creativity | Triumph Wellness

The Plight of the Righteously Wronged Victim

May 12, 2013 by Emily Segal 2 Comments

Awhile back, I noticed a pattern that was occurring in my relationships – both personal and business. It would play out like this: I would connect with someone less than kind, pretend I didn’t notice their unkindness, then get all wounded and indignant when they did something mean to me.

The last time it happened, I was participating in a business coaching group and decided that since being all twisted up with this drama was reducing my productivity, it was on-topic for the group. The coach who was leading the group first identified that this was indeed a pattern for me. She asked me for several examples, which sadly I was able to give generously, going back years and years.

My coach pointed out, and I reiterate for my dear readers here, if something is a repeating pattern in your life, there is a good chance that you are doing something to attract this to you. Until you identify and clear it, it is likely to persist.

Then it went something like this:

Coach: So Emily, what are you getting out of this situation?

Me: Frustration, pain, sadness.

Coach: Could there be anything positive you are getting out of it?

Me: I guess it enables me to be distracted and procrastinate my work.

Coach: OK, maybe, but could there be something else? Who do you get to be when this happens to you?

Right away, without even thinking, these words came out of my mouth:

Me: The righteously wronged victim. I get to be the righteously wronged victim.

Coach: So how is it to be the righteously wronged victim?

Me: Well, I thought it was good. I liked being righteous and a victim. But now that I think about it, I HATE it! What a stupid thing to be! The people who “victimize” me just go on, unperturbed, happy with their lives, and I am the one sitting here, wasting time, stewing in my pain. Really, this is pretty much the dumbest and most unproductive thing I have ever done. Ding!

My coach warned the whole group that while being aware of the pattern we are attracting is the first step to changing it, we must completely disconnect from this old pattern. If we are attached to it even 1%, we will fall right back into it out of familiarity and comfort. I did NOT want that, so I committed 100% to divorcing myself from this pattern I have been practicing for about 40 years. Yes, 40 years. My parents are reading this and thinking it has taken me an awfully long time to figure out for myself what they were telling me all along.

Over the course of the next few weeks, several “tests” arose (as they often do when you have made an advancement in your growth). Thanks to this article on victim mentality, I was able to identify right away if I was entering righteous victim mode and immediately change course.

Guess what happened when I stopped engaging in this behavior pattern? Well, you would not believe it if I told you! For starters, all those drama mamas, they just vanished like smoke. Move along people, nothing to see here, no drama to feed on. Suddenly the people who were contacting me to book appointments were totally different than the people I had previously been working with! They are responsible for their own work, they have good boundaries, they are kind. And the other folks? Miraculously I watched as they removed themselves from my practice.

My personal relationships have mirrored what is happening with my business relationships. Do you have any idea how much more time and energy you have every day when you are not tangled up in massive efforts to defend your poor victim self and try to make everyone feel so, so sorry for you?

Now, everywhere I look, I see OTHER people playing the righteous victim role. Now that I can see what they are doing, I can choose to not play the game. All those online arguments, comment wars and facebook foibles? Done, gone, vanished, unfollowed, disconnected… Turns out that not having the last word in every argument to prove how you have been WRONGED-oh-woe-is-me! is quite liberating.

Recently for example, there have been protests about how women can pray at the Western Wall and groups and counter-groups have sprung up. When you read their editorials and replies back and forth, you see both sides saying “WE are the ones being wronged here! WE are the innocent victims of your group!” Both sides. Each claiming righteous victimhood. Everyone stuck and trapped and making no progress.

Look at almost any stale-mated argument (and yes, I can see the Middle East peace process through these eyes too) and you will see two sides both jockeying for righteous victimhood.

Being the righteous victim is a place of stagnancy and no forward progress. It sucks all the creativity and energy right out of us! Who the heck cares if you are so righteously wronged? Who WANTS to be the idiot who lets nasty people wipe their dirty feet all over the place?

The great news is that you don’t have to play along! Be a creator, not a victim. Again, more helpful details in this article HERE.

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Filed Under: coaching exercises, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Positive Thinking Tagged With: Anti-Ick Techniques, creativity, Self-Improvement

Nine Questions That Changed My Life

January 8, 2013 by Emily Segal 3 Comments

What readers familiar with my story may remember, is the tipping point I reached in order to turn my back on unhealthy eating, living, and the overweight that came as a result, was a Tony Robbins book. As you can read in this post HERE, I had stumbled upon the book quite by accident, opened to a page most randomly, became captivated by a writing exercise within it, and basically changed the course of my life on the very spot.

The kicker is that I left the book on the desk in the library, not even checking it out or reading any farther than that one exercise in the middle of the book!

Now, I am not one to believe in accidents of fate. I know I was guided to the info I needed the moment I was ready for it. Once the message had been delivered and received, I guess I had no need of the actual messenger.

To tell you the truth I actually began to wonder if that entire day hadn’t been some sort of dream? I mean, if the book had been that important, how could I not remember what it was?

Recently however, as I faced a similar challenge in my life, I began wondering about the magic of that day. If I found the book and re-did the exercise, could I get as wonderful a result as I did that day back in 2001? I decided I would find the book and try! Unfortunately for me, Tony has been prolific with his writing and it was seemingly impossible for me to choose THE BOOK from the dozens he has written.

So, doing as I had on that fateful day, I went “eeny-meeny” and asked a power greater than myself to guide me to “miney-mo”.

I found it on the very first try.

(Skeptics among you are certain my subconscious remembered the title or the cover even though I didn’t think I had. That’s fine too).

And now, with the book in my possession, I understand that the entire lengthy and jam-packed tome is a life changer. No wonder this guy is famous! Wow!

The exercise that launched me on an altered course is tucked right in the middle of all this amazing content. Although it is not exactly as I had remembered it, it’s still powerful and profound. I have been sharing it with my clients, but today wanted to share it with all of you as a New Year’s present.

This is not an exercise to be read passively. You must take out pen and paper and write, write, write! What better way to begin a new year than with some soul searching? So get your writing tools and I will wait here until you get back…

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You’re back? OK, the actual exercise is an entire chapter of the book, so here I am going to paraphrase a bit. Basically, the set up is to spend some time imagining what you would do in life if you knew you couldn’t fail. Then, after you have fantasized a bit, with that wide open, happy, frame of mind, answer the following questions. Write freely without thought to grammar or spelling. Do not edit yourself with “oh, I could never do THAT!” or anything resembling limits or “realistic thinking”. You will get to that later, I promise.

(Whatever I put in quotes is directly from the book. Unquoted sections are me paraphrasing).

1. “Start by making an inventory of your dreams, the things you want to have, do, be and share. Create the people, feelings, and places you want to be a part of your life,” how you want to look, feel, dress, the things and people you have in your life, your surroundings, smell it, see it , feel it all … “write for a minimum of 10 minutes.”

2. ”Go over the list you made, estimating for each goal, when you expect to reach those outcomes: six months, one year, two years, five years, ten years, twenty years.”

3. ”Now, pick out the four most important goals for you this year.” For each one “write down why you absolutely will achieve them… and WHY it is important that you do.” (emily: I would actually use the word “necessary”, rather than “important” as it has much more power attached to it).

4. Review your 4 goals: ”Are they stated in the positive?” Can you see the achievement of the goal in your mind? Can you feel what it feels like, what you see, hear and smell when you achieve this goal? Are they goals that are attainable by you and not dependent on the actions of someone else? ”If they violate any of these conditions, change them to fit.”

5. ”Make a list of the important resources you already have at your disposal to help you achieve each goal: character traits, friends, financial resources, education, time, energy, etc.”

6. Recall and write down three to fives times in your life when you used those same traits successfully to accomplish some other goal. ”Describe what you did that made you succeed, what qualities or resources you made effective use of, and what about the situation made you feel successful.”

7. “Describe the kind of person you would have to be to attain your goals..” ie: a great disciplinarian, free thinker, time manager, brave, bold person with magnetism and great impact, etc etc.?

8. (emily: HEADS UP: This is THE question on which my entire world reversed it’s spin!) ”In a few paragraphs, write down what prevents you from having the things you desire right now. Dissect your personality and see what’s holding you back from achieving what you want.” (emily: I could have sworn Tony asked the next part, but it’s not here, so I will ask the thing that landed this whole exercise for me: Is it worth it? Is what you are doing now that is keeping you from achieving your goal, worth living without this thing you want so badly? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.)

9. ”Take the time now to take each of your four key goals and create your first draft of a step-by-step plan on how to achieve it. Remember to start with the goal and ask what would I have to do first to accomplish this or what prevents me from having this now and what can I do to change this. Make sure your plans include something you could do TODAY.”

Those are the main steps of Tony’s “Ultimate Success Formula”. He goes on with a few more advanced steps:

10. Come up with models – people who have already achieved what you want to achieve and copy what they do, how they think and what they say.

11. Set up your ideal day, hour by hour, as the person who accomplishes these goals of yours.

12. Brainstorm your ideal environment – home and office.

13. Write a gratitude list expressing how grateful you are for all that you already have in your life.

So, that’ll keep you busy for awhile. I really hope you do the exercise and that it brings the kind of magic to your life that it has to mine. As always, know that I am here as a coach to help you through those questions if you are stuck. Turning your goals into your reality is what I do for a living, woohoo!

Again, you can read how I answered the questions originally 12 years ago HERE. As for how I answered them this time around? Too tender to share quite yet, but it goes something like this:

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The above questions have been excerpted from Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins, pages 202-215.

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Filed Under: coaching exercises, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Positive Thinking, Recommendations Tagged With: Achievement, creativity, entrepreneurship, Goals, Self-Improvement

Stand Up and Speak

December 5, 2012 by Emily Segal 7 Comments

My dear blog readers. For 3 and 1/2 years you have followed my life and my career. You have been inspired by where I am strong and felt compassion for where I am weak. I have shared private moments of struggle and the glorious rays of victory.

But I must admit to you that increasingly, I held out on you. I put up a screen and hid behind it. I knew that this was not serving you. I understand that we are mirrors for one another. In my blocks you can see your own and my victories help you push toward yours. For that reason I share this very personal story. My hope is that it will help you move out of any fear or stuckness you may be feeling yourself.

Last night I redeemed a gift I had been given – a free coaching session with one of my heroes, the world-famous chef and health coach, Andrea Beaman. Andrea, a published author, TV show host, Top Chef contestant, and overall big shot in my world, was one of the lecturers at my nutrition school, The Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

When I saw her face pop up on the skype screen last night I almost fainted dead away. Am I really going to lay open my soul to Andrea-freaking-Beaman?? Well, in about 30 seconds Andrea zeroed right in on the thing I have been hung up on. The next 59 minutes were spent figuring my way through it.

Here’s the deal: When I first went into health coaching I was so on fire with excitement and inspiration you couldn’t have held me back with a team of Clydesdales. As my business grew, more people began reading my articles and coming to me for advice, the good AND the bad happened, and instead of growing with it all, I hit my ceiling of comfort and started to contract.

I created all sorts of reasons for why I was contracting: mean clients, crazy blog commenters, people so blocked and frightened of change that they lashed out at me instead of themselves. I put up walls to protect myself. I stopped speaking so loudly and soon I found that I couldn’t even remember what it was I had wanted to say!

“Be moderate. Don’t offend. Speak and write in a way that people can hear your message rather than be offended and turn away.” These were the things other people were saying to me all the time, and I mistook those thoughts for my own. Last night Andrea helped me to see that when people give you advice like that, they are speaking from their own fears. The only thing I should be listening to is my own heart and the message that G-d put in it for me to share.

Today I was in a class at the gym. The other women were moaning about high cholesterol. The teacher – who I happen to know is also vegan but I never spoke to before even though I have wanted to – said “How about changing your diet instead of taking all those meds that don’t even help.” Everyone rushed to attack her because they know she is vegan and people get very defensive about that and the thought of the magnitude of change they would have to make to be like her. They were saying “Diet can’t help hereditary high cholesterol” and all the other myths people believe.

I was sitting there inside my head screaming “Speak Up! Say Something! High cholesterol CAN be treated successfully with diet!“

I contracted in fear and remained silent.

But Andrea’s words were in my head and by the time the class ended I was almost hyperventilating.

Before I could shrink back, I marched myself over to the teacher and trembelingly told her I am a vegan health coach and she is right, you can lower cholesterol through diet and my clients do it all the time.

She said to me “WHY didn’t you speak up??”

I didn’t answer. I just looked at her and she saw what was in my eyes. She said “Oh I see. You are scared. Well, I am sorry but you do not have the luxury to be scared. People are dying because they don’t have good information.”

BAM!

People are dying because they don’t eat well. People are DYING because they don’t eat well. People. Are. Dying.

It is true that some people don’t want to change the way they eat. They would rather suffer the consequences and in order to defend that decision, they will convince themselves – and everyone around them – that change wouldn’t help anyway. Sadly, the Western medical system is only too happy to push their drugs and their surgeries and placate the unwilling-to-change folks.

But who the heck am I to shrink back because I am afraid of people’s resistance? What about all the people who DO want to change and need my help? Isn’t my job to serve with the gifts I was given?

From now on, I am going to trust that if I have something to say it is because someone needs to hear. If you catch me shrinking again, call me on it please! And if you have the desire to tell me (or anyone else) to shrink, look within yourself first and see what you are afraid of.

What message are YOU here to deliver? People are dying. We don’t have the luxury of being scared to speak.

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Filed Under: coaching exercises, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Rants Tagged With: Achievement, Anti-Ick Techniques, creativity, entrepreneurship, Self-Improvement

You Can Run But You Can’t Hide

March 12, 2012 by Emily Segal 4 Comments

Well, you CAN hide. In fact, I am a bit of an expert in hiding. But inevitably, the truth catches up and outs me…

As some of you may remember, in February I won a coaching scholarship to work with a life coach in Australia, named Káren Wallace. My scholarship allowed me 4 weekly one-hour sessions via Skype. Although I want to keep much of what we actually worked on private, I do want to share with you the process we went through and what I got out of it.

I have worked with many coaches and therapists in my life so I am familiar with the process, but I know that some of you have never worked with any sort of adviser, mentor, counselor or coach and wouldn’t even know what to expect. For this reason, I want to walk you through the process.

The first thing Káren did was to send me an intake form to fill out prior to the start of our first session. These were the questions on the form:

1. TELL ME WHY YOU MADE THE DECISION TO INVEST IN YOUR SOUL INTENSIVE CARE. What it is you’re currently grappling with, what you hope to achieve, anything else you’d like me to know.

2. BRIEFLY DESCRIBE YOUR LIFE AS IT IS RIGHT NOW. Your life situation, your roles and responsibilities, your home, your relationships, your work.

3. IF YOU COULD WAVE A MAGIC WAND, HOW WOULD YOUR LIFE BE DIFFERENT IN A YEAR? Really, anything at all… the wand is powerful! (this was my favorite question!)

4. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS YOUR BIGGEST OBSTACLE IN REACHING YOUR GOALS?

5. WHAT IS IT COSTING YOU TO NOT ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS? Be specific and reply in terms of lost money, time, relationships, health and happiness.

6. AS WE WORK TOGETHER, WHAT DO YOU MOST WANT ME TO LOOK OUT FOR, TO KEEP YOU ON TRACK?

Wow, just by writing some thoughtful answers to those questions, I made major strides in my sense of clarity. You should jot some answers to those questions for yourself and see what you come up with.

I wanted to work with Káren because I was feeling stuck on some pretty big questions concerning the direction of my business, our geographical location and lifestyle, and some more personal issues that I had been feeling discouraged and worried about. That’s a tall order for 4 sessions!

I knew it wasn’t much time so I decided I would really focus and make the best of it. In other words, I was a good client. What was this “work” though? Well, after talking for each hour-long skype session, Káren and I set goals each week and I worked my best to get them done. Sometimes I did, other times I was stuck, but I explored that stuckness in writing and painting until I found it’s source. When you are stuck, there is ALWAYS a good reason for it. Your job is to figure out why, and when you do, it usually dissolves. Many people see their stuckness and just turn away. It seems too hard, too solid, too implacable… but the whole point of hiring a coach is to have that support to explore your stuck spots in safety.

When I began with Káren, I wrote in my intake form that I had “lost the thread” of my life and my business and was floundering about lost and ineffective.

By the end of the month I had learned something amazing. I had not in fact “lost the thread”. The thread was right there with me all along, and I had already worked it all out in great detail as a matter of fact! But then, because it frightened me and made me insecure, I tucked it away, forgot about it, and showed up “lost”.

Káren gave me the courage to uncover it, the support to share it out in the open, and the confidence to begin rolling it out. The changes are already taking place for me. You may notice them or maybe they will be too subtle to see. They are basically an evolution for me. It was time for me to grow but I was afraid to allow that to happen because my comfort zone had been working just fine.

Now, this is what is really interesting to me: I took photos of both myself and my work space the day I began with Káren and then the day of our final session, 21 days later. I am not going to share my work space photos yet because I still don’t feel “done” in that area, but I want you to see the difference in my appearance:

Same amount of makeup. Same place and time of day.

Note: Káren and I did not work on my appearance! These pictures show the difference between someone who is avoiding what she knows to be true about her path and a person who has decided she will be bold and step forward on it.

This, my friends, is the Magic of Coaching. If you are at all feeling stuck, fuzzy, confused, worried, or lost, hiring a coach is the best thing you can do! But hiring the coach is only half of it. You also have to be willing to do the work. Your coach, (or therapist or whatever), cannot do anything FOR you. However, the clarity they mirror back to you, the safe place they keep for you, and the gentle encouragement they provide for you, can give you the courage and strength you need to break through to your next evolution.

To hire Káren, you can visit her website HERE.

To hire me, well, you know because you are already here. You can book a trial session with me by emailing Emily@TriumphWellness.com.

No more hiding, OK? Not for me and not for you.

Filed Under: coaching exercises, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Recommendations Tagged With: Anti-Ick Techniques, Beauty Tips, creativity, entrepreneurship, February slump, Self-Improvement

It’s My Life

January 11, 2012 by Emily Segal 14 Comments

I made you sing Bon Jovi, didn’t I?

OK, so back when I asked for feedback about what you want to read about here, several people said they want to know more about ME, how things roll in my life and how I get stuff done. I thought to myself ”Huh?? Why does anyone want to know about my boring life for?!” Then I realized that I like reading posts about people’s boring lives and maybe it can even be helpful to pull back the curtain a little.

So… today. It’s mid January and “winter” has finally come to Israel. The temp is 13C (55F) and where I live on the coastal plain, that’s about as cold as it ever gets. It is also raining which only happens about 10 days a year, so it’s a pretty darn special day. I am wrapped in blankets and wearing a scarf indoors because, although I swore I would never lose my New Yorker hardiness, I did in fact lose it. I adapted down and my body thinks this is freezing.

Ridiculous, I know, please don’t hate me.

Anyway, I woke up this morning, as always at 5:45am to write my 3 Morning Pages. (This is a practice from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way that I began back in August and have been doing every morning since). Yes, it is dark at that hour and I have to sneak out of bed so as not to wake anyone. I drink steaming hot tea while I write. This is my favorite time of the entire day. After my writing is done, I reward myself by playing on facebook a bit so I can interact with the North Americans who are still enjoying yesterday.

The kids get up and I make breakfast which is either cereal, oatmeal, smoothies, muffins, toast and eggs (they are not vegans), toast and peanut butter… Then I pack their lunches – as well as my husband’s – which are sandwiches or leftovers from dinner. I walk the dog for the 1st time.

Once everyone has launched off into their day, it is time for my workout. I either go running, head to the gym, or workout at home. Every day is Training Day, just like my t-shirt says! ( except Saturday)

Before I go, I eat a little something depending on what the workout will be. If it’s anything under an hour I just drink a glass of freshly squeezed oj with green powder stirred into it, or I eat 3 dates. A long workout is usually fueled by a bowl of rice with soy sauce. Strange, but it is the best breakkie I have found to fuel me far without stomach upset.

Upon returning home I’m a starvin’ Marvin and breakfast needs to happen ASAP. I normally drink a green smoothie with some Sun Warrior protein powder in it. Other times I have oatmeal or pb&j+fruit.

TaDa! is it bedtime yet? Are you totally bored of this?

Now it is time to settle down and work. I see clients – yay! I write articles. I work on my own website. I do some marketing woo-woo and call my people in to me. I work all the way to lunchtime.

These are Happy Herbivore’s Meatless Balls which are leftover from my dinner last night. More lunch will follow (veggies, and a grain, if I didn’t have oats for breakfast) but these are super filling!

Then it’s back to work until the off-spring return home from school. They both come home in need of immediate sustenance: food, snuggles and a listening ear are all needed after a day away from the nest. I dispense all three in large supply. Once they are sated, I finish up any work I need to finish and by 3pm I turn to my home chores (Job #2 for the modern woman!). We eat dinner between 5:30-6:00 and it takes me awhile to get it cooked, so I usually start somewhere around 4pm and intersperse the cooking with housekeeping, homework advising, and any errands or appointments. Another dog walk happens in this time also.

Today I dumped a bunch of veggies, grains and beans in the slow cooker because it’s a slow cooker kind of day. I’ll serve it with leftover pasta from last night.

Unless I have an overseas Skype client, I try to keep evenings free of work, although much pinterest pinning and facebooking happens. The only TV show I watch is Glee, once a week. Not a big tv person. This frees up A LOT of time in my life!

I also spend some time each evening planning the following day and that usually includes pre-logging what I am going to eat into Sparkpeople. I like it planned ahead because then all I need to do is eat what is on my plan and I get the right amount of calories and nutrients without any guesswork. This has been an important part of maintaining my weight loss all these years!

I’m under the covers by 10pm and read until I fall asleep (approximately 10 seconds later). And that’s a wrap!

There are other things about my life in Israel that differ from the US life:

1. With just one car between us, I go everywhere by foot or bus during the day.

2. We do one big grocery shop a week but I often have to fill in with trips to the health food store, the shuk (daily farm-fresh fruits and veggies), and the little makolet (small private corner market). I do that all on foot with one of those granny carts my husband calls The Mitsubishi.

3. Laundry is an every day thing for me. I alone generate huge amounts of sweaty, stinky clothes, not to mention the kids and husband. Like most Israelis, we don’t use a clothes dryer because the weather is usually quite lovely. Laundry is hung on lines in a little laundry balcony. Its eco and green, but it takes a bit more time.

No hanging laundry on a rainy day!

4. My kids don’t do tons of classes or clubs, but they didn’t in the US either. I personally believe childhood is for school, homework, and decompressing at home with an adult care-giver or with your best buds. I know that makes me out-of-step with lots of parents who believe every moment should be filled with some sort of meaningful learning or hobby, but this works for us. Not to mention it keeps my life simpler than my friends (and clients) who carpool their kids around from place to place all afternoon and evening. We didn’t have all this time-filling stuff when we were kids and you know what? Childhood was plenty fun. We got bored and created things to do. We had time to dream and to think. We knew how to entertain ourselves. We read books and colored and used our creativity. I want those things for my kids too. I know I am lucky that I am working from home and I don’t mean to put down working parent’s or their lifestyles. Just telling my truth and hoping it can be a light for those of you who feel the same but are afraid their kids will “miss out” if they are not in tons of after school activities. They’ll be amazingly fine and happy and so will you!

I didn’t write this so you would compare your life to mine, for better or worse, but basically just to give a glimpse at the way things are for me right now. They may change. Your life might be totally different. There is no right or wrong. Just create a lifestyle that works for you and enjoy each day – even the rainy ones!

Filed Under: Inspiration, Primary Food, What Was For Dinner Tonight Tagged With: creativity, Dieting vs Lifestyle, entrepreneurship, Exercise, Nutrition for Athletic Performance, Vegan Athlete

Goddess Kit Winner & Pinterest in the Kitchen

January 5, 2012 by Emily Segal 1 Comment

On other blogs I see people use a Fancy Schmancy Random Number Generator to choose contest winners. This is my version:

My Trusted Assistant:

And the Winner is…

That says Kate B!! Congrats Kate B, your Goddess Leonie’s Creating Your Goddess Year Workbook & Planner is being emailed to you as we speak. Use it well and have a wonderful 2012!!

For those of you who would like to go ahead and purchase the calendar workbook kit ($9.95 USD), please do so through my link HERE. Thank you very much to those who already did so!

I will speak more about Leonie’s offerings in another post, because they have really helped me so much both personally and professionally, but suffice it to say right now, that you can get ALL of Leonie’s kits, meditations, workbooks, e-courses, and downloadable art for $99 USD which includes a year-long membership in her goddess circle where you meet all sorts of wonderful women. People ask me how I have assembled such an interesting and abundant group of facebook, twitter and pinterest friends and followers and the answer is Goddess Circle! Again, I have chosen to affiliate with Leonie because I just adore her work. If you join the Goddess Circle, please do so through my link HERE and I will send you a personalized gift as well.

That brings me to Pinterest. Many of you who answered the contest question of what you want to see more of on my blog, said you want more info on how I actually get things done and who I really am behind the website. And it is for that reason that I wanted to tell you about pinterest.

Pinterest is an online social pinboard where instead of bookmarking sites you want to remember in your browser, you pin a visual reminder on a categorized board. You also get to follow others who have similar interests, and then re-pin things they have pinned that you wouldn’t have come across otherwise. It’s like having all the interesting places on the internet filtered for you by like-minded people.

This is what my boards look like:

Um, yes there is a board that has topless dudes. I never claimed to be classy, you know. You can click on that to see it bigger because you know you want to.

My board categories are Food, Style, Decor, Business, Dreams, Images, Green Cleaning and Eco Ideas, and then boards for things that inspire me such as films, images and 6-pack abs.

Pinterest has totally revamped the way I handle meal planning and cooking. It used to be that I would have all sorts of recipes I wanted to try either bookmarked or printed out and stuffed into a binder. I never looked at either. Being a highly visual person, I visit pinterest each and every day and am INSPIRED to get into the kitchen and create something amazing. I have discovered so many new food websites and recipes and have them displayed in a way that I can actually USE them. I love it.

You need an invite to join, but it’s free, so if you want to check it out, just shoot me an email at healthcoachemily@gmail.com and I’ll send you one.

Then you can…

and see what I’m cooking! (And probably learn more about what makes me tick than you ever wanted to know, ie shirtless dudes).

I’ll be back shortly with a post on Vegan Party Foods inspired by the spread I prepared for yesterday’s bookclub meeting I hosted…

So evil to make you wait…

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Filed Under: Pinterest, Product Reviews, Recommendations, vegan Tagged With: creativity, Goddess Circle, Pinterest

Welcome 2012 or, I think I’m gonna puke

January 1, 2012 by Emily Segal 12 Comments

Happy New Year 2012!!!

So yeah, I did it. I registered for the Tel Aviv Marathon. All 42.2km of it.

That’s 26.2 miles just to be entirely clear. Every time I actually think about that distance, I feel like I’m going to be sick. Then I get excited too. Isn’t there a saying about something like “If your goals don’t make you a bit nauseous, then they are not big enough.” ? Well, if not I just created one. This goal is definitely big enough!

You can even go and see my name in the list of registered racers, right between Asi Segal and Micki Segal.

I have another post in the wings about where I am with my training (18km and chafing in all sorts of interesting places), but today I wanted to write about something different: PRESENTS!!!

Would you like to win one of Goddess Leonie’s Creating Your Goddess Year Workbook & Planner? If so, I have one to give away!

The 2012 Creating your Goddess Year workbook, planner & calendar is an incredibly popular & useful tool to help you plan out & make happen your most incredible year yet. Over the last three years, thousands of women have used this workbook with the most amazing results. It’s the best planning tool available to help you make your year more inspiring than ever.

It’s filled with over 100 pages of worksheets & a printable calendar to help you dream, manifest, set your intentions, plan & cultivate your amazing new year. The workbook has been lovingly handwritten & rainbow illustrated… perfect for you to print out, soak up the rainbow colours of & get thoroughly inspired by!

You’ll get clarity on what you need 2012 to be. What you want to create during it. And most importantly, how to make it happen.

What do I with my planner? From past posts, you all know that I am a planning freakazoid. You also know that last year’s motto was “Less Logic, More Magic”, remember that? Leonie’s gorgeous and playful planner was just the ticket to creating a luscious dream for 2011 and then walking right on into it.

Because I am a Huge Fan of Leonie’s work, own every single thing she has ever produced and am also a sales affiliate, Leonie has given me one copy of this gorgeous, divine, dream-incubating planner to give away for FREE!

For a chance to win your own PDF copy of Creating My Goddess Year Workbook & Planner, simply leave a comment below or on Facebook if you prefer, telling me one thing you would like to see from me in 2012. It can be a subject you’d like to see me write about, or a class you’d take if I offered it, or a free pdf like the Meal Planning Chart or the Daily Nutrition Checklist I made. Do you prefer posts with recipes or the one’s where I talk about life in Israel, or perhaps motivation and mindset posts? You have until January 3rd to comment and I’ll choose the winner randomly.

If you’d like to skip the whole give-away and buy the Workbook for yourself, it’s only $9.95 USD and can be ordered through my link HERE.

Here is a video of Leonie talking about the workbook and showing some of the inside pages, and before you freak out like I did and wonder how she can drive without looking at the road, please know that she is in Australia and the steering wheel is on the other side. Duh!

Take it away Goddess Leonie (if you are receiving this via email, click on the post title to watch the video on my blog)…

Filed Under: Goals, Growth, health coach, Holidays, Inspiration, Product Reviews, Recommendations, Running, Tel Aviv Marathon, Triumph Race Club Tagged With: Achievement, creativity, Goals, Team Triumph Race Club, Tel Aviv Marathon

What Do You Call Yourself?

December 26, 2011 by Emily Segal Leave a Comment

I learn a lot of Hebrew from the gym. In fact, my Hebrew vocabulary is overly represented by words for body parts. I know how to say “butt back!” ”elbows straight!” and “roll up vertebrae by vertebrae”, not to mention the ever useful “inhale” and “exhale”.

But sometimes I will hear a word and not know what it means. I catch it in my mind and repeat it over and over so that I can look it up when I get home. Case in point, last week after a Spinning class:

I burst in the door and confront the kids with the word I have been mentally repeating for an hour:

ME: What does “shiur smolet” mean?

KIDS: (snickering) There’s no such word.

ME: No, there is. I know it was “smolet” because I remembered that it was like “solet” (semolina) but with a “m”.

KIDS: No, Mom. You heard wrong AGAIN (rolling eyes). Context. How was it used?

ME: OK, so the teacher was describing the stages of the workout and said it wouldn’t be our usual interval workout, but rather a “shiur smolet”

KIDS: Ohhhhh. Not smolet, “sebolet!”

ME: OK, cool, what does that mean then?

KIDS: (shrugging) Can’t remember what it is in English.

ME: Nu, come on! We’re so close…

KIDS: It’s like when you have to work really hard without a break.

ME: Endurance. An endurance workout.

(pause)

ME: But that’s funny, because it wasn’t very hard at all.

KIDS: (more eye rolling) That’s because it’s YOU!

And that got me thinking. They think I’m a bad-ass athlete. My kids. They think that. They see me heading out for runs, lifting weights, challenging them to sit-up and push-up contests, going to and from the gym, leaving behind a trail of sweaty, stinky gym clothes, heart rate monitor straps, ipods and headbands.

But am I such a bad-ass? And am I even an athlete? When did I start thinking of myself as such? When did I include the word “athlete” in my twitter profile?

I mean, let’s be truthful: I shy away from every group sport involving a ball. I couldn’t “catch” a ball to save my life. I literally flunked out of tennis camp (yes, it is possible). I throw a Frisbee like I’m flinging poo. I have a somewhat mushy body. I cannot do a single chin-up.

And yet, when I was looking today at a friend’s photos of the Tel Aviv Night Run which took place on November 11th, I thought “I should run that sometime. It looks fun. And it’s only a 10K. I can chew up and spit out a 10K for breakfast.”

When did THAT happen?

At some point along the way, I changed the story I think about myself. I changed “I am an unathletic loser who flunked out of tennis camp” to “I am an athlete.”

Well, hot diggity!

Guess what? You get to change your story too. What story do you currently tell about yourself that is no longer quite true? That you can’t lose weight or stick to a diet? That you don’t ever finish things you start? That you are not athletic, graceful, artistic, creative…? That you are ugly? Fat? Average? Nothing special?

For just a minute, try on a new story. I mean, can you know for sure that the old story is even still true? Maybe it’s not. Maybe you can write a new ending this time.

I didn’t even understand the word “endurance” in the above example. But because I think of myself as a bad-ass athlete, I listened to the Spinning teacher’s opening monologue with one thought in my head:

I don’t know what you’re saying but… Bring It.

Free your bad-ass athlete! Free your creative, beautiful, successful, see-it-through, winner self! See who you become when you change the story of who you think you are.

Filed Under: coaching exercises, Exercise, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Positive Thinking, Triumph Race Club, weight loss Tagged With: Achievement, Anti-Ick Techniques, creativity, Exercise, Overweight, Success, Team Triumph Race Club, weight loss

Do You Hear Your Heart’s Whispers?

November 11, 2011 by Emily Segal 1 Comment

Happy 11/11/11!

Today I want to share with you a passage from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I have shared from this book on the blog before. This tiny, simple little book is such a guiding star for me. I have almost the entire thing underlined and highlighted!

This passage pretty much sums up what this week has been for me, both personally and professionally. Lots of wheel spinning going on around me. Many good souls being held back by shadowy fears. Not much bold stepping forward happening. I don’t like to see this in others and I certainly don’t like to see it in myself! Every day this week I opened my morning pages with the prompt “What is holding me back?” Then one day, I flipped through The Alchemist and found my answer. I hope it speaks to some of you as well:

‘Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him,’ his heart said. ‘We, people’s hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them – the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and because they do, the world turns out , indeed, to be a threatening place.

So, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won’t be heard: we don’t want people to suffer because they don’t follow their hearts.’

‘Why don’t people’s hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?’ the boy asked the alchemist?

‘Because that’s what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don’t like to suffer.’

From then on, the boy understood his heart. He asked it, please, never to stop speaking to him. He asked, that when he wandered far from his dreams, his heart press him and sound the alarm. The boy swore that, every time he heard the alarm, he would heed it’s message.

Training-wise however, I had a great week. Despite the ongoing backache, I feel strong and healthy. The weather now is simply glorious. Perfect temps, sunshine, flowers blooming, green filling my eyes, instead of summer’s dusty brown. I LOVE running in this weather! Here are the T-minus 20 weeks training details:

Sunday, Nov. 6 – Ran 5K, plus strength training abs + arms

Monday, Nov. 7 – Ran in Vibrams 4K (yay!), strength training back and lower body

Tuesday, Nov. 8 -1 hour strength training full body

Wednesday, Nov. 9 – Spinning

Thursday, Nov. 10 – Rest Day

Friday, Nov. 11 – Ran 11.5K (68 minutes)

Training Song of the Week: I’ve logged a countless number of miles to this song over the years. To all of The Who’s songs really. Quadrophenia was pretty much the soundtrack of my younger running years. This special video that I found looks like it may actually be Keith Moon’s final appearance on film. He died 3 weeks after this song was released. Gone, but never, never forgotten. And I love that his headphones are duct-taped to this head here.

Come on, tell me who are you?:

Filed Under: Exercise, Goals, Growth, Inspiration, Running, Tel Aviv Marathon, Triumph Race Club Tagged With: angels and fairies, creativity, Exercise, Running, Self-Improvement, Team Triumph Race Club, Tel Aviv Marathon, Vibrams

The Very Thing

August 15, 2011 by Emily Segal 3 Comments

Forty-five.

The number of times I have circled the sun.

The number of days other people have dedicated to making me completely happy.

The number of years that have passed since the worst day of my brother’s entire life. “You’ve got a Baby SISTER!”

23,652,000 minutes of good, bad, happy, sad, bored, loving, hating, sleeping, dancing, writing, helping, dreaming…

Today, I can tell you this:

-The very thing that makes you most frustrated in the whole world, is actually your best teacher. I know, this totally sucks. Just stop fighting it and learn already.

-The very thing about yourself you hate most of all, is the very thing someone else loves you for.

-The very thing that you can never seem to accomplish, is the exact thing you are HERE to accomplish. (Also sucky, I know, I know)

-The very thing that has caused you the most pain and suffering in your life, is the precise thing you are here to help someone else get through. Whew, take a big deep breath on that one.

-The one person you love more than anyone else in the world, is the same person you will scream and yell at the most. So, if I have screamed and yelled at you, consider yourself very loved.

-The very reason that I look younger every year instead of older, is because the treadmill makes the time go backwards.

-Halle Berry is one day older than me. Just sayin’…

-In 45 more years I might look back at what I wrote today and think it’s all a bunch of bullshit.

-One day of birthday is not even close to being enough. Therefore, I declare this entire 45th birthday year as a freakin’ awesomeness fest. Starting today.

-I wanted to make a video for my birthday, but business is booming and I had no time. Instead, I offer up this one, which is what I would have made were I an uber cool, brilliant, starving bohemian artist squatting in a tenement on the Lower East Side: ”No Day But Today” from Rent, one of the many, many things in this world that make me cry.

-Oh, and the very things that make you cry, well, they map the exact spots on your heart where the light gets in.

Enjoy…