Sometimes when your own life has turned upside down, the wise words of others can provide some solace, some encouragement and practical tips.
That’s what’s up for me right now. As I hinted in the last post, I’ve decided to make a rather huge change – in less than two weeks I’m moving.
And not just down the street – I’m moving out of state, and out of my sweet little rural community – to the city!
There was a time (my entire 20’s really) when moving was not much of a big deal – I packed up and relocated often more than yearly. Now, however, I’ve lived in the same house for more than 15 years.
This is a big midlife shakeup and I’ll be writing more about the details in future posts.
For now, I’m preparing to take the big leap, and hoping like hell the net will appear.
As I pack and make time for goodbyes with dear friends, I thought I’d turn you on to some of the brightest and most inspiring articles I’ve discovered in the past weeks.
If you’ve spent any time here on Holistic Hot Sauce, you know this site is all about harnessing the power and energy that surges through at midlife – building a foundation of natural health so you have the vitality and inspiration to go after your dreams. So, of course a lot of the stuff I like to read is related to these subjects.
It’s summer and a good time to relax, read and percolate ideas to perhaps bring to fruition in the coming months. Peruse these at your leisure – you could even copy them to your e-reader if you have one and take them to the beach!
Although your own life likely isn’t turned on its end like mine, I’m confident you will enjoy these tips and inspirations shared by some of my favorite bloggers and writers.
On Radiant Health
Do you enjoy smoothies? A “power smoothie” is one of my favorite energizing breakfasts – such a delicious way to pack in a lot of nutrients first thing in the day. Amy Grams of Nutrition Accomplished packs a load of knowledge and science into her latest post, 4 Secrets to Turn Your Smoothie into Anti-Aging Superfood.
Jennifer Blanchard at InkyBites blogs about writing, creativity and how a healthy lifestyle can be the foundation for success in your creative endeavors. Last month she wrote every day on these topics, as part of her Recharge Your Creative Batteries in 31 Days challenge, and I especially enjoyed her take on the gremlin that can undermine your energy for the entire day. Can you guess what it is?
“Crunchy Betty” is one of my favorite blogs on natural living, and it’s chock full of recipes on DIY health & beauty products. Best of all, I always get a belly laugh when I’m reading it!
Until I came across her recent post, I’d forgotten all about a tip I learned a long time ago: activated charcoal can act as an effective tooth whitener. Kind of one of those weird counter-intuitive things – to think that something so black can actually promote whiter teeth.
I filed that information away in my brain back then, and promptly forgot. But now “Betty’s” testimonial, complete with photo, has got me convinced to try it. After all, growing a little “longer of the tooth” (ha ha) seems to result in said appendages growing a bit dingier. If a charcoal swish will bring them back to their dazzling teenaged whiteness, I’m all about it!
Check out the full article to find out what activated charcoal is, why it works so well, and be entertained all at the same time.
On Living Bold And Brilliant
I’ve been following Tess Marshall over at The Bold Life for quite a while now, and I had a blast hanging with her a bit at the World Domination Summit last month. Her latest post, is an easy, inspirational read with 150 (!) Ways to Greet Your Fear and Live a Bold Life.
I loved this unique approach to building one’s self confidence from Dolly Garland at Kaizen Journaling. Dolly is a master at brevity, handing out amazing nuggets wisdom in her short and thought-provoking posts. In this one she talks about the difference between attitude and true self confidence.
My colleague in midlife transformation, Jennifer Boykin, never fails to nail it with her insightful observations and somewhat sharp-tongued nudges. A couple of weeks ago she penned a prose poem that touched me.
It’s all about why failure doesn’t really suck. In fact it can be good. This topic has been on my list to write about (and I probably still will, but I doubt it will be as eloquent and compelling as Jen’s!)
If you’ve ever felt hesitant about a project, an idea, or even your life in general, you have to read Stop Half-Assing Your Life, by one of my newest and boldest online friends, Ellen Berg.
This is about being ‘all in’ when you decide to do something. How long has it been since you were all in?
Another poetic offering comes from by coach and dear friend, Sandi Amorim. It’s a bit of a manifesto to the wisdom she holds near and dear: I Believe Peace Comes From Within (and other thoughts on living).
You Can Do It, is a guest post on A Multitude of Things by one of my dearest online buddies, Cigdem Kobu. It will inspire you to step into your power and may also lead you to more inspiring women who took those words to heart!
More on The World Domination Summit
Okay, I’m obsessed. My last post summarizing my experiences at this unique (un)conference got some enthusiastic responses – which tells me lots of you are interested in what went down.
As I mentioned, nearly 200 other bloggers have written about this (maybe even more by now), and here’s just a few that I’ve discovered and enjoyed:
Natalie Sisson of The Suitcase Entrepreneur decided to do a whole series on WDS. The first, Three Truths and a Dare From the World Domination Summit, delves more deeply into Brene Brown’s message on vulnerability, as well as into the power in being an introvert.
Natalie has inspired me for a while now with her work – especially last spring when she biked through Africa to fundraise for one of her favorite charities.
And she’s one of the first to come up with an innovative and exciting idea for using her $100 gift. In just a few short weeks she created The $100 Change, an email course on how to make significant change in your life by creating a project or business that matters.
It’s an initiative to see how far one hundred dollars can go to impacting hundreds, if not thousands to make significant change in their lives.
Find out more about Natalie’s $100 Change here – and if you hurry you’ll get a chance to win a ticket to next year’s World Domination Summit! She’s giving it away on August 5th.
Jody Ettenberg is a former lawyer who is now eating her way around the world and writing about it at Legal Nomads. She’s been doing it for a while now, and she was a speaker at the conference.
I enjoyed her write-up on the Summit, which includes lots of original photos (even one of the sumo wrestling that opened the event!) It’s another great summary that concludes with her personal mantra from WDS about confronting her own fears.
I met Farnoosh Brock at the WDS (in person – I’d already been following her from afar.) What a dynamo, and such a kind human being too! Her article offers some awesome no-nonsense tips on what to do with all that inspiration once you’ve been filled to the brim after attending such an event.
I hope some of these articles open up some new doors in your mind and heart. I’d love to hear in the comments what resonates the most deeply.
photo by: Julien Haler
