How can the Guidelines help YOU?

That depends, of course, on what kind of help you're looking for.  For me, the Guidelines have helped me figure out how to answer the age-old question "What should I eat for dinner?"  They've helped me relax and enjoy my food choices.  They've helped me make better and healthier choices more frequently than I ever used to do.  They've helped me appreciate my food, where it comes from, and the people who work to bring it to me more than I ever did before. 

There's nothing especially magical about them, however.  They won't make you thin.  They won't necessarily make you healthy unless you decide to make healthy food choices.  In fact, the one Guideline - "What you eat is up to YOU" - puts the responsibility for every choice you make regarding food squarely on YOU.  (Assuming, of course, you're an adult.)  The Guidelines do, however, challenge us to show ourselves love by feeding ourselves with real love.  In terms of food, real love translates into healthy food. 

We are generally so addicted to self-abuse and self-hatred that we tend to frame even the things we do that are supposed to be "good" for us in negative ways.  Diets or other food regimens are frequently defined in terms of what we "can't" have.  Whenever I've been on a "diet" I don't remember spending much time thinking about all the luscious fruits and vegetables I could have been eating - I remember focusing mostly on all the buttery, creamy, salty, crunchy things I couldn't have.  I don't remember celebrating my "healthier" way of eating - I remember beating myself up mentally if I didn't "stick to" the diet. 

I  may not have a degree in psychology but I do know enough about my own emotional states that I can recognize these feelings are not condusive to healthy self-love.  By encouraging us to nourish ourselves in the most loving ways possible, the Guidelines can help nurture a more loving approach to how we feed ourselves, and ultimately, to our relationship with all that sustains us in the wider world.  It is no accident that "milk" and "kindness" have been long equated. 

Tweaking the Guidelines

Last night, I gave a talk at Passiflora Tea Shop in New Hartford on the Ten Guidelines.  Since it's been awhile since I've spoken on them, and since I've been living the Guidelines so closely, I've had the chance to reexamine how and why and what the Guidelines really are, and what they can help a person do. 

Consequently, I've "tweaked" them - added a new one, even! - and reorganized them in such a way as to - hopefully - make them more accessible and useful to others... which is really the point of it all. 

So please hop over to the Guidelines page - it's not as fancy or as pretty and there's no PDF to download, but I think it captures the material in a whole new light.  Please tell me what YOU think?  Thanks!...Annie  

Grief and Appetite

Grief is a complicated process that affects everyone differently.  Some people may find they want more food, some people find they can't eat at all.  I offer my experience and observations here as an example because loss is a part of life.  I believe that part of the reason we reject change so much is because change requires us to experience loss in some form or fashion. 

Initially I found that all I wanted to eat was comfort food but not much of it.  I felt hollow and empty, but without appetite.  When I did want to eat, the foods I craved were all comfort foods - rich, pillowy, and buttery.  The ones that weren't sweet and creamy were crispy and salty. 

As you might expect, after eight weeks or so, I began to feel a bit more pillow-y myself than I'm comfortable with.  I reviewed the Ten Guidelines and decided it was time to give some loving attention to the food I was eating. 

I took a hard look at what I wanted to change, and what I didn't.  For example, I realized I was drinking far more coffee than I wanted to drink in the course of a day.  Rather than impose an arbitrary limit on myself that my Rebel Child would only delight in breaking, I decided to stop drinking coffee at nine AM every morning.  After nine AM, I decided to drink mineral water (which I really enjoy in summer) or cold tea made with the herbs I grow in my gardens. (My favorite is chocolate-mint.) Because caffiene withdrawal can trigger migraine headaches, I decided that depending on how I felt every afternoon around 3 or 4 PM, I would have one or two cups of coffee in the afternoon.  For me, this is a reasonable way to cut back on the amount of coffee I drink every day.  

I also looked at the amounts of rainbow foods - fruits and veggies - I've been eating.  Predictably, I've been eating a lot of red foods - strawberries, cherries, beets, red potatoes - which correspond to the first chakra.  Grief is such a heart-chakra emotion that I immediately decided to add greens to every meal - including breakfast.  ("You're eating salad for breakfast?" my husband asked.  "Yep," I answered.)

I'll post more about my journey tomorrow, but please feel free to leave your comments and experiences about how grieving has affected your sense of wellness, dear Readers.

 

Grieving...the Angel Way

Dear Readers...

It's been a long two months.  My father's death was probably the most profound loss I've ever suffered to date.  Consequently, I've been doing very little writing or reading, or even much of anything.  What I have been doing is be-ing. 

For those of you who follow this blog, you know that the Angel Way is about paying attention and listening to your Self in the kindest and most loving way possible.  It's about becoming aware of what your own unique needs are, and then meeting those needs in the ways that are most kind and loving, not only to yourself, but to those around you as well. 

Grieving is a complicated process.  Sinking into the sadness and surrendering to the feelings, experiencing the detachment, the death and the loss, have taken up nearly all my energy these last few months.  It's only been a week or so that I can feel myself emerging. 

The world around me has changed, I've changed, and this blog will reflect some of the upcoming changes.  Karen's journey is demanding that she devote more time and energy to other aspects of her work.  Based on the feedback from the agents who were kind enough to read the manuscript last month, I will be revamping the entire manuscript.  IFYOU WOULD LIKE YOUR EXPERIENCES FEATURED IN PART OF THE BOOK, PLEASE CONTACT ME. 

I'll also be offering workshops in my geographical area to teach people how to use the Guidelines.  I hope to have the revised manuscript ready for distribution - whether electronically or in printed form - by September.  Thank you so much to all the followers of this blog and the Facebook group who have shared their experiences with me.  It is so gratifying to be able to share these messages and know that others have been helped to a more holistic way of living through them.  I truly appreciate your input and feedback and look forward to hearing from more of you. 

The winners of March's contest will be announced briefly.  Thanks again for all your support... Annie

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