I like to ask myself questions at least twice a day. I use morning questions to help me look forward to the day. Questions like:
1. Who can I encourage today?
2. What am I thankful for?
3. What am I committed to?
4. What am I excited about today?
5. What can I do today that will make me a better person tomorrow?
6. What can I do to make myself feel healthier and more energetic today?
Then in the evening I review my day to see what I can learn and appreciate. I use questions like:
1. What did I contribute today?
2. At what moments did I feel most relaxed and happy?
3. Where did I feel or share the most love today?
4. What changes do I need to make to create the life I want?
5. What insights did I gain today?
6. Is there an area where I need support and help?
What questions can you ask that will move you forward in creating the life you want?|||109638704045577050|||Questions
Tiny Change # 43: When someone asks you how you are doing say, “Fantastic”, not “Really busy.”
http://www.encouragingcoach.com/projects-change43.htm |||109629850032271180|||Tiny Change #43
1. For starters, try just losing 10% of your body weight, instead of remaking your whole body.
2. "...Maintainers are always aware of their food consumption and quickly respond to weight gain with changes in habits. Relapsers, on the other hand, tend to rely on diet foods or formulas, attend weight-control groups?and continually feel deprived."
3. In this study, 90% of maintainers exercise. And 90% of those chose walking. Only 34% of relapsers exercised regularly.
4. Have a good support system of friends and family.
5. Use problem solving skills to solve things like how to make time for exercise or what to do for an upcoming party.
6. Adapt weight loss strategies for your own life, needs, preferences.
7. Be prepared for jealous reactions.
8. Get used to your thinner self as quickly as possible. Look in the mirror. Take care of your grooming. Buy flattering clothes.
9. Make specific commitments and create healthy habits.
10. Listen to hunger signals.
11. Feed your emotional self.
12. Don't always deprive yourself.
|||109629769913349406|||How to Keep the Weight Off
I plowed through a bunch of to do's. You know, the ones that fall through the cracks and you never seem to get to. I decided not to go to my in-laws this evening and keep the flow going. I was gaining such energy by crossing off. And most of the tasks took less than 15 minutes.
My friend calls these Bonus Days. Days you weren't expecting to be home most of the day and so anything you get done is a bonus.|||109615719476619577|||Bonus Day
Too often, I quit or procrastinate instead of pushing through. I think I need a little more stubborn determination in my own life. |||109605986806858205|||Persistence
"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish." – John Quincy Adams
"To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself." – Soren Kierkegaard
Quotes I just put on my bulletin board.
We have 100 days left of this year. What are your plans and dreams for the last months?
It also changed seasons this week. How are you celebrating? We put flannel sheets on the bed and put up the fall decorations. Soup is on the menu. We are planning activities for autumn. The wardrobes will change over this weekend.
|||109599737207571105|||The Next 100 Days
When was the last time you took time out to relax?
Last night I watched the movie Mean Girls. It saddens me to see girls putting each other down,trying to fit in, becoming less than who they are because society wants them to conform to this "ideal" I remember that time, and it has only gotten worse. In fact, this kind of thing still happens to us as adult women. The sizing up, the cat fights, the competition. I still see women trying to fit in and losing themselves in the process. I love the line in the movie "Calling them fat doesn't make you skinnier. Calling them dumb doesn't make you smarter. Calling them ugly doesn't make your prettier."
If you have a high schooler or an older middle schooler, watch this movie with them. Then talk afterwards. The language can be coarse, but no worse than they hear at school. Really.
Today's Focus: Slowing Down|||109586318817478886|||Spa Day
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/mbsN.html
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/mbs2N.html
Or you can do like I do, you can write the bills and what week you want to pay them on the back of an envelope. I keep mine in my accordian bill paying file.
I also have Quicken send out bill paying reminders, but those are by due date, not when I want to pay them. But, I like having a back up plan!|||109578036776745672|||Need help with your bill paying?
We need to be using wise spiritual training instead of "trying harder." The book is about spiritual disciplines, but not as ways to be right with God, but to be transformed. We need to use them as a sailboat catching the wind. We need to read the wind to know what to do when. We can't just say I will read this many pages then move on. If God's wind tells you this is an important passage - stay with it. And it's not just during quiet time and prayer we learn to become more like Christ. All of life counts. "Every moment is potentially an opportunity to be guided by God into his way of living. Every moment is a chance to learn from Jesus how to live in the kingdom of God."
We warns there will be troughs and peaks. Sometimes you feel close to God other you feel further away. Often our spiritual discipline patterns will change with our seasons, troughs and peaks.
I start learning about the actual disciplines tomorrow. Ortberg describes a disciplined person as "someone who can do the right things at the right time in the right way with the right spirit."
Today's Focus: Discipline with the right spirit
|||109568866520415351|||The Life You've Always Wanted
Here are some sites about personal essays/family history:
http://www.poewar.com/articles/essaywriting.htm
http://www.lisajohnson.com/family/genealogy/preserving/family_history_stories.htm
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/newsarchive/viewbydate.asp?date=1%2F4%2F2000
http://www.webyfl.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=50
http://www.triggers.com/framfade.html
http://www.storypreservation.com/home.html
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=8871
Books:
Writing Family Histories and Memoirs
by Kirk Polking
Writing Personal Essays
How to Shape Your Life Experiences for the Page
by Sheila Bender
Writing Life Stories
by Bill Roorbach
Keeping Family Stories Alive:
by Vera Rosenbluth.
|||109553149218095578|||Family History
Deciding,
choosing and planning
“I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made
up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away
with fear.”
~ Rosa Parks
Part of the reason many of us are so stressed and overwhelmed
lately, is because we haven't made the choices, decisions and
plans. We have so much we want to do, but don't take the time
to choose what is best for us.
We have an illusion that we can have the perfect body, work 40
or 50 hours, spend lots of time with friends and family, write
a book in the evening, keep a spotless home, have a constantly
passionate marriage, volunteer at church and school, keep up with
all the TV shows and books, and feel perfectly centered at all
times.
I hate to break it to you, but you can't do everything you want
and certainly not at the same time.
So how do we decide what to do?
Read the rest in September's Encouraging Words Newsletter http://www.encouragingcoach.com/newsletter-sep04.htm|||109518289872866896|||Deciding, Choosing, Planning
Read more at Tiny Change 41: Quit lying and making excuses to yourself |||109511100364818736|||Question of the Week
My friend Jackie has a new business selling soy candles. These are cleaner burning and smell wonderful. I have banana nut bread next to my computer: http://www.wowsoycandles.scent-team.com/
After a cool summer we made it into the 80's over the weekend. Yesterday we headed to Lake Michigan and ran into tons of people from church. Everyone seemed to be at the beach. Saturday we ran the go-cart along the path Jeff made in the back of his parents house.
|||109510010860486706|||Joy Group
I just finished reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. A moving story about a sister genetically made to be a donor for her older sister who has leukemia. After many sugeries to give blood, platelets, bone marrow, etc. for her sister, Anna is done with it when her parents want her to donate a kidney. She sues her parents for the right to choose whether or not she wants to be a donor. Moral and ethical questions are brought up. And all the answers are difficult. A story I will be thinking about for a long time.|||109487338917466850|||My Sister's Keeper
Last sail, swim and camping of the summer. My family and some friends have been going here for 50 years. Lake Louise is one of my favorite places and has become my kids also. Do you have a place that feels like home?