Be Real: Unrestricted Access

I took the kids fishing on vacation. My husband was suppose to be with us, but at the last minute, was called into work. So, here I am at the beach with 3 little boys. We had a great time! One of our goals was to go fishing on a boat, so I set up a charter with a local company. Easy peasy, right?

The night before our trip, we were called and told it was overbooked, so we could not be on the charter. We were scheduled to leave the next day. Needless to say, the kids were disappointed. So, we sent up our prayers and asked God, if it is YOUR will, let us go fishing.

I woke up the next morning with the resolve that we would go to the boat regardless and 'pretend' we didn't receive the call. Just play dumb basically and see if we could get on. We did! We were on the boat and ready to go, but there were 4 old, heavy men on the dock who were not happy. Now, I could have said, "Oh well, tough for them", but as I looked at who was on the boat I saw how we did not seem to fit in. It was full of old, heavy men. And one on the dock pulled out a wad of 100 dollar bills just to show his 'interest' in going.

I heard the angels say, "You don't belong here today. Do you understand why now?" I did. We asked if we they were available for the following day and gracefully exited the boat. So, we show up the following day and the only other people on the boat are a mother with her 3 boys who were vacationing without their dad because of work. Hum, sound familiar? It was a sunny, beautiful day and the hotel gave us a complimentary late check out because our plans were changed. It all worked out.

No one else on the boat knew of our phone call or our circumstances. I was given the opportunity to 'see' what would happen and we did. The energy wasn't perfect for our trip on the first day, but it couldn't have been more perfect on Tuesday! God, the Universe, lined it all up and all we had to do was follow the energy and stay in the flow instead of fighting it.

It was beautiful to have this lesson taught so easily and gracefully. God knows what's best for you whether you know it or not. Whether you know why or not. All we have to do is relax, trust and go with the flow - literally. We are always answered when we ask. And we are always given the best answer.

This experience has brought a new level of understanding and surrender to my life. Just ask, trust and be grateful. Have faith. Faith, to me, is believing all will and is perfect no matter the circumstances or the perspective. It's knowing all is already good. It's knowing God knows better for us than we know ourselves, so why fight it? Just state the desire, follow the feeling in your gut and allow yourself to be led.

Remove disbelief in God's power and fear dissolves... then we experience unrestricted access.

Be Real: The Art of Mindfulness

Be mindful. I've heard this before and had no idea what it meant, until now.

Watch what you say or think. Be mindful with your words, for they are prayers... I've spent the better part of this summer reading about spiritual practices - including Eastern and Western religions. What I've found to be most fascinating is the Buddist practice of mindfulness. I actually made it half way through one of my books and had to put it down because I wasn't getting it. Then, the Holy Spirit led me to a used book store and I found a book about How to be Happy. Now I get it.

Mindfulness is nothing more than watching your thoughts as an observer in your own mind. You watch your thinking instead of taking part in it. It's as if you are disconnected from the thought and watching it as an entity on it's own. When you can separate yourself from the thought, you can see it for what it is and decide if it's worth pursuing. The beauty of this is that you don't have to stop negative thoughts, just watch them and realize it's nothing more than a bad channel you can change. Like static on a radio station, negative thoughts just cloud full connection with Divinity.

As I've been able to watch my own thoughts, doubts, low moods and high moods, I've been able to see myself separate from them. I can partake in life and let the uncertainty, any low self-confidence, and self-doubt be where it is and just walk away from it. It's like watching a trailer for a bad movie and saying, "I really don't want to watch that show" and flipping the channel. You can look at the thought and ask if it serves you or not. Some people love misery, some don't. Just look at it and don't be defined by it.

The Law of Attraction states that what we think, we become or we invite into our reality. For some time, I had been policing my thoughts and just 'canceling' any negative ones until one day, I fell into a terrible mood and had no idea why. I was doing everything right - what gives!? Well, I had fallen into defining myself completely on the fact that good thoughts mean I'm connected to God and well, bad thoughts mean I'm not. This is true to an extent, but diffusing the negativity was something different. When beginning to look at the thought as an observer, I was able to say - "Hey, that might be true, but it might not be also. I choose to err on the side of optimisim and let it go." The negative thought is just an erroneous belief system that requires release or reprogramming.

When it comes down to it, this life is relative reality. Where we come from is absolute reality. If this is just relative, we don't have to get caught up in the drama. We can look at the negative thoughts and realize these are just areas that are mistaken in their perception of the blessings in this life. Then we can cancel them out and choose the higher thought and speak the higher words.

Be joyful. That is your natural state. Anything less is a distraction...

Eat Real: Blueberries for the Brain

This little berry is a powerhouse of nutrition and healing. Something so simple, yet so powerful. You don't have to go to the Amazonian Rain Forest to get it either. It's right at the farmer's market and in season right now.

We are always looking to try something new and exciting in the middle of summer. Just like the middle of winter, we feel a little trapped by the heat. The kids have spent the last week getting to know some old books and new shows on TV. Instead of baking, we've decided to try visiting the farmer's market to see what's in season and do a little experimenting on our own.

What we noticed is that there are A LOT of blueberries out there. In fact, my kids have eaten so many, I'm waiting for one of them to turn into an Umpa Lumpa! They are so sweet, tasty and juicy right now. Go get yourself a pint or four!

Blueberries are powerful for a number of reasons, the main one being antioxidants. Vitamin 'P' as it's called refers to flavonoids. These are compounds that reside in plants naturally and give the plant and its fruit, medicinal properties. These compounds are what protect the plant and its fruit naturally. It's no wonder why it can protect us as well. All we have to do is eat it! The more colorful the food, the more flavonoids present. Within the flavonoid group is a category called polyphenols. Polyphenols protect the brain by preventing oxidative stress. This fruit is also part of a group of flavonoids call proanthocyanidins. "This group has the ability to protect both the watery and fatty parts of the brain against damage from some environmental toxins." Michelle Schoffro Cook, ND

This berry has greater concentration and antioxidant properties than just vitamins C and E alone. Blueberries are also anti-inflammatory. Inappropriate amounts of inflammation in the body contribute to pain and degeneration. Following an anti-inflammatory diet which includes blueberries can remedy pain in as little as 3 days.

Inflammation, cognitive ability and aging skin are directly related to an overabundance of free radicals in the system. Free radicals can be any toxin, environmental, emotional, or nutritional. The more antioxidants we ingest, the better chance our body has of protecting and regenerating itself from free-radical damage.

Quick Blueberry Smoothie:
1 bag frozen mango
1 bag frozen blueberries
1 tbsp. agave nectar
1/2 cup apple juice

Blend all in a blender and serve immediately or, freeze and use as a sorbet.

Uses for Blueberries:
Toss them on salads
Make blueberry pancakes
Make Smoothies or Sorbets
Put them on top of oatmeal
or my personal favorite - by the handful!

Health Benefits:
They are a natural diuretic - helping summer water weight disappear. (I ate a ton while pregnant in the summer - works wonders!)
Help restore and improve cognitive function.
Slows vision loss.
Helps lower cholesterol
Helps with digestive issues

Hope you are enjoying the summer and staying cool!

Be Real: I Died Three Years Ago

This time of year has special significance to me. Today, July 10th is especially poignant. Today is my third son's birthday. It is when I decided, three years ago, to change my life for myself, by myself. The little one is 4 today. He slept in (almost unheard of) and spent a lazy day watching movies and going to Target. We made cupcakes, but he fell asleep!

As I sat eating dinner alone (a special treat), some thoughts came to me... Three years ago, I was overweight, had high cholesterol, depression, my mother was sick with shingles in Connecticut and I was still nursing a baby. Three years ago, I heard a voice come up from deep within me and it rested in my head. I heard it as I was returning from a walk with the three kids during the hot summer of the South. Worried sick about my mom, hot from the weather, frustrated with life in general - it came through clear as a bell. The voice said, "If you can't take care of yourself, how will you take care of anyone else. You know what to do, just do it."

That day, my life changed. I actually died and was reborn. The Holy Spirit transformed me immediately. I did everything possible to learn how to help my mom from a far. I started eating huge salads everyday. I walked, ran and did jumping jacks every day. I moved as much as my body would let me (as much as it hurt). To my surprise, I started loosing weight and feeling better. Now, three years later, I see that the answers are simple. So simple, it's almost sickening... eat real food, not a lot, exercise, sleep and rely on God to help you as you help yourself.

It was common place to spend close to $7K every year in out of pocket health expenses, for my kids to be routinely sick, for me to be routinely depressed and negative, to not understand how crap seemed to keep happening or finding us. I was asleep, ignorant, and stuck in my own sh*t.

That girl, that woman just didn't know that God really existed. She didn't know that this body is a costume carrying a holy host. She didn't understand. She wanted to, but until that breaking point came - the day she could not call on her mom to fly down and bail her out because her mom was too sick - that day when she had to rely on herself and no one else with three little kids looking up to her - that day when she said "How can I do this, who will help me, how is it possible?" and the answers came loud and clear. They almost knocked her on her butt. That day (that run on sentence), she surrendered to God. She gave up and realized she couldn't do it alone and the only strength she had was what was in her and it was not her strength, but His. She died and a new woman was born.

You couldn't have told me any of this, I wouldn't have listened or I might have cried. In fact, I'd heard all of it my whole life and didn't listen. Many doctors, friends and family offered advice and support, but until that breaking point and I heard it from God - that voice within, did I take action. All those events were signs, messages to change. All the negativity, sickness and sadness were indications of being grossly disconnected from Source/God/Truth. I bless it all and thank the Universe for these lessons which propelled me in the direction of light instead of darkness.

Life is 'freaking awesome'! I had no idea it could be this much fun! Maybe I did, but had forgotten...

Listen to the voice within you. Seek your own answers. Trust your feelings. Decide for yourself. Follow guidance. You have all the power to change your life.

Be Real: Shells

I took the kids to the beach for a couple of days in April. It was fascinating to watch them pick up shells. My middle son filled his shirt with them. When the little one's hands were full he started giving them to me. At that moment I thought, "That's your stuff, why am I carrying it? I don't want the shells." I held them, of course, because I'm his mother. But, it got me to hearing (not thinking)... "This is part of life, there's always more and people usually want more. You can carry your own stuff and/or you can carry others stuff. The more stuff you have, the more the stuff controls you. " Basically, the things in our lives are transient. So are the people, to an extent. We help each other remember who we are, but we sometimes get caught in looking to others to define us. The bag became heavier and I had to cut our walk short. Talk about being controlled by stuff!

What in life are you carrying? Does it belong to you or someone else? Can you give it back to them? Is there drama? What in your life can you live without? Can you drop it? I mean really live without it. That may be the very thing that is holding you back from moving forward. You might think it's holding you back from more or better stuff, but what if it's holding you back from inner peace, happiness, joy? In this moment, what will really make you happy? Can you trust Source/God/Universe to take care of it for you? This unwavering trust is what the mystics call faith.

Stuff takes up space, and space is what we are in most need of. Space is time, silence, and peace - a connection to Source. Ask yourself if you are in alignment with Source. It's the same as saying you're in alignment with God. How good do you feel? Are you looking to someone or something else to fulfill you rather than looking within? How easy is it for you to let go of control?

I've realized, so often we look to others or things to define who we are. If people respond appreciatively, then we decide we are doing a good job. If they respond negatively, then we beat ourselves up. All that really matters is that we be 'right' with ourselves before interacting with anyone. When we are right with who we are, we are right with God and that is all that matters. Stand in your integrity.

Every time we look to someone else to reward us with feedback, we are giving our power away. We are allowing them to define who we are rather than doing it for ourselves. And we are robbing ourselves of the opportunities for growth. So often, what we think others think of us, holds us back from being the incredible asset we really are. Isn't is so much more empowering to help others stand on their own two feet? You have so much to offer the world and you have your own version that no one else has.

The shells made my son happy for the moment and a whole bag came home from the beach with us. It sat in the garage for 2 weeks before I put them in the yard. The joy was in the getting, not in the keeping. The joy was in the experience and not in the having. Maybe this post is about shells, stuff, faith or power. However you look at it, is up to you. Release yourself from your burdens and dump your bag in the yard.