I know it's super late notice and that there are lots of fitness challenges going around for the next month, but I wanted to share mine with you guys if anyone might be needing a little motivation! Last year my sister and I challenged ourself to work out every day except Sundays for the whole month of October. We call it GYMTOBER (and yes, it's always written in all caps). GYMTOBER is 3 daily physical fitness goals: one for cardio, one for strength, and one for flexibility, with one day of the week being a rest day. As an example, my daily goals this month are 30 minutes minimum of yoga, 30 minutes minimum of working out at the gym, and 15 minutes minimum of cardio, and I've got Sunday as my rest day. Here's a link to a free little calendar template that I use to keep track of my daily goals. It's blank so you can add yours in there :) happy GYMTOBER! https://www.canva.com/design/DAGSQkxD62U/n4PgLPG5mUOh1Sf3zNwlRQ/edit?utm_content=DAGSQkxD62U&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Let us all know below!

I want to know… What is your why? What motivates you, why are you here trying to get better, what is your purpose? You can answer however you want, I really just want to know why you are here. Find someone that has a similar why as you and connect with them!

I've been thinking a lot this week about the benefits of mindfully practicing gratitude. I've been practicing every single day for almost three years, and I've seen blessings. One thing that I've come to see is the power of gratitude as an antidote to negative emotions, especially relating to envy and comparison. I've been consciously practicing this in my own life for several months. When I start feeling that sticky, not-good-enough feeling, I'll pause and think of something that I am sincerely grateful for - specifically in my life. Like the love I share with my family. Like the fact that I am healthy. Like the adventures I have had, with the people who really care about me. Like being part of a supportive, MindFit community. When practicing this, I see even more good in my life, and I see it everywhere. I see it in myself. I see it in my "fellow-passengers to the grave." The time I spend engaging in comparison has significantly decreased. I'm able to love people more unselfishly. I'm able to see the beautiful, unique path that I walk, and the one that you walk, and those that we all walk. Gratitude is a powerful antidote for envy and comparison.

I had the coolest experience this morning doing the guided breakthrough meditation that just got posted! Last night I went to bed with a little stomachache and woke up at 02:00 with it a LOT worse. I was still in pain this morning and didn't wanna do much but I decided I could meditate and start my day off right. I chose to get on and listen to the most recent podcast episode where Daniel guides us through the breakthrough meditation. Instead of focusing on a specific negative emotion, I let my body tell me where it wanted to focus and of course my awareness went right to my stomach. I was able to drop into the meditation and find out which emotion was being held where I was hurting. I was able to visualize this emotion, give it to a higher power, and let it be replaced with something positive. When I came back to awareness at the end of the meditation, I was so happy to realize that my stomach didn't hurt anymore! Being able to work through negative emotions impacts how we feel in the physical body. It was an awesome experience, thanks so much Daniel for posting the meditation!