Snow, LLCs and the Psychology of Positive

"Take the best into your mind and only that. Nurture it, concentrate on it, visualize it, prayerize it, surround it with faith. Make it your obsession. Spiritually creative mind power aided by god power will produce the best."
-Positive Thinking Every Day by Norman Vincent Peale

Its finally snowing in Boulder. But not just snowing, its been snowing quite heavily for most of the day. Tonight its forecasted to be around 3 degrees below zero. It is really beautiful outside, actually. Its kind of like a frosted paradise.

I'm always struck by the simple beauty of the falling flakes. Downy fluff falling from the heavens to blanket the world with a deep stillness. It feels like nature is breathing deep, on the verge of sleeping for a good long while. A soft, cold sleep til spring.

Unfortunately, until about 14 hours ago, that was not the case. Its been unseasonably warm lately. In fact, the day after Christmas, I actually saw someone swimming in an outdoor pool in town. But its snowing now, and mother nature seems to be trying to make up for time lost. It is gorgeous outside, despite the road conditions. :D

Ah... cue the music and enjoy the snow!
Florence and the Machine: Dog Days are Over!

During a slower time at work today, I was searching around on the internet for possible names for a mobile spa business. I finally stumbled on a good name for my business: Goddess to go, LLC or, on promotional material it will be: Goddess to go! A mobile spa

Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with myself today. Its pretty easy to register an LLC for Colorado online. Exciting stuff, actually. Naturally, I won't launch the actual business until I'm legally able to practice Cosmetology. But at least now I have the business registered and named. Good stuff.

Now, a word on todays positivity. Let in the good! Its working... amazing as it sounds, making sure that you think positive and look to the good in every day that good things start coming out. I actually surprised myself today by complementing something in my life that I generally put down and denigrate.

Actually... I did that twice in the same conversation and before that, I was doing that with a coworker as well. Amazing things are happening to my blood pressure and the knot in my stomach is slowly starting to unwind.

There is a definite change for the better. Its much like a winter in my heart at the moment. Deep, still, quiet and cool. There is potential for great beauty and vibrant, colorful beauty. Its there, under a thick blanket of freshly fallen snow.

But spring is coming... I can feel it in my roots

Uplifting exercise

"Never think down - always think up!"
-Positive Thinking Every Day by Norman Vincent Peale

Last night, after dinner and blogging, I went for a jog. Bundled in two shirts, two light 'workout' jackets, a big scarf, hat and gloves, and with my new sketcher tone-ups; I braved the cold and half ran half jogged all the way to my work and back.

Apparently its a good idea to wear a scarf over your mouth to avoid what my friend Adam calls "bloody lungs". Now, I'm not a doctor, or an athlete really... by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm pretty sure that that is not really what its called. LOL

Today, along with a little bit of a cough from my evening jaunt, I woke with a lovely UP feeling. I credit a combination of positive thinking and working out last night with this uplift.

I think this whole "thinking up" idea is good, actually... because there is an amazing power in the human mind to trick itself into certain behaviors. So, here's to the power of the mind, right? Hurray!

Progress... exciting? Hmm...

"Set aside a few minutes every day to say aloud such words as 'exciting,' 'dynamic,' 'marvelous,' 'fabulous,' 'terrific.'
-December 28th, "Positive Thinking Every Day" by Norman Vincent Peale

The biggest hurdle in changing your mindset has to be the repetition... just the blinding monotony of same thoughts until you really believe the stuff you're saying to yourself.

In case you're wondering, I'm trying to change my attitude toward my life. I'm excited about this, actually. Its a terrific idea and I'm feeling marvelous... LOL Well, I'm trying...

Today I rescheduled my test for January 11th in Aurora. So that should be interesting. Could be fabulous, right? It has the potential to be dynamically marvelous in a terrific way, actually. :D

The only hitch in this amazing and wonderful and (this time) life-changing experience is that I have to re-learn a lot of criteria and re-do my kit. *shrugs* such is life.

I think the biggest thing that I really need to keep in mind is that no matter what happens. NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS...

my friends and family will still love me.

They don't care if I'm super successful or stuck in a dead-end job. Its all going to be alright. Maybe I won't do what I had set out to do in the first place... but you know what? I'm going to be alright. One way or the other.

Perspective on Failing (first attempt)

"Never react emotionally to what happens but always look for and find in every circumstance the good that's surely present there."

Wow... wish I had known that earlier today. I feel that I handled myself very well, all things considered.

Granted, I was failed on my first attempt at taking my Colorado State Boards Practical examination.

Yes, I was failed on a technicality. Officially, the reason given was that my "sections were uneven".

Literally, any item on the test not fulfilled is grounds for automatic failure of the test.

Okay, I'll admit that I'm not happy in the least about the situation. Most likely I'll have to either

A: beg, borrow, steal and whatever else to get a test date before the end of the year(I'm not holding my breath on that one.*grins*)

or B: Relearn all of the criteria so that I can take the test using the all-new rules for 2011(which also means that I'll have to redo my kit before testing as well, and possibly go in for some training at school for it.)

Either way, I'm trying to look to the positive side. Ya know, it could be that this is all for the best. As someone quite wise told me today, "who knows, you might just look back when you're seventy and realize that it was all for a reason.". Jill, I sure hope you're right!

In the meantime,
...it was good that I tested in Greeley because I got to reminisce for a while before the test of when I went to school at UNCO.

...it was good that I had a chance to see how the test worked and what the facilities are like. (Including the heating and air conditioning. That room was quite warm... then again, I was really nervous too.)

...it was good that after the test, I got to hang out with Megan, who I rarely get to see. We had a lovely dinner and then proceeded to eat every sugary thing we could think of... it was wonderful.

...it was amazingly good to see how truely blessed with people who care about me that I am! So many people have called or emailed or texted or a combination therof about my attempt today that I was almost brought to tears of joy. How great is it to know that even in the darkest hour, you still have so many people who care?

Sunday Update...

The fun part of working and going to school is that there is an amazing variety of experiences every week.

This week at work, we were informed that it was almost official that our store's manager's bosses boss was going to be visiting and inspecting the store. Needless to say, we were put to work in getting the store up to snuff.

Unfortunately, by the end of the day on Monday we hadn't quite finished up some key elements like cleaning the restrooms and stocking all of the paper that we'd just had delivered. I took it on myself to do those couple of things that I could after my shift was supposed to end and ended up staying about two and a half hours late.

We didn't end up getting our inspection, but for a few days the store looked quite nice, which was fun. The bad part was that I ended up starting the week on a bad foot: I was exhausted at the start... :P

Tuesday night at school was quiet and relaxed, but with all of the stress at work, I was having some trouble concentrating and ended up pacing between bouts of bookwork. We also received our progress reports for our hours and I'm happy to report that I'm officially at 1352 hours, which means that in two weeks I'll be able to start our baby boards program at Longs Peak Academy.

"Baby Boards" is a training that we have for our Colorado State Board Licensure practical testing. I already have quite a few of the elements, and my friend's have already given me some tips on how to put the kit together that make it easier and a little less expensive.

Wednesday was fun... busybusybusy fun... LOL I had three color services(one was my Mom, one was a regular who had never had color from me before, and one was a color correction), a Salt Glow body treatment, and a Microdermabrasion(3 areas: face, neck and decollete). Having those last three Microderms means that I've officially finished up my requirements for my Microdermabrasion certification, so upon graduation I can do them at any facility that offers them. Hurray!

Actually, here's a lovely before and after of my regular customer:
Before:

and After:


Thursday at work was exhausting, both mentally and physically. We had a "surprise" visit from our manager's boss that involved lots of walking around the store and "trying to give the customer the BEST experience possible" and many other similarly "enthusiastic" and "helpful" suggestions. By the end of the day, I was too tired to think, let alone be "enthusiastic" about work.

School went well, quiet but well... which was good, considering my state of mind and body. That night, after school, I was so wiped out that I decided to call out sick to recuperate. It turned into a lovely day: restful, nourishing to the soul and productive. A wonderful day off on all counts.

Saturday was the busiest that I've had in some time, but it turned out very well on all accounts. Four haircuts, a Salt Glow, two shampoo sets, and I tweezed the dark hairs from a lovely older lady's chin.

Here is another lovely color job from a few weeks ago:

Dance it off!

When I get really busy, and the thought of going on my bike or jogging through the neighborhood seems out of the question, I workout at home.

A new workout that I really enjoy a great deal is to download my favorite dance hits and I dance it up in my bathroom while I'm doing my evening beauty regimen.

Takes me about 5-6 songs to get ready for bed, and I feel both sexy and invigorated by the time I'm done.

Some of my favorites:

Muse "Supermassive Black Hole"

La Roux "Bulletproof"

Rhianna "Disturbia"

Metric "Gold Guns Girls"

Enjoy!

Diversity in Arts...

As a professional in any artistic industry, one of the most common concerns is finding a way to keep things fresh. Fresh for you, and fresh for your clientel.

If you're working at the same thing day in and day out, how do you prevent burnout?

The gurus will say "simplify", but as one of those busybusybusy types, I find that I can't relax each and every night. I have to be doing something, even if its as 'simple' as knitting or cleaning or whatever.

I propose a different tactic:

Break it up... Instead of working five days a week doing the same thing every day, work two days on project A, two days on project B, and one day on project C (or project A again).

This not only keeps things fresh, it allows for things to inspire you in other ways. For example: if project A is a venue such as hairdressing, make sure that project B is in a different arena. If you're a Cosmetologist, perhaps project B would be skin or nail services and project C would be a day of only waxing services.

If you're an illustrative artist who also does music; project A could be the paying job, project B could be music only, and project C could be exploring a new medium (like sculpture or photography and not meant to directly benefit either project A or B, it would have to be unrelated).

The tricky part in this is that the artists brain can become overloaded in any of these arenas. If that becomes the case, a break from one of the three projects could fix that problem. Take that time for relaxing activities like leisurly bike riding or shopping for a new book.

The same tactic could also work for job burn-out. (I do this myself, actually.):
Job A Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri; School Wednesday and Saturday(morning to early afternoon); then, when they need me, I work at Job B on Saturday night.

This helps keep things fresh for me, and helps me to keep inspiration flowing for the times when I need a little more help.

Hope this helps!