Springing Into Brighter Days

March 20, 2019 by Alannah Paren in Inspiration

With the recent time change filling our days with more sun and the official transition into Spring happening today, I want to focus on the shift in energy that we might all be sensing. These past few winter months might have left some of us feeling a little bit more lackluster than usual, not to mention that this past New Moon had the potential to stir up insecurities and fog up our abilities to easily make decisions. And all of these factors can definitely lead to feelings of being lost, experiencing “off” days, or other funky feelings. But, in honor of the month’s St. Patrick’s Day holiday and the idea of finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, there is luck and positivity to be found just around the corner! Also, let’s not forget that rainbows are formed by sunlight being reflected off of the water molecules after a rain shower, so it just goes to show that sometimes you need some rain to see the beauty of the light that is always shining!

Currently, Mercury is in retrograde (until the 28th), which means that communication can get fuzzy and certain aspects of relationships, or life in general, might feel as though they are going awry. I mention this, because I think it is important for us to recognize that we can’t let individual, specific events diminish the rest of our daily lives. Acknowledging that there is the potential for miscommunication and a little disorder can help us to take a step back and allow the events to delicately unravel on their own, without aggravating the situation. The Full Moon tonight, which signals the start of the official spring season, places an emphasis on relationships and how these connections require us to sometimes make a small individual modification. With communication vulnerable until the 28th, it is important to really reflect on who we are surrounding ourselves with and what our needs and desires are personally, so that we can have the smoothest interactions as possible. Remember to stay strong in your values and to be authentic, but be thorough in your self-analysis because we all have room to grow, especially when it comes to communicating with others.

I have said this before, but another reminder is that a little “spring cleaning” is in order under this fresh energy. Going back to the importance of relationships, this is a great time to make sure that we haven’t lost our personal selves in the needs of people around us and that the people we are devoting most of our love and attention to are positively replenishing that energy. This is a great point in the year to just check in with the intentions we set in January and to make tweaks that help us recalibrate as we continue on our paths. Remember, you have never completely lost sight of your trail, always continue trekking and you will eventually come across a clearing that will help you make sense of everything.

So with that, happy spring everyone! May the brighter days that are in our forecast help to stimulate a deeper lightening of our spirits! Be conscious of your interactions with others and make an effort to dedicate time to the people in your life who bring out your most vibrant self! xoxo

How to Love in Every Situation

February 06, 2019 by Alannah Paren in Inspiration, Lifestyle

Happy February! In light of Valentine’s Day coming up, I wanted to do another special feature on “love.” Last year I wrote about a few things I had learned on the topic, but this year I want to write about something that I am still working on fully integrating into my own life - the idea that no matter how upsetting a situation is, you approach it with love. When we feel like we are dealing with someone on a different vibration than we are, or when we feel hurt by another person’s thoughts or actions, it is easy to turn to being unhappy, disappointed, and maybe even angry. However, these feelings are not productive in terms of mending and healing, which is why we must ask ourselves an important question: “How can I love in this situation?”

The world can be, and currently is, a very messy place, and in an effort to move forward in a more holistically positive direction, we need to begin to do as much as we can to guide our lives with love and empathy. Stepping back from situations and evaluating how you fit into whatever might be unfolding, is crucial in not only helping to protect your own heart and soul energy, but also in understanding how to handle such circumstances. Let’s say you are having a hard time seeing eye-to-eye with a friend, coworker, roommate, or family member. It’s easy to get riled up, to begin to plaster up the walls of your heart and mind, and to keep those thick layers of defense on for all future interactions. But what if, before you began to apply these shielding mechanisms, you actually expanded these channels? What if you took a look at the situation and realized, “Okay, this is how _____ feels, because of xyz…,” and you allowed yourself to simply bring some love and empathy into the situation? Now, not only have you saved yourself the burden of wasting energy on fortifying your shields, but you have also taken a third person perspective on the scene at hand, giving you the ability to see how the other person is approaching the situation and how you thus should respond.

This is not an easy task. And by no means does this mean that you have to agree with the person or feel unconditional love. All this practice is serving to do is to get us to in some capacity leak love into our every action, and the more love we exude, the more we will attract. For instance, despite having an emotional morning and having a lot weighing on my heart the other day, I decided to take a moment to myself in the car. I realized that my next agenda item – my weekly grocery shopping at Whole Foods – had no relation to the outside upsets I was dealing with, so I sat in my car and said to myself, “Alright universe, I am going to do my best to shed my fears, anger, and doubts, and just trust, manifest, and magnetize.” As soon as I stepped out of my car and went to grab a cart (with a very mustered, but nonetheless bold, smile on my face) I could feel love radiating. The carts seemed to be stuck together, and I was mid-struggle when a man came over and helped me out and reassured me that it wasn’t just me having difficulties. Once inside the store, I felt like everyone I passed was smiling in my direction, so I kept beaming back, to the point that eventually, my phony smile was really genuine. The feeling was surreal – all I had to do was decide to enter into the setting with love, and low and behold, there was love to be acknowledged and received. This just goes to show that the question of “How can I love in this situation?” is not just applicable in dealing with other individuals, but sometimes we need it for ourselves or for approaching general, public scenes as well.

At the end of the day, we just need to do our best at considering what we are carrying with us and how we can work on overcoming difficulties, as opposed to shutting ourselves off from solutions. Analyzing how we can be better individuals by better understanding those around us is essential to a more unified society that operates more effortlessly. Next time you find yourself welling up with frustration or scorn, try to evaluate how you and the other person may be living on different frequencies and how, even if it isn’t a familial or romantic love, you do have flickers of love to disperse to all souls. Allow love to flow through you, so that you may magnetize more into your life and also guard yourself from the repercussions that come from stopping up your love channels with frustration, upset, and other negativities. Feel free to reach out if you have suggestions, want to discuss something, or just need a listening ear! Have an amazing month of love!

Replacing the Notion of “Giving Up” with “Giving it a Try”

October 17, 2018 by Alannah Paren in Inspiration

First off, I cannot believe it has been nearly two months since my last post. While I wish I had been able to maintain my writing in the midst of moving back to school, academics, work, and everyday life, it appears I simply could not, but alas here I am, and with that, a testament to the theme of this post: not giving up. Lately I have being struggling to come to terms with the reality of my feelings versus the ideal of persevering and conquering all that I originally envisioned accomplishing. I think part of my long hiatus from writing has been due, in part, to this battle leaving me with such confusion that most of my days are spent with my mind going back and forth, back and forth, until by the time I have a moment to “breathe,” I am so exhausted and cannot begin to even synthesize my feelings into words. As I reflect on how taxing this confliction has been, I come to the conclusion that my vexations would cease to exist if I ignored the impression that people would judge me for failing to continue in paths that I have begun to pave for myself. It is in this moment that I realize that I, along with everyone else in this world, have the right to pursue things, and then come to the realization that these pursuits do not suit me in the ways I presumed they would. After all, how would we know things don’t fit unless we try them on?

I don’t want to presume that everyone feels this way, but often times, I feel pressured to stick things out to the end. In the past, there have been many times where I have wanted to give up – and by give up I mean down to the kind that makes life itself seem like an undesirable feat – but I always found a way to pick myself up enough times to get on level ground and keep going. Coming off of a wonderful summer and feeling as though I finally reached a point where I was utterly content with life, I was excited to embark on a fresh semester. Just over two months in and I find myself reanalyzing my life, asking myself where I went awry. Did I take on too much? Am I not confronting the underlying truth that this time around I can’t do it all? Is that okay, will people understand that I can’t juggle being a student, working, maintaining relationships, pursuing passions like writing and working out, and also having time to simply just be?

One thing is for sure, I know that not everyone can understand the internal battle waging inside of me, because there are some people who I know can relate to internal conflicts and then there are others who maybe don’t allow the judgments of others to interfere, relieving themselves of a certain level of intensity. In fact, I don’t even expect people to externally acknowledge this everyday combat I seem to be fighting, since after all, it is virtually invisible, even barely discernable by those with a keen sense of my habitual tones and mannerisms. But because I know this, I also recognize that it is up to me to decide to truly live for myself. Why should I care if someone views my change in directions, my gradual shift in focusing on what truly makes me happy and what is best for me? At the end of the day I am the one dealing with the emotional outcomes of my life decisions.

So what I am trying to say, is that if you ever feel like the walls of life are caving in, and you are starting to entertain a new idea that works to reverse previous choices, don’t feel as though you are agonizingly bound to wherever you currently are in life. There is beauty in the fact that we are ever evolving beings on journeys that allow us to learn and apply those experiences in a way that advances us towards what happiness looks like in our individual lives. Realize that sometimes you have to fully immerse yourself in order to assess from the inside whether or not something - a hobby, a book, a job, or a relationship – is indeed the best for you. And if you realize that its time to change course, honor yourself for trying and understand that you aren’t giving up, that instead it is just time to give something new a spin. You should never regret “time wasted” going in one direction if it does not end up being your final destination. There are reasons why we are guided through detours; who knows, maybe without the detour we would’ve hit a roadblock and never made it to where we were meant to go, or maybe the least direct routes are meant to give us perspective in order to fully appreciate the view at the end of it all. It is okay to make u-turns, accidentally take the wrong exits, or even to not heed the signs at all, but it is important to remember to tune into your internal GPS that will respond and reroute you in the right direction.

An Ode to “Eat, Pray, Love”

August 17, 2018 by Alannah Paren in Inspiration, Travel

For those of you who have never read Liz Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love,” I highly suggest that you add it to your reading list (along with her book “Big Magic”!). When people ask me who my celebrity idols are, and mind you, I’ve never really been the fan-girl-type, I have three people I might suggest depending on my mood: comedian Ellen DeGeneres, chef Gordon Ramsay, and yes, author Elizabeth Gilbert. My wanderlust, spontaneous soul has always admired Gilbert’s story of leaving her conventional life in search of a deeper meaning, all while trusting in the universe’s divine guidance. My personal Instagram plays homage to the novel with categories dedicated to “Eat,” “P(l)ay,” and “Love.” Long story left un-shortened…. I revere Gilbert and her journey with all my heart.

One March night, after I had recently arrived back from my trip to Canada, I caught my mind spiraling with all the possibilities of where I could travel to next, and of course I couldn’t help but tease the possibility of getting up and just moving to a foreign country for a month without a plan, much like Gilbert. I jokingly said in my head, “Well at least I got the eating part out of the way,” as I reminisced on all the cheese platters and other rich foods I had consumed in Québec. It wasn’t until the next month that my trips to Israel and Hawaii were solidified. And once again, as I fell asleep I realized: my trip to Israel was going to be for soul searching and praying, while my trip to Hawaii was going to be spent in the company of my family, the people I love most. I had found the “Pray” and the “Love” pieces to my very own “Eat, Pray, Love” quest!

May and June rolled around, and I couldn’t have been more overjoyed at the idea of having traveled to three different unique destinations, all with their own purpose, in the span of under four months. First, in Canada, I indulged in heaps of cured meats with fruit preserves and buttery chocolate chip croissants, washed down with sweet wines and floral gins. Next, in Israel, I meditated, I pushed myself to overcome things I couldn’t have imagined before, and I wept when I came in the presence of the Western Wall. Then came time to dedicate life to love and those closest to me in Maui, a destination very dear to my heart. I modified my “Love” phase to be symbolic of paying homage to my roots and soaking up my favorite sceneries with my wonderful parents and sister. After all, I couldn’t expect to be swept off my feet by some guy while in Hawaii like Gilbert experiences in Bali, right??

So now, it’s been two months since I’ve arrived back home after my travels, and I am now in a relationship – with a guy that I connected with while I was in Hawaii. Although he himself wasn’t physically on the island, the universe has a funny way of working out, and I couldn’t be happier, not only with the direction life is going in, but also that I got to live out my own little “Eat, Pray, Love” that I had always dreamed of. Life is spontaneous, and these past months have been full of surprising changes and opportunities that I couldn’t be more grateful for. Sometimes things happen quickly and unexpectedly, but always remember to trust in the universe and let life flow! Open up your heart to the potential of what your heart and soul are seeking, enjoy the moment, and the universe will provide you with more than expected! We all are going through our own journeys, so you must enjoy your own for what it is! Don’t be afraid to share you stories, reach out to others, and always live life in the moment!

Finding Belonging Without Overbearing

July 18, 2018 by Alannah Paren in Inspiration, Travel

Growing up, my family’s go-to vacation spot was Hawaii, and since my very first trip when I was just over a year old, I have always felt a sense of deep belonging to the island state. My name even has Hawaiian roots, meaning “awakening.” No matter how many times I have been fortunate to visit, Maui in particular, seems to ceaselessly call to me. There have been times that I have honestly cried because I longed to smell the fresh, fragrant air and feel the warm ocean mist again. As I prepared for this past trip to Maui, I eagerly anticipated the sensation of peace, oneness, and clarity that I usually experienced while there. Much to my dismay, when I finally arrived I felt frustrated and lost; it felt as though something I loved so much was rejecting me in a sense. The days seemed a little gloomier and rainier than I remembered, and the energy a little less uplifting.

I began to get upset with myself for feeling as though I was not harnessing as much of the vacation as I could have. As my remaining days on the island began to dwindle, the anxiety and unsettledness intensified, making it even harder for me to reach the level of zen I had been hoping to reach in the first place. One morning I decided to go on a run along the beach, followed by a cool down under a palm tree facing the ocean. I closed my eyes and tried to understand why I had felt so separate from “my” sacred space. That’s when I realized that up until that moment, I had felt some sort of elite ownership of the island, a feeling that no one can truly earn because this earth is a shared space amongst all human beings and living things. I had arrived with an expectation that the beautiful land I was entering was going to just give me everything I needed, when in actuality, it had the potential of fulfilling everything if only I had respected the space and put in a little effort to seek out what I desired.

In that moment, I had a revelation that anywhere we are, no matter how familiar or foreign, we belong. We belong because we exist and the universe has placed us in that space at that moment. However, if we feel as though we are the only ones entitled to a given space, we actually bring about a strong sense of loneliness and bitterness onto ourselves. When we shift our perspectives to realize that places and instants are shared, we can then begin to decipher and appreciate our own individual experiences, basking in how wonderful it is that so many different people can benefit from a singular place, person, or idea in various ways. Life truly is what you make of it, and I had been blind to all the beauty that was still surrounding me, even if I did feel like it was a bit alien to me.

Moral of the story: when we enter spaces, regardless if they are old or new, we must be open-minded and acknowledge that we are not alone in whatever we are about to experience. We all have an individual right to feel and react in our own ways, and therefore we need to respect that this world also provides others with their own rights. Like I have said before, the universe is plentiful in its resources for us, but we must be willing to put in a little elbow grease to reap these means so as to reach what we are journeying for. Spread you’re light and love, and light and love will flow back to you!!

The Sands of Time

July 05, 2018 by Alannah Paren in Inspiration

Happy July! Lately I have been reflecting a lot on how so much has changed in a year! If someone had asked me a year ago where I saw my life headed, I would have said something completely different than what I would respond today. Despite the fact that the emotions and experiences that this past year held were not always the most pleasant (and at times I questioned if I would even survive to see another day!), I couldn’t be more grateful for where I am now. I think it is important that we all realize that with time comes change, and though it can be change in either a positive or negative direction, all change serves a purpose.

I know I have written about embracing all that life has to offer in any given moment, which is somewhat repetitive of allowing for change in either direction, so I’d like to focus this post on setting intentions for the future, knowing that as time goes on, we have the opportunity to transform into our most ideal lives. Change can be scary, unexpected, and stressful, but I honestly believe that there is always some, even if it is small, positive takeaway from any situation. So, no matter where you are currently in your life, where do you hope to see yourself in three months? A year? If you think back a year ago, could you have predicted all that was to happen from that moment up until now? Life is a whirlwind of sensational occurrences, it is doubtful that one’s life will remain forever stagnant in the way it currently is. As individuals, we have the power to analyze where we are, and then make decisions to fine-tune our paths in a stronger direction towards our dream.

Growing up, my parents always reminded me that no matter how hard it seemed to push myself to do something, whether it was to go on a run to stay healthy or even sit down and try to write a blog post, that someday I would look back and wish I had started today. Essentially, we can’t gain time back, but we can make the most of what we have. Every day is a new beginning. If the life you wish to be living someday includes daily yoga, then find an outlet to take your first class this week. Why wait for “someday” when today is waiting for you to take the reins and live life to the fullest? I think that it is just so important to recognize that although we might not have complete control over what happens in our lives, we do have some power in the choices we make to place us on different paths, and it is never to late to take some new exits and find ourselves on new routes.

With this fairly fresh start of a new month, I think it is a healthy exercise to reflect on how your life has changed in various ways. What was a change you weren’t expecting, and are you happy with how you handled it? How have you evolved into your current position in a positive way? Taking the lessons from the past, then apply these thoughts to the future, coming up with some first steps to progress towards a happier and healthier you. Live in the now, in a way that your future self will thank you!

P.S. These sunset photos are from the same night, taken within the span of 10 minutes! I thought it was symbolic of how fast things can change and seem completely different than one might expect! :)

Living a Life of Loving-Kindness

June 23, 2018 by Alannah Paren in Travel, Inspiration

My recent travels to Israel imparted a lot to me, and I plan on doing my best to convey some of the lessons I learned or feelings I experienced throughout the next few weeks, but right now I want to focus on the idea of loving-kindness. Love and care is important in many forms, and in today’s world there is a large movement supporting self-love, promoting individuals to take time out of their routines to honor themselves. While in Israel, I was introduced to the term loving-kindness, and being the word nerd that I am, I just couldn’t let go of how perfectly I feel that this concept bottles up and describes an aspect to life that I think plays a critical role to our well being. In fact, parts of it are reminiscent to my past post on “The Art of Releasing Contempt + Opening the Heart,” and I loved this new spin.

During the trip, I had the opportunity to partake in several guided meditations, one of which was a loving-kindness meditation. The goal of the meditation was to focus on an individual that you feel overwhelming admiration for, send them positive thoughts and energy, and then reciprocate that pure love to yourself via the person you envisioned. Essentially, the practice allows you to send love to others, as well as to yourself, serving as a platform for indirect self-love (something that can be hard to do for ourselves, but is easier when we can utilize a loved one to be the messenger of the love we send ourselves!). Towards the end of the session, we were encouraged to expand our vision beyond our original individual, to more people in our lives, even those who we might usually have a tough time feeling affectionate towards. The lesson was that the more love we send out and the more walls we try to overcome, the more space we open up in our hearts to receive love. Loving-kindness is essentially the open flow of love for everyone, recognizing that as human beings we all fundamentally share the desire to love and be loved.

I came out of the meditation quite overwhelmed, choking up with tears of joy at the rush of emotions I had experienced. During my session, I had faced some negative feelings I had towards myself (that I didn’t realize were still buried deep down inside me!) through my visions of my loved one sending me love. I also had a ton of people, who I hadn’t thought of in a long time, pop up into my head to send love to – even someone who often pains me, but regardless I mustered up all the positive energy I could, and sent it to them. The entire meditation did not take very long, yet the effects afterwards were so incredibly blissful. It helped me to further activate my compassion for others, along with giving me the space to dedicate time to fully recognize my connections with various people in my life.

There are lots of studies on the short and long term impacts of meditation in general, but I also think there is something specifically special about taking the time to acknowledge love for others, no matter how close of a relationship we share with them on an average day. As we teach our hearts how to expand our love across distances, boundaries, and differences, radiating love becomes the norm and we work towards focusing on what we can emotionally share with each other.

I hope everyone had a beautiful summer solstice and is enjoying this beautiful season! xoxo

Practicing Patience

June 15, 2018 by Alannah Paren in Lifestyle, Inspiration

In today’s world it is easy to find ourselves constantly anxiety-ridden thanks to the lack of patience that our instantly gratifying technologies have trained us to have. When we feel ourselves in impatient states, we are acting as our mind and body’s worst enemy – subjecting our heart rate to a state of uneasiness and releasing stress hormones that leave unnecessary negative affects on other body systems. So what’s the remedy? Learning to take a deep breath and own up to the fact that we cannot speed up time or predict the future. We must take a look at what we have in the here and now, toss wild “what ifs” out of our minds, and recognize that at the end of the day, getting irritated over situations that deal with the difference of a few seconds or minutes aren’t worth our energy.

The first step in practicing more patience is to put ourselves in check and realize that we do not have the power to control circumstantial things like time ticking by or how other people will play their roles in the given situation. Like I’ve mentioned before, perspective plays a vital role in how we train our mind and body to react, thus we must focus our thoughts on what each moment is providing us with rather than what it is costing us. Eventually, we might find that we naturally are able to keep stress levels low since we have an overall calmness that we have become acclimated to. One way to begin this exercise is to take a deep breath whenever we feel ourselves itching to fast-forward time, followed by reminding ourselves that the current moment offers a great opportunity to reflect on what we do have and how we have positively evolved throughout past moments to get to this present moment. Next time you are at a red light feeling restless and burning for the minuscule amount of time that you are stuck in that spot to be even shorter, try to ease your mind and realize that in the scheme of life, working yourself up over minor seconds is not worth the gratitude that the stress will strip you of. Be grateful for all of life’s little moments, even if it is just a couple of seconds.

On a more long term scale, when we find ourselves trying to unravel the mysteries of future circumstances, it is important to take a step back and appreciate the potential of the immediate instants that we are only wasting if we set our sights completely on occurrences that we do not have total control over. In surrendering ourselves to a higher power and acknowledging that “everything that is meant to be, will be,” we free up our worries and allow our energy to filter towards maximizing the present moment. Looking back on our pasts, many occurrences were probably somewhat dependent on factors outside of ourselves; thus, if we allow ourselves to completely melt into what we know and have for sure, we lift an incredible weight and pressure off of our hearts and souls. In the long run, this will keep us healthy, youthful, radiant, and help us to extend our futures, so as to be able to live longer, happier lives.

Harness the fresh, transformative energy of this recent Gemini new moon to learn something new about yourself and check into your thought patterns! Every day is an opportunity to make a positive change and be happy! Here’s to a sensational weekend everyone!

Mindful Manifestation

February 16, 2018 by Alannah Paren in Inspiration

Happy Friday + start of a long weekend for some of us! I know I have discussed the art of attracting what you put your mind to and how as individuals we have the power within us to physically cultivate what we visualize, but I wanted to really hone in on this again this week, hopefully adding another layer to this topic. For about the past month, I have diligently been journaling every night before bed, in addition to starting and ending my days with reflection on what I am grateful for and what went well and what I intend to improve on in coming days. I cannot emphasize enough how much this practice truly alters your perspective in the most positive ways possible and truly rewires the fibers of your being to be more in tune on picking up more of the good in life than the bad.

Since getting back in touch with myself and experiencing my intense feelings of gratitude, I realized that it makes environments that were previously neutral to become, at times, more susceptible to being uncomfortable. This is why I feel that it is important to look at manifestation from the angle of helping others to also see the positives as well, and in a sense mindfully play your role in a larger focus on all the amazing things there are in this world to be grateful for. We might not always have control over the external influencers that surround us, but we do have the power to either nurture the negativity or plant positivity. When I started this blog, my intent was to get everyone to see what they could do individually in an effort to collectively add up to a more visible change within society, so I think this is an important reminder that even by choosing to not endorse negativity on even the smallest of scales, is an act of utilizing your individual power for a greater good.

In an effort to minimize the unwanted effects of negativity onto my psyche, I like to picture a large aura of golden light acting as a shield for negativity to bounce off of and keep myself rooted in positivity. Another practice that I find super helpful is to purposefully exhale what I visualize as black smoke that may be trying to taint my inner peace. By taking the time to recenter and release what has the potential to agitate me, I become consciously reminded that it is outside factors working against me, and thus I am able to move on with my day in a manner that is solely guided by my inner positivity.

The important thing to understand is that the outside world won't always be conducive to our positivity, but that there are ways to mitigate the outside world’s effects. Taking the time to consciously recognize that we don’t need to be confined to the emotional molds that can sometimes be pressured onto us allows us to lead our lives as close to our internal scripts as possible. Keep in mind that it isn’t selfish to take time during the day to do something for yourself, like dedicate 10-15 minutes to one of your favorite activities, or just to do some deep breathing.

Have an amazing weekend everyone + remember that you have the power to protect your positivity!

Emphasizing Expression

December 20, 2017 by Alannah Paren in Inspiration

One of my favorite quotes comes from Maya Angelou who once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” During this time of the year that has a large focus on gift-giving, I wanted to recognize the fact that it is important to “give” in a sense all year long, and that one of the best ways to do so is through expression. This means actively expressing your feelings for those around you, reminding people that they are loved for and appreciated.

Golden Gate Bridge, San Fransisco, CA // April 2017

I think that a lot goes unsaid in our daily lives. For instance, we might really like someone’s style or really enjoy talking to someone, but we don’t always vocalize these feelings, leaving them as unappreciated thoughts. However, if we were able to acknowledge our thoughts and let people know how loved and respected they were, not only would they benefit in multiple ways, but we would benefit by opening up our own doors to positive energy. It is a natural tendency for people to be concerned with how they are being perceived by others, and I am sure we have all wondered at one point what someone else thought of us. In an effort to move towards a more accepting and loving universe, it is important that we begin to manifest our feelings into words and openly express them. This leads to people feeling more content as they receive the acknowledgement that plays an important role in our souls’ wellness.

It is unfortunate that most of the time, the things that we think to say are usually when we are in opposition to something, or strongly dislike a certain aspect, leaving the things we feel as positives as mere individual contentment without putting it out in the world. While you can still voice your opinions when you feel like something should be changed, we should try to match our adverse comments with an equal amount of positive comments about things. So the next time you find that you are thinking to yourself how great someone is or how much something meant to you, try to formulate your feelings to words and share them with the person that they apply to. Complimenting people and making your appreciation known is one of the most meaningful (and easiest!) practices we can do as individuals, and they often have a larger effect than material gifts. Letting people know how you feel when you have the chance is an opportunity that should never be passed up. Happy Holidays! Make sure to be in the present and let the people around you know how much they are cared for!

Be Conscious of What You Eat

July 28, 2015 by Alannah Paren in Lifestyle

About a month ago, I broke my vegetarianism of over ten years. Now for some that decision may be easy, but I had gone more than half my life without meat and still to this day have yet to have a burger or steak. I was the person that would freak out if you offered me anything that had touched meat or been served with the same utensil as a carnivore’s delight. However, I finally decided that my goals for myself simply could not be achieved unless I introduced animal protein into my diet. Being the only vegetarian in my family and amongst my friends, I was well supported in my decision.

Now just because I have bridged the gap between being a vegetarian and being an omnivore, does not mean I do not support vegetarian diets. I still whole-heartedly believe that vegetarians reap health benefits that I am now voiding myself from. Yet, my overall belief that covers all bases is the idea that whatever we put into our bodies must be healthy and happy itself so that we as consumers can be healthy and happy.

I try to eat as organically as possible (although not all foods need be organically grown). I eat pasture-raised, grass fed eggs; and I only eat organic, grass-fed, and humanely raised poultry. I also like to eat as close to nature as possible, meaning that the less processed something is, the better I feel it is for you. Buying raw ingredients in bulk and replicating my own dishes from scratch is something I find quite fulfilling.

I think that every living thing takes on properties based on how it is treated or raised. Fueling our bodies with positive and happy ingredients yields a happier and healthier individual. And it is okay to every now and then indulge in something that is a little high in fat or has a dab of artificial substances, but the cleaner your diet is on a daily basis, the more your body will thank you. It is all about being conscious of everything you put into your body. Know the ingredients and nutritional content, cut back on the ingredients you cannot pronounce, and acknowledge what you eat, even if it is unhealthy. The more conscious you become, the more your body will savor the food you feed it.

Don’t forget to thank the food you put in your body!