A day of gifts and gratitude.

Work in progress

Wow, today was filled with gifts and gratitude.  Giving and receiving at its finest. An affirmation from Louise Hay, “I joyously give to life, and life lovingly gives to me.

I am doing a mosaic project for an art studio, it’s a barn and I am designing the entry on either side.  In need of more tile and different and unique tile, I called my friend Julie who just happens to own a Carpet and Flooring business to see if they had extra tile/clearance tile.  Since I am going to smash it makes sense to use remnants. She said, “sure, come on in and take a look”.  I found some wonderful tile, stacked it all up, counted it and then asked, “how much?”, Julie, “nothing, I am not charging you”, me, “seriously?” Julie, “Just come to us when you need a flooring job”, me, “will do”. Big hugs and I leave, oh she also calls the tile distributor around the corner to hook me up with mortar and grout.  I drive from Clovis back to Fresno in the early morning mist feeling so full of gratitude.  My lovely friend Melinda also gave me left over tile from her projects, (she is my mosaic inspiration guru). Who knew I would have so many friends with tile!  Abundance is funny, you have a need and all of a sudden everyone is there with what you need.  Thank you Melinda and Julie!!!

I am off to teach my yoga class at Mental Health Systems/Fresno First later in the morning.  These women have all been in trouble and in and out of the system.  They are a joy to work with and LOVE yoga.  It is truly one of the highlights of my week, they make me smile and giggle and in my heart I know that the yoga and the philosophy and the affirmations I share with them are changing their lives for the better.  I am grateful I have the opportunity to give back.  As I was leaving I was introduced to a therapist for MHS.  He is also a new faculty member at University of Phoenix.  He is getting ready to teach his first class and I invited him to come and sit in my current class I am teaching and get some tips and ideas.  I was able to give back again.

Fast forward to the afternoon and my mosaic project.  I got to the barn excited with my news of free tile and way under budget on materials.  Lynn (the client) said she had just given her cousin the go ahead to come and do some work knowing it would be okay, her cousin is out of work at the moment and she is helping him out whenever she can.  Since we saved money on materials she is able to have him do more work.  So she gave a gift.  Then she said she would use Julie’s company for her hardwood floors.  Wow, talk about full circle giving and receiving.  My heart continued to overflow with joy and gratitude. I happily smashed tile and worked on the new design, feeling joyful.

Okay, the best part of the day was meeting Peanut Butter!  The folks from the new Aquarium were coming to have Lynn do a painting of Peanut Butter, the Starfish.  They wheeled in the tank, filled it up and put Peanut Butter and some of his friends in there.  So cool.  Do a like on Fresno Aquarium on Facebook and find out more about what they are planning. They are working really hard to make this local Aquarium a reality.

In a nutshell, I received gifts from a friend, in turn shared my gift with others and helped a new colleague along the way.  Inspired a client to use the friend who gave the gifts and got to touch a starfish.  All in all a wonderful Thursday.

To quote Louise Hay again, “Today is a sacred gift from Life, I open my arms wide to receive the full measure of prosperity that the Universe offers this day”  That sums it up!

Hey, Day 2, and still blogging.

Hugs

Hello out there!

So much for my Sankalpa (new year’s intention) to blog daily.  The good thing is that it is February 1st and a new beginning and I can catch up and start fresh. So if I haven’t been blogging what have I been doing?  In the last month I discovered some very time consuming distractions. One being Words With Friends.  Did you know you can only have up to 20 games going?  I found myself wanting more, feeling a bit greedy about words.  And then to top it off, I lost the first 20 or so games I played, I was so excited to spell words I neglected the strategy of the double and triple letters and word possibilities.  It has become a bit of an obsession.  If we can develop an obsession that quickly, we can also develop new habits as well.  Healthy habits, good habits, positive habits, it just something that we want to do and enjoy doing. Confession time, the other new obsession is Pinterest.  I love vision boards and this is an amazing online, virtual vision board with an endless supply of ideas, photos, quotes and fun stuff. So as I was away from blogging and exploring new obsessions, I didn’t hold up my intention of blogging, not because it isn’t enjoyable, it’s because I couldn’t get to it.  How has the first month of the year gone for you?  Have you kept your intentions that you made at the beginning of the year?  If not, maybe they weren’t fun or enjoyable.  Or you might have overwhelmed yourself with too many and couldn’t find the time to fit them all in.  Thank goodness it’s the first of February and we can start fresh.  I know I am and I am also going back to the healthy intentions I set, goodbye bread, it was fun getting to know you again briefly, but you have to go now.

Good luck and keep moving in a positive joyful journey.

New Year ~ More Gratitude

New Year means clean slate, fresh start, making things happen, giving more, doing less, changing a habit, losing weight, exercising more, being organized, stop procrastinating, be mindful, take time for yourself, give more of your time to others, volunteer, and all this with a big smile on your face. A Sanskrit word, sankalpa means “will, purpose, or determination.” To make a sankalpa is to set an intention it’s like a New Year’s resolution I think just better.  When we set an intention it means more, it sets in, not just temporarily, changing the way we look at our life and who we are in that life.  Is it the life we want to live, if we could have everything on our vision boards what would our life look like?

As you set your purpose for this coming year, be mindful, try not to fill your plate with so much that nothing gets done.  And do it with a sense of connection to your Source, go inward and feel how that intention will change you and your environment.

“The power of intention is the power of love and receptivity.  It asks nothing of anyone, it judges no one, and it encourages other to be free to be themselves”  Wayne Dyer

Gratitude is love it’s caring, it’s appreciation for you.  Taking a moment each and everyday to focus on one thing to be grateful for.  Maybe you want to sit in meditation and come up with 10 things that you are grateful for, see how it changes your perception, your outlook.  And since I am quoting Wayne Dyer, my favorite quote of his is “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” that is such a powerful statement and so true.

Look at your intentions daily, be grateful you have the power and ability to make them, to work on them, to change them, but most importantly to achieve them.

Namaste

Juice Feasting, hmmm not so happy.

The start of the juice feast yesterday was good.  I made a lovely  juice of kale, apples, carrots and lemon.  I am finding that I am not as happy doing the juice feast this time.  I find myself complaining and blaming everyone else for my inability to be strong and have willpower.  This is not a trait I am proud of or a behavior I would like to continue.  It may also be that it is getting colder which means I want warm food and as my Ayurvedic specialist Monika Joshi says it is not the time of year to juice.  Of course that could have everything to do with my behavior. I think it goes deeper I have always had food issues.  I put to much emphasis on food because it is comforting, it makes me happy, it fills my tummy (and then some).  I think this is a good learning lesson for me because I have seen a side of me that isn’t good and it’s affecting the people in my life that I love the most.  I did continue yesterday with a blended smoothie of spinach, avocado and banana and before you say, “oh yuck”, I have to say it was quite yummy.

Day 2 started out with juicing carrots, apples, oranges and frozen blueberries.  It is now afternoon on day two and I am seriously considering supplementing my juicing with cooked veggies.  I don’t feel like I failed I feel like I listened to my body and more important my brain.  I don’t want to be a cranky yogi or a cranky person, I need to honor my body and give it what it needs at the moment and that is warming foods.  I will wait until spring or summer for the next juice feasting and until then will continue to make juice daily because it is so good for me.

I am encouraging and being very supportive to those who have taken on this challenge and being honest about my situation.

Smootie of the week! Mango-Avocado Smoothie

Mango-Cada Smoothie

Featured Ingredient: AVOCADO

Avocados feature anti-inflammatory phytosterols and carotenoid antioxidants as well and vitamins B6, C, K, folate; the mineral potassium; Avocados are a rich source of oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid that may lower cholesterol levels.

1 avocado, peeled and pitted
2 cups of mango chunks
½ cucumber, cut into chunks
juice from ¼ lime
2 leaves of mint
3 leaves of kale, stems removed
2 cups filtered water
10 ice cubes (optional)

Place ingredients into blender and blend until smooth.
Makes 3-4 servings

PiYoGo!! ??? & Sunday Community class and some thoughts on Intentions

PiYoGo!  What the heck is this?  Well it’s a fusion of Pilates & Yoga to get you GOing.  6 week series starts Monday, October 31st at 6 am.  What a better way to start your week out!!  The series works like the back to basic series on Mondays and Wednesdays.  6 weeks, 6 classes, $49.  All levels are welcome. Liz will make you smile, make you sweat and you will go happily on your way, ready to start your week.

Also coming this week, Sunday afternoon Yoga, starting this Sunday, October 30th.  4:00-5:15 pm, Community Class which means it’s an $8 drop in.  Instructors will rotate each week, so join them as they take you on a different journey each week into your yoga practice.

I have an app on my phone called, The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer (who happens to be one of my favorite people).  Each day I read the quote and see how I can incorporate it into my life.  Today’s quote is making me reflect on my actions and behaviors.

“There’s no actual stress or anxiety in the world; it’s your thoughts that create these false beliefs”

If we live by the law of attraction that thoughts become things then this makes total sense. On the other hand how can we go through an entire day unless we are living in a monastery or at a Vipassana 10 day meditation where we don’t hear, see, feel stress in the world?  I have turned off the news and started listening to music more in my car.  Can we shift our thoughts to peace?  The third agreement in Don Miguel Ruiz‘s The Four Agreements states, “Don’t make assumptions” probably the hardest one for me to follow.  So if the intention today is to have peaceful thoughts in order to not create false beliefs and not make assumptions, where do we start?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  Please reply to this post. I look forward to hearing from you and exploring this together.   As for today, I am getting ready to teach a yoga class and will breathe deep, relax any stressful thoughts and fill them with loving peaceful thoughts and see how that goes.

 

 

 

Movie & Juice Feast Prep!

Saturday, October 29th at 7:00 pm we will be having an encore showing of the movie, “FAT, Sick and Nearly Dead” in preparation for the upcoming 10 day Juice Feast challenge. After the movie we will have hand outs for recipes, support systems of people to call when you get cranky and or think you can no longer feast!  And lots of pointers and motivation to keep you going.

You can come to the movie even if you are not able to do the juice feast starting on November 1st.  Come and be inspired by Joe’s message and see what happens.