Winter Wonderland

As I sit here and write we have been in a deep freeze throughout most of the US for the past couple of weeks.  The good news; the weather is warming as the week is beginning to unfold.  As I have been spending a lot of time in my home, I have had some time to reflect, rest and tidy up my house.  I have also been planning on what I would like to accomplish in  2018.

Since I am on the topic of food root vegetables are particularly delicious this time of year.  My Dad, who works at Bed Bath and Beyond got me a spirilizer for Christmas.  I have been baking a fantastic
recipe I found in Wegmans that uses spiralized butternut squash.  I really do love to shop when they have tasting samples through the store.  They even have beer at Wegmans samples now for all you beer connisoseurs.

I love baking in the winter also.  Below is the most fabulous recipe.  They definitely curb my chocolate chip cookie tooth with zero guilt as they contain no refined sugar or flour.  They end up being a helping snack loaded with protein.  Don't overcook them though, follow the recipe and let the cookies cool on the parchment paper for a bit.  Enjoy our weekend!  Happy Friday.

Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies Recipe

TOTAL TIME: 20 MINUTES

SERVES: 12

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup sprouted almond butter
• ½ cup almond flour
• ⅓ cup maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup cacao nibs
• ½ cup dark chocolate chips, minimum 70% cacao

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a food processor, add in almond butter, almond flour, maple syrup, egg, vanilla extract, sea salt, baking soda and baking powder.
3. Stir in cacao nibs and dark chocolate chips.
4. Chill dough for 20 minutes.
5. Scoop a tablespoon of the dough and shape into cookies and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake for 10–12 minutes.

Nine Things All Master Manifestors Understand

I have been working with manifesting a creative wonderful life for the past 8 years now.  It has been quite a journey and I have had my ups and downs through it all.  I must say,  I feel very well versed in the Law of Attraction.  It is certainly an art and not all things work for all people.  However there are some basic principles all good manifestors have an understanding of.  Here are a few I would like to share:

• UNDERSTAND that there is more out there than meets the eye.  There is more to you than meets the eye as well.  The greater part of you is high energy, high vibration leading you to your hopes and dreams.  The world is a magical place!

• TRUST in right timing and right action.  Trusting that all is right with the world and most especially trusting the universe has your back.  

• REALIZE that anything is possible!

• BE MINDFUL of your words.  Avoid words such as "never and always"  Let go of lack statements of all kinds such as "I don't have...." "I don't want...."  Instead say "Wouldn't it be nice if..."  

• LOVE MONEY take care of your money like you take of of your favorite belongings.  Have a loving relationship with it.  Be thankful for the everyday things money provides for.  Save $5.00 dollars for the next 5 weeks for something that feeds your soul or continue saving and watch it grow in gratitude. 

• CONVERSE with the universe.  Ask for what you want and continually refine your desires as you reach greater heights.  Pay attention as the universe will bring you what you have asked for, often times in little ways we don't always recognize.  For example, if you ask for help with a challenge, are listening and receptive to the answer?

• GRATITUDE and being present in the moment not only will bring to you all of your hopes and desires, it will also lead you to a more relaxed and balanced life.  All great manifestors are greatful for all they have.  They are even grateful for the things they have yet to recieve.

• MEDITATION is any process that leads you to an inner state of relaxed awareness. The nervous system reponds differently to stressful situations and creativity flows more freely.

• "THIS OR BETTER" is what you tag onto the end of anything you are asking for. 

5 Easy Ways to Slowdown and focus

Have you ever experienced a day when your mind was everywhere?  You had trouble focusing and your productivity was way down?

In this fast paced world, in which everything is constantly moving with a mile long to do list, it can be hard to simply enjoy life.  Here are 5 ways you can slow your life down to a manageable level.

1) Nurture yourself with your favorite things.  Engage your senses.  Take a hot bath, light a candle, eat a nutricious snack.  The first thing we do when we are scattered is stop paying attention to our bodies.

2)Breathe - Long deep breathing. Circle breath

3)Single Subject -  We often try to multi - task.  Do one thing at a time.  If your working at you desk, turn off your phone or move it away from you.  We especially get distracted by our phones

4)Meditate - meditation can be done even as you are doing the dishes or cleaning.  It's simple a matter of focusing on what it is you are doing.

Patience really is a virtue

There is a time and season for everything; a time to rest and rejuvenate and a time to take action to bring our dreams into reality.   Balance is something most Americans strive for. Why? because Our society tells us, to get good grades, build our intellectual and physical gifts.  that can lead to the misbelief of "not good enough".  We are not taught to meditate in school, we are not taught to listen to our bodies, simply put we are not taught how to live a life of balance.  Living a life of balance, means living a life of happiness.  We are taught to "keep on swimming" no matter what the circumstance, to push beyond. We are taught to push our bodies, minds, and spirit.

How do we change our lives from striving to thriving?  What are some skills we can learn to help us to slow down. relax, and be happy just because we know how.

 The very first thing I had to learn was patience.  We live in a world of instant gratification.  Technology allows us to do a lot of things instantly.  We don't even have to leave the comfort of our homes to go shopping.  We simply go to our computers and "search" for that latest hot item everyone is talking about.  I have big dreams and I don't want to wait.  I want what I want NOW, or do I?
 

Patience is synonymous with acceptance and trust.  When are you in need of patience? Usually when things are not going as planned, or when we are feeling sorry for ourselves. I know when I am haivng a woWe first must accept the situation as it is, and then trust everything is in divine order. 

Acceptance, is the baseline emotion of heart centered living.  In order to be patient, you must be in a place of heart.  When you are in a place of acceptance, you are able to be present within yourself. When we don't accept our circumstances we are unable to let go and that is when resistance starts to form. When we can let go of what's not working for us, then we are in a place to find the solution.

Wow, patience is a lot more important than I realized!

Trust is the opposite of control.  When we trust there is a divine order to everything, again we are able to let go.  Trying to control a situation is madding.  "Trust" me, I've been there.  The tricky thing is about control, is we often don't recognize it.  So let's go there for a moment, what is control:

How to recognize control:
First off, the only thing we are in control of is our thought, our own reality and if your can change your thought patterns, you can change your circumstances, your patterns, and your life.

Upon thinking about it further, I realize, no I really don't want what I want now.  What I really want is to be happy in the moment, to be present in the moment.  What I really want is to enjoy the journey.  I want to be proud of myself for everything I am learning.  I want to look at my mistakes with a positive view.  I want to change my point of view from, "I can't believe I did it again! Aren't I ever going to learn"  to a much more compassionate view which brings me to the second thing I had to learn in order to slow down.