The Three Essentials

"Three essentials: Know what you're doing, love what you're doing, believe in what you're doing."
-- Steve Musseau


What a great quote!
 
Know what you're doing:
We live in a time of the savvy consumer, a time when word-of-mouth is paramount. It is important for us to be knowledgeable. Know your products. What is the best way to do this? Use them! Get on the floor and play with your children. Plus take advantage of the training available. Read books and blogs and articles about child development. This doesn't have to take mass amounts of time but it is essential. Just like any other career has a training program and a learning curve, so do we.
 
Love what you're doing:
I truly love what I do. I wake up in the morning excited to face a day of possibilities. When we are passionate about something, it shows and people are attracted to that. They want to be a part of something that gets people that juiced. Let your passion shine through in everything that you do. You will be amazed at how people react!
 
Believe in what you're doing:
Can you think of anything more important or exciting than the future of our children? We have the opportunity to help parents learn about the way developmental play impacts brain development. What a mission we have! To me, it means so much to see a child truly engaged and learning with their whole brain. There are so many that have completely tuned out and it makes me sad to see it. I believe that we have something important to share and if we don't do it, who will?
 
Being a part of this company is so much more than just moving product from producer to consumer. It is the opportunity to change a life. It is the chance to help a child soar to reach their potential. It is the opportunity to help someone reach their dreams and goals. Who are we to keep that to ourselves?
 
I encourage you to step out of that comfort zone and talk to someone new today. Realize what we have to offer and then offer it. You never know who you might meet along the way!

In Search of Solitude

For the past week or so, I just haven't quite been feeling my usual self. I've still been in a fairly good mood and still been happy to talk with people and share all I have to share, but underneath it all, there was something that just wasn't quite right.

 
Then yesterday came and it was just a compilation of little things that became a much bigger deal than they needed to and I was downright grumpy. I even burned the cookies I baked. That was the final straw.

 
And then the realization came: I haven't been having my quiet time. I've been sleeping in and missing my time of reading and journaling that normally starts my day. It had become much more hit-and-miss over the last month. The effects had finally caught up with me.

 
So this morning I got up with the alarm, made my coffee and sat down to start doing my morning routine. Ahh. Things were feeling right. And then my son woke up early. No big deal - he went downstairs to watch a little something. But not 5 minutes had past when I heard the call from the basement. He had spilled the tea I had left in a mug next to the couch last night. Sigh. I got up to dab it out of the carpet. Apparently since I was the one who left the tea in a bad spot, I was the one that had to clean it up.

 
Okay so I came back upstairs and got back on track. Then I spilled my coffee on the couch. Bigger sigh (maybe some cursing too). I got up and cleaned up the mess that I had made. I sat down again and looked at the words I had just written in my gratitude journal: "I am so thankful for this quiet time to start my day and help me focus." The words were ringing hollow at that moment.

 
I continued on. Once I finished journaling, I picked up the book I was reading only to discover my bookmark had been removed. This was becoming laughable - except that I wasn't laughing. When I finally found my page and started to read, things began to fall into place. It's an excellent book, entitled Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk.

 
The lesson I learned? Things don't always go smoothly and sometimes when we think we've got the perfect plan, obstacles will arise and try to derail us. How we react will determine whether we succeed or fail. I could have very easily walked away and said that I'd try again tomorrow. But I didn't. I stuck with it and ultimately - eventually - it became a beneficial time that did help me focus.

 
We usually don't have to look very hard to find reasons or excuses to give up on something. But when we look for the lesson and push through, ultimately it is worth it. That is when true growth happens. Look for the lesson and of course, be willing to laugh - especially at yourself!

Focus, Cindi....Focus!

I had a bit of an epiphany over the weekend with regards to my blogging. I am a little unfocused. I have several things that I am passionate about but the 2 biggest are inspiring other women (which was supposed to be the purpose behind this blog) and more recently, food and food production.

For that reason, I am starting a separate blog for all my food-related posts. Also, I realized that I send these great emails to my Discovery Toys team every morning and thought I should start sharing them with you. So you can look forward to those each morning.

I hope that by streamlining and focusing this will become more coherent and enjoyable!

I'm not out to change the world...well, maybe a little bit

At my Weight Watchers meeting this morning, I realized that some people might view me as a bit of an extremist.... I bake my own bread, I soak and dehydrate nuts, I buy only organic meat and strive to buy as much local food as possible, I get up at 7:30 every Saturday to make it to the farmers' market before 9AM, I eat hemp seeds for breakfast....

And then there was the microwave... There were many comments on- and offline about this. One person who is dear to me said "You can blog all you want about the evils of microwaves but I'm not getting rid of mine." My response was simply, "I didn't ask you to."

That's the point I want to get across. My purpose is merely to share information and how it has affected me and leave the decision making up to each of you. I realize not everyone is going to run out and purchase a dehydrator or burn their Costco membership cards. I would never suggest such a thing - I have a Costco membership myself. I just find I don't go there as much anymore.

I am on a journey - we all are - and at each stop I make, I want to learn something and maybe share something I have discovered as well, like that full-fat yogurt is worth the 2 points versus non-fat 0-point artificially sweetened yogurt. I tend to be rather passionate and outspoken. My hope is merely to cause people to think. If there is something I share that seems like a good change that would work for you, I encourage you to try it. A friend of mine, after a deep discussion about organics, local food and such emailed me the next day to let me know she didn't buy the Chilean grapes. That made me happy!

Its about looking for ways that we, with small changes, can make this a better place to be and live more fully aware. It is about realizing that "dominion over the earth" implies a partnership and symbiotic relationship with its other inhabitants. So, no, I'm not out to change the world. I'm just on a journey and I want to share it with you.

There's A Reason They Call It "Nuking"

Alright so I've been on the fence about this one for a while, but yesterday during a side-discussion at a meeting, a friend of mine said to me "You don't still own a microwave, do you?"

I had to admit that I do and that I use it - not terribly often, but at least once a day to heat up my coffee and maybe one other time during the day to heat up something else, like leftovers. I have at least learned not to use plastic containers for reheating but I have to confess, I use my microwave.

Said friend emailed me some pictures and an article, Ten Reasons To Throw Out Your Microwave (see below). It was quite enlightening. Although I had heard about how it changes the molecular structure of food, what I realized through a bit more research is that it actually kills the molecules. There are bi-products created when we microwave food that our bodies don't know what to do with. Plus if you use plastic wrap in the microwave, the level of carcinogens is astronomical. There are many, many articles on this and I encourage each of you to check them out and decide for yourself.

So we are experimenting. Today, the microwave is going into storage. I have a feeling it won't be that hard to live without. I can put my coffee in a thermal travel mug and reheat leftovers in a pot on the stove. I'll keep you posted. Until then, here are the photos and the article:











Ten Reasons to Throw out your Microwave Oven
From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical
studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting in our kitchens.
Based on this research, we will conclude this article with the following:

1). Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long
term - permanent - brain damage by 'shorting out' electrical impulses in the
brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].

2). The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products
created in microwaved food.

3). Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by
continually eating microwaved foods.

4). The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term,
permanent] within the human body.

5). Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or
altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body
absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.

6). The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals
when cooked in microwave ovens.

7). Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths
[tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in
America .

8). The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to
increase in human blood.

9). Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system
deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.

10). Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional
instability, and a decrease of intelligence.

FORENSIC RESEARCH DOCUMENT
Prepared By: William P. Kopp
A. R. E. C. Research Operations
TO61-7R10/10-77F05
RELEASE PRIORITY: CLASS I ROO1a

To Do List for Today: Nothing

First of all, my kids are awesome. Yesterday, the car was loaded up, the gas tank was full and we were just hitting the road for a 2-day trip to Calgary. We were going to see friends - one of whom, Little Star, has been battling cancer on and off for the past 2 years (did I mention she's only 3?) She has been doing well & they are scheduled to return home next week so we wanted to go see them before they left Calgary. However, Little Star wasn't feeling well yesterday so her mom said it probably wouldn't work to get together.

Why are my kids awesome? Because, already in the car and on the road to the Calgary Zoo, I told them I was turning around and taking them to school. Yes, there were a few tears but ultimately they understood and their concern shifted from the fact that they wouldn't be going to the zoo to the fact that Little Star wasn't feeling well.

Okay, so now I can get to the point. Every day I do a to-do list and email it to my accountability buddy. I had sent one before we left saying that we were going to Calgary for the next two days. When I got back home, I was in an interesting frame of mind - kind of sad, kind of tired, kind of restless. I didn't know what to do with myself. Technically, I was out of town so I didn't need to announce to everyone that I was back. On the other hand, here was an opportunity to catch up on some things - that fridge won't clean itself. I had a mile-long list of phone calls I could make...

After talking to my accountability buddy on the phone, I send her another list:
To Do List for Thursday:
Nothing

Ahhhh! It felt great! I realized the need to just take a day off and do nothing. Can't remember the last time I ever did that. I've taken days off from work but I usually end up filling them with other things. I even took a nap! I never nap! I paced back and forth deciding if I actually should take a nap and then found myself laying down under the covers in the middle of the afternoon. Heaven!

The world continued on without me. I can power-down for an afternoon without self-combusting. I am not indispensable. I am worthy of a day of nothing-ness and recuperation.

I can start today feeling much better and more focused. I feel well rested and ready to take on the day. The bags are re-packed for our trip which begins after school today.

As for the fridge, well, there's always next week.

The Road to Greatness

The subtitle of my blog is "Stories along the road to greatness." Today marks the 30th anniversary of a most memorable journey along that road. I am inspired and know that I have no excuses. May you find your road today and everyday and may you find the strength to travel it.