It is Sunday, December 6 as I write this. We have exactly 3 Sundays left in 2015 and 4 until most of us will return to work after the holidays.

4 weeks.

You probably have a lot on your to-do list with shopping, parties, celebrations, gifting, cooking, and all of the things that this season tends to bring.

Given all of that, 4 weeks probably doesn’t sound like a very long time.

If you aren’t present and attuned, it will be gone before you know it.

If, however, you take the time to tune in and savor this time, carve out moments just for you in your day no matter what else is on your plate, you will see that 4 weeks is a long time.

Long enough to forge new habits.

Long enough to get very clear on what you desire now and going forward.

Long enough to fall in love with yourself again.

Long enough to fall in love with your partner again.

Long enough to fall in love with your life again or perhaps for the first time. The life you now choose to create.

Let’s do this.

I just canceled my appointment for my massage today. I am just not feeling it. I know that sounds funny that I am not feeling “up” for a massage when normally I am always ready for one and it is a nice part of my self-care.

Today feels different. And I am honoring what my body is telling me right now.

I am feeling much more introspective and more like it is time for me to tune into myself rather than have anyone else assisting me with that right now.

It is rainy and cold. It has been raining for days and days it seems. I stayed in bed until nearly 10 AM today. Then stayed in the tub for over an hour.

I am in cocoon mode.

This is another time of going inward in order to move upward and outward. I know that I will in time emerge better, stronger, and more “me” than ever before.

Today, I honor the sometimes dark process of integration and transformation, rather than fighting or ignoring it.

Happy Thanksgiving! Easily my favorite holiday. Not (just) for the grub. For the giving thanks part. In fact, for me, every day is Thanksgiving!

Every day, I choose to live in more gratitude. Every day, I choose to appreciate my life and all in it to a greater level (including you most fabulous folks!).

I can tell you that as I do, all becomes more praise-worthy. My life gets better every day. My marriage gets better every day. My interactions get better every day. My way of showing up and thriving gets better every day.

How about it? How about taking your gratitude to the next level? Not just at Thanksgiving, but every moment, even the ugly ones, from here forward. Too much to take on right now? Then start smaller. Just start. Thank YOU!

It is an absolutely gorgeous Sunday afternoon here. So why am I writing this rather than soaking up all it is? Well, I am soaking up all it is. And I am writing this.

I am writing this because I had made a commitment to do so and I do my best to honor my commitments. When I started my website and this newsletter, I said I would do it every day. Every weekday anyway. It was set up to mail automatically to my list every weekday at 6 AM. I didn’t realize until a few months ago that the way it was set up meant that there was nothing getting sent on Mondays because I didn’t post at 5 AM. Even if I wrote that early. Which, by the way, I haven’t been writing that early these days.

When I realized this, I started to write and post on Sunday so that the Monday mailer would go out. Except last Sunday when I totally forgot.

Which got me thinking…Why/how did I forget?

I asked myself and I got it. Truth time. That is what we do here at Love Starts with Me. We tell our truth. Even if that truth changed from yesterday or last year.

The truth is, you are still my love. I totally love and respect you and appreciate you. I still love writing. I still love writing for you. However…

It has become a chore. I do not know if it has shown but I wouldn’t be surprised if it has. I love myself and each of you too much to have this be any sort of “should.”

So what I am going to do is remove the “should.” What I am going to do is change things up. I don’t quite know what that means exactly in this red hot second. Nor do I need to. I just know that I am doing it. I trust you will come along for the ride.

If not, I respect your decision and send all my love and blessings to you.

Here’s to the next chapter!

Ah the joys of habit! Habits are the things that make up the bulk of our lives.

We don’t want to believe that but if you examine it you will see that it is true. We do almost everything in our day out of habit.

Habits can be a wonderful, powerful force.

They can also be our downfall.

The great thing is that once you realize and become aware of habits, you can choose. You can decide which serve you and which don’t. And when you are aware and focused, you can create new ones and the old will fall away.

I have a professional photo shoot in just over two weeks. Talk about a nice powerful mirror, er, microscope for every remaining molecule of self-consciousness that I had been hiding, unconsciously.

I have come a long way and I do embrace all that is me. Putting it on display for all to see is another level indeed. That sounds like I will be doing nude photos. Ha! Nothing of the sort. But it does feel very vulnerable and naked in a sense.

I am so grateful for this experience as it is showing me more layers of self-acceptance and areas where I can grow even more. I realize, also, that it is easy to hide behind my computer and my phone. I haven’t been ready to truly put myself out there yet.

Now I am.

There is no going back.

There is no other course.

I am challenging myself. My comfort zone was left far behind in the process. Man, is it prickly! And man, do I feel alive!

The way you do one thing is the way you do everything. This statement used to really annoy me, quite frankly. I thought, that isn’t true.

Then I started examining it. I looked at people who I admire. I looked at their lives and noticed that they pay attention. To detail. Not perfection but a certain way that they carry themselves and do things.

When I started to look at my own life, my own details, and to make changes to do those things that were oversights before, I see that it is an upward spiral.

That’s right. An UPWARD spiral. We don’t hear too much about this but it is the same phenomenon as the downward spiral. We are all too familiar with the downward spiral.

The upward spiral begins by taking a step. Doing some one thing really well. And then adding another. Then you find that linchpin habit that explodes your life into a new realm. You don’t have to start with that linchpin habit. Heck, you don’t even have to know what it is. Just do something better today. Get better in any area. Then repeat tomorrow.

Why are you working toward that goal? Why did you begin it at all? What inspired you to go for it?

If you do not know that, if you don’t check in with that force of emotion, feed it and allow it to grow, you are not going to make it. If you do, if your why is big enough, if your desire is big enough, you will make it happen.

No matter what.

It becomes non-negotiable.

I have just moved from a period of eat, pray, love with a heavy emphasis on the eat. This summer, and yes, I know we are a few weeks into fall now, I was in a phase where I was indulging on a regular basis in things I don’t normally eat or drink. I knew that it was a season and that it would end as soon as I was ready.

I am ready now. I am ready to get back into my healthiest and most productive habits.

The nice thing about living life this way, the lovingME way, is that you don’t have the guilt and flogging IN ADDITION to the less than desired behavior. I noticed myself in the behavior. I watched it as an observer, and I refused to give it even more power by judging it harshly.

I know what my goals are. I know that when I eat a certain way, I have more energy and thus more time and focus. That is my why behind choosing to live more healthily in this area and every area for that matter. I choose to support myself toward my goals as fully as I know how to do. So I do. Whine and drama not required.