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Showing posts from November, 2016

What Do you See When you Look in the Mirror?

This morning I looked in the rearview mirror as I was driving to work, and for a moment, I saw the timid little girl I used to be, with ears that she hadn't grown into yet and droopy bedroom eyes.  I saw myself through the eyes of that little girl, always feeling like somehow there was something wrong with me or that I  wasn't like everyone else. It was a story I told myself for a long time, that with my crooked teeth and shyness, I must not have been meant to be "normal," and would just have to keep pretending to act like everyone else.  I remember staring at myself when I was a child, wishing I had eyes like Jasmine from Disney's Aladdin movie, and trying to figure out how to wear my hair to hide my ears. Thinking, if those things could just be different, if my teeth could be straighter, if the popular boy in class could just like me, then I would have everything figured out.  I can still see my old childhood self studying how other people acted, interacted, and

Are Old Habits Sabotaging You?

When we reach our goals, why do we revert back to trying to do things "our own way" ... the way that never worked before... the way that drove us crazy and led us to seek out a new way in the first place?  There is a self sabotaging side to humans that yearns to fall back into habits or comfort, even if our intellectual self hates that old self.  Goals are a great thing to have, but there's always that risk of seeing them as an "end point." When that happens, we can want to treat the entire journey as having a beginning and an end, instead of letting go of one lifestyle and starting a new one. Ask yourself why, and be brutally honest.  What are you trying to avoid (consciously or subconsciously) that has led to that desire to want to fall back into old unhelpful habits?  What isn't working right now? What's causing you to feel like you're white-knuckling through the day and needing to "zone out" or disassociate?   You have to find out what

Find Your Happy

What makes you happy? What makes you smile uncontrollably, gives you goosebumps, or makes you feel truly alive? For me, it is being able to share how much one can thrive with a plant based lifestyle. Causing less harm to other living things, caring for myself mentally and physically, and creating a safe, welcoming social media space to share, makes me excited to wake up every day! It's not about looking good. Of course being able to see physical results of exercise and healthy eating is a plus, but it's really about the mental energy, alertness, and joy. It's about showing yourself just how powerful you are- not physically but mentally. Reaching goals or following your truth is always more about a mental game than a physical one. It's great to have a physique and asthetics that you're proud of, but the real prize is what's happening inside. What would make waking more exciting than sleeping for you? ~The Wonder Vegan 

Is Your Story Holding You Back?

Everyone has a story. The summary of information that you feel explains who you are.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that sometimes we cling to these stories a little too hard and a little too long. How long have you been telling people the same story of yourself? Is it a story you're proud of, or one that you hide behind?  The story we tell others about who we are is the same story we tell ourselves. Here's where that can either help us continue moving forward, or keep us sinking in quicksand... We are always going to live up to our expectation (story) of who we are!!! If you keep trying to reach goals in external ways without changing your "story," the end result will always be the same.  In other words, if a person wants to become a professional soccer player, but keeps viewing himself as just "ok" at soccer, not good at sticking with things, and thinks he looks funny when he runs, then he'll probably NEVER be a professional soccer player! 

Affirmation Friday: Healthy Detachment

noun | de•tach•ment  : indifference to worldly concerns : freedom from bias or prejudice As soon as we look in the mirror, we subconsciously evaluate ourselves, and that chatter isn't usually very nice.  "I hate my wrinkles."  "I look tired."  "This outfit looks bad on me."  How often do we truly just observe ourselves without any negative bias? Why must we judge ourselves, put ourselves down, or otherwise be hard on ourselves?  Being hard on ourselves has traditionally never worked to help us change what we're unhappy with, so we've got nothing to lose if we decide to experiment with just observing- without judgment- our physical or mental selves. I invite you not to judge yourself negatively for the next 24 hours! Print a picture of the affirmation and tape it on your mirror if necessary!  ~The Wonder Vegan   

Are You Practicing for What You Want?

Mindset. Practice.  Spoiler alert- sometimes a not-so-great mindset gets the best of me.  But in case you haven't noticed, working towards changing that is referred to as a mindset practice .  They call it a practice for a reason!  ...because it isn't always easy and doesn't always come natural.  ...because we've trained our brains to think "realistic" to avoid too much risk or change.  ...because we have been in a state of thinking negatively for so long.  If you are interested in creating a more positive mindset (and are willing to put practice in!) here are some Do's and Don'ts: DO:  Start with patience and tolerance for yourself. Create small, achievable goals that will add up to change.  Start a journal or reach out for support from like-minded people.  DON'T:  Expect positive mindset changes to come effortlessly. Your brain has been trained without that in place and needs time to unlearn unhelpful thinking patterns.  Expect to never have a ba

Affirmation Friday- Are You Up For The Challenge?

What does this mean to you?  We get caught up in so many other thoughts and thought patterns that we rarely take time to be in the now. *We mentally psych ourselves out on Sunday nights that we will be miserable the next day because "it's Monday."  *We try to motivate ourselves to eat healthy or exercise by obsessing over what we hate about our body instead of what we love.  *We don't notice blessings in our life because we can't stop thinking about the  unfortunate things that happen to us. Why aren't we sharing the love? Talking, thinking, sharing, or doing what we love? Are we too busy just trying to get through the day that we feel we can't focus mental energy to shift to a more positive outlook?  Increasingly, there are more people talking about living in the now, but find it hard to put that into practice... Maybe that's just too vague of a goal to work towards.  So let's just start with love . I challenge you to join me in participating in

Happy World Vegan Day!

Spread the love and acceptance for all living beings, today and every day!  -The Wonder Vegan