Aspire to inspire - The intention to live an inspiring life.

A lot has happened over the past few years, but I’ll sum it all up in a few short paragraphs to bring you up to speed to where my life is headed now. I am so grateful for this journey and to have loved ones in my life that I inspire and that inspire me on a daily basis.

After I graduated from high school I took a trip with my best friend down to Cabo San Lucas where we paraded in our bikinis, soaked up the hot sun, road horses, and went out to clubs. It was a hot sweaty summer, full of fun. Fun, that’s all I was looking for and I got it. I didn’t really want to dive into the mundane, as I thought of it then, aspects of meditation and spirituality.

My mom and dad had previously, and continue to do so, take part in Chopra Center retreats. My mom, Sharon, is a meditation teacher and has her own practice of Jin Shin Do, or better known as acupressure. I think that in the years leading up to my graduation the subject of meditation and spirituality were greatly discussed and because I wasn’t there, yet, I kind of shut it out and got pretty sick of it. Maybe that was one of my underlying reasons to complete my summer after graduation with a move to Los Angeles, the city of plastic, pollution and expensive life-like Barbie dolls. The experience was exactly what I needed. It was chocker block full of shallow “friendships”, tiring relationships, and lots of “things” in which I purchased or became a part of to prove my self worth. This, I must tell you didn’t work the way I thought it would, but gave me insight into doing things that do bring fulfillment into my life and to the lives of those around me. My time there wasn’t completely spent on parties, clothes, and drinks at the beach; I did attain a degree in Marketing and Management through the Art Institute in Hollywood. And became inspired to live a life full of love, laughter, and connectedness.

The last year in Los Angeles was really difficult for me. I had made that “shift” as many of us like to refer it as. Wayne Dyer took part in a film called “The Shift”, and it exemplifies exactly what I went through. It was a time period where I felt more awake and aware about the things going on around me, and the decisions I was making. I realized I did what I did in order to feel better about my circumstances and myself. It took the better part of a year, but I came to the conclusion that this feeling of feeling better and fulfilled didn’t come from my surroundings, it came from within.

This is when I communicated the things in which my mom and dad had been talking about those last few years that I was in high school. I understood why they stayed committed to their daily meditation practice and decided to commit to my own practice. I saw the benefits that it created, not only for myself, but also for those around me. It was beautiful. I became very connected to nature every time I came home to Vancouver to visit. There was something magical about it. Maybe it was the beauty that radiated from it, maybe it was the smells, or how it made me feel. Whatever it was, and continues to be, I am eternally grateful. I came back to Los Angeles these last few times and continued to meditate and retreat into nature and take part in yoga classes. I started to realize the joy I felt after taking part in these yoga classes, a practice that I’ve had on and off for the last several years, and made a decision to further my education as a yoga instructor through the Chopra Center.

This now wraps us up to the last few months of my four year experience in the City of Angels, which I think is quite an ironic name, because it’s when I retreated from the city and became more connected to mother nature herself that I felt an angelic presence with me. I have lots of monumental experiences that aided in my turning point as well as a few stints in and out of treatment for an eating disorder when I was in my teens that drew my parents to a more spiritual walk of life. But all of this, I will go into detail with later on.

For now, I thank you for coming to this blog, for reading and for just being you. I have had a few profound moments that have happened this summer which have brought light, love and inspiration into my life. I hope to not only to share this with you, but also continue to share my day-to-day moments of inspiration and to inspire and be inspired from all of you who I share this with.