Monthly Goal Reflection: July 2010

Bonjour mes amis!

I am in full-on summer mode. I am officially working only 3.5 days! I have been daydreaming about vacationing, doing nothing, and doing some more nothing (preferably on the beach). I napped the past two days (divine). And all around I've noticed I feel more relaxed and at ease. The funny thing is there is no real reason for it, besides the fact that I made up my mind to "chill out." I still have the same amount of work to do, the same number of classes to teach and clients to see, but somehow it all seems so much lighter!

Let's review last month's goals...

June Plans/Goals:

• Celebrate grandpa's 75th birthday, hubby's 31st birthday, and uncle's 37th birthday at family-filled birthday festivities! Yes! It was a wonderful party - beautiful weather, great food, and fabulous family to share it with!
  
• Spa date with the YaYas. I am scheduled for a lavender facial - how fabulous does that sound!?! Yes! I am so grateful to have such amazing friends that I have known for 20+ years! And OMG this facial was amazing... there were hand warmers involved and rose water....aaahhhh!
  
• Celebrate Megan's moving up day with fabulous party! Yes! We had friends and family over to celebrate and enjoy the great weather - it was lovely! I can't believe my little girl is a 7th grader now!
  
• Do Yoga. Do Good. Book Club featuring Tranquilista. I had to postpone the Book Club due to low enrollment. I love this idea of yoga + books + do-gooding but it does not seem to be catching on...
  
• Pick out and order wallpaper for the bathroom. I did pick out a wallpaper, but I have not ordered it yet. I have no idea how to measure the space in order to determine how many rolls to buy - any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
  
• Publish Yoga for Living Wellness CD. No...darn...really do want to get this done, but I haven't carved out the time yet.
  
• Create slogan for Tree of Life Yoga Studio and work with assistant on new brochures. Started brainstorming about slogan, but I am still not settled on it yet. I'm holding off on the brochures until I have a better feel for what I want to include.
  
• Begin transition to summer work schedule: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Yes! I adore the summer schedule! Even though several of the days are 12 hours. It still feels fantastic to have 3 full days off each week. And I have been able to go to Spinning class 3 weeks in a row!
• Schedule next session of the Living Wellness Lifestyle for Women. Yes! It will begin Tuesday, July 20th and run through August 31st! All the details here.
  
• Clean and decorate porch and enjoy many hours relaxing there, reading, writing, and sipping wine. Yes! The porch is cleaned and ready to go! Complete with hanging ferns (for some reason they epitomize summer relaxation to me)! I have spent some time there, but not as much as I'd like.
  

My July Dreams/Goals:

• Celebrate 4th of July with a party at my brother's house!
  
• Enjoy every second of being in Paris!!!
• Celebrate my 32nd Birthday!
• Celebrate my 2nd Wedding Anniversary!
• Travel to Rochester for yoga training & reconnect with yogi buddies from training in April!
• Celebrate my cousin's baptism!
• Welcome newest cousin to the world - she should be arriving any day now!
• Join writing group to be held at the studio. OMG. I'm so terrified/excited!
  
• Relax with monthly pedicure, preferably in the company of my favorite 12 year-old!
  
• Enjoy now-monthly massage with Gina.
  
• Order wallpaper for bathroom...
• Publish Yoga for Living Wellness CD.
  
• Listen intently during private session with Medium/Psychic Ellen Bourn.
  
• Finish reading Book Yourself Solid & The E-Myth.
  
• Play as much as possible in order to welcome in Perception & Clarity about next steps for my businesses/marketing of my brand.

I just noticed that almost all of my goals/dreams end in exclamation points :-) I think that is a good sign!

What are you dreaming of for July?

Full Moon Dreamboard

Yesterday I had the pleasure of participating in Jamie Ridler's first-ever Full Moon Dreamboard Telecircle!

A dreamboard is another term for vision board or inspiration board, as Kimberly Wilson calls them. Basically, you gather images of what you want to bring into your life and collage them together. I am a huge fan of this practice!

I usually make 1 board in January of all the things I hope to bring to fruition throughout the year. I hang it above my desk at home and glance at it often to remind me of my intentions for the year. So it was a bit different for me to make a mid-year board, but I am a huge fan of Jamie's blog and I thought this would be a great way to have some interaction with her.

Jamie was as kind and inspiring as I had imagined her to be! I loved the process of completing a dreamboard as part of a group. It was interesting to hear about other people's process and what they were dreaming about.

From creating my dreamboard I realized I am craving some PLAY time!!! My board is filled with images of relaxation - reading in a hammock, a beautiful beach, parties with family and friends. These are things I want my summer to be made up of!

I also had another insight after this process. I have been spending a lot of time lately working on and thinking about my businesses and the next steps for them (a la E-Myth). I have been feeling pressured to "figure it all out" (and QUICKLY please) and I think that trying so hard is not helping my cause. I believe that if I take some time to relax and not think so hard about it, I will be more likely to discover the answers that I am seeking. And heck, if not I will certainly enjoy myself this summer as I focus on soaking up the sun!

Overflowing with Abundance

Hello Lovely Readers!

I hope you are all doing well! I have been enjoying a fabulous week and there is more fabulousness to come :-)

Tonight while teaching the Living Wellness Lifestyle for Women I had one of those moments where I look around and it hits me. I AM LIVING MY DREAM!!! I am actually working right now! This is my job! I hope that every single person can experience this feeling at some point in their lives, preferably daily.

Once I start paying attention I can't help but notice all the good things in my life.

The everyday things...

My daughter's smiling face.

The spinning class I finally made it to yesterday.

A plate overflowing with fresh veggies.

A cozy bed to sleep in. And a loving husband to share it with.

Green & Black's new Peanut Chocolate Bar. They carmelize the peanuts or something. It is amazing!

The feeling of Downward Facing Dog.

Being my own boss.

Hot showers.

I could go on and on...

Then there are the once-in-awhile things...

Gatherings with the extended family!

Pedicures

Massages (I have one scheduled for tomorrow!)

Bookstore browsing

Yoga class with a new teacher

Last weekend I took a trip to the spa with my girlfriends from high school (affectionately known as the YaYas) where I savored a Lavender facial complete with hand warmers and a scalp massage (it was as amazing as it sounds). As we were relaxing in the jacuzzi, I was thinking about how lucky I am to have friends that I have known for more than 20 years!

The goodness is all around - soak it up!

Indulge

I made this visual journal page earlier this week while sitting on the patio at Starbucks savoring a nonfat caramel latte.

It reads, Indulge:

sip coffee in the sun

spend $10 on something "frivolous"

buy yourself fresh flowers

get a massage or facial

spray your pillow with lavender

make yourself a smoothie

buy luxurious hand soap or lotion

let it go to voice mail

wander, browse

be idle (sans guilt)

get a mani/pedi

buy yourself a decadent truffle

nap in the sun

stay in bed for the day

see a midday movie

try a new flavor of seltzer (I'm on a seltzer kick right now)

There are so many ways to indulge! Go ahead - you deserve it!

Monthly Goal Reflection: June 2010

I hope you are enjoying the start of June! Many people this week mentioned to me that this has felt like the longest short week. I hadn't thought so, but I did wake up exhausted this morning. So, I am spending my day in bed relaxing. It always feels like such a luxury to be able to rest when I need to and I am very grateful for my Fridays off.

Goals for May:

• Facilitate Living Wellness Lifestyle for Women program: Yes! There is a great group of women participating and I am LOVING this program!
  
• Host Women's Wellness Retreat with Kim David: Yes! I truly enjoyed the retreat! It was a relaxing day filled with yoga, meditation, self-study, tea, and chocolate chip cookies!
  
• Participate in Women Entrepreneurs Rock! Telecourse: Yes! I adore spending Wednesday nights reflecting on my businesses and learning more about being an entrepreneur!
  
• Get my hands dirty! Do some gardening. Plant some flowers at the wellness center and at home. Maybe put together some pots for the front steps. Keep playing in my Art Journal. Paint, draw, stamp, and collage!: Yes! I planted flowers at the center and at home. I've also been playing in my art journal. Pictures to come soon!
  
• Ask my mom or aunt for help with purchasing wallpaper for our upstairs bathroom. No...
  
• Participate in the Niagara Falls Relay for Life: Yes! I had a great time at the Relay and will definitely be participating again next year.
  
• Take Memorial Day weekend off from work - for real! Yes! And I loved every minute of it!
  
• Pick out new glasses: Yes!
  
• Publish Yoga for Living Wellness CD: No...
  
• Eliminate more clutter from my bedroom: Yes! Always feels so fantastic to get rid of clutter!
  
• Begin planning Summer Solstice event at studio: I think I am going to skip putting together an event right now, but I think I will offer some Yogi Appreciation goodies instead.
  
• Create an Amazon AStore filled with inspiring recommendations: Decided not to do this after looking into it. I'm toying with the idea of a page on one of my websites to list book and music recommendations instead.

June Plans/Goals:

• Celebrate grandpa's 75th birthday, hubby's 31st birthday, and uncle's 37th birthday at family-filled birthday festivities!
  
• Spa date with the YaYas. I am scheduled for a lavender facial - how fabulous does that sound!?!
  
• Celebrate Megan's moving up day with fabulous party!
• Do Yoga. Do Good. Book Club featuring Tranquilista
  
• Pick out and order wallpaper for the bathroom
• Publish Yoga for Living Wellness CD
  
• Create slogan for Tree of Life Yoga Studio and work with assistant on new brochures
  
• Begin transition to summer work schedule: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays
• Schedule next session of the Living Wellness Lifestyle for Women
• Clean and decorate porch and enjoy many hours relaxing there, reading, writing, and sipping wine

I think that is all for now. I'm feeling like a lighter load is in order for this month...

Not To-Do List

Today is June 1st and I would typically be posting my Monthly Goal Reflection (which I will eventually), but right now I am inspired to create a Not To-Do List. I spend so much time thinking about what I need to do, should be doing, would love to accomplish, etc. and recently I keep coming back to this idea that "In order to say YES to some things, we must say NO to others." Part of a well-balanced life is saying no and clearing things off of our ever-overflowing plates. I am not very good at saying no! And I am pretty confident that I am not alone on this one! In fact, I just made signs for my Living Wellness Lifestyle participants that say "It is okay to say no!"

My Not To-Do List for June:

• Work past 9pm
• Accept clients who are not a good fit for my practice
• Feel guilty about saying no when I need to
• Commit to any work that I am taking on from a place of scarcity
• Mindlessly watch TV
• Tell myself that I am bad person because my house is a mess
• Skip my daily mini-retreat in the name of getting work done
• Allow fear to keep me from catching up on my accounting
• Judge myself
• Ignore my accomplishments and focus on my shortcomings
• Tell myself my dreams are unattainable
• Repeat to myself that I am not enough or that I don't do enough
• Skip my yoga or meditation practice
• Complain
• Act in a manner that is not in line with my priorities
• Gossip

What can you NOT do this month to help you achieve your dreams?