I love to cook.  It’s relaxing, therapeutic, and a great way to connect with friends and family.

I also love to eat.  So trying new recipes and cooking with fresh ingredients allows me to enjoy the experience without questioning calories or content.

The biggest payoff to cooking is presenting a freshly prepared meal to a loved-one.  I get huge satisfaction in providing sound nutrition and a joyful experience to a friend – one that goes way beyond the sandwich or protein bar they ate for lunch!

And like many of you, I am busy.  I understand that cooking, and the subsequent clean up, can appear time consuming.  You may also feel you lack the skills, or the familiarity with your kitchen, to prepare healthy meals.

I am empathic to your position. I also know these are excuses you can overcome. Why do I say this?  Because preparing healthy meals for you and your family is a required habit if you plan to live healthfully for a lifetime. And I know that’s your plan.

So let’s get present to the benefits.

First, cooking at home helps to control weight. According to researchers analyzing National Weight Control Registry data, the majority of people who have lost weight and kept it off prepare 90% of their own meals.

Other benefits of cooking include unwinding after a long day and tapping into other creative talents.  When cooking with vegetables, fruit, olive oil, and fragrant spices, your body and your brain come alive ~ just like the food you are working with!

You also have better control over portions, and can avoid too much sodium, preservatives,  unhealthy fat and all ingredients that thwart health and cause fatigue, inflammation, brain fog and weight gain.

I know none of you are surprised by the listed benefits. I also know that your biggest issue is how to accomplish this in a busy world.

The answer is simple…You PLAN.

Planning ahead is the critical element.  You don’t need gourmet recipes, elaborate cooking tools or even a fancy kitchen.  You just need time.

Which leads us to the next question, “Where do I get more of this precious commodity?”

We all have 24 hours in the day.  It’s up to you to decide how you are going to utilize those 24 hours. In creating more time for yourself, you need to create more space in your schedule.

Here’s how you do it.

Today I want you to decide what you can take out of your schedule every week to make room for the following:

1) 20 minutes to plan meals at home for four nights
2) 10 minutes to make a grocery list
3) 45 minutes to shop for groceries (including drive-time)

That’s 75 minutes per week.

Now I want you to decide what you can <i>take out of your schedule during the week</i> to make room, four nights a week, for the following:

1) 30 minutes to prepare a meal
2) 30 minutes to sit and enjoy your meal
3) 5 minutes to clean up

That’s 65 minutes a night (four nights a week) to prepare and enjoy your evening meal.

Your total for the week is 335 minutes.  This is less than 6 hours a week where you are planning, preparing and enjoying freshly prepared meals at home.

Now, here are suggested activities you can eliminate to open up those 6-hours:

1) 60 minutes of TV 6 nights per week = 6 hours

2) 60 minutes of Facebook or Internet 6 nights per week = 6 hours
3) Wake 30 min. early and end your day 30 min. early 6 days per week = 6 hours
4) Six hours of tasks assigned to your spouse, friends or other family members:
Laundry/Folding – 60 minutes
Running Errands – 60 minutes
Tidying the house – 60 minutes
Yardwork – 60 minutes
Getting kids ready for school – 60 minutes
Driving kids to and from sports – 60 minutes

5) 60 minutes of chit-chat with a friend 6 nights per week = 6 hours (instead, invite them to dinner!)

When you commit to this process, I guarantee your life will change. You will get more pleasure out of cooking and eating fresh food than you will from the “time-killers” that currently consume your day.

If you’re looking for quick and easy recipes to get you started, check out the recipes on this blog.

Create space in your life TODAY. Then have fun, and Bon Apetite!

Stay tuned for my book launch in October – sign up on my website now for the Five Strategies to Live Your MaxLife, and enter your name in the book launch contest for 3-months of free coaching!

People always ask what I eat to stay fit and energetic.

It’s a tough question because I enjoy so many wonderfully healthy foods! But it’s a good question, and I admit to having the same curiosity about what people eat.

But rather than rattling off my huge list of faves , I’ll give you a peak into my daily diet staples. These are just a few items that I always have in my fridge and cabinets, and eat on a regular basis.

Apples:
Yes, I actually do eat an apple a day. And not just the fleshy part, but the whole darn thing – seeds, core and all. There’s something about a cold, crunchy apple that satisfies my palate. I savor the sweetness, and the fiber fills me up for 3-4 hours between meals. My favorite time to eat an apple is 3:00pm when I’m hungry and need energy, but don’t want anything too hefty before dinner. When I’m craving a peanut butter sandwich, but don’t want all the bread and calories, I’ll slather some natural peanut butter on apple slices and enjoy this tasty treat while relaxing on my patio.

Coconut Water:
After my long runs in the hot, dry Colorado weather, I look forward to the hydrating effects of coconut water. Coconut water (or juice) is the thin liquid found inside young green coconuts —not to be confused with creamier coconut milk, which is made from the white flesh of older coconuts. Coconut water provides about 600mg of potassium per cup (more than a banana), along with some calcium, magnesium and sodium – all the electrolytes you’d find in a sports drink like Gatorade, but without all the sugar, chemicals and dyes. You’ll find coconut water at most natural foods stores.

Baby Spinach:
I love spinach and add it to my smoothies near daily for breakfast or lunch. Just a handful will do! With the fruit and other ingredients I add to my blender, I can’t even taste the spinach, and I feel good knowing I’m getting extra veggies that I may have missed otherwise. I also put spinach in my omelets, and the whole family adores my spinach salad topped with avocado, strawberries, walnuts and balsamic vinegar. I’ll also toss it into a bowl of quinoa or brown rice along with a handful of raisins and a sprinkling of curry powder, celery seed powder and sea salt.

Eggs:
Despite my commitment to eating less animal protein, we’re a big egg family. My boyfriend Andrew makes a mean veggie omelet, which I crave about 2-3 times per month. I also use egg whites about 3-4 times per week in my yummy Oatmeal Pancake (see below), and Max enjoys three hard-boiled egg whites sprinkled with a little sea salt and pepper for breakfast. It’s a great protein compliment to his whole-grain waffle with fruit. If you’re going to eat eggs, buy the real thing. Don’t do the liquid processed brands that contain dyes and other stuff you just don’t need.

Almond Butter:
I’ll admit, one of life’s simple pleasures is as a big spoonful of almond butter when I’m craving something sweet, rich and creamy. Two tablespoons is 200 calories, so I cut this in half on most days, or allow myself the full 200-calorie snack on days when I’ve expended more energy through exercise. I also like to spread it on a crisp Fuji or Gala apple, or mix a spoonful into my warm quinoa cereal or oatmeal. Have you seen the new Justin’s Nut Butter single-serving packs? These are great for hiking, biking, and packing in kids’ lunches!

Cherry Tomatoes:
These are an easy snack when I’m putting the evening meal together and need something sweet and tangy to hold me over. I also add these yummy morsels to Max’s lunch a couple times a week, and it’s our stand-by veggie when his friends come over and I know they won’t eat green beans or broccoli! We also dip cherry tomatoes in hummus, or toss them with a little warm, whole-wheat or gluten-free penne, olive oil and sea salt for a quick family meal.

Rolled Oats:
Quaker should really give me a kick-back for the amount of oats I’ve eaten in my lifetime! Oatmeal is a breakfast favorite that sticks to my ribs and gives me a sense of calm and overall wellness. I rarely dress it up, but if I do, I’ll add a little cinnamon and vanilla flavoring, and maybe a splash of almond milk. I also make a fabulous porridge by putting in 2 T. raisins or chopped dates and 2-3 t. of maple syrup into the saucepan while the oats are cooking.  My famous oatmeal pancake is made by blending together 3/4 cup rolled oats (uncooked), 4 egg whites, and 1 T. Eden brand apple butter – pour the blended batter onto a non-stick skillet and cook over medium heat until done. This makes one big pancake, and is portable enough to take  to work or gobble up after a workout.  Often I’ll throw a ¼ cup of oats in my smoothie, and my favorite cookie on the planet is a chewy oatmeal and raisin.

Organic Blueberries:
Organic blueberries, especially in the summer when they’re in season, are a sweet and simple way to amp-up your antioxidants. We put blueberries in our smoothies, and have fun making gluten-free blueberry muffins and pancakes on the weekends (try the Pamela’s-brand baking mix). A handful of blueberries in the afternoon cuts my cravings for sweets, especially when I couple it with a handful of walnuts. Try this: blend one cup blueberries with one cup silken tofu, ¼ an avocado and 2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup for a yummy pudding! Sound weird? Just try it and tell me what you think.

Greek Yogurt:

Aside from being deliciously thick and creamy, most Greek yogurt is made with all natural ingredients and contains several strands of probiotic cultures – great for your gut! I don’t eat yogurt as much as the boys, but I’d rather they eat Greek yogurt than the highly sweetened commercial yogurts (which have as much sugar as a pack of M & M’s!). Eat the low-fat, plain varieties and add fresh fruit and/or a touch of honey to sweeten. You can also use Greek yogurt as a replacement for sour cream in recipes, or add a dollop to your baked potato. It contains about 14 grams of protein per serving, where other yogurts contain about 7-8 grams.

Salba Seed:
It has been shown that Salba is the richest whole food source of Omega 3 fatty acids and fiber found in nature. Every 12g serving of Salba provides over 2,700 mg of Omega 3’s and over 4 grams of dietary fiber, with less than 0.5 g net carbohydrate per serving. Gram for gram, Salba has six times more calcium than whole milk, three times more iron than spinach, and fifteen times more magnesium than broccoli. It’s all-natural, has no trans fat, is gluten free, has almost no carbohydrates and is non-GMO. That’s why I love it!
I sprinkle ground Salba on my oatmeal, quinoa and salads, and will use it in baking recipes that call for flax. I put the whole seed in my smoothies and also add 1-2 tablespoons to sauces and stews for thickening. You can buy Salba at Whole Foods markets and most Kroger stores, and can find some of my Salba recipes at www.salbasmart.com.

Vanilla Almond Milk:
I don’t drink milk, but love to have a sweet beverage or topping for my whole-grain cereal or oatmeal every now and then. For people who want to avoid dairy products, vanilla almond milk is a great alternative! It tastes great and one cup contains 40 calories, whereas 1% milk contains about 100 calories. I put ½ cup almond milk in my smoothies in addition to ¾ cup water, or I’ll sweeten my oatmeal with a splash. During the colder months, I’ll relax with a warm cup of almond milk in the afternoon or evenings.

Honey:
Honey is a wonderful staple to keep in your kitchen. Not only is it a yummy, natural sweetener, it also contains a variety of vitamins and minerals, along with antifungal and antibacterial properties to fight off infections.
We drizzle honey in our tea, and use it as sweeteners for marinades and salad dressings. Max also likes a little squeeze on his tongue when he’s craving something sweet, and I mix it into Tahini (sesame seed butter) for a yummy spread on whole-grain bread and rice cakes. If you like honey mustard, mix 1/2 teaspoon of honey into 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard and use it as a sandwich spread instead of mayo. We also use honey instead of sugar in most recipes. Click Here for tips on replacing sugar with honey in baking.

Green Tea:
I truly look forward to my cup of green tea in the morning. It’s comforting to know I’m receiving the antioxidant benefits, with enough caffeine to support mental acuity, but not so much that I feel addicted, dehydrated and drained. I usually get the stronger varieties such as Gunpowder, but enjoy the Jasmine and milder varieties as well. Until a few months ago I would put honey in my tea every morning. Now I just add the honey as a treat since this keeps my weight and blood sugar in check.

Protein Powder:
I use protein powder when I need to a little protein boost, but don’t want nuts, beans or animal products. My two favorites include:  1) NutriBiotic Rice Protein powder (berry-flavored), and 2) JuicePlus+ Complete vanilla-flavored shake mix. I use the rice protein as a mix-in with my oatmeal, or for this easy ‘sorbet’ recipe: Two tablespoons NutritBiotic berry-flavored rice protein, 1 cup frozen blueberries, and enough water or almond milk to mix but not make liquid. You can add a little honey or stevia to sweeten, but I enjoy it without the sweeteners. It’s a cool, refreshing treat without all the sugar.
The JP+ Complete shake is an outstanding addition to anyone’s diet, providing a solid source of plant-based protein, with the added benefits of whole-food concentrate fruits, veggies and grains. Our entire family enjoys smoothies with either the chocolate or vanilla JP+ Complete and these add-ins: ½ a frozen banana; 1 cup blueberries, strawberries, apple, mango or peaches; 1 handful spinach; ½ c. almond milk, soy milk or coconut water; ¾ c. water; 1 T. Salba seed; and ice. Blend and serve…deeee-licious!

So there you have it…a peak into my fridge.  Now, I didn’t include the occasional coconut milk ice cream that shows up, or the dark chocolate from The Healthy Chocolate Shop that I’ve been enjoying this week, but I’ll save this for another blog – “Julie’s Guilt-Free Decadence”. Hmmm.

I’d love to hear what’s in YOUR fridge…please share and pass along some recipes too!

Healthy Weight: Don’t Let the Scale Determine Your Calories

Watching your food intake is critical to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.  If you eat more food than you burn – whether through exercise or normal body functions – you will store unused calories as fat.

This is just normal physiology:  Match your caloric intake with your energy output.

Seems simple, right?  Just cut calories and exercise more and the weight will come off!

So, why isn’t this working for you?

You’re eating less, exercising more, but the scale won’t budge.

Part of the problem is that you may be cutting too many calories.  If you’re eating less than what your body needs to function, your body will slow down to meet your caloric intake.

You see, we all have something called a basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the number of calories consumed and metabolized at a normal resting state over a 24-hour period.

So, if you just sit and do nothing all day, your body only needs enough fuel to support low-energy activities such as breathing, digestion, elimination and other bodily functions.

If you get up and start tidying up the house, your body then needs additional fuel to support these ‘medium-energy’ activities.  Then if you exercise or perform manual labor, you require more fuel to support these ‘high-energy’ activities.

This is matching your caloric intake with your energy output.

The problem is that most people don’t know the amount of calories their body burns at rest.  So when you start dieting, you pick a calorie count based on previous diets, or a generic number based on age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity.

The problem with these methods is that they don’t look at your unique physiology – specifically, your muscle mass.  The basal metabolic rate is based on lean body tissue, or muscle.  Since muscle is more metabolically active than fat, a person with more muscle is going to have a higher basal metabolic rate.

For example, you have two people standing next to each other – both 40, female, 5’4” and 135 lbs. You may decide from these parameters that they need a 1,300-calorie diet to lose weight.  But if you were to look closer, you’d find that one woman’s 135 lbs. is made of muscle, whereas the other woman’s 135 lbs. is made of fat.

This is a very important distinction.

If we were to test their basal metabolic rate, we may find that the woman with more muscle burns 1,500 calories at rest, whereas, the woman with more body fat burns 1,300 calories at rest.

If we stuck with the generic parameters and fed them both a 1,300-calorie diet, the woman with more muscle would be eating LESS than what her body needs to perform normal body functions.  As a survival mechanism, this woman’s metabolism would slow down to meet the 1,300-calorie diet.  This then slows down the rate at which she burns fat to lose weight.

In order to lose weight effectively and foster a healthy metabolism, it’s best to know your individual basal metabolic rate.

Many health specialists have machines that measure your exact muscle mass through Bio-Impedance Analysis, commonly known as B.I.A.  This is a method of assessing your body composition, which is the ratio between fat and lean body mass.

This analysis sets your specific caloric intake, by determining your BMR and measuring it against your level of physical activity.  With this information, you can now eat the proper amount of calories to burn fat, maintain (or gain) muscle, and improve your overall metabolism.

The B.I.A. is also a more effective way to measure your progress than simply watching the scale.  When you stand on a typical scale, it measures your total body weight.  So if your weight goes up or stays the same, you think your eating plan is failing you. If your weight goes down, you believe you’re on track.

What the scale doesn’t measure is how this weight is dispersed in your body. Remember, your body composition includes fat and muscle, with muscle weighing more than fat.  So sometimes the number on the scale may reflect a loss or gain in muscle rather than a loss or gain in fat.

Here’s an example.

If you lose weight on the scale, and then test your B.I.A. and see that you’ve lost muscle and gained fat, this is an undesirable result.  If you gain weight on the scale, and then do your B.I.A. to find that you’ve LOST body fat and GAINED muscle, this is an ideal scenario!  If you’d simply measured your weight on the scale and seen that you’d gained weight, you’d think your ‘diet’ wasn’t working and so you’d cut more calories… and, we know where that leads!

If you want a healthy weight, make sure you’re eating the proper amount of calories for your specific metabolism.  You can increase your metabolism (to have a higher basal metabolic rate, thus affording your more calories) by adding resistance exercises such as power yoga, Pilates, kickboxing, sculpting or swimming. In addition, eat small meals every 3-4 hours to prevent low blood sugar resulting in muscle depletion, and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables to get high-density nutrition through low-density calories.

*To find out your BMR, and to determine your unique caloric intake, please contact Julie at juliehammerstein@gmail.com to schedule a B.I.A.  Julie will be offering a discounted analysis to anyone local to Denver through August 30^th.  If you are not local to Denver, Julie can get you in touch with practitioners in your area that use the B.I.A system.

Morning Tea Talk:

Enhance Your Family’s Health

You’re Invited!

Come share in the simple solutions that improve your family’s health by:

• Supporting the immune system;
• Decreasing cellular aging caused by stress and poor diets;
• Delivering key antioxidants to protect you against illness, weight-gain, fatigue and other common health issues.

Thursday, July 8th

10-11am – Tea, Coffee & Smoothies

Kids Welcome

530 S. Emerson Street, Denver 80209

Rsvp to Julie H.:  303-885-1818 or juliehammerstein@gmail.com; or Julie L.: 303-513-4713 or Julie@papillonlife.com

Sponsored by

You’re Invited!

Come share in the simple solutions that improve your family’s health by:

• Supporting the immune system;
• Decreasing cellular aging caused by stress and poor diets;
• Delivering key antioxidants to protect you against illness, weight-gain, fatigue and other common health issues.

Wednesday, July 21st

6-7:30pm – Wine & Healthy Snacks

Kids Welcome

530 S. Emerson Street, Denver 80209

Rsvp to Julie H.:  303-885-1818 or Juliehammerstein@gmail.com or Julie L.: 303-513-4713 or Julie@papillonlife.com

A Colorado Celebration  Of Women in Transition

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Denver Botanic Gardens

8:30 to 4:00 PM

KOSI’s Jackie Selby~Afternoon Emcee!
Keynote Speakers:

Julie Hammerstein – Family Wellness and Nutrition Expert

www.juliehammerstein.com

Debra Fine- Internationally recognized speaker and author of The Fine Art of Small Talk.

www.debrafine.com

Julie Pech – Chocolate Therapist

www.thechocolatetherapist.com

Mitch Powers- Growing Your Investments

www.investsg.com

Deb Sheppard- Finding Clarity and Peace

www.depsheppard.com

A Wildflower Women’s Makeover

Clothes by Bling of Castle Rock

Hair and Make up by Ed Gillespie, Over The Top Salon

The $75 tax-deductible ticket price includes a catered lunch, silent auction, and admission to the Botanic Gardens.

For more information and to order tickets, please go to www.wildflowerwomensfoundation.org and click on Events.

Click Here to Replay – “Nutritional Challenges Through the Generations”  -  a Mother’s Day special to honor the wonderful moms in my life.  My 70-year-old mom shares her personal health journey, and my sisters share their unique stories of overcoming unhealthy relationships to food, and cultural differences in dietary habits.

Growing a garden may seem like a daunting task, especially if you’ve never done it before.

I admit, I’ve always been intimidated by the process.

Yet I’d really like to beat the cost of organic food, and the continual depletion of our natural resources really concerns me. So I know that growing my own food is a great way to beat the system, protect the earth, and provide fresh, nutritious food for my family.

There are also huge emotional upsides to growing a garden!  I love to put on my iPod, crank the tunes and spend time digging in the dirt!  It’s totally therapeutic and a wonderful way to bond with my loved ones.  My boyfriend Andrew and I had fun last summer making fresh salsa with the tomatoes and peppers from his garden, and our boys gobbled it up!

But since I am fairly new to the gardening process, I asked my staff writer extraordinaire, Chelsea Frankel, to do a little investigating.  I wanted to know what it would take to start my own garden, in addition to planting some new items in Andrew’s plot.

And this is what she discovered:

What you’ll need:

A small plot of land – in your own backyard or a shared community garden

Fruit, vegetable and herb seeds

Starter tray

Nutrient-rich dirt

All-natural fertilizer

Garden tools:  hoe, rake, sand (optional), 10” metal pipe, hose or watering can

Foot-long sticks or wooden round rods

String or old t-shirts torn into long strips

Preparation:

Know your climate. Certain crops grow better in the spring, where others should be planted early to mid-summer.  Same goes for general weather patterns.  Some seeds do better in warmer, drier climates, where others do well with lots of rain and humidity.

Pick the plot of land. You want to choose an area that will receive plenty of sun. If you live in the woods where deer and other animals will be tempted to eat your crops, consider enclosing the area with a make-shift barrier.

Check the acidity of your soil. Strips are available at your local hardware or gardening stores. The best pH values are between 6.5 and 7. If your soil is overly acidic, you can apply garden lime when preparing the soil, just before you add the fertilizer.  There will be directions on the bags of the lime and the fertilizer on how to add each to the soil.

Getting started:

Step 1: Buying the seeds or plants – It is important to buy high quality seeds for a successful garden. Make sure to buy organic seeds to insure they were not treated with pesticides or other harmful chemicals. You may also choose to buy your seeds online at sites such as www.gurneys.com. If you don’t want to deal with the seeds, you can buy small vegetable plants instead and plant them in the ground to speed up the process.

Step 3: Planting your seeds – The easiest way to begin your garden is to use starter trays (purchased at Home Depot, Wal-Mart, or gardening stores).  Lay down your dirt and fertilizer, and plant two or three seeds per tray.  Keep the trays in your home for a few weeks before you transfer the sprouted plants outside. Keep the seeds moist but not drenched, and give them plenty of sunlight.

Step 3: Getting the soil ready. The earth where your garden will be planted must be free of roots, grass and weeds. Till the soil with your hoe, and then rake away excess debris. After this is complete, sprinkle the area with the all-natural fertilizer (www.downtoearthfertilizer.com) and a very small amount of sand.

Step 4: Planting the seeds or baby plants – When it is time to plant, dig a hole deep enough to cover the roots of the plant and some of the stem. Make sure you are leaving ample space between the plants (about 1’) and enough empty spaces throughout the garden so that you can walk around (to prune, water, etc.) without damaging anything. After planting, water the entire area until moist but not drenched.

Step 5: Anchor your plants – As your plants grow, anchor them by tying small sticks to the plant with string or your torn t-shirts to keep them upright.

Step 6: Water and Prune – Each plant will have specific directions for watering and pruning.  Follow the directions carefully, or get online to learn how to best care for the specific fruits, veggies and herbs in your crop.

Step 7 : Enjoy Your Healthy Harvest!

Additional Tips:

Don’t get discouraged! Gardening is like anything else – it takes practice and there is a learning curve. If your first season isn’t as prosperous as you’d like, don’t give up as you’ll learn from your mistakes.

To keep moles away from your garden, put a 10 inch metal pole into the ground, leaving one fourth of it above ground. Once or twice a day, hit the pole with a stick. The vibrations in the earth will keep them away. (This tip totally cracks me up for some reason!).

Most Important Tip:  Have Fun! Rally your kids, friends and family and share in a wonderful experience.

If you have any experiences you’d like to share, please comment below!  I’d like to grow lettuce, carrots, zucchini and strawberries this year ~ and TONS of herbs.  Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Happy Gardening!

Max and I have so much fun putting cool snacks together.  I also savor the time we spend together, so I make sure that at least 3-4 times per week we are doing something fun and active after school.  This week he decided he wanted to go on a run with me since he has a new iPod.  It was so cute watching him run around the park – although we had to walk quite a bit too.

Check out our newest video – MaxSnacks

I am so excited for this week!  I’m heading to California with Max to visit family, and I can’t wait to plop down on the beach and play in the ocean! As I write this, I’m actually looking at an ocean scene which I loaded as the backdrop to my Gmail page.

I love the water!  Yet strangely, I have recurring dreams about being in the ocean, trying to get out from under huge waves that threaten to take me down.

Okay, so this may sound “out there”, but I was listening to a Zig Ziglar interview this morning, and had a realization.  Watch this first, and then I’ll continue.

What struck me was his quote, “You don’t drown by falling in the water, you drown if you stay there.”

That really resonated with me. I love that he states this with a big grin, as if to say, “Look my friend, here’s your situation, now swim like heck and get out of it!”.

So it occurs to me that these dreams about being “under the wave”, are metaphors for when I’m faced with a tough situation.  Maybe I’m feeling overwhelmed by everything on my plate.  Maybe it’s when I’m in conflict with another person, or trying to figure out a parenting snafu.  I’ve never really stopped to see what’s going on in my life when I have these dreams, but it appears they come up when I’m trying to “sort it all out”.

So here’s the realization…I always get out from under the wave.  I never drown.  And so it is in my life.

How many times have you felt you were “under the wave”?  You have all experienced situations that seems unmanageable, unfair or downright scary.  Yet you’re all still here, right?  You survive. You have the resources to swim out from underneath it all, and come out alive.

So as Ziglar is saying, find the strength, courage, determination and skill to rise up and overcome whatever it is that’s keeping you trapped.  Letting the wave win is not an option!  Especially when you know that your dreams are much bigger than the 20-foot wave that threatens to bring you down.  The life you envision, is actually your life-saver.

So I finally got it.

You know why I never drown in my dreams?  Because I see all the amazing things that await me on the shore.  Now SWIM!