How's It Going So Far?

We’re into the second month of the New Year – all of the festivities of the holiday and the anticipatory excitement of the beginning of a new year are behind us…how are you feeling?

If you’re still charged up and feeling great about the infinite possibilities for this year and forging ahead with confidence, that’s great! However, often we feel a bit “blah” at this point. Maybe you’re not as excited about your resolutions as you were on January 1^st and have let them slide a bit. Maybe you got caught up in your everyday routine and went back to feeling a little numb and not expecting anything to change. Maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed with the goals you set for this year and have gone into inertia. It's all OK. For those of you who are feeling stuck and frustrated, here is what I want you to do:

Nothing.

Let go. Relax about it all. Be easy on yourself. Be kind to yourself. The more you stress, worry, doubt or are fearful and anxious about what you feel you “should” be doing or have done by now will only work against you. As much as it seems that stepping back and doing nothing are counter-productive, believe me, if you allow yourself to relax, new ideas, inspiration and motivation will come to you.

Allow yourself to play in the energy of what you are working toward as if it is already here, while appreciating all that is right and wonderful in this present moment. Spend some quiet time every day with your eyes closed and imagining how it would feel to have your dream become reality. Simply enjoy the feeling and then embody that emotion as much as you can throughout your day. Have fun with this – enjoy the process.

Try this just for fun – don’t take it too seriously, but make a point every day of letting go and relaxing, even if just for a minute. Then let’s see where you are a month from now – you may be surprised!

Breathe and enjoy!

Much Love,

Tanna

Living Peacefully ™ is written by Tanna Marshall, Author, Holistic Consultant and Personal Coach. If you have any questions or would like more information about Living Peacefully, please contact:
Tanna@living-peacefully.com
www.living-peacefully.com
To purchase your copy of Living Peacefully in a Big City, please visit
Amazon.com
If you’d like to share this article with people you feel may enjoy it, you are welcome to do so. Please forward in its entirety, including our contact and copyright information. Thanks and enjoy!

Post-Holiday Blahs....

Welcome to 2012!

Now that the holidays are over, you may be feeling a bit let down and anti-climactic. As promised, I have a New Year's gift to help with that - 
"Overcoming the Post-Holiday Blues". 

You can access it here -
http://www.living-peacefully.com/Products_and_Services.html

One of my intentions for the new year is to spend less time working on the computer when I could be spending more quality time with my mom, so this will be another short, but sweet message.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!
Much love,
Tanna

Living Peacefully ™ is written by Tanna Marshall, Author, Holistic Consultant, Energy Healer and Personal Coach. If you have any questions or would like more information about Living Peacefully, please contact:
Tanna@living-peacefully.com
www.living-peacefully.com
To purchase your copy of Living Peacefully in a Big City, please visit
Amazon.com
If you’d like to share this article with people you feel may enjoy it, you are welcome to do so. Please forward in its entirety, including our contact and copyright information. Thanks and enjoy!

Holiday Joy or Holiday Stress?

Are you feeling excited about the holidays finally arriving and looking forward to all the fun traditions you always enjoy?


Or are you starting to feel the pressure of your holiday “To-Do” list? Do you feel yourself rushing to get things done and not really enjoying this time of year like you used to?

To help you get a head start on your holiday plans and minimize your stress this season, I’m giving you an early present – my free ebook,

“Your Holiday Survival Guide.”



You can access it here:
http://www.living-peacefully.com/Products_and_Services.html

That's it - a short but sweet message for you today. 

Relax, (when you can) stay present and enjoy the journey this season!

Much love,

Tanna

Living Peacefully ™ is written by Tanna Marshall, Author, Holistic Consultant, Energy Healer and Personal Coach. If you have any questions or would like more information about Living Peacefully, please contact:
Tanna@living-peacefully.com
www.living-peacefully.com
To purchase your copy of Living Peacefully in a Big City, please visit
Amazon.com
If you’d like to share this article with people you feel may enjoy it, you are welcome to do so. Please forward in its entirety, including our contact and copyright information. Thanks and enjoy!

Gratitude or Gravy?

There are a lot of articles and posts on Facebook and Twitter this week about what people are thankful for, and that is wonderful to see. We’re so fortunate in this country to have a holiday that causes us to pause and think about what we’re grateful for.

Or is it just a day to stuff ourselves?

Obviously, we all look forward to a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with all the traditional dishes – I’m sure you have your favorite – most likely concluding with a pumpkin pie or some dessert of pumpkin origin followed by a food coma. I know a lot of people look forward to the football games that will be on TV.

Some people just look forward to the four day weekend as a welcome respite from their busy schedules and a time to catch their breath before all the big holiday events begin.

Often we just float through this day as another tradition that doesn’t mean any more to us than any other day off. Some of you may be dreading the obligatory appearance at a family gathering that will be full of stress and drama.

Some of you may have no family nearby, no time or money to get home or perhaps no family at all. I’m always happy to see my California transplant friends get together for an “Orphan Thanksgiving”.

If you have nowhere to go, and you feel so inclined, you could help out at a homeless shelter, feeding those who don’t have much and making connections that will mean so much to someone else. Or you could find an elderly person to visit who would otherwise be spending the holiday alone. You can make this a Thanksgiving to remember if it is your intention is to do so.

Whatever your plans are tomorrow, whether it’s a dinner you’re looking forward to for the company or the food (or both), or if you’ll be numbly counting the minutes until you can leave wherever you are obligated to be, or you don’t have any plans at all – take a moment to stop and think of what you are thankful for. It’s a holiday – you don’t have to work and most likely you have Friday to yourself as well so there should be some time in there for a moment of genuine gratitude.

If you can’t seem to think of much to be grateful for, let me help you – Do you have your health? Do you have a home, a bed to sleep in, clothes to wear and food to eat? Do you have people in your life who love and support you? Do you have a job? Do you have a car? Do you have money in the bank? Do you have activities that you enjoy? Do you have a strong belief system that keeps you going? Do you have hopes and dreams for the future?

If you answered “Yes” to any of these – be thankful for that. There is always a blessing somewhere in our lives, even when we think we have nothing. Think of the less fortunate who don’t have the luxury of a traditional meal in a nice home. And I would bet that you would still find that they are grateful for what they do have, even if it doesn’t seem like much.

Enjoy your day, however you are spending it, whomever you will be with, whether you are looking forward to it or not, and make sure to include some “thanks” in your Thanksgiving.

I wish you a day of gratitude, gravy and many blessings this holiday season.

Much love,

Tanna

Living Peacefully ™ is written by Tanna Marshall, Author, Holistic Consultant and Personal Coach. If you have any questions or would like more information about Living Peacefully, please contact:

Tanna@living-peacefully.com
www.living-peacefully.com
To purchase your copy of Living Peacefully in a Big City, please visit
Amazon.com
If you’d like to share this article with people you feel may enjoy it, you are welcome to do so. Please forward in its entirety, including our contact and copyright information. Thanks and enjoy!

Be Responsible for Your Energy

Today is a great day to examine your energy – this high-powered day, 11/11/11, is so fully charged and millions of people are taking to really feel it and make shifts toward more positive thoughts and feelings.

It also happens to be Veteran’s Day so please take a moment to be grateful to all those who have served our country to keep it the land of the free and the home of the brave.

For those of you watching Oprah’s Lifeclass on OWN, you may remember the class that was all about being responsible for the energy you bring everywhere you go. She even has a sign in her make-up room to remind everyone who enters to be responsible for the energy they bring into her space. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone were responsible for their energy?

How often do we really think about the energy we bring with us when we are with others, entering their homes, their workspaces or just their personal space? We know when we feel the energy of those who enter our space and whether it is positive or negative. Or we could say, whether it feels good or feels bad to us. That is a great, simple indicator of what resonates with you on the highest level – does it feel good or not?

This also ties into the Lifeclass about the scientific effects of energy from a physics perspective: What you put out comes back to you. Like attracts like. Newton’s Third Law of Motion: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It’s the Law of Attraction. It’s not woo woo spiritual stuff, it is scientific fact.

If you’d like a visual to help understand the basic truth and power behind your words and emotions, check out Dr. Emoto’s water crystal photos – a few of which are pictured above. Pretty powerful, isn't it?

It’s always helpful to examine what you are attracting, especially if you’re not happy with it. If you don’t like what’s happening in your life, take a good look at yourself and your habitual thoughts and beliefs. The thing to remember is that the common denominator in your life is YOU. So ask yourself, what are you putting out there to attract experiences that you don’t want and are not enjoying? Many people don’t want to take that responsibility and will even become angry and defensive when the idea is presented to them. They prefer to stay in a blaming mentality and that’s OK – not everyone is ready to understand these principles yet. Hopefully someday they will, for their own sake.

When you do take responsibility, you free yourself from being a victim of the behavior of others and unwanted situations. Instead, you empower yourself to create the life you want with the knowledge that your thoughts and emotions generate the energy you are sending out into the world. Whatever you put out will come back to you in some form or another, so be mindful of your attitude and expectations.

We have become so accustomed to having a knee-jerk reaction to anything we find unpleasant that we lose all our power. We take everything personally and feel that the world is being totally uncooperative and is working against us. The key word here is “reaction.” This usually happens without our even thinking – we just lash out when we feel threatened or unjustly treated. We make it all about us.

When you slow down and become more thoughtful about what comes up for you, and then make a conscious decision to decide how (or if) you want to respond to a situation, you have just taken back your power and mastered your own life.

So if this makes no sense to you and makes you angry, that’s OK, just let it go. But if you want to take responsibility for creating what you really want to attract and experience in your life, learn as much as you can about how energy and the Law of Attraction work. You can stop being a victim and become the master of your reality.

Which feels better?

Much love,

Tanna

Living Peacefully ™ is written by Tanna Marshall, Author, Holistic Consultant and Personal Coach. If you have any questions or would like more information about Living Peacefully, please contact:
Tanna@living-peacefully.com
www.living-peacefully.com
To purchase your copy of Living Peacefully in a Big City, please visit
Amazon.com
If you’d like to share this article with people you feel may enjoy it, you are welcome to do so. Please forward in its entirety, including our contact and copyright information.
Thanks and enjoy!

What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?

After watching "Scream 4" (among many other horror movies this past weekend), I heard that line way too many times. But it was part of the scary fun....well, for the audience at least.

I have always loved Halloween and more specifically, horror movies. I was watching the scariest, goriest films out there by the time I was six. I have no idea why it fascinated me so much, but it did and never bothered me or gave me nightmares. I remember when I was twelve a neighbor had the Z Channel (anyone remember when there was only ONE cable movie channel?) so I went over and watched “The Exorcist” three nights in a row. I know - what's wrong with that 12 year old?

Later on I was more into the slasher movies because I wanted to be a make-up artist specializing in gore. I loved to see all the different scenarios and wondered how they made it look so real. I didn’t become a professional make-up artist, but I lived out that fantasy every Halloween, coming up with the grossest and scariest costumes I could think of – dead school girl, dead prom queen, dead saloon girl, (dead was a big theme, always the result of violence with lots of blood) vampire, victim of vampire, bad knife-thrower’s assistant…etc. I also brought all my make-up to work to give anyone who wanted a little gore a bullet wound, a slashed throat, a black eye or a spike in the head. So much fun!

My boss at that time, Adam, always let me do his costume and make-up. One year he went into his boss’ office for a meeting, forgetting about the make-up and nearly gave the guy a heart attack – he thought Adam had really been in a bloody accident. I love it!

I also used to frequent Knott’s Scary Farm with my friends – we went every year for 15 years. We always had a blast being scared out of our wits. But eventually I began to think, “Aaaah - too many teenagers everywhere!” Yikes – I used to be one of those teenagers! I knew my time with that tradition was done, but it was scary fun while it lasted.

Why do we love the creepiness of Halloween? Probably for the same reason we love rollercoasters – it’s a thrill, it scares us, but ultimately we know we are safe. It’s fun to explore our dark sides with no lasting effects – just finish watching the movie or take off the costume and wash off the make-up.

Or are there lasting effects?

A while ago I began noticing that these horrific images began lingering in my consciousness. I found myself dreaming about the most recent horror movie I had just watched. I began having dreams about the unearthly face from “The Exorcist” – silently watching me, menacing. That freaked me out.

So began the habit of the happy movie after the horror movie to even out my brain. Even this past weekend of having a horror movie marathon with my husband really messed up my energy and put me in a dark place emotionally. Thank goodness for Tivo'd episodes of Oprah's Lifeclass to significantly raise my vibration back up where it belongs. I've detoxed in the last few years so much from scary, disturbing movies that they greatly affect me now more than ever. I think next year I'll stick to "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!".

This negative eeriness all came to a head a few years ago one Halloween when I was going to attempt my greatest feat make-up wise – Regan of the unearthly face. My eye doctor does special effect contact lenses for movies and actually made the ones that Linda Blair wore in the movie. Since then he’s done just about every vampire movie and anything else requiring special effects with the eyes. So I got a pair of scary, yellow, red-rimmed contacts from him, (in the photo here) and began studying photos of the face online. I needed to know all the little details that you wouldn’t be aware of unless you really looked.

I began feeling uneasy and creeped out at night in my apartment – had I invited dark forces into my energy field with the planning of this costume? I couldn’t wait for Halloween to be over so I could take my attention off of the scary face.

Then one night I had a dream that shook me to my core. Now, I am a Christian, but not hard-core – I believe Jesus was one of the greatest spiritual teachers who ever lived and I aim to live a good life and follow his teachings. So when I had a dream where Jesus came to me and asked, “Why do you want to emulate something so evil?” I was so freaked out that I immediately abandoned the idea. When Jesus speaks to you so directly and clearly, you listen.

A friend at work then requested that I do it on her since she was an atheist. I did do the make-up on her and she won the costume contest at the office Halloween party. So mission accomplished, ultimately.

My point is, even when you're just having fun, always be aware of what energy you are inviting into your experience and what images you are putting into your subconscious. Limit the safe scares to what is fun but will not leave a negative, lasting impression on your psyche. On a regular basis, make sure to fill your heart, mind and spirit with uplifting, happy, positive, inspirational images, information and people. You don’t want any underlying negativity to attract people or situations that you don’t want to invite into your experience.

That said, have a safe (in every aspect) and Happy Halloween!

With love,

Tanna

Living Peacefully ™ is written by Tanna Marshall, Author, Holistic Consultant and Personal Coach. If you have any questions or would like more information about Living Peacefully, please contact:
Tanna@living-peacefully.com
www.living-peacefully.com
To purchase your copy of Living Peacefully in a Big City, please visit
Amazon.com
If you’d like to share this article with anyone you feel may enjoy it, you are most welcome to! When doing so, please forward in its entirety, including our contact and copyright information. Thanks and enjoy!

Traffic Talk

I recently got a new license plate, which I love. (Pictued here) Let me tell you how I finally arrived at this message after many plate changes…

I have always had personalized plates – even before I started driving. When my parents bought a new car when I was 11, I asked if we could get personalized plates, so they got “4 Tanna”. I know – I’m spoiled. Of course, the plates were transferred to my first car when I was 16 – my dream car, a metallic blue ’75 superbeetle named “Elliott”. (I got him right after I’d seen E.T.) I even wrote a song about my love affair with Elliott when I had a singing duo with my friend Stacey in the early 1990’s.

I enjoyed having a personal plate and usually had a custom frame to send yet another message out to my fellow drivers. I think the first one I had read, “Have you hugged Tanna today?”

Eventually, I got tired of strangers calling out my name acting as if they knew me so I got new plates when I was going through my Doors phase. I was in my early twenties, exploring my spirituality and I became fascinated with Jim Morrison’s poetry and songwriting. So my next plate was both a tribute and a message to others – “BKNTHRU”. Translation, “Break On Through” as in, “…to the other side”. I wanted LUVME2X but it was taken. I actually passed that person on the road once.

People had a hard time understanding what my plate meant so soon after when I began doing energy healing and became a licensed massage therapist, immersed in the world of alternative health and healing, my new plate was “MJK TCH” (Magic Touch). I tried to be very phonetically descriptive but again, people didn’t always get it. Often they thought it meant “Magic Teacher”.

A few years later I became fully immersed in my lifelong love of the Beatles and a phrase that I have used for many occasions in my life – All You Need Is Love. At this time, there were new symbols we could have on our plates - a hand, a star, a plus sign or a heart – yay! This time my plate was ALLUND(heart). And just to clarify for others, I had a plate frame that plainly spelled out “All You Need Is Love”. Most people still didn’t get it. Some did, but not many. *Sigh*

Unfortunately, I had a bad car accident, totaling my car and those plates were smashed. Being so traumatized by the accident, I never picked up the new replacement plates. For the first time in my life, I had generic plates on my new car. In a way, it was nice to be a bit anonymous, but after a few years, I felt like a medium of communication was being wasted, especially on the road where people tend to get angry and frustrated and really need a bit of inspiration.

So I pondered many options – the DMV has a great resource on their website where you can see what your desired plate would actually look like and find out if it’s available. Check it out - it's fun! https://www.dmv.ca.gov/ipp2/initPers.do

I played with many versions of Living Peacefully, Inner Peace, Peaceful, etc…I wanted my message to relate to my business and my intention to serve the world by helping others reconnect with their inner peace. And I wanted it to be easy to understand.

I finally found the phrase that made me feel good and was a message I would be happy and proud to drive around displaying – “Relax – Ah”. And my frame now reads, “Thank You For Your Kindness”, affirming my expectation that I am always surrounded by kind, courteous drivers and as I aim to do the same for everyone around me. I always have a pleasant driving experience – you attract what you put out!

I love this message because just knowing that I have it on my car also reminds me, first of all, to breathe. Every time I look at it or even think about it, I find myself taking a deep, cleansing breath, and I hope it does the same for other drivers who see it. It also keeps me conscious to walk my talk and be an example of the thought I am sending out.

If you have a personalized license or frame, be mindful of the message and the energy you are sending out with your words. A lot of people will read it and it will affect their energy. So please use your powers for good instead of evil :) 

We all need a little kindness and words of encouragement, especially stuck in traffic or during a long commute. The most important thing you can do while driving is to relax. Be the best person you can be on the road. Don’t take things personally. Let it go. Understand that people who are in a hurry or cutting you off or not letting you in are going through their own stress, it's really not about you. So send them a good thought for a great day.

Make a point of filling your car with love and good vibes every time you get behind the wheel, and send that good energy out to everyone around you on the road. If you do this with the right attitude, I can assure you that you will always have an easy, pleasant drive.

Have a nice drive today!

Much love,

Tanna

Living Peacefully ™ is written by Tanna Marshall, Author, Holistic Consultant and Personal Coach. If you have any questions or would like more information about Living Peacefully, please contact:
Tanna@living-peacefully.com
www.living-peacefully.com
To purchase your copy of Living Peacefully in a Big City, please visit
Amazon.com
If you’d like to share this article with people you feel may enjoy it, you are most welcome! When doing so, please forward in its entirety, including our contact and copyright information. Thanks and enjoy!

The View From the Hammock

OK obviously, I am in love with my hammock. We spend a lot of quality time together, mostly during warm weather, and if I don’t get outside for my special time, I feel it.

I love the view from my hammock – I always think that would be a nice title for a daily weather report. This is the actual view from my hammock today – it’s beautiful and clear in LA after a stormy day yesterday. It’s getting colder but the sun is still warm, so there will still be Hammocktime! (I always put this to MC Hammer’s “Hammertime” in my head)

I try to get out and spend some time, not only to relax, meditate, align with my spirit and reconnect with nature, but also for my daily dose of Vitamin D from the sun. There is something about relaxing in this particular spot – it could be that I’m surrounded by so much beautiful, lush greenery, a swaying palm tree, birds, butterflies and bees humming around doing their thing – or it could be my personal philosophy about why a hammock is so comfortable and conducive to total relaxation: I believe that being somewhat cocooned and totally supported while you rock back and forth may remind us of the same experience when we were babies. When we had no worries, no cares; everyone else took care of all of our wants and needs, we weren’t concerned about our body image or if we anyone liked us or if we were going to succeed…life was just simple and happy. For most. It may sound crazy but that’s my personal belief. Or it may be that we just associate it with a tropical beach and a Corona. Both make sense to me.

Sadly, it’s not so comfortable or relaxing to be outside when it’s cold, so we will have winter hiatus. I could get an indoor hammock, just as my brother has had for many years. Two hooks on either side of the family room are always on standby if they decide to bring out the hammock. But alas, mine is strictly the outdoor variety. Relaxing, meditating, aligning with spirit and reconnecting with nature will move indoors to my office with my spiritual alter and small coconut palm. Vitamin D will have to be supplemented.

As you will notice, there are a few not-so-relaxing elements in the area – a clothesline directly above me (which I use to drape vinyl over to shade myself when it gets too hot…handy!) or the other wires running diagonally across my view. That is actually an interesting story -

Those are telephone lines from the telephone pole in the corner of our backyard. When my parents first bought this house in 1949, (they looked at a model and put down $10 and moved in to their newly-built home two months later…hello…can we say “equity”??) the phone situation was much different than it is now. They had party lines (for those of you who are too young to know, everyone had to share a phone line in a neighborhood, much like extensions on a phone in one house, i.e. “Can you please hang up soon? I need to make a call”). And beyond that fact, some people didn’t even have a phone. I know…I’ll give you a moment to recover from the shock.

However, my father was a policeman, so he had to have a phone. Hence, the telephone pole landed in our backyard and we were the first in the neighborhood to have a phone. So I actually don’t mind seeing the wires – it reminds me of the long history my family has in this house.

My special little meditation spot in our backyard is behind the garage and surrounded by tall ficus trees, giant bird of paradise and pink hibiscus so it’s very secluded and private. It’s is truly my little oasis. I’m a bit sad that I won’t be spending as much time out there as the weather gets colder, but believe me, I when the sun is out and warm enough, you can bet I will be out there enjoying my precious Hammocktime! I may have to put up some hooks in my office…hmmmmm....although, it's not quite the same without the clothesline and phone phone wires.

That said, I highly recommend to anyone who is seeking some quality relaxation -  Get a hammock! And enjoy your own view, wherever that may be.

Wishing you a beautiful, relaxing day…

With love,
Tanna


Living Peacefully ™ is written by Tanna Marshall, Author, Holistic Consultant and Personal Coach. If you have any questions or would like more information about Living Peacefully, please contact:
Tanna@living-peacefully.com
www.living-peacefully.com
To purchase your copy of "Living Peacefully in a Big City", please visit
Amazon.com
If you’d like to share this article with people you feel may enjoy it, you are most welcome! When doing so, please forward in its entirety, including our contact and copyright information. Thanks and enjoy!

Ginger Tea, OTC Drugs and a Hammock

OK so rest didn’t exactly do it for me on Monday…I did indeed get sick, which was surprising, since I was only a bit run down. I’m pretty good at catching myself when I feel out of balance and doing whatever I need to do to regain that balance. But my body had other plans this week. I always try to pay attention to what’s going on in my body and get the message it’s trying to convey. I guess this week the message was, “Cancel more appointments and rest”. *Sigh*

When I get really sick, it’s usually starts out with a sore throat, then progresses into horrible sinus congestion and pain, concluding with painful chest congestion and horrific, painful expulsion of mucus. Sorry, I know, gross.

Because I am a Holistic Consultant, I like to use natural remedies and prevention to keep myself healthy. When I find something that works well for me, I like to share the information to help others in the same situation. But once in a while, I will get the usual above-mentioned severe cold and need a little additional help.

This time it really snuck up on me – it started with barely a sore throat, which I used Sovereign Silver to treat. (www.sovereignsilver.com I highly recommend keeping this on hand for a myriad of health issues) I felt pretty good on day two so I did my morning workout, and went to the market to stock up on food for my new eating plan from The Belly Fat Cure, Fast Track by Jorge Cruise. But as the day wore on, I felt worse and worse. I know at this point the best remedy is rest – you can sleep off just about any illness if you catch it early enough. I was also craving ginger tea. (Slice fresh ginger into some water, boil, add honey or stevia and yum!) This had an unexpected beneficial effect – being a natural expectorant, the ginger prevented the cold from going into my chest, which is always the worst part, requiring me to sit in a steam shower to loosen and painfully cough up the grossness I already mentioned.

But I must confess that I did resort to the only over-the-counter drug I use in extreme situations – decongestants. I always wait too long, wanting to walk my talk and rely on natural remedies. But finally, as always, I gave in when my head and sinuses felt like they were going to explode and I couldn’t get any of my coveted rest because I was in so much pain and couldn’t breathe.

I hate to say it, but I have tried every natural cold remedy I could find in my many years of research and education, and my conclusion is…they don’t work well. Or quickly. Unfortunately, that is the nature of healing naturally – it takes a little longer since you are actually healing and not just covering up symptoms. But at this point, I need relief from the symptoms so I could function. Taking care of my mom when I’m feeling crappy is not easy. And being Mom, she feels bad and wants to take care of me. The intentions are good but she can’t really do much for me. I don’t know how moms do it with their kids. Thank goodness for senior day care!

I am happy to report that with the aid of some harsh chemicals, my head has cleared up a bit (although I feel totally groggy, but I’m just going to enjoy that for now :) and this has not progressed to my chest thanks to the ginger tea. And I also believe that my new eating plan helped my body stave off the severe symptoms I’m used to.

One final treatment that is incredibly healing for me is getting outside and spending time in my hammock. Being outside, breathing fresh air, getting some sun and enjoying the relaxing, rocking swinging of the hammock give me the zoned-out rest I have been so desperately in need of. I highly recommend a hammock for general relaxation, but when you’re not feeling well, there’s really nothing like it.

I hope my week of misery has given you some helpful information to refer to should you find yourself in a similar situation. But if you listen to your body, get enough rest, eat well and maintain a positive frame of mind, you’ll maintain your balance and feel great.

Wishing you a happy, healthy, restful weekend!

With love,

Tanna

Living Peacefully ™ is written by Tanna Marshall, Author, Holistic Consultant and Personal Coach. If you have any questions or would like more information about Living Peacefully, please contact:
Tanna@living-peacefully.com
www.living-peacefully.com
To purchase your copy of Living Peacefully in a Big City, please visit
Amazon.com
If you’d like to share this article with people you feel may enjoy it, you are most welcome! When doing so, please forward in its entirety, including our contact and copyright information. Thanks and enjoy!

Let Go.....

I shouldn’t be writing this blog today, according to the intention behind my topic.

I’ve been so busy, had so much to do, been booked with back-to-back appointments and now I’m feeling run down. Today I plan to rest and let my body refresh and heal itself. But I still want to get my message out to you today…then I will rest.

I’m sure many of you can relate when I say that I often find myself pushing to get things done, especially in my business. And I know, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and energetically that this is completely counterproductive. My goal is to live a happy, healthy, peaceful, fulfilled life and help others do the same. But I often get off track with the “trying”, the "doing" and the “shoulding”. I'm forgetting about just "Being". 

We have been taught that you have to work hard, strive, struggle and climb your way to the top. Granted, many people have done this and enjoyed the fruits of their labors. But they usually maintain this attitude of continual pushing forward to get ahead and stay in a state of stress, never really enjoying their accomplishments.

Then there is a more enlightened group, (many of my teachers, mentors and coaches make up this group) who know that life was not meant to be a struggle, it was meant to be easy and that your energy is everything. It is the force in your life that determines who you are, what you attract and how you enjoy both of those elements. Your energy either easily attracts or repels the things you want. This is the basis of the Law of Attraction that everyone is aiming to master. But most of the time, we don’t really get it.

We try…oh we try so hard! We write our affirmations, we do our visualizations with the energy of “I have to make this happen!” , while very often our ego is behind the desire, not our higher self.

Why do you want what you want? Because you genuinely feel you will be happier because of it or because of how it will look to others? Or both?

I’m sure you’ve heard stories about people who worked very hard toward a goal with little to nothing to show for it and finally they gave up. The moment they let go, things suddenly began to happen for them. They already had a very strong intention out in the Universe of what they wanted, but they were pushing so hard to make it happen that they were actually pushing it away. The underlying feeling is usually, “I don’t have it yet!!! Must try harder…Must do more!” A good example is the couple who tries for years to conceive a child and finally give up and adopt, only to find themselves pregnant shortly thereafter.

We’ve all heard the saying, “Let go, Let God.” Doesn’t just the thought of letting go give you a feeling of relief? That the amazing, brilliant Universal energy is making it happen on your behalf and you don’t have to wear yourself out taking all kinds of action? Let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief with that knowledge…

Really…let it out…Aaaahhhhhh….

How about we all make our goal today to stay focused on the feeling of what we want and let go of the “How”s. Let’s relax, knowing there are benevolent forces at work on our behalf. Just trust and have faith. For today, let go and enjoy what comes.

Much love,

Tanna

Living Peacefully ™ is written by Tanna Marshall, Author, Holistic Consultant and Personal Coach. If you have any questions or would like more information about Living Peacefully, please contact:
Tanna@living-peacefully.com
www.living-peacefully.com
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