2013 Inspiration Board

For the New Year, my daughter and I made creative and inspiring collages to help us stay focused and reach our goals. Its so easy, anyone can make one!

First what we did is get a piece of poster board. Morgan chose red because colors really inspire her to get things done! I chose black because its simple and I wasn’t sure what I was going to put on my board!

Second you are going to need supplies to decorate your board with. Magazine cut outs, photos, ribbons, stamps, glue, tape, scissors, ect. Start putting things on your board! Have fun with it! There are no rules!

In my last post about a pineapple basil smoothie we talked briefly about Inspiration boards. They are wonderfully helpful for wedding planning, party planning, nursery planning, trip planning, new years goals and resolution planning & just plain inspiration!

What’s on my inspiration board?

Michelle's Inspiration Board

Ideas that help me to find my voice, follow my heart and love unconditionally.

  • Places: Manchu Picchu, Hawaii, Alaska, Israel, Greece, Big Sur, Italy, Costa Rica, Australia, Bali & Spain
  • Yoga and Fitness: You cannot “do” yoga, yoga is a natural state.
  • Beautiful Living Food For Life: Let food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food. ~Hippocrates. Im not on a diet, Im eating & living healthy.
  • Think Abundantly. Energy Follows Intention.
  • To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest. ~Mahatma Gandhi
  • Dream Home Ideas: For one day when my husband and I build a house.
  • Writing: To write and create to share with the world!
  • My Family: My husband who believes in me and allows me to be myself. My daughters, anyone who is a parent knows that when your heart is walking on the outside of you, wonderment follows pushing us to be our very best in ways that we could never imagine on our own.
  • Meditation and Opening to Miracles.

Inspiring Morgan

Gratitude is the open door to abundance.

Enjoy the little things in life… for one day you’ll look back and realize they were the  big things.

Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you.

Pause for a few seconds to observe the flow of your breath. Become aware of a silent but powerful sense of presence.

Love me when I lease deserve it because that is when I really need it. ~Swedish Proverb

Life is only a reflection of what we allow ourselves to see.

The divine light in me sees the divine light in you.

Eat more vegetables. Be present. Help others. Hike often. Recycle. Pay it forward.

We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are. ~Anais Nin

A great relationship should be based on two main principals: First, appreciate your similarities, and second, respect your differences.

A miracle is a shift in perception from fear to love.

Whether you realize it or not, your entire life is spiritual. ~Shalvah

You are divinely beautiful like strawberries and butterflies.

When you let go of your desire to control the situation, you open yourself up to miracles. ~Shalvah

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

Meditate.

You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream. ~C.S. Lewis

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul. ~Swami Vivekananda

Wow. That is a lot of quotes! Dare to listen to your inner voice! Visualize and make it happen! One thing that I did not put on my board that I would like to share with you is my cat Chester. I love this fuzzy guy. Chester Copperpot has lung cancer. Once upon a time, before we knew him, he was a stray kitty, wandering around Whitefish Lake trying to catch bluejays to eat. He was skinny and a little skittish at the time. My daughters found him and he became part of the family. Chester has always been a heavy breather and snorer but he seemed fine. This last fall after our other kitty passed away of old age, Chester started coughing. It seemed very uncomfortable for him, so I took him to the vet. He had a high white blood cell count which indicated infection. He was given medicine and was fine for a few months when the coughing started again. I took him in again thinking he might have allergies. This time he had an X-ray. The X-ray showed that Chester had a BB in his lung. We can only conclude that this happened to him before he come to our family, as we have never seen this sort of wound on him. The constant toxicity in his body has lead to the formation of cancer in his lungs. Chester inspires me because he is very receptive and he responds to the energy around him and he responds accordingly much like a shock absorber as he helps transmute and balance human energies on an emotional level. Anyone who has ever been upset and had a cat come and sit on their lap, know what I am talking about here. Chester has been an amazing addition to our family, if anyone has any experience with Kitty lung cancer, I would love to hear about it.

Chester Copperpot

Whether is traveling, food, family, juice fasting, exercise, people, art, what inspires you?

What would you put on your Inspiration Board?

May many blessings fall upon your in this exciting new year!

Love,

Michelle

Happy New Year Pineapple Basil Smoothie

Happy New Year!

A new year often comes with resolutions and commitments in hope of success and joy. Many people want to improve different spheres of life, like our career, finances, health, love life, ect… it is often difficult to know where to begin. We often get overwhelmed and within a few weeks we are back to our old habits, which can be very frustrating.

To start the New Year off on the right foot and move us through this powerful time in our lives I propose instead of making New Years Resolutions, take time to make an inspiration board.

What is an Inspiration Board? Its anything you want it to be! Ha! It is a photo collage that inspires you and drives you to help you reach your goals, to stay focused, organized and makes you happy. It’s a two dimensional art project that YOU create to inspire you to live the best life possible! There are no rules, guidelines or limits. Dream BIG and see what you can do!

I am working on my inspiration board today, will post more about it later!

basil

In the mean time, I offer this recipe for you to protect you from the negative tendencies of the past, to push through to a new level of health and wellbeing. Power packed with enzymes and anti-oxidants its the perfect smoothie to start 2013 off right.

Pineapple Basil

  • 1 cup pineapple
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil
  • 1Tbs green powder
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups almond milk or tea

Place all ingredients in blender and blend! Enjoy your delicious and pleasantly power packed smoothie!

pineapple plant

Basil is an amazing herb that protects cell structures as well as our chromosomes from radiation and oxygen damage. Basil also helps the body get rid of unwanted bacterial growth and has many other positive benefits for the body.

  • Anti-Inflammatory – helps relieve inflammatory health problems related to rheumatoid arthritis & inflammatory bowel conditions.
  • Anti-Bacterial – helps to provide protection against unwanted bacterial growth.
  • Nutrients Essential for Cardiovascular Health – Basil is a very good source of vitamin A that helps protect cells from free radical damage and helps prevent free radicals from oxidizing cholesterol in the bloodstream. (Only after it has been oxidized does cholesterol build up on the walls of the blood vessels, initiating the development of atherosclerosis, whose end result can be heart attack or stroke.)
  • Basil is a Good Source of Magnesium – which promotes cardiovascular health by prompting muscles and blood vessels to relax, and therefore improving blood flow and lessening the risk of irregular heart rhythms.
  • Good Source of Vitamin C, Iron, Potassium and Calcium.

Pineapple has many amazing benefits as well:

  • Anti-Inflammatory – Bromelain is a proteolitic enzyme (an enzyme that digests proteins) found in fresh pineapple. It is often used to treat muscle injuries and when applied topically it helps speed up wound healing.
  • Digestive Benefits – Bromelain enhances the effects of the digestive enzymes and helps prevent heartburn and ease diarrhea that may be caused by a deficiency of digestive enzymes.
  • Anti-Aging – Bromelain is a natural anticoagulant that works by breaking down the blood-clotting protein fibrin.
  • Improve Immune Function – Bromelain triggers beneficial changes in white blood cells, thinning mucus and is therefore effective in treating chronic bronchitis and asthma. Bromelain also enhances the effect of antibiotics (see basil above).
  • Protects Against Macular Degeneration – Everyone has heard that carrots are good for your eyes? Well, pineapple is even better!

Here is to a healthy and happy New Year!

In love and light,

Michelle