Happy Friday! Feeling frisky yet? Fridays are powerful, they are the gateway to another dimension. They invite us to leave behind the realm of responsibility, to-dos, and commitments, and to enter the realm of Play.
I love it when people share about their 4-day-work-weeks, dress-down-Fridays, team-Friday-happy-hours, weekend trips, and such. And, what better time to fully embrace the concept of Frisky-Friday™ than during the summer months when the sunshine just beckons us to play!
Even though most people have their version of Frisky-Friday and how they enjoy their weekends, I notice that they don’t fully enter this other dimension. They linger somewhere in limbo, a world of carried-over chores, noise in their head, and spending time engaged in “commitments” or “making fun happen”… All of this is a lot of doing, which actually ends up eluding the benefit of Frisky-Friday’s Dimension…
Frisky Friday Meaning
To continue with our current ongoing theme of “getting the most of summer”, of having a Meaningful Summer™, it is important to take full advantage of our weekends. Weekends are not to be squandered. Weekends are to be milked for their inherent benefit, that of transcending the usual, Being… The meaning of Frisky-Friday is about embracing the seduction of pleasure and fun to engender well-being.
Our brain is hardwired to seek out pleasure, it is a network of “pleasure pathways” and “pleasure centers”. When these are stimulated by activities we consider pleasurable (soothing scents, enticing aromas, wonderful touch, gorgeous sites), they release brain chemicals that are associated with feeling good.
What is really amazing about this concept is that aside from the obvious benefit of feeling good, when these centers are activated they are an antidote to stress and its harmful impact.
The stress and pleasure centers of the brain are mutually exclusive, they cannot be triggered simultaneously. When in a pleasure state, we cannot also be in a stressful state therefore foregoing any harmful effects. This is the benefit of properly participating in our weekends, bypassing the impact of stress for pleasure – this is the formula for well-being!
But, does this mean we are slaves to pleasure-seeking, and potentially risky or what some might even call immoral behavior, with the host of related negative consequences? No, because pleasure is not just associated with the senses or what we traditionally think of when we consider pleasure and fun… There are all sorts of pleasure and fun to be had!
Which brings me to Values-Based Pleasure… This is pleasure associated with a sense of higher purpose that is the Key to Well-Being… The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley focuses on research to this end, and provides a wealth of information and resources for the pursuit of well-being and making the world a better place.
They have identified 10 related building blocks, virtues, that when embraced rewire our brain, marinate our mind with positive cocktails, and change our life experience…
So, if you haven’t come up with your Summer Personal Project™ yet, you can use these Virtues as inspiration… Which virtue do you want to explore, expand and embrace more? Pick one and create a project for it, for example:
Develop a community service project on a cause dear to your heart
Indulge in a literary, conceptual or industry body of work
Expand your emotional range, language, expression
Research ethnic, other minority, or needs groups and how to support them
Clean your thinking, focus on the positive, share appreciations
Implement a gratefulness and mindfulness practice
Join a new group that shares a common interest
There are five weeks left to the summer season, and if your children go back to school early then you have even less weeks. If you’re still scratching your head asking yourself the meaning of Frisky Friday, it means to make the most of your time off and (currently) what’s left of summer, for the best summer yet!
Remember to complete the MetroRelationsip™ Assignment below to help you effortlessly implement this, make changes and immediately start creating your Successful Relationship and Meaningful Life…
Share your experience by leaving a comment below!
Happy Pleasuring!
~ Your MetroRelationship™ Assignment
Let the concept of Values-Based Pleasures seduce you this summer.
Maybe you want to indulge in exploring Virtues – their meaning, application, implementation, impact. Maybe you want to play at incorporating them into different aspects of your life – incorporating them into your mission, relationship, parenting, service, team building, book, any way you want!
Copyright (c) 2018 Emma K. Viglucci. All rights reserved.
Want to Use this Article in Your Own Website or Publication?
Be our guest! Here is how, you MUST include: Emma K. Viglucci, LMFT is the Founder and Director of Metropolitan Marriage & Family Therapy, PLLC, a private practice that specializes in working with couples, she is the creator of the MetroRelationship™ philosophy and a variety of Successful Couple™ content that assist couples succeed at their relationship and their life. Stay Connected™ with Emma and receive weekly Connection Notes in your inbox with Personal Growth and Relationship Enrichment insights and strategies, visit: www.metrorelationship.com.
Don’t you just love Summer?! What do you love about it? I love the weather, of course, the change in routine, the more leisure pace, the focus on fun, the wardrove, the aliveness in nature, and I can keep going on. But, most importantly what I love about Summer is that it’s conducive to Dreaming… Summer is inspiring and motivating. It jump-starts the creative juices and energy flow. It resets us, if we allow it.
Usually by the time Summer rolls around we are tired again, cluttered again, having let go of our wellness and self-care practice again, putting out fires as opposed to working from inspiration, again. And, so on… Right?
This is why I like Summer Personal Projects™. Regardless of their nature, I find these super productive in different ways than the usual endeavors. I find this is time for personal development, relationship/family nurturing, home improvement, life-style enrichment, purpose and meaning exploration, and leading-edge thinking…
I find this time super fun. This is when we make major shifts in our family. This is when we set up for a successful rest of the year and beyond.
So, this leads me to share about my latest intrigue, the concept of Minimalism… I have to admit, I’m a complete novice compared to those that have fully embraced this concept. Which makes it perfect as a personal project. Even though I usually write about streamlining routines, decluttering, letting go of commitments, clearing calendars, and the like, I’m embracing this concept to a whole new level! Yay!
Now, this is a personal challenge as I like to keep, track, record, document, and be prepared for anything… I overpack. I have several file cabinets in my office. I have back-up-systems for my back-up-systems. Our attic has “things we can still use.”
Until very recently I had every email I ever wrote and calendar event I ever scheduled, including all of my team members’ over time! Colleagues connect with me for documentation from almost 20 years ago… And, I have it! LOL
I have systems for keeping this tamed, organized, automated, and such. It has worked and served its purpose all this time. But now, I’m finding the need to further clear, let go, untether, minimize… It’s a very interesting experience. It’s a very interesting feeling, of not caring to hang on…
The Minimalism concept promotes letting go of stuff, to be able to add. The point is to let go of things that are unnecessary, superfluous, redundant, undermining, energy sucking. This creates space for things that are more value driving, meaningful, and life-enriching. When our life is full of junk, we have a junky life… When our life is full of meaning stuff, we have a meaningful life…
Embracing this concept is one of my current Summer Personal Projects™ that I’m sure will take a while to integrate more fully, but I’m up for the challenge and the fun to be had!
What is your focus during the Summer, aside from entertaining the kids off from school and going on family vacation? How do you milk your Summer time? How do you not miss out on the gems of Summer? Which of the above areas of Summer Personal Projects™ resonated for you? Are you tackling any? Which would you tackle? Which would inspire, reset, shift you…?
Aside from the inspiration to share about this, I also felt compelled to see what others might be doing on this topic. I came across this invigorating compilation: The Power of 30-Day Challenges. What a wonderful way to jump start Personal Projects!
What do you say, will you join me in having a more Meaningful Summer™? What will it be, a project of your own creation or following one of the 30-day challenges? Pick something that feels exciting to you to take on. It doesn’t matter what it is, the size, or the length. What matters is that you are enriching your experience through this focus, and that’s where the juice is…
Remember to complete the MetroRelationsip™ Assignment below to help you effortlessly implement this, make changes and immediately start creating your Successful Relationship and Meaningful Life…
Share your experience by leaving a comment below!
Happy Shifting!
~ Your MetroRelationship™ Assignment
Summer Time is just great to do our life differently, and to create momentum to shift as we desire…
What say you about taking on a Summer Personal Project™?
Make it fun, exciting, intriguing, outside your comfort zone, growth inducing and motivating!
Let this reset, rejuice and inspire you.
Enjoy!
Add this to your Tool Kit…
Copyright (c) 2018 Emma K. Viglucci. All rights reserved.
Want to Use this Article in Your Own Website or Publication?
Be our guest! Here is how, you MUST include: Emma K. Viglucci, LMFT is the Founder and Director of Metropolitan Marriage & Family Therapy, PLLC, a private practice that specializes in working with couples, she is the creator of the MetroRelationship™ philosophy and a variety of Successful Couple™ content that assist couples succeed at their relationship and their life. Stay Connected™ with Emma and receive weekly Connection Notes in your inbox with Personal Growth and Relationship Enrichment insights and strategies, visit: www.metrorelationship.com.
I’m still on the theme of Milking the Summer… LOL I had this fantastic experience when checking my google email social tab not long ago. It was bombarded with Summer treats of all sorts. Too much email can be annoying, but the Summer theme made reviewing mine rewarding. I found some pretty cool treasures in there from Pinterest.
Yes, you guess it. This included a barrage of Summer Bucket Lists. How fun!!
So, why not? I’m starting a compilation of fun Summer activities, outings, experiences and delights to inspire you in case you are looking for some ideas:
Botanical garden, butterfly garden, zoo, aquarium, amusement park, water park, fair, carnival, festival, outdoor concert, antiquing, labyrinth walking, drive-in movie, arcade, art show
Hang gliding, rock climbing, hot air balloon riding, horseback riding, quad riding, water skiing, white water rafting, cannoning, snorkeling sailing, jet skiing, deep sea fishing, camping, paint-ball, ziplining
Fly a kite, watch fireworks, garden, catch fireflies, hike, bike, hold a garage sale, watch sunsets, watch sunrises, star gaze, have an outdoor slumber party, paint / draw / color outdoors, outdoor yoga
Chilling on a park bench, on a hammock, on porch rocking chair, on a swing, on a lounge chair, on a beach chair, on the grass, on the sand, by a campfire
Build a treehouse, fort, bike-ramp, sandcastle, shed, workbench, easel
Do a cannonball, run in the sprinklers, use the watersides, have a water balloon fight, swimming in any body of water, dance in the rain, make-out in the rain
Collect seashells, rocks, sand, flowers (dry and scrapbook)
Play board games, do a 1000 piece puzzle, learn to knit, make a homemade pizza, plant an indoor herb garden
Get your palm, aura, chakras, cards read
Make it a mission to visit: national parks, different cuisine restaurants, museums, fruit picking farms, farmer’s markets, beaches, playgrounds, wineries, monuments, tourist attractions
Color mandalas, journal, meditate, start a gratitude journal, play the Tibetan flute as ambient music, get Tibetan singing bowls
Pick any that grab your attention and add to your repertoire. Would love to hear any treasures on your bucket list!
Remember to complete the MetroRelationsip™ Assignment below to help you effortlessly implement this, make changes and immediately start creating your Successful Relationship and Meaningful Life…
Share your experience by leaving a comment below!
Happy Bucketing!
~ Your MetroRelationship™ Assignment
Do create your Summer Bucket List!
Highlight the must not miss items and stay focused on activities, outing, experiences and treats that make your heart sing.
Add this to your Tool Kit…
Copyright (c) 2018 Emma K. Viglucci. All rights reserved.
Want to Use this Article in Your Own Website or Publication?
Be our guest! Here is how, you MUST include: Emma K. Viglucci, LMFT is the Founder and Director of Metropolitan Marriage & Family Therapy, PLLC, a private practice that specializes in working with couples, she is the creator of the MetroRelationship™ philosophy and a variety of Successful Couple™ content that assist couples succeed at their relationship and their life. Stay Connected™ with Emma and receive weekly Connection Notes in your inbox with Personal Growth and Relationship Enrichment insights and strategies, visit: www.metrorelationship.com.
With Summer just around the corner, the school year completed for us, and a major dent made on my goals for the year, I’m turning my attention for now to more leisure, fun and adventures. 😉
How was your half of the year so far? What can you celebrate? How are you structuring and planning on enjoying the Summer? Yeah, yeah, you might have already planned your vacation or trips and enrolled your children in camps, but how will you “milk” the summer?
This is an important aspect of life… Even our “down-time” is over scheduled and packed… I’ve heard crazy plans from people like shuttling themselves from location to location for weeks on end without even making stops at home. Of sustaining intense long-day work weeks to squeeze in long weekend trips.
Of having a ton of personal and home projects in the works. And such… These sound good and fun, but usually the end result is missing the forest for the tree. The goal is to reboot, reset, recharge, realign, not to run rugged where you “need a vacation because of your vacation”…
The goal to reconnect with our Self, is to allow for different flow, to synchronize with our loved ones, to regroup on our path, to realign with our values, to tap into our creativity and inspiration, to access the Innovator in us…
How can this happen if there isn’t a moment to “feel”, to “listen”, to “dream”?
What does this mean for you? What is your Summer Philosophy™? Take this weekend to ponder on this and even run it by others. It’s interesting to hear what is happening out there. I find that people are usually completely overschedule and overbooked, or they haven’t given it much thought and are living their lives by default… What camp are you in?
If you are overscheduled and overbooked – even with “fun” stuff. Take a look and be radical about removing things from your experience. You’ll find that the yummy stuff happens in the in-between…
If you haven’t planned much or given it much thought. You are probably in better shape than the category of people above. It’s challenging to switch gears, slow down, let go, and Be… You have the opportunity to start with a fairly blank canvas… Don’t just add stuff to it… Be intentional about it.
This is your opportunity to pamper and honor your Self. Get in touch with what is important to you and what gives you pleasure. Sprinkle related activities or experiences into your lifestyle for the Summer. Make it a goal to Enjoy your Self…
If you are in the middle. Good for you! Just make sure what you put in place and what you didn’t, is by choice and design and that you are really and truly serving yourself, and your loved ones.
Summer is an untapped built-in resource in our life… Why not “milk it” for all it can provide? Use the Summer as a catalyst to Shift…, and catapult you in making the changes you’ve desired. Slow and steady wins the race…
Remember to complete the MetroRelationsip™ Assignment below to help you effortlessly implement this, make changes and immediately start creating your Successful Relationship and Meaningful Life…
Share your experience by leaving a comment below!
Happy Milking!
~ Your MetroRelationship™ Assignment
Pick a Treasure activity, outing, experience or trip to add to your Summer Fun.
Make this a Summer to remember…
Add this to your Tool Kit…
Copyright (c) 2018 Emma K. Viglucci. All rights reserved.
Want to Use this Article in Your Own Website or Publication?
Be our guest! Here is how, you MUST include: Emma K. Viglucci, LMFT is the Founder and Director of Metropolitan Marriage & Family Therapy, PLLC, a private practice that specializes in working with couples, she is the creator of the MetroRelationship™ philosophy and a variety of Successful Couple™ content that assist couples succeed at their relationship and their life. Stay Connected™ with Emma and receive weekly Connection Notes in your inbox with Personal Growth and Relationship Enrichment insights and strategies, visit: www.metrorelationship.com.
Aside from being submerged in a current project involving databases, queries, scripts, spreadsheets, and data entry tasks I’m of course still doing my usual. This past week found me also playing with a different kind of data. Brain data, one of my favorites as you might know.
I came across the work of Dr. Daniel Amen (psychiatry and brain imaging…) close to two decades ago with tremendous impact in my work and approach to life. It heavily influenced the self-care and wellness angle I integrate into my relational work…
Over time I have recommended one of his books, “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life”, and have taught its concepts to our clients. They are so ingrained and integrated at this point that referencing their origin seems silly.
But nonetheless, I wanted to bring this incredible and powerful resource to you for a more thorough and scientific background on why it’s important to have a healthy lifestyle… Everything we do impacts our brain, which is single handedly our most prized possession!
So, today’s writing is about encouraging you to be super mindful of your lifestyle and what impact it has on your brain. For the health of your brain will ultimately impact your success and quality of life… The health of your brain impacts your overall health, your mood, your memory, your relational abilities, and more. A healthy brain supports your Being:
Happier
Healthier
Wealthier
Wiser
More Creative
More Innovative…
Dr. Amen’s basic premise has always been that we are not stuck with the brain we have, and that we can be proactive in maintaining our brain’s health – actually bringing it back to health… In going back to this source, I came across his more recent plan for Repairing the Brain. It does not have to be all downhill as we grow older! From his imaging work, he can see the before and after of brain health as one takes on a healthier approach to life…
His plan includes 5 Pillars of Healthy Living:
Faith – spirituality and connection to higher power
Food – nutrition and clean eating
Fitness – physical activity and exercise
Focus – attention, purpose, meaning
Friends – connection with others and fun
What does all this mean to you? How is the health of each of your pillars? Where can you stand to put a little more attention and energy? What do you need to tweak in your lifestyle to strengthen your pillars? Pick one area to play with and take it on!
Go all out and crack this. Work on cleaning or upgrading your current approach – fine tuning your routine (i.e., intermittent fasting), removing junk (i.e., toxins), increasing resources (i.e., nutritious food), keeping it interesting (i.e., different cuisine), and so on.
Think on what kind of life you want to have. Think on how to be proactive about creating the life you want. A lot of times we either create life by default… Or, we dream up the life we want to create, but we take no tangible or consistent steps to creating and sustaining that life…
Therefore, my encouragement and challenge to you today: Make a commitment to proactively creating the life you want, which inherently means having a healthy brain and thereby a healthy lifestyle… Make a move now towards your healthier lifestyle. Have fun with this and enjoy!
Remember to complete the MetroRelationsip™ Assignment below to help you effortlessly implement this, make changes and immediately start creating your Successful Relationship and Meaningful Life…
Share your experience by leaving a comment below!
Happy Repairing!
~ Your MetroRelationship™ Assignment
Choose the area of your life you usually give TLC with the intention of finally cracking the code…
Faith – spirituality and connection to higher power
Food – nutrition and clean eating
Fitness – physical activity and exercise
Focus – attention, purpose, meaning
Friends – connection with others and fun
Tackle it with purpose and commitment. Tackle it by looking at it from a different angle than you usually might… Use a different context or lens to design your new approach… Keep reconnecting to it as you implement the changes…
Add this to your Tool Kit…
Copyright (c) 2018 Emma K. Viglucci. All rights reserved.
Want to Use this Article in Your Own Website or Publication?
Be our guest! Here is how, you MUST include: Emma K. Viglucci, LMFT is the Founder and Director of Metropolitan Marriage & Family Therapy, PLLC, a private practice that specializes in working with couples, she is the creator of the MetroRelationship™ philosophy and a variety of Successful Couple™ content that assist couples succeed at their relationship and their life. Stay Connected™ with Emma and receive weekly Connection Notes in your inbox with Personal Growth and Relationship Enrichment insights and strategies, visit: www.metrorelationship.com.
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Emma K. Viglucci, LMFT has been in the mental health profession in varying capacities for the past 20+ years. She is the Founder and Director of metrorelationship.com a psychotherapy and coaching practice specializing in working with busy professional and entrepreneurial couples who are struggling getting on the same page and feeling connected. The work helps couples create a radiant and successful relationship and meaningful life by becoming a strong partnership and increasing their connection, intimacy, and fun. Emma is the creator of the MetroRelationship™ philosophy and the Successful Relationship Strategy™.
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