This is a bit of a continuation of my last post, The Struggle is Real.  What I have for you today is a little poem that I put together about the beauty of the breakdown, of being ripped open and raw, and slowly beginning to put yourself back together ... so you can be a stronger and more inspiring you. 

Have you ever been told to keep a record of you thoughts or feelings? That it would help you to journal?  Did you nod because that's something you've heard before but your response is empty in the fact that you do not actually plan to journal?  Are you unsure of how to write to yourself?  Does it feel uncomfortable?

What I recently learned was the profound power of freely writing in a journal.

Have you ever wanted more clarity and perspective?  To feel re-energized and appreciate the people in your life more?  Spending more time with YOU might just be the answer!d

How can you go from being overwhelmed or underwhelmed to feeling alive and free and creating a life you desire?  The first step is to move towards a state of happiness within ourselves.  Once we do this, we are able to relax a little bit, settle in to who we are internally, and begin to hear that inner voice and allow it to guide us.

So, I've create a list of 5 steps to help you!  These techniques will help you begin to feel your power and strength and step into a state of more happiness - to live more out of love than fear, and to start to listen to that inner voice that wants to lead you towards healing and triumph and love. <3

All throughout my life I had been considered a highly competitive person, and for this I was exalted and celebrated.  Being a competitive person was seemingly referred to as though I was part of a club that was a notch about the rest - I "got" things other people didn't, I was smart and talented and driven, and I was "good enough" to be considered in competition for a top spot in whatever it was I was doing.  Because there was so much positive reinforcement and praise for being a "competitive person" I became really attached to it and let competitiveness become something that defined me. Have you ever felt like this or know someone else who does? 

Ever felt like this before?  When you're not happy you radiate such a mood/aura that you do your best to not allow others to feel happy.  Or perhaps you've been around others that lived in this way and it affected you?  Although we tend to not want to believe or see the worst in ourselves, for most of us this is has been the case for us either in the past or presently.  If we are not happy then we do our best to make sure others are also not happy.  When this happens so many things fall to the wayside...our relationships, our careers, the animals, the environment, basically the planet as a whole.  Sound like I am drawing too big of conclusions?

Taking trips and traveling is a wonderful thing that I encourage everyone to do.  The distance of travel, the destination of choice, the length of the trip and amount of trips taken in a lifetime can vary of course but the important thing is that we take trips throughout our life.  Why, you ask?

Today some of my friends from yoga school started a conversation in the comments section of a friends post on facebook.  Her post was about how she feels like she is getting her butt kicked and how she is working on balance & staying connected and that by keeping a good attitude through adversity will help and how important it is to maintain her yoga/meditation practice.  Her journey was that she did the 6 week course in Rishikesh, India for her yoga teacher training certification, then went to a vipassa meditation in nepal, and then studyed aurveda in a different part of India.  The conversation we [friends from the yoga teacher training, YTT, program]  started on her post was about the struggle of coming back to the western world after having spent time in India working on ourselves, our perspective, and how living in the laws of nature flourishes everything.  The question has been then, whey are we struggling being back in our daily lives?

I am so appreciate to live where I do - in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in a town called Evergreen, Colorado.  For the first time in my life I choose where I wanted to live because I wanted to live there not because I wanted a job that was there.  After doing my fair share of moving after high school (I think 11 total moves and 7 moves between states/countries), I decided that it was time for me to live in a place that I would love and thrive in, and no matter what I was "doing" this was where I wanted to be.  After two years of living here, I'm still in love with Evergreen.  The visitors we had today are one of the things I love about it so much here.

As you know, I was a gymnast for basically all my life.  I was competitively involved in the sport from age 5-28 and currently I still teach classes here and there, but at a more recreational level.  As a gymnast I had AMAZING control of my body and was in FANTASTIC shape.  My balance and coordination were impeccable and I was super quick and powerful not to mention that I was really strong and could maneuver my body well.  While I was no longer a gymnast and by no means in gymnastics shape, I still have some heightened body awareness. So you would think I would be great at skiing, right?  Wrong.