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Real Life Trumps Beach Life - Every Time

Posted on February 19, 2010 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Have you ever played bridge?  When the players finish bidding they arrive at a suit that is called trump.  Trump suits win every time, no matter if you have the highest card in the deck.  What I noticed this last week is that Real Life held the trump card over my musings on the beach. 

It is amazing how I was so clear and focused about what I wanted to do when sitting on the beach with my broader perspective of  life.  When I got home to the real world, the greatest plans to connect and write about my experiences fell by the wayside. That is my truth. 
 
My life has been awesome and fulfilling but alas, I did not carry through on the writing of my experiences as I promised. I am giving myself permission to tell the truth about not doing what I said I was going to do and will find the silver lining in what I have been doing. 

Where have I been

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Day 2 - Living in the Moment or Trying To

Posted on February 5, 2010 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

 Day 2 - Living in the Moment is easier for me when I am on vacation..  There are no plans, no schedules.  Just being able to be with the fresh ocean air, the blue skies and the sensations that are going on in my body keeps me grounded in the present moment. 

Did I keep my commitment to tuning into my body with my breath a minimum of 8 times during the day? 

I am now asking myself, why did I commit to doing this?

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Are "SHOULDS" running your life?

Posted on December 1, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

How many of you live your life by "SHOULDS"?

By shoulds I mean those expectations that come from a wide variety of sources:

  1.     Society
  2.     Parents and other members of our family
  3.     Friends with all of their best of intentions
  4.     Media - TV, books, internet - all with advice from the so-called "experts" on how you should live your life
  5.     Self - all of your expectations about how you should "think", "do" and "be"

 

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School Zones and Life - 7 Steps to Help You Slow Down

Posted on November 18, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

 Have you ever noticed how much more you see when you slow down for a School zone?

 
 When ever I follow the rules and slow right down, I am amazed at how much more I see.
 
I notice the children playing in the school yard. I notice the maroon painted front door, I notice the beautiful blue sky and I notice the beauty around me. I become conscious of my surroundings and appreciate what is going on around me. 
 
This is definitely a different feeling from the racing tension I get when I spend my time thinking about what is next on my list or worrying about everything I need to do.
When we spend our time racing to get to where we need to get to next, focusing on the destination rather than the journey, it is amazing how much we miss along the way. 

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5 ways to combat emotional eating

Posted on November 10, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

How many of you have found yourself with an empty bag of potato chips, or some other food item, wondering how you could possibly have eaten ALL those chips, already? You don’t remember tasting them or even chewing them and all of a sudden they are gone. 
 
Then the self abuse sets in:
 
Why don’t I have more self discipline?
I know better than to eat potato chips!!
What is wrong with me?
 
Wouldn’t it be great to find ways to combat emotional eating? I have noticed some common elements when I coach my clients with their emotional eating:

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Cultivating a healthy relationship with your body

Posted on November 3, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

 

What is your relationship like with your body? Do you love it? Do you hate it? When you think of your body, do you think of the physical appearance or the entirety of what your body does for you?
 
In today’s society, when people talk about their body the conversation usually revolves around the physical attributes that make up their body i.e. skin, body type, hips, stomach, thighs, arms etc. When listening to the media or even conversations amongst people, there is often frustration about how the body looks as well as how it is letting us down.  
 
What can we do to be in a better relationship with our body? It is no different than if we wanted to build a better relationship with a friend – we need to spend time with it, acknowledge it, appreciate it and take care of it. 

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Noticing Stress In Your Life

Posted on October 29, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

My last few blogs have focused on Living the Life you Want and steps to help you get there. We talked about
  • “Who are you” 
  • What is important to you 
  • What is your truth and
  • How not living your truth creates stress.
 
A couple of years ago, I really got it about how not living my truth was causing me stress and negatively impacting my life. I began a very busy job that was both exciting and fulfilling. I was excited about all the opportunities that presented themselves for me in this position. As I became more immersed in the work, I had several ideas about how this position could grow and evolve. I used my creativity and determination to try and bring about all that I believed was possible. It was a challenging time.

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Not Living your Truth Creates Stress

Posted on October 27, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

 

Stress for many people is caused by their living life out of integrity with what they hold near and dear to their heart – their truth. 
 
For example, if you value honesty but fear that speaking up and telling the truth in your workplace will result in losing your job, you may consciously or subconsciously make a decision that you will not say anything about the situation. Another example may be that you were educated and trained to deliver care or service in a particular way, yet the realities of the workplace make it impossible for you to do that.  You try and stuff the thoughts to the back of your mind and ignore the situation.  If you are like most people, trying to ignore the situation, not say anything and “letting it go”, creates an internal turmoil that often shows up in different ways.
 
Withholding your truth creates stress

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Living Your Truth

Posted on October 20, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

When do you know that you are living your truth? What does that even mean? In my last couple of blogs I have written about developing a relationship with yourself i.e. “Who are you” and finding out “what is important to you” i.e. your truth. In my coaching practice, I spend many sessions with clients helping them to discover the answers to these two questions. However, as many come to realize, it is not enough to know who you are and what is important to you. How do you make it a reality in your life – how do you live your truth?

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What is important to you?

Posted on October 13, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

In my last blog, I asked you to take a look at your relationship with yourself. Have you started taking time to just be with yourself, taking your intentional breaths and connecting with you? I know it takes time, but when you begin the journey of self-discovery and start developing that relationship with you, it is hard to close the door again.

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Who are you?

Posted on October 6, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Have you been asking yourself this question? What answers have you come up with? 

For many of us, when we are asked “who are you” we answer with a description of our various roles. These roles often include our family status “I am a wife, a mother, sister, aunt, uncle, brother and so on”. Some people describe themselves by their occupation “I am a nurse, teacher, secretary, business man, plumber” and others describe themselves by their sports or hobbies such as “I am a golfer, runner, hockey player, artist and so on”. Others may describe themselves by how they interact with the world “I am happy, fun, connected, loving, inspirational, creative” and any other words that describe their personality.

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September Stress – Where did that summertime bliss go?

Posted on September 24, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

 The other day I met with a client who was back to work after a great summer of little routine and lots of fun. He commented on how challenging it was to get back into the mindset of work and get things done.  He had many things on his list, but felt like he was walking in quick sand trying to accomplish them.

 
 If you are feeling this way – you are not alone.
 
After a summer of fun, relaxation and rejuvenation, many people find that 3 weeks into September they are wondering what they are doing and why they are doing what they are doing because they have lot all of that summertime bliss. Many people miss how great they felt and figure they will not feel that way again until their next holiday.

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Changes to Clare Consulting and moment-is Blog

Posted on August 31, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Hi all,

You may have noticed some changes to the moment-is blog and the Clare Consulting website.  As we get ready to launch our new online moment-is community we are slowly changing the front and back end of our site.  The first of these steps was moving our blog from Wordpress to our own hosted blog site.  Please note the moment-is blog is now http://clareconsulting.com/blog. As we move forward with more changes watch for new blog posts and details of our upcoming "Living the Life you Want" workshop series that can be accessed one of three ways:

  1. Through the moment-is on line community
  2. Every Wednesday night from September 30th - November 4th in a face to face workshop series held in Kamloops BC
  3. October 21 & 22 Saturday and Sunday in a face to face intensive workshop also to be held in Kamloops

 

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5 Easy Ways to Tune into your Body

Posted on August 26, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

As I mentioned in previous posts, Tuning into your body is a great way to become aware of the present moment.  However many people do not know what it takes to really tune in.

In my last post, I identified the breath as a great way to connect with your body. Along with the breath I would like to offer you 5 Easy ways to tune in

The Breath – Taking 3 deep intentional breaths deep into your base of your lungs.

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Are You Living the Life You Want

Posted on August 21, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

What does your ideal life look like?  If you were to carry on living your life like you are today, will you feel fulfilled and satisfied in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years?  What is getting in the way of you living the life you want?  What is your relationship like with yourself?  These are some of the questions that I ask my clients when they come in and see me. Many people feel dissatisfied with their life as they know it, yet feel powerless at changing it.

The exercise of looking at how you are currently living your life and how disconnected you are from what you want can be quite eye opening.

 

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Good Morning Body

Posted on August 4, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

 How many days do you jump (or stumble) out of bed, thinking about what you have to get done in one/two or three hours from NOW?  You head into the shower and the list of things you need to do is running like a ticker tape through your head.  From there, you grab your coffee, read the paper, feed the dog, get the kids up and out the door and before you know it you are in the car, heading off to work and you are wondering how you got there.  

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Telling yourself the truth

Posted on June 11, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

I just had the opportunity to read a great blog about limiting beliefs by Kim de Young of Metromom.  It is worthwhile reading for any of you who know that your subconscious beliefs get in the way of moving forward.  She has a great way of sharing her insights. http://metromom.com/MetromomBlog/2009/06/10/women-entrepreneurs-are-limiting-beliefs-holding-you-back/

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WHO ARE YOU? Take 5 minutes to begin your journey of discovery

Posted on May 26, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Who are you?

Many people answer this question with a description of their various

roles.

For me I am a mother, coach, workplace consultant, former nurse, wife, sister, aunt, friend etc. With each of these

roles I have certain expectations

as to

how I want to fulfill them

.

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Feeling good – “in the moment”

Posted on May 21, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

There has been a lot written about the “Law of Attraction”, “The Secret”, “Power of Positive Thinking” and many others to help guide us on the road to living and thinking more positively.  These books and self improvement movements are attempting to teach us that we can manifest and achieve greatness in our lives depending on our perspective and our beliefs.  In order to have the life we want, we need to change how we think and feel in order to achieve what we want to attract in our lives.

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7 Unrecognized Signs of Early Stress

Posted on May 20, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

People think of stress as being burnt out, crying alot, feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope.   While these are definately signs of stress, they are often preceded by some earlier warning signs that people do not necessarily attribute to stress. These include:

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Cortisol – We need you but enough already

Posted on May 15, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Cortisol is a hormone that is secreted by our adrenal glands and is a necessary part of our waking and sleep cycles.  We need it to wake us up in the morning but if we have too much cortisol, it can be a problem.

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Stress and Adrenaline – what can you do?

Posted on May 13, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Adrenaline is a hormone that is secreted by our sympathetic nervous system in response to an event real or imagined that has us scared.  People often refer to it as the fight, fright or freeze response.  It is the hormone that is responsible for people having an uncanny amount of strength in scary situations e.g. lifting a car off a person to save their life etc.

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BLOW OFF SOME STEAM!!!

Posted on May 11, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

One of the ways for helping to get you in the moment is to ask:

In this moment – how do I feel? Many of my clients feel angry, frustrated or overwhelmed by the demands put on them by themselves, their families or their workplace.  Yet they put on a mask by being nice all of the time, holding it in and not telling the truth about how they are feeling.  On the inside they are seething.

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Not doing it all!!!!

Posted on May 8, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Well, I am so excited. It is my dad’s 85th birthday and I am throwing him a party.  Years ago, I would have stressed out for days wanting to do it all, have it be perfect and trying to make the impression on everyone that I have it all handled and can do it all with Martha Steward flair.  What pressure it is to try and maintain that level of perfection.

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6 Tips to Help Our Kids De-stress

Posted on May 5, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Hello all,

For those of us who are parents, the idea that our kids are not finding effective ways of coping with stress is scary.  When you see all of the problems with childhood obesity, anxiety, depression, eating disorders etc.  there is often a fear that we are not doing enough for our kids to help them with the challenges they face.

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A very real moment!!

Posted on April 30, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Last night a young woman, who is a very close friend of our family, came by for a visit.  This lovely young woman has had numerous challenges in her life lately and is having to live with the consequences of previous decisions she has made.  She phoned me earlier to say she needed to come to see me and sounded quite distraught.  I have been a mentor and coach to her over the years and knew she was going through a difficult time .

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3 Voices that live in your Head!!!!

Posted on April 28, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

When we talk about our connection with ourselves, it is interesting to note that we have three voices that live within us: the body, the mind and the self (soul, spirit). By recognizing these three voices we can become aware of which one is asking for our attention and where we want to focus our response.

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How connected are you with you?

Posted on April 27, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

It is amazing how many of my clients come to me wanting to feel better and not knowing what they need to do to achieve this goal.  With every client I find it extremely important to get at the core of what is important to them i.e. what they value most in life and would not want to live without.

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