Monthly Archives: April 2009

Apr 27 2009

Hiking the trails of Crumpit Woods

by Sue in 30 Day Challenge

Isn't Squamish Beautiful?

Sadly, this past Sunday was our last group hike. Nancy Sotham chronicled the hikes for us with her camera.

See below:

The uphill switchbacks begin…

Apr 26 2009

The Cycle of Completion: Making Way for Success

by Sue in 30 Day Challenge

by Jack Canfield

Do you live in a state of mental and physical clutter? Do you have a bunch of unfinished business lurking around every corner?

Cycle of Completion Incomplete projects, unfinished business, and piles of cluttered messes can weigh you down and take away from the energy you have to move forward toward your goals.

When you don’t complete tasks, you can’t be fully prepared to move into the present, let alone your new future.

When your brain is keeping track of all the unfinished business you still have at hand, you simply can’t be effective in embracing new tasks that are in line with your vision.

Old incompletes can show up in your life in lots of different ways… like not having clarity, procrastination, emotional energy blocks and even illness. Blocked energy is wasted, and a build up of that energy can really leave you stymied.

Throw-out all the clutter and FEEL how much easier it is to think!

Make a list of areas in your life (both personal and professional) where you have incompletes and messes, then develop a plan to deal with them once and for all. Fix and organize the things that annoy you.

Take your final steps in bringing closure to outstanding projects.

Make that difficult phone call. Delegate time-wasting tasks that you’ve let build up.
Some incompletions come from simply not having adequate systems, knowledge, or expertise for handling these tasks. Other incompletions pile up because of bad work habits.

Get into completion consciousness by continually asking yourself…What does it take to actually get this task completed?

Only then can you begin to consciously take that next step of filing completed documents, mailing in the forms required, or reporting back to your boss that the project has been completed.

The truth is that 20 things completed have more power than 50 things that are half-way completed.

Finishing writing a book, for instance, that can go out and influence the world is better than 13 books you’re in the process of writing.

When you free yourself from the mental burden of incompletes and messes, you’ll be AMAZED at how quickly the things you do want in life arrive.

Another area where you’ll find incompletes in your life is in your emotions. Are you holding on to old hurts, resentments, and pain? Just like the physical clutter and incompletes, your energy is being drained by holding on to and reliving past pain and anger.

Remember, you’ll attract whatever feelings you’re experiencing. So, if you’re stuck in revengeful thinking and angered in muck, you can’t possibly be directing energy toward a positive future. You need to let go of the past in order to embrace the future. Letting go involves forgiveness and moving on.

By forgiving you aren’t releasing the other person from their transgression as much as you’re freeing yourself from their transgression. You don’t have to condone their behavior, trust them, or even maintain a relationship with them. However, you DO have to free yourself from the anger, from the pain, and from the resentment once and for all!

When learning to forgive, make sure to complete the cycle.

Acknowledge your anger, your pain, and your fear. But also own up to any part you’ve played in allowing it to happen or continue. Make sure to express whatever it was that you wanted from that person, and then see the whole event from the other’s point of view. Allow yourself to wonder what that person was going through and what kind of needs he/she was trying to fulfill at the time.

Finally, let go and move on. Every time you go through this process you’re learning how to avoid letting it happen again!

I’ll be back in two weeks with another edition of Success Strategies. Until then, see if you can discover ways to immediately implement what you learned from today’s message.

Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Apr 23 2009

Dream child-like dreams

by Sue in Inspiration

When I was a kid, my best friend and I were considered “tom boys” because we were very sporty. We loved to run and it was a hobby of ours to “beat the boys” in the 1 km run we had to do in gym class. Most of the time we did!

When we were 14 to 16 years old we would meet a 6 am on a street corner half way between our houses to run. I remember pitch black Edmonton winter mornings in the -20′s with a strange fondness.We had to meet that early because Nancy had to do her paper route after that and before school! We couldn’t call each other to “bail out” because we’d wake each others’ households so we HAD to be there. During our runs together, we’d discuss which Olympic sport we’d want to represent Canada at…hers was badminton and mine was marathon running (ha ha ha).

I guess you might say that “life got in the way”. But the two of us have stayed active throughout the 20 years since those early morning runs and we’ve both run marathons and she competed at a National level in badminton. But somewhere, those “BIG DREAMS” of the Olympics disappeared.

I recently read the story of Ruben Gonzales, who at the age of 20 (quite late in a potential Olympic athlete’s life to take up a new sport) decided he wanted to go to the Olympics. He found out the luge would be his best chance. Despite being informed that almost everyone who participates in the sport breaks a bone before mastering hurtling down a 1 mile course at 90-miles-per-hour or more, he was not discouraged! To make a long story short, he went to the Calgary Olympics in 1988, Albertville in 1992 and Salt Lake City in 2002. I haven’t looked up if he went to Torino in 2006 but he had plans to! He would be 46 now and most athletes would have been half his age!

Is there an endeavor you have put aside because “you’re not a kid anymore” and life is full of adult obligations? I don’t believe it’s ever too late! Really. Perhaps I have my parents to thank for this belief. My mother decided she would become a synchronized swimmer in her 50′s with a masters group that competes yearly and performed their routines at the World Masters Games held in Edmonton a few years back. My dad decided that if his kids could run marathons, so could he…after 25 years of running 3 miles three times a week, at 49 he decided to run 26.2 miles before he turned 50. He’s now completed at least 8 marathons and is 65 years young.

Ok, maybe my family isn’t typical but I encourage you not to shelf those dreams, that have child-like proportions (ie. BIG OLYMPIC size dreams) but be moved into action by them!

Have a great, inspired day!

Sue

Apr 21 2009

Well Rounded Fitness- by Erica Otta

by Sue in 30 Day Challenge

Find out about the author HERE.

There are five components of fitness which together determine your overall physical well-being and ability; Cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and balance.

Together these components provide general health benefits also known as functional fitness. Functional fitness is comprised of exercises and activities which includes two or more of these components. They are all equally important because they contribute to a longer and more importantly independent life.

Cardiovascular endurance is essential to a healthy circulatory system and heart; your body’s transportation system to nourish itself. Because heart health is so vital for everyday living regular cardiovascular exercise, is a sure fire way to ensure it is optimal for as long as possible

Muscular strength is important in everyday movement, getting out of bed, getting dressed etc. These are things we take for granted until we are no longer able to perform them for ourselves. Because we lose muscle mass as we age it is important to build and maintain as much as possible so that you can live independently for as long as possible.

Muscular endurance is the ability to repeatedly move a muscle without tiring and allows us to participate in sport, gardening, hiking; activities which contribute to our quality of life and are essential to our overall well-being.

Flexibility helps us maintain range of motion around our joints reducing stiffness and tension. The more flexible we are the less likely we are to get injured because we can more easily move our joints properly.

Balance is critical in injury prevention especially as we age. Participating in physical activity which requires us to balance helps us build and maintain our stabilization muscle which helps prevent falls and related injuries.

Apr 16 2009

Preparing yourself for “High Risk” situations

by Sue in 30 Day Challenge

In the world of recovery from addictions, a high risk situation is one that could tempt you to be thrown back into old habits. Maybe it’s the favorite drinking hole where you’d hook up with friends after work, or a nasty comment which would cause you to reach for that abusive substance.

In our realm, being that of establishing a health habit, for example, “high risk” situations come up all the time. They masquerade as “excuses” and “obstacles” that keep us from keeping our promises to ourselves to exercise everyday.

Here are a few tools that might help you when facing “high risk” situations:

1. Remember a time you overcame an obstacle (big or small). Recall how great it felt. Douse your mind with those happy feelings. Use those happy feels to help you seek MORE happy feelings. Head towards the door, put your shoes on, walk out the front door with a blissful demeanor!

2. Think of a day when you felt close to not following through on your commitment to do your daily exercise. What caused you to consider not going? What tipped you towards going anyways? Were you glad you finally went out? How did you feel if you didn’t go out? What could you “learn”?

3. Write down 3 high-risk situations. Then, beside each of them, list three things you could SAY to yourself that could help you withstand the urge to break your new habit. List three things you could DO to keep you from not following through on your commitment. Lastly, come up with an image you could think of our look at that would inspire you to hold your path of resistance. Click on the next link to download a copy of a worksheet you could use for Dealing with High Risk Situations created by our very own Squamish addictions counsellor Jeff Thompson.

Here’s an example. Let’s say that I have a hard time exercising in the evening after work. I find the couch too comfortable, my favorite shows are on or maybe it’s family time (and I’d have to give up to exercise at this time). Obviously, morning exercise would do the trick for me but I’m a bit resistant to giving up my sleep and my cozy bed. The alarm clock goes off and I “SHOULD” get up.

3 things I could SAY to myself to get out the door for my 30 minutes of walking are…”Sue, if you do it now, it’s done for the day, I know you’re tired but remember how energized you get after exercise?” OR “Sue, Grey’s Anatomy is on tonight and since you LOVE that show and it’s a new episode, you won’t want to exercise during the show. Get up now so you can enjoy your show tonight” OR “Sue, you’ve got to log something in that Fitness Journal. The whole day is jam-packed. Got on with it NOW”.

3 things I could DO to get myself exercising in the morning. Walk to my favorite coffee shop for a morning cup of joe. That gets me moving because I love the smells, the flavors and the warmth. Put a really good audio book on my iPod- that gets me walking for hours actually! Pick up Sammy’s leash and watch her wiggle with excitement, that naturally gets me going!

What image could I use to motivate myself? Well a photo of Sammy comes to mind!

Not so hard to do, is it. Writing it down lets you see that you’ve got strategies, you ARE resourceful. You are practically your own coach or “cheerleading squad”. This “high risk” management exercise can be applied to many facets of life- I’m thinking it could help me tackle some procrastination habits I’ve got…

Good luck and keep up the great work everyone!

Sue Shalanski

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