Thursday, December 25, 2008

'Tis The Season

Hi there! VivBounty here with my year-end message of hope and peace.

At this time of year, whatever your tradition, culture or practice, there seems to be a sense of peace and goodwill toward others. There is a reason for the timing chosen by the myriad of charities around the world to kick their fund-raising campaigns into high gear.

The season seems to foster charity, which it has been said, begins at home. I believe that each soul who crosses our path, friend or foe, no matter what their station in life, has a message for us, it maybe small, it may be huge, but it is always a lesson we need and have drawn to ourselves. It would be nice if as we are rushing about our daily lives, going through our to-do list, we remember to be kinder than necessary as everyone is fighting some kind of battle.

There is also a universal theme of inner reflection, connection to one’s faith or belief which many use to take stock, do some soul searching and realize how very fortunate we are. The fact is that there is always someone, somewhere less fortunate than ourselves.

In that vein, some of my LGT colleagues are involved in some wonderful charities. My friend Fisherman is associated with a wonderful young man who is trying to make his country a better place and has started a social networking group to spread the word. He also has a link to help this young man help the children in his country. My friend TrudyVan’s passion is finding missing children in her country. Over the years I have been involved in sponsoring several children in the 3rd world through World Vision and later sponsoring women surviving war, rebuilding their lives and supporting their families through Women For Women. Currently, my focus is on Canadian Harambee Education Society, a wonderful organization which starts by providing scholarships to Kenyan and Tanzanian girls who qualify for Secondary School placements, but who need financial assistance in order to attend and then goes on to make sure they succeed through their schooling and on into life. These wonderful charities are but a few, but work tirelessly year round to help those less fortunate. I commend and support their effort wholeheartedly.

The festive season is also when most traditions gather with family to celebrate, among other things, the fact that you have a family when so many are lonely. It’s a time to top up ones love tank for the times you may be away from your loved ones, so that you can draw on those wonderful memories as fuel to keep you going until you’re together again.

In our case, the closest relatives are a minimum of 1,000 miles away and the furthest relatives are almost 9,000 miles away. Nonetheless, we had a fantastic Christmas day with lots of wonderful food and drink while connecting with our many relatives around the globe. Thanks to the advent of wireless technology, the Internet and good old telephones, we didn’t skip a beat. We saw some on the web cam, exchanged beautifully animated e-mail with others, spoke with many on the phone and finally shared lovely SMS greetings on the cell phone. The point was that we were all together in spirit and heart regardless of geography.

To my online family, you know who you are; from our home to yours, I hope you have a blessed and joyous holiday season and may the bounty you manifest in 2009 be all that you dreamed of and so much more.
Prosperous Blessings,
VivBounty


VivBounty.blogspot.com

Click HERE to see a beautiful Christmas Lights Display

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Thankful For My Bounty

It is now the week after the US Thanksgiving holiday and I wanted to express my gratitude for my bounty.

There were no training classes over the holiday week so that everyone could spend time with their families. I really missed the camaraderie of training with a team of like-minded marketers.

This was however, the designated time in the year to be thankful for my many blessings. I am fortunate to be manifesting the life I've always wanted to have. Working from home has been my fondest wish for over a decade now and I am profoundly grateful to have been given the opportunity to be doing just that.

In my early days on the Internet I fell prey to all the professional "newbie hunters", as I call them joining every hyped-up, get-rich-quick scheme that appeared in my e-mail In Box. Needless to say I lost my shirt and wore myself out trying to build a home business evenings and weekends while working a full-time day job. I am however grateful for that lesson because like all life lessons, the experience and the time spent is what I call my process of elimination. I have learned as I go through life what I do not want and consequently make different choices when reaching the next fork in the road.

For many years I traveled extensively living abroad for periods of 6 months to 4 years at a time. While this was very exciting and made for great adventure, it meant being away from the people I love most for a long time. When I was living within visiting reach of my family, I worked a full-time job outside the home. The thing that sticks out in my mind about my family visits is that I was always having to leave them in my home early in the morning and not returning from work until supper time. Yes there were times when I worked close enough to dash home for lunch with Mum and sisters while they visited me, sometimes for about 3 weeks, but we still only had 2 full weekends and evenings together in that time. I loved it when they came to spend time with me but it seemed we were always rushing about to fit everything we wanted to do in the short time we had together.

As I get older, I am increasingly aware of how precious life is and how very, very fortunate I am to have my family, even though they now live a mere thousand miles away. My mum is my inspiration and the driving force behind my desire to be the best me that I can be. I have her voice in my head all the time saying how proud she is of me and that is what keeps me striving, reaching and never giving up. I wrote a little toast to Mum a few years back when she retired which just scratched the surface of mine and my sisters' love and admiration for her as the guiding force in our lives.

Shortly before Thanksgiving my mum and one sister visited for a fortnight. We had a lovely time and a much different visit than previous ones because I am fortunate enough to work from home. We were in the midst of the article site building course at Lead Generating Tools but I was able to attend class while my family rested, prepare and share 3 relaxing meals a day with them, take them out sightseeing and best of all top up our love tanks with the bonding that so many of my friends no longer have. My trainers at LGT were so supportive and understanding of my time with my family as one of them takes care of her elderly mum, and another no longer has her mum. Still another online friend, Bryan sadly lost his mum just before mine came to visit and I felt so very sad for him as it was sudden. He however, returned from that sad trip and wrote the most wonderfully inspiring e-mail to his online "family" which I have included here with his permission.

I am so very grateful for all my experiences, positive and not so positive on the Internet and in life, as all of them have led me to exactly where I'm supposed to be right now. By that I mean, in the right home, in the right country, with the right dog, but most of all, married to my soul mate without whom I would not be able to do what I do, and within the safety of whose unconditional love I am free to be all that I AM.

Click here to recognize your own bounty!

May you all feel as blessed as I do this Thanksgiving and always!
Prosperous Blessings,
VivBounty


VivBounty.blogspot.com