30 Days Complaint-Free

So, this morning I decided to challenge myself to something that is difficult for most of us to do...
It seems that life throws one obstacle after another at us to face, overcome and learn lessons from.
Not really news to you I am sure.
The one thing that most of us tend to do when faced with something that is challenging to face or displeasing to experience, is complain.
I am challenging myself to 30 days of complaint-free existence.
30 days of nothing but switching my point of view to see that every thing that happens TO me is actually happening FOR me...a blessing in disguise, a sign in the road showing me which way to go, or just simply a small detour when I need it.
30 days of enjoying the journey and just letting go of the resistance that keeps me from experiencing all life has to offer.
30 days of just going with the flow.
30 days isn't really all that long of a time frame, a month passes in the blink of an eye sometimes...
But 30 days IS long enough to make a significant change in attitude and can profoundly alter the course of my life!
So, maybe you will decide to join me after reading this, or maybe you will keep it in mind for a later date...
Either way, enjoy your journey!

Vegetarian-ish?

Today is day 14 of my vegetarian-ish experiment.
The reason I am using the "ish" at the end of vegetarian is due to the fact that I am not really sure how my eating habits will unfold, but am mainly concentrating on a diet consisting primarily of fruits and vegetables, some grains occasionally, nuts, seeds, and beans. Not too sure about what part any animal products are going to play in the scheme of things as time progresses, but I do use cream in my coffee (yes this is one I am working on getting rid of) in the morning which is milk-based, and I had some soup my sister made which was chicken based but no actual meat...
The reasons for my "experiment" are many but all can be summed up in one statement; I want to perform at my body's optimum levels physically, mentally, and spiritually, every day for the rest of my life....and from what I have discovered, my diet can either get me there, or send me in the opposite direction...
One false sense of security many of us are lulled into is, because our bodies aren't showing any signs of disease at the present moment, all of the abuses we subject our bodies to on a daily basis are just being dealt with by our body with no long-term ill effects. Fact of the matter is that much of the damage is cumulative, and therefore isn't perceived by us oftentimes until it is too late.
Most often there are no early signs of diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer until there is irreparable damage, in which we are forced into pumping artificial substances into our bodies to try and "cure" the disease. We are trained in our society to be reactive instead of proactive.
Something I have learned during recent years is that disease is just exactly as the word appears, the body is in a state of dis-ease, so naturally the cure would seem to be letting your body naturally return to a state of ease. Simple, huh?
That's where fruits and vegetables and nuts and grains and beans come into the picture....they were placed here for us to consume to keep us balanced and and provide us with what is needed for our bodies to fend off any attackers and toxins, so that's what I plan to do!
Some would say that animals were also placed here for consumption, and I have to admit that I love a nice, fat, juicy bacon bleu burger just as much as the next person, but when I consume meat I tend to eat more food at one sitting, and crave more food afterwards, and am left feeling sluggish and tired, hence the elimination of meat from my diet for the time being.
I am left wondering if it could be partially or wholly due to what is put into my meat before it reaches my plate. Something to consider about commercially produced animal product..it is an abomination of what it once was, laden with antibiotics and hormones, unnatural housing for, and unethical treatment of these animals, so raising your own is giving you more control of what you are putting into your body.
From what I have learned about how our beautiful vessels operate from watching numerous documentaries, I discovered that instead of just adopting a newer, healthier eating regimen, the body should be cleaned out a bit first, so that's what I did.
The first 11 and a half days were juice fasting days, which a lot of people do to cleanse and re-set the body after years of abuse with drugs, alcohol, fast food, environmental toxins etc.. Daily consumption of food is replaced with freshly juiced fruits and vegetables, and lots of distilled water. I initially learned of this through watching the movie Fat, Sick, And Nearly Dead (check it out for yourself at www.jointhereboot.com), and other promoters of natural health such a Charlotte Gerson (http://gerson.org/), whose father discovered a natural cure for cancer.
I switched to solid foods in the middle of day 12 because at the beginning of my fast I decided that when my body TRULY told me it was time to get some solid foods in my tummy, I would listen.
Since then I have been eating what my body craves....it's strange how fasting resets your taste buds! I have been craving fruits and raw vegetables and it feels great! I have found a new love of raw asparagus and broccolini, red peppers, snap peas, avocado, and yellow squash! Yumm!
I am noticing quite a difference with what I have implemented so far, I am not as sluggish, I am sleeping better, my skin doesn't seem to be as dry as it was, and I have a renewed sense of clarity, which all would indicate that I am on the right track of reaching my best self, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
So, for the time being, I am going to continue on my vegetarin-ish path and see where it leads me!

I will keep you posted! Until then, check out the links I have provided you with for more information regarding the topics I have discussed.

Another Piece Of The Puzzle

Often, people learn about Law Of Attraction and how to change their lives through their thoughts and words, start practicing their positive thoughts, visualization, meditation, and daily affirmations, only to NOT see all the results as quickly as they had wished to (this world IS, after all, based upon instant gratification). They get discouraged and just stop because they don't see instant incredible manifestations.
Sound like you? I know it has been me on many occasions.
If it does sound like you, then consider this....
When you begin to put together a puzzle it never looks like the picture on the box at first!
You open it up, dump it on your table and in front of you, you see all these random multi-colored fragments with no seeming rhyme or reason...except for the fact you trust that because the picture is on the front of the box, these random pieces will produce the desired result.
You begin piecing together the colors and images that seem to fit together, sometimes they don't fit exactly as you thought they would, so you take them apart and try fitting them somewhere else.
The entire time you put together the puzzle, the box with the picture on it is sitting right in front of you so it's easy to keep referencing it whenever you are needing a little guidance (or questioning whether or not they put the wrong pieces in the puzzle box!).
Often, you will get frustrated and put it away for a day or two until you are feeling froggy enough to have another go at it! The whole point of putting together the puzzle is to have fun, so when it becomes tedious or is no longer fun, put it away and come back to it! Put your focus on something that IS fun!

The clues about how the puzzle is fit together comes from the way the pieces match up, making up different little scenes of the big picture, then fitting the smaller scenes together into bigger scenes, then fitting them together until, VOILA!
The once jumbled, confusing lump of cardboard fragments that sat before you is now a beautiful picture that looks like the one on the box! (except for that one piece that is mysteriously missing...was it NOT provided or did you lose it?)
What an amazing feeling that is! 
If you had gotten discouraged in the beginning looking at the jumbled pieces that were laid out before you, this great feeling of accomplishment would never have been yours!
Creating the life that you dream of is manifested in quite the same way...
When you decide to make changes in your life, you step back and assess it as a whole and often find there is no rhyme or reason to what you see.
What is necessary at this point is your TRUST in the inevitability of your desired outcome, regardless of the reality you see before you in the present moment; LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE.
Trust that you have all of the pieces necessary and will be given guidance and along the way.
Pay attention to the intuitions that you have and the subtle hints that life is showing you, then put the pieces together a little at a time, all the while envisioning the end result.
If you get frustrated while you are focusing too much on piecing together your life's puzzle, find something to do that is fun and distracting, and come back to it later! This is all supposed to be about fun, NOT something that requires a great deal of work!
The happier and more at ease you are, the more clues you will be given along the way, and the easier your picture will come together!
Every day that passes, another bit of the puzzle is coming together, bringing the big picture closer to the end result, until one day you look at your life and realize it looks very much like the picture you envisioned at the beginning of your journey!
What a great feeling to know that you have the ability to set your mind to something and accomplish it!
But your journey doesn't end here....
If you're anything like me, at this point you are ready for the next puzzle...