Today, A New Leg of the Journey Begins

It's funny how life works sometimes. We travel far and wide and end up at the same place as where we started.

Not really, though, because we are different people—we've grown and changed because of all that we've experienced. Such is the case for me ...

Today begins an exciting new leg of my personal/spiritual growth journey and I am eager to share it with you.

If you have followed my work over the years, you may know that my first book, Coming Home to Ourselves: A Woman's Journey to Wholeness, came about as a result of the loss of my health. It was 1994 and my body/mind finally called it quits after trying to be Super Woman for too many years.

I took "a year off of life" to reclaim my health. In hindsight, I realize that what had hit was Chronic Fatigue, because after a year of rest and dramatic lifestyle changes, I was remarkably better and could return to "normal."

So began the journey of writing, speaking and sharing what I knew with other women who were dropping like flies from getting caught in a similar trap. Coming Home to Ourselves was my first self-help book. It guided women through how to begin to care for themselves—body, mind, and spirit—so that they could live vibrant, meaningful lives (but not continue to be everything to everybody :-).

Ultimately, Coming Home was endorsed/recommended by the University of Chicago Hospitals (Oncology Support Services) and other healthcare organizations as ideal for women living with cancer and other health challenges.

In time, more personal health challenges came to call and I took their message very seriously: "Get calm, clear and wise now Jan. Your health depends on it!"

For the past 20 years, I have been growing my "self" (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual), and supporting women doing the same. And over that two decade span, I finally found a lifestyle process—with mindsets and practices that I use every day—to keep me calm, clear and wise.

My life is good, wonderful, in fact, even though I live with two ongoing (chronic) health issues.

This is the new leg of the journey I find myself on. Stepping out in a bigger way to work with women who are struggling with chronic illness or ongoing health challenges:

Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, MS, Depression, AFib, Colitis, Anxiety, Chronic Pain, Cancer, and more. The list goes on. 

Current statistics bear out that 1 in 2 women has a chronic health condition.

These statistics can be quite frightening, and they deeply concern me. But there is hope, preventative medicine, and relief. The lifestyle program that I created for myself can provide this for any woman—healthy or health-challenged—because it is rooted in 3 powerful mindsets and their supporting practices:

• Mindfulness

• Self-Compassion

• Loving-kindness

You can read more about that journey here. And how these 3 key practices can change your health and shift your life too! 

Today, I am speaking more directly, boldly, about what we as women can do, must do—once and for all!—to move beyond identifying with our health issues and letting them severely limit our lives. I am doing this in 4 ways:

1. As a guest on the "Health Matters Show" with Cinda Crawford, through the month of July, I am sharing how you too can navigate chronic conditions with more ease and begin to live with greater joy—no matter what is happening in your life. The segments air each Friday and at the end of the month we will offer a one-hour free webinar on how to heal your life with mindfulness, compassion, and loving-kindness.

2. On July 5, the launch of "Buddha Chick Life" magazine, which will provide you with resources and inspiration to live with grace and dignity—even when life feels challenging.
www.buddhachicklife.com

3. "The Mindful Makeover Kit" is the lifestyle program I use to keep myself calm, clear and wise every day. It is available for you too and is ideal for the woman who is feeling overwhelmed, struggling through life, or living with chronic illness. Learn more about it here.

4. Get on the "Early Chick" list for my Fall course: "Buddha Chick Training™ for Women with Health Challenges." This online course will begin Sept. 12 and go for 10 weeks—at a gentle rhythm and pace so any woman with any condition can experience success. I will personally teach you how to live mindfully with radical self-compassion so you can live your life—with illness—in a compassionate new way.

Registration will begin in July but if you want to put your name on the list for early notification and an Early Chick discount, send me an email:

jan (at) buddhachick (dot) org.  

Thank you for joining me on this journey. It promises to be an exciting one as we learn to live more gently with ourselves and treat ourselves with the kindness we deserve!

Blessings to you for peace of body, mind, heart and soul, 

Jan Lundy