How a Buddhist's lesson taught this girl's IBSC a thing or two...

I love when my heart is opened at unexpected times in unexpected places. It reminds me that an open heart is always a good idea.  An open heart is one that has God in the driver's seat.  Side note:  If you are opening your heart for the first time or for the first time in a long time, it is ok if it doesn't feel like God is "driving" yet; I say "yet" because I feel confident you will feel a presence far bigger than your own once you try a little heart opening on for size. ( I'll share a few ways I settle in and let my heart open later this week.)

So here is where an open heart led me this morning...I read a beautiful story in an article in Whole Living magazine today by Dan Dolce, a man who went on a 10 day silent retreat. The fact that this immediately prompted me to start thinking of friends to ask along on such a retreat made me laugh. Wouldn't that stack the odds of it staying silent against me? And is it really SILENT when your mind doesn't stop talking?  (I am thinking I may be the perfect candidate for such a retreat...)  In his beautiful story he shared a story of a Buddhist teacher and student that helped him with his encounters with "silence" during his experience:

A student asked his teacher, "Teacher, why should I learn to meditate?" "Learn to meditate and you will feel better," comes the response. Later the student returns in a much more agitated state, "Teacher," he pleads, "I learned to meditate and now I have these terrible feelings.  Rage, confusion, jealousy. I don't feel better."  "Of course you do," says the teacher.  "You feel rage better.  Confusion better. Jealousy better."

I identify with this story. I find in my prayer life that I will pray for something, like patience or compassion and find myself running out of patience more readily than I was before the prayer!  While I know it is because I am getting just what I asked for, a chance to show up and have MORE patience, it surely isn't the solution I going for.  I would much rather God just wave that wand we all act like he keeps for the "special circumstances" and allow me to wake up just like yesterday, except with a new sense of patience (that magically appeared).  I know...it sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud, but isn't that really how we want it to go?  A quick easy result like we get from Google searches?  When it is stated so simply, of course, I don't want God to diminish to my finite terms.  I'd rather hang out for the infinite possibilities, even if the wait is tough.

So here it is...that old saying that if you pray for something God will give you lots of chances to practice it.  I witness this over and over again. Instead of being like our linear finite thinking, prayer operates symbolically more like a spiral and even sometimes a simple circle if we aren't getting it. We don't get to just pray for a big shift without getting to experience the big shift and big shifts aren't as predictable as our finite thinking.  When I don't get it, I feel like I'm spinning round and round on one of those crazy old spinning toys that were on playgrounds of my childhood. I never see them anymore.  I feel certain they were all removed when word got around about my brother, Brannen, and his friend getting too wild on one resulting in Brannen's two front teeth leaving huge teeth marks in his friend's head and consequently almost getting knocked completely out.  That pretty much wrapped up the birthday party.  I'm not saying prayer will knock your teeth out, but if we miss the lessons and opportunities we have to grow, it is dizzying to go round and round getting ourselves in situations that elicit the same old patterns in behavior and emotion repeatedly. 

This is how the spinning or spiral roller coaster ride works for me...I pray for clarity in my life's work because I am feeling really good, like God is calling me toward something.  So naturally I pray because I like this path and feeling like I am figuring out how to use this yoga training and work that I have been doing.  I want to pray so that I can experience more of this good feeling and keep going toward what God would have for me.  Then, like a storm out of nowhere in a mangled mess, confusion, doubt, indecision, and all of their buddies show up.  I literally am left thinking, "Have I been praying what I think I was because why is all of this showing up?  Maybe my prayer wasn't heard."

Uh-oh.  That voice is familiar and so is its dizzying effect...That voice that really never has anything encouraging to say...Oh, don't raise your eyebrow because I am talking about voices in my head...We all have them.  If you think you don't, get naked in front of a mirror or go try on some swimsuits...Yeah, there it is!  My yoga teacher, Shannon, calls it the "itty bitty shitty committee," which cracks me up, and giving it a name that I can laugh at lets me laugh the committee right out of their seats!  We can refer to that, or rather, those voices as the IBSC from hear on out.  Hear is the BIG deal...when the IBSC is chattering away in our minds, does it sound anything like an omnipotent divine being?  The God of my heart doesn't speak in put-downs, guilt, or shame.  That is not God saying "You should______ and you should________ and what if you were more________and what if you were more like ____? or ____?" blah blah blah

I try to avoid people who talk like that all of the time, so why is it allowed in my own mind?  All of that chatter cuts us off from what God really has to say.  We think God may be ignoring us, but the fact is that we haven't quieted and listened yet.  So what do we do?  Well, from the girl who likes romantic comedies with happy endings, this one can be challenging for me.  While the answer is simple, it isn't easy.  We have to make space for the uncertainty.  We have to allow for uncertainty.  I have to accept that I have doubts, confusion, distractions, and indecision.  I have to allow space for God's grace to come in instead of giving up or refusing to accept that obstacles will show up.

See, I know that the voice of God is ALWAYS the voice of truth and grace.  If I expect to hear what God has to say, I have to open my heart and put all of those negative feelings on the altar.  Let God's grace deal with them.

When I  create a space inside of me that allows grace to outshine the IBSC, I get in the ring with the truth.  When faced with truth while being surrounded by grace (that again, I HAVE TO LET IN), the truth is beautiful and not so scary.  An environment grounded in truth allows God's voice to be heard.  Then I realize that opening myself to what God teaches me through this life, even it is makes me rub shoulders with some "not so pretty" parts of myself is what gives me clarity, just not the kind I prayed for.  This is all the clarity I need right now...Right now my job is to show up and trust in my faith in the God of my heart.  That is the kind of "answer" that shows up when I make space in my life for God to come in and do his great work.  That is how I experience, in a beautiful way, what the teacher in the story wanted his student to see. When I fully experience life, the good "feelings" and the "bad" (because those are just titles we give them...Most of the time the "bad" ones teach us as much as or more than the "good" ones, so are they really bad if what we seek is understanding?), when I see it for what it is and sit with it, those BIG shifts can occur.  In other words, when the IBSC is silenced, and God's voice is heard, we get to see ourselves through his eyes of grace.  Even if the truth is difficult or requires us to keep working on some things, with God guiding us instead of the ridiculous voices that we let cut us off form his love, we can really grow.

I hope you will feel your life being lived out in your every fiber and then let God's grace shine in on it.  Let's continue this later this week when I share with you some of the ways I practice opening my heart in this way.

For now, let yourself be held in grace, sweet friends.

xo,
Melynda

Life is like a Jenga game...and then it's not!

Wow.  Life has had me traveling down a road that has left little room to meander and wander.  I know that summer is near, and I welcome the chance to slow down and savor the days.  Besides the daily life of family and our commitments (which we all know is quite full all on its own), we have recently wrapped up a renovation.  And just for added measure I went ahead and started my yoga teacher training.  While the idea of life piled up brick by brick like a shaky Jenga tower just waiting to fall isn't how I normally go about life, trying to balance the house, the flu, yoga, and my job started to seem a little like that block game in the orange cylindrical box there for a while.

Thankfully I have one amazing husband who is grounded and strong in his convictions.  He helps me stay focused on what really matters, like him and my girls rather than the piles of laundry and junk mail that are taller than I at some points.  But when our XXL sized Lives are squeezing into an XS sized space, some things have to give.  This time for me, I had to let a few things go...like my blog, running, and the dust bunnies in order to keep the important things in tact like my family's health, faith, and sanity.

When you see my kitchen, I think you will see what all the fuss was about....Lots of HARD work was going on for a good 8 weeks, and then there was the honeymoon phase where I just got to sit and marvel at its final finished state and beauty.  BECAUSE I do LOVE myself a little home decorating bliss...Creating a space in which to live is such a soulful craft.  It is far more than colors that match or what is supposed to go with what; I love the searching and piecing together of the things that resonate with Johnny, the girls, and me.  Finding the perfect pieces and seeing them come together as a home is so fulfilling!

So while there are things that are yet to be done, here is a peek at our HOME!!

Where did we start?  We mulled over our decisions in the beginning.  Anyone that has renovated their home knows that it can be as simple as ripping down wallpaper and adding a fresh coat of paint to ripping out sheet rock and demolishing floors to make room for a complete make over.  We ended up going for it!!  I am so glad we did because it was a big dusty mess for a few weeks, and I am glad we didn't break the project up into two messy phases.

Where we ended up...new wood floors with a dark matte stain, gorgeous honed marble countertops that no one thought were a great choice except for us (more on those in a bit), refinished cabinets, a new island, a new hutch, and some new cabinets to match the old ones that we kept.

Presto 1-2-3...A new look, just like that! Well, sort of...

It was the layout of the house and the overall feel of it that drew us in when we bought the house last September...obviously not this fruity faux tiled wallpaper.  We are going to replace the remaining white appliances when we get around to it.  The double oven and fridge are fairly new, so we will use them for a while.  I knew I wanted a white kitchen, so they don't look quite as bad now.

As for the white countertops ...Each to his own (isn't that the saying?)...I am really pleased.  I just couldn't find a granite or quartz that achieved the look I wanted, so even though I read all about marble being more prone to stains, etc., it was one of those decisions I made with my gut instead of my brain because I knew I would love them anyway.  The way I see it is that marble remembers each marking and its memory and keeps them for you for all time...I love a good story, so I have countertops that tell one!

This was the kitchen before we bought the house, as it was shown in the real estate listing (thank goodness for that b/c I FORGOT to take a before picture!).

And this is my our kitchen now...

The hutch is stained and it houses a TV up top, my "office" area behind the large doors, and lots of storage in the drawers below.  It is all I dreamed it would be in the way of functionality and brilliant in the way that it hides the clutter of homework piles and unsorted mail.  Once I sort the mail, and get the girls to get their papers, I will take a picture of the inside!!  So expect that picture sometime in 2014.

The perimeter cabinets are the originals, just refinished.  We were lucky because they were custom and well-made.  I'll have to get a better picture of the island.  Between Johnny, the contractor  and I working out the details, it is probably the thing that I am most proud of in our kitchen.  It is distressed and glazed over a gray painted finish.  We looked for countless hours on Houzz.com and Pinterest before designing it this way, and we are so pleased!  We can seat 6, and it has loads of storage including a pullout trash/recycle bin in the bottom left of the picture.  Quite an upgrade from our island before...

Another real estate flyer picture...

We made a sitting area instead of putting a breakfast table.  I love cozy kitchen seating.

One last thing that we did...Another decision I am so grateful we chose to stick with...We had them tear out a closet and create this nook as our "drop zone" at the back door.  We LOVE it!

Once we get it all decorated, I will post better pictures.  I wanted to share a few, though!  Hope you like it...The living room, foyer, and the girls' rooms coming soon!

My fella and me in Tennessee this weekend.  I love going to weddings with my groom of 17 years.

It is good to be back in the blogging world.  I hope you will join me this summer.  I would love to know what makes your heart sing...if it is decorating, send me some of your pictures!  If not, share anyway...

One more thing I LOVE...

LAUGHING!

xo,
Melynda

crickets, sunshine, and the holy spirit

So quiet you can hear a pin drop...or crickets chirp....visualize any of those sayings...

That is my brain activity lately when I even attempt to think about my blog.  I think it is because my mind is so busy with our home renovation, getting my family well after over a month of sickness stuff, and getting started with my yoga teacher training.  Though adding training to my plate seemed a little crazy during my decision making process, I knew to listen to that innermost voice that I could barely hear over the coughing kids and the hammers in the kitchen when it was urging me forward on this path to get my teacher training underway.

I love how that works out...when faith takes over.  I'm not going to lie, it was hard to choose to add anything when the whole point of stillness and wholeness is allowing my schedule to be leaner.  There was certainly a lot of mind chatter about why I shouldn't add anything to my plate right now.  But there is more to a person than her mind, so I decided to let my body and spirit weigh in!  There I was able to feel the tug placed there by the Holy Spirit.  We still have the kids' activities, the disheveled house, and the remnants of the flu, but we are good.  My heart is so full and I know that makes for a better mommy, wife, employee, and friend.

I feel a deep sense of peace among the noise.  I am so grateful for a family that can roll with the changes each day and keep the laughter loud.  I am most grateful for a husband that loves and supports me like I never could have imagined anyone EVER would.

So while I am working through my poses, learning arm balances that my arms are excitedly embracing (or something like that...say it 'til you mean it, right?), I will send well wishes to you and hope that you are following your heart's desires, too...and in that place where faith meets action that you too will feel the sweetness of the Holy Spirit guiding you through this one wonderful life.

I can't wait to post the before and after pictures of the house soon....I am especially ready to take some "after" ones!

So now I can really hear the crickets chirp through my open windows at night thanks to a string of really nice days hear lately!

Much love and sunshine...

xo,
Melynda

The Present of Presence

How do you feel about where you are? Not in general, but Right Now. Do you wish it was 10 years ago or 5 years forward? Before you answer so quickly with a, "No!!  I wouldn't go back there for anything,"  let's rewrite the question...Where are your thoughts right now?  Are they right here with you, sitting at your computer, present and serving you well?  Where have your thoughts been today or in general lately?  Are your thoughts running rampant replaying old scripts that keep you attached to events in the past that may belong where they came from...behind where you are now!  In the rear view mirror, or actually so far behind you that you can't see them in the rear view anymore.  You have the recollection of what happened and what it taught you, but you have let is stay where it is.  Behind. You.  Are those the ones that are still taking up space today?

Maybe you are a forward thinker, which can be good, but forward thinking serves us best when reserved for planning and dreaming, not when we find ourselves stuck or forward scripts like an old skipping record player.  If we keep waiting for Better or Tomorrow or Retirement or Summer or The Weekend, we miss Today which is the only day we really know for sure that we have.  

You may think, "What is the big deal?"  The deal is SO big.  We are a culture tied to every distraction from the moment we are actually living in.  We zone out with ease.  There are TVs and devices everywhere we go.  And if they aren't there, it's ok because we have our own that we can pull right out of our pocket.  Instead of participating as often with things that rejuvenate us, we are too busy running here and there thinking about how we should be there and not here or how we are finally here but late because we had too much PackedIntoTodayToGetItAllDone, so we really don't know where we are at all!

I am not proposing that we all trash our phones and kids' activities and go back to the pioneer days (Anyone know where that reference comes from?  One of my favorite shows to zone out on with my family...Cawment if you thank you know!).  I am just saying we can lean into a new awareness of how we spend our moments.  It doesn't require a total makeover of our lives for us to make a difference in our thinking.  Just a tweak now snowballs into results that carry into a great future making it better for us and for our children.

Here is an idea...

Ask yourself the question, "What can I do right now to lean into a better me?  How could I enjoy the current moment more?"  A you that is content right here. Right now. It can be small and symbolic. Or big, but let's don't go crazy.  Let's start with something that is doable right now...It doesn't have to be selling your house and moving to Tahiti or deleting all of you contacts in your phone and hiding out for a month (though those options do sound appealing some days!).  We don't have to lock up everyone in our household's devices and hang rules in place of the TV over the fireplace.  It can be smaller and more incremental...It depends on who you are.

You may know exactly what works best for you...or you may be like me.  Sometimes it takes a little trial and error for me to troubleshoot my best option.  There is always the yoga option for me, which almost always works...which begs the questions, "Why don't I try that first every time!?"  I am still striving for that!  Sometimes, though, what I really need to clear my mind is to clear a physical space, like a corner of my house that's bugging me.  Getting that space tidied up can really lift my mood and help me think more clearly.  I can actually sit with a still mind and write, have tea, or play a game with the girls without the nasty chatter in my head that is wagging her bossy finger telling me what I really need to be doing right now.  Really the simplest option is just deciding to pay attention to right now. Focus in on who you are with or what you are doing and just pay attention.  I may lose you here, but I swear to you when I do this that even washing dishes is more fun!  No joke!  If I give it my undivided attention and decide to leave everything else but just what I am working on, it calms my heart rate and let's me catch my breath.  What are some of the small things you like to do that can settle you into being right here?

Work is one of the places that we most need to tune into.  It is easy to go on autopilot and just get to 5:00.  But what if we tweaked it a little?  What if you did something small to treat yourself to a little spark at work...Hang a new picture on the wall.  Put your favorite quote or verse on s sticky note on your computer?  What about a plant?  Even better, what about a promise to yourself that you will sit and have lunch outside of your office, even if it's down the hall in the workroom?  How about stopping in with a colleague and asking her about how she is doing?

After you have tried something even if it is a small attempt...

How do you feel now? Where will it lead you next? Usually I find that one such "kindness" lends itself to a series of goodness.  It is like that fun book, If You Give a Pig A Pancake!  If you create a cycle of good, it wraps back around.  Now that is a record I don't mind playing repeatedly!

Ok now what? See how being intentional makes life on purpose and not a passive pass through? Just do something small. The more you listen to the voice inside that still desires and dreams of life as it CAN be, the more natural it will become. And then 10 years ago will be right where it's supposed to be. Sitting in the past. Five years from now will stay where it lives. In the future ( which has now become more exciting because imagining the future through the lens of a grounded presence in this life wakes up our childlike giddiness). But let's not rush it.  Go try that one good thing and let me know how it feels to be HERE.


xo,
Melynda

Hearts and Curls and (not so) Little Girls

Where has the time gone?  I used to have these little dolls that walked and talked and said things like "Pa-sketti" and communicated with me through sign language to tell me they were hungry or tired.

 Now I have these sweet growing angels...

2013 Father Daughter Dance

 When she has the hair of FIVE people, it makes for an hour with the curling iron...and then there were the silly faces in the mirror for that hour...love this girl's sense of humor!  Her humor gives her wings.

 And then there is this little thing...With her sass and frills...(And me still rockin' my Friday Rockets Spiritwear!)...Her zest for life literally makes her sparkle.  Her spark helps her fly through life...

This is one of my favorites because Anna can always strike a pose on demand, even when she is freezing...Maybe we should call her Hollywood.

This daddy-o is proof that God still makes amazing men like my Daddy Ward.  He matched his tie and pocket square to their dresses.  He took them shopping for their dresses.  He bought their first corsages (sniff), their tights, and their first curling iron.  He is one proud daddy, and it makes me love him all the more.

Do y'all know that this girl was at least six inches shorter than this at the beginning of third grade?  My fourth grader is a tall beauty!  She is 5"2 or she was two months ago, maybe we should go with 5'3ish to be safe...WOW!

These are my loves...my heart and soul...Bop, JMac, and Bug...Love you three!

Two weeks or so ago Andy Stanley preached a message about Nehemiah.  Nehemiah had a project that he was so convicted to finish that he would not step away.   He was rebuilding a wall around Jerusalem, and he literally wouldn't come down from his ladder for any distraction no matter how seemingly important or fun it was because he was determined to complete a task that others thought was impossible (much like the story of Noah and his ark).

"I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down."

                                                             Nehemiah 6:3

We were challenged to determine what our great works are...What will we sacrifice for and focus in on to the point of missing out on a few things that we would otherwise love to enjoy?

My great work right now is my family...these girls and my husband, and while that might be obviously simple to many, I am reminding myself of how important the simple really is.  Sometimes, choosing the simple answers is the most astounding thing we can do.  I'll be honest; there are things that I want to do...There are dreams that I have for myself, like the ones you have too...And yet I know above all else that these days that pass will turn into years before I know it.  So I will focus on right now, the present, the joy in the mirror while I am curling hair and having my bathroom turned into a girlie product zone...the homework and reading logs and friend drama that show up after school...and the hugs and tuck-ins and begging for one more prayer and snuggle when the lights go out and we say good night.

I will relish in it instead of seeing any monotony in it.  I will appreciate that I have my girls and an awesome man to enjoy this life with each day, hour, and minute.

My you be blessed with the discernment of determining what your great work is this year.  Let's cheer each other on as we stay committed to our great work and refuse to "come down."

Hearts and Curls...

What is your favorite Valentine memory?  I'll think on that, too and share mine soon!


xo,
Melynda

Simply Antsy

Do you ever get antsy?  Is that a word that my mom made up, or is it a term you know, too?  I can hear her say it..."Melynda, you are antsy.  What's got those ants in your pants?"

Well, yesterday I was antsy.  One of my girlies was home with a virus, so I was home with her.  We rested and read.  We watched TV.  I cooked and baked.  She chilled and played on her iPod.  We watched TV again (because who can get enough of the "Storm Tracker" on the local news?  Umm, that answer is ME!  But everyone else in my family likes it.)  And then I found myself about to come out of my skin...TV does that to me in large doses.  I can only stand so much TV before I feel like I will lose my mind.  Then in the middle of my antsy-ness turning to irritation, I stopped and realized that I was just feeling cooped up...and I don't mean in the house or with my child, something was just eating at me.  

At first, I thought the honeymoon phase of this cleanse was O-V-E-R.  I felt like I needed to bake a chocolate cake for myself to devour and blow the whole clean eating plan! Instead I stopped and thought about why in the world I was getting so worked up (because part of what the cleanse does for me is makes me see where eating and emotions intersect), and the answer was SO simple.  I just needed a little exercise.  Now you may be reading this thinking how ridiculous I am, but I know we all do this...deny ourselves of the simple solutions.  It happens in so many ways whether it is the conversation that we really need to have but avoid, the phone call that nags at us until we bury it so deep it is a stomach ache, or the walk we didn't take to clear our minds that have us snapping at our families before we have been home even an hour.

While I agree that sometimes we just have to power through and get past things in the name of getting things done, I think that we are so defined by this response as a culture that we forget there is another option...sometimes the perfect solution is to stop and acknowledge the bump in the road instead of stepping over it and moving on past.  Just do/see/feel the thing that is nagging at your heart, mind, body...whatever the case may be.  We expend a lot of energy trying not to think of what is bothering us instead of just turning our attention on it like a spotlight and getting to the bottom of the issue.  Of course we can all think of how this manifests with the "big" deals like family matters and relationships that need healing, but it can also be true in the small day to day matters of our lives.

This quote was posted on my cousin's child counseling Facebook status,

"Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff." ~Catherine M. Wallace~

It really says it all to me about parenting, but it also applies to how we treat ourselves.  If we will simply engage with the every day simplicity of life with honesty instead of avoidance, we will be all the richer for it.  I know it will translate into healthier ways to dealing with the "big" stuff, too, because we will have engrained it in our natures to be truthful in our approach to life's situations.

In the same way that me giving my undivided attention to my girls leads to their security and sense of well-being, doing the same for myself will lead to mine (AND again to theirs because they will have an example of a healthy mom instead of a stretched-too-thin mom).  I have noticed that giving each of them lots of chat time when I pick them up leads to a much better evening than me picking them up with ten other things on my mind and telling them to read in the back seat until I get off of the phone.  Stopping to enjoy picking them up is much more fun than shushing them while half-heartedly listening to the caller on the other end.

Side note:  Johnny and I made it a rule about 6-7 years ago that we aren't allowed to walk in the house on our cell phones.  Any conversation we have has to be finished before we walk in the door (which cane be funny because sometimes we will sit in the car for a good while before we can come in!).  That way we can truly hang-up and leave that conversation outside before greeting the family for the evening as we walk in the door which sets the tone for the evening.  There are certainly many things we could do to better our time as a family even more, but this has been one of the most simple and very best things we have decided to do regarding our pesky phones interfering with the life happening LIVE in front of us!

Last night when I stopped in the middle of my almost melt-down because I felt tired, cooped up, and seriously in need of a something to eat with a base of white flour, I went upstairs with a yoga DVD, a candle, and my mat.  Forty-five minutes later I emerged an entirely different person who was calm and ready to enjoy my evening with my family.  

I know that leaning into these small moments radically affects who I am because it goes both ways.  When I continually ignore what I know I need, it lands me in a place of despair.  Simply choosing to instead embrace my life with compassion, I find a deeply calming sense of joy that fills my cup and consequently the cup of who I am sitting next to whether it be my child or a colleague at work. 

What are ways that you honor yourself, so that you can live from a place of joy?  I hope you'll share your thoughts with me...

Off to watch Suits with my hubby...If you know my guy, you know a show that combines a bunch of decked out suits with one of those suspense-based TV shows has him at "Hello!"

So as we say, "Good-bye," here are some fun memories of another time I tapped into my inner joy...

This is where we ended up last year when I decided my sense of adventure needed to be fed. Can you tell we had a blast?  This was one of those days that doing what I really "needed" for me fed my soul and paid forward for months in the way I lived out life.

Dare to listen to yourself...You are far wiser than you may think!

xo,
Melynda

Who Wins...

So today is the day to announce who won the Noonday Embira Necklace!  Before I announce it though, I just want to share a couple of things from this past week with you...

A few thoughts on the things that are leading up to my Valentines Day and the month of LOVE...

I have completed week one of a cleanse diet that will last 21 days.  So, I WIN in a way.  Let's just head off the questions before they enter your mind...No I'm not nuts (but I am eating LOTS of them); no it isn't a straight liquid diet, like some cleanses are (or I would eat my family); and no it isn't a weight loss diet (though it does shed the body of lots of toxins and hopefully a little fat).  If I look back to a few years ago, I am so grateful to how a little leaning in back then has had a domino effect and helped me make small changes over time.  I never would have thought I would be willing to participate in this cleanse and give up my brownies for THREE whole weeks!  I couldn't even think of a day without a gallon of sweet tea and a brownie back then.

So, why?  Well, I shared a while back that I started reading a lot about wellness and health a few years back.  One of the books that I really loved was Quantum Wellness, by Kathy Freston.  I was drawn to her book because she sees health as a whole.  She sees it as the body, soul, and mind.  For me that made so much sense.  I didn't used to realize how important my body is.  I knew that the bible said it was  a "temple," but I honestly thought that just meant nothing was supposed to happen in my body that didn't happen in church (I really did think that when I first heard that scripture...kind of intimidating!).  I thought it addressed the biggies like alcoholism, drug abuse, and stuff like that...not how I eat!  I am so grateful that through lots of study and reading and yoga that now I really understand more about my body and how important it is to take care of it.  Our body is our only route to this life!  It is the one reason we can be here.  If God designed this vehicle or vessel in which we are to live this life, doesn't it merit that it must be of some value to us?  I mean, do we drive a broken down car on a special vacation?  Usually we wash the car, get a tune up, and always keep it maintained in certain ways (except for the times that we don't and we spend 3 hours at the shop on the way out of town...so OK, the car wasn't the best analogy!).

The point is that our bodies are where we LIVE.  How we take care of them affects our mind and our spiritual well-being.  That is why yoga has become such an important part of who I am.  I can tell when I haven't done yoga just like I can tell when too many days go by without quiet time, etc.  Yoga has tied my body and spirit together.  That is why I like to try this cleanse once or twice a year.  It reminds me of my relationship with food, and my food choices' impact on my body.  It reminds me that when I am tired, I need rest, not caffeine.  When I feel cranky, I need quiet, not a candy bar.

It feels like I have hit the "reset" button.  I am sleeping better than I have in a long time.  I am surprised at how much energy I have without my caffeine and sugar pick-me-ups that usually get me through the day.  In body, mind, and spirit, I am feeling better every day and will share more soon!

Also, we are starting a kitchen renovation that has expanded a little to other areas as well, so there is a whole different kind of 21 day challenge!!  I hope to share pictures and progress as we make some.  Just so you know, I am not a girl that is ready to take a sledgehammer to my kitchen, so don't expect pictures of me in a hard hat.  I love a DIY project and firing up my drill, but this project is being left to our professional friends...More to come...See my "Kitchen" pin board for my inspiration!

Noonday is fueling my passion for supporting businesses that are making good choices in the way they treat producers and consumers alike.  I am loving how it connects women to each other here in the U.S., but even better how it is impacting women abroad who are feeling the empowerment of an education, a fair wage, and a healthy body and mind.

The winner of the Noonday Embira Necklace is Robin, who posted here last week!  Congrats, Robin!  I am sending you an email this evening...

Check out my Noonday site...

You have a couple of more weeks until Valentine's Day...How will you spread some love these next couple of weeks (to yourself and others)?

xo,

Melynda