I had a beautiful weekend at the Celebrate Your Life conference in Chicago over the weekend. It was truly transformational and I’m so excited to share some things that I learned with you.
I’m going to keep this a short, because my video was a bit too long. I respect your time, so I’ll start with this right off the bat.
I have to apologize for the length of this video. I think I need to break it down further in the future. :-) Due to my one-take rule, I didn’t want to re-record and lose the authenticity of the message.
Please, please, please take responsibility for your actions. Even the smallest one. Harness your energy. You’d be surprised how many smiles you can spread, just by opening your eyes and living in the present. Take the time to ask friend, family, co-workers how they are doing and actually listen.
Smile and thank the cashier person at Target. Honor yourself, but truly loving yourself and letting your light shine through your actions.
A thought, seemingly innocent, can change your reality. I’ve been really taking the time to train my thoughts to reflect what I want to happen. It can be challenging at times, but it’s totally worth it.
My affirmation cards have really helped me learn how to change my vocabulary. If I have a situation that is extremely frustrating, I simply say one of my affirmations.
Don’t let your energy attach to that thought. If that thought comes out, say out loud, “Cancel. Cancel. Cancel. Delete. Delete. Delete.” And actually feel that thought being cancelled.
My love also has another technique that can quickly shift your paradigm. He swaps the word frustrated with fascinated.
Change this sentence to:
“I’m so frustrated with my job right now.”
To this sentence:
“I’m so fascinated with my job right now.”
And let yourself stop to take a moment to break down your so-called ‘frustrations.’ What is fascinating about the situation. Then take that thought and understand that it’s something you don’t want to attract anymore. Adjust your affirmation cards to thoughts leading you away from that end result.
Let’s say it’s a co-worker you’re having issues with. By stopping to break it down, you own your responsibility for the situation. You don’t allow yourself to get worked up. And then you move forward by training your thoughts on how to work with this person in the future. By doing this, you turn your brain into proactive mode, instead of reactive.
I was bitter about my job letting me go and choosing someone that I thought was a lesser candidate. I was a cranky employee. I felt underappreciated.
Time to shift.
“If one advances confidently in the directions of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Henry David Thoreau
Everyday I thank spirit for the opportunities that I have had with my job. I also give thanks for future growth and career development while I’m hunting for a new job. It’s allowed me to create tasks for myself that make me more well-rounded. Instead of mentally checking out, I’ve totally come up with projects that challenge me and test my abilities in my career field.
I’m having difficulties explaining this whole concept, so I hope some of this makes sense.
Create your own “I AM” phrases. Don’t let your day or circumstances decide your “I am’s.”
I am thankful for my job!
I am financially abundant!
I am talented in my career field and will be compensated appropriately by my new employer.
I have a confession! I am now addicted to knocking down walls. You knock down one and then another. Pretty soon, you’ve got this momentum going. Imagine standing at a start line and trying to jump over a hurdle. Now picture yourself getting a running start. Which is easier?
Apply that to jumping over your life obstacles and you’ll see what I mean. Jumping over the first hurdle efficiently, just makes each consecutive hurdle a little bit easier.
Last week I talked about identifying and removing these barriers. Some barriers cannot be removed, but they can be avoided.
I’ve noticed that I have more energy. I’m eating better without much effort. My sleep is better. My family time is more productive.
How can you resist? Let us all shift together. Visualize, believe and recieve.
I’m going to leave you with some images from the GORUCK challenge. This event presented more walls than I was even prepared to deal with. As our group got going though, our synergy developed. When one team member needed a break, another was waiting and ready to take over. Working with a group of strangers seemed almost effortless. My goal is to apply the same ethics and teamwork and to my family.
\
Photos by Klaas Snater, Cedric Dean and Patrick Rhone
We all have our own limitations, right? But why not push these barriers, these walls, these limits. Heck, why not burn them to the ground?
In the video, I mentioned a few quotes by Dr. Wayne Dyer. Here’s one that might be worth writing down.
“I have burning desire - an inner flame that will not be extinguished by outer forces - to know and live from higher regions. To be transformed so that my new concept of myself will no longer include any limitations.
I am willing to challenge and change and thoughts that impede my having a higher vision of myself.”
Are you willing? What’s holding you back?
Afraid of heights? Go rock climbing!
Take some time to look at the people in your daily life. Look at your experiences. Look at your circumstances. What can you remove? You need to cut the clutter before you can start to organize the real meat of your life.
One of my limiting thoughts was the illusion that I wouldn’t get my pre-baby body back. Well, let’s be honest...it won’t be my pre-baby body, but it’s something even more amazing. It’s a body that I nurture. I may have weighed a hundred pounds when I was 20, but I wasn’t eating right. I put junk into my body and didn’t get the right amount of sleep. A challenge that, I’ll admit, I’m still working on. I pranced around in bikinis looking for the acceptance of strangers.
My new body loves me. My new body is whole. I’m strong and I’m ready for whatever life brings my way.
A good example of how I've tackled new things is CrossFit. When I started, I couldn’t walk without wincing in pain for three days. Now, I crave it. I feel gross when I don’t go. I love that feeling!
I’m also going to be tackling the GORUCK challenge tonight. For those of you who don’t know what it is:
I’ll be posting all about that experience next week. :-)
This weekend, my friends, join me. Knock ‘em dead. Burn ‘em down! Start with eliminating and then go into organizing. What cupcakes are tempting you?
And if you’re having a particularly challenging day, spend some time with a child. It will help simplify things for you and give you a whole new look at the world that surrounds us! No silly walls for these kiddos...
Keep smiling, lovelies! I’m so very grateful and blessed that you’re in my life!
I’ve recieved a lot of feedback regarding my blog. I’m happy to report that my intent is being carried out. I want to help enLIGHTen people, in every sense of that word. I’m also on my own journey though. And as often as you might find inspiration or guidance through my blog, I’m also visiting it in order to keep myself on the right path.
So, what do I do when I’m having a bad day? Well, there are many techniques, but I want to share the ones I most frequently use. Sometimes, when you’re out and about, you feel you don’t have time to stop and think something out. That’s ok. Here's some tricks I use to shake the funk, instead of faking it.
I wanted to share the following story in order to give you a specific example of how I’ve shifted my energy and in return, had an outstanding day!
It was Easter Day. After my divorce, I didn’t really enjoy holidays. I sulked in the memories. I always remain grateful for what I have, but let’s face it...sometime we get sad. Sometimes we get mad. And holidays triggered that for me.
I had a wonderful friend visit with her kids in the morning. Her husband was deployed, so it was great to get the kids together and visit the pool. She's an amazing person and it's always a blessing to surround ourselves with awesome people.
I was grateful, yet still missing the big family gathering. My son’s grandmother (ex’s mom) had invited us over, but driving 3.5 hours one way was a bit too far. They've been such awesome grandparents and have helped us out a lot with this transition. Once again, I was grateful to have such awesome people in our lives, but still in a funk.
So, I decided to visit people that may feel the same way. Logan and I emptied his eggs from the morning egg hunt. We filled them back up with candy and little hand-written ‘thank you’ notes that I wrote on paper and cut in to strips. After rolling the strips and stuffing the eggs, I wrote 'LOVE' on the outside of each egg. We then headed to the VA hospital in Minneapolis.
This place is usually bustling with activity. In the past, I’ve invested a lot of my time in their parking lot just looking for a space. Today? A dozen cars were scattered in the lot.
Entering the building was a bit eery and I wasn’t sure that this mission would be a success. Logan was a bit confused as to why he had to share his eggs and where everyone was at.
We trekked on and slowly started finding people. We found a guy hunched over in a chair in a waiting area outside one of the doctor's offices. Now, remember the offices are closed, so it’s dark in this lobby. There’s no background noise or elevator music. No phones ringing. Just silence and there he sits...alone. We didn't wake him, but still placed an egg next to him.
We came across another guy just hanging in a dimly lit hallway by himself. He was a Vietnam veteran and missing both legs, below the knee. He smiled as Logan reached into his basket and pulled out a shiny plastic egg. “Happy Eeth-ta,” Logan said with a grin. He has a bit of a lisp still. hee hee
At this point, Logan was mostly excited just to be sharing. He’s a little young to understand exactly what we were doing. But, I know these experiences will remain in his heart and mind. After delivering our eggs, we headed for the exit.
“Logan, I’m really proud of you for sharing your eggs,” I said to him. “Some of those people don’t have family to share today with.”
“And dey don’t have eggs, mama,” Logan questioned.
“Yes, Logan. And they don’t have eggs,” I confirmed. “But they do now, because you shared your eggs and your light.”
“I shared, mama,” he proudly stated.
Brings tears to my eyes just thinking back to that day. I set out to shift my paradigm. I set out to take my mind off of things. I also wanted to share the joy of that day with my Logey Bear. I ended up with so much more.
I had an appointment at the VA last week and ran into the Vietnam vet in the cafeteria. It was as if we were old friends. As he smiled, his life and experiences were illustrated through each wrinkle. He had it rough, yet his eyes still twinkled when he saw me. I was in uniform this time and you could tell he was a bit surprised to see that I was also in the military.
We had a short exchange, but my heart was filled for the rest of the day. I think I’ll do more of this work. I want to visit a women’s shelter. I can connect with them. It might hurt. It might bring up bad memories, but I’m ready to release. I’m ready to grow.
Each day is truly yours to own. Your energy is exactly that...YOURS! Please claim your energy and be responsible for it!
Take a timeout if you have to. Take time for yourself. Do whatever it takes. It’s totally worth it, I promise!
Tell me how you shifted a “bad” day! Keep smiling!
As we spring clean our lives and set goals, it’s important to retain our balance. Focusing too much on work may lead to imbalance in your diet or exercise. The scales can lean many ways. Focus too much on family and you may lose sense of your own goals and burn yourself out.
So, where could you use some balance? You CAN control this, ya know? Are your excuses what is holding you back?
What do you want you want in your life? A dear friend, Avianna, recently started a running journey after many years of believing she would never be a runner. Last Friday, she decided, “I am a runner.” She is now training to run a 5k race in June. And that, my lovelies, is how it’s done! I say again, what do you want in your life? Who do you want to be?
To figure out where you want to go or who you want to be, start with who you are.
I’m a woman...and a Soldier!
I’m a mother. I’m a sister. I’m a Staff Sergeant in the Minnesota National Guard. I’m a photographer and graphic designer. I’m a CrossFitter.
Who are you? Who do you want to be?
I wanted to become more fit. That goal required better nutrition. How could I make this change. I was doing well with balance, but making time to prepare better meals seemed a little out of reach. I told myself, “STOP! Be present to change the present!”
I came home one night and needed to get some dinner made made quickly, but I was low on ingredients. I was determined to balance my evening so that I could have quality time with Logan. That meant no trip to the grocery store.
Step out of your comfort zone! Thank you for sharing the following quote, Grace!
"A ship in harbor is safe,
but that is not what ships are built for."
~ John A. Shedd
I love anything Mexican, but was challenged due to my recent goal of giving up chips, bread, tortillas and the like.
So, when I was craving tacos last night, I just changed it up. I took 99% lean ground turkey and cooked it up with taco seasoning. Not impressed yet, are you? Well, I skipped the sour cream, cheese, rice and tortillas! Instead I placed the taco meat, tomatoes, black beans and fresh salsa (no Pace Picante here!) over a bed of romaine lettuce and spinach.
Not only was it filling, but I felt good afterward. I felt clean. I felt nourished!
Remember that balance is key. That requires you to be present. You must own your day. You must own your life. If you believe and practice this conscious living every day, you’ll be sure to keep smiling! :-)
***By the way, we’re starting a LOVE RUNNERS group here in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Training schedule will be posted on Facebook. You can join even if you can’t do the run with us. If you live somewhere else, get your shoes on and run with a friend. We will have our first 5k on June 20th. Message me to be invited!
All right, lovelies. The sun is shining, flowers are in bloom and it’s time for some spring cleaning. By spring cleaning, I mean cleaning out all of the clutter from your life. Time to dig through those bad habits. This is really something to do all year round, but I’ve found that I’m slacking in some areas after the last year’s challenges.
So, let’s go and get some transformation rolling!
What are you connecting to that you shouldn't be? Time to chop, chop, chop it out!
It’s easier than you think to disconnect from these space fillers. It’s your life and you need to do work! Get it done!
In order to track your goals, you can use a calendar, planner or whatever. Find a method that is easy. I just use a notebook. This is the same notebook that I use as a journal and also where I write my dreams and affirmations. Find something that works, so that you can get in the habit easily.
After about a month, your planning and journal time will become a routine. Just you setting and knocking out your goals one by one. You transforming your life and living your purpose!
Visualize it right now. Take the time to close your eyes and focus on those daily, weekly and monthly goals!
