Book Review: Sound Health, Sound Wealth

When many of us think of the word “wealth” we think of money, big houses, fancy cars, and the type of lifestyle led by celebrities and dignitaries. But did you know that wealth can also mean having fulfilling relationships, being happy, and having sound health? Luanne Oakes helps us explore and discover our own definition of wealth in her book, Sound Health Sound Wealth: The Biology of Hope and Manifestation.

Through her life experiences and examples, Luanne offers tips and exercises so that we can make our lives better every day in every way. I learned such things as the Principle of Resonance which is “perfect oneness with the Source of All Creation” and the concept of Future Memories which are goals and dreams that you experience through your Body, Mind, and Spirit.

Much of what I read in the book was nothing new to me in regards to the concepts of “thoughts become things” and “living in the moment”, however, there was a part of the book that fascinated me where the author talks about sound and light and how they provide a path to healing our bodies. Sound Health, Sound Wealth will really make you think about the subtleties of life and how everything that you think and everything that happens to you affects you at the cellular level.

What I Like About Sound Health, Sound Wealth

My favorite chapter of the book was chapter five where the author talks about The Principle of Transforming Time. I often think about time and how the concept came about. Many of us complain that there is never any time to do anything or there just isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish our goals.

I like this line from chapter five:

“When you Make a Decision and intend to change your relationship with time, it is increasingly possible to string transcendent moments together like a beautiful and exotic strand of pearls.”

What’s fascinating to me is that our perception of time changes at any given moment of the day. When you’re doing something you love time appears to go by fast and then when you’re doing something you dread (like being in a job you hate!) time seems to go by soooo slow.

Many of us are in such a rush to get where we want to be that we believe that isn’t any time to do anything. We believe that we need to accomplish all these things in order to be successful, so quantity takes precedence over quality. However, if you change the “there’s no time” belief into a “there’s plenty of time” belief, you’ll start to discover that there is indeed time to do everything that you want to do.

Book Bonus:

Sound Health, Sound Wealth comes with a Frequency Treatment CD that helps you get into a more relaxed mood. I like to listen to it while I’m cleaning the house or taking a little snooze in the middle of the day.

Thumbs Up!

Would I recommend reading Sound Health, Sound Wealth? Definitely! It’s not your typical self-help book. This book will really make you delve deeper into the recesses of your mind and think more about life on a metaphysical level. It will make you realize what true wealth is!
Sound Health, Sound Wealth is available at Amazon.com

Would you like to treat me to a cup of tea? Please make a donation! Thank you!

Lesson 2 in the Steps to Happiness Series: Live in the Moment

The second lesson in the 10 Steps to Happiness series deals with living in the present moment. This is something that was a challenge for me - and actually still is a challenge sometimes. How many of you can say that you actually live in the moment every second of the day? Are you fully aware of what's going on right in front of you at any given moment in time?

Stop Living in the Past

Like most adults I used to constantly live in the past. I would go through the "What if's" and "I Shoulda's". There were things I regretted doing or not doing. One of the things that really gnawed at my soul was the circumstances surrounding my mother's "death" (I don't believe anybody really dies. That's why I put the word in quotation marks). My mother passed in a drowning accident and I would always think, "What if I had been there? Would she still be alive? Is it my fault?" These are the questions that I kept asking myself as I replayed that summer day over and over in my mind. I was living in the past and never living in the present moment.

Do you find yourself constantly thinking about the past? What have you done to stop re-living any painful memories?

What we have to realize is that there is nothing we can do to change the past. What’s done is done. Replaying the past over and over in our minds depletes us of energy – the energy that’s needed to live a full life right now.

Stop Thinking About the Future

If I wasn't living in the past, I was worried about the future - especially in regards to my financial situation. In my early 20's I spent a great deal of money supporting a guy who didn't love me like I thought he did. In essence he used me to get what he wanted while seeing other women behind my back. I always worried about money and this mentality stayed with me up until a few years ago when I first started this blog.

Why worry about something that hasn’t even happened? As I reflect back on all those times that I worried about something, I see now that everything always worked itself out somehow. I worried for nothing!

The Past and Future Are Illusions

Realizing that the past and the future are illusions was the big lesson I learned when I read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. If you’ve signed up for the Monday night webinars on "A New Earth" with Oprah and Eckhart Tolle, you’ve probably already learned this powerful lesson.

All that matters is right now – this very moment. There’s nothing you can do to change the past and the future hasn’t happened yet, so what’s the point of always thinking about it? When I started living in the now, I became more energized and happy. Remember how it was when you were a child hanging out with friends, riding a bike, or playing a game? Young kids are very good at living in the moment.

How to Live in the Moment

Living in the moment is going to take some practice, as is everything new that we learn in life. An exercise that worked for me was to stare at an object for about five minutes and just really notice it. I’d make mental notes about the object’s color, the shape, whether or not light was reflecting off of it… I just gave that object my full attention.

Related Posts:

• Living the Power of Now

• Enjoying the Moment

Book of interest: Secret of Letting Go by Guy Finley

Would you like to treat me to a cup of tea? Please make a donation! Thank you!

The Steps to Happiness Series: Being Aware of Your Body

Last week I talked briefly about Deepak Chopra's "Happiness Prescription" and said that I would go into details about the 10 steps to happiness. This is the first post in a series of posts in which I'll be talking about walking the path to happiness. Today I'm going to focus on one of those steps which is being aware of your body...

When it comes to your body, Deepak Chopra said this in an interview with Veronica Hay:

"...the body is the end product of intelligence and how that intelligence shapes your reality will shape the reality of the body. The body is a field of ideas and it is a field of interpretations and when you change your experience of your own identity to a spiritual being, the body expresses the physical manifestation of that spiritual reality."

Your body is just a storage for your soul and energy. The way your body looks is also a reflection of your thoughts and self-esteem. If you look at many people who have negative thoughts and low self-worth, you'll see it in their skin and their body language. The words you say, the thoughts that run through your mind, and the things you eat affect how your physical body.

That said, there are many people who believe that their body is their identity. You'll see this in people who are constantly under-going plastic surgery or they're obsessed with how they look all the time - checking their appearance every five minutes in the mirror. This isn't a healthy state of mind to be in. People who identify with their looks are constantly comparing themselves to other people and always thinking that they're getting old.

Did you know that just by simply changing your thoughts and perceptions, you could literally change the chemical makeup of your body? You could literally think yourself thin or appear to be 25 when you're really 40? Your thoughts send out messages to every cell in your body and those cells act according to those messages. In other words, there is this mind-body connection going on constantly.

Are you aware of your body?

Next time I'll be talking about living in the present moment...Stay tuned! In the meantime, if you haven't done so already, I invite you to visit my Squidoo lens which has tips on finding happiness.

Would you like to treat me to a cup of tea? Please make a donation! Thank you!

The Good Life Is...Going On An Adventure

When was the last time you went on an adventure?

For my birthday my family took me to Six Flags Magic Mountain - a place I haven't been to in about 15 years. As I stepped through the gates, I found myself oohing and ahhing over the height of some of the roller coaster drops. I even felt a wave of giddiness rush over me as I greeted Tweety Bird and Sylvester and asked them for a picture.

If you ever need practice in "living in the now", I dare you to try the Batman ride at Magic Mountain. And to get back in touch with your inner child, you should get on a carousel...

"You sound so....relaxed!" my best friend told me the next day when I talked to her. That's what happens when you go on an adventure ;)

What about you? Have you planned your next get-away adventure? Why not add some pictures to your vision board of what your next adventure will be?

Two things I've had on my list to do are to go on a ride in a helicopter and enjoy some Hot Air Balloon Rides. There's nothing more humbling, yet exhilarating at the same time than to be up in the air looking down at the earth and realizing just how small we really are.

Photo Credit: Aoife Mac

Would you like to treat me to a cup of tea? Please make a donation! Thank you!

Deepak Chopra's Happiness Prescription: 10 Steps to Happiness

Not too long ago I was flipping channels and happened to come across Deepak Chopra's talk on PBS about his "Happiness Prescription". It was a great talk that he gave and he outlined his 10 steps to happiness that I want to share with you:

1. Be aware of your body

2. Live in the present moment

3. Embrace silence through meditation

4. Relinquish your need for external approval

5. Get rid of toxic emotions such as anger, regrets, and guilt

6. Have total knowledge of yourself

7. Don't judge yourself and others

8. Remove toxins from your body and your environments

9. Replace fear with love

10. Cultivate awareness

Over the next couple weeks I'll be sharing with you in detail what exactly each of these steps mean and what I've done personally to create happiness in my life. Stay tuned! In the meantime, check out this video of Deepak Chopra talking about spirit and healing...



Purchase the Happiness Prescription CD or DVD at Amazon.com

Read my "Finding Happiness" lens at Squidoo...



Would you like to treat me to a cup of tea? Please make a donation! Thank you!

Three Ways to Create Your Own Virtual Vision Board

It's been a long time coming, but I've finally finished the latest virtual vision board with positive affirmations. Many thanks to Rob Cooke of Powerbook Studio for the background music!


It's a short 2 1/2 minute video, but it took so long to make because I had to gather all the pictures together and they had to be "just the right" picture!

Three Ways to Create Your Own Virtual Vision Board

It's fairly easy to create your own virtual vision board. It's great to pop in during road trips (only if you're a passenger, that is!) or take with you when you're traveling. Below are three ways you can create your own virtual board...

1. If you use Microsoft as your operating system, most likely you already have the free software, Windows Movie Maker. To learn how to use Windows Movie Maker, visit the Microsoft website. There are also various tutorial videos at YouTube. Here's a tutorial that I like.

2. Another way to create a virtual vision board is by using the software that I mentioned before.

3. If you simply don't have the time to put together your own video, then you could hire me to create a custom one for you! What are your goals? Let me know and I can whip up a video for you...Contact me: maria[at]salondemaria.info

Click here if you missed out on my first positive affirmations video...

Photo of the Week: What If?

As I was working on uploading new photos to my Flickr album, I came across this photo I took awhile back of a Nordstrom window display. Hmmm...What if this was just the beginning of an abundant life for you?

Why You're Not Getting What You Want

"If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time."
--Edith Wharton, American author

The key word in the quote above is "trying". This is the reason why you aren't manifesting what you want in life. You don't have to "work hard". The whole process of attracting abundance is supposed to be fun and effortless. I like what Abraham-Hicks said (a quote I found at Effortless Wealth and Abundance):

‘No matter what it is, if you really want it, and if you get out of the way of it, it will happen. It must be. It is Law. It can be no other way. It’s the way this Universe is established. If you want it and you relax, it will happen.’

When I do my meditations I sometimes picture myself becoming a river...relaxed and going with the flow. It's a great exercise in "letting go and letting God"!

Gratitude = Happiness

When was the last time you gave thanks for what you have? Did you know that with gratitude, fear disappears?

This morning I got out of the shower feeling so renewed and refreshed. Thank you, God, for the water to take a shower! I said to myself. I immediately thought of all the other people in the world who have to walk miles just to get a gallon of water to cook with. I was also reminded of the last time I visited my grandmother in the Philippines and had to pump water from the well to take a bath. Actually, it wasn't even the kind of bath that we're all too familiar with here in the U.S. I would have to crouch down and pour cold water on my body out of a metal tub which I could barely see because there was no light in the bathroom.

Are you realizing now just how abundant your life is?

Tonight on The Daily Show with John Stewart they talked about the rising cost of gas prices (so what's new?!?) and it made me think about what I learned in the movie, The Secret: "What you think about expands". Could it be that collectively we are making this problem bigger by continuously talking about it? What if for just one day nobody talked about gas prices and we were just grateful that we have cars that can take us places?

In the spirit of practicing gratitude, here are 3 things that I am grateful for today:

• Babysitting my neighbor's baby and practicing diaper changing ;)
• The birthday gift cards I received from family and friends
• The flowers in the garden that remind me that beauty is everywhere

When you are grateful for the things you have, you can't help but be happy! Gratitude is the cure for the blues ;)

Photo Credit: Tanakawho

Related Posts:
Tips on Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude
Why Gratitude is the Key to Getting Anything You Want

Would you like to treat me to a cup of tea? Please make a donation! Thank you!