Author: lunchroomlitigation

Be Proud of Your Climb

Be Proud of Your Climb

If you feel stuck right now, remember it’s the small steps you take towards your goals that make all the difference. If you’re having a hard time taking small steps in the right direction towards your goals or identifying which goals will serve you best, contact me to learn more about coaching. Investing in yourself and your quality of life will have a monumental impact in all areas of your life.

Meeting Your Needs

Meeting Your Needs

At the end of the day the only person responsible for your life, for your happiness, and your wellbeing is you. So, get comfortable meeting your needs. That doesn’t mean you have to handle everything yourself. It also doesn’t mean you can’t rely on others to meet your needs. What it does mean is it is your responsibility to reach out to others and tell them what you need. It means it’s up to you to identify when situations are and are not working for you. It’s up to you to build support systems for yourself and to respond when your needs are not being met. It’s up to you to show up for yourself.

Where are you focusing your energy?

Where are you focusing your energy?

Think of your energy as food for whatever it is you focus on. What you focus on grows because you’re feeding it. So be intentional. Your energy & focus are finite resources, you only have a certain amount each day. Put them into the things you want to see grow.

At the beginning of the day, contemplate and journal about what you would like to put your energy and focus towards. At the end of the day ask yourself and journal about where did you put your energy and focus.

 

Take an audit of your life today and see where your energy is being used. Are you being drawn into other people’s problems, the news, social media? Where are you expending your precious energy and focus? This is energy that could be used to reach your own personal goals. Instead of scrolling social media you could be connecting with your partner. Instead of getting sucked into drama you can be getting your work done. Put your energy into things that are going to fill your cup or leave you feeling accomplished, not drained.

 

It’s not about fighting the old, it’s about creating the new

It’s not about fighting the old, it’s about creating the new

Gentle reminder: You don’t need to fight the old in order to do things differently. Simply put your energy into doing things in a new way. Lovingly release what’s no longer serving you and turn towards what is.

How to Create a Bad Mood Tool Box

How to Create a Bad Mood Tool Box

Just as pilots plot their routes before take-off and have a GPS to help them navigate if the weather turns, you too can plot a way out of your bad mood before it happens. Create a bad mood tool box that contains a list of things you can run through to help you navigate your way out of the bad mood cloud and back to enjoying life. This bad mood tool box will be your guide back to inner peace.

Create a Good Things Photo Album

Create a Good Things Photo Album

This practice is a game changer. Creating a place where you can look at things that bring you joy is a simple and effective way to bring your focus out of the things that are wrong and into all the things that are going right. To create a “good things” space in your phone simply create an album in photos and label it “good things.” For a week, take a picture or video of things that make you feel good and put them into the good things album. These good things can be anything from pizza and puppies to spring flowers, a video of your favorite candle burning, or your favorite TV show’s theme song. After the week, occasionally update your good things album. If, for instance, you’re lying in bed after an awesome dinner with your friends and you happen to have a picture from the evening, add it to the album.

Creating a good things space has a few benefits. For one, when you’re making the album, you’re training your brain to focus on and put more time and energy into the good things in your life. This will help change your inner dialogue to one that focuses on all the things going right for you. Resulting in a positive impact on your overall quality and satisfaction of life. Second, when you find yourself in a bad mood, struggling to do hard things, or feeling like everything is going wrong you can look at the pictures to remind yourself of all the things you love in your life. Focusing on these joyful moments will remind you of how you were feeling when you experienced them. Have you ever looked back on a time you were embarrassed and cringed? You can do the same thing with positive memories. You can look back on happy moments and feel as happy as if they had just happened. The good things space reminds you, even though things can get tough, that there are aspects of your life that you love. The good things album is a great tool to have at the ready when you’re in a bad mood, in a funk you want to get out of, or doing hard things. For more tips on how to create a bad mood tool box, click here. And remember, you got this. 

A gentle reminder to focus on the good

A gentle reminder to focus on the good

It’s a great day to focus on all the things going right in your life ☀️ Your mind likes to draw your focus to what’s wrong/to do lists/what’s missing but you can change this. Focus on the good. Ruminate on the good. Think about everything 

Rock and a hard place

Rock and a hard place

Do you feel like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place? Is something causing you frustration and you don’t know what to do about it? Have you searched and thought but still can’t find the right answer? If you thought through every angle, 

How to Make Homemade Cavatelli

How to Make Homemade Cavatelli

Some people show their love with gifts or words of affirmation, I show it with homemade pasta. I got this recipe from the blog The Clean Eating Couple. The owner of the website has tons of great recipes, you should definitely check it out-i’ll link her blog post here. The only thing I changed from Liz’s recipe is I like to use half white flour and half whole wheat. Either way, it’s delicious! Cavatelli is the perfect place to start if you want to make homemade pasta. You don’t need any fancy machinery, just a simple pasta board you can get for $9.00 on Amazon. This would be a great recipe to make with your family if you’re looking for fun things to do together! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb whole milk ricotta
  • 2 cups white flour
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • ½ tbsp salt
  • 2/3 cup water
  • A cavatelli pasta board (8$ on amazon, i’ll link the one I use here

Directions:

  • Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. At first the dough will be sticky but work the dough squeezing it together for about 2 minutes.
  • After the dough is formed into a ball, turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for another 1-2 minutes. This helps the dough to become smoother.
  • Set dough aside and add more flour to your surface.
  • Take about 2 tbsps. of dough and roll into a thin strip, about ½ inch thick.
  • Using a scissor or knife, cut the strips into small balls (smaller than a dime).
  • Toss the balls with flour and then use the pasta tool to shape balls into cavatelli shapes. Form the shapes by pressing and rolling the balls down onto the pasta shaper.
  • Place the cavatelli on a floured baking sheet as you’re making them-shaking the sheet every few minutes to make sure they’re not sticking to one another.
  • Put the cavatelli on the baking sheet in the freezer for 1 hour.
  • When the cavatelli are frozen, pour them into a mesh strainer. Shake the excess flour off of them.
  • Store in a Ziplock bag or container in the freezer until ready to eat.
  • When you’re ready to cook the pasta, boil salted water in a pot. Add cavatelli to boiling water and cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until cavatelli float to the top of the pot.
  • Add sauce of your choosing & enjoy!
How to Make Homemade Cavatelli
How to Make Homemade Cavatelli
How to Make Homemade Cavatelli
How to Make Homemade Cavatelli
How to Make Homemade Cavatelli
How to Make Homemade Cavatelli
How to Make Homemade Cavatelli
How to Make Homemade Cavatelli
What is Your Best?

What is Your Best?

Do your best. We hear this statement often. And what does it mean? Feeling you did your best should enable you to go to sleep at night feeling fulfilled and satisfied with the activities you engaged in that day. Wanting to do your best encourages you to put forth the effort needed to meet your goals. How do you define your best? The answer depends on your individual goals and gets harder to navigate the more you look outside yourself for the meaning.