Julia – Page 11

your body is your temple

June 11, 2013 by Julia Leave a Comment

Travelling is one of my biggest passions. I love the adventure that it brings as I journey into the unknown. Exploring new landscapes, cultures, and culinary delights. However eating healthy fresh food while away from home is a constant struggle. One that I experienced on my recent trip.

Your body is a temple. When I treat my body with the reverence of a temple, the results are abundant. I feel alert, light and energetic. Similarly, when I treat it like a garbage disposal, the results are also abundant! A cloudy mind, lacking energy and feeling heavy.

My travel offering to my temple consisted of – wine, gluten (which I’m slightly allergic too) and indulgent meals.

Don’t get me wrong, experimenting with great food while travelling is one of my favourite things. Life is too short to deny ourselves. But I am now more in tune with my body than ever before. I know what works for me, and also what doesn’t.

So now that I’m home, I’m going to make a different offering to my temple. A much greener one.

GREEN SMOOTHIE TO THE RESCUE!!!! (Wearing a super-hero cape. Seriously)

I’ve been drinking green smoothie’s for the last few years now, and I go through major withdrawals without them!

I was first introduced to this liquid gold by an incredible raw food chef Kemi Nekvapkil, owner of Kemi’s Raw Kitchen. Kemi creates some of the most delicious raw food I’ve ever wrapped my mouth around.

Green smoothies are a true love of mine. They improve my digestion, make me feel vibrant, brighter eyed, and energetic.

GREEN SMOOTHIE RECIPE

Ingredients:

1 banana (or 2 if you want it creamier)

1 kiwi

2 handfuls of spinach (or kale, or bok-choy)

1 orange

1 handful of berries (blueberries are highest in anti-oxidants)

optional – chia seeds, spiralina, ginger, celery, beets, almond milk, cacao nibs, goji berries . . (as you can see, the options are endless!)

Method:

Throw these in a blender, cover with water (or my personal favourite – coconut water) and blend until liquified. Voila!

Slam it down for breakie, take it in a flask to work, or store in the fridge for the family (it will last a couple of days).

I guarantee you, your body will thank you for the offering.

Cheers!

quality time

June 11, 2013 by Julia 4 Comments

I just returned from a fabulous adventure across Canada with my parents. We hadn’t seen each other since I left Australia a year ago, and what an incredible reunion we had!

It’s not often the three of us get to spend time together, just us. Me moving countries obviously created an obstacle, but the other reason is I have a twin sister, so the family catch ups have always been all four of us – which I love! But it was really special and rare to have that time with my parents – solo.

What is quality time anyway? It’s a term that gets thrown around a lot.

What does it mean to you?

For me, it means being present, having real conversations, asking deeper questions, building stronger bonds, getting more related, really appreciating and having fun in each others company.

Quality time = Creating memories

It’s not scrolling through my iphone during meals, it’s not being stingy with my listening, it’s not reacting like my 16 year-old self may have done. It comes back to my previous post on integrity, to me it’s being responsible for the energy I supply in the time we spend together.

While driving through the Rocky Mountains we played a question game (I think it was actually designed for first dates, but it worked a treat!). We asked each other; What are your greatest accomplishments in life? Who are the people who have had the biggest influence on your life? If you could live any place in the world where would it be and why? What is the most challenging thing you’ve ever endured? What’s something that no one knows about you? What’s your favourite childhood memory?

It was priceless to get these insights into my parents. Often the people closest to us are the one’s we know the least about.

I’m so grateful for the quality time we had together during this holiday. We created memories I will never forget.

Life is short. Memories are precious.

If you’re going to spend time with your loved ones, make it quality time.

integrity

June 10, 2013 by Julia Leave a Comment

I recently attended my first yoga retreat. It’s been one of my goals for a while now – tick!

I felt so grateful and privileged to be there. I was a part of an amazing group of women who undertook a journey of total body and mind transformation.

When I checked into my room, I drew an affirmation from the ‘be the change’ card deck – it was Integrity.

This definition struck a chord with me . . . to live my truth.

I’d always thought of integrity as having strong moral principles, and in the disciplinary sense – ‘doing what I say I will do, when I say I’m going to do it’. This affirmation shed new light on an age-old concept for me.

At the retreat we called this “dusting off” words, shaking off the restraints of old definitions, beliefs, stigmas around language, and stepping into a whole new realm of possibility. It’s literally polishing old words to be shiny and new again. This ensures our communication is always powerful because we are aligned on the meaning behind our choice of words. Interesting huh?

To me, living my truth means spreading light, joy and love.

This message empowered me on my journey through the retreat, something I reflected on and consciously acted out. I focused on ‘living my truth’ during my solitary moments of reflection, when I interacted with others, and during my yoga practice. Aligning my thoughts, words and actions. Integrity. It felt dam good.

It made me more responsible for the energy I was bringing not only to my environment, but also to myself.

I got to thinking, this is something that could benefit me every single day. I don’t have to wait to attend a special retreat to be conscious of who I am being.

We all have a choice moment to moment as to what energy we bring into the world.

We are responsible.

Don’t wait, start NOW.

How will you live your truth today?

live your passion

June 9, 2013 by Julia 1 Comment

The following quote jumped off the page of a book I read recently –

“Live your passion. What does that mean anyway? It means that when you get up in the morning, you are pumped because you get to talk about or work with or do the thing that interests you the most in the world. You don’t live for vacations because you don’t need a break from what you’re doing – working, playing, and relaxing are one and the same. You don’t even pay attention to how many hours you’re working because to you, it’s not really work. You’re making money, but you’d do whatever it is you’re doing for free.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

What are your passions?

Are you living them?

If not, what is holding you back?

Your are made up of a unique set of passions, things that speak to your soul and light you up. Your passions make you feel truly alive, and self-expressed. You are your best version of yourself when living them.

What would your life look like if you chose to harness these passions? What if you actually got paid to do what you love? What kind of personal power and freedom would be possible for you?

Some people have the archaic belief that they will never make any money doing what they love, but in today’s world this has never been further from the truth. People all over the world today are earning a living doing exactly that. With the rise of the information society, and social media people can now monetize their passions, hobbies, and interests like never before. We spend the majority of our lives at work, why not spend it doing what you love most?

My Dad always told me ‘do what makes you happy, and you’ll be great at it’. This is something that has always resonated with me.

Do what you love. Follow your heart. Success will follow.

It’s as simple as that.

You owe it to yourself, life is too short not too.

one small step

June 9, 2013 by Julia Leave a Comment

Welcome!

You know what they say – all great journeys begin with a single step.

So here I am writing my very first post, on my very first blog.

I also ran 11 km for the first time this morning – it’s a day of firsts people!

Here is a place where I can share all the things that inspire me to live a life I love.

I hope they light a spark in you too.

This is my life vision and goals in action. I am so grateful to everyone that believes in me.

stay tuned . .

« Previous Page