Reevaluating Giving
Happy Mid-November! I love the focus on giving this month. There is a saying the more you give the more you get, in my own life this has proven true time and time again. While it is great to give money, food, or gifts, giving can also be something as simple as giving a smile or a listening ear to someone. How often when you give a smile do you receive a glare or grouchy face? When someone smiles at you, how do you feel on the inside? For me it makes me feel warm and good on the inside. How about when you give someone a genuine compliment, words of encouragement, or just a set of listening ears - are you in turn met with criticism or complaints? Most often not; and instead gives warmth and a sense of hope to others.
Giving can be free and the effect can go well beyond the time it took to share. Winston Churchill once said, "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."
Take time this month and focus on where you can give a little more of yourself, reevaluate where you are giving your attention, time, money; maybe it needs to start with yourself: giving yourself some grace if you aren't where you want to be or if you feel stuck or in a rut. Then turn your attention to how you feel you can make small shifts that give some encouragement to those around you and watch how in turn your own cup feels fuller, maybe even allowing you to give more than usual.
Redefine What's Possible
Our tagline at Experience Momentum is Redefine What's Possible. So, what exactly does that mean? To start, Experience Momentum is here to redefine what it means to be healthy, to live all out, to be aware of our impacts, and improve the health of our one planet. This inspires me to be a better version of myself each day.
To redefine what's possible it is crucial to focus our attention on our deepest desires, not our fears. There are many versions of the saying fear is like fire. The thought is that if you can control it, it can cook for you, it can heat your house and if you can't control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you. Focusing on our dreams, desires, and aspirations is uplifting and full of positive energy. To truly 'redefine what's possible' we must have self-awareness of where we are in our life. Are we where we want to be, do we know what lights us up, are we making the time to create the life we want for our-self? Take time this month and give yourself a gift, so you can more easily give to others. Carve out the necessary time to reflect and take action to 'redefine what's possible'. Take a look at the following five actions you can take to get you to redefine what's possible in your life. I would love to hear how it goes - enjoy!
Volunteering with sanitation foundation.
Find Joy. Sounds simple enough, but how often are you smiling or laughing throughout the day? It is easy to take ourselves and our life situations too seriously. The amount of perceived stress in our life can be very high. What brings you the most joy in your life? How can you make time to incorporate that into your life? For me, it is being present to our four kiddos and what they are doing. Making time to play with them always brings me joy and snaps me out of any ‘funk’ I might be in.
Serve others. Helping others out while volunteering your time and efforts can be one of the most rewarding aspects of life. You can pursue your passions while working in different areas; from animals to the environment, health services, or to building homes for habitat for humanity. Check out https://www.volunteermatch.org/ to find how you can help serve others.
Experience something new. A great quote to live by is "when was the last time you did something for the first time?". Get out there and experience what life has to offer, which will force you outside of your comfort zone. For me I’ve never been a race pacer. A friend of mine, Angie, recently did a 50k trail race and asked if I would pace her in the last seven miles. It was such a great experience looking through the lens of another as she demonstrated the utmost grit to cross the finish line.
Focus on your desires, not your fears. We have control of our conscious thoughts. What we focus on tends to expand, so we might as well focus on our greatest desires and dreams. What do you spend your time thinking about? Does it inspire you? Research has shown we have between 6,000 – 60,000 thoughts a day. Of these 80% are negative and 90% are repetitive. Ouch, odds are your thoughts are not serving you. Take five minutes and write out what you would like to accomplish with your health and fitness, how you would like to improve your relationships and career. Now focus and act on those things, watch your life change day by day!
Be inquisitive. Do you know how many cells are in the human body? Guess. What was that number? Try about 50-70 trillion. Are you kidding me?! Now ask what is a cell and how does it function? Asking questions is a great place to begin staying inquisitive, it allows us to stay humble and realize we will never know it all. Life is so much more exciting coming from a place of curiosity. Start with who am I, what am I, and where am I going? That should keep you busy for a while.
Experience "Movember" in support of men's health.
The month of November gets pretty hairy around Experience Momentum as our male team members grow out their facial hair to raise awareness for men's health - specifically prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide prevention. I always appreciate the freedom to be creative with which mustache to wear. This year I am repping the horseshoe mustache, it is a standard stache, but with two downward pointing bars. Truth be told, it doesn’t look so great, but I appreciate the way people look at me if they haven’t seen me in a bit.
If you are not familiar with the story of how ‘Movember’ came to be it is pretty cool. Two Australian dudes were having a beer talking about fashion trends and how they could bring the mustache back. It started small in 2003, but year to date ‘Movember’ has raised over $900 million to help men’s health. Are you kidding me? I just love this, reminds me of the quote from Margaret Mead “Never underestimate the power of a small group of people to change the world. In fact it is the only way it ever has.”
How YOU Can Help:
Scan on your phone!
1) Click here to donate to our Experience Movember Team or scan the QR code.
2) Donate the following amounts and dole out "punishments" to the male staff member of your choice:
$100 = create a 10-minute workout for the male staff member of your choice
$20 = 20 burpees from the male staff member of your choice
$15 = 60 seconds of cupping/massage stick revenge on the male staff member of your choice (performed by PT of your choice)
Written by Shanon Tysland | Founder, CEO at Experience Momentum
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