30 Days of Change Day 5

Smoothie for the day - Day 5

Add some nuts and seeds to your smoothie...

Lessons learnt - OK there are always lessons to be learnt, and preparation, preparation is at the heart of them.  I've touched on this before and the only way that you can stick to something is by helping yourself successful in achieving your goal and focus not only on what you want to achieve but how you get there as well.

I will also start posting the smoothies in the morning which gives you time if you want to make the recipe and use it in your morning routine.

The smoothie is part of the 30 days of change, click on the image below to see what it involves.

30 Days of Change - Day 4

Smoothie for the day

Today is mix and match day, and I am going to make my favorite smoothie from day 1-3 using up some of the ingredients that I have left.  I'll have to buy some more fruit as I have been making smoothies for my husband and son each morning as well.

I have definity felt some improvement with having the increased vitamins and minerals intake and it should get better as the weeks go on. 

Lesson learnt from yesterday -  

When there are changes to your routine you need to account for the slip ups and put steps in place to stop making bad choices.  

I found some gluten free cake at my mums that I had brought last week that screamed to be eaten with a cup of Earl grey tea!  'Get rid of them' was the faint cry that was drowned out by the kettle boiling.  Loosing my train of thought for a moment  before I knew it I was sitting at the table with a plate in my hand and a slice of cake smiled coyly back at me. 

I need to keep the cake and the chocolate biscuit that tasted a lot like the Milky ways my mum used to get us when we were children, but it had much thicker chocolate - a wide berth!

I am still committed to make the changes and know that this is one day out of many where I can turn things around.  Today I can be and do different

What will you do with your day?

30 Days of Change - Day 3

Here is the smoothie for the day, hope you enjoy it.  Tips for staying on track, today - keep it simple, and try not to do too many things at the same time.  Change will come over time and you must avoid comparing yourself to others - because you are unique and you will get to where you want to go in time.

Smoothie Love - Day 3

I had some problems uploading the vlogs, and started questioning myself about doing it altogether, after playing back what I did I started to criticize myself and compare myself to those people who have been doing videos for a lot longer.  At the end of the day what anyone else thinks is not important, what is important is making that change that will enhance my health, and enable me to do more and hopefully bless more.  I will sort it today and put something up!

A few lessons learnt yesterday:

• The more you prepare for the journey, the greater the chance that you will get where you want to go.  I have to get back to preparing the evening meal earlier or the day before to be able to eat before 8pm.
• Putting my trainers and workout gear together ready for the next day, so there is no excuse in not being able to get training.
• Decide what I want to do for the week rather than play it day to day, and it can become automatic

I know there will be more learning along the way, 27 days to go!

So, if you decide to make a change today that will be really great, think of one small change you can make and commit, as I said before it doesn't have to be for 30 days, you could do 3! 

Creating in Faith - Fruit, what do you want to be known by?

But the Fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22

They shall be known by their fruit

What is motivating you when you get up in the morning?  When you think of the life you are living what do you feel is your contribution? Are you contributing in a positive way to the world you live in?

Listen to the Podcast

This wasn't a question that bothered me much up to my early 30’s, but after that I began to feel that there must be more to my life than the one I was living, I had things I wanted to achieve, new things I wanted to try and places to travel to, I knew that I had to step up and make changes and my drive to be more creative couldn't be contained.

When you look at an apple seed, you don’t know how many apples will grow on the tree that the apple will later go on to be, neither do you know how many trees the seeds that are in each apple that will eventually grow and develop.  But you can be guaranteed that with the right conditions, temperature and soil nutrients, you generally should get a fairly good harvest.  Year after year the tree will get bigger and produce more and more fruit, and the cycle will continue with each seed that is produced.  There will be more fruit in its 10^th year than was in its 2^nd year.  That said you know that a plum tree will never bear apples no matter how much you talk to the tree, change the fertilizer you’ll get plums.  I give you this example because I think we are all blessed to produce fruit of our own, and there are the gifts and talents we possess that can and should be expressed into the. 

No two gifts are the same.  The gifts’ you have are like no other, think about the gifts you possess, the ones that come naturally and those that with a bit of extra study, training or practice can be put to use.  Identifying the fruit – the scripture says we will be known by our fruit so there is an expectation that we will be producing something from what we have.  What have you been sitting on for such a long time that needs to be express, and what about ‘that thing’ that you always promised yourself you would do when you had time, when will that be exactly?   

Our fruit ultimately should be a blessing to someone else, it’s no good keeping them to ourselves they are to edify and encourage others to grow and develop the gifts and fruit yet to be birthed.

F is for Fruitful

The shall be known by their fruit....Matthew 7:16

When we think of fruit we understand that it is the end result of a period of growth for the plant, and we can grow to expect it, I know that come July the plum tree in my garden will bear fruit, but it is not ready to pick until around mid august.  Outside influences can have an effect on my fruit such as the weather, birds that get to them before they are picked, pests, or lack of nutrition.

The fruit go on to have a cycle, plum pie, jam and other tasty treats and the seeds tossed in the composting bin or replanted in pots, if they are eaten by the birds the seeds will be carried far and wide to either grow elsewhere or not if they fall on stony ground.  They can fall from the tree and try and grow on the grass, but will meet an unfortunate end when Alan mows the grass.  The best hope for the plum tree is that the seeds are taken to new environments and fall on good ground to begin their lifecycle again.

Each year I expect plums and I get plums!  The tree doesn’t surprise me one year and give oranges – though that would make a tasty change.  I celebrate today that I can work on my creativity, that I will be known by my fruit – the positive and encouraging words that I can share with others.  We can have an impact on the world in many ways; let our lives impact on generations to come in a positive way. With all that you are currently doing in your life, what does your fruit look like?

Painting of the Day - 

Each day I share some of my newly completed work!

Entangled 18"x15"

 Blog Love

I am sharing some love with a random selection of those who are also taking part in the 2013 A-Z Challenge, it's not everyone whose blog starts with the letter F, but a few of them for you to start with...

Ficticious Amo

Fairbetty's World

Flash Tyme

Finding

Faith Laces

Fruit

He is like a tree planted by streams of water;

which yeilds its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. 

Whatever he does prospers..

Psalm 1:3

Artwork - Barbara Noel

We said our final farewell to my friend and fellow artist Barbara Noel on Monday, as we celebrated her life at her 'Home Going Service' and I wrote a tribute to her in my post Friendship, it was a moving day, and a blessing to be part of it.  I thought about the impact she had made in many peoples lives and this reminded me of the fruit that we are called to produce in our own lives.

The fruit of the spirit is..love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control....

Galatians 5:22

What is it that you are labouring over, what fruit are you producing, what are you doing to impact those around us?....I have a plum tree in my garden and come August, I am expecting that we will get plums, not potatoes, oranges or tomatoes.  For every flower that appears.....

 - once fallen, a fruit should be in place.

Whatever we do there are certain results that are guaranteed, if we encourage our children and speak positive words into their lives we hope that they will grow up with confidence and secure in who they are..  Take stock and look at what you are currently doing in your life.  Can you clearly see what the fruit of your labour will be.  Does it need some extra nourishment, water, etc and are there any areas that need to be cut back in order to bring a bigger crop, this might take the shape of a course to learn a new art techniques or sharing your art techniques with a disadvantaged group, you could get up that extra half hour to be a blessing to someone, or get some exercise to avoid potential illnesses such as high blood pressure or diabetes.....  Would you spend time raising funds for a charity or a homeless shelter on Christmas day?  Make sure that the time you invest enables the results you are looking for to be achieved.....Is your fruit recognisable?

It has definitely been a challenge writing for the A-Z April Blogging challenge and  I am also doing the challenge on my other blog Amanda Trought Art, with a whole different set of words but I have been blessed as I steadily make my way through the alphabet.  I know you will be blessed as you make your way around to the blogs of the other participants on the challenge.