Dreaming, Planning and Doing

“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”  Gloria Steinem

Just a few hours to go and I'm so excited! 

2014 is the year I set my dream in motion and make it my new, amazing reality!  My visualizations are popping with colour and sound and textures and motions.  They are a whirlwind of activity.

What am I up to you ask?

Living in a small, quaint village in France for 6 months every year.  I want to successfully rent a small cottage and write, relax, enjoy good food and learn every nuance of French language and culture.

My success will depend on planning through goal setting.

Let my journey begin!

What dream to you want to make reality through planning and doing?

Happy New Year, Susan

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

It's been awhile since my last post - I broke my wrist and hand in 2 places while enjoying the amazing beauty of Cape Breton island.  The wrist has not healed very well and it is still difficult to type but I miss writing in my blog and I had a plan for expanding into guest blogging that will happen in 2014.

As I reflect on 2013, I realize I have so much to be grateful for and welcome the new year with a sense of curiosity and excited anticipation.  Did I make mistakes?  You betcha!  I didn't focus on what went wrong but on what I learned and how I can improve based on what I learned.

I spent time celebrating my accomplishments, reaching my goals, reviewing my mistakes, and generally, enjoying each and every day and the experience that came with it.

As you review 2013, ask yourself these questions:

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?
2. What are you most proud of?
3. Did you learn from your mistakes?
4. Did you adopt an attitude of success and gratitude?
5. What did you do to celebrate and recognize your accomplishments?
6. What great things do you have planned for 2014?

Start 2014 with a flourish, change your attitude and put these simple strategies to work every day:

• Practice positivity and gratitude.  
• Wake up and embrace the new day.  
• Sit back at night and celebrate your accomplishments.  
• Have real conversations and smile frequently.  
• Laugh and share laughter.  
• Encourage your inner child to come out and play.  
• Choose adventure and wonder at the world around you.

I'm looking forward to getting back to writing and finishing my e-book in 2014.

Have a wonderful holiday season!  Resolve to embrace change.

A Letter From Fred - *OFFICIAL DOCUMENTARY* Oh Sweet Lorraine An Amazing...

Heartwarming and beautiful!

Stress Awareness Week - September 8th to 14th, 2013

Stress is such an unnecessary part of our lives. Stress Awareness Week gives you the opportunity to learn and try new things to help understand, manage, and remove stress in our everyday lives.

Join us in September for the first annual Stress Awareness Week. There are all kinds of free classes and information sessions for you to take part in from JTW, the Cumberland YMCA, Hatha Yoga Room and more. As well as some great workshops

Schedule of Free Events

When What Where

Sunday Sept. 8th (1pm) - Sensory Walk (Susan Ball NLP) at Downtown Amherst
Sunday Sept. 8th (4pm) - Laughter Yoga ( Wallie Simieritsch) at JTW 
Sunday Sept. 8th (6:50pm) - Zumba (Jen) at the Cumberland YMCA

Monday Sept. 9th (8am) - Guided Meditation (Susan Ball NLP) at JTW
Monday Sept. 9th (12noon) - Reconnective Healing (Hazel Coates) at JTW
Monday Sept. 9th (6pm) - Group Hypnosis (James MacDonald CH) at JTW

Tuesday Sept. 10th (12noon) - Reiki (James MacDonald/Kim DiStatio) at JTW
Tuesday Sept. 10th (6:30pm) - Power Pump (Shawn) at the Cumberland YMCA

Wednesday Sept. 11th (8am) - Guided Meditation (Susan Ball NLP) at JTW
Wednesday Sept. 11th (12noon) - Reflexology (Kim’s Goddess on the Go) at JTW
Wednesday Sept. 11th (6:30pm) - Cyclefit (Jen) at the Cumberland YMCA

Thursday Sept. 12th (12noon) - Kangen Water (James MacDonald) at JTW 
Thursday Sept. 12th (5pm) - JTW Open House: Meet and greet with our practitioners

Friday Sept. 13th (8am) - Guided Meditation (Susan Ball NLP) at JTW
Friday Sept. 13th (7pm) - Gentle Yoga at the Hatha Yoga Room

Saturday Sept. 14th (10am) - Drumming Circle (Gretchen Smith) at Victoria Square


Workshops at JTW Natural Health Guidance Centre

Tuesday Sept. 10th: Authentic Self Workshop (Susan Ball NLP)
Time: 6pm Cost: $20

Wednesday Sept. 10th: Feng Shui: Clear Your Clutter, Clear Your Mind (Wallie Simieritsch)
Time: 6pm Cost: $20

Friday Sept. 13th: Authentic Self Teens (Susan Ball NLP)
Time: 3:30pm Cost: $15

Saturday Sept. 14th: Communicating with Children (Susan Ball NLP)
Time: 1pm Cost: $20


For more information or to register for any of these great events and workshops, please contact Charlene at 667-1119

Presented by: JTW Natural Health and Susan Ball NLP Success Coach

In partnership with: Cumberland YMCA, Hatha Yoga Room, Wallie Simieritsch, Gretchen Smith, 
Devine Meditations, Hazel Coates, Kim’s Goddess on the Go, Dianna Stewart

Patience is a Virtue

Recently, I fell and broke my wrist.  Result - an enormous, clunky cast that leaves me typing with one finger!  Slow and awkward.

Through this experience I have learned the value of patience and that staying positive on this journey is the key to a successful outcome!

I will be writing and preparing for exciting programs real soon.

Be Patient - It Will Be Worth It!

Note to the Monday-Haters Club - Stop It!

What is with all this hating on Mondays?  I open my Facebook on Monday mornings and see a litany of cartoons bemoaning Monday.  Some even have dogs hiding from Monday!  There has been a song written based on a serious crime committed because the shooter hated Mondays.

When you stop and think about being part of the Monday-Haters Club, what are you really setting yourself up for?  Will you be bright and bubbly and happy?  Off to work or school with a glowing positive healthy attitude of gratitude?

No, No, No!  You will be creating a day filled to the brim with negativity.....period.  How could your day be anything but negative if you wake up and the first thing you say or moan is "I Hate Mondays?"  "Mondays Suck"  "Monday Again"

Is that how you want your day to be - filled with negativity?  I can't imagine that would make you happy or less anxious or depressed.

Note to the Monday-Haters Club - STOP IT?!?

It's time to change your attitude toward Monday.  You will be grateful and open up a wonderful world of possibilities. Mondays are a gift to you in the present.  They are wrapped in possibilities for creativity, exploration, happiness, and enjoyment.  Monday marks the beginning - what will you begin?

I love Monday and all days that are gifted to me.  I open my "presents" with a smile, a sense of curiosity and gratitude.

After all, Monday is "My Day" and it can be yours too when you change from hating to loving.  You will open your own world of possibilities.

No matter what day of the week it is,  Choose to Make it a Great Day!

________________________________________________________

t's time to realize your full potential and create lasting, sustainable positive change. Explore your potential and focus on your dynamic future....
NLP Success Coaching Works!

Take the first step to Living Your Life to the Fullest

Book your Free Consultation?

Your Journey to Wellness Begins with a Question

Today, I'm going start a regular Honesty Thursday series of posts.  I want to talk about how I have changed my way of thinking and as a result improved my lifestyle.

I have clients who will say to me I want to be like you to which I respond You Can with a little work and authenticity!  There is no magic pill, potion or spell that I can prescribe that will make you get up in the morning with a smile on your face looking forward to the day as an adventure in the making.  The prescription writer is YOU!

Not too long ago I found myself dreading the mornings.  I would wake up thinking yuck, another friggin' day, when will this end, what is the purpose of getting up!  I was dreary to say the least with absolutely no plans for the future and nothing to look forward to.  I was on the cusp of filling my prescription for anti-depressants. I was low and the few friends I had probably hated to hear from me.

I had no money.  I had a dead-end job in a big shiny corporate office.  I squeezed myself into a subway car at a god-awful hour of the morning to be surrounded by miserable looking lemmings.  I had a relationship that had run its course.  I had decided that my present and future would be lonely, broke, and defeated.

Sound Familiar?!?  I'm sure there are folks reading this right now who can relate to how I was feeling about life and you're wondering how did I turn it around.

It started with a good and true friend.  They are the friends who ask you the hard questions.  These are the friends you want.  Tip:  Get rid of the nodders!

We were having a coffee and I was doing my usual life is so rotten, I hate my life, blah, blah, blah.  She kept asking me one question:

So, What Are You Going to Do About It?

What a stupid, irritating question!  I was livid.  I wanted her to find the solution for me, NOW!  For some odd reason, my friend wouldn't cooperate and kept asking me that question.  I went home and decided I would not be friends with her anymore which of course, added to my Down on Life Story.  

A strange thing was happening though.....I couldn't get that question out of my head!  When I would think about my finances and wanted to wallow in self-pity, this little voice would ask "Well, Susan, what are you going to do about it?"  The question followed me everyday and everywhere. I wanted to answer the question just so it would go away!

To begin your Journey to Wellness, here are your first steps:

1. Honestly think about your friends and family and determine who are the "nodders".  Nodders will not help you in your journey.  Drop them from your friends list and replace them with true friends who will ask you to be accountable to you.
2. When you find yourself feeling down because you're thinking about your debts, or how you will never be able to travel to Australia, or how you will be stuck in your dead-end job forever,

STOP, take a deep breath and ask

"So, ____________, what are you going to do about it?"

When we get together next Thursday, you will have decided which friends will truly help you on your Journey to Wellness and you will have started to think about stepping out of self-pity mode into a I Can Turn this Around space.  And that's where we will pick up.....Setting Small Chunky Baby Step Goals.

I'm really looking forward to your comments as you move along with me.  It will be a sort of an e-course in a casual way.  I will provide worksheets, tips and tricks and how-tos.  The end result will be one Incredibly, Fabulous You!

Your Body is Listening

Be mindful of the words you choose to describe your body. If you talk about having a slow metabolism, for example, or being prone to a certain disease, then your body will interpret those comments as commands and will work hard to manifest them. Here are a few things to remember:

What happened to you is in the past. Do not keep talking about it unless you want it to continue.

Disease need not be hereditary. Avoid labels.  Avoid comments such as "it runs in my family".

Give your body positive messages on a daily basis to overcome your negative thoughts and fears. (i.e. My body is strong, fit, healthy, flexible and attractive.)

Positive Thoughts attract Positive Outcomes.

_____________________________

Choose Gratitude

A grateful heart is a happy heart.  It's so easy to take things for granted:  the information your coworker sent you the fact that your car is running, and even the food you're eating for dinner.  The fact is, most of us have gotten into the habit of ignoring all of the good things in our lives.  Instead, we focus our mental and emotional energy on being upset about what's wrong and what we don't have.  Yes, cultivating an "attitude of gratitude" might sound cliche, but it is important to your overall health and well-being.  Studies have actually shown that thankful individuals are 25% healthier than their counterparts!  To start tapping into the power of gratitude, simply say "thanks" to the people who help you or smile at you or offer a compliment throughout your day.

Action Step - Find a wide-mouth jar with a lid and each day write down a single "I'm grateful for _____" statement.  Fold it and place in the jar.  At the end of the week, month or year, empty your jar and read all the things you have to be grateful for.  You will be pleasantly surprised!

Choose Gratitude as Your Attitude

________________________________________________________

t's time to realize your full potential and create lasting, sustainable positive change. Explore your potential and focus on your dynamic future....NLP Success Coaching Works!

Take the first step to Living Your Life to the Fullest

Book your Free Consultation?

Happy Canada Day!! Moslon Canadian - The Rant(with English subtitle)

Take it away Joe.

Life is like Coffee Movie - Inspiration for Happiness!

The message in this movie is wonderful and thought provoking.  Enjoy watching then grab a cup of coffee or tea or juice and focus on the richness and pleasure your drink brings you.  Use all your senses to explore your current cuppa and practice Living in the Present Moment.

Life is like Coffee Movie: Do you know people that just seem to be happier in general? Do you say to yourself, "I want to be more like them"? Often, the happiest people in the world don't have the best of everything...they just make the best of everything!

___________________________________________

It's time to realize your full potential and create lasting, sustainable positive change. Explore your potential and focus on your dynamic future....Life Coaching Works!

Take the first step to Living Your Life to the Fullest and

Book your Free Consultation?

How to Avoid Being Mr. or Mrs. Grumpy Pants

Today, I was host to Mr. Grumpy Pants who happens to be my husband.   He's a truck driver so he spends 4-days away from home driving around the Maritime provinces.

He had a particularly bad week on the road this time and he brought it home with him and infused our home with his negative mood.  How selfish of him to bring the "past" into the "present" in such a negative, grumpy, ugly way!

We all experience something negative during any given day.  It's what we choose to do with that negative experience that matters.  My husband's negative experience happened a full 2-days before he even got home!  Talk about dragging Marley's chains around with you.  I could smell his festering brain.

When you bring your bad mood, lousy experience, and  negative energy home, you contaminate your home and all the people and pets that live there.  Suddenly, the feelings and mood go from enjoying the moment to misery or arguing or resentment.

So what do you do if you have had a bad experience that lasted a few minutes and you want to remove the negative energy and feelings before it ruins your whole day?

Stop Reacting to the Stupid Stuff - Seriously!

The babysitter is 5-minutes late and so, you're going to be a grouch for the rest of the day and into the evening and maybe the next morning because you're anticipating she might be late again!!  You get cut-off while you're driving, oh my!  As events go, these are small, irrelevant, and inconsequential and you get to make the choice about how you're going to let them effect you.  Are you going to carry them with you and let them snowball into a huge, ugly mass of anger and resentment?  Or could you look at each individual event when it happens and simply look at it as a small mistake, a funny moment and then keep moving on with your great day?  To start feeling greater happiness and contentment, start by stopping to let the little things grow up to be huge and ugly.

Drop Your Irritation and Anger

When you find yourself feeling angry at someone or something.

Stop, Take a Deep Breath, then Let It Go!  

Just let it go. 

It isn't worth ruining your day, someone you love's day, your health and your general well-being.

Roll On - Your Life is Happening Now

It happened, it's over, move forward.  Living in the present moment, living life to the fullest is about moving forward.  Roll On!

Choose to Make it A Great Day!

For Your Health Choose A New Balanced Lifestyle

Choose Work/Life Balance

Finding your work/life balance is worth its weight in gold.  Working long hours, forgoing lunch, being tied to your smart phone 24/7, and getting home late are quickly becoming the norm for the majority of people.  Sadly, this is beyond unhealthy - causing stress, relationship breakdowns, illness, guilt and so-on.  In some cases in a workholic's personal dictionary "rest" and "relaxation" are synonymous with "irresponsibility" and "slacking".

When you continuously drive yourself to work, work, work, you will eventually begin to run on fumes and then you will get sick and then you will shut down completely!  All of this is preventable with a little balance.  Remember this:  No one looks back on their lives at age eighty and says, "Gee, I wish I'd spent less time with my family and friends and more time at the office."

Action Step - Spend at least 30 minutes outside in the fresh air during the work day.  It will rejuvenate you!  Set aside time in the evenings after work that is your "adventure time" and stick with it.  Once you have set your adventure time on the calender, do it.  Go for a walk, shopping, a play, or sit in a quiet space and read a book.  The activity you choose is less important then taking the time. 

Action Step - Summer is the perfect time to unplug from technology.  Leave your cell phone and tablet at home!  When you go to the beach, spend your time focused on enjoying the sand, water, family, friends, the book you're reading, just simply sitting in the breeze or playing with your kids.  When you're free of your technology baggage, you will be able to enjoy all the sights and sounds of your vacation..  Instead of waiting for the phone to ring (future), you'll be enjoying life in the present moment. 

Change the Channel

Just like on your TV when the picture is bringing you down, you can choose to change the channel and get a new picture.   Negative thoughts are accompanied by pictures of the things that are stopping you.  Focus on the negative image and visualize it turning black and white and getting smaller and smaller until it's a little dot.  Now pick up the dot and throw it over your shoulder so it's behind you.

What you think becomes your reality - the perfect reason to take control and Fire Your Negative Committee.

Imagine the possibilities when you free yourself from negative thoughts by choosing to focus on positive thoughts, choosing to visualize things going amazingly well, believing with absolute conviction that you will make it happen!

Living in the Present

Are you appreciating what is happening right now, right here?  Or are you focused on something that might happen (future, anxiety)?  Or are you focused on something that happened in the past (depressed, angry)?

When you live in the moment, there is no stress, no anger, no regret; just what's happening right now.  You will be focused on and experiencing the activity at hand.

The only moment you can control is the one that is happening right now.  You can't go back and change the past.  You can't predict the future.  The present moment is the only one you have, the one you can feel, hear, see and smell.  It's YOUR moment.

How to Live in the Present by Breaking the Habit of "Wandering"

Your mind has been trained to wander through the past or think about the future.  When you start thinking about the past or the future, stop yourself by focusing completely on what you are doing right now.  Bring your mind back to the present moment.  Use all your senses to immerse yourself in what is happening in the moment.

Breathe and focus.  Find inspiration in what is happening.  Smile and enjoy.

It takes time and practice to break the mind's wandering habit.  Start by focusing on one action or activity at a time.  For example, walking - feel your feet touching the ground, feel your muscles moving, see the sidewalk or trail going by as you take a step, etc.  When listening, just listen,  When eating, just eat.  When drawing, just draw.

With practice, you will be able to stop your mind from wandering aimlessly.

Living in the Present will bring richness and awareness to your life.  You will appreciate the little things that you have probably forgotten brought you joy.  When was the last time you slurped the juice from a watermelon and tasted all of it's wonderful sweetness?

There is magic in the present.  

Repeat after me:

When I live in the present, I am Happy, Joyful and Free.

Do You Suffer From Anxiety, Fear, Panic.......

Then you are living in the future.  Worrying about the what-ifs and inventing negative outcomes to fulfill your desire to outline all the bad things that could happen!!

Anxiety is an emotion that sends our mind into the future. After all, nobody is anxious about the past, right? As human beings we tend to think in stories that are like mind-movies. Anxious mind-movies usually have a ‘what if?’ scenario.

So what winds us up into anxiety are particular thought patterns and stories. Take a look at the following list and see if any points seem familiar:

1. Self-doubts: Do you doubt your ability? Do you think you haven’t got what it takes, in order to succeed?

2. Wanting Control of the future: Do you want to control what happens in future? The truth is that even if we lay great plans, the unexpected can happen. Be flexible and flow with the change. 

3. High self-expectations: Sometimes we become our own slave-driver. Take time to step back and check out whether your expectations are realistic.

4. Fear of failure: Are you afraid to fail? The truth is that all learning entails failure. The greatest inventors in history failed more than they succeeded!

5. Not being present: This is a key factor of anxiety. When our thoughts dwell on the future, and we stop being truly present, that’s when we can become anxious.

These are all mental habits that can be changed in order to alleviate and transform anxiety into a healthy, positive mindset grounded in the present.

Anxiety is a natural alarm system that keeps us safe and productive. But when it becomes a chronic mindset, it will deaden joy and stifle creativity.  It will also lead to chronic physical illness, some of which can be life threatening.

Anxiety Busting Exercise

• Create two columns on a piece of paper

• Label the left column “fears”

• Create a thick vertical dividing line and label it “REALLY!!!!”

• Label the right column “fear busting thought”

I’ll give you an example:

I don’t think that I will get the promotion, sigh, stomach feels queasy because you're thinking about all the bad things that will happen if you don't get the promotion.

RESET = Shout STOP & take a deep breath (brain cannot think while deep breathing)

I have excellent skills to get the promotion and I will look into how I can improve those skills to ace the promotion.

Next Post:  Living in the Present....Til next time Recognize, Reset, Realize Your Potential

Where do You Live Everyday?

In the Past?  In the Future?  In the Present?

There is a famous quote that I love to share simply because it is the most valuable lesson you will teach yourself.

If you are feeling depressed, think very carefully about where you're living.  Are you mulling over the past?  Going over situations that occurred yesterday, a decade ago, last week?  Are you focused on how you were mistreated in some past relationship? Or some other "thing", "person", or "situation" that happened oh so long ago?

Be honest with yourself and really sit down and think about what you're thinking about.

Change happens when you realize that it's time to clear the clutter and release the dusty old things and make room for fresh new things.

Feeling sorry for yourself, angry toward others, guilty, or ashamed for getting the short end of the stick in the past will only continue to keep you from achieving happiness in the present and future.

How to clear the dusty clutter of the past:

The Past Isn't Going to Get Any Better:  That's right.  Recognize that you can't go back and change, fix, improve, or otherwise manage your past.  It's Over...It's Done and no amount of holding on to it, focusing on it, crying over it will change it.

Learn From the Past:  Look at your past and ask yourself - What Did I Learn?  How Do I Want To Apply The Lesson to My Present and Future?

Let It Go:  Hanging onto the past with angry and resentment and hurt feelings will do absolutely nothing to improve your present.  You are simply carrying a heavy ball and chain around your ankle everywhere you go.  Do you want to drag the chains of the past with you?

Choose Forgiveness:  Forgiveness is a conscious choice.  Forgive yourself and forgive those who have wronged you.  Forgiveness frees you to live your life, pursue your dreams, look forward with joy to the future, and enjoy every moment of the present!

It's easier to forgive others when you practice forgiving yourself.

As you reflect on your life, what could you forgive yourself for? 

When you have clarity on something that could be forgiven, say to yourself: 

I forgive myself for ________________     Then let it go. 

Next Post:  Living in the Future....Til next time Listen, Recognize, Learn and Forgive

Focus on What You Want

 The Question I Hear Most Often…

Why is it so hard to just get what I want, when I really want it?

The biggest reason you are not successful,  is….your THOUGHTS!

The problem is you will spend most of your time thinking about what you don’t want instead of what you do want. I will tell you..

“WHAT WE THINK ABOUT WE BRING ABOUT”

If you spend most of your time seeing a series of disappointing images in your mind, like the pile of unpaid bills, the bad relationships, the long line of medications, the endless amount of work, this is what will keep showing up in your life.

“WHAT YOU RESIST, PERSISTS”!

It's time to STOP thinking and picturing what you don’t want and START focusing and spending your energy on what you do want. See the money flowing in, see the intimate relationship, the health, the career, the joy. 

Focus on  what YOU WANT, because………

“WHAT YOU FOCUS ON, EXPANDS”!

And you want your life to expand with possibilities and opportunities?  Yes, of course, you do!

---

Do it starting NOW - change your thoughts, change your outcome, change your life!

Let's get started

Close your eyes, take a deep cleansing breath and say:

I am always positive and prosperous-minded.

Breath and Repeat Several Times Each Day

for one week and notice how you feel, how you

have changed and how your life has changed.

Once you start you won't stop and your daily

affirmations and positive thoughts will grow

along with your potential.

Celebrate and Embrace Joyous June

"Summer's lease hath all too short a date" - William Shakespeare

The practice of Living in the Moment and experiencing Gratitude, is all about noticing, appreciating, and experiencing the simple joys of life.  Here are a few simple joys that will embellish your Joyous June.  What will you add?

• Lemonade - yummy!  Sit back and enjoy a tall, frosty glass of lemonade.  Homemade lemonade is fantastic.
• Strawberry, Strawberry, Strawberry!  Attend a Strawberry Festival and eat as many of these juicy joys as you please.  Pick your own with friends and family and then create jams, jellies, desserts, pies and plan to host a Strawberry Festival in January! In Ojibwe, the strawberry is called "odemin" and is known as the sacred first medicine. 
• Create a fragrant herb garden.  Plant lavender, rosemary, sage, thyme, and lemongrass.
• Have a backyard camp-out.  Pitch a tent, bring out the sleeping bags, pack snacks, and pretend the bbq is a bonfire (for those who live within a town or city!)  Tell ghost stories, sing songs and sleep in the fresh air under the stars.
• Host a Midsummer's Eve Party to celebrate the Summer Solstice.  
• Go to the beach!  In the morning, stroll and collect shells and Mermaid's tears while enjoying the fresh morning air.  The beach in the afternoon is perfect for swimming, picnics, kite flying, or just sitting in the sun and enjoying life. 
• On clear summer's night, take time to stargaze.  Stargazing is as easy as grabbing a big blanket, a bottle of wine, friends and family and heading for the backyard.  Find a star to wish upon.
• Get out and experience a sensory journey in nature.  Your natural environment is teeming with sensory stimulation waiting to be discovered.  By simply listening, seeing, touching, and smelling, Mother Nature will nurture your well-being.
• Host a "drive-in" movie night in your backyard, or on the side of a local building.  Invite friends, family, community members and the public to sit outside and take in a classic movie.  Have guests bring a snack for a huge potluck "concession" stand.

Now that you're feeling inspired to have your own Joyous June, I would love to hear about your adventures or how you incorporated mine and had a great time.

Cheers, to a fun and adventurous June!

Meditation is a Journey to Peace & Healing

Over the past few months I have had the amazing privilege of leading a group of wonderful people through a series of guided meditations.  We have focused on healing, playing and your authentic self.  

In the beginning, deep breathing proved a challenge for many.  Placing hands on bellies to feel the rise and fall of their diaphragm, we practiced breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.  I watched as they became familiar with deep breathing and I watched their faces and bodies relax with each breath.  It was beautiful!  I could see their state shift from stress to calm and peace.

Meditation is a wonderful gift we can give ourselves.  The magic starts with your breathing.  Once you learn how to breathe for relaxation, you will be able to do it on the fly and calm your physical, emotional and mental state - instant meditation.

Let's Practice

Sit or lie down comfortably.  Place your hands on your belly and breath deeply.  When you breath in, your hands will rise up with your belly - that's a good breathe!  Focus on your breathing - deep breath in through your nose for the count of four (Mississippi's)  and out through your mouth for the count of four.  When you breath out, say the word "relax" quietly in your mind.  

Practice, Practice, Practice

When you have mastered your deep breathing and using the word relax, add "I Am" statements while you breath in - I am calm, I am confident, I am happy, etc.  Create I Am statements that work for you and use them.

Now, you are ready to enjoy the wonderful healing power meditation.  Do it daily - it will heal and you will gain a wonderful sense of peace.

To assist you on your journey, feel free to download my Healing Meditation.  

The Guided Meditation Series that I have been hosting will be taking a summer hiatus in a couple of weeks and I want to truly thank the group for allowing me to help them help while at the same time healing myself through meditation.

An Invocation for Beginnings - Brilliant!

Love the tu-tu reference - 2 fat, 2 slow, etc - shake off your tu-tus!

Absolutely brilliant and so well-said.  I will be watching when I need to and know that you will too!

Enjoy and share.  Let's get moving toward our goals.

Choose Gratitude

A grateful heart is a happy heart.  It's so easy to take things for granted:  the information your coworker sent you the fact that your car is running, and even the food you're eating for dinner.  The fact is, most of us have gotten into the habit of ignoring all of the good things in our lives.  Instead, we focus our mental and emotional energy on being upset about what's wrong and what we don't have.  Yes, cultivating an "attitude of gratitude" might sound cliche, but it is important to your overall health and well-being.  Studies have actually shown that thankful individuals are 25% healthier than their counterparts!  To start tapping into the power of gratitude, simply say "thanks" to the people who help you or smile at you or offer a compliment throughout your day.

Action Step - Find a wide-mouth jar with a lid and each day write down a single "I'm grateful for _____" statement.  Fold it and place in the jar.  At the end of the week, month or year, empty your jar and read all the things you have to be grateful for.  You will be pleasantly surprised!

It's Okay to Say "NO"

It's not always easy to say "no" to requests, especially when doing so leaves you feeling guilty or feeling you should have said "yes". You may also believe that there are some family situations where "no" is not an option.

Yet to balance self-care it's essential to give yourself the freedom to say "no" to requests that do not serve you. Family responsibilities have their place but too often they become misplaced – running your life at the expense of your own health and well-being.

Saying "no" takes courage and practice.

A simple way to give you time to consider a request is by having a response ready when a request is made, such as:

"I need to check my other commitments."

"I need to check to see if it interferes with plans (my spouse and) I have made."

Alternatively, if you are willing to participate to some degree, counter-offer:

"No, I can’t commit to _______ but I can do __________ (counter-offer)."

If you are clear that the answer is "no" say so:
"Thank you for thinking of me, but no, not at this time."

  Self-Care Exercise

Create a variety of ready responses to requests that have happened in the past or you’re sure will happen soon.  Practice, Practice, Practice!!!  When a request is made, choose a “ready response” – and feel confident when delivering your response.

When you reflect on a request, ask yourself:

• Will this request serve me?
• Will it contribute to me and my life?
• Is my inner-wisdom or gut feeling a "yes" or a "no"?

If you answer "no" to the above questions, honour your inner guidance and say "no" to the request. If you wish, make a suggestion on who might be available to do the job instead.

You will know you are Living Authentically when you can say "no" 

without feeling guilty!

You can do it - Say No

Cellphones, Email and Your Not-So-Well-being

In our age of technology, there are very few places where you can go and not see someone on the phone either texting or talking, studying their tablet, or checking their e-mail.  It is overwhelming for me to watch 90% of the population completely controlled by their electronic devices. 

It got me reminiscing about the "olden days".  I remembered how exciting it was when the phone rang and   you picked it up in anticipation of who was on the other end.  You were going to engage in a real conversation with a real person!  The phone could bring great news and feelings - a new job, a date, your mom's voice, a good friend.  It was there when you needed someone special to talk to and all you had to do was dial a seven-digit number and voila! a conversation was in the making.  There was no caller ID or voicemail, you either picked it up or you didn't.  Of course, when you didn't you wondered if you had missed the call of a lifetime!

The phone was magical and it allowed families and friends to communicate across the miles making separation from each other easier.   It brought news, good and bad and could be banged down when you were angry or disappointed.  The banging down of a phone receiver was cathartic.

The amazing thing about the phones of the good old days was You Would Leave Them at Home When You Left.  You went out to meet people and enjoyed face-to-face interactions.  You had a good time and there was no beeping, ringing and vibrating interruptions.  When you wanted to check in with your parents, spouse or babysitter, you walked to a payphone and dialed.  You spoke with the interested person, hung-up and went back to your socializing. 

When you went for a hike, or to the cottage, or on a vacation, you left your phone at home and you enjoyed new sights, relaxing in a natural setting, joining in with groups to discover new adventures.  You were free from attachment and free to explore without interruptions.  The best kind of exploration.  Healthy, encouraging, inspirational, natural, social behaviour is becoming a lost art and it is discouraging.

I have been in meetings and social environments where live conversation is interrupted by beeps and vibrations.  Inevitably, someone says, "Oh, Sorry, I HAVE to take this!".  Really?!?  Have to?  or Want to?  What would happen if you didn't answer your cellphone immediately?  What would happen if you left it at home for an enjoyable evening out?  What would happen if you gave 100% of your attention to the live conversation that is taking place?  

What is so life-altering that it is critically important that you relentlessly engage with an inanimate object - your phone?

Shut it down for a day.  Get out and talk face-to-face, take a walk in the woods free from your phone, play with your children and focus on them only.  

When you do this once, you will do it over and over because you will discover that the caller can leave a message, the text can be answered later, and the email, well, it could actually be left for a few days.  

You will discover a new style of freedom and happiness and it is worth leaving the phone at home!

Confidence Boosting

Confidence is a tool you can use in your everyday life to do all kinds of cool stuff, not least to stop second-guessing yourself, manage your fears and become able to do more of the things that really matter to you.  But not many people realize that their self-confidence works just like  muscle - it grows in response to the level of performance required of it.  Either you use it or you lose it. 

Confidence Boosting Tips:

Write a list of the things you’re tolerating and putting up with in your life, then write down how you can remove, minimize or diminish each one.  

Get crystal clear on the things that truly matter to you. 

If they’re not in your life, you need to bring them in

Stop playing different roles and squeezing yourself into boxes based on what you think people expect you to act like.

Learn to catch yourself every single time you tell yourself that you can’t have, won’t get or aren't good enough to get what you want.

Take yourself off auto-pilot – make deliberate decisions on what really matters to you.

You've got a whole bunch of out-dated rules that determine what you do, don’t do, should do and shouldn't do.  These rules limit your thinking and limit your behaviour.  Tear up your rule book and notice how free you are to make great decisions.

When you feel like stamping your foot and yelling “I deserve better than this!”, take a step back and say 

“I can BE better than this.”

Take a chance on something tomorrow.  

Anything, big or small, just take a chance.

You need to be around people who make you feel like YOU, so spend more time with the people who support and encourage you and less with those who undermine you.

Keep comparing yourself to others?  Stop it

You’re just fantastic as you are

If there’s something you've been struggling to understand for a while, stop trying to understand it.  Accept it just as it is, fully and wholly.

Don’t say “Yes” to taking on a task simply because you don’t want to rock the boat – you can politely decline requests you can’t meet and don’t need to create an excuse for it.

Still beating yourself up for failing or screwing up? It might not be a barrel of laughs but it’s not going to help you get through it.  Much better to recognize that everything, whether it turns out or not, is how you practice living a rich life

*****

Do one thing each day that makes you smile