You can enjoy your summer, have fun and develop yourself physically, mentally and spiritually, as well. Although many people view summer as a time to be lazy for the sake of having fun, you can have fun and self- improvement at the same time.  Why not have a rich and rewarding experience this summer while also enjoying yourself.  Just think, you’ll be healthier in the fall as a result!

You can gain physical health and strength by losing weight or strengthening your muscles. Maybe you could benefit from both.  I know I can.  I’ve been working out more in my Total Gymn® and my husband has taken to going on long walks each morning. On Saturday mornings, I join him.

Maybe you consider yourself to be already healthy.  That’s great.  Then you can use these ideas to help maintain your current level of fitness. Healthy, wholesome and fun physical activities abound in the summertime.

Hang around like-minded people who share your physical fitness goals. It’s much easier to maintain a fitness plan when you have others to support you. You can encourage each other to carry on moving forward. Keep it fun.

Here are a few ideas to help you get and stay healthy physically, mentally and spiritually:

• Join a local beach volleyball league, or just get together for routine volleyball games at the beach.
• Take advantage of a summer discount gym membership.  Gyms typically offer deep discounts in the summer while many people are away on vacation. Join with a friend for added motivation.
• Try many different types of exercises until you find one that is totally enjoyable to you.
• Nurture yourself by ensuring your body is balanced between physical activity, proper rest and the relaxation it needs.
• Take a class in a topic you enjoy that meets outside the classroom.
• Meditate in a peaceful park or on the beach with the waves softly breaking in the background.
• Get acquainted with nature through some quiet activity such as bird watching or simply watching the squirrels play and gather food for winter.

Keep your mind open for creative summer self-improvement opportunities.  You don’t have to knock yourself out running or wearing yourself out in the gym, nor do you have to be bored by sitting in a classroom full of complex ideas to be improving yourself. Rather, enjoy those things the way you’d like it to be.  Remember, there are so many ways to uncover self-improvement opportunities in just about any activity!

As you keep your mind and heart open, you will make choices and have fun while shaping a bright future physically, mentally and spiritually. It is during the course of these things that you become whole and get in touch with your inner self. Begin that exciting journey right now, this summer!

No matter how hard you try to prepare, unexpected things show up.  One of the best ways to reach your goals is to be prepared for situations that may show up. Learning to approach those situations in a positive manner will have you soaring through with little or no effort.

Practice these tips to help you deal with situations that may show up as you move toward achieving your goals:

• Change perspective. When you’re faced with a challenging situation, try to see it from the point of view of an outsider looking in at the problem. When you take a broader view, the answers to the challenge often present themselves.

• Look for the silver lining. Even the most difficult challenges bring something good once you have found it. If there’s only a speck of hopeful light in a grim situation, focus your attention on that hope. It’s best to think positively.
• Find a new path. Sometimes challenges will show you a new path or option for your future. Leave the doors open and see where life takes you. The challenge you are going through might be the path to a better place than you expected.
• Remain flexible. As you plan your goal schedules, be sure to add in some flexibility. Give yourself reasonable time lines for reaching your goals. You can avoid frustration by having time available to deal with challenges.
• Look for solutions and take action. View challenges as opportunities to take some bold actions toward your goal. The quicker you look for and find a solution, the quicker you’ll be back on track to reaching your goals.
• Allow yourself to make mistakes. Make sure you are not presenting yourself with the challenge of trying to be perfect. And don’t waste time fretting about the challenges you have faced.

1. Ask for help. You may feel like your challenging situation is yours alone to bear.  It doesn’t have to be that way. Ask for help when dealing with your particular challenge. Sometimes just having someone to vent to can help clear your thinking.
2. Take on a positive attitude. Many times it just comes down to adopting the right attitude. If you’re a real go-getter with a positive attitude, you stand a better likelihood for dealing with rough situations. If you find your attitude is a bit negative, begin shifting your thinking in a more positive way so you can adopt a more positive frame of mind.

Reaching your goals can become a reality once you learn how to climb over any hurdles. Begin using these strategies every day. Soon you’ll find that overcoming goal challenges is a snap.

Every now and then our self confidence takes a beating and we need a little boost.  I find that it is similar to refueling my car.  It needs to be taken back from time to time for refueling.  How about you, is your self confidence in need of a fuel boost?

The not-so-good news is that many times you may forget to pause and reinforce your self confidence.  You let it slip slowly out of fuel until you find yourself in a state of complete low self confidence and low esteem. The good news is that nourishing your self-confidence is a task you can carry out with a little know-how.  Here are some pretty easy strategies to help you get started right now:

1. Set realistic expectations. It’s important to aim high in life.  But be sure your expectations are realistic. This way you’ll know what it feels like to reach your goals. The more you succeed with your realistic goals, the more you will experience great confidence.
2. Stick up for yourself. When others speak out against you, those words are simply their opinion. Your opinion counts and is just as important as theirs. Do what you know is right for you.  You will feel confident that you’ve made the right decision, regardless of how others may feel.
3. Reward yourself when you succeed. Each time you accomplish something in your life, whether big or small, it’s important to pause and reward yourself. When you make it a point to reward yourself and make yourself happy, you’ll get your drive to persist and be successful.
4. Use positive affirmations. Positive affirmations are a great way to boost self-confidence. They help you to communicate with your subconscious mind, allowing you to strengthen your confidence one thought at a time. Contact me for some FREE effective confidence-building affirmations.
5. Avoid dwelling on the past. If your past self-confidence issues are limiting, get over them. Do not dwell on them. Your past does not have to be your future. Focus on the present moment, with pleasant thoughts about your future. Imagine everything going well.

You may not experience an overnight transformation, but applied consistently, these strategies will surely boost your self confidence.  You’ll be able to increase your self-confidence a little more each day. Try making it a point to put into action at least one confidence building strategy every day.  They will soon become habits, and your spirits will soar as your self-confidence is boosted to new heights

As you continue building your self confidence, make every effort to stay around positive people who make you feel good. Keep in mind if there’s something you want in life, pursue it with all your heart and feel confident that success will be yours!

Somehow that conversation led me to think about how we can be open to new ways of experiencing things or embracing new ideas. You might be asking the question:  “Why would I want to become more open to new ideas?

Opening your mind to the possibilities of new opportunities, knowledge, adventure, and even relationships could bring greater fulfillment and happiness to your life.  If that sounds intriguing to you, which areas of your life do you want to open up to new ideas?

You can start by trying in one small area, and gradually include more areas of your life. Starting small can help you ease into having an open mind, instead of making a sudden, drastic change in your life.  A simple example would be if you find that you’re eating the same things all the time, perhaps you’d like to try some variation in your menu.  In order to get your mind used to that idea, try at least one new food or recipe each week.

That is a very simple yet realistic approach to embracing a new idea. Make an effort to journey out of your comfort zone in other areas as often as you can. Even if you have certain anxieties about new situations, be willing to experience them. Gradually, go to new places and try new things.

Go out and live an experience before you form opinions about it. Be careful about unquestioning belief in what someone else says about a situation or experience. Find out for yourself if you like something or not. It can be as simple as trying a new food, activity, or hobby.

Find your motivation for embracing new ideas.  Think about why you would want to be more open to new ideas and what it would mean to you.

When you have a positive attitude about new experiences, you can open yourself up to new discoveries every day. It’s a great way to keep your life fun and exciting.  You may  even find your very own Dolcinea!

I have been following you and your work for a long time now. I continue to be a member of the Incubator and look forward to being there for a long, long time.  You personify “over deliver.”

Thank you, other 30 Day Challenge Bloggers for the support, encouragement, RTs and comments.  So many of you took the time to comment on my posts, I still have to catch up with responses, and I will.  I’ve enjoyed commenting on your posts.  I wish I could have done more but keeping up with the challenge was just about all I could add to my plate at the time.  I will continue reading your posts and commenting.

I look forward to continued connections with many of you.  I look forward to some joint ventures, guest blogging and having you as guests on my teleseminars or podcasts.  I look forward to helping promote you and your services just as you have offered to do for me.  Thank you.

This last day of the Challenge is similar to leaving one of my favorite conferences.  I’m exhausted, I’ll miss all the fun and the wonderful interactions, but most of all, I’ll miss new-found friends.

To my readers, thank you for continuing to read my posts. I hope you’ll always find something here that will help you to uncover your brilliance in one way or another.  This post is a bit off the track from what you are used to seeing here at the “Uncover Your Brilliance Blog.”  However, this post is a testimony to how I continue to uncover my brilliance.  If you like, you can comment and ask me more about what this is all about.

Thanks to my clients who gave me some extra breathing room.  You are important to me and I will always cherish our relationships.

Finally, thanks to my husband.  He put up with me and my seemingly neglect of him.  Our first wedding anniversary was Monday.  We celebrated with a dinner cruise on the Bateau New York. Right up until the time we were meant to leave, I was working on a post, sitting here at the computer in my little black dress and heels.   He was patiently pacing and waiting for me to get into the car so we could be on our way only to hear once more, “just one more sentence, Honey.”  Thank you. I love you, sweetie.

Thanks to all of you.  Here’s to your brilliance!!!

Before you start to judge me and think that following my heart is a “weak” thing to do.  Let me point out to you that I am a pretty strong business woman.  Sometimes I eat nails for breakfast (well, maybe not that), and I take my business quite seriously.  Last year, I made a pretty comfortable income.  This year, I am poised to do even better.

So, you can see that I am a pretty serious business owner.  I understand research, analytics, graphs, cash flow, customer service and more.  I also understand matters of my heart.

Do you struggle with being able to follow the instincts of your heart? The truth is, in many circumstances, your instincts are usually right, but if you tend to over think things too much, you might stray from those initial inner thoughts.

When you follow your heart, you’re usually happy. Happy people enjoy their lives.  I also think they are usually healthier in the long run. If you want to be happy, learn how to follow your heart.  Here are three starter tips:

1. Trust your subconscious thoughts. It can be a challenge to remain in touch with your subconscious thoughts. But when you do, the truth will be revealed to you if you give yourself enough time. Your subconscious thoughts make up your initial instincts and are close to your heart. Learn to trust yourself.
2. Go with what feels right. Don’t be afraid to take action towards the things that feel “just right”. If something feels off to you, you can stop and explore the reasons why. It always starts with a feeling. Lean toward your positive feelings.
3. Avoid over thinking. Sometimes your mind can get away from you and start cycling through negative thoughts. Take deep breaths and get back into a positive mindset so that you can see your true path more clearly.

You’ll find that most of the time your instincts and heart are correct in the end. Even when they’re not, don’t be discouraged, just keep practicing. Keep a positive attitude and persevere.  Soon your heart and instincts will be a natural factor in your guiding lights.  Balance your heart with mind and body.

Most of us know someone like that.  They can be found at our holiday dinner tables, our business meetings, social functions, at work, at church, ball parks and sometimes just next door.  Unfortunately, some of them cannot be set aside or sent away.  They may be family members or others with whom you have no choice but to interact from time to time.

If you’re feeling stressed out because of having to routinely deal with difficult people, don’t despair.  The good news is that there are some strategies you can use to effectively deal with many of those difficulties.  You don’t have to lose your cool.  Here are five cool tips you can use to help you deal better with difficult situations that may arise:

1. Smile and don’t get excited. Some people try to get you to see things their way by questioning your ability, trivializing what you say or “talking down” to you. The message you want to send to this person is that they don’t scare or intimidate you.  Keep your cool.  You’ll take the wind out of their sails and keep them more focused on the matter at hand.
2. Try to get to know more about the other person. This can be one of the best ways to deal with a difficult neighbor.  Ask about their job or favorite hobby.  Talk about the weather or some other innocuous topic.  When you begin to build rapport in one or two areas, it can carry over into a variety of others.  And it’s a way to send a message that you want to engage in peaceful conversation.
3. Take a step back and evaluate the situation. When you are dealing with a family member, see if you can figure out why the other person feels the way they do.  Perhaps you are seen by them as being worldlier.  Maybe they have not encountered or been exposed to those life lessons or situations to which you know about all too well.  Consider giving them benefit of the doubt by reacting with logic, understanding and kindness.
4. Don’t get pulled into ego contests. These sorts of encounters are not worth the time given to it. Remain poised and simply refuse to sink to the level of ego bantering.  Find a way to excuse yourself from the conversation or just let them go at it until their fuse has blown out.
5. Count to ten before you say anything. That sage advice still works.  At the very least, take a deep breath before you say anything.  Try to keep your cool, even when the other person does not.  If you feel too tempted to fight back, remove yourself from the situation altogether and go outside to calm yourself.

In some situations, you may each have to agree to disagree.  Try to understand and accept that each of you has a different perspective and move on.  In the end, it may come down to “live and let live.”  You can go your way, and let them go merrily on their way, and never your paths to meet again.  Sigh…!

Sometimes things in the world can get a bit too heavy.  Yet it’s encouraging to find people who continue to live wonderful, full and fascinating lives through it all.  I think to myself, “What makes their lives that way?”

I figured out that maybe, just maybe, they know how to work and live from a place called ‘self’.  It’s all about being genuinely happy within one’s self.  It starts within me and it starts within you, also.  We must find happiness within ourselves.  So, how does one become genuinely happy?

Certainly an important element to genuine happiness is to love and accept yourself.  That means acknowledging that you are not perfect, but have the courage to discover ways for continuously improving yourself.  It means being able to recover from your mistakes in a wholesome way.

I also think happiness comes from “blooming where you are planted.” That includes doing the very best you can with the job you have, the way you look, your family, your friends, and all the things you have now. It means being and doing the best you can in the place where you live right now.

When you discover who you are, you can begin uncovering your genuine natural happiness.  From there, you will expand toward something greater than you ever thought possible.  You’ll find yourself doing and making the best of everything.  You’ll catch yourself smiling at your mistakes and saying, “It’s okay.  I’ll do better next time.” You’ll give yourself room to breathe – to inhale, to exhale and to expand.

When we discover a small start somewhere from within, that small start will eventually lead to something else, and to something else. But if you keep questioning life, you will never be able to find genuine happiness.

Learn to accept yourself and others.  Learn to love and be loved.  Learn to stand up and try again.  You don’t have to have the best things in the world.  Just learn to make the best of everything that you do have.  Learn to have a sense of humor.  Sometimes that may include laughing at yourself.  It’s good to be able to laugh at yourself.  You’re genuinely happy.  You’re free.

Your genuine natural happiness is just inside of you!

Scientists say, theoretically it is impossible for the bumble bee to fly.  Fortunately, for the bumble bee, it has not heard about it yet. So it just keeps on flying.  It keeps on living the “impossible dream.”

Thanks goodness there were a few individuals who felt that way also.  If not, there would be no inventions, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment.

When you limit yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break through the barrier of impossible. Similarly, if you reach too far out into the open sky without working towards your goal, you might find yourself with arms stretched forever reaching out toward the impossible dream.

Here’s another simple exercise for you.  Try this. Take a piece of paper and write down some goals in your life. Under one header, list those things ‘you know you can do’. Under another header, list those things ‘you might be able to do.’ And under one more, list those things that you think ‘impossible for you to do.’

Check your list every day and work toward accomplishing those goals connected to the things ‘you know you can do’. Check them off the list once you have accomplished them. As you are able to check off all those particular goals, try accomplishing those goals you think ‘you might be able to do.’

Each time you accomplish a goal from the list of those you know you can do, replace it with one that you might be able to do.  Similarly, replace that item with a goal which you think to be impossible to do.

As you watch your lists getting smaller, you will find yourself getting closer to those goals you thought impossible to do.  And the impossible suddenly begins to seem within your reach after all.

This exercise may appear a bit too inane for you.  But the intent here is simply that you not limit your imagination.  It’s also to help you see that reaching the impossible dream may be closer than you once thought it to be.  It is to encourage you to aim high, and start working towards that goal little by little.

What have you got to lose except one more dream?  Remember to engage the principles of goal setting in every situation.  So let’s dream on, my friends! Let us not get caught up with our perceived limitations. Let’s run faster and harder!

Part 1 of 2

As a young girl, I used to dream of being a big celebrity – lights, camera, action, applause…the whole nine yards.  I think just about everyone, at some point in their life, has dreamed of being, doing or having something special or really big.

What about you?  Go on, admit it.  Haven’t you fantasized about being the one who hits the game-winning home run? Or maybe you dreamed of being the homecoming queen? And how many times have we dreamed of being rich, or successful, or happy in our relationships?

So many times, we dream big dreams and entertain great aspirations. Yet most of the times, our dreams remain just that – dreams. And our aspirations begin collecting dust in our attics.

This can surely be an unfortunate turn of events in our life. Of course, as we grow, our values, goals and dreams change.  I’m not talking about that.  Those are good and natural occurrences.  I’m talking about that burning desire, optimism, expectation, and hopefulness that accompanied those wide-eyed dreams we once had.

Something happened along the way.   Instead of experiencing those exciting adventures in interest of ourselves, some of us deferred our own dreams in the interest of others’ dreams.  Or, we simply got caught up in the humdrum of living from day-to-day,  just barely existing.

When you were a child, you probably dreamed of running faster and harder than your playmates.  But guess what?  You can still dream of running faster and harder.  You can still dream BIG.  Life could be so much better, if only we learned to aim higher.

One of the biggest barriers to setting goals around our dreams is the word “impossible.” Most people get hung up thinking,  “I can’t do this. It’s too hard. It’s too impossible.” We dare not dream the impossible dream.  “No one can do this”, we say.