Are Your Thoughts Empowering or Dis-empowering You?

Many of us operate on autopilot, often relying on ingrained thinking patterns and self-talk to direct our day-to-day lives. The problem with that is that these patterns may not be serving us very well. The way we think about things may be sabotaging our happiness, effectiveness, and sense of fulfillment, yet we persist in thinking the same thoughts because they are familiar and comfortable.

We can help snap ourselves out of ingrained thought patterns by first identifying them and then asking,
"Is this thought empowering or dis-empowering me?"

For example, say you regularly experience "blame thoughts" when your spouse leaves something out all of the time (frustrating to say the least!) When you isolate your thought (It's all HIS fault!) you will find that what you initially take for empowerment (I'm right and he's wrong!) is, in fact, a dis-empowering, self-victimizing thought. The thought only isolates you further (me vs. Spouse), deepens your resentment (He's thoughtless and doesn't care about me!) and leaves you mired in frustration because you're no closer to finding a real, workable solution.

If you can shift your thinking away from blame and instead focus on solutions, you will feel - and be - infinitely more empowered!

With that I want to leave you with an empowering recipe! It is right along with my "Green" theme for Spring! Greens are full of phytochemicals, vitamins, fiber and minerals, empowering to say the least!

QUINOA PESTO WITH GREEN VEGGIES

Ingredients:

1 cup of cooked Quinoa (Takes about 15 minutes)

1/2-1 cup of Broccoli

1/2 cup of Green Bell Peppers

1/2 cup Red Bell Peppers (to add a little color!)

1/2-1 cup of Cucumbers

Pesto Ingredients:

*So I want to start off by saying I went to the store with the intention of bringing home basil, but of course there was none (which sparked a gush of frustration leading to me now planting and growing my own veggies!) so I decided to use spinach instead. Hey, sometimes you have to compromise!

2-3 cups of Spinach

2-4 tbsp of Olive Oil

1-2 Lemons

salt/pepper to taste

Chop veggies into desired portion. I love mine small and love to chop!

Cook broccoli until tender. I like mine still crunchy! Do not over cook, you want to have some life left in these greens!

In the meantime, make your pesto! Add in spinach (I through in a few almonds) and slowly add in oil and lemon juice until well combined in a food processor or blender.

Add pesto to the quinoa and stir!

Now that is GREEN! I also added in some shelled hemp seeds for more protein (11g every 2 tbsp).

Add in other veggies and cook for 3-5 minutes. Cucumbers don't take long all, so be careful not to over cook them! I like the crispness of the peppers so I left them a little raw.

Add your favorite nut for some extra crunch, I added cashews!

Some extra pesto left over to use for the rest of the week!

I hope you enjoy this meal!



Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant. There is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore,
is not an act but a habit.