Santa’s Tips for Celebrating Christmas- #8- Give To Others

#8 of Be Brave. Lose the Beige’s tips for celebrating Christmas is – Give to Others- Let generosity be your guide during this holiday season. (That does not necessarily mean, however, overindulging your children)

Santa’s Tips for Celebrating Christmas- Tip #4 “Go on Vacation”

Number #4 in Santa’s Tips for Celebrating Christmas is-  Go on Vacation  – Ok, so this idea may be far from traditional, but sometimes you might just need to use the holiday season as an opportunity to take a much needed vacation.   Even if Christmas is about family, sometimes one needs a break from family.  Going away provides just such an excuse.

Santa’s Tips for Celebrating Christmas- Do Traditional Things

This is day 3 of Santa’s 12 Tips for Celebrating Christmas.  Tip for the day- Do Traditional Things- Trim a “real tree” not an artificial one.  It helps make the holiday more authentic.  It can be a bit of a pain wrestling the tree into its stand and making sure it stays upright.  Real trees certainly have their share of imperfections, but they can serve as a reminder that things aren’t supposed to be perfect.  Besides, they smell so good.

 

Halloween Isn’t the Only Time We Wear Masks

Be Brave. Lose the Beige embarked upon a seasonal journey with our Lady Boomers this past year.  This month our gathering focused upon the “masks” we wear using the metaphor of Halloween to inspire us. Our “mask” is the face we present to the world.  We have a wardrobe of different masks for different people and occasions.   This topic inevitably led to a discussion about all the hats women wear and the roles they occupy- mother, daughter, wife, sister, grandmother, employee, friend…so many masks,  how can we have congruency with some of these masks, allowing people to see our true selves?

Using crayons and markers, participants illustrated the persona or mask(s) they present to others.  I am continuously blown away by the candor and connection these women demonstrate in our sessions, and this one did not disappoint.

The following are a few of their illustrations and reflections:

Margrette divided her mask.  One side reflected her leadership skills, her logical self;  the other side reflected her squiggly line self.    

 

Theo created a beautiful mask saying her light shown inward in her early years, becoming more outward as job descriptions required.  She has found her self going inward again as she was faces a new chapter in her life.  

 

Trish’s mask was a study in contrasts and intense colors- rich blues and oranges.  She noted how her favorite color is orange-  Orange is optimistic, sociable and even adventurous, consistent characteristics with Trish’s outward persona.

 

Lynn wrote on her beautiful mask-  “Who am I?  My face is an open book.  My emotions are usually on public display.”

 

 

 

 

Lose the Beige in Your Life

Ten Things You Can Do To Lose the Beige

Exercise Your Creativity–We understand exercising our bodies and minds, but somehow once we get past the age of ten, we start paying less attention to our creative muscles.

 Introduce More Color In Your Daily Life–Somehow color and whimsy can make even the most mundane task a lot more fun.

Analyze That Purse Chaos–  What kind of baggage are you carrying around?

What’s In Your Empty or Not So Empty Nest?–It’s a question we should ask ourselves as we rebuild our nests and make room for our own dreams.

Go from Working Full Time to Living Full Time-  As you begin navigating retirement options, consider how you can creatively spend your next 30, 40, or 50 years.

Park it; Plant it; Pedal it; Preserve it!-Try parking your car and pedaling to your destination once in a while.  It’s a fun way to help protect our planet.

Beauty and the Beach–Escape your incessant to-do lists by going to on a beach retreat.  The beach offers a place of acceptance and equality regardless of size, age, income level, and even species.

Take Yourself Out on a Date-  a shopping expedition, museum outing, a favorite activity to pamper your passions, and it should be done alone. It’s amazing how little time we spend by ourselves.

Diet in Color- Oranges, yellow squash, red peppers, purple pomegranates. All this rich beautiful color costs the dieter 0 points in the Weight Watchers World.

Try Taking Mini-Adventures- Adventures don’t have to be big and bold.  They come in many sizes and help us feel young all over again.  

 

Be Brave. Lose the Beige meets Weight Watchers

Two weeks ago today I started on Weight Watchers.  I toyed with the online version of Weight Watchers a few years ago.  This time around I’m going to the meeting version of WW, the one with accountability built in- the weighing in front of other people kind of accountability. I’ve spent the past two weeks tracking every morsel I put in my mouth, and every step I take (ok so perhaps going to the mailbox should not count as “activity points” but, what the heck).

The meetings I’ve attended include motivational lectures with titles like, “Snacking Smarter” and “Produce Power”.   During my very first visit, the meeting leader distributed a brochure urging participants to “color up to your plate” as a dieting strategy.  The color comes in the form of orange carrots, red peppers, yellow squash, and green leafed lettuce.  All this rich, beautiful “color” costs the dieter 0 food points in the Weight Watchers World.

Hearing this I could not help but think of Be Brave. Lose the Beige (the name of my website and journal).   Color is a defining characteristic of BBLB.  While I am crazy about color (all colors, the more the better) the color component of Be Brave. Lose the Beige is really used to encourage people to think creatively about their lives and make interesting choices ( An interesting life is a choice after all).

I feel like Weight Watchers is a good choice for me.  Any system that uses color to achieve a successful outcome is the place for me.  

Lady Boomer Love

Be Brave. Lose the Beige is the name of this blog and the name of a group of Lady Boomers with whom I have the privilege of working.  Be Brave. Lose the Beige encourages women to discover their own colorful, creative spirits, and to adopt a more playful attitude in their daily lives.    As evidence of how these women are taking this advice to “heart”, I’m attaching photos of clay creations made by participants at a mini-Valentine’s retreat.  Thank you ladies for agreeing to share these adorable creations.

Meet Your Best Self In the New Year

This is the twelfth and final post of Be Brave. Lose the Beige’s 12 days of New Years Resolutions.

 Previous posts have urged Lady boomers to exercise their creative muscles, to infuse their lives with more color and fun, take mini adventures, evaluate their empty nests, and even examine their purses for excess baggage. 

The ultimate objective of the exercises proposed in these posts has been to encourage Lady Boomers and other empty nesters to transform their lives a little bit at a time, through daily activities and choices. “Transformation” can be an intimidating concept. Little steps, however, make this objective easier to achieve. These exercises are designed to remove the obstacles obscuring who you really are. As Rod Styker, meditation and yoga instructor says, ” We are not transforming into something we aspire to. We’re transforming into the very thing we are innately- our best self.”

Here’s hoping you meet your best self this year.

 

 

Resolution #12- Meet your Best self In the New Year

This is the twelfth and final post of Be Brave. Lose the Beige’s 12 days of New Years Resolutions.

 Previous posts have urged Lady boomers to exercise their creative muscles, to infuse their lives with more color and fun, take mini adventures, evaluate their empty nests, and even examine their purses for excess baggage. 

The ultimate objective of the exercises proposed in these posts has been to encourage Lady Boomers and other empty nesters to transform their lives a little bit at a time, through daily activities and choices. “Transformation” can be an intimidating concept. Little steps, however, make this objective easier to achieve. These exercises are designed to remove the obstacles obscuring who you really are. As Rod Styker, meditation and yoga instructor says, ” We are not transforming into something we aspire to. We’re transforming into the very thing we are innately- our best self.”

Here’s hoping you meet your best self this year.

 

 

 

New Years Resolution #11-Throw Yourself a Tea Party

This is post 11 of Be Brave. Lose the Beige’s 12 days of New Years Resolutions.

The white rabbit in Alice In Wonderland kept muttering…“I’m late, I’m late for a very important date” And I say, yes you are! That very important date is with yourself, at least once in a while. It’s a great idea to take a break from stress and schedules and invite yourself out to a virtual tea party. If you don’t want to actually host a tea party for your self complete with mismatched cups and saucers, tea sandwiches, and one rather toothy cat, why not envision some other kind of afternoon or evening date with yourself. It can be in whatever form you choose – a walk in the park, a shopping expedition, a spa treatment, a museum outing, a movie, rifling through an antique shop – whatever the activity, it should be one of your favorites and it should be done alone. It’

s amazing how little time we spend with ourselves and how rejuvenating it can be. Pamper your passions. This is your opportunity to be just a little bit selfish.