I’ve started my spring fast and it’s going well!  I ate my last meal at 6:00 pm, Monday, March 1st.  At approximately noon today (March 2) I started experiencing welts on my neck near my lymph nodes and itchie bumps on my back.  YEEEAA!  I am writing up a fast schedule for a coworker and we’re both excited for her to start her first fast and will coach her through it.  The first few times anyone fasts can be scary, so I’m here to help.

Happy Spring!

At any time today, were you faced with a situation that you were less than comfortable with?  Were you forced to make a decision about something where your head said “of course” and your gut spoke up to the contrary?  Sit quietly and chew on that situation, take the emotion away from it, looking at the facts for 5 minutes, and see where your gut takes you.

For one day, throw everything about you and your life out the window, pick something fresh and new to focus on.  The journey will be worth it.  This is easiest done on a Saturday or a Sunday for those with traditional Mon-Fri work schedules.  It gets the best results if you take a vacation day from work to do it.   This way you are less tempted to go find spouses, friends or relatives to side track you because they’ll all be at work!

If you really want something in your life (love, money, better job), consider building affirmations for it.  Affirmations train you to think positively about things you want, instead of having a head full of negative thoughts about things you don’t want.  If you need help with affirmations, please email me and I’ll be happy to help.

Someone once told me, “the best advice you can follow is the advice you give to your friends at that moment.”  It sounds a little strange but every time I give a friend some little tidbit of advice, I think “how could this apply to my life right now?”  And sure enough….whammo.  And then life changes for both of us.

I will not die an unlived life.

I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid,

more accessible, to loosen my heart, until it becomes a wing, a touch, a promise.

I choose to risk my significance to live so that which came to me as seed

goes to the next as blossom and that which came to me as blossom goes on as fruit.

by Dawna Markova

In honor of the new purpose of this wonderfully adorable website, I’ve deleted the old posts.  Think of it as the new leaf….a dedication if you will.

more to come.

I’ve started a couple of businesses and I’m revamping my website to be the home for them.  YAY!

My core business is Plant The Seed.  It’s a Naturopathic health and life coaching business.  I’m so jazzed that I can do something that I enjoy and actually make a living at it!  I love helping people get “unstuck”, change careers mid-stream, help with business development, lose 20 pounds without if feeling like they’re depriving themselves, make the switch to healthier eating, vegetarian or vegan lifestyle or work on why the relationships in their life really aren’t working.  Life , health (diet, cooking, exercise), career or that Je ne sais quoi.

The business that spun off of the coaching is the baking component, called Bake It.  It’s for people with dietary restrictions that either want to hire me to bake for them or want some lessons in their kitchen.  I bake vegan, gluten-free or sugar-free desserts and can help people learn how to bake these great little treats on their own if they so desire.

The third and mother business is my farm, called Grow It.  After living on and helping run a biodynamic/organic farm for somebody else, I’ve decided to run my own farm with the  for others.  I’ll be dedicating some greenhouses to herbal cultivation to make Naturopathic healing tinctures and home remedies, part of the farm will be food for Jeremy and I, part of the farm is intended to be part of the Rural WIC program (non-profit) and then there is the women’s retreat component that will house women that want to come to the farm to stay and explore their life options without the distractions of the outside world.  My favorite Tibetan Buddhist nuns will be coming to stay for a bit here and there so philosophical discussion is surely on the docket.  There will be plenty of alternative energy opportunities as I plan to build straw bale buildings, greenhouses out of recycled materials, a wind turbine and some experimental solar projects for power as well as cooking biodiesel on the property.  There is something for everyone.

One who is on the way but has not yet arrived, yet flashes learning and runs off at the mouth with intellectual understanding using eloquence and sharpness of tongue to gain victories, is like painting an outhouse vermilion. It only increases the odor.