How Nurturing Brings Us Divas Happiness

What makes us Divas happy?

For me, happiness is a feeling of joy that comes over me. The feeling maybe last a few seconds, or it could be days, or months, and I suppose years. Something that brings joy to me, can bring an instant smile to my face or a tender tear to my eye. I know I am happiest when I spend time with my family or friends. I now have a beautiful granddaughter that brings so much happiness into my life.

So with that being said, I know in the grand scheme of life and with everything that is going on in the world today, what I am going to tell you will sound trifle or simple but it’s a small sample of what happiness means to someone.

As women most of us feel the need to nurture it brings pure happiness to our heart even if we don’t know it at the time. For most women it’s built in us, and when this is taken from us it can bring sadness and sometimes depression. A good example of this is the “Empty Nest Syndrome”. Once our babies are gone we wonder what it is we are going to do without them. Who can we take care of and who wants us to take care of them? This can also cause a lot of sadness, I mean we are happy our babies are moving on but it’s as though our happiness bulb has been turned off. Fortunately this feeling is often replaced as we Divas find something else to take care of or pour ourselves into a new hobby or activity or work.

For a lot of people, a pet can bring the feeling of nurturing back again. The power of a loving pet is amazing and when that pet is gone it can hit us hard and deep in our heart. Our pets are the only creatures that give us unconditional love.….. I wrote a posting back in June that was dedicated to "Toby" my sister’s amazing and unique dog that passed away. Since then I have spent a lot of time with my sister and I know that she has been very sad without him. She grieved very hard this summer. It was so difficult not to be able to do anything for her. All I could do was listen to her and give her time and a few hugs to show her I was there for her. Usually I just listened to her because my words would not be adequate enough, so the gift of listening is what I gave her. I just wanted to see my upbeat sister happy again. It’s incredible to know that a pet can bring that much emotion to us. God really knew what he was doing when he gave us the companionship of a wonderful pet.

I am happy to see my sister is feeling better. She is still sad when she thinks about Toby but she has fond memories and he will always have a very special place in her heart. She has recently opened her heart and home to a new pet. You can’t help but be happy when you hold a new friend and in this case her name is “Zoe”. Getting the chance to experience happiness again is such a splendid feeling and I am happy to see my sister, my best friend, happy again.

Motivating Strategy Part 2

Before I begin, I want to point out that part one for me was not so easy; in fact I had a very difficult time with it. Here is an example, I had to take a blouse back to the Outlets on Sunday and I caught a glimpse of myself in one of the stores windows and man that did me in. I kept trying to talk myself into feeling better about myself  but my day was shot. I really got ticked off and became more upset for letting myself feel like that. But, today I looked in the mirror and said to myself ‘Your taking care of yourself and you are feeling good about yourself, give yourself a break”. I suppose this is my version of the prayer portion from the book “Eat, Pray, Love” Mmmmm, Sighhhhh (for those who read “Eat, Pray, Love”) with that said, I am moving on to Motivating Strategy part 2.

Just a side note: I feel like Elizabeth Gilbert writing this blog post.

Part two can be done at anytime, but it’s perfect for meditation, quiet reflection or during your prayers.

Part 2: Think about how good you will feel when you achieve your goals. In a way, this is an approach to the power of attraction. What does success feel like? You will hopefully feel confident, healthy and good about yourself. Feel that feeling NOW.

This is much easier said than done, but I am going to give it all I got. For me personally, I will have a strong and lean body with a less bloated tummy and will feel better in my own body. I will feel more confident in my strategy towards my goals.

One step towards my goal is writing down how I feel. I try to keep a daily food diary and when I feel like I might need extra help or I am struggling, I note the time of the day and how I feel about myself at that point. Good or bad I take a deep breath in and carry on with my day.

So back to my meditation…….MMMMmmmmm, Sighhhhhhhhh………….ha, ha!

Stuffed Green Peppers ~ Yum!

I love fresh vegetables and it upsets me to know that the produce production from my garden is coming to an end. So, I am trying to make the most with whatever I have left growing.   Today I made “Stuff Green Peppers”.   They were so good and very easy to make…… To make it lean, I used ground lean turkey and my tomatoes and herbs from my garden.  I also made them with brown rice instead of the white rice.  I love brown rice and  brown rice is exceptionally high in fiber. It is also loaded with vitamins and minerals because brown rice is not milled; it manages to hang on to all of its bran and germ content.  I am not really sure why I was raised on white rice.  I remember as a child my mother always using minute rice.  I suppose with 6 children it was a fast side to make.  I am not sure why......but for me it's brown rice.  We need to get our nutrients where we can.

~~Step One to a Motivating Strategy~~

Here is a benefit we can enjoy now, while we are on the way to reaching our goals.
Your goal is a personal journey it's different for everyone; it could be anything such as stop smoking, weight loss, physical fitness, financial freedom, starting a class or continuing education, getting closer to god, mending old relationships, forgiving someone or yourself, starting up a business, buying a new home. It’s something different for everyone. The sky is the limit when it comes to making and attaining your personal goal.
Step One - Imagine you’ve already achieved your goal and are enjoying the feeling of success.

What is it that you see?  For me, I want to be back to the weight and health I was when I went to Key West.  I have no idea how much I weighed at that time, I just know I physically felt wonderful. I felt really good in my skin. I posted a picture here of me enjoying a cocktail in Key West.   So, that is my goal. But, I can already feel that way, by imagining I am there already. Today, I am going to feel that way. I will do this in a very light and easy way. You can’t be too hard on yourself or your goal will become a chore….and we all know how we feel about chores.   I will try this out for a few days and then onto step two.

Wheat Pasta with Pesto Sauce

I made this pasta dish in a flash and the good thing about it was, it was easy to reheat after we came home from the gym.  I also put some cherry tomatoes and my basil from my garden in it and I served it with a slice of hearty multi grain bread. 
Most days, right after work, my hubby and I head to the gym.  We don't get home until about 7:30 pm and I just hate coming home &  try to figure out what we should eat for dinner. Its so late at that point. We are usually famished after working out, so I have been trying to make some healthy and quick meals.

The best way to keep on track is to make sure you plan out what your going to eat for the day, otherwise it's so easy to make bad choices. For me this works.......but it takes planning.

A much needed pedi

Last week I spent the weekend down the shore with my sister. We decided to give ourselves a pedicure.

I figure I would bring the foot spa and all the needed items. We usually make mimosas and just have fun, treating our feet to some luxury. I used the pumas stone and I think I rubbed a little to hard. 

Throughout the week my feet felt like they had all ruff areas and they were all scratched up. They were a mess. So, I headed out to a nail salon today to get a professional pedicure.  I sat in the chair, the girl put the massage on and then I was in heaven. She then applied a wonderful lemon sea salt scrub, followed by rubbing my legs with some delicious scented cream. My feet were then wrapped in a warm towel, aaaaahhhh that was so nice.  She ended the spa treatment with a peppermint foot rub.  Finally she polished my toenails a pretty pink nail color.
Let me tell you, my feet are very happy that I went and they are still all tingly from the peppermint rub.
I think the next time I do an at home pedicure, I will use a good foot lotion and throw away the pumas stone. After all, we need to take care of our diva tootsies.