New Year's Resolution Time

Happy New Year!

Now that the celebration is over, it’s time to reflect on 2008. What worked? What didn’t work? What would you like to change? What would you like to do better? This is a good time to tack stock of the past and make goals for the future. Here are some tips to help you make your new year’s resolutions a success:

Make a Plan

As you reflect on the past year, start a list. In one column make note of all the things you accomplished last year. Really think about it and give yourself credit! Meditate on how you were able to achieve these accomplishments and really congratulate yourself. In another column make a list of your setbacks. I know these are sometimes easier for us to come up with, but try to do so without judgment. What were the causes of these set backs and were the causes in your control or out of your control? Ask yourself how you could have changed the outcome if you had another chance. Also reflect on what you learned from your setback. Did you learn a valuable lesson?

Now make a third column. List the things you would like to improve or accomplish in the New Year. Make the list as long as you want and then whittle it down to something realistic --you can always add to it later. This will be your plan for the New Year. Put it somewhere where you can refer to it often.

Check out some of these motivating seminars to help start your new year plan off right: Activating the Law of Attraction, The Power of Vision, How to Build a Purpose Guided Life

Mix it UP

Each year, instead of making a classic resolution, I use January to jolt myself out of habits. It’s kind of a fast from my bad habits with some new habits sprinkled in. Weaning yourself off of your bad habits is hard, so adding some good habits in will help. And by good, I mean FUN! This year besides my usual abstinence from alcohol, I’ve decided to take a salsa class. It’s always a good idea to add something active into your routine when you are trying to wean yourself from a bad habit. First, it keeps your mind off of the habit and secondly, exercise sends you those lovely endorphins. Exercise saved me when I quit smoking.

Mixing up your routine is also a good way to keep from getting bored. Try some of these dance workouts to inject some fun into your routine: Disco Fit Workout, Bollywood Beauty, Brazilian Body

Happy Holidays

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Holiday Procrastination

Here I am again, it’s a week away from Christmas and I have not bought one single gift yet. Christmas seems to sneak up on me every year. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like to buy a gift unless it’s perfect for the person I’m buying it for. I should probably get gifts throughout the year when I find that perfect thing, but that would be too sensible! I’m just your classic procrastinator who doesn’t like to fight the crowds at any time of the year, especially around the holidays. Internet shopping was made for me!

By now, I have an inbox full of coupons from various stores. But this year, I want to give something meaningful, not just another expensive trinket that will only take up space. Plus, I’m thinking about the packaging and shipping footprints that my gifts will leave on the environment. So I started to think about all of the great audio and video programs I’ve sampled since I’ve been at iAmplify, and I’ve decided to send a download gift that has special significance for the people I love. Here are a few of my picks:

The best gift you can give is to pass on what you cherish most. I decided to send one of my good friends “Energy Anatomy” by Caroline Myss which has inspired me so much these past few weeks. My friend’s been out of work for some time and has been extremely frustrated by her circumstances. I feel like she needs this inspirational lift too. Find More Inspiring Gifts in our Personal Growth Section.

Since I’m getting married next year in Mexico and my dad has been afraid to fly after a turbulent flight to his father’s funeral more than 20 years ago, I sent him “Fear of Flying” by Captain Tom Bunn. I’ve heard so many customer testimonials about this product, I was confident that this could finally be the program that gets my dad on a plane again. Find More Health & Wellness Gifts in our Health Section.

My sister has always wanted to learn how to knit, but she never has time to take a class. So I’m going to get her this great video instructional by LA Designer, Suss Cousins: “The Complete Knitting Course.” Find More How-to Gifts in our Hobbies & Games Section.

For my nieces and nephews I’m getting a few “Frog and Toad” titles by Arnold Lobel & the holiday favorite “A Christmas Carol” read by Scott Brick. . They love listening to stories and now they can listen to them over and over without bothering their mom! Find More Great Audio Selections in our Entertainment Section.

My fiancé lives for basketball, so I’m getting him this inspiring audio program by John Wooden: Values, Victory and Peace of Mind. Referred to as the greatest coach of the 20^th Century, he teaches his formula in achieving the highest victory in sports, business and life. Find More Inspiring True Stories in our Non-Fiction Section.

One of the great features about sending a gift from iAmplify is that you can schedule when it arrives to the recipients inbox. Buy it today or Christmas Eve, schedule it for Christmas day and you are done! Learn More

What are you getting your family this year? We want to know! Please post your gift suggestions below:

Take Back Your Power

I don’t think there is anyone who hasn’t been affected by what’s happening in the world these days. Even the most stable seeming companies have gone under in the blink of an eye. Those that haven’t gone under have been laying people off left and right. There is nothing worse than the thought of losing your job during this environment. What will you do? How will you survive? These kinds of thoughts have been going through my head a lot lately and it can be a little paralyzing. I’ve had a hard time sleeping and have been sinking into a light depression of fear and anxiety. Instead of letting these thoughts take over my life, I decided to start exploring some of our new products at iAmplify to see if they could help change my outlook.

• One audio program that has made a huge difference in my outlook this week has been “ Energy Anatomy” and “Advanced Energy Anatomy” by Dr. Caroline Myss, who also wrote “Sacred Contracts”. I was really surprised by this product. The title made it sound technical and I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. But I am so glad that I took a chance and started listening to it. I was immediately captivated and I have been listening to it non-stop since. Both titles have 9 programs, each 1 hour long so there is a lot of material here.. It is all about taking control of your life: co-creating your reality instead of allowing other people to create your reality for you. Here are few important things you will learn:
• the 4 main archetypes that are common to us all and how they can keep us from living up to our potential
• how giving up your power affects your health
• our relationship to money; how we let it have authority over us and how we can learn to take back control
• how to embrace your creativity
• finding your spiritual vocation

The added bonus of downloading any of these programs is that you can take them with you wherever you go. I love that I can download these programs to my iPod so I can listen to them to and from work. This way I can start and end my day on a positive note.

I just want to say a special thank you to those who have written us. We would like to know what issues are important to you! Please drop us a line if you would like us to address something that you care about. You can email us at iamplifyemail@gmail.com.

If you have any tips or comments on this week’s topic, we would like to hear from you! Please post your comments below.

Minimize Holiday Weight Gain

If you’re anything like me, you’ve put on a couple of unwanted pounds over Thanksgiving. And there are still many holiday events to come! Now, you could wait until after New Year’s to work off all of the extra weight you’ll gain from holiday indulgence. You certainly don’t want miss out on the good times, including the delicous food and drink! But what if you could minimize the weight gain without depriving yourself? Here is one strategy that will most certainly help:

Build Muscle

If you can commit a couple of days a week to some strength training exercises between now and New Year’s, you can prepare your body to burn off the extra calories more efficiently and minimize your weight gain. Just think about how much more you will enjoy that slice of pie if you put in a little extra work now! Here are some of my favorite workouts that focus on building muscle:

• Plyomix is a great strength training workout. Designed by Ultimate Fighting Champion Matt Hughes, it combines the muscle sculpting power of Plyometrics (or jump training) and Mixed Martial Arts. A common misperception of strength training is that if you’re a woman it will bulk up your muscles. Believe me, this strength training workout won’t. What Plyomix will do is build strength and tone your muscles in a way you never thought possible. You can buy the whole program or you can buy the workouts separately. Try Plyomix Core, which targets your abdominals; Plyomix Power, which tones your butt and thighs; or Plyomix Impact, which strengthens your arms and shoulders.
• Or try the Shape Toning workout, created by the folks at Shape Magazine. It’s divided into three 15-minute segments devoted to three problem areas: abs, butt and thighs, and legs. The best part about this workout is that you can choose which segment you want to do when you want to do it. Even if you do one 15- minute segment a day, you will see results.
• If you like Kathy Smith’s walking program, you will love her Matrix Method Ultimate Sculpt, which combines cardio with strength training. This high intensity interval training will give you maximum results in less time.

The added bonus of downloading any of these workouts is that you can take them with you wherever you go. If you have to travel like I do over the holidays, it’s nice to know that you can bring your workout with you. If you are like me, you hate to get off track with your workouts because it’s so hard to motivate yourself to get back into the swing of a workout routine. By downloading these workouts to my iPod, I can workout for 30 minutes in my hotel room before visiting the family. Not only does it make me feel better mentally it also makes me feel less guilty about eating my sister’s yummy homemade fudge!

If you have any tips to minimize holiday weight gain, we’d love to hear from you! Please share your tips by commenting below.

3 Tips to Relieve Holiday Stress this Year

With all the doom and gloom happening in the world these days, it makes the upcoming holidays feel that much more stressful. So we wanted to offer some tips for alleviating some of your holiday stress this year.

Focus on Gratitude

When you sit down with your family at the holidays, take time out to tell each other what you are thankful for. This sounds like a no brainer – it’s Thanksgiving, after all. But because everyone has been so focused on the negativity that has been happening in the world, I think this is something we all forget to do. So:

• Try to change your perspective to look at the positive things in your life. Some great audio programs that speak to positive thinking are Judith Orloff’s “How to Stay Positive in Times of Uncertainty” and “Positive Thinking with Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer, and Others”

• Recognize that there are opportunities to grow and expand during these difficult times. As one of my favorite speakers, Tara Brach, recently said: “Stress is universal. The difference between getting caught in the trance of suffering and having a sense of freedom is how we respond to it. The glib phrase is, pain is inevitable but suffering is optional."

Family Survival Skills

The next set of tips come from Dr. Dale Atkins from "Sanity Savers", part of our Holiday Survival Guide program, particularly helpful for those of us with less than perfect families. Be realistic, but there are things that you can do to have a happy successful and warm holiday:

• Make an effort to avoid troublesome yet familiar communication patterns. If you avoid playing games, then you can avoid the negative pattern of keeping score. You need to do what you think is right or appropriate no matter what family members do

• Spend time getting to know your family members’ histories. Take an interest in them and get to know their personal stories. Ask family members to recall times when they were most happy or most content, the most engaged or the most happy. Find out key aspects of these people that you never knew

• For more advice on navigating family relationships, try Marianne Williamson’s inspiring program Functional Relationships or Deborah Tannen’s great interview on how we talk to each other: Stop Arguing and Start Talking.

Take Care of Yourself

Stress takes an extreme toll on our bodies and our minds, so it’s important to take extra care of ourselves during trying times:

• Meditation is a great way to focus your mind away from negative thought patterns. Just the practice of sitting and focusing your mind on your breath will give you a sense of calmness and it will center you for the challenges of the day. A meditation that I have recently discovered, the “Efflex Empowerment Meditation”, left me feeling both relaxed and hopeful about my future.

• Keeping your body moving is a great way to combat stress. One of my favorite fitness trainers these days is Patricia Moreno. Her workout, “Great Body & Great Life” combines fitness with positive affirmations. I actually look forward to her workouts, because it makes me feel so good both physically & mentally.

If you have any holiday stress relieving tips, we’d love to hear from you! Please share your tips by commenting below.