Liebster Award #2

I am so excited to be nominated a second time this month for the Liebster Award and I would like to thank my sweet friend and fellow blogger extraordinaire from beautiful India, Bhavya Mishra https://chicwithmessybun.wordpress.com/

Bhavya, you have the best URL name!

Here are the rules to be followed:

• Once you are nominated, make a post thanking and linking the person who nominated you.
• Include the Liebster Award sticker in the post too.
• Nominate 5 -10 other bloggers who you feel are worthy of this award. Let them know they have been nominated by commenting on one of their posts. You can also nominate the person who nominated you.
• Ensure all of these bloggers have less than 200 followers.
• Lastly, COPY these rules in the post.

I would like to nominate:

https://hargunwahi.wordpress.com/

https://preetikumari858.wordpress.com/

https://darshith0000.wordpress.com/

https://piyush1806.wordpress.com/

https://chicwithmessybun.wordpress.com/

https://ricksreviewz.wordpress.com/

https://ratraceofmylife.wordpress.com/

Questions I was asked by ChicWithMessyBun:

1. If you could go to the future, where would it be? And why?
   I have always wanted to go to Fiji. The white sandy beaches against the turquoise crystal clear water is so beautiful.  I love the hotel huts that sit over the ocean and have glass bottom floors so when you are in your hotel room, you can see the fish swimming under you.  I know I will get there one day!
2. What is your western zodiac sign?
   I am a Capricorn which falls between December 22^nd – January 19^th I was born Dec. 29^th and the year is not that important! 😉 Capricorns are known for being hard working, loving, patient and resourceful. We don’t have any bad habits… LOL!
3. What was the turning point of your life?
   I have had many but if I had to name the first one, it was when I became a Registered Nurse in the Operating Room. This profession opened my eyes and heart to people who truly needed help because they were either injured or sick and needed to heal with as much help as possible. I felt like I could make a difference and even though there were times when I felt scared to do something, I did it anyway and it has helped me to this day in dealing with different events. I have more compassion inside of me because of being a nurse which I am very grateful for.

4. What is the most important thing to you?
   That’s an easy one. Honesty and Trust. There’s a great quote about honesty; “being honest may not get you a lot of friends, but it will always get you the right ones.”  ~John Lennon.  And another great quote about trust; “Trust is like a paper, once it’s crumpled up, it can’t be perfect again.”  ~ Unknown

5. Who is your favorite  blogger? You can’t dodge or give a diplomatic answer to this one. Not allowed.
   Very interesting question here. Well, I have to say that I REALLY love all the young WP bloggers from all around the world. I can’t believe how insightful, wise and open hearted people are at such young ages.  Bravo to you my friends!  I’m very impressed and I love your style on how you write blogs, poetry and how you express your thoughts and feelings.  It’s nice to see both men and women pouring their hearts out on love and heartbreak at such a young age, it’s beautiful.  Did I dodge that one?

My questions to my nominees:

1. Imagine it’s your 80^th birthday and all your friends and family are present for your celebration. There will be a tribute being made in your honor, what would you like to hear people say about you?
2. If your house was on fire and you had only minutes to get out, what 3 things would you grab first and why?
3. If you could choose to be one animal in the animal kingdom, which one would it be and why?
4. Imagine you just had the most perfect day of your life. Looking back on your day, what happened?
5. What is your favorite ice cream? (this one’s easy )

Thank you for participating in the Liebster Award, I purposely chose only a few questions so you can complete this and I can’t wait to see all your answers soon!  No excuses!  😉

I love WordPress and everyone here …

Thanks again Bhavya, A.K.A Chicwithmessybun , you’re awesome!  🙂

Love,

Jennifer
xo

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#WhatTheHeckIsLifeCoaching??

This is a common question I hear from people who have never experienced a life coaching session and with good reason.  Everyone knows what psychology is but not everyone knows what life coaching is all about.  I thought I would write a blog to help hack into this world for you.  🙂

Life coaching is about helping you achieve a desired goal and finding the inspiration and motivation to get you from the present moment to the future.  Think of an athlete you follow, he or she has a coach right?  Imagine if they didn’t.  Where would they be?  Coaches motivate, help keep you on track, strive for better and keep you accountable using different techniques and tools.  Life coaching is no different except there are no push ups involved, unless this is your desired goal.  😉

I would like to give an example of a coaching call using some key questions I ask that can get the wheels in your mind turning and possibly burning.  😉   So let’s get cracking!

“What is the one goal you would love to achieve in your life right now?  In other words, what do you want more of in your life?  Fill in the blank; “I want _______________”

“What if time and money weren’t an issue for you, what would you like to have or do?”

The first few questions represent stating what you want in your life.  The power to dream big.  Many people have never been asked this question before and have a hard time pinning something down because they think they don’t have the right to ask for what they want.  If you are like this, rest assured you are not alone.  You do have the right to be happy and be free to go after what you want.  Give this question some real thought and state your awesome goal.

“Why is that goal important to you?”

“What is the deeper meaning of having this for you?”

“What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?”

Ahhh.. the “Why” and legacy question, my favorites of all.  This is where your values come into play and the reasons you give as to why you want to achieve something are coming from your heart.  It’s where we keep our values close to who we are because our values define us.  It’s important to know your values in life because they guide your behavior.  Plus if you realize this goal is not very important to you, chances are you will never achieve it.  Pssst…choose something important!

“On a scale of 1 -10 with 1 being not at all and 10 being you’ve got it, where would you say you are on the scale in reaching this goal right now?”

“What does that number represent or look like?  You fill in the blank; “the number ____ represents __________”

“Where would you ultimately like to be on that scale?”

Scaling your goal is very useful because it allows you to see where you are now and where you want to be in the future.  It’s measureable.  You can track your progress by doing this several times and it also produces motivation and inspiration within to keep you moving forward.

“What are some capabilities and abilities that you already have and can use to reach your goal?”

“What are some of your transferrable skills?”

“How would you and your friends and family describe you?”

“What are some capabilities and abilities that you still need to be able to reach your goal?”

These questions pin point the skills and abilities you already have to get you there and what you still need which is important to know because you need to look at it from all angles.   The majority of people when they list their have’s and needs, the have’s list usually wins.  Therefore, you have more going for you than you even realized.

“Imagine it’s six months from now and you have successfully reached your goal.  What does that look and feel like?”

“If you could take one small action step that could bring you closer to your goal, what would that be?”

Ok here’s the fun part.  Now that you know what you have to do and need to do, the question is HOW do you do it?  This is where the rubber hits the road for most people.  They put the brakes on and don’t move because of fear.  Go back to the why is that important to you question again and get inspired.

You gotta walk the talk.

Make sure when you choose a small action step it is specific, measureable, attainable, relevant and timely.  In other words, make it easy.  Action steps start out small and you don’t have to see the whole staircase, you just need to take the first step.  Every step counts in reaching your goal and remember, that one small step can shift everything!

“What else can you do?”

“What else?”

Dig deep and keep asking this question over and over….you get the point.

“How will you hold yourself accountable for doing the action steps you stated?”

Ask a friend or co-worker to check up on you to make sure you did what you said you would do.

“What could possibly stand in your way in being able to reach this goal?”

Usually it’s us.  If you have the determination to get it done, nothing can stand in your way.

“When will you take this action step?”

Make sure you set a specific date and mark it down somewhere.  Otherwise if you say you will do it later or sometime this month, guess what will happen?  Nada, zip, nothing.

“Where will you be working to reach your goal?”

Sometimes people will be at their current workplace, maybe at home or anywhere really.  It depends on the goal.  State it and write it down.  You’re doing great!

After answering these questions you can go back to your scale and see where you are on the line now.  Even if you have only moved 0.5 up on the scale, it counts as evidence and a step forward.  Celebrate!  You are moving in the right direction and are closer to your goal already!

Feeling motivated yet?

Now your life coach holds you accountable for your action steps and will be checking on you to see if you have completed what you said you would do.  Each weekly session is a review of the last and involves making more plans for the future.  This is how you move forward by tracking progress with your pen and paper or computer.  Usually a number of sessions are necessary to get the results you want.

After you happily reach your goal and are living the dream, your notes are available to you from all the work we did together and you can look back at how far you’ve come since that day you had this idea in mind.  Years later, you can review it again and again and be proud of yourself for all your answers, hard work, determination, perseverance and motivation.  You did it!

You are amazing!

#AndThat’sLifeCoachingWithJennifer

Lots of love  ❤

Jen
xo

Perfection and Connection

“The energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard and valued: when they can give and receive without judgment: and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship. We are wired for connection, it’s in our biology. We need connection to thrive emotionally, physically, spiritually and intellectually. The more strongly connected we are with someone emotionally, the greater the mutual force.”  ~Brené Brown

 In order to truly connect with others, we need to show up.  Get out of our own way.  Stop listening to the little gremlins inside our head that tells us we’re not good enough.

All types of relationships are based on connection and whether we see and feel that connection or if we don’t.  To feel is to be vulnerable, putting ourselves out there.  It’s about self-acceptance and knowing we are not perfect and that it’s the imperfections we carry that make us beautiful.

When someone reaches out to another person, they are being vulnerable, courageous and aware of their imperfections.  What they are looking for is empathy which is very different from sympathy.  Empathy makes us feel like we are not alone and that somebody cares and understands us.  We feel connected.  Sympathy only drains us and makes us feel even more alone – disconnected.  Sometimes it’s not the response that makes things better but it’s the connection.  This short and cute 2:53 minute video explains it very well.

If we want deep, authentic connections we need to get out of our own way, start being vulnerable by feeling every emotion and forget about perfection.

Dare greatly!  ❤

Much Love,

Jen
xo

Hustling For Worthiness

Brené Brown is #TheQueen of defining worthiness, therefore I will quote her instead of trying to interpret her outstanding research. 🙂

“Love and belonging are essential to the human experience.  Only one thing separates the men and women who feel a deep sense of love and belonging from the people who seem to be struggling for it.  That one thing is the belief in their worthiness.  It’s as simple and complicated as this:  If we want to fully experience love and belonging, we must believe that we are worthy of love and belonging.  When we can let go of what other people think and own our story, we gain access to our worthiness-the feeling that we are enough just as we are and that we are worthy of love and belonging, right this minute.”  ~Brené Brown

Worthiness doesn’t have prerequisites but many of us have a long list that we have created or have been handed down to us.  I would like you to play along and ask yourself the following questions and answer them as honestly as possible, just for your own knowledge.

I’ll be worthy when/if……

Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong somewhere?

Or had the thoughts that you weren’t good enough?

What did that feel like?

How did you handle that?

Were you able to feel that you were worthy and deserving of love and belonging?

How do you feel about love and belonging right now?

If you could give yourself some advice right now on how to deal with worthiness and love and belonging, what would you say to yourself right now?

Imagine you are talking to a child about worthiness, love and belonging, what would you say to that child?

Are you able to accept this advice you just gave to a child and use it for yourself?

And now for the biggest question of all;

Are you a hustler for worthiness?  Do you constantly perform, perfect, please or prove yourself to everyone around you? If you answered yes to this, you are giving away your power to someone else to decide if you are worthy or not.  This is not helpful despite your good intentions.   Self-worth, self-confidence, believing and knowing you are enough gives you full access to love and belonging and you deserve nothing but the absolute best. ❤

You are enough so no need to hustle.  You’re actually more than enough.

Much Love,

Jen
xo

Liebster Award

Saturday morning I had a beautiful surprise waiting for me in my inbox when I woke up!  One of my fellow amazing bloggers, Khushboo Singh at https://khushbuwrites.wordpress.com/ nominated me for a Liebster Award! 🙂

Khushboo, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for thinking of me and including me in your choices of world bloggers!  I think you are a wonderful writer and an awesome person! 🙂

THE RULES:  (you can copy and paste these)               

– Insert the Liebster award logo in your post
– Thank and link those who nominated you
– (After reading the official rules) You also have to reveal 11 interesting facts about yourself!
– Answer the questions designated by the blogger who nominated you
– Nominate up to 11 other new bloggers with less than 100 followers
– Ask 11 questions of your own to your nominees that they have to answer
– Notify your nominees about The Liebster Award
– Include instructions of the process in your post

11 Interesting Facts About Me!

1. I love to cook and eat every type of food from many countries. Thank goodness I’m not picky!
2. Due to this love affair with food, I am addicted to fitness such as Zumba, PiYo and walking forever with my music in nature. It’s all under control 🙂
3. My favorite compliment is “you look younger than your age..” HA!  I’ve been 29 for a long time 😉
4. I am a Registered Nurse and a Life Coach. Yep, two helping professions all rolled up into one!
5. 100% Canadian girl and I speak English and French. My English is much better by the way…
6. I was married before but now I’m not. Now you know 😉  There’s a silver lining in everything…
7. I have two amazing boys whom I love and they love me every day
8. Quotes inspire me like crazy
9. I love the rain, especially thunderstorms
10. Travel is my escape and I plan on doing that very soon and often
11. I believe everything happens for a reason and there are no coincidences in life, only miracles

Questions Khushboo asked me and my replies:

1. What’s the strangest talent you have? I used to be able to play the piano with my eyes closed..
2. Have you ever had a poem or a song written about you? Poems yes, songs no.
3. What was your childhood nickname? Good question, I honestly don’t remember!
4. What’s the weirdest thing you have done in your life till now? Sing karaoke in public, maybe this answer should also go in question #7! Haha!
5. Name something you do when you’re alone that you wouldn’t do in front of others. Eat ice cream out of the container with a spoon! I can’t believe I just wrote that…
6. Do you have any strange phobias? Nothing scares me or grosses me out, I’m a nurse right? 😉
7. Have you ever been dared to do something you totally regretted? Yes, my son dared me to go on Space Mountain at Disney in Florida.  He was fine but my life flashed before my eyes 100 times!
8. What is the purpose behind your blog? To write about things we all deal with in life so we know we’re not alone but connected.  Nobody is perfect and writing about it is healing
9. Choose one- Sleeping or eating? (sorry, can’t think of anything else) Eating for sure, hands down!
10. Your lucky number? 11
11. Your life’s motto? When dealing with a difficult situation, I live by the saying; “The only way out is through it.”

I would like to further nominate:

1. https://ankitmishra011.wordpress.com/
2. http://lynzrealcooking.com/
3. https://storinghope.wordpress.com/
4. https://theamusedmind.wordpress.com/
5. https://chroniclesofacollegestudentindiaspora.wordpress.com/
6. https://jabaribellamy.wordpress.com/
7. http://maribelskidneystory.com/
8. https://chicwithmessybun.wordpress.com/
9. https://thecrookedmind.wordpress.com/
10. https://saadiapeerzada.wordpress.com/
11. https://iwriteforyousweetheart.wordpress.com/

My Questions to You:

1. Name two things/people that inspire you
2. What is your current goal in life?
3. Why is that goal important to you?
4. Imagine the word LOVE written in giant letters on a movie screen, when you see this word up there, what do you feel or think of?
5. If you could travel anywhere in the world and money was not an issue, where would you go and why?
6. What is your favorite food(s)?
7. How do you use your creativity?
8. What languages do you speak?
9. What is your favorite thing to do on your day off?
10. What do you try to avoid doing?
11. Do you have any pets? If yes which kind and if no, what kind would you like to have?

And that’s it!  I hope you all have fun answering these questions and passing around the award!  Keep blogging because I love reading your stuff, it really inspires me and inspiration is what life is all about!  We’re all in this together. 🙂

Love,

Jen
xo