Good Green Goodness and Yumo Factor

With all this hot weather in Van City I have been craving and wanting tons and tons of salads, fresh veggies, and fruits! Yep yep I can not get enough of any of these. So this week I have decided to give you all a little taste on one of my favourite salads and dressing; a goodie green salad with maple sesame dressing!!! I know I know it sounds yummy just by its self but the best part of this salad is it is totally detoxing and has no unnatural sugars in it but yet it hits a bit of a sweet note! So with out further waiting here it is....

Goodie Green Salad with Maple Sesame Dressing

For the Salad (Keep in mind this is a goof for you salad,

so try to use organic ingredients if possible):

2 cups of Kale (I like baby kale)

2 full baby Bok Choy's

1/4 shredded Red Cabbage 

1 large Carrot, shredded or chopped which ever you prefer

1 Tbsp of hemp seeds or sesame seeds

For the Dressing:

1 Tbsp of Olive Oil

1 Tbsp of Sesame oil

2 Tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tbsp of REAL Maple Syrup

1 Tbsp of G-free Soya Sauce

1 clove of crushed garlic 

1. Combine all ingredients for the dressing and set aside.

2. Combine all the salad ingredients and douse with dressing!!! 

3. Sit back and enjoy!!!! 

Rose Coloured Glasses

A simple path with great beauty.

Never have I felt more in love with everything around me than in the past few weeks. Sure there are things that I would change slightly but over all I am more in love than ever before. The first week that I was in Vancouver I thought that it was just the place its self that was making me feel so bubbly but then I realized this was not it. After thinking and meditating on this puzzling subject for the last two weeks the answer has become very clear to me as to why I am falling in love with everything, everyday. The answer its self is simple, beauty is a choice and when you see beauty you feel love.

Since I have been in Vancouver everything I lay my eyes on looks beautiful and I am instantly in love with it. Talking to friends and family back home they all say the same thing, "of course you are in love with everything, it is hard not to be when everything is so beautiful around you!", and this is true...but it is not the core of the truth. See I found the prairies very beautiful, and I was quite in love most of the time back home as well. Here I am in love with everything from the side walk, the beautiful redwoods, the rain forest, the ocean, the mountains, the homeless man on the corner, the transit, all of it. The difference is not in the place its self, home had tons of beauty in it as well, the difference lies in the fact that I am choosing to see love and beauty everywhere and in everything. I am choosing to recognize that everything in this world no matter what it is, who it is, or where it is, has beauty in it; this in turn makes me fall in love everyday.

Looking out into the dry coulees with love.

The act of choosing to see beauty and love in all things is as easy as you make it. I am still human and I recognize when situations and places are not ideal for me but I choose to find the love and beauty in the situation that makes it a temporary place/thing in my life, this makes it easy. Beauty is what you make of it, you get to choose what is beautiful in your life, so why would you choose to see everything as ugly, dull, or drab? When we choose to see the beauty in everything around us not only do we tend to look at ourselves as more beautiful but we feel happier and more light. Think of it this way, when you look at a picture of an amazing sunset with a so called ugly building in it, you find beauty in the sunset you have a warm, beautiful, loving feeling about the sunset and then the picture its self. You just need to apply that way of looking at things to the rest of your life and the feeling becomes more common and more constant. We take focus from the negative and flip the focus to the positive. When we see the beauty in all the things and situations around us it makes us fall in love, after all how can

you not love something that is beautiful?

A tin roof and dirt become a sprouting garden and morning tea look out.

I challenge you to take a few minutes each day to see beauty in things, places, people, and situations you have never thought of before and see with just those few moments how it affects your over all life; your mood, thoughts, and self awareness. Slowly over two to three weeks spend more and more time each day doing this, looking at everything around you as beautiful, and watch how in that time you fall more in love each and everyday with more and more of your life. We can all wear the rose coloured glasses if we want to.

The Lost Art

The ocean in Vancouver.

After two weeks of craziness and the big move out to the coast I am finally here and settled in, in Vancouver. This place that I have found and will now call home has the most amazing feeling to it that I have ever felt. I have said before that I knew in my heart that this was where I needed to go and be but it was more than my heart that lead me this way. My intuition, a longing, and my higher self lead me to this beautiful city and place I now live. It was my listening and actually acting on what I was being told that made it all possible. I have talked before about different ways to receive guidance, help, and signs from your higher self and guides but nothing will help you if you do not learn to listen. Listening is a lost art for some but it is an art that we all must learn if we want to connect with our true selves and essence.

Everyone has an intuition and everyone has the ability to use it. In fact our intuition is the main way that our guides and higher self communicate with us. Actually listening to what your intuition, or some people call it gut, is tell you will get you to the places that you need to be and feeling the greatness that is within you.

 It took me along time to learn to actually listen to what my intuition was telling me, I would hear my intuition but I would not take note in what it was saying and I would barely ever actually do what it was telling me to do. I started wondering why I was in the place that I was in, even though I do not regret anything or anywhere I have been in my life, but I knew I was destined for more. I spent most of my days questioning decisions I had made and things I had done because I knew they were not in my best interest.

One day it dawned on me...Why was ignoring these feelings and senses that I had? Why was I not listening to my gut, when I knew it was leading me to greatness? I was not listening because I had lost the art of listening to myself, just like most people in today's society. I was a great listener when it came to others, it was what I was trained to do, but I had lost the art of listening to myself, my intuition, my higher self, and my guides. This was when I made a vow to start to learn the art of listening again.

I started off slowly with just learning to be alone with myself and listen to my thoughts. Then I graduated to listening to my thoughts in public settings full of commotion. Meditation became my friend and soul mate in any setting. Then finally I could hear my intuition and guides clearly in any setting. I had began a journey like none other.

I now listen to what my guides and what my intuition is telling me daily. I interact with myself in a way that is full of self knowledge and love for what I have to say to myself because it leads me to my greatest good. A great example of my listening is my move to Vancouver. My intuition let me feel what it would be like to be here; the high vibrations, the love, the energy of thousands of elemental spirits and then my guides/higher self told me it was possible if I took the steps they laid in front of me. So I listened and acted.

A hike me and bestie were guided to, and what a gorgeous view!

Learning to listen was the greatest challenge but the best challenge I have ever taken. I have stumbled upon places in nature that I would have never ever found without listening, I have become close to people that I would have never thought, and I have seen and ventured to places I only dreamed of seeing. Give your intuition a chance and get friendly with your guides. Learn the art of listening to yourself and see what adventures it takes you on. For more tips and guidance on this subject feel free to email me or message me on facebook.

Listening to my intuition lead me to this amazing meditation place.

Okay Let's Have a Little Chat

Sunset walk through a beautiful lagoon.

Every once and a while I have one of those days, you all know exactly what I am talking about, the revenge of the chocolate, want to cry, look at yourself in the mirror and ask why days. Everyone has these and sometimes they can be really hard to get over. I will completely and totally admit to these days, actually in the past 3 weeks I have had a couple as my life is completely all over the place with moving right now. The important thing is to not take these days so seriously and to try and be as kind to yourself on these days as possible. We all need to love ourselves a little more but especially so on these days as we can often become our own worst enemies on these days. Here are some tips to get through them a little easier :)

Relax~ take a nap if you need to, draw a bath or just do something (besides watch tv) that makes all your senses relax. When we get down on ourselves there is usually an underlaying stressor there; might be work, relationships, money, anything. When we are stressed we can be even harder on ourselves and so just take some time no matter how busy you feel to just relax. I literally speant a whole night sleeping after work last week because I was stressed, down on myself, and just needed some recoup time. Note I said no tv as often when we are in this mood tv makes it worse because we start comparing ourselves to those on tv, same goes for internet sites. Screens off please!!!

Snuggling with my favourite furbuddy 

Beautiful List~ most of the time when we are down about ourselves because of our body, looks, profession, whatever it is we go into attack mode and destroy everything about ourselves and often say things that are not true. Stand in front of a mirror and list off minimun 5, but try for 10, things that your find beautiful about yourself. Try to include both physical and non-physical things in this list so that there is a balance.

Get moving!~ this is a huge one. Feelings are just energy and energy can be moved easily with movement!! So when you have negative feelings/energy stored up move it out with movement. Go for a walk, bike ride, dance, do yoga, or workout, just move!! We often forget this one and just sit around on the couch having a pitty party. If you for some reason are unable to do physical exersise find some movement you can do. I have been stuck not running the last week and a half, which for me seems like forever, so I can up with a simple yoga routine to do that did not hurt my achilles and I have also been working on my upper body/core...which I must say I never do! Just find something like waving your arms around like you just don't care, ti-chi, or even light swimming that is less impact for you.

Beautify~ this is one of my favorite things to do! When you are done do somethign to make yourself feel beautiful; get your hair done, nails done, a massage, do your make all glamerous, by a new outfit, anything!!! And if you are low on cash look up at home spa treatments to do, I use a ton of them!

Hair done, make up, everything did! <3

Indulge~ I am not talking about chocolate here, although raw chcoloate is okay. Spend a few extra dollars, that lets face you were probably going to spend on junkfood & ice cream, and get something special for you. Go buy yourself a cute little note pad, a new stone, a picture frame for your fav pic, a sample of a new sent, or something that makes you feel special. My favorite thing to get myself is a flower, or flowers depending on cash flow, the combination of nature and the pretty smell always makes me feel oh so special!
Best friends~ these really help, I know I always lean on mine when I need a little pick me up and unable to provide it for myself. Also keep in mind your best friend would never say all the mean things that you say to yourself, and why because they are wrong so try and think about that next time your being hard on yourself.

I could go on and on about other things to do when your having your fat day, ugly day, down day, want to throat punch people day, or whatever you want to call it but I think that these are the most important. Remember that we all have these days but how bad it gets is up to you, your in the drivers seat, so instead of having a bawling pitty party try using one or all of these and cheer up, or at least be a little brighter. We attract what we put out! Also do not "joke" around about yourself negatively...so not cool (yes we have all done this at one point or another) because even though it might actually be a joke, your self-esteem does not take it like that and your ego will grab it and run with it.We are all beautiful, intelligent, sexy, amazing, brillant beings no matter what. Take what I know you have inside of you and celebrate it instead of destroy it!

My favourite organic dark quinoa chocolate and flowers :D