Tag: Greater Purpose

Everyone’s Always Searching For the Magic Bullet, Well I Have It For you.

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date August 26, 2015

As a trainer, nutrition enthusiast and “health professional” you get asked all the time about trends, food choices, exercises to do. When I start to field these questions, I realize there is one common goal that many people wish they could have when it came to their health—> the “Magic Bullet” that would make it all easier.

I know they are wanting me to say some tips like, “Don’t eat past 7pm and THERE you’ll have your magic bullet!” OR “Do this particular exercise sequence that only takes 7-minutes and THERE, you’ll have your magic bullet!” These tactics have all been mercilessly exploited.

Unless you are one of the thousands of authors that capitalize on this human “easy fix” desire and decide to write some “Diet” book that promises to “solve all their problems, get them 6-pack abs, and fix-up their husband and clean their house while they’re at it,” MOST trainers and health professionals will say, “There is no such thing as the magic bullet!” mainly so they can reemphasize their own need, right? We don’t want to lose OUR job to some “magic bullet” out there, we need to be needed!

Well, although I am NOT a “Diet” author hoping to capitalize on the naive hopes of people, I am also not afraid of telling all my clients ALL they will ever need to know in order to MOVE ON and no longer require my services. I have the “Pay it forward” mindset, always relying on God to keep business good and wanting to serve in the health industry which usually means giving most of it away. Convince you that you can do it on your own!

For THIS reason, I must share I DO BELIEVE IS A MAGIC BULLET THAT ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AND UTILIZE TO RADICALLY CHANGE THEIR HEALTH!

Annnnnnnnnddddd, I’m gong to tell you exactly what it is! Here! For FREE!

The Magic Bullet for your Health is……

Your Greater Purpose.

This is your destiny, your calling and the reason why you were put on this Earth.

Because let me tell you, you are not only BORN TO RUN THE RACE of life, you are BORN TO WIN THE RACE and your health is both a product of and an integral tool in your ability to run this race to win!

Your Greater Purpose in NOT what you do for a career or even a valuable role you play (as wife, mother, daughter etc). Your Greater Purpose is your ROLE in expanding the Kingdom of God and fulfilling God’s perfect plan.

It takes understanding your inherent worth, your DNA genetics and every gift, natural desire, ability, heart, passion, personality trait, and every single experience in your life ALL mold together to propel you down this raceway to not only learn to RUN but to LEARN TO WIN.

You WIN in life when you finally learn why you were put on this planet and you passionately pursue mastering this cause for God’s glory.

So, you might be asking yourself, Amanda, this is no “Magic Bullet” and what does this have to do with my HEALTH?

Ahhh but it is! It IS magic because it takes such a monumental shift if your way of thinking that elevates your Spirit to its highest expression of YOUR. It IS a bullet because it cuts to the heart of WHY you should get healthy, what your health is supposed to help you do in life. That’s all I’m really after in my health coaching and teaching….helping you find your WHY for Health.

Your “WHY” is as unique as your DNA because your GREATER PURPOSE can be achieved by NO ONE but you. You can’t achieve greatly by trying to fulfill someone else’s shoes! If you don’t find it and do it, no one else will. There are things planned out for you that God specifically designed YOU to do, but it will always be reliant on your choice and willingness to do them. It takes trust, hope, faith and above all LOVE to get your head wrapped around this and to say YES to God’s call. It is a process.

The reason why I know that this is THE MAGIC BULLET is because knowing you are designed for a Greater Purpose and knowing what your Greater Purpose IS significantly affects ALL the other areas of your health that truly matter.

I believe there are 4 STEPS TO TRANSFORM YOUR HEALTH:

Greater Purpose- Pursuing Your Destiny for Life

Great Balance- Body, Mind, Soul

Goals -Strive to Win

Go-To’s – Create Your Community

While I don’t have time to go over each of these 4 Steps TODAY, I can tell you the MAGIC BULLET of knowing your Greater Purpose in life DRASTICALLY affects ALL THE OTHER STEPS.

Understanding that you were specifically chosen for a role in this life and a destiny you are to fulfill dramatically affects your GREAT BALANCE because you see such a need to get your Spirit aligned with God in order to know what steps to take to your destiny and you also see the need to keep your mindset aligned with God’s thoughts so you don’t fall prey to the devil’s schemes who of course, wants to convince you never to pursue your Greater Purpose and stay playing small in life.
Understanding your destiny calling will allow you to establish the (w)right GOALS in life to get you there. If you don’t have your final destination in mind, your goals are going to take you off course and will distract you from learning what you need to learn. Not every goal is designed for you to succeed either! Some of the greatest tools God uses in our Greater Purpose pathway is to teach us through Failure. But knowing God will make your path straight and will use all for Good allows you to not fear failure, but to FAIL FORWARD, FAIL FAST and FAIL FAITHFULLY.
Finally, understanding you are born for a gift to the world that only you can offer will allow you to seek and find your GO TO’s in life. Surround yourself with your Tribe of People that “get it” and understand where you’re going in life. They will be there to speak to your gifts and help push you forward with encouragement and love. In the same light, knowing your Greater Purpose will help you BE THE CHANGE that lost people need to see too. To build up God’s Kingdom and show His love and mercy.

So really, there is a HEALTH HIERARCHY that exists in order for you to transform your health and live your greatest life possible! It works and I have several clients to prove it!

If this resonates with you, I would be honored to help expand on what this means in YOUR LIFE and YOUR HEALTH. The main curriculum objective in my 12-Week Health Coaching sequences both the 1:1 Health Coaching and the **STRONG’her Squad,** is to guide you to this MAGIC BULLET and help you renew your mind in accepting this, then your health will fall into sequence accordingly. To learn more and to see when I’m leading my next SQUAD opening, check out the Health Coaching tab on my website HERE or contact me at amanda@amandawrightfit.com!

Tags Balance, calling, community, destiny, Faith, Goals, God, Greater Purpose, Health, hope, Love, magic bullet, race of life, run to win, Trust

Fitness & Training Goal Development

{BODY TYPE} How Knowing This ONE Thing Can Set You Up For Goal Success

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date August 26, 2015
2 Comments on {BODY TYPE} How Knowing This ONE Thing Can Set You Up For Goal Success

What’s Your Body Type?

How Knowing This ONE Thing Can Set You Up for Success

When I did the bikini competition back in June of 2013, I have written several times that it was a pretty bad experience for me. It was bad Spiritually because I blatantly ignored a voice from God that told me I didn’t need to do the show to make myself more “worthy” of being in the fitness industry. It was unhealthy for my mindset because I became incredibly self-involved and living in FEAR at every given moment–fear that I would fail before I got to the show and fear that I would fail after the show by gaining all the weight back (which I basically did). These things were just the things that happened to ME because I was doing it for the wrong reasons. It wasn’t because all bikini competitions are *bad.* I don’t believe that is always the case.

But, moreover, the bikini competition was a bad experience for me because of my BODY TYPE and the way that it wrecked havoc on body systems. I am an Endomorphic/Mesomorphic Body Type which means I gain weight very easy, have a high craving for food and have a naturally higher muscle mass AND higher body fat percentage (you’ll see more on this below). For these reasons, in order to get down from 19% body fat to 10% body fat, I had to take more drastic dietary cuts and increase my cardio for 5.5 solid months. Obviously 10% is not sustainable and not healthy for women. It was very hard and was a lot of sacrifice.

I wound up not having a menstrual cycle for 5 months (amenorrhea) and developed a host of stomach issues and intolerances (that I still deal with to this day) after I gained back all of the weight, as I feared I would. The mental aspects of this were the hardest part.

I have mentioned Body Types in passing several times, and I do go into more detail when you sign up for any health coaching service I offer (whether the 1:1 or the group) in my Metabolism Ebook. I go into depth about what the body types are and what you should be eating based on them (generally speaking).

For #STRONG’herAugust, I want to go ahead and break down what Body Types are and the PROS and CONS of each type so you can not only recognize and know yourself better, but you can then develop better GOALS that will set you up for success!

Please be warned, do not let this information place you “into a box” where you either use it as an “excuse” or as a “crutch” to lean on. The truth is each and every body type has opportunity for excellence and True Health! God does not look at appearance, God looks at the heart.

This information is valuable because you can establish smart goals for your body that will help you maintain your body’s health. You body is to be USED for God’s glory which usually means it needs to be in good shape. So use this information as a tool to help you figure out your BEST version of you, no matter what shape or size!

So here we go!

3 MAIN BODY TYPES and THEIR PROS AND CONS!

1. Endomorphic-

CONS: Endomorphic Body Types are those that gain weight very easily. They have higher tendency to be “Sugar Burners” which means they burn through carbs easily but not fat, so they get more hungry more often. They have higher tendency toward sugar cravings along with caffeine (sugar burner tendency’s).
PROS: While it might seem like you get the “short end of the stick” by God, I find that Endomorphic Body Types have the opportunity to be the HEALTHIEST. Endomorphics tend to CARE more about their health because they have to! They invest in themselves, know what they can eat and not eat. Many can have quite healthy figures (think of Marilyn Monroe!) and look curvy and beautiful! Take Kim Kardashian, for example. While her body type may be accentuated on pictures through photoshop, she is known for her body through Instagram, resulting in her being the seventh most followed person on the social media site (how does she not use sites like upleap to grow her followers?). This just proves that this body type can be healthy and curves should be embraced!

2. Endo/Mesomorphic-

CONS: While these body types can build muscle fairly easily, they also store fat pretty easily making dietary concern and body concern still a struggle. They will have the same “Sugar Burner” tendency and will have to restrict carbohydrates more than others.
PROS: These women have curves and know how to use them! It takes a lot of work, but it is well worth it! Also, these women can be strong and care about their health because they have to care about their food. A win/win for “True Health” in the Body.

3. Mesomorphic-

CONS: These body types can get “ripped” so fast that they might often take their True Health for granted! They can get away with maintaining a physique while eating some “crap” food (lots of processed food etc) that can still cause unhealthy results internally. Also, in women especially, having the ability to build such lean muscle mass can be undesirable from an aesthetic perspective. However, it can be great for others, especially if they find it difficult to build their own muscle mass with ease and often need to search for supplements such as peptides for sale to have the body they want.

PROS: They have a gift for weight training and athleticism. As women, these body types might have slightly higher testosterone allowing for more muscle growth quickly. Other pros is that the diet for Mesomorphic body types is typically a “Mixed Burner” which means they use both carbohydrate sources and fat sources for energy and just have to choose a balanced diet. Also tend to be average weight and in healthy BMI.

(It is my opinion that this body type is the ONLY great body type to be able to do body building competitions because it doesn’t require as much mental and spiritual strain to get the body to change so drastically).

4. Ectomorphic:

CONS: Have a difficult time putting on muscle mass at all yet can still have body fat which can someimes make them “skinny fat”. Ultra lean bodies have the highest rate of health issues later on in life and shorter life span. Ectomorphs are typically “muscle burners” meaning that their metabolism will start catabolizing their muscle tissue to provide energy when depleted. Often these are ‘Type A” individuals with lots of energy and forget to eat. Most should avoid caffeine as well, as it induced higher stress cortisol levels.PROS: The nice thing for them is they can eat just about anything and not gain any weight! They also need a diet that is higher in carbohydrates which makes eating more enjoyable. Also, ectomorphs can find really great exercises that fit so well with their body types. Things like Yoga and certain Dance (such as ballet) are really ideal for these body types. Just because it might be hard to put on weight, doesn’t mean it is. Cameron Diaz has some guns on her and cares very much about her True Health.

God has made every single body on this planet as unique as your DNA with purpose. Even if you might fall into some of the generalizations of these body types does not mean that you are defined by them! Use this information as you wish to, either to help you establish smart boundaries for your body goals, or to eat wisely, or do a really WISE thing and ignore it and just listen to your body!

The real question is, now that you know what your body “type” might be, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH IT?

Follow you Greater Purpose Pathway. God will lead the way. 😉

Tags body, body type, ectomorph, endomorph, Fitness, goal, God, Greater Purpose, life, mesomorph, success, Women

Fitness & Training Goal Development Health Coaching Spiritual Health Uncategorized

Life is Bootyful

So, if you’ve never met me, you might not realize all that I have going on….

Meaning, I have a pretty big butt.

As a matter of fact, my booty is a flotation device! Yep, when I swim it somehow stays above water the whole time. Don’t ask me how. It’s rather embarrassing, and one strong reason why I am NOT a fan of swimming. I received quite a few chuckles about it when I was young, and can see how cute it must have been back then.

Now it’s just a little alarming. So unless you’re my 2-year old stepdaughter, don’t expect me to hop in the pool much with you.

Yes, the Lord blessed me and my Momma (and my Momma’s Momma) with this “S-Curve” action. (Despite what my husband thinks) I am white and grew up in a pretty white town, so this was not something I loved about myself growing up.

As a matter of fact, when I shared the story of my childhood and how I started to develop deep insecurities about my body aaaallllllll the way back in 2nd grade, it was because I had this big ol’ booty and I got teased about it all the time.

While growing up, I would honestly pray that God would help me lose weight in my booty. Well I think he misheard me, because whenever I lost weight, it was right from my boobies….not my booty. The opposite of my request!!

We all have prayer requests. The bible tells us that no prayer request is too big or too small.

So my prayer to lose weight in my booty isn’t technically too small of a prayer for God, but it was just pretty “small minded” of me! There were certainly things I was in need of in a spiritual sense, more in need of than a smaller butt!

Nevertheless, even though it was always my workout goal to “get a smaller butt“, this goal and this prayer went unanswered. I had to learn to live with the big “bootyful” life I had.

Luckily I did.

Fast forward to me, 25-years old, working as a waitress in La Jolla, CA, at a nice steak house called Donovans.

In walks this tall drink of mochacino man that literally gave me heart palpitations.

I walked by him……he looked at me…..I smiled at him….he gawked at me. I was unnerved and was thanking my stars I wasn’t his waitress! I would walk by his table on the way to the kitchen and try not to look his way. I was hanging out at the bar, and in order to completely avoid looking in his direction, I completely turned my back and was pretending to watch whatever sporting event was on the TV above me.

This move gave him the robust view of…..you guessed it….my large derrière!

This is what we call a HOOK, LINE, and SINKER for my man.

Within just a few moments, his waiter was handing over his business card to me telling me, “the talk guy at my table is into you“. On the back of his card was “Dinner Sometime?“(what a line, Wright!)

And as the saying goes……….the rest is history!

photo (5) — Left: October 2007 when we first met…Right: October 2015 on our wedding day

As my husband describes it, his first attraction was to my face. But what got him to literally “play his cards” right was my big ol’ booty.

So, all those years, God didn’t answer my prayer to help me lose weight in my butt. He knew that this big booty would literally help me get the man of my dreams!

This perspective has helped me love and understand my body goals so much more!

Along with my butt, I have always struggled with the necessary “thunder thighs” that help support my booty.

But now I see my big, stroooonng legs as maybe purposeful. God willing, I’ll never have to lift a car off of a child, or carry my 6’8″ husband out of a burning building. But, I’m (probably) strong enough to do those things. I think that’s kinda cool.

I see the naturally, slightly higher body fat and estrogen hormonal structure unique to my body (pear-shaped as they call it) being purposeful in creating a human life. That might be cool one day, if that is what God has in store for me 😉

And clearly if I’m ever in a boating accident, or airplane crash over water, I could just be used as a, “flotation device” with my buoyant-behind, meaning I could survive to speak to legal help after a crash. (Again God, if you can please make that NEVER have to happen, Amen).

As good as this would be in an event of an accident, such as one in an airplane, I don’t think my “floatation device” would be able to help me cover the costs of any loss of earnings or medical bills, as I’m sure that I would definitely need to have some emergency treatment. That’s when a law firm similar to lamber goodnow would have to be contacted so they could help me in the steps that I would need to complete next. But I’m hoping that it will never come to this.

I see my curves as pretty great not just because my husband loves them, but because they are unique to me and they are what God designed! He is a master crafter! Everything can have a Purpose!

So yes, I still have body goals. Yes, I still pray for God to guide me with my body goals. Yes, I make sure I am staying fit and healthy instead of using this perspective of “loving my body” as an excuse to be lazy or not strengthen it.

But I’m no longer praying for God to magically change my “flawed features”, because I see that there is truly Purpose in each and every ounce of my body.

I concentrate on being STRONG’her in body, WISE’her in how I think about my body, and certainly continue to SURREND’her curves up to God so they might be used for you Greater Purpose.

I invite you to do the same in taking part in my 7-Step SURREND’her Goal Development Workshop! It will help you define the (W)right fit of goals for your life. Balance your health goals to empower yourself towards true health and provide you with 7-steps to make your goals a life long commitment!

The emails will be sent to you between April 13-April 20.

There is no extra gimmick. Nothing to sell. Just me, striving to help you reach your goals!! There are limited spaces…. so act fast!

Tags body, booty, butt, christ, Faith, Goal Development, Goals, Greater Purpose, Health, Mind, Purpose, Spirit, Surrender, weight loss goals

Uncategorized

Even Pastors Mess This One Up | From SURREND’her to STRONG’her

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date March 31, 2015

(Be sure you read to then end of the blog to sign up for a limited opportunity!)

Your Greater Purpose and Your Health—

My husband, Howard, tells a story about a fiery pastor who was responsible, along with his grandmother “Gammy”, for my husband first giving his life to Christ at the age of 12.

He was the Pastor of a predominantly African American church in Los Angeles, CA and out of respect, I’ll omit using his name here. Howard describes the man as one of the most powerful orators he has ever met. He laughs saying, “Pastor would suck in a big breath from his big belly and then all of a sudden fire out the longest sentence of the gospel you had ever heard.” The man was, by all who can attest, a brilliant Pastor and surely living out a Greater Purpose from God by bringing so many to know God more.

Unfortunately, this pastor died at a young age, in his late 50’s due to a string of ailments some of which were due to his weight, including diabetes. It is a sad ending to a great man’s life.

Upon hearing this story, I couldn’t help but wonder how many more people could have been led to God had his life not have ended at such a young age. While admittedly, I do not know the specific circumstances of this mans health, I do know that his story can fit the context of the hundreds and thousands of deaths we see plague this world. Far too many people are dying from preventable or manageable health issues in this world! With all due respect to the legacy of this man’s life, to me, this story is another example of one great man’s Greater Purpose being cut short by his inability to take care of his body’s health.

As you may know by my writing, that my views on health have been enhanced in recent years and I am on this forum trying to promote a less “body obsessed” version of health and replace it with a more balanced, deeply rooted, approach to “True Health.”

To me, in order to build a STRONG’her body, you have to be able to change the way you think about your body and your health and become WISE’her. But to gain true wisdom, you have to dive deeper in your Spirit to the depths of your character, core values and relationship with God to SURREND’her your life to your Greater Purpose.

However, this path is not linear with all roads leading to that SURREND’her goal, it’s circular! While I make no quips about the fact that I absolutely believe that SURREND’hering ourselves is the only way we can ever TRULY LIVE, this is not where the road ends.

Once you have SURREND’hered your life to God and to the path of your Greater Purpose, it has to circle back to you building up a STRONG’her body.

My beliefs on this are based on the simple question:

How can one truly LIVE out your Greater Purpose without being diligent to keeping your body healthy along the way?

The answer is:

you can’t

Living out your Greater Purpose requires just that—LIVING. You simply cannot live the life you were designed to truly live without properly taking care of your body along the way.

Afterall, to go an do GREAT things in this life, you need:

Endurance and sustainable energy,

A body strong and capable of living out whatever God is calling you to do

A strong immune system to prevent illness and disease

The ability to sleep soundly to truly rest your body and mind

Strong bones and muscles to help prevent pain and injury

Properly functioning organs by supplying them with the necessary nutrients

Do we have control over all aspects of our body? Certainly not. Can we prevent all diseases and ailments, unfortunately, no.

But should you have the audacity to full take control of those aspects of your health that you CAN control and work to establish a balanced and true health for yourself by depending on the strength of God, He will bless your efforts and bless your path to your Greater Purpose to a Greater Health.

No matter what God has has established as your Greater Purpose, it is your responsibility to properly take care and nourish your body to do it!

While it is easy to feel the responsibility of your to feel like a burden , but if you take on the tasks as an act of gratitude for your life and for the body you have been blessed with, your health will no longer feel like such a burden but rather a blessing! God will bless you in your obedience in taking care of your Holy Temple.

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

Being healthy and exercising your body is so much more than our bodies “looking a certain way”, God does not care about that.

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)

Your true health is much more about what you can go out and DO for others, for yourself and for God.

Make sure your “Temple” is representin’ God’s greatness!!

FOR EXAMPLE:

If God has called you to be a teacher, take care of your body and eat in a way that will inspire your students to do the same for themselves. While you are cultivating their mind, cultivate their own self worth and self care by showing them what health looks like.

If God has called you to be a mother, in the same light, take care of your body so you might show your children how you love your body and you love God. Show them how with God you can overcome the temptations of food addiction, idolatry of food/alcohol/substances, and even the temptation of self loathing or lethargy. That you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

If God has called you to go climb the highest mountain in the world so you can shout His name from the top, I’m pretty sure you are going to have to get in some pretty darn good shape to be able to do that.

If God has called you to travel the world as a missionary, you are going to need sustenance and a good supply of nutrients now to endure what lack of you might receive there.

If God has called you to be a singer, public speaker or Pastor, you bet you’re going to need to some energy to truly get up on that stage and have an impact with your voice. Your body will be used physically and as a shining example of the woman God created.

If God has called you to solve medical mysteries and diseases, your mind will need an incredible amount of nourishment in order to be able to critically think for so long. You will need energy and a body that can allow for true wisdom to come through which will require rest and exercise.

If God has called you to be of service by being an incredible friend or mentor to those around you, you too need to represent the love of God from the inside out. Show the people you love what it looks like to love God and to yourself enough to take care of your body too. Do not be mere words.

It is time that you use your Greater Purpose of this life to finally find the TRUE motivation to get to your TRUE health!

You will no longer be working out to “look like her.” You will no longer be “on a diet” to get a “bikini body.” You will no longer resort to surgeries, drugs or supplements to try to “cheat” your way to “looking better.”

Just to be clear, your Greater Purpose in life is not to look good in a bikini or to be able to take the perfect selfie for social media.

Your Greater Purpose is found in TODAY, not in tomorrow. So you are going to start TODAY, no, RIGHT NOW to make this life a life worth living.

Take your next step toward your Greater Purpose. Take your next step toward your Greater Health!!

Want to know how we’re going to do it?! Well here is where you might take advantage of an exciting opportunity with yours truly.

The key to success in your health is simply establishing the right goals and setting out to fulfill them in effective ways!

I have a 7-Step SURREND’hered Goal Development I designed and implement with each of my Health Coaching Clients!

It involves:

-Setting (S.M.A.R.T) specific goals that fit in with your Greater Purpose way of living for you Body, Mind AND Soul.

-Using the power of Visualization for success and retraining your subconscious brain.

-Creating and implementing daily habits to establish effective results daily and to override the less effective ones you’ve been using.

– Ritualizing those habits to make them uniquely you!

If you are interested in participating in my 100% FREE 7-Step SURREND’hered Goal Development WORKSHOP, please subscribe to this email link HERE. It will be a daily emailed workshop that will last just 7 days! It is a one-time event and will only be offered to a limited number of subscribers, so sign up quickly!

The workshop will cover not only these steps to TRUE HEALTH Goals, but will also include some BONUS workout guides, Nutrient-Based Eating Guide and Recipes!

So if you’re ready to make some changes in your health and need help figuring out the necessary steps to take to create some life changing goals, sign up for the GREATER HEALTH series HERE that will begin on:

Monday April 13!

Share the link and tell a friend and get excited about changing your health and changing your life!

If you are interested in getting started right away, I have just a couple positions open in my roster of 1:1 Virtual Health Coaching practice. Contact me at amanda@amandawrightfit.com or click on the Health Coaching Tab of my website.

Tags body, Body Goal, Goal Development, Goals, Greater Purpose, Health, Mind, Pastor, Purpose, Soul, Stong'her, Surrend'her, Wise'her

Health Coaching Spiritual Health Uncategorized

From Pieces to Peace — 7 Distinguishing Signs You’re Living Your Greater Purpose

Post author By Amanda Wright
Post date March 27, 2015

The other day, I opened up about a time where I very blatantly ignored the voice of God within me when I decided to push myself to do a Bikini Competition. As challenging as it is to open up about such private stories, I was surprised to find relief and even joy in divulging this to you.

You see, because I am where I am now and since I have done ALL the work I have done, I look back at that time, which was just about 2-years ago, and am beyond thankful that I had those dark days so I can fully relish and realize the light that I feel today.

It makes me weep almost daily at the beauty of what I feel inside. Make no mistake, my life is not perfect and I am still learning hard lessons every day, but the difference I am feeling TODAY versus how I was feeling just 2-years ago, feels like light years away.
It is as though the missing pieces of my soul have finally clicked into place. As though the puzzle that was broken into a confusion of scattered pieces has finally started to come together to reveal the picture they were destined to—the picture of my heart.

I have gone from pieces to peace.

I have found the freedom and peace that I believe only comes from SURREND’hering myself the path to my Greater Purpose in life. By mustering the courage and bravery of changing my habits and refocusing my path, I now live a life that feels so full. How different it feels than just 2 years ago.

I pray earnestly that all women (and men) might find this strength and peace.

I pray for the women who are lost, just as I was, and are trying desperately to create their own “Purpose” in this life.

Like I was, women who are suffering from their own ways and are coping with this suffering with endless cocktail hours, hook-ups, gossip, body and beauty obsession and more.

Like I was, women who think that if they can only accomplish Goal “X”, they will be happy. Only to find that Goal “X” just leads to a hamster wheel of new goal after new goal. Going faster and trying harder but getting nowhere and feeling no happier.

Like I was, women who think they have to create their own destiny and find their own Purpose and set out to create lists, and plans, and vision boards to get “there”, only to find there is no “there”, there.

As I explained the other day there are clear signs that we are on the path to our Greater Purpose or a path of our own choosing.

Greater Purpose, as I see it, is our destiny, our calling, and the WHY in our lives.

There is so much we can go out an conquer in this world! There are endless opportunities that await us and so many challenges we can take head on!

HOWEVER, finding the Spiritual alignment of our Greater Purpose FIRST is the key to developing the right short-term and long-term goals to lead you to a life you dream of.

So, how do you know if you’re following God’s Greater Purpose or Your Own Path?

Using my experience from 2-years ago versus how I live my life NOW, I’ll explain the:

7 Distinguishing Signs You’re Living Your Greater Purpose:

God has a unique plan for your life but you must develop a relationship with Him in order to see the steps ahead. Time spent in prayer is key, but also allowing your life to fall into place as it is supposed to is key as well. Showing you can Surrend’her control to Him. You can tell something is in God’s plan when it all feels like it’s falling into place with little or no effort of your own. It does not mean it’s easy, but God will provide you the tools with each step.

When I decided to do my bikini competition I didn’t consult God to ask if I should do the show. I made my decision and theennnn prayed to God to help me do it, big difference! I heard God’s voice telling “I didn’t have to”, but I brushed it off to justify my own ways of thinking. My process of training kept hitting wall after wall too. My body had to be pushed very hard to lose the amount of body fat that I did. While I expect a challenge from God’s path too, there is a difference between a challenge God gives me and the challenge I faced when trying to force my body to change so drastically.

Now, I am challenged every day to overcome my fears and tendency to worry about what people think of me, but I defeat those fears because I know God has called me to do this. God has put me on this path and God is more powerful than any fear or difficulty. My life is challenged but in a way that still gives me peace and hope that I am on the right path.

The path of your Greater Purpose is not presented to you on a map where you see exactly where it will lead. No, God just takes you day by day making you focus just on the next step of the path. Living intimately connected to Him in your soul allows you to see things just as they are right now, in the present moment. He will offer you refuge, patience, love, joy, understanding, awareness, wisdom etc if you see it in the moment you are in. Practicing this with Him allows you to live more fulfilled and aware of all that you are blessed with in this very moment, allowing your worries about “tomorrow” to fall by the way side.

When I was prepping for my bikini competition all I could think and fantasize about what what it was going to be like when this process was over. Dreaming of the day of the show, what I would get to eat, and how I was going to feel. Day by day, I was a walking hollow shell and felt I was floating through life hardly connecting to anyone or anything in my path.

Now, I still have no idea where this Greater Purpose may lead me, my marriage or lead this business, but I have faith and strong hope that God will see me/us through, and it will be Good.

The human side of us always tries to tie our relevance in life to what we do for a living. While our jobs are what we spend a great majority of our time doing, our Greater Purpose is how we perform our jobs and how we live our life outside of our jobs too. Our Greater Purpose flows from our soul outward which means it starts in the areas of our character, our core values and our personality. These define us more than our job title.

When I was in competition mode, I was living a life of a weakened spirit. The values I was living by were self control, conformity, belonging, introversion and unworthiness. None of the values that I aspire to live out for my Greater Purpose now.

Now, I focus on the values God calls me to live— Love, Health, Integrity, Empathy, Service to Others, and Obedience. I would describe my calling and my Greater Purpose by these words that guided me to in my Core Values Exercise. (click link to receive the Core Value Exercise)

Our life is meant to be lived and shared with others. Loving and serving others and caring about those around you, not just in the physical sense, but caring about their spiritual well being as well.

When I was in competition mode, I had no real time to think about other people. I could only muster the energy to make it through my 2-hour workouts and my 5-6 meals of protein and supplements and really had no time to fellowship with my friends, family or even strangers.

This was the part I hated the most and the part I cringe at when I see other friends competing. All I talked about with my friends was me, my diet, my workouts, how I’m feeling, what I need to work on still…… me me ME! I got so sick of talking about ME.

Now, when I’m on the phone with my health coaching clients, I get so much joy from hearing more about them. I find more purpose in listening than in speaking. While my Greater Purpose is also testing my own voice (both written and verbally), I am always reminded to be quick to listen and slow to speak. It is a challenge for me, but I value learning first, teaching second.

When God sets you on your path to your Greater Purpose you feel secure and so motivated in your daily life that it gives you such forbearance and patience to help propel you through the day. Although, you may not know where you path is leading tomorrow, you have a calm sense of knowing that what you’re doing is Right.

When I was in competition mode, I was impatient, irritable, and cranky with the slowness of life. I could not wait for each day to get over and I could not wait for the day of the show. This impatience certainly contributed to the more and more drastic actions I took to get me to the stage.

Now, while I can’t say I love being patient, I certainly have learned to appreciate it. Living in the present focuses my mind on my true motivation and what I should be doing. This activity naturally builds patience to result because I have less time to worry about what will be….I am swept up in the power of now.

God will reveal to you exactly the thing you should be working on and strengthening. He offers times of work and times of rest that allow a balanced approach to you life. Following His Greater Purpose path, you’ll find that as you rest some areas of your life for short periods, you can be engaging and growing other areas that will need tending to. Listening for His guidance allows you to live a balanced life.

When I was training, I was only focused on one thing—my body. I did not rest my body, nor did I have time to strengthen any other part of my life—like my mind or my spirit. My emotions were burnt out, and I felt off balance.

Now, I find time to work on all three areas of my life- Body, Mind and Soul. I’ll put “work” on my body (via exercise or by focusing intently on my diet) and then rest that stress. While Im resting my body, I find ways to engage my mind. To rest my mind, I find ways to open my spirit and surrender more. Once I feel spiritually restored, I can go back to putting work into my body! It all flows together in a balanced approach and balanced life.

Even though my life feels like a whirlwind of travel and being on the go, I feel much more “together” than I ever have before.

When you full embrace and Surrend’her to God’s path for you, you can fully realize and see that you have very little to do with how your life really plays out. You realize how small you are and how Great God is. Even in our inner strengths, character and values we have, God is responsible for this awareness and for these unique characteristics all coming together to create the masterpiece that you are.

When I was in competition mode, I put all the ownership on myself. That I was solely responsible for what I was able to achieve. It put a lot of pressure on myself and perfectionist way of thinking.

Now, I can live a life free from that burden because I realize and appreciate how much God really take care of. That I don’t need to take the ownership of every detail because He will do it in a better way than I could anyway.

Looking for the path of your Greater Purpose is a challenge and I hope you all can see you’re probably on the right path in some areas of your life, but may be holding on to other areas as your own. I encourage you to take a deep look at ALL of your life and see if you have truly SURREND’hered it all or have held on to some pieces. More will be revealed to me, I know. I’ll be looking out…..

Tags body, God, Greater Purpose, Healing, Health, Love, Mind, Path, Purpose, Soul, Spirit