Celebrities are hired to glam up crappy packaged foods and poisonous “fat blocking” pills. Pick up any “health” magazine, and you’ll find a newly-fit, slightly-famous woman declaring dieting words of wisdom that include earth shattering tips like, “clear out all tempting foods and eat only carrots.” Google “weight loss” and you will receive 426,000,000 results. Most of it is full of damaging lies that separate you from your money, your natural body weight, and your own power.

As a former yo-yo dieter, I’m passionate about reconnecting women with their inner wisdom and the handiest weight loss tool around — their very own bodies. I’ve selected three popular weight loss tips that I invite you to drop. They don’t create lasting weight loss or inner peace.

Clean Sweep

You’ve seen these segments on TV. A weight loss “expert” will go into a dieter’s kitchen and fill a dumpster in their front yard with all their mayonnaise, Cheetos, bread, hamburger meat, and basically anything that contains more than 100 calories. The dieter cries, the “expert” tells her to suck it up, and the cameras capture this “motivating” encounter to “help” us understand that we are powerless to the fat gram. We need to clean out our fridges and pantries and purses if we ever hope to stuff our muffin tops into skinny jeans. We can’t be tempted.

After the camera crew leaves, and the dieter has had enough white knuckling, eating lettuce, and chewing on the baseboards, a tsunami of binging and self-flogging ensues. The dieter wonders what’s wrong with her and why she can’t lose weight. The truth is that deprivation just doesn’t work. You can’t hide from food. Food isn’t the issue in the first place. A lasting weight loss journey begins with understanding the thoughts and emotions that are creating the need to overeat in the first place. YOU can become your expert. So, what are you hungry for really? When you cure boredom with a plate of brownies, or stuff down anger with pizza, or create your entertainment through wine and cheese, notice it.

Three Square Meals

We’ve become a nation obsessed with eating according to external cues. We eat by the clock and abide by the rules of the Clean Plate Club. The Clean Plate Club does not allow snacking between meals, eating after 7 p.m., before 5 a.m. or on Sundays. I recently saw a very famous wellness guru Tweet to eat three 400-calorie meals a day with no snacking in between for successful weight loss. Is there no wonder why Americans SUPERSIZE our portions when we think we’ve got to get all we can in three meals? The truth is that your magnificent and miraculous human body is equipped to alert you when to eat and when to stop. This usually results in eating 5-6 times a day and a naturally thin body. It doesn’t matter what time of day that is. If you eat when you are hungry, and fuel your body according to its signals, you can bag all the crazy rules. Visit here to download a free Hunger Scale Guide.

Eat This Not That

Surf around on enough weight loss web sites, and you’ll be warned that you should not eat carbs, meat, egg, boysenberries, and actual real food. You can’t be trusted with any of them. Just go ahead and buy frozen, fake food so that you can control yourself. Ridiculousness! The truth that I have learned by honoring my own body, and working with hundreds of other women and their unique bodies, is that your very own body will TELL you what foods feel good and bad in your system. Guess what? Eggs, and orange juice, and cottage cheese feel just great in my body. They energize and fuel me. Not so for some of my clients. These foods feel sickly in their stomachs. It’s not a one-size-fits-all thing with food. Learning how to pay attention to how different foods actually feel inside your body through food journaling can free you from these crazy rules. Visit here to download a free Food Journal worksheet.

The diet industry has a lot to lose if you take back your power. In a $60 billion industry, it’s counting on you to continue using food in unhealthy ways. I challenge you to start your very own personal body revolution. It’s not about counting calories, weighing food, and over exercising. It is about learning how to think. You can do that. You can live at your natural weight. Just take the first sane and rational steps.

Join Martha Beck, PhD and best-selling author of The Four Day Win, Brooke Castillo, Master Coach and author of If I’m So Smart Why Can’t I Lose Weight?, and me for a weekend designed to help you lose the drama and the weight — January 22-24 in Phoenix, Arizona. Get all the details and register at www.weightlossforsmartwomen.com.

I really hate it when a doll loses a foot.

You guys know that I am holiday fanatic.  I know this is no surprise.  I’ve seriously cleaned up all of my Holiday Psycho Woman past stuff, and have a blast during the holidays.  That doesn’t mean that everything happens perfectly for me during the holidays. Don’t even get me started on my Dysfunctional Family Bingo Results from Thanksgiving, or how many gifts my beagle Jake has confused as “his toy.”

What’s cool about the season for me now, is my thinking.  Clean thinking keeps me calm and centered and happy regardless of negative circumstances that arise.  And, when my thinking is clean, I am clear about what I like, and what does not work for me.  And from that place, it’s easy to create a holiday season that is authentic.

So, even though yesterday Jake chewed the foot off of a very pretty and unsuspecting doll that was wrapped under the tree for Emily, and even though I attended a party that is not my favorite kind of gathering (because my seriously extroverted husband really wanted me to go with him), it was an awesome day.  I chose to be in “the Christmas spirit.”  I chose it.  Despite the footless doll.

I’ve talked to a lot of people who tell me that they “just aren’t feeling” it this year. Guess what?  Holiday Magic is not going to pull up in your driveway and honk three times to get your attention. You have to create it.  Despite how much money is in the bank. Despite how much you want to punch your boss. Despite the fact that your son married a life coach.  You can be intentional with your thoughts and create holiday cheer. You can. Yes. You.

I’ve got this simple little tool called “The Happy Basket” that sounds lame but really works.  It will help you turn toward what you love about the Holiday Season.  You can listen to a short two-minute explanation of the tool by clicking here, on the ipod image on my homepage.  Then, you can “Holiday Happy Basket” by clicking here to download the free worksheet.

The wise gurus say that life gives you your greatest teachers in your very own home. I believe that. As I was cleaning up the chewed up wrapping paper and doll parts off of the living room floor last night, Emily said, “She’s still beautiful, Mom.”  No, this little doll was not headed to the “Island of Misfit Toys.” She was redressed and taken immediately up to Emily’s room.  She is loved.

And so are you. Merry Christmas.

Step away from the Black Friday and Cyber Monday super saver sales. What do you really want this holiday season? Super cool brown clover boots from Anthropologie aside, what do you crave? What feeling state are you hoping to get from what you want?  

Almost everyone claims happiness, connection, love, peace. Okay, I get that you want the boots too, but stay with me here for a minute. Because, as much as you want those boots, you aren’t going to get the deeper things that you really want from them (even the clover ones).

Working with hundreds of clients to help them manage the holidays, it’s comical what we get wrapped up in, sometimes literally, during the holidays.  The decorating, cooking, eating, mailing, shopping, partying, baking, wrapping, stamping, color coordinating hysteria. These are all fine things to do as long as it feels happy while you are doing them. As long as you aren’t crying while you wrap that 500th gift to someone you barely know. As long as you aren’t eating when you aren’t hungry to stuff down disappointment. As long as you aren’t baking with bitterness. (Bitter baking just sucks.)

During this season, notice yourself. Notice if you are feeling tired or cranky. Notice if you are doing things that you do not want to do. Notice if you would rather just get it all over with. And, then, ask yourself WHY?. Listen for the answer.

And then, ask yourself how you can better create what you are really after:  connection, happiness, peace, joy. What could you stop doing? What could you think? What would feel more like love and peace and joy than what you are currently thinking and doing?

My biggest hope for you is that you are living your life as a thank you. A big, loud, jingle jangle THANK YOU. Palms up, smiling, embracing your life.

And maybe also wearing those Clover boots.

I once spent so much money with Lands End during the holidays that the company sent me a cashmere blanket and a box of chocolates as a “thank you.”  My name is Susan Hyatt, and I am a recovered holiday psycho woman.

How you do one thing is how you do EVERYTHING.  Unfortunately, how I “did” the holidays five years ago, was over the top, manic, and based almost entirely on the shiny.  Shiny gifts, shiny ornaments, shiny windows, shiny catering for a shiny party, shiny holiday portraits, shiny china, shiny holiday newsletters. The glare was too much.

Sure, there were moments of authenticity and fun. But those moments were outnumbered by the crazy moments. Like the time that I tried to make a homemade gingerbread house with my kids, didn’t follow the directions, and it fell apart and onto the floor, along with our moods. Good times.

I’ve learned how to rethink and redesign the holidays, by learning how to think.  I even created a really handy workbook and short video coaching download on the topic.  And, this year, I’ve teamed up with my coaching colleague and Master Certified Mind Body Expert, Abigail Steidley, to talk about ways to create a meaningful and nourishing holiday season.  We will not be talking about things like setting egg timers so that you can race from room to room and get more crap done.  I took that class and have a frenzied wrapping paper story to tell you about during class. It wasn’t pretty.

We will be talking about the art of becoming who you want to be, during a holiday season that you want to have, by doing less physically and mentally.  Cause believe you me, even when I wasn’t setting egg timers to “efficiently” wrap gifts and bark at my kids, I was sitting around THINKING and OBSESSING about things like stocking stuffers and reindeer food. Exhausting.

What I wish for you this holiday season is to ditch drama, exhaustion, and over commitment.  I know first hand this creates a holiday that is unfulfilling, debt ridden, and a whole lot of work.  Defeats the purpose of “holiday.”

Read what Abigail has to say here. It’s pretty cool.  And join us for a four-week group telecourse that will show you how to easily create what you want.  Instead of a shiny holiday, I have one that authentically GLOWS.

Choose–every day–to create the feeling state YOU want

I drink too much caffeine and I practically freebase liquid B12. Yes, I have a lot of energy. But believe it or not, these are not the reasons that I am so jacked up about things all the time. Jacked up in a good way, I mean.

I don’t always wake up excited, and I promise that I don’t burp rainbows. I’m a regular mom who sometimes finds herself unsuccessfully chasing her beagle in the rain, scraping Emily’s artistic creations off of the kitchen table, and trying to explain to her 11-year-old son that the movie American Pie (OMG) may not be live streamed from Netflix. This is why we lovingly refer to our home as the Hyatt Riot.

When I wake up to a beagle covered in green paint, or a sick child, I’ve learned that I can still create the feeling state that I want. I can decide how my day will go in spite of less than ideal circumstances. If I wake up anxious, or cranky, I can pick out a feeling state like I’m picking out my running clothes. I’ll have a little bit of excited, and a huge helping of passion, and a dash of motivation.

How? I developed a morning ritual that takes 15 minutes. You can take fifteen, right? Of course you can. Click here to get my free DIAL IT UP morning ritual worksheet. It’s a fast way to set your intention for the day. It helps you create good feeling thoughts to generate the feeling that you want. Then, you line up some inspired action and knock off at least one thing that isn’t serving you.

Today? I want to feel productive and calm. I decided to think, “You always get what you really need to, done and done well.” Ahhhhhh. Love that. One action that lines up with that is to prioritize my list of things to do. I’ve eliminated things that really do not matter, delegated much to my awesome and amazing assistant, and downloaded some new Joss Stone music to better my time. And, lastly, as my southern mama used to say, “KNOCK IT OFF.” I decided to stop compulsively checking email, just for my productive and calm today.

What? Jake is tipping over trash cans in the neighborhood again? Sorry, I’m too calm to chase him today.

Click to get your free Dial It Up form and newsletter subscription!

Running Newbie

I started running in May, after an 18-year running hiatus. One sunny afternoon in May, while I was power walking and listening to my girl Pink on the iPod, something happened. I heard myself say, “Just run Susan.”  So I started to run and was fascinated that it felt great. I wasn’t bribing myself to work out. I hadn’t put it in my planner that I would run. But, here I was, running and liking it. Me! A former junk food junkie was running.

I ran as far as I could that day, and it turned out to be a mile and a half. Within a week I was running three miles, and within a month my friend Jill asked me to train with her for a half marathon. I decided that I would continue to LISTEN TO MY BODY. As long as it felt good, I was game.  Plus, I liked the cute running skirts.

Training

The weeks leading up to the marathon were challenging. Each week, we added a mile to our long runs on Saturdays. And every Friday, I would remind myself, “You can do this.”  Because with any goal in life, if your mind is not lined up with your body, don’t even bother. It will suck. Every weekend I was so enormously proud to burst in the front door and announce to my family, “I did it! 6 (7, 8, 9, 10) miles!” (Caffeine + runners high can be annoying for others who are just waking up on a weekend morning.)

The longer runs reinforced staying in the present moment for me. I would remind myself, “Susan, Stay In The Mile That You Are In!”  If I thought too far ahead about how many miles were left, I could get overwhelmed and the run would be harder. If I thought about how many miles I had run, I started feeling tired. I learned to take each mile, one at a time, and dedicate that mile to a topic, person, gratitude, and appreciation for the scenery around me. It’s a great tool to use when I am not running. Stay with the present moment.

 
The Big Day

I have to admit that from the moment I arrived at the event, I was a mixture of off-the-charts excitement and choking back sentimental tears. Here I was, looking official with a number pinned on my running clothes, standing with 2200+ runners, all brought together by a common desire to run. I looked at the sea of athletes and I thought, this is what it’s all about isn’t it? Showing up for yourself. How many successes in life are about just showing up and taking the first step? And here were 2200 of like-minded people, at 7am on a freezing 42-degree October morning, ready to go. I was overwhelmed.

I had intended on spending each mile thinking about new projects and family and friends that I love. But what I experienced instead during this half marathon nearly brought me to my knees. It was a Church service that I have never experienced inside of a church.  It was, quite simply, the closest that I have ever been to experiencing the Divine.

This is what I witnessed. Perfect strangers bundled up and standing along railroad tracks and busy roads to wave and cheer on us runners. Freezing volunteers handing out water and orange slices. Local musicians donating their time to stand on street corners to fill the air with music to keep us going. Cheerleaders with pom poms. Dancers getting their groove on to entertain us as we raced by. Families holding signs of encouragement. An 86-year-old man rockin the race–evidence that it is NEVER too late.Runners coaching each other to the finish line.

 
The Finish

As I kicked it into high gear during the last mile, I marinated in the lyrics of a Jennifer Lopez song, “Let’s Get Loud”:

If you want to live your life
Live it all the way and don’t you waste it
Every feeling, every beat can be so very sweet
You got to taste it, you got to do it
You got to do it your way

I left it all on the pavement. I was like a little kid again, crossing that finish line and collecting my Half Marathon medal. Big cheesy grin, full heart, showing love for myself and this amazing miracle of a human body.

It never would have happened if I wasn’t willing to listen to my inner voice. Listen to that little voice that encourages you to pick up something new. Running, dancing, sculpting, writing, knitting, scrap booking. Whatever the interest, DO IT. Show up, stay in the present moment, be grateful, and thank me later. Let’s Get Loud!

Special thanks:

Thank you to my Facebook friends who offered me encouragement, kudos, running advice and cheered me on virtually.

Thank you to the little girl in the red flannel pajama pants with the golden retriever who looked at me during mile 7 and said, “You go girl.”

Thank you to the Hadi Shriners who dressed in their kilts and played bag pipes, banged on drums, and clapped for us as we ran by.

Thank you to the little old lady with the ukulele on the side of the road playing her fingers off and smiling.

Thank you to the water station sponsors, who passed out cups of water and orange slices while shouting good job to me.

Thank you to the school band and flag team.

Thank you to the bundled up women wearing cowboy hats and ringing bells!

Thank you to the fierce motorcycle enthusiasts who wore their chaps and jeans along with their marathon volunteer tee shirts and directed traffic. You guys rock.

Thank you to the YMCA volunteers who stood at every mile marker and said, “Good Job!”

Thank you to the little kids at the train tracks who high fived me as I ran by. I’ve never felt more like a rock star.

Thank you to the perfect strangers who stood along the route wrapped on blankets and sipped coffee while shouting and cheering for us.

Thank you to my friend Jill, my running partner, who came out to cheer me on even though she was not racing.

Thank you to my new friend Francis, who made me coffee, drove to the event, showed me where to go and gave me expert running tips.

Thank you to my husband Scott who stood at the finish line with a camera, Gatorade, flowers and a big cheesy grin.

Thank you to my son Ryan, who stood in the cold with his dad when he would rather be playing video games.

Thank you to my daughter Emily, who wanted to leave her big camp weekend early to see me cross the finish line. Next time, Em.

I am forever grateful.

“So, you want me to change my thoughts and think that it is OK for my psycho boss to treat me like dirt?”

I get comments like this all the time from clients who are brand new to
thought work. Changing your thoughts does not mean that you become a
wimp. It does not mean that you trick yourself into believing that a
negative circumstance is all peachy and fresh as summer sunshine. It
means that you do not BECOME the negative situation, as my mentor Brooke Castillo would say.

A personal example…

Last night I was surfing the Internet. I found a program called Copyscape.
For free, it allows you to enter your web site address into a search
window, and it will scrub the net and report back to you within seconds
if content from your web site is used other places. So I did it. Guess
what? A coach in Chicago, who is on my mailing list, is using my new
web site content, word for word. I am not talking just a few paragraphs
here. Almost her entire web site, her “about me” section, her coaching
programs, all of it (except for a few references to cake) is my
writing. With her photo.

My short freak out included thoughts like:

• She is stealing my hard work.
• This is not right.
• What a slimy weasel (no offense to Ryan and Emily’s new pet ferrets).
• I can’t believe this.
• How DARE she!
• Oh no she di’int! (Clearly, she did.)

Would
most of you agree that plagiarism is not right? Sure. I’ve got a thread
on Facebook to prove it. But, I knew if I wanted to feel better, I
needed to get to work and replace these thoughts that felt extremely
icky.

Thanks to my pal Jackie Gartman, this is what I came up with:

• No one can steal my work. Not really.
• My
  web site copy is just a compilation of words. My real work is my truth,
  my energy and my light. That comes from within and backs up what I say
  on my site.

And, thanks to my new Facebook and Twitter friend Patti Digh–who had her writing plagiarized on the net and wrote a beautiful article
about it–I remembered that being authentic, and being yourself is its
own reward. It must not feel very good to need to use someone else’s
work as your own.

Now, I am sure you are wondering what is next.
What am I going to “do” about it. This is where is gets good. Because I
have cleaned up my thoughts, I can now take action from a very calm and
peaceful place. I can stand up for myself in an organized and powerful
way now that my thinking is not clouded with ick. It feels good to take
action from a clean place.

What can you do when something negative happens?

1. What you are thinking about the situation?
2. Does it feel good or bad? Write down the thoughts that feel bad.
3. 
   Notice how you feel when you think them. There is no up side EVER to
   feeling bad. There is no award for being a victim or martyr. Haven’t
   you noticed?
4. What can you think instead that you BELIEVE and that also FEELS BETTER?
5. Rinse and repeat.

I love the Byron Katie question, “Who would you be without that thought?”

I choose to continue to innovate, and not replicate.

Rock on, people!

We spend
more time teaching our kids to ride bikes, tie their shoes, and brush their
teeth than we do the critical skill of HOW TO THINK. 

I am sure
that the parochial school education that my parents worked so hard to provide
me never ever included a lesson that taught me “HEY! You get what you think
you’ll get!”  And, while my
excellent college experience taught me many things, like how to cram a million
credits in during your Junior year summer so that you graduate on time, I
wasn’t ever challenged to consider that I could change my results by changing
what and how I thought about things.

So, one day
last week after school, when my usually happy and excited Emily crawled in the
car and broke down in tears, I was curious about A. what she was thinking that
created her pain, and B. how quickly I could find a culprit to blame and run
them over with my SUV. It turned out that Emily experienced a third grade
substitute teacher that was not an Emily Hyatt fan.  This was a shock to her 9-year-old system and to this feisty
mama bear.

So after
letting her vent a bit, I noticed that she was not getting over it.  And, I was really interested to observe
that the conversation that I was having with her was not at all unlike many
client session conversations that I have recently had.  So, all revenge fantasies aside, I
wanted to share some things that I wished I had known in 3^rd grade.

·     
Everyone does not have to like you.  Contrary to the
many messages of your upbringing, if you are nice enough, work hard enough, are
pretty enough, sweet enough, dazzling enough, etc, it will NOT make people like
you.  And, further, stop trying so
hard to make sure that everyone “likes” you.  Everyone will not like you. That’s just how it is. And, it’s
a good darned thing. Because when someone doesn’t like you, it just shows you
where to go (and it’s not with them.) 
It helps you to be clear about WHO YOUR PEOPLE ARE. Your tribe.  And, of course, your people love you
when you like yourself. 

·     
What are you afraid will happen if someone does not like you? This was really interesting to explore with Emily.  What was her mind cooking up around
this?  Not unlike my client’s fears
of becoming broke and homeless, Emily was worried that she would miss out on
special class privileges, not being called on to answer during class, and being
punished for being too chatty. 
(Just for the record, being chatty is a great talent to have in the real
world, thank you very much Mrs. Substitute Teacher.)  It’s not that someone does not like you; it’s what you make
that mean that causes so much pain. 
Insert my favorite mantra ever here, “SO WHAT! WHO CARES?”  Someone doesn’t like me? Rock on. My
tribe just got tighter.

·     
Resisting what is (oh, gee,
someone does not like me, I must try to win them over) and wallowing in dirty pain about it creates a crappy mood and even more
of a crappy result.  
Dwelling on what you do not want only creates more of it.  So, after giving Emily the rock star
time to cry and vent and mope around the house, I asked her if she wanted me to
help her feel better, or let her moan and groan and create more drama.  She wanted to feel better.  Great. That is the first order of
business:  Are you are willing to
let go of your painful story and do you want to feel better?

·     
Decide how you want to feel. I revisited thought work with her. What thoughts could she think and
believe that would help her feel better whether or not the substitute teacher
liked her?  What did she like and
appreciate about school that would get her excited about the next day (instead
of her suggestion that she skip and hang with me).  I had her imagine the teacher being as mean and as nasty as
possible. Why was this so bad? She could TOTALLY hang with it. No one could
touch Thought Warrior Emily if she was marinating in kind thoughts.  What did she come up with?

“I like me.” Joy.

“This is only temporary.” Relief.

“I wonder what Mrs. Substitute is thinking that makes her act that
way?” Compassion.

If only I
knew this material when I thought my only recourse was to toilet paper roll
nasty teacher’s houses.  Oops. 

Queen
Latifah, Nelly and Colbie Callait take turns coaching me when I run.  I’ve been running now for about  5-6 months and am training for a half
marathon in October.  This is big
news and a magnificent obsession in my life.  Great discovery: the “runner’s high” does exist and is a fun
byproduct of taking care of myself. 
When I am not running with my kick ass friend Jill, I turn on my ipod to
make my run even more fun.  That’s
where my celebrity posse enters and I borrow lines from their music to create
motivating thoughts for myself.

Notice that
I said, “create motivating thoughts.'

Motivation
will not knock on your door and come snuggle in bed with you.  It will not tap you on the shoulder and
invite you to get up off of the couch. 
It will not interrupt your gossip session to remind you that you have an
appointment with yourself.  It can
only be found within you. 
Motivation is a feeling state that you create yourself.   

It’s the
coolest thing to realize that you can create any feeling state that you want
your very own self.  Happiness,
peace, calm, exhilaration, confidence, passion.   And, it doesn’t even matter if your brother just
punked you on Facebook, or if your cat peed on your fresh dry cleaning.  You get to decide what you will feel.  How?  Two questions:

How do you want to feel?

What would you need to think and then do to feel
that way?

Yesterday I wanted to feel motivated to
run.  My mind created lots of
excuses as to why running was not a good idea:  you do not have enough time, it is too hot, you can wait until
tomorrow, your favorite running skirt is dirty.

I laughed.

And then I decided that I would think this
instead: your body wants to move, there is always enough time, it is hot but I
can handle it, my second favorite running skirt is clean.

And then, I called on my celebrity running
posse and let them sing motivating songs to me.

Read these lyrics and see if you agree that I
couldn’t help but leave it all on the pavement with this running though my
head.

Something Special by Colbie
Callait

I found a way to be everything
I've dreamed of,
and I know it's in me
that I will become
who I want to be
and I finally found it and I'm taking the long way out
Cause it's going to be, something special to me
Something special to me

Days go by
and I grow stronger
It takes time, but I'll never let go
Days go by and I'll try harder to make it mine, I know…
Something special to me
Something special to me
Something special to me

I've found
so many things
I've dreamed of
and I know it's in me
that I will become
who I want to be
and I finally found it and I am taking the long way out
Cause it's gonna to be,
something special to me
Something special to me
Something
Special lyrics on
http://music.yeucahat.com/song/English/43145-Something-Special~Colbie-Caillat.html
Days go by and I grow stronger
It takes time, but I'll never let go
Days go by and I'll try harder to make it mine, I know…
It's something special to me

More than I hoped for
More than I dreamed of
This is how it should be.
More than I hoped for
More than I dreamed of
This is how it should be.

What are you listening to?

I am not
afraid to die.  This realization
hit me reading a great book by Gene O’Kelly called Chasing Daylight, How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life.  The author was diagnosed with a
terminal brain tumor and writes this little gem during the last 90 days of his
life.  It is a memoir about a
successful man who at the moment of discovering he is dying, decides to live.

O’Kelly
writes about living in the present moment for his final 90 days.  He noticed the simplest things that he
had been too busy to observe climbing the corporate ladder: a bird flying in
the sky, the sound of water in a stream, real conversations with people that he
loved.  He called these times
“perfect moments.”

The concept
of a Perfect Moment and O’Kelly’s story struck a chord with me.  Being in the present moment can be
tricky for me.  I’m someone who
doesn’t care much about the past, but I’ll invest buckets of time in the
future. Ideas and plans excite me. 
And, sometimes, I’ll plan to the extent that I miss the fun right in
front of me.  I work on this.  Daily.

I decided
after reading Chasing Daylight, that I would take a new approach to staying in
the present moment and created a simple coaching tool by the same name in honor
of the author.

Create A
Perfect Moment

1.     Stop-Once an hour, be intentional and stop what you are doing.

2.     Breathe-Take three or more deep breathes.

3.     Observe-Look around at what is happening in your surroundings and
find something to appreciate for 60 seconds.

4.     Gratitude-Marinate in what you are appreciating.  Really see it, smell it, hear it, taste
it.

Isn’t that
fun?  Here’s what I’ve
noticed.  Perfect Moments are
happening all of the time.  You
just have to take off your busy glasses and open your perfect moment eyes to
see them.  Brushing my daughter’s
hair.  Watching my crazy beagles
wrestle.  Really tasting a
delicious slice of strawberry pie. 
Laughing at the crazy fat squirrel that barks at me all the time.  These are perfect moments. 

Living
this way,  drinking in all that this life has to offer, keeps me centered
in a way that does not allow a fear of living or dying to have a place in me.