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.

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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

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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

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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!

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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.