Sometimes fixing the problem can be as simple as listening...

After looking at a YouTube video, I laughed...not because it was funny, but because I could totally relate. My husband and I have had numerous discussions about him just listening. There are times when I have to vent about a situation to help release tension and pressure to refrain from getting to the point of being annoyed.  He always tries to fix the problem and provides suggestions for things that I should do to feel better about the situation. However, his speaking only makes the issue worse! LOL Because all I need is an ear to listen to my situation and try to understand what I am feeling for adequate support at the time. Now, I have learned to just tell him that I just need him to listen before he gets too deep in providing solutions. Thankfully, he has definitely been working on it now :-). What we don't understand is that sometimes the problem is already fixed. Many times we already know what we need to do next to make the situation better or fix the problem on our own. Often the problem fixes itself. It is okay to not always fix the problem. Just listen! Copy and paste the link to watch the video.

Click here to watch the video.






 

Love Your Body Type

After catching a clip of Queen Latifah's show today at the gym, I heard some amazing inspiration about body image.  Although the show was about getting healthy and incorporating ways to stick to the usual "I want to lose weight" new year resolution, I got something much deeper out of what I saw.  The Hollywood Trainer, Jeanette Jenkins was featured on the Living segment of the show. She looks great! She seems to have so much energy! It just does not seem to all come from simply working out.  Jeanette Jenkins made a comment about learning to love yourself.  Even though we all head to the gym to work out for a "better" body, we need to learn to take a moment to appreciate the body we already have.  So many times, we get to the point of giving up because it seems as though no matter how hard we try to get that perfect figure we never get it.  The problem comes from the different body types that I learned about as Jeanette Jenkins was talking. The three body types that she spoke of were the ectomorph, endomorph, and mesomorph body types that determined body shape. 
Ectomorph - lean/thin
Mesomorph - Athletic/Muscular Build
Endomorph - Soft/Curvy (tends to be a bit more flabby)
Therefore, if you have an endomorph body build, you can't expect to go to the gym and come out with the ectomorph build. You have to be realistic if you are exercising and losing weight naturally.

The following site http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/becker3.htm has a quiz that you can take to determine the body type you are and also offers suggestions for your particular build. Isn't that great!? Now, you can customize your workouts to your body rather than doing the basic exercises you've been told to do all your life.

The moral of this post is that before you can venture out to improve your image, you must first love who you are.  That means you need to remind yourself daily when you look in the mirror that you look good. Despite what we have been told looks good by society, we have to still love who we are because no matter how much work and time we put in, we will never have another body. All we have is ours. So, love yourself for what you've been given.