Awakening Higher Consciousness Part I

There is a lot of stuff out there on consciousness, awakening and ascension – the latest buzz words of the new age movement. I wanted to wade into the melee here because of some of the ‘information’ I have been reading that just doesn’t make any sense at all.

First of all, let me state that there are many who may feel they are on a spiritual path, who have all the right words, feelings and appearances. However, if you have started on your journey towards higher consciousness and you are still living in the same house, eating the same foods and spending time with the same people in dead end relationships – you have yet to leave the gate. 

Seriously. Walking the path is just that – it is all about action. 

Doing work on yourself, making deep realizations about your own story, the people you have surrounded yourself with, healing old hurts, wounds and cleaning up your insides – is what it takes to get on the path. 

With each realization, you then make changes based on these insights as they bubble up from deep within. Or for every action there is a reaction – all of it created by you. 

Ultimately you will come to find yourself by journeying deeply within, as your road will take you backwards and forwards through time and space retrieving the pieces of yourself you have left behind. Along with them you will uncover, your hopes, wishes and dreams from this lifetime and others.

This is the process of integration of the self – an energetic alignment meant to dissolve boundaries, barriers and remove obstacles to your own spiritual potential. This will not take place in an unclean, unkempt and untidy ‘house’ – toxins and outside energy will slow down and interfere with this process. 

But, what is far more than this – you cannot bring back together what is not yours. Only energy that belongs, fits and is part of your energetic being can be involved in your own integration. Otherwise – you create a non-functioning energy field and a lot of other problems.

So, why am I going into all of this right now? It’s simple really – there are quite a few people out there who are playing a dangerous game. Offering ‘accelerated’ ascension packages as if it were an option at Club Med. Or working in people’s energy fields as part of ‘integration’ therapies. As if your body did not already know exactly what to do with these spiritual functions of mitochondrial DNA. 

Right off the top – there are a couple of things you need to know – other than feeding yourself the appropriate foods and exercise, this is a cellular unfolding that will take place without ‘assistance’ from anyone. And indeed should do so.

I would not have anyone (other than myself) doing work on my energy field – that’s why I came up with Closing the Energy Leaks© or windows back in the 90’s. It was designed to help me work within my own energy field as I walked these paths. 

Each of these truths I have found out along the way, are all about removing sources of toxins, outside energy and other barriers to higher consciousness. These are cellular processes which will shift, change, heal and propel you forward and can only be opened up and activated using clean water and real food. 

Do yourself a favour – guard your heart, mind, body and soul if you are intending to walk this spiritual path by being mindful of your body. Your map lies deep within…

April

Full Moon Ceremony of the Pumpkins... last night

Ghosts In the Machine....

October seems to be the appropriate time of year to be discussing some other aspects of our energetic make-up here on this planet – being the month of darkness, change and ending with Samhain - it’s a good time to talk about energy vampires. 

Now, there are several types of people who are drainers, users and the run of the mill waste of space. Not all of these people are former humans, but enough of them are – just look at the current preoccupation with all things dead, paranormal, ghost, vampire and alien. 

I call these people the walking dead – people who have passed their ‘sell by’ date and really shouldn’t be here.  Don’t think this is possible? We all know of someone who is like a black hole – unhappy, can’t be filled up, loveless and empty looking in their eyes. 

If a person is not supposed to be here at this time – their contract has expired so to speak and their personal destiny has been cancelled. Therefore they will ‘borrow’ someone else’s to fill in the blanks in their own lives. 

Perhaps they have ‘survived’ some health crisis or near death experience and have managed to hang onto life via those around them. They are everywhere – the planet is virtually crawling with the living dead, empty hollow shells of human flesh – the worst ones are those who are good at it. 

By this I mean, you can hardly tell this person has no soul, unless this is something you have seen before and are familiar with. You would be able to see it in their eyes mainly but many times in their actions as well. They would be clever at hiding their true identity by way of a mask – and this is where you come in. 

You would have some connection with this person in another time or past life – most often in some negative manner. I have seen several times where there was a revenge motive or some personal vendetta on behalf of the ghost entity. This person was hanging around to get all they could from the chosen prey.

They will take over certain aspects of your life (creative force) and live as if this was their own. Making no distinction between you and them – ownership or taking over your life. Of course this causes untold frustration with yourself like you wouldn’t believe. 

You just can’t seem to move forward, plans don’t work out and dreams never seem to come true. It’s as if you are living someone else’s life and you can’t shake it off no matter what you do.

Physical symptoms of having a ghost hanging around you (energy attachment) are feeling cold, this coldness comes up from the bones especially in the hands. Light headed at times, increased appetite, even feeling hungry after eating a big meal, pain in the body usually at the back, kidney, bladder and lymph issues are common. As are hormonal dysfunction, imbalance and often thyroid issues. 

Your personality will also be affected by these ghosts – you never fully develop your own unique attributes because they have been over shadowed by this other entity. In terms of energy, it doesn’t matter when this attachment occurred, once there, the energy field is affected for all time. 

How do I know all of this? Well, I am an Intuitive and work closely with energy and also from my own personal experiences. I always knew she had some sort of power or control over me and could never figure it out until….

During a time in my life when my son was still only a baby I started to get these very strong feelings – almost as if a voice was speaking above my own. Like being shouted down in some way. This voice was telling me to leave my husband, that things were bad between us and my marriage was in trouble.

The only problem was – I was living with the love of my life, we were then and always have been very close. You could say even soul-mates. At that point in time we had already been married for over 12 years and were as happy as we knew how to be.

I had no intention of leaving my marriage and wanted to get to the bottom of these feelings – I don’t know if I can even describe it properly – they were so strong I would sit and cry. I did not know what was happening and I was so confused. 

Time passed, my husband and I talked about it, and I worked my way through this energy overlaying mine. Then about 2 months after this all started, I found out this person who I knew was using my energy was leaving her partner in a very messy break-up. 

My intuition had been right, I had been taking it all on board and had been all of my life. Looking back I could see how I had been influenced, undermined, bullied and used by this person. But worst of all – it completely covered up who I was, what I was here to do and my true self. 

 Once I could see all of this clearly,  I was now on a quest to remove myself from under her spell. It has taken me years to dissolve this energy pattern, so deep it was intertwined with my own. Lifetimes of crossover and outside interference has given me lots of work to do on myself.   

The only thing to dissolve this fully? Detox, cleanses, fasting and a total clean up of my diet, health and lifestyle. Of course the inner child therapy didn’t hurt either…. 

I would love your comments on this – or if too personal, email me. There is so much you can do to get your life back. 

April

Universal Energy Laws 

Improve Your Intuition

Intuition as far as I am concerned is a muscle, it brings together many parts of your body such as the pineal gland, the heart, the gut and the brain, and then you ‘process’ a piece of information or a perception of something through these organs. Therefore, your body systems do need to be working at least at some level.

Intuition can be understood as an direct knowing or inner sense of self, in this way, you can engage your body in working through an issue or a problem. 

Intuition for the most part is not a valued skill in our modern world, and is much maligned by certain sections of society. Yet we rely on its presence far more than we realize as it is an intrinsic aspect of life on this planet.

In general, nearly all of the toxins in our food and especially the water, are designed to push down our intuition (your inner sense of knowing). 

There seems to be none worse for the pineal gland or thrid eye than flouride. This is one of the most important reasons to find a source of clean water as well as to not use fluoride toothpaste or eat a lot of processed foods.

Another part of the puzzle here that is forgotten about is the energy field, this plays a key role in your intuition- a stong energy field will enable you to discern or recognize good/evil, right/wrong, truth/lies, and so on. 

Your energy field is like a filter, a covering and a buffer zone around your body that lets information in. This is why it is vital to Close Energy Leaks© (Windows) and reduce the amount of leaking energy. And heal the energy field through various means such as diet, fasting, exericse and so forth. 

The following are Key Elements in Intuition, in order to build a deeper relationship with yourself:

• Trust

• Diet

• Exercise

• Energy Work

• Energy Field

• Herbs

• Environment

• Reduce Toxins

• Reduce Stress

• Listen, Observe, Follow

The intuition or body’s voice is not loud, aggressive or pushy. It is gentle, subtle, and soft like a whisper washing over you. It feels like it has come up from somewhere very deep and has been pushed out into the spaces around you for you to hear. Like a voice calling from very far away, it has an ‘echo’- this voice will persist, until you listen. 

Making changes in your life to enhance health and healing will also develop and improve your intuition.

April

Cover for Closing the Energy Leaks (Windows)

Magic - Walking Towards the Light

As an Intuitive I am always looking for the connection between our physical reality (food, flesh and blood) and these other worlds (energetic, emotional and spiritual realms). They are not mutually exclusive from each other – nor should they be – many of us walk in other worlds as writers and dreamers.

Once a link has been established, between these dimensions – information exchange, healing and real living can begin. We are multi-dimensional beings for a reason, with access to sources of energy potential, such as magic.

Whenever we think of magic, a lot of the mental pictures that immediately spring to mind are of darkness, witches, ghouls and goblins. None of these creatures are very nice and they have given this art a bad name.

And, everything about this time of year with it’s enveloping darkness and Halloween has only served to deepen the mystery. Alluding to more of what we do not know – about those energies lurking about in the shadows.

There is a heavy, shady dark aspect to all of life (it’s called balance) and magic is no exception, however, there is also a pure, gentle and loving side. This has sadly been missing from our lives because it has had to be hidden for protection.

When the religions of the world went into their blood lust killing spree to rid the world of ‘witches’ – they were mainly looking for people exercising their own free will. In other words, they sought out followers of the old ways – those who continued to use herbs for childbirth and healing, who understood the cycles and rhythms of the earth.

Anyone who was a non-conformer, a seeker of the truth, a free thinker – females were an easy target, often without formal education, and basic human rights of the times. Naturally, if they were concocting a herbal remedy in their kitchen for a headache, they were up to some evil spell!

Actually magic is more aligned with free will then any other energy form in the Universe. Will power should be an unlimited resource for us as human beings,  however it has been interfered with, redirected and overshadowed by sinister forces – such as medication and sugar.

That’s right – sugar, processed foods, alcohol, chemicals, medications, plastics and all manner of toxic by-products now found in our food and water.

The fundamental and most vital part of magic is our food – a ritual meal prepared with fresh non toxic ingredients, herbs, natures’ bounty (under a new or full moon or some other season) – this is the essence of creating something new.

And basic magic at it’s absolute best would be interfered with were we to use low vibration or other types of contaminated food. This would be the equivalent  of inviting sorcery and it’s dark forces into our cells. Yet, for the most part – this information has been altered and lost to us and we simply are unaware of these things.

The main difference between these two traditions of magic and sorcery, would be vast by degree – magic pulls in nature, love, healing and uplifting energies of the earth through food, water, cooking and symbolic ritual. There are darker sides to this as well but that is for another post!

While sorcery might involve numbers, symbols, ritual and other worldly spirits in a far more intense manner to create or force change. However, dark forces align themselves with the like natures found in chemicals, plastics, toxins and all manner of man-made substances. These are prevalent in the food chain in nearly every commodity.

Indeed, what we finding out there in the food aisles – is nearly every concoction you can imagine containing sugar, excess salt, all manner of chemicals and preservatives, meats saturated with medication (from abused animals), everything wrapped in plastic and God knows what else.

All energy, all change, and indeed all magic begins its’ life on the inside – as part of our conscious intentions.  We are what we think and feel and do – far more then is known about , felt or seen.

If you want to create magic in your life and be more a part of these Universal mysteries – you have to clean up your diet, heal your body and walk the talk of a spiritual being.

It is that simple.

April

Turkey sneaking into the duck pen....

Come On - Be a Rebel!! Eat Your Veggies...

As you might have already guessed, while I am a Clinical Nutritionist with many years of experience in the food industry as well as seeing clients, teaching and living this way - I do not subscribe to the current way of thinking when it comes to food. 

I have found through trial and error, sickness and health, that the way we are being told and taught to eat even as nutritionists, is fundamentally flawed. And as you have already read, I have tried nearly everything in an attempt to be at a reasonable weight, re-gain health, heal inflammation and so forth. 

What I have done then, is come to my own conclusions about food, diet, exercise and we (my family and myself) are living proof that this works.

For instance, I do not encourage people to eat 3 meals a day plus multiple snacks, as I find that this generally does not work for very long. Although this would be the standard nutritional line, eating this way made me put on weight and I know of far too many who complain of the same thing. 

Eating multiple meals each day would help someone whose diet is particularly poor at the beginning when making lifestyle changes, as it enables a person to focus on food management, eating and nourishment. 

However, when you are exercising, and trying to live this way - the energy intake from the food is far too high, and besides, so much time and effort is spent cooking, sourcing, planning, and eating all of this excess food. 

Many people who used to eat this way have been turning away from this thinking while moving towards various forms of fasting in an effort to reduce weight, return to health and improve strength. 

Water, a key to all of life, function, systems and balance - is fundamentally ignored by most professions including nutritionists. It is mentioned, and people are counseled to consume 8 glasses a day of bottled, filtered and otherwise processed water. 

However, for the most part, there is no real training or guidance in detox, cleansing or healing through water and food because there is little understanding of these concepts. Anything that comes out of the mains tap is toxic, poisoned beyond recognition and is not beneficial to health - you simply cannot drink this water and expect to maintain health while your body will certainly not be efficient at removing toxins from your tissues.

Supplements are not medicine, and contrary to popular belief they are not a food group either. This is a manmade compound of mostly synthetic chemicals which in my opinion accomplish two basic things in the body. 

First, they completely unbalance and skew the other vitamins and minerals present in our systems pushing and distorting internal mechanisms for homeostasis. Or in other words they will affect the balance and levels of all other nutrients in a negative manner. 

Secondly, chemicals made in a lab are easy food for the yeasts, molds and non-beneficial bacteria now present throughout the gut (due to over use of antibiotics and poor diets) who are looking for an easy meal. Personally, I have not taken a supplement since 1997, when I finally realised they were getting me nowhere and in fact made me feel worse. 

Then we have a situation where nearly all of our food is manufactured, handled, processed and wrapped in plastic - to disastrous results. 

Plastic is one of the most noxious substances on the planet, this substance is not your friend, it should never be around food, it will affect your health and weight; . And in case you haven’t already noticed it is notoriously difficult to get rid of - think about it, if we can’t get rid of it outside, we are certainly having problems on the inside as well. 

Awful stuff, remove this from your food the minute you buy it, and if you can, shop at farmers markets where the vegetables and fruits are not in plastic, buy in bulk and store you food in glass, ceramic, wood and paper. 

Another piece of 'sage advice' that I do not subscribe to, is to eat well ‘most of the time’. What’s wrong with eating well ALL of the time? What happens here is that you agree to be healthy most of the time too, and sick the rest of the time? 

These concepts do not work, I have not met many people who are able to maintain great health, detox, and consume toxins/poisons regularly. You will get what you give - when this food is garbage, don’t expect abundant health to rise up out of the rubbish. The world we are living in, the food, the water, the air and even the clothes we are wearing are releasing chemicals, toxins and poisons into our bodies - do not consider for a moment that you can knowingly add a couple more and it will make little difference. 

Time to get serious about our food,

April

***Excerpt from new book Eat Like a Pagan - Recipes from the Hearth coming soon! 

Sunflowers in my herb garden

To Medicate or Not- It’s Not a Question, It’s a Lifestyle

This might be a bit of a delicate subject for some – however good I am at being gentle and tip toeing my way around things when needs be… this is not one of the topics where I could do that. Not in good conscience anyway. So, I will just jump in and tell it as I see it. 

I meet people all the time who want to believe they can keep their feet firmly in both camps when it comes to medication and the use of drugs. This is actually one of the first lessons I was taught by my body – you will have to make a choice and then stick firmly with that decision. 

The reason I am mentioning this is one that I have seen over the years – parents who do not vaccinate their children (which I agree with) and go without using medication themselves for certain conditions. However these same people then proceed to do absolutely nothing to support their body or a child’s developing immune function.

At the very least, an unvaccinated child or  drug free adult will be healthier, but the same foods that pull everyone else down will still have a detrimental effect on them. The most obvious one would be sugar and sweets, however any rubbish or processed foods will do the same. 

Other things such as time spent exercising, out of doors and staying away from antibiotics are all equally important for us all. When you are choosing to go without the drugs – you must incorporate a healthy lifestyle to support that decision. 

I mention antibiotics because they are the most commonly prescribed drug for nearly anyone or perhaps this has been eclipsed by anti-depressants by now – either way, these are potent toxins. 

A little bit of poison is still toxic – when walking the spiritual path you cannot have things both ways. You are either embarking on the journey of your life, inwards to find your soul or you are playing around on the outside packed and ready to go, but not ever starting on the path. 

What do I mean by this? It’s quite simple really – either you do this all the way and fully learn to fix, heal and change your life. Or you will be in an uncertain place where your health is concerned. 

When you try to dabble and keep a foot firmly in both camps you will set yourself up for failure, ill health and worse. A healthy lifestyle wins every time!

April

Twitter – A bad case of Self- Importance?

I have been reading some great posts on authors’ blogs about Twitter the good, the informative as well as the useless aspects of it. Therefore, I wanted to wade into the melee with my own take on Twitter – perhaps from an intuitive perspective.

Twitter for me seems to be a lot like the mental chatter that goes on in our heads, usually this stuff never sees the light of day, however… Now with each of these social media outlets, we humans have a way to purge our every waking thought into the Universe. For the good of all of human kind….or not.

For the most part commenting, writing or working in such a manner all comes with some basic common sense amid this muddle of information bombardment, or at least we would assume this is the case. But, how much is too much, where do we draw the line and are there ways we can be more efficient at helping each other? 

It might be useful to point out of course, what’s really going on here (with any SMS) is a virtual uproar of the plaintive cries of human souls letting the world know how badly they want to be found, recognized and listened to for who they are.

Then we can wade into the commotion of this Twitter world and look more closely at strategy… not that I am one who pretends to know anything about marketing approaches in social media. I studied food marketing….

I happen to agree with many of the comments first of all – too much spam, too many DM’s, repetitive comments and adverts, blah, blah, blah. Same old stuff recycled over and over again ad nauseam. 

There are many complaints about repetitive advertising that I would have to agree with – this is annoying and not productive. Perhaps it is for the spammers, but, after a few of these ‘infoblurbs’ (it’s not just books) run down my screen, I am no longer paying attention.

I agree with a lot of what I am reading on the posts about direct messaging too, although the DM’s don’t bother me overly, I just ignore them. Even the spammers can be overlooked (well some of them anyway!) 

One of the things that I would say I have noticed and pointed out to people who ask me about my own take on Twitter, is the arrogance. It appears an utter lack of manners can be shown (by some, not all) in this Twitterverse stemming from a bad case of self-importance. 

Often these are not the people you see with 80 000 or some such number of followers. Those people are usually quite interactive, gracious and appreciative of the people they tweet to and work hard to maintain their following.

The people I am talking about here, are the ones who are clearly clawing their way to the ‘top’ – higher numbers? Those who make Twitter a game of follow me, I will unfollow as soon as I think you won’t notice. Or follow me – I don’t have to follow you because I am better, different, special, needy, weird etc. And then there are those who see everyone else who does anything remotely similar to themselves, as a threat. 

What I can say, is that when you are real, sincere and bonafide – consistently showing yourself to be who you are in good faith, your presence here will be both felt and known. No gimmicks required, just be yourself.

There is not much we can do about these ego tweeps, except perhaps to avoid them, pity works well for a time, but then they just become annoying. One of the reasons I don’t use Facebook anymore is because I did not want to be linked to someone who didn’t have the time of day for me in college. 

I am not interested in constructing a false reality on Twitter either – I want real time interaction, access to decent information and to share great banter with all sorts of people from all over the world. Twitter offers that and is brilliant at it. 

So, for me, as someone who enjoys using Twitter and wants to get the most from this experience I offer an outline of fair play -

Be gracious, thank people for following, retweeting and paying attention to your corner of the Universe. It should mean the world to you, it does to me.

Have a bio – about you preferably, that is always a great place to start or say something witty. But don’t leave it blank, because then I don’t know what to think and most often I don’t follow you. 

I like Twitter because I can get a message out there – without being intrusive. The last thing to do is be obnoxious, intrusive or overly repetitive, especially when it pertains to writing or anything you love doing.

Twitter also makes me laugh – a lot. I really enjoy people’s funny jokes, thoughts and sayings – they often hit a cord with me and my own experiences here. And provide comic relief at the end of a day spent mostly pursuing my own dreams- so please, keep them coming, you are a witty bunch! 

April 

Part II - Life of a Writer - Staying Sane

Part II

In part one, I talked about the physical aspects of working (writing) from home and how it can be a challenge to get motivated to move your ‘butt’, once in a comfortable position and the ideas are flowing. So, yes, there is a way to stay active, healthy and fit. But that’s not the entire picture – there is more….

Another major issue with writing at home is the isolation and time spent on our own without the company of other adults or even adult conversation especially for those of us with small children. Feeling disconnected from living can be an issue for some, requiring a period of adjustment in the beginning. 

Some ways to ease the transition to your new schedule might be to adjust your day to incorporate some fun, family time, outside time and other personal space. In other words don’t get so caught up in the writing that you have nothing else going on in your life.

But, if you are a writer – your life is the story and everything you do is about honing your craft. I know, I live this way too and have for several years. However, I still have to remind myself to have, keep and maintain a life. Even if it’s the ‘life’ of a writer. 

This is where social media such as Twitter can be used to connect with other writers and adults for some conversation, ideas, information and ‘silly time’ conversing with people from around the world. Many of whom are in the exact same position as you!

There can also be the sense of how life is passing us by and we are not engaged in any of it. The sun may be shining outside and we are sitting at a computer, or worse, fail to even notice it! Therefore we must have other irons in the fire and various interests (besides housework and eating or coffee!). 

These activities can be vital to our overall well-being and health. It’s also nice to completely switch gears from time to time and use another part of the brain. While working away on a hobby, you will get new insights and ideas for your writing. Go Figure!

Here are a few things that I do (some reluctantly) to keep my brain and mind in working order;

• Keep a garden or some other hobby you enjoy – even if it’s a few pots of herbs or an acre of oats

• Paint, colour or draw – it can be squiggles, but it engages more parts of you and that is important in any creative process

• Talk to someone your trust about your writing, or join a group – online webinars are something to consider as well, groups of like minded people discussing their craft

• Get involved in your writing on a different level – if you are writing a novel about historic Prague, plan a trip or find someone who lived there and have a conversation

• Keep a journal, yes, you write all the time, but how much of it is about you? Record your dreams, thoughts, moods, ideas and more – it is all part of the bigger picture of who you are. 

• If suffering from writers block – get moving, drink some water, go outside and walk , change locations, use your other hand and write with a pen for 5 min, once you do something different you  can get the energy flowing again. 

• Read – a lot. Novels, blogs, Twitter, newspapers, information – outside and inside of what you do for a living. There is so much to learn and know and so little time!

These are just a few of the ways I attempt to keep sane, keep going and try to live my life at the same time. Everyone out there probably has 10 more that work for them and because we are all different, we find different ways to cope. 

Would love your comments on the life of a writer….

April

Sunset in Leap, West Cork on Mabon 22 September 2012 

Writing from Home - You don't have to be an unhealthy Author

Part I

There are a lot of us writing or working from home – a job which requires far too much sitting around, leaving us in a bit of a tight spot when it comes to staying healthy. Sitting for long periods of time is not the best way to work, however, fortunately for us we can find ways to stay active.

Actually I love to exercise, but it’s not always easy when I am busy homeschooling, writing, looking after animals and maintaining a house and garden. I thought the best way to start this was to let you in on what I do and how I’ve organized my day.

The first thing is this: each day I get up and I ‘owe’ the bike, the treadmill, the exercise mat and the weights 10 minutes or so, each.  This kind of takes the pressure off of me, because it doesn’t matter how I go about putting in these minutes, as long as they are in.

Throughout the day then, when I need a break or a stretch or just to move around, I go into the exercise room to burn off some of those minutes. The children usually go in there with me, crank the music up and we each do something physical for the next 5 or 10 minutes. 

It’s not a long period of time, sort of mini-sessions – I have many other things to do, and exercise tends to give me ideas I need to go and write down LOL. 

When the sun is shining or when it is not raining we might be found outside on the trampoline, walking, in the garden, moving bales of hay into the duck pen and so forth. But, even with these other activities, I still ‘owe’ time in the exercise room and work at paying it down throughout the day.

If you have been on your arse for a little while, already today, start to train yourself to become aware of the fact that you are sitting. About every ½ hour or so, get up and get moving – even if it’s housework, stretching, deep breathing or pacing the floor trying to get a sentence to work (smile).

As long as you’re moving, right? 

What I love about exercising at home is that it doesn’t take very much to get started and keep going – we started out with a skipping rope and a mini trampoline. Hubby is a personal trainer, so we have a little more serious gym then most, but only after years of collecting pieces. It takes only motivation, imagination and to be tired of stagnation to get going with this…. 

Here’s an outline:

Plan on moving about, stretching and taking mini breaks at least every hour – sitting for such long periods of time is unhealthy and has been known to contribute to many health problems. One of the most obvious would be weight gain, but there are some more serious ones too. 

Here are a few more ideas – 

• Get up and move around frequently, stretch, take deep breaths – this is absolutely vital for health and fitness

• Take short power walks outside – rain or shine, get out there and get some fresh air in your lungs, better yet, run, jog, skip and act like you enjoy it! 

• Exercise in the house on rainy (or any day) day! Exercise is not limited to outside – have a skipping rope or a mini rebounder near your desk, these can be used frequently to keep lymph flowing and you feeling great.

• Eat small meals and don’t scarf your food down all at once. Eat lighter, smaller meals of carefully prepared foods. Your digestion will be far more efficient  and you will feel better for it.

• Drink plenty of clean fresh water – try to find a source of well or spring water, your body requires water to cleanse on the inside as well as outside, it’s not 66% water for nothing. All body functions require this elixir of life.

• Practice fasting – if you are not sure how to proceed there are lots of blogs, books and information out there on healthy intermittent fasting and Master Cleanses (you can even read mine!) – these can be used to clear the mind and body, replenish and rejuvenate the system as well as boost ideas and creativity.

• It has long been mentioned how so many writers are such coffee addicts – caffeine being a stimulant can make you feel anxious, nervous or tired (yes!). Perhaps you might replace some of these with a herbal tea (peppermint, nettle, chamomile) or herbal coffee (dandelion coffee, Barley coffee, nut coffees), water or hot water and lemon for those who like something hot. Just to try something different…

I have long associated exercise, physical activity and movement with increased creativity. Not to mention blood flow to the brain, extremities and boosting health. If you want to feel better, write better and be more efficient with your time- incorporate exercise. 

You always have time to look after yourself - your time is your own. 

April

The Way to Exercise by April Danann

Wait A Minute, This is My Blog!

I have been deliberating on several posts I wanted to write for one of my blogs and have hesitated for quite some time on more then a couple of them. I kept thinking they were not quite suitable for this blog - some form of flawed thinking has set in and I have just uncovered a pattern!

One of those posts is about homeschooling - for those who know me or anything about me - we are homeschoolers, right from the beginning that was the goal and we have for the most part stuck with it. Both our children are learning at home at the kitchen table - and thriving because of it.

So, who better to comment on some aspects of home schooling then me, right? Why would I hold back? Believe me, I am wondering the same thing, because any other areas where I feel experienced, competent and knowledgable, I certainly do intend to put my thoughts out there.

This has been a lesson (there's that word!) for me - mainly because I am still shaking off the vestiges of my own lack of education but I am also seeing more of the ways it has held me back. One memory to surface for me this week was how I felt discouraged from day one in the school system...let me tell you about it first....

I am left handed (shock!) as well as an intuitive, smart enough, taller then most, and I have eyes that see right through to your soul - if you have one. My first day of school was not unpleasant, it was just that I knew I was entering a place where my needs would never be considered, let alone met.

Being who I was (sensitive, open, inquisitive) and perhaps a little shy about it all - this was a very sad day indeed. I don't remember if I had any expectations or what they might have been, but I do know the years in front of me were the most miserable of my entire life.

Homeschooling is all about me therefore and the lengths I am willing to go to, to ensure a decent, kind, gentle and real education for my children. 

I don't want them to feel anything remotely similar to what I felt, to be signaled out because they might be vegetarian, or eat whole foods (I know, what kind of a mother would make her children eat vegetables and fruits). Or to know without a doubt that their essence is ebbing away with each minute spent in a soul destroying classroom, with a teacher who is tired, underpaid, unhealthy and fed up with her life. And far worse.

These are things I see, hear and witness myself from adults around me - never mind their children! Life can be cruel, children can be worse - but knowing these things, why would I proceed to send off my precious much longed for little ones for someone else to 'teach' them 'a lot of 'nothing' I personally do not value?

But, I digress. I really wanted to give you some pointers on homeschooling - so here goes!

• It's all about the parents. Just like having kids, you get to re-live (or at least I hope we do) our childhoods, well homeschool is the same. We get to learn (finally) what's important, things that matter to us and make a difference in our own lives. 

Since we started homeschool, we have taken up beekeeping, raising our own animals for food, growing a huge herb and vegetable garden, cob house building and cheese making courses. And, I know more about maths, chemistry (the stuff uni never taught me), writing, history and many other subjects because I am doing this every day, with them. 

• Time consuming, you might be led to believe? Learning anything takes next to no time at all with  children and anyone eager for knowledge and fun. All of life is an opportunity to learn, so everything and anything can be pulled in as a lesson. From cooking to building a bird house - measuring, pouring, types of wood, species of wildlife and so on can be explored, researched and discovered together.

• You may be feeling resistance from family members or those on the outside - well, hopefully if you are old enough to have children, then you realize you have been making decisions for them since the moment of conception. Choosing to teach and learn at home is simply another decision along the way, that parents can make all on their own. What I am really saying here in a round about way is that it is none of anyone else's business, so to the naysayers - butt out. 

• Learning should be a gentle, easy process - an unfolding of information imparted through activity, fun, focus and experience. Facts and figures do not have to be shoved down anyone's throat - only to be regurgitated by rote. That's not learning, that's conformity through obedience (fear) and submission (dread and anxiety). 

A successful homeschool experience then becomes about setting your life up around learning and not losing sight of the overall picture - a few elements help things progress and hold your interest;

- have a routine

- plan outings, activities, celebrations

- do a bit of everything (science, art, reading, writing, cooking, carpentry, gardening)

- don't forget exercise, physical activity is for life

- create a lifestyle (healthy living, farming, sustainability)

- follow your intuition - when they are ready to learn something new, you'll know

This is only a brief synopsis of my personal experience when it comes to homeschool - each family and person will have their own take on how to go about teaching, learning and making this a journey for everyone involved. The bottom line is to not be intimidated by others, if this is something you want to do, jump in, just start and all will come right. 

An important element of overall lifelong health and satisfaction is a sense of safety and security in not only who you are, but to be free to develop your potential as a human being. Learning the things you need to learn at the right time,  appropriate pace and under gentle circumstances should all be a part of this. 

April 

(Mom to Trevor and Dara)

Blue Moon Ceremony - me, Trevor and Dara -   August 2012 

Following Your Own Path and Dreams

One of the most difficult aspects of walking a spiritual path and following your own calling - is that so many people  are not coming with you. Not everyone is called and there are many who are simply not interested in a spiritual endeavour. 

For those of us who have been on this path for quite some time, we find ourselves interacting with others, or a part of some relationships which are not spiritual in nature. On the surface this is fine, over the short term an association such as this works. However...

There are drawbacks to remaining in long term associations with others who are not on the same wave length or living their lives with any form of spiritual intention. The words I have often used to describe this affiliation are - it is far easier to be pulled down to to a lower level, then for you to pull anyone up to yours.

Besides, when someone is not interested or simply not here at this moment in time ready to take on a spiritual existence or embrace a higher consciousness fully - there is nothing you can do or should do to convince them otherwise.

To each his/her own.

Of course, this leads us back to looking more closely at ourselves, our immediate family and being focused on the road that lies before us. When we do this with all of our hearts, minds, body and soul - it will require all our resources and full attention. 

Paying attention to our own needs, wants, hopes and desires is what helps us to carefully move forward and inwards toward our greatest dreams and the life we are creating. Pulling ourselves away from any draining relationships will ensure our energy is well placed and not diverted to needless ventures.

Why is this so important? Well, one way to look at it is how tiring it can be when you are not focused on the goal. With any adventure we embark on, it is important to enjoy the sights along the way, meet others and interact as we learn about life but in the meantime to keep our sights on the final destination.

Another aspect of keeping to your own counsel is to not become confused, turned around or suffer from a lack of clarity. How many hours, day or weeks have we wasted agonizing over which way to go, how to move forward or just whether or not to get up out of bed - because of feeling dazed and confused about everything we are doing...

When energies from others are mixed or intertwined with yours (everyone has their own agenda and their own interests) this will cause some level of confusion because you are no longer following the purity of your own dreams. 

This is seen primarily when you work for others - those of us walking the spiritual path will eventually be pulled away from other pursuits in favour of our own. Which serves to keep the dreams of our own hearts alive and the main pursuit in our lives.

There is much that should and will change for you are you move along the road ahead of you towards the home you are seeking and creating. Embrace each shift, change and newness with an open heart, a clear mind and a healthy body. 

To do this you must be sure who you are and what you are doing at each stage of the journey - be prepared to walk this alone as a family. There is much to be said about traveling in such a way - the experience is your own, you create it and when others interact with you - it comes about through divine intervention. Not interference.

Have a productive day,

April 

Rainbow seen over the trees as we picked Hawthorne berries