“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

~Marianne Williamson, A Return To Love

I was born and raised in Newark, NJ the same city as Whitney Houston and attended the same church until 1992 when I graduated college. I remember being in the choir under the tutelage of her choir director mom, Cissy Houston when in 1985,  Whitney’s golden voice first graced the radio sound waves. Pure magic. It was her voice, her success, her remarkable talent that made me want to dream bigger than the urban streets of Newark: The Brick City would allow.

As I mourn the loss of one of the music industry’s greatest talents: Whitney Houston, I also celebrate her amazing legacy. My spirit cautions me. It says, “Do not squander your gifts and talents”. “Express all of who you are”. I am reminded that we all have so much more to give to the world than we have given. The time has come to fully embrace that spark of wonder that truly makes you who you really are. Believe in yourself. Belief in the magic that is inside of your heart. Allow it to be born. If need be, allow it to be re-born. With time, this magic will come forth as re-ignited gifts and talents, and newly discovered dreams and goals that long to be manifested.

Don’t let another day go by without taking that next step toward your evolution, transformation and awakening. Whether that is getting healthy, eating better, quitting smoking or drugs, being kinder or more loving, forgiving yourself for your (perceived) shortcomings, starting that business, going back to school, or just showing up authentically as you would have the world see you instead of who you were taught you should be, JUST DO IT!

Holistic Ones, playing small never got anybody anything other than regrets and thoughts of  “could have, would have and should haves”. In the beautiful words of Marianne Williamson: “You are brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous”… beyond measure. Believe that with all of your being.

Affirm that the world is deserving of all that you have to offer. You are deserving. There is a healing that comes to you and others when you share your gifts. Know that as you honor yourself in this effort; the universe will rush in to fulfill your greatest desires. Wouldn’t it be nice to look up a in another month, year, or decade and see evidence of a new life according to what you see in your mind’s eye?

Go for it. Whatever it is. I believe in you. But first YOU MUST BELIEVE IN YOU. That, my friend is holistic living at it’s best. Wow! Ponder that!

Click the link , have a listen below and then go on out with your “Big Bad Self”,  and shine ever so brightly!

Believe In Yourself Video

Renewing my commitment to stay high raw and in most cases 100% raw (whenever possible) is a huge feat. I suppose, I’m not different than anyone else who sets an intention or goal only to occasionally become overwhelmed by the challenge of it.

Yes. The anxiety still sets in. Despite being a holistic health coach, I don’t quite have it all down. I still have to maintain my mental and spiritual resolve and remind myself that I must not go back to my old way of eating. To do so would be a sure fire way of landing myself right where I was before: on meds, in pain, with a ton of fibromyalgia symptoms.

Some marvel at how drastic this seems and even pessimistically question if all of this is even necessary? “Why do you have to eat raw food, juice and smoothies when there’s so much good cooked food out there?” (as if that is all that I eat LOL). I can only respond according to my personal philosophy and personal truth.  A living foods diet is one of the ways that I choose to take good care of myself.  At the time, “desperate times call ed for desperate measures”. The quality of my life before going raw was such that I HAD to do something drastic to create massive cleansing and renewal and to get my health and life back! Now, I can’t imagine life without organic freshed pressed juiced and at least one large salad per day.

Before, I knew what it was like to feel OK on some days and good on others. But now, I can honestly say that I KNOW what it feels like to feel WELL all of the time (ok… well except for when I veer off of my protocol). Thank God for the fibromyalgia diagnosis. From it, I got a life, a new song in my heart and a greater sense of purpose which reintroduced me to my beautiful self.

The aspect of being beautifully human with all of its uncertainty and complexities keeps me humble at the fact  I ought not become high minded lest I revert back to the temptations of the food addictions of my past. My body knows better than I ever could and nature knows best of all. This process of grounding helps me be kinder to myself and keeps me from being judgmental of myself and others. I live with compassion and the memory of what it was like before recovery set in. Every pain-free  and fatigue-free day is a precious gift.

I see the life that has been created as a result of indulging in a living foods/raw based diet and truly it is remarkable and so much different than before. Now more than ever… I know that a high raw vegan-based lifestyle will forever remain a core part of who I am.  Through it, I lost my old depressed, fatigued and pain-filled self and got a new life filled with health, vitality, hope, inner peace, happiness and endless possibilities for continued restoration and recovery.

Now more than ever, I know that this is my beautiful holistic life. And truly, finally, without reservation…I AM  Re-Membering Me and will forever be grateful.

The above link is great musical wellness reminder via one of my favorite songs on my well being CD, “Purge & Re-Member“. It reminds us to playfully make the time to take good care of ourselves.

Feel free to burn it and pass along to all who need inspiration.

Holistic Life is thrilled about our plan to host outings in the near future

Green juice hikes, beach walks, healthy movie nights, potlucks and whatever else we can get into. All of these things allow us to create a supportive community around a holistic lifestyle.

Enjoy enlightening information, support, establish friendships and learn from each other. Generally, outings will take place every other month but may sometimes be monthly.

I have started to learn the value of giving myself a much valued “NO day”. That is 1 day per week in which the answer to everything that doesn’t fall within my top 2 life priorities gets no acknowledgement or attention. I know that it will be there when the day is over and I can get to it at a later time. That includes…chores. If it falls on a no day… then it doesn’t get done.

I have started to make the time for self-care care of by going to my local sauna (gym) and just sitiing there for as long as I can take it and just sweating and purging my spirit. Sometimes, I’ll “splurge” at Olympic Spa, the local Korean day spa and use the oxygen stone infrared sauna, the Himilayan Salt traditional sauna, the jade steam room, hot “mugwort” tea bath, and cold dipping pool for $15 bucks.

It seems so obvious. We should limit our ability to be controlled by stress but it’s the “actual” doing that becomes hard because life & stressful moments do not ask our permission to happen. It just does.

For example, thinking back to November 2008, I had opportunities (disguised as mishaps) come up. Unbeknownst to me, they provided excellent opportunities for me to walk my talk. It forced me to exercise what I know in theory about handling stress and acknowledging the problem but not letting it overcome me. I was able to productively flex my spiritual and emotional muscles in ways that were surprising to me.

1. My apartment was burglarized 4 hours before I was to pick up my mother from the LAX airport for a week-long visit from New Jersey. The apartment was ransacked, bills and financial information were compromised, my passport was stolen as well as jewelry and additional personal information and sentimental items.

2. On Thanksgiving Day, I cut my hand really badly while washing dishes.

3. My car broke down less than a week later.

4. I resigned from my 7-year stint at my day-job in marketing.

5. As a result, I was forced to become fulltime with the business (pretty scary stuff) before the time that I felt ready.

Much to my surprise, I was not stressed at all. Nor did I have a fibro melt down or relapse. I think the fact that I breathed thru it and tried to maintain (not force) consistency and normalcy during the crisis had a lot to do with it. I did not resist what happened to me. I gave thanks for the lesson and realized that I am equipped with everything I need to make it through this situation. For the first time in a long time, I got a major opportunity to be what I say I am about in terms of my spiritual resolve. Remarkably, every time some mishap happened, I did not miss a beat. Nor did I stick my head in the sand and just wish for it to go away while becoming increasingly overwhelmed like I used to in the past. I really believed that I would be ok. And ya’ know what? It was.

My husband and I are great as a team. I was able to see this when, thanks to my husband, our place was put together (like nothing ever happened) by the time my mom’s plane landed in LA. He took care of everything concerning the police, etc. I took care of all things related to important documents and all that was missing or compromised. We went on to have an amazing week. My hand “wound has healed” (what a metaphor for my life). I had my car repaired and up and running in 24 hours. Thankfully, it was just a battery that needed to be replaced and we had the money to take care of it! My job graciously offered me a severance which will allow me to transition smoothly thru the holidays. My business quickly increased in sales by nearly half of what I was doing on a weekly part-time basis.

I agree that stress is unavoidable. Simply put, stuff comes up. There are unavoidable stressors (ie. mortgage/rent, car payment, monthly bills etc… things that are a normal part of the ebb and flow of daily life). These are things that we don’t really have much control over such as taxes. It’s going to be there so no matter what, we have to deal with it.

Then, there are permissible stressors. These are things that are within our control…. Like the job that you love to hate or the toxic friend who always does more annoying than helping, or the local news: pretty much a daily dose of fear and loathing that we voluntarily allow into our homes. These are things that we can control.

Yeah, it may take time and strategy, but we can find work that we will enjoy or at least find palatable. We can bid a fond farewell to the toxic friend… and for Pete’s sake! YES WE CAN!! Turn of the darn TV!

These are just small things that I have observed in my life and have taken great care to monitor. I have to say the reward has been plenty. Even my eating is better because I am less prone to compulsively eating to sooth some type of issue. This leads to healthier choices, which lead to more energy, which leads to proper self care and exercise, which leads to an overall feeling of wellness.

I am learning one day at a time to breathe, think on those things that are worthy of my thoughts, time, and life and to actually enjoy the view as I go along. And I have to honestly say: I truly like what I see.

32 ounces Filtered/Distilled water

½ cucumber

1 whole lemon

Cut cucumbers and lemons. Add to a beautiful pitcher of fresh water. Chill and enjoy.

12 oz water
1 medium size Gala apple
1 medium size Granny Smith apple
1 whole lemon (skinless)
½ of a red bell pepper
½ of a large avocado
½ of a cucumber (skinless)
Handful of spinach
10 drops of liquid stevia

Blend all ingredients and enjoy.

4 medium red beets

5 T olive oil

3 garlic cloves

1 inch of ginger root

Sea salt or truffle sea salt (if you can find it) to taste

Steam beets for about 40 minutes or until tender. Let cool off. Peel skin with a peeler. Cut into bite size pieces. Pour olive oil over beets. Press garlic into mixture using garlic press. Do the same with ginger. This will release ginger juice but be sure to dice a bit of remaining ginger and add to the mix. Add sea salt to taste. Truffle salt is amazing if you can find it. If you can’t find it, then truffle oil is a good substitute.

“The energy /intent with which a seed is sown is the same energy / intent from which it blossoms and bears fruit” – Fatima’ism #8

I was sitting alone this morning at around 6:45 am when I received that quote.  All things considered, I sometimes get that anxious feeling in my belly where I feel like I gotta do more to get things going. Usually, this happens when I am feeling inundated with all that isn’t happening with my life, career etc. In other words this feeling comes over me when I am everywhere but “here”.
I have to remind myself to BE HERE NOW…

Instantly, I re-member: there is indeed more than enough and there are no opportunities lurking ‘out there’ that I am sure to miss.  What is for me is for me.  I honestly believe that the same is true for all.  We go about life hustling and bustling to get our stuff going…we do everything in ‘our’ power to make things happen.  But so often we do nothing to allow ourselves to be fully present, open and welcoming of the good that we desire.  Instead, we resist all that is not to our liking and never stop to think about all that is in fact, right with our lives.
The energy/intent with which a seed is sown is the same energy/intent from which it blossoms and bears fruit…I believe this means that when we are making moves and decisions that are rooted in that place where lack and not enough-ness are the sponsoring thoughts; we are sure to get more of the same.  When making decisions out of fear, we continue the cyclical nature where our actions produce after its kind.
This is where the song, Child of God from my CD Purge and Re-Member stems from. Simply, it is a song about “being in the right now” setting aside thoughts about the what if’s of tomorrow and the should’ve beens of yesterday. It is a gentle reminder that we are so much more than the current place in which we find ourselves.  When we allow ourselves to simply be still and know that we know, we suddenly become free and open vessels for our good to come to us and through us.  We are so much more than the paycheck, the car, the house …essentially the stuff or even the lack therein. We are so divine that even our moments of discontent are somehow working for our greatest good.
Of course to some this may sound as though it is coming from one who lives in a constant state of utopia.  However our circumstances do not define us, so therefore the only utopia that exists is the one that reveals itself when we choose to look beyond the circumstance.  Right now, right here is where it all starts.  Why not engage this moment and be thankful for all that is?  Yesterday has come and gone. Tomorrow is what it will be.  Right now is what is. The fact that there is an inner burning to express more is in fact; proof that more is to come.
Of course one should have goals, dreams, plans etc; but I have found that doing so without an appreciation for the now only robs me of the beauty that it has to offer.  I missed it because I was somewhere else.
“Right now gratitude” opens the floodgates for more good to pour into our lives because there simply is no resistance. It is a NOW-NESS act of faith. This is the essential nature or substance of things that we once hoped for and evidence of that which is not yet tangible or seen.  Having faith means more than wishful thinking (or fearing) of what may or may not come.  It means the ever fine balance between ‘being here now’ while at the same time holding a ‘glass half full’ approach to life and expectation of things to come.  For me, having faith involves embracing and loving the moment and what it has to give instead of resisting and loathing it for what it has yet to deliver.

One love…

Why Purge and Re-Member?

Purging is about letting go, cleansing and renewal . Re-Membering is about seeing the spiritual beauty in back of all things and the process of putting the pieces (of one’s life etc.) back together again for the purpose of order…divine order.

Health challenges, illness and dis-ease are divine opportunities for transformation to occur. I found that for me’, it wasn’t about the diagnosis. It was about me healing from the inside out. Part of that inner healing came through the birth of my CD. It was through this “dark night of the soul” that my CD was born. I am humbled and honored that this wonderful art came through me. It is through this vehicle that I am allowed to share thus creating an awareness (in a funky neo-soul kinda’ way) of the mind-body-spirit connection.

Our bodies are our temples. I have found that when we live life from a truly authentic and compassionate space- we are free to be co -creators in our healing which makes us conduits of health, wellness and positive change.

This segment aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network’s “In Their Own Words”.

For more videos, please head on over to Fatima’s YouTube Channel – My Holistic Life.