Welcome to Genuine Observations. The ideas and information that you'll find on this website are posted with the hope of sparking conversations with like minded people. My wish is that you'll find as much inspiration reading these postings as I've had putting them together.
When our thoughts and actions align in harmony, what we do feels right. Let the right feelings come forth!
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Since today is another snow day, I figured I would share one of my all time favorite recipes. I found this in the book Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis. If you haven’t seen this book, here’s what it looks like so you can pick it up the next time you’re raw book shopping:
Matthew Kenney. William Morrow Cookbooks 2005, Hardcover, 384 pages, $19.35
If you remember, a long time ago, I posted a picture of the Raw Food Real World Lasagne. It was amazing. If you want to take a trip back on memory lane, see my old father’s day dinner post!
But today is all about the chocolate mousse. If for no other reason, you’ll want to pick up the book just for this recipe!
Maybe it was the sex appeal that Sarma brings to the facing page that makes this just a pit more savory. I guess I also have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for fuzzy pink sweaters. But the pig tails? Ah, no thanks. J
The hardest part about making this recipe is finding the Young Thai Coconuts. I’ve always got my eyes out for a sale, but that doesn’t seem to happen enough. This time, I found a few that looked good and healthy (See How to pick out a good coconut). The big surprise I had came when I opened them and found that there was lots of great coconut meat that I could make mousse with! Thus, check out the picture in the measuring cup. I opened them earlier in the day, poured a little coconut water over them and wrapped them up so that it would be no problem when it came time to put it all together.
Notice the test-tube in the crease of the book. One change that I make in their recipe is that I use the scraping of one vanilla bean rather than the liquid vanilla extract. Yes, it’s more expensive, but you don’t get any chemical taste in the final spoon full.
And I love the fact that you just throw everything in the blender and whip it up!
The only thing you really have to look out for is getting coconut shell in the blender. Thus, when you remove the meat from the shell, look it over closely. I’ve missed some shell before and it totally ruins the emotional effect that this dessert lets you experience. You really don’t want to break up the bliss.
I’ve learned that a little goes a long way with this recipe.
I now pick out reasonably small containers to let it both set up in and serve in. These little ramekins work great.
I can’t wait for the next sale on Young Thai Coconuts just so I can make this dessert again!
Enjoy!
Today, winter officially arrived with a morning rain and afternoon snowstorm. It was just above freezing, so what fell came down in large flakes and quickly covered everything. Fortunately the cloud only took an hour to pass by so the snowpack came in around a half inch. It’s beautiful to look at, but you don’t want to venture out.
Thus, it’s a great day to make truffles! … and eat them too!
 A few days ago I went hunting for a really easy raw truffle recipe that would only take a half hour or so from start to finish. I looked around a bit, but didn’t find anything that caught my eye until I visited Lisa’s Raw on $10 a Day (or less!) blog. If you haven’t noticed, that blog has been linked in here for nearly a year! I love her commitment to the blog and how well she puts together the artwork. It’s just fun to read and beautiful to look at.
Yet, anyway, if you scroll back a bit in her blog, you’ll find that on the 2nd, the menu included a dessert – Double Chocolate Truffles! When I saw what she posted, I immediately new that I’d found the truffles I’d been looking for.
Today, everything came together in such a fine way that I got to make this recipe my own. And yes, they are as good as they look – but I couldn’t settle for just eight, so I kind of doubled the recipe. I wanted to give away a few and cut down on the chocolate just a little (I’m virtually out now, … need to visit Raw Vegan Source again). Too much raw chocolate will keep you up all night. So I almost doubled everything that Lisa shared with the world (except the cacao). Here is my version!
Recipe – Raw Chocolate Dipped Truffles:
Truffle balls:
- 1 cup soaked (dried) raw almonds
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup (8) medjool dates (pitted)
- 3 tablespoons cacao powder
- Scrapings of the inside of one vanilla bean
- Pinch salt
Chocolate Dip:
- 4 Tablespoons melted raw coconut oil
- 4 Tablespoons raw agave
- 4 Tablespoons Raw cacao powder
Soak a bit more than a cup of almonds for 4-6 hours before starting. Rinse and dry completely so as to not add any water to the mixture (cacao and water don’t mix).
To make the balls, add the almonds, raisins, salt and scrapings from the inside of the vanilla bean into the food processor and grind up. After you’ve worked it a bit, add the dates. You’ll need to play with it a bit in order to really get it broken down nicely. Once it’s nice and smooth, roll into small truffles and place in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. You just want to get them cold, not frozen. Meanwhile, it gives you time to cleanup and put together the dip.
For the dip, add all three ingredients (oil, agave and cacao powder) and quickly mix. It doesn’t take much, but make sure you don’t have lumpy cacao. That makes mixing it up a little harder to do.
After the balls have cooled and your chocolate dip is ready, roll the bottom of the cold truffle through the melted chocolate and place it on parchment paper. The coconut oil should quickly firm up. It might take a couple more minutes in the freezer, but they’ll look like this:
And as you can see from the first picture (way above), I thoroughly enjoyed that treat! The ball is mildly sweet and a soft nutty chew. You have to hunt for the vanilla and the chocolate flavor is tame allowing you to actually discern the raisins. The Chocolate glaze is powerfully dark and rich. It makes you want to suck on it just a bit before chewing through the rest of it.
This is truly a winter time treat!
Oh, I never like throwing out anything – especially when it comes to raw chocolate!
I just happened to have a few soaked almonds left over that I rolled through the bowl that I used for dipping the truffles and I wound up with … turtles!
These were amazing too! These were the first things to disappear. There is something about sweet chocolate on almonds that I just can’t pass up. Now, if I’d just used cacao butter rather than coconut, these would have firmed up at room temperature. But no worries for they disappeared within about five minutes!
These truffles really did mix up fast with no fuss. I’d highly recommend them if you’ve got a craving!
Make and experience joy – these truffles just might help!
How many times have you said good day to someone and not really thought about it? Some people speak these works with good intent, yet they are hollow. The essence that should back this phrase should be felt. It is a greeting (or farewell) that is only as good as the energy used to fill it – which is all too often, weak and forgettable.
The challenge to really having a good day is not so much a challenge for it to be good to you but rather a challenge to yourself to really see the day for what it is! It is a matter of perspective. It is a matter of awareness.
Each moment in each day is the correct time to experience life as it should be – felt. You, being a great receptor of life, have the ability to consciously feel every nuance of every moment. It is a choice you make. It is something that you do. It comes with active participation. It is what we do.
Your eyes are one of the most brilliant feeling organs that we have, for they can feel invisible (smaller then microscopic) light that has (nearly instantaneously) traveled great distances to bring us one beautiful wavelength of energy. That energy tickles our retina so as to allow our bodies to reconstruct that photon into the image that makes up this very moment of life.
I’m not sure exactly what lead me to the following video, but I’m grateful that it came my way. It is both beautiful and heartwarming at the same time. It’s meditative and remember- able. I absolutely love the closing words of the old man “…And then, it will really be, a good day.”
I encourage you to watch this Louie Schwartzberg presentation, of a trailer, of a project that he’s working on (or worked on) for it feels like the project we are all currently working on with ourselves everyday!
I hope that this video touches you with as much sweetness as it brings to me.
May every one of your days be filled with moments that are as glorious as the moments that are brought to our attention in this wonderful video.
Well, today’s the first day of 2012! The start of a new calendar year which isn’t too far off of the rise of the new solar cycle (tilt of the earth).
But that’s not what brings me to the blog today. What brings me here is the observation that people seem to hate New Year’s resolutions. I don’t blame them. It seems pretty natural to not feel good about things that you don’t complete – if the resolutions that are made on New Year’s eve continually fail to come to life it would make sense that the emotions associated with resolutions would be inharmonious.
Last night, I got to do a little research into this feeling regarding resolutions at a New Year’s party. Absolutely everyone that I asked refused to make a New Year’s resolution sighting the fact that they refused to hold onto any previous New Year’s resolution that they’d ever made. This tradition made them feel like a failure.
It’s sad that this tradition made them feel like this. At the same time, it’s completely understandable. The pattern of failure is pretty pronounced so why would anyone want to make another resolution? I mean, if they did they might consider themselves a bit insane – for the common definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results!
Well, I guess I might be a little insane.
Or maybe, I don’t see the New Year’s resolutions that I make as ways to set myself up for failure.
I see New Year’s resolutions as a seed of thought that gets planted in the heart of winter that you tend to throughout the year and, in time, that seed grows into what you originally crafted. And at the same time, I tend to select New Year’s resolutions that are in line with that I really want to do! I mean, who wants to do something they don’t want to do?
When selected correctly, that intentional commitment helps shape who you are. It’s an opportunity to keep on growing your spirit. It affirms your own strength and aligns your actions with intention. Ultimately, it is an uplifting process when done correctly.
Brother Sangha
This is where some people just need a little encouragement!
A short while ago, I came across a video that stuck with me from Brother Echo. I subscribed to his channel and found a nice inspirational video that I just have to share. This video is just over 14 minutes long, but it’s heart-felt and genuine. I highly recommend giving it some time.
Watching this guy is entertaining for he’s so dramatic and in tune with the words that he chooses. I especially like the part where his energy really opens up 11:30 minutes in. His sincerity shines through to the viewer in a way that can actually be felt. At the end, his wish for people to find that little jewel within themselves and let it shine is genuinely heart-felt and realistically doable.
On a personal level, his wish for mankind is in line with one of my own commitments which is another reason for making this blog post today. I’ve thought about them and will choose a few words to help bring these energies into manifestation.
Resolutions
Make more heart-felt eye contact with other people. It might seem strange to make this a commitment, but when I reflect upon how I’ve interacted in the past, the most treasured moments are those where I’ve let others feel the energy of my spirit via eye contact. This type of energy exchange is dynamic and immediate. There is no need for words and it is something that both people feel. Part of the process is to acknowledge that the energy experience occurred and to actively participate in keeping it alive for as long as what feels comfortable. Thus, I call this one of my New Year’s resolutions and it’s to actively share my spirit with others via eye contact.
Now for a couple lesser resolutions.
Become a certified yoga instructor and teach yoga. That’s right, I’m going to put the energy into studying yoga so as to get the standard yoga alliance certification at the 200 hour level and I’m going to start teaching. The only thing that’s held me back to the commitment with regards to making it happen. Thus, the action item for me here is to find a program that will teach me the basics and actually do the work. I know that the correct teacher(s) will be available for me and the time needed for study will open up so as to make this a fantastic experience and, maybe more importantly, I see opportunities in teaching yoga that allows for interacting with others spiritually that doesn’t happen when your focused on being the student. I feel the energy is available for performing this task and the timing feels right.
And another…
Start producing videos for my blog. This one is a very simple first step resolution with regards to opening up more on a virtual level. The mechanics of it is to get a simple video camera where I can record myself, edit the video and place it on the web. The reason why this is a resolution is that it involves overcoming photo centric fears regarding seeing and hearing myself in a recording! Thus at the heart of this resolution is to find the truths in seeing myself on camera – are the thoughts that I carry with me the truth or not? I will get to analyze these feelings with this resolution. I know I can overcome this insecurity and this year feels like a great time to get that done!
That’s it. Looking these resolutions over, they seem really simple. They just seem like something you shouldn’t have to think about but rather just do. Thus, I’m going to just do these things and help myself grow a little more over the coming year.
Now is the time to make these things happen.
If Brother Echo inspires you to write down a goal for the upcoming year, I’m excited for you. The only time we change is in the now moment. Every little decision that we make leads us one step further on our journey. I’d encourage you to pick out something that you want to really see happen and feel if the energy is aligned to make it happen. If so, make it happen. Just like Brother Echo says, it’s your choice!
Good day!
Today’s a great day to post another beautiful green smoothie recipe. This one is light, yet not all that cooling. I find that typically, when I consume oranges, I find that they have a cooling effect on my body. Yet, this recipe finds a balance somehow and you don’t instantly cool down. It’s easy and all I’m willing to bet that the ingredients are all available today!
The one thing that’s different about this smoothie is that the red grapes have seeds in them. I normally don’t like seeds – of any type – in my smoothies, but this time it’s different. Somehow, I believe the feeling of this smoothie would not be the same without the seeds. Maybe that’s where the warmth came from to tame the cooling oranges! In any case, the seeds actually add to the smoothie rather than take away from it. So, if you’re feeling adventurous, keep the seeds. Give it a try.
Recipe:
- 3 seedless oranges pealed and split
- 1 ripe banana
- 3 pitted dates
- 1 ½ cup red grapes with seeds
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ¼ cup probiotic (I used coconut water)
- ½ pound young baby Spinach
You’ve got to look hard in the picture to see the grapes for they’re kind of hidden in the blender. In this second picture they show up better.
Spin for a few seconds to liquefy. Stuff in the spinach.
And then spin on high for nearly 60 seconds. You want to make sure you grind the seeds down to nothing – or next to nothing. If you find the smoothie warming up, don’t be afraid to add a couple ice cubes and grind a little longer.
In the end, you’ll get about 7 cups!
 The jar is my late breakfast, the cup is for Lori and what’s left in the blender is my clean up treat!
Share the treat with yourself – peal a few oranges!
Good day.
Wow. Finally! I’ve got something ORMUS related to blog about. I’ve been waiting over six months for the spirit of generosity to overflow onto the web and allow me to see the humanitarian implications of ORMUS.
And, well, today is the day. But it might not be all that ‘rosy’ of a review for the feelings that I pick up about this are less than Open and Truthful. I’ll see if I can share that feeling in a way that doesn’t come across as cynical.
As you probably already know, there is a pretty big ORMUS (monatomic gold (or other precious metals)) community that follows closely the work of David Hudson. If you search for that name, you’ll find hundreds (if not thousands) of articles written about his work along with a few old fuzzy videos. If you read carefully, you’ll get the idea that what they’ve discovered is a modern day Philosopher’s Stone. You’ll also find the patents that explain the process (not very clearly) and a barrage of data that can only be verified using expensive (custom built) equipment – way outside the ability of even an advanced scientist.
And more importantly, you’ll probably discover that David Hudson died, for he seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth. And the people that had amazing experiences will not be found.
But, as it turns out, David Hudson is alive! At least he was a half year ago when he spoke at the ORMUS conference at Enota! The organizers of that event also invested in recording the event so that a DVD could be made available to those that could not attend. Well, I’m still waiting on the DVD. No, I did not order one, but I have seen no evidence that a DVD has been made available.
Even though a number of speakers presented at that conference, the only lecture of any real quality to leak out just happened a few days ago. As it so happens, it’s the 2 hour lecture where David Hudson speaks to the attendees. I’ve collected that information and placed it here for your enjoyment. Hopefully, you’ll have the 2 hours to get thought it all.
But listen and watch critically…
If you’re an ORMUS enthusiast, you probably made the time for that video. If not, well, the following may discourage you for I spent the time and the key feeling that comes across to me is … deception.
Yah, I know. Deception is a really harsh word to use here. But that’s kind of how it left me feeling.
Why? Well, the key reason is that the words that he speaks and his actions don’t jive. The second reason is the secrecy behind the entire conference and the last is the lack of any physical evidence and witnesses. I guess, maybe I’m a little hardened, but it seems like the motive is money.
David Hudson speaks
David Hudson spends a lot of time presenting historical data. It supports his story, which he tells really well. You’re left believing that he really did discover a state of matter of gold (and these other metals) that has relatively undefined properties. He also makes good on the reason why he hasn’t been in the public eye for years – he’s been on the other side of the world. He mentions that while he was there, they refined lots of this material and administered it to human (as medicine). He mentions that it’s not what you would expect, but it represents Chi. This is kind of in line with what people have come to understand the Philosopher’s Stone to be (here). But now he’s back in order to build the tool(s) that can prove that what he’s refined is not a calcium aluminum silicate but rather white powder gold. He also has good reasons for why other people have not been able to legally talk about his research, so it seems that his tracks are covered pretty good.
But there are things that don’t pass the sniff test.
Ok. He’s been on the other side of the world refining and making this stuff. The logical question is, can you show us what you refined? I mean, he boasts that it’s not all that expensive to turn gold into this white powder and the benefits far outweigh the cost, but he doesn’t present his substance. I know that if I were to talk about something like he does, I would have a sample to show off AND, I would show it off in a way that leaves no doubt in the minds of the audience (students – interested public).
Another thing is that in the last ten years the technology has grown so advanced with regards to cameras and recording devices (of all types) that you’d think he’d show some real pictures of the refining process or anything else to document what’s new. I mean, here was a lecture that could have been performed 15 years ago with absolutely no changes. He presented no new data! I’m a bit floored by that fact. His charts are the original ones, his story is still about his original investigation and yet, he was refining this material for medical use somewhere else during the last ten years.
He also brings in lots of metaphysical stuff regarding how it will enhance your experience(s) in life, but, again, has no supporting evidence from the last decade where he’s been involved in this. He talks about telepathy and quantum coherence as if it’s real, but his words are crafted in such a way as to make you believe he’s still studying it and he’s going to release it as soon as possible.
At the end of the video, David Wolf asks him point blank – do you take this stuff and have you? His answer exposes what I see to be the biggest aspect of the truth – he does not. Why? Well, one has to speculate here. My take on it is that he really hasn’t discovered what he’s claiming.
Finally, with regards to what David says, he says that he’s effectively being altruistic, but his actions don’t jive. If he really was unselfish, he would clearly show his work. He would make the process available in a doable way – in some form or another. But, he’s raising money. For some reason, I wouldn’t trust giving him money. Maybe it’s the lack of research data (for he hasn’t shown anything (nothing) new and he’s raised money before and never make that data available either).
The conference
Where is the information from the conference? I’ve Google searched on and off again for months only to find a few promo videos, but no write up or review or anything about the conference. I’ve also been a silent observer on Berry Charter’s white gold email list and there hasn’t been a single posting to where you can find info about the conference. Nothing. Dozens of people got together, many with video recorders and yet not a single person has been willing to share what they experienced. At least, I have not been able to find them – and they have not used what I know to be the largest email mailing list to convey new information.
I’ll bet there were some great lectures there, but the effort put into recording it all leads me to believe that it’s really not all that important! Or, the world really doesn’t need to know – for some reason. Nothing leaked leads me to believe there is nothing given away in this conference.
Lack of physical evidence
Seeing that a large number of people attending the conference are also people that make money off selling stuff white powder gold related, I have to wonder if we’ll see any data that represents the creation of white gold powder. That would be proprietary information. What I would expect to see is research regarding the effects people claim that their product has on … something. As you saw in a previous posting, David Wolf (here) talks about ORMUS and plants, but even with that he never shared his process for making the stuff he’s testing.
Also, there are no witnesses! No testimonials. No story from anyone other than David Hudson. Again, I have to come back to the fact that every phone is a video camera so if you wanted to show evidence of your current work, you would simply turn the camera on and get a few testimonials. But… nothing.
Summary
I think David Hudson is onto something, but he’s also clearly holding back something – the truth maybe?
A statement in the questions and answers part of the video leads me to believe that he really hasn’t discovered what he claims. I believe the question was, what happens if you die? David Hudson replies with something like – well then, we’d have a problem wouldn’t we. Implying that if he doesn’t stay alive, we’re not going to get his secrets!
Well, I’m starting to believe that we really wouldn’t have a problem. And, eventually, he will die – just like the rest of us. And, he’s old, so I don’t expect that his passing will be all that far in the future.
The ultimate truth will come about in a short time for this very reason (old age). The key thing that he attributes to this substance is longevity. If people could live for hundreds of years and be young and healthy all the while – AND YOU MADE THE STUFF – would you turn it down? Lol.
I believe that there are good physical reasons for getting your monatomic metals. You’re body needs angstrom size atoms in order to build functional molecules in the body. But if you were to ask me if David Hudson has found The Philosopher’s Stone, I would say that he hasn’t.
I’m hoping that more information comes out about this conference for I would love to change my point of view. For now, there are just too many things that don’t add up correctly to fully believe what David Hudson says in this video.
Good day.
At a very young age, I learned that what exists in the spiritual world manifests in our physical world for the two are intimately tied together. I was taught basic cause and effect principles and actually put them into practice. To (almost) grossly over simply the situation, Thoughts are Things. But, as you already know, that is a bit of a play on words for if you look up the classic definition of a thing you’ll find something like (thanks to reference.com):
a material object without life or consciousness; an inanimate object.
This definition pretty much limits a thing into the physical realm. But thoughts are innately not things, but rather an action. When you look up ‘thought’ via Wikipedia we find:
“Thought” generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual’s subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination.[1]
As you’ve seen in my previous posts, thoughts are energetic representations of things that we’ve experienced (or created). When thinking, Your Being moves energy that vibrates with the resonance of something that we’ve experienced. When you think of an apple, Your Being understands that energy. It can toy with that energy in many different ways. Put simply, you can re-experience the taste, smell or texture as physical sensations. Or, you can visualize what an apple looks like based on what you’ve seen and it can appear as if you’re looking at it. That energy appears real – because it is real.
So, when we experience Thoughts are Things, we see that at the root of the act of thinking, there is energy that Your Being uses to recreate the experience which is, pretty much, a thing but it’s manipulated on a conscious way. In other words –
Your consciousness manipulates energy that affects physical matter
Looking at this slightly differently, one example that I like to use that demonstrates this concept that thoughts affect matter – cause and effect – can be seen when thinking about the thoughts of sex. If your current state of mind is one of simply reading this blog post, sex is probably the farthest thing from your mind. Yet, if you where to take a few seconds to think of/visualize erotic sexual images, sounds and actions, you’ll probably notice that your body responds within seconds of the thoughts! The energy of the root chakra is quick to respond to your thoughts. Standing up, moving, and other physical activities fall into a similar category, but they are almost unconscious actions so people don’t pay much attention. The thing to note is that thoughts directly react on the body.
Now, why is this important to me today?
Well, for some time now, I’ve known that a spinal condition that I have where a disc is slightly out of alignment directly between my shoulder blades is related to my experiences of love. When I was younger, I went to a chiropractor for quite a while getting adjustments but it never seemed to really make a difference. A couple years ago, I thought about going to a chiropractor again, but I have reservations and I started yoga instead. The Yoga has been wonderful and I added massage therapy (which I really love). I can say that the area between my shoulder blades is stronger and more flexible. But it’s still not healed. To me, love is still mostly an intellectual thing – it doesn’t flow freely.
So, what triggered this writing today was the thought (intuitive knowing) that I received while investigating a relatively famous internet yoga instructor. I somehow ended up reading through the schedule of yoga workshops for the Whistler Yoga Conference and found the following posted by Dashama.
In this magical exploration of life’s greatest gift: LOVE. The “back” of the heart is where we store many of our earlier emotional tension from childhood, relationships and unmet expectations from life. Explore how working with asanas, breath, visualization, and mantras we learn to release that which is not serving you to become more free to love and be loved, to share compassion, forgiveness, empathy and joy.
When reading this, it was like a light bulb lit up bringing lots of different memories together all at the same time.
I immediately brought the thought home thinking about my out-of-alignment spine. But this time, the point of view for viewing it was not between my shoulder blades but rather behind my heart! This is the first time that I’ve ever thought about this physical condition from this point of view. I believe it opened my eyes to new healing energies.
The follow up thoughts flowed through like a flood of rushing memories. I remembered a number of comments that I’ve heard people tell me like – “you’re the most discipline man I’ve ever met”, or “you need to relax and go with the flow” or “you’re so hard on yourself” or “you’re so hard on yourself (emotionally).
But more importantly, my own thoughts about how I view myself over time. When I was younger, for some reason, I never gained the ability to love myself. With the help of TV, I learned to idolize an emotionless character (Mr. Spock from Star Trek) which I did my best to imitate. These actions helped to take me further away from the joy of emotions and more particularly – away from the actions that go along with the emotions of love. When I would greet someone, it would be a hand shake rather than a hug. Rather than feeling how the other people felt, I would logically analyze the situation exploring the cause and effect and offer guidance, but I would keep my distance regarding feeling the other person.
Memories of relationships came up. Knowing the principle of what you give out you get back I look at relationships that I’ve developed over the years and they have been mostly based on intellectual qualities like – trust, honesty, respect and loyalty. The characteristic that’s missing is love.
Then the classic why doesn’t anyone love me statement ran through my thoughts not in a pity me type of way, but rather as a – you get back what you give out – type way. This fed into the realization that my friendships are strong, but built upon characteristics that are less venerable than love – because I don’t project that emotion as I believe I should be.
This then linked into the unmet expectations from life written in that same yoga class statement above where I feel that I’ve undermined myself. I’ve always known that I’m here on Earth to learn love, but I have a very strong fear of failure.
Armed with this ‘new light’ and a few extra minutes to surf the web, I Googled up information about the Heart Chakra and found the following from HowToOpenChakras.com:
The 4th Chakra
The Heart Chakra is the 4th Chakra, located near a person’s heart in the center of their body. It rules the heart, circulatory and respiratory systems, plus a person’s arms, shoulders, hands, diaphragm, ribs/breasts and thymus gland.
It’s where the emotion of love comes from and is also related to some of the other positive emotions such as joy, happiness, integrity, respect, compassion, understanding and generosity. Through the Heart Chakra a person is able to connect with other humans and show love or affection. It is also the symbol of spiritual security and healing.
Symptoms of Blocked Heart Chakra
There are many bad occurrences if someone’s heart chakra is blocked. … It is also where emotions such as guilt, rejection, and not being able to love oneself occur. You will also feel symptoms of guilt, hatred, self-pity and paranoia and your emotions will rule your every move. You will be a cold and unfeeling individual unable to love anyone, not even yourself.
In extreme cases a blocked Heart Chakra can lead to diseases such as heart problems, asthma, lung and breast cancers, pneumonia, and upper back and shoulder issues.
Symptoms of a Balanced Heart Chakra
If your Heart Chakra is balanced you will be a compassionate and generous human being. You will honor feelings such as respect, honesty and happiness and will be considerate to the needs of others. You will also be able to feel love for the people around you. You will be able to have good relationships and will have self respect for yourself and others.
In the last section, the How To Open Chakras site states that if the heart chakra is balanced, you have a bunch of positive traits. Well, when I think about my way of life, I mostly honor these characteristics. Which makes me believe that I’m generally balanced, but not up to my full potential.
The bold italics above in the second paragraph really caught my eye. I think that I can connect to other humans, but the memories that passed through my head when I read the Yoga Class description led me to believe that I really might not be connecting to others with love and affection – but rather with the other listed characteristics!
Putting this all together, it appears to me that my fear of failure has manifested itself physically – behind my heart, in my body. The thoughts that I have created manifested as a miss-aligned disc in my spine. The defenses that I’ve built around myself intellectually has ‘hardened’ the center of my chest.
Ultimately, the reason why I have this condition is because I created it! Through my thoughts and actions, I created the energy patterns that manifested themselves as this physical condition. The reason why I’ve never seen any progress towards resolving this particular issue is because I continue to maintain the same thought patterns and resulting actions.
That’s now going to change!
A long time ago I blogged that I realized that “I’d been doing it all wrong”. Because I understand the truth of cause and effect, the fact that I was physically and emotionally exhausted, I understood that my actions had led me into that state of being. Well, this epiphany is similar to that previous one. The difference is that with the previous situation there were so many physical and emotional issues that a general overall change was needed. In this case, it’s a specific physical manifestation. There is a specific thought pattern (or action) that needs to be replaced.
I am excited for this change in my life! I’m still unsure how it’s going to unfold, but I have a feeling that it will involve breaking down resistive barriers and allowing myself to be venerable. I know that I have the strength to accomplish this personal challenge. I know I have the understanding. I can picture myself behaving different than today – which is a huge change!
It’s now time to act.
Next time you give someone a hug, think of the words that I’ve written here. Allow yourself to be venerable and know that you’ll be safe.
Meanwhile, I think I’ll perform another back bend – my least favorite and most venerable yoga move…. Now I believe I understand the reason why.
Every once in a while I stumble across a video from Lilou (of Juicy Living) where she’s interviewing someone regarding what they do as part of her life’s journey. This time, I came across an interview with Michel Domit the creator and visionary of the El Santurario near Mexico City. His words and spirit touched me through this video, which is a good enough reason to share.
Event thought it’s more than seventy minutes long (and has slow parts) there is a genuine truthfulness that is shared in the conversation. It took me a couple days to get through it, but I’m glad that I did!
Here is the interview:
It wasn’t until the video was nearly over that I realized why I felt compelled to watch. Just after sixty minutes into the interview Michel shares tips regarding “what is your mission in life”. For, he states, everyone has a mission in life. And that’s where I started to listen a little closer for the feeling that I have with my own life is that my true mission in life is just now starting to take root and grow. The time spent at my job has been great at providing for raising a family, but it does nothing to grow the soul.
I think it was the very last story in the interview is where things came together for me. That story starts just over 65 minutes into the interview. This is where Michel talks about how the stain glass room came into being. The video cuts to showing the ceiling of the great room and it made me think of what I’d been meditating on creating. It was at that point that the feeling in my meditations came to surface. The woodwork, glass work and openness of the environment all fits with what I’ve been visualizing. Just like Michel sees the location as a sanctuary for the soul, so to have I been envisioning a place where I can live and work that matches the location that he’s developed. The spirit of his intent seems to match my visions.
But I have no desire to run a hotel or resort on that type of scale. There is a difference between working and living or doing something because you get paid verses doing something because you love doing it. I don’t mind hard work as long as it’s something that I enjoy doing. The key part is it has to be something that I’m passionate about and that it fits into the life mission part of things.
When Michel talks about having an open heart, or analyzing the virtues of your heroes for in that is the seed of your mission in life, or don’t wait – start practicing now or perform little acts of compassion on a regular basis, well, these are all things that I have passion for. There is much more to life than keeping the corporate wheel turning.
People blossom when the soul is allowed to shine through. We get a glimpse of that in this interview between Lilou and Michel. That can happen between anyone anywhere when you are committed to having an open heart and allowing the spirit to shine through.
Either I’ve got a trip coming my way, or the vision that I’ve put forth is starting to manifest in more physical terms.
Enjoy the video (if you have time) and perform acts of kindness on a regular basis!
A couple weeks ago when browsing the web I came across a recipe posted on Heather Pace’s website Sweetly Raw that caught my eye. She called it Cranberry Grape Cheesecake. Her beautiful pictures and recipe can be found here.
Did you look at her pictures? Can you imagine making a cheesecake out of cranberries?
Well, even though the thought of eating a hand full of cranberries makes my mouth pucker, I still felt attracted to the idea of creating and consuming this pink confection. Thus, yesterday (& two days ago) I put some time in to see if I could duplicate what she created and, more importantly, see if it was something that could be served on thanksgiving. Well….
It turned out! I was pretty shocked for I’m not the best chef and I almost always stray from the main recipe. I’d say that I replicated that pink color to the T.
Would you like a slice?
 There are two key differences that I’d like to share with you – if you haven’t already noticed.
First off, look at the crust. What Heather put together has stuck together. Most of my pie crusts ‘perform’ this way (lol – Ha! That might come across like a comment from an armchair quarterback for I would definitely not call myself a Raw Food Chef and I’m just in it for the eating!). I would imagine that when she blanched her almonds they might have picked up some of the water. Even when I go and put what I think is the driest crust together water seeps down making it doughy rather than flaky.
Well, … I improvised a little here. One thing was that I did not blanch my almonds. Another is that I used ½ cup ground flax seed rather than oat groats. I don’t know if that really makes a difference, but look at my flakey crust! Well, ok, crumbly crust. But it reminded me of the old gram cracker crust that you would see on a standard cheesecake.
The second one is that she had a bag of fresh concord grapes that she was working with (See her post from a few days earlier). I had simple red ones that I could find at the grocery store. I would have loved to have some deep blue fresh off the vine berries, but, such is life. I got what I got and, well, I’m pretty darn happy with it!
So now that it’s been cut, I’ve only got ½ the pie left. That might say something about how it tastes. It is surprisingly good! The crust carries a candy bar crunch with just a hint of vanilla. The body is firm and neutral. It doesn’t contain too much cranberry or nuts. It provides the full texture of cheesecake – just like what you’d expect from the dairy versions. And then there’s the topping. It’s tangy and sweet at the same time. Together the three textures mix together perfectly.
A couple hours after I got to enjoy a slice a good friend and her son stopped by on their way home. She loved every bit (which doesn’t really say much for she would go out of her way to not hurt my feelings). Yet her eight year old son just says it like it is. When I offered him a small slice I got the classic “I’m going to get a candy-bar tasting slice of cheesecake” facial expression. Well, he took the first bite and I could read that he was undecided. He took a few more and figured out that it wasn’t like candy. At the half way point he laid the slice over and ate all the crust. Then he took a couple more bites of the body and didn’t know what to do with the topping. Normally, if he doesn’t like something he’ll take one bite and find something else to do. Today, he got through more than ¾’s the slice and didn’t have a bad word to say about it. When I asked how the crust was he said that it was really good.
I take that experience as a definite acceptance of this desert. I really don’t like things too sweet and this one turned mildly sweet.
Overall, I think I’ve found a new way to enjoy cranberries! I would like to send a warm (pink) thank you to Heather for sharing her creation for the world and encourage you to give it a try.
Enjoy!
PS. After looking the recipe over closer, I’ve noticed that I did change things up a bit more than I listed above.
Crust – I used Flax rather than oat groats. I used maple syrup (not agave). I also used ½ teaspoon vanilla powder (not liquid).
Filling – I did not use stevia or the orange essential oil.
Topping – I used orange zest and a little more than 3 tablespoons grape juice (note that this was just juiced grape juice!).
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comments to: David at GenuineObservations dot com
A Good Day
How many times have you said good day to someone and not really thought about it? Some people speak these works with good intent, yet they are hollow. The essence that should back this phrase should be felt. It is a greeting (or farewell) that is only as good as the energy used to fill it – which is all too often, weak and forgettable.
The challenge to really having a good day is not so much a challenge for it to be good to you but rather a challenge to yourself to really see the day for what it is! It is a matter of perspective. It is a matter of awareness.
Each moment in each day is the correct time to experience life as it should be – felt. You, being a great receptor of life, have the ability to consciously feel every nuance of every moment. It is a choice you make. It is something that you do. It comes with active participation. It is what we do.
Your eyes are one of the most brilliant feeling organs that we have, for they can feel invisible (smaller then microscopic) light that has (nearly instantaneously) traveled great distances to bring us one beautiful wavelength of energy. That energy tickles our retina so as to allow our bodies to reconstruct that photon into the image that makes up this very moment of life.
I’m not sure exactly what lead me to the following video, but I’m grateful that it came my way. It is both beautiful and heartwarming at the same time. It’s meditative and remember- able. I absolutely love the closing words of the old man “…And then, it will really be, a good day.”
I encourage you to watch this Louie Schwartzberg presentation, of a trailer, of a project that he’s working on (or worked on) for it feels like the project we are all currently working on with ourselves everyday!
I hope that this video touches you with as much sweetness as it brings to me.
May every one of your days be filled with moments that are as glorious as the moments that are brought to our attention in this wonderful video.
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