Monday Makeover: Early Morning Affirmations

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Monday, we meet again. 

Do you ever find yourself facing Monday with a less-than-stellar attitude? On a Monday morning, it's not uncommon to overhear just about every customer grumbling to the barrista about their horrible fate... "Can you BELIEVE the weekend is over? I mean, wasn't it just Friday? My to-do list this week is killer. God help me". And if we're being honest here, many times that person is ME.

Bitching and moaning just seems like the American thing to do on a Monday, right?

But you know what? I'm tired of spreading the negativity around. I've done quite enough of that in my lifetime of Mondays. Instead, this week I'm going to make a conscious effort to wake up every morning and take a moment to thank God for giving me another day - another day to feel the cool fall breeze, taste a warm pumpkin latte (thank you, Starbucks!), smile at a stranger, learn something new, help someone who needs it and spread love to every person I encounter.

I've never been one for meditation. If you know me, you know that my mind is always working and it's hard for me to quiet that chaos down. But a month ago, my client and I did a 30-Day Meditation Challenge with Deepak Chopra and Oprah. It was 15 minutes of guided meditation each morning, focusing on building abundance in your relationship with yourself and others. 

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We meditated on affirmations. If you're not familiar with an affirmation, it's basically a positive declaration or belief. For example, if you are ill, your affirmation could be "I am a vibrant, healthy person who will live a long and happy life" OR if you are feeling unworthy of love, your affirmation could be "I am a beautiful and caring person, deserving of a healthy, uplifting relationship."

You may not believe the affirmation that you're meditating on, but that's beside the point. By meditating on an affirmation and constantly speaking that affirmation to yourself, you will begin to see how the affirmation slowly morphs into a belief. And when you believe something to be true, it will manifest itself in your life and influence your actions and your future.

So today, join me in a Monday Makeover. Speak an affirmation to yourself, then affirm others, knowing that you have been given another Monday for a reason.

Wishing you all a very blessed week!

5 Things: Welcoming Fall with Gratitude!

Fall has officially arrived. It came quickly in the night and sent me running into the subway station shivering because I left the house without a proper jacket. Yes, friends, it's cold in NYC!  Maybe it's just me but fall feels like the New Year (not cold, dreary January). Granted, things aren't blooming (in fact, they're mostly dying), but there's something about the crispness of the air and the way the bright blue of the sky contrasts with the changing leaves and well... it just makes me feel alive!

Today, I'd like to start a little something called "5 Things". You've probably seen it done on other blogs and maybe that makes me an "idea stealer", but hey, a good idea is sure to get stolen by someone! You and I both know that attitude is everything. IF you think you're going to fail, you'll fail. IF you concentrate on the negative, things will be negative. But in contrast, if you visualize yourself succeeding, you will. And if you find the positive (even within the negative), life will seem a bit more positive! Today, I'd like to use my 5 THINGS to focus on five things that make me thankful to be alive today!

Maybe you could steal my stolen idea and make a list yourself! It's a great reminder of all the GOOD in your life so that when the bad inevitably pops up, you'll remember to adopt a "glass half full" perspective!

Wishing everyone a wonderful day... and a very happy birthday to my bestie Sarah over at Beyond the Batter! 

My very own, always reliable, always cute alarm clock...

The taste of a chai tea latte and the way it warms your whole body as it goes down..

The beginnings of the most glorious sunset from my rooftop (and the fact that this happens almost nightly)...

Wedding invites finally finished! Designed, printed, stamped and dropped at the post office!...

...and really awesome friends like Sarah! Happy Birthday, girl!

The Experts Weigh In: Attitude is Everything!

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BY: LYDIA BUSCHENFELDT, CONTRIBUTOR

If you had told me five years ago, that at age 30 I would be two years into medical disability and leaving behind my beloved teaching career, I would have looked at you like you had three heads. Five years ago, I thought that at 30 I would be in my eighth year of teaching, traveling the globe with my husband over the summers, and thinking about starting a family of Baby Buschenfeldts.

Needless to say, that's not exactly how it worked out.

In short, my body broke in 2010. I was a newly wed fourth-grade teacher when a virus passed along from my students wreaked havoc on my apparently less-than-stellar immune system and paralyzed several systems in my body. All of a sudden I became a young woman on disability, fed through a tube and watching multiple parts of my body struggle to survive. Like a slow leak in a tire, my body fell apart a tiny bit more with each passing day. I began to collect diseases like baseball cards and within three years I was diagnosed with Grave's Disease, Gastroparesis, Thyroid Cancer, Dysphasia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Vocal Chord Paralysis, Visceral Hypersensitivity, Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome, Overall Dismotility Disorder, Inappropriate Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, Raynaud's Disease, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease, and so many others that eventually it was all lumped into a "complex and obscure multi-system illness."

Let's just be clear, it isn't exactly a bucket-list moment when several top hospitals categorize your illness as "complex and obscure."

When your life is turned upside down, it can be a very dark and cold place. I could have chosen to brace myself for the terrifying roller coaster of a chronic health battle. I could have focused on the long, lonely nights in the hospital or the ever-increasing road map of scars covering my body. I could have let one virus erase who I am and what I stand for, but I said no. I realized that with every obstacle in life, you have a choice. You choose who you are and you choose how you will unwrap what is given to you. I made the choice to embrace my life. I chose gratitude over devastation, and I never looked back.

I returned to school to become a certified health coach. My company, Hatch Health and Happiness, was originally an acronym - Help Adapting To Changing Health - but it has morphed into the concept that we are never really starting from scratch. When you are diagnosed with an allergy or disease, are struggling to lose weight, or surrender to stress, it can feel like you have to start over to feel better. Change is scary, especially when you do it alone. I help my clients learn to hatch from within and make lifestyle and dietary changes to reclaim their health and happiness. I have the opportunity to pay forward all that I have learned and to devote my life to making that transition to health and happiness easier for someone else. The truth is that I've been there, I get it, and I can help.

When I started blogging in early 2012, I thought my blog would be the story of my trip to the Mayo Clinic and how I got my life back. Turns out I did regain my life, but not exactly as I planned. Instead I learned that regaining your health and happiness has little to do with receiving a diagnosis and taking a pill. Instead it comes from a place of laughing at life's many quirks, indulging in nature's pharmacy, accepting and loving your innermost thoughts, and approaching each day with an abundance of gratitude.

An undiagnosed disease takes away the feeling of certainty in your future. Many days I wake to a mind-boggling new symptom and the adjustment to a "new normal" starts anew. The truth, however, is that the world comes to all of us one day at a time, undiagnosed disease or not, and I choose to jump in and embrace the chaos.

Lydia Buschenfeldt is a Certified Health Coach who specializes in helping individuals and families reclaim their health and happiness while living with allergies, chronic disease, and other stresses of daily life. Having lived with an undiagnosed disease for years, Lydia knows firsthand how to learn to listen to the body, our greatest teacher, while living a life of health, happiness , and abundant gratitude. Lydia lives with her husband in Fairfax, Virginia, where she can often be found outdoors with horses or inventing new creations in the kitchen. Find out more about Lydia's coaching practice at www.hatchhealthhappiness.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @LydiaHatchHealth.

Positive Polly or Negative Nancy?: The Mind-Body Connection

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I can't speak for all the dudes out there, but I can surely speak for myself and all of womankind when I say, the mind is a dangerous place. Some of the thoughts that find their way into my consciousness are flat out ridiculous, not to mention completely unnecessary. Frankly, I'd like to put my brain in the timeout chair and never let it out.

Image via lissarankin.com

My latest read - Mind Over Medicine by Dr. Lissa Rankin - dives into the depths of the mind-body connection. The premise of the book is that the mind has incredible control over the body's physical condition, sometimes even more control than genetics, environment or lifestyle. She basically claims that the more we are able to control our minds, the greater chance we have of staying healthy AND healing ourselves.

I know what you're thinking... 'Really, Lauren? Mind control? We're really going there today?'.

Yes, my friends. We are indeed. I know the idea of mind control might seem a bit far-fetched, but if you're skeptical, I'd like to present Exhibit A - the placebo effect. If you've ever endured a science class, you've probably covered it. It goes a little something like this... Researchers tell a group of study participants that they will be receiving a ground-breaking, highly effective drug for their condition. But instead of giving everyone the hot new miracle drug, they give half the participants a sugar pill. Logic would have it that only the participants given the ground-breaking drug would show improvements, BUT in a surprising number of cases, the participants receiving a placebo show significant improvements, even in medical cases where the situation is dire.

The placebo effect points to the fact that the state of your mind is incredibly important when it comes to the health of your body and your body's ability to repair itself. When you are positive and hopeful, your body experiences physiological gains that support the immune system. In contrast, when you are pessimistic, unhappy, or stressed your body starts to react appropriately and your immune system takes a hit.

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Though we are incredibly complex creatures, our brains still interpret stress as the signal for a 'fight or flight' situation - something that could cause us bodily harm. In response to the 'attack', our bodies use the resources that are normally allocated to the immune system to fight off the 'perpetrator'. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that when you're in this compromised state, your immune system is no longer able to go about the business of defense and repair, leaving you open to illness and disease.

Obviously it's not possible to be a Positive Polly all the time. Life sends curveballs our way with the precision of an MLB pitcher. But there are many things you can do to cultivate positivity in your life...

*Spend more time with family and friends and learn to say 'no' to extraneous activities and commitments.
*Keep things in perspective (if you won't remember it in 5 years, it's probably not that life-altering).
*Remember to breathe (this little activity will do more for your health than you would ever expect).
*Find some sort of mindfulness exercise that works for you - prayer, yoga, meditation.
*Be conscious of the things you allow to fill your mind (consider the things you are reading and watching, as well as who you surround yourself with).
*Make gratitude a daily practice and consciously choose joy.
*Indulge in the food (yes, food!), activities and people you love!

I think Dr. Lissa Rankin says it best when she says to 'Recognize that pain is inevitable but suffering is optional'.

So today, play the role of therapist in your own life and work on some good, old-fashioned mind-control. Your health will thank you!