Tag: food

What You Need To Know About Chlorpyrifos by Earthjustice


What You Need To Know About Chlorpyrifos – Earthjustice

The neurotoxic pesticide harms children and the environment. There are no safe uses for chlorpyrifos.

Originally developed by the Nazis for chemical warfare, these neurotoxic pesticides are now used on our food.

“More than half of all apples in the U.S. were sprayed with chlorpyrifos, a pesticide considered too toxic for use in homes. After a short-lived food ban, chlorpyrifos is again allowed to be sprayed on apples, asparagus, citrus, and other major crops,” said Lance Cheung/USDA.

For half a century, staple food crops in the United States — such as wheat, apples, cherries, and citrus — were sprayed with chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide that can permanently damage the developing brains of children, causing reduced IQ, loss of working memory, and attention deficit disorders.

But in a series of lawsuits, Earthjustice, alongside other groups, succeeded in 2021 to getting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban chlorpyrifos from food. This ban lasted less than two years, however, due to a chemical manufacturer and agrobusinesses’ legal pushback.

Indeed, shortly after the ban, Gharda Chemical International, along with over a dozen agricultural trade groups, challenged the EPA’s ban, leading to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals partially overturning the ban in 2023. As a result, chlorpyrifos can be sprayed once more on our fruits and vegetables, as the EPA works in addressing the court’s decision.

Rather than committing to reinstating the full ban, the EPA said it plans to maintain food uses for roughly half of the historically submitted applications, which include apples, asparagus, cherries, citrus, cotton, peaches, soybeans, sugar beets, wheat, and alfalfa. This official decision is anticipated later in 2024.

What is chlorpyrifos?

Chlorpyrifos (pronounced: klawr-pir-uh-fos) is a neurotoxic pesticide in the organophosphates class of chemicals. Organophosphates were developed by the Nazis for chemical warfare and later adapted for commercial pesticide use after the break-up of the Nazi chemical apparatus.

Before the ban, chlorpyrifos was widely used in U.S. agriculture to kill a variety of agricultural pests.

Chlorpyrifos is acutely toxic and associated with neurodevelopmental harms in children. Prenatal exposures to chlorpyrifos are associated with lower birth weight, reduced IQ, loss of working memory, attention disorders, and delayed motor development.

Acute poisoning suppresses the enzyme that regulates nerve impulses in the body and can cause convulsions, respiratory paralysis, and, in extreme cases, death. Chlorpyrifos was one of the pesticides most often linked to pesticide poisonings. (Read an in-depth report on chlorpyrifos.)

How are people exposed to chlorpyrifos?

Through residues on food and in drinking water, and by toxic spray drift from pesticide applications

Children often experience greater exposure to chlorpyrifos because they eat more fruit for their weight relative to adults. (Annette Dubois / CC BY-NC 2.0)

People are exposed to chlorpyrifos through residues on food, drinking water, and by toxic spray drift from pesticide applications.

Farmworkers are exposed to it from mixing, handling, and applying the pesticide, as well as from entering fields where chlorpyrifos was recently sprayed.

Residential uses of chlorpyrifos for insect control ended in 2000, after EPA found unacceptable risks to kids. Communities continue to be exposed to chlorpyrifos through drift from spraying and farmworkers unknowingly carrying this poison home, as pesticides can cling to workers’ clothing. What is more, as chlorpyrifos uses start up again, so will exposure overall, particularly in rural areas.

Meanwhile, children experience greater exposure to chlorpyrifos and other pesticides, because they frequently put their hands in their mouths, and relative to adults, they eat more fruits and vegetables and drink more water and juice for their weight.

Estimated agricultural use of chlorpyrifos by county for 2017. Smallest circles represent 1 – 1,000 lbs. of use. Largest circles are more than 100,000 lbs. USGS EPest-low estimates for chlorpyrifos use in pounds across U.S. harvested croplands (Crop Reporting Districts). The USGS EPest-low model more accurately reflects state use as it assumes no chlorpyrifos on crops for which data is not reported in a Crop Reporting District. The EPest-high estimates (not shown) account for chlorpyrifos use that may happen but may not be reported and cannot be verified. The map reflects only agricultural crop usage in 2017 and does not reflect other uses such as golf courses or plant nurseries. Chlorpyrifos use data pertaining to non-contiguous states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories were not made available by the USGS and are not reflected on this map. (Hetty Chin / Earthjustice. Data: Pesticide National Synthesis Project / USGS)

Why do we need to ban chlorpyrifos?

There are no safe uses for chlorpyrifos

Agricultural workers pull leaves from a bin of freshly picked cherries. Cherries are among the food uses of chlorpyrifos that EPA said it plans to maintain, following the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in 2023. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

A growing body of evidence shows that prenatal exposure to very low levels of chlorpyrifos — levels far lower than what EPA was previously using to establish safety standards — harms babies permanently.

Peer-reviewed studies that have tracked real-world exposures of mothers and their children to chlorpyrifos have associated the pesticide these types of harm.

EPA released a revised human health risk assessment for chlorpyrifos in 2016 — its own assessment designed to protect children from these types of neurodevelopmental harm — that confirmed that there are no safe uses for chlorpyrifos. EPA found that:

*All food exposures exceed safe levels, with children ages 1–2 exposed to levels of chlorpyrifos that are 140 times what EPA deems safe.

*There is no safe level of chlorpyrifos in drinking water.

*Pesticide drift reaches unsafe levels at 300 feet from the field’s edge.

*Chlorpyrifos is found at unsafe levels in the air at schools, homes, and communities in agricultural areas.

*All workers who mix and apply chlorpyrifos are exposed to unsafe levels of the pesticide, even with maximum personal protective equipment and engineering controls.

*Farmworkers are allowed to re-enter fields within 1–5 days after pesticide spraying, but unsafe exposures continue on average 18 days after applications.

Farmworkers and their families, particularly children, are most affected by this toxic pesticide. In addition to food exposures, they are more likely to have contaminated drinking water, and they are, quite literally, getting hit from all sides by drift exposures at schools, daycares, on the playground, at work, and in their homes. Because farmworkers tend to be Latino and low-income, the impacts of chlorpyrifos disproportionately impact communities of color.

In this video, agricultural worker Claudia Angulo describes how her son Isaac suffered brain damage after she was exposed to chlorpyrifos during pregnancy. Since Isaac’s diagnosis with ADHD, she has worked to raise awareness among farmworkers, the public, and politicians about the chemical’s health effects.

Which crops have chlorpyrifos on them?
Apples, oranges, wheat, citrus, and more

Rather than committing to reinstating the full ban of chlorpyrifos, the EPA said it plans to maintain food uses for roughly half of the historically submitted applications, including peaches. (Larry Rana / USDA)

Chlorpyrifos is used on a wide variety of crops including apples, oranges, wheat, citrus, and other foods children eat daily.

More than half of all apples and broccoli in the U.S. were sprayed with chlorpyrifos before the ban.

Chlorpyrifos is also used on feed crops that lead to residues in milk, eggs, and meat.

USDA’s Pesticide Data Program found chlorpyrifos residue on citrus even after being washed and peeled. By volume, chlorpyrifos was most used on soybeans and alfalfa crops with one million pounds or more applied annually to each crop.

What does the law require?

To protect children from unsafe exposures to pesticides

A father and son walk through a cotton field in El Campo, Texas. (Lance Cheung / USDA)

The 1996 Food Quality Protect Act — passed unanimously in Congress — requires EPA to protect children from unsafe exposures to pesticides. The FQPA requires EPA to ensure with reasonable certainty that “no harm will result to infants and children from aggregate exposure” to pesticides. EPA cannot take industry costs into consideration when protecting children from harmful pesticides, because FQPA is a health-based standard.

If EPA cannot ensure that a pesticide won’t harm children, the law requires EPA to ban uses of the pesticide.

Congress strengthened protections for children from pesticides following the release of a pivotal 1993 report by the National Academy of Sciences. The NAS report criticized the EPA for treating children like “little adults” by failing to address the unique susceptibility of children to pesticide exposures based on the foods they eat, their play, and sensitive stages of development.

Jim Cochran, a strawberry farmer, was poisoned by pesticides. People told him no one cared about healthy food and healthy workers. He decided to prove them wrong. More on Jim’s story.

What legal actions have been taken?
Many. Earthjustice and our clients, alongside many other groups, have worked for more than a decade to build the case to push the EPA to ban chlorpyrifos.

The Fight To Ban Chlorpyrifos: Inside the Case by Earthjustice: https://youtu.be/rcUYTWMgnhU

In 2007, Pesticide Action Network and Natural Resources Defense Council filed a petition with EPA, seeking a chlorpyrifos ban based on the growing evidence of how it harms children.

Seven years later, following several lawsuits and delays, EPA had still not acted on the petition. In September 2014, on behalf of PAN and NRDC, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to compel EPA to act on the petition.

The following year, the court called EPA’s delays “egregious” and ordered EPA to act on the petition by Oct. 31, 2015.  By that deadline, EPA proposed to ban chlorpyrifos on food.  The court gave EPA until Mar. 31, 2017, to take final action.  However,  despite the overwhelming evidence that the pesticide harms children, workers and the environment, the EPA issued a decision refusing to ban the pesticide, because the agency wanted to continue studying the science.

Earthjustice challenged that decision both through an administrative appeal to EPA and in court. New York, California, Washington, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, and Vermont filed their own appeals, also calling for a ban.

On Aug. 9, 2018, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the case, finding that EPA must finalize its proposed ban on chlorpyrifos within 60 days, based on undisputed findings that the pesticide is unsafe for public health, and particularly harmful to children and farmworkers. EPA obtained a re-hearing before an 11-judge 9th Circuit panel, which ordered EPA to rule on the administrative appeal seeking a chlorpyrifos ban by Jul. 18, 2019. By that deadline, EPA announced, again, that it would continue to allow this harmful pesticide to stay in our fruits and vegetables.

Earthjustice brought the EPA back to court, challenging that decision and seeking a ban on chlorpyrifos. In April 2021, the 9th Circuit held that EPA had violated the law by allowing chlorpyrifos to be used on food without finding it safe for children. The court doubted whether EPA could find chlorpyrifos safe given its extensive findings that chlorpyrifos is associated with learning disabilities in children from low-level exposures.

In its decision, the court noted:

“EPA has had nearly 14 years to publish a legally sufficient response to the 2007 Petition (to ban chlorpyrifos). During that time, the EPA’s egregious delay exposed a generation of American children to unsafe levels of chlorpyrifos. By remanding back to the EPA one last time, rather than compelling the immediate revocation of all chlorpyrifos tolerances, the Court is itself being more than tolerant. But the EPA’s time is now up.”

The court gave the agency 60 days from the end of the case to act. In August 2021, EPA revoked all chlorpyrifos tolerances, which prohibited its use on food. The ban went into effect on Feb. 28, 2022. For the first time since 1965, children and farmworkers across the country were finally spared needless poisonings and lifelong learning disabilities from chlorpyrifos. The ban remained in place through the 2022 and 2023 growing seasons.

What’s happening now?

While Dow Agrosciences (now Corteva) and other U.S. companies stopped selling chlorpyrifos, Gharda Chemicals International challenged the ban, along with agribusiness groups.

On Nov. 2, 2023, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the EPA’s 2021 rule that banned the use and presence of chlorpyrifos on the foods we eat. The 8th Circuit held that the EPA had to consider whether it could find 11 uses safe, based on a 2020 EPA risk assessment that had abandoned the agency’s efforts to protect children from learning disabilities. Scientists, public health groups, farmworkers, and others had submitted comments criticizing the 2020 assessment for failing to protect children, but EPA has never addressed those comments.

“We are profoundly saddened by the 8th Circuit’s decision to send the chlorpyrifos ban back to the EPA to review, which will subject farmworkers and children to this extremely harmful pesticide yet again,” said Patti Goldman, attorney at Earthjustice.

“Food crops have been successfully grown in the two years since chlorpyrifos has been banned.”

In December 2023, the EPA announced that it would not seek further review in the courts of the 8th Circuit decision, because it believed it could put protections in place faster than would occur through the courts. The EPA stated that it would “expeditiously propose a new rule to revoke the tolerances associated with all but the 11 uses referenced by the court.”

The EPA has not yet done so, and recently projected that it would release the proposal in the summer of 2024 and finalize it by the end of 2024.

In the meantime, chlorpyrifos can be used on all the food crops that had been subject to the ban.

As for the 11 uses that EPA’s weakened 2020 risk assessment indicated might be safe, EPA does not plan to respond to the public comments and release an amended proposal until 2025, with final action delayed until later that year.

The 12 crops are:

alfalfa, citrus, strawberry, apple, cotton, sugar, beet, asparagus, peach, wheat, cherry, and soybean.

but only in certain areas of the country and subject to limitations on application rates and methods. The EPA has put none of those limitations into place nor has it instituted measures to protect farmworkers from the harmful exposures the EPA has consistently documented beginning in 2014.

Earthjustice, our clients, and partners are outraged and saddened that it is taking the EPA so long to protect children from neurodevelopmental harm caused by exposure to chlorpyrifos.

Several states have already banned chlorpyrifos, namely Hawaiʻi, Maryland, New York, Oregon, and California. Farmworkers and children will be protected from exposures in those states, but they — like everyone else — will be exposed to chlorpyrifos residues on food until the EPA re-institutes national food safety rules.

I Love Milano’s Italian Kitchen in West Harwich & Hyannis


I love Italian food at really good Italian restaurants. The best Italian restaurant I happened upon on its Opening Night a couple years ago was Milano’s Italian Kitchen on 278 Main Street (RT 28), West Harwich, MA 02671-1226, in my opinion. I cannot come to the Cape without going back to this amazing restaurant.

With a wonderful first year under their belt, the family recently expanded to their second location in Hyannis, “Milano’s on Main” on 410 Main Street. 

I love Italian food at really good Italian restaurants. The best Italian restaurant I happened upon on its Opening Night a couple years ago was Milano’s Italian Kitchen in RT 28, West Harwich, MA 02671-1226, in my opinion.

Check out: https://lindahourihan.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/63c5d-11062b_ea41b14eb3e547e2897e51b18990cf67f000.jpg

“Inspired by a family heritage born in Naples, Italy, decades of experience in the hospitality business, and deep local roots in Harwich, we look forward to carrying on tradition. …

“Our family welcomes you to join us at Milanos where we serve a variety of authentic Italian dishes made with fresh, high-quality local ingredients. ….

“If you cannot find a time slot for your reservation that you are looking for, please consider our new 22 seat bar/lounge area which is all first come first served opening at 4pm daily.

“Things can shift around so just come on in and we will do our best to seat you in the dining room if something opens up! If you need to Cancel your reservation, please do so on Open Table not by calling the restaurant.

“Our family is proud to bring to you this modern Italian eatery. Whether you are enjoying us for the first time or a faithful regular, we invite you to come experience our fresh pasta, local seafood, classic favorites, and friendly staff.“~ Milano’s Italian Kitchen

“Whether you are enjoying us for the first time or a faithful regular, we invite you to come experience our wonderful staff and menu favorites in their new home.“

info@milanositaliankitchen.com

What Else Did Jesus Teach? ~ Lent Meditation 2 for 2026


The answer most people hear after reading yesterday’s post about Jesus speaking to James about Jesus’ Father not being Jame’s father is that James had a different earthly father than the Father of Jesus. It is as if that is what Jesus meant. This is not so. Yes, it is true that they have different earthly fathers, but Jesus was not making that point. Jesus was inviting them to go deeper than the spoon-fed pablum they were religiously being fed.

Jesus also said the same thing to the Pharisees, who were not his human brothers. They also did not fully understand what Jesus was trying to tell them.

Meditate on this, if Satan, the devil, was not the ruler of the world, then why would the temptation of Satan when Jesus was in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights, have been a temptation at all?

As weak and tired as Jesus was, without food and water, Jesus was showing us how to stand up against all the power, fame, and fortunes of the world, with integrity while also standing up for what is right. Jesus came to teach us another way.

No one has the right to tell you, as an adult with a thinking mind, what to read, and what not to read. Also keep in mind that most religious leaders attempt to frighten you and your immortal Soul with the word, apocryphal. It is as if that means you are not allowed to read what has been kept from you because it is “apocryphal.”

I heard religious rulers say you should not read apocryphal literature to “keep your Soul pure,” and “so that you don’t go to hell.” This is also not true. This is censorship. You also do not have to believe like me, but it is critical that you allow yourself to think for yourself.

The reason I say to “allow” yourself to think for yourself is because there are so many threats to your Spirit/Soul by various religious, political and social groups, that you might think that your Spirit/Soul might be in jeopardy if you do not follow the rules of others. This is also not true.

Your Spirit/Soul is the Spark of Eternal Universal Life Force Energy, without which you would cease to be alive. No other person, ruler, king, or club official has any power over your Spirit/Soul unless you hand it over to them. Do not do that.

Jesus said so many more things than the carefully carved out manipulated words of others who only wanted to shine a light on what they staged Jesus to have said in the New Testament, as if that is all that Jesus said.

Let’s look at what more Jesus had to say. Jesus taught Mary Magdalene about “The Good.”

First of all, the word apocryphal means hidden knowledge, not anti-Jesus nor anti-Christ. Yes, these writings were hidden, but the words of Jesus are so empowering to you that religious rules then and now would lose their jobs if all the words of Jesus became widely read, known, and practiced. That is why they were hidden in the first place.

Don’t you want to know all of what Jesus taught, not only those 3 years from his ages 30 to 33, and only some of what he said at that?

These precious words of Jesus Christ were preserved in the desert sands near the Dead Sea, as well as near the city of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt most likely in the second half of the fourth century CE so that they would not be destroyed. The sacred writings had been brought together earlier in that century and then buried in a jar for safekeeping at the foot of the Jabal al-Tarif, a cliff close to the hamlet Hamra Dum.

The words of Jesus were kept safe until you were spiritually maturity enough to read and understand what else Jesus had to say. You had to mature past the pomp and circumstance of being told what you can read, what you cannot read, and what you can do and what you cannot to do, according to them.

It takes courage to face your fears, fear of others preaching various threats to your immortal Spirit/Soul, fear of not following the crowd, “or else.”

You have now matured into your own God-given personal power. This power battery pack is keeping you alive. It is the Limitless Living Light of your personal Spark of Eternal Universal Life Force Energy animating your Spirit/Soul. Your “God Particle” if you will. Without it, you are dead.

First, you must decide who is in control of you, your mind, and what you can learn. Are you in charge of you in body, mind, and Spirit/Soul, or is a religious leader of any kind telling you what you can and cannot read and know?

Consider this, in the Age of Pisces, which humanity is currently transitioning out of, the focus was on following rigid religious rites, religious and political authoritarianism, book burning, and censorship.

If ancient history proved some reality other than what they wanted to teach and preach, threats to your immortal Soul were given to you to force you to go along with the religious and political hierarchies. There were and still are threats to you, fears instilled of “not enough to go around.”

These are the left-over marks of the Age of Pisces. There is more to life than following the wrong “god” home, as the Eagles song says.

The word heaven or heavens refers to outer space realities. Whatever they are called, they are not of Earth. They are extraterrestrial. The Nag Hammadi Scriptures[1] give other sources that explain what Jesus the Christ taught. This is the same thing that the Cathars taught, the belief in two “gods.” One “god” is the father of humanity, while a different “God” is the Father of the Spirit of Jesus. This is known as the Christ energy.

Notice that this belief is prior to the writing of The Nag Hammadi Scriptures. Jesus explains this, but only if you put more faith in Jesus than you do in past and present human indoctrination. This is going to take another 2,160 years of human life on Earth to fully achieve better goals. That is when the Age of Aquarius will be complete.

Don’t give up. Be part of the change for a better tomorrow. Be part of “The Good,” as Mary Magdalene teaches, not the part of “Not Good.” All perceived evil is nothing more than the lack of good. The lack of “The Good” is the lack of Limitless Living Light of Eternal Universal Life Force Energy. Concentrate on the Light of Love, Light of Hope, and Light of Faith, not just in something outside of yourself, but also within yourself.

You matter. What you allow yourself to learn and know matters, especially if it corrects the mistakes of the past.

Strengthen your faith. Listen and learn what has been hidden from you. This is one of those missing puzzle pieces. Once you sit with this and consider the possibilities rather than quickly shutting doors to your mind so that you do not turn into a pillar of fear, Light begins to dawn on you, filling in the missing gaps between your faith and your lived experience.

I use the “pillar of fear” analogy when you find yourself doing something out of some irrational fear or expectation of someone else who appears to threaten you with the abuse of ridicule or other social or personal and public punishments you would rather avoid. This fear is immobilizing. You don’t have to go there. Emotional strength is your character development in action.

Notice how all religions, other than the one that Jesus Christ taught, and even some political structures, have threats to your immortal Spirit/Soul and/or physical lack of land, food, and job opportunities if you do not bow down to their human threats.

Have faith in yourself, which spurs you to Love yourself without conditions. You are not loved “if” or “when” you do something or believe in a certain way. You are Love personified.

[1] edited by Marvin Meyer, and the Advisory Board of Wolf-Peter Funk, Paul-Hubert Poirier, and James M. Robinson

Please Consider Supporting The Shamballa Family Schools on Giving Tuesday, November 28, 2023


The Shamballa Family Schools is a humanitarian project of the School of Esoteric Science ™ where I am a certified teacher of New Paradigm Multidimensional Transformation. ™

I would like to share some information with you regarding the charity work that The School of Esoteric Sciences do supporting schools in Cambodia.

First, you should know that there is a ranking of countries based on their reported human trafficking. Cambodia, where the schools are located, is ranked in the lowest tier, which is tier 3. This means their government is not meeting minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.

In the rural villages of Cambodia, there are no schools provided by the government. This means the kids do not get an education without schools like ours in place.

Through the Shamballa Family Schools, the schools educate the kids free of charge, but they also pay their families a modest amount to send them to school. Cambodia is an extremely poor country. Opportunities for income are scarce. Kids are sometimes kept home to work. Kids are also often trafficked, sometimes by their families, for a source of income. This modest payment is enough to encourage families to send their kids to school instead of keeping them home to work, or worse.

The Shamballa Family School has 420 students in 7th-9th grades. It costs a little over $5,000 USD for us to keep it in good repair and properly equipped and staffed for the next year. This relatively small amount of money includes the modest payment to each family as well as uniforms and food for the kids. Their academic year begins on December 1st.

We need your help. Please send what you can. No amount is too small or too large. Any contribution will be appreciated.

HOW TO DONATE

PayPal:   NPMDTAA@yahoo.com

Check: Make payable to SoES (School of Esoteric Sciences)

   Mail to:

   Lin Hourihan

   PO Box 75

   Fiskdale, MA 01518

If a letter for tax purposes is required, please let Lin Hourihan know by sending an email to NPMDTAA@yahoo.com with your name and mailing address.

Namaste

“Re-Membering” Begins With Balancing LOVE In Your Life ~ LOVE Is The Answer


“Re-Membering” begins with balancing Love in your Life. Love is the answer.

“Re-Membering” is the answer to dismemberment. To “Re-Member” is to REMEMBER who and what you are. To “Re-Member” is to become whole, as you once were, before the dis-memberment occured.

Sometimes we were too young to recall the specific memory held within our cellular structure. All we may know is the feeling of being disconnected to ourselves, to others or to the earth itself. At other times, we might consciously disconnect ourselves from groups of people, at school, at work, or in particular circles like our neighborhoods or other situations where we choose not to interact. This is often done as a means of self preservation.

But what happens to us when we find that we have “Dis-Membered” ourselves from every person, place or thing in our lives?

What about our hopes and dreams for a future void of mental, physical or spiritual pain?

This post speaks to the hearts and minds of many who feel disconnected to themselves, either mentally, physically, and/or spiritually, or more painfully, altogether. Not all lives unfold in the perfection of a well-balanced realization of the dreams and hopes they once had.

What is the answer for lives lived in the shell of what could be?

Life throws us curves, unexpected obstacles, contagious viruses, upheavals in family life, bullies and liars in government who promise us one thing but deliver something else, coupled with our sometimes failing at our own best efforts at improving our perspective, or our physical and/or mental health. At other times we succeed in our efforts to understand who we are and where we are going, but mental, physical or emotional pain shut us down.

This life is a school where we learn the lessons necessary to take us further into the awareness of ourselves, who we are, and why we are here on the planet at this very moment. You and I matter. There is a reason we are all here on earth at this important time. You and I are the pendulum of our own life. We try living a certain way, eating or not eating a certain way, going in and out of things we once believed, only to come out the other side to understand why some actions we did or did not take turned out the way it did.

Pain is a symptom. Pain is not the problem. Treating pain as if it were the problem will keep you in pain, since you are not addressing the root cause of the pain.

Drugs are not the answer. There are drugless therapies out there that work 100 percent of the time, unless given up on. Drugs mask the pain. If drugs block pain to the degree that you feel no more pain, they also block other parts of your humanity as well. It depends how much of yourself you wish to numb by the use of drugs. Some people choose this method of “Dis-Membering” their bodies. Just know there is another way that works without the horrific side effects of so many drugs, including addiction.

Whether you are, or are not taking drugs of any sort to dull the pain, you still get to the same crisis healing point, of deciding on if you want, or do not want to heal. Recognize the crutch of saying that this is how you are or have always been. This is a convenient lie people tell themselves. It is not a true statement to say that because of your past, you cannot heal.

If and when you finally decide to heal your past, heal your emotions, heal your body, and heal your spiritual self, know that is IS possible to “Re-Member” yourself. This begins by ACCEPTING yourself at this exact moment in time. Now is not forever. Your awakened, conscious, and fully formed decision, is the starting point to begin the healing process. You can heal any and all addictions, choosing life-affirming decisions over shutting down life decisions.

Whatever you focus on grows. It is my suggestion that you use your free will to decide life over death, healing over sickness, and “Re-Membering” over dismemberment.

Self Mastery is the path of “Re-Membering” your mind, body and spirit to your eternal soul. This is the means of becoming a whole person, not just one aspect of personhood that we have saved as if it were our entire entity.

We are all on this journey of life, which can take our entire lifetime to figure out. For some people, they know from birth who they are, where they are going and why they are here, with little fluctuation throughout their life. Others of us meander, taking scenic or not-so-scenic detours, trying on different diets, spiritualities, and self-expression.

If the diet pendulum of our mind swings too far one way or the other, we can become anorexic or bulimic; if the emotional pendulum of our mind swings too far one way or the other, we can become totally negative in outlook, or totally positive in outlook.

Out of balance is out of balance.

To “Re-Member” who we are calls for us to eat in a balanced way in order to bring the proper nutrients to every cell of our body for proper assimilation and balance in our physical well-being. To “Re-Member” who we are also calls us to have a balanced mental perspective, which diet has a direct affect. A balanced mental and emotional perspective is neither depressive and full of negativity; nor flighty and not grounded in reality. It is important to address the negative aspects in our lives so that we can decide to take charge of these situations in order to find the best positive solution.

We cannot fix that which we deny is present.

“Re-Membering” who we are awakens our soul response, and connects us to the divine within us. The divine within us is not dark or negative energy. What is perceived as dark or negative energy is merely the lack of Light, Love and Positive energy in the balance of life.

You are a divine being in the process of waking up to who and what you really are. You are not what other people have told you that you are. Realize that other people have other, often impure motives, for putting other down, using and abusing others, and injuring the self-esteem of others around them.

Bullies and people who lack self-esteem themselves sometimes attempt to put others down in order to lift themselves up. It really shows a lack of personal growth and development, a character flaw of the one bullying, insulting and demeaning others. Such behavior ought never to be taken at face value. Do not believe the lies others tell you.

Why?

Love is the answer. Love is always the answer. You are made of and for Love. Love does not come from outside of yourself. Decide to believe in yourself. Discover your likes and dislikes again. Your views on what you once thought was important may have changed over time and experience.

If you are not feeling Love for yourself, it is because, quite simply, you are choosing not to Love yourself. That is a decision you can change. You can change this in a heartbeat. Never wait to feel Love. Be the inititator of Love. Begin by greeting yourself each morning with Love. Love yourself right where you are at this moment, even if you are in pain, send Love to every cell and fiber of your being.

You are a beautiful creature full of wonder and awe. Who you are is much more important that any reflection you see of yourself in others. It feels good to have validation from others, if and when that happens. But seeing a reflection of yourself in others is only a fragment of who you really are in the bigger scheme of things.

You are your best healer. It is necessary to be ready, and willing in order to be able to heal yourself. That begins with your free will. It is a conscious decision you make. All other remedies from the outside of yourself are all secondary to the power within yourself to rule your own destiny.

Also, decide that you are victim of your own life no longer. From now on, you are the master of your own life. This is Self Mastery. You have learned a lot about yourself. You have learned what has worked, and what has not worked in your life. You have learned what has pushed your buttons thus far. Decide never again to react to anything anymore. From now on, decide how you are going to act in any given situation. If you are caught on the spot needing to make a decision before taking immediate action, “Re-Member” to take a few slow breaths, then act in the direction of your new life-affirming plan.

You’ve got this. Keep telling yourself this, because it is true. Whatever you tell yourself, you believe. If you recognize that you have been giving yourself less than life-affirming statements, or beliefs about yourself, correct these dysfunctional, sabotaging thoughts each time they occur to you.

Before long, by your personal will and decision, you can drop addictions to all sorts of chronically negative previous programming. There are support groups that can assist you if you choose. How you decide to heal is up to you. Just know that you do not need to stay in any situation you find yourself. There is always a loving and life-giving response to your situation.

Make a plan to “Re-Member” yourself to yourself, to others around you, and to your life’s dharma. “Re-Member” yourself to faith, hope, and love, which manifests is joy, peace, kindness, wonder, awe in every moment of every day.

The answer is LOVE.

God Bless Everyone Everywhere

40 Tips For A Happy Healthy Life


You can choose to be happy.

40 Tips for a Happy Health Life has circulated on the internet, and has wonderful pearls of wisdom for your happiness health. It is interesting that the first tip is to drink plenty of water. Did you know if your brain gets two percent dehydrated, you can easily get muddled thinking and forgetful memory? We can choose to be happy, it helps to keep us healthy on many levels.

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants, and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time for prayer and reflection
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did last year.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.

Personality:
10. Take a 10-to-30 minute walk every day —- and while you walk, smile.
11. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don’t over do; keep your limits.
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously; no one else does.
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Community:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right things.
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. Forgiveness heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, don’t take it for granted – embrace life.
39. Your inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not least:
40. Enjoy LIFE!

NAMASTE

The ‘Cosmic Light’ of the Silver Cord ~ Part V


The ‘Cosmic Light’ is what the Bible refers to as Spirit.

Silver Cord

This ‘Cosmic Light’ travels from the One Source of All Light generating all Life everywhere. This Cosmic Light is what animates you and inspires you. This Cosmic Light is the Spirit of your Life. This Cosmic Light is Truth and Unconditional Love. This Cosmic Light of God never fails. Learn to converse (prayer, meditate, communicate, question, direct) with this Cosmic Light, your I AM Presence within your heart, mind and soul. This is the “avenue” through which prayer and meditations flow through.

What we manifest in your thoughts and feelings, we manifest in the outer world. What we think about, we bring about. What we think about and feel deeply about, happens. When we think about Love, Harmony and Peace, we manifest Love, Harmony and Peace within ourselves, our families and in the world. Likewise, when we think and have strong feelings that are born out of Not Love, Dis-Harmony and Non-Peacefulness, we see those seeds we planted, mirrored in what we have made of ourselves, our families and the world. That is the only we get the results we do, ever.

If the world is out of balance, is Not Love-based, is in Dis-Harmony producing Non-Peaceful results, we need to reassess what we are “putting out there.”

Look at the conditions of the world and ask yourself:

  • Am I selfish?
  • Am I generous with everyone?
  • Am I greedy?
  • Do I hoard money, food, clothing, things?
  • Do I help the less fortunate?
  • Am I judgmental about myself?
  • Do I Love myself?
  • Do I feel worthy?
  • Am I judgmental about others not like myself?
  • Am I prejudiced?
  • Do I only hand around with people of my exact race, color, creed, financial status, gender, age or ability or disability group?

It is a lie, a preversion of the truth, to say the conditions found in the world have nothing to do with you and me. How many times have we heard:

  • It’s not my fault.
  • I didn’t do it.
  • I have no idea why things are the way they are.

Do we want to stop:

  • human trafficking
  • gun trafficking
  • drug trafficking
  • the OPIOD crisis
  • global warming
  • climate change
  • all prejudice
  • cruel treatment of all animals and wildlife

 

… and help the:

  • rain forests
  • fishing industry
  • fair and just laws of our country
  • immigrants settle humanely
  • education in our land
  • people to learn and follow the Constitutions of our countries
  • people to learn and follow the Bill of Rights
  • people to learn accurate history, all history

Still, if we are living and breathing upon this planet, we have the Active Force of the Spirit of God, Energy, or however we imagine the two factors smashing together to form the Big Bang, (which by the way science has yet to figure out), with which to change the world. We have the opportunity to work with this Life Force, our I AM Presence, to make things better within our lives, neighborhoods, states, countries and the world at large. It is not up to other people to fix the world. It is up to you and I, using the Divine Gift of the I AM Presence to fix the world.

It is possible.

The Beloved Apostle John shared what Jesus taught him, when John wrote, “But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” 1 John 4:4, New Living Translation of the Bible

Namaste

So How Is Your Inner Child Doing? Updated 5/21/20


It’s as if we are all having flash backs to the 1970s. It would be helpful to re-read M. Scott Peck’s “The Road Less Traveled” from 1978. It very well could be the antidote to our grown up issues with our temper tantrum inner child. I can hear the echo of The Eagles’ hit song, “Get Over It,” as the remedy to “kick its little ass.”

How IS your inner child doing?

The Road Less Traveled is a timeless book on the benefits of delayed gratification as a means to living a more fulfilling adult life. It may also be the only remedy to living life at all these days.

Has your inner child been catching your attention lately?

Is your inner child running your life much to the chaos that only a two-year-old running the house can bring?

How are you with delayed gratification of anything?

I ask this question given the times we are living in right now. We are in the midst of a worldwide coronavirus pandemic, which has no known cure, is highly contagious, is transferable from person to person 14 to 21 days prior to any symptoms, and is not gone in many parts of the world. Two days ago when this article was first posted, the country with the worst batting record of winning the global pandemic is the United States of America, with over 1,490,022 cases, which is an increase of 18,937. These numbers continue to increase minute by minute. As I update this post 2 days later, currently the confirmed coronavirus cases in the USA total 1,551,680, which is an increase of 23,285 cases over yesterday, and an increase in deaths totaling 93,434, an increase of 1,518.

In Massachusetts, for example, three days ago confirmed COVID-19 cases were 80,497, an increase of 1,165 from the previous day. Today, confirmed cases total 88,970, an increase of 1,045 over yesterday. Deaths from COVID-19 today are 93,434, an increase of 1,518 over yesterday.

I’ve heard so many people say, “Stop telling the confirmed case numbers and the deaths. That is so depressing. Let’s start talking about only positive things. I’m am depressed, you know. I must concentrate on other things.”

As a holistic counselor, I have taught about the power of positive thinking in every session I ever held, for years. But there is a difference between denying reality by focusing on something that does not solve the problem and doing something positive about it to arrive at a solution. You and I cannot arrive at the solution if we do not look at the huge, extremely contagious problem with no known cure. Wishing it would go away will not make it go away. It will make it stay around forever. Saying, “It is not happening,” does not make it not happen.

Many states are in the same boat on the river of “denial.” That used to be a funny joke. Now it is a sad state of reality.

As a nation, we seem to be unable to do the adult discipline of dealing with the problem head on. If only pointing fingers, blaming, ignoring, and spinning tales could get us out of this one. Even though it was three months late in the game, we did manage to begin social distancing, and wearing masks and gloves, at least some of us did that, and some of us only after a penalty of $300 was assessed for those of us who stamped our feet and still said, “No I won’t.”

But that did not stop 315,822 humans from dying. Some will say that number is too high because some people who died in the hospital, who had COVID-19 really died from having heart attacks and respiratory and other failures. Even some of the people that denied that this coronavirus was nothing more than a bad flu and was a hoax also died from COVID-19.

However, the reality is that COVID-19 weakens hearts and lungs, and those heart attacks and deaths from lung issues were most likely from COVID-19. Also, we only know about confirmed cases. Only one percent of the population in the United States has been tested. The reality is that the number of people walking around with COVID-19 is far greater.

What’s a person to do?

We have spent two whole months social distancing, and wearing masks, and some of us wearing gloves too. Some of us are looking at the same numbers and saying, “Enough is enough. We cannot go on like this. The businesses are hurting. People need paychecks.”

The answer in some states is to rush to open up businesses before the curve has really flattened. As long as any state is having increased confirmed cases, the situation is getting worse, not better. Some states have better track records of how they limited this killer virus in the first place.

Common sense is needed at the helm. If your particular state or country determines it is ready to open up to business, consider not allowing your inner child to make decisions for you that could seriously shorten your life, or shorten the lives of those around you. Do check out the statistics for your country, state, county and city or town. Determine for yourself what guidelines you want to live by.

You only get one life. Protect your inner child.

Because You Deserve To Feel Better

Food Healing 2 ~ Healing Type 2 Diabetes


Did you know type 2 diabetes is totally preventable and often can be cured by using foods as medicine?

You can either live with type 2 diabetes, or you can allow your body to completely heal type 2 diabetes.

Consult your doctors before changing any diets. Never get off any medications unless you consult with your physician first. Here are a few things to consider if you would like to use food-based healing. When possible, buy organic to avoid pesticide residue. Increase oxygen in your heart and in your body, do Qigong, move, walk, do breathing exercises. Ignorance is not bliss. We can fix this. We have pumped our bodies with sugar and milled flour products, which create huge sugar spikes. There is no way our pancreas can secrete enough insulin to process it all. If we want to, we can make the dietary changes necessary to heal ourselves.

The question is, do we want to?

Most if not all chemical medications have side effects, so many in fact that in some magazines, the disclaimers of the side effects of a wide variety of medications cover two or more full pages. Some of the side effects feel worse than the problem they are supposed to remedy. At first glance, this might seem like a no brainer. However, we are talking about changing our diet, the problem that created this problem in the first place. We are possibly talking about food addiction, and food that is used as a crutch for not dealing head on with other life issues.

So the question remains, do we really want to heal Type 2 diabetes?

Do we really want to change our diet in order to feel better?

If the answer is yes, there is help by using the right foods to eliminate type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. Since the problem with type 2 diabetes is not a lack of insulin, but rather a diminished potency of insulin, the foods listed below are recommended in addition to swiss chard and bitter melon. Keep in mind, we are not talking about what foods are your favorite tastes, but using these foods as medicine.

Cucumbers are the primary food for type 2 diabetes. They contain phytochemicals that improve the function of insulin. They will help to balance blood sugar and promote better energy levels. The phytochemicals which help this process are in the skin and in the seeds, so it is necessary to buy organic cucumbers without the wax coating. It is also beneficial to use a 3 horsepower blender to get a 95% success rate. Blenders with less horsepower will not micronize the food necessary to be assimilated by your cells.

Spring onions are very rich in chromium, a trace mineral that helps cells respond to insulin. In addition to chromium, experimental and clinical evidence suggest that “allylpropyldisufide” found in onion lowers blood sugar levels by increasing the amount of free insulin available. It does this by occupying sites in the liver where insulin is activated. This results in an increase in the amount of insulin available to usher glucose into cells causing a lowering of blood sugar. It is recommended to use the spring onion with the green tops.

Cumin seeds are an important herb that balances blood sugar and improves the insulin already present in the body. Cinnamon helps the body better effectively metabolize carbohydrates and improve energy levels after a meal.

Even more powerful than swiss chard (although swiss chard is great for type 2 diabetes) is bitter melon, which is available at Oriental grocery stores. Bitter melon is inexpensive and has the highest amount of insulin like substance. In the long run, it can regenerate the pancreas. These two foods along with a lifestyle change are the keys to being successful. Bitter melon is good when booked with chicken and Oriental black bean sauce, with rice.

You can live with type 2 diabetes, or you can completely heal diabetes.

The only fruits diabetics can have are limes and acai berries (and acai drinks). You must also lose carbohydrates, even from whole grains. The only source of carbohydrates for diabetics on this food-based healing system is from vegetables and beans. That’s it.

This food protocol comes from “The Ultimate High-Phytochemical Food Healing System,” by Qigong Practitioner Jeff Primack. I am a certified Qigong instructor, and Jeff was my teacher.

God Bless

The Virtue of Lent ~ Week 4 ~ Our Pilgrimage to Heaven ~ A Meditation


The word “Lent” is an ancient word for spring. We look for new life to appear as we thaw out our frozen attitudes and substitute virtues in their place. It’s a time for clearing and cleansing our hearts, minds and voices. It’s a time for planting seeds of faith, hope and love in our lives. As we do this, we are conscious that one day, the Day of the Lord, there will be a harvest.

Each of us has our unique faith journey. Even those of us who were raised in the same family, with the same relatives going to the same church still interpret what each of us sees, hears, feels and knows to be true. This is our personal journey of faith. Lent is a perfect time to re-examine what we believe and consider our lives of faith, hope and love. At the end of our lives, will it matter how far off the beaten path we ventured, or how many pagan and false religions we delved into?

Yes.

How faithful have we been to our faith and the words of Jesus?

The word “catholic” means “universal.” Jesus came to earth to separate truth from fiction. So many people had mixed up myth with faith. Even the faith of the Old Testament had mixed up priorities. Jesus came to straighten out our priorities, and focus our thoughts of eternal happiness in heaven as something to look forward to at the end of our lives. No one lives forever, at least here on earth. This part we all know to be true. This is a universal truth for each one of us. Jesus promised that after this vale of tears, when we arrive in his Kingdom our sorrow would be turned into joy.

Our Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, and Father of Jesus, gives us hope in this Fourth Week of Lent, through the inspired writing of Isaiah 65:17-21. Here Isaiah points to the our future expectations we can meditate on:

“Thus says the Lord:
“Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;
“The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind.
“Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create;
“For I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight;
“I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people.
“No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there, or the sound of crying;
“No longer shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days,
“or an old man who does not round out his full life time;
“He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years,
“and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed.
“They shall live in houses they build, and eat of the fruit of the vineyards they plant.”

Lent gives is six weeks to prepare for the Paschal Mystery, Easter. Jesus did a similar 40 day reflection when He fasted in the desert following His baptism by John the Baptist. Jesus made new choices and changed the direction of His life after His 40-day reflection. Up until this moment, Jesus was known as the carpenter’s son, and practiced the carpenter’s trade, helping his friends and neighbors by building tables and chairs and other wooden household items.

After his 40-day fast in the desert, after He reflected on God His Father and the mission entrusted to Him as Savior, the Messiah who had long been foretold, Jesus immediately made the necessary changes to fulfill the will of His Heavenly Father. From this moment on, Jesus left no stone unturned. Absolutely nothing was left behind, even when it cost him his reputation in his hometown, or with the Temple authorities, nor with the complete oblation of his body and blood in His Passion and death on the cross.

We are asked to carry our own cross in the face of public opinion. Here are some questions we can ask ourselves as we meditate on things we might like to improve:

Who am I really trying to please?
What does my 40 days of prayer, meditation and reflection mean to me?
Is something jumping out to the forefront of my mind that I need to work on?
Is there something I can discuss with my family to improve relationships while we are cloistered in our homes?
Is there any addiction I need to address?
How is my speech?
Am I generous?
Do I hoard my goods?
Do I eat too much?
Do I drink too much?
Am I addicted to anything, including drugs?
How is my relationship with my spouse?
How is my relationship with my children?
How is my relationship with my parents, no matter how old I am?
How is my relationship with my neighbors?
Do I pray?
Do I meditate?
Do I spend time with spiritual reading?
Do I forgive as Jesus taught us to in the Our Father prayer, in order that I be forgiven?
Do I have hope?
Do I speak words of hope and inspiration to others?
Do I have faith in God, Father of Jesus?
Do I have faith in Jesus Christ?
Do I have faith in the Holy Spirit?
Do I share my faith?
How do I share my faith?
Is my love conditional?
Is my love unconditional?
Do I trust others?
Do I need to heal any relationships?
If my mother is alive, can I repair a broken relationship with her?
If my father is alive, can I repair a broken relationship with him?
Do I have broken relationships that are in need of healing?
Can I forgive myself for my past failings?
What is stopping me from forgiving?
Do I justify my thoughts?
Do I justify my words?
Do I justify by actions?
Do I justify my non-actions?
Do I realize that justifying myself is a sign of unchecked pride?
Do I realize that pride which stops healing in relationships is a sin?
Am I humble?
Am I kind?
Am I trustworthy?
Am I honest?
Am I pure of heart?
Am I pure of thought?
Am I pure in deed?
Do I love myself as a child of God, Father of Jesus?
Do I need to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

Reconciling with God and with those we need to make up with heals us in mind, body and spirit. Let us not let the biggest sin, that of pride, get in the way of healing ourselves. We still have time in this Lenten season, to make a new start. We remember that in the end, it is Jesus we will face. Let us straighten out our lives now while we can.

How is the best way to make a new start? Begin with the Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope and Love. Every other positive thing we can all do this Lent is built on this firm foundation.

God Bless

Financial Fasting


Financial gluttony, over-spending, living beyond our means, and maxing out our credit

ostrich with head in the sand
If we do not see the financial problems we or others have, we can be like an ostrich with their head in the sand. Is there any financial problem if we choose not to see it?

cards/personal loans/business loans, sound familiar?

The answer is financial fasting. Over-spending happens to some of us personally, to some of us in business, to some of us in politics, and to some of us in the military on a global level.

The remedy does not always lie in cutting out a person’s salary, cutting employee benefits, eliminating customer service, or outsourcing labor. We need to keep human integrity.

People are worth more than things. If you ever have so much to do that you do not know what to do first, the priority is, people before things.

We cut corners where we can. We substitute lesser brand products for name brand products, spread things out a little bit to make it go farther. Most of us have been here at one time or another.

Still, many of us keep on the merry-go-round of over spending, because there are valid needs, bills need to be paid, and food and shelter are high priorities. The difficulty comes when the lines blur between needs and wants. We’ve been “good” for so long that we want to “reward” ourselves with a night out to eat, or to a movie or anything else that is our placebo for responsible financial restriction amnesia.

We can have addictions to over spending, which is difficult, because, like addictions to food, we still need to eat. We still need to handle money responsibility.

A healthy answer would be to include “financial fasting.” Moratoriums, financial caps on our own spending, personally, within the family, companies, and government spending across the globe. What would happen if we did not spend what we did not have? What would our lives look like if we paid cash for everything and stopped the credit cards and loans? We are killing ourselves, literally, as our bodies and minds wear out from the friction of daily stresses, trying to make ends meet, or at least come close to meeting.

These questions can be an eye opener for us, if we find ourselves squirming. Are we addicted to our lifestyle? Do we feel like we have choices? Many of us have lost so much in these times, from homes to businesses.

Some of us have not lost anything at all, as a matter of fact, some of us have made great strides, financially with ethical practices; while others of us have made huge profits on the backs of over-worked employees, or are part of the millionaires club with no dose of reality for the ramification of political decisions, business decisions, or any other kind of decisions we make, as if our lives don’t really touch those of others because we are so insulated.

Whether it is ourselves who are overspending, or our bosses who are taking unfair advantage of us by dangling our jobs from their tight-fisted grips, or any other group who is using financial manipulation as a means to their ends, we can be like ostriches sticking their heads in the sand. Is it true, if we do not see something, then it is not happening?

While it is true what we focus on grows, it is also true that what we do not focus on does not get addressed.

We need to shed light on our realities. With a clear mind, no matter how extreme things may have gotten, the key is our plan. If that plan fails, make a new plan. We need to simplify, donate what we do not need or use, downsize our homes, minimize our bills, and practice financial fasting. However, like all fasts, they cannot go on forever, so make a long range plan, and keep adjusting along the way.

God Bless

If you Have …


you are blessed

Recipes That Won’t Bore You To Death from Sarah McCall and Yahoo Food


http://www.yahoo.com/food/healthy-recipes-that-wont-bore-you-to-death-72466798703.html

Avocado Toast with Curry Oil
Avocado Toast with Curry Oil

Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa
Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa

Yogurt Pancakes with Pomegranate Seeds
Yogurt Pancakes with Pomegranate Seeds

Enjoy ~ Namaste

Food Healing 1 ~ Lowering Blood Pressure and Increasing Heart Health Naturally


Where do our medicines come from? They are mimics of the properties of real foods.

Natural, organic foods heal. Chemical medicines mimic the benefits real foods provide.

Consult your doctors before changing any diets. Never get off any medications unless you consult with your physician first. Here are a few things to consider if you would like to use food-based healing. When possible, buy organic to avoid pesticide residue. Increase oxygen in your heart and in your body, do Qigong, move, walk, do breathing exercises.Did you know if you eat six stalks of celery a day, you can lower your own blood pressure? And there are no side effects to eating celery. Yes, celery is high in organic sodium, but it would take more than 30 stalks of celery a day to get more than is recommended. Lowering blood pressure also has to do with dilating arteries.  The beta glucans found in several mushrooms, including Wood Ear (black fungus mushrooms) at only about $3 per bag at Oriental grocery stores. They are clinically proven to inhibit cancer cell growth, dilate arteries which lowers blood pressure, removes plaque from the walls of blood vessels. There are also Reishi mushrooms, which are known as a medicinal mushroom rather than one you cook with, because it is known to lower bad cholesterol, reduce hardening of the arteries, and reduces angina and shortness of breath associates with coronary heart disease. But the Reishi mushroom needs to be boiled overnight and drinking the tea is the best way to ingest this tea. Boil six cups of water, one handful of Goji berries, and one handful of dried black fungus mushrooms, then simmer for six hours or overnight. (The mushrooms get very large.) Strain the tea, cool and enjoy the benefits. It is recommended to drink this tea for 14 days. Most people do not have an adverse reaction. This tea is rich in Vitamin D, B1, B2, has three times as much Iron as liver, and twice as much calcium as milk.

Did you know heart disease can be reversible with food? There are some foods that remove arterial plaque, like oatmeal (use the old-fashioned kind, not the minute kind), which draws out the fats from your arteries. Avocado is critical for heart health and healing. It’s a good living fat, and contains beta-sitosterol, which has a greater impact on blood cholesterol than either olive or almond oil. Okra and eggplant are two other powerful artery scrubbers.

Did you know you can reverse diabetes with food? This will be covered in the next article.

These food protocols come from “The Ultimate High-Phytochemical Food Healing System,” by Qigong Practitioner Jeff Primack. I am a certified Qigong instructor, and Jeff was my teacher.

Namaste