To whom it may concern.

After the criticism that came out after the 2017 super bowl half time show directed towards a beautiful, talented artist, I felt the need to speak from the heart.

To the people that look for flaws as a method of avoiding their own. I hope you find something you are so passionate about that you don’t have time to try to spread your pain with others. I’m sorry that you feel such lack in yourself that in order to relate to strong fearless symbols of love and unity you have to tear down the physical appearance of someone you’ve never met.

I’m sorry that acts of bravery frighten you. I hope that you learn to face your own fears and expose yourself to the world exactly as you are. I also hope that when you do this, the little people trying to pull you down to their size don’t get under you. Just like they don’t bother Lady Gaga and all the other truly powerful performers.

I’m sorry that the majority of women don’t feel like we can all do well. I hope one day we realize that we can all win.

Signed with love

I’ve been blessed with the opportunity (like many of my fellow empathics and hsps) to learn how to properly eat to nurture myself exactly as my body needs. When you’re spiritually gifted with extra sensitivity the food you eat can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. I’ve compiled a small list of tips that have helped me feel my best physically, mentally, and spiritually. These also can be applied to any specific dietary restrictions or preferences.

1.Drink enough filtered water. 70 percent of who we are is made of it so you can understand that if you’re feeling out of sorts it’s because your missing a crucial element of yourself. Reverse osmosis water is the best for avoiding the chlorination and other chemicals that can lead to brain fog, depression and other potential illnesses.

2. Don’t over eat! Use the plate method to figure out the proper serving sizes. According to the FDA’s latest research the best way to keep ourselves running efficiently is with filling half our plate with non starchy vegetables, 1/4 with lean protein, and 1/4 with starchy vegetables. Certainly adjust if you’re vegetarian, vegan or have any food allergies but making sure you don’t overeat will keep you feeling light on your feet.

3. Get tested for food allergies! If I hadn’t spoken to and educator and learned about my diabetes and gluten sensitivity I wouldn’t have known the potential my body has to go the extra mile with the right fuel. Figure out your own success guide for your special vehicle.

4. If you can’t eat your vegetables, drink them! As a supplement for the days when I don’t have time to prepare a balanced meal I can get the vitamins and minerals I need instantly with a home made juice. Tossing in some leafy greens with your strawberry banana smoothie is another great way to sneak them in.

Everyone’s got a special formula tackling how to eat to be your best and only you can crack your own code! Best of luck friends!

 

Everything you are is enough. Everything you’re bringing into the world is a gift. You just have to find the people, places, and circumstances where this can be realized. Don’t waste anymore time attempting to fill someone else’s shoes.

This week brings awareness to prioritizing of Joy. Make choices that will bring you long term happiness over those that will help you in the short term. When all is said and done no one will be talking about how loyal of an employee you were at your funeral. Health, happiness and love come first!

If you’re short on time and want to incorporate all of the weight loss benefits of yoga into your life Boho Beautiful has got you covered. Follow the link for an intense full body workout that only takes 20 minutes. Have a great day!

A few months ago I was getting my itinerary ready for our fantastic vacation to  Florida. Through meditation and my usual processes of seeking out spiritual guidance, I became very aligned with learning how to surf. I kept getting signs that my life purpose and desire for freedom and joy would be fulfilled through the experience of riding the perfect wave.

Once we arrived the path ahead continued to sync up with finding a water sports shop in Deerfield Beach offering free lessons. Clearly the universe was telling me that I was meant to runaway from home and become a professional surfer. Well, this inspiration and optimism quickly got pushed back down to earth once I got out on the water. Any time I tried to stand up or even paddle I got smacked down by the waves I was supposed to be the master of. Frustrated and discouraged by the immediate shattering of my new dream I solemnly dragged myself and my board back to shore and sat down by the ocean to gather my self worth. I realized that surfing was a part of my life purpose, however not in the way that I had anticipated. I was given metaphors for the valuable life lessons I needed at the time.

1. When you push there will always be something pushing against you. Don’t give up but instead find a new direction to move you forward. After my first initial failure to stand up on the board I repeatedly tried to get myself up and go back in there. Despite my vicious determination wave after wave knocked me flat on my back before I could even get my belly on the board. One of the instructors pointed out that I was holding my board upright creating a block against the current and suggested holding it flat on top of the water. There it was! By switching up my angle I was able to get back to where I needed to be. Once I stopped forcing myself into a pattern that wasn’t working and objectively tweaked my approach I was able to try again.
2. There will only be so many chances in life to get what you’re looking for. Don’t hesitate. When the perfect wave comes by you have to be ready to paddle in order to get on top of it. Otherwise it just passes you buy and sometimes puts you under water. The same way they don’t call “once in a lifetime opportunities” “opportunities that will be there when you feel like it”. Be ready to make your move.
3. Let things happen naturally. If you don’t do it because you love it you’ll never do it right. I never ended up standing up and catching a wave on our trip. However once I decided to just sit on my board and float, I was at peace. I was there to become one with the ocean, not to conquer it. I needed to let go of my expectation of natural talent and just enjoy myself and my surroundings.  Because lets be real, why do it for any other reason than having fun?

There were other gifts for me other than the satisfaction of catching the perfect wave. I know I’ll be trying to surf again next time I get the chance to enjoy the ocean but I’ll be paying attention to so much more this time around. Cheers to always learning and growing.

One of the unfortunate aspects of being a creative type is that often times to pay the bills while we chase our dreams we have to have a day job. More often than not this puts us in a position where we’re spending more time doing things we don’t enjoy and interacting with people that don’t understand us or encourage us to be authentic. I’ve been personally pushed to the dramatic, cathartic storming out of a job more times than I can count because I’m convinced that my sensitivity shouldn’t be watered down for the sake of conformity in the work place. Sadly, I haven’t convinced Corporate America of this quite yet. So how do you make the best of the ol’ 9-5 without being less of your beautiful, intuitive self?

1. Find quiet time through out the day. When you’re eating lunch, going to the bathroom etc., make it your time.
2. Be Assertive for your sensitivity. If there’s some reasonable adjustments that can be made to help you function better at work don’t be afraid to say so.
3. Listen to music. If you’re duties allow you time to pop in some head phones and listen to music that lifts your spirit please do.
4. Schedule time to let it out. The majority of people you encounter through no fault of their own don’t know how to handle honest emotional expression. Instead of letting stress or sadness bottle up and implode see if you can take mini breaks to cry or scream into a pillow.
5. Understand that it’s just a job. Your health and happiness are more valuable than anything and leaving a toxic work environment will only bring you better opportunities to earn and thrive.

Your sensitivity is a super power not a weakness. We all have responsibilities and paying the bills is one of them, but you’re kindness, compassion, empathy and honesty will bring you more value than a paycheck.

Happy Tuesday my beauties! I’m so grateful for the opportunity to share with you a little about the lessons I take with me as I navigate through this wonderful life. Lately I’ve been stead fast on making some positive changes. I’m buying a new home with my fiance’, planning our wedding, selling our old home, looking for a new career in our new town, trying to get back on track with my workout routine and all sorts of great adventures.

However I’m finding that every time I take a step towards these goals, I keep finding more and more road blocks keeping my from  fulfilling my vision. Of course my natural instinct is to curse the heavens for stopping me from getting what I want and pouting in the corner, but there’s got to be something beneficial to this slow moving progress. As I look back on my experiences there’s usually one of three reasons I’m not making progress.

1. I’m not the right person for these changes yet. Because I’m facing obstacles I’m forced to evaluate myself and see how I can improve to better fit the life that I really want. While I’d like to think that because in the past I’ve had this type of job experience and made this much money that I’m qualified to do it again, perhaps the world is shifting so in order to compete I need to gain more skills, sell myself better, write a better cover letter, or perhaps finish my degree. While yes I need to remain confident and never feel as though I’m not enough it’s important to be willing to adapt to new surroundings.
2. My duties where I am now aren’t finished. Perhaps I have some unfinished business in my current town? With my family? With my friends? With my current employer? Whether you believe in karma or not I’ve had more than one encounter where in order to move to the next level I had to settle my debt to my current situation before reaping the benefits of the next one. Maybe I’m still needed as a tool to help someone else meet their purpose? Is there something I need to apologize for? Maybe I need to forgive? Maybe someone needs to forgive me? How can I better serve my current situation in order to set up the best possible foundation for the next one?
3. There’s something better waiting. I remember when I was hunting for my first big girl job. I’d been volunteering  as a alternative dispute resolution specialist at the housing court for a year in hopes that I’d get my foot in the door for a stable 9-5 job. I applied for real paying positions as they became available and consistently got rejected. It was disheartening but after returning to volunteer rejection after rejection they ended up creating a position for me that was better tailored to the volunteer work I had been doing. It was better pay, better hours and a more fulfilling way to earn a living that I had ever thought possible. If I had stopped showing up to play after the first fumble I wouldn’t have scored the touch down. And if I had gotten any of those other positions I would have never found as much joy.

While  I still hope that I can meet the expectations I’ve set for myself and I can march forward into the new phase, I can use the stagnant energy as a quiet space to learn and grow. There’s a lesson in these challenges and I can’t wait to master it to better myself!

Top 10 things to be grateful for as you build your way through your 20s

It’s a harsh time to be a budding adult and us millennials seem to be having a little bit of a tougher time adapting. It can become easy to feel like we’re not enough, so if you find yourself stretching for some things to appreciate here’s a short list of little gifts that can be a source of joy.

1. Your bed:  You may be rushing around all day through the harsh hustle and bustle of adulthood, but at the end of the day you have a place to shut your eyes and clear away the noise. A good night’s sleep is one of the most powerful healthy habits we can establish for ourselves. So rest easy knowing that tomorrow is another day to try to work in that spin class around the rest of your busy schedule.

2. Clean water: Chances are if you’re reading this you have access to a cold glass of tap or even purified or spring water. You’re fortunate enough to be able to jump start and cleanse your body. This can also be a great exercise in mindfulness to focus your attention on the water flowing through your body and cleansing you physically, mentally and spiritually.

3. Family and friends: They’re not always perfect, or present. But you can know that there is always someone to love you unconditionally. At the end of the day it’s the people in our lives that keep us going and make life worth living.

4. The great outdoors: A widely available and often under used source of inner peace can come from a quick visit to the park to put your feet in the grass. Taking time to hug a tree or listen to the birds is the perfect stress reliever and you certainly can’t beat the price.

5. Coffee: No time for a devoted meditation or mindfulness practice? Take 5 minutes a day to turn the source of caffeine into a peaceful appreciation of the warm liquid vitality. Enjoy the warmth of the cup in your hand, the taste on your tongue, the works of art that appear from porcelain cream being poured into the dark delicious background. An everyday ritual that can be transformed into a zen practice when used correctly.

6. The Early Morning: It can seem like there aren’t enough hours in the day if you haven’t discovered the peaceful hours before the sunrise. For those of us pursuing our passions outside of a full time job training yourself to appreciate these spare hours can be a god send. This is where you can get the dishes done, knock out some of that novel, squeeze in some yoga or meditation, get a good work out in all before heading in to work. There’s something humbling that comes over you when you realize what’s hiding behind the snooze button.

7. Volunteer Opportunities: When you have the energy to learn new skills and help others you absolutely can’t be stopped. Not to mention if you’re looking to break into an industry there’s no better way to build experience and find your mentor than accepting a position on a volunteer basis. Many times it’ll put you as a priority when paid work becomes an option.

8. The Internet: How wonderful is it that we live in an age where anything we could ever want to learn can be downloaded in an instant? We have the universe at our finger tips and a multitude of devices allowing us to gain information on virtually any topic. Not too mention the enjoyment we get from our favorite cat videos.

9. The kindness of Strangers: Funny how deeply we are able to connect with people that barely know us. Based on the perception of distress something within us cries out to come to action and help a fellow human in need. We’re all in this together after all.

10. Laughter: No matter what state of health you find yourself, there’s no greater escape than humor. Being able to find lightness in the heavy times is your guaranteed lift. It also helps you become aware of the present without attaching to the situation.