Hello SOTGC community!
Another year has joyfully welcomed its conclusion. Was it the conclusion you had hoped for, prayed over, planned? Or was it a surprise, a disappointment, a non-event?
In this message we’re going to consider ways to develop our beauty that is below the skin.
“Beauty is a total experience that not only incorporates your looks but also your sense of fun, intimacy, confidence, and caring.” – Inside Beauty.
Do you believe you have the ability to live life as a total experience? One that is abundant, joyful, and deeply satisfying? I not only believe it can be but that it is designed to be. I believe our success can be turned into significance while we are alive instead of after we leave this earth. This happens when we intentionally pursue our priorities through well-planned and consistent daily activities. This commitment to consistency offers us the opportunity to flourish and to flourish is beautiful.
Tweet ThisLet’s look ahead in our lives a bit, shall we? I no longer set “New Year’s Resolutions” simply because I’ve rarely ever attained them in a time frame that made me feel like I had accomplished a win. It was an unsuccessful process for me. Instead, I’ve learned to set goals for each year-end and break them down into quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily activities that are realistic and not overwhelming. While I take daily inventory of my activities and the results they are producing, I like to set aside January 1 of each year to reflect on my final progress during the prior 12 months and determine what needs to come next to achieve greater progress in this new year. By doing this, I’m able to maintain clarity, remember why I get out of bed to do what I do for a living and set a plan in place to support the desired and totally possible outcome for the next 12 months.
It is so easy for us to get wrapped up in all that life can require and, before we know it, the things that make our hearts sing and the dreams we have for an ultimately fulfilling life get buried under non-priority distractions. They don’t have to though. We can actively and purposefully plan our days and prepare ourselves to have a year of great achievement that gets us closer to our long-term goals in every area of our lives. When we have clarity of our “why” regarding what we want our life to be worth and where we feel designed to invest our talents, it is much easier to protect our time and say no to things that don’t support our purpose.
What do you want or need your life and your body to look and feel like this coming year? The next five years? Why are those things of utmost importance to you? What are you willing to change, adjust, add, or eliminate so that you can make real progress toward those goals? What an exciting opportunity we have right now to make a plan, find an accountability or power partner and mentors, and see real progress toward these very things.
How do we do this?
- Find the harmony that works for you this year. I don’t say “balance” because I don’t believe we ever really spend exactly the same amount of time on each area of our life every day nor do we need to. We do, however, need for each area to be fed well enough to be healthy. This process may take the entire first quarter or you may find you make little adjustments all year to keep progressing. Consciously facilitate this process in yourself and give yourself the space and grace to allow it to take place no matter how awkward or uncomfortable it may feel at first.
- Lay down burdens that are not yours to carry. To move forward freely toward our goals we must be willing to let go of the weight we may be carrying that does not serve us in our pursuits. You know; the guilt, the offense, the bitterness, the disappointment and the toxic relationships that drain us rather than fill us up. These things hinder our progress and cripple our ability to embrace the people and actions we need to reach our goals and experience deep joy.
You may need help working through this specific process, if so, you are normal! Please take time and plan whatever wise financial investment is necessary to get connected with the proper resources – holistic practitioners, counselors, mentors or physicians. At the end of this post I have a couple great resources for you, including the professional health care women who are contributors here on SOTGC. There is not much we can do in the world completely alone. We are designed for relationship and community. Only the wise seek wise counsel. And you, doll, are incredibly wise!
- Make room for the great by letting go of the good. We must be courageous enough to make room for the great that awaits us by letting go of the good, the mediocre, those things that are not the absolute best. For example, this holiday season I had a major goal of consistent personal and business growth and serving my clients better than ever as they prepared to give lovingly to their family and friends. For me to do this, I had to let go of my “usual” routine of festively decorating every room in my home and elaborately wrapping each and every gift as if it would be presented to royalty. You see, for me, gifting is an extremely special opportunity to make the receiver feel truly valued and important so the way it is wrapped speaks volumes to this message. I also love hosting parties and giving my guests a way to make wonderful memories. While these are still important to me, this year they would prove to be a distraction and hindrance to me as I built major momentum through small daily activities that will yield great results in the coming year. Instead, I finished all of my personal holiday preparation by mid-October, elected to decorate only the living and dining rooms where guests would spend their time, limited my gifting to a few small but important items, and enjoyed other fun events with friends and family outside my home that still allowed me to express my gratitude for their importance in my life but spared me having to spend excessive time in preparation and clean up. As a result, I enjoyed a 20-pound weight loss and experienced my best quarter of performance since I opened the doors to my business. And, the momentum is continuing to build and the dividends growing. I made room for the great by letting go of the good. It may look very different for you but maybe this gives you an idea of how to make adjustments to your current routine in order to make time to devote to your greatest priorities. And remember, there are seasons in our lives where we get to sacrifice a bit of fun or pomp and circumstance just for right now so that we can mold our future to provide greater fulfillment, financial freedom, and generational blessings.
I encourage you to use your past solely as a point of reference, not as your definition of your complete and final self. Failure happens in all great pursuits, so evaluate and move past it quickly or it can trap you like quick sand. If we drive by looking in the rearview mirror, we’ll crash! Your greatest self, no matter your past accomplishments, is still ahead. An intentional choice to seek and find her can prove to be quite exciting!
“And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been” ― Rainer Maria Rilke
Helpful Resources:
- Start with Why by Simon Sinek (also found on TedTalks YouTube channel)
- Why Travel by Cobi Collins
- Sarah Sherwood: sarah-sherwood.com Life Coach, Spiritual Director and Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner
- Michiyo Ambrosius, PHD, Neuro Bilateral Processing, www.essenceuniversity.com
- Justina Tseng M.D., owner of AmoraMED Institute, an integrative lifestyle medicine and functional rheumatology practice, www.amoramed.com
- Christie Lees RN, Wellness Coach & Speaker, https://www.facebook.com/ModernWellbeing
- The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
- Inside Job by Mark Sephton
- Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work and What Does by Susan Fowler
Learning to Flourish With You,
Cobi
