Resolutions

Now that Christmas is over (and I am back to work today - A sacarstic yeah... okay it really is not that bad... okay i love my job)... It is time to start thinking about the new year, and New Year's Resolutions!!!! This year I really want to step up and fullfill my Resolutions. I know we always talk about them in the begining and try to see them through, but by summer they are lost in the shuffle. I think the dream work book will be a wonderful reminder for me to make things happen in 2009. I look around and see the ecomomy stuggling. I ask myself on a daily basis how I can help myself and others prepare for a tough ecomony. This is were my first resolution comes to play... I want to become more minimilistic. I rely too much on material possessions and things. All I really need is my family and friends, the things to support them and their needs, and a good high speed internet connection :lol: . The other thing that I would like to work on is being happy about me. I want to continue to lose weight and to feel good about the foods that I am eating. This includes exercise and diet. Listening to Dr.T's lectures again and coming up with assessment questions really makes me think about what I put in my mouth. For Christmas I got an Areogarden... my goal is to grow my own food this summer... Which makes me come to my third resolution turn my black thumb green!!!! If any of you have some good tips... please pass them along. My fourth resolution is my m,ost important one. That is to keep up with my studies. I have my dissertation topic (food and learning, I need to narrow down a little), but in order to make a difference in the lives who could benefit from my studies I need to keep up with my studies.What are some of your new years resolutions? I think if we work together we can make it happen!!!!!

We spent the weekend with my in-laws. I have pretty amazing in-laws. They try really hard to please everyone around them. They tend to go a little overboard at times, but their heart is in the right place.

It is amazing how much of an impact a person has on the world. If you reach out to just one person and smile or say hi or even listen to their story. They will start a chain reaction and smaile at someone else. I was watching previews in a movie theater this weekend and noticed that they are making stories for each of the charecters in the X-Man movies (starting with Wolverine). Everyone has a story to tell and share. We just need to listen. So if you are reading this blog and have a story to tell, feel free to tell me and I will listen. We are all amazing individuals and will change the world with our stories!

This morning was interesting. More to come later...

It is amazing how many choices we make on a daily basis. These choices will have consequences as well as successes. Most of these choices we make with a full understanding of the aftermath. We do not even think of the aftermath...we simply know what will happen. This skill has to come from some where. We choose to be who we are. Why do we choose to be someone who strives to be someone else. We can still make a choice to be who we are.

During this post I started to reflect on how simple choosing a direction can be. I looked to my son, who is two and is learning all about choices now. He turned to me one night this week and decided to not wear a shirt to bed. It is the middle of winter here, so I started to fuss and was tempted to have him throw that tamtrum and put a shirt on him. But I relaxed a little and let him go to bed without a shirt (I made sure that he was bundled up with blankets and that the house temp was set a little higher). In the middle of the night he came wandering into my bedroom holding a shirt. I put a shirt on him and put him back to bed. Such as small lesson, but a huge lesson in choice, and what the outcomes are of that choice. I hope he will continue to explore choices and will become good at making choices for his happiness.

Sending everyone warm persimmon hugs!!!!
~Alissa

Snow

Today is the day that it will snow.
I embrace the snow!

Today is the day that I will make mistakes..
I cherish my mistakes!

Today is the day that I live...
I love to live!

Today is the day that I will choose....
I happily will choose

Today is the day I will make someone smile.....
I think of your smile :)

Something to be proud about

I am getting over my love of cooked foods, such as donuts and pizza!!! Every friday we have either bagels or donuts. I was able to resist the donut calling me from the break room this morning! Talk about changes for the better. I am so proud to be a part of the raw diva family (www.therawdivas.com). I feel that they have really helped me to gain a better understanding of what I eat, which in turn gives be a better understanding of what I need physically and mentally... What a great feeling!

Smile

It is amazing the impact of a compliment and a smile has on someone's day and attitude. This link was in another blog post and I jsut had to share it here. I got chills when I was watching it :)

After you watch it... make someone smile :)

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1892182081

Snowy Day

Today I make the choice to enjoy the snow fall! I know that it will mean some work in driving home, but it is so beautiful to watch and to look at as it falls from the sky.
On a daily basis we run into people who complain about the weather. Why not enjoy the weather... what ever it may be. My mom always told me to take lemons and make lemonaide (I perfer to think of it as Lemon bars and now I will think of them as sweet mint and lemon green smoothies). This is true with everything. We are just as impacted by the bad as we are the good. They all shape who we are and who we will become.

Hmmm... On another note... I wonder if I could make raw lemon bars... Maybe with fresh lemon juice and dates... Hmmm...

Today is the day

Today is the day where I will start... not tomorrow, but today!
Now is the time where I will begin... not in ten minutes, but now!
Tomorrow is the day where I will look to... I see the results coming my way!
In just a few are the terms I will use... to see others join me in my fruitful vow!
Yesterday is the day of the past... I honor myself for all things good and bad!
Never is the time I will go back... Saying good bye to the old me, and hello to a healthy me!
Time is an important part of life... It is one of the things that is not a fad!
Dreams can come true... Only time will make me believe!

Praises

We must remember to celebrate lifes journeys what every they might be or bring to us. Even the negative can bring about a positive change. I am continuing my journey with the Raw Divas (www.therawdivas.com). They have shown me that life is a blessing and we must celebrate it on a daily basis. We are all divas/ divos inside. We all deserve the best life we can bring about. I am also starting a new quarter with school. This is it... I will finish my paper by the end of the quarter!
Other goals for me for the upcoming year include:
Getting in shape to run a 5Km run!
Thinking about adding to my family (note I just said thinking about it)
Finishing at least 2 courses and 3 more papers for school :)

Woot... I can do this!!!!

Seasons

So it is snowing today. It is amazing to look at it and be amazed. It is funny how peoples moods are dependent on the weather. I tell people about how the snow seems to be so beautiful as it falls down to the ground and I have people almost grimacing at the thought of the snow. But without it we would not have a white holiday season nor would we have a plentify crop for next year, nor would we appreciate the first bud on a tree in spring. I think the snow is a miracle and is a blessing that we are given such a gift.

Celebrate Today

I choice to call today a celebration. I look at all that I have accomplished and simply go wow. Their is much more that I need to accomplish as I progress down this path, but I have grown solid roots. I will be 100% raw before Christmas. I am learning to appreciate the food that I choice to eat. In another post I made a comment that life is full of compromise... Someone corrected me and said that life is full of choices and the outcomes of those choices. This is a more accurate dipiction of what I celebrate now. I choice to be the person I am... no matter what my weaknesses are. I choice to embrace them as a part of me. I celebrate myself. Everyone should... we are an equisite race :)

First Blog

I am trying to look at life in a whole new manner. I have been testing the waters in raw foods. To me it makes a lot of sense. I have been doing the BES program by The Raw Divas (www.therawdivas.com) for almost the past 30days and have seen some amazing results. I know am happier and more content. What really helped me out is the fact that I could write about my successes on a daily basis. From the program I came to realize that everyone is beautiful and should enjoy the life that they are living. Each day we are making choices of what we do, how we react, and how we think. No one is forcing us to think, react, and do what we do. I am also currently getting my PhD in Education from Walden University. Eventually I want to help others live how they want to live. We are not strapped in a life if we are not happy with that life. What is really preventing us from changing, from making a simple choice to make us happy? The only person stopping us is ourselves. I want this blog to be about the choices we make and how we can make choices that will move us toward the life that we want to make. Even if they are tiny choices - Like choosing an apple over a bag of chips.