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Reflecting on the Teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Black American civil rights leader Martin Luther King (1929 – 1968) addresses crowds during the March On Washington at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC, where he gave his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

Today, I reflect on the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

  1. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

How angry and frustrated we become when we look at the lack of progress we have made as a human race. It’s easy to look at the scope of this, from lack of justice to lack of humanity, and just get angry at the oppressors, we have to remember that fighting fire with fire is just more fire. It solves nothing.

A Course in Miracles instructs us that in the face of darkness, when we can’t see the path, we simply turn on the light. In the light, we can see all. And the light, of course, is Love.

Loving those who are not loving back is the hardest work we will do, but it’s THE work.

2. “Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude.”

Speaking of difficulty, holding on to someone else’s actions against us is “easy” to do, but it doesn’t make for an easy life. Holding a grudge poisons us against finding real solutions and enjoying the process. So, the “hard” work of releasing ourselves from someone else’s actions is the work of forgiveness, and again, the hardest work we will do, but the most valuable.

3. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

When in doubt, serve. It makes you feel better, and it makes the world a better place.

Giving is not “better” than receiving. They are actually the same thing. Giving IS receiving. If we are not giving, we are not truly receiving, and again, remain stuck in a dark place.

Doing something for others doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. It can simply be a phone call or a knock on the door. Especially if it’s someone on your mind or someone who you need to forgive.

4. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Love and forgiveness and service are all our most valuable works on this earth while we are here, but let us not forget that we can’t simply go along for the ride without doing what is right and speaking up for what is right.

Remember that staying silent is siding with the oppressor.

So when you have the chance to speak Truth, speak it. When you have the opportunity to help someone open his eyes to what is real and just in this world, speak it. And don’t give up, even if it seems like the “other” is more powerful.

True power lies in integrity.

5. “Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.”

This is why social emotional learning isn’t just hippy-dippy-kinda-nice. Being a good person far outweighs being a smart person. Because you have the availability of learning, but your true core being honest and good… that is where true power lies.

And it’s how education changes the world.

We see plenty of “smart” people destroying the planet and fighting on the side of “power over.”

It’s time to see that “power over” has never served us… not for the thousands of years of oppression on this planet. The only true power lies in empowerment, and it takes social emotional learning and a core of integrity to do this.

Thank you to our education system for teaching humanities, the arts, science, and true history, in order for a better world.

And a big apology to the next generations, who are inheriting a world we have been warned would be that of destruction by every prophet in the history of the world, unless we side with Love.

We have yet to listen.

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Hang out with us this week?

I’ll be helping with The Diastasis Recti Recovery System this week in our Facebook special help group!

That’s a great opportunity for you to get accountability and to ask questions to help you on your process to recovery.

If you already have the system, I invite you to review and progress your core stability. If you are brand new to me and my work, check out the program and see if it’s for you.

For the last decade, I have worked diligently on this system, and every time I teach it, I learn something new, so I look forward to getting even better at helping you!

See you HERE.

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The ABC Method for Instructors is LIVE on the Website!

Great News, Fitness Professional!

The ABC Method for Instructors is now available as a go-at-your-pace course right HERE on the CarrieFit website.

Don’t worry; It’s still the quality material, it’s still taught by me, and you’ll still get my help. But now, you don’t have to wait on my schedule or worry about adjusting your work around the course.

Included:

  • the CarrieFit way to teach and train around core stability
  • a little science: core structure, stability, and Diastasis Recti
  • methods of empowering people to be successful in fitness as they work on core stability
  • methods to help stabilize the core and recover an issue (does not replace therapy!!)
  • structure for teaching people that have Diastasis Recti and core instability
  • help in options for people starting to recover their core
  • progressions as people start to recover
  • methods to keep people on the right path
  • instructor group to continue learning and helping each other
  • CarrieFit guidance along the way
  • 1.2 CEU at NASM or ACE, 12 hours at AFAA

If you teach people that struggle with core instability or Diastasis Recti, this is a must!

Go here and register today!

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Postpartum Joy and Anxiety

75% of new mothers struggle with anxiety.

SEVENTY FIVE.

It’s time to stop pretending that this is a phenomenon and start treating mothers with Love and Care.

Truth: you might have a beautiful birth story and still have trauma from it.

Truth: you might have had a perfect pregnancy and still feel off.

Truth: you might have a wonderful relationship with your new baby and still have crippling fear.

If we assume behind those eyes that she is “ok,” we are greatly under serving her and the family she is in.

For me, I was afraid to tell people of my crippling anxiety, and I didn’t really have a word for it. I didn’t know I was in the pits of extreme mental issues, and I was afraid to tell people because I didn’t want anyone to think I wasn’t happy to be a new mother.

What I didn’t understand was that I could be a good mother and a happy mother and still struggle with mental health.

And I feel like if anyone had told me that and given me the tools to get through it, I would have been a better mother to my young children. Instead, I struggled, without vocabulary to describe what the struggle was, for years. It started with mental health issues of young adulthood, became paralyzing anxiety and depression postpartum, multiplied by having multiple tiny people in my house, and wasn’t broken until I did a lot of digging on my own.

If mothers have the language and the tools, imagine the healthier, happier homes we could create.

New mother protocol should include:
– actual postpartum medical care
– physical therapy
– mental and emotional therapies
– help with the new baby and existing family

It’s not too much to ask. It’s essential.

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Thoughts on a Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Ok, so you sit down with your journal at the beginning of every new year. Or you have the latest and greatest new planner and now it’s time to sit down and talk goal setting…. right?

I did it every year. For YEARS. I did all the right things; all the things all the business coaches and personal development gurus tell you, right?

  1. Review your year: what went right? What went wrong?
  2. Look ahead 5 years. Where do you want to be?
  3. Break it down into 1 year increments
  4. Break it down into exactly what you will do this year to get to that goal.
  5. Achieve that goal.

The problem is… that has never EVER worked. Not for me. And I have yet to meet a real person that it worked for, other than the ones who pretend it works and continue to teach it.

SMART goals, right? Everyone tells you that SMART goals are structured enough to get you where you want to go.

Specific

Measureable

Actionable

Realistic

Time-Bound

Right?

I’ve done that. For YEARS. What people told me I could achieve I wrote down and believed. I believed it. Only  none of these goals ever came to fruition in the “time bound” area where I listed them.

So, then comes phase 2 of the annual planning: the deep shame for not achieving what I thought I was going to achieve. Followed by an intense tailspin into “what am I doing wrong?”

If you know me, you know that I am a deeply spiritual being (see my spiritual stuff at yoga_pants_and_jesus).

Jesus, The Buddha, and other spiritual guides never taught SMART goals.

In fact, they taught the following principles when it comes to achievement:

  • ask and you shall receive
  • knock and the door is answered
  • God does not ask you to bury your savings, but will provide everything you need
  • Give and you shall receive.
  • use your gifts for the greater good of mankind and you will be rewarded
  • what you put into the world comes back to you 10 fold

In other words, it’s not about journaling what you want and dissecting a plan to get there. It’s about giving to the world the best of yourself and watching the beauty from that unfold. It’s about praying for the best outcome for all involved. It’s about releasing your purposeful desire to the great divine and letting the universe unfold it for you.

It’s about the fact that God’s idea of who you are and who you will become is far greater than the human ideas you have of your goals.

The more I read and listen to teachings such as “A Course in Miracles,” the more I know for sure that this is true. And instead of listening to a very controlled, very earthly guidance saying “write down your 10 goals,” I choose to follow leaders like Gabby Bernstein, Marianne Williamson, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, and others, who show us that aligning with the betterment of mankind and the universe, while putting out there the best of our gifting, is the way to a better life and a better world, and to manifest a world and a future far beyond our tiny dreams.

For this, I invite you, friend, to take a look at your life. And instead of minimizing yourself and time-bounding your success, that you consider asking

“I see for my life ______, and I would like to offer this to the world. I ask that my purpose be lifted to serve its greatest good. And I ask that I shall not be afraid or worried, but guided and elevated, so that my impact is far beyond what I ever expected. Amen.”

Resources:

Gabby Bernstein: Super Attractor

Marianne Williamson: The Law of Divine Compensation

Eckhart Tolle: Conscious Manifestation

Deepak Chopra: 7 Principles of Manifesting Your Desires

 

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How to Plank

Tip One: Never ever just throw yourself (or anyone) into a plank.

There’s a lot more to it than just hands and toes on the ground, which is why I progress people to this position very thoughtfully.

How to progress your plank:

  1. Start in all-fours. Put all of your weight onto your toes without moving ANYTHING.
  2. Go to your belly and push out of the floor like your body is a board (not a worm!) only to a half plank (both knees down)
  3. Play with pressing back through your heels and a straight leg
  4. Practice sealing the thighs together and pushing back onto the toes, lifting the knees.

Remember: none of this matters without correct form and a complete ABC happening throughout.

Always ask yourself:

  • what is my alignment here?
  • what is my breath pattern here?
  • is my core correctly and fully engaged here?

If not, back up a level and start again.

Here’s a video to walk you through it:

And remember to always advocate for yourself. Only you know what is happening on the inside of you, so never let someone bully you into the wrong plank too soon.

 

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Have you ever thought You are the Ornament?

Have you ever thought that you were just there to be the ornament?

That you needed to be plastic, fake, covered in glitter, and personality-less?
Maybe you thought:
– they will like me if I look a certain way
– I will be safe if I stay quiet
– if I fit in with the other ornaments in the room, I will be safe an accepted .

It’s an adaptation that we have made to be safe. Because in our world history, standing out or being different could get your thrown out of the tribe.. or burned. Or stoned.

But how does being an ornament serve you and the world today?

Does it elevate your life? Does it elevate the experience of the world? Does it accomplish a mission of trust, kindness, and humanity?

So the next time you feel like you’re in a space where you feel you won’t be safe unless you smile and nod, just ask empowering questions.

What brings me into this space?
Who am I here to empower?
What am I to say and to whom?

Break free from being an ornament and become the stable, strong, life-giving tree.

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You are the Art

 

Edited in Prisma app with Leya

Can you see yourself as the artwork?

Have you accepted that you were made in a specific way on purpose for purpose?

I want to remind you today that

  1. You are beautiful and lovable exactly as you are in this moment
  2. You can love yourself totally and completely and still seek self improvement
  3. True self improvement can only come from a space of Love

Have you ever tried to work on an aspect of yourself out of self loathing?

How did that go?

Typically, going from a place of self loathing leads to 2 outcomes:

  1. More self loathing
  2. Temporary results

But here’s what I also know. I know that you can’t wake up from years of negative self talk and suddenly have positive self talk. You especially can’t believe yourself if you look in the mirror and your brain is thinking one thing, but you say another. That’s called being out of alignment, and it doesn’t lead to self Love.

Basically, you’ll call yourself a liar, which leads to more self loathing.

So, instead, we take bite sized pieces. We start small.

We focus on one thing we can be in alignment with.

For instance, I really like my eye color.

That’s day one. Eye color. I have pretty eyes. And when your brain goes to “yeah, but your wrinkles…” you stop and go back to the eyes.

Then, you start catching yourself with these thoughts that might be on a loop cycle in your head, things like “you can’t succeed because…” or “you’re not worth it because…”

OK; stop those and correct them because God didn’t make a slouch, and She gave you everything you need to be the person She intended to be on this planet.

Take the time to get to know yourself, your strengths, and what you can identify as lovely. Keep adding to that list every day.

You’ll start to see a shift, because you’re seeing what you already believe.

Then, you can see the magic in store for you.

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How Nurtured is that Seed?

You are seeing what you already believe.

About yourself, the world, others, life…

So, events, people, actions, etc, have all placed seeds of belief in your mind. And you see the seedling or the result of what it is that was planted.

But what if you decided to see the plant differently?

What if the plant wasn’t a weed at all, but an interesting, fruitful plant? What if it gave life? What if it were robust and amazing? But you spent all these years with the belief that it was something else.

What then?

What if you could dissect that plant? Look at it from a cellular level?

Who planted this here? And why?

I think we have some digging up to do.

I think it’s pretty painful. But, like the song says,

Can’t go over it. Can’t go under it. Can’t go around it. Gotta go through it.

Let’s think of an example.

Look in the mirror. What do you see? Be honest.

Most of us immediately see “flaws” that don’t exist, other than in our own minds. Wrinkles, fat, unevenness, etc.

What if you questioned what you saw? What if you asked that thought “How did you get here?”

And let the answer come.

You might be surprised.

I work with a lot of women who carry body shame.

And I have been that woman.

When I looked in the mirror after giving birth, I could not see the miracle that stood before me. I could not see that I was the vessel for someone’s life. I could not see the work this body went through to make another life.

All I saw was a mistake.

In fact, I physically couldn’t reconcile with the woman in the mirror.

In fact, I couldn’t even call her a woman in the mirror.

I was hyper critical of her, tore her down, shamed her, and carried it.

It took me years to find out that I didn’t have to think that way or feel that way.

It took me years to find out that I could choose to see all of me in a completely different way.

It’s available to you, too.

I recommend The High Five Habit by Mel Robbins for extra help in this area, and I recommend meditations by Marisa Peer to go deeper into those seeds that were planted, mostly before you could recognize how or why they were ever put there.

You’re not alone. We all go through it. And we all must help each other pull out of it.

Ready?

I am fearlessly and wonderfully made.

I am made in Her image.

I am a powerful force of nature.

I am a vessel for life.

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A brief mental health moment…

 

My name is Carrie and I struggled with paralyzing anxiety for 25 years.

The kind where I would completely forget to breathe and have to remind myself to breathe… or pass out. And I did pass out on occasion.

Most people had no idea what struggle I was in. I got really good at pretending I was all confidence.

I set myself free from this constant state of fear about 11 years ago…

It tries to sneak back in to my brain every so often, usually when stuff is being piled onto my plate… especially when that stuff is out of my direct control.

The way out is to release control. Remind myself to breathe. Take a gratitude break. Remember who I am, why I am here, and who I serve.

And to remember Who sent me.

So if you’re struggling and up at night, I hear you and I understand. If you struggle to breathe at times, I will be here breathing on your behalf.

We are not meant to carry this; in fact, we have been instructed not to.

Ready? 💨 breathe in. 💨 breathe out
Today I am grateful for:
Today, I release the control of:
Today, I take one step at a time.