Sometimes we unintentionally pass on our own fears to our children. I think it is important for me to try not to do that. I realize I am always setting the example, even when it is negative, and what I do has an impact on my kids. There are certain fears that my children have that I do not share, and I wonder how they develop?

My son, for example, is afraid of bees. Neither my husband, nor I share this fear, so it is unlikely he learned it from us. My son has never been stung by a bee so it is not a past painful memory. Now that spring is in full swing and we are spending more time outdoors, having meals outside and enjoying
the weather, I find myself having to reassure him many times that the bees will not hurt him if he just leaves them alone. 
 
In the garden surrounding our home we have beautiful lavender plants. I adore their splendor and scent, and so do the bees! I’m not really sure how to go about helping my son overcome his fear. His 3-year-old little sister has now started trying to console her big brother. Just the other day as we were having lunch on the porch in the glorious sunlight, I overheard her say to her brother,

“Him is a friendly bee. Him just don’t like to be touched. If you touch him you’ll hurt his feelings.”

It was really quite sweet and cute. However, despite her kind words, my son was still scared.

Baseball has started, and we plan on spending a lot of time outdoors. 

Do you have any advice for me on how to help my son overcome his fear of
bees?

Thank you, for watching!

Check out The Gunnar Challenge at http://gunnarchallenge.com/

Before I tell you about Mother’s Day I would like to start off by wishing my Father-In-Law, Aaron a very Happy Birthday! We all love and miss you very much and hope you are having an awesome time in France!

Mother’s Day was sunny, bright and beautiful. Thank you for the kind Happy Mother’s Day wishes :-). They really warmed my heart <3.

After a leisurely morning, and a delicious soy latte, we hopped in the car and headed to our local amusement park. It was my son’s great idea. He had heard on the radio that Mom’s get in free on Mother’s Day. Even with the gorgeous weather there were virtually no lines to get on the rides. Sweeeet!

The kids were so happy and excited to be at the amusement park. Their joy totally made the day really special. We of course went on several kiddy rides, but I had a chance to sneak off and ride Tremors – a large wooden rollercoaster. Wooden rollercoasters are my favorite! I love the drops. My husband went on his top ride Aftershock. You can see the rollercoaster videos if you click on the links. Aftershock is crazy intense, even for me – a lover of rides.

After a fun afternoon at the amusement park we went out for Mexican food. I got my fill of guacamole, salsa and chips. Does it get any better? I could live off the stuff. I also ordered a veggie burrito but because I ate so many chips my husband enjoyed most of it the next day for lunch.

When we got home from the restaurant the sweet Mother’s Day cards I received were placed around a gorgeous orchid plant.

*Tip: Did you know that orchids only need 3 ice cubes of water once per week?

Hanging off one of the branches of the orchid plant was a beautiful present that took me a while to notice, which only added to the delight.

In my heart, I feel like the luckiest woman in the world to have such a loving family.

Thank you to my husband and children for a really special day, and most of all for your unconditional love!

We are in Provence and loving it! Aaron and I, and a group of friends have rented a house for a month in a tiny village (St. Veran) in the south of France. 

France is, well, outrageously fabulous.  No getting around it. My French sucks but I feel like I am doing better than I did last time.  I am not so stressed out about it on this trip.  Just going with the flow and it turns out I know more than my current group of travelers. Which isn't saying much... Even the French people seem nicer this time. Could it be my state of mind? Doubtful. The economy? Possible.

The days are warm and sunny. Perfect actually. We have a petite pool that is icy cold so I won't be venturing in any time soon. Our bed is very small and Aaron and I are mashed up together so we are both struggling with having a good sleep.  Better dig down for the drugs!  Things are generally smaller here in France but the prices are certainly bigger. Good thing for us the euro is dropping at the moment. Voila.

The outdoor markets here are to die for......well, not literally, except if you are a chicken or a fish. There is one every day of the week.  All very colorful, and the smell of cheese and sausage permeates the whole place. As you walk by the soaps... ooo la la, it is so aromatic and the displays are an art form. The only trouble is.... I am shopping with 2 men and they walk through like they are doing a surgical strike… They are always standing, arms crossed, waiting for moi. I need to come up with a meet me later strategy so I can actually buy something! I saw a back-pack purse I liked but by the time I gave it a cursory once over, the group had moved out of sight! Better catch up I thought or they won’t cook me dinner. The guys are the head chefs so there is requisite appeasing to be done.

Truffle ravioli, cassollet, pasta alfredo, crepes, mussels, parmigiana reggiano, baguettes, croissants, nogat, sausage, olive oil, balsamic glaze, quiche, and vats of tapenade.  I am gaining weight just writing this down... It is worth coming here for the food alone!  And then there is the wine, what can I say?  We have now graduated to buying incredible wine in a box! 
Thank God I brought my Brooke Burke Transform Your Body DVD with me. I think/hope it is staving off some extra lbs…  Au revior

--

Check out Traveling Pat’s previous post here.

Can you imagine being at a place in your life where you forgive almost immediately? That is where I’d like to be. Right now, I can’t say that I have learned how to forgive so quickly that it is almost immediate. It feels like a direction I want to head in my life.

For me, I don’t see any good that comes from holding onto anger, other than to cause more pain and suffering. People need to be loved. More than  anything people need unconditional love. To be loved for their higher being, not just their actions.

Even with my children, who I love more than anything and have a strong desire to provide the best of myself, it can still sometimes takes me a good 30 minutes to completely forgive some of their actions, and they’re little.
I know now that when I am feeling angry I need to go within and feel that space inside me that loves so much unconditionally, no matter what is happening externally.

Despite the fact that we might not have the best record for perpetual kindness as human beings, I do believe in us. I believe we can live and breathe and act out of love. I think evolution will take us towards a higher
good. We’ve come a long way in just the last 100 years. Think of the places we can go!

Every moment that I possibly can, every moment I can muster, I want to act out of love, especially when it is the most challenging for me to do so. That is the only way to get stronger- by strengthening our love muscle through adversity.

To love, and all that we can be!

What actually helps my inner clarity, as well as my writing is to read less online. I know it sounds ironic because I write online daily, but minimizing my online reading and social media time to a small amount keeps my mind clear, and helps me to avoid too much noise and clutter in my mind.

In our world there is so much information it can become overwhelming. I find I must listen to my heart about what to read and how much, knowing I am sensitive to information overload. If I’ve read too much in one day I find it harder to think and listen within for my own answers. 

I know when something I’m reading is guiding me in a positive way by how I feel, paying attention to the reactions in my body. I want to give the gift of time to the things that uplift me, make me feel good, provide aha moments, or very importantly-make me laugh! Life is meant to be enjoyed.

Just like there are times when I can feel I am starting to get too much junk food in my house, I can also feel when I am putting too much junk in my mind. It gives me a head-ache, and doesn’t feel fun. I crave space. For me, space is necessary in order to create. The best inspiration comes from  within.

The creativity is already there, inside, and only requires space to be born. Seeking out activities that help to create more space within and clear my mind is a passion of mine, which is one of the many reasons I love yoga and meditation.

I encourage you to pay close attention to how you feel when you are reading something, allowing your body to be your guide. It is important to our well-being to remove stress, and try not to add to it.

Our bodies always speak the truth even when our minds are unconscious of it.

When we envision what we want for ourselves, many of us, me included, see the distant big picture. It is a great start, but I always try to remember not to get lost by the magnitude of the journey. When we look at a successful business, or a successful writer, or a very fit individual we often judge based on an instant in time. We overlook the many, many hours of practice and devotion it took to get there.

In being honest and transparent with myself, I realize almost everything is not an overnight success. The person who I look up to in any area I’m passionate about has most likely spent countless hours working on their
craft, and they’ve done it over the long haul without giving up, despite  obstacles they’ve faced, and we all face them.

I believe we are all capable of achieving what we want in our lives, but we have to be committed to the journey, not just the end result. In fact, I find it most helpful after envisioning the end result to let it go. Let it leave you and enter the universe. I focus on doing a little bit each day, most days. Changes are a gradual process, small at first but the longer I’ve stayed committed the bigger and more rewarding the impact becomes.

I ask myself, what is it I want to achieve? Knowing is the first step. The second is committing to working on it a little bit each day. From my own life it is important to me to be healthy and fit, so I try to workout for a relatively short time, 30 minutes, 6 times per week. 30 minutes is not very long, but it doesn’t have to be to make a big difference if you stick with it.

Another example from my life is writing. I love to write so I practice writing and spreading messages of love each day, at least 5 times per week. I also love expanding my horizons so I read for a few minutes most days, often it is 10 – 20 minutes per day at most. In addition, I want to connect with my higher self or divine energy; therefor I meditate for 10 minutes per day.

None of what I practice doing daily is for very long at all, but the difference it has made in my life grows bigger each and every day I stick with it. The point is you don’t have to have tons of time to create what you want; you just have to stay committed. A little bit each day- baby steps to success. Make small changes and most importantly KEEP GOING!

In order to create what you want, you may have to get up a little bit earlier while the house is quiet, DO IT! The journey is everything. Don’t stop because you’re not at your big picture ideal overnight.

Perseverance is everything! You can do and achieve anything. Believe in you, the way I believe in you.

Your life is a gift of purpose.

The last week of April was my 1 year Vegan Anniversary! When I first started a vegan diet I did it as an experiment. I wanted to get rid of my addictions to some unhealthy foods and to shed a few pounds. My main motivation to start was my health. I believe food is medicine, and that you truly are what
you eat.

“Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food” ~ Hippocrates

The first three weeks of eating a vegan diet were hard. A vegan diet simply means no animal products, including dairy, eggs, and meat. At times I felt deprived. I had never intended on continuing on a vegan path for more than the month I committed myself too, but something happened along the way I  did not expect… after 3 weeks I felt really good! In fact, I had no desire to  eat meat or dairy. My taste buds had adapted and I felt great. From that point on my new decision was to continue with a vegan diet for as long as it felt right. To this day I love eating a vegan diet. I love the way I feel physically, mentally, and spiritually. Although it was completely unexpected
when I started, a year later I can now tell you a vegan diet feels like home in my heart.

"So I am living without fats, without meat, without fish, but am feeling quite well this way. It always seemed to me that man was not born to be a carnivore." ~ Albert Einstein, March 30, 1954

A unique opportunity arose with perfect timing of my 1 year vegan anniversary- the chance to watch and review Vegucated.

“To me, Vegucated is about the shift that happens when you sit at one side of the dinner table, looking at the vegan on the other side with amusement, envy, or perhaps, slight horror. Then you receive some information or inspiration and suddenly find yourself on the vegan’s side of the table, seeing the dinner in a whole new light.” ~ Marisa Miller Wolfson, writer-director

Vegucated is an outstanding documentary that follows 3 New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for 6 weeks. I saw myself and my own journey in these 3 people. To say I missed cheese in the beginning would be a  complete understatement. I understood their struggles and feelings first hand. This I expected and enjoyed about the documentary.

What I didn’t expect was all the education I would receive about our current food system that, for the most part, I had no idea about. I was horrified! My husband was horrified. A couple of times I closed my eyes feeling a tad bit sick. This documentary was not overly graphic but the sadness I felt in my heart over the way things are cannot be ignored.

My hope is that we all become educated about the food in our fridges, where it comes from and how it is produced, so that we can make educated, empowered choices in order to follow the path which feels right in our own heart. I would love so very much for everyone to see Vegucated, and would especially love to know what you think?

Here is what my husband had to say about the documentary:

“I really like the movie as it made me reevaluate how I think about where our food comes from. I spent a few days really thinking about and wrestling with if I wanted to just forget what I saw and keep living my life as I had been for the most part (head in the sand) or If I needed to open my eyes to what really is going on out there. The path of least resistance is to put my head back in the sand and as appealing a choice that is I just can’t in good conscience go forward knowing what I now know….and for that I am grateful.”

Vegucated gets 4 thumbs up, both from me and my husband.

Please do watch…

“Vegucated is a funny, entertaining and informative film- a must see.” ~Russell Simmons, hip hop mogul