Apple Cider Donut Cake

Oh this looks good!!! It would be amazing with a hot, steaming cup of coffee 🙂 🙂 ❤ Apple Cider Donut Cake
Servings: 15 -18 slices – depending on how you cut themDifficulty: easyPrint
recipe slightly adapted from: Two In the Kitchen

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, softened
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 1/2 cups apple cider
1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (you can substitute vegetable oil – but coconut tastes better!)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla bean paste (can substitute in extract if you don’t have paste…put get some paste, you won’t regret it!)
For the Cider Glaze:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup water
1/8 – 1/4 cup hard cider
For the Cinnamon Sugar Coating:

6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray a bundt pan with baking spray.

In a medium saucepan, bring chopped apples and cider to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until apples are fork tender. About 10 to 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat, cool for a few minutes, then pulse in a food processor or blender until pureed. Measure out 1 cup apple mixture and stir the milk into it. Set the apple/milk mixture aside for later.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated. Add the oil and mix well. CAUTION: If you are planning on using coconut oil, make sure those eggs are at room temperature or slightly warmer if your house is chilly. If the eggs are cold and you add coconut oil to the mixture, the coconut oil will solidify and you will end up with a clumpy mess!

Add the flour mixture and apple/milk mixture alternatively in three additions, scraping the bowl as needed and mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat once more, just to combine.

Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the cake in its pan on a cooling rack for ten minutes before removing the cake itself to a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes.

While cake is baking, prepare Cider Glaze. Melt butter, sugar and water over medium high heat. Bring mixture to a boil and let boil for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately add the cider, stirring to combine.

Place baking sheet under wire rack. Using a pastry brush or marinate brush, cover cake with glaze. I usually do this in several passes, letting one application of glaze sink in and then going back over the cake with another.

Prepare the Cinnamon Sugar Coating. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Sprinkle the warm, glazed cake with cinnamon sugar, using fingers to rub it onto the sides of the cake. (I usually place my cinnamon sugar mixture in an empty spice bottle, or salt shaker and then sprinkle it over the cake.)

Lea & Jay

I warned you didn’t I? Here we go now with the first of what may prove to be a parade of Fall-time apple-y goodness…Apple Cider Donut Cake! Whaaat? Yup….Apple. Cider. Donut. Cake. Could I have crammed any more deliciousness into that recipe title? I’ve already told you how I love apples. And Apple Cider…especially the type that is a bit more medicinal…if you know what I’m saying…is exciting. Donuts! Who doesn’t love cinnamon sugar laden apple cider donuts?! Well you get all of those mouthwateringly yummy flavours all wrapped up in one gorgeous big old bundt cake.

This cake is amazingly moist and tender, just bursting with apple flavour. It would be delicious simply unadorned, but it is completely over the top when brushed with some boozy cider glaze and dusted, quite liberally with crunchy cinnamon sugar.

It is great anytime of the day, for breakfast, tea-time snack, dessert or…

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Day 23: The Monday Blues

I’m writing this on Saturday evening and after being out and about on this gorgeous autumn day, I noticed how much more relaxed people seemed to be.

Even people that were working on this Saturday appeared to be happier and friendlier. What could be the reason for a general improvement in the moods of a group of people?

Could a day of the week actually influence a person’s disposition? I think yes, and the reason is because of the beliefs they hold about certain days of the week.

For example: It seems to be the ‘norm’ to consider Monday’s as a difficult day of the week for most people. The Monday Blues is a widely accepted phenomenon. Most likely reason is because Monday is usually the first day of the week back to work for many people.

The weekend (Saturday and Sunday) has become widely known and accepted in our society as the fun days of the week. A time for doing things we want to do—relaxing and enjoying things we feel cannot be enjoyed on a ‘work’ or ‘school’ day.

This is only a belief that has been ingrained within some people. The good thing is we all have the power to change this belief.

This socially accepted way of thinking that certain days are going to be problematic and others pleasurable have directly influenced not only some people’s attitudes but, also what actually manifests physically in their experiences on these certain days!

If you wake up with dread that Monday morning has come, things will most likely unfold to match this belief! Manifestations such as, heavy traffic, difficult people and the day in general will most likely continue to harmonize with your belief that Monday is going to be a bad day.

Every day could feel more like the weekend if this Monday belief is shifted. Try a few of these simple steps that may help to shift your ‘Monday Blues’ beliefs:

• Try to imagine each day as a blessing and it’s up to each of us whether we enjoy this gift or squander what each day has to offer.
• Pick something enjoyable that you usually only do on the weekend and do it through the week. It could be as simple as a walk in the park, a relaxing bubble bath and facial, bowling or watching a favorite movie. Anything that you reserve only for the weekends, start doing it through the week as well.
• Before bed set your intention to get a great nights rest and intend to awaken in the morning full of energy and fun expectations for the new day.
• Start your day will expecting something wonderful to happen. With each new day comes a new opportunity for wonderment.
• Notice what each day has to offer—things that can be appreciated regardless of the day of week. There is beauty all around it if we simply take the time to notice.
• Throughout the day remember you have the power to think and do whatever you choose. You may need to complete a particular task but, how you perceive it will affect the outcome and your mood.
• Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate—always find something to appreciate throughout your day! Appreciating and being grateful for what you have will bring more into your day that will harmonize with this state of mind.
• Take the time to maintain a nightly clean-up routine, this quick-pick up of your home will help everything run smoother in the mornings.

These are only a few tips that may help to shift your Monday Blues beliefs. Before long, you should recognize an improvement in your mood, regardless of the day of the week.

People around you will begin to notice an improved difference and will react accordingly—people want to interact with happy people and more pleasurable experiences will become the ‘norm’ for you on Monday and every day of the week! 🙂

    

Day 22: The Wants…

  

Why do you suppose people want something? New houses, cars, more money, vacations or a better relationship—have you ever wondered why people want these things?

Most people desire things because they think these things will make them feel better.

But, consider how the things you want make you feel. Would getting a new car inspire feelings of safety, pride and sense of accomplishment?

Consider this—is there something you can do right now (besides getting the new car) that would inspire those same feelings?

Draw your attention toward things that help to inspire those feelings. It could be something as simple as playing with your children, grandchildren, taking a walk in nature or cuddling with your pet.

Acquiring ‘things’ has more to do with how the person wanting them believes it will make them feel in the possessing of them, than the actual thing itself.

The belief that the ‘things’ will make us happy or more fulfilled in some way is in many cases the driving force behind material desires.

So why not do things now that can inspire those types of feelings? In this type of satisfaction, you may be surprised that the thing you’ve been wanting may suddenly show up in your experience!

Worrying and becoming discouraged because it’s taking too long to acquire something you’ve been wanting, only holds it away from you longer.

I think it is so important to realize we all has human beings will always desire something new—something different. I believe that is simply the way we most humans are wired.

Wanting something new is exciting, we’ve come here to experience life—not all in one day, but through our continual life process.

Figure out why you are want something and recognize what you have available to you right now that will also stimulate those same feelings.

Contentment and satisfaction can be more easily achieved if we are experiencing feelings we regard as important.

Appreciating what you have now and focusing upon what will bring about the feeling part of your wants is what will help to manifest whatever you desire quicker!

   

Day 21: Free Will

  

At the beginning of this series I talked about creating a Joy list. Jotting down and remembering the things that bring joy to your everyday life. This can be helpful in appreciating what you have right now.

Appreciating the now is important because if someone becomes too focused upon what may happen in the future—they are also noticing what they DON’T have right now.

Noticing and focusing on what you don’t have can bring up consistent lack-full thinking. And, the less likely you are to notice and be grateful for what is right in front of you!

If someone consistently notices mostly problems, this works to bring up feelings such as discontent and frustration.

You may be thinking this isn’t new information—of course someone is going to feel bad when they have problems!

What some people may NOT realize is the feelings they are experiencing now, IS helping to create their future!

The future is determined by the dominant feeling vibrations we hold onto. God gave us all free will—we can focus upon things desired just as well as things that we do not prefer. The choice is ours to make!

 

Something—anything, is AS perfect or as horrible as we believe it to be. What people consider to be problems will always occur—it is how an individual perceives it to be, that’s what will bring up feelings within them about it.

Everyone is responsible for creating their own personal experiences now and for their future whether they realize it or not! I have to admit before I acknowledged this; I was in a fairly constant state of blaming others for my misfortunes.

The more I blamed others, the more feelings of resentment and anger would grow. During this ‘dark’ period I was living the manifested results of these negative dominant feelings—laid off from not just 1 but 3 jobs, my health continued to decline, difficulty in my marriage, and monthly we were struggling just to pay the bills and put food on the table.

Unknowingly, I had been feeding undesirable fuel to my negative momentum with my feelings of resentment and anger! This created more of the same to keep coming into my life—different people, different places but, very similar circumstances.

Of course I didn’t want to be going through the challenges our family was facing but, at the time I felt powerless to do anything to change our current circumstances! And, of course this feeling of powerlessness continued the momentum I, myself had created!

I continued to learn more about the law of attraction and how feelings actually do have the power to create a positive or negative momentum in our lives. The main point of most of the material was to focus on things that are pleasing, that inspire joy when you look or think about them.

I decided to give it a try, my first attempt to switch my focus was I stopped watching the news. This was fairly easy for me but, a bit more difficult to join in some conversations especially when many topics of discussions were on the latest HORRIBLE happening in the world.

Even facebook seemed to be a hot-bed of negativity. It became apparent many people were more interested in hearing and talking about the bad news of their day and in the world, than the good.

So I did some facebook clearing—I deleted some friends that I barely knew but, that usually posted complaint posts every day. I wanted to interact with my friends and family that had more good to say than constant complaining and pessimism.

After a while I began to notice I actually was feeling better—who knew something as simple as tuning OUT the bad-news could lift someone’s mood?! I felt as if an enormous burden had been lifted and nothing was as dire as I had thought just a few weeks before!

God gave us each a gift—the free will to make choices! We can decide to participate in a hateful conversation, which will most likely bring up feelings of anger, rage and bitterness. Or we can choose to walk away from these types of interactions—choosing instead to interact in more gratifying conversations.

Soon I found it easier and easier to tip the scales to more wanted—focusing more on the positive aspects of things rather than searching to find the unpleasant.

Soon not only was my health improving but, our financial situation was as well! Things that once had been showing up around me such as rude customer service representatives, locking my keys in the car, or unexpected bills were not appearing anymore.

The people I was interacting with on a daily basis were actually enjoyable to be around!

The longer I focused on the pleasing and amusing aspects of my day, the more enjoyable and creative thoughts came to me. The inspiration and creative thoughts were indicators that I was finally on my path to a better life.

So that small concept and practice of creating my Joy list and making the choice to look for better feeling thoughts actually did work and is working to create my future experiences!

I didn’t come into a ton of money, nor had plastic surgery—nothing physical had changed to alter my reality, what I had changed was nothing more than my attitude, thoughts and feelings!

Yes, of course there will always be conflict, problems or issues in this physical human experience, which you may think you must ‘deal’ with. But, it is up to each of us to make a choice—to dwell on the dreadfulness and injustice of it all, or consider the possibility of something good coming out of it?

We all have the free-will to choose—choose well my friends, it’s the most valuable lesson I’ve ever learned so far! 🙂

  

Day 20: Soul Companions

   

Well, for the past few days our household has been turned a bit upside down. Someone apparently decided to drop 5 little kittens off at our house on Saturday.

We found them out by our deck early in the (very cold) morning; they were so cold and crying so loud we could hear them in the house with all the doors and windows closed.

How could I not bring these sweet little fur balls into our house! Yes, caring for 4 week old kittens (approximately 4 weeks), is extra work but, every time I look at their sweet faces and can feel their strong desire to live; it makes all the work worth the effort!

We took the littles ones to the Vet Monday for their first worming and necessary meds. Sadly, one very small kittie didn’t make it but, the vet says the other 4 are looking really good and should thrive well!

As the Vet predicted the kitties are thriving—today is Wednesday and they are all playing and eating like little piglets 🙂  I’ve fallen in love with all of them.

Some may wonder what this kitten story has to do with this particular 31 day writing series on happiness, and I did hesitate before including this post.

But, after consideration I decided this story is very relevant to my 31 day writing topic because it’s an example of how even among chaos we can all still maintain humor, love, and learn to make the best of things even during a hectic time in our lives.Our happy, full, chaotic household now includes the 4 new kittens, 2 dogs, 2 full-grown cats…plus all of us, human animals 🙂            

Even if your household isn’t occupied with any pets, my recommendation is visit a friend who does have furry soul companions. Chances are if you hold and love on them for a minute or two you will feel how much joy comes into your heart in that very moment! Instant happiness, at least for me!

Visit your local animal shelter or rescue facility and consider adopting into your family a new furry friend and soul companion for life.

Animals bring joy to me every day—their sweet faces, soulful eyes, never judgmental attitudes, their always uplifting and never-ending love and companionship are common characteristics of most all animals. This has always been of great comfort to me even during difficult times in my life.

Sometimes people unfortunately do not possess the characteristics listed above. It is easier for humans to forget we are more spiritual beings than physical and because of this sometimes get caught up in problems they create and make greater in their minds.

Animals never forget that they are mostly spirit in a physical body—they are here to ENJOY the physical experience!!!!!!

I can always count on my furry soul companions to brighten my mood and days and I’m grateful every single day for them all! 🙂

     

ADOPT A PET: http://www.adoptapet.com/

Don’t forget you can enter for the Spring shopping spree daily right here on my Blog. Link & details below:

Starting October 15 and running through October 31, my readers will be able to enter to win a $500 DaySpring shopping spree – from my blog!

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Day 19: The 17 Second Mark is Noteworthy

   

Knowing we all have the ability to think the thoughts we want to think can be an empowering thing.

No matter where you are or what you are doing, no other person can force thoughts into your mind.

However, sometimes people give up their power by allowing others to negatively influence their thoughts! For example: when someone blames another for the way they feel, they are giving up a huge part of their personal control over the situation.

The more someone dwells on a problem or fusses over why someone treated them poorly, the more their own thoughts are destructively impacted.

We can decide whether a problem will take us to our knees or whether we will rise above it through faith. Which do you think would be more empowering?

Abraham Hicks teaches that it takes at least 17 seconds for a thought to impact our vibrations.

Therefore, if you want to raise your dominate vibration (which brings positive experiences into our lives) think about something pleasing for more than 17 seconds.

Thinking pleasing thoughts for at least 17 seconds will bring more like thoughts into our mind. Inspiration is born from practicing this technique, so in my opinion it is time well spent!

The longer we think of enjoyable things, the higher our vibration raises.

        

And, if you want to avoid allowing negativity to impact your vibration, do not allow more than 17 seconds of thoughts on anything unwanted.

This means anything that causes unwanted feelings to spring up within you when you think about it; shift your thoughts to something more pleasing. Realizing we all have the power to do this, is a massive step toward bringing more happiness and joy into our lives.

Some people think avoiding problems and concerns will only allow them to fester and grow bigger. However, just the opposite is true!

Through faith we have the ability to know God is completely aware of what we want. Ask, believe and receive—through faith this is possible.

However, don’t be too alarmed and concerned over changing a negative thought at that 17 second mark.

Because if you become too focused and worried over that 17 second hot point you will be defeating the purpose of the technique—just relax!

We always have the power to change our perception of things with the thoughts we are thinking, whenever we want.

When things do come to us that seem to be problems, it is possible to view this as an opportunity to more clearly understand what it is that we prefer instead.

For example: How would someone know they do not like a certain food if they have never tried it. Asking someone if they prefer tacos over burritos is impossible unless they have tried both. They must experience the taste before they can say with certainty what they prefer.

So the next time an unwanted experience arises it may be easier to think positively about it under that 17 second mark, by remembering it’s an opportunity to refine your new desires. 

  

Day 18: Stop Talking About What You Don’t Want

Sometimes it’s just easier to talk about the things you don’t like about something than it is to anything good about a situation, or people.

After all, if things or people would just be different, you wouldn’t be in a bad mood snapping everyone’s head off, right? WRONG…as we’ve established in more depth earlier in the series we are all responsible for our own happiness or unhappiness—period.

So why am I bringing this up in a writing series that’s supposed to be about happiness? Well, it’s because this way of thinking is simply no more than a bad habit that’s been practiced and can be changed—!

I’m sure most of us have these thoughts once or twice a week—okay maybe per day. But, it’s simply a habit picked up because that’s what is accepted by society.

When someone is complaining to you about something, many people think the polite thing to do is commiserate with their suffering.

What they often don’t realize is by commiserating with the complaining and suffering is only adding fuel to their pain and yours!

     

The more attention you give to a subject, the stronger the vibrational pull—yes; I’m referring back to the whole law of attraction thing! Just as the law of gravity doesn’t need explaining to work, neither does the law of attraction (LOA). It is at work whether we realize it or not, bringing similar experiences and people back into our lives based on the dominate vibration we are putting out into the universe.

If someone continually talks about how upset their boss makes them and why their job is so terrible, only works to bring back similar circumstances into their life! For example, a new employee may be hired and to their ‘surprise’ that new co-worker has the same unpleasing characteristics of their boss they have been complaining about, making their ‘terrible’ job that much more unbearable to them!

Sharing the bad points of our days has unfortunately become a common practice all over social media—facebook, twitter and Instagram.

And, it has even gone as far as facebook groups created for like-minded people who want to share just how much they disapprove of a certain topic and exactly what they despise about a particular subject!

Rampant complaining is underway and can be shared more efficiently than ever before. This is the reason we need to be more conscious of it and resist the urge to join in the sharing of the misery!

Make an effort to share the good news of your day, if you’re in the mood to share!

If you notice someone consistently complaining about this or that—scroll past that quickly, or better yet the delete option can be your best friend on some social media sites!

A new habit can be developed in as quickly as 30 days! Give it a try—talk about the good in your day and life in general.

Stop talking about what you don’t want and sharing the don’ts of your day—what you don’t want and don’t like about anything. Because the more you talk about it and the more others console you and chime in with their opinions in regards to your distress, the bigger your problems will become!

Don’t forget you can enter for the Spring shopping spree daily right here on my Blog. Link & details below:

Starting October 15 and running through October 31, my readers will be able to enter to win a $500 DaySpring shopping spree – from my blog!

Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/ff92849712/?

Day 17: Clearing the Clutter!

   

Cleaning to some may be a dreaded chore but, for me it’s calming. And, the feeling after I’ve cleaned and organized something is refreshing to me. I not only clear the clutter in my home, I clear my mind clutter during the cleaning process!

Most people know of a few ways to de-stress, things they can do to relax or at least rely on to occupy their mind for a bit. For me, it’s cleaning. Yes, I know, I’m living on the edge!!!  😉

Our homes are more important to our happiness and well-being than some may give it credit. Therefore the cleaning subject should be visited in this series.

Think of how you feel when you walk through your door after a long day? What is the first thing you see, a beautifully clean space that welcomes you to come in and relax? Or do you open the door and immediately see piles of clutter everywhere?

I am a firm believer that our living spaces influence our moods and health. If our homes are in a continual state of disarray, it is likely a good deal of time is spent looking for things.

Think for a moment how you feel in the morning when you’re in a desperate search for your keys, purse, portfolio—something you need to leave and you cannot find it! It may bring up emotions of fear, anxiety, anger, frustration, sadness and guilt! All vibrational feelings, charged with strong emotion that will create the momentum for your day!

And, throwing…I mean ‘storing’ all the clutter in your bedroom, in my opinion does NOT help. The bedroom should be a calming sanctuary, clear of clutter, organized and decorated in a manner that is pleasing to you.

So what to do if you look around and think to yourself someone from that Hoarder show is going to come knocking any minute? My advice, start now—not after you have a plan, not after you run to the container store for organizing supplies that may or may not be needed. Simply START, pick one room and work on that until the room is done before moving onto the next room.

Once you finish one room you should feel very accomplished and excited to move forward to the next. After the home is completely clean and organized, it will be much easier to keep it tidy on a daily basis. With only deep cleaning needed one or two days per week.

Give it a try; create an environment that reflects how you live your life. And, once you experience the sense of accomplishment and how liberating an organized and clean home is, my guess is you may just catch the cleaning bug as I did many years ago! A clutter free home goes hand and hand with a clutter-free mind 🙂

  

Don’t forget you can enter for the Spring shopping spree daily right here on my Blog. Link & details below:

Starting October 15 and running through October 31, my readers will be able to enter to win a $500 DaySpring shopping spree – from my blog!

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Day 16: Just be Silly Sometimes!

Yes, silliness is good for the soul! So much—too much seriousness going on in my opinion for anyone’s good! Take a minute or two to see the humor in just about every situation you encounter.

You may be amazed at just how silly people can be in regards to their personal seriousness.

For example, walk into most establishments where to be in line you must take a number and wait. Now if you’re the only customer there and 4 customer service representatives waiting, one would assume no number pulling would be necessary. This assumption will probably be wrong, so instead of putting yourself through an extra wait time, go ahead and pull that number so they can ‘by number’ call you up.

Silly to many, yes probably so—but, not to those diligent and ridged customer service representatives.

Politics is a colosseum of seriousness. I like to think of it as more of a playground, because half the time I cannot even watch or listen without thinking where are the parents of these juveniles???

Instead of letting the seriousness of some people get you down, next time just think of how silly their premise and actions are.

So maybe don’t laugh out loud in certain circumstances but, it is amusing to laugh a little in your mind…envision that LOL bubbling up and forgive them for their seriousness for they know not what is most important.

And, the most important thing should be to everyone, to just have fun. Try not to take everything so literally—something seemingly so serious this minute, tomorrow may seem very trivial.

Don’t forget you can enter for this Spring shopping spree daily right here on my Blog. Link & details below:

Starting October 15 and running through October 31, my readers will be able to enter to win a $500 DaySpring shopping spree – from my blog!

Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/ff92849712/?

Day 15: Stopping the Chatter

   

When I began this writing series I wanted to be sure to include a few practical processes and techniques to help those who found them beneficial. However, I do not in any way want to project the idea that being happy is difficult and the only way to achieve happiness is by following ANY step by step process!

One thing I struggled with a few years ago was over-thinking EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, the ‘What If’s’ plagued my thoughts and worrying about this or that engulfed a huge part of my days.

Therefore, the processes I discuss in this series were and are extremely helpful to me because they helped me learn how to finally stop the destructive chatter going on within myself.

The destructive chatter can be detrimental to the quality of life you’re experiencing, creating feelings such as doubt, fear, and worry. As discussed earlier in this series those feelings send out a vibration that attracts more like things (illnesses, loss of income, poor relationships…) into our experience which triggers those types of feelings even more!

Clearly I wanted to stop my negative chattering mind! What I discovered was I did not have the ability to STOP the chatter with determination to simply STOP thinking about them! The more I tried to stop the worrisome thoughts, the more I would think about them!

Give it a try—try to stop thinking about something, anything such as a Blue bird. Simply saying to your ‘logical’ mind “I am NOT going to think about that Blue bird anymore,” in most cases is only going to establish that Blue bird squarely in the forefront of your thoughts! However, if this logical determination works for you, BRAVO!!!

If you’re like me and stopping your thoughts doesn’t work, you need another tactic. Instead of trying to think the unwanted thought out of your mind, bring something entirely different into your thought stream for focus. Flood your mind with something pleasing and focus upon it, this will help to take the place of the old negative thoughts.

Whatever it takes to draw your focus off the negative—maybe listening to uplifting music, doing Yoga, exercising, watching a Youtube funny video, TV comedy, or just talking to one of your quirky friends will help.

     

Mediation has been an enormously useful tool for many people because in the quieting of your chattering mind, it helps to create a clear space, allowing in clarity and peace of mind.

Though, for me I have not yet been able to master the Meditation experience, so distraction of my focus is working best for me so far. I’ve read many how-to instructions but, for me personally trying to meditate, laying there conscious of my breathing and listening to a constant noise such as a fan doesn’t last long before… very soon the chatter starts on everything, (it goes something like this—boy, this ceiling needs painted…the walls and trim too, what color would look best, if I change the wall color we will need new bedding…) which defeats the whole purpose of meditation and quieting the mind.

And, of course the more I believe I can’t meditate the more this will be an experience in my life. The good thing is focusing on other things is working just fine for me and the point of this is for everyone to use WHATEVER works best for them to feel better as well!

Maybe there is someone out there who can through their sheer determination and willpower can stop the negative chatter within their mind but, I am not one of those people! The more I think about stopping a thought, the more thoughts of that topic will come pouring in and the worse I will feel!

There is no one perfect tool, technique or way of bringing yourself out of a distressing state of mind into happiness. Tap into what works best for you to feel better. Use your feelings as your guide—feeling better is your indicator that you’ve found what works!

I have learned and am still learning to shift my thoughts completely off worrisome topics to something better. I have experienced when I do this, solutions come unexpectedly and quickly regarding those previous troublesome topics.

To some quieting a chattering mind may seem silly and think ignoring problems is not facing reality and is just irresponsible. If being responsible means it makes you miserable, you are not doing yourself any good or anyone around you any benefit!

It is a continual process—that whole law of attraction thing; it’s no joke, just as real as the law of gravity!

As for me I prefer the good chatter 🙂

   

Don’t forget you can enter for this Spring shopping spree daily right here on my Blog. Link & details below:

Starting October 15 and running through October 31, my readers will be able to enter to win a $500 DaySpring shopping spree – from my blog!

Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/ff92849712/?