“Consistency is what matters the most in triggering something important to your life” -Abdul Rauf

Let’s talk about consistency.

What does this mean to you? To me, it means everything.

I crave consistency in my life. Being consistent does not mean that we are unable to be spontaneous. It just means that we try our very best to be the best versions of us possible. It means we set personal boundaries, and choose to have other consistent relationships in our lives to avoid unnecessary stress and heartache.

I need to be consistent in my actions, or I become overwhelmed. I need consistency from others in my life. Many of my close friends and family members have shown me consistency in their actions and words-whether we are together or not.

The thing about consistency is that it takes TIME. We cannot develop consistency immediately. If we want a consistent and healthy relationship, it takes time. It takes getting to know the ins and outs of each other. It takes forgiveness, support, and commitment. If we want consistency in our personal health routine, we need to commit to the steps we take to get there. We must make small changes before we add on larger ones so we don’t set ourselves up for failure. With small changes, we can create that consistency that we crave.

If we want consistency with anything in our lives, we need to make the choice to commit to it.

Make a commitment to yourself today. Start small. Write it down. Track your progress. You will get to where you need to be. I believe in all of us! Don't beat yourself up if it doesn't happen as quickly as you want it to--it WILL happen. Just be consistent <3

Food Addicts

Hello everyone!
I apologize for not posting recently. Life has had some ups and downs (all exciting ones), and I took a little hiatus from my blog...but I am back!

Today, I want us to think about different perspectives. Do we categorize eating disorders in our minds? Are we are of the different ones that are out there? This is not a post to judge anyone, or to scold anyone. This is purely a post to remind us to be open.

A lovely friend of mine shared her personal struggle with me and is brave enough to share her story in order to help others. I want to share her story with all of you to remind all of us that eating disorders come in many shapes and forms. We must not judge others, or form opinions about them before getting to know them. We must love ourselves-regardless of our shape or size. If the people we loved the most died tomorrow, would we be even slightly concerned about the size of their pants? Their waist measurements? I highly doubt it. We should value ourselves more than that, too.

"I know you probably come in contact with people struggling with eating disorders through your blog and such. The website to this program is http://www.foodaddicts.org It is completely free and we help all types of people with food addiction, which many times manifests as ED's. There are recovering overeater's, bulimics, anorexics, people that have been morbidly obese and extremely thin and now are living with freedom around the mental obsession around food. I have been in program about 3.5 years and I used to struggle with obesity, overeating, laxative bulimia and my weight had fluctuated seriously over many years. The obsession around food was exhausting and time consuming and seemed to be a futile struggle for control. I like to give as many people as I can access to this info, because we invariably meet people every day that have problems with food. This website has a lot of info if you're interested and if you were to have any questions, feel free to ask me or contact the contacts listed".

Commitment isn't such a scary word, after all.

"Don't just aspire to be the best person you can be, commit yourself to being that person".

These were words spoken by my yoga teacher at the end of our New Year's Day 1/2 Mala. A Mala consists of 108 sun salutations, so we completed 1/2 of that. For those of you familiar with yoga, you know that sun salutations are an energizing way to wake up our bodies. I was very focused on my practice on New Year's Day, and I woke up the next day feeling satisfyingly sore all over my entire body. 

The reason this yoga class meant more to me than some of the others is because I wanted to start off my year with INTENTION. With PURPOSE. With DRIVE and AMBITION. The night before, my other half and I stayed up watching a recording of the ball dropping (as we are in Texas time--an hour behind NYC time), eating healthy snacks, and watching movies. So, as you may be able to conclude: I was tired. My body was tired, but my mind pushed me to wake up. My voice, however, pushed my boyfriend to wake up (and he couldn't have handled it better. Yes, I am lucky). The class started at 9:00 am, so I was up by 8:00 am. We drove to the studio with 30 minutes to spare. Nobody was in the parking lot by 9:45, so I thought I should check the time of the class on the schedule (just to be sure my excitement did not get the best of my logical thinking and memory...). When I did, I realized that *gasp*: the class started at 10:00 am! Now, you would think I would have felt grumpy because I missed out on an hour of sleep after a late New Year's Eve night....yet, I still felt energized. I still felt excited. I had a purpose and I had intention in my heart.

 I made a commitment to attend that class, and I did. This may seem small to some of you, but I would like to share something I have learned over the years: 

Small victories are just as gratifying as large victories, and they pave the way for the huge, outstanding victories that enter our paths. If we can complete those small victories with success and ease, the roads that we must endure to accomplish our large victories will seem that much easier. We will still be able to appreciate those large victories with just as much (if not more) joy, but we won't have to get there by stepping on the shards of glass and rock and bumps in the road along the way. You see, once we learn how to overcome small challenges with grace, we can overcome the seemingly more challenging challenges with ease and peace of mind. That makes the final destination so much sweeter. 

So how do we overcome small, tedious, daily challenges to gain small victories? How do we overcome those large challenges that make us feel like we want to curl up in a little ball and never face those difficulties? 

We practice commitment. We focus on intention. We discover our inner ambition and drive. We grasp our determination and we don't let go until we have reached our goal. 

Starting off my 2014 with that purpose and drive and commitment has made the tougher challenges in the days thereafter seem easier to cope with. Do I have my moments where I have to center myself? Yes. Of course! We are only human. Living with intention does not mean we will never have stress (but if you have learned how to do that, please let me know!). Yet, it just makes stress easier to deal with because we can focus on WHAT we are working toward and HOW we will get there. Remember those pesky shards of glass and rock and bumps that we inevitably encounter when we are trying to reach that beautiful sunshine at the end of the road?? Focus on that sunshine. Focus on that beautiful sunshine that will be so fulfilling--especially after you have had the peace and clarity of mind to bypass those rocks and bumps and glass.

Live every day with the INTENTION to be a good person, to be better than you were yesterday....then COMMIT yourself to that. Make the commitment to yourself every day to live with intention...because you truly deserve a fulfilling, peaceful, and joy-filled life.