Network Miracle

Blog post by: Michelle Hazelwood
Universal Wellness


I was attending my monthly business networking meeting held at various local businesses. This meeting was hosted by a deluxe assisted living facility in Venice. The first miracle was the luxurious spread they provided us for breakfast complete with chefs making our custom omelets to the beautifully carved ice sculpture.

Every meeting there is a drawing from the business cards for lovely prizes. Often they are things/services that I’m not interested in and I wish them for the person whose life will be enhanced most in receiving them. However, on numerous occasions there are prizes I desire and I say, “That’s mine” or “I want that!” Yes, they’ve picked my card 99% of the time that happens. Today I wanted a gift for a very silly reason. I wanted the gift bag it was it. The bag was all sparkly and pretty and I’d run out of bags to gift people things in. The prize happened to be a bottle of wine (not something I’m big on) and a bottle stopper with a beautiful silver heart….the heart will stay with me for a while

Everyone gets a chance to stand up, introduce themselves and their businesses. I stood up and said, “For all those who have been following my Spa Retreat progress…..manifestation, I thought it was Costa Rica but recently Panama has been presenting more powerfully. If anyone has any leads or ideas, please let me know.”

At the end of the meeting, a gal who worked at the assisted living facility, Julie *, came up to me and said, “I live in Panama”. She has homes here and there. She asked what areas I was considering. Trying not to be too specific and open, I said, “kind of around the west side, near Costa Rica.” Julie says, “I live in Bocas Del Toro.” She couldn’t help but notice my eyes getting bigger than saucers. Bocas Del Tor has been in my mind for months. Bocas info and pictures were on my desk that very moment. She said she could connect me with the various spas around and I could stay at her apartment. We agreed to get together later that evening at her place.

So I’m going to my new angel’s place to talk business and possibilities. Lo and behold, thanks to my morning’s winnings, I even have a gift to bring….a lovely bottle of wine! I arrive at Julie’s condo right at the beach on Venice Island and her husband Dan* answers the door. It was kind of interesting as he is all dressed up….in swim trunks! As I enter I see she is wearing a bathing suit herself. I’m thinking, “She’s totally comfortable in the midst of luxury and totally down to earth too – I like these people!” My first feelings couldn’t have been more right. We talked and laughed for hours feeling like we’d known and loved each other forever.

Turns they have all the connections I could possibly dream of in Panama. Dan is in construction and knows about properties, building and dealing with “the system”. Julie has holistic training, knows how to go into the rainforest to get plants for cooking and healing. She gave me some soap she made that smelled good enough to eat. She showed me her hand-crafted jewelry made from sharks teeth and shells. Layer after delightful layer of complimentary information unfolded.

So, I had all sorts of choices. I could go now, stay at their place and flounder on my own…..not good timing anyway (legal stuff not quite finished here). I could go with Dan in August when he prepares the way for Julie’s effortless arrival. Or I could go with Julie in September effortlessly flying in with her. I won’t need to know how to call a taxi or even where my apartment is. I’ll just have an Angel to guide me around, show me the ropes and introduce me to all sorts of cool people and adventures. I choose Door 3, thank you Universe!

So, I’ll be dancing off to Panama in September to live and scope out areas for the Spa Retreat. I’ve been doing plenty of virtual traveling and now it’s time for me to really see and feel the areas. Then I’ll be able to provide more info for the Spa Retreat Birth Plan to present to my potential financiers. They are beautiful people but a little more “practically” minded than I. The Universe will provide and my Angels and Fairies are always taking care of me aren’t enough for them.

More adventures later……


Michelle Hazelwood has contributed to the elevation of the planet through motivating, training, and sharing the personal benefits of fitness with men and women throughout the United States since 1982.

Offering a high level of expertise to the Personal Training profession, Michelle brings years of certified qualifications to her clients. You can learn more about Michelle through her website: Universal Wellness

Is there really Instant Success?

Everybody fails but very few successful people ever want to discuss it.

Anyone who does anything in the world has to experience failure. It is impossible to have all the “right” answers before setting off in pursuit of your goals. We all know that Henry Ford was responsible for manufacturing the first mass produced automobile called the Model T. But very few people are aware that the Model T was not his first automobile. He went through models from A to S that all were failures before he got it right. Coca-Cola was only selling a dozen cases a week for a long time before they got it right. Even Thomas Edison failed over 1,000 different times while working on the filament for the light bulb before he was successful.

Our society should glorify failure the same way it glorifies success. The stories we read about in the general press and in special interest magazines all make success sound easy. They tell you stories similar to the housewife who was selling her "Best Tastin’ " cookies at school bake sales when her son’s teacher suggested she should sell them in stores. Almost overnight she's a millionaire.

These stories make you feel that you should also be a success overnight or you are a FAILURE. Not true! Go out and fail ... that is the best way to get anywhere. The odds of being an instant success are about the same as you being hit by lightning. If you live in Florida, where lightning has a habit of striking often, your odds may not be so bad. However, if you're waiting for the right idea that is sure to be an instant success like you see in the magazines, you'll never do anything. Magazines write their articles so that you will believe that you, too, can be an instant success, if you must have the “right” idea, just like the people they profile. This is how they sell magazines.

The problem with these instant success stories is instead of encouraging you, they are more likely to stop you from fulfilling your dream. When you hear about a common persons instant success you might find yourself thinking..."If that average person can do it, why can't I?" If that average person really did it and you can't, you're going to feel dumb. How can an average person be smarter than you? No one wants to know that an average person is smarter than you are so you don't do anything about it. Or, if you attempt to figure out and make your own instant success, you get angry because your life didn't change overnight. You get discouraged and hang up your dreams.

We all have misconceptions about the way things work and what will be successful. We are inundated from all sides with opinions. Our friends, family, associates, and teachers all continually tell us why they believe someone else is a success. If they really knew the answer, they would be doing it too. Or these well-meaning folks hinder your success by attempting to protect you. They do not want to see you hurt. They will show you 15 ways your idea is likely to fail. Something to remember, though, the founder of Federal Express first presented his idea as a paper in business school and the professor barely gave him a passing grade because he thought the idea wouldn't work. And that was at Harvard! So trust your instincts and set your idea in motion, regardless of what some people might say.

The reason for your success will be because you are different than anyone else and your product and/or services will fit a niche and fulfill a need better than anyone else's.

If you want to succeed, most likely you are going to experience failure. A “failure” can be a good thing. If an idea appears to flop, take time to analyze before moving on. Rather than assigning blame or beating yourself down because of it, re-examine the failure. Determine it’s cause. Was it insufficient planning? Was it poor timing? Was it insufficient research? Was it insufficient resources? Was it erroneous data?

Don’t let yourself jump to conclusions. Allow yourself to get all the facts , so you can make a well-founded decision on the actual outcome of your efforts. You may find some efforts were useful or correct, however, most of all with proper analysis, you will gain a valuable learning experience

Welcome Failure.

It's the best springboard to your future success.

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