I have been feeling a little stressed lately. Thinking about family worries, financial setbacks, and fading friendships has left me feeling a bit depleted. Unexpected and unwelcome changes to holiday plans left me feeling picked on because my expectations weren’t met. Why is it always ME that has to compromise?
Honestly I was feeling disappointed, and slightly victimized.
My friend and mentor, encouraged me to think about how I want to FEEL on a daily basis throughout the holidays, and suggested I choose a word or phrase to use as a guiding light through the coming weeks.
Thinking about that, I decided that I want to feel my power. I want to feel the way I feel when I am connected to Source energy, and letting the Light of undiluted Love flow through me! And I want that for everyone else, too. I want to see pure positive energy – the Light of unconditional Love – spread like wildfire across the globe.
I am the Light.
THAT is how I wish to feel throughout the holidays and into the New Years, and decades ahead! I am the Light.
When I am the Light, I cannot feel disappointment or fear. I simply shine from within. I shine with infinite Source energy. I am not bound by limiting expectations, because all I expect is illumination – no matter my direction of travel.
Jesus talks about not putting one’s light under a bushel but making it visible for all to see. Christianity says Christ is the light in all beings. Science talks of photons or light waves being present in every atom in the universe. Buddhism says Buddha is always shining, always emitting light. Buddha said, “Be you lamps unto yourselves.” – Daily Meditations
I am the Light.
This is my mantra for the holiday season, and coming year.
I am the Light.
When I feel powerless, I choose to step into my power – the Truth of Who I am. I am Goddess, Source Energy, the energy that creates worlds, and I am neither powerless, nor victim. Not fucking EVER.
I am the Light.
I CHOOSE to be the Light. I choose to SHINE. I choose to love – unconditionally. I choose Faith. I choose to TRUST that the Universe has my back. I choose to BELIEVE that everything turns out for the highest good, even when my human mind cannot see HOW it is good. I choose to believe that I am worthy, and so is everyone else, even when I feel crappy. I choose to spend time in nature because it feeds my soul. I follow the Light within. I am the Light I see in reflected in my world. I am the Light, and I choose to fucking SHINE!
I am the Light.
Please remember that YOU, too, are the Light.
Winter Solstice is the darkest time of year. Let’s give ourselves, and each other the gift of being the Light. I wish you a new year full of health, abundance, opportunities, and blessings.
Don’t just notice them. Appreciate the fuck out of them!
Appreciation is the HIGHEST vibe available to humans. Love and appreciation are the same. We are here on this planet to allow love to flow through us and into our world!
I know that life on earth is a mixed bag. It’s super easy to focus on challenges and obstacles – they arise to shift our focus. But often we become SO focussed on the challenge, that we don’t even notice miracles, let alone appreciate them.
I invite you to let the love flow, for no other reason than it feels fucking amazing! When you feel yourself contract in fear (worry, guilt, regret, resentment, etc…), take a deep grounding breath and allow yourself to expand into love.
How?
Infuse appreciation into every miracle around.
Now, if we have been focused on fear for awhile, we may not even recognize the miracles. If this is where you find yourself, don’t panic. You are not alone in this by any score, and nothing has gone wrong! We are culturally conditioned to look for what is going wrong or might go wrong, threats to our lives, finances, and health, and circumstances outside of our control.
It is my honor, and great pleasure, to help people refocus on ALL we have to appreciate in our lives! Recognizing everyday miracles, and flowing love & appreciation to them serves our health, uplifts our mood, and connects us to infinite wisdom.
I present an incomplete list of miracles to which we can flow love and appreciation.
sunshine
rain
clouds
oxygen
flowers
gardens
trees
birds
butterflies
rainbows
food (other stuff exists that provides nutrients we require to survive!)
dogs
cats
babies
running hot water
internet and the level of connectivity it provides
grocery delivery! (Imagine what pioneers on the prairie would MAKE of that!)
true friends
imagination!
challenges & obstacles – It is common to curse obstacles, and cast the self as victim when challenges arise. If we shift our point of view and ask what Love is teaching with this challenge, the way through becomes clear. The challenge is ALWAYS a gift, even when we cannot see the value.
legs that carry us through life
eyes to see the beauty in the world
arms to hold the ones we love
intestines that digest everything, even when we eat unconsciously.
an immune system that protects our lives from unseeable organisms
tastebuds!
lungs that inhale and exhale
blood that delivers oxygen and nutrients
organs that serve our survival without us even understanding what they do!
a heart that beats without us having to think about it, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week of every year of our life!
eardrums!
our ability to smell pine, and cloves, and roses, and puppy breath
Self! – the sum total of billions of living cells that compose the flesh, and life that are you, is nothing short of a miracle!
There is NOTHING more important to which we flow our love and appreciation than self. Self-love is the key to transforming anything we wish to change. And if there is nothing we wish to change, flowing love and appreciation to self will enhance the perfection we are enjoying!
If we see nothing to appreciate, it is only because we have not cultivated an appreciation of the miracles that surround us. We have been conditioned to take miracles for granted.
We can absolutely condition ourselves to see them everywhere. We invite MORE miracles by focusing on miracles!
Grow on!
I invite us to bask in the sunlight of our own miraculous being. I invite us to look for miracles, NAME them, and infuse them with appreciation and love. Start with the ones I list above. More and more miracles will become obvious. Practice looking at challenges as a miracle designed by our soul to provide an amazing gift, and deeper understanding of love.
Being our authentic self is the most liberating thing we can do.
What does it MEAN to be authentic? It means to be the fabulous YOU that you came here to be. Each of us is a unique spark of the Universal Divine, a singular piece of the infinite puzzle. We deserve to say what’s true in our hearts. We deserve to be true to our own desires and beliefs, and live in whatever way makes us happy. We deserve to live our lives in whatever way we choose, no matter what the fuck other people expect of us, or what they think about our choices.
But it is normal to want to fit in, and to want to be liked by others, so many of us wear masks to hide our authentic self. This happens when we believe that we are not enough as we are, or when we have been told that we are too much in some way, or when it feels unsafe to speak our truth.
The masks we create become heavy when worn too long, and continuing to wear them takes a huge amount of energy. We grow weary of trying to be who this one wants us to be, doing what that one wants us to do. We can be exhausted trying to live a life defined by masks, instead of letting ourself be authentic.
If we attract a partner while wearing a mask, we may fear ever revealing our true self. If they love the masked version, how could they possibly love what truly lies beneath?
The other burden of wearing a mask to please others, is that we never really get the chance to explore our true nature. We get to a point where the mask is so heavy we MUST set it down, but then we might not have any idea of who we truly are and what makes us happy.
So I invite you to liberate yourself! If you are not usually the type to speak your mind, or ask for what you want out of life, I encourage you to start. Play with being authentic to explore how much more energy you have!
If you reveal your true self and someone doesn’t like it, that’s their problem, not yours. The people who love you will be delighted for you to be YOU. Maybe it’s time to release people who want you to wear to please them.
You only get one wild and precious life. Spend it being the fabulous, unique YOU that you came here to be!
Grow on!
What masks do you wear regularly? Which ones are draining your energy? Which ones are you willing to let go? In what ways are you ready to express your authenticity? What makes you truly light up?
A shift in mindset can literally be the difference between experiencing a living hell, or living heaven on earth.
Mindset is EVERYTHING. Mindset is the vibrational set point of our thinking. It is the accumulation of established thoughts and beliefs we hold to be true.
Energy attracts like energy, so what we vibrate, we attract.
We can think of our vibrational set point (mindset) as our radio station. Our current mindset is the station to which we’re tuned. Therefore the ONLY thing we can currently experience is what’s being broadcast on our station. If we do not like our experience, we must change the station to get something different.
We cannot change the experience being broadcast. In order to experience a different broadcast, we must change our station, by changing how we perceive.
What we perceive is what we receive.
If we believe that we live in a godless universe, where others cannot be trusted, where we must do it all on our own, and struggle for what we have; we are having a very different experience broadcast to us than someone who believes that the Universe has her back, sends frequent angels to support her, and flows resources to her effortlessly.
Changing our radio station (mindset) allows us to attract something different than we have been experiencing. If we are not currently enjoying our experience, it is vital to shift our mindset. In order to shift our mindset to attract something different than we have been attracting, we must begin to shift the thoughts we are thinking, and be willing to let go of beliefs that do not serve us.
The question then is, how do we change what we believe?
Awareness is always the first step! We can only change something if we are AWARE that we want to change it. Once we have recognized that something we think or believe no longer serves us, we need a process to help us overwrite those beliefs with new ones that support and inspire us!
We need a process because if we truly believe something, we cannot simply stop believing that, and start believing something contrary. The human brain won’t leap like that.
For example, we cannot go from thinking, “I hate my body because it’s fat,” to thinking, “I love my body unconditionally,” in the same breath. Our vibration will physically reject the opposing thought because it does not resonate with our current mindset/vibration.
Wheels & Ladders
Here are four processes wonderful for shifting mindset, or point of attraction.
Focus Wheel Process
Esther Hicks and Abraham offered us the Focus Wheel Process in the book Ask and it is Given.
We place the thought we wish to believe in the center, then write thoughts around the outside which we already believe, thoughts that resonate with our current mindset, meaning – we already believe them. Practicing these believable thoughts moves us closer to the center thought we wish to believe.
Esther says to use the focus wheel process:
When you realize that your current Vibrational Point of Attraction is not where you want it to be.
When you are aware that you are feeling negative emotion about something that is important, and you want to find a way of feeling positive emotion instead.
When something has just happened that is not to your liking, and you want to think about it while it is on your mind and change your point of attraction so that it does not happen again.
When you are reaching for a feeling of relief.
For me, the key bit here is reaching for a feeling of relief. When we are thinking thoughts that make us feel icky, anxious, or worried, finding thoughts that RELIEVE the anxiety, worry, and shame is solid GOLD.
Abraham’s Focus Wheel Process is highly effective for many people.
Training Wheels
Another process we can use to shift our thoughts, our mindset, our vibrational point of attraction is Training Wheels. Training wheels help us soften the thought we desire to believe, and bring it closer to our current vibrational range. Training wheels are sentence fragments tacked onto the thought we wish to believe.
Examples of Training Wheels: Why is it so easy to… I am learning to… I am ready to… I feel empowered when… Today I begin to… I choose to…
Training wheels on our example: I love my body unconditionally. Why is it so easy to love my body unconditionally? I am learning to love my body unconditionally. I am ready to love my body unconditionally. I feel empowered when I love my body unconditionally. Today I begin to love my body unconditionally. I choose to love my body unconditionally.
If the training wheel thought is one we BELIEVE, we are on our way! Shifting from a limiting belief to an inspiring belief takes PRACTICE, so we want to practice the training wheel thought frequently until we feel ready to take the training wheels off.
Training Wheels Process is a super effective way to begin shifting our beliefs!
Laddering Thoughts
I love Laddering Thoughts Process! Imagine the limiting belief on the bottom rung of the ladder. Now place the thought we WANT to think at the top of the ladder.
Now we climb the ladder one better-feeling thought at a time! Each thought is a rung on the ladder taking us closer to the empowering thought at the top. You can absolutely use Training Wheels to help you up the ladder if you find some that raise your vibration.
You can also use neutral thoughts since neutral is always a higher vibe than negative. For example, instead of the negatively charged, “I hate my body” we can use the neutral statement, “I have a body” to climb one rung up on the ladder. That’s a true statement, so it can resonate with anyone. “My body has physically supported me since birth,” is also true. If it resonates, we can use it to climb one rung closer to the higher vibration we desire!
Try these thoughts, and if they resonate, we can climb the next rung:
Some people love their bodies unconditionally. I would like to love my body unconditionally. The more I love my body, the more it loves me back. Occasionally, I love my body unconditionally. It is possible to love my body unconditionally.
Remember: you need to practice the Laddering Thoughts that resonate for you every day, throughout the day. Once a thought feels more believable, move up the ladder!
Stairway to Heaven
I adore the Laddering Thoughts Process, and I love to shift thoughts from bad feeling to good feeling, and from good feeling to better feeling.
So I shifted the idea of the thought ladder into the image of a fully supported staircase with double handrails. Now instead of my steps being shaky, or unstable, I feel steady and supported as I climb my Thought Stairway!
The handrail I offer is a choice of uplifting thoughts galore. Many years ago I began creating positive affirmation cards (daily mantra or empowerment cards) for a friend who was going through challenging times.
I take positive statements that feel good when I say them, and print them on my inspiring landscape photography. Currently I have created more than 500, and I invite you to freely download any that resonate for you, and use them to support you on your Stairway to Heaven on Earth!
My fabulous fucking Toy Box contains a treasure trove of guiding support from many wise hearts who are consistently lighting the way toward Heaven on Earth. I invite you to explore and play with these amazing resources, and incorporate whatever resonates for you. This is how we feel supported and guided as we shift our thoughts up the stairs.
We can use our Thought Stairway to climb from wherever we are on the vibrational scale to wherever we wish to be on the vibrational scale. Thought Stairway can lift us from the deepest depths of despair, unworthiness, and shame, right up to heaven on earth!
With PRACTICE.
These wonderful processes help us retrain our neural pathways, and that takes time and practice.
I encourage you not to give up! We reach a tipping point when we finally feel closer to the top of the staircase than the bottom, and that is when we keep practicing!
We play with shifting our thoughts upward. We keep joyfully rising toward that higher vibration, toward renewed mindset, and fresh perspectives.
This is our spiritual practice, to move ourselves closer and closer to the perspective/vibration of that which we call God, Source Energy, Infinite Wisdom. Because living fully in that energy here and now is what it means to live in Heaven on Earth.
Grow on!
What thoughts are you thinking that are limiting your growth? How does that thought feel when you think it? What emotion would you rather feel? What thought can you think that creates that desired emotion within you? Play with the above processes to climb from the limiting thought to the freeing one!
Millions of thoughts pop into our heads every day. Some of them are constructive, and some, not so much. Some of them feel wonderful, and some create fear. Some inspire confidence, others manifest self-doubt.
The trick is to remember that if they pop in uninvited, you only need to entertain the ones you enjoy!
I talk to my clients all the time about “milking the moment” when they have a thought that feels wonderful. We want to hang onto those as long as we can, and really milk them for every drop of pleasure that we can get.
Why? Because energy attracts like energy.
The more we focus on what we enjoy, the more the Universe brings us to enjoy!
So what about those thoughts that pop in unannounced that are destructive, fear filled, and confidence crushing? My advice is to get rid of them the instant we become aware of them.
It’s perfectly understandable, when experiencing a financial or medical uncertainty, that scary thoughts and worst case scenarios might pop into out head. But these thoughts are here without invitation, so we don’t throw them a big party and invite them to stay!
As soon as I notice that my mind has wandered into a scary neighborhood, I quickly repeat “nope, nope, nope!” It’s like a little energy canceling mantra I use to retrieve my energy from unwanted territory. The quicker I can catch myself, and redirect with “nope, nope, nope” the better!
Why? Because energy attracts like energy.
The more we focus on what is unwanted, the more the Universe brings us what is unwanted!
Of course we occasionally must focus on something we’d rather not, like preparing our taxes. But I’m talking about creating stories in our head of unreal events that may never happen. It’s a HUGE, and completely unnecessary, waste of our energy. The faster we vacate that territory, the calmer, happier, and more energized we will feel!
Nope, nope, nope!
Then we can intentionally shift attention onto something we DO want to attract. We can entertain best case scenarios and visualize those. Or if the energy is currently too charged around that topic, shift subjects entirely and focus on something that is sure to lift your energy and inspire you. Your grandkids, your pet, crafts or hobbies, podcasts meant to inspire. Whatever it is for you.
After the nope, nope, nope disrupts the negative energy, focus on anything that allows you to feel uplifted, happy, empowered, or inspired.
Grow on!
What thoughts are you currently entertaining that could use a good “Nope, nope, nope!”?
Create a list of as many people, places, and practices you can think of that never fail to comfort you, or make you feel amazing.
For an incomplete list of resources that inspire the crap outta me & my clients so we can energize our lives & thrive, check out my fabulous fucking toy box at THIS LINK!
How often do you charge your cell phone? Put gas in your car?
WHY so freaking often?!
Because when we use something constantly, that’s how fast the energy gets consumed.
Now, how often do you use your body? And how frequently are you charging your batteries? Do you know how to refuel your own energy?
These are crucial questions to consider, and ones I ask my clients every week. One of the biggest reasons we can feel depleted is because we have no idea how to fuel up, fill our reserves, charge our batteries. The things that drain our energy are unending, and come at us all day every day. Just lying still breathing requires some energy! If we actually go out in the world to school, careers, social engagements, and all the rest, we are constantly spending our energy supply.
If we are not making space in our schedule to recharge, or have no idea where to go to plug in, is it any wonder we feel drained, exhausted, and overwhelmed?
We can optimize health and energy by defining what recharges us (energy gains), and releasing any energy drains that are optional.
Killing Time vs. Creating Fun
Just to be clear – relaxed scrolling, or watching TV is not the same as being plugged in. There is nothing wrong with those activities, but they can’t really be counted as recharging. It’s kind of like not charging the phone, but not using it either. We end up with no net loss or gain in energy. Our battery charger MUST be plugged in for a gain in energy to occur, so simple “down-time” activities like scrolling social media or watching entertainment are not inherently energy building and should not be included when listing energy gains.
Rather than helping us disengage (like watching or scrolling), energy gains are usually things that engage our energy and feel like fun. With this distinction in mind, we can begin to define a list of people, places, and practices in our lives that actually feed us energy and fuel us up, and which ones drain our energy and leave us feeling exhausted and empty inside.
The lists below are merely suggestions to get us thinking about what fills us with joy, and where we actually choose to spend our energy supply. They are not meant to be all inclusive.
Maximize Energy Gains
Any self-care practices you already do, or want to begin doing.
Spend time in nature.
Look at beautiful nature photography.
Enjoy nature videos on YouTube.
Move your body in any way that’s FUN.
Read uplifting books and articles. – Find people who inspire you and LET THEM!
Listen to inspiring podcasts. – Find people who inspire you and LET THEM, but with your ears.
Talk to a coach or therapist. – This is an excellent way to personalize a shift in mindset.
Breathe deeply.
Relax often.
Slow down with meals to gain more pleasure from your food.
Offer yourself unconditional love. – This takes practice, and often requires support from others.
Frequently tell yourself and others what you appreciate in them.
Hug everyone.
Say what you think always, but say it with love. – Speaking our truth is essential for health, and so is not harming others with our words or emotions.
Schedule time to do the things that make you happy! – THIS is the key to increasing the energy available to us!
Dive into my toy box and find lots inspiring ideas!
Play with any or all of these as feels right in your experience!
Minimize Energy Drains
Negative self talk! – This is the most energy draining activity humans do.
Neglecting self-care.
Judging self and others. – Everyone is right where we need to be, and doing the best we can in each moment.
Negative emotions like anger, frustration, irritation, depression, fear, guilt, worry… – These are NORMAL human emotions to feel and then move through, and they drain our energy when we get stuck in them.
Doing things you do NOT want to do. – Don’t force yourself to say yes when you want to say no.
NOT doing things you want to do! – Not doing what charges our batteries drains our energy double time.
Limiting beliefs. – Any thought we keep thinking that keeps us from moving forward.
Taking things personally. – Their behavior is never about me and always about them.
Clutter, disorganization. – Visual clutter can drain our energy.
Overuse of caffeine, sugar, or alcohol. – There is nothing wrong with using some caffeine, sugar, or alcohol, and overuse of any of these powerful substances will deplete our energy.
Play with watching what shows up in your experience. Play with identifying where your energy is leaking. Play with letting go of these as you become willing to release them!
Once we create our own lists, we are able to make choices based on how much energy we have, and how we most want to spend it!
Grow on!
Try creating your own lists of what fills your fuel tank and what leaves you feeling empty! Then schedule some of the battery chargers in your calendar, and play with letting go of some of the behaviors that drain you.
Please reach out if I can help! Schedule a chat at THIS LINK so we ca connect!
I’m sending this blog post out to ALL of my email lists – family & friends, massage, photography, and coaching clients – to announce my graduation from the Institute for the Psychology of Eating!
I’m thrilled and excited to have completed this amazing course in Mind Body Nutrition and Dynamic Eating Psychology. I’m even MORE thrilled by the amazing results my clients are already reporting!
Please click THIS LINK to read what my clients are saying.
I have found my passion and purpose in life. I adore helping people grow in awareness, and watching them transform their relationship with food and body!
The clients I am serving now are those who struggle with weight, body image, low-energy, digestive issues, or compulsive eating behaviors like stress eating, overeating, and binge eating. I am delighted to have all kinds of new processes and practices in my toy box to help people navigate some of the same things with which I have struggled in life.
Please share this blog post with everyone just in case I can help support them through any of these challenges! I truly appreciate you taking the time to refer me to others!
So WHO might benefit when you share this? Those who wish to:
Replace endless dieting with lifelong nourished eating.
Release unwanted, or compulsive eating behaviors.
Find a natural and sustainable way of eating that suits their own body.
Savor life instead of rushing from one moment to the next.
Feel confident in the skin they’re in, instead of feeling worried about what they weigh.
Join me on the Transformation Playground!
Something else that has me super excited and delighted is rebranding my Empowerment Blog into the Transformation Playground!
Empowering people to transform their life from exhausted and striving to energized and thriving is still my objective, but the former title makes it sound like I am the one responsible for the empowerment. People empower themselves by playing with new ideas, and experimenting with releasing depleting thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors.
The Transformation Playground provides toys and techniques that help us examine new ways of thinking. It’s a supportive space for each individual to explore what feels healthy for them, so that we each empower ourselves through exploration and choice.
Jill Lebeau and Amit West bring high vibes, unconditional love, and a whole bunch of laughter to this incredible resource for upliftment and expansion. Spiritual growth has never been so fun and easy!
There will be MUCH to explore on the Transformation Playground, but I will always point the way to the Sandbox first!
Grow on!
Here are some great ways to begin YOUR journey of transformation!
Subscribe to the Transformation Playground at THIS LINK, and each week you will get tidbits, toys, and techniques that allow us to transform our relationship with food & body, motivational images, ongoing encouragement, and recommendations for all kinds of fun that helps us grow, and evolve into the highest version of ourselves.
Ready to invest in yourself and commit to the changes you truly want?
Act NOW and save $500!
Empowerment Package
Special Value through December 20 ~ Pay just $1,000
Your investment includes ~ Discovery session ~ 75 to 90 minutes Nine coaching sessions ~ 45 to 60 minutes each ~ support over three months
Because I’m EXCITED to help MORE people! 707-515-8324 Call today!
Not sure if coaching is right for you? Invest in yourself with a Discovery Session!
Discovery Session
In-depth 75 to 90 minute coaching session culminates with insights into personalized solutions for your challenge, a plan to move you forward, and at least one action that moves you toward your goal!
As I discussed in my post, Who the Fuck Needs a Life Coach, not everyone is familiar with professional coaching, so it’s sometimes necessary to explain what coaching is, how it works, and who coaching can help. Beyond that, it may be easy to identify what a business coach, nutrition coach, or fitness coach does – and who might hire them – but what the fuck is a Mind Body Eating Coach?
I’m glad you asked!
While an eating coach might sound like someone Joey Chestnut would hire, a Certified Mind Body Eating Coach helps people who struggle with weight, body image, low-energy, digestive issues, or compulsive eating behaviors like stress eating, overeating, and binge eating.
Mind Body Eating Coaching (MBEC) addresses the nutritional aspect of what’s going on for the client, but our sessions also focus on the personal, emotional, and psychological aspects of what may be driving unwanted eating behaviors.
MBEC training is a nine-month course of study focused on Mind Body Nutrition, and Dynamic Eating Psychology. According to the school’s founder, Marc David, “Mind Body Nutrition takes the science of nutrition to a whole new place, and Dynamic Eating Psychology is a positive, results-oriented approach to eating concerns that speaks to heart, mind and soul.”
A Certified Mind Body Eating Coach is not going to offer you a specific eating plan, nor exercise program, though she may help you create one specific to your body. MBE Coaching helps clients get to the root of why we do the things we do, and why we do what we don’t want to do.
This unique approach offers a pathway to finally heal our relationship with food and body that is different from anything I’ve ever experienced, and I’m willing to bet most of my readers have never tried anything like this before either.
So WHO might hire a Mind Body Eating Coach?
Those who will benefit from Mind Body Eating Coaching are those who wish to:
Replace endless dieting with lifelong nourished eating.
Release unwanted, or compulsive eating behaviors.
Find a natural and sustainable way of eating that suits their own body.
Savor life instead of rushing from one moment to the next.
Feel confident in the skin they’re in, instead of feeling worried about what they weigh.
Here’s what my current clients are saying about Mind Body Eating Coaching:
“Even though I have had only 2 coaching sessions with Cyndi, I cannot believe what a difference it has already made with myself as a whole. The week following my first session was amazing. I was able to actually have calm peaceful moments, (which I have not had since my husband passed almost 3 years ago). I am so looking forward to where my next sessions lead me.” ~ ST in Vallejo
“After only two months, my insatiable desire to snack after dinner is almost completely gone. I can’t believe it was this easy. I thought I was eating a healthy low fat diet, and it turns out THAT was why I couldn’t stop snacking! I’m eating more food, and I am starting to release excess weight!” ~ SL in San Francisco
“Cyndi is a great coach- she’s patient with her clients as they learn. She’s funny, insightful, informative and easy to work with. I like how she celebrates the smallest “aha” moments as she guides you in your journey.” ~ PC in Vallejo
“Cyndi has been very helpful in keeping me focused and keeping me grounded and bringing me back to earth when I lose it. She has taught me a lot about enjoying what I’m eating and being mindful when it’s meal time. I derive great enjoyment from our sessions. I find them very useful and Cyndi very uplifting” ~ BK in Pinole
Please forward this blog post to anyone you know who might like to: – Replace endless dieting with lifelong nourished eating. – Release unwanted, or compulsive eating behaviors. – Find a natural and sustainable way of eating that suits their own body. – Savor life instead of rushing from one moment to the next. – Feel confident in the skin they’re in, instead of feeling worried about what they weigh.
What do you have to lose?
Grow on!
If you’re considering hiring a coach, please use THIS LINK to schedule a chat to see if I’m the right coach for you!
Today would have been my grandmother’s one hundred eleventh birthday. She’s been gone since the late nineties, and I still miss her, but I never focus on her being gone. I always think how blessed I was to have her wonderful energy in my life.
Life is full of challenges that demand our time and energy. Sometimes they grab our attention so hard that for awhile that challenge is all we can think about. In our minds, we slow time and chew our options. The subject constantly pops up uninvited. We may lie awake at night turning it over and over. When it slips out of mind, we almost reach to bring it back because we miss the familiar vibration.
I want us to learn to savor every blessing, every success, every step achieved toward our goal, every tiny triumph with the same single-minded focus that we use to worry!
Why?
The things that we look at, and think about are the things life brings us.
When we focus on hardship or challenge, Life brings us hardships and challenges. When we focus on what we love and enjoy, Life brings us love and enjoyment. I want us to celebrate everything we love, and get infinitely MORE to love.
I want us to stop and smell the fucking roses!
I feel like roses are literally an invitation from Life to slow down enough to enjoy what’s right in front of us. Not all roses have scent anymore since they have been bred for beauty, so when we find a scented rose, it’s a moment to enjoy. Let’s stop and enjoy it!
We’re always in such a hurry to rush into the next challenge that we often forget to celebrate finding a solution for the previous challenge. We can get so focused on the larger puzzle that we fail to give ourselves credit for all the pieces we’ve already fit neatly into place.
If we have a goal to take a fabulous vacation, I invite us to enjoy thinking about it every chance we get! We want to enjoy exploring the area with Google image searches. We want to research fun places to stay, and activities we might enjoy and imagine ourselves being there. We want to savor the trip long before it begins!
Equally, we can savor the trip long after it ends. The moments that brought the greatest joy can be brought back to enjoy and appreciate until the day we die, if we invite them in to lift our hearts and delight us again. We want to milk those special moments for all the pleasure, all the upliftment we can get.
If we have a goal to drop some excess weight, I invite us to celebrate every step in that direction. Make a different choice for breakfast? Do a happy dance! Stick to our food plan for the day? Celebrate! Did we slow down to be present with our meals? That’s a HUGE win! Woo hoo!
Why wait to celebrate once the whole goal is reached, when we have the opportunity to create MORE success by acknowledging and celebrating every decision in service of that goal? When we applaud every step we make in that direction, Life brings us more success to applaud.
When we slow down to appreciate the roses, we get more roses.
Grow on!
In what ways do you celebrate success? What milestones are you ready to celebrate?
I read an article somewhere about 40 years ago that explained that people who expected bad luck on Friday the 13th often found bad luck, while those who did not expect bad luck rarely find that Friday unlucky. I decided then and there the I would not expect bad luck on Friday the 13th. I took it one step further when I decided to dub Friday the 13th my own personal lucky day. Since then I have had many happy encounters on Friday the 13th, in fact my first child was conceived on Friday the 13th.
Around that same time I also read an article that explained that symmetry was one of the markers for beauty in human faces. The more symmetrical the face, the more attractive other humans find it. In fact currently Wikipedia says “Facial symmetry has been found to increase ratings of attractiveness in human faces. More symmetrical faces are perceived as more attractive in both males and females, but facial symmetry plays a larger role in judgments of attractiveness concerning female faces.”
I agreed with the concept when they trotted out photos of beautiful celebrities and started measuring and comparing the two sides of their face. Symmetry is wonderful indeed. Nature is symmetrical in many beautiful ways. Symmetrical lines of architecture always draw my camera’s lens.
When I woke with Bell’s Palsy, that long-ago article was the first thing that came to my mind. My next thought was, “I’m no longer beautiful,” because my face was completely asymmetrical.
My smile opened many doors to me in the first fifty years of my life. It was difficult to imagine my life could ever be the same or that people would ever see me the same magical, privileged way I had been seen when I had my symmetrical beauty.
I mistakenly believed that my value, my worth, was intrinsically tied to my physical beauty. Once I began working with my amazing energy coach, I began to see that my worth was intrinsic. My value had nothing to do with my smile. My beauty emanates from my core vibration, not my face. This shift in perspective improved my life in more ways than I can say.
It must be my lucky day! After all these years it finally occurred to me that if I can just decide that Friday the Thirteenth is lucky for me, then I can just decide that asymmetry is beautiful.
Grow on!
What thoughts/beliefs/perspectives are you currently holding onto that do not serve you? In what ways is that thought/belief/perspective limiting you?
