They say an ant can carry items between 10-50 times their own body weight. Apparently, if we were as strong as an ant, we could lift an automobile! Crazy right? Ants are small but they are deceiving little powerhouses!

This summer I'm creating an affirmations CD for the '90 Days to Body Love' program launching this fall. I've been reading and writing a lot of 'I AM' statements for the project, and as I've been working on these, I've realized that these two little words are again, deceiving, but yet very powerful.

I want to address a particular thought that appears to be quite common for many of us.

How many of you think it's easier not to deal with your issues? How many of you think it's easier to sweep your problems under the rug or hide them in the closet with all the other skeletons?

Believe me, I'm not judging... I can attest to this thinking.

What I've come to learn, however, is that while it might be difficult to deal with our problems head on, it sure is a heck of a lot easier than trying to live with them for the rest of our lives.

Recently Clayton and I have been struggling with our daughter Cara. She's been extremely needy and she behaves in ways that leave the two of us feeling completely depleted by the end of the day.

Clayton and I talked about it several times and yet we could never seem to come up with a way to solve our dilemma. I decided to book an appointment with our family therapist.

As I explained our situation to Michelle, she was quick to identify the problem and she readily offered some solutions for us to consider.

I love the advertisement for donating blood, "It's in you to give." I completely believe that the same is true for our life's purposes.

Gosh, what is our life's purpose? Such a huge question isn't it?

There are so many answers but you really just have to pick the one that feels right for you.

Here are a few that I love because I don't really believe there is only ever one answer:

Is it possible to turn a negative situation into a positive?

Well, it depends on your mindset and how you choose to perceive the people and circumstances in your life.

Very recently I realized that I believed this was possible but I wasn't actually living it. As I was reflecting on this idea, I realized that for many situations in my life, when things go wrong or when someone hurts me, I still revert to the same old behaviors of either blame or victim. "Why is this happening to me? Why aren't things working out for me? Why does this person behave in that way?"

Repetition is far more important than I ever imagined it to be.

The spiritual law of repetition states that anything done over and over and over again becomes predominant. So whether you are trying to create a new habit or form a new thought system, repetition is key.

Imagine that you are walking through a forest. Every day you walk down the same trail. You have been doing this for years and so the trail is clear. There are no obstacles.

But now imagine if you decide it's time for a change. You want a new trail but in order to make a new trail, it means blazing a whole new path and the forest is very thick. You understand that the new trail will take some work and commitment but you decide it's worth it.

I recently read a Facebook post from one of my friends. She said something like, "People always ask me how I get these really cool speaking gigs. I tell them... 'Because I ask!'"

How many times have you secretly wanted something in your life but never asked for it?

Most of the time, what we want is right at our finger tips, but it requires us to get a little uncomfortable. In order to get what we want, we'd have to step out on a limb and ask for it. Uh, uh... no way, sometimes that's just way too scary right?

The reasons we don't ask for what we want is because when we think about asking for what we want, these are just some of the stories that play out in our head...

Spring is finally here and if you're anything like me you like to re-organize and de-clutter!

Just a few weeks ago I dumped every single toy bin we had in the basement and I sorted and purged over 3 boxes of toys. I did the same thing with the closets in my kid's bedroom. In fact I got rid of 7 bags of clothes between Raylen and Cara! Wow! It felt great!

Then, I proceeded to my office. Doing my taxes and sorting through papers felt so good that I finally decided to make some business image changes that I've been wanting to make for several months now but I was afraid to do it.

It's no big secret. I admitted a long time ago, that for me, when the going gets tough, I eat.

Well, okay, to be fair, it's nothing like it used to be. I've gotten much better. I typically catch myself before the act now, I correct myself and I move on. But it still happens every now and again because I'm not perfect and nor do I pretend to be.

The truth is, when the going gets tough, we all do something. Do you know what you do?

Some women are just like me and they turn to food. Other women admit turning to booze, shopping or internet games. Some women keep themselves really busy so they don't have time to feel or think about what's bothering them. And some women take their frustrations out on those around them... I think we can all admit to doing this every now and again.

You might be thinking, "Systems? What the heck is Carmen talking about? I'm not interested in systems." But here's the thing, over the last week I have been working with my clients to create systems in their homes. (Sometimes I swear my clients speak to each other telepathically, because they often bring up the same kind of issues at the same time! It's really neat actually!)

Anyway, many of us women fall into the right brain category so the idea of systems can be a real turn off. However, if you consider the fact that you are already using systems it's much easier to wrap your head around the idea. You might be thinking, "But I don't use systems!" The truth is, from the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed, there are systems at work whether you are aware of them or not.