Beautiful Souls, I am back to making consistent videos :) My guidance as of recently is to make a video every Wednesday, and so I will do that! This is the first video in a series called "Practical Miracles". If you would like to watch these videos subscribe to my youtube, or like my fanpage on facebook.

​I am feeling extremely blessed at the moment and I am feeling called to share my mind.
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This morning was tough. I hit a peak in emotion. This seems to happen during my "monthly" time, when I haven't expressed myself enough during the month and I need to get it out. Yet instead of it being constructive or helpful in my communication,  I lash out. I forget what IS and I focus on what  I think the negatives are in my life. I am blinded by them and I literally forget the purpose for which my life is lived for. 
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When days like today happen, my experience of my life shifts to seeing everything as dark and without answer. I experience  lack and self hate. Feeling doubt, confused and sad. I project this hate on my partner.
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As my day progresses, what happens for me Thank God, is that I blatantly notice the intensity of how I feel.  I realize I do not like how I feel and that I don't want to feel this way. 
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I seek to change this state  and know I can because I have learned that "I am responsible for how I feel and what I think." I also realize that my emotions are an effect of my thinking, so I ask in these times to be conscious of what I AM thinking so I can change my thoughts.
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​I affirm my responsibility and willingness to look at my thoughts.....and slowly, as the energy calms down... I become open to talking about it... and thats when the change starts to happen....

I have been listening to the audio-book Creativity Inc. By Ed Catmull. He is the co-founder and president of Pixar. There is much about his position in Pixar as well as Disney, that correlates with my role in MakeShyft. I am learning so much about how he was able to lead his group of 800 employees to not only succeed in this new field of computer animated movies, but also the inside scoop of Pixar's (and now Disney's) flourishing work culture. Its fascinating, and I am constantly picking up practical and helpful tips from this book.  

Ed mentioned his experience with annual week long silent meditation retreats. He said that this video by Kelly McGonigal, a professor at Stanford University, opened his mind to the power and influence meditation has on ones own mind and the ability to overcome all suffering. I felt compelled to watch it. As soon as I did, I saw how there is endless scientific proof that meditation helps to over come not just existential suffering, but physical suffering, in those who adopt a daily mediation practice. 

In the last year I have been vigilant for my own regular meditation practice. I meditate for 5 minutes in the morning to start my day (I would aim to do at least 20 mins, but its difficult with a toddler so it varies everyday), and about 20 mins before I go to bed at night. I often use the Calm App (calm.com) to time my meditation. I do not listen to the guided meditations, but only the timed meditations with soft soothing music in the background as well as a chime to mark the end of the session. Its wonderful.  The effects its had on the consistency in my mind for peace and the intense focus I have in my work and daily life tasks, is immeasurable. I cannot express how important it is to use meditation to train our minds to not only release ourselves from suffering, but help to release others once we are free. Meditation is a power we have today, now, to use to improve the quality of our lives. This video helps to bring it all into right perspective. Enjoy. 

I felt it was time to write a blog about the link I have found between Faith ( in an all-loving, benevolent Source) and Quantum Science. 

Ever since I was a young girl, I have been fascinated by science. I would spend hours pouring liquids into other liquids, and adding elements to watch things change, come together, flow apart. I wasn't ever sure what it was, but I knew there was a deep pull to understand the sciences to help me to understand life itself. I read many books, watched many videos and soon became passionate about quantum physics. I started to realize that a universe of universes and a governing intelligence of all things made perfect sense. I wanted to know more about the level of the world we cannot see with our eyes. Since my quantum intrigue came later in life, it was too late to become a scientist. The next greatest thing I came to realize, was to ask the right questions and have an EXPERIENCE that opened my mind to learn through the science of my own psychology, and through a direct personal relationship with the Universe itself. 

The way my life unfolded was I placed myself in a moment in time where I had to make new choice for my life and what I wanted to do. I abandoned my old plan and pain that came along with it. I had no plan B, only a deep inner trust that I was being told what my next steps are to take and I must follow it. I was  almost "forced" to trust the Universe so completely with my everything, and felt (thankfully) like I had no choice but to grab onto faith and run with it. Faith led me to travel the world, have friends and relationships grounded in trust, cooperation and joy. It led me to my perfect life partner, our incredible world-changing company and a life and daughter that I am so so grateful to wake up to everyday. Faith has led me to be happy and have everything I ever wanted. How you might ask? Because I stepped outside of the small box with which I was thinking about my self and my life, and was insistent that there must be a better way and that this better way would happen through me. It started with helping myself understand the power of my mind, then helping others 1 on 1 to learn the same, then in groups, then online through videos, and then through the every day practice of spiritual, faith based teachings that I applied in my life, relationships and in my work every day. It became a way of living and a way of asking questions.  Faith became a way of seeing, that continued to lead me to the greatest outcome for me and those around me. I could not not trust and have faith, for it was carrying me to places that only blessed me and gave me positive hope and vision of all the people of our world.  To me faith is not necessarily linked with a religion, as religion can often be contradictory in its teachings and not "proven" in the way that science can prove things. So faith to me is a simple trust in the power of the universe for which we are a part; Interwoven between all things we see and cannot see. It is the faith that there must be something beyond just time and space, and there must be something to this mysterious connectivity of all things on earth and beyond. This to me, the connectivity between all things, is where science and faith come together. 

Today there seems to be a global conversation around Mental Illness #LetsTalk.

I am happy to see that people are speaking out about Mental Illness. It really is a topic that has been taboo for far too long. I have taken this opportunity to express how I see both mental illness and its treatment.

I have come to learn that the human condition, is a mental illness. We are all taught so much from our confused, competitive and crazy world around us, that when we accept these things as true, we are crazy too. This label "mental illness" is an umbrella for so many things that signify a much needed mind shift. On the surface it looks different for all-- depression, apathy, schizophrenia, addiction, bipolar, anxiety, narcissism, fear in general-- even abusers or murderers or extremists fall under this category of "needing help" or "needing to shift out of their current state of mind". Underneath it all, we are NOT these labels and this mental illness is NOT what we are.

I have come to learn that there is a way to overcome what all the world experiences as mental illness in varying levels and degrees. 

It was in 2010 that I made a choice to have a new relationship with food. Prior to that new choice, I would eat quick, seemingly "healthy" meals scattered through out the day, and then binge eat in the evening from hunger, impatience and the unconscious desire to see myself as guilty for something.  I would yo-yo in weight and confidence, hating on myself the more I would repeat the cycle.

After my new choice to love myself and love food, I realized that eating is an active part of everyone's day, or at least it should be; and devoting time to its creation is necessary for ones own well-being.  I began to see that in giving time to this activity, I could bless myself with nutritious-delicious meals and bless others with it too. We could also enjoy our time together, and laugh and converse over a meal. It became a joy to cook. A fun way to express my creativity and love for food and people.

I have since been learning how to cook through experimentation, friends tricks and tips, food blogs and youtube videos. Its been a self learning study, where I have used my own kitchen to experiment for at least 3 meals  and one dessert a day. Throughout the process I have been taught how to re-think about food and have transformed my relationship to it. Now food is to enjoy, to give and to help to heal through initiation of communication and medicinal properties.

Eating food that is loving to animals, the environment and our bodies; acts as the effect of the choice to be healthy in body, mind and spirit. In this way, through cooking, we can give to live a happy healthy life. 

I have shared my food with many people. We have lived with many people, shared evenings and potlucks and celebrations with many many people. Anytime some one tries my food the response I often get is :" This is the best ___ I have ever had." Its followed by the want of the recipe(s). This was mirroring to me the persistent mentioning of how great my food is from Tom. I thought he was biased with how much he raved about my cooking, but it turns out his opinions are not his alone. I am starting to believe him too now :)

More and more I am cooking and loving the act and the meals!  I am grateful to God to have turned my pains and self hating into a proactive action to serve and to bless. 

I am now taking the time to put all the recipes I have created together in a book! I am now writing a Cookbook called "Whole and Healthy Kitchen." Sharing with people how to eat whole foods for a healthy lifestyle.  This past week Tom, Ella and I stayed at friends Kevin and Adrienne's and I made food for all of us to enjoy through out the days together. I learned a few tricks off youtube prior to going, in how to use my phone for food photography, and I think the pics turned out pretty well. :) All around the days spent together were amazing, and the food was just a bonus!

So I will continue to cook and bake and love. Letting my creativity be expressed in this way is exiting! I am grateful to be writing this book! Peace and Love to all the world.