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7 Days to Renew You Self-care Challenge

When you’re in a place where you are busy and yearning for renewal, some common feelings you might encounter are overwhelm, frustration, irritation, anxiety and stress. Here’s the great news though, you don’t have to keep feeling this way. To help you manage these feelings, I’ve designed a ‘7 Days to Renew You Self-Care Challenge’. Get tips and tricks to help you re-charge and feel renewed over the next 7 Days. You might be wondering, what is self-care? It’s activities that help to nourish your mind, body and soul. You’ll love this self-care challenge because it’ll leave you with renewed energy, joy and peace.

“You’ll love this self-care challenge because it’ll leave you with renewed energy, joy and peace.” [Tweet this]

If you’re wondering how it works, each day for 7 days, you’ll get an email with a prompt of the day to help you make some practical, positive changes in your life. It will come to you in this format because it will be easier for you to manage adding one positive thing to your life each day. J.R.R Tolkein said it best, “Little by little we travel far.” Our little by little, will be one activity each day for 7 days to help shift you from overwhelm and stress to a place of positive energy and peace.

You know yourself best. If you feel it’s time to tackle all you have to do, from a place where you’re more centred, balanced and focused. Sign up to get started. This is a fun way to challenge yourself to live a more harmonious life. Making a decision to invest in your self-care is such an important part of your wellness journey. Take the 7 Days to Renew You – Self-Care Challenge! After all, you deserve good things too.

 

 

 

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Journalling

Sometimes you’ve just got to kick it old school and put pen to paper so you can figure out your thoughts. With technology giving us great options all the time, we often get caught up in the new and exciting. We can now journal, scrapbook, pin, vision board etc. online. Yet recently, I was reminded of how much I love to simply journal on paper. There’s something I find calming about opening a journal, smoothing down the sheets of paper with my hand, watching the pen dance across the lines and filling the empty space with my thoughts, feelings and emotions.

I find that even when you start from a place of confusion or turmoil, if you sit with a pen and paper, eventually your thoughts are able to pour out, stretch, multiply, contract, deepen, expand, get darker, then lighter and eventually coalesce into something concrete, something with substance, into what you wanted to get out of your soul but mere words spoken into thin air couldn’t quite capture it. At the very least, re-reading what you wrote can bring clarity to where you’re at and how you’re feeling about it and at the most possibly some wisdom about where you need to go in the future. I get that journalling isn’t fancy and new but I believe it can be transformative in a way that some of our newer technologies just can’t. Would like to hear your thoughts. What do you love about journalling?

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Give yourself a gift today

Give yourself a gift today! Get a bouquet of flowers, put them in a vase that you love, enjoy their sweet aroma and appreciate their beauty. After all, you deserve good things too.

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When others break away

Sometimes people break away from us like branches from a tree. I know this might be tough advice to receive, but allow the falling away to happen. Don’t try to pull them back in, don’t try to graft them back to you. Give yourself some time to pause and reflect. Allow yourself to sit with your perspective of your memories together, give yourself grace and accept that you may not know the motivation behind their behaviour; behind their need to break away.

Maybe they weren’t getting enough nourishment from your tree. Maybe you weren’t bearing good fruit through the branch of your relationship with them. Maybe you’ll come back together in the future and be able to sort it out. Maybe you’ll never know why they created distance between you. Let go of the speculations; let go of the maybes. Trust me, you could drive yourself nuts with all the maybes. Instead, accept the current situation, try to find the lesson, figure out how you would do it differently next time, be thankful for the experience, give yourself grace and move on.

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A Date & Discovery

Hey hon! Had an afternoon date with hubby while the kiddies were in school and it was fantastic! It was such a blast holding hands, walking, talking and exploring our city; looking at familiar sites with fresh new eyes. At one point over lunch, I found myself laughing my big belly laugh, head thrown back, tears streaming from my eyes. It felt so good. As a reflective type, that moment made me look at my journey over the last few months to discover how I got here; to see how I got to this space of dreaminess and joy.

You see, as I’ve been reconnecting with myself (my mind, body and soul) I’ve been intentionally creating space in order to rediscover what brings me joy, what floats my boat and what lights me up. I’ve found that simply checking in with myself has allowed me to expand and breathe a little bit easier. It’s also made me organically reach out to my loved ones in a whole new way, in a softer and lighter way. Through touches, smiles and open expressions, I’m meeting them where they’re at and loving them lavishly from a place of fullness; my cup is full. This has created space for fun, spontaneity, savouring good food and taking time to leisurely gaze into their eyes and taking advantage of the mundane moments to hold them gently heart to heart.

It’s been a time of dreaming again, a season of the-sky-is-the limit excitement, where we’re letting our minds indulge in our hopes and visions. These seasons in our lives are important; they are where we see glimpses of the possibilities. There’s freedom and joy in these moments. The joy that comes with authentically connecting with your loved ones and the freedom to dream and grow together in a healthy and happy way. Looking to reconnect with yourself and begin to fill your cup? You can listen to some self-care affirmations here.

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Lessons I learned in Mazatlan, Mexico

Just got back from Mazatlan, Mexico where I went on vacation with my little family of four and my in-laws.  What struck me was how present I was able to be without all of the distractions of home. It was nice to simply break out of our routine and go with the flow. The kids had a great time hunting for seashells, spotting iguanas and leisurely swimming most of the day away.

While there, I realized once again, there’s so much we can learn from simply engaging in the moment with our kids. For example, I slowed WAY down, I smelled my favourite tropical flowers while walking along the paths. I lounged around and read an entire book I’ve been putting off for months. I drew pictures in the sand with my feet and explored flora, fauna, people, food, music and a new culture with the people I love the most in this world. Now we’re back home, I’ve decided to fall in line with my kids pace a little more often. In doing so, I might finally learn to practice, with consistency, the ever elusive art of being present.

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Setting intentions

Wayne Dyer said, “Our intention creates our reality.” and I completely agree. The things we focus on, are the things we’re going to see manifest or multiply in our lives. If you’re focusing on being stressed, you’re going to feel more stressed. If you’re focusing on positivity, it stands to reason that you’ll feel more positive.

What if you set an intention this year to be healthier, happier, more joyful, more grateful and more aligned? You would see more of these things show up in your life by simply focusing on these specific intentions.

Once you’ve identified your intentions, the way that you want to ‘be’, then it’s time to set goals towards getting you closer to that transformation. As an example, say you’ve been feeling quite tired lately and you want to set an intention to feel more rested this year. Your focus then becomes to ‘be’ more rested. Your S.M.A.R.T goals could then be to create a bedtime routine for yourself that includes putting away all technical devices an hour before bedtime, reading a relaxing book or making a to do list of what has to be done tomorrow. You need to be able to take measure of how consistently you’re doing that bedtime routine each night. Do you need to get your hubby on board so they’re not enticing you to binge watch Netflix before bed? This bedtime routine needs to be something that’s achievable for you. You also need to keep checking in with yourself to assess whether the routine is working or if you need to tweak it further.

I love the fact that intentions can be set to transform us in small and large ways. That we get to decide who we want to show up as and ‘be’. If you’d like to identify some simple ways you can set intentions this year, check out these tips.

First, think about who it is you’d like to be. What are your values? How do you want to show up in life? How do you want to feel? Next, articulate this even more by writing out what your intentions are for yourself this year. Remember, less it more when setting intentions; you don’t want to feel overwhelmed with the amount of change entering your life. Then, set some S.M.A.R.T goals around how your intentions can become your reality. Finally, let go and trust that it will all work out well.

Intentions work best when we consistently check in with ourselves and give ourselves permission to process, make changes and grow. During your reflection or meditation time, try focusing on your intention to remind yourself of who it is you are ‘be’coming.

Here are 5 intentions to get you started:

I am a person who is flexible and embraces change.
I am a person who does things with joy.
I am a person who is present with my family and friends.
I am a person who finds the positive in everything.
I am a person who has lots to be grateful for.

Click here to download a free copy of these intentions for yourself.

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Change and comfort zones

Life is always changing and influx yet for some reason that seems to create a sense of anxiety in many people. Funny how I said people when that also includes me. I believe that a major part of our reaction towards change is because it means we’re leaving our comfort zones and embarking on unknown territory and that produces fear. The constant ‘what if’s’ become a mental loop, that then kicks us into fight or flight mode, where we either try to argue with our subconscious to get on board with this new thing or we get attacked by perfection paralysis and stay stuck. Neither option is ideal and rather than taking steps towards our transformation or the change we’re seeking, instead we often fly back to our comfort zones. It’s where we feel most at home, it’s where we feel safe; it’s where we feel competent and confident. However, it’s not allowing us to learn, stretch or grow into the person we’re hoping to be. If you’re tired of this struggle with your comfort zone and ready to make a shift, simply do these 3 things.

1.) Give yourself grace to know that this struggle is absolutely normal. Hit the pause button, sit with your journal and pen and write down 3 different experiences you’ve had in the past where you’ve stepped out of your comfort zone and something great has come of it.

2.) Now write down 3 different experiences you’ve had in the past where you’ve stepped out of your comfort zone and while you didn’t get the intended result, you still learned something great.

3.) Give yourself permission to be someone who learns from their experiences and grows from them.

Remember, change doesn’t have to be scary, instead it can be the place where magic begins to happen for you. You’ll get to experience new things and expand your horizons. The more you change and grow, the more you’ll find your comfort zone expanding and the more you’ll feel a greater sense of competence and confidence. Are you ready to begin breaking out of your comfort zone and embracing change? If yes, just know, you’ve got this hon.
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Dream Big


Here’s the poem that I read in the video, it’s from John Maxwell’s book ’15 Invaluable laws of growth’. Hope it encourages you to dream big and take action to making your dreams into a reality!

DREAM BIG
If there were ever a time to dare,
to make a difference,
to embark on something worth doing,
it is now.
Not for any grand cause, necessarily —
but for something that tugs at your heart
something that’s your dream.

You owe it to yourself
to make your days here count.
Have fun.
Dig deep.
Stretch.

Dream big.

Know, though, that things worth doing
seldom come easy.
There will be good days.
And there will be bad days.
There will be days when you want to turn around,
pack it up,
and call it quits.
Those times tell you
that you are pushing yourself,
that you are not afraid to learn by trying.

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3 Tips for the New Year

Here are three tips I hope will brighten your new year! First, is the fact that the world needs you! It needs the unique light that only you can bring to it. So keep striving to be your best you, keep loving on the people around you and keep making a positive difference in your corner of the world.

Second, I hope you remember to fill your heart with gratitude. There is so much to be grateful for; so many blessings in your life. Give thanks for the small and big things. It’s so important to keep giving thanks with a grateful heart.

Finally, the third tips is, I hope you set your intentions for the new year. I don’t believe in making New Year’s Resolutions per se, but I do think there’s something amazing about setting an intention live happier, to choose to be healthier, to love more fully and to contribute in meaningful ways to the world we live in. So go ahead and set some intentions for the new year that resonate well with your values and who you are.

Og Mandino said, “Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.” So set the intention to plant some good seeds, be grateful for what you have and keep striving to be your best you. Sending you good vibes, positivity and blessings for the new year.

If you’re looking for a great way to kick off your year and take better care of your mind, body and soul, then download this FREE ‘Healthy Living Reference Guide and Wellness Tracker‘! It will help you remember to nourish your mind through affirmations, reading etc. Maintain a healthy body through exercise, food and drink, and comfort your soul through prayer, scripture and reflection. You can download it here!

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