Take a few moments today to reflect on the past year – what have you learned? What are you grateful for? What would you like to do differently in the new year? Try to write down a few of your reflections and feel free to look at them periodically in the new year.

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Do you see someone harassing someone else and don’t say anything? Do you witness injustice around you and don’t speak up? Do you allow someone to do something to you that you don’t like, and you don’t speak up? Do you not speak up because you think someone else will? Are you afraid of what [...]

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When we think about taking responsibility, we usually think about being responsible for something or someone, or acting responsibly, i.e., not stupid or immaturely. However, taking responsibility can mean something totally different: it can empower us to be responsible for our own feelings and thoughts and avoid blaming others. Taking responsibility for our own lives [...]

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I love sugar and sweet treats. In fact, often I crave something sweet and am not satisfied until I get it. Interestingly, a friend of mine (who is a doctor of Naturopathy) sent me an article recapping a research study, which concluded that refined sugar is far more addictive than cocaine! 94% of rats who [...]

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Hold the door open for an extra 5 seconds when someone is following us into a store.
Help someone carry their groceries out to their car.
Allow two people to pull out in front of you while driving (instead of the usual 1 or 0).
Ask someone who seems to be struggling if you can help them.
There are [...]

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In my spinning classes, we do speed drills. For the longer speed drills and when we are riding at 90 to 100% of our maximum speed, instead of having students envision themselves on a road, going for the finish line (although I do give them this option), I encourage students to think about a goal [...]

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Roll the shoulders forwards in a circular motion a few times, then backwards a few times. Then pull the shoulders up to the ears, bring them back, and slowly release them down. Doing shoulder rolls is a quick way to loosen up the shoulders, upper back, and neck muscles, and also a good way to [...]

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We’ve all had days when everything seems to go wrong, and all we want to do is complain. We’ve also had days in which someone has complained to us, and we wonder, “Gosh, do I sound like her?!” What good does complaining do? The more we send out negative energy and vocalize what we don’t [...]

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Eat an extra serving of fruit.
Do cardio for an extra 5 minutes.
Hold the door longer for a slow-poke behind you.
Drink an extra glass of water.
Do 10 crunches while watching TV.
Let two cars go in front of you (instead of just one).
Drink a cup of green tea.
Somehow, someway, today, Step It Up!

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Something I’ve noticed in my workout classes is that almost everyone ends up hunching their shoulders when they are lifting weights, doing cardio, or even just stretching. While lifting weights, we are either unaware that our shoulders are rounding forward and hunching up towards our ears, or we are lifting too much weight and sacrificing [...]

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