June 11, 2014

Connecting the Dots In Your Relationships – Prayer Intention Instructions

I gave a presentation 2 weeks ago at a local networking event called WESOS.  It is an amazing group of women that meets every other Friday from 11 – 1.  If you have your own business, I highly recommend checking it out.  It is a great authentic group of women who are dedicated in supporting one another and each others’ businesses.  The focus of the presentation was on Connecting the Dots in your Relationships.

“WHAT IS A RELATIONSHIP?” 

Webster defines a Relationship as ” A connection between two people, objects or concepts”.    I spoke about undestanding the 3 different types of relationships.  When we hear the term relationship we normally think about 2 people, but this talk went much deeper to understand not only the physical and energetic connections with people, but also about what it means to have a relationship with objects or concepts.

So what does it mean to have a relationship with a concept? you ask.  We talked about things like our relationship with money, sexuality, career and body, just to name a few.  If we don’t cultivate and nurture these relationships, then our minds will continue using the same thought patterns and limiting beliefs that were programmed in our mindsets years ago.

To dive deeper we completed an activity called the Circle of Life to create new awareness to these other relationships in our lives that we might not have realized existed.  We all long for deeper connections and intimacy in our relationships and if we focus on both the physical and the energetic connections, amazing things can happen in our lives.  The lack of nurturing these relationships could be holding us back from moving forward on some of the dreams and desires that we have for both our business as well as our professional lives.

PRAYER INTENTION INSTRUCTIONS

After completing the Circle of Life, I shared that I usually create what I like to call a “Prayer Intention Sheet” to begin taking one powerful step forward in nurturing those relatiosnhips.  Here are the instructions for how to use the information from Your Circle of Life to create your Prayer Intention Sheet.

1) Prioritize Your Relationships – After reviewing your analysis, outline which ones are a higher priority that you would like to focus on first.  There is no right or wrong, its just what the priority is for you.

2) Set an Intention – Write out the intention you have for that relationship.  Many of us daydream or think about things we want, but there is power in writing down an intention.

3) Visualize the Outcome – This is the fun part where we get to reflect and create what we really and truly want the outcome to look like.  If I could really make a difference in a particular category, what would it look like to me?   How would I feel?

4) Outline Positive Affirmations – Outline “I AM” statements to support your intention.  In the book “I DECLARE by Joel Osteen”, he refers to identifying positive I AM statements.  When we begin to say things like ” I AM a size 6,  I AM a successful business woman, I AM a good cook, I AM a loving and compassionate spouse etc… There is power in the confidence and boldness of our statements.  We are in essence declaring that we are, rather than saying I WANT TO, or I AM GOING TO,

5) Leave it up to God – The intent here is not to create a formal work-plan and outline all of the ways that you are going to make something happen.  This is about having faith in the Divine (God, The Universe, A Higher Power), that when you set an intention from the heart and ask God for your deepest desires, he will answer your prayers .  “If you believe you will get anything you ask for in prayer “Matthew 21:22.

In a future blog I will share how I use the prayer intention sheet on a regular basis, and some specific examples of amazing things that have happened both in my life as well as the lives of other happy clients who love using this amazing tool.  If you haven’t already signed up for my website, you can click on the step icon to the right to stay tuned for additional information you can reference to invest in the health of yourself and your family.

If you didn’t get the chance to complete the Circle of Life Activity, but this artcile has peaked your interest, please let me know.  I am also creating a 4 part video series from the video footage taken at the WESOS event, so that you will have access to this info as reference in the future.  I will let everyone know when the video is available.

If you know of someone, or another group that would love to hear about this presentation, please reach out!  I would love to keep spreading the word of how important it truly is to Connect the Dots in all of our relationships.

June 3, 2014

Is Gluten Free Really Good for You?

So what is the buzz with gluten-free?  Are too many people looking at gluten-free as the next fad diet?  While there is an increasing number of people with celiac disease are too many people going gluten free for the wrong reasons?  A friend of mine forwarded this article to me and asked for my perspective.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/unless-you-have-celiac-disease-gluten-sensitivity-is-probably-just-in-your-head/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=pbsofficial&utm_campaign=nova_next

I am not a medical doctor, so I can’t tell you what is right for your body, but I can share what I have learned in my studies along with facts from other practitioners around the topic.

bread-1024x575In today’s world, we are comsuming WAY TOO MUCH processed food.  Many of which come in the form of flour, sugar and salt.  Any excess amount of these products is harmful to the body and inhibits its natural flow.  For people with Celiac or a gluten intolerance, gluten is the culpret underlying inflammatory damage to the intestinal tract.  However, some people are questioning if removing gluten is really helping an individuals health.

Many people are using gluten free diets as a weight loss tool, due to the benefits of managing blood sugar levels.  In most cases, if you are reducing or removing gluten from your diet, you are also most likey introducing more REAL foods into your diet.  It’s a combination of removing excess carbs, balancing blood sugars, managing appetite and also the adding in of REAL foods into your body that gives your body the nourishment it needs.

Many people who choose to eat gluten free are making much better healthier choices. They are staying away from cookies, crackers, pastas, pastries and processed foods and replacing with more nourishing foods.  It’s like switiching from regular soda to water, instead of regular soda to diet soda. It is a much healthier choice. Individuals are re-training their body to learn how to eat REAL foods and reduce or eliminate less healthier choices.

Dr. William David says, “The amazing thing about wheat elimination is that removing this food that triggers appetite and addictive behavior forges a brand new relationship with food.  You eat food because you need it to supply your physiological needs, not because you have some odd food ingredient pushing your appetite and the impulse to eat more.”  Wheat has been known as an appetite stimulant and has been found to make you want to eat more and yield drug-like neurological effects.  So if you eliminate the wheat you are also reducing your chances of appetite triggers and addictive behaviors.

While going “gluten free” has proven health benefits for many, it is important to note that there is a DIFFERENCE in eating a gluten free lifestyle and eating “Gluten-Free” foods.  The book Wheat Belly shares that many gluten-free products are made by replacing wheat flour with cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch, or tapioca starch.  While these foods don’t trigger an immune or neurological response of wheat gluten they still trigger the glucose insulin response that causes an individual to gain weight.  These “Gluten Free” starch products increase blood sugar levels MORE than wheat products.

Dr. William David, says “Don’t replace wheat calories with rapidly absorsbed carbs that trigger insulin and visceral fast deposition”.  If you really want to improve your health it’s more than eating foods labeled “gluten-free”.  A gluten free lifestyle is the elimination of foods containing gluten and replacing with nourishing whole foods that make a big difference, not just swtiching out products labeled “Gluten-Free”.

If you want to learn more about the health impacts of gluten, check out a previous blog which is a “cliff note” version of the book Wheat Belly.