A Healthy Lifestyle??

So, here we go again. I am joining Weight Watchers tonight! I have been thinking about several things I "should" do to create a healthy lifestyle.... lose weight, work out, quit smoking. These things consume me until I do something about them every few months. Now while, I am happy with the fact that I always do something, I am not happy with the fact that it is short lived! I wrote down this morning my constant cycle...start a program, do it for a while, then something comes up and I quit little by little. A few months go by and I think I "should" do that again. IT SUCKS!!! And it sucks not only for me but also, the wonderful people/dogs around me. So, I am left thinking "how do I stop the insanity?" Hmmm...I think I have a book for that. Among several books I have on the subject of eating healthy, being happy with yourself, yadda, yadda, yadda!

So, today I created the possibility of being BEAUTIFUL! I think that if something is beautiful you will want to take care of it, hmmm....there's another book to buy! We'll see how that goes. AND, being BEAUTIFUL, I will keep that possibility for as long as it works :)

XOXOXOXO
Gina

Welcome Home

Let's see, it's been 2 months since I have written and in that time we have moved across the country! Yeah, we are finally in Pennsylvania. Now that we have been here for a few weeks, I thought I would write again. I have many thoughts going through my head about meeting up with old friends, my health and well-being, being a mom, etc. I have a lot of time available right now! Sometimes, I feel I have so many thoughts rolling around in my head that I am not sure what to do or where to begin. I guess the one thing that keeps coming up is developing some sort of daily habit around this...writing each day...meditating...walking...I guess maybe all there is to do is pick one and see what happens. And today I am going to do something healthy for myself. I think I'll go get some healthy groceries. First, let's look up some healthy recipes :) See you soon....
xoxoxo
Gina

The Art of Worrying

It's been a while since I have written and we have been keeping busy. We are moving to Pennsylvania in early July. It's been an exciting process with Gary, Jacob & I creating how it is going to work, what we will do once we get there, what we need to do to get there, etc. And sometimes in the midst of all this unknown, I worry. I worry about many different things...no need to list them here :)

Last night Gary & I had a conversation about moving, jobs etc. and I started to see how my worrying is not conducive to creating what we want. This morning it hit me...

What do I get out of worrying...I don't have to be responsible, I am justified, sad and distracted.

Then I looked at what worrying costs me...Peace, Joy, Fun, Love, Sharing, Creating.

So, I say I choose the costs rather than the payoff. And so it is. Today I am creating being present. Present to all the costs.

XOXOXOXOXO
Gina

Creating...

I opened "Excuse me your life is waiting" and started reading about money. How to attract this stuff into your life. I haven't quite finished the chapter however, she brought up a very interesting idea about how to attract it. Make up a story of how it will be, how you will feel once you have it and start talking or writing about it as reality now! So, I started this conversation with myself about how it feels to have enough money to pay all our bills. Here is some of that conversation:

It's so great now that we have enough money coming in to pay all our bills. It is so relaxing to pay bills knowing that we have enough. And after we pay all those bills we still have enough left over to plan something to do together. Being together as a family is the most amazing adventure! We laugh, play and just enjoy each others company. I am so excited we are going camping this weekend and then after that we are headed on a cruise. Cruising is the most relaxing vacation ever! I completely enjoy the freedom to just do whatever whenever I feel like it.

XOXOXOXO
Gina

Todays Thoughts

Yesterday I saw a position at work that I am interested in. Once again, I had it all planned out in my mind how it was going to go. Everyone would be supportive and then I would apply this weekend. Not what happened. What I realized is that underneath it all I was concerned about how my boss would react. She has been developing me for another position. And given the turn over rate of tellers, I can see why she might be upset.

So, what I created was the possibility of her & I supporting each other to create our own joy! And when I did that, I could see that it would be wonderful to create that with others in my life as well. Wow, what would a life look like that had an intention on creating joy?? It's funny I don't know but, I would like to find out! I am creating JOY!

XOXOXOXOXO
Gina

The Law of Attraction

I am reading a book, called "Excuse me your life is waiting" by Lynne Grabhorn. A wonderful friend of mine gave it to me. It is an amazing book looking at the law of attraction. Similar to the Secret with a more down to earth feel. I started the 30 days to breakthrough in the book. The first 10 days I am thinking of a Flip-Switch - something I like about me that I can think of when I am not feeling particularly positive. Todays is I am understanding. Yesterday was I am playful (I loved that one!!!).

So, here is what I am seeing out of doing this - it is making a huge difference in how my day goes. Yesterday I brought that to mind during several situations where I was not feeling positive and it made a huge difference. I asked myself How can I bring play to this situation? The other thing I realized is that I am all these things I am thinking however, not all the time. Bringing them to the present is a wonderful way to create amazing days. Knowing that on some level I am all the things I create and more!!

XOXOXOXOXOXO
Gina

This one left me smiling...check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Movies

So, watched two good movies in the last two nights. Tonight we saw Seven Pounds with Will Smith. Was definitely a good movie however, not sure what I think about it. Will Smith is an awesome actor no matter what the movie. It was sad and gave me an alternative perspective on life.

Last night we watched Slumdog Millionaire. This is a must see! I can see why it won so many awards! It is just a cute movie and gave me a new perspective on how good we have it here in the USA. I sometimes worry about how we are going to pay bills...live our existing life...and if we are going to be okay. Watching movies like this give me a new appreciation for how much I do have and how lucky I am! Watch this movie!

XOXOXOXOXO
Gina

Insights

This morning I had a great conversation with a friend. I had called her to catch up and find out about her vacation. The conversation did not go as planned, kind of like life sometimes :) I shared with her my many attempts to "let go" and let the universe take over. So, since I have decided to do that, I have had times where that seems to go well and times where it does not. One of the things I noticed is that it's all well and good to let go until something happens. I don't have enough money for something, I have to pay a bill, I have to transfer money from my savings, etc. So, I keep letting go and letting go each time one of these circumstances comes up. It seems a bit like a struggle. And I go back and forth on what to "do" about it.

The great thing about sharing is that something new can arise in the conversation. I realized that there are people in my life who are contributing in ways that I don't want to admit because then I would be present to how much they love and care about me. And for me there is something wrong when that happens, like I can't take care of myself. So, I am inventing the possibility of being grateful. Here are some things I am grateful for:

Gary - the love of my life who accepts me for who I am and loves me no matter what
Jacob - my shining guiding light who is the most wonderful son in the whole world
My Mom - the most amazing wonderful woman who is always there for me
My sister - She is my best friend and always makes me laugh
My dad - a wonderful man who is an inspiration for making a difference
My step-dad - an amazing person with great wisdom and guidance who tells it like it is
My friends - who are always there for me and listen to me as bigger than I think myself to be

That is my first stab. There is a longer list coming......

XOXOXOXO Gina

I loved this article :) Now I got to figure out how to make these links instead of web addresses.

men.webmd.com/features/11-dont-tell-the-wife-secrets-all-men-keep?page=1

People

Sometimes people annoy me. They do things or they say things that just get under my skin! I had an experience like that today. Based upon that experience I thought of ways to get back at them, killing them with kindness, ways I was better, changes I should make in my life because of it on and on...YUCK!

However, what if people just sometimes annoy me? What if there is no "getting back", killing with kindness, being better or making changes? What if all those things serve a short term purpose and are geared at protecting myself? Sufficed to say, what I realized about this was that something happened, I made up a bunch of stuff about it and was sad. Guess what??? I can chose another way to respond. So, I'm choosing being playful and creative.

Video

Here's a great video. Hope you enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8nnyBxQDfQ

April Fool's Day

Just out of curiosity, I looked up the origin of April Fool's Day. I looked at several different sites and there is no clear origin. People have differing views on the subject. However, I did find the wikipedia page for this day and there are some funny pranks at the bottom. Enjoy :)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day

God Can

About 10 years ago, I was going to a "church" in Wilsonville called the Living Enrichment Center. I put church in quotes because it was more of a "Spiritual Center" anyway, not the point. One week, I noticed that they had a thing called the God Can. The God Can was a can with pretty decorations that you put your worries into when you did not know how to handle them and just leave it up to Him to figure it out. I haven't thought about that since I went to church until now.

I got an email recently about my blog and the email basically suggested that I am trying to control my life. The whole idea was to give it up to the universe and let God show me the way. This morning I started thinking about letting go and what that really means. Risking everything knowing that everything will be okay no matter what happens. I have been trying to figure out, do something anything that will prevent certain things from coming true. And in that I have been chasing my tail trying to get it done. So, I think it's time for me to make my own God Can and leave it up to the universe :) I think I'll focus on being happy :D xoxoxoxo Gina

Article

I thought this article was interesting, in light of all the gloom and doom right now I thought an article geared at growing business would be a nicer topic :)

finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/106804/10-Winners-in-the-Recession

My Mom

Last night I woke up about 3am thinking about my mom. I worry about her and her health. I was awake thinking a bunch of what ifs. At some point I thought to myself how can I turn this worry into something constructive. It's funny how sometimes you ask for something and an answer pops in your head. I thought, well I could write about her on my blog. So, here's a little about my mom in case you didn't know.

My mother is the most wonderful mother in the whole world. She is always there when I need her to talk or give some well intended advice. Her advice is always well thought out and with it I am so clear how much she loves me. We have started talking once a week on the phone and I look forward to talking with her, laughing, sharing and talking about everything and anything. She is down to earth and wise. She is open and honest. She is one of my best friends and I love her with all my heart.

The Best Date Ever :)

So last night, Jacob went to spend the night at a friends house. I thought what a perfect opportunity for a romantic dinner for two :) So, I had it all planned out in my head - I will make a nice seafood dinner, we'll eat by candlelight, get a bottle of sparkling cider (neither one of us drinks) and rent some movies. We'll have riveting conversation and gaze into each others eyes.

Well, here's what really happened. Gary through out his back lifting Emma into the car, we went shopping until 6pm and by then I was not in the mood to cook. So, we got Chinese food and came home. We lit candles ate Chinese food and drank sparkling cider. We got 2 movies that weren't very good and I feel asleep on the couch by 10pm. All in all things did not turn out as planned however, we had the best date in a long time.

It hit me as the evening went on, I have such a wonderful relationship with Gary that no matter how much it does not turn out as planned we have fun. I think we talked and laughed more than we have in a while and it was the best date ever :)

Awakening

Almost every morning I wake up thinking, thinking, thinking. Some of it constructive and some of it not very constructive. This morning I woke up thinking why does it always seem like I'm not happy? I am in a seminar geared at looking at what Happiness is and how to create it. So, the realization hits me at about 8:30 this morning....I'm not unhappy I am BORED! OMG totally BORED! Outside of work I don't know what to do with myself. So, I've started a list of things that I can do and I will take 2 and call the doctor in the morning. I am going to do at least 2 per day and see where that takes me. It's a little game I play, I create lots of games. Later, I think I'll write about my wanting game (although I think Gary is bored with it :) xoxoxoxo Gina

Welcome to my Blogspot

I decided to start this blog to keep those interested involved in what's happening in my life and the lives of those around me. This includes interesting articles, funny jokes, ideas, thoughts and what's going on for myself and my family. I hope you enjoy and if you have any thoughts, suggestions or comments please feel free to respond.