If it looks like I’m having fun in these pictures…it’s because I am having fun!!

I’m no longer using the same photographer that I have been using for years and it’s been so much fun to work with different photographers because they all have different styles and personalities! My favorite new photographer by far is…Baldy (yep you heard that right)! We go out and find a location, I get the camera settings right and he shoots. He really has a good eye and always sees where the best light is, but more importantly, he’s always doing something silly to make me laugh! That’s what makes the pictures good…we’re having fun, doing something together and making memories!

You find what you look for in life. If you look for joyful moments, that’s what you get…and if you are always negative, you get that too. It really is that simple.

I know sometimes it’s easier said than done, but it all starts with gratitude. I think it was Oprah that said “gratitude takes what you have and makes it enough”. When you’re grateful for what you have, it opens the door for the Universe to give you more. Gratitude is a state of being, an energetic state, a vibration. There will always be things to be unhappy about if you look for them, but rather than dwelling on what’s going wrong, look for things that are going right and feel grateful for those things. When you’re able to find gratitude for even the smallest things, your frustration will start to dissolve and things will become more clear.

Clarity can be elusive but when I’m feeling anxious and frustrated, it’s the thing I long for the most. The question is always “what should I do next or which direction is the right one”. It’s not always easy to remember this in the moment, but the truth is…instead of questioning what you should do…you need to be still. No direction is best when you’re not clear. Often times, journaling about what is going right in your life can put things into perspective. There is always a bigger picture, a greater context, but we get caught up in the small mundane stuff and it holds us back.

A perfect example of this is when I lost my photographer and all around IT guy (as I mentioned above). I panicked a little bit and thoughts of “on no…what will I do now”, took me over. However, I’ve realized that it was time for both of us to move on. It’s time for me to use other photographers and shake things up a bit. I also need, and want to learn the back end of my blog and figure out how to do some things on. my own. That doesn’t mean that I’ll do those things forever, but I need to know how! It took about a day of moping around for me to let it go and figure out next steps. I gave myself the time to sit with my feelings and felt better the following day.

Things do happen for a reason and it’s not our job to figure out why. As I’ve said so many times, our job is to be grateful that we learned something and envision the possibility of “what next?”. One thing I’m grateful for each day is the possibility of the new day. And, as you may know, my favorite quote is from Alice & Wonderland when the queen says “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” Believing in the possibilities…think about it!

Life begins to change when we realize that NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, when we can find something to be grateful for, we are asking the Universe to send us more things to be grateful for. Our vibration raises in gratitude and we attract the things we want…even the things we think are impossible!