I am feeling so cozy right now. I am sitting in my writing chair, enjoying the quiet of the place. Mark is gone for the day, Chico is sleeping beneath the dog blanket, and Bella is sprawled out on the kitchen rug, chasing something in her dreams. Even the bird is allowing me the time to just sit here and reflect.  It is my favorite time of the day. I am rested and everything is fresh and new. My attention is swimming round, looking for a place to stay…The day is ready.

My cinnamon coffee is doing its job. It is delicious and I can feel the effects of its magic, already. I’m so ready to get going on what will be the day that I finish a big transom. It’s been on my table for weeks. It contains the ashes of my client’s mother. It’s every color of the beach in every phase of the sun…from it’s majestic rise and set- with oranges and reds, textured and smooth, cathedral and opal…it’s every color of blue, like the reflection of the sky across the water. It holds the warmth you can just feel in the tans and sparkly diamond white of the sand. It will hang as an entrance to the pool area. It’ll be perfect there. I can’t wait to see pictures. It will hold the energy of the sun as it sparkles the room. And it’ll hold the romance of the day, dressed for evening, in it’s muted glowing colors. I love what I get to do!!! It’s magic.

Who would have guessed!!!! It wasn’t that long ago when I working in a stressful job, surrounded by people that didn’t seem to like me much, I felt as if I’d never make it…Every day was worse than the day before and I felt stuck…and defeated. Nothing was working out the way that I’d envisioned it. And no matter how hard I tried, people in authority…well, let’s say that I knew I needed to breath and find the joy that I knew was there.

Oh, I was making good money and felt ashamed by my constant internal complaining…so, I decided to try something that I’d only read about. To change my life, I had to change my mind. I decided to like my job and the people around me. I’d be the best that I could be and ignore any of the negativity that had been all around me.  Funny, how things and conditions change when a mindset changes. I decided to be more grateful than I was miserable…and one by one, my bosses disappeared.  No, I didn’t make them disappear…they went to other jobs in other places and I was suddenly working for people that I loved and admired. And being happy and oh, so relieved, I went to work every day, happy! It’s hard to dream of better days when you feel stuck.  But over the years I’ve learned that the only way to get unstuck is to be thankful for what IS working and start from there and that’s what I did. I worked hard and dreamed BIG!

 I began to dream of having a business of my own.  I wrote in a journal as if my dreams had already come true.  So, every day I thanked the universe for all the joy in my life. I wrote, as the owner of my own stained-glass business, about all of the people I’d met and helped. Mind you this was all before I’d even bought a kiln to create the pieces that I do today.  This was before I knew anything about how to start my own business…this was before I even knew that I would be able to create stained glass art that incorporated fused cremation glass. I just knew that I wanted to help people that were grieving. And this was way before any of it had come true….yet, I dared to dream and to believe it could happen. I focused on the end result.

In my dream journal I was retired before I was 60. I wasn’t working in a bedroom or garage…but in my own studio. In my dream journal I was thanking all that is holy for how it felt to spend my days, listening to music, smelling lavender, and creating art that would bless the people who wanted it. I was, especially grateful, in my vision/dream journal, for being able to help people who had lost someone that they loved. After all, that was my DREAM.

Today, I am 64 years old.  I’ve been retired since I was 59. I’ve moved from the kitchen, to the bedroom to the garage, and now have the perfect stained-glass studio.  I own my own business and am my own boss…Turns out I’m pretty understanding if I need a day to play. Everything on that journal page has come to fruition. I am wildly happy and feel blessed beyond measure.  I do believe that thoughts become things…and as one of my favorite teachers have proved to me, it works best when I am deliberate and choose good thoughts. Thanks to Mike Dooley and his amazing work. It’s helped me to realize that I am not stuck…and neither are you. The universe holds everything that you wish for, dream of, and ask for.  A friend of mine taught me, years and years ago, “You have not because you ask not!”  So, now, I ask. I visualize it, believe it’s possible and then I go on my merry way…but I know like I know…it’ll happen, when and how it’s supposed to.   I know it sounds a bit “out there”…but I’m living proof!  Dreams do come true.  You just have to ask. And believe it’s possible…because it is! Happy Tuesday, January 5, 2021.