It Deserves You

 –Post by Pallavi Sukhia

What started out as a joke at first is gradually becoming something that I want as the mantra of my life. As my friend and I were out shopping one day, she looked at this pair of gorgeous pink boots and started debating whether or not to get them. As she looked at me for a second opinion, the words that came out of my mouth instinctively were ‘Get them, they deserve you!’

Advertisers have often tried to sell us products convincing us that we deserve them. Why not break away from that mold and decide whether or not the product is worthy of us?

Seems like an arrogant thought? Look at it this way – as women spend their entire lives playing various roles, often in tandem – daughter, coworker, wife, boss, mother – they tend to put themselves last. It is not uncommon for women to lose sight of their value, needs, and worth as an individual detached from all of those roles.

Why not surround yourself with things, people, and relationships that you feel deserve you? That have earned the privilege of being with you. Your emotions, time, money, and energy are valuable. Spend them on things and people that truly appreciate and acknowledge your worth. This will also help you dispense your resources in a mindful, thoughtful manner. Now go out and get that book, eat that last piece of candy, smell that flower – they all deserve you!

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Thank you, Pallavi, for sharing your mantra with us!

While You’re Busy Making Other Plans

 

Post by:   Tracy Weaver, Life Coach, EFT Practitioner

Life is pulling a trick on us and I thought you should know. Almost everybody is goal oriented. We naturally want to attain our dreams, that sparkling jewel that will surely make us happy and fulfilled. So we start on the quest of attaining our goal or dream and finally, we attain it! Yes! Woohoo! That was amazing! Now what? Well, see that next goal over on that mountain top, just visible on the horizon? I really want to go for that one. Yeah, let’s go! Next journey forward, next quest! Wow, that was a lot of hard work, but look! We attained it! Hurray! Way to go, us! And about time! Hmmm, you know, on the way here I was looking around and I think I’m ready for a new…

Did you catch on? We’re never going to run out of goals, things we want to get or experience. Which means the goals aren’t really the point. Sure, they’re fun and satisfying for awhile, but after we attain them we’re always looking for the next thing to go after. We’re always on a journey, a quest, and the goals are the reason we keep questing forward. The quest is almost always a journey into some aspect of life we haven’t experienced before. I don’t know about you, but when I look back over my own journey, I never could have predicted that I would be where I am now. In fact, it’s been an interesting, expanding, amazing experience. I seem to find something in my life I don’t like very much, which automatically focuses me on what I would like instead. Another goal – and I’m off again!

So what’s the point? Well, we’re always on a journey, a quest. That’s where we spend all of our time. And, we’ve become more. We are not who we were when we were five, or twelve, or eighteen, or… We may be taking very carefully planned small steps or we may be jumping with quantum leaps, but we’re always becoming more. It’s the journey forward that seems to be the key. You know, just brainstorming here a bit, but we all have a choice here. Embrace the journey or fight it. Enjoy the adventure or fear the unknown. Happily expand, or vainly try to stay in our little boxes. Really enjoy the quest, the attainment of our dreams and goals, or pretend that nothing special is ever going to happen. People do choose both ways. You get to choose how you would most enjoy your personal journey. I can tell because I’ve seen people choose both, and that is their experience of their life. I have to admit, I really prefer being happy, feeling frisky and high energy, and so I know which way I’m choosing. How about you?

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Skipping in the Street

Something took hold of me the other day…

I dropped my car off for inspection and was walking away from the auto care shop.  There were two female pedestrians directly across from me and we were all waiting for the light to change.  I noticed that the intersection was clear ahead of the signal and decided to go for it early!  In the middle of crossing the street when it wasn’t yet time for walkers, a sweeping energy came rushing through me and it was picked up in my body with a skip.   I put on my biggest, boldest smile as I delighted in the warm sun on my face for the moment.  Bounding over to other side I said, “Enjoy the day, Girls!”.  One of the women laughed and replied, “What a great moment. I’m so glad you just did that.”  I lifted my shoulders with a happy sideways glance over to her and the response, ” Me too!”.  We then exchanged a little laugh and continued our different directions.

I hope that over the weekend you will open to feeling good on the spur of the moment and showing it to others.  Skipping in the street may not be your thing or at the level of comfort where you find yourself, but whatever works for you to feel free and good – I hope you let yourself do that!

Good Wishes and Love  -Valerie

Get Happy

1. “Happiness is the art of never holding in your mind the memory of any unpleasant thing that has passed.”
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2.“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.”
Dale Carnegie

Watch what comes and goes in your thinking.  Hold the thoughts that feel good in focus for longer periods of time and consider writing them down for clarity on the blessings that you experience.  You may be pleasantly surprised at all the reasons you find for feeling good.  Expand into the feeling of happiness that greets you!img_6860Photograph by Cindy Weaver  – Santa Fe, NM

Play With Your Food!

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There are so many amazing things that you can do with

fresh red cabbage 

For a fun weekend project – making dye: purple, pink or an intense blue!

Boil 1/2-1 head of chopped cabbage covered in water

Add 1 Tbs of salt for each 1/2 of a cabbage

Strain out cabbage (save that for dinner!) and keep liquid in pan

For Blue – add a 1 Tbs of baking soda or an ammonia

For Pink – add 2 Tbs of white vinegar

For purple – leave as is

Now soak the desired material and have FUN!

*this will wash out eventually, so try with non clothing items or just dye a shirt for temporary fun.

Experiment fabric gift bags for the holidays!

Let it dry in the sun completely.

A Day For Love

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It’s a new day.  Let’s celebrate with one gratitude that first comes to mind:   No matter what large subjects may seem looming and overwhelming to us today, think of something that is going to help today be a celebration, instead of a burden.

Begin the day with a deep inhale and equally thorough exhale.  Now another.

It’s a new day.  24 hours to be a kind neighbor, supportive friend, spontaneous partner, superb parent, blessing to a stranger.  24 hours to make mistakes and then try again with a smile because YOU are here to try again!

Let us rise, smile and be our best for a life and world that needs our LOVE and attention.

 

 

 

 

To Beast, Or Not To Beast…

We humans love extremes.  So many pieces of our day are brought into the realm of EXTREME.  The hours that we work, the sleep that we get or do not get, our workouts, diets, opinions and even hydration!  These beasts seem to be living and gasping for air all around us.  Passionate inspiration and strong goals are wonderful fountains to draw energy from and with that, when is too much, too much?  How do we know when balance is needed again, or else?  Is the extreme, the ‘beasting it’, the exhaustion worth it?  I suppose there’s one question that can answer this:

How’s it going for you?  Is your body happy and can it calm and quiet?  Is your mind happily fed and also able to find peace regularly?  Are you able to look in the mirror and love your body just as it is?  Are you confident enough in your work to be able to say ‘No’ when you need to?

How is ‘beasting it’ going for you?  Are you strong from the fountain of energy or are you cracking under it’s pressure?

Your body knows.  Your mind knows.  Your heart knows.

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Photo by Cindy Weaver   Santa Fe, NM

Slow Down, Sit and Enjoy

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One of my family’s favorites for a weekend breakfast!  You can choose any topping you’d like, even honey or powered sugar.  We like a maple syrup fruit sauce.  Here is the basic recipe for you to try with some friends or kiddos nearby.

Oven Pancake

INGREDIENTS
– 3 eggs
– 3/4 cup milk (whatever kind you have on hand, I use 2%)
– 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
– 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
– 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
– 1 Tbsp butter

DIRECTIONS
1) Preheat oven to 400. Place cast iron skillet or shallow baking dish in oven (9-10″).

2) In blender, or by hand, blend eggs, milk, flour, vanilla and cinnamon until smooth (about 5 minutes).

3) Open oven and place butter in pan until sizzling. Pour in batter. Bake about 20 minutes until puffy and golden.

4)  Top with your favorite item: cinnamon sugar, honey, berries, etc

ENJOY!