Which Native American name shall I give myself? I mean, if Kevin Costner can be Dances-With-Wolves, well, couldn’t I be Sleeps-With-Stones (lately, I’ve been waking up with two sizable moss agates snuggled close and YES, they sing :)–a lullaby, in fact ). Or, perhaps, Bathes-With-Stones? (I put a few favorites–moss agate, carnelian, tiger eye–into my bath water, and add chips of rose quartz to my homemade bubble bath. I splash amethyst water on my face, too.) Possibly, Spends-Way-Too-Much-Money-On-Stones would be the best fit?
Any or all of the above would work, methinks.
I continue to keep my Gratitude Journal, and I encourage you to do the same. It will really shift your attitude, I promise. REMEMBER, like attracts like. Dwell on your troubles, your regrets, your disappointments, and you will draw more of the same, only multiplied. Count your blessings, on the other hand, and more blessings will come your way, also multiplied. (And please don’t tell me you don’t have any blessings because, 1) You’re obviously still breathing and, 2) you can read. You have eyes to do that with, and a brain to help you understand. Find something, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant, to be thankful for, and start there.)
I dare you.
New Year’s Day, 2014, happens to be the day of the new moon, a very good time for new beginnings and setting intentions. (Forget resolutions; they don’t work.)
Fortunately, other methods DO. I’ve just listened to a wonderful book, THE DESIRE MAP EXPERIENCE, and I’m so impressed. The author’s name is Diane LePorte (possibly misspelled), and the premise is that when we seek a particular goal, our real desire is for the feeling we expect to have, rather than the objective itself. I’ve been experimenting (you know me and my experiments) with this idea, and it didn’t take long to come to one very exciting conclusion: IT WORKS.
Say you’d like a better job, for instance. Get quiet, go inside, and ask yourself–what would having the right job feel like? What would it feel like to own a better car? To have a fulfilling relationship? More friends? A closer walk with God?
I’ll be making a “desire map” for myself on New Year’s Day, you’d better believe it. Maybe I’ll gather some of my favorite stones (clear crystal will amplify and purify any intention), light a few candles, that kind of thing. And I will definitely pray–because I want the Boss to have the final say in the whole process. Anything that leads me closer to Him is good. Anything that leads away, however, is obviously not good. So I’m seeking clearance from the Head Office, so to speak. You can’t go wrong that way.
There’s a book out now–I haven’t read it, but the title alone is life-changing, in my opinion. It’s GOD IS NOT MAD AT YOU–author, Joyce Meyers. I think too many of us–myself included–have bought into the idea that we’re so bad, God can’t possibly love us.
Except that He does. That’s the miracle of this holy season and all the rest of the year as well.
My friends, the Boss is NOT mad at you, no matter what you may have thought, said or done. He looks at you with purest LOVE, not judgement, and awaits patiently for you to come to Him, so He can help, heal and nurture you. He is always ready to forgive, always ready to give you a new start.
You don’t have to believe me–I’m just an old cowgirl from Spokane.
Give it a try, though.
I dare you.
PS-Not only is this Christmas week, it’s also the final week the $50 Amazon/Barnes and Noble gift card prizes will be awarded, so get those comments in. (And look forward to other great prizes and many, many chances to win them.)
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I love Joyce Meyer, but books are on the bottom of the list for me at the moment anyways. God is so wonderful and so glad that he’s in my life. Amen! Merry Christmas and have a wonderful one with your family and friends!
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Wow! You’re quick.
God bless.
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I love your posts. Please have a Merry Christmas and a Happy, healthy New Year to you and your family
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Wow, what a great Blog today! That dare made me even more determined to begin my “Gratitude Journal” on New Years Day! That is what new beginnings is all about!
Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Season, celebrating the birth of Christ ♥
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Thank you for your sweet words. May He bless you and yours always.
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I challenge myself to make sure I start my days praying and listening to God. It’s not all about what I want – it’s loving what His plan is for me, because He’s the smartest and doesn’t make mistakes. Not understanding or liking His will doesn’t make His will wrong. If I can remember that every day, Praise the Lord, everything stays in its proper perspective! And THAT is a gift from Him, I can’t do it on my own.
Merry, Blessed, Joyous Christmas to all!
Hilda
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What beautiful words, Hilday. Thanks so much for sharing.
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I mean Hilda!
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You’ve so inspired me! I’m making my gratitude journal for 2014 today!
Thank you…
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Thank you, Linda for this well timed message… messages, really! Gives me a lot to think about and consider not only for the New Year, but this last week of the current one!
Blessings to you and your family this holiday season.
Debi
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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family.I will be glad when Big Sky Secrets is release. I enjoy reading your books.
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Like the idea of a gratitude journal. I’m going to give it a try. I think I’ll try the feeling thing to. I’m currently working toward a better me and these sound like great tools to use. Merry Christmas to everyone.
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Merry Christmas!!
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I an going to try this and on New Year set a couple goals. Will let you know how I do
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Linda – I hope you and your family have a wonder Holiday Season and Happiest of New Years!
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A Wonderful message – many thanks! Hoping that you have a great Christmas and New Year with your family!! I know that I am planning to have with the kids and Grandkids!!
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Hope you have a wonderful holiday!!!
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Just this morning I got a box and on pieces of paper I wrote down things that I am working to achieve, and dreams. Tied each one with a ribbon. I was inspired by Denise Linn and in a year or a certain amount of time you take out a piece of paper and reflect. This is my first time doing this and it was a good feeling as I was putting this together.
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Great idea!
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I just wanted to stop by to wish you to a very Merry Christmas. You are such an inspiration and I enjoy reading your blog, and books.
Cheers,
Lauri
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I like “Sleeps-With-Stones”. I don’t know if I can do the journal but I’m going to try to do the daily blessing drill. So many times I get wrapped up in the daily trials and tribulations at work that I forget about the many blessings I do receive each day. Thanks for issuing the challenge. As my Mom used to say, sometimes you just need a little nudge in the right direction.
Christmas Blessings to everyone!
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Linda you are such A inspiration to all of us. enjoyed your blog today so much. I do thank the good Lord everyday for my many blessings. Hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas!
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I loved your blog today, I laughed out loud at the beginning over the Native american name, so funny but I do get what you are saying. I recently bought a crystal pendulum that allows you to speak with your guardian angels. I haven’t asked any question because I figure if you don’t have anything important to ask you probably shouldn’t. I do know it has a great deal of power as when I was programming it I could feel it vibrating in my fingertips. Very cool. As for being grateful, I try to be grateful for everything in my life. I was born with several disabilities and I used to ask why me lord, but I have stopped doing that a long time ago because I hear this voice in the back of my head that replies why not you. Thank you for your words of wisdom and I will end here by wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Linda to one Northport girl from another!
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Back at you! Northport was a great place to grow up, especially at Christmas.
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Wonderful, peaceful holiday to you and your family.
Be Well~ Deborah
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That’s right Linda. God loves all of us. You cannot out sin Gods love for his children. Merry Christmas!
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At this time of year with the holiday’s and the New Year right around the corner it feels like there are so many things in this world we have no control over. That being said we need to remember that there are things that we can, like forgiveness, healing, second chances, fresh starts. By opening your heart to the one thing that turns the world from the sad, lonely, and often depressing place to a beautiful welcoming place, is love. Love gives us hope, hope for a better life to share with family and friends. Hope to share with our co-workers and the strangers that you meet on the street. May your New Year be filled with love and hope!!
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Beautiful sentiment, Barbara!
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I am definitely going to begin a gratitude/blessing journal. Can’t hurt, right? Thanks for the idea.
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Merry Christmas, Linda! I pray you have a wonderful Christmas. Thank you for many hours of pleasure reading your books and posts. God Bless You.
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Good morning/afternoon to you!
As usual, a really great post! How about “Loves Singing Rocks” for your new name? lol
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!
Lynn
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Hey, I like that!
From now on, I’m Loves-Singing-Rocks
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Well I will definetely have to look into that Desire Map book because although I had never heard of the author or her methods previously, an acquaintance just told me about her and it sounded like a good exercise for the new year’s day. Now you mention it also. The universe is pointing this out to me I think!
that’s a good thing. Merry Christmas! Wishing you much peace, love and joy!
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Yep. When you hear something more than once in a short space of time, it’s definitely a message!
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I have a gratitude journal, but sadly don’t write in it often enough. I do say thank you every day, all day long. On my way to work, I have a list of gratitudes I say and during the day I’m saying thank you for that parking place or thank you for this sunny day. I need to do this all day long and it always makes me feel better.
Merry Christmas and a very blessed New Year!!
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Hi Linda, Your words today came at just the right time. I’m always judging myself and finding my work to be inadequate. I do have so much to be grateful for. I am going to work at looking at the positive and be thankful for what I can do, instead of finding fault with my attempts. Thank you for the message. Merry Christmas.
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Thanks Linda for such an inspiring message today! Love the native names part as I am also part native Indian! In today’s world, everything is so commercialized that many have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas!!!!! It is all about me, me, me when it should be all about Jesus Christ! Most children now a days don’t even know the story of Christ’s birth and it is such a shame that our country no longer allows HIM in our schools, hearts and homes! It takes a gargantuion (spelling?) effort to keep Christ in our hearts but the feeling of being loved no matter what is awesome!!! Merry Christmas to you and your family and may 2014 be filled with many blessings for all!!!
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Many Blessings to you and your family this holiday season! I love your idea for 2014 and am going to give it a try. Merry Christmas!!
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It continues to fascinate me that stones “speak” to you.
I just received The Desire Map. It makes much more sense to me than setting goals or resolutions that feel more like punishment.
I don’t think God is angry with me but maybe I am angry with him. But at the moment I am angry with people that say that bad things happen to you because you chose those lessons before you were born.
Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
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I’ve also heard that too about choosing your path.
I’m sorry you are angry… I don’t know what to say but I had to comment….
: /
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Thank you.
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It’s okay to be angry with God. He can take it.
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What a great blog today! I am so stressing myself out about the holidays and wanting everything to be perfect. You reminded me that it will be fine no matter what. “It is what it is”. The idea of a gratitude journal is a great idea. I may give it a try. I do have a lot of blessings in my life and I need to remember that! Thanks Linda.
Have a wonderful Christmas and happy and healthy New Year to you and your family.
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I love you idea about blessings. I thing we forget to look at what we can do and not what we cannot do. I never make resolutions because I don’t keep them but I do try to make goals to be a better person. Here is hoping you have a wonderful holiday season and a happy and healthy New Year!
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Thank you for your encouraging words today.. Merry Christmas and have a great new Year.
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Linda,
Thank you for the years of entertaining and heart-warming stories. Looking forward to many more.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Juanita
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Thanks for the laugh this morning. I think “Bathes-With-Stones” would be the best name. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to you and your family
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We shall call you “sacred jewel”. Or “set in stone”
Ha!ha!
Just kidding
I think keeping a diary, journal, prayer book
Or something of that nature is a wonderful idea!
I need to start something like that.
My new word for the year is renew.
So now I need to put pen to paper on what that
Actually means to me…there’s a few changes
I would like.
Maybe u can share
Pictures with us fans oneday!
I’d love to see your beautiful property!!!
Time to nap here in Florida!!!
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I love your blog! I have my share of stones too, gread advice as always. I’m enjoying many of your books in audio form. It’s fun to read along with the narrator. Thank you Linda for all the joy your writing has brought to me. Happy holidays!
Bonnie
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Loved your inspiring post.
I’m a huge fan and am currently reading “An Outlaw’s Christmas” and love it. IMO, no one writes western historicals better than you.
Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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Wonderful blog today, Linda. You had me smiling, picturing you in your bath with stones and then I thought Amen! He is always there just waiting for us to seek. Blessings.
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Well, Linda, after reading what everyone had to say, I can only say that right this minute, I’m having a hard time feeling grateful. Today is my birthday, and I’ve had many wonderful birthday wishes from several people, including Hilda and Sam, but I was rudely awakened around 7 this morning by that mentally ill man across the road. Not a good start to my special day, or it should be special, and I meant for it to be, but alas…
I thought he had quit doing that after the 2 times back in August. But, he hasn’t. I’m asking for prayers from all our Blogger friends for that man that he’ll get some help and leave me alone before I HAVE to go where he NEEDS to go.
Now, instead of enjoying my day, even though I am by myself, I am on pins and needles, waititng for the next time he comes “calling”.
As far as a Gratitude Journal, I don’t write things down, because if I had a GJ, I’d probably lose it under a pile of papers, or something :oops:, but I have one in my head and heart. Every time I sit to eat, I don’t just ask a Blessing over my food, I go as far as thanking God for not only the food, but for everyone who had anything to do with it from Him all the way to me, and asking Him to Bless all of them. I thank him that I have the food, am able to fix the food and that I’m able to feed myself. So many aren’t. I pray for everyone in my family and a lot who aren’t, and by the time I get through, my food is cold.
I do a lot of prayers “on the fly”. As I am doing anything, I’m trying to be grateful that I have what God has given me and I pray for the people who had to leave their car on the side of the road. Does any of that count for Gratitude?, when even as I ask God to be with them, I’m grateful it isn’t me. I’ve been there and done that.
Right now, I’m trying to be grateful that the “mental man” didn’t do any more damage than he did, but I’m just having a hard time. He is learning to play his game, as he went back home before the law got here and lied that he’d even been out of the house. So, I’m also requesting pray for myself.
I’m even trying to be grateful for the dog kennel I had to put around my porch to keep him off it. The other morning, I started out and I stepped on some ice and if the fence hadn’t been there, I might have slid on out and landed on a rock, or the cement.
OK, enough whining, even if I’m grateful I can.
I pray that EVERYONE has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy and Healty New Year!
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Linda, I meant to say that I think your Native American name should be Whirlwind On The Move. Or Whirlwind Two Legs. You are always on the move, always trying new things, and it appears…never still.
I have several ancestors of different tribes, and I just wish I knew which tribes and how far back they go. I’m thinking great grandparents, but am not sure.
When I could have asked, it didn’t dawn on me to, and now…it is too late as all are gone that knew.
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Or…maybe Curious Whirlwind as you’re on the move and curious to try new things.
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I look forward to your blog posts and I’m liking the idea of the Gratitude Journal very much.
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Never make New Year resolutions. Don’t journal either but I write letters in a note book that my family has orders to burn at my demise! WITHOUT READING, but since they are my family I know they will read them.
Have a merry Christmas and let the New Year treat you well. Keep enjoying your stones and PLEASE keep writing.
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Thank you for the inspiration. My hubbie and I need a new focus and the Gratitude Journal sounds like the thing.Please keep writing!
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Merry Christmas Linda. May you have a healthy & good new year. Have a good week.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year everyone
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Good things to think about. I always enjoy reading your blog.
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I have been looking forward to reading Big Sky Secret for what seems like….foreeevvver! I have preordered it and can relax now knowing it will eventually appear in my mailbox! LOL
Have very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
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Linda—-Merry Christmas to you and yours. The same to all of your fans.
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I think that’s a great idea about the gratitude journal Linda,so I think I will give it a try,starting with my mom’s birthday on New Year’s Eve ,she’ll be 87 yrs old :-). Happy Holidays everyone
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one of the things I’ve done every year is to write my hearts greatest wish or desire for friends and family, and it’s not for material thinks, but peace for myself or family members etc and then just at midnight on new years eve, place it in the fire and let all my wishes and hopes flow to the universe and to those for whom the blessing was made. It’s just a freeing act and lets me let those things go and let a higher power carry the load. Amazing things happen. Happy Holidays!
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Wishing you a merry Christmas and a blessed new year. One thing I am very thankful for is you ~ your books have brought me so much joy ever since I discovered you! As every avid reader knows, getting lost in a good book is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Thank you for sharing your stories with us.
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Linda,
As always I find inspiration in what you write and I thank-you for it. Gratitude journal for the New Year is a must
I hope you and yours have a blessed Christmas.
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Merry Christmas and wishes for a healthy shop new year!
Can’t wait for the new book!
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Thank you for your thought provoking and encouraging coments. They make my day. And as always, thamks for your generosity.
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Linda, I have begun looking forward to reading your insights on the things that are a basic part of life. You inspire me to experiment and to attempt new things in life. Thanks for the inspiration to try new things and taking a more active part in the way I look at my life. Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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Oh Linda, what lofty goals you have set for yourself, and then dared us to try along with you to achieve these goals. Love to read your messages and I’m going to try a couple of your ‘dares’ in 2014. Here’s to a great 2014 for all of us!! Merry Christmas everyone and also Happy New Year!!
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Merry Christmas and Have a wonderful New Year! Wanting for New book to come out. Love all your books and reread them all! Thanks for all the fun!
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Love your energy! It is catching!
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hope both are great!
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Started my gratitude journal and was amazed at the length of it. Thanks for the reminder. Moss agate is a beautiful stone! I had a ring made from a pretty piece of carnelian. It’s prettier when it’s not laying against the skin. I think it needs the sun shinning through it. Love your sharing your journey. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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That was a very thoughtful blog. Starting next year I will beginning a new venture in my life and I am very thankful for that. I also enjoyed your native american names. I would like to wish all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year !!!!
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Merry Christmas !!!
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I’m really having a lot of negative thoughts this Christmas. Think I need to read that book.
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This is the first time I have came to your blog, I just found it. Will be stopping in more often. I loved your post, very interesting. Also love your books and read everyone I get my hands on. Thanks for the great giveaway! Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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I plan on making a journal and I think a Gratitude Journal would be a great name for it. I have issues with memory, so if I keep a journal it will help me and family remember my good and bad times. Your Indian name should be anything including stones. I think “Great Washing Stone” would be a great name!
Merry Christmas & a Happy 2014!
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Linda, Hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas!
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Amen. This was a very good comment today. The boss loves us all what ever we do. Have a very Merry Christmas
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I will take you up on the dare and keep you posted on my progress. Merry Christmas!
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Have a very Merry Christmas and may God grant you thedesires of your heart in the coming new year! As for your Indian name you may consider “Soaring Dove” as you have a kind spirit that continuously looks higher for her purpose. Or you can just go with “stone for all reasons”
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Merry Christmas! I enjoy reading your posts and your books.
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Just popping in to wish y’ll a fantastic Christmas and a fabulous 2014
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I always am journaling. I have a Gratitude Journal that I write in every day. Since I am in recovery, writing is a big part of what I do. I am currently 9 months and 4 days clean.
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Merry Christmas Linda! Hope you and your family enjoy a blessed day!
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Merry Christmas! My blessing are many as I have a wonderful family.
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Happy and Blessed Christmas to you and yours.
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I developed a Gratitude Journal in 2001 when my husband was laid off from an executive position with a communications company. Negative thoughts invaded my life. Each night before going to sleep I wrote down in my journal 5 things I was grateful for. This really works to remove those negative thoughts. I kept this journal and read it occasionally today. It helps me remember you can come through those difficult times in your life and I am grateful for that!