JMB Living
Hi! I'm Julie, founder of The Art of Intentional Living Community and creator of beautiful guided seasonal journals focusing on wellness and living intentionally. I teach journaling as a tool, not only for mental wellness, but also for creating what you want out of life. My journals are quite unique – guided journal, planner and magazine in one. They include articles sharing inspiration from wellness professionals, vision board space, habit trackers and so much more. I also just release Worthy: A Radical Self-Love Journal. Each week I release new videos on my YouTube channel with suggestions and ideas for slow living and intentional living.
💛 Weathered. NOT Worthless...
Rust Doesn't Mean Ruined... The other day I reached into the refrigerator for a jar of homemade sauerkraut and noticed the lid had developed a good bit of rust. I wondered if I should throw it away, but I decided to do a little research and concluded the sauerkraut was perfectly fine. It simply needed a new lid. Days earlier I had dragged an old metal garden arch out of mom's barn where I'd been storing it for years. It had collecting dust, moisture, and plenty of rust. My husband wanted me...
😡 I keep making the SAME mistake.
A reminder from Mother Nature... Hey there, I was outside before sunrise this morning, trying to beat the heat while pulling yet another patch of periwinkle vine from the hillside behind our house. As I mentioned in earlier emails, I've been working on reclaiming that hill since spring, and every time I head out there, I make the same mistake. I grab a huge handful of vines and pull as hard as I can. Very little happens. The roots stay put. A few stems break off at ground level. My hands get...
🌻 Life Update & Honoring the Season you find yourself in...
Honoring the Season You are In If you've been with me for awhile, you know that I often talk about seasons. Not just the seasons outside my window… but the seasons of life. And I wanted to share a little life update with you because I value bringing you along for the real journey — not just the polished parts. Last fall, my husband and I purchased a small lot in Helena, Montana. For years we’ve wrestled with the question of whether or not we should move someday. We truly love our life here in...
❤️🩹 The healing I never saw coming...
The stories we tell ourselves, may not be true... For years, I believed I had a sensitive digestive system. It wasn't always that way. But somewhere along the journey through menopause, my digestion seemed to change. I dealt with bloating, indigestion, and a growing list of foods that required caution. Over time, I adjusted. I learned about Ayurveda, changed the way I ate, experimented with supplements, took probiotics, drank kombucha, ate fermented foods, and faithfully made a batch of bone...
🌻 Busy Is NOT the same as engaged...
Good morning friend, Yesterday I spent most of the day working in the garden. By dinner time, my body felt tired. I'd hauled bags of mulch, dug holes in hard soil, planted shrubs, watered plants, and spent hours moving from one project to the next. It was a full day of physical work and yet though my body was ready for a rest, I noticed that while I felt tired, it was "tired in a good way". Not the kind of tired that comes from rushing through a packed schedule. Or the kind where I overdid it...
5 Ways to get more from your walk...
There are many things I love about this time of year, but the one thing that stands out is the ease of spending more time outdoors and the emotional and physical rewards for doing so. The days are longer. The flowers are blooming. The birds seem to have more to say. Even an ordinary walk around the neighborhood can easily be more this time of year. Over the years I began to notice that not all walks leave me feeling the same. Some leave me relaxed yet energized, inspired, deeply refreshed....
🌿 What are your days teaching you???
Lessons my days are revealing... Good morning friend, What activities are filling your days these days? And maybe even more importantly... What are they teaching you? Sometimes the lessons are obvious. Other times they're quietly unfolding beneath the surface. It could be something as simple as gaining deeper clarity about what you want—or don't want—to be doing with your time. But often we don't discover those lessons until we pause long enough to ask. For the past couple of months, I've...
🌼 The little things that change it all...
Let's create some more happiness... My morning this month have started with reflections on happiness. One of my favorite daily reading books, Daily Gratitude: 365 Days of Reflection, has been centered around happiness this month, and several of the quotes really ring true for me. Like this one: “It isn't the big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones.”— Jean Webster The other morning I noticed the tiny spark of happiness simply from sprinkling cinnamon...
🌼 A gentle way to shift negative thoughts...
A softer way to release negativity... Lately, I’ve been reminding myself of something simple… and surprisingly powerful. It's a method to counter negative thinking and it's called the 4 N’s. It's not complicated—but it works when my mind starts running in directions that don’t serve me. Especially lately. As I’ve been healing, I’ve noticed how easy it is to slip into impatience.To wonder why things aren’t moving faster.To question my body.To feel frustrated with the pace of it all. Which is...
💗 What if joy is essential?
Are you allowing time for the things that bring you happiness? Lately I've been spending long hours nurturing seeds to seedlings, transplanting, growing food and creating new beauty in my outdoor spaces. I'd forgotten how much joy I find in spending my time this way. It's not that I ever stopped gardening, but there were years that I reduced it to a bare minimum because I told myself I didn't have time. I'd make sure my porch was colorful, that I planted a few vegetables and cared for my...