Now this may sound like a very heavy or idealistic topic for many.  Can it be that simple?  The truth is, yes it is that simple, but it may not be easy given the hopeless sense of many influences in our world.  I heard that familiar quote this weekend, “Be the hope in this hopeless world.”  I am not sure of the original author or the context that it was originally meant, but for me, being hopeful or hope-filled is a choice and it is part of my compass.

I have understood the meaning of compass to be a navigational tool for direction and that it points “True North.”  Merriam-Webster defines compass as “to devise or contrive often with craft or skill; bring about; achieve;  to get into one’s possession or power : obtain; comprehend.”  So to identify your inner compass it takes skill, understanding and personal power! I look at that as trust and confidence in one’s self.  This is not very different than a tool that points north.  The difference is that our true compass is not separate from ourselves as a handheld navigation tool.  I think that sometimes we seek for others to be our compass and that can seem to be helpful, but we may end up travelling down a path that is not our own.

My personal journey has taken me in various directions and I have, at times, made decisions based on the desires of others.  The paradox is that while I choose to do something, and I am always where I am meant to be…the path could have been different if I had followed my inner compass.

Let me give you an example…when I was young, my heart was set on being a large animal trainer.  I was told by many that it was a crazy idea and that the schools were far away and cost a great deal.  Because of this influence, I change my thoughts, “ok, I won’t be a large animal trainer. I will be a dog trainer.”  As a teen I had the opportunity to interview for a dog trainer who was looking for an assistant.  The job didn’t pay well, I would have to sleep in the kennel with the dogs, clean up after the dogs and be away from my family. I not only decided not to take the job, but I stopped look at dog training as a career, hobby or interest.  I took the experience of this one situation and assumed that all the training jobs would be like that.  I didn’t allow my compass the opportunity to lead me.  To this day, I have a strong desire to have animals around me and as my sister has said, “you will always have AT LEAST one dog!” ( I currently have 2 cats, a dog and a new puppy).  I have a vision of growing my career with my dogs. I am currently training my 20 month old yellow lab, Myo (MEE-Oh), to be a therapy dog.  It is my plan to train my black lab puppy, Karma,  as well.  I have a few additional ideas about incorporating working with animals into my career and vision for my life.  My dream to work with animals is still alive in me and it is at my compass level.

My point in sharing this personal story is to illustrate how I let someone else have power over my thoughts, my life and my dreams.  If you look inside, you may find pieces of a dream working to surface and come alive again, only it may manifest in a different way. What dreams have you let drift away because someone told you they weren’t possible or they were silly?  Have you turned off your personal GPS?  We have talked before about what makes your heart sing…is the song related to something that you pushed aside because of someone else’s opinion?

We all have talked with others for advice, to sound off or just share. But as we know, change is way easier said than done.  We usually need help.

Have you ever considered talking with someone who will focus on you from the perspective of a dream advocate?  Wellness coaching is just that!  The coach approach helps support the vision of the client, not the opinion of the coach.

I am interested in creating coaching groups that will ignite hearts and dreams.  The goal of the group is self discovery, personal development and connecting with your inner compass.  Are you ready to turn off the GPS and use your compass?  Contact me and start the journey.

This question is at the center of each person’s dreams, passion and purpose.  We are heart-centered beings seeking our purpose on this earth.  We do many things in our daily lives and many of those don’t even give us a blip on the heart centered meter.  The key to living the life that each of us was meant to live is in this connection with our hearts.  What makes it sing?

Have you ever woken up with a song in your head and it stays with you for days?  I have done this and found myself sing or humming it throughout the day.  Later I may find a deeper meaning to the song.  When I found the courage to verbalize what makes my heart sing, at first I was confused by my response, then I dismissed it because I thought it was silly, and then I thought it was impossible to achieve.  I tried to put other words in place of the original thought and I didn’t get the energy surge at the center of my chest as I did the first time.  So to test it, I said those original words again and…WOW…that’s it!  So now what?

This is a journey, not a destination.  We have all heard this before.  But here is the beautiful thing…I can now stand in the center with my heart song and energize my life and attract the abundance that is meant for me.  I am standing in the flowing love of the Divine, simply because I allow my heart to sing.  The simple truth is, where your thoughts go your energy goes!  I want my energy to go in the direction of my ultimate purpose!  I want that for each of you as well.  Can you imagine what our world would be like if every person listened with their heart?  Can you hear the symphony of all the heart songs?

That may sound a little corny, but seeing or hearing it in our mind can bring it into reality.  There have been many studies that show the brain doesn’t know the difference between an actual encounter and a perceived one.  The example is often used of a tiger chasing you or some fearful experience and it correlation with stress responses.  The brain responds to the experience and the remembrance of it the same way, adrenaline and all the other chemical responses of the body.  This is not only true for those things that stress us. Another interesting point is that the heart generates more information and signals to the brain than the brain to the heart.  This has been proven by Heartmath and other science minded people.  So if the heart has that power in our body, can you feel what energy it will put behind your dreams, passion and purpose?

Since Valentine’s Day, a heart centered holiday, is in February I am going to use this question with as many people as I can this month.  I will ask my clients, family, friends and maybe even a few strangers…What makes your heart sing?  I challenge you to do the same.  This energy of purpose, of dreams, of passion…does a body good!  It does our planet good too…share your heart song…I dare you.  What makes your heart sing? Blessings

Adding to this thought were two minor but interesting conversations I had this week. The first was with a person that I asked to share my practice with people he knew. His response was, “I would love to help you be successful. Please send me a description of what you do.” Honoring his request, I sent him an email explaining my practice. He responded with, “I don’t know how to bring this up in conversation?” I was stunned! This is an educated man and he doesn’t know how to talk about wellness or self-care? Really? WOW! The second story is a brief, unassuming statement from a client while on my massage table. The session was almost finished and her stomach growled, to which the client apologized. I told her, “No, worries that is a normal relaxation response. As a massage therapist, I take that as a complement.” Then I went on to explain the simple, but complex, parasympathetic nervous system and the idea of “rest and digest.”

So what is the best way to create resolutions or goals that will last? How do these two brief stories illustrate the solution? I say simply as I hear every time I travel. You must put the oxygen mask on yourself before assisting someone else. So too is it with self-care and wellness, we have to take care of ourselves or “our SELFS” before we minister, assist or engage with others. We can do our jobs better, be more present in relationships AND be healthier role models if we do a little self-care on a regular basis.

What are some of the ways to self-care? We can use the words that invoke a stress response and make some feel punished, such as diet and exercise! Or we can look at how we eat and what we eat as a way to take care of ourselves. We can look at how we move and moving more as a way to reduce stress and improve our health. Getting a massage a month is a wonderful way to ignite the parasympathetic response and gift yourself with self-care. Partner with someone else to share your struggles and successes with. Find a wellness coach, a walking buddy; plan a dinner group that is focused on good healthy cooking!

In closing, I would like to invite you to think about how you would talk about wellness and self-care? Take care of yourself, your body and your health as if your life depends on it…because it does! Stress is the number 1 cause of many health related issues, obesity and mental health concerns. We will talk more about STRESS in next month’s blog. Until then, I wish you blessings and peace for the New Year. I also wish you much success in setting and attaining your wellness goals!

In my professional career I have had seen many transitions.  Working for Hospice for almost 2 years, I have been a part of the transition of many patients.  I have seen staff changes, buildings added to the campus and change in the management style of the agency.  I have been a part of a Complementary Therapies Program that has grown in size and then reduced because I chose to make a transition back to private practice full time.

I have crossed many thresholds in my life and those too are a place of transition, moving from one room to another.  As the bridge in the above picture, sometimes it is the small turns that give the path character.  Sometimes those small shifts open us to new perspectives.

Moving into a new year, 2012, I am reflecting on where I have been and where I want to go.  I think of the path that will take me there. I ask questions that bring up my fears, vulnerability and self-doubt. The biggest question that can freeze me in my tracks is, “Am I enough?”, or stated differently, “Is this enough?”

In my morning reading I came across a quote that resonated with my current time of transition…‎”Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and GO DO IT. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive” (H. Thurman).  Scary stuff to say the least!  Go Do It!  And so I am going and doing…my questions to you are:  What makes you come alive? Are you willing to go do it? What transitions do you see that will help you on your way?

Many Blessings to you in the New Year and on your journey! Go Do It!

Fast food mentality is a crippling mindset in our world today… I want what I want when I want it and that usually means NOW! Our culture rushes here and there and eats on the go…then wonders why there is an obesity EPIDEMIC in the USA. Fast food packs in the calories and not the nutrition that is a fact that has been studied and proven. The fast food chains know this is true…look at the new menu items that TRY to look healthy…then look at the CALORIES and INGREDIENTS! Holy COW!! The Standard American Diet is SAD!!!

Here is the plain and simple truth….If you want to lose weight and be healthy…it takes time and it is a change of mindset…and it may go against the cultural norm. There are many diets out on the market. There are many diet products that are out on the market…NONE will give you lasting effect unless you commit to good nutrition that is balanced. Changing your diet, changes your metabolism and there are affects that happen with these changes. Here are a few…

• Coming off high sugar causes increase in sugar cravings for a short period of time. Energy levels are reduced at first due to the artificial stimulant high sugar diets create. Giving up the Mt. Dew or other soft drink…the 3 o’clock candy bar… the sugary breakfast cereal that leaves you “starving by 10am”. Once the sugar has “left the building”…a new place of balance is achieved and the metabolism starts to draw energy from other places… this is a good thing!
• Gas and bloating…painful at times, but many people mistake these effects for the result of healthy eating…and then they give up…going back to the fast food that has caused the traffic jam in the intestines in the first place! (At some point I will blog about the intestines…but not today!)
• Dieting is starving me…the high calorie and fast food diets are made up of preservatives and fillers…getting those out of the body and out of the diet give the illusion that you are starving. Best practice when changing eating habits…eat smaller portions more frequently.

Tools for success in nutritional lifestyle change (AKA Dieting)… have a wellness assessment. Find out your body mass index, what your resting caloric intake should be and note your eating patterns/habits and stresses. Work with a wellness coach or partner with someone else to change these habits. Talk about it! What is working and what is not… this is a process…”slipping” or “cheating” are self defeating ideas. For me, if I want dessert, I will have it… no guilt. If I guilt myself about what I eat, I may end up stress eating or comfort eating. The most useful tool is change of mindset… this is a lifestyle change not a numbers game.

Finally, the scale can be friend or foe depending on how you look at it. My recommendation is to STEP AWAY from the scale. Notice how your clothes feel, what people are saying to you and where your energy is. These are the best indicators that you are on the right track. If you are seeking this change, contact me for your free wellness evaluation.

Blessings,
Beth

So as the joke goes, “A string walks into a bar and orders a drink.  The bartender says, we don’t serve strings in here.  The string leaves and steps out of view of the bar, ties its head in a knot and frays its ends.  The string goes back into the bar, with confidence orders a drink.  The bartender says, say aren’t you that string that was just in here?  The string replies, I’m afraid not (frayed-knot)!  How is it that we, as individuals tie ourselves in knots and fray our ends to fit in? Ask yourself these questions: What am I afraid of?  What are the “nots” that I tell myself?

I have found that being true to who I am is the key to anything I seek in this journey.  When inner truth is held valuable and confidently, the body responds in a positive way.  The body cannot lie, it is the brain and the ego that can.  When we seek to enter the path of wellness, for our own health and well-being, trying to fit the model of the media, we are met with struggle and disappointment or lowered self-esteem and self-defeat. For me personally, I have never been athletic, coordinated or as the term goes a “gym rat”.  I have never run a marathon, run further than a mile, or competed in group sports.  For me, I am fit.  What I had to accept is that the number on the scale is that, a number.  The rational mind knows that muscle weighs more than fat and dropping inches is one sign to weight loss other than the lower number on the scale.  The real indicator to improved wellness is how I feel.  Do I have more energy? Am I sleeping better? Are my stress affects reduced? Do I want to be more active? I believe that there is a spectrum of body types and one size doesn’t fit all.  I also believe that exercise can be achieved outside the gym.

For me, my exercise is on the gentler side.  I walk almost every day with my dog.  I stretch in the shower or on the floor.  I use light weights, do yoga and Tai Chi.  I will occasionally hike, kayak or swim but these are more for enjoyment then exercise.  My job affords me a great deal of physical activity so I am always moving, walking, bending and pushing. What are the things that you can do to increase your activity?  Take the stairs, park further in the parking lot, get a buddy to walk with – these are just a few examples.  Find something that you enjoy doing.  If you don’t like exercise or your view of it is going to the gym 3-5 days a week for 2 hours and the thought of it makes you tired before you do it… chances are you will not succeed.

Wellness is not a one size fits all idea.  There are many ways to become healthy, fit and happy.  You don’t have to tie yourself in knots and fray your ends to achieve your goals.  Allow yourself to be your true self.  Seek to set goals that are realistic and manageable for your lifestyle.  Listen to your body for the positive feedback, not the media.  Be open to a new way of thinking.  Seek a wellness coach or a personal trainer that will listen to you and help you develop your program, not his/her program. Finally, stand tall, like yourself and trust that you are in this moment doing the best you can with what you have and that is enough.  Blessings