Finding Peace
What in your life are you avoiding right now? Notice the energy that this feeling creates in your body. See if you can drop the urge to change whatever this thing is and just accept it for what it is (even if just for a moment) and send it love. Notice the energetic shift that this creates. Let us find peace in our lives by fully accepting what is in front of us instead of resisting and avoiding what is. When we are looking at our lives through the lens of fear, we create feelings of suffering and want things to be different, but through the lens of love, we remove the veil of illusion and everything feels lighter and just as it should be. This way of viewing things takes a little more conscious effort as we are collectively programmed for fear but this is not normal even though we've grown to believe that it is. Love is real, fear is not. In what ways can you be more loving and accepting of your life?
Gearing Up for RENEWAL in 2015 with Homemade SHRUBS & SCRUBS!!!
To Make: Combine all ingredients except apple cider vinegar in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once a simmer is reached, lower heat and continue to simmer for an additional 10 mins. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour mixture into a quart-sized glass jar and add 1 C of cider vinegar. Shake and let sit at room temperature for 2 days. To use, simply strain the mixture and enjoy!
Winter Fun
This is probably our favorite time of year. We tend to feel more creative during these quieter winter months because we have more time for self care and reflection. We have been taking long morning walks on the beach and playing with new recipes in our kitchen (like the white chocolate fudge pictured above—amazeballs). In order to keep ourselves on track and moving forward during this slower time of year we like to start off our week by doing what we call the “circle of life” exercise. We draw a circle and divide it into say 8 categories; Love, Creativity, Finances, Health, Family, Fun, Purpose, and Support for example. You can really use any categories you like but this is a good baseline. Then you judge each category on a scale from 1-10, so if you are feeling low in the “fun” category you would place a dot closer to the center of the circle, or on the outside of the circle if you feel like that is a strong point for you. So at the end you connect all your dots and sometimes it doesn’t look anything like a circle. Sometimes it looks like a shriveled up raisin or a pear maybe. But that’s great! Because now you can have something to focus on for that week. So last week my fun category was low so I chose to focus on that one. I began knitting, I planned a night out with friends, I took walks on my most favorite beaches and I went shopping one day. After a week of putting more energy into having fun now when I do that exercise fun is at a 10. Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of effort to make great changes in our lives. It is such an empowering exercise because it puts the reins back in our hands and reminds us that we are in charge of our own lives and changing the things that might need a little tweaking. A little bit goes a long way. What do you guys do to feel empowered around your own lives?
Are you Ballsy enough?
Last week during a brainstorming session on the beach, Ky and I were trying to think of ways we can spread the word more about our amazing products in a fun and authentic way. It is a requirement for us to have fun in the process of spreading the word about NYSM otherwise we feel like we are missing the whole point. So much of our business is really based around lifestyle design and we want to get more people involved. So we came up with the idea to do these mini “challenges.” For example, starting today we are taking our “Be Ballsy” product and we are going to post pictures of ourselves doing something that we consider to be ballsy each day for 2 weeks. This could simply just be a picture of how/when we like to enjoy eating our balls (hehe), or doing something out of our comfort zone that makes us FEEL ballsy. Whatever your interpretation. We will do this “ballsy” challenge for 2 weeks, then we will move on to one of our other products, like “Be Kookie” and so on and so forth. We will be blogging about our experience and posting fun videos as well so stay tuned. Please join the challenge by posting on Instagram and/or Facebook using hashtag: #beballsychallenge. At the end of the 2 weeks we will choose the best "Ballsy" pic and send you a FREE CARE PACKAGE, just cause we want to and we think you're awesome. We look forward to connecting with more of you and getting people to be more/eat more BALLSY!
Shelf stable treats now available!
We’ve got shelf stable treats for you guys! Pictured here are our seashell chocolates with different types of delicious nuts on the inside, we have “turtles” (a personal favorite) and ginger chia chocolate cups. We have different types of bark and of course our always delicious baked goods. We are very excited to offer you guys shelf stable treats so that you don’t have to worry about them melting on these hot summer days. When you come to our stores you have the option now of getting an assorted box of chocolates, a perfect gift! Come check them out and let us know what you think. We want to incorporate as many local ingredients as we can into our new truffles so if you have any suggestions be sure to let us know. See you soon!
Smell the roses much? Why not now?
Can anyone else believe that it is Mid July? It’s so cliché but isn’t it crazy how quickly time flies? A summer on Martha’s Vineyard feels like the blink of an eye. It feels like time moves much faster when we let stress get the best of us and when we get so caught up in our day-to-day work that we forget to make time to stop and appreciate the moment. The past few summers I’ve spent here I have “forgotten” to do just that. Really, I just wasn’t making the choice to slow down amidst the chaos. Summers would have me bogged down and overwhelmed. These days I still have a long to do list but if I go about my to do list with a more relaxed, “vacation” mentality, time seems to slow down and I have more fun in the process. Our perception creates our reality. Ky and I receive comments all the time now such as “you guys must be running around like crazy.” Yes, there is a lot of “running” around or as I like to call it “bopping” around because bopping around is more fun than running around. Running around seems chaotic and stressful. We’re making a stand this year to fully enjoy ourselves and soak up the beauty that Martha’s Vineyard summers provide. It feels good to make time to stop and smell the roses and just breathe throughout the day. Here’s to a fun summer, we’ve got so much left to go!
