Living Well: Learn to Enjoy the Moment

I think one of the biggest challenges that face women today is balance. With being a woman comes maintaining a home, trying to succeed in the workplace, managing a social life, nurturing friendships, paying bills, running errands, meeting deadlines and above all making time for family. Days turn into weeks and weeks into months and before long a whole year has flown by with only a few celebrations or moments often savored along the way.

The truth is that life was never meant to be a race, it was meant to be enjoyed. Many women are overwhelmed or so tightly wound up from all they're trying to accomplish in a week that it's sometimes hard to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of life on weekends or during vacation.

In the last few years, spending more time outdoors with nature and taking a step back from demanding corporate sales positions to work for myself has allowed me to delight in the small moments like I never had before. This isn't to say that I don't feel overloaded with work at times or stressed but I had to take the time to define what was most important to me and my family. Beginning a gratitude journal was also key to unlocking a more thankful heart that allowed me to focus daily on five things that I am most grateful for at the end of my day.

Things that had been so important to me at one time in my mind, were no longer necessary. I adopted a less is more approach to life and scaled back in many different areas which has allowed me to spend less money, free up my schedule, bring less stuff into our home and focus on only what we truly need to be happy. I recently came to some other new revelations {here} while on a trip about what we want vs. what we need in life.

I just love this quote, it challenges us all to enjoy what we have whether it be time, an occupation, our family, money, friendships or the latest version of the iPad. Let's be women who know how to be content with what we have, not needing the next trendy pair of shoes or handbag to be happy. Ignore what the media tells you that you must have and need to be in order to be a success. Be satisfied in knowing what is best for you and keeping life as uncomplicated as it can be.

 "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; 

remember that what you have now was once among the things

 you only hoped for." 

~Epicurus (Greek Philosopher) 

On that note, I hope you all have a wonderful and fulfilling weekend enjoying the simple and most beautiful moments of life. :) I'd love to hear from you! How have you become more present in your  own life?

XO



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Mind Over Matter

Do you ever build something up in your head only to feel disappointed- or on the contrary- very relieved later on?

We women can sure plan up a storm- in our minds that is! We often try to play out in our head how a particular event will go, who might show up and we play out scenarios of who we might bump into and how long we want to stay even before we get there. We might be dreading the thought of running errands with kids in tow and how the day will feel so much longer, anticipating whining, defiant behavior or tantrums only to find out that the day went without a hitch!

As I mentioned in last week's post, I was scheduled to work on black friday. It's rare that I do this anymore but for some reason (possibly because it was all new to me) I had built the whole thing up into something I was dreading, all while I was still enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with my family! I was thinking about how long the day would be, and being new how customers might get frustrated with me as I'm still training, and many other thoughts went through my mind too (I've always been quite analytical, which is a curse really.) And you know what? NONE of them were founded! The evening wasn't overly busy, it was a steady stream of people. The company provided dinner for us, so even my dinner break felt longer and the store was a lot more quiet than I had anticipated. This was a huge reminder for me that as much as I want to be in control of the outcome, or be a planner and organize the day in my own thoughts, it never goes the way we plan anyway, sometimes it works out better!

My dad once said to me, "If you don't have any expectations, then you can't be disappointed!". How true that advice is. A few times on my birthday as a child, I had envisioned something different than what was, and then feeling a bit disappointed later after all of my friends and family had gone home.

What we believe to be true tends to take over and can really shape our day, but most importantly our ATTITUDE and our outlook on life. We have the ability to create great joy, anticipation and excitement for ourselves or anxiety, dread and stress. Our mind is a powerful tool, we need to use it to our advantage. Don't use it to defeat yourself before you've even begun the day with thoughts of insecurity, inadequacy, fear or judgement. Be still, be present and let the day unfold as it was intended, it is so much more freeing.

Happy Monday!