• What does health, happiness and abundance mean to you, what does that look like?
• What are the daily practices, rituals, mindset, etc. that help ensure you are living the life
you want?

And it was easy for me to roll answers off my tongue because of how I live my life today. I have so much gratitude for my life, who I choose to align myself with, and how I choose to live day to day. The most important piece being that I am at choice about my health and happiness and no matter what is going on “out there”, I can still choose peace. However, this feeling of continuous gratitude and being enough did not come naturally for me. Yet once I decided that I would do anything it took to keep an open heart and be awake for this wonderful experience called life, (more than I wanted suffering), doors opened up so fast and so wide, even I could not keep up with how much love and support was out there for me at first.

Despite what you may read in the news or hear from your friends and loved ones, in spite of an economic down turn, the world is a great, wonderful, safe place and as long as you take steps to incorporate that thought system into your life, things will start shifting for you in ways that you could not imagine.

One of my amazing newer students has taken my work on hook, line and sinker. She is doing my workbook and we meet once a week on the phone. And I know she will succeed because she signed up for change and does the things I suggest she does. For example, when she is feeling the need to binge/neglect her needs, she will reach out and ask for help or she will go onto YouTube and watch some motivational videos I have suggested. She will no longer isolates herself and looks for reasons why she will not be able to change. She now knows how not to suffer in silence.

I could literally go on for days about the loving teachers who have been on my path for years who have given me wheels when I could not walk and stilts as I found my voice. In service of time, let me share some of my amazing colleagues and teachers who are doing phenomenal work to support people in improving their lives and to spread more positivity and love on this planet. I like to think of these light filled leaders as those who expose the “truth”.

I encourage you all to check them out, sign up for their lists/like them on Facebook/follow them on twitter, etc. I blog for them and/or cherish their beings and use them as examples of all the good there is in the world.

• Lori Deschene of TinyBuddah.com
• Mastin Kipp of The Daily Love.com
• Eric Handler of PositivelyPositive.com
• Christine Bronstein of ABandOfWives.ning.com
• Lori Fields of RealBeautyIs.com
• Carre Sutton of BeautyDisrupted.com
• Dr. Lissa Rankin of OwningPink.com
• Dr. Ritamarie of DrRitamarie.com
• Myra Lewin of HalePule.com

Fall…leads to…

Fall is here. I love Fall, ( however, I used to dread it).

However, I am not a huge fan of Winter which comes next as you know. A couple of years ago I decided that the best way for me to get over my frustration about the Winter is to accept it, hook line and sinker. One way for me to do that is to welcome Fall with open arms. It’s just easier to embrace it rather than dread it. Of course, the irony of all of this is that dreading anything in the future takes us way out of the present moment which is the only thing we really have. This moment.

But, here we are on the near finish line of 2010.

A little under 4 months to go.

I would be lying if I said that this year has been an easy one for me.

2010 has been a great transition period in my life. Some days transition feels like limbo.

:):)

I asked for this transition and while it has been a huge gift in many ways, there have been many mornings I woke up  feeling lost. While I know that feeling is all part of my journey, it feels lonely and challenging many days.

On the positive side, I have been blessed to take time to complete my book, and to go inside and see what I really wanted.

At the same time, I have stayed in action on the answers I receive from the universe and am practicing patience on so many levels.

I also have taken many moments to find silly thing that make me laugh such as this.

Movement Led Me to Patience

As a body image mastery mentor, you can imagine how important movement is in my life. Last Fall, I took a class to challenge my body. It was called Black Diamond Glutes and it certainly challenged me.  I blogged about it, talked about it and I really enjoyed it. However, it really hurt my left knee. I had surgery years prior on my right knee and so this knee drama has been going on for years.

I LOVE to work out (it was not always true for me and it is now). It is a BIG part of my self-care. It is how I honor my body, the one true home that my soul gets to live in, and it is how I honor my spirit. I truly appreciate and own the emotional peace and relief that comes from 60 minutes of exercise a day – so much so that I often do two or three times that much. Not any more though. Now, I basically take all of the effort I used to put into exercising my body, and pour it into being PATIENT with it instead.

I suppose that one of the lessons I am privileged to learn through my injury is a renewed understanding of the issues many of my clients face. Because one of the side effects of not being able to exercise is that I am gaining a little weight. The myriad of feelings around this, and turning my expertise INWARD, has been really meaningful. You see, body image mastery is absolutely NOT about weight. It’s about honoring ourselves from the INSIDE out. It’s about creating enough self-love and self-care that we no longer abuse ourselves with food in any way. No binging. No starving. In fact, after a while, body image mastery leads to a love affair with food – HEALTHY food. It leads to loving your body so much that you WANT to exercise – partly to BE healthy and partly just to CELEBRATE.

My primary work in the world is to be healthy, physically, emotionally and spiritually and I am! However, things like an unexpected weight gain can feel troubling. And even though I know the weight will release itself,  it is not always easy. I am here to practice what I preach by observing my fearful thoughts and watching them come and go. So yes, I am holding on to my deep love and appreciation for my body and taking care of it while it heals. Every day, I kiss my left knee, I  talk to it and let it know it is healing and loved so much. I treat it like I would a little baby. I pray for it. I meditate on it and I trust it is healing. We can do that to every body part we have. Our body will drink it up. Who doesn’t want to be loved up? I do!!!!

I have a tradition that in the beginning of every year, I pick an angel card that dictates my word for the year. This year I picked willingness! I love that word. And still I am adding another important word to represent this year. PATIENCE. Patience has really become my keyword for 2010.

What is your word for this year?

For the last 4 remaining months this year?

I welcome hearing from you.

I am holding that world in the palm of my hand and am 100% committed to get make this vision a reality.

I hope you will continue to join me on this ride to discover who you are….and be part of this Body Image Revolution.

It will be worth it.

I can remember, with almost perfect clarity, what if felt like to release weight week after week after week when I was 24 years old. I had been obese through my entire childhood and as a teenager. I don’t have to tell you the pain that went along with being “the fat kid” – a lot of you either shared that pain, or share a different one, as we watch our own kids become part of the obesity epidemic and grow heavier and heavier. I often wondered why I had success at weight loss and so many others did not.

Ten pounds – twenty pounds – a hundred pounds – chances are that MOST of you who read this have struggled with weight loss, and the low body image and self esteem issues that go with it, for years of your life.

Since my early twenties that I haven’t worked to keep that weight off.  My commitment to keeping my weight off is about self love and self care, not just about liking being thin. And to inspire others to discover their own bodies in a new way. That work became so important to me that I have become a well known speaker and mentor in the transformational movement, and built two very successful companies to empower others. I am also privileged to have inspired hundreds of people to create permanent change in their lives with a NEW philosophy.

I share all of this because I know ONE thing above all others: I know that hating our bodies can never heal them.

However, something still needs to shift. For every one person who loses ten pounds, ten more are gaining it (or gaining it back). As Americans, we have literally shifted the scales of our lives toward obesity, diabetes, heart disease, poor self-esteem, low body image, and on and on and on. We need to shift those scales back. And so, I am making a shift in my own life to be part of that effort – that movement of the scales.

Our bodies are amazing. Have you ever been given any other gift that runs 24/7, works tirelessly without being taught, and will always provide a home for you? Your body will never turn you away – even after you’ve beaten it up, called it horrible names, degraded it, and even hated it. It will just stay there, supporting you endlessly. What lover would do that?

Yet women seem to find their bodies so unlovable. Skinny, fat, hairy, short—we call ourselves such unkind names. Every waking hour of our lives, we criticize and express frustration, displeasure and even hate. Why? Because our bodies are truly that hideous? Or is it just that it’s so much easier to condemn the problems that we face each day than to take loving responsibility to create change? Loving our bodies – ourselves – doesn’t have to be so hard.

Loving your body can be as simple as loving a single finger on your hand. When I began my personal weight loss journey, I could find nothing about myself to love. A friend suggested that I start with just one pinky. “You have to start somewhere,” she said. Twenty-two years later, that loving place to start has stayed with me, and I have discovered the joys of loving my entire body.

In response to the enormous lack of love and personal sustainability in our world and our bodies, I am starting a new journey. A Body Image Revolution. And I invite all of you who read this to join me, and to invite your own friends, colleagues and relatives to join also.

If you don’t think you could love your body, I ask you one question:

Could you start today by loving just One Pinky?

We all have to start somewhere so start with your sweet little Pinky finger.

Sending you buckets of love and more love,XO

Laura

And those who have humility, ask for help, show vulnerability, lean into their daily practices and view change as a process rather than a means to an end. As I share with my students, a process, not a pill.

Jack Canfield, a great teacher and mentor of mine teaches many success principles and I felt compelled to share these 9 with you this week on success which can be applied to anything you are working on right now.

1. Nearly all extraordinary people have the ability to bond with others (i.e. being involved and part of this community of powerful Pinky women).  Without lasting bonds with people, any success or excellence is hollow.

2. Highly effective people have moral fiber. Others trust them. They have a sense of what is good – for others and themselves.

3. Winners surround themselves with good people and learn from them. Just look at the example left by a number of famous people. Many, from George Harrison to Hillary Clinton, crawled up the ladder of success on the back of someone else.

4. Successful people work on themselves and never quit! While the “over-night wonders” become arrogant and quickly disappear, really successful people work on their personality, their leadership skills, management skills, and every other detail of life. When a relationship or business deal goes sour, they assume they can learn from it and they expect to do better next time. Successful people don’t tolerate flaws; they fix them!

5. Successful people are extraordinarily creative. They go around asking, “Why not?” They see new combinations, new possibilities, new opportunities and challenges where others see problems or limitations. They wake up in the middle of the night yelling, “I’ve got it!” They ask for advice, try things out, consult experts and amateurs, always looking for a better, faster, cheaper solution. Successful people create stuff!

6. Successful people are masters of communication. What they all have in common is an ability to communicate a vision that energizes other people and themselves. Communication requires listening. Those who listen to the people around them can understand them better. Shared understandings are what makes communication effective.

7. Determination is a powerful habit. Winners never give up.

8. Winners are not tapped in the past. They move on. They look for new opportunities, new successes. At the same time, they realize that always living in the future can slow us down as much as always looking behind. The unsuccessful are often too focused on what is ahead and never seem content. The successful understand that what is going on now is just as important as what they are planning for the future.

9. Successful people take criticism well as they see the value. Criticism shows that people believe in your ability to do better.

One of my dear students here at www.OnePinky.com is blogging weekly at http://www.NoDietingAllowed.com and her blog this week is on her new found “awareness” and how it feels to be in the world, awake to what shows up. Check it out at www.NoDietingAllowed.com.

I can tell you first hand that Leah and so many of the women in this community are living these principles Jack speaks of organically. They are showing up for themselves first and then for one another and it is truly transformational. Collectively, we are taking small Pinky Steps to becoming healthier human being.

The planet needs us.

Love to you All,

Laura