Finding your "true" goal

Ok, We have more than 30 amazing people doing our 6 week challenge. We have designers, PR people, bankers, models, moms, life coaches, photographers etc. Every single one of you bring something special to this dynamic. It would be great to have everyone able to comment on the blog so we have lot of dialogue to read to support each other. All you have to do is make up a gmail account and sign up. You never even have to check your gmail mail.

Sharon is "moving in" for a few days. We are going to lay out all of your answers and my notes and make "teams". There will be partnerships or in some cases groups of 3 or 4. I know that some of you will be more "available" than others to check in with your partners/team mates. I am matching you up with people who have similar goals/interests and who I think you will gain something by in friending. The connection may be very obvious or very subtle. This matching up, along with finding your "true goal" is the most vital part of the challenge.

In looking for your "true goal" , I invite you to go back and read past entries in the blog to help you and inspire you. This is the most challenging blog entry as I attempt to "guide you" and help you peel back the layers of yourselves and your lives to find what is underlining your goals and the hurdles standing in your way. This is so highly person and varies with each person that it is hard to find the words that will fit for a group of individuals.

Reading your answers to my 10 questions, I learned a lot. Some of you are interested in getting fitter but the majority of you are more interested in gaining confidence, forging stronger friendships and connections, and taking better care of your "selves". These are the most important parts of this challenge. If we can all work on those things, by the end of these 6 weeks, our bodies will be in a great place. The heart/mind/soul and body are so connected that I truly have come to believe that our physical selves are reflections of what is going on inside of our deeper selves.

Now, onto the hardest part of the challenge.....we all must begin to peel back the layers of our lives to find what needs our attention and focus. To begin that process, I want you to look back at how you answered the 10 questions I asked. Read them as if you are someone else and catch of glimpse of the summation of your lives.

Take a minute and write down the life you "always wanted" and the person you "always wanted to be". Write out what a typical day looks like in your life. Go back and read all that you have written and try to discern the differences in what you want and where you are.

For myself, I have a lot of energy. I have a duality happening in my life between being very centered, calm and self aware and also being frantic and scattered. For me, this challenge is really about finding a way to make my average day a little easier, more organized and calm.

I am going to be working on some very practical things to make this happen (like training my dogs better, getting a dog walker, having a system for my twins to follow in the morning so they do more for themselves and actually making changes in my apartment so we have places for everything so we can all keep the the apartment neater and more organized). At night, I am going to try to change my routine (as all of you will be too). There is going to be no tv (I don't typically watch tv but can mindlessly tune in and it becomes a habit that doesn't yield anything positive in anyone's lives) and I am going to take 5 minutes to meditate and stretch at night.

Your goals will be yours. I believe it is far better to set up "will do" and look forward to the changes in your lives rather than set up a "I will not eat.....". I want this to be about being good to yourselves not punishing yourselves. Set up things you are looking forward to and make changes that substitute damaging behaviors for ones that bring you to a better place.

Erika will be chiming in to try to help with all of you with this process. If I can help at all, please feel free to reach out to me too. Historically, we have had group meetings that have helped us all focus and find out more about what we are after. During this challenge, we are going to have (fully optional) meet ups. These will be fun and festive and have always been my favorite part of the whole process.

This week we are going to start our "cleaning out" process. Try to cut down on processed food and junk in your diets and start taking the best care possible of YOU. We will all be doing 3 days of trying to eat only organic fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and dairy with no artificial sweeteners or salt added. This will be the strictest part of our challenge and serve to "clean" our taste buds, bodies and get us ready to move onto whatever we decide our "plan" is going to be. You can eat as much as you like, but it has to be good for you and in it's natural form. More specifics to come to use these next few days to make subtle changes so the three day won't be so hard.