It’s great to be “forced” to work out.  I learn routines, show up, instruct, sweat and have fun.  I have to be what be what I’m teaching.  I can’t be lazy, bored or unmotivated when I’m on stage three times a week.  I love that I’ve made this commitment.

But the very best part for me is the community of women (and occasional few good men) that I teach to.  I teach Jazzercise in a community center. The women that take my class are your average, everyday kind of gals between the ages of 30-70.  Some gals need to lose more weight, some need to de-stress, others just like to dance (secretly they are my favorites!).  They show up, sweat a little and have fun, and they do it in good company.

Everyone has a story to tell.  You would never know that tall attractive woman in the back is a former television executive producer and BFFs with Katie Couric.  You would never know the woman that never misses Mondays is suffering from arthritis and this is the one day a week that she’s committed to dancing and smiling through the pain.  And here we are a bunch of broads in all shapes, sizes, ages and ethnicities rocking out to “I’m Sexy and I Know It” and we’re wiggling it well.

Last week, Sandra Kim, one of my favorite students said something that has resonated with me and kept a big smile on my face.  You see, she’s a 50-something Korean-born wife & mom of two daughters that she put through college making sandwiches daily in her sandwich shop.  Sandra said to me, “Where else can I get my groove on and get funky where it doesn’t look so strange.  Here, we do it together and have fun.”

Sandra, it’s because of women like you, who still like to get funky at 50 and dance like nobody’s watching that I love teaching Jazzercise as much as I do.  I am inspired and totally motivated by the women in my class.  It makes my heart swell with joy to see bigger beauties getting funky with retired teachers, new moms and stressed-out middle managers.  We’re all in this fitness class together working it out, sweating, laughing and having a good time in good company.

Thank you ladies for the regular motivation and inspiration to be a better Jazzercise instructor because there’s nothing better for my heart than seeing you getting funky.

This post was created as a part of a meme, MODAvationalMondays at MODA by Sofia.  My new favorite workout pants, the STR8 Pant (available in Pluscious & SkinnyGirl cut), are made by MODA by Sofia! Check them out. LOVE their tagline, “Active wear for real women that sculpt our curves and empowers our strengths.”

I have to tell you one of the things that keep me on track and moving forward is my vision board.  And I’m not just saying this because I’m talking with Nacho Mama today about vision boards on BlogTalkRadio (however I was inspired to write today because of it).

I trust my vision board.  When I don’t do it at the beginning of the year I feel swirly, unanchored.  During the year, it’s my tether rope and compass to my highest intentions.  It’s what I know I want for the year.  It is a visual depiction of my goals; what I’m making happen.

Nacho Mama calls it a dream board.  Likely, I don’t dream big enough.  However, I don’t want to put up a picture of a Tahitian villa on turquoise water if it’s really not going to happen.  And look, please know that I believe in miracles and I even buy a lottery ticket every once in a while.  I put images and words on my board that are a stretch. If I can meet these intentions, I would feel on top of the world, living a life I am proud of.  However, I don’t know how I’ll do it, I don’t have a plan in place and the thought of working it out makes me sweaty.  So it’s a challenge.  An inspired challenge, but one that both freaks me out and crossing that finish line will lift me up.

Take for example the words “nest egg” that is on my board this year.  Accomplishing this would assume that we have alleviated our $28,000 of credit card debt within a year and we will have met again with our financial planner and blown him away.  At the beginning of the year, that seemed next to impossible.  We’ve been holding on to about that amount of credit card debt for years, paying it down and then somehow it always creeps back up on us.  Having those words on my board has instigated deep, sometimes frustrating, and eye-opening conversations with my husband that has needed to be had.  We’re both on board and now we know what we need to do to make a nest egg happen.  We’ve made some tough decisions, but we’re mindful about where we want to go and what it will take to get there.  Sometimes it’s an “ouch,” but overall I keep thinking about crossing that finish line and what a difference it will make in our relationship.  That’s what I mean when I talk about my vision board as the tether rope and compass to my highest intentions.  It’s a tool that helps me be mindful.  Simple, but not easy.

I always divide my board into topics and themes that are important to me (marriage, money, family, health, career, home, friends, etc.) and I watch them flourish more in the year (and discover what has diminished…sometimes that is a big uh-oh).  My board is full of pictures that inspire me and words that I want to live up to.

The point is that a vision board IS a great idea.  But you have to Work It. (Click the link for a little RuPaul).  Don’t let it be a passing great idea, like a craft project that sits on a table in your house for months collecting dust and pissing you off because it’s yet another thing that you haven’t gotten to.

Have your vision board be your highest self calling you on a regular basis, lovingly checking in like your favorite girlfriends do.  Don’t let it be wallpaper in your closet.

Prominently place your board where you can see it everyday, where you can use your mind (I call it my “super powers”) to connect with that inspiration.  Feel the good feelings of “I’m making this happen,” and as if you’ve already accomplished it.  The thought-feeling connection is where it’s at.  It’s where the magic happens.  If you’re looking at your board and having negative self chatter, frankly, you’re not doing it right and you’re not going to get there.  So, stop it.  Maybe you need to redesign your board or scrap it and start over.

But take it from me and RuPaul, you gotta work it or it ain’t gonna work for you.

The most pure and clean emotion that allows me to be extraordinary.
The drive that allows me to be exactly who I know myself to be.
The fire that burns so deep in my soul that makes me unstoppable.
The strength that allows me to step onto the skinny branches of life and dance.
The elation that allows me to adore those around sans fear.
The ever-present and enormous respect I have for my shero Mom.
Passion – it is within; it is always present; it is what makes me who I am.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. - Oscar Wilde

It is a fact often observed, that men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under other circumstances.  – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am a firm believer in the theory that people only do their best at things they truly enjoy. It is difficult to excel at something you don’t enjoy.  – Jack Nicklaus

The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire. – Ferdinand Foch

Anyone can dabble, but once you’ve made that commitment, your blood has that particular thing in it, and it’s very hard for people to stop you. – Bill Cosby

One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested. – E. M. Forster

Chase your passion, not your pension.  – Denis Waitley

There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it’s the aspiration of an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a businessperson. -  Anthony Robbins

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.  — Benjamin Franklin

Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.  – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Passion, it lies in all of us, sleeping… waiting… and though unwanted… unbidden… it will stir… open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us… guides us… passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love… the clarity of hatred… and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion maybe we’d know some kind of peace… but we would be hollow… Empty rooms shuttered and dank. Without passion we’d be truly dead.  – Joss Whedon

A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.  – John Maxwell

There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the passion of life. – Federico Fellini

Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.   – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Rest in reason; move in passion.  – Khalil Gibran

Passion is the genesis of genius.  – Anthony Robbins

Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.  – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Purpose may point you in the right direction but it’s passion propels you.  – Travis McAshan

It’s hard to tell with these Internet startups if they’re really interested in building companies or if they’re just interested in the money. I can tell you, though: If they don’t really want to build a company, they won’t luck into it. That’s because it’s so hard that if you don’t have a passion, you’ll give up.  – Steve Jobs

There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.  - Nelson Mandela

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.  – Audrey Hepburn

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.  – Harriet Tubman

Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.  – Napoleon Bonaparte

Jump out the window if you are the object of passion. Flee it if you feel it. Passion goes, boredom remains.  – Coco Chanel

Passion is the evil in adultery. If a man has no opportunity of living with another man’s wife, but if it is obvious for some reason that he would like to do so, and would do so if he could, he is no less guilty than if he was caught in the act.
Saint Augustine

We must act out passion before we can feel it.   – Jean-Paul Sartre

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.  – Oprah Winfrey

Find these quotes and much more at:
Brainy Quotes

Think Exist

Leadership Now

Glide Design

When I was 26 I participated in a workshop called the Landmark Forum.  It was a Big Gulp-sized awakening of who I am, how I worked and why we all do the things we do.  I felt through that weekend workshop and the continued personal development that I explored, I fell in love with learning. Learning what it takes to lead a big, fat authentic life, what it is to be real, open and living…really living a good life while we’re here on this planet whirling around a sun that’s dying out.  You know, the big stuff and my little part in it.

So now I’m out of those transformational communities, living my life as a wife, mother, friend, daughter, sister, etc.  Sometimes I’m really good at it.  Sometimes I’m not.  But the thing that I keep coming back to is a desire, need or really  a passion to put my brain on loudspeaker, to sort it all out and keep trying on living the life of a good human being.  That is how I learn.

I have a passion to talk about it, to write about it, to share and connect others so that we can learn together and support one another.  I’m a Jen.  My story is not unique.  There are plenty of other mothers, bloggers, women who are writing and sharing their experience.  But none of them share my point view because that is unique.

So getting back to the question of what I’m passionate about…  I’ve passionate about learning, living and loving through this big thing we call life and then sharing, supporting and connecting others in doing the best job in their life.  Maybe not “the best,” that’s not the right words, but doing it well.  Being awake enough to make better choices.  To give space and time to think.  To do well for our bodies, minds and spirit…family, friends and communities.

Life is big.  Let’s just do it well.  With a little more joy.  A little more humor.  A little more positivity.  Much more authenticity.  But doing it together.  Learning and sharing this is where my passion lies.

This post is a part of Word of the Month (#NJAJWOTM). I’d love to see your post on Passion, February’s word.

"Oh PLEEZZZZZE Mommy!"

Oh BabyD, my wonderous, mischevious, sweet smiling little soul. Happy fourth Birthday!

You are a spritely little love with just the right combination of salty, spicy and sweet.  With you I have felt an incredible range of motherhood emotions:  fall on the floor laughter, an awe that only parents can own, anger that makes me want to scream and piss myself at the same time and sheer ooey-gooey love.  You are too damn cute and too infuriating all at once.  I feel for the ones that will fall for you.

The simple damn truth of the matter is that you are a lovely boy and all that the word “boy” brings.  A sweet heart, reckless and sometimes clumsy, enthusiastic, joyful, booger-eating bunch of irresistible stinkiness…and you’re only four.

This is BabyD's cousin, BigM. Trust me when I say that we will see this _exact_ picture in 15 years.

You have charms and you know how to work them.  And when that doesn’t work you throw a fit.  However, I confidently and emphatically declare you’re growing out of this phase, but retreat when you’re most tired.  It’s okay, love bug, you’re growing up.

Right now, we’re working on weaning you from sucking your thumb, but it’s like you can’t live without that damn thing in your mouth so we’ve reached a compromise.  Only when you’re tired and home; never out and with others around.  Sometimes all it takes is a sniff from a tag or a rub on your teddy bear book ribbons to set you straight.  It’s all ridiculously adorable.  Slowly and steadily you’re growing into your big boyness.

First day of Preschool

Your best boy buddy right now is Felix from preschool.  I can’t wait to see what trouble the two of you are going to be in ten years. You are just best mates and I hope the relationship lasts.  You also have excellent girl friends, little sisters to BigBoy’s best buds, Ruby and Jasmine.  I love how well you play with them too.

You look up to your brother, but I think you’re getting wise in telling him, “you’re not the boss of me” and starting to figure things out on your own.  There is nothing sweeter than to hear the two you playing well together.  I love that you love whatever he is into, Bey Blades or Skylanders, you are there ready to listen, learn and try it too.  You are doing great.

You are also growing like a weed.  You are getting so big and at a point where I can’t carry you like a baby up the stairs to bed anymore.  You still want to hold my hand, which makes my heart melt.  You said to me the other day, “this is nice, Momma,” while we were walking together and I’d do anything to capture that moment forever.

I cherish the time we have together when Daddy and BigBoy go on Adventure Guides. It helps us get back into sync.  You and I get outta wack every once in a while and we need that time to reconnect.  We easily get pissy with one another and I fear the words, “leave me alone, Mommy,” but I respect them too since I know what that feels like.

You’re easy to love but you challenge me, I’ll admit it.  You are a different breed and I’m learning how to be a good Mommy to you.  Thank goodness your Daddy is here to help me learn and sort it all out.

We love you BabyD (though we can’t really call you that anymore) and are proud of the big little boy you are becoming.  You light up my heart and fill my life with joy.

This pin is a shout out to the four fabulous ladies in The Balancing Act’s Health & Wellness Makeover reality series.  Keep up the GREAT work gals and make ‘em cry!

February’s Word of the Month is Passion.

Here’s how we do the Word of the Month (WOTM). I consider WOTM the lazy writer’s meme.  It’s not that I’m truly lazy, it’s just that I need to really mull over and think about the word, let it soak on me until I really can sit down and knock a post out.  So you have until the end of the month (at midnight) to come up with something good.

Your choice on how to use the word does not have to be obvious (or anything about the above picture) or how you think I mean the word (please don’t try to get into my brain). It just has to be YOU. A real reflection of your thought of the word.  That’s what I love; to see different perspectives of the word each month.  And I want to hear from you.  So sit, think, hell have a drink and then write it out.  What does this word mean to you?  How does it make you feel?  Where is your passion? Do you have one?  Is it lost?  Can it be found?

So here’s what you do…If you have your own blog, then post, link up below and be sure to use my Word of the Month button linking back to this original post.  If you don’t have your own blog, but want to write, that’s AWESOME! Send me an email to jenH {at} NotJustAnotherJen {dot} com and I’ll gladly post on your behalf, but please don’t send it to me right as the clock is striking midnight, you gotta give me a little bit of notice.  I stay off my computer after 6:00 p.m. on most nights.

You can follow the posts on Facebook or Twitter (@NtJstAnotherJen) for quotes, new Pinterest pins and posts under the hashtag #NJAJWOTM. You can also find cool related stuff on my Pinterest Board #NJAJWOTM-Passion.

To get your brain thinking, here is Dictionary.com’s (World English Dictionary) version of the February’s Word of the Month.

passion  (ˈpæʃən)  - noun

1. ardent love or affection

2. intense sexual love

3. a strong affection or enthusiasm for an object, concept, etc: a passion for poetry

4. any strongly felt emotion, such as love, hate, envy, etc

5. a state or outburst of extreme anger: he flew into a passion

6. the object of an intense desire, ardent affection, or enthusiasm

7. an outburst expressing intense emotion: he burst into a passion of sobs

8. philosophy

a. any state of the mind in which it is affected by something external, such as perception, desire, etc, as contrasted with action

b. feelings, desires or emotions, as contrasted with reason

9. the sufferings and death of a Christian martyr

[origin: via French from Church Latin passiō  suffering, from Latin patī  to suffer]

Thanks for playing with me and have fun! Cheers friends!

It’s been almost a month now since my annual vision board party.  I love hosting the party. I always have some returning friends and this time many more newbies.  I LOVE introducing the concept of vision boards and teach others how to really work it.  However, I don’t give the time to myself to fully create and complete it during that weekend.  I usually need to soak on it for about a month.  I’m feeling ready to set my yearly intentions.

Here’s what I know to be true for me about the process of creating a vision board and tips about working it.

It opens me up to greater possibilities than I would have figured out on my own.  It takes me in wholly different directions than I intended.  This can be a beautiful thing.

Life does not obey our expectations. Life obeys our intentions, in ways we may not expect.  - Lloyd Strom

Vision boarding has me step outside of my history, what typically would have happened knowing my habits and patterns.  When you think about it, much of your life and those around you (because it’s easier to look outward than inward), is predictable.  We all have friends and family where we “know” what’s going to happen in their lives, right?  Same goes for you.

Live out of your imagination, not your history.  – Stephen Covey

Creating a vision board is an inspired process.  When I’m inspired, I feel uplifted, enhanced and on fire.  I love this charge, this kind of electricity surging through me.  I breathe it in everyday most days and reconnect with it.  It’s what “working” your vision board is all about.  Don’t let it become wall paper or hidden in your closet.  Put it where you will see it everyday.  (My board sits above my desk) Work it, girls!

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.  – Howard Thurman

A part of the practice is bringing that feeling-thought connection to it.  Remember how good it felt to have those good ideas, those synergistic moments in your cutting and girlfriend conversations.  Keep with it and keep connecting to it.  Look at what you created: your goals, your dreams.  Think about how good it will feel when you get there! And keep breathing that in.  That’s the powerful elixir.  Drink deeply.

Don’t let your fears and sensibilities take you in the moment.  Give the lighter, brighter side some power for a minute or two.  There are enough doubting Thomases out there to squash your ideas, you don’t need to add to their chatter.

The Universe knows all things and is responding to the vibration that you are sending.  When you are sending your vibration on purpose, you are orchestrating what the Universe is aligning for you. 

– Abraham Hicks

When I create a vision board, I am open to magic, crazy synergistic possibilities that are yet to be revealed to me.  I trust that inner voice, the one I need to listen to more often.  It is the deep waters in me that flow.  It’s my inner pilot light. I’m gonna let it shine.  Trust the process.  Believe.

There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.  - Howard Thurman

If you haven’t created one this year, just do it. Find friends and create a wonderful afternoon doing it together.  You can thank me later with a bottle of wine.  Otherwise you may find yourself at the end of those strings again this time next year.

Do it. Work it. Believe in it.

Click for great quotes on the Word of the Month – Intention.

Follow the hashtag #NJAJWOTM on Twitter (@NtJstAnotherJen) to find out the Word of the Month for that Month. I’d love to hear what you have to say!

Also to see great images on Pinterest, I’ve created an Intention #WOTM board.

Cheers friends!

I dwell in possibility.  - Emily Dickinson

The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.  – John Burroughs

If you use God with awareness and with intention, all things will change. – Neale Donald Walsh

All that counts in life is intention.  - Andrea Bocelli

I may err in judgment, but I hope not in intention.  - Edward Blake

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be. – Douglas Adams

It is not good enough for things to be planned – they still have to be done; for the intention to become a reality, energy has to be launched into operation.   - Walt Kelly

Let your intentions be good – embodied in good thoughts, cheerful words, and unselfish deeds – and the world will be to you a bright and happy place in which to work and play and serve.
- Grenville Kleiser

A good intention clothes itself with sudden power.  – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The road to hell is paved with good intentions corrupted by our fears.  – Lloyd Strom

God’s Will is whatever we do with good intention.  – Lloyd Strom

Life does not obey our expectations. Life obeys our intentions, in ways we may not expect.
- Lloyd Strom

Hell is paved with good intention, not with bad ones. All men mean well.  – George Bernard Shaw

Just what is meant by ‘your word?’ It means your conscious intention, your conscious direction, your conscious faith and acceptance that, because of what you are doing, the Power of Spirit will flow through your word in the direction you give It.  – Ernest Holmes

Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and then sustain it.  – Warren Bennis

Choose your intention carefully and then practice holding your consciousness to it, so it becomes the guiding light in your life.  – John Roger

If we fall, we don’t need self-recrimination or blame or anger — we need a reawakening of our intention and a willingness to recommit, to be wholehearted once again. Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention.  – Sharon Salzberg

Before you agree to do anything that might add even the smallest amount of stress to your life, ask yourself: What is my truest intention? Give yourself time to let a yes resound within you. When it’s right, I guarantee that your entire body will feel it.  – Oprah Winfrey

Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.  – William A. Foster

I have found these quotes and countless others at SacredDays.org, Inspiration Online, Brainy Quotes and Think Exist.

I also have a great board on Intention over at Pinterest if you would like to take a gander. Feel free to follow me over there. I’m a bit addicted.

And if you’re still reading this and you really want your mind blown, check out this TED Talk featuring Lynne McTaggart. She is an award-winning author of five books, including the international bestselling sensations The Field and The Intention Experiment. She is an internationally recognized spokesperson on the science of spirituality. For this talk she is asking the question, “Can collective intentions make things happen?” Grab a glass of wine and listen.  It’s intriguing and the possibilities are amazing.