“I decided, very early on, just to accept life unconditionally; I never expected it to do anything special for me, yet I seemed to accomplish far more than I had ever hoped. Most of the time it just happened to me without my ever seeking it.” -Audrey Hepburn I accept life unconditionally. That phrase has been going through my mind for the past week since I read this quote on Gossip Gone Good. I accept life unconditionally. What does that mean to you? For me, it’s letting go of judgment—that anything is either good or bad—and valuing every experience of life. It’s accepting where you are and not comparing yourself with anyone else. It’s letting go of resistance. It’s going with the flow. It’s allowing life to unfold instead of trying to control it. It’s appreciating All of life. I accept life unconditionally. What would be different about your life if that was your decision? Often, people feel that by accepting a situation, you are just allowing the bad thing to persist; that without constant vigilance, the problem will just get worse and worse. But the opposite is actually true. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” -Albert Einstein You must actually lift your eyes from the problem and turn and look for the solutions. When you are focused on the problem, all you see is more of the problem. Think of it this way. Have you ever decided to buy a car, and all of a sudden every other car on the road was that car? Where did they all come from? When you are focused on something, your subconscious mind brings more of that thing into […]
What You are Doing that’s Keeping You From Slim and Sexy
“I’m doing everything right. Why isn’t my body responding?” “Being on a diet makes it really hard to enjoy life.” “I’ve tried everything and nothing works!” “Losing weight is a struggle every day.” “I’m so TIRED of being overweight.” “Why can’t I just have a normal body, and relax and enjoy myself like I see other people do?” “I’m already working so hard and I’m not seeing any results. I don’t know what else to do.” These are common statements that I hear women make. They feel frustrated, angry, and often think that their body is somehow faulty and that they are stuck with the body shape they have. And they desperately want something else. They yearn for a healthy, slim, and sexy body—sometimes more than anything else! What if it is these very thoughts that are holding you back? What if those feelings of desperation and yearning are like spraying yourself with healthy, slim, and sexy repellent? It’s possible that may actually make you feel worse. “How can I not feel desperate,” you might ask? “How can I not think dieting is hard when it bloody well is,” you might argue? This is not meant to make you self-critical, inspire you to explain to me why your situation is different (that just keeps you stuck), or to overwhelm you because you’re already working so hard to “fix it.” Honestly, I get it. I spent more than 35 years thinking some of those same thoughts and feeling that desperation. I couldn’t get a break. My body was somehow faulty, and actually felt like it was working against me. I tried everything and I couldn’t see any more solutions. But what I discovered is that […]
What Did You Envision?
When you were watching the Olympics, did you notice how many athletes closed their eyes for a few moments before they got into the starting position? My guess is that they were visualizing the performance they wanted to have. Visualizing is a powerful technique that is scientifically proven. It makes sense when you realize that thoughts have energy, so aligning your thoughts and your actions builds your momentum for reaching your goals. But I always struggled with visualizing until I tied it to how I would feel when I achieved my goal. Emotions are easier for me to direct, and they add another little push. Now I have the energy of my thoughts and emotions behind my actions. You can began practicing this emotional envisioning in various ways. Before bed, think about how you want to feel as you move through your day—for instance how energized and eager you are to give your workout your all. How much you appreciate the food that you are eating and your amazing body that is knocking itself out on you behalf. Then as you go through your day, reach for the emotion you envisioned—and then make it even more specific. For instance, not only reach for feeling energized and eager before your workout, but also think about how good it feel afterwards–it makes you feel alive, confident, successful, even powerful. Spend a moment allowing yourself to feel that way, and then begin moving your body. Talk about amping up your workout! And an added bonus is it increases the positive feelings you experience when you’re done, so the good feeling just keeps getting better and better! Feel how you want to experience your meal before you eat. Feel how rested […]
Wellness Tip of the Day
Wellness Tip of the Day: Let go of the need for something to happen to give you a reason to be happy. Look for ways to just be happy anyway.
Progress Not Perfection
My 18-week Transformation Challenge is complete and I am excited to report that I met—and even surpassed—almost all of my goals. And I’ll admit that the recovering perfectionist in me is a little disappointed that I wasn’t perfect. Good to know that I still (and will forever and always) have internal work to do! Progress not perfection! One of my main goals was to measure my success by how much I enjoyed the process. This was a huge win! The past 18 weeks have been phenomenal! I truly have met my goal of living a healthy, vibrant, and fulfilling life that is meaningful to myself and others. What this means is that I’m weaning myself off obsession and living life more fully and in balance. This is an important shift to make for long-term sustainability. Life is meant to be lived fully. Some other wins: Consistently improved my nutrition Recovered and significantly improved my fitness after my surgery in December (went from struggling to do 5 to 10 knee push ups at a pop to 20 to 30 knee push ups. Personal best was 255 knee push ups in a workout!) Weaned myself off all regular prescription drugs Reconnected with family Shifted negative catabolic energy around deadlines, money, and my body Meditated daily Achieved two coaching certifications Definitely let go of some limiting beliefs Lost 2 inches from my waist Lost 1 inch from my hips and each thigh Was able to get back into my size 4 shorts Lost 6 pounds Went from 24.6 to 21.5 body fat percentage Significant progress right? Where I fell short was that I didn’t meet my goal of getting down to 19 percent body fat or losing 10 […]
How Fun!
My husband is cashing in one of his birthday presents, and we are headed out on a horseback riding adventure. I thought I’d leave you with one of my favorite blogs on the importance of having fun. “A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing.” Laura Ingalls Wilder, Author As I sat down to write this blog on the importance of having fun, my first thoughts were that I should focus on the health benefits of laughter, such as how it can lower stress hormones, boost the immune system, and can even reverse disease. And then I realized that I was being serious about having fun. Doh! I, like so many people, decided pretty early that life is serious. People seemed to take me seriously when I was serious, and as a result I became very intensely serious. Whew. Just thinking about my seriousness makes my energy drop. Being overly serious is seriously no fun! And just like relaxing, laughing, and having fun is really good for your body, mind, and spirit (I could quote some science, but how fun is that?), taking life too seriously has some serious impacts on the body. So lighten up! Don’t just wait until the weekend to laugh and have fun. Play with your pets or kids. Spontaneously dance around the kitchen when you’re making dinner, or catch a funny movie with your favorite person. And most importantly, laugh at yourself when you’re taking life too seriously. Beyond all the reasons it’s good for you, it just feels good. Together we can do it!
Keep Moving Forward
I’m at a workshop in Sedona, Arizona, this week, so I’m sharing a few of my favorite blogs. While this was first posted on Swim. Bike. Run. 3NDURANCE on March 21, I just recently read this blog on Julie Moss’ incredible finish at the Ironman Kona in 1982 Here she is near the finish of one of the most grueling endurance events in the world. With a short lead, Julie could no longer run after swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and running 26 miles, so she tried walking. Her legs buckled. So she tried to stand and walk again. Her legs buckled yet another time. So she did the only thing that she was able . . . she crawled to the finish line even after being passed at the very end! She showed amazing fortitude in the face of a struggle. I strongly encourage you to read Julie’s account of the race here. What is it that motivates you to keep moving forward?
Wellness Tip of the Weekend
Wellness Tip of the Weekend: Be in charge of your happiness. Making choices that are best for you will enable others to make the best choices for them.
16 Ways to Affirm Your Wellness
While traveling, I thought I would share one of my favorite posts that you might not have read. Sometimes we are so stuck in old thought patterns that it seems impossible to change them. This makes total sense when you think about the momentum that we have created around old thoughts. We might have been thinking those same old thoughts that keep us stuck for most of our lives. But that doesn’t mean we can’t change our thoughts and make them more positive and supportive of where we want to be. One tool that has been really effective for my personal transformation has been using affirmations. There are lots of ways to use affirmations, but what’s worked best for me is to consciously choose those thoughts where I am stuck on the negative—thoughts like I don’t want to be overweight, I don’t want to eat healthy foods, I don’t want to exercise—and create an affirmation that is the new thought I want to think. So “I don’t want to exercise” becomes “I feel good about the amount and intensity of exercise that I am getting.” One of the keys to my getting the weight off and keeping it off was to create a list of affirmations around my diet and fitness goals and then read them every day. I also might read them if I felt myself wavering on getting my workout in or eating healthy foods. As I read them, I really tried to get into the feeling those new thoughts created. It worked best for me to phrase the “new thought” in a way that I could believe and get behind. As a result, the affirmations actually shifted over time as I proved […]
I’m Healthy and I Know It!
Last night after brushing our very furry Keeshond dogs, I picked up the grooming table to put it away and dropped it on the ball-joint of my foot. To say it hurt is an understatement. It hurt so much, in fact, that I thought I had broken it. After hearing the crash and racing up the stairs, my fabulous husband found me writhing on the floor with my foot already turning dark shades. Remembering the RICE rule (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation), David immediately got me up on the sofa to ice and elevate my foot. Once the initial wave of pain eased, I hobbled into the bedroom where I remained for the rest of the night. For about the first 20 minutes, I lay there trying to think about how I could alter my exercise routine to work around my injury. As I pushed myself up to a sitting position to take some Advil, I realized I’d also hurt my hand. As if reading my mind, David said, “I think it’s safe to say this is going to impact your workout routine.” In the past, this is where I would have started freaking out. Visions of backsliding and weight gain would have filled my mind. I would have been totally focused on the worst-case scenario. Ahh, I love how much I have changed. Instead, I made peace with it, started looking for the opportunities, and invited in wellness. My thoughts went something like this: This is temporary. I will heal and recover and I will be working out to full capacity again in no time. And there will be a lot of opportunities to get creative with how I move my body. Just because I’m […]
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