IMAGINE TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF BEFORE YOU TAKE CARE OF EVERYONE ELSE…

Even if just for one day

It’s a Self Luv-apoolza and you’re invited!

The Madly in Love with ME Celebration

February 13th, 9-5pm

Claremont Hotel Club and Spa

Berkeley, CA

Join me and 200 other women as we take February 13th, the international day of self-love, to take a stand to do more than survive our lives…as you take this day of self-love to thrive!

I am so excited to be attending and teaching at this event, where along with some of my wisest friends – amazing transformational teachers and performers – we will share and teach the new feminine super powers every 21st century woman needs:

* Transform your inner mean girl into your inner superheroine
* Meet your new best friend, intuition
* Stop chasing balance and start feeling balanced
* Create more time and energy vs. to dos

What excites me most is that this isn’t just another workshop or conference with break out sessions. This is an experience that you, me and 200 women will have together… we will spend the entire day together at the beautiful Claremont Resort where we will play, shift, be inspired and best of all leave more in love with ourselves than we could ever imagine!

I hope that you will join me for this day of self-love! There will only be 200 tickets sold, so get your ticket early. And, consider upgrading yourself to a VIP Package, which among many other benefits includes 1 of 8 seats at my personal table. It would be GREAT to spend the day with you!

For more information on the event and the Madly in Love with ME movement go to https://expanding.infusionsoft.com/go/MLMSF/MShimoff/

Do you have a story about the experience of unconditional love?

My newest book, Love for No Reason, is coming in January 2011 (published by Simon & Schuster). This book is about learning to experience more unconditional love in everyday life-the kind of life that isn’t based on circumstances. Like Happy for No Reason, it will contain tools and techniques from wisdom traditions and the field of positive psychology, cutting-edge scientific research, and inspiring true stories–that’s where you come in.

My collaborator, Carol Kline and I are interviewing 100 Love Luminaries: world-renowned spiritual leaders, scientists, psychologists, and other subject matter experts (including the Dalai Lama, Gay and Katie Hendricks, and Angeles Arrien, to name a few), and other people who live their lives from a deep state of love.

If you are one of those people who live in that deep state of love, or know someone like that, please contact us. We are looking for stories about how unconditional love (not just romantic love) transforms lives. Please email: shelly@happyfornoreason.com

Thanks for being a part of spreading this much-needed message of “BIG love” all over the world!

Lovingly, Marci

Happy New Year! Happy New Decade!

Here’s to ringing in the new decade with great openness, optimism, and hope for the coming years.

I love the promise a New Year holds–when we start afresh with a new vision of possibilities for our lives. And yet, New Year’s resolutions are usually a bust. By the time we’re halfway through January (right about now), most of us have forgotten all about them!

Here’s a better idea. Select a theme for your year: “The Year of…” Vital Health, Faith, Being in the Moment, Happiness… whatever most speaks to you. I’ve done this for years, and it really works. The theme stays tucked in the back of my mind where it percolates, inspires ideas, and generates energy. It’s a quiet intention that lays the foundation for the entire year.

If you haven’t already, now is a good time to select your theme.

Since I’ll be spending much of the year working on my new book called Love for No Reason, I thought I had my theme: Love. I’ll be thinking, breathing, and talking love all year long!

But a few days later, “The Year of Trust” popped into my mind. It felt so right! At first, I resisted, thinking it should be my Year of Love. But then I realized my way of getting to the place of love is through trust.

When I relax and trust life, I let in more love. When I trust myself, my heart opens. So, as the gate opener to love, Trust is the perfect theme for my year.

Once you’ve selected a theme that inspires you, create a vision board to help you take it from concept to reality. This week I’m creating one for my business and one for my personal life, both of which will have The Year of Trust across the top.

Having a theme is a powerful form of happiness intention–the first step of what I call The Magic Formula: Intention, Attention, and No Tension. Follow these steps to build a strong foundation for your happiness:

1) Select a theme for your year-one that sings to your soul.
2) Create a vision board (or two) with your theme at the top.
3) Make a habit of looking for the ways your theme shows up throughout your day.

In happiness and trust, Marci

When I was growing up, I bought my school supplies, notebooks, pencils, and even penny candy at “Ben Franklin,” our local five and dime store. That’s how Ben Franklin came to be a VIP in my world.

Later I learned how impressive he truly was (worthy of an entire store chain being named after him, not to mention the $100 bill). Just the other day, I came across an essay about Franklin and the scope of his legendary inventions and accomplishments.

They include the lightning rod, (which some say has saved more lives than any other invention), bifocals, the Franklin stove, the catheter, the odometer, and…swim fins! Franklin has more patents than anyone in history, plus he established a fire department, a sanitation department, a hospital, and America’s first lending library.

And, yes, he helped found a nation-he signed the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution and turned the tide of the Revolutionary War.

What most excited me about the essay was a page from Franklin’s autobiography that showed his daily routine-the key to his remarkable success!

5:00 Rise, wash, and address Powerful Goodness; contrive day’s business and take the resolution of the day; prosecute the present study; and breakfast
8:00 – 12:00 Work
12:00 – 2:00 Read or overlook my accounts, and dine
2:00 – 6:00 Work
6:00 – 10:00 Put things in their places, supper, music, or diversion, or conversation; examination of the day
10:00 – 5:00 Sleep

He used his time well-he worked hard, was always studying something, and enjoyed daily play or “diversion.”

But here’s what really jumped out at me:

He began and ended every day with a question. Each morning, Franklin asked himself, “What good shall I do this day?” And each evening he asked, “What good have I done today?”

He started every day by getting clear about what action steps he would take that day to fulfill his highest intention of doing good. At the end of the day, he gave himself a little performance review, holding himself accountable for his actions and patting himself on the back for his accomplishments. Clearly a winning formula!

Do you have a daily routine? If so, does it bear any resemblance to Ben’s?

Over the next week, why not try incorporating a bit of Ben’s routine into your day:

1. When you wake up in the morning, sit up in bed for a few minutes and ask yourself: What good shall I do today? Then visualize the actions you will take to do that good-see yourself taking those actions.

2. Make sure your routine includes some work, some “learning,” and some play.

3. Before you go to sleep (ideally by 10 p.m.-remember, Franklin said, “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”), spend a few minutes reflecting on the good you did during the day. Acknowledge not only your accomplishments, but the ways in which you showed up during the day (with kindness, care, and dedication).

Adopting some of Franklin’s routine may not lead you to any lightning bolt-inspired inventions, but it will put you in life’s greater flow of inspiration and happiness.

Happily, Marci

As a caring community, let’s radiate our heart-focused care and compassion to the people of Haiti with the intention to help ease the emotional pain, fear, insecurity and loss these people are experiencing.

Go to www.glcoherence.org

photo from treehugger.com