Friday, May 11, 2012

Ever Got Ski Lessons??!!

WOW...I have missed you!! Have you ever gone skiing...you get there...you get all suited up and you are lookin' good.  Like you look so good...you feel like a pro right??!!  Then you take a couple runs down the greens to get warmed up.  Next you venture over to the blues for a run or two....and then you decide to get some lessons, right?

So you got a full day of lessons...lessons rocked, you are so jacked up...you love skiing, you are so happy to be here, this is everything you have ever wanted...and now its day 2 of a 7 day ski trip...and you are on you own...no instructor...just all that shit in your head about how to hold the poles, where to put your weight, which way to lean, and what do you do???? 

You ski like crap!!! 

Those of you who have done this know the ridiculous truth!! You had been a pretty good skier, you actually PAY to get better and you end up falling on your face buried in the snow!! Some of you may have hit a tree or ran over a person or two!!??!! 

Why? Because you have new information to process & practice until the results show up one day...and it really does show up in a split second...you get it and everything you learned clicks...its magic, right??!!!  Yeah!!

So that's where I have been...out on the double black diamond moguls of life with a bad back, broken arm, injured knee and a patch over one eye...sliping and sliding all over the place!! LOL  ;) 

oh yeah...you know.....they say that it is only in the depths of the valley that one can see the mountain's great height...

So I am starting to settle in to the groove right??!! ...Look Out!!

Committed to Being the Light...set a Blaze!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

No blog this week...

Hey all...out of town for some intense break-through training...back at you next week with awesome topic into the make up of how you got to be where you are...you are not going to want to miss the inside peek into your IDENTITY!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Put A Little ________ In It!!

What's missing.... the presents of which would make a significant difference?!!???

Do you ever get to the end of your day or week and all you feel like you did was check off all these things on your list? 

I am a check list junkie...its really the only way I can stay organized and move with velocity...but as I expand my life and the things I am up...the check lists expanded as well....and while I was feeling accomplished I said...what's missing...that which the presents of would really make a real difference??!! And I got it....FUN!!

So it got me thinking...have our workouts, jobs, relationships, sex, parenting, and life in general... started to lack fun? Do we actually resist doing something, do it poorly or maybe don't do it at all...because the fun meter is buried at ZERO??!! 




I have a now 6 year old :) and she can literally have fun EVERYWHERE.  Do you have a little person in your life or know of someone who has a little person?  Think about them for a moment....I take my daughter to the grocery store...she has a blast..."mom, let me be the checker!" she makes the ding sound every time she puts something in the cart.  We go to the library and she gets such a giggle out of checking her own books out.  She sings songs & performs dance routines in the shower, skips to get the mail, asks to vacuum the kitchen floor, and brushes her teeth to Justin Bieber.  Do you get it...every day mundane tasks taken on with child like fun & play??!!

So I set up an experiment...add FUN to everything... and got the most UNEXPECTED WORKOUT...had a fun-rampage of a lifetime and got a whole new view!!

Friday was girls day...Dad was off to play golf and we were left to our own demise!!  Savannah has only had her training wheels off for a maybe 2 months and has only ever rode in our court.  Friday morning comes...the check list starts...the mind is racing...I want to go for a run...but I can't cause I didn't get up while everyone was still sleeping...its a beautiful day...in my mind...the opportunity for a run/workout is over....UGG. 

I was committed to fun (can you hear it kind of starts out forced, stomping my foot..LOL)...so I say to my daughter...what do you want to do...its your day!?  She says...I want to ride my bike...so I'm like...well we could go to Grants Trail.  You ride, I will run with Xander (the dog) and we will have some FUN!! She was totally pumped!! Now she had never been and I was really mentally prepared for us to be out there maybe 20 - 30 mins...I figured it would be maybe a mile, mile and a half at best...she would be bored or tired....boy was I wrong!!! 

Here we are 3 miles in and she is CONVINCED we are doing the whole 18!!




I know she had fun...but I had the time of my life!! We talked and sang the whole way...pointed out animals & flowers we saw along the way.  I was so present to putting fun back in my run, it gave me a whole new perspective to working out!!   By the way...I had to shut her down at mile 5!! LOL

So what's next?  We jump roped, hula hooped, bounced on the trampoline, played soccer in the back yard...you name it...our bodies were moving!!  I felt like I was on an Olympic track and field special event.  We bonded, giggled, burned calories and now have memories of a lifetime!!

So needless to say the experiment was a success and the results were...workouts don't have to be what you think they have to be.  Put a little FUN in it and see what you can create!! 

What other areas could benefit from the fun meter rising??!! TAKE IT ON!! I promise you...just being AWARE of your FUN meter in one area will shine lights on other areas...this is an extraordinary opportunity to PLAY! Life is short...its your GAME!!

PLAY like your 6 again...TAG YOUR IT!!

Want a nutritional supplement to support the game you are out to play? Get it NOW

Join my sexy readers club and LIKE ME on Facebook or TWEET ME on Twitter so you are continually plugged into a community committed to GREATNESS!!

If this moved you to action today...SHARE BELOW...your story may inspire someone else and change their life!!

Join the movement...Donate today to Living Water International, because THIS community right here...that you are a part of... is out to make a measurable difference in 2012!!

B the Light!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Got Caught Looking Good!!

Good morning Extraordinary-U!!

I need to restore integrity with you....I communicated to you I would post once a week and it is now 3 weeks since my last blog.  The impact of that on you is you were left wondering what's going on with me...like where have I been, will I be back?  I left you hangin'.  You have my apologies and a commitment that if I cannot write a full blown blog once a week I will communicate that to you and not leave you hanging....deal??!! Great!

Just to get complete around this...yes I was rocked with a sinus mucus monster that left me completely whipped out and uninspired to empower you.  Yeah...like I really do write this stuff and if it is not completely coming from my heart I can't write it...I am a stand that you are left touched, moved and inspired in an area of life that is important to you...and I will have those days...or weeks in this case where I just ain't got it :) Its called Human Being!!

I am back with a vengeance!! So be totally prepared to be rocked!!

So lets take a look at what is Integrity?  Imagine that...that I would start with that :)

Integrity is as simple as doing what we say we are going to do....right??!! Can you think of a recent time when you said you would do something and didn't?  What was the impact on you?  What can you put in place next time so you can honor your word?!?

Just last week...I was on a call with leader in the community communicating to her some concerns I had about what had happened at our last meeting and she says to me...Call so and so and get clear on X....and what happens...I say YES just so I LOOK GOOD and avoid looking BAD.  But I KNEW when I said yes I had absolutely NO intentions on calling who she wanted me to call to get clarification around X. In fact in my mind...it was like I gave her the flying finger!! Yeah!! Like I thought she was telling me to do that to get off my little tangent....so I gave her the (mental) flying finger and didn't call who I said I would call.  Bam!! I'll show you (stomping my foot) can you see it?!! LOL right!! Can you relate??!

Then I GOT the impact of not being in integrity...It was an AHA moment (thank you Oprah) ...it is like tiny pieces start to chip off of me.  Like I begin to walk around with tiny holes...till there is more and more and more!!

When I was made aware of that impact..I started to look at my life and that situation...what did I start to do or not do? Like I was out to prove or disprove this phenomenon....  You know what I was doing...I started to avoid eye contact with the person whom I was complaining about.  And then I noticed I was not as open or free with the person I was supposed to have called to get clear with.  And the person who I said yes to but really intended no...there was this big heavy burden that came over me....Now get that these are people that I see at least 2 times a week...so this behavior I was starting to develop out of not being in integrity was just ugly and greatly affected the quality of our work!!

So what is there to do from there...restore integrity, right? How do you do that...you declare it and acknowledge the impact it had on others and communicate the actions to be taken to avoid this happening again! Awesome yes??!! There is a whole new relationship to my word now.

So I went up to the person I was gripping about and said hey I need to restore integrity with you.  I had some bad thoughts about this and that and that is just NOT who I am. The impact of that is I started avoiding you, you don't even know these conversations were going on but it was affecting my relationship with you. Then I went up to the person I was supposed to call...said hey I need to restore integrity with you....I was supposed to call you for some coaching in this area and I didn't.... The impact is I missed out on an opportunity to get clear about X.  When can we schedule that?   And then with the person I said yes to...I need to restore integrity with you...I said I would call so and so and didn't.  The impact was I was completely out of integrity and didn't do what I said I would do. 

So over the next week I just kept cleaning up and cleaning up integrity everywhere in my life.  Even if you thought oh I will do that and didn't ...I cleaned it up.  What was I left with after all that was this freedom...freedom of shame of all the would a, could a, should a's!! 

Robin Sharma says Integrity is all about wholeness.  Make sure that you consistently do what your conscience tells you is correct in not just one department, but in all departments of your life.  the different areas of your life are like rivers flowing together to form an ocean.  The emotional influences the physical and together they influence the social and together these affect the spiritual elements of your world.  Neglecting any department of your life this means relationship neglect or physical neglect or spiritual neglect, profoundly touches all of the other areas.

So I challenge you....Where do you need to restore integrity? Where have you said you would do something and didn't?  Pick up the phone...call that person and make a difference for thier listening of you and in who you are for others!!! 

Yah that's one of the totally cool things...people start to rely on you as your WORD!! 

Join my sexy readers club and LIKE ME on Facebook or TWEET ME on Twitter so you are continually plugged into a community committed to GREATNESS!!

If this moved you to action today...SHARE BELOW...your story may inspire someone else and change their life!!

Join the movement...Donate today to Living Water International, because THIS community right here...that you are a part of... is out to make a measurable difference in 2012!!

B the Light!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Who Are You Swimming With?

How is your environment affecting your life?  What do I mean by that? 

So I have been on a 2 year journey radically altering my weight with yoga, Pilate's, and running and running and running and running. 50 pounds of weightless, I am proud of my accomplishments, right??!! But it was a focused effort, commitment, intentional plan right??!!! YES!!

But what happens to my husband??!! He goes and looses 25 pounds...
Did he join a gym? NO!!
Did he go for a run? NEVER!!
Did he jump on some fad diet? HELL NO!! 
Then how the heck did that little snot do it :) 

His ENVIRONMENT was pulling for WELLNESS.  Just by living in the same house...his life...his health got radically altered.  Woweza!!   It was a NATURAL progression for him...smaller portions, less bread and POOF!! His environment says I love myself and my body and health is the foundation to ALL THINGS.  So he naturally looked at what he was doing for himself and his health.  HE took on a few small daily changes that over time added up to EXTRAORDINARY results.  

Instead of a big heaping bowl of ice cream, have it in a small coffee mug.
Instead of a chocolate bar, have a banana with Hersey syrup drops across the top.
Instead of a bun, have a naked burger.
Instead of soda every day, have one a week. 
Instead of stuffing yourself miserable, save it for lunch tomorrow.


So I ask you...what is YOUR environment pulling for?  Are you bellying up to the bar or heading to the park, playing golf, biking, or walking?  What about your friends...are they pulling for your greatness or cutting you down every chance they get?  Are they patting you on the back saying...its ok you failed....or are they saying "Pull your Big Girl Panties up and go for it AGAIN!!??."  Does your boss lift you up or tear you down?  Are you watching scandalous, affair filled, murderous, brain sucking TV or are you reading a book or blog that will change your life for the good? Are you speaking life and love into your children or disappointment and despair? 

Here is what I know for sure...we were all born with a LIMITLESS amount of power within us.  YOU WERE BORN TO SUCCEED in EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE!! 

You were born to be happy, healthy, purposeful and wealthy. 

If you are NOT succeeding in every area of your life...TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR ENVIRONMENT


Who are you swimming with?  The sharks that are going to eat your life up and spit you out or the Olympic athlete who strives for excellence, full of passion and purpose, showing you the way? What are you surrounding your precious brain and vital body with? 

Take a look at what is working and not working for you and your life?  Make a list.  And for some...it might be really stinking long...mine was...its OK!! And for some maybe its just one thing.  Begin to alter your environment.  HOW?  Find someone doing or having what you want and seek them out. 

I have a friend, she wanted to get in a bikini by summer...what does she do?  She hunts me down!  She altered her environment...then what happens...she goes and finds other friends that are running and says hey lets meet at the park for a group run, right??!! YEAH!!! 

I have another friend, hating her job, depressed, losing her mind...what does she do? Hunts me down! She altered her environment...when that happens...she is vivacious, full of life and energy, rockin her world and taking on new challenges she never thought possible!!!


Your life, health, self will only be as good as you believe it be and as your environment that surrounds you IS.  Seek a leader, friend, mentor, coach that is not afraid to shoot it to you straight. Don't know of one??!!! HUNT ME DOWN!!  YOU WERE BORN FOR GREATNESS! We can begin a conversation to make a real difference in what you are dealing with and what you really care about and in the process, leave you transformed with more power, freedom, full self-expression, and peace of mind.  Come swim with me!

Join my sexy readers club and LIKE ME on Facebook or TWEET ME on Twitter so you are continually plugged into a community committed to GREATNESS!!

If this moved you to action today...SHARE BELOW...your story may inspire someone else and change their life!!

Join the movement...Donate today to Living Water International, because THIS community right here...that you are a part of... is out to make a measurable difference in 2012!!

B the Light!

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Train your Brain...the Rest Will Follow...


I have learned to do some pretty radical things along the journey to get to where I am today so I want to share with you the most profound... Train your Brain and the Rest will Follow.

British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli said it so well when he observed, "You will never go higher than your thinking."

Here is the BIG IDEA...Our thoughts shape our reality.  Our thinking forms our world.  What we focus on expands. And what we dwell on determines our destiny. 

Its so funny to me now...how things align up in our lives.  I have a little ipod suffle...its one of the originals but is near to my heart...It's engraved... "Overcome your greatest weakness."  I laugh now  because I think...who knew I had so many weaknesses to overcome? Additionally who knew the journey would begin with me out there pounding the pavement with that little ipod shuffle....crazy God is so Great stuff there!!!

So the "story" that has ran my life is...I'm not good enough. Now I did some work to come to know and see this... I will share in future posts...its truly  profound.  But if I'm not good enough is driving this body...what is going to show up in my life?  A whole big pile of POO right??!!  I'm gonna start packing the weight on, lead my marriage down a path of destruction....he's gonna leave anyway right...because I'm not good enough, etc etc.  You trackin with me?


And then I wake up one day and say...ok... I am sick and tired of being worthless, fat, tired and miserable...so I try a diet right or start a workout routine...that's what we do...and it works for a week or two...and then what happens? the wheels fall off the bus and I have gained 7 more pounds...WHY? 

Because left to its own demise...I'm not good enough is running the show and anything that gets int he way of that...the machine = brain...will SHUT IT DOWN!! Why? Survival.  Keep trackin with me here...The story I'm not good enough was made up when I needed to SURVIVE something.  Shit happens in life we got to get through.  When we get through it...the brain says YEAH and locks in this story...cuz IT WORKED, it kept the body safe  Survival...this untrained brain certainly does not serve us...in fact most often it stops us...blocks us from thriving in life.

See weight for me was pain. Layers of fat...coats of pain. I eat when I'm stressed, upset, worried, scared..you got it emotional eater at your service.  Maybe you can relate? Why do we eat? Fill a void...be satisfied by something...because we are not being satisfied by whatever is going on in front of us...its a ugly reality friends...you want a break through in life...come face to face with your ugliest realities...and find freedom on the other side!!  Join me!

See when I'm fat you won't want to be around me...further validating I'm not good enough.  But even physically... you can't get close to me...keeping me safe...can you see the power of the brain and its wicked ways?

So how do you break free? Train the brain and the rest will follow....



Robin Sharma taught me the power of Mantras and things have never been the same!! Mantras are nothing more than positive, inspiring words or phrases designed to break limiting or self-sabotaging thinking patterns we run through our heads on a consistent basis.

In Sanscrit man means "mind" and tra means "freeing" so mantra literally means "freeing of your mind" and this is precisely what it does.  Extraordinary, yes?

So now when I go running I chant to myself..."I am a pain free elite athlete".

When I start my day "I am unreasonable and unstoppable"

When I am on my way home to see my daughter "I am a patient loving mother"

When I am hunting down my husband for some TLC "I'm sexy and I know it" (LOL)

And you keep saying it over and over and over....

These empowering phrases will sink deeply into your subconscious mind once you start flooding your consciousness with positive influences.  Negative thinking patterns which have been holding you back will be replaced by the positive.



Take 5 mins to create a series of personal mantras that will inspire you to attain personal, professional and spiritual success.

Are you Stressed Out? Low on Energy? Struggle with Losing Weight? Difficulty Sleeping? Find it hard to Concentrate or Listen?  ADD, Addictions, Depression, Alzheimer's?  Check this out...begin to choose your Life today!! 




Join my sexy readers club and LIKE ME on Facebook or TWEET ME on Twitter so you are continually plugged into a community committed to GREATNESS!!

If this moved you to action today...SHARE BELOW...your story may inspire someone else and change their life!!

Join the movement...Donate today to Living Water International, because THIS community right here...that you are a part of... is out to make a measurable difference in 2012!!

B the Light!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

If You Can Do 3...You Can Do 13...

Today I devote this personal message to YOU...I am going to share passionately about the power of tiny daily incremental changes over time lead to extraordinary results...how do I know this for sure...keep reading and check it out for yourself...

If You Can Do 3...You Can Do 13...This is what my friend told me mid May 2010 when she asked me if I wanted to train for the Lewis & Clark half marathon October 3rd....are you nuts??!!  She had ran one half marathon in her life but was naturally athletic and worked out regularly... simply gorgeous.   She had recently had a baby and was ready to shed the weight...with a goal in mind, surely it would be easier.

She says...Shannon...if you can do 3...you can do 13.  I said, "um ...I can't run a city block!!"  I was grossly overweight, hadn't been to a gym since I was 18, depressed and losing my mind...but I saw this as an opportunity...I had a glimmer of hope...

Training officially started July 12th...and STARTED at 3 miles....my butt had basically 6 weeks to be able to even get to the point that I was "qualified to train."  This was the future I was living into....Would I? Could I? Sam I am?



The Power of Tiny Daily Incremental Changes

Where & how did I start?  Out my door one early morning.  See I had all the "good excuses" right??!!..couldn't be away from my family...they needed me....they wouldn't support this running thing...work full time job...blah blah blah...excuses right??! Us as humans we make shit up!! So anyway ...the plan was I would run before work.  At the time I was getting to work by 7:30am with about a 40 minute commute...so IF I was going to do this running thing...it was gonna have to be early...

I don't know if you can see it or can relate...but at first... I felt like I didn't deserve or need this time.  I was never a morning person...always a night owl....I was in a backwards way already setting myself up to fail

Yet I started small...I said if can get to 3 miles I guess I was in....at first I could only run a few second before I thought my heart was going to explode and I was gasping for air....it was pure physical.  First the lungs then the legs...

Then it got mental....self sabotage....your too fat, too old, too out of shape, never done this before, how dare you be away from your family, when do you have time for this, your the underdog, your dragging them down....oh....that ugly place we go...ever been there???!!!  Maybe you are there now...just hang on for the ride...you can't have breakthroughs in life without breakdowns!! Oh the beauty on the other side!!


And then about a month into small daily attempts to run 1 minute, to 5 minutes, to 10 minutes to 20 minutes...there came a shift...like woweza....I'm actually doing this!!  The chains that once held me back in every area of my life began to break....

In less than 5 weeks I was running a steady 3 miles at a moderate pace with little to no major discomfort....and I have never looked back.  

What did it take?  Courage, determination, persistence, hope and a couple of buds along my side holding me accountable to show up and run.  It wasn't always pretty, trust me...but we did it...we honored a commitment, followed a schedule and took a stand for our life, our bodies and minds....

I found me out there on the streets...pounding the pavement at 4:30am with my dog...shedding the layers of pain that I carried around my belly.  Then us girls would meet on the weekends for our "long run"...me hunkered down with my head phones blasting and them chit chatting away...see it didn't matter how we did it...as long as we did it...it was the process of tranformation. 



Couldn't run a city block to running 13.1 in less than 6 months.  I have now run 4 half marathons, lost 50 pounds and have radically taken on every area of my life.  I don't share this with you to impress you but to impress upon you...the power of small daily incremental changes lead to extraordinary results!!   Don't get me wrong...I am and will forever be a work in progress...but if I can do it SO CAN YOU!  The mental, physically and emotional confrontations you come up against while taking on your health in this way is truly profound.  It shines a light on everything you do.  You will have more energy, work better, you feel better and people start to notice.  You become contagious!  You become the light!

Its 65 degrees on February 22 in St. Louis...grab your running shoes and START TODAY!

Join my sexy readers club and LIKE ME on Facebook or TWEET ME on Twitter so you are continually plugged into a community committed to GREATNESS!!

If this moved you to action today...SHARE BELOW...your story may inspire someone else and change their life!!

Join the movement...Donate today to Living Water International, because THIS community right here...that you are a part of... is out to make a measurable difference in 2012!!

B the Light!