Earthlight

("Birthday Box" by clevercupcakes on Flickr.com)

Today is the light that I commemorate the day I came Earth-side. In other words, it's my birthday. I'm not giddy with excitement like when I was a child and it seemed to take forever for my birthday to arrive. But I'm profoundly joyful. I'm choked up with gratitude at having another year added to my life. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude because of all the blessings I have today. I'm so grateful that I have finally learned to tap into my inner wisdom and I'm proud to say that I no longer make the same mistakes I used to make. I have grown and changed so much this last year--in some ways that I haven't expected. I'm pleased but I know I have a lot more to work on.

I searched for a birthday affirmation/prayer that I could focus on today and couldn't find one so I'm going to focus today on gratitude and wisdom and what I am.

I am
An Affirmation of Power

I am good!
I am good at all the good things I am doing and dreaming!
I am good at doing good and being good which means I am open to receiving good!!
I am so good that good is looking for me to be good with!
Good is on its way to me, and that is good for me!
I am now openly receiving good things in every aspect of my life!
I am grateful for my good!
I am grateful for good opportunities!
I am grateful for good experiences!
I am good at everything I do!
I am renewed to do more good!
I am invigorated by the good I do!
I am rejuvenated by the good things I do and the good experiences I have!
I am excited about being so good!
I am good at being powerful!
I am good at demonstrating the brilliant power of my goodness!
I am surrounded by good!
I am engulfed by good!
I am completely good!
I am perfectly good!
I am totally good, inside and out!
I am richly rewarded for all the good I a!
I give off good and good returns to me!
Who I am is a good thing to be!

From Until Today by Iyanla Vanzant

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There's lots of snow and ice on the ground where I am. I would like to go to my favorite Ethiopian restaurant today. A break from cooking dinner would be a nice gift. But I am not sure the weather will permit. I'm not sure we should be spending money on eating out because I can think of about 10 other ways that money could be put to better use. In the spirit of learning to be content with what you have, learning to be happy without doing anything but being happy, I'm going to be happy today no matter what I end up doing. So many around me are down and sad because this Christmas is not going to be one filled with a lot of stuff. It's an interesting and difficult time to be alive. Now while I have a difficult time feeling light and airy when I know the gravity of our situation in this country, no, the world, I'm going to have a Happy Birthday!!

(Oh, by the way, if you use images on your blog, how do you correctly reference/give credit? A lot of the time, I just use google images but I don't take the time to find out the origin of the picture or it's just not clear. But I'd like to give credit where credit is due. Does it only matter if you're trying to use the images for profit? How do you handle pictures on your blog? What about recipes and patterns for that matter? I had a video on Youtube and the artist contacted me and asked me to take down her artwork which I did but then I started thinking about this blog and wondering what I should do about the art on here. I'm not very graphically inclined but . . . I guess I wouldn't mind having a more plain page. Anyway, any input is very much appreciated. I found this excellent article so from now on, I'll follow that advice! It's easy enough.)