Stop Dieting Start Living (part 2)

Well........the 12 weeks (of this program) have come to an end and that went really fast. I want to send out a huge thank you to Rachel Fox, the facilitator of this program. This was a very personal journey for her. We got to hear about her life long struggles with weight and body image and how she changed it all around to put the focus on being HEALTHY  and feeling great, and not to worry about what the scale says.

I have to admit, I'm still struggling with that one. In one of our sessions, Rachel asked us if we'd be willing to bring our scales in to get rid of them. I think I actually had heart palpitations. It really showed me how deeply ingrained that programming is for women to always be looking to the scale for validation. On our first night when we were introducing ourselves and telling a bit about our stories, I told the part of how for 2 years I have been tracking my food and hiking my butt off (unfortunately NOT literally!), and how disappointed I was that I had not lost an ounce. Yes, I was feeling stronger, Yes, my chronic pain that I deal with as a part of my illness has become less, but because those numbers on the scale had not moved, I felt like a failure.

Being a person that is obsessed with personal development, I have done SO much work on my self mentally and emotionally, but going through this process showed me that I still have a major mental roadblock when it comes to weight and body image. I have been avoiding it, while working on other areas that I felt were more important, but I definitely realized I need to kick this part of the work into high gear. As we went through the program and talked about food, moving our bodies, drinking water, I was like: check, check, check......so what am I doing wrong? It confirmed to me that my issue is with mindset. I can pinpoint when my weight started to become and issue and why, now it is time for me to spend some time to meet it head on, and the thought of that is a bit scary, but it truly needs to be done if I am ever going to be free of this.

In my first blog post, I had mentioned some of my fave parts of the first half of the program, now I will mention my fave parts of the second half. On one of the night, Patricia Dominguez, a nutrition expert from Integrated Nutrition Canada, came and spoke with us and some points she made really stuck out for me. When it comes to the Canadian diet, we are dealing with 3 main problems: Our obsession with sugar, a hijacked mindset and the troubling toxin that are so prevalent in our foods today. Some of the demos that she showed us were enough to turn your stomach. We also talked about how to reset the body through removing toxins from your organs, replenishing the natural flora in the digestive system, restoring the gut where inflammation is concerned, nourishing our bodies with whole foods and changing our mindset to make better eating choices. On another night, Sharon Villars from Bootstrap Lifeskills came by to talk about the 50 Shades of Blues, in how stress and overwhelm can affect your health. We did some pretty great exercises that definitely got us thinking about the language we use and how it affects our lives and health.

So, when I first agreed to be a part of this program, I had no idea what I was in for. I have done several 'weight loss' programs before, so I will admit that I went in a tad cynical about me learning anything new. But the truth of the matter is, this is not like all those other programs. You don't have to show a food journal, you're not counting calories, there are no weight ins or measurements taken. This program is learning about strategies that you could implement in your life in different areas that affect your weight and overall health. And in the end, it's your choice if you want to implement them or not. You are the one that has to do the work, this is NOT a quick fix issue.  So if you're ready to be honest about where you are and how you've been treating your body and wanting to learn some new tools to add to your repertoire, then this is the program for you. I believe in going forward, Rachel is thinking about changing it to a 2 day event instead of holding it over 12 weeks, so keep an eye out for that being advertised

As for Rachel's other venture of the Body Exchange , which is the Bootcamp for plus sizes.......I cannot recommend this enough. While I was there, I was LOVING it.....and my body was actually handling it quite nicely........until I took a bad fall in February, and my back and hip just haven't been the same since, and add round #3 of a nasty cold on top of that, and I was completely knocked out from completing my time there. Definitely check it out if you are wanting to get serious about moving your body and feeling awesome! Stop by Rachel's Facebook page to connect with her there to get more info on the programs.

On a personal side note......this will be my last blog post under the Positivity Kitty name, I am transitioning over to my life as a Certified Relationship and Life Coach and will be blogging under my business name of Reignite Your Purpose. I'm hoping that the website will be somewhat up and operational soon, so I will post later with the links to that.

Thank you for spending your time with me as the Positivity Kitty, and I hope you come on over to Reignite Your Purpose soon.

Hugs,
S

Are you a SLAVE to TIME? Here are some tips to make time work for YOU!

Do you ever feel like you are a slave to time? Like there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done, or at the end of the day you feel like you've been SO busy, but yet you feel like you've accomplished nothing?

Today I listened to a guided meditation from Deepak Chopra. The focus in this meditation was Timing For Success and it resonated deeply with me. Deepak states that 'even though our true self is timeless, we live and experience sequential time'. I, for one, find it hard sometimes to think of our selves as 'timeless', as we have been so programmed to watch the clock or calendar. For the most part, in my opinion,  we let time control us. Lord knows I have fallen victim to that more times than I can count! Left feeling like I am running out of time, or i'm short on time, or there just isn't enough time.

The truth of the matter is, everyone has the same 24 hours in the day, and yet some can accomplish SO much in it, while others flounder. It all comes down to how you manage it. Deepak states that 'we must respect and manage our time each day skillfully so that we synchronize our biorhythms with Nature'.  Dr. Daniel J. Siegal from UCLA, came up with a great model for mastering time that helps support our well being, have a healthy brain and nurtures every aspect of our personal inner growth. He says that it's best to proportion our time into 7 different categories each day.  At the beginning of each day, have a look as to how you are going to make sure that you hit all of those categories during the course of the day.

The categories are:

1. Sleep time : Did you get enough restful sleep? 
2. Physical time: Did you allow your body time to move and to be active? 
3. Focus time: Did you spend some time alone to concentrate on what matters most to you? 
4. Time In: Did you set aside some time for prayer, meditation or inner reflection? 
5. Time Out: Did you set aside some time to just BE and rest in existence? 
6. Play time: Did you have time to just have some carefree fun? 
7. Connecting time: Did you spend some private time with your loved ones? 

By incorporating those 7 categories of time into your day, you are making time work for YOU! As those categories optimize different areas of the brain, which lead to expanded awareness and a sense of fulfillment.

I am definitely going to make an attempt to incorporate this into my life. How about you? Do you think it is do-able? Do you already do this? I know for me, there are some categories that I do better at, and I sacrifice others thinking that they're not as important. But now I see that they are all equally important and it's about time I treated them as such!

I will leave you with today's centering thought:

I allow the flow of time to carry me forward

Hugs, 

S

The Lessons I Learned on Friday the 13th!

So......here it is, Friday the 13th (well it was when I was writing this) and while I see people posting about superstitions, bad luck and quips about 'stay safe out there', here I am basking in glorious Nature, watching the world go by, without a care in the world. I honestly didn't even make the 'Friday the 13th' connection for today until I looked at my social media feeds. Why do people make such a big deal out of this day? If you're on the lookout for something bad to happen on this day, I can guarantee that The Law of Attraction will answer that call! So seriously......let's move on!

You see.......I had this day planned on my calendar for a while now. It just happened to fall on this 'fateful' day because it was the ONLY day this week where I didn't have an appointment to be at. I would love to say that I bask in the glories of Nature that surround me often, but the truth of the matter is as much as we love each other, we haven't been spending much time together lately. I've just allowed myself to get too busy with other things.

And isn't that just how it goes with a lot of relationships, mostly with the MOST important relationship, the one with ourselves. We get too busy with the daily grind of life; work, kids, business, obligations, family, housework, you name it. We have an endless amount of avenues that take our energy.....and by the end of the day we have absolutely NOTHING to give back to ourselves!

My logo for Re-branding my business

Right now, i'm in the middle of transitioning my Positivity Kitty blog into a full fledged coaching business (yes, that means there is a name change that you will already see on my social media), and WOW, there is SO much to do! Re-branding, graphics, domains, hosting, website design and optimization and not to mention the training that I want to do to beef up my skills! Then there are the programs that I will be offering. I need to get complete clarity on those and write the programs! Some days....(OK seriously, most days).....it feels VERY overwhelming. This is a HUGE step for me to truly step out on my own, embrace the whole 'stepping into my greatness' mindset. It can leave you feeling very naked and vulnerable. And then the doubts creep in.......can I actually do this? What makes me think that I can do this? Who would want to listen to what I have to say? I have no real business blueprint to work off of, I'm a Scientist and an Educator, I'm not an MBA!


On my weekly session with my coach, Andrea, we talked about the doubts, the overwhelm, and we put a few more pieces into place, and she focused me on what my steps for the week will be. Then she asked me what my passions are? At first I was confused, as I thought haven't we been talking about the passion I feel for building this business and helping people create transformation in their lives and relationships? Then I realized that she meant my 'personal' passions. What things do I like to do that 'fill me up'? I have 3 main passions in my life; travel, nature and photography and the ultimate is when I can combine all 3.

Me sitting at my fave log on the Beach

So, Andrea gave me my homework for the week. I had to plan a little excursion for the day, to get out of the house, away from the laptop, away from all the things that I felt that I needed to be doing, and go spend the day re-charging. When she asked me where I would go, the first place I thought of was my fave  beach of Spanish Banks here in Vancouver. I told her how I had a favourite log that I sit at because it is set at the perfect angle that the whole city is directly in front of me. So the date with myself was set!





Friday morning as I got things ready to go, I struggled with the idea of my ever growing to-do list being left behind, but I jumped in the car and headed to the beach. I am SO grateful that I live in the one part of Canada that rarely gets snow, and even though it is only March, we've been in full Spring mode for a few weeks now. I knew that the moment I got there, any guilt I had about the work that I had left behind would soon melt away. This was MY time, time to reconnect with nature, time to reconnect and be present with me, time for me to be quiet with my thoughts and just soak up the natural beauty around me. It was quite a realization for me, that the approximately 6 hours that I was there, that I did not speak a word.....it was SO peaceful!

digging my bare toes into the sand! 

It's an incredibly grounding experience to get up close and personal with nature. By this I mean in the flesh, bare skin touching Mother Earth. We live in a very insulated world and with the great shoes that we wear all the time, we actually cut our selves off from the flow of energy from the Earth to us and from us back to the Earth. If you think this sounds like hocus pocus, Google 'Earthing' and see that it is an actual practice and has HUGE health benefits!



I believe that a lot of the stress that we feel in our every day lives is due to thei flow of energy being cut off and we living such insulated lives. As cliche as it sounds, we are all connected energetically and in turn connected to the Earth and when we cut off that flow of energy, it is like we are cutting off our life force.

So, I ask you.....what are your passions? What activities or places can you go to that re-charge you and fill you up? No matter how busy you are or what is going on in your life, make some precious time for you, put it on the calendar and KEEP that appointment!




Take care of you and you will have more to give back to those that you love!

Hugs,
S

PS.......in the near future, the new website and blog section will be set up, so things will look a bit different. At that time, I will set up a proper form where you can subscribe to ensure you don't miss any posts....because you wouldn't want to do that!!! LOL

Have You Ever Wondered If You Have a Sacred Gift?

Last fall I heard about this 2 day workshop from some friends on Facebook, where I could discover my Sacred Gifts. Now being that I like to think that I know myself pretty well, the thought of this intrigued me to see if I indeed knew myself as well as I thought I did, and maybe I would learn something new.......so I signed up! 

Many people have different names for these gifts; sacred gifts, spiritual gifts, soul gifts, callings.......but they all refer to the same thing. These are gifts that are NOT genetically handed down to us from our parents, these are gifts that are bestowed upon us when we enter this physical realm. Now I know I may have lost a few of you on that one, depending on where your beliefs are, but just stick with me on this one. You are just born with them, they are NOT a result of your upbringing. They seem to have a mysterious origin, like our soul picks them before we are born to fulfill a certain purpose. 

You know how you hear about kids that have amazing musical abilities, for example, but both of their parents don't have a musical bone in their bodies. It's like that.....you 'could' share the same gifts as your parents, but not necessarily so. 

It is stated that 80% of the people on this planet will never discover or live on purpose with their sacred gifts, and to me, that just seems sad. These gifts are meant to be a benefit to others. They are not meant for ourselves. The byproduct for you is how you feel when you are using them and seeing how the people around you are benefiting from them. How awesome is that?

There is an 'On Purpose' formula that these gifts follow......you have the GIFT, that you are applying in some MEANINGFUL way, where you can see others around you receiving a BENEFIT from your gift and that you have a certain VEHICLE through which your gift is being bestowed to them.

Some people may be using their gifts, but still don't feel on purpose. That could be that one of the 4 areas in the formula have gone 'off the rails' and you need to figure out how to fix it. That was how it was for me with Teaching. I spent 10 years teaching in the Education system, and started to feel like I had lost my passion for it, but after going through this process and finding out that Teaching was indeed one of my Sacred Gifts, it confirmed something that I had been thinking about for a while now, that the vehicle that I was using to teach, as in the how and where, needed to be changed for me to feel 'on purpose' again. 

So by now you are probably asking, what is the process? How do we find out what our gifts are? Well, the simple answer is to sign up for the next workshop which is happening June 13 and 14. The early bird pricing of $97 is available for the 2 day workshop just until the end of February, after that, it goes to the regular price of $197 and then if you procrastinate until the last minute, it's $297 at the door.  You can go to the Sacred Gifts Website for more info. 

But I will give you a little bit of an idea of what the process is. The facilitator and developer of the workshop, Monique MacDonald has a set of assessment questions that you fill out, and then score. When you add up your scores, you will see which gifts you have. There are 24 gifts in total, and you won't have all of them. The average person has 4-6 of them that will score in the high range. When I did mine, I had 6 where I scored very high on them, I then had some that I would call my 'second tier' gifts. They are still strong, but not as high as the others, and then there were some that barely got on the board, and a couple not at all. 

To me, mine are all inter-related. My top scoring gifts were Encouragement, Wise Counsel, Writing, Knowledge, Teaching and Craftsmanship, with my 'second tier' gifts being that of Simplicity, Facilitation and Challenge. I look at the 3 second tier ones and can see that they are ones that are becoming stronger as they have only recently been showing up in my life, where my top scoring ones have been present my whole life.  And that is kind of the point with these gifts, when you see the pattern of them showing up over and over again in your life. That is kind of a message to show you that is the purpose of you being here, and if you're not doing something with those gifts, you are probably feeling rather unfulfilled, frustrated and bored with life, and left to wonder 'Why am I here?'

Thank you Monique for taking me through the process, for confirming some things for me that I was feeling and opening my eyes to others. I now know that the direction that I have been thinking about heading IS the right direction for me to fully feel ON PURPOSE with my life!!! 

So if you are curious to see what your gifts are, and you are in the Lower Mainland of BC, I highly suggest signing up for this 2 day workshop to find out. It's a weekend that you won't soon forget! 

Me and Monique at Sacred Gifts

How are you Getting Ready for the New Year?

HOLY COW!!! Are you like me in wondering where the heck this year went? In my video below, I do a wrap up of an activity that I do throughout the year to celebrate the wonderful things (great and small) that happened this year.

In my video above, I mentioned a set of questions that I work through at the end of the year to help me get focused on where I am headed in the New Year, so here they are. Remember, these will take some inner reflection and REALLY be honest with yourself to get the most out of the exercise.

1. What am I most PROUD of this year?
2. How Can I become a better a) son/daughter b) woman/man  c) Partner  d) Business person  e) friend
3. Where am I feeling STUCK?
4. Where do I need to allow myself GRACE?
5. Am I passionate about my Career/Business?
6. What Lessons have I learned?
7. What did my Finances look like?
8. How did I spend my Free Time?
9. How well did I take care of my Body, Mind and Spirit?
10. How have I been Open Minded?
11. When did I feel the most Creatively Inspired this year?
12. What Projects have I completed?
13. How have I Procrastinated?
14. In what ways can I restructure my Time?
15. How have I let the Fear of Failure hole me back?
16. Where has Self Doubt taken over?
17. When have I felt the most Alive this year?
18. How have I taught other to Respect me?
19. How can I improve my Relationships?
20. Have I been unfair to anyone?
21. Who do I need to Forgive?
22. Where is it Time to Let Go?
23. What Old Habits would I like to Release?
24. What new Habits would I like to Cultivate?
25. How can I be kind to Myself?

Now......what quirky end of the year habits do you have? For me, I have this thing that I cannot take this years dirt into the next year. So, I have been busy getting my car washed, getting all my laundry done, my home has been vacuumed, dusted and scrubbed, and all garbage and recycling has been taken out.  I have no idea when I started this, as it seems like I have been doing it for years, but I just love being able to wake up on the first morning of a New Year and know that there are no chores that I have to get done. It truly is a fresh, clean slate!!

So what are yours? Leave me a comment below or tell me on my Facebook Page, as I would love to hear what you do to get ready to welcome in a New Year!!

I just want to wish you and yours a Happy New Year and may your year be filled with Many Blessings!

Hugs
Sheila

Want to make your Passion more Profitable? (special offer included)

On October 19-20, The Women in Biz Network (WIBN) is putting on their 4th annual conference to show us how to do exactly that! Women from all across North America will be gathering in Vancouver for 2 days of networking, learning and building relationships to help recognize their business dreams. Essentially you will be getting a mini MBA on small business growth. Where else can you get such valued information from so many successful entrepreneurs in one place? My brain is already spinning in anticipation of all the great nuggets that I will walk away from this conference with!!! I think this calls for me to go out and buy a new notebook, as I have a feeling that I will be walking away with pages and pages of business goodness!

Women in Biz Network is one of Canada's fastest growing national organizations of social influencers and thought leaders dedicated to professional and entrepreneurial development of all women. 

This years conference is centered around turning your Passions into Profit and will focus on Smart Growth Strategies where some of North America's top entrepreneurs will talk about how they built their empires and will provide real world skills for women interested in turning their passions into profit. 

Check out the Passion to Profit page for all the details of the speakers, topics and the agendas. 

Featured Speakers:

• Two Profit Canada Magazine Top Women Entrepreneurs (Kelsey Ramsden and Victoria Sopik)
• Canada’s First TSN Female Broadcaster and Author of the In-credibility Factor, Teresa Kruze
• Author Christina Rasmussen of Second Firsts
• Juno Award Winning Aboriginal Artist Brenda MacIntyre (now Success Shamman)

Sessions will focus on mentoring (including mentor matching), round table brain storming, pod casting, building online communities, developing your story, finding your voice, smart business plan expansion, breaking through barriers, how to survive the business tug of war and what to do when you get lost. I seriously CANNOT wait to get there!! 

What do you walk away with after the conference?

• Clear vision and goals for your business for 2014/2015
• Your business story defined
• New relationships
• Mentor possibilities (if you find a mentor through our program)
• Ongoing follow up and opportunities to speak to our experts with our follow up series
• 1 year WIBN Membership
• Ongoing opportunities to stay in touch via webinars, events and tweet chats

So here's the deal you've been waiting for..........if you use my promo code of "PassionPartner", you will get 50% off the regular ticket price! That means you get to hear all these amazing speakers and have mentor opportunities, all for just $100!!!!!!! That is a steal of a deal! Not to mention that lunch and refreshments are included in that on the Monday, and complimentary child care! Seriously, how can you say no to all that! The pre-conference day on Sunday is an optional add on for conference attendees. 

Is it time to take your business to a new level? Is it time to truly step into your Business Greatness? Is it time to stop playing small and finally realize your Business Dreams? Then it's time to invest in yourself, your business, your passion and turn it into some serious PROFIT!

See you there! 

Connect with the Women in Biz Network on 
Facebook  and Twitter

“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you” ~Oprah

Do You Desire To Live an Extraordinary Life?

I know that I do, but I also know that sometimes the thought of being extraordinary is overwhelming......I mean, where do you start? What does living extraordinary mean to you? At this point, to me living an extraordinary life would be one filled with freedom, love,  happiness, integrity, authenticity,  sharing my gifts, helping people make their lives their definition of extraordinary. Maybe after this event my definition of extraordinary may change, grow or intensify in all these ways, who knows, but I am sure excited to find out!

When the opportunity came to me to be a Blog Ambassador for the Living Extraordinary event put on by the Conscious Divas, I was like, YES YES YES.......this is SO perfect for me!!! Here was an event that will focus on what I am always talking about and trying to live my life like........being more consciously aware of what is going on in your life and the world around you!

What would be better than sitting in a room full of like minded people, listening to 10 local luminaries, sharing their amazing experiences and insights on what it means to be EXTRAORDINARY? I seriously couldn't jump on this fast enough! And so should YOU!

So.......are you free on Oct 21st? Juggle your schedule, get a babysitter, PVR your fave shows, grab your best friend and get your butt down to the Imperial Theatre on Main St in Vancouver. This is a night for you to be inspired, enlightened, challenged and to raise your degree of conscious living.

We've all gone through challenges in our lives, some big, some small, some down right life changing. These challenges can leave us restless, wanting for more out of life, wanting to change our paths...at least I know that is what it did for me.....but when that happens, a lot of times we don't know where to turn. Who do we listen to? How do we take that first scary step? Here is your chance to listen to 10 people talk about what has gone on in their lives to help them raise their conscious awareness and be better connected with themselves. You never know what nugget you could walk away with, which story is going to resonate with you and who is going to inspire you to take that leap into EXTRAORDINARY.

So who are the Conscious Divas?

"We are a local organization dedicated to helping women (and open minded men) experience a more authentic, conscious and connected life. We are on a mission to spread ideas and possibilities that elevate consciousness and collectively increase ones state being in the world." 

Don't think this event is just for women, it is NOT......this is for anyone and everyone that yearns for a life that is conscious, connected and beyond ordinary. For those ready to discover new ideas and concepts in living consciously, and for those that find it exciting to spend an evening with others who share your conscious ideology!

So who's with me?

Go to the event page HERE to check out the bios of the speakers and to reserve your ticket. If you use the PROMO CODE of "MYFRIEND", you will get 25% off the regular ticket price.......how can you say no to that?!

Connect with the Conscious Divas on Facebook and Twitter to find out more about this amazing group of women and what their goals and visions are.

I would love to see you there!

True Happiness Can Only Be Achieved Through Death!

When I did a search to see if I could find anyone who talked about this, I came across some works of the Dalai Lama and the ‘Art of Happiness’. Where he stated that even though our happiness is influenced by what we have and what happens to us, the source of long term happiness in mental. Being that it is mental, the most effective way to seek happiness is by training our minds, which is a gradual, life-long process. “The practice of Dharma is a constant battle within, replacing previous negative conditioning or habituation with new positive conditioning. ... Through training we can change; we can transform ourselves." [page 43]

The ‘Death’ involved is the death of limiting beliefs, thought patterns, behaviours, things that we have always done in the past. We all have a certain method of operation that was developed along this journey of ‘growing up’. For the most part, it has served us well, as I assume that we are all (for the most part lol) well-adjusted members of society. We get dressed, go about our days, do some work, feed ourselves, have relationships, take care of our loved ones, provide for ourselves and compared to some areas of the world, we really have nothing to complain about. But are we truly Happy?

I like to people watch, whether I am in a restaurant, in the park, walking down the street, in the grocery store, on public transit or wherever…..Observation is one of my strongest skills (has been since I was a kid), and I like to watch how people conduct themselves and relate to those around them and I have to say……..the majority of the behaviour and interaction that I see is NOT that of a Happy society……..and I used to be right in the middle of all of that.

When you think about how the path of your life has been going up until this point, I can’t help but cue up Dr. Phil with his famous, “How’s that working out for ya?”…….when I actually took some time and looked at how things were going in my life and asked myself that question…….it wasn’t working out that great. Sure I had a career, I survived a failed marriage, I had friends, I had a decent relationship with my family members, I owned my own condo, paid my bills, did volunteer work……..but at the end of the day, when I came home at night, when I was truly honest with myself…….I wasn’t happy. I felt empty, alone, unfulfilled, desperate for change, but what? When I allowed myself to feel those feeling, then I would get that part of my mind nattering at me, “what are you complaining about? Look at all that you have! There are people around the world that would kill for what you have.” So I would feel guilty for thinking that way, and push it aside and continue with my regular M.O……..and I think that most of us get caught in that trap.

It took a catastrophic event for me to actually STOP and realize that I could not continue down this path that I was on……..and I truly hope that you don’t have to get to that point, as I wouldn’t want to wish that on anyone…….but I want to encourage you to take stock of your life. Put aside all the things that you have accomplished, all the material things that you have worked hard for and accumulated, all the ‘trappings’ of life and just look inwards……..what do you feel? Sit quietly, close your eyes and ask yourself, “what am I feeling?”…..and then just listen….What are the first words that pop into your head? Don’t force it….just let the words and emotions bubble up. Keep going until you feel empty…….maybe even set your phone to record as you say what each word is as it comes up, in case you really get on a roll! What were your predominate words? Were there words that came up several times? Did the words have emotions attached to them? After looking at that list, how do they reflect what is going on in your life? Does your emotional world match or is it at conflict with how you show up physically in the world?

If you cannot say that you are truly living a life of pure happiness, in EVERY aspect of your life, then I would suggest that maybe you want to take a look at that. Maybe you have some old thought patterns, limiting beliefs and behaviours that are ready to be put to rest.  Are you ready for those negative aspects that have been controlling how you show up in the world, to be put to ‘death’? Are you ready to see what life can be like after that ‘death’?

I have seen a lot of people say, “just BE Happy!”…….sure, you can put on a happy face, and act like everything is perfect……..but what does that prove? I did that for decades, and it nearly actually killed me. Living a life of integrity, where what I say, do and believe are all in alignment, is SO important to me now and I encourage you to do the same. Once we deal with all the mental and emotional “stuff” that has accumulated over the years, and do the work to release it, all that is left is Happiness…….as that is our true essence.

Over the last couple of years, I have done a lot of personal work on my own, and have had great results in changing how I think, believe and perceive the world, but I know that I have some deeper limiting thoughts and beliefs still holding me back, those programs that are constantly running in my mind and I am SO ready for them to go to their ‘deaths’. So over the next little while, I am looking forward to some mental and emotional ‘funerals’ happening, as I work with someone who is highly trained at helping people move past their ‘stuff’ and discovering their Excellence. I cannot wait to see what life will hold after these ‘deaths’ occur.

I am looking forward to the ‘rest of my life, being the BEST of my life!’

Do Our Thoughts and Words Actually Have Any Power?

Back in Dec. 2010, I went through a trauma that caused me to completely change the way I thought and looked at the world. For the first year after the trauma, I knew something had to change, but honestly, wasn’t really sure what. Then in Dec. 2011, my lovely friend and chiropractor, Liz, mentioned that she really thought that I would benefit from a 4 day seminar that was coming up. I figured that I didn’t have anything left to loose, so why not. That seminar was the catalyst for the journey that I have been on ever since.  I learned more about myself at that seminar than I had in all the decades before. One thing that really stuck in my mind was this story that our facilitator, Tim O’Kelly told us about an experiment that he had read about in regards to plants. In the book, ‘The Secret Life of Plants’, Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, did experiments on plants where they had a plant connected up to electrodes to measure if there were any difference in electrical impulses when different stimuli were presented.  The part that really changed things for the researchers, was at one point Peter just ‘thought’ about lighting a match and putting it to one of the leaves, and at that exact moment, the readings from the plant went off the charts! Here was an example where a simple thought caused a physical reaction in another organism. The thought of this stuck with me and nagged at me ever since.

Growing up in a Christian household, there was always lots of talk of the power of positive thinking. The problem was, there wasn’t much example of it. So, I always heard that I must think positive, but I couldn’t really find anyone that was actually modelling it, so the belief system was put in place that it wasn’t really an important thing to do.  It was great in theory, but what was the point? So, as I grew up, I never really gave it much thought.

Along with that, we have all heard the rhyme, ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me’. Well, again, great in theory, but we ALL know that words DO hurt. They cause an emotional reaction. Now people may then say, ‘oh, you’re being too sensitive’, ‘you’re too emotional’, but the fact of the matter is, when someone says something negative to me, yes I feel an emotional reaction, but a lot of times that emotion is accompanied by a physical reaction as well. It could be pain, stiffness, upset stomach, allergies, etc. It took me a lot of years to actually make that connection that emotions always have a physical representation.

At the beginning of this year, I came across an article talking about a rice experiment performed by Dr. Masaru Emoto. When I looked further into it, I found that Dr. Emoto was a researcher and alternative healer from Japan that had done many experiments showing how words, thoughts and intentions affect the physical world. He had also done an experiment showing how the crystalline nature of water changed in regards to what words and intentions were put towards it. I was fascinated by this!

This got me thinking. I didn’t have the equipment to be able to re-create the plants experiment that I originally heard about, and I definitely didn’t have an electron microscope sitting around that I could use to see how the crystalline structure of water changed, BUT, I could re-create the rice experiment. The thought of that created quite an excitement within me. Here I had the chance to actually give myself PROOF that words and thoughts did actually have a physical affect in the world.

As excited as I was about setting up my own experiment, a part of me was resisting. What happens if I didn’t get any results? At one level I do believe that words and thoughts have power, but if the experiment didn’t work, would that mean that all that I believed would be WRONG? That doubt kept mulling around in my head. About a month later, I was at another workshop that referenced Dr. Emoto’s work with water. Again, that inner prodding was poking me, ‘DO THE EXPERIMENT!’. In March I went out and bought some of the things I needed, but again, I procrastinated in actually getting it going.

Finally, at the beginning of May, I decided that I HAD to do this. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that this was something that I needed to do. So, I set it all up (realized afterwards that Dr. Emoto cooked his rice first before putting it in the jars, but oh well!), and got ready to share with the world what the results were.

I cannot tell you the amount of relief that I had that I actually got results! That doubt was always there, but now, I could finally put that to rest. I kept the jars going for a second month, and from the pictures, you can see that the changes continued to intensify. Here are some things that really stuck out for me while I was doing this.

Every day, when I looked at the Positive jar, I just sat in amazement. I couldn’t believe how clear the water, to this day, remains. When it first started, there was a little bit of colour change and particulate matter, but as time went on, the water remained virtually transparent and colourless. In the negative jar, on most days, I could barely stomach looking at it. The Yellow colour of the water just kept intensifying and the destruction of the rice kernels continues. I now equate that to how negative words and thoughts end up causing the physical reaction in our bodies.

The human body is made up of about 70% water, so when I look at how the water changed in the negative jar, to me when we speak negative words and have negative thoughts, we are in turn poisoning our cells.  This would make sense why those emotions in a lot of cases result in pain and inflammation in our bodies. I imagine the water that makes up our cells turning that bright yellow colour and how that must inhibit the function of our cells and then I look at how clear the water is in the positive jar, and want to make sure that my cells stay looking like that, so that they can easily do the functions that they need to do each day. As for the Ignored jar…….it started out quite milky looking, but now in the second month, is now getting a yellow tinge. So even though no words were spoken to it, it is still feeling the response of being ignored.

Dr. Emoto first did his experiments to show how we need to be mindful when speaking to children, and how it can affect their physiology, but I think we need to expand this to how we speak and think to ALL of the people around us, and most importantly TO OUR SELVES!

Now more than ever, I am convinced that our Inner Dialogue not only affects our mental and emotional health, but also our physical health. Change our minds……..change our bodies. 

What are your thoughts on this? I know that for a lot of people, this may be thinking ‘outside of the box’, and I encourage you to do your own experiment. When you see it physically manifesting right in front of your eyes, it changes your perspective.

If you want to check out the articles about Dr. Emoto’s work on the rice experiment and with the water (which includes a 1 hr documentary), check out these links:

http://topinfopost.com/2014/04/07/an-experiment-proves-thoughts-intentions-can-alter-the-physical-world-around-us

http://agreenroad.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dr-emoto-on-vibrations-water-energy.html

Also, check out this excerpt from the 1970’s on the original plant experiments that started me thinking about all of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt3smrXkVpE

I am thinking that the next experiment that I want to do is this one on talking to plants:

http://royce3.tripod.com/Et__cetera/Talking_To_Plants/talking_to_plants.html

If we can just increase our awareness to the words that we say and the thoughts that we think, and learn to control and shift them, we can all live much happier and healthier lives.

Hugs,

S