Live Well, Stress Less

Today there are 76 days left in our challenge.  No matter where you are in your progress toward your goal, your only point of power is this moment, today.  You can’t change what you did in the past.  (Like my day yesterday at the Loose Goose Wine Festival–such good wines and a fun day! But even though I was just “tasting”–all those tastes add up! I gave myself permission to enjoy without guilt.) 

My plan for today is healthy eating and exercise and maybe a nap before I head off to work this evening.  You also can’t do anything about the future except taking action today. 

So what can you do today that will move you toward your goal? (Big or small!)  Post your update here.

And if you haven’t joined the challenge and you’d like to–it’s not too late!  Start now! Just jump in and comment on this post and state what it is you are working on! 

Remember everyone who posts a status in the comments to  Friday or Monday’s challenge post is eligible for the prize drawing on Fridays.

| Tags: 100 Day Challenge, goals, power of now | Category: 100 Day Challenge | Leave a comment

Here we are with 79 days left in our challenge - WOW!  It’s October already.

Our winner for this past week is Michelle, who is commenting on Where’s My Damn Answer.  Congratulations Michelle, you win an $10 Amazon gift certificate.  Woo Hoo!!

Here’s my check in.  I have had some very interesting experiences this week with my Challenge.  I have been finding myself uncharacteristically resistant on really following my food plan since we started this, all the while feeling like I really want to get this going again and knowing I committed to it for the challenge.  This week, I had one of those be careful what you ask for moments.  I had been saying to myself how nice it would be to have some support with it, since I was not doing so well on my own.  Then Tuesday I met with my friend Patty Haft, who does the Transitions groups for us at the spa, and as we talked about business in general, she suddenly said “You know, I think you need some specific support for YOU, so you can be a true example of following this plan.  Why don’t we personally check in weekly, and you can call me daily in the afternoon when you hit your problem point in the day.”  Squirm.

Well, as you can tell, this personal attention makes me kind of uncomfortable.  I mean, someone besides me (and you all when I confess here!) will now know if I cheated, and that person will be sitting in front of me on a weekly basis checking my food journal.  Yikes.  Look what I created for myself.  Looks as though I should just get over myself and take the offer and be successful with that part of my challenge. 

I would encourage you all to take a look around and ask someone to hold you accountable up close and personal, if what you are doing so far isn’t working so well.  We can do it here for you, too, but reporting in face to face with a partner is even more powerful. 

Be sure to check in by commenting on this post, and or the post next Monday to be entered in the drawing next week.  And if you want us and the group in the 100 Day Challenge to hold you accountable, just ask and tell us how best to support you.

Here’s to geting what we need - even when part of us pretends not to want it!

Love,

Karen

| Tags: 100 Day Challenge, food plan, partner, support, Transitions, Transitions Lifestyle Plan | Category: 100 Day Challenge | Leave a comment

I just finished cleaning the area under my kitchen sink and it feels good!  We all have corners of our homes that begin to accumulate things and we don’t pay attention to.  One day we look at this corner and think, “How did all that stuff get there?”  The shelf liner under my sink was positively grey with dust and grime and then there were all sorts of almost empty cleaning products that needed to be used up or thrown out! 

I look at cleaning out that small corner of my house as a metaphor for life.  Often we have areas of our life we just don’t pay that much attention to–they go on by default and one day we have an awareness that things need to be cleaned up! 

In the last couple weeks I’ve realized that there are a lot of things in my life that need to be gently cleaned up and paid attention to.  I realized at about week two of the 100 day challenge that I needed to streamline my life–that I had too many projects and commitments and nothing was getting done as I bounced from one project to another. We only have the ability to pay attention to so many things.    And I had more than I could realistically pay attention to.   

Our world today values multi-tasking but I’m going on strike!  I’m working on one thing at a time and only having a couple things on my plate.  I’m cleaning out the corners of my consciousness by taking projects that have been part of the mix and saying “no”  or “not till next year.” 

In this cleaning process, I’m learning to listen to what is most important to me and to take care of myself better.  So just like when I now look under my kitchen sink and see only the things that I use, neat and orderly, I can look at the projects on my plate and know that I am creating a mental environment that is a lot more clear and orderly.  It makes it a lot easier to get things done!

Do you have a physical or mental corner that needs to be cleaned out?

| Tags: do less movement, less projects, mental housecleaning, priorities, simplify | Category: 100 Day Challenge, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Philosophy | Comments (1)

Today we have 83 days left on our challenge. I don’t know about all of you, but I am feeling a little pressure to get myself really into this! This week, I’m encouraging everyone to take a look at the different images they have of themselves. I don’t mean the ones we see in photographs, but the ones we hold about ourselves, the roles we play, the traits or beliefs we have about us. I’m talking about taking a little look at the ways in which you see yourself that may be helping you or hindering you in the accomplishment of this challenge, or in life.For various reasons, I have found myself engaged in this exercise over the past week or so. I have to tell you that for me, it’s been pretty emotional, and pretty instructive. Of course, you certainly don’t have to go to that place with this! To try this out, take a few minutes and complete the following sentence as many ways as you can:

I am a person who __________________________________________________.

Then think about these questions:

1) Is this image or trait helping or hindering me in the things I have said I want to do?

2) How?

3) Do I want to keep this image? What else do I need to do with it?

Here are a couple examples from my image list:

Image: I am a person who is sometimes “clicked into” my food plan, and sometimes I just can’t follow it.

1) This image hinders me.

2) It may be true in a sense, but the more I repeat it, the more I use it as an excuse for not getting back to my good eating plan, which I know works, and which I LIKE when I am doing it.

3) I want to alter this image by changing my self talk to something like “Sometimes I forget my food plan, but I can always remember and get back onto it. I can also make the best choices I can as much as possible. This helps me to have better results even when I am not all the way on the plan.”

Image: I am a “project” person. I love working on projects with people and am great at thinking up ideas. I get excited about new things and like setting everything up and creating new things.

1) Surprisingly, this image has actually been hurting my ability to work on what I really want to.

2) I get caught up in other people’s energy and want to “come along for the ride” or play with them on the things they want to do. These things are not always in line with my self, my mission, or what I need to be doing. As a result, I spread myself too thin, say ‘Yes’ to things I shouldn’t, and cannot do a good job on much of anything.

3) I do want to keep a lot of this image, but I want to be better at asking myself if any new project is on track for me. I want to direct my energy to MY projects first, not last. I want to believe that there are always more fun and great projects out there for whenever I can and want to get involved.

Image: I am a person who is responsible and always needs to be on top of things.

1) This image helps me, if I direct it towards my goals. It hurts me when I put all the other things on the list ahead of my own personal goals.

2) I have a tendency to do all sorts of other work before my own important things. And all the stuff I do seems really important. I pay bills, do payroll, take care of the kids getting places, make the shopping list, handle Foundation business, clean out my e-mail, and myriad other tasks before I work on myself and my heart projects. I’m pretty clear I need to change this some, or I’ll never get anywhere.

3) Again, I like this part of my image. I just don’t like the part where I do everyone else’s stuff first, so I am now putting specific tasks on my calendar that are related to the goals I have for me, and doing some of them first.

I’m not changing everything all at once, but taking a look at all the roles I play has been really good for me. I have taken myself out of some of the projects I had committed to, and just this week ordered some equipment I need in order to make a prototype of an art product idea I have - part of my goals for the 100 days.

As the Buddhist saying goes: “If we are facing the right direction, all we have to do is continue walking.” Taking a look at the various images we fulfill and have of ourselves can help us to see if we are indeed walking in the right direction at any given moment. We might also see why we aren’t moving as quickly as we would like in our chosen direction. This gives us the power to make some changes and feel more in control of our lives.

Let us know how this past weekend went, and what images you have noticed are helping or hindering you. If they help, be that person more! If not, think about who you want to be in this challenge and try on that image this week. For starters, I’m going to be the version of me that loves to eat way more vegetables.

Remember people who post progress reports or insights get entered in our weekly prize drawing!

Continue Walking,

Karen

| Tags: 100 Day Challenge, Buddhism, food plan, image, projects, roles, self-image, staying on track, traits | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

This closes out the second full week of the 100 Day challenge.  On Friday’s we draw the name of the winner of this week’s prize.  Congratulations to Connie, winner of this week’s $10 Amazon Gift Card. 

Carol’s Check In:

I wrote quite a bit this week, so the book goal is progressing nicely.  I’m really excited about this.  It feels good to keep moving on this goal.

However, my week has been quite an emotional one.  I had some family news that was disconcerting and needed to make some big decisions about things.  I found it a week of drawing boundaries, saying no and creating space for myself to move forward.  It was also a week of high hormones which make the emotions of the week even more intense.  I wish I could say, I handled it all with grace but I’d be lying.  My old friend Hagen Daas was very comforting but not helpful in me getting to that weight loss goal.  But that is past and now having rebalanced myself from the storm, I am starting again. 

Staying on course through the emotional ups and downs of life is a challenge. If I give myself too many outs for “now isn’t a good time,” nothing gets done.  Because in reality there will never be a perfect time to do whatever I want to do.  There will always be reasons why I could postpone. 

Granted, there are times to go easy on yourself, like after a major event like a death in the family.  One of these “high trauma” moments means you have to realize you can’t move forward at the same pace you have been.  But what happened to me this week, was just one of the bumps of living.  I know getting angry at myself for the ice cream will not help me lose weight.  So I’m scheduling extra gym time today and focusing on the good thing I did, which is write some really good stuff for the book.

So how are you doing?  What’s your biggest challenge been?  Have you stuck with your goals through those challenges this week?  What did you do this week that you can be proud of? 

| Tags: 100 Day Challenge, book, emotional moments, trauma, Winner, writing | Category: 100 Day Challenge, Food, Reporting In | Comments (4)

Today we have 90 days left on our challenge.   Exactly three months to complete that goal.  This week, I’m encourging everyone to get clear on their “whys.”  We have two “whys” to look at.  What are your reasons for the goal you stated?  Why did you choose that goal and what do you hope that it will give you?  The second set of “whys” is to explore the reasons behind your day to day actions–why do you say you want your goal but may end up doing something else?

I got an email from David Neagle the other day with this exercise about getting clear on your intentions and the reasons for your decisions that I am sharing with you with his permission. (For more about David, see the links below his exercise.)   I think it is a really good exercise for helping you take a look at all the decisions you make and seeing if they are in line with your purpose or intention.  The trick is not to give yourself an easy out but to really think of the true possible reasons you are not following through.

____________________________________________________________

How Clear Are You? By David Neagle

Clarity of Intention….. your greatest gift to the world is to be yourself.

When I am in a moment of indecision, I use this exact tool to bring myself right in line with my purpose.

Get yourself a notebook that you can easily carry around with you. For one week, write down what your true motive or reason is for every decision you make. Yes, I mean Everything…!!

It might look like this…

1) Decision: Get a cup of coffee,

Why: I love coffee, or because that’s what I always drink in the morning.

2) I get asked to go out to dinner.

Decision: I reply ‘yes’.

Why: so as not to hurt their feeling but I would rather stay home.

3) I am asked if I can do something.

Decision: I reply ‘yes’.

Why: I don’t want to let anyone down, even though I don’t have the time right now.

4) The family wants to go to Disney on vacation but I would like to go to Hawaii. Decision: I agree on Disney

Why: in order to keep the peace and make others happy.

So many people are not happy and yet they continue to build their fears, resentments and angers because they never express their true motives, intentions and reasons. This might seem simple, but its wisdom runs miles deep.

___________________________________________________________________

David Neagle, Million Dollar Income Acceleration Coach, www.davidneagle.com

From high school drop-out to million dollar master coach, David Neagle has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs to achieve levels of success far beyond what they previously thought possible. David invites you to download his Free 4-hour audio program and accompanying study guide entitle “The Art of Success” at www.davidneagle.com/artsuccess.html

____________________________________________________________________

So here is your chance to report in and notice why you make the decisions you make and if they support your 100 day challenge goal.   Use David’s exercise and see what you learn. Even if you don’t write down the reason for every decision, thinking about why you decide to do something that is not aligned with your goal can help you be more clear in the days to come.

Here are some recent decisions I made that effected my goals and what I learned about them.

Decision:  Bought ice cream at Rite Aid  (Not on my food plan!)

Why:  Because I was frustrated and worried about a family situation. 

Decision:  Cleaned the bathroom.

Why:  It needed it and it helped me avoid working on a sticky transition in my book.

Decision:  Hit the snooze alarm rather than getting up right away which cut into my exercise time.

Why:  Because I didn’t put myself to bed on time and I really didn’t want to go the gym.

Decision:  Took a long walk with the dog.

Why:  Because I felt guilty about not going to the gym and it was a beautiful day.  And I like being outside more than in a gym.  (That’s a good insight. Perhaps I should schedule more hikes and less gym time!)

I actually got a lot out of the process of exploring my “whys.”  I see how much I’m driven by my emotions but that I don’t take time to really process or name what I’m feeling.  This is information I can work with.  I can start noticing more when I’m avoiding or anesthetizing myself with my activity and look to see if the activity is aligned with my intentions.  If not, I always have a choice to say, “Screw it, I want ice cream.”  But the question remains, “Do I want ice cream (or whatever other unhealthy food) now more than I want a healthier body?”  But notice, I also came up with the insight doing this process that perhaps I’m making it harder by making my workout at a gym rather than in nature.   Hopefully by the end of the challenge, I’ll many more insights like this that will help me truly change my life.

How did the weekend go for you?  As you think about decisions you’ve made, what do you learn about yourself? Remember people who post progress reports or insights get entered in our weekely prize drawing!

| Category: Uncategorized | Comments (6)

I put all your names on little pieces of paper minus the hosts of WMDA and LWSL blogs. There was some whining when I said the winners had to be a guest of the blogs not the blog writers. But they’ll get over it! (At least I hope they will. Lindaloohoo may come up with some really funny comments about this decision but I’m a big girl–I can take it! )

Congratulations to Mary (Life along Stoney Brook ) who posts on the Where’s My Damn Answer blog, She wins a $10 gift card to Amazon.

I’ve been asked some questions about the 100 Day Challenge that I want to make sure I address. Even if someone didn’t join in this week, they can join in at any time! The point is to start whether you have 100 days, 90 days or 50 days. So please encourage your friends and co-workers to join in. The more the merrier.

I’m also going to simplify things a little for the prizes. If someone posts with a report of how they are doing with their challenge on any post labeled “100 day Challenge” for that week, they will be included in the drawing. The only stipulation is you have to share something about your challenge and what you are doing. Just posting a comment to someone else’s post, while supportive and cool, doesn’t tell us what you are doing. If you didn’t make progress and you are struggling, and you say that, that will count as a post. So while we hope everyone is successful, we want to support you if you are struggling. After all part of the challenge is to have a group of people pulling together to accomplish their goals. There is more power with shared intention.

So here’s something I was pondering this week: Why do we say we are going to do something and then do something completely the opposite? I wonder this all the time. Why do I say I’m going to schedule my day better and start with a schedule but then waste time with things that are less important than my main goal? Why do I say I’m going to eat healthier but get sucked into eating pizza or something else that isn’t on my plan? From my hypnotherapy training I know this has a lot to do with habits and comforts. But darn it! It is almost like someone else takes over my body and a whiny child says, “I deserve it! I want it! You can’t stop me!”

This is something that I am going to have to work on! Silence my whiny child. Picturing a cartoon character with her mouth taped shut!

So what’s up with you? Have you moved forward? Is your whiny child acting up? Check in and let us know how you are doing. (This post check in counts for next Friday’s prize!)

| Tags: 100 Day Challenge, goals, whiny child, winners | Category: 100 Day Challenge, Reporting In | Comments (5)

I love this post I ran across today by Tim Brownson regarding Five Questions that can change your life.  It is always the filter through which we are seeing things that can propel us forward or keep us stuck.  Once a particular filter is in place, we forget that it is on. 

Have you ever had a pair of sunglasses that changed the color of things around you?  You’d look up and think the sky was a certain color or the trees were a particular color of green and then you’d take the glasses off and the colors changed.  There’s that moment where you say, “Wow everything looked different through those glasses!” 

Our perceptual filters are much the same.  If we choose to view every action we don’t like by someone else as an intentional slight or if we look at every set back in life as proof we are not worthy of success, it is hard for us to more forward.  If on the other hand, we can ask a new question and change the filter, other possibilities are available to us.

It is much like this exercise that I highly recommend.  Re-write your life story.  Not the events that happened but what meaning you ascribed to them.  For example, my mother was rather tough on us as kids there was a level of perfection that was expected that was hard to achieve.  For years, I focused on how that hurt me–how sensitive I was to criticism–how my self-esteem was tied to measuring up to other people.  This is all certainly true.  But what is also true is that experience made me a good worker, made me able to figure things out, made me tough in the face of a problem that had to be figured out.  There were gifts to having the mother I had.  I just had to get out of my “poor me” filter to see them.

So take a look at Tim’s post.  I think you’ll find his questions helpful.  Especially for those taking part in the 100 Day Challenge, it is good to look at what assumptions you are making that may be keeping you from your goals.  For example, do you think you have to do it yourself?  Maybe figuring out who can help you would be more productive.

xoxoxo

Carol

| Tags: filters, Five Questions, perceptions, Perceptual Filters, sunglasses, Tim Brownson | Category: Inspiration, Philosophy | Comments (2)

100 Day Challenge Participants:  If you have trouble figuring out how to post, let me walk you through it.

Under each post, there is a gray box.  In that box, you’ll see either a link that says Comments or Leave a Comment.  Click on that link.  You’ll see the other comments that have been posted (if any) and a form that says: name, email, website and comment. 

You can post whatever name you’d like to be known by on this blog.  It doesn’t have to be your real name.  You must give us an email address but it will not be posted on the blog.  This is so we can contact you about prizes and make sure you are a real person not a spam generator.   If you have a blog or other website you’d like to share, you can put this in the website field.  People will be taken to that website when they click on your name in your post.  If you don’t have a website, no worries, leave it blank!  You don’t have to have a website.  Your comment can be short and sweet or a longer post.  It is up to you. 

The first time you post, it comes to me to approve so that we don’t have spam on the blog.  After I approve your first post, all other posts will be posted automatically.

Email me if you have problems or questions! I’m happy to try to help!  Carol@wmwgroup.com

PS.  We’ve got several people signed up over at the WMDA blog.  You can stop by there and join in too.  But for those that are new to blogs, this site will be a little easier to follow and stay connected to the challenge.

Best wishes in making your 100 Day Challenge a successful venture for you!

| Tags: 100 Day Challenge, how to post | Category: Inspiration, Lifestyle, Reporting In | Comments (3)