I plan on having a magical amazing day and if you’re reading this, I wish the same for you!

You’ve been asking for it, here it is: my first hair update in 2012. This is a twist out where my hair was detangled with the Tangle Teezer. It was also my first time using Suave’s Captivating Curls conditioner and that’s all I have in my hair besides water. I have copious amounts of the conditioner in my hair… probably 1/2 a cup or more.

One of my goals in 2012 is to not straighten my hair with heat, so I’ll only be giving you curly updates for all of 2012. Well, I’m going to attempt to do that. I only ever straightened my hair to see how long it was and to change it up a bit, but I never keep it straight for longer than a couple of days.

I am not sure if you can tell from the lighting, but I have ombre highlights. I had them done last February for my birthday. You can’t really see them indoors, but they look better now than when they were fresh. It’s very beachy. I’ll try to give you some outdoor pictures soon.

I measured my hair for you too. My goal is 15″ from my neck (using my measurement technique) with my hair stretched straight. That’s natural waist length for me and as you can see the longest part of my hair is barely grazing the 14″ mark. I have to be honest, whenever I reach a hair length milestone/goal… I tend to want to keep going. Now, I’m thinking that I want my hair to reach natural waist length while my hair is in a natural state or in a curly style like this. So, I’ll be growing my hair probably for the next 58 years. It’s all fine because I am learning patience and enjoying the journey.

To Waist Length and Beyond – Current Hair Regimen

I exercise 5-7 times per week and I wash my hair quite frequently. I typically wash with a diluted shampoo once a week. I dilute the shampoo: 1 part shampoo to 3 parts water. Also, I conditioner-wash a few times a week. I use a deep conditioner once a week. I typically use Aubrey Organics, GPB Glycogen Protein Balancing Conditioner Rosemary Peppermint or Giovanni’s Smooth As Silk Xtreme as a deep conditioner. I use the Gold ‘N Hot Conditioning Cap for about an hour, using the condition and reconditioning method in 15-20 minute intervals. I only use warm water when I’m washing my hair and I always use cold water as the final rinse. Cold water shuts down the cuticle to lock in moisture. It makes a huge difference if you have frizz-prone hair like me.

After washing, I braid or twist my hair in about 10 braids (or more twists) and set the ends on flexi rods (using end papers). I use Kinky-Curly Knot Today or experiment with different cheap Suave conditioners to set my hair. When I’m taking the braids down, I fluff my hair for volume and clap through a quarter-size amount of jojoba oil. I like it because its lite and scentless. Oh, are you wondering what “clap through” means? I just put the oil in my hands and literally clap it through and fluff my hair as if I’m “playing numbers” with my head. It gives me more even distribution and more volume.

I also reset my hair every night with about 5 braids with the ends set on the super skinny red flexi rods. I am not interested in trying to sleep without re-setting, so I don’t care about second or third day hair. I’ve tried the “pineapple” and it works if I want to rock a ponytail, but otherwise it doesn’t work for me. I like to really sleep when I sleep and I’m a wild sleeper. I was never satisfied with my hair when I tried to sleep without resetting.

What else?

Detangling –  I detangle on wet hair in the shower with a Jilbere shower comb. Then with a small seamless comb and finally smooth with a Denman brush about once a week to cut down on one strand knots. I’m super careful when I detangle and I really take my time. I do everything in sections! Wash in sections, condition in sections, detangle in sections and set in sections. I also recently began to experiment with the Tangle Teezer and the jury is still out.

Smoothing – After my hair is detangled and before I set each section of my hair. I use smoothing techniques. This is very important and it makes a huge difference. If you don’t want know what smoothing is, I explain it here: Smoothing Explained.

Scissors –  I use the Search & Destroy method to get rid of bad ends as I see them. I don’t don’t keep track of how often I do this… maybe once every couple of weeks. I have high quality professional shears that I invested in, no cheap shears come near my hair.

Thermal Styling – No heat this year! I use a Pibbs Kwik Dry on a medium low heat setting after washing my hair sometimes, but especially if it is cold or I don’t want to sleep with wet hair.

Scalp Love – I give myself brief scalp massages whenever I feel like it, at least once a week.

Time – It doesn’t take long for me to do my hair. I spend about 5 minutes setting it at night, 5 minutes styling it in the morning, one hour per week deep treating, 15 minutes washing, 20 minutes setting and 1 hour under the dryer. That’s it.

Questions about my hair? Leave them in the comments or send an e-mail.

Shop this look.

Today, I was inspired to do something with it rather than just let it sit. I decide to submit it to Quirky.com. It’s a cool site that helps inventors get their products in stores like Target, Toys R Us, Bed Bath & Beyond, OfficeMax, The Container Store, ACE Hardware and on Amazon.com. So now that I have submitted my idea, people leave feedback and vote for it to be manufactured. Products with the most votes and most potential are chosen and get designed, manufactured and marketed by Quirky. The process can happen in as little as a couple of months. It’s also cool because you can leave feedback and ideas for improvement. If the product is selected, there are even opportunities for you to suggest a retail price.

If you liked The Scomb idea and want to see it in stores, please go vote and tell all of your friends. Click here to vote for The Scomb. There is only 30 days to vote. It’s really easy to vote if you have a Facebook account. I love this whole process. I think everything should be done like this. I also want to encourage any of you with an idea to submit it to Quirky or work to get it made. I’m interested in seeing how this goes and excited to submit more of my other ideas. There is a $10 fee for submission, but I didn’t pay because I googled “Quirky.com coupon codes” and found one that allowed me submit my idea for FREE!

1. Make sure your hair is moisturized.
2. Make sure your hair is detangled. If you have a Denman brush or Tangle Teezer, now is the time to use it.
3. Make sure your hair is smooth. Think of your fingers as a flat iron and smooth your fingers down your hair strands. If you feel any rough patches, apply more conditioner to that section and keep smoothing until it feels soft and smooth to the touch.
4. Set the braids or twists the same way you will wear your hair. If you wear a center part, set the braids or twists that way with the front two sections framing the face and braiding or twisting the middle section straight back. If you wear an off center part to the left or right, braid the hair that way. If you prefer to wear your hair straight back, you might try cornrows, flat twists or just setting the braids or twists so that they are all going towards the back. You don’t want to manipulate your hair too much. Make sure the way you’re braiding is as close to the finished style as possible. Frizz happens when we try to move the part or do something different than the way we set the hair.
5. Don’t use a comb to part the hair where you don’t want a part because the part will show and you will have to manipulate the hair to hide the parts. This is where the set has the potential to be ruined. Instead just gather sections with your fingers and try to use the same amount of hair for each braid for a more uniform set.
6. While braiding, be sure to keep the 3 sections of the braid separate. Do not mix hair from one section of the braid with the other. Keep the 3 sections of the braid separate from root to ends. If you braid to the ends, this will be an issue. You might consider braiding as far down as you can without mixing sections and then add a roller  or start a finger coil to ensure that all 3 sections of the braid stay separate. Use this same method for twisting with 2 sections of hair.
7. If your hair is prone to puff or frizz, use smaller braids or twists to prevent frizz.
8. Use oil or butter after applying conditioner, but before starting the braid or twist to prevent frizz and to seal your hair. Just lightly dip your fingers in an oil or butter and smooth over strands before starting each braid or twist.
9. Make sure hair is completely dry before unraveling the braids to prevent frizz.
10. Use a seamless end of a rattail comb or very carefully with your fingers to unravel the braids and start from the ends up. If you want more volume, you can separate the unraveled braids from the root to ends using the rattail end of a comb.
11. If your hair is prone to frizz and you don’t want frizz, do not finger comb. It will make your braid out or twist out frizzy and ruin the set.

Yesterday, I purchased the Tangle Teezer from Sally Beauty Supply. It was about $10 with taxes. I used it in the shower on soaking wet conditioner-laden hair. I typically just detangle with a  shower comb and occasionally follow up with a Denman brush. Did the Tangle Teezer work better or faster than my typical method? Not that I noticed, but then again… I’ve only used it once. I did not notice any more hair in the Tangle Teezer than I would typically see after using my shower comb or Denman brush. The longer my hair gets, the looser my curls are and when my hair is wet my strands look like they are in the “Type 3A-B” range so this went through my hair fairly easily. It was fun to try, but the jury is still out as to if I will be adding it to my staples.

See YouTube reviews of the Tangle Teezer.

1. Throw a blazer on top. A blazer can really set the tone for a lace dress. You can do so many things with a blazer. Play with monochromaticity, color-blocking and texture-mixing. Here the muted orange lace dress was matched with a blazer in a darker shade of orange.

2. You can dress down a lace dress by layering it with a sweater or long sleeve top, here it is with a pale pink top. You want to make sure that the top is thick enough that you can’t see the lace underneath.

3. You can also layer the dress with a button-down shirt. I chose a plain button down that most women will have in their wardrobes that you can layer underneath a lace dress. You can even layer a sheer black button down shirt over the dress and belt it at the waist for a little edge.

4. If your dress is a bright color or a non-neutral color, you can find a multicolored bag that has your frock’s shade. This dress was paired with a Santi clutch and they are great for multi-colored bags that seem to go with everything.

5. Put a skirt on top. What? That’s crazy. The orange dress above is full and was paired with a full a-line skirt. Parts of the dress will hang beneath the shorter skirt, but that’s ok for this dress. If your dress is longer and more fitted at the skirt of the dress, then you should look for a pencil skirt or a skirt shape that flatters your dress. This can be tricky to style, but experiment with what you have and see if you can make it work.

6. This lace dress was styled with a blue suede platform shoe with contrast piping. The clutch features colors from the shoe and the dress so now it’s all cohesive. You can also just choose a shade that compliments the dress or whatever else you’re pairing the dress with. You can certainly dress down the dress with the sweater from above and a pair of leather boots.

7. Finally, by simply adding a belt to a dress can change the entire look. Pair your favorite belt with this dress and create a look all your own. Now, you can match your shoes and bag to your belt and the dress becomes the background/canvas.

Shop this look. (Including some cool items that didn’t make the cut).

We are ending a chapter in our Book of 2012. What did you accomplish this month? Have you been keeping a daily journal? Hopefully you’ve been taking steps, strides and leaps towards your goals everyday. I certainly have. Today I am working a month-end review listing all the action steps I took this month and I filled up nearly two pages in my journal. I am also creating a map or to-do list for things for February. Basically, I have goals for 2012 and my life in general and I just break them down into small tasks and try to do something about it every day.

One of my goals for 2012 was to release 15 pounds and I’ve already accomplished it. I actually went over my goal and released 17 pounds. I did this in about 2 months using a food diary app on my iPhone and of course exercise and changing my diet. I barely exercised before 2012, but now it’s a habit and I hardly ever miss a day. I also have semi-better eating habits and started a high-protein diet in the last couple of weeks which has helped tremendously with shedding the pounds. It’s one thing that I can cross off my goal list, well… not really because I have to maintain it, but it’s pretty much like second nature to do the food diary and do my daily workouts. Now I can focus on some other goals I have for 2012.

Have you made any headway in January? 

The beautiful journal in the photo above is from Colorbloom.

Secrets of a Long-Term Transitioner (E-Book) is now available on Amazon for Kindle. If you have read the book or were following my transition from 2007 and want to earn some karma points, I would really appreciate if you would leave a positive review on Amazon. Click here to check out Secrets of a Long-Term Transitioner on Amazon.

The 35 page e-book that documents my 17 month transition from relaxed to naturally curly. The book includes tips, tricks, tools and products that I used to successful get through it.

Been living for a hot pair of yellow shoes or a gray dress? Using Kelly Rowland as the inspiration, you too can rock this look. Did you check out her hair? This is from a January 2012 Hypnotiq Harmonie party that she was hosting. We love her curly.

About the looks

For the first gray dress and yellow pump combo, a natural/cream purse with dark gray embossing and a gold clasp was paired with a mustard yellow suede pump and gold accessories. If you can find a bag with an accent that is similar to your dress, this is the perfect match up. Also, to make your look cohesive, it is a good idea to match your bag’s hardware to your jewelry.

For our next gray dress and yellow pump combo, a spiky pair of peep-toe pumps was paired with spiky earrings and an electric blue clutch. Yellow and blue are always a good idea.

Finally, a gray dress was paired with yellow and brown pumps. You can never go wrong mixing gray and brown, but a bit of yellow animal-print just adds some zest to the look.

Shop this look.

I learned so much this year. I grew so much. I had to go through so much to get to the place I am now. I can honestly say that 2011 was the most awakening, most enlightening, most progressive year of my life. Books accelerated my growth exponentially in every area of my life and if my 2011 was a movie, the books I read would be my co-stars.

Here are the top lessons I learned (and still learning) this year and some lessons from before 2011 that I hope will help you as we move forward in 2012. Some themes are repeated, but repetition is the mother of learning. Most of these lessons are quotes from radio shows, tv shows on OWN, some are direct quotes from books, tweets from others and some are just from my own life. I highly recommend that you print this out and review it as much as possible. If you’re in the Rebirth 2012 Mastermind, I will send you a PDF upon request.

Please use this list to evolve your life!

In a nutshell this is all that I have learned about life, it is so valuable: thousands of dollars of books/classes, hours upon hours of reading and re-reading coupled with priceless lessons that no book or class could ever teach. Here they are in no particular order.

1. Need nothing, attract everything.
2. Everything is energy.
3. Release to renew.
4. We average 60,000 thoughts per day and most of them are habitual. Challenge that! Change your thoughts!
5. Satan is the ego:”the deceiver”. EGO = edge God out. Strive to loose your ego as much as possible.
6. If you live your life fully, you will only die once, but if you are scared, fear will kill you day after day.
7. Start from the destination, and then figure out how to get there.
8. A little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but a lot of faith will bring heaven to your soul.
9. Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
10. The road to wealth is to observe what people want and give it to them. We are here to serve. Insight + Action + Serving = Wealth!
11. Ignorance of mental and spiritual laws is the cause of all unhappiness.
12. Faith is a seed that grows after its kind. Plant the idea/seed in your mind, water and fertilize it with expectancy, and it will manifest.
13. IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT, YOU CAN HAVE IT.
14. Wealth eludes most people because they are preoccupied with events while disregarding process. Without process, there is no event.
15. You have to get to the root of a problem in order uproot it. Experiences come to show you what you really believe.
16. There are only 2 emotions: fear and love. Anger is just a manifestation of fear. Right below the anger is a well of hurt. Then below the hurt is a layer of love. When you’re angry, look for the core… the fear behind what you’re angry about.
17. Love does not hurt.
18. Program your subconscious mind through repetition. 
19. You think you have many problems, but you really only have one… your separation from your source.
20. Never start a business just to make money. Stop chasing money and start chasing needs. Stop thinking about business in terms of your selfish desires, whether it’s money, dreams or “do what you love.” Instead, chase needs, problems, pain points, service deficiencies, and emotions.
21. The amount of money in your life is merely a reflection to the amount of value you have given to others.
22. Just let go. Let it flow. Just let it go!
23. If you are struggling with anything in life or there’s a goal you haven’t reached yet, look for the lesson in every moment of that journey.
24. Everything for a reason, there are things you had to learn from it/them… it/they were practice.
25. Create what you want instead of being stuck in what you didn’t have.
26. Rock bottom is good solid ground and a dead end street is just a place to turn around.
27.  You add value to self when giving your love to someone who has earned it and values you.
28. Don’t just go through it, GROW through it.
29. Relieving the suffering of others is the best way to gain freedom from suffering.
30. If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.
31. You have a right to your thoughts and feelings. Your feelings are always valid.
32. Stay on your hustle. You have everything you need.
33. When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
34. We must be our own before we can be another’s.
35. What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.
36. To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
37. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.
38. Listen to your gut.
39. Meditate, meditate, meditate… for the mind that is still — the whole world surrenders.
40. We are all here for a purpose.
41. We are not our egos.
42. Live in the now and be present.
43. Think thoughts that make you feel good, make choices that make you feel good, and take actions that make you feel good.
44. Shame is an isolating emotion.  Don’t let your past define who you are today. When we hold secrets, we create shame.  Shame  is a great barrier to success because when you carry shame, you don’t allow to fulfill your greatest potential.  Being ashamed is like a veil that covers your whole life. When you let go of the secret, you let go of the shame.
45.  If you have loving people in your life, then you have loving in your life. If you have selfish people or angry people in your life, then look at yourself and you will see that you have anger in your life and self-concern. If there are a lot negative people in your life, don’t look at them.  Look at the energy you are creating to attract them.
46. If you want something you’ve never had, you’d better do something you’ve never done.
    
47. If your cup is empty, you can’t give anyone else any water from your cup to drink.
    
48. Before you take any action, stop to clarify your intentions. Make sure your intentions are good and good will be returned to you.
49. Don’t text and drive, drink and drive, DJ and drive. Whatever it is, it can wait!
50. Action is the bridge between your dreams/goals and making them your reality.
51. Your ISSUE becomes your CAUSE. We are all given “issues” and the challenge is to overcome them and share how you did it with other people.
52. If you’re comfortable, you’re not growing.
53. Pay attention to your life! It’s speaking to you all the time. Life is your teacher and class is always in session.
54. Talk is still cheap.
55. Believe all that a person does and little of what they say.
56. Love is a behavior.
57. If you want something, you really have to feel like you have it already. Get in that space of feeling it as much as you possibly can.
58. To improve at anything, we must push ourselves outside our comfort zone.
    
59. To go far, you must go near first.
60. Dreams are the seedlings of reality.
61. The closest people to you are the most contagious.
62. The most valuable skill you can have is the ability to direct your thoughts.
63. If you do not express your own ideas and listen to your own being, then you are betraying yourself.
64. It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult.
65. Every nail that you hammer in your brother’s hand keeps you on the cross.
66. Abraham Jesus Muhammed and Lord Buddha/ amoung others were sent to us to speed up our enlightenment process.
67. Don’t debate, BRAINSTORM!
68. Faith and fear make poor bedfellows. They cannot coexist. Do what you want to do and have unyielding faith that it will work!
69. I think you know you’re with the right person when you’re growing… if you’re not growing and feel you can’t… time to move on.
70. Conflict is growth trying to happen.
71. You are who you hang with… get away from people who have your same problems and get around people with your solution!
72. Love is God. God is Love. Love feels like growth, safety, peace and acceptance.
73. There is a such thing as spiritual abuse and spiritual violence.
74. Your spending is a reflection of what you value.
75. Notice yourself! Don’t analyze or judge… just NOTICE!
76. It is the energy of our intentions, not actions that come back to us. You cannot cheat your way to good things.
77. If you have selfish people in your life, then you have been selfish in your life.
78. If u have anything negative in your life, think of what energy you were putting out to attract it and CHANGE IT POST HASTE!
79. Don’t be a victim, be a CREATOR!
80. Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
81. If you can’t find a job and want one… CREATE ONE!
82. Pay attention to your thoughts. You can change them and by doing that change your life NOW!
83. You can earn a handsome living doing something you love.
84. Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
85. The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own.
86. It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.
87.  Your gut is the voice of your ‘higher self’; it’s your personal GPS.
88. The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.
89. When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.
90. Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.
91. Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.
92. Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
93. When you stop playing it safe, your spirit is free to grow, expand and create.
94. Thoughts are spiritual seeds.
95. Forgive and release so that you can be free.
96. Love is free.
97. We chose our parents.
98. We chose our life circumstances to learn lessons.
99. Exercise, exercise, exercise! Our lives love movement on every level. Move!
100. Affirmations are powerful. Our words are like magic wands.
101. Love more.
102. Be conscious of your patterns and habits. They are likely the same patterns/habits demonstrated in your childhood. Overcome the ones that do not serve you.
103. You must be a good giver to be a good receiver.
104. If there is an area of your life where you are lacking, it’s a sign of where you need to give and grow more.
105. Love is the solution for everything.
106. Don’t settle.
107. Be conscious of what energy you are projecting onto others.
108. Be the love that you desire.
109. Make space in your life for what you want: physically, literally, spiritually, emotionally and mentally.
110. Get rid of relics that no longer serve you are that don’t make you feel good.
111. Feeling good = feeling God.
112. Purge and release beliefs, things, people and jobs that no longer serve you.
113. Be decisive.
114. Act in faith.
115. Fear and doubt are the enemy, use them to pivot towards your destiny/dreams/goals.
116. Write down your dreams and goals to make them happen.
117. Prayer should be about giving thanks and love.
118. No one has control of your emotions.
119. What other people think of you has nothing to do with you.
120. Respect money if you want to have a lot of it.
121. Be solution-oriented.
122. Don’t react, TRANSCEND!
123. Send love out into the world and you will always get it back.
124. Nothing brings out the worst in another faster than you focusing upon it.
125. Nothing brings out the best in another faster than you focusing upon it.
126. Forgive your parents for the mistakes they made.
127. Count it all as joy.
128. One of the duties of the leader is to lift up those who are not able to advance themselves.
129. There are few things that cannot be achieved by sheer determination and effort.
     
130. Smile more… as often as you remember. Notice the changes.
131. When you greet someone, say their name. People love hearing their own names.
     
132. Reinvent as much as possible. Use your life and influences to create something unique.
     
133. Life is a class and everything is a lesson.
134. Talk to people, not at them.
     
135. There is no good or bad, only the meaning you give to it.
136. Stop being a victim. Your thoughts, beliefs and purpose sent every circumstance in your life in order to propel you forward.
137. If you have a definite major purpose, you will have the courage to act on your ideas.
     
138. Invest in increasing your knowledge of your own industry. You can’t afford not to.
     
139. Act like you know. (Marinate on that, it’s deeply metaphysical).
140. If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
141. We are here to serve: create, inspire, motivate and teach.
142. Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
143. Be you, authentically. There is something incredibly powerful about people who are genuine and authentic. 
144. You will not have the life you deserve if you are pretending to be anything you are not.
145. Every choice creates the future.
146. There is a big difference between wanting something and being ready to have it.
147. You attract what YOU ARE, not what YOU WANT.
148. If you want to change the fruit, change the root.
149. Stop talking/thinking about what you don’t want and focus on what you do want.
150. Stay away from negative words at all costs.
151. You are the average of the 5 closest people to you. Choose wisely.
152. Everything starts with just an idea.
153. Nobody but you is responsible for your life.
154. Everything isn’t for everybody.
155. Focus on the GOAL not the obstacle!
156. Give and it will be given to you! We all get what we deliver!
157. Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery.
158. Inaction is the greatest risk of all.
159. Take responsibility for the energy you are sending out.
160. Goals are dreams with deadlines.
161. Have the audacity to ask for what you want an you just might get it.
162. Make your good better and your better best.
163. You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.
164. Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.
165. To make a difference tomorrow, you must do something different today.
166. Money shouldn’t be used to buy happiness, it should be used to buy freedom.
167. Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.
168. Real magic in relationships means an absence of judgment of others.
169. The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.
170. You cannot be lonely if you like the person you’re alone with.
171. Don’t spend time beating on a DUCK, hoping to transform it into a door.
172. Effect millions, make millions.
173. No one has ever succeeded in pleasing everyone, and you won’t be the first.Don’t be against anything be FOR whatever is positive.
174. If you want a better life… increase your skills. Always be learning.
175. You are the choices that you’ve made. Now, decide what choices you need to make in order to be the person you want to be.
176. Always aim to be the producer instead of a consumer.
177. Don’t believe in NO.
178. Embrace mistakes as an opportunity to learn never been afraid to fail.
179. Ideas are worthless without any execution.
180. Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.
181. Time is finite. Money is infinite.
182. If you are stuck in a rut, make BOLD LIFE ALTERING decisions to change your life now!
183. Stop focusing on your weaknesses and focus on building your strengths.
184. Decide what you want, review it constantly, and each day do something that moves you toward those goals.
185. When you learn, teach. When you get, give.
186. If you aren’t given a bridge… build your own.
187. You will learn more from failure than success.
188. Don’t be a trendsetter, literally manufacture the trends. Don’t just read books, write them.
189. Nothing new can come into your life until you’re grateful for what you have NOW! Start from where you are NOW!
190. Life is a menu. Order!
191. Change is not an event, it’s a process. Take the first steps.
192. True forgiveness means saying ‘thank you for giving me that experience’. Everything is a lesson and an opportunity to grow.
193. Stop using your past to hold yourself back. Lighten the load.
194. Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it and spend it rather than invest it.
195. Love is not crazy or stupid —egos are.
196. Cleaning is literally cleansing.
197. Being realistic is the most common path to mediocrity.
198. Pray with your feet moving.
199. If you surround yourself with positive people, positive things will happen.
200. Practice serving others without expectation.
201. Get clear on your big goals and align every action you take from now on with those goals.
202. Every moment is an opportunity to grow and move forward, stay and be safe or move backwards.
203. Our life is shaped by our mind. We become what we think.
204. Aim to be like water.
205. As water rises no higher than the level of its source, so a man can rise no higher than his personal estimate of his source.
206. There are no unrealistic goals, only unrealistic deadlines. If you fail to make the one you’ve set, don’t conclude that goal setting doesn’t work. Instead, seek to increase your knowledge of it. Clear goals provide the strength to keep going; without them it is easy to collapse at the first obstacle.
     
207. There’s plenty of room at the top.
208. Your job in life is to create value where there was none before. To gain money, enrich the world in some way.
     
209. You cannot walk forward by looking backward.
210. Words have POWER! Watch what you say.
211. By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it.
212. Sometimes you just have to SHUT UP… there’s a reason we have two ears and only one mouth.
213. Riches are not acquired… they are the simple things we already have but often fail to appreciate.
214. What holds most people back isn’t the quality of their ideas, but their lack of faith in themselves.
215. Your passion chooses you.
216. Poor is the man whose future depends on the opinions and permission of others.
217. Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tap into.
218. No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it. The state of mind must be belief, not mere hope or wish.
219. If you want to learn to love, then you must start the process of finding out what it is, what qualities make up a loving person and see how these are developed. Each person has the potential for love. But potential is never realized without work. This does not mean pain.
220. When you have a wealth mentality, wealth follows naturally. Money gained without consciousness will quickly turn to the place it came from. Awareness is the steering wheel of your wealth and your life.
221. Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?  If you want to change your life, change your choices. To change your choices you must change your belief system.
222. A decision made to move toward something is always more productive & energizing than a decision made to move away from something.
223. Life is like a mirror: what you put out you get back. If you’re dissatisfied with any area of your life it’s a great sign.
224. When it comes to your goals, replace “if” with “when.
225. What you can do, or dream you can, do it! Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
226. We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse.
227. Small steps are good—they add up to big ones.
228. Rejections are not necessarily an indication of the lack of worth of your project. They may simply be indications of a mismatch of the applicant and rejecter. Or lack of good taste on the part of the person denying your request. Some of the greatest works of art and literature were overlooked by many people. In his lifetime, Vincent van Gogh sold but one painting, for a pittance. In recent years, one of his paintings sold for $135 million—the highest price ever paid for an oil painting.
229. You don’t have to work hard to make money, you just have to work smart.
230. Imagination is more important than knowledge.
231. There are three departments of the mind, the subconscious, conscious and superconscious. The subconscious, is simply power, without direction. The conscious mind has been called mortal or carnal mind. It is the human mind and sees life as it appears to be. It impresses the subconscious. The superconscious mind is the God Mind within each man, and is the realm of perfect ideas.
232. Use your strengths often. Do so in service to something bigger than yourself and you’ll be blessed with abundant happiness and a life filled with meaning.
233. Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.
234. Accept–then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.
235. If you’ve ever felt inspired by a purpose or calling, you know the feeling of Spirit working through you. Inspired is our word for in-spirited.
236. All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry—all forms of fear—are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.
237. More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm.
238. There is a science of getting rich, and it is an exact science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern the process of acquiring riches, and once these laws are learned and obeyed by anyone, that person will get rich with mathematical certainty.
239. You are to become a creator, not a competitor; you are going to get what you want, but in such a way that when you get it every other man will have more than he has now.
240. You cannot exercise much power without gratitude; for it is gratitude that keeps you connected with Power.
241. You cannot change other people. You love them or you don’t. You accept them the way they are or you don’t. To try to change them to fit what you want them to be is like trying to change a dog for a cat, or a cat for a horse.
242. The one who loves you, loves you just the way you are. Because if someone wants to change you, it means you are not what that person wants.
243. If you cannot love your partner the way she is, someone else can love her just as she is. Don’t waste your time, and don’t waste your partner’s time. This is respect.
244. Self love which is by far the most important love relationship you will ever have.
245. Let go of the things you don’t love about your childhood, and keep the things you love. Let go of the things you don’t love about your adolescent and adult years, and keep the good things. Just keep the things you love about your whole life.
246. Many people don’t know about the power of good feelings, and so their feelings are reactions or responses to what happens to them. They have put their feelings on automatic pilot, instead of deliberately taking charge of them.
247. Every single second is an opportunity to change your life, because in any moment you can change the way you feel.
248. So how do you fall in love with life? The same way you fall in love with another person — you adore everything about them! You fall in love with another person by seeing only love, hearing only love, speaking only love, and by feeling love with all your heart! And that is exactly how you use the ultimate power of love in love with life.
249. You are the driver of your mind, so take charge and keep it busy with your instructions by telling it where you want it to go. Your mind only takes off on its own if you are not telling it what to do.
250. When anything good happens to you in your day, give thanks. It doesn’t matter how small it is, say thank you. When you get the perfect parking space, hear your favorite song on the radio, approach a light that turns green, or find an empty seat on the bus or train, say thank you. These are all good things that you are receiving from life.
251. Remember it only takes giving love and good feelings a minimum of 51 percent of the time to reach the tipping point and change everything.
252. Writing a full-fledged description of what you want is one way of saying you believe that it’s attainable and you are ready to receive it. The more precise you can be, the more ready you are. Write a visualization in loving detail—not only depicting your goal, but rehearsing what the particulars of your daily life will be like once this goal is realized.
     
253. You need not write volumes to express a goal; a short and simple list of items, as specific as possible, will clarify your intentions as surely as an elaborate description, and perhaps will be even more powerful.
     
254. The first step of commitment is to be willing to write down what you want. Then take some small action toward the realization of that dream.
     
255. You have to talk about what you love to bring what you love to you.
256. Love is the highest feeling you have, then in descending order from love comes: gratitude, joy, passion, excitement, enthusiasm, hope, satisfaction — these are the good feelings. Then comes bad feelings, in descending order, boredom, irritation, disappointment, worry, criticism, anger, hate, envy, guilt, despair, fear.
257. Count the things you love nonstop, one after the other, keep listing everything you love until you feel amazing.
258. Don’t struggle to change the circumstances of your life. Give love through your good feelings and what you want will appear. You have to give good feelings first. You have to be happy first and give happiness to receive happy things. Whatever you want to receive in life, you must give first.
259. Hard work results in acquiring knowledge about yourself that idleness never reveals.
     
260. Don’t be a cog in the machine, be a linchpin!
261. Whatever you decide to do, be honest, fair and do it to the best of your ability.
     
262. Being truly happy with yourself is the first step to attracting the friendships, intimate relationships and familial relationships that you want in your life.
263. While the universe is built by atoms, success is built by minutes; successful people are masters of the use of their time.
     
264. Expect to get the thing that you desire. Expectation is magnetic.
265. The greater the risk, the greater the potential success. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Be action oriented.The greater the risk, the greater the potential success. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Be action oriented.
     
266. Money is spiritual.
267. Success leaves clues. Study the people that have been successful in what you are pursuing.
268. Our perceptions of others are merely reflections of ourselves; therefore, to put another down or project negative words or energy towards another person, is to lash out at the other person because of our own insecurities.
     
269.  What anybody thinks about you, or says about you is none of your business.
     
270. Go the extra mile.
271. Always do your best.
272. Be impeccable with your word.
     
273. Optimism is power.
     
274. Aim to be a master at whatever it is you choose to do and success will follow.
275. Luck happens to those who greatly increase the chances of its occurrence.
     
276. Your outer world of form and experience is a reflection of your inner world of thoughts and feelings. As above, so below. As within, so without.
     
277. The greater your awareness of the Presence of God/the Divine/Spirit within you, the more that Presence fills your consciousness and your world.
278. Upgrade from being competitive to being creative.
279. The very best thing you can do for the whole world is to make the most of yourself.
     
280. Have the ability to protect yourself and your family.
281. We only get one body in this life. Remember and take care.
     
282. Be careful of what you let take root in your mind. Growing amazing flowers not weeds.
     
283. Honor your deepest desires. You MUST BE what you CAN BE.
     
284. Let ‘thank you’ be your mantra. Find little things in every moment to be thankful for and be saying or thinking ‘thank you’ all day.
     
285. Care for your thoughts as you would your most prized possessions.
     
286. Complaining is unproductive. Be solution-oriented.
     
287. Carpe punctum! Seize this moment!
     
288. Let go of  negative words, they compromise your nervous system and cause sickness.
     
289. Energy flows or it stagnates. If we want more of something in our life, we need to keep it flowing: receive give receive give receive give.
     
290. Stress is not caused by problems. It is your attitude toward the problem that causes stress.
     
291. Money is a kind of energy and it is always active. To bring the greatest benefit to the greatest number, it must flow and circulate.
     
292. Too little or too much money magnifies personal deficiencies, or reveals the good character that was already there.
     
293. Poor people focus on spending money; the wealthy focus on creating it.
     
294. You will get rich by imitating the mindset of the wealthy, not by imitating their spending.
     
295. Everything that you see around you, someone has made a fortune from. You are surrounded by wealth and abundance.
     
296. To receive more, you must be able to manage and APPRECIATE what you already have.
     
297. When you’re resentful, you’re bound to the person/situation. In forgiving, you free yourself and allow the floodgates of prosperity to open.
     
298. To receive good things you must first cleanse your mind of clutter and negative emotions.
     
299. When you recognize a higher power as the source of your supply, money begins to flow.
     
300. Wealth (and happiness) comes most easily to those who forget themselves in the service of others.
     
301. Your brain won’t know you’re full until about 20 minutes after you’ve started eating. So eat smaller or slower to help your brain catch up!
     
302. When you eat, take a bite and then put the fork down and chew your food. Don’t keep the fork/spoon in your hand.
     
303. If you eat meat, use it as a garnish for veggies instead of as the main dish.
     
304. Use smaller plates, cups  and bowls to reduce caloric intake also wait 15-30 mins before “seconds”, you might change your mind.
305. BLUE is an appetite suppressant. Red, yellow, and orange encourage eating. Change your dinnerware!
306. If you didn’t get the job, you weren’t meant to have it… better opportunities await you. Bless it and push forward!
307.  Love is what love does.
     
308. Building trust can take years, destroying it takes but a moment.
309. The show must go on.
310. People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
     
311. Ignorance of mental and spiritual laws is the cause of all unhappiness.
     
312. When you act in alignment with your true life purpose, all of your actions automatically serve others.
     
313. If you like something, enjoy it. If you don’t like something, avoid it. If you don’t like something and can’t avoid it, change it. If you can’t or choose not avoid or change something you don’t like, then accept it. You accept something by changing your perception of it.
     
314. If all you can do is crawl, start crawling.
     
315. To have more, you must first be more.
     
316. Leaders have vision. Nonleaders do not.
     
317. Believe all of what they do and none of what they say.
     
318. Invest your time, energy and attention in working to bring about the things that you desire to experience.
     
319. Don’t hook your dreams on things, focus on what you want to feel.
     
320. Everything that glitters is not gold.
321. Love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image… otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.Love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image… otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
     
322. You cannot make someone love you, but you can make yourself lovable.
323. Our home is our third skin. The first is our body and the second our clothing. Our homes have an enormous effect on our wellbeing – especially those rooms that we spend a lot of time in, like the bedroom. Think about how your room makes you feel and remember that feelings are everything. Clean and declutter your space to feel better.
     
324. The goal should not be to make money or acquire things, but to achieve the consciousness through which the substance will flow forth when and as you need it.
325. The greatest stock market you can invest in is yourself.
     
326. What you want may seem unrealistic, but take baby steps and it’s bound to happen.
327. No one has ever succeeded in pleasing everyone, and you won’t be the first.
     
328. Sometimes to be great is to be misunderstood.
329. It takes about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill.
     
330. Rethink possibilities.
331. Dreams do not have expiration dates.
332. Start from where you are. 
333. Know your skills and talents.
334. Find your passion or create some.
335. It never makes financial sense to buy a brand new car, it depreciates 20-30% as soon as you drive it off the lot.
336. Set clear concrete specific goals and create a clear concrete specific plan to achieve them.
337. Remove bad habits (or things that don’t serve your highest good) from your life little by little. Maybe you don’t feel you are able to cut something out cold turkey, but you can cut down on it little but little every day.
338. Use batching to work on projects. Try to devote a minimum of 30 minutes per day of focused attention on one project at a time. Eventually that thing that you kept putting off will have progressed to a point of completion over time. 
339. Make a conscious effort to learn at least one new thing every day.
340. If there is something in your life that you want, but don’t have in your physical possession yet… learn everything there is to know about that thing and journal your learning.
341. It’s very hard to duplicate an original. Develop our uniqueness.
342. Focus on the dopeness!

HAPPY 2012!