Creating Your Personal Milemarker Map
When you embark on a journey, and are motoring through to your destination, you’ll see milemarker signs along the “life interstate”. These are helpful to let you know what you can expect at that specific juncture, or what’s coming up at the next juncture. It lists the main features offered at that location that can serve you. Creating a Personal Milemarker Map™ is similar. It reminds you of the junctures you once were at, the ones you are at now, and the ones you want to visit in the future.
Personal Milemarker Map™
A Personal Milemarker Map™ is a timeline that includes those crucial moments and significant events in your lifetime that have made you who you are today, and inspire you to be a better version of yourself in the future. From the time you were a child and said your first word, to learning how to walk, ride a bike, play a sport, win a spelling bee, get a part in the school play, graduate high school, pursue a degree at a college, get married, have children, etc. Whatever events forever changed you at the core as a person. Changed your thoughts, beliefs, mannerisms, desires, ambitions, dreams and goals. It is important to reflect on all of your accomplishments, successes and challenges. After all, these are a part of you. A part of your journey. A part of what make you unique and special.
“Your Personal Milemarker Map™ journey is a guide that created your being as of today, setting the foundation of who you will be tomorrow.” Jennifer Pressimone
Personal Milemarker Map™ Components
Let’s create your Personal Milemarker Map™. What do you include? How much detail do you share? Here are a list of components I include on my Personal Milemarker Map™. I recommend sharing as much information as you can remember, as this helps you connect to what you feeling, thinking and doing at that precise time in your life. Some of it will be happy and positive. Use that to refuel your spirit and zest for life. Some of it will be upsetting, negative and sad. Keep in mind, you are not that same person any longer. You are stronger. More connected. And have the power to release that sadness and negativity and turn it into fuel to make you a better version of yourself today.
- Crucial moments that defined you. Made a significant impact on your life to boost confidence and self-worth, or made you feel inferior or defeated.
- Significant events from daycare, elementary school, junior high, high school, college, work life. Any event that had an impact on your goals, dreams, desires, fears, worries, guilt and grief.
- People you have met during your life that have had a major influence on your character, beliefs, motivation, inspiration and encouragement. Also, list people you want to meet, why and how they can have an impact in your life.
- Any experiences and that made you feel alive and worthy, as well as those that made you feel like a failure or unworthy. We want to use positive experiences to fuel us, and the unhappy ones to help us learn lessons, embark wisdom and empower us to get up and move forward.
- Feelings that have changed you, changed your perspective, inspired you or unmotivated you. These are all part of the milemarkers that make up YOU.
Remembering these facts and situations not only activate cognitive functions to keep our brain active, it helps us investigate and find data, that can help us stay true to our authentic self, or find our way back to our authentic self. You will come across some buried treasures, revisit tragedies and connect on a much deeper level to your soul.
Creating The Map of YOU
Now that you have a list of milemarkers, lets organize them in chronological order. List the date along with the event, person or experience. You can add side notes and any other pertinent tidbits that is important to you. It could look something like this…I’ve included various ages to match wherever you are as a reader.
- Age 7 month – said first word, “mama”. Me and my mom have been super close my whole life.
- Age 8 months – I learned how to walk. This is earlier than most babies as I imagine I figured out I could get places faster by walking instead of crawling.
- Age 9: Started playing on a sports team. The beginning of team work and camaraderie.
- Age 12: Bullied at school. I feel unworthy, depressed, afraid and traumatized by what others say to me and do to me. I don’t feel like I can stand up for myself. I feel defeated
- Age 15: I have the best guidance counselor ever who helped me believe in myself, and showed me skills to apply to college, create a resume, tap into my goals and dreams. I’ll never forget them.
- Age 17: Graduated high school with honors. I made some lifelong contacts that I can network with in my career, and some that are personal friends. It’s nice to feel a part of a team with like-minded, goal-oriented people.
- Age 20: Graduated college with honors. I really felt like an adult and the weight of the world was on my shoulders to succeed in a career and in life.
- Age 25: Got married. The first time I experienced unconditional love from someone other than a parent.
- Age 26: Had my first child. A love like no other, and this amazing gift that I was now responsible for keeping her healthy. I imagined she’d grow up to be my best friend, and she has so far. My heart smiles from ear to ear every time I think of her.
- Age 33: Started doing presentations to groups for work. This helped me conquer my fear of public speaking and helping me find my voice. I feel like I have found my personal power and can stand up for myself, and overcome bullies now. I feel empowered and strong.
- Age 39: I lost my dad. Very sad, overwhelmed by grief. Feel like I have lost myself. I was his caretaker for several years, now that role for me is gone. Who am I? What is my purpose? Where do I go from here?
- Age 46: Received a huge promotion at work. I feel like I have made it. All of the hard work is paying off. I have a bigger purpose and responsibility now.
- Age 55: My health is starting to decline. There are hormonal issues, eyesight is decreasing, skin is looking older and decreased mobility. I am feeling like I am really getting older and my youthful years are gone. It has affected my relationships with others. I do not feel like myself. I think I am in a depression. I need to reconnect with some old friends who can remind me to be me.
- Age 68: Diagnosed with breast cancer. I had to learn a complete lifestyle change. I now approach situations, as if today was my last day. I bash any fearful thoughts and find a way to provoke courage. That Nike slogan, “Just Do It”, sure does help.
- Age 82: Lost my spouse. I really am lost without him. I need to learn who I am without him, how I can keep going on my own, and enlist family member who can help look after me when I need it. I am started to lose some of my impendence. I need to remember what it was a like to be on a team and allow my current team members (family who will take care of me) to take on some responsibilities.
Map Reflection
Now what? You are few steps closer to knowing, discovering and rediscovering the real, authentic you. Use this to understand what drives your behaviors, reactions and responses. Reflect on your Personal Milemarker Map™ from time to time. Remember who you are, where you came from and where you want to go in your life. Any happy events, use those to re-inspire you to conquer another goal. Any unhappy thoughts, connect with them, accept them, and release them as they do not own you anymore. Read this map anytime you feel disconnected or lost from yourself. And add in future events, goals and dreams that you want to set the intent for. When you know where you want to go, its easier to head in that direction.
Personal Milemarker Map™ Diffusion Blend
In an ultrasonic diffuser, add in the following combination of oils while you are creating your Personal Milemarker Map™.
4 drops Orange (Citrus sinensis)
2 drops Cedar (Cedrus atlantica)
1 drop Frankincense (Boswellia carterii)
1 drop Lime (Citrus medica)
1 drop Davana (Artimisia pallens)
Demonstration video on how to create your own Custom Personal Milemarker Blend
Aromatherapy Personal Milemarker Mapping®
A great exercise to either get your mind activated in revisiting your personal milemarkers, or to help you connect to the milemarkers you need to revisit. Grab your basket of essential oils and let’s begin.
- Grab an essential oil. Any oil, and do not look at what it is. Close your eyes. Open the bottle and smell the cap. Do not touch your nose to the cap to avoid cross-contamination.
- Inhale the scent. What do you feel? Notice where you feel it. What thoughts and memories come to mind?
- Immediately write down those thoughts, memories and feelings. Also, note where you feel it such as the lungs, heart, throat or stomach. This is milemarker #1 that your body is telling you to revisit.
- Now you can look at what it is, unless you already know. Write the name down next to the description you just wrote. When you go back to think about, work on, meditate and journal about this milemarker, you will smell your custom personal milemarker blend during that time to stay connected and grounded.
- Now, on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, where do you rank this scent? Is it a 9 or 10, meaning you absolutely love it and it resonates strongly with you? Or is it a 1 or 2, meaning it definitely doesn’t smell good to you, or it turns your stomach, or causes you to swiftly jolt your head back and scrunch your nose? Or, is it a 5-6, meaning you could take it or leave it. It doesn’t generate any feeling for you. Or a number in between.
- You will use these rankings when it comes time to formulate your final custom personal milemarker blend.
- Repeat #2 – #6 per essential oil. Smell anywhere from 3-12 total essential oils.
- When you are done, organize your oils by their ranking. Put all of the 10’s together. Put all of the 9’s together. And so on.
- We will not use those essential oils ranking a 5 and below…yet. So, put those aside, separate from the 6-10’s. Now, how many groups do you have? Rarely will you have all 10’s, but this can happen. In which, you will have just 1 group, meaning you will combine those in equal parts.
- If you have 3 groups (i.e., 1 in each group), you will follow the 3-2-1 blending rule
- 10’s: 3 drops
- 9’s: 2 drops
- 8’s: 1 drop
- You will then double or triple this depending on your desired dilution ratio.
- For example, a 2 oz. Aromatic Spay: Goal is 18-22 total drops of essential oils. So, you will triple the 3-2-1 to achieve 18 total drops. And quadruple to get 24 total drops. You can make any adjustments you want if needed, to tweak that formulation.
- If you have 4 groups (i.e., 1 in each group), you will follow the 4-3-2-1 blending rule
- 10’s: 4 drops
- 9’s: 3 drops
- 8’s: 2 drops
- 7’s: 1 drop
- You will then double or triple this depending on your desired dilution ratio.
- For example, a 10ml Aromatic Roll-on: Goal is 8-15 total drops of essential oils. So, you will use the 4- 3-2-1 to achieve 10 total drops, adjusting as you need, to tweak that formulation.
- If you have 5 groups (i.e., 1 in each group), you will follow the 5-4-3-2-1 blending rule.
- 10’s: 5 drops
- 9’s: 4 drops
- 8’s: 3 drops
- 7’s: 2 drops
- 6’s: 1 drop
- You will then use this, double or triple it depending on your desired dilution ratio.
- For example, a 4 oz. Aromatic Massage Oil: Goal is 25-35 total drops of essential oils. So, you can double the 5-4-3-2-1 to achieve 30 total drops, making any adjustments you want to tweak that formulation.
- Now, give your Customized Personal Milemarker Blend a name. Be creative. It can mirror your journey’s mission, theme, desired goal, or any words that come to mind.
- Use this several times daily. When you first wake up to start your day. At lunch to keep you going. At dinner to unwind and end the day. And any time in between you need to stay connected to you. Also, you will smell this when you revisit your personal milemarkers, connecting to yourself on a deeper level. This will allow you to see the lessons and blessings that happened during that milemarker so you can learn from it, and use that to help yourself move forward in a positive, healthy manner.
Personal milemarkers are a way to help us reflect of the past, how it got us to where we are today, and how we can use those lessons to propel us forward successfully. They can help you get unstuck, stay unstuck and inspire innovation rather than fuel stagnation.
Happy journeying everyone.
Author: Jennifer Pressimone, Entrepreneur, Formulator, Author
Jennifer Pressimone is an aromatherapy entrepreneur (an Aromapreneur™). She is the founder and President of JennScents®, Inc. and the JennScents Aromaversity®. She is the Vice-President and Regional Florida Director of Central Florida for the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA). Jennifer has build, managed and maintained several health and wellness businesses over the last 20 years. She is an incredibly gifted essential oil formulator, aromatherapy educator, public speaker, herbalist, author and philanthropist. She leads with passion, experience and heart to inspire, empower and motivate others to not only follow their dreams, but crush it, realizing more than they ever imagined possible. Jennifer is a life coach and business mentor. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Central Florida, and has thousands of hours in continuing education in many health and wellness topics. Her specialties include mind-body health, gastrointestinal health and cognitive aromatherapy for humans and pets.
References: This blog contains excerpt from the JennScents Aromaversity Certification Courses, Business Development I, JennScents Corporate Personal Growth Workshop, www.JennScents.com. Copyright2018-2020. No portion of this blog may be reproduced or copied without written authorization by the author.
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