Last week I conducted a reader survey for Radiance Central. I have to say the responses and feedback have been so inspiring! Thank you so much for filling it out (if you haven’t yet, you can fill out the survey in the widget above, or CLICK HERE).
From reading all the responses from the survey, I’ve been inspired to add two new features to Radiance Central! Currently I’ve started working out all the details and I will announce them in the next coming weeks.
Reading your feedback in the survey has been so valuable. It really gives me a chance to get to know you, what your challenges are, and how I can support you, and be of service to you.
If you haven’t had a chance yet to fill out the survey, please do! It will be available until next Monday, September 28, 2015.
Can’t stop the junk food?!!! Are you overeating, can’t get off sugar, and controlled by bad food choices and junk food addictions? Sign-up for the 7 Day Whole Food Challenge! You’ll get the extra motivation you need to start eating healthy again (and feeling fabulous!). CLICK HERE to get started NOW!
Before we get into today’s article and video, I want to let you know about Radiance Central Reader Survey. I want to hear from you! I’m currently planning and organizing content for next year, and you’re feedback is greatly needed! My goal for Radiance Central is to provide you with articles, videos, and services that you want and need. If you have a few moments, I would greatly appreciate you filling out this brief questionnaire—-> CLICK HERE to fill out the survey! Thank you in advance!
Do You Need A Diet Refresher?
I find the month of September to be a lot like January. It’s that time of year where you’re returning to your routine. The summer holidays are over, kids are back to school, work is in full force, and well, the party is over!
This is also the time of year where the effects of the holidays start catching up to you. You might have gained some weight, fallen off your diet, or haven’t been taking as great care of yourself as you normally do.
September is the month to start afresh.
But, it could also be the time of year where as much as you want and need to start afresh, you have absolutely no motivation or desire to do so. Summer is over and any excitement for a diet change or weight loss program seems long gone.
So what do you do?
You want to lose weight, you want to eat healthy, you would love the glowing results of doing a juice fast or a cleanse, but the idea of eating salads and making green juices just seems so unappetizing and time consuming. You might even lose your appetite just thinking about it!
I am writing about this because I’ve been in this place so many times, and I’ve coached so many people through this. This is my favourite part of coaching – helping you get over the hump, and finding strategies that are doable for you, where you’re at right now.
I will tell you that doing anything you don’t want to do is torture, and it will sabotage your results. You know this, right? So, how many times have you started a juice fast or diet not really wanting to do it, but you did it out of desperation for the results? And what happened? Did you happily accomplish what you set out to do despite not being motivated? Or, did you break the fast or diet within the first day or two, you felt so gutted and disappointed in yourself that you over-ate the very foods you wanted to stay away from, and maybe you even gained more weight than when you started? It sounds crazy, but it happens all the time.
I will tell you: this sort of craziness has to stop! It won’t get you anywhere, and you will dig a deeper hole for yourself.
To get yourself back in the game, you have to start with the steps that are doable. Do what is easy. Forcing yourself to do anything you’re not excited about is madness, a waste of time. And, it will backfire on you.
Ask yourself one question:
What is one simple step I can do today to improve my lifestyle, that is easy?
And be honest.
Sometimes you’re ready for a diet change, and sometimes you’re just not. And that doesn’t mean you can get started on improving something.
Lifestyle changes, losing weight, improving your health, getting fit, etc., doesn’t happen overnight. Majority of people who get results, and maintain the results, have done it in steps. Like running a marathon, you need to pace yourself.
So, if you’re dying to lose weight or you’ve had it with your sugar addiction, but you’re just not feeling ready or inspired to take the necessary steps forward, that doesn’t mean you have to wait until that magic moment comes. Because my friend, that magic moment of fire and determination might never come (I’m being honest). Instead, get started with something, anything.
Again, ask yourself: what are you willing to do today, that is easy?
It might be skipping that mid afternoon chocolate bar, not drinking soda with your dinner, or even putting the diet changes completely aside (for the time being), and focus on lifestyle improvements instead. Maybe right now isn’t the time to tackle the chocolate addiction, but you are more than willing to go to sleep earlier, or start exercising a few times a week, or making a conscious effort to drink more water.
You might be thinking letting go of the cookies is just impossible, but going for an evening walk is totally doable and beyond easy. If that’s the case, start with that.
Starting with the easy stuff is so effective because it moves you out of complacency and into action. You start doing one good thing for yourself, naturally you’ll be able to start doing a second and third thing. You no longer have to force yourself, it will become a more natural progression.
How I see it, it’s all about getting your wheels turning. Once you get things going, all you need to do is steer, and you’re guaranteed to go in the right direction.
For more on “refreshing yourself,” watch today’s video below! And don’t forget to fill out Radiance Central’s Reader Survey. I want to hear from you!
Over the diets, and ready to eat healthy? Need some recipe ideas, a plan, organization, and an extra nudge of motivation? Join the 7 Day Whole Food Challenge, and start feeling healthy, light, and energized again! CLICK HERE to get started now!
Last month we took a vacation to visit my husband’s family in Lombok, Indonesia. When we returned, the phone line on our street was taken down due to road work being done in our area, which meant I couldn’t jump back into videos and blog work right away because no phone line = no internet.
At first I embraced the idea of having an extended vacation, but quickly I found myself creating offline projects I could do in the meantime.
Instead of taking some time off, I spent the past few weeks immersing myself in creating a second website and writing an eCourse for it! (I’ll be launching it early next week, or maybe even sooner!).
And this is great. This project is something I’ve wanted to do for such a long time, and I’m happy that I’ve had the opportunity to finally put it together. But, at the same time, I realized I have a hard time taking time to relax and do fun, non-work stuff. If I can’t work, I tend to find something to work on! And when I’m inspired, I want to work all day and night. But, I’ve got a family now, they need my attention, and late night working takes a toll on me, more so now, than when I was much younger.
So I had one of those “light bulb moments,” of realizing I need more balance (my husband also told me too!).
I know I’m not the only one that has a hard time balancing my work life with my home life, family life, and social life. You too might be dealing with this, especially nowadays with the internet, laptops, smartphones, the ability to work from anywhere at any time, and everything at such a fast pace with higher demands. Sometimes the to-do list just seems endless, right?
So today I’m sharing some of the things I’ve been doing to bring back the balance:
How to balance work life and real life:
1- What has worked in the past?
Ask yourself: what have you done in the past to maintain a balanced work life? What worked? What certainly didn’t?
This is always the best place to start.
It’s much easier to do things that you have already done, that worked. You just need to remind yourself what those things are.
For me, when it come to balancing my work life, I know that treating my work life like going to the office, helps. That means I’m not working all sorts of crazy hours (like in the middle of the night while my husband and daughter are sleeping), but working regular hours like 9-5.
To keep with my work hours, I shut the computer down at 5pm and put it away in the closet until the next day.
Making an effort to be more efficient with your work time can help too. That could include figuring out what your distractions are and eliminating them, being more organized, planning ahead, and finding ways to focus better.
You can get a lot more done, in less time, if you work in a distraction-free environment. Ways of reducing distractions include only checking your emails once or twice a day (and turning off the email alerts), not surfing the internet throughout the day, turning off your phone, and working in a quiet room.
Sometimes you are over working not because you have so much work to do, but because you aren’t using your time wisely or efficiently.
2- What have you stopped doing?
When you are working on big projects or over-working, what are the activities you normally do, but suddenly stop doing?
Could it be exercising, cooking healthy meals, keeping your home tidy, returning phone calls, socializing, grocery shopping, spending time with your family, reading books, taking time to unwind, doing outdoor activities, going to the movies, etc?
I know for myself, when I am overworking, I stop exercising. Exercising for me is usually a priority. Usually I schedule my whole day around my workouts, so if that stops, that’s an indication for me something is wrong, that I’ve made my work a priority, and not myself.
I also find that when works starts getting too serious, fun activities just seem to stop! You might want to ask yourself if that’s the case for you? Are you still managing to have fun despite the demands and the heavy work load? If not, then that’s a wake-up call to reassess your situation.
3- Scheduling socializing
It’s one thing to say, “Ya, let’s get together next week,” and it’s another thing to say, “Meet me at _____, at 5pm on Saturday.” Big difference, right?!
When you make a plan to see someone or be somewhere, you can’t cancel.
If you have a tendency to overwork, and have your work life take over your real life, you’ve got to make a conscious effort to make plans to see people, and do non-work-related activities.
Don’t make vague plans, make definitive, real plans.
Everyone needs to see people and socialize, life is not only about work, and we certainly weren’t put on this planet to just work. As important as what you’re doing is, taking a break will refresh you, and perhaps even offer you more insight and perspective, and will certainly enrich your life as well.
For more on finding balance between your work life and real life, watch today’s video below!
Want to do a cleanse? The 7 Day Raw Food Challenge is a perfect cleanse to do at this time of year! The program includes an ebook with recipes, guidelines, menu planner, plus 7 in-depth videos walking you through every day of the seven-day program. By the end, you’ll look and feel fabulous! CLICK HERE to start NOW!
Living Libations sent me the Vanilla Best Skin Ever as a gift earlier this year (to read my full review of it, click here). I’ve been using the Vanilla Best Skin Ever daily, morning and night, as a facial cleanser over the last 5 months and my skin has been responding beautifully to it! I was previously using pure coconut oil as a facial cleanser but it was causing all sorts of adverse skin reactions including a rash covering my entire forehead, and it wasn’t until I started using Living Libations Vanilla Best Skin Ever did my skin completely clear-up and I haven’t had rashes or bumps since!
I fully love this product, and I’m sure you will too!
How you can use Living Libations Vanilla Best Skin Ever
facial cleansing oil
body oil
add small amount to your bath to soften your skin
use a very tiny amount on the ends of your hair to treat dry hair or add extra shine
Personally, I’ve had such great results using it as a facial cleanser, I’ve just been using it exclusively on my face. Once in a while I’ll rub a small drop or two on my wrists because it smells so good!
Benefits of Living Libations Vanilla Best Skin Ever
This oil is light, easily absorbable, not at all greasy, and smells divine!!!
I especially recommend using it to wash your face because it’s so gentle, non-comedogenic, thoroughly removes make-up, sunscreen, oil and debris, and leaves your skin smooth and soft. This is a perfect cleanser for anyone who has fine lines and wants to protect their skin from ageing.
Guidelines for the Giveaway:
To enter Living Libations Vanilla Best Skin Ever giveaway, submit your email address below. You have until August 13, 2015 (midnight EST) to enter (and please tell your friends and family to enter too!). On Friday, August 14, 2015, I’ll announce the one lucky winner! The giveaway is open internationally.
To read more about the Vanilla Best Skin Ever, click here to go to Living Libations website.
If you haven’t yet read my reviews of some of my favourite Living Libations products, here’s one review here, and another here.
Watch today’s video for more on the Giveaway and my results using the Vanilla Best Skin Ever!
Want to do a cleanse? The 7 Day Raw Food Challenge is a perfect cleanse to do at this time of year! The program includes an ebook with recipes, guidelines, menu planner, plus 7 in-depth videos walking you through every day of the seven-day program. By the end, you’ll look and feel fabulous! CLICK HERE to start NOW!
I was recently asked how to release negative experiences. We all know how some experiences can take over everything from your thoughts, your emotional health, mental wellbeing, even your physical health. How to let go of bad experiences so they don’t control your life and deplete you?
Two things come to mind when I think about releasing negativity: Balance and Perspective. In fact whenever I’m dealing with a negative experience or situation, just by reminding myself of these two words helps to bring me back to centre and see things for what they are.
Balance
We’re always encountering positivity and negativity, and the key is maintaining a balance.
When negativity starts taking over, I see it as a red flag that something is falling off balance. Instead of trying to control the negative, this is the time to re-evaulate the positives in your life. When negativity is overtaking you, I believe it’s because you’ve lost touch with the greatness of your life and you’re unconsciously giving too much power to external situations and negative people.
If negative experiences starts interfering with your daily life, your relationships, your thoughts and decisions, and holds you back from living the life you want to live – this is a big warning sign that something is amiss, something has fallen off balance, and it’s imperative that you get back to yourself, and the value of your life.
The more things you do to boost your confidence and self-esteem, live a life in accordance with your values, cherish and appreciate the beauty and magic of life, and connect yourself with what really matters – this is when you are truly alive, and no negativity can sway, influence, or control you.
Perspective
Negative experiences live in the past. How I see it, what happened in the past, stays in the past, it’s done and you can’t change it. The only thing you have control over is your present situation and yourself in this moment.
To have perspective is to see the negative experience for what it is, and what it is doing to you. It’s not about trying to change it or fix it, or even trying to understand it; it’s about not letting it rule over you, not letting it continue to disempower you, or adversely affect you. A negative experience is bad enough, but what is even worse is reliving it every day in your thoughts, and giving full control to that experience.
When you live in the present, you take your power back. Whether your conscious of it or not, the moment you are fully interacting in the present moment, you’re automatically freeing yourself from your past, including those past negative experiences. There’s no room for past negativity in the present.
To live in the present moment is all about doing things you love, and immersing yourself in actively living your life. If you feel overwhelmed by a past negative experience, ask yourself how much of yourself is still living out that experience and how much of yourself is fully engaged in the here and now? This will definitely give you perspective!
Action Steps
I’ve given you “Balance & Perspective” as food for thought, but what is most important is living your life to the fullest. Sometimes when we are overcome by negativity we’re thinking too much, and the very thing we need is to be doing is getting out there and doing things!
If you feel overwhelmed by a negative experience, ask yourself:
What are you thinking about most of the day? Are you thinking about the bad experience, perhaps re-telling yourself the story of that experience or are you spending most of your days thinking about things you want to do and planning activities you enjoy?
How often do you do good things for yourself?
What do you do to release stress, and how often?
What social activities do you love doing, and how often do you do them?
When was the last time you laughed and had a good time?
What do you do in your free time?
What is it that you always dreamed of doing but haven’t done yet?
What does it mean to you to be fully alive?
For more on how to release negative experiences, watch todays video below.
Need clarity, direction, and accountability in reaching your goals? I offer personalized coaching (both diet & life coaching). We can work together to get you exactly where you want to be. Click Herefor more details!
