Alphaweibchen

STOP.  What’s good in your life today?   

Put it in the comments below, because taking time to consciously practice gratitude increases your well-being. Writing down the things you’re grateful for is a great way to practice gratitude – and to also positively contribute to others’ lives, in helping them to see the positives!   

Now look around for a moment.  What are you doing, seeing, or hearing that is wonderful?  Is the sun shining?  Are serene flakes of snow falling gently to the earth? Is your dog smiling at you?  

Are you cuddled up in pajamas on a comfortable sofa?  Take a deep breath and savour this moment, to get the biggest possible boost out of it.   #lifeisgood

Realistic optimism allows us to experience the best until we have to deal with the worst... which often, never comes "Bill Crawford"

Mood-boosting chemicals?  Yes please!  We’re not talking about the stuff you can buy in nightclubs or on the street, though.  We believe in the naturally-generated good stuff.  Best ways to get it?   

1.        Exercise.  Releases chemicals that dull pain, relieve stress, and raise our spirits.  Result: improvements in mental altertness, energy level and overall mood. 

2.        Sleep. Gives our brains and bodies time to clean things up, get rid of all the bad stuff and recover. Result: mood stabilization and better cognitive and physical performance the next day! 

3.        Social connections. Triggers stress-reducing hormones and chemicals related to higher empathy and more trusting relationships.  

Result: strengthened immune system, better resiliency, higher well-being and you’ll even live longer!

Healthier, happier, and more successful!  Do you want some of that?   Then develop an optimistic mindset!  The science shows that realistic optimists benefit in all those ways.  You can start by creating a positive environment.  Free yourself from the endless cycles of negative news - just take a break from it, or at least limit it dramatically. Set boundaries for the people in your life who bring you down and make you feel exhausted; you don't have to be part of their drama.  (more on that in our posts about dealing with toxicity, and in Episode 8: Toxic relationships).  Give yourself "me" time - to just take a break or to do something that uplifts you and makes you feel good.  Spend time with people who cherish you, those special friends who energize and motivate and support you.  And stay with us here at Alphaweibchen - we've got more proven techniques coming!  And they're all listed in Episode 09: Realistic Optimism, so have a listen!

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Or maybe somewhere in between? There's scientific data that shows optimists are physically healthier, mentally stronger, and more successful.   The good news: even if you aren't one today, you can learn to be an optimist! And the best kind to be is a realistic optimist - those people who believe in a good outcome and also believe that they have to make it happen. Are you finding it harder to stay optimistic in these long-lasting difficult times?  

Listen in today for our discussion about realistic optimism and our list of 7 great ways you can boost your positive outlook - today and every day!   

Peggy and Jaimi respond to a recent Instagram survey in today’s episode, in which listeners asked for more information about how to stay positive and optimistic – especially these days, when the world around us is a little, well…. #blah .  And the Alphaweibchen team agrees – after so much excitement to start the new year, why does January still have to feel so 2020ish?  The first 2 weeks were certainly a downer. Being optimistic doesn’t actually mean that you never suffer from those down moments, it just means that you know better times will come.  

Today’s episode outlines the various mindsets – from unrealistic optimism to hardcore pessimism and to what really is the sweet spot: realistic optimism.  And then Peggy and Jaimi walk you through their list of 7 things you can do to boost your positivity – even on down days.  In fact, maybe especially on your down days!  So listen in, and in the effort to make the world a more positive place, share this episode with friends and family so they can benefit, too!  And as always, we’d love your comments on social media or a message on our web site to hear what you think.  Have a great day and #stayoptimistic ! 😊   

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We've all encountered toxic people, and maybe even lived through intense toxic situations and relationships.  Maybe you're living through one right now.  Toxic people often come disguised as friends, colleagues, or even worse your own family, which makes it hard to recoginze that they will drag you down, preventing you from getting the most out of life.  But in the words of  Kamand Kojouri: "Some people are in such utter darkness that they will burn you just to see a light. Try not to take it personally.”  Our friend Ayfer can tell a thousand stories about what that's really like - living with people who set out to burn you.  Recognizing, understanding and overcoming such experiences is within our power, and doing so will change your life for the better.  So listen in for some examples and suggestions on how to free yourself.    

In this episode we introduce the concept of toxicity, a topic that is generating huge amounts of interest in the world today.  Unfortunately, we all experience toxicitiy in our lives, some of it self-created and some of it imposed on us by outside influences (often other people).  Toxic influences impact our well-being and they prevent us from living our best life - from being our happiest and healthiest selves.  Which is why we at Alphaweibchen want to help with toxic rehab: because we are all about getting the most out of life!!!  The more that we can get rid of toxicity, the less drama we'll experience, the happier we'll be and the more we'll enjoy all the positives.    

Some examples of toxic influences:  

We focus most on toxic relationships in this episode, and in parallel we'll be addressing other aspects of toxicity. So stay tuned to our posts, stories and videos as we share wisdom gathered through experience and research about how to live a more toxic-free life.  In addition, the Alphaweibchen team started a 7 - 14 day detox program yesterday (diet intense as we cut out everything addictive or damaging: sugar, alcohol, caffeine, animal products, gluten AND mind/body focused as we do more meditation, reflection, exercise and sauna / massage).  This is a great opportunity to make a re-set, take inventory of what is toxic in life and begin reducing or eliminating it.  We'll be sharing our experiences and if you're interested in joining us on the journey, get in touch!  We'll happier share the details!     

Some interesting web resources for more information: 

Toxic behaviors | Tratis of toxic people | Dealing with difficult people | Behavior of toxic people | Tips for dealing with toxic people

The new year is only a couple of days away!

We are so ready to kick off 2021 with renewed energy, hope, and excitement and just had to take the opportunity to share our thoughts with all of you. And of course, share also some tips on turning plans into actions and actions into an enhanced life! :) So join us in this special New Year's episode, and start shaping yourself and your life to exactly the way you want them to be! It starts with setting some goals, exercising some resolve and will-power, and then designing your environment and actions to create the right habits. So all those things you want to do in your life become automatic processes, not tons of work each time you do them!

What is one of your resolutions for the new year?

In this episode we share some of our take-aways and learning from 2020, which by all accounts has been a super-challenging year. We've used it to learn, to take care of ourselves, to search for balance and to create. This Podcast is one of the outcomes! Some of our key thoughts looking back:

Looking forward, we have a lot in store professionally and personally. We share our personal resolutions and the get a little science-y and geeky with talking about habits. Because it's creating the right habits that make change sustainable, it's not will-power! So we share the habit loop (cue or trigger, routine, reward), some key strategies for helping to make habit-creating (or habit-breaking) possible, and share some examples of hacks that work. Because whether you want to eat healthier, exercise more, stop smoking, learn something new, change your profession or whatever: it's developing automation that will help you get it done!

#newyear #newyou #whodoyouwanttobe #howtochange #habits #habitcreation #habitloop #friction #piggybacking #temptationbundling #usechaos #sustainablechange #embracechange #alphaweibchen #podcast #female #alpha #create #yourlife #empower #enhance #experience

Are you celebrating holidays in the coming few weeks? We're right around the corner from Christmas and the New Year, which are important for us. This time of year usually means large family gatherings, events with colleagues, customers and friends, lots of parties, singing christams carols, drinking Glühwein with thousands of other people at the Christmas Market. Generally, just enjoying the holiday spirit and celebration of new life (with everyone we know and strangers, too). That's not happening this year. Jaimi's traditional bi-annual trip to visit family for Christmas in the USA is an absolute no-go in the current climate, and even the planned celebration with her husband's family is under question given the size of the patchwork family. For the first time ever, Peggy is celebrating Christmas without her children and looking for ways to still share the holiday with them, despite everyone being in different places. So yes, we've been doing some soul-searching about what the holiday really means for us, and how to make it special even though it's very different this year than we're used to. And yes, we've done a bit of research to up our positive psychology with the help of expert knowledge. :) In today's short episode, we share our personal stories and approaches and a few tips we've collected from the pros - hoping that we can help you find the best in this holiday season, too! We would love to hear which ideas you like the most, and what additional ideas you're implementing! Drop us a comment below!

We loved chatting about how to make this Christmas special, and find that even just sharing the challenges and ideas with one another made us feel better about it (connecting with people matters!). Here's a quick compilation of the key points we have (from research and our own plans):

There are so many ways to spend extra time that make us happy!

Peggy and Jaimi have a relaxed conversation this week about getting older - and how to stay young despite the increasing years and inevitable physical changes (#wrinkles #bodycomposition #gravitysabitch). There are the obvious, super-important things that are so easy to neglect: exercise, nutrition, sleep.  There are the less obvious but life-changing things: maintaining childlike wonder, being silly, continually learning and experiencing new things.  And there are lots of things to enhance: meditation, stress management, skin care, fashion, botox, and the list is virtually endless!  So join us for a kind of silliness-inducing episode, where we laugh at ourselves and talk about all the different things that we consider elements of the #fountainofyouth .

Getting old with grace sounds aspirational, but it seems most of us don't want to do it...we'd rather find a way to stay young forever!   Well, we can't offer eternal youth, but we can share some advice about what keeps us feeling decades younger than we are. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."   We agree! That's what it starts with: maintaining a young attitude and mindset.  So laugh a little, be silly, do something fun.  And listen to this week's episode for more tips on staying young: mentally and physically!  Getting older can be a beautiful thing, even if we choose to resist it instead of accepting it with grace.  :)

In this episode, Paul Smith shares his inspiring story and phenomenal accomplishment: diagnosed with cancer, he withstood the temptation to give in to uncertainty and instead embarked on a journey to complete the Ironman Wales, one of the toughest triathlons on the planet.    A detective with the police force and somewhat-fit hobby athlete, Paul was cruising through life - comfortable, maybe a bit complacent. And then things changed - and he changed. He developed the mantra "I may have cancer but I'm not sick yet," and he resolutely set about the business of living life to the fullest, for as long as he might still have it to live. Demonstrating the power of mindset, he came back from the "mother of all surgeries" and went from hardly being able to walk, to completing the Ironman - in just 10 months.    In a statement from Christopher Reeve, "A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." Paul is definitely a hero, and an inspiration.  He has tackled enormous trials head-on, done what seems a sheer impossibility, and shares his story openly, honestly and with a healthy dose of humor.   His message? "Enjoy your life to the full and be as healthy and happy as you can be right now...[don't] leave it until you get a kick up the arse from a health scare." 

For more about Paul, find him at:  

And if you'd like to know more about the grueling Ironman Wales (a 3.8km ocean swim, 180km hilly bike course and hilly marathon run), you can find it here