GREATNESS Challenge: Week One

#GREATNESSChallenge week one:

    So recently I have been studying the concept of "affirmations" and their effect on the way we see ourselves, life, others, dreams, etc... And I have found in the past 2 years that affirmations on many different levels have helped to alter the way I see MYSELF and my FUTURE for sure.
I have found in the past 2 years repeating "POSITIVE" affirmations in place of old negative ones dramatically altered what I think about me. Now this is not an exact science, and I think as with anything there must be a genuine intention behind the affirmations. You can't just repeat "I am beautiful" 20 times a day and expect to feel beautiful, especially if for the rest of the day you constantly say things like "I'm fat." "I look bad today." "My lips are too small." "My hair is gross." "I don't like my eyes." SEE these are affirmations as well, and they will combat the affirmation of "I am beautiful" I will be sharing a few videos on affirmations and their power in our lives on the page here for reference...NOW DOWN TO THE CHALLENGE!

    For the next week, 7 days, you will be following an affirmation regimen.

1. Every morning for 10 to 15 mins (which might mean ya need to set your alarm a little earlier) Listen to an affirmations audio. There are millions on facebook for wealth, self esteem, awareness, love, abundance, healing, etc...

    my suggestion is to sit in a comfy spot or lie still in bed and listen to them. BUT if you need to play them in the car on your way to work, or while you are showering (which could be very relaxing) then do so! You do not have to pay super close attention to the audio, just stay silent and try and focus on your breathing. The affirmations will settle into a nice place in your subconscious. 

2. Part 2 of this challenge is to repeat this process, at night before bed. You can even listen to them while you fall asleep. (Suggestion: for BEST RESULTS, listen to the same one both morning and night, and all week.)

3. Part 3 of this challenge is the most important one of all!!!! And this will be the most challenging part of it for many of you. NO NEGATIVE SELF TALK/AFFIRMATIONS. I want you to practice being more aware of how you speak about yourself, about life, about your surroundings, about your job, about your friends, family, coworkers, finances, etc...

    For example if you choose an affirmations audio on wealth, and then continue all week to talk about how poor you are...the affirmations will do nothing for you.

    Another goal in this challenge, write down, or share here your findings. If you start to notice a positive shift in your thinking or for example if you choose one on confidence, and you start noticing yourself feeling more outgoing or more at ease around others, share it with us! If you choose one on feeling beautiful and you start getting compliments from people randomly, share that as well!

    I WANT TO BE CLEAR, if you feel they are doing nothing for you, or God forbid, making life worse. Please contact me and let's have a heart to heart and get to the bottom of why that may be an issue. Affirmations have worked for millions of people, and even more so...the concept of affirmations has scientific merit even in the way society sees proper and improper child rearing and education. (tell a child he's stupid much of his life, and often thats what he believes about himself as an adult, which hinders his ability to learn...the same idea)

    SO take advantage of the materials shared here, and if you decided to do the challenge, PLEASE comment on this post with the words "I'M ALL IN" smile emoticon Good luck and Namaste fellow spirits!

to join the group on facebook go here GREATNESSChallange

Operation Viewpoint: Why I'm a feminist.

Share your thoughts with me on Feminism Frans! What definitions do you use to describe this word that has been looked at with both hatred and love for a long time. I share today a video by one of my favorite YouTubers, Laci Green, who often in her videos gives such excellent definitions of what modern feminism looks like. I hope it stirs some questions in your soul and I encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments below! Intelligent, open, and tolerant opinions only please. Any hateful, threatening, or vulgar remarks will be removed. ;) Sincerely, everyone who'd like to punch a troll ;)

Ignite: Your Sense Of Self

We all struggle with really feeling like we know ourselves right? I think one of society's biggest issues lies in not really knowing ourselves on a deep level. We align ourselves with standards set by others, views held by others, customs, traditions, and prejudices others have. We tend to pick up terrible concepts and weave them into our own lives, our own worlds. Such as racism, body shaming, sexism, and more. These are totally unhealthy and cause such upset in our inner beings. But more so they keep us from knowing WHO WE REALLY ARE and WHAT WE REALLY THINK and ultimately WHAT WE REALLY WANT out of this life. So today I share with you an amazing video with the awesome and enlightened Deepak Chopra, who on more than one occasion has inspired me. 

Hope the video ignite's your sense of self and helps you with whatever obstacles you face in your life that stem from the desire to really know who you are on all levels.

Deepak Chopra What Does It Mean To "Know Yourself"?

40 Days To Greatness Cleanse!

 Welcome to the 40 Days To Greatness Cleanse!

This cleanse is broken into 3 parts. 

Physical (a cleansing of the body)

Mental (a cleansing of the mind, to free ourselves up so we can achieve more of what we are passionate about) and last but not least...

Spiritual (a cleansing of the soul, to build new foundations of productive habits, healthy self image, and loving attitudes of gratitude)

First you will need some items for the physical part of the cleanse:

• Herbal Tea (we suggest organic green teas, pu-erhs, detox teas, ginger teas, kava teas, and jasmine teas. Any tea will work, but keep in mind non-herbal black and orange pekoe teas will not benefit your body and may limit the results of your cleanse. The idea is to drink teas that assist in cleansing. If you need more info on teas that cleanse, check out this article 18 Teas For Detoxing )
• Purified/Bottled Water (We strongly suggest trying to find bottled water that has NO FLUORIDE in it. This however can be very hard, so don't feel bad if you can't find a brand that doesn't add this harmful chemical. Here's hoping one day they stop poisoning us eh? ;) )
• Organic Lemon Juice (you can find these at most grocery stores)
• Apple Cider Vinegar (Once again we suggest an organic ACV, but if you can't afford it, no worries. You will still get some benefits from any brand you buy, but organic will maximize these benefits)
• Vitamins (we suggest whole herb vitamins such as Echinacea, Fenugreek, Cinnamon, Bee Pollen, etc. You can also use Cayenne if ya like it a lot, B12, and St. John's Wort. These vitamins will be used in our Power Smoothies so try and get ones that can be finely crushed into powder, or ones in gel caps that you can pop open and just dump the herb right into the blender)
• Smoothie Stuff (This includes fruits and veggies that are prime for cleansing. Spinach, cabbage, celery, apples, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, banana, kale, etc... You can do fresh or frozen, either way is fine. Frozen tends to be cheaper and lasts longer. *Fruit* not veggies of course, do not use frozen veggies or canned veggies...ewww. ;) )
• Juice (The juice is for mixing your smoothie. Try to use organic ones with low sugar contents. We suggest cranberry, orange, apple, and pomegranate juices.)

Other things you can add if ya like are protein powders, ones with little to NO CARBS or sugar. Just plain protein powders, soy is usually better than whey for a cleanse like this.

Now there will be moments you might feel like caving, I mean 40 days is a long time. So in those moments trying eating whole fruits, soups with NO CARBs and a low fat intake, or Salads with low carbs and high protein content, low fat as well.

Now each day you're going to want to do your physical cleansing products in this order...

Wake Up:

1. Drink a full bottle of water with 3 tablespoons of lemon juice in it. (You can also substitute for a cup of hot lemon water if ya'd like) This will prep the liver to do it's job!
2. Drink a power smoothie (It is best to make these the night before, so you aren't tempted to grab something quick and non-cleanse like haha)
3. Drink a cup of herbal tea (we suggest one that gets the body pepped in the AM, one that assists in cleansing really well is best when you first get up)

During The Day: TONS OF WATER ALL DAY FIRST AND FOREMOST

1. Drink at least 1 bottle of water with 2 to 3 tablespoons of ACV in it. (This will boost the metabolism which will give your extra energy, and this will burn away toxins and fat build up)
2. Drink at least 2 to 4 cups of herbal tea. (If you work a job that makes this hard, we suggest bringing the tea bags to work and a thermos with hot water. This will keep the metabolism going and it will continue to assist in the removal of toxins. It also helps keep you feeling full and satisfied throughout the day) Quick tip about the tea: USE Stevia or Monk Fruit sweetener, organic is best. DO NOT USE WHITE SUGAR, in fact even turbinado might be too heavy. For maximum cleansing, use stevia, monk fruit, even agave is cool.
3. Around dinner drink another power smoothie

After 6pm:

1. Drink tea and water all evening. This is where it gets great! At night you can permit yourself 1 to 2 cups of tea with CREAM! Yep ya heard right! :) Cream is an excellent way to convince your body its getting something decadent, and it won't hinder the process much at all. If you can go without the cream, awesome! But don't push yourself too hard.

Now for the Mental and Spiritual Parts of the cleanse!

Each week on Sunday evenings I will be posting on this blog as well as some of my other social media outlets, CHALLENGES! These weekly challenges will be what make up the mental and spiritual part of the cleanses! They will have tasks and goals for each day of the week and will include things like...

• Meditation
• Exercise
• Selfless Acts
• Relaxation Practices
• Breaking Our Comfort Zones
• Trying Something New

and much much more! The first week of the cleanse has no challenge, this is due to the sluggish fatigue you will most assuredly have to endure. The first week your body is working extra hard to rid itself of toxins, and this may cause headache, fatigue, nausea, etc...for a list of what is normal during a cleanse check out this amazing article...Detox Explained Now there are lots of debates over detoxing and how to do it safely...yada yada yada. Let me just say that each body is different! If you start to have MAJOR complications, QUIT! If you try this and it doesn't work, I am sorry, Everyone's body is different. I do believe however that most of you will experience a serious and wonderful change in your body and mind and spirit and will be able to boost your 2015 into GREATNESS!

One of the greatest after affects of this cleanse will be weightloss, if you are a smaller person, we suggest taking in clean foods every day of the detox, so as not to drop weight rapidly and go into a bad BMI range for being underweight. :( But if you have weight to lose, this will help in so many ways! The average woman on this cleanse will drop anywhere between 10-30 lbs during this cleanse! The average man will drop more...ugh. Anyway ;)

So this Sunday the first Mental/Spiritual challenges will be posted and I hope to see you all on the other side of Greatness soon!

Disney's Frozen "Let It Go" (Skorge DUBSTEP Remix)

Rockin Granny

Rockin Granny by shawesome33 featuring an angel wing charm necklace

Floral print chiffon dress
bodycentral.com

Dorothy Perkins knit boyfriend cardigan
$30 - dorothyperkins.com

Breckelle's tan ankle booties
zooshoo.com

Bracelet jewelry
thesak.com

Sole Society earrings
solesociety.com

Angel wing charm necklace
toofastonline.com

The "Maleficent" Rape Scene That Huffington Post Created...out of thin air

    

     OK so some woman from HuffPost wrote an article titled "The Maleficent Rape Scene That We Need To Talk About". You definitely need to read the article if you want a better understanding for my rant, although I feel like reading her article simply creates more stupid in the world, so take my advice and don't. 

    The main jist is she compares the scene where Stephan, in his cowardice and selfishness takes Maleficent's wings instead of killing her. BY THE WAY, the actor who played Stephan was so unbelievably terrible, I barely got through his scenes, that was my one gripe about an otherwise beautiful film, that actually HONORS feminism, although I think Hayley Krischer, the author of the HuffPost atrocity must have missed the memo on that one. 

    This article is why sometimes calling myself a feminist gets me funny looks and laughter, because of overly zealous idiots like this. Let me tell you something lady, RAPE exists. Depicting RAPE in movies is a debatable issue, because movies depict real life, relate-able issues in them to create an emotional response in the viewer, asking Hollywood to abolish rape from their movies is really like asking them to never again show a murder or kidnap scene, do you think that will end murder or do good for the fight against missing children? NO WAY, cause guess what lady, long before movies, pictures, magazines, and hell even the written word MURDER, KIDNAP, AND RAPE were all hanging out at the local asshole club and gathering new recruits. Wanna know why? Cause mankind when consumed by fear opens a door for insecurity, pride, hate, and then eventually do shit like that. I don't think they should GLORIFY, or push the buttons on being so graphic that it in turn glorifies the act, but coming from someone who was raped as a child, let me tell you, rape scenes usually don't anger me, they help me relate to the character and if the movie is good and justice is sought or served, I feel stronger after watching it. 

     BUT, First of all there was no RAPE scene in this movie at all and comparing that scene to rape was quite a stretch. Kinda reminding me of Charlize Theron, or however ya spell her name, anyway, comparing the media attention on her as RAPE, wow ask a rape victim if waking up everyday in your mansion hearing a few bad press reviews about themselves would equate to RAPE. And then also ask someone who was legitimately raped if they think that scene in Maleficent was a rape scene and they may punch you in the face. (Btw Forbes mag wrote an excellent article addressing this laughable one) READ IT!

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2014/06/05/why-disneys-maleficent-matters/ 

     The scene depicts a betrayal, when you said your child flat lined it and saw it as betrayal, and then saw maleficent go through a time of darkness later to emerge full of love and hope again, WITHOUT A PRINCE CHARMING MIND YOU, you probably should have listened to your child, stop trying to over complicate things just so you can have something catchy to peddle to your readers, so you can keep your pathetic job over there at HuffPost. 

     
     This kind of article actually creates an unsafe place for feminists to voice concerns and issues, because when idiots like you MAKE UP sexist issues, we are left in the back lash to try and explain "but that's not what I MEAN when I SAY feminist" There should not be different denominations of feminism, and money hungry, sensationalists combined with overly sensitive, easily offended, immature children-like people is why we have them. Feminism is the EQUALITY of men and women. The idea that says women have a right to do whatever the hell they want and not be looked at a certain way just because there is a vagina in between their legs. I wanna get something straight, I am not a bra burner...I do not hate the stay at home mom...and I do not create RAPE scenes in movies where there are none just to get a rise out of others and push my money driven point home.

     We can't keep twisting the world to suit our agendas, and that's exactly what you did Hayley. That scene in Maleficent did not perpetuate rape culture, but you just did. You created an issue where there wasn't one, therefore bringing down a ton of anger and hatred on feminism EVEN MORE SO THAN BEFORE, and God knows we have enough misogynistic men who wanna rape and murder us just for having opinions, hell some women too, and here you go feeding the fire WITH A FAKE VIEW OF A NON-EXISTENT RAPE SCENE. I'd rather stick to fighting the battles we actually do have, rather than creating more reasons to fight. PEACE and OPENNESS creates GROWTH. In this battle for MARKETERS to stop labeling one product blue/force and another Pink/Frills just to sell more of the same crappy item to men and women, this culture where girls are told they can't be professional athletes unless they join their own special watered down league, where when reporting real rape they have to be given the third degree on what they were wearing that night, WE DON'T NEED PEOPLE LIKE YOU WITH MEDIA MONEY AGENDAS creating a NEW issue for us to battle...we got enough. Thanks for the article, if it had been printed on actual paper I probably would have used it as POOP PADS for my Puppy. Have a good day ;)



READ HER ARTICLE  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hayley-krischer/the-maleficent-rape-scene_b_5445974.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000024