Thursday, April 14, 2011

Broken Bone Broth

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.


Friday, April 1, 2011

In the beginning, there were Sprouts...

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!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

The End

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.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Be Real: Once Upon a Time...

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...

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Be Real: Stop Searching

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."

Friday, February 18, 2011

Eat Real: Cascade of Chocolate Chips

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!

Monday, January 31, 2011

Be Real: Holy, Holey, Wholey

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?