• healthy - recipes - The Cocoon

    Rad Recipes: Goddess Trail Mix (GF, P, V)

    March 22, 2017 - By 

    Whether you prefer a long hike or a gentle stroll, or even if you just want to enjoy a healthy snack to munch on at your desk or during your afternoon commute- my Goddess Trail Mix is an easy winner. It packs a high-energy punch, hits the sweet and savory notes, is low in sugar and high in good fats and even has tasty dark chocolate antioxidants. Gluten Free, Paleo friendly, and Vegetarian.  You can substitute different nuts if you prefer, such as walnuts or pecans. Here’s my super simple recipe: 1 cup raw almonds 1 cup raw cashews 1/2…

  • blessings - inspiration - Mantras - Monday Mantra - self help

    #MondayMantra I’m Ready for a Fresh Start

    March 20, 2017 - By 

    Hello, Spring! Today we officially welcome Spring to the Northern Hemisphere and with it, a fresh new energy infuses us. Creativity begins to sparkle up within and spring forth in new ways, much like the colorful blossoms and signs of new life all around us. Have you been hiding too long? Awaken, Sleeper & Dreamer. Celebrate your renewed sense of being. Explore your creativity and ideas. Stretch yourself, literally and figuratively. Boldly bloom wherever you may be planted. The world needs you and your beautiful contribution! ​​

  • Friday Feels - healthy - inspiration

    #FridayFeels Lucky

    March 17, 2017 - By 

    So this morning, St. Patrick’s Day, I am facing one of my fears and sitting in the waiting room at the doctors office. Dermatologist, to be exact. Seems that having pale white & freckled Irish skin (or Welsh, or English, depending on which branch of Dad’s family tree I’m following) and growing up in sunny Southern California is more than challenging to the tanned, beach bunny stereotype. Add in growing up in the era of no sunscreen and generous pours of baby oil to sunbathe for hours on end, and it’s generally a pretty good recipe for some skin cancer.…

  • healthy - recipes - The Cocoon

    Rad Recipes: Creamy Dreamy Carrot Dip (DF, GF, P, V, VG)

    March 13, 2017 - By 

    I do love to eat a tasty dip! Even better when it’s healthy AND tastes great, just like my favorite Creamy Dreamy Carrot Dip. This one is Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Paleo-Friendly, Vegetarian and Vegan.   And it still tastes great!  It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and a whole lotta awesome. Here’s the super simple recipe. Enjoy! Ingredients One package organic baby carrots 1 clove garlic, peeled & minced Juice of ½ a lemon 1½- 2  tbsp olive oil ¼ tsp cumin ⅛ tsp ground coriander ⅛ tsp smoked paprika Salt & pepper to taste Directions Using either a…

  • life challenge - Miscellaneous

    My Plea on International Women’s Day

    March 8, 2017 - By 

    Today, March 8, is a day celebrated for more than a century now as International Women’s Day. In it’s earliest iteration, it was founded as “International Working Women’s Day” and was actually linked back to the American Socialist Party.  To be crystal clear, I am NOT a Socialist.  But I most definitely am a Woman, and I choose to support, elevate, empower and celebrate women around the world today and every day. In 2017, I’m astonished that so many women in my own country and around the globe still lack equality and in so many parts of the world, basic…

  • blessings - Mantras - Monday Mantra

    #MondayMantra – Happy

    March 6, 2017 - By 

    Even on your most challenging days, you deserve to feel happy, even if only for a moment. Cultivate happiness in your life by doing something each day that makes you smile, so that on the hard days you have plenty to pull from. Recall a fond memory. Engage your senses. Dance like a total weirdo. Laugh at a terrible joke. Play with your pets/kids/best friends. Whatever makes you feel really happy, allow yourself to experience that feeling every single day. Mantra: Every day, I do at least one thing that makes me feel happy.

  • blessings - healing - inspiration - life challenge - self help

    Giving Up To Gain

    March 1, 2017 - By 

    For the past several years, I stopped attending church services altogether in favor of ditching religion and religiosity for a deeper, more authentic, hands-on, dirt-under-my-nails, faith-without-borders spiritual quest of healing and enlightenment. I chose to shrug off what had come to feel like confinement and faking it, and just figure out how to connect with and love people in a way that felt a lot more natural and right for me. It has been the best decision I have ever made, and it has allowed me to take all of the good lessons that I learned and apply them (love,…

  • blessings - inspiration - Mantras - Meditation, Mantras, & Mindfulness - Monday Mantra - self help

    #MondayMantra I Welcome a Life of Abundance

    February 27, 2017 - By 

    Today, I invite you to shift your mindset to one that more readily welcomes abundance. This powerful mantra starts with a fun visualization practice: Begin to picture yourself on a golden path laid out before you. Surround your path with rich, vivid colors: flowers and trees, a lovely stream, beautiful birds singing, gorgeous rainbows in the sky. Engage all of your senses. Notice, there are no blocks or barriers along this path, it is simply open before you. Now feel a sense of peace & ease as you move along your path.   Mantra: I welcome a life of abundance!

  • Friday Feels - inspiration

    #FridayFeels- Honor the Struggles 

    February 24, 2017 - By 

    Gentle Reminder: Please do not minimize or dismiss the struggles or pain that another person has faced. 💜 You and I may never share the same scars or past hurts, we may never fully understand what the other has felt, but it doesn’t make it any less real.  Be generous as you extend grace and compassion to yourself, your family and friends, acquaintances and colleagues and coworkers, and yes even to the stranger whose struggles you may never personally know- as though we are all One.