Love Note To Yourself + Spiced Red Lentil Soup

In order for any real progress to be made you can’t just think it’s a good idea. You have to open up that big beautiful heart of yours to the pain, the healing, the frustration, the love, the devastation, the annoyance, the cravings, the bliss and the light that comes with change.

You have to want it so bad that you can taste it dripping directly into your mouth.

You have to be so honest with yourself that it makes you cringe.

You have to greet your demons with a big fucking sign that says:

WELCOME HOME

It’s not easy, but if you’re ready, if you’re open, and if you’re honest, the rest will fall into place and you’ll be welcomed with peace directly on the other side of your pain.

Anais Nin wrote:

“And the Day Came When the Risk to Remain Tight In a Bud Was More Painful Than the Risk It Took to Blossom.”

It usually takes something monumental and heartbreaking to turn our world upside down and bitch slap us before we reach the point where we’re finally ready for big, massive change.

But here’s the thing. You don’t have to be pushed to the point of being bitch slapped with heartbreak.

You don’t have to wait until the talk of divorce comes up.

You don’t have to delay until you’re laying in a hospital bed.

You don’t have to keep putting it off until you get really bad news from your doctor.

You don’t have to procrastinate until you are so unhappy that life is literally being sucked out of you.

You don’t have to continue the cycle of self inflicted bullshit until it catches up with you and you have no choice but to lay it to rest.

You get to decide exactly when you’re ready.

You get to choose the moment you want it so bad you can taste it dripping.

You can make yourself cringe with honesty today.

You can write a welcome sign for your demons with a hot pink marker this very second.

And you can open your loving heart with beautiful vulnerability before the sun goes down today.

You have the power and the free will to decide exactly when you’re ready for change.

And spoiler alert: There’s no perfect time for anything, so you may as well act now before you get bitch slapped and your world is thrown into a tizzy.

If you have been pushed to it and self inflicted bullshit has finally caught up with you, than close your eyes, take a deep breath and find comfort in the fact that it’s finally over.

If you’ve tried and stumbled in the past, it’s okay. You weren’t truly ready to embrace the fuckery that comes with getting out of your comfort zone and facing the world without your vices.

Maybe you were doing it for someone else. Maybe you were doing it because it was “the right thing to do”. It doesn’t matter. Let it go. Forgive yourself. You can’t do shit about the past.

Today is a new day. And with every new day there’s an opportunity to make a different choice.

So whether you get pushed to it or you decide to put on the brakes before it gets to that, make the choice to be ready and then strap in for the ride.

Because finding peace within your pain and beauty within your devastation is a necessary and inevitable part of the process when going through big change. You can put it off, but whether it’s next week or next year, once you decide that you’re ready, there’s no avoiding it. Finding comfort in your discomfort is where you’ll find the magic.

Big change is hard. It sucks. It stings. It aches. It feels suffocating at times. It feels larger than life. Even if that change is for the better. Even if that change will bring you peace, happiness, health and healing. That’s the irony, isn’t it?

We resist change even when we KNOW in our heart of hearts that it’s the right thing to do.

It takes strength, courage, dedication, commitment and most of all, it takes self-love.

And you, most beautiful human, have all of that and then some, and I am rooting you on.

If changing what you eat is something that needs to happen, our weekly Plant Fueled Meal Plans take the guesswork out of it so you can concentrate on other things – like bravely welcoming your demons.

Spiced Red Lentil Soup

If cooking for one, either make half of this recipe or make the whole batch and freeze half.

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Author: Molly Patrick of Clean Food Dirty Girl

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Ingredients

• ▢ 2 cups dried red lentils 415g
• ▢ 1 cup onion 120g, diced
• ▢ 3 garlic cloves minced
• ▢ 2 teaspoons coriander powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon paprika
• ▢ ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ▢ 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ▢ 10 turns cracked black pepper
• ▢ 7 cups water
• ▢ Red pepper flakes
• ▢ Lemon slices
• ▢ Cilantro

Instructions

• Rinse the lentils and place them in your slow cooker along with the onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, turmeric, paprika, cinnamon, sea salt, black pepper and water.
• Stir once and cook on high for 5 hours.
• When serving, place some red pepper flakes, lemons and fresh cilantro on the table for garnish.

Wishing you a happy week. May it be filled with strapping on your love armor and facing your demons until they dissolve into a pile of glittery stars that you can lovingly give back to the universe.