Day 2 - "30 Day Gratitude Challenge"

Day 2: Today I am grateful for being different - unconventional? - and therefore for having the day off to indulge in "Chinese New Year" (Lunar New Year) traditions and festivities.

It's great being a part of two different cultures.  Growing up in Australia, I embrace being an Australian - like hanging out at the beach, but I am also a part of a Chinese heritage, so to fully embrace that - I get to celebrate another New Year!  Essentially I get two 'New Year's' in one year!  How awesome is that?!?

I don't always have the first day of 'Chinese New Year' off, so I'm grateful that it worked out that way. I got to follow some traditions like visiting my parents at their home and had lunch with them and over-indulge in plenty of food!!  It was an extra bonus that my brother and (soon to be) wife happen to be there while I was visiting, but being married now, it's my turn to be giving of red packets instead of receiving - but who doesn't like BEING GIVING anyway? :)

Day 1 - "30 day Gratitude Challenge"

Today is Day 1 of my 30 day Gratitude Challenge! Very excited!!

Day 1: today I am grateful for all those who are and have been supporting my

Blog and Facebook inspiration page since it's existence last September 2013. 

Thanks to all the friends and family who are reading my blog posts, liking my inspiration pictures and sharing it with your friends, family, network or community. 

The other day I put a post up that reached so many people, people I didn't even know! That really made my day!! Super happy! :) So I would also like to Thank all the random beautiful people I don't even know who I get to share with and inspire each day and continue to like my posts :)

Thanks to my mentors along my life's journey (you know who you are!) who have guided me to find my passions and start this very blog! 

The 30 day Gratitude Challenge

With the New Lunar year soon approaching in a couple of days - the year of the Horse - it's a time to sweep out the old and welcome in the new. So why not enter the new year cultivating the habit of BEING GRATEFUL? 

I've decided to do a 30 day Gratitude Challenge - starting tomorrow - the day before the New Lunar Year, so that it carries on into the new year. The end of the 30 days will also bring us to the end of summer (in Australia!), which will give us another great opportunity of reflection on the challenge when Autumn arrives!

I would like to invite you to play with me by also joining in on this "30 day Gratitude Challenge"! You can either join/Like the Happy Being Felicia Facebook page (www.facebook.com/happybeingfelicia) and post each day something that you are grateful for or comment on each blog post as I blog for the next 30 days sharing with you what I am grateful for myself.

This is going to be a fun challenge and I'm very excited!! 

Happy Dayz! :)

Healthy Body and Mind

It's a bit of an Oprah inspiration week!

I, for one, know what it's like and what happens to my well-being when I'm not feeding or fueling my body with healthy food. It's what keeps the balance and adds to your moods. 

A couple of years ago, I started on this exercise path and got myself a personal trainer. I wasn't overweight or anything (I'm just pregnant at the moment! haha..), but I certainly needed the motivation to exercise and keep it up. A walk here or a yoga class there wasn't really cutting it. Especially as I got older, it just seems harder to maintain that once-youthful-body! What I didn't expect was learning the benefits and VALUE of 'clean eating' and about all the amazing raw organic foods that surround us and the difference it made for me.

As I mindfully cut out more 'refined' sugar from my regular diet (I'm not perfect, so yes, I indulge now and again!), I certainly noticed the difference when I have been eating crap. In fact, I can probably say, when I eat the 'cheap'-not-so-good-for-you-chocolate, I become this sugar addict! When I've had too much sugar, I feel sluggish, I want to exercise less and you can probably see this downward spiral.... feeling sorry for yourself yet?

How our MOODS can change. Have you ever noticed that about yourself?  It's all about CHOICES.

It's a balance. And I believe it's equally important to nourish not only the mind but the body as well. The two really just go hand in hand together!  It's amazing when you get the two into flow :)

Having a healthy body, puts us into a much better state of BEING.

Being MINDFUL about what you're eating and fuelling your body with yummy wholesome food will allow you to be more in tune with your body. How your body responds will tell you a thing or two that may need some attention!

Perhaps the reason why you might love that milk chocolate or ice cream so much and just want to have more and more might just be that you've got a sugar addiction too! Or perhaps just notice if you're a fast or slow eater...it's the little things that you become aware of that will allow you to make the changes you need to improve your overall well-being. 

HEALTHY BODY = HAPPY MIND! 

Happy Mind = Happy Life!

What are you eating right now?

(found on Make Your Life Amazing)

Personal Responsibility

I absolutely LOVE this!

Oprah is definitely one of my many inspirations :)  and she couldn't have said it better.  

How often might you be putting the blame on someone else?  (saying it's not your fault?). Perhaps you're not being responsible for your own feelings?  Do you complain or make excuses for something unpleasant happening?  or have excuses why something hasn't  happened yet?  Perhaps you play the victim... ALOT!? "bad things always happen to me....".  If ANY of these things sound familiar - then you're definitely not taking any personal responsibility!

I'm not perfect.  I will admit to the fact that I too am not always BEING PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE for my actions, reactions and outcomes - but when I don't, where do you think does that leave me? Downright unhappy! I feel out of control and powerless.

Just the other day, my husband pointed out to me how I wasn't being personally responsible for my response (I was blaming someone here...) - I just loved that he did that, because it made me step up in that moment, reassess what I had just said and gave me another opportunity to change - for the better :)  Take action and make the decision to BE personally responsible.

It sure does take practice - but a little bit of mindfulness will help along the way ;) Go on! Take some responsibility! Be personally responsible for YOUR actions, what you do in your life, your intentions, the way you react in a situation, respond in a conversation, the outcomes and what you attract.  

By practising being responsible for ourselves, we also have to remember, we are not responsible for others. How someone reacts or acts, is their decision, if someone gets upset by something you said (so long as you said it with good intentions), you are not responsible for their feelings.  They CHOOSE to feel that way. If you try to be responsible for someone else, you actually allowing them not to be personally responsible for themselves!  Think about that.... you allow them to play the victim again and again and you begin to burden yourselves with other people's problems - and where would that leave you?

When you learn to take some personal responsibility, you'll soon realise you have so many more choices - after all YOU are responsible for your own HAPPINESS!  

We become more accepting and we begin to forgive ourselves and others, thus creating more love around us. We learn to let go of things we can't control and everything becomes EEEEASY!!! :)

Would love to hear your personal stories on how you're taking some personal responsibility, so please feel free to comment below!

Perfectly Imperfect

With each new year, usually comes some sort of 'New Year's resolution', some sort of goal or challenge - it made me wonder why we do this?  Is it because we are (subconsciously) unhappy with the way our lives are already?  Or do we just need a new challenge in life?  Are we striving for perfection?

I'm am one guilty human being when it comes to the topic of perfection!  Along my own life journey, I've come to realise, I used to try to make things in my life 'perfect', I unconsciously AIM for perfection - but WHY?  

I soon came to realise, something my dad used to always say to me when I was growing up, yet little did I know how it would affect me years later playing it out unconsciously as I lived my life. Whether it was the piano lessons, the maths test or whatever it may be, he used to quote "Practice makes Perfect". 

Now that I'm much more aware of what was happening in my little head - I've had to learn (and am still learning) how to UN-DO that.  Because for me, perfect doesn't exist.  We're all beautifully, perfectly IMPERFECT human beings!

Aiming for perfection can create a certain expectation and sometimes if/when we don't reach those expectations, then we get disappointed.  Because when we get to 'perfect', we then go on to try harder to be better than what was, to become even MORE perfect!  Silly isn't it? :)

Why not have your New Year's challenge be aiming for progress? - it's like telling your little subconscious mind, you're happy with loving the journey and not the destination!