Point to Ponder: Do you let the holidays control you, or do you control the holidays? Alright, alright, alright…the holidays are here and before your computer combusts from online shopping and your shoulders get stuck to your earlobes, take a moment to breatheeeeeeeeeee…..in through your nose and out through your mouth. I’m kind of exaggerating (but not really), however holiday anxiousness, stress and chaos is prevalent, and preventable! We have a choice, and it’s starts wit

Point to Ponder: Do the free-flowing, unstructured and over-indulgent summer months derailing your healthy habits? One of the things I love most about summer is the indulgent break from routine, which includes staying up and sleeping in a later than normal, enjoying cocktails, soaking up extra sun, eating more of what I typically wouldn’t and kicking normal structure to the curb. That being said, when all routine falls by the way side, my body, mind and bowels (TMI but true!)

Point to ponder: What can you do to be of greater service to others? If not you, then who? This is the stirring question behind the Travis Manion Foundation. Travis Manion served United States Marine Corps. On April 29, 2007, 1st Lt. Travis, his fellow Marines and Iraqi Army counterparts were ambushed while searching a suspected insurgent house in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. Leading the counterattack against the enemy forces, Travis was fatally wounded by an enemy sniper

Point to ponder: What stressors, frustrations or challenges are you currently experiencing that can become your teacher and helper? While living in San Diego I regularly attend a heated Power Vinyasa Flow class. I loved this class because of the instructor. His name was Dat and he was introspective and intuitive. He was always teaching and challenging his students, both physically and mentally. It was rare I didn't leave with a nugget of wisdom. The one I remember most was

Point to Ponder: Is what you are saying and doing consistent with who you want to be and the impact you want to have? I bet you are curious where this journal is going??? I gotta tell you, I am so pumped about this image and the message behind it. It goes like this: Last week, iGnite San Diego member, Erinn Hanson, sent this picture of Barbie, perfectly planking. Of course, she didn't strip Barbie down and put her in a plank, but one of her daughters did! Here's what I lov

Point to Ponder: Are you "Spring Break Ready"? Last week, while thinking about our 6-Weeks to Spring Break Challenge, I found myself thinking about Spring Break and the real “why” behind us wanting you to make every effort to iGnite 24 times in 6-weeks. In the event you think we’re trying to guilt you into exercising because it’s time to “Get ready for bathing suit season.” No way, Jose! That’s not us. In fact, how annoying and unoriginal is that line? Of course we want you

Point to Ponder: Are you getting "summer ready"? Last week, after we launched our 6-Weeks to Summer Challenge, I found myself thinking about summer and the real “why” behind us wanting you to make every effort to iGnite 25 times in 6-weeks. In the event you think we’re trying to guilt you into exercising because it’s time to “Get ready for bathing suit season.” No way, Jose! That’s not us. In fact, how annoying and unoriginal is that line? While I’m on the topic, if anyone ev

Point to Ponder: What people or things do you take for granted? For Christmas, we gave Malaine, our five year old daughter, her first pet, or I should say her first “practice pet”. Rather than get the puppy she had been asking for, we opted for the easier and other pet she wanted: a Bearded Dragon. I said “No” to a dog and “ Yes” to the bearded dragon because, as expected, I became the primary caretaker of the lizard. Thankfully, she’s a pretty easy pet and I’ve become quite

As we approach the NCAA Sweet 16, it only seems fitting to start the week with our very own sweet 16- a list of 16 inspiring, encouraging, empowering and funny quotes by extraordinary women! 1. “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.”– Katharine Hepburn 2. “A woman is like a tea bag – you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.”– Eleanor Roosevelt 3. “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.”

Point to Ponder: Do your actions, attitude and words epitomize that of the strong, confident, independent, capable, kind, merciful and hard-working woman God created you to be? Friday was International Women’s Day, a day set aside to celebrate and acknowledge all that women have overcome and accomplished. Excitingly in iGnite, everyday is women’s day- whoop whoop!…and we don’t need a special day on the calendar to be reminded of our greatness and the infinite possibilities t

Point to Ponder: What is not serving you and therefore need to quit? In March 2017 I wrote a Sunday Journal called Quit Something. I got the idea from the book Love Does. The author, Bob Goff, shared that every Thursday he quits something. Two years ago I thought this was an excellent weekly exercise because it requires us to regularly stop and evaluate our actions and life, including any pesky habits that aren't serving us. Today and as we approach Lent, I think it’s the per

Point to Ponder: Do you view time with girlfriends as contributing to your health, happiness, longevity and ability to thrive? Have you ever heard of "kedging"? According to the book, Younger Next Year for Women, kedging is an ancient sailing term. A kedge is a light anchor, and way back when, to avoid a ship from being overcome by pirates, sailors would kedge. The act of kedging is to pull a ship along by hauling on the cable of an anchor carried out from the ship and droppe

Point to Ponder: Do you view time with girlfriends as contributing to your health, happiness, longevity and ability to thrive? Have you ever heard of "kedging"? According to the book, Younger Next Year for Women, kedging is an ancient sailing term. A kedge is a light anchor, and way back when, to avoid a ship from being overcome by pirates, sailors would kedge. The act of kedging is to pull a ship along by hauling on the cable of an anchor carried out from the ship and droppe

Point to Ponder: What label (about yourself) do you need to drop? My sister Shonna (the same direct communicating sister I wrote about last week) has never considered herself creative. If asked, she’d say I was the creative one in the family while she wasn’t creative at all, however, over the past year she began baking and decorating gorgeous sugar cookies (pictured above). This was after only taking one decorating class! Now, she's decorating elaborate and delicious cookies

Point to Ponder: Do you let emotion impact or direct your communication? Waayyy back in January (seems like eons ago, doesn’t it) in our Weekly News, we shared a link to our blog featuring 19 ways we believe 2019 can be a happy year. Throughout the course of 2019 we’ll eventually roll out all of our recommendations, but for the sake of today, we’re focusing on #5, which is: to Communicate More. Why? Because communication (in all areas) prevents chaos and disaster. I am confid

Point to Ponder: Are you going through each day living in your past or anticipating your future? Have you ever had one of those moments when you heard something and immediately thought, "Yep, that’s for me!" Actually, my exact words were, “Crap! I know this is for me.” This is what happened a few years ago while listening to an excellent podcast by John O’Leary. John O’Leary interviewed Matt Manzari, a professional athlete who was trimming trees at his church and unfortunate

When talking to friends it seems like all of us are wanting and needing at-home healthy cooking inspiration, because UGH!...cooking, at least for me, is so mundane. So, as a means of simplifying your life, which we hope will contribute to iGniting your and your families life, we have ten healthy go-to recipe sites just for you. Here ya go and we hope you enjoy! Skinnytaste.com Provides delicious, healthy, low fat, family-friendly recipes. You can sign up to get new recipes se

Point to Ponder: Do you ask for what you need and want in and out of life, and look for surprise and adventure? Or, have you lowered your expectations and just accepted a status quo life? My dear and passionate friend and iGnite leader, Kathleen Parker, recently shared stories of answered prayers. It’s not unlike us to have candid conversations about God and our faith, but it’s not every day we get to share answered prayer stories. On Monday I saw a clip from the Ellen Show w

Point to Ponder: What choices do you need to make in order to truly have a seize the day mindset? I believe the allure of the New Year is having a fresh, hopeful and enthusiastic opportunity to begin again and experience more mountain top moments than the year before. January 1st may in fact be the most optimistic and opportunistic day of the year. On that particular day, everything feels possible but did you know that statistics tell us by Valentine’s Day 92% of our Near Yea

Points to Ponder: 1. What excites you? What scares you? 2. What goals have you set in the past? What were the results? 3. How has working toward a goal resulted in personal growth and/or understanding (regardless of whether or not the goal was met)? 4. How has the support of others helped you in achieving past goals? And how have you felt "unsupported" in the past? 5. What are your goals for 2019? Setting goals can be difficult. And certainly taking the steps (and hurdling th