This just came to me via email. I thought it was pretty nice so I thought I’d share it with you. Please copy & share it with your friends...

1: Falling in love.
2: Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3: A hot shower.
4: No lines at the supermarket.
5: A special glance.
6: Getting mail or email from someone special.
7: Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8: Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
9: Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10: Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11: A chocolate milkshake (vanilla or strawberry works too).
12: A bubble bath.
13: Giggling.
14: A good conversation.
15: The beach.
16: Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17: Laughing at yourself.
18: Looking into their eyes and knowing they love you.
19: Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20: Running through sprinklers.
21: Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22: Having someone tell you that you’re beautiful.
23: Laughing at an inside joke with ture friends.
25: Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
26: Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
27: Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
28: Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
29: Playing with a new puppy or kitten.
30: Having someone play with your hair.
31: Sweet dreams.
32: Hot chocolate.
33: Road trips with friends.
34: Swinging on swings.
35: Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
36: Making chocolate chip cookies.
37: Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
38: Holding hands with someone you care about.
39: Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
40: Watching the expression on someone’s face as they open a much desired present from you.
41: Watching the sunrise.
42: Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
43: Knowing that somebody misses you.
44: Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
45: Knowing you’ve done the right thing, no matter what other people think.

Remember: Tomorrow is not promised so live each day with purpose & passion! Enjoy your day!

To Your Success!

Pam Lawhorne

PS - I just added some new pictures to my page. Looking for some feedback. Please go to my profile, take a look and tell me which ones you like best.

Pam Lawhorne is a serial entrepreneur, small business expert and creative marketing consultant, who provides advice, guidance, and encouragement to aspiring CEO's around the nation in her popular seminars and publications. She is the Chief Empowerment Officer of Empower U, Incorporated, a training and consulting firm that specializes in interactive workshops, seminars and coaching programs.

Ms. Lawhorne is the author of From Minimum Wage To Getting Paid! - How To Become A Successful Entrepreneur With No Money, Education Or Experience! and she is also a syndicated columnist who writes articles on empowerment, entrepreneurship, personal development, creative marketing and real estate investing. Her articles appear nationally in newspapers, magazines, and on numerous business websites and on-line publications. For additional information please visit her website: www.PamLawhorne.com.

So it’s been a minute since I’ve been here... writing that is. Articles, newsletters, my book... everything! So when I say it’s been a minute - I really do mean it’s been a minute! Why? Well life comes at you fast and unlike the nationwide commercials, in real life things do not just suddenly just fall into place when the 30 second commercial ends.

I don’t know if you’re like me but it seems that 2008 (even thought it was supposed to be great) got off to a really rocky start. Professionally, I had some break throughs and personally, I had some break downs. When the world is going at 100 miles per hour, and your life is going at 200 miles per hour what do you do? You catch up and move forward...

I spoke to my friend Les Brown recently and he told me I sounded ill. I’ll refrain from the words he used, it wasn’t any profanity or anything like that but it was personal. We talked very briefly about the situation and he told me to "grow" through it and learn from the process. WOW...

I consider Les Brown "the great motivator", and while I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know him outside of hearing one of the many speeches and presentations that he does, I am still always in awe at how he can just say one thing to you, in a certain way that lets you know he cares, makes you feel special and lets you know that someone understands. I also took from that conversation that this too, what I was going through, was part of the learning process and that it was an opportunity for me to grow as a person. And trust me... I have and still am growing as a person and will continue to grow from this experience. If you’re reading this, I’m not sure if you’re going through something today but if you are guess what? You too can learn from it and move on.

So when life comes at you fast, like the great motivator Les Brown says, "don’t try to get through it, grow through it." And when it’s all said and done you’ll notice that you are wiser, smarter and stronger from the experience!

Remember: Tomorrow is not promised so live each day with purpose & passion!

To Your Success!

Pam Lawhorne

PS - I just added some new pictures to my page. Looking for some feedback. Please go to my profile, take a look and tell me which ones you like best.

Pam Lawhorne is a serial entrepreneur, small business expert and creative marketing consultant, who provides advice, guidance, and encouragement to aspiring CEO's around the nation in her popular seminars and publications. She is the Chief Empowerment Officer of Empower U, Incorporated, a training and consulting firm that specializes in interactive workshops, seminars and coaching programs.

Ms. Lawhorne is the author of From Minimum Wage To Getting Paid! - How To Become A Successful Entrepreneur With No Money, Education Or Experience! and she is also a syndicated columnist who writes articles on empowerment, entrepreneurship, personal development, creative marketing and real estate investing. Her articles appear nationally in newspapers, magazines, and on numerous business websites and on-line publications. For additional information please visit her website: www.PamLawhorne.com.

If only self improvement advice were free and scattered around everywhere, then there will be no problem regarding life, happiness and success. But then again, this is life and it simply does not work that way.

What would you do if you were trapped in an environment that you did not want to be in?

What if you were sick and tired of your job?
If this is you, then what can you do to solve this dilemma?

It is possible to take inspired and motivated action to survive your present situation and live the life you always dreamed of.

It's not going to be easy though... you'll have to come out of your comfort zone to discover your potential and opportunities that are awaiting you. You'll have to conquer your fear and take both calculated and uncalculated risks. You have to stay focused and persevere despite the difficulties you will encounter...

Success does not come easy. It takes heart, passion, time and oh yeah, don't forget - experience is also a factor. The learning you get from everyday life becomes your foundation. These are the things we do not need to pay for - just work for.

You'll have to work harder, dig deeper, and sacrifice more to attain your ambitions. But in the process you do not have to hate the world and feel bad when you encounter difficult situation. Just remember the Law of Attraction. If you hate the world, the world will hate you back. If you love the world, the world will love you right back!

So getting back to the question...

What can you do? Below is some free advice to help you face the difficult situations in your life. They will also serve as your guide to improve yourself.

1. Learn to love your current situation, see all the positive sides of life and be enthusiastic. Love your boss, your coworkers, your family, your friends, and even strangers that you meet on the streets.

It may not be easy, but nothing is impossible with a strong will power. Just do not fall in love so much in love with your current situation that you totally forget about your dreams. Love, but try to hold on to reality.

1. Balance is the key. Dream and take some positive action to move you toward your goals and take it one step at a time.

While you are slowly starting on the long journey to success, be patient and be as enthusiastic as possible. Do not hurry up too much that you totally forget how to enjoy life. Appreciate the beautiful things you will encounter on the journey.

One day, you will finally attain what you have always longed for. And when that day comes, do not look down on those who belittled you. Forgive, forget, move on.

1. Stay humble. Do not criticize others when you see that you are becoming more successful than they are. Try to help them. Inject your positive aura into their personalities. When you give, you will yield back equal or greater rewards.




2. Are you ready to begin the journey? Start it with the courage and desire to improve your life. Survive and go through it with persistence, enthusiasm, and positive thinking. Finish it with a resounding bang of accomplishment and with the desire to help others succeed as well.

I can give you tons of advice on things you can implement into your life that will help you improve yourself and change your life. The important thing to remember is that whatever is going on in your life, you are not alone. There are others in much more difficult situations so even thought it may seem like it's easier to complain when you really think about it it's much more easy to just be grateful.

To Your Health, Wealth & Happiness!

Pam Lawhorne

Pam Lawhorne is a serial entrepreneur, small business expert and creative marketing consultant, who provides advice, guidance, and encouragement to aspiring CEO's around the nation in her popular seminars and publications. She is the Chief Empowerment Officer of Empower U, Incorporated, a training and consulting firm that specializes in interactive workshops, seminars and coaching programs.

Ms. Lawhorne is the author of From Minimum Wage To Getting Paid! - How To Become A Successful Entrepreneur With No Money, Education Or Experience! and she is also a syndicated columnist who writes articles on empowerment, entrepreneurship, personal development, creative marketing and real estate investing. Her articles appear nationally in newspapers, magazines, and on numerous business websites and on-line publications. For additional information please visit her website: www.PamLawhorne.com.

The above article is copyright 2003-2008 by Pam Lawhorne. Permission to repost is freely granted so long as the text is not altered in any way, and the copyright and link are included.

With the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives, we often find ourselves yearning for a quieter, more balanced life. If your life has come to resemble an endless race to the finish line, take a look at the suggestions below to bring a greater sense of peace, calm and even simplicity back into your life.

Tip # 1: Manage Your Time Better

Having effective time management skills will allow you to spend more time with your family and friends. Not great with time management? Then here are a few steps to help you improve your skills:

• Prioritize your time by rating tasks in the order of importance and urgency then direct additional time to activities that are most meaningful to you.




• Deal with procrastination by using a day planner, breaking large projects into smaller ones, and setting short-term deadlines.




• Keep a record of how you spend your time, including work, family, and leisure and make adjustments accordingly.




• Save time by focusing, concentrating, and realizing when it’s time to delegate responsibilities to others.




• Don’t over or under commit yourself or commit to anything that’s not important to you.

Tip # 2: Learn Healthy Coping Strategies

Living a balanced life means that it’s important to learn healthy coping strategies. We all get overwhelmed from time to time so we need to know how to deal with stress and issues as they arise. One way to do this is by recording stressful events, your reaction to it, and how you could have reacted in a journal.

Using this information, you can change unhealthy coping strategies into healthy ones. This will help you focus on the positive and what you can change or control in your life.

Tip # 3: Evaluate Your Lifestyle

You may not realize this but in most instances our behavior and lifestyle choices greatly affect whether or not our life is balanced. To get things into perspective examine your beliefs to reduce conflict between the life you believe you live and the life you really live.
This does not bring balance directly to your life, but it can interfere with the way your body deals with stress in edition to other issues. If your perception is different from your reality try to:

• Balance your personal, work, and family needs according with your other obligations.




• Get to know yourself by spending some quality time with ‘you’. This will help you to find your sense of purpose in life.




• Don’t drink or smoke and make sure you get enough sleep. These are major stressors to your body and cause you to feel “out of balance”.




• Yes your doctor was right - You need moderate exercise several times a week and a balanced diet for a physical and mental strength. Think about it… how do you feel after you eat a big mac? Enough said!




• Do something for someone else and expect nothing in return. This will help boost your “feel good” endorphins!

Tip # 4: Have A Support System In Place

Sometimes we need someone to talk to and having a support system in place keeps you balanced because you know you have someone to turn to. Having a positive support system in place is like having “mental security.” You know that you are cared for, loved, esteemed, and valued by those you care for the most. If you don’t have a support system in place the best place to start is to look within your family, friends, church and the community. Research indicates that having social support leads to having better mental and physical health and a better overall quality of life.

Tip # 5: Change Your Thinking

When an event triggers negative thoughts, this may cause you to feel out of balance. Usually when this happens you experience fear, insecurity, anxiety, depression, rage, guilt, and a sense of worthlessness or powerlessness. These are all emotions that trigger your mind and body to disconnect and cause you to react instead of act.

When issues such as these come up the best way to get your self back into a safe zone, where you feel you are in control is change your way of thinking and act (not react) on the problem. To change your way of thinking start by:

• Ridding your mind of any irrational thoughts. This will help you avoid exaggerating the negative thought, anticipating the worst, interpreting an event incorrectly, and will eliminate unnecessary stress.




• Learning to solve your problems by identifying all aspects of the issue. Then instead of putting it off find ways to deal with it immediately.




• Changing your communication style so that you communicate in a way that makes your views known without making others feel put down, hostile, or intimidated. Poor communication causes a lot of issues that otherwise would never have surfaced.

By implementing a few of these tips you may also increase your performance and productivity which in the end will help reduce your stress and allow you to focus on what matters most to you: Living.

Living a simpler life is all about learning how to slow down and connect more deeply with your inner self. Whether you do that by simplifying your surroundings, calming your schedule or enjoying a quiet respite each day, the result is the same – a happier, balanced, and more peaceful you!

To Your Health, Wealth & Happiness!

Pam Lawhorne

Pam Lawhorne is a serial entrepreneur, small business expert and creative marketing consultant, who provides advice, guidance, and encouragement to aspiring CEO's around the nation in her popular seminars and publications. She is the Chief Empowerment Officer of Empower U, Incorporated, a training and consulting firm that specializes in interactive workshops, seminars and coaching programs.

Ms. Lawhorne is the author of From Minimum Wage To Getting Paid! - How To Become A Successful Entrepreneur With No Money, Education Or Experience! and she is also a syndicated columnist who writes articles on empowerment, entrepreneurship, personal development, creative marketing and real estate investing. Her articles appear nationally in newspapers, magazines, and on numerous business websites and on-line publications. For additional information please visit her website: www.PamLawhorne.com.

The above article is copyright 2003-2008 by Pam Lawhorne. Permission to repost is freely granted so long as the text is not altered in any way, and the copyright and link are included.

“The more you seek security, the less of it you will have. And the more you pursue opportunity, the more security you will achieve.” Brian Tracy

I talk to people all the time who tell me that want to start a business or leave their job because they either hate what they do, are just plain ole’ miserable or both. Even though they despise where they work and what they do, for some reason they are still too afraid to leave! Their reasoning as to why is they believe, somehow, that they have security. Well, if you think you’ve got job security just ask some of these folks who, after working at major corporations for 15-20 years and were suddenly laid off, if there’s any such thing as job security. You’ll quickly find that the answer is no.

When you really think about it, nothing in life comes with out a risk… after all when you wake up in the morning and walk out your door you are taking a risk. Everything you do comes with some level of “risk” but I guess in the end you have to decide if the “risk” is worth the “reward”.

This week I was presented with an awesome opportunity. One that seemed… well too good to be true honestly! It was everything I have wanted and wished for and without looking for it… it found me. Because we are still in negotiations I can’t go into many details but I can tell you this… I almost passed it up. Why? There’s a lot… no, make that a ton of risk involved but the reward… well let’s just say it’s priceless.

While contemplating this opportunity, I had a really good friend tell me that “I needed to decide if this was what I really wanted for myself and if so then I needed to take action and move forward with confidence.” I coach people on how to live successful lives and how to have anything they want by just going after it and this friend had to put me in my place by telling me “don’t preach what I don’t practice”.

Wow! The nerve of him! Who does he think he is! But guess what… he was right.

See, sometimes we are so hell-bent on “not rocking the boat” or preserving what we have because we feel “secure”. If you do this enough times you will get to a point that you are no longer willing to gamble on yourself and what you believe, and know, in your heart is your calling, and ultimately your true destiny…

This opportunity will literally change my life and ultimately the life of my family. So if it all works out… well then it’s the best decision I’ve ever made and if not… well… I don’t have to tell you but there’s one thing I do know for certain. That I will know, without any doubt that I moved forward with conviction and that I live with no regrets…

I guess when you really look at it the same thing applies to everything you do in life. Like in business, I mean sometimes your risks are calculated but in most cases they are not. Even when you have the best laid out business plan that details out the who, what, when and why… you can still fail because nothing in life is guaranteed.

For all of the business ventures I have started, some have done well while others have failed miserably. Sometimes things sound great on paper but do not work in the real world. There are also times that you start something that works for a while and then suddenly, it slows down or even worse – it stops altogether. Unfortunately, that’s one of the joys of being a business owner and it’s also part of life! Just like in life, with a business you will have ups and downs but the important thing to do is to keep going and not give up.

When I think back to when I first started out, I wasn’t necessarily seeking security…. I was seeking an opportunity to control my own destiny. As I get older, I now find myself seeking security however; I still don’t want to miss out on opportunity.

I guess that being said – that’s the true makings of an entrepreneur. The only difference is I now know that when it’s all said and done you can get the security that you so desire. Perhaps not financial security but you’ll be free from care, anxiety, or doubt because you’ll know that you took a gamble and played the game… knowing that you only live once. And most of all you can feel confident in your mind that your fear did not cause you to miss out on the “opportunity” of a lifetime.

"Never Let The Fear Of Striking Out Keep You From Playing The Game.” Unknown

To Your Health, Wealth & Happiness!

Pam Lawhorne

Pam Lawhorne is a serial entrepreneur, small business expert and creative marketing consultant, who provides advice, guidance, and encouragement to aspiring CEO's around the nation in her popular seminars and publications. She is the Chief Empowerment Officer of Empower U, Incorporated, a training and consulting firm that specializes in interactive workshops, seminars and coaching programs.

Ms. Lawhorne is the author of From Minimum Wage To Getting Paid! - How To Become A Successful Entrepreneur With No Money, Education Or Experience! and she is also a syndicated columnist who writes articles on empowerment, entrepreneurship, personal development, creative marketing and real estate investing. Her articles appear nationally in newspapers, magazines, and on numerous business websites and on-line publications. For additional information please visit her website: www.PamLawhorne.com.

The above article is copyright 2003-2008 by Pam Lawhorne. Permission to repost is freely granted so long as the text is not altered in any way, and the copyright and link are included.