When I Am Ready

Today I officially started my journey with yoga and meditation. I woke up and I thought to myself I am going to start my day with yoga and meditation. It was a simple thought, one that just happened, I believe because I was finally ready.
Two posts ago I mentioned how hard it is to get out of routine. Lately my routine has been getting up between 9:00-9:30am, making breakfast and going on my laptop. I find it relaxing to go online and do my thing, however, it sucks me in. Before I know it its three hours later and I've been watching TV online, frequently checking Facebook, etc. Then I get frustrated because I know I'm on this wonderful journey and I should be doing more. I know I don't like this routine or what it leads me to and that is the first step.

I said earlier in this blog that I would try not to stress myself out, which is why I am not forcing a lot of this change. I know where I want to change and what I want to do for myself. So slowly I am opening myself up to these changes.

Part of making changes is realizing when you're ready to get the ball rolling on something specific, like making meditation a part of my morning routine. I woke up today and I felt passionate and excited about meditating. So I knew I was ready. I was ready to make good on my intentions to change my morning routine.

Just knowing what I want to introduce into my life was the first step. And at first that was enough for me. Keeping these goals and values in sight has been rewarding and tough, but as I continue on this journey I make more and more changes. These changes come when I am ready. Not when other people think I should be ready, or even when I think I'm ready. When I'm ready, I know, I don't think. I literally feel it and know it consciously. Also most of the time, at that point, the change is easy and it just happens without having to make myself do it.

My most successful change so far has been my diet. As soon as I decided I really wanted to change my eating habits, I did. For so long I had always said I wanted to eat healthier, but never did. Because I didn't want it bad enough at the time, it wasn't a priority. Now its incredibly easy, I can resist junk food, in fact I don't really want it. I am now consciously aware that I am eating properly to provide for and take care of my body.

Once you make the conscious choice to really change yourself for the better and know you really, truly, want it, you can achieve all of your goals. People are so scared of change, I know I am. It takes a lot of courage and trust in yourself. YOU have your life in your hands. Sometimes I don't think people really realize this. They don't realize the importance of it. Your life is yours, no ones but yours, you have to take responsibility for you. And since your life is in YOUR hands, just think of what you can accomplish. You remove your own obstacles, you make your life choices, it all comes down to you. Once you realize this you can really feel the overwhelming power of being in control. It is up to you to seek knowledge and help.

Just because I say it is all up to you doesn't mean you are in this alone, in fact the opposite is true. It is up to you to seek others out and to put your intentions out into the universe so you can find people who can help you and who you can help in return. This is not an independent journey, every journey has other journeys intertwined in some way. In fact I would not be here without a journey or two, or three, or four, of the people I have in my life.

I really can't tell you how lucky I feel that I woke up and realized what I wanted to do. I wish I could tell you the secret. But for me I feel that all of a sudden, I was just ready. I was ready to take my future into my own hands. I was inspired to take all the things in my life that inspire me and put them to use.

The most important thing is to invest in yourself. Make yourself happy and enjoy life, because that is when you open yourself up to so many wonderful things that you deserve. After doing yoga and meditation today I feel wonderful, I feel beautiful inside and out! And the best part is that it was all easy, simple, beginners stuff. You have to start somewhere, right? So think about something you want to try or are interested in and become a beginner.

Planning a Future

Thanks to Chris Guillebeau's book The Art of Non-Conformity I have started writing out my goals. He recommends three different lists: One-Year Goals, Five-Year Goals and Lifetime Goals, each of which gets revisited a certain amount of times within a certain time-line.

This recent surge of change and passion for life came because I realized what I wanted to do with my life. I want to own a business. I want to own a business that helps people reach a more balanced life. I want to own a business where I can really make an impact on peoples lives and help them to improve themselves and reach their goals. Also with this type of business I can stay on track of who I want to be as a person.

So when I finally woke up and realized that this was what I wanted to do, I was excited, filled with passion and buzzing with ideas. Then I thought, "Where do I start?". How can I start living my life right now, to ensure I can have the future I want. Chris Guillebeau talks about this in his book, how people feel there should be more to life, how they want a specific future but they don't realize they have to start NOW!

I knew I had to change my lifestyle now to get what I wanted, but these ideas needed to find a focus. My brother said to me, "Start with your own journey" my journey to balance. If I want to start my own business, I have to walk the walk and know what its like to try and make these types of changes to a lifestyle. People have to invest in me as a person not just a business, so I can help them to invest into themselves.

So today I was sitting in Second Cup on campus and I started making out my One-Year Goals list, my Five-Year Goals list and my Lifetime Goals list. I became more conscious of the fact that I needed specific goals to connect to help each other come to life.

So I went backwards and started writing out my goals to see how to start setting up my future. For example, regarding my business.

Lifetime Goals

• Own my own successful business and improve peoples lives, as well as my own.

Five-Year Goals

• Do CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Levels 1-3 / Educate myself for my career
• Graduate University

One-Year Goals

• Become financially aware so I can start saving for my post University Education
• Invest in my current education and build my connections
  

So once I had a focus on my future I started thinking about how to get from one step to the next. Specifically the transition from graduating university to educating myself for the future of my business. I know I want to educate myself through the CHEK Institute as well as others I find beneficial, but how? When I graduate I'll have student debt, and studying with these institutes costs money i.e the courses themselves, the travel, the resources, etc. So I thought to myself what do I have to offer, how can I still do what I want while saving money for further education and paying off my student loans.

I am currently in University doing a double major in English and Professional Writing. So instead of overlooking that and seeing the future education I want, I need to use what is at my disposal now. I am still going to have a degree, why not use it to my advantage. If I invest in my education now, work on getting published and making connections in the writing world it will be an investment in my future. I do love my program. Writing is a passion of mine, I can't forget that.

I know I want to have a relationship between the two things. I eventually want to write a book. Any way I can use my talents and tools to reach people and educate them is beneficial.

I am aware that after university I will have to have some kind of a job to help my finances and my future. Yes writing will help, but I'd like to have a few things to help me along my way. So I guess now I just have to brainstorm on what they can be. And also take opportunities as they present themselves.

Whenever planning or trying to make a change, don't just dismiss your life now, use it as a tool!