Members of the East Valley Chapter of National Charity League welcomed noted author Martha Beck to their August meeting, learning from one of the nation’s top  motivational speakers how to make life a more positive and rewarding journey.

Her appearance was a kind of “refresher” course for local NCL members, who already energize their lives by volunteering for the many worthwhile philanthropic causes the organization supports.

Mothers and daughters spend quality time together making the lives of others more fulfilling through their charity work, making their own lives better just by putting that positive energy into the universe.

It’s the same philosophy Beck spoke of in her time at the podium.

Watching and listening to Beck, one could feel the energy of the room change when she spoke of achieving goals by simply visualizing the change you want to see in your own life.

Listening to her speak, the possibilities seemed endless; every one of us in that room, I dare say, planned to walk out and change our lives for the better.

The infectious tone and the endless possibilities were just too much to dismiss. Tomorrow would truly be the first day of the rest of our lives. Positive thinking was going to get us all that we ever dreamed and desired.

It seemed so simple sitting in that room; all I needed to do was go home and make a list of the things I desired, then do some basic positive visualization by cutting pictures out of magazines and posting them on a board.

It was the best news I’d received in a long time: Everything I want is not only possible but attainable. All I need to do is to put my desires out into the universe.

It hasn’t been quite a week since this message was put into my universe. And of course I ran home and made lists and put together visualization boards so that all my dreams would come true…or did I?

It seems the main problem I have in making my dreams come true is that I apparently suffer a severe lack of follow-through.

I was so primed for action when I stepped from our meeting into the bright sunshine; everything I needed was at my fingertips—just a few snips of the scissors away and my dreams could come true.

I even stopped at Changing Hands Bookstore on my way home so I could browse through the magazines, where all my desires are pictured on those glossy pages. This, somewhat to my consternation, is where the whole process broke down.

I walked into my kitchen with grand ideas swirling in my head, to be confronted by a hungry five-year-old attacking and, whoosh, I’m whisked right back to reality.

That’s OK, I thought. I can whip up a quick snack to tide him over while I start the project that changes my life.

Oh, but now another attack. This time some math help is urgent. This too can be taken care of rather quickly; back to the visualization exercise. Now I have a moment, so my desires are going to be fulfilled, but reality is back again, dinner seems to be a popular demand now. I can cut out a picture of meatloaf and it will appear on the table, deliciously edible, right?

Maybe that is not quite the spirit of the exercise I was working on. I’ll work on my dreams once everyone is tucked into bed. There is always tomorrow.

Now, a week later, what do I have on my visualization board, you ask? Let’s just say I’m still visualizing myself making a visualization board. Maybe I’ll cut out a picture of myself working on the board and start with that.

If any of you out there have any tips to help me through with these grand ideas, please send them my way.

I promise I’ll try to follow through with your techniques…or at least visualize myself doing it.