A few weeks ago, I blogged about the joy of living life like never before. One of these new adventures has been a journey of wellness that has certainly expanded my vision to a healthier way of showing up in my life.

I have enjoyed stepping into a new sense of myself by learning new recipes that are to me the best of a vegetarian/raw food diet. The gym and I took a little while longer to reacquaint ourselves with each other but once I arrived I had to smile and ask myself what all of the resistance was about.

Happy Friday! Are you winding down from the week and want to catch up on some easy reading? In this week’s edition of the Weekend Reading Mix, I share four of my favorites from this week. Enjoy!

Confucius says: The Top 10 Quotes by Confucius
This blog inspires me and reminds me of the movies of my youth where a character would quote the great philosopher. Today, his teachings are life lessons that are prompts for inward journeys. Enjoy!

Spiritual wellness can mean different things to different people however the most basic definition is a search for meaning and purpose; the values, ethics and morals that guide an individual and gives meaning and direction to their life.

For most of us spiritual wellness is an evolutionary journey that grows and deepens as we do. As you think about or focus on Spiritual wellness this month define what it means to you.

Use the 5 steps to help you celebrate spiritual wellness and create inner alignment

1. Nurture your inner self with an everyday retreat. Take some time away from your busy schedule and create a retreat at a place where you feel peace-filled and connected to your source. This could be at the beach, the mountains or your favorite spa.
   2. Create or redefine your life vision and purpose statement. A retreat is the perfect place for journaling and looking within. This may be the perfect place to create or redefine your life vision and purpose statements. We are very familiar with the importance of a vision and purpose statement for business, however, creating these statements for your life will help you bring clarity, meaning and direction to every area of your life especially your career or business.
   3. Connect your vision with your heart by defining your guiding principles. Your guiding principles are the philosophy of how you live your life regardless of changes in  your goals, career or relationships. It is a barometer in which to gauge if you are on target with your actions and decision.  
4. Live in harmony. Decide to live each day in harmony by aligning your vision, purpose and guiding principles with every area of your life to include your career or business.
   5. Have fun. Do something that you absolutely love doing and that allows you to feel connected to your source and your life purpose.

The ocean is my all-time favorite place. It feels like home to me.  I will be celebrating Spiritual Wellness month by taking a few days for a retreat by the ocean for inner reflection, writing and long walks on the beach! How will you celebrate?

One of the greatest joys of being a coach is celebrating and honoring people as they live their life’s aligned and reach their dreams whether it’s enjoying a morning sunrise, one amazing step in their journey or reaching a milestone.

It is my great pleasure to feature Kim Gray this week! Kim is an amazing visionary who is enjoying life while launching her new association, the National Association of Virtual Assistants for coaches (NAVAC).

Happy Friday! Enjoy this week’s selections and have a great weekend!

Gaiam Life Meditation Rooms
If you are ready for a mid-day break here are some meditation rooms that you may find very relaxing, I know that I have. I enjoy each of them, this week my favorites are  the Water and Forest Rooms. I’d love to here which ones speak to you. Enjoy!

Can StumbleUpon & Digg Drive Insane Amounts of Traffic to Your Website?
Learning more and more about social media and the growing amount of new sites and tools available, I am not quite prepared to share all of the benefits of Stumble Upon or Digg. What I can say is that as a new user, I am enjoying the experience and I have discovered many new and relevant blogs in a short amount of time. This article shares the 5 Best Practices to put into play.

Last year, I had the wonderful opportunity of connecting with a lot of entrepreneurs who had questions about living an authentic balanced life and while building their business. At the end of the year we generated a survey and the response from our readers are still coming in. I will be answering those burning questions here and invite you to send your questions and to comment to the posts

This week’s question came from a reader who asks the following question,  “I would love for the picture to be painted… what does a day, week, month and year of balance look like?”

For the past several years I have consciously declared a theme for each year. Making a declaration for the year felt good and somehow gave me direction. Even if I changed course or outgrew where I was headed it still felt good to claim the year as mine.

This year, however, I simply stepped into the year confidently and courageously knowing that it is already magnificent!!!! Stepping into this year with confidence has allowed it to unfold with me doing things I’ve never done before or doing familiar things in a new way. The theme of the year found me. The excitement of living life like never before is so exhilarating that I invite you to journey with me!

If you are like me you are pretty busy during the week yet you still want to stay up-to-date on a mixture of topics that excite and nurture you. This week we are premiering the new series, The Weekend Reading Mix.

How to use Your Subconscious Mind to Change Your Life
If you are looking for new ideas on how to use your subconscious mind to change your life this article on The Change Blog shares the 3-step request process with you. Great article!

In the month of February the focus was love.  It feels so right to begin March – Spiritual Wellness Month by sharing how taking time out for self-care allows you share the best of yourself with your family and through your business.

When you love yourself so much that you like yourself, you are better able to share the best of you with other people. Loving yourself often requires that you evolve even when you don’t feel like it. Your heart knows exactly what you require. It doesn’t matter if you are attentive to your needs or you ignore them altogether, your heart will not be denied.

Sometimes the biggest lessons about self-care come from safety instructions. What we’ve learned in these lessons are so memorable that we can recite them in our sleep. So I share one of them with you so that the next time there is a need for balance or clarity it will easily come to mind.

Moving through life’s transitions is one area where a few directions would come in handy. As a child, I clearly remember receiving the instructions, “Stop and look both ways before you cross the street”. I think of those instructions now in terms of transitioning from one experience to the next. To stop for at least a moment before quickly jumping into the next experience is a way for you to:

    * Listen to your heart
    * Ask what have I learned?
    * How have I grown?
    * What do I now wish to experience?

As I was watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button recently, the following quote struck me as an example of the importance of stopping at life’s transitions and taking inventory. Even if we do not feel like evolving at the moment it is always beneficial to evaluate if you are being who you want to be.

"For what it’s worth, it’s never too late, or in my case, never too early to be whoever you want to be. There is no time limit, stop whenever you want, you can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing, we can make the best or the worst of it, I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you, I hope you feel things you’ve never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

Please take some time this week to take inventory of your transitions and decide if you are being who you want to be or if you need to start over.

This has been the perfect week for me. It has been filled with uncertainty, doubt and plenty of love. Plus, I got a chance to be mommy’s little girl for a few days… just when I needed it. My mom visits from Virginia two to three times a year and equally shares her time between my sister, Dawn and I and both of our families. She showers us with love and we enjoy her in our own special way!

This visit we has been so much fun as we made veggie pizzas on oat and stone ground pita bread and laughed at movies. Most of all we listened to each other’s heart and that felt SO good!