☺ 2013 in Review - and my Jar of Happiness ☺

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{New Year Inspirational Kick-Off!}

 Kicking off this new year only feels right to be boasting with enthusiasm and inspirational to get things running all the more smoothly, so, I welcome you to the New Year Inspirational Kick-Off! The next several days will be dedicated to sharing fun projects and resources you can use to keep your own life bustling with gratitude and awesomeness.

New Year Positive Power! Huzzah!

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The end of this year was a bumpy road. So bumpy that I couldn't wait to get 2013 done and over with… as if the whole year had been a disaster, merely because the last month or so had been particularly rough. 

Fast forward to today. I emptied my Jar of Happiness and now I can see what a wondrous, truly blessed, and fantastic year I actually had. So many fantastic memories were created, so many laughs and smiles were shared, so many beautiful moments experienced, and so many accomplishments made. Reviewing all the positives of this past year has renewed my outlook of that year and, therefore, given me an extra boost to my life in general; reminding me that life truly is beautiful and that I have so much to be thankful for. Truly truly. 

So, once again, if you didn't do the Happiness Jar last year, it is a Must for your New Year. I promise you will love it! 

In expressing gratitude, I thought it would be fun to share some of the highlights of my year :) 

2013 Gratitude Highlights!

Personal Highlights:

• So many amazing Hikes, including my first of the year with my bestie up Pulpit which still makes me smile so widely! And the epic hike in the fog after Garlic Fest (which I do believe was also my last hike of the year).  
•   Building our Garden from scratch. It was such a fun adventure and getting so many fresh organic veggies was simply the best! Getting the logs for the garden beds really stuck out as well, it was such a funny hippie moment that will always make me laugh. 
• Doing yoga with my hubby
• Ice skating at Kokanee park with Cory. 
• Enjoying our new home in the summer time with our own space, lawn, and sharing the beach with our amazing landlords. The level of gratitude I feel for our home cannot be put into words. 
• Playing "tag" with my landlord when I got her a present and then she sent me flowers with the words "tag". Heehee 
• Listening to vinyl and drinking wine during the holidays last year with our landlords. 
• Family Gatherings, potlucks, moments at the park, birthdays, holidays, and so forth. My family has often been a rough journey, but there were so many amazing moments I'd been forgetting lately--was very happy to be reminded of all I have to be grateful for from the year. 
• Seeing family in general. :)
• The first time I made my niece, Makaia, laugh for the first time. For some reason this memory really sticks out for me, it was a precious bonding moment. ^_^
• Our good friends, Mike and Dana, visiting us for the first time! It was such a fun and amazing week with them and I cannot wait for more moments like this! Midnight swims, Sociables (shnaw, shnaw lol), Potluck, beach days, campfires, and bonding. ♥
• Roadtrips! Kelowna/Vernon trip, and Portland (twice) with my bestie. Sooo much fun and sooo much yummy vegan food! Gay Pride Parade, singing in the car, wandering, and the fun drive.
• Getting tattooed in Portland. 
• Getting my nose pierced (third one)
• Catan board game nights. 
• So many amazing Vegan Potlucks! 
• Several ridiculous and fun birthday parties--two of which were dress up parties, including my birthday. Cuddle couch, bathroom vortex, and so many funny random moments. 
• Skate park days in Kaslo, for May Days and Cory's birthday. 
• A few fun bonfires.
• Camping
• Mushroom picking.
• Canoe adventures across the lake with Cory.

• Completing the David Suzuki 30x30 Challenge.
• Our two kitties becoming cuddlier, especially Lyla who comes to constantly for cuddles and follows me around alllll day long and greets me at the door when I come home. ^_^
• So many tea dates ♥
• Getting my cintiq!
• Following my dreams and passions and diving into story writing and producing artwork. :) 
• Having the courage, in general, to follow my heart and make my dreams come true. 

ReLove Plan.et Accomplishments:

• Reaching my 2k like milestone on the ReLove Facebook page! 
• My artwork appearing in a newspaper in Switzerland.
• Summer Markets!
• Reaching 30,000 views on the blog for a single month!
• All the positive and inspiring words from my amazing readers and viewers! xo ♥
• The Polar Bear adoption thanks to my amazing customers! 
• ReLove Plan.et continuing to grow every month :) 
• Finally figuring out making some income off the Video Blog ;) 

I hope you all had an amazing year and start your own Jar Full of Happiness and take lots of photos to capture memories and moments :) 

So much love and wishing you all the best in 2014! xo

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☺ Jar full of Happiness ☺

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{New Year Inspirational Kick-Off!}

 Kicking off this new year only feels right to be boasting with enthusiasm and inspirational to get things running all the more smoothly, so, I welcome you to the New Year Inspirational Kick-Off! The next several days will be dedicated to sharing fun projects and resources you can use to keep your own life bustling with gratitude and awesomeness.

New Year Positive Power! Huzzah!

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Today's New Year Kick-Off post involves recycling an idea from last year. Remember the "Jar Full of Happiness"? 

If this is your first time hearing about it, or if you didn't do it last year, then this is your year to take part! 

I kept my jar throughout the year and made sure to write something down as often as I remembered. While entering something every single day (or several a day) was my goal, I admit that some days I would forget. This year, I am really going to make sure I write something down every single day! 

The reason I really encourage you to make your own jar is because the practice is so easy and yet so profound; and it is something you can do every day with very little effort that will instantly lift your mood. 

Having practiced this through 2013, I can tell you that when you empty your jar at the end of the year, it is so inspiring and it truly makes you realize how blessed and wonderful your life really is. The extreme power of this practice is, definitely, the ability to look back at the year and realize how amazing it truly was. The more gratitude you can have for the life you already have and for your past; teaching you to really love your life when you look back on all those beautiful moments you may have forgotten.  the more greatness you allow to enter your life in the present and future. 

Enjoy and, above all else, you Must do it, and have fun doing it! This is Such a wonderful practice! And what better way to add extra gratitude in your life than this? You will start to notice all the beautiful and positive moments and things in your life and increase your appreciation so much deeper. 

Yup, you heard me, this isn't an option, this is a Must for your New Year. After all, you're all Happy ReLove Warriors right? Right! Okay! Without further ado…

Jar Full of Happiness

So! The image is pretty self-explanatory: 

1. Repurpose an empty glass Jar.
2. Decorate it all cute and magical (make the jar your own ;)) 
3. Write down good things that happen to you on little pieces of paper. 
4. Add notes to the jar throughout the year. 
5. On December 31st, empty the jar and read about all the amazing things that happened to you in 2013! 

Here's Why I want you to do it and my little twist on it… 

Why? Because it's a way for you to really appreciate all the little and big moments throughout the year. You will be putting in the conscious effort of writing these things down and adding them to your lovely little jar. By doing this you are expressing Gratitude, and Gratitude is one of the single biggest things you can do to improve your life. This activity will help to switch your brain onto the positive and you will be seeking out more and more positive things to add to your jar. 

What should you be Writing Down? My rule is to not be shy with this; try to add as many as you can, no matter how small the moment may be, write it down, appreciate it, be grateful for it. Write down surprise gifts, accomplishments, adventures, moments that made you laugh, daily blessings, cherished memories, acts of kindness, things you're particularly grateful for, things you manifested. Any good things that happen to you or you witness or you are a part of, jot them down and add them to your jar!   

My added twist? Don't wait until December 31st to read them. I'm not talking about emptying out the entire jar, But, taking out one or two and reading them when you're feeling down can be one of your "secret shifters" (things you turn to to uplift your mood when you're feeling down) to get yourself back on track and focussing on the positive. I think it's also valuable to try to write one down every day, like I said earlier, appreciating any moment big or small is invaluable and will boost your positive outlook on life. You'll start to see all the things that you have to be grateful for around you.    

Above all else, have fun with it! Make your New Year Magical and filled with positive experiences! :)  

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.

☺ 2013 Goals and News ☺

Alright, so I'm going to be a little self-contradictory here and share my list of goals… but not for "2013" so to speak, just things I'd like to be getting more into now. ;)

Blogging more. It seems to come in waves for me and while I always commit to the "Motivational Mondays" posts, I certainly want to be blogging more about other topics again as well. My goal is to have ReLove Plan.et a place you can turn to on an almost daily basis for new information and inspiration. :) Recipes have also been lacking so I will be making sure to have new ones every Sunday again as I did before. 

On the up note, the blog has been growing every single month by leaps and bounds, with the highest traffic in December reaching 12,000 views. :) Very exciting stuff! I'll be writing up another post in regards to advertising on the blog so you can expose yourselves and support my work in the process. ;) 

With the ReLove Plan.et shop, it will always be my goal to continue making it grow. I genuinely love what I do and I am very excited to see the growing progress and success of my work. I'll be jumping fully into the summer markets again this year so do please keep that in mind for any custom work you may be after, as a lot of my summer time becomes wrapped up in the markets and contributing to my local community… and enjoying beaches and sunshine and adventures of course. ;) 

Another area that I haven't been placing as much time into for a while now is the video blogging world. You lovelies bug me all the time to put out more videos so it's going to be one of my goals to get more on that and try to put out new videos every week.

I mentioned the "Happiness Guide" that will be coming out by the end of the month, and I will also be creating a "Happiness Boot-Camp" zine shortly after that. The two will be filled with useful, positive, life-changing information and tips and will sort of go together. I am very excited about these! 

And, of course, I will continue to be putting out more and more artwork and creations. It's been very fun to expand my work into various items and projects. I recently opened up my RedBubble shop, which was another exciting step and I may be trying out zazzle soon as well so my artwork can be available on even more fun items. I also finally opened up my deviant art account so you can check out more of my artwork on there, including art for the "anime" fantasy series I've been writing over the last couple years. :) 

For starting out my New Year right, I'm redoing "The Magic" because it is just such a magical thing, with gratitude practices that will change your life! I am also planning on redoing ReLove Plan.et's "30 Day Self Challenge." Remember that one? If you don't, it's fun and definitely gets you on the right track, so check it out... :)

30 Day Self-Challenge

Starting New; Setting Self Goals

THE 30 DAY SELF CHALLENGE!

30 Day Self Challenge -- Preparation

Are You ready for the New Year? Self Challenge!

Lastly, I want to thank everyone for all their love and support over the years! You guys are amazing and I am so incredibly grateful to all of you for everything! 

If there are any suggestions, things you want to see more of or less of, than please leave me a comment and let me know!

Much Love! Create a Nice Day! 

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.

☺ Jump-start 2013 with Positive Change ☺

My first post of 2013! How exciting! ;)

Honestly, I've been a bit all over the place with how I wanted to express my feelings of the new year. Finally, after scribbling down notes and thinking to myself, and aimlessly writing, I came to my conclusion. Since ReLove Plan.et has always been a place to inspire, to kick on those happy shoes and dance around with silly bliss and motivation, I figured that's what this post needs to be about. I already wrote a rather forward "Motivational Mondays" Post that I wanted to kick the New Year off with, but here is a little extra positive re-enforcement… or a second wake up call for me to tell you to make this year fantastic. 

I'll start by mentioning what I've said before; I'm not too much for New Year's Resolutions--in fact I wrote a post about it last year. So, not to repeat myself too much, I am simply going to say that I am For "Self Resolutions." 

What is the point of resolutions if we are just going to break them after a few days, or weeks, or moments, or seconds? So many of us have all these great ideas and inspirations and then come the New Year… well, nothing has changed, because--as I've mentioned a few times now--the turning of the New Year doesn't magically make things change. You have to make things change. So why do resolutions fail when we have such good intentions? Maybe because they aren't completely heart-felt, after all, there's almost this obligation to make these resolutions in the first place, instead of them coming from a place of inner wanting and choosing, or, more importantly, Commitment. Another reason I think they fail is because the second that we feel We fail, or our Resolutions "fail" then that's it, it's done, no more. I'm talking about the first slip-up, the first bump in the road, the first incident that makes you throw your arms up in the air and go "nothing's changed!" "2013 sucks just like last year!" 

Whaaaaaat???

Is this not madness? I say it time and time again, never give up, always stay positive, focussed, and encouraged, no matter how many bumps, falls, scrapes, scars, and tumbles you have. If you don't climb back up then you are just dragging yourself through the mud collecting more scrapes and burns and dirt, whereas if you keep standing back up then you are slowly but surely going to stay standing. You may still stumble, but you can easily climb back up. So stand back up! Get back on your feet, dust yourself off, and keep going. 

To hell with resolutions, say Yes to Life! Because life truly starts Right Now! If you're having a bad day then you can Start Over right in that moment. You never ever ever have to stay down. Ever. Have I said that enough times yet? Start again, because you can and because you have the will to choose and Do. So Do. 

Doesn't it sound like a much better idea to put effort into Feeling Good, then to feeling Bad? It seems like such an obvious answer, yet we too often place far more energy into feeling bad. We do so by complaining about ourselves, about others, about our jobs, about money, about the things we don't have. We do so by slunking down in front of the television and watching mindless shows and movies with a shit-ton of subliminal messages meant to make you feel bad about yourself. We do so by moping, sulking, and feeling sorry for ourselves. Think about All that Time and Energy that you could be using to Feel Good instead! Seriously!!! Is it not worth it? 

It may seem tedious at first because you're moving away from "comforts." But what you need to realize is that they are false comforts; they don't make you feel good, they're just comfortable. Step out of your comfort zone and do something different. Live your life differently. If you want to be happy then start to change the way you act, feel, and do. Change your habits. Change your attitude. It will all amount to transforming your life into this beautiful vibrant fantastic wonderful magical awesome world. 

So. It's 2013. Make your Resolution a lasting one and Change Your Self and Your Life. Make Happiness the air you breathe, every move you make, every word you speak, every thought you think. Make Happiness a Habit. 

I did it. And so can you. Don't be lazy, get up and shout out to the world how awesome your life is. Because it is. You just haven't noticed yet.  

I wish you all a very Happy Happy New Year! Much Love and Hugs and all that good stuff. ;) Keep smiling! 

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.