I wrote this after contemplating a few things over the weekend :)
I'm getting to a really good place and becoming so much more aware of myself - I wanted to get some of these thoughts down and it felt good to do that and to be able to share my thoughts with others.
I've also got an empowering affirmation for you to try
- if you dare!
Prepare to feel super awesome if you use this affirmation for a few days with some regularity...
Repeat this phrase to yourself when you are doing things that don't really require your brain to be totally switched on - like doing the dishes or even while you're out for a walk;
I love and accept myself, am true to myself
and confident in who I am
Yep it's all about love and confidence this week folks - so go on - get out there and enjoy yourselves, give your soul a treat this week!
Smile at a stranger! Do a good deed! Do something that lifts your spirits and makes you feel all warm and fuzzy.
You are the one in control after all... really want to sit around feeling gloomy?
Have a beautiful week lovelies
~PS~
Today there was a post that I came across;
"3 Things That Have Transformed My Life"
written by the fantastic Jess Ainsclough of The Wellness Warrior, a site that I find inspirational and full of positivity.
In this post, it was the very FIRST point that Jess makes that really made me stop and pay attention - so much so that I want to share it with you here;
"1. Making all decisions and acting only from a place of self love
Self love is the foundation we need to lay down first, so that all of
the other elements of a wellness plan stay in place. Without self love,
everything crumbles and wellness isn’t sustainable.
If we aren’t acting from a place of self love, we are acting from a
place of fear or self loathing. Instead of doing things out of love, we
do things because we think we should do them. This is impossible to
maintain, and it’s not much fun either. I’m all about fun.
In the beginning of my journey I was doing things like juicing and
meditating because I was afraid of what would happen if I didn’t do
them. Everything shifted for me when I started doing these things
because I love myself so much that I want to reap the amazing rewards of
a super healthy lifestyle.
When you garner a deep inner respect for yourself, you actually want to treat yourself with radical kindness.
To kick off a love affair with yourself, you can just start by
looking at yourself in the mirror and saying “I love you”.
Do this for
30 days – get over the weirdness of it – and you will start to
experience very subtle, but miraculous shifts in the way you treat
yourself."
I'm pretty sure if you had been in the room when I read that you totally would've seen the light bulb flash on above my head!
I believe Jess is onto something with these 3 Things - I think my goals and aspirations are on the right track...but I haven't been straight with myself about my motives and what's driving me.
And so I learn another lesson (this stuff's hard sometimes!)...
I gotta check myself before I wreck myself!
It's time to sit back and take a snap shot of MY LIFE RIGHT NOW - where I'm at, how I'm feeling, what's going on, making sure I'm on track with goals I've set or if I need to adjust them - basically I need to check in and make sure I'm being true to myself. I need to be self-aware so I am confident in that my actions are a reflection of what my true needs/desires are.
Whoa. Heavy.
It's kinda true though - it really is quite important to check in with yourself and reassess what's what on a regular basis.
Again, this is stuff that I know a lot about in theory from my studies but it's only now that I'm really starting to apply these things that I'm gaining an even deeper appreciation for the power of meditation, positive thinking and planning!
I'm really excited about the things that are happening in my world right now and I'm grateful I've got the opportunity to teach and pass this knowledge of empowerment on to others.
Right, I'm off to look in the mirror and say "I LOVE YOU"!
Why not... what have I got to lose? :)
Namaste
~PS~
You know that moment when you realise you haven't taken a breath for what seems like days.
That moment when you actually JUST STOP and take a maaassssive deep breath.... and then you exhale and realise how incredibly tense you have become.
Well I just took that breath.
I just realised that somewhere along the way I forgot to pay attention to myself. Again. It's okay though, I think you kind of have to have those 'holy shitballs, what am I doing?' moments.
When I stop and think about it, I haven't meditated for probably a week (alright, maaayybe two) and when I sat down the other night to complete the final exam for my course (Yeesss!!) and was reading through my notes, I was reminded of all of the beautiful things that I have been learning about... and realised I had stopped doing them and how much stopping them had made such a huge friggen difference to my life!
I've been grumpy, distant, unenthusiastic, lazy.... bbaaww-rrriiinnggg.
Well it's time to hit F5 on that nasty 'tude and refresh my outlook!
I can quite honestly say that I much prefer 'awesome me' anyway - the version that should be my default... Why on Earth am I letting all of these external pressures get me down when I've got loads and loads of great reasons to be happy in my life! I should be using my mad skills on myself and guiding my brain back into focusing on the positives instead of dwelling in weird-space land.
I'm grateful for this awareness but it's still a lot easier said than done sometimes when you're trying to break the habits of a lifetime! I know the lesson here goes a lil something like dont give up when you wander off the path - it's gonna be a long journey, you just have to make your way back to the path and carry on.
So I'm not going to beat myself up for not paying attention to what's going on in my own life, instead I'm going to take from this what I want, which is that this was a fine lesson in how completely totally and utterly important meditation is to me and how much I benefit from it (and how much I apparently fall apart without it!).
I am reminded of how vital my daily dose of calm is :)
Here's a really short meditation for you to try - yes you should do it now - go on, give it a whirl and experience a little shot of zen;
(
text sourced from one of my favourite books ever 'Teach yourself to Meditate in 10 Simple Lessons' by Eric Harrison)
This spot meditation is an amazing way to refresh and refocus during your day.
Give it a whirl and see how much you notice the difference.
On that note, I'm off to meditate. Take care and be kind to yourselves beautiful people :)
Namaste
~PS~
Waaaahhhhh - Started the fitness regime with a hiss and a roar on Monday...
Taken out with a horrid sinus infection Tuesday.
Still battling on Wednesday.
Back into it Thursday?
YES!
Sometimes you
just have to listen to your body and respect that despite what your
goals are some days you have to take five, rest and
recover.
Back to the couch then....
Namaste
~PS~
Day one of 'the exercise plan'... so far so good haha!
I'm a realist, I know it's going to hurt. A lot. But the actual exercising part (I mean of course, the actual getting started and DOING part)
was great and it was good to be reminded how much I enjoy and have been missing regular training sessions.
So MONDAY of my plan looks like this;
- Come home from work.
- Before getting too comfy...
Leave the house again.
With dog. And TM. Walkies!
- Home again (about 2-3kms later).
- Get cracking on the resistance workout over here ------>
- Feel awesome!
Didn't take any notice of how long I took to work through it, so no idea how long today's training session took in total!
I anticipate about an hour a day to complete the walk/run and the resistance plan.
In my personal experience, one of the best things you can do for yourself when you start an exercise or training programme (especially if it's in the interest of weight loss) is to just bite the bullet and take your measurements, record your starting weight and take the dreaded before photos.
YES, it's a scary and intimidating thought.
YES, those pics are probably going to feel quite confronting.
BUT take a deep breath and trust me on this one - just do it!
This is your STARTING POINT... once you have those pics you are not going back. And deeeeen... after you have worked your arse off you will have solid and undeniable evidence right in front of you.
BAM!!! YES - YOU WILL FEEL FABULOUS!!
Often our perspective of ourselves can be a bit warped and quite often the image we see in the mirror can be inaccurate or we easily become fixated on the "bad bits"... when really we aren't considering or seeing our TRUE SELF.
How many times have you looked in the mirror and thought "oh I can't possibly wear this my elbows looks horrible" when in actual fact YOU are the only one who has even given your elbows a second glance?!
Seems a bit silly when I use the word 'elbow' and put it like that doesn't it? Substitute 'elbow' for 'belly' and think about how many times you have done exactly what I described.
This is where the before and after pics are a brilliant tool not only serving as a great reminder of how far you have come but they will also help to put your perception of your body image positively back on track.
YES, I took my BEFORE photo's today....
YES, I think they are scary and horrible!!
YES, you will get to see them.
BUT only after I have awesome AFTER photo's to go with them ;)
I'm not that brave yet!
Happy working towards your goals beautiful people!
Namaste
~PS~
Haha exactly 10 days!!
Never mind. I started a facebook page to make up for it; Positively Soulfish
Please feel free to 'like' it and then you can be kept up to date with when the blog installments are installed and also receive positive picture posts coming up in your daily news feed!
Once I'm teaching and counselling, information about my classes and sessions will also be posted through the Facebook page.
It's been a busy couple of weeks for me at work with a lot of changes going on that have generated a bit of pressure. It's been a bit stressful and I've been quite neglectful of myself. Realising my self neglect was part of the reason for last weeks"lightbulb moment" and giving myself a kick in the bum.
I have also been making a conscious effort to get the ticks on my wall chart... not suprisingly actually doing those things for myself has left me feeling pretty awesome and helped me get through that trying time!
I am really reaping the rewards as the meditation, stretching and walking are all helping me to combat the stress and tension and I'm feeling really on top of things - GO ME!
Back at the Estate... we have been using an evening menu plan... but haven't been very diligent with the planning part over the past couple of weeks. In a dash out the door on the way to the supermarket the other day I grabbed a previously printed shopping list - which means that this week's menu plan looks like this (and as I recall the food the week 8-13th September was exceptional);
I wanted to have a weekly menu plan in place to help get a bit more organised - but didn't want one that was too intimidating otherwise I would be less likely to stick to it.
TM (The Mister) and I have been sticking with this simple evening meal plan format --->
and we sit down together and decide what the culinary week ahead holds for the Estate.
It seems so simple and perhaps unnecessary to some people but having the menu plan really helps by removing one more worry from our busy brains.
Over the past few weeks I have compiled a standard list that is now a tear off section down the bottom left of the page - this make it easy to cross off the things we already have and adjust as required according to the weeks plan.
There is a reasonably standard core list of ingredients so it just keeps things simple but also helps with keeping the budget under control.
Also now that things have settled down a bit at work, this week sees me taking DRASTIC MEASURES - HERE COMES THE EXERCISE PLAN!!
It is now time to shake things up on the exercise front. The daily walking and getting into the routine of exercise has been good but it's time to step it up a notch.
It appears that I'm slowly creeping towards a slightly rounder version of myself - I can tell because my pants are getting tighter and I don't quite fit my favourite frock the way I used to... so I'd like to just get fit and healthy again, back to how I felt and looked at the start of the year.
This is a biggie for me to put up on the blog because it's a pretty ambitious plan that I'm going with and by posting about it here I feel a pretty large sense of accountability coming on haha... but I know from past programs or challenges that I have participated in and when I put my mind to something and commit, I really commit!!
I was going to put together something similar to the "Tuff Club" circuit that a few of us used to attack in the back yard at the Estate (normally backed by some quite excellent 80's music I might add), but then I found a few magazine workouts and bits and pieces and oh boy - it's GO TIME!!
MON:
Walk
Total Body Strength Training (Focus Abs)
TUES:
Walk / Cardio - min 30 mins
WED:
Walk
Total Body Strength Training (Focus Abs)
THURS:
Walk / Cardio - min 30 mins
FRI:
Walk
Total Body Strength Training (Focus Legs)
SAT:
Walk / Cardio - min 30 mins
SUN:
REST - Walk the dog
And If you believe what the introduction on this booklet said then I am about to flatten my belly and have a fine behind just in time for summer.
I was just looking for a challenging workout haha Those will be nice bonuses!
So the food is organised, the workout space is set up to kick off the programme tomorrow and I forsee another week of personal growth and pushing boundaries!
What are you doing this week to challenge yourself? Been thinking about starting a project or beginning a thing... what's holding you back...? :)
Have a wonderful week,
Namaste
~PS~
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've
always got"
Depending on which google answer you prefer, this deliciously insightful sentence belonged to either Henry Ford, Anthony Robbins or Albert Einstein... but as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't make a lick of difference whose mouth it came out of - what matters is the sheer truth of it!
You
may come to notice that when I get excited about new ideas I tend to
get a bit ahead of myself... like starting a blog and talking about getting organised
without backing up said blog for 10 days haha!
Then yesterday it kind of hit me that I was feeling all frazzled and stressed and was in a
pretty negative mindset. I started to question why I wasn't feeling awesome after
doing so well with 'getting organised' and talking about doing all these things.
Then it dawned on me what part of the problem might have been...
I mean, I couldn't be 100% sure, but it was possible that maayyybe I wasn't feeling that awesome because I wasn't DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY!! Bah.
That
first week when I put up the blog - I felt really fricken super! "Look
how awesome I'm
being... I made my lists and I'm doing good things... I feel awesome!" I was starting to do really good things and I was feeling great!
But I lost sight of all that when I let a bunch of stress and pressure get on top of me. My head was swimming with all the things going on - but instead of using my mad skills and knowledge about dealing with stress, I reverted back to old habits and just took everything on board and carried it all around with me. Ouchies, my shoulders are still sore!
It was a good thing to become aware of though and I can't believe how easily you can slip into old habits without even realising. Good to know! So I'm back on track now - the wall chart's going to be full of ticks again and stress be damned!! I'm not interested today thanks.
Wall chart you say? Yes!
So I've got a few tools that I've created to use in order to help me along the way.
I find having tools like these keep me from having to try and store everything in my head! You know how it is some days when you've got a few things on your mind and you drive yourself batty thinking about them.
Make a list.
Seriously.
I've got a checklist printed out and posted up on a notice board in one of our main living areas to remind me of the things that I aspire to do daily. It's not a 'challenge' (for those who know of the Half Dozen Challenge lol) but acts as more of a reminder while trying to form the habits.
Looks like this:
I just reviewed the list though and my shiny new version goes like this:
Walk
Water 2L
Meditation
Booze Free (a couple of dots is fine, let's not get carried away)
Stretch
Bed by 11pm
Writing
I find using this a really simple way to help keep me on track. It takes a lot of that niggling worry factor out as well because it's all written down in front of me - I don't have to keep a mental checklist because I have a real one. My brain can get busy doing other things!
You'll
see there's a 'Tools' tab at the top of the page - this is where I'll
upload things as I go that I think others might find handy like menu planning templates, an easy to use budget planner and a few other handy bits n pieces.
Please
feel free to download anything that you might find useful :)
All that as well as a whole post about meditation still to come... I can assure you the next post won't be 10 days in the making haha
I'm leaving you with another quote (I've been very inspired this week).
The author of this verse cannot be disputed and is most certainly the magnificent Dr Seuss (haha.. didn't you just want to add "ted" to the end of Seuss to make it all rhyme... however, I digress);
-
Namaste
~PS~
