The Whole Woman Series: On Pausing To Move With Cordelia Gaffar

Last updated on: January 20, 2017 at 10:03 am by Kerry Connelly

The Whole Woman Series: On Pausing To Move With Cordelia Gaffar 2017-01-20T10:03:10-04:00 Kerry Connelly

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Okay, I admit it. I’m a sucky steward.

I was the kid who always had broken toys. I believe in using the good china every day because hey, that’s what it was meant for. I wear the good perfume even if I’m sitting around in my pj’s because why not smell good when I’m sitting in my pjs?

But when you use the good china, sometimes the good china gets broken. That’s where the sucky stewardship comes in. When it comes to my body — you know, that temple for the holy spirit? — well, sometimes I’m an outright vandal. Not to jump on a trendy bandwagon, but gluten is my spray paint, and sugar is my tag. Let’s just say I’ve been known to consume more than my fair share of both while plopped on the couch in a sugary, gluten-ridden coma.

But that life — it wasn’t a good one. It was a life of stress, negative self-talk, and waaaaay too much bread. There may or may not have been one or two candy bars in there, too. I’ll never tell. I felt bloated in my belly and depressed in my head. Even my beloved kickboxing workouts became tedious and hard.

But then I started practicing the pause. It started as a way to interrupt my life to make space for God — because seriously, my life and my head were so cluttered with junk there was no room for the Great Almighty. I set an alarm on my phone, and each time I heard it, I’d stop what I was doing and dive into Scripture. This wasn’t a Bible study per se — there’s a time and place for that, but this was not it. This was meant to be communion. It was a conversation. It was a check in with my beloved.

It healed me in deep, spiritual ways, but more importantly, I figured out that if I could take a few minutes to hang out with God and the world didn’t end, then maybe I could take a hot second to make myself a salad, and the casualties would be few. Maybe I could move my body, and the Apocalypse would not actually arrive.

The practice of self-care — of feeding my body well and moving it regularly — has a multitude of benefits. Not only do I lose weight, but my mood is better, my outlook on life improves, my negative self-talk is banished and my inner rock star comes out. It doesn’t mean that it’s easy — it takes an intentional choice to make time for God and to make time to care for myself. But I’ve learned it makes me a better person, and way more like Jesus than I am when I’m a gluten-filled blob.

Still, I know you and me — we’re busy. Especially if you’re a mom — you’re crazy busy. If you’re a working mom, you’re crazy insanely ridiculously busy, and you don’t think you have time to be a good steward of your body.

I disagree, and at The Whole Woman Summit, author and fitness expert Cordelia Gaffar is going to sho Pausing to move: Cordelia Gaffar w you how to make it happen. When Lisa and I first started thinking about the Summit, we knew we wanted to bring you speakers who would help the whole woman (hence the name). When we found Cordelia’s “Workout That’s Not A Workout” we knew we had to include her because she’ll help you — yes, even you — find the time to be a good steward of your body.

If you spend most of your time taking care of other people, I promise that what Cordelia will share is going to change your life. I hope you’ll join us at the Summit so you, too, can learn that making a salad and moving your body will not, actually, incite the four horsemen to ride.

I promise.

The Whole Woman Summit

Each Friday for the next few months, I’ll be writing about one of the amazing women who are speaking at The Whole Woman Summit in March. These are women who are movers and shakers, Christian and not, who are doing very cool things in the world. The summit is all about the things that matter — MIND. BODY. SPIRIT. WORK. RELATIONSHIPS. JUSTICE. The summit is entirely online, and all registrants will receive video recordings of all sessions, so no worries if you miss any.

See you at the summit!

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