The company decided to pay us – which is amazing. Although much less than what I am used to, it has been a pleasure – and very strange – to be temporarily ‘retired’.

Most people say they would love to be out of work but it has been quite an experience. How much time can you spend cleaning or shopping (without getting yourself into trouble)?! What would you DO with your time if you suddenly found yourself out of work with an income enough to sustain you for awhile?

I am a worker. I am used to having a lot to do and personal projects that keep me busy and entertained – like writing books! Having so much time on my hands has cause me to do some serious self-reflection and I have gone through a myriad of emotions.

At first I was anxious just like everyone else. We had no idea what was going to happen; if the hospital would close for good or if they would lay us all off. Were they really going to pay us even though we were not working? 

After three months out of work, I became very depressed, which I struggled with back in December. I began reaching out for assistance. My sadness was palpable. I have never been so sad for an extended period and was a little worried. Although I had faith it would pass, I needed to reach out and let people know what I was experiencing so I was not alone. I also began working with a healer.

I had to reconnect with my values – what are the most important things that I find sacred in life?

• Learning and growing
• Connecting with others
• Health/fitness and self-care
• Teaching and adding value to others’ lives
• and leaving the world a better place than when I got here

Since January, I am focusing on living my values and relaxing, taking this time in stride. I know that this comes only once in a lifetime – if one is lucky enough to have the experience. And I also know that it will end soon as construction moves forward at a very fast pace. And finally, I can truly tell you that I am enjoying myself.

One of the most important things I have learned has been just how important my relationships are. I have an amazing network of friends and family members and connecting with others is fundamentally a huge value for me.

When we are busy, it is so easy to lose touch or to simply not connect the way you want to because, let’s face it, there just isn’t a lot of time to just ‘hang out’. I LOVE having time to just chat with people and truly BE in their lives. I want – and need – this to continue when we return to the fast-pace of work.

Being ‘temporarily retired’ makes me realize the importance of having money saved for my real retirement! My dear husband and I are revisiting our retirement plan and refocusing on funding it so that we can live well when we retire.

Some of the other nurses are using the time to be with children or grandchildren, take trips, volunteer and complete house projects. Most of us are looking forward to going back to work. Work makes you feel as though you are making a contribution to something bigger. And while I miss work, there is real value in having the time to be there for your family and your own community – we each can make a huge difference when we tend to our own homes.

What would you do if you were suddenly and temporarily retired? If you had the time to do all of the things that you wish you had time for now, do you think you would use the time to complete them? How might you live differently?

Eventually, you WILL be retired and you’ll have to fill your time with things that make you happy. Why not start the process today by identifying your values, hobbies and things you enjoy doing?

Consider YOUR retirement fund – are you saving enough today so that it grows big enough so you CAN retire?

Enjoy the inquiry and have a wonderful day.

To your health and happiness,

Julie Donley, RN ~ Nurturing Your Success and inspiring you to be your best!

Author of The Journey Called YOU and Does Change have to be so H.A.R.D.?

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Losing weight and restoring your health requires COMMITMENT – commitment to a new life and a NEW YOU! You need to know why this is important and what you will gain should you embark upon this journey.

People who make New Year’s Resolutions, especially to lose weight, often fail because their resolutions lack certain key elements required to be successful and to SUSTAIN the success.

Consider some of these questions to determine if you are ready to tackle this issue for good in 2012 -

• Are you ready to give up your attachments to the way things are, to old paradigms and habits, to old ideas about food and stress and your body?
• Are you ready to begin a new life and become a new you?
• You will need to adopt new beliefs. Are you ready to let go of the old beliefs about your body and being heavy? Are you willing to embrace NEW BELIEFS about being thin and healthy? Yes, you really can lose weight even though you may have tried several times before. Are you willing to believe that yes, you CAN?
• What are you afraid of? Name your fear. Identify your “resistance behaviors”, the ways in which you sabotage yourself such as forgetting your goal, not taking yourself seriously, hanging out with the wrong people or in the wrong places, etc.
• Do you understand what will be H.A.R.D. about losing weight?
• Have you decided on a method of weight loss that will help you drop pounds quickly and safely? You can jump start your efforts with BestChoiceChanges Weight Loss Program to ensure success and maintain motivation.
• Are you committed to taking this journey and doing everything you need to do in order to succeed? Or are you attached to keeping things as they are? What are you committed to?
• What, if anything, holds you back from making this change? What has hurt you in prior attempts to lose weight? How can you ensure success this time around?
• Do you have a community of support or a personal adviser to assist you along your journey – to keep you motivated, support you and celebrate with you?

There are several things you need to succeed:

1. Commitment. I have said this before and I will say it again and again. You are committed to something – either it’s to staying the same and enduring the consequences of your actions OR you can decide to change. It won’t be easy but it IS possible.
2. Believe in the possibility for success. If you do not believe it is possible, you won’t bother to do the work. Believe in YOU. I certainly do!
3. ACTION is the key element here. Develop a plan and take baby steps. What will you do in order to achieve your success? Determine some milestones and be willing to change course if your first plan does not produce the results you seek. It’s nice to commit and to believe and to plan but if you do nothing toward your goal, you will not achieve success.
4. Surround yourself with positive people, places and things. Your environment needs to support this NEW you rather than the old one that everyone is accustomed to. Feed your mind with positive and healthy thoughts and messages as you learn to feed your body the fuel IT needs to be healthy.

Losing weight is a byproduct of living a healthy life. So the goal is about what you will GAIN by living differently and not focused on losing weight. If you focus on what you are losing and what you cannot do or have, you will feel sad, as if something is being taken away from you and you are being deprived.

RESTORING YOUR HEALTH is the key to losing weight. Focus on living each day in health, honoring yourself and taking better care of your body. This way, you can be excited about this new life you are creating.

Here’s to your health and to happiness!

Julie Donley, RN ~ Nurturing Your Success by motivating you to be your best!

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Each year has its own memories. To make the most of your life, take a short assessment of last year. Celebrate. Acknowledge your accomplishments, your travels, your hardships and your triumphs. If you are alive to read this, then you have much to celebrate!

Now, take a moment to consider what you want to focus on this year.

It’s a simple process to take a moment to do each year. This way, life slows down just enough so that you can determine if you are living it well or just getting by.

When you live on purpose, you will find that life has more meaning, you have more control and power over your happiness, therefore you enjoy it more AND you fear death LESS.

Yes, you will fear death less when you truly live and enjoy TODAY.

So, what do you want 2012 to be about? What will you focus on this year?

These are just a few things I have planned for this year -

1. I will continue to lose weight and restore my health. I have just a few more pounds I want to lose. I want to be a little skinnier.
2. I will increase my workouts each week. I want to do more cardio to ensure I maintain this new weight and I want to increase my strength by adding more resistance training. The goal here is HEALTH – to age with grace, be strong and increase endurance.
3. I intend to save more and learn to amass wealth.
4. I will write another book in 2012. This will be a two-part book series on creating amazing relationships, the first of which is about attracting the right partner. Stay tuned…
5. I will also take my family on our first cruise! I am so excited to celebrate my dear hubby’s birthday this way.

One of the wonderful things that happens when we set out to accomplish something is that synchroncity occurs and we begin to attract the resources and people we need to assist us in our journey, making it much easier to accomplish our goals.

Goals (intentions) require commitment. As soon as you become committed to achieving something, you receive the support you need. This may sound hokey but in reality, when you set your mind to something, you start looking for ways to make it happen and you become more open to receive information and assistance from what has been there all along just waiting for YOU to be ready to go for it!

So set your sights on 2012 and decide where you want to focus your energy this year. You are much more likely to succeed when you focus your attention. You must have a destination in mind.

When you have no destination in mind, any road will get you there.

Here is to a healthy and happy 2012!

Warmly,

Julie Donley, RN ~ Nurturing Your Success by motivating you to be your best!

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May the holidays bring you joy and peace and as you reflect on what is important in your life.

And may you make a commitment to *health* in the New Year -

- healthy relationships

- healthy intake of food and drink

- healthy and respectful communication

- and healthy self-love and self-care.

You are the most important person in your life and deserve all of the best life has to offer.

Happy holidays!

With love,

Julie Donley, RN and family

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It was a wonderful day. My husband spent the day with me. We didn’t do a lot. There wasn’t a lot of fanfare. We were just together and that was priceless.

One of the special things about life is knowing that you are cared for and loved. When I checked my email, it was wonderful to see all of the birthday wishes! So many people took the time to wish me a happy day. I feel so blessed!

The emotions we experience during life is what makes life real and enjoyable. We all want and need to feel that we matter. Yet, how often do we deny our emotions? We know people who are so guarded they will not let anyone too close to enjoy their presence. This wall of resistance keeps people out – it also keeps the individual locked in.

When we hide behind a wall, we are not allowing ourselves to love or be loved. We are hurting and scared. This interferes with our relationships and our ability to get close to others, to trust.

And just like us, other people have walls. They, too, are hurting and are scared.

We can use empathy to help us to understand what might be going on for others; we can also learn to be more patient and understanding with ourselves. This is the lesson we are here to learn – to learn how to love and be loved. When we allow others to help us, to share with us, to care for us, we experience love.

So today – and every day – let’s learn to love, to bring down the walls that we hide behind and learn to give our best to the world. Imagine if we all approached others coming from *love* as opposed to fear and from *abundance* as opposed to lack. We would all feel better, safer and happier and the world would be a better place.

Thank you for the happy birthday wishes. I feel loved.

And if no one has told you yet today how special and wonderful you are, then let me be the first. You are wonderful! You are loved!

- Just because you are you!

To your health and happiness,

Julie Donley, RN ~ Nurturing Your Success and motivating you to be your best!

Author of The Journey Called YOU: A Roadmap to Self-Discovery and Acceptance

Author of Does Change have to be so H.A.R.D.?

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I have come to a turning point in my life. Is it a mid-life thing? Maybe. My 46th birthday is fast approaching.

Part of it is that I have too much time on my hands and my mind was drifting into negative territory. The hospital I work at as a psych nurse has been closed for renovations for the past three months. With the added space in time and no distractions, I have the ability to look more closely at my life.

And sometimes I just think too much!

So I am in this funk. It is what it is. It will pass. But as an upbeat, positive person on any given day, I’m not used to feeling this way. I work with depressed individuals all of the time, however, and am all too familiar with its subtle and destructive nature. So I thought I would share about it today.

Depression is a funny thing. Everyone experiences depression at some point in life. It is important to recognize it and identify what you need in order to take care of yourself. There are a few things you can do to ensure you come through it quickly and remain healthy. Depression can become ‘clinical depression’, where medical treatment is needed. You need catch it quickly and manage it responsibly. Here are some tips to get you through.

Read the entire article.

To your health and happiness,

Julie Donley, RN ~ Nurturing Your Success by motivating you to be your best!

Learning to ‘be your best’ begins with becoming more self-aware. Read my book: The Journey Called YOU: A Roadmap to Self-Discovery and Acceptance. Pick up your copy on Amazon today!

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There are several things that you can do to practice self-care. The holidays are not an invitation to lose focus on what is most important in your life. Here is a short list to keep you focused on maintaining your health – and still have fun!

1) WASH YOUR HANDS! This is the one, best thing you can do regularly to avoid getting sick. Use a disinfectant gel. This is the simplest and easiest way to keep germs away.

2) Get a flu shot. Stop into any pharmacy today and get yours. No excuses. If you are around people, you are susceptible. If you have kids, that doubles your chances of getting sick. Prevention is the best medicine.

3) Take your vitamins. If you take vitamin C and E and a multi, that is great. If you eat healthy fruits and vegetables, you may choose not to take vitamins, however, in the winter months, adding extra C to your diet can be helpful.

4) Don’t overeat. Gaining weight over the holidays does not have to be the norm. It is not healthy for your body to yo-yo in weight. It adds extra effort to your heart and other vital organs. Overeating feels bad. Your clothes tighten and that causes stress. You worry about the gain and how you’ll get it off then in January you are stressed about losing it. It’s a horrible thing to do to your body. Eat modestly. Eat slowly. Be conscious. Don’t just pick; use a plate and choose your food wisely. Enjoy yourself, just be sensible about it.

Read the rest of the article here…

To your health and happiness,

Julie Donley, RN ~ Nurturing Your Success

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All of us can relate to feelings of fear especially when they are born from thoughts about change that is out of our control.

This fear is created in your mind from thoughts that craft the worst case scenarios. Your imaginary center goes wild constructing dramatic stories about a potential – and often negative – outcome. There is no fact to the story; it’s a fantasy. In choosing to give this thought process your attention, fear erupts within you as you anticipate this outcome becoming your future reality. Then you experience the “fight or flight” phenomenon and this physiological reaction makes it feel so real.

But it’s not real. It’s a story concocted in your mind. Your mind is playing tricks on you.

Stop. Step back from your thoughts and look at the facts. What do you know and what is unknown? You can succumb to the fantasy created by your untamed mind OR you can decide to embrace reality and take control by making good choices about what you would like to see happen and who you’d like to become in the process.

In the case with my client above, he has no idea what this new boss wants or how she feels about being shuffled into this new position. His first step is to be curious about the new boss and to learn what she needs from the manager in order to be successful in her new post. Yes, your job is to help your boss be successful.

Then he can ask for what he wants and needs from his new boss.

By being proactive, my client can set expectations for his new boss as he describes the department and how things work.

Awareness of the emotional reaction and the thoughts causing it is crucial for gaining control. Once you are aware, then you can take a step back and ask how you’d like things to be moving forward. You can craft a new story that focuses on success and identify the role or part you will play in making it reality.

You can expect success and take actions to create that success or you can allow your fear to take over forcing you to shrink, stress out and feel powerless.

Read the entire article here…

To your health and happiness,

Julie Donley, RN ~ Nurturing Your Success by helping you be your best: work through change, lose weight and restore your health

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If you do nothing to change your situation, will you be happy and okay with the results in 5 years or 10 years?

Looking ahead and thinking through the consequences of your actions allows you to see where you are headed and where life will take you. Then you can choose to change direction if you are not happy with the results of your current course.

Look at your Wheel of Life and take a quick assessment:

1. finances
2. relationships – spouse, family, friends, and colleagues
3. health and fitness – physical and mental health
4. career
5. home environment
6. personal development and education
7. spiritual development and intelligence
8. recreation, fun and leisure

How satisfied are you with your situation? The Wheel of Life is an essential tool for identifying where your life might need some adjustments.

The other day, I wrote about Joe, the 480 pound man who has a decision to make about the course his life will take. For many of us, the choice is not so dramatic. But if you are living (or earning) beneath your potential,

• if you are living in a way that is not happy,
• if you are not being your best,
• if you are overindulging,
• if you are not taking good care of your body,
• if you are not enjoying healthy relationships,
• if you are hurting in some way AND YOU DO NOTHING TO CHANGE, then you will continue to get more unhappiness and pain.

Follow the path out 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, even 20 years.

What will life look like, be like, feel like then if you continue along the road you are on now? Will you have the retirement funds you desire? Will you have the health, the body you desire? Will you enjoy your relationships?

When I began my quest last year to lose 50 pounds, one of the major reasons was because I had hurt my back at work. I herniated a disc. It took several months to heal and I was told that I would now always be at risk. Actually, your risk for back injury increases with age anyway. Time and use – nutrition and hydration -  can cause the discs to deteriorate.

I kept thinking about how life would be 20 years from now when I have grandchildren and I cannot play on the floor or pick them up… I did not want this for my life. I want to do everything I possibly can to be in good shape so I can enjoy my life and avoid pain!

So, I began my quest. I figured losing weight was a good place to start! And it’s been great. If you’ve been following my blog at all, you know that I have lost 50 pounds and 50 inches (at least). I am healthier than ever and enjoy great health. My cholesterol even came down significantly.

Look at your life and take note of what needs improvement. You can change course! It’s not easy, but it’s possible to create a new life. It begins as soon as you make that decision to change. You have to decide you no longer want to follow the path you are on. It’s that simple.

Wanting something different is the first step toward change. If you want to change your weight, as I have done, then now is the time to consider using HCG in the New Year. Contact me to learn how you, too, can lose 50 pounds next year!

If you continue along the path you are on and you decide you don’t want to change, that’s fine. It’s your choice. But whatever you do, own it. Take responsibility for your choices. And you’ll need to take responsibility for the consequences – good or bad – of those choices.

To your health and happiness,

Julie Donley, RN ~ Nurturing Your Success. Build a better you. Live a happier life.

PS – Change does not have to be so HARD! Learn the strategies for making it easier in my new book Does Change have to be so HARD?

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Yes, Joe. But not only that, it will be a HARD and painful journey as his body begins to break down and struggle under the weight he is carrying.

Joe has a decision to make: he can continue along this path or he can CHANGE and create a whole new life. The first step toward change is to DECIDE.

He’s not alone. Each of us has to decide to change. It’s a choice. You have to look at the road ahead of you and ask yourself if the future you foresee is what you want for yourself and your life.

Is this path enjoyable and is it how you want to live?

If the answer is ‘NO’, then you must CHOOSE a new path. It’s a choice. It’s not done haphazardly; the decision is made INTENTIONALLY.

Change is HARD work. It requires effort, consistency and time. If you want to learn more, read my book Does Change have to be so H.A.R.D.? and you will learn not only what you are up against as you begin a new journey, but you will also learn the 8 strategies you need in order to succeed in  your new life – to succeed at change.

We often make things more complicated than they need to be. For Joe, the answer is quite simple: die young or embark upon a new life. The moment he decides to change (IF he decides to change), the universe will support him. “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” When he is ready, the answers he needs and the path he needs to follow will become available to him.

And it will for you, too. Often, we get scared of change. It’s overwhelming to consider a whole new life. But nothing happens overnight. It will take time to create a new life. It’s one day at a time – one action step at a time.

It begins INTERNALLY and that shift then leads us to take new actions to change our EXTERNAL world. The INNER SHIFT comes first.

For the moment, you need only DECIDE TO CHANGE. That is the first step.

The next step is to commit to your new life and see what comes up for you. There are opportunities everywhere just waiting for you to grab them. The universe support you making the effort to be your best. It will align with you and support you. There is no need for stress, worry, anxiety or fear.

Take one step at a time – stay in the moment – and trust that you will be guided to the next step. It’s how the universe works… It is also how we learn to let go and enjoy the journey.

I hope Joe chooses to live…

To your health and happiness,

Julie Donley, RN ~ Nurturing Your Success. “Build a better you. Live a happier life.”

PS – Change does not have to be so HARD! Learn the strategies for making it easier in my new book Does Change have to be so HARD?

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