Weight a Minute!

Vice: In a minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a defect, an infirmity, or merely a bad habit.

Ahhh yes bad habits. Mine #1 vice in life.........food. Seems harmless right? Food for me is held not only in pounds, but in stress. The more I stressed the more I ate. Now anyone who has dealt with an addiction or habit to something knows how hard it is to kick. For me I have tried it all from Weight Watches, to Master Cleansing and have had quite a journey.

I remember the moment I bought a scale and saw that number for the first time, in bold, flashing at me....206lbs!!! I have to say that again....206lbs?!?! I had gained 60+ lbs since I moved to Fort Collins and to see that was heartbreaking. I knew I had gotten out of control but by no means did I realize how bad it was. This weight really started limiting my life. I didn't want to go out, I didn't want my photo taken, I couldn't even really look at myself, at the time, without feeling so depressed. I new it was time for a change. (Below is a photo of me at my heaviest.)















I remember waking up one morning and realizing that I was ready to begin. I new this because each day before that I had said "I can always start tomorrow"........SO many tomorrows came and went with no start in site, so when I woke up feeling like I was ready to go I knew had to start right then.

I should have had a t-shirt on at all times that read...

Side effects of my weight loss include:

*Moody Behavior
*Sharp Tongue
*and Craziness

I say this because in the 1st couple months I was a wreck. I craved things all the time and it made me so irritable to know that I couldn't fulfill those cravings. Thank God for my beautiful husband knowing that I could pull through this because for lack of better words I was a real pain in the......(I'll let you fill in the blank.) His faith in me gave me faith in myself to loose the weight, and I was really seeing the pounds start to drop. 196..... 186.... and soon I was down 40lbs!!! I felt completely different and my shirt would now read...

Side effects of my weight loss include:

*Excessive Want To Be Happy and Healthy In Life
*Positive Attitude
*and Love For The Way God Created Me

What a shift in reality!! I am so close to reaching my goal and I am writing this blog because I really do need the support. This last stretch has been by far the hardest for me, but I am keeping that motivation strong and really pushing through it. It's amazing to me that I truly didn't like the way I looked when I was 60lbs lighter until I saw older pictures of me recently. I took it for granted before, and put myself down, but now I want nothing more then to be that beautiful woman once again. I am so thankful that God has shown me the light, and I know now that I have the strength I need to succeed in shedding this vice.

(Below is a picture from our show on Friday and I am feeling so happy about posting it!)



I love you all and until the next time our paths cross live, love, and be joyous!

This is a video of a Carole King's song "Beautiful" I feel it is my theme song right now!

"Stars aren't born, they're made......into carbon copies....."

I wrote in a Facebook post this morning about the expression "Stars aren't born they're made." I felt in some cases yes they are made but what about all the people who are just born with a natural gift?

Here are some of the wonderful responses back. I was overjoyed to see people exchanging with each other!

• • People like to invent little sayings like that to provide them with motivation and reaffirm their beliefs about reality. It speaks more about their own reality however than I feel it does about truth. I would say let them have their little sayings, just don't buy into it.
  • I agree "Little sayings" are created by little people with a narrow view trying to justify their hopes for reality. It takes NATURE and NURTURE to make a human being...there's no escaping that duality. You may be born a Pharaoh, but you must live a life of karma to reside amongst the stars with RA. Your soul needs a working body to manifest in the physical realm, your body needs a soul to connect with the "other."
  • Absolutes like that are lame. Everyone has a different path to success. I do feel that natural talent will only take you so far. To that degree I feel that's right, but there's no reason to slap a universal rule on success
    
  • I have to disagree with you. It all depends what you do with those gifts that really counts. You can have all the natural talent in the world, but if you don't work at it, you'll definitely go nowhere.

I was inspired to expand my own thoughts based on what they wrote:

I feel that it is these same sayings that keep so many from reaching their potential in life. Now on one side we can choose to be different about anything in life. At the same time how many people get down on themselves because of labels or sayings? I have, and truly feel we all have moments of doubt. I see in my mind a young gifted ‘musician’ (I am just using a musician as an example but replace this with anything that would apply to you) … a musician who sees a saying like “Stars aren’t born they’re made” and then questions if he or she can succeed in life, or in their career, with just their gifting. When I say gifting I truly mean having a skill that came naturally but that you do work hard for. Practicing your craft, sharing energy with the people who support you…etc..

When I hear “They’re made” I took it to mean connected with "the right people” or born into money ......... Bought, produced, marketed and sold. This at times can cause the people with natural gifting to be overlooked for a shiny suit, or colorful commercial.

For example have you ever seen a commercial for food where you see the cheese melting and the sauce cascading down off a juicy delicious ‘burger’ and literally went out the door to go get? What if you weren’t even hungry and did this solely because you saw the commercial and without thought just went and got the product?

I look at these saying and these commercials and feel like they are limiting us so much in what we genuinely feel is right for our own energy at the time. I really feel if we let these limitations go to follow the gifting, and wisdom we each have to share, that we will indeed impact. We would trade what we ‘should be’ for authenticity, and not be taken over by the amount of success or recognition that some get when choosing to live in only what they see and hear.

Shine like a star and live a comfortable yet real life. I have learned living comes with vulnerability and the unknown at times, but I see those same things now and am starting to turn them into strength and will power to be authentic in life.

Trust that the beautiful mind we are all blessed with will guide us to the qualities that make us shine, and thank the universe for this by working hard to keep that light alive!

I love you all and until the next time our paths cross live, love, and be joyous!

Below is a video of a model and her transformation for a photo shoot! Truly shows how people can be "made" in this life!

www.thekeyofjoy.com

Baggage: Good for traveling but sometimes we end up in the lost luggage department....

For those who have not heard my beautiful husband Mason and I will be moving to Seattle, WA this summer. We are very excited for our new path, and are embracing the unknown of what this amazing life has to offer!

I think that in any move, or any coming of a new year, we tend to process. Can I do better? What would I change?...and on and on it goes. For me living in the same place for such a long time has it's advantages and disadvantages. I have cherished living in Colorado with people who I love so deeply. I feel blessed that we have all watched each other grow. We have seen one another through hard times that we thought would be never ending, and through the happiness that filled our hearts when tragedy passed. In my own heart I know I have become a very different energy and in becoming this sometimes it is hard for others to not live in the memory of who you were, and embrace who you are now. Since we only attract in life the people who mirror what we are I am excited for the opportunity to meet people who can see me for who I am now.

This last year of time has been by far the hardest year for Mason and I.....I should rephrase that..... This has been a year of immense growth for us. Not only in our love for each other but in our strength to say yes to life, and no to the situations that would take advantage of our love. We have a choice everyday to listen to our intuition. So often we deny what we know is right and replace it with the notion (or expectation) that people will see us for who we are, and that we can trust them for who they are. Why set ourselves up for this? Why listen to what people think you should do, who you should be, how you should act? If we all pressure each other to conform to be this zombie nation what kind of impact will we make? How will our children grow up to trust who they are?

I wish that we all could see, including me, that only you know who you are. We question this everyday with every statement we hear, and every vision we see. Is this right? Will people like me? In all reality why don't we trust that who we are is just right. That these events we experience in life are all right on schedule. I think it is the hardest to feel this when we are in pain. So often this pain occurs because we shielded who we truly are to "gain trust," until one day we slip and show our authentic self. Why is it so wrong to let your emotions flow?

I have spent most of my life questioning who I am based on the reactions of others, but all reactions aside....I love who I am. I think all of us would love who we are physically and mentally if we let our worries go. If we grew up only seeing our own face in the mirror, hearing own own thoughts, experiencing life in our own way we wouldn't know how to judge ourselves. There would be no commercials showing us what to eat, no company's telling us what to wear, no thoughts of am I too young to know this, or to0 old to try this. There would only be you and the universe.....no ego and no judgment....but this is not the case. So I want to put out there that we can all try to remember how to love ourselves again. Remember that if energy can impact your life to question who you are that channeled in the right way it can also impact to believe in who we are again. I encourage you to let each other shine. I mean how many of us have just conformed to liking someone elses opinion just because we didn't want to feel awkward expressing that we felt something different?

Different is magnificent and in knowing this you can find out everyday how you can grow to be more true to who you are and accept that the energy you have been given in this life is beautiful.

So until the next time our paths cross live, love, and be joyous!

Below is a video of a song of mine called "Music of our Lives" If you enjoy it please check out my other video's at www.youtube.com/theljdizzle


www.thekeyofjoy.com

Change, it's the best medicine for what ails you.

It's a day for new thoughts, and feelings. Take a moment to breathe in the beauty of life in an inspiring way. I am feeling God's amazing graces on my brain activity this morning and I am so thankful for him taking my "brain burdens" away so i can be clear in thought.

Now that I can see I have to say stagnation has taken over for too long. Too many moments have been spent with worry on my heart for others (empathy) and for myself being seen (ego). In my opinion it seems we all have so much ego and not a lot of empathy. Why are we surrounding ourselves with energy that we know we don't want. I see often that people are trying to convince each other that their energies could mesh ........... Why? .......... Wouldn't it be so much better to find the people in life we truly connect with? There would be less time talking about ourselves (boosting the ego) and more time talking for collective consciousness. You wouldn't have to worry about changing who you are to fit different atmospheres, because you would be surrounded by people that love you just the way you are, shattering all need for any kind of expectations in your relationship. The expectations ruin it all. How can we ask anyone to change things in themselves when we aren't willing to look at those same things in our own lives?

What really helped me see this was being shown, by my beautiful neighbor, that irritation towards a person comes up because we see a mirror image of who WE are at that moment. Some might choose to react to this irritation by confronting the other person and asking them why they are choosing to do this. Other times we wait till later to create drama by talking about how this person wont change. I see drama as the favorite of many, including my own, until now. I never thought of looking to myself rather then being aggitated at another to see if I have ever done that same thing in my life. The answer (for me) is always yes, because now I can see that we are all one. All of us are experiencing and expressing the same emotions so instead of hiding from them lets put it out there and help one another feel though what we need without judgment. My neighbor helped me to see that we should bless the people we were once agitated with, because they showed us something that we didn't pick up on in our energy. For instance how many of you have gotten upset because someone cut you off when you were driving? If you have ask yourself if you have ever cut someone off is the answer yes? I say this because maybe you never forgave your own heart for making this mistake, and if we haven't forgiven ourselves every time we see it in another person we will feel upset. (Upset, irritation, agitation, these are all words that resonate with me, but words can be tricky so if those they don't apply too you simply replace them with words that fit the energy of your life better.) Once we make this change to stop blaming others and focus on our own intent we wont be drawing in the same lessons over and over, thus no more stagnation.

I feel content knowing this and thankful that my mind, at this time, was able to receive. We all can do this if we are willing to, all it takes is a little reprogramming and some love!

So until the next time our paths cross live, love, and be joyous!

Below is a video of a new song of mine called "Break Away." If you enjoy it please check out my other video's at www.youtube.com/theljdizzle


www.thekeyofjoy.com

Lauren and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.....And How I Turned It Around!

Today is the day!

I realized this as I was starting to feel anxiety for the "ump-teenth" time. I said 'Lauren, you can sit here and feed this energy out to the universe and only receive the negative back, or today you could do something completely different!"

See I am a sensitive soul, and because of this so many energies seek out time to shed their burden onto my heart. I am ok with this usually............almost always............ok so maybe not as much as I use to be, but this is why I have started a blog, or what I would like to call my release. I needed to put out there how I feel. I need to know at times I am heard too. I can see myself in the actions of others, and choose to be different. So many though (including myself at times) choose to be the same and consume others with their negativity just to feel better . Why not just learn? Why take that awkward moment that usually lasts only a few minutes and turn it into a lifetime of repressed feelings. I have seen that when I speak my mind to others, even if they say they are ready to receive 99% of the time they are not ready. I say now is the time or "Today is the day."

I am ready to shed my skin and speak my truth. I am ready to love on our creator and be surrounded by the light of love. I am ready.

I have collected my "peace of mind" and lit the sage of life, and now it's time to put these thoughts to action. If your with me let this page be something that you can freely express your heart on, and together we can all find the peace and prospective that we truly need.

Till the next time our paths cross live, love, and be joyous!

Below is a video of a new song of mine called "Lucky in Love." If you enjoy it please check out my other video's at www.youtube.com/theljdizzle


www.thekeyofjoy.com