I know I’ve posted about gratitude before. I’m sure there have been a few gratitude lists and explanations, but it is worth revisiting because I truly believe it is one of the simplest, most effective and yet undervalued tools for emotional transformation. It is a fundamentally spiritual tool- by putting out there what AMAZINGNESS already exists in your life, you open up to more of it!
For me, part of recognizing that love is in having a grateful heart. It’s hard for me to be conscious of the good in my life if I don’t work at it.
Today I am grateful for:
1. Rebounder. I picked up a cheapy one last week and I love it! I like how I can jump for short spurts all throughout the day and I really feel like it gets things moving on all kinds of levels. Love it! Can’t wait to work up to being able to jump for a really long time!!
2. The simple truth that movement begets move never. Isn’t one of the basic laws of physics that an object in motion stays in motion? The short, doable bursts of exercise that I’ve been doing make me want to keep doing it! I absolutely love that feeling
3. My life thus far. All of it- EVERY wart makes me who I am now. All those times I suffered, feeling like I wasn’t good enough, pretty enough, whatever enough- Thank You.
4. The people who came to my talk tonight. Thank you for allowing me to share my truth with you. There are many things I get excited about, and eating greens is one of them!
5. That soup Dan made tonight! I don’t know what all it had, but I know it was celery, kale and potato cooked in a vegetable broth some medicinal herbs like astragalus, maca and goji berry, then blended. It felt incredibly nourishing to my body after a long, long day and sick people all around.
YES!!
I don’t really blog about anything business related as this blog is quite personal. I guess it is inevitable that the two intersect here and there as building Sacred Strawberry, raw food business, is an integral part of my life, about which I blog here.
Over a month into launching my little start-up and deciding to run a stall at the Farmer’s Market, it is amazing to see community being built all around. You see everything from business deals being negotiated to first dates being considered and of course many friendships forming. And generosity by the truck-load. No matter what you might think, you don’t vend at such a place just for the money. Most vendors do it because they give a shit! They do it because they believe in not only eating locally, but in building local economies and communities of support. You just simply don’t raise vegetables in the Louisiana summer heat and humidity for the money alone. Some of the nicest, most genuine people I have met are farmers at the market. One of our suppliers, the wonderful couple out at Thompson Farms ( I can’t find an online presence or else I would link them!) gave us an enormous box of heirloom tomatoes because they couldn’t sell them and thought we could do something with them!
They may not be the prettiest, but they are the ripest, juiciest, tastiest tomatoes I have ever had! We have also been given greens, beans, squash, lemongrass and even flowers from other farmers down there. We try to reciprocate and have given away kale chips and superfood truffles to people who might not have ever tried them!
Above and beyond that, it really is incredible to see and feel the difference between the anonymity and disconnection that comes from trading at a big box store in a strip mall and striking up a conversation with the person who either grew or made your food. I absolutely love seeing familiar faces around my stall! That sort of positive feedback not only makes me think “wow, they liked my food!” but it also keeps you honest, striving to do better and be more creative! So a big huge thank you hug to my customers, naysayers, competitors, suppliers, farmers and fellow vendors. Without ALL of you, it just wouldn’t be the same.
Nag champa incense smell in the bedroom. Not living in our own house right now is challenging, but walking into our bedroom and being enveloped in this scent makes me happy. It energetically feels like it makes the space ours even though we are surrounded by my mothers things.
New books! I look at them as an investment. Personally and professionally, never stop striving to do better than ever! Education is key in this endeavor .
Rosemary Gladstar- Medicinal Herbs A Beginner’s Guide
Now, while I wouldn’t exactly call myself a beginner, I have never read one of her books and it is always fun to review the fundamentals of ANY topic you love! I love discovering new techniques and approaches to things I do well 🙂
Superfood Kitchen- Julie Morris Same thing here as above. I love reading new recipes with ingredients I use daily! When you discover a new combination of flavors or textures, it is so exciting! The Law of Divine Compensation- Marianne Williamson
I have so much baggage around the topic of success, especially financial. It stems from a history of simply not valuing myself and I have worked hard over the last few years to overcome it. I chose this book because I still have a lot of resistance to actually choosing to love myself and value my gifts.
Smoothies- I seem to have gotten my smoothie groove back. Here are a few I posted to Instagram
Frozen blueberry and banana, hemp seeds, coconut water, Malabar spinach from the garden, pomegranate powder and Ormus supergreens.
Frozen banana and peach, Malabar spinach, local kale,fresh stevia leaf from the garden, moringa leaf powder, sprouted flaxseed, medjool dates and coconut water.
Young coconut meat and water, frozen banana, strawberry, strawberry powder, lucuma, Yumberry powder, and Medicine Flower strawberry extract. Shared with a special Littles in her special sippy cup.
And then there was this:
Carrot Cake made with coconut, hazelnut pulp, carrot pulp, dried pineapple, dates, lucuma, mesquite, coconut sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and clove.
Frosting made with cashews, coconut sugar, vanilla, probiotic powder and spring water, gently fermented and then chilled. So freaking awesome ;). I am loving the leftover cream with all the fresh berries from the Farmer’s Market.
Lots of work to do before getting ready for tomorrow’s market so off I go!
I really just cannot get it together for Wednesday posts, can I? The saving grace is that there is always another opportunity to do it over and that there is no time like the present to do so. So here we go, Thankful Thursday today. And I am grateful for so many things! This week has been especially hard due to some family health issues that are really quite serious and sad but I am really trying to focus on the wonderful aspects of my life and not dwell on the negatives.
1. Time with my family and daughter. I have been so, so blessed to be in a situation where I have been able to care for Amethyst at home with her daddy. We have made some sacrifices for sure and have no income to speak of at the moment but Amethyst gets to be with not only us but her grandparents for the first part of her life. Our life and financial situation won’t look like this forever, but we are really trying to enjoy every moment we spend with her and together.
2. I got accepted to vend at the Shreveport Farmers Market this year! That means that this summer I will be able to share my food with people other than my immediate family and friends and I am happy to no end! Regardless of it makes money, I am really looking forward to the experience of learning and meeting some new people. So stoked!!!
3. My Vita-mix. Man, after years of using crap blenders (and some not so crap ones) and burning out motors, breaking jugs and whatever else can possibly go wrong, I have to say that my vita-mix has never, ever let me down. Even when I use it for non-optimal uses. Like making raw brownies for which I really need a new food processor. I use the vita-mix probably 5 times per day on average. Love it hard