When something painful happens in our life, something that’s traumatic enough to make you question everything around you, other emotions, traumas and pains trapped in your body’s organs and tissues come to the surface to be healed. My journey over the past ten years has led me to discover my inner self, the place that has allowed me to heal my body and reemerge into the world.

When I allowed myself to open up to what was true for me, I learned how to trust myself and follow my inner voice and intuition. I came to understand that I am the person who knows my body best. A big part of my journey was going inward, and listening to how my body felt throughout the day. That’s when I discovered eating clean, whole, organic foods that fueled me from the inside out and my entire life shifted. I like to call it ‘eating clean for your insides’ because without the proper nourishment and self-care, we’re not able to heal ourselves emotionally. And vice-versa, when we’re not nourishing ourselves emotionally and being gentle with ourselves, we’re not able to take care of ourselves by preparing healthy food, filling our cup up with self-love and doing daily self-care practices such as taking baths and meditating. In my 20’s I thought that all I had to do was to eat healthy and everything would fall into place. Boy, was I wrong. What I didn’t realize at the time was that what’s inside of each of us is really what counts. It’s about having compassion for yourself, being gentle with yourself, and putting up healthy boundaries for activities, foods and negative people that zap your energy. It’s about stopping ourselves before we’re about to say something mean about ourselves, such as “I look fat”, “I’m stupid for making that mistake”, “I’ll never find a romantic partner”, etc. by catching yourself right before you’re about to beat yourself up and realize that you love yourself too much to let all this bashing happen. The amount of energy that is wasted saying mean things to ourselves is unbelievable. The surprising part is that many of us don’t realize we’re saying these things to ourselves on a daily basis until we stop to witness our thoughts and oftentimes, we’re shocked. Witnessing your thoughts, flipping them around so that they’re positive, and learning to be kind to yourself will make a huge difference in your life and the way you view yourself from the inside out.

All the stress, pressure and depression that comes from comparing yourself to others on social media or in real life is exhausting. If you saw yourself for you who truly are- for your perfection and radiance and realized your power, you wouldn’t feel the need to compare yourself to others. It’s when we don’t take the time to get to know our true selves inside that we spend our days trying to look like everyone else- that’s when we give our power away. Starting today you can stop playing small and let that littleness go. Look inward for the true healing in your life to reveal itself through meditation, mindfulness, quiet time, breath work and time alone doing the things you love. Raise yourself up if you want the world to reflect that back to you. The simple act of making yourself a delicious meal on beautiful tableware and eating without distractions (social media, TV, magazines) is a great start. Or buy a bouquet of roses and toss the petals into your bathtub for a bubble bath at the end of the day. Another way to show yourself some love is to start saying ‘No’ when you don’t want to do something. Often times we feel guilty saying ‘No’ and we go ahead and do things to please others, while draining ourselves. These are all small acts of self-care and self-love that you can start bringing into your week.

We have the power inside of us to heal our own lives. When we flow with life, rather than against it, we start to blossom from the inside out. It’s key to realize that wellness is not about the absence of disease. It’s about balance and taking care of ourselves on the inside and outside. It’s taken me a decade to achieve balance in my life so don’t put pressure on yourself and feel like you need to achieve balance overnight. There’s not one diet or meditation or self-care practice that works for everyone; we are all very, very unique and so one thing that works for you, may not work for me and vice versa. The experiences I faced throughout the last 10 years taught me that everything that happens in life serves to spark something within us, to be the catalyst expanding us and bringing us back to who we really are. Life is about trusting the process, even during painful situations. When you see the beauty in life, you bring yourself to a new level of living. When I stopped chasing things and pushing for what I wanted in life, I started allowing my inner self to emerge instead. Allowing is about letting go, trusting and knowing who you really are. I have realized that true healing is a mind-body-spirit approach that includes nourishing food, relaxation, meditation, breath work, self-care and self-love. I hope that sharing my story has been revitalizing and inspiring for any of you going through your own journeys of self-discovery and wellness.

Sending you all so much love.

xo,

Amie