014 - Living Fully Awake

07/16/19 • 14 min

The other day my friend said something that has stuck with me so profoundly because of how it's resonated in my heart. When I asked her, "What's one thing that you could do this year to really make this year a win?" She responded, "Slowing down and creating more empty space. Finally getting up the nerve to be less connected. How dare I? Less always going so that I can just live a simpler, more present life?"

Then she said these words, "I'll also say that that sounds impossible. Isn't that a shame?" Man, that hit my heart. Doesn't it feel like slowing down and being less connected and less always going, as she put it, is nearly impossible? I know it feels like that for me, honestly, most days. But I also know that it actually is possible. It's possible to slow down. It's just dependent on the choices that you and I make.

I think often, it's not so much about changing our lives or our circumstances or our schedules, but instead, it's simply looks like putting down our phones, and being all in right where you are. I want to live fully awake. I want to be all there. I want to put my hand to my work in that moment and give it my everything. I want to be aware of the atmosphere around me, how it's affecting me and how I can affect it. I want to know God's voice intimately. I want to feel pain. That's crazy, but I don't want to try to avoid pain. If there's pain, I want to feel it and I want to heal from it. I want to go there. I want to really, truly feel and experience joy, the deep, deep kind of joy. All of the emotions and pains and joys. That is living fully awake. Not trying to numb yourself and not trying to get out of it. I want to feel, I want to be.

I want to live to the fullest— and I am begging you to join me.

For the full transcript, click here.

I'm giving you my FREE GUIDE to crafting an intentional, grounding morning routine. Go ahead and download it and I'll walk you through every step so that you can start living fully awake first thing tomorrow morning.

Resources from this episode:

None Like Him, Jen Wilkin

The Soul of Money, Lynn Twist

Episode 007 - You Were Made for Hard Things

*Affiliate links have been used!

I want to live to the fullest— and I am begging you to join me.

For the full transcript, click here.

Resources from this episode:

None Like Him, Jen Wilkin

The Soul of Money, Lynn Twist

Episode 007 - You Were Made for Hard Things

*Affiliate links have been used!

Previous Episode

013 - My Morning Routine

Get ready, because I love a good morning routine. Fair warning: I am such a nerd about this. I know this sounds kind of extreme, but having a morning routine in place really enhances the quality of my life. I'm not kidding. It gives me something to look forward to at night. It starts my day off connected with the Lord and with a healthy mindset. It allows me to start my day in a place of abundance, which really determines so much of the rest of my day. So whether you have a solid morning routine or if you don't have one at all, this episode is for you.

Here are a couple reasons why my morning routine is so important to me, why I get so pumped about this topic:

I think that it’s really important mentally to set yourself up in life with a series of rhythms that get you to enjoy life more, that just allow you to look forward to the next day. And you have control over that. You can choose to put things in your schedule and in your life that simply cause you to look forward to living. That’s just good practice that it brings you joy. It’s good for your mental health to do that.

Another reason I have a morning routine: it’s good for my spirit. Spiritually speaking, it is grounding for me. It is a habit and a rhythm that I have. It’s like an appointment on my calendar with the Lord where I meet with Him. I ask Him to speak to me. It’s the first thing that I do every day. And when I spend that time with Him, I can guarantee you I’m going to be more patient. I’m going to be more loving. I’m going to be more aware of how He’s speaking to me throughout the day versus if I just launch into my long list of things to do. I’m pretty much doing things more in my own strength, and that’s me personally speaking for myself. But literally, I have kind of two kinds of days. When I’ve had that time with the Lord, it goes one way. When I haven’t, I feel like I’m just operating in my own strength, and it’s tiresome. It really is.

Yet another reason I have a morning routine is that I want to wake up and happen to my day, I don’t want to get to the end of my day and feel like my day happened to me. You know what I’m saying? You know. You know those days. When you wake up, and you have a plan, and you’ve woken up before the kids or before the sunrises and you’ve had your time to pray, to ground yourself, to plan your day, I mean, you feel good. It’s amazing, and then you happen to your day versus when you’re, like I said, always feeling behind.

This is why I have a morning routine, and this is why I want you to consider a morning routine on your own! Listen in and we’ll walk through what the purpose of having a morning routine is and how to craft one that fits YOU and YOUR LIFE.

For the full transcript, head to this episode's blog post.

*Affiliate links have been used!

Resources from this episode:

Download my FREE GUIDE to crafting your own Morning Routine!

Michael Hyatt & the Lead to Win Podcast

Allie Casazza & The Purpose Show

What the Most Successful People do Before Breakfast, by Laura Vanderkam

Next Episode

015 - Book | The Year of Living Happy

Welcome to the Nancy Ray Book Club where every once in a while an episode will be comprised of my thoughts on a book worth reading and my top three takeaways from that book. Today we'll be looking at the book The Year of Living Happy and a few ideas that have really stayed with me since reading it.

I picked this book up because I heard an interview with the author, Alli Worthington, where she said a few things that really resonated with me. She said a lot of times today happiness can sound shallow or superficial and like it's not a worthwhile pursuit, but that joy is something that is deep and worth pursuing and has more meaning than happiness, but what she found in all of her research is that the words for happiness and joy in the Bible are actually interchangeable and the Bible talks a lot about joy. That means the Bible talks a lot about being happy, which I kind of found fascinating.

If you’ve been reading along with me with the Nancy Ray Book Club, you know that this book is such an easy and encouraging read, and is full of so many great little nuggets. I’m excited to introduce you to the book if you’ve never heard of it—it has really blessed me in the season of life I’m in. In today’s episode, I’m sharing my top three takeaways from the book. Really quickly, I’ll give you a glimpse of some things that really stuck with me about being happier: God’s word, Generosity, and Friendships.

At most, this episode can give you a $133,000 raise. At least, it can make you a bit more aware of your own happiness, encouraging you to pay attention to what you're seeking to fill your happiness. Hoping you enjoy it!

For the full transcript, head over here!

Resources from this episode:

The Year of Living Happy, Alli Worthington

Nancy Ray Book Club

*Affiliate links have been used!