Greetings readers and friends-
I have been absent from the blog for a while doing other soul searching and making some lifestyle changes. I have some great ideas for something new and have been concentrating my energies on finding funding for the project. It will take between $30,000 and $50,000 to shoot a pilot for an interactive virtual exercise program. My ideal is to contract with Sony-Play Station to make it and it will work on any kind of home exercise equipment, but I have to jump thru some hoops of fire, cross my "t's" and dot my "i's" and find them to do all of that in order to get this idea benefiting many people and many programs. I find out about many different programs that are benefiting certain charities and once I get the idea going, it will benefit a non-profit organization - that of the National Parks System - but I have to manifest the program.
Part of this idea would be very valuable for the effort to stop obesity in children. I know that the school systems are responsible for a large part of a child's day, but the real place that diet and exercise start is AT HOME. Parents must take responsibility to change their own diets and exercise habits and not depend on the schools to take care of the obesity problem. BUT it doesn't have to be gym type exercise that only 12% of society uses. It is a big task but all of society will benefit if we ALL start eating better, stop eating junk food, and start growing healthier children. It is also true that when we adults eat cleaner whole foods that we think more clearly and feel younger, look healthier, and make better decisions. It all works together.
I would like to find supporters - both financial and moral for these ideas. Good diet an exercise starts at home and I have some ideas of how parents can do more at home. I am also looking for contacts with Sony - Play Station, with Michelle Obama, with some of these successful business men and corporations that look for philanthropic causes. I have a good idea and want to find a way to present it without worrying that someone will steal the idea from me. If you have some connections or ideas, please let me here from you.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Hey Readers, Listen UP!
Message to my readers:
On my blog I have a way to check my readers/hits. Many days the numbers are low but sometimes, I have had readers but I never hear from you. If you want to comment – or just say hello – just comment and add that you don’t want your comment published. I would like to hear from you and every comment is forwarded to my email for approval before it appears on the blog. If there is a subject on your mind, even if it is not something I have covered before, just ask. I love to open discussions about things important in our lives. Thanks for dropping in to my “Aha!” moments. Katherine Ari
On my blog I have a way to check my readers/hits. Many days the numbers are low but sometimes, I have had readers but I never hear from you. If you want to comment – or just say hello – just comment and add that you don’t want your comment published. I would like to hear from you and every comment is forwarded to my email for approval before it appears on the blog. If there is a subject on your mind, even if it is not something I have covered before, just ask. I love to open discussions about things important in our lives. Thanks for dropping in to my “Aha!” moments. Katherine Ari
You Are What You Eat
You are What you Eat by Katherine Ari, February 6, 2010
Have you ever heard the expression, “You are what you Eat”? Have you given that much thought? I am here to stand on my soapbox to tell you that it is time you do think about it. What we eat goes into our body to make it function. If we eat food that is really not food at all, your intelligent body and mind does not know what to do with non-food. We would like to think that it just goes on through in body waste – but that is not the case. What happens is that is goes into fat cells. Considering we are becoming known as the nation of obesity, there are way too many of us that have been eating things our body does not know what to do with.
Some of you may say, “I’m not fat.” First of all, you don’t have to be overweight to have too much excess body fat. I have met many a person that appears lean that has other health problems. Another response is I don’t have any particular health problems but it will catch up with you. But even beyond the promise that bad eating and drinking will eventually catch up on your body, is that the bad food (and drink) choices do influence your life now. When you eat a clean diet, you think more clearly, you feel more alive, and it is a lot easier to tune in or hear what you inner higher power tells you is the right decision for anything in your life. You are more stable emotionally and think clearly.
I have studied many diets. I have tried many. I lost weight. But the weight returned eventually. The right way to eat is not just about losing weight. You ARE what you eat. If you want to be a whole healthy vibrant and energetic person, then you should eat whole, healthy, vibrant and energetic food. White sugar, white flour, white processed rice, chips loaded with fat and other processed or artificial ingredients, anything that is so far removed from the original grain or fruit or vegetable, food loaded with preservatives, foods with things on the ingredient list that you can pronounce much less know what they are, fats that are not naturally occurring, and the list goes on and on are NOT whole foods. They are sold to get you hooked and addicted to eat more and spend more and more money on them. Then add the foods laden with hormones, drugs, artificial colors, and fake whatever like BHA and GMO laced with pesticides and other unnecessary things. These things are not things the human body’s computer – the brain - knows how to digest. They go to fat and in other parts of the body throwing it out of balance.
Every pimple, every skin problem, every health problem – EVERY HEALTH PROBLEM can be traced back to prolonged bad diet. For a very, very long time the medical community denied that food had anything to do with medical problems. But food has everything to do with health issues – EVERYTHING! To get healthy is a permanent lifestyle change. You can’t eat clean for a few weeks or months and then go back to eating junk food and heavy sugar products. I know I can’t go back to eating sugar ever. It is an addiction like alcohol for the alcoholic. It will literally kill me. Non-food indulgence will undue in one meal everything I have accomplished and my progress for months. The more of us that refuse to eat junk food, the sooner the food industry will have to change what they sell, what they grow, and what they make their money on. You are what you eat and I can help you make the change you need to make.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Book Review, Dieting, and Reality Shows - part one
Reality shows have been around longer than the media like to admit. The Academy Awards and the Emmys as well as other reward shows are reality shows. There are unexpected turns of events and you don’t always know who is going to win. Certainly televised football games and other sports are reality shows. Any game show, daytime or nighttime, is a reality show. I confess. I like reality shows – well, some of them. I don’t like the ones where people are playing mind games and acting like jerks. I don’t like the ones where the “star” got the show because he can use a power trip and yell constantly at the contestants. Yet, with some of them like American Idol, So You Think you Can Dance or Dancing with the Stars, and America’s Got Talent, though the judges are sometimes too blunt, the criticisms are mostly honest – not vicious.
When The Biggest Loser entered the list, I really liked Bob, but Jillian’s get in their face attitude turned me off. I have always fought weight issues and know just what the contestants are going through. They already feel bad about themselves and her screaming at them seemed to be for the dramatic effect to stir up interest but harsh. Then for some reason she left for a season and they had this Barbie doll, Kim. She was sweet but didn’t get the results Jillian had with the players as well as the ratings NBC wanted. So Jillian came back and led the team that no one chose – the black team who came back and dominated the challenges.
Next season it was Jillian and Bob. I imagined trying out for the show, but could someone my age – a baby boomer get on the show? But then I considered what it would be like to have Jillian as my trainer and I didn’t want her screaming in my face. But over the many seasons it has been on, they have allowed her to show her other side. I still don’t understand why she and Bob feel they have to make the contestants hurt – other than the show has to move them fast and the drama helps the ratings. But beyond the hype, Jillian has shown herself to be compassionate and smart. They have to promote the sponsors but once I got one of her books I believe that she doesn’t really believe in some of the stuff they put on that show.
I was particularly drawn to her book, Master Your Metabolism. My husband, Doug, and I have spent many years and many dollars studying nutrition and all the diets out there. He has had times where he was over weight but currently it is his blood pressure, dark circles under his eyes, and weakness in his muscles with lots of fatigue that concerns both of us. My weight, blood pressure, late onset acne, and another issue I won’t go into are my concerns but I really just want to be healthy and live life to the fullest.
I read the book and studied it. Doug read it. We have long believed that raw food is really the best, but all the food prep and time involved as well as trying to maintain the regime while working on landscaping jobs has pulled us off the program over and over. I liked the idea of mostly raw organic food when available with some animal protein. Most of the raw food “experts” are strict vegans and have volumes proclaiming why you should not eat any animal products. Yet, in the back of my mind I remember a Cherokee elder woman saying if you have Type “O” blood type and have Native American Blood in you, you will find it hard to be 100% vegetarian. When I am eating the raw diet and sticking with it, I really don’t crave the meat. But when we are doing heavy labor jobs and too tired to make food when we get home ten or twelve hours later, the men especially want some sort of animal protein. Nuts and seeds and veggies just aren’t enough. And none of us feel like preparing anything much less have the time to do it. We go get the chicken house salad or some other form of chicken meal.
Jillian Michael’s book left me with many questions and comments but I have yet to find a way to directly inquire with her. Of course there is the disclaimer in the front of the book, but, one, I don’t have the money to go get my own endocrinologist and have an exam and tests done, and two, the comments and questions I have are not so involved that I should have to pay someone for the answers. The idea of our metabolism being out of whack is right and I really agree with the basic premises. But just making the changes she suggests does not detoxify a lifetime of issues in your body.
For example, Doug handled a lot of pesticides working on the farm when he was growing up. Though the food on the farm was mostly homegrown and not full of preservatives, he had a steady diet of white sugar in deserts and white flour in bread. I suspect that Kansas mothers and grandmothers did like most post World Ward II cooks did and add lots of sugar to everything - and fat. He was breastfed, but his brother and sister had a bottle. I had a bottle filled with Pet Milk and Karo syrup. So until I ate food, which was pushed very early, I was mal-nourished. Is it any wonder I had a potbelly like the malnourished tribal people in other world countries? And what I was fed when they started me on solid food was starch, fat, and sugar. It was what they did in those days. It is not any wonder that I have had weight problems all my life?
The food plans in the back of the book are good starting points but she is a little tiny woman. How can someone Doug’s size and being a man or someone my size eat such a small amount? Just reading the lists makes me hungry. There just isn’t much food – like 3 pieces of nitrate free bacon and half of a grapefruit are suppose to be a breakfast. And the idea of eating such small amounts every four hours AND exercising inbetween or working on a labor job does NOT work. In our case, we would get crazy or collapse. I do believe in portioning the servings but get in trouble when I get out shopping or paying bills and get beyond the four hours unexpectedly. Then I get really weak and shaky – and irritable. As with all “diets” it is about establishing your body’s needs into a rhythm that works for you.
All that being said, the Metabolism diet secrets are still the most effective way to make some changes in your lives. The reality is that if you want to be healthier, whether you are over weight or just unhealthy, you have to be ready to make a lifestyle change that is PERMANENT! No diet works if you think you can diet for a while and then go back to the old habits that caused the problem, whatever it was, in the first place. But we are stubborn. We rebel against never having those wonderful deserts and fried chicken we love and crave. We have always eaten for comfort, because of unhappiness or stress, or to be like everyone else. There is a list of excuses we make. Let’s be honest. It isn’t easy when the rest of society is out there eating crap and not worrying about it. Someone I know who is in my family says, “Just eat what you want” but boy does he get ugly about fat people. But you can’t just eat what you want if the imbalances in your metabolism have caused excess weight or high blood pressure or diabetes or acne or circles under your eyes or tumors or any other undesirable health condition.
If you have read my previous blogs, you know I believe in a spiritual connection with everything as well as belief systems and core beliefs. I will get into that more in future blogs. The most general thing I can say about this diet plan to balancing your hormones is eat whole foods, organic when you can get them and watch portions. That means eliminating the white foods – white flour, white sugar, white rice, and all the variations of processed food that are not real food. When you are watching what you eat, you don’t crave the sugar and non-organic whole grain bread as much. In fact, I can make an organic loaf of whole grain bread last 3 or 4 weeks. Fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, baked or grilled chicken and meats, organic dairy – I won’t eat any dairy if it isn’t organic, and no snack foods like chips and crackers are easy enough to find.
(end part one)
When The Biggest Loser entered the list, I really liked Bob, but Jillian’s get in their face attitude turned me off. I have always fought weight issues and know just what the contestants are going through. They already feel bad about themselves and her screaming at them seemed to be for the dramatic effect to stir up interest but harsh. Then for some reason she left for a season and they had this Barbie doll, Kim. She was sweet but didn’t get the results Jillian had with the players as well as the ratings NBC wanted. So Jillian came back and led the team that no one chose – the black team who came back and dominated the challenges.
Next season it was Jillian and Bob. I imagined trying out for the show, but could someone my age – a baby boomer get on the show? But then I considered what it would be like to have Jillian as my trainer and I didn’t want her screaming in my face. But over the many seasons it has been on, they have allowed her to show her other side. I still don’t understand why she and Bob feel they have to make the contestants hurt – other than the show has to move them fast and the drama helps the ratings. But beyond the hype, Jillian has shown herself to be compassionate and smart. They have to promote the sponsors but once I got one of her books I believe that she doesn’t really believe in some of the stuff they put on that show.
I was particularly drawn to her book, Master Your Metabolism. My husband, Doug, and I have spent many years and many dollars studying nutrition and all the diets out there. He has had times where he was over weight but currently it is his blood pressure, dark circles under his eyes, and weakness in his muscles with lots of fatigue that concerns both of us. My weight, blood pressure, late onset acne, and another issue I won’t go into are my concerns but I really just want to be healthy and live life to the fullest.
I read the book and studied it. Doug read it. We have long believed that raw food is really the best, but all the food prep and time involved as well as trying to maintain the regime while working on landscaping jobs has pulled us off the program over and over. I liked the idea of mostly raw organic food when available with some animal protein. Most of the raw food “experts” are strict vegans and have volumes proclaiming why you should not eat any animal products. Yet, in the back of my mind I remember a Cherokee elder woman saying if you have Type “O” blood type and have Native American Blood in you, you will find it hard to be 100% vegetarian. When I am eating the raw diet and sticking with it, I really don’t crave the meat. But when we are doing heavy labor jobs and too tired to make food when we get home ten or twelve hours later, the men especially want some sort of animal protein. Nuts and seeds and veggies just aren’t enough. And none of us feel like preparing anything much less have the time to do it. We go get the chicken house salad or some other form of chicken meal.
Jillian Michael’s book left me with many questions and comments but I have yet to find a way to directly inquire with her. Of course there is the disclaimer in the front of the book, but, one, I don’t have the money to go get my own endocrinologist and have an exam and tests done, and two, the comments and questions I have are not so involved that I should have to pay someone for the answers. The idea of our metabolism being out of whack is right and I really agree with the basic premises. But just making the changes she suggests does not detoxify a lifetime of issues in your body.
For example, Doug handled a lot of pesticides working on the farm when he was growing up. Though the food on the farm was mostly homegrown and not full of preservatives, he had a steady diet of white sugar in deserts and white flour in bread. I suspect that Kansas mothers and grandmothers did like most post World Ward II cooks did and add lots of sugar to everything - and fat. He was breastfed, but his brother and sister had a bottle. I had a bottle filled with Pet Milk and Karo syrup. So until I ate food, which was pushed very early, I was mal-nourished. Is it any wonder I had a potbelly like the malnourished tribal people in other world countries? And what I was fed when they started me on solid food was starch, fat, and sugar. It was what they did in those days. It is not any wonder that I have had weight problems all my life?
The food plans in the back of the book are good starting points but she is a little tiny woman. How can someone Doug’s size and being a man or someone my size eat such a small amount? Just reading the lists makes me hungry. There just isn’t much food – like 3 pieces of nitrate free bacon and half of a grapefruit are suppose to be a breakfast. And the idea of eating such small amounts every four hours AND exercising inbetween or working on a labor job does NOT work. In our case, we would get crazy or collapse. I do believe in portioning the servings but get in trouble when I get out shopping or paying bills and get beyond the four hours unexpectedly. Then I get really weak and shaky – and irritable. As with all “diets” it is about establishing your body’s needs into a rhythm that works for you.
All that being said, the Metabolism diet secrets are still the most effective way to make some changes in your lives. The reality is that if you want to be healthier, whether you are over weight or just unhealthy, you have to be ready to make a lifestyle change that is PERMANENT! No diet works if you think you can diet for a while and then go back to the old habits that caused the problem, whatever it was, in the first place. But we are stubborn. We rebel against never having those wonderful deserts and fried chicken we love and crave. We have always eaten for comfort, because of unhappiness or stress, or to be like everyone else. There is a list of excuses we make. Let’s be honest. It isn’t easy when the rest of society is out there eating crap and not worrying about it. Someone I know who is in my family says, “Just eat what you want” but boy does he get ugly about fat people. But you can’t just eat what you want if the imbalances in your metabolism have caused excess weight or high blood pressure or diabetes or acne or circles under your eyes or tumors or any other undesirable health condition.
If you have read my previous blogs, you know I believe in a spiritual connection with everything as well as belief systems and core beliefs. I will get into that more in future blogs. The most general thing I can say about this diet plan to balancing your hormones is eat whole foods, organic when you can get them and watch portions. That means eliminating the white foods – white flour, white sugar, white rice, and all the variations of processed food that are not real food. When you are watching what you eat, you don’t crave the sugar and non-organic whole grain bread as much. In fact, I can make an organic loaf of whole grain bread last 3 or 4 weeks. Fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, baked or grilled chicken and meats, organic dairy – I won’t eat any dairy if it isn’t organic, and no snack foods like chips and crackers are easy enough to find.
(end part one)
Book Review, Dieting, and Reality Shows
January 26, 2010
Today’s topic – Reality Shows and Health and Dieting- part two
I just spent a week with my in-laws in the Florida Keys. They like to go out to eat because they don’t like to prepare food after a long day at work. The restaurants have many tempting things that torture a person trying to diet. Some choices are okay, but it was really hard because ordering salads that are 90% white iceberg lettuce can burn you out on salads – blah! Most places have grilled fish but the fried conch fritters or fried calamari are tempting tidbits and the family likes to order appetizers. The side dish choices are baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, white or yellow rice or fries usually. One place had fresh green beans. The family also loves to order a desert for everyone to have a bite or two – mostly because one person in particular like sweets and wants everyone to eat some so he won’t be the only sugar eater. But I just can’t do that. My husband complimented me on turning down the deserts. It helped that I really don’t like Key Lime pie. But on the last night they also ordered a cocoanut custard filled cake. That one was torture because cocoanut custard is one of my biggest former loves. And sometimes you order something that seems harmless enough and then it obviously has sugar in it. When you are a sugar-a-holic, one bite does you in. And you don’t want to waste the money paid for the food by not eating it.
Then there is the general stress of being in a family situation. There is eating the mother-in-law’s favorite appetizer she always fixes. There is eating when you are bored or wanting to avoid talking. There is wanting to try something new like conch fritters or catch of the day with almandine sauce, asking for a small baked potato and getting a large one, ordering crab and it turns out to be fake, sugar sweetened and artificial colored crabmeat. Field greens are listed as the ingredient of the salad and it is white lettuce and one little piece of romaine when they bring it out. The tomatoes are green and awful and HMO grown. Cheese on a salad is cheap processed fake cheddar. No restaurant has a salad dressing that isn’t commercial. Organic dairy is findable and it is a good thing you won’t be there long because it is too expensive to use it regularly. But you want to have a good visit with the family’s once a year get together and you don’t want to complain and bitch about the food choices. And you come home feeling like crap, tired, and having to go through withdrawal once again feeling like your clothes are tight because as hard as you tried, you still ended up eating food, or too much food, you didn’t want to eat.
When Doug came home for two weeks for Christmas and New Years, he read the book but I found it harder to stay with the metabolism program. For one thing, he doesn’t need to lose weight. He needs to lower his BP and gain muscle mass back. He is a 6’1” man and needs more calories. He wants to eat in the evening especially after 9 p.m. – a habit he needs to break but he is working in FL living with his dad. So all the challenges I spoke of above being with family, he has all the time, every day. I have added some organic cheese and Greek yogurt but he can’t eat any dairy. Many of the recipes at the end of the book contain dairy.
I can do most of this because right now it is winter and our work is the work Doug is doing with his family in Florida. I have time now, but the truth is that I don’t like to cook all the time. When we are working, I don’t feel like cooking. I get burned out on cooking very easily. I would rather sit here and write about food rather than go to the kitchen and fix something. Last night I found myself eating something after 9 p.m. – not because I was hungry but because there was something in the frig. After I heated it up and started eating, I asked myself, “why am I eating this?” The routine is off after the week with family. I thought I could return to the routine the next day – but that hasn’t happened yet.
Eating the right foods is essential to living a healthy long life. When my mother started having health problems in her sixties, she asked me for some alternative ideas – but I knew she wouldn’t do anything I suggested. She had always refused to change her diet in any way making all the excuses in the world or just down right arguing with me about the sugar and white flour and all the cake and fake ice cream she always had in the house. If you asked Daddy if he like spinach and vegetables, he would say he did like them but Mother would argue that he wouldn’t eat them. I don’t know if he wouldn’t eat them or if it was her that didn’t like them unwilling to change her rigid habits. I answered her that she wouldn’t like the answers we would give her about her health when she wanted a quick fix. If she wasn’t willing to make some changes, then she needed to take the pills and advice of the Medical doctors. Their treatment plans were for someone with a Standard American Diet and lifestyle – not necessarily healthy but what mainstream society was doing. I hated it. She died of cancer at 72 and Daddy died one week after his 79th birthday of congestive heart failure. She had slight diabetes until the cancer treatment and steroids shot her insulin up into life threatening ranges. Now my in-laws are in their eighties and their comments and thinking are slipping. Just a conversation with either of them is a challenge. As many excuses I can list for not eating right, there really is not other choice. It means that I have to find other things to do for fun, to soothe myself when I need comfort or am lonely, and find foods that taste good. It means I have to prepare my own food and not eat out – that is a disaster waiting to happen on healthy eating. And I have to watch my thinking – take control of my thoughts and not let random thoughts draw to me things I don’t want in my life.
If you are ready to take charge of your life and your health and make PERMANENT changes, then I recommend Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels as a starting point. Then contact me with questions and get some personal support with your decision. For many people, the ideas are so foreign that they may turn back to the old habits really quick. For us, it isn’t such a stretch because we know so much already and most of the book supports a natural lifestyle we already believe in – even if we haven’t always been doing the program. That is why I feel I can help others no matter where they are on the path to good health. Reading the book I have finally decided I do like Jillian Michaels and hope someday to get to talk with her. Meanwhile, it is time to make some healthy lunch and I have a full refrigerator to choose from.
Today’s topic – Reality Shows and Health and Dieting- part two
I just spent a week with my in-laws in the Florida Keys. They like to go out to eat because they don’t like to prepare food after a long day at work. The restaurants have many tempting things that torture a person trying to diet. Some choices are okay, but it was really hard because ordering salads that are 90% white iceberg lettuce can burn you out on salads – blah! Most places have grilled fish but the fried conch fritters or fried calamari are tempting tidbits and the family likes to order appetizers. The side dish choices are baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, white or yellow rice or fries usually. One place had fresh green beans. The family also loves to order a desert for everyone to have a bite or two – mostly because one person in particular like sweets and wants everyone to eat some so he won’t be the only sugar eater. But I just can’t do that. My husband complimented me on turning down the deserts. It helped that I really don’t like Key Lime pie. But on the last night they also ordered a cocoanut custard filled cake. That one was torture because cocoanut custard is one of my biggest former loves. And sometimes you order something that seems harmless enough and then it obviously has sugar in it. When you are a sugar-a-holic, one bite does you in. And you don’t want to waste the money paid for the food by not eating it.
Then there is the general stress of being in a family situation. There is eating the mother-in-law’s favorite appetizer she always fixes. There is eating when you are bored or wanting to avoid talking. There is wanting to try something new like conch fritters or catch of the day with almandine sauce, asking for a small baked potato and getting a large one, ordering crab and it turns out to be fake, sugar sweetened and artificial colored crabmeat. Field greens are listed as the ingredient of the salad and it is white lettuce and one little piece of romaine when they bring it out. The tomatoes are green and awful and HMO grown. Cheese on a salad is cheap processed fake cheddar. No restaurant has a salad dressing that isn’t commercial. Organic dairy is findable and it is a good thing you won’t be there long because it is too expensive to use it regularly. But you want to have a good visit with the family’s once a year get together and you don’t want to complain and bitch about the food choices. And you come home feeling like crap, tired, and having to go through withdrawal once again feeling like your clothes are tight because as hard as you tried, you still ended up eating food, or too much food, you didn’t want to eat.
When Doug came home for two weeks for Christmas and New Years, he read the book but I found it harder to stay with the metabolism program. For one thing, he doesn’t need to lose weight. He needs to lower his BP and gain muscle mass back. He is a 6’1” man and needs more calories. He wants to eat in the evening especially after 9 p.m. – a habit he needs to break but he is working in FL living with his dad. So all the challenges I spoke of above being with family, he has all the time, every day. I have added some organic cheese and Greek yogurt but he can’t eat any dairy. Many of the recipes at the end of the book contain dairy.
I can do most of this because right now it is winter and our work is the work Doug is doing with his family in Florida. I have time now, but the truth is that I don’t like to cook all the time. When we are working, I don’t feel like cooking. I get burned out on cooking very easily. I would rather sit here and write about food rather than go to the kitchen and fix something. Last night I found myself eating something after 9 p.m. – not because I was hungry but because there was something in the frig. After I heated it up and started eating, I asked myself, “why am I eating this?” The routine is off after the week with family. I thought I could return to the routine the next day – but that hasn’t happened yet.
Eating the right foods is essential to living a healthy long life. When my mother started having health problems in her sixties, she asked me for some alternative ideas – but I knew she wouldn’t do anything I suggested. She had always refused to change her diet in any way making all the excuses in the world or just down right arguing with me about the sugar and white flour and all the cake and fake ice cream she always had in the house. If you asked Daddy if he like spinach and vegetables, he would say he did like them but Mother would argue that he wouldn’t eat them. I don’t know if he wouldn’t eat them or if it was her that didn’t like them unwilling to change her rigid habits. I answered her that she wouldn’t like the answers we would give her about her health when she wanted a quick fix. If she wasn’t willing to make some changes, then she needed to take the pills and advice of the Medical doctors. Their treatment plans were for someone with a Standard American Diet and lifestyle – not necessarily healthy but what mainstream society was doing. I hated it. She died of cancer at 72 and Daddy died one week after his 79th birthday of congestive heart failure. She had slight diabetes until the cancer treatment and steroids shot her insulin up into life threatening ranges. Now my in-laws are in their eighties and their comments and thinking are slipping. Just a conversation with either of them is a challenge. As many excuses I can list for not eating right, there really is not other choice. It means that I have to find other things to do for fun, to soothe myself when I need comfort or am lonely, and find foods that taste good. It means I have to prepare my own food and not eat out – that is a disaster waiting to happen on healthy eating. And I have to watch my thinking – take control of my thoughts and not let random thoughts draw to me things I don’t want in my life.
If you are ready to take charge of your life and your health and make PERMANENT changes, then I recommend Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels as a starting point. Then contact me with questions and get some personal support with your decision. For many people, the ideas are so foreign that they may turn back to the old habits really quick. For us, it isn’t such a stretch because we know so much already and most of the book supports a natural lifestyle we already believe in – even if we haven’t always been doing the program. That is why I feel I can help others no matter where they are on the path to good health. Reading the book I have finally decided I do like Jillian Michaels and hope someday to get to talk with her. Meanwhile, it is time to make some healthy lunch and I have a full refrigerator to choose from.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Happy New Year
I'm back to the blog and have many things to talk about but the first thing is to say to all Happy New Year. As we start the new year with resolutions and dreams and hopes to see the economy improve and our own individual circumstances, I am reminded that one of the ways to keep the flow going is to be grateful. It is important to make a list daily of what we are thankful for. Start with the easy stuff and keep writing until you have said thank you God for everything.
Thank you God: for a warm home, electricity, natural gas, water, a bed, a computer, a TV, music, food and coffee.
Thank you God: for my family, my cats and my dog, for my children, and adopted son's son who has brought joy to the whole family.
Thank you God for Love, for Peace, for Joy, for prosperity, for abundance, for sunshine on a cold day, for sunshine every day, for the bird that wakes me every morning even though it seems so cold outside you would think it wouldn't be happy - but still it sings its morning song - thank you God. Thank you God for the blue jays and crows who seem to be around a lot keeping watch over my yard and me.
Thank you God for the rest of the family that help us through these lean times.
Thank you God for my friends and my spiritual community, SLCA, and for every blessing I receive from that big group of happy non-judgmental people.
Thank you God for my education, for my dreams and thoughts and ideas. Thank you God for the opportunity to grow and to learn and to share with others and to get better and better. Thank you God for Love and for showing me how to give love to others.
Thank you God for my good automobiles, for the city and state who provides good roads and good utilities. Thank you for my cell phone and the internet. Thank you for good books and good music.
Thank you God for good and perfect health for me, for my family, especially for my pets as they age.
Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God for everything for I KNOW that God is all there is. God IS ALL there is! It is so.
Thank you God: for a warm home, electricity, natural gas, water, a bed, a computer, a TV, music, food and coffee.
Thank you God: for my family, my cats and my dog, for my children, and adopted son's son who has brought joy to the whole family.
Thank you God for Love, for Peace, for Joy, for prosperity, for abundance, for sunshine on a cold day, for sunshine every day, for the bird that wakes me every morning even though it seems so cold outside you would think it wouldn't be happy - but still it sings its morning song - thank you God. Thank you God for the blue jays and crows who seem to be around a lot keeping watch over my yard and me.
Thank you God for the rest of the family that help us through these lean times.
Thank you God for my friends and my spiritual community, SLCA, and for every blessing I receive from that big group of happy non-judgmental people.
Thank you God for my education, for my dreams and thoughts and ideas. Thank you God for the opportunity to grow and to learn and to share with others and to get better and better. Thank you God for Love and for showing me how to give love to others.
Thank you God for my good automobiles, for the city and state who provides good roads and good utilities. Thank you for my cell phone and the internet. Thank you for good books and good music.
Thank you God for good and perfect health for me, for my family, especially for my pets as they age.
Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God for everything for I KNOW that God is all there is. God IS ALL there is! It is so.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Announcement
Just checked my analytics of my blog and saw there are a few checking in. I have been preoccupied with the holidays and having my husband home and a few other things. Keep checking back readers as I will be posting new blogs in a day or so. Hope all are having a great New Year and do let me hear from you. K
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Remembering Thanksgiving – Old AND NEW Traditions
I was home alone for Thanksgiving this year. I sat down at the piano, played the favorite hymns of Daddy, Mother, and Doug, and I cried. I remembered Thanksgiving always at Grandmother’s house and someone always had to go get Mrs. Idy. The women cooked all morning (and several days before) and then collapsed after the meal. The children had to lie down and got spankings if we weren’t quiet. When we finally got old enough to be outside unattended, we were allowed to get up and go out to play, weather permitting, after an hour of lying down.
The food sat out on the table mostly uncovered except the Jell-O salads and maybe the desserts. It’s a wonder we didn’t get food poisoning. Later we came back and picked around at the food. Sometimes we all had to sit down together for supper. After an unwritten length of time, we would pack up and go home – five miles away. It wasn’t like they had anything new to talk about. They saw each other several times a week.
There weren’t any toys so we grandkids had to make up games. I don’t remember any time that was particularly fun – mostly bickering that would evolve into fights. Then the adults would have to come separate us and give someone or all whippings.
Grandmother was diabetic in her later years. Dr. Waters knew she would “just a little taste” herself into too much and so he always upped her insulin for the holidays. There would be turkey with dressing, canned cranberry sauce and whole berry made from scratch, corn bread and biscuits, a ham and candied sweet potatoes and some orange pecan sweet potatoes. There would be some mostly iceberg lettuce with Thousand Island dressing. Sometimes there would be cold slaw, sauerkraut, and boiled cabbage. No, greens were not a popular fall thing in Oklahoma. There would be green beans, green bean casserole, and corn from the garden both on the cob and creamed corn. There was always a plate of home canned pickles, usually several varieties. There were usually some navy beans and baked beans (like we needed more gas) and certainly some sort of squash something. There may have been some noodle or rice casseroles. Biscuits and cornbread weren’t enough bread. They would add brown and server rolls and white bread. There were mashed potatoes, new potatoes, and canned peas. There sometimes was pea salad, carrot salad, and grape/cranberry salad. The Jell-O salads changed from year to year but someone always made orange Jell-O carrot salad that no one every ate or liked.
Then came the desserts. I remember Mother making an apple pecan cake every year. The banana nut cake got replace with a Scotch chocolate cake with pecan sugary icing. That was replaced with an Italian cocoanut pecan cream cake with cream cheese icing with pecans and cocoanut. Aunt Margie would make a cocoanut cake or chocolate cake or strawberry cake too. Mother wasn’t very good a piecrust but that didn’t stop her from making pies. When frozen crust became available at the stores that made it even easier. She made lemon meringue, chocolate, a really good cocoanut cream, banana cream, and one called Jefferson Davis chess pie. Sometimes she made pecan and pumpkin pies too. There were frequently chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies. Aunt Margie brought many of the same kinds. There was ice cream and whip cream (later cool whip).
One year Grandmother decided to make a pie. The sisters said she made them every year but had stopped when the diabetes came on. It was a butter chess pie – butter, eggs, and sugar. It was decadent – and really good. Mother and Daddy had to hand churn butter when they were growing up. They grew to hate the tasted and smell of butter immensely. They didn’t care for the taste of the butter pie so Grandmother never made it again. I was disappointed but it wasn’t like there wasn’t anything good to replace it.
All you can eat buffets have nothing on a Southern Oklahoma Thanksgiving dinner that shows influence of the tribal potlash ceremonies. There was this Italian Yankee at O.U. who tried to claim his Italian family gathering had an unbeatable spread, but he hadn’t been to one of my family’s holiday dinners. The “potlash” ceremony among farming tribes was a “being” by itself. They were such abundant holiday traditions.
So this year Doug was down in Florida with his family. Azure, Kyler, and Miko have moved away and so has Jeremy. I was going to be alone. Azure sent friends. The first came with a plate of food and the second brought a card and arrived while the first was still here. They left and a while later all of Jeremy’s siblings and girlfriends and cousins came bringing me some of Big Mamas Southern Soul Thanksgiving cooking. As they left another young man arrived. I gave him some pie and found out later that he had stayed home and not had any Thanksgiving dinner. I had a smoked breast and some cranberry sauce and the plate from Jeremy’s grandmother had enough for several meals that I could have shared had I known. I had a wonderful day. I didn’t have to cook but I still had a full dishwasher. I was pleasantly full and tired but so happy.
Thanksgiving memories and traditions – sometimes don’t change, but kids grow up, grandparents and parents pass away. The kids grow up and move away following their own life journey. Sometimes couples have to be apart. It’s sad when you spend Thanksgiving thinking about what was. It is more fun to make new traditions. I didn’t cook for days. I received some Thanksgiving dinner from other families without having too much leftover food along with dirty dishes, pots, and pans. I had a wonderful day. And next year? Well, we will see. It will be filled with some more New Traditions!
The food sat out on the table mostly uncovered except the Jell-O salads and maybe the desserts. It’s a wonder we didn’t get food poisoning. Later we came back and picked around at the food. Sometimes we all had to sit down together for supper. After an unwritten length of time, we would pack up and go home – five miles away. It wasn’t like they had anything new to talk about. They saw each other several times a week.
There weren’t any toys so we grandkids had to make up games. I don’t remember any time that was particularly fun – mostly bickering that would evolve into fights. Then the adults would have to come separate us and give someone or all whippings.
Grandmother was diabetic in her later years. Dr. Waters knew she would “just a little taste” herself into too much and so he always upped her insulin for the holidays. There would be turkey with dressing, canned cranberry sauce and whole berry made from scratch, corn bread and biscuits, a ham and candied sweet potatoes and some orange pecan sweet potatoes. There would be some mostly iceberg lettuce with Thousand Island dressing. Sometimes there would be cold slaw, sauerkraut, and boiled cabbage. No, greens were not a popular fall thing in Oklahoma. There would be green beans, green bean casserole, and corn from the garden both on the cob and creamed corn. There was always a plate of home canned pickles, usually several varieties. There were usually some navy beans and baked beans (like we needed more gas) and certainly some sort of squash something. There may have been some noodle or rice casseroles. Biscuits and cornbread weren’t enough bread. They would add brown and server rolls and white bread. There were mashed potatoes, new potatoes, and canned peas. There sometimes was pea salad, carrot salad, and grape/cranberry salad. The Jell-O salads changed from year to year but someone always made orange Jell-O carrot salad that no one every ate or liked.
Then came the desserts. I remember Mother making an apple pecan cake every year. The banana nut cake got replace with a Scotch chocolate cake with pecan sugary icing. That was replaced with an Italian cocoanut pecan cream cake with cream cheese icing with pecans and cocoanut. Aunt Margie would make a cocoanut cake or chocolate cake or strawberry cake too. Mother wasn’t very good a piecrust but that didn’t stop her from making pies. When frozen crust became available at the stores that made it even easier. She made lemon meringue, chocolate, a really good cocoanut cream, banana cream, and one called Jefferson Davis chess pie. Sometimes she made pecan and pumpkin pies too. There were frequently chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies. Aunt Margie brought many of the same kinds. There was ice cream and whip cream (later cool whip).
One year Grandmother decided to make a pie. The sisters said she made them every year but had stopped when the diabetes came on. It was a butter chess pie – butter, eggs, and sugar. It was decadent – and really good. Mother and Daddy had to hand churn butter when they were growing up. They grew to hate the tasted and smell of butter immensely. They didn’t care for the taste of the butter pie so Grandmother never made it again. I was disappointed but it wasn’t like there wasn’t anything good to replace it.
All you can eat buffets have nothing on a Southern Oklahoma Thanksgiving dinner that shows influence of the tribal potlash ceremonies. There was this Italian Yankee at O.U. who tried to claim his Italian family gathering had an unbeatable spread, but he hadn’t been to one of my family’s holiday dinners. The “potlash” ceremony among farming tribes was a “being” by itself. They were such abundant holiday traditions.
So this year Doug was down in Florida with his family. Azure, Kyler, and Miko have moved away and so has Jeremy. I was going to be alone. Azure sent friends. The first came with a plate of food and the second brought a card and arrived while the first was still here. They left and a while later all of Jeremy’s siblings and girlfriends and cousins came bringing me some of Big Mamas Southern Soul Thanksgiving cooking. As they left another young man arrived. I gave him some pie and found out later that he had stayed home and not had any Thanksgiving dinner. I had a smoked breast and some cranberry sauce and the plate from Jeremy’s grandmother had enough for several meals that I could have shared had I known. I had a wonderful day. I didn’t have to cook but I still had a full dishwasher. I was pleasantly full and tired but so happy.
Thanksgiving memories and traditions – sometimes don’t change, but kids grow up, grandparents and parents pass away. The kids grow up and move away following their own life journey. Sometimes couples have to be apart. It’s sad when you spend Thanksgiving thinking about what was. It is more fun to make new traditions. I didn’t cook for days. I received some Thanksgiving dinner from other families without having too much leftover food along with dirty dishes, pots, and pans. I had a wonderful day. And next year? Well, we will see. It will be filled with some more New Traditions!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Praying When we are Grieving
by Katherine Ari, November 30, 2009
I have a large number of friends who have just lost loved ones in the last few months, especially in November. First, the former editor/owner of the hometown local newspaper passed away the same day as Michael Jackson. Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and Patrick Swayze died. These were all icons in their own way. Another hometown death was Aunt Dale. Most of us who grew up there know who she was and what she meant to her family as well as hundreds of other people over the many years.
One of my classmates had several ailing relatives dying at the same time. Another’s dad died. At our reunion a beautiful mom in her nineties joined us. She passed last week quite quickly
A couple of Sunday’s ago, a close friend was crying at church. He told me his dad had died the night before. And it has been only 3 weeks since another friend of 20 years out here in Douglasville had his mom pass away. Yesterday, at church again, I hugged a friend, David Michael. I can’t explain what I felt but I knew something just wasn’t right. “What’s going on?” He knew he couldn’t pretend with me. “My dad died last week,” he answered me.
My home girl, Gem, lost her father-in-law Thursday, Thanksgiving night. On Saturday, my class website posted that a classmate’s wife passed away after a battle with cancer. And when I got home from church, I checked the website and found classmate Stanley’s cancer had taken his life too. And a young friend had a break up and 2 deaths in his family, one a suicide. There are a few more that have happened in the last few weeks.
So many people I care about are grieving. I’ve been on that road. My parents have both passed – 10 and 11 years ago. Doug’s Grandmother Nordquist died at age 89. Then his other Grandpa Roy at 95 and Grandma Eva died as 99 in February of 2003. Later that year, the most devastating death of all happened when his 48-year-old sister died the day before Thanksgiving suddenly.
The thing is most of us have some sort of belief in an afterlife. Most of us believe that our loved ones and friends are met by those gone before them and that they are no longer in pain, going to a new and better life.
Many people say to pray for them and pray to get through the sorrow, the hard times, the pain and grief. Prayer, like God as we understand God, means different things to different people. The atheist, and there are some among us, finds no comfort for their grief in the idea of talking to a mythical bearded white skinned man out there in the clouds in the sky. But their pain and grief are just as real as the fundamentalist.
My minister and teacher, Paul, was at a city hall type meeting and was asked to say a prayer. He thought about it. Knowing there were many belief systems represented there, especially traditional Christians, how could he “pray” a prayer for everyone? He started with, “What do I know about God?” So in order to make a statement that is for everyone, I have started with what I know about God or Love.
I know there is a power for Good in the Universe. It is the force behind all of creation, the beginning point of all that exist. It is present everywhere in everything all the time. It is available for us to use in our lives. It does its work through us and how we choose to use it creates our personal experience of life. Even someone who choose not to believe in a supernatural being can see that there is something that is the beginning that sets things in motion. We all know that the stronger our faith and beliefs are that we can create anything. One can say it came from me, it came from God working through me, or it came from God outside of me. I personally call it Universal Energy or God but for me it is not a man God. I believe; therefore I use the power for Good and for Love.
Many of us are sad. Many feel loss. My classmate Stanley was quite a character. A book about him would be funny and inspirational, but I don’t think there would be space enough to say everything and really tell his whole story.
Grief is a personal experience. We are sad because the physical presence of the one who has passed is gone. We lose the moments of sharing time with them, looking at their smiling faces, feeling their love in the same room. A part of us has gone away forever. Life brings us all sorts of changes in our relationships. With death, the physical one on one relationship is over and you can’t get it back. We cry – but that really is okay!
We want to say in our prayer, “God, I miss my loved one so much. I know they are okay but it still hurts me. I miss them. I wasn’t ready for them to go! I wasn’t done yet needing them in my life.” And when you get to this point, you can keep crying, complaining, and lamenting. When you truly believe in this ultimate power for Good we call God, then after you have cried until you feel you can cry no more, BE STILL. Let the Love you know is God, is this Universal Force come into your consciousness, holding you, healing you, cradling and nurturing you, and carrying you through a hard part of existence. And if you are atheist and grieving, you do know love and how it feels, so think of feeling Love. The part of the person who has left us that we long for IS love. We may have to cry a while but the memories of the love and joy will not leave. Love is infinite, unlimited by time and space.
When Mother died and even now, when I open my heart to what I know is God, is Love, in its purest unconditional form, when I feel sorrow and tears flow once again, I can feel both Mother and Daddy with me holding me tenderly. I still miss the conversations about food on Thanksgiving and football discussions. I miss a card and small birthday check on November 22. I do not deny that memories and longing don’t enter my mind because they still pass through at times. And I hear, “I’m right here. Happy birthday!” It’s Daddy’s voice whispering to my inner soul ears.
I am grateful for the love of those who have moved on to another life. I am grateful for their lives and how they contributed to me, to my friends, and classmates. We have all been so fortunate to have each one in our life. I don’t say goodbye. I say, “See ya!”
Thank you for Love. I know I will heal, that I am healing, that I AM healed. God as I understand God is with each of us all the time. Love heals what causes the pain. Love is unlimited. Cry but let go of the anger, the judgments, the fear, any of that with each tear falling down your face. Let go. Let God. Let Love fill you and make you whole. Know that everywhere in your body where you feel some part of you is now missing is filled with Love and always is filled with whole, perfect, complete Love.
And that’s what I know about God and grief and Love. And so it is.
I have a large number of friends who have just lost loved ones in the last few months, especially in November. First, the former editor/owner of the hometown local newspaper passed away the same day as Michael Jackson. Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and Patrick Swayze died. These were all icons in their own way. Another hometown death was Aunt Dale. Most of us who grew up there know who she was and what she meant to her family as well as hundreds of other people over the many years.
One of my classmates had several ailing relatives dying at the same time. Another’s dad died. At our reunion a beautiful mom in her nineties joined us. She passed last week quite quickly
A couple of Sunday’s ago, a close friend was crying at church. He told me his dad had died the night before. And it has been only 3 weeks since another friend of 20 years out here in Douglasville had his mom pass away. Yesterday, at church again, I hugged a friend, David Michael. I can’t explain what I felt but I knew something just wasn’t right. “What’s going on?” He knew he couldn’t pretend with me. “My dad died last week,” he answered me.
My home girl, Gem, lost her father-in-law Thursday, Thanksgiving night. On Saturday, my class website posted that a classmate’s wife passed away after a battle with cancer. And when I got home from church, I checked the website and found classmate Stanley’s cancer had taken his life too. And a young friend had a break up and 2 deaths in his family, one a suicide. There are a few more that have happened in the last few weeks.
So many people I care about are grieving. I’ve been on that road. My parents have both passed – 10 and 11 years ago. Doug’s Grandmother Nordquist died at age 89. Then his other Grandpa Roy at 95 and Grandma Eva died as 99 in February of 2003. Later that year, the most devastating death of all happened when his 48-year-old sister died the day before Thanksgiving suddenly.
The thing is most of us have some sort of belief in an afterlife. Most of us believe that our loved ones and friends are met by those gone before them and that they are no longer in pain, going to a new and better life.
Many people say to pray for them and pray to get through the sorrow, the hard times, the pain and grief. Prayer, like God as we understand God, means different things to different people. The atheist, and there are some among us, finds no comfort for their grief in the idea of talking to a mythical bearded white skinned man out there in the clouds in the sky. But their pain and grief are just as real as the fundamentalist.
My minister and teacher, Paul, was at a city hall type meeting and was asked to say a prayer. He thought about it. Knowing there were many belief systems represented there, especially traditional Christians, how could he “pray” a prayer for everyone? He started with, “What do I know about God?” So in order to make a statement that is for everyone, I have started with what I know about God or Love.
I know there is a power for Good in the Universe. It is the force behind all of creation, the beginning point of all that exist. It is present everywhere in everything all the time. It is available for us to use in our lives. It does its work through us and how we choose to use it creates our personal experience of life. Even someone who choose not to believe in a supernatural being can see that there is something that is the beginning that sets things in motion. We all know that the stronger our faith and beliefs are that we can create anything. One can say it came from me, it came from God working through me, or it came from God outside of me. I personally call it Universal Energy or God but for me it is not a man God. I believe; therefore I use the power for Good and for Love.
Many of us are sad. Many feel loss. My classmate Stanley was quite a character. A book about him would be funny and inspirational, but I don’t think there would be space enough to say everything and really tell his whole story.
Grief is a personal experience. We are sad because the physical presence of the one who has passed is gone. We lose the moments of sharing time with them, looking at their smiling faces, feeling their love in the same room. A part of us has gone away forever. Life brings us all sorts of changes in our relationships. With death, the physical one on one relationship is over and you can’t get it back. We cry – but that really is okay!
We want to say in our prayer, “God, I miss my loved one so much. I know they are okay but it still hurts me. I miss them. I wasn’t ready for them to go! I wasn’t done yet needing them in my life.” And when you get to this point, you can keep crying, complaining, and lamenting. When you truly believe in this ultimate power for Good we call God, then after you have cried until you feel you can cry no more, BE STILL. Let the Love you know is God, is this Universal Force come into your consciousness, holding you, healing you, cradling and nurturing you, and carrying you through a hard part of existence. And if you are atheist and grieving, you do know love and how it feels, so think of feeling Love. The part of the person who has left us that we long for IS love. We may have to cry a while but the memories of the love and joy will not leave. Love is infinite, unlimited by time and space.
When Mother died and even now, when I open my heart to what I know is God, is Love, in its purest unconditional form, when I feel sorrow and tears flow once again, I can feel both Mother and Daddy with me holding me tenderly. I still miss the conversations about food on Thanksgiving and football discussions. I miss a card and small birthday check on November 22. I do not deny that memories and longing don’t enter my mind because they still pass through at times. And I hear, “I’m right here. Happy birthday!” It’s Daddy’s voice whispering to my inner soul ears.
I am grateful for the love of those who have moved on to another life. I am grateful for their lives and how they contributed to me, to my friends, and classmates. We have all been so fortunate to have each one in our life. I don’t say goodbye. I say, “See ya!”
Thank you for Love. I know I will heal, that I am healing, that I AM healed. God as I understand God is with each of us all the time. Love heals what causes the pain. Love is unlimited. Cry but let go of the anger, the judgments, the fear, any of that with each tear falling down your face. Let go. Let God. Let Love fill you and make you whole. Know that everywhere in your body where you feel some part of you is now missing is filled with Love and always is filled with whole, perfect, complete Love.
And that’s what I know about God and grief and Love. And so it is.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
“God is Love.”
[The following is a treatment submitted to Holiday Treatments for the Soul, a small publication by the Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta of Treatments by our Practitioners and Interns and Ministers. It will come out in December probably.]
God is Love. Love is God. Love - God is omnipresent all the time but during the Holidays even the non-religious person turns their focus towards Love as it physically manifest in family and friends. I am excited to embrace the feelings of this season because no other time during the year is there so much potential to feel the Love of God through others. There is only One Love. It’s all One Power. What do I know about the Holidays and Love? I know what I always know. God is Love and it manifests in physical form through me as Love, Joy, Health, Peace, and Prosperity. I see Love in everyone behind the shopping, the packages, and the false stress on the surface. The truth is Love.
Everywhere I go, everyone I see, everything I do has Love, is Love. So much Joy fills my heart I have to give it to others. There is nothing but Love in my heart now through the Holiday Season. I am so grateful for this wonderful feeling in and around me. It fills me up and there is no room for anything else.
With these words, I give their meaning to the universe and walk in a world of Infinite Love. So it is.
Katherine Wheelus Dannels
God is Love. Love is God. Love - God is omnipresent all the time but during the Holidays even the non-religious person turns their focus towards Love as it physically manifest in family and friends. I am excited to embrace the feelings of this season because no other time during the year is there so much potential to feel the Love of God through others. There is only One Love. It’s all One Power. What do I know about the Holidays and Love? I know what I always know. God is Love and it manifests in physical form through me as Love, Joy, Health, Peace, and Prosperity. I see Love in everyone behind the shopping, the packages, and the false stress on the surface. The truth is Love.
Everywhere I go, everyone I see, everything I do has Love, is Love. So much Joy fills my heart I have to give it to others. There is nothing but Love in my heart now through the Holiday Season. I am so grateful for this wonderful feeling in and around me. It fills me up and there is no room for anything else.
With these words, I give their meaning to the universe and walk in a world of Infinite Love. So it is.
Katherine Wheelus Dannels
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