I’m grateful for this long weekend because I’ve been really tired. And getting more rest is the only thing that can help.

Feeling uninspired, however, is not the same thing. It depletes our energy and motivation in similar ways, but it shows up in our life and work differently.

So are you tired or uninspired?

TIRED	UNINSPIRED
“I wonder if anyone would notice if I got 15 minutes of sleep here at my desk.”	“I wish I wasn’t here today. All I can think about is laying in my bed and watching TV.”
“I keep trying to work, but the light from the screen is giving me a headache.”	“Wow, have I been on this site for two hours? I can’t get anything done today.”
“Where did I put my keys? Not again!”	“I’ve been staring at my keys for the last hour. Is it time to go yet?”
“God, please give me the strength to get through this commute and get some rest tonight.”	“God, please give me the strength to come back in here tomorrow. I need the money.”

This week’s intention

You go to work regardless of how you feel about it. You have bills and responsibilities.

But staying in an uninspiring job will take a toll on you physically. It creates the illusion that you are constantly tired, when you are actually sad, frustrated, drained and in need of distractions.

Bad jobs steal our energy and squash the very motivation we need to get out there and find better opportunities for ourselves.

My intention is to honestly assess my work life.

This week, I want you to be honest with yourself about the state of your work life. Take out your journal and answer the following questions:

• How often do I feel tired at work?
• Do I actually need more rest or is this job draining me?
• What is stopping me from seeking new opportunities – energy, fear or motivation?

Spend this week reflecting and praying for clarity. You can’t fix your work life until you see it clearly. If you are tired, you need to be proactive about finding more time for rest. If you are uninspired, you need to get ready to seek something new.

That’s enough for now, just assess what you truly need. See you next week!

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Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

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Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

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Meet me here to connect more often.

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Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

 

 

Over the weekend, my husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. We didn’t have a fancy dinner, but instead took a long road trip filled with lots of conversation and laughter.

And it was time well spent.

Anniversaries give us a time to honor the important milestones in our lives.

We could let these days pass by unmarked, but by celebrating them, we refresh our gratitude.

This week’s intention

Here are 3 anniversaries you may not be celebrating now, but should consider. Each one has an impact on your life and work.

• The day you gave up something that wasn’t serving you anymore. Was it an unhealthy attachment to someone? A compulsion to outspend your means? Was it a vice you were numbing yourself with? A job you hated? A life that wasn’t authentic? Either way, at one time this thing had a hold on you. And now it doesn’t.
• The day you met a teacher that changed your life. They may have been your boss, a colleague or a former mentor. They may have been someone you didn’t even like or someone that hurt your feelings. But if they came into your life and left you forever stronger or wiser, you should celebrate it.
• The day your spiritual connection became real. This is the day you went from “hoping” there was more to your life than the daily grind to finding your path to contentment and joy. This is the day your heart expanded and the earliest seeds of peace, gratitude and service started growing in your life. This day changed everything.

My intention is to be grateful for my life’s journey.

Pick a day this week to celebrate one of these important milestones.

This doesn’t have to be an outward celebration. Truthfully, nobody other than you even needs to know about it. But make the day special in some way – wear your favorite outfit, treat yourself to a prayer outside, add an extra meditation, do an invigorating workout or a sneak away for a long peaceful lunch break.

Happy anniversary and see you next week!

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Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

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Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

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Meet me here to connect more often.

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Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

 

What does discipline mean to you?

Does the word scare you or fill you with shame?

For many of us, it does.

But my definition of discipline is a belief in the unlimited human potential to grow and evolve. We are all disciplined, whether we know it or not.

Being disciplined means we have the ability to align our habits in the human world with what our soul desires. While many people associate discipline with rigidity (or willpower), it is more closely correlated with the gentle flexibility to change.

Discipline allows us to find, follow, and grow into future work callings that are beyond our present capabilities.

New dreams need discipline to flourish.

So what does discipline mean to you? Is it something you think you have or lack? Could you imagine yourself changing into someone that was highly disciplined?

This week’s intention

Our spiritual belief in discipline shifts our focus from who we have been to who we can be.

We spent the last two week’s identifying actions that would bring more joy into our work days. But to actually change our habits (even in small ways) we will need discipline.

My intention is to embrace discipline as a sacred path to connect with my soul.

So this week, I want you to start by thinking about your relationship with discipline. If you already have a copy of Working Whole, revisit the Discipline chapter and be sure to do the exercises.

Either way, spend this week reflecting on discipline. Journal and pray to reveal the barriers that block your ability to change.

• Do you believe you can?
• Do you think discipline plays a role in your spiritual practice?
• How does discipline impact your work life?

Write, pray, and meditate on discipline daily. We’ll come back to this more next week. See you then!

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Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

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Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

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Meet me here to connect more often.

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Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

This is a Part II in a series on joy.

If you spent last week thoroughly imagining and journaling on your perfect day, or a series of perfect days, then you are ready to jump right in.

If not, you can find last week’s post here. Start with that exercise first.

This week’s intention

Your goal for this week is to take your perfect day(s), break it down into pieces and look for ways to incorporate small parts of those days into your regular life.

My intention is to bring more joyful experiences into my days.

The more detailed you made your perfect day, the more you will have to work with, but let’s consider a short example I received from social media.

“A day at the beach with no pressure, a great book, some great sunblock and a refreshing drink.”

So let’s break this down a little more and see what experiences bring them joy:

• Creating a slower pace
• Feeling no pressure to be anywhere
• Being outside
• Being in the sun
• Being near the ocean
• Feeling the warm air
• Feeling the breeze
• Sitting and relaxing
• Reading, so not talking
• Reading, so not thinking or planning other things
• Reading something that interests them
• Taking care of their skin/body
• Enjoying a tasty and refreshing drink
• Taking time to notice how much they’re enjoying the drink
• Taking time to do only what they want to be doing
• Being fully in control of their time

If you fully completed last week’s exercise, you will have a lot more to breakdown and work with. In doing so, imagine how you might take a few of the items from your list and start incorporating them into your regular life.

For the example above, ideas may be:

• Getting to the ocean isn’t something they can do frequently, but sitting still and relaxing is.
• Going outside is possible most days.
• Reading a book is something they can do at lunchtime.
• Having more unscheduled time is possible if they plan for it and say “no” more.

Work on doing your own breakdown this week. You don’t have to start making any changes just yet, but start creating lists and thinking about what might be possible.

We’ll take the last step next week. See you then!

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Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

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Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

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Meet me here to connect more often.

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Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

 

Today is one of those unbelievably gorgeous spring days – it’s perfect. The birds are singing. There’s a steady warm breeze. It is sunny, but not hot. The flowers and trees are blooming and you can’t help but feel the renewal in the air.

A day like today is rare. But it reminds me of all the things in nature that bring me joy. And I work to spot them even in less perfect weather. Sometimes it’s still sunny, but cold. Or the flowers are still blooming, but it’s hot and humid. Later this week, the steady breeze will stay, but also give way to spring showers.

Exploring perfect days helps us discover the many things that spark joy.

This week’s intention

In nature, I have to wait and hope for good weather. But in our work lives, we have the opportunity to craft better days simply from knowing what things bring us joy in other areas of our life.

So this week, I have only one question for you to explore:

What would your perfect day(s) look like?

The purpose of imagining the details of your perfect day is to know what experiences bring you joy so you can seek to move closer to ideal whenever possible (more on this next week).

For now, grab your journal and spend the entire week exploring your UNIQUELY perfect day. If needed create more than one day, but make sure each day fills you with the same level of excitement simply from thinking about it.

My intention is to explore what brings me joy.

Your perfect day:

• Would it be scheduled, unscheduled, or a mix of both?
• Would you be at home or somewhere else in the world?
• Who is with you and when are they with you?
• What would you wear?
• What time would you get up?
• What would you eat for breakfast?
• How would you spend your morning?
• Would you exercise?
• Would you check the news?
• Would you listen to an audiobook or a podcast?
• Would you pray or meditate?
• Would you drive?
• Would you walk anywhere?
• What would you eat for lunch?
• What activities would you fit into your afternoon?
• Would you take a nap?
• How much time would you spend outside?
• Who cooked your meals?
• Would you watch anything on TV?
• Would you choose to read a book?
• Would you go to work?
• Are there topics you’d love to talk to people about?
• How do you want to feel?
• Would you scroll through social media?
• Would you post about your day?
• What would you choose to think about?
• Would there be music?
• What would you have for dinner?
• Would you have dessert?
• What would you do between dinner and bedtime?
• Would you choose to touch anyone?
• Would your surroundings be neat and organized or properly disordered?
• What time would you fall asleep?

Have fun planning and see you next week!

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Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

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Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

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Meet me here to connect more often.

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Are these questions familiar?

• What brought meaning into my life this year?
• What topics do I want to learn about next year?
• What habits served me well last year?
• Which of my talents and gifts do I want to use more frequently next year?
• Are there any parts of my identity, image, or professional brand that are not authentic or true to who I am right now?
• What parts of myself do I want to express more fully next year?
• Did the pace of my life in 2018 leave enough room for inspiration, creative flow, and rest?
• What changes can I make in 2019 to further optimize the pace of my life?

They should be.

These were our weekly reflection questions in the month of December. They were the questions we used to look back on the year, soon ending, and prepare for a fresh start in 2019.

1/3 of 2019 is over

2/3 of the year remains

How would you answer these questions right now, looking at the first third of your year? Have you stayed on track with the things you wanted to manifest?

This week’s intention

For the next seven days, I want you to journal and reflect on the promises you made to yourself (if any) at the end of last year, how you’ve grown in the last four months, and any adjustments needed as you keep creating this sacred and beautiful year of your life.

Pause. Assess. Reflect.

I’ll be doing this exercise right along with you and would love to hear how it is going.

See you next week!

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Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

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Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

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Meet me here to connect more often.

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Last week while on vacation, my Fitbit band broke. The Fitbit itself was perfectly fine, but the band tore completely from the frame. With little choice, I decided to pack it away and deal with purchasing a new band when I got home.

Here’s how the rest of vacation went:

• I went on to read, talk to my husband and listen to music while sitting at the beach for several full days in a row, all without any knowledge of how few steps I was taking. I never took any of the long walks that I normally would and surprised myself that I could sit for so many consecutive hours without back pain. I have no regrets.
• I occasionally wondered what my resting heart rate was and if it was dropping from my leisurely days or rising from the increased enjoyment of island cocktails. With no data, I just decided to assume it was dropping and there was nothing to tell me otherwise.
• I woke up each morning without any information to judge the quality of my sleep. I did none of my usual wondering what caused so little deep sleep or why I woke up so much. If I felt great, which I did, I just assumed the missing data would have shown me a beautiful graph with perfect trends for a woman my age.
• Finally, I wondered what time it was, a lot. A whole lot. I kept looking at my wrist and then having to dig my phone out of my beach bag instead. I’m not sure why I kept doing that because for the most part I had no schedule to follow and nowhere to be. Clearly, I had a hard time just letting the day slip away without tracking it.

Surprisingly, I had more fun when I went untracked.

This week’s intention

What I learned from my unplanned Fitbit experiment was that seeking to constantly improve doesn’t always lead to our best life experience. I’m glad my band broke and I might not replace it. I haven’t decided yet.

And while I’m not suggesting we stop trying to improve our health or know what time it is, I am suggesting that constantly seeking to improve can block our natural movement toward rest, fun and play. It definitely was for me.

My intention is to invite more unplanned time and play into my life.

So this week, I want to encourage you to take a look at the various goals and improvements you are making, and consider if they might be interfering with your ability to fully enjoy the sacred life you are trying to progress.

Do at least one thing this week that has no worldly value, but makes your heart happy anyway. Mediate and journal on the value of play in your life.

Have fun and see you next week!

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Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

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Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

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Imagine walking into your kitchen and seeing your refrigerator covered in the artwork of your life. I’m not talking about actual drawings or paintings (unless you happen to be an artist), but imagine snapshots of the things you’ve done so far in life displayed in symbolic form.

What would you find on your refrigerator?

What are you proud of?

If you are like most adults, you might choose accomplishments, important relationships, or major milestones. You might think of a goal surpassed, a love nurtured, or a dream realized. Basically, you’ll think of your successes.

But children honor their work in a different way. They are proud of any creation that is uniquely theirs. Children don’t need to be acclaimed an artist, win an award, or sell their artwork to validate that it is fabulous. They just know in their hearts that it is.

All of the things we do make up the work of our lives, and most of it will never produce fortune or public praise. Celebrate it anyway.

This week’s intention

In the “real world,” we learn to judge the value of our work by a narrow set of criteria—did it make money, did enough people notice it, is it something everyone seems to want.

But this week, our goal is to tap into our inner child and rekindle the joy and pride that comes from putting our God-given hand and heart prints all over something and deeming it glorious, no matter what.

My intention is to honor the work of my life.

This is not the week to critique your goals. This is not the week to celebrate the things everybody already knows you’ve accomplished. This is the week, to reflect on the many small, unrecognized, or so far unsuccessful things you have created and celebrate them. We honor our lives when we appreciate the totality of it—the seemingly successful moments and the equality beautiful times of practice, or even failure.

In the next few days, make time to journal about your ability to honor your work and thank God for the skills and talents that continue to serve you. Let your inner child celebrate your work with pride this week. You’ll spark greater creativity and tenacity if you do.

See you next week!

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Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

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Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

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Meet me here to connect more often.

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This week’s post contains sample content from my Spring 2019 newsletter. If you’d like to receive the next full edition (Summer 2019) please sign up here.

Welcome to spring!

If you’re like me, you can barely wait for the blooming to begin.

And that’s a common theme in life.

We want the fruits of our labor, but without having to endure the slow pace of progress.

Spring, however, is thrilling from beginning to end. We get excited at the mere suggestion of change and how it pulls us out of the cold winter. We cherish each step that takes us from early spring and delivers us into the magnificent bounty of summer.

Our theme for this season centers on the gorgeous pace of growth – when it starts, how it develops, and the point in which it fully takes hold and blooms. 

The section below contains a key seasonal exercise to help you embrace the slow yet magical process of change.

May you have a whole-hearted and transformative spring!

Take care,
Kourtney

This season’s exercise

Fully bloomed flowers do not look at all like the seeds they sprouted from and have to adjust to life above the surface. Anything that grows must change.

–Working Whole

Capture the pace of progress

Observe growth. Collect pictures. Track changes.

Our exercise for this season is meant to help us notice and appreciate the perfectly timed and never rushed pace of growth.

• Identify something around you that is growing (maybe a plant, bush, flower, tree, animal, or baby).
• Start taking pictures in regular intervals (every day if possible, but at least once a week).
• Look for differences between the pictures. Take time to notice even small changes and capture them in your next photo.
• Journal about the new growth you see, reflect on the pace of change, and meditate on the seasons of life.

I’d love to see your pictures. Feel free to tag me on social media or send them directly via email. You can always find me here.

See you soon!

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Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

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Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

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Meet me here to connect more often.

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Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.