Good morning beautiful people! It’s absolutely stunning here in Seattle on this magical Friday morning. I hope no matter what season it is in your area you are diving into the weekend with an expanded heart and inspiration.
This week’s theme came to me suddenly but resonated deeply. I may have written about this before but I always welcome the reminder, and it is this:
The time spent worrying or thinking about what others feel/think/act/say to you is their business. Stay in your lane and keep your eyes on your business.
Take a moment to truly ask yourself, “is this really true?”. No matter what worries you, ask yourself this question. How much of what is going on in your head are your own projections, worries, and fears?
Remember no judgement, only awareness.
As we dive into the weekend take a moment to pause and ask yourself this question whenever you come up against a resistance. Oftentimes you will find the thought you were just thinking is either based in the past or is a future projection. And what a relief that is!
You are free in THIS moment.
May you find a bit more peace, love, and laughter as you head into the weekend.
What does it mean to go IN? To be still? To know your truth? To muddle the outside (and sometimes inside) voices so that you can finally hear and feel your own personal power? To finally feel the expansive freedom that comes with knowing THIS truth?
Just remember, all that ever matters is the coming back to this.. the constant remembrance and living out from this beautiful place that lies within all of us.
Are your hormones are a bit wonky? Sure But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.
Do you feel like crawling under the covers because of a string of bad days? Sure But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.
Struggling with a health issue? Sure But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.
Dealing with relationship issues that keep coming back? Sure But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.
Fighting an intense fear of failure? Sure But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.
Experiencing grief that doesn’t seem manageable? Sure But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.
Wondering why it feels like it’s taking a million years to achieve X when for others it seems so easy? Sure But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.
There’s nothing wrong with you
No matter what is happening in your life just remember this, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you.
Have you ever heard of mindful eating? Or eating with intention? If you have, have you actually put it to practice for an extended period of time?
Believe it or not, just like meditation or exercise, it takes work! But if you have tried it, you very well may have noticed all the wonderful benefits that come with mindful eating such as:
Complete digestion
A sense of well being and ease
Increased vitality
Feeling satiated
Better poop (yes, #2)
(just to name a few)
I wanted to write about this in particular because just like with exercise or other “seemingly” important things that we know we should be doing, mindful eating seems to be last on the priority list. And what better time to put this into practice now that the 4th of July and all of it’s bbq’ing festivities are complete?
To start, as with anything, we need a current understanding of what we are doing today as it relates to what we desire to change. So ask yourself a few questions to start:
What are you doing when you eat a meal?
How do you feel right after a meal? 1 hour after a meal?
If you prepared your own food what was the step by step process you took in order to eat your meal?
You may notice a sense of awareness and connection beginning to occur already as you take inventory of how, with whom, what, where, and why you eat your food.
Remember, no judgement, just awareness.
The point of this exercise above is to better understand where you can make small changes to set the intention of mindful eating.
Whether you tend to buy prepared food, eat alone, watch TV, or come from a family of fast eaters there are a few solid steps you can take to incorporate mindful eating:
If you’re preparing your own food take the time to study your subject. Yes, look at every detail of the asparagus and it’s tiny intricate details! If you’re adding grapefruit to your salad try scraping a tiny piece of the skin and taking in the sweet and tangy fragrance it offers. Just by doing this you are already in the now and honoring what will soon be consumed.
If you bought a prepared meal take the time to thank the food and all the ways it got to be where it is today. From the sun, soil, worms, the farmers, and yes, even the people who prepared it. Without any of these elements this delicious meal wouldn’t have been possible! By doing this you may notice a sense of ease and gratitude, simply by taking the time to notice the miracles that occur on a minute by minute basis.
As you begin to eat really take a look at what’s on your fork or spoon and notice every single detail of the food in front of you. You’ll notice things I bet you haven’t seen in years, for some, the first time in their lives. As you look at every detail on your fork you may notice the thought, “wow, I’m not actually thinking about anything else”. Yes, that’s right. Continue to practice this art of noticing your food before each bite. An added side benefit of this art is that every single bite will taste that much better because your senses are now engaged with the food and not the distraction!
Don’t just swallow, chew! There’s something beautiful that happens when you really chew. First, it’s the body’s process of starting the digestion process. Your saliva acts as the break down agent for the food that will travel down to your stomach and intestines, so why not give it a kick start? Instead of having bigger pieces of food for your body to break down, really chew and mindfully notice the food as it breaks down in your mouth. Again, you may notice just how good food tastes and just how good you will feel not only physically, but m mentally as well.
Last but not least, end your mindful eating by giving thanks and staring at your bowl or plate with appreciation for what was in front of you. Rather than rushing off to the next thing, give yourself a minute or two to really take in the moment. Honor the time you gave to yourself and the food that is now in your body.
I hope you enjoyed these simple, yet powerful tips that work for me personally. During the transition between San Francisco and Seattle it was a hectic time, but when I needed it most mindful eating was the peace and solace I needed to ground myself and step into gratitude. As you can see, truly the benefits are endless!
“Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.”
~ Jerzy Gregorek
“The hard choices —what we most fear doing, asking, saying —these are very often exactly what we most need to do.And the biggest challenges and problems we facewill never be solved with comfortable conversations,whether it’s in your own head or with other people.
So I encourage you to ask yourselves:Where in your lives right nowmight defining your fears be more important than defining your goals?Keeping in mind all the while, the words of Seneca:“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.””
~Tim Ferriss from his most recent Ted Talk, April 2017
Sharing a bit of goodness that I enjoyed listening to while sick in bed. ?
There has certainly been a theme that sticks out for me this week and it is this – being ok with what is and knowing it is unfolding in perfect divine order.
The mind is a slippery one. An innocent thought about one thing leads you down 10 deep rabbit holes until you find yourself in a complex maze of what ifs and one way too many options. And then what? You’re paralyzed. Does anyone feel me on this?!
While it seems healthy and proactive to be solving, thinking, planning… whatever you want to name it, if any of this leaves you with any of the following feelings:
The moment any of these feelings start to creep in it’s time to inquire – what am I striving for?
I find that the moment I ask myself this question it all becomes clearer. And while sometimes it may take more time than usual, it always gets clearer.
With clarity comes peace. A knowing that in THIS moment (and the next, and the next, and yes, even the next one :)) I am always held and perfectly where I need to be. Tension would indicate otherwise. Yes?
I find that this is a much more freeing experience than needing to control every outcome…
Honestly I love so many parts of the day: the growing heat of a mid-summer’s afternoon, the way the light fades to dark and you sense the coolness of the evening, making hot tea and reading in bed… but lately one of my most FAVORITE parts of the day is the morning.
Since the days are that much longer here in the Pacific Northwest, the sunrises at 5:12am (on the day of this post) and my body naturally begins to rise around 6am. That means even more time where I get to spend truly just being in silence.
I savor making my morning decaf coffee and what I call my “poppin’ collagen latte”. You can’t see it poppin’ in the picture but trust me, it’s poppin’!
But before I start sipping, while the coffee is dripping (oops didn’t mean to rhyme!) I’ll step outside and soak up a few delicious rays… hear the birds chirp… see how much the grass has grown… it’s all truly beautiful. Then as I sip, it’s time for stretching, yoga, and listening to podcasts as I get ready.
And what about breakfast? Well… I’ve written about my morning smoothie bowls but here’s a picture from Monday’s smoothie bowl deliciousness 🙂
Those added blueberries were just…. sigh. Heaven.
Mornings are so precious to me. It’s a time to check in and mentally prepare for the day (before everyone and everything clamors for your attention).
How about you?
What’s your favorite part of the day? How do you cultivate more YOU time and what does it look like for you?
One of the best things about spending more time in Washington is that these beautiful mountains and trails are literally in our backyard. For example a quick 1 hour drive and I’m deep in Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
This past Sunday was spent hiking up to Goat Lake. Let me tell you… it was GORGEOUS.
Goat Lake
As I made my way through the trail I decided to head up to Goat Lake via the lower trail and come back down to the trail head via the upper trail. The pounding pulsation of the river and numerous waterfalls making it’s way down the mountain was incredible.
The hike was approximately 11 miles round trip, and it was 11 miles of fresh air that I desperately needed.
The night before I got into a sneezing frenzy due to allergies which always zaps the energy out of me; to the point where my throat is sore and my energy is just depleted from me. When I woke up the day of the hike my nose was so stuffed I couldn’t breathe!
Miraculously when we got to the mountains it was as if the body knew how good the air was and decided to clear the nasal passages for all the fresh air. As soon as this happened I started to breathe DEEP. Deep into the belly with each and every inhale and I could slowly feel my energy coming back.
I don’t know if it was the allergy attack the night before but not only was my energy low, my mood just wasn’t as upbeat either. Honestly, it could have been a whole RANGE of things:
Was it hormonal? Time of the month?
Has weeks of stressful work hours impacted the adrenals and thus neurotransmitters?
Was it the tossing and turning from being unable to breathe last night?
Maybe it’s the days of overcast skies that finally got to me.
Did I not eat enough breakfast and this is just a dip in energy?
Am I putting too much pressure on myself at work?
Is it because the weekend is almost over and I didn’t get a chance to eat at my favorite Indian restaurant this week? 😉
I’ve written about this before but it’s so easy to want to place meaning behind everything. Our minds find it inherently necessary to analyze the who, what, why, when, and how, but sometimes that takes us down several chases down several rabbit holes!
Instead I took some time to mindfully investigate each and every thought that came up and most importantly to allow and to BE WITH the emotion behind every passing thought. Fear, sadness, anxiousness, stress… were a few of the emotions that arose with each thought.
I took time to ask, is this really true? And if it is, what would that mean? Who is the one having this thought? What am I reacting to (or what do I think I am reacting to)?
Then silence. Step by step, breath by breath.
And when you’re surrounded by beauty like this how can you not begin to feel shifts as you fall into the wonder, awe, and gratitude of mother nature?
Sometimes it takes a good long bit of time to realize reality from reaction, or a place like this to put you in the present moment. The true present, moment by moment, breath by breath.
How about you? When do you find yourself having ah-ha moments? What helps you bring your awareness to your thoughts?
