You Don't Need To Wait

You don't need to wait to feel at home in your body.
You are home in your body right now.

You don't need to wait to feel safe.
You are safe right now.

You don't need to wait to feel loved.
You are loved right now.

You don't need to wait to feel successful.
You are successful right now.

You don't need to wait to feel sexy.
You are sexy right now.

You don't need to wait to feel complete.
You are complete right now.

You don't need to wait to feel free.
You are free right now.

You don't need to wait to shine.
You are shining right now.

Shine on sisters and brothers!

Slow it down, baby. Witness the Magic.

Some things can only be seen when we slow down enough to see them.

When we are running from place to place, when we are going down our to-do list and completing every task that we had planned to get done without stopping to breathe, without being present with what we are doing because we are thinking about the next thing we have to do, we are missing the magic.

Do you want to miss the miracles?

What if I told you that, right now, miracles are occurring all around you. YOU are a miracle. You are warm, you are safe, you are nourished, your heart is beating, your blood is pumping, your eyes are blinking, and you didn't even have to think about that. Cool, huh? Another amazing thing that is occuring is that you are reading this post that YOU created. Yes you. Without your thirst for this information, without your intent to read this, I wouldn't be here writing it. So, thank you.

Anyway, I digress. My inspiration for this post occured a few weeks ago while I was walking past Madison Square Park. Okay, fine, I was practically running because I thought I was going to be late to my class. I was caught up in the NYC craziness. But, out of the corner of my eye I noticed some lights in the middle of the park. I heard my inner guide telling me to stop and I did, since I have found that my inner guide knows best. I looked at the lights and all I saw were lights hanging from a string. I thought, really?! What's so special about this?? And as my breathing slowed down, as I began to relax, I saw that these lightbulbs were set up in a way that was similar to an LED display. And it created a moving image. It was beautiful. It was magnificent. These beautiful sparkling objects hung next to each other and created a movie. The moving image was of people walking, some fast, some slow. Just like what was happening in real time, people passing me left and right. It was absolutely magnificently beautiful. I was having a moment. I was again reminded that there is beauty everywhere, we just need to slow down and witness it.

[if you want to check out this awesome installment, click here]

So, how can you begin to slow down?
1. Breathe. As often as you can remember, take a deep breath.
2. Intend. Whenever you can remember, intend to witness the beauty in your life. You don't need to do anything else. You will soon see that you will witness things in your daily routine that bring you joy. These things are always there, you just have been overlooking them.
3. Practice. Practice slowing down by sitting and sipping on a cup of tea. Turn off the TV, put away your blackberry, sit. Feel your butt on the chair. Feel your hands on the warm mug, feel the warm liquid move down your throat.

As you begin to bring a few moments of slowness into your daily routine, you will begin to notice that your brain will automatically remind you to slow down in other moments.

Good luck, friends! We are doing this together as I wrote this post to remind myself to slow it down once again.

Next blog post: Slowing Down and Eating. Why this is the most powerful thing you can do for your health.

Rebirth

“What are you so afraid of?”

Failing.

“What are you afraid will happen when you fail?”

This simple question blew my mind. I didn’t have an answer. It took me to a place in my own depths that hadn’t been touched before. I closed my eyes and there I saw it. I saw myself exploding- literally combusting into a fireball.

I will combust. I will die.

“And what happens when you combust?”

I am reborn.

LYL: Love Your Life

My 23rd year was nothing short of incredible and I want to share with you all some insider knowledge on what made it so amazing and how I made it my most rockin' year yet.

From the outside looking in, one could look at my past year and say that I had terrible luck and that I had a really shitty year because of various situations with my career and finances. One would say that I failed at finding a job that I thought I wanted, that I was a failure because I was living at home with my parents and not making it on my own. Actually, you know what's really freakin cool? I am so used to being in a state of miracle-mindedness, because I have chosen to only perceive love, that trying to think of this past year as something other than miraculous to write that sentence was difficult for me. It wasn't easy to think of reasons why someone would say my year was terrible. However, I can assure you that 12 months ago, I had a long list of reasons why my life wasn't good enough. But I have come to believe that everything truly does happen for a reason. Every perceived obstacle is an opportunity for personal growth and oftentimes an opportunity to let go of old beliefs and open up to new possibilities beyond what our small minds have conceived for us. Of course, growing pains will be experienced along the way, and I can assure you of that, but when we come out of those perceived low points, what is left is a purer form of yourself. It's almost like you shed a layer of yourself and are closer to your true form.

For me, I graduated school and thought that everything would fall into place. I would find a job, even if it wasn't my ideal job and I would have a great apartment with friends that I loved. However, this didn't happen and I was left to do the only thing I could think of: take a look inward and figure out how to be happy and what direction to move in. I was recently talking to my aunt and she made note that I came upon this journey because it was what I was looking for. I have always been yearning to know myself at the deepest level possible, to know my true desires, to break through the barriers I had created that prevented me from truly connecting with the world. I have come closer to knowing my true self than I ever have before. And who I am today will be different from who I am tomorrow or in a few months. Which is why this thing called life is so damn awesome!!

Here is a reflection of this past year for me.
-I began my journey to remove all the walls that I built around myself
-I placed connecting to my inner guidance my number one priority
-I started out by reading some books and meditating every once in a while and I go deeper with my spiritual practice every day
-I read "Add More ~Ing To Your Life" by Gabrielle Bernstein and became part of the amazing herfuture.com community online and in NYC
-I began a daily meditation practice
-I have transformed close relationships through forgiveness
-I have provided support, coaching, and inspiration for many of my friends
-I lost 40 pounds
-I went off all of my medications
-I began exercising and feeling damn good because of it
-I became more comfortable in my body (even now that I have gained some weight back, not just because I lost weight)
-I worked at a social media marketing agency
-I created the logo designs for Sacred Space NYC, Best You Forever, Wine For Women
-I did design work for countless other inspiring businesses
-I kept an open mind and was guided to incredibly inspiring friends, mentors, communities, healing modalities
-I have read probably about 30 books
-I have a bookshelf full of even more books to read
-I went on my first date
-I bulldozed the barriers that prevented me from admitting my true desires to do something health-related for my career
-I enrolled in the school that I had been wanting to for a year (Institute of Integrated Nutrition)
-I am working with a health coach that I admire and am helping her with her business
-I am part of an amazing group of women that inspires me daily
-I am group coaching with Gabrielle Bernstein
-I am starting my own graphic design business
-I am doing things that scare me every day, getting outside of my comfort zone
-I moved into NYC and have my own apartment (with an amazing roommate, I might add)
-I ran 3 miles at once!!
-I tried hot yoga for the first time and LOVE it
-I started going to IntenSati classes
-I started this blog
-I am a featured contributor for www.yourbellalife.com
-I love myself
-I live a life full of gratitude, love and smiles
-I allow myself to feel everything that is coming up for me instead of being ashamed when I am not feeling happy

Now how can you feel this awesome about your own life?
My Top 5 Tips To Love Your Life
1. Make a Gratitude List or a Love List. Write down everything you are grateful for in your life as often as you can. Sometimes you may not want to do this so find a friend who will rattle off what they love to you and someone you can do the same. My friend Micki and I had the best bbm convo EVER when we spent an hour sending each other bbms such as: hot chocolate, the ocean, dolphins, kisses, massages, running in the rain, snowball fights, people watching, the color lime green. Whatever it is, call on what makes you happy.
2. View all of the obstacles you encounter as opportunities. There is always something to learn from any perceived challenge. Later on, you will most likely be able to see why these challenges came up for you and what you learned from them. Maximum growth will occur when you remind yourself that you can learn from the obstacle.
3. Make it your number one priority to listen to your intuition. Choose from the heart. Your intuition knows best and when you listen to this voice inside of you, you will experience fulfillment and happiness in each moment.
4. Get Moving! Physical activity makes you feel good. No ifs ands or buts.
5. Choose to believe that everything in your life is working out for your highest good. Why would it be any other way?

The Artist Never Knows

"Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark."
-Agnes de Mille