I don’t know about you but my favorite holiday is the New Year! There’s something so special about it because it makes me feel like I get a re-set button to do better and be better. With that notion, as well as my passion for elevating women’s lives I knew I had to host a mastermind event for women with this new turn of a decade. If you missed our in-person event that’s okay, I want to give you the highlights from our event so it’s like you were basically there!
We hosted our first event of the year in partnership with our
Gold Sponsor Associated Vintners
Associated Vintners is an elite company of curated wines that provides one of the only tasting rooms here in Seattle, WA! If you’re in the area, definitely stop in for a look-see to one of the cutest tasting rooms I’ve seen yet! They provided mimosas, delicious bites from Ballard Market and some fun swag. We could not have done it without their help so a heartfelt thank you to Tom the Tasting Room Manager, Sabrina and everyone else at AV!
In addition, this event would not have been possible with our other sponsors as well so a huge thank you to:
The Power of Gratitude
Our event started out by thanking 2019 and letting it go so that we can make room for more abundance and possibilities to come for 2020. Research shows that there are a lot of benefits to gratitude. According to Morin (2014) Gratitude can
- “Help you make friends. One study found that thanking a new acquaintance makes them more likely to seek a more lasting relationship with you.
- Improve your physical health. People who exhibit gratitude report fewer aches and pains, a general feeling of health, more regular exercise, and more frequent checkups with their doctor than those who don’t.
- Improve your psychological health. Grateful people enjoy higher well-being and happiness and suffer from reduced symptoms of depression.
- Enhance empathy and reduces aggression. Those who show their gratitude are less likely to seek revenge against others and more likely to behave in a prosocial manner, with sensitivity and empathy.
- Improve your sleep. Practicing gratitude regularly can help you sleep longer and better.
- Enhance your self-esteem. People who are grateful have increased self-esteem, partly due to their ability to appreciate other peoples’ accomplishments.
- Increase in mental strength. Grateful people have an advantage in overcoming trauma and enhanced resilience, helping them to bounce back from highly stressful situations.” (Morin, 2014).
Some practices that can help enhance your gratitude muscles can include a gratitude journal and writing down 3 bests from the day. I’ve done this practice, especially in times of difficulty and it has helped me to see the glass half full versus half empty. It has truly helped me to get out of mental ruts, so I would highly recommend this practice as it is definitely my biggest go-to!
Let’s talk about Meditation
In addition, to gratitude we spoke on the idea of meditation and discussed the differences as well as benefits. Many people believe that meditation is challenging because you must quiet the mind. For me personally though, I welcome that in my own meditations because I see value and power in the visualizations I get from them.
There are two types of meditations, the first is mindfulness meditation and the second is moving meditation.
Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness meditation is what you think of when you think of meditation. Where you are sitting still, focusing on your breathing and being mindful of your body, noises and quieting your mind to nothingness so that you are fully present with what is happening right now.
Moving meditation
Moving meditation is exactly what you think it is, it’s being able to move your body rhythmically so that you can be in tune with your body and your thoughts. Activities such as yoga, Tai Chi or running can promote this type of meditation.
Regardless of what you end up trying out, do what feels best for you. Some people tell me that optimal meditation takes from 10-20 minutes. For me, I think that is a very long time. I have seen results from just 2-5 minutes of meditation! During my mindfulness meditation, visualizations came to me where I saw hosting this exact event in addition to teaching. Because of that meditation and visualization, it gave me the direction to host our first event and begin teaching as Adjunct Faculty at a local University in their Bachelor’s in Nursing Program! So I’m truly living the benefits of meditation and I know you can too. The one thing I do want to mention is even if you don’t do it on the regular, there are still benefits to be reaped.
Benefits
- More Relaxed and at peace
- More awake, alert and aware
- Become more purposeful in action
- Improves mental and physical health
- Lowers blood pressure
- Decreases pain
- Improves immune system to fight against illnesses
- Improves mood and brain function (Watson, Fraser, Ballas, n.d.)
The last piece we touched on is goal setting which I had my amazing husband Hoan Do facilitate! He is an inspirational speak, author and was on NBC’s hit show American Ninja Warrior! I couldn’t think of anyone more perfect to facilitate this portion of our mastermind. He has an incredibly short and sweet, and might I add, super easy way of remembering how to goal set and he calls it GPS!
What does GPS Stand for?
G – Specific GOAL – your goal needs to be specific in nature. Does it have a deadline? Are there specific measurable parts to your goal?
P – Meaningful PURPOSE – you have to get super emotional about your goal. How would it make you feel if you achieved this goal? And think about that when you reference back to the goal.
S – Multiple STRATEGIES – There has to be multiple ways in which you can achieve your goal. If one way doesn’t work, don’t stop there, try something else.
So there you have it guys! Those were the highlights from our event. We are in the works to planning our second event so stay tuned for more details. It will be in the second quarter, probably around April or May! But until then, I hope that you continue to live out your best lives this year. 2020 is going to be so good, I can feel it in my bones baby!
