A few months ago, I had a feeling the parasite (Blastocystis Hominus) was gone. I made an appointment with my HMO to get tested, and sure enough, it was!!!! It took over a year to get rid of it, but my crazy-strict diet finally starved that mo-fo. I feel grateful to God, proud of myself, and overall much more full of energy! As for the diet, I'm staying on it for awhile for a few reasons-- because it's super healthy and feels good on my digestive system, and I still feel like I want to get my Candidiasis a little more tempered before I start eating things that those little Candida albicans like to eat again.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to make a better variety of meals for myself lately. It does take some creativity to not get bored with a processed-free diet. I made gluten-free meatloaf for the first time the other day, combining two recipes I found on the internet plus adding a few of my own ingredients. Here's the recipe:
Gluten-free Meatloaf:
.8 lbs. of grass-fed beef
1 cup of cooked quinoa and millet
1/2 onion
a little red pepper
1 celery stalk
2 garlic cloves
cumin
cinnamon
sea salt
pepper
parsley
It was soooo good. I'm still getting used to the taste of meat after being a vegetarian for 16 years, so covering up the "meaty" taste with all these delicious veggies and spices worked really well.
Here are some blogs I've been reading for recipe ideas lately too:
http://gluten-dairy-sugarfree.com/
http://www.elanaspantry.com/
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
ease
I lead the prayer time at church again today. Here's what I said:
I was on the beach in Pacifica for my 31st birthday and asked the Holy Spirit that if there was one thing it would have me focus on this year, what would that be? I already had a very detailed list of goals and intentions I had set for myself for the new year and was curious what God would say was the most important from the list. God, of course being God, didn’t name one thing from my long list of self-improvement goals. I simply heard, “Be easy.”
Be easy.
I immediately thought of an example of this “easiness” that I believed the Spirit was referring to. In 2009, I went through a healing crisis, as many of you know, that after much physical and emotional distress, finally lead me to a career switch among many other changes. One of the physical symptoms I experienced that year was dizziness and other balance-related issues, which caused me to have motion sickness when I drove in a car. After a while, as I attempted to surrender to the healing process, I was lead, step by step, towards health and my dizziness started to dissipate. But I was still feeling the dizziness when I was in a car. And instead of focusing on what was working and healing in my life, I chose to focus on what I was not able to do and was very hard on myself. I was done with this whole “sick thing” and just wanted to get it over with already and be back to “normal.” I kept trying to force myself to drive and then feeling sick when I did, which would increase the fear, which made everything worse especially the dizziness, I’m sure.
So I eventually surrendered to the fact that whatever I was doing was not working, and I stopped trying so hard. I went to God. . . . I slowed down. . . . I asked, “What am I missing?” and “What else can I learn from this?” And then tried to listen to what the next step was in this whole, slooow healing process that God was leading me through, and that I was starting to have faith in. I began following the Spirit’s subtle instructions again, listening to the still small voice, instead of trying to rush into something I thought that I should be doing. And lo and behold, one day I found myself driving again. I was very surprised about how easy a transition it was! There was no pushing. There wasn’t even any fear. The instructions the Spirit had given me towards healing had prepared me, had fully dissipated the motion sick feeling this time, and I was driving again. I was ready, and it was easy. I did it with ease.
Contrary to what I believe our society constantly tells us, it’s not always about pushing ourselves. God wants to be so gentle with us. Way way way more gentle than we are with ourselves most of the time. And it’s not about focusing on the one thing or the many things that we want to change. We can ask ourselves, “Where do we already have ease in our lives and how can we build on that?" "How can we slow down and join God’s process in God’s timing?” When we’re doing things with God, in God’s timing, I believe there is not overwhelm. There is ease. Overwhelm can be our clue that we’re not letting God in. That’s how I’ve been using it in my life. (And I sense that many in this congregation also experience this overwhelm being the activists and self-improvement junkies that we are.) He wants to carry us along with ease. He wants us to “be easy.” With God, in God’s timing, there is ease. And there is joy.
Today, let’s pray together in silence and ask God how can we “be easy” today. How can we build on what’s going well in our lives and leave room for even more ease and more joy. . . within ourselves, with those around us, in church while we plan our future structure, and with the work we do in the world. Let us pray.
I was on the beach in Pacifica for my 31st birthday and asked the Holy Spirit that if there was one thing it would have me focus on this year, what would that be? I already had a very detailed list of goals and intentions I had set for myself for the new year and was curious what God would say was the most important from the list. God, of course being God, didn’t name one thing from my long list of self-improvement goals. I simply heard, “Be easy.”
Be easy.
I immediately thought of an example of this “easiness” that I believed the Spirit was referring to. In 2009, I went through a healing crisis, as many of you know, that after much physical and emotional distress, finally lead me to a career switch among many other changes. One of the physical symptoms I experienced that year was dizziness and other balance-related issues, which caused me to have motion sickness when I drove in a car. After a while, as I attempted to surrender to the healing process, I was lead, step by step, towards health and my dizziness started to dissipate. But I was still feeling the dizziness when I was in a car. And instead of focusing on what was working and healing in my life, I chose to focus on what I was not able to do and was very hard on myself. I was done with this whole “sick thing” and just wanted to get it over with already and be back to “normal.” I kept trying to force myself to drive and then feeling sick when I did, which would increase the fear, which made everything worse especially the dizziness, I’m sure.
So I eventually surrendered to the fact that whatever I was doing was not working, and I stopped trying so hard. I went to God. . . . I slowed down. . . . I asked, “What am I missing?” and “What else can I learn from this?” And then tried to listen to what the next step was in this whole, slooow healing process that God was leading me through, and that I was starting to have faith in. I began following the Spirit’s subtle instructions again, listening to the still small voice, instead of trying to rush into something I thought that I should be doing. And lo and behold, one day I found myself driving again. I was very surprised about how easy a transition it was! There was no pushing. There wasn’t even any fear. The instructions the Spirit had given me towards healing had prepared me, had fully dissipated the motion sick feeling this time, and I was driving again. I was ready, and it was easy. I did it with ease.
Contrary to what I believe our society constantly tells us, it’s not always about pushing ourselves. God wants to be so gentle with us. Way way way more gentle than we are with ourselves most of the time. And it’s not about focusing on the one thing or the many things that we want to change. We can ask ourselves, “Where do we already have ease in our lives and how can we build on that?" "How can we slow down and join God’s process in God’s timing?” When we’re doing things with God, in God’s timing, I believe there is not overwhelm. There is ease. Overwhelm can be our clue that we’re not letting God in. That’s how I’ve been using it in my life. (And I sense that many in this congregation also experience this overwhelm being the activists and self-improvement junkies that we are.) He wants to carry us along with ease. He wants us to “be easy.” With God, in God’s timing, there is ease. And there is joy.
Today, let’s pray together in silence and ask God how can we “be easy” today. How can we build on what’s going well in our lives and leave room for even more ease and more joy. . . within ourselves, with those around us, in church while we plan our future structure, and with the work we do in the world. Let us pray.
Monday, February 20, 2012
next steps
I really don't talk about my healing crisis of 2009 much in my life at all, but I seem to mention it a lot in this blog. I started the blog during that time. And the blog has mostly been an outlet where I can process the amazing path that has unfolded since my Saturn return so I guess it makes sense. I know I'm so early in the process of this new path, and in the future, I think it will be interesting to look back and read how I got to where I am/will be. Not that I think everything I did before 2009 was irrelevant. Not at all! Lately it's been clear that my degrees in social work will be an essential part of what I do in the future. I think. Who knows? It's exciting not to know and not to plan. And to just trust. The hard part for me is not rushing. And to stay in this era, which mostly seems to be about learning. So anyways, these are my rambling thoughts that are supposed to eventually transition into telling you, blog readers (hi mom!) about what's been unfolding as of late in regards to my health and my business, which are (surprise!) extremely related.
So I talked about in a previous blog about my adventures with parasites and in return, my adventures with healthy eating. This has also been exacerbated by the knowledge that I also have candida (yeast overgrowth) so I'm now learning even more about digestive health. So then last November during some Reiki with Meg, I realized that I needed to figure out what the next step is after I graduate from massage school, besides continuing CranioSacral classes and continuing my business. So while Dan was in Minnesota for Thanksgiving, I decided to devote the week to trying to discern and listen to what was next.
Looking back on it, I think it only took about one day to figure out my next step. I was thinking about what skills I wanted to provide to my current and future clients, and decided that I was always trying to give them nutrition advice even though I have no background in nutrition. I've just come to realize how important it is in overall health (like THE most important). And when my clients are coming to me with whatever complaints, nutrition is almost always involved in the whole picture. And it goes along with the holistic viewpoint- that it's impossible to treat one isolated aspect of a person. And it goes along with everything I learned from my own healing crisis- how it wasn't one thing that went wrong, and it wasn't one thing that helped me get back into balance again. Treating the whole body, mind and soul was and is essential.
So that week, I came to the conclusion that the next step on my educational path is getting my nutritional consulting certificate. I researched several schools and decided on one located Santa Cruz. It's an independent study/long distance learning so I'll be doing it at my own pace throughout this year. I started in January and have been soaking in all the yummy info since!
That month I also officially graduated from massage school! On my last day of class, my favorite teacher Karen asked what we were going to do next. I mentioned that I was looking for a space to practice, and she mentioned that she doesn't use her space 3 days a week. I had already been looking for a place and wasn't having any "luck." So after visiting her place and talking prices (she gave me an awesome deal), I got the keys to the place last week! It's super cute, and right in the neighborhood. I'm going to rent 6 hours on Saturdays for now, and add more days as I get more clients. My chiropractor also offered her place so I'm going to use their extra room on Sundays on an as-needed basis. I'm so excited! I'm ready to have my own apartment to myself (oh and Dan). And I want to be able to cook fish and garlic and not have to worry about the smell for when my next client is coming in next!
So I talked about in a previous blog about my adventures with parasites and in return, my adventures with healthy eating. This has also been exacerbated by the knowledge that I also have candida (yeast overgrowth) so I'm now learning even more about digestive health. So then last November during some Reiki with Meg, I realized that I needed to figure out what the next step is after I graduate from massage school, besides continuing CranioSacral classes and continuing my business. So while Dan was in Minnesota for Thanksgiving, I decided to devote the week to trying to discern and listen to what was next.
Looking back on it, I think it only took about one day to figure out my next step. I was thinking about what skills I wanted to provide to my current and future clients, and decided that I was always trying to give them nutrition advice even though I have no background in nutrition. I've just come to realize how important it is in overall health (like THE most important). And when my clients are coming to me with whatever complaints, nutrition is almost always involved in the whole picture. And it goes along with the holistic viewpoint- that it's impossible to treat one isolated aspect of a person. And it goes along with everything I learned from my own healing crisis- how it wasn't one thing that went wrong, and it wasn't one thing that helped me get back into balance again. Treating the whole body, mind and soul was and is essential.
So that week, I came to the conclusion that the next step on my educational path is getting my nutritional consulting certificate. I researched several schools and decided on one located Santa Cruz. It's an independent study/long distance learning so I'll be doing it at my own pace throughout this year. I started in January and have been soaking in all the yummy info since!
That month I also officially graduated from massage school! On my last day of class, my favorite teacher Karen asked what we were going to do next. I mentioned that I was looking for a space to practice, and she mentioned that she doesn't use her space 3 days a week. I had already been looking for a place and wasn't having any "luck." So after visiting her place and talking prices (she gave me an awesome deal), I got the keys to the place last week! It's super cute, and right in the neighborhood. I'm going to rent 6 hours on Saturdays for now, and add more days as I get more clients. My chiropractor also offered her place so I'm going to use their extra room on Sundays on an as-needed basis. I'm so excited! I'm ready to have my own apartment to myself (oh and Dan). And I want to be able to cook fish and garlic and not have to worry about the smell for when my next client is coming in next!
So that's where I am now. I have so many other body work skills I want to learn (acupressure, visceral manipulation, lymph drainage, and reiki to name a few!), but my goal is attempt to try to stay in the present and enjoy where I am now!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
2011
2011 was filled with . . .
Babies! Evan,
Baby V, Lily and Channing in Michigan, Georgia in Santa Cruz, all the Blanks
babies . . .
Family and friends visiting! (Cathy and a pregnant Laura, Heidi, Brenda, Matt, Mom, Aunt
Judy, Aunt Jan and Cousin Kate!)
Watching Evan grow and then letting him go when he entered
day care
New job with Baby V
FDB and YD shows
A perfectly magical 30th birthday with my
girlfriends at the ocean
Wisconsin solidarity and Occupy protests
Barbecues, b-ball, and wiffle ball with friends!
Pacifica afternoons
Santa Cruz weekends
A wonderful trip to Michigan
Massage school
Starting my business!
Working on clients in the living room
Awesome barters with a hairstylist, a reiki master, and a
fashion consultant!
Jasper found us!!! Our new beloved family member
Trip to Nevada City for Cousin Kevin’s engagement
celebration
Started a crafting group with the neighbors- the Craftea B’s
First congo gatherings
Walks to the park with Dan and reading/writing dates at our
favorite tea place
Dan applying and interviewing all year and finally getting a
new job in November!!!
My new tattoo
Self care . . . network chiropractic, craniosacral, and my
new nutritionist . . .
Cooking, eating hella healthy, and feeling better!
A quiet Christmas with Dan and New Years in the Santa Cruz
mountains with friends
So very grateful.
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