Today I was the lucky recipient of a Random Act of Kindness, and it absolutely made my day!

My friend, colleague and brilliant Natural Fertility Specialist, Trudy, surprised me today with a gift for absolutely no reason at all, except to make me feel good.

It was a huge mug (for herbal tea of course!) and on the outside it says “You are the reason the Sun came up today” - The Universe.  And inside the mug it says “You are adored”  Isn’t that just fantastic - I love it!

Never underestimate the impact that Random Acts of Kindness can have on those you love and even on strangers whom you do something kind for.  To know that someone has thought of you and wanted to do something special, is an amazing feeling and I am SO grateful for having friends and family around me that don’t hesitate to express these simple but incredibly generous gifts of spirit.

A funny coincidence was that I opened my e-mail box when I got home today, and through came Dr. Mercola’s newsletter and one of the topics was Random Acts of Kindness!   I have reprinted it here below:

You cannot just rely on others to make the world a better place — everyone has to help. Or, like Gandhi once said:

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

Kindness is actually contagious, and you might want to consider carrying out random acts of kindness on a daily basis.

You could:
Send someone a hand written note of thanks.
Make a card at home and send it to a friend for no reason.
Buy a lottery ticket for a stranger.
Put some coins in someone else’s parking meter.
Cut your neighbor’s hedge.
Walk your friend’s dog.
Give a compliment about your waiter/waitress to his/her manager.
Send someone a small gift anonymously.
Stop and help someone replace their flat tire.
Let someone jump the line at the bank.
Pay for the drinks on the next table at a café.
Treat a friend to the movies for no reason.
Give a huge tip to someone when they least expect it.
Hold the train door open for someone rushing to get in.
Give up your seat for someone, not just an elderly person.
Write notes of appreciation at least once a week.
Talk to a homeless person and have a “normal” conversation.
Pick up some rubbish in the road which would otherwise be lying around.
Compliment a work colleague for their excellence.
Recommend a competitor to a potential client.
Give another driver your parking spot.
Give a piece of fruit to a delivery person.
Help an elderly neighbor carry the rubbish out.
Tell all your family members how much you appreciate them.
Leave a copy of an interesting book on a train/bus.
Buy an inspirational book for a friend.
Send a thank you note to a person who has helped you in the past.
Smile a lot.
Once you get started, you may find it a habit hard to break! 

For even more inspiration, and support from other people who are passionate about passing on kindness to others, check out The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation at www.ActsOfKindness.org
 

I don’t read major newspapers because I don’t believe in supporting their mainly misinformed views, corporate and political pandering, and negative stories with my dollars. But yesterday I was visiting my family and flicked through one of the Sunday papers they had next to the lounge.

As I turned the pages, a health story grabbed my attention (as they always do). I wish I had cut out the article and bought it with me, because I can’t quite remember the headline, but it was about how women are increasing in weight around their mid-section because they are now drinking as much alcohol as men are.

Men have been known to suffer from the “beer belly syndrome” where chronic drinkers increase in weight around their waist, but can lose it from their legs, giving them a certain type of appearance. The article went on to explain how this body type (fat belly, skinny legs) is now occurring in more women as their alcohol consumption increases.

All sounds quite straightforward up to now doesn’t it?

And it would have been, except for the photo’s they chose to put with the story. Two young girls, Brittany Spears and Charlotte Church, both in bikini’s and being described by the newspaper as “overweight” and representative of the problem featured in the article.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. These girls both looked absolutely gorgeous. Feminine, womanly, totally in proportion, not anorexcially thin, but by no stretch of the imagination could you even call them plump. They looked fantastic and I was left wondering about what motivated the matching of these photo’s to that particular article.

To me there didn’t seem to be any connection whatsoever.

Ok, maybe the girls drink a bit, but the story wasn’t about drinking per se, it was about drinking related to a certain body shape and the health risks associated with that. But the girls didn’t have the body shape they were talking about in the article at all.

Quite obviously the photo’s were chosen because the girls are famous and it provided the content with a celebrity link that probably grabbed more readers attention than it would have otherwise.

But what message is this sending out?

That we all must be skinny to the point of emaciation to gain approval in the eyes of the mass media? That a woman’s naturally fit, healthy, curvy body is not to be appreciated, but denigrated in print?

No wonder I don’t read newspapers! They take the worst of human nature and glorify it for mass marketing consumption and that does not help the state of our minds or the world we live in.

What we fill our minds with is just as important as what we fill our bodies with, and this derogatory slant on what could of been an informative article, just highlights what a warped sense of “news” abounds in the world.

I think next time, I’ll just line the bin with newspaper BEFORE I flick through it!

Following on from my food related posts “The Amazing Apple”, “The Brilliant Blueberry” and “The Classic Chick-Pea”, comes “The Delicious Date” - one food that is a must in your household pantry.

Dates are the fruit from the Date Palm Tree and are cut from the palm and ideally sun-dried.  The palms are found in dry, tropical countries and the fruit when dried is very sweet. 

Saudi Arabia is known as the “Home of the Date Palm Tree” with the palms having a 10,000 year history in that region, and more than 300 different varieties of date grown.

Dates are little powerhouses of nutrition, being high in fibre, amino acids, minerals especially potassium, vitamins, and they are low in fat.  The carbohydrate content is high (65-85g per 100g), but the fibre assists in slowing down the absorption of the natural sugars, and often they are eaten with other foods such as nuts, which also balances the carbohydrate content.

Dates are a wonderful replacement for sugar in recipes that need some sweetness, and soaking them for a few hours softens them ready for blending. 

One of my favourite sweet recipes using dates is from Alissa Cohen’s Living on Live Food book- and it literally takes 5 minutes to make!

Date Nut Torte:

Base of Tort:
2 cups raisins (or dates)
2 cups walnuts

Blend in a food processor until well blended and moist, it should be a fudgey consistency. Press into a pie plate about 1 1/2 inches thick.

Frosting:
1 cup dates, pitted and soaked
1/2 lemon, juiced

In a food processor, combine dates and lemon juice until smooth and creamy. Spread frosting on top of the torte base.

For a firmer texture, refrigerate for a few hours.

Enjoy!

For most of my life I have had a passion for not only physical healing, but for healing on an emotional and spiritual level as well - and that has led me to all sorts of discoveries and insights over the years.

One area that I have had enormous trouble with myself though, is learning to feel and indentify my true feelings - versus what I think I “should” feel in a certain situation.

For various reasons that I won’t go into here, I grew up doubting my own feelings and always believing that what I felt was “wrong”.  So getting back in touch with my truth and not doubting what I feel, is a continuous journey that at times I travel well, and at other times I definitely don’t.

Just lately it came up again where in a certain circumstance I have ignored my true feelings and pushed them aside, in favour of choosing to believe what someone was telling me about a situation, rather than trusting in what I was feeling about it.  As it turned out, my feelings were spot on, and it was another reminder to not ignore those physically based sensations that you might call intuition, sixth sense, or just a feeling.

So rather than beat myself over the head about it, (well OK, when I stopped beating myself over the head about it!) I decided to explore the realm of Equine Facilitated Therapy - where horses are utilised to help us connect with our more authentic feelings and emotions - horses do not allow us to mask our truth.

Having grown up with horses and having a deep connection with them, I have been interested in this area for quite some time.  Horses are very good at picking up what is called “emotional incongruity” a term used to describe the act of hiding one emotion by trying to feel something else.

The horse will not let you get away with that, and will sense the truth behind the mask and will feel off balance and unsafe in your company.  When working with a human facilitator who is experienced in the nuances of equine behaviour, they can assist in translating the horses interactions with you, to assist you in recognising your patterns of incongruence.

It is a fascinating area and one that I could write about in depth - but suffice to say that I had my first experience of this work yesterday, and it was very interesting.  Already I have gained some insights that are quite valuable and I felt a raise in my energy that came just from interacting with such magnificent creatures.

Of course there are many ways / techniques / therapies to help us connect with our feelings, but I just know that this is going to be one of the most enjoyable! 

I will keep you updated on my progress with my equine tutors, and will write more about this area of healing in the future.

Following on from the topic of my last blog post, I found this video of a talk by Mark Bittman, where he explains in a really great way, what is wrong with what we eat.

Maybe not what I eat :-) or maybe even not what you eat either - but he speaks in a very down to earth sensible way about what the general public eats and what the problems with that are.

It is an enjoyable video to watch and Mark Bittman makes some great points - if you’re interested in learning a bit more about food and health, then I would encourage you to have a look at this one.

Mark Bittman - What’s Wrong With What We Eat..