Feeding my soul

Well, since the weather outside is awful, it's the perfect opportunity to warp up a couple of looms... maybe 3.  :)

Project #1
Lap blanket
Black/chocolate 2ply handspun alpaca for the warp and Black 2ply handspun alpaca for the weft.  I may use some of the solid black to do a couple of outside stripes too. 
This will go on the big girl (Gilmore)

Project #2
Colts scarves
Yeah, I got two packets of blue and white yarn to make a couple of donated scarves for the superbowl next year.  I was going to knit them, but I did some calcs and I think I have enough yarn (if I do a plaid) to get two done by weaving.
This one will go on the 27" rigid heddle

Project #3 (possible)
Shawl
I have a few stockpiled yarns that I thought I would crochet, but now I am thinking I'll weave them up for Shawls for Sisters.  There's yellow and cream... I'm leading towards yellow...maybe it will coax out the sun...
If I can get one of the LeClercs cleaned up and moved into the house, I'll start one of these projects on it. 

In between, I'm going to do some spinning...  it's the perfect weather for it, after all!  I've got two different yarns started.  One's a beautiful merino/silk/alpaca combo in gorgeous pink/peach/silver hues.  The other is a hand-painted merino blend in green/teal colors.  Or... I may start on the wheel with another one of the beautiful rovings I have.

At any rate, it's going to be a fiber arts festival in my house O'r the next couple of days and I am Way excited about it!

Out with the old; in with the new!

I've been cleaning and organizing.

  A. Lot.  

The target of the most recent purges has been the kitchen.  What with all the dietary changes, eating whole, green foods, etc.  I really wanted to get rid of all the crap that had accumulated in my pantry and refrigerator.  I am embarrassed to tell you what some of the expiration dates of things in the fridge were... um...  suffice it to say that some condiments had been in there since Bush was in office.  The pantry... even though the dates were far older, I don't feel so bad about.  I mean, really, the shelf life of a twinky is like 30 years or some shit... so a can of soup couldn't be THAT out of date.  Yeah.  Found some stuff with exp dates of 1998.  For real.  LOL  Scary thing is that it was a giant bag of white flour.  I guess it's a good thing that I didn't have any need to use white flour in all those years... at least not a giant bag worth.  We won't even talk about the crisco I found lurking in the back of one of the shelves....  yuck!

I found crap that I can't imagine why I bought in the first place.  I think I had 2 boxes of white minute rice... both opened and partially used.  Of course, one of them had been shoved into the blind corner of the pantry (in my defense), but still.  Obviously, this pantry has been sorely neglected for well over 10 years.  How sad is that? 

It's sort of a walk-in situation and it's been full of all sorts of stuff ever since we moved in.  All the plastic bags that came from the market with the intent of taking them back in for recycling (which I just did... and for the record, I've used reusable shopping bags for quite a long time now.. lol) were all over the place.  All the small appliances that didn't fit on our limited counter space or small cabinets were there.  Serving dishes, crock pots, bread maker, rice cooker, blenders, food processor - you get the picture.  The trash is also in there along with brooms, mops, dust pans, etc. and all of our dry goods.  OH, and all 3 of our recycling bins were stacked up in there... just adding to the mess.  Now, this is only a 4 foot long area that is 3 feet wide at the *widest* part (the door is on an angle).  It was a veritable clusterf*ck of a space.  You could barely get in there to reach the things that we regularly use (which were conveniently placed at the front of the easily reached shelves).  No one ventured past that.

I finally have enough of the rest of my life in order that I guess I thought I could tackle the dreaded Pantry.  And tackle it, I did.

Now, not only is all the food in my pantry edible, it's also good for you.  Everything else went in the trash (as it was expired).  I eliminated several small appliances that we never use and some serving dishes and other misc. stuff that just needed to go.  (Goodwill cheers when I drive up!)  And the recycle bins found a new home in the garage.  Now it's nice and clean and you can actually walk in it!  Whoo hoo!

Since I was on a roll, I organized 7 of my cabinets too.  More things for the kids if they want them... or off to goodwill with it too.  The only 2 things left are the cabinet with our glasses and the awful tupperware cabinet ( a blind corner cabinet from hell).  I've found a nice organizer for it and will tackle it as soon as the organizer is installed.  (YAY!)

With all this done, I actually have space for the juicer and my tea pot and our fresh veggies and fruits out where we can see them...   Ahhhhh  It feels wonderful to be clean and organized.

Freeing up this stagnant energy feels Soooo good.  I can feel that things have shifted and we are open to better things coming in!  Bring it on!!

Priorities in balance

As I've been working on my dreams, I have realized that I really have to move some things around in my day - and even set a few things aside for right now - as I create time and energy to accomplish the things I've set out to accomplish.

At first, I thought "oh, I'll be fine.  I can squeek out the extra time!"  But when I put pencil to paper on all of the things I am working on right now, it was close to 3 hours a day of extra things.  Some of them I had been doing already, but not the the extent that I wish to do them.  Others are completely new.  The time alotted here is really just for exercise, meal planning, spiritual practice, seminary studies and other misc things.  When I also sat down to think of the extra time needed for meal PREP, I realized... Ok...something's got to give.  I'm the kind of person who needs a Minimum of 8 hours in bed... I function best with 9 or 10.  Trying to squeek those hours out of my rest time is not an option.
 
Now that I am eating healthier (and want to continue that trend), I am avoiding most convenience foods.  Even the organic frozen ones that I would reach for - are being left in the freezer case in lieu of fresher, more vibrant fruits and vegetables.  Of course, this means more labor in the kitchen - which I love - but still, it adds time to my daily tasks.

At this point, I am at 3 + hours of time accounted for - in addition to the things I am already doing and commited to (already 'full' days) every day.  I've already surrendered TV.  There are a couple of nights a week that I will sit down to watch a  movie with my awesome hubby.  Oh...and Sunday night HBO - not giving that up.  lol  But other than that - even on the weekends, I'm staying away from the idiot box.

Another thing I am drastically cutting back on is time spent on facebook.  As much as love staying up to date with all of my friends there, I HAVE to cut that to a minimum.  I'm cutting off the notifications to my cell phone and cutting back to a morning check in and an evening check in via my cell because I have limited access that way.  I'm removing the temptation to stay on there and read/comment on every little thing.  My posts will be limited to sharing links to my blog and the occasional 'mental break' that I may need.

In the past, these changes would have left me feeling deprived in some way.  But with this scenario, I actually welcome them.  I am tired of listening to mindless crap on the tv (and refuse to listen to the negativity on the 'news') - so that's not so hard.  And as far as FB goes, that's more of a habit than anything.  And most of that boils down to me being nosey... if truth be told.  :-P

So... dear facebook friends... if you need me, send me a message.  Otherwise, I probably will not know what's going on in your life for a while.

Change is good.  Transformation is Better.

Meditation Runes and Blessing Cairns

This is a short video about making meditation runes and blessing cairns.  The video is of good quality when I play it back on my laptop, but for some reason - imbedded into the blog, there is a time delay between picture and sound.  Please give me any feedback you have on this (or if possible - a solution!) as well as any feedback about content!  :)

Blessings!

Taking the next step

Radiant Health.  That's one of my main dreams for this year - to achieve Radiant Health.  If you follow me here or on facebook, you probably have figured that out.  ;-)

I've made some really nice progress already and I'm just over the 3 week mark.  Here are some highlights of what's been accomplished, or at least movement on, so far:

• Incorporated several healthy alternatives into the diet - replacing less-healthy counterparts
• Started planning meals instead of flying by the seat of my pants
• Followed an approach to shopping found in a whole foods eating book I have
• Incorporated exercise into my day at least 4 days a week (at this point)
• Better maintaining daily practice/thankfulness/balancing meditations
• Had a physical with blood work (all came back in the 'norm')
• Found a DO (Osteopathic Dr) to work with for neck and lower back issues
• Began research on causes of RLS and natural corrective treatments that work
• Enlisted the help of a wonderful friend and spiritual sister to be an accountability buddy to keep me on track with 'the plan'
• Several other organizational things that support this dream (putting exercise on the calendar for instance)

I really think that I am doing well and moving along at the right pace.  But when another wonderful friend offered a 6 week course on Empowering your Dreams, I felt like I could really benefit from taking it to the next level.  So... I've signed up for the course, introduced myself in the forum and anxiously await the start of the class on Sunday evening/Monday morning.

Sometimes, it's when we think we have things well in hand when we actually benefit the most from added support.  I feel this is one of those times and I am blessed that the Divine is supporting me in this way!

The freedom to Be.

I am really loving the new outlook I have on dreaming and manifesting transformation.  I've known that you must invision yourself as the person you wish to fully be for a long time.  So why was it so hard to apply that idea, which I put to practice in my spiritual life on a daily basis, to mundane efforts?  Who knows... maybe it was an issue of timing and alignment.  Whatever it was, I'm glad that I am NOW seeing that the concept reaches much further than my spiritual practice.

I realized today that I've been walking this path of dreaming and visioning transformation for almost 3 weeks now.  This may not be signficant to some, but to me, it is.  3 is a very powerful number.  And in this case, it is a milestone of great significance.  Usually, by 3 weeks in to any sort of change, I have lost interest, started to fizzle or have begun to really put pressure on myself to *see results* (be perfectly following my goals to the "T") - and if I don't see those results, I give up. This time, things are markedly different. 

I gain momentum and excitement with each passing day/week.  I'm learning new things about myself and putting new ideas to action every day.  I'm not bored.  I'm not fizzling out.  And most importantly, I am not putting unrealistic pressure on myself for 'instant gratification'.

Since I did not make wholesale changes at day one, I've given myself room for serendipity. 

Instead of following some fad diet, every week I incorporate something new and healthier to my 'normal' diet.  With each week, I move towards a healthier overall diet - but one food group, recipe or meal plan at a time.  I don't feel overwhelmed and I am not bored either.

With regards to exercise, I am going with the flow on that front too.  If I don't feel moved to get on the elliptical, I look at the *why* of that.  I listen to my body and adjust accordingly.  If I am just being un-motivated, I find a way to motivate myself by changing up the exercise I do.  I could go walk around the mall, do some yoga, follow a circuit workout on fit tv or exercise on demand, pop in a dvd on stretching or belly dancing or just pick up the free weights and do some strength training.  If none of that appeals to me, then I can clean or organize something in the house - that always needs done.  And if, after a check-in with my body, I feel like I need rest more than exercise that day - then I rest.  Guilt-free.  As long as I am listening to my body, then I am making the right choices.

In my daily spiritual practice and class work, I am being flexible with myself and trying different things, ways of approach and keeping things interesting.  That is making a HUGE difference in being excited to carve out that time.

Some of the other dreams for this year are just in the beginning stages of organization and setting to action - and that's ok too.  They will initiate when they are meant to and I am ok with that.

Right now - today - I am in just the right place.

Does a dream tug at your heart and won’t let go?

Does a dream tug at your heart and won’t let go?

Follow the link above for a great program to get you started!

Transitioning to healthier lifestyles without body rejection



Now is the time of year when many, many people make those Resolutions I was talking about in my previous blog.  Lots of those resolutions have some change to a healthier lifestyle at their core.  And for most people, we start off Gung-Ho by making wholesale, sweeping and radical changes at the get-go.

We set our goals and make the changes.  We jump in with both feet and go from zero to Mach 3 at Jan 1 (or whatever other magical day you chose).

Let's take diet as an example.
You've got a person who never eats breakfast, or stops at a fast food restaurant to get a fat-laden breakfast biscuit and a giant coffee or soda.  This person eats fast food or junk at lunch and boxed, quick or frozen food for dinner.  They drink no water, only coffee and/or sodas.

This person decides to make a change to a healthier diet and begins their day with juice, oatmeal and a couple of pieces of turkey bacon.

For lunch, they eat a salad with grilled chicken and no dressing with water.

For dinner, they eat a salad with grilled chicken and no dressing with water.

By noon, the lack-of-caffeine headache has come in full-force.  By dinner, your stomach is grumbling and wanting to know where the 'real food' is.  By day 3 you are completely miserable and pretty certain that your body is furious with you and starting a revolt.  You've already returned to the coffee and/or sodas (to get rid of the pounding headache) deciding that those are just something you aren't going to give up.  You've also 'fallen off the wagon' and ate fast food for lunch once.  This is just three days in.  Sound familiar?

Your body is used to the diet you've been following - however horrible it may be - and has been working hard to pull out the nutrients it can from the sources it receives.  Now you've gone and changed everything.  Your body has no idea what to do with this stuff.  It's used to getting energy from caffeine, not nutrients.  It's used to regulating processes with fat and processed sugars, not fruits and vegetables.  And we aren't even discussing the fact that the "new and improved" diet ALSO doesn't hold what the body needs to function at optimum levels. 

This may be 'better' than the previous diet, but if it is rejected by your body because your body is in a state of shock - what good did it really do?

Another example is exercise.  When a person has led a sedentary lifestyle, and abruptly changes to exercising 6 days a week, the body will reject that.  There are all sorts of escape hatches that your body will develop because it is Confused and In Shock.  They may range from cramping legs to full-blown injuries.  Your energy level may go from medium to completely drained.  Your body may reduce its energy to the level that you couldn't work out if you had a gun to your head.

Please don't misunderstand - I am NOT suggesting we stay in an unhealthy lifestyle, I'm simply suggesting that it seems more logical to take a different approach.

We've heard the phrase "Weaning Off".  I think it is a valuable approach to changing your lifestyle.  Unless, of course, you have medical reasons to make quick and wholesale changes.

If we ease into the changes, it gives our bodies time to assimilate the changes we make without freaking out.  In a way, we are sneaking them in right under our own nose.  The body doesn't go into shock and it is a seamless transition from unhealthy lifestyle to healthy lifestyle.

The hardest part of this is that we are an instant gratification society.  We want to think that we can make these huge changes instantly and see the benefits immediately.  Adopting this other approach requires patience and being gentle with ourselves while knowing that the changes we make will have a better opportunity to last than those made in a rush.  We've got to change our mindset.  We've got to see the bigger, long-term picture and respect that it is a process.

By taking 'baby steps' towards health, we also give ourselves the opportunity to research options, try different exercise plans, take a healthier cooking class, find a support group for fitness or healthy recipe sharing while making the initial changes.

A sample plan might look like this:

Week One
I am reducing my caffeine - going from 3 large cokes per day to 1-2.
I am going to eat a healthy breakfast - researching and implementing new recipes, grains, ideas, etc as I find them.
I am going to walk or do other cardio at least one time this week (going from no exercise at all)

Week Two
Continuing with 1 coke a day, I am setting a goal of drinking 4 8 oz glasses of water plus juice or other non-(or reduced, like green tea)caffeine drinks.
I am getting creative with breakfast options and cooking one dinner per week that is whole, raw, organic food.
I will walk or do other cardio 2 x this week.

Week Three
I will go every other day with No coke, coffee or black teas, will drink 6 8oz glasses of water plus other non(reduced) caffeine drinks.
I've got the healthy breakfast down and have been researching healthy dinner recipes.  I will cook 3 lunch or dinner meals this week that are healthy, whole foods.
I am continuing with at least 2 but could be 3 cardio days per week and incorporating another option (possibly yoga, strength training, kickboxing, etc).
I have started to research vitamins and supplements to add to my diet.

You can see how this progresses.  It gives your body the opportunity to succeed in the transition.  It gives your mind the opportunity to wrap around the changes without being overwhelmed.  It gives your spirit time to assimilate the improvements and work towards a holistic change.

I've been down the Fast and Immediate change road a few times.  None of them worked.  I have tried this approach and it worked for me until I self-sabotaged by wanting quicker results and put impossible expectations upon myself.  Lesson learned. 

In this case, I truly believe that Slow and Steady wins the race.

Journey Wisely and Be Well, my friends.

Disclaimer:
You should consult with a healthcare professional before starting any diet, exercise, supplementation or medication program.  If you have a health concern of any kind consult with your health care professional. 

Dreaming and Visioning my year!

A Huge Thanks! goes out to Joanna Powell Colbert for her wonderful workbook (available here) on this topic.  It has been immensely helpful in developing a plan with goals, projects and action steps.  Check out her link, it's not too late to get started!

I've been working with this for several days now and love the whole process.  It's so organic and makes so much more sense to me than making resolutions.  Resolutions (to me), feel like they are rooted in the negative.  They speak to me of things I shouldn't be doing but am... or things I should be doing but am not.  Both feel like a scorn or scolding to myself. 

Dreams and Visions however, are powerfully positive words and ideas.  I feel like I am approaching these changes to my life from a place of positive energy and emotion.  They feel like welcome changes instead of things I just simply "should do" or "need to do". 

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that wellness/good health is a high priority of mine.  It's one of my Big 3 visions of 2011.  This vision has several goals associated with it (Healthy diet, exercise, daily spiritual practice, etc) and each goal has several projects and action steps.  For each one, there is an action step that calls me to put these things on the calendar (meal planning for Healthy Diet, exercise plans and buddy accountability check-ins for Exercise, morning devotions and meditation for Spiritual Practice, etc). 

Today, I am working on those action steps.  I'm setting appointments in my phone calendar and synchronizing with Outlook on my laptop as well as my paper planner.  Wherever I look, the appointments will be there. 

Along with this is regular blogging for the accountability portion of this plan.  I've added a widget to log exercise (not sure yet if this will work the way want it to, but I am giving it a try) and plan to add a text widget for meal planning as well.  If I can find one, I'll log meditations too.

After a good breakfast:
organic, gluten free whole rolled oats with dried blueberries and cranberries, almonds and a bit of brown sugar.
Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls tea by teavana

Morning Devotions

Yoga stretches

And a mid-morning snack:
Hard boiled organic, cage-free brown egg
more jasmine green tea

I am on a roll...  ;-)

Nutritious and Delicious Kale Chips

These are so awesome that you won't want a potato chip again!  They are super easy to make and are a healthy alternative to traditional chips.
For a large serving of these, you are looking at about 60 calories, less than 3g of fat (check you olive oil for specifics) and Zero cholest!  Want to know what else is great about kale?  Check this link out! Nutritional value of Kale

Prep time on these is about 10 minutes.  Baking time (with my oven) is 13 minutes.  They cool immediately.

1 large or extra large bunch of kale - rinsed and dried
Olive Oil (as desired - around 1 T)
Seasonings desired (Endless possibilities here!)
I used McCormick's Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt blend which has Garlic, Oregano and Basil on one batch and Artisan Sea Salt, garlic powder and parmsan cheese on the second batch. 

You'll need a large bowl, cutting board and sharp knife (unless you prefer to tear the leaves), cookie sheet and parchment paper.

Prep work

Preheat oven to 350 farenheit.  Use this temp for the first batch and adjust from there.  I ended up with 325 working best in my oven.

Cut or tear leaves from the center rib and then create smaller pieces.  I like bite-sized pieces myself.



Place pieces in large bowl and drizzle on the olive oil.  Toss well until all pieces are evenly coated with a very thin layer of oil.  You don't want them dripping, just nice and glossy.

mmm looks yummy just like this!

Arrange pieces on parchment paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with seasonings of your choice.



Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt



 

Parmesan, Garlic and Sea Salt



Pop them in the oven for 10-15 minutes (mine was 13 minutes at 325) and you've got Kale Chips!

Better get you some - they won't last long!!!

Enjoy!

Returning to Glastonbury

I am so very fortunate to be able to return to Glastonbury this year.

When I was there in 2009, I vowed to return in 2011, but didn't really know if it would be feasible or not.  I am so very thrilled that we can make it happen!  My wonderful husband is so supportive of me in this way and I am very, very thankful for him!!! 

We will once again be staying at Little St. Michael's on the Chalice Well Grounds.

We'll have 24 hour access to the grounds, garden and well.  It's such an amazing place, and I'll be there for 7 whole days!  There are so many things I want to do while I am there.  I want to spend time at the Holy Thorn sending healing and love for it to flourish once again.  There will be much time spent at the Sacred Wells and hills of this wonderful landscape.

I am most excited to return to Glastonbury Abbey.

  I felt such an amazing connection there last time, but only had a small bit of time to spend there.  This time, I plan to pack a lunch and spend all day there at least once - if not twice while we are in town. 

I may rent a car and go to Wales for a day as well.  In fact, I am pondering the idea of going over 4 or 5 days early and spending those in Wales at Trigonos in Snowdon.  From there, I can visit Llyn Tegid, Tomen Y Mur, Dinas Dinlle, Bedd Branwen and Anglesey.  During the packaged trip, I can take a day and go to Preselli Hills and Dyfed.

This all brings me full-circle around to a healthier lifestyle.  I better get my butt in shape if I want to walk the Tor Labyrinth or hike to the Lake of the Maidens and Tomen Y Mur! 

The best part of this is that some of my closest friends will be there with me.  Time with my spiritual sisters is priceless to me.  To be able to share space with them in Glastonbury just makes it all the better! 

I am motivated.  I am energized.  I am Blessed.