Today I woke up around 5am, not at all my usual time of late. Buzzing on all levels. My mind raced with insights, visions, inspirations: creating a magic Reiki chair for a local healing collective, traveling the world doing a Reiki/empowerment darshan; new forms of attunements and group healings; new websites; new teachings... My body buzzed with energy and I realized I had been making love with a huge crystal charged with the Bethlehem Grid and gifted to me by a dear friend and colleague. I remembered dreaming and visioning and rolling around with the crystal under my pillow, in my hand, on my body for what seemed like hours.
Then I remembered last night. I had gone to a wonderful meditation class with Michael at Beyond Spa. Meditation had gone well for me, much easier than the first class several months ago. As I write this I remember worrying about how it would go for me as I rushed to class last night, my mind racing with fears of scarcity and the quandries and decisions of website development along with ideas and brainstorms for said websites. More importantly I remember setting the intention to do well at the meditation class. In hindsight, it worked! The meditations went very well for me and I felt calm, collected, and aligned while I did each exercise. After we finished our meditations, we chatted and enjoyed a few slices of cinnamon dusted apples, and water. My mind started to think again as it is too apt to do, and I wondered what of the meditation would stick.
I walked out the door and down the street for a block with a friend before we parted ways. And then I spontaneously found myself running with joy to a fundraising event for The Grateful Mind & Body Health Collective. The event was amazing. I arrived as they were calling in the directions, and I could tangible feel the great power of their magic. I connected with a dear friend and enjoyed the evening, especially seeing the gifted Jason Mraz, whom radiates angelic connection to me. I knew I found the tribe I'd been seeking as I felt my powers of shapeshifting energy come into my consciousness. Powers I've felt before, but not so much lately. Knowing that I could watch these people transform themselves in front of my eyes if I offered my Reiki and energywork choreography to them. It was a powerful night. I felt excited to be alive again.
And so this morning as I enjoyed waking up and realizing how potent my dreams had been as I "slept". Waking up in the "ambrosia hours" of the predawn which are said to be so good for meditation and spiritual connection. Remembering other powerful times when I spontaneously woke up in all my magic in the Ambrosia Hours. I thought to myself, "wow, I guess the meditation class was really powerful for me last night... look what it did... I feel like a new person!". Then I thought, perhaps it was the rituals and magic at the fundraiser? Then I remembered how the past week I'd been working on my own charged website images, and feeling them. And I also discovered the Virtual Baba and Baba Institute, finding their charged websites very powerful. And then there was the Kundalini Yoga Class by Bhagvati Kaur last week. And last night I ran into a spiritual friend of mine who said he prayed for me daily. And I also remembered how I'd been setting intentions for myself all along lately to regain my magic, to be in the tantric state, to realign my practices/life/business.
And so, I don't really know which of these things is responsible for my fabulous state of being this morning. Perhaps all of them. Perhaps some of them. Perhaps one of them. Perhaps none of them. What do I want to believe, I suppose will be the "answer" if there needs to be one. I will likely write the Meditation Teacher, and talk to the others and thank them when I see them.
I often think things work like this. I mean when I do Reiki for someone and six months later see they have changed the way they intended during their Reiki session, I think..."see the Reiki worked". Sometimes it's instantaneous. Sometimes it's a part of a bigger process... in fact really it always is. To me the driving force is the client's intention, along with my intention to manifest people that experience amazing transformations through Reiki. And yet, the important thing is the change. Perhaps to manifest their intended lover, they have to change their job and move. Perhaps, to heal their cancer they have to change their diet and career. We don't always know when we ask for change what that will feel like in the multidimensional grid that defines our way of Being in a moment.
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And this morning as I soaked in the hot tub, I thought of another way of not knowing that I have discovered in myself... a way of not knowing that challenges me. And that is the not knowing we find when we try to give up our identity.
For several years, I have tried to just BE ... do what I Will, knowing, trusting the Universe to provide. Follow my heart... follow my passions... follow my intuition... listening, being present... and seeing how that takes me about the world as I work on my higher/broader intentions. I try to refrain from identifying as a Reiki Teacher/practitioner, or escort, or rock climber, or .... any of the other numerous things that I like to do... so that I can listen and Be in the moment. I try to let money come out of the sky rather than having to work for it in a particular way. Not that I am opposed to working for it. Just that I think it would be nice to listen in each moment to see what I am called to do, regardless of thoughts of money, support, and other "logical" restraints. To be able to Listen to see if I am called to walk down this street or that, to see if I am called to teach a particular person Reiki, to see if I am called to climb a particular rock, to see if I am called to be intimate with a particular person.
The challenge here, or one of them, is that I can't, or choose not rely on the pigeon holes that we try to put ourselves in. I try to leave space for making money not by doing Reiki. I try to leave space for not doing Reiki. I try to leave space for myself to do whatever I want or am called to do on a particular day. Obviously you can tell from how I write this, my intention... my reality is not clear... do I do what I want? do I do what I Will? do I follow my heart? do I follow my intuition? what if my intuition calls me to do something I don't think I want to do? That's a good one... one that has caught me more than a few times the past few years. There is no right and wrong, as I could define my reality however I choose. I try to remember to Be the reality that I do what I want (meaning what's in my heart), unless I don't know what I want to do, in which case I follow my intuition. And I tap into my ituition by following what glows. For instance a few years ago on the Big Island of Hawaii, it neared my planned departure date. But I was having a great time, and wondered if I really wanted to leave. I checked in, and found that I "felt" like it was time to go. Part of it is allowing ourselves to be Unconditional Loving wherever we are, and then going from one magical place to another... rather than creating dramas. At any rate, I left the Big Island, thankful for what I'd done there, knowing I could return, grieving briefly for the momentary transition, and embracing the next stop in Trust.
Lately my intuition has called me repeatedly to Ladakh, India. I don't know why. And sometimes I fight with my intuition. I mean India is no San Francisco. And for the queer guy that I am, San Francisco is one of the few places I feel that I fit in beyond the petty judgments of others. In India, I rarely feel like I fit in or am at home in that sense. Not that I don't feel at home wherever I am, but that well... there are a lot of levels to that. And it takes a lot of something to spend months in a culture where you never really know what is going on... where you are outside of most all of your own cultural norms.
Back to not knowing now. What I wanted to get at is that I find myself pondering every option because I don't try to maintain an identity. A few days ago I met a guy looking for people to work on a project manufacturing jet fuel from algae. It's exciting. Suddenly I found myself pondering staying in San Francisco to work on the project. Last night, I found myself pondering staying in San Francisco to work with the new healing collective. The meditation teacher talked of his experiences teaching monks English in Laos, and I pondered whether I might teach English to monks. Now if I were adamant in pigeon holing myself, like most of us are, I would have my identity as a Reiki Teacher, and just stick with that, and have blinders up to all the other opportunities. But because I am not attached to a particular livelyhood, I am constantly trying to figure out what the option/opportunity is for me in the moment.
The answer lays in feelings and meditation. To get myself so grounded in my awareness and knowingness. It reminds me of several years ago at the White Tantric Solstice Retreat in Florida, a teacher said he learned to find guidance when he was in a "high meditative/spiritual state"... then stick to whatever that guidance was until he was in another similar state of being that produced a different direction. That was his method for overcoming the petty fears, attachments, and distractions of the mind. That way, he would act out of trust and spiritual guidance, rather than acting out of fear. That's why we try to bring the meditative state into our "mundane" lives rather than isolating ourselves in caves forever.
This morning I realize, that the most excited I feel is when I get "amped up" into going to Ladakh once again this summer. I don't know why I feel called to go there. Certainly I like mountains and trekking, but there are easier places for that. Certainly, it's not the easiest place to go. And yet, the vibration for that idea of going there is much higher and more exciting than when I ponder the numerous other options that come across my path. And the road I shall try to walk is to head in that direction, yet always stopping to listen... Listen for redirection. Sometimes our Spirit baits us to get us prepared for something else. Sometimes the Universe changes. Perhaps I head to Ladakh to get "sidetracked" into some true calling when I pass through Bangkok.
Ahh... the fun of not knowing!!!
Showing posts with label Meditation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meditation. Show all posts
Friday, May 22, 2009
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Magical Mystical Country Creamer
Continuing in the vein of the mystical in the mundane, I encountered some real magic the other day. My 12 yo niece (who became vegetarian at age 4 when she found out that meat came from animals) was making a “milkshake” the other day. She was using something called “Country Creamer” since there wasn't any milk in the house. When I scoffed at the idea of making a milkshake with creamer, my niece exclaimed “It's Trans-fat free and sugar free!” I laughed in disbelief. “No, it is. It says so right there!”, she exclaimed pointing to the carton.
Thinking she was joking, I said, “Where?” and picked up the carton. I started reading the ingredients outloud, “Water, corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil. High fructose corn syrup, sodium caseinate (a milk derivative*), dipotassium phosphate, mono and diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate. (*not a source of lactose). Then in bold print: 'contains milk'.” I didn't know if the “contains milk” point was a warning or an announcement.
“Where”, I exclaimed, “where's the milk? It must be in the caseinate, I guess.” I said to my niece, “No, it's not fat free and sugar free... it's full of corn syrup!” “Uncle Rob! It is so sugar free... look there!” she said... and pointed to the “Nutrition Facts” table on the carton. Sure enough, it said 0 grams of sugar! And 0g of Trans Fat. It did have 1.5 of total fat... nothing much. My jaw dropped.
I wondered in amazement at how this corn syrup laden cocktail could be sugar free. Now this is truly magic!
Meanwhile my nephew pulled out the mint, cookies-and-cream frozen yogurt. I considered indulging in some. Then I read the label: nonfat milk, sugar, cultured nonfat milk*, corn syrup, cookies (sugar, wheat flour, partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oils, cocoa processed with alkali, corn syrup, corn flour, corn starch, chocolate, salt, sodium bicarbonate, natural & artificial flavor, lecithin), maltodextrin, calcium carbonate, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, mono & diglycerides, polysorbate 80, carrageenan, oil of peppermint, blue 1, yellow 4, vitamin A (*contains active yogurt cultures). I laughed at this magic... this stuff was more like milk and corn syrup with a dash of active yogurt culture! My mind went into shock worse than that from a cold mouth of ice cream at the thought of people who bought frozen yogurt thinking it was somehow healthier than ice cream.
Turns out the ice cream may have been the “healthiest” thing in the bunch made out of primarily milk and corn syrup.
My sister arrived home and was dismayed to learn that the Country Creamer wasn't cream and milk.. which is what one might assume “half and half” type products were. She happened to have another product other than “country creamer”, which called itself “half and half”. It's first three ingredients were nonfat milk, corn syrup, and cream. My sister was shocked to learn it wasn't simply milk and cream! She exclaimed, “I didn't know I was buying sugar or corn syrup!”
I grimaced at the thoughts of countless people buying these products, assuming they were simply milk and cream. I thought of all the diabetics who buy these things are are getting corn syrup without realizing it. Even sadder because the sugars somehow don't register on the nutritional labels. I thought of all the people thinking that this frozen yogurt was somehow healthier than ice cream. Reading juice labels makes me wonder how the FDA defines natural, fruit juice, and no additives. If you read your juice bottles, you will find it hard to avoid corn syrup. No wonder diabetes and obesity are burgeoning statistics. In researching proper water intake and hydration, I learned that drinking soda and juices is a major source of empty calories.
I thought of how these western products may someday overtake the third world, and how that might affect their health. Thailand and India already love their white sugar. Carnation sweetened condensed milk is quite popular in the street vendors of Thailand. In the Himalaya, a traditional soup was made with homemade noodles out of local grain flour. I noticed that in my recent trip I rarely found the homemade noodles in the soup... more often it was those little packets squiggly instant noodles. The homemade noodles fill me up... but those packaged ones don't stick to my ribs at all. Still, much of the diet in India and Thailand seems to be what I would consider “whole foods” made of fresh vegetables, meats, and whole grains. Corporate manufactured goods have made a few inroads with noodles and sauces, but the local vegetable and meat vendor still provide most of the food stuffs.
I don't know how I got started reading labels. I vaguely remember my mom telling me to check the salt and/or sugar contents on canned corn years ago. Somewhere along the line, I got so I always read the ingredients and nutritional content of whatever I buy. Somewhere I heard corn syrup wasn't so healthy and soon discovered that if you ruled out msg, excessive salt, sugar, and corn syrup, you would not buy much processed food. Even the “health food”, new aged vegetarian, and “organic” products are often full of “cane juice” or organic sugar. With the current understanding of fats, you might throw out the hydrogenated fats, and that would likely discard most of the grocery store. A year or two ago Hannaford Grocery started rating foods with a 1,2,3 star system according to the healthiest foodstuffs. It was quite admirable, as it pretty much dismissed the majority of the products they sold as being unhealthy! About the only thing that was considered healthy was fresh fruits and vegetables. I think pasta was neutral.
I thought everyone read the labels! I mean to me it's common sense. I want to know what I'm buying and what I'm eating. I learn interesting things about soymilks for instance. Filtered water is often the first ingredient. Second can sometimes be sugar or cane juice. Or it might actually be soybeans. I usually go for the brown rice syrup sweetened ones. Sometimes they are 80 cal/serving and other times up to 120 cal/serving. Some have more protein than others. So sometimes the bargain brands are just watered down! I especially enjoy reading the ingredients on things that say “just like Mom used to make”. They usually have something like modified food starch (which I've identified as a taste I don't enjoy), or di-postassium something or other that I never saw in my Mom's pantry.
I don't know how the FDA comes up with it's definitions. I read the ingredients on so called “natural” products and find things I wouldn't consider natural. Like cellulose in pre-grated Parmesan cheese; it keeps the bits of cheese from sticking together. I imagine cellulose also grates ones digestion! I've heard that “farm fresh” eggs can be up to a year old. I saw some goldfish crackers that said “natural”. They don't seem like natural fish to me! The flour in them is white and full of chemicals. Then they have baking powder, too. “natural” to me conjures images of whole grains, and simple foodstuffs. On a broader scale, it makes me think of things I could just pluck from the earth, though I am much too jaded now to expect that.
It's like the diaper service truck I saw that said “good for the Earth!” Like a truck and linen diapers somehow pamper Mother Earth? Now walking out and planting a tree, that might be good for the Earth! But extracting metals and chemicals to make laundry machines and soaps, and trucks and petrol, then burning coal to make electricity to pump the water out of the earth and spin the dirty diapers round and round, draining the soiled water into the ground, and bake them til they are toasty dry, to put them on junior's bottom? That's “good” for the Earth? I guess I'll go have a baby so I can help the Earth out! I know it's better than plastic disposable diapers. Just like “natural” gold fish are relatively closer to something that I might be able to produce on a farmstead.
I heard once that if you want something to have lots of flavor, you need salt, sugar, or fat. I don't think that's true. Look at a garden ripe tomato! But take a cardboard, factory farmed tomato, bred for storage and shipping qualities, and picked green, and you'd better add something to it! And so the food manufacturers do. If you ever take a break from processed foods, and reduce your salt, and sugar use, you will find that when you re-enter the world of processed food all you taste is salt or sugar. If you read the labels you will find, that the salt free things are laden with sugar, and vice versa. At first it will taste horrid to you. But if you keep at it a couple days, the processed stuff will taste normal to you. Plus they tend to be addictive... so you eat more and buy more. Ever wonder why it's hard to stop eating that bag of chips? There is even some evidence that corn syrup with it's empty calories keeps us hungry for more (http://www.thenutritionreporter.com/fructose_dangers.html and http://www.newstarget.com/003002.html)
Not that I put much stock in the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA )since I heard it was based on what fattened rats up in laboratories (lately I read that it's recommended levels... not optimum levels), but if you look at (RDA) and the serving sizes of your chips or cookies, you will find you can easily get all the fat and salt you need, quickly! Not to mention, the serving sizes often have no comparison to how much people actually eat. If you really want your dose of salt, read the label on tomato and vegetable juices!
What gets me is things like why do they add sugar to raisins? I love plain raisins. They are naturally sweet. Like adding sugar to sweet potatoes. You take a perfectly good food, and smother it's flavor. Well, I'm afraid I know part of the answer. In vegetable seed production, it's known that shipping quality and storage life are inversely proportional to flavor and nutrition. Further studies have shown that chemically produced vegetables are less tasty and nutritious than their organic counterparts. And because our nation is addicted to having seasonal vegetables and fruits in all seasons from all corners of the world, no doubt the flavor is sacrificed. In other things, like peanut butter, the manufacturers sell off the highly valued peanut oil, and replace it with cheap hydrogenated fats. Americans can stuff themselves full of cheapened foods.
I don't really understand why the people making this stuff make it like that. Do they really think it good? Tasty? Healthy? Are they that callous? I guess I can understand if they really believe in their product. Like my sister told me of a major multivitamin that was reported to be un-assimilateable because of the binders. Why does the company sell that stuff? Don't they care about their customers.
I try to love what I eat. I realize that in the quantum paradigm I have some stories about food that may not serve me. And yet I feel like I usually feel better and things taste better if they are more simple and closer to whole, natural, identifiable ingredients. On one hand, I feel like if someone is vibrating in Unconditional Love and Joy, and really loving their boxed, manufactured cream pie that's full of some of DuPont's best chemicals for better living, then that's fabulous! They will live a long and healthy life. But if you are not believing in what you are eating, and you are not feeling well, maybe reading the ingredients and choosing things differently will help you feel better.
I'd rather have real cream, fat yogurt, and milk, than processed additive laden 0 trans fat mumbo jumbo. I do like yogurt, but am amazed at how hard it can be to find yogurt. The low fat stuff is full of chemical fillers, and often hydrogenated something or other. The fruit flavored yogurt is full of sugars or corn syrup. Give me the cream on top yogurt that is pure any day! It tastes real! Somewhere I read a few years ago that the homogenized fats simply pass right through the intestinal walls into the bloodstream, while the natural fats are too big and slide right through the body. And gee when I get some “real” ice cream or yogurt, it is satisfying.
A few years ago I learned that Celtic sea salt has the same mineral content as blood. Compare that to iodized table salt (sodium chloride). I was told that table salt strips minerals out of the body. Celtic sea salt is pricey, but it does taste different... more fulfilling. I compare how I feel when I eat a bunch of cheap chips versus homemade popcorn with Celtic sea salt... the Celtic sea salt feels better to me.
A couple of years ago, I went camping with some friends and was shocked at what they purchased in the grocery store. I would say we are shared similar political convictions, favoring sustainable, small scale growth. For me, a trip to the grocery store is about nurturing myself, and trying to support sustainable businesses. It is a form of political action. My friends went willy nilly through the store loading the card with cheap foods. I have a system. I read labels. I avoid msg, hydrogenated fats, sugar, corn syrup, excess salt, and corporate conglomerates. I read the price. I compare the quality and quantity of calories per dollar.
They picked out a some noodle soups, 10 for a dollar. I found some that were three for a dollar, minus the msg. Later I got a headache. I told one of my friends I thought it might be from msg. He looked at me, Mr. Empowerment, and said, “I am surprised at you. For someone so empowered, you have a lot of negative stories about food!” For several years I have pondered that. On one level, it is true. Ram Das' guru ate a sheet of LSD with absolutely no effect. The last couple of years I have attempted to transcend my food “issues”... to eat what comes my way. Yet in my travels I have found that I look young for my age and am quite healthy relative to other people. I have tried to trek and travel when conditions seem less than ideal. I have tried to pray my body into hydration, and nutritional bliss. I think what I have found is it doesn't work. That it is perhaps easier to just drink more water or eat more appropriately. And yet, I will admit that I believe that if I were truly vibrating at my highest frequency, I could transcend perceived water and food needs. The challenge is what to do when we aren't feeling that vibration?
I've run across similar challenges in other paths. At one point, I realized that if I truly wanted to live sexually transmitted love and joy, perhaps I ought throw away condoms. At one point, I realized that if I truly wanted to trust a loving universe and ingest only love, I ought to throw away my water filter and bottled water. It is the same with foods. The resolution I came to for such things was to be in the moment. If the room was vibrating in total love and I had no fear of STD or HIV, then, sure, throw away the condom. But if the back of my mind was more in the front and loaded with fear and worry, then keep the condom.
The water snook up on me. A few months ago I sat in a room in Rishikesh. My stomach upset, I popped a mint-gel cap in my mouth and realized I had no drinking water. My throat began to burn from the mint. Yet I was in the midst of a mystical state. My body vibrated in energy. I didn't want to run out for drinking water. A bottle of sacred water from the Ganga in Varanasi sat on my altar. A voice said, “Drink the Ganga water!”. I thought, “no way.” Then before my eyes flashed the vision I had held for myself to laugh at the idea of the loving Earth poisoning us with water. I realized that this was indeed the time to try it. I knew it was OK. Because I was in such a state that I had little doubt. I was feeling the energy of the Universe. I drank some Ganga water. I was fine. My stomach upset cleared.
And so it is with food. If you are happy and healthy, don't bother changing what you are doing! If not, you can change your attitude through meditation, or change your body with your food choices.
I sit and write this. I want to throw out my food judgments. I realize what I want to focus on is Being the Vibration. And yet there seems a dilemma in that. Making food choices that suit me can carry me into the Vibration from the ground up. Making mind choices, and Meditating can bring me there from the Spirit down. We cannot depend on outside sources for our joy, and yet sometimes they can catalyze us into our joy.
The secret is to be Present. Perhaps in one moment, the corn syrup product is the thing to eat... and another moment it may be the pure cream. You can take in the corn syrup and pray it perfect for your body...you can love it. And you can also make other choices in other present moments.
And now back to our regular feature... the Country Creamer! I am truly amazed at how the Country Creamer can be full of corn syrup and yet contain “no sugars”! That is a modern miracle! Truly more mystical than my wildest Reiki session!
Enjoy what you eat! And read the labels if you dare! Be Mystical. Be Sensible. Be Either. Or Both!!!
Thinking she was joking, I said, “Where?” and picked up the carton. I started reading the ingredients outloud, “Water, corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil. High fructose corn syrup, sodium caseinate (a milk derivative*), dipotassium phosphate, mono and diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate. (*not a source of lactose). Then in bold print: 'contains milk'.” I didn't know if the “contains milk” point was a warning or an announcement.
“Where”, I exclaimed, “where's the milk? It must be in the caseinate, I guess.” I said to my niece, “No, it's not fat free and sugar free... it's full of corn syrup!” “Uncle Rob! It is so sugar free... look there!” she said... and pointed to the “Nutrition Facts” table on the carton. Sure enough, it said 0 grams of sugar! And 0g of Trans Fat. It did have 1.5 of total fat... nothing much. My jaw dropped.
I wondered in amazement at how this corn syrup laden cocktail could be sugar free. Now this is truly magic!
Meanwhile my nephew pulled out the mint, cookies-and-cream frozen yogurt. I considered indulging in some. Then I read the label: nonfat milk, sugar, cultured nonfat milk*, corn syrup, cookies (sugar, wheat flour, partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oils, cocoa processed with alkali, corn syrup, corn flour, corn starch, chocolate, salt, sodium bicarbonate, natural & artificial flavor, lecithin), maltodextrin, calcium carbonate, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, mono & diglycerides, polysorbate 80, carrageenan, oil of peppermint, blue 1, yellow 4, vitamin A (*contains active yogurt cultures). I laughed at this magic... this stuff was more like milk and corn syrup with a dash of active yogurt culture! My mind went into shock worse than that from a cold mouth of ice cream at the thought of people who bought frozen yogurt thinking it was somehow healthier than ice cream.
Turns out the ice cream may have been the “healthiest” thing in the bunch made out of primarily milk and corn syrup.
My sister arrived home and was dismayed to learn that the Country Creamer wasn't cream and milk.. which is what one might assume “half and half” type products were. She happened to have another product other than “country creamer”, which called itself “half and half”. It's first three ingredients were nonfat milk, corn syrup, and cream. My sister was shocked to learn it wasn't simply milk and cream! She exclaimed, “I didn't know I was buying sugar or corn syrup!”
I grimaced at the thoughts of countless people buying these products, assuming they were simply milk and cream. I thought of all the diabetics who buy these things are are getting corn syrup without realizing it. Even sadder because the sugars somehow don't register on the nutritional labels. I thought of all the people thinking that this frozen yogurt was somehow healthier than ice cream. Reading juice labels makes me wonder how the FDA defines natural, fruit juice, and no additives. If you read your juice bottles, you will find it hard to avoid corn syrup. No wonder diabetes and obesity are burgeoning statistics. In researching proper water intake and hydration, I learned that drinking soda and juices is a major source of empty calories.
I thought of how these western products may someday overtake the third world, and how that might affect their health. Thailand and India already love their white sugar. Carnation sweetened condensed milk is quite popular in the street vendors of Thailand. In the Himalaya, a traditional soup was made with homemade noodles out of local grain flour. I noticed that in my recent trip I rarely found the homemade noodles in the soup... more often it was those little packets squiggly instant noodles. The homemade noodles fill me up... but those packaged ones don't stick to my ribs at all. Still, much of the diet in India and Thailand seems to be what I would consider “whole foods” made of fresh vegetables, meats, and whole grains. Corporate manufactured goods have made a few inroads with noodles and sauces, but the local vegetable and meat vendor still provide most of the food stuffs.
I don't know how I got started reading labels. I vaguely remember my mom telling me to check the salt and/or sugar contents on canned corn years ago. Somewhere along the line, I got so I always read the ingredients and nutritional content of whatever I buy. Somewhere I heard corn syrup wasn't so healthy and soon discovered that if you ruled out msg, excessive salt, sugar, and corn syrup, you would not buy much processed food. Even the “health food”, new aged vegetarian, and “organic” products are often full of “cane juice” or organic sugar. With the current understanding of fats, you might throw out the hydrogenated fats, and that would likely discard most of the grocery store. A year or two ago Hannaford Grocery started rating foods with a 1,2,3 star system according to the healthiest foodstuffs. It was quite admirable, as it pretty much dismissed the majority of the products they sold as being unhealthy! About the only thing that was considered healthy was fresh fruits and vegetables. I think pasta was neutral.
I thought everyone read the labels! I mean to me it's common sense. I want to know what I'm buying and what I'm eating. I learn interesting things about soymilks for instance. Filtered water is often the first ingredient. Second can sometimes be sugar or cane juice. Or it might actually be soybeans. I usually go for the brown rice syrup sweetened ones. Sometimes they are 80 cal/serving and other times up to 120 cal/serving. Some have more protein than others. So sometimes the bargain brands are just watered down! I especially enjoy reading the ingredients on things that say “just like Mom used to make”. They usually have something like modified food starch (which I've identified as a taste I don't enjoy), or di-postassium something or other that I never saw in my Mom's pantry.
I don't know how the FDA comes up with it's definitions. I read the ingredients on so called “natural” products and find things I wouldn't consider natural. Like cellulose in pre-grated Parmesan cheese; it keeps the bits of cheese from sticking together. I imagine cellulose also grates ones digestion! I've heard that “farm fresh” eggs can be up to a year old. I saw some goldfish crackers that said “natural”. They don't seem like natural fish to me! The flour in them is white and full of chemicals. Then they have baking powder, too. “natural” to me conjures images of whole grains, and simple foodstuffs. On a broader scale, it makes me think of things I could just pluck from the earth, though I am much too jaded now to expect that.
It's like the diaper service truck I saw that said “good for the Earth!” Like a truck and linen diapers somehow pamper Mother Earth? Now walking out and planting a tree, that might be good for the Earth! But extracting metals and chemicals to make laundry machines and soaps, and trucks and petrol, then burning coal to make electricity to pump the water out of the earth and spin the dirty diapers round and round, draining the soiled water into the ground, and bake them til they are toasty dry, to put them on junior's bottom? That's “good” for the Earth? I guess I'll go have a baby so I can help the Earth out! I know it's better than plastic disposable diapers. Just like “natural” gold fish are relatively closer to something that I might be able to produce on a farmstead.
I heard once that if you want something to have lots of flavor, you need salt, sugar, or fat. I don't think that's true. Look at a garden ripe tomato! But take a cardboard, factory farmed tomato, bred for storage and shipping qualities, and picked green, and you'd better add something to it! And so the food manufacturers do. If you ever take a break from processed foods, and reduce your salt, and sugar use, you will find that when you re-enter the world of processed food all you taste is salt or sugar. If you read the labels you will find, that the salt free things are laden with sugar, and vice versa. At first it will taste horrid to you. But if you keep at it a couple days, the processed stuff will taste normal to you. Plus they tend to be addictive... so you eat more and buy more. Ever wonder why it's hard to stop eating that bag of chips? There is even some evidence that corn syrup with it's empty calories keeps us hungry for more (http://www.thenutritionreporter.com/fructose_dangers.html and http://www.newstarget.com/003002.html)
Not that I put much stock in the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA )since I heard it was based on what fattened rats up in laboratories (lately I read that it's recommended levels... not optimum levels), but if you look at (RDA) and the serving sizes of your chips or cookies, you will find you can easily get all the fat and salt you need, quickly! Not to mention, the serving sizes often have no comparison to how much people actually eat. If you really want your dose of salt, read the label on tomato and vegetable juices!
What gets me is things like why do they add sugar to raisins? I love plain raisins. They are naturally sweet. Like adding sugar to sweet potatoes. You take a perfectly good food, and smother it's flavor. Well, I'm afraid I know part of the answer. In vegetable seed production, it's known that shipping quality and storage life are inversely proportional to flavor and nutrition. Further studies have shown that chemically produced vegetables are less tasty and nutritious than their organic counterparts. And because our nation is addicted to having seasonal vegetables and fruits in all seasons from all corners of the world, no doubt the flavor is sacrificed. In other things, like peanut butter, the manufacturers sell off the highly valued peanut oil, and replace it with cheap hydrogenated fats. Americans can stuff themselves full of cheapened foods.
I don't really understand why the people making this stuff make it like that. Do they really think it good? Tasty? Healthy? Are they that callous? I guess I can understand if they really believe in their product. Like my sister told me of a major multivitamin that was reported to be un-assimilateable because of the binders. Why does the company sell that stuff? Don't they care about their customers.
I try to love what I eat. I realize that in the quantum paradigm I have some stories about food that may not serve me. And yet I feel like I usually feel better and things taste better if they are more simple and closer to whole, natural, identifiable ingredients. On one hand, I feel like if someone is vibrating in Unconditional Love and Joy, and really loving their boxed, manufactured cream pie that's full of some of DuPont's best chemicals for better living, then that's fabulous! They will live a long and healthy life. But if you are not believing in what you are eating, and you are not feeling well, maybe reading the ingredients and choosing things differently will help you feel better.
I'd rather have real cream, fat yogurt, and milk, than processed additive laden 0 trans fat mumbo jumbo. I do like yogurt, but am amazed at how hard it can be to find yogurt. The low fat stuff is full of chemical fillers, and often hydrogenated something or other. The fruit flavored yogurt is full of sugars or corn syrup. Give me the cream on top yogurt that is pure any day! It tastes real! Somewhere I read a few years ago that the homogenized fats simply pass right through the intestinal walls into the bloodstream, while the natural fats are too big and slide right through the body. And gee when I get some “real” ice cream or yogurt, it is satisfying.
A few years ago I learned that Celtic sea salt has the same mineral content as blood. Compare that to iodized table salt (sodium chloride). I was told that table salt strips minerals out of the body. Celtic sea salt is pricey, but it does taste different... more fulfilling. I compare how I feel when I eat a bunch of cheap chips versus homemade popcorn with Celtic sea salt... the Celtic sea salt feels better to me.
A couple of years ago, I went camping with some friends and was shocked at what they purchased in the grocery store. I would say we are shared similar political convictions, favoring sustainable, small scale growth. For me, a trip to the grocery store is about nurturing myself, and trying to support sustainable businesses. It is a form of political action. My friends went willy nilly through the store loading the card with cheap foods. I have a system. I read labels. I avoid msg, hydrogenated fats, sugar, corn syrup, excess salt, and corporate conglomerates. I read the price. I compare the quality and quantity of calories per dollar.
They picked out a some noodle soups, 10 for a dollar. I found some that were three for a dollar, minus the msg. Later I got a headache. I told one of my friends I thought it might be from msg. He looked at me, Mr. Empowerment, and said, “I am surprised at you. For someone so empowered, you have a lot of negative stories about food!” For several years I have pondered that. On one level, it is true. Ram Das' guru ate a sheet of LSD with absolutely no effect. The last couple of years I have attempted to transcend my food “issues”... to eat what comes my way. Yet in my travels I have found that I look young for my age and am quite healthy relative to other people. I have tried to trek and travel when conditions seem less than ideal. I have tried to pray my body into hydration, and nutritional bliss. I think what I have found is it doesn't work. That it is perhaps easier to just drink more water or eat more appropriately. And yet, I will admit that I believe that if I were truly vibrating at my highest frequency, I could transcend perceived water and food needs. The challenge is what to do when we aren't feeling that vibration?
I've run across similar challenges in other paths. At one point, I realized that if I truly wanted to live sexually transmitted love and joy, perhaps I ought throw away condoms. At one point, I realized that if I truly wanted to trust a loving universe and ingest only love, I ought to throw away my water filter and bottled water. It is the same with foods. The resolution I came to for such things was to be in the moment. If the room was vibrating in total love and I had no fear of STD or HIV, then, sure, throw away the condom. But if the back of my mind was more in the front and loaded with fear and worry, then keep the condom.
The water snook up on me. A few months ago I sat in a room in Rishikesh. My stomach upset, I popped a mint-gel cap in my mouth and realized I had no drinking water. My throat began to burn from the mint. Yet I was in the midst of a mystical state. My body vibrated in energy. I didn't want to run out for drinking water. A bottle of sacred water from the Ganga in Varanasi sat on my altar. A voice said, “Drink the Ganga water!”. I thought, “no way.” Then before my eyes flashed the vision I had held for myself to laugh at the idea of the loving Earth poisoning us with water. I realized that this was indeed the time to try it. I knew it was OK. Because I was in such a state that I had little doubt. I was feeling the energy of the Universe. I drank some Ganga water. I was fine. My stomach upset cleared.
And so it is with food. If you are happy and healthy, don't bother changing what you are doing! If not, you can change your attitude through meditation, or change your body with your food choices.
I sit and write this. I want to throw out my food judgments. I realize what I want to focus on is Being the Vibration. And yet there seems a dilemma in that. Making food choices that suit me can carry me into the Vibration from the ground up. Making mind choices, and Meditating can bring me there from the Spirit down. We cannot depend on outside sources for our joy, and yet sometimes they can catalyze us into our joy.
The secret is to be Present. Perhaps in one moment, the corn syrup product is the thing to eat... and another moment it may be the pure cream. You can take in the corn syrup and pray it perfect for your body...you can love it. And you can also make other choices in other present moments.
And now back to our regular feature... the Country Creamer! I am truly amazed at how the Country Creamer can be full of corn syrup and yet contain “no sugars”! That is a modern miracle! Truly more mystical than my wildest Reiki session!
Enjoy what you eat! And read the labels if you dare! Be Mystical. Be Sensible. Be Either. Or Both!!!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Just 3 Minutes Per Day
I am continually amazed by the power of intention and prayer.
I remember several years ago trying to break some depression due to a failed relationship. I set the intention to be a channel of unconditional love and joy the next day... to be happy. The next morning I woke up having forgotten my prayer. I worked through the morning grogginess and suddenly found myself having a great day for no apparent reason. Then I remembered my prayers the night before.
A few weeks ago, I felt myself floundering and made a list of short term goals. Four were mundane about things to do in Rishikesh. One was to be a "meditative sadhu bliss shaman"... which carries a particular image I have of myself. I realized that of my five short term intentions, that was the one I had the most control over as the others related to things with other people. And furthermore, that if I achieved that one, nothing else would matter... everything would flow... or at least I would be blissful! The next day I found myself spontaneously triggered into a blissful and mystical state while I listened to a tedious ego based debate on enlightenment! Everyday since then I have found myself achieving a blissful mystical state at odd times as I go about my day. I remember to think about my intentions and pray a few moments a day, and oft times find myself forgetting the intentions... only to be grabbed by Spirit and put into the state as I roam about.
I've been trying to meditate more formally, yet find myself no expert. And often my attention span is short. And yet Spirit grabs me! The Universe supports my momentary prayers!
Just a few moments of remembering can trigger profound changes!
So I urge you to just take even a moment. Remember, prayer, ask for change or bliss or whatever you might like to BE!
I wish you enlightenment in the best sense of the word! May you be Blissful!
I remember several years ago trying to break some depression due to a failed relationship. I set the intention to be a channel of unconditional love and joy the next day... to be happy. The next morning I woke up having forgotten my prayer. I worked through the morning grogginess and suddenly found myself having a great day for no apparent reason. Then I remembered my prayers the night before.
A few weeks ago, I felt myself floundering and made a list of short term goals. Four were mundane about things to do in Rishikesh. One was to be a "meditative sadhu bliss shaman"... which carries a particular image I have of myself. I realized that of my five short term intentions, that was the one I had the most control over as the others related to things with other people. And furthermore, that if I achieved that one, nothing else would matter... everything would flow... or at least I would be blissful! The next day I found myself spontaneously triggered into a blissful and mystical state while I listened to a tedious ego based debate on enlightenment! Everyday since then I have found myself achieving a blissful mystical state at odd times as I go about my day. I remember to think about my intentions and pray a few moments a day, and oft times find myself forgetting the intentions... only to be grabbed by Spirit and put into the state as I roam about.
I've been trying to meditate more formally, yet find myself no expert. And often my attention span is short. And yet Spirit grabs me! The Universe supports my momentary prayers!
Just a few moments of remembering can trigger profound changes!
So I urge you to just take even a moment. Remember, prayer, ask for change or bliss or whatever you might like to BE!
I wish you enlightenment in the best sense of the word! May you be Blissful!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Reiki: Total Devotion and Enlightenment
Reiki is such a gift. It is such magic. It is so powerful when we totally embrace it.
A useful meditation from William Lee Rand is to do Reiki on yourself, with the following thought: "I surrender completely to the Reiki energy and the Source from which it comes."
Reiki is Divine and goes only to highest good. So there is no need for fear.
And if you realize that there is absolutely no reason you (if you are giving Reiki to yourself) or the person you are giving Reiki to ought not to be healed, whole, healthy, and blissful, then you will find Reiki miraculous! You will not limit your use of Reiki. Why should we hold onto Karma? Why should we hold onto limitations?
After my Reiki III attunement I went into three months of deep intestinal cleansing (i.e., diarrhea). I tried this and that. Finally, one night I said, "This is silly! I'm a Reiki Master and I've been helping other people heal themselves of all sorts of afflictions. I can heal THIS!" I put my hands on my belly and it grew all warm inside and I was done with the diarrhea!
Futher, when you bring Reiki into your meditation of life, keeping awareness of it as you go about your day, you discover universal Oneness. You walk down the street, perhaps chanting "Mother I feel you under my feet, Mother I feel your heartbeat, heya heya heya, ya heya heya ho, heya heya heya hey-ya ho!" (a chant I learned at a Rainbow gathering years ago). You feel the Reiki energy all around you. You realize that it pervades everything.
You realize that when you are angry at someone, the best thing to do is send them Reiki. What could be better than their own healing and "enlightenment"? You give it to yourself.
Reiki can be another form of meditation. It can be another way to tap into superconsciousness. It can be another way to tap into Oneness.
When you realize that Reiki aka Life Force aka Unconditional Love, you can see the world through total "bhakti" or devotion.
It's amazing!
Reiki is such a gift! I feel like everyone should have the gift of Reiki. To this end, I send you free distance Reiki energy right now! And I will shortly be announcing free Reiki I attunements for whoever wishes to receive them!
A useful meditation from William Lee Rand is to do Reiki on yourself, with the following thought: "I surrender completely to the Reiki energy and the Source from which it comes."
Reiki is Divine and goes only to highest good. So there is no need for fear.
And if you realize that there is absolutely no reason you (if you are giving Reiki to yourself) or the person you are giving Reiki to ought not to be healed, whole, healthy, and blissful, then you will find Reiki miraculous! You will not limit your use of Reiki. Why should we hold onto Karma? Why should we hold onto limitations?
After my Reiki III attunement I went into three months of deep intestinal cleansing (i.e., diarrhea). I tried this and that. Finally, one night I said, "This is silly! I'm a Reiki Master and I've been helping other people heal themselves of all sorts of afflictions. I can heal THIS!" I put my hands on my belly and it grew all warm inside and I was done with the diarrhea!
Futher, when you bring Reiki into your meditation of life, keeping awareness of it as you go about your day, you discover universal Oneness. You walk down the street, perhaps chanting "Mother I feel you under my feet, Mother I feel your heartbeat, heya heya heya, ya heya heya ho, heya heya heya hey-ya ho!" (a chant I learned at a Rainbow gathering years ago). You feel the Reiki energy all around you. You realize that it pervades everything.
You realize that when you are angry at someone, the best thing to do is send them Reiki. What could be better than their own healing and "enlightenment"? You give it to yourself.
Reiki can be another form of meditation. It can be another way to tap into superconsciousness. It can be another way to tap into Oneness.
When you realize that Reiki aka Life Force aka Unconditional Love, you can see the world through total "bhakti" or devotion.
It's amazing!
Reiki is such a gift! I feel like everyone should have the gift of Reiki. To this end, I send you free distance Reiki energy right now! And I will shortly be announcing free Reiki I attunements for whoever wishes to receive them!
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