Archive for the 'Daily Practice' Category

Good Morning,

stressed-out-womanEver get scared? We all do…  we think scary thoughts and our body responds by flooding us with stress hormones… or fear hormones…

So, what do you do… when your heart is racing and you feel a tightness in your chest… and you are scared or stressed?

Fist of all… breathe… breathe… breathe… then practice some self-power talk… affirm your ability to walk through this… whatever ‘this’ is… keep breathing… keep talking to your self…

…think of what you would say to someone you love that is stressed/scared… say those same things to your self.

Then, reach out to a person in your life who does not judge, does not fix, has a positive energy, will support you and remind you of your strength… there is much healing in allowing someone in and allowing your self to be vulnerable in a healthy way…

Honor your feelings… let them out…share them… often the boogey man in the closet turns out to be an old fur coat once you turn the light on…

Make sure you plant your flag in the intention of re-balancing, finding center again… don’t stay stuck in stress… talk it through… get to the other side of it… get to your power…

Wishing you an easy energy day…

Ohm…
JOYce <3 <3 <3

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The Zen of Christmas… thriving & surviving the excess

ls0050041Sugar cookies, eggnog, fruit cake, chocolate, decadent desserts, wine, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, butter, whipped cream, nuts…did I mention chocolate?

Gift wrapping, 24 hour shopping, line-ups, debit machines, parties… all that glitters…

T’is the season of the feasts. T’is the season of excess.

Are you worried that you are going to overindulge in all the holiday excess that shows up everywhere this time of the year?

  • Are you already stressed about the weight you are doomed to gain?
  • Are you already making your New Year’s Resolutions?
  • Did you get into trouble last year?
  • Have you thought about the kinds of situations you will find your self in and planned for them?

What will your holiday season look like this year?

I am looking forward to a glimpse into your way of walking through this time of the year…

Peace on Earth…

This is a companion post the the full article in my biweekly ezine Notes to Self.  If you are not signed up to receive the ezine, simply fill in your information at the top right of this page.

How Much Stress Do You Have? Take this quiz and find out.

Anyone who has it knows that stress does not feel good and it is not a great platform to create your experience from.  When you are stressed, your day to day living is affected…

  • your children are affected                        calgon-300x228
  • your partner/spouse is affected
  • your work is affected
  • your health is affected
  • your ability to make empowered choices is affected
  • your sense of well-being is less that it is supposed to be.

Want a quick assessment of how much stress you have?  Take this simplified assessment.  Please note that this is not a clinical test… if you happen to score high, you need to do something about it.

1-never  2-rarely  3-sometimes  4-often  5-always

  1. I worry a lot
  2. I have a lot of problems
  3. Work interferes with my home/family life
  4. I have a hard time laughing at my humaness
  5. I think there is one right way to do things
  6. I feel I often get the short end of the stick
  7. I am easily irritated or upset
  8. I have problems in my personal life
  9. I keep things inside I have difficulty making decisions
  10. I tend to neglect my diet (eat irregularly, eat unhealthy foods etc.)
  11. I try to do everything myself
  12. I rush through the day and have little time left to relax
  13. I tend to make a big deal about everything
  14. I spend a lot of time complaining & being negative
  15. I have trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
  16. I suffer from headaches/migraines or digestive issues
  17. I feel fatigued/tired for no real reason

Scoring:

0 - 30 Low Stress

31- 50 Fairly Low

51 - 70 Moderate

71 - 90 High

How much stress do you have in your life?  Where do you feel it?  What do you do to feel better?  What works for you?

Please leave your comments and share your insights with us.

In peace and serenity,

Joyce

PS… I hope you have a copy of Louise Hay’s book You Can Heal Your Life Louise can help you understand the roots of stress of all kinds and give you a bounty of powerful affirmations and insights for relief.
And… if you have trouble settling into a peaceful state and drifting off into a relaxed sleep, I highly recommend Deepak Chopra’s audio meditation CD “The Soul of Healing Meditations”.  I have listened to this cd night after night, and have gifted it to my friends as well.  Deepak’s voice is soft and the journey he takes us on is gentle… sleep follows easily.

T’is a Gift to be Simple…

As a solopreneur of not just one but two businesses, I can easily work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week working for and growing the businesses and I often do… zen-simplicity-thumb6589331

But it occurred to me, that under all the projects and busyness… my life is beautifully and intentionally simple and I love it that way…

For instance:

  • I work from my home and go to town only twice a week.  I can take my ‘office’ (laptop) out onto the patio and work overlooking my horses, a pond while listening to the birds… simple
  • I have a beautiful and simple food plan… unprocessed, whole, fresh foods… by the time grocery day rolls around, my fridge is empty… we only buy what we eat… simple…
  • We walk almost every morning… simple…
  • I let the answering machine pick up when I have my nap… simple… have a quiet house for a good portion of the day… radio off, TV off, music off… just quiet… simple…
  • I am less and less attached to ’stuff’… less to dust… simple… I gave away my cookbook collection, my angel collection, ornaments… buying much less of what I merely “want” in favor for what I “need”  (still struggle with this in horse tack stores and bead stores… lol)

What about you?  Where have you simplified… Where would you like to simplify?

Wishing you enough…

Joyce

And the clock ticks… tocks… ticks… tocks…

The wheel of the year has turned yet again, and the days are getting noticeably shorter. 2009 is more than half over.

The older I get, the more precious time is, and the more intent I become on living my life to it’s fullest.  I want to be happy, I see anything other than happiness a complete waste of my beautiful life.  hourglass-visual

On that note, I would like to present you with a coaching challenge.

Remember to do this in a spirit of celebration, let go of the outcome, and just enjoy the process…

Challenge:

Take the time to sit today with a cup of tea and your journal and create a list of your highlights from the first half of 2009.

  • What did you accomplish?
  • Who did you love?
  • What brought you joy?
  • What did you learn?
  • How did you grow?
  • What were your special moments?

Take the time to look back with love… keep these snippets of “feel - good” energy close to you, think of them often.

Advanced Challenge: Up the voltage on the good energy.

If you really want to invite more goodness into your circumstances, pass this challenge to other select folks in you life.   Make it a point to talk about these loving things when you visit…

  • What you think is what you feel
  • What you feel is what you vibrate
  • What you vibrate is what you attract

Take time to think about the love you have and share…

Use the Law of Attraction to invite more and more reasons to celebrate into your reality.

Isn’t it great how this works?

Peace and Love,

Joyce

Positive Living: Doing Today On Purpose

Good Morning,

So, here we are… another day is stretched out before us…p9130019

Before we look at our self in the mirror again, let’s take a moment to think about the quality of observations we will make to the woman who is looking back at…

Will we criticize and judge her negatively, or will we smile and tell her that we are grateful and that we are glad to be her?

What will we plan to eat today? Have we given thought to balanced, nutritious meals for our self and our family?  Does the food that we keep in the house support a healthy food plan?

Our personal care: Are we going to take the time to dress and present our self in a way that feels good and self loving today?  Do we have self care products that make a positive statement about the care we think we deserve?

Money Matters: Will we respect our finances today?  Will we make wise choices that feel empowering?

Will we make time for some personal inner work? Time to connect with our Spirituality?  Time just for us…  or will we give it all away…

Here’s the thing… the better we treat our self, the better we will feel… the better we feel, the more we have to share with others… it’s the quintessential win-win…

I’m on my way to smile at the woman in the mirror…

Joyce

Feels Good To Feel Good Doesn’t It?

Good Morning…

Wow… there have been many beautiful responses to my Power Word of the Day exercise from women all over the world…  How wonderful!

courtyard-056-3

It proves that we naturally move towards feeling good.  It is how we are genetically programmed.  We seek the light… the love…

I hope by now, you have a sense of who I am… I am all about supporting you as you seek your own light… I speak from my heart… I tell my truth… no pretense… just one woman, walking my talk…

I am bedazzled by the possibilities of the internet… We are women from all over the globe… talking with each other…  to me, that is the ultimate ‘groovy-ness…’

In fact, my formal vision statement is:

To help women worldwide to unconditionally love the Woman In The Mirror.

Supporting you is what I do… it’s what I love…

I am blessed beyond words by your appreciation of my work… To know that what I offer of myself is relevant and accepted with such grace fills my heart…

I like creating my life with a full heart…

Namaste…

Joyce

The Power of A Word… Do This Today, and Tomorrow…

Good Morning…courtyard-055-21

Here is a nifty exercise that I like to do every day.  I would like to offer it to you…

It’s simple… Pick a word… any word… this word will keep you focused and anchored as you walk through this day…

You will know it when you see it… you can’t make a mistake with this exercise… and the great thing is… you get to pick another one tomorrow… how about that?

Serenity, Spirit, Inspiration, Peace, Love, Joy, Choice, Power, Friendliness, Share, Cherish, Appreciate, Laugh, Smile, Truth, Surrender, Tickle, Tease, Hug, Grace, Poise, Confidence, Worth, Value, Esteem, Acceptance, Create, Support, Communicate, Clarity, Positive, Dream, Deserve, Honesty, Passion, Health, Wellness, Grounded, Centered, Abundance, Receive, Blessings, Gratitude, Thanks, Manners, Authentic, Awakened, Empowered, Sage, Generous, Affirm, Approval, Acceptance, Tolerance, Patience, Connecting, Relax, Soft, Open, Flowing, Relax, Let It Be, Chill Out…

Pick one from the list that resonates with you or pick one of your own… the important thing is that you choose a positive lens through which to view your world…  you create what you choose…

Let’s Face It… Love Feeeeels Goooood…

Good Morning,

I was just thinking about what contributes to ‘feel good’ day for me… I love hugs, and ‘I love you’ and teasing and attention.  My day just goes better when there is loving expression.p7090120

I realize that I need to take the time to extend my loving energy to others as well.

  • tell others what I appreciate about them
  • go out of my way to inquire about them
  • listen, really listen to what others have to say
  • take the time to joke around… life is supposed to be fun
  • touch…  merging energy creates sparks…
  • surprise people with interest for no other reason than to let them know they are important to me
  • make time for chit chat… quit taking myself seriously…
  • go out of my way for others…
  • and on and on….

I love getting and giving love.  It is like sunshine and water to a plant.

Law of Attraction: what we feel is what we vibrate… what we vibrate is what we attract

We all know human cactus’s.. cacti? They walk through their day like they are sucking on a lemon.  How much fun can that be?

Not me… If I were a house plant, I would sit in a sunny window, with a great view.  I would have regular spa treatments (water, fertilizer, misting, primping)  and I would bloom, bloom, bloom! The room would would be filled with my sweet fragrance and everyone who visited would come over to say hello… sounds like a nice life…(some days… lol…)

So, if you want love, make sure you give love… surprise people… be someone others look forward to spending time with!

And there you go… off to your day….

Here’s a hug…. ((((((((((you)))))))))

In a-bun-dance…

Joyce

Positive Living: A Woman, A Tractor and A Life Lesson

I live in the country on a small hobby farm, (160 acres).  We have 3 tractors… one really big one with tires as tall as I am for working in the fields etc, one medium sized one and a small garden tractor… I absolutely adore them all…

Puttering around in a tractor is one of my favorite ways to connect with our land… I happily mow p5310034lawns, maintain my horse pastures and haul stuff around the farm…

yup.. that’s me and my tractor… what a babe, eh?  heehee..

I learned a life lesson yesterday when I was on the big tractor, pulling harrows (big flat rakes) around my riding arena to loosen the footing…

I was so focused on the ground behind me, that I almost wiped a big stretch of fencing… (let me tell you… that wouldn’t have looked good on my tractor driving record… talk about lucky…)

It occurred to me, that many messes in life happen because we have our focus on what is in our past that we aren’t paying due attention to the ‘now’ moment with a soft focus ahead…

So what if I don’t like the ground behind me… there is nothing I could do to change it…it’s done, it’s over…  the important dirt is right under me and my tractor, in the moment…. and I need to have a vision of where I am going in the future in order to navigate with grace and flow…

How successful would you be driving your car by focusing on the rear view mirror?

Once I took my focus away from the past (in this case the raked ground behind me) I was free… I could see softly ahead to where I wanted to go and make great decisions about the ‘now’… The past flowed smoothly as a result…

Many women try to create their life by focusing on the past… That is a big mistake… all the power is in the now… in the moment…

What do you think?  Where is your focus?





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