Q tip

I recently took a class and the facilitator used Q tip as a reminder to "quit taking it personally".

As we move into the holiday season and we are interacting with anyone we find challenging, particularly those nearest and dearest, remembering Q tip can support us to check in with ourselves, pause, take a breath, and connect inward. Doing this gives us time to choose our response, meet our needs as well as potentially being able to support the other person. By not taking it personally and pausing we may create more peace and ease this season.

For me, if I can remember that I want connection more than being right it diffuses the energy I hold when I am triggered by something someone says or does. If I take some time I can come up with a strategy that shifts how I feel about myself and the other person and it is a huge relief. In that moment I have chosen to focus on myself rather than reacting to someone else.

The more I do this the more empowered I feel and yes it's a work in progress!

Choice abounds when we Q tip and pause!


Lifecoaching for connection, balance and health!

As December Approaches...

As the holiday season begins to amp up what can you do to adjust your inner world so that you can have peace, ease, gratitude and joy and minimize stress, overwhelm and dis-ease?

Here are a few steps I take to stave off undue stress.

Step one: Stop right now and take a couple of breaths.

Step two: Get your calendar out and schedule in your exercise, healthy meal planning and cooking, special time with family members and friends, rituals you love...prioritize what is most important and don't schedule over it. These are the things that keep you in peace and joy.

Step three: Stay connected to yourself through your exercise, spiritual rituals, pausing, breathing, walking, dancing, singing...remember the reason for the season.

Step four: Give as much as you recieve. Notice what feels great to give and what doesn't. Give more of what does!

Step five: Remember you are doing the best you can in every moment. Forgive yourself.

Thats it for now!


Lifecoaching for connection, balance and health.

Pause, Connect, Reflect and Redirect!

"If there is a pervasive criticism of global capitalism that is shared by all actors in the movement, it is this observation: goods seem to be more important, and are treated better, than people. What would a world look like if that emphasis was reversed" -exerpt from Paul Hawkins "Blessed Unrest"

What might you do to create that kind of change in your life?

LifeCoaching for connection, balance and health.

Discover the Power of Choice!

The Eating Season

As we move into the holiday season also fondly titled "The Eating Season" I like to keep some things in mind that support me to stay connected to my health as well as enjoy celebrating with food.(the 80/20 rule

The first is when I eat a balanced and healthy breakfast and lunch I can go to a party or event and indulge with more ease especially if I include some fueling foods on my plate.

The second is keeping up my exercise routine throughout the season. Consistency does work.

The third is to enjoy indulging in small amounts and really savor whatever it is. I don't necessarily need the biggest piece of chocolate cake, I might share a piece with my daughter and a smaller portion, well savored, can be enough.

The forth is to be mindful of the reasons I am eating. During the season I tend to eat for comfort, connection and celebration. While those are all wonderful needs I want to recognize that eating is only one strategy to get those needs met. I want to think ahead and develop other options so that I can meet those needs as well as the need for health and harmony within.

Think celebration, nourishment and health throughout the season.

Lifecoaching for balance, connection and health.

It's a blustery, damp, wet day and the fall colors have almost disappeared. The mountains are snow covered and yesterday while on a run a red tail hawk flew a few feet in front of me with prey in his claws...

Winter moves in slowly and I feel it seeping into the nooks and crannies of my life. It offers me the delights of skiing, solitude, white beauty and the opportunity for more time to reflect. Its natures way of reminding us we can pause if we dare, dream if we want and choose our way.

Choice...is a beautiful thing.

Coaching for connection, balance and health

Butternut Squash Soup

This is an easy quick to make soup...although it does take 45 minutes to cook the squash.
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash baked in a 450 degree oven until soft usually 45 minutes
1 large onion diced or 3-4 leeks chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
3 tablespoons of fresh chopped ginger
2-3 tablespoons of natural peanut butter or almond butter
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
5-6 or more cups of vegetable stock, broth or water
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut up squash into cubes. Pour olive oil into a soup pot add the onions/leeks and garlic. Saute on med-high heat for 5-10 minutes onions should be translucent. Add ginger and squash to pot and stir it together.
Pour in liquid to cover vegetables bring to a boil then reduce and allow soup to simmer for 15 minutes.

Puree in batches, add more liquid as needed, and add salt and pepper to taste.

I'm curious as to how we stay engaged in the world and not get shut down by fear.

I've notice if I hear too much about how awful things are going in the world I move into fear and then slide down the slippery slope toward hopelessness and confusion. I can lose site of the big and small actions I can take that do make a difference.

Eating differently is one way we can support change. Eating local, less processed, organic, growing your own...these are all ways you can effect change.

Drive less, carpool, bicyle, combine trips, hybrids...these are all ways you can affect change.

Take care of yourself, breathe deeply, pause, step off the train, refuse to conform, laugh more, give empathy...these are all the ways you can effect change.

Giving to others, being in service, smiling warmly, letting someone in front of you, being present, random acts of kindness...these are all the ways you can effect change.

You are just like everyone else. You can make decisions, create change, love, hate, make war, be compassionate, connect, disconnect...

You get to choose...I encourage you to choose with your heart and recognize that big or small you make a difference.