#inspsiration

@ josefholz

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Since I started Crazy Blonde Life so many years ago, my tagline has been “A Daily Indulgence”. Today, for some reason, I decided to look up the meaning of indulgence…

Indulgence - The practice of allowing enjoyment of whatever is desired

You can indulge in anything! You can indulge in bad food, you can indulge in Netflix, you can indulge in literally anything you want!

After I looked up indulgence, I looked up quality and was surprised at how many definitions of quality there are, but the one I was looking for was…

Quality - A degree of excellence

From where I’m standing, quality and indulgence should go hand in hand. Do you want a life of quality and can you indulge in quality.

Quality can exist in the most simple situations. You can’t really compare sleeping in a luxury hotel with sleeping under the stars on a beautiful night, but they’re both quality experiences. You can’t compare eating in a 5 star restaurant to eating a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie straight from your oven, but they’re both quality experiences. What do you want to indulge in? What do you desire in your life…? Do you desire quality in your indulgences?

Do you feel that desiring something whether you indulge or not makes you ungrateful for what you have?

I personally believe that living a life of gratitude for what you have while still desiring more is a magical state of being.

I don’t know exactly what I want in my life, but I have realized as the years have gone by that I want to use the platforms that I’ve grown (including this blog) to help women live a life that they love and are creating on purpose. Quality to me is living a life that feels good, a life with possibilities for more while at the same time, being grateful for what I have and what I’ve created.

Quality experiences, friendships, conversation, clothing and food are things that are indulgent essentials as far as I’m concerned. The quality of your life equals the quality of what you decide to indulge in. So…if indulgence means indulging in the enjoyment of what is desired…desire needs to be considered before the indulgence happens. I believe we all desire a beautiful life and I also believe we should indulge accordingly.

Choose your indulgences wisely and the quality of your life will follow!

When it comes to fashion, I have realized that investing in a few great quality pieces each season is the key to building a wardrobe that will stand the test of time. The pants I’m wearing are by Ulla Johnson - the cut of these is almost exactly the same but they’re not offered in green this season. Ulla offers them every season in a slightly different look. I bought these pants three seasons ago and still love them so much. My Ark Bag from Cult Gaia is also three years old and it is my go-to summer bag and looks amazing with everything. The shoes and blouse were purchased this year and I know they will be worn many times!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post…I really enjoyed thinking about indulgence, desire and quality and they all should interact with each other…It was a fun post to write! I still consider my blog posts a daily indulgence for those who read them and I hope you do as well!

Living a quality life has become my passion. Mindset is my top priority and really has everything to do with how I live each day. If you feel this same passion, but are struggling with making it happen…you will love my 30-day Journey of Becoming program. Change your mind…change your life. It’s not simple, but it’s definitely worth it!

1. Know yourself – what you want, and do not want.

2. Have good boundaries – know what is healthy, and what crosses that line.

3. Know your value, and require respect.

4. Get out there and meet a wide range of people.

5. Give people a reasonable chance.

6. Don’t put people into a box; be open to being surprised.

"We all want to be able to live out the truest and highest expression of ourselves as human beings." ~ Oprah Winfrey

I just saw a post on Facebook about how it feels when your children finally leave and you realize that it's "for good"!  It really struck a note for me because my daughters are all gone "for good" and I must admit that I don't like it!  I feel sometimes like there is a big hole in my heart!  I'm so proud of all of them because they are strong, independent, smart and very beautiful young women!  Most of my life has been dedicated to raising my daughters and now they are on their own.  I've talked so much about how Crazy Blonde Life is keeping me busy and it truly is my passion, but it will never take the place of the joy that being a mother (and now a grandmother) brings.  Being alone, when I'm so used to being surrounded by the hustle and bustle of a family has been one of the hardest things I've ever experienced and it's kept me feeling really down and a little depressed at times.

There have been some major changes in my life lately that I'm not quite ready to talk about on the blog, but suffice it to say that I have been feeling a little "crazy"!  I'm really learning to "truly live" all of the things that I've been talking about here for a while now.

Yesterday I drove seven hours to Nashville for a visit with my two youngest daughters, Rebecca and Sarah.  Rebecca is flying in from Boston and Sarah lives an hour away...so we are all meeting for a few days of girl time.  As I was driving, I listened to YouTube almost all of the way.  I'm always looking for things that inspire and motivate me and I've discovered some great new YouTube videos.  One of the people that I love is Mel Robbins.  As I was listening, I added quotes (voice activated of course) to my notes.  I kind of just let YouTube take over and it went from Mel Robbins to Oprah to Abraham Hicks.  I had a Spiritual Life class while I was driving!  

Here is a summary of the notes that I made and I'll elaborate (that sounds awfully boring, but I promise it's not)!

Have the courage to hear my inner wisdom - We all have that problem with repetitive thought patterns that keep us stuck in the same bad situations over and over again.  Well, it turns out that our brains do this to us on purpose, because change is scary and habits are familiar so we revert back to them.  Have you ever heard the definition of insanity..."doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  We all do it to some extent, but we don't have to.  Our inner wisdom, our connection to the Universe, our "little voice", the voice of God, whatever you want to call it, that is what will save us from being stuck in those repetitive thought patterns which in turn keep us stuck in unhappiness and lives that are less than the ones we want to live.

Mel Robbins talks about the five second rule (see more here) and the Confident Competent Loop (read this article)!  To break a habit (including habitual thought patterns) you have to insert a different behavior.  You can't always control how you feel, but you can control how you act. Unless, you've been drinking too much wine...then it's a problem, so maybe (if you're like me), you need to lay off the wine a little!  

"We all recognize that our success accelerates when we are confident.  The reason is simple.  Without confidence we revert to fear, and when we are fearful we don’t take any action.  We get tentative, we delay and we procrastinate.  When you are able to let go of fear, you take action more quickly and easily." 

The five second rule is one that Mel Robbins came up with that helped her get through a tough time in her life.  The premise is simple.  When your thoughts are less than what you want them to be, when you're feeling stuck or lost in fear...count down from 5...5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  This automatically reprograms your brain to think differently.  I'm making it sound simple and it really is, but the interesting thing is the science behind it.  I really recommend that you buy her book or listen to YouTube.  It's fascinating and it works.

Your doubts create mountains and your actions move them!  This one really got me.  Usually, most of us can handle even the hardest times in our lives, but fear and doubt take over our minds and it paralyzes us and sends us back to those nasty habitual thought patterns of fear.  Action...just one small thing can move us out of that and then we can create the change that's necessary.  That was a big one for me.

Make progress every day on one thing that matters to you!  If you keep the vision of your goals and dreams and do just one thing every day to move in that direction, the Universe has no choice but to bring you what you want.  Don't doubt...just keep moving in the right direction and trust.

Stop arguing for your limitations.  This goes back to the Confidence Competent Loop because of the negative thought patterns.  It's just our brains trying to keep us "stuck" in the same place.  You don't have any limitations.  You can do whatever you want to do.  Just start!

I'm so glad that you're going along on the journey with me!  I love sharing what I've learned and continue to learn as I strive to "live out the truest and highest expression" of myself!

My daughter received a handmade birthday card when she was young from a friend of hers and I'll never forget it...it said - "I wish for you a rainbow"

1. Stop resisting change and see it as a constant in life.

2. Learn to enjoy, and value, solitude.

3. Never forget that friendship is a gift, not a possession.

4. Things are rarely as bad as they seem at first.

5. Do your most important tasks first thing in the morning.

6. Smiling seems to help with most things!

7. Schedule margin into your life – as something unexpected will often change your plans.

8. QTIP: quit taking it personally.

9. Define what’s necessary; say no to the rest.