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I always knew, some [...]]]> The other day I saw this video on Facebook.  A friend was sharing what she found from a friend.  I loved what they shared so much I’m sharing it with you.  I love the idea of sharing Happiness, or at least sharing HOW to be happier!

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I always knew, some how, that my attitude mattered in how happy I am, and after watching this video, I believe I contain the happiness gene.  I suppose this gives me a bit of an advantage, and explains so much in my life.

I had always wondered how I could survive some of the things I survived, like being abused as a teen, homeless at 17, financial upsets and more, and still come out in the end generally happy. Sure I wasn’t smiling all the time when things were happening, and there were times when I felt lost and could not see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I always seemed to pick myself up, change where I looked, and headed on up to happy before long.

In the video Sonja Lyubomirsky said that 40% of our happiness comes from the activities we choose.  Makes sense.  Are you choosing at least ONE activity each day that you enjoy?  It could be as simple as reading a book, watching a favourite show, calling a loved one, or going for a walk with the dog.

They also shared on the video that taking 30 minutes to “think happy thoughts” like being grateful, produces significant results.  I agree!  Kick-starting your day with a 5 minute JOY Journal is a great daily practice in this direction.  You could also just list 5 gratitudes in your mind each morning before you get out of bed, and again before you go to bed.  You could watch videos of laughing children or funny pet videos. 

You don’t really need to do that 30 minutes all in one shot.  You could give yourself six 5-minute shots a day too.

Nutrition affects your brain too.  Are you getting enough Vitamin B?  Is your brain getting enough of the good carbs?  I”m talking veggies, not bagels.  How do you expect your brain to function properly when you don’t give it what it needs?

Balanced nutrition, hormone levels and fitness can all boost your thinking power.  What’s one thing you can do each day to bring more balance in these areas?

I truly believe that Thinking Yourself Happy doesn’t need to be hard.  Take baby steps each day, and you’ll notice a difference right away.  You really can afford 5 minutes a day towards your happiness.

Dream BIG!

Velma Gallant
The Queen of JOY!
Founder and Host of Welcome Changes Radio

PS ~ I’m thinking that Sonja Lyubomirsky would be a great interview for Welcome Changes Radio.  What do you think?

There’s something “not quite right” that needs to be checked out.  So I’m getting it checked out on Friday.  BUT I won’t hear the results until the new year.

UGH!

First thing to set [...]]]> Earlier this week I had a routine check up with the doctor that turned out to be not so routine.

There’s something “not quite right” that needs to be checked out.  So I’m getting it checked out on Friday.  BUT I won’t hear the results until the new year.

UGH!

First thing to set in?  Fear.  What if…

What if it’s something bad?  (And really…what if it’s not?)

I have to say this one gripped me for a bit, and I’m not entirely loose from it’s grip.

AND…

As with all Experiences that come across our path, there are no coincidences, so what’s the Gift?

What’s the Gift in this for me?

Life IS too short.

Life is too short to be sad and scared.

Life is too short to be so insanely busy you hardly have time to breathe.

It doesn’t matter if I live to be 102…Life IS too short to be wasting it on anything other than JOY!

Someone was sharing the other day that they were sad most of the time.  Nothing was truly bad in their life, but they woke up feeling sad most of the time.

Life is too short for that too!

It did bring me to an observation though.  When am I in a state of Peace?  What’s going on when I experience that?

Was it when I was being grateful for those things in my life?  That’s pretty good, but there have been times when what I had didn’t matter.  I AM grateful, and that IS a good feeling, but it didn’t necessarily bring me that Peace.

The one time I did reach that state of Peace was actually when I was experiencing Appreciation for myself.

The most recent instance of this was when I was noticing how I have recently been able to look at almost all of the people in my life and just feel love.  Just pure and honest love.

It didn’t matter that they did things differently than I do.  It didn’t matter that they pointed out I should be doing things like they do.  It didn’t matter that they were doing things the “hard way”.  None of it mattered.

All that mattered was that I loved them.  They’re exactly who and where they are supposed to be and I love them.

It was a truly amazing thing to be able to appreciate myself the way I usually appreciate others.

Life IS too short to feel anything other than Love…for others…and most of all for myself.

Love,

Velma

PS ~ Life IS too short, and if this can at all support you, I hope you take advantage of this.  I am offering until the end of the year my JOY Journal Program for just $11.  That’s $22 off the regular price.  This process turned my life around, and I would not have gotten to THIS place without my Journaling process.  Use the coupon code “LIFEISTOOSHORT” to get your $16 discount.  Buy the JOY Journal Program here.

My beautiful day actually started last night. 

My Grandma (who’s in her 80’s) gave me a call to wish me a Happy Birthday.  We talked for about 30 minutes, and shared some laughs.  I told her some stories about some of the things we are experiencing with our son, including his broken [...]]]>

My beautiful day actually started last night. 

My Grandma (who’s in her 80’s) gave me a call to wish me a Happy Birthday.  We talked for about 30 minutes, and shared some laughs.  I told her some stories about some of the things we are experiencing with our son, including his broken finger and his distress with it.  Can’t play video games as well with a broken finger you know!

Then I check my Facebook accounts (I have two…private and public) and Birthday wishes were filtering from friends and family around the world.

I hopped out of the shower, and my birthday gift from my husband and son was sitting on the bed.  It was something I really REALLY wanted…one of those hand held blenders.  Mine pooched a long time ago, and I just didn’t get around to getting another one.  This one’s pretty fancy with multiple speeds, and looks heavy duty! 

I’ve been paying more attention to nutrition with my quest to bring my body into balance this year.  I’ve been enjoying reading Nourishing Traditions and learning a lot.  Quite fascinating actually.

My husband took me out for a scrumptious breakfast after our workout.

The sun is shining, and we are supposed to get up to a balmy -13C today (which is quite beautiful after yesterday’s -38C with the wind chill).

All in all it’s been an absolutely FANTASTIC day!

And, as the tradition with just about everyone on the internet, I do have a Gift to share with you too.

If you head on over to http://welcomechanges.com/products-services you can use this coupon code (happy) to get 44% off of anything on the site.  That includes all the digital products (the whole TWO of them…Juicy Bites of Welcome Changes Ebook and JOY Journal Audio Program) and the coaching packages as well.  After all, it’s my 44th Birthday.  A Banner Year!

I am grateful for all the many blessings my life is filled with, and I’m reminded on a daily basis how beautiful my life truly is…even with all the bumps, curves and potholes. 

Love,

Velma

PS ~ The Coupon Code of “happy” will be valid until midnight November 30th, so don’t wait too long to take advantage of it.

PPS ~ This is the first time I’ve offered a coupon on coaching packages too.  You could save over $1100!  (It will give you 44% off of the monthly payment plan for 6 months as well.)

An after I published PPPS ~ I goofed…it won’t work for the subscription, but if that’s what you need, I’ll still give you the 44% discount. We’ll just have to process this another way.

It seems like we’ve been together forever, and it seems like just yesterday when he was on one knee proposing to me beside Lake McGregor on the way to visit my Mom.

We’ve laughed a lot, and we’ve cried a lot [...]]]> I’m thrilled to be celebrating our 11th Anniversary with my wonderful Hubby!

It seems like we’ve been together forever, and it seems like just yesterday when he was on one knee proposing to me beside Lake McGregor on the way to visit my Mom.

We’ve laughed a lot, and we’ve cried a lot over these years.  It’s been easy, and it’s been difficult too.  We’ve been through some pretty major ups and downs together.  One of the major ups was the birth of our son.

And…

It’s all been worth it.  I’m looking forward to the next 39 years.  (We figured it out…We’ll be in our mid-80’s…we could reach 50 years!)

Please join me in celebrating.  A celebration is always made better with friends!

I also want to share a gift with you, because isn’t that what everyone does?  I’m almost always different, but I can be the same sometimes too!  Please enjoy $11 off of my Joy Journal Audio Program.  When you click the buy now, use the coupon code of HAV (short for Happy Anniversary Velma).  I’m going to leave the coupon code active for just one week, so it expires on September 24th.

Today is a Joy-filled day for me.  Thank you for Celebrating with me!

Dream BIG!

Velma Gallant
The Queen of JOY!

PS ~ I don’t really have a PS, but this was looking naked without one!

He’s looking forward to the Easter Bunny coming too.  He doesn’t get a lot of candy, and he’s OK with that.  When the Easter Bunny comes to our house, he hides [...]]]> Easter Break is coming.  We received the notice in our son’s backpack.   Six days off, plus off early on Thursday.  He’s tickled.

He’s looking forward to the Easter Bunny coming too.  He doesn’t get a lot of candy, and he’s OK with that.  When the Easter Bunny comes to our house, he hides plastic eggs with change in them.  He’s hoping for lots of Loonies!  (For those of you who don’t know, that’s the Canadian $1 coin.)  He has such fun, and so do I watching him zip around the house looking for the plastic eggs.

Easter also seems to make Spring official.  Daffodils are at the flower shops, and maybe even peaking up in some gardens too.  (I don’t have any, but I’m looking for signs that my transplanted rose bushes survived the Winter.)

Spring is all about New Beginnings too.

I’m ready for it!

I have made some decisions, and I’m ramping up to make some more decisions.

One decision I made was to ease up on the Welcome Changes Radio schedule for the summer.  There will be no shows for the last week of July and the last two weeks of August.  I felt this would be much more kind to me than trying to pre-record shows, which would require me essentially doing two shows in one week, just to have one pre-recorded show.  That’s a lot of work!  Besides, if I’m not kind to me, how can I expect anyone else to be kind to me? I have to set a good example. 

I made a decision to launch a group coaching program in May called “Joy Made Easy…and Fast!” which will be a six month program, limited to 8 individuals.  If there is enough of a response, I’ll create two separate classes.

I also made a decision to close the doors on “Joy Made Easy” Community Coaching.  The program didn’t work out as I had hoped.  This is okay with me.  I received a lot of clarity from this experience. 

I’m flirting with some other decisions, including researching fermented foods, and possibly incorporating more raw food into my diet.

Anyway, enough about me and my decisions.

The question is, are you ready to make some decisions?

Have you already made some decisions?

Are you flirting with some decisions?

If you are flirting with decisions this may be of value for you.  I’ve created an Easter Break Special with two of my favourite products.  Juicy Bites of Welcome Changes, and JOY Journal Audio Program.  I’ve reduced their prices both down to $19.  That’s an $8 savings on the ebook, and $14 on the audio program.  The special is ONLY available here:  http://welcomechanges.com/easter-break.

This special is only available as long as that page is live, which will be until April 16th.

Remember, don’t go to Juicy Bites of Welcome Changes or JOY Journal Audio Program.  If you go there, you’ll be paying full price. 

Go to http://welcomechanges.com/easter-break and you’ll get the special price of $19 each.

Now, I must look for some elbow, knee and wrist pads so I can learn how to Rollerblade.  That’s another one of my decisions. 

Have a FANTASTIC day, and a Fabulous Easter!

I got SPRING FEVER!

Dream BIG!

Velma Gallant
The Queen of JOY!
Host of Welcome Changes Radio

PS ~ If you’ve made some strong decisions and you’d like to plurk (play+work=plurk) together to make it happen, visit here:  http://welcomechanges.com/products-services/private-sessions/.  Request your interview to begin the process.