Tag Archives: Baby Steps

Starting Anew!

Good morning, Beautiful Creatives!

I have decided that I may be the world’s worst blogger. I never seem to get around to updating my blog, so, instead of dwelling on that, I’ve decided that this morning I will start anew!

I have been asking myself, “how can I improve myself?” This question is something that seems to be following me everywhere I go. I am not sure why, but last night I had a bit of an ah-ha moment when, out of the blue, I reheard something that I have known for a long looooong time! You can improve yourself by taking baby steps every single day to do something – anything – better than you did the day before!

So, that is what I am doing, starting this morning!!

I woke to go pee – now come on, I am pretty dang sure that is the first thing you do every day too!! 😉

The difference for me this morning, is that I told myself I could not play on my phone until I had done two things, brushed my teeth, and did my face skincare routine (which is I guess technically has to be done on a regular basis to be considered a routine!)

I am not sure if this is true for you, but my phone can seriously be a major time-suck in my life!! I great avoidance measure for getting anything of actual great importance done in my day!!

Anyway, I have decided today is the day to change all of that!

So, this morning, so far,

I have…

  1. brushed my hair (working from home, this is not always a requirement, since no-one by my sweetie usually ever sees me)
  2. Brushed my teeth
  3. Flossed
  4. Tongue scraped
  5. Mouthwashed
  6. Washed my face (with more than just water)
  7. Used facial toner (I am not sure I have done that in years!!!) Oh, and this is where I should probably tell you that I have recently gotten new skin care products, because EWWWWWW-GROSS to something I might have used years ago!!!)
  8. Moisturized, down to my neck – yes, something that doesn’t happen too often either, so I am feel rather proud of myself!
  9. Let my sweetie and the girls sleep in a little bit, we all are a little sleep deprived, and anything I can do to help us all stay grump-mode-free is always a good thing!
  10. and now I am blogging!

Did I mention that I have done all of this before 5:30 AM this morning?

Well, yeah, I did! 😉

I am trying to figure out how I want to track my progress, do I want to carry a mini notebook, something that could fit in my pocket, or do I want to track my baby steps electronically? I do not yet know, but I will keep you posted!

I am hoping that I can take just a few moments every morning to journal/blog! I figure I can kill two birds with one stone (man, I really hate that phrase!) and maybe I might be able to share some helpful ideas, insights, or maybe even just give people a reason to smile every morning!

Alright, so there you have it, short and sweet!!

Here is to a BEAUTIFULLY CREATIVE day!

 

 

If you want a beautiful creative life, you have to take beautiful creative actions!

Moving at the Speed of Light!

IMG_2468Good evening, my lovely chickadees! 🙂

Life seems to be moving at the speed of light!! SERIOUSLY!!!

This year has been a year of doing numerous self experiments! How can I make a better life for my husband and myself? How can I live a more authentic life? How can I move into he life that we are constantly dreaming about? How can I be as fit, healthy, and happy as much as possible?

Some of the experiments that have resulted in some micro changes in my life have been:

  1. Morning Pages: Waking early every morning to write morning pages a la Julie Cameron, The Artist Way author’s recommended practice (one of them)! – this has been helping me deal with some out of control anxiety and feelings of overwhelm that I have been struggling with. This practice basically dumps all of my ever-running thoughts out of my brain every morning, essentially giving me a reboot every morning!
  2. Meditation: 15 minutes meditation most mornings of the week. I have been doing this after my morning pages, and because my brain is wiped clean after my morning pages, meditation gives me the conscious opportunity to fill my brain with the thoughts that I want to carry around, I mean on purpose! I focus on thoughts of thankfulness to my creator for all of the blessings that have come my way, and the ones that are on their way to me!
  3. Personal Altar: For my meditation time, I have created a small altar in my home. More specifically there is a small, comfortable cushion on the floor of my walk-in closet, and a small white shelf that I have cleared off (it is one of my shoe shelves), that I have placed various items that have special meaning for me. These are all things that I want to remind myself to think about while meditating. Some of the things are a glass heart to remind me that I am loved, a bracelet to remind me that I can be brave and do brave things, a candle to call my truth teller to my meditation space, and a small yellow toy farm truck to remind me of my future dream life! I have a bunch of other things too, something to remind me of my sisters, something to remind me to have fun, something to remind me of my amazing marriage, etc. etc. etc. This has become a sacred place in my life.
  4. Exercise: My sweetie and I have signed up for a fun 5k that happens October 1st of this year, so we have started a Couch to 5k training program! It has been hard work not only the exercise itself, but also not giving up!! Right now, we only walk/jog about 3 days a week, but starting this week, I want us to go for a least a strong walk every morning, so that the non walk/jog mornings, we are getting out and spending quality time getting fit together!
  5. Uncluttering: There has been a major uncluttering project that is currently happening in my house! Things are leaving though the front door at a whirlwind pace!! I realized that if I wanted the life that I have envisioned in my head to come true, then I would have to make room for it – both literally and figuratively! God bless my husband, he has been the epitome of patience, and support!
  6. Gathering a Team: I have learned, this year, that you don’t have to do everything on my own. So I am actively seeking a team of awesome people, who know more than I do, to help me in various areas of my life. Mental health, physical health, general life goals, etc. I have found a life coach, and have also been seeking out quality time with friends and family, and going out of my way to nurture those relationships. I can achieve every single thing that my heart desires, but if I do not have friends and family to share that with, then I think my joy will be lessened, and that is not ok with me. Joy that is shared is always multiplied for both the share-er and the share-ee. How is that for good grammar??? 🙂

Now with all of this said, and all of this done, and still going on, I am by no means perfect at these things. I still have to say “oops, my bad” and try it again tomorrow, but I feel like my life is heading in the right direction, or at least the humungous ship, that is my life, is starting to pivot in the right direction!! and that is such a very exciting prospect that it makes me think that my future is so bright that I have to wear shades!! I can’t wait to see what comes next, but baby, I think I will be ready!!

Here is to living a BEAUTIFUL CREATIVE life! 🙂

1 - Signature

If you want to have a different life you have to live differently!!

 

A Tired Tuesday Evening!

Good evening!

I think my body is still trying to recuperate from being so sick this last week, because for some reason I am really achy and if I were to close my eyes right now, I would be out like a light!! So, I am going to keep this short! 😉

I wanted to make sure I posted my Kaizen activities for today:

  1. Got up on time
  2. Brushed my teeth
  3. Walked 2 blocks from parking lot to my office
  4. Walked up 3 flights of stairs
  5. Had a healthy breakfast
  6. Tracked my breakfast
  7. Walked down 5 flights of stairs
  8. Walked 2 blocks to lunch and then back again
  9. Had grilled chicken instead of beef at lunch
  10. Requested extra veggies with my lunch
  11. Walked 2 more blocks to get from office to parking lot
  12. Drank about 2 liters of water today
  13. Had some extra vegetables with dinner tonight
  14. Ate an orange for dessert
  15. Started reading a health/nutrition book this evening
  16. Doing kegals while blogging! 😉
  17. Brushed my teeth again
  18. Flossed
  19. Will do a stress relieving meditation before bed
  20. Took some time to stretch before bed

Today was a day about hope, love and gratitude. There have been a lot of stressful things going on in my life, at both work and at home. Today was a day that I chose to change my perspective and focus on all of the blessings that come my way everyday!! There are a lot of things and changes going on at work right now that we are hoping will really help make our jobs more enjoyable, and less stressful. My home is clean, and my husband loves me like crazy, and I love him right back! We have every need taken care of, plus some for helping others with. We are blessed!

We are blessed! We are blessed!
and today, I am just soooo thankful!!!

Before I go for the evening, I wanted to remind you that tomorrow is our Chunky Dunker’s Club meeting!!! I will try and post by 6:30 tomorrow evening! Don’t forget to hop on so I can hear how everyone is doing!! I am excited to weigh in the morning and let you all know how I am doing too!! 20 pounds is the goal!!!! YEAH!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉