Category Archives: Spirituality

When is it time to ask for help?

SHAPE SHIFTING on BLOGTALKRADIO:
WHEN IS IT TIME TO ASK FOR HELP?

I don’t know about you, but I’ll push myself really hard before I will ask for help. Sometimes I have to actually collapse before I’ll admit that I can’t do something.

There’s nothing wrong with pushing your limits. It is, after all, what life is all about. It’s what we’re here for–it’s how we create our own reality.

But once in a while, things fly out of alignment because we push too hard.

Or are we pushing too hard because things flew out of alignment?

Chicken/Egg?

In any case, this is what we’ll be talking about this week. Tune in.

Feb. 5, NOON EST/9 PST
http://ow.ly/thkwz

I gave it 61

Sixty-one days ago I posted a blog about a really interesting website, GiveIt100.com. The site is designed for users to commit to posting a 10-second video every day for 100 days, showing progress they make while learning a new skill. The site is filled with fun and wacky projects, and some deeply profound ones as well. My big project is manifesting a Bucket List trip to the UK, so I thought I’d give it a try, to track my progress.

I had a lot of fun with it, for a while. I made big strides and was able to see how the daily accountability was extremely useful in making me get off my butt and do something to make it happen. After all, the Law of Attraction is not just about wishing for something. Action is required.

The trick of using the Law of Attraction is knowing when to stop asking and when to just allow your request to be delivered. And my participation on the site didn’t allow me to allow. I started getting tense, and feeling very pressured to take some sort of action when there was none to take. I was pushing against my gut instinct that said to just let it rest and fall into place. I had to stop shaking the snow globe, as it were, so the snow could settle.

So, I gave the site 61 days and I’m letting go for a while. I’m thankful for the epiphany that it delivered: the Give It 100 site, while BRILLIANT, is not an appropriate tool for what I was specifically working on … some days there was simply nothing to report. Their wonderful tool is best for showcasing physical progress, as it was designed to do. This isn’t their bad–they never said it would work for my kind of project. It was an experiment that yielded different results than I expected, but was certainly worth trying.

Wouldn’t it be fun if I had something to report on what would have been day 100? I’ll let you know around March 12, if there’s anything to talk about. 😉

Let’s get ready to detox!

Last April, I did an elimination diet that really helped, and I’m about to do it again. I feel like I could use a reboot, and this is a healthy way to do it. Plus, it usually kick-starts any weight loss plateaus that one may be experiencing, and I could probably stand to lose a few more sticky pounds.

My journey from 215 to 150.

The photo in the blue tank top was taken before last year’s elimination diet.

For those who are unfamiliar, an elimination diet is where you remove all but the most basic foodstuffs from your diet for a couple weeks. Most of us have reactions or allergies to foods that we don’t even notice, so an elimination diet cuts your intake down to pure foods that very few people react to, like lean protein, rice and vegetables. After your body settles into a healthy hum, you begin to reintroduce foods and notice how your body reacts.

When I was writing Shape Shifting, I used Dr. Elson Haas’ book The False Fat Diet to do this and was very happy with the results. Last year, I used Dr. Mark Hyman’s book The UltraSimple Diet and was equally as happy. This year, I’m using the UltraSimple Diet again, mostly because the book is handy, not because it’s better than Dr. Haas’ book.

On my radio show, fellow Shape Shifters Anne, Emma and Phoenix and I have all agreed to do something like this together, so we’re going to be buddy-systeming it. This week we’ll be talking about the beginning of this process, so if this is something you’re interested in, be sure to listen in Wednesday, January 22, at 12 noon EST!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/shapeshifting/2014/01/22/shape-shifting-lets-get-ready-to-detox

Shape Shifting is back!

btr player buttonAs promised in recent blogs, after an extremely long hiatus, I finally brought back my BlogTalkRadio show today, with a whole new version of the show. If you were a listener, back in the old days, you’ll recall that I used to feature some pretty cool guests, all of whom were booked to share their expertise in this whole “create your own reality” thing that we’re trying to figure out.

The shows and guests were great, and I really enjoyed doing them, but they gradually drifted away from the topic of Shape Shifting–which I define as the conscious, deliberate release of old thought patterns, to create healthy changes in your body. This usually results in weight balancing–loss or gain–depending on your body’s needs.

But, at the time, when I was doing the old show, no one else knew enough about Shape Shifting to talk about it with me, so I stopped doing the show and moved on to other things.

Well, in December 2012, I started up a Shape Shifting group on Facebook—mostly because I needed it, just like I wrote Shape Shifting to begin with, mostly because I needed it. I had started smoking again, I had gained some weight when my parents both ended up with cancer and my dad even died. I sort of stopped taking care of myself because I just didn’t have time or, quite frankly, the interest.

But once life settled back down again, I realized that if I didn’t start taking better care of my body, I was going to end up sick, too. I’ve already written, in recent blogs, about the big changes I’ve made, so I won’t go into that again.

This time, on the show, I’ll be joined by other Shape Shifters—people who have been in the group with me and who have used the same format to create changes in their own lives. We’ll be demonstrating how to run an in-person Shape Shifters group and how to use the Diary format. We’ll be talking about our own journeys, complete with triumphs, makeovers, challenges and intentions-for-positive-change … and our hope is, in that sharing, that you’ll become excited about your own Shape Shifting journey, and join us regularly.

Even better, you can join the new Facebook group that has been created specifically to go with this show. You can interact with me and each other, and really start digging into whatever it is that’s keeping you from doing this for yourself. It’s my hope that, this time next year, you’ll be able to say Shape Shifting has changed your life.

Now let me say, upfront, that I’m not trying to sell you anything, but I strongly recommend that you read my book, Shape Shifting. It’s going to help you so much in understanding what we’re talking about. Notice that I didn’t say “buy” my book, I said read it. While I’d love it if you’d buy a copy—because, after all, I have to make a living, too—if you can’t afford it, I offer free downloads of the .pdf version. Just so you know, Shape Shifting never has to cost you a dime, except for the money you spend on yourself when buying healthier foods, or fitness equipment, or whatever it is that you need to do. If you want to read the book, visit my website at http://www.shapeshiftingonline.com and you’ll find it there.

Meantime, be sure to listen to today’s show (it’s been archived and is also available on iTunes) and tune in every week to learn how to Shift your Thoughts to Shift your Shape!

 

New Year’s “Intentions”, instead of “Resolutions”

As mentioned in my previous blog, I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. They don’t last, at least not for me. But I do have a great deal of success with what I call Shape Shifting. Last year, I lost 35 pounds, quit smoking, went from sedentary to walking over 20 miles a week, and a lot of other goals were achieved.

This is the top that prompted me to take my weight more seriously in 2013. I wanted to wear it to a Solstice celebration in 2012 and couldn't even button it! This year I wore it on Christmas Day, after losing 35 pounds.

This is the top that prompted me to take my weight more seriously in 2013. I wanted to wear it to a Solstice celebration in 2012 and couldn’t even button it! This year I wore it on Christmas Day, after losing 35 pounds.

I have a whole new set of Intentions I’ll be working on this year, which I’ll be talking about on my radio show, when it begins airing again–after a long hiatus–on January 8.

After last year’s collective Triumphs, I’m optimistic that I will have achieved these goals–and then some–by next year at this time!

First, the trip to the UK that I’ve been blogging about is a “must-do”. I know that we’re not supposed to get attached to outcomes when manifesting, and that’s what is making this so hard for me. I don’t know how to do that, when the stakes are as high as they seem to be. I know I can manifest, but can I create something so complex and mysterious in such a short period of time?

Next, I want to reach whatever my body’s ideal goal weight is. I’m not looking for a number on the scale, because I honestly don’t know what that number is. I am, however, intending to keep honing my physical self and allowing my proper weight to reveal itself.

Also, Jeff and I need to move to a new home, and soon. His commute is brutal, so we are moving closer to the city. That’s probably my most immediate goal but, as you can see by the order I’ve listed them, the one I’m least interested in.

I’m sure I can come up with others, but I think that three big goals for the year is enough. The rest is just fill-in material.

Anyone else want to post their Intentions for the year, considering it’s New Year’s Day, with a New Moon? And be sure to join me every Wednesday AM (or listen later in the archives) on BlogTalkRadio. I’d be happy to help you to figure out how to make your own goals happen!

An effective alternative to New Year’s Resolutions

One year ago, I started an online Shape Shifting group on Facebook, instead of setting New Year’s Resolutions. Since then—using the Shape Shifter’s Daily Diary format—I have lost 35 pounds, I’ve gone from sedentary to walking at least 20 miles per week, I published a best-selling book, in addition to many other goals. And I didn’t quit after only a week into the year, like I always did with Resolutions. I stuck with it, because it’s fun and challenging. And IT WORKS.

I’ll tell you how I did it, and how you can do it too, on my BlogTalkRadio show, starting on January 8 … right around the time you start losing interest in those Resolutions.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/shapeshifting

I know this sounds like a sales pitch, and I apologize for that. I’ve never been comfortable tooting my own horn, but Shape Shifting really does work if you make the effort. And it doesn’t have to cost you anything—yes, I’d love it if you’d purchase a book, but it’s available for free if you can’t afford it—so I’m not really selling anything. All I’m doing is suggesting that you give it a try.

My journey from 215 to 150.

My journey from 215 to 150.

Looking for experts: healthy birthday cake recipes!

I’m sending out the call for experts again. This time, I’m looking for recipes for the best tasting healthy birthday cake!

Yellow Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting & Berries

My birthday is Saturday. I would love to celebrate with a cake and candles, but I’ve  lost 35 pounds and cleaned up my dietary habits to the point where the kind of cake I used to eat would probably make me ill. It may taste exquisite, but I know the aftereffects of eating that kind of thing all too well.

So if I’m gonna have a birthday cake, it’s gonna have to be really healthy, with a minimum of fat, sugar and processed ingredients. (This means no Splenda or aspartame.)

This may sound impossible, but I know there are recipes out there and I’m asking for the experts on this subject to chime in.

If you eat mostly clean, what is your favorite cake recipe?

Zen and the Art of Veteran’s Day

This morning I wrote this in my diary:

I’m still pondering the ‘Who am I, really?’ question, but I’m having a hard time allowing myself to relax into the exploration because it feels so self-indulgent: ‘Well, tra la la! Look who gets to just sit around contemplating her navel when people are dying from hunger or being tortured by evil government regimes!’

However, as long as I have the luxury to do so, I will contemplate my navel without guilt. In the meantime, I intend that I pray for those who are suffering. I grok that this is the truest sense of putting on my oxygen mask first, before helping fellow passengers.

At the same time my daughter Kristina, who served in the Air Force and is married to an Air Force retiree, was posting this on her Facebook page:

I AM A VETERAN. I’m going to share something on behalf of SOME of them.

Please, instead of posting a status that thanks veterans, post something positive in your life. Please focus on your blessings that the freedom we fought for afforded you. You are free to be and do pretty much whatever, so please don’t use that freedom to complain about what isn’t good. I assure you, somewhere in the world what isn’t good to you is AMAZING to someone else.

That is what a lot of veterans KNOW. They have been to third world countries and seen the truth. They know that the poor in America have it better than the rich in other countries. It’s hard to see what freedom is allowing people to become when you’ve given your time and effort and sometimes mental health all for the benefit of those who won’t take one weekend to volunteer to read to children at an underprivileged school; to volunteer to raise money for elderly who are on fixed incomes; to volunteer to spend time with the elderly who are lonely; to volunteer to clean up local parks so kids can play without picking up the used condoms or syringes in the sand; to volunteer to be kind to someone else in traffic and let them in front of you.

So if you could take the time to thank a veteran, please post what you are thanking them for. Then please volunteer at least ONCE to make their sacrifice worth it. Seeing that the freedom we fought for goes toward bragging about the money you make and your “status” in the form of displaying your Louis Vuitton bags and other name brand items isn’t exactly what most of us had in mind.

I think most of us gave (or still give) for this country for your freedom to be yourself and to accomplish your dreams not to accomplish a nightmare. Please don’t thank a veteran if you are accomplishing/perpetuating a nightmare. I assure you, that isn’t what they did it for.

Not only do I think she makes an excellent point, I love how it ties in directly with what I was writing at the exact same time. While I abhor the fact that most war is a futile waste of life, caused by people who will never suffer like those who fight for them, I do appreciate that there are so many people who are willing to fight and die for my ability to feel safe enough to contemplate my navel.

It is my hope that my daughter’s words are shared all over the internet this weekend, in honor of Veteran’s Day. And just to make this a little more Facebook friendly, I’m adding a picture of a cat:

Here's you a cat.

Here’s you a cat.

 

Click here to donate to the Wounded Warrior Project.

How I reached my goal weight

I don’t talk about weight loss much here on my blog, even though I wrote a book on the topic many years ago. I don’t want to obsess over my weight, so I keep my own journey out of the public eye (plus, no one cares about it but me). I only talk about it in my online Shape Shifting group. But today I reached my goal weight and I want to crow about it a little.

When I was writing Shape Shifting (the body/mind/spirit weight solution), I lost 50 pounds. I got it published, with a foreword by Neale Donald Walsch, and followed it up with the Shape Shifter’s Daily Diary (a law of attraction based weight loss–or other goal–journal). Then I moved on to other things.

During the years that followed, I wrote a couple more books and yo-yo’d up and down with the same ten pounds. I allowed myself that much leeway–as long as my clothes fit and I didn’t have to buy new ones just because of a few pounds, I was fine with that.

Then my parents both ended up with cancer, and my dad died. My mom is now in remission. It was a really tough few years, and I gained some weight back. Not all of it, thank goodness, but enough to have to buy new clothes.

Last spring, I decided I had to do something. I felt physically unwell and had to start buying an even larger size. So I started out with the UltraSimple Diet to clean up my eating habits. I’m now eating mostly organic (if I can’t find organic, I limit myself to natural and minimally processed foods, and keep sugar to a bare minimum).

I use the SparkPeople site to track my food intake and interact with others on the same path. I use my own Shape Shifter’s Daily Diary and post daily in the online group. I’ve become an avid walker, thanks to jog.fm–a site that helps you to make perfect playlists–and I track my exercise with a Fitbit.

This time last year, I felt sick all the time. I had panic attacks regularly and was too dizzy from Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) to exercise. In fact, exercise could make me so sick that I’d end up in bed for days.

Today, I’m 34 pounds lighter than I was in April (15 pounds less than my initial 50 pound loss, so I’ve lost 65 total, from my highest weight). I feel so much better. I don’t remember the last time I had to take a Xanax for anxiety. I’m only rarely dizzy. I go for five-mile walks several times a week–and I enjoy it. This is HUGE. I, seriously, have not been able to exercise for many years.

My journey from 215 to 150.

My journey from 215 to 150.

I’m done “dieting” now, and won’t be deliberately trying to lose any more weight. If I never lost another pound, I’d be okay with that. But I will continue to strive toward my healthiest self, and stay within a nutritious calorie range. I wouldn’t be surprised to lose another 20, if that’s what my body needs to weigh. But deliberate weight loss is no longer my focus. Now I’m going to just concentrate on enjoying an increasingly healthy life. And that feels awesome!

Why I need a new camera/phone

Black-chinned Hummingbird -- Moab, Utah, USA

This is what I saw. This is NOT what my camera saw. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While out for my morning walk, I saw a hummingbird. Right there. In front of me. Not three feet away. It was zipping around a flowering bush next to the sidewalk, from flower to flower, apparently not minding at all that I was there. I took out my cell phone to triumphantly take my first photo of a hummingbird.

I was so happy. I’ve NEVER been able to get this close to a hummingbird before and have a camera on me at the same time. BLISS!

It seemed to become nervously aware of my presence, but I felt like it sensed how important this was to me. It shimmered while it tried to stay still for me, as I zoomed in and focused the camera. I held my breath and then … snap … snap … two shots! Awesome! Now I was sure to have at least one really good photo of a hummingbird.

Pfffft.

This is the better photo, of the two. It looks like a Where’s Waldo? picture. Can you find the hummingbird? Betcha can’t.

There is a hummingbird in this photo. I promise. I can see it, but only because I know exactly where to look.

There is a hummingbird in this photo. I promise.
I can see it, but only because I know exactly where to look.

Aside from my cell phone camera, I have a Canon PowerShot that I bought a few years ago for about $100. It’s done a nice job for me, overall, considering I’m not a professional photographer. I don’t need anything fancy–just a reliable, good-quality camera to carry around with me for impromptu moments of breathtaking beauty. But, my camera is kind of old and bulky and the new ones are light and sleek. And I never have figured out how to work all the settings–it’s not intuitive enough for me.

So between my search for a new cell phone and a new camera before our trip to Blackpool next summer, I’m hoping to combine the two as well and get a phone with a good camera–hopefully, one that can handle the occasional once-in-a-lifetime hummingbird pic.

Granted, a lot of this is operator error. Even with an excellent camera, that’s not a great photo. But birds really don’t pose, do they? I was lucky to even get this close. On the other hand, other people manage to capture brilliant photos of hummingbirds, don’t they? Part of the problem is that I couldn’t see the screen because of the sun behind me, and I wasn’t wearing my glasses. Even so, there should be some semblance of a bird in this picture.

Gaaah. I’m rambling. I’ll stop now. Just wanted to make a note of this so I remember what I want–a camera that has an easy-to-see screen–when it’s finally time to shop. We won’t be making any big purchases for a few months. Right now I’m just wish-listing.

P.S.:  Here’s Waldo …

Here's Waldo

Here’s Waldo