Being a part of the Food Chain

I live in a small town, this town in located on a big lake and most everyone either lives on the waterfront or else on the mountainside. I live on the mountainside so not only is the town surrounded by the forest but where my back yard ends the forest begins... or it is all overlapping really. I grew up here but left to find work in the city for quite a few years. I have always loved this community that I never stopped calling home and I moved back a little less then a year ago. I was immediately happy when I moved back but wanted to take some time before I wrote about it. I wanted to make sure that my feelings were long lasting, I wanted to get out of the 'honeymoon' phase and give myself some time to process - but I feel the same. I feel like my life is so much more rich with what is truly important.
I feel so much more deeply connected to the rest of the planet.

It is amazing how quickly the city can disconnect you from nature and therefore disconnect you from a much bigger picture. It is so easy in the city to get lost in the hustle and bustle, not only that but to forget what lies beyond the confines of concrete. I mean sure you can watch a documentary about birds, or sharks but to step into their world you truly realize that we are living amongst these amazing creatures. Last night as I was driving home from work there was a herd of Elk on the road, I stopped - well of course I did they're friggin' huge! I watched them for quite some time, they were in a big grassy yard just on the side of the road, I saw 2 bulls fighting, I saw Mama Cows standing aside with their calves, and the rest of the herd which I counted out to be 22 in total grazing away on the cool grass. When you witness such an event it really makes you feel rather insignificant. Like you are a small part of something much bigger, a much bigger picture which is truly amazing.

In the city you are the strongest link on the food chain, but when you walk through the woods and see these huge creatures, or when you go outside and there is a huge bear in your yard, or you catch a glimpse of the ever illusive cougar you realize that you are rather low on the food chain and it really brings everything in perspective. You realize that you aren't the 'something' you are only a part of something. (And if you have ever been into a bar in the city you will see that there are many people who have not learned this lesson - lol!)

This knowledge is not only truly humbling but also I find it rather comforting. There is a certain feeling that you get when walking along a stream, when you realize that this stream is connected to a river and that river flows to the Ocean creating an amazing network that connects all of the worlds water, it makes you feel connected to this amazing planet in a way that nothing else can.
I am so glad that I have this connection to nature, and I encourage you all to find a deeper connection that you may already have.

Skepticism

I fully believe in psychic abilities and love to interact with those who have a good grasp on them. (I would like to note that I believe we all possess the ability to develop these abilities)
Anyways... feeling a little perplexed I decided it would be fun to go and have my tea leaves read, so I went with a friend and we both had amazing 30 minute reading incorporating the tea leaves, tarot cards the a clairvoyant, I had never had it done and was really curious. Because so much can be said in 30 minutes I had the session recorded onto a tape... a little old fashioned but my only option.

I left feeling great, so clear and hopeful for what lies ahead of me. Everything was as I thought with a lot of victory.

I was planning on listening to my tape right away but the old tape player that I thought I had in my basement was actually just an old radio. Then I kept thinking about the things she had said and began to doubt it, things can't really be that good can they? Were some of her answers vague? Was I offering too much information to her? Maybe they were just lucky guesses, after a few days I was skeptical about the whole thing, even though when I left I felt so sure, and like her answers were straight forward and direct.

Then I finally borrowed a tape player and listened to it, and using my own intuition I was able to understand what she said and even see further into the things that I wasn't able to focus on because I was too busy thinking about the last thing or the next thing, alot can happen in 30 minutes!

My point is that the answers are within ourselves, it wasn't until I was able to step back and listen to my heart that the clear answers stood out to me, and while I think she was bang on it was up to me to interpret it the way that resonates with myself, so go ahead and ask for help and when you do so be open to everything they have to say and then listen to your own heart about what it all means.

Questions for Spiritual Leaders

 

Like others I follow many people, from the teachings of spiritual leaders, Reiki masters, my teachers right to people who I resonate with on Youtube - yes there can be a great deal of information on YouTube  and generally I take what resonates with me and try to apply it to my daily life. But even as a Reiki Master myself I will admit that this is much easier said then done. I would love to be a raw foodist who meditates for hours each day and finds time to offer service to others and immerse myself in new spiritual practices constantly but sometimes I feel like I am the only one who admits that sometimes this is not possible - and that is ok. I do what I can when I can, and I don't beat myself up if I end up watching tv, or eating something that will block my energy flow, I mean ofcourse I am mindful and I try to be who I want to be but there is something beautiful about surrendering into who you are at that very moment. There is something absolutely amazing about being so comfortable with yourself that you can admit you are not perfect and feel good about it. 

Maybe I am not on as fast a track to 'enlightenment' as others, but I know that I will get there and I think that is what is important. So here is my question - Am I alone on this? Do those who would call themselves spiritual leaders sometimes embellish on how closely they follow the regime that they preach? Am I asking do raw foodists never eat cooked food? Do vegetarians always shy from animal products? Do meditation experts practice as much as they tell us to? Do Reiki masters really stay zen and true to the motto 'Just for today I will not anger' surely some days you anger??

And the real question if you do slip up, why will you not admit it? 

Be true to who you are - Love yourself - All of yourself!

Dr. Masaru Emoto's Healing Prayer for the Gulf

Recently I have been re-learning about the consciousness of water. If you are unfamiliar with Dr. Masaru Emoto's study on water please take some time to look into it. This information truly resonates with me and I am sure that it will have you thinking too!

I think that right now we all need to join together to do whatever we can to help out with the Gulf Oil Spill, while I am truly upset and aware there is more going on that meets the eye here, I cannot turn away from the creatures of the sea who are in grave danger and the people in the surrounding areas. I believe that we can change the consciousness of water with our energy so lets do something big! Lets join together and help the Gulf by sending out healing energies!

I had been thinking about this all morning and I opened my email to find this:

  Dr. Masaru Emoto's Healing Prayer for the Gulf
Focusing our energies in response to the Gulf tragedy and for healing the waters and its inhabitants -
Yesterday at our spiritual center we read a letter from Dr. Masaru Emoto who many of you will recognize as the scientist from Japan who has done all the research and publications about the characteristics of water. Among other things, his research reveals that water physically responds to emotions.
Right now, most of us have the predominantly angry emotion when we consider what is happening in the Gulf. And while certainly we are justified in that emotion, we may be of greater assistance to our planet and its life forms, if we sincerely, powerfully and humbly pray the prayer that Dr Emoto, himself, has proposed.
"I send the energy of love and gratitude to the water and all the living creatures in the Gulf of Mexico and its surroundings.
To the whales, dolphins, pelicans, fish, shellfish, plankton, coral, algae, and all living creatures . . . I am sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you. "
We are passing this request to people who we believe might be willing to participate in this prayer, to set an intention of love and healing that is so large, so overwhelming that we can perform a miracle in the Gulf of Mexico.
We are not powerless. We are powerful. Our united energy, speaking this prayer daily...multiple times daily....can literally shift the balance of destruction that is happening.
We don't have to know how......we just have to recognize that the power of love is greater than any power active in the Universe today.
Please join us in oft repeating this healing prayer of of Dr. Emoto's.
And feel free to copy and paste this to send it around the planet.
Let's take charge, and do our own clean up!
And so it is! Pass it on. 


Keep an open mind and remember that if all of us focus energy to the area amazing things can happen! Don't let your mind hold you back from doing something incredible, miraculous things can happen when many people join together for the greater good!

Growing a Kombucha Mother Week 2

 Well, I'm not totally sure where I went wrong but it doesn't seem to be going so well this week. It doesn't really look like much is going on in there. My mother hasn't grown at all so I have decided to make a new batch of sweet tea, and add the mother as perhaps she doesn't have enough food.

I have made the tea just the same as the previous batch and added about 3 cups of the Kombucha mix that I had made and put the rest in a jug in the fridge to drink. I added the mother back into the jar and it seems to be sinking. A quick google search told me that it is ok if it sinks and that it should float back to the top later on. It has been several hours and I am yet to see a change. I would certainly appreciate some input!

Growing a Kombucha Mother Week 1

Well, it certainly is growing. I really just tried it all out as an experiment. But it seems to be working!
As I mentioned in my first post, I had bought the Kombucha originally to try out its affects and benefits for digestive health, which I believe is so important for your overall health. If your body is stuck using all of its energy digesting foods, especially the mis-combined, difficult foods that so many of us eat today then other bodily functions can be weakened or not given the energy that they need to function to their fullest potential. I have been focused on cleansing and supporting my body for a while now and this Kombucha stuck out to me but what I have been learning about it is incredible. It has very powerful detoxifying properties and is a source of vitamins and minerals including B1, B2, B6 and B12, C, amino acids, enzymes and several pro-biotic organic acids.

Here is what it looks like after it has been brewing for 1 week:

You can see how a film has developed on the top. That is your Symbiotic Culture of Yeast and Bacteria or SCOBY, you may see this called a 'Mushroom' in other places but its not a mushroom at all, its Yeast and Bacteria. The yeast here is not conducive to Candida so there is no need to be alarmed, although you may want to be cautious and start slow should you have problems with Candida. Here is what it looks like from the top view:

It looks kind of like brains doesn't it? You can see though how it has formed a pretty thick layer, this is Live Culture lives off of the sugar and caffeine in the tea. I stuck a straw in there to see what it tastes like and it was sweet and tangy like cider. I thought it may be a little too sweet yet, but thought that was a good sign that there is still adequate sugar for this culture to live off of. Check back to see what it looks like a week from now!

Growing a Kombucha Mother

I was recently at the health food store and I was looking at the items that they had in their digestive health section, I was looking for a herbal tea concentrate that I am very familiar and used to purchase, but now I have moved and this local health food store didn't carry it. I found a bottle of Kombucha, and thought I would give it a try. I was actually on my way to work so I tried a little bit of it, and it reminded me a lot of Apple Cider Vinegar, then as I was watching some Health Youtube videos that I subscribe to I saw a video in the related topics on Kombucha and I watched it and then spent far more time than I should have watching videos on how to brew your own Kombucha and how to grow your own mother etc. I watched a whole bunch.. it was like the whole world of Kombucha had suddenly opened up!

I realized that I could grow my own Kombucha mother and brew the tea at home. And as I got so excited about how I could do this I forgot to even read about what it does and what it is good for! Ha! There isn't really a lot of information about it, although the main thing that I was interested in was its affects for your digestive health, it is known to promote healthy flora in the digestive tract but there are so many other benefits which can be explained more thoroughly here.  (Please check it out, it is amazing!)

Nothing scientific, which doesn't really concern me, the best things for you are natural things that usually haven't been tested. So I thought I would start making my own Kombucha which really is fermented tea that is raw and still active. Here is how it started:

You will need a large glass vessel (this jar is perfect, but anything like it will work - must be glass though!), a stainless steel pot (cannot be aluminum), a wooden spoon, 3/4 of a gallon of water, 1 cup of sugar, 5 tea bags (I used 3 black and 2 green), a bottle of Kombucha, a piece of cheesecloth and an elastic.

Put the water into the pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat off and stir in 1 cup of sugar, you want to make sure that it all dissolves. The Kombucha lives off of Caffeine and Sugar so you want it all to dissolve.

Then add the tea bags and let it steep for a while. Everywhere I saw said about 5 minutes, but I just left the bags in until the whole mixture had cooled. 

Once it has cooled, remove the tea bags and add to the jar. It was warmer then room temperature when I did this, but I did let it cool for several hours. 

Next add your Kombucha, I purchased this from a health food store, and I used about half of a 16 oz bottle, which I had left sitting out with the lid off on my counter for several days. I did this because I read that a mother will grow right from that, but after a couple of days there were threads of cultures but not a film like I was looking for, and I thought that it probably couldn't really grow without any food so I did all of this. And it is working (after only 2 days there is already a film where my SCOBY is growing)

Then fasten a piece of cheese cloth with a rubber band and put it in a fairly warm place that will get absolutely no direct sunlight. Some people say a dark cupboard, I put it on top of my fridge for the added warmth. It can be exposed to light, just not direct sunlight, no windowsills for the Kombucha!

Then just let it hang out. I will update you on how mine is coming, and also I will document how it benefits my health so please check back to see how it is going!

The reason that I started this blog

Can't believe it has almost been a year. Right before he left that night we were all talking about random things. I told him what I thought of the 'Glass half empty or glass half full' question. I said that If you begin with an empty glass and you fill it up half way then your glass is half full, if however; your glass is full and you drink it half way down, then your glass is half empty... he said 'That is so smart! You should put that on the internet'
So here is to you Jonathan!

Your friendship will always have a special place in my heart.