5 Tools to Track Your Health and Fitness Goals

Feb25

Whenever you set a health or fitness goal for yourself, tracking your progress is an essential step to help you stay focused and motivated and keep you moving in the right direction. Technology has made it easier than ever to help you keep track of your progress, and it can help to give you that extra push you may need to reach your goal.

There are many options available to help track your health and fitness goals, and more are being created each day. Here are some tools I use to help me track my goals and keep me on target:

1. Calendars (Paper and Online)

Calendars and to-do-lists help me set my priorities and make sure I am focusing my time and energy on what is important to me. When I set a challenge for myself, I break it down into smaller tasks, schedule them on my calendar, and set aside time for them on my daily to-do list.

Paper calendars work great for me most of the time, but I have run into several situations lately where I have scheduled an appointment only to check my calendar when I got home and find out I had another appointment at the same time. To avoid having this happen again, I have decided it might be time to start using the technology that is available. That is where on-line calendars can be a great help.

There are many different options to choose from when it comes to on-line calendars. Google Calendars, Yahoo Calendars, and Cozi.Com are only a few. There are several advantages to using online calendars instead of paper. Using an on-line calendar is convenient. You are able to access it from anywhere through your phone. If I had used an on-line calendar at my last dentist appointment, I wouldn’t have double-booked myself and had to reschedule when I got home. On-line calendars also allow you to set reminders, which can be very helpful for remembering those important appointments. The ability to color-code events is another great feature of on-line calendars. Finally, they allow you to share your calendar or event with others. This can be especially helpful to keep the whole family on the same page. Since most of the devices our family owns are Google-based, Google Calendar is a tool I plan to implement in the very near future. No more double-booked appointments for me! 🙂

2. Paper Journals (or Online Blogs)

Depending on the challenge, I usually find it helpful to journal my experience either through a paper journal or an on-line blog. Regardless of which method I choose, I always find it helpful to journal my challenges. This provides a place to reference if I decide to take on the challenge again in the future. Reviewing my journals allows me to learn through my past experiences.

When I completed the October Unprocessed Challenge in 2013 and 2014, I started a blog to track all of the foods I was eating. This helped me to stay on track and it helped to keep me accountable since the blog was public and others had access to it and were able to follow me on my journey.

If you are considering starting up a blog, there are a few well-established content publishing platforms to choose from. WordPress is what I use, and I would recommend it for its ease of use. Blogging may not be for everyone, but I have found it to be a great tool to help me track my wellness journey. As I share my journey through my blogs, I love that there is the potential to help others along the way.

3. Checklists and Logs

Whenever I begin a wellness challenge, I like to have a log or checklist available to track my progress. Since I find satisfaction in crossing things off my to-do list, oftentimes I will print out a daily checklist related to the challenge, place it somewhere visible, and cross off the tasks as I complete them. For example, this month I am participating in the February Acts of Kindness Challenge with my family. We placed our Logs on the refrigerator to remind us of the challenge, to give us a place to log the acts of kindness we perform each day, and to help keep each other on track.

4. Mobile Apps

Mobile apps are a great way to measure your progress, especially when it comes to tracking fitness and nutrition goals. I recently started using an app called My Fitness Pal to track my nutrition. It keeps track of nutrition information, calories, exercise, water consumption, recipes, and so much more. I love that everything is in one place and all the calculations are done for me. And best of all, the app is free! It is fun and exciting to see the results at the end of the day.

I was hesitant to start using it at first because it sounded like it would be a lot of work to enter in every little thing I ate each day. Surprisingly, I found it to be very simple to do and it takes very little time. It allows the user to import recipes from the web or even to scan in bar code labels, and it saves the items you’ve recently eaten so you can just check it off next time. I also love that I am able to enter everything in through the computer instead of using my phone if I wish.

To keep track of my fitness goals, I recently began using the Runtastic app. When I go for a walk, it tracks my calories, distance, time, and more. I love that it is compatible with My Fitness Pal, so it saves me time by automatically importing the data from my walks into my daily exercise log on My Fitness Pal. Runtastic also allows you to play your music from your device while in the app. The camera is also easily accessible within the app in case you come upon a scene you would like to capture (a feature I use often!)

The variety of mobile apps available to help with your fitness goals may seem overwhelming. If you’re not sure where to start, first try to get a recommendation from someone who uses one regularly whose goal is similar to yours. Secondly, you could do a Google search for the type of app you are looking for and find reviews on them. If all else fails, just give one a try and see if it works for you. If it doesn’t work out, there are many others to choose from.

5. Wearables

Technology is constantly changing and improving. Wearables have become popular recently to help track fitness, calories, sleep, and more. There are many different brands and types to choose from depending on the activity you are planning to track. I have not given wearables a try yet so I do not have a recommendation, but if you are considering purchasing a wearable, you could go to Wearables.Com to help you find the right product for you.

Additional Tools to Help you Achieve your Health and Fitness Goals

Tracking your progress is just one step along the way to successfully achieving your health and fitness goals. In my previous blog post, 11 Steps to Help You Achieve Your Wellness Goals, I go through the 11 steps I personally use to help me successfully achieve my wellness goals. Clearly defining your goal, setting a reward, getting support, and getting accountable are just a few of the other essential steps in achieving any goal. It is important to find others who are willing to support you and encourage you every step of the way and to help you stay accountable.

Oscar Health

I have discovered a provider of health insurance in New Jersey and New York, Oscar. If you’re in the area, you should check them out! They use technology to help their members stay healthy, and they support and encourage their members with their goals every step of the way. They are a tech-based health insurance company working to give their members a more personalized and intuitive healthcare experience. They provide their members with online tools they can use to track and monitor their own health between doctor’s visits. They recently began providing their members with a free Misfit Flash fitness tracker to help them stay in shape. The fitness tracker syncs with the Oscar app to count steps, and members earn cash rewards when they hit their daily goal. Oscar helps personalize goals for their members to keep them moving.

If you are in the New York or New Jersey area and are looking for health insurance options, I encourage you to look into Oscar and see if they are the right fit for your health insurance needs.

With technology changing and improving every day, it is becoming easier to keep track of our health and fitness goals. Are there any tools you find helpful in tracking your goals that I may have missed? If so, please let me know in the comments below.

11 Steps to Help You Achieve Your Wellness Goals

Feb23

Setting wellness goals are an important part of achieving personal growth. Having a goal in mind can help push you to that next level of health in body, mind, or spirit.

I personally like to set a new wellness challenge for myself every month. It is said that it takes 21 days to develop a habit, so a monthly challenge is sufficient time to instill new healthy practices into my lifestyle and make them habit, but it is not so long that I get bored with the challenge. Monthly challenges work for me, but everyone is different and each challenge is different, so set a challenge and time-frame that works for you.

Whether my monthly goal is mental, physical, or spiritual in nature, I essentially use the same steps and tools to successfully achieve my goals.

Set the goal. Make it very specific and measurable. For example, instead of setting a goal to “drink more water this month,” I would set a goal to “drink 8 (8oz) glasses of water each day.” That is a very specific and measurable goal.
Write it down. Put it somewhere visible so you are reminded of it often. For example, this month I am participating in the February Acts of Kindness challenge with my family. We have hung up our Daily Logs on the refrigerator to track our progress. Every time we go to or open the refrigerator, we are reminded of the challenge.
Break it down into smaller, very specific and manageable steps. If the goal you have set is a larger goal that may seem overwhelming or unreachable at the beginning, break it down into smaller, very specific, manageable steps. For example, my goal for March is going to be to de-clutter my house. That is an enormous task! Therefore, I will break it down day by day and come up with a manageable step for each day of the month. When I look at my to-do list and see “organize the utensil drawer”, I am more apt to go do it than if I see “clean the house.” Clean the house is a big task and it is not very specific, so I may not be as motivated to get up and start cleaning if I don’t know what it is I should be cleaning.
Schedule it. Once you have broken your goal down into specific tasks, add them to your monthly calendar (in ink), put the task(s) of the day on your daily to-do list, and set aside a specific time each day to work on them. I am a list-maker, so I find it very satisfying when I am able to cross items off my to-do list. If you have allotted a specific time to work on your goal, you are much more likely to reach it than if you have to find “spare” time in a day.
Allow yourself a day off each week. Whatever your challenge, allow yourself a day off each week. If you don’t allow yourself a little time off, you may get burned out and discouraged with the challenge. If you took my January “Love Yourself More” Wellness Challenge, you may have noticed that I gave the participants Saturdays off and encouraged them to reserve Saturdays as a day of rest, quality time with family, and practicing presence. If I could offer everyone just one piece of advice about life, it would be to slow down and observe this day of rest every week (it doesn’t have to be Saturday – pick the day that works best for you.) That one simple practice has changed my life and helped to improve my relationships with myself, with God, and with others. I know it could do the same for others.
Set a reward for yourself. This step is often overlooked, but I feel this is a crucial step in any challenge you set for yourself. Oftentimes, completing the challenge is a reward in itself, but you also need to come up with a simple pleasure to reward yourself with upon completing the challenge. For example, if losing a specific amount of weight is your goal, you might reward yourself with a new outfit upon completing the goal. This will give you something to look forward to, and it will help you to stay motivated to successfully complete your challenge.
Get Accountable. Accountability plays a big role in the success of any challenge. If you are not being held accountable, then it makes it that much more difficult to stay motivated and continue with the challenge. The best way I have found to stay accountable is to find a buddy to do the challenge with me. In that way, we can support each other along the way. Personally, I feel I am more successful when I am accountable to someone else rather than just being accountable to myself. For example, I walk with a friend every weekday morning. If I don’t feel like walking one day, it is very easy to skip the walk if I’m going alone, but it’s not so easy if my friend is counting on me to walk with her. If you can’t find a buddy to take the challenge with you, find someone to hold you accountable and ask you about your progress frequently. Other ways to help with accountability might be to join support groups related to the challenge, to blog about your experience (as I did with the October Unprocessed challenge), or even to keep a journal for yourself.
Get Support. The best way I have found to stay motivated and to get support is to find someone to take the challenge with me. Social media has made that very easy to do. With some of my previous challenges, I have found that Facebook support groups have been an essential part of my success in completing the challenge. Connecting with like-minded people who have the same goal in mind is a very good way to help you stay on track, stay motivated, and get through obstacles together. When I participated in the October Unprocessed challenge (eating only REAL foods for an entire month), the Facebook support group set up for the challenge played an integral role in my success. I found it very inspirational when members of the group shared their REAL food recipes, and I learned a lot by reading about the successes and challenges others encountered.
Track your progress in some way. Whether you keep track of your progress in a daily journal, through a daily log on the refrigerator, through blogging, or through technology such as wearables and apps, it is important to keep track of your progress to help you stay motivated and focused. There are so many options nowadays to help you with this, and I will discuss them in my next blog post. Look for it this week! 🙂
Don’t get discouraged. You will most likely encounter some obstacles throughout the challenge, and some days it may feel like you are taking 2 steps back for every one step forward. Don’t give up, and don’t get discouraged if you slip up. Nobody is perfect, and perfection is not the goal anyway. You are allowed (and expected to) make mistakes and have a bad day once in a while. Learn what works best for you through trial and error, and if you slip up, begin each day anew.
Reward Yourself. Please do not overlook this step. Once you have reached your goal, treat yourself to the reward you set in step #6. If you do not reward yourself at the end, it will likely affect the outcome of future goals as well. Stay true to yourself and make it a priority to stick to the rewards you promise yourself.

If you strive to become healthy in body, mind, and spirit, setting wellness goals are an essential step. Striving for a life of balance in all areas is the key to achieving optimum health.

Whatever goal you have in mind, know that you can do it if you set your mind to it, make the time for it, and make it a priority. Follow the 11 steps above, and you are likely to succeed. Good luck!

A New Year’s Resolution You Can Keep: Do You Want to Love Yourself More?

Dec29

What if the only resolution you made this year was to spend some time getting to know and love yourself so you could live a truly authentic life, using your natural gifts and talents to make the difference you were sent to make in this world? On a scale of 1-10, how much do you love yourself? How well do you know yourself? If your answer to either of those questions is not as high as you would like it to be, I invite you to download my FREE e-book/journal to participate in my 31-day challenge beginning on January 1, 2015. You will need 15 minutes of uninterrupted time each day to focus on yourself. Turn off the phone, television, and get away from any distractions. Each day, you will be asked one question that will help you get to know and love yourself more. At the end of the month, the desired result will be a deeper connection to yourself, more inner peace, love, and acceptance of yourself, and hopefully a clearer vision of your priorities and where you are going in life. You will not need to reveal your answers to anyone. If that sounds like just what you need right now, you can download my e-book/journal The January 2015 Love Yourself More Challenge for FREE. The e-book will only be available for free for a limited time, so click on the book cover below to download it, and join me in working toward becoming healthy in mind, body, and spirit!

May Wellness Challenge: Get Outside and Exercise Each Day

May1

Happy May! I feel like this year is flying by! The warmer weather is finally here in New England, and I’m anxious to get outside and get the kids off their devices and spending more time outside as well. Unfortunately, they spent a little more screen time than I would have liked this winter.

So far this year, I have been taking on a new wellness challenge each month. For the month of May, I have decided to challenge myself to get outside a minimum of 15 minutes each day and do some form of exercise, whether it be walking, gardening, mowing the lawn, playing with the kids, etc. I’m going to challenge my kids to do the same.

2014-05-01 15.21.14 crop4

My goal is to do this 6 days a week, from Sunday through Friday. I will give myself Saturdays off because I’m a big believer in taking one day a week off from everything (and for me that day is Saturday.) I think we all need a day each week to recharge. I will probably end up going outside and exercising anyway, but without the pressure of having to do it and having to document it. (I always think it’s more fun doing something when I don’t have to do it.) I do take these challenges seriously and make them a priority in my life for the month, so Monday – Friday I do feel like I have to do it.

If you are interested in joining this challenge with me, I would welcome the company. I created this excel spreadsheet to track my progress: May Wellness Challenge Log Print

Or, you can right click on this image below, click “Save Image As…” to save it to your computer. You will then be able to print it out to track your progress.

In the event of a day with nasty weather ALL day long, I plan to follow an exercise video of some sort (Yoga, Tae Bo, Tae Chi, etc.) from my video collection or get one from the library, or even play Just Dance with the kids on the Wii. But hopefully each day will have at least a 15-minute stretch of time without rain so we can get the benefits of sunshine and fresh air! I know I certainly feel much better after I have been outside.

Today started off rainy, but by the time the kids got off the bus, it was sunny and 70 degrees, so we took the dog for a walk and played basketball together for almost an hour! The kids are on-board with this challenge and excited to participate. We plan to reward ourselves at the end of the month if we are all able to successfully achieve our goal.

Happy May!! May your days be filled with fresh air, sunshine, and all the good things nature has to offer! Enjoy! 🙂

How Daily Time for Creativity Can Improve Your Health

Apr24

“Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.”

~Julia Cameron, The Artists Way

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” ~Pablo Picasso

It’s school vacation week here, and in an effort to minimize screen time for my kids this week, I have been scouring Pinterest for some good craft ideas. My kids love to create things, and I encourage them to do something creative every day (especially during school vacation.) Here are just a few ideas we have come across so far:

On Friday, my 11-year old decided to attempt to make a wooden rocking chair out of clothespins. She was beyond thrilled with the end result! She modified the original instructions and used popsicle sticks as well so she could fit her Beanie Boos in the chair. She was so proud of herself that she decided to make another one for her friend and she taught my 9-year old to make one, too!

Check out the complete instructions to make the original version of this chair at Crafty Corner.

My 11-year old also went to a cake decorating class on Friday and made this bunny cake for Easter. Again, she was super proud of herself. It makes me happy to see my kids happy with the results of their hard work. 🙂

On Saturday, my daughters wanted to make this cute rabbit fruit platter for Easter. I let the girls cut the fruit and arrange the design by themselves, and again, they were very proud of the final result.

Here are the original instructions for this rabbit fruit platter from Worthpinning.com.

On Monday, my 6-year-old decided to make this “Our Family ROCKS!” rock garden. She wrote “Our Family Rocks” on the big rock in the middle, and wrote the names of each family member and pet on a smaller rock around the big rock. She was proud of her creation as well, and now everyone who comes over our house will be greeted by this rock garden.

Here is the original picture that inspired us from Pinterest:

I don’t know what else is in store for the rest of the week, but I do know taking the time to be creative each day is good for the kids and it has many benefits, so I will keep encouraging it!

Creativity is good for our health, too! It can help us to become healthy in mind, body, and spirit. It is great for our emotional health because it is a great stress-reliever. As a result of less stress, it may improve our physical health. Creativity connects us with our source, so it is a wonderful way to improve our spiritual health as well. Here are a few benefits of creativity that I have personally found:

Benefits of Creativity

1. It’s fun! It’s relaxing and is a great way to relieve stress and get our mind off all of our problems. Don’t you always feel better when you just sit with a child and color? I find it therapeutic, and it makes me happy 🙂

2. Freedom! There are so many ways to express our creativity. Whether it is writing, cooking, baking, photography, drawing, painting, music, sewing, wood crafts, or whatever it is you like to do, there are so many ways to put our personality into our creations. In art, there isn’t only one right way to do something. Just have fun with it and find what works best for you and add your own style.

3. Creativity helps you to discover your true self and allows you to express yourself in your own unique way. When I started writing in my journal years ago, I would simply write about the daily events that were happening in my life at the time. As I wrote more and more often, I would get insights on certain things and I started to discover who I really am. I began to develop my own beliefs and form my own opinions on many topics rather than just believing what I had always been told. I also began to come up with many new ideas of my own and I started to become more passionate about many topics. In my writing, I found my true self. And in that self, I found God.

4. It keeps you aligned with your source. When you use your creativity, you are allowing God to work through you. Sometimes when I write, the words just flow onto the paper without me even thinking about them. It doesn’t happen every time I write, but when it does happen, I feel it is God working through me. During those times, they are God’s words, not mine. I felt that happen when I wrote my very first post on this blog “Secrets to Happiness on the Lifelong Journey to Complete Wellness.” I literally woke up that morning, and the words just flowed onto my paper in about 45 minutes. Then I got the idea to start this blog. To this day, that post is still the most popular post on this blog. It’s funny how God works sometimes.

5. Serenity. Whenever I feel stressed out, I stop what I’m doing, sit down with my journal, and write. Just me, God, and my journal. This immediately brings me an immense amount of peace and all my problems seem to melt away. I am sure this would work with other forms of creativity as well, whether it be music, dance, drawing, etc. Whatever your preferred method of creativity is, I urge you to try it next time you are stressed out.

6. A finished project gives you a feeling of accomplishment and pride in your work. When my daughters finish an art project that they are happy with, I love seeing them light up and filled with feelings of joy and pride for all the time and effort they put into the project.

7. It can connect you to others with common interests. My 11-year-old started taking a woodworking class this past year. She is in a scroll-sawing club, and has made new friends who are always ready and willing to help her out and share their ideas with her. Joining that club has been one of the best things she has ever done. It gives her something to look forward to, and is consistently the highlight of her week.

Making daily time for creativity a priority is a great self-care tip! I believe we are all artists. I love Julia Cameron’s quote above where she says “using our creativity is our gift back to God.” When we are gone from this earth, our creations will still live on. Our creations are our contribution to this planet and a true expression of our uniqueness.

As we grow up, responsibilities seem to take over and we put less importance on creating and having fun (I know I do, anyway.) I do take the time to write each day, but I also enjoy doing crafts and making photo books for my girls. When I take the time to do those things I enjoy and actually have some fun, I feel guilty. I feel like I “should” be doing something “more productive.” I feel like my house “should” be cleaner. I feel like my husband is working so hard to support our family, and I’m doing something I enjoy? Those are just a few things that run through my head when I’m feeling guilty about taking the time out for me to create. I need to work on getting over those feelings of guilt because I know creativity is good for me AND my family. Whenever I am creating something, I feel relaxed and more connected to my source and I am happier and more at peace. After all, when mom is happy, then everyone is happy, right?

I am going to make more of an effort to follow my own advice, set a good example for my kids, and make it a priority to take the time to create something every day.

What are you going to create today?

Overcoming Anxiety Through EFT Tapping

Apr4

“Energy medicine is the future of all medicine.” ~ Dr. Oz

As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, my 11-year-old daughter hasn’t been feeling well for about 2 months, and it has been causing her a great deal of anxiety. While we are still working with the doctors to figure out the cause of her symptoms, we have found a way to calm her anxiety. I thought I would share how EFT Tapping (Emotional Freedom Techniques) has helped us.

One night about 2 weeks ago, my daughter woke up at 4:30 am in a panic. She said her throat felt blocked. She could barely swallow water, and she was terrified! I was scared, too, but since she could talk and breathe just fine, I knew the biggest problem was her anxiety. I recalled the nights of her waking up with croup as a baby. I remembered the cold night air always seemed to help, so I opened the door and had her breathe in the cold air. It didn’t help. I told her to sit on the couch and try to relax. We took some deep breaths together. Although this swallowing issue was brand new, she had been waking up each night not feeling well for several weeks, and I had no idea what to do. I silently prayed to God to guide me because I was at a loss. . .and then the idea came to me to try EFT tapping with her. I began teaching her how to tap. She was hesitant at first and she thought it was a crazy idea and she felt silly doing it, but eventually she followed along with me and soon enough we were both talking and laughing together. I taught her a breathing technique I had just learned the day before while listening to one of Tony Robbins’ CD’s (breathe in 4 times through your nose, then exhale 4 times through your mouth.) She got a kick out of that! 🙂 We continued to tap and she relaxed enough that she was able to fall back asleep on the couch. She woke up a few hours later and her throat was much better. She was able to eat breakfast and then went off to school.

That night, as bedtime approached, she got more and more anxious. I went to TheTappingSolution.com and downloaded the Tapping for Stress Relief CD (it is free!) My daughter and I followed along as Jessica Ortner guided us in the 7-minute long Evening Clearing Tapping and then the 8 minute Evening Affirmation tapping. As soon as the second one was over, my daughter was asleep! And she didn’t wake up once that night complaining of not feeling well. She slept through the night for the first time in weeks, and it was great! Since then, the Evening Clearing Tapping and the Evening Affirmation Tapping have become a nightly habit for my daughter. She has been sleeping so much better thanks to the tapping (when she does both of them…if she doesn’t do the Evening Affirmation Tapping, she usually wakes up). It really works!

What is EFT Tapping?

Tapping is a combination of ancient Chinese acupressure and modern psychology. You use your fingertips to “tap” on specific points on your body while you think about your specific problem and voice positive affirmations. It helps you get to the root cause of your issues and remove the emotional barriers that are negatively affecting your life. Tapping has deep healing capabilities, and for those who have doubts about its effectiveness, it is even backed by science and research studies.

I first discovered tapping in February 2013. Somehow I was led to the World Tapping Summit 2013, and I signed up for it and immersed myself in it for 10 days. I listened to every presentation and learned how tapping could help in every area of my life. I was impressed that some of my greatest mentors like Cheryl Richardson and Wayne Dyer were promoting this, so I decided to learn all I could about it. Like my daughter, I thought it was weird at first and I felt silly doing it in front of the computer, but I became more comfortable over time. Once the tapping summit was over, I didn’t use it at all because I really didn’t feel like I had a need for it at the time. To be honest, I felt like I had wasted my time learning it. When the World Tapping Summit aired this year, I decided not to sign up because I felt like I still had no use for it and I doubted whether it really worked. Since my time is very precious to me, I didn’t want to “waste” my time on that again. Little did I know that a few weeks later, it would greatly help my daughter with her anxiety issues and help both of us to regain our sleep at night. Now I look back on those 10 days I spent in February last year and I can see what a huge gift that was, and I am so grateful I took the time to learn it. Everything happens for a reason, right? 🙂

Tapping is an amazing tool! I highly recommend that everyone learn how to do it. You never know when you will need it or when you can pass on the knowledge to help someone else. It is so quick and easy to learn, and once you learn it you will have that tool and knowledge for the rest of your life. I love the fact that anyone can do it, anyone can learn it, and you don’t need any fancy equipment. The power of your mind is an amazing thing!

Learn to Tap!

TheTappingSolution.com – this website has everything you ever wanted to know about tapping! It will teach you what tapping is, why it works, how to tap, and so much more! I highly recommend checking it out for yourself and giving yourself the gift of the knowledge of this amazing tool! 🙂

Peace & Blessings! 🙂

Book Review: Dying to Be Me

Feb6

Dying to Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing by Anita Moorjani

This is one of the best books I have ever read! I have enjoyed reading about Anita’s life and learning all the life lessons her near-death experience taught her.

Summary

Anita battled cancer for almost 4 years. When her body began shutting down, she entered a near death experience (NDE) where she discovered the cause of her disease. She realized she was dying because of all of her fears. She was afraid to express her true self, which caused her own energy to manifest as cancer. When she chose to return to her body, she realized she had the power to heal herself. She knew she would be healed quickly because the root cause of her disease was taken care of.

The book is divided into 3 parts. Part 1 talks about Anita’s childhood and how she grew up at the intersection of multiple cultures that held contradictory beliefs. She was exposed to different religious and cultural customs, some of which she did not agree with. She had to deal with the disapproval of her family and her culture as she stayed true to herself and did not conform to some of their traditions. Part 2 talks about her NDE, and Part 3 talks about the wisdom and new understandings she gained as a result of her NDE. The experience completely changed her perspective on life.

My Favorite Quotes From the Book:

“I had the choice to come back…or not. I chose to return when I realized that ‘heaven’ is a state, not a place…”

“I believe that the greatest truths of the universe don’t lie outside, in the study of the stars and the planets. They lie deep within us, in the magnificence of our heart, mind, and soul. Until we understand what is within, we can’t understand what is without.”

“In that state, I somehow knew that in some way, I was meant to inspire thousands…I just had to be myself and enjoy life, and to allow myself to be an instrument for something much greater to take place.”

“We all have our own way of recognizing that infinite space within us. For some it may be prayer. For others, it can be music, art, being in nature, or even pursuing knowledge and technology – whatever brings out our passion, creativity, and purpose for living.”

“To be me is to be love.”

“In sharing my experience and my insights, my only purpose is to ignite the spark of magnificence that lies within you.”

“When we know that we are love, we don’t need to work at being loving toward others. Instead, we just have to be true to ourselves, and we become instruments of loving energy, which touches everyone we come into contact with.”

“For people to commit unloving acts, they must really be full of confusion, frustration, pain, and self-hatred. They have to be diseased (like having cancer). Treating them with contempt only allows the “cancer” to grow in our society.”

“Go out and live your life fearlessly.”

“We all have the capacity to heal ourselves as well as facilitate the healing of others.”

“When we get in touch with that infinite place within us where we are whole, then illness can’t remain in the body. When we heal others, we also heal ourselves and the planet. There’s no separation except in our own minds.”

“Our world at any time is a tapestry made up of all our thoughts, feelings, experiences, relationships, emotions, and events up to that point.”

“True joy and happiness can only be found by loving yourself, going inward, following your heart, and doing what brings you joy.”

“Religion is just a path for finding truth: Religion is not truth. It is just a path. And different people follow different paths.” p.18

“I then understood that even if my physical body stopped, everything is still perfect in the greater tapestry of life, for we never truly die.” p.5

My Recommendation/What I Learned

I would absolutely recommend this book! It is a quick read (only 189 pages) and I found it very interesting.

This book taught me the importance of being true to myself always. It taught me that physical death is not something to fear, and it taught me the importance of letting go of all fears and enjoying life to the fullest…now!! This book reinforces the belief that we are spiritual beings having a human experience and that we are all connected.

These are the main messages she is trying to relay:

1. We are all one.

2. We are love at our core.

3. We are magnificent.

Anita is trying to let us know that we all need to love and accept ourselves just as we are. She shared her story to remind us all of our own magnificence and the importance of being able to fully trust our inner guidance.

For more reviews, check out http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12291050-dying-to-be-me.

10 Things I Learned in 2013

Dec24

As 2013 comes to a close, I have been reflecting on the things I have learned this year and the new habits I have incorporated that have made a positive impact in my life. Over the past year, I have taken a much deeper interest in living naturally and becoming aware of the foods and products I put into and on my body. I dedicated a lot of my time learning about those topics, and I also put a lot of good advice into practice in the area of self care. I have better learned how to honor my true self, and I spend much more time doing things I truly love. I live a more authentic life because I stopped trying to please others. I finally feel like I am following my passions and am living each day fulfilling God’s purpose for my life. Each morning when I wake up, I am so grateful to have another day on this earth and to be able to enjoy all the wonderful blessings God has given me, and I am so excited to see what the day will bring and how I can use my natural gifts and talents to serve others. Here are 10 things I learned in 2013 that have contributed to improving my overall wellness:

1. Every person, every thing, and every experience we encounter each day is a gift from God.

There are no accidents or coincidences in life. Every person we come into contact with and every experience that happens to us each day happens for a reason. Even the seemingly bad experiences and encounters are a gift. When something unfortunate happens in my life, I remind myself that it is a gift and it is happening because there is a lesson I need to learn from it. If suffering didn’t exist in the world, we would not have the chance to grow. Having the faith that there is a good reason behind everything brings me instant peace. I try to recognize and appreciate all the gifts that come into my life each day because I have found that the biggest secret to happiness is the attitude of gratitude. For more of my secrets to happiness, check out my blog post Secrets to Happiness.

2. Eating REAL food makes a huge difference!

In October, I took the October Unprocessed Challenge and spent the entire month eating only unprocessed foods. It was a huge learning experience for me! During the challenge, I felt terrific and full of energy all day long, I discovered some wonderful new foods and recipes, and I connected with a whole world of like-minded people committed to improving their health and supporting each other. It became a lifestyle change for me and my family. I found healthy replacements for a lot of the foods we ate, and I feel great about all the positive changes I have made to improve the health and wellness of my family. To learn about ALL the benefits and challenges I encountered during this experience, check out my blog post here.

3. How to Read Ingredient Labels

As part of the October Unprocessed Challenge, I learned how to read the labels of all those foods I had always bought out of habit without really knowing what was in them. I realized the importance of knowing what ingredients I am putting into and on my body every day, as well as the source of these “foods” and products. Many of the products we use every day are banned in other countries because they are dangerous to our health. I came out of the October Unprocessed Challenge with a whole new awareness about foods, and I am committed to learning more in this area and helping to educate my family and others who are interested in improving their health.

4. Downtime is not wasted time.

This is something I have slowly learned over the years, but this year I really came to embrace it. For most of my life, I was very focused on being busy and doing something productive at all times. When I became a mom 11 years ago, I was forced to slow down. That was the biggest blessing I could have ever received! I learned that life is about relationships, not productivity. In the end, our relationships with God, others, and OURSELVES is all that really matters!

Stopping to be still and spend time with myself was difficult to do at first. I felt guilty because I felt like I “should” be doing other things. But I am so grateful that I ignored the “shoulds.” Focusing on myself helped me to re-evaluate my priorities and get to know myself better so I can spend time doing things I really love to do and share my natural gifts and talents with the world. This year I made it a priority to schedule “MY TIME” every week. “MY TIME” consists of a block of 1-2 hours each week where I spend time alone and just let myself reflect on my life and write about whatever thoughts come into my head during that time. I use the book “Life Makeovers” by Cheryl Richardson as a guide in evaluating the changes I am making or need to make in my life. I have come to treasure that alone time each week. It gives me time to recharge, and I feel I am better able to take care of my family and others if I take care of myself first and make that downtime a priority. Because when mom is happy, then everyone is happy, right? 🙂

5. Green Smoothies are Yummy!!

At the beginning of the year, I had no desire to even try a green smoothie. Now, I can’t imagine a day without one. They can be absolutely delicious once you find a recipe that works for you (and even my 11-year-old daughter loves them). I found that green smoothies are an easy way to get more veggies into my diet, they provide lots of nutrients, and they give me lots of energy. Here is my favorite recipe, but substitute to your liking (really any fruits or vegetables you like will work):

1 orange fresh squeezed from the juicer (or use about 3/4 cup store-bought orange or apple juice, or even water)

3/4 cup organic baby spinach (or other greens…sometimes I use Kale)

1 frozen banana (I buy them from the reduced price section of the produce department…get them with brown spots, take them home, peel them, break in half, then immediately put into the freezer in a freezer bag.)

1/4 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

A handful of fresh pineapple

Blend in any blender. Mine is over 12 years old, and still works great! Be sure to blend the greens and liquid first until the greens are dissolved. Then add the rest of the ingredients.

Check out simplegreensmoothies.com for more yummy smoothie recipes.

6. The importance of saying NO.

This past year, I got really good at saying no. I have learned how to set my priorities, guard my time better, and set boundaries. It is so easy to say yes to all the little requests that people have of my time, but I have found that when I do that, I am left with no time left for me. Sometimes we need to say no to people to say yes to God. Saying NO was not an easy thing for me to do because I do want to help others and make their lives easier, but I learned that doing ANYTHING out of guilt or obligation is not an act of love. I made a promise to myself at the beginning of the year to only do things out of love. I learned that you can’t please everyone and there will always be people who don’t understand you or the decisions you make, but in committing to love myself more, I started to let go of my need to be accepted and I stopped caring about what anyone else thinks. One of my favorite quotes is: “It is none of my business what other people think of me.” It felt really good to stand up for myself and be truly authentic by living according to my values rather than always following the crowd. I also realized that the fewer commitments I have, the happier I am and the less stressed I am. I re-evaluated my priorities, let go of commitments that I didn’t really love, and that freed up a lot of my precious time to spend on things I am passionate about so I can use my natural gifts and talents to help others.

7. The many uses and benefits of coconut oil.

Coconut oil has to be my greatest discovery of the year! I love that stuff! Before this year, I had never even heard of coconut oil, let alone use it in my daily diet and health and beauty routine. It has many health benefits and is said to help with weight loss, diabetes, cholesterol, Alzheimers, and many other health conditions. I can attest to it helping with cholesterol. This year, I threw out my huge jug of canola oil and vowed to never bring that or any vegetable oils into my house again. I now use coconut oil in place of butter and other oils in many recipes, and my “good” cholesterol went up and my “bad” went down. 🙂

Coconut oil has many uses for the skin and hair as well. It is a popular ingredient in many homemade natural products. I use it daily as a facial moisturizer (as an added bonus, it is naturally an SPF of 4). I use it as a shave gel, lotion after shaving, and I use it in place of chapstick on myself and my daughters. There are countless uses for it. Check out 101 uses here, and check here for a short blog post I wrote about coconut oil containing additional links and more detailed information on the benefits and uses of this natural product.

8. The answers are all within us.

I am passionate about learning about things I am interested in, but when I spend too much time listening to the “experts” instead of listening to my gut, I tend to get very stressed. I am all for learning and taking advice from those I admire, but sometimes I need to just take a break from the book I am reading or lecture I am listening to and take the time to listen to my inner wisdom instead. When I do start to feel stressed, I learned that the best thing for me to do is to stop everything I am doing, forget my to-do-list and all the projects I am working on, and spend my time writing instead. Sometimes I feel like life is so exciting and there is so much to learn and do and there are not enough hours in a day, but I need to remind myself that I am not the master planner for my life. Everything is happening exactly as it should and will happen in it’s own perfect timing. Let Go and Let God lead the way…that is the way to peace.

9. How to eliminate my shampoo and conditioner.

This one took a little while to get used to, but for about 7 months now, I have not used shampoo or conditioner on myself or my 6-year-old. This is what I do instead: I mix 1 Tablespoon of baking soda with 1 cup of water (I do this in the shower in a plastic 1-cup measuring cup) and pour it over my head for the shampoo. I rub it in gently, and then rinse. It doesn’t take long to rinse out because it does not suds up. The thin consistency took some getting used to. For conditioner, I mix 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar with 1 cup water, pour over my head, rub in gently, and rinse. That’s it. The Apple Cider Vinegar also took some getting used to. I could not stand the smell at first, but now I am used to it and don’t even notice it. When my hair dries, the vinegar smell is gone.

This idea was inspired by a blog post from The Art of Simple Blog. Check it out for a more extensive description as well as reasons why you may want to try it. It definitely is not for everyone, but it has worked for me and my 6-year-old daughter for over 7 months and has saved me a lot of money in shampoo and conditioner, and gives me peace of mind that we are not exposing our bodies to unnecessary dangerous chemicals. Many hair products we use all the time in the US are very dangerous to our health. The last time my daughter had a haircut (before we changed to the “no-poo” method), the hairdresser asked me what type of shampoo we used…I told her and she said to throw it away and don’t buy it again because it is banned in other countries (this is a shampoo I was using for MANY years.) So many things are done out of habit…we just buy them because that is what we are used to, or we think it’s safe because everyone else uses it. I think it is so important to become educated about everything we are putting into and on our bodies (this goes for our pets, too). I’m still searching for a good “natural” shampoo that is inexpensive to use for my 9 and 11-year old daughters. They could not get used to the consistency of the no-poo method. As soon as I find a good one, I will post it here on my blog.

10. Blogging

When 2013 began, I knew very little about blogging. Having my own never even crossed my mind. I discovered some blogs that interested me, but I never thought I could make one of my own. I was very intimidated because I thought blogs were for “real” writers and authors, not for a regular person like me. As a very private person, I couldn’t imagine everyone being able to read what I write. But one day while writing in my journal, God opened my eyes and let me know that I need to share all these things I am learning. So, I decided to listen and attempted to start my own blog. It was very scary at first (and still is), but I am gradually gaining confidence with each post I write. I still have so much more to learn about blogging, but it has been a fun experience so far. I have discovered blogging to be a whole new world of opportunity and a wonderful community of like-minded individuals ready and willing to support each other, and a great way to share what I am learning. Here are just a few of my favorite blogs:

http://wellnessmama.com/

http://theartofsimple.net/

http://www.diynatural.com/

http://www.eatingrules.com/

Looking Ahead to 2014

As 2014 approaches, I am very excited to continue on my journey to wellness in mind, body, and spirit. I hope to discover many new unprocessed recipes, natural health care products, and tips to greater wellness. I am grateful for the opportunity to share it all here on this blog. I hope you will follow me on my journey and we can achieve better wellness together. You can join me on my journey by following this blog and by following Journey to Complete Wellness on Facebook. I wish you a happy, healthy, and blessed 2014!

Time to be Still

Dec4

There is a time for everything. A time for work, and a time for play. A time to be busy, and a time to be still. With the holiday season upon us and so many things to do in such little time, it is sometimes difficult to make the time to slow down. But that is when it is especially important to find the time. And today I did just that. I went on a mini-retreat from 9:30am-1:00pm. The timing was perfect for me, a mom who needs to be around to get the kids on the bus and also be there when they get home. And it was just the amount of time I needed to recharge.

During the retreat, I connected with other women who were also there to get away from the distractions of everyday life and to find peace and to just listen to God speak to them. Because God is ALWAYS speaking to us. We just don’t always pay attention or stop to listen.

While walking around the gardens outside, I saw this beautiful message on this stone. I love the way the sun is beaming down on the stone, and if you look closely, you can even see a beautiful rainbow in one of the beams of light. This message reminded me how important it is to get out into nature every day and recognize and appreciate the blessings that are always surrounding us. God is always speaking to us through nature, but we don’t hear until we stop and pay attention. And when we do, we become like a child again, in awe of the beauty that is all around us. Heaven on Earth happens in those moments.

Here is another picture I captured of the geese living on these beautiful grounds. I love that nature is always available to us to offer us peace if we just stop to appreciate it.

I am so glad I took the time to slow down today and recharge. I feel clearer, more at peace, and filled with love. And I also find that when I do take time to be still, it actually makes me more productive. It just helps me to see my priorities more clearly and it makes me focus more on what’s really important in my life.

I hope you are also able to make the time to slow down during this season. You deserve it. You are worth it. And if you do, you will be amazed at the difference even 5 minutes a day can make in improving the quality of your life. Take a 5 minute walk outside and just admire all the blessings in nature that are available to us every day. Or if you celebrate Christmas and have a Christmas tree, maybe give yourself the gift of 5 minutes a day just sitting in silence admiring it. That 5 minutes may just turn into the time of day you look forward to the most. Give yourself the greatest gift possible at this time of the year…a little bit of downtime to just “be” and listen to what God has to say to you. Enjoy this beautiful season of Advent. God Bless!! 🙂

October Unprocessed Results – Eating only Real Foods For 1 Month

Nov3

Over the past month, I have been taking the “October Unprocessed” challenge. I pledged to eat only REAL, unprocessed foods for the entire month of October. Many benefits resulted from this experience, including the inspiration to begin this blog, Journey to Complete Wellness. Read on to see the other benefits and challenges I encountered. 🙂

Journey To Complete Wellness

Becoming Healthy in Body, Mind, and Spirit

Archives

5 Tools to Track Your Health and Fitness Goals

1. Calendars (Paper and Online)

2. Paper Journals (or Online Blogs)

5. Wearables

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11 Steps to Help You Achieve Your Wellness Goals

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A New Year’s Resolution You Can Keep: Do You Want to Love Yourself More?

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May Wellness Challenge: Get Outside and Exercise Each Day

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How Daily Time for Creativity Can Improve Your Health

Benefits of Creativity

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Overcoming Anxiety Through EFT Tapping

“Energy medicine is the future of all medicine.” ~ Dr. Oz

What is EFT Tapping?

Learn to Tap!

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10 Things I Learned in 2013

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Time to be Still

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October Unprocessed Results – Eating only Real Foods For 1 Month

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1. Calendars (Paper and Online)

2. Paper Journals (or Online Blogs)

5. Wearables

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Benefits of Creativity

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“Energy medicine is the future of all medicine.” ~ Dr. Oz

What is EFT Tapping?

Learn to Tap!

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