by Sarah | Apr 12, 2019 | 50 before 50, All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, Bucket List, Gratitude, Oola, Pagan Me Happy, Personal, Pour Your Heart Out, Redefining Perfect
I have this friend that every time we talk, something profound comes out of it. Even if I tackle her with an inane conversation, or I just message to give her a boost or vice versa. Maybe it’s that she’s a shaman, or maybe it’s that sometimes I need to chatter my face off to find a message sometimes, who knows?
Over the course of several months she’d been having a rough time. Between living in the middle of a desert, the government shutdown affecting them, and missing Christmas, she was…stressed.
However, for the same amount of months she’d been talking about the biggest message she’d been receiving in all of her studies, card readings, spirit messages…it was always SURRENDER.
We were discussing the difficulties she was having, the tension she felt, everything all in a nutshell. I was letting her vent, really….when I made the offhand comment:
It’s hard to surrender when you’re holding your breath.
We both kind of stopped right there. It was a big “Whoa” moment for us as we read and re-read the words I’d just typed.
Apparently as much as she needed to hear them, I did as well…because I realized that I’d been doing the same thing, for MONTHS. With the hope and anticipation and this sense of NEEDING to go home to Florida, I’d built up so many levels of tension in all of it. Some days I couldn’t breathe for all of it.
BREATHE.
Do you know how important it is to breathe? Not just for the fact that it keeps you alive…I’m not talking about that breath, really. I’m talking about holding our soul’s breath.
Waiting…
Anticipation…
Fear…
Doubt…
Excitement…
It holds our souls captive. It locks them in a cage and hides them away from what could well be the next miracle around the corner.
BREATHE.
Right now.
Stop. Whatever it is you’re doing, stop.
Release the tension you’re carrying in your shoulders, your jaw, your neck, your heart.
Breathe out long and slow in release.
Explore what’s causing that tension.
Where are you going? What are you doing? What’s the biggest anxiety in your brain?
Surrender it.
Turn it over to whatever God, Goddess, Nothingness you wish. Give it over to the universe.
Nope. It’s not easy.
It’ll come back to haunt you. To put those knots back in your shoulders.
BREATHE.
To hold your brain hostage.
BREATHE.
To nag at your sense of peace.
BREATHE.
But when it does, you have a weapon.
You let it go.
You breathe.
You release.
You surrender.
Stop holding your breath.
by Sarah | Jan 25, 2019 | All About Erik, All About Family, All About Me, All of Us, Oola, Personal, Redefining Perfect, Story of Me
I’ve been carrying on for a while now about this Oola stuff, I know. So, I thought I would share a little about how I came to find it, what it is, and what it means to me/us.
One day about a year and a half ago I was perusing netgalley (as I love to do) and saw the cover over there <—.
I was intrigued, but saw it was self-help/non-fic and thought maybe it was too crunchy crazy for me because of the VW bus on the cover and moved on past.
About a month later one of my local friends on twitter posted something with the hashtag #oola. For some reason, the word had stuck with me from that cover and I immediately tackled her on it, asking what she knew of it. Her response is lost to the twitter gods…but it was along the lines of “It’s amazing.” I said I remembered seeing an oola book on Netgalley and I’d go see if it was still available.
It WAS! I snatched it up immediately – and then promptly forgot about it for probably five or six months.
One weekend after I’d quit the job I hated, I took a chance to run some surveys at a local movie theater. I was only to survey people coming out of a couple of particular movies. Not sure if you know this, but movie theaters run movies in chunks. So everything goes in and releases within a half hour span every couple of hours. That left a LOT of time sitting around staring at this –>.
While sitting on a bench during one of the lulls, I opened the kindle app on my phone, pondering what to read.
I’m not sure what called me to it, but as soon as I saw Oola, I downloaded and began to read.
Within an hour I was sending my husband screen captures saying “Read this! And this! and this! This is amazing!”
Whether it was the right timing, or the right words, the book spoke to me. Some of the stories didn’t speak to me, but many left me in tears. It inspired me, uplifted me, and made me look at EVERYTHING in my life differently. It changed my life.
I know, I know…I’m using the words “It was LIFE-CHANGING.” The thing is…I don’t say this lightly. I’ve read my share of self-help books that didn’t do anything for me. Again. I don’t know if it was the timing, the words, or the simple complexity of the whole theory…but it struck me. It didn’t hit my husband in the same way…at first. Now? He’s fully on board. We’ve both read an Oola book (There are currently 2 versions with a 3rd to be released soon and a 4th planned) at least twice. I’m on my third go right now.
Okay, so what is it?
From the Oola website:
oo-la (noun): That state of awesomeness. It is when your life is balanced and growing in the seven key areas of life – the 7 F’s of Oola (fitness, finance, family, field (career), faith, friends and fun).
It’s a book that guides you on how to find balance in the 7 key areas of your life. (Heads up, the authors are deeply Christian and as someone who isn’t this could have easily turned me off…but in the Faith section they admit they’re Christian and say “but you do you.” Which, for me, made them a-ok in my book).
The book leads you through every one of the key areas, talking about how you can attain Oola in each, or what it means to attain Oola in each.
They break down what are called “Oola blockers” – like Fear, Guilt, Anger, etc. Then, they talk about my favorite – the “Oola accelerators” like Gratitude, Love, and Passion.
You are given quizzes to see where you are in each area so that you might create your Oola Wheel and see what you need to work on. You’re also given steps to find three daily tasks that take you closer to your Oola goals. By working on one area of your life, the Oola spreads to other areas so you see a general lift in each area. I’ve experienced it, I’ve seen it have a huge impact on our lives. It sounds hokey, but it works.
I met the Oola guys
In June I got to head to a local Barnes & Noble to get my Oola books signed by the authors.
I even got to put my own Oola goal on the Dream bus…on the layer of stickers covering the VW. (My dream is not in this picture…it must have been before I placed it…but it was to move to Florida – weeks before we made the decision to do just that).
I kid you not, I was like a kid at Disney World when I walked around the corner and saw that bus outside. It was real, and I was adding MY dream to the bus.
I know I keep saying it, but it’s made a big change in our lives. We keep each other in check by reminding each other “Oola” when things get rough. We have open discussion about Oola Blockers and Accelerators. We’ve taken steps to better our lives using the principles and are seeing positive changes.
We stumble, sure. Of course we do. Lately, my biggest struggle has been in the fitness aspect and it’s bringing me down everywhere. So, I’ve quit smoking finally (over 2 months now), and I’ve gotten back on a healthier diet, I’ve been working on quitting pop, and am doing exercise program that worked for me in the past. My goals don’t involve a number on a scale, but a general return to the healthy level and excellent shape I was in almost 2 years ago.
We are living the #oolalife as best we can – and knocking out our Oola goals as we can.
I know, I’m one of THOSE people…never thought I would be, but I SO am.
Come on in, the water’s GREAT.
by Sarah | Dec 2, 2017 | All About Family, All About Me, All of Us, Redefining Perfect
I have always hated change.
Changes, much like social situations, make me nervous.
Looking back, it seems weird to be so uncomfortable with change, considering how much I faced it in my youth. We moved many times in my life. When I was 8, 13 (halfway across country), at 20 I moved halfway across the country again for school, then had a baby and moved to another state again, and six months later we moved again, then two years later we moved again. (Hey, have I mentioned my dad is a nomad? Yeah…)
Somehow as an adult with three kids, a husband, a cat and a dog, I’ve turned into a hermit that fears change.
I’m kind of sick of it. I’m sick of accepting toxicity because my social anxiety keeps me hidden. I’m tired of accepting a job I hate and shoddy treatment because where else will I go? I’m sick of being afraid.
You might have seen me mention a few times around here (or if you’re new, here’s your intro), but 2016 SUCKED. HARD. It was an awful year full of bad things, bad vibes, and a drop (for me) into depression I couldn’t shake for the first time in my life.
By accepting where I was, and making active moves toward changes, 2017 has turned into the year I begin reaching for change.
And I don’t just mean my bucket list (which we will visit soon enough)…I mean change.
I quit my job. Without a backup. It’s led to some hard financial times…but now has blossomed into better things. First, I am not completely miserable. Second, I am starting a new job on Monday that is WAY outside of my banking comfort zone. I was sick of banking, sick of my lazy boss that blamed me for his ignorance. I’m going into a completely new field (on Monday!), and to be honest, it’s a lot-bit scary…but in the best way. I’m going to be learning things I’ve never thought I would, doing things I never thought I would. It’s going to be an intense, high-pressure job, and it’s only going to be 2-3 days/week.
I’m finding [easyazon_link identifier=”075731984X” locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]Oola[/easyazon_link]. Oola, in case you didn’t know, is a method of finding balance in the key 7 areas of your life to create the sense of happiness…the “oolala” sort of life. I got a copy of it free via netgalley (the Oola for Women book)…and have since bought a print copy for myself, and a print copy of the original [easyazon_link identifier=”0757319971″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]Oola[/easyazon_link] book for my hubby. We are examining our wheels, and making plans for changes. Big changes.
I brought my youngest home to “homeschool” (online school). That was a huge step for me, because I treasure my alone time during the day. We’re several months in and we’re still adjusting. Some days she insists she wants to go back to brick and mortar. Some days I want nothing more than to ship her back to brick and mortar. Other days, it’s pretty darn awesome. We’re finding a groove, and making it. We’ll revisit where we’re at once summer comes, but we’re in it to win it right now.
Nowadays I’m looking forward to the changes coming. 2017 saw me taking charge to come out of my depression and face life again. If I were the type that chose words to represent a year, this year would be growth. 2018’s, I expect, will be change. I’ve got a lot of plans for writing, a lot of plans for changing the way our family lives, a lot of plans to head toward our biggest goal/change of all…our big move to Florida.
It’s a huge mind-set change to me, a big challenge…but I’m going for it. I’m going to welcome change, and embrace it like a new friend. It’s high time I remember how exciting it can be.
I have this friend that every time we talk, something profound comes out of it. Even if I tackle her with an inane conversation, or I just message to give her a boost or vice versa. Maybe it’s that she’s a shaman, or maybe it’s that sometimes I need to chatter my face off to find a message sometimes, who knows?
