Monday, July 18, 2016

The Five Keys to Living a Fulfilling and Joyous Life



 I thought that I had a very fulfilling life until five years ago when I had a stroke, which turned my life upside down. But what it taught me was what was really important in life. I wish to share with you the keys that have made my life so much more fulfilling and joyous as I journey down the road to recovery. These keys are:

       Live presently
       Surrender the ego
       Know that you created your life
       Know that you can manifest anything you desire
       Live simply

Live presently - You’ve heard this before, I’m sure, but it’s so true. Don’t be like the person I was before my stroke. I never lived mindfully by enjoying each precious moment.  I was always thinking about what I wanted in the future, but never thinking that I had the power to manifest it by focusing on it in the present. And because my thoughts were always about things that were only possibilities, I never really fully experienced what was concrete and real, what was right in front of me, that which had substance. And a by-product of this today is not having many memories of my past, since I really didn’t live them. Does that make sense? Now, I try to always stay present with everything I do, no matter how big or small. And when I feel like I am wandering off, I try to bring myself back. You’ll will find that if you can keep yourself focused on “the now”, life around you becomes so much more vibrant, so much more alive.

Surrender the ego - Know that you really don’t have control over your life, although your ego may think it does. Yes, you have free will and the ability to respond to circumstances in your life, but you don’t actually have control over these circumstances that you may encounter in your life. I certainly didn’t expect to have a stroke, since I didn’t have any of the warning signs. And the biggest task that I have had as I make my way to full recovery is to surrender my extreme need to control. It was so ingrained in my that I didn’t realize how bad it was, until Spirit “bonked me on the head” with the stroke and told me that I needed to change directions in my life. So be like a river that flows naturally, and when it comes to a craggy rock or some other obstacle, it just naturally flows around and/or over it. It doesn’t try to resist or try to control its direction. It simply operates by the laws of nature that animates it.

Know that you created your life - Did you know that before you were born, you made a contract with your soul stating what kind of life you were going to live? This included who the people in your life would be, what opportunities and hardships would come your way and the like. It became the blueprint by which you were to live your life. What’s good about having this awareness is that you have control of how you respond to how these things might affect you, as I have said above. I never thought I would have a stroke, but when it happened, I saw it as a gift from the heavens, not just some horrible tragedy that changed my life forever. It hasn’t been an easy journey, but I am grateful for what it has taught me and how it has changed my life for the better. I know that my behavior and thoughts and actions before the stroke weren’t in alignment with what I was supposed to do in the world. So as I said, Spirit intervened to get me on track. So if you’re challenged in some way in your life, try not to look at it with a heavy heart or deep anger or a “why me” attitude. Instead, embrace it and look for the lesson(s) and message(s) it is bringing to you to help you in your personal evolution.

Know that you can manifest anything you desire - But also know that it doesn’t always happen when you want it to happen. That is, unless your timing is in alignment with your soul’s timing. Also know that we can be either conscious manifestors or unconscious manifestors. And most of us most of the time are unconscious manifestors until we learn how to consciously manifest things. For example, my novel Anything is Possible is based on a story that I created in 1998 that manifested in 2007. Little did I know that I was creating my own reality and that it would take nine years. Now as I try to follow my own advice that I am expounding on here, I’ve been consciously living in the present and surrendering my ego-based need to control. I have been putting my desires “out there” through affirmations and positive thoughts and meditation, and lo and behold, the universe has been opening doors for me in ways that I never would have imagined. So, do you want to be an unconscious or a conscious manifestor?

Live simply - Since my stroke, I have been reduced to living a very simple life with very few possessions, with all my “stuff” in storage. And even when I got several boxes of clothes out of storage, I gave half of them away even though I was attached to them. I had some nice stuff! Having too much stuff, to me, is like having a noose around your neck. It holds you back and  weighs you down. It creates debt and then you have to work harder to pay for it all. It becomes unwieldy to manage and creates clutter and disorder. Instead of having experiences in life like travel or being adventurous, you’re tied down to having to keep up with your stuff. I guess I would rather spend my time exploring the world. There’s so much to see and do. I would much rather be driving my red VW convertible beetle through the Texas Hill Country than be slumped over my PC, slaving away at my job (like I did before my stroke) trying to figure out how I was going to pay for the mercedes benz I wanted to buy. Oh, BTW, the VW is my dream car that I am working on manifesting, and it will bome to me because I am consciously focusing on its reality. What about you? Can you see yourself simplifying your life? Getting rid of the clutter, the baggage, of stuff that doesn’t really serve you anymore? Would you like to live a simpler life, releasing the weight that may be tying you down?


These are the five keys by which I have been living my life since that glorious day five years ago, and I’m better for it. I hope that what I have imparted has some meaning in your life too.




Believing In the Magic
Sarah’s Gift
Book Two
Erica Tucci

Genre: Children’s fiction, paranormal, social issues

Publisher: Publish it Write

Date of Publication: July 18, 2016

Word Count: 12,391

Cover Artist: Nada Serafimovic

Book Description:

Sarah is a fifth grader who has psychic abilities - she can see spirits. At school she meets Leila , a fourth grader and finds out that Leila also has psychic abilities. She uses telekinesis to make things happen, but she uses them to get back at kids in school who taunt her. Knowing how it is to be taunted by her peers, Sarah befriends Leila and helps her learn how to use her powers in a good way. In the end, Leila encounters a situation in which her powers “save the day”.



About the Series:

Sarah’s Gift is a series of chapter books for 7-12 year olds about a young girl with psychic abilities, who uses them to harmlessly deal with different life situations. Standing Up for Yourself is about how Sarah deals with a school bully. Believing In the Magic is about how Sarah helps a girl with telekinetic abilities use them in a good way. There will be a book coming out every two months, with several of them being co-authored by youngsters, the third one being one of them.


 “Standing Up for Yourself is a gift that many parents will welcome. It helps parents encourage a child's gift of second sight perception that is all too often written off as ‘just your imagination’. Through the story telling Ms. Tucci provides support for children for their intuitive and psychic gifts. I've noticed how many more children these days are being acknowledged rather than shamed for their capacities to see, hear, and feel those ordinarily non-visible beings that make their appearance known. Both you and your child will thoroughly enjoy this story!” — Dr. Steven Farmer, author of Animal Spirit Guides, Earth Magic, and the Children's Spirit Animal Cards

"I am raving about the second book Believing in the Magic in the Sarah's Book Series by author Erica Tucci. As soon as I started reading the first few pages I couldn't put the book down. As a young child I remember magical moments in my life. I had great intuition and was always helping and healing friends and the creatures that God created. Sarah's story took me back in time to my childhood. Each of us have magical gifts that can be used for the goodness of life just like Sarah...The mindset of positive thinking and using your gifts for the greater good as Sarah brought out helping her friend Leila, are belief systems we all can learn from. In this story the messages are we are our own magic and believe in the power of thought for the greater good...This is a book to read to your children and discuss with them...It's a story of a compassionate friendship with a binding of acceptance in unconditional love."— Cindy Hively, Intuitive Healing Catalyst for Women



Excerpt: Introduction Believing In the Magic

Sarah lay in bed. She had just started reading The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts. Her digital clock on her nightstand read 8:30. Stifling a yawn, she turned the page to keep reading; she was engrossed in the book and finding out more about Katie.
“Just for the fun of it, Katie had shifted the air current then so that the pollen drifted under his nose; when he sneezed, Pastor Grooten had to grab for his sermon pages before they sailed off the lecturn.”
Wow! Sarah thought. To be able to move things by just thinking about it. How does Katie do it? But then she thought about what she was able to do. I can talk to ghosts. I wonder if there are others out there who have psychic abilities. I can’t be the only one! Katie was different, like her, just in a different way. Wouldn’t it be nice to meet someone else who was different. There have to be others like her somewhere. Sarah wished she could meet Katie. They could be best friends!
She delved into the book, reading passage after passage of Katie’s harmless pranks: making her horrible babysitter tremble at the sight of a floating fork and creating a gust of wind that caused a door to slam into her pesky neighbor’s face.
Sarah understood Katie’s predicament. Katie had silver eyes and was odd to people around her. Sarah felt the same way. Most people shied away from her because they thought she was “cursed.”
She was so enamored by the book that she read until her eyes became very heavy. She remembered when she was younger how her dad would say “Your eyes are getting heavy; you are getting sleepy, sleepy, sleepy” when he was trying to put her to sleep. How she missed her dad. She knew that he was okay on the other side since her grandmother who had come to her one day told her so. She wondered if he would come to her directly someday. It would be so nice to see him and talk to him, even if he was in spirit and not on the earthly plane anymore.
Turning off her bed lamp and laying her book on her nightstand, Sarah snuggled under her duvet and fell fast asleep. She had no problem falling asleep; in fact, she would fall into such a deep sleep, she would have the most vivid dreams. And that night was no different.
She was sitting in the back seat of her mom’s car peering out the window. The crow came up to her window and started tapping on it with his beak. He started talking to her telepathically. “Pay attention to the magic in the world,” he chirped. “You can create anything you like through magic. Your thoughts are powerful!”

Sarah woke up the next morning thinking about the dream and how she felt that crow was trying to tell her something, but what? She had to put it out of her mind for now since she had to get ready for school. She would ponder over it when she got home in the afternoon.

About the Author:

Erica Tucci had a full life as a corporate manager of a Fortune 500 company, a healing arts business owner and an author. It all came to a screeching halt in June 2011 when she had a stroke. During her recovery, she gained much wisdom about what’s really important in life. Although she was a Reiki master, massage therapist and life coach as well as a corporate cog, she realized that her passion was her books. Her hope now is that the messages of her books will be an inspiration for others, young and old. Her most recent venture has been her Sarah’s Gift series, chapter books for 7-12 year olds about a young girl with psychic abilities, which speak to the children with special gifts, helping them deal with different life situations. Her other books include Moms and Their Young Spirited Boys (1998), Anything is Possible, a novel based on a true love story (2011), Zesty Womanhood at 40 and Beyond (2011), Radiant Survivor (2013 - Amazon bestseller), and most recently the first book of the Sarah’s Gift series Standing Up for Yourself (2016 - Amazon bestseller). The second book Believing In the Magic will be available for pre-order June 30 and is being released July 18.

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2 comments:

jean602 said...

I prefer paperback copy.Thanks for the chance.

jean602 said...

I prefer paperback copy.Thanks for the chance.