It’s like a spontaneous affirmation of goodness and warmth.

I think about the friends and family that unconditionally support me, the business opportunities that continuously find me, and the love that is wholly given to me.

I’m grateful.

It was just such a wonderful reminder to continue practicing gratitude and journaling the things that I appreciate and have in my life so that I can continue to receive more of what I want.

I found this image that I posted on Facebook back in 2015, and it’s a beautiful reminder to find the good in the mundane aspects of our lives.

It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

XOXO

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During the past three years, I studied a ton about how the unconscious mind works side-by-side with the conscious mind, and it finally hit me (while I was at a three-day event) how it works.

And of course, how meditation comes into play.

Essentially, we have our:

• Conscious mind – the part of the brain that makes conscious decisions such as going to the gym or what to eat for lunch.
• Subconscious mind – the part of our consciousness that takes in information behind the scenes (whether it’s heard, seen, felt, or remembered). We may not be actively aware of the information at the moment. Yet, it still can influence us.
• Unconscious mind – as quoted from Diffen, a part of the brain that cannot be known by the conscious mind and includes socially unacceptable ideas, wishes, and desires.

Now that we understand how the different parts of our mind work, we might start to wonder how we would access what our unconscious mind thinks.

When we take the time to meditate more often than not, I genuinely believe that it allows us to quiet our ongoing, over-analytical thoughts so that we can be open to hearing what our unconscious mind wants to tell us about how to live our best lives.

The subtle hints from our unconscious mind to remind us of our deepest wishes and desires that we’re so afraid of showing the world. The challenge is that we tend to suppress these unconscious desires so profoundly that it feels impossible for us to understand and realize what we genuinely want to make us happy. We go along with what is socially acceptable in terms of what to want, have, and need, then we begin to believe that it’s the only way to live our lives. Ultimately, it makes so many people unhappy, and they can’t seem to figure out why when they’ve reached all the levels of success that they’ve set for themselves.

Subtle hints from our unconscious mind to remind us of our deepest wishes and desires

Of course, we’ve all heard that meditation can be challenging to do when we first start. We get distracted by noises and the continually running thoughts. However, after practice and progressively making our meditations longer, we can only get better and better, which is then where, I believe, the magic happens.

It’s the times where we get out of our head and into our hearts (a.k.a stop overthinking and listen to your deepest wishes and desires), where we find the most joy. So I invite you to start meditating for 1 minute a day, then progress to 3 minutes, then 5, then 10. See if you can allow your unconscious mind to speak to you and give you the answers you’ve been searching for. 

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For those of you who do not know me personally, I recently became an entrepreneur a little over 2 months ago. I work with small businesses and entrepreneurs to get their social media marketing up and running so that they get more brand exposure and leads from Facebook Ads. It’s been one hell of a rollercoaster for me and through my good days and bad days, I continually tell myself that there is no way that I am going to give up this freedom and lifestyle. I refuse to allow a company to determine my title, tell me when I am “worthy” enough to get promoted and to determine how much money I make. As long as I am my own boss, I decide what my value is, and my amount of effort will determine how much money I make.

The biggest takeaway I’ve gotten from living this lifestyle is that no matter what obstacles have been put in front of me, I’ve learned to take immediate action the moment I make a decision. I’ve realized that as long as I continually take action, I will continue to open new doors of opportunities for myself. Keep in mind, with each action I take, I never give a damn about what others might think of me because my happiness is all that matters. Yes, I’ll consult with my close friends who are driven entrepreneurs with the same mindset to get an outside perspective to help me make my own decision, yet my decision will still be my own choice. Not everyone will agree with me, and that’s okay. Two years ago, I would not have been able to accept the thought of not caring about what others thought—I was too much of a people pleaser. I cared so much about making sure everyone liked me and the image I portrayed, but deep down inside, I wasn’t truly happy. I felt like I put up this perfect image of myself acting like my life was just amazing in every which way when really… I was insecure, over-analytical and indecisive as hell with what I wanted to do with my life.

It wasn’t until after attending a few Core Strength Experience events was when I learned that I was extremely hard on myself (being the perfectionist that I am) and that what I needed more of was self-love. In fact, a lot of us could benefit from more self-love. I’m not talking about selfishness or being self-centered, I’m talking about finding time to give to yourself more often than not, taking the time to reflect on yourself and appreciate how far you’ve made it in life no matter what your circumstance.

As I pursued this fitness lifestyle (basically to try to win back an ex-boyfriend), I started noticing a trend among people who wanted to pursue working out. It always seemed that the main reason why people wanted to begin working out was because they were not happy with themselves, they hate the way their body looked and they felt insecure so they wanted to change that. First, that is the bomb dot com that you totally have the courage to want change, most people are afraid of that. Second, you’re using pain to push you towards your goal which typically never lasts; as human beings, we are born with the pleasure principle where we ultimately seek gratification (just ask the homie, Sigmund Freud). So, that’s why I continually promote working out and taking care of yourself physically as a source of self-love rather than self-hate. Love yourself enough to know that you deserve a healthy body, happy mindset and a longer life.

I’m so glad that I created Stephanie Ann Fit and looked past my fear of judgement from random strangers on the internet, because now I get to use the brand as a source of sending out my message. Go out there and get anything you put your mind to, step out of your comfort zone and stop caring about what others think about you. Because ultimately, other people don’t really care that much about you, they care more about themselves. They may judge you for a short period of time but eventually, they’ll resort back to focusing on themselves and their problems, it’s the way the human brain works. Lastly, I get to authentically be myself and show you all how much I’ve improved and grown as a person. I genuinely appreciate and love myself, and it’s my personal goal to inspire you to feel the same about yourself—I’ve got to practice what I preach right? I mean, I didn’t get ‘integrity’ tattooed on my back for no reason.

That’s my rant for the week. I’ll leave you with this quote.

XOXO,

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I assumed that asserting my confidence in certain situations would help get me what I want, but it doesn’t work when your confidence passes that fine line and becomes ego-driven. With this said, the couple of situations I created for myself taught me a valuable lesson which is worth more than anything I could want.

I want to write this blog post as a reminder to myself to always do my best to not get into a state of arrogance where I would judge others or think of myself as “better.” Moving forward, I can identify (and become aware) when I move into an this state and remind myself to stay humbled, because that’s the Stephanie that I’m proud to be and I love myself enough to continually make myself proud.

Don’t allow a few extra pounds of muscle get to your head, especially when people begin to admire your aesthetics and boost your ego. Instead, try having this perspective: be grateful that you are helping inspire others in some way and that you are disciplined and love yourself enough to be more fit than you already are. Do everything with purpose, set your intention so that you know why you’re doing what you’re doing and remember, gratitude is always the answer! Well… only if you want to be happy ????.

Let me know if you’re human and made the same mistake I did, I’d love to hear your story in the comments below!

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I received a call from my baby sister today (she’s five years younger than me, so she will always be a baby to me), and she was venting to me about the stresses of living away from home, attending college and dealing with roommates and rude people. I found a quote on Pinterest that really resonated with me and shared it with her: “Grow through, what you go through.”

This quote brought me back to the days when I felt like I had hit rock bottom in my life and I was forced to grow through what I was going through. The story about what went on no longer matters, what DOES matter is that I am who I am today because of my past. Sometimes, I look back just to remember how much I’ve grown and it motivates and inspires me.

How do you choose to view your past? Is it also inspiration to you, or do you allow it to pull you deeper into a hole of self-pity? Be careful, your thoughts are powerful and they will control you unless you take charge and learn to control it instead.

Here’s my message for you: For whatever reason that the universe decided that you needed to go through the obstacle you’re being challenged with, see it as an opportunity to build strength, willpower, and character; never as a stroke of bad luck or a time to give up and throw in the towel. It’s all about perspective and how you view YOUR world. So, grow through what you go through, don’t just go through it.

Life is ridiculously mysterious, yet fascinating and wonderful at the same time. Try not to be so blinded by the negative thoughts running through your head that you forget to appreciate the person you’ve become today. You are you, imperfectly, uniquely, and entirely; appreciate it—there’s only one you in this world and no one can ever take your spot.

Love,

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The secret is creating micro-habits. What is a micro-habit? It’s much like how it sounds; they are small, simple actions that require a lower amount of motivation but ultimately builds the momentum to get you to your larger goal habit.

A few years ago, I didn’t jump right into being healthier, fitter and learn everything right away. I started by having a small bit of courage to go to the gym and use whatever machines I knew how to use. It was embarrassing at the time, but if I found a machine that looked interesting and I had no clue whatsoever how to use it, I would stand there and read the instructions on the machine; talk about being the hugest noob at the gym. Eventually, I invested in cuter workout clothes that would motivate me to go to the gym. Hey, even if I didn’t break a sweat, I least I looked good which made me feel less insecure. I soon discovered female bikini competitors on Instagram that inspired me, then bodybuilding.com for the type of exercises these bikini competitors implement into their workout routine, and soon after I was asking my male friends to show me how to “lift weights.” While all of this was happening, I knew NOTHING about good nutrition. I ate completely unhealthy, having burgers after gym sessions, drinking 2-3 Starbucks flavored lattes a day, and skipping breakfast. But who cares? It was a start. At least I was going to the gym.

A few months go by and I’m consistently going to the gym, I’ve incorporated post-workout protein shakes, preworkout, and BCAAs to my unhealthy eating. Then I ran three half marathons (the San Diego Half Marathon Triple Crown Series!), continued to strength train and I was feeling pretty damn good. I didn’t have abs though, and I didn’t realize that there were muscle groups that I was neglecting (back and shoulders ).

You know how everything always just seems to happen for a reason (I’m a huge believer of this ????????)? Soon after, I was introduced to Herbalife and joined their 10-Week Transformation Challenge. Through the challenge, I learned about proper nutrition, creating a workout schedule to hit every muscle group and how to gain muscle, lose body fat, and get abs! The 10-Week Transformation Challenge was definitely the toughest part of my fitness journey, it required so much discipline and determination. However, I created such great habits that they’ve stuck with me and because of that, health and fitness is a part of my life and it’s a positive light in my life, not torture or misery.

My tips on making health and fitness easy for you:

1. Create micro-habits. Drink more water. Go for a longer walk. Use a new machine at the gym. The list goes on!
2. View fitness as fun. Congratulate yourself and get excited when you hit a new personal record or finally have your form down. Heck, get excited for hitting 10,000 steps in your day–I still do!
3. Think of food as nutrients to help fuel your body, rather than as non-delicious healthy food. We need the right amount of protein, carbs, fats and micronutrients to help push us through our workouts and to keep us awake and alert throughout the day. The better you eat, the less your body will tolerate all that unhealthy crap.

I hope this helps if you’ve been hard on yourself lately for not being exactly where you want to be. Remember, it’s the progress that makes this all fun! Be kind to yourself, love who you are, and do this for YOU because you love yourself enough to do it; not because you hate the way you look. ????

Love,

The post Why Fitness Is Easy For Me appeared first on Stephanie Ann Fit.