Gorgeous Presence TV – Thrive Review Part 1

This is a rather impromptu episode of Gorgeous Presence TV! I am in the middle of reading Arianna Huffington’s book, Thrive, and I was so inspired by her words that I had to share what I have learned from the first chapters on wellness.

Gorgeous Presence TV – Thrive Review Part 1 from Amanda Coneyworth on Vimeo.

Some of my favourite quotes in the book so far are:

• On the metrics of a successful life: “it is very telling what we don’t hear in eulogies. We almost never hear things like: “The crowning achievement of his life was when he made senior vice president.” Or: “He increased market share for his company multiple times during his tenure.” Or: “She never stopped working. She ate lunch at her desk. Every day.” Or: “He never made it to his kid’s Little League games because he always had to go over those figures one more time.” Or: “While she didn’t have any real friends, she had six hundred Facebook friends, and she dealt with every email in her in-box every night.” Or: “His PowerPoint slides were always meticulously prepared.” Our eulogies are always about the other stuff: what we gave, how we connected, how much we meant to our family and friends, small kindnesses, lifelong passions, and the things that made us laugh.”
• On getting enough sleep: “sleep deprivation reduces our emotional intelligence, self-regard, assertiveness, sense of independence, empathy toward others, the quality of our interpersonal relationships, positive thinking, and impulse control.”
• On handling stress: “during the day, to prevent stress from building up—which makes it harder to fall asleep at night—every few hours take sixty seconds of recovery time the way top tennis players introduce tiny slots of recovery rituals into their game. All you have to do is stop what you are doing, and simply bring your awareness to the palms of your hands or the soles of your feet, or both. Let it stay there for a minute, and feel all tension leaving your body, drifting away from you through your hands and feet.”
• On meditation: “Meditation is not about stopping thoughts, but recognizing that we are more than our thoughts and our feelings.”
• On awareness and social media: “In December 2013, a tourist in Melbourne fell off a pier and plunged into the sea while checking Facebook on her phone. She still had it in her hand when she was rescued.” “Being connected in a shallow way to the entire world can prevent us from being deeply connected to those closest to us—including ourselves.” “Turn off all notifications; you should control when you want information, not the reverse.”

I hope this episode inspires you to change just one thing this week, whether that be how much sleep you are getting, how you walk to and from work, or adding a five minute meditation to your morning.

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!