Narnia

~A photo I took early this morning

Last night I was walking home from my friends house with two of my friends. It was probably about 1:30am and it had been snowing for several hours. The snow was falling so heavily yet gently, slowly and quietly. It was fluffy and thick and ethereal and magical. I felt like I was walking through a mixture of Narnia and a winter wonderland. We laughed and walked whimsically through curvy paths among tall evergreens and naked willows. I flew my arms outwards as I skipped along the snowy path. Everything was so beautiful and amusing, it felt like I was in a dream of marshmallows and clouds. I was bursting a little bit with gratitude for all of the beauty. Everything was sparkling and I just had to point out the natural sparkles that nature makes! Who needs to go buy plastic sparkles from the dollar store when you've got real ones?

I notice so many things that nature makes that man likes to try and mimic - like swings, and seats. In one of my favourite forests there is a family of twirly, intertwining trees and one of the branches hangs across two trees, exactly like a swing. There is also this little tree that is bent in such a way that it could be used exactly like a chair, or a desk. And of course there are rocks, which are natural benches! My friend and I laugh about this. One time last summer we were walking through a grassy open pathway and there was a big rock atop a hill. And we sat on it. And we called it a natural bench.

Although I am feeling quite ready for springtime, I do love freshly fallen snow...

Breathe

~Trees outside my bedroom window

I'm longing for the Spring. I want to step outside in the cool breeze and feel the universe around me, the interconnectedness run through every cell in my body. I want warm days with sunshine and long, slow, easy walks. I want the comfort of a light sweater, no icicle-hands and frozen faces. I want eyes gently shut and arms reaching out and up to the sky. A long skirt to flow in the wind atop the cliff by the lake. Peace and a seat on the grass, breathing deeply. I want tears of pure happiness and quiet flowing through my blood. Nonchalance and smiles at the world. Bare feet on the ground and lying down beside a tree. Meditation in the forest, gazing at a flowing river. No rushing home to get warm, no rushing at all. I want misty raindrops on my skin and some thunder out my window. 

Leisurely. Dreamy.

I've been stressed a bit because of work these days. I don't particularly *like* my job and I really struggle to accept that I need to work there for now. And I work so much that all my time is devoted to a place I dislike and people I can't relate to. I'm lacking in areas of my life that bring me the utmost peace, and below zero temperatures accompanied by brown snow and a lack of vitamin D doesn't help. When I do have free time it's only for the rest of the evening and I'm up early again to do it all over. I really don't like this repetitiveness and I can't wait to be in school so I'm surrounded by my passion rather than the opposite.

Though I have been reading a couple books by Eckhart Tolle and I enjoy it a lot. Lots of reminders to focus on the present, to accept it, and to just be here Now. And this is what I have been trying my best to keep my intention on. I have a few days off, I just need to breathe.

Natural

I've grown to have a very deep connection with who I am, what I am, nature and the Universe. Some ways I intertwine myself with Life is through meditation, perhaps some yoga, contemplation, daydreaming here and there, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. Sometimes I'll paint. Or I'll draw. Or I'll just sit and think. Other times I'll go for a walk, look up at the sky. Gaze at the stars, take it all in. However, over time I have found myself connecting with nature in a more distinct, visible, tangible way.

I used to straighten my hair every day. I used to wear a lot more makeup than I do now. I used to reject and deny my true self. For the longest time I wanted to be able to wear my hair naturally without fearing what other people would think. I used to think there was no way in hell I'd ever be able to live without an application of "beauty" products. Beauty products should be called Insecurity Products. For they distort the way we see ourselves. We define ourselves by what we look like with makeup, how our hair looks. Whether we are good enough, worthy enough. If we look a certain way we'll be accepted. We'll feel safe.

Over the past couple of years I have gradually reduced the amount of makeup I wear. I don't wear anything on my face, just a little bit of mascara. In the past, this would have been unimaginable for me. I also stopped a few months ago, cold turkey, straightening my hair. I wanted to be as close to nature as possible, and that was my biggest personal-incentive. I wanted to be One, as bare as a tree. For in nature, you wouldn't wear makeup or use flat irons.

Nobody should feel they need to rely on beauty products. The beauty industry is making loads of cash, at not only the cost of our wallets, but our self-esteem, self-confidence, and body image. What I found worked for me to withdraw myself from relying on the myriad of self-defeating crap, was to very gradually cut back on using it (excluding when I stopped straightening my hair, that I just stopped.)

And as I have written plenty about before, I also began eating a ton more natural foods from the Earth! Definitely the best way of all to be close to nature, that's for sure!

It's time we see ourselves for what we are! We're amazing and beautiful and no person, group of people, company, advertisement, commercial, billboard or celebrity can make us believe otherwise.

Life Force

I am drinking some green juice that I just freshly juiced with my juicer, and I want to talk about the Life Force.

All [raw] fruits and vegetables and herbs and sprouts are alive. They have life contained within them. When you consume them, you are invariably drinking in that life. Also known as the Life Force. When you drink in that life, you can feel it. You can feel the nutrients run through your blood.

They detoxify you and replenish you at a cellular level. They regenerate and rejuvenate, alkalize and purify. When most people eat they don't ever think twice about what occurs at a cellular level. Our cells know how we feel, what we think, what we consume. When we eat pure, nourishing foods that are intended to energize, awaken and provide true, natural health to us, our cells and everything contained inside of us benefit. You know this because you can feel it.

When your body is purified with whole, natural, particularly uncooked, unmodified or changed in any way foods, you are uplifted and enlightened and happy and connected with the Whole itself. You don't feel disconnected or dislodged from Source, that being yourself and the Universe. You're not weighed down with chemical, toxin-pumped modified foods that are depleted of all Life Force. You are One.

This post is becoming a wee bit more intense and spiritual than I intended, but how can I not get into the topics of the Universe and being connected when discussing foods are are essentially from the Universe itself? It's all interconnected in all ways. Who, what and where we are is all One, to say the least.

If you are lacking the feelings inside you that radiate Oneness, then I assure you if you just simply eat primarily, not necessarily entirely, but a lot of fruits, vegetables, herbs, sprouts, some nuts and seeds, you will begin to feel that connection with yourself and the Earth. It makes complete and utter sense.

Anyways. I just wanted to discuss the Life Force whilst drinking my Life Force-filled green juice.

Sending all who read this love, peace, joy and positive vibrations :)