Love and Listen to Your Inner Compass

Many times we’re confused about situations in our lives and we need guidance. We may pray, or seek advice from friends or family or even ask the universe to send us a sign but advice can be subjective and signs can be ambiguous so we may still find ourselves lost.

We don’t need to be lost though—the answers we seek are always there. No one knows us better than ourselves and if we truly want guidance we just need to look within.

If we can find a place of stillness and listen to our hearts, our gut and our minds we’ll know what needs to be done. Respecting and trusting our inner intelligence to be our compass will help us find our way.

–Anthony Clavien

Harmonious Organization—Good for Body, Spirit, and Mind

“Just as thoughts manifest into the physical, the physical environment manifests back into the mind. Finish incomplete projects.

Organize your home and workspace. An environment that is unorganized or filled with incomplete tasks has a burdening effect on the nervous system.

Declutter and make your environment flow with spacious, positive energy.

Clean out closets and cupboards so the first and last thing you see in the day is organization and order. This physical order supports mental calmness and control of emotions.

Rather than trying of purge negative thoughts, focus more on generating positive interactions and expressions. This aspect of sankulpa (the practice of establishing an intention) attracts further positive thoughts and experiences.

With this shift into harmonious thinking, the physical manifestations are seen and experienced by others. We begin to attract more people with like minds and intentions. Again, the key element is reflection and observation. What are our emotions saying about our thoughts? Use your emotions as a tool. Breathe new life in your thinking and experience the freedom of positive thought energy.”

Train Your Mind to Be Peaceful & Awake

The ego will always attempt to pull you out of your center, to distract you from who you really are.

Realizing ‘who’ that is is the first step. And then, just like you have to train your body, we can train our minds to stay peaceful and awake.

It eventually becomes a permanent state of being.

Positive Perspective | June 14, 2013

If we imagine what our lives look like from above, we can see how tiny most of our problems are and how insubstantial our boundaries truly are. Any and all of our dreams can come true—the things that hold us back are all in our minds.

If we don’t believe it, all we need to do is look at people we admire who have done great things with their lives despite odds and obstacles.Most of these people made deliberate choices to make their lives the best they could be and we all have the same option.

If we’re unhappy with where we are, all we need to do is choose to be somewhere else and start heading that direction. From ground level it might look daunting, but if we remember the big picture we’ll see it’s the road to happiness. 

Ben & Jerry’s To Stop Using GMOs — Will Other Ice Cream Companies Follow Suit?

Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream to label GMOs

Ben & Jerry’s is making headlines after announcing that the company is removing Genetically-modified organisms from their ice cream.

The brand had been operating with 80% of their ingredients sourced as non-GMO but the company aims to completely phase out genetically modified products from its ice cream from the end of the year. Stating on their website, the undertaking will be “complex” as a single flavor can contain up to 40 ingredients and the pressure to obtain affordable ingredients and ones that can meet demand will be a challenge.

Genetically modified foods, which are engineered to resist insecticides and herbicides, have been a source of controversy in the U.S. and abroad. Supporters say the plants boost crop yields, increasing the global food supply, while critics argue the chemicals can be harmful to the environment and cause serious health problems.

By Ben & Jerry’s speaking out about their use of GMOs, it raises the questions about just what foods contain genetically-modified organisms that we would not suspect.

When California residents had the option to vote for Proposition 37, a ballot initiative that would have required genetically-modified foods to be labeled as such, Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever donated almost a half a million to defeat the measure with companies such as Monsanto and The Hershey Co. giving a combined $44 million to defeat the ballot initiative.

The most common items consumers link to containing GMOs are fruits and vegetables, with many opting to pay more for organic produce than regular. By Ben & Jerry’s showing that GMO’s can extend to everything from ice cream to candy bars, it goes to show that it’s important to buy organic as often as possible to protect ours and our family’s health.

As the Vermont ice cream chain makes the change over to non-GMO ice cream, it will be interesting to observe if other popular ice cream brands follow suit.

Self Love vs. Self Sabotage

We’ve all heard of people who deliberately harm or obstruct other people, but when what we say we want is not what we’re giving ourselves, we may be sabotaging ourselves.

Self-sabotage can mean that we’re afraid of success or that we’re punishing ourselves, and not seeing ourselves as the worthy, special, and important people that we are. If we continue to make choices that are contrary to our stated aims, it’s important to start listening to our self-talk.

Each of us deserves the best, and if we’re constantly telling ourselves we’re less than best, we’ll never achieve our goals.

Self-love is the antidote to self-sabotage and it starts with turning any self-directed negativity into positive reinforcement.

We’re worth it.. 

Detox to Cleanse Toxins and Reduce Bloating

Despite the best intensions, our weight and the level of toxins in our bodies can fluctuate for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it can be affected by something as small as not drinking enough water, or other minor, and normal physiological reasons. While changes in weight are bound to happen, minor changes in weight from day to day and week to week are the number one reason people giving up on a healthy lifestyle.

If your weight is fluctuating towards the higher end of the scale, adding in this detox recipe will help revive your motivation for a healthy lifestyle by helping you lose five pounds of bloating weight in a healthy way.

Using a large pitcher, add 60 ounces of distilled or pure water, a tablespoon of sugar free cranberry juice, one dandelion root tea bag and two tablespoons of lemon juice together. Consume all 60 ounces daily, which equates to seven and a half 8 ounce glasses that you should be drinking anyways. Jillian Michaels and other personal trainers swear by this detox recipe as it doesn’t include fasting, yet reaps the same benefits.

Cranberry juice is a natural diuretic that helps flush the toxins from your system that works well with dandelion root tea which improves digestion and aids in weight loss. The tea mixed with lemon juice helps to purify the blood, regulate blood supply, ease bloating and aching joints to all around help someone feel and look better.

Adding this detox to your diet to replace plain water can allow an individual to have a higher metabolism and help aid in weight loss and healthy living.

Equilibrium | Positive Thoughts for June

Negativity empowers positivity; Positivity empowers negativity.

They don’t fight or have problems with each other. They exist as one harmonic balanced whole, called the Yin-Yang, Chi, Life-force, or Kundalini Energy.

What’s really intriguing is the fact that this dual nature exists throughout every level of existence. “Paradox” is a term used when the Mind comprehends the Whole, yet the reasons contradict each other. Example: Separation empowers Unity; Unity empowers Separation.

To know everything you must know nothing. They exist as One. It is the essence in all of the Buddha or Great Master teachings.

As above; So below. Physical; Non-physical. It basically means all of the opposite extremes in existence exist as One Whole. This does not exclude the cycles of Nature, nor the action/reaction principle of the cosmos.

–Anthony Clavien

Dandelion Root Tea: From Nature to You

Summer provides a great variety of fruits and vegetables in season with detoxing benefits, but as we eat healthier during summer months, it’s important to drink healthier as well. Dandelion root tea is a great way to drink healthy throughout the year, but its floral taste is great for this season especially.

Dandelion root tea has a variety of health benefits, including helping us by easing bloating, improving digestion and aiding in weight loss. For those who can contract urinary tract infections easily dandelion helps reduce the risk as well as containing calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, potassium, and vitamins B and C to help clear up skin conditions for make-up free weather.

To get the full amount of benefits, place dried dandelion root into steeping water and drink as is. Full leaf tea is ideal if purchasing from a major retailer, as crushed dandelion can lose flavor and vitamins in the process. If you’re someone who prefers coffee over tea usually, try making the tea with less water and adding unsweetened almond milk, cinnamon and a few drops of stevia for a sweet and filling drink that will provide you energy throughout the day. Roasting the dandelion root can further mimic the dark roast coffee flavor for coffee lovers.

By adding dandelion root tea to your summer diet, you’re more likely to look and feel great from the inside out.

Ways to Practice Gratitude Every Single Day

There are simple ways we can look at life and improve our outlook with just a minor shift in perspective and attitude. Noticing and appreciating the positive things happening in our lives offers a great mood boost, and over time, can have dramatic healthful impact on our health and wellness.

Increasing your level of gratefulness may not always seem simple but it can be done. Here are a few things you can do to remind yourself that the Universe knows what it’s doing, and enact its power in your life.

Write a gratitude letter: Researcher Martin Seligman, PhD, asked subjects to write a letter thanking someone who had been particularly kind to them and then deliver it in person. The letter-writers enjoyed impressive positive effects even a month later.

Keep a journal of gratitude: Write down anything, no matter how big or small you think it may be or seem, that makes you smile, including goals and achievements, the touching moments that touched your soul, and write about how you are grateful for the relationships you have cultivated in your life.

Remind yourself to enjoy all things great and small: Yes, you ought to stop and smell the roses! Look all around you— touch the goodness as you use all your senses to appreciate things as you slow down, even for an hour. Do what are able to so you can to really soak in the beauty of your life and the world around you.

Share good news in your life with others: Studies have concluded that those who share their joy soak in the reactions of others to their positive developments. Tell a friend or family member about a happy event or development in your life and enjoy it all the more!