‘The only constant is change,’ I’ve heard it said… As an army wife, I can attest to that.

Hoo-rah.

Over a year ago my friend Susan and I made a cross-country pact to each other. ‘Replace junk with amazing-ness.’ If you are familiar with Susan Powers’ work over at Rawmazing, you know that she has been doing just that!  Not only does she have an amazing offering of luscious, health inducing, gourmet recipes all created in her own kitchen, she also has a Rawmazing cookbook on it’s way to press.

Many of my own issues, goals and dreams had to be put on ice while our family made several life changes over the last several months.  Change happens…  by nature, I tend to resist…

After our second cross-country move in a little over a year, we are now relatively settled and I am ready for action!

Personally, I was surprised to realize that 2010 is half over!  Where should I start?

New state, new friends, new church, new grocery stores and malls.  New opportunities!  (Can I get an amen if you’ve been there recently?)

~~If you haven’t taken the time recently to chart where you are headed, just jump right on in with me… Here is an 1-2-3 action plan for a successful second half:

Essential Life Reset 101:

• Set Goals by Area of Life (Business, Family, Finances, Friends, Health, Home, Leisure, Projects, Recreation, Spirituality, Travel, Work)  Brainstorm as many things in each category as you can dream up.  Translate these ideas, then to:
• Goals By Month by highlighting which ideas you want to get started on immediately.  Break these down further by planning what you need to do to move toward each goal in the upcoming week:
• Goals & Achievements for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday… (you get the idea)  It’s important to have a place for writing down both goals AND achievements for reference the following week.

Some of the goals I decided to work on right now:

1. Get the house fully settled from moving here last Month (Painting/ eliminating)
2. Becoming incredibly money savvy (budget/ investment)
3. Getting the word out locally about my coaching (advertisement/ events)
4. Getting my diet back on target (releasing a few pounds, too!)

I’d love to hear what goals you are working on!  Please feel free to share and we can encourage each other

Blessings!

Joanna

~One of my favorite sites is ListPlanIt, check it out if you are a list-maker/ planning type as well.  (For $20 a year, I think  it’s well worth not having to make these sheets myself!)

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A new Fresh Blessing is on the way.  My daughter Kassi will bring a child into the world sometime in September.  This past couple of weeks I have been away from posting, getting things ready for Kassi & Paul to come visit us.  Hustling and bustling about, hoping to make her first trip to our home here in Louisiana something she’ll want to repeat again soon.  I made her favorite meals and we played board games until the wee hours of the mornings.  Of course, I couldn’t resist breaking Paul in with a great green smoothie.  He’s a good sport!

And yes, this announcement means that she’s making me a grandma!  Again!  Our first Grandbaby was born to our eldest son & his lovely wife this past year– that’s him at the top of the post, Griffen is now 9 months old!

I feel so refreshed from this time of fellowship.  I have a completely rejuvenated outlook on life.  What a fresh blessing.   I hadn’t realised that Fun & Recreation was lacking in my life!

Since they went home I have begun every morning with a master cleanse drink.   This has easily replaced my morning cuppa and is so much better for me!  It’s like a morning gift to myself…  I’m still having my one cup of coffee, but not until much later in the day and I’ve already switched to decaf with the intention of eliminating it totally within the next couple of weeks.  My adrenal glands will thank me.

When doing the rawfood diet, I tend to enjoy eating simply.  One of my favorite breakfasts is simply cut up apple with chopped pecans or brazil nuts, raisins and cinnamon.  I usually have a green smoothie or two per day and a couple of small snacks.   There are some of my favorite easy recipes here, and tons of great recipes over at my friend’s site, Rawmazing.

What gift will you give yourself this week?

]]> http://freshblessings.net/2010/02/raw-food-n-fresh-blessings/feed/ 3 http://freshblessings.net/2009/10/service-with-a-smile/ http://freshblessings.net/2009/10/service-with-a-smile/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:34:04 +0000 Joanna http://freshblessings.net/?p=900 Before marriage we are carried along by the force of the in-love obsession.  After marriage we revert to being the people we were before we ‘fell in love.’  ~Gary Chapman

Have you noticed that all of the love languages have something in common?

They all require thought, planning, time and effort.  Love is an action word– not just an emotion.  A good love-er realizes this and puts forth the effort to make it happen.

It’s very likely that your loved one did not just happen across you one day in the farmer’s market and fall in love.  That’s movie stuff.  There were things that you did to woo one another.   You offered them the best of  you… and when you married, made a lifelong commitment.  For better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health… you know the drill.

The gift of you:

Doing things that you know your hunny would like you to do– serving this special person to whom you’ve committed you life to, in ways that speak volumes of love to them, is your gift of yourself.

Expressing love by doing things is obviously important in ANY relationship– though for the person with Acts of Service as their love language– it is vital.

Without the fuel of doing things for them their love tank will dry up and they will feel completely unloved.

Special Services:

If you suspect that Acts of Service may be the love language of your partner, try asking for a list of a few things that they’d like you to do at some point in the next week.  It’s important to find out what things make THEM feel loved.

Try to do some of these things on their list and see what the response is.  If their language is Acts of Service you will see a tentative response– fairly quickly.

• If you are receiving criticism, seriously consider the fact that this is most likely a cry for love.
  
• Turn the tables by stopping what you’re doing and tell them something like:  “That seems really important to you.  Could you tell me a little more why this is so crucial?”
  
• Let them know you are in their corner and want them to feel loved– then get busy on the honey-do-list!  It will take some of your time, but reward you with a happy and in-love with you spouse…
  

A word to the wise:

• If this is YOUR love language– please make sure to ask nicely… Requests are so much easier to respond to than demands.
• Identify what things your family could do to create a feeling in you of being loved.   If they are not doing these things now, demanding or nagging will only bring more division among the ranks.
  
• Talk to them about why doing these things is so important to you and how you would feel so loved if they would do these things for you.  Who could resist that?

Love Tank Fuel for Acts of Service people:

1. Cut out some heart shaped notes that say:  “Today I will show my love to you by…”  Complete the sentence with something they’ve asked you to do.
2. While your spouse is away (send them on an errand if you need to) get the kids to help do something they’d like.  When they come home say, “Surprise!  We love you!” and/ or post a sign that says, “To … with love” and sign your name.
   
3. What one thing has your spouse nagged about consistently?  Why not decide to see the nag as a ‘tag’ of what is really important to them.
4. Ask for daily acts of service that would really speak love to him or her.  Seek to work these into your daily schedule– little things do really mean a lot!
5. Ask, “If I could do one special act of service this week, what would you request?”

Related articles:

1. Receiving Gifts- Giving Living
2. Quality Time- Helloooo??
3. Words of Affirmation- Are you loved?
4. Do You Speak Love?