How Many Hours Do You Have?

I watched this TEDx talk today.  It was amazing.  This young man was talking about how many hours you spend at High School, all up 17,280!

The main question that is being asked in this video, is really about what are you doing with those hours?  How are you showing up?  How are you leaving your individual mark on the world?

This question can just as easily be asked about your working life.  In life, on average, you work  86,400 hours.  How are you enjoying those hours? Are you following your passion?  Are you leaving a legacy? Are you working to achieve your childhood dreams?

A great question as we venture forth in our Life Journey, whether that's about where we are in the world, how we appear to the world, or even how we turn up in our daily lives.

I really enjoyed the concept of being a conscious observer in order to find your passion. Look around your world as it is today, where are the glimmers that you observe that make you feel?

Enjoy the talk

Are your kids eating well?

Everything in moderation is okay

In today's society parents globally tend to agree that everything in moderation is okay for their children.  Do you agree?

Does this mean that of the 17,000 new processed foods introduced to the market every year, these are foods you want to be giving to your children in moderation? (1)

At what point does moderation become excess?

I feel that moderation becomes excess when we are giving similar ingredients in foods that are multiplied in processed foods.  These ingredients are not necessarily those that we wish our children to be getting on a daily basis.

The foods children need to grow include:

• fruit
• veges
• whole grains
• proteins
• healthy fats

The best way for your children to get these healthy food types, including their vitamins, minerals and micronutrients that are all required for their growth and brain development, is through eating locally grown organic wherever possible.  If not locally grown, then organic, if not organic, then locally grown in season.

What do you do though if you cannot access these all year round? Or you  have fussy eaters?

Did you know that our soils are depleted of minerals? (2)  Did you know that over 80,000 environmental toxins are released yearly and many are not tested for? (3).  How do you think this is affecting the nutritional content of the foods you are feeding to your children?

Are they receiving the nutrients they need to grow into healthy adults? To grow up without the added risk of Type 2 Diabetes? To grow up without the risk of obesity?

There are statistics available (4) that highlight that children in the US today do not get enough fruit and vegetables, and that this is a greater problem as children age.  What foods do your children eat that contain high sodium levels (lots of extra salt added), high fat levels (fried foods), high sugar levels (sweets, cakes, processed foods, even 'low fat' foods)??

How to change this for your children?

Switch to superfoods that have natural ingredients, no artificial sweetners, flavours or colours to supplement your healthy food choices.

• Look to locally grown, inseason organic foods to cook with,
• skip processed foods,
• reduce your concept of 'moderation' for processed foods or treats
• increase exercise for your children, go to the park and run around for 1/2 an hour every evening

Change the eating patterns of your family by joining a revolution of good quality foods that provide nutrients for healthy growth, increase exercise routines in your family to have more fun as a family. Ask me about how.

Home grown bananas

By doing these things, and following a healthy nutritious diet, you are more likely to be creating a foundation for your children to grow into healthy, strong adults.

Ask me how now!

1. Pollan M. Food Rules, An Eater’s Manual. The Penguin Press, New York, 2011.

2. Davis DR, Epp MD, Riordan, HD. Changes in the USDA food composition data for 43 garden crops, 1950 to1999. J Amer Col Nutr, 2004;23(6):669-682.

3. Reuben SH. Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now. President’s Cancer Panel, Annual Report 2008-2009. Retrieved from: http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/annualReports/pcp08-09rpt/PCP_Report_08-09_508.pdf

4. Cohen, E. Ten Ways To Get Kids To Eat Their Veggies. 2011. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/06/02/kids.eat.vegetables.ep/

 

Secrets to Success

Your life journey takes you down many differing paths, each one has positive and negative success associated with them.  The choices we make along our path results in different outcomes.  How do we know we are travelling well?

One of the secrets to success I have discovered is

POSTURE

I have been listening to various podcasts lately, and they are stating some ideas of similarity - the posture you hold while undertaking a task, whether it's a new one, or one you've repeated many times, will determine a number of different things:

1. Your sense of ability to accomplish the task
2. Your energy that surrounds the outcome of the task
3. Your motivation to complete the task

I first discovered this when I was out running.  It's amazing how a simple thing like running with your chin pointing straight ahead can change

• your pace,
• your sense of lightness in your step and
• your motivation on whether you can make it to the next point in your run

I've been trying out this technique when I'm feeling tired on my runs, and to date, every time, it has changed how I'm feeling about the completion of the run.

Next, I discovered that this very same aspect of posture can change how you see the outcome of a task you're undertaking when working.  Whenever I am feeling like I'm hitting a block in my thoughts, whether it's for writing, researching or speaking to new people, I change my posture.  The difference in my ENERGY, CONFIDENCE & INSPIRATION for the task at hand is amazing.

Try this out at home. 

When you're feeling low about an issue (no matter what it may be) that has troubled you during the day,

1. stand up and,
2. with a smile on your face, and
3. your head held high,
4. talk about what that issue is

Do you notice the change in energy associated with that issue?
Imagine if you do this when you're in the middle of a task that is draining your energy, your motivation or inspiration?
Try practising this in the mirror too - you will definitely notice a change in your posture - the smile helps with that too.
How you hold yourself during the day makes a difference to whether your tasks have successful or non-successful outcomes - mainly because your energy around the task changes, which invariably changes the whole situation and the potential outcome too.

Take the path and journey to success, change your posture, lift your chin, hold your head up high and remember to smile, the energy will definitely change for the better.

Mindfulness and Ageing Well

As I have mentioned, the concept of Mindfulness is everywhere lately.

I listened to a podcast discussing mindful meditation and the research that has been done on this topic.  What caught my attention was a discussion on the effect of mindful meditation on the length of telomeres.

I know, the first thing you're asking right now is: What is a telomere??

Telomeres are the protective caps at the end of our chromosomes.  They break down over the years as we age and our chromosomes replicate as part of our natural body function.  They appear to have a connection to how we age.

Summary: telomeres are considered to be linked to how quickly we age - improve the length, slow down your ageing!

There is research going on that looks at the telomeres and the role they (and the corresponding enzymes, telomerase) play in the role of health and ageing.  It appears that the telomeres reduce in length when the body is stressed, so mindful meditation can reduce the stress, see this review

/study. Though, as with much research, more research is required.

There is a great TEDx talk on mindful meditation by Diana Winston, if you wish to learn more about this type of meditation

And, of course, there are free guided meditations available here.

So, why did that catch my attention?

Well, mainly because I use a product that is to aid the telomerase and consequently reduce the shortening of my telomeres.  Since I've been using this proprietary herb blend, it has been commented upon that I am looking younger.

Am I really? I'm not sure myself, but then it's not my opinion that counts, but that of those having to look at me regularly! I'm certainly feeling a lot less stressed, my health is great (in my humble opinion) and I'm looking amazing (again, my humble opinion!) - check out the selfie from last month!!

Another way to address the stress your body is put under and to assist in reducing this oxidative stress and the resultant ageing process, is to address your nutritonal status.

Did you know that putting your body through a high stress load on a continual basis increases the oxidative stress on your body's cells?  This increased stress can result in a faster ageing process.

Looking at keeping your nutrition, meditation and stress within a healthy Life Journey plan is the way to go!

Ask me more about your nutrition and stress levels now

My Life: Energy Experiment 3

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged about the Energy Experiments.  I am still reading the book, and doing the experiments!

Borrowed from: www.thekickasslife.com

The third experiment involves one I've done quite a few times, and it always blows my mind when I do it - it's worth doing it once a year, just as a reminder that we all have immense energy that flows from us and we can change it so very easily!

This experiment Pam calls The Alby Einstein Principle

Essentially, we all have an energy field and it's very easy to detect, and we can also very easily see how our emotions affect this energy field.

To do this experiment you need:

1. Metal coat hangers
2. A plastic drinking straw, cut in half

That's it!

Now, the steps to show that you are energy and that your thoughts and feelings create energy too.

1. Untwist the neck of each of the coat hangers, so now you have two straight wires. Shape each of them into the shape of an L (the long part to be about a foot, the short part about 5 inches)
2. Slide the cut 1/2 straw onto each of the 'handles' (the shorter part of the wires), bend the bottom of the wire to hold the straw onto the 'handle'
3. Now, pretending you are a gunslinger from the olden days, hold the two wands out in front of you, around chest high, each hand in line with their respective shoulder. It may take a while for the swinging wands to settle
4. Once the wands have settled, stand with your eyes straight ahead and think of an unpleasant event from your past. If the emotion is weak, the wands will stay straight ahead, if it is really strong, then they will begin to turn inwards, tip to tip.  Your energy field will contract with negative thoughts and turn inward, so the wands are following that.
5. Now, turn your thoughts to a joyous, loving event in your past, or even of someone you love deeply. Watch as the wands now turn outwards as your energy field expands on the positive, loving thoughts.
6. As a final turn, for some more fun and learning about your thoughts, focus your eyes straight ahead, but focus your thoughts on something in the far right or far left of your vision - watch what happens to the wands  now.
7. A further experiment you can do with your wands involves a partner.  You stand 5 feet away from each other, one holds the wands and the other recalls a negative experience.  The person with the wands walks slowly towards the person thinking of the experience, how close do you get before the wands turn outwards? Repeat this with the person recalling a positive, loving experience, how far towards the person do you get now? In fact, in some cases, you have to step backwards to get the wands to stay straight in front of you!  This is great fun to do with friends who are skeptical about the energy our thoughts create and allow to ebb and flow.

This experiement I first undertook, and forgot about, about 13 years ago - it was in a classroom environment and it certainly made a lot of non-skeptics sit up and take notice.

Have fun with this simple experiment and let me know how you go - it's great fun to do.

Easy Steps to Breaking Habits

I know that it is difficult to get into good habits, but how easy is it to break those habits?  I remember reading somewhere, once, long ago, that it takes 3 weeks to create a 'good' habit, and 2 days to break it!

Well, for the last month, my routines have gone out the window.  However, in my mind I have been

• blogging daily,
• writing out my gratitudes daily,
• writing up my daily intentions,
• exercising daily,
• maintaining my healthy eating routines,
• working on my business
• and generally doing all my routines!

Does this work for you? Did it work for me?  Well, the answer to this is yes, and no.

I did keep up with running every second or third day.
I did mentally, and electronically, 'write out' my gratitudes, intentions and blogging ideas.
All this occurred while I was on holiday in New Zealand.

The 'trouble' was when I came home!!  How crazy is that? I immediately stopped my writing, I did keep up some exercise and generally healthy living options.
Though, to put it into perspective, when I came home, it was a short work week, I took the Thursday off as it was my birthday (perks of 'knowing' the boss!!), then it was Easter and now we're coming up to Anzac Day weekend.  All up, many more days off my routine than my mindset had prepared for.

So, at home, the routines had gone out of the window, as I had prepared for the change of scenery while I was away (even when my plans changed dramatically), but not for the change of daily routine when I was back.

This made me start to think this week about how important my organised routines were in my daily maintainence of my healthy living journey and my mindset around them also.

I've now implemented my routines again, so I'm back on track!  The daily writing is occurring again, the healthy living routines are all occurring again and being more organised is definitely returning.  Life journey back on track!

How important are your routines to you? What happens when they are disrupted?

Life Journey Update

I've been following a life journey over the last 7 months.  It's involved a changing body shape and interestingly enough a changing mental shape too.

I wanted to give you an update on where I'm at with my physical body - today I weighed in at 100g under my personal goal.  I set this goal when I first began back on 23 July 2013. The last time I was this weight (60kg) was in 1999 and I think I maintained it for all of a month before slowly following the typical rebound scenario, up and up and up and oh yes, up again!!! Until finally arriving at a never before reached peak of 82kg.  Isn't this the typical scenario for so many people?

Avoid Yo-yo dieting

This is called Yo-yo dieting in the media today.  It's also a heartbreaking situation.  For those of you who, like me have been through all of the different types of diets recommended, pushed, tantalisingly held in front of us over the last 30 years, you will know that I'm at a point of 'how long will this last".  Physically though, I now know about nutritional rebalancing as a lifestyle, I'm confident this won't occur because my insides have had a shower!

However, interestingly, things have also changed for me mentally this time.  Usually I think great, and I slow down everything I've been doing, hence the yo-yo scenario begins.  BUT, what I've learnt over my last 6 months journey (by the way, this was 18 months faster than the last time I reached this goal) is that it's not about reaching the goal, it's about maintaining the lifestyle you have created.

About a month ago, my gym membership ran out.  At that time I was stil 3 kg away from my goal weight.  I had to make a DECISION.  The decision was about whether or not I would maintain my exercise regime, was it important enough for me to maintain it without the incentive of a gym to attend?

My DECISION was that it mattered to me for my health and for my well being and sense of joy in life to have the purpose in my morning routine to still get out of bed and attend my gym sessions.  Yes, I'm fortunate enough to have a treadmill and weights station conveniently located on my back patio!

My DECISION was also that it was about more than just the weight, it was about me showing and mentoring others into believing there was another way, that yo-yo dieting does not have to remain in your life.

Over the last 7 months, my personal development journey has been along the lines of self-belief and also about understanding WHY I'm here, what is my role in my life journey.

My WHY came in for me with a bang on Tuesday!  Here it is: 

I believe that everyone deserves to be nurtured to step into their Greatness,

with love, integrity, strength, passion and fun

I'm here to do that for others.  I've always understood that my role in life is one of servitude, that I'm here to serve mankind, but to truly discover what it is that I'm to do in that servitude has given me a bounce, a joy and a passion that is beyond description.

In my mind this blog today was to be an update on my weight loss journey, so I'll also give you those details now, not just my passion about my WHY!!

I began my journey at 82kg, I'm now 60kg, a loss of 22kg (or 48.5lb).

My waist has gone from 95cm (37.5inches) to 75cm (29.5inches)

My chest has gone from 105.5cm (41.5inches) to 92cm (36inches)

My buttocks have gone from 110cm (43inches) to 92cm (36inches)

My abdomen has gone from 107.5cm (42inches) to 85cm (33.5inches)

I'm feeling AWESOME!!!

Here are some before and after shots as well

26 July 2013

7 Sep 2013

10 Dec 2013

5 Feb 2014

5 March 2014

Thank you universe and followers for making my journey so enjoyable.  

This journey will be continuing as it's only just begun - my mission now is to help others achieve their greatness - come along for the ride, it's going to be filled with passion, love and fun!!

Blog hopping along still

Take a look at the Blog Hop of the Health & Happiness Collective - there's some awesome thoughts on

CHANGE

In God We Trust

I loved this blog from Pam Grout today

Her book E-squared I've talked about before and I'm getting through the experiments as I've been reporting her, and now the universe is turning into an abundant joyous universe, one I'm celebrating wholly with amazing gratitude.

Enjoy the read and the words written - remember, your thoughts create your reality!

My Life: Energy Experiment 2

Okay, now I know the Universe is listening.  Now it's time for the next experiment.

In this experiment, it is about asking to see specific things.  You have 48 hours to ask to see a couple of different things.

Day 1 it was green cars

As I was working from home, and didn't venture out very much that day, I didn't get to see a lot of green cars. Later in the afternoon I was out driving, and there they were! 

Day 2 it was butterflies.

This day was a lot more successful for me.  It started off in the morning when I was working out on my treadmill - butterflies started appearing flying across the front of my vision.  After the workout, it was time for breakfast on the balcony, more butterflies appeared around a tree near the balcony.  Later in the afternoon I went out for a coffee, and there they were again, flying across the road on my way there, flying around the bushes outside the coffee shop, and flying around the car at the car park!  All up, Day 2 I saw 25 butterflies, how amazing.

This experiment is all about your thoughts sifting information and allowing you to see what you are looking for.  So, if you are looking at things negatively in your life, that is what you will be seeing as it's what your brain is showing you.

The universe is an abundant place and there are many things in our view, however, it is our brain that sifts the multitude of information and allows you to see what you are looking for.

Remember, set the intention, and it will occur!!

Blog Hopping Along

I was recently invited to join a blog hop - it's a fun thing and many people can join together to discuss a topic of choice, exposing us all to a myriad of ideas!

Have you ever experienced a blog hop?  Why not join in - it's fun and it's creative!

My Life: Energy Experiment 1 - Results

Wow, wow, wow!!!

This experiment worked very well for me.  I set the time of beginning (18 Feb, 3.35pm), and within less than 48 hours, I was sent an amazing gift by the universe.

For quite a few weeks, I have been hearing yellow tailed black cockatoos around my area, always feeling disappointed that I have not been actually seeing them.  They are a beautiful bird, though I would say a little shy.



You can hear the call early on in this video - they are quite distinctive.

Well, at 7.35am on the morning of the 20 February, I was at my treadmill, soaking up the joy of being in nature, when I heard the ever elusive call of the black cockatoo, hoping to see one, I stepped away from the treadmill and looked up at the massive eucalyptus tree behind our property.

Would you believe there were SIX of the birds flying around and around the tree, before landing in it for a while.

I was stunned!!!!

Did the universe deliver me a gift - in my opinion, yes!!! I have not seen six of these wonderful birds in all the time I have lived here (4 years now), and to see that many at once, was truly awesome!

Got to love the universe delivering on it's promises!

My Life: Learning 9 Energy Experiments to Succeed

Have you ever wondered why some people ALWAYS get the best carparks?

Copyright: Tejvan Pettinger: Tejvan Photos

While you have to walk from the other end of the carpark to where you are going, in the RAIN?

Have you ever wondered why some people NEVER lose faith that the right result will happen for them, AND IT ALWAYS DOES GO RIGHT??

These questions, and many more, can be answered very easily with some energy experiments!

I learnt about them while listening to a podcast the other morning.

Now, I've actually been trying these experiments out over the last 12 months as I'd decided to see if the Universe was listening to me.  I didn't realise there were books written about this very topic!!

My experiments consisted of asking the Universe for a car park within easy walking distance to my workplace - funnily enough, it worked!! I used to struggle to find a car park, after starting to ask, the car park just 'appeared'!!

Now, an important step when doing these types of experiments (I've found), is that you MUST express GRATITUDE after you've received this wonderful result.  I always say a 'thank you Universe for providing this exact carpark spot for me'  

For me, this expression of gratitude completes the circle 

You can imagine how surprised I was to hear that the very experiments I was undertaking and that I had been thinking about were written about in a book that was a New York Times Bestseller!!

Borrowed from: www.thekickasslife.com

On reading Pam Grout's wonderful book on the topic, E-Squared, I wanted to start more little Universe energy experiments!

Watch this space to see how they turn out!

My Life: Energy Experiment 1

Want to know how my first experiment was set up?

This involved a simple first experiment, just to establish if the Universe was listening to me, to see if I was 'tapped in' so to speak!

Well, according to Pam Grout and her experiments, there are some things we need to get out into the open first and diffuse.

1. There is an energy out there, not dissimilar to electricity
2. That energy is a "DUDE", call 'him' GOD' or whatever, but it's there
3. GOD isn't necessarily a 'him', it may be a 'her', or an 'it', your beliefs
4. The energy doesn't play favourites, we are all good enough to 'tap into it'
5. The energy doesn't reward suffering only, it's not a test to see who is the best
6. The energy isn't wanting us to do things for rewards daily, there is no judgement
7. You can never ask too much of the energy
8. Focus your attention on the energy and it's there, willing to give what you ask

Intention Setting

In this first experiment, I'm to ask for a blessing within the next 48 hours, something unexpected, something I don't usually receive.  This blessing will be unrefutable proof.

I'm writing this blog at the beginning of my experiment, my NOW, so I expect to see this proof within 48 hours of now, something that will be a clear sign, a thumbs up of proof, something that cannot be written off as coincidence!

Date: 18 February
Time: 3.35pm

Countdown has begun!!!