Life is a gift. How are you using yours?

I sadly learned the news today of dear family friend's passing.  My planned "Mindful Monday" post for today was suddenly tossed aside.  The overwhelming reminder of how life is so precious and the remembrance of each individual soul seemed to be the undeniable topic at hand.   

Often when dealing with death and thinking about how short life can be this sense of Carpe Diem sets in but somewhere in the following days or weeks it fades away.  Old habits that you swore you'd change begin to creep back in like taking things for granted, making unhealthy choices and letting fear run the show.  At least this is true for me.  

Today I kept thinking about how quickly things can change, and heaven forbid they do, then why am I constantly allowing fear to run my life.  Fear of judgement.  Fear of inadequacy.  Fear, fear, fear.  I know that those things are silly, ego driven nonsense but nonetheless they hold me back.  

I couldn't help but reflect on how do I want to be remembered.  Sure I want people to say kind things about me but more than that I want people to be able to say they truly understood me.  Maybe they didn't agree with me on certain topics but they knew what I stood for and what my passions were.  

At this point if I keep letting fear run the show there is no way that more than a handful of people will be able to do that.  On the surface it might look pretty basic:  I enjoy working out, eating well and being with my family.

Don't get me wrong I do love those things but more importantly do you know why I like to workout or why I became a nutrition nut?  Have I ever taught you something that is helpful to you in your life?  There's a good chance that you probably answered "no" and to me that says I've got work to do.  After all the "N.I.C." in my team logo stands for, Nourish Yourself, Inspire Others, Change Lives and that's what I plan to do.  

So what are the things you want to be remembered for?  Do you feel people know those things about you or is something holding you back?  

If you're not thrilled with your answer to the last question know that you have the power to change right now.  Don't wait for the stars to perfectly align.  Take action now and join me in starting to live the life you wish to be remembered for.  

Why do the same problems keep reappearing in my life?

If you stop right now and think about current problems in your life, are they new issues or things that you've dealt with before?  

I ask because something came up for me tonight that made me want to scream, cry, fill my head with negative thoughts and just freak out.  It was an issue that in one form or another I've been dealing with for YEARS.  

Luckily my "rebound rate" (see The Key to Happiness post) has improved greatly over the past couple years so I got ahold of myself and remembered a recent lesson I learned from my girl, Gabby Bernstein.  She talked about how the Universe (God, life, whatever you want to call it) gives you lessons and until you truly dig in and learn from them, they will continually reappear throughout your life.  Those lessons will come back in different forms but have the same underlying message until you fully process it.  

I took this to mean that hitting rock bottom served as processing the issue.  You know how people talk about how you have to hit rock bottom before you can rise up stronger than ever before?  Well I use to think in certain areas of my life that I hit rock bottom.  Each time I would think, “This is it.  It sucks but it's awesome because I'm going to turn this around and be unstoppable.”  This sounds great the first couple times you tell yourself it but let me tell you the 100th time gets a bit old.    

Tonight's "bottom" made me think that maybe we all have different sensitivities to hitting bottom.  I think some people can have the slightest bump and instantly make the decision to learn, grow and move on while others (like myself) need repeated exposure.  

If you're like me and are not one of those quick adapters, think on the bright side, we are tough.  We think that we can power through challenges and just be done with it.  While good at times, we need to allow ourselves to stop and see what’s really going on. Why is this situation happening?  What is it that needs to be hashed out to be able to move on?  

Not sure where to start? Therapy, meditation, EFT Tapping, journaling, are a few places to explore.  Find something that you can connect with and ultimately get you to the root cause behind these reoccurring scenarios.  After all who wants to be dealing with the same problems for the rest of their life?  I for sure don't so on that note, its time for a little soul searching and personal development.

*I'd love to know...are you someone who adapts quickly to problems you are faced with or do you have the same reoccurring issues trouble you?

**Curious about meditation? Check out my glimpse into meditation group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/439110243100699/

The Key to Happiness

Ever look at your favorite leader or mentor and think they must be happy all the time?

I do.  I think it's so easy to look at someone who is high up, in a respected position and think their lives must be perfect.  It wasn't until this morning that I heard something that made me think otherwise.  I was listening to one of my favs, Gabby Bernstein, and she was talking about how everyone has bad things happen but your happiness is tied to your comeback rate.  For example, let’s say you over sleep and are late for an important meeting or you are cut-off in traffic.  How fast can you process it and turn it around by consciously choosing happiness over negativity? 

For those of you who read my, 1-2-3 Maui...Get Present, post I like to think of it along the same lines.  How fast can you tune in (“1-2-3 Maui”), realize you are unhappy, then decide to see your situation differently.     

Happy or enlightened people are simply more tuned in to the present.  They stop themselves when they start to veer off course and they redirect by choosing again.  They choose to be happy because they know happiness is a choice. They realize that they have the power to see their situation differently.  

Before you think: “well lucky for them”, please realize we ALL are lucky!  We all have the same power to choose again every second of every day.  

Instead of overreacting to simple problems like finding you're out of coffee (panic attack, I know) just STOP.   Breathe.  Choose again.   Simply think how can I see this differently?  How can I choose happiness over negativity?  Maybe you've been eyeing a new coffee shop that you've never gone to and this is your sign to splurge and try it out.  Maybe there's someone that you are meant to meet at that coffee shop.  Who knows?!  Whatever the situation may be, know that the power to be happy lies within you.  

How freeing is that?!  

Anyone do this already?  If not, try it out.  How did it go for you?  

The Universe is talking. Are you listening?

So I started this bloggish thing last week with my intent to have a "Mindful Monday" post and a "Get Wise" Wednesday post.  Well in true mom fashion I put my activities last and didn't begin to write until last night (Monday) at 9pm.  Completely exhausted and ready to call it a night but I figured what the heck I'll just pour a tiny "Nic-a-rita" and get down to business.  

The exact second I went to set my glass down next to the computer I thought I had one of my dreaded trigger signs come on.  These are cues that let me know a CVS attack is about to happen (if you haven't heard me talk about CVS before then just know it's a super sexy, rare disorder that I have that makes me not able to stop painfully bowing to the "Porcelain God" for hours or even days).  This stopped me dead in my tracks because I've been on a roll without having an episode in months.  

I immediately caught my thoughts in mid jump as they were just about to get to the land of negativity and hopeless victim.  In an effort to turn my mind around I started in with my EFT Tapping then came back to my meditative breath.  A few minutes later without having taken one sip of my drink I went over to the sink and poured it out.  

Why?  

What I previously failed to mention is that I'm currently doing an experiment with my nutrition and eating schedule to see if I can help heal my body from CVS (I'll share more about this with you in the coming weeks but for now just know that it's focused on repairing my mitochondria with a high fat “diet.”).  Well I had just got home from teaching a heart pounding spin class and instead of eating a normal meal I figured I'd just have a couple of these "fat bombs" (once again super sexy, I know) and call it good.  Brilliant!  So when I was slapped across the face with what I thought was a trigger, nothing else needed to happen.  I knew I was pushing the limits of my nutrition experiment so bye, bye drink.

Once I calmed down after worrying that an episode was about to begin, I told myself that it was just a sign.  A sign to wake-up.  A sign telling me that it's one thing to be mentally committed to my plan, but ultimately, if I'm not present enough to realize that my actions don't align then there's no point in even trying.  

All of this happened in about five minutes time.  I quickly shifted my attention back to this post I was suppose to write.  I got so focused on making this happen because it was Monday Night (darn it!) and I was going to stick to my schedule and get this done.  

While I did write something, I just couldn't post it.  

I finally sat back and wondered why was I putting this added stress on myself?  Here I just thought I had this trigger but the norm to just go, go, go diminished it all.  I knew that nothing would happen if I didn't get my post up but we put these heavy expectations on ourselves to do everything.   

It was then that I realized my fist post, 1-2-3 Maui...Get Present, came back to teach me a lesson once again.  I needed to get present right there at 11:19pm.  In that moment the topic I was writing about didn't matter.  What mattered was that I was ok.  

So often I search for signs to guide me and last night I had one.  I finally had a sign and it was clear.  It literally stopped me in my tracks but I was so quick to brush it off that I didn't even appreciate it.  It made me think about how many times each day are we given signs but we don't even take the time to open our eyes/ears/hearts to receive them.  So in a "1-2-3 Maui" instant, I came back. 

Life will still go on even if your daily to-do list isn’t complete.  In fact, I think sometimes something good can come from it.  I may not have finished my post on time but maybe this was all meant to be.  Maybe, just maybe, this was the real message that I was meant to write this Mindful Monday.  

So the question is, are you stopping to truly listen and be open to the signs coming up for you in your life? 

Tired of working out without seeing results?

1-2-3 Maui...Get Present

What the heck is 1-2-3 Maui?!?!

Ever find yourself someplace amazing or with people you truly love and care for but you can't for the life of you just be present there in that moment?  Something keeps pulling your mind away-you know like little things: work, finances, deadlines, upcoming events, etc.  Well I'll be the first to admit that I'm a victim of this.  I can be playing with my kids at the park on a beautiful day but my mind starts to dull the magic of our playtime.  It's so easy to wear many "hats" these days as we put so much pressure on ourselves to do more and more.  I may be a stay at home mom but I also run my own health & fitness business and teach group fitness classes.  It's way too easy to let my mind wander thinking about everything else that I have to do later that day.  When in reality all that does is take away from enjoying the present.  I realized that I needed to make a conscious effort to change my ways.  

I'm not sure what reminded me of this but as a kid my family went to Maui on vacation when I was in about 6th grade.  I was a kid in paradise and that was that.  My Dad on the other hand worked hard running a business in the windy city so this trip was a big shift from his busy day to day reality.  He found himself having a hard time switching over into vacation mode.  It wasn't until about day two or three that he finally realized enough was enough and that he had to let it go so he could soak up paradise before our wonderful family trip was over.  Something inside him came up with, 1-2-3, Maui! He said it to himself as a wakeup call to get present.  I knew he did this at the time but it wasn't until recently that I've been able to truly connect to his mantra from many years ago.  I'm sure my Dad doesn't even remember or think much about how he did this but that's the funny thing about kids, they remember everything!  I'm screwed. No seriously though, I want my kids to remember their mommy truly being there with them not just physically but mentally & emotionally too.  

So now when I start to find myself slip away regardless of the situation I channel, 1-2-3, Maui!   It helps me to refocus and enjoy the present because after all it is a gift!  

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Have you ever felt like this? Do you have a favorite mantra or technique that you use?  I'd love to hear about them.