Can you really know that it is TRUE?

Can you? What stories are you telling yourself in the back of your mind? What is bothering you that you are not even aware of? What is your mind telling you? Are you choosing to believe it? One of the greatest teachers I have come to follow is a wonderful woman by the name of Byron Katie. If you have never heard of her, you are in for a special treat. Her gift to us is a free process by which you can figure out if the stories in your head are true or if it is a concoction that you heard as a kid or percieve as true. I'm not good enough....I'm too old, too fat, too unschooled, too ugly. "Who would you be without that thought?" Is one of my favorite questions. Here are some more: "Who would I be without my story?" "Who am I without my story?"

Here are her four turn around questions:

Is it true?

Can you absolutely know that it's true?

How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?

Who would you be without the thought?

Then turn it around (the concept you are questioning), and don't forget to find three genuine examples of each turnaround.

If you, like me, are taking the time to look back over the year and see what you did, congratulate yourself, then look to see what you could have changed, you need to see Katie's site.

http://thework.com/thework.asp#howto

It is entirely free and so worth your time.

Happy New Year and here's to an amazing 2009

All the Best,

Your Friend,

Alicia Bozza

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day 12

It is day 12 of my experiment and I have decided that I want to donate my $1200 to a woman's work who has given me tremendous peace. Her name is Byron Katie and she is a true blessing to this world. Just look at her face. She is priceless and she will show you how you can see the same about yourself.

As for the rest of the money, $10,800, I will put it toward building my studio above my garage in my backyard. I would design it much like this one:




























(Above is Tullen Studio where my Son recorded a demo for a Broadway Show that never came to fruition based on Dennis the Menace. Pictured here is Skip Tullen, a very talented guy.) But my favorite studio is Watersign Creative ran by my favorite recording guy, Guy Parker. The chair pictured at the top is the chair I sit in to record. I love being there with a passion, but boy, is it work! I would love to have my own studio to record in with my husband Dan, who loves to be in front of a mixer. We would make quite the recording pair. :)

Dipping into the passion pool this morning....

My heart is burning this morning. Truly burning. I have been watching recording sessions of Celine Dion this morning. It is truly good for my soul and not in the way you might think. If you caught some of my bio, you would see that I too am a recording artist as well, just not in the capacity that Celine is....but when I watch her in the studio, my heart burns in the desire to be there myself. I am drawn to it like a fly to the flame. Take me to a Broadway Show and I cry through most of it. Why? I have such a burning desire to be there. I want to be on that stage more than anything. Sometimes I look around me and see all seven of my children and how I am getting older and it frightens me. Am I missing my calling? This is when I need to turn to help to soften the voices that speak untruths in my head. More on that later. What do I do to help quench the burning, scalding flame in my heart, well sing, of course. Thankfully, I have an delicious outlet in my church with adoring fans to boot. I am in my element in my song. I am connected to my creator and I fill my cup full with passion as I live my destiny in my song. I am lifted up, up into a spiritual realm and the emotions that fill me are contagiously flowing into the atmosphere around me. I am one with the souls present and that passion is what drives me to keep believing, keep hoping that maybe one day I could share my passion with more people. I want to shout out to the world! Here I am! Take me! I want to share my song with you....and then there are dishes, shouting (the kid kind, mostly) floors to be washed, things to be organized, places to go, appointments to be met...and I let myself be distracted from the fire in my heart.

Sometimes, in the quite, I wonder if it is all slipping away from my fingers and maybe it is just where I am supposed to be and I weep the loss of my imagined singing career. Then other times I could see so clearly being on stage, I could almost touch it. Those are the times that my heart soars in anticipation and I allow myself to have an expectation that almost hurts since I cannot see it at this moment in time. I don't expect to be Celine. I am not, nor will I ever be her. I am me. I want to be me.

One very special lady truly helps me in my spells and internal trials. Her name is Byron Katie and she could help you too, if you allow her. Google her name. She is truly a treasure. If she were here right now, she would say to me, "Tell me your statement" and I would tell her something like: "Being an at home Mom is not allowing me to live out my dream to be a singer" and she would say, "can you absolutely know that this is true?" and I would tell her: "No Katie, I cannot." Then she would say: "Do you know without a shadow of a doubt that your statement is true?" Then she would say: "Who would you be without that thought?" and I would tell her, "blissful, happy, carefree, hopeful, a kinder person, not fearful of my future." Then she would probably say: "What kind of Mom would you be without that thought?" and I would say: "kinder to my children, more of joyful Mom"....and she would say: "exactly." How cleansing is that?

So, in my self session today, I guess my point is to heal myself and maybe give others the power of The Work of Byron Katie. In this New Year, I hope that I could share the treasure I have found in this amazing woman. She helps me keep the flame of my dream alive.

All the Best,
Your Friend,
Alicia
http://AandDmusic.airset.com

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day 11

Some of you may be wondering if I am getting bored with this experiment. NO WAY! Imagination is the key to your dreams, so let me dream on! On the 11 th day of my experiment, my brainwaves gave to me!

$1100 to Good Counsel Homes It is a place for pregnant women to go to if they are in need.

Chris Bell and Father Benedict found an abandoned convent in Hoboken, New Jersey and in March 1985, the first home for mothers and children opened its doors. Since 1985, more than 3,500 women and children have received residential help at Good Counsel.

The remaining $9,900, $2000 would go to pay for part of the Sienna we financed, so that it would bring it down to a $30,000 pay off. Here is a picture of what it would look like on the inside:

We would need 8 seats since we only have 1 kid driving and the others cannot. Plus, having 8 seats would allow me to travel with all the kids if I needed to. I think I like the blue finish best, now that I am looking at it.

The rest of the money would go toward having someone tear up my kitchen floor, level it and put down some new tile or pergo flooring. If you are curious as to what I would pick, you can click here and see it.
And that would about wrap it up for a day's spending!

See you tomorrow!

All the Best,
Alicia Bozza

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day 10

It's a $10,000 day! Woo Hoo! Double digits! As the first tenth goes off to tithe, I think I will send it in the direction of my church again as they still need in need of about 14 Million dollars! Click here and you can see what it will look like.

The remaining $9000 will go to our porch renovation. It is badly needed since it is probably as old as the house! We had the stairs done, but the rest of the flooring is in need of finishing too. We have some gingerbread on our house, but I would like to implement more. I really like the house pictured here, but maybe mixed with the khaki house below. I always wanted to have a bellowed out window where I could put up my Christmas tree and to have a place within the kitchen to eat everyday. Oh yeah... the kitchen....that is SO for another day! I will have to wait several other days before I even tackle that one!
Keep dreaming!
All the best!
Alicia

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day 9

Day 9: $9000

Today I get to spend $9000 in my experiment today. The tithe money of $900 would go to the RZIM Ministry. Ravi Zacharias is a Christian Apologetic who sometimes, I admit, I cannot wrap my brain around, but he makes some amazing points and I like him.

As far as my personal spending goes, I would take the $8100 and use $4000 toward paying down the van I financed on Day 5 (that would make $8000 towards paying off the car)
and $4100 to pay for new plumbing in the downstairs and upstairs bathrooms. We have a 125 year old house and it needs some updating. I know that it does not sound very glamorous, but it is something that needs to be done. If there was anything left over, I would take the family out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Atillio's in Dover, NJ. Such great Italian food!

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day 8

OK! Today is the $8000 day. I will start off as I usually do with a donation. $800 will go to The Hunger Site to feed people all around the world. You can actually help them for free, by clicking on their site everyday. Go to: http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1
and click. It's as simple as that!

What to do with $7200! I would have to repair the bathroom in my office. That should about cover the cost. I would replace everything, including the wall that got leaked through when the kids were taking a bath. If that more than covered the cost, the rest would go into a bank account for my son's college fund. Does not sound like much fun, but it would be great for me to know there was a little more in it. OK, so what would I put in the bathroom? First, a new sink. SO badly needed. Mine is functional, sure, but I would LOVE a new one. A new cabinet above the sink, and new walls for the bathtub....it would probably look like the bathroom to the right, but what I would really love is a spacious bathroom, like the one below!
That will have to be for another $1000 day!

All the best!
Alicia Bozza

Well behaved children

Mmmmhmmmm. Yeah, right. Well behaved children on Christmas, I believe, is something out of a story book. When children, (or adults, for that matter) get too much stuff at once, I think it brings out the devil in them. Their egos go on a feeding frenzy and nothing seems to stop them. Kind of reminds me of Wall Street. For so many years, they were allowed to go on a feeding frenzy of money, material goods, food, etc and were left to make themselves into monsters! Now, I will admit that there will be some good children on Christmas and good deeds done, just like I am sure there are good people and good deeds being done on Wall Street. Take note of my brand new 6 year old sitting so nicely in the middle....she did not move the whole time, with her head tilted and all...such a good girl...but can they really help themselves if we put them into the ego feeding mode? Did you ever notice when you give a kid a lot of stuff, all they want is more? Whose fault is it then? Is it the kid's or the parents? Is it the wall street people's fault that we place them in such a high position, being paid as they are? Is it athlete's and movie actors' fault that we choose to pay them so much. Then we wonder why they act the way they do! They are acting accordingly to what they are being fed, in my humble opinion. This year, we purposefully held back giving extravagant gifts. It was so much nicer at my house this year, especially with the clean up. I was so proud of my 15 year old who posted on his Facebook account about how a person does not need a ton of gifts when they have all the love they need. I think they are getting it.
All the Best,
Alicia
ps-You can see more on my Christmas Family Video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx6PcvxU_2s&feature=channel_page

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day 7

Happy Day after Christmas!

This is the 7th day of my $1000 dollar a day experiment.

Today I am going to donate $700 to my church building fund.

I think I am also over due for a new computer and a state of the art lap top. I think I would like a Mac on all
counts. One for my office, and the laptop just for my work.

I would have all the bells and whistles on it so that I could make awesome movies for my video accounts and for my internet business! It would be awesome!

All the best,

Alicia Bozza

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day 6

To the tune of 12 days of Christmas, starting on the 6th day, of course

On the 6th day of my experiment, I found under the tree,
A check to Joyce Meyer,


A brand new Bose system!


A spiffy microphone
headset too


a full day at the spa


and dinner out
at Tabor Road Tavern!

Merry Christmas?

Now that all depends on how you choose to celebrate. This year I wanted to give my children the gift of understanding. It is not an easy gift to open up. I wanted them to understand that the true meaning of Christmas was not how many gifts they were going to get, but instead about love and giving. More giving than receiving.

I wanted to try to help them realize that if they did not get any material things on Christmas, that it would be OK. They they would not die or fall off the face of the earth! Now could we have gone into debt to give our kids the "traditional" Christmas? Sure! Why, though, get into debt just for the sake of tradition? Now I am sure there may be many of you who are not going into debt to buy Christmas gifts. Then there are those of you who are green, who saved in your Christmas Club account and had the money! I am not mocking you. I just wanted to point out that we are teaching our kids certain lessons with our actions and I am helping them to realize that happiness does not come out of a box. It comes from within your heart.
All the Best,
Merry Christmas
Happy Hanukkah
Alicia Bozza
ps- for more on the colors, see my YouTube page: http://youtube.com/aliciabozza

On the Fifth day of my experiment.....

Ahhhhh....Christmas Eve and the fifth day of the experiment. I have to say it is so much more fun to think big than small. I can truly say it does my heart good. Today I am going to give my tithe money to Ave Maria University who is building a Law School. I always wanted to go to Law School. Why not give someone else a chance. (Never could get that LSAT passed, even with the $500 course!!) Anywho, today, with the remaining $4500, I think I will put a downpayment on a new Mini Van with 8 seats. We could always use a new vehicle, and this one would fit us nicely. Since gas prices are so low, we could take more kids to more places! I like the neutral color, but I know that hubby likes blue, so maybe we would get the one with that's blue.

Following a one year old...

Have you ever had the privilege of watching the first steps of a one year old? It is so much fun to watch...but did you notice that they almost never fold their arms in anger and say "I quit!"? They get up, again and again and simply do it all over again. They are the

quintessential example of how we should live our lives. They don't say, the floor doesn't like me! Gravity is not my friend, Suzy's not walking yet! I'm too fat! I'm just not built to do this stuff! I haven't had enough training yet! NO, they just get up and do! They do not allow any preconceived notions get into their heads, they just do, do, do! Sometimes we need to get a clue and follow the lead of a one year old. Close our ears, focus our eyes, plug our noses and drive ahead into what fears you the most. Who knows what this new year might bring?

All the Best,

Alicia Bozza

I recently posted my "$1000 Experiment" on another Social Networking Group (which will go unnamed) and there were some people on it who were just not happy that I was posting it there. In my opinion, they were claiming me to be irresponsible in this time of economic struggle. Yes, I know that we are experiencing a difference in the economy, but I look at it more like an economic rebirth. Let's face it. Birth is painful (trust me, I know!!) It is a time of desperation to be freed from pain, a time to hurry, a time to plan for how your life is now going to change. Change. That is the most jarring thing that happens when you give birth. It is new life. A new life for the parent of the birthed one and a change to the one who was born from the effort. Do we automatically give a pessimistic outlook to this newborn child? NO! Of course not! We dream of possibilities, we think of how great this newborn will be, who they will become, what great things the newborn will do in thier life and how they will change the world! It is a new beginning, people, not an end. Let go! Believe in your bright future.

Give yourself the gift of hope as this year comes to an end and the new year begins. Together we can make a difference and believe me, it doesn't come from a pessimistic heart.

All the BEST Always,

Alicia Bozza

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day Four

Today, I get to spend $4000. I will start off by contributing $100 to my favorite radio station, Star 99.1 FM and the rest to my parish for Christmas. Now I have $3600 to spend. I would spend the money by buying a membership to the Y for my family, that would be about $1500 for the premium membership, $500 to my husband to spend on things he needed or wanted and take the rest of the money ($1600) and buy a new wardrobe. First, I would visit Nordstroms at the Short Hills Mall and have a personal shopper show me what would be best for my body shape and coloring, buy some pieces there, get an idea of what my wardrobe should look like and head over to Macy's where I could get some super deals and probably more for my money. Keeping in the abundant mentality, and knowing I would get more money the next day, of course I would return each season to Nordstrom's to have my fashion consultation! It would be so much fun since I would get to return with my daughters, treating them to their own wardrobes in the future. Nordstrom may be an expensive store, but the treatment there is worth a trip out. They treat you like a queen and it is a great experience. At the end of my shopping spree, I would stop for a nice lunch or if in a hurry, I quick frozen yogurt!
Merry Christmas Eve Eve,
All the Best,
Alicia xoxoxo

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day Three

Ok...day three. One thing I forgot to do is tithe. Tithing is an act of abundance. It is an act to honor God in my life, an act to honor t he law of attraction in others' lives. It is a free offering of money to show the world that you are willing to give back......Anyway! On the third day, I am going to top it all off with a tithe offering of $600 to Food for the Poor so that others may eat another day.

Ok...now with $2,400 left, I would buy tickets to fly to Florida for Spring Break (I know one of the rules is to spend it for the day, but I can buy tickets for the future!) as well as tickets to Universal Studios, Orlando. We have a friend who lives in Orlando, so we wouldn't need to have a place to stay. The kids would be so excited as some of them would be flying for the first time and my daughter Rachael would be the most excited of them all. We would have so much fun planning the trip by going to the Universal Studios website and planning where we would go! The kids love The Simpsons and Dr. Suess. I read to Vincent & Gabriella almost everyday and Dr. Suess is one of their favorites! Traveling would be a little tricky, but we would manage fine. I could just see their faces as they depart the airplane and see the fun sights in the airport! "Hey! There's SpiderMan! Hey, there's Sleeping Beauty!" The excitement would build right from the airport! A quick ride to Orlando, fitfull sleep and wahlah! Universal Studios would be ours for the day....or two. What fun!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can't wait to get there.
Alicia xoxoxoxo