Brandy came to us when he was about one year old. Smaller than the average size housecat, Brandy was a dog with the energy of the Duracell bunny. He just never stopped! We got him as a companion to our other dog, Yogi Bear, a West Highland Terrier with an easy-going character and physical resemblance of the lovable movie dog, Benji. Although Yogi Bear was five times the size of Brandy, Brandy pretty much moved in and we found ourselves a little intimidated by this 8 pound dynamo!

There was just one word to describe Brandy - attitude! If I put my purse or jacket down and he decided to guard it, watch out. As his tiny little body trembled with concentration, he hovered over my belongings as he growled like a German Shepherd police dog, looking up quickly and then focusing right back to the object of his attention. Even I was afraid to touch Brandy or my purse when he was in that state. He would snap, snarl, show his teeth and shake like a wound-up toy.

We had a sign on the gate to our back yard that said, ‘I may be small, but I know Kung-fu’. Although Brandy was small, there was nothing small in Brandy’s mind. Brandy had the biggest personality I’d ever seen in a dog. He was only in our life a couple of years but oh my, what an impression he made on everybody that met him. He went on to live with a woman nearly deaf and nearly blind, suffering with Lupus, the mother of two young boys. With absolutely no training, Brandy barked differently for the phone than for the doorbell so Connie could tell the difference. He ‘finked’ on the boys, going and getting her if he thought the boys were doing something wrong, and he protected her furiously. He also didn’t like margarine on his piece of toast in the morning - only butter! Brandy expected the best for all of his hard work.

I was thinking about Brandy as I was walking in the snow this afternoon. Brandy loved the snow and although it was sometimes deeper than him, even in Vancouver, he just leapt higher. This week I had make a comment to a client that if I could just wave a magic wand over the world and change one thing, it would be for everyone to know that they are ‘good enough.’ The belief that you are insignificant, bad, not good enough and unforgivable is crippling people today emotionally, physically and financially. If everyone could just think like Brandy, we’d have a different world.

Several years ago, I remember applying to be mentored by a big-name multi-millionaire real estate mogul. My boyfriend and I filled out the application hoping that we would be chosen as one of the lucky few. Several thousands of dollars were involved in the transaction but we still didn’t know if we were ‘good enough’ to qualify. As we passed the telephone interview, we were deemed worthy of participating in a series of teleclasses and receiving a ton of poorly recorded CDs and badly written workbooks. We were not one of the lucky few - there were hundreds chosen - possibly anyone who had enough space on their credit card for the fee!

I didn’t get it at the time that my low self-esteem and value that I saw in myself cost me a lot of money…again. I didn’t realize that just as much as it was their right to verify that I was appropriate for their program, it was absolutely my right to decide whether or not they were the best for me. It never entered my head at the time to see any value in what I brought to the relationship - I was only concerned about whether or not I was good enough to meet their qualifications. It’s quite a different story today. I just turned down two similar programs because although they were good programs, they weren’t at the level of mentorship that I was looking for. I just hired a mentor who is the 25th richest person in North America to be my mentor, billionaire, Bill Bartmann. My attitude about what I deserve has definitely changed.

Over a recent dinner conversation with good friends, both entrepreneurs, we were discussing their WHY in business. I surprised the man by saying that my WHY is that I want to have fun. He looked at me like I had Devil’s horns. ‘No’, he guffawed, ‘no, your WHY can’t be just to have fun. ‘ I think I was supposed to say that my WHY is to save the world or something equally Nobel Prize worthy. Having fun isn’t a category for nomination, I’m fairly sure!

Fun is important to me. I have fun every day of my life. I have fun sleeping in on Saturday morning, I have fun making myself a nice breakfast on Sunday morning, I have fun working with every one of my clients, I have fun writing my book, I have fun planning my business, I have fun learning, I have fun going for a walk, and I have fun writing my newsletters. ‘Why can’t my WHY be about having fun?’ I asked again.

I see fun as a synonym for joy and joy is right at the top of the vibrational scale along with peace, abundance and love. It doesn’t get any better than joy - it’s actually one of the fruitages of God’s spirit in the Bible. So can my WHY in life be about living in joy rather than fear, scarcity and anger? I would think so!

If you watched Brandy for just an hour, you would get the importance of joy. Yogi Bear was a very passive dog who would lie around sleeping 24/7 if you let him. Brandy, bored out of his little mind, would want to play. He would run up and pull Yogi’s tail and then wait anxiously for Yogi to move. He would bark at him. He would run up to his face, wake him up and then run, hoping that Yogi would get up enough energy to chase him. Finally, Brandy would win and off Yogi would go, chasing Brandy around the house like two dogs on drugs! You couldn’t help but stop and laugh at the fact that Brandy’s perseverance and attitude got him exactly what he wanted - fun - once again. He’d hide, he’d duck, he’d go where Yogi was too big to fit and then he’d fly out and pass him just as Yogi was about to lose interest. You could almost see him smiling as he flew past you. He was in heaven, that dog, every day of his life.

Similar to Brandy, my WHY of having fun is because I know that I am good enough. I believe that I am worthy of enjoying every minute of my day. I am good enough to have amazing people in my life. I am deserving of earning a very good living and living the life of my dreams. If I could wave a magic wand, it’s what I would wish for every one of you.

So at this magical time of year, let’s pretend shall we? I have a magic wand and it is being waved over your head. You are good enough. You always were; you always will be. You don’t need to be forgiven of anything, you were never bad or wicked or evil. You are perfect, amazing, wonderful, talented, skilled and beautiful in every way. It’s the way I see you, every single one of you.

So go into the bathroom right now and turn on the light. Look at yourself in the mirror and give yourself the best Christmas present ever! Look at yourself, straight in the eyes and say, ‘I am good enough. I am good enough. I am good enough.’ And know in your heart of hearts that you truly are.

Merry, merry Christmas! Thank you for being in my life.

With love and light,

Jan

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