A Cup of Caroll

December 15, 2019

“The habit of giving only enhances the desire to give.” – Walt Whitman

Welcome to the final Cup of Caroll for the year.  We are ending 2019 on a high note, with another very successful Pay it Forward Challenge under our belts, as so many of my cherished readers have enthusiastically spread comfort and joy far and wide this Holiday Season!

I have loved sharing the many touching and creative ways you have come up with to show kindness and generosity to others. I know the ripples of your Pay It Forward actions will spread far and wide, as those you have blessed pay your kindnesses forward to others and on and on!

Besides the good feeling you get from helping others, did you know that your giving will also come back to YOU in many practical ways?  Gratitude is said to be the most powerful positive emotion for attracting MORE good things to you because the Law of Attraction dictates that “energy attracts like energy.”  I have seen plenty of this in my own life, and I want to share some recent personal results with you to close out our 2019 PIF Challenge.

But first, I must share just one more reader story, because it so beautifully illustrates the principle that giving generously to others not only blesses them, but also comes back to bless YOU, as well.  One of my readers sent me this email after reading the last blog:

“I have been paying it forward to the Universe and getting pretty good things back in return.  We have made the decision to never resell anything that was given to us for free, even if it has a high monetary value.  It seems now that when we hand something to someone else, there is some gift, material or not, waiting for us in return.  Recently, I had been wanting a midcentury dropleaf table, and I had been hoarding a GIANT tub of Legos for a kit I realized I would never have the time to put together.  I heard my neighbor coming home from work and walked out to the parking lot with these Lego tubs to give to her son. She had been helping a friend clean out a storage unit and as I handed her the Legos, she took the table I had been wanting out of her SUV and offered it to me!  It was unbelievable, but of course, giving things away feels good even when there is no return.”

There is always a return! You may not receive it back from the same person or institution you gave to, but you WILL receive exactly what YOU want and need from somewhere – You can count on that!

Here’s my own story that illustrates this Law of Attraction principle:

In September, I came across a life-changing book by a successful entrepreneur named May McCarthy.  I absolutely believe I was guided to it, as I was scrolling through my “Good News” feed and saw a link to a podcast in which the author was being interviewed about her book called The Gratitude Formula. Normally, I wouldn’t take time to listen to a podcast, but this was a short 7-minute clip and the topic, being gratitude-related, caught my attention.  I just felt a strong urge to click on it and listen.

What I heard rocked my world!  She told an amazing story of asking God/the Universe to show her how to bring an additional $400,000 to her company by the end of the business quarter and it happened!  It was clearly divine guidance that led her intuition to steer her to be in the exact right place at the precise moment to bump into a prospect she had been trying to get a business meeting with for weeks.  They spoke on the fly, and he asked her to set up a presentation.  In just a few weeks, he had signed a contract with her company for $400,000 – the exact amount and timing that she had asked for. She said that this was just one of hundreds of “miraculous” occurrences she had used to build seven companies worth over $110 million.

I immediately got her book and all my coaching clients got it too, and together we all began working with a specific type of Daily Gratitude Journal that is a letter to our Higher Power, expressing gratitude for all we have now AND for all the things we want in the future in every area of life – health, relationships, finances, recreation, home, etc. I have taught this principle to my clients for 15 years, having them describe their life on paper exactly the way that want it to be in the New Year.  But expressing GRATITUDE in advance for the desired outcomes was the missing link to make it a “formula” that works reliably for everyone.

To test it out, I decided to ask for something specific for my business and my husband’s, to prove to myself whether an unlikely outcome could be achieved in a specific amount of time.  I wrote in my Gratitude Formula Journal to God each morning, “Thank you that by the end of the year, I have 10 ideal new or returning coaching clients who are delighted with my services and who bring me prosperity in return.” And for my husband’s real estate business, I wrote, “Thank you for connecting Rick to one or more ideal buyers and/or sellers who will appreciate his skilled help with their real estate needs and bring him a generous commission in return.”

For the first few weeks of doing it every morning, nothing big happened.  But I noticed that Rick and I both got a number of nice little financial windfalls. Rick received an unexpected referral commission and I was delighted that many of my clients decided to continue in coaching beyond their initial contracts, which meant that I had greater income over the Holidays — the most challenging time of year in my coaching practice. And our tax accountant determined that we would likely get a refund on our 2019 taxes, instead of owing more, as I had feared.

Over a couple of months, as I became more skilled with my journaling and more inspired by these little demonstrations, bigger serendipitous outcomes started to happen.  Several past clients I had not spoken to in months or years contacted me out of the blue, wanting to resume coaching, and we are once again doing some great things together! My clients have sent me many wonderful referrals, and the free sessions I did in November and December introduced me to some fabulous new clients who have committed to coaching in the New Year!

But the most amazing outcome so far happened last week, when I least expected it. As I approached a local café for my morning coffee, a young man held the door for me, and I smiled and thanked him.  On foot, dressed very casually in jeans and a hoodie, he didn’t look homeless, but he didn’t look too prosperous either.  As I was getting my coffee, I noticed him counting out change in his hand, as he looked at the items in the deli case.  When he mumbled to the cashier that he would “be back,” and quickly left, it was clear to me that he didn’t have enough money to buy breakfast.

When I caught up with him in the parking lot, he turned and smiled at me and asked, “Excuse me, Ma’am.  Do you have any spare change?”  I had been intending to offer him $5, but instead I spontaneously pulled out a $20 bill and handed it to him.  His look of happy amazement was priceless!  He said, “God bless you!” walked a few feet, then turned and added, “Merry Christmas!”

As many of my readers have reported, it felt great to help a stranger with a spontaneous Pay it Forward kindness!  Feeling confident and happy when I got home, I spontaneously emailed someone I done a free session of coaching with the prior week, and invited her to coach with me in January.  I loved her energy and knew that we would both benefit from working together, but I hadn’t heard anything from her since our session, which usually is not a good sign.  I didn’t get a reply to my email all day. But late that night, she surprised me by responding, “Let’s do this!”

I am delighted and grateful that she is now the seventh new or returning client who has come to me since the Pay it Forward Challenge began around Thanksgiving, and I am still connecting with potential new and returning clients every day.  Recently, my husband Rick also got a call from a couple he hadn’t heard from in months, wanting to resume searching for their perfect home now, in the middle of December, which is not a normal occurrence in real estate!

I feel divinely guided to share this Gratitude Formula with others, so I am currently working on a webinar about it for February.  I cannot wait to see the miracles that will occur for those who learn how to put their Gratitude into ACTION in their daily lives, not only to bless themselves, but everyone they come across.

Stay tuned for more information about the course in January!  In the meantime, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or whatever tradition you celebrate this time of year. Let’s keep paying our many blessings forward to others far beyond the Holidays. I promise you it will come back to bless you over and over again, too!

NOTE: A Cup of Caroll will be on vacation for the rest of the year.  Look for a new post on Sunday January 5, followed by information about the upcoming Gratitude Formula Webinar as well.

If you or your friends would like your own free subscription to receive this blog three Sundays a month, just go to https://practicalprosperitycoach.com and click on the Prosperity Tips button at the top.

************ Give Yourself or Someone Else the Gift of Dreams Fulfilled! ************

To schedule a no-obligation, F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help clarify your Big Goals and get you into ACTION to make them a reality, please email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com.  You can offer this to a friend as well!

December 8, 2019

“You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” – John Wooden

“Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.” – Charles M. Schulz

(First, I have to say “Happy Birthday” to my brother, Harbison Parker.  Big Bro, I hope this is a great one for you and your family!  — Love, Your Lil’ Sis)

In case you didn’t read the last two blogs, I started the Pay it Forward Challenge spontaneously several years ago around Thanksgiving because a gentleman in line ahead of me at Starbucks surprised me by paying for my drink. When I tried to thank him, he just smiled and said, “I trust you will pay it forward.”

My day had not been going too well up to that point, but this stranger’s thoughtful gesture turned my frown upside down and I wanted to pass along that warm feeling to others.  So, I bought a packet of $5.00 Starbucks gift cards and gave one to the barista at the counter whenever I stopped in throughout the Holidays, asking her to bestow it on whomever she wanted. This made me happier than any of the wonderful Christmas gifts I received!

Gratitude is thankfulness in ACTION, so I challenged my coaching clients and cherished readers to do some kind and generous act for someone else during the Holidays to show their sincere gratitude for all the many blessings in their lives. Year in and year out, they have come through in many creative ways.

Now, to finish off our “Pay it Forward Challenge 2019 results stories, I am happy to share more of their great ideas with you, in hopes they will inspire you to do a nice deed for someone else and keep our chain of “comfort and joy” going.

• One reader recently baked 10 pies to share with the residents of the assisted living home where she regularly visits her dad.
• Another reader emailed, “I live in a rural town. Many of my friends and I are giving $100 each to our local police department.  The plan is that the officers will randomly give $20 to folks they come across that need it.  It helps our police department, too, by giving them a positive influence in our community.”
• A teacher spends about 20 minutes of class time on “Gratitude Fridays.” First, she shows her 6^th graders a short video about some aspect of gratitude. (She says there are LOTS of these videos on YouTube and TED talks.) Then she gives them a different assignment each week designed to expand their understanding of the importance of being grateful. This past week, she had them list 10 things they were grateful for in their lives right now and say WHY they felt thankful for each thing. For example, “I am grateful for my Mom because she fixes me breakfast and makes sure I get to school on time every day.”
• One reader told me her church has a tradition of asking each family in the congregation to purchase a warm sleeping bag on Amazon.com and have it shipped directly to the church, which then takes all the sleeping bags to the streets and distributes them to the homeless.
• Local grassroots organizations give us great opportunities to pay our blessings forward in many ways. One reader in Colorado has her kids fill backpacks with books and school supplies and drop them off to Kinsey’s Kids, which serves underprivileged children.
• Similarly, the local Rodan + Fields direct sales community supports Hope House of Colorado, whose mission is to provide local teen moms with encouragement, education and empowerment. This is the third year the community is coming together to do the Christmas Stocking and Stuffers Drive. The consultants can personally shop for toys or much-needed supplies for the moms and their precious kids, or simply make donations online that are then turned into purchases by other volunteers.

Here is a recent Pay It Forward story that I loved in the online good news feed:

Adrianna Edwards used to have to walk four and a half long hours in order to get to work every day at a Denny’s restaurant in Galveston, Texas. She had been scrimping and saving to buy herself a car so she would no longer have to make the 14-mile trek to and from her job.

An anonymous couple who Edwards had been serving at her restaurant learned about her grueling commute. Hours after they paid their bill, they returned to the restaurant with a 2011 Nissan Sentra and handed the keys to a dumbfounded Edwards. Their only condition for the gift was that Edwards simply pay the good deed forward.

Now that she is freed from having to buy a car, Edwards says that she will be able to put herself through college much sooner than she expected—and she is already planning on using her good fortune to help others.

“I still feel like I’m dreaming. Every two hours, I come look out my window to see if there’s still a car there,” Edwards said. “When I see somebody in need, I’ll probably be more likely to help them out (and) to do everything that I can to help them out.”

But of ALL the many wonderful stories my cherished readers have submitted so far, one is my very favorite.  It proves that one simple act of kindness that “someone will never be able to repay” can create miracles for them – and YOU:

“I got into a minor car accident last spring and the young man at fault told me that his car had been broken into earlier that day and his license and wallet had been stolen. I could see the broken window, and I believed him.  Clearly, he was having a REALLY bad day. He asked me if he could pay for the damage himself, because he didn’t want his insurance rates to skyrocket. 

I agreed and took his information. My local garage gave me an estimate of $1400 for the body work. He didn’t have that much in a lump sum, but asked to send me what he could every month, and I agreed to hold the payments until $1400 had been accumulated.  He was faithful to his word, sending me a few hundred each month until it reached $1400.

By that time, the lease was up on my car, and I turned it in and got a new one, without ever fixing the damage.  Of course, I expected to hear from the dealer about charging me for the repairs, but weeks went by and I was amazed that they never contacted me.

I didn’t want to keep the young man’s $1400, since it was no longer needed for repairs, so I called him. He sounded groggy, like he had been asleep.  I reminded him who I was and said, ‘I have some good news for you!  I am going to Venmo you your $1400 back.’ 

He was completely flabbergasted!  He blurted out, ‘I lost my job and it’s been really tough.  I didn’t know how I was going to pay my rent this month.  You are an ANGEL!’ He even called me back to thank me a second time and make sure he hadn’t been dreaming!  I just told him to pay it forward and wished him a great Holiday.”

3 Steps to Becoming More Grateful from DailyHealthPost.com

“In times of hardship, or stress, it might seem difficult to be grateful.  But if you really think about it, we all have something to be grateful for. If you engage in only one prayer, let it simply be a heartfelt ‘thank you.’  Here are three easy ways to put yourself in the mindfulness of gratitude.

• Keep a daily journal of things you are grateful for – list at least three. The best times for writing in your journal are in the morning before your day begins or at night before sleep.
• Make it a point to tell people in your life what you appreciate about them on a daily basis.
• When you look in the mirror, give yourself a moment to think about a quality you like about yourself or something you have recently accomplished.

Through the power of gratitude, you can wire your brain to be optimistic and compassionate, making you feel good.  The more you look, the more you can find to be grateful for.  This positivity can extend to those around you, creating a virtuous cycle.”

Let’s keep the gratitude goodness flowing through the rest of the Holidays!  If we all continue to do random small good deeds for others and ask them to Pay it Forward, this truly will be a Season of Comfort and Joy for the many lives that your kindness will touch.

PLEASE NOTE: Next week will be the final Cup of Caroll for 2019.  In it, I will share my own Gratitude Miracle with you and give you a preview of some exciting things I have planned for the New Year!

If you or your friends would like your own free subscription to receive this blog three Sundays a month, just go to https://practicalprosperitycoach.com and click on the Prosperity Tips button at the top.

************ Give Yourself or Someone Else the Gift of Dreams Fulfilled! ****************

To schedule a no-obligation, F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help clarify your Big Goals and get you into ACTION to make them a reality, please email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com.  You can offer this to a friend as well!