Physical Health and Body Archives - Page 2 of 24

Start Over Helps You (and My Blog Story)

Start over is a theme that many of us have experienced and maybe a lot since 2020. Whether we wanted to or not, it can be our ticket to our best lives… and that’s what this article is about so you can embrace your start over opportunities.

One thing we can all have a say in is… evolving in our personal growth and what matters to us.

Embracing what healthy gains we’ve made brings rewards for our daily lives.

And embracing starting over as a new way or perspective is a blessing gain…

It’s a micro mindset pattern shift you can practice in your day (maybe even today), so you can see and feel how start overs are good, and not bad or sad interruptions.

That self-training helps our future and best outcomes.

Because changes in life are meant to help you and if you see it that way, you help yourself grow and further.

For most my younger adult life I played the victim without knowing I had that internal narrative.

I also thought that choices I made would be permanent. I was naive.

And when good situations didn’t last, I was disappointed.

I saw them as failures.

And I fell for that over and over again.

If you didn’t have role models and influences growing up that drilled into you the more positive ways and helped shape your self-esteem, then that’s the pattern you’re likely to fall into.

And the saving grace is we have the Universe on our side as fall back and providing answers to us.

We may call it luck, but it’s part of the plan. 😉

You’ve probably heard the saying that the Universe keeps serving up the same lessons. The lessons are there to help us and not make us feel less than..

…I didn’t know that in my younger years.

And as years went by, I grew up in wisdom and got revelation, leaning more into internal truth.

Truth and reality aren’t the exact same thing.

Reality is what physically is happening or not happening. Truth are the thoughts that are real and factual. And lies are the opposite in false beliefs. Ego perception makes you believe they are real, when they are not.

And in that case, then anyone can be a victim to their own ego.

Recognizing this, my life realities started to better align with truth, where I also realized nothing stays the same.

I told my ego the truth, that it wasn’t just what I experienced.

Because everyone has their versions of uncertainty.

In my belief lies I had bought into, I was the only common denominator for the situations I faced.

So that made me the victim. But I turned that narrative around one situation at a time.

Rewriting my beliefs with love over ego, starting with experience outcomes (reality) showed me the deficit in my faulty thinking that my mind led me to believe.

And took me from victim to abundant mentality.

It was micro-start overs from little lie beliefs that got me over the hump.

Being abundant minded, changes the identity to someone who takes responsibility for changing her thoughts to positive, loving ones for better outcomes and perspectives.

Perspectives transform your life when no influences can.

And if a perspective change is what you think you need, this helped me:

This one exercise helped to changing the tide…

Let’s take something most of us have privilege to do every day: we take a shower.

And imagine if one day you do your regular shower routine but you don’t get most the soap off your body or shampoo out of your hair. Maybe you were distracted and busy with shower thoughts.

After you’ve dried off and gotten dressed for the day, you realize that small miss.

What are your options?

Live with the fact and try to forget about the remaining residue.

Or…

Take a few extra effort minutes to go back in the shower again and rinse off knowing that you’d have to dry with a towel again and essentially re-trace all the steps you would do when you got in the shower the first time. It’s a small hassle in a busy day.

And while most would probably just live with it and get on with their day…

If you have the extra few minutes, you’re better off to get back in the shower.

Why?

…So you can get your best day.

If you don’t do a redo, then you keep the residue theme running in your day as part of your thoughts and maybe a physical reminder.

If you do rinse off again, you start clean and fresh.

So those extra 5-10 minutes back tracking was worth the time.

Initially our lazy bone tendencies can kick in and resist.

But fight the urge and jump to the though part of what you’ll gain in those critical decision moments.

Change the thoughts in your mind to productive ones, such as: you’ll be happier later on.

Picture yourself happier.

Try this taking extra minutes with another daily self-care or micro routine you do that didn’t work out the first time… maybe cleaning, shower, or grooming routine.

Take an extra 5 minutes.

For the narcissist, you don’t have to tell them twice, but for the rest of us — those are good minutes.

The micro change in our new habit and patterns creates new perspectives.

Eventually you don’t mind a redo or start over whether it’s a shower or a season. You teach yourself not to succumb to immediate feelings and wants for better outcomes.

Embrace the lesson here is: don’t skip what will bring more joy and a clear mind as the biggest gain rewards.

And on a grander scale in your life, start over with what you first started with that has never left you. That you still think about today.

Those can be part of your dreams come true realities.

Another wisdom lesson is: forget time. Time never heals. As you grow wiser, you realize changes and experiences heal.

We can’t gain time. And the feeling of lost time can keep you stuck if you let it.

Like take me for example, I started a blog in 2009 that took off.

And a few months in I had to quit.

The blog was about my local area businesses I was living near and I ended up moving that year.

So the blog no longer made sense to me as I couldn’t be in that area, and it was hard to juggle writing with the busy work life I had in the hustle and bustle of DC.

Then in 2019, I started over where I picked up writing again.

And then started this blog in 2020.

Starting over in blogging again was so different the second time around.

I had some blogging skill experience under my belt but the landscape had changed.

In 2009, very few out there knew what a blog was.

And when I came back a decade later, the internet scape was full of blogs.

But that didn’t stop me as blogging is something I have felt passionate about since I got my first taste.

Despite the challenges, I still feel as passionate if not more, so I know it’s meant to be.

In your start over or start overs, if you come back, that’s a good sign too! Because most things in life we don’t go back to unless it’s meant for us.

…Maybe the first time we weren’t ready, the timing wasn’t right, or we needed to make a little tweak (or perspective adjustment in ourselves).

It was all of the above for my blog.

My blog topic this second go round is so much more personal and about helping my reader’s personal growth, happy life, and healthy living.

In my first blog experience where I got the chance to interview business owners, I wouldn’t have been ready yet to write on personal topics.

But with another decade, personal growth, and more life experiences, then I was able to launch and sustainably contribute writing in this blog.

So my encouragement to you, my blog article reader, is to use your start overs as your opportunity to take steps in the areas you couldn’t do the first time around when you weren’t quite ready.

The first time wasn’t a failure.

That was your introduction.

Going back is a high call.

We can miss our higher calling if we choose to look at time and deadlines as rules.

If we allow for our entire life to be the time span we accomplish our goals, then we open up opportunities.

How you finish is what matters most, not how you started.

So it’s never too late no matter if you’re in your 30s, 40s, or 60s and beyond.

And in the shower metaphor… by the end of your day, you won’t have remembered the time getting back in the shower, but you will remember feeling like a million bucks coming out and what you achieved that day because of your feelings… and that maybe you wouldn’t have if you let soapy thoughts last.

Just something to consider about your start over that every day and morning opportunity is. 🌅

I like to reset every day with new food creations. I was inspired to start over with this sweet potato squid turmeric salad bowl of anti-inflammatory food goodness. 🍠

Baked Fish and Chips – Healthy and Simple Recipe

Baked Fish and Chips made healthy is a tasty way to make food count and enjoy the calories. Accompanied with a salty and tangy sour dip that has balanced tasty notes, what’s not to love?

healthy baked and fish and chips recipe with healthy sauce dip. — Baked Fish and Chips recipe below. 🧡

Jump to Recipe

It takes me back to travel and one special place memory from my time in U.K. 🇬🇧 hoppin’ in London Cabs after dramatically being re-routed from visiting the Mediterranean.

But, travel is always an adventure (…I think so anyway) and GOOD times…

…even if it’s serious business getting history (Stone Henge).

And then getting my bearings back up to food familiarities like these small BUT mighty food bites at Covent Garden near Westminster where I stayed…

…and scallops. I see a smile on this plate. 😋

…Even as big as London is, somehow I found the food. What a memory! 💕

And one memory dish that U.K. is famous for and you don’t have to look long and hard for there is Fish and Chips.🐟 … it’s as common as U.S. served crab cakes, corn on the cob, and potato chips. That’s a mouthful of “c’s” to say.

Saying Fish and Chips is much easier…

The common U.K. fishes sourced for the dish are salmon, cod, and haddock.

The healthiest fish are wild fish anywhere you source because the fish eat what they would in the wild… makes sense.

Most U.K. fish come from the shared seas in the North Atlantic and Norway.

Fresh salmon like this in Bergen fish market could be used for a baked fish and chips recipe. — Fresh salmon at the Bergen, Norway fish market.

My last fishy travel tale was in the Bergen, Norway fish market as I’m going down memory lane 🐟

…And in the U.S., we have our own fish markets. it’s common we source wild fish from the Northwest Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

But anywhere you are and anytime of the year, you can make your light (aka healthy) baked Fish and Chips.

And this lighter version pairs great for Wimbledon time 🎾

If you’re a fan, as you’re maybe catching points you can decide how you want to serve up your taters. An unsexy 5 lb bag of potatoes makes up points by being long lasting in your fridge and versatile for any spud dish…

And this healthy baked fish is served with waffle potato fries that doesn’t compromise taste or health… and is so simple to make.

Potato waffle fries are made with a little extra virgin oil love that’s healthy. You can use a waffle iron if you have one or you use a skillet and make potato hash or flat pancake potato shapes.

And if potatoes are not on your menu choice and you want a different style with the same basic ingredients in baked fish and chips, alternatively you can cook your fish with boiled potatoes.

This fish and potato dish is inspired from my hotel catering days as a food service professional. It has a French bistro vibe with capers and lemon sauce.

Baked fish and chips without chips can be made with a lemon and caper sauce.

But if you just want to stick with the traditional fish and chips fare made healthy, enjoy this one recipe with no guilt.

…Even the “tartar sauce” is a healthy cottage cheese dip with fermented probiotic goodness mixed in.

A tartar without mayonnaise works well with this healthy baked fish and chips recipe!

Healthy Baked Fish and Waffle Chips

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

waffle iron

Ingredients

white fish such as cod, whiting, or flounder
Panko bread crumbs
white or all-purpose potatoes
cottage cheese
pickles or gherkins

Instructions

Brush fish with olive oil to keep from drying. Add to oven at 325℉/165°C until fully baked.
For bread crumb topping, toast panko crumbs in a separate pan from fish. Set bread crumbs on the top oven shelf so they don't burn. They will toast brown in about 5 minutes or less on the top shelf.
Cook/soften your potatoes until they are mashable. Scoop out small balls about the same size and flatten. You can make the "chips" in a waffle iron or on a sautee pan with olive oil.
For the tartar sauce, mince the pickles and add to a blender with cottage cheese. Add a tiny bit of pickle juice for stronger flavor. You can do this in a Magic Bullet or similar easy blender.

Dolphin Pose Yoga + Water Animal Flexibility

Dolphin pose yoga is a common pose like Downward Dog. Both animals are enticing to pet and add joy to our celebration of life.

Dolphin pose yoga is named after a cute dolphin like this guy.

But if you can’t get your hands on petting a dolphin, today is National Strawberry Parfait Day.

You can celebrate a simple moment of joy with a summertime strawberry lemon parfait you can make that’s healthy and 100% delicious!

…You can also get in your Dolphin pose right where you are! 🐬

For inspiration, dolphins are one of the friendliest animals to us out there… and we think of them as our happy, summer ocean friends we can pet.

…Next to our dog land friends. And maybe that’s why the yoga Dolphin pose is similar to Downward Dog… and both poses are done on dry land.

In Dolphin pose yoga moves, instead of your arms fully stretched out, your elbows bend while your forearms and palms are laying flat like pancakes on the mat.

Because of this, your nose in awareness is also a lot closer to the mat.

…Like dolphin beaks called rostroms that are in placement where noses usually are on mammals.

This gives dolphins their appearance that they’re smiling and then when they show their pearly whites, we smile… and maybe that’s partially how they charmed their way to Hollywood as celebrities in Dolphin Tale with Florida home perks. 😉

But back to noses, dolphins have blow holes at the top of their heads where air is connected to their lungs.

This is where they breathe like us (and not like fish with gills)… and we can remember them in our daily Ayurvedic yoga breathing.

On the mat (…maybe you’re there now?), our Dolphin pose yoga fins and palms are also flat on the mat for good yoga form.

You get a good stretch in your entire body from head-to-toe in Dolphin pose yoga moves.

What you may notice that’s different is your body formation.

Your top half of your body may not be the same length as your bottom half.

If you have long legs and a shorter torso, then you won’t be as high peaked.

Your upside down “V” in the air will look different if that’s your body description. So you get to play around (or splash around 💦) in your Dolphin pose.

…You’ll be more like a hill than a mountain by design.

And that helps you to embrace your unique body and special creature that you are!

…You look more like a dolphin swimming instead of jumping hoops in dolphin show formation. 😁

Like us, dolphins are social and intelligent creatures with abilities.

To get more of their vibe, you can swim with a dolphin and not be afraid that you’ll be thrown.

Well, I take that back…

Once upon a time I swam with dolphins… or a better description is I was thrown from a dolphin’s beak landing into a pool of water.

That was a dolphin ride! Even though in the beginning I wasn’t sure what to expect 🤔

But I did know dolphins are happy and friendly creatures, so I knew we’d get along great in the end. And we did that day.

So all was good…

And I got my Vata anti-worry and cool and simple Pitta balancing self-therapy day in.

In that spirit, you can try these other water animal yoga poses that help with flexibility, and you can do on dry land without a splash.

Water Animal Poses

You can use Dolphin pose as a transition break pose before ending in Fish Pose (that’s an opposite position pose on your back), reminding us that dolphins aren’t fish.

And if you’re starting in Dolphin, you can then transition into a Turtle Pose, turning and facing sideways on the mat.

This way you can use the length of the mat and get a new perspective of your surroundings.

💡This is a good metaphor in life to change your perspectives for good outcomes.

Turtle Pose is especially good for shoulder streching and tight hamstrings where you’ll feel a good stretch in those parts.

In the pose, your shoulders are a bit hunched over forward to give that turtle back look. 🐢

Turtle is a low to the ground pose where you’re seated and legs are ideally in “V” formation laying flat on the mat, or with slightly bent knees until you get more flexible.

Yoga is a journey.

Then you span your wings (that were fins in Dolphin pose) as far from one end to the other underneath your legs.

Maybe you bend forward with body closer to the mat if you can.

You can challenge yourself daily to bend forward as much as you can in the pose, and then build up your flexibility with knees straightening and legs flattening down toward the mat.

Then after you’ve spent enough time as a turtle, you can turn into a frog.

…Which btw, turtles are reptiles and frogs are amphibians even though they both live on land and water.

And in your land-water abilities, still optimizing the length of the mat, you can flow your legs that were positioned forward in a “V” previously… and move them behind you like frog legs.

Your arms can rest on the mat and floor in front of you.

Frog Pose is exceptional for inner hip and thigh flexibility.

🎉Between turtle and frog, you’re getting full upper leg stretches. Your legs are in the largest muscle group in the body.

You optimize your legs in Frog pose that looks just like the yoga pose name, so it’s easy to remember and get into the position.

If you’re a swimmer and know frog swimming strokes, then you’ll be a natural. 🐸

This is a good pose to challenge yourself and see how low you can go eventually, but if you can’t get there just yet (and still feeling a bit like a turtle), blocks are good to rest your forearms on.

For any yoga pose, don’t hurt yourself by overdoing it the first go-round.

Let yourself open up slowly like a lotus 🪷 and that way you protect your joints and tissues from injury.

💡It’s better to start up high and easy and then work your challenging way down, down, and more down to the mat over time.

In a good way, yoga can take you out of your regular norm and reset your mind because usually going down references in your day are easier than getting up and going.

You can pause and think about that one in the pose. And the longer you spend in the pose, the better! 😊

If you spend 5 seconds in a pose, that counts for total time. If you spend 30 seconds in one pose, that’s 6 times the amount for total time.

Not that you’re playing a game of keeping score, but the point is the longer you spend, the greater the daily benefit… and for next time.

Yoga flexibility is all about gradually stretching further each time.

The longer you hold the pose, the more flexible you become in your body’s abilities.

So don’t expect it to happen the first time.

And if you take a break or a season off from yoga, you’ll start over in flexibility. BUT, the your body cells don’t forget so you’ll likely get there quicker than the first time you tried.

Like dolphins that have good memories, body cells also have good memory.

And like the turtle fable metaphor, slow and steady wins the race.

If you’re naturally super flexible, you can rest your forehead on the back of your hands in front of you for both poses.

Then to round out your water poses, you can finish by going into a seated position and laying back into Fish pose. You can do a Dolphin pose yoga move before your transition if you like.

Fish Pose is a great stretch for your neck.

You lay back with your elbows resting on your mat behind your shoulders like you’re catching some rays. ☀️

Then you let your neck rest backward behind you.

Your neck could be wound up as we spend most of our day with our heads and necks leaning forward especially if we work most our day on a device.

So a counteracting reverse pose like Fish Pose helps our neck unwind.

Before you try it full on without prep, it’s good to stretch your neck looking up first to get it more ready and flexible.

Our necks are delicate because they have such small muscles that also have to hold up our heads that weigh like bowling balls.

Like other areas of injury, necks can take weeks to fully heal so be gentle the first few times.

For precaution, a good pre-stretch for the stretch can be practicing looking up toward the ceiling at least 15 seconds several times a day.

I micro-habit stack this move while I’m filling up the filtered water pitcher that takes about that amount of time.

You can also do head circular motions wherever you are and turn your neck from side to side. Those are good if you spend a lot of time car seated.

Hope this keeps you encouraged in your yoga moves and instruction. Stay cool! 😎

Blueberry Smoothie Cheesecake Dessert

Blueberry smoothie mornings start your day right with a brightening healthy boost. They can also make a great afternoon dessert with low or no added sugar other than natural fruit.

A dessert blueberry smoothie is super easy to put together in minutes. No baking needed and cool enough for hot temperature days.

blueberry smoothie with cheesecake flavors for a dessert smoothie.

And smoothie ingredients in this blueberry cheesecake one are simple and healthy. 🫐 So often we want something sweet in the day.

And instead of going for a high calorie and refined sugar shake or food dessert bite, a blueberry cheesecake smoothie could be the fix for our sweet tooth.

The sugar source is all-natural fruit.

The healthy notes:

Blueberries that have AA goodness in Anthocyanin Antioxidants.

And another great point with blueberries is there is no traces of fruit leftover. So you can enjoy the fruit and not have to think about disposing a seed or core, or recycling a can.

Blueberries are a super smart food choice for more reasons than one!

And this blueberry treat is combined with cottage cheese that gives a balanced cheese “cake” taste. Plus, you’re getting protein, B-vitamins (B-6, B-9, and b-12), calcium, and more.

Blending in a ripe peach 🍑 is the perfect pair (not pear 🍐).

Peaches have lycopene antioxidants like tomatoes. And for a tad more sweetness and Vitamin C, pineapple juice will do the trick.

Hope you give the blueberry smoothie a try and instead of being loaded down, enjoy the healthy energy. ✨

And if your body craves more sugar, adding a little maple syrup sweetness is a good balance to tip this over to the happy dessert edge you deserve while staying cool to your body.

You could also pair this with a cooling blueberry cheesecake and other cool summer dessert recipes. For more antioxidant and healthy foods to add to your grocery list 🛒, check out these 200 anti-inflammatory foods.

Blueberry Cheesecake Smoothie

This tastes like a light blueberry cheesecake that you can enjoy with your breakfast.

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

blender

Ingredients

½ cup frozen blueberries
½ cup cottage cheese (no need to drain)
1/2 cup milk of choice
1 Tbsp pineapple juice
½ peach, diced

Instructions

Blend ingredients and enjoy! Optional: zhugh with your peach. Alternatively, you could use oranges or orange slice.

Born Again Is Your Choice

Born Again is a mysterious phrase.

Potato waffles are like being born again where you can’t turn them back to the mashed potato form they were before. And they’re so much better. Recipe below. 🧡

It’s a mysterious term that you don’t hear often. It’s a miracle and life changing event like being born. You only do it once by choice, if ever. And then usually as an adult. It’s a personal decision.

Similar to an important event like getting married or landing a dream job that can be highlighted milestones in your life, there’s no taking back.

And like the potato waffles pictured above that started out as another form of the same food, these spuds can’t go back to before. The recipe is below. 🧇

You can’t take back what’s already happened in the past and you can’t go back in your mother’s womb. Or in this born again case, back into your pre-born again old identity.

Once you’re born again, you’re alive with the spirit living inside you. In the Bible, it’s the same as the Holy Spirit. There are no accidents in becoming Born Again… like the miracle of life.

The story of your real life birth from your birth parents may have sounded like you were an accident oops! baby, but it was no spiritual accident.

And it’s another miracle.

In choosing to be Born Again, you won’t have signed up if you’re not ready.

The choice to be Born Again requires a level of maturity that you’ll know when, and your spirit will help prompt when.

Likely, it has been building up inside you. And one day a water baptism opportunity will show up and call you.

And if you do go through, no other earthly person would know whether you’re born again or not unless you told them or they witnessed your water baptism.

The event is the primary marked outward expression. It’s equivalent to an official wedded ceremony and is spiritual bonding bliss.

But unlike most marriage weddings, the dress code is casual wear like a tee-shirt that will get soaken wet and you will too, as you’d be fully immersed in water either in a bathtub of sorts or outdoors in the open waters.

I know this experience because that’s what happened to me. And as life is an adventure, I never set out for that mission.

I didn’t grow up religious either. This was something I grew into gradually. Never having been baptized before and then for the first time, that’s when my Born Again life began.

Born Again Feelings In the Beginning

It was an ordinary day with extraordinary impact. You never forget the day. You wonder how being submerged in a pool of warm water can be so profound. But it is.

And you’re never the same person you were, again. Because you apply meaning to what just happened in your ceremony.

For one, you get to be a butterfly experiencing more of life’s abundance compared to a caterpillar’s existence with even more limitations.

It has unforgettable, deep feelings like the day you experience a once-in-a-blue-moon total eclipse as it’s happening…

You feel chills and something deeper emotionally happening inside you that you can’t explain with logic and leaves you with a wave of tears and emotions.

Or when you see a painted sky where something is special in the air around you even if you’re the only one who notices.

born again is a miracle like a unique painted sky that you may be the only one notices.

And you know life is not just what you see in your daily busy life. You know there’s so much more meaning and that can make you want to discover more about yourself and your potential.

You know you were touched by the Universe in love and finding out what that means for your life can be the greater step.

When you’ve already been leading a spiritual life and have gained Biblical knowledge that precedes a baptism day, you know the source of what you’re experiencing.

You know there’s a spirit living inside you.

Referred sometimes as the wind or a dove 🕊️, it’s the same spirit that connects us all under the sun.

There’s an energy that connects us all.

It’s also the guided handed helper, comforter, and all-knowing messenger all rolled-up-in-one.

And those first few days and weeks after baptism, you’ll likely be intentional to live out life differently.

After The Born Again Honeymoon

But then after some time has passed, you’ll have forgotten your baptism event day like everything else in life.

The feelings wear off. And you’ll want to set reminders to what you want your life to be about post-baptism.

You’re back to your life reality, except you have a desire to do better and grow further.

You still carry the same mind as before (pre-baptism), and you’ll still make mistakes like all us humans do.

But now you are aware that you can lean into your deeper gut or heart feelings where your spirit is for higher answers, and trust those be the ones best if you want to live a life of meaning and purpose designed for you.

Pre-Born Again life, you may have called these gut instincts. They still show up as whispers or hunches, but now you’re aware they’re as real as you are.

So you’re now a little wiser and want to live the higher ways of living. You’ll want to learn from like-minded others and to help you with interpretations from the one resource manual guide (the Bible).

And as a new butterfly now, you went through a transformation. Your human wings are invisible as are your changes.

There’s no going back into your chrysalis.

You can choose to become more humble as you see through another higher lens.

Looking back, I could see that I acted pretty foolishly when I was younger, but I thought I was invincible and smart at the time.

And had I stayed as is, today those would be regrets… but I know I needed to go through those phases to get to the season of maturity needed. That’s usually how it is.

And then by learning lessons, never wanting to go back to those old ways that we’ve grown out of.

Been there, done that, got the kid T-shirt. And now I have an adult baptism shirt (and you can too).

What to Expect With A New Life

Expect to have favor in your daily walk if you maintain a deep relationship with your spirit and God. Also expect for you to be the change as nothing changes around you for certain prayers.

That goes for the details of ordinary daily life from when you walk out the door, run errands, are working, and then are back home.

You also give up some control of your life (yes, more than what you have been experiencing). But you gain more control in other areas explained below, as you keep reading.

And remember, none of us are in control anyway.

For me, that was the hardest part at first.

Letting go was not my strong suit. Because I did life on my terms my way as a strong-independent person.

I learned and was groomed that way since I was a kid.

I’m still fundamentally that person, but I exchanged control for a more fulfilling purposeful and creative life.

I started out my adult life mostly in the structured corporate work life. And had I not been made aligned with my identity (Born Again) and my second act of my life’s work, then I would’ve missed what was in the cards dreamt up for me before I was born.

Dreams I never had when I was younger.

What I did feel when I was younger and in my late-20s and early 30s, was that something was missing inside.

Daily life didn’t seem all that exciting even though I had a good job, health, stable work-life balance, side hustles, great relationships, a lakefront home, nice cars, and everything else that I thought I needed.

And yet I felt unfulfilled.

I thought there had to be more.

That didn’t feel like wisdom at the time. It felt like self-pity.

Then suddenly I lost a job and a career when the industry was wiped out.

And bam!.. a spiritual intervention happened.

About two years after that incident, I got Born Again.

And that’s when life got really quiet around me. I was working but the work was easy.

I found I had time to look at personal and spiritual development areas that I didn’t delve into before.

That’s part of the inner peace that comes with being Born Again, knowing that you’re provided for and having some direction to seek levels of growth.

You know when doors shut it’s not a coincidence and that forces you to keep looking in other directions. And when they do open, you’re magically aligned.

I had work situations like that which were problem-filled but since I was anointed to be there, they immediately got fixed without my fixing.

Those bittersweet open doors were short-lived.

But in those experiences, I starting realizing this life isn’t about what you do. It’s about what you’re becoming in this life.

And on the journey, you can be proud to look in the mirror at who you are that’s not just the aged person staring back.

You’ve transformed fear, anxiety, and worry that don’t have to take over and permeate life. Especially fear.

When I was a child I was afraid of everything from lightning, darkness, to boogie monsters. And then as an adult, the opportunity to exchange fear for love became part of the process.

We can grow away from those unproductive beliefs. When you take action to move toward love that’s part of being Born Again, then you choose to exchange those negative earthly feelings.

It’s also co-created, as you seek toward your growth desires and the spirit helps you from the inside.

You can count on that as the spirit isn’t earthly.

You’re never alone. Not for one moment. When you seek help, you get help, truth, and comforting answers. They may not match or exactly match what you thought you wanted.

But as your perspectives align with the higher ways, you know that they guarantee your highest and best use in this life. So don’t worry if you feel you’re blooming late. You and your spirit will help you grow and make up for lost time.

And you can use the weekend brunch potato waffles as a reminder that these waffles started as mashed potatoes, and became these plate tasty treats. You can find this potato waffle recipe, potato dip, and other brunch waffles.