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Mmmm Coffee..

Posted by on July 24, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

Wake Your Body Up

Hello Internet!

Luxury spas and resorts around the world have long used coffee as a secret ingredient in body scrubs. For top dollars they use the grounds to help exfoliate old skin cells, while the caffeine minimizes the appearance of cellulite and varicose veins.

There’s really no need to have to go to the spa to enjoy the experience of this amazing body scrub. I’ve created a coffee scrub worthy of any 5 star spa! This scrub has my body feeling like a million dollars and check out what people are saying about it.

Coffee is a pretty amazing product from nature. The scent of coffee acts to clear a person’s mind of excessive thoughts. The scent also works as an anti-depressant. Also, caffeine is a natural antioxidant, when a coffee body scrub is applied, the skin absorbs this antioxidant and can help prevent premature aging. Caffeine is also a vasodilator, which means it constricts blood vessels in the skin. This action works to make blood vessels tighter and firmer very quickly, which is reflected in your skin texture.

I use the scrub for both my face and body. You will need to gauge, what’s best for you. If your skin is sensitive, then I wouldn’t suggest using it on your face but I’ll provide the info for those that want to try it. A word of warning, it’s a messy task but WELL worth the rewards.

For your face…

  • Scrub into your face in an upward, circular motion. Now, with the coffee still on, take your exfoliating scrub and scrub in an upward circular motion. Let it sit for 5 minutes and wash off.
  • If you doing the body scrub at the same time, don’t wash your face yet. Just let it sit while you scrub your body

Now for your body…

  • Now starting at your feet, scrub each area of your body in a circular motion.
  • Note: you are applying and scrubbing with your hand
  • Give very good attention to each and every area or your body, exfoliating it.
  • Let it stand for 5-10 min. Rinse. (rinse your face now as well)
  • Now take your exfoliating/spa gloves and scrub again in the same way using an all natural moisturizing body wash. Bottom to top and rinse.
  • Pat dry
  • Now use an all natural lotion or a Body By Nature creamy body butters and juice your body.

Post a comment and let me know how you feel afterward!

Live on PURPOSE!

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10 Steps to an Inviting, Cozy, Sexy Home

Posted by on July 11, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

Ever wonder when you walk into some people’s homes and it just has that vibe that inviting coziness or even sexy feeling, how the heck they do it? Well Internet, Lifestyle Divine is here  :)

Here are some simple steps to creating an inviting, cozy, harmonious and yes, even sexy home.

1 – CLEAN UP

This seems like stating the obvious but it must be said. No fingers pointed but some of you have some very unclean homes. I’m talking about tidy, I mean CLEAN. Get behind that desk that hasn’t been moved in years and clean out the dust and dirt. Mop the floors. Clean all of the places you don’t normally see as well. Get in there and do the work. This is clearing the air. Try to use environmentally friendly/green products. They are so common place now they really don’t cost much more than the standard brands and the leave you with a cleaner air and not one where everyone eyes are watering and they are gagging. Not so sexy.

2 – CLEAN OUT

As your cleaning up, lean out. Remove ALL clutter. This is a vital step in creating harmony in your home.

Cutter creates tension. You may not be entirely conscious of this because you used to the clutter but once you clear the space your entire body will relax from the release. Clear off side tables and coffee tables. They should only contain any or all of the following: a lighting source, a book, a vase of flowers. Clear out every area of your home. In general, if you haven’t used it, looked for it, wondered “where did I put that…” in the last year, dare I say 6 months, toss it! This includes old clothes, magazines, food, toiletries, and even furniture. If that old comfy chair that only you appreciates is cluttering the space, out it goes. The great thing is if the clothes and furniture are in good order there are local charities always looking for things so they won’t go to waste.

Let it go and breathe

3 – OPEN THE WINDOWS

Yes, breathe FRESH air that is. If you’re in a four season country and its winter you can still crack the windows a bit. If its summer where you live, open those windows wide and let the fresh air in. You’d be amazed and how the gentle flow of breeze coming in your home actually adds life to it.

Now that you’ve cleaned up and cleared out and your windows are open letting the fresh air in stop and take a moment to just feel the difference. Amazing isn’t it?

4 – THE LAYOUT

This article isn’t about Feng Shui but I will use one or two points from it. Feng Shui is a very complex science and one that I won’t pretend to be an expert at but I will cover arranging your furniture for harmonious flow of energy and life. In Feng Shui there is a very specific way your furniture should be laid out.

In your living room, make sure your back is not to the entry. Move the couch and chairs around so that you can clearly see the entry and the window from where you are sitting. The logic is that when you cannot see these areas your mind will automatically not be focused and therefore you will not be relaxed.

If the layout of the home is one where this is not possible invest in a beautiful mirror and place it in the right spot to allow you to see these areas form the couch ad chairs

In your bedroom, the same applies. You must be able to see the doorway when lying in bed.

5 – GET THE ENERGY FLOWING IN YOUR BEDROOM
For the bedroom, we’ll apply a bit of Feng Shui again. If you are like most of the people, you probably have at least one alarm clock, TV, stereo and even a computer in your bedroom. What about the under the bed clutter? Remember I asked you to remove clutter? Did you move it to under the bed or did you simply ignore under the bed? This was a challenge for me when I de-cluttered. My home doesn’t have much storage space and even after clearing out bags of old clothes I was still left with a very small amount to store because of the many seasons where live. I figured one of those under the bed storage containers would be fine, after all, it’s for” under the bed”. Well, it’s actually not so good. If you’re trying to create that harmonious space where things just flow this is a hindrance as energy is unable to flow freely in a bedroom with clutter under your bed and electronics all around. This type of bedroom is actually unable to support a good night sleep, and to promote health and happiness. Relationship wise? It is even worse. Of course there are solutions. Start removing as many electronics as you possibly can; place the ones you must keep, far away from your head. If it’s SO painful to remove the TV, cover it with a decorative fabric. Make sure is placed against a solid wall. According to Feng Shui, you are to also avoid water elements and mirrors. This is up to you. Again, this article isn’t about Feng Shui, I’m simply using small elements of it here and there. I think mirrors in the bedroom are, required ;) .

Ensure all of the fabrics touching your skin are soft and cozy and your pillows are plush. Buy the best sheets and pillows you can afford. Use a scented linen spray or your favorite perfume and iron your sheets, nothing fancy, just a quick once over.

6 – BRING IN LIFE
Fresh flowers add so much to a home. Keep fresh flowers on the table and in the front hall. One flower stem in a bud vase in the powder room is all it takes. Also at the kitchen table your desk and the coffee table would benefit from a simple arrangement of fresh flowers. You don’t need a full bouquet for each. One standard bouquet can split into two. When that special someone sees you like fresh flowers as well, he may get the hint and start buying them for you. Men actually like buying flowers for women, they just don’t do it because they thing we don’t appreciate because it’s too simple. Then we get annoyed that he doesn’t remember the simple things. Misunderstanding of the genders I call it! Sometimes men need to be guided, show him that the simple things matter too.

7 – SERENADE YOUR HOME

This is a HUGE part of having an inviting atmosphere. Play soft music on low, ALWAYS. Yes when you leave home, leave the music on low. When you walk through the door after a long day of work the sounds will be so inviting and instantly begin to relax you. When you keep the music on, the energy infuses into your home. Guest will love the vibe. Be careful you’re not playing break up slow jams as you are setting energy here. Just because its slow and melodic, doesn’t mean it’s good energy. Skip Chante Moore’s “Bitter” and go for her “Love’s Taken Over” instead. Keep the music always on, switch it up as you see fit but just let it play.

8 – THE COMFORT DETAILS

Adjust the sounds, reduce noises, lighting. Make your place as comfortable as possible. Close that bathroom door and the toilet lid, oil squeaky doors. Keep the space clean and clutter free. Burn lavender essential oil for a restful sleep. If you didn’t have the will power to remove the TV, while in the bedroom, focus on your partner or a favorite book, instead of the TV. Keep fresh, soft linens in the bathrooms and make sure it’s clear of clutter from product bottles. Look at what hotels do to create comfort.

9 – THE SEXY DETAILS

Add a few candles for soft lighting, put all light fixtures and lamps on dimmers and if possible, change your bulbs to the most flattering shades.  Use soft luxurious fabrics if possible (they last longer anyhow). Have a sexy scent wafting through the air. You can actually use your old Glade Plug In scent bottles with your own favorite perfume or cologne. Here’s an article on how to do it:  http://www.ehow.com/how_5012011_make-house-smell-sexy.html Our Body By Nature – Home Sweet Home line offers candles and other fragrant items to enhance your home.

10 – Relax and enjoy! A harmonious, sexy and inviting space is not only great for when you have guests but more importantly it’s essential for your spirit. It relaxes you and helps you focus on you.

Hope this helped. If you have any other suggestions or tips on what you’ve tried, let me know!

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Juicing to Increase Your Energy

Posted by on June 24, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

Consume Life To Have Life

Hello Internet!

Ok, so I know that envy is a negative emotion, but I’m going to be honest with you. I used to really envy those people that just bubbled with life. They had so much energy and everything they spoke of came across with so much life and passion.  It was infectious…except I didn’t have the energy to keep up. I got tired just listening to them!

I always wanted to go to bed. Even thinking was tiresome. I’d have some wonderful strike of brilliance, intuitive thought that could potentially change my life and I’d have to go sleep on it.

To have energy, you have to consume energy and then exude energy.

I had so many goals and dreams but all I could do was dream (as I slept) but nothing comes to a sleeper but dreams and even they’re gone when you wake up. I realized one very big block to my success was lack of energy. It takes energy to accomplish goals and those goals are fuelled by passion and excitement…which takes energy.

In terms of nutrition, it’s best to juice instead of eating fruits and vegetable whole. The reason for this is that our poor eating habits over the years have compromised out intestines and limits our body’s ability to absorb all nutrients form veggies. Juicing helps to facilitate this and allow our body to receive.

So first things first. You need a juicer! There are a variety of juicers on the market. Do your research and read the reviews for each. Remember no one item will please everyone but there are a few that the market seems to deem as superior. Namely, Vitamix and Healthmaster. Depending on your budget these may be well out of range. A low cost option is Sharper Image and Breville has quite a few in a range of prices.

Now that you have your lovely juicer, what do you juice? There are a wide variety of vegetables and fruits available from God’s garden to juice. Dark green veggies are best and offer the most nutritional benefits. Bright colored veggies as well. Herbs such as parsley and cilantro are great to add as well.

Here is a great starter recipe:

1- Apples

1/2 bag of Spinach

handful Kale

1 stalk Celery

2 Carrots

Pinch of Parsley

2 Beets

quarter size of Ginger

You can adjust the # of Apples or Beets for taste or add seedless grapes

There are also some essential oils you can add as supplements to your juice for a little extra something

  • Fish Oil
  • Flaxseed oil
  • Cod Liver Oil

You also want to ensure you drink the juice right away. Once the juice is made and exposed to oxygen it begins to oxidize and lose its enzymes and therefore its nutritional value. There are some ways to freeze and store the juice but it requires a process that will take you as much time as to just make the juice fresh when you need it.

Just like with your hair or skin care products it is important to change around the veggies you use. For two reasons: first, you open up your body to eth benefits of many veggies and secondly, continuously juicing the same vegetables could actually make one allergic to them over a period of time.  Change is good.

It is very important that you clean your juicer right away to avoid clogging the blade, bacteria and mold. Tip: place a bag, maybe one of the bags the veggies were in, in the pulp catcher so that’s one less item to clean. The best type of tool to clean the juicing screen with is a brush (some juicers come with a cleaning brush). Scrub the parts under running water as the brush bristles do a good job of getting into the fine holes.

Initially you may be put off by the taste and time involved but the benefit you will reap will FAR outweigh this and eventually you actually begin to crave the juice. The important this is to of course get the end prize in mind: Energy, vitality and passion for life.

To see the juicer and supplemental oils I use check out my products page

Live on PURPOSE!

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Did I Offend You?

Posted by on July 9, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

I’ve been dealing with the issue of offence lately. I find I’m allowing myself to get offended by people and the effect has not been very productive to this process of development. So, as a person committed to growth and development, I sought an answer, tools and tips to better myself in this area and I’m sharing my learning’s with you.

Offence is something people rarely look at as an issue to personal development, about that is because we use there isn’t much understanding of what it is and we tend to address the results of offence instead of offence itself. Offence is often the starting point of many of our negative emotions. Offence is manifested in or displayed through: hurt, anger, bitterness

When we allow offence to permeate our spirits we put up an automatic wall to blessings and open the side door to anger, hurt, disappointment.  All of which create a muddy environment for you to really see clearly and act consciously.  When you allow offence to take hold you essentially give away some of your power. You have allowed a person’s actions or in-actions, however real or perceived they may be, to shift your spirit into a different state. A state of being that is not conducive to your path of personal development and growth.  You are now a victim and victimisis (new word :) ) is cancerous.  This state of being keeps you from growing and renewing. When Tom did that thing that just ticked you off and now you gotta tell this person and that person. You have not stopped the forward movement and are stagnating and stewing.

Often times our offence is based on assumption and perception of people’s actions, in-actions or words. Now, some say perception is reality but that’s not entirely the case. YOUR Perception may be YOUR reality and a skewed reality but not reality in and of itself. For example, and this is a very simplistic example, but say you tell someone something very important and they just don’t respond. You’ve verbally expressed something or sent an email and they say nothing. You can get upset and offended because they don’t care, they are ignoring you OR you can ask “what else could this mean?” Could they maybe not have received the message (didn’t hear, didn’t see email etc)? There could be a whole variety of reasons, so why jump to the worst one?  Your perception and your reality is that you are feeling ignored but the reality may be they didn’t get the message. My challenge to you and myself is, when someone does something and offence threatens to creep up, stop and ask, “What else could this mean?” before jumping to the worst and allowing offence to set in and get to the truth of the matter.

Offence also puts a divide between you and the person and when the offence is based on an unproven perception, this can have adverse affects that you may regret.  I’ll leave you to think about that one.

So what about when the worst possibility is in fact the truth/reality? However they meant not malicious intent by it? A philosophy I adopted a while ago in my life is when you see how people are, accept it and just treat them accordingly. So, let’s say Jane can’t keep her mouth shut. You tell her something and she will without a doubt tell someone else. Not out of malicious intent. Jane just can’t keep her mouth shut. Now, Jane is an adult, she is who she is and you are not going to change her.  As Maya Angelou said, “when people tell you who they are – believe them”.  So just accept Jane for who she is and treat her accordingly. Simply put, just don’t tell Jane your business.  You can loan Jane money because she‘s great at paying it back. You can do all kinds of other things with Jane but don’t tell her your business. She has not developed a capacity in this area of her life. Keep her at an arm’s length, let her be who she is, but don’t get offended by who she is.

But what about when the worst possibility is in fact the truth/reality AND that person did in fact mean to do the malicious, hurtful act or those words were in fact intended in the way you received it?  Cut them off and move on. Lighten your load and you’ll be the better for it.

How you handle offenses matters. When you are going to a new level you will experience the phenomenon of Higher Levels/Higher Devils, the more you grow the bigger the potentials issues. Being able to effectively deal with things at the level you are at allows you to grow to the next level and builds a foundation for dealing with the issues at the next level.

So who has offended you? When you practice asking “what else could this mean?” and allowing people to be who they are and just treating them accordingly, you’ll open yourself up to the humanity of people and gain compassion. Another notch in your personal development tool belt!

Again this site is not just about me. Share some of your thoughts on dealing with offence.

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Changing Your State of Being Can Change Your Life

Posted by on June 24, 2010 · 1 Comment 

Change Your State & You Change Your Life

Hey Internet!

Do you ever find yourself just in a funk? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed or just having a bad day? You know you need to pull out of it because you still have a day to get through and a life to live but you just don’t know how.  I’m sure you have, we all have, or I’d seriously have to question if you’re human. Anyhow, IF you want to get out of it (some people don’t. They just enjoy wallowing in it) I’ll share with you what has worked for me.

Essentially, you are in a paralysing STATE of sadness, despair, confusion, etc which all give off certain energy and you need to change your “state” to an enabling state of confidence, joy, power and ultimately change to a different energy level.

State change is usually a very scientific term.  Essentially, when a substance changes from one state, or phase, of matter to another we say that it has undergone a change of state, or we say that it has undergone a change of phase. Each change of state is accompanied by a change in the energy of the system. These changes of phase always occur with a change of heat. Although the heat content of the material changes, the temperature does not.

So, in changing your state you are actually changing your heat (energy) even though externally the temperate (situation) is still the same. You’re changing your reaction to your environment.

There are a few ways to change your state. One of which is with your body. This is called Physiology – the way you breathe, hold your body, posture, your movements, and actions determine what state you are in. Seriously. Try this: take a minute and allow your body and mind to mimic a dressed person. How is your body?…Slumped? Where is your head?…Down? How is your breathing?..Shallow? So your physiology affects your mood/state.

Another is your mind. Changing your thoughts through affirmations, prayer, meditation, and faith application is a great way to change your state.

One thing I found that worked really well for me (because I’m a little too shy to just up and scream “yes” while walking down the street) and I find kind of incorporates the two is music. I love music and I find certain songs just have a way of getting me really excited, inspired, spiritual, powerful etc. As I listen to these songs, I see myself in my mind, dancing, laughing and acting the fool. I can actually feel my limbs wanting to actually take part, a smirk comes on my face and instantly, I’m in a different state! Its best to make actual physical movement but my visualization when these songs are on are so real that, like I said I can actually feel my body wanting to participate. I start standing tall, my head goes back. It’s crazy!  Music, just music and I feel completely different.

We all have songs like this. Songs we’ve heard from our childhood up to today. These songs have a way of igniting something in us (joy, excitement, gratitude, inspiration, powerful, unstoppable, or just plain giddiness) no matter what’s going on.

Some songs that really move me to pure state ob bliss are:

Kirk Franklin – Still In Love

Troop – Spread My Wings

Stevie B – I Wanna Be The One   (Don’t judge! You know you secretly LOOVE Stevie B! Tell the truth and shame the devil, lol!)

I have two state change CD’s. One is for spirituality. When I’m having a hard time connecting to God because my Spirit if distracted, I pop that in and the songs I’ve chosen really move me to praise and deep love and appreciation. When I need a pick up, some excitement, joy etc I pop in my other CD. I also have both as playlists on my MP3. Even when I don’t NEED a pick up I’ll listen to it anyhow because I love the way these songs make me feel and the state they move me to. Especially in the morning, it kind of sets my excitement and energy for the day.

The reason music works so well is that somewhere in your life, your song associated that song with a particular emotion. Maybe something great was happening in your life at the time and you felt powerful. Now your brain has linked that song with feeling powerful. Or that popular love song that was playing when you broke up with someone…your brain has linked pain with that song. Nothing wrong with the song.  The song may be great and someone else may link that song with passionate love but your circumstances at the time has made an association.

If don’t already have the albums but you know what songs you want you can save  money and time buying the mp3 versions on Amazon.

If you can change a state, you can change a behavior

Live on PURPOSE!

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