Changing Your Habits Is Like Tending To Your Garden

Changing Your Habits Is Like Tending To Your Garden
A friendly reminder that in order to grow or to make changes, it all takes time.  


Give yourself grace, forgive yourself if you have fallen off the track or stopped working on your goals or changing your habits. 

Don’t compare your process to others, as hard as that is sometimes.   

With it being Spring, it’s a perfect time to drive the point home.
 
When you plant seeds in your garden, do they burst out of the ground the next morning?   No, it takes time for them to grow. 
 
You need to enhance your soil so that your plants have the right growing conditions, you need to fertilize, weed, tend to your gardens each and every week.  

You need to water your plants to help them grow and make sure they have the right amount of sun or shade, depending on the item you are growing.  
 
If you didn’t have a successful garden last year and fail to make any changes, is it reasonable to expect that your garden will be successful this year?
 
I know I have said this before but I’m going to say it again because it’s so true:

“If you change nothing.  Nothing changes.”  ~Joyce Brothers
You will get the same results next year and every year after that, unless you make some changes.  You might have a little bit of change.  

If you don’t tend to your garden weekly by weeding it, eventually the weeds will choke out the plants you want to grow. 

And those plants that need sun, simply won’t grow to their full potential if you plant them in the shade.  And if you forget to water your plants....well, we all know what happens when things get dehydrated, don’t we?
 
As you are planting new seeds for your life, you are: 

  • adjusting your growing environment by being mindful of what you are reading/watching/listening to; 
  • practicing gratitude and enriching your soul; 
  • weeding the garden around you and removing the toxicity around you, including people, your thoughts and the words you are speaking to yourself; 
  • removing yourself from negative people and situations in your life;
  • removing toxic products and habits and replacing them with healthier ones; 
  • nourishing your body with healthier foods, supplements, exercise;  and 
  • empowering yourself to shine by showering yourself with self-love, gratitude, positivity and putting your needs and desires before others. 
By doing all of these, you are tending to the beautiful garden of your life.  

You are making changes to help your life grow in all the ways that are possible.  


Keep tending to your garden everyday and continue to improve the soil you are growing in.  


The possibilities for your life are truly endless but only if we make sure that we are tending to our garden and our environment.

 Give yourself time to work on these changes.  

You are changing habits that you have had for many, many years and it will take a lot of time and effort for you to cultivate the changes you are desiring.  And, those changes are going to be worth it!  

Keep tending to your garden and enjoy reaping the benefits you so deserve!


Which Inner Voice Are You Listening To?

Which Inner Voice Are You Listening To?
It was a foggy morning but it was beautiful.  I had already created my ‘To Do List’ for the day but with the pretty fog outside, the ocean was calling me but

we almost didn’t go.......

While getting ready, the internal dialogue going on in my head was incredible and it was bouncing back and forth from positive talk to negative talk.  


‘It’s going to be so great to go for a walk’ to ‘Your feet are going to hurt…is it worth it?’
‘You are going to feel so great after your walk’ to ‘You’re not going to get everything done today if you waste time going for a walk’.
‘You have to go out to get some groceries so you’re going to be out anyways’ to ‘It’s going to be cold outside; you should stay inside…change what you are going to cook and use what you have instead’
‘You already have enough on your plate for today, why are you adding more?  Stop procrastinating on what you need to do’ to ‘You should stay home and get more stuff down around the house, you can go tomorrow’.

Yup, lots of banter and all because I wanted to go for a walk.  

Crazy right?  You know what’s even crazier?  

That I used to listen to this banter and it would deter me in the past.  I would cave in to my own inner thoughts and allow them to hold me back from doing something positive for myself.

I find it so interesting that I can now recognize when this is happening and I am empowering myself to choose to make a better choice.  

I have always had the ability to do this, I just chose not to. 

I did the Mel Robbins 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and just left my partially enjoyed cup of coffee on the counter, got changed out of my warm and comfy jammies and right into my workout clothes and out the door, I was determined not to let my inner voice stop us from going on our walk.   

Part way through our walk, I even said to my husband, ‘I am so glad we went for our walk’.  I could feel the change in my mood and my energy, just by getting out of the house, being in nature, moving my body and of course, getting a little ocean time didn’t hurt either….LOL.   The added bonus, I gave myself a high-five as I realized that I didn’t allow my inner voice to stop me this morning and it was such a great feeling.

Sure, it took away some time from working on other things on my ‘To Do List’ but what’s more important than taking care of your physical and mental health?  

For me…..Nothing!  

Today’s walk was just another positive step of me putting myself and some self-care first and foremost above everything else.  The dishes and the laundry can wait…my physical and mental health never deserved to be on the backburner and every positive action step I take helps me prove to myself that I’m worthy of taking the time for self-care and my body will thank me.

I AM WORTHY

I AM WORTHY
Our thoughts are SO powerful.  

Our thoughts can either propel us closer to our goals or keep us locked into fear, shame and self-doubt.

We all have dreams and aspirations but do you actually believe that your dreams will come true?

Are you doing whatever you need to make those dreams come true?

Do you believe that you are worthy of your dreams?

Are you allowing other peoples ideas, thoughts, words, judgements to hold you back?  

Are you allowing what others say to you, do to you or you are perceiving them to say to you, stop you from doing what you want to do?

I know I have!!!  

And I can now recognize that it has affected me my entire life and I’m working on re-writing the script and creating new neuropathways to let go of these old beliefs and beliefs that never belonged to me in the first place. 

I have been hurt physically, mentally, lied to, deceived, used and manipulated.  I trust that those that come into my life have good intentions and take people at their word.  And over and over again, those I have let in have hurt me in various ways and some to the core.  And when this hurt happens, it makes me feel like I wasn’t worthy and yet, what I should be thinking is that they are not worthy of me.

When you continually hear negative statements or judgements from those you know and love,
you tend to believe them…and why?  

Because you trust them and yet, the only person we should be trusting is ourselves.  

Other people’s perceptions, ideas, and judgements are theirs and you should NEVER take them to heart.  
You have to remember that some people, not all, but some, don’t want to see you succeed.  
They want to see you fail or make you look bad so that they feel better about themselves.   

The good news is that you get to decide what you believe to be true and should focus on that.  You can certainly hear what they have to say but STOP letting other people’s negative thoughts, words, and actions stick to you like crazy glue.  The words they are speaking over you ARE NOT the truth.   Don’t take on their negativity and allow the beliefs in yourself to diminish.  Stop giving others that power.  Instead, empower yourself to recognize when this is happening and reaffirm to yourself that you ARE worthy of everything you desire.

See, when you want something but you doubt that it will come true, it won’t.  Why?  Because you don’t believe that it will come true or that we deserve it.  When you believe in the negativity of our thoughts, that is what you are putting out into the universe and that is what you will receive and you attract more of the same.   

This week I encountered an issue and I kept saying to myself ‘I can’t figure this out’ and I would end up in tears.  My mind kept replaying all of the negative words and feelings I have felt in the past, that I’m not good enough, I won’t figure it out, I’m not smart enough, I should just quit, I’m a nobody, I am dumb, I’m on the wrong path….all of these negative thoughts and words kept me frozen in self-doubt.  I started looking to others for help and I was spinning my wheels in ‘negativity land’ and it was getting me nowhere and nowhere fast.  

I attended an Aroma Freedom Session by one of my mentors this week around Trust.  And while I started off working on learning to trusting in my abilities, through the session it led me to work through several situations where I have been hurt in the past by loved ones where my trust has been broken.  Once I worked through those feelings and memories, I was able to let them go and move forward.  

I practiced my new affirmation and changed my mindset.   When I started to say ‘I can’t do this’, I recognized what I was saying and flipped it to say ‘I got this…I can figure this out’.  

Once I flipped the words from negative to a positive, I gave myself permission to figure it out,
I believed that I could figure it out and I did.  

I AM Worthy!   

And when I was able to cancel my trip to ‘negativity land’ and allow myself to believe in myself and my abilities, it reaffirmed that I can do this.  I truly can do anything I want to do, if I just believe in myself.  I don’t need to have all of the answers, it doesn’t need to be perfect (even though I want it to be), what I truly need to do is to believe that I am capable and worthy.

As a result of the Aroma Freedom Technique session around ‘Trust’ this week, I ended up believing in myself and allowing myself to shine.    

Today, I worked with another mentor where she had us do this exercise to write down ‘I AM WORTHY’ 100 times.  And when we write them, we need to believe that what we are writing is true.  And yes, there were a few times when I wrote these words down that I could feel my belief slip to the negative and I could even see it in my letters, usually at the word ‘AM’, my printing would change.  

I truly believe that people come into our lives for a reason, a purpose or a lesson.  

There’s a reason why I have encountered this lack of belief this week, why these lessons were placed in front of me and why I made the time to be present in each of these lessons.

I AM WORTHY and I was meant to see it and believe it this week.  
Thank You Universe for giving me these gifts and lessons this week and
for bringing these mentors into my life.  
I am truly grateful and I AM ready to let my light shine!  
I AM WORTHY!



“Life is simple.  Everything happens for you, not to you.  
Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late.  
You don’t have to like it… it’s just easier if you do.”
— Byron Katie

Whatever The New Month Is Brining For You......

Whatever The New Month Is Brining For You......
'Whatever The New Month is Bringing for You, be it good or bad; 
Always Keep That Smile On Your Face No Matter What'  ~ Unknown

I really liked this quote and hesitated to post it as I know it can be taken in different ways. So, let me explain....

I feel this quote at the beginning of the month is great way to remind you that NO MATTER what is thrown your way this month that you will be OK and that you will come through it!

It ties in with Mel Robbin's High Five Habit in the mirror where we are smiling at ourselves and celebrating anything and everything amazing about ourselves!  

There is always something to be grateful for and proud of....Always!!!!

It also ties in with incorporating the practice of Daily Gratitude everyday.

Even on the hard days, finding something to be grateful for is just the boost of love you need to help get through a tough moment, day or week. It's so easy for us to focus on the negatives and that only attracts more of it to you....so, focus on the positives and attract more of that your way instead.

As for the other way to perceive this quote, I want to clarify that I am NOT saying that it's not OK to not be OK and that we should pretend that everything is always rainbows and unicorns....because, let's face it, it's not. And that's OK.

I am a firm believer in reaching out for help you need it.

I do not believe in pushing your emotions under the rug and not dealing with them. I've been there and I've done it and I can confirm that while it may work for a bit, it's not sustainable and it's not healthy AT ALL.

Avoiding your emotions and feelings does not solve the issue and it certainly does not make it go away. I have learned from my own experience that eventually you will reach your breaking point and when that happens, the smallest things/issues can trigger you for no particular reason and you just can't explain why. All that stuff you have been sweeping under the rug is now seeping out and there's no more room for more.

Please don't let it get to that point. Seek help. Talk to someone you trust or a professional.

Here's to you having an amazing month, keep practicing your new habits, keep being kind to yourself and keep shining your pearly whites.  

This month is going to be a great one!

Want to change your daily habits and have a supporting community to help you, feel free to join our Facebook Group 'Raising The Wellness Bar' where we talk about this and so much more.

Sometimes we have the tools to help ourselves and yet we forget to use them.....

Sometimes we have the tools to help ourselves and yet we forget to use them.....
I posted this on my personal social media page yesterday and really, should have shared it as a blog....I'm learning.  LOL

Yesterday in my post about the hornet situation, I mentioned that I was going to let you know what I’ve been doing to help myself get through all of the big emotions from the week.  

So, here we go…..

Originally when I created this post, I was coming from the aspect that my ‘cup runneth over’ and that the hornet issue was the tipping point to an extremely active emotional rollercoaster that I have been on this year…..like so many other people.  While this is how I was feeling on Thursday when I first started writing this post, my perspective around this entire situation keeps changing so I keep rewriting this post to reflect my changing perspective.

See, originally, I was judging myself for how I was feeling, how I was reacting, the thoughts I was having around the hornets and oh, how that rabbit hole was dark and deep.  I was mad that my husband, Graham, wasn’t feeling the same way I was about this situation.   I felt stupid for feeling the way I was feeling and I felt extremely alone.  

And I’m sure some people who read my post yesterday may have thought, ‘big deal, who cares…it’s just a bee’.  I was not speaking positively to myself, I was beating myself up for how I was feeling and reacting…..all of which I KNOW DOES NOT help me, in fact, it does quite the opposite.  And I know this…..I talk about this with friends and family members and in my Facebook Group ALL THE TIME!  So, step one was to appreciate how I was feeling and change the words I was speaking over myself.  

Earlier this summer, I became a certified ‘Aroma Freedom Technique’ Practitioner.  
What is ‘Aroma Freedom Technique (AFT)?’    I’ll try to keep this as brief as I can….it’s a step-by-step process for identifying and releasing negative thoughts, feelings and memories that interfere with reaching our goals and dreams.  It is meant to be used as a way to set a person’s emotional energy flowing in a positive direction, towards growth and expansion rather than contracting in fear and doubt.  And we use Young Living essential oils to trigger a permanent shift in how we view ourselves and the world.

While I am now certified in this technique and I absolutely love helping others with it, for some reason, I didn’t even think about using it on myself until Thursday.  I can’t explain why but I didn’t even think of it, maybe I wasn’t ready for it, I don’t know.  What I do know is that after I walked myself through some AFT sessions, the proverbial onion started to peel and I have so much clarity, my outlook has changed, I am speaking positively about myself again all of these steps are allowing me to move forward and I feel so much stronger. 

I have been able to recognize that:
• It’s OK for me to have all of these emotions and to feel how I’m feeling, we are all different;
• It’s OK that Graham is not experiencing the same emotions.  He does not have to feel the same way that I do.  It does not make either one of us a bad person;
• I was speaking poorly over myself and berating myself for how I was feeling;
• Other people perceptions of me, is NONE of my business, I need to be me, authentically me…period;
• I have experienced similar feelings in my life but have yet to deal with those emotions from those memories, until now; and
• While I can’t control the situation, I can control how I react to the situation.

There is no right or wrong way to feel about this....well, maybe I should rephrase that.... it’s not OK that the bees have invited themselves to set up shop inside the walls of our house and throw a party and then allow their guests to continue to search the premises for more locations to have fun.  I’m trying to find the humor in this.....LOL. 

Yesterday, I was feeling stronger so I decided to come out of seclusion and take a picture to go with my post for yesterday.  I took some deep breaths and left the bedroom with determination that I am going to get through this. Right after I took the picture a bee came out of the vent and those feelings, tears, etc. were right there again.  I walked away in tears, took some deep breaths, put my hands on my heart kept repeating my affirmation ‘I AM Safe’.  I sat back at the dinning room table to work on my post.  Yes, my head was still spinning like a shiny disco ball looking for hornets.  And every time I felt the emotions coming up, I would smell my oils and say my affirmation.  And you know what…..I was able to sit here, create the post and later in the night actually post it.

This morning we attended the virtual funeral for my great Uncle which was being held in Manitoba and I just kept doing the same steps that I did yesterday.  Yes, I am still looking for bees but my head is not going to spin around anymore and I have been able to sit here ALL day.  I didn’t need to take any trips to hide out in the bedroom with the kitties to make it through the day….I stayed out here and you know what?  It feels amazing and I’m feeling so much stronger.

I haven’t shared that I am certified in AFT or the love I have had for my essential oils for the past 4 years but I am now able recognize why.  I was worried about what others would think and say.  So many people think essential oils are voodoo oils, snake oils, etc.…. I’ve heard it all, so I didn’t want to share about it.  I am truly blown away at how much my perspective has changed after doing the AFT’s this week and all of the lightbulb moments that have been happening for me.  And, yes, I know, just like anything, the person needs to be open to it and while something may work for you, it may not work for someone else.    

I had the tools that could help me right there at my fingertips. 

I just had to be open and ready to do the work.  And because I continue to put into practice what I have learned, I am helping myself to move in the right direction.  I also reached out for help, with posting about the hornets.  Thank You again to everyone that has commented, called or sent texts to help.  I so appreciate all of you!!!  Because of all of these things, I can say with absolute confidence that I am going to be OK, everything is going to be OK.  And, I’m optimistic that I will feel strong enough tomorrow to ending the seclusion for our kitties and can allow them to freely roam the house again.

If you are still reading this, Thank You, and I hope that me sharing my experience will help someone else. ❤️
And if, you have any questions about AFT or essential oils, please don’t hesitate to ask me and I can assure you that I won’t be hesitating to share about either of these helpful tools going forward either!  ❤️

 
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