Roxanne Gould's Blog, page 2

How Do Goals Benefit Your Life?

I want you to take a moment and reflect on what goals you are currently working towards. If you are having a hard time coming up with any goals at all, you could feel a lack of motivation in your life. Low motivation may be linked to the lack of goals. Having goals can benefit you because they help you have something to live for, include you in society, add purpose to your life and help keep you going each day. Let’s take a look at how setting goals impacts your motivation and can help you have a clearer vision of your purpose in life.

Why Are Goals Important?

Simply put, goals are important because they remind us of what path we are on and act as our roadmap in life. They show us where we have been, where we are now and how much we have accomplished. We are all heading towards a destination, and having goals allows us to get there sooner than later, if at all. By setting goals, you define what you truly want in life and you begin to understand yourself, your dreams and your desires more clearly. Setting goals also helps us prioritize things and use our time more wisely and become more efficient.

When setting your goals consider:

What’s important to me? What do I really want? What direction do I want to head? Does this goal have measurable actions? How can I motivate myself as I work towards my goal? What can I do to stay accountable towards my goal?Having Something To Live For

Has anyone ever asked you, ‘what gets you up in the morning?’ Well, that’s exactly what we are talking about when it comes to goals. When you have goals in mind, you have something to live for and get out of bed for each day. Goals help us continue our forward momentum. Without goals, we become unmotivated, stagnant in life and don’t reach our full potential.

Goals also improve your emotional, mental, and spiritual health by allowing you to really feel that you are the master of your life. If you are having a hard day, take a deep breath and remember what you are working towards. There will be many ups and downs as you work towards achieving your goals in life. Challenges are not failures but can help strengthen our resolve and fortify our determination. Always remember the ‘why’ behind your goals and keep working towards them. Small steps can lead to big gains.

Being Involved In Society

If you are struggling to achieve your goals, make sure you surround yourself with community and get involved with society. A supportive community can help you achieve your goals. This is because you have people who understand what you are working towards and keep you accountable each step of the way. For example, if you have a new goal of ,adding more movement into your daily routine, but often find yourself coming up with reasons not to, then you need to think of ways to incorporate accountability partners into your goal. One way you could do this is to ask a friend if they want to practice yoga with you or go on a walk with you. You could also sign up for a fitness class and meet new people there that can help keep you accountable.

No matter what your goal, the more it is intertwined with society, the more fun and easier it is going to be to achieve your goals because you are interacting with others and being held accountable.

Keep Going

Do you have days where you feel like your goals are no longer beneficial and you just want to give up? Keep going! It’s quite normal to have hard days and moments where you don’t feel very motivated, maybe even discouraged. Don’t let that be the reason you don’t take action to achieve your goal! Find different ways to stay motivated. For example, you can break down a larger goal into micro-goals and celebrate each time you achieve a micro-goal. Another way to keep going with your goals is to give your goals a positive purpose. Make sure you understand the why behind your purpose so that as you work towards a goal your mindset is shifting with it.

Are Your Current Goals Beneficial?

I encourage you to take some time and think about what goals you want to achieve in your personal and professional life and write them down. Read outloud what you’ve written every night before you sleep and first thing in the morning. Feel a sense of gratitude that you’ve already received them, as this will help shift your vibration which in turn draws what it is you are working towards closer to you. Then, think of practical ways you can take action towards achieving your goals. Finally, don’t forget to celebrate the small wins along the way. Each time you reach a measurable goal, take a moment to feel your accomplishment and recognize that you are a step closer to one of your life goals.

Goals are so important because they are life-transforming. On my Youtube channel I made a ten minute video which has so much more information about the impact of goal setting.

You can see exactly how I set goals in my own life by clicking ,here .

If you are ready to become aligned with your goals and improve your emotional, mental, and spiritual health but feel you need help moving forward, I encourage you to invest in my, one-to-one coaching. It’s one of the best gifts you can give yourself, and I would love to help you along your journey.

Movement Matters

Two things happened today that involved the subject of movement for me. The first one was that I was having a conversation about how moving our bodies every day is so important, especially with each passing year. The conversation covered how movement matters because it impacts the overall health of our body, mind, and spirit. The second one was that I signed up to a gym again. It’s been two years and two months since I‘ve worked out in a gym. Since covid my workouts have been in my house. I’d use weights, I‘d dance, bike, and swim, and from time to time look online and watch free classes and follow along.

Now, I’m venturing back to a gym that is brand new. I’m looking forward to challenging myself with different moves and exercises. For twenty-four months I managed to keep myself disciplined and motivated enough to workout 4 - 5 times a week. But there is something about being in a gym, surrounded by others who are also working out, plus having a wide selection of equipment to use, that really makes working out interesting and more stimulating.

Let’s take a closer look at why movement matters and how you can incorporate it into your life.

Importance of Daily Movement

Movement seems like a simple enough concept, yet like I mentioned earlier, it impacts many areas of our lives such as our physical, mental, and spiritual health. Without movement, our bodies deteriorate. Have you ever witnessed your aging parent who never moves their body? What happens? They have less and less energy and slowly deteriorate.

At every age during our lives, our bodies are capable of amazing movement, and we can keep not only our bodies but also our emotional, mental, and spiritual health in good condition simply by incorporating movement into our daily lives. So let’s help our bodies out by moving them regularly.

Yoga Benefits For Every Age

For me, yoga changed my life. I started practicing yoga when I was ten years old because at that time I had spasms due to scoliosis. Nearly everyday since then I’ve practiced yoga and the scoliosis has corrected itself and the spasms never returned.

Over my lifetime, it’s been a privilege to have studied under the world’s best living yoga teachers and I've traveled far and wide to have attended countless yoga workshops and retreats.

If you’d like to view some of my yoga tutorials click ,here.

My videos are not ‘classes’ but they are tutorials that cover one pose at a time and give deep guidance as to what each pose can offer the student and directions on how to do the pose correctly. I even share some insider secrets and tips for each pose so everyone can hopefully learn a little something new, whether you are a neophyte at yoga or a maven.

Yoga is one of the most holistic forms of exercise and is a sumptuous way to get your body moving, no matter your age. The beauty of having a regular yoga practice is that it will transform your body, mind and spirit, ultimately leading you to find inner calm and peace. Over time you will feel more centered internally, and externally your strength, balance, flexibility and stability will increase.

Here are more few benefits of yoga you can experience at every age:

Boosts Metabolism: by practicing yoga, you are burning calories and helping to maintain a good body weight. Increase Flexibility: as you consistently practice yoga, you will notice that your body is more flexible which can help you avoid injury. Increase Blood Flow: when you practice yoga, you are doing relaxation exercises that increase your blood flow and your oxygen levels. Increase Self-Esteem: by practicing yoga, you get to know yourself better and even practice mindfulness, improving your self-esteem and self-confidence. Improves Sleep: with a regular yoga practice, you help your body relax, relieve stress and improve your nightly sleep.

An Active Body is a Healthy Body

If you aren’t moving your body every day and decide to start again, it can feel hard to get your body moving. I know the feeling, especially after covid. Each set of reps can feel like they are taking forever. But if you keep on track and do all your reps you’ll find that after a certain point, the reps will fly by and it’ll all start to feel a lot easier. The more you move the more energy you’ll have TO move!

As I remember Deepak Chopra mentioning, the number one cause of sickness is stress. This means that lower stress levels equals better health. You probably know that when you move, you release endorphins and serotonin--the ‘feel good hormones’--and your stress levels drop. Did you also know that those ‘feel good hormones,’ especially the endorphins, plus dopamine, bind to opiate receptors found in the brain which are linked to reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety? Who doesn’t want that!?

Incorporate Movement Into Your Life

The best advice I can give you is to regularly move your body and avoid inactivity. Consistent movement will positively impact many areas of your life. Believe it or not, even 10 minutes a day of steady exercise will help. It’s a good place to start. You’ll begin to feel better, and soon, 10 minutes won’t feel long enough and you’ll want to exercise for longer and longer periods of time.

Actually, it’s consistency that is paramount and not so much the duration. Whether you decide to move for ten minutes or an hour, to do yoga, go on walks, bike, gym, dance or do another form of movement, enjoy what you do because if it's enjoyable you'll do it longer! Mix it up if you need to, so it won’t feel monotonous. Even though I’m now going back to the gym, I’ll still dance, bike and swim to keep it fun and to use different muscle groups.

Be sure to keep it fun so you’ll be motivated, too! The results are immediate and only get better over time. Use movement as your tool to keep your body and emotions healthy throughout your life. Most importantly, enjoy your movement and use it as a time to care for yourself---body, mind and spirit. Trust me, your body, mind and spirit will thank you!

If you are ready to improve your emotional, mental, and spiritual health but feel you need help moving forward, I encourage you to invest in my one-to-one coaching. It’s one of the best gifts you can give yourself, and I would love to help you along your journey.

Namaste.

Having a Positive Mindset

Life is complicated, and there can be a lot of challenging moments, but what if I told you that having a positive mindset can go a long way? Having a positive mindset doesn’t mean ignoring negative situations or ignoring the facts. Instead, it means approaching these challenging situations with a positive outlook instead of being consumed by all the negativity. Let’s take a look at a few different ways you can benefit from having a positive mindset.

The Power of Our Thoughts

Your mind is your most powerful yet most underutilized tool you have, and it’s one of the most useful assets you possess. If you want to live a more positive life, you have to focus your mind and be in control of your thoughts. Our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are all linked and impact one another. For example, if you are thinking negative thoughts, it will result in negative emotions, which can then result in negative behavior, which not only affects those around you but will draw more of the same negative energy to you. To help control this, you need to understand how powerful your thoughts are and shift them into a positive space.

It was Carl Jung who said: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” Instead of allowing your thoughts--conscious and unconscious--to control you, it’s time to be your own master of your mind. Interrupt your negative thoughts by replacing them with positive, constructive ones. For example, if you have fearful thoughts or emotions, replace them with a visualization of gratitude to help eliminate the negativity and help calm your worry. You cannot be grateful and feel fear at the same time. Your thoughts can become your biggest superpower. You just have to learn how to be in control of them first.

Seven Major Negative Emotions

Positive and negative emotions cannot occupy the mind at the same time. One or the other must dominate. It’s your responsibility to make sure that positive emotions dominate your mind. Start to make it a habit to eliminate these seven negative emotions from your life:

Fear, jealousy, hatred, revenge, greed, superstition and anger.

Seven Major Positive Emotions

Form the habit of applying and using the seven positive emotions daily! Eventually, they will dominate your mind so completely, that the negatives cannot enter it.

Desire, faith, love, sex, enthusiasm, romance and hope.

Keeping Focused On Our Desires

Staying focused on your desires is a great way to have a positive mindset. Affirmations are a great way to keep your thoughts intentional. I encourage you to come up with a handful of affirmations that you can recite to yourself daily to help keep you focused on your desires. A few affirmation examples include:

“I am worthy of love” “I am powerful” “I am improving every day” “I am important, and my needs matter”

Another way to stay focused on your desires is to cultivate gratitude in life. You can do this by implementing a morning and evening routine of taking a few minutes to focus on all that you are grateful for. Also, from the moment you wake up, you can intentionally choose what mindset you will be in, which can help set the direction of your day. In addition, consider adding meditation to your morning and evening routine to help keep you focused and clear about your desires. Manifesting positivity is a daily commitment that requires self-discipline, but it is worth it once you achieve your desired outcome.

Benefits of Having a Positive Mindset

Having a positive mindset does take effort and application, but the benefits are life-changing. Shifting your mindset out of the negative and into the positive will take determination, perseverance and practice. Here are just a few benefits of positive thinking.

Fewer mood swings Increased creative thinking Reduced risk of depression Better coping skills Lower blood pressure Feeling joy and happiness

Changing your thinking patterns can be difficult, especially if you tend to be more of a pessimistic thinker. However, I want you to know that with practice, you can reframe your mind to shift your thoughts into more positive ones.

If you are ready to gain the benefits of having a positive mindset but need support to start, I encourage you to invest in my, one-to-one coaching. It’s one of the best gifts you can give yourself, and I’m here to help you every step of your journey.

Benefits of Meditation

Imagine yourself releasing stress, feeling relaxed, and taking time for yourself. If that sounds like something you would love, then it might be time to add meditation to your daily routine. There are many benefits of meditation, and it doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time. In fact, you can choose when to meditate. 40% of Americans meditate once a week.

What is Meditation?

Before we dive into the benefits of meditation, let’s look at what meditation is. Meditation is a mental exercise that helps you learn to stay centered and to cultivate inner peace. It involves relaxation, focus, and awareness. Meditation looks different for everyone, but it usually is done in a seated position with your eyes closed.

Release Stress and Get Better Sleep

One benefit of regular meditation is that it helps reduce stress. If you find yourself feeling stressed throughout the day, take a few minutes to meditate so that you can refocus and rebalance your inner peace. Meditating teaches us to observe certain mental patterns and allows us to become less affected by them, ultimately reducing stress over time.

Another benefit of meditation is that it helps you fall asleep and to sleep better. Since meditation relaxes your body and brain, it helps ease your mind and quiet your distracting thoughts. So if you find yourself worrying or running through your laundry list of things to do the next day when you're trying to fall asleep, give meditation a try to help calm your mind and fall asleep faster.

Meditation Helps You Live a Healthy Lifestyle

Incorporating meditation into your daily life can help you live a healthy lifestyle. Practicing meditation can also help you stick to healthy habits. For example, meditation can help you choose healthier foods over junk food. How is this possible? Since stress can lead to overeating and eating foods that aren’t great for your body, when you meditate, you are reducing stress hormones which influence your eating behaviors.

Another way meditation allows you to live a healthy lifestyle is that you’ll be less anxious. Anxiety can cause a lot of harm to your body, but when you meditate regularly, your anxiety levels can be reduced significantly. One way to do this is to focus on things that make you happy as you inhale and let go of what is making you anxious as you exhale.

Finally, adding meditation to your life can help bring structure to your day. Add meditation to your schedule one to two times a day. It allows you to plan time for yourself and can be something to look forward to each day.

Health Benefits of Meditation

Meditating doesn’t just feel good, it’s actually great for your health, too. You may be surprised at just how many health benefits there are when you meditate. From managing stress, and improving sleep to reducing pains and improving emotional health, everyone can benefit from meditating.

Here are just a few ways meditating regularly can improve your health!

Manage and reduce stress Get better sleep Increase self-awareness Reduce memory loss Improve emotional health Control anxiety Reduce depression Reduce certain pain

You don’t have to spend hours every day meditating to gain these health benefits. Even10-minute meditation sessions can improve memory, help with focus, and reduce stress.

Start Meditating Today!

Meditation is so powerful and can impact your life in so many ways. It shifts your awareness and helps you identify your emotions and thought patterns. I encourage you to schedule in time to your schedule to meditate each day.

Do you desire to incorporate meditation into your daily life but don’t know where to start?

As your well-being coach, I can help you navigate meditation.

Sign up on the waiting list for my online

7-Day Meditation Course.

Time Saving Tips

Have you spent a good part of your life in the kitchen preparing meals? Here's one easy way that will save you time preparing and cooking meals and you won't have to cut corners on making a delicious and healthy meal.

So here is the time saving tip--cook a large pot of brown rice and use it to create different rice bowl meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Super easy! For example, you can make a breakfast rice bowl by warming up the rice with some added blueberries and with an alternative milk such as almond or oat milk. Top it with off about a tablespoon of maple syrup, and if you like, cinnamon and maybe a few almond slivers.

The warmth in the stomach in the morning is soothing and feels so nourishing, too. Oolong tea with a little honey is a nice drink to have with it. You'll feel so satisfied and ready to go for the day!

Lunchtime comes around so fast! Usually wait a

minimum of four hours after breakfast to eat lunch.

Again, it's super easy to put together. Heat up the rice

then add ripe avocado, some tamari and pepper and

you're done! Avos give you good fat and rice gives you protein.

Did you know brown rice gives you about 5 grams of protein for every cup you eat?

If you have sauerkraut try adding about one tablespoon to give you those important digestive probiotics to help you build a healthy gut. Add other ingredients, too, depending on what you have. Now you've created a super nutritious and easy lunch without a lot of time spent in the kitchen.

For dinner, you could sauté the rice with greens, such as kale, spinach and/or broccoli in olive oil or coconut oil or ghee, add chickpeas and mix in spices. It's so delicious! It's really fast and easy. When preparing rice bowls, you get to be creative and add whatever you feel like eating. Have each member of your family add their own spices and condiments exactly to their liking and that will help transform any simple rice bowl into a festive, exciting and tantalizing meal for everybody!

Eating is very personal. Some people don't eat breakfast. Some people like to make their lunch the biggest meal of the day. One thing for sure, we all need to eat. Use your best judgment and eat when you are hungry. Don't eat too late or too close to bedtime. Eat regularly, eat well, eat simply and eat for health.

Are Your Thoughts Causing You Pain?

In the last few weeks I’ve been feeling quite a lot and have needed time to understand what it was I was feeling. I would guess that you’ve been feeling a lot, too. I was actually absorbing a lot of energies lately and they were accumulating in my back, making it ache.

When I was younger pain always went to my neck, but now it’s goes to my back and it was rather debilitating. I tried exercise and yoga to help release the pain yet the thing that worked for me was important enough to want to share it with you. Perhaps you’re also feeling a lot of stuck energies in your body. Maybe it’s showing up as pain or as draining your energy or making you feel confused. The few steps I took really helped alleviate a lot of pain and maybe it can help you, too.

What I did was to change my perspective and not authenticate everything I was feeling as the ‘be all’. We can hold on to beliefs so deeply and tightly that the energy gets clogged and show up in our body in painful ways. I quickly decided I needed to write down whatever came to mind about what it was I was fearing and afraid of happening. I wrote it all down on paper, no matter how trite or trivial. It didn’t take very long to do. It was a moment in time worthy of my focus because it helped to take my fears and beliefs I was holding on to and dumping them onto the paper. It just siphoned it out of my mind. A lightness came over me and it’s inexplicable how it works, at least to me. I don’t know how to really describe the mystery of shifting energy by doing a step like that, but it helped release the grip of all of my fear-based beliefs I thought were so important.

After I had wrote down all my fears on the piece of paper, I ripped it up to symbolically represent that they held no more importance and no more power over me. They were gone once and for all. On a new piece of paper I wrote down what I was grateful for, even the small things and that made me feel much better. It was another way to help me feel empowered, confident, happy and grateful.

The third step I took was to turn my mind’s eye into the exact spot on my body that was holding the pain. I would repeat, “I’m letting this go. I’m letting this go. I’m letting this go” while keeping my focus on the the exact spot of my pain. My breathing started to get even paced which is very meditative, and very relaxing for all the muscles and the nervous system.

The next day, the back pain was gone! I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner. But it's so easy to get caught up on what we hear on the news, or other people’s opinions, or charged conversations. We have to remember they are not always that important to hold onto. There are a lot of energies that are around us and it would be smart to digest them on a daily basis.

With so much changing and so much going on in our world, if we can ride the wave through this tumultuous time, we have a better chance of not getting pulled under and becoming smothered. Riding the wave is letting go of the certainty that all beliefs are important and that we have to hold onto each and every one of them, even when they are causing us fear.

Letting go of your beliefs that cause you fear would be a wise thing to do because there’s always going to be a new belief that will come along. It’s like a never-ending stream. Remember, we are so much more than our thoughts.

I really hope that you’re also able to ride this tumultuous year of 2020 on the crest of the wave.

What tips can you share about helping yourself—mind and body—to feel better during these times?

Many blessings.