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This simple cleanse will introduce you to the basics of a Real Food diet so you may begin your journey of wellness and healing.
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It's been about four months now since diving into this whole blogging thing. I still have no idea what I'm doing and have thought about giving up again and again, but there's something really amazing that's starting to happen that's giving me the drive and motivation to keep pressing on.


My posts are usually filled with raw emotions. An open-up into my heart and mind. Two of the scariest places we, as humans, find ourselves stuck in from time-to-time. I write because its therapeutic for me. It's a way for me to not only get out of my head, but to see my emotions, my problems, and what's going on on the inside, right before my own eyes, in pure writing. It gives me the chance to look at what's bothering me, evaluate myself, dive a little deeper, research a little more, and find out how to change my life for the better.


Over these few months of blogging, I have had many responses both online and in person ranging from "thank you" and "keep it up" to "how could you write about that?" and being totally shot down.


As with anything we do in life, we have to deal with consequences or lessons. How we react from these lessons is key to evolving and growing on a more spiritual and energetic level. This energetic level references our very own personal frequencies. Our frequencies are how we interact with other human beings (and all of creation, for that matter). As can be seen in studies of cymatics, higher and lower frequencies have the power to make matter beautiful or to make matter disturbed.

There are positive and negative sides to all aspects of life. The idea of opposites have been around since the dawn of time. From once we were in darkness and out of darkness we became light. This relationship between darkness and light, yin and yang, good and evil, can be found all over the world and everywhere in nature.


With the darkness that's currently going on around the world through recent events, know that we are that much closer to spiraling out of the darkness and into this New Age of Light. More eyes are opening up to the reality of their own lives and realizing they, like Dorothy in Oz, have always had the power to change it for the better.

We started our page, Empowered Life by Design to influence others, on a positive level, on how they can change their lives for the better and live their very own empowered lives by design. Wherever you are in life, if you're unhappy, you CAN change it.


The most influential words given to me by an old friend during one of my downward spirals in life,


"There is nothing that is holding you here."


You CAN change for the better. You CAN leave that job that's bringing you down, you CAN leave those negative worries of the past behind. You CAN change. and you can "BE THE CHANGE."

So back to the top and me talking about wanting to give up writing until I get random signs of motivation; this post started off as a simple response to a recent message from another old friend. I thought I would share my response to this person on here, in the case that it might help others finding themselves in this same place in life.

What do you know about opening the third eye? Our pineal gland is the control center for opening our eyes to the good life. I would totally encourage you to read up on the chakras and energy healing. With this evolution, our bodies and minds don't really know how to handle this. You obviously know the movie The Matrix, yes? It's ridiculous how similar that movie is to our own lives. No, we aren't living in a total alternate virtual reality, but it does take over a greater portion of our lives. In the same way, our generation grew up smack dab in the middle of this obscene synthetic reality.

Man-made inventions are ruling our lives to the point that many people forget that we lived good and well way before these inventions of man. (I wrote this piece a little over a year ago and it totally freaks me out how much it foretold events that happened for me this year. You can find it here.)

I know I'm getting off track but it all relates, I swear.

I study herbs and natural healing. Last month I was given the opportunity to work with my aunt at two big Holistic Healing events. It was there that I met Mary Blue, founder of Farmacy Herbs in Providence, RI. She is hands down one of my biggest inspirations. (She wrote a book that my aunt bought for me and signed it “May the herbs be with you!” and that made her a goddess in my book). Anyway, during one of her talks she spoke on Planetary Healing. This was such a mind-blowing topic for me. The gist of it was that “if we truly want to heal the planet, we need to wake up and realize that we are currently living in a toxic world.”

Her words gave me chills AND brought immediate tears to my eyes. It's so true. She spoke of the toxins that go into our body. Whether it be food or medicine, they pass through our systems and where do they go from there? From our digestive track to our toilets and sinks back into our earth and waters. The more toxins we put inside our body, the more toxins we put into the earth. If we want to change the world on a physical level, then we need to change ourselves. Change our lifestyle.

I'm almost two years into a pretty drastic diet and lifestyle change. I needed to address my physical self and heal my body before I was able to go on and heal my spiritual self. The diet and lifestyle change were far from easy and is pretty much an ongoing thing. Again, I would start with meditation, learning how to quiet the mind from all the stresses of the world. Not everyone is into yoga, but it DOES help to re-align your chakras and help you to become not only open and flexible on a physical level, but on a spiritual, mind and heart level as well.


For anxiety and chattering minds that are hard to turn off, I recommend yoga poses for grounding and re-aligning your root chakra. Here's a great video with some simple grounding techniques to calm the over-active mind:

To anyone struggling with their identity, feeling lost and wandering the earth in hopes of finding themselves; may this help you on your journey.

All the good vibes and warm wishes to you!

If you are unhappy, the best thing you can do is analyze yourself:

Who you are versus who you intend to be.
What you have versus what you need.
Where you are now versus where you would like to be.




Going back a few years to a darker point in my life, when I was apt to severe anxiety and panic attacks, doubt and depression and an overall state of mental and emotional exhaustion, I knew something had to change. This wasn't me. I am not these negative attributes that one could easily use to describe me. As much as I let this negativity take over the greater portion of my well-being, there was still something deep inside screaming to be released. The better part of me, the self, the consciousness, the soul, the absolute most true version of me, hidden and pushed aside through spiritual neglect, taken over by the cares and worries of every day life.




There came a point when I realized I needed to have a heart to heart with myself to find the root of my unhappiness. I actually began to write a list of “pros” and “cons” in my life. This list included things like being with my wonderful boyfriend to living hundreds of miles from my family; having amazing and supportive friends to having a job that was constantly bringing me down. I proceeded to go through all areas of my life, writing both what made me happy versus what was negatively impacting my life. After writing this list, I held onto it for a good few weeks, referring to it every so often before finally deciding what I was going to do about it.




During these weeks, (because the universe works in mysterious ways), a friend of mine invited me to attend a guided meditation at the local Buddhist meditation center down the street. Being raised in the Christian church, I knew meditation would bring a sense of calm and serenity, but it wasn't until years after leaving the church did I make the correlation between God, the Universe, and my Inner-Self as one in the same. What an amazing experience this guided meditation was, sitting in absolute silence, breathing deep and allowing my mind to finally be still and quiet. I enjoyed the experience so much that I decided to return the following week, shortly thereafter making the decision to buy my first yoga mat and yoga DVD geared toward stress relief. Right from the start of my practice, I learned how emotionally intense and healing yoga and meditation can be.




Getting back to my list, it was time to begin eliminating some of the negative aspects of my life. First, I had to realize that not everything could be changed easily or right away. For example, living hundreds of miles from my immediate family, while it made me unhappy, was something that I had to learn to accept by reassuring myself that I am still loved by them no matter the distance and that if needed, they will be there for me anytime I call. What I needed to do was focus on the areas that I could change. For me, the biggest cause of my unhappiness was in my work situation. I realized that I was meant to do more, meant to do something that would make a bigger difference in the lives of others, and that the stress and anxiety caused from this particular job was absolutely holding me back from being the best version of myself that I could be. It was time to let go, to move on and continue on this journey of happiness through life.




After talking with my at-the-time boyfriend (and now amazing husband), the decision to leave my job made the most sense. He saw the absolute worst of my anxiety and knew where the bulk of it stemmed from, and thankfully supported my decision to move on. After following through and leaving my work situation, a huge sense of relief came over me. I knew this was the start of my healing journey and I still had a long way to go. However, sometimes the first steps toward change are the most difficult and I had finally taken mine. From that point on, my life became a whirlwind of change. There have been ups and downs, lessons to be learned, but where I am now and who I intend to be are becoming closer and closer with each day, as I continue to grow stronger mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.




If you are going through a severe bout of unhappiness, I would absolutely recommend analyzing your life, making yourself a list to find any negative aspects that you may be able to change, and practicing meditation and/or yoga to calm and strengthen your heart and mind. You were put on this earth with so much potential and your unhappiness may just be your inner-self screaming to you that you need to change something in order to get back on track with your journey, to live the life you are meant to love.

This message was brought to you by Yogi Tea's Detox- Healthy Cleansing Formula, because a healthy body goes hand-in-hand with a healthy mind.

Why I'm So Passionate About Natural Health:

My simple answer... I love knowing what I'm putting into my body.

With the overwhelming amount of merchandise stocking up our commercial grocery, health, & beauty stores, it's hard to keep up on which products are actually good for you. Look at the back of your bottle of body wash--- how many ingredients does it contain? Ever looked any of those ingredients up and threw the bottle down in terror realizing the harmful chemicals that were used in making this? These chemicals may not seem like they're harmful, but in retrospect, over-time they can cause damage to your body. Many “moisturizing” products, including soaps and shampoos that claim they're for “added moisture,” actually contain ingredients that will dry your skin out even more. It's all part of the big commercial product money-making scheme. They trick us into buying products that contain a very small amount of ingredients that are actually good for our skin, still claiming to be “moisture renewing” when really, the majority of the ingredients are harmful chemicals. Soaps, shampoos, deodorants, moisturizers, face wash, make-up, cleaning products... the list goes on.

The same goes with our food. Check out the ingredients in that package of store-bought cookies you're eating or dare I say look into what actually goes into that burger from the fast-food joint. All sorts of stuff in there. It's true that not all of these ingredients are harmful, per say, but they certainly aren't helping in maintaining your overall health and well-being. The foods I just mentioned and more used to be a regular part of my diet. I also used to regularly take ibuprofen for headaches, commercial cold & flu medicine for feeling under the weather, an antacid like Tums or Pepto-Bismol for annoying stomach issues, as well as other drugs to help control anxiety and depression throughout the years. These were all included in my regular “health” regime.

Think about the television commercials you see for the newest prescription medication. Think about how, at the end of each commercial, written in fine print and spoken so fast that you can barely understand, all of the side-effects associated with taking this prescription. “Ask your doctor if it's right for you...” Well let me remind you of the cold, hard truth that is slowly leaking out... Prescription medications causing side effects ensure that doctors will continue to have patients that want to try different prescriptions, all of which containing one side effect or another. Needing to take one medication may turn into taking two, so that the second helps the side-effects of the first. That's more money out of your wallet, more potential risk factors, more doctor visits... This is great for your doctor and for pharmaceutical companies but are you spending money to help them or to help you? Why waste the money on prescription drugs when you can heal yourself naturally through simple diet & lifestyle changes?

Many people today are ignorant about this natural healing. Doctors are quick to prescribe us synthetic medications that may result in many side-effects, without informing us of the benefits of natural healing. Looking back through the history of modern medicine, the medications we have today were inspired and taken from Herbal Medicine. Our prescription drugs of today have been created by artificially synthesizing the active chemicals in plants. While this may seem like a great idea, it's actually causing more harm to our bodies, which is why there seems to be endless side-effects to our medications. The active chemicals in plants rely on the balance of the inactive contained in that same plant, in order to work the magic nature intended them to do, without harm. While many modifications have been made through the years and our synthetic drugs have become slightly safer (at the expense of the consumer), they still cannot compare to the benefits and overall healing of using the plant in its entirety.

With the encouragement of my mother, my aunts, my amazing friend Jen, and my husband, after finally being fed up with the amount of money spent on over-the-counter medicines and open-ended doctor visits while never really being able to find out what exactly was causing my lifelong health issues... I decided to step up my wellness game and take matters into my own hands. For me, the solution was as easy as a simple diet change. My wellness journey began with the elimination of gluten from my diet. It wasn't an easy start. Trips to the grocery store would require lots of patience and take significantly longer, reading the labels on just about everything to make sure they didn't contain gluten. I cannot stress enough, the importance of reading labels!

While it took a couple months to really get the hang of shopping with this new diet and finding the products that were right (and tasted alright) for me, the truth is, we saw a change in my health within the first FOUR days. The first noticeable change was in my energy and motivation levels. I no longer felt like I needed a daily cat-nap to keep me going. By the end of one month, my stomach issues were a thought of the past, my headaches were few-and-far-between, and my embarrassing acne breakouts began to clear. Shortly after, we noticed that I had also not shown any signs of anxiety or depression. That alone, was a big deal

With this simple diet change leading to rewarding results, I wanted to take my wellness journey a step further. My passion for natural healing began to quickly grow and flourish and I will openly admit, became an obsession. Just a few months prior to all these changes, I began reading books on herbal remedies and natural healing, learning that I could drink lavender-chamomile tea to help calm my nerves when I felt the onset of a panic attack, or peppermint tea to help relieve my nausea. These were all steps I had already been trying to implement into my life before changing my diet. After eliminating gluten, I began to really focus on the benefits of proper nutrition, later learning that dairy was also causing some of my issues. I will be honest here, some days I simply cannot turn down a bowl of ice cream, or my husbands delicious baked mac & cheese, but I am always able to pick out right away the symptoms that occur after I “cheat” on my diet and can treat them naturally with herbs and essential oils.

Influenced by Love:

One of the biggest breakthrough moments of encouragement that made me realize natural health was truly a growing passion of mine, took place only a few months after my diet change. My beautiful Aunt Michelle, after battling brain cancer for close to twenty years, was nearing the end of her journey here on earth. During her last months, I was able to spend some special time with her, talking about my new lifestyle change as well as the ups and downs of the long-term battle with her immune system. She spoke of all the medical trials she had been used as a “test subject” on over the years, the different medications and procedures, the “toxic poisons” (as she referred to chemotherapy) that were pumped through her veins... as she neared her last months, doctors finally told her there was nothing else they could do for her. While many people may be devastated with this type of news, Michelle showed no signs of this during our conversation. Eager to ask more and more questions of my new lifestyle change and encouraging me to continue my journey and study of natural healing, she told me that she was relieved to hear those words from her doctor.

“Ok, Michelle, it's up to you now...” she recalled saying to herself as the news sunk in. The thought of no more medications and no more trials and no more poisons brought a sense of calm and relief to her. It breaks my heart to say that after twenty years of poison and multiple surgeries to remove parts of her brain, her body was not able to fully detoxify itself. She had already been subject to the poisons for far too long that her immune system was not able to regenerate. Even still, during her last moments, she would sip on the fruit smoothies I would make for us, drink peppermint tea to help her nausea, nibble on watermelon to stay hydrated and keep her sugar levels up, and would agree to tango throughout the house, hand-in-hand with me, as we enjoyed each others company, finally living in the moment, with this new passion for a natural healing awakening in our souls together. Her strength and beauty and final words of encouragement were all I needed as inspiration to grow my passion for natural health.

Take Root And Grow:

Making the decision to lead a holistic lifestyle was easy for me. I love nature and the healing gifts that come along with it significantly more than I love hospital bills and the prescription medication of the past century. Above all, I enjoy the humbling sense of DIY that comes along with preventative care. While the decision part was easy, the lifestyle change itself from modern and conventional to natural and holistic has been quite the challenge. More than anything, it requires patience and dedication.

I am always learning and seeking new knowledge and ideas on an old way of living. If you've ever been to my house, you know that my shelves are filled with books on top of books of herbal healing, natural therapies, reflexology, and more. My pantry is stocked with mason jars of whole leaf herbs and I can recommend you a tea or essential oil for just about any ailment. I will turn to yoga and meditation any day over grabbing a bottle of pills to calm me down and ease my anxiety, and I am annoyingly aware of the ingredients that I put into my body. (I read labels on EVERYTHING).

I'm fortunate that my body is so willing to receive healing in its utmost natural form. I am forever grateful for the wisdom and courage bestowed upon me to step out of my comfort zone and follow this amazing path on my holistic journey. As I continue to learn and grow, my greatest desire is to share this knowledge with others so they may also become aware of the natural healing readily available to us, if we reach out and take hold of it; taking hold of our lives, our health and our overall well-being.