Leonard Anthony Baker, my little brother first published January 2007

Gerald Ford

Saddam Hussein

James Brown

And my little brother Len

All of them died in December 2006.

Len was a regular working guy. A carpenter, a Master Craftsman.

He had a passion for putting things together, things like wood and hardware and making them function and appear elegant and beautiful.

And he roller skated. Moving, flowing, dancing.. Again elegant and beautiful.

And he was always walking around on his hands, cause he could

And he is one of my baby brothers.

I don’t even understand how this happened, might not ever get the full details, and we humans so want to know how.

I ask why and I sound even to my own ear like an inquisitive child, and I imagine God smiling patiently, lovingly while I move on to yet another question that I cannot understand the answer to.

I am a fifty year old woman, and have been for about thirty months , and I have spent all of my adult life focused on building community. And this has been pay-off time. The incredible outpouring of love and support from all the communities I have been part of is what has allowed me to walk through this unthinkable time.

There have been cards and flowers and gifts and phone calls and emails, every gesture just to remind me that I am cared about and even in the face of this, in the big picture, it really is all good.

My mentor, John Milton Fogg was/is often asked, “Do we lead with the opportunity or the product?”

His answer, my mantra, “Neither, lead with the relationship.”

Part of the best about Boomers and Network Marketing is the way we have blended personal and business relationships.

Henry Ford said "A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.”

My wish for you and your business in 2007 is that you prosper financially and in ways of the heart.

Gratitude Journal

When I’m ready I will listen

When I’m ready to know

Like a flower, I can blossom

When I’m ready to grow

Please don’t answer any questions

That I haven’t yet asked

When I’m ready, I will listen

And you can tell me at last…

© Francine Jarry

Going through the checkout at my favorite little grocery store, one of my favorite cashiers, Trish wasn’t her usual chipper self.

“What’s up?” I asked while loading my stuff onto her conveyor.

“Aw, it’s this Hurricane Wilma comin at us.”

“Why?” I asked, I mean this is South Florida.

We are winding up Hurricane Season 2005. Both 2004 and 2005 broke records. Sure, we’re all tired, but criminey this is just Wednesday, Wilma ain’t due til breakfast Saturday.

She said, “Awh, I’m gonna have to take care of two houses, do all the prep, get all the stuff and run around checking on my Mom and...” her voice trailed off, her head down as she slid my purchases over the scanner.

“Sweetie, you’re a Daughter, A Mom and a Grandma, get over it.”**

“You’re right. I have a lot of people to love!” And suddenly she was beaming.

Being a fifty year old woman, something I have been for the past eighteen months, has brought the knowing that it really is that easy to shift from seeing the glass as half empty to seeing it as half full.

This from a woman who used to see the glass as not only half empty, but all chipped up at the rim with possible glass shards floating in the drink.

It wasn’t easy coming to this awareness, not easy, but pretty simple (kinda catchy formula there.)

Teresa Romain was coaching me and she strongly suggested I start keeping a Gratitude Journal. It was not a new idea to me, I’d read Simple Abundance years before that and I thought that just saying Thank You a lot and occasionally thinking about how grateful I was and once in a while sending a card would be enough. And I know all of you know it, and still I’m going to say again, there is power in writing it down – whether it’s your Intentions or Goals or Gratitude.

So the Gratitude Journal became a part of my life.

Write ten things every day that I am grateful for.

Simple, not easy, especially not at first.

A Magical Life - first published December 2005

Many if not most religions have a Celebration of Lights near our calendar’s year end. Christmas, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Dijali and of course New Year mark a time of ritual, tradition and gatherings of family and dear ones with singing, gifting and feasting. With so many hearts opening to love there is magic afoot.

The Tall One gifted me with an armful of books this Christmas, he is a wise one, who knows me well. One of them was Marianne Williamson’s Everyday Grace. I opened to read “I have watched my daughter bury herself, like so many other children, heart and soul in the Harry Potter books.” “Emma has asked me several times, “Mommy, are the Harry Potter books true? Are there really magical places like that?” And I answer her as honestly as I can, which is to say that I answer “yes.”

Later the three of us, The Tall One, The Soccer Goddess and I went out to see a movie. We chose “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.” SEE THIS MOVIE!

Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve, Aslan, Turkish Delight. Magic.

Magic

Do you believe in magic?

My Teacher says the one thing that holds people back from having and owning and living all of their good is that they feel unworthy.

What is your good?

What would have you sitting on the throne and being King or Queen of Narnia?

We start out as tiny babies thinking we must be pretty cool and we know we are cute.

And then they start, our parents and caretakers and teachers – telling us “No.” and calling us bad.

“The world doesn’t revolve around you!”

“Share, even if you don’t want to.”

And even though they only mean the best for us, they only want us to be good members of society, by and large the message most of us get is:

Everyone else’s feelings are not only more important, they are more correct.

We are not only insignificant, we are wrong, stupid, bad.

Hey, wait that cannot be so.

The Creator did not make junk.

I am a Holy, Innocent Child of God – that must mean I am precious and special and beloved.

And that feels better.

And it not only feels better, it has Magic in it.

If I really believe that I am a Holy, Innocent and Beloved Child of God that makes me pretty special and absolutely worthy of all good things.

All those years and years of programming.

And the good news is, it’s only programming – the negative messages are not objective, absolute truth, it’s just software that can be overwritten and this issue is chock full of ways to overwrite.

Pick one. Doesn’t matter whether it’s Dr Jill or Shad Helmstetter or Peter Pearson – do the exercises for 30 days and celebrate the changes.

Magically you will be more loved, more loving and a bit more successful in your business.

My hope for you is that you experience at least some unconditional love in your life, that there is someone who loves you so much that there is nothing you could do to make them love you more and nothing you could do to make them love you less.

And my truth is that there is someone who loves you like that.

That which is Divine loves you that way.

And how much magic is wrapped up in that!

Who am I

I am Maran Banta.

I teach online marketing techniques to off-line bricks and mortar businesses.

Using web videos, emails and snail mail pieces, I show entrepreneurs easy, fun ways to find new prospects and build relationships with existing clients.

My clients can be as hands-on or hands-off as they want.

Everything has changed.

I was reading a piece by Jeffrey Gitomer, he says we're not going to recover,

we're going to revive and revise.

It's a different world. One of the important new rules turns a famous line from Godfather upside down,

"This is personal. This is business."

It's a New Game

Have you noticed?

There's a whole new way of doing business. The rules have all changed, though the changes appear subtle, because we are massively returning to core values that somehow have been ignored or down played for a long time.

Somehow it became ok in the business world to act differently than one would otherwise.

We came to not only accept dishonesty in business but we came to expect it.

We came to expect business people, salesmen, advertising people, politicians to lie and cover up.

And ya know what?

It's just not ok anymore.

Enron, Clinton's cigar, the mortgage industry, Bernie Madoff, the collapse of the economy.

We all got fed up.

We all said forget about it - I'm not taking this anymore.

And we started voting with our wallets.

The Market Place is crowded and no one has a monopoly on anything.

I love to buy things.

I hate to be sold.

I want expert advise on most of my purchases.

And they better be experts - cause I enter the market place educated about what I am looking for.

Lorikay Stone in Paris

Lorikay Stone in Paris

Lorikay Photography
659 Auburn Ave NE #205
Atlanta, Ga 30312

Betsy & Zach