Your delicious bite of Inspiration Pie for today is candy-coated, self-indulgent BLISS.

There are many things in this world which we can purchase or borrow from someone else in order to make ourselves happy, but BLISS is not one of those things. I could give you page after page full of suggestions as to where to look for bliss, how to go about creating it and what you should do once you have learned to recognize it. But to be honest with you, that would mean that you would be sampling MY version of bliss and not going in search of your own. Bliss can and should be extremely personal. We can not look to other people in the hope that they will offer us the key to unlocking our own bliss, instead, we must take advantage of the complete enjoyment that comes from opening the door to bliss on our own.
Perhaps for you, bliss can simply be found in a long steamy bubble bath, or maybe your bliss is more like a cozy chair, the perfect cup of tea and a good movie. Whatever YOUR bliss looks and feels like, be sure that the end result is of your own creating.

When we start to look at other people in order to mirror somebody else’s version of bliss we are denying ourselves the opportunity to experience it first hand. It is much like a hand-me-down sweater that might be really cute and fit you like a glove, but it’s still somebody else’s sweater. Bliss needs to be custom fit just for you. It is your experience, your definition and ultimately a gift only you can give to yourself!

You are worthy of bliss on a daily basis….every single day even if only for a few quiet moments. It is yours for the taking; you just need to find out what YOUR bliss feels like. Maybe on different days, your bliss takes the form of different experiences, that’s perfectly fine!! But I promise you that you will not find authentic bliss in a shopping mall, or job promotion, it’s not hiding in a new home, fancier car, or better zip code. Instead, it is always within your reach, it doesn’t cost a thing and it is right there just waiting for you the moment you decide to SEE it.

Today, your job is to give yourself the opportunity to sit still for a few minutes and ask yourself just one big question; what does YOUR bliss look like? Whatever the answer to your bliss might be, you DESERVE to treat yourself to a bit of time needed in order to enjoy and savor it. You are a busy girl with endless responsibilities, but in the middle of it all, somewhere in the momentary winks of silence, your bliss is patiently waiting for you to find it. Today is a fabulous day to invite bliss into your world and once it shows up, I hope that you will take a ridiculously large bite every single day and savor every delicious second of it!

Good morning lovely girl!

Have you taken advantage of that beautiful set of wings you were born with or have you left them in a closet somewhere to gather dust? So many of us get so caught up with everything we must attend to on the ground that we forget about our ability to FLY! We misplace our imagination, set our dreams aside and get so caught up in what keeps our feet firmly on the ground that we forget to allow our imaginations to dance among the clouds.

You have a vision of what you want your life to look like, you have a clear picture tucked into your mind of what you had always hoped to accomplish and yet, you leave it as a daydream instead of doing the work to make it a reality. It's scary when we know we are called to do something that might involve taking a risk because you and I are responsible sort of girls who would never think of doing anything that just might jeopardize our secure place on the ground. But......what if by simply giving your imagination flight you could become the happy and fulfilled woman you have always wanted to be? What if you could take the ideas our of your journal and daydreams and make them into something tangibel? Would you take a chance? Would you dust off the those wings of yours and jump? Perhaps, you need not take a big bold leap, just a teeny tiny step towards the ledge.....a little closer every day until one day you just let yourself FLY!

You can do it. You deserve to try! Today would be such a good day to gently flap those wings of yours and get all the kinks out. It would be so wonderful if you could give yourself permission to embrace that little change you've been wanting to make and give some thought to one little gesture you could make towards enabling it to happen.

Imagine being handed the key that will unlock and free up everything has been keeping your feet planted on the ground. What would you do if you had all the freedom you ever could ever want and none of the fear that has been bogging you down for so long? Before heading off to that busy day of yours give yourself a little time to marinate in your own dreams a bit. Jot down a few things that have been weighing you down and see if you can't find a way to release just one of them today.

You, lovely girl, deserve a full and fabulous life, a life filled with unlimited potential to fly, you just need to dust off those wings of yours and give the wind the chance to carry you!

I wish you a day full of magic carpets, ruby slippers and the never-ending possibility!

Heather

Good morning lovelies…..today we’re taking a bit bite out of time and chasing it with a gulp of awareness!
The one thing I know for certain about myself is that I often take time for granted. I break it down into little boxes listed in a date book rather than looking at the big picture. I ignore the fact that the one sure thing in this world is that I will never be able to get back is time. I can’t barter with the universe to give me a little more of it, I can‘t stop the clock in order to make it last longer and I certainly can not press some sort of cosmic pause button in order to put it on hold for a moment. So, the big question then, is why do we use up so much of our time by wasting it?
You and I are busy people, we run around like crazy ladies scheduling just about everything we can think of. We stop just long enough to close our eyes for a few blissful hours and then the alarm clock goes off and the marathon begins again. Then one day we wake up in our mid-forties and wonder how the heck we got here and where the time has gone.
I don’t think I was completely aware of just precious time is until my father passed away a few years ago. He lived well into his seventies but so much of his time here was spent chasing bigger homes, fatter bank accounts and a grander lifestyle. In the end, as we were packing up his belongings to donate them to charity, it hit me right between the eyes that none of those items he had worked so hard for really meant a darned thing, instead, what mattered was the time he gave his family. As I was realizing how much time my dad had squandered on the irrelevant things, I was wildly grateful to be able to look back and know that somehow he did find the time to be there when it mattered most. He never missed a play, a baseball game, family event, and thankfully, most of our dinners were spent with all four of us gathered around the kitchen table. We had wonderful family vacations and movie nights, he was right there to help my mom with Halloween costumes and things around the house. I don’t know how he did it or that he ever really knew how much each of us valued our time as a family, but in the end, I am lucky to be able to say that he was there when it mattered most.


How many of us are guilty of taking time for granted? I certainly am.
It is common for me to work my butt off all day doing all the things that will give me financial security and I literally blink and entire months have gone by and my husband and I have not had a date night. I find myself constantly asking where the time has gone and what do I have to show for it?

Somewhere in between the endless responsibilities and daily grind, we have got to slow it down long enough to appreciate and respect time. Whether it be time with our families, quiet time, ME time, down time, or just five precious minutes of reflection on the day, we need to remind ourselves constantly that time is fleeting, and as dramatic as it sounds, every single second is a gift. All of those THINGS we are working so hard to accumulate are fabulous when it comes to instant gratification and keeping up with the Joneses, but in the end, what will ultimately matter most is how wisely we used our time. Have we spent enough time telling the people around us how much they matter? Have we taken a day off from the on-going to-do list in order to spend some quality time with the people we cherish the most? Are we staying the in moment when we have the time or are we planning the heck out of the next few hours, days and weeks?
We need to cherish time. We need to stay in the moment and celebrate the next five minutes just because we can! We can not stop time or slow it down but we can consciously be aware of what a true blessing it is and never squander one second of it by doing the things that in the end won’t make a shred of difference. What will matter is the time you spent talking with your child, or telling your significant other how much you love them. What will matter is the five minutes you gave yourself to appreciate a beautiful sky or a a quiet cup of tea!

Regardless of how much “stuff” you have, or don’t have, well beyond social status and fancy clothing, or that big job title you have spent so much time working for, in the end what we will each be remembered for is not what we have accumulated, but what we have shared. As you embark on another jam packed day, I hope that you will make a concerted effort to see the tremendous gift of time. I hope that you will try to stop working extra hours, quit taking on more than you can carry, delegate a task or two, and truly savor every blissful moment of your day. Time is priceless, it is something you can take for granted, or something you can choose to consciously embrace. Today would be a fabulous day to begin paying attention to how you are spending your time and what you could be doing differently in order to share your time with the people you love the most.

I wish you a day filled with your version of quality time and the clarity to not take one moment of it for granted!
Heather

Good afternoon lovely girl, today we take a big bite of OOPS and serve it up with a side of FORGIVENESS!!
If you're human, and I really hope that you are, then mistakes are going to happen! Sometimes it's about saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing, not doing enough, doing too much.....the list goes on and on....and it's all just part of life. Every time we experience a little hiccup we get to decide if we will spend the rest of our days punishing ourselves or doing our best to apologize for our error and move on. Chances are you don't sit around trying to figure out how to hurt people's feelings and disappoint them, and nobody who knows you would ever think that you intentionally messed up.
Give yourself a break sweet friend because if you're taking an active role in your own life then the law of averages tells us that sometimes things are going to go wrong. But I promise that it's not the end of the world!
You are a good and wonderful woman....you take such pride and care when it comes to protecting the hearts and feelings of the people around you; but it's time you take care of yourself too! Whatever your mistake might have been, it is time to stop beating yourself up.
Sometimes our very best intentions wind up back-firing and what we thought was a terrific idea winds up heading south very quickly. This was not your plan, this is not something you ever expected to happen and though you might feel horrible, you're going to have to let it go.
Your unconditional kindness sometimes makes it difficult to forgive yourself if you feel as though you have done somebody wrong, but I promise you that your sincere apology has not fallen on deaf ears. You took ownership, you did your best to make amends and now all you can do is know that you tried!
We waste so much time on hindsight....we reflect and regret and wish we could turn back the clock, but dear lady, there are no do-overs, there is only right now and the knowledge that tomorrow is going to be a much better day! So, today is the perfect day to own your OOPS, apologize and then forgive yourself! You made a mistake, and as long as you allow yourself to learn a little something, then I can assure you that in the end, everything is going to be alright! It might not finish out the way you had hoped, but sometimes you need to put a little faith in the fact that the Universe might have a better understanding then you do, and maybe what you thought was an OOPS will one day show up as a really good thing!
Rest easy my friend, it is not the end of the world and you are defined by far more than one or two little bumbs along the road!

TIME TO TAKE ACTION: If you have been carrying around the heavy feeling of regret or remorse for something you have done then it is time to set down the extra baggage, forgive yourself and get back into celebrating this beautiful thing we call life! You deserve it!
Today I wish you the clarity to see past the clouds and bask in the warmth of those golden drenched sun beams reaching right out to warm you!
Heather

Good morning lovely girl!
Today let’s take a bite out of the tiniest little word that has the potential to do the most damage; EGO! Oh if I had a nickel for every time I let the voice of my ego drown out what my heart was telling me I can promise you that would have a closet full of Manolo Blahniks as far as the eye can see. It is astonishing to me that a mere three letter word packs the power of an emotional tsunami wreaking havoc each time it rears it’s nasty face. Every time we allow our egos to get in the way of something we are passionate about, something we are excited about or proud of, we are essentially sabotaging any chance we have for unconditional happiness.
Allow me to provide you with a few examples…

Inspiration Pie is something I have been carrying around with me for years….and years….and years. It is something I am incredibly passionate about, something that I knew I had to do and yet, I was constantly SO worried about what my friends, family and total strangers would think, that I never allowed myself to actually do anything with it. I was so unhappy and angry with myself each time I read about somebody who was off living their dream while I was allowing my own ego to keep me in a prison I had basically chosen to live in. All this time, all I ever wanted to do was inspire people to feel better about themselves and I didn’t have the confidence it took to follow my own advice; even today as I have commit to finishing this project I started so long ago, I can hear that nasty little ego of mine telling me that it is a waste of time, that nobody cares what I think . The difference is that now I can recognize the warning signs when ego is beginning to creep up on me and I imagine myself wearing shiny black combat boots and stepping on him. So, maybe nobody will listen to a word I have to say, but in what matters now is that I have given myself the freedom to say it anyway.

Here is another fabulous example for you….
Back when my day was consumed with developing my line of mineral makeup, I thought I had come up with a brilliant idea. It was called Hope Quest cosmetics and it was to be a division of my company that included my usual range of mineral eye colors but instead of leaving it at that, each color would come with a little postcard that included an inspirational little message I had written (sort of like if a Hallmark card came with makeup). It took me months and months of talking myself into finally take the plunge and launching the new division. I finally pulled the whole thing together, sent an email out to over 3800 clients in order to let them know that I had this fabulous new idea to share with them and then the very worst thing happened; nothing. The orders never came flooding in like they usually did when I launched a new collection, nobody was posting on my message board about how much they loved my new idea, there was only the sound of crickets and to say that I was devastated would be a mild understatement. For months after that I was just miserable. I felt so stupid for thinking that I had such a good idea when my clients clearly did not agree. Instead of focusing on the fact that my customers were not really coming to me for greeting cards, I could only see failure. Never mind that I should have just been proud of myself for going forward with this idea of mine…nope, instead I put all of my energy into what I thought was a failure on my end. The few orders that did come, and the wonderful notes that I got from people who had received the cards and shared them was immediately wiped out by the bigger picture….in my mind I had failed.

These are just two of a laundry list of examples I could give you of what happens when your ego takes over. Instead of being proud of our smallest accomplishments, we choose to highlight our perceived short-comings. Rather than celebrating our own individuality, we focus on the skinnier, taller, curvier, prettier, younger girl sitting across the room and eventually convince ourselves that we simply do not stack up. (take from my four foot eleven self, I know of what I speak)
Ego is the voice that tells you that you are not capable of living your dreams. It is the devil on your shoulder convincing you that you might as well settle for the less than fabulous mate because you will never be pretty enough or good enough for Mr. Perfect. It is the whisper in the back of your mind that tells you not to even bother going after the promotion you know you deserve, or launch the new company you have been developing in your head, because you are not smart enough, you are not clever enough…you are simply not enough.
If you think of every time you wanted something better for yourself and stopped just short of achieving it, I can promise you that EGO was lurking in the shadows. The good news is that the minute you decide to work your butt off to silence your ego, great things begin to happen! As soon as you imagine yourself slapping a big piece of masking tape over the mouth of your ego, you suddenly begin to see yourself for the miracle that you are….and you my dear, are a true miracle.

Your life can and will be as big and as fabulous as you can possibly dream for yourself….but not until you learn to let your heart speak louder than your ego….not until you decide that you are worth all the good things that have been lurking right outside your front door! You have so many amazing gifts to offer, and yet, somebody in your life might have made you feel less than fabulous, and so instead of remembering the good things, you chose to hang on to the junk. People will go to great lengths in order for you to believe the lies they will tell you about yourself, but you need to know and believe that they do not do so with malice, they do not do it to intentionally hurt you, I promise you they don’t. Sadly, I believe that people say and do bad things to one another because their own egos are bruised and rather than trying to see their own relevance, they find it easier to try and diminish yours.
Entire books have been written about learning to silence our egos, and yet, how many of us have read them, (myself included) and still wish we were somebody other than who we are. Until we unconditionally believe that we are perfect just as we are, our own happiness will always be just outside of our reach. Each and every morning when you wake up there is a choice to be made; will you choose to celebrate yourself regardless of how big your bank account or house is, OR will you search for all of the things you need to fix about yourself? The choice is yours. Be grateful for who you are or wallow in what you think might be wrong. I would venture to say that a life lived from a place of lack is a life quickly slipping through your fingers.
There are so many things you want to do with your life, so many opportunities that if taken, could truly make you happy…but the choice is yours. Stay on the path you are on and let EGO control the show, or make a conscious and constant effort to embrace the good and beautiful things about yourself then watch the whole world stop to smile at you.

You are a rare and wonderful gift. You are unique, and colorful, warm and beautiful and oh so fabulous. You are more than enough exactly the way you are right this moment.
Today would be such a perfect day to allow yourself to believe all the good things you have ever heard about yourself. It is the perfect opportunity to KNOW that you are entitled to all the good things that your imagination can dream up for you! It is time to tell that ego of yours to go and take a hike! Kick its butt to the curb and never look back! You deserve it…yes my beautiful friend, you!

Now, before you have a chance to start talking yourself out of all those good things you want for yourself, take a few moments to start an endless list of things that you are proud of, things that you love about yourself and things you could celebrate about who you are right in this moment! Leave no room for the negative, pay no attention when ego tries to talk you out of something (that was its job, so tell it its FIRED), just keep writing….allow yourself to own all the good things you have kept silent for so long! Write until you can’t feel fingers anymore and then give yourself a pat on the back for giving yourself the gift of such a remarkable list!

There is a big wide world waiting to celebrate who you are right along with you....but you have to give it a chance, you have to let yourself enjoy it!
Today I wish you the ability and WISDOM to recognize just how amazing you really are! I wish you the strength to silence that ego of yours and replace all that nasty junk with the very best and most beautiful beliefs about yourself! I wish you the courage to stick that ego of yours in a soundproof box and throw away the key!
Sending buckets of bliss your way!
Heather

One day soon, on some particularly sunny morning you will wake up and suddenly realize that you have finally run out of excuses for not doing all the things that you have intended to do. You will abruptly find yourself at a crossroad where you either have to move forward with the dreams constantly dancing around that beautiful mind of yours or silence them forever and just join the circus. You will know with complete and total clarity that on that day, and in that moment, it is time.
Today is my moment. Today, August 12th I have decided that to remain in neutral would be to ultimately deny myself the bliss that has eluded me for so long. I have no visions of grandeur, I have no desire for fame and fortune, I just want to complete the darned book I started 10 years ago. For years and years, words and pictures have been dancing around my color-stained imagination just dying to find a home out in the read world, but the HOW and the WHAT IFs always managed to take over and so I was left basically drawing hearts and swirls on a piece of paper....lots and lots of pieces of paper. I just couldn't get to the place where I knew it was time to do something...anything that would pull me out of this perpetual place of stalled determination.
For the last several months I have felt myself moving ever closer to either being locked in a loony bin or finally making Inspiration Pie a reality. Being that I am not too fond of the idea of moving into a sterile white padded room, I recognize that I can't put this off any longer.

The simple truth, the truth that each and every one of us shares is that we all have dreams.
For some of us, those dreams got put on hold because of fear, or what we believe is bad timing...or maybe we're waiting until the kids grow up, we get the promotion, drop 20 pounds, move to a bigger home, get a fancier car, find our soul mate.....blah blah blah.....whatever your excuses have been up to this moment, you have allowed them to take up residence in that brain of yours and so they have become your reality.
My reality, the one that haunts me, is that I have a BIG dream, a dream that I have been dragging around me forever, and until I put it out THERE I know that I am just going to continue to be spinning in circles. But I am getting dizzy.....and so I know that it is time to put on my favorite chunky black platform shoes and jump.

BEGIN!

Inspiration Pie, the blog, the book, the thought process is about....well, in a word, INSPIRATION. It is about reminding ourselves that we unconditionally deserve to see the world through over-sized rose colored glasses, it is about remembering that every day can and should be a good day....it is about taking our lives into our very own hands and being one hundred percent conscious and accountable for every waking moment. It is about living a life that is full of magic and miracles, love, acceptance, and unconditional bliss.

My dream, my super-sized, over-the-top hope for this book and this blog is that it will change your mind. It will remind you to love your life, to change what needs changing, to fix what is broken and to finally see your time on this beautiful planet as the awesome and overwhelmingly fabulous experience that is was meant to be.

So....today we begin a journey together, today we BEGIN....one word each day for 100 days (yes you guessed it, today's word is BEGIN), one bite of Inspiration Pie that I hope will turn into 365 days and then a whole series of books all designed to inspire, empower, initiate, motivate, celebrate, rejuvenate and in the end encourage you to fall head over heels with this big beautiful, unbelievably abundant life of yours!

Today is a fantabulous day. It is a full 24 hours of chocolate covered potential just waiting to be unwrapped. You have a dream just like I do and if you're ready, and if you're willing, then there will never be a better day to BEGIN to take one tiny step towards bringing that dream to life!!

Before heading off to the rest of your busy life, I hope that you will pause for a moment, be completely present in this moment and ask yourself what some of your own dreams might be! Then grab a piece of paper, a big fat marker and write them down! Get them out of your head and into the light where the seeds of your imagination can take root and grow! Give yourself permission to step out of that comfortable place you've been living in and imagine what could happen if you actually found a way to live your dream!!! Life is meant to be a big fluffy slice of Inspiration Pie and today is the PERFECT day to pick up a fork and take an embarrsassingly big bite!! Today is a great day to just put an end to the excuses and BEGIN!

I wish you unlimited clarity, patience and buckets of bliss!
Heather