No Time for Pessimism

Just watched the movie Home by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Such a beautiful film with a vitally important message. You can watch the full film at YouTube until June 14th. Visit the channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/homeproject

As a people, we live under a shroud of fear. The shroud was created long ago and it's based on a myth.

The myth is scarcity.

The myth started as a means of keeping the masses under control. The negativity of a lie is impossible to harness indefinitely, and eventually it came to envelop everyone, even those who created it.

So what do we do now?

Consider our lives lived in quicksand. The more you struggle, the faster you sink. Calm down and look around you. What can you grab onto to pull yourself out?

What organizations are already in place to help slow and reverse the destruction of our home?

Calm down. Look around you. Grab onto that branch or rocky protrusion that you maybe didn't notice before in your frenzied state and slowly, carefully, pull yourself out of this muck.

You can do it.

i'm a prize. you're a catch. we're a perfect match.

Bleed the pot
When you're hot you're hot
And when enough is enough
Do the fakers drop out?
Promise me
You will always be
Too awake to be famous
Too wired to be safe
But all you really wanted
Was everything
Plus everything
And the truth
I only poured you
Half a lie

Carry on
It's a marathon
Take me off the list
I don't want to be missed
Carrion
Its what we all become
From small minds and tall trees
Away from the action
But all you ever wanted
Was everything
And everything
Plus the truth
I only poured you
Half a lie
Half a lie

Visions of Paradise

The Prophet speaks... and it is clear where we're headed.

Can you see this as clearly as I do? Where do you see yourself going? Know that you and you alone have the power to create whatever you wish to see.

Best EVER!

Instant Karma

It is important to be thankful for all that occurs, whether we deem it good or bad. It is the Universe maintaining balance. Of course there are some deeds which we cannot immediately face having committed, but you will be faced with the karmic repercussion until you recognize how you alone created the situation surrounding those actions. Avoid blame, for it is important not to blame anyone including yourself.

Allow empowerment - it is your natural state.

Can You Handle Love?

I've heard the song "5 Years" by Björk on a loop in my head. Today I thought about the lyrics "I'm so bored, of cowards, that say that they want, then they can't handle." It's common to hear about love as something that we must handle. I've always thought of "handling" to mean that it is difficult. Today I realized that I'd like to think of love differently, as in, I'd like to think of it as something to "handle with care."

Love is precious, important and something we all want to experience. To create a visual of Love, let's think of it as a fragile object, like the ripe fruit of a tree. It requires attention and maintanence like watering while it is in bloom, but it also requires undisturbed time in direct sunlight. Pluck it from the tree too early, and the fruit does not develop fully and yield all of the nutrition it could. Hold the fruit too tightly, or transport it carelessly, and it is sure to bruise or break.

We often forget how precious love is and handle it as if it's a box of hammers rather than a delicate fruit. The delicate creation fades or ends abruptly which creates regret and longing, yet all the while we've maintained our entertainment systems, automobiles, jobs and wardrobes.

Is it so impossible to hold love as dear as the many other fleeting objects with which we are generally so careful?

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden...

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

--from Khalil Gibran's The Prophet

Yes, I am "bored of cowards who say they want and then they can't handle," but I do realize that as much as it would be reasonable to blame others I must ask "am I the coward who can't handle?" Honestly, yes, I've been that coward. As Gibran says, with all of the abuse you perceive to be coming from love, it is "the secrets of your heart" which you come to know.


Last night I participated in a cleansing ceremony during which I drank medicinal tea, which gave way for the full light of consciousness to shine upon the insanity of the mind. Yogi tea tag today reads "When ego is lost, limit is lost." I am grateful for this small reminder of big last night.

One of the many resolutions I've come to as as results of last night: It is nothing more than the ego reciting the program of "I'm sad my beloved is gone."

The light of love continues to guide me just as it always has.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Apartment Grown Food!

So easy, any city dweller can do it.

I've just started with a couple of herbs, basil and rosemary. Check out my first batch of fresh basil!



I wanted to do some internal house cleaning, so I ended up putting this whole batch into the blender with some olive oil, a splash of raw apple cider vinegar, sea salt and garlic. Made this into a dressing for a bulky salad of dandelion greens, sprouts, radish, nori seaweed bits, and just a few crushed walnuts.

It's great to eat a cleansing salad like this and the KEY is CHEW CHEW CHEW. Visualize the food inside of your mouth (no, you can't see it with your eyes, but you can see it with your tongue), and do not swallow until your food is chewed most excellently. Improper mastication is a real problem for one's digestive health.

Here's the rosemary plant!



I clipped several branches today and processed that with some Celtic sea salt to make rosemary salt. I sprinkled the salt on another cleansing salad and it was oh so nice. The salt is easy to make. Start with 1 part rosemary and 2 parts salt. In a food processor, pulse the herbs and add the salt in batches until fully combined and the rosemary is little tiny bits. Do not over do it - you just want the salt and rosemary to come together.


Another ritual I've acquired is brewing sun tea.


Green Tea with Acai and Lemon Grass (this is the second go with the lemon grass, which are the twigs you see in the bottle)

Sun brewing is great for any tea, but you really want to try this with delicate teas like green or white teas. Green teas generally need to brew at lower temperatures (175 degrees), and if you're pouring hot water from a kettle over the leaves it's best to let it steep for 3 and NOT MORE THAN 5 minutes, or else it will get bitter. You don't have to worry about all of those rules with sun tea. Throw your most delicate teas into a glass jar or bottle and leave it where it can get direct sunlight (the picture above was taken in the morning. it gets direct light later in the day). Just forget about it all day, then bring it in at night and voila! Perfectly brewed.

I happened to acquire some fresh dried lemon grass from a friend's garden, which I've been using for sun tea. This one is best after at least a day and a half, but normal teas usually just take a day. Play around with it and see what works for you. Try using any herbs or hearty flowers from your garden.

GREEN Life

This blog post is for anyone, but especially vegetarians and raw foodists. We seem to get so caught up in all of the different foods available. So many different types of fruit and vegetable, supplements, powders, and herbs. And now we have superfoods. Wow! How much there is to choose!

BUT

I MUST emphasize the importance of the basics. If you don't provide constant cleansing for your body, you will get all clogged up NO MATTER WHAT YOU'RE EATING. If you are on a raw food diet, or any kind of diet, you must get these two basics every day...

1. CHARGED WATER

2. GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES

You can throw all of your superfoods and herbs down the toilet if you do not incorporate these two massively important elements for any healthy lifestyle.

Human beings are identical to plants, and plants need water. When I say charged water, I mean water with structure or electrolytes. Your body cannot do much with water that does not contain electrolytes, and the water will end up taking from you rather than giving. There are many ways to charge water and I'm certainly no expert, but what I usually do is add a pinch of sea salt and/or a squeeze of lemon.

BEFORE I DO ANYTHING IN THE MORNING (and especially eat anything) I have a nice, big glass of clean water with a pinch of sea salt and about a teaspoon of MSM powder. If you're new to MSM, you can work your way up by starting with a small pinch. It's quite bitter so if you've passed the taste threshold with it just know that you can use a little less and still get great results. At least every other day I'll squeeze a lemon into the water. Lemon water is great for providing a burst of vitamins and it's very alkalizing. Helps keep you alkaline for the rest of the day.

It's best to drink water on an empty stomach and not within 30 minutes of eating. I believe the general rule about how much water to drink is the number of ounces of your body weight divided by 2. So, someone who weighs 100 lbs should drink about 50 ounces of water a day. The more raw food a person eats, the less water one can drink. David Wolfe says that a raw foodist can divide their body weight by 4 to determine the number of ounces of water to drink each day.

(Daniel Vitalis can tell you much more about water. And trust me, you want to know.)

Now, the GREENS.

Perhaps we're hearing the word "green" so much that people are beginning to block it out. But I have to say that if you never eat maca, chocolate, or hemp seeds again you'll be right as rain as long as you get your greens.

Victoria Boutenko breaks it down in this interview for Supreme Master TV. (Watch parts 1 and 2)



The first 4 letters of the word HEALTH is HEAL. Health is the process of continuous healing. CHLOROPHYLL IS ESSENTIAL for healing. We are constantly bombarded with destructive free radicals and toxins, so we need chlorophyll to repair the damage and flush these toxins out.

Greens can be hard to eat, so liquify them. I do have a juicer which I use a few times a week. I'll use it for a burst of nutrition when I don't want my body to have to work through the fiber (after a workout or in the morning). Unless I'm fasting, I use the juicer sparingly. It's also great to blend your greens. A wonderful standard recipe for a green smoothie is...

1 cup of seed milk or water

Sweeten with fruit like apple or tropical fruits like durian or mamey. A banana works great if it is an organic, farm fresh banana (I do not recommend giant bananas like Chiquita). You could also add agave nectar or raw honey.

2 cups of greens (dandelion, kale, chard, collards, broccoli, etc.)

It's great to add tumeric root, ginger root, and cinnamon to any juice or blended green drink. And always remember to chew everything that goes into your mouth. Chew each sip until you taste the sweetness. The act of chewing stimulates your body systems for proper digestion.

You will notice proper bowel regularity, enhanced mood, and a sweet little figure if you eat/drink your greens. Get at least two servings of greens a day. If you're on the the run, try a green powder like Pure Synergy for one of your servings.

Once your body is working properly at the basic level, then you can really start having fun with superfoods.