MindSet Challenge 2017

I have been getting down on myself and I can recognize the patterns. It is time to change my mindset. So, along with doing my whole30 challenge group every month this next month will be special. Starting April 1st (this coming saturday) I will be incorporating the miracle morning into my routine. This is a #mindsetchallenge and I will be committing myself to 30 days of the miracle morning.

April will be all about whole foods and whole mindset. If you haven't heard of the the miracle morning check out the site. You can buy the whole book or enter your email address and get the two chapters free that you need to get started. The goal of the miracle morning is to give yourself time every day with the intention of bettering your world. The rules: wake up at least 30 min earlier (the book recommends 1 hour but I am going to start with 30 min) and give yourself 5 minutes each with each task.

The tasks: Silence, Affirmations, Visualizations, Exercise, Reading, and Scribing (journal). The two downloadable chapters give more information on each of these things but I will give you a brief intro of what I do. I like to do my silence, affirmations and visualizations after I journal. I like to get all my thoughts out on paper and then use those thoughts to create my affirmations for the day. After this I like to read from an educational book  (I really use this time to better myself physically, emotionally and mentally) lastly I go for a nice walk around the block. If I am lucky my kids are still asleep and I can sneak out while everyone is resting and go for a quiet walk. What I notice is that I cannot seem to pay attention to my music. Business ideas and family hacks start flooding my mind and I want to use the time to work through all that the universe is providing for me.

You can do these in any order that you'd like to do them and you can take as much time on each one as you'd like. I like to do about 5 min total on visualizations and affirmations but I read for about 20 minute and my walk its typically more like 30 minutes. Do what works best for you! Here is the 30 day quick start guide with a calendar to mark off the days. I will be keeping track of my journey throughout april on my Facebook page and on the blog.

I really do hope you decide to hop on and join me on this challenge. Only good things can come from this and who knows maybe the next challenge will be #noTVmay. Please let me know if you have decided to join me so we can keep each other accountable! I am hoping to have the opportunity to see your lives change too!

The importance of keeping a "clean" pantry

On February 21st my grandmother passed away. Growing up I had an incredible connection and relationship with my grandmother. When I was older and out on my own I would pick her up once a month and take her to lunch and a movie, even older still I would go to her house once a week for tea and cookies. She got me hooked on drinking tea which is a love I now share with my friends. There is just nothing like a spicy tea with gingersnap cookies. Up until about 5 years ago we were very close. Outside family members eventually pulled us apart and I lost my coveted relationship. I only got to see her and ask for forgiveness just one day before she left us. This past 4 months has been riddled with death in my family and in my close circle of friends and in these horrible moments of grief and longing I want to reach for my go-to feel-good snacks. For me it was: chocolate chip cookies, sourdough bread with cheese, and my all time favorite, peanut butter and jelly. Of course, following the the autoimmune protocol doesn't afford such treats. In fact there isn't a single thing in my list of comfort foods that could be consumed without utter pain and regression.

This brings me to my point. About a year after my initial diagnoses my entire house got cleaned out of all the things I couldn't eat. I kept a few "clean" snacks for my kids...things I wouldn't be tempted by. I continue to shop this way now. I do not buy or allow any foods in my house that would hurt me. I am blessed to be surrounded by people who support me and my goal of extreme and complete health.

By having a clean pantry and a clean fridge I cannot easily grab the things I think will make me feel better. The argument: my grandma died this week and all I wanted was comfort foods, if I am already hurting what was a piece of gluten cake going to do to me, but my pantry was clean and my fridge was clean and I couldn't make bad choices, this is the importance of being prepared.

This isn't just true in times of hurting this is especially true if you are starting out your journey. It is a lot easier to fail if you have all the bad things at arms reach.

If you just jump in and don't prepare yourself then you are preparing to fail 

If there is anything I can do to help support your journey or help you clean out the bad things, I am here for you!