By Esther Sarlo, BA, Founder | CEO | Myndful Spark of www.MyndMyself.com
As I sit at my computer today in preparation for a remote conversation with my 87-year-old mother’s medical doctor, this question drives home even more profoundly. As my mother’s Enduring Power of Attorney (in both her finances AND her health) it is my job to help her navigate the tricky terrain that arises as she continues to age.
I imagine you might be at the stage of life when you’re starting to think of what will happen with your aging parents. If so, GREAT! The sooner you start planning and preparing for this eventuality, the better. If not, I highly recommend that you start now. There is no time like the present!
Tip #1: Notice and Assess Your Own Health Status
The best way to ensure that your parents are taken care of adequately in their old age is…to MAKE SURE YOU ARE AS HEALTHY AS POSSIBLE! Trust me. If you are not as healthy as you can be, what might be a difficult task could become monumental!
But let’s backtrack for a bit here. Let’s not talk about anyone else but YOU.
If you’re 40+ (or even if you’re approaching 40), I know you’ve been noticing things about your body that you never used to have to pay attention to. Things like:
I’m sure none of these are surprising ‘facts’ for you. However, knowing that it happens to ‘those old people over there’ and experiencing some of this in yourself is an entirely different matter!
Tip #2: Setting Yourself Up for Optimal Health
Yes, it’s happening to you, too. Some of this is inevitable…However, there are lots of great things you can do to set yourself up for amazing health as you age!
As Steve Jobs said in his final essay, “The six best doctors in the world are sunlight, rest, exercise, diet, self-confidence, and friends.”
Tip #3: Taking Specific Action
For help exploring any of these actions or learning more about Complementary, Holistic, and Integrative (CHI) Health, please visit https://www.myndmyself.com.
Why do you need to do this? Because YOU matter!
As a voice for the body’s role in healing and wholeness in the universe, Esther Sarlo is an entrepreneur, facilitator, speaker, and writer who is passionately committed to making it easier for you to connect to trusted Complementary, Holistic, and Integrative (CHI) Health information and Practitioners so you can live…and speak…your most authentic life.
Have you ever wondered if your personality controls your actions, or is it your actions that define your personality?
When I was little I was SUPER shy, so when my youngest son was uber shy and only spoke in whispers, I didn’t think it was strange at all. I’d figured out myself that being quiet was peaceful and probably a survival trick, since I went to five different schools in 7 years. I remained quiet and followed the rules unless something felt unjust. It was injustice, that even as the new young shy kid, I would always speak up even when it felt uncomfortable.
I made posters when I was 8, and posted them in a local park when there was too much trash and asked people to clean up. I marched on parliament hill at 13, for disarmament and put my placard on my parent’s front lawn, much to my mom’s dismay. Today I want women to know how beautiful their body is, and that it’s doing exactly what it was always meant to do. I want all women to know that their body is simply trying to speak up.
So what are your thoughts on personalities? Are we born with them, or are they formed? I believe a little of both. I’ve watched women show up in my facebook group and membership, in leadership roles and then quietly disappear. I’ve watched other quieter women, eventually feel safe and trust the space they’re in, and they become chatter boxes and share vulnerable stories. It’s those moments that fill me with so much joy and connect us all.
I think we have a default setting and that situations either draw us out, or shut us down.
In my holistic health practice, I see the body do the same thing. Women with low iron feel weak and tired and need an afternoon nap to keep going. They often feel cold and unfocused, and tend to suffer from restless sleep. I see women grow quiet and feel an unease as their beautiful body shifts over time. I also see women tap into their strengths, rediscover their personality and feel re-energized and vital once again.
After coaching over 50 women in my holistic health practice, I can now see the patterns in health and personalities. I’ve even pinpointed the 5 personalities I see and what makes them tick. What fuels their mind and body, what makes them smile, makes them hide and what makes them feel connected to others. Want to totally nerd out with me for a minute? Awesome, let’s look at each one quickly
The Spy: She knows what she likes and doesn’t like and loves trying new things, but only if she knows exactly what she’s getting into. When it comes to cooking food she likes to follow a recipe and really wants to know what her body is saying. She’s tired of feeling guilty and confused by her 40+ body.
The Ringmaster: She’s the one who loves to take care of others but is finally ready to put herself first. She’s a master at multi-tasking and sometimes says “yes” when she really means no, but it's always because of her big heart. She feels guilty for her new desire to focus on herself, but deep down, she knows that more “me” time will ultimately make her a happier person
The Detective: She knows that knowledge is power. She has a zest and love of life-long-learning and loves to share what she knows with others. She feels both curious and impatient with her changing body and thrives on routine and habits. She’s both frustrated and impatient lately, which isn’t her normal state of being, and is ready for more solid goals and an action plan
The Magician: She’s ready to get to the root cause of how she’s feeling. She knows that self-confidence is the cure for stress, fatigue and brain fog and is an action taking woman. She’s frustrated that her body has been pushing back on her recently and is usually the talker in social settings with her friends. She too knows that with a few changes, she could feel in control of her body again.
The Wizard: She knows that her secret weapon is staying in action. She doesn’t let her changing body get her down and figures that her routines and exercise will even things out eventually. She knows that food, mindset and lifestyle, all play a part in gaining control of how her body has been showing up recently. She thrives on routines and habits and knows that they can pay off over time.
The fun part of tapping into your symptoms is that they are your superpower. They are your body’s messages and by recognizing what type of beautiful woman you are, you have the power to feel, look and sleep your best.
Try the superpower quiz and discover your superpower personality.
https://www.stephaniehw.com/quiz
Stephanie Huntjens White is a holistic health coach and wellness stylist who helps women flip their 40+ symptoms into their superpower by helping them feel confident and in control of their changing body, in a beautiful holistic way.
Photo credit: https://unsplash.com/@misswoods
Have you ever noticed that you live from a place of rejection and/or betrayal on a daily basis?
Let me explain.. Fear of rejection and betrayal are 2 of the most common fears that humans have. Every time we make a decision or take action, our fears come up and we decide from this place. Our minds go into full gear: 'how have I experienced these emotions and fears before and how can I avoid going through that again'? No matter the situation, this is your bottom line. Will I be rejected and/or will I be betrayed?!
For example:
You want to start a business or apply for a new job. Your first reaction will be to go through all of the ways this could go wrong and then start doubting yourself and feeling that you aren't good enough. You reject and betray yourself before you even begin because you don't want others to do it first.
You message a friend, a co-worker, a family member and they don't respond, you automatically think it's you, you've done something wrong or that they are mad at you. You go into feelings of rejection and/or betrayal because that is the story that runs in your mind. Those are the emotions you associate with.
You hide behind labels (wife, mother, CEO, etc.) and masks (perfectionism, good girl, over-achiever, etc) when you encounter people in your life. These become anchors to make you feel like you are somebody in case you get rejected and/or betrayed. They become the barriers you set for protection.
What if we started interrupting these thoughts and beliefs and replace them with loving and accepting thoughts? Wouldn't that be more pleasurable? Wouldn't that make us want to show up for ourselves more often?
What if every morning when you get up, you choose how you want to show up that day?
What if every day you become more and more curious about who you are?
What if you get to decide who you want to be in every moment?
What if you remind yourself of the good that you bring to this world?
What if you concentrate on the things you are proud of?
What if TODAY YOU CHOOSE a different way, a different life?
This is how you start changing the negative patterns.
Be AWARE of the fears and how they are subtly showing up in your life.
INTENTIONALLY reach for new positive and empowering beliefs
CHOOSE to act differently
HERE IS YOUR SOUL MISSION:
Write these down and say them every day, truly feel the energy they bring and spend time in state:
I am capable of achieving all that I want.
I deserve to love and to be loved.
I am worthy because I exist.
I ACCEPT who I am and where I am at this moment
Get to know who you are without the fear of rejection and betrayal, without the masks and the labels, without the barriers of protection.
WHO WOULD THAT BEAUTIFUL SOUL BE?
WHO COULD SHE BECOME if she started accepting herself where she is flaws and all?
HOW WONDERFUL would it be to show up from this place?
I know she exists within you, she just needs a little help to emerge!
Lots of love,
Rachel xo
Do you ever feel discouraged?
I do. And when I feel discouraged, I feel it as a heavy, sticky, dark feeling in the pit of my stomach that weighs my heart down and closes me off from empowerment. In fact, discouragement is the opposite of empowerment. The word discourage comes from the French origin “des”, meaning “to take away”. So in discourage, courage is being taken away. In addition, I also think empowerment, enthusiasm, confidence, and joy are all being taken away when we experience discouragement.
It takes courage to be empowered. It takes courage to be confident. It takes courage to be enthusiastic and joyful. It takes courage to show up in the world authentically, day after day. When we feel discouraged, all these things are taken away too.
But underneath the discouragement, courage and confidence and purpose are still there. And it’s a matter of remembering that and then deciding to choose empowerment over disempowerment, joy over victimhood, enthusiasm over apathy, confidence over fear, and courage over discouragement.
I’d like to share my ‘Discouragement Dissipation Process’; a process I developed for my Accelerate Your Inner Wisdom coaching program. I encourage you to use this process next time you feel discouraged.
Step 1
When you feel discouraged, sit with the feeling and the energy of discouragement. How does it feel? Where do you feel it in your body? What other emotions are associated with it? (i.e., do you also feel anger, frustration, jealousy, or sadness?).
Don’t judge what you’re feeling. Just sit with it and let the feelings be. You may find it helpful to put your hand to where you feel it in your body.
Don’t push it away or resist it.
Imagine having an open heart as you feel what you feel.
As you’re doing this, use your intellectual mind to know two things:
1) Sitting with discouragement is challenging and will feel hard.
2) The feeling will dissipate and release.
Step 2
After a few minutes when the feeling dissipates (and it will) and you’re feeling lighter, take out your journal and reflect on the following questions:
Step 3
Reframe and redefine the discouragement.
Discouragement comes from the thought or story that something “is not working”. This is a victim mindset and our brain likes to point us to all the evidence that supports this (incorrect) thought.
Take yourself from a victim mindset and towards a more empowered energy by journaling on the following questions:
Step 4
Review your “how things are working for me” list from Step 3. What do you see? What patterns are emerging? This is valuable information as to where you need to be spending more time, more energy, and more resources to create more opportunities for the things that are working.
Step 5
Brainstorm ways to do more of the things that work for you. Create action steps that will move you in the direction of empowerment, courage, joy, and purpose.
Step 6
Keep track of how the Universe opens up and responds to your new definition of what’s working, your reframed thoughts, and your inspired action steps.
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I love seeing my clients move from discouragement to courage, confidence, and fulfillment. When women know what is most important to them and they feel empowered to go after what they desire, they can create so much positive change.
I can help you, too. In my 3-month coaching accelerator I'll show you how to move into confidence, purpose, and fulfilment. Book a call with me today and let's get started! Apply to work with me today.
***
Vera is a Life Coach whose mission is to help women shine their light more brightly. Her signature program accelerates her clients’ connection to their inner wisdom, aligning them to their purpose, confidence, and inspired actions they can rely on, so that they can live a genuine and fulfilled life. Apply to work with Vera.
Vera hosts a podcast, Practical Wisdom from a Life Coach, which can be found on all podcast platforms.
She is also a Trailblazer with Happy Healthy Women.
Connect with Vera on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and learn more about her at her website.
Today’s mom is full-time in the work force and full-time in the role of mom. Often struggling to make ends meet, many moms are still nowhere near earning the true value of what they give of themselves each single day. Moms want more money to invest in family, themselves, and their passions, yet many moms struggle with their beliefs around money.
Whenever I begin energy work with moms, the heart chakra is imbalanced 100% of the time. This is where most moms have a tower moment with me and confess their disappointments, resentment, anger, guilt, and disenchantment with life. What’s more amazing is that every mom will then apologize to me for telling me how they really feel. While moms may have more freedom than ever before, they also feel weighed down with more responsibility and expectations than ever before; having to consistently and constantly “hold it together” for everyone they feel responsible for supporting.
Most moms have a strained relationship with themselves. They yearn to be happy and care-free with their kids, and their partners. They want to feel confident and be desirable. They want more time to do the things that fulfill their deepest passions. They want to feel whole again.
Every time a mom shares her story with me, I’m so amazed by her resilience, strength, and compassion. My mission is to reflect those often-overlooked qualities back at the wombman before me. That first glimpse into her Divinity is the catalyst to the journey before us as together, we return to the cradle of life that infinitely supports us.
Moms are master manifestors.
Not only are we blessed to bring forth life, but we are also well-equipped to birth realities as is our divine birthright.
Every mother can identify with these pain points, as they are pain points her mother and her mother before her.
She is the mother that will remember who she is. She is the mother to heal her generational story. She is the mother that will empower the generations that follow.
I invite you to recognize her and embody her in our work together. 1-1 coaching with me is the portal to your divine embodiment.
Yes! To more abundance
Yes! To Soulfully aligned living
Yes! To womb wisdom and wholeness.
I also invite you to unpack it all with me and your sisters in our 5D Mom 5 Day Reset. It’s free to join and it’s here for you to expand your reality into true abundance and bliss, guilt-free.
We got this mama.
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Dorothy Knight is an Author and Spiritual Coach. Her coaching programs have helped hundreds of clients heal unresolved trauma and embody their full potential. She is passionate about empowering her clients towards self-mastery, illuminating the way to fulfilling their soul mission with passion, purpose, and play. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Dorothy got degree in Journalism New Media from Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. After that, her path shifted into holistic health, and she received her teacher training in yoga. Dorothy is also a certified Reiki Master, Ohana Generational Healer and Conscious Parent Educator. As an author and Soulpreneur, she travels and teaches in some of the most beautiful places on Earth. Dorothy is still a “stay-at-home mom,” running a successful 7-figure business and writing books. Dorothy is the Director of the HHW Burlington Branch. She currently lives in Burlington, Canada with her husband and two children. Website: https://www.5dmom.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/5dmom/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/the5dmom |
The earliest published diet book dates back to 1864 when a notable English undertaker William Banting penned “Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public”.
In it, he wrote, "Of all the parasites that affect humanity I do not know of, nor can I imagine, any more distressing than that of Obesity”. The book was mainly written to espouse his success in losing weight by replacing his excessive consumption of bread, sugar and potatoes with mostly meat, fish and vegetables. Since then, dieting has been so ingrained in people’s consciousness that in the 1920s, British American Tobacco even promoted a cigarette diet with its “For a Slender Figure — Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet” campaign. Thankfully, we have seen the light of day, and this campaign no longer exists. That doesn’t mean we have seen the last of fad diets, though.
Suffice to say, fad diets are nothing new; they may even be as old as dieting itself. What makes it so sinister is that in more recent times, they have been masquerading as remotely science-based. An example of this is the Blood Type Diet where they claim that your blood type holds the key to the kinds of food you should be eating. With social media suddenly turning regular teenagers into unqualified dietary experts and bombarding the internet with false claims, it’s all the more worth noting that we should be wary of them as they often present more danger.
Why don't they work?
Most of the time, these fad diets encourage deprivation – cutting down on the food you enjoy to shave off the calories. It takes a look at body weight as the only basis for being healthy. Often, fad diets even mistakenly target certain foods or macronutrients, putting you at a higher risk of nutrient deficiency. Fad diets are also highly associated with an increased risk of eating disorders. According to the non-profit National Initiative for Eating Disorders, approximately one million Canadians fall under the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders – further proof that these fad diets have the potential to do more harm than good.
What can you do instead of going on fad diets?
Get moving
Don’t believe what most fad diets claim - there are no silver bullets to weight loss. Exercising is still a vital way to shed a few pounds and keep it off. Weight Watchers suggests that the best weight loss programs are flexible enough to help you find workouts that you'll actually love, not force a workout on you. You don’t even have to wake up at the break of dawn to get some exercise or get specific equipment. You just need to have over 21 minutes of activity a day. It can even include any activity that gets your heart rate up - including a quick walk around the park and even household chores!
Think about what you can add instead of what you have to take away
Most of the people who adopt fad diets do so because traditional diets, like counting calories, focus too much on removing certain food items from your diet. What you can do differently is introduce more fruits and veggies! Aim for 4 to 5 servings daily. If that seems too challenging, start small by adding a serving to one meal or grab a fruit as a snack. Fresh produce isn’t accessible enough? You can also have canned, frozen or dried fruits and veggies – but stay away from ones with added sugar and salt.
Have your favorites
Restrictive diets normally forbid you from eating dessert, which leads to cravings, bingeing and ultimately gaining more weight than you originally lost. Allow yourself to enjoy the food you love without the guilt. The key is to have things in moderation and, if possible, substitute! Craving for potato chips? Reach for that popcorn instead. It zaps that salty craving with fewer calories and additional fiber. Switch out your candy bars to protein bars – they both taste great and banish your hunger, but protein bars fill you up, something a candy bar could never do.
Seek expert advice
The internet has made it easy for us to access information but also made it equally confusing to wade through tips from self-proclaimed experts with no real subject matter knowledge. A good rule of thumb: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Instead of spending time watching misleading TikTok nutrition trends, speak with a registered dietitian to help you set realistic goals and get sustainable dietary advice. Other good resources to have at the palm of your hand (or on your phone) are apps like MyFitnessPal that lets you add customized recipes and set your home screen to display the nutrients you care most about, like calories, carbohydrates, protein, sodium, and fiber. Another good one is Fooducate which makes it easier for you to find products that are better for you when you are not sure which brand or item to buy.
The key is consistency. Start with small dietary changes you can quickly implement to make sure you can stay on top of it. The longer you do it, the easier it gets. Once you get comfortable enough with the changes, introduce new ones.
Good luck and enjoy the journey!
Perusing the Value Village bookshelves, one title, 203 Ways to Drive a Man Wild in Bed by Olivia St. Claire, jumped out at us. Debra Anderson, a long-time neighbour from when I lived on Alberta Avenue, laughed. “We don’t need 203. We just need one way. Breathe.” Then added, "Not that men are a lower life form.”
The male’s biological ability to procreate indefinitely is a crucial difference. Women after 50, Anderson agreed, are done. We have raised children if we had them and are now turning inward, pursuing passions beyond the boudoir.
Anderson enjoys oil painting and treasures her solitude. Beloved Canadian author Margaret Laurence wrote in Dance on the Earth; she couldn’t be a wife, mother and author, so she chose the last two. Like Anderson and Laurence, I prioritize. Beginning with writing, supporting women writers, and enjoying outdoor activities with my son. The chief complaint I hear from male friends is, “You’re so busy.” My inside thought is, Yes, with my passions, adhering to my natural rhythms.
There are as many ways to cater to that inner calling as there are women. I did not come to my present satisfaction in singlehood on a direct path. My route was littered with buffalo-sized speed bumps and torturous detours.
Married at 20 for only seven years, I slipped in and out of short-term relationships for the next two decades, driven to be coupled. I believed I was destined for a life-giving, mutually beneficial relationship in my mid-forties. After all, I had grown into a mature, confident, and vibrant woman. My confidence dived when at 48, I learned my dream partner bedded two other women on his trucking route. Facing life alone hit me hard on my 50th birthday. Mascara was not an option when dressing to attend the party for my nephew’s nuptials. After that day of tears, I moved into my single phase residing there comfortably for the last decade.
It took my 30s and 40s to revise the family and societal expectations of coupledom and discard my mother’s statement to me after my divorce at 27. “Find a man before you’re too old and ugly and no one wants you.” In talking with women over 50, many of us find one thing in common. If we ever did, we no longer capitulate to solely meet or fulfill others’ needs, some of us prioritizing our interests for the first time.
Now and for the past eleven-plus years, I want me. I am the only one to be irked if my kitchen table has become my second office utilizing a speedy acquisition flat surface filing system. I prefer my terminology over one partner labelling my technique, “flat surface disease.” My bedside table is littered with a bright light, three or more books and a scratchpad to capture middle-of-the-night inspiration.
Speaking with certainty for several of my peers, we are not into being a nursemaid without the previous investment of a shared life together. In a coffee club for singles over 50, women commiserated they were only meeting needy men who wanted nurses or caregivers for their grandchildren. There are different options for intimacy if so desired. Many older singles define coupledom differently by maintaining separate residences. That may appeal to even a hard-core loner like me, provided the one who wants to be significant in my life enjoys solitude and different pastimes. That is one way I might consider coupledom now.
Reference links in the body of the story above
St. Claire Book: https://www.amazon.ca/203-Ways-Drive-Man-Wild/dp/0517595338
Margaret Laurence Book Link: https://www.amazon.ca/Dance-Earth-Memoir-Margaret-Laurence/dp/0771047479
Learn more about Rusti:
Rusti L Lehay, a global editor and book and writing coach, created over 40 articles guiding writers to authordom. Witnessing writers find and speak in their own voice to serve the real boss, the audience, not the editor, is one of Rusti’s greatest joys. She offers bi-monthly online writing STAY-Treats and monthly lounges and teaches weekly creative writing classes. Her primary mission is to inspire, provide value and make writing fun and easy.
Links: https://linktr.ee/rustilehay
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Whether you’re a service-based provider, coach or consultant, if you’re running a business where you’re in service to others, you have a process or a series of processes you follow to deliver that service.
Documenting these processes is often undervalued by entrepreneurs, especially solopreneurs. They often have so many things to work on in their business, that this type of documentation takes a back seat to other forward-facing tasks.
When you document your process, you’re capturing on paper or in an electronic format, the series of steps or actions taken in a specific order to create a particular outcome.
Processes can include everything from onboarding clients or customers to more complex business operations like marketing and sales funnels. The number of processes in any business will vary by business type, business owner, and team size.
If you’re an entrepreneur who hasn’t yet started documenting your processes, here are reasons you should start today.
When you have an operational blueprint, you free up a ton of mental energy when executing specific business-related tasks. This allows you to have more cognitive bandwidth to put towards more creative parts of your business.
Having an estimate of what’s involved, allows you to better set project timelines. This provides you with a better estimate of your capacity to serve and take on more clients. This prevents those providing the service from taking on more work than they can handle.
When you know how much time, energy, and resources are involved in delivering a particular service, you can have more confidence in setting your prices.
Quite often when you don’t have a process documented you’re often delivering the service by memory. This leads to skipping steps, taking shortcuts, and sometimes experimenting with new methods which can slow down your delivery. When the process is documented and followed you can guarantee the quality of your service and take pride in knowing that you will have a satisfied customer every time.
When we reflect on our process and write it down, we often recognize missed opportunities to increase efficiency and improve quality. It also allows others to give us feedback and ask us questions that lead to improvement.
As you scale in your business you will onboard various team members. Having documented processes will save you time training someone else on your business operations and increases the productivity of your team overall.
Often overlooked, taking the time to document your processes starts the process of knowing what you need to cover in a course or program you may want to offer. The process offers you the opportunity to intimately know your own process so you can teach it to others.
For more reasons and tips for documenting your processes, take a listen to this interview I had with Mallory Petersen on EP 12 of the Scale Your Course Podcast.
If you’re not already, I bet you’ll be inspired to get started documenting your processes and eventually saving more time and money in your business.
Tracy Sherriff is a Certified Director of Operations and Curriculum Expert who helps coaches, service-based professionals, and other business owners successfully scale their business online with high-quality, high-impact courses and programs. You can connect with Tracy by visiting her website tracysherriff.com, or finding her on Instagram @tracy.sherriff
Are you experiencing lots of different feelings, all at the same time? Is your brain overloaded with thoughts constantly running through your mind? Do you feel overwhelmed?
I think most people are experiencing some level of overwhelm right now. There’s just so much going on in the world, and in your personal life too.
One of the ways to reduce overwhelm, is to make time to sort through all your thoughts and feelings.
This requires SPACE.
Space in your heart for curiosity.
Space in your mind for reflection and retrospection.
Space in your body for the emotions to flow.
Space means physical space, digital space, and energetic space.
Physical space
Don’t underestimate the impact of your physical environment on your emotional and mental wellbeing. If you’re anything like me, clutter gets your heart rate up and you may not even be able to start making dinner until the kitchen is tidied up and clean.
This is true for most people, even if they don’t realize it.
There has been a lot of research on the impact of clutter and disorganization on our stress. Scientists have found that people’s cortisol levels go up when they see clutter or a mess in their physical environment. Cortisol is the hormone that is secreted when we experience stress, and too much cortisol is detrimental to physical health, most notably causing weight gain if it’s in our systems for extended periods of time. Decluttering can actually be part of your weight management strategy!
Think about your physical environment.
Is it cluttered or disorganized?
Does it feel good, or stressful?
What is the energy like – light or heavy?
Think about a space that makes you feel good. What is it that makes it feel good? It’s probably because its organized and tidy and clean.
Organized and tidy doesn’t need to mean sparse or minimal if that is not your style. But it does mean a space in which everything is intentional and where everything has a purpose.
Marie Condo, in her book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, advises us to ask, “Does this bring me joy?” for each knickknack, artwork, and piece of furniture that is part of our physical space.
Take a look at the spaces in which you spend the most time in.
Do you love everything in it?
Is there something that can be given away or sold?
What can be decluttered, filed, thrown away, moved or tidied up?
Is there a way to bring more joyful items into the room?
A few suggestions:
Another tip for physical spaces is to create a habit of regular tidying up, instead of waiting until its overwhelming. This could look like scheduling 30 minutes on Friday afternoon to tidy up your office, do your filing, organize your books and papers, etc. For closets and bedrooms, go through and declutter and organize when the seasons change (i.e., in the spring and in the fall).
Digital space
This is a space that can get cluttered up very quickly but something that most people ignore. As with physical clutter, clutter in your digital world will also increase stress, feelings of overwhelm, and a general feeling of being disorganized.
Here are some tips for decluttering your digital space:
1. Organize all your apps on your phone. These tend to get piled up until you have multiple home screens and you need to constantly scroll around to find what you’re looking for. Take a few minutes tonight or this weekend to organize all your apps. Start with deleting the ones you don’t use. Put all similar or like apps into categories and label these categories with what makes the most sense for you. Examples of categories are Fitness, Social Media, Entertainment, Health, Travel, Productivity, and Loyalty Cards.
Energetic space
Energetic space is the energy we give to others and to our commitments. Think about all the ways in which you give of your energy. To your family, your children, your colleagues or team members, the committees or boards you sit on, the volunteer activities you participate in, all the times you hold space for friends, the energy you utilize to keep yourself healthy by working out or preparing healthy meals. All these activities require energy.
Take a look at your calendar with all your commitments.
Are all of these serving you?
Do all your commitments and activities bring you joy?
Which commitments feel like they are cluttering up your energetic space?
Is there something you can back away from or maybe stop altogether?
Where are you focusing energy that maybe can be directed elsewhere where it will serve you more and allow you to bring more of yourself of?
Hopefully some of these suggestions spark ideas for you on how to create more space in your physical, digital and energetic environments, to allow more mental space and more heart space to listen to yourself, sort through your thoughts and feelings, and reduce overwhelm***
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If you are looking for support with creating space for your thoughts and feelings, I can help. I invite you to work with me and learn about how I can help you live a genuine, fulfilled, and aligned life. Apply to work with me today.
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Vera is a Life Coach whose mission is to help women shine their light more brightly. Her signature program accelerates her clients’ connection to their inner wisdom, aligning them to their purpose, confidence, and inspired actions they can rely on, so that they can live a genuine and fulfilled life. Apply to work with Vera.
Vera hosts a podcast, Practical Wisdom from a Life Coach, which can be found on all podcast platforms.
She is also a Trailblazer with Happy Healthy Women.
Connect with Vera on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and learn more about her at her website.
Every single differing thought, feeling and action puts you on a new timeline.
What’s a “timeline?”
A timeline is an experience events that resonate at a specific energetic frequency and consciousness. You can have “low vibe” timelines based in fear and contraction and you can have “higher timelines” based in love and expansion. Our future is literally being created from the NOW.
It’s incredibly powerful when you fully take that in… give yourself a moment.
YOU HAVE CHOICE.
THERE ARE OTHER "YOU'S" THAT ARE ALREADY LIVING THE LIFE THAT YOU WANT TO LIVE. THESE "OTHER YOU'S" COULD BE HEALTHIER, RICHER, OR HAPPIER.
- Do you feel like you've been living life on a certain bandwidth or loop forever?
- you've been manifesting a better something but it's not showing up?
- Or your manifestation DOES show up, but you can't sustain it in reality?
Timeline Jumping can help you create the life situations that you want.
All possibilities exist in our Universe. Your desire is there waiting for you to focus on it and bring it into view. Where is your energy going? That's why it’s so important, if you really, really, really want something, to stay focused on it and its vibration! Each time you digress from your manifestation by thinking a conflicting thought or getting triggered up into lower vibing energies, you jump onto a different timeline that affects your future.
Your Higher Self arrives at your manifestation before you do.
Think of your manifestation as the lighthouse or the port you are traveling to.
Whenever we set an intention, we "anchor" our energy into a plethora of potential timelines.
Then we, as soul essence in human form, follow that energetic line (like a running rigging line of a sailboat).
Our Soul essence is the wind to put our physical vessel into motion.
And like most sea voyages, the waters can get murky, challenging, and frightening.
Keep your eye on the prize.
We see that speck of our ourselves in the future light up ahead, and we gather all our skills, strengths, willpower, determination, and courage to forge on.
Against the resistance we flow through.
The real secret to manifesting your highest timeline is learning to surrender to:
▪ the current situation as its unfolding
▪ your current energy as its evolving
▪ accepting the gifts, skills, and wisdom you already have
▪ using every resource, you have available to you in a supportive and collaborative way
We often set intentions as something "out there" and forget about all the work that happens in between.
Manifesting is a co-creative voyage from intention to manifestation between you and the Creator; the all-knowing limitless part of you that exists everywhere.
As we learn to surrender to the Divine flow of life, we meet and release those parts that don't resonate with the (LOVE) frequency of our highest timeline.
We meet ourselves as the most beautiful expression of life.
What is the highest timeline you are here to express?
Dorothy Knight is an Author and Spiritual Coach. Her coaching programs have helped hundreds of clients heal unresolved trauma and embody their full potential. She is passionate about empowering her clients towards self-mastery, illuminating the way to fulfilling their soul mission with passion, purpose, and play.
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Dorothy got degree in Journalism New Media from Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. After that, her path shifted into holistic health, and she received her teacher training in yoga. Dorothy is also a certified Reiki Master, Ohana Generational Healer and Conscious Parent Educator. As an author and Soulpreneur, she travels and teaches in some of the most beautiful places on Earth. Dorothy is still a “stay-at-home mom,” running a successful 7-figure business and writing books.
Dorothy is the Director of the HHW Burlington Branch.
She currently lives in Burlington, Canada with her husband and two children.
Website: https://www.5dmom.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/5dmom/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/the5dmom
If you are anything like me, your logical mind leads most of the time.
Your head dictates your next action, writes out the to-do list and tries to figure everything out on its own. Right?!
We have such a hard time just being in this moment, in the NOW.
One of my favourite philosophies from my mentor Louise Hay is "THE POINT OF POWER IS ALWAYS IN THE PRESENT MOMENT".
I absolutely love this saying and remind myself of it daily because for me it means a do-over.. a reset. At any point I have the choice to choose a different feeling, and this choice will change my state of being, change this moment, even change the future.
In this present moment I get to create new beginnings, new outcomes and a new life.
Which is why I wanted to share a few practices with you, to help you on your journey! I use these in my day to day to help me come back to this moment and get me out of my thinking mind.
HERE IS YOUR SOUL MISSION:
Put an alarm on your phone and have it ring every couple of hours, to bring you back to the present moment. Choose one of these practices or both and take a quiet moment for you.
RESET your thinking and CHOOSE your new state of being. How do you want to feel in this moment?
BREATHE into it and fully embody this shift. And go on with your day!
The more you do this, the more you will quiet the mind and just be in this moment. It only takes a few minutes, it will help you reduce the chatter, the stress and the worry and help you connect to your intuition, your body and your soul.
REMEMBER: This moment is the only one you have so it's so important to be here, to experience it and to feel it.
The adage that if you don’t use it, you lose it, I can assure you, applies to fitness. I confess I have lost it a few times. Happy to report that I also found it again. You do not have to lose it forever. I believe that once you have enjoyed a level of fitness allowing you to participate in desired activities, you may lose it temporarily when life happens, but you will find your way back. If you are like me, this might be a repeating pattern. One that I hope will stop now that I found it again at 62.
One of the benefits I gained from a dysfunctional ten-year relationship was a consistent fitness routine. For four days at home, I would stretch before cardio and for three days at the gym, I would alternate between chest and back, arms and shoulders and squatting my weight to work the quads and hamstrings. My fitness allowed me to hike mountains with a 40-pound pack, paddle a canoe into headwinds for five hours straight, and much more. My adult nieces will complain, “Slow down.” One describes me as pocket-sized with more energy than anyone has a right to have.
After that relationship ended, I lived with my sister in a small trailer. I lost my exercise signals, patterns, routines and gym access for three years. Humans are creatures of habit. Moving into my own house, I dedicated a room to exercise again. Donning my grungiest workout clothes, I refused to shower or change into presentable and fun clothes until I completed my yoga, stretching and a cardio routine. This tricked me into a consistent habit. Cardio then was my exercise bike or mini trampoline called a Cellerciser designed with NASA technology to prevent astronaut’s muscles from atrophying in zero gravity. It protects your knees and back with a high-quality design and materials. I have used that since 2006, and it is still my favourite way to take breaks from my desk and reach my daily goal of 10,000 steps. Barbara O'Neill's video "Muscle Knows No Age” speaks to the health benefits of rebounding. People have purportedly even had their eyesight improved.
Years later, after letting go of my two-story bungalow and exercise room, I landed in a one-bedroom apartment in The Hood (Alberta Avenue in Edmonton.) Exercise gear became a part of my living room decor. As my clients increased, my desk-jockey life meant more sitting, zooms, editing and writing, which meant exercise now had to be a multi-tasking activity. I adore a good movie while I bounce or swing some kettle balls. After several days with 3,500 steps or… gasp… even fewer steps, I told myself that anything I could do on my phone had to be on the rebounder. Once implemented consistently, I was up to 5,000 steps sometimes before 8:30 AM. It made it so easy!
When finding your way back to your desired fitness levels, choose good quality gear keeping safety and enjoyment in mind. Setting the phone down, I can use one finger on the balance bar of my trampoline to balance for higher jumps or bum kicks. It would sit in the corner of my living room, taunting me when my step count was low. My two-pound hula hoop sits on the edge over the springs, handy for some quick shimmies during a movie. I also used a blue Bosu ball that resided behind my trampoline.
On one long desk day, I moved the Bosu to interrupt my path to the kitchen. Just having to balance a bit, bouncing on and off wakes up my brain to realize I just needed a movement break. I am NOT hungry. Our brains dull like a citywide power outage after 30 minutes of sitting—a few minutes of walking or bouncing can light up our brains like fireworks. The Bosu also challenges me to maintain my ability to balance. As we age, we often experience a decrease in our ability to stabilize. With its sturdy flat bottom, this half ball has been great for training my muscles to keep me upright when something may make me stumble. In one of my “lost fitness” phases, I recall feeling irritated when my stride to step on, and off sidewalks was jerky, requiring a pause and concentration, even wavering to catch myself. That “loss of flow at a measly six-inch curb” served as a wake-up call sending me to find my routines again.
Now, having moved once again into an 8’x23’ tiny home, I am aware and on to the tricks of my comfortable habitual self. I need to build new habits. My son installed my chin-up bar, my yoga mat comes out every morning between my kitchen counter and table, and my trusty Bosu Ball sits at the foot of my bed.
Even more critical, our large leg muscles stabilize us when we lose our balance. One of the main reasons older people break hips is less due to fragile bones and more often due to weak quadriceps and hamstrings. Broken hips are the number one thing that robs people of their ability to remain in their homes and forces them prematurely into assisted living. One simple thing to do is squats. Start at any age; begin easy, and take it slow. I used to squat with weights equal to my body weight on a bar, and all through chemotherapy in 2003, I squatted 60 pounds to move those drugs to every cell in my body. My philosophy then was that if I were going to take those drugs, I would make sure the chemicals moved to every corner of my cells. There is nothing like squats to warm you up and pump your blood. An easy, safe way to integrate squats into your day is to take hold of your kitchen sink with both hands and lean back to sit on an invisible chair.
Day one, do one. Try two squats if your quadriceps and hamstrings are pain-free two days later. Build up until you’re confident enough to do a high wall squat, then build up your stamina to do lower wall squats by placing your back against the wall, and slide down until your thighs and shins are at right angles. Find a fitness professional if you want to test your balance strength, so they can help you safely try if your quads and hamstrings are rock hard or jiggly and soft. You want the rock-hard! Strong leg muscles go a long way to help you catch your balance, possibly protecting you from a broken hip, as discussed above.
In summer 2020, a Mount Carlyle guide took our group up the most scenic route. It also had the steepest altitude gain. Forced to admit I was not fit for this trip, my breathing was good from my trampoline, but my leg muscles were complaining that I had ignored squats far too long. I once again became motivated because I refused to give away thousands of dollars of hiking equipment just because of that trip. I am hiking this year. I only made it to Carlyle because Mac, whom my friend called donkey legs, would jog ahead, drop his pack, and jog back to take mine, relaying my gear up the steep inclines. If you are missing a former enjoyable activity, do not rush to give it up like me. Make a plan with a health and fitness coach to restore those muscles. Many studies show we do not need to accept aging. Check out bio-hacking research. In 2021, I was too slow with my commitment to fitness, and lockdowns were a hindrance. In December 2021, I committed to chin-ups, yoga, and push-ups and raised my step quota to 12,000. I have missed yoga three times since December 13. I started unable to do even one chin-up, and in a month, I could manage three in a row.
Push-ups started slow too, but I’m now up to 15 with excellent form. I follow Ben Greenfield for ideas and am planning this summer's hike to Ribbon Falls in Kananaskis and creating my plan for the more strenuous British Columbia’s Mount Robson hike next year. Take it slow, be safe and find exercise routines that appeal to you, work in your environment, make the time AND make it stare you in the face when you tiptoe to the fridge. Tripping over my Bosu Ball works for me. It holds the same taunting power as my trampoline. Even desk jockeys can maintain their fitness with some planning and dedication.
Reference links in the body of the story above
Cellerciser Link: https://bp321.isrefer.com/go/cell001/Spunky/
Barbara O’Neill Video Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7yIXOToHqUo
Bosu Ball Link: https://www.bosu.com/
Ben Greenfields’s 10 Top Hacks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmroGxffMEM
Learn more about Rusti:
Rusti L Lehay, a global editor and book and writing coach, created over 40 articles guiding writers to authordom. Witnessing writers find and speak in their own voice to serve the real boss, the audience, not the editor, is one of Rusti’s greatest joys. She offers bi-monthly online writing STAY-Treats and monthly lounges and teaches weekly creative writing classes. Her primary mission is to inspire, provide value and make writing fun and easy.
Links: https://linktr.ee/rustilehay
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