So very much to share with you, Gentle Readers, that I hardly know where to begin.

I must first apologise for the long silences between the last few posts. I can only blame it on houses needing paint; floors needing cleaning; daughters planning weddings; sons entering college; husbands needing dinner; all coupled with growing my candle company and helping to keep my Starbucks open.

But the two Most Importent Items are as follows :-

Behold my Weight-loss graph!


Absolute, concrete, visual proof that I, Jacqui Gates, perpetually-plump-and-on-a-diet Jacqui Gates, have actually lost 13 lbs!
And the most wondrous, life affirming, self-validating part of all is that I know that this time it's permanent. I have found a tool to keep me on track, a system that works for me and above all, I can actually see myself as Thin. In the pictures in my head, I am slim and fit and vibrantly healthy, and every day the manifestation is becoming more and more real.

And this achievement has in turn given birth to a revitalization of my other purpose in life - to create an abundant life for myself and my family, and lead and empower others to do the same.

I have joined Bob Doyle's Boundless Living Challenge. You can get all the details if you follow the link, but basically it's a global 45 day challenge to step out of your comfort zone and actually reach a goal you're passionate about.

My goal is to Grow My Business to the point where it more than covers my monthly costs. This means to stop playing office (you know, organize my catalogs; make some pretty folders; tidy the office; etc; etc) and actually get out there and sell!

I'm creating a 5 Steps a Day plan that I'm committed to carrying out each and every day. No more airy fairy vague goals - just specific, identifiable, measurable results.

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow .....

No really, I promise!

Preparation

I have Spring Fever, in the middle of Summer!
You know that sense of anticipation; the quickening of momentum; that "something's coming, something good" feeling. The inescapable desire to declutter, uncover, and discover. To grow, bloom and burgeon into an abundant life.
Taking part in this challenge has me excited, nervous, determined and yet so aware of the Resistance lurking in the wings.

But this time, I will not quit!

Too many times, I have sunk my ship before it ever left the harbour, or walked away before the journey was done and the gold unloaded.

Not this time. Because this time, I won't be alone.
And that makes all the difference in the world.

The Woman in the Mirror

I'm actually beginning to like what I see in the mirror.

Only those of us who have developed that specific kind of tunnel vision that only allows one to focus on the "nice" and "passable" portions of our bodies when confronted (usually by surprise - like in shop windows) with a wide-screen, head-to-toe reflection of ourselves, will understand what a profound statement that is.

You know that mental cinematic trick that zooms in on a pretty nose or shapely ankles, and just fuzzes over the bulging hips and poochy belly in between? Well, for the first time in decades, the scale is my friend and I can actually see my butt lifting off my knees!

The magician's wand that has helped me manifest this miracle is a free website on which I have been tracking my calories and carbs for the past six weeks. That, coupled with a final resigned acceptance that I really cannot eat wheat without it resulting in zeppelin-like bloating and stomach curling agony. So I'm down 9 lbs in 2 months and fast regaining my former sylph-like figure.

I tell The Centre of My Universe that I still have everything I had when I married him 26 years ago - it's all just a little lower. But at least, soon, finally, it'll be almost the same size too ...

Keeping Promises and Getting to Done!

Several things pushed themselves to the front of my awareness today, unbidden but persistant :-

• The delicious irony in the title of this blog - Musings and Manifestations. At present there is too much musing, not enough Manifestation and a subtle straying from the original intent to share my journey to Abundance. My exploration of "The Road Less Travelled" has somehow led to a comforable cul-de-sac of suburban mediocrity instead of the succession of scintillating dinner parties and starring roles.
  
• Then a post in my friend's blog. I too am tired of honoring all promises made except those to myself. Why am I the last on my life-list, when everyone's knows you can't pour from an empty pitcher?
• And, a few days ago, a personal call from my millionaire mentor/sponsor, the woman I most want to emulate, following an email admission that my candle business has lost momentum and is very close to needing the commercial equivalent of CPR.
  

I want to be the woman who "has done" rather than the one that "dreams of doing". While I am aware that my life resume is already full of admirable adventures, heading toward my 45th birthday I feel a pressing need to make each moment count, to channel my inner Auntie Mame (my favorite role and inspirational character) and Open a New Window every day.

So enough Musing - Today I will Manifest! I will step off the smooth-trodden asphalt of the freeway to Ordinaryville and back onto the cobbled, pot-holed twisting road taken by the few who reach Abundance.

This week, Today, Right now, I will take my To Do list by the scruff of the neck and get to Done.

My Hero!

My youngest graduated this weekend.
How is this possible?
Where did the years go?
Such a full heart - to many feelings to put into words.

As usual, there is a song to express it perfectly.

To paraphrase the ballad in "Fiddler on the Roof" -

When did he get to be a hero?
When did he grown to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when he was small?

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze ....

What a life!

Do you think the Universe would allow me to come back as one of my daughter's cats?

Garden of the Gods

My darling daughter gave me the sweetest statue for Mother's day, and perched atop a column I've had for ages (Never throw anything out!), he makes me smile while I wash the dishes. The uncontrolled exhuberance of white blossoms and sweet fragrance of the honeysuckle fill my garden with beauty and wonder - and I am so grateful to be in Georgia. I was told you could plant a toothpick here, and it would grow. I believe it now.

When my dad was here from South Africa, he pruned the two rose bushes outside my lounge window. Actually, "pruning" is not the term I would have used - the once straggly, unkempt but still recognizable bushes ended up looking like kindling for a fire. But look at them now! There are more than 20 buds on the two bushes and every time I look out the window, I am filled with joy, and gratitude for a wonderful man who took me in when I was only four, and loved me as his own.
Thank you, Daddy.