Online Gratitude Journal January 2010 Edition #37

Are you having a great start of the year? Keeping up with your new year’s resolution? Time is speeding up and I can hardly believe one twelfth of the year is already gone. (Photo credit)

January in review

My big goal of this year is to write a book on Akashic Records. This will be published in the old fashioned way in print. The starseed series will be incorporated in the book, with some additions and updates. So I’m putting extra effort in completing this series.

My another goal is to eat healthy and well. The Slow Down Diet that I reviewed was very influential to me. I want to pay attention not just to WHAT I eat but also to HOW I eat.

Fun & Challenges

This is the dilemma I face: When I was working in the corporate world, I wrote in the evenings and weekends. I love writing. I forget foods when I write. I can almost forget sleep when I write. I love to express my thoughts and feelings, and the possibility that my writing might help you is exciting.

Now that I work for myself, writing for this blog and the book is part of my life and work. I do what I love all day long — reading interesting books and blogs, writing my own, and doing Akashic Record Reading. Life is full of joy and fun, right?

Right. Yes. And a bit of no somehow. When I have so many things to do (again, all fun things I like to do), I’m a bit overwhelmed, and for a reason I don’t really know, the fun becomes a challenge, too.

Does anyone know how to keep the fun as fun? Do I need to introduce some dread so that fun can stand out as fun? Do I need to meditate more?

Link Love

Be sure to check the book review of the controversial The God Delusion, by my friend Hunter Nuttall. I think the discussion in the comment section is very interesting, too.

My old post on meat eating vs vegetarianism still gets hot comments. While some people insist vegetarianism, or even stricter veganism, is good for health and environment, I found a few information that question this statement.

One is from someone who has been raw vegan for 15 years who found some deficiencies when he had blood test.

Another is a book called The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability. I haven’t read the book yet, but I read the review here and on Amazon. I find it interesting that we need some form of animal products to grow plants. I checked my bag of organic soil and it has earthworm castings. Other organic soil mix has chicken manure or bone meal. So what happens to the chicken afterwards? I bet they were either hens for eggs or meat chickens. And if vegans are committed not to eat even honey because they don’t want to force the bees to work, how do they feel about the earthworms that worked for the soil? The dogma of veganism to never harm any animals is very hard to sustain, I think. Even if someone is not eating any animal products, some animals are dying to grow their vegetables.

I don’t think this is a bad thing, however. All lives are in the big ecosystem, supporting one another. The problems happens when we reject this system. When I die, please throw the cremated ash in the ocean so the fish can benefit. The fish may end up on your dinner table or become fertilizer for the farm that grows your vegetable. This very Buddhism view sits fine in my mind and spirituality.

Word of month

“Laughter is a great way of letting go. . . Laughing releases endorphins and lowers stress hormones in our system. The other two activities that do the same are sex and meditation.”
– Lisa, aka Mommy Mystic

Well said. Let’s pick at least one of the three for our well-being.

This is all for today. Enjoy your weekend — the day is getting so much longer (in the northern hemisphere, that is )

Related reading: After I posted this article, I was informed about another great post about the problem vegans face, especially raw vegans. (HT: Gena) I think the whole discussion on vegan nutritional health is very interesting.  Additionally, this part by Shazzie caught my eye:

“…many raw food enthusiasts who identify themselves as vegans are in fact not totally vegan. Whether it’s a free range organic egg or a little raw goat’s cheese once a week or some fish once a month, these people think of themselves as vegan and will tell you they’re vegan…This makes us wonder how many more who identify themselves as vegans are doing the same but not admitting to it.”

Ah. So there is honesty and awareness issue, too.

Online Gratitude Journal December 2009 Edition #36

2009 has been a great year for me. My Akashic Record Reading business has been growing well and I feel so honored to have many beautiful souls as my clients. I’m also happy with the positive feedback I am receiving about my eBook “Lightworker’s Guide to Self-Employment”.

In my personal life, I found a new home in a small town called Eugene. It’s good I can now relax a bit and enjoy myself. (Photo credit)

December in review

You may have noticed I’ve been experimenting with new writing styles. I’ve been striving to write inspiring and informative articles in a solid, good-sense way, which tend to be rather lengthy. Well, I still aspire to inspire you, and will keep writing articles like you see in the Starseed series, but I also tried short read like “The Ultimate Productivity Tip”. It seems to work well — that post of 245 words received just as many comments as other longer posts. I also hope you enjoyed “Cinderella, The Power Of Dreaming Big”.

Fun

I will be on the blog radio at Small Business Trends next Tuesday, January 5th, at 1:30 pm EST, talking about how spirituality helps entrepreneurs and promoting my eBook. This is a pretty big deal for me. Small Business Trends has 114K subscribers — I wonder how many would be listening. (And if you cannot tune in at that real time, no worry. You can listen to the recording later.)

I’ve thought about this a lot. I’d like to see this as a fun project rather than get nervous. Nonetheless, I appreciate if you could pray for me. Thank you.

Challenges

I have a word for challenge. I really think many people are doing disservice to themselves by avoiding challenges.

Like think about starting a business. Sure, it takes a lot of work, especially in the beginning. So many people get scared and stay in the job they hate. How productive is that?

I started my Akashic Record Reading in June last year. From the time I resigned from the corporate job in October 2007 and until I started taking paying clients in June 2008, I struggled learning about business, practicing what I do and polishing my skill, and dealing with my own negative thoughts.

But that effort is paying off. Back then, I was charging $90 for a reading. Now I charge $280 for the same thing. Don’t you wish your investment grew like this?

You can do this, too, or even better. This is why I wrote my eBook. Everything I know about starting a business is in this eBook. Don’t send me a one-liner email saying, “Hey, I want to be rich. Help me.” This does no good. Taking up your challenge and working on it does.

By the way, if you are interested in my Akashic Record Reading, my best advice is to make your purchasing decision as soon as you are comfortable. I wouldn’t be surprised if the rate goes up to $500 by this time next year. (I’d rather raise the rate than having extraordinarily long wait list and keeping you wait so long.)

Link Love

Jonathan Morrow tells the story of himself and his mother. He has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which is considered to be a terminal condition, but he has outlived far beyond the doctor’s expectation, and living well at that:
On Dying, Mothers, and Fighting for Your Ideas

Another story, also posted at Copyblogger, in which James Chartrand grudgingly came out as a woman:
Why James Chartrand Wears Women’s Underpants
It made me think about the challenge of sexism. And the issue of integrity and honesty.

Both are very worth your time reading.

Word of month

“The worst part about being disabled isn’t the pain or the struggle but how the world tries to shove you into a corner and pretend that you don’t exist. After all, what could you possibly have to contribute? You’re going to die soon, poor thing. Here’s a nice, quiet room and some morphine to ease the pain.”
– Jonathan Morrow, from the aforementioned article

What’s your challenge? Dare to face your challenge. The reward is astounding.

Happy New Year to you all. For your increasing joy and prosperity, and hope you keep coming back here for more inspiration. With gratitude,

Online Gratitude Journal November 2009 Edition #35

Hi! Did you have a good Thanksgiving? (that is, if you are in the US, I guess.) Are you excited about the coming holidays? My November was filled with gratitudes. And one milestone achievement. . . (Photo credit)

November in Review

My highlight this month was definitely the completion of my eBook “Lightworker’s Guide to Self-Employment”. I’ve spent considerable amount of time and energy writing this eBook on spiritual entrepreneurship. It’s my gift — it’s FREE, so please check it out if you are interested in starting your own business.

Thank you all for your readership. A writing needs to be read, so you are supporting me a great deal just by reading this blog. ^_^

Fun

Have you noticed I redecorated the front page of this Yes to Me blog? The center column now shows random posts from “Ascension” and “Spirituality” categories. Because “Spirituality” is a huge category, I added subheaders that show the ten subcategories. (Everything on this blog is about spiritual growth, but I set aside” Ascension” as a special independent category, and also set aside “What’s Akemi Doing?” for posts that are mainly about sharing of my life — like this post.)

If you are reading this article by subscription, please click here to see the new front page!

Yes to Me now has nearly 200 articles. I hope this new design helps you to find older articles that you may have missed.

I also updated my About page and the blurb on the sidebar. Do you like it?

Challenges

As you probably know, English is my second language. I do quite well but I have a slight accent (and I make some grammatical errors, like with the singular / plural rules. . .). Most of the time, I hardly think about this. I know I have important messages to convey and I express them well in writing. When I do phone sessions for my Akashic Record Reading, most clients have no problem understanding me.

Except when I need to do public speaking.

I’ll be on Small Business Trend blog radio (podcast) in January, talking about spiritual entrepreneurship and my new eBook. Aaaagh! I feel a bit nervous! Wish me luck.

Where in the blogosphere Akemi has been

During the Thanksgiving week, I spent a lot of time on Twitter for the #RadicalGratitude experiment.

Twitter is fun. If you are willing, you can find interesting people worldwide to chat. I’m not sure how effective it is in marketing because I’m personally put off with people who only shout what they want to say and never seem to listen and respond to others even when they are talking straight to them (that is, using @, like @akemigaines. When you put in @akemigaines in your tweet, it shows up on the “Mentions” timeline on my Tweetdeck, so I can respond.)

If you are new to Twitter, a piece of advice is NOT to turn on auto-follow. There are so many internet marketers and hookers (I’m not joking) who just want to increase their follower numbers by preying on those who have automatic follow on. Let’s use Twitter for real conversation and learning. I follow people who have valuable messages (even if they don’t follow me back).

Some well-known spiritual teachers are on Twitter. My favorite is @Deepak_Chopra. He tweets great insights, and he often responds to tweeted questions.

Word of month

“How unconditional is your love for yourself?”
– Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, aka SARK

I found this line in her article at Crazy Sexy Life. In the article, she describes how self-love helps to love others. Self-love is not about self-indulgence — it’s about loving life and the world as it unfolds from within.

The world is a mirror that reflects your beliefs, as Gregg Braden explains so eloquently in his book. Self-love, then is the beginning and the end of all LOVE.

Stay warm, friends. With gratitude,

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