by Carmen Ohling | Jan 23, 2020 | Live.
The #1 thief of joy is…
COMPARISON & WATCHING WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING!!
I have made this mistake time and time again, and it has always left me feeling like I wasn’t enough and I wasn’t doing enough… This might resonate a lot with you and to be clear, who is to blame you?!
In a world of picture perfect photos that only show someone’s life as a highlight reel, it’s easy to think that we just aren’t measuring up.
But I’m here to tell you that that is a lie.
Here’s what I’ve learned and want to share with you. For starters, it’s simple but not easy! This takes practice especially when there’s so much noise coming at us everyday!
3 Simple Truths
1️. Everyone has something unique and valuable to share but when you start emulating others it dulls your authentic voice. ⠀
2️. Constantly consuming what others are doing leaves you feeling inadequate and slows or completely stops your progress.
3️. You can do anything but you can’t do everything all at once; and when you try you simply stretch yourself too thin, create mediocre results and leave yourself feeling burnt out. ⠀
Ready to get off the comparison train and stay in your own lane?
3 Simple Rules
1️. Decrease the amount of time you spend consuming content.
That means less scrolling, no more buying courses that you don’t complete, or signing up for free webinars to learn and never taking action. JUST STOP 🛑⠀
2️. Spend time with yourself, with your thoughts, and trust your intuition.
You are always what you’ve been looking for and you have all the answers. Give yourself this gift of time. Start trusting and believing in yourself!
3️. Get a coach or mentor in your life ASAP that is where you want to be.
You don’t need a $20k mastermind, simply someone you’re connected to and is showing up how you want to show up. They will guide you, help you learn your lessons and push you to a place you’ve only dreamed of! 💛
If you’re feeling called and you know you’re ready for this next step, I want to help! Join me and an exclusive group of other ambitious women who are ready to take action, build community, practice radical responsibility and finally step into their power through my private group coaching and mentoring! All you need to do is click here to apply.
Wishing you a ton of light and love,
Carmen
by Carmen Ohling | Jan 15, 2020 | Eat.
Does your mouth start to water every time you see a gigantic cheeseburger with bacon?
Weird, mine doesn’t. Why?
I practice eating foods that nourish my body, give me energy and help me achieve optimal health on a daily basis. It’s interesting that when you do this you actually crave real, nourishing foods instead of gut bombs like this burger. ⠀
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BUT, KNOW THAT THERE ARE THOSE TIMES….⠀
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Those times that all I can think about is ice cream, pizza and french fries. ⠀
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This is the reason for this blog! There are times and situations when I know this will happen and I wanted to share this with you….⠀
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BE AWARE OF CRAVINGS WHEN….⠀
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1. You are lacking sleep or are exhausted.⠀
Sleep deprivation increases cravings! Your body starts producing a hormone that tells your brain you’re hungry in larger amounts than usual. So when you’ve been running on empty all day (or all week!) and you’re feeling like all you want to do is grab snacks left in right, check in with yourself and consider creating time for some rest.
2. You are overly hungry and would eat anything. ⠀
Think of your hunger on a scale of 1-10. “1” is when you feel completely satiated and “10” is when you would literally eat a piece of paper to feel better. Often times as busy and ambitious women, we are in go-go-go mode all the time. That means, we only ever really notice we are hungry when we are HUNGRY. Try monitoring your hunger especially around lunchtime or dinner. If you know that you are going to need to go get lunch outside of the office or if the dinner you’re making is going to take some time, consider getting a headstart on that before you are starving. Try the rule of thumb to not let your hunger get past a “7” because that’s when poor food choices are made.
3. You are stressed and use food to numb. ⠀
Is life going 100 miles an hour for you? Are you working on trying to meet a deadline?
During these times, it’s easy to reach for a bag of chips or something sweet without even really being hungry. So next time you get the urge to snack check in with yourself. Take a step back from whatever you’re doing and ask yourself, “Am I really hungry? Or am I stressed out?” Pause and listen to your body at that moment and you’ll know what to do.
4. You are bored and use food to numb. ⠀
In moments of idleness, it’s super easy to try to eat or snack in order to pass the time. I can’t tell you how many times in the past I’ve been waiting on my husband to finish getting ready before we go somewhere and I found myself wanting to rummage through our pantry. In general, try filling the empty time blocks in your life with an activity! Read a book, go for a walk, or do some stretching.
5. You allow others eating shitty food to be your excuse for you to do the same- you have to be polite. (BS!)⠀
Nope. This isn’t a valid excuse. You have to take a stand for yourself despite what other people might be doing. Do you know that your colleagues go to a fast food place for lunch several times a week and always invite you? In these moments you have to choose… and you have to choose you first. Take your lunch to work and honor the time you took to assemble it by actually eating it! If you absolutely must partake in eating out for an event, you can always do your best by asking your waiter to have your food prepared a certain way like not putting butter on your vegetables or swapping fries for a salad.
Email me at carmen@carmenohling.com and let me know how you deal with your food cravings. Need a little help in this area? Shoot me a message and we can figure out a plan that works best for you.
For some, my Clean Eating Transformation plan is what works best for them. You can learn more about it here.
Wishing you a ton of light and love,
Carmen
by Carmen Ohling | Jan 8, 2020 | Live.
Did you know that the words we say emit energy and that either gives us power or lessens our power?
As women, we’re taught to step back, to be more reserved, and to not shine as brightly as we should be shining every day. The language we’ve adopted feeds right into this which has sparked me to invite you to join the three day Sorry Experiment. I want all of you to be able to show up each and every day, shine your authentic light, and step into your beauty and all of your magic! I created the challenge because the truth is, saying sorry just takes away from all of those things. If the words that we choose to say guide both our thoughts and our actions (and they do!) it’s important to be careful when choosing them.
Here is the three day road map for you to follow:
Day 1: Assess The Situation
For Day 1, I want you to simply assess how many times you say, “sorry.” Maybe you’re walking in public and someone bumps into you and you say sorry. Or perhaps you’re washing your hands in the bathroom and there’s a line waiting which causes you to feel rushed, so you say sorry. Maybe someone expresses that they don’t like something, so you say sorry. Whatever it is, just note down the incident that occurred which prompted you to apologize.
Day 2: Observe Your Energy
Going back to how our words and thoughts either give us power or takes away from it, I want you to reflect on how you felt the moment after saying sorry. Here’s a personal example: One day, I was about to deboard a plane so I stood up to stretch my legs. The couple in front of me did the same, except when they stood up, they pushed me a little backwards which caused me to stand super close to the man behind me. I turned around and said something along the lines of, “I’m sorry for stepping into your bubble!” and the gentleman kindly said that I could step back if I needed to. However, the moment right after telling him I was sorry, I felt the energy in my body literally shrivel down. Once he gave me the permission to take up more space, I felt empowered. After that incident, I told myself that I was going to start catching myself with this because in all honesty, I didn’t truly feel sorry for stepping into his space. I didn’t feel remorseful or sad. Yet the words I chose made me feel smaller. So take some time to to revisit the moments you said you were sorry and reflect on how you felt afterwards.
Day 3: Choose Different Words
The more that you say something different or think a new thought, the more you’re able to authentically step into your power. Here are three common circumstances that we apologize for and words you can use instead of “sorry”!
Maybe you’ve taken a while to get back to someone by phone or email, or you took an extra day to fulfill on a request, here’s a perfect thing you can say: “Thank you so much for your patience with me while I {insert task or event}.”
Maybe you’re walking in public and you accidentally bump into someone, try saying “excuse me” or “pardon me”. There’s no reason to apologize for being in the world next to someone else!
Another common circumstance that people apologize in is when they perceive in their mind that someone doesn’t like something that they did. Instead of saying you’re sorry, how about opening up the dialogue and asking, “How did this make you feel?” or “Did you like it when I did this?”
I’d love to know how this experiment goes for you! After the three days, email me at carmen@carmenohling.com and let me know how often you apologized and what circumstances you found yourself doing that in. As always, if you need any help incorporating these new phrases into your life, just reach out and I’ll be here to help.
Wishing you a ton of light and love,
Carmen
by Carmen Ohling | Jan 2, 2020 | Live.
Things don’t always go as planned.⠀⠀
There’s always a shit ton more red tape then there needs to be.⠀⠀
Challenges always arise just when we’re sure we can’t take anything more.⠀⠀⠀
As you think about these three statements, I want you to think back to the last time something went differently than expected, when shit got hard, when you were presented with a challenge….⠀⠀
Do you have that thought in your mind? ⠀
Here are some of my own reflection on things in 2019 that didn’t go as planned….⠀
1️⃣ I received rejections (aka NOs) to my ideas and pitches to speak at multiple events and conferences. ⠀
2️⃣ I spent a shit ton of time, energy and money developing a new holistic health program for women (that I thought was SO freaking awesome) but it was a flop. ⠀
3️⃣ I trained and prepped for a bodybuilding show to WIN and I placed 10th. ⠀
4️⃣ I met only 3 of my 5 personal and business goals for 2019.⠀
For me, the true gift of all of these so called “failures” is the growth and confidence I have built within myself. Each of these challenges presented a hardship that I was able to overcome, learn from and keep taking action….⠀
Now, I want you to answer these questions based on your thought;⠀
- What did I learn?⠀⠀
- How did I grow?⠀⠀
- How can I help someone else?⠀⠀⠀
You see my point here is that while it may not seem like it at the time, life is all about experiences. Sometimes they are good in the moment and sometimes they are bad. But they are all experiences that shape us into the amazing, authentic humans that we are today.⠀⠀
When we choose to view our experiences through a lens of love, instead of fear, everything changes. We find more joy in everyday life, are able to give ourselves more grace and able to see others for who they truly are without judgement.⠀⠀⠀
I encourage you this week to visit a few of those past “bad” experiences and ask yourself the questions above. I promise, you’ll uncover something new and special.
I’d love to know what you learned and grew from in 2019! Email me at carmen@carmenohling.com to share and discover how you can use these lessons to make 2020 your best year yet.
Wishing you a ton of light and love,
Carmen
by Carmen Ohling | Dec 18, 2019 | Live.
Feelings…⠀
Thoughts….⠀
Actions… ⠀
Guidance… ⠀
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I’ve been having all the feels over the last couple of weeks. You know those times when you’ve got so much going on, but on the other hand, so many amazing this are happening you just can’t believe it?!?
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It’s funny because I used to over plan, control every detail, and was always full of expectations. Expectations that were never met, leaving me empty and longing for more. Now I ask for a sign, for a mini miracle and wait… I think waiting is the hardest part. ⠀
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I’m waiting for the Universe to continue to show me a sign (🖤) that I am on the right path. I feel blessed that in the meantime I am patient. I feel grateful that I am able to still take deliberate action daily in the direction of my dreams. I am ready and willing to receive my next opportunity and assignment for spiritual growth and healing. I am ready to show up and show up and continue to show up for myself and others.⠀
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For the first time in my life I feel complete. There is no rush to be “busy” or fill my schedule. I continue to make new connections, find opportunities and explore my curiosities- just on my own pace. It feels…. like freedom. ⠀
How do you feel today?
How do you want to feel today?
Take a few minutes to jot that down.
As we approach the last few weeks of the year, everyone is reflecting on 2019. We think about how far we’ve come, things we wish we did but didn’t, how good it was or how tough it was. So I ask you, what do you want and who do you want to be?
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This next year, do you want to embrace uncertainty?
Maybe even live life based on what’s important to you?
Let go of dumb, unrealistic expectations and just fall in love with life?
I’d love to guide you! Email me at carmen@carmenohling.com so we can chat about how to make this 2020 the year that you became obsessed with your life.
Wishing you a ton of light and love,
Carmen
