Time to Rest

Hello everyone---I have been getting the message in the last several months to rest more, to take advantage of my flexible schedule to kick back a bit, read, watch a movie, meditate, enjoy myself. Why is this so hard?

Achieve, achieve, achieve! That is why. We North Americans are creatures of achievement. At the end of the day we need to feel that we have achieved something and not wasted our time.

When I was a stay at home mum, many many years ago, it was very difficult on some level because what did I have to show for my labors at the end of the day. I knew that I had done a lot with my most wonderful children, I had also picked up the house many times, cooked, cleaned, blah blah blah. I look back and think, "why?". Too much time in non-essentials. More kid time would have been better. Unfortunately my husband at the time also bought into the societal way of achievement. He sincerely thought I was doing nothing all day.

The achievement obsession is so engrained in me. What about you?

BUT what I have learned is that in order for me to truly and deeply practice my Self Love Diet ( I know, I am obsessed), I must LISTEN (aha--there is that word again) to my inner self, that still small voice, source energy, Universe, whatever you call it.

So.....I have been resting......more. AND one of the things that I have noticed also is that if I don't listen then all of a sudden I get a cold and cough which makes me HAVE to rest. Or I get a tummy ache, which makes me HAVE to rest. You get the picture.

I just read Martha Beck's blog (she has written many awesome books) and she said:

Warning to all those who think that resting is out of the question when you've got goals to achieve! Last June, I began getting an insistent message from a variety of sources telling me that the time has come for those who wish to heal the world to paradoxically move forward through rest.

I have suspected this for several months, but I wasn't sure quite what this meant or how to do it. For me, rest has usually meant working (playing) until my eyes crossed, then collapsing into a coma for a few hours. Then, just when I needed the information, a teacher appeared in the form of Dan Harmon, a wonderful Team member who spends his life developing and teaching a technique he calls "intentional resting".

In a few minutes, Dan took me through some basic resting exercises, which seemed similar to other relaxation exercises, but for some reason created dramatically different effects in my body and mind. We'll walk through one of these exercises in a moment, but first I want to say that using Dan's resting techniques consistently has suddenly increased my ability to manifest the things I want to experience. In that sense, I have come to believe that resting deeply and deliberately is more than a nice idea. It is powerful magic!

Here's your first intentional resting exercise:

Step One: Scan your body and find an area where you're holding pain, discomfort or tension. For a few seconds stop reading this and imagine all your attention flowing into this stressed out part of your body. Allow the sensation of discomfort to grow until it fills your awareness. Then come back.

Step Two: Repeat step one, but this time, silently give your stressed out location the suggestion, "relax." Then meet me back here.

Step Three: Note any changes that occurred in your stressed out area in response to the command to relax. Now, return your attention to that spot and this time mentally give it the invitation "rest." Continue to invite the area to rest for at least 30 seconds, then return back here.

Step Four: Notice any changes, brief or lasting, that accompany the invitation to rest. Common experiences may include a sense of softening, or melting, diffusion of energy, lessening of stress symptoms, or nothing at all. No right or wrong answer - just observe.

Step Five: Send your attention into your stressed out area once more. This time, slowly switch back and forth between the words relax and rest Notice any differences.

This is the basic format to achieve resting as opposed to relaxing. The two are not identical. If you felt a positive response to the word rest, try scanning your entire body while slowly and gently stating "I am resting for my feet now; I am resting for my legs now; I am resting for my heart now;" and so on. Put special attention on areas that are in pain or in distress.

Then you can begin applying rest to non-physical aspects of yourself. Try stating "I am resting for my fear now; I am resting for my perfectionism now; I am resting for my troubled past now; I am resting for my future now."

Then choose one thing you are trying to manifest into your material experience -- good health, a relationship, more money, friends, whatever. Spend 30 seconds resting for these things: "I am resting for the friends I am about to meet now; I am resting for my bank account now; I am resting for my good luck now."

As simple as this exercise obviously is, I have been flabbergasted by how powerful its effects can be. Not only have I been able to reverse minor infections in my own body, but the people and things for which I rest have been responding in ways that are simply too improbable to be coincidence.

Whatever it is you hope to attract, add a little extra twist by resting rather than forcing the result. The worst that can happen is a wonderful feeling.

Anyway, I thought it was great timing. I also have realized that it is my duty and my job to FEEL GOOD! Sometimes what makes me feel good is to just lie on the bed. Sometimes it is taking a walk or tooling around on my bike, sitting in the sun or watching a funny movie. When I do this, or I should say, when I allow myself to do this, I FEEL GOOD!

Three cheers for resting.......just BEING!!!!

What do you need to do for yourself to feel good?

Here's to loving ourselves fully, abundantly, unconditionally!

love and light to you-us all,

Elizabeth

Connection

Hello---My husband just read a statistic the other day about Facebook. One in three people are on FB. I know that I love FB. I know that I may even be addicted to FB. I had a realization today about this.

We are all seeking connection. We long to connect. We long to connect with humans and we long to connect with the divine. The definition of divine is different for everyone. To my way of thinking we humans are all divine. Do we all see each other that way? Probably not. But we connect by sharing our photos, our history, our games, our thoughts. We seek the sameness, the commonalities, the links between us. I think that FB is a fabulous place to connect. I love it!

I am now connected with high school comrades; I am connected with dancing friends from all over the country; I am connected with my extended family; I am connected with classmates in my coaching class. I am even connected with people I have never actually met. Who are these people and why would I become friends with them? Great question. I have been meeting kindred spirits through Facebook over the last several months. Kindred spirit connections who have similar spiritual (some may call it Woo-Woo) beliefs. What a blessing this is!

I have heard people make fun of FB. I think that it was a great invention! I don't think it creates barriers between connecting, I think it opens up the world to us. I have friends all over the world and enjoy hearing about their lives. I feel that this may be a place where we can start creating that world peace we have been talking about forever. It all starts with me (you). As I become a "fan" of pages on FB, I join with like minded folks to create new realities. Isn't that how it starts?

With all that said, FB is fun and a great connector. What a great age we live in with so much fabulous technology and ways to connect!

Just one more thing on humans all being divine. I believe fervently and passionately that loving yourself (myself) is the key here. The more I see myself as divine, the more I see EVERYONE (my neighbors) as divine. There I go again, on that Self Love diet rant! :-) Please know that as I get close to 100% self love of myself, I am sending the love out to you all! More more more more..................

Love and light and blessings for you (us) all!

Elizabeth

what I learned today

WOW-----do I want to go along with the mainstream and "play the game" of mainstream marketing and fitting in? NO, I have never wanted that. BUT I got caught up in a situation where I thought I needed to in order to market my business. AND I have tried for 52 years to fit in and pretend that I fit in when I just don't.

In my Inner Life Coaching business, I have felt called to "help men and women fall madly in love with themselves." BUT not everyone gets this. AND that is okay. I KNOW that this is my passion and this is my path. I cannot make it look "safe" by saying I want to "help people be happy".

Not everyone gets me. That is entirely okay. As long as the important people get me. My dear dear husband, my best friend, my son and daughter. They get me. There are a few more. As open as I seem to be, I don't reveal the whole everything to everyone! It has simply not been safe. BUT I am opening more and more and more and revealing more all the time.

My wonderful coaching teacher, Jennifer Powers, gets me. I have not even met her face to face yet, but we have a lovely deep connection and she so gets me. She encourages me to be me and said to me, "What feels right to you, Elizabeth? You know the answer to this already. The challenge for you is whether or not you will honor what you know to be true or will you let someone else define it for you?" She also said (which I love!) "No textbooks on earth can be as effective as passion and knowing. You have passion and knowing around this and it doesn't fit with the textbook way of doing things (thank God). " She then went on to say that we are the textbook of our life and we are writing it page by page every day from our hearts. AND the heart leads us perfectly. I say OH YES!!

What a lovely lovely beautiful thing that I learned today. I do HAVE passion and I do KNOW what I must do for myself. My heart steers me true. AND as much as anyone wants to help me and give me advice, I must listen to & follow my own heart-textbook.

So, I gratefully and blessedly am so happy to "help men and women fall madly in love with themselves!" AND I am indeed the Inner Life Coach. I have heard clearly from my guides, angels, internal voice, source energy, whatever you call it, that the people will come and they will be attracted to what I am called to do. I have also heard very clearly that if I need to change this or tweak this, the Universe will let me know. All I have to do is listen and listen and listen. I love doing this. I am so so so blessed and I continue to wallow in hope and gratitude.

Much love and light to you-us all,

Wow--another epiphany!

Howdy---do you love epiphanies as much as I do? the one I had this morning was a result of getting coached by a fellow student. I was talking to her about getting out and going for a walk sooner in the day than later (or not at all). I was not feeling the shift but then she said to me,
"you are so intuitive and so in touch with your soul, Elizabeth" and bingo, I got it. I got what I have been working on in other parts of my life and that is dropping the judgments, dropping the shoulds, dropping the shame of not doing something.

Yeah! I got it about my extra weight; that what I need to do for myself is love myself completely, absolutely, profoundly, unconditionally. (this includes my tummy, by the way.) I got it last week about my complexion and the crazy skin eruptions that I have been subject to for the last year. I love my tummy, I love my weight, I love my skin, love love love like a lovely cozy blanket all over me!

I have been hearing in these last couple of years that it is time for me to relax a little, quit being so hard on myself, enjoy everything, be here now (heard that before, eh?), drop the shoulds, self love diet, self love diet, self love diet. Well this morning it was clear that I had another agenda around what I SHOULD do for myself and that was take a walk every day. I actually really like doing this. I want to do this. Was I acting out of love or happiness or joy? NO!! I was acting out of should, must, have to, I will not be a good person unless I go for that walk, I am shameful if I don't go on that walk. If I don't go I am not GOOD ENOUGH!

Done. Over. Another piece in the pie that is me. Thank you for saying the right thing, Coach. Thanks to Source Energy for giving this epiphany. Thanks to myself for listening and getting it. I live in gratitude. I am so blessed! AND guess what? I will probably go for more walks as this sinks in that I deserve to have this joy. I get to treat myself to walks.

Keep those epiphanies coming!

love to you all,

glad it is today

Hello--it is me, the Self Love Fanatic. I was thinking the other day that perhaps not everyone gets what I am saying when I talk about self love. Perhaps they (you) think I am on some kind of narcissistic kick. Who knows, perhaps you are right. BUT what I do know is that I have heard very clearly that in order for me to fully and completely love my neighbor as myself, I need to love ME fully and completely. AND in order to heal from all the wounds of my life I need to accept, passionately, profoundly and unconditionally love myself EXACTLY as I am NOW.

Now changes every second, so that means that I love myself now when I am overweight and when I have skin conditions. Now means I love myself when I am thin and my skin is clear. Now means every second of every day forever and ever!

Yesterday was a hard day for me. I was in a bit of a funk and not so sure if I loved myself. I know it was there hiding somewhere inside me. I could see little glimmers of it here and there throughout the day. What was this about? I was feeling so good and feeling that I was making moves towards that 99% of the time loving myself. AND I know that I must just persevere. I must keep holding onto the thought that I am good enough. I am better than good enough and getting better all the time (sing it).

What helps me? Meditating helps. I sit in the rich silence and bask in the warmth of the creative and beautiful source energy. I sit and feel this source energy flowing all around me and within me. I listen for the messages that I know will come. I open my heart to the pure essence that is me and the greater good that I am a part of. I am here for a reason and I am not always clear why this is but I KNOW to the depth of my soul that I am here to serve in some way. I KNOW that I make a difference. I also know that right now it is easier for me to know this today than yesterday.

Also, talking to my honey helps! He is such a source of unconditional love and support. Thank you, Jim!

So, how is your self love diet going? Do you feel hooked up to your beautiful, divine, source energy that is you? I hope so and send you my prayer that it is so for you.

Much love and light to you (us) all today and everyday--NOW,

Elizabeth

Day by Day--Self Love diet

Hello everyone! One of the things I have learned this year is to go day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute (even occasionally second by second). I have learned to really listen to myself, my real inner self to discover what is needed at the moment. What do I do now? AND although some things are daily activities, there are many variations and things I feel called to do randomly (or seemingly).

Everyday I listen. I am getting better at it. I am learning to wait, ask, listen for the answer. It can be as simple as what to eat for breakfast. I don't know if I was in a rut but this really helps me to bust out of it. I know that I was in a rut of thinking that I am not good enough. I know that I was in a habit of not loving myself enough. I know that I was in a habit of giving myself a hard time for being heavier than I want to be and for my poor complexion having to go through this trying time.

Why on earth would I give myself such a hard time? I know that I would never treat anyone the way I treat myself. This is a revelation I had many many years ago. Why, you ask, have I not gotten rid of this not very nice habit? Great question. And all I can think is that somehow it has been serving me. Not sure why or how.....but now I am ready to let it go and have been working diligently to let it all go.

My intention for the last few weeks is: I choose to create mad, passionate, unconditional, profound love of myself, my whole being, and feel it 99% of the time. When I set this intention I was at about 70%. At the beginning of last week I was at 88%. Pretty cool, eh?

This week has been tough. I have felt heavy, my skin has new eruptions, lovely blotchiness. So what is this all about? What came to me this morning is that it is vital for me to love myself in this state. I know my friends and loved ones don't see me in the too heavy-blotched skin way that I see myself.

I am in a state of deep healing for all that has gone on in my full 52.5 years of life. This is good. I know I will come out the other side and feel that I am so close to complete healing. Yeah! AND as I sit and listen, I hear that I am at 92% of the time fully loving myself. Progress!

I continue to feel so blessed for the many wonderful people in my life who are so supportive! Thanks especially to my lovely Jim, my best friend Serene, my lovely daughter, Shabbie and fab son, Jazz and his sweetie, Briana. There are many more out there. Thank you thank you thank you!

See me bathed in light of healing love. Blessings, Elizabeth

Zumba

Hi everyone---I am wanting to blog and just recently read something a wonderful friend of mine blogged. She had heard that you must have at lest 50 thoughts about a topic in order to blog it. She writes beautifully about creativity. I was pondering what to blog about and then it came to me. I am on the Self Love Diet and in my coaching business I help men and women fall passionately in love with themselves so there was my topic.

So, to start by talking about Zumba. Perhaps none of you have heard of it or just heard the name. I discovered Zumba recently at the local Y here in Eugene. I had heard of it but never tried it. It is a lovely and darn fun exercise class based on Latin dance and rhythms! yeah! I love it. So I was recently inspired to become a Zumba instructor. You must go through the originators and get certified through them.

I was going to hold off doing this until I lost weight. That seemed to make sense to me and then my best friend suggested gently that perhaps doing this NOW would be the best thing for ME. Yes, I got it! I had been (and probably still do on some level but working on it) waiting to do some things or even enjoy some things until I got thin!!!!!

Well, for one, what if I never lose this 35 pounds? Does that mean that I am not going to live (or love myself fully) until then? Does that mean that I can never stand up in front of a class and teach Zumba? Gulp, I know I can do it but it makes me a little nervous. Stand up in front of a class when I look like this and be confident????? Yikes! So......working on self image. Self Love.....

My goals for these last two weeks are to "love myself passionately, madly, profoundly, unconditionally 99% of the time". A couple of weeks ago I was at 70% and then at the beginning of last week I moved up to 88%. yeah!

So, teaching Zumba would be such a kick ass move for me and my being. I have gotten a lot of encouragement from one of the current Zumba teachers and a few of the students. Also from my very dear best best friend and my most wonderful husband, Jim. Thanks!

So, my next step was to sign up for the training. I signed up this weekend and my training class is April 17.

I will keep you posted.

Here's to mad passionate love of yourself, Elizabeth