Category — Blog

The truth is, I actually ENJOY Christmas, but sometimes all the hoopla makes me painfully aware of those who find Christmastime to be downright agonizing. What if you are one of the dear ones who is dealing with deep loss this year? How do you just smile and say a jolly  “Merry Christmas! Ho ho ho!!”

Well, for one thing, you can skip the “ho, ho, ho!”  You have my permission.

Next, let’s talk about the range of jolly, merry, happy, jovial, drunken, festive, gluttonous, stupendous, magical, moments of wonder.

What if they all elude you? (except drunken and gluttonous of course.)

Well then, you certainly wouldn’t be alone. Millions of people will spend billions of dollars trying to grasp what eludes them.  But what if just for one Christmas,  things could be different. What if…

What if instead of seeing the heartache for a moment you see…

real angels bringing good news?

Too far fetched? Okay. Let’s try this:

What if instead of inner turmoil you sensed inner peace?

What if, instead of grief, you experienced profound comfort?

What if instead of lack, you had a glimpse of heaven?

What if instead of abandonment you were overcome with a spirit of adoption?

What if instead of loneliness, you realized that you’ve been loved this whole time?

What if instead of rejection, you felt unbelievable favor?

What if instead of sickness, you felt a wave of healing?

What if instead of sorrow, you were overwhelmed with gratitude?

What if instead of darkness, you were flooded with light?

What if instead of despair, you were filled with hope?

What if instead of doubt you were strengthened in your faith?

The tide will always come in and the tide will always go out. The sun will go down tonight

and it will come back up in the morning.

The winter will give way to spring, and then summer, then fall and more winter.

Your heartache will turn.

The thing that stays constant is undying love.

Love.

I have no three step solution to basking in love.

I have no magical formula.

I have no clever motivational speech.

I simply have my heart, filled with love from the heart of God.

I can’t fill it on my own. I am powerless that way.

Even more powerless is my ability to fill the hurting.

But God says he has a word to sustain the weary. His truth brings water to a thirsty soul.

He offers those with no money to come, buy and eat!

He satisfies your mouth with good things, so your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

My Christmas wish for you is an abundance of love – manifested in a hundred different ways.

My wish is that you will see the unseen, and fix your heart on the eternal.

Merry Christmas, my friend. You may not know me, but I know the One who loves you.

His name is Emmanual – God With Us.

He longs to fill you, bless you, turn it around for you.

What if?  And then, why not?  Here’s to better days ahead – and to a Heaven that is more real than earth.

Until next time, this Christmas as always, I’ll be right here…

in your corner.

 

Gina

P.S. If you have or need a word of encouragement, feel free to comment below!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kristan came home from kindergarten one day and looked for her big brother Jordan, who was already an athlete in the 3^nd grade.

In her “Elmer Fudd” accent she expressed her dismay.

“Jowden, we played this game in P.E. today where they roll a ball to us and we’re ‘upposed to kick it!”

“You mean kickball?”

“Yeah, kickball,” she agreed. “But ‘cept  I couldn’t kick the ball!”

“Aw come on,” said the 8 year old, “Let’s go in the back yard and I’ll show you how.”

Fast forward 11 years.

As I write this, Kristan is the captain of her high school volleyball team, and she is playing a tournament in the town where Jordan goes to college.

“Please bring your whole baseball team to cheer for us!” She begged him.

I had to laugh.

Two thoughts crossed my mind:

1. Where in the WORLD did the years go?

2. Who would have guessed Kristan-the-bookworm would also become an athlete?

The thing is, she found HER game.

Some of us go our whole lives feeling like we are not athletic enough, talented enough, smart enough, or gifted enough to excel in anything.

How tragic.

The truth is, those who become champions have:

1.kept trying new things until they found what they love

and

2. They refused to quit when it got hard.

Today I hope you will cherish each moment of life, as the time goes by so quickly.

Also when you find your game – give it all you’ve got.

It’s never too late to find that thing that helps you express your strengths, challenge your weaknesses and grow up a little more.

It reminds me of the movie, The Legend of Baggar Vance, where Will Smith plays a simple but mysterious golf guru who appears to coach a down- on- his- game golfer,  back to greatness.

“You ain’t alone” he says,

“I’m right here with ya. I’ve been here all along. Now play the game, your game – the one that only you was meant to play -the one that was given to you when you came into this world. You ready?”

Your game has been here all along, waiting for you to claim it!

Keep playing to win.

I’m in your corner,

Gina

P.S. I will be one of the guest speakers in Chicago in 2 weeks at Make An Impact Live with Dr. Mollie Marti, Bob Burg, Michael Port, Carol Roth, John Morgan, Frank McKinney (Who are all NY Times Best Selling Authors,) and other life changers.

We will walk with you through a plan to unearth YOUR Big Game, Your Big Dream, and the Impact you are meant to make in the earth. You will walk away with a plan to see it come to pass.

Please check it out and reply to this email if you want to meet me there. I can get you a special price of 2 tickets for $495. That is a huge discount.

www.MakeAnImpactLive.com

August is “National Romance Awareness Month,” so in the spirit of Winning at Home, I have four tips to help you Rekindle the Romance.

Lighten Up and Laugh!

Getting all stressed-out kills the romance! Research proves
that couples that laugh together have more satisfying love lives, because laughter helps reduce stress and creates bonding. So look for some humor in life and love.

2. List Your Lover’s GOOD qualities

When our relationship gets stressed, we tend to focus on everything
our mate is doing badly! So write the list of all the things you’ve ever loved about
your lover and keep that list where you’ll see it.
Better yet – share the list with your loved one – by text, email or any way at all.

3. Learn Something New Together

Learning something new together lets you see your partner in a new light,
and that can be very arousing. So it could be a one night cooking class, or some
ballroom dancing lessons or how to shoot firearms!

4 Light Some Candles – even if you’re just eating fast food.

This tip is especially helpful for the gentlemen who sometimes
forget that they need to woo their woman throughout the day! So just the fact
that you are deliberately setting a mood goes a long way to kindling some romance.
Remember that romance is what makes a relationship feel special. If you have a special romance tip, feel free to share it below.

Check it Out:

Can you really “Text the Romance Back?”

I was going to teach you how to really use your cell phone to create some romance (since it is one of my FAVORITE ways my husband flirts with me)  but this guy Michael did a better job explaining it all than I could. In some ways his video drives me nuts, but the product is actually quite helpful. What do you think of his message?

Text the Romance Back

Until next time, keep playing to win and I’ll be here in your corner!

 

Gina

 

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Winning At Weight Loss by Making Healthy Habits a GAME!

by Gina Parris

I know when we talk about feeling good about ourselves, the issues of weight and weight loss, and health, and body image and all kinds of things come up.  When my husband left last summer for a year, I let my body turn to mush! I got addicted to caffeine and then I wanted to cleanse my system and get healthy. So a few weeks ago, I decided to do this fit n fun game with products from Isagenix. I was pretty stressed about it after I agreed to the “game” part, because I thought it might feel like a freaking diet, which I am highly opposed to. However, it’s been pretty fun.

In the first 3 weeks I lost 10 pounds and 14 inches off my mushy thighs &  hips. But mostly I feel better than I’ve felt in a really long time.  I really didn’t expect to feel good or get specific results. I just followed the process, and usually I did not do that perfectly. Here’s a video of me telling how you play the game.

Anyway – I plan to keep playing and I’d love it if you want to join me!
You can check out the game right here!

FIT N FUN GAME WITH GINA

Whatever it is you want to change in your life, I hope you will build a team around yourself to make it more fun!

What do you think? Have any of you ever had success getting healthier? I’d love to hear about it.

In your corner,

 

Gina

 

Photo credit: Grafixar from morguefile.com

Last week we talked about how to be happy with your self. This is the most important key to loving other people, having successful relationships and just being nice to have around. The key is to first be happy inside without expecting other people to MAKE you happy.

But what about those people that drive us nuts? How do we be happy with them? After all, the natural inclination is to want to CHANGE those who rub us the wrong way. Surely for the good of all mankind, they should simply be more like us, right?

1.     Accept them just as they are

The thing that you can’t stand about them in some way probably represents something you do like about your self, so start with acceptance. You’ll find your self happier!

2.     Realize they are not being the way they are to intentionally ruin your life

Some people just genuinely vibrate on a different frequency than you. Stop taking it personally. You’ll wear yourself out!

3.     Look for something good about them

Truly we usually find what we are looking for. If you set your mind on finding what is good about other people two things will happen:

    a.     You will find them to be more likable

    b.     Surprisingly, you’ll feel better about your self. Try it – you’ll be happier!

4.     Try mirroring their facial expression, their body language, their breathing and their    tone of voice.

Now I don’t mean to look like you’re making fun of them, but simply to experience life in their skin for a moment. If you slow down and copy their physiology intentionally, you may feel an amazing empathy. I do this with children when I’m finding myself tuning them out.

Life is too short to waste it by stewing over what is wrong with everybody else. When we do that we make ourselves miserable, and that negative energy puts others on edge too. We can be happy around other people even when they are nothing like us. When we learn this, we can grow and learn from anyone.

Try it! And please share your tips and thoughts below. As you do, I’ll be right here -

In your corner,

 

Gina