YOUR LIFE A-Z:EXERCISE

NEVER SKIP IT

EXERCISE

EXERCISE is also a great de-stressing tool.  Some of you love to EXERCISE and can’t wait to get to the gym or on your mountain bike.  Others of you hate EXERCISE and have to be forced into doing it.  I would wager that those of you who hate to EXERCISE are EXERCISING for the wrong reasons and doing particular EXERCISES that you just hate.  Before I talk about different types of EXERCISE, let me get clear EXERCISE, whether you like it or not is important to your health.  Thus establish an EXERCISE rule.   The only rule needed is to EXERCISE at least thirty minutes a day whether you like it or not.  The simplest way to EXERCISE is to walk for thirty minutes.  Other than a good pair of walking shoes, walking EXERCISE does not require anything else and almost everyone can do it.  If you can’t walk then you need to discover other ways to EXERCISE.  Stretching is a good choice of EXERCISE and it does not require any fancy equipment.  Learning to make EXERCISE as part of your daily routine is a very important part of self-care.  The goal is to EXERCISE more days a week than not.  EXERCISE will help you stay flexible and healthy as you age.  And unless you die early, you will age.  If you want to get around in a healthy body as you age EXERCISE is important.  Make it your goal to discover an EXERCISE that you don’t hate and then do it on a daily basis.  It is simple.  The only goal is to do it.  Don’t do it to lose weight, do it because you love yourself.

YOUR LIFE A-Z: YIELD

SOME YIELD SIGNS SCREAM RED

YIELD

When I think of the word YIELD, I think of the yellow triangle sign above, which basically means, pause and look both ways prior to continuing with your motor vehicle.  YIELD in this sense means to give the right of way to other traffic.  The word YIELD also means to concede in an argument and let the opposition win.  In the banking industry the word YIELD is used to describe the percentage that people make on his/her invested dollars.  YIELD is important to you today in each of the above scenarios.  Where is it in your life that you need to pause and look in all directions before proceeding with your idea or plan?  Are you examining all possibilities and making sure that you are on the right of way with your goal?  Next, how many arguments are you currently in conversations about?  Why is it so important that you win the argument?  What is the worse thing that would happen if you YIELDED to the opposition? Do you find yourself refusing to YIELD just in general principle?   If so, what is the pay-off for holding out?  If your personal life is fraught with discontent in relationships because you are always trying to prove your point, then maybe it is time to YIELD and let go.  How much of your daily life is YIELDING a high return on happiness?  Are you investing in decisions, activities, relationships, and personal time in meaningful ways that are YIELDING you a crop of happiness? Get the best YIELD out of your day.

YOUR LIFE A-Z:DEATH

MAKE EVERY MOMENT COUNT

DEATH

DEATH is the one thing that you can be certain about.  No one is getting off of this earth alive.  DEATH is the door that one day you must walk through.  Carlos Castaneda says in many of his writings that DEATH is your advisor.  That is true.  Learning to live with the certainty of your DEATH is a brave way to approach your daily life.  Allow DEATH to sit on your shoulder and advise you to live within the wisdom that it brings.  DEATH will ask you some tough questions such as:  Will this matter twenty-four hours from now?  Do you really need this?  How do you want to be remembered?  Were those words really necessary?  If today was your last day, how do you want to live it? Who do you need to forgive?  Who do you need forgiveness from?  DEATH is important and needs to be respected, not feared.  DEATH is a normal part of life.  We know we will all experience it.  How can DEATH be incorporated as important?  What is it about DEATH that you fear?  It is the fact that you are not certain about the afterlife?  Or is it that you fear the suffering you might have to go through to get to the other side?  What is the worse thing about Death?  What will be so bad if there is no other side?  Practice living as if you know you are dying and notice the changes you make in your life by allowing DEATH to be your advisor. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z:KEEP

KEEP SAFE AND UNLOCK ALL THAT YOU NEED

KEEP

KEEP is a little word that often does not get much consideration or attention, but it is a word we use repeatedly throughout our day.  If we listen to ourselves we will hear ourselves say, “KEEP it clean; KEEP it cold; KEEP it away from the dog; or I am going to KEEP it.”  KEEP implies an action of protection and necessity.  To KEEP something means to retain it because it is either useful or it has a positive meaning and function for which you want to use it.  KEEP doing the TWENTY MINUTE COACH on a daily basis and you will discover that you are naturally living more positively and consciously throughout your day.  What are you KEEPING and what do you need to discard from your daily life?  Become conscious about the stuff you KEEP.  Do you need it?  Does it serve you?  Are you serving those things that you KEEP?  If something needs to be KEPT cold and you leave it out in the heat then you did not act responsibly toward that which needed you to tend to it.  The word KEEP is important.  Here are some things that you need to practice KEEPING.  KEEP safe.  KEEP calm.  KEEP up the good attitude.  KEEP peace.  KEEP practicing.  KEEP cool.  KEEP letting go.  KEEP alert. KEEP learning.  KEEP good friends.  KEEP moving.  What are ten other things that you can list that will help you if you KEEP them in your daily life?  Do not ignore this four-letter word ever again.  KEEP!

YOUR LIFE A-Z:QUEST

QUEST AND CONQUER ALL THAT YOU DESIRE

QUEST

Quest is a journey towards a goal.  All cultures have stories of hero journeys where the seeker is on a QUEST of an important object or a person.  This QUEST is depicted as arduous, adventurous, as well as dangerous.  Many obstacles appear along the seeker’s path discouraging and attempting to defeat the seeker from his/her goal.  The Twenty –Minute Coach calls these obstacles, life.  Life is often arduous, causing us to question the meaning of our existence, whine about “why is this so hard,” and declare that we quit.  But that flame of the QUEST finds its way out of the ruble and reminds us that there is an adventure ahead and we must keep putting one foot in front of the other and overcome the obstacles in our path.  Life is dangerous, but fortunately we have a healthy sense of denial.  We drive weapons, climb shaky ladders, and sometimes just jump out of perfectly good airplanes because the QUEST to conquer challenges, fears, and obstacles keep us moving forward.  Native Americans speak of the vision QUEST where the Native person leaves the comfort of the tribe and goes off into the wilderness, often without food or drink; and sometimes with the shaman or medicine person to QUEST after his/her calling purpose in the tribe.  The QUEST is intended to take us above the ordinary and into the extraordinary in order that we might live our daily life in mindful and purposeful ways.  QUEST after that which fulfills you. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z: NEXT

Life is Waiting for You.  What is NEXT?

NEXT

If you are like me you have a list of things that need to be done.  That list can keep us busy twenty- four hours a day.  However, that list is not really NEXT in our life.  NEXT is a very important word.  On April 24 1996, the Women’s National Basketball Association was born with the words, WE GOT NEXT.  Those words echoed for the first few years as the WNBA took to the court to prove that women were a valuable denominator in team sports.  NEXT meant we are here now.  We have business to do and we are doing it.  What is NEXT in your life? NEXT is not doing the dishes.  NEXT is that important step of action that allows your life to open a new door of self-discovery.  What is it that you have wanted to do that is really important to you?  What keeps you putting it off?  What is the NEXT step that you need to do now in order to breathe life into your NEXT?  Has there been a class you have put off?  Or perhaps there is an entire college degree that you have yet to achieve.  Life changes in a moment’s notice, but nothing happens without forward action.  You have heard the saying; you don’t drive forward by looking in the rearview mirror that is true too about the quality of your daily life.  NEXT is a process of many small steps toward a goal.  It is showing up and establishing yourself as a person worthy of voice and presence in the world you live in.  

YOUR LIFE A-Z:WEAN

Nurturing Mother Knows How to Wean

WEAN

Now that you have given yourself permission to celebrate your Victories, it is time to focus on feeding yourself rather than continuing to be fed.  In one context WEAN means to cut back on relying on mother’s milk and adding some sustaining adult food to the program.  That requires that you WEAN yourself.  You cut back on how you have been relying on other’s advice, presence, and time and you take responsibility toward being the CEO of your life.  I am not suggesting that you become an island to yourself as that would prevent inter-dependence, and a healthy self is interdependent on those around them.  Inter-dependence is a give and take relationship, but dependence is often one sided and becomes very tiring to the person you are always “needy” of.  You are an adult and you can take the responsibility to be an adult in situations that often make you feel like you are going to crumble.  What situation or situations in your life are you relying on someone else’s opinion, money, resources, advice or approval in order for you to feel okay about yourself?  How can you start taking baby steps to WEAN yourself from being so reliant on others and act more self-reliant?  WEAN yourself away not only from others but also from credit card debt, overeating, addictive behavior, and laziness.  Those are all habits that we can easily find ourselves in, so it is important to start cutting back today and adding steps of personal responsibility.

YOUR LIFE TO A-Z: VICTORY

VICTORY IS BEING YOUR BEST SELF

VICTORY

VICTORY is defined as an act of defeating an opponent or defeating a competitor.  The Twenty Minute Coach has over 120 blogged words at this time.  If you go back and look at them you will happily discover that you have put into action many of the words by applying the suggested steps.  It is usually a good idea to review where you have been so that you can re-define where you go from here.  But more importantly, it is essential to celebrate your VICTORY.  These past few words have been very action orientated such as Rigorous, Task, Simplify and Unilateral.  All of them require applied action steps.  Examine your successes.  Be blatantly honest with yourself.  Do not focus on any of your so-called failures right now, only focus on your successes and improvements.  Remember you are not looking for all or nothing; you are looking for well-measured steps to your goal.  What VICTORIES can you list right now?  List at least three VICTORIES.  Then enhance it to five and then stretch the list to seven.  You have VICTORY.  You have just been programmed and socialized to focus on your imperfections and failures and often told that celebrating a VICTORY will make you vain.  That is not true.  Celebrating your VICTORY will pump you up and make you want more VICTORY in your life.  You will look for ways to compete with yourself and others to have the opportunity to celebrate VICTORY.  Have a VICTORY party for yourself.  Celebrate your VICTORIES weekly.  Enjoy. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z YOU

TAKE A BOW AND ENJOY YOU

YOU

YOU are your most valuable resource.  YOU are kind. YOU are important. YOU are smart.   YOU matter and YOU count.  So, what are YOU doing with all of YOU? How did YOU spend your resource of time today?  Where did YOU  spend your financial resources today? Living with Wisdom allows YOU to live each day fully and freely.  YOU do matter.  The most important thing is that YOU begin to believe YOU  are worth it. Remember the words in the movie The Help: "YOU are important, YOU are kind, YOU are important."  Those words are healing words and it is not only important that you say them it is important you that YOU allow them to sink deep into your being at a cellular level.  When you believe YOU are in Important,  kind, smart then YOU begin to act important, kind, and smart.  When YOU act that way then doors that you have been to intimidated to open.   YOU will knock on any door that interestsYOU  and YOU will open and walk into any  door YOU want too, just because YOU believe.  Once YOU believe YOU  can do all things that YOU ever wanted too or YOU can Develop the necessary tools and resources.  YOU are a bottomless pot of options and resources.  YOU matter and today is the day that YOU change your attitude and begin to live the life YOU design.  Today is YOU day!

YOUR LIFE A-Z: ABUNDANCE

LOVE IS ENOUGH

ABUNDANCE

ABUNDANCE is really a belief system.  Do you operate from a perspective that there will always be enough to do you come from a place of scarcity, where quantity can run out and there won’t be enough for you?  This is not about that worn out old saying, “Is your glass half-empty or half-full?”  It is about your deep down belief system.  Do you matter enough to be taken care of by the universe?  How much food do you throw away from your refrigerator each week?  How many extra pair of shoes do you have in your closet?  What other things fill your closet and drawer space?  You are not living in ABUNDANCE with extras, you are living in greed, fear and materialism.  ABUNDANCE is having enough, not more than you need.  The food system may not be able to support us in years to come and then our gluttony might have to come to an end, but there will be enough to sustain us.  What do you need to sustain you?   Living simply is ABUNDANT living.  Living within your financial means is ABUNDANT living?  Living on credit card debt is living frivolously and recklessly.  Yes, you may have debt from a medical bill that was a necessity, or a set of tires your are paying off for your safety, but if your credit card is filled with department store debt you are living irresponsibly.  If you want freedom then you must live in the ABUNDANCE of enough.  

YOUR LIFE A-Z: X-RAY

X-RAY

These words starting with “X” are hard for me.  The lazy part of me just wants to substitute fun “F” words here instead.  But writing 250 + words per  blog the “X” words give me a particular writing challenge.  How does X-RAY fit into the TWENTY-MINUTE COACH?  Well X-RAYS are both helpful and harmful.  Thus we only want to use X-RAYS in moderation because the photons in X-RAYS carryenough energy to ionize atoms and disrupt molecularbonds that damages cell tissue.  This damage creates opportunity for mutant cells to break off and become dangerous or cancerous to the rest of the body.  Thus, moderation is very important.  The helpful part of X-RAYS is that they allow us to see inside of our body structure detecting harmful growths, fractures, and other bizarre things that might be going on inside of us.  It is important for you to practice X-RAY vision and attention to your feelings.  Don’t keep stuffing them and pushing them underground otherwise they are very capable of creating real health problems that will need an X-RAY machine.  If you take the time on a regular basis to look inside of your heart and ask yourself what is it that you are really feeling about your life, your relationships, your journey, and your self then you will benefit from feeling more alive, less fearful, and more excited about all of the potential you have in your daily life.  So look inside on a regular basis and check out what is going on in your heart.

YOUR LIFE A-Z: VESTED

THE RAIN CAN BE BEAUTIFUL AND INVITING ...GO  ENJOY IT ANYWAY

VESTED

I have been speaking about your buy-in throughout the TWENTY MINUTE COACH.  Vested is not only about your emotional, physical, and spiritual buy-in to your accomplishment, it is your right to obtain what it is you want in your life.  The U.S. Constitution guarantees you a vested right of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.  That is your right as an American.  Perhaps all of my readers are not Americans, but the point can be extrapolated to certain rights of individuals just becauseyou are a human being.  In order for you to access those rights, you must be VESTED, you must buy-in as something that is of the utmost importance to you.  The more important something is to you the more you are willing to work to make it happen.  If your goals are not materializing by this point it is probably because you chose goals that are just not that important to you.  If you are closer than you were a month ago then progress is a result of your VESTED interest in accomplishing that which you set out to accomplish.  In employment situations, employees usually become VESTED after they have worked for a company of five or more years.  That means they get a little pension or money after they retire as a result of being “VESTED,” committed to the company.  Commitment to the finish line will only happen if you are VESTED in the outcome and that there is some personal benefit for finishing.