I love So You Think You Can Dance–the show is an awesome showcase of talented dancers and choreographers. The dancers prove that the art takes not only artistic skill, but athletic skill and strength too–just take a look at their bodies! Every week, six dancers end up at risk for getting kicked off the show and are forced to perform their solo, ‘dancing for their life.’ Time and time again, the dancers that end up leaving the show are the ones that don’t give it their all and show off everything they have during their solo.

As these dancers put all of their passion out there on that stage, I always think about how there are times in our lives where we have to do the same thing. There are times when we have to prove ourselves and throw everything we have out on the table.  We have to dance our hearts out in a lot of different ways showing the world the best pieces of ourselves and letting our strengths shine. And when we’re put to the challenge, whether it’s opening up our heart to someone, nailing a presentation at work or finishing a race, we have to remember to dance for our life no matter what stage we’re performing on.

Here Twitch, a breaker, shows everyone exactly why he deserves to return to the stage as he gives 125% to his performance–let it inspire you the next time you need to give it your all.

“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”

-Ayn Rand

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”

-Buddha

According to a study in published by Psychological Science, you can be motivated subconsciously by reading inspirational words such as triumph, strive, confident, go for it, achieve or graceful. So if you need an extra push to go for what you want, surround yourself with these words so you see them everywhere you look. Sounds easy enough, right?

Self magazine suggests writing them on sticky notes and posting them throughout your house. Another great idea is to make a collage of inspirational words and use it as your computer desktop image. Or you could wear your motivation on your t-shirt like this “Chase Dreams” organic cotton and bamboo option from Tees for Change.

“By the age of ten I had won Wimbledon in my mind thousands of times.”

-Andre Agassi

Apparently Kate Hudson isn’t Lance Armstrong’s only new venture, he just launched a new site, Livestrong.com. Like many health sites, you’ll find lots of articles and videos covering nutrition and fitness, but Livestrong has sections on stress relief, relationships, family and beauty too. And more importantly, the overall mission of the site is to inspire people to take action and make their lives better through everyday victories. It’s even connected to my favorite online food diary, The Daily Plate, so you can get everything all in one place.

The site also stresses the community aspect so you can ask other members questions and cheer each other on. One of my favorite things is the “Dare to Change” section. You can identify and set goals (i.e. Eat Less Sugar, Eliminate Debt, Do More Cardio), track your progress, chat with other members working toward the same goals and read articles that’ll help you achieve your goals. So check it out to see if you get inspired and if you join, add JivaFit as a friend!

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”

–Henri Matisse

This year, Oprah gave the commencement address to Stanford graduates. I watched her speech and think her advice on success, failure and finding happiness is good enough for all of us to consider.

She stressed that success isn’t only about money (though she admits that’s part of it)–your work must be meaningful and rewarding in ways that reach beyond your bank account too. She says, “Follow your feelings, if it feels right, move for it. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.” And that’s advice that I think you can follow every single day–you’ve got to learn to trust your intuition and not to rely on anyone else’s opinions in making decisions.

See what Oprah says about failure and finding happiness after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

“No matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out.”

-Al Gore