[Day 1] Welcome to the Challenge

  Yay, we are ready to start 30 Days of Living Mindfully and thank you for joining. I am so happy that so many of you have the intention of creating more space for yourself this November and beyond.

Allow yourself to be inspired, touched, challenged and create space to feel all the in between. I can't wait to read your posts.

Thank you for the willingness to turn inward and the courage to share your story.  <3

A little house keeping

Before we get to today's challenge here's a little info about the challenges, how to go about them and how to join.

There will be a few guest posts with some really cool teachers throughout the 30 Days. Everyone of them have a different perspective (as do we all), and field they work in. Some challenges will speak to you others may not.

Also...

• Don't feel the pressure to take everything in, believe or love it all. Instead reflect, look at resistance, why you like it or why it just might not matter. Being mindful includes it all and there is no right or wrong.

• Listen to your body and system along the way. You are the only one who can feel your limits and respect them. Be respectful of yourself and be responsible throughout the challenge.

• When commenting and interacting always be respectful of others. This isn't about judging others. Any rude, abusive or cruel comments will be removed

Now for the fun part

Now write  a post about your reflections and/or experience, and share it with us.

How to share and submit your your link:

If you're joining as a blogger or writing about your experience along the way you can do 2 things:

1. Add a trackback link to your post. The link you want to use is the URL for that day's challenge for example

http://www.mindfulground.com/30-day-living-mindfully-blog-challenge-day-1/

Past the link in the TrackBack box - It normally looks like this

When you hit publish, we get a notification and a link to your blogpost. This is the easiest way for us to find you and round up and share your posts.

2. Or you can add a comment below with a few words about your post and the URL to it.

Share the challenge with your followers

Click to tweet: I joined @mindfulground ’s 30 Day Living Mindfully Challenge. Come join me http://tinyurl.com/p9mr8sy #LMBC13

What the hell is she doing anyway?

I have to face the fact that I am a talker. I have serious issues at times with getting clear. I have a mentor that always "suggests" a less broad language... hmmm well ok, I am working on it. Some might say it's bad for business, or how will people know what to come to you for IF YOUR'RE NOT CLEAR??? And as always with this blog challenge I am doing, I am asked to get crystal clear... The blog challenge Day 10 is:

Which are the key online revenue streams you want to focus on in your existing business?

So basically "What are doing with the your life and business Carina?" Sometimes I find it hard, because in the field I am in, there is no ONE or RIGHT way. I work with life, and that happens is all sorts of ways. I draw on my experience with meditation, mindfulness, yoga specialized in women's body and energy and sometime fall short in how put that into a few bullets...

I know what's important to me though. And that's that people feel connected, worthy, happy, and that they feel that they belong - because everyone deserves that in their life. I want people to own their stories without being caught up in the drama of it, finding peace and ease in everyday life. 

As to how I want to bring this to life in offerings and ways to connect is:

• through one on one programs. These are for the people who are so ready to commit that they feel it in their bones. I love these connections because it is a safe place.
• through the Free Blog Challenge. A way for people not ready to take the big leap, to try out the idea of letting go of a life ruled by stress, auto-pilot, worry and unhappiness.
• through retreats that give people some intense time to look within, relax, meditate and take a break from everyday life, to see it in a clearer light.

And a few other cool things that I am cooking up...

I may not always be clear in my sales pitches and pages, but I am so clear on my vision and WHY I do this work in the first place.

Without any spiritual dogma, and keeping both feet on the ground I want YOU to feel compassion, connection and care for yourself!

Sending these some love

Sometimes you just stumble across people that inspire you. And sometimes you just forget to tell them that that's what they do - inspire. So this is the month of challenges (in many ways) and we have come to day 9 i Natalie's blog challenge. They question today is:

Whose online business do you admire most and why?

I have to go 3-fold today. There are too many people I admire to cook it down to 1. I have never been good at "would you rather die by shark attack or fall off a cliff" and the "You HAAAAAVE to chose" kind of games... So not going to limit myself this time either.

1. Is Joanna Lindenbaum from Soulfulcoach.com

She is such a talented woman and always spot on. Her way of getting so close and personal even though she works 98% online amazes me. She brings her heart to what she does and it oooozes through the internet. When I grow up I want to be like her.

2. Is Caroline Cain from carolinecain.com

She is just so down to earth and really REALLY knows how to speak so you understand on a mental and visceral level. I could listen to her forever, and makes living healthy and happy sound like something that is possible, without changing everything about yourself... bonus.

3. Is Sarah Avant Stover from saraavantstover.com

I have never met her, but I adore how she brings women together via her online community. Important work and really something that more women need to engage in. When we go on our around the world trip next year, I might just have to ask her to drink coffee with me. :)

Besides those 3, I also have to send some online love to Natalie - she just helps so many people do what they love smarter.

<3

Anxiety got me started!

Ahh Day 7 - This blog challenge really doesn't feel like a challenge. Which is awesome - big thanks to Ms. Sisson. Today's question is great - just up my alley.

Which key tools will you turn to regularly to maintain your mindset and how will you use them effectively?

For years I delt with anxiety. Panic attacks, a constant sense of nervousness in my body, scared of being scared ruled my life. I isolated myself more and more, just from feeling so tired and not knowing how to face people anymore.

My way through those years became my meditation practice. I wasn't enlightened or fell in love with a guru. I just sensed tiny shifts for every time a sat and closed my eyes and let go of control. It wasn't always peace and ease - but more about handling what arose.

I became less scared and reactive, but learned to respond with more clarity. I began to see I had a choice. No matter how I felt, I was in control of the next step.

As for my mindset anxiety has become my "warning signal". I haven't had a full blown attack in years, but when a certain feeling creeps up I know it well, I know that this is when to slow down, take better care of my self, and allow myself to be vulnerable.

Easy - no, necessary - Yes.

Meditation and presence isn't only what happens on a cushion somewhere quiet. I bring it with me. It is how I move through life. It is compassion, care, curiosity, it is being connected to how I feel.

I am still me, I still have triggers and less flattering sides at times, but I am so much more aware of how they effect me, and stop a lot sooner then I did before. It is just so much easier to deal with when I am not on never ending auto-pilot.

So what supports me in business and life (and hey isn't it all just life??) is my meditation practice.

Perfection is feeding chickens...

So I thought I would skip Day 5 of the blog challenge, but then something perfect happened, and I had to go back to this challenge.

The question for Day 5 was: What’s does your perfect day look like?

I have written this down for every single business program I have attended. All good fun, but sometimes it just feels so far away. Maybe mostly because I have tended to think it had to be really different from my life as it is. Those perfect days are great, but I want to remember that the process is just so much more important. That's why I do what I do - to live my life as it is happening.

Being self-employed can be challenging, I  often loose sight, get into a panic when we are low on cash, sit up too long at nights and do everything that all the really rich business people tell you not to do.  My website isn't perfect, I don't have really expensive pictures and badges. I procrastinate and drink too much coffee. I mess up and say I'm sorry a lot.

I meditate and look at the guilt I feed myself and compassion is a part of it. So do I strive for perfection or see perfection in what is. The other day it became SO clear.

Last Thursday I decided to keep my oldest daughter home from daycare. My partner had done a night shift and was sleeping. On impulse me and the two girls hopped on the bike and went for a little ride. We ended up in a little haven in the middle of Copenhagen. A little area with farm animals.

We were invited in to feed the chickens and pet the rabbits. We ate apples and had a chat with a 94 year old man. We ended up having the time of our lives.

I was behind on work, reading, napping but in those few hours my day was perfect. Just what I want - freedom, happy children, time to enjoy the little things, and the ability to let go.

In the back of my mind Lou Reed was singing "Just a perfect day"... minus images from the movie Trainspotting...

What is does your perfect day look like?