My carrot diary lifestyle started when one of my coaching clients, a                       delightfully, free-spirited individual, wanted to know where her money was                  going. Like most, money seemed to disappear with small incidental
purchases. And like many there was more month than paycheck.

The focus: How to begin a daily lifestyle to record spending?
Tracking expenses is not exactly an exciting task. For me it was more like – boring
and tedious.

How could I encourage someone who thrives on spontaneity
and intuition to consistently keep track of spending?  Note the word “consistently”.

• Together we played with ideas to bring some color and                                 creativity into naming the process.
  It was finally called the Carrot Diary and we laughed
• Together we looked at all the possibilities to make recording quick                       and easy and the experiments  begin

Coaching is about walking beside someone to encourage their goals.

I personally decided to shadow her process by recording my own Carrot Diary – my own daily spending. It will give me greater understanding of the  journey she is taking.

So the journey begins. Stay tuned.

There is something motivating about fresh starts, clean calendar pages and renewed focus on the things that matter most.

I get a sense that somehow this year will be different. I love that.

So I jot down my goals – less chocolate more fiber – less work more fun, etc.
They are now all translated from head and heart into bulleted points. The first step is complete.

My approach however will be different. I am going to focus on each new day instead of a whole new year.

• Every morning a fresh review of what I hold precious – by re-reading those points
• Every day a fresh start with hours to use as I choose – by focusing on what is precious
• Every evening is a fresh reflection of meaningful moments – by closing the day with thankful thoughts for a peaceful sleep.

This is my new approach for a New Year – with a new start every day. I am enjoying my goals one day at a time.
And each day I will in very small ways move closer to the year I desire to live.

How about you? Are you inspired by the New Year? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Yet after weeks of dreaming and wishing … after days of planning and preparing … it is so hard to say good-bye to three year old hugs and the ring of “grandma” in your ears.

My head knows the drill but today my heart is fragile. I am reluctant to say farewell at the airport. Transitioning out of the holidays is hard.

Helping people navigate transitions – the hellos and the good-byes – of habits, careers, relationships, beliefs, etc. is what I do as a life coach.

Funny isn’t it? One would think by this point in my personal experiences and professional life, I would have the perfect strategy to align my head with my heart to avoid the tears. Truth is, I don’t.

What I do have are a few ways of closing the gap between the anticipation for and the transition out of the holidays.

1. Create a list of all the meaningful moments. This gets your mind remembering what your heart doesn’t wish to forget.
   Nice collaboration!
2. Consider the blessings of our diverse digital communication systems – perhaps a quick text before takeoff. Ah – yes, that felt better.
3. Comfort yourself – a rich coffee, a good read, a warm sweatshirt, some soothing music and perhaps a few Zzzz’s. When you wake up at your destination, life will be waiting to welcome you home.

After the evening meal when the heat and the day’s work were done, my granddad would take a folding lawn chair out to the front lawn to sit. That’s right. I said sit – just sit. In the summer it was the coolest place to be. There was no air conditioning in the century-old farm house.

Soon other family members including cousins and sometimes a neighbor or two would pull up a chair to join him under the honey locust tree. That’s when granddad would say to my grandma; “Mom, can you make us some “bug juice?” Bug juice was Kool-aid mixed up in a plastic pitcher and brought out with a stack of metallic colored cups. We sipped flavored water and reflected on the happenings of the day.

My grandpa was a master story teller and he shared wonderful recollections of people and quirky neighbors (at least they sounded quirky to me). Maybe quirky is a way of saying they had lots of character and just maybe my granddad embellished the details. There was laughter and idle chat. It was a time to ease up and listen. It was a time to reflect on the progress of the day and chew on the good things.

Meanwhile mosquitoes were drawn to the sweetness of the Kool-aid and soon several were swimming in the red or green or purple water. And so … like many others, my granddad called our refreshment ‘bug juice’. The name sticks to this day.

I named my blog Bug Juice because it is a reflective perspective on my work as a life coach. It is a chance to sip on the sweetness of the day- to pause and savor the stuff of life – the comical, the disastrous and the deeper stuff too. Pull up a chair and join me.

Did you ever drink ‘bug juice’ as a child?