Fear & Lessons From A Homeless Man & More

How do you turn fear into curiosity?  The first chapter of my book is titled Love, Fear, Courage and Sacrifice; huge topics to try and tackle in 14 pages.  These were the hardest and most emotional 14 pages that I’ve ever written (and rewrote multiple times). I’m sharing my story and journey as a Mother with a child diagnosed with cancer. My views are different than many in my family and when I asked my daughter Dana to edit this portion as it was also about her, it brought up more emotions still unexpressed.  I realized that in order for me to help my daughter, I first needed to heal myself and face my own fears and have used a number of tools and processes the last few years of which I share with my clients. 

The bottom line is that fear is always the emotion that keeps us stuck.  The first big questions to ask objectively, without judgment is,

“What am I afraid of?” 

The next question is  “How do I face this fear and develop the courage to cross the chasm of where I am to where I want to be?”  (hint: this is where finding someone who's walked the walk can help you) and the third question is

“How will I feel when I get there? When I've overcome this fear, challenge or obstacle.”  Only then are you ready to take action and can flip the switch from the “fight or flight” fear, to the productive, right action.  Fear is the cancer; you have to get out of fear mode to accomplish ANY goal, not just physical dis-ease. Fear can be an initial warning sign and therefore a motivator, but if you stay stuck in that mode, you either become paralyzed or may move to frenetic but often-unproductive action.  Believe me, I know this…way too intimately.

You also have to let go of your need to control the situation and the outcome. Often you have to surrender the fight in order to allow new thoughts and solutions for transformation.  Last week’s blog I mentioned the NFL football player, Keith Mitchell who lost everything he knew of, when he was paralyzed.  Through his own work, breath, yoga and meditation he not only found self, but also found love, meaning and joy in his life. 

I found this interview this morning of a homeless guy who gave up or lost all of his physical assets and lived out of a car for 8 ½ months and discovered fearlessness. http://georgeiracarroll.com/ 

Twice in my life I've lost or given up most of my personal belongings and am in the process of clearing out what no longer serves me in this home too. It's during these times when we have to rely on faith that we can and will turn things around. This is often when transformation occurs. As an entrepreneur married to an entrepreneur we have experienced both financial success and failure.

Finally a quote from Forbes article Top Tips from award winning entrepreneurs,

“If you’re afraid of losing money, you will not make it to success.” “You must exist as a business with a better angle.” Money is just a tool to make things happen.”

Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder of Chobani, 2013 World Entrepreneur Of The Year.

We either react out of love or we respond out of fear.  What loving thoughts and actions will you take today? How has overcoming fear enhanced your life?

Carpe Diem!

www.savvysecrets.org

www.carpediemwellness.org

Writing a book is like birthing a baby

Yes, it’s true…writing a book is like birthing a baby.

First you are full of excitement, pride and bravado. The word virile comes to mind.  Next comes all the fear and insecurity. Do I know enough? Will I be a good parent? Will the book be good enough? Can I really do this?  Holy %&! What have I gotten myself into? Clearly, we don’t know, what we don’t know.

To quote another analogy… Our children are our spiritual guides.  I certainly have found this to be true.  They are our biggest joy, our biggest challenge, our biggest pride, and sometimes our biggest pain.  They touch us in our hearts.  They trigger our emotions. We feel and act so vulnerable. With our children, we can play games, we can be silly, and we can be real.

Writing can also be a spiritual guide.  I felt like I had to write this book. Not because many people were asking me to write a recipe book. Truth is, I didn’t want to write a recipe book.  First of all, that is too exacting for me and I believe recipes, like rules, are meant to be broken. Truth be told, I really do not like to plan and shop and take time away from my work to do so. That’s why my recipes are flexible, quick and easy. However, I have learned, like my clients, that preparing nourishing foods can become a spiritual practice in itself. It provides time to connect with your feelings, how food affects your body and to gratefully acknowledge the miracle of whole foods.

I felt like I had to write this book when my daughter collapsed in my arms in a department store. I prayed like I have never prayed before. I promised God that I would do anything, that I would tell our story.  “Please God, just let her be OK”.  I knew in my heart that I needed to write.  And then, of course periods of mortal fear and self-doubt rear its ugly head…that is the challenge of meeting any goal.

So instead of just a recipe book, this is a book about love, fear, courage and sacrifice.  Sprinkled in with a few of my favorite recipes.

Writing, like raising children, has offered me discipline, even when I didn’t feel like having it. More importantly, it has given me a mirror and a deeper connection with myself. It drew out what was truly important to me and gave me much needed focus.  It afforded me the time to think about, create and put on paper, my seven steps to optimal health and wellness.  I wanted to demonstrate the miraculous transformation that is possible, when you give yourself the gift of self-love and focus on your personal growth and development. I wanted to explain the “how” and the “why”.

This has been an emotional journey, the perfectionist in me feels like it will never be done, never be good enough.  My friend, Dr. Elizabeth English says, “The best book is a done book” and it is time to get this story out. So I submit to you my first edition, what has been a labor of love, with love and gratitude, with all of its raw content, and all of my vulnerability for pre-order here: www.savvysecrets.org

Fall Equinox & September Blessings

This was a big month for me.  First, I turned fifty-five years old. Hard to believe so many years have flown by so fast!  Last year on my birthday, I made a 90 minute yoga dance video that included my daughters, my twin sister, and friends.  Just the process was so gratifying and so much fun and if it can inspire wellness in you, I served my mission. You can see some of the clips on the Carpe Diem Wellness App under Fun, Fitness & Fashion.

This year, two of my daughters went with me to Baltimore for Body Love Day where we practiced some wonderful meditation and yoga and feasted on green juice and chocolate…heavenly.

And last weekend, I was invited to be the keynote speaker for Women’s Wellness Weekend and provided an interactive workshop on my Seven Steps to Optimal Health.  First everyone patted herself on the back for already doing the first step…BEGIN.  Prioritizing time for selfcare is often the hardest task for those of us who are givers and doers.  We had begun the day with sunrise yoga, then a great breakfast followed by a warm up  of yoga dance let by Rosalie Grazzini.

The night before, we celebrated the Fall Equinox with a beautiful fire circle where we let go of what no longer served us. Most of the 90 women present gathered, wrote on index cards and threw these intentions into the fire.  There was a lot of surrendering of fear, inertia, indecision, and struggle.

The retreat center was located on a peninsula, 175 acres surrounded by water, a river and creek leading to the Chesapeake Bay. After we finished tossing cards into the fire, the most surreal thing happened.  The water next to us, that had been calm, began to churn loudly with with so much energy that the leader of the fire circle stopped talking about the fire and had to comment how water we can also be a cleansing aid to release negative energy.  Could 90 women’s thoughts and intentions have been so strong as to literally move water?  (If you were present, please share your comments on the experience.)

Next, we stood arm to arm and each one spoke of what we wanted to bring into our lives.  For when we let go of the negative energy, we open up space for new thoughts, behaviors and positive change. The most beautiful part was that we had time and space to bring in what we wanted to bring into our lives.  We wanted more fun, joy, love, and peace. We felt warmed not only be the fire but the camaraderie, of all of us united arm and arm in support of our positive intentions.

This is so symbolic of the Fall Equinox… a time to slow down, relax and let go of so much of the hot (Pitta) struggle. This is a time to savor the beauty of the fall leaves, and to be open to a new beginning, and to new ideas with the start of the new school term. For many the New Year often starts in the fall, not in January.  Commit now to a new strength to become more grounded.  A time to prepare yourself for the winter by fermenting food not only to make the harvest last through the winter but to help you prevent allergies, colds and flu through the winter.  This is a great time to do a seasonal cleanse to prepare the body for the winter.  Fall harvests like kale, collards, cabbage, cauliflower and apples are detoxifying, alkalinizing and full of vitamins essential for boosting the immune system and for good gut health. How do you strengthen your immune system?  By healing the gut and eating the bounty of the fall harvest available to us.

How will you celebrate life this fall?  Will you join us for the Savvy Secret Seven Day Cleanse or Kickstart to Wellness Program?

Carpe Diem,

Lisa

Savvy Secret Survey Results #2

Thank you again for your wonderful feedback!  What are the top two obstacles you are facing that is keeping you from feeling and looking your best?

1.     Time!   Those who have been to my cooking classes have seen the sign my daughter gave me:

Everyone laughs at this and I say that I’m going to disagree with this statement because we live in a fast food world.   Our food preparation does not need to take hours, it does not need to be too hard or expensive, but it cannot be FAKE.  

We are constantly being sold a bill of goods.  Michael Pollan, NY Times best selling food writer and author says in his book, “Food Rules” the more health claims and advertising given, the more suspect the packaged food should be.

Our grocery stores are inundated with hundreds of thousands of products that are being marketed to us, mostly convenience non-food that is designed to sit on the shelves for months, food that less organized creatures like bugs, won’t eat.  Food devoid of nutritional value and food where vital nutrients are replaced with chemicals that are “hyper-palatable” laboratory food like high fructose corn syrup, (HFCS) and monosodium glutamate, (MSG), that create strong cravings for more, mood swings and worse. There is even a new term for these: Obesogens. 

I’ve included some of my favorite whole foods that are fast, easy and inexpensive to make.

2.    Discipline! Do you think that you lack discipline to meet your goals?  Here’s an excerpt from the book where I talk about this:

YOU BECOME WHAT YOU THINK; Take an honest personal assessment and inventory

Unfortunately, what we think is buried for most of us deep within our subconscious.  We have been programmed since birth.  We come into this earth like a clean Macbook, with a blank hard drive full of promise and potential. Every input, every parental fear, every song, TV show and commercial, teacher, friend etc. writes on our discs.  We are all subject to corrupt data and information overload.  If we do not have a practice to clear out our minds and our bodies, we eventually crash. (Plus, far too often what we are choosing to read and watch and feed our minds is not much better than the synthetic junk foods we are feeding our bodies).

These downloaded messages from childhood linger within the subconscious and interfere with our goals.  My own experience is a case in point. I now recognize messages downloaded to my “hard-drive” that no longer serve me.  In high school, (despite the fact that I had won an award writing in junior high), when I told my stepfather I wanted to be a writer, he laughed at me. He said I would never be a writer because I was not disciplined enough. True, I was the “social butterfly” (and the comic relief in the family) and lacked discipline. I could continue to believe this self limiting belief or I can do what I’ve done which is to hire a coach plus engage in an accountability buddy to help me develop my discipline and focus to complete this book. We often just need a little support to develop these healthy habits.

Many of my clients tell themselves this same misperception that they don’t have the discipline to meet their goals. 

Savvy Secret: Discipline can be cultivated with the right motivation, the right vision and the right support.

In order to live life fully and to work in our zone, we have to shine light on these ANTs that have been programmed so that we can decide whether they are true or not and whether we want to continue to be limited by them. It is the attachment to these thoughts that cause pain and stress. We are not our thoughts.  It took me 40 years to fully realize this desire to write, thanks to a coaching program that offered me the structure, support and discipline to complete this goal. 

We all have discipline in some area of our life, most of us have jobs and/or families that we care for.  That is discipline.  Think about it and I think you will find at least one area in your life that have some discipline.  Discipline comes from creating habits and I can guide you toward habits that are fun and inspiring. A good coach will get you back on the path to health when you naturally want to stray or hit a roadblock.

Contact me if you want to have a discovery call to clear any roadblocks www.carpediemwellness.org.