Thursday, April 15, 2010

Wild about Wild Bill!

May I share my gratitude for the same person two days in a row? Absolutely! I could write about the gratitude I have for my wonderful husband every single day of the year! Yes, it's true. Every day of the year!

I have been told that we, Wild and I as a couple and Wild and I as individuals, are just too positive to be believable. I presume their question would be: How can you two be so happy all the time? Perhaps they wonder what we're really like behind closed doors. Well, the truth is we're pretty much like we are in public, except sometimes we don't look as good. That's because we are so comfortable being comfortable with each other. I am filled with gratitude to be living with a man that loves me exactly as I am, no matter what that might look like at the moment.

We are fortunate that both if us are willing, and able, to dig deep and explore whatever is going on with each of us and as a couple. We have long conversations, always starting the day with one, and often sit in our living room like two friends that are catching up after an absence. I am so thankful that each of us is willing to give the other our best, that is, the best we can do at any particular moment. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would actually experience a relationship, let alone a marriage, like this one.

Yes, we sometimes get a bit cranky and we know when to give each other space. We are always willing to talk it out and stay current with each other. I am often amazed at how kind my husband is, not just with me but with everyone he meets, especially kids and people needing any type of help. I love who I am with this beautiful, kind, funny man I am so grateful to share my life with!

With love and gratitude to my dear Wild Bill,
Dyann

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Love is in the air!

Oh yes! Spring is in the air and it is so beautiful everywhere I look. The blossoms and bulbs came up early this year because of just the right amount of rain and blue skies. As I drive through town I am amazed at all the daffodils and tulips in full bloom and trees filling out with new growth and fresh green leaves everywhere. Spring is in full bloom right now! I am so grateful for Spring, my favorite season of the year. There is a feeling about Spring that is filled with the promise of fresh and new. A quality to the air that is irresistable, like love.

Do you feel the pull towards love this time of year? There is something about the fresh, sweet air of Spring  that makes me feel alive and wanting to fall in love! I am so fortunate to be married to the man I love and I am happy to fall in love with him over and over. He is easy to love and as the fresh Spring air makes my fantasies unfurl, he is right there, ready.

I am so incredibly grateful to be married to my best friend. I am pinching myself!

With love and gratitude,
Dyann

Sunday, April 11, 2010

So Many Amazing People To Thank!

As I reflect on my post from yesterday I am present to how far I have come in the past year. Yesterday I was feeling a bit nervous, with a low grade anxiety and hot cheeks, as I thought about speaking to a crowd of approximately 180 people last night. Yet when I was on the stage I was present to the audience, what I wanted to share with them and not at all nervous. How could that be? I have heard that the number one fear of most people is speaking in front of an audience. You know what...I just realized today that I bought that story. And, that it is...just a story.

Last year I completed the Curriculum for Living with Landmark Education. The benefits continue to show up for me like a time released capsule and I am further enjoying new levels of confidence, communication skills and a better quality of life in all areas. This is amazing to me because I was happy before I ever took Landmark, yet it has made all the difference for me in every area of my life. The Curriculum for Living consists of three courses and I would like to personally thank each of the instructors I had the pleasure of working with. My first course was the world famous Landmark Forum. Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/556pwf

I'd like to start by thanking my Forum Leader, Will Steel, from the United Kingdon. Will was the perfect Forum Leader for me as he is both powerful and kind as well as funny. I am very grateful to have had the pleasure of doing the Forum under Will's direction. His skill in listening to what people are saying, between the lines, and how he masterfully handled people that were completely stuck, was a sight to behold. Thank you Will for showing me what possibility looks like.

Included with the Forum is a ten week series of weekly seminars called the Landmark Forum in Action. I am grateful for my Seminar Leader, Christopher McCormick for showing me, by his actions, what commitment looks like and what it takes to lead a group of individuals, over a period of time, to the destination. Thank you Christopher for showing me what leadership looks like.

Then came the Landmark Advanced course with the Master Coach herself, Charlene Afremow. Charlene is love personified and after two days you can't help see the love that she is. Prior to that she wields her skills to cause each participant to dig deep and break the shakles that bind. Thank you Charlene for showing me what strength, courage and love looks like when you are really up to something big in your life.

Last but definately not least is the Self Expression and Leadership Program, referred to as the SELP. The SELP was led over a four month period by the Possibility of Love and Inspiration herself, Lisa Collins. The SELP was so incredibly rewarding as we were able to put all we had learned in the prior courses into action in our own communities. Thank you Lisa for showing me what love, inspiration, grace and ease looks like when we are up to making a difference in other peoples lives.

And I would be remiss if I didn't thank my dear friend, Cheryl Sheehan, as Cheryl introduced me to Landmark five years before I ever took the first serious look at it. I will be forever grateful for the difference Cheryl has made in my life by her willingness to take a stand for the possibilities she sees in others.

The community project I created in the SELP, the Go Red for Women Ambassador Program in Tacoma/Pierce County, started as a result of a dear friend standing in possibility so many years ago. I never imagined that possibilities would unfold as they have. And, we have only just begun.

I am the possibility of Compassion, Leadership and Joy!

With love and gratitude,
Dyann

Gratefully, I Go Red to Save Lives!
The first week of Project Purpose 2010, a 90 day program I am participating in, is coming to an end and I just opened an email referring to it as Hearts of Purpose. That name really resonates with me this evening as I just returned home from having the honor of speaking to the 96 beautiful sorority sisters of Alpha Phi, and their families and friends, at the Go Red Gala that this sorority puts on each year. It was a beautiful evening at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA.

The photo above shows the four Go Red for Women Ambassadors that spoke this evening and our friend from the American Heart Association, in the center, that introduced us. They are from the left: Kara Moore, Nadine Kelley, Connie Hara, Tina Blackett and Dyann Lyon. Each of us has a powerful and compelling Go Red story of survival to share and we are all passionate about sharing our story with people, groups and businesses that invite us to speak. 

The Go Red program is a program of the American Heart Association. I learned about it when I approached Connie Hara in the summer of 2009 to see if I could get some material from the Heart Association to use as handouts at offices I wished to speak in. I had the idea of sharing my story along with the warning signs of heart disease and how to prevent this largely preventable disease. Connie said that was a perfect Go Red for Women project and that there was no one leading Go Red in Tacoma. Would I be interested in leading it? I must admit that I balked at the idea in the beginning as I didn't want to limit these talks to women and my story is definitely a story for men too. Well, after talking more with Connie I really got the impact of heart disease being the number one killer of women, more than the next five diseases all added together! After several meetings with other women in the community, that have their own stories of survival to share, the Go Red for Women Ambassador program in Tacoma and Pierce County was off and running.

The photo to the left is of the six Go Red for Women Ambassadors and our friend, Connie, of the American Heart Association who all gave up their Saturday night to be able to speak to the ladies of Alpha Phi and their family and friends. They are from the left: .Victoria Doyle, Mary Harrison, Kara Moore, Connie Hara, Nadine Kelley, Dyann Lyon and Tina Blackett. We have other Go Red for Women Ambassadors and we are always looking for more. Whenever we have an opportunity to speak we accept the engagement. We then notify the group to see who is available to speak for that event. Each one of us has a different story to share and we always leave an impact on our audiences. 

There is so much I am grateful for in this story. First of all I am grateful for the nearly twenty wonderful years I had with my husband, Lee Oberbeck, who died suddenly of a heart attack at 50 years young. I am grateful to have met Connie Hara and for her passion and commitment to help get a Go Red program off the ground in Tacoma. I am grateful for the passionate women who have stepped forward to share their Go Red message, on their own time, to help save lives. These women have become special friends and I am grateful to each of them for the wonderful passionate hearts they share with others. I am especially grateful for my amazing and dear husband, Wild Bill Jones, and his passion and compassion in joining me on my quest to serve. He was the one that took pictures all night and helped each of us on and off the stage. Wild is our Go Red Mascot. Here he is with two beautiful women, Lindsay Ingaldson and Laura McQuay, Red Dress Gala Chairwomen, Gamma Zeta of Alpha Phi. These two did a wonderful job of putting on the Red Dress Gala 2010. Great job ladies!

With love and gratitude,
Dyann

Friday, April 9, 2010

Filled to the brim!

What I love about being in gratitude is the feeling I get, and the wonderful energy that comes, from being in gratitude on a daily basis. At the moment I am filled to the brim with gratitude, energy, excitement, purpose, anticipation, commitment and love! WOW! That is a lot of great stuff to be filled with! Would you agree?

I am so thankful for Patti Roney, for the inspiration I receive from her and for her leading Project Purpose (PP) again this year. As I mentioned on Monday of this week, the first day of the 90 day program she created, I am happy to have created The Gratitude Room blog last year during the early days of PP 2009. I realize that even though I have loved writing this blog I tended to take on some pretty heavy, and often emotional, subjects. Being the creative person I am I also wanted to post pretty pictures, mostly beautiful flowers, as inspiration. I found that all of that seemed to bog me down and I was writing less and less. I thought I really needed something special to write about and it often became daunting to even get started. As of this week I have an entirely different approach to this blog. I am taking on a daily habit of writing what I am grateful for and keeping it short and sweet. At least that is my intention. If I have something on my mind that deserves more attention, I will gladly have at it!

With love and gratitude,
Dyann

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Surprise!!
That was the first line of an email I received today with the word surprise in red.

In the subject line it read: "SURPRISE! YOU ARE A WINNER WITH USANA!!" WOW! I already knew that, because being in USANA makes me a winner. Yet this seemed to mean something different.

The next sentence of the email had another word in red, it read: "You are a winner of the FREE airfair drawing for the 2010 Celebration at Sea!"

Yippee! I won! I won free airfare for the USANA cruise that Wild and I are going on in December 2010!

When I happened to see the email, notifying me of the free airfare, Wild and I were on the tail end of a coaching call. I didn't want to disturb him but I couldn't help grinning from ear to ear and he couldn't help noticing. Just now, I asked Wild what he thought when he saw me grinning so big earlier today. He answered, with a huge grin of his own: "I didn't know what was going on but it was gratifying to see you looking so happy." Since I am a pretty happy person, being happy is not unusual. Big grins, like the huge one I had today out of the blue, are unusual! What fun that was! Thank you USANA!

What a joy it is to be feeling gratitude, for simply doing what I love with the company I have so much admiration for, and winning a prize while doing it. Good things seem to come in threes. Just yesterday we had a call from a friend that requested we speak to her sister, who lives in another state, because her sister has absolutely no energy. Her sister wants us to arrange for her to get what our friend has, because our friend "has the energy of an energizer bunny!". What a pleasure and a gift it is to be able to help people feel better! The third good thing happening is that tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Wild becoming an American citizen. If you want to know more about that story please read my blog entry dated April 13, 2009, with a post scipt I wrote earlier today.

With love and gratitude,
Dyann

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Grateful for Blogger

I am feeling a flood of gratitude for Blogger today. Last year I created this, The Gratitude Room, blog, believeing it would be the perfect place for me to express gratitude. I have many gratitude books around my home, I'll fill one and start another. Even though it is wonderful to express gratitude with pen and paper, inside of a beautifully bound journal, this blog gives me an endess supply of space in which to share my thoughts of gratitude. I am grateful for that.

I have wanted to create another blog for many months. I have actually started two different blogs in wordpress and I have never created any traction to get either of them off the ground. Within the past week I started a second blog on Blogger at: http://dyannsexcellentadventure.blogspot.com/ and I look forward to expressing my thoughts and ideas there, on topics other than gratitude. What I am grateful for today is the ease in which I am able to access both my blogs via the Dashboard. Until this week, after creating my second Blogger blog, I never fully understood or appreciated the concept of the Dashboard on my Blogger account. Thank you Blogger for making my blogging experience so easy! I believe that now I will find it much more comfortable to maintain two different blogs and have two places to express myself.

With gratitude and ease,
Dyann