Month: September 2016

Mindfulness lesson three

Hey~

Habit of Mindfulness

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, everything is a habit. Bad habits are easily breakable (when you understand the why behind them), and good habits are easily made for the same reason. (I can help with that by the way) The same is true with mindfulness. Once you consciously start mindfulness, you soon will automatically do it. It will become a good habit.

Mindful in everything

You may want to put sticky notes up for a few days as reminders. But here is what to do for starting mindfulness.

When you wake up, be aware that you are awake with “I just woke up.” When you stumble to the kitchen for that coffee, be aware of going to the kitchen with “I am going to the kitchen for coffee.” (This may be a challenge you did just wake up, but try) Other daily ablutions Going to the bathroom, brushing your teeth, washing your hands, taking a shower, eating while doing these things be aware.

Sitting, standing, walking, lying down these are all things of which to become aware. Become aware of your breathing, your chewing, what you see etc. Are you standing or sitting with proper posture? Stop being a zombie just going through the motions of life. Notice the world around you. Mindfulness is not about being in a meditative state. It isn’t about taking 10 or 20 or 30 minutes a day to sit and be quiet. Mindfulness is about being aware. It is about the position of the body, your thoughts, your feelings, and the world around you, and it is about every moment you are awake.

“I’m aware”

I know it seems like a lot of thinking. It really isn’t. You just are not used to being aware of the world around you. Give it a try. Think about that game “I spy” that you play with the kids. Now turn that into the “I’m aware” game you play alone or with someone else. Try to see how many things of which you can become aware. Smile while you play the game. I think you will find it fun to see how unaware you normally are and how aware you are becoming. Make goals. Today I was aware of 50 things today, tomorrow I will be aware of 51. Before you ask, I don’t know if there is an app for that. Use your brain power and just keep a mental note.

I would love to hear from you. Tell me what you have noticed. www.facebook.com/lisaylifecoach

Yeah!

Lisa Y coaching

Public Service Announcement: Is your house grounded?

Hey~

I just want to make a quick public service announcement:

Is your house grounded?

I am in the process of getting solar power. Yesterday, the city came out to inspect the installation. To my surprise, it did not pass inspection. Why? Because my house’s electrical system is not grounded. What?

My house was built in 1972. So, it is not too terribly old, but old enough to have not been built with grounded electricity. I assumed that it was because the outlets are three pronged. But that may not mean anything.

Change in electric cords.

For safety purposes, more and more electric cords were designed to be used in grounded outlets. More and more appliances used three pronged electric cords. In order to use these cords, there were two basic options. They needed to use an adapter which would convert the two prong outlet into a three prong outlet. Or the house had to be re-wired to add ground wires. It seems that sometimes people will replace two pronged outlets with three pronged outlets without the grounding wire. I have only had this house a year. I did not do this, but apparently some previous owner did. 

What does it mean to you?

I am no electricity expert, but I do know that the purpose of the three wire grounding system is to prevent power surges and electrical fires. You say hey, I have power surge protection. But, from my research, if your home is not properly grounded, they may not work. You may also be like me and have those GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) outlets. But that still does not make your house as safe as being properly grounded.

What to do?

Well, you should contact an electrician. First, if your home is older than when grounded wires were automatically built into the home (check your local inspector for information) have your outlets checked. Remember, those three pronged outlets may not be grounded, and that alone is dangerous. And do it yourself inspections are not reliable. Second, if your home is not grounded, ask the electrician what would be best for you. Could be re-wire the home. Could be what I am doing and getting grounding rods installed. It could be getting your water line grounded. Hey, this is electricity. Don’t fool around. Be safe.

OK, I hope you found this helpful.

Lisa Y coaching

www.facebook.com/lisaylifecoach

Regular “To Do” things and how to remember

Hey~

Busy. Busy.

So, in this day and age we all seem to have so many things to remember. Seems that life is getting busier and busier. I don’t know that I like the trend. I like a more simple, quiet life. I think we would all be a bit happier if we did not have so many things going on.

I forgot

Don’t use “I forgot” as an excuse.  It really means, “I  chose not to be responsible and it makes others not want to give you more responsibility, $, etc. Really, do you forget to pay the rent or the mortgage? Do you forget to pay the cable or internet bill? Do you forget to pay the utility bills? If not, why not? Because it is important to YOU. You don’t want your car to be repossessed. You don’t want the water or electricity to be shut off. You want your internet access.

Let me ask you this, how would you feel if it were pay day Friday, and your boss forgot to pay you? You would not be very happy would you? How long would you wait to see if he or she would remember? Days? Weeks? Hours? You would not go home that day without making sure your boss remembered to pay you. So, have the same consideration for others. Don’t forget.

Late for dinner

When I was in college, I had a standing dinner date with my two best friends. We met every day at 5:00 unless we were going out on Friday then we met at 4:00. One friend and I always got there early. We would chat. The other friend would almost always be late. It was probably 15 minutes or so. Every day she would say “Sorry I am late”. One day I told her it was unnecessary to apologize every time. I just expected her to be late. I was just glad to be able to enjoy her company at dinner. But it really was inconsiderate. Hey, everyone is late sometimes, but a habit all the time really says this is not important to me. But it should be. Lateness is just rude. When you are late, you are telling the other person that you and your needs are so important.

No excuses

In this day and age, it really is inexcusable to forget. Really, we have smart phones with calendars built right in. There is an app for that. Our computers have calendars. Either one of those things can be set to remind you of any and all appointments. If there is something you need to do every day, every week, every month, set the calendar on that phone or computer. It is that simple.

Some people today are so hooked on electronics they seek out the latest software. Frankly, I think all the special software and apps are too much. They tend to complicate things. The other day a man said his answer was sticky notes. I like that. It is simple and yet it works.

Bills

You don’t need fancy spreadsheets to keep track of your money. You know that you have certain bills every month, right? There is the housing expense, the credit card(s), the phone etc. A simple calendar will work just fine. Each bill comes due the same time every month. My utility bill comes the 11th every month. All I need to do is mark the calendar that the utility bill is the 11th, and I look for the bill in email, then I pay it. Make one day a week the pay the bills day. It really is that easy.

How about things like car payments? If you have a car, unless you have it paid off there is a monthly payment, right? How do you keep track? Do you have some new software? Why? When you purchase or lease a car, there are so many payments. All you need is a simple document. You can call it “car payment”. And as you make your payments, make a note something like, January 15th made payment 21 of 36. Or you can have a list of the months. It could look something like this: (  ) January 2016 and after you make the payment put a little check mark in the ( ). It really is that simple.

But if you really have a hard time remembering, auto bill pay is a great idea. But you may want to keep track in your “car payment” document. Why? So you know exactly what you paid and how much you still owe.

Be Responsible, be considerate

By being responsible, you are actually being considerate. It may not be important to you if you make that car payment on time, but it is important to the car dealership that put that car in your driveway. Just because they are a big company it still matters to be responsible and pay them on time. Remember, they have bills too.

Don’t forget.

Money help

If you need any more money tips, I love helping people with managing their finances. Really, do you want to manage your finances or do you want your finances to manage you? Let me know. www.facebook.com/lisaylifecoach

Yeah!

Lisa Y coaching

mindfulness lesson two

Hello~

How are you? Doing well I hope.

So, this is lesson two in the mindfulness class.

Washing the van Vs Cleaning the van

In the last lesson, I talked about washing the van and keeping in the moment. The idea being to have more time by concentrating on the task at hand and not a future activity.  Today I want to talk about the difference between washing and cleaning.

There are two ways to  wash the van. You wash it to get it clean, or you are washing it to wash it. What? Confused? Don’t worry. Let me explain. In mindfulness, you wash the van to wash the van.

Enjoy life

In the last lesson, I mentioned that we may want to reward ourselves with a beer after washing the van. But we don’t want to rush through washing the van. We don’t want to rush through one activity to get to the next. If you are rushing to get something done, you are not really doing that activity. You are actually on to the next activity. In mindfulness, the idea is to truly enjoy what it is you are doing in that moment. When you can do that, nothing is a chore anymore. And you are more alive when you are living in the moment as you are not skipping over the time you are in, the present.

If you continue to fast forward through out the day, you will never enjoy anything. Even though you are looking forward to the treat of the beer afterward, you will probably not really enjoy it as you will already in your mind be on to the next thing on your list. Learning to enjoy the activity at hand is to enjoy the miracle of life, and to not be pulled into the future.

And a bag of chips

So, you have a bag of chips. When you eat that bag of chips, are you fully enjoying the chips? Are you eating one at a time? Or, do you have your hand on the next chip as you eat the one in your mouth? I tend to want to eat very quickly. I don’t know why, but one of my biggest challenges is to eat slowly. If I were not practicing mindfulness, I would probably eat my entire meal before other people get even half done. I have to slow down just to not be sitting there done eating while others are still eating. This is another example of mindfulness.

When eating, take your time. Take a chip or a bite and enjoy it. If you are eating food with utensils, put down the fork. Don’t play with your food to get the next bite on the fork. And with that bag of chips, don’t pick out the next one. Why? Because if you do you are not living in the moment and you are not truly enjoying the food in your mouth. You are thinking about that next future bite or chip. If you are not eating one bite or one chip at a time, you really are not eating at all.

Practice

Now, practice living in the moment. Wash to wash. Eat to Eat. Drive to drive. Enjoy what you are doing. Keeping a half smile is helpful. Pretend you have a secret. You sort of do, you have the secret of practicing mindfulness.

Let me know how you are doing.  www.facebook.com/lisaylifecoach

Yeah!

Lisa Y coaching

Mindfulness class!

Hello~

So, for 30 years now I have been a practitioner of  mindfulness. When I started, it was not very well known. But we are becoming more and more enlightened and spiritual. As a life coach, I like to build up people. I want to build them up mind, body, and soul. So, with that in mind, I would like to offer a free class on mindfulness. So here it goes!

Introduction

In the Western world, we are not as advanced as the Eastern world when it comes to being in tune with our self. We are so busy being on our phones, computers, and playing video games, we have lost touch with our own self. So many people can’t seem to get through the day without constantly being stimulated by something else. We have music and television on our phones. We watch endless videos. You can’t even take a Sunday drive anymore without some driver getting upset because you are driving the speed limit.

Some people think of meditation to be a chore. They don’t even want to spend 10 minutes doing it. They have so many other things to do. Who has the time they ask? But for me, it is the best time I spend every day. I used to spend 5-6 hours on Sundays in meditation. Yep! You read that right 5-6 hours. I smile just thinking about it.

I don’t expect anyone to do that, but I do hope that you will find at least 20 minutes a day in meditation.

When you learn mindfulness, you will find you have more time. You will get more out of life. You will learn to get back to basics and appreciate quite times.

Try it! You’ll like it!

More time

We divide our day into sections of time. We have our work time. We have eating time. We have computer time. We have sleep time. We have house cleaning time. We have yard work time. We have football time. We have time for our spouse. We have time for the kids. What is not spent on all these other things is “our” time. This is the time to do what we want, which always seems in short supply.

By dividing our time this way, we make the day very short, don’t we? There never seems to be enough of it. There are never enough hours in the day. And by the end of the day we are exhausted. Our minds are so tired. When we go to bed, our minds seem to want to keep going as if they are catching up on the events of the fast paced day that finally ended.

What if all time was “your” time? What if time were not divided at all? It would seem like you have more, wouldn’t it? No matter what you are doing you need to think of it as your time, and this is how I am spending it right now. You live in the moment. Helping the children with their homework, waking the dog, washing the car, standing in line at the bank is all your time. The key is to be interested in what you are doing. Stop looking at your phone. Stop multi-tasking. Do one thing at a time. Pay attention to the activity. What will you find? You will find that your time is unlimited. It is all yours.

Washing the car

Let us assume for a moment that you actually wash your car at home rather than at a car wash. Imagine it is a Saturday afternoon. This is your day to get things done around the house. That big mini van is dirty. So you tell yourself I will quickly wash the van then I will have a beer. But if this is your plan, what are you thinking about while you are washing the van? You are thinking about getting to that beer. Washing the van is “washing the van” time. Drinking the beer is your “relax a bit” time. Which sounds more pleasant? Drinking the beer of course. Washing the van is time spent in a way you don’t enjoy. But what if you did?

To practice mindfulness, when you are washing that van, live in the moment. Be aware of what it is you are doing. Don’t live in the future of drinking that beer. Live in the present of washing the van. What happens when you live in the present? You don’t lose time. If, while washing the van all you think about is the beer, you are losing all the time you are spending washing the van. If you live in the moment, and focus on the van, you are cherishing that time and not losing it.

While washing the van be yourself. Slow down your breath. Be aware of your breathing. Breathing is something we do without thinking, but think about it a little. It is very calming. Being aware of your breathing helps you to live in the present. If it helps, think of the movie “Karate Kid”. Wipe on. Wipe off.

Let me know how you did.

So, I would like to hear how you did on your first lesson of mindfulness. Leave me a message. www.facebook.com/lisaylifecoach

Yeah!

Lisa Y coaching

No RICE…Exercise

Hey~

How are you?

RICE

Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevation. This has been the remedy for sport injuries for as long as I can remember. But is this the best way to get better? Becoming a couch potato isn’t really fitness now is it?

What is ailing you?

Sport injuries such as IT band syndrome, stress fractures, plantar fasciitis, runner’s knee, shin splint or any other ailment traditionally has been treated by rest, ice, compression and elevation plus pain pills on the side. But this approach mentally and emotionally draining. When you want to be active, and stay off your feet, you don’t feel good. Why? Well, you get positive energy from exercise. Also, you think about losing your fitness level. You feel you have lost some of the fitness gains you have made, and will have to gain those back. Your fitness is taking a few steps back.

A better answer

Although you don’t want to do anything strenuous, you do want to do some lower impact activities. Options include cycling, pool running, swimming, elliptical, walking, and hiking.

How exercise helps

What happens? Well, you are circulating the blood that will bring nutrients to the injured muscles and tendons. These nutrients are vital for repair. Your lymph system is charged up which is essential to the removal of toxins. And the joints are lubricated and stiffness does not set in. Your emotions are boosted. You reduce cortisol the stress hormone. Keeping moving is simply good for over all health. With adequate exercise, you keep colds and the flu away better, you have better digestive health, and better sleep.

Do it right

Remember, you do not want to over do it. What activities you can do depend on the injury. You should consult a doctor first. You don’t want to aggravate the injury you have.

If it hurts, stop. That old saying, “no pain no gain” is not the best advice in this situation. If, after you did the activity, it hurts stop. Find another activity. If not, healing will take longer.

What caused the injury in the first place? There is an underlying issue that caused the initial injury. You need to remedy the cause of the injury. Possible causes include, improper training techniques, muscle imbalance, body alignment and nutrition. You may want to talk to a trainer, sport medicine doctor or even a chiropractor to diagnose the cause of an injury especially if it a regular issue.

Slowly, start back into the more vigorous activity as your rehab works. You should consult your doctor again to see if you are ready. You may want to consider mixing it up a bit. A little of the vigorous activity one day and the lower impact alternative the next. As time goes on, increase the more vigorous activity.

Eat well balanced meals. If you are not as active, it goes without saying that you may have to cut calories a bit if you are not burning up as many as you were before. Injuries such as stress fractures need extra calcium and vitamin D plus plenty of omega-3 fatty acids.

I’m not a doctor

I have one little note. I am not a doctor. This information is provided to get you thinking about the new method of healing. This information is from my research on the subject of getting over injury. It is provided by sport medicine doctors. And as mentioned above, you really need to consult professionals before doing any activities. You  should consult doctors, trainers and nutritionists.

OK. I hope you found this to be interesting. Take Care!

Lisa Y. life coaching.

www.facebook.com/lisaylifecoach

Yeah!

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day~

Praise to those who work today

I hope you are enjoying your Labor Day! I want to take a moment to say a special thank you to those who do not get the day off. All the doctors, nurses, police, fire fighters etc. who serve the community and can’t take the day off thank you! All the retail clerks, amusement park employees, restaurant employees who work today thank you!   I have been there. I used to work on holidays. It makes you feel left out. When everyone else is having a BBQ, picnic, a day at the beach or any number of fun things, it can be hard to work. But here I am taking this Labor Day to reach out to you. To all who work today, remember, you are a good person who works hard to make a living, and I salute you! So, I am working today too. It isn’t the same, but I am working some.

Working together

To me, Labor Day is a day to celebrate all of us working together to build up a nation. It takes all sorts of jobs to make a nation great. Labor Day may have started to recognize blue collar workers, but I think we need to honor all jobs today. It takes blue collar workers, and white collar workers to make it all come together. Some work physically. Some work mentally.

I used to own a domestic referral agency. My company got work for domestic workers. Our specialty was finding work for people who cleaned houses. It took both sides to make it a success. Without good workers, there would not be satisfied customers. But without the office administration employees, there would not be any customers.

Respect all

All jobs are hard. I have never worked at a fast food restaurant, but I still have respect for those who do. They are working hard. I have worked in retail and in dry cleaning stores. In retail you do the work of three people. Working in an office, is hard too. It may sound easy, but it takes a lot of coordination to make sure everything gets done.

The point is no matter what sort of work people do let us try to respect one another. It takes all sorts of skills to make sure the community has everything it needs to prosper.

Business owners are people too

I have become sort of an expert on the local business scene. I know what the value of a lot of small businesses is. If you don’t own a small business, you may not appreciate what it is all about.

It takes a lot to own a business. Most people who own a small business are not rich. Actually, most of them take out a loan to get their business going. It can take several years to get out of that debt. There are a lot of risks owning a business. It is the business owners responsibility to keep the sales up and growing. They have to take care of the employees first.  Owning a business is not a “9-5” job. It becomes a lifestyle. It is a business owners responsibility all the time.

You may think they make a lot of money, but many small business owners really just barely make a living. As much as many business owners want to do everything they can to take care of their employees, sometimes employee  demands are too much for them. Many small businesses are doing the best they can. They can’t always afford to give more vacation or sick pay. Holding a job position open for mothers and fathers to take leave to tend to a new born may be a hardship for a small company. You do deserve those things, but just know that it may be a hardship on the business owner.

Remember, small business owners are people too. They are working hard to take care of their family. Many are just making it, and they have a lot of responsibilities the employees do not have. A business owner’s day is not over at the end of the work day.

Grateful for the job

Here is one last thought. If you have a job, be grateful. It may not be your ideal job. It may not pay as much as you would like. Maybe it does not provide all the benefits you would like. But it is better to have some sort of job than nothing. Never take a job for granted. You never know when the tide will change and that job is eliminated.

Have a great day!

My wishes are that you have a great day! If you worked today or not, make the most of it.

Take Care!

Yeah!

Hey, tell me about your day. www.facebook.com/lisaylifecoach

Lisa Y,  coaching

Buzz steps to help bees

Hey~

How are you?

Need for bees

Bees are such good friends.  Bees pollinate the crops. They are losing their habitats and food. We need to help them.

Seven simple things you can do. 

  1. Provide clean water. Their water supply needs to be shallow and have a landing platform. They can easily drown without something to stand on. A bird bath with wood floating on top or a pie pan with pebbles will do the trick.
  2. Provide cover. Not all bees live in colonies or hives. Let some of your hedges go untrimmed or a little bit of weedy areas will give them nesting areas. You can also add nesting boxes for tunnel dwelling bees.
  3.  Plant single-species groupings. Flowers grown in large patches say 3′ X 3′ are easily found by bees. In these flower beds put one type of flowers that bees enjoy. They are particularly fond of honey suckle, crocus, hyacinth, calendula, coneflowers, phlox, snapdragons, zinnias, asters, goldenrod, hostas, lavender, mint, oregano, and rosemary.
  4. Stagger bloom times.  Bees need food from early spring to late fall. By planting throughout the year in spring, summer, and fall, the bees will have food as needed.
  5. Replace part of your lawn with flowering plants. Bees-friendly clover works well. And they actually like dandelions. Let the dandelions grow in the corner. Dandelions are most important in spring. This is usually the number one food source after winter hibernation.
  6. Plant native flowers. Native plants grow best and thus provide the best nectar and pollen. Plants that are not native may not have the best nectar and pollen.
  7. Avoid Chemicals. Bees are hurt and killed by pesticides. It is also best to buy organic plants to avoid pesticide residue from the growers.

Bees are our friends. They need our help. I hope you found this educational, and motivational to do your part by doing even one of these tips.

Yeah!

Lisa

lisay coaching

www.facebook.com/lisaylifecoach

 

 

Never Be Alone

Hey~

Are you there?

Alone

Do you ever feel alone? Do you ever feel as if you are facing the world by yourself? Why? Is it because you have no friends? Is it because you have no family? Or is it because you feel no one is supporting you? Do you try to talk about things that are bothering you and it feels like you are talking to a brick wall?

If you are feeling alone, that is a terrible feeling. Everyone feels that way sometimes. It may make you feel hopeless. It may make you feel small. It may wear you out and then you feel tired. You may feel invisible.  Is any of this ringing true for you?

Never be alone

No one should ever feel alone. Frankly, not everyone listens very well. People are busy. They don’t always want to take the time to really understand your frustrations. They are also pre-occupied. They are thinking about their own life, Facebook, Twitter, what to eat, cleaning house or any number of things. It isn’t that they don’t care. Truly, I think most people care about others. But sometimes they don’t know how to express their caring.

What to do

The best thing to do when you feel this way is to find someone to listen. It could be any counselor. A professional counselor is trained to listen. They are trained to ask the right questions. I know that 45 minutes with a good counselor can make a world of difference. A professional counselor is committed to helping you. As I like to say, if it matters to you, it matters. And a professional counselor loves to listen. They are curious about people. And it is their nature to want to help. So, find a person to listen. Find a thinking partner. You will get through it.

OK. Feel a little better? I hope so.

If you are looking for a good listener, let me know. www.facebook.com/lisaylifecoach

Yeah!

Smile for me.

Lisa Y coaching

 

 

 

Reason for Being

Hey~

A big question is what is my reason for being?

The formula

What do you love? + What are your talents? = passion

What do you love? + That which the world needs. = mission

What are your talents? + That which can be paid for. = profession

That which the world needs + that which can be paid for. = vocation

Put it all together and you have your reason for being.

Easy.

If you would like help with this, let me know.

www.facebook.com/lisaylifecoach

Yeah!

Lisa y coaching