As I was out walking the streets this morning, I was thinking how life is sort of like that. There are ups and downs and flats.

In my classes and with students/clients, I’m often talking about upper/lower limits. Some call it the “comfort zone.”

I’ve noticed that when people come up against an upper limit of good they (unconsciously) think they can have, they’ll often (unconsciously, again) become anxious or fearful, smack up against that upper limit, then slam back down to where they are more comfortable. At that point, they have choices; sideways, or up.

To me, this is like climbing hilly streets. If one is not in shape, one of the best ways up is to go up as far as you can, then go sideways awhile, then up the next street, sideways and up. Instead, many will go all the say up, then all the way down and the next morning, they’re so sore, they don’t want to go out again and don’t ~ until they talk themselves into doing it again ~ if ever. They’re back in their “comfort zone”.

Sometimes people will get up to a certain place (plateau), stay there awhile, then move up some more. That’s how I got myself in shape to climb a local mountain… climb, stop, breathe, climb, stop, breathe, until I reached the top.

It seems many of us are in a hurry to have things happen. When they open up, we want to take advantage. Not a problem. Just know that, if you go up, when you come down, you wont be down as far as you were when you started. You’ll have some learnings under your belt; you may be healthier; maybe have made more connections… all well and good! Excellent even!

Just remember to stop, breathe and carry on! As long as you’re moving… life will support you.. Always has so far, hasn’t it?

Enjoy and Injoy,

Revvell
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This week I interviewed this delightful author, speaker and motivator, Kimberlie Dykeman on Celebrating Your Potential. Usually I receive the latest book, dvd, etc. before I do an interview. This time, the book came after which is why I’m reviewing it here. 

It’s an easy read meaning there’s not a lot of pages at only 131. It’s a more difficult read in that I sit and ponder a lot of what she says and how it pertains to me. For example on chapter 14, pg.22: “Make today the day that you plunge (I like the word “plunge”) into uncharted territory. Purposefully cross paths with some of the sharpest strangers you will ever meet in your life. Throw a proverbial curve ball at your comfort zones and associate yourself with people from whom you can continuously learn about life on a daily basis. Scroll your picture show as ever changing and ever expanding.”

This is a book I recommend. Carry it with you and when you have a few minutes, read a chapter. Some are only a paragraph; some, two pages. As people tell me when I send out my Weekly Revvellations, each one carries a little nugget or jolt to catch you unawares and possibly that word or that sentence will have a profound impact on your life.

Kimberlie has a gift with words. Enjoy them.

Revvell

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I’m constantly seeing people going cheap on themselves when they start on the raw food program. They try to find a way to create really good food by not having proper equipment. Here’s the thing.. create more income. Yes, I know, many have children to care for but, here’s a post where I would like to see how people have created more income so they can not only have what they want, but what they need.

When I look back, I remember struggling to share $750 a month rent and 1/2 the utilities with my former roommate. It seemed to me I was doing everything I could to come up with that money PLUS, I was training to do what I do now as a natural health practitioner, and that was costing me around $750 or so a month as well.

To pay that, I was working various jobs including at a chiropractor’s office during the day, delivering pizza in the evenings and delivering newspapers at night. I did what it took to create the income!

Now, the REAL challenge came when my roommate came and told me she was moving and what did I want to do? Keep the apartment, get a roommate or move? Uh, well, hmmmph. Can I have a few moments to think about this?

Well, I advertised for a roommate but there weren’t any takers who didn’t want to at least be able to drink in their abode so I went looking. I found this lovely apartment with a HUGE front room which I knew I could use to teach movement classes ~ if I could get the students. Problem was, the apartment was $650 and ALL the utilities. Yikes! Well, I made the commitment. (Realize this was almost 16 years ago). That was in November of that year. In December of the same year, someone gave me a brand new motorcycle. Well, I wanted to keep it and ride it which meant gas, upkeep and insurance. In January of the next year, my teacher’s prices went up. Until then, I’d been paying $10 per week for Monday night class. That went up to $25 per week. Weekly sessions went up to around $125 per and monthly workshops went up as well.

Like most people, the first thing my mind tried to figure out was what I needed to DROP in order to keep the apartment and ride the bike. Of course, the first things I thought of to drop were 2 weekly sessions a month saving about $250. Maybe monthly group sessions? That’ll save about another $350 per month!

Don’t you see that happening? The stuff that gives us the most benefit, we drop first. When I was teaching, I saw the same thing. People would come every week until something happened and class or session, which gave them an hour of sanity once-a-week, was the first to go. NOT the junk food; NOT whatever else they were spitting their money away on… they gave up what pushed their buttons and pushed them to be better.

Now, what’s this got to do with going cheap on oneself? When I was struggling every month trying to figure out how to pay my rent, get sessions, etc., my teacher went off on a weekend retreat. He came home with his vehicle filled with food processors, Vita Mixes and Dehydrators… top-of-the-line. Well, I’m standing there with everyone else, rolling my eyes and looking at my friend thinking “Oh crap, more money”.

Well, I wish I could tell you specifically how I did it but all I can say is, I committed to having. At one point when I was wondering what I could drop and still have ALMOST all of it, I had an epiphany which told me I can and will have it all! I didn’t drop anything; I didn’t add more work/jobs yet, money just came to me!!! It was the weirdest thing! I never had to scrounge for the rent; I rode the bike EVERY weekend a minimum of 100 miles AND I got all the sessions, classes and went to all the groups meetings! If I could bottle and sell that, I’d be even wealthier than I am now!

One thing that was really interesting. I did start a class in my apartment. I usually had about 6 (at times I’d actually had 10 but overcrowded the room) people yet, for a time, I had only two. They came religiously although, they almost always came late (they were a couple). Others would come and go, but never stayed. It was weird. One day, they came late and I addressed the issue that we started the class at 7 p.m. and I expected them to be on time. (she was the one who was always late. If/when he came alone, he’d always be on time if not early) She said if I’d start 1/2 hour later, she could be on time. O.k., I did that. She was still late and what’s interesting it was always the same amount of time ~ 7 minutes. Now, how can this be?

Anyway, I told her that coming late and keeping me waiting, was disrespectful. She told me that she thought I’d just go ahead and start the class. Now, remember she and he WERE the class, which I pointed out to her. Right after my talk with her, she called and said that another class she was taking was switching to the night my class was and she was going to stay with that one. O.k., now I’m down one student. No, I’m not! The following week, 3 new people came to class! HUH? How’s that work?

Now, a couple weeks later, I have to have a talk with him because he’s telling me how and what I should teach; what music I should play; whether I should have the windows open or closed so, I call him and tell him that if he doesn’t like what I’m doing or how I’m doing it, stay home. He did! Guess what? 3 more students show up!!! Now, I’ve got six!

I don’t know how this all works out but from then on, I had average 6-8 people (which was comfortable for the room size) every single week.

Final notes: What happens in our lives depends on us. In the first scenario, I committed to having what I wanted. It was just a mind change. That’s it! I didn’t take on anymore jobs/work.. just said “I’m going to have it all!” and I did.

In the second scenario, things got so bad that I just couldn’t take it anymore. My lil monkey-mind chatter said that IF I talked to them about their behavior, I could lose them and the money I was getting from them. HEY! That’s $50 a month!! Well, you know what? It came to a point where I told myself, I’d rather lose that than have two people mis-treat me on a weekly basis. I set the boundaries and the universe responded. I taught that class for YEARS; stayed in that apartment for 12; received weekly sessions and monthly group trainings for 16 years and am still going for Monday night class for over 22 years now.

So, what’s the point of all this? I started this after reading one more time someone saying they can’t afford a VitaMix, a good food processor or an Excalibur Dehydrator, etc. They’ve given themselves a budget and trying to go cheap. That $100 they want to spend on a cheap blender would serve them better if they’d find some way to create more income so they can get the VM. Cheap blenders and juicers are just that. They don’t last when one uses them on a daily basis. They’ll leak or break down after a few weeks/months and that $100 is gone. My suggestion ~ make more money. Find a way to create some income so you can be, do and have what you want! Don’t go cheap on yourself.

Oh yes, I can hear you saying “but times are tough right now!” Well, are they really or is it because the media is saying so? More people are becoming wealthier now than ever before. There are more ways of creating income than every before! Also, a lot of it has to do with mindset. As long as one keeps reading/watching the bad news instead of looking around to see what they can appreciate, then they’re going to believe what’s in the bad news.

Here’s a solution: Listen to my podcasts on Celebrating Your Potential where I have guests on who are uplifting! Go to the library and read books on people who have struggled and made it. Look here for uplifting books I recommend which have assisted me. Most of all, make a commitment daily to be, do and have what YOU want in THIS life! Do something every day to achieve that! People I’ve worked with are amazed at what they are currently doing. Things they never thought when they met me a couple of years previously, that they’d be doing now.

I’d love to hear from you what you’ve done to uplift yourself whether it was getting more work, creating and selling items… what keeps you going?

Injoy,

Revvell
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Recently on forums and with people I work with, similar issues are coming up… people are upset because others aren’t giving them what they want or need.

For instance, they go to a “friend” or family member’s home and their families don’t accept them for what they do or who they are. Maybe they’ve changed their food program; maybe it’s the way they are raising their children; maybe it’s the spouse or even a new name they’ve chosen. Whatever!!!!

Instead of sitting with them and having an intelligent discussion, they (family members/”friends”) will roll their eyes, make sarcastic comments or show some other signs of disapproval. 

After that, the people who are not getting the support get upset and will write it out on a forum or go to people who DO support them, or come here and complain about these people. If you are one of these people, while you are NOT at this “friend’s” (see the quotes?) or family member’s home, ask yourself these questions:

1~ If I didn’t attach the word “friend” or “dad”, “mom” “aunt” “uncle”, “relative” to this person (these people), would I still hang out with them?

2~ why am I still trying to get them to accept me? 

3~  what will I have if they do accept me?

4~ why don’t I just go out and find people who know me as I am instead of trying to change others?

5~ how is it I don’t like them wanting me to change yet, I want them to be the way “I” want them to be?

6~ what’s the worst that can happen if I eliminate them from my life?

7~ what’s the best that can happen if I eliminate them from my life?

8~ why do I keep going back? 

Here are a few sentence completions (say the stem and complete it. Repeat 6-10 times with different endings):

a) One reason I keep dealing with people who don’t support me is….

b) One reason I feel guilty for being me (not seeing them on holidays; living YOUR life, etc.) is….

c) One reason I look outside myself for love and acceptance is…

d) If I found love and acceptance internally…

That’s one method I use to help clients get clarity on their issues whether they be financial, relational, physical, etc. 

Living one’s life in freedom ~ freedom from looking outward for others’ approval ~ is amazing! The more we keep ourselves locked up and playing small, the “safer” we think we are yet, I see so much unhappiness when people do this. At the end of our lives, do we want to say “… what if I had…” or “I’m so glad I did…”?

Revel in life!

Revvell

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I’m reading Terry Cole-Whittaker’s book: “What You Think of Me is None of My Business” and in it she’s talking about people who are suicidal and/or ill and here’s what she says: …”The irony is that they don’t actually want death; instead, they want more life, but don’t know how to get it. They want happiness, health and love, self-expression and abundance. They want to live, but they don’t know how. In effect, they say: ‘The only way to be free of an existence that is killing me is to die.’ So, they get the very thing they don’t want: death.” Pg. 71.

From the time I was 13 and up into my mid-40’s, I was suicidal. I’d created what was called “adult-onset asthma” in my late 20’s/early 30’s to the point where I almost died twice. About 1977, I started looking at my life. I felt I was too young to be so ill with so many little things that I started a search for health and happiness. During that search is when I created (unconsciously, of course) the asthma. 

In 1986, I found my teacher, Rocannon MacGregor. We did some work around food which I’d never found enjoyable. Eliminated meat and dairy and went on a plant-based diet. That alone knocked out the asthma by about 75%. But, what about the other 25%? That goes back to my first paragraph here. With all I was doing with martial arts, bodybuilding, etc., I still wasn’t happy. I’d thought doing those things would bring me health and happiness. They didn’t. I KNEW hanging out in bars playing pool most nights (I wasn’t a drinker) wasn’t getting it SO! what needed to be done?

Change my mind. We talk about brainwashing? Well, sometimes ~ done consciously ~ it’s good. We began washing my brain of all the fear of life that was holding me back, my self-doubt, my negative thoughts about myself and slowly, I began to learn that “I” was the one creating the asthma! I was the one creating my life the way it was! It took many years to undo what I, and society (with my agreement, however unconsciously) had done to me. 

I didn’t realize until many years later the cycle I had created. I wanted love, joy and happiness. I hated my life and so created a disease which kept me from living fully! How weird is that? Unless you’ve been there and are truly willing to give up the sickness and the despair you’ll probably not understand this. It was an incredible revelation to me.

This is why I now work with individuals as well as go out and speak on “Who Would You Be if Society Had Not Interfered?” and created my playbook “Revvellutionize Your Life in 30 Days ~ a Self-Empowering Playbook” and the playshop to go with it. Life has become FUN! I feel everyone deserves to live a life of fun and acknowledged choice. Without it, to me, life would be pretty dull.

I’d love to receive feedback on this. Thank you!

Revvell

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“We fight against the world of our own creation and try to prove to everyone, including ourselves, that our world and it’s problems are real.” Lester Levenson, “Happiness is Real”

This is a very profound statement in my opinion. As I learn more and more about my life and how I’ve created it so far, I see how the ego will keep us in illness, lack, depression, etc. It will fight to the death! We view all these things as real BUT are joy, love, happiness, health and prosperity real? Not to the ego. 

How many times have I worked with someone (even myself) and seen how hard they “try” to hold on to their dis-ease. If they didn’t have it, who would they be? How many times have I worked with someone who claimed to be broke? If they were prosperous, who would they be?

It seems that we can really assuage the ego by being ill, being broke, getting people to buy into our story… what happens when we change our story? Who wins? We do!!! BUT you may ask.. is it that easy? Actually, it is! I’ve seen and felt it myself! 

At one point, I’d moved from a shared apartment. My share was $375/month plus have the utilities. My roommate decided she was going to move. I failed to get a new roommate so went out and found a lovely place at $650 per month plus ALL the utilities. Well, I was barely scraping by at $375 BUT, I saw the potential in this place where I could hold weekly classes. I therefore declared to the universe that I COULD afford this new home! THEN, I received a gift of a new motorcycle. THEN, w/in a few months, my teacher raised his prices. Well, I wanted to afford to ride the motorcycle, keep my car, go to class AND sessions, so, what did my ego come up with? Cut out 2 weekly session. That was about $150 at that time. Then something hit me! NO!!!! I will NOT do anything of the sort. I SAW how students would stop coming to class or clients come for sessions with me ~ The ONE thing in life they most enjoyed they were willing to cut out because they were coming from survival, not thrival. Then and there I told myself I WILL have that apartment; I WILL ride my motorcycle EVERY Sunday and I WILL have enough money to go to class, weekly sessions and monthly groups sessions (which was about $1,000 per month at that time. Just declaring that, the universe opened up and gave me more students and clients. I stayed in that apartment for 12 years; kept the motorcycle until I was ready to give it up and never missed a class, session or weekend. 

It take making a commitment to oneself! By doing all that, I supported myself, my clients and students and my teacher. Can you see the cycle? In return, my teacher supported me, as did my students and clients. Life works, if you work it.

Love to all,

Revvell