To spend time with family and take care of some things in my birth country, Bulgaria. If you feel inspired to post something or comment on posts that are up, please do! That would help keep the community thriving while I’m away. And if you don’t wanna do that, that’s totally fine too! If you need to reach me for any reason, direct message is a great way to do that…I’ll be checking those periodically. Sending you a virtual hug from Eastern Europe!

Sending greetings and love from the Black Sea Coast in Bulgaria! Of course, we have spent some time watching the animals around here. The pigeons and sea gulls make me think of our ducks and guinea hens back home. Yet, they’re completely different! If you enjoy watching animals as much as I do, take a minute to watch the pigeons playing with sand on the beach… Truth be told, they’re probably looking for food, not playing. But I like to imagine they’re playing :)

1.) Spend time daily in deep relaxation, at least an hour throughout the day...more if possible. This is a powerful way to balance and decrease the stress hormone cortisol. The more cortisol you have running through your body, the more your body will gain and hold onto weight like there's no tomorrow. 2.) Take longer pauses between your meals. You can do this by eliminating snacking throughout the day, or extending the time between dinner and breakfast. Doesn't have to be the same pause every day, it's actually great to vary it up, but more time pausing between meals will help you lose weight. Some people call this intermittent fasting. Don't matter what you call it. It works by decreasing insulin and countering insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can make weight loss almost impossible. Similar to cortisol...the more insulin you have running through your body, the more your body will gain weight and refuse to let it go. 3.) Start a Food and Mood Journal. Write down everything you eat, and how you felt while eating and afterwards. No judgment, just data. You can use dirty napkins to write it down, or a fancy journal. Don't matter, just write it. No need to analyze, or think about it after you write it. Simple, straightforward, just write it down. Anything we bring awareness to, we naturally and automatically start to change for the better. As long as we don't judge it and bring shame to this process. 4.) Eat more vegetables and low sugar fruits. If you are looking to let go of weight, strive for at least 50 percent of each meal being veg/fruit. The nutrients from these foods prevent cravings that come from malnourishment. The fiber helps you get full faster and keeps your digestion humming along nicely. These are some of the basic steps I took to let go of over 70 pounds in just a few months. I had an aunt that also let go of a lot of weight during the same time. She worked REALLY hard...exercising daily, for an hour or more, eating special foods. I respect her immensely. I felt guilty sometimes that I was doing less and having similar results. You're welcome to chime in here, in the comments, and share about your amazing transformation, if you'd like @Bev Elton :)

So why not take some time today, right NOW, to connect with JOY and GRATITuDE, and maybe even a dash of DEEP Peace?! Having goals and things to strive for is wonderful…it can give purpose, meaning, and direction to our lives. But, if we WAIT to reach our goals to experience joy, fulfillment, and peace, we may never get to those feelings. The goals we have may not be as fulfilling as we expected when we actually attain them, and… There will always be new goals around the corner to strive for. You can spend a lifetime WAITiNG to feel GOOD. And yet, joy and gratitude are available to us at every moment. We just need to slow down and allow ourselves to feel them. It’s important to create goals and work towards them. And it’s equally important to build our CAPACITY for feeling good along the way. Like anything, the more you practice feeling good, and taking time for joy and positive emotions, the better you get at it! If there is an inner, emotional block to feeling GOOD, there are tools that can help you move past the block… Tools like Tapping, Prayer/Meditation, the emotional tools created by Dr. Laurel Mellin, and many such tools ⚒️ What’s one way that you can slow down and give yourself the experience of JoY, or maybe even BLISS today?

What about for this week? Do you have one thing, or is it 2-3? Either way is fine. Would love to hear what your focus is for today and for this week! Asking yourself this question regularly can help you get clarity around your next steps, and keep you on track. Asking myself this question often helps keep me focused and prevents overwhelm. My most important thing this week is getting ready for our trip to Bulgaria. I’m excited to connect with family I haven’t seen in over 8 years! All meetings are off the calendar. Other priorities can wait. My focus is on packing, cleaning the house so we don’t come back to a pig sty, getting animals ready for caretaker, etc.