Improving Life - week 4

Good morning !!!

It's a beautiful day today, although it snowed a few centimeters this morning after it had all recently melted!!

I'm loving this 'Overhaul' I'm on! I love that I made the choice to live a better life, and I'm constantly learning and growing because of it. I really love making conscious choices of ways I can improve my life.

I've successfully been off of dairy milk now for a few months. I drink mostly Almond Milk, although I do really like Rice Milk though.

I'm noticing more and more that 'negative' people seem to be less a part of my life, and I'm surrounding myself with more positive, forward thinkers. The more I change myself, the more my surrounding environment changes, and I'm really grateful for the positive changes :)

I've noticed that these 'negative' people seem to be displaced by new positive attitude, like when pepper in a bowl of water gets displaced by soap. Funny enough, I'm not a fan of pepper either ;) haha

Have an amazing day!

Going Vegan - why do people judge?

I am going through what I think is a fabulous transition to become Vegan. Why? Because I support a better way of life for animals, and humans. There are many reasons why I think this is beneficial for me, and most importantly - I am trying to lead a better life.

So why is it, that people want to judge me so often for trying to be better? Is it because I don't support animal cruelty? because I don't want to eat chemical and hormone filled products? Or perhaps it's because I just want to eat healthier?

I find it really odd that so many people are so judgmental about this. Really, I am just trying to live a better life. I will continue on my mission despite the colorful opinion of others, because being a better person is simply who I want to be :)

I am grateful to have the support of a few close people - friends and family who are there for me on my journey. What a blessing!

Improving Life - week 3

This week has flown by so fast!!! I have been extremely busy at work, so I feel like I have barely had any personal time to focus on myself. I was able to get a few relaxing baths in before going to bed, which helps me sleep better. I also have started reading a new novel, and I reconnected with friends I haven't seen for a month. I'm really enjoying positing positive things and turning my life around.

Not eating meat has been a wonderful change for me. I have done some research on the way animals are treated and their living conditions........I just cannot support buying animal products from the grocery store any more. Working on becoming vegan has become a passion that I happily embrace because I support a better way of living for humans, and animals. I can't support animal abuse in any way, and they way animals are raised (in a lot of mainstream food production farms) sickens me. It's horrifying and inhumane, and I will not support it. Cutting animal products out of my diet is my first step in supporting that animals get treated better. Even animals raised for food deserve to have good living conditions. After all, we are what we eat right? Eating animals that have grown in over-cramped, feces and disease infested conditions, who never get to go outside, is not something I want to nourish my body with. Eating a whole food, natural, vegan diet is much more appealing. Kudos to the farms who actually raise their animals outside, in natural living conditions  - these animals are lucky.

Things I Love

Why am I writing about things I love? Because the things we love feed our souls with happiness and joy. They make our lives a lot better, and give us something to look forward to. A life without joy is not one I want to live. Here are some things that bring me joy:

Dancing & Music - I love dancing and good music. Partner dances such as latin, swing, country and ballroom bring me such joy. I love being able to master steps and follow a lead without knowing what move will come next. I love feeling the music and having it move my body and soul. It transforms me

Animals - I love animals!! These creatures are pure and innocent, and give us a glimpse of a different way of living. I love the unconditional love that my pets give me. They are a constant source of love and comfort and I love giving them a great life. We have a lot to learn from their true nature

Reading - Something I have loved my whole life is reading novels. I love to escape into a good story line, and to be taken away to another world for a few minutes or hours. Reading is a great chance to let everyday stresses go and relax :)

Pinterest - I love pinterest because it's a place i can categorize and store my favorite pages for easy reading

Cotton Candy - I love cotton candy for the taste, texture, and lovely colors. I love the way I can peel it apart while it's fluffy and then it melts in my mouth. Mmmm

Lavender - I love lavender. I love the smell, the beautiful purple colors it blooms in, and the way a bouquet looks in a nice vase. One of my most favorite flowers

Tropical Beaches - I love tropical beaches!!! I love sitting on the sand in the warm sun, listening to the waves caress the shore. I love seeing shells and pebbles on the shore, and watching the fish swim in crystal clear water. What an experience

Flowing water - I love the sound of flowing water, it is very soothing and calming! Water is a source of life, and constantly flowing and accepting change as it comes. It simply forms around everything that comes it's way. We could learn a lot by embracing this kind of lifestyle

Walking in the forest - I love walking in a peaceful and quiet forest. I love to see the wild animals existing in nature, and listening to the rivers and streams flowing. Being in Nature is being close to one of the most pure things that still exists, it's a beautiful experience we are blessed to have

Cooking - I love cooking and creating meals. It's soothing and satisfying to create my own meal from scratch, rather than cook something from a box or can that most likely has a lot of preservatives. I love knowing what goes into my food, and where it comes from. I strive to eat well and am working towards a vegan diet which will benefit not only me, but animals and the earth as well.

Cleaning - I love cleaning my house. Living in a clean, minimalist home is a beautiful thing. I want to live only with what I need, and this will make it much easier to look after my home. Cleaning is soothing, and it's very satisfying to make my home look nicer. I strive to keep it clean all the time. It's better for my health too :)

Being Alive -  I saved the best for last. :) Every day I wake up I am grateful to be alive. What a blessing!

What things bring you joy and happiness? 
I would love to hear about the things you love :)

Raising the Bar and Respecting Yourself

This is a big priority of mine right now. Too often I find myself doing what others want, and putting my own needs and desires second. I often ask myself why. Am I a people pleaser? I certainly try not to disappoint others. Sometimes I go out of my way to do nice things for the people I care about. I often will see friends and make time for them even if I know I have a priority task that needs to be done. I don't like letting people down. This often leaves me feeling as though I've let myself down.

If you don't respect yourself, how do you expect to get respect from others?
Set the bar and your standards high, and put yourself first. I am working on putting my own needs first now. If I have an important priority done, maybe it's best to get it done instead of going out to a movie or dinner. After all, I'm only letting myself down and getting further behind when I put my priorities aside to do other things.

I want to be more successful in my life, and to achieve that I need to have a better balance among things in my life. I work a lot right now, so I don't often have time for social interactions. I don't have a lot of time for my personal tasks either actually. Mostly I work, eat, and sleep. Then back to work again. I respect myself enough to set my bar higher. I'm raising my standards in many ways. Included in this is raising my standards on how other people treating me. I want more from life, and I plan to get the best I can :)

Improving Life - Week 2

What a great week! I love creating positive changes in my life. This week I bought my first vegan cheese. I tried Daiya cheddar and provolone style cheeses. The provolone was really good in a grilled cheese, and wow, does it ever melt a lot! The cheddar was good also, and I like the taste of it just out of the fridge, I haven't tried melting this one yet.

Something I'm putting a lot of thought into is how other people treat me, and what I accept into my life. I, like most people, generally prefer to be respected, and treated well. I like to know that my efforts are appreciated at work, or if I do something nice for friends or family.......hey, even a perfect stranger. Sometimes it feels the best to do something nice for someone you don't know, and they certainly don't expect it. That is truly selfless. I've been paying close attention to how my friends treat me, and I realize that I've been unconsciously accepting being treated certain ways by certain people, and now I'm working on changing that so I can improve my quality of life and friendships. :)

I'm also trying to work on getting to sleep earlier, so I can get a full nights sleep. Often I sleep less than 7 hours and it really affects my productivity during the day. I'm trying to go to sleep early, and read in bed before falling asleep. I want all technology turned off so I have no distractions and nothing to make noise in the middle of the night. I even turn my internet off on my tablet which I use as an alarm clock. This is proving to be quite a nice change :)

Improving Life - Week 1

Week 1 of my life cleanse has gone well. I'm concentrating a lot on how I want life to be and what kind of people I want to surround myself with. Im looking forward to another week of improving how I live. I'm slowly changing the way I eat and emptyig my cupboards of the things I don't want.

I also would like to challenge myself monthly with goals to create new habits. This month is going to be about speaking and sharing. I'd like to be more conscious of the personal things I share with people. I don't believe it's wise to share what's really important to you except with maybe 1 or 2 of your closest companions. Too often we are judged for what we think, say, feel, do etc. I have come to understand that it can do more harm than good to share your deepest thoughts with others. Many people experience similar feelings but the experiences that get us there are usually very different and people generally aren't receptive to other people's experiences.

I'm aware of how negative our language has become, and swearing is now a common part of every day communication.  I'm not particularly ok with this and am going to try to change it on a personal level.

For some side changes, I'm not currently using credit cards because I want to pay off my debt. I also am no longer eating meat unless I know if comes from a reputable amd safe farm where chemicals are not used and they are treated well and living in a natural environment.  Similarly with veggies and fruit I'm going to try organic or chemical free. Id like to be gmo and gluten free while being totally vegan also. This is a work in progress.

Im excited to see how well I can do this month :)

Simplfying Life

What a beautiful day.

Today I have the clarity to write down some goals on what I want my life to look like. I'm very excited to be sharing a new project with my mom. Our goal is to simplify life and live with what we need. No more impulse purchases, buying things that aren't needed etc. I plan to downsize and sell some of the things that aren't serving any purpose in my home, as these things take up space and create clutter. I want to have a simple, easy routine to follow which will make life a lot easier. I don't like coming home to a lot of responsibility, different bank accounts and memberships to websites and stores.....this all creates mind clutter for me, and stresses me out.

I'm very excited to be sharing this project with my mom. It's really great that we can connect and share the experience of improving and simplifying our lives.

On a side note, I have plans to re-do my blog, and simplify that also. I'm excited to get working on these things! After all, most people live a life where they would be happier if many changes were made. So, why not make those changes and live an amazing life? I'm determined and on a mission, life can be amazing all the time!

Stay Connected

Life can get busy and overwhelming sometimes. I have to take time to refocus and prioritize sometimes. Something I'm working on is downsizing the things I don't need. Extra clothes, extra bank accounts, emails and passwords, memberships etc. All of these things create 'mental clutter' and bog us down.

Living a simple life with the basic things I need would be amazing. There would be less to take care of and maintain which would give me more free time to do the things that I want to do. Having more time for hobbies and friends would be amazing wouldn't it?

Don't lose focus on priorities. Work on them until they are done and dedicate time to work on them. Specific time to work on priority tasks each day or each week helps me get them done quicker. It feels great to get things finished and off of my plate. I really enjoy having time to do the things that bring me joy. This is one of my top 'monthly motivation' activities, and I can't wait to make it a habit :)

Feeling honored

I feel so blessed to know that I have made a positive impact in the lives of some of my friends. When I post things on facebook, I mostly focus on only posting things that are positive and happy. I try to stay away from anything negative, because it's just not pleasant to read about people complaining all the time.

Recently I received a message from a friend of mine who I haven't spoken to for quite a while. She thanked me for my positive posts and told me it had made a positive impact on her life. I was truly blessed to know I was touching the lives of other people without even knowing it ....i feel so honored to know that people enjoy what I write, even if they don't often say anything. :)

Achieving Greatness

I am working on many goals to make life better. I believe that an amazing life is possible for anyone who wants to achieve it. Some of my positive change are:

Making a Memory box/jar - what a great way to keep a collection of happy memories :)

Changing the way I speak and think to be positive and uplifting - negativity just isn't good for anyone
Setting goals and keeping on top of tasks - very important in order to get things done
Keeping in touch with friends and family - this is a big one, keeping in touch over the phone or in person is so nice :)

Enlightened

Good afternoon and Merry Christmas!!

It is a fine day today and I feel so blessed. The weather is decent finally and the next few days are supposed to be nice too.

I have been working a lot on my personal life lately, and it's really paying off. Finally being open to the changes I needed to make has improved my life in such a way that I never thought I would achieve. Focusing on being happy, really does make all the difference in the world. But, on the flip side of things, each person has to be ready for these changes before they can experience them. Finally I was ready a few months ago, and I am embracing these changes wholeheartedly. While heartache and disappointment is never enjoyable to go through, it has lead me to where I am now.

I was finally sick of being used and let down, so I decided to change my life. I continually have experiences that confirm I am not on the right path for my life and happiness. I met someone new the other day when a friend asked me to sit down with this person and try to improve their outlook on life. Well, I believe I achieved that goal well and have since kept in touch with this person to boost their mood if needed and to see how their changes go. Meeting this person was such an inspiration to me because I spoke from the heart, and I truly wanted to help and share my new positive outlook on life, and it was received well. I find that when things come from the heart, and people can undoubtedly know they are from the heart, then it is always received well. I felt honored to be able to help someone, and to see how happy they were from talking to me, it just made my day to be able to make someone smile. I have been in that down and out kind of mental place, and for me, the most meaningful thing was to know someone who honestly cared and wanted to help me. So, I was thrilled to be able to give this back to someone........kindness paid forward.

I have really been enlightened recently after various situations such as the one above confirming to me that I am on the right path. It really is a blessing to receive these messages. I have met so many people recently who have been so kind to me, and who have brought me into their circle of friends without hesitation, and it all happened after this attitude and mindfulness shift that I have experienced. It has also really opened my eyes to the fact that people tell you what you need to know, you don't have to guess, you just have to really listen. For example: in relationships......I get swept off my feet by men who I think are amazing, and it turns out, they really aren't. I really need to focus on what people are saying more in the future, but for now, it's all about me and improving my life for me, and then I can let myself be open to the possibility of a relationship. I need this time to heal as well, I've been through so much, and when you give your whole heart to someone, it's really awful to not have them treat it well and with respect. So enlightened I am and away I go with my new outlook on life....bound and determined to have learned from my past mistakes, and never to make them again. :-)

Have an amazing day and Happy Holidays!!!!!!

A Journey of a Lifetime

Today is the Winter Solstice, and it brings with it some powerful energy and vibrations.

I feel some amazing changes happening in my life and it is the most incredible personal journey I have ever experienced. I have been very stubborn my whole life. This has partly benefited me but has also held me back. It has gotten me through some very tough situations but has also prevented me from being open to the changes in life that I should have made a long time ago. I wish I had made them sooner, but it took some very hard lessons for me to finally let go and be willing to change.

It really is a Journey of a Lifetime. I am so very grateful to be meeting some amazing people that I can share my journey with, and who inspire me to live my life to the fullest and follow my passion. I wouldn't change this at all and I wish that I could inspire others to be open to the same thing, as it is the most powerful life transformation I have ever experienced. It really is amazing.

Today feels epic. I am taking control of my life and putting my happiness first. I have put my trust in the universe now because for the last few months, it has given me exactly what I asked for and needed. I have wanted to be where I am now for my whole life, and finally I am here. I feel completely blessed and grateful.

When the same old routine is not working for you in life, it's time to give change a chance, and open yourself up to new opportunities. I am so very grateful to the person who is the catalyst for this change. He has changed my life, brought my passion before my eyes so I could live it again, and been an absolute inspiration. I'll always be grateful.
I finally feel like I am on the right path. This journey is worth it every step of the way  : -)

I hope you can be inspired to live the amazing life you were meant to live, have an amazing day  : -D

Today I am Happy ^_^

Today I am happy because I have been following my passion again. 14 years ago I started partner dancing. This is my passion in life. Back when I started I knew this was going to be my life. It will be in my life and will probably dominate my happiness forever. I willingly accept this with wholehearted pleasure and submission.  I went through a bad break-up back then and stopped dancing........then I had a serious accident which has affected the past 5-7 years of my life and just couldn't find my passion again. I didn't really try to be honest.

2 months ago I started dancing again after someone sparked the interest in me. It was like the candle inside me went from a little flicker to a full on bonfire. Dancing again has ignited such happiness in me that I wonder why I ever stopped.......and I wished I hadn't. There was about a decade where I didn't really dance..........I wish I could change time but I can't, so going forward, I am going to hold onto my passion tightly and let it lead me for the rest of my life.

The inspiration in this post is to find what makes you happy. Find what makes you most passionate in life and hold on to it. Let it bring you joy and peace, and let it make every day of your life complete BLISS......because it can. Last night I went dancing and had an amazing time........one of those unforgettably great nights. It was simply perfect. I danced with some amazing dancers and friends and loved every minute of it. I am on cloud 9 because I followed my passion and it filled my soul with the brightest light possible. Incredible.

Some people may like outdoor activities, or gardening, crochet or crafty projects, dancing, horseback riding, swimming etc...........whatever it may be, let it lead you into the happiest life possible, it is worth every step.

Have an amazing day!!!!!!

Life is Beautiful - What are you Grateful for?

There are so many beautiful things in life that we overlook on a daily basis.

This morning I went to work later than usual because I had an appointment to go to. This meant that I was driving to work while it was light out instead of the dark. In the daylight I was able to see the Hoar Frost on the trees ..... It's one of the most beautiful things to see in Winter. I was very grateful to be able to enjoy this today. It made the drive to work very enjoyable because I was able to enjoy and soak up the natural beauty that is all around us.

I went to Hot Yoga last night, which relaxed me into a state that I haven't felt for a long time. I was very grateful for this as well. It was 1.25 hours of Foundation Hot Yoga, and I was able to release muscle tension, and mental tension. I left the Yoga Studio feeling as if I was in a pure state of Bliss. It was Heavenly and I can't wait to go back tonight.

I had an active release appointment this morning before work which helped me release some very tight muscles. There is still a lot of work to be done there but it was a help. I love seeing the people that work there because they are soooo friendly and enjoyable to be around. I always look forward to it. I also love the pain I feel during my treatment because it helps me so much to feel better. It's a good kind of pain :)

When I got to work I got handed a chunk of cash because my boss had realized that she forgot to give me my raise, so I got back pay in cash. This is great, because now I can put it in the bank for my new car loan that's coming out in a week.

All in all it has been a great day so far. When you open your eyes and mind to see all of the beautiful things that are out there, your life will improve. There are miracles all around us, we just have to be willing to see them.

What are you Grateful for today?

Have a Beautiful day :)