Happy Halloween

"Our responses to the world are crucially molded by the company we keep, for we temper our curiosity to fit in with the expectations of others." ~Alain de Botton

Watch your thoughts for they become words, Choose your words for they become actions,
Understand your actions for they become habits,
Study your habits for they become your character,
Develop your character for it will become your destiny!

"It doesn't matter where you start, it matters where you are going"

& my favorite.. my friend said this to me a few days ago & I have been saying it to myself every once in awhile ever since:

Take it in
Turn it around
Send it out

Have a Sparkly, Mysterious and Happy Halloween!

ps. Treat yourself to good treats! Raw candy! : )

Halloween costumes - my cat ears, ocean grown & Conversations with God

I am up extra early and am going to be extra quick.. because I have cookies to make.. for the halloween party tomorrow eve. I still am not sure if I am going to go. We have this serious community halloween thing going on here.. well, it’s more that I know all the kids in the neighbourhood and love seeing them all in costumes. & all those candles to light.. will they be able to do it without me?

On Sat eve. The Chocolate Fiesta.. magical mystery tour.. I am not sure exactly what it was, but it was fun. at 8:00 a streetcar loaded with very costumed people got off in front of 720 Bathurst and they all poured in.. and then for 45 minutes, maybe even less, it was intense, our place turned from a chocolate paradise to magical. Great costumes.. my favorite was the Operation guy. Yk the board game? it was him.. complete with the doctor with the big tweezers and light up nose when she took off a piece. So good! Everyone was there.. cowboys, indians, butterflies, superheros: the green hornet, Zorro.. alice cooper, a shark.. lots of boas and shiny, glittering courlourful clothes and hair. That was fun.

Steve offered me a drink of his water.. said he put in ½ t of ocean grown. there’s an interesting idea! We are using Ocean Grown at work on the sprouts and wheatgrass. It is actually ocean water that they collect from far out and very deep in the ocean, where it is very mineral rich.. and then this is condensed, water is evaporated.

http://www.oceangrown.com/

Conversations with God has been made into a movie. It just opened in theaters in the US on Friday and will open in Canada on November 10. Am not even spending time to watch the trailer.. just sending it on. http://www.cwgthemovie.com/main.html

Have a colourful chocolatey day!.. spend some time getting in the mood for tomorrow. I have these really cute cat ears, from my daughter.. she bought better cat ears, or so she thought.. it was cute yesterday, 2 cats & Carly was a bunny. I didn’t want to take them off.. they matched my outfit, ..black. Well, I guess that’s not hard. Meow .. Have a fun day! : )

ChocoSol article

It's evening and I usually write in the morning. I tried but I had a mercury retrograde moment when the computer crashed in the middle of me uploading pics.. I was just going to show a whole bunch of crazy pics.. but it wasn't meant to be. . maybe that's a good thing ; )

so I decided to leave it for today. But just now I was websurfing looking up something my Mom was talking about and I found an article written about Michael & Graham - my ChocoSol friends. Its about a World Affairs Colloquium they were leading at Trent University entitled “What is Global Citizenship Anyways? Zapatistas, Mayan Wisdom, and the Chocolate Revolutionary Café.”

“For us this is not a mere business or social enterprise,” said Michael Sacco. “It is a lifestyle and life choice. It is a calling and, at the same time, an experiment. We call it the ChocoSol project, but more than anything it is about the relationships and work that we have with a group of friends that stretch between Chiapas and Ontario, and then all throughout cyberspace as far as India and Brazil. We are not entrepreneurs, we are antrepreneurs and our definition of sustainability is one much different from what that term usually refers to.”

Michael Sacco is a Ph.D. student affiliated with Universadad de la Tierra in Oaxaco, Mexico. He received his Master’s degree from York University in Environmental Sciences. His academic interests range from post-development studies to civil society movements to alternative energy. Mr. Sacco has been mentored by Gustavo Esteva and his practical experience has taken him to Oaxaca and Chiapas where, together with the indigenous community, he and his project partner, Mr. Corbett, have designed and built solar roasters now used by local cacao producers.
Graham Corbett is a graduate from the University of Guelph, and his research has taken him from Inuit communities in the Arctic to the jungles of Chiapas.

The concept of horizontal trade is a unique business model and outside of the normal NGO structures in Canada. ChocoSol recently shipped three tonnes of cacao, coffee, and vanilla to Toronto. They sell at farmers' markets and to small businesses that are interested in the stories behind the healthy products. Mr. Sacco and Mr. Corbett know the producers of the products, having lived with the families and worked along-side them in the harvesting, fermenting and roasting of the products. ChocoSol’s healthy products are used to create dialogue to promote interculturality and radical pluralism, especially between Southern Mexico and Southern Ontario.'

from the Trent University website -http://www.trentu.ca/newsevents/newsreleases_060925chocosol.php

the reason, HRM, sun gazing, Live, raw food resources and the chocolate mystery tour

On Thursday evening I got a call from a friend of mine that I haven’t seen in 15 years.. she was coming the next morning to To, with her daughter Jade, just for the day, looking at a school. We lived together on Crawford St, Christie & Bloor, when I was pregnant with Dylan, my 1st child and Jade was a baby or almost. She’s 19 now, Dylan’s 17. We lived to gether for 3-4 years, were really close.. but she moved to Halifax & life happened and we just didn’t really keep in touch, the occasional Christas card, yk how it goes sometimes. I was thinking thought that it’s interesting that I just get back into the area, the Annex, and she comes back into my life. We were discovering lots of interesting things about the pattern of life while we were talking, how people come in & out of your life at certain times.. as you get older and can follow the paths it gets more and more clear that everything happens for a reason and that there is a rhyme & reason and a pattern in the unfolding of the universe and life. Yk?

On Wednesday evening Marie and I & a few people from work went to see Hira Ratan Manek, aka HRM, who is a breatharian. I will write more about him later, but briefly he lives on energy from the sun and spoke about sun gazing. So, I have been thinking a lot about this and sun gazing for the past few days.. although yesterday it was so cloudy it just didn’t happen. So today I was driving a lot.. and on the way home from the airport, in heavy traffic, I felt all of a sudden kind of hot, opened the sun roof and then just a moment later .. the clouds opened up and the sun came out and I was sitting there & got to do my sun gazing while sitting at the wheel in traffic. It was great.. I felt like the sun just came out for me at that moment! I felt so much more relaxed and energized and really enjoyed the rest of the drive,, which took a ridiculous amount of time. I was following the GPS and it was taking me through town on really heavy traffic streets so I would keep getting off & I zig-zagged through side streets, one ways, parking lots.. it was pretty funny some of the time.. I am sure the GPS would have been yelling at me if it could.

I stopped in at Live –organic food bar at Spadina & Dupont, got some pizza & some crackers & a coconut lentil curry dip, which made the rest of the drive even more enjoyable. Good music, good food.

The link to their website is not working?? But just go there if you can, it's great - and lots of packaged, prepared raw foods!
Here’s a link to raw food resources in the city:
http://www.veg.ca/directory/raw.html

I will post more about sun gazing and HRM later. I am going to go get ready to go down to work for an hour or two soon. There is a mystery tour and our place is one of the stops. It’s all about the chocolate.. the people will get a cacao bean at the door which they can redeem for something. I’m bringing cacao-cacao chip cookies. & there will be smoothies, hot chocolate, chocolate bars.. lots of great stuff. Chocolate Fiesta!

Happy chocolate evening! I am celebrating in brown velvet.. oh, &

Halloween is getting close. I will be preparing for that tomorrow for sure.

another name? raw cookies, raw cookbooks ..beating the food giants, food and behavior, folk recipes

I was up late last night making raw cookies – need a name for them.. I can’t decide what to call them.. they are not baked and I keep saying cookies.. not rawies! hmmm
Something that goes with RawketScience.. like meteorites or asteroids or divine ?? Or heavenly, planetary, astral .. ykwim. They are cacao- cacao chip, 1 ½” approx - very circular. If anyone has a great name, e-mail me. If I use it, I’ll be happy to make you a dozen. : )


I have been asked lately a lot what are my favorite raw cookbooks.
They are:

The Raw Gourment – by Nomi Shannon
Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine by Dr. Gabriel Cousins
Living Cuisine by Renee Loux-Underkoffler
Raw Food, Real World by Matthew Kenney and Selma Melngailis

I have bought two cookbooks recently which I think will end up in my favorites list:

Healthful Cuisine by Anna Maria Clement and Kelly Serbonich
&
Celebrating Our Raw Nature by Dorit

There are quite a few books that I don’t have.
I have read & copied lots of recipes out of this one (my mom has it):

The Complete Book of Raw Food: Healthy, Delicious Vegetarian Cuisine Made with Living Foods by Lori Baird and Julie Rodwell (editors)
It’s a compilation of recipes from lots of raw chefs and has lots of great information in it.

There are so many online recipes also.. just google ‘raw recipes’.
This was one of my favorites when I was just getting started: http://www.fromsadtoraw.com/RawRecipes.htm



Online book: Paul A Stitt – Beating the Food Giants
read it here: http://www.whale.to/v/stitt_b.html

& a book by Barbara R. Stitt – Food and Behavior – Barbara worked as a parole officer and examines the role played between food allergies and junk food on behavior

Deadly Diet article by Carol Simontacchi:
http://www.rlnn.com/ArtOct05/DeadlyDiet.html - quick summary: These studies show that nutritional deficiencies caused by bad diet aren't just being linked to health problems -- they're likely behind many societal problems, from crime to learning difficulties, as well.

Carol Simontacchi, CCN, MS is author of The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children (Penguin) says quite simply, "We need to start eating real food."


Folk Remedies and Holistic Cures: http://www.earthclinic.com/remedies.html

pics are not uploading again today! Hmm.. wonder what's up with that?
mercury maybe ..!?!?

Adventures in the conscious and subconscious - away in Greece

Tips for an extended backpacking adventure from Julia Dimon, Road Warrior – http://www.thetraveljunkie.ca/ - from an article in the Metro, Oct 23

Before you go:

- Research travel insurance, immunization shots and tourist visa requirements.
- Sign up for online banking, to check your finances from anywhere.
- Carry various forms of payment: bank cards, credit cards, US and local currency.
- Pack lightweight clothing that don’t wrinkle or show dirt.
- Bring: a headlamp (forall-too-frequent power outages), retractable clothes line, calculator, plug adapters, quick-dry towel, alarm clock.
- Lonely Planet is the best guidebook series.
- Don’t book all accommodations. Book the first night & go with the flow.
- Organize tours locally. It’s cheaper.

On the road:

- expect different perceptions of distance, ‘It’s just near’ usually means it’s too far to walk.
- Carry small bills for both safety and convenience.
- Take an over-night train. It’s slashes travel time and save’s on a nght’s accommodation.
- Schedule flights so they arrive in the morning or afternoon, not at night. It’s safer.
- If you want to buy souvenirs but can’t carry them, hit the post office. Sea mail takes a few months but it’s the cheapest way.
- Ask trustworthy locals what the going rate is for food and taxi rides. You’ll be less likely to get ripped off if you are well informed.
- Embrace the fact that you will get ripped off. It’s a learning curve.
- Read local papers for what’s going on in the city.
- Carry toilet paper and anti-bacterial lotion with you everywhere.
- Don’t live by the guide-book all the time. Explore, go off the beaten track.. that’s obvious.. as is this:
- You can’t be a hard core traveler all the time. Take days off to kick back and enjoy.




There is a ravine where Northview and Beachdale usually are, and I go to visit it. A little boy is riding a motorboat in the water and gives me a ride to his little cottage on the far shore. He tells me his parents are away but i can tell from the scale of the cottage that it's his. He is an elf. I bring him to your house, no one is home, so we sit on the couch to wait for you.
Jim comes in and tells me quite seriously, tho not angry that he doesn't want me coming in when no one's home. He's grown a moustache and beard and is wearing a yellow satin shirt. He tells me you're at a jam session at his cousin's and you have my Les Paul and that i can come if I'll help load the truck with equipment. I help ( and the elf ), but then he tells me there's no room for us and leaves. It's raining. i go back inside and dave hynes is performing a musical piece to an audience, playing your crystal and nicnacs, but he's missing a certain note. i bring him a blue and gold porcelain kitten with a pure beautiful tone but i have to finish getting to you, so I take the kitten and a banana and get on my bike and even tho I don't know exactly where you are I ride and ask directions and even tho everyone is Chinese and I'm entering a mountain range I continue on uphill, careful not to damage the porcelain or the banana.
When I arrive the jam is over and Jim points you out but it's not you, just a woman with long brown hair and Jim can't tell the difference and acts like I'm crazy. So i go to the loading dock to see if my guitar is there and the sun is coming up radiant and Jared and Dylan and Daniel and Nick are there smoking a joint in a roach clip ( green beads on it ) offer it to me, i won't take it tho, and I say I'm looking for you and they point down to the ground and tell me you just fell asleep and there you are in a sleeping bag, serene and lovely peaceful smile and I will not wake you. I wake up instead. The feeling i have for you is unique and incommunicable.

Have an adventurous day!

Roses, the Sun, the Earth and everything - breatharians and mercury retrograde

This info-blog/journal/random musings site is an experiment in space and time and communication, much like I find my diet and lifestyle are an experiment with my body.. and with both I am taking a somewhat intuitive approach. Sometimes I feel like writing information and storing it here, sometimes I have thoughts, ideas and feelings to release here from my heart and mind. Generally I give myself a 30 minute time slot each morning (work-days) to sit & write.. sometimes I take longer and have to rush the rest of my routine.

It’s a thought day again. Yesterday was interesting and thought-provoking.

The start of my day was excellent.. set off beautifully with a from-the-heart gift of pink roses, very, very special.. and so much mutual appreciation! This gift of love put beauty and abundance and overall clarity to the rest of the day. (worldly-based craziness) And also lots of chocolate based love and fun which is a huge source of joy for me lately.

Fast forward – pm – rushing to get out of work, will balance tomorrow am, want to get home quickly, get dinner, make everyone happy, rush to yoga, and all the other things that need to be done after: groceries, laundry (everyday), cleaning, dishes, banking, etc. & then things seemingly start going wrong: 1- I leave my wallet at work (hopefully!), 2 – I lose my metropass on the subway, falls between crack in back of seat, 3 – TTC guys try to help but to no avail and it takes a long time so I am very late now, 4 – forgot/lost my 2 young green coconuts on the train (& the biggest ones from the box – were on trees in Costa Rica days ago, I hope someone finds & enjoys them), 5 - call Jim from Vic Pk station, waiting for bus and he’s kind of upset that I am late – dinner, kids etc. Damn, I’ve left work early to get home to get dinner make everyone happy.. mainly because I want to go out with people at work to see a breatharian tonight. ( don’t know a lot about it yet, but interestingly enough, I was looking up breatharians 2 days ago on the internet! : ) Cool!

Ok, so.. the whole time all this is happening I am thinking.. what’s up.. why is this happening. What is the universe trying to tell me? & I am torn in 2 directions one everything being messed up & 2 & more predominantly – thinking of the amazing abundance I have in my life.. how I really can get by without the metropass quite easily for the rest of the month.. 20$ or something, no big deal.. coconuts come & go.. life goes on.. I have so much, the beauty & love of the roses & mostly about the breatharian and how he really needs nothing, not even food, he has so much abundance.. we all do. At one point –in the most frustrating moment of being late, I almost felt teary at the worldly frustration/spiritual joy of everything.. 2 extremely opposing views cohabitating in my head. My Mom, who is my best friend and continual source of support and guidance, said last night.. it’s like you are living in two different worlds and every time you flip from one to the other it’s like you have an adjustment to make. Very true in many ways.. so many dual opposing forces in my life right now: work/home, material/spiritual even my husband & I.. he’s all about pushing his body in one direction and I’m going in the other.. but back to the story.

I got home, they were all eating left-overs.. dinner’s covered, I skipped yoga to spend time with my family, got to help my daughter study for her geography test this morning; latitudes, longitudes, maps etc.. everything got done except the last load of laundry, which I am going to go fold now.
& I feel like I learned my lesson – it was of abundance, everything we need will be provided, whether we see it or not. The abundance of the sun, of the earth.. we have everything we need, all the time, really! People always want to help us.. it’s out intuitive nature, we all inherently want to help each other. No one ever need go without anything they truly need in this world. & a thought from my Mom, she said this long ago & it stuck.. even if you have millions and many houses, cars, incredible wealth etc.. you can only sleep in one bed at a time, eat one meal at a time.. we only have one moment ..& every moment we all have incredible abundance depending on our attitude and the way we look at things.

& it is just occurring to me now – it might be mercury retrograde setting in.. 1 sec. Yup! Oct 28-Nov 17. It’s coming up.. but you often feel it setting in up earlier, even a week or two before ..Mercury actually stops its forward rotation and begins going backward just before the date.. really! And once you get into the mercury retrograde flow and are aware of it you will notice things happening.. but more later
Here’s my fav site for information on mercury retrograde:
http://astrologyzone.com/forecasts/mercury.html

So maybe it wasn’t a lesson after all.. and just Mercury.. but w/e, I learned it anyway. : )

Enjoy a beautiful day filled with love and abundance!

Looking in, looking out, clouds and mushrooms

Thoughts:

1- I am thinking about the clouds in the sky yesterday.. sometimes when I see clouds moving quickly past I get this feeling that I am on the outside looking in.. especially those big white fluffy clouds – cumulus – they can be really fascinating to watch. This outside looking in thing happens to me a lot.. sometimes I am in the corner of a room looking in & sometimes I am flowing with all the people like a blood cell flowing in the veins of the Earth – and I realize that I am just a small part of the whole and yet everything is contained inside me..

2- the cookies went over really well yesterday. I brought in 7 types.. most people said it was hard to choose, but surprisingly I think the lemon, the cacao chip and the cacao-goji berry went over the best. Someone mentioned cinnamon cacao & I think I’ll try that this weekend. Also one I really want to try is a superfood one – cacao w/ goji berry, blue-green algae, maca, bee pollen & cordycepts. I have a book on mycomedicinals – and I was looking up all the health benefits of different mushrooms.. cordycepts (dong chong xia cao) does almost everything.. this is the most interesting mushroom also because it only grows on caterpillar larvae. It was written about over 2000 years ago in Chinese texts as an aphrodisiac.. and it was thought to impart immortality to the dead. It is included in the mushroom blend supplement I take – I take very few supplements these days.. but during flu/cold season, I don’t take a chance.. garlic & my mushroom blend!

3- I noticed the yarn I am using to make my Dad’s scarf (Christmas present.. shhh! ; ) comes from Uruguay.. it is gorgeous hand painted, hand spun wool.. but I was interested in how I was so attracted to this yarn and it’s from Uruguay.. and one of my closest friends is from Uruguay. One day I am going to drive with her to the tip of South America. We planned it a couple years ago, but we both knew it will ony happen in a few years. Her son is younger than my kids, he’s in grade 5 now.. We want the kids to be a bit older. When I get there though I want my GPS or a map with a big arrow.. you are here. ..or maybe I can just use the map in my head.. see? ..still on the outside looking in.



The following info on clouds is from: http://schoolscience.rice.edu/duker/weatypeclouds.html

Cumulus Clouds

The word cumulus comes from the Latin word for a heap or a pile. Cumulus clouds are puffy in appearance. They look like large cotton balls. Cumulus clouds usually form when warm, moist air is forced upward. As this air rises, it is cooled. If it is cooled below its dew - point temperature, condensation will occur. The size of a cumulus cloud depends on the force of the upward movement of air and the amount of moisture in the air. The largest cumulus clouds are caused by very strong upward movements of warm, moist air. The clouds that produce heavy thunderstorms in summer are a form of cumulus clouds called cumulonimbus. Cumulonimbus clouds may extend upward for hundreds of meters.

Stratus Clouds

The word stratus comes from the Latin word that means "to spread out." Stratus clouds are horizontal, layered clouds that stretch out across the sky like a blanket. Sometimes a layer of warm, moist air passes over a layer of cool air. Stratus clouds often form at the boundary where these layers meet. Where two such layers of air meet, the warm air is cooled. If the warm air is cooled below its dew point, the excess water vapor condenses to form a blanket - like layer of stratus clouds. If the layers of air are very large, the stratus clouds may extend for many kilometers across the sky.

Cirrus Clouds

Cirrus clouds are a third general type of cloud. The word cirrus comes from the Latin word for a tuft or curl of hair. Cirrus clouds are very wispy and feathery looking. They form only at high altitudes, about 7 km above the earth's surface. Cirrus clouds are composed of ice crystals and are so thin that sunlight can pass right through them.

Pic from Mrs. Magnus’s Cloud website: http://mal.sbo.hampton.k12.va.us/mangus/index.html

Mike Adams, quotes, The top 10 things food companies don't want you to know

I started to copy an article & then went to the authors website –
Mike Adams – the health ranger http://www.healthranger.org/
lots of great quotes, info, and a link to www.truthpublishing.com which has lots more books by him & others.

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?" --Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"I have endeavored to show that there is no real service of humanity in the profession [of medicine] and that it is injurious to mankind." --Mahatma Gandhi

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men." --Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them." --Dalai Lama

"The time is always right to do what is right." --Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice." --Mahatma Gandhi

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people." --Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


“I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed." --Dalai Lama

"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be...The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists." --Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"I truly believe that individuals can make a difference in society. Since periods of change such as the present one come so rarely in human history, it is up to each of us to make the best use of our time to help create a happier world." --Dalai Lama

"Achiving outstanding health is not complicated. The human body already knows how to be healthy. All you have to do is give your body outstanding nutrition so that it has the building materials it needs to heal disease and rebuild itself from the inside out. You must also avoid all of the foods and food ingredients that cause disease. Today, more than 95% of all chronic disease is caused by food choice, toxic food ingredients, nutritional deficiencies and lack of physical exercise..." --Mike Adams

"Western medicine has failed our people. Today, even while prescription drugs are more frequently consumed than ever before in the history of civilization, our nation has skyrocketing rates of obesity and chronic disease. Western medicine simply does not work. It is an outmoded system of medicine dominated by the financial interests of pharmaceutical companies, power-hungry officials at the FDA, and old-school doctors whose myopic view of health prevents them from exploring the true causes of healing. Modern medical schools don't even teach healing or nutrition. No practitioner of western medicine has ever taught me a single thing about being healthy..." --Mike Adams



This article was originally published August 14 2006
by Mike Adams
http://www.newstarget.com/019957.html


The top ten things food companies don't want you to know

The giant food corporations have one mission: selling more food and beverage products to consumers. Succeeding with that mission depends on keeping consumers in the dark on certain issues such as the presence cancer-causing chemicals found in popular food products.
Here are ten things the food corporations, whose products dominate grocery store shelves across the United States and other countries, absolutely do not want you to know.

1. The ingredients listed on the label aren't the only things in the food. Cancer-causing chemicals such as acrylamides may be formed in the food during high-heat processing, yet there's no requirement to list them on the label. Residues of solvents, pesticides and other chemicals may also be present, but also do not have to be listed. The National Uniformity for Food Act, currently being debated in the U.S. Congress, would make it illegal (yes, illegal) for states to require cancer warnings on foods that contain cancer-causing chemicals (such as California's Proposition 65.)

2. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is added to thousands of food and grocery products through a dozen different innocent-sounding ingredients, imbalances endocrine system function, disabling normal appetite regulation and causing consumers to keep eating more food. This chemical not only contributes to nationwide obesity, it also helps food companies boost repeat business.

3. MSG is routinely hidden in foods in these ingredients: yeast extract, torula yeast, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and autolyzed yeast. Thousands of common grocery products contain one or more of these chemical taste enhancers, including nearly all "vegetarian" foods such as veggie burgers (read labels to check).

4. ADHD in children is caused almost entirely by the consumption of processed food ingredients such as artificial colors and refined carbohydrates. Eighty percent of so-called ADHD children who are taken off processed foods are cured of ADHD in two weeks.

5. The chemical sweetener aspartame, when exposed to warm temperatures for only a few hours, begins to break down into chemicals like formaldehyde and formic acid. Formaldehyde is a potent nerve toxin and causes damage to the eyes, brain and entire nervous system. Aspartame has been strongly linked to migraines, seizures, blurred vision and many other nervous system problems.

6. Most food dips (like guacamole dip) are made with hydrogenated oils, artificial colors and monosodium glutamate. Many guacamole dips don't even contain avocados.

7. Plastic food packaging is a potent health hazard. Scientists now know that plastics routinely seep the chemical bisphenol A into the food, where it is eaten by consumers. Cooking in plastic containers multiplies the level of exposure. Bisphenol is a hormone disruptor and can cause breast formation in men and severe hormonal imbalances in women. It may also encourage hormone-related cancers such as prostate cancer and breast cancer.

8. Milk produced in the U.S. comes from cows injected with synthetic hormones that have been banned in every other advanced nation in the world. These hormones help explain why unusually young teenage girls develop breasts at such a young age, or why hormone-related cancers like prostate cancer are being discovered in unprecedented numbers. In order to protect Monsanto, the manufacturer of hormones used in the industry, the USDA currently bans organic milk producers from claiming their milk comes from cows that were not treated with synthetic hormones. Even organic milk is now under fire as the Organic Consumers Association says Horizon milk products are falsely labeled as organic.
(The solution to all this? Drink raw almond milk instead. Make it yourself with a Vitamix, water and a nut milk bag.)

9. Most grocery products that make loud health claims on their packaging are, in reality, nutritionally worthless (like meal replacement shakes, instant chocolate milk, etc.). The most nutritious foods are actually those the FDA does not allow to make any health claims whatsoever: fresh produce.

10. Food manufacturers actually "buy" shelf space and position at grocery stores. That's why the most profitable foods (and hence, the ones with the lowest quality ingredients) are the most visible on aisle end caps, checkout lanes and eye-level shelves throughout the store. The effect of all this is to provide in-store marketing and visibility to the very foods and beverages that promote obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and other degenerative conditions now ravaging consumers around the world.

Cookies! -thoughts and attitudes

It’s raining out again.. so much rain lately. It’s a Libra thing I hear, it always rains a lot when there are lots of planets in Libra.

I am doing cookie experimenting this weekend. I made 3 types last night & they are in the dehydrator right now: Cacao, Cacao-Cacao Chip, and Cacao-Goji Berry. I bought lots of cookie ingredients and loaded up on lots of cacao from my workmates, ChocoSol, my cookie experiment sponsors. I promised to bring in cookies on Monday for a taste testing session. I am making the lighter cookies today – with a base of raw oats, almond and coconut and flavors of almond, goji berry, cacao and maybe lemon. My original intention was to find the ultimate raw cacao chip cookie recipe.. and I will get there, this is just my way. We all have different paths, some take a simpler approach.. I tend to go through the complex and narrow it down to simple. It’s just the way it works for me.

I am thinking about a man I saw crossing the street at Bloor and Bathurst. We passed each other and our eyes met and we silently acknowledged each other with a slight smile and a look in the eyes like we knew each other well. He was wearing a poncho and from another walk of life and I had never seen him before that I remember but it was an intimate moment that even now lives with me.. I think we were good friends before.

I am thinking about something Steve said to me: “You have the best life!” & I agree, I really do. I am so blessed & so fortunate.

1 quick story & I am off to go make cookies.. I have lots of fun things I want to go do. I am showing up for myself today! : )

My Mom sent me this in an e-mail this morning:

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. "Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today." So she did, and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. "Hmmm, " she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today." So she did, and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. "Well," she said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail." So she did, and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head. "YEAH!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"

Attitude is everything. As the saying goes: "The kind of life you will have is not determined by what happens to you, it is determined by your reaction to what happens to you."

Pic of my daughter, Kaiya - who is in the kitchen eating cookies from the dehydrator right now. Kaiya just got her hair cut short.. used to be really long! .. she's cute no matter what she does. : )

Muchas Cosas - Pizza Bread, Tulsi, protection, people, colors, Castenada, Zen flow, Toronto Zombie Walk & After Dark Festival

I am bursting ..con muchas cosas.. so much going on in my head, swirling information.. it was a busy day yesterday at work.. so many people dropping by.. my mind is a sponge & I have been picking up things everywhere.. I feel like an information attractor, like one of those poles downtown that gets all the events & happenings stapled to it.. but no staples, a magnet. So this is like my unloading station.. getting things off my mind here.. like a lint brush going backwards.. I heard analogies are better than real life.. sometimes they are, it’s amazing the little things that someone says that stay with you.

I have so many topics I want to write about but they would all take time &/or concentration & I am all over the place in my mind.. its like I need to do that random straightening up in here before I get down to deep cleaning of issues.. but some big issues are (& will one day soon be addressed): geomancy, Li Chung Yun, recipe books, Christiania, flipped through Naked Chocolate book, so more on cacao.. & I am working on a choc chip cookie recipe today so I am bursting with recipe ideas for that.. and the pasta recipes I made a few days ago, don’t to want them slip too far by, they were so good.. and the raw bread-pizza crust recipe from Erika’s workshop booklet that I promised someone to send her & said it might be easier to post in my blog.. so I will do that right now! It is something like the raw bread we use to make sandwiches with at work. Not the same, but a good place to work from..

Pizza Sandwich Bread

12 cups vegetable pulp from juicing
or
12 cups equal amounts carrot, celery, zucchini
1 bunch parsley
2 c red onions
4 c flax, ground
½ c nutritional yeast
1 T dried kelp powder
3 T nama shoyu or Braggs
2 c sun-dried tomatoes, soaked until soft
2 c extra-virgin olive oil

If not using pulp, process vegetables in food processor. I don’t think I would use much celery.. root vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower would also work well. Blend in parsley, onions & tomatoes. I think I might use less onion & oil but you can experiment. Transfer all veg to bowl & add rest of ingredients. Mix all well together. Spread on teflex sheets, oiling them slightly will help with peeling later. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for 3 hours, flip onto mesh and dry for another 1 – 1 ½ hours. This amount of time will leave the bread moist and pliable. I would probably dry overnight & flip in the morning.. but I like it firmer and you can experiment with times. Store bread in refrigerator or freezer in zip-lock bags or container.
I have to leave early this morning also.. Loving Nature, my fav health food store close to home is opening a bit early so I can grab a few things before I go to work, they are amazing down there, incredible customer service!

Protection was a big theme yesterday. Alan came in in the morning and was shaking oil around. When he first walked by I smelled something, & I thought it was just something he was wearing, then I noticed he had a bottle & was shaking oil from it around on the floor. I asked about it.. it was called Vishnu – an ayurvedic oil blend for protection. I am just looking it up, it is based on the Tulsi plant:

“Holy Basil or Tulsi is the most sacred plant in India. Its quality is pure Sattva. Holy Basil opens the heart and mind, bestowing the energy of love and devotion. Sacred to Vishnu and Krishna, it strengthens faith, compassion and clarity. Tulsi Beads are worn by Indian Holy men to promote attachment to God and used for chanting on to increase divine Love for the Supreme. Holi Basil gives the protection of the divine by clearing the aura and strengthening the immune system. It contains a natural form of mercury which is non toxic free from the toxic elements that are in liquid mercury which gives the seed power of pure awareness.
The plant should be kept in every house for its purifing influence. Holy Basil absorbs negative ions, and liberates ozone from the suns rays.
Holy Basil is an effective diaphoretic in most colds, flus and lung problems. It removes excess kapha from the lungs, and nasal passage, increasing prana and sensory acuity, It also removes high vata from the colon, improves absorption and strengthens the nerve tissue and increases memory.” From http://www.ayurveda-herbs.com/holy%20basil.htm

“Tulsi has also been recognized by the rishis for thousands of years as a prime herb in Ayurvedic treatment. It has been traditionally used by Hindus, and now others, for its diverse healing properties. Tulsi is mentioned by Acharya Charak, in the Charak Samhita, the central teaching of Ayurvedic medicine written at least two thousand years ago, and in the Rigveda. Tulsi is considered to be an adaptogen, balancing different processes in the body, and helpful for adapting to stress. Marked by its strong aroma and astringent taste, Tulsi is regarded as a kind of "elixir of life" and believed to promote longevity.”
The presence of a Tulsi plant symbolizes the religious bent of a Hindu family. In many traditions (i.e Vaishnavism), a household is considered incomplete if it doesn't have a Tulsi plant. Many families have the Tulsi planted in a specially built structure, which has images of deities installed on all four sides, and an alcove for small earthen oil lamp. Some households can even have up to a dozen Tulsi plants on the verandah or in the garden forming a "Tulsi-van" or "Tulsivrindavan" — a miniature basil forest.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulasi

"As by chanting the name of Ganges, one becomes free from all kinds of worldly sins, if someone chants the name of Tulasi or chants the glories of Lord Hari with devotion, he gets the same merit." - From the Brhan Naradiya Purana

Alan talked about bells also - how the Druids always had bells. The sound of the bells gets rid of spirits, negative energies.. Look at a baby who’s crying & you give him a rattle and he shakes it & stops crying.. he’s clearing the energy, babies know intuitively these things because they are so pure, so open, so innocently open.

The conversation on the subway on the way home.. someone asked about my ring, about Judith.. this woman was psychic, told me things.. asked about me, if I was a witch, had to think about that one.. lol I asked if she was, she reads tarot cards, works as a psychic.. tarot cards are great.. I still haven’t posted my meanings.. Kaiya stopped working on those, it’s half typed out, I’ll get her to finish that up & post them. ..but this lady told me lots of interesting things. Some people just know things. I tend to attract these kinds of people, I love that. : )

Jay came in, Jay Douglas.. he’s an entertainer, singer. We listened to his cd while he was in, it was great. & he’s such a great person to talk to.. some people just are.

ChocoSol.. the chocolate guys attract so many interesting people.. they had friends who were Mayan in.. it was so much laughing, talking, singing, talking yesterday.. the lady from Alternative Grounds was in – a leader in Fair Trade. & ChocoSol is all about that. http://www.alternativegrounds.com/show.php

Our space is becoming a wonderful drop in center. The bookcase is evolving wonderfully.. saw some new books, a few really interesting ones that I need to explore, the Dalia Lamas book of daily mediations, a few soul books and one by Castenada..
& the conversation with Randy last night & he just bought a few books yesterday: one by Castenada also & one by Chopra.

& the very cool video game he found online.. a Zen game – Flow
is this is? http://www.crazygames.com/game/flow I don’t think so.. it’s something where you start as an amoeba..?? ..but tomorrow I have the day off & I can search

wow, I have to run.. going to gather pencil crayons.. to attach to a wall for people to color in Quetzalcoatl, the Mayan chocolate god. Dorit & I started it & no one has touched it since.. so Graham & I figured if we have all these colors hanging from strings on the wall..

Yikes.. and I am running out of time & need to make green smoothies!

: ) have a great day!

Oh, ps.. one more thing. Sunday is the Toronto Zombie walk - http://www.torontozombiewalk.com/
Which ends at the Toronto after dark film festival: http://www.torontoafterdark.com/

Wow! That was a lot! ..but I feel much better : )
Have a spectacular, fun-filled and colorful day!

Cookies, Cacao, Coconut & Sun Power

I have cookies in the dehydrator this morning. Last night I decided to try out a recipe – it is adapted from Renee Loux Underkoffler’s Living Cuisine:

Coconut & Caramel Cookies
I call them Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies – because I added 1/3 –1/2 c cacao nibs

3 c dried shredded coconut
1 c soft pitted dates
3 T raw almond butter
2 T maple syrup
2 T cold-pressed coconut butter
2 T vanilla extract
1 T cinnamon
2 t nutmeg
pinch Celtic sea salt

Roll into balls or roll dough into a log & slice.

We have a few jars of this company’s products around at work.. Dorit brought them & gave them to us when she was here. http://www.ulimanamana.com/

Their research page on the benefits of raw Cacao & Coconut Oil:
http://www.ulimanamana.com/research.html

& Check out http://www.solarcooking.ca/ & http://www.suncharged.ca/
Solar power.. the oven will go up to 400degrees but will also dehydrate foods.
Sun charged has an little appliance which you can plug your phone, ipod, laptop to to charge - environmentally sustainable, pollution free –get off the grid & capture your share of the sun’s infinite supply of sustainable free energy.

pic from www.pluckthepetal.com

Happiness

From Roger Haeske’s e-mail "Instant Happiness Manifesto" Oct 13, 2006

** Imagination Science Principles **
http://ImaginationScience.com is my website that teaches these principles.

"If you focus on your outer world reality, you continually recreate what you see and nothing changes. Instead, youneed to focus on what you want to happen in your life, notwhat you currently see."

* By focusing on "what you want" you naturally change your-actions- as well.

* Thought controls action.

* Thought controls emotion.

* Thoughts attract similar thoughts.

* The thought or image of the thing, is the real thing. (Inspired by Allen Says, "Money and Power")

* Any time you feel fear, anger, doubt or unhappiness youare contracting your energy flow and attracting the very things you don't want to happen into your life.

* Free Thinking: To focus on the goal and never focus on the obstacles.

* What you focus upon magnifies and attracts thoughts of asimilar vibrational level.

* Always focus on what you want and never ever 'worry'about how you'll get it. (This is what holds back 99% of people. If they can't logically figure out how to achieve a goal, they give itup. They apply logical and non-creation thinking. They look at what other people are doing and what the so-called real world is like and therefore stifle their awesome creative powers.)

* Your state of mind must be from 'having' what you want. Any thought of lack will (instantly removes your motivation to take ACTION) attract more lack in your life.

* Never allow any "emotional obstacles" in your thinking, think only of your desire and not of the roadblocks. (Note:you must deal with obstacles all the time, but always focuson the resolution of the obstacle and not on the problems it is causing you. In other words, "don't feel down or upset." This will dramatically increase the speed at whichyou resolve these obstacles.)

* Visualizing your goal will naturally attract you to takethe right actions, think the right thoughts, read the right books and meet the people you need to achieve your goal.

* Visualization or thought creates reality on the higher planes of consciousness.

* Action is the Physical Plane equivalent of imagination or thought.

* We exist in the all the planes of consciousness simultaneously.

* What you want to do every day is to take "Inspired Action" steps towards your goals.

* Never force yourself, take Inspired Action instead.(Concept by Allen Says)

* Start a Miracles Journal. Keep track of all the magical things that happen in your life so you can look back on them in the future and realize that magic really does happen.

* Thinking is frictionless action.

* Turn yourself into a special magnet for whatever you desire. Visualize yourself as this specialized magnet that automatically attracts exactly what you desire to come to you.

* Feel like a kid just about to get his birthday or holiday presents. Feel like this as much as possible and you'll start attracting into your life the very things you desire in the fastest way possible.

* The ultimate goal in life is happiness. Every material thing you can get basically serves the purpose of making you FEEL happy. So why not 'be happy' first, since that is the ultimate goal.

* You can have happiness in every moment of your life ifyou just remember to focus on what you want and not let anything contract your energy.

* Even if you don't have all that you want (and you never will by the way) by just focusing on it (mentally having it) will instantly make you happy.

* Think from satisfaction. (Neville Goddard "Awakened Imagination")

* A daily spiritual exercise is like a multi-vitamin for the Soul. (John Harricharan "The Power Pause.")

* We can all be Happiness Billionaires starting from this very moment.

* To be happy - Think from your goal, not of your goal.

* Claim your desire as yours, in your imagination.

* Change your "magnetic point of attraction" (your habitual thoughts) and you change your future results. (concept from Dr. Robert Anthony, "Beyond Positive Thinking")

* We have a constant pattern of thoughts. If you consistently change the majority of those thoughts your outer world results will eventually match those new thoughts.

* The new thoughts however, "instantly change how you feel"and instantly change your inner world reality. People will be able to feel your new energy immediately. Even if they aren't consciously aware of it.

I hope you found these thoughts useful.
I believe I can boil all that down to a simple eleven word formula.

*** Focus only on what you want and then take inspired action. ***

from Frederic Patenaude’s e-mail:
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/lettertotribe2.html

Do what makes you happy

Alright, but what if you don't know what you love, what you're supposed to do?

What I have discovered is that it's not necessary to know exactly where you're going to end up in 10, 5, or even 3 years. What you need is a direction to go to and then, adjust accordingly.
Start drawing the picture of where you want to be in 5 years; but don't worry if you're not sure, exactly. Start getting the feeling out. Give your life a direction. Then, aim for what you can accomplish in the next 3 months. And act every day to make it happen.

The process of discovering what you love and what you're meant to do is something I will be teaching at some point next year in my course, “Do What You Love University." But something I'd like to share now is that it's really about doing what makes you happy.

I'm not talking about just finding out what you should be doing in life, but also what makes you happy, now. What enables you to radiate positive energy? Because it's that energy that will power everything else you do in life.

What music makes you want to jump? What makes you smile? Whom do you like to be around, because he/she makes you feel so good? Where do you love to walk? What makes you happy? I want to know what makes you passionate about life!

The more you can generate positive feelings inside you, the more you'll be able to attract to you the things that you want, like a magnet at the right charge.

Another Secret
One last thing before I let you go.

There's another thing I have found to be absolutely necessary to experience true success:

You have to be willing to take the calculated risk.

Everybody wants to be reassured that they can live a risk-free life, but we both know that it's basically an illusion.

Look at all successful people. I mean really successful people. Do you think they were able to get to where they are without risking something and putting their lives on the line? Most are actually stories of overcoming obstacle after obstacle and not letting anything stand behind who they were and what they wanted. (If you want to read an amazing, inspirational book, I highly recommend you pick out the book Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey.)

Don't fool yourself into thinking that you can accomplish great things for yourself, without risking something. It's almost like the Universe realizes that once you risk something, you're serious about it. If you're staying inside of your comfort zone and reality, then it doesn't show much commitment on your part.

squash recipes,cosmic trigger event - 818 gateway

I just made Butternut Squash cookies & Pizza Crust-Flatbread in the dehydrator. I put squash in the flatbread also instead of just carrots. I made a double recipe this time.. and I only have a small 4 tray dehydrator, so I put some in an air tight container in the fridge.. this is what I am drying now, the rest of the batch & it seems to be working just as well as the 1st one.

Butternut Squash Cookies – from the Raw Family newsletter
http://www.rawfamily.com/

4 c peeled butternut squash
1 c raisins
1 orange, juiced
½ t nutmeg
1 t cinnamon
3T raw honey

Blend squash in processor, transfer to bowl. Blend raisins & orange juice in processor then transfer to bowl. Add rest of ingredients & mix thoroughly.
Put by spoonfuls onto teflex sheets and dehydrate 105 degrees for 12-15 hours, turn cookies onto mesh screens after 8 hours and continue till dry. If you keep the cookies soft inside they will need to be stored in the refrigerator or frozen for longer storage.

I received this e-mail from lots of people.. fortunately so did a few people at work.. because I am only receiving mine this morning & that’s too late.. and unfortunately too late to tell you also.. except that it will be reoccurring. We all stopped work at 5 and sat in a circle & joined hands (in a very creative way ; ) & meditated together for 20 minutes.. then ended it with lots of Oms & drumming after.. great way to end the day. I was very focused on loving, wonderful thoughts..
here’s what happened:

A Cosmic Trigger Event Is Occurring On The 17th Of October 2006

This is the beginning, one of many trigger events to come between now and 2013. An ultraviolet (UV) pulse beam radiating from higher dimensions in universe-2 will cross paths with the Earth on this day. Earth will remain approximately within this UV beam for 17 hours of your time.
This beam resonates with the heart chakra, it is radiant fluorescent in nature, blue/magenta in color.
Although it resonates in this frequency band it is above the color frequency spectrum of your universe-1 which you, Earth articulate in. However due to the nature of your soul and soul groups operating from Universe-2 frequency bands it will have an effect.
The effect is every thought and emotion will be amplified intensely one million-fold. Yes, we will repeat, all will be amplified one million times and more. Every thought, every emotion, every intent, every will, no matter if it is good, bad, ill, positive, negative, will be amplified one million times in strength.
What does this mean?
Since all matter manifest is due to your thoughts, i.e. what you focus on, this beam will accelerate these thoughts and solidify them at an accelerated rate making them manifest a million times faster than they normally would.

For those that do not comprehend. Your thoughts, what you focus on create your reality. This UV beam thus can be a dangerous tool. For if you are focused on thoughts which are negative to your liking they will manifest into your reality almost instantly. Then again this UV beam can be a gift if you choose it to be.

Mission-1017 requires approximately one million people to focus on positive, benign, good willed thoughts for themselves and the Earth and Humanity on this day. Your thoughts can be of any nature of your choosing, but remember whatever you focus on will be made manifest in a relatively faster than anticipated time frame. To some the occurrences may almost be bordering on the miracle. All we ask is positive thoughts of love, prosperity, healing, wealth, kindness, gratitude be focused on.

This UV beam comes into full affect for 17 hrs on the 17th of October 2006. No matter what time zone you are in the hours are approximately 10:17 am on the 17th of October to 1:17 am on the 18th October. The peak time will be 17:10 (5:10 pm) on the 17th October. You do not need to be in a meditative state through out this time, though would be beneficial. The main key time no matter what time zone you are in will be the peak time of 17:10 (5:10 pm).
Perhaps at this time if you can find a peaceful spot or location to focus. The optimum is out in the vicinity of grounded nature, likened to that of a large tree or next to the ocean waves. Focus on whatever it is you desire. What is required for the benefit of all Earth and
Humanity is positive thoughts of loving nature.

We call this UV beam trigger event, "818" gateway.

& a special thank you to my brilliantly creative and illuminating e-mail correspondent, whom I appreciate continually!

Dazzle of incendiary
fragments, confetti
flames micro metorically
burning the nightsky
into trails of magenta
and turquoise and
feathering the imagination
to bursting with
enthusiasms

unforeseen.

pic from http://simple-wisdom.net/

Conscious Eating

Last night I went to Erika Wolff’s raw workshop… it was on dehydrating. Very interesting, as usual.. but I was just thinking about on the way home, when I stopped into Dominion to grab a few things. In the morning the kids kept asking for things that we didn’t have.. so I stopped to get them.. and at the check-out I looked down at my arms.. they were filled with things I wouldn’t eat or use & I was buying them for my kids: toothpaste – Crest (I use Young Living’s toothpaste – essential oils, no fluoride), bagels- my son’s favorite breakfast these days, chips – my husband told me we were out of those the night before and the clincher.. and it’s hard to even admit this here – Fugeeo’s - they were on sale &.. Wow, ok, there’s my admission.. So, there I was in the check-out line, with all these non-foods in my arms.. I’m sure no-one else thought anything about it, which is kind of part of the scary thing, cause they all had similar products in their arms and carts.. but I was thinking how sad.. these things I am buying to make my family happy are really so harmful for them. I just felt so strange being that person with all the junk food at the check-out line. I feel so much better when my cart is filled up with fruits and vegetables!

On the upside, I do notice my kids eating a lot more fruits & vegetables now than before. A few nights ago I came home from work & my oldest son, he’s 17, had a plate of vegetables cut up on a plate in the living room. It made me so happy to come home & see this. Both Jim & I worked late that night.. Kaiya had a ceasar salad for dinner with a fruit salad – pineapple, grapes, blueberries – after. There really is hope for them yet! : )
On the last page of her workshop booklet Erika wrote some special notes.. These are worded very nicely & so I am copying them here.

Food Meditation

While preparing food, take a minute to focus on who will be eating this meal, whether friends, family or yourself. Become conscious of the love that is within you, feel it radiating from the heart; visualize love streaming from your hands as you prepare, stir, chop or toss a salad. Know your love will flow into the food and will nourish those who eat it.

Meditation on Conscious Eating

Meditating on food is easy and pleasurable and a practice you can do twice or three times a day. No need to set extra time aside for it. When you eat a fruit, a slice of bread, a piece of chocolate, some nuts or a cup of your favorite tea – anything you like. Look at what you have chosen; see the colors, examine the textures, inhale the fragrance. Now take a bite or sip. How does it feel in your mouth? What do you taste on the tip of your tongue? Close your eyes and let thoughts and imagination flow. See the bread when it was wheat shimmering in the sun; imagine the fruit when it was ripe and heavy, hanging from the tree. Thank Mother Earth, the farmers, the bakers, let a sense of gratitude fill you. Know you are blessed. Try this with one bite every time you eat. In this way, magically eating will be turned into the sacrament it was meant to be.

decluttering, tissue products, car idling, green smoothie video, FDA

I am thinking about an e-mail from Jinjee (www.thegardendiet.com) that I got last week.. I have had the day off yesterday & even with piles of things to do I had a chance to declutter & clean up bit. This idea of our attachments to objects and them weighing us down was on my mind. I have always felt like I would like to be able to put all my things into one backpack.. just a feeling I had & have held from when I was young. It has taken me awhile to get used to owning a house & having all these things around. Anyway, this made a lot of sense to me.

from The Daily Raw Inspiration - 10/10/06 Letting Go of Stuff

Im really enjoying my book -Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui- by Karen Kingston. It talks about how we have invisible strings between ourselves and every object we own so we should only own objects that have meaning to us. When areas in our house are cluttered it can block us from moving forward in our lives, literally draining our energy. I think this may be related to weight issues too. I just spent a few days going through the house getting rid of several garbage bags full of clutter and I actually feel physically lighter! Maybe letting go of stuff helps us let go of stress and other burdensome emotions - and the weight just dissappears along with them.

This life-changing book is available on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767903595?ie=UTF8&tag=ekayainstitus-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0767903595

A shopper’s guide to home tissue products – download a wallet card identifying brands of toilet paper, facial tissues, and paper towels that are sustainably produced here:
http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/tissueguide/walletcard.pdf

Raising awareness on car idling from Natural Resources Canada: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/personal/idling.cfm?attr=8

Active living and environmental solutions: http://www.goforgreen.ca/

How to make a green smoothie video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1901042707877571178&q=green+smoothie&hl=en

Video by Dr. Mercola on FDA craziness - An Institute of Medicine report confirms what many already knew: the federal system for approving and regulating drugs is corrupt, dangerous, and broken.
http://www.mercola.com/2006/oct/12/new-fda-craziness.htm

Raw pot-luck, Green Perspective, ARCFest, Planet in Focus, the Bubble and last night's aurora borealis

Last night I went to a raw pot-luck with Marie in Kensington Market. We brought raw pizza – our Earth Bread dough spread out into a circle & dehydrated ..then we had to improvise a bit because our sun-dried tomato hemp pesto we were planning on went missing.. so we used a sunflower seed pate I had mixed up from the day before, then a layer of avocados, mixed up with lemon, garlic, nama shoyu, some spices, olive oil, a layer of alfalfa sprouts & then sunflower sprouts, chopped red pepper and pine nuts.. it was such a hit, gone almost immediately.
There was so much good food, beet raviolis, 2 salads with beet in it, lots of amazing pumpkin pie.. I will see about getting that recipe. Jessica brought amazing decadent desserts also. There were a few sprout salads, a kale salad, raspberry shakes, a spicy Mexican lentil dish, another lentil dish beside it.. I am using my photographic memory skills.. but I know I am missing lots, so many things.. and my favorite.. which I am going to try to copy and get a recipe for, the Thai Broccoli.

I picked up a small magazine from there: Green Perspective, vol 7, October 2006.. and read it last night.

Interesting events coming up:

ARCfest – Art for Real Change Festival, from Oct 23-29.
ARCfest 2006 features over 100 artists in 25 events exploring local social justice issues. Taking place in Queen West, Parkdale, and other venues across Toronto, the festival includes a diverse program of seasoned and emerging artists, panel discussions, speakers, workshops, and artist-community collaborations.
http://www.arcfest.org/2006/home

The 7th annual Planet in Focus Film Festival, from Nov 1-7.
Planet in Focus is Canada’s most acclaimed International Environmental Film and Video festival. Our annual film fest showcases compelling documentaries, animation, dramatic features, shorts, and experimental works that celebrate, question, and establish varied ways of viewing the state of our world.
http://www.planetinfocus.org/

AND your directory for ethical living in Canada – The Bubble: http://thebubble.ca/v1/directory/directory.php
A Canadian online network directory of socially and environmentally sound goods and services, and a source of information about the ethical consumption world.

From an interview with Dr. Leslie Jermyn, editor of the Bubble:

About getting involved in ethical living in the community, 2 main pieces of advice:

1 – Be the change you want to see in the world.

If you want people to carpool, then organize it. If you want your family to eat healthy food, then prepare it. If you want your children to feel a part of the community, then work at getting to know neighbours, get involved in community events, show them how it’s done. If you want people to avoid sweatshop goods in favor of goods produced with dignity (fair-trade, co-operative, union), then give those things as presents and request that they do not give unethical stuff to you. If you want to see recycled stuff take the place of new, then wear second-hand clothes and use second-hand or recycled house-wares, and do it creatively. The easiest way to promote change is to show people how much fun it can be & how easy it is.

2 – Don’t preach, Share.

When you become aware of the significance of our life choices on other living and non-living things it can be frustrating to see people carrying on as usual even when you’ve told them the consequences of their actions. Yelling, begging, preaching is generally not very effective. Sharing a home-made snack and spending time with people doing things ethically – second-hand shopping, visiting farmers markets etc, makes a much bigger impact. Informing that the delicious meal they just ate was all made with local, organic ingredients.. or telling that the reason you look so healthy & happy is because you were cycling, exercising, eating healthy foods, volunteering in the community, shopping fair-trade, etc. Offer to help people find alternatives, provide information etc. This approach guarantees that people make changes from their heart, which will more likely be permanent. ‘Worse case scenario: you share some time with someone you care about and nothing more; best case scenario: you make another convert and double the world’s ethical quotient – neither is such a bad outcome!’

Pic by Kevin McCarthy from www.northpolegallery.com

Photographer's Comment - An unexpected aurora borealis that arrived last night. The photo was taken in North Pole, Alaska just after midnight 14 October 2006. Outdoor temperature a balmy 22F. The display lasted about 2 hours and this is one of 160+ images I captured. Photo is a 3 second exposure at ISO 400 taken in RAW and converted to .tiff for display here - nothing unusual done with the image - was a good capture as is with no blooming. Histogram was very well distributed which is unusual for a might shot. Photography came out looking exactly as the night sky did with no color shifts - and that is how I like them. Used Neat Image to reduce the noise, and, the dots are stars - not dust - for those of you unfamiliar with the Aurora.

Perfection of Yoga, Bhagavad-Gita passages

The Bhagavad-Gita points out that all of our miseries are due to false identification with the body.

We can not perceive our soul with our physical senses so we often deny it.

The soul is part of the Supreme Being – the embodiment of knowledge, bliss and eternity.

A drop of ocean water has all the properties of the ocean itself and we, although a small part of the Supreme Being, have the same energetic properties of the Supreme.

“ As a boat on the water is swept away by a strong mind, even one of the senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man’s intelligence.” Bg 2.67

Actual pleasure is of the soul – not the body. Bodily and material pleasure is temporary.

Knowledge is temporary. Everyone learns and compiles information and knowledge for enjoyment. People learn chemistry or biology or politics or the arts. Everyone knows something of everything and everything of something and this is generally known as knowledge. But as soon as we leave the body all of this knowledge is vanquished. In each lifetime we start again, forgetting everything we’ve learned in past lives.

“For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends. But for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be his greatest enemy.” Bg 6.6

“For one who has conquered the mind, the Supersoul is already reached, for he has attained tranquility. To such a man happiness and distress, heat and cold, honor and dishonor are all the same.” Bg 6.7

“A person is said to be established in self-realization and is called a yogi (or mystic) when he is fully satisfied by virtue and aquired knowledge and realization. Such a person is situated in transcendence and is self-controlled. He sees everything – whether it be pebbles, stones or gold – as the same.” Bg 6.8

“A person is said to be still further advanced when he regards all – the honest well-wisher, friends and enemies. The envious, the pious, the sinner and those who are indifferent and impartial - with an equal mind.” Bg 6.9

When one has transcended and is actually learned, he does not see everyone as his friend or enemy or father or mother. It is like a great drama or play with different characters – mother, father, children, friend, enemy, sinner, saint, whatever, but off-stage all the actors are friends.

From the Perfection of Yoga by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Card images of The Cosmo Astrotaro deck from http://www.tarotpassages.com/cosmoastro.htm

euphoric feeling - great food: fruit, broccoli & pesto, raw candy

It’s Friday the 13th. I was lying in bed trying to figure out what led me to this incredible feeling I was having. I woke up in the night for a few seconds with it also & then fell right back asleep. It was this.. maybe a little hard to explain or understand unless you’ve felt it.. but it is a very alive, aware, plugged in, connected feeling.. almost sexual, but not sexual.. something different.. I remember thinking it was like having intercourse with the universe.. very high.. & I’m still tingling

& then I was thinking of all the things that went on yesterday.. what led to this feeling? So many great things.. some of them some may consider small.. but they weren’t, they were really huge.
Like on the subway & this man is wandering around with his cup out asking please that he needs food.. hasn’t eaten for days. & I must have looked away and back in a way that made him kind of single me out in a way.. I don’t have hard & fast rules in my head about giving people money, often I do, it’s a feeling thing.. so he looks over & this woman offers him a peach.. and I just remembered when he looked back pleading at me that I had a grapefruit.. which I had not only not eaten at work but forgot to leave it there, so I got it out & gave it to him. It was a really nice huge organic grapefruit too! ; ) ..then another woman on the other side gave him an apple.. it was great. The guy across from me looked over & said ‘This would never happen in the States’ not sure where he was from, but he was impressed. Anyway, it was a cool feeling.. everyone was having fun watching him get loaded up with fruit & he started singing songs..

Other good things yesterday: hugs.. the biggest hug from Miloch – he’s so out there. In a really great way.. I still find it amazing what a nurturing place it is there.. I get regular hugs.. maybe 4-5 a day.. & then from kids, they are all around me these days, definitely on the growth curve. (remember: 3 hugs a day for survival, 5 for maintenance, 7 for growth).

& all the pure foods I am eating, juicing, superfoods.. Oh, I accidently dethawed too much E3Live and am doing 2 ozs every morning. That could def be contributing.

Great food tip: this is the 2nd time Miloch has brought this in & it’s an amazing combination.. Organic broccoli & a container of Sunflower Gardens Oregano and Kale pesto. Just break off pieces of broccoli & use the pesto as dip, great combination. We’re not sure if it’s raw, Miloch thinks so. It’s available at many health food stores.. and they make a great spicy hummus that’s one of the best hummus’s I have ever had.. but that’s def not raw.

& the raw candy we made the day before yesterday: 1c almond butter, 1c cacao, ½ c goji berries, 1c dates, some agave & honey to taste.. & we put it by spoonfuls on dehydrater sheets & dehydrated them. Then I stuck them into the freezer a few hours later cause I couldn’t stop eating them.. so amazingly great!

I went to the gym last night & worked out, late close to bed.. that could have done it also. Weights and cardio.. but it felt so great..

So, just some tips for feeling amazingly amazing.. am off to do my double shot of E3Live!
Have a euphoric day! ; )
Happy Friday the 13th.

Bets Being list, Best Travel list & sudokus

I tried to get on to post this morning ..but the page to do so wouldn’t load.. I wanted to tell about 2 lists that were on my mind.. I have lots of lists, to do lists, grocery lists, home lists, work lists, blog topic lists lol .. but these 2 were really good ones & maybe it was a good thing I couldn’t get here earlier because they stayed on my mind even more so.. especially the 1st one. I kept thinking about it.

List #1 is one that my friend Paul had with him awhile back.. he pulled it out of his pocket & read it off to me and I thought it was such a good list that I wrote it down. Then it got buried in a pile of papers and just got uncovered this morning. So now it is my list for today, ..it is:

Generosity

Kindness

Honesty

Self-Respect

Tenacity

Vivacity

(such a good list.. what a great combination! : )

The second list is from an article I read in the Metro yesterday on the way home from work. I often grab the Metro in the morning mainly because they have the easiest Sudoku puzzles. You always get it done by the end of the trip, in my case; Vic Park to Bathurst.
Sudokus are the best if you want time to just disappear.. though that’s not really the case with me, so much to do! ..but they’re also addictive. : ) http://www.sudoku.com/ and http://www.websudoku.com/ you can print out puzzles here.

List #2 is by Julia Dimon, the Road Warrior of www.thetraveljunkie.ca
She has visited 29 countries in the past 12 months and gives a few of her favs.. I am selecting certain ones that appealed to me.. the article might be avail at the website..

Best kept secret: Hvar, a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, has the elegance of Italy without the price or pretention.

Best ancient wonder: Petra’s Treasury, in Jordan, a façade cut into rose-coloured sandstone.

Best indigenous people: painted head to toe in red ochre paste, the topless women of Nambia’s Himba tribe are very photogenic.

Best weird feeling: floating in the salty water of the Dead Sea.

Best beach: Kendwa, on the north-eastern tip of Zanzibar island – magical vibe, perfect palm trees.

Best travel value: India & Thailand – cheap!

Best refuge from the world: Tofu beach in Mozambique. Eat fresh mangos all day and snorkel with manta rays in the Indian Ocean.

Best landscape: Cappadocia, Turkey, has some of the most unusual terrain, with phallic rocks and underground caves.

Best hidden gem: Jordan, often overlooked – has incredible Roman ruins, Bedoin culture in the deserts of Wadi Rum, nightlife in Amman and world-class scuba in the Red Sea.

Best spiritual spot: Jerusalem, the holy hot-spot for all monotheistic religions, is undeniably magical.

Best safari: Serengeti National Park. (just learned the hippo kills the most humans.)

Best city for shopping: Hong Kong is a shopping mecca.

Best life-changing experience: visiting the genocide memorials in Rwanda.

Best place to live: Canada.

How can you not love an article with an ending like that? : )

Have a spectacular.. generous, kind, honest, self-respecting, tenacious and vivacious day!

Pic from: http://it.viaggi.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-7651-colorado_springs_travel_guide-i

yoga clothes, liberation and kaballah thoughts

Thought of the day:
knowledge + courage = liberation
from a bottle of Mr Spinners hemp pesto.

My yoga instructor mentioned her top was from a website: http://www.squeezed.ca/
I am there websurfing now.. I have to order some of these! Great colors, styles.. and check out all the designs!

Everything we desire from life is light (energy).

It is a natural law of nature where the final outcome of any process in life is always the opposite of the first impression.

The physical world around us is an illusion of our five senses.

Most of us never detect the seed and root cause behind a difficult situation.

We solve one set of problems and then a whole new set appears somewhere else.

Everything that happens happens for a reason.

Don’t trust the five senses!

From www.Kaballah.com

Thanksgiving dinner

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Lisa & Danny’s yesterday.. it was great.. except I had to look away a few times, they had ham & turkey.. and it was a boneless already stuffed turkey which you cook straight in the oven from frozen for 5 hours. Easy.. but when I looked it was square & I was trying to figure that one out.. then they told me it was boneless.. they were joking about if someone deboned it raw, which would be pretty hard to do, leaving the rest all intact, or grew it boneless.. ok, that one almost did me in.

Then they were talking about the spinach scare.. and I suggested it may actually have been done to it.. I mean a lot of people have a lot to lose if the world starts getting too healthy. Ok, so good chance it was washed with dirty water or something ..but it’s not outside of the realm of consideration in my books. Jim said he never took me for a conspiracy theorist.. but considering everything I’ve been reading lately.. and now with carrot juice.. and romaine lettuce. For a lot of people out there getting romaine into their diet is a huge green thing to do.. and spinach is the epitomy of green to many. I know people who have stopped drinking green smoothies because of the spinach scare.. anyway, just a thought.

But dinner was great. I made Thanksgiving raw foods and brought them. 1st I ordered a raw cheesecake from Moni’s Raw –Catering, Training, Certified Raw Foods Chef – Monica Swift – 416-269-4336 or e-mail monicakes$u@yahoo.ca . Monica made a cranberry topping for it. She makes great pumpkin desserts also.. and a great raw Tiramisu, which I got to try when I went to pick up the cheesecake.

So, I made & brought cranberry sauce, a raw mashed potato experiment, a raw holiday vegetable loaf and a big salad. The salad was great, the cranberry sauce amazing, better than any cooked version I’ve ever had, the mashed potatoes were not very great, I tried.. but I am ready to give up trying. Just can’t find a raw substitute for those.. and maybe there is just not meant to be one. & The holiday loaf was actually really good. That’s the thing with raw pate’s and loafs.. sometimes they are just not as visually appealing.. even with the decorative red peppers & oregano sprig in the middle.. but it tasted really good.. and even the meat eaters tried and liked it & asked how it was made.

The Cranberry Sauce was made from a bag of cranberries, 1 orange (or apple), ¼ pineapple (1c), and a dozen dates pureed in a food processor. Leave 1/3 of the bag of cranberries to pulse-chop in at the end. & then I stirred in some 1-2T’s of agave syrup.

The Loaf was a made from a sunflower pate recipe – 1 ½ c sunflowers seeds, ½ lemon, 1 celery stalk, 2T red onion, 1 garlic clove, ½ “ ginger, and 2T tamari – blended together. Then I took half that recipe and mixed in with it – kernels cut from 1 ear of corn, 1 carrot, grated fine w/ mandolin, 1 beet, grated, ½ red pepper chopped fine, 6 sprigs parsley, chopped, marjoram, sage, oregano & basil from the garden.

Strawberry Cheezecake recipe: http://www.rawguru.com/recipe36.html
& lots more recipes: http://www.rawguru.com/rawfoodrecipes.html

Unseen Paradise, quotes

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought” ~Buddah


"The wisest men follow their own direction." ~Euripidis

“All power is from within and is therefore under our control.” ~ Robert Caulfield

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” ~Albert Einstein

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.” ~ Joseph Campbell

"Dreams come true. Without that possibility nature would not incite us to have them." ~ John Updike

pics from Unseen Paradise in Thailand - http://www.unseenparadise.com/