I Would Have To Say The Actual Event Is Better Than The Anticipation!

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angelbraceletI would have to say the actual event is better than the anticipation.  That is, if you can be present at the event.  Here’s a photo from one of my favorite moments from the day that I talked about on my last blog.

My dream came true of getting to dance with my dad and finally celebrate my marriage.  Even though it was just a family dinner and nothing super fancy, we still had my dad walk me outside following my sweet niece pictured above dropping rose petals where they led me to my wonderful husband where my dad said a prayer for us to bless our marriage.

Planning a family dinner was like planning a mini wedding, but it turned out to be absolutely perfect!  And, the event WAS way better than the anticipation of it!  I got to be very blessed by some beautiful ladies earlier that afternoon that threw me a shower and celebrate with some amazing women and I was very honored.

It’s a bit overwhelming when the party is over and you are sitting in a room full of gifts feeling so loved by so many.  I was amazed at what people did for us and am so grateful.  I made it a point to be as present as I could be in every moment.

Back to the picture…I had given my niece a couple of gifts as awards for being the best “flower girl” and about 10 minutes later, while I was dancing with my dad, she came up and gave me the bracelet she was wearing.  It was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.  How does a tiny little 3 year old brain think to do something like that?  Almost like in a funny peace offering sort of way or just “hey, you gave me something, now I want to give you this” and I found out later it was her favorite one.

I still have that bracelet sitting out where I can see it every day and remember such a sweet memory.  To see that beautiful face look up at me with the sweetest angelic little face is a memory I will remember for the rest of my life.

Next time you are anticipating an event, I encourage you to try and be present in all of the moments.  The planning – breathe through the stress and enjoy it because it should be fun too…the actual event – plan ahead and have someone with you to help take care of things so you can enjoy every moment happening around you.

I will also never forget the anticipation of our pool getting ready before the party.  We’ve been remodeling our new home for months and up until a few days prior it was an ugly  hole full of rust.  I just kept telling myself not to worry and that it would all be done in time.  It became swimmable at 4pm the day of the party and our family started arriving at 5pm.  So, my husband and I christened the pool by jumping in fully clothed.  Dress, dress shirt and all.  It was a blast!

Amazing things happen to us all the time and can happen in a flash and be gone in an instant.  If you are present and soaking it all in, the memories can last a lifetime.

Here’s to you having many loving and happy memories to last you a lifetime.

Hope you have a safe and happy weekend!

Is The Anticipation Or The Actual Event Better?

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Is the anticipation or the actual event better?

I’ve been asking myself that this week as I get ready to prepare to have a belated wedding celebration with my family.  I got married in February and we decided to do our vows just the two of us and have a party later.  We decided to have a family dinner for the party and that is happening this weekend.

Some wonderful ladies are also throwing me a girly shower this weekend, so I am over the top excited about both of them.  This is my first marriage at 39 years old and I have butterflies in my tummy for the dinner and shower tomorrow like a 10 year old girl.

I’m wondering if the anticipation is better or the actual event?  For over a month I’ve been planning and buying stuff for the dinner and having a blast making plans.  I have caught myself even wondering what it will be like when everyone leaves that night because it will all be over and it seems sad.

Then, I realize that’s not being present and staying in the moment and this is teaching me to live more moment to moment and enjoy it all.

Today, I have a list of more things than I can probably possibly get done, but I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.

And stay tuned for next time where I discover which is better…the anticipation or the event.

I’m not sure I would want the event happening in the picture above, but as a previous surfer, I imagine the anticipation alone would be totally worth it.

Are You Going To Take Time For You This Weekend?

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IMG_1310Are you going to take time for you this weekend?

What do you love to do and can you make sure you take a little bit of time to do one of the things you love this weekend?

Maybe it’s reading a book, going to the lake or looking at a body of water, having brunch with a friend, taking a nice long bubble bath, whatever the case may be, can you make a commitment to give yourself some you time this weekend?

I am going to go to a rodeo with my family because it’s a family tradition that my dad and I have been doing for about 15 years now.  My mom has been to most of them with us and my husband joined us last year and he will be coming with us again this year.  The fun thing is that my grandmother is going with us also.  She’s never been with us, so I’m really looking forward to it!

It is such a special time of year for me when I get to do this with my family, so that is my treat to myself this weekend.

Are you willing to pick something right now that you love to do and make a promise to yourself that you will do it this weekend?  When we do things we love, it can re-energize and re-juvenate us like nothing else.

Wishing you a great one and hope you have a chance to love on your family or someone special also this weekend.

You Can Do It!

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jessicaYou can do it!

Do you think that you can?  We are all capable of so much more than we believe.

Last week, I had the honor of speaking beside this beautiful woman above, Jessica Cox.  Jessica was born without any arms and as you can see she has learned how to use her feet to literally do just about anything!

She can drive, tie her own shoes, surf and even fly an airplane!  Coming from someone who used to surf a lot, I’m amazed that is even possible considering how hard it is WITH ARMS!  BUT, I know it is because I got to see a video of her doing it and she even showed us how she puts on makeup using her feet!  AMAZING!

I was truly inspired and it kind of made me sit back and think “what in the world am I doing with my life” when I had the opportunity to hear her speak and learn how much she has gotten creative over the course of her life to find ways to do things without arms.  Can you imagine how many hundreds of times she had to practice things to learn how to do it without using her hands?

Most of the time, we try something once or twice and if we can’t do it, we give up.  When you don’t have an option like Jessica on some things, you would keep going until you figured out a new way or until you COULD do it.

It’s given me a new perspective on a few things, especially when teaching yoga to my students. So many times people want to give up and say that they “can’t” do something.  I say we CAN, it’s only just a matter of time or how long we are willing to keep trying and in some cases to build up the strength so we can.

Are you willing to try a little harder on something you think you can’t do?

How do you think you would feel if you were able to do something you thought that you’d never be able to do?

Would you be willing to stop telling yourself the lies around limiting yourself and your capabilities and see where you can maybe step it up a notch so that you can live out your greatness?

What Does Equanimity Mean To You?

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equanimity

This week, I’ve been looking at what equanimity means to me and this has been the theme of the yoga classes I’ve been teaching.

I’ve been working through Baron Baptiste’s book for the 2nd time – 40 Days to Personal Revolution and this also happens to be the focus for the week.

I love how he says in the book “Equanimity is the art of meeting life as it meets you – calmly, without drama or fuss.”  And he also says that “we change by finding equanimity learning to relax right in the middle of conflict-filled moments.”

Even yoga can seem like conflict sometimes and that’s what I’ve had my students take a look at this week.  We can be in situations and start to panic because we think it hurts or we can’t stay any longer because we are too tired or get too shaky to continue.

So, whether we decide to stay in a pose, get out, we are shaky or lose our balance, can we still stay calm in these times?

Can you still stay calm when things aren’t going your way?  Can you stay calm when life hands you things that you weren’t expecting that take away from the things you wanted to be spending your time on?

I’ve noticed that meditation helps me a lot with staying calm in these moments.  The more that I can relax and stay calm during meditation, the more it carries out through the rest of my life.

If you do not have a regular meditation practice, would you be willing to try and just meditate for 5 minutes a day the next week?  The 40 days book I mentioned above suggests working up to 30 minutes 2ce a day.  So, could you just commit to 5 minutes a day to start?  It just might be the best 5 minutes of your day and you could begin to see you enjoy it so much you may end up wanting more.

You can sit in a comfortable seated position (best if knees are below your hips, so sitting on a pillow or blanket can help) and just take big deep breaths in and out through your nose.  As you recognize thoughts and sounds, try and let them pass through without judging them.  Just go right back to your breathing and pay attention to your next breath.  When it happens again, repeat and go back to your breath.  Set a timer for how long you want to meditate and when the timer goes off you can go about the rest of your day hopefully a little more calm and peaceful and you will have certainly given your mind & body a huge gift!

 

Exercise And Diet Don’t Stop You From Dying At Your Desk!

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Tessa-New-Pic
Did you know that exercise and diet don’t stop you from dying at your desk?

We all know there have been countless articles about how we are dying at our desk from Harvard to WebMD, NBC, Time, Huffington Post, and the list goes on…

CNN just posted an article a couple of months ago though talking about how exercise and diet don’t cut it and do not make up for the fact that we are sitting all day. Neither do stand up desks. Or, let me rephrase that…stand up desks are great, but DO NOT STAND ALL DAY! There are risks in that also. You can increase joint strain, varicose veins and back pain if you stand all day.

Depending on the number of hours you are sitting (typically around 6-12), your risk of heart disease, prostate or breast cancer, high blood pressure, depression and type 2 diabetes increases by 60-125%.

So, is there a solution?

YES!

What is it?

You MUST take small breaks throughout the day. Anywhere from 1-5 minute breaks every hour.  Some studies say every 30 minutes, but most say every hour, so I like to go with the latter as I think it’s more attainable.

Getting up and walking around, doing light stretching or even breathing exercises and meditations are good ways to give yourself a break mentally and physically. We get distracted and it’s hard for us to focus, so you will be more productive, less stressed and do your body and mind a huge favor by choosing to take these breaks and it just might save your life!

Need some help?

To get you started, I’ve created a YouTube channel that provides short breaks that consist of light stretching, breathing exercises and coaching tips to get you reset, re-energized and re-engaged. It’s called Daily Reset Break, but feel free to follow along with multiple breaks throughout your day.

Daily Reset Break YouTube Channel 

It doesn’t matter if you are not working in an office all day, the same goes for stay at home moms and retirees. Pay attention to how long you sit each day and please make sure that you take breaks.

Take good care of your beautiful self!

Photo credit: Hal Samples

What I Learned From A Very Humbling Experience…

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IASBI learned a lot this past weekend from a very humbling experience.

I had the honor of doing a few Reset Breaks at the IASB Convention in New Orleans.  This is some of the top speakers bureau agents, owners and employees in the world.  Therefore, it can be a really intimidating audience to say the least.  They’ve seen and heard it all.  From celebrities to CEO’s to authors, they have new information coming at them daily and get to hear all the top speakers in the world.

Somehow I got lost and forgot what I was doing this for in the first place.  I made it all about me. I was concerned if they would like it or not.  Had they heard of anything like this before or would what I would be doing be new and fresh for them?  I’ve got to make it fun, funny, serious, important and have them feel refreshed and re-energized at the same time.  Is it dumb that I’m opening the conference wearing a dress and heels even though we are doing some stretching exercises?  And the thoughts go on and on…

It’s no surprise to me that with all of these thoughts running through my mind that the first break I did out of three I had a moment where I froze up a bit.  I forgot all of the wonderful statistics I wanted to share and was wishing that I had slides like I normally do.  I’ve been in this industry since 2003, so I know many of the audience members.  I also know now that you can’t possibly prepare yourself enough for this audience.  No visualization or preparation cut it for me because I was ready.  But, the minute I saw certain people and owners of these top bureaus in the audience the more I froze up and forgot all the things I wanted to say.

It was truly one of the scariest moments of my life that seemed like it lasted an absolute eternity.

I ended up nervously pulling it together somehow and kept going, but it wasn’t easy.  And luckily, before my 3rd break, I had an incredible conversation with one of the other speakers.  I was reminded of why I was there in the first place and that somehow along the way I had lost the whole reason of why I’m so passionate about this work in the first place.

I had made it all about me vs. all about them and what they could take from it.  It’s why I’m in the business is to help people live their lives to their fullest potential and taking care of ourselves is in line with one of the big things I like to be teaching.  Here I was having that opportunity to some of the most influential people out there and I lost track of why I was there because I let my nerves get the best of me.

The good news is I was able to switch to that mentality before my last break and even better news is now I’m pretty sure I could speak in front of the President of the United States and all of the top level CEO’s in the world and it would seem like a piece of cake.  At least I’m well prepared for anything that comes along in the future 😉

Have you been humbled lately and if so, what did you learn from it?  Or do you maybe need to be a bit more humble around a certain area and perhaps even ask someone for help?

Have You Ever Gone On A Secret Mission At Your Office?

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top-secret

Have you ever gone on a secret mission at your office?

One of Hall of Fame Speaker and author Christine Cashine’s favorite ways of taking a reset break is to go on a secret mission.  She’ll teach you how to here:

As I mentioned on my last blog, I’m super excited that Daily Reset Break is now being offered for free on YouTube and you can learn more on this video below or subscribe to the channel here.

Hope you all have a safe and Happy Easter Weekend!

Feels So Good…

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Feels so good

 

Feels so good…

At least that’s what Peter Gorman states in his recent article for Meeting Professionals International regarding the meeting industry incorporating wellness elements into their event schedules.

I was thrilled when a friend sent me this article as I recently had the privilege of teaching yoga for three days for an event with Concentra and the attendees were telling me how much they enjoyed getting to take the break and do yoga and how much their bodies appreciated it.

I also selfishly was excited to see this as I’m offering Reset Breaks at corporate meetings and events and love seeing that this is becoming a popular trend in the industry.

I got word that I’m going to be doing a big industry event in a few weeks in New Orleans and really looking forward to seeing how we can continue to grow this trend.

Read full article here

On another exciting note, I’m going to be launching Daily Reset Break on YouTube in the next few days and looking forward to offering free videos online for all to view to get RESET, RE-ENERGIZED and RE-ENGAGED and be less stressed and more productive.

More to come…

When Things Don’t Go Your Way…

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What do you do when things don’t go your way?

You have two options. You can get upset about it all day or you can make the most of it.

I moved to a new city last Friday. The house my husband and I are remodeling was not quite ready, so we had to move everything in the garage and we are staying with his parents.

Due to the ice and snow in the Dallas area the past few weeks, things have been prolonged even more, so what started as a few days delayed is now coming up on a week with a few more days to go. This is not what we had planned.

Today I went to upload a coaching video that I need to have turned in to a company today and it has taken 9 hours to upload. Not what I had planned.

So, for my Daily Reset Break today, I am sending this to you all to ponder this question for yourselves around what do you do when things don’t go your way?

I couldn’t get another video out in time today because my computer is still staying I have an hour to go. I’m so nervous just typing this afraid that it could come unplugged and that I would have to start all over again or that I am slowing things down just be being on the computer.

So, the whole point of the story is…what have I done since things haven’t been going my way?

I’ve made the best of it. I’ve gotten to hang out with my new in-laws and spend quality time together that we hadn’t had yet. I made some Daily Reset Break videos with my Mother-In-Law yesterday and this is one of the ones that we had fun recording together. The best part is that I’m dressed up in her fun wintery snow clothes and boots. I had a blast!

I encourage you next time things don’t go your way to stop and decide what you are going to do. Are you going to spend the day being upset or could you possibly make the choice to take deep breaths and decide to make the best out of the situation that has been handed to you?

I chose the latter and it has been a true blessing…