#greenandviolet.com

TRUTH BOMB!

This is a good nugget of wisdom to hold onto in relation to our wellness goals!

its one thing to “want to lose weight”. 

But WHY do you want to lose weight? - To feel sexier for your man or woman? - To fit into your favorite pair of jeans? - So you can keep up with your kids out in the yard or playground? - So you will still be alive by the time your grandkids are born?

Yup, these are all realities. And honestly, if you aren’t grounding each of your goals in the rich soil of your WHY, you will lose your resolve. 

A gorgeous chant of the heart. Written ​by Nubia E Rodriguez; this incredible version by Bruno Mansur. 

I loved this song instantly upon first hearing it— then I learned the translation, realized what it meant, and my heart nearly broke from the understanding of such richly ancestral and heartfelt lyrics. 

PUT AWAY THE LEAF BLOWER AND PICK UP A BROOM!

Leaf blowers are horrendous for the environment, not to mention a noise pollutant for all those in the near vicinity. A far better alternative to cleaning up our driveways and yards is a good ol’ fashioned broom or rake! Try this on for size: grab your ipod and some portable speakers, put on a podcast or playlist you love, and get to work tidying your space the manual way! Not only will you spend time caring for your home in a safe, quiet, and unobtrusive manner, but you’ll work up a sweat and burn some calories while you’re at it!

Here’s what Dr. Andrew Weil has to say on the subject:

“Because they are designed to be air-cooled, the engines release 100% of their tailgate emissions directly into the environment, and since they also burn fuel very inefficiently, a leaf blower running for one hour emits as many hydrocarbons and other pollutants into the atmosphere as a car driven at 55 mph for 110 miles.”

BREATHE!

Time, you may have noticed, is not linear. Nor is it constant. It has been proven on galactic and quantic scales that when we add space to the calculation, time bends itself in mysterious ways, slowing down or speeding up depending on where we are in relation to others and the planet, as well as how fast or slow we are moving. Our perception of time is absolutely relative. During one somewhat recent conversation with my father, I remarked how rapidly time appears to be passing now that I’ve entered my 30s, and he responded with a scoff, “just wait, it only gets worse with age!” I believe him, and yet it is difficult to conceive.

Surrounded by stimulus and pushed ever faster by the incredulous rate of technological advance, we in this culture of today seem to struggle with ideas of time, age, and productivity. I hear 26 year-olds fret about their aging process and attempt to resist furrowing my brow in confusion (to avoid impending wrinkles, of course). How is it that we became a people who fear the most natural thing about life: it begins, it passes, and then it ends?

Amidst all the worry, a beacon of solace swept across my notice and continues to provide great comfort to me in those moments where I get caught in fear-based thinking. This wisdom came from Abraham-Hicks, whose teachings speak to me deeply. She brought forth the following statement and offers it frequently: “You cannot get it wrong, and you will never get it done.” Upon first receiving this message, while consoled by the first part of the phrase, the second part brought on a bout of severe anxiety. WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I WILL NEVER GET IT DONE?!? ISN’T THAT WHAT TO-DO LISTS ARE FOR? However, the more I sat with this golden token of knowledge, the more comfort I drew from it. 

So let’s break this thing down. If we “cannot get it wrong”, first of all, what is “it”?

Well, “it” means anything and everything we do; in other words, the act of living our lives. And if we cannot get this illustrious “it” wrong, I infer that to mean there are no mistakes. Here is my translation of this idea: all that we do in our lives leads us steadily up the path towards our higher purpose. Each moment, each relationship, each job, each decision and even each word we speak and each thought we think builds another stepping stone, allowing us the opportunity to progress in our evolution. I add opportunity because actually applying what we have learned from our “mistakes” and consciously making different choices in lieu of achieving different results is where true mastery becomes available. If we truly “cannot get it wrong,” then we need never stew in worry that we’ve erred, because that “error” is in fact necessary in order to take the next step towards being who we want to be.

Part two may be an even bigger and foul-tasting pill to swallow. As we’ve already discussed the meaning of “it”, let’s now examine “you will never get it done.” I happen to have a great example handy, which is the so-called completion and launch of this website! I don’t think I’ve ever taken on such a momentous task in my entire life as building a multi-faceted lifestyle brand and website from the ground up— and yet, now that the site is live and I am officially open for business, there is an entirely new (and very long!) list of tasks I’d like to accomplish. From that angle, this project has only begun!

Yikes.

Rounding back full circle, when I hear the phrase “you cannot get it wrong and you’ll never get it done” I actually feel immense relief. To me, it means there is no rush. I am not running a race against time, poised to do battle with a to-do list. I am a being of spirit, having a human experience in a temporary physical body, on a planet where productivity is of high value.

When I set my tasks on a pedestal as the measure of my self-worth, I set myself up for failure and disappointment. That expectation is literally unattainable. However, when I look at my life with a softer filter, I see clearly that all is well. Regardless of how many years we’ve inhabited this earth, it is never too late; to be happy, to be healthy, to forgive, to learn a new skill or pick up a new hobby, to be a child, to dance, to sing, to start a new business, to be of service.

You can never get it wrong, so relax and enjoy life’s lessons as they come!

You will never get it done, so relax and enjoy the gift of creating!

Afterall, if time truly continually speeds up as our age progresses, that means it will feel like we have less of it. Doesn’t that make it even more precious?

I recently returned from a journey to the jungles of Peru, a journey which stilled my very being in a way not yet experienced in this lifetime. And while the duration of my trip brought vitality in mind and body, the homeward voyage reintroduced not only a cacophony of stimulus, noise and technology for which I was not fully prepared to receive, but exhaustion and food poisoning as well. For those who have never traveled on multiple international flights with extreme nausea, deep fatigue and consistently explosive diarrhea, I can assure you it is a taxing and humbling experience. When at long last I was delivered to my own bed, I slumped against the pillows with a glass of coconut water and a cellophane stack of saltine crackers, a sensation of utter relief settling over my heart. I believed that since I was home, I had made it to safety.

What ensued the next several weeks was an obligatory exploration into the realms of slow recovery of body, mind and spirit. My body, having lost about 15 pounds in two and a half weeks, went into complete shock. My hormones rebelled, and for the first time in over a decade the ever-reliable cycle of menstruation overthrew itself, remaining absent. As I began to gain weight again, old and familiar issues of body consciousness roused their ugly faces from the dark corners of subconsciousness. What I thought I had long conquered burst forth, and I fought with a self-loathing reminiscent of adolescence, an era which I could not be paid enough to revisit. On top of these more seemingly superficial side-effects of a body chemistry gone awry, I sank slowly into what felt like a shallow but certain depression, one that bobbed gently upon the seas of quotidien passing, so that I would forget my woes for long spanning moments, only to be suddenly pummeled with bitter remorse, salty doubt, and a subtle uncertainty that stank of rotting whale carcass wafted over a distance beach.

I tell this story from the past-tense, but in truth, this is my present state. What keeps floating to the top of the jostled waters is a profound and ancient grief. It feels as though this grief lives somewhere in my blood, and though it stays mostly concealed the majority of the time, it is a hue that tints my lens. Where does it come from? What triggers it? Must I identify its origin before I can move through it? Will I ever fully do so?

These are questions I continue to ask myself, and thus far my conclusion is this; there are so many verifiable causes for the experience of grief that it seems we are never subject to one source alone. Perhaps one feeling of sadness tugs the long chain extending back to our childhood, and the lifetimes of our parents and our ancestors. Built into the human condition are the transitions of loved ones from life to death, and the constant letting go of those relationships that no longer serve us but which require proper periods of respectful sorrow; natural disaster for which we tiny and insignificant humans have no control whatsoever, and more currently environmental catastrophe and the egregious abuse of this sacred planet, for which we are undoubtedly and mournfully responsible; the tragedies of human conflict, misunderstanding, violence, wrongful action and the atrocity of warfare, which is itself misdirected grief and a fruitless attempt to force each other into compliance of an invented definition of “correct” being.

While these may be the most prominent grievances that come to mind, certainly there are countless others which afflict us all. Both universal and timeless, our collective and individual grief is, at times, crushing. And yet, a spirit can remain bright amidst the certain gloom, a flame wavering upon its wick in the dense night, flickering and somehow still impossibly steadfast.