Adventure Is Brewing

[onlinecounsellingcollege]

I have learned that when sadness comes to visit me, all I can do is say “I see you.” I spend some time with it, get up, and say goodbye. I don’t push it away. I own it. And because I own it, I let it go.

Carolina Zacaria (via onlinecounsellingcollege)

[spoonofconsciousness]

#LOAThursday

The 7 Step Process To Manifesting Your Dreams

1. Intention - decide what you want. The first step is to look within and understand what we’re seeking and why. Once we know what we’re seeking we can make it the central focus of our lives - our intention. If peace of mind is our intention we will be able to discern what does & does not align with this and act accordingly.

2. Visualisation - build a clear picture of what it looks like. Adding details to the picture in our heads is a great way to aid the manifestation process. We can also use visualisation exercises to add finer details - what are the smells, tastes, sounds and sights associated with the life we seek to create? This will make it seem more realistic than just a far away dream that may never come to be.

3. Alignment - match your thoughts & beliefs to the goal. The first step to achieving anything is believing that it can be done - we need to become aware of any limiting beliefs or thought patterns that may be mentally or physically blocking that which we’re trying to manifest.

4. Actions - take action every single day. If the dream is to have a fit, healthy and functioning body we must make sure that our daily actions match the goal. We need to eat, sleep and exercise in a way that will help the manifestation process, when our actions and thoughts are aligned we become unstoppable.

5. Focus - block out the distractions. Anything that doesn’t exist in the dream life must be removed today and done so unapologetically. Whether that’s negative people, dysfunctional behaviour or negative ways of thinking - we need to prioritise our dreams if we want them to become reality.

6. Gratitude - be thankful for what you already have. When we become grateful for the good things in our lives we are moving into the abundance mindset, this is essential for manifestations because we attract what we are. If we start “wanting” instead of being thankful for having we begin to embody the scarcity mindset and this attracts more scarcity.

7. Manifestation - watch out for the signs. When we change our thoughts and actions to align with our dreams we will notice our environments changing. People, places and things we used to resonate with will naturally filter out to make room for what we are attracting. We cannot embrace the new whilst still holding on to the old.

We attract what we are, not what we want.

Peace & positive vibes.

[adventureisbrewing-blog]

Taking in 200 hours

This post is devoted to one of my solo adventures. One that unfortunately didn’t include beer. Say what?! Ha. You will hear from the both Ethan, and I, on this blog. Of course we don’t do everything together! And not everything involves beer… even if it should. Hashtag:joke.

So. I am only including one photo on this post. This was my yoga teacher training buddy and I on the final day of our retreat in Lake Tahoe. Photo cred goes to Amber DeLaRosa, though I don’t think she knows my name, or who I am, nor would she ever read this blog. But I am a rule follower. And photo creding a photographer/musician/extraordinaire is important to me.

Three and a half months of my life are pretty much encapsulated within the pixel confines of this photograph. I had carved out the perfect time in my life to enroll in a teacher-training program. Nine years into my yoga practice, three years into my new job, a slight break in my private practice--- plenty of time to focus on a dream of mine. Little did I know that four months after I signed up and the program was about to begin, I was going to find myself in a relationship, and my younger sister would come live with me while she fought Hodgkin’s lymphoma (successfully, by the way).

So, the 75-80 hour weeks were behind me. I had just experienced 36 glorious hours in silence, 20 of which spent in seated meditation. Unfuckingreal, actually. Especially considering my hamstring injury was only 10 percent healing at this point, and quieting the pain was toe to toe with quieting the mind (or my peers). I like people, really I do. But this. Finding Calm in the Chaos. That lake was FREEZING. This picture reminds me of my power. That any obstacle CAN be overcome. We are stronger than we think. All is coming. It is all worth it. Yes, even that. Trust in Yourself. Love Others. Love Yourself. Trust Others. You can’t plan it, you must LIVE it.

[adventureisbrewing-blog]

Kevin. And. Ray Bans.

So we had gotten the bug… and planned another day of hiking together. The only problem was that I strained my hamstring something major during my yoga teacher training, and was all wrapped/iced up the next weekend we had open at the end of April. We made the most of that one… headed up to Jack Russell Farm Brewery, and then hit up Lava Cap Winery, where we met our good friend, and the owners son, Kevin for the first time. There was a fancy wine and food tasting tour going on in the area, and since we were so close and all, he let us partake in the yummies. We even got to meet his mom. We had my younger sister Lei with us, as she was living with me while she got her radiation treatments. Talk about an adventurer. You should link up to her partner’s blog, renaissancecycling.wordpress.com or anything renaissance cyclist. They make magic happen outside.  Back to us. Pictured below @ Jack Russell

Anyway, a couple of weeks later, my leg was still busted, but doing better. Why not test the thing out with a flat 9 miles on Mother’s Day. Destination: I didn’t know. I didn’t care.

We set off, and I was unfamiliar with the territory. I still am. I have to text E where we actually were in order to add it to this post. Got it. Cool-Olmstead Loop. In Cool, CA.

Anyway, what makes this outdoor adventure noteworthy was that at some point Ethan dropped his brand new Ray Ban aviators on the trail. Neither one of us are the type to forego turning around to retrieve expensive belongings, so we flipped a two footed bitch and hoped for the best. Up about a mile ahead, we see two women on horseback and notice that one had dismounted for a moment, and then took back off. As we got closer, it dawned on us that their pause happened to be the exact location where we had stopped to tie shoes a good ways back. Throbbing leg and all, we pick up the pace. And, actually, our voices. In fact, I bellowed across the meadow like a crazy woman. Think, “hey, you guuuuuuyyyyyyyssssss.” Super classy. But it worked. They had E’s sunglasses, and were interested in getting them to us. Thankfully, on horseback, so we could slow down, and let the large animals do most of the work. Finished the loop, and here is the ONLY picture I took. In fact, Ethan may have taken it. It’s terrible of me, but we all have to make sacrifices in life sometimes. He looks good. And those are the sunnies. Safely back on the correct owner’s noggin.

Destination: Auburn Ale House. I don’t remember why we didn’t hit up Knee Deep that day. But hey, we weren’t thinking about how adventure was brewing…

[adventureisbrewing-blog]

Sorta Started Like This

Ethan and I had been dating for weeks, but hadn't yet managed to get out and adventure together. It was coming. It was needed. Not like a make or break relationship moment... but kind of. You know it can all go south if you don't adventure well together. We needed to make the next move, take the next step... and go do some fun shit.

Funny thing though... we both have super busy lives, the skies had not stopped dumping rain for weeks on end, and there was still a shit-ton of snow in early April. So Ethan wants to go snowshoeing. I had never been, but I do what I do, when I haven't done something. Go for it. Lucky for me I have a friend who owns three to seven of everything at REI, so I borrowed the whole enchilada-- snow boots, hiking boots (just in case it wasn't as snowy), socks, trekking poles, snow shoes, waders. Okay, wait. I better stop here. I have the kind of brain that seems to  always get something a little off. Usually, I am about 80-95 percent accurate... but there is always something... and sometimes it is pretty important. As I am typing, I realize I meant to say gaiters. Let me go check if that is what I meant.  Yup. Success. For the purposes of this blog, and my brain, I will fact check myself on the regular. Thank you Googs.

So, with weekends tied up tight, the two of us decided to ditch work (responsibly of course-- with authorization/PTO), and head up the hill to play in the white stuff, thus getting to second base in our relationship--- 

I hadn't brought my phone, so I don't have any pics, but mine would have probably been similar. Different butt though. Without crampons (learned a new word that day), it was getting dicy in the icy on the way up to the summit, so we turned back and then......... BEER!

Auburn Ale House after 9 miles. Yes please. And so... you are introduced to our blog. Adventure Is Brewing.... A Life Well Lived-- taking it outside-- and hastagging our way through breweries giving you a taste of the good stuff.

That's me in the jeans. Don't worry. I get smarter. Sorta.

Dude. That picture is huge. But when you can't wait for what's to come... And I don't mean just the beer... the smile is big, and the pic is bigger. (and yes, I wore gloves).  April 9, 2017