Hippy Bullshit

I have been reading a life changing book called The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy and it is fabulous.  The book talks about the importance of positive thinking and how you can control your destiny by harnessing the laws of attraction.  I will refrain from giving a complete book review, but in a nut shell the book expands on the belief that your thoughts become your actions.  It proves the power of meditating and visualizing what you want out of your life.  The book is amazing and you should read it.  At any rate, in an attempt to better my life I have started to meditate on a regular basis and each week I chose words to focus on and engrave into my subconscious.  In hopes of tracking my progress I will post my words for each week here.

Last Week:
Energy
Confidence
Happiness
Success

This Week
Confidence
Trust
Happiness

I  chose the words based on what comes to me as I meditate at the being each week.  Throughout the week I will focus on these words hoping to attract their meaning into my life.  By the way, I am aware that I sound like a real nut job, but what is the harm in trying to attract positive outcomes for my life?  Afterall, life is what you make it and I've decided to make mine full of happiness, success, love, peace and health.  Amongst other things.

Believe in You

Why is believing in yourself one of the hardest things to do?  Eer or should I rephrase that to "one of the hardest things for ME to do?"  I am a constant cheerleader for my family, my friends, hell complete strangers even get my vote of confidence.  However, when comes to patting my own back or having faith in myself I'm at a lose.  I've tried to over analyze why I'm so hard on myself.  Why I need constant reassurance that what I'm doing or what I did was great! - not good but great!?  The truth of the matter is I have no idea why it is so difficult for me to believe in myself.  I should be my own biggest fan but instead I often feel as if I'm on a whole other team.

Thanks Giving

We are now full swing into the holiday season and I couldn't be more warm and fuzzy about it.  Being a newlywed gives everything a special glow, but particularly the holidays where you spend time with family and start new traditions with your lover.  I am trying my best to soak up every moment and be grateful for everything, big and small.  Just to name a few ( in no particular order):

Love - My heart is full of love and I've never felt so complete.  Life is messy and things aren't always hunky-dory but when you have love everything seems less awful.

Awareness - I'm more self aware and more aware of the world outside of me than I've ever been. For this, I am so grateful.  This is a step toward true enlightenment and I hope to continue down this path.

God - He has always been in my life, but I feel closer to Him.  I'm enjoying our growing relationship.

Unemployment - This year, I've learned a lot about myself and I attribute my growth to a trying year of unemployment.  Again, things weren't always hunky-dory but I was forced into change and I'm a better person for it.

Of course, these are just a FEW of the many things for which I am grateful.  I hope your list is as plentiful as mine, and that you add to it every day.

Cabo Fish Taco

When you look forward to your next meal as much as the husband and me then it is imperative that you have delicious go-to restaurants that can satisfy every craving.  We have a list of our Charlotte faves and Cabo Fish Taco is within the top 10 of that very exclusive list.  It is located in the arts district of Charlotte, commonly known as NoDa.   I don't want to be a complete geek and refer to this part of town as trendy or hip-- but lets be honest, it is exactly that type of neighborhood and we absolutely love any excuse to go feel artsy as we inhale great food and fancy beers.  As you enter NoDa you feel as if you have left everything Charlotte and somehow managed to end up in a suburb of dowtown Asheville.  The streets are always crowded with artists, musicians and dogs.  Parking is daunting and usually an issue but once you find a spot it is perfectly located far enough away so that you have to pass awesome local shops and  bars that have a steady stream of live music playing.  Sometimes these shops and bars serve as a minor diversion from our intended destination but never for too long.

Once we arrive to Cabo servers waste no time bringing tortillas chips and corn salsa.  The decor is a vibrant surf type theme with local art peppered throughout the restaurant.  After chomping on a few chips you must immediately order a fresh squeezed house-made margarita as you peruse the two sided menu.  The appetizers are amazing and although they are filling and often overkill the husband and I can never by pass them.  The Cabo Roll is a must try, boasting shrimp and crabmeat rolled up sushi-style with roasted peppers, tomatoes, cheese and topped with guacamole and cilantro.  Yum.  Oh, and lest not forget the Baja Shrimp and Crab dip (so we like shrimp and crab) this creamy dip is packed with bits of shrimp and crabmeat.  I love the dip but I must admit that my favorite part of the dish is the deep fried pita points served for dipping.  The menu says "toasted" but don't let them play you, they are fried, and I ain't complaining.

Entree picking is just as hard as deciding on an appetizer but we manage.  There is a wide array of taco options and it is fun to mix and match your choices.  My personal combo is the restaurant's namesake, a fried white fish taco and the Tavarua tuna tacos both stuffed with cabbage, cheese, tomatoes, avocado and a white cilantro sauce.  While I'm here, I must give a shout out to the white cilantro sauce, it is like sour cream with a fresh kick and it is delightful.  Although these tacos are my usual faves I've sampled over half of the selections and they are all amazing.  The menu doesn't stop with tacos, it continues with oversized wraps and burritos, fajitas, baja bowls, and quesadillas.  All selections promising a baja-esq  flair with fresh ingredients and your choice of protein.  The menu items never disappoint but just in case your looking for options, the chef usually prepares two different taco specials for you to enjoy.  Typically consisting of fresh blackened seafood.  We never have room for dessert but I'm told they are amazing and fresh made by Lady Jayne's Bakery.

The artsy neighborhood vibe mixed with delicious food and eclectic bars makes Cabo Fish Taco one of our favorite eateries.  I encourage you to go try it out.

Cliches Led Me To My Passion

Every day I started my job search with gusto and positivity. That attitude, albeit hard to maintain since each job description made me want to rip apart my laptop and suffocate myself.  BUT I would continue to scroll through job listings reminding myself of the importance of finding a job that I loved.  I knew I would search until I found my purpose, my calling.  I would read inspiring stories and quotes but they only frustrated me more.  I was tired of reading success stories of other people "just like me" who stumbled upon a million dollar idea.  I was tired of reading inspiring quotes that were obviously meant for other people- not me.  Each article, post etc was peppered with cliches that were meant to be uplifting, but in reality only irritated me more.   I was reading these stories with a cynical and jealous heart.  My jealousy was being fueled by my frustration with myself for not having the courage to go out on a limb or the knowledge to know what I loved.  At the height of my bitterness, I decided that even if I didn't know exactly what I loved to do I knew what I despised: another ho-hum job that required a lot of hours with little rewards.  I could not go back to that life. At that moment I made a promise to myself to chose something else.   Making the decision to never go back to a 9 to 5'er gave me freedom.  Freedom to think outside the box and to do something that I've never done before.  I began searching for a business ideas.  Truth be told, I've always been searching for a business idea but never really made the commitment to believe that I could actually start my own business.  I thought that people started business after they came up with an idea- not vice versa.  But that was how I began, first believing that I would start my business then one day, just as all the others had promised- it hit me.  I would help small businesses with their marketing.  I would do all the things that I wanted to do for a large corporation except that I would do it on my own terms.  I would help businesses grow their business.  It was perfect!  I could help people, socialize with people and call my own day.  I became scared as shit mixed with an excitement that I hadn't felt in my professional life in a long time.  Their was hope for me yet.  And to think, I scoffed at that Believe It and Achieve It article...

Happiness Is...

Stretching in bed before you get up.

Fixing a toilet that is broken.

Getting ready for a weekend trip to see family.

Planning dinner with your love. 

Coffee drinking and magazine reading.

Build It And They Will Come

I try daily to learn and lead a spiritual life.  Like my yoga classes, spirituality is something practiced and never mastered.  The perfectionist in me hates that I can never perfect my spiritual journey but the traveler in me loves that I am, in fact, on a journey.  This helps me to put life in perspective and realize that each day is a building block to the next.  This line of thinking gets me through the dark times and allows me to enjoy the good times.  Currently, my homework assignment in the class of Life is to incorporate blind faith in my every day walk.

Now, I've had faith throughout my whole life and felt as if I had it down pat.  However, what I've learned is that I have faith in the moment- that what I'm doing will work out.  Lets call it "Everything happens for a reason" type faith.  My next step in this journey is to practice blind faith in the unknown.  Lets call it "Giving a reason for everything to happen" faith.  Like quitting your job because you have blind faith that something else will come along.  A sense that you will have what you need when you need it and a belief that no matter what happens you will be okay.  The human mind tells you this type of gambling is dangerous.  You need plans and a goal and ... a job?  This is why blind faith is difficult and seemingly dangerous.  It goes against the grain and challenges the basic principles of intelligence.  The truth of the matter is blind faith seems down right dumb.  I'm uncertain how to incorporate this type of faith into my life, but I do know that I'm going to try.  My first thought is to start doing things without worrying about how or if I'm going to get the outcome.  Operating under the belief that if I build it they will come.  This is really difficult for me but I think it is worth a shot.  After all, one can not become enlightened without pushing some internal boundaries.  So I'm thinking if I combine positivity, with blind faith, mixed with some perseverance then I will begin to see outcomes that I want without all the worrying in between.  This will be a good start, I'm not quite evolved enough to buy a new car and then figure out how to pay for it but I'm going to find the happy medium between recklessness and blind faith.  I can do this.  Or shall I say I will do this?