A Better You Blog

I was baffled. My clothes were fitting tighter, my feet were swelling up, I was not pregnant, I ate the same amount of food, and I lived an active lifestyle. I could not figure out why I seemed to be gaining weight, so I rationalized it away. “My clothes are shrinking, my weight is just re-distributing, or I am just retaining water.” I felt blah. After a few months of denying it, when I could no longer zip up my pants all the way, I finally faced it. I stood on the scale and saw 15 new pounds. In my frustration, I told my husband. “I do not know what is wrong with this food plan. I guess I will just buy bigger clothes.” I then laughed at my logic immediately, realizing I was blaming a reliable healthy eating plan for my weight. He knew I was low on energy from the extra pounds, and also had an answer. “Give yourself a break. You just stopped nursing a baby, maybe that is the reason.” I could not believe I forgot about that factor. When I nursed, I had to eat more for the baby. Now, I needed to go back to an amount of food for just me. I think rather than forgetting about this, I was just avoiding the truth. It was more convenient for me to ignore any possible responsibility on my part to prevent having to change what I was doing. Change. Uncomfortable, yet freeing. I grumbled a bit, consoled myself, and then made the change.

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True gratefulness comes from a conscious decision to recognize your blessings, coupled with the emotional feelings that accompany a thankful heart. An ungrateful person can utter the words “thank you” in protest. A thankful person can hold their gratitude as a guarded secret, yearning to be shared. Grateful people not only count and take joy in their blessings, but they influence others with words and deeds by deliberately displaying their pleasure and appreciation to those who should receive it. Life is full of opportunities for giving thanks. Do you seek them out? Are you remembering to show appreciation to those closest to you? If you complain, you will find yourself with plenty of others to join in. If you live a positive, grateful, successful life, you will attract other positive, grateful, and successful people. Do not stifle your future by neglecting your attitude. Begin by developing your grateful spirit today.

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Share Your Thoughts: Comments Are Now On!

I am pleased to announce that comments are now on. I originally kept them off due to spam concerns, but for now, I think the community that comments bring is worth the risk. I have received so many insightful responses and questions through emails and trackbacks since the inception of this blog, and I would love for all readers to see some of the dialog that goes on about each post. So, comments are now on. Please share your insights on any post that moved you, expand on my thoughts, or just contribute your feedback. I look forward to hearing even more from you all.

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A Better You Blog is starting a Personal Development Newsletter to help readers create a better you. Topics include managing stress, success in business and life, and making the most of every moment.  It will provide information not available elsewhere, and will include tips, tricks, and advice on living happy, healthy, successful, and free. If you have benefited from the articles on this website, you will enjoy the newsletter content. It is easy to sign up! Just enter your email address at the newsletter invitation at the end of any page on this website.

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Your choices are based on your identity, yet every choice you make determines who you are. The identity you construct yields decisions, attitudes, and actions that are puzzle pieces of your life, which fit together intricately to create a beautiful mosaic that is you. What will your picture reveal? Will you be proactive in life, or allow others to take you along for the ride? It is easy to figure out who you are: you are who you create yourself to be, who you become, even at this moment. Every decision you make contributes a piece to the art of your existence. Search endlessly to find who you are, and your masterpiece will be filled with longing, existential angst, wandering, and aimlessness. Decide to create a better you, to design yourself around your desires, priorities, beliefs, and giftings, and you will see the masterpiece that is meant to be. Complete the exercise below and you will know who you are so you can decide who you want to be and what your life will say.

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I just had a brush with death. I almost did not make it home tonight. Out of nowhere, a car ran a red light and sped my way. Luckily, another SUV was beside me and stopped first, alerting me to danger (since the speeding car was out of my line of sight). I hit the brakes quickly, relieved my 4-year-old daughter in the backseat was okay. We were inches away from death. Shaken and relieved, I said a quick prayer. God must be trying to tell me something today, and I am better for it.

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Freedom is amazing. My emotions no longer dictate my behavior, and my circumstances no longer control my response. I choose each day to live free, and my life is an amazing adventure for it. I used to be trapped by an eating disorder, confined to self-degrading thoughts whenever I felt hungry. I never understood that food is fuel, and nothing more. Instead, food was an escape, a refuge, and a reward. Diets enslaved me, and the desire for control consumed me. I looked successful on the outside, but I was dying on the inside. That changed over fourteen years ago, and my journey to wholeness has changed my entire perspective on life. I love life, I seize every opportunity, and I choose to live each day as required to be proud of who I am. I truly love how God has made me.

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It is not selfish to dream, nor unproductive to envision, for all innovation begins with inviting imagination. Follow your deepest desires to dream of an amazing future that will propel you to your destination. Keep your train on track. The secret to the most successful people, in business and in life, is that they never lose focus, never stop reaching, never stop striving to overcome and accomplish their goals. You can too, right now.

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I want to extend my gratitude to all of you for the positive feedback this blog has received. I am honored you are choosing my contribution to be a part of your quest for a better you! Thank you to Live Consciously for including me in?the “10 best blogs on personal development”, to the generous reception from the blog carnivals, to individual blogs encouraging others to visit here, and for your trackbacks. This post is to give readers a feel for the direction of this blog and my goals and focus for spreading my message “you can do it!” to all who seek to live happy, healthy, successful, and free. Come relax, stay a while, and see where it leads.

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Are you happy? Do you love your life? Are you excited about every day’s possibilities? Sometimes in hurrying to a destination people neglect to enjoy the journey. The endless quest for true happiness often frustrates, and misplaced focus brings futile attempts to find the joy that is missing from life. You are not trapped by your circumstances, and your happiness does not rest with others: you can decide whether you will live happy and free, and you can do it today. You are an amazing person with something incredible to offer to this life, created with four main areas crying out to be satisfied. Balance these four core parts integral to your being, take a determined stance to succeed, and you can achieve true happiness. Make small steps and see great change, and do it now.

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