The Power of Intention

“All great acts are ruled by intention. What you mean is what you get.” - Brenna Yovanoff

Always the mantra of a race...

I have been thinking very hard lately of what my intention for 2013 will be.  It finally came to me in a yoga class at Santosha Yoga a couple of weeks ago.  We had a class on arm balances.  I hate arm balances.  No, I LOATHE arm balances.  I can't do them.  I get frustrated and mad.  Yoga sucks when arm balances are involved.  Yes, arm balances elicit a very violent response from me.

So, there I was- struggling to get my legs on my arms, ass in the air, sucking in the abs, clenching the *sshole and of course BREATHING.  God, I hate arm balances.  When Page, the yoga instructor, paused in front of my mat and said, "You can do this.  You are strong enough.  You just don't trust yourself."

It was a revelation.  No, I don't trust myself and I especially do not trust my hands to support me.  This is my problem and I need to work on this.

Drumroll please.....the 2013 intention is to trust myself.  Trust the little voice inside me.  Be confident. Shoot for the stars without abandon and don't hold back.  Believe.

I start my 2013 journey tomorrow by embarking on a 40-day headstand challenge.  Every day, I am going to do a headstand for 3 minutes.  This practice will help me condition my abs, my balance and see the world with a different perspective- upside down.  Hopefully, being upside down will get rid of a couple of wrinkles too... hey, one can hope!

Next week's blog: Why I still hate the bike.

Grateful- In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

“A grateful mindset can set you free from the prison of disempowerment and the shackles of misery.”- Steve Mariboli

The two things I am most grateful for in my life- X-t and Bakon.

Last year at this time, I wasn't in a very good place.  I was in a job that made me miserable.  I just turned 45, which meant I was now middle aged.  I still mourned my golden retriever, Otto.  I was in a real bad funk. I acknowledged this and knew I needed to do something to get me out of it.  I worked with Tiara Coaching on a women's leadership initiative at another job.  Tiara Coaching is a place where women rediscover and refresh their sense of purpose and direction in the company of bright, successful, interesting women.  It is a place where you can reclaim your life.  I needed to do some reclaiming, so I contacted them.

My life coach was Ellen Burton.  She asked the hard questions, demanded the true answers and opened doors.  She changed the way I thought about myself, situations and other people. 

One of my homework assignments was to write down five things that I am grateful for each day.  I am not a writer- as you can tell from this blog. I don't keep a journal of thoughts or ideas.  Writing five sentences each day about something that I was thankful for was going to be a stretch.  Writing five unique things every day seemed nearly impossible.  

I started my journal on Tuesday, January 17th.  The first entry was pretty big.  Here it is:

1) I am grateful for my husband.

2) I am grateful for my family.

3) I am grateful for my friends

4) I am grateful for my health.

5) I am grateful for wine.

There!  Not too bad.  In fact, this is all (or so I thought) that I am grateful for- it sums it up!  Even though I thought this is all to be grateful for, I kept at it every day.  I still write in my gratitude journal.  

After a couple of weeks of writing, I started to notice something.  Life wasn't so bad after all.  In fact, there is a lot of good that was happening to me.  Someone complemented me on my outfit.  I got an adjustment in yoga class. Someone opened a door for me. I got a postcard in the mail from a friend.  I got $10 off coupon.  My dream job became available and I got the offer!

Where I am in my life is light years from where I was last year, or is it?  Did I just need to open my heart and my eyes to see all around me with a sense of gratitude?  As Mr. Mariboli said, "A grateful mindset can set you free from the prison of disempowerment and the shackles of misery."  

It certainly set me free. 

Finding the Sturdy Girl Voice Part Deux

Definition of Sturdy:

Adjective: (of a person or their body) Strongly and solidly build.

Synonym: strong-robust-firm-stout-stalwart-lusty-tough

My sturdy self in a sturdy pose.

Lately, I have been hesitant on what to write in this blog.  Do I write about training for races? Do I write about my neurotic, random thoughts?  Do I write something my struggles with what to eat and my weight (boring topic, personally)?  What type of format should I put my thoughts- list, story, conversation?

What I have been doing is over thinking this whole blog.  It took a week's vacation of parking my butt on a beach in Florida and three yoga classes to figure out that I don't need to have a plan on what to write.  Just write!  Instead of pushing, it is sometimes better to just be patient and let things go the course to develop into something beautiful (Thank you Mary for this revelation in this morning's yoga practice!).

So there is going to be a bit of everything in the coming weeks, especially now that the holidays are upon us.  The holidays for me means too much pressure to get the perfect gift, losing some of the most important people in my life and the darkest days of the year.

Now, I am not going to get all depressed on you.  This time of year is also an exciting time for me.  This is the time that I plan the races that I am going to participate in next year and set goals for those races. I set my 5 intentions for the year.  Intentions are very powerful and should be seriously considered.  I will share these intentions with you along with the logic.

This Sturdy Girl Blog isn't going to be about about weigh loss struggles and the quest of being a physically fit person.  This Sturdy Girl Blog is about creating yourself to being a stronger physically, spiritually and emotionally person.   Sturdy means that you are someone (including yourself) that people can depend on.

So, fasten your seat belts and hang on.  We are getting ready to go for a ride together.  Please feel free to bring your thoughts, comments, perceptions to this blog about being a sturdy person.

Here we go!