I am One Stomach Flu Away from My Goal Weight

This quotation is from the movie The Devil Wears Prada

How many of you, if you'd be honest, have ever thought..

"being sick is a good way to lose weight" 

or 

"I wish I'd get sick, so I could lose weight without trying"

I definitely laughed out loud when I heard the quotation in the movie, but when I spent time thinking about it, I asked myself what can be done to take our focus off from being skinny at any cost to being healthy at any cost. If that isn't our underlined focus, we're flirting with danger. It's dangerous when numbers on a scale are guiding your health decisions.

Here are 3 ways to jump start your healthy lifestyle:

1.  Redefine your perception of health:  Read health magazines, articles, books, etc.
2.  Ask your doctor (or WebMD for those w/o insurance :) about your options for changing your lifestyle
3.  Begin to notice and compliment healthy people

These three steps are sure to get you off on the right foot!  Want to learn how to help yourself stay on track after you start?  Call 678.978.1885 and set up a telephone appointment and you'll be amazed at how weekly life coaching with me will make you more successful in all your goals!

"Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers"  3 John 1:2

The Key to a Great 2011

My best guess is that for most of you, myself included, this year you want to do better in something that relates to your self-image.  Maybe you're wanting to exercise more, eat healthier/less, drink more water, take more pride in your appearance,  or just desire to solely focus on thoughts and people that build up and encourage you.

Whatever you've thought about changing in 2011, just remember that every morning is an opportunity to start anew.  If you didn't do what you hoped to do today, don't give up and wait until the beginning of next year to try again, start with a renewed vigor and freshness the next day.  Your days are whatever you make it to be.  Make it count! Starting fresh every time is the key!

By the way, you're beautiful :-)

"If anyone is in Christ, s/he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"  2 Corinthians 5:17

Take a second and check our word cloud for all the posts from last year!  Click below.
Word Cloud 2010

Be Who You've Always Wanted to Be

As the new year is approaching, I'm assuming most of us are inspired to set some resolutions and goals that are going to take our lives to the next level in 2011.  I am also assuming that for most of your resolutions, this is not the first time you've committed to them.  Why don't they happen for most of us?  Are we doomed to attempt the same resolutions year after year?  But of course not!  If you're going to start seeing the results you want, you need to know a few important things concerning your brain.

1.  Your brain has conscious and unconscious thoughts and actions.
2.  Conscious thoughts/actions are the things you intentionally and deliberately focus your mind to while unconscious thoughts/actions are things that you do or think when you don't have or don't make time to think it through.

3.  Most often, if your unconscious and conscious minds are battling, your unconscious will win because it requires the least effort.  The unconscious does not require will power, discipline, self-control, none of that.  You can just give up and the unconscious can take over, it's your mind's default.

4.  Resolutions are birthed in the conscious

So why share all this?  It's because I want all of you and myself to finally live lives we've been desiring for so long.  The way to live the life you want is to shift your focus from the conscious to the unconscious.  Let me give you some examples:

• Want to lose weight?  Instead of starting by making decisions on what you will and will not eat, exercises, etc, first decided to expose your mind to helpful content.  Don't read magazines or watch shows that make you feel inadequate but instead fill your mind with articles regarding help, inspiring stories about unlikely people achieving their goals, and anything else that informs you of healthy living and lets you know you can do it!
• Want to have a closer relationship with God?  Don't get focused on your do's and don'ts in the conscious level because the essence of who you are can really be seen when you're caught off guard. God's more concerned about what's going on in your mind and heart so start there.  Expose yourself to scripture specific to your desire.  Maybe you don't want to have anxiety anymore.  Read scripture about putting aside fear and taking on God's peace.  Watch and listen to online sermons on the topic.  Surround yourself with people who are free from anxiety.

In doing these things, we're changing and shaping how our mind reacts naturally.  Exposing our minds to filth or things that don't build us up is what's really holding us back.  So for 2011, start with the unconscious and I guarantee you that you'll see results!  It's already working for plenty of others, including me!

 For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he."  Proverbs 23:7

When I was 13...

When I was thirteen, I had oral sex with 4 guys in one night.  It started out with just two but then they called their friends and pretty soon, they were lined up and I was the prize.  I remember not understanding why it was such a big deal to them but enjoying the fact that all their eyes were focused on me.  It wasn't until the weekend ended and Monday brought on the realization that all the guys wanted was what they could get out of me and how it would make them feel.  They told the whole school and the girls (even though they were doing the same thing) called me sluts and the guys threw money at me in between classes.  Every time I saw any of the guys who were there that night, they gave me a look as if they'd conquered me, which to my understanding, they had.  People talk about hitting rock bottom.  That was mine.  Everyone treated me like trash and I felt like trash with no hope of things ever changing.  I'm so grateful for that humiliating experience.  It just so happened that the only group of people who didn't know what I did were the Christians so the people of Campus Crusade for Christ for high school students became my new friends.  I was mentored by two older women who repeatedly and gently told me not to sell myself short.  They told me that God had these things for my future:  a plan for my life, a trustworthy husband who would love me for me, and best of all, a heart to forgive me for everything I had done.

More than a decade later, those days are long gone.  The thought to share this story came because I remembered that this is an ongoing struggling for many women today.  It starts in the preteen years and goes on as long as we let it before we finally surrender our pain to God.  We'll find a healing that fills our void and holds us back from using our bodies for what it wasn't meant for.  Sex is not something you wait until you're old enough for.  Sex is supposed to be enjoyed forever with your spouse.  A spouse that has committed to spending their life actively loving you.  Without that, sex is full of hurt, guilt, and uncertainty and a couple of minutes of pleasure.  Ladies, if a guy loves you the way you really want him to love you, he won't have sex with you until he has said his "I dos".  Why?  Because he'll be thinking ahead and realizing how much it would hurt you if things didn't work out or how disappointed you'd be in yourself if you went against your standards. 

Don't sell yourself short.  Wait.  Let's be real; it's not always easy, but trust, it's worth it.

Lam 3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.

We Are All Meant to Shine as Children Do

What can take your freedom
Is it those layers of clothing you hide under
Or that food that you've sworn you'll never eat
Who can take your freedom
Is it that person you love who gives you glances of judgment and speak words that leave you feeling beaten
Or is it you, who gives it away so freely because you don't know its value

Everyday, you and I wake up ready to take on the day with a positive attitude feeling powerful beyond measure.  Throughout the day, we allow what we see in the mirror and how others treat us to bring us down.  Here's the truth:  there's no one else like you.  If you allow anything or anyone to make you feel like less than the amazing creation of the most high God, you lose the freedom to be amazing and enjoy living out your purpose in this generation.  Start valuing your freedom today.  Don't hide; the world would not be the same without you!

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery"  Galatians 5:1

Goodbye Apple, Hello Donuts!

Today, I was eating my morning apple as usual.  These were fresh, red apples picked from the orchard; I've been enjoying them for about a week now.  Well, somebody decided to be really friendly and bring donuts for the school to enjoy for breakfast!  I'm telling you, my eyes followed those donuts from the minute they entered the door to the moment the top of the box was slowly lifted to reveal freshly baked donuts.  I vocalized how upset I was that donuts were brought but it sure didn't stop me from walking over there and eating not one, but two!  No worries though, I still went back and finished my apple.  Now I've got 3 options:  I could beat myself up for eating two donuts that obviously aren't doing anything for my health, I could pretend eating donuts doesn't matter, or I could accept that I ate(and enjoyed :-) them and set up parameters that will make me successful for next time.  For this case, I've learned that I will no longer let anyone change my planned meal unless it was to make it healthier.

Bottomline:  Forgive yourself (mind, BODY, soul) and learn something everytime you make a mistake.  Before you know it, old mistakes will be a distant memory.  Pretty soon for me, it'll be Hello Apple, Goodbye donuts!

Here's to your success!

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness"

[can you name the reference for the above passage without looking it up? prove it!]

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

How many mirrors do you have?
          How long do you look at the mirror?
                    How many times do you look at the mirror?
                              What are you looking for in the mirror?

After you've thought through those questions, I'm curious to read your responses.  Some of you may steer clear of mirrors and others may carry a mirror with them at all times.  Most of you probably fall somewhere in the middle.  Wherever you fall, just know that a mirror's only accuracy is found when it reflects an object back to you.   Everything else you see in the mirror is merely a reflection of your perspective of the objects. 

Bottomline:  Beauty is not an object so quit trying to look for beauty by looking at the mirror.  If you see beauty, it's because you feel beautiful.  If not, it's because you're not feeling beautiful.  It's not only beauty, you may be looking for confidence or strength.  It all comes from within, you can't see it unless you believe it to be there.  A mirror is just a mirror.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time."  Ecclesiastes 3:11