Blog » Inspired Everyday Living - Transform Your Home and Life

December 7, 2011 by Laura

Celebrating With Sweets: The Winter Holidays Edition

IEL News… Since we enjoy this time of year so much, this month we’ll be posting a few extra blogs—some new as well as a few of our holiday favorites. Wishing you a happy holiday season!

My sister and I grew up with big holiday celebrations. Both our parents really enjoyed making a fuss out of the holidays by decorating the house and cooking big meals. Part of the magic of these celebrations was the abundance of sweets—candy canes in Christmas stockings, Christmas cookies in a big tree-shaped cookie jar on the kitchen counter, a chocolate yule log and pies served on Christmas day, and even a box of our favorite treats from a local penny candy store under the tree!

As a mother, I have carried on the tradition of making a big deal of the holidays, but I had to pause when it came to the candy. I had long ago removed most of the sugar from my diet and eat mostly clean, organic, whole foods. So it’s not easy for me to watch my small children fill themselves with chemicals and toxins from artificial food dyes and preservatives—no matter how much they enjoy their sweets. Yet, I wanted them to experience the same delight of colorful, yummy treats on special occasions as my sister and I did when we were young.

While I certainly don’t think sugar is great for our health or our children’s health—what really bothers me about candy is the food dyes, additives, and preservatives. Artificial food dyes have been linked to hyperactivity, ADHD, cancer and food allergies. For more detailed information about the effects of food dyes check out the article Just Say No to Blue, Red, Blue and Yellow on one of our favorite websites Healthy Child, Healthy World.

Here’s what goes through my head when I’m in the grocery store deciding whether or not to buy candy… Who makes this stuff and markets it to kids? And don’t they care about what they’re feeding children? I try to use my power as a consumer to choose products made without artificial food dyes… if enough people stop buying what they’re selling, maybe they’ll make a change. We know big companies have the ability to make many foods with natural dyes because they have replaced artificial food dyes with natural food dyes in Europe, but continue to sell the same product here in the United States with the artificial food dyes. See the article “Toxins on our Kid’s food.” If we’re going to see a change, we need to create the demand in this country by being conscious consumers.

Now typically my sister and I don’t mention products in our blogs, but occasionally a product or resource strikes us as “in service” and we want to share. That’s how Alison and I feel about the Natural Candy Store, which has candy with “no artificial colors or dyes, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives, no artificial sweeteners and no hydrogenated oils.” Much of the candy is also organic. Of course it’s still candy and has sugar, which I’m not saying is healthful, but in moderation and on holidays I think it’s exactly what it should be—a treat. For the most part I can handle watching them eat sugar on holidays knowing that at least I didn’t fill their bodies with chemicals!

Natural Holiday Candy Resources:

Click here for candy canes, chocolate Santas, gold coins, and much more…

And since baking cookies and making gingerbread houses is such a big part of the season, you may also want to check out these healthier green, red, white and blue sprinkles and the natural red, green and blue food coloring for frosting.

If you like this blog, you may also like:
Holiday Giving Traditions
Keeping Your Kids at the Table

Simplify Your Holiday: Tips for a Peaceful Celebration

IEL News… Since we enjoy this time of year so much, this month we’ll be posting a few extra blogs—some new as well as a few our holiday favorites. Wishing you a happy holiday season!

While the holiday season has the potential to be a time of peace, celebration and joy oftentimes it is anything but – instead we feel overwhelmed, frazzled and drained. The following five tips will help put you on the path to creating a happy and harmonious holiday season where you may experience peace in your home and in yourself.

1. Simplify. Sit down and make a list of all your holiday traditions, such as decorating the house, cooking special meals, hosting or attending holiday parties, etc. Write down all the activities you have spent time doing in the past and all things you would like to do this year.

Next, go through your list and circle your favorite traditions. Circle things that truly excite you — not what is expected from you or things you feel you “should” do. What is the “ideal” holiday for you? What do you want to make sure you have time to do so that you feel you have thoroughly celebrated the holiday? You might be surprised to find that many of the things you spend a good deal of time and money doing are not even at the top of your list. Maybe your favorite parts of the holiday are relaxing at home, going to the movies, or taking time to stroll around town and enjoy the decorations. Or perhaps you like large parties with friends, shopping for presents, making cookies, and big family meals? Your body will help guide you toward your authentic desires — if you feel your stomach clench at the idea of hosting a dinner for twelve, perhaps this is something to reconsider. Circle only the activities that bring you true joy.

Now ask all the people who are essential to your holiday (such as your partner or if they’re old enough, your children) to do the same exercise. People who are essential to your holiday include those loved ones that you genuinely want to see happy because giving to them also feels like giving to yourself, so you may also choose to ask close friends or relatives to write a list. Compare lists and see what clearly comes through as important to your holiday family. You may be surprised how much you have in common. If your children are older, you might find they are tired of gift giving and would prefer to spend money on a special family vacation. Or perhaps the gingerbread house you spent many flustered hours creating and thought had so much meaning to your family, no longer does. Create a new list with everyone’s circled items.

Next, look for ways to simplify the things on the resulting list. Most likely there will be some differences in priorities. For example, your partner may have decided he loves a big holiday dinner, but cooking this meal is last on your list. If the big holiday dinner is important, then see if you can re-create it. Find out what it is about the big holiday dinner that appeals to your partner? If he enjoys the company, but you don’t like to cook then perhaps you could go to a restaurant this year? Or if entertaining at home and decorating the table is important, then maybe you can cater the dinner or ask everyone to bring a dish or put your partner and children in charge of cooking? Keep working this process until you have come up with a holiday plan that excites everyone involved and yet still feels manageable.

2. Set Intentions. In addition to your list of activities, create a list of the most important feelings or “inner qualities” you would like to experience during your holiday such as gratitude, peace, joy or love. Combine these qualities with your holiday plan in the form of affirmations. For example, “I am filled with gratitude as I enjoy our holiday meal.” By writing down your series of written affirmations you are sending a powerful message to the universe that will manifest with grace.

3. Enjoy the process. Focus on your state-of-being during the time you are preparing for the traditions you selected, as much as during the actual tradition. It is more important to be relaxed and happy as you prepare an almost perfect meal, than it is to be stressed or bad-tempered before you serve your picture perfect meal. Keep in mind the inner qualities on your list. If peace is an important quality to you, find peace even amidst the hustle and bustle of holiday shoppers by taking a moment to appreciate the store decorations or taking a break from your errands for a cup of coffee. Let the weeks leading up to your celebrations be filled with as much joy and happiness as the actual celebration.

4. Give to yourself. Perhaps the greatest gift you can give to yourself is to treat yourself with love and compassion. Often we expect others to change or treat us differently without first changing ourselves or treating ourselves differently. Let how you care for yourself during the holiday season be a precursor to how you will live in the New Year and how you will expect others to behave toward you. Let go of perfectionism and adopt a gentle, loving and forgiving relationship with yourself. If you treat yourself with love and kindness these same qualities will be reflected back to you from others.

5. Believe. Celebrate the magic of the holidays. If you have children, it is a wonderful opportunity to re-live the fantasies of the holidays through their experiences. This is the time to believe in miracles and all possibilities. Have faith in yourself, your family and the world.

Staying in the Mountains

IEL NEWS: Wishing you and yours a joyful Thanksgiving and happiness as the holiday season begins…

Now I know… at least for now…
You may recall from my blog Embracing the Unknown, that a few months ago my husband and I had a strong sense that we should sell our home in California. We took a leap of faith, followed our intuition and put our home on the market. It sold in just two days! Guided by a vague, yet strong sense that we wanted to live differently, we found ourselves living in our recently purchased second home located in a small town in the mountains. We experienced a freedom and lightness as a result of this move—we were overwhelmingly grateful to be spending time in such a beautiful place and doing our best to remain in the present moment while listening closely for further guidance and next steps. My mantra borrowed from Marlena de Blasi was and continues to be “let life shape itself.”

At times we found ourselves anxious about what the future would hold or what we had left behind. Yet when we stayed present, we realized how exciting it can be to “not know.” Seemingly, a gift of living in the unknown is that you get to be surprised by life. When you live from a place of trusting that all is unfolding for your happiness- the feeling is a perpetual night-before-Christmas sensation.

At some point during the summer it became clear that we had already made our choice, we were going to stay in the mountains. It was one of those decisions that felt right until I started to think about it. Unlike other big-decision, turning points in my life, I did not plan and strategize this… it was happening and I simply allowed it to be. The train was already moving and I just hopped on. When I started to think about our choice, there were many things didn’t “make sense,” but when I sat quietly and tuned-in there was no question, staying felt right. When I turned within I felt a deep peace—it was a decision from the heart.

Here is what I have noticed about my new life and the experience of following my heart:

Being in the Flow: When you allow yourself to go with the flow, everything seems easy. Our new life has fallen into place with a great deal of grace and (relatively) little effort.

Making Choices from a Happy Place: I was very happy and grateful for my life in California. Sure, there were aspects of our lifestyle that did not seem in alignment with my soul or deepest values, but I was not looking for a new place to solve anything or change my life. I think that is why this new place has so profoundly changed my life and I am even happier, I wasn’t leaving behind something I didn’t like, I was simply moving onward…

Naturally More Patient: I have much more patience. In one week—filled with a multitude of moving logistics, goodbye get-togethers and play dates for the kids, camp and school tours, and doctor’s appointments—we somehow also managed to pack up and I did not once lose my patience. I am still not sure how I experienced the grace I did, but I do hope to experience it again!

Different Quality of Being: At the end of the day when my children are sleeping, I noticed I was not as exhausted as I usually was, but instead, energized and filled with gratitude.

Slowing Down: As my sister also recently noted in her blog about her recent vacation, there is no question things move at a different pace in the mountains than in Los Angeles. It is amazing how much more time (and peace) I have by simply not having to deal with traffic. Everything about my day-to-day life is easier, and more enjoyable, to accomplish.

More Time for What I Enjoy, Like Cooking More: Now that I have more time, I am making more meals for my family. The delicious, healthy, simple recipes on my friend’s blog, PamelaSalzman.com, are my go-to, and I also particularly enjoy making whole food smoothies and my own nut milks.

Nature, Space and Peace: Need I say more? It feels great to be in open spaces and surrounded by nature. The children are thriving in this setting—my little one spent the entire summer digging in the dirt. My older one hikes and bikes and both spend hours playing by, or in, the river. To see them interact with the earth in this way feels pure and natural.

Simplicity: Simplicity is something I yearn for and deeply value. I feel I have taken a step closer by letting go of so much. Our home is about a third the size of our previous one and we are living with less than half of our possessions. The children had no after-school activities for our first month here and now each only have one. My focus narrowed to helping the kids adjust to their new life and daily homemaking routines. There is more time for walks, hikes, lying in the hammock, sitting by fires, enjoying meals, and hanging out. I feel simpler and more peaceful on the inside, I think largely because I look at a beautiful view wherever I am in my house. A few people have noticed that my voice has changed. I think it goes along with this earthier experience.

Life is Life: Just to be clear, while I have had many moments of grace and epiphanies, I have had plenty of the mundane moments and lots of “I can’t believe how hard parenting is” thoughts as well. Stuff still happens wherever you are. For me, one or the other of my children has been sick every week since school started! And my husband and I have had the sleepless nights, and arguments, that go along with it. Just because we’re living in our version of paradise, doesn’t mean everything is always perfect.

Wherever You Go, There You Are: Similar to the above, I am still me—along with the good and the less good. All problems don’t disappear with a change of location, but you do often gain a different perspective.

Transformation: Of course we can transform ourselves and our lives wherever we are, but I do believe that different places and homes- just by the their inherent natures—bring out different energies and qualities. Change is good.

So these are the things I have experienced, by going with the flow, listening to my heart, and making a change. I do miss my friends as well as the incredible resources and support I had discovered in LA and at times even the energy of the city, but for now, I know that living here feels good. Beyond this moment, I intend to continue to let life shape itself…