She Empowers: Your Body is A Temple, Not a Garbage Can.

She Empowers: Your Body is A Temple, Not a Garbage Can.

Lately, God has been quietly showing and reminding me just how important, precious and valuable my body is. As a woman, I get to carry my children in my womb, I get to feed them from my own breast, and then I get to carry them and nurture them all the days of their young lives. After I had my first child, I got back into shape immediately! Watching what I ate, working out everyday and being diligent with getting my body back into top shape. After I had my second child, life was a little bit different and I didn’t have the focus that I had with my first one to commit myself back to getting in shape.

Let me be clear here, it’s not about being skinny, that was never my focus and still isn’t my focus. It is, however, about treating your body like the most precious, rare, and valuable commodity that it is. We only get one and yes we are women and we have children and our bodies change in shape and size, but that’s not an excuse to stop feeding and moving your body with the upmost respect. If anything, having children should motivate us to be healthy so that we can see our children grow up.

Unfortunately, life gets in the way and we trade healthy meals for convenient meals and sitting down on the couch catching our breath from the constant mundane movement over getting up and working out. I haven’t workout or fed my body properly for a year and let me just say, I have never felt more unhealthy in my life. The funny thing is, if a stranger looked at me they would think I was in decent shape, but it’s not the outside appearance that is suffering it’s the inward aches and pains. My body is constantly trying to tell me that it’s lacking something and needs me to do something about it. This is when I hear God whisper:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

 

Even as I’m writing this, that scripture convicts me in so many ways. The beautiful thing about conviction, is that it calls you to a higher place. My prayer for all of us is that we learn to honor our God by honoring our bodies. Not just with what we feed it, but how we move it, what we allow our eyes to see, what we allow our ears to hear, what we allow our hands to touch, what we allow our minds to read and receive, and what we allow our mouths to say. Be empowered today, and with every action you take, remember that your body is a temple, not a garbage can.

With love and big smiles,

torrie

 

She Empowers: How to Master Your Feelings Through Self Awareness

She Empowers: How to Master Your Feelings Through Self Awareness

Feelings are undeniable and inevitable. We all have them and it’s unwise of us to ignore them. Feelings remind us that we’re human. Although they have a way of reminding us we’re still among the land of the living, they also remind us that people can hurt us, let us known, or completely upset us to no end.

We have no way to control the feelings we feel. They’re natural and valid when they arise. However, we can certainly choose how we respond to those feelings. The behaviors that follow how we feel internally express the emotions that accompany how we feel. Most of the time that’s a great thing! Some of the time, that can be a destructive thing as well.

Never confuse a feeling with an emotion. Feelings are internal; emotions are displayed externally. YES. Acknowledge those feelings. When someone hurts or disappoints us, respect the feelings and honor them. In addition to giving our feelings a chance to come and go freely—it is also an internal expression of self-love and self-worth. We have every right to feel how we feel and face that feeling with embrace means it’s worthy of validation. Feelings are neither right nor wrong. They are simply in existence to help us FEEL the life we’re blessed with. Once you honor those feelings, truly think about your external response to the feeling—because we’re responsible for the emotions that follow. It’s the art of self-awareness.

Have you ever witnessed a person calmly communicate their disappointment or pain while conveying how they feel with respect and love? It’s a beautiful thing that takes self-awareness. The act of self-awareness means to have a conscious (or intentional) knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives, and desires. It’s critical that we become self-aware of our feelings so our emotions aren’t detrimental to our relationships— or cause our situations to become worse as a result of our response to the circumstance.

Self-awareness isn’t automatic and it takes practice. So when you encounter life’s experiences, feel it and then practice the act of self- awareness. Strive for an intentional knowledge of your feelings, motives, and desires. Seek understanding behind the root of your feelings. Crave the exposure of core motives and desires. Do all of this before a response. Once we respond, we can’t undo the emotions that are shared with others. Also- if we truly act in self-awareness, it helps us to not point fingers for the feelings we feel and helps us to address WHY the feeling manifested.

How do you start to work on self- awareness? Practice, practice, practice and then be kind to yourself when you don’t meet the mark that you’re striving for. It will happen. Again, it will happen. So when it happens- repeat this process with kindness and love– toward yourself.

Feelings are intended to allow you to FEEL the beautiful journey of life. Become very familiar and welcoming to those feelings—as you master your response to them through self-awareness.

She Connects: The Jonah Complex

She Connects: The Jonah Complex

Charles Stanley once said, “Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins,”
Recently I went through an experimental period with my DVR, and I happened to stumble upon a show that caught my interest briefly. The show featured one of my favorite actresses from my younger years, Elizabeth Gilles, and despite me being moderately confused about the episode’s plot due to coming in nearly 20-minutes into the 30-minute program, I was immensely intrigued by a concept introduced.

During a heart-to-heart moment between Gilles’ character and her father, the daughter began to explain to father about how his fear of success is tied to The Jonah Complex.

There is a popular biblical story often referred to as the story of Jonah and the Whale. In short, the story goes as follows:

God sent Jonah to Ninevah. Nineveh was an enemy of Jonah’s country, Israel. So, Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh.

Jonah tried to escape God. He tried to travel elsewhere, by ship. But there was a terrible storm. Jonah knew that God had caused the storm. So, he asked the sailors to throw him into the sea. But Jonah did not drown, because God sent a whale (large fish) to swallow Jonah. Then, Jonah prayed to God again. He thanked God, who had rescued him (Jonah 2). And God caused the fish to return Jonah to the dry land.*

So, Jonah went to Nineveh. He warned the people that they must confess their evil deeds to God. Otherwise, God would destroy their nation. The people obeyed Jonah. So, God forgave the people in Nineveh. God did not destroy Nineveh at this time.

But Jonah was sad, because Nineveh was his enemy. Jonah wanted God to destroy Nineveh. But God told Jonah that God cares about the people from every nation.

The Jonah Complex is a theory created by Abraham Maslow—first introduced the theory in his book titled, “The Farther Reaches of Human Nature—that is based off of the famous biblical story.

The theory suggests that despite understanding our duties and responsibilities (in life and as children of God), we often try to evade our missions out of fear—similarly to Jonah.

“It is certainly possible for most of us to be greater than we are in actuality. We all have unused potentialities or not fully developed ones…So often we run away from the responsibilities dictated (or rather suggested) by nature, by fate, even sometimes by accident, just as Jonah tried—in vain—to run away from his fate…We are generally afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most perfect moments, under the most perfect conditions, under conditions of greatest courage.” –Abraham Maslow in “The Farther Reaches of Human Nature”

We are afraid of the unknown. As humans, it’s considered natural, but before reading this theory had I never stopped to consider the effects that my fear was putting on me fulfilling my dreams or aspirations, nevertheless my destiny.

There are so many things that I wanted to do, and probably could have done, but I allowed myself to be crippled my own fear.

I held myself back because it seemed better to do that instead of facing my problems head on and accepting the consequence that followed.

In life our possibilities are endless, yet we limit ourselves due to trepidation that we carry on our own.

How are your fears holding you back from walking in your purpose?

What can you do to unbind yourself from the chains of fear?

*The credit for the summary of Jonah goes to: http://www.easyenglish.info/bible-outline/jonah-summary.htm

 

 

 

 

She Empowers: Lack Of Motivation

She Empowers: Lack Of Motivation

The word ‘motivation’ is defined by Dictionary.com as, “the state or condition of being motivated or having a strong reason to act or accomplish something”.
If you look at the fourth definition of the word, it will read, “the thing that Nadya lacks”.

Motivation is a funny thing. There’s so many things that I could do, a lot of places I could be, but I lack motivation.

I know it’s not an age thing, because I’m less than two months short of being sixteen.

Scientifically speaking, there have been studies conducted to find out what motivates people, but not much has been found about what keeps people from getting motivated in the first place.

Nevertheless, when I go through my motivation-less periods, there are a few things that I do to find direction in my life, and I am going to share them with you.

1. Identify at least one goal.
Generally, I have found, that I feel the least inspired when I have the most to do. So instead of allowing myself to lie in bed and watch Pretty Little Liars reruns, I create a to-do list. The list can be filled with things that you have to do within the hour, the day, the week, or the month as whole, but in order to find direction, you must first identify what action you need to make.
2. Start planning.
Once you identify one goal that you need to accomplish, begin to think about how you are going to put it all into action. For example, if one of your goals is to buy a car within the current month, then sit down and research all of information that you need to know about purchasing a car. After you have done your research, and you have an idea about what you want to buy/where you want to buy the car from, then you need to create a budget plan, so that you can start to save/finish saving for your future car.
3. Put your plan into action.
You know what kind of car that you want, where you can purchase the car that you want, and how much it is going to cost to buy the car that you want, so what’s next? You have to put your plan into action. Put your budget plan into action. Start putting money aside because the more money you have, the closer you are to getting that car. It’s simple logic.
4. Have a small relapse
Creating a plan is great, and following through your plan is even better, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen. I can research and plan all day, but when it comes time to do said activity, I find myself back into my motivation-less mode, almost as if a switch had been flipped on a wall. What can you do? Don’t be so hard on yourself for one. You aren’t going to fail in life because you didn’t stick to your two-week project plan. In the wise words of the Aaliyah, “You can dust yourself off and try it again,” tomorrow, maybe even next week.
5. Post it!
The more we see things, the more we can acknowledge it, and the motivated we feel to accomplish it. Write down your goals, along with other inspirational quotes, and post them somewhere that you can see it daily (ie. your bathroom, your bedroom, your mirror). The more you see it, the more you will feel obligated to do something about it.

There are a hundred and more ways to renew your direction; these are just some of my favorite ones. I hope you find them as useful as I have!

XOXO,
Nadya

She Rocks: Confidence

She Rocks: Confidence

Black is a slimming color.

Brown is a natural color.

Red is for confidence.

I love the color red, especially in my wardrobe—red shoes, red lipstick, red dresses.

The color red is considered an “emotionally intense”, and is often associated with strength, power, passion, and love.

You are what you wear, and I would like to be nothing but the color red.

When I wear the color red, I feel like I’m at my best.

And I’m not talking about wearing an all red jumpsuit with red heels, and red accessories.

It only takes one piece of red for me to feel my best—to make feel like I’m the cream of the crop. With red lipstick I feel powerful like a beautiful, ancient warrior. With red shoes on, I put each foot forward with sureness in ever in every step. With a red dress on, I feel slimmer than I would in a black dress. I’m the next Madonna.

It’s also been said that the color red is a symbol of danger, and they’re absolutely right.

Every time I’m rocking the color red, I feel like a lion on the prowl. Red makes me feel dangerous.

And it’s not even a specific shade that makes feel this way. I feel confident in all types of red—dark reds, bright reds, even that weird red color in the middle.

All reds are beautiful.

All reds are equivalent to confidence.

So when you’re feeling low, put on something red. It can work wonders on your life.

 

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