Before I share details from my habits today, I will just back up and share that yesterday turned out to be better than I expected (I try not to have expectations so that I don't become disappointed)...my only expectation for myself was that I would give it my best and follow through with what I decided that I deserved to follow through with.  Was it easy?  I would have to say it was easier than I thought it would be.  I realize that I was prepared.  There is a difference between "hoping for the best, and winging it" vs preparing and being ready at all times for cravings or hunger to rear it's head.  I had healthy snack options at my side and rarely needed them.  

By 3:00 I found myself having a headache.  I messaged one of my accountability partners at that time to ask her how she was doing on her first day?  I also told her that I was feeling a headache (and I don't typically ever suffer from headaches).  She reminded me to have water (which I had by my side and realized that I hadn't had enough water).  I drank some and had 1 or 2 chewable snacks (dairy free - yummy).  And I continued on with my plans to go grocery shopping for healthy choices to have in our home.  I intended to make baked fish, but out favourite seafood place is closed Mondays and I had forgotten until I pulled in to shop.  When I went to a grocery store to find fish (I already purchased all my produce at one of my favourite whole foods (type of store) called Goodness Me...but I didn't have the fish I wanted.  Something had me refrain from buying fish from a regular grocery store (I guess I am spoiled with the choices we have a Johnny's in Barrie, ON.), I just couldn't buy fish from Sobeys. 

So chicken it was.  I made chicken with mushrooms, a bit of white wine and organic chicken broth to make a very light sauce and some ground black pepper, dijon mustard, green onions and garlic to add flavour.  It was so delicious. 

I made a side of quinoa and broccoli (seasoned with lemon, pepper, garlic and a bit of olive oil).  

Having 3 children, I hear, "eew, that is what we are having for dinner?" and my son even said after that, "what are the kids eating?"

When dinner was served, the kids had a bit of a hard time with it, but they all ate everything on their plates eventually without a whole lot of fuss.  Amazing how much they will eat when they stop looking at how it looks, and start to taste it for what it is.  Healthy doesn't mean disgusting flavours.

Before bed, I made sure that I was prepared for my early morning ritual.  I found the Yoga and Meditation videos I would use, I texted myself both so that it was easy to find them in the morning.  I found the song that I would wake up to and I read for about 20 minutes (Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection), before falling asleep.

This morning came and was another success.
I woke up again before my alarm went off.  I found that I had many dreams through the night, but I did find that I woke up almost once an hour since 2:00am.  Each time I would wake up, I would think it must be time to be up...almost as if I didn't need the 8-9 hours sleep that I normally do.  But I managed to always get back to sleep and woke up at 6:15 am again, and made it down to my yoga/meditation room in the dark.

My alarm this morning was set to the song by Avicii called, Wake me up. And although I woke before this song came on, I listened to it before I began my 20 minutes of yoga.

My 20 minutes of yoga today was for strengthening my back.

My 20 minutes of meditation was so relaxing...beautiful sounds of ocean waves continuously.  I could have stayed in that state for much longer than the time it was.

I continued to journal.  2 paragraphs of self journalling, and 3.5 pages again of soul journalling.  My soul sure is smart.  (if you are just reading this for the first time, feel free to go back to yesterday's blog entry to find out more details about soul journalling)

When the kids woke up, I already had my Mint Chocolate shake, my 2 Product B, my 3 Brain Boost, and my 1 accelerator.  I turned on today's song of the day, "Wake me Up" on our apple TV and I added it to a new playlist called MORNINGS, so now we have two songs in that playlist (video playlist), the first song from yesterday (Coldplay, Adventure of a Lifetime) is not only our new favourite song and video, but it was one that had the 4 of us breaking out in dance at 8:00 this morning!  The kids even said, we can't wait to see what song will be added tomorrow!

Here I am, at 9:32am, feeling so grounded, balanced and inspired (light).  

I am grateful that I have given myself this beautiful gift of time and health.  That hour in the morning (that I once created excuses about) has become my favourite time of day for myself!

I look forward to hearing from you. If these blog entries have inspired you to create new healthy habits, I look forward to cheering you on.  

Ironically someone I care about so much, a family member - reached out and told me yesterday in a text that my post from yesterday inspired her to recommit to herself.  As I was typing this entry today, I noticed a text from her about her "day 2" also!  

Together we can encourage others to feel better too.  Keeping it to ourself doesn't multiply the inspiration...let's share this and help others create change too!

​

​Because I MATTER...I told myself, as I asked the question WHY?  When I allowed myself to get creative with "bubble letters" in my journal, I simply answered a question, the question was
WHO ARE YOU CHOOSING TO BE?  My answer was clear, Being the best version of me, because I MATTER!!

That was it, I signed and dated it and I felt my body, mind and soul follow suit.

It was 9:20pm on October 23, 2016 and I knew that I hadn't been honouring myself as much as I thought I was doing all that I could to do so.  

Exactly 24 hours before this moment a dear friend of mine (Kirsten), shared a Yoga Intensive program with me, she told me it was starting on October 24th and it was something that would be 5 days per week going from 6am until 7:30 am for an entire month.  I got excited with the thought of it, but quickly found myself making all the excuses for why it wouldn't work.  Yet for the entire 24 hours, I continued to think about how great it would be if I would commit to myself and make some positive changes, starting with waking up early to take time for me before anyone else in the house was awake.  

When the negative self talk came in (which I refer to now as the lizard brain, thanks to a great mentor, Colin James), I knew that this wasn't me...this was my past dictating my future and I was listening to my self talk as some sort of boss in my life.  And then I remembered that the power is within myself to either believe the negative self talk or to acknowledge it and move beyond it.

​​That lizard brain got louder and LOUDER.  It was saying things such as, "are you crazy? You can't get up before 7:00, you can barely wake up before 7:30, so who are you kidding?  This will be just ONE more thing you will start and not complete and it will be a waste of your money.  You may start strong, but there is NO way you will create a new habit"  And the messages continued.



48 hours earlier I had also made a commitment to myself, to get back into healthy eating habits through the program I cherish and represent in my business.  The past few months have been less than ideal.  I wasn't a product of my product for quite sometime, I would find myself doing great for a bit and then falling back into bad habits.  I was rushing most mornings to get the kids fed and out the door, and half the time they were missing the bus so I was driving them to school.  Instead of having a shake, I would find myself driving through the Tim Horton's drive thru to have a breakfast sandwich approximately twice a week.  There were many days that I would go to Barrie to do errands or meet up with others, only to find that I didn't plan well, and would get hungry while in the city...so I would often pull through a drive through to have a 6 inch sub or a wrap (trying to convince myself that this is a "healthy-ish" choice), only to find myself lacking in energy and motivation throughout the day.

So once again, because of my previous commitment to myself to return to my healthy eating habits and now adding a "get up out of bed" and yoga expectation 5 days a week, I was finding myself hearing that lizard brain saying, "yup, you really are crazy...you think you can return to a healthy eating habit by doing a 9 day cellular body cleanse and finish it continuing as a 30 day system AND wake up early and do yoga...yes, you Tara Cooper have lost your mind...and I call the BS card on you...you will NOT do it, because you have tried so many times before, and you have NOT EVER continued...but go ahead, go against what I say, and I will PROVE that you can't follow through."

Yes that lizard is a bother, it is downright rude if you ask me...but I knew (because of so much work I've been doing on my mindset) that this is normal and this lizard brain of mine is trying it's best to keep me safe in my bubble of comfort.  My lizard LOVED to sleep in and eat junk.

So as I prepared to move forward with a BEGINNER'S MINDSET, (in order to build myself some new and sustainable healthy habits), I thanked my lizard brain (picture of the lizard drawn by Colin James) for trying to keep me safe and I made a conscious decision to plan for the next day. October 24th would be my first day of new beginnings.

• I will wake up at 6:25am to Adventure of a Lifetime by Coldplay
• I will take my peppermint and orange essential oils and put them in my diffuser
• I will do 20 minutes of yoga: Easy Yoga for Beginners - Full Body Gentle Flow Yoga (youTube)
• I will do 20 minutes of meditation with Either: Chakra Cleansing & Activating guided meditation on YouTube OR Buddhist Meditation for Beginners  (I did end up choosing the Chakra Cleansing today)
• I will do 20 minutes of journalling or soul journalling (I love soul journaling, goes so much deeper and beneficial for me)
• I will have my Ionix, my shake and my vitamins when I finish
• I will make breakfast and lunches for the kids

Did I do what I set out to do?
Well that lovely LIZARD brain of mine tells me, "don't get too excited, because you have started strong in the past, only to fizzle out within a few days".  However, my soul is cheering me on, saying YES, you did it, you proved that it is possible to rise early before anyone else, and even before your alarm went off.  You were able to get everything done that you set out to do and you ROCKED it Tara.

So yes, I did what I set out to do and I do feel wonderful.  I enjoyed the Yoga and the Chakra Cleansing (links found above) and had 15 minutes to journal, which was NO PROBLEM to complete, I wrote the entire 15 minutes.  I started with 2 paragraphs of personal journalling and then completed approximately 3.5 pages of Soul Journalling (see link for more on how to do soul journaling if you are interested). Or for a more detailed exercise, buy Elisa Romeo's book called Meet your Soul.

I began the day as I planned to and I loved every single moment of it.  I got my Ionix and my shake with vitamins before anyone came downstairs for breakfast. I managed to make lunches and breakfast for the kids and we enjoyed a continuous replay of our song of the day: Coldplay's Adventure of a Lifetime.  The kids had a bounce in their step and so did my husband and I.  They got on the bus.  And our day was off to a great start.

The morning was light, fresh and inspiring.  I look so forward to beginning my day the same way tomorrow.
Nutrition as planned for anyone interested in doing this too (if you don't know what certain things are, and have interest, just ask.), include consumption of water throughout the day also.
Morning:

• Ionix (1 oz) 
• Isa-shake mixed only with water
• Accelerator x 1, Brain boost x 3, Product B x 2
• Greens (1 shot)
• snack midmorning (likely IsaDelight)
• e+ shot

Afternoon:

• Ionix (1 oz)
• Isa-shake mixed only with water
• snack (Chewables or IsaDelight - or veggies with hummus)

Evening:

• fish (baked) - will share recipe soon (I tend to put it together as I make it)
• rice or quinoa mixture
• veggies and or greens (1 shot if needed)

Before Bed:

• sleep spray (2 sprays)
• IsaComfort x 2
• IsaOmega (1 or 2)
• Thyroid medication (as prescribed)

*I am not currently taking any other supplements or vitamins at this time, but will increase or alter times as I bring habits back into my routines.


I choose music today to be about Intuition and Connection...and a bit of Physical!  This is a great chart to help with music choices for your Chakras.