REFLECTION

Many of you may be in the process of reflection, but truly it is something that should be done on a daily basis, and not only when the New Year rolls around.  The word itself screams to take a look at me/you/us and speaking personally, I include all areas of my life and not just my physical well-being.  I imagine a big mirror in front of me and gazing into that, I ask myself�am I happy with the person that I am physically, emotionally and spiritually? If any of the answers come up as a big negative, it is time to implement a change to create a better, healthier ME.  It is hard to deny the things that need fixing when I am staring back at me waiting for the action to make that happen.  Of course, I can close my eyes, put the mirror away, brush things under the rug, and procrastinate and get to it later�or not, and well, just continue to live in denial. 

I am a mover and a shaker, and strive to change, progress, and become a better me today than I was yesterday and that takes a choice.  Sure, I could avoid those things that need to be done, because maybe I want to hold onto some sort of drama, negative feelings about the past, or circumstance and continue to play the �blame card� of this is the reason I am the way I am.  I have learned in this journey of life, that this type of thinking results in a life of unhappiness, bitterness, resentment, jealousy, and paralyzes the brain to make appropriate healthy life choices.  Honestly, this type of thinking creates a person that is not a joy to be around unless the company being kept is another negative person also playing the victim card of life.  It is so important in our life reflection to also look at the type of people we associate with, and I always ask myself�does this relationship nourish my soul and grow me in a positive way as a person?

Reflection is huge in the scheme of life and change for the healthy.  It should cause deep thought into living our passions, being real with who we are, and having the ability to share that with ourselves and others.  There is too much hiding behind the crap of excuses, circumstances, and laziness to change and I apologize if that sounds offensive, as my intention is to motivate and never discourage.  Sometimes, a draft of really cold air needs to slap us in the face and wake us up to the reality of what is going on in our own life, and hopefully that leads to taking a step further to change what needs to be changed.  Otherwise, we continue to go along living a �fake� life, hiding behind �out of our control� drama, negativity, and looking for validation for unhealthy habits.  What is even sadder, is enablement of this type of lifestyle�YES, there are those who feed into the ugliness of negative and validate the behavior which enables someone caught in this shit storm to continue living this way. 

Reflection also causes us to see our physical self in a way that makes us happy or not.  What it comes down to is me/you/us and the mirror, standing naked before the reflection and staring back at the image, we need to ask �do I LOVE what I see�.  It is important to always love yourself at every level of health and as long as steps are being taken to become a healthier us each day.  If the answer to the question is �no�, then what steps need to be implemented to change this?  Be honest here and strive for the happiness that you want, the health that you need and deserve.  If you tell me that you are happy in an unhealthy state and if I shared that with you�how would that make sense?  The point I am trying to make, is that we all have our best healthy-self hidden inside what may be an unhealthy body today, but that does not mean that tomorrow needs to remain the same.   Reflection requires that hard honest look and further to take the actions necessary to bring about changes that move us in a progressive healthy direction. 

Reflection is not a fad or temporary fix, but part of the process to make a LIFESTYLE change and create a healthy body that will be maintained for life. Reflection causes us to get into our �mental game� and start putting the puzzle pieces together of what is wrong and how does it get fixed.  It all starts with what is going on between the ears, and once the reflection is honestly accepted, and the feelings that go with that, then changes can begin to create a healthier person, and then that lifestyle change will create a reflection that we will be happy to know for a lifetime.

Enjoy a beautiful and healthy Happy New Year!!!!

Me and My Mom

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Stay Healthy

?

Darla

Having a Relationship with Myself

Just ME

If I did not have a GREAT relationship with myself, I would be a complete mess.  This is just not a physical existence for me, but a very deep spiritual bond with God, and being truly content with me and my life.  The healthy lifestyle that I maintain comes from how I treat myself, how I allow others to treat me, how that is perceived, how I grow from my journey, continually being enlightened by both positive and negative experiences, setting healthy boundaries, and wrapping all that up into how I respond to life�s circumstances. 

 

As I have journeyed through this life, I have suffered physically and emotionally and would not be honest if I did not say that I have felt the sting of both from time to time even now.  The difference in the now is my past experiences have been a life education on how to love myself enough to see things and handle things in a healthy way, and navigate through boundaries that I now have to take

care of me.  A great example would be a person that has hurt me emotionally through an insensitive act or words.  I have realized that this has nothing to do with me or who I am as a person, but all about the offender not knowing how to be sensitive or compassionate in that moment.  Would it hurt�well of course but the important thing is realizing the behavior is not my fault, and even more important is responding to it in the healthiest way possible.  The best part about life is learning through the experiences, being enlightened by what is acceptable and not acceptable, not reliving the unacceptable, and �the knowing� of what is wanted and not wanted.  Looking at all things this way has created a healthy perspective of circumstances and a clear understanding  that God wants me to learn something from the situation and possibly create a circumstance that I will be able to help others going through a similar experience in the future.   Emotional growth has not been an overnight learning method of how to handle things, but a cultivation of experiences, over time that has developed my emotional self and created a bit of thicker skin as well in a positive way. 

Having a relationship with me also includes my physical day to day actions.  Believe me, there are days where I need to be In Your Face MOTIVATED to get my bootie moving to workout.  I feel very comfortable eating healthy a very high percentage of the time, but as I get older, I find that the workouts are my more difficult area and because of that, I have become wiser with my workouts.  This has become an enlightenment experience for me as well as some days I will be gang busters and full of pep in my step, and other days�OH MY�throw a towel over my ARC trainer monitor and beep when it is over.  I have also fine tuned my fitness training using what works for my body to reduce/avoid the chance of aggravation.  Nothing is worse than aggravating an injury during a workout and spending days rehabilitating something that could have been prevented.  My relationship with my physical health is all about HEALTH and feeling great, not so much on how great I will look on the outside.  Although, I do appreciate that my outward appearance is a reflection of living a healthy life.  I also want to add that I do not feel looking healthy to be a �vain or ego� thing and that it is OK to enjoy the �physical look� of living a healthy lifestyle.  Many people get so caught up in �acceptance�, and I think that is healthy to a point�but not to be taken to an unhealthy one.  No one should accept being in an unhealthy state of life in my opinion...how can that be a happy place or something to accept? 

Both the emotional and physical parts of my �self� relationship have taken years

to fine tune and develop, and still nothing in life is great all the time.  Life is not perfect or even easy, and in fact it is all the challenges, bumps in the road, hard work, and experiences that sand down the roughness of our inner and outer shells into smooth, beautiful gems.   Through it all, I have learned to not give up, be patient, and above all to know that I am worthy of great things, and I have definitely learned not to settle for anything less.  Life is too short to not want to be healthy physically and emotionally and the BEST place to start and maintain all that is within ME. 

IN YOUR FACE MOTIVATION

Me with My Fabulous Kids

Thanks for stopping by my Blog and I hope you enjoyed the content.  Let me know by leaving a comment, a LIKE, or whatever you are inspired to do. I look forward to responding, and if you have not become a follower yet, I would love to see your face on my friends list.   

Stay Healthy~ 

Darla 

SIMPLE IS HEALTHY

Balance of Life, part 3

When it comes to Simple is Healthy, I have come to appreciate a balance of work, rest, play and pray.  I used to be a �YES� person with A1 personality type that first, could not say �NO� and second, the �busier the better�.  Always seeming to not be good enough, never satisfied, and always striving for that something that often times I did not understand �WHY�.  Can you relate to that?  I think it stems from feeling unappreciated in my early years, or just not feeling accomplished...going �Darla Deep� here.  Fast forwarding to the Darla of today that has shed that ugly skin�YEAH!!!!

Life�s journey has definitely taught me to love myself in every way and to accept that life is about enjoying it.  Think about that concept�I ENJOY MY LIFE.   I definitely do not want to breathe my last breathe with any regrets, and missing out on the important stuff in life, the real meaningful things that money just does not buy.   This is not to say that I am not goal oriented, strive to be the BEST me at what I do and provide that for my family and clients�I would be a hypocrite if I did or said that�this girl is definitely not lazy.   I am letting you know that my life has come full circle to finding that peace and balance with everything and I no longer run around like a chicken with my head cut off with a go-go-go , do- do- do mentality, and to the point of being so exhausted that my eyes are burning.  It is really OK NOT to be busy all the time, to enjoy some time to be still, to appreciate life and think about all the things in my life that are so wonderful.  Older, wiser, better�I stole that from my hubby and it is so true with my life at this point.  

Contentment is a GREAT word to describe where I am in life.  I love that quote that says �I may not have the best of everything but I make the BEST of everything that I have� and that is really true for me.  I am a no frills kind of gal who does not need to keep up with the Jones�, wear designer clothes or be concerned about that, I enjoy a bargain, getting my hands dirty in the garden, and in the kitchen.  I try to live life with gusto and appreciate the moment�something I took for granted years ago�being so busy being busy and going through the motions that the meaning of the moment was missed.  The �Older, Wiser, Better� Darla of today inhales every moment of every minute and I know that I smile and laugh a lot.  What a fabulous simple healthy difference living life with balance makes and provides such peace and happiness most of the time. 

Maintaining a balanced life with my workouts, nutrition, rest, play and pray is the secret to having a healthy lifestyle for me.  I am no longer hard on myself if I miss a workout or get off track once in awhile on my nutrition plan.  Life has a way of showing me exactly where I need to be, and what I need to be doing and sometimes, my body says�Darla the workout is not happening today�but that nap you need�go for it.  I am a more relaxed person who is very in tune to my body, and listens carefully to my energy levels, any aggravations and responds accordingly.   I can recall feeling guilty taking a nap years ago, like I needed to be doing something all the time and I am so glad that I do not have that mindset anymore. I have nothing to prove to anyone, and maintaining a healthy ME is what matters and of course loving God, hubby, family, friends and taking care of my fabulous clients.  Living life with balance of everything allows for deep breathing, relaxation, and really a release of all the stress and worry that we often bring on ourselves.  Exercise is my �cheap man�s� therapy, and so, yes I have a session at least 5 days per week for a good hour.  Moving on to my passion for cooking which is not only therapeutic for me but also provides my daily �REAL FOOD� intake that keeps me healthy.  Rest is also a big part of my balanced life and I try to get a good night sleep in addition to the occasional nap.  Lastly, my time with self, God and family rounds out the rest of ME that keeps me healthy and living simply. 

In Your Face MOTIVATIONS

Thanks for stopping by my Blog, hope you enjoy the content, and if you have not become a follower yet, I would love to see your face on my friend's list.  If you are inspired, LIKE my entry, leave a comment and I look forward to responding! 

Stay Healthy~ Darla

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