Random Thoughts

So like me to make detailed category headings for my "random" thoughts...

DEVELOPMENT
I think it's funny how we actively work to "develop" ourselves. It seems like something that should be passive, like the slow release of tense muscles as we hang out in a yoga pose, but development is more of an active event. My own personal development has been catalyzed by taking assessments such as the MBTI and StrengthsFinder, by working within professional organizations, by living with my completely opposite yet wonderfully perfect companion, and by so much more.

DE-STRESSING PART 1
I use Badger Stress Soother on my temples and forehead and have mint tea and peppermint altoids on hand for particularly trying moments. Mint/aromatherapy helps me SO much. It airlifts me out of a given situation and into a more blissful place. The balm smells like it belongs in a spa, which is where I belong too.

DE-STRESSING PART 2
Hot yoga-I'm obsessed with this new studio lately-clean, tons of showers, a million class options per day, consistent awesome classes, one location 15 min from my house and one 15 min from my work and your membership is good for both studios! I'm in love.

MEDITATION
I love it. My teacher Fez is amazing. Cultivating mindfulness through
1. Calming awareness
-moving from chaos to peace-
2. Asking healthy questions (what do I want, what do I value, why am I meditating? How do I want to feel?)
-moving from foolishness to wisdom-
3. Cultivating a healthy attitude
-moving from negativity to love-
4. Expressing positive actions
-moving from depression to happiness-
I am peaceful, wise, loving, and happy=the ultimate goals of meditation. Boom.

YOUTUBE
My faves of the moment: Howard Stern. Ellen DeGeneres. Jenna Marbles.

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

Tending to the garden

"FLOWER POWER MEDITATION: Every time you have a negative thought about yourself, especially the ones that recur, I want you to sit down or close your eyes wherever you are. Imagine your thought as a black flower, with a stem and root going down into the earth. With your mind’s eye, follow that stem and root way down, to see what’s nourishing it.

Can you picture an event, a person or an interaction that was the seed of that thought growing in you? With practice, and stillness, and of course, not judging the process but simply observing it, I bet you can.

Once you realize what’s at the root of your negative belief, picture digging it all up with your magic shovel, and tossing it on the compost heap. Re-plant a new flower and sprinkle a new intention into the healthy earth as you do. See the flower grow and blossom into a beautiful, colorful multi-petaled wonder.

This meditation helps inherently shift brain patterning, and the more you can revisit that flower, water it with your continued attention to shifting the belief through thinking, speaking and acting differently toward yourself, the sooner you’ll be the proud owner of a fierce flower patch"-Sadie Nardini


What if when you felt your blood pressure elevating you got on your yoga mat...did a few sun As and sun Bs and made your way into some luscious reclining twists on your back?

What if you gave yourself more credit...let go of fear and shame in the name of self-love and inner peace...viewed yourself as the healer you are...ate more green veggies and halved your alcohol and coffee intake...started your day with a gratitude list...made a box filled with affirmations (in the present tense...short and sweet...visions of the life you don't even dare to dream of) and reviewed it often...were nicer to yourself and to others....let the past feel farther and farther away as you embraced the present with new found freedom?

What if you believed in yourself and knew you were worthy. You were enough. You were fearless and ambitious and righteous and fierce. You were taking steps to heal....because our bodies are meant to heal... knew your body was strong and, when fed healing foods and bathed in healing thoughts, is capable of miracles? What if you knew that you can take the power back. You can live the life you dream of living...That if you can dream it you can attain it?

Love to you all.

Today's affirmation

I have a bright and shiny immune system that kicks the crap out of challenges. I am positive, uplifted, inspired, and free. I am filled with courage, clarity, and peace and attract prosperity and health to myself. I am brave and strong. I am loved and loving. I am as patient and gentle with myself as I am with all others. I am a channel through which life force flows. I do my best with my breath and it heals me. All is well in my world. I am perfect, whole, and complete in this moment.

Namaste

Family Time

"A woman sees in the world what she carries in her heart."-Goethe

Things I LOVE about my family:

My mom's generosity. My dad's biting wit. My brother's gentle spirit. Lotta's loveable ditziness. Sonia's fierce lapdog-loyalty. The way my mom mushes all of her food together and calls it "creativity." Her eye for interior design and fashion. Her stubborness and spirituality. Her endlessly abundant love for her children. My dad's inclinations towards bananas, bland crackers, and whole tomatoes and the way he will still get down and do 50 push ups if you make a crack about his age. My brother's openness to yoga despite his favorite hobbies being weight lifting and eating steak. The comfort of being together...our little unit.

So proud to wish my parents a happy 27th wedding anniversary today. Every moment I am with them reinforces my beliefs in the power of resillience and love to overcome absolutely anything. The sacrifices they have made and the joy they have derived from their relationship continue to inspire and amaze me.

I cannot wait to take them on their first duck tour. To introduce them to life alive smoothies and warm plates. To see the puppy tails wagging wildly and to scoop them up and cradle them like infants.

<3 Enjoy the weekend!!!!!!!!
xoMorgan

Love List

Ten Things I am loving this week:

1. SOUP. There is nothing better in winter time than pure warm veggie love. I cooked up a giant pot of root vegetable stew with: roasted turnips, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and carrots; sauteed celery, onions, garlic, lentils, and chives; and veggie broth. Oh my gawd it's great. That + cuban bean soup had me slavin with my chopping board on Sunday, which I find extremely therapeutic. Much gratitude to the veggie gods for the divine soupspiration!

2. Requests from my students. There is nothing I love more than putting out the question: does anyone have any requests? In a yoga class I am teaching and getting a resounding YES! I love suggestions and how they can be infused into whatever idea I already had in mind for class. Yesterday I was asked to work on shoulders and arms. We did a shoulder sequence involving long holds, openings of the front and back body, deep breathing and visualization. My students were like buttah at the end. One actually could not peel herself off of the floor. I love that goo-ifying effect of yin postures and really marinating in a sequence. Yum.

3. My cube in my new office. Our new location is a change of pace; it's not located right next to my yoga studio or fave juice bar, but it is gorrrgeous. One thing I love is the oodles of natural light. Another is my cube. It is immaculate and way in the back corner. I have a smattering of pictures on a small panel right behind my computer. I love looking at all of the postcards I have collected from my travels, the photography of talented friends, my boyfriend and my smiling faces, and art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. What better way to brighten up the work day!

4. Forever 21. Number one, I don't want to actually be Forever 21...I love my mid twenties :), BUT this store is fantastic. Where else can you get an adorable and chic sweater for less than 20 bucks that you can wear to death? You get to love it while you have it and not feel bad if it gives out after 20 wearings. Amazing!

5. My family. They are visiting this weekend. My mom, dad, and brother...and they are bringing the puppies!Oh how I love my tiny little devilish balls of furry love. I cannot wait to cook my fam elaborate vibrant veggie-full meals and take them on the duck tour and give them a billion hugs.

6. SLEEP. Enough said.

7. Bananas. So delicious and so high in potassium. Winning combo.

8. Bravo. I heart Andy Cohen and his late night shenanigans. He is legit the only man that can be sloppy drunk on his own talk show and work it.

9. Cuddling with Tom. So good for my health.

10. My holiday party at work. OMG so excited to rock my holiday shoes and feel like a VIP at the function hall in the Museum of Science. Love my job.

What's on your love list??

xoMorgan