I arrived in Mexico last Friday. Since then I have been spending time with Brenda and Adrian. I was at their house for most of the month of November while they were here in Bucerias, outside of Puerto Vallarta. I arrived at the airport and my friends, Arturo, Marisol and my puppy friend Precious met me. It was a fabulous reunion with lots of puppy kisses. Then it was to Brenda and Adrian´s place right here on the beach where we all had dinner together. Even Precious got some fish.

We have played hard these last few days, soaking up the sun, going for long walks on the beach, having some fabulous dinners out and playing Yahtzee and cribbage on the deck overlooking the ocean. It has reinforced for me the wonder of having good friends who support my way of life and love me unconditionally. It is not something I ever take for granted but is always something I feel eternally grateful for.

Oftentimes, people don´t create the amazing life they really want because they don´t have the people who support them in it. Sometimes friends are jealous or simply “don´t get you”. Sometimes they are threatened by your progress in life and sometimes they just don´t want what you want in life. So at times you will separate and go your different ways. That´s certainly okay. But when good friends come together and support each other on the journey, it´s pretty darn amazing.

Tonight as Brenda and Adrian are leaving tomorrow and I am heading to Arturo and Marisol´s for the next 2 weeks, I am filled with gratitude for what I have created. I feel blessed in every way. I say every day, “I love my life!” Do you love yours?

This morning I am in Seattle, Washington with my partner Greg. I arrived by ferry from Victoria on Vancouver Island late last night. It is the culmination of an intense 7 weeks of activity with almost 50 client appointments, several teleclasses, a major book launch that took me to best-selling author status, and a major two day workshop this month. I have also done almost 40 videos for a new website being launched shortly and have a philanthropic launch for Christmas that is ready to go this week.

What made this intense schedule so interesting is that I have been “couch-surfing” for the past 7 weeks and have been living out of suitcases, dealing with less than ideal telephone and internet situations as I have moved from place to place. So how did I get the very long, long list done with joy, ease and grace and a ton of FUN?

Two things contributed to the success of the past 7 weeks. One is that I was committed to getting it done. In my mind, it wasn´t optional that it all get done. It absolutely needed to get done. No ifs, ands, or buts in my mind.

Secondly, I had a huge reward. I get to spend the next 3 1/2 months in the sun of Mexico and Guatemala because I got it all done. That was a huge motivator as after 3 days of rain in Vancouver, this past month, I was ready to scream. I am so tired of being cold!

Just the thought of being this weekend with my friends in Bucerias, Mexico, drinking Margaritas and playing was a huge incentive to keep on going and get through the list.

I find that most people don´t have a big enough reason to taking action. There is no reward or incentive to get stuff done…so it simply doesn´t get done. Is that true for you?

Why should you get it all done if at the end of that list, you simply create another long list of To-do´s with no time to celebrate or play in between? Good question, yes?

To create your amazing life, it needs to be a balance of work and play, fun and contribution. You also need to have a level of commitment that it is worth getting done because there are rewards. Ideally those rewards really excite and motivate you!

It my special puppy friend´s first birthday today in Bucerias Mexico. Her birthday party was postponed because of the hurricane-like weather hitting Puerto Vallarta yesterday and today. Nothing like having a house full of dogs with a storm going on outside. So they decided it was best to postpone and wait for the great weather to return.

Precious was an abandoned puppy that my friends Marisol and Arturo rescued when she was just 3 months old. What a lot of love and affection will do for a lost, little puppy! Talk about creating an amazing life! We can all learn a lesson in that arena from Precious! You´ll want to turn your speakers on for this one. You´ll be dancing with the music.

I just arrived in Sedona yesterday afternoon and am busy getting settled. Internet is hooked up and I am finding my way around. With no buses in Sedona, I am back to walking lots already and loving it. I´ll post some pictures this week so you can see the gorgeous setting I am enjoying!

It´s a risk to rent a place over the internet. Does it really look like the pictures? Is the neighborhood nice? Is it as convenient as they promoted? As this is the second time I have now rented and paid for a place sight-unseen, I have felt the rumblings of doubt and worry on a few occasions.

However, so far so good. I loved the place in Bucerias, Mexico and have a wonderful feeling about my new home for the next 3 1/2 months here in Sedona.

Risks are an inherent part of life, especially creating a really amazing one. You will have to gamble on a few things, make some tough decisions and put your neck on the line to get out of your comfort zone.

I get through the tough part of the decision making by evaluating what I would lose by not taking the risk as opposed to everything I will gain by just doing it. I have found that the gains far outweigh any loss I might take. By focusing on the good, and not the bad, I also attract more good things into my life.

Look at your modus operandi around risks. Do you avoid them like the plague? Do you even see things as risky or dangerous? Do you focus on the good and minimize the dangers? What risks do you need to take to move your life to the next level?

Rollie and Jeanne

In order to create an amazing life with unlimited potential for income and time freedom, many spiritual entrepreneurs are building businesses that give them everything they want. I want to introduce you to two very special entrepreneurs today.

Rollie and Jeanne own Rollie´s Restaurant in a small town 20 minutes north of where I am living in Bucerias, Mexico. Yesterday, Greg and I spent part of the day in Sayulita and enjoyed a meal at Rollie´s. It has been one of the highlights of my restaurant adventures. There is lots to learn for entrepreneurs from Rollie and Jeanne.

Rollie was a high school principal in California for 25 years, a teacher for 15 years previous to that. Jeanne was also a teacher. Rollie had a dream of owning a restaurant and on his first trip to Mexico back in 1998, he fell in love with the quaint village of Sayulita. A year later, a building became available that could be transformed into a house and restaurant. Rollie moved in and Jeanne stayed in California until she retired two years later.

With nothing but passion, love and courage, Rollie and another Mexican transformed the former welding shop into what is now the most talked about restaurant in town. What makes Rollie´s Restaurant special?

Love. You feel it the moment you walk into the restaurant. Rollie has the gift of hospitality and it shows. It´s like having a meal with family. The rule is that you never go home hungry. If after eating your meal you are still hungry, Rollie will bring you a few of his famous pancakes, on the house.

Rollie also has the gift of encouragement. The first time he stopped everyone in his bustling restaurant with the announcement that an up and coming artist was in their midst, I listened fascinated. Then Rollie held up a young child´s drawing and said the most beautiful and encouraging words about the drawing before it was posted on the board with the other up and coming artists. I wanted to cry! What if every child had that kind of love, encouragement and support? The world would be a very different place.

Rollie and Jeanne didn´t have all the i´s dotted and their t´s crossed. They didn´t even speak the language! But they had a dream and a passion to build a restaurant. Rollie´s closes today for the season and Rollie and Jeanne go back to Monterey, California for 6 months before returning November 1st.

As I hugged Rollie good-bye yesterday morning, I felt privileged to have seen in action on several occasions the power of love in a business. You´ll wait in line for a table on the weekend. One Sunday morning, about a dozen bikers showed up in full biker´s gear and ate breakfast at Rollie´s. My neighbor´s little dog Precious is welcome at Rollie´s. It has proved to me once again that you can build a very successsful business based on values that mean everything to you.

To Rollie and Jeanne, love rules!

Pretty good for only $10!

Saturday morning found Greg and I in Puerto Vallarta with a long list of things we needed to buy and what we wanted to do. As Greg headed into the ATM machine as we got off the local bus, he realized that he had brought his credit card, not his debit card and he didn´t know the pin for his credit card. As we counted all the money we had on us, less bus fare to get home, it was a whopping $12!

Our plans for doing anything we had planned were very quickly dashed and for a moment we both felt the emotion of disappointment wash over us. Greg offered to go all the way back to Bucerias to get the right card and let me camp out on the beach with the $12 but we chose differently. We decided to take a disaster and make it fun. We made it into an adventure – a game. After carefully putting aside the money to get home on the bus, we looked at our 120 pesos like gold. What fun! People do this kind of budgeting all the time out of necessity and don´t find it much fun. However, Saturday we made it fun.

After doing some comparison shopping on an artist´s work that I want to bring back to Canada when I leave, we headed to The Cheeky Monkey. Famous in Puerto Vallarta for it´s cheap Margaritas and magnificent view, we parked ourselves at the best table in the house and ordered two Margaritas and a plate of Veggie Nachos. The plate arrived laden with black olives, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and nachos. We feasted like a king and queen, while sipping our Margaritas overlooking the ocean. Having brought dice and my Yahtzee score sheets, we played a few games of Yahtzee as we enjoyed our time.

The bill was $10 including tip. We still had $2 left to spend! We headed along the boardwalk and enjoyed the magnificent weather, people watching and scenery. It really is absolutely splendid. Then I popped into a corner store, picked up a cold beer for just under a $1 and we caught the bus home with $1 to spare. We were thrilled with our day and genuinely had a blast.

On Sunday we headed back into town and had a fabulous day at the beach before heading to do our shopping. My whole weekend of fun, food and drinks cost me $25. Don´t tell me you need to be rich to have fun. It´s all in the attitude and the desire to have fun. You may be using no money as an excuse to not have fun in your life but it may be just that – an excuse.

You do not need to be a millionaire to have fun. You can have fun for free or very close to it. What´s stopping you from having more fun in your life? It´s certainly not money.

Greg, Jeanette and I out for Easter brunch.

Wow – what an Easter weekend. It was chock full of time walking along the beach, watching the windsurfers, eating, dining out, drinking, playing games, enjoying friends and dancing. I needed to come back to work this morning for a rest!

It is amazing how much fun I can have on a weekend when the weather is guaranteed to be beautiful. I never have to stop and think about whether or not the weather will cooperate. Sunny, blue sky and warm are pretty much constants here in Bucerias, Mexico.

On my list of top three priorities in looking for a place to live was the weather. The other two were safety and internet access. I´ve learned to set priorities and be clear in what I want. It´s amazing what you can manifest when you are clear about what is important to you.

I have worked with clients from Vancouver, Canada for example, that hate the rain and cloudy days that Vancouver enjoys in excess. Yet, they stay. They have their excuses, their reasons for not wanting to leave but they don´t feel good mentally, their physical health is suffering and they lack energy because of their depression. However, they don´t make a move. Perhaps you are stuck in a situation you don´t like but think you need to put up with. I bet that´s a story you have told yourself often enough that you believe. But is it really so?

Think about one thing you don´t like in your life. Then get out of your way and think of three or more possible solutions that could resolve the situation. Pretend you are brainstorming for a friend as you are more apt to become creative if you look at the situation less personally. Look at the solutions you came up with once you were out of your way. Could you put any one of them into practice or a combination of several solutions?

My mom used to say, “where there´s a will, there´s a way”. I think that´s a great motto to live by because it´s generally true. When we get really clear on what we want, then we are more powerful to manifest it. You will be amazed that you can have the life you really want. So what do you want? I´d love to hear your dreams.

Greg and I went for a walk along the beach this afternoon. It is the busiest I have seen the beach since I arrived in Bucerias at the beginning of November. It´s because today is the start of Semana Santa or Holy Week. It actually lasts for two weeks and in Mexico, it means “party time”.

Although there are some things I really don´t like about this time of year here, (having been in Mazatlan for it last year), like the increased traffic and congestion on the already crazy roads, there is something wonderful about seeing the Mexicans play. They certainly know how to do that…and they do it well. I love walking along the beach and seeing the families playing in the waves, the kids building sand castles and the elders with the young people as entire families camp out and cook on the beach.

There are very few rules about what you can and can´t do which being the free spirit I am, very much appeals to me. I love walking into the corner store, picking up a cold beer and wandering along the street or beach sipping it. It´s getting hot and the breeze along the beach today was most welcome. As we strolled into town to buy some vegetables and shrimp for dinner tonight, Greg and I had to admit that this is a pretty good life. We came back to the condo, picked up Jeanette and all of us headed to the pool where we suntanned, swam and Greg and I played a few games of Parcheesi.

This week since my return on Monday night, we have been out to listen to jazz where we shared a bottle of wine and an order of calamari. Last night we went to Tacos on the Street and had a wonderful dinner with a group of friends. This weekend we have more fun things planned.

I keep on talking about creating more fun in your life. Are you doing it? If you always work and never enjoy what you earn, then it´s easy to get discouraged and have the viewpoint of “why bother? I never get to have any fun anyways.” But that is not true. Today´s adventure cost $1.50 (the cost of my bottle of beer). It doesn´t need to cost alot to have some fun but you do need to decide that it is important.

Like you, I could work all day and all night. I could book myself with appointments all day, even working on the weekends. I don´t. I do one or two appointments every day, take weekends off, try to learn something daily about internet marketing, do a bit of marketing and then I play.

People tell me all the time that they wish they could live a more fun and playful life. You can. You´re making the choice to create the life you want every day. Start making different choices to create what you really want. Nobody is stopping you. Even if you think that you have no choice, you´re convincing yourself of a lie. There´s families living in different countries around the world for $1000 or less a month. They´re making a choice. So are you.

I love my choices. What about you?

It´s my first day back in the warmth and sunshine of Bucerias and boy does it ever feel good. Vancouver did warm up on the last day I was in town but like much of North America, they have had a wicked winter. It makes me even more appreciative of being able to create the amazing life I have in the sun and warmth.

It was fabulous to be able to speak at the Soul Power conference on Saturday. I talked about Divine Discontent and it definitely registered with many of the participants. Divine Discontent is when your soul wants to do something and you are resisting it. It usually produces an emotion of anxiety, anger, a longing or yearning, a sadness or a pissed off feeling. None of them feel very good and consequently, they get misdiagnosed as PMS, menopause and depression. They aren´t physical issues though. They are soul issues and taking HRT or an anti-depressant doesn´t usually help do anything but mask the underlying issue.

So what does your soul want to do? What are you resisting doing that you really know you are here to do? Is there anything that jumps out for you?

Avoiding the messages and hoping they will go away doesn´t work. Like a child that is set on getting your attention, your soul is communicating with you in the way it knows best – through emotions. I´ve discovered over the years that the best thing you can do is listen and do what your soul is directing you to do. It may feel out of the box, uncomfortable or even risky. But if in the depth of your soul, this is why you have come to Earth at this time, you need to listen. Otherwise, I have discovered, the longing, the anger, the yearning and the sadness become even more intense.

Trust that you are here for a reason or reasons. Act on the messages you are getting. Start taking the steps and moving in the direction that you know to be true for you. This is critically important if you are going to create the incredible, fulfilled, prosperous life you truly desire.

Several months ago, my neighbors rescued a puppy that was found abandoned at a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They brought home this little bundle of fluff that fit in their hands and loved her to health and wellness. I arrived here shortly after Precious came into their lives and we have become best buddies. I am even called “Nanny Jan”.

Precious is an Alpha female. She is the “boss” whether or not the dog is bigger or smaller, male or female. I´ve seen her submit to an aggressive German Shepherd male dog that weighs about 100 pounds (so she´s not stupid) but for the most part, Precious is in charge.

This puppy can make me laugh (and I´m sure you will hear plenty about her over the next few months until I leave Bucerias), but what I love most about her is her spunk. She doesn´t care where she came from and she has most definitely forgotten her abandonment issues. She laps up all the love, nurturing and attention she gets with an eagerness to reciprocate.

I work with a lot of clients every week who didn´t come from a great past either. Most of my clients had a difficult time at some level. Perhaps Mom and Dad didn´t want them. Sometimes, they were abused emotionally, physically or suffered sexual abuse. Many were abandoned and felt unloved. Some of the stories I hear weekly are brutal.

It can be hard to leave the past behind. It´s much easier and comfortable to retell the “old stories” of when a parent, a marriage mate or a business partner wronged us or some tragedy befell us. That makes us a victim however and we only emphasize the feeling of powerlessness. Even just going on and on about how we don´t feel well, are tired, broke, stressed, worried or some other negative emotion feeds the subconcious mind with programs we don´t want to reinforce.

Change the story from negative to positive. Find the good in every situation because even in the worst case scenario, there will be one. Watch what you spend most of your day talking about. Find the good in yourself. Know in every cell of your body that you are powerful, you are divine, you are loved by the Universe. Know that and feel it at a DNA and cellular level because it´s true.

I watch Precious “kill” the stuffed toy as she tosses her head viciously, fighting with me for all she´s worth. I´ve laughed loud and hard as she will walk away from me if I am ignoring her and then come flying back into the room a minute later as if she has “arrived”! Ta Da! I´ve smiled right from my core watching her play with the Golden Retriever, Tara who is 10 times her size.

My prayer is that every one of us can heal the past, put aside the stories that aren´t helping us create our lives the way we really want and that we can focus on what we truly desire and deserve. Precious helps me do that every day.