Source: Elephant Journal

Today I’d like to share a lesson from my Om Vinyasa class yesterday. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and reflect for a minute.

Prayer does not change the situation for you, it changes you for the situation.

It’s inevitable. We are going to have things thrown at us in life that takes us off course and shakes us up a bit. Remember, God will not give you more than He thinks you can handle. I saw something on Pinterest (obviously) that expanded on that notion and added, “God must think I’m a badass”. Guess what? You are! We become stronger individuals from being shaken up a bit in life and we can pray that the situation will change, but really it’s us that will adapt, face the issue we are dealing with head on and find peace through prayer, meditation and reflection.

Happy Sunday!

Hard worker.

Family man, loving husband, father, grandfather and friend.

Today we pay tribute to a man who embodied all of these characteristics and more.

My grandfather knew no limits to the value of hard work and commitment, whether it be within his career, his family, or his marriage. He was a man who instilled the strong values that our family upholds today. He is a man that I had, and will always have, great respect for.

A year and a half ago we had the opportunity to share in the celebration of my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary, which I wrote about here. To see the love between them throughout my life and on their anniversary has been so inspiring and so beautiful to watch. Together, they truly enjoyed all that life had to offer. Over the past couple of months as my grandfather’s health has declined, my grandmother has shown so much strength as she became the visual of “in sickness and in health, till death do us part”. I watched her as she cared for the person who was her rock and her world for so long. As February 14th rolled around, my grandma sat next to my grandpa and, for the last time, spent Valentine’s Day by his side.

As saddened as I am to say good-bye to this wonderful man, his legacy will continue to live on through the lessons he has taught us, the love that he has shared with us and the enormous impact he has made on our family. I am truly blessed and fortunate to have had him as my grandfather and I am proud to have been his granddaughter.

May you rest in peace grandpa and as you watch over us from above, know that you will continue to be loved and missed every single day.

You’re asking yourself, “Every day??” Oh, yes. Most of the time in rare form, from a spoon (actually finger), straight from the jar. So,see ya later peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, and any others that fall into that category! I’ll see you all in 40 days. In which I will probably host a party…BYOJ (bring your own jar).

…and to think, I almost gave up chocolate. I’m hoping God will understand. Who would start Lent and give up chocolate during PMS?? Only a crazy person.

“You know what I felt this morning, Delia? Nothing. No passion, no spark, no faith, no heat, no nothing! I think I’ve really gotten past the point where I can be calling this a ‘bad moment’… This is worse than death to me, the idea that this is the person I’m going to be from now on… There’s like nothing – I have no pulse!”
“I used to have this appetite for food, for my life, and it is just gone! I want to go someplace where I can marvel at something, anything.”
“I am not checking out. I need to change.” – Liz

Liz: Let me ask you something. In all the times that you’ve undressed in front of a gentleman, has he ever asked you to leave?
Sofi: No.
Liz: No – exactly! Because he doesn’t care. He’s in a room with a naked girl. He’s won the lottery! I’m so tired of saying no, and waking up in the morning and recalling everything I ate the day before – counting every calorie I consumed so I know exactly how much self-loathing to take into the shower. I’m going for it. I have no interest in being obese, I’m just through with the guilt. So, here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to finish this pizza, and tomorrow, we’re going to buy ourselves some bigger jeans.

“It feels like a precious wound, like a heartbreak you won’t let go of because it hurts too good. We all want things to stay the same, David; settle for living in misery because we’re afraid of change, of things crumbling to ruins. Then I looked around in this place [the Augusteum], at the chaos its endured – the way it has been adapted, burned, pillaged and found a way to build itself back up again. And I was reassured that maybe my life hasn’t been so chaotic; it’s just the world that is and the only real trap is getting attached to any of it. Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation… We must always be prepared for endless waves of transformation. Both of us deserve better than staying together because we’re afraid we’ll be destroyed if we don’t.“ – Liz

“You have to learn to select your thoughts the same way that you select your clothes every day. Now that’s a power that you can cultivate… because if you can’t master your thoughts, you’re in trouble.” – Richard

“In the end, I’ve come to believe in something I call the ‘physics of the quest’, a force in nature governed by the laws of gravity. The rules of quest physics goes something like this: If you’re brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting and set out on a truth seeking journey either internally or externally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared most of all to face and forgive some of the most difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you.” – Liz

“You want to know your problem? Americans! You work too hard, you get burned out. Then you come home and spend the whole weekend in your PJs in front of the TV! … But you don’t know pleasure. You have to be told you’ve earned it. An Italian doesn’t need to be told.” – Italian Inn Keeper

“The only thing more impossible than staying was leaving. I didn’t want to hurt anybody. I wanted to slip quietly out the back door and not stop until I reached Greenland. Instead, I made a decision.” - Liz

Music in the soul can be heard by the universe. - Lao Tzu 

Now that we are a week into November I guess I should officially announce and explain the start of OM-vember!

Everyone take a breath. For one full minute, just focus on taking slow, long, deep breaths. Wow, doesn’t that feel good? Now, let’s continue.

It’s no secret that my life has been a whirlwind over the past seven months and it’s likely that yours has been too (or will be with the upcoming holiday season). It’s easy to lose control. To be overcome and overwhelmed by the daily stresses we encounter. We all have them, so don’t feel you are alone in feeling this way. Whether it be work, kids, family, busy schedules, a new job, losing a job, relationship problems, etc., we all can get caught up in the tailspin of life and we forget to breathe. We forget to focus on all the good that is surrounding us in our lives.

Negativity breeds negativity and if you don’t control it, it will control you. So, I’ve decided to devote the month of November toward letting go. Let go of whatever is bringing you down or holding you back and focus on the things you can change and change them. The way I am doing this is by making the following a priority on a daily or weekly basis.

Journal
Express gratitude
Meditate
Return to my yoga practice
Blog
Read

By incorporating one or all of these on a regular basis, I already feel more calm after a week. Changing the way you think and the way you approach life won’t change overnight though. My hope for myself is that all of these things will become second nature to me after making them a focus for a period of time. They will become habits and a way of life.

So, welcome to OM-vember! Should you want to participate, I would love to hear how you are removing stressors from your life. Follow me on Twitter @trehops and tweet me with the hashtag #OMvember.

Normally when it comes to a dietary change I welcome the new way of life and let it challenge my way of thinking and open my eyes to a new way of eating and cooking. This, for some reason threw me for a slight loop. Before, it was a choice I was making for my beliefs and my health. I chose to be vegan, I chose to be vegetarian, but with this, my body made the choice for me. I’m being forced to be gluten-free.

Like in my last post though, we must not let a road block throw us completely off course. So now, when my body is telling me that it can’t handle gluten, I have decided to embrace the challenge and I look forward to it sparking some new creativity in the kitchen. I’ve shared many of my vegan and vegetarian recipes with you and hopefully I can now show you how simple and satiating a gluten-free diet can be. Stay tuned for recipes, product reviews and tips as I learn about, and adjust to, a gluten free way of living.

Let go of the ways you thought life would unfold
The holding of plans or dreams or expectations
Let it all go.
Save your strength to swim with the tide.
The choice to fight what is here before you now will only result
In struggle, fear and desperate attempts to flee from
the very energy you long for.
Let it go. Let it all go and
Flow with the grace that washed through your days
Whether you received it gently or with all your quills raised to defend against invaders.
Take this on faith:
The mind may never find the explanations that it seeks
But you will move forward nonetheless.
Let go and the wave’s crest will carry you to unknown shores beyond your wildest dreams or destinations.
Let it all go and find the place
Of rest and peace and certain transformation.

- Danna Faulds

We must let go of the image in our heads of how we feel life is supposed to be or we will continue to feel trapped by the box we have created around us.

Now that’s an opening ceremony! I’m not sure what was going on during the real one last Friday evening…

The Olympics bring out the inner athlete in everyone. We begin reliving our “glory” days of when we played sports and suddenly become expert judges when watching that sport during the games.

Sometimes, it’s not about sports at all, but about sparking a little friendly competition wherever you can find it. In this case….

we had a bake off.

An abundance of leftover, very ripe bananas from the office fruit basket naturally led to trash talking about who makes the best banana bread. So, the challenge was set. Game on.

Brace yourself. I was defeated. Did you fall out of your chair? Yeah, I was shocked too. But,apparently that boy can bake!

Well done Andy.

Readers, don’t think I will be going down without a fight. There will be another round.