Tag Archives: challenge

insightful dynamics: challenge yourself to give back!

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This week in Insightful Dynamics, I introduce Rebecca. This lady is a powerhouse–life coach, yoga instructor, dancer, event planner, and the list goes on. She defines a dynamic life and lives it with positivity and curiosity. Her latest brilliance is The Share and Give Back Challenge, where she encourages a commitment to community contribution. For her commitment, she volunteers with Off the Streets Club and Step Up. How does she make the time?! After reading Rebecca’s inspiring words, you’ll see how this contribution is vital to her dynamic, awesome life and may be vital to yours. For more of Rebecca, check out her Website and Facebook page. 

BeccaCoachLaughingIn a non-stop and ever-changing world, it’s vitally important to evolve yourself. You either grow, or you die.

Life becomes a delicate dance between discovering who you are and creating yourself in each moment. Each new experience reveals another layer of your true self, while each new moment offers another opportunity to create what you want. And along the way you’ll uncover what makes you feel happy, loved, and fulfilled.

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One common experience almost every human craves is fulfilling their purpose. We are given the exact skills, experience, and opportunities we need to live out that purpose. Yet, its easy to get stuck living day to day, going through the motions. We do after all have to pay the bills, fold laundry, and put food on the table. But after years of living that way, you start to die a little on the inside.

The good news: your purpose never diminishes. You can access and activate it whenever you want! How do you want to live out your purpose every day?

Start by giving and sharing your gifts with others.

Many experts believe the need to contribute is as basic as food and shelter to human beings. The smallest and simplest actions can have a huge impact. Energy will always attract like energy. So by sharing love, you will infect others will love.

By practicing compassion, you will inspire others to be compassionate with themselves and others. Your simple act of kindness, will not only change someone’s day, it will influence them to turn around and be kind to another person.

The potential to create positive impact is endless. But it is a choice. There will always be daily demands: get to work on time, complete your to-do list, squeeze in a workout. Of course you need to focus on those things, but how about sneaking in some kindness? How would your life change if you expressed gratitude instead of frustration?

DSC_0992If you’re ready to transform your life with one simple action, join The Share and Give Back Challenge. Start a conversation around giving, inspire your friends to join, and enjoy feeling fulfilled by the actions you’re taking to contribute. You have the power to add more joy to someone’s day!

-Rebecca

stress: a test of your character

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“If you don’t think life is funny, then you don’t get the joke.”

Getting stern, unfriendly, and cold when you’re stressed is a common pattern in human behavior. You get this feeling like no one knows how exceptionally important this task is right now and you need to convince everyone of it’s difficulty.

However, these difficult times are when character is most visible.

If you’re under a time crunch, how do you treat the barista at the coffee counter? When he/she asks you how you are, do you take that extra couple seconds (just a couple) to return the question AND listen for the answer?

Or are you outwardly appear grounded and cordial, but you know it’s just a front when you’re judging everyone (including yourself).

See this as a sign. An opportunity to step back and look at this situation in your lifespan from a bird’s eye view. Even if you look and say, “This is the most important [fill in the stressor] of my life,” does that mean you have to be tightly wound to get it done?

Compare a ballerina and the energizer bunny. The dancer is working unbelievably hard, every muscle of her body in action, yet she does it with grace. The energizer bunny just looks ridiculous and isn’t getting very far.

Are you acting like the energizer bunny or the dancer? If it’s the bunny, find the humor in your behavior. Get some perspective and see that this situation–not the actual act, but your character in performing it–is the true challenge.

Smile. This is your life. Live it with humor and grace.

happiness NOW!

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We have all experienced those moments of fundamental joy and love of life, or, more colloquially, “happiness.” How can we tap into that consistently? Here is what I know:

First, happiness is not a place. It is a process.

The other day I admitted to my friend an insecurity about blogging on these big life ideas. I was concerned about people who have known me in times of struggle and difficulty. “What if they think I have no credibility because I’ve experienced pain in this process?” In the next breath, I heard what I said and smiled. “I couldn’t have learned what I’ve learned without the pain. My process brings my joy.”

There will never be a place where you’re free from hurt and insecurity. When you see those uncomfortable times as part of a long process, you’ll tap into your joy.

Of course I shouldn’t care what people think. I shouldn’t think that I’m above feeling pain…learning from these insecurities is part of my process.

Second, you will never achieve happiness by waiting for it. You must be active in the process.

“People tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will descend like fine weather if you’re fortunate. But happiness is the result of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly.” -Elizabeth Gilbert

You’re never going to find a consistent joy without participating in seeking it.

If your reality consists of constantly complaining, lots of work, little to no reflection, and escape through television, alcohol, etc., will you wake up one morning and feel consistently happy? In my limited experience, I have never seen or heard of this happening.

When I have seen and consistently felt happiness, three things are present: meeting the body’s needs lovingly, learning and reflecting on reactions, and seeking wisdom from various sources.

Practicing constant and active self-care will achieve joy. Practicing being a victim of unhappiness will not. It is that simple.

Third, you will not find happiness by always feeling pleasure.

Have you ever said to yourself “I have to feeling pain AGAIN??!!”; “can’t I be done with the pain already?”; or “I don’t want to go through the dark another time!”?

Look, shit happens. No matter how much joy you bring into your life, it will continue to happen. We are faced with challenges not to break us, but to teach us. Turn those questions around and say, “If I’m experiencing this, there is something I have to learn.”

Take the sports metaphor… In The Power of Kabbalah, Yehuda Berg speaks about the process of winning. He asks whether in athletic events, is the goal actually winning?

“Suppose there were a magic formula that allowed your team to win every single game. No matter what happened, no matter who you played, you always won…What would that really be like? You’d quickly discover that the game had lost its appeal. Excitement would turn into boredom. So can we really say that winning is the ultimate goal? No. What we really want from the game is risk and challenge–that requires the possibility of losing. More than winning, it’s the test of our ability that makes the game meaningful.”

Happiness, this feeling of success, comes from challenge, a sense of accomplishment, and growth. You don’t want this to be easy. You don’t really want me to tell you how to get “happiness NOW!” …Otherwise, you wouldn’t know growth.

Love this ongoing process to achieve joy. Love your genuine effort to figure out this process. And, most importantly, love your ability to go through the dark, because your when you again experience light, you will know your depth. In that depth, is where you will find happiness.