Are you heart smart?

I have been doing quite a bit of reading about heart disease and some of the complications, symptoms and known risk factors.  As you may know by now it's heart health month and there are so many websites and blog postings about anything you may want to learn about heart disease.

So unless you live under a rock, you should know quite a bit about heart related problems.  Realize that heart disease can hit you very unexpectedly and sometimes you may not think the symptoms you have are related to the heart.  I thought I was having a heart attack several times throughout my life and you can read about it in my article Tough it out or call 911?  Here are some questions to think about.

Did you know there are other symptoms that you may not know of as related to heart disease?

• Periodontal disease
• Migraines
• Rheumatoid arthritis

Did you know it's safe to exercise after having a heart attack?

• You should always check with your doctor first when starting an exercise program
• Usually the hospital will start you on an exercise regime 
• You should hire a professional to create a program for you
• Exercise is very good for building up the heart muscle especially after surgery

Did you know that the symptoms are different for women than for men?

• Unexplained nausea
• Sweating
• Weakness
• Pressure in shoulders or back
• Fatique

Many women may look at the above symptoms and say that sounds like menopause or think maybe I'm just making something out of nothing.  Don't think twice, you may not have another chance.

If you need help with anything please don't hesitate to contact me

Increasing your energy with these 7 simple steps

1. Eat your breakfast, your body fasted overnight as you slept and your energy stores have depleted. 
2. Exercise everyday in some form.  Exercise increases your natural endorphin's and energizes you.  Strength train 2-3 times a week with a day of rest in between to repair.  Walk, run, ride a bike or hike to get some cardio each day.
3. Sleep at the very least 6 hours a night.  When you sleep less, your body activates hormones that contribute to weight gain.
4. Drink plenty of water.  You have all been told to drink 6-8 glasses of water a day, if you don't drink enough your body actually responds the opposite of what you think it would.  You will stay bloated.
5. Be around energizing positive people.  When you are around fun, you have fun.  When you are around boring, negative, you tend to be boring and negative.
6. Limit your alcohol.  Yeah you are probably saying you have more fun when you drink, but alcohol really is a depressant, so have some fun without so much of it.
7. Stop dieting.  When you deprive your body of nutrients, you have less energy. 

These are pretty common sense steps and here just to remind you.  Everyone needs a little extra nudging sometimes.  If you need help or have questions about any of the above contact me.

Can you change the direction of your day by changing your thoughts?

Here is a great quote by Bob Proctor and it's so true. "Let's start with what we can be thankful for, and get our mind into that vibration, and then watch the good that starts to come, because one thought leads to another thought."  Bob Proctor

We can get into the rut of a negative thought and let that drag you down the rest of the day or we can gather ourselves, center again and redirect our thoughts. By slowing down and really thinking about what we want to do with our thoughts and reactions, we can redirect our energy.

How often does a friend call you and tell you about all the bad things that happened to them today? One thing that they perceive to be bad happens and then its the domino effect, their whole day just seems to go downhill.  What really happens is they talk about the negative event and then the more they talk about it, the more they draw in more negative.

How do you get off the negative nancy roller coaster? When something happens, notice how you are reacting to it and decide if that is how you want to react. If it isn't then take a deep breath, regroup and change the direction.

Try it today and see how you feel.  WM of PBC

 Need help?

Are you following your passion?

Tricky question because some of us may not know what that means.  Following your passion is taking action toward doing the things that excite you the most.  Take a hobby for example, you love to tinker in the garage, you can sit out there all day long.  When someone asks you what you did, you may not even be able to answer them with something concrete.  You were out there for hours and had a blast doing whatever; but really couldn't pinpoint what you actually did.  Some people have imagination and creativity to turn that passion into something more than a hobby.  It's taken me years to figure out what I like and more importantly what I don't.  Figuring it out isn't something that is easy either, its a lifelong process that has its bumps and bruises along the way. I haven't figured it all out and probably never will, but I do know that I enjoy the process as it opens up so many doors and yes while it does close some, those are doors that were opened momentarily to see what lurks behind them. Open up a door today and see what it holds for you.

If you find it hard to think about what your passion mat be, just think of what you like to do and do more of it.  What is on your bucket list?  Does something on that list really stand out?  Take one thing off your list and promise to do it this day, week or month.  Redo your list or better yet throw it away and start doing instead of wishing to do it at a later time.  Time is precious and never guaranteed, so don't waste it doing things you dislike.

You may find your list has changed over the years because your tastes have changed, you've grown older and some of the things don't appeal to you at your age now.  Whatever the case, stop keeping lists and start doing. You won't regret the doing, but you will regret the not doing.

I followed my passion of working with and empowering women to discover their power within, through lifestyle changes, healthier eating habits, stress relief and exercise.  If you need help or just wanna talk and brainstorm, don't hesitate to contact me.

Carve out half an hour for yourself.

I created Power By Choice to provide women with the knowledge of where I have been in life, some of my experiences and how we can overcome the things that chain us down. Empowering women to believe in themselves is a hard task and oh so powerful. We take care of our family, our kids, our parents sometimes, our neighbors and our friends, but we need to carve time out for ourselves first.

We are the last on the list and may run out of energy to listen to ourselves, our bodies and our minds.

Consciously, I don't believe we feel we are treating ourselves poorly and it probably doesn't even cross our minds. I know my clients tell me they plan to do it, but at the end of the night they plop into bed exhausted from another day of to do's, realizing they didn't get to themselves on that list again.

How do we fit ourselves into the day?

• If you find your day gets away from you, then you have to put your name first on your daily to do list.  It may mean getting up 1/2 an hour earlier just to carve out YOU time.
• Rearranging the chores so that you come first, then chores come second.  
• Revisit your chore delegation and have a family meeting to explain that things need to be done differently.
• If you find you have to do it all because no one else can do it as well as you, stop trying to be so perfect and get over it.  
• Go through a weeks worth of your calendar and see where all your time goes, then put yourself on that calendar.
• Start off slowly if you need to and walk for 1/2 hour, each day, then when you have formed your daily habit, start adding other activities such as strength training 2 times a week, then up to 3 times a week with a day of rest in between.
• Now that you are exercising regularly, start taking your rest days and add in some form of meditation, walking in the forest, hiking by yourself, or yoga, so you can start 
• Starting with small 1/2 hour goals will make a tremendous difference in how you feel 

It really is that easy.  If you need help getting started, don't hesitate to contact me.

30 of 30 Things to Stop Doing To Yourself and Start Doing For Yourself

Stop being ungrateful. – No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life.  Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs.  Instead of thinking about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that everyone else is missing.


There are moments in our life when we think OMG, why is this happening to me?  Think back on how many times you may have said this in your life.  Remember how you didn't think you would ever get through it?  But you did make it through, even though at the time you thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen to you.  Things can always be worse, if not for you then for someone else you love.  Try to think of the positive and if you can't at the time of the incident; at least see your way through it and think about what you may have learned about you or others after it has passed.  WM of PBC


Start noticing how wealthy you are right now. – Henry David Thoreau once said, “Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.”  Even when times are tough, it’s always important to keep things in perspective.  You didn’t go to sleep hungry last night.  You didn’t go to sleep outside.  You had a choice of what clothes to wear this morning.  You hardly broke a sweat today.  You didn’t spend a minute in fear.  You have access to clean drinking water.  You have access to medical care.  You have access to the Internet.  You can read.  Some might say you are incredibly wealthy, so remember to be grateful for all the things you do have.

Some people are faced with losing their jobs, their homes and maybe you have been faced with those same fears.  But you can always live somewhere else and work somewhere else.  If you were to lose those two very important things in your life, try to think of it as a time to possibly approach doing something different.  The important thing is to take care of you especially when you are going through stressful times.  If you are not currently facing troubled times, then take about 5 minutes, go into a room you may not normally spend to much time in, sit down and take a look around, appreciate that room, think about all that you do have and the people that love you.  Taking care of your health is very important and can help you make it through the hard times much better.  WM of PBC

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Be the goal, how to be what you want

THE FASTEST WAY I KNOW to prosperity, happiness, and success is to commit to a principle I call “be the goal.”

Despite daily practice, I am still not good at getting out of bed in the morning. When I travel, I need at least two wake-up calls. At home I have a CD alarm clock that wakes me up with something classical and loud! That said, my morning meditation is sacrosanct. It is the most precious time of my day. There is no busyness, no doing, no chasing, and no hurry. There is only stillness andbeing. It is in these moments I commit to being the goal.

Being the goal is about setting your intention for the day. It is about vision, clarity of purpose, and being what you want. For example, love is more important to me than anything else. Therefore, each day I make it my intention to be a loving presence to everyone I meet. Every morning I pray that I may be a true friend to my friends, colleagues, and family. Sometimes when I meditate I will ask, “Who needs my friendship today?” Other times a friend will pop into my mind, and I will pray “Dear God, show me how to be a true friend to                   today.”

Being the goal crystallizes the magnificent power of intention. It is the key to friendship, romance, leadership, success, and everything. An eccentric friend of mine once said, “Robert, do you want to be the sort of person who lights up a room when you walk in or when you walk out?” That’s what being the goal is about!

Laughter is important to me. I take great delight in laughter, and so I commit to bringing happiness with me, i.e., being happy. Honesty, loyalty, and trust mean a lot to me. To have an honest relationship, I understand I have to be honest. To have loyal friendships, I have to be loyal. To have trust, I have to be trusting. In other words, I aim to be the goal.

Today, be what you want.

If you want love, be loving.

If you want peace, be peaceful.

If you want fun, be funny.

If you want something “new,” be different.

If you want adventure, be open.

If you want success, be alive.

If you want joy, be kind

Be what you want!

Maybe life is all about being first after all! Not so fast. Being first is about consciousness, not competitiveness, i.e., “as you sow, so shall you reap.” To be loved, you have to be willing to love first; to be cherished, you have to be willing to give respect first; to be heard, you have to be willing to listen first;and to experience forgiveness and freedom, you have to be willing to forgive first.

I honestly believe that the only way to get to happiness is to be happy already. Many people live their life according to the formula: Do + Have = Be.They cannot just be happy because first they have to do “x,” and then they have to have “y.” In other words, they have to have a house, they have to do more, they have to do even more, they have to have a partner, they have to have lots of money, etc. But why not just be happy?

In the healing process, people often convince themselves that they have to get well before they can choose happiness again. In my work I encourage my clients to honor their pain and choose peace, to feel fear and choose love, to face the anger and choose forgiveness, to experience the heartbreak andchoose happiness, and to experience guilt and choose innocence.

Ghandi once said you have to be the change you want. Why? Because the mirror cannot change without you. And the world is only a mirror. Remember, you see only your thoughts. When you shift, shift happens. If you don’t, you simply experience more of the same. It is no good saying, “I’ll be open with you, as soon as you are open with me.” Be first. Be different if you want a different outcome. Be the goal.

What “to be” decisions will you make today? Think of your goals, your challenges, your relationships, and ask yourself, “Is how I am being going to bring me what I really want?” Be still a moment and reset your intention to be loving no matter what, to be kind in spite of everything, to shine your light come what may. Your “to be” decisions are between you and God. Let nothing steal them away.

Robert Holden, Ph.D., is the Director of The Happiness Project and Success Intelligence. Robert coaches leaders in business, education, politics and healthcare. Visit: RobertHolden.org.

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