Dream your Dreams ~ Inspirational Poem for Children and Dreamers

I sang this to my son every night when he was a baby, I wrote it just for him, it was amazing when I then had a little girl with the voice of an angel to sing it to me, crazy how that happens. I hope you and your children enjoy it s well.

Don’t forgot to share your poetry here

Dream Your Dreams
by Rebecca J. Burns

Close your eyes my little one
Close your eyes and dream
You can be anyone,
Anyone you dream
You can go anywhere,
do anything,
meet anyone
Just close your eyes and dream your dreams
Let your imagination take control
Take you on adventures never told
Just close your eyes my little one
Close your eyes and dream with me
You can fly above the mountains
You can swim beneath the sea
Its a great big world before us
Come along and dream with me
You can swing from every tree top
You can conquer every fear
There’s no need to be frightened
You’re not alone here in your dreams
Just open up your mind and let your dreams flow through
ts a great big world around us
Come on along and dream with me
Sweet dreams my little one

I encourage you to follow this post as I plan to add an audio of my daughter singing this and you will not want to miss it!

Love & Peace,
Rebecca

Click on the following link to purchase this poem on a large selection of gifts!

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00-799-SAE (7233) 800-799-SAF

 

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Change the record already – 15 tips to survive an anxiety attack and how to stop them

Okay, I hate my life, my job sucks, the kids are fighting, I have no money, I can’t breathe, my chest hurts, Oh my God I think I will die, I can’t breathe ….

Does that sound familiar? It sure does to me.

I could work myself up into quite a tizzy on a moment’s notice and didn’t realize that I had the control to stop the anxiety attack. Granted taking medicine for a short time helped but the trick to stopping the attacks completely was to learn what to do before one came a knocking. To this day I am thankful that I found the ways to grow stronger as a woman, especially in the aftermath of the abuse I lived through for years.

 
Without this coping skill I never would have become the strong woman I am today, some 20 years later. Today I wanted to share some of the things that I did and still do today to relieve anxiety and just stay in a focused state of mind and body. I am stronger than my past. I am not my past and neither are you.

 

Be prepared for the storm:
Knowing how to relieve your own stress is a priceless gift. Everyone in the world can offer up ideas but like anything else, you need to find what works for you. The key is to know ahead of time what will snap you back to reality. Know before hand what you will do when you feel an attack coming.

 

Talk yourself out of the attack before the attack takes you out!
Today, I allow myself to stress for a bit, just enough to know I need to take some action, then when I realize that what I am thinking about is causing me to be anxious, I count to 5 and then force myself to think of something else, it doesn’t have to be something crazy, just maybe my son’s face, a happy memory, something to tell my anxiety, nope, ain’t going there with you.

To read 13 more tips and find additional resources click here

Love & Peace,
Rebecca

Grab your FREE Goal & Progress Worksheets to help you set Obtainable Goals as well as the additional daily checklists to keep you Focused and Successful!

 

 

Man’s Best Friend suffers the trickledown effect of Domestic Violence

Dedicated to slain officer’s Tom Baitinger and Jeffrey Yaslowitz, their families, co-workers, community and pets, especially Ace.

Violence is not the problem; it is a consequence of the problem – Jim Wallis

I wrote this around 6 years ago but never posted it, while looking at some past writing I stumbled on it and felt that this was something I needed to share as nothing has changed over the years. I decided to post this on January 24th, on the anniversary of this event.

That night, some 6 years ago on January 24, 2011, I sat glued like the rest of the state as we saw a house being turned to ashes; even wood beams and concrete were not safe from what happened today. Riddled with bullets, tear gas and death, for the safety of everyone involved, the house was destroyed. Within a few minutes after turning on the local news; it didn’t matter which station, the story and images were all the same.  Chances are you know most of the details so I won’t go over them again, except to say that three St. Petersburg Police Officers were shot in the line of duty, two of which died from their injuries, during the process of trying to serve a warrant.

This photo is not of Ace as I never heard back if I could use the photo so this is a police dog.  They are so kind and beautiful.

Dedicated to slain officer’s Tom Baitinger and Jeffrey Yaslowitz, their families, co-workers, community and pets, especially Ace.

What sticks in my mind is the reason the warrant was being served in the first place. I write about getting out, staying out and preventing domestic violence. My mission is to bring awareness to those that think domestic violence will never touch their life because they’re living in a stable, loving home; sadly, that dream has been shattered. After listening to the news reports for a few days I was reminded how much domestic violence affects the truly innocent. The wives of the fallen soldiers, their children, family, friends and fellow officers, now without someone they love because of domestic violence.  These men were not violent, yet in helping to protect a woman and serve a warrant to a horrible man, they were murdered.

Tell me now, doesn’t’ domestic violence effect us all?  Even if no one in your life is violent or being abused, sadly, we know that your life can be pulled into the vicious cycle of domestic violence.  Your child could be shot in the crossfire as he is walking into school when a man shoots his wife. Your husband can die when he goes to work because an abusive wife decides to go to her husband’s business and shoot him and his coworkers. Or, like today, your faithful, loving husband can run the lights on his squad car for your little boy, and then drive off to a job that he loves, protecting his family and community and never come home again because a weak man can’t face the wrongs he has committed.

Court records show that Hydra Lacy Jr., the man being served the warrant, failed to show for his scheduled trial on November 1st, 2010 for aggravated battery charge against his wife. Lacy was convicted in 1989 of armed burglary, resisting arrest with violence and other charges. After being released in 1991, he was soon convicted of sexual battery with a weapon which sent him to prison until 2001. Look at the difference in these men’s lives, there really is no comparison; one man did all that he could to protect others, while the other, violated the rights of everyone that crossed his path.

As I searched Google for more information about this tragedy I was drowned with link after link covering every angle of what happened from the shootings, the loss of fellow officers, interviews with family and friends, reports of why the house demolished and where the dog will stay.

I called my boyfriend on the way home from work today, we live in St. Petersburg and discussed the police cars that were everywhere throughout town, especially on 9th Street and Gandy where the funeral was held. Parking lots that normally sat empty had a car parked in every square inch of them. Like many, we had never heard the officer’s names until the last few days, but we were unable to get them, their families or the tragedy that never should have happen, out of our minds. The last thing that my boyfriend said really stuck in my mind on my ride home, he was heartbroken at having seen one of the officers dog, Ace at the funeral. He said the dog barked throughout the entire funeral and was completely lost, obviously wondering where his partner Jeffrey was. For everyone else, even though the news was devastating, at least they knew somewhat what had happened, even the children understood that daddy was a police officer and never came home because of a bad man; but Ace only knew that all of his best friends friends were gathered today, without Jeffrey.

As I visualized Ace sitting sadly and waiting for his best friend, it made me realize the shear depths of denial our society is in to think that domestic violence doesn’t’ affect us all, even our homes and pets. What happened in St. Petersburg Florida is the trickle down affect of domestic violence.

Let’s not let Officer Tom Baitinger and Jeffrey Yaslowitz die in vain, together one day at a time let’s stop violence of any kind so that our loved ones can all come home at the end of the day. It is not our destiny to have domestic violence in the world, but it is our destiny to put an end to it.

Love & Peace,
Rebecca

 

My labor of love – www.ReBeccaBurns.com is finally live – come get free Goal Setting Workbook

Hello everyone, I wanted to share that my new site, the one I have been working on forever and a day launched a few days ago. While some spots are rough as some things not showing, the content is there. I was not going to share this news yet but the soft launch has already generated a response so I wanted to share with you what the new site was about.

 

Special thanks to everyone that has already reached out, especially CM for reaching out today to tell me how my words over the years have helped to get her through a rough day.  That comment made all the nights of wondering, it this was helping, did my words benefit anyone,this made it all worth while.

 

That is what this is all about, being there to support each other.

I created this site to help me deal with a horrible abusive past and to help others (if that is where you are, stay here for a bit.

My goal has expanded to now help you with this new site, when you are ready, to take back your life and not be hostage to a past you tried to hard to be free from. I hope you will check out my new site at www.ReBeccaBurns.com and comment.

While you may see some posts from The-LastStraw.com most will be new and focused on helping you promote and market your #1 business – YOU!

Love & Peace,
Rebecca

I am a writer, dreamer and true believer that you change your life by changing your focus. I search the web day and night to bring you access to Motivational & Inspirational Resources to Promote & Market your #1 Business – YOU!

Come check it out, I would love your feedback, while you are there grab your FREE Goal & Progress Worksheets to help you set Obtainable Goals as well as the additional daily checklists to keep you Focused and Successful!

 

Live in the seconds of your life, not the hours – how to change your focus immediately

I was working the other day and wanted to learn more about the 5 second rule, while I had used some of this in my life I wanted to know more.  The video below has one of my favorite people, Lewis Howe, just a down to earth person that I am learning so much from in regards to the people he brings on his show.

The 5 second rule as it is called, worked for me before I even knew the science behind it, when I was playing that same abuse over and over in my head, at one point I would allow my self 5 seconds to think about it, then forced myself to think of something positive like my beautiful son, the candle on the shelf, a song I liked, anything to get the image and thoughts that were negative out of my head.

Sounds too simple, but it works for me and can work for you.

I encourage you to watch the entire video as there was wisdom along the way, Mel Robbins, the woman that wrote the 5 second rule book talks about the science around it but the reason I wanted to share it was because she talks honestly about depression and not being able to take action, almost losing her marriage, her life.

My goal is that you walk away with one thing you can use in your life to have what you want.  Please share any aha moments you had watching this.

Love & Peace,
Rebecca

Grab your FREE Goal & Progress Worksheets to help you set Obtainable Goals as well as the additional daily checklists to keep you Focused and Successful!

Who knew you could relieve stress and anxiety with a little pin – using Pinterest to change your mood and focus

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to Pinterest I go!

When I first wrote this post around 3 years ago I had just recently learned about the power of Pinterest. It was months after hearing the name before I finally decided to check out what all the excitement was about. Well here we are, maybe 3 or more years later. At first I was interested in what the site had to offer me in the way of marketing as it was discussed in a seminar for business and after watching a video on how to set things up, I was off and running like a kid in a candy store.

I set up a few boards and began pinning things that I liked, that is where the addiction began.

I am not here to teach you how to use Pinterest, there are many qualified people out there to help you with that, I am just writing to share how this can be used to de-stress, relieve some anxiety and just have fun. If you are looking for a pro to help you use Pinterest for your business I highly recommend Melyssa Griffin, she is my go to lady, check her out at (this is not an affiliate, just honest to goodness referral) http://www.melyssagriffin.com

A few weeks, maybe even months later, after work one night I found myself sitting at my desk, wanting to do something but not really anything before going to bed. I picked up my tablet and my eyes were drawn to the Pinterest app I loaded a few months ago, before I knew it over an hour had gone by and I felt happy and relaxed. Most nights I struggle to unwind at the end of my work day, especially since I am at the computer most of that time. Tonight, after an hour or so pinning stuff I loved I was not only relaxed but had a sense of contentment before going to bed.

I believe that part of the lure was that there wasn’t much thinking or commitment involved, all I had to do was scroll photos and pin them to my boards, it was like shopping without spending any money, plus I didn’t have the guilt of just surfing with nothing to show for it as I now had all this great content and pictures to look back at later. After some pinning I went back and viewed my boards, this inspired me even more. It was pretty cool to realize in that moment how powerful Pinterest was for many reasons.

I work late hours some nights and to unwind I would normally put on tv and watch anything just to kill some time until I was tired and then it happened again, after work one night instead of closing my computer I went to Pinterest, that was it, I was hooked. It was then that I realized, this was not about marketing or learning how to use it, it was just about the sheer fun. I would later find that along with my sincere love of Pinterest and learning how to use it to market and brand my writing, I was in love.

I was juiced, I began shopping for my dream home and clothing and hairstyles that looked like my wannabe style. Then, being a boot loving girl I had to create a board just for boots and of course one just for black jackets. Another thing I love is that you can set up private boards that are not posted anywhere like the one I did for my dream body and sexy outfits, just for me.

I would soon realize my pinning filled that void that shopping can fill.

Granted it wasn’t the same but how many times have you window shopped? Most times I had to force myself to stop pinning, almost like real shopping. I knew that this amazing visual search engine would help you as I laid in bed that night writing this out in my head. I know there is always something new out there but I suggest you give this one a try, you can use it to promote your business, create vision boards, stay up to date on current trends or window shop until you drop without spending a dime.

If you are looking for a cool way to get to know your kids better in the future I will share how and why I let my 13 year old daughter set up her own Pinterest, yes, they need to be 13 to set up an account. I did not do this on a whim, I had learned the benefits are big, especially since she considers it her social media since she is not on anything else.

Allowing her to learn and use Pinterest from the ground up has helped fill her need for social media for now. As a bonus she is unschooled and this has been an amazing resources for her to learn from and there is nothing more bonding than seeing that we like some of the same pictures on our boards.

To wrap this up, I initially wrote this post a few years ago and am happy to report, I am still in love and think this is the kind of love that will last a lifetime, I go here to unwind, change my mood and focus, learn and read and yes, just the sheer fun of pinning!

If you have a Pinterest account look me up, I would Love to see what inspires you.

Love & Peace,
Rebecca

Learn to Stop Tolerating what you don’t want to start having what you do want – creating a list of toleration’s will help you set new Goals

Stop Tolerating – Start Living. My favorite time of the year is the week between Christmas and the New Year, during that time I decide what my major 3 goals will be for the following year, one thing I strive to do is have them all written down and set in Stone by New Years day or that week at the latest, by set in stone I mean they have been written in my goal journal and entered into a Power Point that I update yearly and as my goals change, posted on the bathroom mirror and written somewhere so that I see them from my bed.

Yes, I have a PowerPoint for my goals, even though I am not an A type personality I find that if something isn’t visual, I will forget to look at it and with goals, we all know we must look at them often.

Finding a way that will keep you focused on your goals is important so find something that works for you. This post contains several things that I do and have done in the past to keep me focused, my goal and hope is that one or more work for you.

I started writing down my goals down over 20 years ago, thanks to my younger sister who knew exactly what I needed to move on after my husband had been removed from my home. I was suddenly free from a man that I begged God to free me from for many years and now I sat alone with my four year old son and I was clueless on what to do next.

Back to the goals, I had never really heard about goals and didn’t know where to begin until my sister gave me an Anthony Robbins 30 day program to get my life back on track.

I honestly listened to each cassette tape and wrote the exercises in a notebook daily. Some days I would listen to 2 tapes as I could feel the change in my mind.

The powerful realization that I could control what I thought about was like discovering the reason for my life. It had never occurred to me that I could somehow control what I thought about and focused on.

Like many of you I had lived a life of daily, sometimes hourly survival that I never had the time to sit and reflect on what I wanted my life to someday be, I just knew what I didn’t want it to be. Setting long term goals was the furthest thing from my mind. I was happy when the first thing that I was asked to do was to write down a list of what I would no longer tolerate, so that is where I would like you to begin today if you have never set any goals.

Take out a sheet of paper or open your computer or print out this Toleration_List_Worksheet and write the things that you will no longer tolerate from this day going forward, write until you have completely emptied out your head. Way back when I first started I wrote things like, no more anxiety attacks, never letting my husband back into my life, no longer being afraid to sleep in my bed. Since I was not yet ready to focus on a long term goal, deciding what I would no longer tolerate was something that I felt I was able to control. This is like baby steps for taking back control of your life.

Next, go through the sheet of toleration’s and pick the top 3 that must happen in order for your life to move forward. Save the others for another time, when you have removed the first three. Then write out the top 3 toleration’s on the top of a page as your top 3 goals. Underneath each one write why you will no longer tolerate this item, be clear on how if they are removed your life will change, Clarity is King. Finally, write what you will do to remove this toleration from your life.

For example, I knew that I needed and wanted to stop having anxiety attacks as I brought most of them on myself. I would continue to play the same record repeatedly in my head until I was unable to function.

By removing this from my life I would be able to take control of my life better.

I made a plan that I would allow my self to the count of 5 to dwell on something that upset me, then I had to stop thinking about it. I know that sounds silly, but after a few weeks at this it seemed to work, not always but most times I succeeded on changing the record in my head.

To help others that are trying to set goals, please share what 3 top toleration’s you will remove from your life starting today. For me, in the year 2018, my toleration’s are: no more chunks of wasted down time, I will make sure this doesn’t happen as I will consistently plan my 15 Minutes to Thrive where I write out what I will spend at least 15 minutes on each day that week to reach my goal.  I will no longer tolerate not being in peak health at 53 and I will no longer tolerate working for someone else. This helped me create my top 3 goals, for some of you there may be no need to create a list of tolerations, you may now with certainty what your top 3 goals are, great, have at it.

Decide today, will you tolerate and waste another day of your life by allowing things you don’t want to continue or will you remove that toleration from your life today? Please share your toleration list to inspire others.

Love & Peace,
Rebecca

 

Are You A Wannabee, Procrastinating Dreamer?

Do you suffer with the anxiety of wanting something so much that you yearn and crave to be doing it every minute of every day?

I do. I admit that I am a writer wanabee. I think about writing, I fall to sleep at night thinking about writing, I talk about writing; sadly, the only thing that I don’t do is actually write on a consistent basis.

Are you a Wannabee Procrastinating Dreamer?

This procrastination doesn’t affect anyone but good old me. One of my biggest fears in life was growing old alone, which doesn’t seem something that I need to worry about anymore since I have been blessed to meet the man of my dreams, but not writing is something that is allowing my life’s dream to slip away, one unwritten page and word at a time.

What do you go to bed wishing you had done?

Do you want to paint, write, read, discover new recipes, do crafts, sing or become a pole dancer?

No matter what it is the fact that you keep thinking about it means that you either have to let the dream go, or face it head on and buy the damn pole already.

If you could see me you would laugh, I am writing on my laptop, my new Toshiba tablet sits charging next to me and my new do everything phone that I can even type on sits to my side. I have a notebook in my pocketbook at all times and a pad of paper near my bed. There is also a small tape recorder in my pocketbook so that if a song or writing idea comes into my head I can get it recorded. The only thing that I am lacking is the persistence that is needed to make my writing dreams come true.

My dream is to actually write. Sure having books published and being on a best seller list would be free icing on the cake, but not the real reason that I yearn and burn to write daily. For me writing is like putting my soul out there for everyone else to see. Baring your soul can be difficult for most women.

I am far from being a perfectionist but there is something about allowing others to read my writing that keeps the thoughts held back in my head at times. I get such a great response to my soul baring writings but at times I have to wonder, who cares about what you are writing about Rebecca?

Is it just you?

Then tonight I smarten up and think, so what, even if something is just for me, shouldn’t I do it anyway?

When I write to you it is not just to share my needs but to encourage you to share and pursue your own dreams and wants.

I had read a quote somewhere that said you must have a goal at all times to lead a really fulfilling life.

The quote didn’t go exactly like that but the meaning is that you should always have something in your life worth working hard at, once you reach it, you set another one. Most times we want something so bad that when we get it we are disappointed that we are not fulfilled. The key is to have multiple goals so that you are never without one.

What goals have you set for yourself today?

Are you a Wannabee Procrastinating Dreamer?

What are you committed to doing to bare your soul? I have committed to sharing these thoughts with you which brings me one step closer to my dreams.

Love & Peace,
Rebecca