empowerment – Cynthia D. Griffin

empowerment, self-care, self-care coaching, self-care practice, self-empowerment, self-improvement

Brand New! I Am Now Offering Self-Care Coaching Services

Posted on November 6, 2021November 7, 2021 by Cynthia D. Griffin

Self-Care has been a big topic for me for the past year. I have dedicated a lot of time and energy to taking care of myself, being more aware of how I feel about pretty much everything, and making new choices that fall inline with what actually matters to me. In doing this, I have significantly changed my life for the better.

How do I know this? Because not only have I healed unresolved childhood trauma, moved past significant personal blocks, but I also feel good most days (instead of feeling bad most days like I used to). I have even gotten to the point where I am excited about the idea of stepping forward to start helping others develop their own self-care paths too.

Becoming a self-care coach has been something I have been thinking about for a little while now, but the time never seemed right. Recently, a series of events made me realize that it was time to reconsider becoming a coach. One of those events was my husband out of the blue having a rapid decline in health that required an emergency hospital visit.

Thankfully, my husband took his health scare seriously, and even while he was still in the hospital started making the mental changes to take much better care of himself. He’s been home almost a week now, and I’ve seen a major improvement in his health and the way he’s getting serious about his own self-care. While it was not an experience any of our family would like to relive, it has been a major blessing in disguise. It reminded our whole family of the importance of self-care, and that all my own self-care practice really paid off as I was able to deal with the situation better than I ever thought possible.

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blog series, Celebrating the Journey Of, creativity, empowerment, inspirational

Celebrating the Journey of FortCraftGaming (YouTuber)

Posted on January 12, 2021 by Cynthia D. Griffin

So today I am going to shamelessly promote my thirteen year old son. He has been dedicating a lot of his time and energy to getting his YouTube Channel off the ground in the last few months, because he has dreams of becoming a well-established YouTuber. His name (for the purpose of this post) is FortCraftGaming.

Above is a video he posted that he says he loves the most so far. I’ve enjoyed most of them simply because I like watching the progress of his personal growth, over all creativity, and the increase in video editing skills (and yes, I’m being a proud and supportive momma too). Sometimes he’s a little whacky, sometimes he’s very informative (such as how he makes his videos), and he also loves to demonstrate some of the video games he plays.

One of the things I admire most about him is his determination. When he sets his mind to something, he makes it happen (even if it takes awhile). And I know this will take him far in his journey of life whether he sticks it out with YouTube, or eventually decides to pursue something else.

He began his YouTube journey several years ago as he started watching the journey of YourTubers like Unspeakable, DanTDM, and MrBeast.

So let’s turn this over to FortCraftGaming so he can tell a little more about his journey.

So tell us a little bit about your journey as a YouTuber? What inspired you to take this journey?

I’ve always liked making videos, and when I found out that YouTube existed, and that anyone could make videos, I was just like “Yeah, this is what I wanna do.”

What do you like the most about what you do?

The support I get from my friends and fans, also editing and making thumbnails is fun.

What sort of topics or things do you do in your videos?

Whatever I think of doing really. I’ve done videos on gaming with Minecraft and AirMech Arena. I’ve also done some skits. And for a month I did the Stereotypical YouTuber Challenge (SYTC).

Is there any special equipment or knowledge you need to know about being a YouTuber?

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empowerment, self-care, wellness, yoga, yoga for writers

Presenting A Self-Care Yoga Workshop

Posted on December 19, 2020December 19, 2020 by Cynthia D. Griffin

So I decided to take a huge leap of faith this past August and start a 300 HR yoga teacher certificate training. This was a big deal for me, because this was not a self pace class like the pervious 200 HR yoga instructor certificate I finished up this past April. This was a modulated class that required a lot of my time and effort to complete lectures and assignments on a pretty strict schedule. But I powered through and finally finished up my last required assignment this past week, which was to create a two hour yoga workshop.

I chose a theme of self-care, since that has been a big priority for me, especially this year. 2020 has been a challenging year for all of us in our own ways, and what really helped me was coming back to myself and paying attention to me and how I felt. So I decided this was the perfect idea for my final project.

I did this workshop in four parts. These parts can all be watched and completed in one sitting, or one (or a few) at a time. Each part can stand alone, so if you resonate with one video and not the others, that’s okay. Here is the breakdown of each video.

Part 1: Creating Space With Breath… This 30 minute segment is using breath work (pranayama) to slow things down and create space inside of us for more breath and more peace. When we take our focus from the mind, this always helps us create space for something better to come in.

Part 2: Creating Stillness With Mediation… This 30 minute segment that uses mediation to help find stillness within. This practice helps us be more aware of our bodies and our mental chatter. It can be used to turn the focus away from the mental chatter to find the silence (and answers) that lie within all of us.

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better life, empowerment, writing, writing retreat, yoga for writers

Yoga For Writers Videos

Posted on April 11, 2020 by Cynthia D. Griffin

I’ve been a little quiet on my blog for awhile, because I’ve been busy with some personal projects. One of them has been actively working on completing a 200 hour training certificate to become a yoga instructor. This past week I completed all the tasks required for the certificate, including my final project, which was to teach a yoga class.

When the stay a home order came along for the recent outbreak, I thought for sure I would have to wait a long time to teach said class. However, I was fortunate enough to run across a virtual writing retreat who was looking for someone to teach a yoga class. I jumped all over that opportunity!

My next task was to plan the class. So I decided to create a yoga routine geared specifically to writers, who can spend long hours sitting. So the poses I planned for are for stretching the back, opening the hips, and strengthening the wrists, arms, and shoulders.

After the retreat, I realized that other writers might like to try this routine too. And so, I decided to post my very first yoga teaching experience on my blog for those who are into, or want to get into yoga. Or for those who just need something to do during this stay at home period.

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author, blog tour, Book Tour, ebook, empowerment, guest post, novel, self-empowerment, self-publishing, writing

Guest Post By Elfie Riverdell: The Story That Inspired Me To Self-Publish

Posted on April 2, 2020 by Cynthia D. Griffin

I find it hard to pinpoint exactly when I realized I wanted to be an author. I remember writing paranormal stories on my old PC when I was at middle school, with (beautiful) covers illustrated on Paint. I wish I still had those stories, as it would be so much fun to go back and revisit old characters. Even still, I’ve always had a very vivid imagination, and I’ve never had any issues with coming up with quirky plots. But The Forest of Fallen Stars was a little different.

When I wrote The Forest Of Fallen Stars, I sort of fell into a writing frenzy. It was summer, and I had a lot of spare time around my work schedule. I would sit in my room for hours and hours, writing and scribbling down ideas. The plot just came to me. I wish there was some way to explain it, because I certainly can’t seem to replicate it! But I think it was the characters that truly made the story come alive for me.

Alura means so much to me, all of the characters do. Alura is shy, and full of self-doubt at the beginning of the book, but we get to see her learn about her gifts, and develop into a strong and confident young woman.

Kara is troubled and angry, but she has a kind heart and is always focused on doing the right thing.

Loria is also quite unsure of herself and the role she plays in her world, but she is strong-willed and determined.

Self-publishing has been a strange and very stressful experience. It’s taken a long time, and a lot of hard work. But I was incredibly lucky to get to work with an amazing friend of mine, Nicoletta, who formatted and designed everything inside my novel. She did an amazing job, and really helped me when I was struggling with the design.

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