Category Archives: Encouragement

Apr 27
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Homeostasis

Homeostasis

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One of the first things I remember learning in anatomy and physiology is that the body is in constant movement towards reaching and maintaining homeostasis. The body has the tendency to seek and maintain a condition and balance or equilibrium within its internal environment. The reason the body seeks to maintain this balance is for optimal health. It’s our natural state to seek balance internally.

With that said, when we are caught up in lifestyles that produce a lot of stress each day, the best way to maintain our health is to find balance. When you participate daily in activities that leave you internally feeling stressed, you would greatly benefit from regular de-stressing techniques. What works for one is not necessarily going to work for all . You have to play around a bit to find things that help you de-stress. It helps to put forth the time forth into depositing the balances in your life. We can assist the body at maintaining its homeostasis by not continually fighting against it.

Just as the day shares time with the night, we need to share ample time for rest as we work. Some people’s schedules and lifestyles can allow little deposits each day, while others may be able to set some days or hours aside for self care. It is also certainly okay for each of us to reboot in the ways that relax us. The main goal is not to get so caught up in our busy stressful schedules that we do not put forth the effort in re-establishing or renewing some balance.

It also helps us move forward more productively. We tend to give less of ourselves and perhaps do a poorer job when we are tired and stressed than we can when we are refreshed, rested, and renewed. Placing the value for balance in ourselves creates a more positive atmosphere and positive health choices for ourselves. When the body is nurtured and cared for, it can do a much better job at healing and maintaining our homeostasis. Think of it as a team effort.

When we neglect ourselves for the sake of others, we aren’t able to be as good to them as we possibly could. When you overfill a cup of water, the cup is not going to be able to hold all of the water; it’s going to overflow. When our kids are tired and cranky, we may insist on or put them down for a nap, but frequently ignore our own cues. We can follow our feelings, emotions, and body to find where we are imbalanced. What a nice compass we were born with.

Often we ignore our compass due to imitating unspoken behaviors we pick up as we grow up rather than making a conscious effort to take care of ourselves along the way. We have those bells and flags that subtly and sometimes loudly signal us that we need more rest or balance. This is a call to pay attention to our radars and respectfully listen. It can save you from some crises down the road. Be a team player in your own health and support your own homeostasis. Your body, health, mind, family, friends, and universe will thank you for it. Heck, it’ll also support you!!

Apr 24
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Feeling stuck

Feeling Stuck

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Do you ever struggle with feeling stuck? Not fully sure of which direction to go, or just blocked from new ideas? Some people feel they know they want or need something more, but feel stuck not knowing exactly what that is. We can easily get sucked into our daily routines and habits of “busyness” without feeling daily passion and purpose. Over time it can begin to feel like a numb, stuck feeling. Even though we feel stuck, many of us feel energy urging to surge without a direction to help it flow.

This is a time that I have found creativity and exploring can be your best friend. Especially if you can’t feel the pull or direction nudging from your soul. Sometimes we just haven’t stumbled across that YES!

We are energy constantly in motion. Technically speaking we cannot truly be stuck. So where does the feeling come from? We can all have different underlying reasons, but at some point in our lives we may have felt this burned-out or questioning feeling. We can forget to add some excitement into our daily routines, or perhaps forget to have some time for our soul. Our hobbies can be little lifesavers . Hobbies represent. Our secret wishes, the things we would rather be doing if we didn’t already have so much to do. Often in our culture, our hobbies are encouraged only when we’ve met all of our responsibilities or given some grief because of time spent “goofing off.” .

For many successful entrepreneurs, hobbies become careers. No one starts off with a successful business or initially becomes an expert in their fields, but over time we can learn and grow our passions into careers or simply use them to keep our lives sane. Hobbies are no joking matter. To me it’s the gold thread woven into our canvas of life. When you do not have a hobby or passion, it is easy to become stuck, burned-out , or depressed. We need things that make our souls smile. To spend time getting into a flow of our joy can really help and enhance balance.

Hobbies are very much like meditation. When you meditate, the goal is to slow down all the 50 million thoughts you have running constantly in your head. When you can slow down the thoughts and not get wrapped up in them, we give ourselves a break and open ourselves to receiving of ideas, inspiration, and joy. When we get involved in a hobby we truly enjoy we can become so engaged that we forget or slow down the 50 million thoughts in our head. Our hobbies can be the healing we just may need.

I know some of you actually do not have active hobbies. I know this because I’ve heard it from many clients over the years. And you may not even know where to start. You do not have to sign up for professional golf lessons unless you are excited and can’t wait. What I would suggest is exploring some interests you may have never gotten around to. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to take an art or pottery class. A dream you never had the courage to move forward with. These are great places to start. Take a Saturday or evening class. There are also many free tutorials online this day and age to learn just about anything. It can be a start.

I also know that there are probably more than a few out there who aren’t sure what you are interested in. A good place to start is to try to recall as a kid what you were drawn to . What did you enjoy before all the adult responsibilities? Painting? Drawing? Dancing? Music? Baking? Riding a bike ? What did you enjoy that you may not be doing anymore? If you cannot recall, now is the perfect time to try a few new things and explore. Your soul will let you know which ones light you up. It’s hard to ignore. This doesn’t require any rhyme or reason. Just activities that you find fun. Anything that you enjoy, and that you can engage in. If it can distract your mind from your worrisome thoughts, troubles, or long to do lists, you’re on to something.

Being able to have something or some things that can distract your mind for periods of time is very healthy. This leads to filling your own cup with joy so you can serve everyone around you better. When you can have some activities helping your soul to sing and find joy, you perform better at work, become more pleasant for your family to be around, and remain true to your authentic self. The more you can tap into you, the more you receive. It may be an idea or inspiration for a new venture or business. It can just be the balance you need in your life now. When you can feel more joy in your life now, you create a more joyful future. And our hobbies are a key to happiness.

Apr 20
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Put yourself out there

Put Yourself Out There

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To move forward towards your goals and dreams, sometimes you have to put yourself out there whether you are ready or not. I notice we often wait for the perfect circumstances to line up, or think we need to see the whole plan to move. These excuses hold us back from the progress we need to make and the lessons we need to learn along the journey. Many successful people got to their big breaks by learning many things that didn’t work out. The difference between hitting the mark and missing it is often defined by whether we give up, or keep moving forward despite our falls and stumbles along the way.

I often speak in my blogs about the trust factor. In order to trust, we have to believe in what we do not see. We don’t have insurance for our dreams to fall back on. Some of the best hunches come from the trust and faith that we will get there. Believing in the unseen isn’t taught much in our textbooks and academic education, but I found it as the necessary ingredient in my adult life. I mentored small business owners for years, and most often those clients needed reassurance and support of their instincts more than any business advice I could give.

Most of our impulses, great ideas, and hunches do not come from well-calculated plans. And often the stories that lead to success beyond our wildest dreams do not come from a safe plan. We can let logic stand in the way of our greatest gift in this world, our intuition. I think a lot of it has to do with how we attempt to justify what we know in our hearts to others. There can be a gap in other people’s understanding of our ideas and our own. When we try to explain and justify our hunches, we can either talk ourselves into doubt, or more often listen to the doubts of others. If we listen more to their limitations over our own intuition, we can miss our strengths, gifts, and opportunities.

When you have an idea, a dream, or a hunch in the beginning, it’s a bit tricky to understand the path ourselves. When we try to explain or ask advice of another, we can block our own power. It’s often a good idea to protect and nurture our ideas until we can get our faith and trust behind ourselves. Share them with those that can encourage your intuition, or keep them to yourself for a bit. When we have the courage to stop making excuses and put ourselves out there, we can accomplish many things. It’s a bit like expecting to win the lottery when the odds are good, but you didn’t buy a ticket.

When you put yourself out there, you are doing so to accomplish your goals and dreams, not anyone else’s. Try not to worry about what other people think of your journey. It helps to remember they can only see from their bird’s eye view. It does not have to make any sense to anyone besides you. Have faith in the gifts you’ve been given, and trust your strengths to unfold as you put yourself out there for the journey. You just might be amazed at what can unfold for you.

Apr 16
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Passion

The Passion Factor

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The passion factor can be a powerful directional compass in life. In talking with friends and clients through the the years, I’ve found that one of the biggest obstacles can be struggling with decisions. Which is the best way, what are the pros and cons , and what if I chose the wrong way? These seem to be common stems of questions in decision making. If I could give anyone an easier gauge , I would say to try the passion factor.

When you think about choices and a decision you’re facing, ask yourself which avenues bring you towards your passions. I don’t think it’s possible to know all the facts before making any decision. We also do not have a remote control in life to fast-forward time so we may peep at the results before making a decision. We are left with the mystery of anything can happen, and life can go many different ways. If we knew exactly what to expect, we may make decisions quicker and easier. Since we don’t have that magical remote, we do have a passion factor.

We can make decisions on how we feel. Pay attention to where your intuition is pulling you. Sometimes the best advice is to leave some logic out. We can drive ourselves a little crazy imagining too many possible scenarios. Sometimes visualizing outcomes can be a benefit to imagining, but too often we can use our imagination in a more negative direction. When we worry about what could happen, or picture worst case scenarios while weighing our decisions, we can bring less positive energy into our life. I bet if you sit and think long enough, you can always add to the list of pros and cons and never stop. Eventually a decision is still left to be made.

As stated before, we don’t have a remote control to show us the outcomes that could have happened if we had made different choices. You have to trust your gut and do what feels right to you in that moment. Worrying about how this decsion will affect you in ten year’s time is adding unnecessary stress to your life. Often we think back on some decisions as bad ones. Your perception of good or bad choices is only a perception. Have you ever considered that even though things didn’t turn out the way you would have liked, a decision you once made wasn’t necessarily a bad decision? Perhaps it didn’t go the way your would have liked or planned, but maybe it was still a better route than an alternative decision.

Without knowing how things will go in every direction, we are limited in facts and outcomes. We can logic the “what ifs” to death, or we can use our magical intuition compass in our choices. Instead of making a pros and cons list, make a list of the known facts in your decision–and then, apply the passion factor. Which aspects bring you more joy? Sometimes it’s helpful to take certain factors off the table. Instead of basing your decision on the details of money, other opinions, and doubts, it can be an advantage to you to take some of them out of the equation that may be holding you back. We can move towards our dreams using our passion factor leverage. Decisions can be easier when you follow your bliss.

Allow your intuition to work in your own favor. Get out of your head a bit and lean towards the decisions that bring you joy. It most often won’t steer you wrong. Even if your ego tries to convince you it did, you’ll never know for sure and don’t have to agree with it. I’m going to bet the more you use your passion factor in making decisions, some beautiful doors and opportunities will open up for you. The next time you make a decision, especially one that can really change the direction in your life, consider applying the passion factor. Once you make a decision, the rest are just details. The rest can be figured out or fall into place. Don’t let the small details overshadow your passion factor.