Do you need Faith?  This week go to your worship service.

Do you need a good sweat?  Go to your gym or join one.

Is it solace you need?  Go for a hike in the woods minus the IPOD and cell phone.  Just you and your thoughts.

Go where you need to be. 

Not where people tell you to go.  Not a place that is negative.  Nor a place you leave frustrated and unhappy.

Go to that place of excitement, joy and happiness.

Don’t go by intimidation or guilt.

Go where your heart is telling you to go.  For each one of us needing comfort and love, it is a different place.

Walk in the woods.  Laughter with friends.  Passion with your soul mate.  Joy with your children.  Deep conversation with God.

Go where your soul aches to go.  Only you know that place.  Give yourself permission to go there.  Wherever it is.  Just go.

• Exercise reduces feelings of anxiety and stress
• New research shows exercise can reduce future stress

“The data suggest that people who exercise in the morning, for example, will have less of an increase in blood pressure and less of a feeling of stress if they are in a traffic jam on their way to work.” (Taken from USA weekend paper, 2012, quotes by John Bartholomew, Professor of Kinesiology and health Ed at U of Texas-Austin). Exercise also… 

• Releases endorphins in your bloodstream creating a sense of well-being
• Decreases muscle tension
• Rids your body of toxins
• Increases alpha wave activity in the brain, allowing you to clear your mind
• Strengthens heart and lungs
• Exercise is a building block to overall hardiness
• “Not only does physical fitness produce stress resilience, but fit individuals are better able to preserve their cognitive functions.”(Lilly Mujica-Parodi, Stony Brook U)

Join a gym.  Buy a treadmill.  Join a Boot Camp class.  Try a Zumba class.  Go for a walk in the woods.  Learn how to ski.  Go for a swim at the YMCA.  Snowshoe.  Jump rope.  Ride your bike.  Do some type of physical activity and make it a part of your everyday life.

The benefits?  A stronger, healthier, less stressed you.

Ladies, rooms are filling up for my March Retreat of Rest and Renewal, sign up today!  If you register in January you will enter to win a spa treatment for further relaxation!  For details check out http://thejoysource.com/retreat/.   Hope to see you there!

1.  Surround yourself with positive, uplifting people.

2.  Buy a beautiful journal and start writing your dreams and goals for the New Year, what do you want to accomplish this year?  Where do you hope to be in 12 months?

3.  Take time for you every day, even if it is a quiet walk around the block.

4.  Exercise!  Make the time, you will feel less stressed, healthy and your heart will thank you.

5.  Ditch the bad habits and replace them with healthier ones.

6.  Sign up for some new classes to grow and learn, my Joy Course will be starting in the Spring!  You will feel empowered and more confident!

7.  Work less, play more…or at least strike a balance.

8.  Forgive and let go.

9.  DREAM BIG!

10.  Join me at my Woman’s Retreat of Rest and Renewal, March 10^th and 11^th at the Stonehedge Inn and Spa and in Tyngsboro MA.  Oh, what fun we are going to have!  Set your New Years goals in motion with time to relax, think, dream, unwind and GROW.   Call your best friend and invite her too!  Register today!

Invest in you.  You are worth it.  If you need a positive push, email me and ask about my individual Joy Coaching program, it might be just what you need!  In Person or virtual.

It’s Time to make your dreams come true.