YOUR LIFE A-Z: ZESTFUL

ZESTFUL

ZESTFUL means having a spirited love of life.  Isn’t it awesome that our advent list ends with this powerful word for this CHRISTMAS day? (If you are wondering how we went through 26 letters in 25 days, it is because Advent began on November 30, which made a perfect ending to this A-Z for the holiday.) Today, have a ZESTFUL day.  From the early morning hours of opening presents to the late Christmas dinners celebrate each other.  Be spirited about connecting with those around you and add ZEST to each encounter, making someone else’s Christmas experience brighter.  If you are alone today, this is your opportunity to practice ZESTFULNESS to others.  Get over yourself and get out.  Take water to the homeless or go to a movie and be ZESTFUL with gratitude that you can get out and enjoy your Christmas day.  If you are homebound then call someone and wish him/her a Merry Christmas.  Today is not a day to sit around and feel sorry for your situation.  Today is a day to bring ZEST and to be ZESTFUL.   Use today to make a positive difference in the life of each person you come in contact with.  Practice having a spirited love of life and let your ZESTFULNESS become contagious.  You do make a difference in the lives of all of those around you and you get to choose whether that difference is positive or negative.  Seems like practicing ZESTFUL interactions will make your Christmas day more meaningful.  So with that I wish you a ZESTFUL day of spirited living.  Merry Christmas.

YOUR LIFE A-Z:JOLLY

                                                 JOLLY

BE JOLLY AND ENJOY 

Happy, cheerful, light-hearted and playful are some of the words that describe JOLLY.   Santa Claus is described as JOLLY and Christmas songs tell us to have a JOLLY Christmas.  Now, that is not possible if you have spun yourself into the commercial web and built a fortress of “should” for the holiday.  Let go of the holiday stress and make JOLLY an honorable goal for you and your family this season.  What do you want to joyfully do for this holiday season?  Do that and you will find that not only are you joyful but there will be a sense of JOLLINESS inside of you. You may find yourself belting out Christmas songs from the bottom of your solar plexus and dancing around holiday lights just because there is JOLLY sense of fun and excitement in the air.  When a “should” pops up and says, “You should ________________________.”  Laugh at it and speak your mind back to that “should.” Tell it, “Hey, I am having fun.  If you need to be grumpy right now, then go ahead but I am doing what I want.”  Use Christmas bags so that you don’t have to waste time wrapping gifts that will be torn up in seconds.  Give yourself permission to order Christmas dinner if you don’t want to cook.  If you don’t have small kids get up when you want.  If you do have small kids learn to enjoy the chaos.  Have a JOLLY good time enjoying precious moments with those you love and like.  Minimize your time with those you don’t like! Express JOLLY and watch it grow.  

YOUR LIFE A-Z:NESTING

MANY STORIES WILL BRING CONNECTION

NESTING

NESTING is a necessity for a well-balanced life.  During our busy lives where each detail of our day is demanding our attention it is important to push the off button and stay home for the day.  Don’t just stay home, NEST at home.  Turn off your cellular devices and electronic apps and curl up by the fireplace, pool, or sofa and enjoy being home.  As you begin to notice your space allow gratitude to settle in around you.  Be grateful for what you have.   As you allow the essence of the day to open up to you do whatever it is you want to do in the comfort of your home.  Cook a great meal or order in Chinese food.  Read, write, even write old-fashion letters to people you have been meaning to say hello too.  Listen to music, chant, meditate, sing, dance, or relax into a bubble bath.  Learning to do nothing but NEST is often a challenge because you are not use to having a whole day to do nothing but be.  However, if you put a NESTING day in your calendar once ever six weeks you will learn to look forward to it and you will enjoy making sure that you have some special things around to help you enjoy the NESTING day.  I suggest having a basket full of crayons, paper, fun magazines, candles, bubble bath, and teas to help you move naturally from one thing to another, developing a natural rhythm for being present and relaxing.  Your NESTING day will recharge you.

YOUR LIFE A-Z: TASTE

ENJOY DECADENCE OFTEN

TASTE

TASTE is very personal and inclusive of food choices, clothing choices, and home choices.  What do you have a TASTE for?  What foods do you enjoy?  Over this next week choose three foods that you really enjoy.  Practice a mindful TASTING exercise by preparing that food just the way you want.  Then enjoy eating those foods, slowly and with attention to the texture, palate, and taste as you enjoy each bite.  Taking time to really TASTE your food is so important to the enjoyment and health of your well-being.  What is your TASTE in clothes?  What are your favorite colors?  TASTE is personal and you get decide what makes you feel good.  Moving toward the clothes that help you feel good build your self-confidence and personal enjoyment. Assert yourself when it comes to what you like and what you don’t like. Don’t let yourself be talked into clothes just because they are designer clothes when you feel like a mushroom in them.  Personal TASTE is also important when it comes to the décor and comfort of your home.  Personal space and enjoying your environment is so important to your daily mood.  If you have a TASTE for the Southwest and your home is decorated in Old World you probably feel out of place in your safe environment.  It is important to decorate according to your TASTE.  If you and your partner have different TASTE, discover ways to negotiate and share both of your styles within your livable space. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z:QUALIFY

JUST BE -NOTHING ELSE REQUIRED

QUALIFY

Have you spent your entire life trying to feel QUALIFIED to be alive?  Are you approaching life as if you need to earn your right to exist?  That style of living is proving to be very burdensome isn’t it?  So today let’s reframe the word QUALIFY to work for you rather than against you.  To QUALIFY means declaring competency or adequate skill in a certain area.  For instance, one must have a QUALIFYING time to run the Boston or New York Marathons.  Why?  The main issue is safety.  If all marathon enthusiast could sign up for either of those marathons by just paying the fee then the streets and cities would be overbooked and overran with slow pokes who are going to take hours to finish. The slowpokes are not bad people, matter of fact, they are pretty amazing people because they are running twenty-six miles for the fun of it.  Those slow pokes have many alternative options for running marathons and need to choose from what is available to her/him.  The same applies to your daily life and daily choices.  You do not have to QUALIFY to be on this planet.  You do not need to QUALIFY to take up space or breathe the air around you.  You do however, need to QUALIFY with your head and heart that you are allowed to exist and then choose to exist well.  The important factor, as with marathon runners, is to live life for the fun of it.   Having fun in life is the QUALIFYING denominator that makes you human.

YOUR LIFE A-Z: KICKOFF

KICK OFF'S ARE MULTIDIMENSIONAL 

KICKOFF

Yes, KICKOFF something new in your life.  In the United States the word KICKOFF is almost synonymous with the beginning of football season.  As a result, the word has attached to it much anticipation and enjoyment.  The KICKOFF season begins early with many advertisements and much press building excitement in fans for the upcoming season. What is it that you have wanted to do and either just never got around to it or thought erroneously it was just too big for you to tackle?  Using the platform of a KICKOFF might be just what you need to get started.  Choose one thing you want to KICKOFF in your life such as a new job, a college degree, or a new exercise program.  Sit with yourself and list all of the things required to accomplish this KICKOFF.  Once you have the list begin to detail how you can celebrate an opening day to your life event.  What will the celebration entail and whom will you invite?  Have T-Shirts made or some sort of door prize that you can give to those people who you invite to be part of your KICKOFF to your life’s change.   Once that is planned go back to the Vision Board exercise under the word focus and make a vision board that details every thing that you want and need as a result of this KICKOFF.   Think about this KICKOFF not as the all in all but as a magnificent start to a season of anticipation and change in your life.  Make the KICKOFF big and celebratory in every way. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z:UPLIFT

UPLIFT YOU AND YOUR BUDDY TODAY

UPLIFT

“May I be uplifted and experience the root of uplifting.”  That is how simple Buddhist prayer becomes and notice that it begins with the most important person in the world-YOU. If you don’t have ‘you’ then you have nothing.  If you are walking around down in the dumps, dissatisfied, and unhappy then within a very short period of time you are not going to be in a position to UPLIFT anyone else.  You must UPLIFT yourself.  Today do actions that are going to help you UPLIFT your spirit, your energy, and your mood.  To UPLIFT means to come along beside and lift to a different space.  As a child perhaps the adult UPLIFTED you from the ground to his/her shoulders in order for you to see the parade, the fireworks or the clowns.  That UPLIFT provided you with a boost of excitement.  The world became immediately interesting and you were able to see things that you could not see or understand from the point of view of three feet off the ground.  UPLIFT yourself today.  Seize the day.  Stand on the desktop and view the world out of your window from an UPLIFTED perspective.  By changing your view you are able to change your perspective and those put positive energy into the world.  UPLIFT yourself first then you will have the energy to come along side a friend or colleague and UPLIFT him/her when they are feeling down or are in a complaining pit.  UPLIFT him/her out of the pit once you are firmly UPLIFTED from your own emotional malaise. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z: GASTRONOMICAL

HEALTHY EATING COMES IN MANY DELIGHTS

GASTRONOMICAL

GASTRONOMICAL is the art and science of good eating by choosing, preparing and serving food to bring all of your senses together in a pleasant and fulfilling dining experience.  The last two days has been a very inward journey of self –exploration.  Today I invite you to look outward and inward at the same time.  If this exercise will not work for today that is okay, but do take some time to plan it today.  First think healthy food.  Next, what healthy foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, lean meat) do you enjoy?  If you don’t want to prepare this dish for yourself, then which restaurant can you indulge your senses by planning a GASTRONOMICAL experience while dining out?  Write down the dinner you want to plan with every side dish you will enjoy, plus a very nice desert.  GASTRONOMICAL experiences must include a delightful and beautifully prepared desert.  This dinner is not a reward; it is intended to be an experience that will allow your senses to come to life.  As you imagine your perfect GASTRONOMICAL dinner what colors are on your plate?  How is your plate of GASTRONOMICAL delight served to make it appealing to the eye?  What aromas bubble up in your kitchen as you are preparing it or whiff upward from your plate as it is served?  What is happening to your taste buds right now as you think about the perfect GASTRONOMICAL experience?  Life is to be lived and it is always lived better through GASTRONOMICAL delight. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z: IMPROMPTU

IMPROMPTU DOES NOT SIT, IMPROMPTU IS A HUMMINGBIRD

IMPROMPTU

In the TWENTY MINUTE COACH, YOUR LIFE A-Z, I have covered the necessity of spontaneity, rest, break, and experiment.  IMPROMPTU is a very important word.  It means doing something without planning it. IMPROMPTU requires risk taking but not calculated risk taking.  It implies seeing the lake and jumping in it.  It implies following your intuition.  It implies going to the store and then deciding to drive by it and go to a different store even though it is further away.  Actively look for things to break up the monotony of your day today by doing something IMPROMPTU.  Have plans for dinner?  Change them, go somewhere else instead.  Going to the gym?  Go for a walk or hike instead.  Pick up the phone and call (DO NOT TEXT) someone in your contact list you have not talked to in a very long time.  Invite someone you don’t know very well to lunch.  Go to church, walk a labyrinth, read a science fiction book if you are a novelist, wear different colored socks.  Whatever it is, practice doing something out of the ordinary today and everyday.  Your life is in a rut because you keep doing the same old thing. You have dug in track marks that now feel impossible to get out of.  Turn the wheel of that car and apply some gas even though it may be a bit bumpy for a moment or two. Get out of your daily grind with IMPROMPTU acts of doing it different.  At least, walk backwards for a few steps.