Mission

I would very much like to take this opportunity to share something very personal and dear to me. As I have mentioned before, establishing your intentions is an important factor in shaping your morals and your person. A few years ago I first read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (which I can't speak highly enough of) where he encourages everyone to write their own personal mission statement. Businesses have mission statements to verbalize their intentions as an organization and I thought it would be a great idea if I did the same. I STRONGLY recommend it, it feels so empowering to put into words what you stand for. I've changed it since the first draft, as my priorities have changed since then. My mission statement will never stop changing or improving just as I do personally.

It means so much for my goals of serenity, balance and wellness that this constant reminder of who I am is written and established, yet fluid and changeable. Not everything is written down. I have so many labels and responsibilities and goals that I didn't want it to read like a list. This is where your personalization comes in, write it how you feel it should sound. I wrote this for me:

"My first and foremost responsibility is to myself. To remember that I cannot be of service to anyone else unless I am whole. I will balance and fill my life, therefore years, days and seconds acting on situations and opportunities rather than being acted on. I will be content with who I am, not complacent with what life gives me. I will always continue to learn, reflect, and absorb. I will listen just as thoughtfully as I speak. I will learn from the mistakes of others without sacrificing my own experiences. I will lead with respect, grace, and integrity. I will cherish the values that were taught to me just as strongly as I cherish my family for instilling them in me. I will uphold my values when faced with trying times, accept that they may change, and never stop evolving. "

I hope that I have been able to inspire, motivate, or change some one's perspective through my experiences just as I am inspired, motivated and influenced by others. Everything I share here is through my own lessons and continuous struggles of which I embrace all of them although sometimes unwillingly at first. Thank you for inspiring me!

Only 24 hours

When people say you can't have it all it's because they aren't thinking strategically. Of course you can have it all! Just maybe not all at the same time. 

Everyone struggles with time management at some point and I continue to as well...often. Living in the moment is great and my wish for everyone is that they get to know the comfort of balance. If you have a busy work schedule, a family, educational goals and a list of many other aspirations and responsibilities you know that you can have it all and it is always worth it!

But wait, there's more! I even used alliteration to make it stick in your head! Prioritize, Plan, and Provide. It's not the 5 P's of marketing but who knows, maybe it'll catch on.

• Prioritize, you don’t have time you make time. As I have said before, I couldn't say that mindfulness is important to me if I didn't take a few minutes at least to meditate and re-center myself as often as I can. I don't want to sound like a broken record when I try to explain how liberating it is to establish your priorities and morals. I would highly recommend writing those down also. I have written my own mission statement as encouraged by Stephen Covey and being able to look back at my intentions and edit them as they change gives me a great sense of personal purpose. What was important to me 10 years ago is very different from today, and hen I have a family of my own, my priorities will change again.

• Plan, spontaneity is great! So plan for it. Make sure that the things you do off the cuff won't cost you more than your spontaneous plan is worth. Sure an unplanned road trip is great, but if you don’t plan to maintain your car regularly then you're not going to get very far. It's not about taking the fun out of things, it's about taking care of the details so you won't have to worry about it and can allow yourself to have fun. I will always promote living in the moment and being present in the here and now.

• Provide, make sure that you have the means to support all of your goals. Whether this is in a financial sense, surrounding yourself with the support system you need to achieve your goals (no one can do it all alone). Providing yourself with the skills you need, to do what you want to do. Do you want to play an instrument? You have to provide yourself with lessons, time to practice, and sometimes the financial cost included in all this. Importantly, provide yourself with forgiveness and patience when you don't fit it all into one day. I didn't practice yoga today, and my reward for finishing my homework is a big bowl of ice cream. I've had a productive day and I smiled through most of it, my ultimate goal is to be happy and healthy. Remember that balance is key! 

My favorite life strategy guide!

Click above for a great perspective changer.

Inner Voice

We all talk to ourselves.

You can't say that you don't. I don't mean out loud, this isn't about the guy in line at the grocery store discussing the weather with himself that you try desperately not to make eye contact with. This is about your inner dialogue. There is a tone that is set in the way you address yourself on a daily basis, for regular everyday moments. Do you berate yourself for being late or stop yourself from speaking up? Did you even realize you were doing it? It may seem as if it is an insignificant issue . Sometimes changing the most minuscule things can make the biggest impacts. Your self confidence and awareness is absolutely dependent upon your inner voice.

You don't have to take it.

There is no way I would now, at this point in my life, let anyone continually speak to me in a verbally abusive way. Yet previously I found my own inner voice to be harsh and degrading. I knew that this wasn't a good way to go through my day. What I didn't realize until recently is just how mean to myself I had become. That is also why active reflection is always so important to me. I had to take a proactive look at how my inner voice was affecting me. Since I began meditating, I've been able to change the tone of my inner voice and the script of that conversation. When you are able spend 15 or 20 minutes focusing on your breath and centering yourself, you are able to take advantage of those minutes to form your intentions and thoughts in the best possible shape. Meditate for 15 minutes in the morning to solidify your purpose. Who do you want to be today?

Just be nicer to yourself.

It shouldn't have anything to do with what is going on in your life, whether you're in a good or bad place. You will never benefit from degrading yourself internally. I won't encourage you to constantly praise yourself or dismiss your conscience  when you know you've done wrong. Positivity isn't about that. It's about remembering to treat yourself with respect on the most private and basic level. You've heard before that you teach people how to treat you, well, this is where it starts.

(Photo credit to www.StatusMind.com)

Inspiration

Happy Monday! I've been lucky enough to be able to get some relaxing in this past weekend on top of the usual homework and work at home that never ends. I was also happy to see a bit of sunshine and really hold out hope that spring weather is here. I think that like many people, when the warmer weather finally arrives, I start to get more energy and feel more optimistic than I have in the last few freezing and torturous months. It seems that while my mood changes as fast as Michigan's weather, my responsibilities do not follow suit.

So how can I possibly keep the momentum and energy that the first signs of spring provide me with? To absolutely sound redundant, creating a routine and always keeping in mind you are your actions, are so important to me. Making sure that I do not rely on motivation alone to accomplish my goals helps me to succeed. I've seen a lot of "challenges" on Pinterest to get people "ready for summer" and more so "ready for bikini season". Where it is great to utilize these plans to keep you on track, it is also important to keep the ultimate goal in mind. For me, that goal is to develop life long habits of wellness. What are your goals?

I wanted to take a moment to share some of my favorite tools, motivation, and inspirational people that have helped me in this pursuit.

• I will say first and foremost Steven Covey's  "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" has given me the foundation that I have to even be aware of how to achieve my goals. I would seriously recommend it and if you have read it tell me what was the most poignant habit for you. Personally, I will never forget to begin with the end in mind.

• With my incredibly busy schedule I've found that trying to get to a yoga class after work is absolutely impossible. It's ok, but it means I've had to take a different approach. I found this site that has free yoga instruction that I can do at home when I do have time and energy. Oh and did I mention they are FREE? If you like the instruction I would suggest making a donation as 100% of the proceeds from some classes go to a great cause, the Give Back Yoga Foundation!

• Last but not least I have been following Yoga By Candace ever since I discovered her on Pinterest some time ago. I find her to be incredibly knowledgeable and inspirational. Her videos are also fantastic. I use her 15 minute morning yoga to wake up and it drastically changes the direction of my day.

I really hope that some of these tools can help someone as much as they've helped me. There are so many other inspirational people and ideas that I've become a spokesperson for that I don't think I have enough room for them all but I am always happy to gain more! So tell me what tools have you found that inspire you?  

Active Reflection

Hind Sight

My goodness time goes by so fast! This week has flown by and that is both good and bad. As always, crazy busy and productive. One thing that struck a chord with me this week and is usually in the back of my mind all the time is active reflection. It is easy to get caught up in day to day life and often lose sight of the bigger picture. I am sometimes so busy that I need to remind myself why I'm putting myself through all of this! We all know that hind sight is 20/20, if only we knew then what we know now, and so on. Unfortunately, this saying is cliché for a reason… It's true! What I use to combat this is active reflection, basically a way to think about the future in a reasonable way to shape the decisions you make today.

Regret

We have all, at one time or another, made bad decisions (or a series of them). I personally have a laundry list of poor decisions from my past. I have accepted these decisions and used them to shape the person I am today. Reflection is normally used to describe contemplation of the past. Active is used as a synonym of the present or currently engaging. So I am currently thinking from the perspective of how I'll view these decisions in the future. When I reflect back to the decision I made at 22 to go back to college after dropping out at 18, I knew I would look back 10 years later and be happy with that decision, and I am.

The Future

It sounds simple, right? I go to school in order to become more knowledgeable and grow personally and professionally. But this can be a hard thing to remember when I am sitting inside on a beautiful weekend doing homework (like right now). I know, through active reflection, that my goal to graduate next year from Walsh will be accomplished by what I do today. So what about the goals we have with less concrete boundaries? The decisions we make everyday make up who we are. I have many goals and aspirations, setting aside time to ensure my peace of mind through meditation, yoga, or other means is very important. Being aware is also very important to me. What do you do to ensure you stay on the course you set for yourself? Have you ever had to take a step back and create a new path? Check out the blog below, for some true inspiration and thought provoking posts. Enjoy!

"There are only two ways to advance your life: move forward when you can, or step backwards and try something else when you can’t. The greatest mistake to make is standing still." Oliver Emberton

(Photo credit to Oliver Emberton)

Growth

Stress

It has been a long week! Between being able to visit my first convention with my new job, regular school assignments, making time for family and friends, it's easy for me to see how important "down time" really is! I realized that in order to commit to leading a healthier lifestyle I had to look at my life in a different way. I mean that so often I hear people tell me they don't have time leftover for themselves. That they don't have time to meditate or relax or exercise. Viewing time spent on your mental and physical health as "time leftover", is the root of the problem! If you left your well being in the hands of motivation alone, would you achieve your goals? Despite battling a busy schedule and a bit of a cold, I finally managed to commit myself to meditating everyday! I literally had to set a time, for me it was right before bed, where for only 10 minutes I sit in a comfortable place and position, and focus on my breathing. I have to say I'm a little disappointed in myself that I haven't done this regularly sooner, but that's ok, when you know better, you do better! 

The plan

So don't leave your health up to chance. I don't know many people that don't rely on an alarm clock to wake them up. If you didn't have any deadlines or due dates would you get much work done? My personal plan sometimes includes some pretty stringent scheduling. I knew that I lacked motivation in some areas and I was horrendous at time management. Make your weakness your strength, if you don't come by something naturally it just means you have to work harder at it, it doesn't mean you can't do it. If you need to schedule your time like I do then I would recommend it, what ever works best for you. Look at it this way, you wouldn't call yourself a dancer if you didn't dance or you wouldn't call yourself a writer if you didn't write. You have to MAKE time for the things you love.

 The outlook

Life is amazing in the sense that, to a certain extent, you get to decide and be whoever you want, so why not take full advantage? I would highly recommend taking responsibility for yourself. Take pride in your accomplishments and your curiosities. I didn't know how to meditate, and before that, I didn't know I needed to!  I found this article to be really informative of the basics and it also gives you some great ideas http://bit.ly/1tgcvGk. For me, I really enjoy breathing exercises because I find it very difficult to clear my mind. By focusing on my breathing, I can take my mind off of my responsibilities and re-center myself. What are your thoughts on meditating? Do you schedule time for the things you love? Pass along some tips in the comments or send me some on Pinterest, I would love to hear from you!

My lotus flower reminds me that it is possible

to start in unfavorable circumstances and 

emerge beautifully.

Don't stop growing.

Welcome!

So even though it a required class assignment to start blogging @WalshCollege with a great instructor! I am still excited to share a piece of my journey with everyone in hopes of learning more along the way and maybe even inspiring someone to do the same!

My Plate

Sometimes I think my eyes were bigger than my proverbial stomach when I decided to load up my life with things to do! I have just recently found a career that I love, I am working on my Bachelors in business, I try desperately to maintain friendships and a relationship, and I have an amazing family that I try to spend as much time as possible with, just to name the basics. That doesn't leave a lot of time left over for focusing on physical and mental health!

My Goal

So in the spirit of living life to the absolute fullest, I recently decided to take action in doing all of the things I have just been talking about for many years. This means that balance, in the mental and physical sense is even more important than ever! I will chronicle my trials with a regular yoga and meditation practice and also share some insights I've gained along the way in maintaining a balanced life!

My Blog

I am hoping to share with you what I have already learned about balance, to learn from you how to find peace, and eventually even feel and share serenity. Welcome.