Tag: advice

5 Steps Towards Making Your Dream a Reality

Four years ago, we began sharing our love of yoga on Instagram by posting snapshots and picture tutorials of some of our favorite poses. With young kids at home, we rarely made it out to attend classes at yoga studios, but we loved to practice at home. We had a passion for connecting with others and sharing whatever we learned on our mats, so we posted photos often and helped build a virtual yoga community. We hoped to be able to reach a larger audience one day, and seeing that dream come true through our relationship with Gaiam has been a surreal experience.

Last month, we realized another one of our dreams as we launched the Two Fit Moms apparel line with Gaiam.

We want YOU to dream big too! So, in keeping with this theme, here are five things that we believe have helped us, and will help you, as you set on your path towards making your dreams a reality.

Think Positively: You need to believe it in order to achieve it, so the first thing on your list should be to create a positive affirmation. If you don’t believe in you, no one else will. Create your own personal mantra that you come back to time and again – especially when your faith in you falters. Consider starting and ending your day with this mantra. “I am strong, I am confident, I can achieve my dreams.”

Fake It, Until You Make It: You need to walk the walk and talk the talk – even if you don’t believe it at first. If your goal is to run a marathon one day, start playing the part of an athlete! Even if you are out of shape, you can start eating well, drinking water instead of sweetened beverages and committing to a daily walk. You need to believe in your dream, in your ability to achieve it, and you may need to adjust your mind and your actions in order to realize it. Live your mantra.

Be Resilient: Recognize that your dreams may change, they may take longer to achieve, they may require more work, or a partner or more resources. Being open to change and able to adapt to it will be important. Things don’t always work out the way we would like, so being able to land on your feet is key.

Ask for Help: Much of achieving a dream rests on you, but don’t be foolish. Ask for help. Look for guidance from others who may have insight or experience that would be helpful and valuable to you.

Return the Favor: Don’t take your opportunities for granted. Remember where you came from, be modest, be thankful and give back. Be a source of inspiration, and share your experience so that you can encourage others to start on their path to achieving their own dreams.

May 28, 2016
Advice from a Tree: Looking for Unexpected Sources of Inspiration

I stumbled upon this verse from Ilan Shamir called “Advice from a Tree.” I love how our stature, our sense of self and beauty, our nutrition and our perspective on life can be compared to a tree’s existence.

It really struck a chord, so I wanted to share it with all of you.

We draw wisdom from all different sources — but maybe we should look more closely at nature for inspiration and guidance on living.

July 15, 2015
Taking Care of You

Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a life coach. It’s an interesting concept. Most people have probably never considered the idea of getting a life coach, but in theory, I guess it makes a reasonable amount of sense. All elite athletes have a coach to help them train. A coach can see things in you that you are unable to see in yourself and therefore, they are able to direct you toward the best path for success.

Unlike a therapy session or a counseling session, which delves into your past to understand the present, life coaching analyzes the present in order to help bring positive change to your future.

At the end of my coaching session, I felt like I had been shown my own reflection, and that reflection wasn’t muddled or distorted. It was a perfect mirror, and I was able to see my own life with a level of clarity that I hadn’t seen prior to the session.

I didn’t receive bucket loads of advice from this coach. In fact, I think good coaches rarely tell you what to do— they illuminate the way so that YOU know exactly what to do and can make those important decisions yourself. This particular coach did happen to give me a piece of advice, and I’m so happy that she did. It’s such a great piece of advice that I’m going to pass it on to you. It sounds obvious, but it’s not as simple as it sounds. Are you ready? Here goes:

Do something for yourself every single day.

Did you get that? You probably think you do, and maybe you do. I thought I got it, but I didn’t.

I said to the coach, “I always do things for myself! I wake up at the crack of dawn each day and exercise, just for ME! I stay up late preparing healthy meals for the next day. That’s also for ME! I practice yoga to balance all of my strength training and to stay limber. And I even meditate every night! Trust me, I’m doing lots of things for myself. I’ve got this concept down pat.”

The coach listened. We then discussed each of the items that I rattled off my list. After talking for quite a while, I came to understand that everything that I did each day for myself was out of obligation, not pleasure. The coach’s intention behind her suggestion to do something for myself every single day was based on pure pleasure.

Yes, I happen to enjoy my daily wellness habits, but I’m not doing any of those items for pleasure. I exercise, meditate, stretch and cook for hours to maintain good health and to avoid painful flare-ups. I do them religiously because I value my health and partly because I fear the pain and immobility that accompanies an autoimmune flare-up.

So now…. Time to re-evaluate. Do I do something for myself every single day? Purely for pleasure? Probably not. I am ready to make this change. Are you? It doesn’t have to be an hour-long activity. It can even be 15 minutes. What do you love? Maybe it’s a cup of tea at a favorite café. Maybe it’s a bath at night. Maybe it’s a bike ride or a half hour with a magazine or good novel. Whatever it is, let it be something with no strings attached. No guilt attached.

Do it for your well-being. Do it as a daily ritual to honor yourself.

Please share what you plan on doing each day in the comments section below!

April 19, 2015
10 Things I Would Say to My 20-Year Old Self

When I was 20-years old, I was finishing up my Sophomore year of college. I had strong opinions, a will of steel, and nobody could tell me anything about the world. Sometimes, I wonder if I would even listen to my own advice if I had the chance to go back in time and talk to my 20-year old self. I guess I will never know, but if I DID have the opportunity, here are the ten things I would say.

1. You CAN have it all. You just can’t have it all at the same time. You want to have a big career. You want to travel the world. You want to have a social life. You want to sleep eight hours every night. You want to volunteer your time. You want to hit the gym every morning. Go ahead and think big and dream big! Just remember that all of your wishes and dreams cannot and will not come true simultaneously. Decide what you want most now, and work on prioritizing those items.

2. Go ahead and wear that bikini. There is nothing wrong with your body. The problem is with your warped perception. You are fit and healthy, and nobody else sees all of the flaws that you think you have. When you look back in 20 years, you will not criticize the young woman in the photo. Instead, you will be in awe at how young you looked, and how happy and carefree you seemed.

3. Life is not fair. Bad things will happen. You will experience your share of difficult times, but you are strong and resilient and can handle anything that comes your way. No matter what, you will be just fine.

4. Stop baking in the sun. Your tan is not what makes you beautiful. It won’t actually make you look leaner. You have no flaws that need to be hidden. I assure you that there are healthier and more productive ways to spend your time than lying in the sun for hours.

5. Keep working hard. You may not fully see the purpose now, but it is shaping your character, making you stronger, and honing all sorts of skills that will come in handy later in life. There is no time like your 20s to work like a dog, start saving for the future, and absorb knowledge like a sponge.

6. Stop weighing yourself. You do not need the scale to confirm what you already know. You know when you are eating well. You know when you are not eating well. You know when your clothes feel comfortable, and you know when they feel too tight. Small day-to-day fluctuations in your weight should not determine your mood for the day. Your self worth is not measured in pounds. Stay off the scale.

7. Get your sugar addiction under control. I know you think you are healthy because you eat so many vegetables and exercise like a beast, but you have no idea how destructive your sugar addiction is. Stay away from the muffins, pastries, cookies and white flour treats. Perhaps you will be able to avoid all sorts of illnesses and ailments in the coming years. If you want sugar, have some fruit.

8. Don’t be afraid to fail. It’s tempting to avoid challenges because there is no guarantee of success. I know that failure is embarrassing. Embrace the opportunity anyway. If you succeed, there will be no better feeling than knowing you overcame difficult circumstances to reach that success. If you fail, you will learn and grow.

9. Listen to your body. Some days, you will feel the intense need to go outside and run. Go run. Other days, you will feel a strange sense of exhaustion and not want to exercise at all. Don’t exercise. Your body is an efficient machine. It knows what it needs to stay healthy, and it will speak to you, if you are willing to listen. You will want to override that internal voice, but it will truly serve you well if you just tune in, listen, and obey.

10. Be generous with your compliments. Your words have the power to uplift and to heal. Be genuine, and don’t hold back. It costs you nothing and bestows the gift of happiness and confidence upon someone who might need it.

August 13, 2014