Hello lovelies!
This is the old version of my lifestream that won't be updated anymore. Go to jessicamullen.com for fresh goodness!
I’ve watched the film The Secret several times since my friend Jessie suggested it a couple months ago. The Secret is all about the law of attraction, & how to make practical use of it. The law of attraction states that what we think about directly influences what happens in our lives. Think about debt, heartache, & pain, & that’s what you attract into your life. Think about love, happiness, & joy, & it will flow into your life effortlessly.
Learning about the law of attraction has completely transformed me. Back in April I was struggling with some mild depression, & changing my thought patterns from negative to positive made all the difference in the world!
Here are my favorite concepts from The Secret. My hope is that they might get you excited about thinking positively too! Whenever I find myself in a negative mood, it’s helpful to remember that I am the creator of my reality, & that I choose absolutely everything that is in my life. We all have the power to have whatever we desire, why not take advantage of it?
- Ask. Believe. Receive. These are the simple instructions for implementing the law of attraction in your life. Figure out what you want (which is the hard part!), & then ask for it. Asking publicly online is one of the best ways to get the things you need. Ask on Facebook, ask on Twitter, ask on your blog. Your social network will surprise you! Next, just believe you have what you want! Act as if it’s already yours. Begin to FEEL like everything you want is already yours. Then, you receive. By asking for what you want & believing it is already yours, the universe has no choice but to bring you what you want!
- When you visualize, you materialize. Picture exactly what it will be like to have what you want. Visualize it over & over.
- Thoughts become things. You have the power to manifest real, physical, things. By constantly envisioning your deepest desires coming true, you are signaling to the universe that you are ready to make those things real.
- Make a habit of using the law of attraction. This can be difficult at first, but is essential for success. Picture your day in segments, & before each one, quickly visualize how you want that segment to play out. I have trouble remembering to do it sometimes, but when I do, it definitely works!
- Whatever you think about & thank about, you bring about. Being thankful & full of gratitude is essential. First, being grateful for what you already have is the quickest way to change a negative mood around. Second, having a constant feeling of gratitude in your mind primes you for receiving more.
- Trust inspired thought. The universe likes quick decision-making. Trust your intuition & act swiftly & you will be rewarded :]
- Paint it. The law of attraction makes a lovely complement to creativity. Creating artwork that physically visualizes what you want generates an artifact that you can look at again & again whenever you need a reminder.
- Life is meant to be abundant in every way. Asking for what you want is not selfish, & you deserve to have everything you wish. There is enough for everyone! When you get what you want, you become a happier person. Being happy & positive is the best way to help & inspire others.
What do you think about the law of attraction? Has it helped you in your life? If you haven’t yet, give it a shot & let me know what you think.
This week I am fasting. For 10 days! It is an experiment in self-discipline, spirituality, & cleansing. We won’t be running our training miles this week (only walking!) and without having to cook, I’m going to have a lot of time on my hands! Instead detailing how I want every day to play out, I want to share my list of things to manifest. That way, I don’t have to figure out HOW things are going to happen, but only the end results I want!
Making a list of things to manifest is like placing your order with the universe. Figuring out what exactly you want & telling the world about it gives the universe a chance to bring you what you most deeply desire! People who don’t ask for what they want don’t get it. The universe is abundant & there is plenty for everyone!
This week I am so happy & grateful that…
- I am following my joy. My joy is creating & sharing & inspiring!
- I am healthy. My mind, body & spirit are in tip-top shape.
- My life is a carnival! It is full of glitter & sparkling lights & super fun rollercoasters. I meet fascinating people everywhere I go & there is always more to explore!
- Lifestreaming & creating inspiring multimedia articles is my high-paying job! Seriously, I cannot think of a better job to have. Live life, document it, & distill it into gorgeous artifacts to share.
- I am INCREDIBLY disciplined. Did you know Anna Wintour goes to bed at 10:15p every night?? I’m talking that level of discipline!
- I have one million readers a month on this site! Can you believe it?! ;]
- I am a muse. Who doesn’t want to be a muse?
- I am in love. I worried that this item is not specific enough, but on second thought, I want to be in love in every possible way! I am in love with my girlfriend, with my family & friends, with my city, with my life. I want that feeling ALL THE TIME, the butterflies, heart in your throat, IN LOVE.
- I am constantly inspired! Every experience is a source of creativity.
- Every article I write is a chapter in my pattern language book.
- I have a brand new NEXUS ONE! I’m eligible for an iPhone 4 upgrade, but Mr. Barnard is convincing me to choose better.
- I exercise & meditate daily! These things I am CERTAIN are keys to happiness.
- Money is POURING INTO MY LIFE. I am debt-free & have more than enough money to have & do all the things I desire.
- I need only four hours of sleep! True story!
- I am thin & beautiful & strong!
- I experience FUN & MAGICK everywhere I go.
- I have fun & loving friends!
- I have my period! um… lol.
- My friends & family are happy & healthy. I hope this one doesn’t count as trying to control other people
- I eat whatever I want & never gain weight! Except when I’m doing that whole fasting thing…
- I’m living the life I want NOW! The more I think about it, the more I like things how they are! Not to say I don’t welcome change, but I live in a beautiful city with a beautiful girl in a beautiful apartment doing beautiful work. Life IS good :]
- I am going to Amsterdam & Berlin in October! Kelly & I are making the trip! We are so excited, we have yet to actually travel “for fun” together.
- I am detached. Attachment is the root of all suffering, & I want nothing to do with it!
- My life is an abundant trip! Who needs hallucinogens when I constantly feel like I’m tripping? Life IS the trip!
Thanks for reading! I would love to hear your list of things to manifest! Share in the comments? <3
Me at lots of different ages!
Kelly & I just moved from the east side of Austin to the south, from a 3 bedroom house to a 1 bedroom apartment. We had massive amounts of THINGS to get rid of, much of which we had accumulated to fill a house that was too big for us! We decided to be much more intentional with the interior design of our new place.
Kelly sold most of our furniture & useful things on Craigslist, & we donated around 15 bags of clothes, accessories & kitchen items. But I was still left with boxes of photos, trinkets, & mementos. I wouldn’t say I’ve reached a state of minimalism yet, but with Kelly’s help I am well on my way. I think that my amulet to ward off attachment really helped! Here are a few things I learned from the move…
- Get rid of the easy stuff first. Photo doubles, picture frames, matchbooks, gone. I found it helpful to sort out the empty ephemera first, because I needed to build up some momentum to keep going!
- If you’re not sure about keeping something, put it in a pile to look at close to moving day. You’ll probably feel a lot less attached to it with an impending deadline!
- Keep only your nice things. And then use them. Kelly had me choose between keeping a crappy plastic cutting board and a beautiful wooden cutting board made by my dad. I was all, “no we use that plastic one all the time!” and then I wondered what the hell I was saving the nice cutting board for, Thanksgiving or something?
- Get rid of things you’re REALLY. NOT. GOING. TO. USE. I live in Texas. I wear a layerable series of hoodies throughout the mild winter. It snowed once last year. I do not need four heavy winter coats. In Illinois, I had an excuse. In Texas, I now have one winter coat.
- Make a pile to digitize & toss. I had to bring my photos with me to the new place, so I could figure out how to part with them. I ended up photographing my photos! I tiled them all together & photographed them with a nice camera so I could preserve the memory (in my lifestream) but get rid of the paper. Want to see my adolescent life? A MASSIVE amount of photos below. If you have any tips on letting go of things, please let me know! Click the images for larger view.
Welcome to my first video from the new apartment! Today I want to share an update on my work with EFT. I tried it a little over a week ago to address issues with emotional overeating. I had some success – I didn’t overeat for 7 days (I consider overeating to be going over 2000 calories), but then I moved & things got stressful & I went back to my old ways!
My first conclusion is that EFT should be practiced regularly to be successful, like meditation or exercise. But I had a much bigger realization about the issue I was working on–instead of focusing on NOT overeating, I just want to be EATING WELL.
I want to make my life easier, not harder! Instead of using the law of attraction to successfully restrict calories, I should use it to get what I REALLY want, which is to eat whatever I want & never worry about my weight! So I’m quitting counting calories, no longer weighing myself, & seeing what happens!
[recorded 7.7.10 | duration: 00:04:10 | Music credit: sietch kids save us by Williamson | Subscribe to my videos in iTunes]
Download video m4v
What do you think about calorie restriction & the raw food diet? Is a calorie just a calorie, or can one eat more calories & not gain weight if the food is all raw vegan?
Spending a lot of time on the Internet connects us together as people, but can disconnect us from our higher selves. One remedy for this is regular meditation.
Kelly & I began meditating together once a week last March to see if it could increase our level of wellness. We loved it so much that we now do it 20 minutes a day, six days a week.
Everyone has a different way of meditating. My preference is to combine deep breathing with chakra visualization. I take deep breaths, inhaling for 10 counts, then exhaling for 10 counts. As I inhale, I visualize energy flowing into my crown chakra, & as I exhale, I picture the energy activating that chakra. On the next inhale, I pull energy into my third eye chakra, & continue the breathing process for the rest of the chakras (throat, heart, solar plexus, navel, base of spine) until they are all activated.
Once activated, I hold the energy in my body & visualize the things I desire in my life. Essentially, I use this time to ask what I want from the universe, and to see if it resonates with my higher self.
The more vividly I can picture the active energy in my body, the more successful the meditation is for me. I was having trouble remembering the colors associated with each chakra, so I made an elaborate necklace (slash headpiece) to wear. Making the necklace helped me remember each color perfectly, and enabled my visualization to progress.
Now when I meditate, my chakras take on unique visual properties inspired by the necklace I made. The crown becomes a mass of purple crystals. The third eye is a cluster of blue stars. The throat is a ripple in a minty pool of water. The heart (my favorite) is an open farm field with violins playing. The solar plexus is a spray of yellow mist, and the navel is a group of orange globes. The tailbone is red & rippling like water in the bottom of a well. This is sort of what it looks like to me:
This form of meditation is much different from the clearing-your-mind-of-all-thought variety. Ideally, I would like to practice both types of meditation, using visualization in the morning & head-clearing in the evening.
Do you have a meditation process? What do you visualize? What do your chakras look like? Draw me a picture?!
I first heard about Emotional Freedom Techniques from Gala Darling. As a general believer in magick & the power of the mind, I like trying out metaphysical personal development techniques. I incorporate the ones that work into my daily life & I forget about the ones that don’t. Meditation & tarot are my most successful experiments, while ping pong ball tripping was not repeated.
After I learned about EFT, I remained skeptical for a long time. But I started hearing from other people who have experience with it, & I became too curious.
Undoubtedly one of the freakiest videos I’ve published, please join me as I publicly expose my deep psychological issues & attempt to cure them in less than four minutes using EFT ;]
[recorded 6.27.10 | duration: 00:04:14 | Music credit: Tibetan Plateaux by SoLaRiS | Subscribe to my videos in iTunes]
Download video m4v
Have you ever tried EFT? Do you think I’m cured? I do.
Telling my future is an exercise in autobiographical science fiction. Before you can go somewhere in physical reality, you have to go there in your head! What would your week look like if you could design it exactly the way you wanted?
MONDAY
I leave my perch in the Tower where I work & race home on my bicycle. As I sip on a fresh spinach smoothie, I finish posting my future (this future?), just barely escaping a bizarre time warp opened in the blogosphere.
I edit & post my crying EFT video and feel such relief that it actually worked! It’s like a switch has been flipped in my head, & I no longer have the desire nor capacity for late-night zombie nom sessions. After 21 years of watching the battle of head vs. stomach, HEAD HAS WON!
After a rawsome kale salad dinner, Kelly & I embark on more packing. I empty my file cabinet & find $1,000 I had no idea was there! OMG WTF this is blowing my mind. I set aside a small stack of papers to scan & post about later, we edit & post a badass TPP ep, & I go to sleep grinning like a fool!
TUESDAY
Now that we’re on day 10 of our 100% raw diet, I’m starting to not need as much sleep. I wake at 4a & write a pretty article about chakras before meditation & breakfast.
We cheerfully break our 3 mile run record time! While we are out, Paypal notifications pour into my inbox. Donations?? For ME?? Feeling ecstatic & additionally rather sexy, I tromp into work to blow through my final-report-writing in 2 hours. Writing 10 page papers in 2 hours is my specialty, after all!
Kelly & I spend a giggly afternoon running our last pre-move errands. After more scrumptious salad-for-dinner, we drop off our smoothie smooths to our friends & get to some straight chillin.
WEDNESDAY
I get up early & record some lifestream propaganda! I am frantic trying to communicate how much this shit works! Seriously guys, no joke.
We run & brainstorm & enter a new level of sober-tripping. I pour the feeling into a tiny necklace charm to keep with me in case of emergencies.
I bring my computer to work & do the maddest multitasking a Millenial can do before bicycling back home. We have just a tiny bit of packing left to do! We work through the afternoon & spend one more evening parting with our worldy possessions. Things have started to get weird in the space-time continuum, & we’re starting to feel like we might be moving further than we originally thought.
THURSDAY
I seriously am not needing much sleep lately. I wake before 4 & have an article written before 6. We meditate & run like fiends & I go into work to put the finishing touches on my Final Report. Back at home, we record & post the podcast, saying goodbye to our home on the east side. We spend the evening in Internet Fun Land & are not sure if we are in Second Life or Real Life.
FRIDAY
Definitely back in real life for a moment, we pick up the key to our new place & sign the lease. In just a few trips most of our stuff is already there. So many friendly people to meet! We have definitely picked the chillest spot in Austin to live. & what a difference smiling makes when meeting a mass of people!
Tonight we are meditating, because we need to prepare for our shift to an entirely new perspective on life! Meditating, & also massively relaxing.
SATURDAY
My dad greets Kelly & me at 8a. The most painless move I have ever experienced is over before lunchtime. We eat rawsome salad bar! & my dad eats flesh, but his mind is opening up more every day. THANK YOU FOR HELPING US MOVE DAD! 
Miraculously, & somewhat mysteriously, we are unpacked. We have Internet. & it is time to celebrate! We set off to explore our new surroundings & are greeted with irresistible opportunities at every corner. We find a door to a carnival & meet a man who talks in two languages at once. We visit an underbelly of the city that makes everything look different when we come back out.
SUNDAY
Not to change the subject, but my weight is down to 119 today! I have finally broken 120 pounds! Jesus fucking christ what a relief. It’s a little early to judge, but let’s say case closed on the EFT. It works! We spend the day swimming & lounging. I am fasting… so that 115 goal is coming right up!
In the evening we relax in minimalism & simplicity, & I get ready for the next week of my Internet life.
I studied graphic design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001-2005. During that time I created a wealth of work that I have been dragging around with me the past 5-9 years. I had no plans for the big portfolio folders hiding in the closet–I intended to drag them with me for the rest of my life, I guess. But we’re downsizing to a much smaller space, & getting rid of things has been getting me high! I decided to photograph all of my undergraduate portfolios & projects to share digitally here, so I can cast off the weight of student work forever! This is going to be a long ride, keep your hands inside the trolley! (& click the images for a larger view!)
Foundations (2001-2002)
Before one is accepted to the 3 year graphic design program, one must take a year of foundation design & drawing classes to weed out the slackers.
Drawing
I drew this still life for my final project in Drawing 1. It took 31 hours!
The original polaroid of the objects:
The rest of these make me smile:
Design
I didn’t keep much from my foundations design courses… I had the curse of bad craft.
Photo
This is the only project I kept from the B&W photo class I took. I still love it! It makes me laugh. Student art at its finest.
Graphic design
I didn’t keep anything from my first graphic design class, because I was such a terrible, lazy student. But I kept these from a class with Jennifer Gunji that changed my life.
7 Sins
I became an illustrator when I took an imagemaking class with John Jennings. That was the class that made me wake up & pay attention in school.
First graphic design interview portfolio: boards/loose papers in a box
After another year or so of GD classes, I got a job as a student designer at the university counseling center. I also started making decent work in class. I started loving school! I made friends with my classmates & we had out of control makeout parties. Well, one anyway. Oddly, I don’t remember ever actually interviewing with this portfolio.
Although the boards-in-a-box method is heavy, it is far superior to the method you will see later in this post. Why? Because the work is easy to see with no distractions.
Calendar design!
Poster design!
Book design!
For Rick Moody’s “Boys“.
Counseling Center design!
A poster for eating disorder awareness week
A flyer & newsletter
A tshirt design & resource packet cover.
Graduation interview portfolio
I became a decent designer & hurriedly put together a book of work to take with me to Chicago on interviews with big, shiny design firms. I was excited for the real world! I had an open mind! The company who hired me gave me a 6 pack on my way out of my interview!
This portfolio method of glossy-pages-in-enormous-binder is a total bust. The pages are simply too reflective to see the work properly! But it did the trick, & after getting hired at my first (& only) 9-5 job, I never had to use it again.
don’t mind the pizza box under the trampoline
It took me an extremely long time to get remotely decent photos of this book. I considered some abstract options.
Ultimately I photographed this beast underneath the trampoline. But first! My resume:
Folk rock concert poster:
Kronos Quartet makes another appearance:
I had lots of fun making this set of promotional materials for a faux Andy Goldsworthy visit:
A proposed invitation to our senior exhibition:
More counseling center work. A system to promote a workshop series:
The Counseling Center logo!
Poster design:
Proposed identity system for the Urbana Indoor Aquatic Center:
Invitation to junior show:
Invitation to a portfolio review:
Book cover exercise:
Newspaper ad:
Typeface book covers:
Illustration time again! Panels to illustrate Edgar Allan Poe’s “Eldorado.”
An illustration project I worked on as a collaboration with John Jennings for his book The Hole.
A spread for Ninth Letter:
Earliest paid web work! The Japan House website.
A web piece for Ninth Letter, featuring artist Shahzia Sikander.
Another web piece for Ninth Letter, featuring work by author Richard Powers.
And thus concludes my portfolio review! What did you think? Do you keep your old schoolwork or portfolios? Do you think a photo writeup like this is enough documentation to throw the paper out once & for all?
Yesterday was our 5th day of caffeine-free sobriety and rawness on our 40 day challenge. Without the defaults of coffee shops, bars & cooked food restaurants, Kelly & I are always on the search for cheap, sober things to do in Austin. One of our favorite places to go for a 100-degree-afternoon break from work is Barton Springs, a 68 degree pool fed from underground springs.
photo by Kelly Cree
You can pay $3 to swim in the pool, or you can go to the free side on the other side of the fence. Surrounded by copious “no swimming” signs, the free side of BS is always packed with families, dogs, & stoners alike.
photo by Kelly Cree
The best part of the free side is that you can walk down the trail to a secluded nook for your own private swimming hole. There are plenty of rocks to sit on for meditation & straight chillin.
Actually, I think the best part of the free side of BS is that you can swim in your underwear & no one will judge! For whatever reason, we rarely wear our suits to the free side, though we do for the pay side…
Where else can you have alcohol- & money-free fun in Austin? Where do you go when you’re sober, broke & burnin up?
My girlfriend Kelly and I have been vegans for a little over six months. During training for the Illinois marathon this spring, we began eating mostly raw food because of the health benefits. Brendan Brazier’s Thrive Diet became our cooking bible, because we needed a vegan nutrition guide geared towards athletes.
We just finished up a 30 day challenge where we ate only raw foods (in addition to no alcohol or caffeine!), and are in the middle of another 40 day bout. It took some time to adjust to the raw lifestyle, but now I never want to go back (except for some Parlor pizza…)! Here are some recipes that we eat every day if you ever want to start introducing more raw food into your own diet.
Lately we’ve been having spinach smoothies for breakfast and lunch. They are extremely easy to digest, full of energizing spinach, and taste like dessert. The protein & flax keep me full for a long time.
1 10 oz bag of spinach
1 frozen banana
1 large orange
1/2 cup orange juice
2 T hemp protein
2 T ground flax seed
1 T dulse
half bag frozen berries
handful frozen blueberries
Put banana, orange, OJ, protein, flax & dulse in the blender & blend until smooth. Then stuff in the whole bag of spinach & blend again. Add the berries last, & blend for a long time so it’s smooth! Makes 2 large servings, about 300 calories each.
We eat a lot of magick pellet energy bars for snacks. If we’re fruited out, or need something with some fat and protein in it, the magick pellets are where it’s at. They are also quite energizing like the smoothies, & taste like a delicious chocolate truffle. They are great to nibble on during long runs! We’ve adapted our recipe from Brendan Brazier’s Chocolate Blueberry Energy Bars in Thrive. They work out to cost about 50 cents a ball. Considering all the serious nutrition they pack, it is a worthy investment.
4 cups soft dates
1 cup soaked almonds
3 cups frozen blueberries
1 cup raw cacao powder
1 cup ground flaxseed
1 cup hemp protein
1 cup unhulled sesame seeds
juice & zest of 1 lemon
sea salt
Blend all the ingredients in a food processor, then knead in the frozen blueberries. Roll into balls & then freeze; they keep really well! Makes about 50 small balls, about 150 calories each.
Raw vegan mock tuna is a staple in our house. We copied down the ingredients in Whole Food’s “happy tuna” and figured out our own recipe. It’s a very savory meal for lunch, & it is particularly enjoyable wrapped in nori with some sliced veggies & chili sauce. We are still working on the pickle component–the preservatives are no good.
1.25 cups soaked raw almonds
2 cups soaked raw sunflower seeds
4 celery stalks
4 pickles
juice of one lemon
2 tbsp dill
2 soaked dates
1 tsp agave
1 tsp dulse
handful of nutritional yeast
lots of crushed red pepper!
sea salt & ground black pepper
Blend everything in a food processor until desired consistency. Stir in 1 small white onion, chopped, and 2-3 more large dill pickles, chopped. Wrap with nori, add other veggies for a more sushi like experience, smear with chili sauce & dip in organic tamari! Makes many servings, maybe 8? I usually count a serving as 300 calories.
Usually we have a big kale salad every night for dinner. If we can’t find kale, we use spinach, romaine, or mustard greens. Having salads for dinner totally changed our lives! Instead of feeling weighed down & sleepy after eating, we are energized & satisfied. It’s important to have lots of yummy toppings to keep from getting bored. We essentially won’t eat salad without avocado, because it is so integral to the taste & full of healthy fat.
the salad (approximately 4 servings):
1 bunch of kale
2 chopped roma tomatoes
1 small chopped onion
5 chopped jalapenos
1-2 sliced avocados
sprinkle of sunflower & pumpkin seeds
handful of nutritional yeast (it’s like parmesan! & it’s where vegans can get their vitamin b12)
cayenne dill tahini dressing: (adapted from Brendan Brazier’s Thrive)
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup hemp oil
1/4 cup water
2 T raw tahini
1 T dill
1 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp agave nectar
sea salt
Blend or stir everything together & refrigerate before serving to get the flavors a-mixin. Our salads are usually about 550 calories a serving with all the avo.
Raw vegan macaroons have got to be our favorite dessert. Even though they are a decadent treat, they contain only the healthiest ingredients. They are actually a perfect snack before a short run! These cookies won’t give you that sick I-ate-too-much-sugar feeling & they are AMAZING & CHEWY refrigerated. We copied the ingredients from a package we got at Whole Foods & made our own recipe.
2 cups raw shredded coconut
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1 T coconut oil
2 cups soft dates
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 T agave nectar
sea salt
Blend everything in a food processor, form into little cookie shapes, and refrigerate. Sometimes you might need more dates if the mixture isn’t sticky or sweet enough. Makes about 25 cookies, around 100 calories apiece.
Aside from fruit, that’s pretty much all we eat right now! We sometimes make raw vegetable noodles with salsa & avocado, & we have been really enjoying our new food dehydrator for kale and zucchini chips!
What are your favorite raw vegan recipes? As soon as we move, we’re trying out new entrees!
