Intentions for the New Year

With this amazingly eventful year coming to a close, instead of making a silly resolution I've made a list of intentions to embrace and  feelings to let go of. Here goes...

Let go of negative thoughts. Embrace thoughts that make you feel empowered. 

Let go of guilt. Embrace honor. 
Let go of the fear of the unknown. Embrace the excitement of the journey ahead.
Let go of regrets. Embrace relief.
Let go of worry. Embrace trust.

Let go of blame. Embrace peace.
Let go of anger. Embrace calmness.
Let go to self-doubt. Embrace self-respect.

Let go of sacrificing your happiness for others. Embrace loving yourself.
Let go of comparing yourself to others. Embrace your individuality. 

In this coming year, let's try our best to shift our focus away from fighting the old, and more toward building the new. 

Happy New Year everyone! May this last day of 2013 bring about positive memories, closure, lessons learned, and excitement for the journey ahead.

LOVE.

Forever Grateful

I am grateful for so many things today that my heart is about to burst!

I am so thankful for my ability to put my heart into doing what I love, teaching yoga. I really jumped into it with blind faith, and despite my pre-class anxiety and nervousness, I was never scared. Somehow I knew this is what I was meant to do.

When I found yoga is when I found myself.

Now here I am 10 years later teaching packed classes and taking on therapy workshops! God is so good. I have been blessed so greatly.

The Attitude of Gratitude

It seems like every day there's a struggle to overcome, little annoyances get in the way and cause us to overlook the wonderful world that surrounds us. I am taking a pledge to remove this negativity from my life and my home as much as possible. Here's my plan of action:

1. STOP using the word "HATE": How quickly we can claim that we "hate" something -- a coworker, a vacuum that doesn't quite get all of the crumbs up, a knife that sits in the sink with crusted peanut butter on it for far too long... you catch my drift. When we use the word hate we instantly make the situation worse than it really is. It's ok to be annoyed and even angry, but hate is something that we do not need.

2. Turn the bad things into good: It really is all about attitude and perception. Nothing that life throws at us is necessarily bad, it's all in the way we perceive it. For instance, I'm not a fan of the freezing cold winters here in Chicago (as I'm sure MANY Chicagoans can also attest to), but if it weren't for the cold we couldn't properly appreciate the warm.

3. Make note of the good things: How easy it is to get angry at your partner or spouse for not taking out the garbage like you asked, but is it worth getting angry over? I'm extremely guilty of this, mostly because my partner tends to forget things quite often. But even though he didn't help with the dishes last night, he did put in an 8-hour day of work in order to keep a roof over our heads and filled our house with enough food to eat like royalty. So before you get angry, make a note: what did they do for you today that made you smile? And what obstacles did they have to overcome that were more important than taking out the garbage?

4. Be present: I hate to admit how guilty I am of this most of the time. Since I work remotely from home and my business is in social media, I like to keep up-to-date with what's happening. So as my son is playing in the morning, I'll usually grab my phone and scroll through my Twitter feed, flip through the day's news, check out our Facebook stats, etc. I'm not necessarily hurting my son, but I don't want him to think that his mother is too busy or just doesn't want to play with him.

I urge you to try to incorporate as many of these small things into your everyday life as possible. Even if you can't commit to a gratitude journal, just try to acknowledge these little things and watch how your heart will become lighter and your mood will improve.