Hello Everyone!

Keeping inline with the new ritual that I have practiced over the past year with my coach Rebecca https://rebeccamassoud.com/ that at the beginning of each month, I take a look at my life, my goals, and what things would I like to release? And what would I like to move towards?  Tomorrow is September 1, and because of a wonderful woman that I flew with I felt inspired to replace all of my meals with smoothies for the month of September!  The original idea was juicing, but I don't have a juicer, so the next best thing is doing smoothies.  I don't know why I'm so excited, but I'm betting I will see and feel some health benefits!  And I imagine that I will save a little money in my overall food budget for the month, which would be nice.

While it may not work for you to do a type of detox diet like this for the entire month, what is one thing that you can replace in your day, for something more healthful or happy?  Could you write for 10 minutes everyday?  Maybe do a smoothie for breakfast everyday?  Read rather than watch a TV show?  Meet up with friends for a walk instead of a bar one day a week?  Or instead of a family movie night, you go on a family hike?  No matter where you are in your life we can all pick something to modify.  Rather that "not" doing something, or cutting something out, I believe we should "add" or "replace" things into our lives.  Again the smaller the tweak is, the more permanent it will be.  So what new thing would you like to try out or incorporate into your life?  Or what area of your life would you like to be different?  Its a new month, pick something are stick to it for just one month!  I know you'll be happy with the results <3

Update September 10th

Hello!  I'm loving this month of smoothies and I just wanted to provide an update.  Here is what I have noticed and learned about myself so far:

I'm way less congested, and in general just more clear.  I breath easier, my skin is looking better and I just feel lighter.

Because I'm following the recipes I have begun to think that I just don't eat enough fat in my diet.  To this day I've only met one person that eats as much as I do.  I really don't like how much I eat sometimes, its time consuming and gets expensive!  I eat like my 15 year old brother did, when he was training in football.  While I do enjoy the benefits of my fast metabolism, sometimes I really don't like how starving I feel after having just ate a huge meal two hours earlier.  And now I see that maybe I just don't get enough fat.  With these delicious smoothie recipes many of the recipes call for a spoon of coconut oil, or coconut milk, from the can (quite fattening), or peanut butter.  All of which I normally don't eat.... up until now.  But now I feel full for MUCH longer than is typical for me, which is great.

A majority of the time, now the fruits and vegetables are raw because they are frozen.  Because I can feel the difference, I realize that my nutrient intake is much higher than normal because I'm predominantly eating raw. 

Just feeling great in general!  More to come!

Love, Jessica

Hello!
Does this question apply to you?  Do you sometimes, or maybe even often feel drained and you don't understand why.  Most likely you are an empath like me, and you absorb people's energy.  So then the real question is:

How Do I Stop Absorbing People's Energy?

This was a questions I had about 6 months ago, and just realized that I've figured it out, and found a solution that works for me (a combination of one to all a day depending on how I feel), and want to share it with you!  

1. Meditate -
Make it a point to meditate at least once during the day, maybe two or three times a day.  You can meditate from three hours, to just 5 minutes.  Its the easiest and cheapest energy boosting thing that you can do!  And you can meditate anywhere.  There are hundreds of  approaches to meditating, from sitting in silence with a still mind, to following the bouncy thoughts that seem to become louder as we become quiet.  You can also look up guided meditations on youtube.  Because there is such an endless abundance of styles, and guided meditations, try a new one out from youtube every day for a week and find the one that feels the best to you.  The point is feeling good, so if it feels good follow that.

2. Drink Water -
Being dehydrated is the number one reason for feeling physical fatigue.  A while ago I decided to try drinking water for a consecutive 5 minutes.  I'd set my timer and focus on drinking water the entire time.  My stomach would get really full,  but I felt so much better the rest of the day, and noticed that my sleeping also improved.  Now I drink a full glass of water first thing in the morning, before I get in the shower (sometimes those are the same thing, so then I'd only drink one glass), and I bring a large water bottle with me everywhere I go, and when I am going somewhere that I know will have a bathroom, like home, a friends house, a restaurant... I'll try to finish the bottle of water before I get there, and refill it, and repeat this the entire day.  When I am good about it I see a very noticeable difference in my energy levels.

3. Read -
Cary a book with you, and read when ever you can.  You can read anytime you are waiting in line, or waiting to pick up your kids...  Or make it a point to sit and read for at least 10 minutes during the day.  Read a book you enjoy that makes you laugh, feel happy, or optimistic.

4. Realize that we are all on our own path - 
As an empath I know that it is very natural to notice when someone is not doing well, or even just able to see that they could be doing better - AND then feel like it is our responsibility to "help" them.  But its not.  Its not our responsibility to help them, and it may actually mess up their path, or what ever lesson they are meant to learn by their hardship.  Who knows, they may not every think what they are going through is a hardship!  This is not to say to be mean and ignore people or let them suffer, but just realize its not your responsibility.   I know us empaths, have a tenancy to take on people's problems and make it our own, but that does not actually help anybody.  Leading to the next one...

5. Focus on filling up your own cup -
This was quite an abstract idea for me.  But do things that make yourself feel good.  Make your home beautiful, eat a delicious meal, get a massage, do a yoga class, dress nice, take a nap, watch a movie.... What ever makes you feel good is what needs to happen more often during your day.  This does not have to cost money, its just a shift in where you place your effort.  If this sounds like too big of an idea just make it a point to do something that makes you happy or maybe even just releases stress 5 minutes a day.  Gradually increase it, you will see your life change :)

6. Realize that everything revolves around love - 
Everything we do, the choices we make are in relationship to love.  Weather or not we think we deserve love.  How successful we want to be is in relationship to love, either we think we have to be successful to get love, keep love, or protect our selves from getting hurt.  Some of us are successful because we love what we do.  Which is ideal, but then that is saying that we deserve to be happy and are deserving to love our lives.  Some of us might not want "success" because we think we will loose love.  So when you interact with a jerk, remember that they are just acting out their anger, that they don't deserve love, on you.  Please don't talk about this to random people, especially the "angry" type of people, they are likely to react harshly.  But do pay attention and observe.  Notice your self, and the choices you've made over the years.  Did you choose a certain degree because your parents would be proud of you?  Its an abstract idea but I do believe that noticing things in this light helps me to not take things personally and make other people's problems my own.  Now I feel more compassion for others, rather than being annoyed at them for having bad energy.

7. Yoga -
Exercise in general is great.  Personally I think its fun, but there have been many studies that say exercise boosts our energy levels.  But yoga in particular I find to be very grounding (centering) and thus feeling more energized.  Again like most of the ideas above you can do yoga for as little as 5 minutes and feel the benefits, or you could take a yoga class.  Personally I absolutely love hot yoga (Bikram) but if you don't have the time a yoga class may not suit you for that day.  But youtube (my favorite!) has hundreds of yoga videos to choose from.  If you want to look at my favorites check out the "wellness" category on the right hand side of this web page.

Just a side note, if you have not done hot yoga before, please tell the instructor before taking the class, you can even call the studio and ask for suggestions before signing up, and make sure to drink LOTS of water, I normally drink 2-4 liters of water, before, during & after.  At least one liter before the class always.  It is a tough class, but I absolutely love how I feel afterwards. 

I hope one or all of these help you feel more energized!  I realized that in noticing my own progress, I was looking for a one time solution, but that doesn't exist for this.  It will always be a work in progress.  

Sending you love!
​Jessica