Abundance Is About More Than Money

     Abundance isn’t just about the money your bank account. It’s a state of mind. No matter how much, or how little we have, we can always share.

This thoughtful blog is provided by Cathy Forsythe, a Realtor extraordinaire, a woman who lives what she teaches.

Take a Smile and Pass It On
Or
Share the Abundance

We’ve talked about sharing your money. And I still think giving it away is a vital habit for all of us to get into. The rewards, both physical and spiritual, are endless, and the benefits to others cannot be measured.

But there’s more. (There always is, isn’t there?)

What about how we live our lives, each and every day, and how we interact with others? Can that also be a form of tithing?

Have you ever stood in line beside someone who is arguing with a clerk in the store because the clerk cannot do what the customer wants? The clerk is miserable, the customer is obviously miserable and everyone around them is uncomfortable, another form of misery. Now maybe that customer has just had a very bad day, maybe they have a family emergency, maybe they just had a fight with a family member—but that does not give them the right to pass it on. And it is not the clerk’s fault, she is are only doing her job. But after this customer leaves, satisfied or not, what has happened to the clerk’s attitude? Is that attitude passed on?

When I’m exposed to a situation like this, I make every effort to make that same clerk smile before I leave. I always have an extra smile and am more than willing to share it. Isn’t this a form of tithing? Does it cost you anything?

Do the words “please” and “thank you” cost you anything? And yet when you use them, with feeling, of course, you leave a deposit of gratitude in someone else’s day. Don’t just mutter the words, say them from the heart, share the joy.

Hold the door open for someone, pick up a dropped item, share a joke with anyone who is having a bad day. It’s easy, it’s simple, and it won’t cost you a penny. So give up the excuse that you don’t have enough money to tithe. Sharing what you have will still bring riches and abundance your way. It will also bring a new level of joy into your life that will draw prosperity to you like a magnet. Bring the joy into your life, then pass it on. There are many who will benefit from even the smallest gesture of warmth and gratitude.

Living Large

Harnessing Your Energy

If you’re like me, you don’t have enough hours in the day. Do you ever wonder what you could do with more energy, more pizzazz? Could you accomplish something really great, set the world on fire? Or if that’s a stretch, would you settle for being able to get out of bed without hitting the snooze button half a dozen times? How about falling asleep without a cocktail to the shut up the monkeys in your head?

There are tools we can use to managing our energy and be more effective.

First of all, taking care of ourselves needs to be a priority (otherwise we’ll continue dragging our butts all the way to the finish line, never mind setting the world on fire!).

When you’re looking at your energy level, pay attention to the great science being uncovered in this area. We need 7-8 hours of sleep a night. Sleep is where we rest, rejuvenate, heal and help our hormones balance—and this can help with us having a healthy weight. That’s right. Getting enough sleep can help regulate your weight.

Fueling our bodies with healthful foods makes a huge difference in our energy level. By eating every few hours, we don’t end up overly hungry and making choices that don’t support the demands of our busy lives. By eating healthy, we can help our blood sugar levels and avoid spikes and crashes. Darn it, I’ve learned I feel better after a breakfast of a scrambled egg with spinach and a multi-grain English muffin than I do after a cup of coffee with French vanilla creamer.

Eating within an hour of getting up helps jump start your metabolism. No joke. If you eat correctly, at the correct times, you can eat more and weigh less. Ask your dietician. You’ll have more energy and avoid feeling sluggish.

Regular exercise, including cardio and weight-bearing activities, are a huge help. (Of course, see a doctor before you get going on an exercise program!)

We all need breaks from stress, too. What rejuvenates you? A bath? A little NFL? Dinner with friends? Boating? Skiing? Hiking? Camping? Hunting?

Just as taking a daily shower or having a morning dose of caffeine is a habit, we can establish other healthy habits. We can choose to support, rather than drain ourselves mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

Why not pick a place to start? You don’t have to overwhelm yourself, since you’re probably overly stressed to begin with. Perhaps consider starting with the rejuvenation piece? What can you do that nourishes yourself or your relationships? A latte with a friend? A burger with a colleague? A massage?

Maybe just eat breakfast a few days a week, and see how you feel on the days you nourish yourself well? If you drink too much caffeine, maybe consider cutting back, just a little.

If you don’t move your body much, how about an evening walk three times a week? Maybe consider some light yoga? (Again, talk to your doc.)

What if you turned out the lights one hour earlier, just twice a week?

What is it that you can do for you? How can you set the world on fire and live a life of excellence? I’d love to hear from you!

More Good Reasons To Work Out

Since I love to hike, I decided to get in better shape. Not lugging that extra twenty pounds up the mountain had to make a difference!

I hired a trainer, and we began at the, well, beginning. We spent a four-week segment on stability before moving onto endurance.

We incorporated weight training. I used to be intimidated by weight training. I thought it was for big, burly, manly men. But as I’ve used weights more and more, I’m finding some huge benefits, and to me, the best is that I have an overall sense of wellbeing. According to an article in Everyday Health, strength training not only boosts your energy level, it also boosts your endorphin level.

Who knew I’d get more benefits than getting to the mountaintop a little easier?

Weight Training Has Huge Benefits!

To read the entire article, here’s a link: http://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/add-strength-training-to-your-workout.aspx?xid=nl_EverydayHealthWomensHealth_20090911

To your health!

Practice Makes…It Easier?

Or, what I learned this summer in my coaching practice and in my life…
Practice may not make it perfect, but it does make it easier. I’ve spent a lot of time this summer working out, writing, relaxing, hiking, playing racquetball, and I can tell you I’ve had a lot of practice, but I’m certainly not perfect at any of them.
But there’s a lot to be said for the art of practice, something I’ve often found myself impatient with over the years. I want to be good, damn it. I want to master what I’m working on. I don’t want to spend my life always practicing. Boring, boring, boring.
Or is it?
I have climbed two “14ers” this summer. (A fourteener is a mountain whose peak is over 14,000 feet high.) Before I did those, I practiced on a number of other mountains, including Mount Audubon, a 13,000 foot peak. I can’t say that climbing either of the 14ers was a walk in the park. They were a challenge, physically demanding, especially from the lack of air at altitude. I got snowed on, sunburned, hailed on, rained on, and battered to bits by the wind. But I did it. And I did it better than I did two summers ago because I’ve been working out with a trainer. What have we been doing? Practicing endurance and practicing stability, week after week.
I’ll admit to playing a little racquetball. And I’ll cop to being fairly bad at it. But I show up every week and I hit the ball (and since my partner is quite an expert), I get a lot of exercise.
And I’ve been building my coaching practice, and I’ve been writing.
But there’s something to repetition. When I started writing after vacation, I wasn’t as good at sitting still for long periods of time. I wasn’t as disciplined.
Yet there’s a skill set we tap into when we do something repetitively: muscle memory. That’s part of the reason we can get on a bike after so long and it comes back to us.
Other things we love are the same, things like hiking, like racquetball, like writing. By doing things, we remember how to do them, and they become easier. We can tap into what we already know in order to repeat our success.
What is it that you can make easier in your life, with a little practice?

Summit!

Celebrating Your Independence All Month Long!

Celebrate Your Independence!

On this side of the pond, we celebrate the Fourth of July, otherwise known as Independence Day.

It’s a day rich in tradition, with barbecues, picnics, watermelon, homemade ice cream, family, friends, and firework displays.

But we can make this day into our own special celebration of independence. And you get to define independence anyway you want to.

I’m celebrating my independence from lethargy by climbing a 13-er (a mountain that’s over 13,000 feet tall. Mount Audubon, in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area.) And next week, I’ll continue the celebration by climbing a 14-er, Mount Bierstadt.

One of my friends is celebrating her indepenence from that extra five pounds she’s been lugging around.

Another is celebrating her independence from too much debt.

Another is celebrating her freedom from the 9-5 grind. She’s now working for herself. It’s a struggle, but she says she’s never been happier.

Many of us Western women celebrate our independence, literally. I was on a writing retreat with a dozen talented female writers. One night, we all climbed into the outdoor hot tub, beneath a canopy of stars. From our vantage in the Colorado mountains, we could see the Milky Way. And our conversation drifted to the fact that in parts of the world we would not have the freedom to gather sans men. In certain places, we would not be able to spend a couple of days away from home, frolicking in our bathing suits, getting massages, and talking the night away.

So…what do you want to be independent from? How do you want to live your life? What does freedom mean to you? (Even if you’re in Europe or half the world away in Australia, or celebrating Canada Day, how can you make this holiday yours?)

Cheering for you…

Watch Out For Your “Tos!”

 

Every decision we make affects us.

What we eat (and when we eat ) affects us tremendously. In the interest of walking the talk and making healthy decisions, I’ve taken the brave, terrifying step of  banishing “tos” from my diet. That includes Fritos, Doritos, Cheetos, even (gulp) Tostitos!

After blazing through Jillian Michaels’ “Master Your Metabolism,” I’ve even started eating breakfast! It’s made a difference in my energy levels and in a general feeling of well-being.

What can you do, today, to make even one small change that will make a difference in how you feel?

“You’ve got bad eating habits if you use a grocery cart in a 7-11.” –Dennis Miller

Taking Your Own Advice

As a business and personal coach, I’m living the dream, all day, every day. I am fortunate to spend hours with people, talking about their hopes and dreams and goals. Once my client has honed in on the things he or she wants to achieve, we formulate a strategy for achievement.

We’ll spend the next sessions focusing, honing, refining, sometimes changing the course, but always we keep the end in mind. We strategize together, talk about “what if,” imagine what life will be like when that goal comes true. Nothing is off limits; thinking big is encouraged!

After a call last week, I hung up feeling strangely dissatisfied. My client was happy; she had a plan and a goal. She was energized, she was creating something new. But I realized I wasn’t taking my own advice!

I didn’t have a plan of my own, let alone something fabulous with action steps outlined. I wasn’t spending time thinking about what I want to accomplish!

Like a cobbler whose children need shoe repairs, I was a coach without a coaching plan in place for my own life. Whatup with that?

And it occurs to me, as a woman, as a busy professional, I, too, get caught up in the ‘doing,’ rather than exploring, dreaming, thinking, creating, imagining “what if?” I’m so busy on the treadmill that I forgot why I climbed on the machine in the first place.

So my question to you…

You’re a brilliant person. Absolutely brilliant. People call you for advice. People come to you with their problems, people listen to you.

You give good advice.

And I’m wondering…what advice are you giving others that you should be taking yourself?

(If you’re brave, share it with me. I dare you.)

Jillian Michaels’ “Master Your Metabolism”

Wow!

 As many of you know, I’m “in training” to summit another 14er, Mount Bierstadt, on July 11th. (Weather permitting.)

Because I intend to reach the top, rather than watch my other, fitter, friends do so, I work with a trainer, Ben Demko of Genesis Health and Fitness.

I’m being challenged in ways I never imagined. And part of Ben’s training is encouraging health on all levels, not just tons of squats or fifteen minutes on the rowing machine.

Ben talks about homeostasis (more on that as I understand it better!), about the entire body’s ability to physiologically regulate its inner environment. So now I’m devouring info about that.

I’m not one for television, but one would have to be living under a rock not to have heard about the smash show, “The Biggest Loser.” You’d also have to be way out of touch not to know about the kick-butt trainer Jillian Michaels.

I caught a show on the radio the other day about Jillian Michaels’ new book. Evidently, Michaels talks about metabolism (and achieving homeostasis) in her new book.

I only had a vague notion of what metabolism actually is. (Fast is better than slow for being thin, that’s really all I knew. Now I’m not even convinced I know what I think I know!)

The success of Michaels’ clients on The Biggest Loser speaks for itself. Clearly she knows something I don’t.

So, I’m devouring the book, learning lots, having my eyes opened.

Between my weekly visits with Ben (or, really, let’s be honest, my weekly ass-kicking from Ben!) and educating myself as to WHY I should make better choices, I find that I am making healthier decisions. I am feeling more energized and focused. I’m sleeping better. And I’m making an absolute commitment to sleeping more hours, despite a crazy schedule.

Here’s celebrating YOU and your success!

Keep Dreaming

Last month, we talked about the importance of setting big goals. If we don’t take the time to think about what we want and dream of it, we might possibly never achieve it.

Unbelievably, the first month of 2009 is already behind us. We’re settling in after the holiday insanity. For many of us, real life (RL) has already intruded on our beautiful, bright, shiny new 2009 goals. Some of us may have already resumed some old habits we swore we were giving up in the giddiness of a champagne toast and New Year’s resolutions.

So what do I want for you?

It’s time to restore the luster to your dreams!

I want you to pull back out your 2009 goals. If they’re already dusty, dust them off! If you haven’t opened the file on your computer since last year, open it up.

Re-read your list of dreams, goals, the vision you had for 2009.

And for each of those dreams, I want you to write three to five reasons why you want to achieve that goal.

For example, if you wanted to lose a bit of weight, you might say, I want to live longer. I want to have more energy. I want to feel better. I want to wear a smaller size.

If you want to write a book, you might say, I want the feeling of accomplishment. I want to see my name on a book cover, etc.

Your dreams are yours. They’re personal. Your reasons for wanting each goal should be personal, too. Feel free to write more than five reasons, but please, do write at least three reasons you want to achieve each goal or dream.

Here’s to you and a re-energized 2009!

Until next time,

Chris
www.summitviewcoaching.com

Crouching Tiger

It’s my pleasure to introduce you to a friend and mentor, Cathy Forsythe, with this thought-provoking blog…

“A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero only dies once.” — The Art of War by Sunzi

The Crouching Tiger

Failure is not sexy. It is necessary. Failure’s not much fun either. But more often than not, it is the catalyst to greater things. Don’t fear failure, that just makes it worse, more stressful. Instead, embrace it, knowing that this is the first step to greater things in your life.

Think of failure as a crouching tiger. As the tiger gets ready to launch in a fury of power, he crouches. That means going in the opposite direction he plans to jump, going downward. In crouching, the tiger lowers his haunches to the ground, gathering his power. Then, with a huge burst of energy, he launches himself into an incredible leap.

This is a perfect analysis of failure. Maybe by failing, you were simply moving something out of the way that no longer belongs in your life. Maybe you are making room for something truly fabulous.

Reevaluate what you consider the failures in your past. Sometimes it takes a little creative thinking, but by looking back, I usually see that a failure has eventually turned into something wonderful.

I recently had to close a business that had been in the family for thirty years. My father had started the business, then entrusted it to me, planning to use some of the income from that business to support his retirement. The business grew and prospered for fifteen years. Then, the competition started to move in, the chains got closer and business started to drop. I fought the good fight for almost five years before it became apparent that I wasn’t going to win. After many discussions, much agonizing, and more sleepless nights than I can to count, the decision was made. The time had come to close the business.

It’s bad enough that this was my main source of income. I also felt as if I had let so many others down, including my parents, four employees, and customers who had been with us since the beginning. The guilt and the stress weighed on me as I dealt with selling off inventory, laying off employees, eliminating store fixtures, canceling accounts, and saying good bye to old friends.

I had been fortunate enough to have made some plans years earlier that were beginning to pay off. And my parents were finding ways to get along without the income. Several things happened in amazing order and now I am able to look back at this experience with wonder. I have since bought two new businesses, gaining a new, enthusiastic business partner, I sold the building the family business was in for a nice monthly income, and life has started sending new opportunities my way.

Closing the business was crouching, and some days it felt like I would never get to the bottom. However, the leap that followed has brought me a new zest for life. I get up every morning, eager to see what adventures the new day might bring, because in many ways, the adventures are coming faster than I can absorb them all. By accepting this supposed failure and moving through it with grace and gratitude, I believe I am manifesting a new flow of abundance in my life.

Believe in yourself, believe in the synchronicity of the Universe, but most of all, believe in the power of failure. It is simply the next step in the grand adventure called life.