Wow, it’s been a while. I was so excited back in January to “change the conversation” yet little did I know, deep subconscious beliefs would derail that change. The first two weeks in January started out so good. I felt really good and was proud of myself for doing little things that were changing the conversation with myself. A couple weeks back into the second semester of school, and “BAM” I’m derailed. To give a quick Reader’s Digest version, my kids attend a private University Model School. While my 10-year-old daughter fits in well and I fit in well with the mommas of kids in her grade, my 13-year-old is a different story. She and I have never fit in, from the beginning. We had a rough go when she was 9 during 4th grade. We switched days and kept her back a grade while her peers moved on. At the time it was okay, however, this year it caught up to us in a bad way. Where we didn’t quite fit in before, the second semester of 6th grade it became a glaring beacon that not only did we not fit in, we didn’t belong. She doesn’t belong with the kids, I don’t belong with the moms, and our family doesn’t belong with other families on these particular days. It was a lonely and painful semester for both of us. Little glimmers of hope were suddenly shot down with pictures of reality. Rather than change the conversation like I had been so determined to do was quickly derailed into the familiarity of pain and isolation, realizing the choice I made in that horrible moment was most likely a mistake. What kept me from the total darkness of depression was my 3rd-grade momma tribe and a handful of momma friends outside of the 3rd-grade (now 4th-grade) tribe. It was hard for me to change the conversation and even write when the reality of what was going on around me was affirming the subconscious beliefs so ingrained. Hurting myself, and seeing my child hurting, cut so deeply as I had been, it was all just too much.

Fast forward to July which just so happens to be my birthday month. All that we’ve been dealing with as a family, I came into age 43 the heaviest and most out of shape I have ever been in my life. I realized that due to the season of life we are in, things will only get more challenging and isolating as we navigate middle school so I can make a choice to deal with my stuff, support my daughter, and do something out of the box to get my body moving again. So the fun stuff, get my body moving again. Most fitness things I’ve tried, I hated mainly due to being self-conscious about how my body looks and the fact that I’m just plain out of shape. My friends are in really good shape and so fitness classes with them are very hard. Camp Gladiator, oh my word, I’m about to DIE! Zumba, oh is that me or a fat dying chicken I see in the mirror. Yoga, can’t get my body to go in that position. Pilates, excuse me I didn’t mean to pass gas. As you can imagine, I just stopped going. I would do some things here at the house by myself but it wasn’t consistent. Early morning on July 11th, the day after my 43rd birthday, I see a Facebook post about a new fitness studio that has opened up not too far from me. I was intrigued so I called the owner. I asked a bunch of questions, thought, “hmmmmm, the Greatest Showman was a good movie, what Zendaya was doing with the aerial acrobatics looks fun, my dad and Aunt Gale had an acrobatic act called the flying Vascellinis”, and alright, interest peaked. My best friend of over 18 years has been staying with me for the past week and I said to her, “Hey, let’s go look at this place and talk to the owner some more.” Texted another BFF and was like, “hey look at this, wanna try it?” Wednesday the three of us were signed up for an intro to aerial class. The owner, Allison, had informed us that most likely since this was a new class it might just be the three of us, what a relief for me.

Thursday evening we drive to the studio and behold it is just the three of us in class. We start on the hammock, my besties are ROCKIN’ it and I’m screaming in fear, lol. It took me three times spotted to get into the inverted frog pose. I did it! I was so happy. Then we moved to aerial silks. Zendaya did those in The Greatest Showman and it’s what you see on Instagram. Again my besties were AMAZING. I was having trouble getting off the floor, then she had us do the Russian Hold and I got an inch off the ground, success!!!! Then the Hoop, the class that I wanted to do. Again another thing that Zendaya did in The Greatest Showman which is what got my interest peaked in the studio. My two besties, amazeballs with the Hoop. Me, I could not get my leg into the hoop but laughed the entire time. What a fun and different workout. What a hard uncomfortable thing to do. When the class finished we all looked at each other and said, “let’s do the Aerial Yoga class on Saturday.” I was not as sore yesterday because I don’t have a lot of upper body or core strength and couldn’t fully do what they did. I wasn’t as sore as I thought I would be but I also didn’t die. I got over some mental blocks as well. That was huge for me. All day yesterday I was looking forward to today’s aerial yoga. We make it to class and there are two more ladies in the class. I thought to myself, we are all in this together. Class starts off with stretching in the aerial hammock. Then we start doing traditional yoga poses but with the assistance of an aerial hammock. Never have I gotten a hip stretch from pigeon pose like I did in the hammock. We also did inverted frog pose again, this time, not only did I not scream, I went right into it. Sadly though after hanging out there for a while, I threw up my protein shake. *Note don’t chug a protein shake, eat a lot, or take your supplements right before an aerial workout. When I came back to class, everyone was resting since it was toward the end. I ended up lying on a yoga mat rather than in the hammock since the hammock moves. When class was over, everyone was so supportive. One of the ladies told me to be sure and not eat anything before class. The instructor was so supportive and told me that I will get a little stronger each time I come. I wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed I didn’t finish. This was such a fun workout and I could tell that my body was really working hard!

Will someone read this and judge me for doing circus inspired fitness? Totally. Will someone reading this feel that aerial fitness is absolutely inappropriate for a middle-aged Christian woman? Probably. I have found that not only is anything about it inappropriate, it is a fun and effective way to work out your body. You can get a better stretch using aerial silks than on your own. Flying while working out is a lot more fun. Mental blocks can be harder to overcome than physical blocks. Our bodies were created to move and that movement looks different for everyone. Some people will not approve of what you do no matter what it is. God created everyone unique so you be you and I’m gonna be me. 

You can see from my face in the picture on the silks, I’m moving and having fun and that is all that matters. This picture was taken after I got off the floor for a couple of seconds. I’m excited to see how much stronger I get. I’m also glad that I found an exercise regimen as quirky and random as I am. Yes at 43 I’m determined to change the conversation both consciously and subconsciously. I’m going to stop letting the fact that I’m overweight and out of shape stop me from doing something that looks fun. I will carry on The Flying Vascellinis even if it is a solo act. 

This year I will  start living by the following quote from an unknown author,”Tired of trying to cram her sparkly, star-shaped self into society’s beige square holes, she chose to embrace her ridiculous awesomeness and shine like the freaking supernova that she is.” One day you might see a new IG user with the name TheFlyingVascellini and that would be amazing.

I’m going to really work on writing more. I’m not sure what 7th grade has in store for us but I do know that rather than just getting by, I’m going to be having fun in the process. So look for more posts during the year to come. Here’s to 43!

Altitude Fitness is now open in Highland Village, TX. Call 940.441.5453 to talk to the owner Allison who is very helpful in answering all of your questions and any concerns.

Yesterday was a recovery day. It’s so funny how when you are aware of your inner conversation, you are aware of where you have gone wrong in the past. Recovery is one of those things that I always seemed to get wrong. I thought that if I wasn’t doing something every day and sometimes multiple times a day, I was not caring about my goals. I would push until my body stopped me by getting sick or injured. I kept trying to push and push myself. I seemed to be able to push myself much more when I was younger. Now I’m just not able to push like I had before.

My body is getting stronger. I can do more push ups, hold my plank longer, and do more lunges.  I did notice that in addition to my legs getting stronger and being able to do more lunges, my knees began to hurt more. Oh the creaks, oh the creaks. It is not a fun place to be in when your formerly healthy non creaking knees start sounding like an old door. I started drinking collagen to help. It is supposed to be tasteless, it is not, not at all. I digress. When I saw the acupuncturist the other day, he worked on my knees. Sometimes the needles don’t hurt at all and other times, oh my word, I want to jump off the table. When the needle went into the spot that was hurting, I about jumped off the table. After my time was up with the needles, came the cupping. High profile athletes use cupping for recovery and that was exciting. I’m coming to a point where I get to have my knees cupped for recovery. The cups felt amazing on my knees. He only leaves them on for about 5 minutes but I could have left them on for 30 minutes it felt so good.

When I was done and on my way home, I had this feeling like my body telling me to rest. I sat with it for a while to see if it was a situation that I didn’t want to do anything or if it was truly wanting rest. My body was like, it is time to rest. I first got irritated and then I said no, “my body is giving me strength, it wants rest so I will give it rest. I just let myself be for the day yesterday and it was nice. I learned yesterday that recovery isn’t weakness, it’s giving your body what it needs.

I know my experiences are different and that’s okay. I’m learning to love what I see in the mirror and give myself permission to give my body what it needs. I also started fascia blasting again as part of my recovery which is also very exciting. Blasting breaks up bound fascia in your body and promotes healing and recovery. I’m excited to be blasting again. Being nicer to myself is feeling good, sometimes odd, but good. I’m also learning that although I’ve always wanted to see quick external changes, it’s the changes I’m seeing on the inside that is what matters.

*Part of the fascia blaster regimen is  bruising as it is bring healing to areas of your body. They don’t look good but they don’t hurt. So if you see me, I will be having bruising on my body and its completely normal. All is well at the casa. 🙂

I’m not gonna lie, today was tough. Like really tough. The last week honestly has been tough if you want to get down to it. Today though, I cried, a lot. Changing the conversation with myself has not been easy however each time I heard the old conversation, I immediately changed it. That is until today.

I gave myself a fitness goals at the beginning of the year that are small. When I say small I mean tiny. Why did I do this? I knew that if I told myself I would do 5 1/2 push ups, 5 lunges on each side, and a 30 second plank, I knew I could do this. I will begin walking again when it warms up as I’m a wimp when it comes to the cold. These are goals I would have never done in my past. Honestly they don’t feel like I’m doing enough. I should be doing more. The problem is by starting out the gate fast, I often never finished due to the conversation. I would get angry with myself for not reaching whatever big goal I had and self sabotage would show up like a monster at the door. This way I can do these small goals and continue working up. I honestly can not wait to see where I am at the end of the year. Each time the old conversation would come up when doing my little goals, I would simply say, “Good job on meeting your push up, plank, and lunge goal for the day.” That is, until today.

This morning after doing my exercises I hopped on FB for a bit before my acupuncture appointment. This picture showed up in my Memories feed. I absolutely love this picture. As you can see, it was taken when Jenna was just a baby. It is a treasured picture with my Mimi who passed a couple of years ago. What a fabulous picture. I looked at it with fond memories and shared it to my wall. It’s a great picture and it is also a picture where I was a size 8 and I looked good. Now at the time, I was trying to work off the rest of the baby weight from Jenna, which wasn’t a lot but I thought I was really heavy here.  I wasn’t thinking that today, just wow I really liked this picture and hey I looked good at 33. Then I got ready for the day. I put on a tank and maxi skirt because it is cold and I wanted to wear a cable knit duster because it was cold. I have this weird thing about too many layers on my arms so if I’m layering with a duster or jacket, I will wear something sleeveless. I looked in the mirror and like a loud-speaker, I heard the old conversation. “Oh my gosh your arms are disgusting.” “How can you even go out in public looking like that, how awful.”

I stopped and immediately tried to change the conversation to thanking my arms for allowing me to do a 30 second plank and 5 1/2 push ups. It wasn’t working. You see, my arms have never been this big, even when I was pregnant. My arms and legs were the two things I felt like I didn’t have to camouflage, but now. I cried today. I cried a lot today because I didn’t like what I saw staring back at me in the mirror. Those old tapes played over and over in my head. They wouldn’t stop or quiet down. I started going through how I’m not doing enough push ups and how I need to buy weights NOW instead of when I’m ready, etc. It was so hard hearing that super loud voice telling me how disgusting I am and there is no way my husband isn’t embarrassed by me. His work trip is in a month and a few days. I’m telling myself I can’t go because I’m going to embarrass him and I should be embarrassed for wanting to go. I haven’t gone to his work party because I was too embarrassed for people to see how I look now. It was very hard for me to converse with my friends today because of how I was feeling. Maybe if I still looked how I did in the picture, it would have been different? When I get back down to that size, it will be different. The funny thing is when I look at myself in the picture, I realized I was saying the exact same thing. Instead of saying, “Great job for losing a lot of the baby weight and getting back into your size 8 clothes.” or “Congratulations body for bringing this baby girl here through a very tough pregnancy.”; I said, “You are so disgusting and huge, I can’t believe how long it is taking you to lose this baby weight”. You see, I can say if I looked like I did in the picture it will be different and better, but unless I change my dialogue, it will be exactly the same.

The conversation I had with myself  today and in the past, is a conversation I would never remotely consider having with another person. It’s mean, there is no other way around it. Today I was mean to myself. Meaner than I’ve been in a few days but I couldn’t stop it. This is a dialogue that I’ve been having with myself for years now. Oh how I wish that when I decided to change the conversation, this dialogue would have just disappeared. It didn’t, it is still here and something that I will probably be battling until my new dialogue and conversations get loud enough to overtake it. So yes, today pretty much sucked. I’m sure I will have more days that will suck. The good thing is because I’ve decided to change the conversation, I’m changing my dialogue. I thanked my big arms and legs for what they are letting me do now. I thanked myself for allowing me to bring it back to a place of health. I thanked my body for telling me what foods are best for it and what foods I really need to avoid. Those conversations were quite and they were short. They were a whisper back to the loud-speaker dialogue in my conversation today. The important thing is that I did whisper back because I know that each day if I purposely change the conversation, one day it will over take the conversation and I will be in a much better place both physically and mentally.

2018 has come and so have the traditional New Year’s resolutions or goals. This year I will be 43. I made an interesting observation in a group chat today that at age 32, I was the smallest I’d ever been clocking in at a size 2 and very lean yet at age 42, I am the largest I’ve ever been clocking in at a full size 16 on the cusp of a size 18 and well lots of fluff. At 32 there were still lots of mental issues, you know, I’m disgusting I need to lose more, starving because I was eating around 300-500 calories a day, crazy exercising to the point of obsession and burning up my adrenals on a medication I’m not 100% sure I actually needed. I didn’t feel like I had worth. Now at 42, now in addition to the mental issues of oh my gosh, I’m so disgusting, starving myself out of real nutrition from foods that grow on trees and in the ground, I now tack on some physical health issues due to stress, lack of exercise, and quite frankly carrying around 60 pounds that my body would like me to release. Again, feeling as like I have no worth.

I had a successful clothing boutique that I made the decision to close at the end of 2017 because it was wearing on my family and my physical health. I sat there on New Year’s Eve for the first time, not making business, financial, and weight goals. I was trying to figure out how in the world did things come to this? I then sat for a while about my word for 2018 and what I really wanted from myself this year. What did I want from 2018? How do I want my family to look? How do I want my health to look? How do I want my days to look? That is when it hit me like a ton of bricks, I needed to change my conversation. See I’ve been on a diet since I was 12 years old. Those conversations in my early years have set me up for where I am now. My oldest is 12. I think about where she will be 30 years later. Do I want her to be overweight and tired with health problems, always looking for that next external fix to make it better? It doesn’t matter if its a weight loss regimen or business, for me its about fixing what is wrong with me and fixing it quickly.

I had a occupational therapist tell me that my 12 year old is having the same conversation that I’ve been having since I was 12. Okay what do I do with this? I change the conversation and change it now. I didn’t really think about it until over New Years. How are my conversations with myself affecting my 12 year old’s conversations with herself? Not positively, I can tell you that for sure.

So where does that leave my conversations with myself? That was the big question as I closed out 2017. I had a choice, I can do things the way I always did, hop on the diet/fitness crazy train, start a new business, or I can change the conversation, my conversation. I decided to change the conversation with myself. You see I’ve done it all. So many diets, starting at age 12, thats like 30 years of some kind of dieting to fix myself. A business, if I can have a successful business then, I will feel worthy. Not fully successful in any of it because I never changed the conversation. This year at 42 I’m changing the conversation. No longer am I going to be a total jerk to myself. No longer will I strive for perfection thinking only then can I be successful and matter. I matter because I’m me. The good Lord created me and I’m still alive, so I matter. Its time for me to stop looking outside to feel worthy of something, I can look inside and above to see why I am worthy. John 3:16 is why I’m worthy and because of that, its time for me to know that worth.

Hold on to your hats girls, 2018 is gonna be the year, mommy changes the conversation because I want to make sure yours is a conversation of worthiness because worthy is our 2018 word for the year!

When you read those words do you read them in the late David Bowie’s voice? I know I do. How do you feel when you read the word change? I know I’ve been one who doesn’t like change but my life seems to be one of change. Those of you who know me, know that I love dragonflies. The Lord sent a dragonfly to me in a time of great trial in my life. It is said that the dragonfly represents change. How much I did not know the dragonfly would be the perfect “spirit insect” for me if you will. Most of you who had been following my blog know that I’ve put it on the back burner for a while. My last blog post was right before we listed our house for sale. In July 2015 we put the house we had been living for 12 years on the market. This was the house Jon and I moved into shortly after we were married. This was the house we had both of the girls in. We had so many beautiful memories in our house, but it was time that we move on. It was a great house, just not for us anymore. We took a leap of faith and put our house on the market. Within 72 hours we had a contract. There was a neighborhood we were going to build in but the day after the option period ended, our build fell through. Here we were now without a house. We rented an apartment and trusted the Lord would provide something for us. Two weeks after moving into the apartment, we found our perfect house. There was a few bumps but nothing bad and November 1, we moved into our new home. We were finally at peace after a crazy couple of months. Moving was quite the ordeal. We were still in the middle school and there was not a lot of settle time. That was okay though because we were home. Another change that happened shortly after the move was a change in direction of coaching. I loved coaching and I loved entertaining. I wanted to merge the two but soon realized that was not what I was supposed to do. I loved helping women feel better about themselves, but there was something else I felt I was supposed to do. I also felt myself going in a different way with essential oils. I love them and everything about them but my time as an essential oils educator was coming to a close as well. So I sat in limbo for a few months. What was I going to do? I prayed for something to come along. Something that I could call my own and make a car payment. See I’m going to need a new vehicle at some point and I really wanted to have my own business that will pay for it. Enter Agnes & Dora. Selling clothes was the last thing on my radar. I remember saying, “Lord with all of my body issues and the fact I hate pictures, you want me to sell clothes?” He said, “Yes I want you to sell clothes.” I listened and signed to onboard with Agnes & Dora. I had bought a few items and for the first time in a really long time realized I was feeling more confident about myself. When I got my inventory and started selling, I noticed another phenomenon, my friends were also feeling more confident. I’ve been selling Agnes & Dora for 9 months now and it has truly been life changing not only for me, but also for the women who have bought from me. I’m excited about this new journey that I am being taken on. I found my inner sparkle again and so have the women who have purchased Agnes & Dora.

So what does this mean for the blog? Well now that I’m starting up the blog again, it will truly be tidbits of life and not so coaching focused. I may sprinkle in some life coaching applications here and there but it will also be about clothes, homeschooling, food, entertaining, and other tidbits. This is the type of blog I’ve wanted to do for quite sometime. A blog focused on everyday life and content that has something for everyone. My goal is again to do a blog post twice a month as our school schedule had changes too. So as the late David Bowie sang, “Time may change me, but I can’t change time.” I hope you come along side me with these changes and are blessed with my tidbits from Andrea. There’s a sparkle inside you, shine on my friend!

How many times have you heard that sentence and panic began to set in?

This weekend we are hosting my best friend’s family for our yearly Independence Day tradition.  This year is a little different as my family is packing our house up to move; so although I knew they were coming I still feel completely unprepared. Is there a way to be hospitable while your house is crazy with boxes and everything else? What about if your house is torn up due to construction? Of course you can, it just takes some extra planning. The best case scenario is your guest room and one full or half bath is intact. If you don’t have a guest room or your guest room is not in tact or bathrooms torn up, you can still make it work.

Those of you who follow my YouTube channel Toodles on the Go, know that I always talk about keeping it real. If you have kids and you actually live in your home, your home might not be museum quality and that is okay. She knows we are in the middle of getting our house ready to put on the market. Two years ago we were redoing the bathrooms in the house and her family stayed for a night knowing there was one working bathroom and it was the 1/2 bath. Keeping the dialog open and honest with your guests takes the pressure off of everyone.

If you have a guest room, make sure it is clean and ready. My grandma Beulah always said to have clean sheets on the beds and clean toilets because you never know when someone needs to rest their head or tush. Clean sheets are important so make sure you always have a set of clean sheets in the linen closet. I have kids who like to use the guest bedroom so I am always having to make sure I change the sheets the day that our guests come into town. If you don’t have a guest room, decide on where the guests will be sleeping and set it up as guest friendly as you can. Another thing that I learned from Grandma is the importance of fresh sheets. Sometimes sheets can smell a little musty, especially if they have been in the linen closet for any period of time. Grandma used old perfume to freshen sheets in all of the rooms when she was making beds. She said it helped to freshen the sheets and was nice touch when guests would go to bed. The news and Social Media has been all a buzz lately of the dangers of synthetic fragrance found in perfumes and dryer sheets. I now use linen sprays made with essential oils. My favorite linen spray is made with distilled water, witch hazel, and Lavender oil, see recipe below. I like Lavender oil due to the relaxing properties Lavender is famous for. You can also use oils like Geranium, Orange, Roman or German Chamomile, Marjoram, or Patchouli. All of these oils will create a relaxing atmosphere for your guests.

The other place that should be clean for your guests is a bathroom. If the bathroom is attached to the guest room, this makes the job that much easier. If not or it is torn up like ours was two years ago when we had our friends come in for a night, there is still hope. The main thing that guests will need is a toilet and a sink. When both of our bathrooms were torn up a couple of years ago, we made sure that the 1/2 bath was still in working order. Washing your face in the 1/2 bath sink is kind of crazy but when both full baths are out of commission, you do what you have to. The best way to make sure your bathrooms are guest ready is daily poo inspections. This will help you with the maintaining a clean toilet. Weekly cleaning is a must and daily poo checks will help to prevent embarrassment if one of your children leaves evidence of their presence in the toilet.

Now that the you know the toilet is clean, it is time for general housekeeping. A clean hand towel or paper guest towels are a must. I like to do a personal and fun touch to my guest towels. I like towels that are monogrammed with an “R” or have dragonflies on them. Pick things out that represent you. Have enough hand soap in the bathroom. If you make your own or have refillable soap, top it off. My favorite soap for guests to use is the Lavender Foaming Hand Soap from Young Living, it smells amazing and leaves hands feeling very soft. If you like candles in the bathroom, the best ones are Himalayan Salt candles. The salt candles will not give off fragrance, just a nice warm glow. If you would like fragrance in your bathroom, drop some essential oils to the paper tube of the toilet paper. I like to have a “Fresh Toilet” essential oil spray available for guests to use if they would like to remove evidence, if you know what I mean. Bathroom spray is very easy to make, instead of using just one oil, you can use a combination of oils. I like to use the Purification blend from Young Living for my spray. If you don’t have a “Fresh Bathroom” spray, you can leave a small bottle of Eucalyptus essential oil with instructions to place a drop or two in the water before using the toilet. When your guest flushes, it will remove any sign they were there and leave the bathroom smelling very nice.

These tips will help you not to panic should you hear someone say they are coming into town on a whim. I hope this information helps you and your guests. Did you learn anything new? What is it that you are going to implement in your household? Keep the conversation going by commenting here or online on Facebook or Twitter. I wish all of you a safe and happy Independence Day. Let’s never forget why the Founding Fathers declared our nation’s independence July 4, 1776.

Linen Spray Recipe:

• 2oz blue or amber glass spray bottle
• 1 T. Witch Hazel or Vodka
• 20 drops of your favorite essential oil*
• Distilled water

Add witch hazel and essential oil to your glass spray bottle. Fill to the top with distilled water. You can use a combination of oils or a blend such as Young Living’s Purification blend for your “Fresh Bathroom” spray. Print out a simple label marking it as “Fresh Bathroom” spray so your guests will know what it is for. Eucalyptus, Lemongrass, and Peppermint are all good bathroom sprays.

If you would like more hospitality focused information, please visit my YouTube channel Toodles on the Go.

Or do they?

One of my favorite verses from Psalms is Psalm 136:1, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.” Growing up I learned that we must be grateful in all things and in all circumstances. It is a concept that I knew in my mind but it never really made it to my heart.

I will be the first to admit that this often has been difficult for me. Sometimes life would get me down and it would be very hard to show gratitude in the situation. I had heard over the years the importance of keeping a gratitude journal. I never really gave keeping a gratitude journal much thought until I began my Life Coaching certification through the QSCA. Here comes one of our assignments, keep a gratitude journal. Well, that sounds easy enough right, well for me it wasn’t. Keeping a gratitude journal was quite difficult for me. I’m not sure what the resistance was, maybe I let myself get so caught up in the mundane of the day or the darkness that seems to be plaguing my Facebook newsfeed. Perhaps it was because I see others moving on to bigger and better things and I seemed to be stuck where I was, desiring to move but stuck none the less? So here I am needing to keep a gratitude journal so that I can talk to my clients about keeping a gratitude journal and flat out not wanting to do it. I decided to grab one of the journals I had laying around the house and begin. The first couple of days went okay and then after that, I wouldn’t do it again. This cycle seemed to continue. Sometimes I would put the journal in a drawer of my night stand, out of sight, out of mind. Other times I would let my night stand get so cluttered it would get lost, again, out of sight, out of mind. I would watch different videos on the gratitude journal and think oh that is a good idea, do it for a couple of days and then stop.

When I made the decision, I AM going to keep a gratitude journal, I knew that I had to do things differently in order to get the results I desired. I did things differently this time. I made sure I had a special journal with the sole purpose of expressing gratitude in my life.  I have noticed that in my life, keeping a gratitude journal has helped keep my vibration very high and has helped me to be able to give thanks to God in all circumstances. It helps me to see the blessings in my life no matter what the outside circumstances look like. When one understands that we create our lives from what is inside of ourselves, it makes it that much more important that internally we are full of gratitude. I began to see the value and importance of keeping a gratitude journal.

I will admit to you that I have had nights where we have been so crazy, I came home and crashed, not writing in my gratitude journal. I do notice the next morning my vibration is a lot lower than the times I’ve gone to bed after writing down what I am grateful for that day. A gratitude journal is such a great way to keep your energy high and the blessings that God has bestowed upon you. I would like to share some tips with you in order to help you start a gratitude journal.

Purchase a nice journal for the sole purpose of gratitude. It can be as expensive or inexpensive as you would like. I would not recommend buying one of the $2 spiral bound notebooks, as those are easy to use for other purposes like grocery lists. Next you will want to purchase a pen. Pens are quite the hot commodity at my house and sometimes hard to come by. If you purchase a pen for the sole purpose of writing in your gratitude journal, you will never have to go searching for one. You will want to put the journal on your nightstand. I recommend not putting it in a drawer as it will be more difficult to remember at the end of a long day. Also, keep your night stand clear of clutter. This will help you to keep track of your journal and also help you sleep better. I don’t know if you have tried sleeping in a cluttered room before, it is not easy.

I like to create a full sensory experience by adding a couple drops of essential oils to my gratitude journal. Essential oils like Fir, Frankincense, or Geranium are great oils to add to the pages of your journal. I use Young Living Essential Oil’s Gratitude blend. I like this blend as it has those three oils plus others that help to bring about a feeling of relaxation. When my mind is relaxed, I find that I am able to get into a feeling of gratitude much easier.

Be specific in your gratitude. Rather than saying I am grateful for my house, mention what it is about your house that you are grateful for. Talk about specific traits in your partner or children that you are grateful for. List out the blessings from God during your day as well. Don’t just say you are thankful for God rather, what God did you are thankful for. Getting specific about what you are grateful for helps to anchor it into your subconscious mind and into your heart as well.

Yes, gratitude journals do work when it is implemented into one’s daily routine. Do you gratitude? What have been some of the amazing things you have seen since starting one? If you haven’t started a gratitude journal, do you plan to start one? Keep the conversation going in the comments and let me know. Please share this blog with others if you found it helpful and as always, follow me for more Tidbits from Andrea. Also don’t forget to find me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. I AM looking forward to continuing the gratitude conversation online.

Remember the commercial where the woman falls and she can’t get up? Do you ever feel this way in areas of your life? Things are going well in all but one area of your life. It is the one area that you’ve fallen and just can’t get up.

Do you have something you want to change or achieve in your life? Maybe you’d like to…

Are you living in abundance or lack? Many of us go through life wanting abundance yet living in lack. We get caught up in the lack that we have and miss the abundance all around us. If you are wanting to live a more abundant life, it is very important to shift in order to move from lack into abundance. Today is the 8th of the month and many believe the number 8 is the number of abundance. This a great day to start shifting your mindset and energy from lack and into abundance.

Take some time to go outside and soak in the abundance found in nature. The trees have an abundance of leaves, your lawn has an abundance of grass, the night sky has an abundance of stars. God created an infinite amount of abundance. Looking around and taking in nature is a wonderful way to bring the feeling of abundance into your life. Another way to bring in a feeling of abundance is a process or something I refer to as a helpful tool. If you are familiar with the Prosperity Game or Wallet Process found in the book Ask and It is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks, today is a great day to start one of those processes. These two processes, or helpful tools as I also like to refer to them as, are great ways to bring about a feeling of abundance. The Wallet Process is my favorite of the two. I find that walking around with an actual $100 bill in my wallet, helps to keep me in an abundance mindset throughout the day.

Another thing that I like to do is take essential oils and put them on areas that I would like to attract more abundance. This can be your bank account, investment portfolio, and even your business. Oils such as Patchouli, Ginger, and Spruce have been linked to prosperity since ancient times. You can put the oil on cash or coins in your wallet, on your checkbooks, your ledger, your phone, your computer, even your calendar. Any area of your life that you would like to bring in a sense of abundance is where you would want to drop oil.  I also like using essential oils to enhance the Wallet Process and the Prosperity Game. Take a few drops of oil and put it on the $100 bill for the Wallet Process and the checkbook for the Prosperity Game. If you use Young Living Essential Oils, the Abundance blend has Patchouli, Ginger, and Spruce already in the oil blend. This is the oil that I like to put on my checkbook, cash, investment portfolio, and computer. The Abundance blend is one of my favorites that Young Living has to offer. The smell of these oils can bring you into a feeling of abundance. Imagine how amazing your wallet smells each time you open it. Imagine handing the clerk cash and coins that smell unlike any money they normally receive. You can’t help but feel a sense of abundance as the scent of the oil hits your nose. You want to make sure that you do not put oil on your credit cards or use a credit card for the Wallet Process. Credit cards are often associated with debt and an abundance of debt is not something that would be a good thing to attract.

You still have plenty of time to take advantage of today and begin shifting into abundance. Each month on the 8th, you can begin again if you would like. The main thing is getting to a point where you can stay in a mindset of abundance all of the time, no matter your outside circumstances.

What are some ways you have practiced bringing the feeling of abundance into your life? Do you use essential oils in this way? What shifts have you noticed when you begin to focus on your abundance rather than your lack? Let’s continue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

If you would like more information on Life Coaching and details on how to make the Wallet Process and Prosperity Game part of your daily life, please visit my website at http://www.beyourbestu.com.