Shift from Surviving to Thriving

FREE Teleclass!

Shift from Surviving to Thriving! Five secrets to help you live life with balance, purpose, passion, and fulfillment

• Are you exhausted or overwhelmed?
• Do the pieces of your life need some de-cluttering, sorting through, and recalibrating so you can experience joy through all circumstances?
• Do you feel like the days, months, years are slipping away and you WANT to make your life count – REALLY COUNT – for something?

During her teleclass on August 26, iBloom Associate Betsy Ringer will share vital “secrets" to help you shift from rushing and cramming way to much into a day to actually THRIVING! You will look at twelve important life areas then take first steps to bring vibrancy to these areas. Gain insight that you can apply to your life immediately. Get the BOOST you need to overcome the frustration of days, months and years slipping away. Start de-cluttering and recalibrating your life so you can experience balance, purpose and fulfillment.

Date: Thursday, August 26th

Time: 8 PM EST (7 PM CST, 6 PM MST, 5 PM PST)

Even if you can’t attend LIVE, go ahead and register because the audio download will be available after the call! Plus, it’s completely FREE!!

Are you ready to ready to "Shift from Surviving to Thriving?" If so, enter your name and email below to get officially registered.

Name
Email

5 Things Happy People Do Every Day: Part 4 by Betsy Ringer

This blog series is focusing on five things happy people do every day. You’ll be glad to know you can CHOOSE to do these things!! If you missed the first three segments, visit our iBloom blog to catch up:
1. Find something to be grateful about.
2. Find your funny bone.
3. Let love ooze out of you.
4. Allow yourself to be playful; i.e. don’t take yourself so seriously.
5. Find something meaningful to do.

Allow yourself to be playful; i.e. don’t take yourself so seriously.

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Plato

Remember when you were young and in love? You were probably very playful! If you have young kids or grandkids you are probably playful with them. Does your playfulness show other times? Are you still playful with your spouse or do you just talk about things that need to be done? When was the last time you sang gleefully while doing housework or stopped by a lemonade stand?

My husband has a wonderful sense of humor. The things he says tickles my funny bone. They are actually kind of corny and I guess I could choose to just groan and go on. But instead I choose to be playful and allow myself to laugh until I get tears in my eyes. This has made a great impact on our kids over the years. Our boys, now young men, have often commented, “I hope my wife laughs at my jokes like that.”

One time a friend and I went to our church women’s retreat. Our husbands got to have some quality time with the kids. On the way home we stopped at a mall in another city. We were admiring all the prom dresses. Before we knew it, we scooped up a bunch of them and went into the bridal dressing room with a platform and tried on prom dresses. Yes, I was in my forties and she was in her thirties!! We laughed and had a great time. Then we went to the hat department and tried on hats and giggled again. Our next stop was the jewelry store. A clerk asked how he could help us. With a twinkle in my eye I said, “I’d like to try on the biggest diamond ring you have.” He knew we had escaped our normal routine and were looking for a thrill so he had a great time showing us lovely rings that I can only afford in my dreams!!

Life zooms by so quickly. Happy people renew their spirits by engaging in play. They cast aside, for a time, their to-do list and drink in the freedom that comes with dancing in the rain, swooping down a slide or picking wildflowers.

Oops! Gotta run. A goofy friend is outside! It’s a warm summer day and she’s here with the top down on her convertible. Going for a ride!!!

“Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.” Robert Fulghum

“Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn’t taste good.”
Lucia Capacchione

“It is a happy talent to know how to play.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson


We invite you to sign up for our FREE iChoose2 journey. iChoose2 Love My Life is one avenue we use to equip you with the essential tools needed to really live a life of passion, balance, purpose, and fulfillment.

Here’s how it works:

1. Go to iChoose2 Love My Life and sign up (fill in your name & email in the box to the right of the page)
2. For the next 40 days, you’ll receive an email from iBloom with your daily iChoose2 challenge.
3. WARNING: At the end of this 40-day journey, if you’ve really participated in each challenge, then your life will be different! You’ll be on your way to really living a life that you love!

You're Invited to a PARTY!

Twitter will be the place to be on Monday, June 28^th, especially if you want to choose2 have FUN and meet lots of fantastic women!

You’re Invited to an iBloom Party!

We invite you to join us for a fabulous iBloom Twitter Party.  The fun starts at 9:00 P.M. EST on Monday, June 28^th. We will be using the hashtag #ichoose2.

Your hosts include:

• @KellyThorne
• @TaraMcClenahan
• @LeighAnnNapier
• @BetsyRinger

You Could Win GREAT prizes!

iBloom has partnered with several GREAT organizations to bring you the BEST twitter party prizes!  We have 10 prizes that you won’t want to miss.  Stay tune to @ibloom as we tweet clues about these fantastic prizes.

Don’t forget, it all happens on Monday, June 28^th from 9PM-10PM EST. The hashtag for the party is #ichoose2.

Are you new to Twitter Parties?  Click here to get a FABULOUS resource "How to be a Cool & Hip Twitter Partier" by iBloom Associate, Tara McClenahan.  She'll teach you what a Twitter party is and walk you through a step-by-step process for participating!

Will you be there?

Please RSVP with your twitter handles. We hope to see you there!

5 Things Happy People Do Every Day: Part 3

This blog series is focusing on five things happy people do every day. You’ll be glad to know you can CHOOSE to do these things!! If you missed the first two segments, visit our iBloom blog to catch up. To review, here are the five things happy people do every day that we are focusing on:

1. Find something to be grateful about.
2. Find your funny bone.
3. Let love ooze out of you.
4. Allow yourself to be playful; i.e. don’t take yourself so seriously.
5. Find something meaningful to do.

Number 3: Let Love Ooze Out of You

Yeah, yeah. We all know we are supposed to love. We all know that even when someone gets us all riled up or when we strongly disagree with them or when they just plain irritate us we still love them, right? Really, way down deep inside we love them. But what good is all that way down deep inside kind of love? When I keep it stuffed inside and what is showing on the outside is disgust, offense, irritation, and disappointment, then the message I am conveying to the other person is, “You aren’t good enough. There’s something wrong with YOU. You’re a slimeball.”

If my love isn’t oozing out so people can see it, then I’m no different than the Pharisees Jesus said “Woe!” to. (Matthew 23, Luke 11)

Please don’t gag when what I’m about to say sounds syrupy sweet to you: HAPPY PEOPLE LET LOVE OOZE OUT OF THEM.

It’s very difficult to let our love show. We’ve gotten in the habit of critiquing others, engaging in “innocent” gossip, or fearing WE will be rejected or ridiculed.

So what’s the key? How can I let my love ooze out?
1. Happy people choose to know they are secure in God. WOW!! God sent His precious son so that we might have LIFE. He tells us over and over in His word how much He loves us… no matter what!
2. Also happy people choose to love others because GOD loves them. Just as God loves us when we make mistakes or behave in hurting ways, He chooses to love the people WE think behave badly.

Choose to know you are secure in God. Choose to love others because GOD loves them, not because they behave the way we want them to behave.

Okay so I just typed out 10 ways you can show love and I deleted them. TMI. Just focus on interacting with people in a warm loving way, even if you don’t “feel” warm and loving. Smile and tell people how they are valuable. You will feel good and they will feel even better. Let your love ooze out!

Jeremiah 31:3 (New International Version)
"I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.


We invite you to sign up for our FREE iChoose2 journey. iChoose2 Love My Life is one avenue we use to equip you with the essential tools needed to really live a life of passion, balance, purpose, and fulfillment.

Here’s how it works:

1. Go to iChoose2 Love My Life and sign up (fill in your name & email in the box to the right of the page)
2. For the next 40 days, you’ll receive an email from iBloom with your daily iChoose2 challenge.
3. WARNING: At the end of this 40-day journey, if you’ve really participated in each challenge, then your life will be different! You’ll be on your way to really living a life that you love!

5 Things Happy People Do Every Day: Part 2 by Betsy Ringer

This blog series is focusing on five things happy people do every day. You’ll be glad to know you can CHOOSE to do these things!! If you missed the first segment, visit the iBloom blog to catch up.

The second thing Happy People do Every Day is: Find your funny bone.

Everywhere I turn I hear admonishing words. “Be responsible. Don’t eat that. Watch what you spend. Get rid of clutter. Exercise more. Write your congressman. Lose weight. Dress stylishly. Scrub your floors, clean your toilets. Give money to _____. Lock your doors. Read a book. Cook healthy meals. Work harder. Raise perfect kids.”

Okay, you get the idea. You hear these words too!! And then there’s the news. Day in day out, many hours a day, the news tells us about all the horrible things people do and terrifying events going on throughout the world. It makes me walk around feeling like Thoreau’s quote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

Now imagine with me the sound of Batman’s bat-mobile screeching to a halt and turning 180 degrees. I just can’t keep going in the direction of constant admonition. I know, I know. Everyone is well meaning with their words and I DO need to be responsible. I get it. But I don’t need to be perfect. It’s really okay. And the news is business. They make their money by making us think we can’t live without knowing what they have to tell us. Even the weather man, bless his heart, makes me nervous about the storm a week away and then when the time comes it fizzles out and he says we lucked out this time.

Okay, so I still watch the weather. It’s intriguing and I DO love thunderstorms and thrill at the sight of all that red on the radar. But I have stopped watching the news. Sure, maybe just enough to keep updated on the important things, but in general, my spirit just can’t handle all the doom and gloom.

So, have you seen “Funniest Home Videos” lately? Try watching it for a good belly laugh. Or look at real life in a different way. Watch kids do the funny things they do. Go to lunch with a friend who makes you laugh. Share stories about people bumping into things or falling down (uh, is it just ME who laughs at that?) Look for things to laugh about. When you have a day that you spill things, drop things, lose things, bump into things - start laughing about it! FIND your funny bone. Funny things are all around us, but we have to let go of trying to live up to all those admonishing words and redirect our thoughts to the silliness and joy all around us.

Proverbs 15:13 (The Message)
A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face;
a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day

Proverbs 17:22 (The Message)
A cheerful disposition is good for your health;
gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.




We invite you to sign up for our FREE iChoose2 journey. iChoose2 Love My Life is one avenue we use to equip you with the essential tools needed to really live a life of passion, balance, purpose, and fulfillment.

Here’s how it works:

1. Go to iChoose2 Love My Life and sign up (fill in your name & email in the box to the right of the page)
2. For the next 40 days, you’ll receive an email from iBloom with your daily iChoose2 challenge.
3. WARNING: At the end of this 40-day journey, if you’ve really participated in each challenge, then your life will be different! You’ll be on your way to really living a life that you love!

5 Things Happy People Do Every Day By Betsy Ringer

We all want to be happy. We want to live happy lives, breathe happy air, and interact with other happy people! We want to love our lives. So what are some things happy people do every day? This blog series explores five things happy people do every day. And you’ll be glad to know you can CHOOSE to do these things!! Join us as we explore these five behaviors:

1. Find something to be grateful about.
2. Find your funny bone.
3. Let love ooze out of you.
4. Allow yourself to be playful; i.e. don’t take yourself so seriously.
5. Find something meaningful to do.

If you miss one, visit our iBloom blog to catch up.

Find something to be grateful about.

My daughter was home from college on her spring break. She is such good company. Yes, she leaves her messes everywhere: laundry on the kitchen floor, purse and papers on the table, powdered sugar and drippings from the cake she baked, and shoes and clothing in the family room. But her messes indicate life and activity in our otherwise quiet house. I loved doing things with her throughout the week – a lunch out one day; a movie another; a shopping afternoon; laughter and heart to heart talks.

We had been together one afternoon then we departed ways as she went to a movie with a friend. Okay, so this sounds wimpy but an incredible feeling of loneliness came over me. As I drove home, a dark feeling just reached out and grabbed me. I tried to analyze it… she was going back to school in a couple days; maybe I was feeling my mortality inching by; or was it the mounds of responsibility that I had waiting for me at home. None of it really seemed big enough to warrant this immensely dark feeling.

I’m sure you have experienced that dark feeling; the one that seems to strangle your joy and cloud your thinking. Perhaps it’s accompanied by sobs or anger or despair. A part of you wants to give into it and just spiral on down. Another part wants to fight it, but you just don’t think you have the strength.

Thankfully, I CHOSE to think about what I had to be grateful for. I started praising God. I thanked Jesus for His life. I acknowledged the Holy Spirit at work in me. I thanked the Lord for my marriage, children, car to drive, air to breathe, fingers on my hands, daffodils ready to bloom… anything I could think of that was good and life-giving.

As I CHOSE to be grateful, the dark feeling vanished and I was aware of the presence of the Lord. The loneliness and burdens were replaced with joy and strength. When I arrived at home, I put on my “Life is Good” shirt, looked in the mirror and smiled with delight.

Happy people choose to be grateful – every day. YOU can do it!!
Philippians 4:8 (New Living Translation)
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

We invite you to sign up for our FREE iChoose2 journey. iChoose2 Love My Life is one avenue we use to equip you with the essential tools needed to really live a life of passion, balance, purpose, and fulfillment.

Here’s how it works:

1. Go to iChoose2 Challenge and sign
up (fill in your name & email in the box to the right of the page)
2. For the next 40 days, you’ll receive an email from iBloom with your daily
iChoose2 challenge.
3. WARNING: At the end of this 40-day journey, if you’ve really participated in
each challenge, then your life will be different! You’ll be on your way to
really living a life that you love!

FREE giveaway from iBloom...

Are you participating in the iChoose2 Love My Life journey?  There are hundreds of women currently going through this Free life-changing experience.  Don’t miss out.  Go to www.ichoose2.us to get started today!

iBloom Founder & President, Kelly Thorne will be sharing the iChoose2 Love My Life talk at the Women of Passionate Purpose Online Conference!  Her session is scheduled for Tuesday, May 25^th at 5:30PM EST.  However, the entire online conference is from Tuesday, May 25^th- Thursday, May 27^th.  There are 13 speaker and this month’s theme is Renewal of Purpose!  And, the tickets are only $15 for ALL 13 sessions!  You don’t want to miss this event.  Plus, it’s completely online, so you can participate in the comfort of your own home in your PJ’s!  And, if for some reason, you’re not able to participate in the live sessions, then your free includes access to the downloadable mp3’s.  So, you can download each of the talks and listen as you workout at the gym!  Click here for more information and to get your tickets today!

But, guess what?!  We have 5 FREE tickets to giveaway!!  The contest ends at 9am on Thursday, May 20^th!

To enter the drawing for this amazing gift, please do the following:

1) Click here to leave a comment about your biggest ah-ha from the iChoose2 journey thus far.  If you haven’t signed-up yet, go to www.ichoose2.us to get started now!

2) Go to www.ibloom.us/facebook to become a fan of iBloom.

3) Follow iBloom on Twitter- www.twitter.com/ibloom

4) If you Tweet, Tweet this: I just entered a giveaway from @iBloom to receive a FREE ticket to an online women’s conference!  www.i-bloom.blogspot.com #iChoose2

5) Facebook this: I just entered a giveaway from www.ibloom.us/facebook to receive a FREE ticket to Kelly’s iChoose2 Love My Life Presentation at the Women of Passionate Purpose Online Conference. Contest ends at 9am on 05/20/10. www.i-bloom.blogspot.com

Best of luck!!