How many times do you have to hear it? If you want to feel better in mentally, emotionally and physically -  MOVE IT!  MOVE IT!  MOVE IT!  EXERCISE!

Today, one more article appeared suggesting that said, "Mounting evidence suggests exercise is among the best medicine for pain, providing your doctor thinks it is right for you." LiveScience Topics:  Pain.  While waiting for a doctor's appointment I watched a video by Accent Health that talked about reducing pain from fibromyalgia with an exercise bootcamp.  Combine this with the body of research beginning to show that exercise is beneficial for preventing and coping with cancer and it may be time for you to GET MOVING!.

Not all my clients choose the same type of exercise.  Joining a gym isn't for everyone.  For those clients there are other options like dancing, tai chi, walking, swimming, yoga, team sports, yard work . . . anything that allows your body to do what it was meant to do - MOVE.

How many message from the Universe do you have to receive before taking action?  My number is three.  It usually take three times for me to take the bait and take action.  I used to say I was a slow learner but that was a lie. The truth is that I'm stubborn.

I've received three Cosmic Postcards about Aikido.  It's time to take action.

Message No. 1

Several week ago my friend, Vickie Gray, the Adaptive Coach, started taking Aikido.  Her tweets on Twitter and her posts on Facebook are reflective of not only the strengthening of her body but of her mind and spirit as a result of practicing a martial art.

Message No. 2

While researching a topic for a workshop on the Karpman Drama Triangle (also because of Vickie), I ran across another website, Martial Development, that offered a solution for breaking the drama triangle by making an analogy with Aikido.  It suggests moving into the center of the drama triangle and maintaining sensitivity, compassion and responsibility until the attacker halts the attack.

Message No. 3

An article on Psychology Today by Susan Harrow, an author and media/PR consultant, Calligraphy, Aikido and Kotoama:  How our bodies reveal themselves in art, sport and chant, was on my Google reader this morning.  Susan says:

The phrase, "How you do anything is how you do everything" has truth to it. When you put yourself out in the world and connect with others everything shows up: whether you're doing calligraphy, cutting a flower, speaking to your children, or handling yourself on-camera, we see who you are.

See the connectedness?  The first Sunday of ever month, Aikido School of Central Ohio, has a free introductory class.  Guess where I'll be on the first Sunday in December?

Have you received any Cosmic Postcards recently urging you to take action?  What were they?  What did you do?  What's holding you back?

You see, you're giving others too much power as you even acknowledge how they make you feel. What you've got to decide is how I'm going to feel. We would go to a Virtual Reality and we would practice feeling good. Manifestations come on the heels of what you've conjured in thought

--- Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in North Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, March 2nd, 2002 #265

Are you looking for the secret to success?   Here is an excerpt of an article on www.psychologytoday.com.   It is a very simple model for success in coping with any challenging situation.

"With goal setting the recruits were taught to set goals in extremely short chunks. For instance, one former Navy Seal discussed how he set goals such as making it to lunch, then dinner. With mental rehearsal they were taught to visualize themselves succeeding in their activities and going through the motions. As far as self talk is concerned, the experts in The Brain documentary made the claim that we say 300 to 1000 words to ourselves a minute. By instructing the recruits to speak positively to themselves they could learn how to "override fears" resulting from the amygdala, a primal part of the brain that helps us deal with anxiety. And finally, with arousal control the recruits were taught how to breathe to help mitigate the crippling emotions and fears that some of their tasks encouraged." (How Navy Seals Increased Passing Rates, Bakari, Akil, II, PhD, Nov. 9, 2009, Psychology Today.)

By using this simple process, the Navy Seals increased their passing rates from 25% to 33%! Add the dynamics of life recovery coaching - encouragement, validation, acknowledgment, accountability, & energy processes and you're sure to succeed!
 
The other day a young woman called complaining of feeling stressed-out.  After she explained the situations she thought were stressing her, we explored which of those situations really effected her. (They were obviously effecting her mental and emotional states.)  It turned out there was only one change to which she had to respond. 

When asked what she wanted, she said she just wanted to feel calmer, not so anxious.  We started to look at what was next (setting small achievable goals).  The next thing to do was drive home.  I asked if that was achievable.  The answer was “yes”.  What was next?  Eat a snack.  What will you eat?  An apple.  Can you see yourself going to the refrigerator, reaching in for an apple, and eating it?  Yes.  Is that achievable?  Yes.  Within moments the young woman was feeling calmer by setting simple goals that were easily achievable.

• How have you felt overwhelmed by looking to far into the future?
• How can you set achievable goals?
• What’s next?
• Is it achievable?

Photo by LarryZou@ on Flickr.com.

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Last night I had an interesting conversation with a woman in Seattle.  When she learned what I do and that I live in Ohio, she said, "I wish you weren't so far away!"

"It is done by phone,"  I replied.

"How can that work?!" 


The human voice is a powerful tool. We can cut someone to shreds emotionally or we can soothe and heal with our tone of voice.  I've been blessed with a voice that has been called hypnotic.  You wouldn't believe how many women I have talked out of hysteria into a calmer, more peaceful place.  


Intuition and empathy are not constrained by time and space. I can "feel" a client's energy through the phone, in person, and sometimes from a photo, it's almost as if there is an instant download to me of what's going on with that person.  From there, very little of what is said or what happens in the session has to do with me.  Sometimes words come out of my mouth and I thought, "where did that come from?"  

Logistically you will have a scheduled appointment once a week for phone call just like you would if we were meeting in person.  The call ranges from 50 - 60 minutes.  That may sound like a long time to be on the telephone but you would be surprised how quickly the time goes.  You're also welcome to call at other times when you urgently need support and encouragement.  You'll receive a secure personal web page with videos, quotes, music, tools or other resources to help you toward your goals.

Still don't believe coaching by phone is effective?  Email me at pixie@enigmawellness.com or call 614-920-4909 to experience it yourself.

Photo by Darwin Bell on Flickr.com.

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A happy life is just a string of happy moments. But most people don't allow the happy moment, because they're so busy trying to get a happy life.

--- Abraham

When I was small, one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books was, Are You My Mother?  It's the tale of a baby bird who falls out of a tree.   In his adventure in trying to find his mother, he runs into a variety of characters, asking each character, "Are you my mother?"

Very often adopted children feel the same way that little bird did.  They long for a sense of connection that comes with biology.  There's something comforting about seeing a face similar to yours.  We all search for a sense of belonging.

I was adopted when I was nine months old and flown from south Korea to America to be raised by Caucasian parents who were old enough to be my grandparents.  I grew up surrounded by fair skinned, round eyed people who looked nothing like me; a fact that my classmates made painfully apparent to me when I went to school.

As an adult, I would sit in airports and watch families greet each other.  I would search the faces of other Asians looking for some connection, some familial feature that was similar to mine.  Who was my mother?  What did she look like?  Where was she now?  Those questions couldn't be answered.  There were no birth records in post-war South Korea.  I was literally abandoned as an infant on the steps of a municipal building in Seoul.

Then one day I walked into the middle of a conversation between two women in the break room of the law firm where I worked. 

"The older I get the more I look like my mother,"  one woman said.

"Tell me about it! The other woman replied. "I look at my hands and they look just like my mother's hands!" 

I smiled at them not relating to anything they were saying, dumped my coffee into the sink, and continued on to the bathroom.  As I was leaving the bathroom, I paused to check my face and hair in the mirror.  The face in the mirror looked back at me.  It was the face of my mother.

 

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There's a certain smell to the Pacific Northwest that's totally different than Ohio.  It's the scent of pine, rotting leaves, ferns, and wet forest floor. 

This morning I struck out on my own to explore a nearby hiking path.  I started up the path with iPhone earbuds in my ears listening to Viktor Frankl's, Man Search for Meaning, until I realized what I was doing.

I was walking through one of the most beautiful forests in Washington State with my mind somewhere else!

The earbuds came out of my ears.  The iPhone was zipped safely in my pocket.  For a moment I stood in the forest listening, being present to the smell, the feel, and the sight of where my feet were; the beauty of the moment.

The rest of the hike was spent in silence in walking meditation.  If thoughts threatened to invade my mind, relentless worms, I focused on the next foot step or my breathing or counting.  There was no fleeting happiness; only a deep unshakeable peace.

How could you find peace today?  Where and when could you turn off the noise around you and within you?

Have you ever had your heart set on something and at the last minute it didn't manifest?  Usually when that happens all the feelings of hopelessness and disappointment flood into our being.  We feel let down.  It's only natural.  It's how long we stay in those feelings that determine whether the experience will be the gravity that brings us down or the springboard for new spiritual growth.  How can we ensure the experience will kick us up and not down?

By changing our perspective.

When we become connected to the larger good in the Universe and live our lives by Universal Law, we develop faith.  Disappointment loses its power over us because we can trust that whatever is happening is for our best and highest good.  We cannot reach this level of faith and trust; however, by judging and criticizing others involved.  That only brings us down further.  It's is totally letting go of our expectations and falling into the open arms of the Universe that we can turn disappointment into growth.

Recently, I thought I was going to another city to do a group coaching session.  The person who was coordinating the event called a week before the date to cancel it.  The disappointment I felt was unbelievable.  After hanging up the telephone, it took me a few hours to turn around my perspective.  It took a lot of self talk about how it wasn't meant to be.  I was being saved from something and that something in my better interest would come along.  And maybe it wasn't even about me. Maybe I was supposed to go somewhere else, do something else, and be with someone else.  All that self-talk didn't immediately change my feelings but it was a step in the right direction.

I chose not to go to that city at all which disappointed someone else.  Instead I flew to Seattle to visit friends.

Yesterday I boarded a plane to Seattle.  The first flight of the journey from Columbus to Dallas was delayed by storms for over an hour.  While sitting in the waiting area, a woman and man began discussing the delayed flight.  The woman turned to me inviting me to commiserate with them. 

I denied the invitation and said, " I would rather be delayed and have a safe flight." 

The man continued to talk about the storm system and that "they" could fly around it; that it was moving north so the flight wouldn't be through the storms.  He had been watching the radar.

"I trust they are the experts and know more about the weather than I do,"  I said.  He didn't talk to me anymore.

The woman mentioned she couldn't decide whether to wait at the airport or stay another night in Columbus.  I suggested she think about it and do whatever felt best.  Within moments that woman and I were in a conversation that lasted over an hour. 

Silently I thought, "Maybe it's not even about my disappointment, the canceled workshop, or my Chicago friend's disappointment.  Maybe everything changed so I could be right here, right now for this woman."

Later while on board the plane, I learned a new phrase - bumpy clouds - a kind term for turbulence.  Sitting next to me was a young woman and her mother.  The young woman clutched her mother's hand in fear during the bumpy ride.  After the flight smoothed out the young woman asked the flight attendant if she had experienced a lot of turbulence during flights.

The flight attendant responded, "I look it as an amusement park ride.  Amusement park rides are ten times more bumpy than what we just experienced."  Then gently the fight attendant said gently, "It's not our time; not our day."

For whatever reason I did not go to that other city, I did not conduct a workshop, I was disappointed, and I disappointed someone else.  Yet because of all those "disappointments", I was in the right place at the right time to help someone in the airport waiting area and I witnessed the simple miracle of profound kindness.  More will be revealed.

How can you change your mind about a disappointing experience to use it for your personal growth?  How can you keep your eyes open to the lessons and miracles that will come as a result of your not getting what you want?

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Make the best of it. When you make the best of whatever you're focused upon, your future will be better than your now. If each moment you're making the best of what-is, no matter what it is, you make the best of it; make the best of it; make the best of it—your future just gets better and better and better, and better.

--- Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Boulder, CO on Saturday, June 7th, 2003 #236