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This is from a post I originally wrote in 2007.

What we learn from our so-called failures, are usually the greatest lessons in our lives, we need only to open our eyes so we can see it.  The importance of failures in our lives, can only be revealed to us, once we stop looking at them as failures.

It may even be that life lessons learned through what we perceive as our failures, are greater lessons than what we learn from our successes.  That’s because most success comes when we let go of our fear of failure, and become willing to take some risks.  Most people who are successful in their lives, are not people who have never failed.  They are people who have learned from their mistakes, and pushed ahead past their fears, to get to their successes.

I think the greatest “life lesson” we can ever learn, is the lesson that we should never give up on our dreams.   By reaching for our dreams and our goals in life, we are doing what we were meant to do.  When we follow our dreams, we will inevitably make many mistakes along the way, but hopefully we also grow along the way.  That is why the true “failure” is not when you don’t reach your dream, but rather, when you never even attempt to reach for it.

I’m not sure where I heard this…but it goes something like this — It is through your deepest struggles, that you reach for you highest goals.  I think what that means is; when we are at our lowest, at what we perceive to be rock-bottom, there is no where else for us to go but up.  It is at these times of complete hopelessness, that we consciously choose to either give-up, or to push past our pain and reach for our dreams.  We need to try and remember this, so when we are deep in our own despair over a perceived failure, we can recognize our pain, and see it as an opportunity to reach for our dreams.

FINDING EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ADVERSITY — by Catherine Morgan

When we are suffering it is very difficult, if not impossible, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But, it is there. You will get through it. And, in time your wounds really will be healed.

Can something good come out of adversity? Often in the face of adversity, we are unable to see anything through our pain. The only thing we can think about, are questions. Why is this happening to me? How will I go on? How will I survive? These are all reasonable questions, and in the depth of your pain you will ask them, and more. But, there are no answers to these questions. Only after you realize this, will you be able to go on, and let go.

We can not turn away from our pain. It is very important that we feel all our feelings during these times of adversity and heartache. Denying our pain, or denying our feelings, will not benefit us in any way. In fact, it will only prolong our troubles. But, if we look at our situation, and face our problems head-on; we will triumph.

You may feel like you are losing the battle; but when you push through your battle, you come out on the other side the winner of your war. That is because you are empowered when you conquer life’s toughest battles. Only at these times of empowerment do we grow into the people we are meant to be. Think about that for a minute…Who would you be right now, if it wasn’t for the adversity you have been through in your life?

For me personally, I wish I had never had to go through many of the painful events of my life; loss, divorce, illness, betrayal, (just to name a few). But, I also know that I would not be who (or where) I am today, had I not. My past heartache, and my past pain, are what make me the compassionate person that I am today. And in retrospect, I don’t think I would want to be the kind of person, who knows no hardships. It’s because of these hardships that I appreciate every thing I have, even the little things that many people take for granted.

I can now see that my past adversity has truly been a blessing in my life. I don’t look forward to future adversity, however I know it will come. When it does come, I will have the knowledge of my past strength to help me overcome, and once again triumph.

My hope for everyone, is that they are able to one day look past their pain, to find their empowerment.

*This was cross-posted from a post I wrote back in January of 2007 for my first blog – Be The Change You Want To See In Yourself

When it comes to healthy living, don’t sweat the small stuff.

Whether you’ve just begun to adopt a healthy living lifestyle, or you’ve been eating and living healthy for years, there’s no need to put pressure on yourself to be perfect at it.  You don’t have to sweat the small stuff.

Yes, if you go out to dinner with friends, it is possible to order healthy off most menus…

• choose light entrees off the menu
• avoid the bread and butter
• choose vegetables in place of fries or baked potatoes
• say “no” to dessert

But there’s no healthy-living law that says you have to.

Yes, if you are out of town, there are still many ways to fit your regular exercise routine in…

• use the hotel gym or pool
• take the steps rather than the elevator
• take a walk and see the sights

But there’s no healthy-living law that says you have to.

Yes, if you’re having a bad day, there are healthy comfort foods to choose from…

• fat free and sugar free puddings
• low fat and no sugar added ice-cream
• a pasta dish made with whole wheat pasta and a low fat sauce
• light banana cream pie

But there’s no healthy-living law that says you can’t just buy a gallon of ice-cream.

We all know that there are no “real” healthy-living laws, but that doesn’t always stop us from punishing ourselves when we perceive we are breaking them.  That’s all it is though, a perception.  It’s a perception of guilt, and often that negativity leads us to giving up on ourselves.  It doesn’t have to be that way — If we take the little step of not sweating the small stuff, we will see huge results.

• less stress
• less guilt
• increased mental strength
• more acceptance of ourselves

When we don’t sweat the small stuff, we do our body good…And that’s healthy living too.

For the most part, I think I’m making many more healthy choices in my life, and I feel good about that.  But I’ll admit, on a recent four day cruise with my daughter, I ordered cheese cake every night from room service just before I went to bed.  And even though I could have chosen healthy meals and desserts, I only did so when it was something that I really wanted.  I didn’t go out of my way to exercise, but I did take the steps instead of the elevator (sometimes).  Overall, I didn’t sweat the small stuff.  And you know what?  I had a wonderful, guilt free vacation with my daughter.

Do you allow yourself a “guilt free” break from healthy living every now and then?  Is it something you might want to try?  I hope you’ll let us know your thoughts in comments.

Most of the time when we read about diet and weight-loss success stories, we hear how “easy” it was and how “anyone” can do it.   But the reality is, for most of us, it’s far from easy. In fact sometimes it’s so not easy that we just give up. Believe me, I get it. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve worked hard at eating healthy or exercising with little to no results.

Of course, I’m still inspired when I hear success stories of women like Valerie Bertinelli and Marie Osmond.  But what do we do when we are giving it all we got, and we are still not getting the results we’re looking for?

Should we throw in the towel?  Consider ourselves a failure?  Give up?

No, absolutely not.

Rather than looking at where we’ve gone wrong and just giving-up, it’s time to look at what we’ve done right.  That’s what I’ve been trying to do.  Instead of focusing on the fact that I haven’t lost any weight in the last six weeks (even though I’ve been eating healthy), I’m trying to focus on the positive…And you can do it too.

For me, it all started in May, when I decided to get serious about making healthy lifestyle changes.  Not just because I want to lose weight, but also because I know it will make a difference in my overall health and wellness.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to make all the changes I wanted to over night, but I did want to make the commitment to gradually eliminate the unhealthy foods from my diet, while incorporating more nutritious foods.

And now I find myself in the classic half-full or half-empty mark in my healthy eating plan.  I can choose to see my plan as half-empty, because I haven’t even lost one pound yet.   Or I can choose to see my plan as half-full, because I have had success in eating healthier foods and avoiding sugar.  In other words, I can choose to feel good about myself, or choose to feel like a failure.  It’s totally up to me.  And I’ve decided to try something new, and “choose” to feel good about myself and take a closer look at all the ways I’ve been successful.

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Are you stressed out?

Even a small amount of stress can have negative effects on your overall health and well-being.  Can you spare six minutes of your time to reduce some of that stress?  If so, give this a try.

Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for the next six minutes.

COLORFUL MEDITATION – For meditation and stress reduction is 6 minutes of continuous highly complex computer generated kaleidoscopic imagery with an original New Age ambient music soundtrack…

from www.cinemandala.com

Did you try it?  Did it help?  Let me know in comments.

Evaluating Your Success, Not Your Failure – Cross-posted at BlogHer.com

If you made a New Year’s resolution, you’ve now had a couple of weeks to work on it.  How are you making out?  Would you say you’ve been successful, or that you’ve already failed?  Don’t answer yet.

My New Year’s resolution included eating healthy, but today my daughter made chocolate chip cookies and I had several of them (they were super yummy too).  Some might say that by eating those cookies, I’ve failed at my resolution.  Have I?  What really matters though, is how I perceive it.  If I perceive eating cookies as a failure, then it was.  However, I choose to not see it as a failure.  I’ve learned from years of dieting that I am less likely to be successful if I’m too strict with myself.  So instead, I remind myself of all the days that I did make healthy food choices, and that I can still continue to make healthy food choices tomorrow.

We’ve all heard that most people will fail at their New Year’s resolution.  In fact, many people will use this knowledge to justify not making a resolution at all.  But should we really avoid resolutions because of a our fears of failure?  Of course not.

Most successful people will tell you that failure is success, as long as you learn from it.  You may have even heard this famous quote from Thomas Edison:

I have not failed, not once. I’ve discovered ten thousand ways that don’t work.

This is the way I see it – If you’ve made a resolution that is really in your best interest to keep, then don’t throw it out the window just because a few weeks into it you are not exactly where you hoped you would be.  It’s the intention that matters most.  If your intention was good, then now is as good a time as any to tweak your resolution a bit, and make it more realistic for yourself.  Remind yourself that you can choose to see your glass as half empty or half full.  Perception is the only thing standing between you and success.

So now, how would you answer the question I asked at the beginning of this post…

Would you say you’ve been successful, or that you’ve already failed?

If it helps, take some time to re-evaluate your resolution, and set more realistic goals yourself.  And remember, it’s much better for you to focus on the ways you’ve been successful, rather than on the ways you believe you may be failing.

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Be Careful of Diet Resolutions – Cross Posted at BlogHer Health & Wellness

Welcome to the dawn of a new decade.  I would be lying if I said I was sad to see the last one go.

It’s a new year, and once again we will all spend time analyzing our lives.  We will wonder if there is something we can change that could make our lives better in the coming year.

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This is a re-write from something I wrote back in January 2007…

Finding Empowerment Through Adversity

When we are suffering it is very difficult, if not impossible, to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  But it is there.  We will get through it.  And in time, our wounds really will be healed.

Can something good come out of adversity?  Often in the face of adversity, we are unable to see anything through our pain.  The only thing we can think about are questions.  Why is this happening to me?  How will I go on?  How will I survive?

Although we may want to, we should not turn away from our pain.  It is very important that we feel all of our feelings during these times of adversity and heartache.  Denying our pain, or denying our feelings, will not benefit us in any way.  In fact, it will likely prolong our troubles.  But if we look at our situation, and face our problems head-on…we will triumph.

We may sometimes feel like we are losing the battle; but when we push through the battle, we come out on the other side the winner of the war.  That’s because we are empowered when we conquer life’s toughest battles.  Only at these times of empowerment do we grow into the people we are meant to be.  Think about that for a minute.  Who would you be right now, if it wasn’t for the adversity you have been through in your life?

For me personally, I wish I had never had to go through many of the painful events of my life – loss, divorce, illness, betrayal, just to name a few.  But I also know that I would not be the woman I am today, had I not.  My past heartache and my past pain, are what make me the compassionate person that I am today.  And in retrospect, I don’t think I would want to be the kind of person who knows no hardships.  It is because of these hardships that I appreciate every thing I have, even the little things, the things that many people often take for granted.

I can now see that my past adversity, has truly been a blessing in my life.  And although I don’t look forward to future adversity, I do know it will come.  And when it does come, I will have the knowledge of my past strengths to help me overcome, and once again triumph.

My hope for everyone, is that they are able to one day look past their pain, to find their empowerment.

Can You Laugh Your Way To Better Health?

Diet and exercise are important for good health, but did you know laughter is too? If you want to be as healthy as you can be, than laughter needs to be part of your healthy living regimen. Is it?

Here are some of the Health Benefits of Laughter:

• Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases infection fighting antibodies. It increases our attentiveness, heart rate, and pulse.
• People who laugh heartily on a regular basis have lower standing blood pressure than the average person. When people have a good laugh, initially the blood pressure increases, but then it decreases to levels below normal. Breathing then becomes deeper which sends oxygen enriched blood and nutrients throughout the body.
• Laughter, along with an active sense of humor, may help protect you against a heart attack, according to the study at the University of Maryland Medical Center (cited above). The study, which is the first to indicate that laughter may help prevent heart disease, found that people with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to people of the same age without heart disease.

Here is a Humor Survey by the University of Maryland Medical Center…

How Well Does Your Sense of Humor Protect You From Heart Disease?

Are you someone who easily finds the humor in things? What advice would you give to your super serious counterparts?

This is a post in honor of breast cancer survivors. They are women sharing their stories of hope, struggle, determination, and survival. Some are in words and some are in video.

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