Monday, March 20, 2017

PurePet - The Humane Dilemma



Most of us have an affinity for our fellow earthlings, we are curious, fascinated, protective but not all of us have cultivated compassion or respect and how we treat our fellow animals dovetails into how we also treat each other.
Pet.  The word seems to demean but really, it doesn't, or shouldn't.  A pet is something treasured, held upon a pedestal, something adored, loved, something set apart which brings joy to life.  I realise they can also pee on the carpet, wreck the potted plants and chew through a sofa (untrained and unsupervised) but the point is that this word,  when created, was meant as a description and meant in the most positive of ways.  
Humane comes from human.  Anything inhumane is something considered barbaric, subhuman, a treatment beneath us, shocking and atrocious, what one wouldn't ever do.  And yet barbarism, as well as amazing grace and altruism is within our scope, how we are all wired, even the meekest of us.
I have studied the animal condition at great length, read books, watched films and seen what cannot be unseen on the atrocities of farm animals, both dairy and the meat industry.  Perhaps it is simply that social media is now a thing which brings it all to light, but there seems to be far more violence perpetrated upon our fellow animals these days, from kicking a cat to tricking a dog into picking up a firecracker.  It makes my heart ill to see these innocents mistreated because I know now, how they tick, how they think.
As a kid I was not as patient with a bird as I should have been and once over punished a cat I adored.  Both forgave me but the pain of my actions, both immediately afterwards and later have served to remind me that I, too, have the capability of evil, of unkindness,  a set of expectations that, when not met, harbour such impatience within me.  I have evolved, grown in my awareness and understanding, however these two childhood episodes confirmed for me that I am not exempt from and must ever be mindful of my ill-actions, to take power over them, so that I walk the planet ever mindful to cause less harm.
I often wonder about God.  I was brought up that we were created in his image and we are to have dominion, guardianship, over all the animals, land and sea.  I know how we treat them., and I often wonder, what happened because we have fallen so far.  How did we travel such distance in our nature from a creator who made all of them and us in his image?  Or perhaps our creator just has far more control over himself than most of us do. 
Animals continue to amaze and inspire me.  They generally have a lot of self-control and patience, such as with their young and with us too.  They are clear in their messages, in their communication of their needs and wants and can be exceedingly loyal and loving, and forgiving.  I like the way that they tend to live life in the present, and with hope for goodness.  Now, I typically wake up in a good mood, but my mind may be on various things, my daily morning chores, for example. I have timelines in my head.  And I used to have a corporate job to go to.  Now that I don't need to pad down to my office and check the laptop by 7 am, I have really enjoyed observing my bed mates in the morning.  Our Doberman, Rhett, likes his belly rubs and rolls over (generally ONLY in the morning after waking) for a belly rub.  I brush his fur, clean his ears, brush his teeth, tell him how handsome he is and he totally gets everything I am doing.
If the kitties have already gotten up, they run over to me when they hear me stir.   It's time to share the joy of a new day with me.  I am honored by their sweet greeting.  I am glad for the time not to rush all this, as I had done for countless years.  None of us knows the hours or the days we have left so treasuring now is what they have taught me. 
Once Rhett's feet hit the floor, he grabs a toy and this lets me know his mood.  I also like that his first thought for the day is fun.  What is our first thought for the day?  How often is our first thought on fun?
When I leave the house and return, there again, I get the marvellous greeting home.  They bring such dimension to our lives, each one in their own special way.   We are rushing around, driven by work, chores, finances, keeping house and socializing.  Our fur companions are focused on joy, on play, on being with us, living in the present, getting some yummy food, excercise and relaxation.  When you watch and learn about farm animals or all the exotics in the wild, if you spend enough time with them, you see all these amazing and unique personalities come into play and learn from each experience. And, like any relationship, time adds layers of complexity, of grace and trust and adds to the sweetness of life.
When it is said that the meek shall inherit the earth, I often wonder who that will be.  PS That's Loki inside the planter and Hydra next to it.
Recommended Reading:

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

LOVE, GOD, SEX, RESPONSIBILITY and RESPECT

What is love?  Where is God?  The body is a temple. I believe when we clean and green what we put into our bodies, we gain spiritual benefits which change our scope and capacity for love, empathy, being fully present, better able to take responsibility and grow boundless kindness.
Conversely, when we over pollute our bodies, with alcohol, sugars, processed foods, animal fats, we are completely disrespecting ourselves.  How can we come from a place of peace and be empowered to help others when we are not yet willing to put kindness first with ourselves?  When we disempower ourselves from the responsibility we all have to nurture and maintain our own health and happiness, how are we then able to truly give to another being in a balanced holistic way?
While sex is utilized for procreation, it can also bring us closer or, if used incorrectly, alienate us, use us up and make us feel disrespected.  Used to bring a couple together, it strengthens the bond, uplifts both parties and makes both feel wanted, needed, adored.  There are people who are confused about who they love, who they want or that they want to go orgy style and mix it up.  You can call that hedonism but you cannot really call that love.  Love needs nurturing and attention and to be made special.  When you are with different people with no faithfulness held you cannot be loving and nurturing, you are hedonistic, just out for yourself.  But being hedonistic also disempowers you along the way.  In sex, there is a spiritual oneness. And this is where God comes in.  Don't believe in God?  Have no spiritual affinity whatsoever?  Perhaps you are on the wrong blog, but stay with me a moment.  What about the order in the chaos when you look at how this world works?  I am not talking about what men have done to the planet, but actually how the world works, how the animals, the fish, the seas, the seasons, how everything beautifully ties together.  How could all this become, with such diversity, majesty and beauty out of complete and utter chaos?  I believe that it couldn't any other way but to have been created by someone who wanted to make all this happen.  Love is many nuances, vibe and responsibility.  Responsibility is feeding the cat because he's hungry and I do love him but I may not really feel like getting up and opening a tin for him.  I do it for love.  I clean the house, wash the dog, fix dinner, earn a living, all for love.  I stay faithful to my husband because I love him and not for any other reason.
Love is many nuances, vibe and responsibility.  Responsibility is feeding the cat because he's hungry and I do love him but I may not really feel like getting up and opening a tin for him.  I do it for love.  I clean the house, wash the dog, fix dinner, earn a living, all for love.  I stay faithful to my husband because I love him and not for any other reason.
Straying is the highest of insults anyone could ever do to another. The second highest is lying about it.  Some people say they are in an open relationship etc, but the fact is when someone won't be faithful to you, it really means they don't care enough about you, they are merely using you for their own gain.  Plain, simple.  They don't have enough of a jot of care about you that extends beyond themselves and their own needs.  It's a disorder, an emotional imbalance, a lack of control due to failure to exercise power over one's own faculties.    There are always excuses.  And that dovetails into respect.  If you don't respect yourself, who will?  Someone may, but it really begins with you.  If you are in a situation which is usury, just sex,  not truly love, not balanced, not working, then get out of it.  There will always be complications.  Usually when I hear ' Well, there are complications' it means money or lack of self-respect.  Someone is staying for the monetary support or someone is a doormat.  Neither are truly good and loving reasons to remain in something that is a failure.
Sometimes life takes us in weird directions, places we thought we'd never go and robs us of peace.  When you think about your partner, does he or she bring you closer or farther away from peace?  We are all imperfect beings.  We are here, primarily to learn how to responsibly, truly and more perfectly love each other.  This is not easy, but it absolutely is doable.
And if you are single and searching, take your time.  There is no need to rush into the unknown before at least some modicum of time has been spent so that you have a better idea of what you are getting into.
We are responsible for our own life and are also our brothers keeper, whether we like the idea of that or not. Clint Eastwood said 'A man has got to know his limitations' and I adore that line.  We need to understand ourselves enough to have a full grasp of our limitations so that we minimize causing upset in others lives due to our intentions being less than honest, less than pure.  When we know ourselves, we can speak our truth, whatever that is.  Truth changes just as our limitations do, provided we do our own self-work and grow, keep moving forward as we age rather than degenerate into toddlers.    We are always moving, therefore, we are always, each day, going the one way or the other.  Which way do you want to go?  Which way brings you closer to peace and causes least harm?
Whatever you have done and wherever you have failed, know that we all fail to some degree and that each day brings with it an opportunity to go and do better.  Be blessed with actions that
Be blessed with actions that honor your temple today.
Check out this book to help you on your journey: My Body Is A Temple by Christina Sell

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Walnut Tacos

Most of us were not taught the importance of enzymes in our food and how cooking  destroys them.  Whenever you cook anything above 118, you lose the enzymes and much of the vitamins too.  Combine this with the general sadness of our air, water and soil and you have a tsunami of dietary deficiencies.   We no longer rotate our crops, let the soil rest nor do we generally replenish our soils with all the minerals truly needed.  This causes us to be hungry and consumer empty calories in search of the needs of our body.  So my suggestion here for this recipe is to dehydrate your walnuts on low temp for  day until they are nice and crunchy.  You can still stick them in a 400 oven for 10 minutes or so too.  But I hope I have inspired you to take the slow way.
Walnut Tacos - I love these for the texture, the flavor and colour as it does indeed resemble the typical ground meat you would locate inside your taco shell.
Take a couple of cups of dehydrated walnuts and process them in a food processor until they resemble ground meat.  Set them aside.  Now take a skillet and saute your (on low heat) everything else you normally like in your taco, such as onion, garlic, mushrooms, tomato or salsa.  Add in your walnuts at the last minute to mix it all together and just warm them a bit and serve.
You can add some vegan cheese on top if you like but they are tasty just with some chopped onion and lettuce over the taco mixture.

ENJOY!

Hiring a Vegan Lifestyle Consultant

Most of us learned how to eat from our parents.  They may have been well meaning but if you were raised on the Standard American Diet (SAD) then their best intentions boiled down to poor dietary choices.  The body takes whatever 'food/fuel' you provide it and does its level best.  But most Americans are calorie dense and nutrient bereft, leaving the body always hungry and chronically dehydrated.
If you want to lose unnecessary weight (or gain healthy weight such as body building) you want to minimize your risks of heart disease and diabetes or reverse these issues, then a PBL (Plant Based Lifestyle) is for you!
Now comes the freak out, if you are like me.  I had been vegetarian years ago but I sort of panicked.  Now what do I do for food, what do I fix and how do I get creative with it (because I am married to an executive chef)?  I had the great benefit of training at Hippocrates Health Institute who stepped me through everything from enemas to juicing to the importance of organic clothing.  I had been a project manager with long hours before my Hipp training.  I knew that most Americans were over worked and short on time.  And this creates a very negative cycle.  Rather than fix our own food, even growing a lot of it, as our grandparents did, we have allowed ourselves to become dependent upon big business to provide fast foods.
Not one thing you buy fast, a pre-made and bottled green juice, or a mas produced sandwich, is ever going to be as quality controlled and fresh as it would be if YOU shopped all ingredients and put it together yourself. Sometimes, we want to just buy a pre-made vegan mayonnaise rather than making it from scratch and I totally get that and yes, I sometimes do that too.  But what I am calling you to take note of here, is when you make that choice, you are trading convenience for some nutrition loss and loss of ingredient and freshness control.  This may be ok if you are very familiar with the brand you are buying or are temporarily out of time.
Straight up, this lifestyle takes planning and it may make sense for you to hire someone like me to help you get started and stay the course.
With busy-ness in mind, during this year long study, I took a lot of time to ramp up on researching the best tools, from juicers to cook books to best ways to sprout, in order to offer help to others going down my same path who are short on time but really want to take control of their health, weight and happiness.
I either physically or virtually take folks down the shopping aisles at grocery stores, helping them with re-learning how to shop, what to look for, how to read labels.  I help folks get started growing their own sprouts!  Sunflower sprouts are delightful!  And, if you are lucky enough to have them where you live, I am jealous because until I grew my own, I had never ever even heard of them!
This lifestyle is about planning ahead a bit, soaking your seeds over night, and planning ahead for meals so that you are truly taking care of you and not putting yourself in a compromising position of being hungry and not having something nutritious on hand.
From growing your own garden or mini garden to natural home cleaners to organic skincare and air purification, I can help with my knowledge share and support.

Hippocrates Health Institute Online Life Transformation Program - Get Your Free Syllabus Here!

I want to share the Hippocrates Health Institute's Online Program with you, but below is my personal story.
I worked at Sprint 28 years.  Last year, they did a massive reduction of their  Implementation Project Managers and I found myself with the gift of time.  I called it gainfully unemployed as I had a severance to live off of which has sadly expired now.
I spent the entire year of 2016 on Hippocrates and alternative studies.  I watched documentaries like Earthlings, Eating You Alive, Genetic Roulette and spent countless hours involved in various petitions to save various animals and people from cruelty.   I had considered myself fairly enlightened prior to this significant knowledge download.  I shunned pesticides, did all organic gardening, ate primarily organic food, ate meat not more than 2x week, read my labels, shunned sugar, particularly high fructose corn syrup, did yoga, walked the dog and thought I was doing alright.
My hip-flexors were in near constant pain between all the sitting (12+ hour days at Sprint) and the yoga and walks  I squeezed in between work.  Anytime I did any heavy lifting with my hands, I ended up with pain in my hands for a few days afterwards.  My blood pressure was higher than it should be and I was heavier than I should be too.  was mostly vegetarian, taking the Hipp
With my gift of time, I took the Hippocrates Life Transformation course because finally it was offered online.  For decades, I had wanted to visit the location for a 3 week detox stay, in gorgeous West Palm Beach.  Well, now I had the time even if I really couldn't justify the cost of actually staying there.  was mostly vegetarian, taking the Hipp
Taking this self-paced course was brilliant and it changed my life.  I look younger, dropped unnecessary weight and no longer have the joint/tendon pain I once did.  People comment all the time about my skin tone and weight loss.
Anyone can lose weight, I think we all know how to diet and drop a few pounds, which typically find us again when we go back to eating again.  This course is about a lifestyle, a way of vibrant health, a way of knowing how to shop at the grocery store, what to eat, a full on education on vitamins, minerals, the state of our food supply, the planet and how to live your most resilient and healthy life and become the change necessary.
When I say this course changed my life, I think the only other thing I have ever said that about is when I met my husband.  I encourage you to respect and love yourself enough to check out the free syllabus.