LightenUp: Every mind, every body.

We are so looking forward to our Forum this Sunday - we have such an amazing group of vibrant, enthusiastic, switched on women that we feel honoured!  Our new model based around self acceptance, self respect and self care will be form the framework of the day, and we intend that everyone will leave with a renewed sense of hope and appreciation for their body and themselves.  Bring it on!!

Thank you to all the wonderful, inspiring, intelligent and fun women who attended our first Foundation Workshop this Saturday!  It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to work together on boosting self acceptance, self respect and self care as an alternative and real approach to achieving our body related goals.  We were excited to introduce the HEARTfull Approach to illustrate how to access our heart space to create powerful change in our lives.  Watch this space as we will soon announce upcoming dates for future Foundation Workshops.  

I recently read a fantastic excerpt from Dawn French’s hilarious book ‘Dear Fatty’.  From page 22 for those of you with a copy – here goes:

“..I hope your enviable connection to your body and the confidence it gives you will last the rest of your life.  That’s the key, you know, confidence.  I know for a fact that if you can genuinely like your body, so can others.  It doesn’t really matter if it’s short, tall, fat or thin, it just matters that you can find some things to like about it.  Even if that means having a good laugh at the bits of it that wobble independently, occasionally, that’s all right.  It might take you a while to believe me on this one, lots of people don’t because they seem to suffer from a self-hatred that precludes them from imagining that a big woman could every love herself because they don’t.  But I do.  I know what I’ve got is a bit strange and difficult to love but those are the very aspects I love the most!”

Thanks Dawn we love what you have to say!  Big cheers from us here at LightenUp!!

It was disappointing to recently see slathered across the weekly magazines headlines like ‘hotter than ever celebs share their slim down secrets’ and ‘diets that work – Hollywood’s hottest new weight loss secrets revealed’.  Admittedly, I ended up buying the two magazines to see what they were going to say and the articles both left me feeling hollow.  They were so superficial, focused on dropping kilos fast, implying that this would be the answer to everything, and of course the source of true happiness.  It is hard for anyone, even intelligent women who KNOW that diets don’t work, to resist the temptation to be seduced by these kind of claims…especially if on some level we feel bad about ourselves.  So how to we break the vicious cycle of dieting?  We find that the first step to lose weight without dieting, and to feel better about our body is to build self-respect.  The more we truly hold a high regard for ourselves, the more likely we are to make better, healthy, more nurturing choices for ourselves.  LightenUp has developed an online program called ’30 Days to Self Respect’ that is available for free.  If you are interested send an email to us requesting to program from the ‘contact us’ page of our website.  Why not take the first step to finding real peace with your body? 

24th June 2010 will go down in history as the day Australia had its first female Prime Minister!  Regardless of your political leanings, what an accomplishment for women, and men, and humankind for that matter! Secretly, I would like to think that this monumental moment will also mark a shift in our belief in ourselves as women, as people who can dare to dream big and dare to achieve magnificent things!  I can already 'hear' the breaking down of the shackles that can hold us back, like a fixation with our outward appearances, and a toxic relationship with perpetual diets being replaced by an emerging and real belief in ourselves.  We really can feel free to be who we really are, and know that not only is this enough, but to nurture who we are is the most powerful way to honour ourselves, not to mention inspiring others to do the same.  And as a bonus, when we do give ourselves permission to be ourselves, our eating falls into a natural flow and basically just takes care of itself.  What one thing can you do today to honour who you really are?  Now go and do it, I dare you :)

I was recently reading an e-newsletter from realage.com which wisely advises:

"When you lift that forkful of whole-wheat pasta to your mouth, do you think "tasty," or do you think "healthy"? To curb overeating, focus on the mouth appeal.

In a recent study, thinking about a food's delicious flavor rather than its nutritional or health-related benefits helped to curb hunger later in the day."

So LightenUp online community let's all choose to focus on how tasty our meal is which will reduce overeating but also increase our enjoyment of the act of eating itself.

Recently at the hairdressers I grabbed a magazine to read called ‘Shop til you Drop’ June 2010 which was packed with fashion for ALL shapes and sizes.  It also had great write ups on larger sized models which I found so refreshing.  Maybe this is a sign of things to come?  Wouldn’t it be great for us all if the stick thin models no longer were mainstream and instead were replaced with real women who make up over 90% of the population?  Fingers crossed.

Over the years I have worked with so many clients who come to me as a wellness coach with the goal of achieving 'x' number of kilos and then 'everything will be alright'.  The first question I ask is 'what will be different when you achieve your weight target?'  More often than not their answer is 'nothing'.  This is a major insight.  When we discover that our weight does not and will never determine how we feel about ourselves and our lives we are finally able to work out what we REALLY want and what we need to do to find our own happiness and success, as we define it. What is your magic weight?  Or more importantly,  'what is your magic?'  Your magic may be knowing and expressing your magnificent, unique talents, it may be giving yourself permission to take care of yourself properly, it may be taking the leap to achieve your heart's desires, it may be allowing yourself to be open to falling in love, it may be looking at yourself in the mirror and really seeing the beautiful person that you are, right now, as well as the person you may choose to become - whatever your magic is, find it and relish it.  As an added bonus, when you find your magic, and start living it, your eating and weight will take care of itself.

When it comes to making changes in your life, you HAVE to give yourself the time, love and energy to make these reality.  Stop beating yourself up, stop trying to do too much, stop trying to prove that you're a superwoman (or man)!  The only thing that matters at the end of the day, is that you've treated yourself kindly, given yourself the time you need and said lovely things to yourself because the more you do this, the more wonderful the ripple effects are on those around you - your family, friends, colleagues..... The "love"lier you are to yourself, the "love"lier you are :)

I remember something my mother said to me when I was trying to decide whether I would study a particular course after I had left HSC.  She asked me how old i would be in 2 years time and I said, 20 and she said how old will you be in 2 years time when you've completed the course?  Well.... 20...  Time is still going to pass whether you choose to do something specific with your life or not.  The same applies to making changes in your life.  In one year, you will be one year older - do you want to be one year older and feel the same as you do now?  Or do you want to be one year older and feel even more vibrant, happy, joyful and alive!?  What small, daily, easy changes can you make in your life that will accumulate to a great shift by the time 12 months comes around?  For me, I'd like to run a half-marathon by this time next year.  One small change i can make immediately is for example, adding 15mins to my current runs; or perhaps booking in with a personal trainer to help me work out a schedule.  Whatever else I do, I know that by this time next year, I will have run a half-marathon.

What do you want to be, do or have by this time next year?