Vacation & eating raw food

I was off in Boston for the last month and haven't been able to post.  I found it really hard to stay 100% raw during that time. I was freezing and wanting something warm to eat and drink. So I broke down and ate baked potatoes regularly.  I'm home now and working on getting back to at least 95% raw again.  I got papayas growing in the yard and been enjoying them. 

Today I bought apples with the intention of making Bakalava. It's Bruce Horowitz's recipe which I have yet to do right. I don't know about you, but when recipes are written from the biggest ingredient to the smallest, and the order for processing the recipe is different, I always make errors.  Therefore, I think I'll rewrite the recipe to suit either my brain's interpretation (I like things listed in exact order of action) or rewrite it in the way in which I ended up making it.

This is how I made the recipe and it was still delicious:

In processor mix:
2 C pecans
1 C raisins
1 cut orange, rind included
1/2 C honey
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. sea salt (I use kosher salt)

Process and set aside.

5-6 firm apples (My favorite are Fuji's)
1/2 C lemon juice

Core and half apples. With spiral slicer (Use wide blade), slice apples into thin wedges. (I don't have a spiral slicer, so I used a knife to do that which worked just fine.) Mix with lemon juice.

Layering:
Place a layer of apples in a 8"X13" Pyrex followed by a layer of pecan and raisin mix. Repeat so you have 3 layers of apples and topping. Top with cinnamon.

That's not exactly what  Horowitz's recipe says. He says to mix the nuts and honey separately. In that way you have 3 different layers times 3.  I like the way mine turned out. You can make any changes to suit your taste buds.  It's a great lunch.  Yummy!

Write a gratitude list and count your blessings.

Internet problems & Patience

Over the past month, I have had internet problems. The internet connection was moving so slowly I couldn't load or download anything without it going off. However, lots have happened. I'm studying a fasting book with a group of women at the church. I am currently doing morning fasts with prayers intent on patience.

Patience is not only one of the seven virtues, it is also one of the six perfections. In my Pema Chodron lessons, we were told to practice "being patient with slight irritations and annoyances..." In this way, we prepare ourselves to remain calm with bigger problems arise. By becoming familiar with arising feelings of impatience and annoyance, we can move into patience more readily and "deescalate" any negativity while it is relatively easy to do so.

The Dalai Lama says "there are four qualities of patience and tolerance:"

• If someone pushes you around, you should be tolerant, patient.
• If someone shows anger to you, you should not respond with anger.
• If someone hits you, you should not strike back.
• If someone embarrasses and insults you, you should not answer back.

What I have found to help me be patient with such aggressions, is to have empathy for the other person. I do this with tonglen and NVC. Do I do this every time? No. But I try. For me, this is a process, not perfection.

Even the Dalai Lama says patience is a transformation of attitude. It's an inside job.

“We cannot learn real patience and tolerance from a guru or a friend. They can be practiced only when we come in contact with someone who creates unpleasant experiences. According to Shantideva, enemies are really good for us as we can learn a lot from them and build our inner strength."”--Dalai Lama

Osho

I first heard of Osho when I started studying Tonglen. His writing is at the Tonglen and Mind Training Site.  I was empressed by his writings on tonglen. So I found him on FB. Now I am checking out his site called Osho Times: The Magazine for Conscious Living.

Today, an article on inner emptiness was posted on the site. He addresses when people feel out of place and how preforming religious rituals alone doesn't make you religious. His point seems to be more about doing thing the same as others just because that's the way it's done. What's important is looking for the essentials in life.

If you decide to read the article, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think. I would really love to hear from you.

...be silent so that you can hear the still small voice of your heart. And it is always speaking, but you are so noisy you go on missing its message.”--Osho

Authenticity is an antidote to inner emptiness. --Osho

Lenten fast from Carbon

 

It is Lent and I am doing my usual half-day fast. I'm also taking on studying fasting.  My bible study group is reading a book on fasting which I find somewhat difficult, mostly because of the belief system of the evangelical preacher who wrote it. So, I am doing my own research as I read it.

I found this interesting article by LeeAnne Beres. Her suggestion is to look at Lent as an opportunity to grow closer to God and God's creation. By seeing Lent this way, we can celebrate creation by decreasing  our carbon footprint. If God created earth and said it was good, then it is our responsibility to take care of it. Another way to see it, is to notice how integrated we are on earth; we are all equal and have a role in keeping God's creation beautiful and healthy for us all.


Prayers may seem unanswered, but never are.

Our ancestors viewed the earth as rich and bountiful, which it is. Many people in the past also saw nature as inexhaustibly sustainable, which we know is the case only if we care for it. It is not difficult to forgive destruction in the past that resulted from ignorance. Today, however, we have access to more information, and it is essential that we re-examine ethically what we have inherited, what we are responsible for, and what we will pass on to coming generations.--The Dalai Lama

Been traveling

I have been traveling and have not been online for quite some time.  My father's 89th birthday was last week so I got to fly to California to be with him and other family members. It was quite the family reunion.

How did I use what I learned in my Buddha classes?  By practicing patience and joyful effort I was able to get through conversations with certain family members who usually push my buttons just right. Don't we all have kinfolk like that? I also remembered: Do no harm. This really helped, too.  So, by practicing the 6 perfections and on-the-spot tonglen I felt really great.

I start work tomorrow with a new schedule. As long as I do everything with patience and joyful effort, I'll do OK. That's my starting point. From there, I move into the ethics.

Have a beautiful day!

The hardest thing in life is letting go of what you thought was real.

Germ theory, true or false?

I've heard for several years that germ theory was a hoax. It was accepted and seen as an opportunity to make money. According to several articles I've read, the very scientist, Louis Pasteur, who pushed it rejected it on his death bed saying, "Bernard was right... the microbe is nothing; the terrain is everything." 

Another scientist and contemporary of Pasteur, Professor Antoine Béchamp, had rejected the germ theory in favor of his own theory of pleomorphism:

·    Acidic terrain, not germs, cause disease
·    Germs are already in the body by the billions and don't necessarily have to come from without (although that can sometimes happen)
·    Blood is not sterile but can contain many microbial forms
·    Germs are pleomorphic, i.e., they can change through many forms (Dr Gaston Naessens identified a microbe undergoing 16 different stages of  evolution)
·    Virtually all diseases are caused by acidic terrain
·    Diseases can be prevented or reversed by increasing the alkalinity of the terrain
--Gabriel Donohoe in natural news.com

 Click here to get the complete article.

The bottom line is the key to health is having alkaline body. How does one do that? By eating a diet high in uncooked fresh fruit and vegetables.

80/10/10

I had a bit of a cooked food relapse lately--Indian food which I find hard to resist--and decided to go on a cleanse.  Why a cleanse? Because I felt sick afterwards. In the past when I 'cheated,' I didn't have many problems. This time my stomach ached, mucus returned, and I felt bloated.

I decided not to do another series of dry fasts, but to do 80/10/10.  I've done this before with good results, so here I am, three weeks before Lent begins and already doing my Lenten fast.  Within two days I noticed one of the things I like about it: the feeling of a cleaner colon and bowl movements. For some reason, with this diet, I don't need as much toilet paper as I do when I eat more fats.  I even feel lighter.

So here I am, attempting to stay on 80/10/10.  While I was at the grocery store, I looked at those foods which tempt me but decided that I'm on a great path on which I want to stay.  Why mess up a good thing before getting maximum results?

The road to recovery is always under construction.

There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.