What Is Enough? How Do You Know When You Have "It"?

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Over a month ago was my birthday and I wrote a post On the Verge of 40. In it, I describe my feelings of insecurity, doubt, worry, and generally being unsure.  My vow was to focus on feeling that I am enough as I am.  I have actually, to my surprise, thought of this every day and tried to squash out those feelings of inadequacy whenever they pop up.  Or I've tried to figure what the root cause of what that feeling is and attempted to rectify it.  

Journey to Finding Life's Purpose - Part 4

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MEDITATION CAN UNLOCK THE SUBCONSCIOUS

Meditation isn’t just for the Yogis and Buddhist monks of the world anymore. Meditation has been around for thousands of years. Meditation and mindfulness have never been more popular than they are today. It’s now a tool used by medical professionals in a variety of fields and in the business world. Prisons are even teaching meditation to inmates.

Journey to Find Life's Purpose - Part 3

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FINDING YOUR PURPOSE THROUGH WRITING

Most of us don’t enjoy writing. A lot of people would much rather ponder things, but writing can be a very powerful tool. Clearly, if you have read my blog, you know I am not of that persuasion.  I have written posts on why I think everyone should have a journal, how to motivate yourself to journal daily,  and how to nurture your creative mind with journaling.  

Journey to Finding Life's Purpose - Part 2

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QUESTIONS TO REVEAL THE PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE

It’s impossible to find your purpose without a degree of self-reflection. Answers are the result of asking questions. Asking the right questions will provide the answers you seek. 

Steps to Manage Life and Stress

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Stress is something that we can all feel and experience at different times in our life. Some of us will feel stress more acutely than others, and some people will feel the stress of just everyday life being more than others; we are all different and react to things differently. But overall, stress is a feeling of something feeling pressurized.

My Perfect Day - #myperfectday

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My fellow blogger, Joan Senio, of Kindness, Coaching, and Compassion, recently wrote a post about her perfect day. I've been meaning to write a similar post, but sometimes life gets in the way!

On The Verge of 40

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Sunday is my birthday and I will be 39.  It's such a lackluster sort of birthday - you aren't quite yet the BIG 40, but you are literally at the threshold of moving into your forties.  

Making Sure Your Kids are Getting Sufficient Exercise

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When we think of exercise, many of us automatically think of our own exercise regimes. We think of heading to the gym, meeting up with a personal trainer, and attending different classes, but adults aren’t the only ones who need to exercise - kids need to exercise too!

Lack of Time is Lack of Priorities

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Time Management

At the end of the day, it’s all about time management. When it comes to time management, we don’t want to admit we don't have it all together. It’s one of the hardest issues to face and can be a challenge. However, the good news is it’s very doable.

How to Get Better at Managing Priorities

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Managing Life Areas

In order to live a whole, full, and complete life, you need to break your life down into categories. What are the categories that are most important to you? Which ones are you most successful in? Where is there a breakdown and you need to recreate?

The Focus and Action Required to Achieve Your Dream Life Now

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Focus on Your Goals

Meditate on your goals. If you’re like most dreamers, your dreams are so big and so vast, you think about them and just as quickly, you put them aside because they are too big and too unrealistic. Rather than look at the big dramatic picture of your dreams, meditate on your goals.

6 Tips For Achieving The Life Of Your Dreams

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Self-Sabotaging Thoughts That Hinder Happiness

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Most people go through times when they have trouble getting their thoughts to align with their intentions. When that happens, it will hinder your happiness. Your thoughts can get in the way of your happiness because these types of thoughts are focusing on what’s wrong, what’s missing, or the negativity of the situation instead of the positives. 

Success Does Not Fuel Happiness

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It’s easy to simplify happiness and claim that it’s obvious that successful people are happy. However, if you really interviewed 100 successful people, you may be surprised that a large percentage of them are not as happy as you think they ought to be. The fact is, you can be a millionaire, have a wonderful spouse, great kids, and everything you think you want and still not be happy. The truth is happiness fuels success.

·         Happiness Leads to More Productivity – When people are happy with the work, they do they tend to be willing to do it a lot more, even for free. Assuming other needs (food, shelter, health) are met a happy person can find joy doing the most mundane things because they can focus on outcomes instead of just what they are doing.

·         Happiness Leads to Higher Profits – In companies that keep their employees happy by offering a living wage, benefits, and a flexible schedule the profits tend to be a lot higher. One reason is that when a person feels respected in their job even if the work is hard, they are happier about doing it.

·         Happiness Leads to Stability – When people are happy, they tend to be a lot more stable, stick to tasks longer, and are more likely to complete an assignment. In addition, they tend to job hop a lot less. This is one reason smart employers know that by making work a happy place they can reduce turn over.

·         Happiness Leads to a Better Work Ethic – Most people think of work ethic as something you must suffer to experience, but for happy people, they tend to stick to their jobs longer and work even harder. The main reason is that they have the energy to do it and can envision the outcomes more positively.

·         Happiness Is Not About Wealth – Everyone knows someone who has plenty of money but is not happy and maybe even hateful. They seem to have everything but happiness. Because of this fact, it’s clear that being happy doesn’t always directly correlate to the circumstances you find yourself in regarding your bank account balance.

·         Happiness Colors the Lens by Which You See Life – The surprising truth about happiness is that if you practice happiness it will begin to affect how you see everything in the world. You’ll be able to pick out the most positive things no matter the situation.

·         Happiness is About Today – Happiness is really all about today. If you’re happy today, you’re more likely to eat right, move more, get your work done, and do everything well. Naturally, that is going to affect the future too.

·         Happiness is a Mindset – It’s hard to imagine it is true, but it is. Happiness is about your mindset. Thankfully, with work, you can train your mindset to be happier and more positive despite your current circumstances.

While bad things do happen to good people and can bring them down, the truth is, happiness can be experienced by most anyone regardless of where they are in life right now in terms of their success. It just requires that you accept that you can be happy, right now, without anything changing while also developing plans to make changes.

Is True Happiness Possible?

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Many people who have struggles in life often pooh-pooh happiness and like to claim that true happiness is not even possible.  The truth is there are different levels of happiness that you can experience in your life. It’s not a straight line. There are ups and downs that you will experience all throughout life but whether you are happy or not is all about your feelings.

You Have It in You

Just by virtue of the fact that you’re a human being and you can experience feelings, happiness being one of them, you know that true happiness does exist. You can probably write down many days and things that have brought happiness to your life over the years since you were born up until today.  If you are having trouble remembering these, start writing down one thing a day that makes you happy.  Even one word or one sentence can helpf boost your mood.  You can read more about journaling to find happy thoughts here.  

Look Around You

It’s amazing but while it’s easy to say that people cannot be happy unless they have their basic needs met. You’ll find that there are people all around you who do not have their needs met but who are very happy. Evidence suggests that lottery winners, those that inherit wealth, and the wealthiest Americans are, in fact, not happier than your average Joe.  More can be read about this on Marketwatch.com.  

It’s Not About Stuff

If you look at a list of the happiest countries in the world, you will realize that being happy isn’t about the stuff you have. The happiest people right now happen to live in Denmark. Most people who live there pay high taxes, live in small homes and tend to not be as consumer-driven as people in the USA, for example. But the USA is 17 on the list. That shows that happiness is not about stuff.

It’s Not Even About Goals

You may think that happiness is about reaching your goals too. But, it’s not. If you often say things like “I’ll be happy when…” then it’s not likely you will be happy. You can be happy today, before you reach your goals, while you’re on the path to reach those goals. It’s honestly more about the day to day living and not moments.

It’s Not About Your Circumstances

Now, of course, there are events or situations that are devastating.  However, for happy people, even the worst events will not make them unhappy at least not permanently. A happy person usually has the skills to navigate things about their circumstances. Dr. Gillian Mandich, a happiness expert, states that our circumstances account for only 10 percent of our happiness.

True happiness is about accepting that you can experience it, plus understanding what it really means. A happy person isn’t going to be the same level of happy 24/7, 365 days a year. When you observe that people who are sick with cancer are happy, that children who aren’t getting enough to eat are happy, and people living in huts in Africa are also happy it makes you realize that you can be happy too.

An Age-Old Problem: Helping Our Children Understand Their Grandparents’ Failing Health

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While there is a lot of focus on children and their mental health these days, it can be a very difficult situation when we've got to have a heart to heart conversation with our children about their grandparents. Whether their grandparents aren’t doing very well or they have to go into care because they're too old, these issues can eat away at us until we decide to sit down with our children and have that conversation. But when it comes to this sort of thing, how can we help our children understand what's going on, but also help them to cope?

Prepare For The Conversation

You could chew away at every word permutation in your mind, but the best thing to do is to sit down and just plan how you intend on saying it. It's important that you don't sugarcoat the language so much that it becomes almost unreal what you're saying. It at the same time, the reality of the situation needs to present itself, and it's something that your children need to know. Ultimately, it can be a very difficult thing if you have difficulties in trying to speak to your children in the first place. On www.HuffPost.com, there are some handy hints for being a parent that your child actually wants to talk to. This is something that could tip the balance firmly in your favor. Ultimately, you need to break the news, but if you're someone that they don't really take seriously, or they just ignore, it can prove to be more of a shock when you do deliver bad news.

Be Open And Receptive

They may have a million questions or they may have none. Whatever their response, it's important to be open and honest, but also be receptive to any questions they have, no matter how grizzly the details they want. This can be a very difficult thing for us to go through as parents, but it's important that our children understand exactly what's going on. If they have only half the information, they're going to walk away feeling more confused. What's happening to the grandparents? Are they been taken away? Are they not coming back ever again? It's these sorts of things that need answering in the most straightforward manner. This requires openness and honesty.

Offering Them Ways To Help

Your children will want to see them, or they may want to help. Ultimately, if it's something like your parents going into a home, if your child is old enough to have some of the responsibility, you can give them things to help with so they can contribute. Something as simple as visiting www.PegasusSeniorLiving.com  can be a great way for you to give your child the time they need to adjust. This can mean that they may be able to process the news easier. If they feel they are far away from the situation, and you're not letting them get involved, this could very easily compound their anxiety.

It's never easy, and it's an age-old problem, but by discussing with your children these difficult situations, it's going to have a more positive outcome than you realize, no matter how long you have been putting it off.

Health Issues To Think About As You Get Older

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Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is important at any age. But as you get older, taking care of your health can require further effort, as well as being prepared to handle a range of issues. From maintaining a healthy weight to making sure your mental health is in order, there are things to consider that can help you live a longer, healthier life, and even help the signs of ageing too.

Need to start thinking about your health as you age? Use some of the following as food for thought.

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Eating well and keeping fit

We spend a lot of our lives focusing on our weight, and while the pressure to be ‘thin’ can be unhealthy, it is important to keep your weight within a healthy range. Being overweight can increase your risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer, but healthy living is considered one of the most effective ways of reducing your risk.

Get to know the basics of a healthy, balanced diet and start planning meals that are nutritious and healthy. Meanwhile, help give your cardiovascular health a boost by working out regularly and making sure you get moving during the day. It’s simple advice, but effective for keeping your health in check as you age.

Birth control

While you might have spent a large portion of your life trying not to get pregnant, your birth control needs will change as you start a family and get older. It’s a good idea to have a conversation with your doctor about appropriate birth control methods and to make sure you’re on the right type for your circumstances. You might want to consider coming off hormonal contraception altogether. A vasectomy is an option for your partner, and there are reversal vasectomy procedures available in case circumstances change. Your sexual and reproductive health is important, so don’t neglect these areas of your wellbeing.

Looking after your mental health

We focus a lot on our physical health, but mental health is just as important. You can start focusing on your mental health by learning how to manage stress, making time for yourself and relaxing. Sleep can also have a considerable effect on your mental health, so aim to get around 8 hours a night to allow your body to recharge ready for the next day.

Mental health can be a taboo subject, but it doesn’t have to be. Talk about your feelings and encourage open conversation in your family too. The sooner problems get picked up, the sooner you can get help.

Your health needs change as you get older, but that doesn’t mean you should neglect them. Self-care can help you stay healthy and happy, allowing you to enjoy the good things in life. It’s never too late to start taking care of yourself, so if you’ve been letting things slip lately, start over today and look forward to looking and feeling fabulous no matter what your age.

Fun Ways to Make the Most of Spring/ Summer 2019

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Looking to make 2019 one to remember? With spring now underway we’ve reached the part of the year where most of us think about getting out there, doing more and making some memories- so how will you make the most of things? Here are a few ideas for going about it.

Visit a place you wouldn’t ordinarily consider

If you travel or go on vacation a lot, chances are you’ll have visited lots of places already and have your preferences when it comes to where you like to go. But instead of taking the safe option, why not do something completely different? If you always travel to hot countries, maybe you could go somewhere cold and snowy. If you usually go to cities and built up areas, how about trekking somewhere rural or remote- like the outback or the mountains? It’s great to have a completely different experience now and again, the world is so vast that there’s so much to see and do. So if you’ve fallen into a bit of a travel rut then break it with your next trip.

Join a country club

Country clubs give you access to all kinds of sporting and leisure activities and can be a great way to meet others. While they have a reputation of being incredibly expensive, the prices vary wildly and there are even working class country clubs which those that aren’t incredibly wealthy are able to utilise. Country clubs tend to be pretty exclusive, meaning they’re not always the easiest to join. However, if you have somewhere in mind that you’d like to attend, do your research of the club and carefully follow their application process. There’s a certain etiquette you’ll need to follow to fit in and prevent offending others. According to arlingtonnewsnetwork.com, nannies can often be an issue as they tend to run off for periods of time and leave the children they’re caring for under supervision of the staff. Do a little research, work out what is and isn’t acceptable for the place you’re going to.

Go to more places

Instead of going on an annual summer holiday for a fortnight in July, why not break it up? Use your budget to go on lots of smaller trips instead, you can always find cheap getaways for a few days on sites like Groupon and it generally enables you to see more of the world. It doesn’t always have to be somewhere tropical, you could visit towns and villages off the beaten path, you could take weekends away in the country that you live in, even smaller breaks like camping. What better way to spend your free time than exploring new places.

5 Things You Need To Consider Before Starting A Family

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Thinking about starting a family is an incredibly exciting time, but it’s incredibly important you make sure you have considered absolutely everything before you try for a baby. Getting pregnant isn’t a decision that should be taken lightly, so if you’re starting to think about this exciting change, you may want to consider the following 5 things:

1. Have You Done Your Research?

Before you consider trying for a baby it’s important you do your research. There are lots of different things you need to find out and researching them will give you a better idea as to whether or not this is the right decision for you. Try looking into preparing your health, the full pregnancy experience, potential costs and what it’s like to raise a baby once they arrive. You’ll feel much better if you prepare yourself for what’s to come.

2. Are You Ready?

This is a difficult question to ask, as you’ll never really know when you’re ready to raise a family. Make sure you consider absolutely everything there is to consider when making the decision, seeking advice from those that mean the most to you if needed.

3. Can You Afford It?

Raising a child can be an incredibly expensive process and if you’re in a position where you don’t think you’ll be able to bring a baby into the equation, perhaps it isn’t the right time to try for a baby. Try doing some research into each and every cost, setting a budget that will allow you to save for when you are ready.

4. Do You You Have A Big Enough House?

Although they’re small, babies can take up a lot of room when they arrive! They’ll need their own room, a place to play downstairs and a cupboard that’s well stocked with lots of supplies and baby food. If you’re living in a place that’s too small, you may want to consider looking at a bigger house before you start trying.

5. Are You In A Strong Relationship?

If you’re going to be having a baby you need to ensure you’re in a strong relationship with the father. Whilst it’s not vital to have a partner with you as you raise a child, a strong relationship will mean your child will be growing up in a family that has a good support system. If you’re unsure about the relationship you’re in as you’re discussing starting a family, it may be worth considering whether or not they’re the person you want to be with, especially if you want to avoid fighting for custody at a later date.

For more information on custody law and family law attorneys in Colorado Springs, you can visit this link here.

Are you thinking of starting a family? What do you need to consider beforehand? Let me know in the comment section below.