 Most people have a difficult time with VALENTINE'S DAY! So let's rename it i adore me Day! It's a celebration of YOU and all the love that you have for yourself, your life, your creativity and your being. Take today and focus on GRATITUDE for all the things that you have NOW. Surround yourself with REDS, HOT PINKS and MAGENTAS and find all the fire, passion and love inside of you. Rock It into your world.
Whether you have a date or not, just make it a special day about love. Pamper yourself: take a bubble bath, get an aromatherapy massage or even enjoy a cup of hot cocoa.
Write down five things that you want to create for yourself and try to make one of them come true today. Relax, enjoy, live and love.
Happy i adore me Day!
Have a Colorful Day,
Betsy Karp,
founder & creator of i adore me
 Written by: Betsy KarpStarting something new is very challenging and can be a test of your resiliency. It takes a lot of belief, patience, faith and a really big dose of courage. ORANGE is the COLOR of courage and it is all around me right now. My screen saver is a bright ORANGE and I’ve been eating so many ORANGE foods filled with beta-carotene and healthy nutrients, giving me that internal boost. Sometimes, in the darkest of times, when you just want to give up is when you have to be your strongest, telling yourself it's going to be OK and to take it Step-by-Step. Let go of the control and release it to the universe. Trust that there is a higher calling and a greater good, and that the universe has your back. It’s a step-by-step process of putting one foot in front of the other. Taking action and doing something everyday is what gets you results, and I mean EVERY DAY action. It can be the littlest thing like answering an email that you have been putting off. JUST DO ONE SMALL THING EVERY DAY! By taking action we learn, we grow and we adjust. It’s in the doing that progress occurs. Don’t wait to make it perfect. Just do it and make adjustments as you go. As we move the universe moves with us. Fear pushes us to move forward. Without fear we wouldn’t grow or do very much. We need some fear in our lives, but the key is to embrace our fears with love. This is when the breakthroughs and the “ah ha” moments happen. Life is a process. It is about building and taking that step, after step, after step, and not giving up even when you want to. It’s the small steps that get us to where we want to be. Without them we really can’t move forward. Let and allow the feelings to come up and know that LOVE is the only way you want to be. Each step and movement feeds on the next. Sometimes it takes a really long time to get there. Everything comes in the right time and in its divine order if you keep moving forward Step-by-Step. So how do we find love for ourselves and get out of fear? It’s about taking a deep breath and getting calm within. It’s about letting go of the ego and the perfectionism of how it’s all going to end up. It’s learning how to just be and accept all that is in this precious moment. Unleash the negative, bratty voices and focus on the positive. Make that call you have been putting off for days (maybe even weeks) and connect with an old friend or business associate. Ask for help and support. Just do ONE thing! People can’t read your mind and know what you need. Reach out and ask someone for help. It’s amazing how everyone wants to help if they can. I have been connecting with so many people and asking for help in the last few weeks. I am amazed at the synchronicity of it all. For example, I am about to launch my i adore me Kids Program. With this on my mind, I bumped into someone today I hadn’t seen in years. Her husband, also a friend, is in the NYC school system. How perfect is that? Everything comes in the RIGHT TIME, so I decided to reach out and ask for his help. I now have an appointment with his son’s principal to discuss my i adore me Kids Program. Now, none of this would have happened if I didn’t pay attention to the signs, reach out and make that call, asking for help and being open to connect. Life is about giving and receiving. Be in the moment and make it happen. Connecting and sharing our life and love with others helps us to feel and find the love within us. It's good to be vulnerable. It's real. Be the authentic you. Don’t be afraid. Get out of your own way and share: connect and communicate, and do it all with LOVE…Step-by-Step. Now doesn’t that feel better?! *Please comment below and share with your friends.* Have a Colorful Day, Betsy Karp, Founder of i adore me
 Written by: Betsy Karp
I was one of the speakers at the Joie De Vivre Circle I’ve been going to for years now, and I love them. They are intimate gatherings at lovely women’s homes on Fifth Avenue. I met Edwige Gilbert there five years ago. She’s the woman who started the circle back in 2001. She is charming and I adore her French accent. Over the years she has become a very dear friend. When I walked in, she said, “Betsy, let’s change the format this evening. Instead of us speaking to the group one-on-one, let’s bounce off of each other and see where it goes. Are you on board?” I said, “Yes!”
It was a wonderful forum of conversation, letting go and just being in the moment. We were a great complement to each other, bouncing back and forth with our stories and powerful words. Sometimes the best things happen when we don’t plan and expect everything to be perfect. Perfection! What a word. And if you’re not careful it can destroy you.
For so many years I wanted to have everything perfect in my world, but now the word perfect to me means that everything is perfect just as it is. I look at my life through such a different lens. I‘m not about getting or making things perfect. I am just being me and showing up, and it feels really great.
Edwige went around the room asking everyone one to share an experience about someone they love and how that experience had an impact on them. It was so real and everyone opened up, speaking from their hearts.
A lovely gentleman in the group turned and said,“ Well here is my share. I was away on a trip with a very dear friend. I carry many of my business cards with me and I hand them out to anyone I meet. My good friend, who is a psychologist, turned to me and said, ‘Why in the world are you wasting those cards on people who probably will just throw them in the garbage after tonight?’ So I said, ‘I believe that it’s better to share the love and give the cards than to have them sit in a box in your house to collect dust.’ ‘Thank you for that…you are so right. I will start giving them out. I can’t thank you enough for that message.’”
One woman said, “I gave my daughter a magic wand many moons ago and I told her that the wand had three attributes and they are:
1) This wand will be your very own fairy godmother
2) It will work if you want it badly enough
3) AND It will work in it’s own time.
To this day my daughter says, ‘Mom, that wand was invaluable. You were so right, because it all does work out in it’s own time. Thank you!’”
We all chimed in with, “WOW, I wish my mother had given me a magic wand.”
Everyone has a story and I love the one of the magic wand. I am going to get my own magic wand and let it work it’s magic in it’s own time. How about you?
*Please comment below and share with your friends.*
Hugs,
Betsy Karp,
Founder of i adore me
So what's YOUR passion? Watch this video and be inspired by 11 & 12 year olds who are completing their final WOW Projects for Citizen Schools and The i adore me Kids Program. They have found their passion and used their creativity to impact their community.
Once we find our passion we can step into who we really are and what we want. There's no time like the present, so find that passion within you and bring it out into the world. We all have special gifts to share. What's yours?
*Please Comment Below*
 By: Betsy karp Happy New Year! Start it off with a gift to yourself. Pass these inspiring questions along to people you love. Whoever gets the most people to answer these questions under the comment section below and "like" my Facebook page, gets 20% off any program of their choice.
Rules:
1. Whomever comments below must put the full name of the person who sent them here at the top of their comment (yes, you and your answer counts as well).
2. Whoever likes my Facebook page must post the full name of the person who sent them there on my wall.
Take a few minutes today and fill in the blanks. See what you get. Don’t edit. Let these uplift and inspire you to be the best you and let 2013 bring you more of all of these wonderful things. Love is __________________________________________________ I’m grateful for __________________________________________________ I believe __________________________________________________ The world needs __________________________________________________ I hope for __________________________________________________ Life depends on __________________________________________________ Sex invigorates my __________________________________________________ Hold on to __________________________________________________ I crave some __________________________________________________ The moment is __________________________________________________ It’s time to __________________________________________________ Believe in __________________________________________________ Trust that __________________________________________________ My success depends on __________________________________________________ My appreciation is __________________________________________________
***Comment Below with your inspiring answers***
 1. Keep Giving love
2. Make time for yourself
3. Get out of your own way
4. Stay present
5. Use color to uplift you
6. Eat healthily
7. Get out in nature
8. Help others
9. Take a chance on yourself
10. Give up criticism and complaining
11. Be generous
12. Make a contribution
13. Open up
14. Communicate
15. Surround yourself with friends and loved ones
16. Take yourself on a date once a week
17. Meditate
18. Eat something you loved eating as a child
19. Laugh
20. Give hugs
21. Get a good night’s sleep
22. Exercise
23. Focus on gratitude
24. Believe in yourself
25. Live for the journey instead of the result
*Please comment below and share with your friends.*
Hugs,
Betsy Karp,
Founder of i adore me
Enjoy this video. I hope it inspires you as much as it inspires me.
 A Child’s Insight
Series
(ages 11 & 12)
I am teaching an i adore me class to 11 & 12 year old children for Citizen Schools. Through this course they are learning how to adore themselves, how color can impact their emotions and what that means for their community. The following are three short blogs by some of the students. They were asked what their passion is, what their favorite color is, how their passion and their favorite color makes them feel and how they will use these things to support their community. The lesson here was to teach them how to express themselves through words. It’s interesting how a child’s mind works. We can learn a lot from them! They don’t edit themselves. I hope you enjoy their answers as much as I do:
Written by: Nataley Encarnacion
My passion is to dance. My favorite colors are blue and purple. My passion and my favorite color makes me feel free, because I can dance any type of way and my color makes me feel good, because I can do anything that I stick to. I would use these things to support my community by building a dance class to teach other people how to dance. I would use my color in my dance class by if you feel good you can use that by telling everyone they can be free.
Written by: Markayla Turner
My passion is shopping and my favorite color is purple. My passion and my favorite color make me feel comfortable. And purple is cool and I love being cool. I will use these to support my community. And hurricane Sandy ruined some of the mall. People will want to shop for clothes and shoes. I will want them to be very happy when I help them. I will do a clothing drive, because I love going shopping.
Written by: Ines Lazu
My passion is dancing and singing. My favorite color is red, because red is love. My passion and favorite color makes me feel happy about myself. My passion which is dancing and singing will help my community, because I can raise money to help the poor people and the people who lost their homes. My favorite color, which is red, will help my community by not making people fight for no reason.
 Written by: EDWIGE GILBERT
Henry Ford once said, “Whether you believe you can or you believe you cannot, you are right." Fortunately the choice is yours. Unfortunately it is a very hard one to make. Let me tell you why. Most of the time you are not conscious that the decision you want to make has anything to do with embedded beliefs operating in your mind. There are two kinds of them, which I have named self-serving and self- sabotaging. The self-serving beliefs make you feel courageous, confident, happy and assist you in achieving your goals. On the other end, the self-sabotaging beliefs make you feel anxious, insecure and literally attack your self esteem and self confidence. In light of this awareness, if you feel good about yourself, are successful and in charge of your life, you have been blessed with the productive kind. No need to change anything, just make sure you show gratitude for your life and for all the people who live in it.
Let’s discuss now about what beliefs are and are not, and how you can make them work for you and become victorious. You see, a belief is just a thought that you hold to be true. That thought can trigger an emotion, which in turn can influence you to take an action, and it all ends up with a result. Let’s review this sequence again. There is a thought, followed by an emotion ending with an action and a result. It is a very important sequence to remember and not to take lightly, since the outcome may not always work to your advantage. That is the issue indeed. When you keep repeating the same unwanted sequence and getting the same result, you might want to stop and reflect for a moment. What is truly going on here? The problem might have to do with a thought which you hold to be true. What if you decided to challenge this belief and to question whether it is true or not? What about if you replaced your old belief? I promise, simply asking these simple questions can alter the course of your life in a very dramatic way.
Let me tell you my story:
As a little girl in the South of France, I was raised by a grandmother who believed that I was fragile and needed protection. Anytime I would venture out and try something new, I would hear “You cannot” and it would stop me immediately. Over time, with hundreds of repetitions of “I cannot,” I began to believe it so much that this phrase became my password, my worst companion. Even after I left grandmother and moved to the United States, I could still hear her voice deep inside my head, repeated anytime I wanted to show my courage and venture into the world. Not only did I feel I was cursed, but I also became very shy, without an ounce of self confidence, a true basket case. Maybe you can relate to my story or simply understand that it is meant to illustrate how a sabotaging belief can highjack your entire life. Ironically you start to believe that you are trapped. No matter what you try to accomplish, you return to the same place, to the same uncomfortable feeling over and over again. You are caught between your desire to take a positive action moving you forward, and your insidious belief holding you back. "Am I going crazy?" you ask. Are you doomed to remain a victim? Are you part of a Greek tragedy? I assure you it is none of the above.
Whether you have been struggling with your weight, hesitating to change careers, contemplating going back to the gym or giving up finding your significant other, the answer is the same. It is a three step solution.
The first step and most crucial one is to become aware. What I mean is to have the courage to reflect on your life and to trace back to the origin of your recurrent and uncomfortable feelings which are connected to your sabotaging beliefs. Let me warn you, from my experience, most of the time you will end up in childhood, which is when you will need to be kind, forgiving to yourself and others. Just know that you did the best you could. It was not your fault. You did what you were taught and the people in your life did their best as well with what they believed.
The second step of this transformational process is to imagine yourself free of the old belief, feeling confident, passionate unstoppable, moving forward towards your desired goal. To create this experience, begin to make vivid and compelling pictures of the New You that you project on your mental screen, see all the details of the person you desire to become and believe that you are worthy of feeling this way.
Step three is to declare your victory, as you immerse in rehearsing your role in this happy story. Then, when you feel you are at the peak of this emotional experience, take a deep breath and declare out loud “Victory to me, Victory is mine”. Believe that the seed of the New You has been planted and use repetition to ensure the creation of this new long lasting conditioning.
One important recommendation: be patient and be kind to yourself. It is believed that it takes a minimum of 21 days to install a new behavior in the subconscious mind. Be aware that some of those beliefs can be very tenacious, since they have been with you for a very long time. Whenever during the day you feel the unwanted feeling showing its face, simply make a fist with your right hand, take a deep breath and repeat silently to yourself three times in a row “Victory to me ,Victory is mine”. I promise it will activate the memory of your new experience and of the New You.
***Voila, give it a try and let me know your story!***
Merci,
Edwige
"We are not what happened to us, but what we choose to become"
--Edwige
Right now I have a lot of hope in my heart. I have hope for our country. I have hope that we can move forward as a united nation now that the election is over. I have even more, positive hope that President Obama will do what he set out to do 4 years ago. I have hope that my dreams and my passions of i adore me’s success will come to fruition. I also have a deep hope and courage within myself to keep going, never giving up. What do you have hope for?
Please enjoy this video. I hope it will inspire you as it has in me…
*Please comment below and share with your friends.*
Hugs,
Betsy Karp,
Founder of i adore me
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