Category: Blog

Understanding and Honoring Your Energy

In the last post I mentioned starting a new project, and with starting any new project I dive in 100%. The excitement and working with people I love is what drives me.

However, the twist to this was that it requires 60% travel along the west coast.

Now, I haven’t traveled this much in years and what I’ve realized is that there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed! That’s an understatement of the year 😉

What’s changed this year compared to years prior is that I have a deep relationship with my body and my energy, and I know when I’m reaching my limit.

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Spring And Moving Forward

Where did the time go? It was as if it were just yesterday when I was savoring the holiday spirit and experimenting with gluten free baking, kombucha brewing, and all things HRV! And now it’s officially Spring?

I’ll tell you what happened – WORK! After taking a much needed break over the holidays and grounding myself in new interest while being close to family and friends, an old client (whom I adore!) called me asking to come back for another big project.

What was not so crazy (because really I know once you put something out there it typically comes back 😉 ) was that I had been truly thinking of my next client and how I wanted to feel the feelings of:

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Letting Go of Your Future Plans

I remember a time not too long ago, when at the close of 2014, I had immensely ambitious goals of what I would like to conquer in the next year. At the time it was all about health and fitness. How I could really take my strength, speed, and admittedly vanity to the next level.

Then BAM. Not a few days into January a mundane event caused a sudden panic attack and my world went spiraling.

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Friday Focus – 2/10/17

I was chatting with one of my good friends the other day and she had mentioned just how “crazy” life was these days. I nodded and understood.

We both knew in that moment what it takes. And what it takes is a high level of self discipline to say no so you can cultivate the peace and pace you need to live a centered life.

Lately, there are three ways in which I try to cultivate peace and pace:

  • Let go of the small stuff: Running errands has got to be the #1 thing that adds to anxiety. On top of work, family, relationships, health, you name it… there’s always a laundry list of errands that need tending to. Yes, you need groceries to prepare food for the week but do you really need to send that extra email? Or pick up dry cleaning tonight??? I’ve found for myself that if I can let go of the small stuff, if I can just be OK with leaving non-critical items for later, it creates peace and a more healthy pace in my life.
  • Meditation & prayer both morning and evening: I saw a show last week about a person who runs a food bank and shelter all run purely on donations. He was in a dire situation with the lease ending and no facility to be found. As he made it home he headed toward the annex and it was then the audience realized he was also a priest. As he sat in one of the pews of the small church inside the annex he prayed earnestly to God. To be honest while it was certainly prayer I saw it more as a dialogue. A communication system between himself and God. There was something about his earnest means of communication that touched upon aspects of what I previously touched upon such as letting go, compassion, and metta. What a beautiful way to share, let go, and trust you are taken care of. What’s more, what a beautiful way to start and end the day.
  • Seek out the good despite the crazy: I’ve written about the power we have to choose our thoughts. And yes, while life can get a bit out of hand I have found it to be much more pleasant when we choose to focus our energy on the one thing we our grateful for vs. the one thing that could make our lives easier. What a shift in energy that is! This is also the time I whip out my inspiration journal and flip through some of the previous pages for inspiration and go into a page full of gratitude. Sometimes it’s a small win but nonetheless a win.

All that said, I am grateful for this beautiful Friday and am looking forward to a dinner party with some of my dearest friends. It’s my turn to bring dessert so I decided to make a (very tart) lemon pound cake. Gluten free of course 😉

Here’s to the weekend.

Namaste.

crossfit

Small Talk & Magic

Yesterday, I ran into an old acquaintance and as we were catching up over the last 3 years she had casually mentioned getting surgery due to a herniated disk. I then, because I couldn’t help myself, asked, “I hope you don’t mind me asking… but did you learn a lot from that experience?” And out imploded a rush of emotions and vulnerable sharing of what really transpired over the last 3 years.

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Kombucha at home

Home Brewing Kombucha

I did it! As an avid consumer of kombucha I finally brewed my first batch of kombucha.

For years I wanted to brew my own kombucha but didn’t find the time to “tackle” venturing into this new territory. You see, the way I learn is to either go 1) ALL IN or 2) ensure I have read all that I can about the topic and dive in from there. You see back in 2006, from what I read from the interwebs at quick glance, it didn’t look like I could go ALL IN with 100% guarantee of a successful first batch so I waited until the time was right. And baby it’s now 😉

Funny side note, back in 2010 I was drinking GT’s kombucha on the daily. As I headed into a local health foods store for the week’s supply I was horrified to find the shelves where GT’s was normally placed to be empty! I quickly scanned the area around me and found a woman who worked in the store and asked her what was going on. She too, sadly informed me that GT’s was pulled from stores nationwide due to the high levels of alcohol content and wouldn’t be placed back on to shelves until it was dealt with. “Whaaaaaaaaaat?” was all I could muster and perhaps it was the saddened look on my face she told me to wait and after a few minutes handed me a couple of bottles from the back. If there was ever a time to start home brewing it was probably then! But back to original programming…

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Oakland Blue Bottle

You Are Your Patterns

We are nothing but patterns

Kind of enlightening and empowering at the same time isn’t it?

When I first heard this yesterday it struck a chord within me. You see, I’ve been delving into the work and research behind the sub/conscious mind and everything is about patterns. If you remember this post, about 95%+ of our thoughts are mere repeats of what we were thinking the day before, and likely the days before that!

Simply acknowledging the fact that our brains are on constant repeat is power enough to know we can change the track.

So how do you change the track?

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It Just Is.

(deep breath in, deep breath out)

The morning is turning bright, there’s a whirring with each passing car, and for a brief few seconds there is silence in the mind.

The eyes are now open and slowly scans the room. Each object is coming alive. It is seen as it’s own entity. Most importantly, it just is.

Going deeper into the meditation each object is now seen as it were from a 3rd point of view. From a stranger’s point of view seeing this room for the first time. These objects no longer hold the same, close memories to the heart, but just memories as they were. It just is.

The room continues to be scanned and every picture, card, book, candle, lotion, clock, is seen as it just is. There are aspects of the human personality in each one. A spectrum of emotions come up as the mind observes the time of acquisition for each object. And again, it just is.

There is peace. There is peace in knowing it just is. There is peace in knowing none of these or all of these don’t make the identity, state of being, or who I “think” I am.

It just is.

How The Flu Affects Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

Man oh man, I got reminded of how much I hate being sick once again.

On a whim I decided to go to Portland for a day trip. We left at 7am, and here in the Pacific Northwest, depending on the weather, the day actually doesn’t brighten up until about 8:30am – 9:00am. That morning the sky was showing off in a fabulous way. The silhouette of the Cascade mountains, the sun peeking over from behind the mountains, and the sky…. the beautiful mix of orange, red, pink, and purple. It was a masterpiece.

And Portland? Portland was a blast! The coffee scene is on point and people are incredibly friendly. One of my favorite parts of the day was walking around the different neighborhoods and getting a feel for what each had to offer. I even had a chance to go to the Saturday farmer’s market and pick up a set of pasture raised farm fresh bacon. Let me just tell you – DELICIOUS!!!

Unfortunately I didn’t dress for the occasion and was freezing while walking around. I was lent a scarf and beanie which saved me from the worst misery 😉  Though I could tell by the way I was going from freezing one second to burning up another second that this wouldn’t end well.

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