Yep.

It’s the number one question. What do you eat for breakfast?

Plus: I like the quote in this video, which I feminized of course.

Breakfast like a Queen

Lunch like a Princess

and

Dine like a Pauper

If you find yourself late night snacking……think “breakfast like a queen.” It works.

To discover more cooking videos by Marlene Watson-Tara, I made a playlist.

To find out more about Marlene Watson-Tara click here

We all have those ideas that keep nudging us, that won’t leave us alone. We don’t always act because they don’t come up for air fully formed. We just get a seed of an idea. The end product is often murky and seems out of reach.

At the end of a seminar I was listening to yesterday, Rev. Deb was asked a question by someone wanting to get clear on the message of the book they were writing. These are my notes for how she responded that I thought provided great insight on the process:

Get some clear questioning energy about the book

(your hesitancy) is the ego getting in the way.

This is so not about you.

There is something else to it besides your personal satisfaction.

Ego gets attached to identity and we are going to be changed by them (the book, the ideas)

So ego can sabotage it.

Once you are able to see this, that it’s not resistance, it’s sabotage.

Don’t judge or condemn it (the ego), just chat and explain to it that it can come along for the ride, but it needs to calm down a bit and trust you.

Treat the book or project like it has its own entity, ask it  ”Reveal yourself to me”

Cultivate a relationship with the energy around it. Make a connection. Don’t worry about the end product.

Ask it “Who are you?’

“How can I serve you? Talk to me.”

Ask to be communicated with in your dreams.

Every idea comes with its own seeds.

Our job is not to push the seeds to grow.

Relax.

Trust.

Live your best self.

What idea/book/project/direction (you pick) has been nudging you?

The adjacent cupboard held walnuts waiting to be toasted and tossed across the top. Turned out to be totally delicious.

Yeah, I am the mother of invention. This was not only delicious, but A plus on how long it kept me going. Quinoa contains twice as much fibre and protein as oatmeal.

About the Purple

Eating natural foods has always brought the promise of an enhanced intuition. Putting together meals out of the food you have on hand is one example of how this happens with ease after a time. But eating a purple breakfast that came together out of nowhere, intuitively, needs a little more breakdown.

It is widely known that eating a variety of colorful foods is healthy. In addition, according to the chakra system of the Indian tradition, violet is the crown chakra. Red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo and violet are the colors that represent the chakras. Everyday we energize our body in various ways. Balance in each chakra is associated with good health.

The following images were pulled from Chakra Energy Web which details how you can energize your chakras. One way is through eating food colored the same as the chakra.

The crown chakra is associated with the ability to balance your spirituality with your ability to stay grounded.

(Such interesting information about the blood vessel problems)

A few weeks later one of my students gives me this book, Vegan Cooking for Carnivores, (which is wonderful).

The very first recipe in it is quinoa with berries! And I really thought I’d invented it. So, I realize I’m only daydreaming about chef dom. And my sister sends me this card, as only sisters can…

 I also need to eat more red. Bring on the colorful food.

]]> http://mindbodynourish.com/2013/01/21/my-breakfast-is-purple/feed/ 4 http://mindbodynourish.com/2013/01/14/women-entrepreneurs-service-connection-community/ http://mindbodynourish.com/2013/01/14/women-entrepreneurs-service-connection-community/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:27:15 +0000 lindsey http://mindbodynourish.com/?p=1953 You rarely do anything alone.

It may appear that you’re alone, but you aren’t.

I went into business on my own, but when I work in my business I’m either with a client or a colleague or online.

As an introvert, I like to refuel alone , but even that takes a community.

Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing the connections are always there, whether you are aware of them or not.

The work that you do has an impact beyond the immediate.

Ripples in a pond.

I had a huge reminder of that recently when I was asked to be part of an e-book about Women Entrepreneurs. I jumped at the chance because, my friend & colleague Erica put this together with 17 other amazing women, who tell their story of service, connection and community. It is designed to help and inspire  those who are just starting out and still think they are alone. Noooo, you’re not.

To grab your copy & find out what we all wrote , hop on over here to Erica’s and sign up for her newsletter. Hurry now, we can’t wait to have you join us.

Erica also recently wrote a whole series on the Power Of Connection on UpMarket that gives you more idea about her genius for bringing people together.

Everything gets straightened out.

I try to walk everyday. Sanity. Creativity. Joy. It’s not a disaster if I don’t walk, things are just a bit off. 2013 is going to be filled with walks.

“Walking clears your brain, fills your soul and makes you quite happy actually”

according to Maira Kalman. She elaborates in this wonderful video about thinking and feeling…

Walkscore Clarity

My house has a walkscore of 75 out of 100. There is coffee, a restaurant and a park within .25 miles. There are also river views, rail trails & most importantly, a library. Destinations are secondary though. You can’t ascribe a walkscore to clarity.

It is however winter.

“There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” — Sir Rannulph Fiennes

It takes planning to  juggle daylight, sunlight, work commitments and weather, at this time of year in Massachusetts.

Whatever the weather, it’s always worth the wrapping. Always.

“New Shoes” by Gerald Waller, Austria 1946

A 6 year old orphan from Austria ecstatically embraces a brand new pair of shoes given to him by the red cross

The emotion of receiving is bright & clear in this photo, one of my favorites. At this time of year the focus is on giving and we are very aware of the benefits of being a giver.

“Before giving, the mind of the giver is happy; while giving, the mind of the giver is made peaceful; and having given, the mind of the giver is uplifted.”

-Buddha -

“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”

-Mother Teresa

“For it is in giving that we receive.”

-St. Francis of Assisi-

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.

~Maya Angelou Quotes On Giving

“When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.”

-Eleanor Roosevelt-

“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”

-Kahlil Gibran, philosopher-

This to me, is only half of the story though. Our thoughts on giving is so wrote, so automatic, that we don’t remember that there’s a bit missing.

The receiving. To receive is also to give, to give back to the gifter.

There is a little kink in receiving however…..you have to be open.

I’ll resort to a football analogy (I didn’t see this coming… familial osmosis). If you watch Tom Brady’s eyes after the ball is snapped, they are manically scouring the field for a receiver that is on his feet and open to receive. It is pointless making the play until he’s found his receiver.

As we wrap gifts for our family & friends, as we plan for 2013, are your arms wide open? Are you ready to receive the blessings & dreams you are placing on the page of your planner for next year, really ready?

Receiving is an energetic match to giving. Just like when someone speaks, a true listener is giving back as much as they receive.

Give, give give, we can’t continually exhale. We have to inhale, we have to receive. It is unhealthy not to. Every mother knows this. It is knowing when and then allowing it.

The self help advice reads notice the abundance around you , have a gratitude journal, all these help, but to test your readiness to receive, ask yourself can you accept a compliment? Consider that a clue.

A hundred years ago, early in my career, an art director gave me a compliment and I brushed it off. He gave me a mild scolding in the form of some great advice, he told me the only thing to say after someone gives you a compliment is to say thank you. He claimed he was trying to give me a gift and in my rebuff, I had refused it.

In Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T. Harv Ecker claims rich people are good receivers, poor people are poor receivers. I claim this applies to all areas of your life. spiritual, physical,  and mental. How open you are to receiving new ideas, new people in your life, new relationships?

A journal to note every time you receive something unbidden would be full in no time. It is astonishing. Ideas of reception would only expand through the noticing.

Writing an exhaustive list of everything you receive this holiday season, physical, mental & spiritual will give you clues to what kind of receiver you are. Watch out for rumblings of “I don’t deserve….” or “I didn’t work for that….”

The gift is the exhale, acknowledge with a “Wow, amazing, no idea where than came from or why, but thank you world/universe/god/goddess/or similar” is your inhale.

When you inhale & accept, you honor the giver.

Hope you have many moments like the one in the photo above!

Jnana Mudra-Wisdom

I never know what I’m going to learn during my weekly qigong class. There is something about the “space” my mind goes to when we are practicing, and I always come away with some gem that I didn’t expect to receive.

One thing that happens each week is my qigong teacher will say at some point during the lesson, “where the mind goes the qi goes”.

This week we were discussing how to hold your hand while moving, as this impacts how the qi moves. In qigong each finger represents an organ in the body and your hand position has an impact on that organ. We ended up discussing the meaning of a common yoga mudra.

Mudra is yoga of the hands. Discovering the meaning behind the familiar hand position called Jnana Mudra is like discovering what the peace sign means. My teacher explained that in the yoga mudra above, the thumb represents the spirit and the pointer finger represents the ego, so when the tip of the thumb is placed over the end of the pointer finger it symbolizes the spirit ruling over the ego. Touching the fingers in this way is similar to the intention behind hand position in qigong as it forms a connection that melds the mind body & spirit. There are dozens of different yoga mudras, I’m glad to know the meaning behind even just one of them. I’m hoping that knowing the intention while holding these positions then the “qi will go where the mind goes”, and if the mind is connecting mind, body & spirit then the qi will follow suit.

This week I was Kermit

I last wrote about speed bumps in my health road almost two years ago here. Looks like I need to revisit that post since my routine PET scan on Monday revealed a new area of inflammation in my aorta near my heart. I’ve had a flurry of appointments and further scans to find out more since. Immunotherapy starts up again next week, with the first of a protocol of monthly infusions.

I need to take my own advice from that previous post,

A short walk is better than no walk.

A short nap is better than no nap.

Chores get done when chunked into smaller jobs.

With no energy to make a meal, I manage to trick myself by just chopping veggies and lo and behold the meal just turns up somehow.

Miso soup every other day.

Greens (lots of them)  every day.

I can do that.

Celebrate

I need to celebrate that it has been two years without any issues. I am quick to get despondent and am reminded by my nearest & dearest that without my macro practice I would be much worse off.

Rebounding

I have plans to cook my way through this and maintain strength through the months of immunotherapy side effects, which are few,  mainly being immune compromised and susceptible to infections and viruses.

My first issue to deal with is resolving the anemia and this article at the Vegetarian Resource Group inspires as it shows clearly the top foods for iron are vegan, just have a look at their tables…

I love this quote from Maya Angelou

How do you rebound from setbacks?

 (It's not from google it is from Delores Art Store)