How’s That Working Out for You?

“The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.” Albert Einstein What if the entire Universe is conspiring on your behalf? What if you have tribes of Universal cheerleaders supporting you in every conceivable way? What if no matter what may be happening in your life right now, everything is playing in your favor? If you fully accepted that this is a friendly Universe, would you give up a little control? If you knew everything was working out for you, would you relax and let go of fear? Would you allow yourself to have more fun? Would you be open to taking more risks? If you believe that this is a hostile Universe, letting go of control can be one of the scariest things you can do. It’s like putting yourself at the mercy of the enemy. I know because I used to believe the Universe was out to get me. I couldn’t get a break. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was a victim to people and situations. It wasn’t until I began giving up control, surrendering, and trusting my well-being that I began to fully experience it. It’s one of those dichotomy’s of life: You have to give up control to gain it. You have to feel appreciated to be able to receive the appreciation of another. You have to feel beautiful before you can hear and believe the compliments you are given. Whatever you believe—the Universe will provide you evidence of that belief. Open your mind and look for all the reasons everything is working out for you instead of all the reasons it isn’t. Make lists of the […]

The Best Reason to Be Happy

So often we feel like there has to be a reason to be happy. Often that reason is out ahead of us. We tell ourselves that we will be happy when we lose weight, get that job, have a certain amount of money, meet that deadline, recover from an illness, etc. How would your life be different if you could let yourself just be happy anyway? How would it be different if you could be happy on your way to losing weight, getting that job, meeting that deadline, recovering from that illness? Every moment that you deprive yourself of feeling good is like putting yourself in jail and refusing to set yourself free, even though you have the key in your pocket. Wouldn’t it be better to be happy now? And if you really need a reason to be happy, what reason can you use? Regardless of what else may be going on in your life, some reasons to be happy anyway might be: • The sun has risen. • You are receiving these words. • Someone somewhere loves you. (Probably a lot of someones.) • You are alive this moment of this day. • You have some form of nourishment available to you. • You have clothes for your body. • You have a body that is working well-enough for you to understand these words. • There is an abundance of air to breathe. • No matter what your state of wellness, your body is knocking itself out on your behalf. • You have at least one thing that you’re really good at and enjoy doing. • You have a lifetime of experiences that are unique to you. • You see the world as […]

Three Tips for Living Lean

When a woman makes the decision to lose weight, often she wants the change effective immediately. It’s the mindset of, “I want to be a size 4 and I want it today.” This impatience is really being focused on the fact that you don’t have what you want, which means you are fighting the forces of the Universe and will struggle to lose weight. What does it really matter if it takes a little time to achieve your goal? It’s the pain factor, right? It’s looking in the mirror everyday and suffering from body shame. It’s feeling deprived as you turn down that piece of chocolate cake while everybody else digs in. It’s dreading the dressing room and trying on 50 swimsuits to find one that you might be willing to wear in public. It’s the risk of having your partner see you as unsex-worthy because of your sagging stomach. You want to just wave a magic wand and make it all go away. These thoughts are all symptoms of what has caused you to gain weight in the first place. At their heart is the fear of judgment and a lack of self-love. This is why so many diets and exercise programs fail. For lasting results, you have to change your core thoughts and beliefs along with eating healthy foods and moving your body. Here are three tips to let go of the thoughts that keep you from living lean. Focus on a body part you can appreciate. How often do you look in the mirror and criticize your stomach, butt, or thighs? When you catch yourself doing this, shift your attention to something you can compliment. Maybe it’s your hair, your ankles, or […]

Sharing A Prosperity Blessing

One of the first things I do every morning is read inspirational emails from a number of my favorite teachers. Today, before I headed upstairs for my workout, I read Veronica Hay’s Prosperity Blessing, which was shared by Bob Proctor in his Insight of the Day. Abundance and prosperity–which are indeed a part of optimal wellness–have been on my mind a lot lately, and this blessing captured how I woke up feeling. Since these are the wishes I have for you, I am sharing her wonderful words. May you be blessed with an amazingly abundant day today! May the clouds break and the heavens pour down upon you more joy, more love, more laughter and more money than you could have ever dreamed of. May the sun shine its golden light of prosperity through every cell of your extraordinary body. May you be cleansed today of any resistance or feelings of unworthiness that you may still be holding onto. May your false illusions of doubt, fear and scarcity gently fall away like soft white feathers on a gentle breeze. May you be willing, simply willing, to allow the Universe to shower you with miracles today. May the Angels wrap you in their shining wings of opulence. May the fairies deliver you to their pot of gold at the end of a majestic rainbow. May your eyes shine with the glorious truth of who you really are and may that truth uplift others in your presence to their own inner knowing. May your ears hear the sound of perfection ringing in your soul. May you taste the deliciousness of every precious bite of life as your day unfolds moment by moment with amazing grace, heartfelt love […]

What’s the Gift in Not Being Where You Want to Be?

Have you ever noticed when your self-judgment is part of a bigger pattern? You self-judgment could be about anything, but let’s just use weight as an example. For instance, you overeat, beat yourself up, and then feel so bad you overeat again. Or perhaps it’s getting on the scale every morning, and berating yourself because the number isn’t going down, or isn’t going down fast enough. Perhaps it’s looking at yourself in the mirror and only seeing the flaws. Perhaps it’s thinking that your body is somehow different from all the others on the planet and it’s impossible for you to lose weight. Those underlying thought patterns have probably been going on a long time. How well have they gotten you to where you want to go? What if breaking those patterns–and getting different results–begins with changing the underlying thoughts? One way to do that is to pay attention to when self-judgment is surfacing and ask yourself, “What is the opportunity for me here?” Perhaps the opportunity is to learn to better care for yourself so you have more to give to others. Perhaps the opportunity is to figure out Who you really want to be, and to grow into being that person. Perhaps the opportunity is to stop what you’re doing and make a different choice. Perhaps the opportunity is to start valuing yourself, Who you are, and the gifts you have for others. Perhaps the opportunity is to begin to accept the less-than-perfect aspects of yourself and to love yourself anyway. Self-judgment is always a signal that there is an opportunity for you, if you stop the action, quiet your mind, and look for the answers deep within. It can be scary and […]

How Did Your Dream Come True?

There’s a fine line between knowing what the obstacles, pitfalls, and dangers are and using them as an excuse not to go after what you want, or to enjoy the blessings that you have right now. Most people are doing way more excuse-making and fear-focusing than they are careful strategizing and navigation, or appreciation. They just look for the worst possible outcome and use that as the reason not to do something, or not to be in the moment. Here’s a quick way to check how fear-focused you are. You are driving and narrowly miss having a collision with another car. After the hit of adrenalin has passed, do you tell your family, friends, coworkers–and maybe even strangers–all about the crazy driver that almost hit you, how scary it was, or how close you were to disaster? Or do you think, talk, and focus more on how blessed you are that you’re safe, how often you move through life unscathed, and how grateful you are for your healthy body and fully functioning car? Can you feel the difference? This doesn’t mean that you don’t pay attention to where you are and where you are going, but it does mean putting problems and obstacles into perspective (how likely is the worst possible outcome, anyway?) and then figuring out how you would navigate around it should you encounter it. Often, we just take the word or experience of others to keep us from moving forward. For instance, I have a friend who won’t let her husband get on the roof to clean out the gutters because she knew someone who fell off their roof and was severely injured. That was a tragedy for sure, but how often […]

You’re Amazing! Perfect! Just the Way You Are

One of the gifts I get from All-That-Is (God, the Universe, Source Energy, Higher Coach—whatever works for you) is waking up with a song playing in my head that has a message that feels relevant to some element of my life. This morning was one of those mornings. As I opened my eyes, I heard the refrain from a Bruno Mars’ song, “You’re amazing just the way you are.” And this felt like a joyful message not just for me, but for you. Because this is how God sees every single one of us. Each person is unique, beautiful, and perfect just as they are. I know, I know. This may be hard to wrap your mind around. But what would be different about your life if you did let yourself believe in your worthiness just a little bit more? How would it feel to compliment your body instead of criticize it? How would it feel to believe you can do something—and offer yourself encouragement—instead of tearing every effort apart? How would it feel to praise yourself as a beloved child of the Universe, instead of holding on to the false belief that you aren’t worthy? Because no matter your sex, your size, your color, your creed—no matter what—you are amazing, just the way you are. What can you do to let yourself believe this a little bit more today than you did yesterday? How can you allow yourself to be more of the version of you that Source sees? How would that change how you live your life? Together we can do it!   Photo from www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You Have the Power

What if your joy was totally within your control? For many, that seems counter-intuitive or improbable. Often our first response is to say, “When X happens or when someone does X, it makes me so mad!” (Or worried, angry, frustrated, upset—however it makes you feel.) What if that person or situation is just an excuse you have been using to feel mad, worried, angry, frustrated, or upset? What if you have the power to decide how to respond to something instead of having an automatic reaction? Often we’re allowing all kinds of outside things to determine how we will feel—the scale went up, or didn’t go down enough. Someone is doing something that is negatively impacting us. Some situation outside of our control has all of our focus and we are having a negative emotional response to it. What if you are really just saying: “I’m allowing this inanimate object that may not be accurately reflecting my body composition to dictate how I will feel about myself all day?” “I am wanting to control this person’s behavior in order to make me happy?” “I want to control situations that are outside of my control, and until I can, I refuse to be happy?” And what if, when you are using an object, person, or situation to base your negative catabolic emotional response on, you are actually saying “No” to all the good things that All-That-Is (God, the Universe, Source Energy, Higher Coach—whatever works for you) is trying to bring into your life? In other words, when you are feeling catabolic emotions, such as anxiety or frustration about something—like money, for instance—you are not allowing that money to come into your life. It’s only when you […]

What is Your Potential?

In case you need some inspiration today: Arthur Boorman was a disabled veteran of the Gulf War for 15 years, and was told by his doctors that he would never be able to walk on his own, ever again. His story is proof that we cannot place limits on what we are capable of doing because we often do not know our own potential.