Be Real: Fishing for God

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.