December Sanity Retreat 2013 - Seeking Joy!

I don't participate in too many "blogging carnivals" anymore, but there are two each year that I really love and WANT to be a part of. 

Cheryl Harris created the "December Sanity Retreat" and the "July Self-Care Retreat" several years ago and I think the messages behind these events are so important. Self-care is hugely neglected in this country and I believe it's truly vital to our overall health and well-being, especially during this crazy time of year! 

I have been a much happier and healthier person since I began making an effort to take better care of myself emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Cheryl's online retreats have been a huge part of creating specific times each year to better focus on serious self-care. This month I am choosing to focus on joy. To find joy in every day. I'm also choosing to slow down and enjoy the holiday. We are not attending too many events, not baking too many cookies, not buying too many gifts, etc... 

I've also broken down tasks to do them slowly through the month. I have a bad habit of putting things off until the last minute and then having a major holiday breakdown three days before Christmas! This year I want to find the joy in each day during each small task. From washing dishes, to making dinner, to wrapping presents, to writing cards (yes, I still love sending Christmas cards! I won't give that up!)... I plan on finding joy in the every day of December. 

So this year my focus is on joy. Today I've found joy in the sun coming out this afternoon after a rainy and gray few days.  What can you find joy in every day this holiday season? 

Some joy I found during our recent holiday trip to Washington DC!
Right outside of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, I found lots of kale
in the natural areas. It really made me smile! In all the amazing plants they could have
placed in that little natural area, they placed kale! So pretty and such a delicious
green! I wonder if the squirrels are enjoying it?

Do you want to participate in our December Sanity Retreat? Here's how you can!

More on the December Sanity Retreat & Contests

The holidays can be a beautiful time of family bonding, celebration and beauty. They can also be an overdoing, overspending, overstressing time of all flavors of excess. For the last 3 years, I’ve been delighted to host the December Sanity Retreat and the July Self-Care Retreat. This is our 6th retreat! I wish I could say it was all about altruism, but honestly, it’s been wonderful for me to have an extra excuse to focus on self-care and rein in my natural tendency to need to bake (at least) 18 kinds of cookies.

I know how powerful it is for me to focus on self-care, and I imagine it’s similar for most of you, so as a gentle extra nudge, we’re doing 2 giveaways.

Giveaway #1: Let us hear your voice!

Prize: a $50 nuts.com gift certificate) they are not sponsoring, I just wanted something with healthy gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, etc. options (US/Canada)

Comment on any of our hostesses’ posts on the Sanity Retreat, like this one. Leave me a comment on how you cultivate gratitude in your life, OR what you’re most grateful for on this week’s post HERE

Giveaway #2: make the challenge your own!

Blog on your own self-care plans, and a post will be chosen at random as the winner. If you don’t have a blog, contact the hostess of the week and they’ll post for you.

Prize: um, ironing out details–either a gift certificate or a box of self-care books, meditation CDs, chocolate and other fun things from me.

As always, self-care is whatever it means to you. So the December Sanity Challenge can be on whatever YOU need to work on to stay sane during the holiday season

Balance around food * Joyful movement * Sanity & stress management * Making space for art, expression, and spirituality * Connection with friends and family

Or whatever else speaks to you along those lines.

The challenge—post on what you plan to do to make your holidays sane, happy and healthy.  Make it specific!  Not just “I’ll get more sleep”, but “I’ll get at least 7 hours of sleep, 5 days a week”.  Not just “I won’t go crazy making desserts”, but “I’ll make a maximum of XX desserts, and space them out over XX time”.  You know what you need to do to keep this doable, and writing it down will help you get there!

I’m delighted to be joined by wonderful hostesses with likeminded blogs:

• Kickoff: Cheryl of Gluten Free Goodness 
• Dec 7th Kate of Eat, Recycle, Repeat
• Dec 14th Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl
• Dec 21st  Valerie of City Life Eats
• Roundup: Cheryl of  Gluten Free Goodness 

I hope you choose to join us, too.  Grab a badge and we’re good to go!

We’ll also be meeting up in our Facebook group for extra encouragement and support. You’re more than welcome to join us there.

July Self-Care Retreat 2013 - Exploring Self-Care through Faith and Meditation

Over the past month a beautiful group of bloggers and readers have shared their thoughts on self-care. What it is, why it's important, best practices, etc...

Mid-way through the month I shared my own thoughts on what self-care has really meant to me in the past few years. Exploring my own spirituality and emotional health has been very important and has helped to shape the ever-growing person I am today. 

Through this month I spent time doing several guided meditation sessions with Iris Higgins (you MUST check out her new website: yourfairyangel.com) along with a few metta meditation sessions on youtube. (Youtube is a wonderful tool for free meditation resources!) 

For me, meditation has become one of my favorite methods of radical self-care. Meditation, done with a thoughtful teacher, has a way of helping me to better understand my own thoughts and feelings. Meditation has a way of quieting my mind and letting me see the "why" behind many of my frustrations and challenges. 

I often draw while I'm meditating. It helps me to focus and it gives me an actual "picture" of the feelings I'm working through. 

The sketches above were done while I was listening to the 1st meditation in Iris's 3 Day Chrysalis workshop. (If you scroll to the bottom of the Workshop page, Iris has the meditations in a podcast format, so you can listen and participate yourself!) 

I had a lot of deadlines this month, so I didn't set a list of primary goals to accomplish. But I really thought about all of the different ways I practice self-care and how much they have made a difference in my life the past few years. 

I have such a different perspective on problems than I did a few years ago. I have a much more positive outlook on life now than I used too. I feel so much happier than I did before! Much of this has been due to really wonderful counseling and wellness coaching from Cheryl Harris, the host of this amazing July event. But I also know, that a lot of it is due to finally being truly present in my life and working through issues as they come. No more ignoring things I don't like...no more resistance to change... no more hiding from my own feelings. 

As I look back on how life has changed for me in the past two years one thing that stands out to me is that REAL change takes time. Real change takes a lot of practice and patience and willingness. Real change takes communication. Real change takes exploration. And for me that hasn't always been easy. As Cheryl wisely told me in our last session, "We all have our "stuff" to work through." And I feel like I can really look back over the past two years and see real change. I can see that I deal with problems as they arise instead of putting them on the back burner and letting them simmer. I'm present to experience the blessings of each day, instead of dreading the challenges I might face.

Self-care is a process. A humbling, beautiful, and raw process... but the gradual results are priceless. Exploring life with joy instead of fear is one of the most abundant gifts I have ever been given.

Do you want to know more about how you can incorporate self-care into your own life? Please check out the thoughtful posts by all of the fellow bloggers and readers who participated through this month's event: 

Our fantastic group of bloggers:

June 28th:  Cheryl of Gluten-Free Goodness
July 6th: Valerie of City Life Eats
July 13th: Shirley of Gluten Free Easily (GFE)
July 20st: Iris of My Fairy Angel (you probably also know her from The Daily Dietribe)
July 27th Kate of Eat, Recycle Repeat
Aug 3rd Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl

My Self-Care Goals 2013 GF Goodness

Guest Post from Linda on Self-Care

July Self-Care Goals on City|Life|Eats

Wrap up and July Challenge on Eat, Recycle, Repeat

13 Self-Care Lessons from the Masters GF Goodness

Guest post from Linda

Debi of Hunter’s Lyoness on Unconditional love

City Life Eats on Infusing some new into yoga

Iris of Daily Dietribe on Letting Go

Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl with 9 Things that Make Me Feel Happy & Calm My Spirit

Cheryl of GF Goodness on Re-Writing the Story

Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl on Emotional and Spiritual Growth

Kate of Eat Recycle Repeat on “How to Surrender”

Cheryl of GF Goodness on Depression and Self Care

9 Things That Make Me Feel Happy & Calm My Spirit

photo by Michael Forbes -  June 2013

1)     Listening to spiritual and/or inspirational acoustic music

Little in this world can change my mood like music can. Finding music that can reach your deepest, darkest places is pivotal. Figure out what is meaningful for your body and spirit. Whether it's hip hop, classical, death metal (my husband!), country, pop, celtic, kid's songs, christmas music... whatever genre it is, use it to help you feel better on rough days. 

2)     Going to the drug store and spending an hour reading funny birthday cards

There are always days when finding joy is hard. Simply going to the store and reading silly, funny, knee-slaping cards can ALWAYS bring a smile to my face. My husband and I often make a point of visiting the card aisle when we go grocery shopping. 

3)     Writing a real note and snail-mailing it to a friend

Because everyone, I mean EVERYONE, appreciates small hand-written notes. Whether it's a brief sentence or a full letter, you are sharing a small part of your day with someone else. It's an offering of love both to you and from you. 

4)     Slowly walking to my car in the hot, hot sunshine after spending all day in an overly air-conditioned office.

Learning to notice abundance, even in small, "everyday" things like the warmth of the sun is a priceless gift. Once you start noticing the gifts around you, others will notice them as well. Abundance is everywhere. 

5)     Reading the website: "What Money Cannot Buy"

The little things in life are truly the most valuable. When we learn to enjoy the smallest of blessings (finding a fork in my drawer at work during lunch time, when I thought I was completely out of utensils!), it makes the big blessings seem even bigger, and gives every single day endless possibilities. 

6)     Taking a LONG hot shower

The power of water can be unimaginably refreshing and rejuvenating. Soaking in hot water eases muscle tension, clears nasal sinus passages naturally (oh to breathe in allergy season!), and can clear your mind. 

7)     Making Michael an unexpected cup of hot chocolate or a batch of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.... just because

Doing small things for those who love us, especially on days when life seems blue, can be uplifting and energizing. Love the people who love you. Even when you don't feel like it. It can make a world of difference. 

8)     Baking bread or making cupcakes for other people... just because

I've always enjoyed baking and sometimes I just need the rhythmic physical-feel of baking bread or making cupcakes. Often, I don't even want to eat them, I just enjoy the act of making them. (However, don't leave me alone with a fresh loaf of bread and butter...) Sometimes, even for someone like me who rarely enjoys anything "physical fitness" related, the "physical-ness" of making something like cupcakes or bread is soothing and brings me a lot of joy. 

9)     Watching incredibly cheesy, happy-ending inspirational movies on Netflix

Need to watch something mindless, yet happy & heartwarming? Check out the inspirational movies on Netflix. Seriously, sometimes we just need to remember there ARE happy endings and not all pets die at the end of movies! Laughing at cheesy dialogue is also ridiculously fun!

What are things that make you happy & calm your spirit?? I'd love to how others relax and find peace!

July 2013 Self-Care Retreat - Emotional & Spiritual Growth

How often do we begin a sentence with "I should have..." For instance, as I started writing this post, I wanted to say, "I should have written this post weeks ago..." And ideally that's what I meant to do.... but life is so rarely "ideal." Part of self-care is accepting and welcoming life when it isn't ideal.

Cheryl Harris (my nutritionista of awesomeness!) started the July Self-Care blogging event several years ago as a way to remember how important self-care is in our daily lives. We live such busy lives that we often forget how important it is to take care of ourselves, our-whole-selves. Generally, unless we take very good care of our whole self, it's very hard to take care of anyone or anything else!  And that means finding a way to put yourself first. I realize this sounds selfish. It kind of goes against a lot of what I learned growing up. But I've slowly learned that in order to take good care of my husband, my family, my friends, my furr-kids, my home, and my extended family... I HAVE to put myself first. I have to make sure that I am well cared for, so I can care well for everyone else in my life. 

Self-care means taking care of your whole self. Your body, your mind, and your spirit. Since we are all completely unique individuals this may mean something different for each person. You may need to focus more on your physical health, while other's may need to focus on their spiritual health or their emotional health. Finding the right balance of all three is a big part of self-care.

Over the past two years I've been really working on my journey to emotional health and spiritual health. I've done this in many different ways from coloring mandalas, to praying more, to journaling, to beginning the art of meditation... I also feel like in many ways I've been redefining my spiritual health and well-being. I've realized this plays so closely with my emotional health.

My personal religious & spiritual beliefs with God have morphed and changed a lot over the past few years. There were issues that for years and years never made sense to me as a Christian and I truly struggled with certain ideals. Over the past two-three years I've widened my beliefs and studied a lot about Buddhist practices and principles, along with traditional Catholicism, Native American spiritual beliefs, and even Judaism. I've realized that my own spiritual beliefs do not have to be boxed into any one specific category... and they never really have been. This has been a huge awakening for me.

Suddenly, I don't have to feel like I can't "believe" in a specific principle just because it doesn't fit within a certain religious guideline. In reality, I think I've always done this to a degree. There's a certain rebelliousness in believing what you want no matter what your specific religious background is... but to finally give yourself permission to change and grow and allow your beliefs to do the same is extraordinarily freeing.

It's also particularly fun and liberating to realize that you may NEVER stop growing and changing and redefining who you truly are as a person. I love having this new understanding of myself!

At the beginning of August I will share more about a few techniques I've been using to help myself grow, along with finding peace and joy in the "every day-ness" of life. It's been a life-changing few months for me, and I look forward to seeing the ways you have grown & changed too in the past few years of your life.

Many bloggers have participated in this year's July Self-Care Retreat. Please visit their websites and posts on the many different ways you can incorporate self-care into your life. 

• June 28th: Me! Cheryl of Gluten-Free Goodness
• July 6th: Valerie of City Life Eats
• July 13th: Shirley of Gluten Free Easily (GFE)
• July 20st: Iris of My Fairy Angel (you probably also know her from The Daily Dietribe)
• July 27th Kate of Eat, Recycle Repeat
• Aug 3rd Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl 

Before we get into the “rules” (of the self-care retreat blog posts), know that the main “rule” is to relax, enjoy, take good care of yourself and have fun.

Why join us? Because self-care takes a village, too.

These posts are to inspire you all to make July a month of reflecting on self-care and the many ways to nourish ourselves. We encourage everyone to participate in this event in a way that feels appropriate to them, whether through making different choices around food, adding in movement, personal reflection, journaling or other self-care. If you would like to share your experience with self-care, we would love to include you in the experience, whether you join us for one week or every week. We ask that you link back to this post so that more people can learn about this retreat, and leave a comment for the weekly theme host, too! That way, we can make sure we see your post and that you’re entered into the drawing.

2013 Posts thus Far:

Cheryl's Self-Care Goals 2013 GF Goodness

Guest Post from Linda on Self-Care

July Self-Care Goals on City|Life|Eats

Wrap up and July Challenge on Eat, Recycle, Repeat

13 Self-Care Lessons from the Masters GF Goodness

Curious about past retreats? Recaps for July Retreats 2011 & 2012 are here:

http://www.gfgoodness.com/2012/08/05/a-july-self-retreat-recap/

http://www.gfgoodness.com/2011/08/11/4117/

December Sanity Challenge 2012 -- A Peaceful Holiday Season

Image created by the lovely Jennifer Yandle Photography & Design

December... a time actually meant for rest, reflection, creativity, and self-care. But is that what you think of when you envision December? I don't. It often can mean a never-ending to-do list. A focus on gifts, gifts, gifts... christmas cards, ornate decorating, doing everything possible to create a picture-perfect Rockwell holiday. And really, it was just a painting. A lovely painting... but it's not what the holidays are all about.

For me, December is a time to reflect on the journey of Christmas. As a Christian, it's a deeply spiritual time of remembering the miracle of Christ's birth. It's also a deeply spiritual time for many, many other religions and beliefs. It's a time to honor our friends & family. It's a time to rest and rejuvenate.

But so often with sparkly lights, weeks and weeks of Holiday sales starting the actual DAY of Thanksgiving now (ironic, no?), and holiday party after holiday party... it's no wonder we can lose sight of the serenity of the season.

Last year was the first year I participated in Cheryl Harris' December Sanity Challenge. It was truly a gift to realize that I didn't have to be a part of the "crazy-ness" of Christmas. That I really could stop worrying about being perfect, measuring up with the absolute "right" (ie.. expensive) gifts, keeping up with friends & relatives spending enormous amounts on gifts and food. The holiday didn't have to be about "keeping up."

So once again I'm accepting this December's Sanity Challenge. I want to enjoy a peaceful, less-stressful Christmas. And you can too.

Cheryl suggests making a few concrete goals for the season. So here are the goals that I want to work towards this December:

• I will write down three things I am thankful and grateful for every day. 
• I will enjoy a dessert/sweet treat/baked good only once per day and in a small portion (1 small muffin, 2 small GF cookies, etc...) 
• I will take a short 15 minute walk outside at least 2 times a week, both for letting go of stress and to encourage myself to exercise more. 
• To help with our budget this month, I will not buy anything new (used or thrift store items okay) for myself. See Leo Babauta's challenge this week for my inspiration to do this for the remainder of the year... and I would actually like to pursue this in 2013 as well. 

This year's December Sanity Challenge will be hosted also by the following bloggers:

• Dec 1st -- Valerie of City|Life|Eats 
• Dec 8th -- Kate of Eat, Recycle, Repeat
• Dec 15th -- Cheryl of Gluten-free Goodness
• Dec 22nd -- Iris of Daily Dietribe
• Dec 29th -- ME! Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl

As a little added incentive, for each post on your intentions and your progress you link back here or one of the other co-hosts, Cheryl is offering a $50 Nuts.com gift certificate and I am giving away two brand-new signed copies of my "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook" after our monthly event is over.

From Cheryl: "Last, but not least, we do have a FB group – if you’d like to join, you’re more than welcome. It’s a space to support and be supported, and it’s the same one we used during our last Self-Care Retreat."

To get a “flavor” of past retreats:
http://www.gfgoodness.com/2012/08/05/a-july-self-retreat-recap/
July Self-Care Retreat and the December Sanity Retreat.

I hope you'll join us in having a sane, peaceful, and joyful Holiday season!

Gym Hamster - Week 8 Update

Bad to the Bone!

THIS is a cool hamster!! :-)

It's week 8 at the gym. That's hard for me to believe. It seems like more of a habit now than something I'm forced to go too! I'm proud that I've made it 3 times this week and I'm going again after work today!

One thing that stands out to me this week is I'm starting to gain some confidence in myself and my abilities. On days that I cardio alone, I do a full 60 minutes. I started with 20 minutes!

I'm pushing myself harder, I'm trying more activities, and I look forward to the gym (well, most days anyway! )

My attitude is better than it has been in years. I've lost 12 pounds since January 1... it's slow progress, but I'm okay with that. I hope that slow progress means permanent progress!

The past few weeks I've also had the help of nutritionist Cheryl Harris. She's been coaching me each week on the positive progress I've made and focusing on challenging areas I can work on. This week we talked about mindless eating. She recommended reading "Mindless Eating" by Brian Wansink. Amazingly with Amazon Prime my copy came in one day, so I've started reading. So far the book has started talking about the "cues" that we don't think about that can encourage us to eat more without thinking about it: a larger plate or container, a fancy label, other people eating/drinking around us, etc... It's been a really interesting read so far and it's really making me think about why I eat more than I should at times.

And you. Thank you for reading these updates. I know recipes have been few & far between lately and I really appreciate all your support in this journey I'm making. I know eventually I'll be able to make time again to focus on baking and creating recipes... but I so appreciate your patience as I figure this healthy living lifestyle out! Knowing I have a huge group of cheerleaders behind me is huge and makes a world of difference.

I appreciate you!

Gym Hamster - Week 5 Update

It totally cracks me up looking for hamster pictures for this series! If you have a hamster and want to share a picture of your pet, please send them to me!

So this is my 5th week hitting the gym... I'm slowly increasing my activity from 30 minutes to 45-60 minutes of cardio 3-4x a week. I am trying to work in my strength training routine at least twice a week. I'm beginning to challenge myself a little bit more each time I go to the gym with cardio. I jogged for the first time on the treadmill yesterday. It was only in one minute increments, but i did it. It's slow... but I know we'll get there.

My frustrations this week lie not in the gym routine... but in my eating. It is SO easy to revert to mindless eating. I've realized it's literally going to take months to make a "permanent" change in my eating habits. A few moments of weakness can can really hurt the scales at the end of the week. My "trigger" foods are chips and chocolate, and just eating too much of them... usually mindlessly.

For instance on Tuesday night I got home after the gym, I was starving and over the weekend on a trip I bought a bag of gluten free pretzels. (A purchase don't make often, because I know the consequences!) While standing in the kitchen chatting with hubs, having our daily catch up, I munched 2-3 servings of pretzels without even thinking about it. Then after that I munched on some lunch meat that I was preparing for a salad. Then I munched on a few gluten free cookies (agreeing to review gluten free foods for companies is an evil thing to do!) When I added up my calories after dinner, my mouth hit the floor. I had done so well during the day... it wasn't until I was famished after the gym that I just munched, munched, munched mindlessly and added an additional 900+ calories to my day's total. That's over half of my daily calorie allotment. Which of course completely blew up my total calories for the day. I was so utterly frustrated with myself. I couldn't believe I had let my evening snacking/mindless eating get so out of control in ONE afternoon.

I'm going to work hard this month to reach my calorie & protein goals. I really want to get under the 200 lb. mark by April. I'd love to knock the socks off of my Nurse Practicer for my May appointment. That would be an awesome reward at the end of the month.

I think what makes this journey different than every other weight loss journey I've had in the past is that I'm NOT going to give up. I'm paying too much at the gym to give up! lol Seriously though, I know this is going to be hard... it is hard. I know it may take a year or more to reach my goal... but I WILL get there.

It may be a long struggle to conquer my bad eating habits, but I'm determined to make it a lifestyle. And I lived an unhealthy lifestyle for most of my adult years... so it won't change overnight... it won't change in a week... it won't change magically in a month... there will be a lot of steps backward on the journey forward. But I'll get there.

Don't give up. Eat more carrots. Be a Gym Hamster.

Weekend Setbacks

2008 Flashback

January 19, 2008 - Gluten Free Crescent Rolls

As you know I've been monitoring my food intake very closely lately. I've been journaling, writing down what I eat along with just being much more conscious about my food choices. (And not eating those awesome gluten free crescent rolls! If anybody figures out how to successfully make them dairy free you have to let me know!)

I had a wonderful weekend visiting family. The only downfall was my food choices. Actually it wasn't the choices, but the portions. It's amazing how quickly I want to revert back to large portions if I'm not actually writing down what I'm eating. Emotional eating can quickly follow.

So back to the basics this week. Portion sizes in check. Last week I found these really cute lunch boxes online and I purchased a set. It's similar to a bento type lunch, but it's all one container which is really convenient! Today's lunch was brought in the cute lunch box. Somehow packed lunches seem much more appetizing when they are in cute containers. Yes?

Setbacks are frustrating for me. I want to beat myself up. I get frustrated that I don't see immediate results when I drastically change my eating habits. And these feelings often revert back to emotional eating... which can revert to messy counters... which can revert to eating out. It's one big messy cycle.

Yet even though I do have a few dishes in the sink today (and really it is only a few -- much better record than before), and even though I just went through a few days of emotional eating... I'm jumping back on track today.

How do you handle food/activity/emotional setbacks?

Thoughtfully,
Carrie