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Archive | February, 2013

What if you could never lose weight? Ever again?

By on February 26, 2020 in Do, Food, Mood, Tude

what-if

No really.

What if you could never lose weight again?

What if a virus spread across the planet and everyone, everywhere stayed at the exact weight they are now?

How would your life change?

What would you do differently?

What would you give yourself permission to do, to have, and to be?

What would you stop doing?

What would you jump at the chance to do that you’ve been delaying until you reached your ideal weight?

All these questions are designed to get you smack bang into the present moment. Because guess what? It’s all you really have.

Life is far too short to put off happiness, purpose, fulfilment and connection until you’ve reached a number on the scale, dropped a dress size, or attained some level of perfection.

Leap. Jump. Go do.

Whatever your weight or size is now.

Tell me comrade, what life affirming desire are you going to fulfil NOW instead of waiting until you are your “ideal weight”?

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The 7 pillars of Self Love

By on February 19, 2020 in Mood, Tude

Pampered? Narcissistic? Selfish? Are these the words that spring to mind when you think of the term “Self Love”?

You are definitely not alone.

Self love was a very confusing and seemingly unattainable ideal for me too, not that long ago.

So if you feel like self love is a struggle; is reserved for “princesses”; or is a total contradiction if you want to improve your life, think again.

Here are 7 principles of self love that will unleash your brilliance!

1. Nourishment

Real food really nourishes you - body, mind and soul. Forget the fads. Ditch the diet. Stop the deprivation, calorie counting and guilt trips around food. Choose the most natural, healing, life giving food that brings YOU joy. Prepare it with love and eat it with gratitude. You are among the blessed few on this planet, throughout all of human history, with such plentiful choice.

2. Fitness

Exercise is crucial for your muscles, vital organs, bones and mental health. So moving your body in a way that’s right for you is definitely an act of self love. Find the balance of pushing past your comfort zone in order to progress whilst respecting the current limitations of your body.

3. Replenishment

It’s not just the sleep-eight-hours-a-night drill. Small, nurturing activities throughout the day, the week, the month and year help balance out the stress of modern life. Remember the Mastery of Feeling Damn Fine Everyday? Level 1 activities are your permission slip to replenish.

4. Self Care

What do you need in order to thrive? A weekly massage; a romantic date; art therapy; a ticket to see your favourite band; more beach days? Monitoring your levels of stress, managing your emotions and knowing how to chill is a big part of self care. When you say hello to pleasure, you farewell stress – and that’s good for you and EVERYONE around you.

5. Self Compassion

Dr Kristin Neff is the expert on Self Compassion. She breaks it into 3 main elements:

Self Kindness - being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than ignoring our pain or flagellating ourselves with self criticism.

Common Humanity - recognizing that suffering and personal inadequacy is part of the shared human experience.

Mindfulness - a non-judgemental, receptive mind state in which one observes thoughts and feelings as they are, without trying to suppress or deny them.

6. Self Acceptance

Are you ok with who you are and what you need? Acceptance does not equal failure nor does it mean giving up on yourself. Quite the opposite. Self acceptance means you love yourself no matter what. Can you change, improve or progress? Absolutely. But in this moment you are still worthy of love exactly how you are. You were born worthy.

7. Authenticity

The courage to be vulnerable, to be truly seen and heard in this world for who you are is the most overt act of self love. Show up. Show us who you are. And let us love you for that. If we don’t, that’s our loss. But at least you got to say “This is who I am”.

Do you have a friend that struggles with self love? Give them permission to embrace it by sharing these 7 principles with them.

Image by chedoy

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My “Instant Happy” Happiness Tool

By on February 15, 2020 in Mood, Tude

From Karen Salmansohn’s INSTANT HAPPY book

Today’s Inspiration Broadcast is brought to you by Karen Salmansohn‘s Happiness Rockstar contest. (Similar to her Kindness Rockstar contest).

Practicing positive and loving self talk has been the cornerstone of my health and wellbeing for a while now.

Back in the day, I had a very harsh, depressing critical voice that was particularly nasty whenever I failed at something. I now call this voice my Inner Bully.

Even if the failure was small (like missing a bus) or a perceived failure (like having to quit a toxic job) – my Inner Bully would have a field day. All manner of horrible statements like “I told you so”, “Not again?! You never get anything right!”, and “You are such a *******” would spew forth and cloud my consciousness.

For many, many years I just assumed this bitchy voice was right. I believed I was a loser, a failure, a fattie fat fat fat. I believed nothing would ever change.

This debilitating self talk resulted in panic attacks, social anxiety, an eating disorder and at one particularly difficult time in my life – self harm.

But here’s the thing.

I was a compassionate and loving person. I was committed to helping others. Whenever a friend was sick or sad, I’d rush to their aid. I’d write encouraging letters, listen quietly as they poured their hearts out, make cups of tea, or drive them to hospital – anything and everything to ease their suffering.

It didn’t occur to me that I not only deserved this kind of love, but that I could give it to myself.

And this journey began with transforming my Inner Bully to my Inner Bestie.

Recognising that my Inner Bully is just a scared little girl took a lot of the power out of her words. Learning to quiet the nasty voice and beginning to talk to myself exactly like I would talk to my best friend helped me do a 180 towards better health, more resilience, greater authenticity, and a whole lot more fun.

So my Inner Bestie is my Instant Happy tool.

What’s yours?

You can find more of Karen Salmansohn’s gorgeously designed inspirational posters in her latest book “Instant Happy: 10 second attitude makeovers“. Check out my review of it here.

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Avoid a binge with these 3 powerful questions

By on February 12, 2020 in Food, Tude

You can substitute the word “binge” for any unwanted, unhelpful or destructive behaviour.

Overeating, emotional eating, binge drinking, overzealous calorie restriction, overexercising, nail biting… {ps - I’ve done all of these before}

You can overcome destructive behaviour when you address the root cause and take radical personal responsibility for your wellbeing. How liberating!

So take a deep breath, ask these 3 simple but oh so powerful questions and wait for an honest answer to arise.

Do you know someone who could use a little liberating from self destructive habits? Share these 3 powerful questions with them. You never know how big a difference you could make.

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