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Make Time for What’s Important

Make time for your hopes, dreams and goals. Five years ago I had a life-altering experience that has contributed to the person that I am today, the adoption of my daughter, Mia. As my love for her grew, so did my hopes, dreams and goals, which were no longer just for me anymore but also for my daughter, husband, family, friends and the global community at large. With the demands of our busy lives it is so easy to lose sight of our hopes, dreams and goals. At every turn we are distracted by text messages, cell phone calls and…

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The Key To Life Satisfaction

Imagine if every day for a decade you consumed five Twinkies. At the end of that decade, if you were alive at all, you wouldn't be surprised that your body looked and performed like the equivalent of five Twinkies! Most adults in our society today understand that you get out of your body only what you put into it. Put the optimal foods and care in, and you get a much healthier body. The more you don't, the more you won't. If you truly want to become who you really are - if you want to live the greater happiness,…

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The Importance of Taking It Slow

In 2008, I was like most dynamic women: running on life's treadmill, overbooking myself, pursuing all my passions at once. Ha. Trying to "live my best life" almost stole it from me. I almost died from a brain aneurysm. It turned out to be a gift: The hectic pace of my life finally caught up and it was time to make a change. My recovery was amazing, according to doctors. So what did I learn? Focus. You need to start playing the record of your life at your speed, rather than letting it play you. Stress and change played a major…

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Eat Right, Feel Right, Be Right

You were meant to have energy, joy and be pain free. You were meant to have chemistry happen properly in your cells. If you have lost your energy, lost your joy or have pain, the chemistry in your cells has gone awry. You are alive because of chemistry. When the chemistry stops, you die. When it happens incorrectly, molecules get made incorrectly and the wrong shape, or the molecules are not made at all. The accumulation of incorrectly shaped molecules damage you cells, then your organs and then you. You develop fatigue, pain, depression and more. That is how we…

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Finding the Gift in Life

I'm lucky. I've been given a gift. It's not that I'm a successful teacher and musician for almost 40 years. It's simply the gift of life. A little over two years ago I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and the initial tests indicated a 10% survival rate. I felt as if I had fallen through a hole in the sky. Why me? I couldn't figure out what I had done to cause this awful disease. And then my doctor gave me a gift. She said, "This has nothing to do with what you ate or where you live or…

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7 Elements of a Better Life

We often make attempts to compartmentalize different elements in our lives, but it is best when we allow all of these elements to flow together into a rich tapestry. Hopefully, this piece will allow you to see how the integration of mindset, nutrition, movement, and purpose can lead you to your happiest and most fulfilled life: 1. Don’t ever make an attempt to “lose weight”. Instead, respect your body, and know that it deserves the best. Stay away from fad diets that demonize specific food groups, and instead go for organic plant foods that are high in nutrients. Your body…

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NOTICE – A 6-Step Morning Routine that Works

How do you start your day? Waking up with optimism, looking forward to the day ahead? Or do you hit the snooze button, putting off rolling out of bed until the last possible moment? I’d like to suggest how you begin each morning determines the quality of your day. I’ve created an acronym to use that will help you develop a routine to start mornings with enthusiasm, energy and high expectations - N.O.T.I.C.E. N: Be NICE. Practicing self-compassion is the first step. There is no such thing as perfect. When you are starting a new routine there will be days…

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Be Joyful, No Matter What

Learn how to let go of negative thoughts and focus on the positive instead. Live in appreciation of all the amazing miracles that life offers everyday, and of the miracle that you are. Live in the moment just like a child and look at everything with a beginner’s mind. If you are able to practice this until it becomes second nature and if we are able to teach our children to retain this ability that they already have, then you will be amazed at how life is always joyful. Remember that we are human-beings and not human-doings. Therefore focus on…

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Share Your Gifts to Overcome Adversity

Over the past few years, every one of us has been through some form of adversity. In fact, many of us have been hit by more than one serious, disruptive challenge. In this "perfect storm", everything that we have come to trust and believe about ourselves and our lives has come under some form of attack. Whether it is an illness, loss of job, erosion of wealth, divorce, or a death in the family, it seems as though the path on our journey has gotten a little more difficult. As we stand here looking into the future, looking for answers,…

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Karen Lee Paquette

11 Tips for Healthy Living

Imagine a world where people treat themselves, others, and the planet like we treat our newborn babies... We give them limitless unconditional love, strive to predict and exceed their every need, care for, protect, and support them to create a bright, beautiful, successful, and joyous future.... What we are doing, in a nutshell, is simply nurturing our baby's health. My definition of health includes our physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual health. Whether it be meeting physical needs such as feeding, or mental/emotional needs such as soothing them when they cry, or surrounding them with people who love them or ensuring that…

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Clutter, Peace, and a Lighter Spirit

     My spirit felt heavy. I couldn’t seem to write and no reading material held my interest. I felt bogged down by life.      My intuition told me to clean.      I had items the kids had left, thinking they would want them some day. To my surprise, I found out they didn’t. I started looking around my home, realizing that I had stuff that meant nothing anymore. Suddenly, I felt energized to get rid of stuff. Heaviness became my decider. Does this item weigh me down, or does it make me smile and feel lighter?  …

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How to Love Your Body

Amidst all the DOING don’t bypass BEING. There is no rush. There is no need to try to fix anything in this moment. Take a deep breath. Take a second to feel your body. Lean into YOU. Fall in love with the girl you see in the mirror. She is a friend, a lover, a sister, a daughter, a woman. She is all that and more. Your body is just a container of all these special things, the things you cannot see in your reflection. Always remember you have a body. Remember before your body gets loud and you have…

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Heal Your Soul, Heal Your Self

The purpose of life is to align with our I AM, which is to be who we are. Living in a pure I AM state without resistance or opposition is the highest spiritual bliss. When we divert from who we are, we get sick. The illness manifests first in the mentally unaligned thought, then can be felt emotionally, and will finally appear as physical symptoms. The body is the faithful puppy dog for the mind and will always express that something is wrong when the person is choosing to believe things that are not true. The symptoms are helpful messengers…

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Tips to Get Through the Holiday Blues

For some, the holiday season is a joyous occasion. For others, holidays bring to the surface feelings that are the complete opposite of Christmas cheer, usually unwrapping sad reminders that may start as early as Halloween. The holidays can be a roller coaster ride of emotions for many. Below are some steps to a smoother journey through the holiday season. A lot of people consider the holiday season one of the loneliest times of the year. Many of my clients who come to me for counseling ask whether they are the only ones who feel this way. Coupling this with…

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You Are Beautiful As You Are

A friend of mind has been struggling recently with her body image. She says she feels a lot of shame when she looks in the mirror, and the stories in her mind keep on trying to convince her there is something wrong with her at her present weight. She is caught in the land of fear, where her mind keeps telling her stories that she is not skinny enough, pretty enough or sexy enough. In other words, she is not enough, period! Our western society basically deems women’s bodies unacceptable unless they are a size 2 or less. Just take…

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doctor

Become the Project Manager of Your Health

Visiting doctor after doctor, none could diagnose my pain. They would prescribe a pill with the hopes of relief. Finally one doctor, after still not providing a diagnosis, said, “Let’s give you a hysterectomy. Maybe that will help.” This experience led me to become the project manager of my own health. Two issues currently exist with our Western medical system. First, our current system no longer treats the patient but treats the symptoms. Medications are administered not to remove the illness but to relieve the symptoms. Pharmaceutical companies market to patients and doctors offering quick fixes to our discomfort. Secondly,…

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In This Moment You Are A Perfect You

Where did you learn what a perfect body looks like? Where did you learn what is beautiful? Where did you learn what is ugly? How old were you when you came to these conclusions? We were walking down the street in Paris several years ago to find ourselves taken by a body image considered to be "beautiful." We were looking at the street lamps in front of the Paris Opera House. Built in the mid-1800's, those lamps are supported by statues of naked women. These castings done in the Neo-Baroque style are curvy with rounded bellies and by today's standards…

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lion, tinman, scarecrow

You Had the Power All Along

Like the Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, I sought an expert to provide me with what I already held. Over a decade in corporate America led this Type A into physical distress. I was fatigued and irritable. My muscles were tight and painful. My digestion and reproductive systems were broken causing intense issues and discomfort. I was a wreck. Visiting doctor after doctor I was told there was nothing wrong. No illness. No disease. Prescriptions of all sorts were recommended – none of them really worked. After more than three years, I was frustrated, tired,…

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What Have You Lost in Constantly ‘Doing’?

In our fast-paced, multi-tasking, on-the-go-deadline driven work, we are often caught up in the act of “doing.” We move from task to task on our to-do list. We rush from work to class to home. We keep pushing ourselves to do more and do it better. But what is the cost? Do you have hobbies? Do you have passions? Or have you lost who you are to all of the things you are doing outside of yourself? Do you sleep well at night? Are you fit? Do you feel good in your body? What is your blood pressure? How is…

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