How to Find True Love

August 22, 2015August 22, 2015Leave a comment

Have you ever realized just how beautifully life flows when you are in love? Being in love is the best feeling in the world. It’s magical. It’s unbelievable. Ridiculous. It’s a feeling that I cannot live without in this sometimes seemingly harsh human world.

When you really think about it, all you ever have is now, so you might as well enjoy it. This is it. How you are feeling at this moment is your magnet. That which is like unto itself is drawn, says Abraham and the Law of Attraction. Our thoughts create our experience. Why not think in love?

Your reality is yours and yours alone. There is no collective reality. We all have complete childhoods and life events that shape who we are. We learn good habits and bad habits and everything in between. It is our history that predisposes our thoughts to our current reality.

Until one day it doesn’t. One day we wake up. We step into our power and we are ready to take responsibility for our thoughts, our actions, and our lives. We get off the hamster wheel and realize just how amazing we are. We realize how amazing the world is. We realize how amazing the Universe is, and that the energy we have within us has the power to create worlds.

We realize that life is really, really great. We open our hearts to anyone and everyone and bleed kindness all around. There is nothing that we won’t tear down within us to recreate ourselves in this new vision of all encompassing love. We realize that we’ve been holding ourselves back all this time. Our unhappiness wasn’t caused by anything but our own fear. And all in one defining moment we realize that we can burst straight through fear’s door, broken hearted and all, fully capable and ready to align with that which we truly are: the magnificent being that God created us to be.

And looking back, it really is funny. We had the power within us the entire time, and we just didn’t know it. And life on the other side of heartbreak is beautiful. It’s inspiring. It’s more than you can even imagine. When you find your true love has been within you, it is you, you realize that you can never be alone again.

True love is yours the moment you step into your power. And you don’t even need to be heartbroken. You just have to entertain the idea that you are worthy. You are loved. And everything is always, always working out for you.

Today, love is my invisibility cloak. I try to wear it everywhere. When I wrap myself in love, nothing can touch me. I am unavailable for disaster to strike. I’m flying. I’m more accessible than I’ve ever been yet I am unreachable by many things that once crushed me. I take nothing personally anymore, and happiness finds me everywhere I go.

Today life brought me unexpectedly face to face with another I dearly love. In the same place at the same time, I walked into a coffee shop and heard my name. I looked up and saw my brother. Neither of us had a clue what the other was doing, but the Universe saw it fitting to bring two happy people. Events like this are life’s true gifts. The present moment is a gift all on its own, but this was the icing on the cake.

Summertime: Parenting 101

July 4, 2015July 4, 2015Leave a comment

Children are definitely life’s greatest teachers, and while summertime is a period of slowing down, it’s also a period of exponential growth. As a mom of three young boys, it means that I’m stretched in so many ways that it’s grow or die. Well, sometimes I grow in the morning and die in the afternoon. Thankfully one of my kids still takes a nap!

We’re only a few weeks into the summer and we’ve already logged a good portion of our 10,000 hours of both tennis and soccer. We’ve moulded with play-doh, practiced our painting and drawing skills, climbed trees, and spent most of our days hanging out at the park with friends. We’ve frequented water parks, hit up the zoo, and tore up the town with our 3 wheeled scooters. These kids literally never ever slow down!

Though raising 3 young boys is challenging, it’s an amazing opportunity to work on my inner game. Some days are great, some days are good, and some days I wish I had parented a heck of a lot better. But tomorrow is another day, another chance.

We are never the same person we were yesterday. Every day we learn. Each morning is a blank slate; a new chance to be the person we’ve always wanted to be. Every day is an opportunity be a little more calm, a little more tolerant, a little more patient, a little more loving, and a little more in touch with your spirit self.

Having children is one giant lesson that never ends. It took me until the 3rd kid to really get a hang of letting go, and I’m thankful that I’ve got that one under my belt. You choose you battles.

Parenting is knowing when to be firm and when to be soft; when to be a friend and when to lay down the law, guns blazing. It’s knowing when to let go and let their spirits thrive, and parenting is always leading by example. Are you the adult you want your children to grow up to be?

My kids make me acutely aware of where I need to improve. Whether it’s my 2 year old whining about wanting chocolate or my 4 year old repeating a bad word, they’re my mirrors. But they also remind me of where I’m doing really well. When my 2 year old asks his 1 year old brother if he had a good night, when my 4 year old gets up from the dinner table to find a soother for his little brother, and when strangers tell me how talented my little scooterists are, it just makes my heart burst.

When you think of how well you are parenting, don’t just think about your downfalls. Don’t do that. Think about a few areas that you need to improve and think of what you can do today to change your parenting game for the better, sure. But also think about what you are doing well. Think about how proud you are of your kids and be sure to let them know it.

When we’re at the park I hear a lot of “Don’t do that. Don’t climb on that. You can’t do that. Yadda yadda yadda.” There is a time and a place for that, and I’ve said them all a thousand times, but just like us, what our kids need to hear more of is what they are doing right. Today I heard a grandmother berating her grandson for squeezing out too much sunscreen. She was relentless. She tore him down when she could have let it go and built him up with “It’s okay, that happens to me all the time!”

Build their confidence. Tell them why you are proud of them. Tell them how amazing they are for working hard learning a new sport. Tell them how much courage they have for doing the things they do. Compliment them on their good behaviour and push them to try something out of their comfort zone. The next time you want to yell, ask yourself first if you can let it go and find the lesson without the raised voice instead. Why tear them down when you can build them up?

And at the end of the day, once you’ve parented your way through the past 14 hours, know that it’s okay to crack open a bottle of wine. As a parent, I completely agree that it’s not only okay, but so entirely necessary!

xoxo Amy.

Walnut Coconut Power Balls

June 12, 2015Leave a comment

If you like these as much as we do, you may want to plan a heavy workout before you make them! Since they are sweetened using dates, each ball has approximately 6g of sugar, making them perfect post-soccer snacks, but not something you would want to take to the couch as you pound back a 6-pack!

Speaking of sugar, I don’t know about you, but I would rather eat my treats any day than drink them. One can of soda has approximately 33g of sugar! I can’t even fathom how I used to drink that stuff regularly. It makes me cringe now. The next time you feel the need for a soda, try adding the juice of half a lemon and a tbsp of apple cider vinegar to a glass of Perrier. It’s the best invention ever. I’m pretty sure I learned about that drink from Food Matters, so props to them for that one!

Walnut Coconut Power Balls

2 cups walnuts
1 cup Medjool dates (about 12, pitted)
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
Shredded coconut for covering.

Place walnuts in a food processor and pulse until fine.

Add the dates, almond flour, shredded coconut, cocoa powder, coconut oil, and sea salt. Pulse until thoroughly combined.

Roll into golf ball sized balls and roll in shredded coconut.

Store in the fridge.

I’m Not Perfect

June 9, 2015June 9, 2015Leave a comment

You may read my blog and think I have it all together, but I assure you that I am a work in progress just like everyone else! This also reminds me to point out that there is no one out there who is perfect, so don’t be tempted to put anyone on a pedestal. It may not seem like it, but we’re on level playing ground with everyone else on Earth. We’re all on the journey of joyous expansion, and we all have good, really good, bad, and really bad moments! Without this contrast we would become complacent; we would lose our drive if things were good all the time. Don’t worry if you’ve had a particularly bad past, because you can use it as leverage to propel yourself into the future you desire. The past does not predict the future.

turnonthelight

I set a daily intention to see through the eyes of Source, to see the love in all people and the lessons I need to learn. I ask that my will be God’s will and that I be guided to be loving in all situations. Most days are amazing, while some days I seem to get stuck. Yesterday was particularly challenging. I decided to go down memory lane and got stuck there, stuck in a place where I couldn’t see the love in a person. I knew that nothing good could come from it, but I did it anyway. But something good did come of it. I saw the contrast between my denial state and my awakened state once again, and once again I was grateful for the awakening. The vision I have for my future wouldn’t be the same without my past.

I let go of the past and set myself free. Again. For the last time. Again. I doubt it really was the last time, but each time I am able to come out of it faster and with gratitude. What I find really interesting is this last dance with the past occurred on a full moon during mercury retrograde, which explains a lot! I had an energy appointment the next day, and apparently I wasn’t the only one having issues, as they had THREE emergency phone calls that day from people having personal crises!

When I find myself in a funk and not being my usual chipper self, I first focus on grounding myself, which for me usually looks like a walk or run in the forest, and as I walk or run I focus on all of the really great lessons I have learned. This time it went something like this:

I am strong, loving, courageous, and worthy of my dreams.
I reclaimed my power and set boundaries for how I expect to be treated.
True love comes from my own heart connection, which I can feel whenever I wish. Yay!
I found a connection to spirit, my inner being, and Source.
Things happen for me and not to me.
I have the power to be, do, and have everything I can imagine for myself.
I love to write. I must write. It feeds my spirit.
I must exercise daily, it grounds me and makes me feel safe and secure.
I found my life’s mission: to help others take their power back.
I wouldn’t be who I am today without the challenges I’ve encountered.
All is well, and it always will be!

success

I want you to know that you have the power to overcome great adversity. If you don’t willingly change what you know you must, the Universe will conspire to change things for you. Whatever happens, stay conscious, strong, confident and listen to your heart; follow your inner guidance. The more you listen to your inner guidance and do what makes you happy, the more you will raise your self-esteem and the more confident you will become.

Know you are worthy of great things, and listen to that voice in your head that pushes you to change the status quo. Stay calm throughout the storm so that you can better see the lessons. Take your power back from outside forces and stand up for your beliefs. Know that everything is working out in the best interest of everyone involved. Nothing can go wrong when you follow your heart. You’ll either encounter pain now, when you make the tough decisions you have to make, or pain later, when you are holding yourself prisoner in an unhappy life.

What feels like a horrible situation can actually be your greatest blessing. You won’t find the blessings if you are concentrating on the despair. If you are asking “Why did this happen?” you are never going to find the answer. Something that wasn’t working in your highest interest had to come to an end, and the sooner you can find the lessons, the easier it will be for you to accept it and move forward with your life.

Most likely, like me, it doesn’t mean that you won’t return to those dark feelings occasionally, but it is your choice to visit them, and it is also your choice to let those feelings go. Letting go means that you choose not to live there. You choose to use past hurts merely as a contrasting feeling to the joy that you seek. I choose to feel good because it feels good! Is there any other way to live your life? I don’t think so!

Whenever the darkness creeps in, turn on the light. Go to the best feeling thoughts and visualizations that you can come up with. Think about all the things you are grateful for and the lessons you’ve learned from your struggles. Where are you now that you wouldn’t be if you hadn’t struggled? What amazing new life has come out of the ashes? What would be the best thing that could ever happen in your life? The light always beats the dark.

How to Intuitively Stop Procrastination

June 1, 2015May 28, 2015Leave a comment

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Are you steadily moving toward your goals, or do you find yourself stuck, avoiding further forward motion like the plague? Even though all of the pieces may be in place, self-sabotage can prevent us from taking that final step toward realizing our dreams.

Writing down your goals can really help zero in on what is important to you, and it really is the first action step you must take. The simple act of writing creates new neural pathways in your brain by getting your body involved in making your thoughts become tangible reality. It’s the first step to commitment.

Thinking about what you want to create in your life is a good starting point, and visualizing the end products of your intention and hard work is terrific – I encourage you to do it daily. However, writing the visualizations down prompts you to connect your intuition with your intention and brings your emotions and necessary actions to light. Writing leaves evidence that visualization does not. Writing is physical, emotional, and mental therapy wrapped up into one.

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Writing to Stop Procrastination:

Start with a fresh notebook. Any will do, but you may want to treat your inner self to a beautiful notebook in your favourite colour. Use one that inspires you.

The purpose of this exercise is to open your eyes to your own excellence. You have everything you need within you right now to create anything you desire to be, do, create, or have! Start by acknowledging the power within.

Write down everything you love about yourself. Focus on anything and everything that is going well in your life. Compliment yourself. Smile. Be proud of all that you are and all that you have done. Realize your awesomeness.

When you have finished writing, start listing the things that you want to do, be, create, and have. Get specific and don’t hold back. You don’t have to know how you want to create these things. A burning desire to create these things is good enough. Write down how it feels to reach these goals. What experiences will you have when you realize these feats? How will your relationships blossom? How will you be doing financially, spiritually, emotionally, and physically?

This journal is dedicated to taking your power back. It focuses on love, strengths, solutions, and optimal outcomes. But in order to keep the focus on these wonderful things, it is necessary to visit the alternative for a moment and create some leverage over that part of us that relishes in the immediate gratification of procrastination.

Next, write about what will happen if you keep up this current level of procrastination. What will happen if you keep wasting your time and none of these dreams come true? How will you feel? What will your relationships be like? What will happen to you financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually if you don’t follow the dreams you have written about?

What are the stories you tell yourself that keep you small? What is holding you back? What are your excuses? What will happen if you keep making these excuses? Staying small isn’t doing you any favours. It imprisons your inner being. It’s time to change your limiting thoughts and behaviours. Set your inner being free and see the magic happen!

I’ll bet you have had enough right now and that you’re ready to continue in the direction of your dreams! Start brainstorming about the next logical steps you can take toward making your dreams a reality. Rewrite your excuses into empowering action steps. Change your negative stories of lack into positive stories of abundance.

What must you do to keep moving forward? Do you need to network more? Put down your phone and play with your children? Give your lover a hug and tell them you love them? Be more active on social media to get your name out there? Be less active on social media and focus on your work or family? Go to the gym? Eat healthier?

Write down everything you can think of. You may have thought about taking these actions before, but seeing them on paper brings them into your awareness. In order to breathe life into your dreams, something that was once a should/could has become a MUST.

You know you’re on the right path when you are really excited about what you are creating. It doesn’t mean that there will be no fear. There will be fear any time you step out of your comfort zone and into the unknown, but the more authentic you are with yourself and the more you feed your inner spirit, the more your excitement will drown out the cries of your fears. New possibilities will enter your experience due to this change in energy!

Keep the focus on your goals. Any time your fears start to creep in and say “Yeah, but…” stop them right there in their tracks and focus on any good feeling thought you can grasp in the direction of your dreams. Change the way you talk about yourself and you will change. Think in terms of having already achieved your goal, that coveted position at work, getting a few new clients, or becoming that artist you’ve always wanted to be.

Act as if your dreams are a reality. Walk the walk. Talk the talk. It doesn’t help your cause when you are pining away at your dream from a scarcity viewpoint. Own every single aspect of your dream that you can right now. If you are an aspiring artist, don’t tell your friends that you hope to be an artist some day, tell them “I am an artist!” If you want to be the creative director of your office, tell your friends “I am a creative director!” Don’t stop with your friends – tell anyone who will listen to you! Be the person you want to be, and do what the person you want to be would do. There is no need to wait when you can start right now!

Take these action steps into your visualizations and see yourself executing them. See yourself in the role you wish to play. Feel your inner being light up as you finally step into your power – as you step into your authentic self. Feel the excitement as it rises up from your heart and into your entire being. Feel how whole and complete you feel in this moment. Feel the inspiration and the knowingness that you can do this. You are doing this. This is the real you. Now take action!

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie 2.0

May 28, 20152 Comments

I’m pretty sure I’ve created some version of this concoction before, but this is my new absolute favourite upgraded version so here it is! I made this smoothie after an intense workout, which is why I used dates. Alternatively you can use stevia to taste.

I started using collagen powder after sustaining a knee injury. It is a phenomenal protein powder, providing support for collagen loss and cartilage damage to the body. There are so many benefits that I use it every single day! It adds protein to smoothies without altering the taste.

Between the collagen and the peanut better powder, there is a lot of protein in this bad boy!

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Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie 2.0

Serves 2.

1 banana
4 ice cubes
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
2 medjool dates (or stevia to taste)
4 tbsp peanut butter powder or peanut butter (PB2/peanut butter slim)
2 tbsp Great Lakes Collagen powder (omit if you don’t have some…and then go buy some)
1 heaping tbsp cocoa powder (dutch process – the dark kind)
1 tbsp hemp hearts
1 tbsp milled flax seed
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla powder (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
pinch sea salt

Place all ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth.

Is Your Inner Child Running Your Life?

May 26, 2015May 26, 2015Leave a comment

innerchild

Whether we realize it or not, we carry a lot of baggage from the past. The abandonment we felt as children when our parents wouldn’t play with us, the betrayal we felt when our best friend chose to sleep over at someone else’s house instead of ours, and the sadness we felt when our beloved pet suddenly died – all reside deep within our subconscious mind.

Our inner child learns that we need to perform spectacularly if we want more attention. We become perfectionists. We learn that negative attention is better than no attention at all. We lash out in anger. We internalize the external, (I guess I’m not good enough to have Daddy’s attention), take things far too personally, and begin to talk badly to ourselves.

That inner child stays with us, yearning for the love, connection, and safety that eluded it over the years. When we lash out in anger at the smallest of details, it is a red flag that we have neglected our inner being for far too long. When we berate others for their shortcomings it is simply because we can’t stand to look at our own. We deflect. It’s much easier to point out what others are doing wrong than own up to our own failures. The funny thing is, others mirror our faults back to us. Whatever bothers us about someone is something that we need to work on!

Our actions are a direct representation of the way we feel about ourselves. The way we hold ourselves in public reflects the emotional terrain of our inner world. When we feel poorly about ourselves we tend to lash out at anyone near us – especially the ones we love. They have a front row seat to our baggage show. Our flipping out has nothing to do with the empty toilet paper roll, and everything to do with our need for love, connection, and fulfillment.

Denial of our problems is not a long term solution. Problems get bigger the longer we let them fester, not smaller. The fastest, easiest, and least painless way to deal with our inner unrest is to simply listen to it and begin to take care of the inner child that is begging to be heard, that inner being – the real you – that needs love and attention. Your inner being doesn’t need love and attention from just anyone, it needs it from YOU.

Now that you’re an adult, it is your responsibility to meet your inner being’s deepest emotional needs. If you don’t take responsibility for fulfilling these needs, the unrest will only worsen until there is a complete blowout (divorce, mid-life crisis, job termination, etc.) and you have no choice but to comply.

You are the only one who can give you what you need. When you take your power back from others and realize that you are fully capable of nurturing your inner being, your whole life will change. As you start to listen to your inner being you will build awareness around what it needs to feel happy, safe, and fulfilled. Take some time to reflect on where you are and where you want to be, and when you are the most you – what makes you really light up? Get silent sit in meditation, and let the answers come.

As you begin to act on this new awareness and the information it provides, you will feel whole, complete, safe, secure, and loved all on your own. You won’t feel the need to lash out at others because you will be following your heart, giving your inner being the love and attention it so desires. You won’t need to point out what everyone else is doing wrong because you won’t even notice it. In time, rather than focusing on everything that is going wrong, you will be excited about everything that is going right!

When you provide your inner being with unconditional love, you create a space within you to freely love others, flaws and all. When you love yourself, you don’t need to take power from others, for you will have all of the power you need already within. As you sit in the seat of awareness, always listening to your inner being, you are able to thwart or deal with perceived attacks on your inner being as they arise. Though the inner work never ends, neither do the soul-fulfilling payoffs, authentically beautiful relationships, love and peace it provides your inner being.

Whenever your inner being is feeling insecure, unloved, unfulfilled, or uneasy, you can acknowledge the feeling, knowing that you are a limitless being full of love and creative power. Focus on your strengths. Focus on the solutions to the problems and the best possible outcomes. Focus on the inner being and follow your heart. It will never steer you wrong. Take a deep breath, push through your fears and remind yourself that “All is well. There is nothing to fear. I’ve got this.”

Material Objects as Life Purpose Replacements

May 15, 2015May 15, 2015Leave a comment

Symptoms of detachment from spirit can feel like anxiety, fear, sadness, discontent, failure, and discomfort, among others. This happens when we get sidetracked from our right and perfect path and take a detour through procrastination and other behaviours that don’t serve us. The discontent will simply keep growing until you answer the call to get back on track and serve your life’s purpose.

If you feel a deep longing to do something fulfilling with your life but let your fears talk you out of taking action, you can get stuck for a very long time between the fear of moving forward and the fear of staying the same. Your discomfort is caused by not keeping up with your soul’s lessons.

As you learn in this lifetime, you are constantly outgrowing your old circumstances and gearing up to change, to grow, to learn, and to master each new level you encounter. Your guides and angels leave little clues and synchronistic events along the way to make life fun and exciting, and even extremely hard if you must learn a difficult lesson. It is all for your greatest good.

Though you may not consciously know what you are longing for, taking courageous action toward what feels good each and every day can illuminate the path ahead. One day, when you look back to where your journey began, you will do so in awe of the cascade of fortunate encounters and events that guided you right to where you wanted to be!

If you know what you desire, yet aren’t taking action, the discomfort will only grow until you listen to your authentic self and start making changes in your life. No matter how hard some decisions may initially seem, the pain you will endure from not taking action will eventually become so extreme that you have to change.

The Universe will support you always.

We all have a little voice in our head that cheers us on. This inner voice tells us when something needs to change and when we need to take action. It always has our best interest at heart. We also have a little voice that tells us we are not good enough – this is the voice of fear and anxiety, and the more attention you give it, the stronger it will get. Take your power back from this voice and take action in the direction of your bliss. You are and always have been worthy.

There is a lot of fear entwined with change, but there doesn’t have to be. Fear and anxiety can’t survive the light. They will disappear the second you acknowledge your worthiness and take action toward your dreams. Use them to guide you out of your comfort zone – you really have nothing to lose but your discomfort, and you have a lifetime of happiness to gain!

It all comes down to this:

You can either listen to the unrest and question it, asking yourself what kind of life you must live in order to feed your spirit and live with passion, or you can continue to live in denial and room with anxiety, fear, and discontent. If you choose the latter, you will certainly feel the pain of disconnection and try to remedy the pain by acquiring material objects.

Material Objects as Life Purpose Replacements

Do you have a lot of stuff?
Do you have a need to shop?
Do you feel fulfilled in your life?
Are you constantly fearful and anxious?
How are your relationships?
Do you think about why you are buying something before you complete the purchase?
Do you need to buy something to be happy?
Are you feeling inspired or blocked in your life?
Do you have a lot of energy or is your body tired and stagnant?
What do your closets look like?
Is your house clean?

Are you numbing yourself by acquiring material objects? Do you try to cover up your pain, fear, and anxiety by purchasing items to gain happiness? Until you listen to your spirit and pursue your life’s purpose, the high you get from buying things will come and go hundreds of times until you wake up to the truth that nothing outside of you can make you happy. Happiness has been and will always be an inside job. Listen to your spirit.

Not only will objects not make you happy in the long run, but the more stuff you have, the more energy if takes from you. The more electronics you have, the more responsibility you have in making sure they run properly. The more cars you have, the more insurance you must buy and the more upkeep you must perform or delegate.

The more pets you have, the more you must feed them, walk them, and seek veterinary care. The more clothing you have, the more clothing you must wash/dry/fold/dry clean/repair. The more stuff you have laying around your house, the more stuff you have to dust, and the harder it is to find anything anywhere!

Material accumulation is a symptom of spiritual disconnection – a symptom of not fulfilling your life’s purpose.

When I am feeling stuck and anxious, it is almost always because I have been hanging out with my fears and not pursuing my life’s purpose. The only thing that truly makes me feel better is listening to my inner guidance and taking action on it. For instance, I may be procrastinating by cleaning the house instead of writing. This little voice in my head tells me that I need to write. About a minute after I sit down at my computer and begin to type, all fear and anxiety disappear and I feel completely connected to my spirit and my life’s purpose once again. I know I am following my life’s purpose because it makes me happy.

Maybe you have a habit of numbing out in front of the television, and while you needed to relax the first night, the second night your spirit may pipe up and start making you feel uneasy. Our spirit selves remind us that we didn’t go through the trouble of being born on Earth to sit on a couch night after night after night. If you watch television every night would put money on the table that you feel you were meant for something more, because you are.

There is nothing wrong with watching television sometimes! I know there is nothing better for my spirit some nights than to snuggle up with my husband and watch a good movie, but some nights my spirit would rather read a book, play with watercolours, spend quality time with my significant other or kids, make love, go for a walk, post an inspirational quote on instagram, or sit in the back yard and eat a popsicle!

When you are feeling fearful or anxious it is important that you question the unrest. Ask yourself what your spirit needs to thrive, and listen to the guidance, feelings, and images that come to mind. Spend some time in meditation and quietly reflect.

The next time you want to buy something, ask yourself why. This simple question can make you dig deep and figure out what you are really trying to achieve by acquiring something else.

We recently cleaned out our entire house, from the depths of the closets to the cupboards, drawers, and crawlspaces. We simply asked ourself this one question about everything: Does this give me energy or deplete it? If something didn’t feel good to, it got thrown in the donation pile and left the house a few hours later. Make sure your donation pile doesn’t stick around for months. Take it away immediately and feel the energy in your house soar!

Getting rid of the old creates space for the new without your energy getting lost. There is flow. Life. Beauty. Peace. It opens the door to possibilities you’ve never even considered. Take your power back from the material objects in your life and start visualizing a life of purpose and happiness. How can you serve? How can you bring joy to yourself and others? What do you love to do so much that you would do for free?

Feel the anxiety and fear melt away into excitement as soon as you commit to taking action in the direction of your dreams!

Fast Fat Burning Meals

May 13, 2015Leave a comment

I’m a bit late to the party but I am super excited to share this awesome video and cookbook with you! Yuri and I set out to prove that not only is it healthier to make your meals at home, but it is also faster, and WAY more delicious!

This video comes at a time when we are ready to share our Fast Fat Burning Meals cookbook and cookbook club with the world. No longer will you have to ask yourself “what should I make for dinner?” Because, the answer to your nightly dinnertime nightmare is here. The healthiest, quickest, and most delicious meals you can make for your family!

I wish I could share the burger in the video with everyone because it is melt in your mouth better than any other burger you’ve ever tasted – and it’s super easy to make! Seriously, make these burgers for dinner tonight. You will LOVE them.

So, is fast food really faster? Watch the video:

We’ve gotten some backlash for “wasting” that food, but in all honesty, McDonald’s is not food in my opinion. I would rather put it in the garbage any day than put that stuff in my body. If you are bothered by us throwing it away, you may want to ask yourself why it bothers you so much. If I had eaten it, the outcome would be the same. No one else would have gotten to eat it!

Best Burger Ever

1/3 lb ground sirloin
tomato
pickle
red onion
ketchup
mustard
greens as a base (not pictured)

To prepare the burger, simply turn on your frying pan to medium, salt and pepper both sides of your patty, and throw it in the pan! Cook just like a pancake, flipping when the burger is half way done, after just 2-3 minutes. Cook until your desired level of doneness is reached, and top that puppy with anything you wish!

Avocado/Tomato Salad

2 tomatoes
1 avocado
olive oil
lemon juice
sea salt and pepper

Place chopped tomatoes and avocado in a medium bowl, and season with olive oil, a dash of lemon juice, sea salt and pepper. Done!

Running Challenge: Enter A Race!

May 1, 2015May 1, 2015Leave a comment

Last night I finished crafting my 6 week training program for the 15km race I entered in mid-June. After I signed up, my ego was already saying, nah, it’s ok. We don’t need to change. Let’s quit. But my spirit said “YES! Something to challenge me!”

Right then I crafted a running schedule, saw myself completing it, and got really excited. Once you start to make plans for something, you’re investing yourself, and even though I wasn’t running yet, I was already taking action. Once I finished writing my schedule, my goal was as good as realized in spiritual truth. Conceive, believe, achieve.

My 6 week intensive 15km race training schedule: (adapted from a half marathon training guide so it’s a little intense)

Then when I woke up this morning my ego piped up again: “I think maybe I made a bit too strong of a commitment.” It said. “I’m doing it, ego.” My spirit replied, “It’s going to be fun.” So far my ego has accepted that we’re in it together and that it’s not going to be easy. My spirit has won for now!

I really do love running. It’s mentally and physically challenging and there’s a huge pay-off via endorphins and a slimmer body. What I don’t like is the toll it takes on my knees. Last year I injured my knee and ended up taking the winter off. So while I do love running, it’s not something that I will do every day for the rest of my life. I guess you could say I’ve been hacking running due to my knee injury.

Running Hacks

Most of the running I’ve been doing lately has been on the treadmill at an incline of 10 or more. I run/walk/run/walk for 10 minutes as a warm-up and that’s it. Running on an incline is the biggest bang for your buck. Less time, better challenge = better fitness, and less wear on the knee joints.

If you really want a good running workout then try sprinting on an incline. For example, at an incline of 10, you straddle the treadmill and turn up the pace to 10 (or wherever your sprint pace is). Run for 10 seconds, then straddle the belt and rest for 20 seconds, and repeat for 5-10 minutes. Talk about a good workout in a short amount of time!

For long-distance running, I try to set myself up for success the best I can. I am very lucky to have good trails in a forest about 15 minutes from my house. The air is cleaner, the scenery is beautiful, and running on dirt reduces the wear on my body. If I’m in the forest I always run longer than I intend because the environment feels so right.

I strap on my heart rate monitor, press play on my audiobook, and I am in total bliss. There’s the occasional root that gets the best of me, like today, when I fell hard on my butt and pulled the opposing groin muscle, but for the most part I love the challenging environment of hills, twisting trails, and troublesome roots.

If you’re looking for a challenge, sign up for a race.

A 5k race is a great place to start. Plan out a training schedule and get excited. Check off your completed runs every day and keep track of your your daily successes no matter how big or small. Celebrate that you are doing something for yourself!

Get a heart rate monitor and make it really fun! I love seeing my heart rate, calories burned, and how fast I’ve accomplished both. It makes a game out of my game!