Browse published articles attributed to Kimberley Cohen, with full-archive search.
Some people are more flexible in their thinking and the way they do things. They seem to flow through changes quite easily and effortlessly whereas for others it can be extremely challenging. If you have ever taken a Yoga class or know a bit about it, you realize that you wouldn’t start at an intermediate class, you would start with the beginners.
Our days can be busy. In fact too busy sometimes with appointments, house and/or office work, to-do lists, schedules, meetings, racing from one place to another, grocery shopping, errands, planning, etc. If you have children, that can add a whole other dimension to busyness just on it's own! Whew... I don't know about you, but I become tired just reading the list of ways our lives can become one gigantic timetable of events and things to do. Then there are days with the extra challenges, as if you didn't have enough already.
We are generally either consumed with too much to do and too little time, or too much time and not enough to do. Where are you? Are you the type of person that is rushing around with a million and one things to do and get done, or are you walking around aimlessly wondering what to do first or next? Perhaps you aren't even sure if you really want to do anything.
Appreciating What You Have In Your Life by Kimberley Cohen Sometimes it’s difficult to appreciate what you have in your life because you might be looking at and longing for what you don’t have. When you can be grateful for the love and abundance in your life right now, you are less likely to be stressed or anxious about what you feel is missing or lacking. This isn’t always easy since the grass can look pretty lush and green on the other side of the fence, so to speak.
What to do when life throws you a curve ball: Keep batting and don't give up. Learn to hit them right out into the stands and run all the bases for a home run. Hear the crowd go wild. Feel the glory inside that you didn't throw down your bat in defeat. We are all pitched a few curve balls in life. Some can throw your whole game off if you aren't prepared to deal with them.
In your circle of friends, or amongst co-workers, or family members, or even from yourself, do you hear more complaining, blaming, criticizing and judging? Or, do you hear the appreciation for things and others in life? Are you the type of person spreading thanks, cheer and good will, or are you contributing to your own or other people’s doom and gloom? You can still appreciate life through all its ups and downs and twists and turns. Do you believe it? Are you able to do this?
Every person is for your growth, learning, and expansion. This can be hard to believe especially from a person who pushes your buttons and you feel like pulling your hair out. It’s much easier to acknowledge the great and awesome qualities that our friends bring for us and reflect in us. Perhaps they are humorous, kind, compassionate, caring, successful, fun to be around, inspiring, loyal, etc. It can be difficult to recognize that we have these same positive virtues. We enjoy being around them because it’s fun, light, and effortless.
When we are in the midst of a crisis, it’s not always easy to see the bigger picture because we are consumed with emotions and often overwhelmed. At the time you might only be seeing the immediate situation and not the ways you are being supported through this turmoil. We don’t always recognize the “good” in the “bad”, so to speak. Our egos like to take a strong hold in keeping us stuck in the situation and not wanting our eyes and hearts to open to the bigger picture. There is more to someone/something than meets the eye.
Earl Nightingale said, "Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savoured." What wonderful words of wisdom. Are you living by them?
Often people don’t take risks because of fear of rejection, judgment, failing, making a mistake, being wrong, or fear of the outcome not being as expected or afraid of how things might turn out. Yet taking a gamble is how to overcome worries, indecision’s, and problems and transmute them into love, healing, action, and possibilities. What are your fears? Making decisions? Being hurt? Asserting yourself? Intimacy? Being wrong? Changing jobs? Being alone? Aging or dying? Ending a relationship or staring a new one? Being judged or not being right? Public speaking?r
Do you write in a journal on a regular basis? There is no right or wrong approach to jou aling, but there are ways that are more effective and helpful to you. What's important about jou aling, is not that you follow a certain criteria, but rather that you are writing on a consistent basis about that which is aiding your continual growth and gratitude. What I often hear from my clients when I ask them to keep a journal is that they don't have time, and/or they don't know what to write about.
At one time or another we have all experienced someone who seems to know exactly what to do or say that turns our calm demeanor into a raging lunatic on the inside, and sometimes even on the outside. You find yourself saying and doing things you didn’t really want to, or wanted to and then wished you hadn’t, or your good day or mood takes a nose dive in the opposite direction. It’s like you are wearing a button that says, “Push, to upset me”, and the next thing you know, bingo, it happens.
What makes your life fit like a fine pair of shoes? What makes it comfortable, appealing, affordable, sexy, and perhaps even dazzling? When you buy a pair of shoes you generally purchase ones that feel good, fit right, and appeal to you. You know what you don’t like or what doesn’t feel right, and you know what does. Life isn’t much different. You realize the things you enjoy and don’t enjoy about it. That’s the easy part the difficulty often lies in making your personal, professional and spiritual life a good match for you.
At one time or another, maybe even today, I am sure you have experienced a lack of motivation, zest, or enthusiasm in your professional and/or personal life. Perhaps you are feeling stuck, down and out, pessimistic, stressed or anxious, or find yourself wanting to throw in the towel, so to speak. Some days you may feel you don't have the energy or incentive to do much of anything and that the challenge you are facing is too great. That's okay. We all have days like those from time to time.
We have all experienced troubled times in our lives, as if there was a black cloud hovering over our days. Each day you get up thinking, "Perhaps today will be better" The only real way it will be different is by shifting the mind-sets around the challenging times. If all you choose to see are the black clouds, how do you expect to see, let alone experience, sunshine? You have to make a decision that no matter what the day entails, you will find at least one thing that you can feel blessed about. Within a week you will be discovering all sorts of blessings in your life.
So how does one put the wind back in their sail? It's simple really, and here's the great news. You are the sail and the wind behind it. Yes, you. Most people set off on their course in life with their sail boat chartered for great destinations. Somewhere along the way the wind seems to die down and they are left struggling to get their sails catching the breeze again. Often they sail off course or, get stuck in one direction or, tire and give up as they drift out to sea aimlessly and become lost. Perhaps they reach their destination and then don't know where to set sail next.
Have you ever had one of those days when things seem to go wrong instead of right? Perhaps a conversation you wanted to have doesn’t go the way you intended, or an event gets rained out or doesn’t happen the way you expected, or you are stuck in traffic and you’re going to be late, or the dinner party you organized doesn’t work out the way you thought, or things didn’t go well with your boss, partner, friend or family member, or your trip was postponed, etc. A lot of things can seem to go wrong in life and it’s up to you to make them right.
There really aren’t right or wrong decisions. There is the choice you make, what transpires when you make it, and what you do from there. When you make a decision and it doesn’t turn out the way you had hoped, it doesn’t mean it was the "wrong" one, or if you would have chosen differently, it would be the "right" one. Either way, you made your decision, and now it is offering you possibilities and opportunities to learn something new about yourself, another person, or the situation you are in.
Each minute is a brand new start. Why wait until tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year to start fresh? In any given moment we can check in and see how we’re doing. Are we rushed, stressed, sad, happy, anxious, content, breathing, etc? The question is whether we’re too occupied in our thoughts and/or actions to be still and listen. Every second and every experience is an opportunity to wake up and recognize the potential within you and it. Think of it like this - have you ever eaten something stale?
When you were small, you were probably taught that before you cross the street you should Stop, Look, Listen, then walk. What great advice. But were you also told to do this before making decisions? Every day in our lives we make choices like what to have for breakfast, lunch or dinner, what to wear, when to schedule appointments, what groceries or items to buy, when you will do the things on your "to do list", what to tackle first, etc.
What does being true to yourself really mean? It means being able to be "you". The real you, whether you’re at the office or at home, or with friends or family, or with your partner or children, or with co-workers or your boss, or even with someone you don’t even know, you can be you. The question then is, do you know who you are? This is one of the age old questions, "Who are you?"
When you’re disappointed, frustrated, or angry with someone, you can bet that there is an expectation of them that isn’t being met. You may or may not be aware of at the time. The more you expect from others and don’t receive, the greater the stress and frustration. These conscious or unconscious demands need a little deciphering on your part. What is it that you really want or need? Why do you need that?
Changes occur every day in our personal and professional lives. They can be through the death or illness of a loved one, pet, or friend. They can happen in our jobs, relationships, health, finances, where we live, in our communities, or in the world.
We are always evolving, growing and expanding in our personal, professional and spiritual lives. Everything occurring is for this very reason. The question to ask is, "What stage of transformation am I in?" Think of it like a butterfly’s metamorphous; there’s the egg, the larva, the cocoon, and the emergence. We are constantly in a never-ending cycle of self-transformation. Recognizing the 4 stages helps us emerge from the where we are and assists us through the next phases so we’re not staying stuck in our limiting beliefs, or circumstances.
A family may include parent(s), sibling(s), partner, children, aunt(s), uncle(s), cousin(s), grandparent(s), grandchildren, step-parent, step brother(s) and sister(s), foster and adoptive families, and in-laws, to name a few. Whew, that's a lot of people to get along with! Whether you have a large family or small one, there always seems to be that one person, and in some cases more than one, who can set you off one way or another. Things were fairly good until they called, or you saw them, or were talking about them. Then you found yourself all riled.
There is no doubt that it’s easier for most people to be thankful when things are going well in their life as opposed to when they aren’t. Yet, it’s in these difficult and trying times that appreciating what’s still good is of the utmost importance. Sometimes we take for granted the things about ourselves, others, and our lives that are positive and meaningful. When challenges arise, or when you receive news of something unsettling about your life or someone you know, or in the world, it is a wake-up call to truly appreciate all that is present in your life just as it is.r
Do you put on your running shoes and make a mad dash? Hide behind your desk? Try to stay clear of them, or avoid them all together? Do you sometimes find yourself or your mood changing when you are around them? Maybe you become frustrated, impatient, angry, or you try to change their minds or moods with little or no success.
In one way or another we have all experienced some form of loss in our lives. It could be the passing away of a person or pet, losing a job and/or material possessions, a relationship or friendship ending, the loss of a body part, hair, eye sight or hearing etc,. No matter what type of loss we are experiencing it can be an opportunity for us to gain tremendous insights into the wonders of life. Initially it might seem as if you are on a rollercoaster of emotions. There might be the feeling of denial or shock of what is happening.
One of the biggest challenges people face today is they feel life is just passing them by. Guess what? It is, unless you are willing to invite life in and try something new. Each day offers us something different if we are willing to see, touch, taste, smell and hear all that life is offering us. If you go to a buffet to eat, do you choose things you’ve never tried before? Or, do you take the same things as always? When you purchase clothes, do you try new colours? Or, do you stick with the same ones? How about your routines at home and work?
There isn’t much we can control in our lives except our attitude and some days even that can be a struggle. Not being able to direct how things are going, or going to go, or what people may do, can frequently be scary for people. As a result they might try to control just about everyone and/or everything in their life. You can’t dictate how long you will live, or if you or someone else will become ill, or whether you or another person will lose his/her job, or home, or if someone moves, or someone asks you to leave, or someone passes away, or even if you can get somewhere on time, etc.r
The majority of people see things either black or white. They find it difficult to see the grey, let alone live it. Grey is the synergy, the melding of one and the other, rather than one vs. the other. Look at the wars of the past and the present. Due to black vs. white, both in colour and thoughts they can't seem to find the grey. It's us vs. them, our religion vs. your religion, our country vs. your country, our dollar vs. your dollar, our product or company vs. your product or company etc. They haven't, nor do they care to stop and take a look at the grey.
Life is filled with ups and downs, twists and turns, good and not so good times; that's what makes it interesting and often forces us out of our comfort zones. Frank Herbert said, "Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." At one time or another, these expected or unexpected, planned or unpredictable circumstances can occur in every aspect of our lives. We experience them at home, in our jobs, in our relationships, physically and/or emotionally, financially, through loss of someone or something, globally, etc.
You make choices each and every day. Some decisions are conscious and others seem to happen without so much as a thought, but you are still choosing. You choose what time you will rise or go to bed, what you are going to eat or drink, what you are going to wear, what you are going to watch or read, what you are going to do or not going to do today, what road(s) you are going to travel, etc. Decisions are made by you during the day whether you are aware of them or not.
Have you ever had one of those days where the dust of today just doesn't seem to clear for tomorrow and where the emotional forecast is calling for more whirlwinds of irrational thoughts, perhaps mixed with some stress and/or anxiety, and bouts of crying, questioning, doubting , or worrying? You wake up and you are met with a new dawn but the prediction for it doesn't look much brighter than the the day before. Perhaps you are feeling the pressure and stresses of finances or a relationship, or that life is all work and no play, or you are facing an illness or someone you know is.
It's funny how when we finish school we seem to stop celebrating our achievements. Some daycare centres have a little graduation before the children move into kindergarten.
Day to day busy schedules at the office and home can leave one feeling as if his/her life has lost meaning. It’s like life has become all work and no play. Deadlines, emails, paperwork, appointments, taking care of others, as well as housework and yard-work can leave you feeling overworked, stressed, overwhelmed, exhausted and even empty. So how do we bring meaning back to our lives, if it was ever there to begin with? 1. Replenish yourself. Due to busy lifestyles at home and work, it’s important to take time to replenish yourself.
Labyrinths have become part of spiritual practices for many people and cultures. Labyrinths are like mazes and are built in different designs and various ways. When walking through them they can represent your journey and ways to learn more about yourself, your life, and your relationships with others. It can deepen your connection to your emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. The most basic metaphor for walking a labyrinth is that of your life’s journey. You walk through being mindful. You can envision your life’s goal or a challenge you might be facing.
Where does all the unwanted baggage come from? It accumulates from old mindsets and beliefs towards experiences in life. If not dealt with, they can turn into resentment, hurt, non-forgiveness, bitte ess, disappointment and anger etc. This way of thinking can create patterns and blocks that keep one stuck, and from being all they can be. The experiences may have seemed unpleasant, in fact, some downright awful.
In our busy and sometimes mixed up and stressful lives we can easily overlook what we love about our days, let alone ourselves. One of the things I hear most from others, my clients and myself, although I’m visiting this space much less these days, is how hard we are on ourselves. Whether it’s our appearance, or that we should have done a better job or be a better person, or we aren’t good enough, or we should be further ahead, or doubting our talents, abilities, or our capacity to love or be loved, or we should be beyond this behaviour or thinking, etc. The list is endless.
It can be challenging to maintain a positive outlook when you are in the midst of negative situations and/or people. With the increasing costs of living, natural disasters, wars, company closures, lay-offs, divorces, illnesses, addictions and adultery, to name just a few, it can put a real strain and struggle on a person’s attitude and life. In many conversations you can hear how hard, devastating, and disheartening things are for people and perhaps for you also. It becomes difficult to remain optimistic.
We are creatures of habit, and therefore we may forget that we have the ability to change our old patterns, behaviours, and mindsets. Whether it’s things from yesterday, a month ago, or a year(s) ago, it is possible to make some changes starting today. Maybe you have been putting off things until tomorrow that you can do today, or you’ve been waiting for something to happen before you take the next step(s), or some of your patterns or behaviours are so ingrained that you feel you can’t change them.
Mohandas Gandhi said, "There is more to life than increasing it's speed". Relaxing seems like it's a natural thing to do and that you should just be able to just sit or lie down and poof, you're relaxed, sitting loose, and feeling good. Well. it isn't that easy for a lot of people and perhaps you are one of them. The biggest challenge in resting is when you do stop doing something for a moment, you are thinking about all the other somethings you "should" be doing. Does this ring any bells? Read this sentence again.
You wake up; it’s a new dawn, a new day, and yet somehow it doesn’t feel much different than the day before. It’s like today has yesterday written all over it. Not only is it the same routine as the day before with perhaps a few variances here and there, but the feelings of yesterday may have also carried forward into this pristine day. It’s tough sometimes not to get caught up in mindsets of “woe is me”, or worrying, or feeling stressed, or stuck in the mundaneness or busyness of the prior day(s) and transfer those feelings into the next.
Did you know that affirmations can be a powerful and manifesting tool in your life? They are used to aid in healing, for stress and anxiety reduction, meditation, to uplift moods, bring about a desired goals, and enhance your overall well-being. They can create possibilities and positive outcomes in all areas of your life. Affirming statements can be stated anytime or anywhere and for anything to support your growth, desires and intentions.
What or who can push your buttons? I can think of a few. What about you? We all seem to have this invisible switch that sometimes gets turned on when something doesn’t go our way or someone upsets us. It’s almost as if we lose consciousness for awhile and this other person temporarily takes over. In a way, you do slip into unconsciousness when you are angry. It’s like a momentary, and sometimes longer, lapse of reason. You were fine, and then something/someone sets you off, and boom, you find yourself saying and acting in ways you normally wouldn’t.
"Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)", or better known as the "Sunscreen Song", was orginally an article titled "Advice, like youth, probably is just wasted on the young" by Mary Schmich in the Chicago Tribune in 1997. This article found it's way onto the internet and was then attributed to a commencement speech given by author Kurt Vonnegut for MIT grads. Baz Luhrmann, an Austrialian film director, tracked the source of the speech to Mary and contacted the Chicago Tribune to buy the rights for the words to use in a song.
The dawn of each day holds the promise for possibilities. It’s hard to believe that’s true when world seems to be filled with despair, war, recession, The Swine Flu, Listeria, company closures, layoffs, gas and oil price increases, fluctuations in stock markets, earthquakes, tornadoes, ...
I was driving on the highway the other day and a sign said, "Enjoy Your Commute". I thought to myself, "Thank-you, I am", and not just the road I was driving on, but the road of life. Sure, there are still moments or days where I feel like I’ve hit a pothole, so to speak, where I wasn’t able to steer away from that one. Some are a little bigger than others, in fact, a few may even seem like the Grand Canyon, but the difference is I now remember that the road of life is under construction as well as paved with gold.
With the increasing demands and expectations we often place upon ourselves, as well as the pace of life quickening for many, or the feeling of time running out, it can be difficult to enjoy life to the fullest. We are either reliving or feeling stuck in the past, complaining and stressed and/or anxious about our current situations, or worrying about the future. This leaves our relationship with present moments slipping away as soon it arrives without even a second thought, let alone the enjoyment and appreciation of what it’s offering.