9 Healthy Energy Boosters For 2013 & Beyond!

After the holidays and busy times in our lives, our energy often feels tapped.  Here are 9 quick tips to gather up the energy that periodically slips away…

1. Get your SLEEP! Nothing saves energy more than sleep.  The more rest you have, the more you have to give.  You will make wiser decisions with less agitation, and yes, you will eat healthier because we crave sugars and unhealthy fillers when we are tired.

2.  Say NO more often. Trust your instincts when your body tells you you haven’t enough energy to say yes to every request.  Limits and boundaries are healthy for you and the person you’re setting them with.

3.  Pay attention to good nutritional habits. Take in energy foods like green leaf veggies, fruits and adequate proteins. Keep alcohol intake and sugar to a minimum, and drink plenty of water!

4.  Choose wisely with your supplements. Have your doctor check your blood levels to evaluate what you need.  For those living in the north during winter, vitamin D adds energy that the sun gives us in the summer.  Omega 3′s are great mood lifters and helps with depression. Vitamin C keeps those white blood cells alive and active, increasing your immunity, and vitamin B complex decreases your stress level.  A good multivitamin helps in many areas you may be lacking.

5.  Give Service to others. When you do it can’t help but bounce back and fill you too.  There is a natural boost  you receive in giving.  Choose an organization, program, group and give of your time.

6.  Develop an exercise program that suits you. Walking, joining a gym, dancing, swimming, you choose.  Create a schedule that is realistic for you so you will stick with it as an ongoing lifestyle routine.

7. Visit your chiropractor for regular adjustments.  A healthy spine fights disease, fosters clear thinking increasing your creativity, and allows you to perform physically at an optimum level.

8. Express yourself!  It takes much more energy to hold in anger, fear and frustration than it does to release it.  Think of the energy it takes a pressure cooker to hold in its contents until the lid is finally lifted and the steam is released!  Express your feelings calmly, before this boiling point, and you will find your issues become resolved productively and peacefully.

9.  Take time for relaxation and quiet time. Research has revealed that quieting your mind is a catalyst for expert performance in many aspects of your life. Get a massage, watch a movie, take a yoga class, visit your favorite spa, plan that vacation, visit a friend, read a book, listen to soothing music, meditate…RELAX…

Wishing you all a happy & healthy new year…here’s to new beginnings!

 

 

Christmas Love

And Peace to All Beings on Earth

Wishing you all a beautiful Christmas full of Light and Love.  May we all remember to shed kindness upon one another in the days to come, and may we cherish each moment of everyday.  Life is a precious gift.  Let us embrace it with the grace of a deer and the innocence of a child. ~Namaste~

 

A Blast From The Past!

Well, I did it.  I ventured in to my first masters swim meet and what a wondrous experience it was!  The fact that it was at my alma mater, Ithaca College, made it even sweeter.  The last time I swam in an IC pool was 30 short years ago, and needless to say, the old pool is no longer there. In its place is a brand new state of the art swimming facility, equipped with an Olympic size pool, swim tank & huge hot tub.  Nostalgia hit me big time as I read the records of the IC Bombers on the wall.  I might have been up there for a minute back in 1980. It warmed my heart to think back.  And if I quiet my mind enough, and look far into the bleachers, I think I might have seen my Dad with his old 2 hand stopwatch, yelling out my split times.  Oh the good old days.

The biggest difference I noticed with masters swimming compared to college swimming is it’s so much more FUN!  All the pressure is off and it’s more about doing your best rather than having to beat the person next to you.  Since you’re swimming alongside women and men of all different ages, shapes and sizes, according to your qualifying time, you don’t know where you’re going to place in your gender and age group, until the end.  My end resulted in 2 firsts and a 2nd in my age group.  Pretty sweet for a first meet. I very likely had the biggest smile on my face mixed with shock and wonderment while I stood at the scoreboard.  Sometimes, it’s the little things that bring the biggest feelings.

Louise and I circa 1979

I’m so grateful for my friend, Louise, who has been encouraging me to take the plunge for 2 years now, around the time she started with her masters swim team.  She had expressed to me how much joy she felt swimming again, but it wasn’t until I felt the flow of practice, and excitement of the meet, mixed with the memories of what’s in my blood, that I really got it.  And a huge added perk, she will be joining me next month at my next meet.  My bestie high school friend, and swim team co-captain, swimming together once again.  What could be better than that?!  Perhaps a weekend at my cottage intermingled with hikes and savory dinners, pre-swim meet.  Oh life is good.

I Will

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ~Winston Churchill

Recently, I did something I thought had passed me by.  It’s something I often pondered about but with the busy-ness of life, and the little questions in the back of my mind, I convinced myself I had done my time.  I was wrong. All the fears I accumulated over time was nothing but a cavern of deception.  So I pulled together my best suit, cap and goggles, and joined a Masters Swim Team.  As a competitive swimmer from the age of five to twenty two, I wasn’t sure I could pull this fifty one year old body together enough to swim a practice beginning to end.  I was pleasantly surprised when I touched the wall at the end of my 100th length.  Not only did I feel an accomplishment, I felt like I had returned home.

Anything we do in life never has to end.  If it’s something that has brought you joy in the past there’s no reason it can’t be added to your present.  Often, I ask my clients what they do for themselves that brings them happiness. More often than not, the answer is, “I don’t know.”  That’s when I direct them to reach deep down into their bellies and recall what they loved or dreamed of as a child.  That’s when their face lights up and they begin to remember all they have shoved down to meet the responsibilities of others.  Given the choice to rediscover your successes in life, what courageous journey would you embark upon?

I know many, and I will. Allow your heart to search, you will too.

The Process of Unlearning

Tune in to your authenticity and life will begin to flow effortlessly~

 

The Feminine Rests While The Masculine Swims

When my radio show came to a close, I walked out one door, and through another, feeling the reminder of balance that is required to create wholeness in our lives. An abundance of nurturing, giving energy went into the creation of Help, Hope & Healing, another baby in my life, and then it came time to move on.

On my last show, Dream Momma unraveled one of my dreams, a journey dream, as she called it. As always, she was right on as I began walking new roads leading to the excitement of the unknown.

While my latest endeavor unfolds, Dream Momma calls out my masculine side to strengthen his muscles, pull up his boot straps and get to work! In my dream, I am swimming to the “boat” carrying the next level of my life. My right side is strong, stroking vigorously, while my left side rests, gathering her own strength which she has given so freely.

And now, as I gaze out my window at the red mountainous terrain of Sedona, I feel the strength building within. Ready for my next adventure. Ready to feel the earth below me again, rumbling through my veins, heart pulsating, guiding me to the next journey of my soul. Allowing, open, letting go…