Autumn is in the air, in the flavor, in the scents, in the wind and the light. In the morning cool and the midday heat, in the anticipation of change as school begins and in the presence of the moment as I breath in the subtle shifts that are palpable but often indescribable.

I love this time of year and it feels a bit early...I relish being out in nature this time of year above all. In the ebb time as nature prepares for winter sleep I find a beauty and a reminder of the rhythms of life that I, in the busyness of our society, can lose track of.

I want to be still more in nature and in life. I want to observe often and live more fully in the moments I am given this gift.

Alive in a human body that has the capacity to explore the deep connections of our inner and outer landscapes.

Want to explore with me? Into Balance Coaching

Cost of Food

We were having a food discussion last night at one of our community meals. The cost of eating organic and local came up and people shared how expensive it is to buy that way. I recognize that financially it is expensive. What I feel a bit sad about is that somehow, in our culture, when we cost things out we tend to look first and often only at the financial. We haven't been trained to look at the cost of our carbon footprint, the cost to our health, migrant workers lives, cost to the soil, the planet, and ultimately the cost to the next seven generations...

There are so many area's of our western lives that we choose to be unconscious about because it brings ease to our finances. I recognize the challenge in myself and want to be more conscious.

What I want is to feel comfortable talking about these subjects outloud in any situation, to gently remind myself and others of the impact our choices have. I want to educate myself and others to learn to see cost as something greater than our personal financial picture.

I want to wean myself from behaviors and habits that have the greatest impact and be able to accept my indulgences. Be it where I buy clothes, how much I drive, what I choose to eat,or how I choose to vacation. I want to do my best to decrease my carbon footprint, support world health, and be conscious of how others lives are impacted by my choices.

Shine the light on your own life and choose in whatever way works best for you to
make some small shifts that may impact your pocketbook a bit more but the planet and other living things a little less.

Change your consciousness, change your life.

Into Balance Life Coaching

Discover Power in Choice!

Grilled Portabello Mushroom Salad

Summer is a great time for grilling if you don't have a grill you can saute the mushrooms.

Serves 4
2 large portabello mushrooms-we prefer them degilled- removing the underside of the mushroom with a spoon
1 head of garlic
Mixed salad greens- enough for the four you are serving, I estimate a couple of handfuls
1 red pepper
1-2 lemons juiced
2-4 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Slice the top off the head of garlic so it is flat and rub it with olive oil. Place in oven or toaster oven at 350- 400 degrees and bake until you can stick a fork through it easily, approximately 20-30 minutes.

Place red pepper on the grill whole and cook it until the outside of pepper is charred. Place in a paper bag and set aside for a bit. When it cools peel the skin off, deseed and place pepper in a food processor with 1 tablespoon or lemon and one tablespoon of olive oil. Puree until smooth then adjust amount of lemon and oil and add salt to taste.

Toss mushrooms in olive oil and place on grill, cook until done...you will know because it will soften and become a richer color.

Peel garlic cloves from head leave cloves whole. Slice mushroom into strips. Toss mixed greens with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. Plate up the greens, place garlic cloves and strips of mushroom on top. Drizzle red pepper puree generously on top. If you are a cheese lover you can add a good goat cheese or a thinly sliced hard cheese on top as well.

Enjoy this meal with a great loaf of artisan crusty bread.

This may sound like it takes a long time but it's quicker than it looks and if you have two people to prepare its a snap.

Stress

"Nothing outside of yourself can make you feel stressed. Stress never happens in the moment. Stress is either anxiety about the future, thinking about the endless to-do list hanging over our heads, or stress is holding on to things that happened in the past. But here-like right in this moment? Right here now? There is no stress here. It's a creation of our mind.
Many of us have become habituated, even addicted to a high level of urgency. Even as we complain about too much to do, our minds crave yet more stimulus. We have a free moment in our schedule, we surf the Net or pick up something to read rather than breathe deeply and renew our energy. We live in a society that invites urgency, so we most cultivate a discipline of self-reflection and what we call "state shifting " in order to stay centered amidst the intensity of our work." -Robert Gass

To know what is expressed in the above quote is really important if living a balanced life is something you truly want.

In our world stress is created by our minds and in the urgency of our societal norms and beliefs.

Can we choose to be different? Absolutely!

Will it be challenging? Maybe...

If you choose to stay connected to needs such as peace, joy, ease or simplicity you can align your mind, values and lifestyle to meet those needs. To do that takes courage, commitment and a practice of inner reflection that supports you to remember the life you want.
You may get derailed from time to time which is simply part of the journey...you can choose to get back on your track at any time.

You can live in this culture without choosing what others choose. You can find peace, joy, ease and simplicity more often.

Discover the Power of Choice!

Life Coaching for connection, balance and health

Summer meals

We have another month or so of Farmers Markets and Fridays we create what I think of as our summer meal fresh from the market.
Often it includes corn on the cob, fresh steamed green beans, new potatoes boiled and tossed with a little olive oil and salt, a mixed green salad with strawberries, walla walla sweet onions, toasted hazelnuts, fresh goal cheese and a light dressing. Add to that a loaf of fresh baked bread and mixed fresh berries for dessert.
If two of you are preparing this takes 30-45 minutes to pull together and trust me well worth your time.
Fresh counts check out your local market and savor summer!

Progress

What is progress?

When I think of progress in terms of how our society has framed it I feel disappointed and sad. I think happiness, peace, joy, connection, family...have been relegated to the back seat as we have developed land, built buildings, roads, toys, electronics, cars... Progress is symbolized by our external development, our consumption, our financial wealth and it has taken a huge toil on the natural world and our spirits.

My definition of progress is focused on peace. I make progress when I am a part of creating peaceful solutions, loving environments, connection with our natural world, giving myself empathy and being able to recognize judgment and blame as opportunities to explore what is up for me instead of looking at someone or something else.

What would happen if more of us shifted to looking at progress from our own unique perspective?


I have a friend who recently said we can't ever have peace its not part of our makeup and for a moment I felt overwhelmed and sad. Later I recognized its only true if we let it be, we can change, we can have peace and it will take each of us doing our own part to make it happen.

To me Peace is Progress. I have a long way to go to attain it in my life and I will keep moving forward, sharing, modeling and doing the best I can with what I know in each moment.

Life Coaching for connection, balance and health

"I haven't failed. I've found ten thousand ways that don't work."
-Benjamin Franklin

How often do you consider what you did a failure?

What a shift it would be to look at failure as simply something that didn't work and move into the next moment open to the possibilities.


We are a culture that has placed a high value on winning and losing so there is a lot of failure passed around. As kids begin to engage in win lose activities at younger ages I wonder what impact that will have on the next generation. Often failure results in quitting, it doesn't motivate us to keep looking for new inspiration, idea's, or techniques.

How do we begin to unravel failure and see that great things lie in being willing to look at life from Benjamin Franklins perspective? Creativity abounds if you are willing to look at life this way. It is a life giving way of being.

How do people view themselves when they have failed a class, divorced, gotten fired, gone to jail, dropped out of college, not made a team, didn't apply for that job, ran away...we can "fail" at something only to find our greatest gift because of that so called failure. We can find 10,000 ways that don't work and on that 10,001 try we nail it!

Perspective...it's a beautiful thing.

Take some time to notice your beliefs around failing?

Does it support you to create a peaceful loving environment within and outside of yourself?

Life Coaching for connection, balance and health.