Diary of a MAD * FAT * WOMAN…..

Tag: juliana wathen

  • The Power of Belief

    The Power of Belief

    No, I’m not about to get all preachy on you today because let’s be honest, I haven’t chatted with you in a while. I’m here today to point out something I need to practice more in my own life. So sit back and relax while I have a chat with myself in front of the mirror this morning with my coffee in my favorite cup.

    You see, I BELIEVE that my beliefs directly influence who I am and what I manifest in my life. There is significant POWER in the mindset that shapes my reality. I believe that it shapes yours as well.

    So if you BELIEVE that you are unworthy, unloved, lonely, can’t get ahead, can’t catch a break or can’t trust then you have solidified your own self-fulfilling prophecy of just that thing that you say you want to get away from. You manifest and create your reality where all those things are true. Because you see, if you BELIEVE something strongly enough, you are more likely to ACT in ways that bring that belief to fruition.

    By actively cultivating positive beliefs about yourself and your situation in life you are more likely to ACT in a way that attracts positive outcomes in your life.

    If you BELIEVE you are capable of achieving a goal, you are more likely to put in the effort and work needed to reach it, thus “becoming” someone who achieves that goal.

    So as you believe, so you become.  BE that which you want to see in the world.

    Now more than ever, be the love, the inspiration, the safe harbor, the mentor, the student and the teacher, the passion, the energy. BE-LIEVE that all you require, you already are and already have. Because you ARE worthy, you ARE loved, you ARE surrounded by people that see the BEST of you.

    BELIEVE THEM!

    I love each and every one of you!

    Juliana

  • Notes from the Harp

    Notes from the Harp

    Captains log: January 18, 2022

    It has taken me 18 days to settle into this new year. Not exactly a record but worth making note of.

    I have newly turned 59 years old. My cholesteral is finally too high for my doctor’s liking and so I join the ranks of other genteel statin-heads my age adding one more pill to the evening routine. This too shall pass, my mother would say, if you let it.

    If I let it…

    Here I sit at my “home” office, tastefully laid out in my living room. Strategically positioned between the back sliding glass door with a view of the backyard on my right and the open kitchen to my left. I’ve fed all the animals this morning including the feral cats at their respective doors. One prefers the kitchen window which we have deemed the “drive-through” service. I leave the glass door and kitchen window open just a crack for a light cross breeze.

    I settle into my desk and a hot mug of morning coffee. I lay before me my parcel of meds and vitamins. I scroll through my business emails and try to focus on the day ahead. Focus is fleeting. I ask Alexa to play music to study by, cause I’m just not ready for “Today’s Top Hits”. The softest strains of a harp begin to play. Gentle fingers on strings popping and strumming along. A violin whispers its way into the tune and then the full symphony. Not just from Alexa but all around me. I hear a chorus of singing birds with the Egyptian Geese from the neighboring golf course honking in perfect time. The trills of the songbirds and then the rustle of dry leaves on the driveway all create this incredible musical moment in time.

    This too shall pass, if I let it. So I embrace the moment and drink in the music of the day with a ravenous thirst.

    Yes, Momma, I hear your voice. No use crying over spilt milk. Take the pill for now and make better choices today. Eat better, exercise more, and listen to the music.

    I got it from here momma.

    I love each and every one of you.

    Juliana Wathen

    Copyright 2022

  • Self-Care?

    Self-Care?

    You hear the words “self-care” and visions of day spas, bottomless mimosas, and naps by the pool fly before your mind’s eye like a sizzle reel on youtube. You never think about the un-fun side of self-care. But alas, here I sit in my pj’s in my “home” office making that dreaded call to the ….Dentist.

    I have no choice, there is never a GOOD TIME to go for an, oh my God, I’m losing my mind, root canal. Only less offensive, less disruptive, can’t take it any longer kinda time. Today is that day. And luckily they can see to it this afternoon. And it’s a good thing. I dive into my last semester of college tomorrow (which I took on during covid for -something to do.) 17hrs of college education stand between a classicly framed diploma hanging on the office wall and this 59-year-old business owning, corporate meeting planner, community volunteer, and overall fabulous Auntie.

    So, have you ever noticed that when you take the time to schedule some of that ever so popular buzz word “self-care”, that you all but have to convince yourself you deserve it? How many times have you had a sparring match with yourself over scheduling that massage or adding an enhanced service, upgrade or extra lil’ som-some to that day out and felt a twinge of guilt for doing it? Ooohhh, and God forbid someone else see you do it. All the justifications come pouring out like sins at a confessional. Oh gurl! I have been working none stop. I earned this!!! You should have seen what I have been dealing with this last month at work…at home…in my head. Sugar, you would have caved in long along – so yes, I’m having a lil’ treat…. Nothing extravagant…. Just a little something to keep me from ending up on the evening news.

    We profess the benefits of self-care on all the magazine covers, talk shows, and podcasts, and blogs but every good Southern girl still feels a bit guilty taking that time for herself.

    But by God, give me a good ole toothache and I’ll put off that self-care as long as I possibly can!

    Self-care is not all fluff and pleasantries. It can be getting your boob smashed in a vice grip contraption that only a man would have devised. Lord knows if they had to have their penis placed between two cold plates and squeeeeeeeeeeezed, they would have invented something else real quick. Self-care can be getting a flu shot, an annual exam, a new set of tires, a pair of real glasses instead of a 12 pack of Walmart readers and yes, sometimes it means a trip to the dentist for a root canal.

    This too shall pass. It’s just a choice to be made and a step in the right direction to make all the following days that much easier to manage.

    I love each and every one of you

    Juliana Wathen

    Copyright 2022

  • One Choice, One Step

    One Choice, One Step

    The year is new but that doesn’t mean we can just amend old habits with a spoken wish and a written resolution…OR IS IT?

    We have been conditioned to believe that change is hard, that the struggle is real, and that it is in the difficulty that resides the prize. I respectfully disagree.

    Change is on choice. It is one step away at any given point in your life. The opportunity is omnipresent.

    What must be at the top of my list of choices is self-care. Not because I am selfish…but because I am a leader, an innovator, a student, an artist, and a friend. I participate in my community, industry, and family. I owe it to the people around me that I love and respect to be the best that I can be.

    One step defines your day. One choice defines your future.

    Take the time to take care of yourself.

    There is a reason the flight attendant says to put on your oxygen masks before attempting to help others.

    You can’t help others if you can’t breathe!

    I love each and every one of you.

    Juliana Wathen

    Copyright 2022

  • Bridges to Tomorrow

    Bridges to Tomorrow

    Sometimes the bridges with the least risk are the hardest to cross. There is no rushing torrent beneath it to sweep us away if we lose our footing. It is neither too tall to scale nor too long to travel. It is simply a break in the path and yet we avoid it at all cost. Perhaps it is the simplicity we avoid.

    It is our nature as humans to assume that “decisions” must be labored over, mulled, and examined. That things or results that you desire must be earned.

    Let me remind you that there is already a plan:

     Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

    For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

    If you are struggling with a “decision”, then understand that the struggle is man-made. Continue your walk, sometimes the path is the soft earth beneath your feet, other times it’s a smooth paved surface and every now and again it’s small planks to keep you on an even keel. The goal is to keep moving forward. New experiences are just around the bend.

    I love each and every one of you

    Juliana Wathen

    Copyright 2021

  • Life is like a drawer of fried chicken…..

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    Forest Gump almost had it right – POLITICIANS are like a box of chocolates…you never know what your gonna get.

    So instead of standing on my soap box today and preaching I just want to make an impassioned plea to your stomach to consider what the world  looks like thru my eyes.

    LIFE….AN IDEAL LIFE…. of peace, harmony and good will is just like a pull out drawer of self serve cold chicken.

    Now while you pick your drooling jaw up off the linoleum floor…hear me out. The world has lost what the true meaning of UNITY is. Unity isn’t about dividing the red from the blue or imposing leash laws on other peoples dogmas.  Unity is about joining in spite of your differences. Which leads me to today’s topic at hand. Brothers and Sisters, I give you THE perfect refrigerator drawer!

    You might think I have lost my ever dieting mind – But there is TRUE UNITY in that drawer full of chicken. White and dark sit side by side without any muss or fuss. This drawer is where right wing and left wing can co-exist in peace without sound bites, finger pointing or negative ads. It’s a judgement free zone where you are free to have a preference and the freedom to pick a breast, leg or thigh, hell even a gizzard if you see fit. There is room for spicy and mild, baked, blackened, broiled or fried. When the day is done and all the votes are counted….it’s all just chicken. Protein just waiting to be paired with some of the best lip smacking sides and delectable desserts to ever cross a paper plate. That is the classic RE-UNION plate of the south. RE-Union…..to bring back together again and again. So yes, life should be like a drawer of chicken….eat what you like and share the rest.

    That is my recipe to success for this world of ours.

    I thank Gerald for the original picture…the drawer was nearly empty when I took mine. And to Paulie for a great reunion of friends in celebration of your birthday.

    I love each and every one of you

    Juliana Wathen

    Copyright 2016

     

     

     

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  • Seriously…Step aside….

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    Have you ever heard the phrase” Get out of your own way” ? For all the up and downs life throws us it seems that the answer can be as easy as ….STEP ASIDE.

    It seems we have been programmed to believe that for something to work it must be hard-won. That we must struggle to learn and move ahead. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”

    So if that is the Universal Law then why don’t we use it?

    A friend recently confided that she is struggling to lose weight after a divorce. She was up every morning to swim laps and scoured the stores for mounds of fresh fruits, veggies and fish. Two weeks of dedication, solid exercise and eating right had only resulted in a measly 3lb loss. Flossing celery strands from between her teeth hardly seemed worth it. But she also shared that she was afraid of attracting anyone new into her life. And it dawned on me. She may have consciously been exercising and  eating healthy but she had not yet given her body PERMISSION to let go of all the cells that were no longer necessary to the health and well-being of her body. She was sub-consciously hanging on to her “warm, snuggly robe of excess weight” and burning calories be damned, her heels were dug in and  she wasn’t letting go. A house divided cannot stand! She was working against herself. Her body, mind and spirit weren’t only not on the same page…they weren’t even in the same library. Unity starts within and only when the three are aligned with a common goal can you be successful.

    A crown of righteousness…..RIGHT-USE-NESS has been given to us. All the keys to the Kingdom are ours if we would just stand for our birthright, declare our worthiness and use the simple laws that have been given us.

    If you want to be successful….GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION to succeed.

    I give myself permission to learn.

    I give myself permission to love.

    I give myself permission to forgive.

    I give myself permission to release grief and anger.

    I give my body permission to release all unnecessary cells that no longer serve my body and health for the better.

    Seriously….Step aside…. and let all that life has to offer come to you.

    I love each and every one of you….

    Juliana Wathen

    Copyright 2016

  • A Window on the World…

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    The Eternal Law of Life is: ‘What you think and feel you bring into form; where your thought IS there you are, for you are your consciousness; and what you meditate or pray upon, you become.’

    And so I sit this Sunday morning reflecting on the state of the world, humanity, our nation, my home and ultimately…myself. The world is demanding change…but who is willing to actually step up and CHANGE THEMSELVES. We all want the changes to happen OVER there, UP there, DOWN there. It’s almost always something we see outside ourselves and rarely what or who we see when we look in the mirror each morning.

    Change can only come when we understand that CHANGE is the responsibility of every individual and that to foster that change we must know how to apply the Eternal Law of Life.

    When you allow your mind to dwell upon thoughts of hate, condemnation, envy, jealousy, criticism, fear, doubt, or suspicion, and allow these feelings of irritation to generate within you, you will certainly have discord, failure, and disaster in your mind, body and world. As long as you persist in allow-ing your attention to be held by such thoughts whether they be about nations, persons, places, conditions, or things you are absorbing those activities : the substance of your mind, your body, and  airs. In fact you are compelling — forcing — them into experience.

    Think of the great change that could take place in the WORLD if only everyone would accept their own God given responsibility to LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF. You can’t wait for your neighbor to change first. It must start in you.

    Turn your attention and maintain a focus upon Truth, Love, Peace and Freedom , persistently held in your conscious thought and feeling, will bring them into your use and the world, as surely as it was said ”

    “Ask and it shall be given unto you, Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened onto you. Alleu, Alleuia. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. And His righteousness. And all these things, shall be added unto you.”

    Seek first the kingdom of God…that inner source within you, and His righteousness….his right thought….shall be added unto you.

    BE the change.  BE what you want to see in the world, your nation, your town, your family and home. See it in your own reflection each day when you look in the mirror. The responsibility is yours alone.

    I love each and every one of you

    Juliana Wathen

    Copyright 2016

  • Happy WEIGHT LOSS Awareness Day!!!…

    pancake29f-1-webBitter? Table for one! Bitter???

    Go ahead – make it a table for two cause I am damn sure I’m not alone.

    Damn you iHop!!! Get thee behind me!!!

    I have no fear – for thou art with me….”Thou” being a stiff cup of coffee and an EAS Vanilla Protein shake for breakfast!

    All you can eat free pancakes…..Ha! I laugh in the face of your monstrous stack!

    I love each and every one of you…even if you show up drenched in creamy butter and gads of sweet syrup!

    Juliana Wathen

    Copyright @2015

  • Living life 8 seconds at a time…..

    thVOHSAJ9TThis week RODEO HOUSTON gets underway and you will find me every fourth night volunteering in the Main Corral Club at NRG Center. To get in the mood I have dropped more than my share of semi-expendable cash at Cavender’s Western Wear, had my boots polished and have spent the evening being a slug watching The American Rodeo on RFD-TV. Giddy up and go cowgirl!!!

    On this dreary Sunday I have lain up in the middle of my pretty-pretty princess bed surrounded by a large assortment of pillows and a sleeping fur ball and watched four-legged and two-legged athletes alike put it all on the line for a buckle and a paycheck. The toughest of the bunch stake their entire existence on just 8 seconds.  8 seconds.

    I started to think just how long 8 seconds must feel like when there is a pissed off 1000lb bull with his nut sack cinched up to Jesus and back, trying like hell to make this is your last day on earth. How many decisions does that cowboy have to make in 8 seconds do you think? His entire life can flash before his eyes, he has time to second guess the bull’s next move and prepare for it and he even has time to think about what the future will hold and how he will spend his money if he makes to buzzer. All in 8 Seconds.

    I feel the pressure some days of all the choices I have and need to make in living this life. Some days I feel like I’ve spent more time tossed to the dirt than riding high. So I sat and pondered, what if I only gave myself 8 seconds to make a choice. What if I only allowed myself 8 seconds when I wake up in the morning to get out of bed? I’d be UP AND MOVING. What if I had to make decisions in 8 seconds on food choices and exercise as if my life depended on it.  Ohhhh wait…it DOES!

    Bells and whistles go off in my head…..I spend too much time having casual conversations with myself day in and day out, rationalizing bad choices. I talk myself out of getting up, getting out and living life. I wait on others to be motivated and use more excuses than a politician seeking re-election. The time has come to COWGIRL UP Ladies!!! Time to take the bull by the horns and make some better choices. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

    I love each and every one of you.

    Juliana Wathen

    Copyright 2015