Forward Steps Self Improvement Blog

Friday 2 March, is Dr. Suess‘ birthday (born 1904). His books never grow old! When I was a teacher I loved reading these to class, as well as Roald Dahl and Bill Peet books.

In celebration I thought I’d post in a video of “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” by Dr. Suess. I also really love Horton Hears A Who and The Lorax.

Here are a few inspiring Dr Suess quotes from “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” This book has wonderful life lessons…

“You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So… get on your way!”

“So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life’s A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you’ll move mountains.”

“All alone! Whether you like it or not, alone is something you’ll be quite a lot!”

“You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.”

“Oh the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.”

“Things may happen and often do to people as brainy and footsy as you”

“Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. Oh! The places you’ll go!”

“Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!”

“And when you’re alone there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.”

“With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.”

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”

A bit of sad news for some of you… Jan Berenstain co-author of the Berenstain Bears books, died today ay age 88.

“In the early 1960s, spurred by their sons’ love of Dr. Seuss books, they decided to try writing and illustrating a children’s book. They took the story about a family of lovable, human-like bears to Dr. Seuss himself, Theodor Geisel, who was editor in chief and president of Beginner Books, a division of Random House.

Geisel provided crucial input. He shortened the authors’ first names so they rhymed. Thus, Stanley became Stan and Janice Jan.“ Read more here: www.kansascity.com

Hi, I’m writing to you on a relaxing Sunday afternoon, here in Perth, Australia. I’m about to grab my Kindle and join Greg out in the garden, to do some catch up reading!

Below is quite a long message, yet a very important one, with some fundamentals for our happiness and living a purposeful life.

One of the questions I’m most often asked and that I most often hear at self improvement platforms is, how do you stay positive and focused on your goals when surrounded by negative people at work and negative news media?

In the question itself, we can see a recognition, that by taking care of our personal environment we are actively supporting the achievement of our heart’s desires.

The way that you talk about yourself and your life (your story), has a great deal to do with what shows up in your day-to-day experience. Your thoughts create filters through which you view your life.

If you are sending out negative emotional signals out into the universe, how can you expect something positive in return?

To manifest the life you want, you need to start being happy and joyous and to start feeling good, as much as you possibly can.

Sometimes it’s not possible to get to events or to physically meet up with friends, who are like-minded and positive. Some of us even have very slim opportunities for that. The good news is… “modern technology”. There is no longer any excuse and it’s now very easy, to connect with positive friends who have similar interests.

I will share just a couple of things that I’ve done, just this past week, that have supported me with maintaining my own mind-set and helped keep me aligned with purpose…

FIRSTLY… I listened to the broadcasts by Christian Pankhurst.
If it’s no longer live, I think there will be a replay link inside the video player.

The messages were powerful and covered the following topics:

-Bo Eason on ‘Sharing Your Authentic Story’
-Christian Pankhurst on ‘Heart Intelligence and Emotional Manifestation’
-Tej Steiner on ‘Heart Circles’
-Rachael Jayne Groover on ‘Presence’
-Christian Pankhurst on ‘Relational Awareness & Healthy Boundaries’

The replays are active for now and close on Sunday midnight USA Pacific time.

When you are a free member of the Heart IQ Community you get access to them for longer. A quick form for free membership is on the right-hand side of the site.

SECONDLY… I joined a community site at Revelri where I found thousands of like-minded positive people, with a common goal of becoming happier!

The Revelri positive community is completely action-oriented and it will help you:
-Improve your relationships
-Strengthen your bonds with family
-Become a better friend
-Improve your relationship with yourself
-Improve your health.
-Be more in harmony with your environment
-Start attracting more joy & happiness
-Do your part in making this a better world!
-Have LOTS of fun! And much more…

Revelri was free at the time I wrote this, however I think that is changing very, very soon. I recommend getting in there today, BEFORE they change their page to a paid product.

LASTLY… This week, I registered for the 9th Healing With The Masters series. This means I will experience a huge amount of life-changing techniques, processes, meditations, invocations & energies through a series of 30 free shows.

Healing With The Masters also gives free access to 7 inspirational and energized videos plus 4 bonus download gifts of powerful energetic healing tools that can be used right now!

NOW… If you’re still uncertain about the influence & power of your environment in causing the results that you want in life, then you MUST revisit this free 9 Environments series.

Jim Bunch’s environments message so resonated with me and it gives THE ANSWERS that I’d give to anyone who asks about staying positive when surrounded by situations that are not always in alignment with our direction.

So, you see… even when you feel surrounded by people and media messages etc., that do everything to drag us away from our sense of personal power and disconnect us from our heart spaces, there are many places that you can regularly visit to reconnect… communicating with other people who are on similar journeys.

Image: Dancing In The Rain by Vera Kratochvil

Enjoy my Happiness Vibes Video to share with friends too!

How Do You Stay Positive? by Thea Westra – Forward Steps is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at forwardstepsblog.com

It Is Almost Valentine Day!

If you are looking for a unique romantic Valentine’s Day gift idea, KindNotes offers a very different kind of gift…

KindNotes will impress your recipient with a keepsake jar filled with 31 romantic notes, each enclosed in a linen envelope to be opened each day or anytime they need a smile.

You can choose from their library of more than 500 messages (you can see a sample collection at their website) or, personalize your own with memories or reasons why you love your partner. I thought this was such a cool and different idea, I just had to share it with you.

Enjoy this powerful quote about relationship, and the funny video created by WeWow for Valentine’s Day, plus collect the Forward Steps gifts for you, below the video.

As long as I have the idea in my head “I have a relationship” or “I am in a relationship”, no matter with whom, I suffer. This I have learnt.
With the concept of “relationship” come expectations, memories of past relationships, and further personally and culturally conditioned mental concepts of what a “relationship” should be like. Then I would try to make reality conform to these concepts. And it never does. And again I suffer. The fact of the matter is: there are no relationships. There is only the present moment, and in the moment there is only relating.
How we relate, or rather how well we love, depends on how empty we are of ideas, concepts, expectations. -Kim Eng [Relationships - True Love and the Transcendence of Duality]

Here are a few more interesting resources related to Valentine’s day…

Valentine's Day at Hogwarts | Psychology Today

www.psychologytoday.com2/6/12

The Attachment Theory of Love in Harry Potter's World By Wind Goodfriend, Ph.D….

Healthy Valentine's Day Cards & Gifts | Care2 Healthy Living

www.care2.com2/7/12

This Valentine's Day, choose healthy, handmade cards and gifts that respect your health and the planet.

Beware of Valentine's Day Malware Distribution Campaigns …

press.pandasecurity.com2/8/12

Here are some examples of malware that used social engineering to infect users on this festive occasion PandaLabs offers tips to avoid computer viruses on.

75 Valentine's Day Recipes | Valentine's Day Desserts | Brown Eyed …

www.browneyedbaker.com2/6/12

A roundup of 75 great recipes for Valentine's Day – everything from breakfast to dinner and dessert.

St. Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

www.beautifullife.info2/1/12

Today is the first day of the most romantic month of the year – February. It's only 14 days left to St. Valentine's Day. Lots of couples have.

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Get these Forward Steps FREE Valentine Day Self Improvement Gifts for yourself!

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Charles J. Sykes is senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and a talk show host at WTMJ radio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Charles has written forThe New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today and is the author of six previous books: A Nation of Victims, Dumbing Down Our Kids, Profscam, The Hollow Men, The End of Privacy, and 50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School.

Below is a sampling of a list from Charles, providing perfect advice for teens – in the book there are in fact 50 rules…

The original list of 50 is actually a list of chapter headings for 50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School…

Be sure to get yourself a copy of the book.

At 50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School there is a feature which allows for you to look inside the book, where you’ll be able to read the remaining 32 rules.

23. Someday you will have to grow up and actually move out of your parents’ house.
39. People in black-and-white movies were in color in real life. And no, the world did not begin when you were born.
41. You are not the first and you are not the only one who has gone through what you are going through.
45. Grown-ups forget how scary it is to be your age. Just remember: this too shall pass.

If you’ve got a few rules you’d love to have seen added to this list, just comment by clicking the small ‘comment’ link near top right of this post.

An unquestioned belief is a guaranteed reality, so if you never question your beliefs then you are pretty well guaranteed your current reality.

You see, for centuries, people all over the world have been adapting to the world while simultaneously they are creating their world as a reflection of themselves. 

What if you started to consciously design your world so that you could achieve more of your goals and become the person you have always wanted to be?

Use this FREE 9 Environments Assessment & Video Series, to take a very powerful first step to realizing where you need to focus, to play your ultimate game!

I was recently introduced to “The 9 Environments of You” by Jim Bunch. Understanding the 9 Environments shows you a powerful way to design your ultimate life.

I’m excited about this sharing this program with you, for a few reasons…

• It is affordable for anyone! (literally)  No one else in the industry has put together a program that is this comprehensive and actionable, at this price.
• The challenge is broken up into small, “easy to digest,” segments
• The call to action each day is simple and attainable
• You can watch the lessons at your convenience
• I know it has the power to change your life
• You can begin with a FREE 9 Environments Assessment & Video Series

What if you finally understood why you naturally gravitate toward certain goals and activities and why you sometimes have trouble getting yourself to do the things you need to do?

The 9 Environments of You will help you see how to design your life around your values so you are pulled into a bigger future instead of feeling like you need to drag yourself to get ahead!