Gain Momentum with Reflection and Intention

We are almost three full months into 2022.

Do you feel any different? Are you doing anything differently? Or is it just another day like 2021 was?

If you're like me and have a junk email folder, you've probably already received a bunch of New Year emails to sign up for this webinar or for making this or that purchase to transform your life.

And here you are, reading my email. I thank you for that! I'm grateful to all of you who read my emails. Better yet, I love it when you send me an email back.

My new year didn't start on such a good note, as I was sick with a cold over Christmas and New Year's. Because of being sick, 2022, so far, has been like any other day.

Anyway, back to the first topic; 2022.

I've written a lot of posts about habits, how we can achieve better results from good habits, etc. So, today I thought I'd share some questions to help you reflect upon 2021 and some questions to help guide intentions towards the future.

It's a fact that only about 25% of those that set a New Year's Resolution stick with it for even 30 days. Those numbers are rather dismal and worse, yet only 8% are expected to achieve their resolutions. So, if you want to be successful, perhaps examine what was and set a course for action on what's next.

Gain Momentum with Reflection and Intention

Looking Back – Here are some questions to ponder.

What was the greatest lesson or gift you received in 2021?
What did life look like for you during the year, the quarters, the months, the weeks, and the days of 2021?
If anything, what would you have done differently? (No judgment, no shame or blame here).

Looking Forward –

Get clear on what you want.
What do you love to do that you didn't do in 2021?
If you knew you wouldn't fail, what would you do?
What does your perfect day look like?
What does your heart tell you?
What is a big hairy audacious goal you might have?

Time doesn't stand still and wait for you to catch up, so you must go get what you want. If you're looking forward to the future, planning for it will provide you with more
opportunities to get what you say you want.

If you leave what you want to chance, you get whatever life throws at you. That's not to say that just doing it is a bad thing.

As the American rock band Kansas so poetically sang, Dust in the Wind, so will our resolutions become.

One last parting thought.

Don't wait for the perfect moment. Take the moment and make it perfect ~ Aryn Kyle.

In love and health,
Vonie

P.S. For more inspiration in setting yourself up for success in 2022, head over to YouTube and watch the video, Touch the White Fence. I've shared it with you before. It is worth watching over and over again.

P.S.S. Need help clarifying your future; schedule a complimentary call today.

In Love and Health,

Vonie

What Do Horses Have to Do With Weight Loss?

I get asked this all the time!

"Vonie - what do horses have to do with weight loss?"

Here's the short answer — ?

Recent studies conducted by the Institute of Heart-Math provide a clue to explain the two-way ′′healing′′ that occurs when we're close to horses.

According to researchers, the heart has an electromagnetic field larger than the brain: a magnetometer can measure the heart's energy field that radiates from 2.4 meters to 3 meters around the human body.

While this is undoubtedly significant, perhaps more impressive, the electromagnetic field projected by a horse's heart is five times larger than that of a human being (imagine an electromagnetic sphere around the horse). It can influence straight into our own heart and reduce the heart rate.

Here's the long answer — ?

As I ask the questions that help you look at what is holding you back and keeping you from living the life you want, they catch the incongruencies, the self-doubt, the limiting beliefs, and the lack of trust you might have in yourself to make the shift, to dive into loving who you are.

You see, they are intuitive, and so am I!

They read you like a book, and when a 1200 lb. horse partners with me in the coaching process
they are a bonus to the Gestalt work and offer their gift of love.

They hold no judgment and no beliefs about you other than you're a human being.

Together, we'll meet you where you're at and help you explore the parts of yourself holding you back. Then you'll notice the calm that transpires, as your heart feels lighter, and your sense of well-being is lifted to a place of self-love, knowing that you can do anything you put your mind to.

The Aha moments are immense, and that's another reason coaching with a horse is great for weight loss.

So, you don't live close. That's okay; if you can't make a flight out to see us, we are available on Zoom. Yes, it really works on Zoom too.

OR, check out my online health and wellness program, One Size Fits None.

Three months ago, Francisco, one of my One Size Fits None program participants, didn't even go for walks. Now he does, and he even wants to start running.

He found that his addiction to unhealthy foods and lifestyle buried him in shame.

Today, there is no shame!

Book your complimentary call today and learn more about how you, too, can step off the scale and lose the weight of the world.

In love and health,
Vonie

The Practice of Good Health Equals Success

Maybe your health isn't what you want it to be. Perhaps you've vowed to go on a diet time and time again only to sabotage your efforts. Or, maybe you keep finding yourself skipping those workouts and plan to do better next week.

Before you know it, it's next month or even worse, six months later, and you're still feeling the pressure of not being where you want to be in life.

I've been there. Sometimes I'm still there and have to remind myself that it's a matter of habits and triggers.

Consider this Jim Rohn quote - "motivation is what gets you started. Habits are what keep you going".

What habits do I want to get rid of, and which habits do I want to include in my daily life to get where I want to be?
What are you motivated to change?
How do you want your life to look?
What excites you?

It's easy to say, if you're not happy where you are in life, change it. But it's another story to actually do it.

However, if you decide to change something, know that you've signed up for something uncomfortable because change is usually uncomfortable.

First, ask yourself, do I want this change?

If it's a resounding yes, make a vow with yourself. Vow that you won't give up and that you'll do your very best to keep your commitment to yourself.

The Practice of Good Health Equals Success

Below are five tips to help you create new habits and keep that commitment.

Know your triggers - be specific. What event, person, situation, location, or time of day sets you up for a bad habit?
Old habit - identify the habit you want to break. Get specific.
Plan accordingly - be mindful of the triggers that set you up for the bad habit. Example: an office meeting with sweets on the table.
New habit (behavior) - how can you plan for the situation (change the trigger) so you don't fall into the trap of the old habit?
Practice - if you do things in smaller chunks, they can lead to significant action. Example: Spend 5 minutes working out. Before you know it, you've built a new habit and will eventually go longer. The key is to be consistent.

On a final note, it's never too late to start something new.

If you think you're too old, if you wait until you're ready, or you're 10 pounds thinner, you could end up waiting another six months or six years for the perfect time to make the changes.

Give yourself the gift of being your best friend. What would you tell them?

If you'd like some more information on creating better habits, I recommend Automatic Habits by James Clear. It's a great book.

You can also join me in my program, 'One Size Fits None'. and gain tools to help you improve your health and habits in life.

In Love and Health,

Vonie

Three Keys to Better Health

William Shakespeare was quoted to say, "Our Bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners."

When I read that quote, I paused and let the words sink in.

As I thought about my body being a garden, I considered how many people I've met, myself included, who have talked negatively to themselves, and proceeded to grow weeds instead of flowers. My thoughts then led to how nutrition negatively or positively impacts our bodies. Of course, exercise is also a key component to pulling out the weeds so that the garden can flourish.

I like this metaphor!

The word "wills" jumped out at me. What kind of gardeners are we if we let the weeds take over? What would our gardens look like if they were fed positive words and food nourishing them and stuck to our planned exercise routines?

Sticking with the garden metaphor, I know it's not always easy to get in and tend to a garden. The mind can get in the way and tell you no, I'll hit the snooze button, or I can't get up that early. Maybe you've got some old injuries that get in the way, and you feel like you can't do the gardening. Or perhaps you've gained a few pounds and feel self-conscious in the gym.

The thing is, to get the best harvest, you've got to pull the weeds, so what are you WILLING to do to get the best crop (health) you can get?

Three Keys to Better Health

When you exercise…

1. your mind, in the positive sense, offers your nervous system an opportunity to see things in a different light. Studies have shown

improved mental health
improved self-esteem
greater life satisfaction
greater physical well-being
improved immune system function
greater vitality
increased lifespan
improved stress reduction
greater and improved cardiovascular health/function
pain reduction

2. your body; grows muscle to support the joints and strengthen the bones to carry you. The body is meant to move, not sit for hours at a time. It also…

makes you feel better.
it lubricates your joints
it helps you sleep better
it controls your weight
it reduces the chances of diseases.
it manages blood sugar and insulin levels
it improves mental health
it increases your ability to think and function on a higher level
it improves your sexual health and, more

3. healthy and nutritional eating habits; offers your body the nutrition it needs to run optimally, to grow and repair tissue, stay healthy, maintain strength and vitality, as well as diet-related illnesses.

Ultimately, when fed a healthy diet, the body flourishes as it does with physical activity and a positive mindset, all of which decrease the risk of disease.

So, what else can you do?

The first step to becoming a 'master gardener' is to admit what is not working. Then understand that your thoughts and actions, both past, and present, make up the life you have lived and the one you live now.

NO JUDGMENT ZONE HERE! We ALL did the best that we could under the knowledge and circumstances of our lives.
Next, let go of emotional crutches. It isn't easy, but it is necessary to make change happen.
Listen to your feelings. What are they telling you? Then, stop avoiding them with food, exercise, Netflix, or whatever it is that you use to prevent them.
Step out of your comfort zone and get going.

This list is by no means the 'be-all-end-all' of what you can do to make change happen.

As someone who coaches health and wellness, I know that exercising good habits can be challenging. However, anything is possible with planning, preparation, and the mindset to change.

How "will" you show up as a master gardener and grow a mental, emotional, and physical body that flourishes?

Hump Day

Back in November, I wrote a post called “A War Between Body, Mind, and Spirit.” I want to play on that a little bit more this week, as I had some interesting responses to the email.

One subscriber wrote back and told me that they hear too much whispering going on behind them on their own battlefield.

Another wrote back about how getting older and looking back can get scary. They appreciated the insights they often found when reading my emails and blog posts.

I also had one person ‘unsubscribe.’

That used to bother me.

Now I think of it as someone who is no longer my audience, my tribe, and perhaps the whispers hit too close to home. Either way, unsubscribes no longer touch me in the negative.

On the flip side, out of all the people who opened the email, at least two got something from it. Now, that touches my heart.

So, why is this post called —

“Hump Day”?

While I was preparing to write this week’s email, I thought about last week’s post and how I’ve felt since that “battlefield” coaching session. I thought about how it played out and where I stand today compared to the day of the session.

Then my mind jumped to a metaphor for the comparison.

I love metaphors!

So, hump day is Wednesday. It’s said it’s not as “depressing” as Monday and not as “exciting” as Friday.

Interesting, it just hit me! There’s a story behind this for me, but I’m going to keep that one to myself.

Okay, I digress.

If I’m not depressed and I’m not excited, then it must be Wednesday.

The reality is that the coaching session and all the other hard work I did before the session and what I’ve done since that session are paying off.

The veil of sadness of these past months is lifting and coming off, and now I can see brighter days ahead. I can see through, up and over, and around the “whispers.” The battlefield has been cleaned up, and the mind and body are no longer at war with each other.

If you are dealing with a veil of sadness, whispers, or battlefields, here are some tips for getting through the war zone.

Rest – get plenty of rest; your body needs it. When we are rested, it makes life more bearable.
Hydrate – that seems so simple, but it isn’t. When you are hydrated, you will reduce headaches, reduce depression, fatigue, and anxiety.
Eat healthy – when the body is fueled with proper nutrients, you’ll feel better overall.
Read self-help books – only you know what’s happening, so select a book that speaks to your situation and read it, embrace it, and do the homework the book offers. No sense reading it if you aren’t willing to do the work.
Write in a journal – journaling is one of the quickest ways to get your thoughts out and on paper.
Allow yourself to be sad – for goodness’ sake, don’t let anyone take this away from you. It’s essential to FEEL your emotions, so you can move through them and not get them stuck in your body.
Listen to music – even if it’s that mushy stuff that makes you sad. However, something to cheer you up might be of better use here.
Put the situation into context – what’s true, what’s not true, what do you know for sure, put the “what ifs” away, and focus on what is. Then ride the wave of emotions and declare doing so as a victory.

There are many other things you can do. The list above is just to get you started if you need it.

Here’s the thing, when dealing with sadness, grief, whispers, or battlefields, people will often make statements of, I’m depressed. Is it depression, or is it sadness, grief, etc.? Give it time and see if you can pull the veil off.

In the meantime, seek the help of a coach or counselor who can help you lift the veil. It’s what I did, and I’m a coach. I did all the work I could do solo and sought my coach for the rest.

Does that mean I won’t ever have another battlefield? No, but I do know how to get through should I need to.

In love and health,
Vonie

The Healing Power of Horses - A Cancer Survivor's Story

Balancing a book and a water bottle on a white plastic chair, I made my way into my horse’s pasture where I would settle myself for some reading and quiet time. Acknowledging my presence, my gelding Cody lifted his head. He immediately lowered it again, satisfied that the chair was something he’d seen before and wouldn’t eat him; he went back to grazing. Making my way across the uneven ground of the pasture, I did my best to balance myself so I wouldn’t stumble or lose the items that were threatening to fall to the ground.

Once I found my usual spot in the pasture, I settled into the chair. I closed my eyes, felt the soft early summer breeze as it delicately blew the blades of green grass. I wore a hat on my head to keep the sun from burning my now bald head. I could feel its warmth, and I let out a sigh as I found comfort in knowing that once I disconnected from the world, Cody would join me. Sitting and reading in the pasture or in Cody’s stall became a routine as the days and weeks of cancer treatments passed. Sometimes I would journal or just sit and watch time go by, knowing that I’d feel better spending time with him. The healing presence of my beautiful red horse always did the trick of getting me out of my head and into the present moment. I say healing because there is magic to be found while in the presence of horses.

Horses are powerful in body and spirit, yet they can help us find peace in the chaos of our lives. My chaos was a cancer diagnosis and the treatments I faced. I was grateful for Cody! Having a horse of my own that I could rely upon to help me let go of the heartache meant the world to me.

I was a 59-year-old athlete who injured her knee only to find out months later that it was lymphoma localized to my knee joint. I hadn’t run in months. I could no longer go to the gym as my immune system was too low, and honestly, I couldn’t lift anything heavy with a PICC line (an intravenous catheter) in my arm and a knee that was ready to break at the joint.

Despite the knee, I made my way into his pasture as often as I could. The gifts I received from being with Cody outweighed the risk, at least in my mind. My orthopedic oncologist might not have agreed, but I knew something about horses that he didn’t.

As the cancer treatments progressed, my knee started to heal, and it got easier to walk through the pasture. However, I continued to spend as much time with Cody as possible while working through the many emotions and feelings I dealt with each day.

Horses have a heightened sensitivity to human emotion and can detect what we don’t even know—all the more reason for us to spend time with our horses. One study on equine-facilitated psychotherapy suggested that horses are “living, breathing biofeedback machines because they externally reveal internal processes in real-time” (Lentini & Knox, 2009, p. 52).

I know from experience that spending time with a 1200-pound horse brings you into awareness pretty quickly as it’s essential to pay attention to your surroundings. This tends to bring us into the present moment and get us out of our heads.

As a coach who partners with horses in the Equine Gestalt Coaching Method, I knew the benefits of spending time with my horse, and I can attest to the healing I’ve witnessed when working with my clients. Many have reported back to me how empowered they felt after a session was completed. They’ve also discovered the psychological benefits of decreased stress responses and reduced tension and anger through their experience in an equine session. In addition, the physiological interaction with horses is therapeutic—blood pressure and heart rate decrease, something I needed to help me through the cancer treatment process.

All too often, we are faced with daily tension from traffic, jobs we don’t like, relationships that aren’t serving us, decisions we struggle to make, a diagnosis that scares the hell out of us, or maybe a past trauma or grief we haven’t been able to rid our bodies of. The list is endless as to why people seek help from coaches or therapists who partner with horses to help others find happiness and healing.

In love and health,
Vonie

You can find also find this featured story at NW Horse Source Magazine.