like to download a lot of content then they will eat through your allowance quite rapidly. Nevertheless, if it’s properly managed then the MiFi route can be a great way of keeping not only yourself but others in your social circle connected.

Mobile technology has provided a means to strike a good work-life balance and manage everyday errands and there’s no doubt we’re better at keeping in touch with friends through social media.

This post was contributed by Broadband Genie, the online consumer portal where you can compare broadband suppliers and the latest mobile internet options.

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Looking for books on making more efficient use of your precious time and energy? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

The Principle of Relevance
Don’t Bring It to Work: Breaking the Family Patterns That Limit Success
Work with Passion in Midlife and Beyond: Reach Your Full Potential and Make the Money You Need

For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

Technology is a wonderful thing. But it is true that too much of a good thing is not really a good thing. Technology can create noise and distraction, causing a build up of negative energy without us really be aware of it. Let’s work together to identify the sources of noise in your life, freeing up your energy for reflection and renewal. To learn more about my intuitive mentoring packages check out Eliza’s Mentoring.

I feel supremely confident about my manifesting abilities. I’ve certainly spent plenty of time studying and applying techniques for sending my energy out into the world with the specific purpose of drawing certain things into my life. A friend recently commented on my manifesting successes, with the caveat, “be careful where you point that thing.”

And we should be careful. Because it’s kind of absurd to assume that what we think we want—from our teeny, tiny human perspectives—is what we actually need, or even what would serve us or delight us most. The only thing any of us should ever really be concerned with manifesting is whatever is in our highest good as well as the highest good of all concerned. And most of us mortals walking around the planet have absolutely no clue what that would actually be.

So I’m manifesting from a new position now—a position of total surrender. I don’t make mind-movies or vision boards anymore. Yes, they’d bring me the things I put on them. But the things I’m craving now—the things I’m longing for—aren’t tangible enough to paste on a board. They’re bigger, broader than that—more tinged with delicious unknowing. What visual image can capture the experience of breathless awe? Or truly conscious, connected love? Or the thrill of contribution and being deeply received? Sure, I could find pictures to represent those things, but no pictorial image comes close to stirring the feelings in me that I can generate by simply meditating on those intangible goodies.

Many manifestation experts will instruct you to be as specific as possible. I’m proposing you do the opposite. Make a list of the things you believe you want. Then, one by one, go down the list and see if you can tune into the feeling you believe that item or circumstance will give you. Understand that it’s the feeling you’re really after. Understand that the Universe is way smarter than you, and it might have a kick-butt idea for getting you that feeling—an idea you couldn’t even begin to dream of.

Lean back into the loving arms of the infinitely wise Universe and trust it to deliver. Lose yourself in imagining the feelings you want to feel, and let go of any specific circumstances or requirements you’ve attached to them. Generate those feelings for yourself as often as you can throughout your day and make them the cornerstone of your meditation practice. This is the essence of surrender and the Universe will find it irresistible. You will be dazzled by its compliance.

Unconditional love expert Lisa McCourt is a dynamic speaker, seminar leader and author whose 34 books have sold more than 5.5 million copies worldwide. Her new book, Juicy Joy – 7 Simple Steps to Your Glorious, Gutsy Self, teaches people to embrace “radical authenticity” to fully experience unbridled joy in life. Lisa lives in South Florida with her two children. For a free Juicy Joy audio program, visit www.LisaMcCourt.com.

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Looking for books to help you go with the flow? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

You Are Not Your Brain: The 4-Step Solution for Changing Bad Habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking, and Taking Control of Your Life
The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self

For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

Don’t sweat the small stuff. How often do you hear that? Sounds simple except when there is a lot of small stuff and some large stuff thrown in for good measure. It can be done, and it feels fantastic, but when you are in the thick of it, it can be really hard. That’s where my intuitive mentoring comes in handy. As a compassionate outsider looking in, I can guide you to a place where you can truly let go and let flow. For more information on my mentoring options, check out Eliza’s Mentoring.