My Sacred Spiritual Mornings

My Sacred Spiritual Mornings

My mornings are very sacred to me. I have always built time for my spirituality and self reflection in the mornings of my life before plugging into the often hectic world that I am often a part of.

In an ever so crazy world and my ever so crazy life at times, I’ve always known the importance of staying spiritually grounded and connected to me. In many ways, it is my superpower. My ability to silence the world and focus deep within allows me to get greater grounding, introspection and gives me the space to receive orders for my next positioning.
 

monique-yoga
 

My mornings are free from telephones, emails, text messages, the needs of others that can be consuming and just allows me to focus solely on myself and my needs. What a tremendous gift that is to myself.

Sometimes it may be short, but normally it is hours that I block out to give myself the freedom to just be still in meditation, contemplation, reflection, sometimes reading and active movement. Most days it includes a physical workout which I deem as spiritual – the moving and stretching expands my physical capacity and mental stability.
 

monique-yoga
 

Depending on the season, I will do different things. Most often it is a moving meditation of yoga, walking and running. I receive some of my greatest messages for business and life during this time.

I often wonder when this information would come to me if I didn’t have this practice, because it is a direct line of actions that never come to me at any other time.

I intentionally block out the world during this sacred time and use it to pour solely back into myself.
 

monique-yoga
 

When you are a person who is constantly pouring out, giving, offering, it is essential that you mandate the time to refill and give back to yourself. That is your responsibility. Because no one will do it for you nor grant you the time and serenity to do it for yourself. I am so grateful that I learned that lesson a very long time ago and in doing that I’ve given myself a tremendous gift that allows me to do more, be more and to show up for others more fully in a way that I just could never show up if I was coming from a place of depletion.

Try giving yourself some time to solely pour back into yourself. It doesn’t have to be in the morning. Perhaps the evening or afternoon would be better for you, but be sure to designate that time to give yourself physically, mentally and spiritually what you need to set you on the course for showing up and participating in your life at a higher level – and to give you and your relationships what they need to thrive.

For more information about 10 Steps to Being Good to Yourself, download my ebook HERE.


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Learning How to Celebrate – Part 2

Learning How to Celebrate – Part 2

This is a continuation of Part 1.

My lack of celebrating and taking the time to stop and enjoy life over the years is what made me commit to taking a vacation every four weeks this year. After not taking a real vacation in nearly 13 years and giving so much of myself to others, I needed to stop and give myself the time to start pouring back into myself. I am so grateful that process has begun.

We all only have so much to give away to others before the deficit for ourselves begins to take its toll. Fortunately for me, I did it while I was still whole. For some, once they actually do it, they have already compromised their health, their mind and it is too late for them to recover. If this is you, start giving yourself the time to heal yourself. Your responsibilities, your family and yourself need you to give from a place of being whole not a place of depletion.
 

having tea
 

I am so grateful it is my season to do just that. I am taking the time to live and celebrate not just the big things, but also some of the smaller, daily moments of my life.

The celebration doesn’t have to be outrageous. It can be quite small. It just needs to acknowledge that something good happened and you want to take a moment to enjoy that space and, for me, feel grateful in it.

My celebration can be as simple as getting a bubble tea and enjoying it while thinking of the celebratory event. It could be a massage, a lovely dinner out or doing something that you’d enjoy doing, but may not necessarily get the chance to do regularly. However, if you prefer to celebrate, just make the time to do it and follow through with it. Life has enough non-celebratory events on its own. So, take full advantage of the moments you have when something special and exciting occurs in your life to celebrate!
 

celebrate
 

Do you feel as if you’re currently celebrating the good things that happen in your life? Or do you have some learning and growing to do around celebrating like I do?

Share with me your thoughts and experience below or on Facebook or Instagram.


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Learning How to Celebrate – Part 1

Learning How to Celebrate – Part 1

I have been in the process of learning a few things lately. Not in the area of business where I am always learning or the area of life lessons which is a never ending journey, but to be quite honest in an area which seems to be a bit remedial to me.

After years of going from one crisis to the next, celebrating just wasn’t something I’ve been concerned with doing. From dealing with the fallout from the recession to having a period of double digit family losses to dealing with the niece I raised having a traumatic brain injury, contemplating celebrations was just not on the list of the important things to do in my life.

However, a new season has bloomed. Tragedies and traumas don’t last forever and when your new season comes in, you can’t taint it with the spirit of your past seasons.
 

learning-how-to-celebrate-monique-manigault
 

What I now acknowledge is that I don’t really celebrate good things that occur in my life. The reality is that I didn’t really do much celebrating even before those incidents occurred. The last event I really remember celebrating was graduating from law school, which was nearly 20 years ago. In recent years for my birthday, I wouldn’t really do anything unless my dear friend Stephanie forced me to go somewhere with her.

I talk about celebrating with my clients and the importance of enjoying life, but the fact of the matter is, I have not organically felt so inclined to ever really do it for myself. That was until now. While recently speaking with someone who works with me, she discussed my lack of celebrating. So, we agreed that it is time for me to start.
 

learning-how-to-celebrate-monique-manigault
 

We also talked about how hard I am on myself and my very high standards. She told me that I have accomplished more in 1 year than most of the business owners she knows. And that I don’t really think it’s a big deal. She’s right. I don’t.

Those words were familiar to me, because just the other day, a lovely 18 year old named Savannah that I had recently met told me that I’ve achieved more in my life than most people do in a lifetime. That was such an interesting comment to me shared from an 18 year old.

For me, I just know the work that lies ahead. So, I am constantly looking forward instead of spending any time looking at what has or is being accomplished. I am actually perfectly fine with that. But sometimes, every now and then, I need to take a break from achieving and just do some living and celebrating.

To shop my outfit, go to: https://bit.ly/2yffPuy


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The Garrison Institute: My Spiritual Home

The Garrison Institute: My Spiritual Home

Spirituality has always been very important to me. It is the beating of my soul. The wonderful thing about spirituality is that you can tap into it wherever you are. At any moment, you can go directly to that internal space to refuel yourself and be strengthened. But there are some places that call forth your spirituality in a very special way, just by your mere presence there. And for me, one of those places is the Garrison Institute.

The Garrison Institute is nestled in the hills overlooking the Hudson River – across from West Point – in Garrison New York.
 

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The Garrison Institute is a spiritual haven for the thousands who flock there. The former monastery was renovated and converted into a retreat center providing impactful, contemplative, educational programs and retreats for nearly the last 20 years.

When you walk on the property of the Garrison Institute there is no question that you have arrived to a sacred place.
 

garrison-institute
 

The institute was founded on the principle that action in the world is more effective when combined with wisdom and skill to produce contemplative practices. It is those practices that create a healthier, safer and more compassionate world.

It is known for having everyone from the Dalai Lama to political leaders visit in an attempt to create collaborative efforts to make the wider world and society a better place.
 

garrison-institute
 

The Garrison Institute offers programs on everything from Mindfulness in Education to Transforming Trauma. They often have young people visiting from the inner-city to experience the magic of meditation and contemplative teachings in their beautiful, serene environment.

The Garrison Institute is a light for all who come. It doesn’t matter what religious background you come from, or if you are religious at all, there is a magical peace that is found there that crosses all divisions.

The location is also home to community events and functions. They have delicious, healthy, clean food they serve which has its visitors raving.
 

garrison-institute
 

It opens its doors to all for free community meditation every Wednesday morning at 8:30 AM. It is an hour meditation followed by tea and coffee service and a discussion on the meditation reading of the day. The most amazing conversations emerge from what is shared during that time from a diverse pool of attendees.

I am so utterly grateful to have the Garrison Institute as part of my life and I am immensely grateful to be able to call it my spiritual home.


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The Power of the Practice of Gratitude

The Power of the Practice of Gratitude

Gratitude is one of the most important characteristics we can have as humans in this life.

It ignites the universe to know exactly where you are and where you are ready to go.

It is important to wake up every day and be grateful not just for the big things you may think of, but most importantly for the little things you may take for granted everyday.

Even when you feel as if gratitude is hard for you to find, keep searching for it. The seeds of it are all around you. I am a firm believer that when you change your focus things will begin to change.

 

grateful-heart
 

When you have gratitude in the little things, you begin to look at and see the world and your life differently, from a different perspective.

Gratitude is an energy. It is a way of being.

When people are filled with gratitude, you can see it on them. They look different. They speak differently. They show up differently. There is just something from the inside that radiates on the outside.

As you begin to invite more gratitude into your life, what you will notice is that you will gain more things to be grateful for.

You will start to attract those things you have wanted and longed for.

What you focus on is what expands. Focusing on gratitude will attract even more gratitude into your life.

 

gratitude-list
 

Take a few minutes at the end of each day and make a list of 10 things you are grateful for.

You will see that as you begin to put this into practice, you will start to increase your gratitude muscle. You’ll begin to look at things differently and you’ll start to find more and more things in your world to be grateful for. Soon 10 will become the least amount of things you’ll think of to be grateful for.

The more you open yourself up to being grateful, the more the universe will open up to you. It all first begins with just a seed of gratitude!

For more information on ways to add gratitude to your life, go to LeverageUpYourLife.com/gratitude.


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