eat real

Spread Some Happy Today!

2011-09-28T02:46:00.000-07:00

You are aligned with God's Perfect Plan for You. It's the navigation system called GPPY.

Follow the Good Feeling - FGF. It may feel unnatural at first, but you'll get used to it.

Trusting God means Trusting Yourself - TGTY. Believe in yourself.

Feel good. Be happy and if nothing else - SMILE! :)

Know When To Say No

2011-09-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

Sounds harsh doesn't it? It comes natural to a two year old and my five year old knows how to spell it. Why do we spend a lifetime trying to ignore it?

It's suppose to sound harsh. Energetically, it draws a hard line with the other party which says, "This is where your request ends with me. Time to look elsewhere." So often we feel No is a rejection and we don't want to hurt the other person's feelings, we want to help, be of service, do God's Will.

You've heard it before- God's Will and trusting God means trusting yourself and how you feel. No ifs, ands or buts about it. If you are not feeling it, don't force it. So often I find myself turning experiences around in my head, trying to see the good in it, second guessing how I feel when really all I have to do is understand it doesn't feel right and find a way to say No. No is the voice of God speaking to me - telling me, "It is not your place. This is not your job."

The trick has been quieting the guilt that goes along with saying No. So often one can feel as if they are the only one who can do the work, organize the group and that they are needed above anyone else. I've got news for you - you are needed and the No you are feeling is God telling you to pay attention to the priorities in your life. The No is saving you from distraction, stress and regret. When you say Yes, but really want to say No, you are taking the space that is meant for someone else to fill. Although you have been asked or invited to participate, you have to discern if it is the right experience for you and the No feeling is saying, quite clearly, "I'm not the person for this job."

How to say No nicely.
1. "I'm over committed and can't give (you, the project) the time it deserves. It's better to let someone else handle it."
2. "Can I get back to you on that?" This one requires a follow up with a clear No.
3. "That is not part of my skill set, you'll be better off with someone else."
4. "No thank you". (with a smile)

What does no feel like?
1. If you are ruminating over and over in your mind about a person, place or situation it may be a signal to get out of it and step back.
2. Are you complaining, feeling victimized or grumpy? These are all ways the body is communicating No to you.
3. Sometimes it's a pit in the stomach feeling.
4. The body can tense up or you can hear the No in your head.
5."I don't know" usually means No. Hey, what if it really is saying, "I don't no."?

What if you've said yes, but really feel like a No? Better to say something sooner rather than later. So many times, we want to help. Don't help! Helping is enabling. Enabling is dis-empowering others. Dis-empowering others keeps them in a role of victimization. When one is in the paradigm of victimization, they are in a vicious downward spiral. This is not a sustainable situation for you or the other party. It's the hand out vs. hand up; giving fish or teaching others to fish approach.

No puts the responsibility right back where it belongs and releases you to allow the abundance of God, the Universe to flow.

Allow Universal Abundance with a simple No.

Secrets Revealed... Building Immunity

2011-09-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

We already had our first cold of the school season! Woo hoo!

It went exactly according to plan. You know the plan - the one where you plan not to get sick and publish to the whole world how to stay healthy and then your kid is one of the first to catch a cold plan?

Well, I never said you wouldn't get sick and I didn't expect my kids would never get sick. What I was hoping for, though, was a kid that could shake off any virus pretty easily. And, he did. This is what a strong immune system does. Even if you do get sick, it doesn't shut you down or turn into something worse.

Here are a few more tips and tricks to keep building up your immune system muscle.

Avoid / reduce:
· Dairy products – milk, ice cream, soy, casein, cheese
· White flour products
· White sugar, refined sugar, brown sugar, turbinado sugar, fructose, corn syrup, pasteurized honey
· Alcohol- beer, wine, sweetened fruit juice
· Artificial sweeteners, preservatives, hydrogenated & trans fats
· Anything termed “Enriched” including flours & vitamin drinks
· Avoid or reduce Coffee, sodas, juice boxes, vitamin drinks, etc.

These 'foods', and I use the term lightly, all create an acidic environment within the body. Yeasts, viruses, fungi and bacteria can only live in an acidic environment. When immunity is compromised, the average cold turns into an ear infection, bronchitis or strep. Give yourself and your kids a fighting chance by reducing these items from the daily diet.

It's one small step toward a little more sleep and a lot more peace.

10 Years

2011-09-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

You all remember where you were and how you heard the news. The memory of that day will live with us for the rest of our lives. It's part of the collective conscious of this society and although we may not have known even one person related to the events of that day, we knew every soul intimately... every single soul.

We knew the souls in the towers, on the planes, in NY, in PA, and DC. And, believe it or not, we also knew the desperate souls of those who hijacked the planes. In one day, our lives were forever changed.

Hero or victim - which perspective do you see? These souls came into and left the physical form for the benefit of all. The role they played honors us. Everything stopped, but the world kept turning... Babies were born, communities were brought together, families ended feuding, a country was united and a new story came to be.

That day was one lesson in our lifetime. What did you learn? How will you honor your life and the lives of those around you?

Lessons or blessings - they are one in the same. God always delivers blessings...

Secrets to a Healthy Winter

2011-08-25T02:50:00.000-07:00

Every Fall, when the kids head back to school, they start taking this invaluable immunity tonic. Last year they had perfect attendance at school. Of course, they did catch a few colds and had one puking virus, but overall they had a great winter! For the first time in their short lives, they had a normal response to these incidences. There were no trips to the ER for IVs nor constant antibiotics and calls to the doctor.

As you look forward to the coming months, one of the best things you can do, is cut back on sugar, preservatives and artificial ingredients. These ingredients create acidity in the body which translates into the perfect environment for dis-ease to thrive. The combination of cutting back on junk and taking the tonic is how we managed last winter. It's our 'secret' family recipe.

Immune Tonic Recipe
4oz. organic grape juice (Lakewood Organic brand)
1 tsp. fish oil (Nordic Naturals or Carlson brands)
1 tsp. elderberry syrup (Sambucol brand)
1 probiotic capsule (Jarrow brand)

Directions:
Take 5 mornings a week with 2 days off. Cut the quantities in half for kids 4 and under except for the probiotic. Lately, we've added 2 drops of oregeno oil to the mixture.

The better we all feel, the stronger our immunity and the less we even think about dis-ease. Look for more tips and information in the coming weeks!

Dent Relief

2011-08-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

I've had a dent in the back of my car for the past 7 years. Nothing serious. It just defined who I was.

After receiving the news about my father's sudden death at my in-laws house in Ohio, my father-in-law found the first flight back home so I could be with my mom. My husband, on the other hand, drove from Ohio to Connecticut with two little boys. At the time they were four and two. It took him 2 days and plenty of Heavenly guidance, but he made it. He pulled into the driveway at my mother's house and my mom took the kids into the house immediately. My husband was still sitting in the car. When he finally got out, he just hugged me and cried. Yes, my father had died, but his friend had died as well. A man he looked up to, respected and who understood him even better than his own family did. He was gone. Or so we thought...

After composing himself, my husband went into the house and I was left to unpack the car. To make it easier, I decided to back it into the driveway and unload into the garage. As I backed up, I hit something. We were all out of our minds as it was and here I was backing into something in the black of the night in the middle of winter. It was my father's stump grinder. If you don't know by now, he was a lumberjack. All of his equipment was still in the driveway and the garage. Still fresh with hydraulic oil and wood chips. Brand new car, brand new dead dad and brand new dent... life has a way of happening and we get to make sense of it. It can be fantastically ironic sometimes.

That dent was a gift from my father. It was a reminder to me how quickly life can change - How things, people come and go, but feelings last forever. It marked me like a scar after a cut. And, this cut was deep. In good conscious, I could not get it fixed. Sure, I got plenty of quotes and talked about it, but did nothing until now. It was a scar I wore with pride for 7 years. Everyone needed to see it. I needed to see it. It screamed, "This happened in my life and I survived." It said, "This is who I am."

It was time. I don't have any logical reason for why, I just knew it was time to fix it. I kept looking at the dent and how I defined myself, not wanting to let go of that moment in time. It was as if I had a piece of my Dad with me in that dent. Just like bumper stickers on the back of cars that convey how the driver feels about life, abortion, teams or schools ... I used the dent in the same way. But now, that sticker, that dent is inside me. It is part of my cellular structure. I've meditated upon it for the past 7 years without realizing it. That meditation has become a part of who I am.

How odd it is to define ourselves and unconsciously label or limit who we are. How odd it is to have to keep something like a dent for so long and then one day wake up and it's gone. What dents are you wearing? Is it time to smooth them out? The Buddha teaches that "Nothing ever goes away, until it has taught us what we need to know." The struggle of dark and light, good and bad has disappeared. What is left? Love.

My husband hammered it out this week. It's a smooth back-end again and I feel good about it. To the human eye, the dent is gone. That's OK, because it is forever engraved in my heart.

Power Breakfast: Gluten Free Pancakes

2011-08-06T05:28:00.000-07:00

The challenge: Make a great tasting, whole grain, gluten-free pancake.
Why?: Because.

Cornstarch. That's the real reason. It lacks any real nutritional value, is a high glycemic food, has no fiber, no protein, and is highly inflammatory. It is also one of the main ingredients in most gluten-free foods.

Many of you know spelt is my go-to grain for most everything. And, although it is a low-gluten food, it still has gluten. I wanted to make a true, whole grain pancake without gluten, but also without cornstarch - something that had more nutritional value. Thankfully, my kids are pancake connoisseurs and I can experiment with them. Sometimes the feedback is good, sometimes not - but they still eat it.

As is true to form with my shopping habits during the summer, we had run out of our standard spelt flour for the usual pancake breakfast. Keeping up with feeding the kids during the summer months is a challenge in itself. I swear they make up for the other nine months of the year when they are in school by eating constantly all summer. So, that morning, after surveying the pantry, I found some brown rice flour, corn meal and xanthan gum. Xanthan gum is a natural food product that thickens food. It acts like a glue when gluten based flour is not available. It's also used widely in gluten-free foods, but not the main ingredient. Usually 1/2 to 1 tsp. is all that is needed.

School is fast approaching, and you can amp up these pancake to make a complete meal. We added more fiber and protein by using flax seed and raw, organic, vegan brown rice protein powder. You'll also see oatmeal in the recipe below. Oatmeal is gluten free, however, it is not always processed in a facility that uses gluten specific machinery. Therefore, it can be considered a 'contaminated' food. If you have true celiac disease, make sure you purchase oatmeal processed in a gluten free facility.

Now we can have our cake and eat it too - gluten free!

Gluten Free Pantry Pancakes:
1 cup goat milk (can substitute almond or rice milk)
1 cage free egg
1/2 tsp. organic sea salt
1/2 tsp. aluminum free baking soda
1/2 tsp. free-trade vanilla
2 tbsp. whole cane sugar
1 tbsp. cold-processed, unrefined, sesame oil
1 & 1/4 cup organic brown rice flour
1/2 cup organic corn meal
1/2 cup organic oatmeal
1 tsp. xanthan gum
Optional: 2 tbsp flax seed meal and/or 1 scoop of Garden of Life Raw Protein.

Mix ingredients together and spoon onto a hot pan. Add a few chocolate chips or blueberries. Flip over and cook both sides.

To top them off, try Grade B Maple Syrup, almond butter & jelly or raw honey. The door is wide open to try all kinds of whole grain, gluten free flours - coconut, almond, quinoa, and millet. Why don't you experiment a little? Let me know how your pancakes turn out.

By the way, I have been known to run out of sandwich bread and send pancake or waffle sandwiches to school. Just food for thought as you start planning those school lunches...

Mix it up and have some fun!

Crappy to Happy in 3 Bloody Minutes

2011-07-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

We were in a huge funk at the beginning of the week. Whatever you call it, cabin fever, vacation recovery, too much togetherness - it was just ugly. The kids and I were not in harmony. July feels, to me, like the middle of winter. I feel like a hamster stuck in a cage because of the weather restrictions. Man, I just feel restricted!

Then came the bloody nose. Big brother gave little brother too rough a tackle. The third kid really does take a beating.Wake up call! God has a way of getting my attention through blood/injury and money. These get my attention and spark immediate action. Unintentional or not, mommy gets ugly when blood is drawn. It was not a pretty sight. At this point we were all feeling really crappy. So, I asked for help and said, "I am aligned with Source." The crappy feeling continued until something magical happened...

A commitment for Wednesday night canceled. All of a sudden my week was completely free and I felt better. There was literally a shift within my body that could be felt and registered in my brain - things had turned in the right direction. A total transformation within 3 minutes and I was a different person! I had another commitment Monday afternoon and canceled it. A client rescheduled due to vacation. The weight of the world lifted off my shoulders. I canceled a extra checking account the bank had talked me into and a gym membership I haven't used in a year. Wow, this feels great! The laundry is caught up and folded. The school supplies are bought and organized. The school uniforms and shoes are purchased. The kids are getting along and the little one recovered quickly. So I ask you. . . How can you open yourself up for transformation?

What can you cancel today that will lift some weight off your shoulders?
What can you throw out?
What can you do just for yourself and no one else?

Sometimes what we need is less, not more, to feel better. The Universe has a way of focusing our direction. The signs are obvious. Ease is the path to joy. All we have to do is pay attention and reach for the better feeling. Sometimes blood is involved, but that's just a part of life.

I am...

2011-07-13T02:57:00.000-07:00

Ohhhh, we are back from Grandma's house. We need a vacation to recover from the vacation! You've had plenty of time to meditate now on what you like, what you are good at and what you love. These lists are designed to give you a clearer sense of self. To be consciously aware of who you are. Now, on to the Passion Test....

The test begins with another list. Imagine that?! Except this list begins with the statement, "When my life is ideal, I am (experiencing, having, feeling, being, loving....)__________________." Make a list of the top ten (or more) things that would give you a life of joy. You don't have to be experiencing them now, but want to be. The previous exercises I gave you were designed to help you really look at what is happening right now in your life, what you like and what you don't. Now, you have the opportunity to design what you'd like your life to look like. Close your eyes and visualize your life. Where are you? Who's with you? What are you doing? How do you feel? Let yourself loose and write it down!

Once you have your Ideal Life List written, put the list in order of importance. The goal is to get the most important in the top 5 of the list. When I first did this, I couldn't limit myself to the top 5 because I didn't realize my passions can change or that they might be a subsection under a larger heading. For instance, You might say you're life is ideal when you have flexible work hours and you're life is ideal when you are enjoying every minute of the day. Can you see how "Enjoying every minute of the day" could be the passion and "flexible work hours" can fall under it as a condition that facilitates "Enjoying every minute of the day"? It's this kind of refinement we are asked to do in the book so that we can really look at our desires and allow our lives to sing.

Don't over think things, though. Go with your first instinct in making the list and let it sit for a bit. I know I had to come back to mine. The writers recommend that we take the test at least every 6 months. It's a good way to really refine and become clear about what we truly love.

The clearer you become about what you truly love and desire, the stronger your conscious intention becomes, and this helps the rest of your brain respond in an organized way. The Passion Test. p.34.

Of course, this is just the beginning, but it's where I end for now. Have a GLORIOUS day!

Task 3 - List of Love

2011-06-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

This is the final task for the first lesson. After this step, you're ready for the test...

You've made a list of what you like, what you are good at and now - make a list of what/who you love. This is different from the like scenario. This is the stuff that strikes a deep nerve if things go wrong or makes your heart overflow with gratitude when things go well. For example, I love my husband, I love my kids, I love my dog, my cat, my family, a cushion of cash in the bank... You get the idea. The feeling of love triumphs over the feeling of like. It's the do or die stuff. I like well mannered people, but my world won't turn upside down if a person is rude. If something is off with the family though, that gets my attention. See the difference?

There are two more steps to the assignment today. The second, once you have your love list, put all three lists together and look for overlaps, correlations - anywhere there is a conjunction.

The third step is to prioritize the lists and identify the top 5 on each.

Meditate on them for a while. Keep the lists handy and read them in the morning and/or at night. Revise them if needed.

I found these steps to be invaluable before taking the test. Why? Well, how can one identify your passions if you don't know who you are? It is critical to have a conscious basic knowledge of what makes you tick. By participating in these exercises, you've developed a starting point to articulating, with clarity, what is important to you.

As an aside, three friends called this week to tell me they feel funky, grumpy, vulnerable or just plain off. This too will pass and is actually quite predictable every July. The seasons seem to be about 2 weeks quicker than last year. There is always a contraction before an expansion. Just take it easy, remember to exercise, eat foods from nature and do what feels good. It sounds like a good time for a vacation. Off to Grandma's house tomorrow!

Task 2 - Making Lists

2011-06-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

The Honey-to-Do list has taken on a new meaning!

Yesterday, you made a list of everything you like. Today, make a list of everything you are good at. I'm good at organizing and directing. I'm good at yelling at the kids. I'm good at gardening. I'm good at...

You get the idea.We will get to the actual Test soon enough. These exercises are needed before one actually takes the test. By nature, so many of us are not clear. Most of society is stuck in what they don't like and that can be easier to identify than what one likes sometimes. If that is where you are, let that be your starting point. If it is easier for you to identify what it is you are bad at, again, let that be where you begin. Make the lists and then turn it around - choose the opposite.For example, I do not like a dirty house but I do like a clean house.

When you are able to identify what you like and what you are good at, you are more than half way to identifying your passions. The things you excel at in life. Your purpose, your desires, the things or circumstances that make your heart sing.

The achievement of anything that you desire must be considered success, whether it is a trophy or money or relationships or things. But if you will let your standard of success be your achievement of joy—everything else will fall easily into place. For in the finding of joy, you are finding vibrational alignment with the resources of the Universe. - Abraham Hicks

Joy is the good feeling. Joy is feeling happy, content, and peaceful. Joy is alignment with God's perfect plan for you. The exercises I've given you are designed to help you feel good before you take the test. They are designed to get you clear on what brings your soul satisfaction. We all have wants and desires, but we need to find the 'happy place or alignment' first.

Make your lists and put them on the fridge, in the car, or on your calendar. Pin them to your shirt if you have to! Look at them often and feel good. You are a child of God and when you feel good, you see yourself the way God sees you - completely unique and wonderful.

The Passion Test - Lesson 1

2011-06-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

What's my passion?
What's my purpose in life?
What am I here to do?
Who am I and where do I fit?

If any of you are like me, you may have hit a wall at some point in life and reached out for more. Not quite knowing where to go and how to get it, but more. More understanding, more peace, more joy.

When I first asked these same questions all those years ago, the Universe delivered a book to me from a prayer partner named Sandra. I didn't know her very well, but she was more than willing to be God's voice and tell me about this book. I started reading it over 2 years ago and I'm reading it again now. I'm inspired to share some of it's insight with you.

It's called The Passion Test. It promises to help you define what your passion is and create the platform from which you move towards it. If you know the law of attraction and read any of Abraham Hicks work, this will make total sense to you. Even if you don't, it's written as a down to earth, common sense approach to always making the higher choice. The premise - any choice must be in favor of your passions.

One of the best attributes of this book is its simplicity and practical approach. There is nothing to figure out or wrap your head around. What I find most interesting is that I didn't quite get it the first time around and that was over 2 years ago. It was a great starting place then and even better to read now.

The first lesson - "When you are clear, what you want will show up in your life, and only to the extent that you are clear." (p.24, The Passion Test, Janet & Chris Attwood)

This is so true! But before you start beating yourself for not being clear, let me make an observation. Many of us are NOT clear on what we want. Many of us are aware of what we don't like. This is where you start. Define what you don't like and then choose the opposite. Move in that direction. This experience, called life, is a vehicle for us to experience Joy - the ultimate good feeling there is! What is the easiest way to find your way to what you really want? Always choose in favor of the good feeling. Not the superficial good feeling, but the way down deep in your soul good feeling. The good feeling that helps you sleep at night.

The Universe, God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus, Buddha - all of Creation is here to support YOU! Whether you are clear or not, you are supported and loved. We are co-creators with the Ultimate Creator. Our only job is to choose the good feeling.

So let's start with creating the good feeling. Today's work - Make a list of everything you like and hang it on the fridge. I like the color red, I like when the kids get along, I like getting my toenails painted, I like low gas prices, I like smart people, I like kind people... you get the idea. Just make a list of everything you like. Lesson 2 will bring the next task. For now, let the list make you feel good!

Kid Insight

2011-06-22T02:50:00.000-07:00

Yikes, it's almost the end of the month and I've fallen behind on my posts! Summer is here and the kids are home. My attention has shifted a bit!

These little, tapped in, humans have been saying some really insightful statements as they make observations on their own lives. As a result, I'm sharing some of their simple, but highly effective words...

Do your best and forget the rest.
Sin is not feeling goodness.
If I don't love it, I don't do it.
Some people just don't know any better.
That makes no sense at all.
You don't want any part of that mess, just walk away.

Do any of these apply to your life?

Thoughts...

2011-06-02T02:11:00.000-07:00

Today is going to be a great day. Today IS a GREAT day.
I am safe in the Universe. The Universe loves and supports me.
Thank you for providing, protecting and guiding me.
Thank you for inspiring me to be the best version of myself.

When you can catch your first thoughts in the morning and the last ones before bed, you set yourself up for all good things. By programming the subconscious in a very simple way, you can help all the wonder of the Universe unfold as is promised today.

Peace and joy are just a thought away.
Heaven is my choice for the mind today.

It's that simple. Just choose a thought that feels good.

Grass you can drink

2011-05-21T17:19:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is my first installment on the benefits of grass.

Yes, you can drink grass and one of the most powerful, healing and nutritive is wheat grass. Often sold frozen in freshly pressed cubes or powdered, it has been a mainstay in holistic health and natural remedies for years.

It became popular due to Dr. Ann Wigmore, founder and educator of the Hippocrates Health Institute in Boston although it was first discovered in the 1930s by Charles Schnabel. Dr. Wigmore reported that "wheat grass therapy along with a diet rich in "living foods" helped eliminate cancerous growths along with many other disorders. Wheat grass is rich in chlorophyll. The molecular structure of chlorophyll is similar to hemoglobin which is the oxygen-carrying protein of red blood cells." Because of the similarity, the body easily recognizes and absorbs it readily. The only difference between human hemoglobin and wheat grass juice is that hemoglobin has iron at the middle of its molecule while wheat grass has magnesium. Several small pilot studies have taken place and the efficacy of wheat grass is proving to be worth more research to the clinical community. You can read more about some of this work through the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

I've been drinking 'green water' for years. That's what my four year old calls it and I can tell you first hand, that it improves my mood, my digestion and increases my energy. Chlorophyll, an important component of wheat grass is liquid sunlight and oxygen just waiting to nourish your body. It is definitely a vibration raising food.

Nature has a cure for most anything an "illusional" mind can manifest. I say illusional, because it connotes that one has bought into the illusion that this reality is the only truth. Dis-illusion would be separation from the illusion of what many of us call reality. Dis-illusion may just be a glimpse of pure Faith. Trust that all is good and that the answers can be as simple as we choose.

Well, enough contemplation for now. Get some green water, drink it up and feel good!

(PS; I'm reading an awesome book called The Passion Test. I hope to share insight on it soon!)

Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatgrass; Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Phyllis A Balch

Image courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wheatgrass.jpg#filehistory

Licensed work under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

Greener Grass

2011-05-14T04:35:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my newsletter, green is the theme this month. I've been called to explore those laws of the Universe which we've taken for granted. The simple proverbs we heard growing up, "What goes around comes around; What goes up, must come down; The grass is always greener on the other side; The early bird catches the worm." Jesus and Buddha gave us more. One that comes to mind is, "As a man thinks, so he is." These are simple truths to the guiding laws of the Universe.

The grass is always greener on the other side. The other side of what - a fence, a road? The idea is that we are looking away from ourselves thinking that what we have is substandard to what the other has. Everything we could possibly want is already within our grasp. What if there is no other side? What if the "Grass is always greener" is enough? Meaning it only gets better and better right where you are and the fence or the road is only your limiting belief system in the way of experiencing greater joy in life, right now?!
Something to contemplate.

I'll be writing about cereal grasses next week. Grass you can actually eat that make life greener right where your standing!

Coffee with Tom

2011-05-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

The house is full of relatives! My mother, aunt and cousin. More are on the way for the coming weekend. I've never had so many family in town all at the same time! It's great! They have many things in common, but the most obvious and consistent are coffee and wine. You can be giving birth or dying, running a 5K or sleeping all day, alone or with friends - the time is always right for either of these beverages. At least that's how it is in my family!

Today, mom sent me out for a coffee. She wants to cut it out of her diet, but the more she pushes, the more the craving pushes back. So, what did I do? I'm a good daughter, I bought her the coffee at the local coffee shop up the street. This crazy thing happened as I walked through the door. I saw a man I thought I knew. I walked right up to him and said, "Tom?" He said, "Hello". It was not the Tom I knew. I apologized profusely, then he said, "My name is Tom. Nice to meet you." Something... someone was at work through me in that five minutes of embarrassment. I bought the coffee for mom, told Tom to have a great day and decided Tom must have needed a Hello that morning. The Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways. Even through coffee. It seems obvious now, anytime is the right time for whatever is happening at that exact moment.

Just like life, coffee has it's ups and it's downs. I love the smell, but can't touch the stuff. My brother, a RN, swears by it. Here are a few Pros and Cons to help you decide if it's time to cut back, try it out or banish it all together. By the way, next time you see Tom, say "Hi" for me.

Perks:
1. Alertness: Even in relatively low doses of 100 milligrams (the amount in about 8 ounces of ordinary brewed coffee), caffeine makes people more alert.
2. Mood: At 200 milligrams people report an improved sense of well-being, happiness, energy, alertness and sociability.
3. Concentration: Studies suggest that caffeine can help you perform a variety of cognitive tasks, such as recognizing visual patterns, more quickly.
4. Performance: Research shows if 3-9 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight is consumed one hour prior to exercise it increases endurance.
5. Reduce muscle pain: Stanley Segall, Ph.D., has found that caffeine might stimulate the release of B-endorphins and hormones that depress the sensation of pain or discomfort.

Quirks:
1. Cardiovascular Problems: Caffeine increases heart rate, elevates blood pressure and can contribute to the development of heart disease. Drinking both decaf and regular coffee may increase cholesterol and homocysteine, the biochemical that science has linked to increased risk for heart attack. Caffeine is also linked to coronary vasospasms. Coronary vasospasms cause 20% of all fatal heart attacks that kill otherwise perfectly healthy people.
2. Stress: Caffeine stimulates the excretion of stress hormones, which can produce increased levels of anxiety, irritability, muscular tension and pain, indigestion, insomnia and decreased immunity. Increased levels of stress can keep you from making healthy responses to normal daily stress.
3. Emotional Disturbances: Anxiety and irritability are hallmark mood disturbances associated with caffeine consumption, but equally important are depression and attention disorders. Depression may occur as part of the letdown after the stimulant effects of caffeine wear off. It may also appear during the recovery period after quitting caffeine while the brain's chemistry is readjusted. Rather than increasing mental activity, caffeine actually decreases blood flow to the brain by as much as 30% and negatively affects memory and mental performance.
4. Gastrointestinal Problems: Many people experience a burning sensation in their stomach after drinking coffee because coffee increases the secretion of hydrochloric acid, which leads to an increased risk for ulcers. Coffee, including decaf, reduces pressure on the valve between the esophagus and the stomach so that the highly acidic contents of the stomach pass up to the esophagus, which can lead to heartburn and gastro-esophageal reflux disease.
5. Adrenal Exhaustion: Caffeine consumption leads to eventual adrenal exhaustion, which can leave you vulnerable to a variety of health disorders related to inflammation and fatigue.

Resources:
Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Hidden Dangers of America's #1 Drug by Stephen Cherniske.
Integrative Nutrition, 2009

Broken Bone Broth

2011-04-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

Most of you know by now I have three boys. They all sleep in the same room. This means, of course, bunk beds. Things have been fine for over a year and when you look at the bunk beds and the guards that surround them, it would seem impossible anyone could fall out while sleeping. Guess again...

My four year old fell out in the middle of the night while sleeping. There is a little entrance over the ladder, about 15" wide and apparently he was able to move down to this opening and fall out in the middle of a sound sleep.What seems impossible actually is possible. I should know that by now.

For the next four days, he was tender with his arm, but could still use his hand. There was no swelling, no complaining and he was bumping it all over the place with no issue. It looked just like a bad sprain. Then comes Tuesday; he knocked it just right and fell apart crying. I called the doctor. Even the doctor, when examining him, didn't think there was a break, but sent him for an x-ray just to be safe. Imagine both of our reactions when we saw both bones in the arm were broken! So now, the four year old has a lime green cast and is more annoyed now than he was when he was walking around without one. This means no mud puddles, limited sand play and difficulty drawing tanks. All these things make life worth living to a four year old boy!

His annoyance has motivated me to assist the speed in the healing process. Prayer, Reiki and of course, nutrition. What food heals bones? Bone soup, of course! Now, bone soup isn't just for broken bones. Everything about it is nourishing to the body and alkalizing to the blood. The ingredients are high in minerals which build bone and aid in digestion. It is extremely healing to the body in many ways - digestion, skin, illness, bones, colds - you name it. Everyone can drink this broth and benefit.

This recipe is a compilation of three recipes. Remember, my goal is to heal it as fast as possible.You can simplify and make just kombu, chicken, beef or fish broth on its own. In this case, I'm making a power broth with both plant and animal sources of minerals. The concept of" like heals like" is being used through the use of the animal bone. One broken bone heals another. Nature is fascinating, isn't it?

Broken Bone Broth:
6 cups unfiltered water
Animal bones - a chicken carcass or beef bone (optional)
1 (4") square of Kombu seaweed
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 of an onion
3 chopped carrots
2 celery sticks

Directions:
Add all ingredients to water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 4 to 8 hours in crock pot or on the stove. Strain vegetables out to have a clear broth or eat as a soup. The kombu is tough to eat, so just put it aside to dry for use again later.

In the beginning, there were Sprouts...

2011-04-01T09:52:00.001-07:00

We've been cleaning the yard for the past month. I swear, raking leaves in the South is what shoveling snow is to the North. I've lived in both places and can attest! Any way, I digress. Part of cleaning the yard includes getting the planting beds ready. This week my 4yr old and I dumped some dirt into the garden beds and what did we find? Sprouts!

There growing amidst the rocks and dirt were some actual plants we did not intentionally plant! We have been throwing our plant based food scraps in it all winter as a way of composting. Something sprouted. It's a little early to tell what it is, exactly, but we are guessing some type of squash or potato.

Sprouts of all varieties contain the building blocks of life in the form of vitamins, enzymes, amino acids and simple sugars. In their early growth state, sprouts are very easy to digest, allowing our bodies to access many wonderful nutrients. Recent research by the American Cancer Society has backed what holistic nutrition has known for years: that sprouts contain anti-cancer properties, high levels of active antioxidants, concentrated amounts of phytochemicals and significant amounts of vitamins A, C and D.

In their raw form, sprouts have a cooling effect on the body, and therefore are best consumed in warm weather or by robust, warm body types. Those who tend to feel cool can try steaming spouts or adding them to warm dishes such as stir-fries and soups, to reduce the cooling effect. There is a wide variety of edible and delicious sprouts, each with a different texture and flavor: alfalfa, mung bean, lentil, radish, clover, sunflower, broccoli, garbanzo and adzuki.

You can serve up sprouts by:
· Adding them to salads.
· Combining with other vegetables in wraps, roll-ups or stir-fries.
· Using as garnish on top of soups, stews, omelets or scrambled eggs.
· Adding them to rice or whole-grain dishes.
· Using in sandwiches instead of lettuce.

I'm reminded of the natural order of life and how what seems inconsequential, really does have a ripple affect. Nature knows what to do with scraps of food thrown in the dirt. God has designed all of this perfectly. It's fascinating to see how we've become a part of the food chain, the natural circle of life - all right here in suburbia!

The End

2011-03-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

As I was driving home from a preschool prayer service, it became clear to me. The priest said you get back 10 times what you give out. So simple. That's the law of attraction. If it doesn't feel good or gives you anxiety, chances are you don't belong there - aka:" It's not part of your path". Choose to think about the next logical step that feels good to you and that is your path.

It's time to let go. To hear the voice of God is to hear your own voice. To honor God is to trust and follow your feelings.

I'm 16 days into His 40 days in the desert and I think my early mid-life crisis has come to an end. I feel myself taking another leap of faith, unsure of where He is leading me, but knowing it is better than I could imagine. I trust that what comes is only good and I'm excited for it!

I know who I am. I am complete.

So are you.

Be Real: Once Upon a Time...

2011-03-14T18:10:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a prince who loved a princess. The prince could fix and build all things mechanical, especially vehicles. The princess loved this aspect of him and decided although he may not ride a white horse, he could certainly build one and would keep her safe forever. They lived happily ever after.

Until, the prince called her from work one day and said, "You've got to stop giving me those vitamins. They are making me throw up." To which she replied, "You threw up? How many times and how often does this happen?" He answered, "Just today after lunch." "So, where did you eat?" she asked. "I had tacos. That doesn't matter, it's the vitamins." he said. "Really? You've been taking these vitamins for months without a problem, and you decide that today they make you sick. I give you the vitamins because you've been eating like crap and I'm keeping you alive." she answered in an innocently sarcastic tone. "Just stop giving them to me," he stated. As she tried to control her laughter, she said, "Fine" and they hung up.

All seemed to be well in the kingdom for a while. The prince did not throw up again. The princess stopped giving him anything remotely healthy like vitamins and left it all up to him. She thought, "It's his body, he knows better than anyone else what's good or bad. Who am I to judge." She made peace with it and gave up the need to control the situation. If any of you know the princess, you also know what a huge accomplishment that was!

Two weeks had passed and the princess was making breakfast for the three little princes before school. She sent the eldest upstairs to wake their father for work. When he returned he spoke, "Father is not attending work this day because he says he feels ill." The princess ran upstairs to inquire as to how she could assist, "What do you mean you are not going to work? What did you do? What's the matter?" Then, she saw it. It was beautiful, shiny and glaringly obvious. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds? No, it was black as life - it was his eye. "WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT?!" she inquired gently as she patted him firmly on the buttocks. (aka - Smacked him you know where.) He replied, "A ratchet drill lodged, backed up and hit my eye. I'm taking the day off. I don't feel good. My throat is scratchy."

So, the prince took the day off to recouperate. He seemed to be improving, especially at lunch time and he suggested going out to dine. Of course we had to celebrate his improved health! He really celebrated. He enjoyed two of the biggest cookies known to man from a French bakery in town. All seemed to go well and the princess expected he would go to work the next day and be fine. The next day came and he was not fine. He was worse. "That's it!" she thought, "I've kept my opinions to myself for far too long. He had to learn the hard way, but now he's metaphysically throwing up and dragging us into it." As gently as she could, she approached him after the children were off to school. These matters are delicate, especially with a prince of his stature and she wanted to be sure to pay him the respect he was due.

This is what she said, "Have you had enough yet? This is bullsh*t! You call me from work two weeks agoa and tell me the healthy stuff I give you is making you sick while you eat crap. You come home with a black eye and celebrate the next day with cookies and eating out. Today you are worse off that you were before! Have you learned anything yet? Am I the only one who sees what's going on?! You are dragging us down and I won't have any of it. For the love of your kids, make some healthy choices right now!" She later thought that perhaps tact would have been helpful along with a gentle delivery. Ah, but what is done is done. She was in control now and ran with it. He abdicated to her will because of his weakened condition. And, in doing so, he healed himself within 24 hours.

How, do you ask did he heal? She juiced every sort of green vegetable she could find and made him drink it all day. She used kale, zucchini, celery, apples, lemons and ginger. She used the dreaded vitamins on him. All matter of mystical was used as well. He succomed to this thing she calls Reiki.

The story has a happy ending. He went to work the next day and showed off his black eye with great enthusiasm and continues to drink green juice every morning with little complaint. His boss is sending him to Las Vegas for a business trip. He has new life, vigor and renewed passion for all. His attitude has improved dramatically and he feels good. In fact, he suggested they renovate the kitchen.

Miracles do happen. The princess is looking a granite...

Be Real: Stop Searching

2011-03-02T06:55:00.000-08:00

I think we are all at a point now that we understand we are what we eat. We are what we watch on TV, read in a book, sport we participate in - all of it. God made us so perfect we couldn't see ourselves, so the gift of projection was given. We see ourselves everywhere around us. It's pretty cool, that is until you see something you don't like.

I'm continually amazed at the power of food and how it can change a person's perception in life. The most basic, elemental building blocks of life begin with what we put in our mouths. Feel crappy? Look at what you're eating. It's projecting how you are feeling right back at you. Feel good? Make a note of it because it is likely in harmony with who you really are. God, or Source Energy, can speak to us in many ways including through others, through our feelings and through our food.

In my experience, there are three basic requirements for good health - eat, sleep and move. It's pretty simple, really. If any one of these is deficient, you'll feel out of alignment or disconnected or just plain ol' bad. The triangle is the strongest shape in existence. There is power in 3's. An old friend once told me you can have anything you want in this world and it can be good, fast or cheap, but you can only have two of them at a time. It can be good and fast, but it won't be cheap. It can be fast and cheap, but it won't be good. You get the picture. That may hold true for this world, but what about Spirit? The same premise translates into eat, sleep and move. Yet, there are three items you can have AT THE SAME TIME. You MUST have all three at the same time to experience balance. A deficiency in any one area will leave the triangle weak. If you're feeling crappy, look at one of those areas and determine what you can shore up. The magical part here is that you don't have to look to anyone or circumstances around you to do this. All you have to do, is look at yourself. ( Hmmm, here's a quick observation - when you can have three things at the same time, does that mean it is in alignment? I think of the trinity, signs coming in three's and the fact that my friend's statement holds true for this world, not the other. Just a thought.)

So often we fall into defining ourselves by the projections in our lives. By looking outside of ourselves. If others respond positively to us and our actions, then we are 'good'. If not, then, we are 'bad'. How about the law of attraction? If we attract what we define as 'good' then we are in alignment. But if we attract what we define as 'bad', then we are out of alignment. What if you were able to look into yourself using the triad mentioned above to determine yourself what is good or bad based on how you FEEL? What if you could look inside for your own projections and not to the people or circumstances around you? Check in with your own thoughts; how they feel is an indication of where they originate.

If you feel good, the Universe will deliver more for you to feel good about because your perceptions are clear. If you feel bad, and choose to perpetuate it, the Universe will deliver confirmation that life is bad. Here's the kicker, you ARE the Universe. Your perception is the Universe. Use the eat, sleep, move triad as a tool to shift your interpretation of life, to understand it or to just feel better .

Here's a story called "Little Fish" by Anthony de Mello:
"Excuse me," said an ocean fish. "You are older than I, so can you tell me where to find this thing they call the ocean?"
"The ocean," said the older fish, "is the thing you are in now."
"Oh, this? But this is water. What I'm seeking is the ocean," said the disappointed fish as he swam away to search elsewhere.

The message is this, "Stop searching, little fish. There isn't anything to look for. All you have to do is look."

Eat Real: Cascade of Chocolate Chips

2011-02-18T03:39:00.000-08:00

I've been partaking of chocolate chips. Not just a few here and there, but a few here, here and here and there, there and there... and there. I asked myself, "Why?" What exactly has prompted me to loose self control? Why chocolate chips? Hmmm... there definitely is a pattern here. That's why you haven't heard from me for 2 weeks. I've been investigating the reason behind the chocolate chips. They sure are cute little bits of love, aren't they?

Logically, I know that sugar elicits a dopamine response in the brain. A feel good chemical. I also know that a chocolate craving is a nutritional cry for magnesium, a relaxing mineral. So, why do I need to feel good and relax? It's not like I have an extremely stressful life. However, the fight or flight response was definitely taking place, yet at a very subtle level. It was occurring at the THOUGHT level. My thoughts were paranoid, uneasy, upsetting and generally just making me feel bad. As I thought of certain people and situations, my whole body would tense up. I tried over and over again to justify the thoughts, understand them and look at the situation and circumstances with 'rose colored' glasses. The fact of the matter is, the situation I've been in just didn't feel good and my thoughts were telling me so. I ignored the thoughts, which filtered down into my body and this body of mine was looking for alignment, hence the chocolate chips. The body always tells the truth. After a while the habitual process of feeling bad begins to feel normal. Without the external signs of these chocolate chips and the numbers on the scale moving up, I might have been able to go on operating at this new baseline removed from alignment from Source. I might have been able to justify that I really felt fine, when in fact I didn't.

You can tell from my posts of late that I've been in a learning opportunity. Well, finally, I've recognized that I've learned all I need to know about these people and the circumstances. I've learned that it's not so much about saying good-bye to them as it is being firm with the boundaries of my position. God has asked me to do one thing and one thing only, yet I let others add to my general job description. Initially, I felt good. I was 'helping' and making a difference. The initial feelings of fame and glory because of the approval of others wore off quickly and I was left feeling 'bad'. My perception shifted from alignment of ease to alignment with dis-ease. Why? Because this was what the ego, the mind would have me do, not GOD. I firmly believe that when Jesus went into the desert for 40 days, he was not grappling with the figure of the devil as much as he was grappling with the trappings of the mind. The figure of the devil is easy to identify. Although, it is just a thought form generated by the mind. The struggle was just as much internal as external. Would we subscribe to the opinions of others for approval, an external sign that we are in alignment, or would we subscribe to how we feel?

If someone or something feels bad in any way shape or form, the test is not to ignore it, justify it or force the perception to be rose colored, but to RECOGNIZE it, accept it, and RELEASE it. This means that you feel the 'badness', you accept that it is what it is and then you can choose to 'read the sign' from the Universe that you don't belong here and release it. You can look at the truth of the situation or person and decide how you want to play in this scene. You can do what I did and allow the mind to be the master of my existence and play along in the sickness until I lost myself. When one's boundaries are weak, when the lines seem fuzzy, it is easy to loose oneself. Or, you can see it/them for what they are or what it is and just choose not to step in the sh*t. My mind had me believing I was 'saving everyone' when in fact, all I can do is save myself. That's all anyone can do. One could say, "Oh, Roberta! It's just your perspective that is wrong. Change your perspective and change your life." True, so true. That was me talking to myself. I tried that and guess what, it still didn't work. My compassion grew, my love and understanding grew and so did my affinity for chocolate chips! It wasn't until I stepped away and disentagled myself was I able to view it all with compassion. Again, a sign of where I need to be.

It's been months since I've experienced any kind of back pain and this week I felt it. There it was, my old friend yelling at me to wake up and pay attention! My boundaries had become fuzzy. I had taken on responsibilities that were not mine. All of a sudden, exercise took a back seat. There wasn't enough time to make a good meal, so I grabbed what was available. There wasn't enough time to talk to my kids because I had an important phone call or email to answer. The back pain, my old friend, was there to remind me how far off center I had come.

A dear friend gave me a CD called "Getting into the Vortex". The meditation, over and over again states that you are aligned with Source. It brought me back to myself. It showed me I was under the illusion of the mind and not led by the heart. The heart is the master and when the heart leads, it feels good. Life is filled with joy and unconditional love. When the mind leads, it can feel good initially, but becomes empty very quickly and the body seeks the 'feel good' in any way it can. In my case - chocolate chips were the answer.

Now, I wonder... How many of us are sick, in pain or overweight because we are trying to do and be something we are not, all to appease the mind's empty promises of fame and fortune? How many of us feel 'bad' because we are doing what others would have us do instead of what God would ask of us? How many of us are looking for the feel good, the alignment, the love and finding it in all the wrong places? I love fame and fortune, but not at the expense of my health. You see, when you are in alignment with God's Will for you, you can have it all without the expense of anything. If there is expense, there is mis-alignment.

Last night I raked leaves and pulled weeds in the light of the full moon and felt totally aligned with Source. I felt REALLY GOOD. There were no clever emails, strategies or designs. There was no occasion to dress up and be seen. There's no fame and fortune in weeds and leaves, but the feeling of alignment was worth more than all the money in the world. Peace, pure peace. And, I didn't eat one chocolate chip!

Be Real: Holy, Holey, Wholey

2011-01-31T17:49:00.000-08:00

I remember taking a philosophy class in college and contemplating man's existence. I remember a high school teacher making us read Jean Paul Sartre and studying Existentialism. I remember my dad living everyday as if it were his last. We would joke that he did everything to get into Heaven. Something you might attribute to a Saint. Today I am reading about the Saints and how we are all called to be one.

There has been this idea that being Holy is completely out of reach and only for a chosen few. St. Ignatius has been teaching me that this is a misunderstood concept. He teaches that to be Holy is to be Whole. To practice Spirituality in the everyday moments of life. In this way, you see God, or Divinity in all that you do. You become One with the Universe. One with Creation. You are Whole.

Have you ever stopped to really read the lives of any of the Saints? From a practical perspective, they were really messed up individuals! Think about it. There is St. Ignatius who was rich and gave up the cushy life to live simply. How about Saint Joan of Arc, a teenager who led an army into battle because St. Catherine (who was already dead) told her to. Saint Francis would be considered crazy because he spoke to animals. With this track record, who would want to be called a Saint? I think this is where it gets interesting.

Every Saint I've read about has had Holes in their Holiness and in their lives, which would lead one to believe they were not Whole at all. Nothing about them makes any sense or gives one any indication of being a totally balanced individual. In this way, we are all Saints. We are all called to plug the Holes with God, yet because of our humanity, that is near impossible. We are taught that Jesus and Buddha did it. I'm sure there is a list of Masters that have done it. And, then, there is us. What if these Masters are Masters because they saw their own holes, their own humanity and made peace with it?

What if crazy is the criteria for Sainthood? For salvation? We are spending so much time following the rules, the norms, the expectations of others... What if to be a Saint means doing what you want, what you think, saying it, living it and knowing it's God?

What if we are Holy because of our Holes? Our humanity. What if Whole means to be a Hole in which All of Creation fills you?

Are you WHoley?

Be Real: Stop Holding On!

2011-01-28T10:01:00.000-08:00

It just hit me today after a call with a friend. I've been holding on way to tight to a situation and letting the people and the circumstances define me. My ego had fallen into the all important trap of being 'needed', of being 'important'. Oh, it's so subtle how the infection spreads. It's viral.

The small quiet voice of "This isn't right" kept coming up. I felt uncomfortable and couldn't justify it. I saw myself slipping into thought processes that were extremely negative. The wake up call came when I stopped being in the place of observation and started taking things personally. The dis-ease of the group consciousness had infiltrated. Feelings of disappointment, disgust, anger, frustration and isolation were taking hold. I was feeling victimized and judging another for their 'power trip'. Now I see, I don't have to participate. It's simple - just give it up and let it go. I don't need to define myself this way.

Those feelings are all SIGNS. Are they my typically way of existing? No. In order for me to stay within integrity and honor my value system, it means saying good-bye to the less than honorable system I've been a part of. If your intention is not in alignment with the intention of the leaders to which you follow, or group you are in, you may view them and their motives as 'bad'. I recognize that my values do not match theirs and therefore it would be better to let it go so that I can allow Creation in. It may mean saying good-bye to the institution itself, but that still remains to be seen. For now, the delicate removal of entanglement with dis-ease has begun.

For the past two days, I kept hearing, "Let it go." But, being ever so slightly dense these past two weeks, I didn't get it. Now I KNOW. It's time for ME to let go, to stop holding on. What, you ask, am I letting go of? I'm letting go of the head trip I've been in, the definition of myself through a clouded, unhealthy, fearful projection of peers; worry, anxiety, the perceived need to be a part of this group and drama. Oh God, am I letting go of drama! I'm letting go of depriving myself of the joy that is right in front of me. Does any of this sound familiar to you? When looking in the mirror, I almost didn't recognize myself. The changes have been so subtle and delicate that it would be easy to let it all take hold.

When I check in with myself, I can see that this is not what I signed up for. Although, it's been a great learning experience, it's time for me to honor the actual limits of my position and release what is not mine. How often do we start to feel responsible for others? We want the inside scoop to feel the power of the secrets we hold. This incessant need to be needed, to be defined, to feel important - when all of those definitions keep us separate from joy. As the process of disentanglement has begun and I can feel the cords of attachment slipping away. I can feel the peace of my true self rising to the surface.

I read recently that, "You are not the Messiah. It's not your job to save anyone." It's true. People are going to do what they do and think what they think. All I can do - any of us can do is be true to ourselves. TRUST that it's all good and it will all work out.

After letting go, I feel about 20lbs lighter.. Wonder if the scale will agree with me!

Be Real: Schooling...

2011-01-22T04:03:00.000-08:00

I know the blog is titled Eat Real - be Real and I know most of the posts as of late have nothing to do with food that actually goes in our mouths. If you can't already tell, I'm definitely in a place of contemplation, addressing the spiritual nourishment of the human. Discerning what actually feeds my soul and what doesn't. Permit me this contemplative meditation...

The great spiritual teachers have said, "If you want to see how spiritually enlightened you are, visit your family!" I'd like to one up them - "If you want to see how spiritually enlightened you are, become part of the PTO at your kids school." PTO stands for parent teacher organization. When I was asked to join, I had no idea the 'schooling' I would get into the psyche of group consciousness or the truth of who I really am. What a freaking, wild ride!

I've learned so many truths that have given me the opportunity to grow in compassion, practice neutrality or indifference, and become exceptionally clear about who I am and what my value system is. I've learned to love without judgment and have grown in compassion because of it. We all want the truth, right? And the truth is, most of us can't handle the truth. Cliche, I know. Truth is not pretty and, it changes moment to moment. Sometimes the truth is in the silence and sometimes the noise. Truth and honesty are often skewed by ones own perceptions. And, depending on the mental and physical health of the individual, those perceptions can be unhealthy. And, yet, as a cog in the wheel of an organization, one can feel as if they are dangling out there alone. I know at times, I've felt that way. Do I follow popular opinion, blindly? It sure would be the easy thing to do. Or, do I allow myself to really see the truth and honor my integrity? There are no victims and no reason to choose sides.

All I can do is decide what aligns with my value system and focus my attention on that. Honoring my value system, my perspective and my truth means being in alignment with God. Here's the kicker, the people who I don't agree with may also be honoring these exact same things! Which means they are in total alignment with God also! And, yet, how can that be?! They are wrong and I am right. Right? No. Again, to accept the wrong/right argument means slipping into unconsciousness. There is no wrong or right. There are no sides to choose. The only path to choose is being in alignment with my own value system. My own integrity. And, of course, to trust God to deliver the best and highest good.

If we feel the wrong/right scenario, it only means that the individuals in question are not in alignment with each other. There is resistance. Resistance has the potential to create problems. Problems have the potential to create drama. Drama has the potential to elicit emotional reactions instead of conscious response or a learning opportunity. Ever hear the saying? "You can't find the solution at the level of the problem. You must rise above the problem in order to offer a solution." Problems are perceptions of right/wrong, resistance is observation of non-aligned value systems. So what is one to do? The only answer I've found is to respond in a conscious state. Avoid reaction. And, in order to do this, one must be indifferent to the outcome. One must be neutral. This means, you are not seeking approval, inclusion, or acceptance. You are not judging, but discerning with detachment. You are really O.K. with the worst case scenario your beautiful ego can come up with and are able to dismiss that vision of fear easily. You are without emotional attachment. Tall order, huh? This, my guess would be, is true Christ consciousness.

Here is a quote from one of my favorite teachers:
Our Varied Behavior Adds to the Planet's Well-Being... When you remember that nothing can come into your experience without your Vibrational invitation of it, then you do the simple work of paying attention to your own Vibrational offering, and you save yourself the enormous and impossible task of controlling the behavior of others. When you remember that the varied behavior of others adds to the balance and the Well-Being of your planet even if they offer behavior that you do not approve of; and that you do not have to participate in the unwanted behavior, and will not - unless you give your attention to it - you become more willing to allow others to live as they choose. Abraham Hicks

We are all works in progress at different places on the scale of consciousness, if such a thing exists. What have I learned in all of this?
1. You don't need approval from others to justify your own value system. You may be the minority and that's ok.
2. Recognize your place in the 'play' and act humbly. Be who you are as you are.
3. Constantly question and check in with your value system. Does this feel right or is there a small, quiet thread of consciousness trying to peek through? Question conformity in any form, whether it seems dignified or not. Group consciousness has many forms.
4. When part of an organization, it is very easy to get swept up in the tide of popular mentality or the consciousness of the group. Choose carefully. Refer to #3.
5. Don't take things personally. When you do, you are taking on the dis-ease of others and internalizing it as your own.
6. You can be JOYFUL at anytime regardless of people or circumstances. So, do it!!
7. Sing really loud in the car. I like singing "On top of Spaghetti...". Something about that meatball is so freeing. :)

And, as I leave you to begin breakfast for the kids, my father's words are speaking in my head..."Do what you want and screw the rest." Eloquent, no. Incredibly honest and simple, yes.

Thank you PTO. Dare I say it, but I've found my voice. The voice of God.

Be Real: In the Moment

2011-01-11T23:29:00.000-08:00

As I was enjoying a 'snow day' with the kids and coloring with my 4 year old at the kitchen table, it came to me - how to be in the moment.

I watched him become one with the crayon and put his whole heart and soul into coloring the picture on the page. His only concern was coloring. The child was not thinking about what has past or what was to come, he was completely immersed in the moment. Occasionally, he told me we would switch pages and I would color with him. I could be folding laundry, doing dishes, vacuuming, but no, I'm coloring.

Here I am, holding the crayon and actually staying inside the lines and something amazing happened. I came into the moment. Nothing behind me, nothing ahead of me, just right now. It brought me to a Zen moment and the feeling that all really is O.K.

It's been a month of letting go. Watching people die, watching friendships end, watching institutions adjust. Don't mean to sound depressing here, but in all honesty, it has been a bit too much at times. As I watch all of this happen and pray for God to have me serve in the best way possible, it's come to me that maybe all I am to do is watch. It seemed the more I push to help or pray for salvation, the more the Universe seems to push back. The more I justify, try to understand or create explanations, the more I hurt. So, in that moment of coloring, I decided to let it all go - to bless it all and release it to the Holy Spirit. None of it is mine to fix or solve. None of it is mine and yet I am a part of it. For what reason, has yet to be revealed, or perhaps I will never know. Everything is as it should be. It is in Divine Order. Trust.

The test and yes, it has felt like a test, has been to continue to allow Unconditional Love to flow through me regardless of what I see, feel or hear without defense, without the need to participate or feel I have to disengage or separate from the people or the situations. The challenge has been not to perceive any of it as a challenge, yet use it to gain clarity into what I choose for my life. What I let in and what I let go. Just like choosing which page to color in the book, which color to choose for the picture and how much pressure to exert on the crayon - all of these experiences have been like coloring a picture.

Choosing involves letting go of what doesn't serve anymore. Choosing involves moving towards what gives energy or and joy. A deep 'let go' is happening. Letting go of what is done and letting go of what is to come next. The intentions is always for health, wealth, joy, peace and wisdom. Whatever the next page looks like, I know that it will include each of those five qualities.

Trust that the picture will be a beautiful page to color and let go of what is done.

Be Real: Having All the Answers

2011-01-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

It's become glaringly obvious to me as of late that we each hold the answers to all of our questions within ourselves.

The only thing that seems to stop us from listening to the truth, we each hold within, is fear. I've done a number of intuitive readings as of late and they don't fit the typical, "Here's what I see and what They have to tell you" format. It's been more questions and guidance in allowing the client to reveal their own answers to themselves.

For example, if you keep saying your frustrated, angry or upset in a certain situation, it probably means the situation is draining your rather than feeding you. This doesn't mean giving up, it means changing perspective. Ask yourself - What do you have to gain in this relationship, What are the boundaries you set up around it, Does it bring you joy or Is it a means to an end, Do you have a savior complex, Do you want approval? Detached discernment or on-judgment is all that is needed. First, look at the facts, then, see how you feel and make a decision that is both logical and feeling based. Can you see the picture or the vision of the outcome?

If you can still yourself for 15 minutes and pay attention to your body, you can feel almost immediately what situations feed you and what doesn't. You might feel tense or tight, you may be ruminating over and over again in your head about whether you should or shouldn't do something. So many of us have been conditioned to second guess ourselves, doubt our own intuitive nature or succumb to someone else's authority. What if you were the only authority? What if what you thought was the right course of action? What if you were the only one who saw the truth and everyone else around you was still in the grip of fear? You can still trust yourself. Check in with your body. You don't have to know why you know what you know, you can just feel it and trust it.

I'm always amazed at my husband's ability to just make a decision. He doesn't go round and round about anything. He just says no or yes. He doesn't explain himself either. As his wife, this can be incredibly frustrating! He doesn't get emotionally caught up in any decision or any action others take. He only does what he wants and what feels right to him without the NEED to explain it to himself or others. As I've grown to understand myself more over the past 3 years, I've come to see this is where we all aspire to be. To be completely confident in who and what we are, without excuses. to be our TRUTH, our authentic self. It really doesn't matter if we are dead wrong, the fact that we hold fast to our value system and stay within our integrity is all that does matter. The Ten Commandments keep us honest - Thou shalt not steal, kill, etc...

Ever notice that people gravitate to the most confident person in the room? That energy, that belief in oneself regardless of 'better judgment' is what we are attracted to. Wouldn't it be wonderful to trust our better judgment without explaining it? Wouldn't it be wonderful to just create a story, a stance, a perspective and stick to it? Wouldn't it be wonderful to follow the feeling of joy rather than feeling we have to learn lessons the hard way?

We are, after all, the witness of our experience. We do not have to define ourselves through how others see us, but how we choose to see ourselves. Pay attention to what the Universe has to show you, where it leads you and the energy you feel within yourself.

The signs are all around us, all the time! Pay attention, watch and trust yourself.

Eat Real: Bee Pollen

2011-01-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

You've read enough of my posts to know that my parents, particularly my dad, could be a little eccentric. One of his favorite hobbies was bee keeping. He had become obsessed with the art of keeping bees, making honey and all the other excitement that comes with keeping bees in the backyard. He actually believed, or perhaps he had proof, that a bee sting can help arthritis. I have no proof to corroborate his belief, but it worked for him. I grew up hearing that bee pollen was good for you, although we never ate it. I grew up hearing a lot about folk foods. Now, I have the chance to try them for myself and bee pollen has been at the top of the list. With the kids on break, we've had time to experiment. Yes, my family, my body - all of it is an experiment. We've tried bee propolis, raw honey and now pollen. (This is tame compared to what we've tried out!)

It can take one bee working eight hours a day for one month to gather 1 teaspoon of pollen pellets. This teaspoon contains over 2.5 billion grains of flower pollen full of micronutrients, trace elements, minerals and antioxidants. The pollen is for the young bees and is almost 40 percent protein. The pellets we humans eat, are actually crumbs that fall to the bottom of the tray in a hive. Almost half of its protein is in the form of free amino acids, which means easy assimilation at the cellular level. This highly available protein can contribute significantly to the body’s demand for protein.

Numerous studies have been done through out the years proving the clinical effectiveness of bee pollen in treating infection, cancer, cholesterol and longevity. Time after time, the control group who was taking the pollen ALWAYS improved!

A few benefits of bee pollen are:
Pollen is made up of 96 known nutrients.
It is a rich dietary source of zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron.
Provides increased intellectual capacity.
More amino acids than beef, eggs or cheese of equal weight.
Skin rejuvenation.
Weight regulation for your normal level. Bee pollen quickens metabolic responses. It accelerates thermogenesis (calorie-burning activity).

Here are a few notable quotes:
“Honeybee pollen is the richest source of vitamins found in Nature in a single food. Even if bee pollen had none of its other vital ingredients, it’s content of rutin alone would justify taking at least a teaspoon daily, if for no other reason than strengthening the capillaries. Pollen is extremely rich in rutin and may have the highest content of any source, plus it provides a high content of the nucleics RNA [ribonucleic acid] and DNA [deoxyribonucleic acid].” - Institute of Apiculture, Taranov, Russia

"Bee pollen contains an active anticancer element that has the power to slow the development of mammary tumors. Tumor growth increased in subjects in the control group not given it.” - Dr. William Robinson

“Bee pollen provides an increased resistance to infection. It is a giant germ killer in whose presence bacteria simply cannot exist.” - British scientist Dr. G.J. Binding

Many cultures around the world use bee pollen for extending life, increasing longevity, improving endurance, intestinal strength and building new blood. There is continued research that indicates the effectiveness of bee food and, for that matter, all of nature's food as the best medicine available.

As of April, 2010 the world's bee population has declined steadily since 2006. The world needs pollinators to produce our human food supply. Without the bees, plants don't pollinate and food doesn't grow. The main culprit seems to be use of pesticides. The article that explains this reasoning in detail is located here.

The more in touch we become with nature, the closer we come to understanding the truth of our existence.

Be Real: The Humbleness of Hay

2010-12-23T19:05:00.000-08:00

"Do not forget your place, Roberta." I've heard this over and over for the past two weeks. "Do not start to think too much of yourself." The grandness, the importance that comes with ego vanity. If someone had told me these statements a year ago, even 6 months ago I would have dismissed them with a self-esteem issue. That may have been true once, but now these words have importance as they have kept me in balance, in alignment with Source.

These words have helped me stay focused on what it is I actually can do and what I must walk away from. These words have given me power on which to stand because they remind me of my role in God's grander plan. They have given me confidence to be who I am and not pretend to be any more or any less. This is humility. Humbleness. My husband so eloquently reminded me that this is a blessing, a gift God gives us. At the moment of my earlier lessons, it felt more like failure or embarrassment, yet, it was and is a gift. Helping me to see my own truth.

Humility can be defined as:
1. The opposite of entitlement
2. True self-knowledge of the good with the bad.

"It is being able to be comfortable with who you actually are and not trying to pretend to be what you are not. It gives you pride when you have earned it by your talents and accomplishments and shame when you fall short. It accepts that you are far from perfect and keeps striving. It is honest." (link to this quote found here.)

I've been humbled for the past few months, shown my place, seen who I actually am and shown others who I am and who I am not. My kids keep me humble. Anytime I take myself too seriously, start to feel too important - they do something so utterly ridiculous, that I have to notch it down. Am I asking for it? Maybe, on some level I'm testing my boundaries, seeing how far I can reach right now. It's karma in action, saying "Hey... don't loose yourself here" or "This may not be the right fit right now." What has been illustrated to me is where I belong or, where I want to be, in relation to how comfortable I am with myself at the present moment. That's not a bad thing. If you have to fit yourself too rigidly into the rules someone else has created, it can actually hurt. Yes, it's humbling, but it's also enlightening.

If you are humbled, humiliated, or embarrassed - instead of beating yourself up or getting defensive, ask yourself, am I honestly being myself in this moment? Was this the experience I was looking for? Are you trying to be someone you are not? Are you being your truth or pretending to be something else?

Humility keeps us from hiding behind a mask. It keeps us true to who we are and where we are in life. You can change the mask, but if the inside does not match the outside, there will be disharmony and that disharmony can be communicated as humility. It's God reminding you that you don't have to be anyone other than who you are right now. You are perfect right now, in this place, as you are. This doesn't mean you stop reaching beyond yourself, it means you reach truthfully to yourself. Being truthful as to what feels right and what doesn't.

There was a woman many years ago who gave birth to a King. Did she rant and rave about her pregnancy? Did she demand satin sheets at the finest hotel? No. She gave birth in a shed on the hay with a bunch of farm animals present. This is how the King came into this world. Our first present - His first human lesson was humility. To be fully human, fully present, fully love, in whatever conditions are present.

Humility is truth. Humbleness is peace. I wish you peace. Merry Christmas!

Be Real: Get in Your Own Way

2010-12-11T18:08:00.001-08:00

You might think you are getting in your own way. But what if God is really the one getting in the way because He is keeping you on path? You are not your body. You are not your thoughts. You are not your experience. You are the witness to the experience of God in what is called your body, in what is called your thoughts, in what is called your life's experience.

So often we may think that 'we are getting in our own way' in regards to success in business, relationships, in life. We are not getting in the way. We are the way. We are the carriers of love, of God. What will be, will be regardless of what we do, think, or say. Our perceptions of the experience change based on our interpretations. Have you ever thought, "If I could only get 2hrs to myself, I could get "X" done." Whatever "X" is. "I know I could make a million dollars tomorrow if I just applied myself." Or, how about this one - "If they would only listen to me or do what I say, it would be done already!"

Here's a thought, maybe you're just fine where you are and you have been fine all along. Maybe you don't need to fix or control anything. Maybe you don't need to respond to the emails from the PTO. Maybe all you have to do is watch them be who they are and figure out how to love them in spite of who you are and who they are - and keep on loving yourself in the process. Lord, just give me the words and tell me when to speak!

All of life shares inherently the same genetic structure. In essence, we are no different than the tree, the bird, or the flower. There are two differences between them and us - we have conscious awareness of our existence and the gift of free will. The tree does not think how to grow, it just grows. The bee does not think which flower to go to, it just goes. The tree does not choose to be cut down, it accepts it fate. The flower does not choose where it grows. We choose to cut the tree and we choose to plant the seed. God has made this incredible creature, called (wo)man with the ability to create in life as He creates.

There are two theories I've been meditating on - 1. We are co-creators of our existence and 2. We are Divine Instruments of God. I've been asked to marry the two, to find the correlations and interconnectedness between them, to understand it and convey it to others.

As of today, this is what has become clear - we are both, but not in the way one might think. We are Divine Instruments, just as the tree and the flower. And, we co-create by surrendering ourselves to God's Perfect Plan for us. In old vernacular, this is called God's Will. There is no right way to do this and no wrong way. Because of free will, we can choose a way that feels good or a way that feels bad. Are we looking for approval? Are we taking things personally? Do we feel guilt? All of these indicate the rise of the ego or the mind directing the experience rather than the heart. If we live this way, we live from the heart.

All we have to do is think the thought of an experience we'd like to have or a goal we'd like to achieve and take a first step towards realizing the outcome. The trying or the work that really takes place is learning how to surrender to God's Perfect Plan for you. In essence, His Perfect Plan for you is the Perfect Plan for everyone.

Let God get in the way.

Be Real: Everything I Ever Wanted

2010-12-04T03:40:00.000-08:00

My son came out of the cub scout meeting and said to my husband, "Dad, look what I won! It's exactly what I wanted!" Dad replied, "What is it?" The kid said, "I don't know. Isn't it great!?"

The logical explanation is this - He won a prize for selling cub scout popcorn. It was a total surprise to him. The bucket had legos, bionicles and other goodies.

The magical explanation is this - God gave him exactly what he wanted in an unexpected way. He didn't ask, "What is it?" Even though 'it' was wrapped in a plastic cleaning bucket. He just said, "Thank you." (I hope.)

How often do we ask or are presented with opportunities, and because the present doesn't fit our expectations we say no thanks? How often do we miss the blessings right in front of us because they are wrapped in a cleaning bucket? Yet, when uncovered or reflected upon deeper, it turns out to be exactly what we wanted? Discernment is a valuable tool. One that develops over a lifetime and constantly changes. We have free will because there is SO much to choose from. God knows our limits here and gives us the ability to choose - to select, accept or reject. All we have to do is follow the feeling our soul gives us. Does it feel good? Does it feel heavy?

My kid chose to accept that day. In his pureness, he knew it was perfect, whatever it was... In essence, everything is perfect just as it is. Every moment is a Divine moment. God doesn't make mistakes.

Be Real: Chopped Wood

2010-11-26T04:01:00.000-08:00

I was possessed today. The urge to buy wood and make a fire in the fireplace overcame me. I went out in terrible weather to buy half a stack of wood and have been burning it all day.. It was no surprise that the jacket I wore was my dad's. It was no surprise that as soon as I pulled up to the farmers' market, the man moved his cart so I could immediately back up and pick up the wood. It all happened quickly and easily. And it was oak.

My childhood was filled with weekends of chopping and cording wood. As a lumberjack, my father kept the trees he cut and then chopped them down into firewood for sale. I remember piles as high as the back porch in our backyard. After a while, he made a deal with a junk yard down the road and kept the wood there. The piles were even higher there! If my brother is reading this, he'll remember our days in that junkyard. It is by the Grace of God, that we are here! My brother and I would have to cord the wood (stack it up) in the back of his truck as he split it and threw it up there. One time, we were not going fast enough and he started aiming the split wood at us! Ahhh, the good ol' days!

It's been 6 years that he's transitioned, but each November fills me with the same feeling. It's a memory that's been burned into my cells for a lifetime. Just like chopped wood. Part of me wonders if I'll ever get over it. Part of me wants to keep it. Like remembering the days my own kids were born. It's just as important to feel the memory of the day my dad died. It's not living in the past, it's a reminder of an experience of God's Love. On the birthdays of my children, I get a little sentimental when remembering the miracle of their birth. The same happens when remembering the miracle of my father's death.

I am the oldest daughter and first born. They tell me that when I came home from the hospital, my dad left mom in the old truck to get out by herself and he brought me straight into the house. He immediately stripped me down to my diaper, put me on the floor and looked at me. My mother always says how she had stitches and had to come into the house on her own. Boy was she upset with him!

My sister was born second, but only lived a minute or two. My father, a tough Canadian lumberjack was brought to his knees. For all the drinking and smoking he did - it all changed in that moment. When he made arrangements to bury his second child, he also made arrangements with God. He stopped drinking and smoking that day for the rest of his life.

My brother was born third. I don't know much about what was going on in my father's heart at that time, but it had to do with staying on the straight and narrow with God. Of course, my mother was a nervous wreck wanting to make sure all would be well this time around. I have a feeling this is when he decided to live his life to get into Heaven.

We always joked that everything he did was to get into Heaven. We always joked he would die on the job and it would be quick. Turns out, it was. We always knew he loved us more than his own life. We know he is always with us.

I've heard that your relationship with God is based on your relationship with your father. That's an interesting psychoanalysis you could get lost in for a while... But, if I'm going to keep it simple, this is what my father means to me. He always takea care of us and providea for all wants and needs. He loves us more than his own life. He does and knows what he wants, when he wants without fear of anyone or anything. He is compassionate, kind and generous. He can be stubborn, or strong willed might be a better word. He iss humble and proud. .He knows how to speak graciously in the face of insanity. He also knows how to craft curse words like poetry. He is patient. He trusted the experience of his life here. He trusts himself. He trusts God.

Sometimes my words are gracious and sometimes not. Compassion and tough love, patience and impatience are just a few of the dualities that live within me. When I don't know what to do I think of him and what he would do. In essence, I think of what God would do.

I have an overwhelming urge to install a wood stove into our fireplace and told dad I know it's him. It would be wonderful, wouldn't it?

Be Real: A Road Map

2010-11-22T10:08:00.000-08:00

The flower doesn't ask how to bloom, it just blooms. The tree doesn't analyze how to grow, it just grows. The flower and the tree just are. The road map of their life is embedded in them. They don't have to think about it.

Believe it or not, the same is true for us. We don't have to ask, it's already answered. There are many laws in the Universe. We live our lives by them naturally. Occasionally, we can get stuck in analyzing them. It's come to me that one of the many reasons Jesus is a miracle is because He came to give us one law that would allow us the freedom to just bloom and grow without having to worry about the rest.

This law: Love one another as I have loved you. Surrender completely to God's Perfect Plan for you.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

You can say it a few different ways, but it means the same thing:
1. I surrender to Your Perfect Plan for me.
2. I am in Joyful Alignment with You
3. I trust in you Lord.

Jesus showed us that if we give ourselves completely and yes, this means completely to God, we don't have to worry about anything. That's incredible! When we surrender to God's perfect plan for us, that means we move through our day unencumbered by the woes of the world. We trust that every moment is perfect. We trust that each encounter is Divine. We trust that someone knows what is best for us regardless of what we think.

Ahh, there's the crux. Regardless of what we think. Yet, we are to think. We are to use our Free Will. However, we can dialogue with God. When at a crossroads, we can ask Him if something is beneficial for us or not. We can scream, "Help me!"

So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him.

I used to think that God meant the same thing as the Universe. It does not. God made the Universe. In fact, science has shown us that there is more than one Universe. Does this mean there is more than one God. Nope, there is still only one God who made the Universes. The Universe we live in is a sentient being, a complex mirage of cellular structure and flow of energy - as is our planet, as is our world, as is our body.

As it was in the beginning, is now and every shall be forever and ever.

When we trust God, we trust that God is a Being so magnificent, so grand, so loving and kind that no one could possibly want more or better for us than this Being. This is God. Now, here comes the cool part. God made us and saw that we had forgotten our connection to Him so he sent Jesus. God fit His grandness into the man Jesus and delivered the radical message of love through Him. Ever try fitting into your skinny jeans? Imagine fitting all of God into this man. This human. Jesus unlocked the door for us to have communion with God, with Love, with the Truth of our existence. Jesus taught us the laws and that they were much easier than we all thought. And the easiest one is to accept the Lord our God and surrender our entire being to Him. To trust completely.

When we trust that completely, we trust that the Universe God designed works in perfect harmony for our benefit all the time. Why? Because, God wants the best for us.

I've heard many of you ask, "What's my purpose? It would be easier to trust in God's plan for me if I knew what it was." Got news for you - our purpose is all the same. To love one another as God has loved you. Do you need a fancy title? A career path? The choices are endless. What you do to sustain a living may or may not be related to loving others and that's OK. Maybe you make cupcakes, but are on call for a friend in need with cancer. Do you need a title to go with it? Do you really need more purpose than to hold that friend's hand as she moves ever closer to the light?

Pick a direction in which to steer your ship and move towards it. God will fill in the blanks. When you trust in God and that there is a perfect plan for you, trust that the right opportunity will be presented to you at the right time. Trust yourself. Trust your feelings and ask for direction towards a more meaningful life, career, relationship. Trust that you are guided as you ask. You might doubt, you might be afraid, you might even beat yourself up a bit. The fact of the matter is that you trusted enough to take the first step.

Here are some signs to look for:
1. It feels good now and later.
2. It feels so scary it excites you a little.
3. You have no idea why you are doing this thing, but know in your gut it's what you need to do.
4. Events progress easily. People, things, circumstances just unfold. Coincidence is God working.
5. You're pissed off and had enough. Enough to take productive positive forward motion. Or maybe even say, "Enough is enough!" Frustration and anger can be beneficial.
6. It feels good. In your gut, in your heart, in your being, it just feels good!

Let all that you do be done in love.

Eat Real: Get to the Root of the Matter

2010-11-17T08:56:00.000-08:00

Beets are plentiful right now as are many of the root vegetables. It seemed appropriate to discuss the healing benefits of these grounding foods along with the the universal aspects of the seasons. Yes, here in the Western Hemisphere, it is Fall. The change of seasons on the East Coast is often heralded with the change of colors and temperatures! As a designer, I've come to appreciate the intricate beauty of God's perfect design in all things, particularly our bodies and their relation to Nature. Did you notice the color of the leaves and how they correlate to the colors of the vegetables - red, orange, yellow? How about the fact that it's time to pick these vegetables when the leaves hit the ground - looks like a sign to me... Hmmm, coincidence? I think not.

Beets have been traditionally known in Russia to promote health and longevity. They are a natural source of phytochemicals and minerals that help boost immunity. They fight infection, are blood purifiers and liver cleansers. They also increase the cellular intake of oxygen and stabilize the acid-alkaline balance of the blood. This vegetable is a rich source of choline, which helps lessen chronic inflammation in the body. How does this help you? Chronic inflammation has been linked to a wide range of conditions including heart disease, osteoporosis, cognitive decline and Alzheimer's, and type-2 diabetes. You'll find this to be true of most of the vegetable family. More vegetables, means less decay and oxidation in the body.

Vegetables, in general, provide a rich source of vitamins and minerals. What I find fascinating about root vegetables is their high mineral content. (Yes, I do find this fascinating - don't laugh too hard!) The plant spends the summer and fall growing and absorbing all the nutrients from the soil. That is how the fruit of the plant, the tuberous part, becomes full of minerals. If the soil is depleted of minerals, so too is the vegetable. All the more reason to keep our soil as clean and healthy as possible. As an aside, if you are planning a garden, get some sea water or 'green sand' fertilizer to repopulate the soil with minerals.

From a lifestyle perspective, the foods provided at this time of year require cooking. That means SLOW DOWN! Ever try to eat a raw sweet potato or beet? Not the easiest thing in the world. Although, I am a huge proponent of eating raw, I am also a huge proponent of listening to your body. Actually, many foods need to be cooked in order to release the nutrients within and for us to absorb them.

Baked Beet Recipe

Use this recipe for individual root vegetables, or create different combinations.. Experiment and have fun!

Ingredients:
5 small beets
3 large carrots
2 parsnips
1 fennel bulb
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425, scrub and chop vegetables. Be sure to finely dice the fennel bulb. Coat all vegetables in olive oil and salt. Spread out evenly on a baking sheet and bake covered for 30 minutes and uncovered for 15 minutes.

We are intricately interwoven into the Universe. We are part of the Earth, part of Nature. Just slow down, look outside and take your cues from your body and what you observe out the window. Allow your mind to be the servant to your body. Once we learn how to truly listen to what our bodies are telling us, we can draw conclusions and correlations for ourselves. Each discovery is unique to the person. Thank you for allowing me to share with you today. Blessings for a peaceful week!

Eat Real: Paper Bag Popcorn

2010-11-07T17:48:00.000-08:00

The kids and I have always loved popcorn. It wasn't until they asked our babysitter to make it, that I totally forgot most of the world microwaves their popcorn. The kids showed her the pot, the oil and the bag of popcorn. She said they had better wait until their parents get home.

Until you teach someone to cook, you don't always realize what a huge step it is for them to make anything that doesn't come in a microwavable package. Cooking doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. It's really quite easy and quick. In fact, I prefer to teach easy and quick. If it has too many ingredients, chances are I won't make it and neither will you. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I like to do it up and get all fancy with food. I save those occasions for the occasional Sunday or the holidays. Most of the time, it's a cast iron pan, a stoneware casserole dish or crock pot that gets the job done. You can thank my mother for that. She was and continues to be the queen of one pot meals.

But I digress, we're talking about popcorn here. As a kid, making and eating popcorn is one of my favorite memories. I remember my mother forgetting the lid on the pot and popcorn popping all over the kitchen. Then there was my neighbor who would only eat it with a spoon in a bowl. And, of course, my dad - who, always appreciated being served the first bowl on the back porch on his rocking chair. I remember him shirtless in the summer and the stray popcorn getting caught in his chest hair. He'd say, "Saving it for later."

This recipe is fun, easy and inexpensive. The best part is you can experiment with it. You can add melted butter, sugar or honey to the mix and come up with your own concoction. We like salt and grated Romano cheese. For us, this recipe is about the experience of making the popcorn as much as the eating of it. It's an event. Something the kids look forward to. It draws us closer together as we share in the experience of making it and creating a ritual around it.

Paper Bag Popcorn:
1 grocery store paper bag
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1/4 cup sesame oil
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. salt
1 pot with a lid

Pour oil in the pot and add butter. Turn heat to high, put the kernels in and cover with lid. Give it a few minutes and you'll hear them start to pop. There is no science here, but when you hear them really popping is when you have to turn the heat to medium. Another minute and turn the heat off. Just let it finish popping. Pour popcorn in the bag with salt and anything else. Close the bag by folding it over and shake like crazy. You can eat it out of the bag or put it in a bowl.

The directions are something you will have to 'feel around' with. As each stove, pot and patience is different. FYI - burning a pot or two is part of the process.

Be Real: Gratitude Initiative

2010-11-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

My four year old made a foot stamped turkey at school. He glued feathers around the stamp of his foot, put some googly eyes on and made himself a turkey. Not bad! The teachers write what the child tells them they are thankful for around the turkey. He is thankful for cookies, sausage and hot dogs. Boy, did that make me laugh! I half expected Scooby-Doo to be up there also!

I love this month because it causes people to pause and look at their lives from a place of abundance, rather than lack. Look at what you do have, bless it, thank God for it. For the one who has much, more will be given. Here's a quote from the book, Having A Mary Heart in a Martha World, "The secret to happiness lies not in getting what you want, but in wanting what you have. Without gratefulness, we are prone to hardness of heart and dark mind." By recognizing the gift of God's Grace in our lives, it is impossible to take it for granted. We recognize it by saying thank you, by being grateful. Otherwise, we begin to take God's Grace for granted, abusing it and allowing our hearts to become dark.

By thanking God, thanking each other and counting our blessings, we experience God. We experience the Grace of God, His Divine Mercy.

From a scientific perspective, gratitude can change brain chemistry. Studies have actually shown how the brain's activity changes when a person begins saying thank you. Psychologically, one's perspective can't help but shift to a more positive framework.

There is a post from a friend on facebook who has just completed chemo and radiation. She decided to start the month by writing one thing she is grateful for everyday. What a great exercise for us all!

So this month, the term the Angels have given me is "The Gratitude Initiative". Everyday this month, say out loud what you are thankful for. Write down one thing. Tell your friends and family. Pass it on. Share it. Let's see how many people are ready and willing to acknowledge the Grace of God in their lives.

Count your blessings. Through Gratitude, we experience Grace, we Grow in Love and give Glory to God. Stamp your foot for God (and glue some feathers and googly eyes on it!)

Eat Real: What is a diet?

2010-11-02T10:25:00.001-07:00

Any diet is a spiritual journey. Any attempt at self-improvement is a desire to communicate more fully with Source. The soul communicates a desire for this communion with Source through the body. Going on a diet is our response to that communication. The missing component to conventional marketed diets is this - God.

That is the key component to anything! Why do you want to diet? To lose weight? Is your cholesterol high? Pre-diabetic? Basically, to feel and look better. Why feel and look better, why bother? To receive compliments? Attention? Approval from others? To fit into a size 6? To be healthy? These reasons alone may get you motivated, but continued focus on them will keep you trapped and slingshot you back to where you started.

When you start considering your body as a Holy Vessel and seeing the Divine in all of Creation - including you, then you've found the magic ingredient to lasting health, weight loss and feeling good. The key for all of us is to recognize that we are Creation. We are Divine.

Religion and diet are both frameworks to finding your connection to God. And each are as individual as the person. There is no right or wrong way. There is only 'the way'. The Way we all share. The framework gets us started, but eventually we have to improvise, finding what works for us to keep moving forward. Sometimes the distraction of 'following the rules' gets in the way and we can loose our original intention. Imposing my beliefs (limits I accept in my experience) on your beliefs creates a disharmonious vibration - it does not feel good to you or to me. But, accepting that you are on your path and me on mine and that they are parallel or may converge occasionally - well, that feels much better, doesn't it? Ultimately, you decide what you allow into your reality.

When it comes down to it, if someone wags a finger in your face and tells you "NO, do this and do it my way" - if you're like me, you may push back just because you can. Deprivation sets up an ugly roller coaster of self-inflicted pain. But, if someone presents you with information and gently says, "Consider this". My bet is you'll listen. Same with a diet, except it may be your own finger you're wagging in your face.

Balance is key. Moderation in all things brings enlightenment. I read this morning, that God is in all things, whether you perceive it to be good or bad. The perception of separation from Source is only an illusion.

Be Real: Surrender

2010-10-24T08:24:00.001-07:00

Today I prayed. This is the dialog.

me: God, help me be who you want me to be and do what you want me to do.
Him: That is surrender my dear.

me: Really, that is what I prayed all those many months ago that started this journey.
Him: I know.

The conversation quieted for a bit until we were in the car running errands. And then Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel came on the radio.

Him: "Son," he said "Grab your things, I've come to take you home."
Him: "Hey" he said "Grab your things I've come to take you home."
me: "Hey" I said "You can keep my things, they've come to take me home."

That's surrender. He calls, all the time. He calls to surrender everything, all of me, all of you, to Him.

me: Pretty scary.
Him: I know. But trust me, it's better this way. I have so much for you if you would let go.
Just surrender to my plan for you.
me: What is it?

Silence.

intellect: Follow the good feeling and you'll know.
Him: Release yourself to me.

intellect: Aren't I to be clear and focused in order to create or achieve a goal? How else will I be successful.
Him: Be clear in your surrender and all goals are achieved before you know it. Your desires are answered before they are asked. We've been through this before, do we really have to do it again?

Thy Will be done. We pray this constantly, and I understand now what it means. It means I give my all to Him. I surrender to His Will. I trust it is the best choice forever. This is what sacred means. This is consecration. To surrender completely to the Will of God means to be consecrated and made sacred.

me: That's for nuns and priests. I'm a mother and wife. How do I do this? It seems too difficult. I'm afraid. Afraid of failure, afraid of letting others down, afraid of the unknown...
Him: That's part of the challenge this time around. More distractions, more responsibility, more joy and experience. Can you surrender to Me although you are not in a convent praying in silence? Can you surrender to me amidst the noise and chaos? I am there in the silence and the chaos.

me: I want to. Please help me. Correct my thinking. Lead and guide me. Show me the way.
Him: Come to me child, come to me.

me: I'm not content. There are things I want to do. What about good sense?
Him: I am good sense. Do not be content. Always question. Use the brain I gave you. Use the intellect I gave you. You are here for the joy. Put yourself in me. I want you.

me: Can I do this? Can I handle all that you send me?
Him: You now know what is yours and what is someone else's. You know what I ask of you. Do only what I ask. Surrender to me and no one else.
intellect: That feeling inside tells you if you are coping out or if it God. Be aware of that feeling. Do not ask others, ask yourself. Ask God. As Mary did - ponder these things in your heart.

The dialog continues.

Peace.

Eat Real: Slow Down with Soup

2010-10-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

According to Macrobiotic living, miso soup is a powerful healing remedy, that is when it's made with Nature's ingredients. Its stock is made from kombu seaweed. You can read more about seaweed in one of my summer posts: Ocean Vegetables. Actually, when you look at the historic nature of most cultures, you will find soup to be at the center of many of the medicinal treatments. Chicken soup, matzo ball soup, minestrone soup. Traditionally, we made soup to heal our ailments. That is before pills came into the picture.

Macrobiotics is more than a diet, it's a lifestyle. One of the reasons soup is so healing is because you have to stop everything you are doing and cook. Then you have to sit down, wait for it to cool and then eat it slowly. Think about it. Everything about soup forces you to S L O W D O W N. And, usually, when we are sick, that is exactly what our bodies need!

Fast food, email, texting, etc... everything that is marketed in our culture is about going faster, getting it done quicker and more efficiently. And what is it that is getting done faster and more efficiently? Everything - eating, sleeping, sex, work, meditation - you name it, there's a way to do it faster and more efficiently. Life is a long time. Pace yourself. What is the rush, really? Can't we find time to sit down and have a meal together? Can't we find time to make a meal together?

Listen, if anyone has fallen prey to the fast, efficient model, it's me. In fact, the Creator knows how much I appreciate efficiency that when I ask for a blessing or a download, it literally comes down through tubing in my body like plumbing in a house. No blocks, one way in and one way out. Keep it simple right? Well, what if we could keep it simple and be efficient and take time to enjoy life. It is possible and I'm experiencing it right now. More is more. More to juggle, more to fit in, more to get done. What I find though is that when I slow down and stop thinking or doing more, then I actually let joy in my life. The joy is from doing less stuff and enjoying more slow. More laughs, more peace, more sleep, more sex, more money, more health, more fun. That's when I know I'm in the flow. His Grace is for us all the time.

And it all starts with soup.

Miso Soup Recipe:
2 tbsp. miso
1 onion
1 carrot
1 turnip
1 leak
3 pints of water
2 kombu seaweed
1 pinch dried wakame seaweed
salt
sesame oil

Make kombu stock by boiling water and simmering with kombu for 1 hour. Wash and dice vegetables. Saute the onion in the oil, then add salt, carrot, turnip and leeks. Remove kombu from water. It is now considered stock. Add the vegetables and wakame and simmer. Just as you are ready to serve, add the miso with a little stock and pour in the soup. You can garnish with leek stock.

Wishing you more of what you want more of...

Eat Real: Listen to the Apples

2010-10-12T18:26:00.001-07:00

An apple a day keeps the doctor away... Bet you've heard that your whole life! It's true. The apple is full of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Not only that, but they are in season right now. If you have become accustomed to listening to the cues in Nature, you might be eating quite a few of them right now. I know we are!

We went apple picking a week ago and have been eating them ever since. There are plenty of places in North Carolina. Here's a favorite farm: www.steppapples.com. The kids are all apple-d out! Turns out, this is the perfect fruit to be eating right now as we transition into the colder weather. According to Aurveydic principles, eating apples draws the heat of summer out of your cells and boosts immunity for the coming winter. Depending on your constitution, eating them raw or cooked may benefit you in different ways. If you are drier, more constipated, than cooking them will be of benefit to your body right now, yet if you have a strong appetite, raw is best.

By learning the language of Nature and listening to what your body is telling you, you can determine what works best for you. Just like snowflakes, each of us is completely unique. Perfection is not the goal, practice is. Keep listening, learning and developing awareness of yourself and what occurs in nature. Here's a favorite recipe great warm or cold!

Easy Baked Apples:
5 cups peeled and sliced apples
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix all together, cover and bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Garnish top with oatmeal and more nuts.

Be Real: 4 Addictions

2010-10-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

Addiction is defined as, "being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming." When you hear the word addiction you may think - drugs, sex, alcohol, or gambling. What if the addiction is more benign? Perhaps it's that morning latte, or the gossip magazine. Don't forget the favorite TV show, your face book account, or texting. All seemingly harmless, right? Addicts lose themselves in their addiction. Some even lose themselves in food.

After reading the post: The Four Addictions That Destroy Your Dreams, I've come to see addiction in a new light. External sources or things can become addictions because they feed a need deep inside - a need for love. But now we are asked to look inside and how the relationships in our lives feed us. Where are we feeding the need beyond material items?

Depending on your conditioning, any one of these 4 may be a source of addiction for you:
1. Opinions of Others
2. Drama
3. Past
4. Worry

Opinions of Others:
Are you a good girl or boy? Do you worry that you might hurt someones feelings just being you or speaking your truth? Do you look to authority figures for approval? Our society has an incessant marketing push to get the newest, latest and greatest item. Along with this culture comes the idea of being judged. No one wants to be judged. We are taught to follow the rules. Here's a freeing thought - "There's nothing you can say or think about me that I haven't already thought of myself." So, if I (or you) are already all those terrible things, and we both know it, what's there to worry about? For all those awful things you or I may be, we are also all those wonderful things as well.

Drama:
I grew up with a lot of family around and plenty of opportunity to stick your nose in other people's business. Just stirring the pot, so to speak. Do you over react or always seem to be the one in the crisis holding everyone together? Do you get tired of it? Then there is the chronic complainer. She has the answers to solving the world's problems. The only problems is, the world isn't asking her. How about the Uncle who goes to every wake or funeral? What about the friend who always has a problem. Do you seem to be the one who is always fixing or solving it for her?

Past:
My dad was very sentimental. Always remembering when... sometimes I can get that way too. This addiction is taken to the extreme when you can't seem to move past the past. Maybe change is way to scary or you just can't imagine anything being better than how it used to be. Are you open to new ideas or open thinking? Buddha said, "Change is." Life is change. Evolution happens. Go with it.

Worry:
I've come to understand worry as a lack of trust in God. A lack of trust that all is and will be taken care of in Divine Order. There is a meticulous, intricate dance to all of life. Your small part in it is suppose to happen exactly as it does. There is no should or shouldn't have. There is only 'what is'. You can't block God. He told me so. This is God we are talking about - anything and everything happens according to HIS PLAN. The ultimate designer and coordinator has everything under control. Just show up and enjoy the ride. Great things happen IN SPITE of bad attitudes. Wonderful opportunities show up when the time is right. You don't have to try and force anything. Fruit that is ripe, falls from the tree. This is true for everything...

Just because you may indulge in any one of these areas does not mean you are necessarily addicted. I encourage you to look at your life and any blocks or resistance you may notice and ask yourself if the root cause is one of these addictions. Do you see a repeating pattern of behavior?

Can you start taking back some of your power and trying to break out of any habits that really get in your way? What if you tried something new?

Eat Real: You are What You Eat -part 2

2010-10-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

Ultimately you know what to do to feel better. Eat fruits, whole grains, vegetables and a little meat (if needed). Get plenty of rest, exercise and reduce stress. This video prompts the question - Does it make any sense that the food provided by nature (by God) would be substandard to what the food industry makes?

Your body is a miraculous organisim. The heart never skips a beat, the lungs always draw in O2 and expel CO2. Science is spectacular in that it continues to prove our bodies don't end. Our body is as infinite as the Universe itself. There is always more to discover, more to see, more to understand. And, when you can get yourself past the 'more' concept, you will see that you already know exactly everything you need to know. It's just a matter of listening to the voice inside. The voice of your Soul.

We are what we eat. Listen to world renowned experts about the current state of the food industry and where we fall in the middle of all the marketing hype. Be informed, be empowered, be the change and change happens.

Be Real: Dream for Me Mommy...

2010-10-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

My boys still like me to lay down with them at night. I get to climb two bunk beds and twist and contort myself into strange positions in order to fit in their comfy little nests. I usually start top down. That means big kids first, little one last. He has the most comfortable bed. After the big ones tell the stories from the day and I answer their questions and hear about their Christmas list, I lay down with the little one. (I know it's September, but my kids like to plan ahead. Wonder where they got that from? ;)

So, here I am snuggled up to a warm little body and you know what he said? "Mommy, dream for me." The request is usually "Tell me a story about me and tractors, me and trains, me and bulldozers". But that night, it was bigger - dream for me...

I caught my breath. Isn't that what we all want? Don't we want to live the dream? To hear all the best and wonderful things God has to bless us with and to experience them? This little person understood all of this at such a pure level. He is just open to the blessings God has in store for him and wants to hear them and live them. He trusted me enough to dream for him. To imagine his blessings and put them in words.

I can't remember exactly what I said, but it was along these lines... "To always be happy, healthy, safe. To have a great life doing great things. To know we love you, God loves you, Jesus loves you. May you walk in a circle of love and light all the days of your life. Oh yes, and may you have the best John Deere tractor or tractors money can buy."

We live the dream traveling from blessing to blessing.

Eat Real: Canola Oil

2010-09-19T02:24:00.000-07:00

Canola Oil is not all it's said to be. Currently, it is marketed as a heart healthy oil because it falls into the category of a polyunsaturated fat.

Canola Oil is made from rapeseed oil. The name comes from 'Canada' and 'oil'. According to AgriAlternatives, a magazine for farmers, "By nature, these rapeseed oils, have long been used to produce oils for industrial purposes, are toxic to humans and other animals." It's used in insect repellent and synthetic rubber. And if you see the word Canola Seeds - this is just marketing. It's just a name change from rapeseed. It's the same seed.

Because it is a highly refined, processed food product, the body cannot break it down and use it for nutritional fuel in the body. Sure, it has a high heat tolerance, but so does the oil in your car.... It may be heart healthy and polyunsaturated, but anytime the body ingests a fragmented food product, it is missing nutrition - that simple.

Some clinical studies are showing permanent scarring of the kidneys, heart, adrenals and thyroids in animals when given canola oil. More clinical trials have been done showing a relation to growth retardation, deficient blood platelet, high blood pressure, stroke and allergies.
Although the oil may be toxic, I would not blame these conditions solely on this one product. Look at the whole enchilada - most processed, refined foods use canola oil in their manufacturing processes because of cost, shelf life and marketing. It's a lifestyle contributing to disease. A lifestyle that encourages stress, a fast pace, eating on the run and not listening to the body.

So, what can you do instead? Use extra virgin olive oil, unrefined sesame oil, red palm oil, coconut oil and plain old butter. Use fat/oils the way God created them. When the whole of the nutrient is present, the body knows what to do with it. When you eat a fragmented food, which is usually a processed food, you are missing vital nutritional pieces for the whole of your body.

Whole food = whole body. Do you want to be defined in fragments or as a whole?

Be Real Guest Blogger: Winds of Change

2010-09-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

My good friend and colleague, Rhonda Simpson has generously agreed to provide an article for this weeks post. We spend our time talking about exactly what she has written about. In fact, we share the experience together, always reaching for the higher thought, action, moment. I am grateful for God bringing her into my life. She is an incredible writer and highly intuitive individual. I hope you enjoy her insights as much as I do! -Roberta

Expect winds of change to be blowing through the windows of your world as this month roles out unprecedented cleansing and preparation for what’s to come. Feeling a little bombarded? With good reason. The energies coming in are intense, to say the least, and the effects of such will string you along from every end of the scale. One moment you may feel invigorated or even a bit like you’re spinning as your system attempts to digest the flow. The next, you may find yourself incredibly low, swimming in age-old stuff that you think couldn’t possibly be yours since it so doesn’t fit with the distance you’ve come and the joy you had touched on just moments ago.

The energy is asking you to transcend what has been and is giving you every opportunity (note the plunging effect at play) to take a good hard look at what you’re still holding onto. As uncomfortable as this is, we’re being presented with an incredible opportunity to mop up all that lower level stuff that is still lurking within. You may feel somewhat estranged from what’s bubbling up as it seems so incongruent with the higher levels you’d only just begun to operate at.. But this time of purging is necessary because we’re only getting ready to go higher. And since you’ve had a good taste of what that’s like, perhaps it will give you impetus to endure this hydro-cleaning of our psyches and hearts and might even provide the impetus to release the grip on what we’re still holding onto after all these years.

It’s shocking, I know, on some level, that we still have those fears and doubts and insecurities. Haven’t we moved beyond that,(many,many times over)? Yes..but. The ‘buts’ won’t get us anywhere but deeper in the trenches and further into confusion. What we need to address needs addressing and there’s no better time than right now to take it head on and cleanse. Out truth wants allegiance. And you are being asked to take another good hard look at the scope of your integrity and measure up to the level you intend to operate on. The old patterns of thought and reaction are dated and it’s time, my friends, to get a new groove. Reprogramming away from old drama is a conscious choice, and at first takes some effort. But you are way beyond simply blowing in the wind. You are anchored, so act new. No need for confusion. It’s a time to trust. Trust in your process. Trust in you. Trust that all will be well, is well, is not the projection of what is being excavated.

Feelings of depression, anxiety, and distress may be at hand, but don’t allow yourself to get lost in a vortex of gloom or despair. Beware, actually, the tendency to fall off track and into a very familiar distraction of victim-hood as your plans may be waning in order for you to do the deed of excavating and recalibrating. Now is the time to enact all of those tools you’ve gathered and put them into place. You’ve become a conscious co-creator. This is not a curve ball, this is the destruction part of the process that is creation. Think life-death-rebirth. This is part of you dying, so that more of you can be born. This is you aligning even more perfectly with your truth and contesting all that you still harbor that’s out of harmony with the You you’ve come to know.

You haven’t fallen out of grace. You’re simply preparing. You know all those dreams- come-true that you’ve been aiming your heart at? Comin’ right at’cha. But, in preparation, you’ve got to step into the You that is ready to receive. So, if things seem to be put on hold, and that’s making you squirmy, get busy releasing. Get on-purpose with the process and give, give, give it all away. This isn’t the time so much for deep introspection or ruminating on what any unwanted thoughts might be bringing to the forefront. But rather, it’s a time for insisting on consciousness and making good ol’ empowered choices. May sound a little out of sink in a time of feeling like you’re sunk, but now’s a better time than any. If you can lift out of what is taking you under and keep your eye on the prize, emitting your Truth, even in the darkness, imagine what you can do when you feel more connected to the light.

You know more than you think. Stay with the knowing and veto the doubts. Be confidant in your decisions, and compassionate in your shift. Loving you through this is the way to move forward in grace. Grace is a powerful ally in this process. Take it by the hand. Let the ancient relics of your deepest fears go, and when you struggle with loosening the grip, love yourself some more for the pain and burden you’ve endured by holding on. The holding on has weathered you more than any of the pain or fears ever could. Be the watcher and observe what’s being presented. Notice your reaction to it. And do it different this time. You’re in charge. Light trumps dark. Free yourself of what’s holding you down and be grateful for this opportunity to know that yes, it’s still in the way, and yes, you really can set it down and choose higher.

It’s only a phase of the moon, a moment in time, a window of opportunity. Decide to master the phase, own the moment and open that window wide.

Bio

Inspirational author, visionary and teacher - Rhonda Simpson. Visit her blog and website, and fill your heart with Love, Light and Faith in your Divine Nature. You will be more connected with the Core of Your Being.

www.awakeningthedivine.net

http://consciouscocreating.blogspot.com/2010/09/surrender-into-being.html

Join Rhonda for the Conscious Cleanse on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=145378058837634&ref=mf

Eat Real: Peaches

2010-09-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

The weather is changing and with it, so are we. Our bodies are intimately connected to the earth and what is happening in nature. The best way to maintain balance is to follow the cues nature is sending.

Buddhist monks know that the way to enlightenment is balance in all things, including the mind, body and spirit. Current Western traditions have lost sight of this important connection to the earth, yet Eastern practices embrace it.

Look at what is in season locally where you live right now. If you're up north, the food offering may be different than what's down south. Here, in North Carolina, we've got peaches and plenty of them! It's perfect that peaches are in season now as they offer fluid, sugar, fiber and vitamins that help balance the body when it's cool and dry outside. We haven't had much rain as of late and the grass is drying while the air is cooling. This combination makes for a perfect combination to dry out our mucus membranes. Had a few bloody noses lately? Been clearing your throat? Both signs that what is going on outside is being reflected inside. Nature knows what the body needs right now - lubrication. And, just on cue - peaches are provided at just the right time, and in plentiful amounts.

Hm mm, maybe we should take a hint... if there are a lot of peaches, is that a sign of things to come? Nature wants to make sure we are properly balanced so that we can maintain health. As we maintain balance, come into harmony with our environment. This harmony occurs in opposites. Balance occurs in juxtaposition. There must be dark in order to experience light. When it's cold out, our bodies require warmth. When it's warm out, our bodies require cool. When it's dry out, our bodies require moisture. See the delicate dance that takes place? The key is to allow the dance to take place. Look outside, feel the air, listen to the trees, watch the animals. Nature is telling you, showing you what is coming. We just need to slow down enough to pay attention.

Our family eats peaches raw. There's something so satisfying in the sweet, juicy crunch that comes from biting into one. Here's a tasty breakfast recipe we love. Add some fresh peaches and it feels like dessert!

Peach-Ginger Oatmeal Breakfast
2 cups water
1 cup rolled oats
2 teaspoons grated ginger
pinch of salt
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 fresh chopped peach
1 tbsp. agave nectar

Directions: Bring water to a boil, add oatmeal, ginger, salt, raisins. Reduce heat to low and cook until creamy (less than 10min). Remove from heat and add sunflower seeds and peaches. Hemp seeds can be used as well. Experiment and enjoy!

Be Real: Drinking Blood

2010-09-03T14:54:00.001-07:00

I touched blood today, in fact I drank it. Not only did I drink it, I served it to others and they drank it too.

As Catholics, we are taught that when the Priest consecrates the wine and the bread, he turns it into the body and blood of Jesus. It has become almost a perfunctory exercise. We understand it is holy, but do we really believe it is the transformed body and blood of Christ? Be honest. Part of me didn't. But in honesty, it's because I didn't understand the bigger picture.

Our thoughts, words and actions are prayers. We are all connected because we are part of the larger soul. To Catholics, this is the body of Christ. Jesus was the man who embodied the whole body of Christ. He embodied the whole Soul. And, he left us with symbolic gestures we could return to in order to practice our devotion to God. A devotion to love. A devotion to surrender of wants and desires to knowing all is and will be provided. Jesus the man understood this. He was able to allow his mind, body and spirit to be in complete alignment with Source energy. That is what the metaphysical community calls it. To me, Source = God. He was able to master all his emotional, mental, physical and spiritual bodies to be in complete harmony with God's Will. And, because of this, He could show us that death is an illusion - that this incarnation is an illusion.

So, if it is an illusion and He could die and come back to life, then our faith can transform wine and bread into body and blood. Jesus humbled himself in this gesture to us so that we would be able to remember our truth - our essence. We are light and to light we shall return. I accept this belief system because it allows me to give of myself and allow God to fill me. And God feels good.

I was overcome with joy, grace and love as I offered the Blood of Christ to my sisters and brothers. In fact, I had to compose myself as I was moved to tears. It is quite something to be so close to Jesus that you are holding His blood.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Be Real: Fast & Furious

2010-08-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

So, I had this post all planned. It was going to be on the benefits of peaches. But then I sat down to write and something else came through. So, as I write this post, know that I'm going by the seat of my pants...

Today, I ran a 5K with a dear friend. I watched her give birth - to herself. She is the mother of 4 and is reclaiming her identity. Two months ago, she started training to run 3 miles. A mutual friend in our community who runs marathons offered to coach her and would have run with her today if she could. This same coach showed me how to run 3 years ago. And, today, God gave me an opportunity to give back to both of them by supporting the new runner by running with her in this race . I felt the beauty of karma.

My friend is going through a transformation. She is learning how to surrender to the Universe (God) and to push herself into uncertain territory. Is it uncomfortable? Yes. Is it scary? Yes. But she did it and now she can say she ran a 5K. There is growth in uncertainty. We are taught by the Law of Attraction to follow the good feeling, but what if you don't feel a good feeling, but are stuck between "feeling stuck and unhappy" and being scared? The good feeling is not obvious. You choose the scared even if it does not feel good because it lifts you closer to the good feeling on the scale of emotions. If you've ever given birth, you know it hurts. She hurt today. I remember that same hurt. She doubted her ability. I remember that doubt. It's an old friend to many of us. And, when she finished, she cried with relief. The tears of love and joy, are from a heart which surrendered to God a little more today.

Two weeks ago when she asked me to run with her and said yes, I thought, "OK God, let's do it." I haven't run in some time, and thought maybe I should see if I still could. That day I ran 3 miles in 28 minutes. The only reason I can fathom the ability to make that time is because I asked the Angels to be with me and lift me up. It was God showing me to give it over to Him. I was literally carried. He showed me how easy it is when you just trust and are open to allowing.

Here's the fast and furious part. It's been a busy two weeks with school starting and adjusting to the schedule. My soul communicated through my body, to me, in the language of a light cold. The message - SLOW DOWN! OK, but don't you get everything that needs to get done!? I'm running a race, for Pete's sake! The reply was congestion and a cough. Ha! Concern set in - would I still be able to run? Was God's plan different than I thought? Today, the static in my head was quieted when I heard Him tell me all would be well.

Let me tell you - I didn't blow my nose once. My breathing was completely clear, not a cough and we finished in 45 minutes. The course was beautiful and hilly. My friend was scared and excited. It didn't matter how fast we finished, just that we did finish. That was the goal. Knowing time did not matter allowed me to enjoy the moment and forget myself. I felt completely surrendered to the flow of the Universe. It wasn't me running with her, it was Him. God took over my body. There were Angels around us. In fact, I could hardly even feel my body. I was even singing. My friend gave birth to herself today, I died to myself in order to live for His Greater Purpose.

So, I challenge you - Where is your comfort zone? How can you move past it to attain a goal you've been dreaming about? How can you give birth to yourself? How can you give of yourself in order to live for God's Will? Or, to say it another way - How can you surrender to the flow of the Universe and just be in this moment?

Be Real: Right Now

2010-08-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

"The past is history, the future is a mystery, but today is a gift - that's why they call it the present. So cherish every minute of it." - Elvis Stojiko

My brother and I were talking this month. We have the same disease. It's the disease of "what's next". We are both addicted to education, certification, tests, you name it - if it has to do with higher education and knowledge, we are the first ones in line. You might think, that's odd, but you've come to know that I just might be a little odd and I'm OK with that. I know you love me! This is childhood programming at it's height. My parents, especially my father would drill into us the importance of education. Guess it stuck. I'm 40 now and still love school.

My brother has a BS in public health, a MPH in international public health, a BA in nursing and is a registered RN with Yale-New Haven Hospital. Most recently, he's been promoted to manager on the floor. We are so happy for him! I was talking to him about how this year of school for me is ending and how I've been looking at what's next - Master Herbalist, ND, MDiv, PhD. We came to the conclusion that it's fun to look at what's next, but that we should not define ourselves by it. Right now, this moment is all that matters and instead of 'looking' for what's next, we will allow 'what's next' to find us. This allows him and me to stay focused in the present. My kids encourage me to be present - thank God!

I offer this to you for use in your own life. We can make ourselves crazy looking for what's next whether that is a problem we are preparing for, a mountain we want to climb, a run we want to train for or we can just focus on what is happening right now and allow the opportunities to find us. Still set your goals, still dream big, yet keep fine tuning your craft for the next right step is right now. You, me, he is an expert in this moment.

After talking with him, I've decided a process was needed so that I can live in the moment yet still continue to set and meet goals. Yes, I know a process for living in the moment. How OCD can you get? Got a few hours?! Ha!

Living in the Moment Process (the short version) :
1. Make a list. A list of what you'd like to do, be, experience, have.
2. Break that list down into today - what's most important to accomplish today.
3. Divide the list in two - one side for you, one side for God.
4. Give your side completely to God. (menu exercise from Abraham Hicks Law of Attraction)
5. Look at your list for today, this week, this month and prioritize it by what's practical and what is really desired.
6. Start at #1 on your list and pick a time during the day to do it. Or, if you're like me with 3 kids home - pray that God and the Angels will line up that time during the day to do it!

Or you can take the 'screw it' method... don't think, just do and leave the rest to God. Pretty simple.

Our natural state of being is joy. Lists can take the pressure off and get the noise out of the mind so that we can be in the moment and experience the joy.

Be the best you can be right now as you are, where you are, with those around you. Now, you're an expert.

Eat Real: Ocean Vegetables

2010-08-12T23:25:00.000-07:00

Ocean vegetables - what's that? Vegetables grow in the sea and we call it seaweed. I can hear you now. "Is she actually suggesting I eat seaweed?" Yes, I am. This is one of nature's purest and most potent foods. If Westerners could grasp the idea that food created in nature actually serves a purpose in our body, the rates of heart disease, diabetes and a whole host of other conditions would cease to exist.

Seaweed has long been used in Asian traditions as a staple food. The people of Okinawa have had the longest, healthiest life spans of anyone on this Earth. In addition to a diet low in animal protein, their diet is high in sea vegetables. Now, if they can only stave off the affects of the West, which are infiltrating their society, they could maintain that level of health far into the future. However, fast food, processed and refined food in shiny packages is like a bad virus our culture is spreading throughout the world. I'll save that topic for another day!

The many benefits of seaweed include:
A high mineral content, including iodine which is essential for proper endocrine function. In some cases, it's been shown to contain sufficient amounts of all minerals including calcium, sodium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc in addition to iodine.

Includes many trace elements and vitamins including vitamin A as beta-carotene, B1, B2, B6, niacin, vitamin C, panthothenic acid, folic acid and trace amounts of B12.

Seaweed cleanses the body of toxins. The varieties high in alginic acid bind with heavy metals and eliminate them from the body. Arame, hijiki, kombu and wakame are the best varieties for this type of cleansing.

All varieties are capable of promoting healthy skin, warming the body and enriching the blood.

It is an effective food for killing yeast in the body.

Eating it on a regular basis contributes to an overall feeling of contentment. (I can testify to this!)

Hijiki Salad
1 cup hijiki
5 cups water
1 yellow or red chopped pepper
4 chopped scallions
1 chopped carrot
1/2 cup fresh corn kernals
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. umeboshi vinegar
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 tbsp. fresh ginger juice

Directions:
Soak hijiki in water for 20 min. Whisk together oil, vinegar, garlic and ginger juice. Rinse hijiki and add to chopped vegetables. Pour dressing over salad, toss and serve. Serves 4. Arame also works beautifully with this recipe.

Be Real: 40

2010-08-05T02:45:00.000-07:00

So, I had a birthday this summer. Got me to thinking about the number and it's significance. Turns out 40 is quite a popular number. Here are a few references:

1. A time of testing, a period of renewal
2. Completeness
3. Preparation, penance, purification
4. Forty measures of water purify a person
5. Forty days of rain purified the world
6. Moses was purified during 40 days on Mount Sinai
7. Jesus walked the desert and fasted for 40 days
8. It's a symbol of birth, rebirth and change
9. According to the Talmud, it is said that 40 days after conception the soul enters the body
10. Neural activity begins at 40 days for a fetus

This is offered as an opportunity for us all to look at age as a marker, an opportunity of what lies ahead, not what is left behind. Not what's ending, but what's beginning. It feels like a wake up call. There is a certain peace and understanding that comes with reaching this number that I recall experiencing at 20 and 30. With each decade, more understanding, more life is under my belt. I still feel young, like there is so much more to learn.

I wonder if, after 40 years, my soul is completely in my body. There is a feeling of completeness and contentment - not that I'm done living, but that I have everything I need to move forward fully in life.

My goal is to live to be at least 200 years old. And to be vibrant and healthy to serve God's Will the whole time. So, if I'm only 40 - that's still young compared to 200!

It's all perspective baby.

Be Real: Unrestricted Access

2010-07-27T03:09:00.000-07:00

I took the kids fishing on vacation. My husband was suppose to be with us, but at the last minute, was called into work. So, here I am at the beach with 3 little boys. We had a great time! One of our goals was to go fishing on a boat, so I set up a charter with a local company. Easy peasy, right?

The night before our trip, we were called and told it was overbooked, so we could not be on the charter. We were scheduled to leave the next day. Needless to say, the kids were disappointed. So, we sent up our prayers and asked God, if it is YOUR will, let us go fishing.

I woke up the next morning with the resolve that we would go to the boat regardless and 'pretend' we didn't receive the call. Just play dumb basically and see if we could get on. We did! We were on the boat and ready to go, but there were 4 old, heavy men on the dock who were not happy. Now, I could have said, "Oh well, tough for them", but as I looked at who was on the boat I saw how we did not seem to fit in. It was full of old, heavy men. And one on the dock pulled out a wad of 100 dollar bills just to show his 'interest' in going.

I heard the angels say, "You don't belong here today. Do you understand why now?" I did. We asked if we they were available for the following day and gracefully exited the boat. So, we show up the following day and the only other people on the boat are a mother with her 3 boys who were vacationing without their dad because of work. Hum, sound familiar? It was a sunny, beautiful day and the hotel gave us a complimentary late check out because our plans were changed. It all worked out.

No one else on the boat knew of our phone call or our circumstances. I was given the opportunity to 'see' what would happen and we did. The energy wasn't perfect for our trip on the first day, but it couldn't have been more perfect on Tuesday! God, the Universe, lined it all up and all we had to do was follow the energy and stay in the flow instead of fighting it.

It was beautiful to have this lesson taught so easily and gracefully. God knows what's best for you whether you know it or not. Whether you know why or not. All we have to do is relax, trust and go with the flow - literally. We are always answered when we ask. And we are always given the best answer.

This experience has brought a new level of understanding and surrender to my life. Just ask, trust and be grateful. Have faith. Faith, to me, is believing all will and is perfect no matter the circumstances or the perspective. It's knowing all is already good. It's knowing God knows better for us than we know ourselves, so why fight it? Just state the desire, follow the feeling in your gut and allow yourself to be led.

Remove disbelief in God's power and fear dissolves... then we experience unrestricted access.

Be Real: The Art of Mindfulness

2010-07-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

Be mindful. I've heard this before and had no idea what it meant, until now.

Watch what you say or think. Be mindful with your words, for they are prayers... I've spent the better part of this summer reading about spiritual practices - including Eastern and Western religions. What I've found to be most fascinating is the Buddist practice of mindfulness. I actually made it half way through one of my books and had to put it down because I wasn't getting it. Then, the Holy Spirit led me to a used book store and I found a book about How to be Happy. Now I get it.

Mindfulness is nothing more than watching your thoughts as an observer in your own mind. You watch your thinking instead of taking part in it. It's as if you are disconnected from the thought and watching it as an entity on it's own. When you can separate yourself from the thought, you can see it for what it is and decide if it's worth pursuing. The beauty of this is that you don't have to stop negative thoughts, just watch them and realize it's nothing more than a bad channel you can change. Like static on a radio station, negative thoughts just cloud full connection with Divinity.

As I've been able to watch my own thoughts, doubts, low moods and high moods, I've been able to see myself separate from them. I can partake in life and let the uncertainty, any low self-confidence, and self-doubt be where it is and just walk away from it. It's like watching a trailer for a bad movie and saying, "I really don't want to watch that show" and flipping the channel. You can look at the thought and ask if it serves you or not. Some people love misery, some don't. Just look at it and don't be defined by it.

The Law of Attraction states that what we think, we become or we invite into our reality. For some time, I had been policing my thoughts and just 'canceling' any negative ones until one day, I fell into a terrible mood and had no idea why. I was doing everything right - what gives!? Well, I had fallen into defining myself completely on the fact that good thoughts mean I'm connected to God and well, bad thoughts mean I'm not. This is true to an extent, but diffusing the negativity was something different. When beginning to look at the thought as an observer, I was able to say - "Hey, that might be true, but it might not be also. I choose to err on the side of optimisim and let it go." The negative thought is just an erroneous belief system that requires release or reprogramming.

When it comes down to it, this life is relative reality. Where we come from is absolute reality. If this is just relative, we don't have to get caught up in the drama. We can look at the negative thoughts and realize these are just areas that are mistaken in their perception of the blessings in this life. Then we can cancel them out and choose the higher thought and speak the higher words.

Be joyful. That is your natural state. Anything less is a distraction...

Eat Real: Blueberries for the Brain

2010-07-16T17:41:00.001-07:00

This little berry is a powerhouse of nutrition and healing. Something so simple, yet so powerful. You don't have to go to the Amazonian Rain Forest to get it either. It's right at the farmer's market and in season right now.

We are always looking to try something new and exciting in the middle of summer. Just like the middle of winter, we feel a little trapped by the heat. The kids have spent the last week getting to know some old books and new shows on TV. Instead of baking, we've decided to try visiting the farmer's market to see what's in season and do a little experimenting on our own.

What we noticed is that there are A LOT of blueberries out there. In fact, my kids have eaten so many, I'm waiting for one of them to turn into an Umpa Lumpa! They are so sweet, tasty and juicy right now. Go get yourself a pint or four!

Blueberries are powerful for a number of reasons, the main one being antioxidants. Vitamin 'P' as it's called refers to flavonoids. These are compounds that reside in plants naturally and give the plant and its fruit, medicinal properties. These compounds are what protect the plant and its fruit naturally. It's no wonder why it can protect us as well. All we have to do is eat it! The more colorful the food, the more flavonoids present. Within the flavonoid group is a category called polyphenols. Polyphenols protect the brain by preventing oxidative stress. This fruit is also part of a group of flavonoids call proanthocyanidins. "This group has the ability to protect both the watery and fatty parts of the brain against damage from some environmental toxins." Michelle Schoffro Cook, ND

This berry has greater concentration and antioxidant properties than just vitamins C and E alone. Blueberries are also anti-inflammatory. Inappropriate amounts of inflammation in the body contribute to pain and degeneration. Following an anti-inflammatory diet which includes blueberries can remedy pain in as little as 3 days.

Inflammation, cognitive ability and aging skin are directly related to an overabundance of free radicals in the system. Free radicals can be any toxin, environmental, emotional, or nutritional. The more antioxidants we ingest, the better chance our body has of protecting and regenerating itself from free-radical damage.

Quick Blueberry Smoothie:
1 bag frozen mango
1 bag frozen blueberries
1 tbsp. agave nectar
1/2 cup apple juice

Blend all in a blender and serve immediately or, freeze and use as a sorbet.

Uses for Blueberries:
Toss them on salads
Make blueberry pancakes
Make Smoothies or Sorbets
Put them on top of oatmeal
or my personal favorite - by the handful!

Health Benefits:
They are a natural diuretic - helping summer water weight disappear. (I ate a ton while pregnant in the summer - works wonders!)
Help restore and improve cognitive function.
Slows vision loss.
Helps lower cholesterol
Helps with digestive issues

Hope you are enjoying the summer and staying cool!

Be Real: I Died Three Years Ago

2010-07-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

This time of year has special significance to me. Today, July 10th is especially poignant. Today is my third son's birthday. It is when I decided, three years ago, to change my life for myself, by myself. The little one is 4 today. He slept in (almost unheard of) and spent a lazy day watching movies and going to Target. We made cupcakes, but he fell asleep!

As I sat eating dinner alone (a special treat), some thoughts came to me... Three years ago, I was overweight, had high cholesterol, depression, my mother was sick with shingles in Connecticut and I was still nursing a baby. Three years ago, I heard a voice come up from deep within me and it rested in my head. I heard it as I was returning from a walk with the three kids during the hot summer of the South. Worried sick about my mom, hot from the weather, frustrated with life in general - it came through clear as a bell. The voice said, "If you can't take care of yourself, how will you take care of anyone else. You know what to do, just do it."

That day, my life changed. I actually died and was reborn. The Holy Spirit transformed me immediately. I did everything possible to learn how to help my mom from a far. I started eating huge salads everyday. I walked, ran and did jumping jacks every day. I moved as much as my body would let me (as much as it hurt). To my surprise, I started loosing weight and feeling better. Now, three years later, I see that the answers are simple. So simple, it's almost sickening... eat real food, not a lot, exercise, sleep and rely on God to help you as you help yourself.

It was common place to spend close to $7K every year in out of pocket health expenses, for my kids to be routinely sick, for me to be routinely depressed and negative, to not understand how crap seemed to keep happening or finding us. I was asleep, ignorant, and stuck in my own sh*t.

That girl, that woman just didn't know that God really existed. She didn't know that this body is a costume carrying a holy host. She didn't understand. She wanted to, but until that breaking point came - the day she could not call on her mom to fly down and bail her out because her mom was too sick - that day when she had to rely on herself and no one else with three little kids looking up to her - that day when she said "How can I do this, who will help me, how is it possible?" and the answers came loud and clear. They almost knocked her on her butt. That day (that run on sentence), she surrendered to God. She gave up and realized she couldn't do it alone and the only strength she had was what was in her and it was not her strength, but His. She died and a new woman was born.

You couldn't have told me any of this, I wouldn't have listened or I might have cried. In fact, I'd heard all of it my whole life and didn't listen. Many doctors, friends and family offered advice and support, but until that breaking point and I heard it from God - that voice within, did I take action. All those events were signs, messages to change. All the negativity, sickness and sadness were indications of being grossly disconnected from Source/God/Truth. I bless it all and thank the Universe for these lessons which propelled me in the direction of light instead of darkness.

Life is 'freaking awesome'! I had no idea it could be this much fun! Maybe I did, but had forgotten...

Listen to the voice within you. Seek your own answers. Trust your feelings. Decide for yourself. Follow guidance. You have all the power to change your life.

Be Real: Shells

2010-07-02T15:11:00.001-07:00

I took the kids to the beach for a couple of days in April. It was fascinating to watch them pick up shells. My middle son filled his shirt with them. When the little one's hands were full he started giving them to me. At that moment I thought, "That's your stuff, why am I carrying it? I don't want the shells." I held them, of course, because I'm his mother. But, it got me to hearing (not thinking)... "This is part of life, there's always more and people usually want more. You can carry your own stuff and/or you can carry others stuff. The more stuff you have, the more the stuff controls you. " Basically, the things in our lives are transient. So are the people, to an extent. We help each other remember who we are, but we sometimes get caught in looking to others to define us. The bag became heavier and I had to cut our walk short. Talk about being controlled by stuff!

What in life are you carrying? Does it belong to you or someone else? Can you give it back to them? Is there drama? What in your life can you live without? Can you drop it? I mean really live without it. That may be the very thing that is holding you back from moving forward. You might think it's holding you back from more or better stuff, but what if it's holding you back from inner peace, happiness, joy? In this moment, what will really make you happy? Can you trust Source/God/Universe to take care of it for you? This unwavering trust is what the mystics call faith.

Stuff takes up space, and space is what we are in most need of. Space is time, silence, and peace - a connection to Source. Ask yourself if you are in alignment with Source. It's the same as saying you're in alignment with God. How good do you feel? Are you looking to someone or something else to fulfill you rather than looking within? How easy is it for you to let go of control?

I've realized, so often we look to others or things to define who we are. If people respond appreciatively, then we decide we are doing a good job. If they respond negatively, then we beat ourselves up. All that really matters is that we be 'right' with ourselves before interacting with anyone. When we are right with who we are, we are right with God and that is all that matters. Stand in your integrity.

Every time we look to someone else to reward us with feedback, we are giving our power away. We are allowing them to define who we are rather than doing it for ourselves. And we are robbing ourselves of the opportunities for growth. So often, what we think others think of us, holds us back from being the incredible asset we really are. Isn't is so much more empowering to help others stand on their own two feet? You have so much to offer the world and you have your own version that no one else has.

The shells made my son happy for the moment and a whole bag came home from the beach with us. It sat in the garage for 2 weeks before I put them in the yard. The joy was in the getting, not in the keeping. The joy was in the experience and not in the having. Maybe this post is about shells, stuff, faith or power. However you look at it, is up to you. Release yourself from your burdens and dump your bag in the yard.

Eat Real: Walk the Talk

2010-06-25T11:40:00.001-07:00

The word 'exercise' has a bad rap. There is so much baggage wrapped around it. Are we doing enough of it, are we doing it the right way. I heard muscle weighs more than fat... You should measure inches and not weigh yourself. Yoga, running, strength training... I need different shoes for each - or none in some cases. Do I have the right equipment, the right gym, the right trainer? Do I hire a trainer?

How about these for excuses... I'm too busy. My foot hurts. My priority is the family and I can't fit it into my day. I need special shoes for that. The gym membership is too much. It's too hot. It's too cold. It's too dark. It's too sunny. I know you have a list a mile long. And there is always one more to add to it!

Are your excuses helping or hurting you? It doesn't really matter what you do or when you do it if you are already riding the couch. You have shoes, there's the door, go outside and walk.

Just start walking. Eventually, the walking will get easier and you'll go longer distances. Pay attention to your body. It wants to move and needs time to acclimate. If it hurts, stop. If you walk 5 or 10 minutes and you usually don't walk, that is a HUGE accomplishment.

Just 30 minutes everyday will do wonders for your health. "From the perspective of prevention, it appears that the 30 minutes per day will keep most people from gaining the additional weight associated with inactivity," said Cris Slentz, Ph.D of the Duke University research team in a news release. It reduces cancer risks, helps you sleep better and improves your mood. Check out this article through CNN.

A pill isn't going to fix your life forever. You have to do it. You CAN do it!
The best solutions are simple:
1. Drink water (and lots of it).
2. Eat real, whole food (and not too much of it.)
3. Get up and move - as much as your body lets you.
4. Sleep

Here are some of my tips for exercising while taking care of a family:
1. Put the big kids on bikes and the little one(s) in a stroller.
2. Get up earlier than everyone else and walk. You'll get home before they wake up.
3. Walk by yourself after dinner if a spouse is home.
4. Walk around the playground while they play.
5. Walk up and down the street in front of the house while they nap.

I've walked in the wee hours of the morning with crying children who couldn't be comforted. I've walked late at night when my husband was working 24 hr shifts with 2 children asleep in a stroller. They were bundled with blankets and hats in the cold winter. I've walked at 5 am on hot summer days before they all wake up. I've walked barefoot, with running shoes and crocs. I've walked alone, with company, pregnant, sick, hurt, depressed, angry, happy, fat, thin, grieving and under any other circumstance that came my way. Be grateful for the gift of legs that work and the ability to walk.

If I can do it, so can you. Stop with the excuses and start moving in any way your body will let you.

(As always, check with a medical professional before starting an exercise routine. But don't use this as a cop-out!)

Be Real: Fat Lip, Black Eye & Stories

2010-06-14T06:02:00.001-07:00

It's only been our 2nd full week of vacation and already my second son has a fat lip and a black eye. What's the story you ask? He ran into a pole at basketball and fell off his little brother's bike with training wheels. Doesn't sound to exciting does it?

My husband has decided he would tell everyone he got beat up by a 4 yr old girl. My son is cool with that. He knows dad is just teasing. His older brother has decided a Star Wars story about how he looks would be good. And the little one could care less. He just wants to wear a cowboy hat and run around with his pants off. Ahhh, the joys of motherhood.

I share these stories with you because this has shown me, in a very real way, how we are all just stories. We wear these costumes called bodies and we play a part in a story. When I was little, the soap operas were called stories. We can choose to play the victim and blame others for our issues. We can choose to play the heroine and save everyone else. We can be a martyr and sacrifice ourselves or we can be an observer. The parts we choose to play are endless.

These roles are dictated by our choices. We choose to put ourselves in situations to have an experience. How we react to the experience defines our role and how we define ourselves.

Here's another story for you... We were at the pool with some friends from school and some older kids decided to 'attack' my group of kids by throwing popsicles and popcorn and squiritng them with water guns while they were harmlessly playing. My role was to go over, tear them a 'new one' and 'save' my group of boys. Not what I had in mind for our pool trip, but God obviously needed me to learn something and these kids provided the scene in which to do it. My kids were good after it was all said and done. Yet another chance to expand and choose light. Am I going to rant and rave about it, or say we need to pray for these kids because they obviously need help making choices. One, might ask, "what did you do to attract this?" Can't say that I know, all I know is that God provides me the words and I deliver the message - even if I'm yelling it at strangers.

We teach each other through example or in direct, interactive ways. We must remember to love each other through the teaching, because we are really just helping each other figure things out and discover another part of who we really are.

My group of kids decided they were tough and 'saved' each other because they could have died. Ha! Talk about a story. One more lesson provided by a group of souls that love us.

So, I ask you today, what story are you creating for your life? Are you going to keep looking back at what could have been or are you going to bless the experiences you've had because they've shaped you into the incredible person you are today? Are you going to play the part of a victim or a loving, willing participant in life?

Just get up, dust yourself off and live life to the best of your ability. YOU are a work in progress. We all are. Let's have some fun while we are here and help each other out on the way. We are ALL children of God. We are ALL brothers and sisters. We are all part of the one soul - the body of Christ.

Be Real: When Life Gives You Lemons...

2010-06-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

You make lemonade, right?

I had to get over myself today. My kids wanted to do a lemonade stand. Oh man! I could hear my parents - "No, we don't do that sort of thing." Well, guess what? We did it! They were out for 2 hours and sold out 3 pitchers of lemonade. They made $29.20! (The little one drank most of the first pitcher's profits.) After 5 glasses, he came home walking all drunk and complaining of drinking too much lemonade. He's been coasting all night. They had a great time! So did I.

They are learning early about selection instead of rejection. Plenty of people have passed them by and thankfully, not run them over. Some have offered smiles, statements of not having money and some have actually diverted their eyes and intentionally looked away. This is so funny to me, now. It wasn't always. There was a time when I felt rejection as if something was wrong with me if someone chose not to work with me. If something didn't go exactly the way I envisioned, then all was lost. Oh, how mistaken was that thinking!

My kids don't think anything is wrong with them or anyone else and they get that it's not about them. They don't take any of it personally. They are all about the fun, the money and they are focusing on all the cool people who have supported their lemonade stand... The lady that gave them $2, because she's allergic to lemons but wanted them to have some, Mr. Steve who gave them a tip and the 3 girls on bikes who said they were coming back. Oh yes, don't forget the Domino's Pizza guy who bought some and he looked like a NASCAR driver. The kids keep smiling and waving no matter who buys or not. Something we could all do.

What a lesson to us all - especially their mother. It's not about me (or them), it's about the experience. As long as I'm happy, in integrity and doing my best, so what about everyone else. That's what my kids have taught me tonight. They've shown me once again that fear is really an illusion. Taking anything personally is a deception of self. Now I know why God has loaned them to me. Children are our greatest teachers. I'm so grateful to have had this teaching from three little people.

By the way, let us not forget the incredible health benefits and healing power of lemons. I thought it ironic that the Domino's Pizza Guy was drinking homemade, organic lemonade! With actual real lemons! Lemons are incredibly rich in vitamin C. In fact, just one lemon can meet your vitamin C needs for the day. They are also alkalizing for the body. The body wants to be in a state of neutrality, or balance. Neither too alkaline or too acidic. Lemons, although acidic on the outside are alkaline on the inside of our bodies. So, adding freshly squeezed lemon to your day can offset the affects of poor food choices, stress and environmental toxins. It's great to start your day with a cup of warm water and the juice of 1 freshly squeezed lemon.

Homemade Lemonade:
3 lemons
1 pitcher of water (1/2 to 1 gallon)
1-2 tbsp. organic cane sugar or a dropperful of Stevia

Directions:
Juice or squeeze the lemons. Boil 1/2 cup of water and add the sugar to it to make sugar water. Once the sugar has dissolved, add it and the lemon juice to the remainder of the water. Chill and add ice for affect. If you have mint in your yard (as we do), take a few sprigs and add it to the pitcher. It makes for a nice affect.

There's only selection. Rejection is an illusion. Just remember to smile and wave...

Eat Real: Sleep is a Nutrient

2010-05-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

How many of us think we can push through it? We can do it all! And do it all right now, right? So we are up early, go to bed late, push ourselves all day and we do this everyday!

Do this for enough time and what happens... less satisfaction in life, the joy leaves, the simple beauty of each moment escapes us, there's always one more thing to do. We get caught in the cycle of insanity. What's the solution - sleep! Yes, all we have to do is go to bed at a regular time and wake up at a regular time. If we allow our circadian rhythms to get in line with the season and our innate, intuitive nature, we would all feel alot better. Our culture promotes an addiction to stress and being 'on' or 'plugged in' all the time. The more stimulated we are on a relentless basis, the more our lack of rest contributes to weight gain, sickness, depression and a whole host of other issues.

Sleep is a nutrient. It is essential for our well being. Sleep is when our body restores and detoxifies from the day. Sleep allows our body to replenish and repair the physical and mental work from the day. When you skip sleep, you short change your body and opportunity to work at an efficient rate to heal. Most Americans now rank sleep above sex in a list of what's most important in life!

Signs of sleep deprivation:
Irritable
Ineffective social communication
Tiredness
Depression
Weight gain
Cracking under pressure
Memory loss
Poor concentration
Appetite changes
Lack of joy
Lack of libido

What you can do:
Create a bedtime ritual
Plan sleep into your schedule
Plan a consistent wake up time
Stop eating 3 hours before going to bed
Don't watch TV before bed
Don't exercise within 3 hours of sleep
Take a bath
Read a book
Meditate
Pray
Take a 30min nap during the day to help catch up
Skip naps if you already sleep to much

Don't shortchange your experience or feel you have to push through one more hour of work when you just need a rest. You will feel invigorated, less hungry, less worried, less stressed and a whole lot happier, more efficient and productive all with enough sleep. You'll get more done in less time.

Unplug, turn off and rest... I say this as I type at 11pm! Going to bed myself!

Be Real: Fishing for God

2010-05-17T02:49:00.000-07:00

May has been a busy month in our house - birthdays, end of school events, parties, etc... Last weekend was Mother's Day and my husband has been working nonstop all month. I brought the kids to church alone and left feeling terrible. The little one has a way of loosing it towards the middle of mass that spins me up. This a lesson that I must learn and find peace with before I die! Anyway, we decided to take this weekend off from church and go fishing. It was a Mother's Day 'do-over'. We went to the local lake and cast hooks into the water to see what we would catch.

The boys had a good time. We didn't catch much, but it was beautiful to sit in the sun and listen to them dream. Something extraordinary happened - a Koi flipped out of the water about 7 feet from us. It was at least 20lbs! The kids got so excited and decided that is what they were going to catch! The next cast brought in a little sunfish instead. They were excited, though, and had even more resolve to catch the big fish!

We had nothing with us to accommodate catching the big fish. The poles weren't right and the thought of unhooking it gave me the shivers. Sure, we could handle the little one. It fit in our hand, we had the pliers to take out the hook and it was just big enough for our reel and rod. But, what if we did catch a line on that Koi? Would our rods and reels be able to handle that weight? How about us - were we ready to pull a hook out of the mouth of something that big? It was a lesson for me. God, the Holy Spirit, will give you exactly what you want/need and are ready to receive. We were ready to receive the small fish. Although the kids would tell you they were ready to receive the big one - I can tell you, I was not.

Preparation is required to go after a fish that big. The mechanisms must be in place to catch it. Think of this for your life. How many of us dream of winning the lottery? If only I could have more? This true life parable showed me that what many of us have is exactly what we need and can handle right now. But, we are also shown the possibilities of what exists. If we want the bigger fish, we have to do the work to catch it. We also have to allow it.

So, here's the kicker - what if we did catch that fish and still were completely unprepared for it? It would have been SO COOL anyway! So what if we didn't have what we think we needed to accommodate it, we would have figured it out! That's surrender. We can do our part, put all the pieces in place and control what we can AND we can completely surrender to the Will of The Creator and TRUST that we can handle whatever comes and it will be SO COOL to experience!

Trust that what comes is for your best and highest good. Trust that you are cared for in a real and tangible way. Trust that this is pretend and the 'other side' is real.

To be happy, do not add to possessions, but subtract from desires.

Eat Real: The Holy Vessel

2010-05-09T03:15:00.000-07:00

My mother was always one to say, "Your body is a temple". I can remember her drilling this into us, especially before bath time when we're standing their butt naked. I think my earliest memories of this started when I was 4. Of course, she was trying to help us understand why we needed to be clean and that we should respect ourselves. When we entered middle school and high school, she still repeated it, but for different reasons. As you can guess, it wasn't until college that I had a 'real' boyfriend! And, I ended up marrying him! Ha.

I bring up The Holy Vessel concept today because so many of us are caught up in this cycle of taking care of everyone else's needs and not paying attention to our own. If we don't take care of ourselves, we can't take care of anyone else. I'll share a passage from a book I've been reading and you'll get the idea. "When a soul is not in a physical body, spiritual growth is much slower. When we understand what a great demand there is in the spiritual world for physical bodies, we will respect the ones we have much more... We must learn to treat the physical body as the divine being and partner that it is. It has intelligence and can communicate. It desires to be of service to us and the Divine Plan as long as we will give it the respect of an equal partner." excerpt from Soul Psychology by Joshua Stone, PhD.

It's been revealed to me that a soul has to wait about 200 Earth years before being incarnated into the physical form. That means, when we die, we go to the back of the line! All of this information gives a new perspective on honoring the form we've been given. Stop hating it and telling it hurtful things. Start loving it, feeding it foods it can use, giving it sun, water, exercise and love. Listen to what it needs. If you quiet your mind and let it speak, you will hear it.

Now, I'm speaking to men as well as women here... think of how we respect the body when it is pregnant. Whether you've experienced pregnancy as the man, the woman or an innocent observer, you know what I mean. There is a certain reverence that is associated with 'taking care' of the body. We instinctively know this. We are carrying a precious soul and we want to give it the best physical form possible, so we are 'careful'. What we've forgotten is that we are already carrying a 'precious soul' - our own. What if we could treat our physical form in a way that honored that precious gift? Your soul, the one already in your body, is enough reason to take care of your body. You don't need any other excuse.

On this Mother's Day, I say to you - You are Mother's and Father's of your own soul whether you are pregnant or not. You are a Divine Spark of God in a Divine Vessel. Teach yourself to love yourself. Allow your body what it needs to have the experience you signed up for in this lifetime.

As for me, if I have to wait another 200 years for a body, I'm going to help this one last as long as possible - at least 200 years! St. Germain in Europe lasted 350 years. Wouldn't it be cool to be blogging when I'm 201. Talk about story!

Wishing you the ability to Love completely and to Know who you are...

Be Real: Prayer & Personal Responsibility

2010-05-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

So I'm researching information for a new workshop I'm developing and come across this article on prayer and health: 25 Intriguing Scientific Studies About Faith. The article goes on to state 19 different studies that show an increase in quality of life, care and well being in patients that have prayer and faith in their life. Only 5 studies show no affect of prayer on health. What struck me is the concept of faith being scientifically studied in healing health. Faith is instinctively a part of each of us.

Faith is trust in God. God is the same as Source, Universe, Life Force. It's trust in that there is something larger and greater and all knowing. The Creator of All That Is. It's trust that this Force always delivers exactly what you want and need for your best and highest good. But, let me ask you this - you're praying for a miracle, instantaneous healing, a million dollars - but it's not happening. So what's going on? The Holy Spirit will deliver the miracle to you at the place and in the way you are ready to receive it. Instant healing is possible if you are in a 'place' to receive it. But, what if meeting a person who tells you to eat green foods and get off processed foods in the miracle? What if listening to your neighbor say they are stopping their lawn service because of the chemicals is the miracle? What if taking the chemo treatment or the surgery or rejecting all of it is the miracle? What if taking steps to open a new business or invest is the miracle? We are responsible for helping put the mechanisms in place to allow the miracle to happen!

We have personal responsibility when we pray and ask for miracles. Our responsibility is to be ready to receive it. Be ready and open to hearing what is placed in front of us. Be open to other ways of thinking, eating, speaking and doing that are presented. God always delivers blessings and lessons. That's why we chose to be incarnated on this planet and have the 3-D experience. We chose to have these blessed lessons so that we could learn and allow our soul to advance when we return to the other side.

Do not judge results. Death is a miracle. And for some people, the disease they are experiencing is the miracle. Why? Because they are having their own experience. It's not up to us to change it or fix them. It's up to us to support them in the best way we can for the best and highest good. It's up to us to love them right where they are and exactly for who they are right now. We don't have to take on their burden, unless of course, we want that experience.

Remember Free Will? There is always another way, another choice and we always have free will to select it. One might say choose it or reject it. There is no rejection, only selection. When you become aware of this at a core level, you have reached a place of conscious co-creation with the Creator of All That Is.

Jesus came to me today. He reminded me: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light. He who lives in Me has eternal life." He unlocked the door and gave us the recipe for advancing our souls. So did Buddha. I'm not talking about religion - this is spirituality at it's core. We are all going to Heaven. The goal is to advance in Heaven.

Prayer - it opens the door to miracles. But remember, God helps those who help themselves.

Be Real: Keep it Simple

2010-04-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

No pictures today... only words.

Lord, take me where you want me to go.
Let me meet who you want me to meet.
Tell me what you want me to say, and
keep me out of your way.

Fr. Mychael F. Judge
NYC Chaplain
died Sept. 11, 2001
World Trade Center

Eat Real: Gluten Free Baked Ziti

2010-04-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

What's with the pig? You'll figure it out ...

I share this story with you about my son ... He was grunting. My husband is Italian and pasta has always been big at our house. This grunting would start as soon as the child took his first bite of food and it would increase as he went through the meal. He really couldn't stop. It was annoying at first. He literally sounded like a pig snorting. Finally, I took him to the doctor and she said it was a nervous tick. So, basically, it was emotional. After doing some reading and listening to my inner voice - I decided to cut out gluten for 2 weeks to see if he improved. Guess what? He did. No more grunting. So, here's the kicker - I added back the pasta with the gluten. Guess what - more grunting.

Did I get him allergy tested? Nope. Did I do this because the doctor told me to? Nope. I did this because of the guidance I received from Spirit and my own intuitive voice. After reading enough information and seeing ticks can be related to neurological disorders in children and that these children always improved on gluten free diets - I made the next logical conclusion. Cut out gluten products and see what happens. This was a lot easier, less invasive and less expensive than getting allergy and neurological testing. He was and continues to be in no grave danger.

The more research I do, the more information I find about the side affects of gluten. I've researched 4 different, unrelated conditions this week and reducing and/or eliminating gluten increases the recovery time for ALL of them.

My own family has gone 90% gluten free. We still use spelt flour, which is a cousin of wheat and considered a reduced gluten product. Many people who follow a gluten free eating plan have been able to tolerate this flour. However, we've experimented with many others including brown rice flour, oat flour, coconut and quinoa flours. All have been great. We've been able to mix and match them to create flour combinations to suit whatever we are baking at the time.

His grunting was a sign of inflammation - an intolerance to a food product. What I'm getting at is this - regardless of a serious diagnosis or just grunting at the dinner table, health improves when gluten is reduced. We've adapted and so can you! Here's one of our favorite recipes. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Gluten Free Baked Ziti
1lb brown rice ziti
28 oz can organic crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 lb. grass fed ground beef
2 cups shredded mozzarella (rbgh & hormone free)

Cook beef, olive oil, spices together. When complete, add crushed tomatoes. Cook pasta and drain. In a 9x13" pan, coat bottom with sauce/meat mixture, layer pasta on top, add more sauce and then cheese. Repeat layer with pasta, sauce, cheese. Bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit for 30 min.

Here's to a meal without grunting!

Eat Real: Food & Faith

2010-04-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

It seems this months postings are all about combinations, addition and subtraction. What can we add to our lives, what can we subtract and what combinations seem to make the most sense?

There's always something new to learn and from that opportunity to learn, a chance to grow. That's what this life is all about. Would you tell your kid not to try something new? Why shouldn't you? If something is working, great - don't fix it. But, if something is not, why not try something new? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again with the same undesirable result.

Trust your intuition, listen to your inner voice no matter how quiet and small it is. It's trying to tell you something. It's trying to tell you life doesn't have to be difficult, that simple solutions are there staring us in the face all the time.

I was watching a video of Dr. Oz about the future of medicine. What struck me was that the future of medicine ends up being defined as the traditions that have been around for thousands of years. What's future about it is this - science is able to quantify it and that the old ways are being combined with current 'modern' therapies. The old remedies have always been the best, least expensive, and easiest. I'm not knocking modern, western medicine. What is interesting though is that clinical studies have proven that the more advanced our culture gets in medicine and technology, the sicker the population becomes.

Check out these statistics:
92% of Americans are deficient in vitamins and minerals
20% of Americans get most of their calories from sugar
90% of Americans are deficient in Omega 3 fatty acids
The US is ranked 12th out of 13th for health care in industrialized countries
Approx. 10 trillion per year is spent on health care
180 million alone was spent in 2009 for depression medications

Ask yourself this - Do you need more health care or different health care? Maybe it's not health care that needs to change but a paradigm shift in our thinking, doing and living - a lifestyle change. See what I mean about combinations? It comes down to balance again. What do you need for balance in your life?

Historically, the poorest civilizations have used food and faith to heal themselves. We are lucky enough to live in one of the greatest countries in the world with everything at our fingertips. Wouldn't it be wonderful to utilize the traditional methods that have worked for millenium along with the technology that's been developed? You are your own best advocate. We have choices.

God gave us everything we could ever need to heal and live in harmony with Him. All we have to do is choose it.

Be Real: Holistic Health, Doubts & Trust

2010-04-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

A few of you have asked me how I've come to do the work I'm doing now. Well, let me explain - about 3 years ago my mother was diagnosed with shingles. She lives in the North East and I live in North Carolina. With two young kids and still nursing a baby, you can understand my difficulty in helping her recover. In fact, all I could do was pray and google stuff. I ended up googling everything natural and holistic I could find to send to her. In the process I learned that healing happens from both the inside and outside with intention. It's holistic - the WHOLE person.

At the same time, I heard a voice in my head say, "You know what to do, just do it." So I did. I started walking everyday and eating vegetables all day. In the midst of all this, when it came time to re-enroll for health care and I looked at our out of pocket expenses to prepare for enrollment, my jaw dropped. We had spent almost $7000.00 in co pays and deductibles over the year. INSANE!

I took it upon myself to learn everything and anything I could to save money on health care and that meant changing my life and the lives of my family members. What started simply enough turned into a complete overhaul. It was a gradual processes which has included honesty, patience and love.

Enter spirituality. Holistic means treating the whole person - not just the body, but the mind, heart and soul of a person. God had it all lined up for me. Next thing I knew I was getting attuned to Reiki. Now I'm attuning others and teaching others to live holistically as they continue on their journey.

I had NO IDEA where God was leading me when I first started this journey. It bothered me some, but in hindsight I see all I had to do was trust Him, follow the feel good feeling and push past my fear and doubts. I offer you this story because my journey, as is true for many others, was filled with doubts. Am I doing the right thing? Will it be successful? Is this a waste of time? Do I really hear angels? The answer is yes to all of those doubting questions.

Doubts are God's way of slowing us down to experience the lesson fully. So the lesson can be completely integrated into our being. We think that doubts hold us back, but they don't. Doubts force us to evaluate each option fully. If the option serves us, we can thank them for showing up and release them. If we are not ready, then honor them and just sit tight. The answers come - they always do.

Be Real: Common Sense + Faith

2010-04-11T07:47:00.001-07:00

"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're probably right."

I kept hearing this in my head on Saturday. We have so many opportunities open to us, there's so much to choose from - what if we make a wrong decision, what if we miss an opportunity? How many of us have heard that monkey chatter in our heads? Self doubt, self criticism - we should have done or should not have done something - Regret.

This is just another way our ego distracts us into thinking this reality is real. That things are so important we have to think over the past and worry about the future when all that matters is right now. There is only abundance, there is always more and more than enough. Anytime we say we want something, we define ourselves in a state of lack. Here's where the faith comes in - we surrender and know what we have is exactly enough and more than what we could have ever dreamed. We give it over and know the Universe will deliver what we need and desire when it's appropriate - all we have to do is have patience.

Here's the common sense part - do what feels right and makes sense. Stop talking yourself into or out of situations and opportunities. It's called intuition, the voice of God. If you're "trying", then you're doing it wrong. I used to ask my son - "easy way or hard way?" when he'd have to take medicine. He always chose the hard way! How many of us do that?! If it feels appropriate, take the opportunity or the chance. If it feels heavy, inappropriate or otherwise - honor your feelings! You don't have to know why, all you need to do is honor how you feel. There is never a missed opportunity. There are always more chances. God, the Universe is abundant like that. Stand in your power and move on.

Break it down even further - eat junk, feel like junk. Eat whole, real food - feel good. It is that simple. Feeling good doesn't have to be hard. Eating good doesn't have to be difficult. Life is as simple or complicated as you want it to be. I read this recently as I discern another degree: "Faith in the Designer and His design. Proof of His love in every natural remedy. There is a predictable and reassuring order in Nature that embraces all of us if we only open our hearts and minds to it." Philip Fritchey

All of this brings me the equation... Common sense + Faith = Intuition. When you trust your intuition, you stand in your power. When you stand in your power, you stand in the power of God, for you and God are one in the same.

Common sense steps to feeling good:
1. Trust God/Universe/Source and trust yourself.
2. Eat real food.
3. Drink lots of water.
4. Move your body and sweat.
5. Sleep.
6. Go Outside.
7. Move your body.

Are you going to follow the feel good feeling or the distracted, icky feeling? It's all vibration. Feeling good means vibrational harmony, feeling bad or 'off' means vibrations are out of sync.
Easy way or Hard way - each way gets you where you're going. All you have to decide is how you want to get there. I choose the easy way (most of the time :).

Eat Real: Feeling Food

2010-03-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

Everything is energy. What we think, say, do, and eat. Our bodies are a very dense, low vibration. Our soul is the vibration of God/Source/the Universe. It is a vibration of love, which is the highest vibration in the Universe. It takes quite a bit of energy to remain in these bodies. Isn't it worth the effort to take care of them as best we can? They are holy vessels that carry a holy host.

Eating food of the earth, being honest with our emotions, slowing down and taking care of ourselves and our needs is essential to living a life in balance.

You can look at the pieces of your existence or start by looking at the whole of it. Do you feel good? Are you in pain? Stop, feel, breathe. You know how to heal yourself. Your body has innate, intuitive intelligence. No one gave you instructions on how to breathe, or how to make your heart beat. It just does!

What you eat is reflected by what you feel. How you feel is reflected in what you eat. When you feel good about yourself, you eat good. When you feel bad, you eat bad. Food is an integral way you can take care of yourself. Food changes you at the cellular level. It's in your blood, tissues, brain matter. You are what you eat is truer than anyone realizes. Do you want to be a chicken nugget or a leaf of lettuce?

What we feel is a by product of the experiences we've had. We've been programmed to believe, process and respond to life in a certain way. Our energetic field is a reflection of our beliefs and emotions. Everything is energy. Intention is energy, prayer is intention, worry is intention, fear, love... all of it is intention. If we can address the lower vibrations of fear and worry and come to see the illusion of it all, we can release it and allow love to fill us. As if on cue, the pain leaves, and we feel better.

This is the crux of body, mind & soul medicine. Addressing ALL of the individual aspects of the person as a complete whole.

Think about that the next time you take a bite of cake!

Be Real: Let Go and Do It Again

2010-03-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

Things didn't go as I had expected this morning... and it was a good thing. In the past, I would have let it get to me. Not so today.

I was able to experience Creator's hand working and putting me where I would be of most use - and that was with my family. Originally, I had a client appointment, but she was a no-show. Hopefully, she is ok. What I got to do instead, was go rock climbing with the kids and see my husband get his belay certification. This means the kids can use the ropes now and not be limited to just free climbing. This is something they've been wanting to do for some time. It all happened because I went with them and was able to watch the youngest while my husband received instruction.

In the past, this no-show would have bugged me. It did a little, it showed me some client boundaries that require firming up. So, I received twice - the chance to be with my family and the chance to respect myself even more by setting firm expectations with clients.

This is a big deal! So, I can trust God to do what is in the highest good and in the meantime, use any 'setbacks' as an opportunity to grow. This past 5 weeks has been about seeing the good in everything. Everything, even set backs are good. They might not feel good to the ego, but they are part of a lesson for the soul. My husband always looks at the bright side of everything. "Isn't it great", he says. Well, I've made a conscious choice to do the same. I'm amazed at how much fun life can be when you look at it through the "Isn't it great" lens.

As I was watching the kids climb this morning and the cheesy grin on my husband's face, it hit me... All they know is they want to go up, so they climb. When they can't hang on anymore, they let go and someone is always there to catch them. Then they look at the course again, plan it out a little better and try to go up again. This time they make it a little higher. The message - let go and do it again.

Everyday, look forward to how the day will unfold. Have expectations for the best and you'll receive the best. Release what you think the best looks like. We don't know what lies ahead for us, all we can do is focus on the now and clear up any confusion on our parts. It's not about beating yourself up, but taking the "opportunity" to see the good, the light and to grow from it.

A friend recently sent this link to me: How to live before you die. Steve Jobs speaks to Stanford University graduates. It's perfect. By allowing Creator to work in our lives and remaining flexible enough to follow the path, this really can be an incredible life!

If you don't bend, you break.

Be Real: Screw it

2010-03-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

You don't know how you affect the world. You don't know how what you say can cause someone else to grow, or facilitate your own growth for that matter.

So what if someone thinks you're crazy? Trust me, there isn't anything someone can think of me that I haven't already thought of myself. They wouldn't be telling me something new. I guarantee the same is true for you.

God made us different for a reason. We help each other remember who we truly are. Yes, it might be by helping us feel good, but it might also be in helping us feel bad. Every, and I mean every situation is a chance for growth and self improvement no matter how dire the circumstance. What growth and improvement you ask? Ultimately, it's our growth in faith and a closer relationship to Source, the Universe, the Creator, God. All these words mean the same. How much do we actually Trust God? Are we able to rise above the other person or situation that we perceive as being unsavory and see the light in them? Are we able to just see the light without thinking we've risen above them or that the situation is unsavory? Do you see the difference? One builds on the other. There is always more to give over and trust.

Just say and be who you are. Screw your light into the socket and connect to source. If you don't, you rob me of the opportunity to discover another piece of myself and you a piece of yourself. When you are who you are with no apologies, you allow God to flow fully through you in all His Glory and it feels good. This is the first step - Acceptance.

You make a critical difference in this world. Your piece of the puzzle is unlike anyone else's piece. Bring yourself to the party, warts and all. We are waiting...

Join with me and say 'screw it' - it's a good thing. It means we've surrendered to God one more time and let the light in.

Eat Real: Lettuce

2010-03-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

It's spring! Woo hoo! The trees are blooming, the kids are sniffling and I'm prepping the garden. Oh, if feels sooooo good to play in the dirt again! My three year old agrees. I don't have the turn the soil over too much as he helps quite a bit with his construction equipment.

One of the growing season's first yields is lettuce. I can't wait! Our CSA will start delivering by next month. They have a few spots still open if you are interested. Check out Maple Spring Gardens. By the way, if you are planting a garden, now's a great time to start those lettuce seeds!

I eat lettuce all year long. If I make a ziti, it goes on top of my pile of lettuce. The same is true for soups and stews. It's difficult for me to eat 100% raw all year, but the pile of lettuce in my dish keeps me honest. Lettuce is considered the respiration of the planet. Look at all the wonderful veins running through those wide leaves. The beautiful green color of chlorophyll and the crunchy goodness of all that water in the meaty parts. Man, I get hungry just thinking about it!

Historically, I've been a quantity kind of girl when it comes to food consumption. Both of my parents grew up on farms after the depression in rural Maine and Canada. Food was NEVER thrown out. So, needless to say, that mentality was carried over to my brother and I.

When I first learned that my portions were way out of control, the only way I could even think about cutting calories was to fake my way into thinking my plate was full. Enter lettuce. Romaine to be exact. Just cut up a few big leaves and the plate is already full. Now add 1/2 cup of brown rice and 3 oz. of protein plus a handful of broccoli and the plate is already 3" tall! That was all my eyes needed to see to feel satisfied.

Benefits of Lettuce:
-low in calories
-high in water content
-high in vitamin A, K, C, folate, manganese, chromium
-a good source of dietary fiber
-a diuretic
-inexpensive

Here's a tip if you want to detoxify with food - eat lettuce twice a day. Snack on it in between meals. The more you fill up on the good stuff, the less room there is for the bad stuff.

Be Real: Light & Limits

2010-03-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

Lots of introspection going on... Something remarkable happened recently - a paradigm shift. For so long I had been researching my 'negative' feelings and trying to understand their meanings. In doing that, I came upon limits. What are my limits? As I started this journey, my mantra was to release "all limiting ego illusions". It's an oxymoron. Ego is limited and an illusion. So, in essence, I was asking to be light again, which means not to have the human experience.

Stay with me here. Our essence is light. We are all light, in my mind, that is soul. We are all a piece of creation and therefore a part of the Creator - God. We all instinctively know that there is so much more to this life than what we see. We know that ANYTHING is possible because we have experienced it without these human bodies. But, here's the kicker - we chose to be incarnated here in the human form. We came here to have the human experience so that the Creator could experience all that He is through us. And, so that our individual soul could learn. When you're all light all the time, how are you to experience anything unless you go a place that has some dark. Then you can recognize the light again.

Because we came here, this existence has limits. But we define the limits to shape our experience. Beliefs are limitations. Every belief we've ever had or ever will have is a limit designed to craft our experience here. These limits allow us the freedom to create situations to learn from or to define ourselves through. Our error lies in us forgetting who we really are and thinking that these beliefs and limitations are true when they are just illusion. That is why, in my mind, Jesus is incredible. He was able to transcend the belief of death. He was able to show us, in no uncertain terms, that death is an illusion, that this existence is an illusion. These bodies, this existence is pretend. It is all for the pleasure of the Creator and the salvation of souls.

Now, here is where it gets interesting... we are just to trust that what we experience is for our best and highest good, no matter what. But, what if we can change our beliefs. It's been proven that the subconscious mind is a program of beliefs we've developed from all our lives and from the current one we are living. So, all we have to do is make the conscious decision to believe the belief that will get us closer to enlightenment. This isn't about manifesting, this is about being in the flow of Creation. Being Creation. We can choose to believe in the trust of the Creator or we can choose to believe differently. "But, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33

As we were watching Kung Fu Panda tonight, Master Ugway said "the past is history, tomorrow is a mystery and the now is a gift that is why we call it the present". To live in the present is to trust in the Creator. To trust in the Creator is peace.

The greatest gift anyone can have is inner peace. I have three boys and a lot of poop talk - I've tasted inner peace a few times. Enough to know it's there, attainable and to want more. The KNOWING or trust that all is provided for us via the Creator is a lifelong process.

So, in order to experience true inner peace, I choose to set the belief/limit: I trust God. This has been my experiment this Lenten season. To test my trusting, not testing God, but my ability to trust Him. I've given over larger and larger parts of my life to Him to transform. It's a layered process. In every blessed challenge I've had, I've been reminded that this is yet another opportunity to deepen my faith, which is trust, in Him. It's incredible to watch everyday unfold according to God's will, watching my prayers and requests be met according to His will - KNOWING it's all in my best and highest good and better than I could have ever imagined.

Eat Real: Detoxing your Thoughts

2010-03-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

I spoke with a woman last week who had been berating herself for being in a negative space when she woke up first thing in the morning. She'd wake up and just be thinking negative and talking negative - all of it. And she hated it. What occurred to me was this - sleep is a time for the body to restore and detox itself. The liver works to remove toxins from the body. So what's the first thing you do when you wake up? You go to the bathroom. Toxins leave the body. So, why wouldn't that be the case with negative feelings or thoughts? Of course it would be exactly the same! It's all energy. It's lower vibrational energy that may not serve a purpose in the body, mind or soul - so, it's got to leave.

It makes sense that this person would be feeling it first thing in the morning because her body has been processing her day all night. This is what I told her - let it out, don't stifle it. Have you tried holding back using the toilet? Doesn't feel so good, does it? It's the same with the negative thinking and feeling - let it out. If we spend too much time bottling it up and hiding it; it just ends up backing up and we get energetically consitpated.

I recommended that she give herself a time limit of 5 to 10 minutes of just basking in the glory of negativity. Then stop and balance it by reaffirming good or practicing gratitude. Detoxification is about releasing that which does not serve us, to make room for what does. We are all reaching out, trying to go beyond the label of who our ego thinks we are. It's so important to honor this process by allowing the lower thoughts to leave and blessing them as they do.

Imagine how powerful a detoxification program would be if you could combine the physical practices of eating real, clean, fresh food along with energy practices that allow your emotions to move higher and higher! Think about this, if you're going to replace something you know isn't good for you with something that is good for you - don't you have to acknowledge what isn't good first?

This woman is blessed because she acknowledged that this kind of thinking and talking is not good for her. She's already half way there. We can all learn from this. What is truly beautiful is that God wants us to move closer to Him and He will help us. By learning what does not serve our bodies and minds, we can release it and allow Him to fill us and lead us to what does serve us. Because in the end it will serve Him. It's called allowing or living in Grace.

Practical steps to allowing:
1. keep a journal
2. surround yourself with supportive people
3. pray
4. meditate
5. cut back on TV
6. eat real food - nothing processed
7. practice gratitude for everything
8. release expectations - only have strong preferences
9. release attachments
10. love yourself for who and what you are right now

Eat Real: Woof (meow)

2010-02-28T18:06:00.000-08:00

We at the Osborne house have a cat. We used to have 2, but one had enough of us and just picked up and left. The official story, if you see my kids, is that he ran away to live with an lonely, old lady. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Anyway, over the Christmas cookie binge festival 2 years ago, it hit me. What if I made dog cookies instead of people cookies?! The kids would still get to make something and we wouldn't be overloaded with more sweets. Our neighbors and friends loved it. They received rave reviews from their dogs. I'll tell you the secret ingredient now - keep the drippings from any meat you cook in a can in the freezer and substitute that for the vegetable oil in the recipe. Guaranteed to get any dog drooling!

And for you cat lovers out there - just give them the fat drippings or the skin off your chicken. Our cat loves to lick every drop of it and could care less about a biscuit.

Our pets are near and dear to our hearts. They are so much more than just animals. They are part of our families. We love them like our kids and hurt for them when they are sick. They stand by us when we hurt. They lick our faces, rub against our legs, throw up on our rugs and poop in the bathtub. This is a simple way to show them a little love.

They, too, are gifts from God...

Homemade Dog Biscuits
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup water
2c. whole wheat flour
1 egg
1/3 cup veg. oil

Mix all together. Shape and bake 35-40 min at 350 degrees F.
Freeze or refrigerate - depending how fast you use them.

PS. Frani, tell Odin "This one's for him!"

Eat Real: Vegetables Rising

2010-02-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

I usually try to keep these posts short, sweet and leave the politics of health care out of it. But, today, I can no longer remain silent. It's imperative that people know the matrix of consumer insanity that the health care system is composed of. How, us living in a consumer based society have been manipulated to play a part in sickness. It might sound like conspiracy theory to you, but there is hard evidence to back it all up.

This morning's paper has a Senate report detailing how GSK knew of possible heart attack risks tied to their drug Avandia, a diabetes medication. Yet, it's taken years before this information and evidence has become public. After a two year inquiry, it's been shown that clinical trials of Avandia continued even after the USDA estimated that the drug caused 83,000 heart attacks between 1999-2007. That's just one part of my outrage this morning. (reference: News & Observer, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010, pg.1, section A)

The second comes from an email I received from my intestinal therapist. Yes, colonic irrigation specialist. It is exactly as it sounds! The information I received is about the S.3002 McCain-Dorgan Senate Bill. This bill proposes to limit, regulate and otherwise control our access to supplements. In our current state of health care insanity, many of these supplements are the consumer's first step towards taking responsibility for their health. I know I used and still use some. And, if it were not for having access to them and the research that goes along with them, I wouldn't have been able to cure myself of shingles, thyroiditis, high cholesterol, depression and inflamed cystic acne. It was my desire to take responsibility for my health and not be dependent on the current state of health care. I wanted to get off the cycle of insanity of going to the doctor and getting yet another 'band-aid' prescription. (reference: Health Freedom Update)

So many of us see the handwriting on the wall. We know there is a better way. We know that God's way of simplicity is the way to true peace, health and happiness. However, along the journey, there are steps and using supplements is a step.

When it comes down to it, food is the only thing we can truly rely on. Real, honest to goodness food that grows in the sun and rain without pesticides, herbicides or genetically engineered components. As it stands now, the USDA (aka. government) controls us enough through what they tell us we should eat, what we should weigh and what we should feel, think and do - all through their 'guidelines'. Is it any wonder that the country is sick and dying when agriculture is encouraged by government subsidies to make more corn, wheat and beef? Have you looked at the food pyramid lately? The biggest area is the 'grain' section. People went from no carb to all carb. All carb means higher blood sugar. Higher blood sugar means more insulin. More insulin means more diabetes, more fat, more sickness. AGHH!

This all leads me to what I believe is the 'next big thing'. Vegetables. Lots of them. You've already seen an influx of books talking about eating mostly plants. There is an undercurrent of folks who are buying local. Instead of fitting in the box, they are consciously fitting out.

Do you want health, energy and happiness? Then you have to do the work. Stop looking to someone else to fix you and look to someone else to teach you. Learn the tools for your body and your life. You'll know when you've found the right person and the right tool when you feel good. Each person is unique, we are not a one size fits all society. Take it upon yourself to learn all you can for the health of you and your family.