Lamisha Serf-Walls

Back On Track

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Over the last year or so I have attempted to work some type of fitness into my daily routine as much as possible.  Some weeks I do really well while during others I am lucky to fit a 20 minute walk in an entire week.  Needless to say I have not been very consistent or motivated.  While my weight hasn’t fluctuated all that much despite the lack of activity, I am beginning to see a difference in how I feel, both in regards to my mental focus (or lack there of) and energy and it is not a positive difference at all.  I find myself fatigued much of the time and while my to do list continues to grow, my motivation continues to plummet.  This weekend I was reminded that I need to refocus my health goal and set a new intention to create (and stick to) a fitness regime.

One of my most basic issues with setting a plan surprisingly is that I have been working on being in the flow of life.  Instead of setting a schedule and stressing over every detail, I am sort of letting life take me where it chooses to some degree.  I am learning that this method only works with some things, and perhaps fitness is not one of these areas.  If I am honest with myself (and you) “flowing with life” is probably an excuse I have come up with to make me feel better about not exercising as much as I need to.  I know I have not made my own fitness regime a priority in my life and while it isn’t always my favorite thing to do, I need to make the time for it again.

How do you make time?

I have always believed that we make the time for the things that are important to us, but in a world where we wear many hats, how can you make the time for all that you need and want to do?  Sometimes it seems impossible.

I could give you a million reasons why I don’t work out, how it doesn’t fit into my schedule, or why it is just difficult to stick to, but I won’t.  Instead I will tell you why making time for fitness and any other task that is part of your dream is important.

There will always be something else to do instead of your craft (or any goal or dream you may have) and you may very well find a way to rationalize why the other thing is more important at that moment, but if your dream is worth achieving you must make the time for it.  No.Matter.What.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be every day, but if you create a schedule, stick to it.  (This goes for me and my fitness schedule as well.)  If writing a book is important and you are ready to achieve that dream, set a writing schedule.  If you want to make your dreams a reality, they aren’t going to magically appear, just as I am not going to wake up one morning and suddenly be able to run a mini-marathon, believe me if this was true, I would have run several by now.

We must prioritize the things that are important to us.  If you are like me, you have a list a mile long of things you want to accomplish in a day, but the reality is that even with an unlimited number of hours in a day, you still wouldn’t complete everything.  Prioritizing is a must, but I think the most important thing to do is to is remember we are human.

Life happens.

There will be times when we get distracted and fall out of our routines.  It happens, and the best we can do is flow with what comes and get back to what is important to us.  That is exactly what I am intending to do.  I am getting back to a peaceful mind, energetic body, and creative soul through exercise and meditation.  And while it will require me to rethink how I spend my time (especially since I am blogging again), making time for meditation and exercise is essential for the rest of my dreams to become reality.

With so many responsibilities in our day-to-day lives, we often forget to take care of ourselves and our needs.  Now is the time to change that.  I encourage you to look at your dreams and goals and without judgement, see where you can fit more time to those things that bring you joy, so you too can be that much closer to making your dreams a reality.

What do you want to make more time for?

Gratitude: Connection and Twinkling Stars

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This week I have been feeling an immense sense of gratitude for many things and today I have chosen two to share with you.

 

The first thing I am grateful for this week is connection.  Connection with people, places, nature, and life as a whole.  This week I have been reminded of the profound connections we are capable of and when you become aware of these connections, it is a beautiful thing.  I am reminded that even with the many differences we have from one another, we truly are connected by a beautiful golden thread.  One that allows us to reach past our differences and see the wonderful human beings we truly are.  I am so grateful for my connection with my friends, my partner, and my son.  Connections that mean so much to me, and for each moment I am aware of these connections, I say a little ‘thank you’ because in that moment I realize I am in the flow of life, and loving every moment of it.

 
I am also grateful for gorgeous twinkling stars.  This morning as I was leaving the house just before placing my son in the car, I looked up and saw what looked like a million stars shining brightly.  It was amazing.  I told my son to look up and see the vast sky I was looking at and surprisingly he did.  We both just stared in awe for a few moments before getting in the car.  There was something so sweet about that moment that I shared with my son that gave me the warm fuzzies and made for a great start to the day.

 

I hope you find some wonder in your weekend ahead and take a moment to revel in the beauty of nature and the connections of every day life.  Life feels like it flies by sometimes, but when you take a moment to really experience it, one moment can feel like a lifetime.

My Monarch Messenger

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This past weekend as my partner was leaving to run some errands, she noticed we had a beautiful visitor just outside the front door.  A monarch butterfly had landed on our mums and decided to stay awhile, several hours to be exact.  Every once and awhile it would fly out to the front yard, around our tree and back again. When she showed me the picture she had taken, I was intrigued.

I have seen many butterflies recently on walks around our neighborhood.  I have seen all yellow ones, black ones, and even gorgeous black and yellow ones quite frequently, and every time I see a new one, I smile.  I am reminded of the transformation that takes place inside the cocoon in order for this gorgeous creature to emerge.  Since I have been seeing more and more butterflies recently, I have found it to be a confirmation of my own transformation taking place and a message that I am not alone on my journey. (Something I know to be true, but a little reminder every now and then doesn’t hurt.)

Though I have seen several butterflies recently there were two things that made this particular butterfly stand out to me.  One is that it was a monarch butterfly and in the year we have lived here, I have never seen a monarch butterfly, let alone have one visit us for such a long time.  The other thing that made this butterfly stand out to me is the length of time it stayed perched on our flowers, flying away every once in a while only to return to its original place.  I couldn’t help but think there was some sort of symbolism or message that we were supposed to get.  And since I know there are no such things as coincidences, I wanted to find out the message from our monarch.

Our weekend visitor

Here is what I found from www.zimbio.com.  “Monarchs bring the message of courage: have courage, walk with courage, make changes in courage.  This butterfly travels huge distances on their annual migration following the same route as many birds.  Humans do not have the courage, generally, to travel to unknown places with the conviction of faith that the Monarchs have.  That is the other part of the message-to have faith.  Monarchs realize that the world is not something they control, and yet they make this huge journey.  Humans feel the need to control everything-people, environment, weather, plants and animals.  The message is to let go and let the journey happen. (from Spirit Animals-the Monarch Butterfly-Missing August 29, 2008)

There are many lines in this seemingly small passage that speak to me, one of which is to walk and make changes with courage.  Change has the ability to excite and scare me all in the same breath, and while my journey forward isn’t always outlined and mapped out for me, courage is a necessity to keep moving forward.

Having faith is another part of the message that really resonated with me.  Despite not knowing what may come around the corner, we all must have faith that it will work out for us no matter what.  Sure maybe our journey didn’t take us the route we thought we should go, but in the end sometimes the route we didn’t think of is much better.  We must keep the faith that all will be revealed at the right time, and we will end up exactly where we should be, even if it isn’t where we thought we would end up.

This takes me to the idea of control.  This piece hit a chord with me more than I would like to admit.  I, like many people I am sure, have this desire to have as much control as possible over the outcomes of my dreams, job, and life in general.  The reality is, I can’t really control everything…though try as I might, it just doesn’t work.  So in order to succeed on any journey we are on in life, we must learn to “let go and let the journey happen”.  I love that so much.

Thank you my monarch messenger for such an amazing gift of your beauty, and the reminder to have courage and faith as I move toward my dreams and just when I feel frustration and resistance setting in, I will learn to let go and allow my journey to happen.

How do you let go and allow your journey to simply unfold?

Gratitude: Fall Colors and Fresh Air

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Today the things I am grateful for relate to nature and the amazing beauty it provides for us all if we are open enough to see and appreciate it.

One thing I love so much about fall are the beautiful shades of fire reds, golden yellows, and outstanding oranges. There really isn’t anything like it. Although I don’t get to see as many glorious colors now that I live in South Carolina, I remember how picturesque the colors were in my hometown in Indiana. I remember walking under huge oak trees with colorful leaves falling all around me and smiling at such immense beauty. I miss that very much. I was reminded of that today when I saw some beautiful leaves changing colors on my walk today. Such a seemingly simple view made me smile and reminded me of the natural beauty that is all around us.

The other thing that I am grateful for today also comes from nature…fresh air. This week I wasn’t able to get outside as much as I normally do so I decided to take a much needed walk on my lunch break. The fresh air was amazing! There is nothing better than a bit of fresh air and sunshine to help soothe the soul.

Add to that the changing colors of the leaves and you get one perfectly peaceful connection with nature.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and you get to enjoy some natural beauty in your part of the world.

My (not so) Tiny Triumph

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Today has been one of those days filled with ample frustration, work, and irritation.  For the most part my day job runs fairly smoothly without much headache, but boy was today different.  I felt like my energy was spread about in many different directions yet little was getting accomplished.  As I felt my stress building, I received an inspirational email about the upside to irritation.  Clearly this email was meant for me to read at that exact moment.  (I love when that happens. )

The email talked about how every moment or circumstance that invokes frustration or any other negative emotion, is an opportunity to find peace.  It sounds a little bit backwards, but when I took the time to think about it, I could see the point.  Every moment I allowed the frustration of the day to get to me was one less peaceful moment.  I had to make a choice to allow the circumstances that I couldn’t control (most of the work circumstances) to be however they were going to be and change my response to them.

I would love to say I got the message and my entire day turned around, but that’s not entirely true.

As the day wore on the frustration wore me out, literally and it caused me to lose some focus.  I began worrying about all the other things I had to do for the evening that were also piling up because of the lack of time (or the perception of lack, but more on that in another post).  One frustrating thought lead to another and it created a snowball effect from there.  I finally made the choice to change that.

I changed my thoughts.

My mantra for the day changed.  Instead of thinking “I don’t have time to ______(fill in the blank)”, I began thinking, “I will do what I can.”  It was amazing what happened.  I felt lighter, more productive, and surprisingly more in control.  Was all my work done in the matter of minutes?  No, but my focus had changed from what I couldn’t do and what I didn’t have (time), to what I could accomplish in the time I had left.  Everything else that didn’t take top priority for the moment was put on my list for tomorrow and the best part about it all is now I have enough energy and mental power to get a few items done this evening.  One of which is relaxing after a long day.
This may seem like a tiny triumph for one day, but to me it is a lifetime lesson.

There are bound to be many more moments when I feel overwhelmed with all of my commitments especially having a family, working full-time, training for life coaching (in the future), and starting my business.  There will be times when I need to take a step back find my peace in the midst of chaos and with this one lesson I will be a little more prepared for the future.

When you look at it that way, this seemingly tiny triumph isn’t so tiny at all.

What about you? What do you do when you feel overwhelmed or frustrated?