What started with a spirit animal...morphed into a rainbow bridge.

You're going to think I'm crazy and lost the plot. Oh well. Here it goes...

I've kind of felt like in the last two weeks that my spirit animal is the unicorn. 

OK, so, you're either thinking, "She's gone feral hipster" or "She's got that whole earth goddess warrior priestess gonna save the world vibe." Or maybe neither. Probably neither. 

There is something going on and it involves unicorns. Or maybe it embodies them. (It's probably all that telling myself I'm magic; it's seriously messing with my brain and my self-perception.)  But honestly, I don't think it's possible for the words unicorns and uncool to be in the same sentence so there. Ha! More importantly, are there spirit animal rules? Can you be a unicorn one month and the next a hummingbird? 

So to answer my seriously important spirit animal questions I started looking around Google. What I've learned in five minutes.

1. If you're hipster, you're likely to have a spirit animal. (There is even a hipster spirit animal flow chart!)

2. There are about a million quizzes out there to find your spirit animal. 

3. Urban dictionary says its a representative of you or what you want to be.

And that's about the extent of Google's first page of search results. (What even exists on the second pages of Google searches? It remains a mystery to me.)

Oh well,. Nayyyy! Maybe I just wanted to use the unicorn picture.

OK stay with me here...

After my failed spirit animal Google quest, I started thinking about spirit animal origins and assumed (i.e. convinced myself with no actual evidence) they came from Native American stories...which made me think about the Chumash people who were natives to parts of coastal California and the story that someone recently reminded me of.

It's the story of the Rainbow Bridge.

The Earth Mother made a bridge out of rainbow so that the Chumash people could cross from the islands to the mainland and populate the world. It stretched from the tallest mountain on the island to the tallest mountain on the shore and the Earth Mother instructed the people to cross. But, being a rainbow, it was no modern day bridge. Some crossed safely but those who looked down became dizzy and fell into the water. To save them, the Earth Mother turned them into dolphins. Thus, dolphins are our brothers and sisters.

I think July will be my dolphin spirit animal month. I'm starting to feel like my pre-reincarnated self fell into the water.  

Full Moon, New Moon

It's the second day of winter here in the southern hemisphere and it's a full moon. Specifically, it's a full moon in Sagittarius. I'm feeling particularly feisty this full moon but at the same time peculiarly wistful. Honestly, one minute I feel like I could run a marathon and the next all I want to do is scroll through old high school photos. Maybe it's the fact that I'm so freakin' excited to see my sister that I haven't seen in 8 months this Saturday coming (!!!)  Maybe it's that I've greatly decreased the amount of sugar that's going in my gob. Whatever it is, something is making me full of energy and something is making me feel stuck because I can't go forward and reminisce at the same time. It's like running downhill looking over your shoulder and that sucks when you lose your footing because you end up falling on your face. And when I fall on my face, I really end up screwing it up. 

Anyway, I'm fired up with life right now but I've got a lot of crap I'm creating and hanging onto. This full moon is a great excuse to remind myself to let go. So, I'm going to release those things that come up that just aren't serving me anymore. Thoughts, ideas, beliefs, etc, they're all going to the wind!

What better time than to start a new month and new moon with an article titled 30 Things You Should Stop Putting Yourself Through? Or, if you're like me and 30 sounds like a few too many for one new start of letting go, here are 10 that I'm embracing.

1. Stop trying to be someone you're not. You're amazing. When you wake up tomorrow morning tell yourself that. You're freakin' awesome because there is no other you other than you. Also tell yourself you're magic, just for kicks. 

2. Stop lying to yourself. I'm going to spend less time trying to convince myself that my truths aren't true. Embrace myself.

3. Stop trying to hold onto the past. The past gets heavy if you carry it around all the time. It also gets costly if you put it in storage. With some things, give them to the wind, close your eyes and turn the other way.

4. Stop being scared to make a mistake. The paths of success are actually paved with failure. As Paulo Coelho says in The Alchemist, "The secret of life, though, its to fall seven times and to get up eight."

5. Stop trying to buy happiness. The things that truly satisfy us are always free. 

6. Stop looking to others for happiness. Happiness is a created inside. First create it, then give it. 

7. Stop thinking you're not ready. I know I'll never feel ready. I just have to keep reminding myself this. 

8. Stop being jealous of others. They're probably jealous of you anyways. What's the point of that?

9. Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. Somehow the little things always turn out to be the big things. 

10. Stop being ungrateful. When you wake up tomorrow, after you tell yourself you're amazing and magic, ask what you can do for the world today because you're so lucky to be able to give. 

Smile. Let go. 

Want to read all 30?

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/30-things-you-should-stop-putting-yourself-through.html

Green Chocolate Smoothie Recipe

It's winter here so it's kind of crazy to be in a smoothie craze but I can't help myself. There is something about putting a bunch of random ingredients into a blender and bam! something completely new and delicious is created. I hear ya, now you might be a little put off and hesitant to even read the recipe. Honestly, if you would have introduced me to it a few months ago, my reaction would have probably been one word - ewwwww. But seriously, I have been converted. Give it a try. Spinach and chocolate really do go together!

So, here it is. A super duper healthy smoothie that is delicious and nutritious.


Green & Chocolate Smoothie

1 tray of ice cubes
1 handful of dates
1 frozen banana
1 handful spinach or kale
1/2 c. plain yoghurt
1/2 avocado
1 c. almond or coconut milk
1 1/2 tbsp. raw cacao
2 tbsp. chia seeds
1 tsp. maca powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. tumeric

*Ingredient amounts depend on what flavours you want to be punchy and bold and what ones you want to hide. 


Put all ingredients in a blender and blend away!

Don't be turned off by the colour! I promise, it tastes way better than it looks. And, if you want to hide the green, put in more cacao.

Pictures that do more than just make you stop and think

A picture speaks a thousand words. Except, in the case of these photos, that's an understatement. They speak more like a million words, make you stop and think, then proceed to slap you in the face. Or maybe they just go right ahead and start swinging. Swinging and stinging. Either way, they are powerful.

There are a number of articles out there that list the 20, 40 or 60 most powerful social issue ads, but here are a handful that really resonated with me…or rang true…or just slapped really hard.

After each picture I can't help but ask -

Can we not do this anymore?

Can we not trick ourselves into thinking weapons protect us.

Can we not confuse spirituality with…well anything else.

 Can we not ignore that which we cannot see. 

Can we not turn a blind eye to what our food is literally wrapped in.

Can we not treat the earth like we do our bodies. 

 Can we not pretend that this is how we're supposed to look.

 Can we not label but love.

Want to see more?

http://digitalsynopsis.com/inspiration/60-public-service-announcements-social-issue-ads/

The Trews

Have you watched The Trews yet? 

You must have come across it or at least heard about Russell Brand's you tube rants at one time or another. When did Brand become an enormously influential, political voice?  Some time between the drug talk, the jokes and the Katy Perry marriage fling, Brand started speaking up and out in an insightful, intellectually stimulating and politically passionate way. Yes, I just said it. Maybe indirectly but I like it, love it and I want some more of it. Please, someone strip away the politics from the politicians, the aggression from the aggressors and the bias from the media! 

Thank you Brand for creating The Trews because sadly (for them politicians and bigwigs) you say it better and without so much shite. Thank you for trying to set an example for others on how to BE the change, rather than being the change for people. If it's a revolution we need as you say, so be it, but just  the fact of reminding people that yes, we are truly capable human beings of changing things ourselves - each and every one of us is capable of embodying change and creating something better than before. Together we can achieve more but don't go relying on some leader to come up with the "right" way to do things. Cultivate your own way. Cultivate your own change. 

Love still has no labels

Remember my post back in March titled Love Has No Labels? The diversity and inclusion public service announcement in the US launched on Valentine's Day? Well, the theme is back. Actually, it never left. I love it so much that it is not going to leave. Ever. Because no-strings-attached love is something that I am all about. Let's call it my new mantra…yes, my new love mantra. And, I'm all about sharing it.

Granted, love without labels isn't always be easily to do. It's not always convenient or agree with social norms. It may be difficult. Heck, it may suck sometimes! Your pride may have to take a back seat. You might have to tell you ego to f-off, or someone to do just that.

Right, so why is it back? (Or, simply still here I guess because it never left…) Because there is a short film I want to share with you and I want you to watch it with the love mantra in your mind (Love has no labels, love has no labels, …)

Watch it and remember that love doesn't look, speak or walk a certain way. So, don't try to make it into something it isn't, or to try and understand something you aren't. Diversity is beautiful.

Love has humble beginnings in a feeling. Keep it simple.

Follow this link to watch the video. You'll be glad you did.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/18/living/feat-transgender-child-raising-ryland/

A love poem a day keeps the divorce lawyer away.

Not that I have any lawyers at bay or anything. Far from the truth. But, honestly, if an apple a day can keep the doctor away, I'm fully inclined to think that a love poem can do that to the divorce lawyer. Heck, why not create an excuse to dig up a handful of good poetry? I love a good love poem.

My favourite modern poet? Pablo Neruda. Hands down. Even though I am stuck reading his translated work, his poems still sound amazing. How does he do it?

So, even though I could so easily list out a handful of my favourites, I will only give you one. Only a leaf of the tree of our love…To S love A.

Enjoy it, savour it and wrap yourself in it.

And, if you're lucky, you might get another one tomorrow. Depends on the lawyer's location. I'll have to think about it. xoxo

Sonnet XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way than this: 

where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.