Lifecoachwomen.be

How often do we really listen?

How often are we fully present in a conversation?

I read some good advice the other day:

“For every time you speak, you should listen 10 times”

That made me stop for a moment and I do plead guilty here too.

I’ve made a promise to myself to listen more, to listen better, to be fully present.

So often, we are already formulating an answer in our head and therefor we listen only partially and

we don’t get what the other person is really trying to say.

That makes our answers often:

completely meaningless,

unnecessary,

or selfish even.

That’s because our ego is doing the talking:

we love to share experiences, to share knowledge,

we like to be heard

(funny isn’t it because that is exactly what the other person would like to have too),

we like to be liked,

we like to be funny,

we like to be witty.

And that is all our uncertainty talking, our ego.

We need proof,

proof in like ‘people do listen to us’ , to know that

we are worth being listened to,

we are worth being liked,

we are worth being loved.

Once you feel worthy, once you feel loved, you don’t need that proof anymore, you just know you are enough.

Learning to feel you’re enough, is the answer to that uncertainty, to that not being present, to that not listening enough.

Once you are confident, you’ll stop needing to be heard,

you’ll stop needing people to listen to you all the time.

Now is the time to start doing the listening ourselves,

to start focusing on hearing instead of talking.

I know that when you are passionate about something, it feels as if you can’t stop talking about it, right?

But let’s try this for a change:

every time you feel like talking, ask yourself:

“What if I listened for a while?”

“What if I let somebody else do the talking?”

“What if I listened to the silence?”

You’ll feel the shift in yourself, you’ll shift from:

Being eager to find an answer as quickly as possible to

Enjoying what the other person is telling you.

Wondering if you’ re smart enough to

Learning from the other person’s story.

Thinking about yourself to

Completely focusing on the other person.

By listening:

We learn,

We make other people happy because they feel heard (remember how good that feels),

We observe better,

We hear better,

And therefor if and when we decide to answer, our answer will be more accurate, more empathetic.

By being silent, we will also hear our own inner voice,

We will be able to get to know our real inner self,

We will be able to know,

We will be able to feel

enough,

worthy,

loved,

connected.

That’s when you will really feel ‘at home’, really feel connected to the Universe.My invitation to you all this week is:

Listen,

Listen to others when they are speaking,

Listen to the silence when no one is speaking,

Listen to nature,

Just listen,

And you’ll hear all your answers.

You’ll feel whole.

You’ll feel connected.

You’ll feel enough.

Thank you all for reading me.

Namaste.

Katrien

www.lifecoachwomen.be

“Happiness is the way”

 Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

This is so true.

You only have to want it.

I know, I know, hold your horses,

I hear you,

not every day can be peachy and smelling like roses.

But you do have a lot to say in the matter.

Dr Sue Morter and Marci Shimoff say it this way:

No blaming,

No shaming,

No complaining.

If you practice this, you’ll already feel a huge difference in your life.

Is it easy? No way!

People seem to be addicted to complaining.

But if you want to stop this habit badly enough,

you’ll start being aware of it.

Every time you do one of the above:

pause,

stop the negative thinking,

stop the trash talking out loud (or in your head).

You can make it fun by making a game out of it.

You can do this at work, at home, at your sports club:

you promise each other to put a euro in a designated jar every time you slip by blaming, shaming or complaining. Believe me the first couple of days, you’ll slip a lot!

This is just a way to make you conscious, not to punish you.

No, we steer away from all the negative as much as possible, otherwise you’re shaming again. (another euro in the jar :-))

Then do something fun, something positive with the gathered money.

If you don’t want to put money in a jar, you can also promise to do chores, or to make lunch for each other, or whatever.This way, you’ll practice to -not only- stop, but also to turn around your thinking.

No more should have, could have, …

Instead of blaming someone or something,

think: what can I do to make this situation better. We are only responsible for our own actions, so no use blaming others, as you can’t control what other people do or say.

Instead of shaming and feeling like an idiot and keep repeating how stupidly you acted, just learn from the situation and you’ll behave differently the next time. Nobody is perfect, so neither are you. Would you judge your best friend so harshly if they had behaved the way you did? I guess not, huh? So be your own best friend and stop judging yourself so severely.

Instead of complaining, see if you can do something about the problem: Yes? Do it. No? Well, complaining won’t improve the situation either so you might as well stop it.

These changes in your thinking -and therefor in the way you feel and act- already make a world of difference.

I know the critics say:

you bury your head in the sand if you always look for the positive,

this is not how the ‘real’ world’ works.

Let me ask you this: how does your ‘real’ world work out for you?

Has blaming ever solved a problem?

Has shaming ever made you feel any better and made you behave in a more constructive way?

Has complaining ever brought you closer to any solutions?

No, it hasn’t and that’s what I learned too.

That’s why I believe that looking for the positive,

looking for solutions is the way to feel better.

No matter how much you stress out,

No matter how much you complain,

At the end of the day: the problem is still there,

You still feel horrible and maybe even worse, because the more energy you give to something, the bigger it becomes for better or for worse.

This is my request for you this week:

Stop giving energy to negative stuff,

Be aware when your thoughts go that way,

Turn them around into something constructive,

And you’ll feel your mood shifting.

The better your mood,

the higher the frequency you’re vibrating on,

the easier you’ll find a way out.

Enjoy this new path!

Happiness is the way.

Thank you all for reading me!

Katrien

www.lifecoachwomen.be

“Only Love Today”

Rachel Macy Stafford.

She wrote a whole book about “Only love today” and reading it, absolutely makes you pause and think about how you relate to others.

Love really is the only way:

The only kind way,

The only human way,

The only respectful way,

The only appropriate way,

Hence, the absolute only way.

You can bully people, you can twist somebody’s arm,

You can shout, you can command, …But to what end?

If you are ‘lucky’, people will do what you order them to do,

But what did you really achieve?

They won’t respect you,

they will only fear you.

They won’t like you,

they will -at best- tolerate you,

They won’t spontaneously help you,

they will only do the strict minimum.

They won’t come to you just to be with you,

they will avoid you.

They won’t be honest with you,

they’ll only tell you the necessary.

So, take a moment and really think about all the situations:

where you -for the moment- would never consider being kind or being loving,

and turn the situation around to: you

being kind,

being respectful,

being open,

believing people are actually capable of doing what you ask them to do.

You’ll be surprised what a whole new, wonderful world will open itself for you.

Your children will be happy because:

you treat them respectfully,

you ask them nicely,

you praise them after they have finished their task, regardless of the result!!

(They’ll get better over time, because now they will be motivated to try again. They will feel you believe in them.)

Your co-workers will come to you and will enjoy working with/for you because now you treat them respectfully.

Your pets will listen to you because now you are gentle and rewarding.

Shopkeepers will help you with a smile because you ask with a smile.

Wherever you are, when you are nice to people, people are nice to you too.

I know, you’ll meet the eternal grumpy one, or it may take some time for people to get used to being treated nicely

(yes, unfortunately people are not used to being treated respectfully),

But they’ll warm to you eventually.

Just think positively about whoever you meet.

Think:

“How can I help you?”

“What can I do for you?”

“How are you today? and really wanting to hear the answer.”

“I believe in you”

“I know you’re doing the best you can”

“Don’t worry, it’s okay”

And this is not only a very nice way to treat others, you’ll be amazed by how it makes YOU feel too!!!!

Because be honest, when you command somebody to do something, when you shout at your dog, when you keep yelling at your kids, when you fret because the bus driver was grumpy, …

How does this really make you feel?

Not very good, right?

In shifting your own mood, your own intentions,

You are making a shift in the vibrations you’re sending out.

And as you can read in my last week’s blog:

You really do attract similar things, things which are vibrating on that same frequency.

Try it!

Be nice,

Be open,

Be forgiving,

Be patient,

Be appreciative,

Be love.

And you’ll get your biggest reward ever:

People will return the favor.

That’s how the law of attraction works.

Practice kindness over and over again and you’ll feel the mood shifting wherever you are.

“Don’t let the world change your smile,

Let your smile change the world.”

Thank you all for reading me!

Namaste

Katrien

www.lifecoachwomen.be

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become”

Carl Jung

Often people get very upset when you only even suggest that what happened to them does not need to determine how they feel.

People blame,

People keep repeating what happened to them,

People keep telling the story over and over again,

People keep reliving what made them feel bad.

As long as you focus on what you do NOT want, the longer you will feel the negative emotion associated with that thought and the longer you will remain in that unwanted situation.

Buddha said it so many years ago:

“what you think, you become,

What you feel, you attract,

What you imagine, you create.”

This is the most powerful insight you can ever have.

Just think about it for a moment, and realize its power:

What you think, you create.

So why are you still thinking about negative stuff, about what you do not want, about what you do not like??????

The longer you keep focusing on the drama, as in

thinking about it,

telling people about it,

hammering on the injustice of the situation, …

the longer you will stay on that vibration and the longer you will keep attracting similar things.

The only way out of a negative situation is thinking about

what you DO want,

how you can SOLVE the problem.

If you are focusing on solutions, you are on a very different vibration than if you are thinking about the problem itself.

I know it seems like a very thin line between thinking about the problem itself and thinking about solutions for that same problem.

But the difference is HUGE!!

Reliving injustice by talking about it, keeps you on a vibration which will attract more of that injustice.

Focusing on what you want and how you can get out of that situation puts you on a vibration where you will ‘find’ solutions.

It’s the law of attraction.

You cannot create a positive future by focusing on the negative things of the past and the present.

You need to focus on how you want your future to look like,

to be able to actually create that future.

Envision what you want.

Once you understand this and once you start living by this very simple -but never easy, I know- principle, you can always feel good.

Accepting where you are right now and thinking about what you want are key elements to feeling good.

The only way to stop feeling bad, is to stop thinking about the things that made you feel bad.

The only way to stop thinking about those negative things, is to actively steer your thoughts to things you DO want.

It’s something that you can learn by practicing every day.

The moment you feel your thoughts are slipping towards your dark place again, don’t be upset, don’t be hard on yourself (because that would keep you on that vibe of feeling bad), just acknowledge it and steer away from the dark.

You are the only one responsible for how you feel.

My god, that used to piss me off when somebody said that!

I immediately had a whole list ready of why and what and who made me feel unhappy.

NO!

You, and only you decide how you feel by steering your thoughts towards positive, wanted thoughts/situations.

By knowing what you like,

By knowing who you are,

By knowing that you are enough,

By knowing you are loved:

even when you ‘think’ nobody loves you, you do love yourself, right? So, you are always loved.

Also know that it’s your own dark thoughts that make you temporarily blind for the love of others.

So, again, you are always loved,

it becomes easier and easier to go to your happy thoughts.

The good thing about living creatures is:

It’s in our nature to want to feel good,

It’s how we are created.

We want to feel good, so work with that creative force.

Do the things,

think the thoughts,

that will bring you onto that vibration of feeling good and more good stuff will come your way.

Believe in your creative power,

Believe in your own responsibility.

Whenever you feel bad, it is an indication that you are deviating from what makes you feel good.

Steer away from it

by looking for the positive in the situation,

by looking at something or someone from a different perspective,

by looking for solutions,

by thinking about stuff that you DO like.

Learn to listen to your emotional GPS, it’s never wrong.

And know that YOU are in the driver seat, so it is up to you to decide which road you will take.

Good luck with discovering your emotional GPS, and

with learning how to navigate through your life,

with learning how to feel good.

It really is all up to you!

Thank you all for reading me!

Katrien

www.lifecoachwomen.be

You all know I like to start my blogs with a quote, a question or a statement: here’s the one for this week.

“Life will always challenge you in order to bring you

from rigidity to flexibility, from control to allowing.” Panache Desai.

Now more than ever, we need to let go of the outcome.

We all have plans, we all have goals we want to achieve, we all have dreams,

But nobody is sure of how and when we will get there.

Now, it’s the virus that dictates us to let go of the outcome but

what if we could learn this to be our standard MO?

I would like to ask you to start living that way,

because that’s what life is really all about.

We have dreams, plans, projects,

but if we hold on to them with clenched fists,

all that can happen is disappointment.

Nothing ever works out exactly the way we wanted it to.

Know the general direction of the path you would like to walk in life,

and then just watch, enjoy, see what comes along that path.

If we are open to change, to unexpected challenges,

We feel less disappointed, less hurt, less lost.

Let’s face it: when are we feeling unhappy?

When people do not act the way we thought they would,

When things don’t work out the way we envisioned them to,

When we suddenly have to change our plans because of something ‘outside of our control’.

The moment we learn to be flexible, to expect the unexpected, to allow life to happen to us,

that’s when you are really living/ enjoying your life.

Control is an illusion,

Control is just another form of fear: fear that we won’t be able to handle anything we did not plan, fear that another outcome won’t be ‘as good’,

Control is just your ego talking: “my way or the highway”

Control is shutting yourself off from greater opportunities, from learning, from growing.

I like this little joke which I think is so true:

“If you want to make God laugh, tell Her your plans” (or Him 🙂 sorry I couldn’t resist :-))

That really is what happens all the time, right?

You were planning to do this and oh yes, ‘something’ came up and you had to change your plans,

The most obvious example is now this virus.

But it needn’t always be this huge.

Just think about it: how many times in life have you already had to adapt, to change your plans?

The day we accept, this is how things work, we are not bothered by it anymore.

We then know life is always asking us to be flexible, to adjust to new circumstances.

Nothing lasts, everything is always changing, everything is in constant movement.

So are we, not one cell in our body is still the same as 10 years ago: everything is constantly changing, always evolving.

It is absurd to hold on too tightly,

it just isn’t possible to keep things from changing.

Once you know and accept this, life becomes a smoother ride.

Allow things to happen,

go with the flow.

As one of my biggest examples in life, Dr. Susan Jeffers, says:

“do the best you can at any moment but let go of the outcome”.

One of her own examples, is a very simple but a very clear example of how letting go can help us:

“She was always very afraid of flying and every time it was a bumpy flight, she would squeeze the armrests, try to steer that whole plane with those armrests and try to keep it steady.

Until the moment she realized how absurd this was. She was exhausted from squeezing and trying to keep the plane from bouncing. She was afraid and she felt she failed because the plane was still bumping all over the place no matter how hard she tried. The only result she got was even more anxiety. So, once she realized the absurdity of what she was trying to do, she had a good laugh and decided from now on: to let the plane fly its course, to trust the pilots and to just relax in her seat and wait until the storm had passed”

If you project this to any other situation, you’ll notice how letting go, enables you to relax.

Whenever life gets tough, whenever plans need to be changed: look at what you can do and where you just need to sit back and let things pass.

Being flexible and allowing life to be, are key elements to living a happier, more relaxed, more satisfying life.

My invitation to you all this week is:

Know what you want in life but be flexible about how you are going to achieve it,

Let go of the one defined outcome you have in your head, let go of the one planned itinerary and just see where life brings you.

Enjoy the unexpected,

Learn to see the benefits in all the challenges you meet.

“Courage is accepting the challenge of the unknown”, as Annemaree Rowley says in one of her guided meditations.

I know sometimes you don’t see it right away, but there is a positive side to everything.

It’s a given in nature: everything has a positive and a negative pole.

We, humans, don’t believe this as we don’t always see it, but it’s there.

Take a step back, breathe, do what is in your power and let go of everything else.

It’s in this place of non-ego, of non-emotional state you’ll be able to see more clearly.

You can’t change the waves but you can learn how to surf! And yes, you’ll fall down more times than you can count and maybe at some point you’ll feel as if you’re drowning, but you’ll get the hang of it eventually.

Practice, practice, practice.

Thank you all for reading me and enjoy life with all its quirks!

Katrien

www.lifecoachwomen.be

Corona virus = lesson in humility.

Did I just shock you?

Are you appalled by what I say?

Or do you agree?

Let me explain myself:

We, humans, need nature to thrive, to survive and not the other way around.

In fact, nature is better off without mankind.

And that’s what most of us do not get.

We, humans, think we are superior to all other living creatures,

We think we know better and try to alter nature’s course,

We think we have the solution to everything that goes ‘wrong’,

We think we can ‘beat’ everything we do not approve of in nature,

We think we are entitled to most of the land,

We consider oceans and water as solely for human consumption and for crops or whatever that can be of use to us, to consume or to have.

We get rid of everything we don’t like or don’t know what it can do for us.

We want a lot of land, so we cut the trees,

We want no uncomfortable slopes, so we level the ground,

We don’t want to get our feet dirty, so we put concrete on the soil,

We don’t like the stain in our carpet, so we use poison to clean it,

We don’t like the weeds in our garden, so we use yet another poison to get rid of it (for -at best- a couple of weeks, wow what a gain!)

The list is -unfortunately- endless.

We keep on destroying our planet, our home,

and still, we ask for more.

We want clean water because we don’t want to get sick, okay, that’s reasonable.

Let’s see: maybe we should use less poison?

We want clean air to breathe,

Oh yes, pollution…. well maybe it’s time to pollute less.

We want to eat all kinds of fruit and vegetables all year round,

So we just fly them in from the other side of the world, what are planes for, right? Exhaust emission levels..???? Ring any bells?

We want to eat healthy but no, we don’t support organic farmers, that food costs too much,

Okay, so maybe if we all would buy organic food……all farmers would start growing organic crops and then healthy competition could kick in.

So, what has all this to do with corona virus being a lesson in humility?

Well, let’s face it: one ‘little bug’ and

The ‘human’ world derails,

Economy falls flat on its face,

We turn into scared little creatures,

We lose perspective,

We still want more and more and we only think of me, myself and I,

We don’t have any cure,

We don’t know how to handle the situation, …

Well, that makes us really superior, doesn’t it?

Do we even think about this whole thing on a larger scale?

Do we take a step back and re-assess how we are living here on this amazing planet?

Do we adjust the image we have of us, humans, and our impact on nature?

Do we realize we are not the VIP’s of all living creatures?

Maybe, we should be thankful we get to live here too?

Who says, animals are less important?

Who still thinks insects, bees, … are just a nuisance?

Who still thinks pesticides, herbicides, … are not harmful? (yes, but the label says so…. Duh)

Who uses all kinds of cleanings products, chemicals, … and is still convinced: “Oh I am just using a little bit, that won’t hurt the planet?” Newsflash: Millions of people are thinking that!!!!!

Yes, I get on my high horse about this subject.

STOP BEING AN OSTRICH!!

Be completely honest to yourself!

You want to be healthy?

Help create a healthy environment!!

You can’t be half pregnant: either you are or you are not.

This is my call to you all for this week:

Take a very close look at your own life and make a decision:

Do I want a clean, healthy planet?

Yes?

Then start cleaning up your life today!

Use organic products,

Eat healthy, organic food,

Stop taking a pill for every little ache you feel,

Get your body moving,

Go outside and breathe,

Use water wisely and limited,

Re-use rainwater,

Use solar energy,

Drive an electric car,

Or even better, use your bike or go on foot,

Stop consuming just to consume,

Become a conscious customer: buy local, eat local,

Use what you have,

Get broken stuff fixed instead of just throwing it out.

Go through your whole house and clear out all the clutter:

Only keep what you use, donate what is still in good shape, and dispose responsibly of all the stuff that is no use for anyone anymore.

Get rid of all the poisons in your house:

You’ll be shocked by what a chemical dump your house has become over the years.

Let’s see what toxic products you have:

Most of your detergents, cleaning products, all insect repellents, herbicides, pesticides, old paints just sitting there in rusting cans, old varnishes you never use,  air ‘refreshers’: my god is that a joke or what, most of your medical cabinet ( you can cure any common health issue with natural remedies yourself), …

Get rid of it in a responsible way and

change your attitude: use natural, eco-friendly products.

When everyone runs a clean, healthy ship, the whole world is a cleaner, nicer place to live!

Decide now and live up to it!

Honor this beautiful, amazing globe!

Thank you all for reading me and for living consciously and responsibly! Thank you!

Katrien

www.lifecoachwomen.be

I would like to share with you one of Oprah’s life changing moments:

A guest in her show one day, said:

“Real forgiveness happens the moment you let go of the hope that life could have been any different.”

We can’t forgive as long as there is still that thought in our head, that longing, that hope, that it never happened.

It did.

That, you can never change,

The past is the past and will always be there.

So,

Stop hoping that person did not hurt you,

Stop thinking that event never happened.

It did, look forward, move on.

I know it is difficult,

But what is the alternative?

Hate, holding a grudge, revenge?

Do you know how much of your energy revenge is eating up all the time?

When you’re holding on to a grudge, that grudge is holding on to you too.

It consumes so much energy, and to what purpose?

The past will never change,

It won’t make you any happier,

It won’t improve your life.

On the contrary.

The biggest act of self-love, is forgiveness!

You don’t indulge what happened, no!

You just set yourself free!

Free from hate,

Free from sleepless nights,

Free from feeling hurt,

Free from feeling insulted,

Free from the past!

At last!

Look at your life,

Look at what you have right now,

Look at who loves you,

Look at who you love,

Look at all the wonderful things in your life,

And let go of all negativity from the past!

You’ll feel so much more

Energized,

Relieved,

Happy,

Free,

Strong,

Because:

Nothing is holding you back anymore,

Nothing is consuming all your energy anymore,

You stop wasting energy on useless thoughts, on emotions that are not making you stronger: on the contrary, negative emotions make you weaker.

Forgiving is:

seeing your real value,

seeing you are worthy of a happy life,

knowing that what happened says nothing about you, but everything about the other person,

choosing to move on,

looking at all the beauty you have right now,

looking forward to all the good stuff that has yet to come!

We all have time to think right now, time to reflect upon our lives.

Use this time to clean up all your old cobwebs, all your old grudges.

It’s time to turn your face to the sun and breathe,

Feel the air filling your lungs and feel free!

Freedom is in your head,

Choose how and what you think and you’ll feel your emotions shifting.

Enjoy the energy,

Enjoy life!

Thank you all for reading me and take care of yourself and your loved ones!!!

Katrien

www.lifecoachwomen.be

Silence,

Beautiful, blissful silence.

Listen to it.

It’s been so long since we had this complete and utter silence:

No traffic,

Hardly any planes.

Treasure it,

Relish it,

Submerge yourself in this healing silence.

How does it make you feel?

Awkward?

Relieved?

Energized?

Relaxed?

As if a weight has been taken from your shoulders?

Honestly, how does it make you feel?

Is it a new sensation?

Is it frightening?

What does it evoke in you?

Just sit with it and listen.

What do you hear?

What do you feel?

Do you feel your heart beating?

Do you feel the real you?

What is your inner voice telling you?

Do you feel what is really important to you?

Do you have a clear vision of how you want to live your life?

I think it is a great present we’ve been given now:

Everybody has to slow down,

Everybody has to reconsider their lives, their future.

Don’t be afraid of this silence,

Embrace it,

Learn from it.

You’ll see so much clearer,

You’ll feel so much more relaxed,

You’ll have so much more confidence,

You’ll just … know.

I wish you all a very quiet week, a very silent week

So that you can listen and hear your answers.

Namaste,

Katrien

www.lifecoachwomen.be

Where does our happiness come from?

What ‘makes’ us happy?

How can we trigger this feeling of happiness?

You often hear people say:

‘when I get this promotion, I’ll be happy’

‘when my kids stop acting out, I’ll be happy’

‘if only that person could behave differently, I would be happy’

‘when I’ve saved that amount of money, I’ll be happy’

‘if only, then…’

The list is endless.

Do you recognize this?

As long as you wait for outer things to happen, to change… in order to be happy,

you’ll never be happy.

The moment you take charge of your own feelings:

is the moment where you decide you are enough, you have enough.

That is the moment you choose to be happy.

Happiness comes from within yourself.

The outer world will always be there,

Things will always happen,

We can’t control the circumstances.

All we can do is:

develop that inner power,

discover your inner source,

look at who you are, what your values are, what is important to you.

And then start living accordingly.

Once you have a clear image of what kind of person you really want to be, of what your true nature is:

then it becomes easier to live from your inner source, your inner power, your inner self.

Once you see that clear image, you realize it is okay, it is possible to be that person, you can be you, you are allowed to be you.

Then every choice, every decision you have to make, becomes easier too:

You can stop trying to live up to other people’s expectations, because you’ll never please everyone anyway.

You can stop overcharging your schedule with things you do, just because you think you should do them, again, you’ll never please everyone.

You can stop pretending you are someone else; if it’s not your true nature, you’ll never belong anyway.

You can stop acting,

you can finally just be YOU.

You’ll be surprised by how you are truly loved, truly appreciated now.

You realize it is okay to take some time for silence, for reading, for whatever YOU need to do for your own inner peace and happiness.

Is this selfish?

No, it’s self care.

You start living according to your values and you’ll be happier, stronger, more confident, more relaxed and you’ll become the best version of yourself, hence you’ll be at your best for everyone around you!

You take charge of your inner strength and you’ll be the best parent, the best friend, the best partner, the best employee, ….

Because you are content,

Because you hold the key to your own feelings,

Because you don’t let outer circumstances define how you feel,

Because you know you can change the way you feel by tapping in to your inner source of contentment, of happiness, of feeling enough.

That is where your happiness comes from

That’s what makes us happy

That’s where we find the triggers, the food we need for our heart.

This is my wish for you:

Find your silence,

Put your hand on your heart,

Discover who you really are,

Start living as the person you ARE.

You are unique,

You are enough.

And the right people, the people who really matter, will love you for it!

Katrien

www.lifecoachwomen.be

Are we changing our behaviour yet?

Are we analyzing our ways of living yet?

Do we treat this ‘time-out as a real time-out?

I know for some of us this is a time of double shifts and extra hard work so I am not talking about them.

I am talking about all of us who have to stay at home, who are working less because business is slow or maybe completely down.

I think it’s time, high time:

to become more mindful, more conscious, more aware.

Take a close look at:

who we are,

what we do,

how we treat other people,

how we live,

what we eat,

how we treat our own body, …

Circumstances ask us to make our bodies as strong as possible, we need our immune system to be in top shape, more than ever.

Wouldn’t this be the perfect time to finally start listening to our body (again)?

Our body is always right.

It’s us, we, our minds,

Which override the signals.

Our body is telling us what it needs and what not,

But do we understand what it says?

Do we go to sleep or do we still watch this extra episode?

Even though, we know we will feel tired in the morning. Maybe we’ve become so used to feeling tired that we think this is the way we are supposed to feel….

Do we eat less junk and more vegetables?

Or do we just complain we’re gaining weight and feel bloated all the time….

Do we go for a run or a good walk?

Or do we say: my body aches, my joints can’t handle physical exercise, I am out of breath

….

You see, it’s all in our own hands.

Yes, 100%.

Do you hear me say it’s easy?

Absolutely not!

But you can!

It’ s all in the mind:

do you want it or not?

Do you want to feel energized in the morning?

Then here’s what you need to do:

Go to bed at 10pm.

Yes, I know and I would want to but I can’t sleep. I hear you. It took me years of ‘not sleeping’ before I realized it did not have to be like that, that I could change this.

Build rituals and after a while your body and mind will adapt and yes, you WILL sleep again!!

Go to bed at the same time, every day.

No phone or computers 1,5 hour before sleep.

Let your stomach start digesting 2 hours before you go to bed, so no junk or snacks just before you go to bed.

Go easy on the alcohol: I know they say that 1 glass of red wine is healthy, and I sure can appreciate a good glass of red wine, but take 1 small glass, you’ll appreciate it just the same.

Watch something peaceful, something that makes you laugh instead of something that makes your blood pressure go through the roof.

Take a little book next to your bed and write every evening what made you smile today, what you enjoyed… so you can go to sleep with good, pleasant thoughts in your head.

You can add meditation, a little yoga or breathing exercises…

Just build your own ritual, step by step and do it every single day until it has become your new habit!

Then you will sleep again, try it and you’ll see.

The same goes for your eating habits, your work out plan, …
You control what you do.

Work out new recipes, new schedules for your work out!

This is the perfect way to start building your immune system, to reinforce your body.

Don’t wait, start NOW.

Start living in this new, healthy way.

This is your wakeup call to (finally) start:

Respecting your body,

Realizing how important good health is,

Cherishing your body: it’s protecting you.

Stop destroying this treasure you’ve been given.

Nature is very intelligent; it knows how to heal itself.

But it also has its limits….

Take this time to reflect, to make plans of how we will start treating our bodies, nature, the whole planet with the respect it deserves so it can heal again.

Go outside (or go out onto your balcony, open a window) and take a deep breath and take a good look at the trees, the sun, the sky, the birds, … just breathe and say ‘thank you’.

I wish you all a very healthy, restful, thankful week!!!

And for those who have to work double shifts: thank you for taking so good care of us!!!! We are sending you all of our love and lots of energy!!

Thank you all for reading me!

Katrien

www.lifecoachwomen.be