Hello! I hope you all are having a great week this week.

Appreciating the Moment While Also Moving Forward

Today I want to talk about appreciating where you are in this moment. I talk a lot about stepping into the you you want to become and how to feel calm while you do so. So much of the focus is on our future self which is a great thing to want to aim for! I love evolving into the next version of myself I want to become. My favorite thing to do is sit down with a cup of coffee and journaling about who my future self is, what she is wearing, and where she is.

But does life always have to be about forward growth? Can’t we just appreciate where we are at in this moment? I have a friend who once said to me, “if you can’t love yourself where you are at, you won’t love yourself where you are going.” This could not be more true! I talk a lot about this in the Better Body Image course inside of Aligned Coaching. If you do not have a love and respect for your body today, you will not suddenly have a newfound love and appreciation for your body when you “finally” lose the weight. That is why it is so important to love and appreciate your body and life now, as you work towards becoming your future self. This allows us to live life with intention, and daily make decisions toward where we want to become.

We are always moving towards the future version of ourselves, this just allows us to do so with intentionality. Appreciating where you are now goes hand in hand with intentionally moving towards where we want to be. Daily appreciation where we are now keeps us from missing the moments we currently are in. Constantly focusing on the future prevents us from experiencing the moments right in front of us.

In three years from now, you will still be wanting to move forward into her future self, while still appreciating the moment she is in.

Rest. Exhale. Breathe into where you are today. Appreciate yourself for the fact that you are moving forward. Find things to appreciate about today as you move forward, so you are not missing current moments.

Why Knowing Our Values are So Important

When I think of my future self, I think of the mom I want to be, the wife I want to be, the boundaries I want to have. I get really clear on the vision I have and notice what is there. If I am envisioning dropping Selah off at school 5-6 years from now, I envision myself pulling up to school with Selah and my coffee. We’ve been listening to music or laughing about something. I am dressed for the day so I can focus on work when I get home. As she walks to her class, I don’t have my phone in hand, instead I am waving to her and soaking in the moment. After, I will go do what I have planned for the day.

This type of visualization helps me connect to my values-not being on my phone, soaking in the moment. I am in the present moment, not focusing on a ton of other things at one day. Knowing these values, I can start implementing them today-such as tucking away my phone when I am with Selah or putting my phone on silent.

In your own vision, imagine if you were just focused on your future vision. Imagine me saying, oh I’ve already been on my phone a lot with Selah at this age, so I will just wait until she is 5 to stay off of my phone. This obviously will not work. I won’t wake up five years from now and decide to be present. It takes daily intention over time to stay in the present moment I want to be in. I have to start being in the present moment today in order to be present in 5 years. Shifting your thoughts from “oh, I will just do this later” to “I need to make this a daily habit so that it will be a regular practice down the road”.

How Can I Appreciate the Moment?

It is so important to not miss what is going on today. The biggest tip I can provide you to remember to not miss what is going on today is gratitude. You could write down three things you are grateful for today, or at the end of the day, you could send someone a note of what you appreciate about them lately. I talk about this idea in Shed, another component of Aligned Coaching. I will email Marco a note telling him what I’ve appreciated about him lately, and what I appreciated about him today. Not only does this set the tone of our relationship, but it allows me to be grateful for what he does on a daily basis.

Another note on gratitude-what you appreciate, appreciates. What you focus on, gets bigger and stronger. If I focus on the negative each day, that is what will get bigger and stronger, because that is where my intentions and attention is going. If I instead focus on what is going well, what I am grateful for, that is where my attention will remain, and it will continue to grow.

The goal is to never be perfect, the goal is just to work to become who you want to be, and appreciate along the way. We want to get out of our head, and get into action. In my last podcast, I talked about organization and why this makes action easier. It allows us to continue moving where we want to go even when the motivation isn’t as high. Fear and negative thoughts about growth are so normal. Your fear is defeat or failure, and you fear this because you care so much about getting to that future self. When you notice those negative thoughts, you want to get out of your head and get into action. Take the focus off of yourself-shift your focus. Take one action to move yourself forward. Call a friend and ask them to go to dinner with you so you can practice eating intuitively. Do the best you can with what you have.

I hope you have been able to take away some valuable bits of advice, and will take them into your week to try and implement.

Also, here are some links to help you continue learning how to balance being in the moment and moving toward your future self:

• Shed Course in Aligned Coaching – This course is designed to help you identify who you want to become, and call out all that’s been holding you back from becoming her. And then… step into powerful (and exciting) action as you become her and shed your old ways of doing things.
• Excess Workshop (free–just use your email to sign-up)
• Organization Podcast Episode