The Full Life

There is something I do EVERY MORNING, that I kid is more important than flossing my teeth (but I’m enough of a rule-follower that I do both), and it’s a huge part of my journey toward enjoying The Full Life. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time (3 minutes the science says, and I can corroborate that). It’s a positive morning ritual.

Here is the skinny: Just a few minutes spent consuming negative news in the morning can affect the trajectory of your entire day. Research done by The Institute for Applied Positive Research showed that people who consumed as little as 3 minutes of negative news before 10am were 27% more likely to report their day as BAD, 6-8 hours later, regardless of what happened in their day.

Episode #42 is all about how to have a positive morning ritual, even if you have kids, dogs and a job! For all the show notes with links I discuss, hope over to www.AmandaMeditates.com/podcast . And, have a beautiFUL day!

When I was young girl I felt short and chubby. I felt awkward and not very athletic. I recall noticing the girls that were pretty. Noticed their beautiful hair. Noticed how the boys always wanted to talk to them.

I’ve been journey through a path of greater self-love for about 10 years now, gradually redefining how I see my physical body and its purpose. And, today I wanted to share a beautiful passage with you that really shifted my perspective on our bodies and their purpose. I hope you’ll grant yourself a short 8 minutes to join me on this journey and see how lands on you today.

“Your body is not your masterpiece – Your life is.” Glennon Doyle Melton

Check out the Podcast Website at www.AmandaMeditates.com/podcast for more episodes and practices to get good at stress, reclaim your happiness and truly enjoy..The Full Life.

Quite a few years ago when I was attending my first retreat at The Chopra Center for Wellness I sat in on a lecture with one of my favourite spiritual teachers and co-founder of The Chopra Center, Dr. David Simon. He shared the essence of a quote from Emerson, a writer and poet who led the transcendental movement in the mid 19th century. It went something like this, “What you are speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you are saying”.

Do you ever meet someone and although the conversation is fair, your intuition just doesn’t trust them? Or perhaps you just decide you don’t really like them but you are not sure why? Vibrational dissonance is an interesting term that describes how we connect to how someone “feels” vs the words they speak and it’s a very interesting awareness to have when you are seeking to live a more fulfilled and conscious life. Its no fun trying to “live and let live” and practice non-judgement with others when they spark these feelings you in. Like wise, others can feel “out of balance” around us if we aren’t speaking words that are true to our heart.

Today I’m sharing a little exercise I do, when these feelings arise. Its really helped me to soften into the idea that we are all doing the best we can but that we each wake in the morning with a different level of self-awareness to carry on our day.

Less Judgement, More Love. That’s the secret.

Check out the Podcast Website at www.AmandaMeditates.com/podcast for more episodes and practices to get good at stress, reclaim your happiness and truly enjoy..The Full Life.

We are all born with our very own navigation system. Most of us wouldn’t argue this and yet most of have struggled, at one time or another, with tuning into this inner pilot light and trusting it. How often do you go ‘outside’ yourself for answers or suggestions to validate what you know in your heart to be true?

On this episode of The Full Life I had a rather practical and very insightful chat with Lisa Stamper. Lisa and her family knew from a young age that she had a very attuned ability to connect with her intuition. She recalls receiving messages from as young as 2. But, when we she had a premonition of her Oma’s passing when she was 16, it became very clear that she had a special gift. Not without hurdles, including trying to numb out these abilities with drugs and alcohol, Lisa has now fully stepped into her beautiful, unique self and shares her gifts with the world on Hearing Heaven.

On this episode Lisa brings you actionable steps to get better at recognising your intuition and strengthening it. Trusting my gut is on my list of practices to cultivate more of for 2018 and I hope its part of your Full Life this year too.

Check out the Podcast Website at www.AmandaMeditates.com/podcast for more episodes and practices to get good at stress, reclaim your happiness and truly enjoy...The Full Life.

Download Worksheet: http://amandameditates.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/StressLessHolidayWorksheet.pdf

The holidays can be filled with contradiction; joy and overwhelm, abundance and clutter, love and frustration, harmony and reactivity, peace and resentment. Although we may not realize, we have a choice to choose nourishing feelings and reactions over those that leave us feeling stressed out. One of the best ways I know to increase the chances of things working out best is to get still and from that space of calm, visualize how we want things to unfold. This doesn’t mean that it will all be perfect; however, you might define that, but it does give you reference point to come back to. One created with best intentions for a joy-filled holiday.

Let’s embark on a guided visualization here today for a stress-less holiday. Let’s plant the seeds of intention for the feelings we want to manifest most, especially at this time of year.

As I guide you through this practice; use the worksheet (http://amandameditates.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/StressLessHolidayWorksheet.pdf) to capture the essence of your desires. Really take time to visualize pictures in your mind, to feel with full emotion, to create the experience within your mind’s eye. The more you can connect to your desire, the more likely you will be able to experience it outside the practice.

From my home to YOURS, wishing the best of season with oodles of love and good memories.

For this and more tips on a holiday season with less stress and more joy visit www.AmandaJWeber.com/Podcast

Holiday series podcasts are episodes 36, 37 and this one, 38.

Sandra Muir has been gifting experiences for years. She began this tradition when she realized that her 11 nieces and nephews enjoyed activity gifts much more than toys. In fact, she loved this so much she founded a company that helped adults do just this for the kids and teens in their lives. With the holidays upon us, I asked Sandra to share her best practices with us for gifting experiences that bring joy and connection with those we love. Her insight and tips make this really doable, fun and exciting for the recipient. And hey, who doesn’t want a little less clutter and a few more happy memories in 2017!

For this and more tips on a holiday season with less stress and more joy visit www.AmandaJWeber.com/Podcast

Holiday series podcasts are episodes 36, 37 and 38.

Dana Shortt has been a foodie all her life. She is an award-winning entrepreneur, a professionally trained chef, owner of her own gourmet food shop and one of the warmest, most passionate and driven people I know. I am proud to call her my friend and excited to share with you her top 10 tips for entertaining like a caterer. I will add, these are stress-reducing, happiness-enhancing, joy-sparking musts for your holiday entertaining. Take it away, Dana!

For a PDF of this amazing Top 10 List, just hope over to the show notes at www.AmandaJWeber.com/Podcast and check out Episode #36!

Welcome to The Full Life! I’ve been on the horn lately about getting good at Self Compassion. For many, it’s the soft side of a more critical conversation we have with ourselves when we don’t measure up. “Good heavens, don’t be kind to yourself! You’ll never do better!” is more the norm. There is loads to cover here but today I want to provide some insight into 3 things; First, why should you care about practicing self compassion, then, what is it exactly and finally, how to begin to practice it. Baby steps as always! So, that’s exactly what we do today on the podcast!

Check out the Podcast Website at www.AmandaMeditates.com/podcast for more episodes and practices to get good at stress, reclaim your happiness and truly enjoy..The Full Life.

This week on our REBOOT episode (those short ones aimed at giving us a few minutes of “guided” stillness) we’re exploring a Self Compassion Break. This particular one is based on the work of Kristen Kneff. She is, in my eyes, a self compassion Guru (check out her TedTalk for more on this subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvtZBUSplr4)

We’re finding a quite place to sit. A moment to close our yes. And, yes, I will guide you through the whole process. Enjoy!

Check out the Podcast Website at www.AmandaMeditates.com/podcast for more episodes and practices to get good at stress, reclaim your happiness and truly enjoy...The Full Life.

I’m always open to chatting about busy; it seems everyone else is, too. Is epidemic too strong a word to describe the extent to which ‘busy’ is impacting our health, our happiness, and the quality of our relationships? I don’t think so.

It really hit home recently when I read these words from Dr. Suzanne Koven, physician of internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston: “In the past few years, I've observed an epidemic of sorts: patient after patient suffering from the same condition. The symptoms of this condition include fatigue, irritability, insomnia, anxiety, headaches, heartburn, bowel disturbances, back pain, and weight gain. There are no blood tests or X-rays diagnostic of this condition, and yet it's easy to recognize. The condition is excessive busyness.”

Busy, the disease of perception. There is no real way to diagnose it but the effects are real; physically and emotionally.

Today I share with you a story of how busy impacts life with our loved ones and a little inquiry to help you Trade Busy for Full.

Check out the Podcast Website at www.AmandaMeditates.com/podcast