Written by Glorias Asiimwe

Everyone is the same on the outside but it’s our inside spark that makes us special –the way you feel about yourself (self-esteem) and how you want people to perceive you. To me self-esteem is the confidence, beauty, inner strength, self-acceptance, control, self-image and the belief in oneself. It is a cornerstone of a positive attitude towards living that helps one to respond to life’s challenges in a more realistic way, affect personal happiness, reflects on your thinking causing your outlook to be negative or positive. Strong self-esteem leads to both personal and professional development. For example, a corporate woman with self-esteem will reach her job targets more easily without having to rely on the bosses’ commands of “do this- do that,” this also applies to personal initiative. However without it, life can miserable as everyone can see how you can’t express your views despite how productive you are, thus leaving you depressed. You are scared to confide in anyone or make friends.

There are several situations where self-esteem is very important:

Personal appearance: As ladies we always want to look our best and beautiful. You look into the mirror one morning and you think, “oh my tummy is big, my breasts are very huge or my face is not as smooth as the woman next door”. For instance, when I’m with my friends who are tall, I always admire them and wish I was taller, but that cannot happen because it’s way I was created and it can’t change. So. I learn to be myself instead of dreaming of being a model I have seen on TV. Such circumstances may tend to lower the self-esteem. but don’t let yourself allow it to because each person is made in a unique way and if you were to be like someone then ask yourself first- who would be you? Feel good about yourself with a balanced attitude.

Relationships: starting or being in a relationship demands for a high self-esteem to ensure that your partner doesn’t undermine your decisions or treat you as a weaker person who can’t distinguish between what’s wrong or right. It is difficult to always retain your special “spark” inside in case it doesn’t work out. You are forced to remember all the happy moments shared and this leaves you with a hesitation, wondering whether or not you can make it on your own. You start bothering yourself with questions like “Where did I go wrong?” or “Am I out of shape?” Day and night you cry yourself to sleep, became pale and develop wrinkles; you can’t concentrate on anything for you think, “I’m such are loser.” Men will always come and go but remember that if one door closes another much better opens. You are still precious and many would dream of being with you; don’t let that bother you; walk with your head high for you deserve the best. You are a wonderful person of immense value who deserves to be loved.

Unsuccessful job application: Applying for jobs can be hectic,not to mention the time wasted looking for them and the resources spent. After going through that tiring process your application does not go through or your papers are kept in the archives and never consulted. This situation may leave you wondering whether or not you do not have the brains and experience it takes to have to take up the job. You end up giving up and becoming dependent on someone who sees you as a burden but can’t say so openly. Life becomes so meaningless and useless with all the academic qualifications obtained. Look around you, how many people are out there jobless but still living their lives and being happy. Believe in yourself and have faith that one day your prayer will be answered and you will find yourself in a position you never dreamt of before. Never give up, you have all it takes.

Though life is not a straight line with ups and downs, as women who want to be successful and feel good about ourselves and be treated with respect. we should aim at rekindling our sparks through positive thinking, avoiding negative situations and being in company of friends who are positive about who we are –not what they want us to be. We must defend ourselves with positive responses to people who want to turn us down like-“I like myself and I can create a positive life.”

We at MyLogoImprinted want to wish everyone a Healthy, Happy, NEW YEAR! Let’s ring in 2010 with renewed strength and a positive outlook!  Someone shared the following message with us and it was very encouraging. We think it is worth sharing today!

THE UNKNOWN GIFT

The beautiful thing about being in the unknown is everything is possible.

You are about to receive a giant gift: a fresh, virgin new year – utterly open to being made into anything you choose it to become.  Forget the doomsayers!  Block out the fear-mongers!  Shout down those voices of mediocrity encouraging you to play small with your days amidst the dramatic changes in our world.  This is a time to dream, to shine – to lead.

It’s a great time to be alive – regardless of how bad your life might appear (things always get better don’t they?).

You are about to receive 12 fresh months (I needed to repeat that because it’s such an inspiring thought to me). Some amongst us don’t have that time.  You do. You are blessed.

So what will you do in 2010? Will you spend it wisely – reaching for excellence and outright greatness, regardless of where you work and who you are? Will this year be the year you leave behind all your victim stories about why you can’t be in world-class health and lead in your field at work and love your family like there’s no tomorrow? Will this year be the year you have the courage to catch a glimpse of how extraordinary you really are and then assume the personal responsibility to let that talent see the light of day? And will this New Year be the 12 months that you give back to the world, by lifting others up and by being honest, ethical, caring and downright good?

Just wondering.   Because the clock is ticking,

And this moment is a fine time to begin.

 Source: Adapted from Robin Sharma’s Blog

Blessings from all of us at MyLogoImprinted !  877-250-LOGO(5646)

Now is the time to believe as we move forward into a new year of opportunity 2010

Everyone has that earnest aspiration to succeed as we move into the new year.  One’s ability to establish and accomplish goals will mold one’s happiness and success over and above any skill one can ever realize. One can not hit the target when he can not see it.

The foundation and point of origin of success is that when one decides exactly what he/she really and truly want, in all aspects of his or her life.

If every individual has that yearning for winning, and if success is accessible to everybody, why then, only a few succeed?  This is because only a few believe in their potentials, and most of all, only a few started by defining and acknowledging a goal, and truly believe in their spirit and minds that they can achieve that goal.

Just wishing for something is so much different from being able and prepared to accept it. Nobody is ever prepared to accept anything until they truly believe that they can obtain it.

The mind must first be in a state of believing and not just hoping or wishing for something. An open mind is important in believing and a closed mind never inspires courage, faith or the power to believe.

Almost everyone had gone through difficult life encounters and experiences. These experiences and encounters usually define one’s existence, becoming important educators on life’s course. However, the enemy, which is that negative force within often would recognize these difficult experiences as symbols of thyself that one is not “good enough” in order to succeed.  Simply put, this is fear from within.

Fear, according to psychologists is normal and a natural line of attack focused to life’s adjustments and changes. Fear is what prevents one from doing “crazy or stupid things”; but it may be carried to a great extent. When one fears nothing, one can be considered as “mad” and “foolish” but then again, fear of almost everything, specially fear to take risks one can be considered as plain cowards. The enemy inside of you will tell you that your fear is reasonable when it is transitory.

As the mind dictates your fear, it also dictates your thoughts and your actions.

When you believe in your mind that relationships are complicated and demand so much effort, you will indeed attract those individuals who will cause difficulty in the relationship or demand a lot of effort from you. More significantly, when you worry regarding something that you essentially believe in negative outcomes, then so the result to your actions will be.

Of course, it does not  occur every time that you think and believe negatively, because Although there is worry and apprehension inside you, there is still, in that little corner of your heart, of your mind, that you hope for a positive result, so then, that power prevents disaster from happening. Yet worrying through and through, without a small spark of hope, then beware, disaster is sure to come!

However there is so much more to faith and believing than simply creating beliefs.  Possessing “positive beliefs” in the mind is the initial step towards making a positive outlook, resulting to a successful life.

Believing, take note is something entirely different. For instance you have “positive beliefs” with regards to money; at the same time, you believe that many ways are offered in order to acquire money. Yet if, for any reason you do not believe you will be able to make money, then you will not make that certain amount or sum of money that you want.

Getting through the fear, developing how you believe:

1. Your belief should be superior, exceeding fear. It will entail a lot of effort, but as much as you can, try to closely observe and listen inside of you, look around and see what is functioning well in your personal or business life and what is not. Small or great, profess your successes. Believe that you can reach great things and as early as now, begin counting your blessings.

2. Only believe in you, in the things that you can do, and not in the circumstances. You have to believe in only yourself because there will be times when you will be tempted to put your belief into something else such as a job, a friend or a particular opportunity. Although this could be nice, note that people and circumstances are changeable. Your success should be created by only you, and you alone can decide whether to change it or not.

3. Keep in mind that success will take some time and if ever you do fail, take it as an opportunity to learn and reassess your beliefs and your goals.

The powers of believing are very strong and affect our decisions, feelings, and actions. And although you have been depending on a specific set of supposition regarding your life for so many years, those particular beliefs can be adjusted or changed.

Start changing it now and start your 2010 by already winning!

As we approach the New Year, I find myself often contemplating what new challenges and obstacles will be ahead. But, I realize the contemplation itself will get  me nowhere, it is the planning for these challenges and obstacles that will prepare me to fully take them on.  Among the recent hardships and financial woes that our nation has had to endure, I feel the key element to go into the new year with is optimism. Today’s failures are tomorrow’s successes. It’s amazing how little people seem realize what a huge difference a positive attitude can have until they have one. I think it’s very important for people to make sure they have well-structured goals for 2010. Among them, should be a way to live your life to the fullest and with the most optimistic outlook.

Some of the best advice I’ve ever heard, I read in a blog written this time last year by Rufus Yamoah, who calls himself a “success teacher.” I think everyone should follow some similar advice:

Rule No 1. Read motivational books: There is a great wealth in information. I dare you to become an ardent reader today because I know by tomorrow you will become a great leader. When you pick up a good book, I tell you, you only pick up a good life. Maximize the power of reading today.

Rule No 2. Check your companions: Take a little research on your association/friends. They might be of a little influence on you lately. Check the good ones, the bad ones, the toxic ones, the dream-killers or even your acclaimed loved ones. For a man to be wise, he needs to sit and dine with wise men. Be warned!

Rule No 3. Look for a good mentor.: You need a ‘guardian’ angel; A person with good experience and knowledge much bigger than yours to assist you, so that you don’t make the same mistake of last year. Go select a good mentor, not just any mentor, and you will be glad you did.

Rule No 4. Protect your health: Don’t play ith your life because it’s the only thing you just can’t do without. Protect and take good care of yourself. Eat good food. Don’t starve because you want to save. Do be too busty to do exercise and fitness. Give time to your health, and she will honor you in return.

Rule No 5. Sleep/Rest/Relax: A true lazy man is not one who cannot work, but one who cannot rest. Take a break, for it only makes you better. Sleep well. Take a good time out to rest and relax. Don’t quarrel and argue too much, your brain hates it. Know that who refuses to rest, refuses to grow! Don’t wait for sickness to come before you rest because it will be too bad.

Rule No 6. Invest in Yourself: This is the first thing first and most important thing when it comes to attaining your goals and vision. Before you invest your money, time, or strength on a venture, first invest in yourself. You need a proper mindset. A poor man with a millionaire’s mind will soon become rich! If you want to win, train yourself to win. It’s a formula for success.

Rule No 7. Write out your vision, goals and dreams again: Look back at 2008, and write out those things you were not able to achieve and add it to your goals for this year, Draw an action plan on your vision. How you want to go about it. This will help you stay focus.

Rule No 8. Become Enthusiastic: Put a wide smile on your face. Try to mange your happiness. Set your perception to favor yourself. This is probably not easy, but it will really help you. When you become enthusiastic, you defeat human’s greatest weakness ‘frustration’ and set yourself to win always.

Rule No 9. Keep your faith alive: Strengthen your faith. Believe in possibilities and sometimes in ‘miracle’. Don’t give up. Your dream is achievable. You need a long-faith to pass through short-temptations. No matter what happens, don’t give away your ‘believe’ because when you do, you just give away your success.

Rule No 10. Action! Action!! Action!!! For you to succeed, you need to cancel procrastination from your paper. Whatever target you set out to achieve, go ahead and pay the price immediately. Do it today , because by tomorrow it will be 10 times difficult.

Good Luck for the New Year and don’t forget to stay positive!

Do you wanna know how to make your kids go nuts at Christmas?  Hide the tree.  I’m serious.  Ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper’s eye my parents (and grandparents) have hidden their Tannenbaum.   

Here’s how:

1)  Round up the family.

2)  Get a real tree.

3)  Set it up in a front room by a window to enable outdoor viewing.

3)  String a whole bunch of cranberry/popcorn garlands while listening to the Nutcracker Suite.  This is invariably when I got the giggles.  Sitting still and doing craftsy pursuits are not my forte–in fact sit down activities drive me a little wonky.

4)  Decorate.  Ma always sat and watched us kiddos hang ornaments.  Later she admitted that she re-hung them after we went to bed.  It makes sense, as kids we tended to hang ornaments all in one spot at eye-level. 

4) Put up a huge bed sheet in the doorway (ceiling to floor) so the whippersnappers can’t see into the room.  It helped that my parents hung a sign like “He’s watching you!”.  Plus, telling us kiddies that all the presents would disappear if we peeked discouraged any sneaky business. 

5)  Keep the tree hidden (with the presents) until after a lengthy Christmas Eve dinner.   Dinner was always the dreaded “pink meat”.  At the time, I had no idea I was turning up my nose to pricey prime rib.  My cousin and I always invented new ways to keep from ingesting this bloody steak and sneaking it into gram’s garbage receptacle.  For extra torture show slides or home movies and insist on dessert and coffee before presents time. 

6)  Take the sheet down in time to some prearranged signal for the BIG REVEAL.  Grandpa always took his sheet down in tune to Handel’s Messiah- the part with the Hallelujah Choir.  That was our signal to come flying down the stairs tripping and arguing with each over who got to go in the Christmas tree room first. 

7)  Watch the kids go banana boats.

Family traditions are so cool. 

I started tapping this blog entry as we reached our cruising altitude on a flight home. It’s been a long weekend with a lot going on work-wise.  Good stuff for the cotton business, but there seemed to be more than a few things making me feel a bit off my pace.  I know it won’t be posted til I’m home but I want to capture these thoughts. I’ll need to reread because I’m not so great on the Blackberry for the lengths this will likely go.

Although I’m a frequent traveler, rarely does the person in the seat next to me garner such a reaction. What makes this flight home different?

The day itself has been far less than the stellar day I was hoping for. I have been rained on, delayed, and pushed around, really hungry I even had to run through Atlanta’s airport. But  a few hours ago, I decided I’d keep a positive mindset. So when I saw a very friendly face look up & smile as I reached my row on the last plane of the day, I thought the day was finally taking a turn for the positive. I was looking for improvement too soon though.

The Atlanta parking lot that caused me to run between flights.

Conversation started off friendly enough, albeit sad. The woman next to me was concerned about a friend sitting in first class. The pair is traveling together, but only one got upgraded. Her friend is in the final stages of lung cancer, so of course my seatmate is deservedly concerned about her.

Our conversation turns to the normal chit-chat that I have to admit I usually avoid on flights. She’s from London originally, hence the accent I noticed she has but she was right it had mellowed since she’s lived in Memphis a long time. I’d been running all day and was just glad to be on the final leg of this trip.  I asked what she does and she says mostly volunteer work now.  She asks me and I reply that I work in the cotton business for a company that improves seeds… its Monsanto & the seeds are called Deltapine.

There was an audible gasp, and her eyes opened so much it startled me. She said “Monsanto is evil.” This is where the stress came in. I have read this before, but the fact that I was hearing it today since I’d been making a lot of effort to stay positive seemed like a test. Really. And to have the person, who I’ve pleasantly visited with for five minutes, looking right at me like I’m evil, having just said that heard I am part of Monsanto. It was certainly a test…a test of the Janice-response system.

Seriously, how often do you call someone evil & mean it? She was dead serious. This was no joke like when friends pull a practical joke & you jokingly say they are evil for playing along.

I paused and glanced out the window at the terminal wishing for a minute I had simply missed the flight, but I knew I had to have more of a conversation.  And while I didn’t take notes, I started typing once the conversation had drifted off …. me to my i-pod and her to a book.  I began to write quickly so I could capture what had just occurred. Hopefully that would make it more accurate.

I turned after catching my breath… “What about Monsanto, exactly, makes you think we are evil?”

“The whole monopoly… biotechnology… forcing your products on the third world… everything.  I am much more of an organic person.”

I explain that I’ve worked in agriculture for almost 20 years, and a little more than two of those years have been at Monsanto.  I’m very comfortable with what we do here. In fact, I have a deep confidence that we are helping improve the world.  I also have a brother who farms organically & I don’t think we have to pick a single way to produce food, but that a combined approach may be best.  I grin and say that I know if my brother and I can talk diplomatically, we can as well.  She laughs and agrees.

“Okay, I’d like to understand a bit more. I don’t see how we can be accused of being a monopoly when my chief competition is DuPont, Bayer, etc. We do ag & ag only. And we do it really well.”

She acknowledges we have major competitors.  Biotech food really bothers her.  She brought up not wanting fish genes in her tomatoes (our company site has a post on this mistaken rumor).  On biotech…I ask if she is familiar with the different kinds of biotech.  I ask if she knows about insect-protected plants, because that was what first exposed me to biotech.  She doesn’t so I want to explain how I see it.

To me, Bollgard has made the third world a better, healthier place. Early in my career, I had the chance to talk to some researchers at Rutgers and Auburn who were studying life expectancy and medical issues in rural China.  Health in these areas, even life expectancy was better.  Similar research seemed to indicate women farmers and their children in Africa were faring better as well.  And I had heard first- and second-hand accounts all those years ago to corroborate the research

I say I’m probably more of a Peace Corps-type person than she could imagine. My earliest work with biotech was alongside a friend who had worked on water systems in Kenya. The friend worked for us in Africa, and I remember how she would tell stories of farmers who used biotech and advanced seed being able to build a second room on their house or send a daughter to school with the increased revenue.  The farmers and my friend attributed this to the difference of increases in income due to biotech. For me, this is a major part of the power of biotech.

As I share my story, she can see my passion for agriculture. That passion has the power of science, but also a deep-seated belief in doing what’s right.

This connects to something I’ve seen first-hand… having had too many chances to see what science can do to heal. How medicine can make a difference, and that I think people forget how interconnected the life sciences are.  My example is a boy that was in my sister’s class one year who had very painful issues with sickle cell.  I sincerely would take anything from me, a fish, a tomato or whatever to help that boy if I could. To me, biotech offers that hope to both the boy struggling with disease and the world struggling to produce food with dwindling resources.

We talk about how the people in the third world have the right to make decisions for themselves. I believe people deserve the opportunity to produce food for themselves so starvation isn’t such a plague. When I share this belief with people, it is frequently met with a similar concept…my seatmate brought up birth control .   I’ve gotten strangely used to hearing people bring up population control it seems as the option to growing more food.  But I don’t see it as either or.

My friend Percy from South Africa has been on a personal mission for more than a decade trying to get better information out in that country.  It’s not just about unwanted pregnancy, but about stopping the spread of HIV, which has a horrible effect in many African countries.  I agree with Percy’s concept–that educating people about practices and providing them access to different technologies can make a difference Biotech certainly has followed similar paths in other places, make it so children aren’t required to farm, let them go to school, let them improve their lives, and people see a different future for themselves.  Of course my concept around access and education includes a comprehensive approach–birth control, education, agriculture, etc.

I was glad to see that this woman, who seemed so friendly, appeared interested in having the conversation rather than shutting her mind down to it.  And I was a bit proud of myself for being able to hang in there.  No doubt directly calling someone evil can be a bit of a hindrance to constructive conversation.  After several minutes of ag discussion, we turned to other topics.

We talked about the care her friend was getting for her cancer (same specialist my grandmother used and one of the best). They were returning from a wedding in Pittsburgh, and there was a series of things happening there too…flights were complicated. Both of their husbands had to take alternate routes.

She was surprised to hear we live within a few miles of each other in Memphis, shop at the same bookstore and we love the same appetizer at a local restaurant.  She was still surprised about my brother farming organically, and that I shop at the Fresh Market and Trader Joe’s at times.  I was surprised the mention of Trader Joe’s brought up the idea of a petition to support its arrival in Memphis.  I’d seen one online requesting a Trader Joe’s but was surprised when she said  she didn’t sign because she worries Memphis couldn’t support both a Trader Joe’s and a Whole Foods.  We both got a knowing laugh when I asked if that meant she supported Whole Foods having a monopoly.

Seriously though, the conversation started with what could have been an absolute ender for me if I had “bowed up.”  (Note: guess this is a southern phrase, but it means to get mad and strike back.)  But I took it as a chance to simply have a discussion.  Not to shutdown due to the insult I felt, whether it was intended or not.  As we prepared for the arrival in Memphis, she said she may see me at the bookstore.  And I replied, maybe you’ll keep looking for information on what we talked about – maybe even talk to a few farmers.  She said she had a friend who farmed cotton.  He’s told her he couldn’t imagine farming without our technology, which was reassuring to me.  I left reminding her how drought technology could be critical in a world with diminishing resources.

It was really good to get home.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34377758/ns/business-retail/

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-secret-santa,0,1796440.story

Ok, so you’re back in town. You drank too many margaritas. You threw ‘hunger’ to the wind at your all-inclusive & ate at the buffet/human trough more times than you can remember, and you may have forgotten to workout “enough” on vacation.

Yes, we found a sushi bar in Mexico & yes, it was good.

No this does not totally describe me right now. Not totally. Too many margaritas? Yes. But I like to workout, vacation or not, and I just can’t eat crazy things like many people would do on vacay due to the Gluten-Free thing & because I just wouldn’t eat until I was stuffed…ever.

But coming back from vacation where workout schedules, nutritional profiles, and vitamin/supplement routines were anything BUT routine – this is my chance to share with you exactly how to get your body back to “optimal” after it’s been bombarded by alcohol, extra calories, too little water, and only a few workouts to balance all the laying on the beach.

Does this only work after you come back from vacation & are ready to get on track? Nope! In here you’ll find the perfect Tips for getting back on track after any absence from ‘optimal’ i.e. when the New Year is looming quickly & you are realizing you need to get truly serious about your health, wellness & fitness.

Bouncing Back to Optimal: The Guide

1. Start sending breakdown & repair signals as soon as possible. i.e. go for a workout – cardio or weights – it doesn’t matter which.

• If your body has been sedentary for days or weeks, simply getting a renewed signal to it that says “Hey, there’s some extra workload now. We better burn off a few of these calories. While we’re at it, we better break down this old decaying stuff & start rebuilding with newer materials!” will be the catalyst you need to start boosting your metabolism again.
• What to do:
  • Go for 35-60 mins at a pace of strength training or cardio that you can do throughout, but DON’T go at the same pace the whole time. Break up the intensity like a rolling hill, rising then recovering then rising again.

2. It’s critical to re-balance your gut – failing to do so will decrease the effectiveness of any healthy food or supplement.

• Any period of time of excess – drinking, eating – not only adds lbs., it can massively affect your gut health (your stomach & intestines). Your gut is only secondary to your brain in quantity of nerves & vital functions. Mess this up & the whole kit-and-caboodle is messed up i.e. functions you’d never relate to your gut go hay-wire. 
• Commonly, in a gut that has taken on the excesses of food & drink, you’ll find an overgrowth of Candida(a yeast normally found in the gut, but when allowed to over-produce, it wreaks havoc throughout the body), an imbalanced pH, & possibly even a development of food allergies/sensitivities.
• Candida overgrowth result in a myriad of symptoms: recurrent yeast infections, oral thrush, brain fog, congestion, stomach upset, skin irritations, and more things than I can list on this page.
• pH balance regulates your entire body – get the wrong pH going in your blood, and you die. Imbalanced pH in the gut messes with the body’s functions for producing energy & water – the two things you need to survive.
• Food allergies/sensitivities can develop from an overconsuption of a certain food or food type, or from the body missing out on key vitamins & minerals to break down said food & thus the body views it as an inflammatory response & attacks, rather than befriends the food.
• What to do:
  • **Getting on a probiotic as soon as possible will help re-populate the gut with friendly flora, thus leading your gut ecology closer to a balanced atmosphere where the good flora can do their thing & keep the “bad” flora to a minimum. And as I’ve said before, Activia does not count – that’s just a sugar-filled yogurt dressed up in a savvy-marketing dress.
  • **Consider taking digestive enzymes. When taken at the start of the meal, they send the proper enzymes to the gut, who may not be making enough of their own, & help to break down the food as it comes. This is important because if you’re eating a banana, or a piece of chicken, if you want to absorb the nutrients from the banana or chicken, you need enzymes in your stomach to break them down & use them.
  • Get on your vitamin/supplement schedule ASAP so that a complete spectrum of nutrients is getting into your body & assisting every single function in your body.

3. Run to the foods that will feed your whole body, not just your craving. You got to do enough ‘craving’ in your “off-time.”

• Eating sweets, salty foods, and fatty foods WILL create an increased desire for more of those foods in the future. This is what every food producer knows & thus why most foods sold in fast-food & sit-down places are some combo of sweet, salty and/or fatty.
• Choosing certain foods will provide ample amounts of key vitamins & nutrients that will help you to balance out your body & manage down your cravings for unhealthy foods.
• What to do:
  • Eat the superheroes of nutrition - beets, kale, broccoli, spinach, salmon, blueberries/raspberries, organic pastured eggs, coconut oil, colorful vegetables like red peppers, asparagus & red onion – along with lean/clean proteins & healthy fats from olive oil, real butter, & real dairy.
  • Avoid any foods that promote inflammation (head over to the ‘nutrition’ section for articles on inflammation & food additives for more info).
  • DO NOT SEVERELY CUT CALORIES. You’ll only gain weight in the end. Eat enough to be 80% full at each meal & be sure to eat every 4 hours, at least.
• The superheroes of nutrition all help balance your pH by creating an alkaline environment in your body, as well as bring you great nutritional properties such as:
• …beets - full of K2, which sends calcium everywhere it’s supposed to go (the bones), and nowhere it’s not supposed to go (the heart), as well as play a role in supporting the adrenals & thyroid…
• …kale- rich in vitamins A,K, & C and acts as an internal detoxifier & has been shown time & again to lower the chance of getting cancer.
• …coconut oil- rich in lauric acid, found also in mothers’ milk, it helps support a healthy metabolism & acts as an anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-microbial…can’t think of a better way to boost immunity than this!
• …real butter & dairy - NOT “I Can’t Believe it’s not whatever” & not not-from-nature-pink yogurt – the real deal foods are where you’ll find the healthy properties of high protein (yogurt), lauric acid & easily absorbable vitamin A to assist in adrenal function (butter), even more probiotics to boost gut health (yogurt), lecithin- which assists in cholesterol metabolism & Activator X-which helps in mineral breakdown/use in the body (butter).

4. ASAP make a date with your Blackberry/iPhone/PDA to set dates to sweat almost every day of your life, till death do you part.

• I can’t stress it enough people, your body needs regular, repeated signals of exertion to trigger the flood of rebuilding chemicals in your body & to slow the decay chemicals. Every species on the planet is here today because they evolved through actions or non-actions; had we been lazy a million years ago, and not taken action in life to hunt, gather, and run from killer animals, we’d probably not look like the humans we see today. If the rate of overweight & obese people in this world continues to rise, humans a thousand years from now will either cease to exist or will exist as something new- fat, slothenly walruses types.
• I’m proud of you if you start by taking a walk around the block, but remember, you must work hard enough to break a sweat. It doesn’t have to be a buckets of sweat workout, but enough to perspire & feel like you’re working. It’s called a WORKout for a reason. If it were called a RESTout, it would be easy. It’s a workout folks, make it hard. If you don’t know how, search this site for workouts in the Tip of the Week section, the fitness section, and/or contact me directly for personal coaching.

Start on these things immediately & you will begin to feel a change in your body in 24 to 48 hours – IF you get your mindset right. If you do this kicking & screaming the whole way, then don’t even do it because you won’t feel any different except to feel deprived. But! If you want to feel great, look great, and live an optimal well life – then I say, welcome back! Let’s get this baby going!

**While writing this week’s tip, it hit me how much more I have to say on this topic. Keep checking back for follow-up Guides, or possibly even an e-book, depending on just how much I really do have to say on just these 4 Tips (and I can already think of a bunch of other things to off-shoot to you from here) so I hope you’ll stay connected to Fit For Real Life as we finish out 2009 & swing into 2010!

Well, with a 27 degree cold smack, I’m back in town & getting back to business & blogging! I’ve brought back some fun & informative video about managing your fitness during vacation & some pics of fabulous dinners & workouts we partook in while on vacation. Plenty of those to come this week!

Last night & today though, was all about getting back in the right mindset – and while that did mean determining what needed to get into the daily schedule & when, getting the first workout back home in, & grocery shopping for all the right foods – it also meant focusing on having the best positive mental attitude possible about being back & returning to work soon. (Keeping this picture in my mind as a memory of how blessed life can be certainly helps!)

It is very common for people to act very bah-humbug upon returning from a vacation, especially a warm weather trip that returns the vacationer to cold & gray weather, but that seems to me to be the antithesis of everything the vacation was all about.

When you get away from the regular routine, whether it’s for a weekend staycation or a long trip to somewhere warm & exotic, the whole point is to have some fun, relax, get out of the routine, & enjoy what you’ve worked so hard for. The point is to come back to “real” life reinvigorated & refreshed to get back at it with energy that was probably waning before you left for your trip.

So what’s the point of getting back & being a real cranky-pants about “reality” & the weather & the work waiting for you on Monday? It only un-does everything you set your mindset up for on your vacation.

*The most obvious lesson I was able to see in the Mexicans while on vacation? Life is really not that serious that you need to stress out about it. Whether in the resort or out in the city, I never came across one Mexican who seemed stressed, P.O.’d, or cranky in any way. Even though it was evident that the majority of Mexicans live on not-very-much when compared to Americans & that much of the work done by Mexicans in resort towns is service work for tourists who do not attempt too heartily to speak their language, they never seemed slighted or annoyed by anything. There simply was not the air of stress, anxiety, or unhappiness that seems so much more prevalent in our country.

So I urge you, as we move toward Resolution Time for the New Year, consider re-evaluating your overall stress level & the level of stress you allow for different areas of your life. For example, there was an American couple that was a part of a horse ride that we did; the wife would not shut up for the entire ride about one complaint or another. Mind you, they were on vacation, in a tropical setting, riding a horse around a beautiful island at a relaxed & fun pace… and she was complaining. Talk about idiotic. She needed to re-evaluate that which stresses her out & make some changes.

Complaining vocally or as part of an internal monologue simply reinforces negative thought patterns & negative energy around you. Does it take work to stop doing it if you’ve done it for a long time – sometimes without even realizing you’re doing it? You bet. Is it going to be even more difficult if you choose to surround yourself with people who complain with you, or even worse, who stand idly by as you complain? You better believe it. Ready to do some work to make your life better? Then get on your horse & make it happen! There’s plenty of material here for you to get started & more posted regularly. Here’s me gettin’ on my horse!

Even if you can’t get away for a little vacay right now, taking one day to break your routine & simply relax & enjoy something different in your life – a random workday off to go downtown & do something fun, a Saturday that you skip chores & errands to go have brunch with a friend or a Sunday that you intentionally plan nothing but sleeping in, playing with your kids or going for that long, non-rushed workout that is so hard to fit in on the typical Tuesday – can be pivotal in renewing your energy, your positive mental attitude & your spirit for doing what you do – that is, to be YOU – every day.

Jason O’Neill started his company at age 9 and helps raise money to buy teddy bears for sick children. Read more about his story below.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34130756/ns/us_news-giving/

Kids, costumes and doughuts, oh my!

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/11/26/dnt.il.doughnut.eating.contest.wqad

I saw this story on ESPN and was truly moved.  Not only by the story itself, and the coaches and players who did such a marvelous thing, but by Jake’s amazing attitude and maturity.

The part that’s truly touching is that he keeps the same attitude after surgery that he had before.  Jake Olson’s example reminds us to be grateful for what we have and helps us to remember that no loss demands a loss of a positive attitue.

Watch the story and tell me what you think.

Jh-

PS USC gets their Victory over UCLA

It’s summer here with longer days and sunlight till late. Good times.

Yesterday started as a good day and finished in a disaster. Well… sometimes trying to be positive makes you stupid, especially when there certainly is nothing positive in a situation. But- I still firmly hold that your well-being is vastly in your mind, in how you feel, in the degree of positivity in your outlook. Vastly; though there are some external factors- too.

Sometimes it’s hard to ignore those external factors. Not impossible, but hard.

Sometimes the grass seems greener on the other side and you long to fly away or sleep till the dark nights are over. But on second thought- it’s summer here and it’s sunlight till late- and nothing is impossible. Obstacles are just a way of life. When was giving up was ever an option and when was it super-easy?

I may sometimes wish I was somewhere else, doing something else- but the grass? They are the same everywhere, or only slightly greener.

Need to remember that.

All November long Ellen Degeneres has been giving away dough to people in need. Check out one of the surprised winners below:

I was listening to the radio this morning and the local dj’s said that this year instead of buying their co-workers gifts, they were going to use the money for gifts and give to a family in need. If you are wondering what to get your mom or aunt Mildred this holiday season, why not make a donation to a charity of their choice. Or why not ask your family or co-workers to donate gifts instead of giving gifts to each other. So this year give to a charity and help out others who need it this Christmas.

There is an artist from Boston, Bren Bataclan, who leaves his small paintings around the city with a note attached that says “This painting is yours if you promise to smile at random people more often.” For more information, his website/artist statement is below:

http://www.bataclan.com/smile_boston_project_secondary/sbp_artist_statement.html

L. D. Turner

 At Sacred Mind Ministries and LifeBrook International we have as part of our ongoing mission statement to provide publications, materials, and programs to assist individuals and organizations to:

 Become the optimal version of themselves for the glory of God and the benefit of others.

 After many years working with people that are sincere about living a life of excellence we have discovered many interesting things about what works with people and what doesn’t. Further, by the grace of God, we have been given enough wisdom to weed out those elements that are non-productive and, in contrast, strengthen those elements that seem to be beneficial.

 Today, I want to talk about two principles that we have found that are absolutely essential if you want to make positive changes in your life and grow toward becoming the person God designed you to be, wants you to be, and equipped you to be. It goes without saying that there are more than two principles involved in our spiritual growth, but in the context of this brief article, let’s limit our discussion to a pair of principles that are foundational. These are: Positive Thinking and Open-Mindedness.

 Let’s briefly explore the first principle, which can be stated this way: thought is the ancestor of action. What we do begins in our thoughts and eventually is translated into our actions. In light of this fact, if we truly wish to develop our capacities, grow more consistently with fluency and grace, and live more effective and productive lives the place we must begin is with our thinking. The formula is really quite simple. Positive thoughts translate themselves into positive actions. Negative thoughts translate into negative actions. Positive actions, in turn, promote growth and development. Negative actions result in wasted effort, stagnation, and lack of fulfillment.

 The good news in all of this is that we are masters of our own destiny in regards to improving the level at which we live. Of course, all of us have natural limitations to our talent. However, the fact remains that we can stretch that talent much farther just by believing in ourselves and trusting that we have as a divine partner, a dynamic Spirit that will come to our aid.

 Let me repeat the statement, “thought is the ancestor of action“. In applying biblical principles of spiritual growth we must keep this principle before us at all times. You learn to live the way you want to live when you learn to think what you want to think. It all starts in the mind. Granted, there are many things in the world that you cannot change through your thinking. But the one thing you can certainly change is yourself! So start with yourself. If you want to improve yourself remember:

 Create your own positive thought and you become what you desire to become because the truth of the matter is that your thought creates your experience.

 Let me repeat, it is your thoughts that determine your attitudes and it is your attitudes that determine your actions. The great American President Thomas Jefferson said it far better than I can:

 Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal. Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

 More than anything else, becoming the optimal version of yourself requires a positive mental attitude at the outset. Without it, failure is guaranteed.

 Attitude is everything. The fact is that we often defeat ourselves before we begin a project or pursue a goal. The cause of this self-defeat is negative thinking. In order to grow and develop we have to embrace a more positive outlook on life. We must incorporate into our being the firm belief that I can if I think I can. It really is as simple as that. Base your life on this belief and you will see miracles happen every day!

 I think it is tragic that many people fail to utilize simple, spiritual principles because of just that: they seem too simple. I remember reading in the autobiography of Robert Schuller an episode regarding this issue. Shortly before he was due to graduate from seminary, young Robert had the opportunity to go to a lecture being delivered by Norman Vincent Peale. Being the brilliant young theologian that he was, Schuller relates that he felt this would largely be a waste of his time because Dr. Peale was “too simplistic.” Schuller had just completed his major graduation paper, had studied deeply in arcane theological texts, and figured he pretty much knew all there was to know. Certainly, someone who wrote things as superficial and trendy could have nothing to say that would be meaningful to someone as deep as he was.

 After the lecture by Dr. Peale, Schuller and his classmates joked about how shallow the message was and, like all good young students of religion, believed they were just far too sophisticated to be bothering with such petty lectures. My, how interestingly God works sometimes.

 Schuller ended up receiving mail outs from Peale’s ministry and, to make a long story short, something Peale said hit Schuller right between the eyes. Eventually, Robert Schuller in a sense became Peale’s successor. And more amazing, Schuller began writing the same kind of simplistic books that Peale did. I recall that back in the early ‘70’s, when I first read Move Ahead With Possibility Thinking I believed it was far too simplistic, sophomoric, and a complete waste of my time. After all, I had two Bachelors Degrees, a Masters Degree, and was working on a second Masters Degree. The pop psychology offered up by Schuller was far beneath my great intellect. Now I know better, thanks to the Lord. I’ll get back to Dr. Schuller in the second part of this article. For whatever reasons, Robert Schuller is a controversial figure among Christians. I find this an unfortunate reality, but a reality nonetheless. Like I said, more on this later.

 One of the greatest lessons that I have learned in my life, and learned with great difficulty I might add, is expect the best and the best will come to you. Get out of all your old negative habits of thinking and be open to new, positive patterns of affirmation. Develop a joyous and optimistic outlook on each day. Fall in love with life and live it fully. Above all, develop the habit of positive thinking. Believe in yourself! Believe in your abilities! Be confident! Be Proactive! Take the following affirmative words, by Robert Schuller actually, and plant them deep within your mind:

 I am!

I can!

I will!

I believe!

 This may seem very simple and, in fact, it is. Yet it is this very simplicity that makes positive thinking so powerful and profound. If you don’t believe, try it out for six months and see what happens.  In fact, why don’t you, the reader, do that. Do a bit of research on simple practices like positive thinking. Work with affirmative prayer, praying the scriptures according to the positive themes contained in the Bible, and pray for the Holy Spirit’s assistance in helping you to think more constructively and optimistically.  Give it six months and see what happens. The results will astound you!

   In addition to being positive about our ability to be formed into the likeness of Christ, we also need to develop an attitude of openness. By this I simply mean that in order to make progress, we have to do things differently than we have in the past. This, my friend, means we have to encounter change. Many of us avoid change, choosing to stay with the familiar, with the status quo. Unfortunately, if we want to grow we have to change. And, if we want to change, we have to be flexible in our approach to life and open to new ways of doing things.

 The one sure thing that can keep a person in everlasting ignorance is a closed mind. To live a life based on spiritual principles is to always strive to be open to new ideas, new concepts, and fresh and invigorating ways of doing things. So often many of us go about our daily rounds, living life in the same routine way and responding to the events of the day in the same old ritualistic ways that we always have. The same is true for our thinking. We think the same kind of thoughts, hold the same views and opinions, and approach life in the same timeworn way that we always have. No matter that some of these behaviors and thought patterns are non-productive and destructive. We cherish them because they are familiar and comfortable.

 By living this way we never have to stretch our minds. The process of spiritual formation along biblical lines challenges this way of being and encourages us to venture out into new ways of doing things and fresh ways of thinking. We are challenged to look at things from a different perspective and, when we do, we are transformed – changed in a positive way. Paul called this “renewing the mind” and basically said this was the foundation stone of personal and spiritual development. Oliver Wendell Holmes said it so well: Man’s mind, stretched to a new idea, never goes back to its original dimension.

 Making this worn out way of thinking worse is the fact that the Holy Spirit may be trying to communicate with us. The blessed Spirit may be trying to show us a new and healthier way to view a specific issue or theme or may be trying to get across an important truth that we need to understand in a fresh way. If we have a closed mind that allows for no “out of the box” thinking, then we may indeed be guilty of quenching the Spirit.

 Open-mindedness and positive thinking are two fundamental qualities that are great aids in growing as a Christian. Without these two tools, we can, and many often do, end up existing rather than living. Rather than being renewed in our faith and branching out into new ways of serving the Master, we choose instead to remain mired in chronic negativity and close-minded imprisonment. As a result, many of us never use our God-given, Spirit-inspired gifts for the establishment of the kingdom. More than a few of us go to our graves with our dream still locked away inside of us, incarcerated in a prison of our own making.

 The irony here, and at the same time the good news, is the fact that you hold the key. The question thus becomes: Will you use it?

 © L.D. Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved

This is my latest blog post over at WeAretheRealDeal. You can read it here or after the jump.

I was a sophomore in college, mending a broken heart and pretty bummed about the state of my life at the moment when, during a dorm-room chat, a (very blunt) friend looked at me point-blank and said, “Oh, Meliss, you’ll be fine. You’d be happy in a pile of mud.”

A pile of mud!? Really?! Ouch.

My first instinct was to be insulted, and to be honest, I was for a few minutes.

I mean, I’d been lovingly teased by friends for being a glass-half-full person, someone who was perpetually happy (it’s not a big surprise that I spent half my life cheerleading) … and while I (like everyone) had my moments … for the most part, I was happy most of the time.

But having never been told anything that cut like this, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that her comment stung.

It stung because it not only dismissed my feelings at the time (I was, as I noted, heart-broken and feeling uncharacteristically down), but it seemed like she was making a broader statement — that I was the kind of person who would settle for anything; that it was expected I would just put up with any unpleasant situation naively, blissfully unaware.

And those things didn’t ring true.

Yet the more I thought about it, the more I realized the underlying truth in what she was saying — and that it was, in actuality, a backhanded compliment — whether she realized it or not. I brushed her words off, never forgetting them, but vowing not to dwell on them, either.

The truth is, she was right — I do tend to make the best out of situations. Sure, some situations are easier than others to tackle, but I still try to make the best of them.

Experience has taught me that negativity gets you nowhere; it might be hard to find silver lining, but I can usually find something. (Case in point–getting over the aforementioned heart-ache gave way to meeting my now-husband two years later!)

And so while her comment stung, it didn’t leave a real scar on this optimist. No — instead, all these years later, that comment — and my emotional tie to it — is still is emblazoned in my mind as one of those “defining moments” where you realize who you are, and accept yourself for who you are.

The truth is, I am an optimist, and I’m not ashamed of it. I was raised to see the good in life and to try to find the bright side even when one doesn’t exist. My parents aren’t pessimists, and, not surprisingly, neither are my siblings and I.

And over the years I’ve come to really embrace my positive, optimistic attitude toward life. Necessity taught me that at an early age.

If I (or my family) had gotten bitter when I was 8 years old and our house burned down, where would I/we be today? We couldn’t wallow in our shared agony after that icy January day in 1988 that profoundly changed life as we knew it.

No, we had to literally pick ourselves up, deal with the tragedy of losing our home and all our possessions and our sense of security … and move on. There simply was no other option.

And even today, we say we think our house burning down brought our already-close family even closer together: a blessing in disguise, if you will.

And here’s another example — when my husband and I were dating long-distance internationally for five years after college, people called us crazy, pinning all our hopes and dreams to one another.

But we loved each other, and he’s as much an optimist as I am (perhaps even moreso?!) … so while it wasn’t always easy (and I’m ridiculously, notoriously impatient), we clung to faith in each other that somehow, someday, we’d find a way to be together.

And sure enough, our positive outlook (and patience) paid off– in the same week, we got engaged in Italy and came back to D.C. where we discovered he had a job offer waiting for him (the job that ended up bringing us here to Michigan).

Those are just two examples of many, where a positive outlook helped me through a challenging situation. I believe that having a positive outlook — or being able to re-frame a negative situation (thank you, therapy!) — is one of the keys to a happy life.

I also know having a positive outlook helped me get where I am today with respect to my disordered eating recovery. I had to truly believe I could stop the unhealthy behaviors — and I did. I needed a positive frame of mind, though, to get there.

Along these lines, we’ve heard of lots of studies that have proven the emotional/mental benefits to positive thinking, but a recent study from the University of Pittsburgh featured in the December issue of SELF magazine also seems to show physical benefits to thinking positive. This was news to me!

(Note: though I vowed to never again read SELF magazine after the Kelly Clarkson cover debacle, my subscription hasn’t run out and I can’t have a magazine sitting here unread so … forgive me for going back on my word).

Per the article, “Women who focus on the bright side may experience less stress, which makes them less likely to become sick. Silver lining seekers have a 9 percent lower risk of developing heart disease and a 14 percent lower risk of dying–from any cause–than do pessimists.”

Wow–I have to say, I loved seeing that in print (and I hope my friend who said I’d be happy in a pile of mud sees it, too!) But it’s not really too surprising when you think about it. Knowing there are physical benefits makes having a positive attitude even more of an asset.

After all, to quote my high school cheerleading coach, “Your attitude and your aptitude determine your altitude.”

And if all else fails, I’m going to keep in mind that mud — in a pile or otherwise — makes for a great facial.

How about you? Are you a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty person? How has positive thinking helped you in your life??

On Thanksgiving, I really count my blessings.  One blessing is that my life in never, ever dull.  Some people just have stuff happen to them.  I am that kind of people. 

Just yesterday I was walking down the hall at the school where I “teach” humming happily and dreaming of turkey.  And yup, fell flat on my face on the tile floor.  I didn’t even trip over anything.!  The worse part is there are security cameras ALL over this place so TA-DA! the whole incident was caught on film.  Somewhere there is a security guard laughing his ass off.  Oh the irony, the gym teacher lady had just wished me a “Nice trip home for Thanksgiving!”

You just have to laugh.  So this Thanksgiving I have to really admit that there are tons of things I am thankful for but, probably, #1 on my list is laughter. 

I hope you are enjoying the heck out of your lives!  God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving.

The other day while I was at school talking to the PE teacher lady.  To quote Dave Barry…I swear I’m not making this up…she deflected no less than seven volleyballs that were flying towards my head.  I have tripped, fallen and been run into (by the kids in class) so much that PE teacher lady now calls me “Twinkle Toes”. 

You see, part of my new job is to go to gym class and help adapt the activities for a young woman (we’ll call her Sandy and this is definitely NOT her name) with downs syndrome.  However, I never played organized sports growing up and my own PE career was decidedly lack luster.  Why?…because I am a human disaster magnet.

But still, I love my new job.  It’s wonderful.  We have a blast.  Well, most of the time…Then there are the times that I generally fall down, get hit in the head with a foot ball, have one of the soccer players trip over me, or walk backwards into the propped open gate.  Sally just absolutely falls apart laughing.  The last time I fell down I had been jogging backwards egging her on…

…you see it was a fitness day, and we were wearing heart monitors, and we were trying to get into our target heart rate zones.  Sally wasn’t having any of it- she kept saying, 

“I can’t!”

“Yes you can! C’mon Sally lets say it together: ‘Yes We Can!” (Thanks Barack.) 

“I can’t”

Splat!

There I was, rolling on the track, clutching my just-been-healed-from-a-chippy-bone-this-summer ankle…trying not to say, “Son of a biscuit! Holy Snapdragons! and GOD BLESS AMERICA!”  And there was Sally just yukkin’ it up.  I must have looked really fierce at that moment because when I yelled from my supine position “GET MOVING!!!!!” that girl took off at a dead sprint.

Awesome.

Oh cruddy cookies here comes another volleyball.  It’s only a matter of time before I get a black eye. 

As we grow older, one thing we get really good at is telling “our story.” Our story is made up of everything that got us to where we are now. What our story was not meant  to be, though, was a crutch- or explanation-  for why we are (or are not) one thing or another.

A new day dawns on your story...where will you take it today?

I get the pleasure of being a part of many peoples’ lives as they venture into the realm of fitness education via the many fitness consultations I do each week. At this meeting, we sit down & they get to tell me about why they are the way they are, how they got to where they are today, and where they want to get to (which is where I come in!). And time and again, while I appreciate hearing them tell their story & empathizing with each individual, I’m stunned by how one thing kept them from optimal fitness or wellness, which led to another thing, and 3o years later, it’s snowballed into joints that do not move, 50 extra pounds, posture that is painful & crumbling, or diseases that are now requiring big-time dollars to be spent on prescriptions & doctor visits.

We all need to pay attention to whether our “story” is remaining as a descriptive narrative of where we came from and what we did to get there or if it is starting to mold who we become in the future. Something that happened to us in the past does not have to be what determines who you become in the future – however all too often people fall into that very slump. If we allow what we used to be, or what we used to do or not do, determine who we are becoming 30 years later – we are relegating our lives to be only that which we can see already, rather than that which we cannot yet see on the horizon.

What you used to do is not a reliable indicator of what you’re going to do now – unless you fulfill your own prophecy.

What happened to you in the past is not a Magic 8 Ball predictor of what’s going to happen to you in the future – unless you want it to be.

What you’ve never done before is the worst predictor of what you will or won’t do in the future.

But all too often, this is exactly what happens. Many people, without even realizing it, are using things that were part of their story 10 years ago to explain things that are a part of who they are now or will be moving forward. And this should not be the case at all. In fact, if we stop and think of it, many of us, would wish nothing less than to be labeled by how we were in our youth, or our reckless 20’s, or in our self-serving-career 30’s- or whatever your “less than your best” part of your story was.

Each person has the choice every day to re-invent themselves as someone who learned from the mistakes of yesterday, to grow from the choices of last week & to decide that today is just as good as any day to totally re-define life as they know it. We must simply choose to recognize that we are not victims of our circumstance, in fact, we create our circumstance! And one thing that happens today, should in no way determine the ultimate fate of all that you are.

This is so vitally important with health & fitness because we are never sitting still on the road to or from health. We are either moving toward more optimal health or further away from it. Our body is continuously sending signals out that tell body parts to either keep growing, renewing parts for younger, more vital organs OR to break down & decay without growing any new, youthful parts to replace them. So regardless of if you worked out every day for 10 years but quit when you got married, or if you never exercised because ‘that’s just not what people your age did,’ there is no time like the present to get yourself on the path to being the most optimally health, fit & well you.

Your story may have said one thing about you in the past, but with the awareness to revise your story regularly, you’ll write a whole new chapter in no time & may just be pleasantly surprised at the chapters that come along after that!

Welcome to SISU, all about never giving up.

SISU in Finnish means “perseverance” and this has been my motto in life. We need to persevere in everything we do, otherwise it’s just not worth it. Just when you are about give up, try one last time; that’s using your “SISU“.

I believe in having a positive outlook on life at all times, no matter how bad a situation gets, it will improve. The more you think good thoughts, the better your life will be. I know it sounds easy, but just try, you might be surprised by the outcome.

I will regularly focus on the different ways that you can use your SISU to get what you want.

Enjoy life and hope to see you soon

Monika