Unconditional Self Kindness

"Whatever's good for your soul- do that."

I realize time and time again, that no matter what we are going through, practicing self love, compassion and kindness is how we find balance. Coming from a place of self worth and making time to do self care- being in it being a practice, this means that it takes our doing. Action that comes from the intention to feel good. Because we deserve to feel amazing, free, inspired and energized.

Picking up the phone and asking for help, making a meal, going to a yoga class, planning goals that align with our current needs, while keeping mind that we are not superheroes.

We embrace imperfection. We flow imperfectly and together through life and all that it has to offer, embracing all of who we are along this journey.

We choose love over fear.

Sometimes when I'm feeling less in touch with the needs of my heart, I'll ask myself, "What would the kindest most compassionate version of myself encourage me to do in this situation?" And from there it all becomes clear. Balanced decisions that encourage action, but without sabotaging our precious energy.

At the end of the day, the most important relationship we nurture is the one we have with ourselves. And as we fall madly in love with ourselves, we have that much more love to share.

Blessings,

Julie

The Habits that Shape Us: Cultivating Self-Care, Support and Balance.

Especially during the winter months, we may experience challenge when it comes to staying focused on doing the things that serve our happiness and well-being.

But we stay focused anyway. We are all in this together and each day I realize more and more as I connect with other inspired minds that we all go through the same challenges. How we deal with them, however, is up to us.

So let's choose to use our challenges as fuel to grow and learn. To become more.

Life is about engaging from a place of worthiness, practicing self care each day and reaching out for support when we need. There is an abundance of resources at our hands meant to support our well-being and create connection and ease during challenging times.

So let us be open to receiving. This may mean talking to a counselor, a trusted friend- the resources are always available. And endless.

"Ask and you shall receive."

The challenges times pass. The season's change. Practicing self care is what makes these times easier. 

I have found great value in my yoga, meditation and mindfulness practices, in engaging in regular physical activity, in taking time to rest and preparing wholesome meals- meals that are abundant and supporting as we become the strongest version of ourselves.

Making self-care a priority is the best thing we can do. Because when we cultivate self-compassion and self-love, we are that much stronger for the people around us.

Life is too short to not do the things that make us feel good. The habits that nurture our well-being are worth doing each day. In fact, we must do them because feeling happy, free and alive is why we are here.

Blessings,

Julie

Setting Our Intention for 2014: How do You Want to Feel This Year?

In my last meditation class, we talked about the year we have just ventured into and our intention as it unfolds. I found what one woman shared to be especially inspiring.

And this is it- she talked about setting an intention for how we want to feel this year.

How do we want to feel in our bodies as we live our day to day lives?

This question really struck me. A very simple, yet incredibly powerful way to see things. When we align our goals and decisions to feel the way we want to feel, we find fulfillment. This, in my opinion, is success- actively engaging in the things that make us happy.

Of course, the way society defines success may be different. But at the end of the day, I know I feel the most "successful" when I am meeting my own needs and desires, whatever they may be and however they may look like.

It is irrelevant whether they match up with society's expectations or what other people are doing. Comparison is often unhelpful and puts unnecessary pressure. Let us simply urgently move forward in giving ourselves what we need to be happy.

So we ask ourselves, "How do I want to feel this year?"

My intention is all about feeling focused, present, grounded and balanced and also excited and inspired.

Once we know how we want to feel, we are able to focus on our awareness and ask ourselves, "what can I do more of this year to feel this way?" and when in the midst of making a decision, "Does this line up with how I want to feel?" "Will doing this bring me closer to the feeling I most thrive on?"

Because when we are thriving, we are truly living. We feel alive, in flow and in our zone. And using the way we want to feel as a point of focus is one of the most powerful tools in goal-setting and decision making.

What Do You Truly Desire? Let's rethink this.

Our mission here is to shine our light. We are meant to be authentic and full expressions of our true selves.

Often some of the things we do are not because we truly desire them, they are others' dreams.  We are afraid to go after what it is we truly desire for many reasons. One of these being that by shining our unique light, we are exposed, vulnerable. We are saying, "this is me following my heart and telling my story to the world."

But let me also tell you this: its raw. Its real. And it's the most beautiful thing we can do.

The difference between people that go ahead and live their dream, people who break free and design their life according to what they really want to do and those who are not is more about action than fear.

The truth is that all of us feel fear. That is never going to go away. But those who are living their dreams are not afraid to act anyway.

It is the things that both excite and scare us at the same time that will make us feel the most alive. These are the things that will bring us happiness.

Imagine a blank canvas. We have a brush and pallet with many beautiful colors. Now we pick the colors we love and we get to use to them to create what we want. The canvas is our life. Too often we limit ourselves from designing our life the way we want it because we get busy looking for others for approval or guidance.

Through my meditation practice, through traveling and through what I've learned about life so far is that letting go is not only incredibly liberating, but necessary. We have the choice to either be our own worst critic and give in to doing more of what we don't truly desire or our own best friend, setting boundaries where necessary.

I'd say the best friend deal sounds good. What do you think?

The best respect is gained through doing what we love and sharing it with others. What other people think of something before it is done is based on their story, experiences- therefore it is irrelevant.

Let's begin without feeling completely ready because there is no perfect time. What is most important is that we begin.

 
We must go within and ask ourselves questions, letting go of what others think and any form of story we may be holding on to, including the story of our past.

Life happens in the here and now. Dreams change and evolve. By becoming present in our body we are best able to align with what it is that we need now in our lives. Not what we needed before or what we thought we needed. This is about basing our direction on who we have become and what we have learned that has brought us to the person we are now.

When we talk alignment and meeting our needs, we must also talk values.

Try this: write a list of your top 6 values and beside each one, write why you value that specific thing. Because moreso than what we are doing is why we are doing it. When we know why we are doing something, we cultivate drive. We check in to make sure we really want this.

So for example, say you value simplicity. Why? Because it leads to being more organized and clutter free both physically and mentally. Why clutter free? Because then we are defined more by who we are rather than what we have. And why is this so important? Because the sense of liberation feels great.

Our values lead to us making focused decisions which are fueled by our why- why are we doing this? This in turn cultivates our inner drive to design our lives accordingly.

In my own life, this process has made me realize that at the end of the day, its all about how we feel. Feeling good is the most important thing.

This exercise can be pretty exciting! Living in simplicity is definitely one of my values. I'm sure you can see through my "why" that I will make my decisions based on honoring my value of simplicity because in doing this, I feel liberated. And let me tell you, the feeling of freedom is none other than pure bliss.

Write your why for each of the values you have written down. By knowing our "why", we do the things we do for no other reason than because we truly want to and they make us feel good.

When we are aware of our values, what it is that is important to our well-being and sense of fulfillment, we use this awareness in our decisions. We become active creators of our experiences and choose what we do based on optimum congruency with our values.

This is about examining those things that recharge us, fill our cup, excite us. Its about becoming mindful so we can do more of what is good for our soul. For example, my yoga practice supports me in living balanced, grounded and present. As we become aware of the habits, practices and situations that most support our well-being, we become active creators in our lives- we are better able to center our work, relationships and lifestyle around fulfillment.

When we are faced with a decision, any decision from a job offer to choosing who we spend our time with, we are better equipped to make one that will energize and allow us to live in present-centered balance.

Let's also remember that we gain clarity through all our experiences. The experiences that bring us joy and fulfillment show us what we want. But the challenging experiences are also incredibly valuable to defining our desire because they show us what we don't want. This contrast further clarifies what it is we desire.

"Know thyself- then you will know how to live."

Coming to the Present Moment

During my meditation practice today, I rediscovered the undeniable bliss of the present moment. And it was simple and clear that it is in the present moment that we hold true power, balance and grounding. 

In the present, less is more, connection is deeper and love stronger.

When we became aware of the present moment through meditation, the practice of mindfulness, and the life-giving force of our breath, we connect with the energy that makes us feel alive.

Wow.

The "here and now" holds so much peace, clarity and beauty. Its amazing how this practice naturally allows us to cultivate trust and faith in ourselves. We let go of the need to judge, explain and rationalize.

And we embrace the experience of simply being.

So really, its about doing more of what brings us greater connection with our bodies, because it is through our body and breath that we come to the present. We are human beings meant to live through our bodies, not our heads.

Feeling alive is a physical experience we have in our body, not our head. This is not to say that we don't use our mind to make decisions and such, but it means that  for the sake of feeling good we create space to be.

To feel.

To experience and express.

Whatever it is- meditation, dancing, laughing, acting foolish, taking a bath- lets just do it. And do it often! Because we are vibrating spirits meant to shine our light. Growing older and wiser does not mean that we lose our sense of playfulness.

So we remind ourselves to simply be. To make time to look at the stars and allow for our mind, body and heart to become one. Because it is in living through our body that we feel good, and with the wisdom of the mind and guidance of our heart that we find true connection.

Blessings,

Julie

Unconditional Self-Love

There are times in our lives when we are busy and times that are less so.

Transitions and changes often go hand in hand with periods of reflection and stillness. Time that we need to spend with ourselves.

Big changes like ending relationships and job transitions test our patience and courage. These are times of growth, although they don't feel this way. Although we may even be aware of positive changes and new beginnings on our path and even near future, we still feel the ending.

So we let ourselves feel our truth. Because when we acknowledge what we are experiencing in the here and now, we move forward as our most authentic selves.

In these transition times of self reflection, we really do learn the most. They may be uncomfortable, but they allow us to learn balance and self-care. We learn to love ourselves and receive support. We learn that our self-worth is not attached to anything external. We deserve support and love simply because we are human.

When our self-worth is not attached to things like if we are working or not, how much money we have or if we are in relationship, we learn to love ourselves for who we are.

Radical self love I call it!

And when we come from this place of true worthiness, all the rest simply adds to our already powerfully shining inner light.

Blessings,

Julie

We are Mapmakers of our Destiny

"We become what we think about most of the time."

I have realized that it is our everyday choices that make up who we are. What we choose to do every day, how we choose to think and the people we choose to surround ourselves with.

The amazing thing is that we have this power of choice. When we live our lives in mindfulness and with an open mind to experience and grow, we know ourselves better. And by learning about ourselves through our experiences, we know how to better live. We know which choices serve our well-being.

We discover that which ignites our spirit. And then we learn to do more of this.

It is what we focus on most that we become. And what we focus on is our choice.

I've learned that the best practice for positive focus is gratitude. Gratitude is something we actively practice every day. By speaking it and we writing it down. We express our appreciation to the people around us. (There are many apps to download on your phone that allow to record thoughts of gratitude as they come up.)

Gratitude works magic. Why? Because the more we focus on the good in our lives, what we do have and what is working, the more we attract.

We often build stories in our minds of the future that focus on fear and what could happen- but really, the truth is that we don't know the future until we physically experience it. By moving with fear and using it as fuel, we free ourselves. We realize that fear is only a feeling, not a representation of the truth. The truth is in the now.

And the most beautiful thing about gratitude is that it brings us to the present moment- the most real, raw and free places that we will ever experience.

Blessings,

Julie