I recently discovered a new organic juice place, Greens & Company, in the marina neighborhood in San Francisco. And I’m crazy about it—not just for the juices, which I love, but because they have an expert nutritional consultant on staff to talk me through the benefits of each drink and advise me on which ones I need based on my lifestyle goals and current health.

Armed with a unique degree in Ecological Determinants of Health, Anna, the nutritional consultant has worked in Montreal, Vancouver, and India and is well versed in the importance of prioritizing a diet that lets the body and mind thrive.  Having spent a year cooking without sugar, gluten, dairy, or meat, she also loves offering tips on incorporating personalized change in the kitchen.

On my visit last month, the owner, Anna and I got to talking about juice cleanses. The shop specializes in individualized cleanse programs that optimize nutrition and hydration while giving the body digestive rest and the chance to flush out extra weight and toxins. I was intrigued…

To read more, click here

Here’s an exercise that will help you envision and illustrate your goals and aspirations!

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board (also called a Treasure Map or a Visual Explorer or Creativity Collage) is typically a poster board on which you paste or collage images that you’ve torn out from various magazines. It’s simple.

The idea behind this is that when you surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want to vacation, your life changes to match those images and those desires.

For instance, before I ever started performing music and I had no idea how I’d ever get a gig, write enough songs, or assemble a press kit, I drew a picture of myself in a bar with people watching me perform (I’m a terrible visual artist, so I actually had to label the people “people!”). And though it wasn’t the only factor in making it happen, I had a calendar full of bar and coffeehouse gigs by the next year.

My drawing was a kind of a vision board. Vision boards do the same thing as my drawing did. They add clarity to your desires, and feeling to your visions. For instance, at the time I did my drawing, I knew I wanted to play in bars and coffeehouses. (I have since left the that circuit, and I’m performing in theatres and at conferences. But in my early twenties, I wanted to play in bars and coffeehouses. I was pretty clear about that!) Taking the time to draw it out, even poorly, made it indelible in my mind.

There are several methods you can use for creating your vision board. I’ve written about each one below. You can choose which one works best for you, depending on where you find yourself on this path of creating your life.

Supplies you’ll need for creating a Vision Board:

- Poster board. (Target sells a really nice matte finish board. I highly recommend it.)

- A big stack of different magazines. (You can get them at libraries, hair salons, dentist offices, the YMCA.) Make sure you find lots of different types. If you limit your options, you’ll lose interest after a while. When I facilitate my women’s retreats, I always make sure we have plenty of Oprah, Real Simple, Natural Home, Yoga Journal, Dwell, Ode, Parenting, Money, Utne, and an assortment of nature magazines.

- Glue. Not Elmers. (It makes the pages ripple.) I like using Yes! Glue or Rubber cement. Glue sticks are my second choice because they don’t last.

Before you begin your vision board:

No matter which method you’re choosing, have a little ritual before you begin your vision board. Sit quietly and set the intent. With lots of kindness and openness, ask yourself what it is you want. Maybe one word will be the answer. Maybe images will come into your head. Just take a moment to be with that. This process makes it a deeper experience. It gives a chance for your ego to step aside just a little, so that you can more clearly create your vision.

Put on soft music. My favorite music for activities like this is Anugama Shamanic Dream I and Shamanic Dream II. I love these CD’s for massage or any activity where you want to keep your mind quiet.

The Five Steps of Creating a Vision Board:

Step 1: Go through your magazines and tear the images from them. No gluing yet! Just let yourself have lots of fun looking through magazines and pulling out pictures or words or headlines that strike your fancy. Have fun with it. Make a big pile of images and phrases and words.

Step 2: Go through the images and begin to lay your favorites on the board. Eliminate any images that no longer feel right. This step is where your intuition comes in. As you lay the pictures on the board, you’ll get a sense how the board should be laid out. For instance, you might assign a theme to each corner of the board. Health, Job, Spirituality, Relationships, for instance. Or it may just be that the images want to go all over the place. Or you might want to fold the board into a book that tells a story. At my retreats, I’ve seen women come up with wildly creative ways to present a vision board.

Step 3: Glue everything onto the board. Add writing if you want. You can paint on it, or write words with markers.

Step 4: (optional, but powerful) Leave space in the very center of the vision board for a fantastic photo of yourself where you look radiant and happy. Paste yourself in the center of your board.

Step 5: Hang your vision board in a place where you will see it often.

Three Types of Vision Boards:

1 - The “I Know Exactly What I Want” Vision Board

Do this vision board if:

- You’re very clear about your desires.
- You want to change your environment or surroundings.
- There is a specific thing you want to manifest in your life. (i.e. a new home, or starting a business.)

How to create this vision board:

With your clear desire in mind, set out looking for the exact pictures which portray your vision. If you want a house by the water, then get out the Dwell magazine and start there. If you want to start your own business, find images that capture that idea for you. If you want to learn guitar, then find that picture. I remember at the last retreat, one woman yelled out, “If anyone finds a picture of a little girl with red hair who looks happy, give it to me!” And someone else yelled out, “I’m looking for a Cadillac!” Pretty soon, a lively trading session began. Following the five steps above, create your vision board out of these images.

2 – The “Opening and Allowing” Vision Board

Do this vision board if:

- You’re not sure what exactly you want
- You’ve been in a period of depression or grief
- You have a vision of what you want, but are uncertain about it in some way.
- You know you want change but don’t know how it’s possible.

How to create this vision board:

Go through each magazine. Tear out images that delight you. Don’t ask why. Just keep going through the magazines. If it’s a picture of a teddy bear that makes you smile, then pull it out. If it’s a cottage in a misty countryside, then rip it out. Just have fun and be open to whatever calls to you. Then, as you go through Step 2 above, hold that same openness, but ask yourself what this picture might mean. What is it telling you about you? Does it mean you need to take more naps? Does it mean you want to get a dog, or stop hanging out with a particular person who drains you? Most likely you’ll know the answer. If you don’t, but you still love the image, then put it on your vision board anyway. It will have an answer for you soon enough. Some women at my retreats had NO idea what their board was about, and it wasn’t until two months later that they understood. The Opening and Allowing Vision Board can be a powerful guide for you. I like it better than the first model because sometimes our egos think they know what we want, and lots of times those desires aren’t in alignment with who we really are. This goes deeper than just getting what you want. It can speak to you and teach you a little bit about yourself and your passion.

3 – The “Theme” Vision Board

Do this vision board if:

- It’s your birthday or New Years Eve or some significant event that starts a new cycle.
- If you are working with one particular area of your life. For instance, Work & Career.

How to create this vision board:

The only difference between this vision board and the others is that this one has clear parameters and intent. Before you begin the vision board, take a moment to hold the intent and the theme in mind. When you choose pictures, they will be in alignment with the theme. You can do the Theme Vision Board on smaller pages, like a page in your journal.

Some things to remember about vision boards:

- You can use a combination of all three types of vision boards as you create. Sometimes you might start out doing one kind, and then your intuition takes over and shifts into a whole different mode. That’s called creativity. Just roll with it.

- Your vision board might change as you are making it. I was just talking with a friend of mine who said that she had been making a vision board for the new year. The theme was all about what she wanted in this year. Then, as she pulled pictures and began to lay them out, the theme changed into a simpler one about her everyday life and the moments in each day. It surprised and delighted her to experience that evolution. You might find that you have little epiphanies from making a vision board.

Make a Vision Journal

Another option is to use these same principles in a big sketch book. Get a large sketch book and keep an on-going vision journal. This is especially effective if you’re going through many transitions in your life.

I welcome anyone who has created a vision board to write your own experience in the comments…

Have you made a vision board? Share your vision boards and tips in a comment!

Ever tried to use an affirmation but felt like it wasn’t working?

Sometimes it’s a matter of customizing the affirmation so it rings true with your mind. It’s not going to be effective if it feels like we’re lying to ourselves. Try creating one for yourself!

1) Start with the thought you don’t want – example: it’s so hard to lose weight

2) Go to the ideal thought – example:  I’m so happy I’m at my ideal weight

3) Work your way from thought # 1 towards thought #2, and come to a phrase that’s believable and workable

- Example: It’s so hard to lose weight, but by saying this I feel trapped. I want to be at my ideal weight but it seems so far away. If I could implement consistent healthy changes I know I would lose the weight. I’ve done it before I can do it again. I just have to reduce of my sugar intake, reduce my “high glycemic index” foods (like bread and other carbs) that instantly turn into sugar. I need to stop my inflammatory foods and beverages, like coffee, and I need to spike up my exercise beyond dancing.

- I know what I need to do to lose weight and I can choose to make consistently healthy choices.

- Starting now, I choose the healthy choices. I love making healthy choices and I love the empowered feeling it gives me. I am so excited to make my 30 day campaign of wild and crazy health! I start today.

- Today I chose health! …and I love the rewards of health more than I enjoy that  short-lived moment of  morning coffee. I can do this!

Now I have a handful of affirmations that I can use throughout the day to keep me making healthy choices and take the consistent steps towards losing the eight pounds I’ve been carrying around.

Kick start phrases to create your affirmations:

- I know that I am more than capable of ….

I know that I am more than capable of  being a social butterfly, I’m  going to enjoy meeting one new person today

- I know that I am perfectly capable of….

I know that I am perfectly capable of asking for a raise and I’m going to put together a document of everything I’ve done over and above my requirements that will help me to articulate my request.

- From this point forward I choose to…

From this point forward I choose to not give in to fear. If I have to take it with me so be it. I will no longer be stopped by fear.

- That was then. This is now and now I……

That was then. This is now and now I am no longer afraid to approach a person and start a conversation.

- Today I choose…..

Today I choose to show myself love by being disciplined and sticking to my workout routine

- I am so excited to……. Because……

(I am so excited to make that awkward phone call because I’ll have made the empowered choice and the issue will be off my mind)

- I can….if I calm down and choose to….

(I can hear my intuition if I calm down and choose to sit in stillness for a moment. I’ll do that now)

-  Together with the divine…….

(Together with the divine there is nothing I cannot handle. I will walk into that event and talk to ten people)

or

(Together with the divine, I have the strength to get through this and I can already feel it’s success).

What affirmations do you personally use every day? Share them with others in a comment!

By Rebecca Santiago

Essential tips for getting ahead in your first job: You’ve got those under control. Turns out some of them are pretty surprising, right? They are—and that’s why I started wondering about some of the recommendations floating out there that are still considered sage work advice for career girls…well,are they still DOs?

I decided to run this theory by Alexis Sclamberg, an anything-but-hokey self-help expert and motivational speaker who rocked the house at the Massachusetts Conference for Women. She knew exactly what I was talking about. After her previous career as a prestigious but stressed-out attorney led to “a total meltdown,” Sclamberg got her priorities in order, began to help others do the same, and even set to writing an upcoming book on the topic called Borrowed Wisdom: The Best Advice They Never Tell Us. Here, she dismantles a few not-so-true career and life truisms and offers advice that’s actually worth following.

DON’T always follow through.
“People always told me to follow through on everything: If you make a commitment, stick to it,” Sclamberg says. She remembers how, as an attorney, she would often prioritize her sense of commitment over everything, including her health. “My body would physically rebel against the experience of going into work. When I walked in the door, I would get a stomachache, and I was chronically fatigued,” she says. And yet, she pushed herself to keep at it…

To read more, click here

Found this great exercise from GPS for the Soul! Check it out.

Over the period of 1-2 weeks, record your daily activities in a journal. Write down how you spend your time at the end of every day, whether it was a one hour gym workout, to two hours watching TV. At the end of the week, create a table listing all the activities, the amount of time spent on each one, and how much pleasure or meaning the activity brings to you. Use a scale of 1 through 5, 1 meaning no meaning or pleasure, and 5 meaning high meaning or pleasure. Indicate next to the amount of time whether you want to spend more or less time on that activity.

Based on your findings, envision your ideal week, being as realistic as possible, given your daily obligations. Will participating in a certain number of hours to your favorite hobby contribute to your overall well-being? Think of small activities that you can introduce to your life that can provide a benefit. For example, if you dread taking the train or bus every morning to work and haven’t had time to read the newest book on your shelf, try bringing the book to read for your ride there to make the time more enjoyable.

Came across this lifetime goals exercise – check it out:

1. List 100 things that you would like to achieve in your lifetime
…yes 100 things, don’t be afraid to write them all down and remember not to hold back thinking ‘that might not be possible.’ …this is the start of making your dreams come true. These could be things you want to achieve, experience with your family, learn, places you want to visit…they can include anything that are important to you.

And commit them to paper – after all writing down goals increases dramatically the chance of them being achieved.

2. Importance of your goals
For each of your goals now write down why it is important to you and on a scale of 1 – 10 how important. You might start to learn about yourself in this process, about what is really important to you and some goals that you once had may no longer be a priority.

3. Make your goals SMART
To ensure your goals really give you the focus needed to achieve them ensure they are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and have a Time Scale (see SMART objectives) And included in this is ensuring you put a time scale on each – when would you like to achieve these by – 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years, 10 years?

4. View, Review and Revise
Once you have a list of goals you are happy with put them somewhere where you can see them and be reminded of them day after day. Keep adding to and revising the list.

This may only be the first stage in the process (and you will find more tips to help you on other pages)…but this lifetime goals exercise is an exciting and powerful first step in helping you to achieve your dreams.

For those who send out plenty of networking emails and phone calls only to hear nothing but silence, the question isn’t why they should network, but how. A few things to consider.

By Deena Shanker

FORTUNE — When Shira Saiger headed to Cartagena, Colombia for a friend’s wedding in October 2010, she wasn’t expecting the trip to lead her to her dream job. But as a corporate attorney at Gibson Dunn’s New York City office, she was always looking for an opportunity to jump to the legal offices at a media company.

The bride’s sister knew an attorney at ABC, and after following up a few months later, Saiger passed along her resume, not knowing what — if anything — would come of it. By July, she was a lawyer at Hearst.

Networking didn’t always come easily to Saiger, who admits she was initially shy about reaching out to people she didn’t know. “But once I got more in the habit of it,” she says, “it got much easier to do.”…

To read more, click here

Have you downloaded “GPS for the Soul” from the Apple store? It’s an interesting way to track how you’re doing…features include:

• Built-in sensor that will gauge your emotional state and determine whether you’re stressed or calm
• Guides to help you “course-correct” from music and poetry to breathing exercises and pictures
• Breathing pacer to help regulate your breathing
• Social activity feed: shows how your friends are feeling & what guides resonate with them. You can favorite a friend’s guide, share one that resonates with you, or leave a comment.

The moment the calendar page flipped to February my friend was already thinking about it.

“Ugh,” my friend sighed, looking at the blank 14th square in her calendar. “I just can’t be disappointed again on Valentine’s Day.”

This was a story I had heard on repeat. Her boyfriend, so in love with her as he might be, had managed to let her down on one too many Valentine’s Days. One year, his grand gesture was taking it upon himself to order Chinese delivery when he came home from work — sans card, chocolate, flowers (not to mention a real gift) — when he discovered she hadn’t cooked dinner as usual.

“You know what?” my friend started, “maybe this is the year I take charge. Maybe I’ll do Valentine’s Day.”

To read more, click here

Did you know it’s random acts of kindness week? Try one a day…and share here!