BE INSPIRED

I just finished another inspirational coaching call with the wonderful Velma! She always inspires me and she tells me I inspire her, that I fire her up. It seems that we really feed off of each others comments and ideas. Velma not only encourages me and councils me, she inspires me with insights into her own life. We talked a lot today about claiming our lives and letting our lights shine. We talked about it being okay to be proud of our accomplishments and we should, in Velma's own words, "Applaud ourselves and never wait for others to applaud for us." I am really excited about this year. It's not because I have hope it will be a great year with no problems or troubles and just smooth sailing and blessings pouring down like rain. That would be nice but it's so unrealistic. The reason I feel good about this year is that I'm feeling good about myself and my ability to initiate positive change in my life.

Before I spoke with Velma, I was talking to another person who inspires me, my niece. She is becoming a certified yoga instructor and I'm so excited for her. I'm also proud of her because I know how hard she's worked for this and I know how long she worked for others benefit and let her own dreams slide. She's not only achieving her dreams now, she has found her own self in the process.

Many would say that I've had my dreams reached in the past but although I have accomplishments that at the time I would never have dreamed of, I was not that happy at the time. I let the feelings and often resentments of others control how I felt about myself. Instead of being proud of my hard work paying off, I downplayed all the good things that happened to me and I hid my light under that bushel basket. I may have reached some of my dreams but I had not found myself.

I may be 63 and those past successes are history but I am finding myself now and I think anything is possible if I'm willing to put in the work. I'm also learning, as Velma often tells me, to not listen to the negative. I'm going to start filling my FB pages and my blog with only positive words, words that encourage and words that inspire and words that help us all to grow. And that will be a good start at making 2019 a great year!

Now, finally, to my progress report on health and fitness. Since I've started being more diligent reading those packaged food labels and making as much as possible from scratch, I've started losing weight again! Today, I was down a pound. That's the first weight I've lost since December 22 but I also have been yo-yoing a lot. So, that pound is actually three pounds from my highest weight this month and no matter how you look at it, it is a positive loss! lol Velma was as excited as I am about joining the gym and working with a personal trainer. Also, there are those yoga classes my niece is teaching soon. I'm thrilled over those. I told her that I'm finding it is just like all of the progress I've made thanks to her coaching during the past year, it is good to be accountable to someone else. I'm finding I can do it on my own but I'm not going to push myself like Josh at AF pushes me and I certainly don't have the knowledge he has to do it right on my own. Last session, I got there early and was just waiting around until Jay, one of the other trainers at the gym, spotted me and started warming me up. He suggested that I start arrive 15-20 minutes early and warm up before I meet with Josh. I told Velma that will be my goal from now until the next time we speak. I would also like to start working out here at the house again. I'm beginning to remember why I use to love exercise so much. It may hurt at first but you soon start feeling so great. It doesn't just benefit you physically but like my niece and I were discussing about yoga, it brings balance and well being to you mentally and emotionally as well.

Check out the post on this page that tells all about my niece's new yoga program. It's called, Be Inspired, and I promise that Kim will inspire you! Come join us. The first four classes are free.