Evol-YOU-Soon (Evolution)

End of an Era

kndugan — Mon, 30 May 2011 04:46:37 +0000

The change and expansion that has happened in my life continues to evolve. Sometimes I like it, other days I don’t. I have recently observed in my own life that I am very resistant to change, really most people are, however an “Ah-ha” moment that I have had is that by my resistance, I have actually been disallowing great things to come into my life. I have had this chronic feeling that I have been “swimming up stream” in many areas of my life… And I have made the decision to STOP this cycle to end this era of my life and start floating down stream…

I have a belief that life is meant to be enjoyable and easy. The indicator I have to show me that I am flowing down stream is that I feel good… happy… appreciative… joyful…. energetic… The indicator I have to show me that I am swimming up stream is that I am unhappy… tired… frustrated… angry. So being more mindful of my emotions and making the decision to float down stream I am committed to release and allow. I don’t have to control everything in my life, I don’t have to have a plan, I don’t have to follow a schedule – All I want to do is do a lot of whatever that make me happy in the moment I am living and appreciate the things I have now and all the wonderful things to come…

Monkey Off My Back

kndugan — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 19:00:50 +0000

So recently in my life I have been filtering through a lot of “stuff” – meaning a lot of internal emotional baggage and external changes AKA the Monkey on My Back! Previously, if you would have asked me how I am and what was going on in my life, I would have provided some general answer like “I am fine” (PS fine can stand for Frustrated Insecure Neurotic Emotional) and nothing new is going on (even though my world is being turned upside down). I believe by me not being honest with myself with the actual way I feel and the overwhelment I have had in my life the past couple of months has actually done more harm than good. Why do I believe that? Well my body is breaking down and I believe that our bodies are a tool God has designed to let us know when we are “off track” in life or not doing what He gave us our individual gifts to do while we are here in this life.

So I am usually a health person, previously I have not had any nagging chronic pain (PS I found a statistic that nearly 1/3 of the population in America suffers from chronic body pain of some kind) however right now in my life I have a list of body issues, I have a right shoulder that has been giving me a great deal of pain (partially because of one of my ribs being out of place) that affects my right arm, neck and upper back. I have recently torn a muscle in my lower back which has affected my sciatic nerve, right leg, knee and shoots pain up the mid section of my back. Because of the pain of my shoulder and my lower back, I have been taking a lot of Advil and an occasional pain killer to help cope with the pain along with trying to manage my everyday responsibilities of running my own business. Now from the Advil and everyday stress I encounter, my stomach is starting to burn and I think I may have an ulcer. Last week was the kicker when I became horribly ill with a stomach flu and spent 4 days in bed throwing up with a terrible headache. Now the purpose of blogging about this is not to complain and have the reader feel sorry for me but more to make a point that obviously something is “off” and for me to take accountability for my health AND recognize that God is trying to tell me something – at this point He has my attention. It seems for me that it takes my body breaking down to this point to have an “Ah-Ha” moment to get motivated for change.

Last week, while I was sick in bed, I came across something else that gave me another “Ah-Ha” moment – so a dear friend of mine sent me a link to an online course having to do with Tapping (or EFT – Emotional Freedom Techniques). Pretty much EFT is a tool to use that helps process “bad” emotions (i.e. fear, depression, insecurity, rage, anger, jealousy, guilt, worry, frustration – for a full list of the emotional scale click here) by tapping on acupuncture/acupreasure points. From my perspective, its like a collision of Eastern and Western medicine in its most effective and simplest form. Here is the link to the online seminar if you would like an more in depth explanation or click here to read more about EFT.

One of the speakers for this seminar was Bob Proctor and he went over the fact that our human bodies are advanced electrical systems and emotional baggage can cause an electrical blockage in the natural flow of the body which in turn causes pain or dis-ease in the body. So being from the real estate industry and knowing just a little about the functionality of a house I think of what the speaker said in this sense – if a house had a car crash into it, there would a couple different layers of damage caused such as cosmetic damage like the exterior wall including paint and drywall that would need to be repaired; there would also be foundational issues that would occur such as structural posts and electrical damage, etc. We would be insane to believe that to properly repair the house, a contractor would just put a layer of drywall on then paint over the damage and claim that the property was okay and all the issues were taken care of. To properly repair everything, there would have to be a process where the contractor peeled away the damaged areas such as the tattered drywall, structural damage and electrical wires. Only then would the issue be property taken care of for all of the property’s systems to work effectively (i.e. foundational support of the home and electrical system). In this example if the house is our electrical system in our body and the car crash is the emotional baggage that blocks or damages the flow of energy in our body, we obviously cannot rebuild without peeling back the damaged area to properly fix the foundation and electrical system.

When I thought of our bodies in this way it was mind boggling – there are multiple billion dollar industries created in our society to help cosmetically “fix” the emotional baggage that show up in our bodies as pain and dis-ease – for instance – like the health care industry like doctors, nurses, hospitals, insurance companies; the mental health community such as therapist and psychologists; homeopathic remedies like natural cures to pain; pharmaceuticals for conventional help for pain; self help books, seminars and workshops to help improve one’s self; the alcohol and drug industry to cover up or numb pain; these are just a few examples.

What if all of these things can be resolved or neutralized by peeling back the layers of our emotional baggage and working through them to “repair” the electrical system in the body?

What if it were just as simple as:

1. Become Aware of the Experience and Emotion attached to the Experience to Feel, really Feel the Emotion (PS Awareness is key and I believe is a gift from God)

2. Validate the Your Feelings of the Experience and know that it is OKAY to Feel the Way You Do

3. Neutralize the Emotion that is Connected to the Experience to Clear Your Electrical System in Your Body (which EFT can be used to do this)

4. Releasing or Clearing the Emotion so Your Body’s Electrical System can Flow the Way God Designed It (which EFT can be used to do this too)

Now I know that this seems too good to be true but what if this is the secret of true happiness? Wouldn’t that would be amazing?!? Think of the difference that it would make in people’s lives and the world…

So with all that has been going on in my life and now that God has my attention, I am going to test out EFT to get the Monkey OFF My Back and filter through my “stuff”! I will keep my blog posted with my results. In the meantime, I challenge to you research EFT as well to see if you are interested in trying the same!

You’ll Think Twice to watch the News again…

kndugan — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 05:50:03 +0000

I am currently listening to Cheryl Richardson’s audio book, Experience the Power or Grace, and she mentions the fact that there is scientific evidence that disturbing images have a negative impact on the viewer’s body’s immune system. For example, the movie the Omen, which is only a little scary, was played and a group of viewers were studied. The results were amazing, 30 days after watching the movie their immune system was suppressed. This compels me to think on a larger scale, what do you think the impact of the nightly news is to the mass public?

It has always been an ongoing question in my mind how we as a society can tune in to the nightly news on a daily basis like an addiction. I often wonder how that impacts our daily lives. From my perspective, people gather in a room with other people to watch a box (aka TV) with tons of information about issues and challenges that the majority of viewers do not have directly impact their lives. However, by watching the news or other “disturbing” material on television, we make what we see a reality in our own lives.

Last November, I noticed that in my own mind I was becoming very non-motivated and I was bummed everyday (which is unlike me) coincidentally, I realized, I was watching a lot of news which I attribute to all that was going on in our economy, the financial markets and real estate industry. I felt compelled to watch the nightly news to stay “updated” on current events. After realizing this, I made the decision in my own life to no longer watch the news. Instead, I will check on going events through Internet sites or subscribe to RSS feeds of sites that I feel bring a valuable positive information that are relevant to topics of concern in my own life that way I can filter the information and images I expose myself to. It may sound silly but since I stopped watching the news, I feel much more energetic, say much more positive throughout the day, and have found that if something really important is happening in the world around me I can find out through other people instead of plugging in to the nightly news.

I challenge you in your own life to observe if watching certain things on TV – especially the news helps you or hurts you. Start noticing how you feel ☺ PS on a more positive note, if you listen to classical music it can reduce stress and anxiety (along with numerous other benefits).

This So Called Life…

kndugan — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 06:03:42 +0000

So we hear these sayings often…

“You don’t know what you got til its gone” and ”Change is the only thing consistent in life” or “When I was a kid…”

I grew up hearing stories from family members of the “good ol days” and as I get older I am starting to realize that in this so called life we each lead every day in a daze – most of us fail to stop to realize how good things really are (until they are gone – then we create our own story of the “good ol days”). From my perspective, most people (myself included) never realize what they have until its gone. Its almost like we work hard to achieve a goal and we are so overly consumed with “arriving” that we fail to realize that we are on the mountain summit – we just keep looking for the higher peak – then once we reach another valley in the journey, our eyes are opened and we realize that we were on the summit – we were just too busy or over consumed to realize it and we never got the opportunity to enjoy our successes… Its like we are blinded by our wants or desires and only realize how good things are in brief moments of clarity.

I am challenging myself to journal everyday, not to keep track of mundane events that happen in my routine driven life, but rather to keep track of “what three things I learned today” and “what are the three things I did today that I am proud of or three successes I accomplished”. Hopefully with the journal that I keep, I can etch in my mind the things I have in my life to be grateful for and the successes (no matter the size) I accomplish daily – I guess you can say I am going to start keeping track of my progress not work for perfection

I challenge you to do the same! I would love for you to share your results!

M Barrassed!

kndugan — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 05:58:42 +0000

So I have had a business blog for about a year and a half now and consistently blog at least 2 times a month… What’s embarrassing to me is that I totally ignore my personal blog – it’s not like I don’t have much to say or I’m not doing anything. It seems like I always can find a reason not to do something for myself – Like post a personal blog of my thoughts, feelings, emotions, daily ongoings, health tips, etc.

I feel like this is a reflection of how much attention I give my personal life… which again, is embarrassing. I mean, I don’t really have any good reasons not to take care of myself or exercise or do yoga once a week or create other healthy habits… I don’t have kids, I don’t work at nights, I don’t watch that much TV… So what exactly am I doing with my time and life?

Well the first thing that comes to mind is work. I am extremely driven and motivated at what I do and keep myself accountable to my commitments. Taking a step back, this is a gift and is an important part of my life but sometimes I feel as if I do a lot of stuff to just keep busy… Almost like I am self-sabotaging myself to keep myself from taking care of me (if that makes sense).

So here’s an idea, I am going to recommit (even if I have to recommit every week) to writing some type of person blog every week and grow that “Bucket List” of mine. I’m going to, as Cheryl Richardson puts it, “Take Time for My Life” to create the life that I want.

PS – It’s also embarrassing that I didn’t know how to use RSS feeds to subscribe to other people’s blogs. I am a little of a techy so for me to not use RSS is kind of inexcusable. So if you are reading this blog and have a blog of your own, I would love to keep up with you. Find me on Facebook here and send me your blog!

Peace out til next time gangstas!

My Bucket List

kndugan — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 21:14:13 +0000

I have added a bucket list to my website – check it out here http://kristinedugan.wordpress.com/bucket-list/

I’m on a Mission

kndugan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:22:29 +0000

I have just finished a 2 week vacation from Monterey, California and Chicago, Illinois. During that time I was able to spend a lot of time with some of my closest friends, enjoy amazing food, attend Lilith Fair (twice), stand at the top of the Sears Tower, and watch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. What I was able to reflect during that time is that I smiled more, laughed abundantly and was able to sleep sound (something that doesn’t happen much at home in Las Vegas).

This led me to thinking more about this so called ”life” – if I am given one life to live on my time here on this planet, am I really making the most of it and the gifts I have? A part of me has started wondering, if I had a billion dollars, what would I choose to do with my time, career and life? Would I live in Las Vegas? Would I own my own business in Real Estate? Would I travel more? Would I call my friends more? Would I spend more time with my family? Would I go on more “adventures”? How can I start living the life I want to live instead of feeling like life is just passing me by?

This process of thinking has gotten me in action mode – I am on a mission to discover my passion, my purpose, what makes me happy, what makes me smile – what Sir Ken Robinson calls ”The Element” where natural talent meets personal passion. I feel in my heart of hearts that each and every one of us is here on this planet to find our Element. I believe that if more people were in their Element, there would be less sickness, less crime, less lack and anything else one can image that causes fear and misery in this world.

I have always believed to lead by example and I know that if I want to see a change in the world, then the change needs to start with me. The first step I have taken is purchasing a book I See Your Dream Job by Sue Frederickson. From the cover, this book seems to offer some amazing insight to readers along with a Workbook to provide steps to use one’s intuitive gifts to guide one to a “Dream Job”.

I will be blogging my process and experiences to share with others in hopes of inspiring those that are willing to do the same. So here is to my pursuit of happiness (and hopefully, yours too).

10 Ways to Take Control of Your Health

kndugan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:18:32 +0000

I read this article this morning and thought it would be useful to others. It seems like in today’s society, we have every reason not to take care of ourselves and focus on others when really we are running ourselves into the ground (slowly but surly). I feel like this article poses some options to be empowered in our lives and work to feeling better everyday. If you find useful information in this article and would like to implement some of the tips, I am willing to be an accountability partner if you feel like you need one (research shows that those who have accountability partners succeed at their goals at a much higher rate than those that do not have another person help them stay accountable). Be well – Kristine

10 Ways to Take Control of Your Health

By Julie Deardorff

RISMEDIA, November 9, 2009—(MCT)—If you’re ready to take control of your health, start by washing your hands for 15 to 20 seconds, about as long as it takes to sing ”Happy Birthday” twice. Doing this simple act, while avoiding certain behaviors—smoking, excessive drinking and eating too much—can dramatically improve your health, said internist William Meller, who specializes in evolutionary medicine in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Prevention goes well beyond the mammograms, prostate screenings or blood tests that we can get at the doctor’s office. It’s the little steps you take that can keep you healthy.

“Ideally, prevention should also emphasize healthy lifestyles, a practice that isn’t only health-conscious, but is inexpensive,” said James Pivarnik, president of the American College of Sports Medicine. Here are 10 easy ways to get started.

1. Take a walk. Humans are designed to be on the move, Meller said. “Walking triggers all of our bodily systems: digestion, stress relief, thinking and preparation for sleep.” It’s easy, simple, free and confers the benefits of exercise without the risk of damage from more energetic pursuits, Meller said. Walk every day—barefoot is fine—and get a pedometer to track your steps, shooting for a minimum of 10,000. Stay committed by setting walking dates with a friend.

2. Keep a food journal. Writing down everything you eat can double your weight loss, according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost,” said lead author Jack Hollis, a researcher at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research. Scribble down your dietary transgressions on a note pad, use an online food journal or send yourself text messages.

“It’s the process of reflecting on what you eat that helps us become aware of our habits, and hopefully change our behavior,” said Dr. Keith Bachman, a member of The Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute’s Weight Management Initiative.

3. Stop drinking soda. Soda and other caloric, sugar-sweetened beverages have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes. But there’s also evidence that drinking diet soda leads to weight gain. Researchers suspect that tricking the brain—getting sweetness without the calories—makes you crave more sugar than ever. Your best bet is to stop drinking calories altogether, said obesity specialist Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, founder of Ottawa’s Bariatric Medical Institute, a multidisciplinary weight-management center. His most confused patients seem to be doing everything right but may have two glasses of milk, one glass of juice and one glass of wine a day. “That’s roughly 40 pounds of liquid calories per year,” he wrote on his blog, Weighty Matters. Freedhoff’s advice: Don’t rely on beverages for nourishment. “A well-balanced diet replete with fruits, vegetables and proteins should satisfy all of one’s nutritional needs,” he said. “Liquid calories are not satiating and in studies tend only to add calories to a meal.”

4. Strengthen your muscles. If you want to keep your muscles from weakening as you age, start strength training. It’s “the only style of exercise that maintains and increases lean muscle tissue and burns between 22 and 36 calories per day,” said personal trainer Jim Karas. He suggests starting with push-ups for the upper body and lunges and squats for the lower body. “Move slowly, and think about the muscles you are engaging. One slow set of 10 is all you need, but make sure to fail,” which means you can’t perform another repetition.

5. Chill out. Stressed-out people are more vulnerable to colds and other viruses, they take longer to recover from illness, and they gain more weight than their relaxed counterparts, research has shown. We also know that “the inability to feel in control of stress, rather than the stressful event itself, is the most damaging to immunity,” wrote Joan Borysenko in “Mending the Body, Mending the Mind.”

Another stress expert, Debbie Mandel, likes to lift weights when her stress levels creep up. “Then I’m ready to reframe negatives into positives to turn stress into strength,” said Mandel, the author of “Addicted to Stress.” In addition to exercise, deep-breathing techniques, meditation, tai chi and yoga are proven stress relievers.

6. Eat out less. We often use restaurants in the same way our parents used supermarkets, one of the main reasons for the dramatic global rise in chronic diseases such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, Freedhoff said.

“Nutrition and calories aren’t intuitive,” he said. “When restaurant salads can have more calories and fat than a Big Mac, you know you’re putting your health at risk. You’ll save more than your money by eating meals in. You might even save your life.”

7. Be a social butterfly. Human beings are social creatures, if only because we need to reproduce. But research has shown that joining a club or sports team, belonging to a church group or keeping in contact with friends creates a sense of social identity that can help significantly reduce your risk of having a stroke, dementia and even the common cold.

8. Get some sleep. Sleeping well is the single most overlooked factor critical to good health, especially during the flu season, said sleep specialist Dr. Rubin Naiman, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona’s Center for Integrative Medicine. But because focusing on doing all the right things before bed can make it harder to sleep, Naiman suggests lightening things up, perhaps by watching comedy on television before bed.

9. Eat whole foods. Whole foods—fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, eggs and whole grains—are unprocessed and unrefined and typically don’t have added sugar, salt or fat. They often have a low glycemic index, which means they don’t raise blood sugar and insulin levels as quickly as processed foods.

10. Find your passion. Do things that bring meaning to your days, said Patricia Boyle, a neuropsychologist in the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, whose research has shown that having a higher purpose can reduce the risk of death among older adults.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Hello world!

kndugan — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:48:58 +0000

Thanks for visiting!

For those of you that know me and familiar with my beliefs, I work to have a life without dualism and believe that we, as human beings, should be holistic in our approach to life. Meaning rather than keeping our professional life, personal life and all factors of our inner and outer world separate, we should integrate them all as one (financial, relational, mental, physical, and spiritual) – one approach because we are all one person and I believe sectoring each or any part of my life out is an unjustified way to live life.

Because of this, I have created a blog that includes my beliefs and thoughts on a professional and personal level. My intention for blogging is to share my thoughts and knowledge that I have learned (and continue to learn) to help enhance the lives of others.

I hope you get value out of the information I provide and please enjoy and feel free to interact when you feel necessary. I look forward to interacting with each of you and if there is anything I can assist you with on a professional or personal level, please do not hesitate to call me.

To those of you visiting my website that I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting, I encourage you to browse through my blog entries search for items you may find useful for your health and wellness needs and everyday life.

Sharing your Goals,

Kristine