One of the things I preach to my clients is to CELEBRATE every small step on the path toward their goal. Those steps add up to a journey of transformation, and deserve to be thought about as the BIG deal they are!
If you’re trying to reduce your weight, and managed to pass up the candy aisle that was your usual haunt at the grocery store? GO you! That is an incredible accomplishment! Celebrate it!
If you want to increase your physical activity, and you parked farther from the door than usual so you’d get more steps – That’s AWESOME! Other people TALK about wanting to make changes, but there you are taking action to make it happen! Celebrate moving in the direction of your goals!! Woo hoo!!
Celebrations can be anything as big or small as you desire. Whatever is fun for you that you do to intentionally celebrate moving forward and honor your amazing accomplishment.
Treat yourself to a soothing bath, a pedicure, or an extra 5 minutes in bed in the morning. Take yourself out to the movies. Go for a walk! Whatever feels like a treat to you to honor the accomplishment is perfect. One of my fave celebrations is to put on some music I love, turn it up loud, and dance wildly for 3-5 minutes! It’s an exuberant, joy-filled celebration that imprints into the cells of my body, and also honors my intentions to move more, and add more joy to my life.
actual photo of my exuberance captured by Jeremy
Why celebrate?
One reason it’s important to celebrate our successful steps, no matter how small, is because they are literally the foundation that supports the transformation we desire. They are what we build on to create the health, wealth, relationships, or career we want. Another reason is because when people do not make a habit of celebrating small successes, they might forget to celebrate the big ones.
The most important reason to celebrate your successes along the path to your goal is to say to the universal Law of Attraction, “Yes please! Bring me more of this!” Energy attracts like energy.
All that having been said, I am taking my own advice.
I have some BIG news and I want to celebrate!
Today I received an email from the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching. I am thrilled, overjoyed, and delighted to announce that I am now an iPEC Certified Professional Coach!
I have successfully completed 90 hours of classroom training, over 50 hours of peer coaching, and more than 150 hours of required classes, seminars, assignments and electives. I have earned my ELI-MP certificate, and my CPC certificate from one of the top coaching schools in the world, the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching.
I opened my coaching practice in November and got my first paying client in December. Seven months later I have seven clients, every one of whom found enough value in their first round of coaching sessions to invest in more coaching sessions. That validation is a celebration in and of itself! My clients inspire me daily to do everything I can to continue growing as a coach, and as a human being.
Now I have completed my training and am fully certified!
If I’m going to be honest here, part of me didn’t believe I could do it at first. It seemed like SUCH a big goal. But the most amazing journey unfolded when I simply focused on what I wanted, instead of what might hold me back. The entire Universe stepped in to dance with me and open doors.
It is my passion, and my life’s purpose to help others discover the infinite possibilities within themselves, and to empower them to achieve whatever they desire.
Yes, there is more I want to accomplish, but I won’t focus on what’s next until I take the time to really savor this incredibly amazing achievement! I went for it! And I accomplished it despite my self-doubts, and a pretty good dose of fear from those gremlin voices telling me that everyone in my coaching class was smarter and more capable than I was.
Now those voices work for ME, and tell me that I am a natural coach, doing a great job, and that my clients appreciate me, and value what I offer.
Go me. Seriously. I feel like a rockstar!
I feel amazing, successful, empowered, and unstoppable! That is the gift of coaching.
I plan to celebrate this major goal and life transformation in a really BIG way, by relaxing and enjoying eight FREE nights in Hawaii next month!
“I’ve never tried positive affirmations, and am not sure how that really works. Is it telling yourself positive things while looking at yourself in a mirror? Or is that just a movie cliche?” GREAT question! Thanks so much for asking.
Positive affirmations are powerful tools to help build new neural pathways. In other words, they can help us rewire our brains. Practicing affirmations helps challenge and overcome self-sabotaging, and negative thoughts.
Sometimes the biggest obstacle to getting what we really want is the thoughts we are thinking. Energy attracts like energy, so thoughts attract more thoughts like themselves.
When we chronically have fear-filled thoughts, more fearful thoughts come easily. When we chronically choose thoughts that feel good when we think them, more thoughts like that come easily to us.
We’ve spent a LOT of times thinking our usual thoughts and creating well-worn pathways to more of those thoughts. If we become aware that our thoughts are not serving us and want to change them, it takes practice.
Practice thoughts that feel good!
Choose affirmations that feel good when you say them.
If you say, “Money comes easily to me,” when you are over your head in debt, it’s highly likely that you’ll get a knot in the pit of your stomach that tells you that the thought you are thinking is WRONG. And that’s when something like, “Money is hard to come by,” pops into your head. And that energy attracts more thoughts like that one. So, “money comes easily to me,” might not be the right affirmation.
How does this one resonate?
This feels more true for most people. There is no contradiction here. Now when a habitual thought pops up like, “I don’t have enough,” remind yourself of the NEW thought you are choosing. Tell yourself that the old thought may have been true in the past, but you are now open to receive floods of financial abundance with ease. Repeating the phrase often helps build a new path to better feeling thoughts.
This affirmation in prayer form felt AMAZING to me when I read it and each time I read it now, something opens in me, and I truly feel more ready to receive all the abundance the Universe wants to deliver!
If an affirmation really resonates, practice it! Write it on sticky notes to remind yourself. Repeat it like a mantra in the shower, or while sitting in traffic.
Some affirmations feed your soul for awhile and then get replaced with others that feel even better or resonate more.
And sometimes an affirmation that does not feel good in one circumstance feels amazing later on. For this reason, I hang on to affirmations with which I would like to resonate, and try them again when my energy is different!
This affirmation does not resonate with many of us. My first reaction to it was, “I wish!” If I had tried using this affirmation then, I would have attracted thoughts that confirmed I was NOT any of these things. But I really WANTED to feel that way about myself, so I hung on to the words for later. Now the words resonate for me on days I am feeling fully confident, not always, but so much more now than before! I choose to fully practice this thought when I am feeling confident and it is resonating. Why?
Because what we think determines how we feel, and the way we feel is the energy that we send out into the Universe. And what we send out in the Universe is what the Universe sends back to us.
Looking yourself in the eyes can help.
If someone won’t look you in the eyes when they talk to you, how much do you trust what they say? Looking yourself in the eyes and telling yourself Truth can help you accept it as true for you, while acting as a powerful reminder. Many people do not see themselves as worthy of self-care even though they might invest huge amounts of energy caring for others. Looking in the mirror to repeat this reminder can be very helpful.
“I am…”
Affirmations that begin with “I am,” are powerful and can be more powerful if you look into your eyes in the mirror while you say them. But if you are not yet comfortable looking at yourself in the eyes, then do it anyway! Look deep into your own eyes and remind yourself of the Truth:
I am worthy of self care. I am worthy of the same abundant love I offer others. I am choosing the thoughts I think. I am an extension of Source energy. I am valued just for being me. Life is a process and I am right where I am supposed to be. I am learning. I am becoming.
Make a list of your strengths and put “I am” in front of them!
I am kind. I am caring. I am loyal. I am honest. I am a good friend.
You get the idea.
Create ones that serve your needs.
One of my clients had repeating thought patterns that constantly told her she had screwed things up again, or that she was about to screw things up BIG time! Her affirmation took a while to create, practice, and to resonate fully, but now she says it’s one of the most powerful tools in her toolbox!
It does NOT mean that everything in her life always goes the way she wants, or has planned. It simply means that when things get off track, it doesn’t feel like the end of the world anymore. There is tremendous value in the peace of mind this can bring.
Do NOT practice when you feel bad!
Do not practice affirming if you are hungry, angry, lonely, tired or your energy is otherwise depressed. If you practice saying, “I am a powerful being fueled by Source energy,” when you feel crappy, you attract more of what feels crappy because you don’t (at that moment) feel powerful or fueled by Source.
So, what to do? When you feel crappy is when you really NEED to change those thoughts if your goal is to feel better. What can you affirm in those more challenging moments to shift your energy in the direction of beginning to feel better?
Esther Hicks and Abraham urge us to “go general.” So instead of thinking about the specific problem/solution, focus on general thoughts that feel better than the current stress-inducing ones you are entertaining.
My Inspirations
I just want to give credit where credit is due. Most of my affirmations and my wisdom around positive thoughts and how they affect us have come to me through the work of Esther Hicks, Jill Lebeau, and Tosha Silver. I am eternally filled with overflowing appreciation for these women.
The power is in your thoughts.
You will find affirmations everywhere. Google “positive affirmations’ and you’ll get a million. Here are all of my favorites printed on beautiful photos to help them raise my vibration and stick in my mind easier.
Becoming conscious simply means becoming aware. Aware of ourselves, our actions, our motives, and the consequences of our actions. As we become more aware, we understand MORE, and we judge LESS.
We judge others every day. His/her actions are good/bad, right/wrong, stupid/inspiring.
The Truth is there is no good/bad, right/wrong, etc… People, places, things, situations simply ARE what they are. Nothing has meaning until we assign it meaning. And something that looks like the end of the world to one person looks like the first chapter of a new life to someone else!
Humans usually judge themselves far more harshly that we judge others. If you look in the mirror and “don’t see much in me that’s all that impressive,” you are NOT alone! Most of my clients struggle to accept themselves as they are, and ‘not liking themselves’ is a reason cited repeatedly by people who seek coaching.
Here’s the REALLY important bit:
It’s NOT your body that needs changing, but your mind.
Stick with me for a minute, here!
As we become more aware, or conscious, it is because our views or perspectives are becoming more aligned with Source energy. Source sees everything as good, right, perfect, beneficial. Everything has a purpose and is right where it is supposed to be. Every human Soul has a purpose, is good, perfect, beneficial, and right where we are supposed to be. When we allow our perspective to line up with this Truth of Divine perspective, we feel GOOD in our skin! We feel powerful, confident, sexy, and capable.
You KNOW these moments in life! Think of any “peak experience” of your life when you felt lined up, right on track, invincible – moments when you were happiest and full of purpose and joy. We feel glorious when we are connected with Source or aligned with Source perspective.
Why can’t we feel this way every day?
Because we are human, we sometimes get off track and view things from perspectives that are not aligned with Divine perspective. When we look in the mirror and do NOT like what we see, we are opposing God’s viewpoint, or Divine perspective, and it just does NOT resonate with our natural energy (cause we ARE Source energy), which is why it feels BAD to think opposing thoughts about ourselves.
Let me clarify.
Thinking that you “should” be different in some way pulls your viewpoint away from the viewpoint of Source. Think of a scale of 1 to 10. Let’s call 10 the perspective of God, or Source energy. Source created us in perfection, recognizes our perfection, and holds to the vibration that we are PERFECT just as we are, flaws and all! So we can call 10 the level of unconditional love. We are created from Source energy, so our natural vibration is at 10, or unconditional love. When we move away from that viewpoint it feels bad because we are splitting that energy.
We are One energy with Source (made of Source energy) so if Source is holding a steady, unwavering viewpoint of unconditional love, then we have thoughts NOT aligned with unconditional love – like hating our physical appearance – we feel our own energy split, and that’s what gives us the physical knot in the pit of our stomach that tells us “something’s not right” with that thought I am thinking!
So, if you have a mildly negative thought about yourself, maybe, “I need to lose weight,” it will feel a little bit bad, so we could rate that an 8 on the 10 scale. But if we have thoughts of shame, hating ourselves for the way we (whatever) then our energy is closer to a 1 on that scale. If this pattern of thinking is chronic, then it’s a CONSTANT drain on our energy from the time we get up until we go back to sleep at night.
The farther we get from our natural vibration of unconditional love, the worse we feel in body/mind/spirit, and the less energy we have to focus on what we LOVE doing!
Our culture has trained us out of unconditional love by teaching us to judge and compare all people, things, and situations, instead of accepting each as a part of the whole, important and unique as it is and playing it’s valuable part.
The more we can move our own perspective about ourselves and our world back toward unconditional love, the happier and healthier our lives become!
So how do we shift our vibration?
If we are currently vibrating closer to shame and self-loathing than we are to self-love, how do we shift our vibration to get things moving back in the natural direction?
The first step is awareness. If you recognize yourself here, take a nice deep breath and relax! Know that you’ve already taken the first step, and you are right where you are supposed to be. You are aware that you want to shift your energy toward more self-love, more active self-care.
Faith is like any muscle. It requires training. If you haven’t used your ‘faith in yourself’ muscle for awhile, here’s what may happen. We make a decision to change a habitual action that no longer serves us. We take some action in that direction and we feel our underdeveloped faith muscle give out. The gremlins instantly jump in with phrases like, “I TOLD you this was too hard. We shouldn’t even try, never mind. Let’s just do what we’re USED to because it’s easier!”
All completely normal.
This new path, new thoughts, actions and behaviors take time to learn. Work the muscle a little each day, and it will get stronger and stronger, until before you know it, you have developed new habits that are more aligned with your own healthy intentions.
Up to this moment, the actions you have taken have netted the results you now have.
If you want different results than you currently have, you can’t get those using the actions that are familiar, and patterns that are well worn. Take a few steps in a different direction – steps that may have lead others to where you want to go. Try on that new path, see how it really feels for your life, and remember that if the gremlin voices get nervous and start shrieking in alarm, you are probably on the right path!
And old habits die hard, so you may get knocked back into the old track here and there. That’s normal, too!
Don’t beat yourself up over it! We wouldn’t berate a butterfly for not emerging quickly enough from her cocoon.
Training your vibration chronically upward is key, and there are as many ways to do this as there are people! Find tools that resonate for you.
Things my clients use to uplift their energy include things like nature, journaling, yoga, swimming, hiking, reading inspirational stories, and so MUCH more. For a short list of activities, books, and speakers that INSPIRE, and help you keep the fire in your soul, follow this link.
And here is a link to my FAVORITE Esther-Abraham recording on YouTube! When I first discovered it I listened to it twice a day until it was absorbed by the cells of my body. Now I only listen 2-3 times a week, but it ALWAYS lifts my vibration!
We are waking up from a deep sleep.
Sometimes we drift off again for a minute longer, then we awaken some more. It is a process much like giving birth. It takes time and energy and it will be challenging. But it will also be rewarding in ways impossible to imagine from the current perspective.
“How could ANYTHING possibly be worth the effort required to change my thought patterns, and then my eating patterns and then… HOW? How can I do this?!” Your mind may scream at you. But your mind is still wearing blinders that come from thinking that is not aligned with Source.
We must have faith, and trust the process to get back to aligned thinking.
Don’t cling to lack of confidence or self-loathing because it’s the familiar rut you find yourself in. Find the tools and pathways that allow you to activate more self love, and integrate them into your life.
Becoming more conscious is the key to a more energized life, and the first step toward more health, happiness and prosperity.
I am a firm believer that the right wisdom arrives at the right time. I am constantly discovering books at the exact moment I need their message. So as I sat at my desk to write this post, I was not surprised when I was inspired to open You are a Badass Every Day, by Jen Sincero, and found this sentence: “What comes out of your mouth comes into your life, so choose your words wisely.”
I could NOT agree more. In my eBook, Exhausted to Energized: Three Essential Elements, the element I call our Superpower is to “Reframe the thoughts that are sucking the life out of you.”
Here are thirteen typical thoughts that are sucking the life out of you if you’re thinking them, and how to reframe them to energize your life! These are only suggestions. Reframe the thoughts into words that resonate for you, so they come naturally to you.
1) I need to lose weight.
I wrote a whole post on this one because nobody enjoys losing. Losing goes against the grain. We strive to win!
There are a million things we want to do for a million reasons, but not one of them is something we ‘should’ do. If you want to go to the gym to align with your healthy intentions, then get off the couch and GO! But if your only reason to do something is because you feel you should, or someone else is telling you that you should; just don’t do it.
There is shame attached to ‘should.’
The word suggests that there is something wrong with you if you choose not to do whatever it is that ‘they’ say you ‘should’ be doing.
You could do it. If you wanted to because it aligns with your intentions. Then it’s a choice. You have the power to choose, or choose not to do it – instead of being shamed into doing something that you may or may not want to do.
If energizing your life or improving your body composition is on your to-do list, then going to the gym is one possibility in a long list of possibilities that might serve that end. If going to the gym interests you, explore that! If you’d rather have your teeth pulled, explore other options!
3) I miss eating… (something I am not eating for health reasons).
If we choose to focus on things that we miss, or want but cannot have, we cause ourselves misery. When I discovered that I was allergic to my favorite food groups – dairy, sugar, and wheat – I thought my life was OVER because I could no longer eat pizza! It took some energy to refocus my thoughts, and a lot of help from my coach, but now I focus on foods I love that love me back! Mangoes and blueberries are every bit as satisfying to my soul as pizza, and so MUCH better for my physical body!
It’s all about where you place your thoughts, how you choose to look at things. I can continue to focus on my desire for pizza and feel miserable because I am denied, or I can focus on my desire to feel healthy and vibrant and feel GREAT because my food options are delicious AND nutritious.
This will take some time and a effort, but you are worth it!
If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself! Prove to yourself what the truth is.
4) I can’t do this!
If you believe you can’t, then it’s true. You can NOT do it.
Tell yourself you can do it! Even if you don’t know how, YET. Allow yourself to believe that you are capable enough to find a solution; that you WILL figure it out, and then relax into the knowledge that a solution will present itself.
Telling yourself that you cannot do it severely limits your options, and increases stress.
5) I’ll start tomorrow.
It is physically impossible to start anything tomorrow because tomorrow is always in the future. Reframing this one is simple. “I’m starting now,” is a beautiful substitute, or “This is the moment I start to change my life.”
Shifting your mindset NOW can be done even if the action steps must be put off a few more hours. Practice using your power of focus to see the outcome you desire. Hold the end result in your mind’s eye as a complete vision. Allow yourself to feel the outcome you have already created. You KNOW how thrilled you will feel once you are living in the authentic body you have reshaped to meet your own healthy intentions, or once you are holding your complete novel in your hands with your name on the cover, or have successfully transitioned to a profoundly fulfilling career.
You cannot start tomorrow, so you may as well start today. Just start living your dreams now.
6) I have to decide!
This was a kind of mantra for me for many years. Every time the thought popped into my head, I felt my heart rate increase and a sense of DREAD that felt like I would explode if I didn’t decide, or if I picked the wrong choice!
I get to choose. This reframe is empowering.
Being at choice is the greatest power we have. If you hear the familiar ring of “I have to decide,” running through your head, gently remind yourself that you have the power to choose.
We can’t make a choice that is “wrong” because our choice will either get the result we desire, or new information that allows more options (choices) to be available.
7) I really want to be/do/have (something) but…
Don’t let that big BUT follow you around!
When we name something we want and follow that with statements like “but this is the reality” or “but this is the reason I don’t have that yet,” we slow or STOP progress toward the thing that we want.
Examples:
I really want to reach my goal weight, but I hate working out! I really NEED more money, but I’m not qualified for a better job. I want to meet my true love, but I need to lose weight first!
Picture your statement as a train engine on the track. When we say “I really want X,” our powerful engine gets moving right away in that direction. At the “but” in the statement, we place another train on the track moving in the OPPOSITE direction.
That powerful engine is your energy, focused on what you want and moving in that direction. Then the other engine pulls your energy in the opposite direction, splitting your energy and focus. Can you imagine how much longer it will take the train to get anywhere if it has engines pulling both directions on the track?
If all of your energy is moving in one direction, you reach your goal more easily and efficiently. Split your energy with those “but” statements and you might still reach the goal, but it takes longer, feels harder, and allows you more time along the way to lose interest or give up because the journey is taking too long.
8) I just hate “someone” because they are… (rich, thin, lucky, beautiful, smart, or living something I desperately want for myself…).
Love and BLESS that person for being a shining example of what is possible. If they can do it, be it, have it, so can you! You can physically see by their example that it’s possible. It’s the things that we cannot see that require more energy to create.
9) I’m too tired to do that.
If you are too tired to do something you want to do, then things you do NOT want to do are draining your energy. If you are too tired to do something you don’t want to do, then this is just an excuse, but your mind HEARS you and responds to your thoughts.
Remember, your mind creates your reality, so if you tell yourself repeatedly that you are tired, guess what? Yep, you feel tired more often!
You can begin to reframe this one by shifting your intention.
10) When it comes to XYZ, I have NO self control! Or – I simply can NOT resist XYZ!
We are literally saying here that something has power over us. We are handing our power willingly to XYZ. Why would anyone choose to do that?
Because it’s an easy excuse to do what we want to do anyway.
Period. In any other situation we fight to keep our power and stay in control, unless we want to do something and shift blame away from ourselves.
Giving away power is an energy drain. Keep your power. Raise your energy.
I have control in every situation. The choice is always mine.
The word ‘resist’ is tricky, too. We really cannot resist anything because to resist it we must be focused on it. Instead of saying, “I can’t resist free candy,” how possible is it to reframe it into something like: “I choose to eat healthy snacks like apples and dates because they align with my powerful intention to regain vital health.” That feels pretty powerful to me.
Maybe you prefer something simpler, “I eat only the foods on this list,” and then you create a list of foods you LOVE that align with your health goals.
11) Why bother?
Why indeed? Why do we bother to do anything? Usually because it has value to us. So if we are trying to motivate ourselves into doing something, it helps immensely to focus on WHY we are bothering.
“Why bother going to work? My job is meaningless! I hate my job.”
Reasons here may include, I need to pay my bills/feed my family. So “why bother?” could be reframed to support that need/desire like this: “I appreciate the food on my table and roof over our heads.” Or even more positive energy: “Better things are on their way to me, but until then I am happy to have a job that pays the bills, so I will put my best foot forward every day.”
Any thought that LIFTS your energy rather than depressing it is what you are shooting for. Why bother reframing thoughts that feel sucky?
12) I can’t afford that.
This one is insidious. Not only will it become self-fulfilling, like “I’m too tired,” but it also renders us powerless, and nothing grates the human soul like being powerless.
Powerless means we have no choice. When we say “I can’t afford that,” we are saying, “I have no choice.” And that just FEELS awful.
And most of the time it’s not really true. When we truly want something we look for funding options. We allow ourselves to spend birthday money on something frivolous because it’s not meant to pay bills. We save little bits here and there for something we value. For big ticket items like a home or an education, we promise to pay for the rest of our lives because we WANT that home or education.
Of course there may be times this statement is true, like if you were shopping for a private jet and only earn $35,000 a year. But I hear this statement in the grocery store as an excuse not to buy an item less than $5. And the more you say it, the more true it becomes, so you can see the value in finding a reframe that works instead.
Saying, “I am not spending my money on that,” is a perfectly valid option. As are any of these:
I am financially unwilling to make that commitment at this time. I choose not to buy that right now. I choose to buy this, and I am going to save for a while to pay for it. That’s not in my current budget, but if I really want it, I can find a way to afford it. This hasn’t got enough value for me to invest my money in it.
See how each of those reframes makes it a choice? I could choose that if I wanted to, but I choose not to. What other ways can you choose to say this that keeps your power squarely in your own hands?
13) Why me? Or more specifically, Why is this happening to me?
Ask yourself, “What can I learn from this?” Or “Why is this happening FOR me?”
Everything shifts.
You get the idea.
If a thought bothers you, or doesn’t feel good, it’s draining your precious, life-force energy. If you want more energy for the things you enjoy, reframing that thought is a quick, effective method to do just that.
The first step is to simply be aware when a thought is draining your energy. Then you have the power to choose that thought and allow it to drain you, or reframe it to empower yourself.
Winners discover things. We create. We inspire. We reveal.
We do not lose.
Nobody enjoys losing. Losing goes against the grain. We strive to win!
This is one of the main reasons “losing weight” is so challenging. We resist it with every fiber of our being, because we don’t want to lose!
We want to feel fit and trim and energized. We want to be healthy and active.
If we choose to make the goal “losing weight” and that goal comes up against one of our FAVORITE things ever – food – we will fall short of the goal every time. We do NOT want to lose. We do not identify as “losers.”
We like being winners, and we want to WIN at life!
If this sounds familiar, you are not alone!
What is the real goal?
We want to feel fit and trim and energized. We want to be healthy and active. We want to be confident, and wake up eager for our day!
Feeling fit, trim, energized, healthy and active are all benefits that increase the closer you get to your body’s optimal weight.
If winners don’t lose weight, how do we reach weight goals?
Winners eat empowered. We achieve optimal body weight. We reveal our authentic body. We discover the sexy beast within. We align our values with our intentions.
You can reframe this goal in any way that feels better to you! How can you say it that makes it a goal you want with all your heart?
I will do whatever it takes to feel healthy, fit and vibrant every day. I will set a healthy example for my children and grandchildren. I will look in the mirror and LOVE what I see.
Any of these feels better than saying, “I need to lose weight.”
We are not losers, and we never enjoy losing. We are winners. You are a winner.
Winners are confident. I don’t mean the kind of confident that comes from looking good, which is a side-effect of achieving optimal weight.
Winners are confident that they can choose what they want and make it happen!
Winners lean in when it gets challenging, focus on the goal, and REACH that finish line because it’s important, and worth the effort. This confidence comes from setting a goal and reaching it, setting another goal, and reaching it too. Lack of confidence comes from setting goals and falling short of them. But our future is not limited by what we achieved in the past!
Maybe the key to getting what we want is as simple as reframing it.
If the goal is one we have been wanting for a long time, yet not quite reaching, there is bound to be more than one thought we need to shift, if we are to succeed in reaching what we truly desire.
As a coach, I get to help my clients uncover their values, and tie those values to the goals they want to reach. This is a simple way to keep the motivation high and make steady progress to where you want to be!
What is your goal?
Is your goal something you are you doing because you are passionate for it? Or is it something you “need” to do, or have been told you “should” do?
Even if a physician is saying we “should” do something, if we can’t reframe that into something we are “wanting,” we will resist it every step of the way, drain our energy, and take much longer to reach that goal if we achieve it at all.
If you want to reach your goal faster with less effort, reframe it from a “should” or “must” into a “want” and just watch how fast you achieve your desires!
My apologies for the mini hiatus in my blog, or as I like to call it, my Empowerment Center. I hope you find inspiration here that reminds you that the tremendous power within you flows from the ultimate power in the Universe.
June began for me by attending the final weekend of in-person classes at iPEC, the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching and I embarked on the final assignments to gain my two coaching certifications. I focused tirelessly on completing the work and earned my ELI-MP on Jun 15! Most people have no idea what that is, but that’s a blog for another day. By July 15, I expect to have my CPC and be a Certified Professional Coach.
I am thrilled and delighted to have a fulfilling new career that I am so passionate about. I still very much enjoy my massage practice, and am getting ready to participate in the Vallejo Open Studios in November.
Point Lobos
Bottom line?
I have to remind myself how important it is to take a day off!
Recently, my friend of 45 years came to visit me. We have been planning her trip for months, but when it landed last week, I actually almost felt guilty taking the time off! I have so MUCH on my to-do list, that it felt wrong to shift my focus to “fun.”
Dani & I went kayaking on Monterey Bay!
But life without balance is draining.
No matter how much I adore my careers, if that is ALL that I focus on, my life swings out of balance. We need work that feeds our souls, but we also need days off that feed our souls! I give myself bonus points if my time off includes spending some time outdoors connecting to nature, because I know that is one of the things that really engages my spirit and makes me feel at one with the Universe.
When was the last time you took a day off? Or, if you are ‘off’ every day, when was the last time you planned something fun just for the inspiration of it?
No matter what you do on the daily, give yourself a little break to enjoy a few hours doing something you LOVE, just for the fun of it!
I did drag myself away from all the details of my coaching practice and enjoy three days off last week. Dani & I spent time in Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Point Lobos. We had a gorgeous day to enjoy Point Lobos. Here are a few pics from our hike.
My battery is charged. My cup is overflowing!
I feel so alive and rejuvenated!
I think my hiatus is over, so watch for inspiring, energizing new blog posts coming soon!
As often as not it’s being so tired or bored with what we have been doing that desire for something new simply lifts us and moves us in a new direction.
Human beings get stuck in ruts. We appreciate the familiar. Sometimes it’s far more comfortable to just stay put than to find a new path. Until we simply cannot stay put.
Recently I was speaking to some clients about their new health improvements.
One client had waited a very long time to focus on her health, putting it off until her child went to college. During our sessions she reported feeling bored and lonely. She said she wanted to start getting fit, but didn’t want to go to a gym, because she was afraid others might judge her for the way she currently looked.
I asked if she was a more critical judge of herself – or of others. She admitted that she judges herself more harshly than she does other people. I simply pointed out that the same is true for most of us and that everyone at the gym is probably too busy judging themselves to have time to judge her. I added that everyone at the gym would be focused on self-improvement and could judge her favorably for pursuing similar goals. She quickly discovered that the feelings of loneliness and boredom decreased at the gym and can’t BELIEVE she waited so long to feel this powerful in her own skin again!
Another of my clients has begun walking 3 to 4 miles several times a week, and is changing some of her food choices. I asked her what had finally motivated these changes for her and I LOVE her reply:
“One day I just got off the fucking couch and started walking.”
After I stopped laughing she told me it wasn’t much that first day. “I only walked three or four blocks, but it felt GOOD to be outside instead of playing a video game, so I decided to take a walk again the next day.”
So whether it’s because you are wanting something new in your life, or you’re just tired of “what is” you CAN make changes! We have to start somewhere. Maybe all we need to do is get off the fucking couch!
