feasting

the last week of the joy diet is upon us and it couldn't have been better timing for the chapter on feasting as we all still probably have tons of thanksgiving leftovers.

while feasting isn't necessarily all about eating food - let me tell you about my thanksgiving...

ryan and i always split our holidays up between our parents. this year we went to his families house's for thanksgiving and will go to my parents for christmas. we took our dear brazilian friend bela with us this time so that she could experience her first american thanksgiving. we first stopped at ryan's mother's house and ate thanksgiving lunch there. next onto ryan's dad's house and had a late lunch/early thanksgiving dinner. finally onto ryan's best friend families house for a peruvian thanksgiving dinner. we all had a fabulous time at each dinner. bela had a great time. i was so grateful that she was able to share in her first thanksgiving holiday with us.

here's to feasting!!

check out jamie ridler's the next chapter for other musings on feasting.

image credit ici

connection

i simply adore connecting with like-minded individuals and i am delighted to say that in the past few months i have done just that!

i have connected with fabulous fellow bloggers & tweeps. i have connected with lovely ladies that are massage therapists, mentors & role models. i have connected with teachers & classmates that i admire and adore.

i feel so lucky to connect with such wonderful people - each and everyone of you!!

find more wonderful connections by visiting jamie ridler's the next chapter.

image credit ici

laughter

i read somewhere recently that laughter provides a massage for our organs. i truly believe this. if you think about it laughter is really a cure-all. no matter what is ailing you, once you start laughing you feel immensely better. you choose your happiness so when you are feeling bad, watch a comedy, read comic strips, have a conversation with an upbeat, jokey friend and see if you don't feel better.

ryan and i watch funny movies and tv shows to get in some laughs. we play with our pets - that is always good for lots of laughs. we also check out lolcats to get in daily laughs. we are both jokey people and hang around jokey friends. i have always been a very upbeat and funny person. anything for a laugh. i know for sure that my lpd (laughs per day) is way beyond 30. see how other lovely ladies get in their daily laughs by visiting jamie ridler's the next chapter. what do you do to get in your giggles?

image credit ici

play

i want to first apologize to my lovely readers. i have been mia recently because i have been very busy with massage therapy schooling and yoga teacher training. at least it's a good busy. i am enjoying myself immensely every single day.

now, out of all honesty, i've been playing with the joy diet in it's entirety and i've been having a great time. during the risk chapter i wrote in my post about wishing that i had read this book earlier when i was unhappy in the current career path i was in and wanted to do something else that i had always dreamed about. but as sherry lee said, timing is everything and that reading this book now is an affirmation. she is completely right and everyday it just solidifies it for me that i took the right risks and made the right decision.

here is a shot of my new brazilian friend bela and i trying on some fabulous shades while doing some winter clothes shopping. we had such a great time shopping and playing.

to check out the way some other lovely ladies play, visit jamie ridler's the next chapter.

treats

i've been fortunate to have tons of treats in my life recently. i feel as though the last month has been one giant treat.

here's a sneak peak at some of my most recent treats:

~ the indian summer we've been having

~ a birthday jubilee teavana present

~ teaching yoga to people who have never taken a yoga class before and seeing their faces light up with delight and hearing them say how much better they feel afterwords

~ cherishing solo time this weekend while ryan is in philadelphia

~ connecting with tons of fabulous readers - you all make my day - everyday!!

~ halloween - my favorite holiday

~ my first day of massaging clients tomorrow - i'm SO excited!!

check out what other treats by visiting jamie ridler's the next chapter.

photo credit ici

risk

life is full of risks. whether we realize it or not, we take risks everyday.

martha beck said "what's safe about not being who you were meant to be?" that completely resonated with me.

i wish i would have read this book a year ago. reading it now makes me realize that when i took the risk of switching gears from accounting to massage therapy and yoga was exactly what i needed.

sometimes the risk we most need to take is pushing ourselves and i am so grateful that i did.

follow along with other risk takers by visiting jamie ridler's the next chapter.

image credit ici

creativity

when i first picked up "the joy diet," i randomly flipped to a few pages and one of the main things that grabbed my attention was on the chapter of creativity. it was "uncomfortable truth #1: you are always responsible for creating your life, whether you like it or not." (i couldn't agree more!!)

i also love how martha beck explained that "criticism is an alluring substitute for creation, because tearing things down, unlike building them up, really is as easy as falling off a stump." i think that in general, we humans criticize because we are upset that someone else has thought of our idea first. we should congratulate them on their achievements and try to work on another idea. martha said "before you make negative comments about other people's creations, require yourself to do a better job than they did, under similar conditions."

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." ~albert einstein

find out what other creative people are saying about the creativity chapter.

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desire

in buddhism, samudaya is the second noble truth. samudaya is the origin of suffering is attachment.

"this is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there, that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination." - wikipedia

"craving" is also the same sense as desire. "desire is a sense of longing for a person or object or hoping for an outcome." "when a person desires something or someone, their sense of longing is excited by the enjoyment or the thought of the item or person, and they want to take action to obtain their goal." - wikipedia

according to early buddhist scriptures, the buddha stated "that monks should 'generate desire' for the sake of fostering skillful qualities and abandoning unskillful ones." - wikipedia

aha! so, we now have a loophole. this loophole isn't so we can desire our heart out for the newest, coolest flat panel tv, but to better ourselves.

i love it when martha beck says "the longing for one specific thing leads to another, then another, then another - and then one day, quite unexpectedly, you'll realize that you are coming out of the woods into a life you love. any little desire, so long as you truly feel it, will get you started on the path toward your destiny."

martha also states that if you make desire a habit "in other words, if you spend some time each day paying kind attention to your desires - you will sooner or later experience something almost magical; the moment when your mind, led by your sense of yearning, embraces the next stop toward the best life you are capable of living. this is the moment when desire stops being just a story about what might happen and becomes a template of what will happen; the moment when "i wish" becomes "i will."

this is so incredibly powerful and that is exactly how i feel about my life now. this whole summer i spent longing to find my path in life. while i am not quite out of the woods just yet, i am well on my way and loving every second of it.

like to see what others desire? click here to check out more of the joy diet.

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and the truth shall set you free

do you want the truth? i'll be happy to give it to you, but don't blame me if it's not what you want to hear. :)

sometimes the truth is hard to swallow. sometimes we aren't true to our friends, our family but when we aren't true to ourselves - that is when something is really wrong.

the most important thing i took away from the joy diet's chapter on truth was when martha beck simply said this "as far as i can tell, this process is always hard, always painful, always so, so worth it."

she is so, SO right!! for many years i was unhappy with certain aspects of my life and then i decided to get real with myself and really look truth in the face. and yes, it was an extremely difficult and painful experience, but, i am so much happier and freer now that i have. i should have befriended truth along time ago but i digress. now that truth and i are in cahoots, we are going to stay that way. it's the only way to live.

remember, it's never to late to discover your truth or check out others. click here for other inspiring truth seekers.
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the next chapter - the joy diet - nothing

i am a huge fan of doing nothing. it really is an art.

tuesday afternoon i decided to grab a nice hot bath and soak my yoga-ed out muscles in dr. teal's eucalyptus spearmint "relax" epsom salts solution and read the first chapter of the joy diet "nothing."

after reading the chapter of nothing i was inspired to do exactly that - nothing. so i dropped deep down into the tub, water up past my ears, closed my eyes and practiced the art of nothing. it felt great!

reflecting back on this summer i realized that i did a whole lot of nothing. and like it said in the book it leads to joy. this summer i became at peace with myself and the new direction my life is going.

it's never to late to jump in on the joy diet band wagon and i hope that you do.

photo credit ici

the next chapter - the joy diet

hello friends!! i am excited because today starts the beginning of the next chapter by the fabulous jamie ridler! you all remember what a blast i had with the wrecking of my journal. in case my new readers missed out on the fun of that, here was my the final chapter of my wrecking fun. (trust me, i saved the best for last!)

this round of the next chapter is something a little different. this time the featured book is "the joy diet: 10 daily practices for a happier life" by martha beck. this is perfect for me right now because of the path of wellness that i am on. when i first picked up my book i randomly flipped to a page and the first thing that jumped out at me was this "uncomfortable truth #1: you are always responsible for creating your life, whether you like it or not."

we could all use a happier life and that is exactly what i wish for everyone in the world. by nature i am a happy person. but as a human being, even i have things that get me down from time to time. unfortunately that is part of life. but what i think is key is taking the things that disappoint you and turning them around for the greater good. take those lemons and make some lemon meringue pie :)

it's not to late to join in! why don't you come and join us and live a happier life!

wreck this journal - the final chapter

this is the final week of wreck this journal. i gotta say, i've had run through the gamut of emotions. i think the biggest thing i'll take away from it is that i have learned to let go. i had been holding onto some ideas of who i was and realized that i wasn't letting my full self shine through. ok, ok, enough with the life lesson - onto the wrecking finale!!

first i had to find just the right page to wreck

after finding the right page, i played in the mud

rub with dirt - yes!!

seeing how much fun that was i decided to play around a bit

trust me this is great

that was awesome! now i was craving more...

i had to check the wreckage

yep looks good to me

wreck this journal - DONE!!

photos and videos courtesy of ryan

wreck this journal - week 8

i skipped over wtj week 7. hey, we are all entitled to break the rules from time to time right?! for week 8 i wrecked my journal, delaware style!! i took it to the beach with me and let nature do the wrecking for me (it's still all full of sand and drying out lol).

all buried up

deciding to go for a dip

getting taken away by the current

waterlogged journal drying out

i can't believe there is only one more week of wrecking fun. it's not to late to join in.

wreck this journal - week 6

my how time flies when you are wrecking :)

i made a paper chain which my not-too-happy-but-very-tolerant kitty, dooty, is modeling. what a good >^..^<

"ha ha, very funny mom"

"ok, seriously starting to get annoyed here"

"you won't get away from me"

"take that!!"

and yes, that is my 747 parked at terminal dooty :)

and finally for some fabulous earrings...
be sure to check out some fabulous wreckers and hey, why not join in the fun?! check out jamie ridler's the next chapter for more details. until next week friends, keep on wreckin'!!

wreck this journal - week 5

i know i'm getting terribly behind on the wrecking fun. i am just so worried about the gmat that everything else (and i mean everything) has been pushed aside. so, let me introduce you to the wrecking fun i had recently:

i put a dollop of my pink chalkboard paint there. it reminds me of a profile of a head.
yes, the gmat is even infiltrating my wrecking!

and that is because i'm gonna PASS the gmat this time!!

be sure to check out all of the other wreckage by visiting jamie ridler's the next chapter. you should join in on the fun, it's never too late. it's really therapeutic too :)

wreck this journal - week 4

wow, i can't believe it's week 4 already!! i'm having such a great time letting go of any inhibitions i had about wrecking a book. ok, ok, sometimes i still get a little nervous but i'm getting better. for example, i find myself setting my coffee cup on my journal rather than the table when i'm sitting at the table studying. that way in case there is any coffee drippings the journal will catch it and not my precious table! :)

without further ado, here is my week amidst the wreckage:

carolyn from hang on little tomato sent me a package earlier this week so i used some of the stickers to put on the front cover of the journal to spice it up a bit.

hey, i did pretty good, 5 for 6 anyways!

these are good thoughts indeed and i truly believe them!oh my god, it's sew wrecked!! tee hee

me and the journal call it a night. for the "wreckord" i do sleep with my head under the pillow more than on it.

stay tuned because the wreckage will continue. and be sure to see more wreckage by checking out jamie ridler's the next chapter.

photos by ryan and moi

wreck this journal - week 3

previously on "wreck this journal" after doing yoga w/ the journal, inking it up, and throwing it down the streets of philadelphia, melita just couldn't stop herself.

the first task was to "glue these pages together" and that is exactly what she did!! she glued those pages together and for extra measure, taped them, ya know, just in case...
she then found the "place sticky things here" page and gave it the works!! agave nectar, honey, glue & gum. those pages are sure to be a sticky mess...
"lose this page" could this be a metaphor for letting somethings in her life go.... mmeehhh, could be...
stay tuned for next weeks episode of "wreck this journal."

check out more of the wrecking fun by visiting jamie ridler's 'the next chapter.'
photos by ryan