Manifest in Two Easy Steps Step 1: Manifest Manifestation and the The Law of Attraction (LOA) have gained a lot of attention and momentum lately. This is great, LOA is life changing. I want more people to experience the benefits manifestation can offer! …
Our society’s view on negative emotions is skewed, negative emotions have been given a bad rap. We haven’t been taught how vital negative emotions are to human growth. They help guide us live satisfying lives aligned with our core values. They need to be felt …
At first you were scary.
I didn’t understand why
My body was betraying me.
I tried to curl up and hide.
4am, I can’t sleep
My breathing won’t slow down.
My stomach turns,
The tension hurts
I’m not on solid ground.
My head spins
Further down
relentlessly.
My mind no longer a safe place to be.
And then I realized,
these feelings are coming from inside of me.
I trust me,
how bad can they be?
My body would never betray me, it has carried me all this way.
My body would never betray me,
What is it trying to say?
I replace the fear with curiosity
I invite her into my bed
What are you trying to tell me?
What’s going on in my head?
I listened, heard all she had to say.
I promised I wouldn’t ignore her,
Say all you have to say.
Anxiety can be scary, especially when all else is quiet.
Her screams to be heard are relatable,
Repression forces one to grow stronger.
I invite her into my bed,
I give her a seat at my table.
I promise I won’t ignore her,
say all that you have to say.
The more she was heard, the less angry she became
My breathing slowed.
I slept with anxiety.
Turns out, she’s just like you & me.
Sometimes life gets heavy. “Negative emotions” get strong and prevent us from feeling like ourselves. I put negative emotions in quotations because I think they’ve been given the short end of the stick. Negative emotions are vital to human growth and development. They communicate things …
Thai noodles are severely, and I cannot emphasis this enough-severely, underrated. I was 23 years old the first time I had Pad Thai. 23 years of a Pad Thai free life. Blasphemy. We can’t change the past, but I’m making up for it now. Pad Thai inspired recipes are my favorite to make. An added bonus of this dish is making it at home is a lot healthier than take-out (but honestly sometimes you just want take out). The Sauce makes everything taste good, it even makes cauliflower rice delicious (and that, my friends, is not an easy task). Once you know the ingredients to use (limes, coconut aminos, rice vinegar, peanut butter, maybe sprinkle in some fish sauce if you’re feeling real fancy) it’s easy to make!
You can add whatever protein you want to these noodles. Chicken, steak, tofu, shrimp, salmon, eggs- the world is your oyster. Same goes for veggies. Take a look in your fridge or freezer and add whatever is looking good. Chop some nuts (any kind: almonds, pine nuts, peanuts- but maybe not walnuts?) to add on top and your taste buds will be dancing.
To be transparent, I rarely measure while cooking. I add ingredients and taste until I come up something yummy. However, I understand that’s not entirely helpful to someone who has never made Pad Thai before (don’t fret, this was me two years ago) so see below for a recipe!
You’ll need a large pan and a pot to cook your noodles in.
I especially like this recipe because it uses one pan, easy clean-up is my love language.
Grate 3 tblsp fresh ginger. Ginger has always felt boujee to me. It’s not, but to me it feels slightly inaccessible. I think it’s because I grew up in an Italian household, garlic was everywhere. But I don’t think I even knew was ginger was until I was 15 and had sushi for the first time. I digress. Ginger takes this dish to another level. If you don’t have ginger its fine, it’ll still taste good.
Chop your veggies. Carrots, mushrooms and onions are my go-tos. I normally add spinach for some greens. Any vegetables will do.
Cook your protein in a large pan. I frequently use chopped organic chicken breasts or shrimp. Sautéed in oil (olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil) (I would stay away from canola oil, palm oil or soybean oil) until chicken is fully cooked. Take chicken out and move to a bowl off to the side.
saute your veggies until soft. Move veggies to the side of the pan and crack eggs directly into pan. Scramble eggs directly in pan. Once eggs are cooked, mix them with the veggies residing in the other half of the pan.
Cook your noodles according to the directions on the box. I like thin rice noodles. You can use whatever noodles you want. Zoodles also work. Or do half noodles half zoodles. Again, your world, your oyster.
To make your sauce, whisk together until combined, the juice from 2 limes, fresh ginger, ½ cup rice vinegar, ½ cup organic coconut aminos, 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, 1 tbsp fish oil, 2 tbsp peanut butter (try to get one with just peanuts in it-no extra, unnecessary stuff), 1 tbsp red chili flakes, 1 tsp salt (use Himalayan, it’s pink-we love that for us).
In the pan (or in a large bowl, if pan is full) mix together all ingredients, fresh ginger, and the sauce. Top with chopped nuts and a lime wedge. Peanuts are traditional, truffle almonds from trader joes are magical.
Raise your hand if you love fried rice! if so, you’ll love this easy to make cauliflower fried rice! I usually hate vegetables claiming to be grains but this was bomb and packed with protein & healthy fats. See below for the recipe!–Sauté chopped garlic, …
We are unintentionally conditioned from when we are young to believe that our happiness is dependent upon our accomplishments. When we got As on our tests, we were told we were worthy; when we scored a goal in soccer we were applauded; when we did our hair well or wore a nice outfit, we received attention. There is nothing wrong with doing well, achieving our goals and feeling pride in doing so. However, it’s not sustainable to always be doing our best. We are not always going to be achieving something others deem worthy of applause. We have to learn to clap for ourselves.
Somewhere along the way, our brains translated the extrinsic validation we received after “doing well” to mean we were happy. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes we are happy. And there is nothing wrong with validation, relationships are based on validation and growth. Sometimes we work hard for the right reasons and achieving our goals makes us genuinely satisfied. But other times, we chase external validation and praise to fulfill us, to tell us we are whole, to prove to others and ourselves we are doing alright.
What I began to realize as I got older is external happiness, happiness based on things going well for me, is fleeting. We reach one goal and we’re artificially happy for a while. Living off the high of other’s praise we’re able to convince ourselves that we’re on the right track. But like all highs, it’s temporary. It’s only a matter of time before we’re stuck in our own heads wondering why we still feel unfulfilled. We assume it’s because we did something wrong, or something is wrong with us. We think we haven’t accomplished enough; we aren’t worthy of lasting happiness yet; we have to work harder. We tell ourselves lies like: when I make six figures, that’s when I’ll be happy, when I have a baby that’s when it’ll all come together, when I find the perfect partner, when I fit into those jeans, that’ll be the moment I’ll surely be content. And then we’re off pursuing the next goal. The one that will most definitely bring us peace. As we grow into adults these goals transition from getting As in math to having nice kitchens or getting an office with a window or having kids who get As and score soccer goals.
Here’s the thing, chasing validation outside of yourself will never make you truly happy. Happiness based on other people, conditions or things is unreliable, it can always be taken away. What matters are the things inside of you. The things that will be with you always. The love you have for yourself. The inspired actions that make you, you.
We have to learn to be content even when we aren’t moving mountains. To be happy when the most we did all day was get out of bed. This is tricky, balance is key. After two months of doing nothing but watching Netflix and chilling, we likely aren’t going to be feeling our best. Balance is difficult to learn, but is important to living an authentically happy life. What is a good balance for one person may not be good for you. Life is about trial and error, constantly tweaking variables so you can feel your best. Being willing to recognize when something that served you in the past is no longer serving you in the present.
When you start basing your happiness on you, when you start listening to the voice deep in your gut, you’ll start chasing the things that truly set your heart on fire. Things that make your face light up.
At first, it’s hard to know what your individual soul really wants from what you’ve been conditioned all your life to value. For example, getting a job at a law firm with a good reputation as an entry level attorney made me pretty happy at the time. But that happiness was gone in a matter of weeks, then I was onto the next project. Did I actually want the job with the good title or was I doing it for how it looked to others? Helping my grandmother do her make up for my cousins wedding made me happy in a different way, maybe not as intense but that happiness will never fade. It doesn’t demand anything else from me. I was content with just that moment, I wasn’t looking for another moment to chase.
I don’t have a guide for what will make you truly feel happy, it’s different for everyone. But what I can tell you is that the more you love yourself, the more moments you’ll experience that will make you feel truly alive. Truly present in your life. Those are the moments that you’ll carry with you forever. That is your happiness.
Winnie takes up whatever space she needs at that present moment (in this instance the entire camera scene, in others the entire door to the feed room). We should learn from her. People are afraid to take up too much space in their own lives. …
