Most of us yearn for more balance in our hectic lives. We find ourselves racing through our days, emotionally and physically exhausted. Thankfully, the wellness movement is taking hold in all corners of the country, offering concepts, tools, and strategies to reflect, refuel, and renew.

The powerful strategies in this book are guaranteed to help you reduce the noise in your life and tune into your guiding values and beliefs so that your life can be everything you want it to be.

Get ready to make your life more engaging, pleasant, and meaningful!

Update Your Identity to Reflect Your Current Capabilities

How do you describe yourself? Some labels are easy, such as mother, employee, student, or accountant. But how else do you define yourself and does it help or hinder you?

Your identity may be set in the past, based on old assumptions of yourself. Do you still fit that mold or have you changed? Can you still run 400 meters in 55 seconds? Do you still tell bad jokes? Does a statement like “I’m happiest when surrounded by x or y” still ring true? Does a past relationship still limit your belief about what you have to offer?

The “truths” we carry around
Our sense of identity is largely defined by where we’ve been. We’ve been shaped into who we are today by the roads we’ve traveled down in our lives, the people and events along the way, and the conclusions we’ve drawn from each experience.

Let's say when you were 10, you walked into a gas station with a friend, only to have the attendant make some bigoted remark. It may not have affected you, but it may have gnawed at your friend. Her story, her sense of who she is, may now include that incident and the “truth” that she took away from the experience. Her truth might be that gas station attendants are uncaring, that it’s important to take the high road, that she herself is undeserving, or that bigotry is dangerous. If she chooses to incorporate any of these truths into her life’s story, it shapes her identity.

Rework your story
We actually have choices when it comes to which events and people we allow to contribute to our identity. We each have millions of experiences in our past. Which experiences and truths have you kept with you? What if you were to take a box full of all your experiences, dump them on the floor, and then sort through the pile and choose a different combination of people, events, conclusions, and truths? Perhaps you’d de-emphasize some of the awkward moments in your life and highlight some proud moments that had faded in your memory.

It’s your coloring book and you get to pick the crayons. Who are you, really? How strong are you? What are you capable of? What are you proud of? When do you dance and slide across the floor in your socks and underwear? What do you value most about yourself?

Embrace Versions 2.0, 3.0, 4.0
You get to choose your identity. Don’t get stuck in the past. It doesn’t matter what your parents think, how you’ve failed, or what went wrong. Cast aside outdated beliefs, old guilt, and negative labels. Who are you today? You get to choose.

Attending to Cherished Goals—And ready to help others find fulfillment

Cherished Needs, Goals, and Wishes
Julie is the kind of person who travels to Tanzania by herself to climb Africa’s tallest mountain and who has a goal of completing 100 triathlons in 20 years. She believes that we all have the ability and time to take action on our most cherished goals, needs, and wishes—no matter where we’re starting from. She leads by example and shares, “We have the power to make dramatic improvements in each area of our lives. Once we see that ability within ourselves, we can transform ourselves through big goals and small steps each day.”

Julie’s passion for empowering others and her ability to engage an audience make her a dynamic speaker and workshop leader. Her stories create learning moments and she presents powerful strategies and tools that can launch individuals further down their desired path.

Triathlon and Mentoring
Julie is an avid sprint triathlete and is on target to complete 100 races over a 20-year period. She is currently half way to her goal.

To help women from all walks of life achieve their fitness goals, Danskin hired Julie in 2009 to coordinate their triathlon mentor program. Leading up to the Chicago-area triathlon, 300 women gained skills, knowledge, and confidence to complete their first triathlon. Julie was at the finish line to congratulate each woman.

Iceland, Mops, and Hitchhiking
Julie’s sense of adventure has taken her to every continent except Antarctica. She has completed a winter survival program in Norway, studied as a Fulbright Scholar in Iceland, mopped floors at a maternity hospital in Australia, ridden horses in Mongolia, summited Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, and scaled a volcano in South America. A 10-year marriage began with a honeymoon that involved hitchhiking 5400 miles to Alaska and back.

Julie currently spends her time coaching, parenting, working on an organic vegetable farm (and still eating Pop-Tarts^®), and collecting camping gear. Her two teenage children pleasantly distract her and ignore her suggestions for personal development.

Science, Life Experience, and Unique Paths
In her active coaching practice, Julie informs her work with the theory and empirical data emerging from a branch of psychology called positive psychology. The American Psychological Association forged this new path a decade ago with a goal of gaining scientific understanding of what makes people thrive.

Of course, individuals who work with Julie also fold their own wisdom and common sense into creating their personal development plans. Each person’s life experience, core values, and strengths are raw materials that they weave together to design their future. Julie thrives on helping each individual chart their own unique path.

Julie is credentialed as an associate certified coach through the International Coach Federation (ICF). She graduated from an accredited coaching program and adheres to the ICF Code of Ethics in her practice. To learn more, visit the ICF web site at www.coachfederation.org.