Grey is the New Hot Pink

                                                                  Grey is the New Hot Pink

Hot Pink is flashy and fun. Hot Pink is never boring. But the same goes for Grey now. Who would have thought?

When we are in the middle of a struggle or a decision, often times we think in terms of Black and White, all or nothing, this or that. When you sit down and review the situation and you find that there is no solution, know that you are completely wrong. You are just black and white thinking. Grey is where the best ideas lie. Grey is where the spontaneity happens. Grey is where passion and excitement hide. Grey is the, “Ill meet you half way” point. Grey is Hot Pink.

 

If you want to hit the gym tonight, but you have a long day so you can’t, know that you are wrong. Working out doesn’t mean 60 minutes or 0; all or nothing. Working out could be a ten minute app on your phone that has you doing some crazy Siberian crunches for ten straight minutes. It counts. That’s the grey area. You can reach all of your goals every day, if you just rearrange some things and think outside of the circle.

We get so stuck on thinking and doing the same things the same way for so long, that we forget that there are so many other ways to achieve or make decisions. When you think differently, you open more doors for opportunity, doors you can’t even fathom right now because you just don’t know about them yet.

 

If you are unhappy, stop focusing on what is going wrong and start focusing on the Grey in your life.

This week’s challenge is to identify a situation where you feel stuck and think in the middle of the black and white spectrum, into the shades of Grey.

 

This week remember that Grey has never been so exciting!

 

Reframe and you will Retrain your Brain

 

The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. -Ben Franklin

How can you be happy? Seriously, it is one thing after another. And, if you finally get ahead, something bigger comes to snatch all that money you saved, away, or depletes all the energy that you had on reserve. Even worse, it is Monday. Five days until Friday. Quite frankly, I haven’t been feeling well these past couple days and I know this means I will be down sick and then the kids, too. This is going to be a three week event with everyone being sick. I hate the gloom outside, too. When will this break? Wonder if I could just say I need to go home today, I just want to go lay down. Boy, the house is a mess and I need to do laundry. Easter really threw me off.

VERSUS

This week I am going to be super productive. I have five days to push and then the weekend, yes!  My list of to do’s is made and once Friday comes and I see everything checked off, I am going to hang out with some friends and relax. I won’t have so much to think about except having a great time. Thank God this little virus isn’t get the best of me and I made it in today. Those Vitamin C emergencies, I swear by them. Glad I saved myself from getting sick, now I suppose the kiddos won’t get sick and that is always a huge relief. When I get home today, I am going to put in those last couple loads of laundry and tidy the kitchen. Since I am a little behind in house tasks, I am going to order in a pizza so I don’t have to cook. The kids love when we order in pizza, it will be nice to relax and eat with them tonight. Looking forward to it.

Which person sounds like they live an entirely happier life? It is not a trick question, number 2. Which was your attitude today? If you attitude was number 1, you still can change your mindset and thus change your entire week.

 

Your attitude about your day, week, month, year and entire life, changes your day, week, month, year and entire life. Being a positive and happy person isn’t easy, but neither is being Negative Nancy. In fact, being negative not only takes up energy, but people get annoyed with you and you also hurt your physical body, not just mental self.

Happiness takes a lot of work, but it starts with wanting to be happy, and then learning to see things from a new perspective. Sometimes to see things from a different perspective you have to walk away from toxic people so the view is less obstructed. Also, just because 70% of people hate Mondays, that doesn’t mean you have to, too. Being the majority isn’t always a good thing. You are going to go through this week, month and year whether you like it or not, so, why not go through it with happiness, positivity and fulfillment? Why go through it miserable?

 

Not everyone is going to get a tomorrow, so if you are fortunate enough to get another day with your partner or kids, why not make it something to be happy about?

Every morning the SuperWoman Facebook starts off with the same quote “one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.” And, in the evening, we end with “what three things were you most grateful for today?”

Starting and ending your day on a positive note makes a huge difference in your entire life. I don’t have to prove this to you, just do it. What do you have to lose besides negativity? Do not make yourself a victim, do not throw yourself a pity party. Change your mindset and make today good.

 

Today’s Challenge: Identify something that is negative in your life, something that you are letting ruin your day or week. Today, change perspective and see it differently. You have NOT exhausted every possibility of looking at this situation differently.

Reframe and you will Retrain your brain. Make today positive and happy.  

 

I HAVE TWO BRAINS?! WHAT???

 

                                                     I HAVE TWO BRAINS?! WHAT???

Did you know that you actually have TWO brains? You have your main brain- the one up in your head, but researches have also deemed your Gut a brain, too. Your gut not only digests food, but it has more neurons than your peripheral nervous system and spinal cord (Hadhazy, 2010). Did you know that 90% of serotonin is made in the gut? Serotonin is the chemical that makes us happy.

So, why is this important to know? Well, if you have 2 brains, than more than one part of you is responsible for your mood throughout the day. If your main brain is thinking, “Monday, let’s do this!”, but your gut is thinking “I’m not moving,” you have a problem. Since your gut has so many neurons and can “feel” a lot of things, your Gut actually sends a ton of messages every day to your main brain.

 

You know that “gut feeling” you get, or those butterflies in your stomach before a speech? Yep, that is your gut sending messages to the brain. In fact, Hadhazy (2010) stated that IBS is actually deemed the “mental illness” of the gut. Your main brain can get a mental illness, and so can your gut.

 

Ok then, you want a happy gut! A happy gut=a Happy main brain and overall mood. So, how do you get a happy gut?

According to Kresser (2014), here are some things you can do to get an Unhealthy Gut- Are you doing any of these?:

·         Taking Antibiotics and other medications like birth control and NSAIDs

·         Diets high in refined carbohydrates, sugar and processed foods

·         Diets low in fermentable fibers

·         Dietary toxins like wheat and industrial seed oils that cause leaky gut

·         Chronic stress

·         Chronic infections

According to Kresser (2014), here are some HEALTHY things you can do for the Gut

·         Remove all food toxins from your diet

·         Eat plenty of fermentable fibers (starches like sweet potato, yam, yucca, etc.)

·         Eat fermented foods like kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, kim chi, etc., and/or take a high-quality, multi-species probiotic

·         Treat any intestinal pathogens (such as parasites) that may be present

·         Take steps to manage your stress

 

This week’s Challenge: Make a change to stop doing one thing off the bad Gut list, and add one thing to your health from the Good Gut list.

SO LETS MOVE ON!

SO LETS MOVE ON!

 

At 7a.m. my husband left for work. At 7:15a.m. I realized my makeup bag was left in his backpack from a trip we took yesterday. If you are a woman, you know this is a minor tragedy, and thus frantically, I called him. Sure enough, he sees the makeup bag in this backpack.

Inside I was screaming, OMG. But in reality, I knew I couldn’t make him turn around. Sure, I would have been happy, but I would make him late and the people at his work fall behind for the day. It was a done deal; the makeup was going to be MIA.

Meanwhile, back in reality, I was getting the boys off to school and feeding them breakfast. My oldest said, “Mom, can you please grab the milk for me?” I told him, “Honey, I just dealt with a minor issue.” His words back to me: “So, lets move on.”

That is it! Move on. How many times do we get caught up in the little things, and let them ruin our whole day? Especially Mondays. Monday sets the tone for the week, as does your mindset. Did I really want my makeup bag to ruin my day and possibly my week? What the heck was I thinking?

 

When we got to the car, I realized my son forgot to grab his backpack. I could have ran back upstairs for it, yelling at both him and myself, ruining 2 people’s days, all because of my stupid makeup! I could have chalked it up to “A typical Monday morning” and “Well, I see how this week is going to be.” Then, without hesitation, my mindset would have created a negative week for me.

This week, “Lets Move On.” When the computer goes down, you find out you didn’t get that job promotion, or you leave your makeup bag somewhere, lets just move on. Some of the issues you might face, are big issues, like not getting promoted, and some are just down right frustrating, like forgetting the makeup bag, but in both situations, the only thing that can be changed is your attitude.

How many times has a negative attitude held you back, encouraged you to make a poor decision, or put you in an irritable spot for couple days? This has happened to all of us.

 

This week, I challenge you to just march forward, and figure out what can you do with what you have.

This week, “Lets Move On.”