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Age is an Attitude

My grandmother loves to tell anyone who will listen how terrible it is to grow old. She believes she is old, so she feels old. I can only soothe my Grandmother and make her laugh, but I know something that she was never told.

Let me share a powerful, life altering fact with all you vibrant women out there – Age is an Attitude! We’re only as old as we think we are, and our thoughts are the energy that creates our attitude.

As you can see from person to person, we all age at different rates and with different areas of struggle and ease. Many people like to attribute our aging to genetics and our family medical history. And while, yes, these things can be contributing factors, much more powerful and completely within your control is your attitude.

Having a sunny disposition isn’t always easy, but is always worth the effort. We may feel frustrated or irritated with a current situation or nagging condition but when we learn what fuels these feelings, shifting the circumstance becomes child’s play.

Our powerful energy

Success or failure in money, love, relationships, health and happiness begins and ends with the energy we carry around in our bodies.

Energy is behind all circumstances in our lives.

As children we pick up this energy from our parents and society around us. We learn to say, do and focus the way our parents and other influential adults did. As we grow up our discernment is heightened and developed to allow us to make different decisions and recognize more clearly what feels good to us.

It may take some of us longer to know what feels good for us; as women we have historically been “taught” to spend our time and energy caring for and worrying over others. When our parents, children and spouses take center stage in our lives we can completely lose touch with who we may be outside of our relationships with them.

Taking the time to cultivate an awareness of what feels good to us and what we want to do is paramount to our living a “young” and happy life.

Focus on you

Appreciate your deep capacity to love and care for others and then turn that powerful focus on yourself. Begin to notice your thoughts.

Are you soothing and uplifting yourself in your mind or are you beating yourself up for not being, doing or having more?
What ways are you already supporting the healthy happy life you want? In what ways could you be better?
What baby steps could you take to move yourself closer to the kind of self-care that will actually support you in thriving rather than just surviving?

Here are a few suggestions:

Watch what you think. Of course, what you ingest (food, media, conversations, etc.) makes a difference, but even more important is how you feel about what you’re doing. What are your thoughts telling you? Do you feel like life is working out for you or are you on a hamster wheel of negativity? These thoughts will lend great insight into whether what you are currently doing is working or not.

Find the feeling. When you are upset, nervous, sad, worried or frustrated take a moment to locate that feeling physically in your body. Is it in your stomach, chest, heart or throat? This is the energy behind the situation. Relax and give your brain a rest for a moment, tell it you’ll think about the problems later. Give yourself a moment to breathe and feel through the physical sensations of your upset. As the feeling passes you’ll have access to more productive thoughts.

Self Soothe. Our minds are always focused on what’s wrong. Once you’re able to fully recognize and acknowledge this you can stop worrying about all the things you think are wrong. Just like you don’t get mad at the mailman for delivering mail, you can stop fretting over the barrage of thoughts you are confronted with daily. You can change your focus by relaxing, breathing and moving through difficult moments and emotions throughout your day. Tell yourself, “It’s OK. Everything is always working out for me. Bless my heart this feeling is intense. I’m OK. It’s all OK.”

Meditate daily. Ideally 20 minutes twice a day, morning and evening. Let that be something you work up to if it feels too daunting or overwhelming. Start out with 5 or even 3 minutes to get yourself started. Remember you’re not doing it wrong if you have thoughts while meditating. You’ll get to the point that your thoughts slow down greatly, but in the beginning, just being aware of the tone and direction of your thoughts will help.

As you begin supporting yourself in this way you will notice yourself being drawn to food, people, supplements, make-up lines and products that you feel good about. You will notice yourself feeling better about yourself and celebrating with gratitude the gifts in your daily life.

Take some time for yourself every day – no one else can do it for you!