Waiting for Happiness

July 11, 2023/in Healthy Living, Healthy Products

Stop Waiting for Happiness

Are you constantly waiting for happiness to show up? I spent the majority of my life waiting which ended up dealing with constant anxiety and even depression. Here is what helps me every day to experience more happiness, less stress, less anxiety and way less depression. We have two mindsets we can focus on daily: simply stated negative thoughts and positive thoughts. According to Shirzad Chamine, author of Positive Intelligence, they are also labeled as the Saboteurs and the Sage perspective.

Naming the Negative Voices

The Judge is our main saboteur or put simply the instigator of most negative thoughts. The Judge finds fault with self, others, and circumstances. This saboteur causes much of our disappointment, anger regret, guilt, shame and anxiety. It also activates our accomplish saboteurs such as the Pleaser, Controller, Hyper-Achiever and more.

Lie #1 – You’ll Be Happy When…

One of the biggest and most damaging lies your Judge tells you every day is this…”Your current situation and circumstances are not good enough for you to be happy. You will be happy when ______.” Fill in the blank.

So think about how your Judge has finished this sentence all through your life. You will be happy…

When you finally grow up and become independent from your parents.
When you get into that college,
When you graduate,
When you get that job,
When you get that promotion,
When you buy that house,
When you find that relationship,
When you have that child, and so on, and so on

Now, think about it, when you finally got what you thought would make you forever happy. How long did your happiness last before your Judge again said “actually you don’t have what you need to be happy”.

“You will be happy when” and it created a new target so you could finally be happy one day.

Therefore, it’s important to ask yourself these questions:

What is your Judge’s lie right now?
What are you unhappy about right now?
What situation or circumstance is bothering you right now that you’re waiting to change so you can be happy one day?

Whatever you are waiting for so you can be happy ONE day is the latest lie of your judge.

Tapping into the Positive Sage Mode

Likewise, your Sage knows that you have everything you need right now to be happy that’s because happiness depends entirely on which part of your brain is activated and dealing with your life’s challenges and what emotions you’re experiencing.

The Sage perspective is about accepting what is, rather than denying, rejecting, or resenting what is. Therefore, our Sage accepts every outcome and circumstance as a gift and opportunity. Our Sage is the exact opposite of many of the negative assumptions of the Judge.

For example, if you have failed at something your Sage would be focused on converting that failure into a gift using the five Sage modes of being deeply empathic, or curious, or creative, purpose driven or in calm, laser focused, clear headed action.

All these five Sage modes generate positive emotions, ranging from empathy, compassion and gratitude, to wonder, the joy of creativity to peace and calm.

When you’re feeling all these positive emotions, you’re happy, even if life circumstances haven’t gone your way. Therefore, happiness is an inner state of mind.

When you feel positive emotions, you have everything you need to be happy right now. Today intercept your Judge’s lie that you can’t be happy until something changes in your life. Therefore, stop waiting to be happy One day, choose to be happy Today.

If you are struggling, I get it and am here to help. In addition, you can take the Positive Intelligence assessment to identify your unique saboteurs. This is a quick 5 minute assessment that I can help you unpack during our time together.

What is Mental Fitness

February 26, 2023/in Healthy Living, Healthy Products

What is mental fitness?

It’s a new concept in health called mental fitness. It’s the percentage of time your mind is serving you versus sabotaging you.

Independent researchers have validated the PQ (Positive Intelligence Quotient) Score to be the single greatest predictor of how much of your potential for both success and happiness you achieve.

Research has shown that higher PQ results in enhanced immune system functioning, lower levels of stress-related hormones, lower blood pressure, less pain, fewer, colds, better sleep in a smaller likelihood of having hypertension, diabetes, or strokes.

What Is Mental Fitness?

Stanford lecturer and best-selling author Shirzad Chamine has developed a program and book called Positive Intelligence®. Your Positive Intelligence quotient, or ‘PQ’, is a measure of your mental fitness. PQ measures the percentage of time your mind is serving you versus sabotaging you. Independent researchers have validated PQ Score to be the single greatest predictor of how much of your potential for both success and happiness you achieve.

According to Shirzad, 80% of us score below the minimum level of mental fitness required for peak performance and happiness.

But the good news is that mental fitness can be significantly improved with just 6 weeks of daily practice. Shirzad tells us that doing 100 PQ reps a day to build mental muscles (essentially, creating new neural pathways) is the equivalent of taking 10,000 steps a day for physical fitness or weight training by doing reps with a dumbbell.

Helping every human build mental fitness so they can fulfill their true potential for both happiness and contribution.

How is PQ different from other programs including meditation or mindfulness?

PQ Treat Root Cause, not Symptoms

The factor analysis research has revealed the foundational root-level enablers and disablers of optimal performance and well-being. We rewire the brain at the root cause level.

PQ Focuses on Habit Formation

Most training results in short-lived improvements. For sustained results, we focus on building neural pathways that form lasting new habits. That’s why we call this “mental fitness”.

PQ Develops all 3 Core Muscles

Mental fitness requires 3 core muscles. Saboteur Interceptor, Self-Command, and Sage. Meditation only focuses on Self-Command, which is why it is not sustained by most.

An analysis of more than 200 scientific studies, which collectively tested more than 275,000 people, concluded that higher PQ leads to higher salaries and greater success in the areas of work, marriage, health, sociability, friendship, and creativity.

Daily Practice with the App

The PQ app includes a mental fitness gym to offer a variety of PQ exercises using different senses. There are exercises for sitting or walking and they vary in length from 2 to 12 minutes. The app tracks your daily progress so you can check your progress against the targets for creating new neural pathways. It also gives you a daily focus of the day to guide your practice incrementally over 6 weeks.

15 minutes/day of app-guided practice enables you to establish mental muscles (neural pathways). These exercises are bite-sized to fit your busy schedule and customized based on how you self-sabotage.

You may be asking, is this the right program for me?

This is the right program for you if you are:

Committed to improving your performance and effectiveness dramatically while reducing stress
Looking for a science-based and trusted system to make it stick
Willing to put in the initial effort to rewire years of mental habits that don’t serve you

Take the Mental Fitness or PQ Assessment

The PQ program has been transformational for my personal and professional life as well as for my clients. If you’d like to learn more about PQ, or test your levels, you can do so here. If you have questions or want to be added to the waitlist, drop a comment below. I only run the program a few times a year and limit the program to 10 members.

When you take the assessment, I’d love to hear your results. Better yet, schedule a free Wellness Strategy Session to learn more.

Gluten-Free Cornbread Dressing

November 22, 2011/in Healthy Recipes

Gluten-Free Cornbread Dressing

Gluten-free cornbread dressing has been a blessing since I learned that I am gluten-intolerant. You will not feel like you are missing out on anything. It tastes so much better than using gluten-free bread. Especially when gluten-free bread is typically made of low-quality ingredients such as rice, tapioca, or potato starch.

It can be frustrating maneuvering through daily life much less the holidays. This is my go-to recipe for Thanksgiving dinner.

2 1/2 lbs gluten-free cornbread (I use the recipe on the Bob’s Red Mill cornmeal package)
3 Tablespoons coconut oil
1 1/2 cups finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable stock
1/2 cup chopped onion

Prepare cornbread a day or two before you are ready to make the dressing to allow it to dry overnight. Cut cornbread into 1-inch cubes, place on a large baking sheet, and let dry out for several hours or overnight. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Preheat the crockpot to high.

Add onion, celery, carrot, and coconut oil to the crockpot. Cook 1 hour or until softened but not browned. If you have an Instapot, you can sauté for 10-15 minutes first to reduce the time.

After 1 hour, stir in the thyme, sage, salt, and pepper. Add cornbread and toss to moisten.

Pour vegetable broth over top and cook for an additional 3 hours or until the top is crisp and golden. Or you can save the juice from your Thanksgiving turkey and use it.

This goes well with my healthy cranberry salad recipe!

Healthy holiday recipes are hard to come by, at least tasty ones. If you are searching for more good-for-you dairy and gluten-free holiday recipes, you can request our Healthy Thanksgiving recipes guide. Enjoy and please let me know how you liked it!