Discredit & Devalue

Could be my middle name most of the time.

I realized a pattern that was hiding very sneakily, it was so engrained I barely even noticed I was functioning from this mindset in many areas of my life.  The habit of discrediting & devaluing everything I have done and am currently doing.  This showed up particularly powerfully whenever I had to share my story.  I never thought my journey was good or interesting enough.  So I always shared what I thought wanted to be heard.  This made writing bios extremely difficult!

I didn’t see my past as valuable events that  have actually lead me to where I am today – instead I saw a bunch of lacking happenings – all haphazardly bringing me now.

When I got clear that actually my college experience was extremely valuable (even if I didn’t go to a prestigious, well known school) and I have actually been teaching yoga for 5 years, even if I didn’t have my certification for the first 3 years.  I could go on, but this awareness grants me the ability to switch these limiting beliefs when they come creeping in (which they will most certainly do.)

you get to create your reality

Thanks to a wonderful reminder at my yoga training this weekend I realized the lens at which I look through my life greatly informs my current reality.

If you are intrigued about shifting patterns and habits you no longer love when it comes to your food & your thoughts, which ultimately lead to your actions.  I’d like to invite you to a juicy tele course I am offering that will uncover the best ways in which we can choose to GROW so we can GLOW.

Nourish You – Tuesday, May 21st.

The Contest of Life

I realized a pattern.  Two awesome contests appeared encouraging particpants to create content and enter to win the prize.  My immediate reaction was… ‘yeah that is cool – but I’ll never win so I’m not even going to bother’. Really?  Well at first it made perfectly good sense until I started hearing that line twice.  I was giving myself this underlying message, you don’t really matter, so just take a seat and stay quiet.  Ha!  Well I decided to show myself and start acting like I mattered – because I certainly do. So I got to work – I made a video for a contest hosted by my school – Institute of Integrative Nutrition that shared my process of getting to where I am now.  The quality isn’t great – but I am proud of the content that flowed out of my mouth.  You can take a blurry look here.  Then I entered a contest hosted by Kathryn Budig – challenging participants to replicate this picture and share what yoga means to them. Again first thought – cool – but I’m not that creative and I will just be wasting my time.  But then I acted like I was worth it.

And there you go.  Am I attached to win? No.  But I am thrilled I took a few minutes from my day to show myself that I rock – even though some of the first thoughts that come into my brain might tell me otherwise.  The beauty is I get to choose.

Do these same limiting beliefs keep you safe & quiet?  I’d love to hear.

Letting A Number Determine My Self Worth

I haven’t owned a scale until recently.  I loved having no idea what I weighed.   It was liberating.  But for whatever reason I decided to buy one.

All of a sudden I found myself stepping onto the scale every morning before I got into the shower. I didn’t realize how toxic this ritual was as I began to let the numbers on the scale dictate the way I felt about my body and ultimately my value.  If it was a low number I felt like a million bucks, but if it was higher than I wanted to be I felt awful about myself.

I took a break.  I was tired of letting a number hold so much weight in my heart.  Instead of tuning into a number I started to check in with how I was feeling in my body.  And lately I have been feeling fantastic.  I have been running more regularly, doing yoga, eating lots of fresh veggies, drinking green juice almost daily, and have found myself craving less chocolate.

 So today as I got into the shower – the scale seduced me to step on it again.  I did.  And I did not like the number I saw.  I immediately began to listen to the mean self talk that started stirring in my mind – trying to figure out what I needed to cut out or deprive myself of.  What I was doing wrong.  Why I was failing.  That dialogue lasted for a few minutes.  Until I realized – I feel great, I am taking good care of my body.  Where did this obsession come from of having my beauty and worth be tied to a slender number.  Isn’t the most important thing to feel vibrant and alive?

So the scale didn’t win today.  I’m learning.

Rest

Wrapping it up with ways to take care of yourself with our final thought…

Thought #5 – Rest

This is one I can definitely work on, and add more to my life.  Like schedule it in with pen.  Prioritize rest.  Because without rest – creativity is bleak, giving is forced, and one can become a slave to the thoughts that arise.

I like to pile things up, I like to be busy, I like to always be on the go.  It is kind of like my default setting.  I feel useful this way, but I also get burnt out, agitated, and exhausted if I don’t have enough rest sprinkled into the busy and hectic days.  I’m ready for that to change.

Naps used to occur more frequently, but these days it seems the only way that happens is if I get a seat on the subway (which is becoming quite rare).  Sometimes I drop into legs up the wall in the middle of the day, and watch really bad TV shows which is REALLY nourishing in a guilty pleasure kind of way.  The important thing is I end up feeling refreshed and ready to take on whatever is next.

Luckily I have a two week break effective immediately!  I will be using it to hit the mountain with my man and see my dear, dear friend in Mexico City.  Thrilled for this scheduled break.  I welcome it with open and slightly fatigued arms.  Excited to see what ideas and perspective arrives in the spacious days ahead.

Love What You Eat

Finding yet another way to envelope yourself with self-love… I bring you to –

Thought #4 – Leverage your food

Every time we eat we have the option to nourish ourselves on the cellular level.   Find the foods you love and that love you back.  Discover the foods that give you energy, rather than deplete your energy in order to digest, find the foods that leave you feeling clear and light rather than foggy and slow.  When we look at our meals as a way to show ourselves that we matter and are worth a delicious bowl of field greens.  The other stuff looks less appealing.  We can begin to realize that maybe potato chips and cookies (or insert your vice here) – may feel good temporarily – but it is fleeting, and often leaves you feeling worse.

Start with breakfast, or even a glass of water before your breakfast & find that connection of what you are eating has the potential to create the most vibrant version of yourself.