Thursday, May 28, 2009

peace and simplicity

“Simplicity is the essence of happiness.” - Cedric Bledsoe

It's been a over a year since I took the drastic step toward simplicity. I found myself surrounded by reminders of my past and hopes for a different life; old pictures of friends and family that have passed on, and pictures of the way things used to be.  This is unhealthy, it kept my mind "there" more than I even realized....
I went from room to room and cleaned out EVERYTHING.  A girlfriend gave some good advice, "if you wouldn't take it with you on a move to a different country, get rid of it". I boxed up all my pictures of then, and threw them up in the attic.
The difference it has made in all of our lives is AMAZING!
It's easier to clean for one thing, it's also much easier to stay in the NOW!
peace and simplicity,
justina

old diet blog...

My cousin Margaret called today and asked me to email her my diet. To clarify, she said "just what you eat, and what you don't eat"!

First things first.
If you are thinking about changing your lifestyle, the first thing that I recommend is a full body cleanse.  In April of '08 I was introduced to "The Master Cleanser" diet. (This is the diet that David Blaine uses before stunts) This flush cleans your entire body from top to bottom; every organ, vein, artery, pore, colon, intestines, and most importantly, your mind.
Your mind goes through an enormous paradigm change. Only in America do we believe we must not only eat EVERY day, but 3 times a day!! It has a hard time accepting the fact that you are not going to eat.  Considering we are in a habit of eating 3 times a day, take a second to think about how much time you spend thinking about what to eat, shopping, preparing and actually eating each meal, then consider taking all of that time and thinking about something else. This is the mind cleanse!

Your tongue gets a white furry coating on it, this is how the toxins get out. It is recommended to continue the cleanse until your tongue turns back to pink. It took 7 days and I lost my first 12 lbs.

It is crazy come day 5, watching other people eat. WOW. Somehow we have come to a point where we are embarrased to eat? I watch people eating (especially fast food) and there is a rat like approach; nervous, fast and embarrased. I also really started thinking how easy it is for us to access and eat meat, from real alive animals.

Imagine for a minute if you will how much meat an average family eats in a week? How much does your neighborhood consume? In a month?
Let's go back, waaaay back.
Men went on hunting trips away from their families, for days. When and if the hunt was successful a celebration was had by all. The animal was hung, skinned, salted and stored for special occasions. When the time came to eat it, a prayer was said and everyone gave appreciation to the animal that gave it's life. They were also sure to use EVERY part. (ever thought about where all our waste goes?)
Today, we drive through McDonald's and eat a cow without thinking twice.

Let's add another perspective;
EVERYTHING in this world has a balance. Up/down, hot/cold, love/hate, black/white, birth/death etc.,etc.,etc.
What kind of balance are we creating when we are creating life and killing it at the rate we are? Not just breeding, plumping and killing all these animals, but not even taking a moment to be thankful for the life.
Someone told me that it takes 3 days for a chicken to be born and put on a table.
I become a vegetarian on Thanksgiving day.
The only regret that I have? That I spent 30 years of my life eating TERRIBLE food.
There are millions of "animal" alternatives, even for you meat lovers!

Seeds; sesame seeds, hemp seeds, chai seeds........... Packed with protein, vitamins, hormone balance, nutrients, vitamins. Put 'em in and on everything!
Nuts. YUM.
Beans, get creative. There are many different ways to incorporate them.
Soy, tofu, and even chicken that tastes much better than a chicken.

FRUITS. Always have 1 with you. Choose a fruit first. If that is not enough, then choose something else. Banana's (contrary to popular belief) are a great bedtime snack. They contain L-triptothan, the same stuff in turkey to help you sleep. The fructose (sugars) will set your metabolism in motion!
VEGETABLES. I have found 100+ varieties I never knew existed and more ways to use them. Add them to everything. Make a salad EVERY night for dinner. Eat it first.
(pureed squashs can be used to thicken sauces and no one will even know)!

Move away from 3 meals a day. We tend to starve waiting for our scheduled eating and then purge, on time!
Carry healthy snack with you and eat when you are hungry. 6-7 meals a day really is easier, healthy and cheaper.
Rearrange your cupboard, put medium salad plates eye level and put the giant plates way up top. Your stomach is the size of your closed fist, or should be.

Excema? indigestion? gas? allergies? ulcers? Colds? acid reflux? Mucus? fat?.....milk.
Please, really consider eating alternatives. They are soooooo much more delicious, digestable, and good for you!
dairy. Milk from cows is designed to make BIG FAT COWS. period.
GROSS.
There are MANY awesome, scrumptous alternatives. We drink; hemp, rice, oat, almond, and soy milk regularly. They make "better than" sour cream, cream cheese etc. We eat rice, soy and veggie cheeses, icecreams etc.
There is a "mayonaise" alternative by vegenaise that is made from grape seeds. Grape seeds are used to help chloresterol and heart disease. You mayonaise lovers can eat up and help your heart! It's BETTER tasting than Hellman's or Best Foods!

corn. Corn is not digestable by the human body (everyone knows how it comes out) You know that hard fat that will NOT go away? High fructose corn syrup. It must be taken out of our foods, the only way to make that happen is to stop consuming it. Corn is great for things like fuel, plastic like (biodegradable) products etc.

Enriched Flour/rice. To enrich our products, "they" have taken ALL of the vitamins and nutrients out (they give them to cows so they can get bigger faster) and give us the "filler".  Eating foods made with filler creates big problems. Your body has to consume an irrational amount of it in order to get the nutrients it needs so it can send out the signal, "I'm full". Insist on using whole grains. You will eat less and weigh less.

"artificial" flavoring/coloring. What is this? What is it doing to our bodies? our brains? Find out before you put anymore of it in your temple.

Omega's, 3-6-9 (fish oil). In the processing of food, all of the essential oils are taken out. Key word; essential. Omega's are found in many foods, the highest in Alaskan Salmon. They help lubricate your entire body and you can see and feel the difference in everything; skin, memory, joints, back, hair, sight, blood pressure, breathing. Without essential oils, we are like a car with no oil, or dirty, sludgy oil.

Many people complain about the price of whole foods vs. poisonous. First, you don't have to eat as much so you don't have to buy as much. Second, are you calculating in all the doctor bills associated with eating processed foods? Third, there is NO price on the changes living healthy brings.

These changes were brought about one by one, slowly. The kids and I take a daily vitamin and an omega, all of us report "feeling different, a good different". Smiles are brought to my face daily watching my children choose healthy for themselves.

I have officially lost 30 lbs., I think 10lbs came from my head. A healthy body helps create a healthy, calm mind.

Let me know how your doing, let's share some yummy healthy recipes!
Take care of yourself, you're all you've got....
xoxoxo
justina

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The secret of the ages by robert collier

The Secret of the Ages
This book was written in 1926 and was in it's 27th edition in 1975. Robert Collier talks about the world we are living in NOW, in the 21st century and how we have begun the evolution of our minds. Here is a part out of the book that really made me go hmmmmm.

~We bemoan the loss of our forests. We worry over our dwindling resources of coal and oil. We decry the waste in our factories. But the greatest waste of all, we pay no attention to-the waste of our own potential mind power. Professor Wm. James, the world-famous Harvard psychologist, estimated that the average man uses only 10% of his mental power. He has unlimited power-yet he uses but a tithe of it. Unlimited wealth all about him-and he doesn't know how to take hold of it. With God-like powers slumbering within him, he is content to continue in his daily grind-eating, sleeping, working-plodding through an existence little more eventful than the animals'. while all of Nature, all of life, calls upon him awaken, to bestir himself.~

10%? 10%! 10%? yes. 10%

WTF? isn't anyone concerned about this? there is 90% of our brain just sitting there, chillen. Seriously. This is a really big deal to me, I am on a mission to find out about this other 90% and I want to know what in the world is going on with our people. We are becoming drones. Wake up, go to work, come home, eat, sit in front of a screen and believe everything that is said as if it's not only true, but the "way it is".  Then, you wake up and do it all over again, everyday.    All the while of course, giving your hard earned money to the dozen men that are making all the decisions.
We have gotten ourselves into big trouble here, there is only one way to "fix" it all and that is by changing our minds. Refuse to be told what to believe, question everything you think you believe. Find out what the other 90% of your mind is up to. Listen to the things you say, what do they really mean? What are you spending your time thinking about? It's scary, it's hard, and it is sooo worth it. Call it forward, open your mind. There, you will find the "you" you've been searching for, "you", will be the "happy" you've always wanted to be, you will be whole.

LOVE, love, Love, LOVE, loVe, lOvE, love, LOVE.
Be patient and kind to yourself.
xoxo justina

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

How many zeros in a billion?

This is too true to be funny.
The next time you hear a politician use the
word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the 'politicians' spending
YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
but one advertising agency did a good job of
putting that figure into some perspective in
one of its releases.

A.
A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were
living in the Stone Age.

D.
A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E.
A billion dollars ago was only
8 hours and 20 minutes,
at the rate our government
is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain...
let's take a look at  New Orleans  .
It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.

Louisiana Senator,
Mary Landrieu (D)
is presently asking Congress for
250 BILLION DOLLARS
to rebuild  New Orleans  . Interesting number...
what does it mean?

A.
Well.... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of  New Orleans
(every man, woman, and child)
you each get $516,528.

B.
Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in
New Orleans  , your home gets $1,329,787..

C.
Or... if you are a family of four...
your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington  , D. C

HELLO!
Are all your calculators broken??

Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax (Fed)
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
(And to think, we left British Rule to avoid so many taxes)

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago...
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt...
We had the largest middle class in the world...
and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened?
Can you spell 'politicians!'

And I still have to
press '1'
for English.

What the heck happened?????

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

love. life.

I just need to ramble to myself and see it here in black and white.

Love. I find that the more I love myself, the more I am able to love others. Learning to love myself was much easier than I ever imagined. Granted I am pretty fabulous right from jump.... I've got a heart, a brain, some courage and I believe in magic. Being grateful for who I am and what I've got RIGHT now... continues to give more to be grateful for.

Life. Is completely amazing. Every single moment I spend in the now just completely fucking amazes me.  Synchronicity fills my days, I see meaning and love in everything. Whoever was responsible for the world we live in is a mind I'd love to meet.

Children. We have much to learn from our children, stop and listen to one today!

media/t.v. I dream of the day people become aware of the destruction our minds are going through. Please, for the love of humankind... kill your t.v.

Laws. The most challenging are the ones that you have made for yourself. Question them, all of them. Especially the scary ones.

Thoughts. Every single thing in the world began with a thought. Our thoughts are the golden key, the end of the rainbow, heaven or hell. What are yours up to? Pay very close attention to them. Are they living in fear or love? Hear the words you say to yourself and others, what do the REALLY mean? Are they helping or hindering? Choose them. Be patient, you say some crazy shit. Thoughts become things. CHOOSE.

They. Who are they? They that make you do this, make you think that? Who the hell are They? You. Me. Let's be a fabulous "they".

Judgement. stop it. EVERY single time you judge yourself or others, you will punish. No one and nothing can pass the high standards we set in our laws.

Change. Be very gentle with yourself. It took many years to create the habits you have now, it'll take time and patience to change them.

Fear. Our world has been living in fear for as long as we know. Let's change our minds. Are your thoughts fear based? or Love? Choose love, over and over and over again.

Now. now is all there is. Get out of your minds and look around, now is here for you... Each time you catch yourself talking/thinking about what was,  if only, tomorrow, this one time.... STOP, take a deeeeeeeep breathe. Feel your lungs work, feel the blood work through your hands, really look around and see your life. Pull yourself up (bird's eye view) and look at your life like a movie. Take your personal feelings out of the moment and just look at your setting, your actors, your story line... no judging. Breathe. There's some amazing shit going on, right NOW.

 peace.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

2009 mother's day poem

I enjoyed a very grateful mother's day, out on the screened porch in jammies... all day. I spent a little time reading, a little writing, mostly just being aware. Hearing the song of the birds, watching the clouds dance, the leaves taunting the slight breeze...
The kids have their own; agendas, friends, plans etc., we have not ever put a lot into the holidays we are told to celebrate and frankly, mother's day wasn't any different. I'd like to believe they love me everyday rather than one special day a year!

Here's something I wrote while sitting there, thinking about how it felt to break down and give up. It turned into a personal prayer that I treasure.
Hope you find something you can take with you.
xoxo


Slowly, I began to realize the world did not revolve around me. That my life was not the reason for it's existence.

This shook me, I took notice of the desperation quivering in my voice. The internal earthquake was stretching it's arms, for the storm was just beginning to rise.
Every area of my mind was startled.

I was scrambling, desperately trying to grab on to anyone or anything. I could not find a foundation to stand upon. Over and over again I found myself on my knees, begging for mercy.
Lying in lies, surrounded by fear. Everything I tried to grab, shattered with my grasp.

Alone, everything I thought was real, gone.
Having no firm belief, no idea what faith really meant..........

Here I am, on my knees. Alone.

The tears have long dried, pointer finger exhausted, it can lift no more.
My heart, empty.

I surrender.

I surrender the need to do things my way, I surrender my life, my soul, my being unto you Dear God.

I can no longer walk, for I am tired.
I can no longer mother, for I am a child.

I must then ask, for you God, to carry me. Show me the way.
In my stillness, I beg of you to fill my heart with you love so I can share it with the world.
Receive my mind, for it's ability knows no limits.
My body, for it is healthy and strong.
My eyes, to see.

I give to you everything that I am, for I am your vessel.

jrk.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

george carlin- the ride of your life

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1.
Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.'

2.
Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3.
Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4.
Enjoy the simple things.

5.
Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6.
The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7.
Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8.
Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9.
Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10.
Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER
:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

reflections

I have been taking in an EXTREME amount of information that I have had a hard time processing; learning from and letting go. I was very aware today as the kids and I cleaned the house from top to bottom, inside and out. I become obsessed with moving EVERYTHING in order to sweep, mop/vaccuum behind it, including the fridge, stove, beds, dressers etc., etc. This is a physical process I take in order to clear my mind, to find any little bullshit hiding out.

It makes my head spin thinking about the changes that have gone on around here, it really just blows my mind. The only way that I could even explain it is that I went to a whole new frequency. I can pull myself up and look at my life like a movie and see all the different paths I have chosen to get myself here. I can see how all the shitty things were not just neccessary but critical, I can also see myself searching... every step of the way, for truth.

I'm sitting here, a beautiful, clean house, lonely for my husband, wishing I was home with my family, and enjoying my awesome children, saying a prayer for us all.
Loving a military man is in itself a challenge for anyone. Being a seeker of love and peace, makes the experience take on a whole new level.

Love.

xoxo