Living Life Abundantly

How many times have you created a New Year’s Resolution only to drop it by January 14? Why put yourself through the pressure of beating yourself up and feeling bad? Ditch your New Year’s Resolution and try a more empowering approach to bettering yourself in the new year.

Why don’t resolutions work? For various reasons: we don’t know how to hold ourselves accountable, our fears clock in and we quit, we don’t see evidence of change fast enough and we quit, we don’t start with small steps and get overwhelmed quickly. We don’t have the proper support set in place.

What does work: creating intentions. How is an intention different from a resolution? An intention is actually the heart of resolution, but it often goes over looked. For example, if you resolve to lose weight in the new year, I would ask you what you would have if you lost weight. You’d say something like “I’d be able to fit into my clothes” and again I’d ask what you’d have if you were able to fit into your clothes and you’d say something like “I’d feel more comfortable in my body.” This cycle could go on for a while, but we’d eventually get to the heart of why you TRULY want to lose weight. For now, the intention for your entire year would be “To Feel Comfortable In My Body”

Resolutions are the action steps that help you keep true to your intention. So if you want to feel more comfortable in your body, you get to come up with all kinds of ways you can feel comfortable in your body: from moving around (that can mean anything you want!) to getting more massages, to giving more hugs. You might even try some risky things like wearing that dress you’ve had your eye on even if other people might not like it on you. If it makes you feel comfortable in your body, go for it!

Using intentions rather than resolutions keeps you from beating yourself up if you fall back. You get to continually find ways to stay true to your intention and no matter what you do to support that intention you’re still living in a more empowered way. So it doesn’t matter that you missed the gym, you took a nice hot bath and slathered your skin with soothing lotion. You’re still true to your intention!

At the end of the year, write out a list of 100 ways you stayed true to your intention. Feel proud of your accomplishments and next year create a new intention to live by or stick with the one you’ve had all year!

I’ve been going to the gym consistently for over 10 years. Every January the cardio room is packed with new members and by February it’s empty again. Why do we torture ourselves with New Year’s Resolutions when we know we’ll never stick to them? What a way to feel bad about ourselves at the beginning of the year! Do yourself a favor: forget about the resolutions and embrace a new way of bettering yourself this year.

Why don’t resolutions work? For various reasons: we don’t know how to hold ourselves accountable, our fears clock in and we quit, we don’t see evidence of change fast enough and we quit, we don’t start with small steps and get overwhelmed quickly. We don’t have the proper support set in place.

Try creating an intention this year. By creating an intention, you have an overall focal point for the year that you can return to again and again. For instance, this year I decided to be more compassionate to myself. There was no goal, there was just the solution: compassion was my solution to those times in my year when I beat myself up or felt bad. Ask yourself what you really want, what you really need. Your heart knows. Ask yourself over and over “What do I want? And if I had that, then what would I have? And then what would I have if I had that?” You’ll find your answer in no time.

Resolutions are the action steps that help you keep true to your intention. So if you want to feel more comfortable in your body, you get to come up with all kinds of ways you can feel comfortable in your body: from moving around (that can mean anything you want!) to getting more massages, to giving more hugs. You might even try some risky things like wearing that dress you’ve had your eye on even if other people might not like it on you. If it makes you feel comfortable in your body, go for it!

Coming from intention is easier than keeping resolutions. Resolutions keep you tied to an outcome. Intentions keep you in your heart all year long in various ways. No matter what you do to support your intention, your year will get better as you go along.

Acknowledge yourself at the end of the year for all the ways you stayed true to your intention. No matter how small or big you think it ways: if you did it, you list it. Feel wonderful for all the ways you made your year a better one. Congratulate yourself on being true to you!

How would you like to enjoy life and grow quicker as a human being? The best way to make this happen as soon as possible is to hire a Personal Life Coach. Many of us aren’t bred to go very deep into ourselves, but doing so, especially with a trained assistant, can take twenty years off your learning curve!

Personal Life Coaching can help you learn how you tick: what your preferences are in life, what is truly most important to you and how to finally let go of the things that hold you back. It teaches you forgiveness for yourself and for others. It puts you in charge of you. You begin to learn things like how to hold yourself accountable, how to make and complete small steps, and how to just be in the journey.

Most people think that Personal Life Coaches are only for people who want to change careers or lose weight. But I’m hear to tell you that most of my clients want something deeper: they want to love themselves before they start dating, they want to enjoy their jobs more and complain less, they want to learn to live life on purpose.

The major benefit you get from working with a personal life coach is finally being able to listen to your own heart, your own instincts. A coach will rarely tell you what to do, they don’t know what you are supposed to do, only you do. A great coach will get you back in touch with yourself so you can figure out what is best for you.

A good coach asks you questions to get you to find answers for yourself. You know yourself best, whether you realize it or not. Hiring a coach is like hiring someone to shine a flashlight on the forgotten parts of you. You’ll discover so many interesting things about yourself that you didn’t know!

How will you know that you’ve been working with a good coach? After a while life will hand you situations to process. If you’re able to handle them confidently by yourself with the tools the coach gave you, that’s a good indication. As a coach, my job is to work myself out of a job! I want to leave you with the tools you need to handle your life with grace and strength.

Hiring a Personal Life Coach is like hiring a cheerleading squad: you immediately have someone on your side, who believes you can do it (even when you don’t), and you have someone who will see you through to the finish line. Your best self is waiting for you: let a life coach help you claim it once and for all!

What does your Life Owner’s Manual say? Work with a Personal Life Coach and discover it for yourself!