lost in a good book

Earlier this month I felt a strong urge to read. Not to finish any of the twenty or so books on metaphysics, personal finance, health, etc. that I have in stacks by my bedside and throughout the house. No way. Fiction. I wanted to lose myself in a delicious story, like I used to do every summer (and pretty much every other spare moment) when I was a kid. Reading late into the night. Waking up smelling bacon cooking and choosing to luxuriate in bed with my novel until the last possible moment when I was called to the table. Draping myself over chairs, sprawled out on the grass, on the floor of my father’s study… shifting positions only when necessary, nary an eye straying from the words on the page. Oh, I would live in those books! I will never forget being called away from Jane Eyre to help set the table for dinner – tears streaming down my face, inconsolable about the turning point in Jane’s story. My mother quipped ‘I don’t remember liking Jane Eyre THAT much.’ I loved every nuance of every chapter, and you would rarely see me without a great novel by my side. I don’t know why I ever stopped reading fiction! Well, I do still, on occasion, like when my cousin who works in publishing sends me advance editions from my favorite current writers. Maybe I don’t want to risk a bad experience, even though when I get a recommendation from a friend, I’m rarely disappointed. It’s probably more likely that I don’t allow that level of self-indulgence. Because… when I’m into a book, guess who stays up late and doesn’t want to get up to take care of anybody, guess who’s too busy to get dinner ready.  There’s definitely a bubble around me when I’m in a novel, and it’s tough to penetrate – I like it that way! Well, I’m thrilled to tell you, this month I read four novels, three of them in rapid succession (by the same author), and I delighted in every sentence! I stayed up late, I slept in late and read in the mornings, (I didn’t make many dinners), I feasted on words.  July has been a wonderful, luxurious retreat! I’m fortified, my mind buzzing in the space between reality and fiction, ready for my next adventure.

How financially literate are you? How’s your business sense? Over the past few years I’ve been increasing my awareness by reading the likes of Barbara Stanny, T. Harv Eker and Napoleon Hill ~ and gradually shifted my ‘financial blueprint’ to one where financial success is not only possible, but a commitment I’ve made to myself and my family. I am grateful every day to have found a business and community of support in USANA Health Sciences and Team Northrup. My colleagues Theresa Haney and Pepi Diaz-Salazar wrote the article below which deals with one of the questions we hear a lot. It’s not information most people seem to have, certainly something I understood following my days in corporate HR (doing leadership development and succession planning, I have some insight into this!) ~ so I’m sharing this with you along with some resources to conduct your own research into these questions. Enjoy!

I recently read a new book by Robert Kiyosaki called The Business of the 21st Century. As an entrepreneur it is my job to keep an eye on trends. Given what we have witnessed over the last few years from Corporate America, it is no surprise the industry that I know and love, Network Marketing (NWM), is becoming a more accepted business model as evidenced by the trends in our industry. The uncertainty of corporate America is fueling a resurgence in entrepreneurial vision.
People often ask me the question “Is this a pyramid?” This is a question I welcome, it is one of the most misunderstood concepts regarding NWM. What we think of as Pyramids and Ponzis…the Maddoffs, are no doubt very real. As is another often overlooked pyramid of our time, corporate America. Let me explain; take a bank, the CEOs make millions, the few at the top ~ and the bank tellers never make more than $30,000, the masses at the bottom. This is the kind of pyramid that should make us all wary.
The NWM Industry has been around for years and hundreds of thousands of Home-Based distributors world-wide are thriving from their NWM businesses. Regulations are in place to protect the general public for those with companies that are members of the Direct Selling Association (DSA). So if you are thinking of starting a home-based business do your homework. Visit www.dsa.com for more information
As an owner of a NWM business I have the capacity to make as much as a CEO of a bank, but not at the expense of another person. It’s just the opposite, if I don’t help others find success, then I’m not successful. The sum-zero model of doing business is on it way out. Corporate America is not sustainable.

If you want to know more about what we are doing with Team Northrup and USANA Health Sciences ~ learn more about our ‘Brilliant Compensation‘ system, and contact me to join us on our next monthly telegathering with Dr. Christiane Northrup on June 22nd.

To your financial well-being! ~ Maddy

The other day I saw a Facebook video of a woman dancing ecstatically at a wedding. The bride was not amused. The guest was flitting about in her red dress, careening into guests with eyes closed and a serene smile on her up-tilted face. It was all very amusing until she crashed into a pole holding the tent up and everything came to a crashing halt. Then the bride crawled out from under the tent with a bloody nose. I found the scene funny, shocking, and definitely worth sharing. Someone (ok, my mom) later added the comment ‘Too much pleasure at the expense of others.’
I’m currently in school (for the second time) studying pleasure. Last year while in the program I dutifully did most of the homework and researched pleasure in many ways. This year I’ve figured something out. I’m really uncomfortable with it. In theory it makes complete sense and I’ve devoted hours of my time to promoting the idea to other women. I’m really good with the theory. In practice, it does make a difference, I can feel the change in my blood pressure when I put my attention on the blue sky and not the traffic jam on my way to an appointment I’m late for. Maybe it’s not so much that I’m uncomfortable… but that I disapprove. If I find pleasure in a morning walk, I wonder did I earn it by getting enough work done first? If there’s pleasure in sitting in the sun (getting my vitamin D) for 20 minutes, did I earn it by returning those phone calls? If I find pleasure in a dish of ice cream, is my weight at a level that can tolerate the infraction? When I’m headed out of town (in two days) did I finish my blog post in time (AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!)? See where I’m headed? Pleasure is so often at the end of my to-do list that I rarely get to real acts of intention, or I do them half-assed, um, not present. What if I get sick? Oh yeah…. I REALLY disapprove of that one. ME, the one with a blog called ‘Vibrant One’ who markets the best cellular nutrition products on the market, If I EVER get sick and require a nice long nap…. did I earn the right?
I obviously then disapprove of the amount of pleasure I have in my life! Can you hear it? How f#@*ed up is this never-ending cycle of disapproval? I am laughing as I write this (now), recalling my sweet friend who on the phone with the other day (when I really was sick), listened to me boo-hooing about what a mess I was, how I hadn’t gotten anything done and wasn’t going to amount to anything, ever. She said, ‘Wow, you really are good at disapproving of yourself!’ And a beat later… ‘I wonder what it would be like if you could approve of yourself that much?’
So, I don’t know but I plan to… pleasurably, in my perfect timing, saying when I forget ‘whoops, there I go again!’ with a smile….. Because I desire to LIVE in pleasure. Moment by moment, taking notice and shifting my attention. Because it’s not so much the bride with the bloody nose I have to watch out for, it’s me, the girl in the red dress.
P.S. I totally wanna hear what you think about this. Too much pleasure? At the expense of others? Red dress at a wedding?