My Truth About Sugar...

My uncle died when he was 52. He had severe diabetes and his pancreas was totally exhausted. In the end he was blind, had heart issues and was clinically obese. Before he took ill, there was a little joke in my family “he’s an eater!” They would say. He loved his desserts.

 I watched my grandmother check her sugar every morning and then take insulin shots- she looked like a junkie with her arm stretched out, I saw it so often it was the norm. She adored blueberry pie among other sweet things.

Sweets have had their pull on me too, at the height of my sugar addiction I was eating 5 candy bars a day, I was 11 years old. I was often alone and those candy bars were everything to me.

 Now at 41 my relationship is different. It is a balanced and healthy relationship, but it took a lot of work to get to this place.

I see the other part of the sugar story – there is so much love there. I asked my husband what he wanted for his birthday last week and he said, with a huge smile “a chocolate cake and some cookies… can you make me those?” “Of course” I said with enthusiasm.

As I mixed the batter, I remembered a love of baking, I remembered being 4 years old, before my father and mother divorced, before the fighting and turmoil, Mom and I would bake cupcakes. Just Mom and I, my brother was at school, my father at work, there just us two alone in the bright blue kitchen. We focused on nothing else but each other and baking… cracking eggs, creaming sugar with butter, looking at the clock for the big hand to move to the 3. We giggled, I got chocolate all over myself as I liked the wooden spoon and she adored how cute I was. There was so much love. 

So, as I mixed batter, cracked eggs and creamed sugar with butter for his cake and cookies, I thought about how much I love my husband. I thought about the joy in his eyes as he saw my finished sweets, I imagined him slumping back in his chair overcome with pleasure from my efforts. There I poured my love. And when the time came, after I lit the last candle … it was just as I envisioned, a huge response full of joy and mouth watering. I made him happy with sugar.

Sugar is like anything, some sugar is ok, too much can kill you. Some water is good for you, but too much water is called drowning. Sunshine is good for you, but have too much and you get hurt. One glass of red wine is great for your heart, but too much will reek havoc on your liver.

I know from years of study and a life of eating just how hard it is to navigate sugar. I know more than most just what it takes to actually have a safe and healthy relationship with sugar.

If you’d like to know more about how you too can develop a healthy relationship with sugar, and how to find some healthier versions of the sweets that have a hold on you now, I can help you. Join me August 21^st at 6:30pm for my SUGAR WORKSHOP and learn everything you ever wanted to know about sugar and some things you didn’t even know existed in the world of sweets. You’ll also learn how to side-step diabetes & manage it if you are in the throes of it. You will learn the truth about why you can’t shed those extra 10lbs, you will learn why your skin acts up and why you have mood swings, also, why you are so tired all the time.

Click here for more information and to register…

Here is my recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made:

4 ounces (115g) organic / pastured sea salted butter, at room temperature2/3 cup packed (110g) organic brown sugar1/2 cup (100g) date sugar1 large egg, at room temperature1/2 teaspoon organic vanilla extract1 1/3 cup (180g) oat flour1/2 teaspoon natural baking soda1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt or kosher salt1 1/3 cups (200g) coarsely chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate1 cup raw almonds, coarsely chopped or ground up 1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand, beat the butter, brown sugar, and date sugar just until smooth and creamy.
2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the oat flour, baking soda, and salt.
4. Stir the flour mixture into the beaten butter until combined, then mix in the chopped chocolate (including any chocolate dust) and the chopped nuts.
5. Cover and chill the batter until firm. (It’s preferable to let it rest overnight.)
6. To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
7. Form the cookie dough into rounds about the size of a golf ball Place the mounds evenly spaced apart on the baking sheets, and press down the tops to flatten them so they are no longer domed and the dough is even.
8. Bake the cookies for ten minutes, rotating the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies look about set, but are not browned.
9. Remove from the oven and quickly tap the top of each with a spatula, then return to the oven for two to five more minutes, until the tops of the cookies are light golden brown.
Remove from oven and let cookies cool.
Storage: The cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to five days in an airtight container. The dough can be refrigerated for up to one week or frozen for one or two months.    

 

My Momma said "CHILL!!!"

My Mom always says that God/ The Universe has three possible answers for you when you come for guidance

                            1)   YES

                                    2)   NO

                                        And…

                                                  3)   WAIT

                                                         

The third one can be maddening. As we sit and wait for… fill in the blank____________ it can seem like an eternity. I have a best girlfriend -best selling self help book author Karen Salmansohn  I love her. She likes to think that what you are bringing towards you is on the way, however, it’s simply “stuck in traffic”

We never know why things take longer than we think they should take. Mom also said “things happen in God’s time, not your time, so relax!”

My mother has lived a long life filled with disappointment at one end of the spectrum and big, wondrous surprises on the other. She has had both failed marriages and great loves, she has experienced huge abundance followed by tearful poverty only to find herself flush with money again. She understands the flow of the universe. She knows when to tell her daughter to chill. I haven’t always listened to her.

 I remember one very painful conversation after a breakup. She got very soft with me and said simply

 “ I wish I had a time machine, I wish you could sit down with your future self, the one who already has all of the stuff that you want in life, the partner, the babies, the house, the great career… I wish that you could sit down with her so she could spread her arms open wide and say it’s all here for you, just relax and be patient… it’s on its way!”

 Or as Karen would say “Relax, it’s just stuck in traffic”

Can you be patient? Can you allow the universe the time to “cook” what you need in the oven of possibility, cook it until it is done to perfection and just as you ordered it?

Esther and Jerry Hicks’s Abraham talk about “allowing” can you take the white-knuckle grip off of your idea of how things are supposed to be and open your hands to how the universe will prepare them? Most often times they are even better and more fun that what is in your head, so why not?

I know how challenging this can be but what if they really are on their way?

 Of course you do all you can do, you visualize, you make sure that your language is in alignment with your idea for the future, you learn all you need to, write in your  journal, meditate etc. but then there comes a point when you just need to chill, relax and allow.

What can you do?

                 1)   Get still

                2)   Take 5 deep breathes inhaling for a count of four, holding for a count of four, exhaling for a count of four

                3)   Imagine yourself in a tranquil white room, a room full of light, a very cheerful room

                4)   Now imagine that you are sitting in a chair and there is another chair, empty right across from you

                5)   Imagine now that your future self comes to sit with you, take her/ him in… how does he/she look? What do they tell you? Let it be light and fun.

                6)   Write anything down that you have learned from this conversation

              7)   Chill, relax, and allow

 I have every confidence that we are all experts at the art of manifesting - all you are right now is a result of all you have done so far. One step at a time, one foot in front of the other. 

with love and light!

Donna 

Bringing in BIG Love

I just got engaged, it was a bazaar and wonderfully quick turn of events. We met at a spiritual workshop and merged at hyper-speed. Everyone thought we were nuts, until they sat down with us. One by one we have met with family members on both sides and one by one they all have the same reaction... "I totally get it!" "He is great!" "She is lovely!" "Seeing you two together makes sense." 

This seemingly quick union was a long time coming for both of us. We are both on “the path”, I started way back when I was about 22 with workshops and meditation and he has been entrenched in a thick love of all things spiritual – culminating in 2 years at seminary.

He is deep and I am deep.

I am 41 years old, I have almost been married 4 times, each time I just knew that the person sitting across from me, however awesome, fun and attractive they were… they were not “my person” my “orb of light” to travel this life with. And so, I let go of them in search of my true life-partner. Friends and loved ones would shake their heads at me “your too picky!” I would talk with my mother after dates “what’s wrong with this one?” she would ask, nearly fed up with the endless sea of suitors. Heck, I even went on a VH1 dating reality show, but, no matter what came up, how exhausted and depleted I got from the arduous task of finding “Him” I stayed the course. I knew that God/ The Universe (or whatever you find comforting as that energy) had a better plan for me, bigger and more fun then the one that lived in my head. I knew in my body and my bones that if I listened to others thoughts on my love life, I’d be in big trouble.

I did the work, attending workshops on finding love, creating the environment for love to come in, re-vamping my apartment with feng shui experts, if there was a book on love or a work book on bringing love into your life, I read it, I did it. Seemingly whacky rituals, became a part of my weekly practice, healers, clairvoyants and mediums, yes, I sought them out too.

Then finally, after yet another unsatisfying relationship and breakup, I gave up. That is not to say that I gave up on the hope that my partner was out there, I gave up on doing it alone. That is when I started my daily conversations with God.  The conversation started as a crying fit that left my eyes red and gave me the hiccups, there I was on my big white rug, on my hands and knees, and I just surrendered. With my face wet with tears I looked up at my ceiling… “I cannot do this alone anymore, I need you God, I need your help” then I got very still and what came out of my mouth surprised me, it was such a strong and powerful voice, a voice with such knowing – it was coming from me, but I was not talking, I was being spoken. This is what the voice said through me:

“God, I know that I am born for one man and I know God that you have born a man just for me, I know God that you are bringing us together now and when we do meet it will be fast and fun and full of wonder, I know that he will respect me and I will respect him, he is kind and thoughtful, we have abundance and great laughter, ours is a limitless love, we are both attracted to each other with such passion, he makes me smile, we create a life that is full of family and babies and health and joy! I thank you God for this and all you have given me already.”

I said some version of this every morning right about the time I started an intense daily yoga practice, mid-July. My morning prayers, my “talk with God” out loud in my tiny apartment, on my hands and knees. The conversation covered many issues, my deep gratitude for EVERYTHING, every stick of furniture, every item of clothing, each friend, every loved one, every client, the sunshine, the earth, clean water and a bounty of delicious food, I acknowledged it all even the bad dates that I had, focusing on how much fun it was to get dolled up and have men buy me dinner, I was grateful for their masculine energy, for the moments that I was not alone on a Saturday night. I approached my morning prayer with thanks and deep knowing that he was on his way, envisioning a life with him, breathing into it with security that it was already here, that I had already stepped into my life.

And then he showed up. Just like that.

Pretty soon into our relationship I let him know about my morning “conversations with God” I trusted him with my story of what I had been asking for. His smile widened as he shared with me that at around the same time (mid-July) he did the same thing – giving up, and seeing it and asking for God's help.

We all have the ability to manifest great love, it is not just for some of us, it is for us all. My mother always said “God wouldn’t bring you all this way to leave you all alone!” so, I believed her and I believe in my power to manifest.

Now I sit here in this new apartment that I am slowly bringing my belongings into as we plan our wedding. I’ve kept my yoga practice and each day I have my conversation with God. It takes only a few minutes but it sets everything in motion for the day.

What can you do?

          1) Start with gratitude – give thanks for all that you have and everything that is on its way

          2)   Bless the planet and your loved ones – each morning I send love to my mom in Florida, I send love to the ancestors who have passed on, I ask God to watch over family and friends

         3)    Focus on abundance and career with gratitude and knowing that more great things are on their way

         4) Get in your body, take some long deep breaths to center yourself for the day

        5) Ask for God's energy where you need it – If I have an intense cooking job I usually ask God to have my grandmother work through my hands to make sure everything is delicious

        6) share with God what you long for in a partner (some version of what I have written above) as you share, feel the feeling of him/ her already in your life, visualize waking up next to them, sitting to eat with them, walking with them etc. express gratitude for them in present time. Feel the feelings of love and joy, then, breathe them in.

        7) Imagine your future as if it’s happening in real time, where you live, who is in your house, your health, your job, your finances… this should be fun and only takes a few minutes

       8)  Give thanks one more time to seal your practice

I feel confident that with these tools you are now manifesting your partner!

With love,

Donna