Rise Up

🤩 I was inspired! 🤩

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a co-worker and we chatted about how important self-care is for employees. 🌱

When we fill our cups first, we are able to serve our customers whole-heartedly, which leads to better customer service and relations. 🤝

I came home and created this month long "Self-Care at Work" program for anyone to use, whatever your job may be. ❤️

👉👉👉 Check it out, it's FREE! 👈👈👈
The link is in the comments.

Did you ever want something in life so bad that it consumed your every thought?

When you want something in life that bad. When you have a goal or a dream. When you’ve been working toward something for a long time and it means a lot to you, you must trust the process. I’ve heard this over and over through the years and wasn’t sure what it really meant. How do you trust the process? What does that even mean?

For me, I believe trusting the process means never giving up. It means, that no matter how long it takes or how hard it gets, I keep moving forward. There are times when it feels like things are working and ideas are coming to me easily, and then there are the days that I want to crawl in bed and pull the covers over my head. The days that I am in tears because I don’t know what to do.

“The Process” IS your journey to that thing, that goal, that dream you want. 🌈

Your journey is how you show up every day. It is the good and the bad. The blessings and the lessons. The successes and the failures. It is all of this. Your journey (your process) is how you live your life every day.

Trusting the process means getting back up after the 101st knockout and continuing to get up after that. It means starting over…AGAIN, but with a little more knowledge this time. It means keeping your thoughts on things that you love and that you are grateful for. Gratitude is an amazing friend during “the process”. Gratitude will hold you up and make you smile. Gratitude can change your perspective in an instant. It can make what seemed like a problem look like a blessing.

Trusting the process is simply staying the path and being true to you. It is knowing what you love and why you want to do whatever it is you want to do. It may not look like you are making progress, but when you look back over the last 3/6/9/12 months and see how much you have accomplished,that is when you can really see your process and begin to trust. ❤️

It is my hope that 2017 begins a mending period for broken relationships, burned bridges, and hardened hearts.

Let's focus on building and creating.

Let's celebrate what unites and learn from our differences.

Let's share kindness and the human contact found in a smile.

Let's care for this creation, the earth is our only home.

Let's be the change that makes "happy new year" a reality, not merely an expression.

Want to change the world? Here's how:
BE
Amazing: your best self
Brave: conquer that which holds you back
Inspiring: build bridges, not walls--relate
Unstoppable: don't quit on your passion
The Difference: to the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world

Bottom line: you matter! Make your life count for something good!

I listened to a TED Talk recently presented by British-born conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, Benjamin Zander, entitled "The Transformative Power of Classical Music." He offered an analogy that pertains not only to conductors and music directors, but to all who are in leadership roles.

The orchestra conductor doesn't make a sound. His power is in his ability to make others powerful, to awaken possibility in others.

Wise words to ponder as we lead, inspire, motivate and transform--each in our own way. Here's another thought we should consider: Never say anything that could not stand as the last thing you will ever say.

It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.
~W. Somerset Maugham

The reverse is also true: if you focus on the worst, that is often what you will find or receive. A positive mindset is crucial, particularly in those times when life seems to be at its worst. Then we have a coping mechanism to see circumstances for what they are--temporary blips on an eternal radar screen--and the strength to both face and overcome any challenge.

We begin with a vision--who we wish to be, what we wish to do. To achieve that vision, we break old patterns that are holding us back and build new habits that take in the direction we wish to go. This is done through disciplining our imagination with images of what we are in the process of becoming. We model others who possess the traits we wish to acquire, and we take risks that move us out of our comfort zone.
Your new identity is outside of your old patterns, BUT all that you need is already within you.

Some wisdom to share from the Healthy Mind and Body program I read this morning:
You must learn a new way to think before you can master a new way to be.
~Marianne Williamson
Personal identity is the combination of beliefs, values, habits, and conditioning that you've unconsciously created as a model for living your life. At its most fundamental level, your identity is a set of "I am" beliefs; statements such as, "I am smart," "I am athletic," "I am a procrastinator," or "I'm not good at _____." You will tend to live up or down to the identity you hold for yourself.
Examining my "I am" statements this morning.

Every choice you make has an end result.
~Zig Ziglar

What are the things in your life that are a "must" for you? Not a "should," or "could," or "might," or "may," but MUST?

I think most of our choices are "shoulds": I should work out more, I should lose some weight, I should spend more time in self development and personal growth, I should work on strengthening my relationships. Imagine the change when the wishy-washy should becomes an energized, non-negotiable must!

Today is the day to live as an example of possibility, to build that mindset and become firm in your resolve to achieve.

Don't ever forget this! No matter what your age, if you are still here, you are not finished. What do you dream about doing? Do it! Who can you bless? Do it!

This song encapsulates what Kristi and I envisioned as a theme for this group!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BWsrd_aXQA

Andra Day - Rise up (Lyrics video) i do not own this music

Name 3 things in nature you find most beautiful?

For all of you who are chocolate lovers: Milk or Dark?
Which is your favorite?

Do you have a hard time finding things to be grateful for? Its' so much fun to sit and write down EVERYTHING you are grateful for and then keep adding to them and going back and rereading them!! It makes my heart smile. What are you grateful for?

What is your favorite book? Why do you love it?

Dear (insert your name) :)
This letter is for you!
Love Kristi

When was the last time you spent some time with you? How do you take care of yourself and love yourself? If someone asked you the question, "what is something you love to do for you?" Would you be able to answer?

This will be fun if you answer. :)

Who did you have a crush on when you were a teenager?

I was fortunate to see Manny Scott, one of the Freedom Writers, last week. He has transformed from a 9th grade dropout into a Ph.D. student inspiring and impacting multiple lives--truly an educational success story.

Manny told a story of a time he spoke in Texas. At the conclusion he was asked how to get through to kids who felt beaten by the system, apathetic, lost and hopeless, basically, how do you reach kids like you were?

He answered the question with the adage--you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink--and was going to move on when a man from the back, sporting a 10 gallon hat and Texas-sized belt buckle, spoke up. "It's true you can't make the horse drink," he drawled, "but you can give him a salt lick, which will make him WANT to drink!"

This was a light bulb moment. What are we as educators, as leaders, as life-changers. We are salt!

Whatever you are doing to change the world for the better, don't give up! The road may be hard. Don't give up! It may seem like you are beating, well, a dead horse. Don't give up! You may feel fed up, used up, washed up. Don't GIVE up!

Give until you feel like you can't give any more, then find some more to give. You are here for a reason. You have a message only you can give. You may be the only one who can reach another in desperate need of what you have to offer.

Don't give up!

Worry, especially over what might be, doesn't add years to your life, it robs you of the gift of living. The only thing we know for certain is the moment in which we are. Don't tarnish that moment with negative thinking around what was or what has yet to be. Enjoy the gift of now! Easier said than done, but worth the effort!