A large proportion of what it takes to be altogether fabulous is free and I wanted to go through three essential change your life tools for the altogether fabulous woman.
Meditation
Now when I mention meditation to people they think about sitting in one place for 30 minutes chanting or trying to keep thoughts out of their head. We are not going for enlightenment here (well at least I am not – don’t know about you!) If you have never taken part in meditation before you can start slowly and build it up as a regular practice.
I started by sitting for two minutes and closing my eyes. That was it. Simple!
You will be surprised at how long two minutes is when you stop. Eventually I trained myself to just stop, close my eyes, and be still for two minutes anytime and anyplace. Sitting on a train, waiting for a bus, standing in a checkout line; I just closed my eyes and stopped. Sometimes I would time myself and other times I close them for however long I wanted to – it may have been two minutes or less or more – it wasn’t important.
Once I got into the habit of closing my eyes I then began to stop my thoughts. The only way I managed to do that was to repeat a phrase in my head over and over. Eventually I managed to let the thoughts fly out on a cloud whenever they floated in.
Practicing meditation doesn’t mean you belong to a cult or you are doing anything religiously wrong. Many people associate meditation with Buddhism and think it is wrong. They are missing out on something extremely important which could be exactly what they need to balance out their days.
Meditation is one of the most effective ways to change your subjective well being. Doctors have proven meditation to generate brain activity on the left side, which produces a positive emotion in the body.
Give yourself the time and have the patience to try this because it will do wonders for how you manage your day. It is especially great if you have a hectic work/home life and everyone can at least find two minutes in their day to stop and close their eyes.
Exercise
We all know how essential this one is and trust me I am as guilty as not taking part in exercise as often as I can as anymore. In the 80s (you know – the pre children days) I could happily jump around to a Jane Fonda step video for 60 minutes and only break a sweat. Now just taking a step up a step makes me break into a sweat!
It is an essential part of staying fabulous though because it produces a natural high that helps you cope with all and any situations life throws at you. I know I am always at my best when I am exercising regularly.
Exercise for me now is Yogalates (mixture of yoga and pilates), a rebounder and walking. No more jumping about to high impact videos. I do have an exercise bike that I will ride when it isn’t too busy holding up my clothes!
Exercise is very good for the body and it helps the brain put out endorphins which are responsible for making you happy. Exercise is important for total health. This doesn’t mean that you have to be on a heavy exercise routine on a daily basis. However, you should try to sweat everyday.
You can get an amazing exercise by just cleaning the house and doing normal household chores. This isn’t about losing weight. It is about creating happiness. Plus with the music loud on the ipod you can dance away while cleaning.
Sleep
It wasn’t until I started on my major weight loss/getting healthy program that I learnt about the importance of sleep (and drinking plenty of water).
Sleep is a big factor if you want to be a happy person because sleep is needed for the body to be able to function properly. I know when I don’t get enough sleep I am moody, have an inability to think clearly, and very unhappy so it has become an important part of staying healthy for me.
There are days when I am up late – like writing my altogether fabulous books – and I do have periods of intense work but I work from home so sleeping in late or taking an afternoon nap is easy for me.
If you are not sleeping well and you have determined that lack of sleep plays into how miserable you are throughout the day then you need to add that as a life change you are going to make in your “All Fab Journal.” You might need to change your daily schedule so you can get to bed earlier or develop some kind of routine that will get you to sleep. You will find that getting help from family/the people you live with will help.
If you have an inability to get to sleep and/or you toss around all night long staring at the alarm clock this could mean many different things and you need to write about this in your journal. What do you think about as you lie awake? Is it anything you can sort out right then – if it isn’t you will have to learn to let it go to help you get to sleep.
Living in the moment will help you get to sleep every time.
Those are the essential change your life tools for the altogether fabulous woman and I want to encourage you to use master these three before embarking on making any other major changes. You will be thinking much clearer if you exercise and allow the natural chemicals released in your body support your mood.
When you take time out of your day to meditate and receive guidance and answers from your higher self and when you get yourself a regular period of rest.
