Living "now"

One of the hardest things for me is to remember to live in the present moment.  As a single mother, I was always worrying about something.  As a writer, there's always a reason to fret.  I spend a lot of time wondering if I do such and such, or say such and such, what will happen next.  And usually, I can think of so many bad things that might happen next, I can scare myself right under my covers. 

Yet every time this happens, I "hear" the Angels, reassuring me, reminding me to breathe, to relax, to focus on the one small thing I might do to change or ameliorate my present situation.  My life is changing dramatically right now.  I'm standing on the threshold of a whole new phase of my life - and as exciting as that is most of the time, sometimes, it's really scary.  When I feel myself starting to become overwhelmed by the fear, I slow down and stop to the extent that I can.  Then, I take a few minutes and just breathe. 

Mindful breathing is a wonderful way to connect to your sense of the present.  According to the Angels, most of us walk around all day without giving much thought ever to the miracle of respiration that happens in our bodies every minute.  Connecting to the sensation of the breath entering the lungs, filling the deep spaces, enabling the essential oxygen to enter our cells, grounds us in the moment.  The breath can quite literally become a lifeline, or an anchor, stabilizing our emotions and the rest of our energy around the flow of air.  This image, of our physical bodies anchored to a pulse of flowing air is a wonderful metaphor.  When I remember that what flows in and through me and keeps me alive at every moment is that column of moving air, I become more aware of the other invisible aspects of my being as well as the invisible energies all around me.  Then I know I am not alone. 

The world can feel like a chaotic, ever-changing, sometimes frightening place.  The Angels urge us to take some time every day, breathing and paying attention to the intangible elements that sustain us. 

Feeling Full... the Silver Spoon Meditation

The following is a meditation that took me a while to feel ready to try.  The reason for this was that I intuitively understood that this meditation would bring me face to face with old and very personal food issues.  It took me a while and many false starts to complete the meditation all the way through.  However, after completing it just once, I found it so powerfully beneficial and insightful, I have come to enjoy this mediation very much. 

The power of the meditation lies in its ability to help you make connections between feelings and food.  When, in the course of the meditation, I see myself reaching for the bowl of buttery mashed potatoes covered in turkey gravy - served by my mother wearing a ruffled apron - I know it's not time to grab the peeler and the turkey roaster; it's time to offer myself some heavy-duty mothering.  As an adult, I know there are many ways to meet my need to be mothered - and actually eating all those potatoes isn't one of them.  This mediation has become a vehicle for me to understand how to feel truly "fed."

Do not attempt this meditation until YOU feel ready to embrace the full spectrum of thoughts, emotions and images that your subconscious mind can conjure when it comes to eating and body.  The purpose of the meditation is to create a link of understanding between you, your feelings and the foods you love.

Be patient and gentle with yourself.

For people who have food-related physical or emotional issues , I recommend you show this meditation to your health practitioner to help you assess if it is appropriate for you.

- Choose a time and place where you will have a few minutes to yourself.  Make sure you are not hungry.  Have a journal or notepad handy.

Bring your attention to your breathing, and focus on each body part in turn, from the tips of your toes to the top of your head, relaxing, then tensing, then relaxing, until you are completely aware of any tension you may have been carrying in your body. Take a few minutes to pay some extra attention to these places…some of them may surprise you.

- When you are ready,imagine if you will, a large table on which are placed all of your favorite foods, no matter what they are or how “bad” they are for you. Allow yourself to envision everything you really like spread out before you, perfectly prepared just the way YOU like it, at the perfect temperature. Give yourself permission to imagine how wonderful each food smells, how good each food looks as it steams or glistens in its serving dish. Wallow in the images of all of these foods, and then, if you so desire, choose one, or allow one to choose you.  

As you look around the table, you notice a single dish and a single silver spoon.  The silver spoon is bright and shining.  When you pick it up, it feels good in your hand.  Take a moment or two and see if there's something special about this spoon that makes it uniquely yours.  Then, when you are ready, take as much of your chosen food as you would like. Allow whatever memories, associations or images your mind may show you to flow freely in and out as you envision yourself enjoying and savoring this food. Feel free to imagine yourself eating your fill. Understand there is something about this food that meets a deeply rooted need.

When you are full, put down the spoon. Notice that the serving dish is as full as it ever was. Notice that you are comfortably full.  Notice the spoon is bright and shiny and clean.  Realize that you may return here whenever you wish to feast as often and as completely on any of your favorite foods.  The ability to come to this place is yours. 

When you are ready, allow yourself to come back to the present moment. Note any impressions you received during the meditation, such as the food you chose to eat (or which chose you), who served the food to you, how much of it you ate, how you felt as you ate it, or any memories or other sensations that came to you. If possible, indulge in a serving of your chosen food at some point in the next several days. Again, note your response to any images or associations that come if and when you actually eat the food.  Pay attention to your dreams or journaling. 

WHY what you eat is up to you

A few days ago, I happened to read an Internet article authored by a well-known expert on nutrition in his well-circulated newsletter that made the assertion that fructose – or the kind of sugar contained in fruit - is “bad” for you. Unfortunately, just a few paragraphs later, the very same article by the very same "expert" recommended the consumption of high quantities of berries for their antioxidant qualities.

Just this afternoon, I was sipping tea in Passiflora when I happened to overhear a lady asking the owner, an ayurvedic consultant, for advice about what she should be eating. Unfortunately, this customer had an excuse why every suggestion Karen - the owner - made was wrong for her. “I have to do everything the opposite of what I’m told to do,” she announced. Clearly, this was an individual suffering from, among other things, authority-overload.

One of the most important aspects of the Angel Way Guidelines is the Angels’ insistence that for adults without serious physical, emotional or financial challenges, the power to decide where, what, when and how to eat is theirs alone. However, as simple and as self-evident as this may sound, our choices about food are often a complex mix of our body’s needs, our minds’ beliefs, our emotions and our spiritual cravings…not to mention environmental and cultural influences!

Sorting through all this is not easy.

We are not generally encouraged to turn inward to seek information about ourselves. From a very early age, we are taught that the authority to make decisions about what's best for us lies outside of us somewhere: in our parents, in a Diety that stands apart from His creation, in documents written hundreds or thousands of years ago, or in the pronouncements, conclusions, hypotheses, and theories only a small number of very highly educated scientists can understand. For most of us, this sets us on a life-long course of relying on someone else to tell us what we "should" or "should not" do - or, in this case, eat.

This is not to say there's anything "wrong" with seeking knowledge outside of one's self. When it comes to you as a unique manifestation of the Divine, it is not a complete approach. Nor does it always reinforce or nurture the understanding that the ultimate authority on you - is YOU.

The Angels assure us that the Answers are as much within as without, that we are all manifestations of the Divine and we are all connected, almost like a great internet. As more and more human beings awaken and embrace their sixth senses, as well as experience their connectedness to Source and to each other, it feel more and more natural to seek the answers within. However, it took me some major readjustments in my thinking to be able to do that.  The Angel Way Guidelines are meant to help all of us develop more confidence in trusting this innate wisdom.  

Physical and emotional conditions can affect the choices we need to make in order to truly show ourselves how much we love ourselves. This is why it is important to understand that the Angel Way Guidelines are meant to serve as a framework upon which to build your unique and ideal food plan.

As you proceed with Eating… the Angel Way, keep the following in mind: Your body provides you with a great deal of information about what nourishment it needs. According to Donna Eden and Michael Feinstein, in their book Energy Medicine, “Your body will cause you to crave the nutrients it needs, when it needs them.” The key for so many of us is learning how to trust and correctly interpret the body’s signals so that we can respond appropriately.

The Angels understand that none of us set out to become unhealthy. None of us intend to make less than optimal food choices. Most of us, however, become confused when the outside authorities contradict not only themselves but sometimes their own information, AND when the source to the ultimate authority on you – YOU – is cut off. No wonder we don’t know what to eat.

The Angels never told me what I was “supposed” to eat. The Angels encouraged me to discover what it was I WANTED to eat. No one was more surprised than I to discover that what I really WANT to eat is very fresh, very organic, very local and mostly very good for me.

When I tell people that eight or nine times out of ten, I make the choice to eat the healthiest food possible, because I want to, not because anyone has ever told me I have to, many look at me in disbelief. “I could never trust myself like that,” they say.

I didn't think I could, either.

It has taken me years of patient practise to come to the point where I know I can "trust" myself like this. It is not a place of denial, and it is not a place of self-doubt. It is a place of power and a place where I meet any expert on equal ground. I, as my five year old daughter once declared - when it comes to food, at least - am the expert on ME.

This second Angel Guideline,therefore, isn't meant to be understood that we are all unique. This one says that the intuitive understanding of what’s good for us and what tastes good to us is something we all come into this body to experience. Food – from farm to table – forms a central part of our humanity. It is not intended to be the experience of deprivation, guilt and anxiety it has become for so many of us.

Thus "what you eat is up to you" is an invitation to reclaim the power inherent in accepting full and total responsibility for what you feed yourself.

Over the next two or three days, continue to keep track of what you eat. If you choose, consider adopting one of the other guidelines into your diet. You might choose to “eat like a baby,” – ie every two - three hours. You might choose to “eat a complete protein at every meal.” Try whichever one feels most natural and easiest to you, and don’t worry about doing anything “right.”

refresh, restore, renew - part two

how many hours did you sleep last night?

sleep needs are as individual as we are and vary across our lifetimes. by now, im sure most people are aware that the recommendation to get 8 hours of sleep out of every 24 is a rule of thumb that may or may not apply. however, its also true that many of us are seriously sleep-deprived, meaning that most of us are running dangerously close to an energetic empty almost all of the time.

for the Angels, sleep counts as a necessary nutrient to the body. during sleep, the body repairs and renews itself. children grow when they sleep, and not getting enough sleep can literally stunt their growth.

during the latter part of fall through the early part of spring, the longer nights invite us to indulge in our need to sleep. many people report feeling more sluggish and tired during these seasons, and turn to artifical energy-enhancers in order to feel "normal." for the Angels, our need to sleep is a biological imperative critical for good health.

this week, as you keep track of your protein or "white-light food" intake, the Angels suggest you also pay attention to the amount and quality of your sleep. in your journal, note how many hours of sleep you got each night, or within each 24 hour period. note if you took any naps. if anything woke you up or kept you awake, jot those down too.

depending upon the issue, there are many resources available to deal with any problems you identify. there may be more than one issue, and there may be underlying issues you may not be aware of. for example, the quality of my sleep can be affected by something as easily rectifed as my pillow but i have to be aware that that's the issue before i can fix it.

our next blog will be about the importance of Green Energy in our early spring diets, and hopefully tips from some Special Guest Bloggers!

for more about Eating...the Angel Way, karen and i invite you to check our new regular feature column in New England's Inner Tapestry Journal.