Life Made Simple

You love the idea of reinventing yourself or making a change to an area of your life. Maybe you want to get healthy, change jobs, make new friends. Maybe you would want a complete over-haul. But making changes can be hard. Maybe you've even tried before and failed. Maybe you don't know how to begin, where to start. Here are 9 Steps to get you where you want to be. Download the Ideal Day worksheet below to really hone in on the change you desire and learn how to live into the change. CLICK HERE ->  Ideal Day Worksheet  

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing”. ~George Bernard Shaw

If you are wallowing in a life you don’t love, hoping to be rescued by your knight in shining armor, it’s time you stop playing the victim and become the hero of your life. Because no one is coming to save you. You have to save yourself. You have to take your power back; you are your priority.

So many situations require difficult conversations. In our personal lives, between partners, parents, children, and other family members. At work, we may have to ask for a raise or promotion, or maybe we are the boss having to give feedback to an employee. Difficult conversations are required if you are determined to build a life that ideal for you.

Having reached a low point in my life, I knew something that really added to my unhappiness, was not having the group of intimate friends I desired. When I decided to change my life, I knew an important part of that process would be meeting people and making some new connections.

Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” This isn’t just common sense, it’s backed up by science.  You are in charge of who you spend your time with even when it feels like that’s not true.  Try this 5 Step Journal Exercise to discover your five people and learn how to cultivate the five you really need.

Through regular practice and rituals we are reminded often of our beliefs and that helps to keep us grounded. The more we practice the better we develop our spiritual habits and the better we are able to maintain a healthy perspective throughout our everyday lives. Spirituality Tool-Kit https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/practices/features/view/27713/spiritual-practice-toolkit "Awakening is not changing who you are, but discarding who you are not." – Deepak Chopra "The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper." – W.B. Yeats "The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you really are." – Carl Jung “The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware; joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” – Henry Miller “Practicing spirituality brings a sense of perspective, meaning and purpose to our lives.” – Brené Brown “We are all connected; To each other, biologically. To the earth, chemically. To the rest of the universe atomically.”– Neil DeGrasse Tyson “You do not need to work to become spiritual. You are spiritual; you need only to remember that fact. Spirit is within you. God is within you.” – Julia Cameron "The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves." – Alan Watts "Happy people build their inner world; unhappy people blame their outer world." –Dalai Lama “When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much, do they?” – Virginia Woolf “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the now the primary focus of your life.” – Eckhart Tolle

Do you find yourself constantly searching? I suffered from a near constant feeling of being unsatisfied. It was like an annoying itch I tried to scratch but never seemed to eradicate. I used to think that I was cursed with an inherent discontent, that I was a person who would never be content.   Free download. Values Document

I’m traveling to Iceland in a week for a vacation with a couple of my girlfriends. I decided to share 3 tips for those of you who dream of traveling but always relegate those dreams to someday…meaning you never actually make it happen. CLICK HERE to get a simple Bucket List Template.

This time of year here in Michigan we begin to spend more and more time indoors. After the rapid pace of the summer season I find my life cluttered, messy, and in need of a thorough reset. From my skincare routine to my kitchen cabinets I’m in need of a shuffle, purge, and reorganization. Nothing feels as good as a fresh start if you ask me. For a room by room checklist to help you purge and tidy up get my 30 Day Edit Checklist. https://www.lifewithshanna.com/30dayedit ...and if you could use a seasonal mindset reset check out podcast Episode 48: From Procrastination to Motivation. https://www.lifewithshanna.com/podcasts/revolution-lifestyle/episodes/2147793913  

Here are 16 tips to having your own back. When we have low self-esteem we don’t trust ourselves. We don’t trust our judgment, ideas, opinions, and abilities. We don’t live lives that are authentic and true to who we are. We don’t get to feel our full range of emotions and we certainly don’t get to feel good about ourselves and live our best life.

9 Common Traits of People Pleasers I didn’t realize I was a people pleaser. In fact, I would have argued that I was very confident, bold even. I don’t fawn over people or seem overly compassionate, outwardly. Most people assume I am confident and autonomous. I probably learned this behavior to compensate for my low self-esteem.  People pleasing detracts from our happiness because we spend so much time worrying about everyone else. I wish I had been aware of my people pleasing tendencies much sooner; I would have saved myself so much suffering.

Recently I have been feeling burnt out.  It’s the end of summer and this time of year I always find myself totally spent and in need of a reset.  Heck…every season I need a reset! In summer I want to absorb every ray of sunlight, attend all the social interactions, do all the traveling, eat all the yummy bbq, and drink all the cocktails. I burn my candle at both ends because it’s also a very busy season for me in my career and in the volunteer work I do as well. My overdoing and over indulging have depleted me, mind, body, and soul and it’s time for me to get motivated to do something about it. 

I think the best advice comes from people with experience in the things we are struggling with in our life, people who have been there and lived it. But sometimes we aren’t aware of what we are creating in our lives while we are in the thick of it, we don’t have the big picture view that can shine a light on where we might be on the wrong path. It’s very much like the expression we can’t see the forest through the trees. We have our heads down and we’re plugging away at life and sometimes we lose sight of the point of it.

I get one life, so of course I want to make it the absolutely best life that I can and for me that includes luxury and comfort. Sometimes I forget to make the best of my everyday life. I get busy and run from thing to thing without stopping to smell the roses. So I compiled this list of 50 Simple Luxuries to inspire me to enjoy the moments, big and small, I hope it inspires you too.

While going to work may not be our ideal activity, most of us do want to earn money to pay for housing, food, and the other necessities of modern life. I’m going to go a step further here and say I want to enjoy my work and to be engaged. I want my work and my life to balance and compliment each other. 

When it comes to work we can sometimes get into a negative mindset. Because when we believe we have to do something, like it’s against our will, we rebel against it.  The reality is, we work because we want to.  Gasp!! Yes, I said we want to. If you truly don’t want to work, then don’t. Now I’m not saying you should quit your job and live on the generosity of others. I do believe we should take care of ourselves and live within our own means.  But the work you do and how you choose to feel about that work are both 100 percent up to you. I want to support the life I choose to live and enjoy the work I do while I’m at it.

Over and over I experimented and learned new things about health and wellness. I created my own healthy lifestyle by taking what served me and leaving what didn’t. This is what I’ve learned.

This is a list is simply what I have noted about my summer skincare, what I’m doing well, where I need work, and what I’d like to do differently. It’s in no particular order just as things came to mind. My goal here is to get myself back on track and in the process maybe you can find inspiration and motivation for your own skincare routine. If you are nailing it already then yay you!

I love the idea of hitting the reset button in January and again in July, about six months apart because I believe it will keep my weight and fitness steady and strong.