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Gratitude

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“ Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” Denis Waitley   Why practice gratitude? Does gratitude mean ignoring challenging moments and ‘faking’ it? What can gratitude  actually do for you? I am fascinated  lately with the concept of gratitude and how it can help support living a fuller life. As I have discussed in my recents posts about the power of positive thinking, I have been searching on how and why gratitude connects to this. When life is hard (which it often is), it is really easily to fall into negative thought patterns and focus on the bad. And truth be told, the bad can easily consume and override the positives. I often hear about creating a gratitude journal and have disregarded this as a feeble attempt to make you feel better about sucky situations.  As I have really started to research and better understand gratitude, I realize
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2nd, 15th, 22nd or last place: the outcome will be the same and eventually, the race results will fade.

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Coming off my most emotionally charged 100 miler in Utah (The Bear), I decided last minute with my coach to sign up for a 50 miler. The goal was to end my season on hopefully an emotional higher note. I had one goal for this race: unconditional self-compassion for myself and effort. I was a month (or so) out from the 100 miler and still so pissed at how I treated myself during the race. (And I know, how does it help to be pissed at yourself when you are working on self-love?!). Regardless, I wanted redemption and not in the usual sense. See, about 6 months before The Bear, I decided to take the next step in my career and started a sports in Social Work certificate to improve my knowledge base for working with athletes and improving their negative self-talk, imagery and mindfulness.     I have been doing homework assignments, reading books, journaling and working on improving my relationship with myself. Because, when you are a therapist or mental health coach, it is really impo
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Will a bear cry in the woods? If the Bear's name is Danielle, yes.

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For all of you females out there (and maybe Males, what do I know!), do you remember the game of MASH?  (The game where you found out who you would marry,  how many kids you were going to have, what kind of car and what type of home you would be living in).   These games felt SO important and crucial to how my life might be in 20 years. Well, 10 year old little Danielle, you were SO wrong. Fast forward to 32 year old Danielle who is currently living in shack / mansion (shack in a mansion, shack in a warehouse?)  A long camping-trip? Hard to say, because it really depends on how you look at it. Anyways, no kids, no  home, blue car. There is dog hair on all my clothes, mud on all my shoes, who knows the last time I have actually worn real work clothes (don’t tell my work), done my hair and cooked in an actual kitchen. I gave up my GPS watch, I do all of my workouts based on feel. See, how SIMPLE my life is? MASH, you failed!! I don't live in a mansion or have 50 kids. I, however, h
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  "Since you were a little girl, I always knew I couldn't keep you from the mountains. It is the way you let your spirit free." An hour to starting my 100 miler, my friend Laura gave me a letter from my mom with the above quote. To say my mom was excited for me to race a 100 miles in the mountains would be quite far from the truth. The letter, however, was exactly permission I needed to get lost in the woods and finish this dang adventure. In November of last year, I started to flirt with the idea of doing a 100 miler and my friend Mort sent me the link on IMTUF.  I saw picture of baby GOATS (or what I thought was baby goats) and I knew this race was for me!  Ironically, at the time, I was pacing another friend at his 100 and mentioned IMTUF to him. Although he was not trying to be discouraging, he told me that is not a first time one hundred miler and I would never finish. Ever since I was a little girl running in the mountains, no one tells me what I c
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The definition of challenge states:  "Something needing great mental or physical effort in order to be done successfully, or the situation of facing this kind of effort."  So often, we are faced in a world that honors and respects those who overcome the biggest challenge.   But, I'd like to contest that idea and ask the real question which is: who hasn't faced a challenged? My challenge this month is not so unique. Injuries: we all get them (physically and emotionally). Some of us more often than others. So, what happens when these types of challenges enter in your life? Do you succumb to the pressure and  give up, or grow from this challenge? I am notoriously impatient and reckless when it comes to my body. I love that thin line in which I so often straddle between ludicrously and pain. I somehow manage to find some moments of peace while I am there until it breaks. Often this break happens at the most inconvenient time, one in which you are more heavily relying
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This race only gave me two options: finish or die. Dramatic, perhaps.

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In my wildest dreams, I often think that at some point writing these race reports can land me a sponsorship and maybe, I can finally afford to buy some running shoes that are Danielle -proof. Then, reality hits and I realize that no shoes will ever be Danielle-proof. Anyways, in response to all my free time (and secret desire of sponsorship), here is my race report: Adventure: “an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.” That definition pretty much sums up my weekend of racing Cat's tail Marathon. In order to really explain the Cat's Tail Marathon, I should start this tail (har, har) a few weeks prior to the race. I had convinced my good friend, Stacy, to run the race after spotting it on facebook and hearing that: “the Cat’s Tail is a rugged mountain marathon” (which is just my style). My usual MO prior to a race is to show up on the day of the race without much knowledge. However, due to the strict requirements of the race and the special
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A Case of the Should's

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                It is 2:45 AM and a million thoughts are spewing in my head. I try to fall back to sleep for hours and around daybreak, I head for the trails to clear me of my fears. Some people fear the dark in the woods, I find solace and hope. Plagued by uncertainty of the future, sleep is not an inviting place. I have decisions to make about my future and I am uncertain how to proceed. Do I take the safe comfortable way or put everything out on the table? As I am moving to make a choice, I catch a nasty case of the should's.       The should's generally show their ugly face when taking a new life path and when being confronted by other's questions about my life and my future. Lucky for me, this has been happening a lot lately! As my Facebook page illustrates, I have not been working since June when I volunteering choose to leave my job. My original plans did not pan out and I have been enjoying incredible adventures in the mountains or woods.  Since I am not hiding the
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