Kate Larsen ~ Professionally Certified Coach, Speaker, Author & Personal Fitness Trainer aka
Wife, Mother of 3, Entrepreneur & Lover of Life
Kate Larsen has been impacting working professionals since 1989 encouraging, training, and coaching them on how to take an integrated approach to health, fitness and leader effectiveness. Her goal is to support people who want to be physically, emotionally and spiritually fit while loving their work. Kate provides programming which emphasizes simple, actionable behavior change. Her practical tools and emotional training work make change sustainable. Kate's ability to teach, speak and coach effectively comes from her experience as an addictions counselor, professional speaker, professionally certified business and life coach, certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor.
Life Is a Journey: Taking Time to Enjoy the View
If you want to change your life for the better, it's important to embrace positive attitudes and create the habit of using them to direct your choices every day. One healthy attitude to develop is seeing life as a journey. Each of us experiences the journey in our own unique way. Just as every runner in a race notices different scenery, connects with various people, and finishes with various times. The journey is important. Your journey matters because of what you notice, who you impact, and the legacy you leave.
In June 2000, my husband and I and another couple headed to Duluth, Minnesota, to run our annual half-marathon. I wanted to run this race differently than in the past when my only goal was to finish as quickly as possible. I wanted to look around more and enjoy the people more this time. The last time all I had on my mind was the finish line. I bolted out, with my head down, and just plugged along. It was Kelli, my running buddy, who commented on all the wonderful people and support along the way. After the race, she said, "Did you see that family that came out with banners and decorations for us? How about the small band of guys playing along the road, wasn't that just great? That one group with the blankets, chairs, masks, and cold beers were a stitch, weren't they?" Cold beer. Did she say somebody had cold beer? I missed that too!
I realized that in my focus-on-the-finish attitude, I skipped looking around and just ran to the end, and then I thoroughly enjoyed my surroundings. I realized a simple shift of looking up and around, even periodically, would have changed the experience for me. I suspect that I thought if I looked up and around, enjoying the run, I'd slow down too much and perform badly. In truth, slowing down would have made my experience richer.
So, this time I decided I was going to look around more. I was determined to search out cool people and things to tell Kelli about. When the gun went off, I ran with my head up, taking in the sights. Much to my delight and surprise at the race's end, I not only collected some great sights and stories, but I also improved my time by seven minutes!
Life is a journey. We can put our heads down and plow through all the responsibilities, challenges, and activities and miss the good stuff, or we can take a look around and enjoy the journey. Having fun along the path of life does not mean you lose all intensity. It simply means you know when to lighten up and when to put the blinders on.
I had no intention of winning the race. Only a small handful cared about my race time. So why did I previously miss all those sights and sounds? Because I didn't choose to look around before I set out. I chose to finish as fast as I could just so I could be done with the race. I was solely focused on finishing. I decided to expand my focus for the race so it became a richer, more fun experience. I needed to intentionally include looking around in my list of what I wanted out of the race.
View life as a journey. This is a great perspective to keep. If at the end of your life you want to be remembered for the difference you made in people's lives, you'll need to slow down and intentionally look to see where you can serve and have an impact. It takes time to connect with people on an intellectual and/or heart level. We tend to get caught up in checking off the to-dos because there's a sense of completion in that. Yet, the ultimate loss comes from not enjoying the journey made rich because of the relationships we share, nurture, and grow. Relationships grow deeper in the slower moments of life.
Excerpt from Progress Not Perfection: Your Journey Matters
by Kate Larsen ( Expert Publishing Inc.: 2007 )
Available at amazon.com
So what about you? Consider your pace these last few weeks.
What joys may you have missed out on? What is one thing you
will do differently today or this week which will enable you
to enjoy your journey-one day at a time. Today is a great
day to start.
Kate Larsen, PCC
Email: kate@katelarsen.com
Web: http://www.katelarsen.com
http://www.wellcoaches.com/kate.larsen
952-943-1430
Author of Progress Not Perfection: Your Journey Matters
Executive coach for The Ken Blanchard Companies
Faculty, advisor, mentor and executive coach for Wellcoaches Corp.
|
Ok, so maybe that thought never entered your mind. The following are some movements I've adapted from belly dancing. They are excellent exercises for toning the abdomen, improving digestion and other organ function. For ladies, this may be the magic to relieve those cramps.
Here we go. Back lying with knees bent, place soles of the feet on floor. Using your abdominal muscles, do your best imitation of a Ferris Wheel. Pull your abdominals back to your spine, down to your tailbone, down, around and up to your navel. As you move up the belly, it is more or a pushing out move that rounds your abdomen. Continue moving the work up toward the rib cage, up and then down around the back again. Do not be concerned at all if your "Ferris wheel" is not particularly round. Just do the best you can with your muscles and imagine the circular travel.
After you've done 2 or 3 complete revolutions (if your brain isn't too tired), reverse your direction for 2 or 3 more. Enjoy the ride!
As always, if you need a more advanced version, please e-mail me michelle@universalwellness.us
|
