Animal Instincts and Manifesting Joy

So I love visualizing people I meet as animals. Maybe that’s strange, but I see someone and in my head I’m going “total turtle over there.” I think I get it from my mom. Today we were chatting before I headed into work and I asked her what animal she thought I was. She said...hmmm...I think you are at least part peacock. She said this is because I am subtle about my gifts and talents, but occasionally I flash my feathers, preening as I strut, and everyone is awed by what I have goin on. It made me smile. Then I decided she is probably a meditating lemur after reading about one in the Huffington Post who was so zoned out in his meditation practice his lemur friends didn’t even know what to do with him! If you were an animal which would you be? And would you say that what you chose makes sense judging by your lifestyle/job/past times? If not, how can you nudge things or shift them in order to get aligned with your inner-creature? If you have a meditation practice maybe you can find yourself in the jungle, the woods, or by the ocean leaping on rocks or scaling a tree. If you don’t have one…maybe we can start with that. Plunk down on your floor in a comfortable seated position, grab a pillow to sit on, slide your back against a wall, place your hands on your thighs and tune into your breath. Let it wash over you like a wave and let your thoughts be the loud crashing of water as it breaks into white foam and rolls out towards the shore. See if you can sit for 5 minutes and every time your attention moves away from the object of your breath rolling in and rolling out you can begin again. Learning to begin again on your meditation pillow and on your yoga mat make it so much easier to begin again in the world. One of my favorite quotes is “I am not giving up; I am simply beginning again.” How does beginning again allow you to manifest joy? Are you ready for this because once you start on this path I am warning you that the abundance and overwhelming influx of goodness will be scary. Your biggest problems will stem from being in a love stupor, being stoned on good will and loving kindness. Here is my recipe for manifesting joy: Be grateful, be eager to grow from every situation, be fully present. Give of yourself at every moment. Expect less in situations. Take time to notice the oxygen flooding every cell of your body and nourishing your organs. Take time to notice the cleansing release of carbon dioxide as you sigh out what you no longer need. Take things less personally. SHIELD YOUR CORE. Realize that as a loving being you must have an open heart, but protect everything that roots you, makes you creative, and instinctually strong. This is not selfish; giving to yourself first allows you the energy and personal power to give ten fold to those around you. And don’t forget to try to be like the lemur as much as possible. Namaste <3 M

Hello Old Friends

It's been a while! I've been busy-workin my little tush off and trying to heal. I had some HEALTH ISSUES this fall and I had to sort them out. I'm doing much better now with an invigorated diet and health regimen. Feeling good.

To be honest, even though I think it could potentially help people to go into the details of what's going on, I have taken the stance that it's better to be tight-lipped about my health. I feel happier when I just talk about/focus on how amazing things are. My job, boyfriend, friends, family, etc. I am a very fortunate person and THAT is what my thoughts and energy should be spent on. If having a health challenge takes up time, I sure as hell am not going to let it take up any more by THINKING about it too.

So when I say I am working my tush off it involves many components: I have a sweet job that I really love working at a huge pharmaceutical company, training to be/becoming an intellectual property archivist. It's really involving, intellectually stimulating, and all that good stuff. The company has AMAZING perks (fabulous benefits, getting MLKJR day and President's day off...10 holiday parties...gym on site...free food all the time, etc. etc.) and I love the people I work with (as much as one can love working long hours and being told they could be better-hey that just means they know you are capable of more! growth=promotion...right people!?

So anyway...on top of those shennanigans I also teach yoga twice per week which I LOVE. I love the energy, hearing everyone breathing together and visibly softening as they make space in their bodies and minds for so much more than they could have imagined. It makes me so happy...seriously.

I'm also doing some educational consulting. I get to work with kids and prep them for college and make them laugh and stop stressing! It's pretty sweet. And it's pretty nice to actually use my masters now and again ;-).

So in between all of that craziness I try to stay centered and grounded. I didn't make New Year's Resolutions because I feel like every day I set small goals and seek to achieve great things.

On my list: Be 100% set with my emergency fund (3-6 months living expenses in a savings account I don't touch), make a giant dent in my student loans by the end of the year (pay them all off in 5 years), do more yoga, drink more green juice, eat more kale (if possible...i love kale...trust me there are ways to eat it that are really amazing), and completely finance and have peace of mind about my trip to Costa Rica so that Amanda and I can have the time of our lives running (or maybe I will just be watching TBD), doing yoga, surfing, laying on the beach, drinking tropical bevvies, and wearing gorgeous bikinis and island style dresses (thanks mama G and mama C!)

That's it for now!
xoxo
Morg