Reflections on Patterns

We must face our own ugliness. We often must become painfully aware of the unworkability of a pattern before we're willing to give it up. It often seems, in fact, that our lives get worse rather than better when we begin to work deeply on ourselves. Life doesn't actually get worse; it's just that we feel our own transgressions more because we're no longer anesthetized by unconsciousness.

—Excerpted from A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles ofA Course in Miracles

I subscribe through Oprah's site to A Course in Miracles, and receive a reflection every day. Today's reflection really resonated with what I have been experiencing recently.

What does it mean to you?

To me it was a wonderful message from the Universe which has enabled me to gain comfort and clarification with some of challenges that have come up in terms of managing the letting go of negative eating patterns. After a week of managing cravings for fruit and sugar, yesterday they dropped away as quickly as they had arrived, leaving me feeling free and more aware of my body, mind and soul.

So, when we're lost in the thoughts generated in our minds and feel we've lost direction, we can be assured that there is perfection in this and it will pass leaving us free and aware of having let go of something that wasn't serving us.

We are Creators

What a beautiful Sunday morning after the cleansing and nurturing rain last night. I'm using those words (cleansing and nurturing) as I don't particularly have any affection for rain but the beliefs underlying this keep me housebound, so I'm changing it!

Here's a green smoothie to changing as many of the limiting beliefs that hold you back as possible.

I've been creating this morning and in fact was creating till about 2 o'clock this morning before taking myself off to bed. Completed two Ladybugs, a red and gold one and a pink and purple one. Very cute, I just love them. Also started a painting made up of hearts. I really didn't know how it would turn out! Do we ever know how anything will turn out in life? As life tends to do, it's emerged into something with beauty, love and peace in it's colour, depths and feel - like life I suppose, it depends on how you look at it.

I found a wonderful site this morning called Wordle. Have a look at my masterpieces and make some of your own. Its a fantastic idea and works on so many levels. And of course, I love it because it's WORDS! Here's the link to mine:-

    title="Wordle: Healing Stones to Happiness">    src="http://wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/126115/Healing_Stones_to_Happiness"
    style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

Here's to the power of creation, breathe into your life, release your fear and enjoy every moment.

With Love.

Green Smoothies

Today's realisations! I get them everyday as I’m sure you do. Do you record yours? Well, it’s well worth it. I advocate journaling and have done it for a few years now, on and off. I notice that at times of challenge I turn to it or resist it, but either way I finally get to it and it has amazing results.

I love the written word and in terms of journaling I love how very simply it can reflect back to you what you need to know. You just need to read between the lines so to speak. Your journals also become a wonderful resource and sometimes I contemplate the "general public" one day reading mine…now that would be fun, I feel an editing marathon coming on.

Anyway, back to the realisations of today. Ever since I was labelled with Type 1 Diabetes, 9 years ago, I have been searching for a way of balancing my blood sugar and feeling well! I’ve tried lots of different ways but it was in June 2007, at an Unleash The Power Within weekend with Tony Robbins that I first heard about alkalising the body. It was at that event that I made the decision not to eat meat and am very proud to say that I haven’t eaten any since. Have I missed it? “No”.

I now know what it does to my body and some of the processes, hormones and chemicals used in its production. To be honest giving up meat was easy, what has been more difficult has been changing my lifestyle to embrace alkalising. There is quite a bit of history to this, as a lot has changed for me since June 07 and I’ve tried lots of different ideas and processes. In summary, I no longer have any processed foods, diary, most fruits, alcohol, wheat or yeast products and very little fish. I can safely say there is quite a lot I do miss but I mainly miss fresh and dried fruit, especially the tropical fruits! My decision not to have these foods is based primarily on how they effect me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually and also the research I have done into how the foods are processed and whether they are acid or alkaline in terms of how my body uses them.

The last alcohol I had was about two months ago. I had a glass of red wine and although I enjoyed the taste, it was divine. I didn't enjoy the feeling it gave me after the third sip. In fact I couldn't drink it all and haven't been drawn to wanting any since. In order to know what a massive turn around this is for me you need to know that I was a whisky drinker and could drink for England. I sometimes have to pinch myself to see if I'm real, and check in the mirror to see who I am. Although that doesn't help because I don't look like I used to! Changing your lifestyle and the food you ingest can have an effect on your whole physical make-up. I've lost a stone and a half since last Christmas! I laugh now when I think my goal was to be 10 stone! I now weigh 9 stone! I can't remember ever being 9 stone!

I have been living on raw live foods and using Dr Young’s, PH Miracle - Diabetes plan, to manage my blood sugars. I have had amazing results in that I’ve more than halved my insulin intake (day and night), which is fantastic when you know that the insulin "diabetics" use is a chemical that is only similar to the bodies own and therefore is a toxin.

So there’s a little of the background to where I am now.

The realisation I had today was after watching and reading more about green smoothies on the web and in a magazine I receive called Get Fresh from the Fresh Network. Victoria Boutenko’s demo and interview on You Tube, gave me some food for thought! I’ve known about raw smoothies for a while but what I didn’t know was what led her to put raw greens into a smoothie. She talked about her family eating raw for 7 years and reaching a plateau. Some of the symptoms she described I realised I could relate to. In particular, for me, it is mainly around fluctuating energy levels. So, I started thinking maybe I’m eating the right food but I need to play around with how my body is processing it, and the realisation that maybe I’m putting too much pressure on my digestion, by expecting it to digest the raw food I’m eating without blending it.

After all, it's not "You are what you eat" it's "You are what you digest"

So, I set to work straight away producing a green smoothie. The challenge for me is that I don’t eat fruit or very little. By following the Ph Miracle for Diabetes I can have grapefruit, lemon and lime, all other fruits have considerable amounts of sugar and therefore are detrimental to my blood sugar. I can tell you green smoothies would be a whole lot more palatable with an apple!

Anyway, I had mine with kale, water, half an avocado and the juice from a carrot and three very small beets for some sweetness. I tried it without the sweetness from the carrot and beets but it was just too bitter. After a good whizz in the blender I was pleasantly surprised, it looked a lovely pinky purple (my favourite) colour and tasted creamy, due to the avocado.

In terms of my blood sugars, they’ve been spot on all day and I’ve felt full. I had the smoothie as my lunch and for supper. The other indicators for me in terms of functioning, as I have become so sensitive to food and its effect on me since detoxing from acidic foods, have been that my concentration and clarity of thinking and focus has been spot on too. So it’s a thumbs up for the green smoothie.

If there’s one thing you can do to alkalise your body it’s this. Introduce a green smoothie to you and your families life and start the process of unlocking the potential for joy and happiness, literally straight from your cells. The chlorophyll from the greens is pure sunshine.

Please get in touch if you too have been given the label of "diabetic", I'd love to hear from you and share what I know and maybe pick up tips from you.

More realisations soon!

There's Always a First Time - Spinning

I went spinning today for the first time, oh what a joy, to do something that you’ve been putting off, something you’ve craved to do but found many excuses to avoid.

Here are just some of the stories my mind generated:- "I’m not fit enough, I don’t like bike’s that much, they’ll be better than me, what if I fall off (a friend told me the first time she tried it she fell off the bike, so I had evidence for that one), what if I run out of energy and have to stop – I’ll look really stupid".

I noticed this morning the mind kicking in with it’s fears, "you’ve got loads to do, you haven’t really got time for spinning have you? you can go another day, get the work done that needs doing". And for a minute I forgot and started listening until I remembered, I’m not my mind and the reasons I wanted to go spinning in the first place were: to improve my fitness, to meet new people, to have fun and exercise, to learn something new, to be healthy and vibrant and have energy to reach my dreams.

Everything we achieve in our lives has to start somewhere. I talk about baby steps, what's the first baby step you can take in reaching your goal? And after that, okay, now take another.

The baby steps I took to make it happen were:- find out when the classes are, ask different people what their experience of spinning is, book the class, the day before - organise clothes, bag, etc and anything that could stop me from going, notice how I’m feeling about going and focus on the why’s and how I’ll feel after I’ve achieved the first class. Holding a vision of myself, smiling, joyful and happy with sweat running down my face, saying “Yes I did it”.

These steps can work with any fear. The key I have found is not making the fear and the mind that’s generating them wrong. If you do that’s where the conflict with yourself heightens, and it becomes very difficult to do what you want to do. It's where many people get stuck. What works for me and other people I’ve worked with is seeing the entity that’s creating your negative thoughts as your friend. Rather than resisting take it by the hand recognising that it wants the best for you and is trying to protect you. Be encouraging and loving with it while explaining that you are always safe and explain the why's?. Immediately you’ll find this kindness will take away the edges of the fear and resistance from your mind. It will open to listening. If you continue this practise you’ll find the mind will give you thoughts that can support you with ideas and inspirations of how best to look after yourself.

In acknowledging the fear and working with it kindly, you’re looking after YOU!

In terms of the spinning it's definitely something I'll do again! The bits I'm celebrating are meeting new people who were full of advice, guidance and encouragment for a newcomer, and the feeling of accomplishment after.

A Magic Day

This is a magic day. I started this blog some time ago and have been struggling with my resistance to use it to connect with you all, which I liken to a traffic light going from green to red! One minute I’m ready to go and the next, it’s slow down and stop! No more of that! Today I truly accept who I am, what I believe and herewith decide to share it with whoever is drawn to reading it.

After a life time of “people pleasing” that really is an accomplishment!

I haven’t decided whether this is going to be a daily, weekly or monthly blog. I’m being kind to myself and therefore leaving my self-expression and creativity open to the flow. My inspiration to really connect has come from other blogs I’ve read, where people have been really honest about their experiences. So I say, thank you, to those people, particularly Karen Knowler and her work that continues to inspire me in terms of her approach to life and commitment to being uniquely her.

So there you have it my declaration!

In terms of my life over the last year and a half, there have been lots of changes! So I anticipate the blog will cover topics such as:-

How I lost a stone and a half by alkalising my body?

How I continue to discover how to create balance in my life?

How believing I can cure diabetesing affects my life?

Discovering who I really am?

How I’ve come to know what loving myself is all about?

How I learned that independence doesn’t serve me?

And that’s just for starters! I would love to hear from you on any topic that’s challenging you or successes you want to share.

Remembering to celebrate is something I believe we’ve forgotten how to do. So here’s to celebrating this new beginning and to the creation of something amazing.