healthy and beautiful

  Today we kicked off our 3-week Summer Squeeze .   This is not a super-strict, quick fix regime (that would be our Whipping Week). This was designed to get habits in line and establish an eating system before summer officially starts.   In order to get an idea of where participants are at we asked, “give us three words for how you feel right now”.   Responses included stressed/large/blah/flabby and tired, can you relate? And then we wondered, “how do you want to feel?”. Our Squeezers said “healthy” “under control” “back to myself” “confident” “calmer” and “energetic”.  I attended a memorial for a great man yesterday. It wasn’t your traditional funeral. We were in Central Park. A group gathered mid day, a few friends and family members spoke. They remembered a kind man, a “gentle soul”.   He never raised his voice and always thought of others. One friend said, “he always found the perfect presents” and “always showed up with too much food.” We were invited ...

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 an...

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...

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. ...