simplicity

Walking on Clouds a Mauna Kea Perspective

When one thinks of Hawaii, images of beaches come to mind first. The Big Island Hawaii is different and quite majestic in that it has several volcanoes, one being 14,000 feet tall. It is called and celebrated in the name Mauna Kea.

We went to Mauna Kea to watch the sunset this week while a friend was visiting. The feeling of walking on clouds and gratitude was what came of it.

Mauna Kea and Walking on Clouds

The visit was one where unexpected connection came to mind. We traveled from our home to the top of the mountain, about an hour and a half trip by 4 wheel drive with our two dogs and our friend, who is originally from India. As I stood at the top I thought about what would bring these beings together and how we got here. We’d all come from very different places yet the grounding of the earth, at 14,000 feet and above the clouds was a shared experience.

There were moments where we all stood at the top and looked out in our own awe of the beauty and it felt as though we had each realized the vastness of our lives, the real beauty of the earth and the amazing feeling of actually being above the clouds. It was a time where we did not have to say it out loud but a feeling of gratitude for our mere existence was shared.

Nature and the Lesson from Dogs

I often times wish my dogs could tell me exactly what they are thinking. On this particular trip simply riding in the car with us one could tell was pure joy. I try to take those moments and apply them to the things I do. In this instance just simply to enjoy the ride with my life partner and our friend and the dogs.

Once on the mountain the connection to outdoors, breathing, running or moving is easy to see. My Weimaraner is much like me in that she gets cold easily. She dealt with it by moving, checking out all that was around her and the connection to the earth. Movement is a natural course of action for a dog.

Why is it that we humans tend to become sedentary when the feeling of uncomfortable comes over us? Another lesson I have learned from the dogs.

Move
Breath
Warm your body by taking in all of the surroundings, especially when in nature. Even if it’s just a walk around the block to replace a sudden feeling of anxiety the movement works.

Perspective

Somewhere in the hour and a half drive to the top we encountered cloud cover. I’m one to love the sun. Clouds make me feel not so happy. The perspective I gained from this particular trip once we broke through the clouds as we started for the summit was a matter of perspective.

The sun is here. It is shining on us. It may be covered by the clouds but it is still above shining in all it’s glory. Though it may be covered by the clouds if we dare to get out in it, we will soak it up. It may look different under the clouds, it is a matter of perspective. It is a matter of how we choose to look at it.

Yet another lesson from the dogs. Given the chance they will go out and play, or run or simply smell the outdoors whether the sun is clearly shining or not and the benefit of the oxygen, the movement and the time outside bring good in, stale out! The excuse of clouds is not one to stop a dog from enjoying and the belief that there is sun anyway is the beauty of a dog’s attitude towards it.

Go outside today. What is your perspective? What does the movement, the breath, a plant, the smells, the sounds add to your connection to the earth do for you? Can you soak up the sun from any perspective?

Jt Clough lives on the Big Island, Hawaii, and practices health, happiness and natural remedies, while working as a Habits Coach for people looking to live healthier and happier lives. She is a dog whisperer for our best friends; and studies natural dog remedies, nutrition and communication. Her latest e-book is How to Swim through Your Fears and Come Out a Champion.

Mahalo 2011 and Aloha 2012

It has been a most fabulous year for me and Big Island Dog.

Look back and spend some time to be grateful for people, experiences and the things you love in your life. Make a love list about it. It’s a much better way to put your New Year’s Intentions out there instead of thinking in terms of Resolutions!

I love that I took the action to live a dream and move to Hawaii.

Still, I’m a little amazed that it all happened. It all aligned and what I’m taking from it is to go ahead and amaze yourself. If you love it, when you amaze yourself, not someone else, it will take the expectation part out of the picture and put your best self on for everyone else for real… no pretending. That changes everything.

I love that the love of my life, my life partner did all it took to get our family to Hawaii.

We had a quest to live with less and spend our time creating experiences to share with others. In the last 8 months we have had people here for their own retreat and friends and family come stay with us. Wonderful times have come from all of it.

I love that our dogs are with us.

If only you could hear the conversations with Emmy the Lab it would be quite clear that we are experiencing pure joy. We have had lots of it this year.

Even through all the NEW, it brought us to practice reaction. I’m finding the reaction to come to the positive side of everything in the moment, to have a grateful view of all that is, has made fear and anxiety vanish more often.

I love that I started eating much much more healthy.

This one has changed the way I feel in a HUGE way. It took some sticking to it, and I’ve got a lot more foodie nutritional healing ways to go. But I love the challenge to eat mostly things that are not processed. I love learning about it and sharing it with others.

I love that I started doing yoga on a regular basis.

It has brought balance to my very busy mind, and created flexibility in my body where there was pain before.

I love that I got rid of so much of my stuff.

It was one of those things I didn’t realize. I was holding on to things and not using them out of fear of not having enough. When I gave most of it away or sold it, I realized how abundant my life is and how less can actually create more of the most important things in life.

I love that I started outrigger paddling and met some wonderful people.

They help me in my observations to write many articles because of our experiences on the Ocean. My new Kona crew rocks it as far as working out goes with happy ready to go attitudes too. I love that.

I love my website and blog.

I got the chance to write my story. And I get to use my gift of teaching. I get to be an author and I get to have people read my stuff. I love that I published an e-book this year. It’s on Amazon and everything. It’s so cool.

Huge Mahalo Courtney Carver

You are so amazing and the contribution and professional awesome-ness you brought to putting the site together has your magic intention flowing at all times even here in Hawaii. It makes me think of you often.

*Courtney’s writing on How to Make a Love List was the inspiration for this article as well.

Be In The Moment while Looking Forward to the Aloha of 2012

I look forward to all that I can do in 2012 for myself, for my family and for others. I’ll leave my wonderful readers I appreciate so very much here to write your own Love List of Mahalos 2011 and Alohas 2012. I’ll be at the beach this year, celebrating all that is and all that is to come. I plan to write my 2012 Love List there. Stay tuned.

Aloha wags!

Thanks for reading. My hope is to give you inspiration and thought provoking ideas to take your very next step in creating your own paradise from where you are now! Please subscribe to Big Island Dog and follow me on Twitter. Retweets are cool too.

As a 9 time Ironman finisher, change maker and author and creator of 5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs and K9 Cross Fitness Classes in Kailua Kona Hawaii I encourage you to make that change you want so badly today!

Choosing Your Gifts or Choosing Anxiety

Dogs reflect our behavior. This is how I have come to realize that fear and anxiety or so much a part of our lives that we have gotten to a place where our dogs, who have always been happy-go-lucky-in-the-moment are suffering from anxiety as well.

While it kept me busy in the dog training world, it became a huge lesson in how to start recognizing anxiety in myself and what the reaction was that went along with it.

Change on Purpose

If you want your dog to stop with an anxiety lifestyle, then you must show a picture of exactly how to react. In other words you need to stop with your own anxiety lifestyle habits or your dog probably never will recover from it!

If you spend more of your time than you even realize reacting in ways that you’d rather not, it may be time to start replacing that feeling with thoughts that bring “Calm” and reactions that are much more fun filled.

Changing on purpose is a practiced type of thing. We must recognize first that we are in the moment of acting with anxiety cover-ups, and choose what it is we want to replace it with. I have found ways to choose those things that are fun, that are relaxing and that bring me peace of mind. It’s been a journey I wish that more people would take.

It is Ok to Give Yourself Your Own Gifts

We all have pretty awesome gifts. The problem is many tag “underneath it all” to that statement.

I find that reading things that come into my in box, like The Anxiety Busting Virtual Retreat help peel off those layers of stress and anxiety, of not having fun anymore and making choices we really don’t want to sign up for. The gifts we have been given to enjoy reveal themselves easily and effortlessly all of sudden.

It will be a wonderful gift for the dog in your life as well.

Go on, create your own paradise!

Thanks for reading. My hope is to give you inspiration and thought provoking ideas to take your very next step in creating your own paradise from where you are now! Please subscribe to Big Island Dog and follow me on Twitter. Retweets are cool too.

As a 9 time Ironman finisher, change maker and author and creator of 5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs and K9 Cross Fitness Classes in Kailua Kona Hawaii I encourage you to make that change you want so badly today!

The Grateful Dog Project

Please join me in the Grateful Dog Project. It is very simple and might possibly even become a really great new habit if you practice it for even 5 or 10 minutes a day through the holiday season.

A few minutes a day with gratefulness literally can change your life. It changes the pattern of all those negative news feeds that end up spending too much time in our heads. It is a big wake up call to what we actually do have, all the good that is around us and how we actually react to anything and everything.

Grateful Like a Dog

Dogs tend to live their lives in the moment. They are not mad about what happened yesterday and they aren’t worried about what will happen tomorrow. Dogs tend to be happy about whatever is in front of them. It’s a great lesson.

Always looking for the good is a dog’s motto. Granted, their good sometimes may not be our good. Though there is some sort of happiness within ourselves when we see a dog get such joy out of carrying around one of our shoes as though it were a coveted prize.

Simplicity

Dogs keep it simple. The ebb and flow of our times have brought our society full circle. The 80’s and 90’s brought times of more is better. The 2000’s are bringing times of less is more. The Grateful Dog Project is about being thankful for all we already have. And the more grateful we get it seems the more good happens.

“Where the mind dwells so goes our lives.”

The Grateful Dog Project 5 Minute Practice

•Write down all the things that you are grateful for. First thing in the morning is the best time but anytime it works for you is a good time too.

•It doesn’t have to be a long list, just start.

•Each day you can add to the list.

•Read over the list (out loud is best) and give each one that moment of appreciation. In that moment. Think of nothing else. Like a dog. Wag. Smile. Shake all about. Whatever gives you that feeling. Thankful. Grateful.

•When you feel moments of overwhelm during these days of holiday splashed everywhere, say at least 3 of the things on your list in head to yourself. Then go back to what you were doing. It will feel better.

•Act like you are a dog. Have fun. In this very moment. Don’t dwell on yesterday and don’t worry about tomorrow. Do what is in front of you this very moment and do it with a wag.

•And last but not least on the list, have something good you’ve decided to do or think ready as your next thought to replace the overwhelm, the negative, or lack of focus. And if that seems to be difficult, you catch yourself criticizing, down on yourself, worried about money, or anything negative at all, here’s what to do:

•Say 3 things you are grateful for on your list. And if you don’t feel like it….

•Do it anyway. Say 3 things you are grateful for. Then go back to what you were doing.

It works. It will change your life. You will feel better. You’ll replace being upset about things with a happy disposition about life. It is the very simple things that usually bring us the biggest joy.

Please share your list or a portion of your list in the comments. Reading grateful, brings more gratefulness. Good is gonna happen.

Thanks for reading. My hope is to give you inspiration and thought provoking ideas to take your very next step in creating your own paradise from where you are now! Please subscribe to Big Island Dog and follow me on Twitter. Retweets are cool too.

As a 9 time Ironman finisher, change maker and author and creator of 5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs and K9 Cross Fitness Classes in Kailua Kona Hawaii I encourage you to make that change you want so badly today!

Triathlon Tidbits of Inspiration from Kona

The Keauhou Lavaman Triathlon went off without a hitch. The beauty of this race is the wonderful sense of community that evolves in the midst of the most sought after triathlon mecca; the Ironman World Championships.

There are always parts of each race which makes it special above and beyond the finish line clock or what place you finished in your age division. These are the things that keep it feeling like family and weaving lifelong memories for those who participate.

You Don’t Have To Have the Latest of Everything to Join

Triathlon started as a sport that attracted those who really went about life beating to their own drum rhythm. There really wasn’t a certain look and you didn’t have to fit into a certain type of gear to be part of the sport in days gone by.

It all really started as a way to have a whole lotta fun, be who you are and not take life so seriously. In recent times triathlon can become another thing people tend to put too much pressure on themselves about. Too much “gotta have” beats out “enjoy doing it your way now”. Focus on what we don’t have stops us from using what we already have to actually do what we want today.

Inspiration to Be Who You Are

The lesson of our economic times speaks loudly and clearly of simplifying. Spending our time focusing on the important moments in seizing the day rather than all the small details of worry that can stop one from even beginning to live life on your own terms today.

One of the participants in the Keahou Lavaman once again was Cowman. What you have to love about Cowman is he lives his life doing what he loves in his own style. It’s a great lesson.

Watch the video and picture what you’d do to live life doing what you want in your own way. Though this video was done in 2006 Cowman is still going strong in 2011, doing life his way.

Love to hear your version of what you pictured as doing life your way in the comments!

Aloha Wags

Special thank you to Gerry Rott, owner and race director of the Lavaman Triathlons. She not only contributes in significant tremendous ways to her community, but she does life her way and it shows in her pure enjoyment and relaxed style of life on the Island.

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4 ways to Drastically Improve Your Day

What you do, think and feel first thing in the morning is a good indication of the way the rest of your day will in fact transpire.

For years I ignored this essential fact and let every morning just happen in its own way, usually leading me down a subconscious path I really didn’t want to travel, starting with a bunch of junk e-mail and the noise of Facebook!

I know it may sound simplistic but think about the way a dog gets up in the morning and their intent for the day.

First thing, a big stretch waking up their body with gentle movement.
Next thing. Wag. Happy for the next moment whatever it might be.
Run around a little bit getting warmed up for all the great things that are going to happen today. No expectations. Just looking forward to it all.
Eat a simple breakfast. Not too much. Hopefully a holistic variety, though dogs are usually happy about whatever comes there way.

With the bliss of a dog’s life as a model here are 4 things you can do to drastically improve your every day happiness quotient.

Practice Yoga or Simply Stretch

This is one you can easily end up with the excuse, “I’ll do it after I get the chance to go to 3 more yoga classes.” What you do everyday counts so start with 10 minutes a morning and soon you’ll find it is a habit.

Meditate, Affirmations, Say What You Want

Self talk is a huge part of what shapes every day. What goes on in your head is what ends up coming to fruition in a physical way throughout your day, week, month and years. The average person has 60,000 thoughts per day and studies show that of these more than 80% are negative.

With that in mind start thinking about what you really want more of.

Say what you want for the day out loud.
Start with your 3 top things: about your life, about your passion, about your livelihood.
Practice imagining 6 impossible things before breakfast.

Exercise

Bleh. A word that has come to be known with a negative connotation. Why has this one come to be such a huge problem?

In my experience working with those who have decided to take the next step and get to where they want to be from where they are now, exercise has become fun through making it a game and using things you already have available to you. Make it simple. Make it easy.

If you are a dog owner this is a great time to develop an awesome relationship with your dog that follow the simple guidelines of fun and easy. Find a 5K fun run and sign up for it. There are tons of dog friendly races out there these days as well.

Eat a Healthy Breakfast

Another duh…. you’ve heard this one before. I know I know. BUT again, get some fresh ideas of what to eat and it becomes easier. Buy only the foods for a healthy recipe and that will also become your default choice. It’s the only thing you have in the house.

6 Foodiecrush Recipes

Make everything simple. We have too much stuff in our lives. One shopping bag out of the grocery store. That’s it. No room for junk.

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