Role Models
I've been following some amazing Juicy role models for quite some time now. These women are inspirational Powerhouses, shining stars in a night sky. They really are in touch with the best of themselves, and they are helping others to do the same. Introducing, Kris Carr, Danielle La Porte, Marie Forleo, and Gabrielle Bernstein [website links at bottom of post]. These guys have been filling my inbox with love and inspiration while a shift has been occurring in me in the past four years. Sometimes I couldn't yet see my new self reflected back at me in my immediate environment. So thank God for these women, who have reminded me that there is a different way to live our life than the way we see with our eyes, all around us. They have shown me that it is possible, and that it is okay! to shine brighter when the world around us is sucked into darkness. They are walking examples of the truth that when we heal ourselves, we heal the world. EVERYONE around you and EVERYTHING around you benefits from your happiness, if you let yourself be it.
At least three of the four ladies above are into Juicing and Smoothie-ing. Having experimented with it myself for the last 3 years or so, I find it no coincidence. As soon as I start putting goodness in my body, I start getting more goodness out of my life, and out of my soul... I find it has been an easy, quick, no skills needed way to get good stuff in my body. Up until lately I have just been smoothie-ing as I already had a blender, and then my amazing mum found an £180 juicer for me in a thrift shop! It's amazing what we bring into our lives when we need it, and are ready to accept it.
Smoothies and nutrition has featured strongly in my Journey since 2012. It has certainly been an on again, off again relationship, but most importantly always on again, getting more frequent and more sustained, with falls off the bandwagon becoming shorter and shorter in duration. Once you start, and watch the effects on your life, it's pretty hard to stay away for long. The other day I was looking back at the times when I have flourished most and realised that it was always when I was giving my body 'the good stuff'. When I was unhooking from my sugar addiction - all the addictions in my life in fact. Scientists are now calling our stomach our "second brain", so I suppose it figures that when we pamper our bellies, life goes better. I definitely knew juicing was good for me, but until I saw evidence in my own life of the difference between healthy me's happiness and not-so-healthy me's happiness levels, I wasn't ready to BELIEVE. Or to let go of my old beliefs, that the quick fixes - sugar, TV, caffeine (nicotine, alcohol, drugs, OCD - what are yours?) do more to make me happy than the long term lifestyle changes could.
Really though, eating well is about giving to myself. When I sit down and have a conversation with myself I realise that I do want to eat beautifully and feel beautifully. Raising my children, I see that what I find I really want to give to them (aka amazing organic, delicious, superfood filled, sustainable healthy food and a routine to match), is also what I really want to give to myself. And that is why I have found it so hard to do. It seemed like a lot to give to myself, too much in fact. A lot of us have this battle when it comes to taking care of ourselves. And then for women, there's also the feminist issues of going into the kitchen, of choosing where we spend our time and energy (that's a whole blog post of its own!).
I'm now ready to face the challenges head on, like my role models and so many others have done. (http://www.daniellelaporte.com/when-you-are-ready/). I've gotten to know my reasons, my blocks, my hopes, my fears around eating well and living well. Now it is time to dive into them, to work through them, and somehow I just know that the key to this is finding the right fuel for my body. Finding out what makes my cells sing (!) will show what lights me up, and transform my world, taking me to parts of myself I didn't know existed, and set my Juicy Soul freeeeeeeeeee!
(http://kriscarr.com/)
(http://www.daniellelaporte.com/truthbomb/)
(http://www.marieforleo.com/)
(http://gabbyb.tv/)
At least three of the four ladies above are into Juicing and Smoothie-ing. Having experimented with it myself for the last 3 years or so, I find it no coincidence. As soon as I start putting goodness in my body, I start getting more goodness out of my life, and out of my soul... I find it has been an easy, quick, no skills needed way to get good stuff in my body. Up until lately I have just been smoothie-ing as I already had a blender, and then my amazing mum found an £180 juicer for me in a thrift shop! It's amazing what we bring into our lives when we need it, and are ready to accept it.
Smoothies and nutrition has featured strongly in my Journey since 2012. It has certainly been an on again, off again relationship, but most importantly always on again, getting more frequent and more sustained, with falls off the bandwagon becoming shorter and shorter in duration. Once you start, and watch the effects on your life, it's pretty hard to stay away for long. The other day I was looking back at the times when I have flourished most and realised that it was always when I was giving my body 'the good stuff'. When I was unhooking from my sugar addiction - all the addictions in my life in fact. Scientists are now calling our stomach our "second brain", so I suppose it figures that when we pamper our bellies, life goes better. I definitely knew juicing was good for me, but until I saw evidence in my own life of the difference between healthy me's happiness and not-so-healthy me's happiness levels, I wasn't ready to BELIEVE. Or to let go of my old beliefs, that the quick fixes - sugar, TV, caffeine (nicotine, alcohol, drugs, OCD - what are yours?) do more to make me happy than the long term lifestyle changes could.
Really though, eating well is about giving to myself. When I sit down and have a conversation with myself I realise that I do want to eat beautifully and feel beautifully. Raising my children, I see that what I find I really want to give to them (aka amazing organic, delicious, superfood filled, sustainable healthy food and a routine to match), is also what I really want to give to myself. And that is why I have found it so hard to do. It seemed like a lot to give to myself, too much in fact. A lot of us have this battle when it comes to taking care of ourselves. And then for women, there's also the feminist issues of going into the kitchen, of choosing where we spend our time and energy (that's a whole blog post of its own!).
I'm now ready to face the challenges head on, like my role models and so many others have done. (http://www.daniellelaporte.com/when-you-are-ready/). I've gotten to know my reasons, my blocks, my hopes, my fears around eating well and living well. Now it is time to dive into them, to work through them, and somehow I just know that the key to this is finding the right fuel for my body. Finding out what makes my cells sing (!) will show what lights me up, and transform my world, taking me to parts of myself I didn't know existed, and set my Juicy Soul freeeeeeeeeee!
(http://kriscarr.com/)
(http://www.daniellelaporte.com/truthbomb/)
(http://www.marieforleo.com/)
(http://gabbyb.tv/)