Mondays are typically a day that people dread. How many people do you know that say “Happy Monday!” (well, besides me)? Very few! Well, we want to help you have a positive day, week, month, year, life … So every Monday we have a series called ME: Motivation Encouragement. This is one way we can help you start your Monday off on the right foot!

What are you struggling with today? Like the intro says, Monday’s are generally tough days for people. So let me ask you this next question. (Perhaps today’s article should be called Question Monday )

Do you have love in your life? Not the wishy-washy kind of love, but true, compassionate, tender hearted love?

Sometimes encouragement comes in the form of love. When you give love, you receive love. And when you have love in your life, the whole world seems brighter. Fun. Life is doable.

Love in a relationship isn’t the only way to receive love though. You can give love by being kind, thoughtful and compassionate. Seeing a need- big or small- and doing something about it. It’s interesting that when you give love, your outlook and mood improves. Love is a natural mood-lifter! Love can give you hope. Love can give you peace. Love can give you love.

If you are feeling down, discouraged, or unmotivated, go love someone. It will lift you and the person you love! How can you love? Here are two practical ways to love: send a handwritten card (yes snail mail). Call a friend (yes an old fashioned thing called a telephone).

Your acts of love encourage not only you, but the person receiving the love. Love is amazing and I’m thankful that I get to experience real love and give that love to others.

Food for thought: who can you show your love to today?

photo credit: epSos.de

Today is Valentine’s Day. Some of you might need this gentle reminder. Others of you are well aware of the day. Perhaps you are single, going through a divorce, your spouse might be deployed or for other reasons you are alone.

In college the yearly joke on campus was “Single Awareness Day” or SAD.  While it was kind of funny, the truth is that we ARE loved by God no matter what our relationship status is. If your attitude towards Valentine’s Day is SAD, you’ve got to change you perspective on it. There is no sense in moping around, feeling sorry for yourself and down in the dumps. Get up, go spread some love and you’ll feel so much better. Being sad just hurts you. On Saturday, I wrote seven different ways to put your love in motion. Give it a read. In the meantime, don’t give love a bad rap!

While Valentine’s Day can sometimes be known as a Hallmark Holiday, don’t use that excuse NOT to send a card to someone. Everyone likes to receive mail – especially with our increasing use of interaction with screens vs. faces. Use February 14 to spread love. Show love. Be the love.

Single? Married? Dating? Show your love every day, but use Valentine’s Day to express it in a extra special way.

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day?

Photo credit: Lida Rose

With Valentine’s Day a few days away, we thought it would be fun to give you some fresh ideas to celebrate the loved-filled day. And yes, even if you are single, you don’t have to be an anti-Valentine’s day grouch. Go spread some love regardless of your relationship status! And, oh spread love each day of the year – not just Feb. 14.

Food for thought: Love is only a meaningless word if not followed with kind words, thoughtful deeds or positive actions.

1) Make a healthy meal and take it over to a single parent, military family or a family that has sickness or a tragedy happen. Cook/bake things in dishes that don’t need to be returned (thrift stores are perfect for this!)

2) Give blood, donate old pairs of running shoes, unused toys, clothes, etc.

3) Mail cards of encouragement to people.

4) Home improvement for elderly neighbors.

5) Visit a senior/retirement home.

6) Call someone you haven’t spoken to in forever.

7) Volunteer at a local food bank, homeless shelter, local school, church or other non-profit.

There you have it!  Seven ways to show your love, of course there are many, many more. What do you do to show your love? Share them with us!

1 Corinthians 16:14 “Do everything in love.”

Photo credit: Sewing Daisies

Each Friday, we feature a real-life person who has embraced a healthy lifestyle from a former sedentary life. We hope their story inspires you to start living and breathing a healthy life!

Today we’re taking a different road and talking about a fictional girl named Jane. (If you’re a guy, it’s Joe.)

Jane remembers what it was like. To be made fun of, teased, bullied, told she was stupid and that she wouldn’t amount to anything. Where was the love? The nice people? Why was everyone so cruel? She decided to turn to athletics because maybe if she showed other kids that she could kick a goal to win a soccer game, they would accept her. But sadly, they picked on her for the winning goal.

No matter what Jane did – throwing a perfect pitch, running Cross Country, swimming laps – they still hated her. As the school years progressed, Jane had had enough. She stopped trying to be accepted and started eating. If athletics weren’t going to cut it, then food must surely help, right? But if food didn’t accept her and if athletics didn’t either, what would?

Jane finally came to the realization that she had to accept herself and realize that God loved her and that is what matters. She had to accept and love herself as well and forgive those who had hurt her. Finally, Jane saw that she had the power to live a free life. It didn’t really matter if no liked her. She was happy and had God’s forever love.

See, fitness, food, love, acceptance, forgiveness – they all play a part in our health. We get hung up on trying to find love in athletics or love with food (“comfort food”) or acceptance by controlling the food we eat, working out for hours a day. None of that matters if we don’t have love and acceptance of ourself. 

We all have a Jane or Joe inside of that wants to be loved, cared for and accepted. You might be a 45 year old Jane or a 12 year old Joe. No matter what the age, you have to wrestle with loving yourself and win the match by believing it. Accepting it. 

Are you a Jane or Joe? May today you know, feel, and accept God’s love. That is where healthy living begins.

Ever have that desire to do something? Maybe to sign up for a race. Start drinking water. Start a business. Get up 10 minutes earlier. Not yell at the kids. Run a 100 mile ultra marathon. Nah, only crazy AWESOME people do that . (Inside joke if you are new here.)

I have a desire to share the love of Jesus. I’m not talking about in-your-face-Jesus. I’m talking about LIVING, BREATHING that love. I don’t know everything about God. In fact, some days I get mad at him. I ask why. I wonder why. But that is why it is called a journey. My faith is a work in motion. On the days when I just want to toss in everything and say screw it, I remember what got me out of bed. What got me to where I am today. A loving God. A God who cared SO much for me He died- and not just died, but ROSE from the dead. How amazing is that? I bow in humbleness of just how great my God is. And he can be your God too.

I don’t know what will happen in the coming days, months or years. But this much I know – that I desire to be a living, breathing example of God’s love, goodness and mercy to everyone I meet.

“You are the light of the world. A city on the hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14

Photo credit: WTL Photo

If you’ve been around my site for an hour or for two years, you know I am a fun, down-to-earth, spunky and full of life gal. AND I like to engage in friendly banter. Some may call it flirting …

And I am wondering if this friendly conversation is hindering real relationships. It is so much fun to laugh and have a little fun. And for a moment in time, be carefree. Given all the stress in my life, it is nice to just have a little fun every now and then. I like having spunky comebacks. But upon thinking of the past few encounters with single guys I’ve had, I am wondering if this is hurting versus helping me.

I’ll always be a fun girl, that won’t change. But perhaps there needs to be a finer line of being friendly and “serious?”

I love to have fun. To laugh. To enjoy life. That will never change. I will always be myself. However, I am thinking that perhaps I need to reserve some of my spunk for a committed relationship.

What do you think? Should you keep flirting to a minimum? Are you a flirter?

Photo by: astrogrl

Love is always making headline news. Be it good or bad. And over the last few weeks, love made its debut all over again. Only it wasn’t quite love – more like a love coverup. I’m sure you know the story I am referencing. (This is not about them, so I won’t mention names. Let’s just say it has to do with a rather well known family.)

Every time I hear of yet another marriage that fell apart, I wonder if “love” is real. From couples that have been married 25 years to only a few, it does make me wonder.

But then, I see happy couples and the fear that love is really just a cruel joke fades away.

On this Week 4 of 365 days to a good guy, I was reminded that love is there if you want it bad enough. AND if critical things like trust, support, care, responsibility, understanding, compromise, respect and other basic life qualities, then yes, a happy and loving marriage is possible.

I think all of us (even if we might verbally deny it) want to believe in love. But it’s all the stories we not only see but have personally experienced that have left us heartbroken. But the key is not to stay heartbroken or bitter, but to heal and move on. Hence of my personal quest!

Now for that guy …

photo by: astrogrl

Week three of the good guy experiment. And I could go a few directions with today’s post.

A) All guys are jerks

B) Some good guys are still exist

C) Wish my ex-husband a happy birthday

D) Hide under a rock

While I am not going to hide under a rock or wish my ex-husband a happy birthday, I am going to write about running into a ex-boyfriend. Ah, some juicy details. Perhaps .

Recently I ran into a ex-boyfriend. Whenever you are unprepared for an encounter with a ex, things can go from amazing to horrible. Especially if they were a jerk.

As I saw his car in the parking lot, I muttered to myself “oh sh*t” (and that’s the clean version). I saw him in the window. I secretly prayed that he would magically disappear. But no. He spotted me. And quickly retreated to a different location. Now we weren’t in the Mall of America so sooner than later we were bound to run into each other.

And then it happened. At the corner of an aisle. Can’t avoid each other now! Other then being disappointed, I have nothing against him. So I kept my head held high, had a smile and simply said “hello” and “how’s it going?” I got a one word response and I moved on. You could’ve popped the tension with a pin prick.

And that’s all the juicy details. No texts. No phone calls. No drama.

Did I want to text him and ask him what the hell his problem was/is? I would be lying if I said I didn’t.

Did I once again go back to my feelings that all guys are jerks? Yep. But, keyword, feelings. Sometimes when feelings (good or negative) are strong as a steel bridge, it can be hard to push them aside. Thankfully, I was on my bike and I had a few hours to sweat my frustration out.

So while spending quality time on my saddle I had plenty of time to think. Which I am really, REALLY good at. Perhaps Microsoft would like to buy me?

And here is what I concluded: Even if I was sad, disappointed, upset, etc., that we didn’t work out, it does NO good to look back and second guess what I did or didn’t do “right.” It can very easy to critique why a relationship didn’t work out. And when you see that person you want to shake them and be like, what the hell is wrong with you? Okay, maybe I am the only person on the Earth that feels like that.

It boils down to answers. We, as humans, don’t like being left in the dark. We want to know what is going on. And getting dumped with no face-to-face reason,  phone call or even a text makes even the most secure person question what happened. Thankfully, I was able to let it go. And realize, that even though this guy was a jerk, not all are. Because later in the week I had several kind and thoughtful guys walk into my life. Probably not future husbands, but caring nonetheless. And for that I am thankful.

And dear ex-BF, if you are reading this, don’t be  jerk. You might run into me again.

Peace, love, sweat and good men!

Photo by: astrogrl

So, it has been one week since the launch of a very public and private project. I haven’t been crucified yet, so I’ll keep on writing .

This past week, my challenge was celebrating those in love (dating or marriage) around me. It is so easy for me to be sarcastic (oh how cute – they are holding hands; gag me) versus rejoicing that they are happy (at least from the outside). Sometimes it is easy to become bitter or jealous of those holding hands, kissing, having dinner together or running together.

But I think it boils down to one thing: companionship. We all want a sense of being cared for. Caring FOR someone. A connection. That is why some people cling to social media sites or are serial daters. They want to feel accepted. And in some ways, loved. The same goes for a relationship. I think some people just want to be in relationship just to feel validated, versus being in a relationship because they genuinely care for each other.

Is it really about holding hands? Or is there a deeper issue at hand? If you want to grow, challenge yourself with this question. The search for the answer may surprise you.

If you focus ONLY on love in a relationship, it won’t work. It has to be about communication, openness, trust, honesty and adaptability too.

If you focus ONLY on the outward stuff of a relationship (holding hands, kissing, sex, money, etc.) the relationship will fail. You have to dig deeper and ask yourself what you really want in a relationship. If it is based on the superficial components, it probably won’t be a happy life-long relationship.

We all want love. We all want to feel cherished (even the guy who says he doesn’t). If you are a single gal and you see a couple walking down the street holding hands, you might feel a twinge of sadness or perhaps bitterness. Why can’t that be me, you wonder. I don’t have a answer for that. The only thing I do know is that you don’t know if is toxic relationship or not. (And I have been there. It may look pretty on the outside, but inside, strife, anger and rage were a part of it.)

I have also been in relationships that were wonderful. And from that, I know that I would rather be single and happy then together and miserable.

I leave you with two challenges.

1) When you see a happy couple, rejoice inwardly.

2) Love yourself. If you don’t love being with yourself solo, being in a relationship won’t fix that. It will only make it worse.

To healthy and happy relationships!

This is a 52 week (eek!) project (series) on love, relationships and true stories from the dating field. How can Friday Relationship help you?

Photo by astrogrl

Why do you love to run? Time alone? Peace? Sights and sounds? Cupcakes? Whatever it may be, we- that would be GU Energy and myself, want to know!

So here is the deal:

#1) Reply to this post and tell us why in 100 words or less why you love running!

#2) Like us on Facebook: GU Energy & Sarah Stanley

#3) Follow us on Twitter: GU Energy & Sarah Stanley

Enter today! Deadline is March 30, 2011! The winner will receive a GU Energy Sampler Pack- photo above! (By the way, it’s awesome- the Chomps are some of my favorite endurance fuel!)