The Mayonnaise Jar

Do we in this hurried lifestyle always take time to enjoy the little things? Usually not, is my guess. We tell ourselves tomorrow. Next week. Next year. In the fall. Winter vacation. When the kids are in college. You name, it we have about a million reasons not to celebrate the smallest gestures which ultimately create our happiness and perhaps just a little more satisfaction in life. 

It seems it’s never the big events—although memorable in many ways—which usually occur with much fanfare and expectation—and can so often disappoint. As we begin the “official” summer season with the celebration of last week’s summer solstice, I urge you to plan a few simple, even spontaneous, cook-outs—picnics—camping—hiking—boating—swimming—car rides—parks—or adventures to see a few old friends—or new friends. Perhaps having cup a coffee or hamburgers on the grill might be ‘just what the Universe ordered’.  

I don’t know the original author. The Mayonnaise Jar is an old favorite of mine. Maybe yours, too? Needless to say, a good reminder to enjoy the moment. At the end of the day, it is these moments that make our life special—and so worth living our life. And summer is a perfect time for memories. If not now, when?

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar… and the coffee…

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.  When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.  He then asked the students if the jar was full.  They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.  He shook the jar lightly.  The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.  He then asked the students again if the jar was full.  They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.  Of course, the sand filled up everything else.  He asked once more if the jar was full.  The students responded with an unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.  The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ” I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.  The golf balls are the important things-your God, family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions-things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.  The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.  The sand is everything else-the small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.  The same goes for life.  If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.  Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.  Play with your children.  Take time to get medical checkups.  Take your partner out to dinner.  Play another 18.  There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.  Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter.  Set your priorities.  The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.  “I’m glad you asked.  It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

About Cathrine Silver

Cathrine Silver, HC, AADP, is a Shaman, Certified Holistic Health Counselor, and intuitive in private practice in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida. She works collaboratively with clients on their desires regarding disease through a process called biological decoding. She writes about relationships, spirituality, and loss and help others through theirs.  Suffering through her own loss in 2005, Cathrine motivates and empowers others to be the heroes in their own lives, becoming fully responsible for their own happiness, joy and well-being.

Cathrine holds a degree in Speech Communication from the University of Washington, is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and holds certifications in Reiki, Matrix Energetics, Hypnosis, Biological Decoding and Grief Counseling and is a Shamanic practitioner.  She is the author of the book, Riding the Light Beam: How Any Woman Can Find the Hero Inside.

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Decoding Our Lives Podcast – Pending

Farming, Food & Health; There is a link

My heart was singing this morning as I awoke. I must take a drive to Southwest Georgia and meet this “radical” farmer and his new ideas, now pushing 25 years in the making. It is simply that, his ideas, foresight and intuition about farming and cattle ranching+ are a return to the way things are meant to be—in my mind and thought process. We have a long way to go, like in many facets of modern life, but the shift is here and visible for those awakened souls seeking evidence.  But, his story reminds me of many other things that have captured the American people and the world by big money and those bent on domination and control.

I preordered the book, A Bold Return to Giving a Damn and just finished it an hour ago, now a week later.  I suggest you get a hold of a copy and read it for yourself. Will Harris, a Southwest Georgia farmer, is the story of a very brave and bold, awakened old soul returning to work with the natural cycles of the earth and its complexity, which few seem understand or care about. Rather than seeing Nature as the enemy, he nows sees Nature, his land and all his animals as something that works in a symbiosis or harmony for our benefit and Mother Earth’s as well. 

It was his association with what he calls “the holistic farm” that I book marked. Admirably, he had the courage and chutzpah to step away from the industrialization of his farming operation, which he realized one fine day, was making him beholden to the big corporations and inhumane treatment of his cattle. This new found awareness sparked one afternoon while watching his cattle loaded onto the semi parked on his farm, that he realized he was only a cog in the wheel of our industrialized, captured food industry.  His ah ha moment?  That by participating as a cog in the mechanized wheel of BigAg was to prop up and hold the corporate bottom line while they gave us, the unsuspecting American public, an inferior, chemical laden product for grocery store cases to sell. Nothing else seemed to matter to the investors, Wall Street, the regulators and legislators who were bought and paid for by lobbyist and political donations.

Something had that familiar ring—it was the sick care policies that kept so many trapped in a system of its own giant mechanized wheel, where one way of thinking is pushed on everyone. And, you are threatened if you don’t comply. I don’t have to explain that, if you know what I mean! But, so many have no clue!

Our “Health care” system had been corrupted by the same forces. They benefited from selling the bad food, and benefit from polluted water, sprayed chem trails, processed food and the expensive bandaids that keep folks just well enough to keep working their 9 to 5 jobs. What a business model—making money on both ends and not giving a damn—just keep the money rolling in! Think about it, our “Healthcare” system has fallen down a deep dark hole. And, I don’t believe it is individual doctors and nurses per say, I believe it is the corporate money supporting grants and educating future providers into the funnel that brings big returns in the self-perpetuating cycle of chronic illness, drugs, surgery, etc..

Harris writes, “We put our attention on a single goal: making the whole process of producing food more efficient. And the way we did that was through the use of reductionist science, which broke down the holistic and complex systems of the natural world into smaller and smaller isolated parts that could be studied and mastered and improved by technology. This reductive approach was applied to everything—to the way we treat health and sickness for one thing—and it completely changed agriculture.”

This captured and normalized American way of life doesn’t allow for much diversion. One is seen as a rebel, an outlier or a trouble maker for not going along and embracing what the system of mechanized sick care allows for. One stop at the lab. After waiting—another quick visit at the doctors office—and 90% of the time, out the door with another prescription. My Mother-in-law had 19 different pills. Another friend of mine has even more! The system needs a good overhaul or a total makeover!

Many have lost touch or haven’t realized the intimate relationship with the Mother Earth. The Earth is its own soul group, a sentient consciousness of the planet and it is interwoven with our beingness as well. The core of the consciousness was created by the Pleiadians. It’s about the way we live. And, we must incorporate a greater understanding and belief that we are entangled. There is no separation between us and Mother Earth. Every indigenous tribe understands this sacred relationship.

So, what’s the difference between a healthy holistic farm and a healthy holistic human body? Not much. Probably only the chemicals we consciously or unconsciously (by mal-intented forces) consume. Every chemical, drug or fake food we eat creates a reaction in our body. It is our own cycle of birth, life and death. Isn’t it time to research what the ancients and indigenous knew and believed as truth?

Every antibiotic we take throws off the health of our gut—and makes the “bug” we’re trying to rid of more resistant next time around or for someone else. There is much overuse. Even what we generally think of as benign over the counter medications have their downside usually warning of kidney or liver damage if taken too often or for too many years. Every side effect, is an effect—and something else is usually added to combat those effects and unintended consequences. It’s a catch 22 in the allopathic—germ warfare, chronic winner take all view of the world.

Harris continued his reflection, “What I failed to understand, however, was that the technologies of reductionist science has an ugly underbelly. For each industrial tool I used, there was always a consequence—one that without fail was bad, always unintended, and always unnoticed until tomorrow or next week or next year or even next decade. I failed to see that the unnatural grain I fed the animals, trucked in from industrialized monocultural farms, required substantial amounts of petrochemicals to cultivate and transport, using up nonrenewable resources—and also created painful acidosis in the animals, unnecessarily causing suffering”. 

But, haven’t we used the same reductionists theory—tearing things apart that should be kept together? In heath and wellness, the food, water and air are major players, but so are stress, childhood traumas, and the separation of our physical body’s ills from our mind and spirit. We are living in an unbalanced state. As T. Harv Eckart used to say, “How we do anything, is how we do everything.” Modern life seems to be a series of pieces torn from our ancestral heritage twisting in the wind as the “experts” portend to tell us what we need and what we must do to be healthy. Yet, many, many of those so-called experts have missed the mark because they too are driven by corporate interests, big grants or a hefty paycheck. We don’t need to look very far back to see that at one time cocaine, tobacco and DDT were considered harmless. What about glyphosate today? We rarely get the truth anymore.

It’s time we discern for ourselves and use our god-given wisdom to decide what’s best for us. It’s time to back out of our destructive ways, and lean into the barrier of energy that breaks the old paradigm of consciousness and moves us toward a more enlightened era. By bringing the pieces of the puzzle in WHOLENESS, working with our smart bodies natural intelligence,—correcting what has led us astray from what we inherently already know. 

Did you know that according to Kryon, “Children on small farms aren’t allergic to milk? But children in urban areas often are? “The children in the areas that you call home are often allergic to many things.” Why the difference? “If you don’t honor the animals, you’re not going to get the nutrition! But this fact hasn’t been put together yet by those who are responsible for producing your food. In fact it sounds really silly to them. Here’s the premise: Those who want efficiency and try to create a factory-farm approach to food will put the cows so close together that they touch all the time—all their lives. They’re strapped in containers or small spaces and are milked and fed . . . and you wonder why you’re allergic to milk? But the farm that has one or two cows that are cared for correctly will create milk that your body see differently. This requires an inter dimensional realization that you and the earth and the cows are very connected. Your cellular structure knows the difference and reacts.” “The new energy is going to accelerate certain things like allergies to foods, unless you decide to change how foods are developed and collected and preserved.” But, it’s not just milk, it’s every processed food we consume.

The tie between what we eat, how it’s handled and raised and what chemicals it contains are critical for our well being. There are many levels to our food supply chain. Our modern way of thinking does not include this wisdom. We must become aware and revaluate our current way of doing things if we are to break the ties to what we’ve been led to believe is a healthy sustainable way to grow food and maintain our health and well being. We’ve got to dig ourselves out of the ditch that we’ve landed in. It seems only then, we will be have a truly healthy population that will be able to live twice or three times the lifespan we currently have now. And, one that will include vitality, passion and a zest we don’t see or have currently. Our food system is broken and it must be fixed or reworked with integrity for animals and humans alike.

As Carolyn Baker writes:With the mass movement of people from the land to cities, the sanctity of food was eclipsed by fascination with artificial, synthetic, and technologically-produced forms of food. No longer was it necessary to hunt or grow food because now it was delivered from short or long distances to nearby markets, and thus it seems that the sacredness of food decreased in proportion to the energy required to obtain it. 

Chief Seattle simply said it this way: “The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”

The wonderful thing about food is you get three votes a day. Every one of them has the potential to change the world.

~Michael Pollan~

www.Cathrinesilver.com (Website)

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Decoding Our Lives Podcast – Pending

Going Local

A close friend of my recently decided to make an investment in a few metals. Not much really, but enough, to make her feel more comfortable than in the volatile and risky stock market, which continues to teeter, wildly unstable as of late. Have you noticed? Oddly, her bank (one of the big ones, BOA) refused her wire transfer, until she came into the bank. When she arrived, at a local branch not too long after, they said, “Oh, we’re sorry, you must have an appointment. There is one available the middle of next week.” She retorted “You sent me a link”, in the most gracious voice she could muster in the moment. “When I clicked it, it took me to a blank page! Apparently, you are essentially refusing to give me my money!”

When I saw her later that afternoon—she looked like the famous steaming Court Street Tea Kettle in Boston. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen her so angry. Then to top it off, a check she had written to open a new account at a local, private bank, was set to be denied, unless she answered an email from BOA by 5pm. WOW!

Another friend of mine, has also taken steps to get local, fed up with the hoops and hoop-la. She took the advice of Catherine Austin Fitts, a woman who has spent a lifetime in the trenches of the banking industry and suggests going local. There are others far more wiser than me, suggesting the house of cards is about to fall. Time will tell, but I hear the heavy footsteps behind me now.

Shopping local, buying local and spending with cash is an astute move to support our small business owners. Cash reduces the bank fees that feed the central banks—one of their lifelines—and puts more into the pockets of small businesses by reducing their fees. Our small businesses become the pillars of our communities and over the last few years, many were deemed “non-essential”. Ironically, the big huge box stores were essential, including liquor and gun retailers. Parks, gyms and the beach were off limits. It’s okay to go to Walmart or Target but not okay to do yoga or go to church. (Especially now looking back with 20/20 hindsight as the government’s narrative has continued to disintegrate rapidly with more lies and deception spilling out daily. However you won’t find it on mainstream news, yet.) Does this even pass the common sense test? Really??

I lived in Lauderdale-by-the Sea for years. I knew the neighbors around me. I knew the merchants “downtown”. I stopped in whenever I could to say hello and purchase something from them. They were my acquaintances and friends. We were there to support each other. Who can you get to know in your neighborhood or community? Who do you count on? Who would you miss? Who is it that you could support with your business? Vote with your dollars. Make a difference. 

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. 

That will be the beginning.” 

~Louis L’Amour

About Cathrine Silver

Cathrine Silver, HC, AADP, is a Shaman, Certified Holistic Health Counselor, and intuitive in private practice in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida. She works collaboratively with clients on their desires regarding disease through a process called biological decoding. She writes about relationships, spirituality, and loss and help others through theirs.  Suffering through her own loss in 2005, Cathrine motivates and empowers others to be the heroes in their own lives, becoming fully responsible for their own happiness, joy and well-being.

Cathrine holds a degree in Speech Communication from the University of Washington, is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and holds certifications in Reiki, Matrix Energetics, Hypnosis, Biological Decoding and Grief Counseling and is a Shamanic practitioner.  She is the author of the book, Riding the Light Beam: How Any Woman Can Find the Hero Inside.

www.Cathrinesilver.com (Website)

www.cathysilver.me (Blog)

cathysilverhealth@gmail.com (email)

Cathy Silver Holistic Healing (Facebook)

Cathy Silver, HC@CSilverWellness (Twitter)

Cathrine Silver (LinkedIn) 

Decoding Our Lives Podcast – Pending

Awakening to Biological Decoding

Let me make a bold statement:  All disease is emotional.  Dr. R. G. Hamer, MD, establishes the existence of biological laws that operate at 100% without exception: The disease is the translation of a conflict in the individual’s biology.  John Hopkins trained Dr. Todd Ovokaitys, MD simply says it this way, “If the mind doth bend, disease can end.”

Cancer, breast cancer for example, specifically, has it’s roots from a strong feeling of inner guilt  towards oneself or several of one’s children—anger and rejection are amplified, and “my” emotion will be ‘evacuated’  through “my” breasts, which will become a symbol of “my” ‘failure.’

Diabetes, is linked to sugar.  Sugar is linked to love, tenderness, and affections.  Diabetes reflects various feelings of inner sadness.  This love sickness is a sure lack of love.  “One controls their environment and those around me, because of previous wounds. I am experiencing an emotional abstinence,” if diabetes could talk.

Or heart— cardiac problems symbolize love, peace, and the love of life.  Heart problems often originate from a loss of love, from sadness, or from a resurgence of deep emotions, even after several years.  All secret, impossible loves, family love cheapened by conflicts will “attack” my heart.

Weight—especially excess that one unconsciously seeks to isolate oneself either through communications with the outer world or because there is an imprisoned emotion or feeling ‘isolated’ in me that I don’t want to see.  “Through my obesity, I am seeking a form of protection that I continually accumulate in my inner thoughts.  There is a gulf between me and the outer world.  I want so much to love and approach the people I love, but I am so afraid.”  With all the diet books on the market, we should be a slim and trim society, but something is in our way of that desired reality.

And btw, much to my amazement, it is important to add, that this separation between our emotional state of well-being and our physical disease began in the seventeenth century. According to John Hopkins researcher Candice Pert, PhD in her book Molecules of Emotion, René Descartes—a philosopher and founding father of modern medicine and the Pope made a “turf deal.”   According to Pert,  in order to acquire the bodies he needed for dissection, Descartes agreed he wouldn’t have anything to do with the soul, the mind—or the emotions—apparently under exclusive jurisdiction of the church at the time.

Modern research is confirming what the Chinese have always understood: “So much of the illness begins in the mind,” Said the Yellow Emperor, Huang Di centuries ago.  With many modern pioneers such as Louise Hay, Deb Shapiro, Jacques Martel, Claude Sabbah, MD, Dr. Hammer, Bruce Lipton, MD and dozens of others today. What has been separation which “could never overlap, creating the unbalanced situation that is mainstream science and medicine we know today.” It finally appears that the gap is coming to a close and we are coming full circle to once again recognize there can be no separation between our physical, emotional/mind and soul in our lives and well-being.  True wellness comes from within.IMG_7401

For more information, please contact me @954-661-1972 or email me at CathySilverHealth@gmail.com

Metaphors, Signs & Symbols: The Language of Spirit

Snake MedicineSpirit has  talked to us in metaphors, symbols, signs and parables since the beginning of time, and throughout our history. Have you noticed thought blocks and answers that appear so fast, they couldn’t have come from the synapses of your brain; a knowing? This happens to all of us but often we don’t take the time to listen during the course of our busy task-filled days. And if we do,  we are “outvoted” by the left side of our brain, or others around us telling us it isn’t so and, may even use the word crazy or ridiculous. (Smiling)

Some of us are not even aware that the possibility exists—messages delivered in this way. I know this was new for me– some years ago.  However, I reasoned not why, but why not?  This is the honored “third” language; the language or communication of spirit. We are all given the opportunity to talk to God, Spirit, Source or All That Is and they to us. It is a two way communication, but it’s not linear and it’s not in the spoken word.  But, the question is, do we listen?

Today as I walked the familiar route on the beautiful and still not too hot morning,  I rounded the corner and headed south on the newly renovated and landscaped sidewalk.  I paused to adjust my ear buds and a large black snake slithered across the sidewalk about 20 feet ahead of me. I stopped. I watched fascinated—as he disappeared into the small neatly trimmed hedge. Hum. All the times I had walked this walk, I had never seen a snake. In fact, I hadn’t even seen one in my yard. It reminded me of the small garner snakes of the Northwest, but much larger. Not at all startled, I continued on my way.

It wasn’t until hours later that it suddenly dawned on me—was this a message that I had almost overlooked?

There are many resources for animal totems, and we all have our favorite sources—no matter what subject. Animal Speak by Ted Andrew has always been mine regarding this subject. According to Ted, the cornerstone of snake “medicine” or totem means: Rebirth, Resurrection, Initiation and Wisdom.

He notes that the snake has always been a symbol of death and rebirth and snake medicine people are those that move between the realms of life and death for healing and for enlightenment. “Snakes are symbols of change and healing. They have speed and agility, so those who have snakes come into their life will usually find the changes and shifts occur quickly and are soon recognized and defined. When snake comes into your life you can look for a rebirth into new powers of creativity and wisdom.”

Messages from our Animals

The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small

Now, what makes this so significant for me, is this comes on the heels of birthing a retreat called SOUL to SOUL—for people who have lost a loved one—and want to connect with them—on the Otherside of the veil. This retreat is about Healing & Growing . . . Love & Purpose.

More to come . . . but it seems I have the green light from Spirit! Now, what animal has shown up in your life—and what is its message to you?

“Inspired Wellness from Within”

Cathy Silver, HC

http://www.cathysilverHealth.com

Anti-Aging and Healthful Benefits of Sex

Beautiful-Women-Over-502As two-50 something women, sex doesn’t particularly occupy headline news, but this weekend it became the topic du jour in a two hour phone conversation.   Products of our upbringing ‘Miss Manners Greenwich’ and ‘What would the neighbors think Seattle’ usually focus on other mind-bending metaphysical topics with the enthusiasm of professional power shoppers; esoteric inmost circles. (Smiling) I have been stretched over the years from not being able to mention S-E-X to conceding that, not only do I enjoy sex, but miss it when my life does not include such intimacy.

The WHO (World Health Organization) defines health as the complete mental, physical and social well-being and not just the absence of dis-ease and infirmity.  So, I guess that includes a healthy social life and good sex?  Nice to hear as the 60’s sexual revolution has long since passed, but paved the way for a more open point  of view,  changing belief and way-of-being in most contemporary circles.

Meaningful and loving sex actually helps to balance our body and can be a significant spiritual bridge and bonding between two souls.  Perhaps that is why, with the right partner, it feels so good—and satisfying—an acknowledgement from our higher-self, and simple nod of approval.  And, could this be some sort of unseen melding of our energies at the quantum and interdimensional space, outside of our time as we know and acknowledge.

Medical science may not be ready for spiritual bonding and quantum physics as it relates to sex, but what they do know is it makes your skin healthy and helps to keep us young.  According to naturopath Natasha Turner, N.D sex is anti-aging, immune-boosting and stress-reducing.  She reports:

1. It’s a natural pain reliever: Sex causes increased production of oxytocin, which is often referred to as the “love hormone”.  Before orgasm, oxytocin, released from the brain, surges up to five times the normal level. This increase then leads to the release of endorphins, our natural pain-killing hormones.

2. It’s a stress reliever: The endorphins released during sexual intercourse and orgasms are natural mood-boosters and stress relievers. Regular sex can also boost your self-esteem and increase intimacy between partners.

3. It boosts immunity: Endorphins released during intimacy have been found to stimulate immune system cells that fight disease.

4. It’s good for your heart: Intercourse, depending on your level of enthusiasm, can be considered aerobic exercise, burning up to 200 calories per session. Among other benefits, women who engage in regular sexual activity with their partners have higher levels of estrogen, which protects against heart disease. Research has found that men who have sex two times per week have fewer heart attacks than those who do not. The hormones released during sex cause an increase in blood pressure and heart rate, and it engages almost every muscle in the body. After sex, blood vessels dilate and blood pressure is then reduced. This change in blood vessel constriction may also help with tension headaches.

5. It turns back the clock: A 2002 report from a large British population of men said researchers found a 50 percent reduction in overall mortality in the group of men who said they had the most orgasms. The Journal of the American Medical Association has also reported that “high ejaculation frequency was related to decreased risk of total prostate cancer.” Having regular orgasms can increase your life span. Every time you reach orgasm, the hormone DHEA increases in response to sexual excitement and orgasm. DHEA can boost your immune system, improve cognition, keep skin healthy, and even work as an antidepressant. Therefore, the added health benefit is that you will feel—and look—younger, longer.

6. It gives you a glow: The glow of good sex is real. Women who have more sex have higher levels of estrogen, which is essential to enjoying healthier, smoother skin. This increase in estrogen also helps to protect us from heart disease, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease.  . It also promotes the production of collagen, which keeps the skin supple and gives you a healthy glow.

If your hormones have waned, and there is “no desire”, replacement bio-identical creams are an option to consider and will put you back in the game—helping that vibrant sexy woman to emerge once again.  The supplement DHEA, building block for cell regeneration, sex hormone function and cortisol-level balancing is also very helpful in some cases.   Gematria products are particularly powerful, and I have used them personally.  Of particular interest for me is their anti-aging line. Check out: www.gematria.com.  It is always wise to consult with your physician or qualified medical professional before taking these or any other supplements.

“Inspired Wellness from Within”

Cathy Silver, HC

Yes to You! 2

Certified Holistic Health Coach

www.cathysilverhealth.com

When You Just Don’t Feel Like Exercising . . .

Exercise, movement, physical activity or fitness. Whatever you choose to call it, some days are tougher than others.  Motivating ourselves to do the right thing can be a challenge some days. So, how do we get past our resistance?

First, acknowledge we all have days like this.  A spontaneous discussion after class with my yoga instructor last week revealed something similar: the exact same class, movement, and poses were easier some days than others for him. Lets call it human nature.  I don’t know if it is  tied to the moon, our bio-rhythms, stress or energy levels, but it’s important to find ways to get past it.

How do we convince ourselves to get moving when our job is weighing on our minds–our kids have soccer practice or we’re fighting a virus or boredom and the motivation that is usually there seems to have taken a leave of absence?

I share these thoughts as I fight to get out and do something; it is how I am feeling today.  I have a cold–nothing serious but my energy level is definitely waning. I’m afraid the cold is winning.  My friend Keary’s  kids have soccer practice and Wendy is frustrated with her latest job.  A common  scenario? Our reasons are all valid and convincing for not exercising.

I know I always feel better after my trip to the gym or a walk. The outdoors make me feel refreshed and renewed; especially this time a year in south Florida. The endorphins and the negative ions circulate wellness to my being.  I could choose to walk the treadmill or pedal the bike, a variation from my almost daily elliptical tete-a-tete.  What about a spontaneous dance or step class? What made me feel good as a kid? Could I get out on my bike, or jump in the pool for a swim? Maybe a reward? A feel good massage, a facial or another form of pampering? What about treating myself to a pedicure or a new spring work-out top?  A few sessions with a personal trainer, perhaps? My friend Debbie, suggests belly dancing! If  that sounds fun, let the inner-child out to play!  The reward is worth the fight.  Anything that can get us out of our routine and stimulate our desire and motivation encouraging  us towards some sort of daily fitness– does a body–and attitude good! But sometimes, it’s just nice knowing, we’re not alone!

Keary has decided to walk the grass soccer field while her kids run its length chasing that white and black ball. Wendy and I decide to go for a nice long walk. Debbie loves her tennis!   What will it be for you?

“Inspired wellness within

Cathy Silver, HC

www.cathysilverhealth.com

6 Steps to Avoid GMO’s

Let us know what we are eating!

Let us know what we are eating!

I read this today, and I feel it extremely important to share!  Thank you Natural News!  This is valuable information for us all. GMO’s always begs the question: Is this the reason there are so many auto-immune diseases?  Cancer? Is our body seeing this modified food as foreign?  Is this part of the reason our sickness continues to grow?  You decide.  In the meantime, here are steps to avoid foods with GMO’s.  They are pretty much in everything, but this is a great way to limit them in what you eat! 

(NaturalNews) Awareness about the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the food supply is at an all-time high throughout America, thanks in large part to the Proposition 37 ballot initiative in California. But many people are now asking the question, “If GMOs aren’t labeled, how can I know whether or not the foods I buy contain them?” To help you make the best effort at avoiding GMOs while shopping at the grocery store, here are six recommendations on what to look for and what to avoid.

1) Avoid purchasing foods that contain non-organic soy, corn, cottonseed or canola ingredients. Practically every processed food found in the “middle aisle” section of the grocery store contains some form of soy, corn, cottonseed, or canola, all crops of which are typically GMO if not certified organic. Everything from cookies and crackers to cereals and snack food items contain them, which means you will want to avoid them like the plague. Common ingredients to specifically watch out for include some of the more obvious ones like high-fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, and canola oil. But several others you will want to be aware of include soy lecithin, an emulsifier added to all sorts of foods, including “health” foods, as well as soy protein, textured vegetable protein, mixed tocopherols (vitamin E), and food starch. Unless certified organic, all of these ingredients are likely GMO.

2) If PLU code on fruits, vegetables starts with an “8,” avoid such produce. When shopping for fruits and vegetables, your first choice will want to be those labeled with a five-digit PLU that begins with a “9,” which indicates that it is certified organic. Produce items containing a four-digit PLU are considered “conventional,” which means they are not technically GMO, but may still contain pesticides and other toxic residues. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has created a helpful shopping guide for picking out safe produce. Produce items you will want to specifically and always avoid are those bearing a five-digit PLU beginning with the number “8,” as these are GMOs. The vast majority of non-organic papaya, as well as several varieties of non-organic zucchini and squash are also of GM origin, so you will want to specifically purchase organic varieties of these foods as well. Genetic manipulators are also now working on a GM apple that does not turn brown, so watch out for any apple that stays unnaturally white when sliced or bruised.

3) Unless added sugar is specifically identified as “cane,” it likely comes from GM sugar beets. At least 90 percent of the sugar beet crop grown in the U.S. is of GM origin, which means if any food product contains “sugar” or some other sugar derivative like glucose or sucrose, it is more than likely a GMO. Always look for “cane sugar,” or preferably “evaporated cane juice,” in order to avoid GM sugar. Raw agave nectar, pure stevia extract, and xylitol are also safe, non-GMO sugar and sugar substitutes.

4) If it contains artificial sweetener, it likely contains GMOs. The popular artificial sugar substitute aspartame, which goes by the trade names Equal, NutraSweet and AminoSweet, is produced using GM bacterial strains of E. coli, which means it, too, is a GMO. Anything containing aspartame is a no-no when it comes to food, and this useful Natural News infographic will help you discern many of the common food products that contain aspartame.

5) Watch out for ambiguous additives like xanthan gum, citric acid, maltodextrin, and other common GMO offenders. Many common food texturizing agents, flavor enhancers, thickeners, sweeteners, and fortifiers are also derived from GMOs. Some of the more common offenders include ingredients like xanthan gum, citric acid, maltodextrin, lactic acid, dextrose, caramel color, baking powder, malt syrup, modified food starch, mono and diglycerides, sorbitol, stearic acid, and triglycerides. The Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT) has created a helpful list of “invisible GM ingredients” that you can reference while shopping.

6) Avoid any dairy products that are non-organic, or that do not contain a “No rBGH” label. Unless a dairy product is specifically labeled as being certified organic, or as not containing the artificial growth hormone rBGH, which is sometimes labeled as rBST, it likely contains GMOs. Short for recombinant bovine growth hormone, rBGH is created using GMO E. coli just like aspartame, and is used in conventional cattle unless otherwise labeled. This means that all non-organic yogurt, cheese, butter, milk, and ice cream that does not specifically bear a “No rBGH” label of some sort is likely made with GMOs. Non-organic dairy cows are also likely fed GM feed, which means your best bet is to stick only with certified organic or non-GMO dairy products at all times. The Non-GMO Project has also developed a certification program by which food manufacturers can uniformly label food products not made with GMOs. Many food products now bear the Non-GMO Project “Verified” label, which will help give you peace of mind that the food you are buying is clean, safe, and free of GMOs. You can learn more about the Non-GMO project by visiting: http://www.nongmoproject.org/

Organic Grapefruit
Organic Grapefruit

Another Birthday . . . Another Year

Singing traditional Happy Birthday!In spite of very extreme stormy rain and near flooding conditions in many places, Saturday night a week ago was a fun-filled celebration; the nicest birthday ever. I had anticipated a small group of friends celebrating outside around my pool braving the hot humidity of south Florida mid-summer. Simple Potluck. Don’t be attached to how things are supposed to look! Right? What I got was 25 old and new friends “comfortably” in the living room with picnic tables and decorated umbrella all having a good evening. I think the angels and fairy’s made room for everyone! A wonderful energy and easiness as strangers introduced themselves. Almost the New Orleans big easy energy style. I cannot not mention the food–both homemade vegan and meat lovers lasagna, and large spinach salad provided the main fare–filled in with garlic bread, fruit salad, chicken wings and wine and of course cake! And the best part, was there was nothing to save–all had been eaten! Yes, another year has past, and my, how cliché, but where does the time go?

So Birthdays . . . a time to reflect on the past year and set intentions for the future. Was this how “make a wish” got started with the original declaration to the Universe? No matter what the approaching months bring, our ease with life depends more on our state of mind more than actual events. We all know friends who can turn mole hills into mountains. It is our perception into what is, which lies within our being and the core of who we are. Our serenity, and peace of mind are echoed in our daily life or not. We carry strength, courage and wisdom inside ourselves and it is there for the asking. My anticipation is that my year will be powerful, exciting and fulfilling. What is yours? Whatever you decide and declare you have the power to manifest–so, make it great!

Cathy's Birthday 2013

The Flying Trapeze; Profound and Simple

Park girl on swing for class

Life–the more confusion–the more in the moment–the better we are doing it?  Seems like a conundrum. Not to have it all “figured out”? When I think I have finally figured out part of my life, like a mirage, it disappears like stratus clouds on a peaceful afternoon.  Unpredictability. Ambiguity. Indecision.  Hesitancy. Only  an illusion?  The true perception is the point to which I stand?  Can I be only the observer? This confusion I face,  is the place where creativity is best; wisdom from the Universe.  Both mine and yours to harness? I share this piece called “The Flying Trapeze.” I identified with it immediately. Simple and profound. Reflect for a moment. Can you identify these moments in your life, afraid to let go of one bar–that you could not catch the next?  My divorce was one for me; school another. But, alas, I have all been able to always catch the next swinging bar, swinging even higher.  And I ask, how can I better transition and catch the next with out my fears? Or is this just part of our humanness and growth?  Is it learning how to trust that the next bar will always be there and it wouldn’t swing if I weren’t ready to catch it! Happy Swinging!

(If you have read this before–enjoy–it is a great reminder.)

Be Well, Cathy, Certified Holistic Health Counselor

http://www.cathysilverhealth.com

Sometimes, I feel that my life is a series of trapeze swings. I’m either hanging on to a trapeze bar swinging along or, for a few moments, I’m hurdling across space between the trapeze bars.

Mostly, I spend my time hanging on for dear life to the trapeze bar of the moment. It carries me along a certain steady rate of seeing and I have the feeling that I’m in control. I know most of the right questions, and even some of the right answers. But once in a while, as I’m merrily, or not so merrily, swinging along, I look ahead of me into the distance, and what do I see?

I see another trapeze bar looking at me. It’s empty. And I know, in that place in me that knows, that this new bar has my name on it. It is my next step, my growth, my aliveness coming to get me. In my heart of hearts I know that for my to grow, I must release my grip on the present well-known bar to move to the new one.

Each time that happens, I hope–no, I pray–that I won’t have to grab the new one. but in my knowing place, I know that I must totally release my grasp on my old bar, and for some moments in time I must hurdle across space before I can grab the new bar. Each time I do this I am felled with terror. It doesn’t matter that in all my previous hurdles I have always made it.

Each time I am afraid I will miss, that I will be crushed on unseen rocks in the bottomless basin between the bars.

But I do it anyway. I must.

Perhaps this is the essence of what the mystics call faith. No guarantees, no net, no insurance, but we do it anyway because hanging on to that old bar is not longer an option. And so, for what seems to be an eternity but actually lasts a microsecond. I soar across the dark void called “the past is over, the future is not yet here.” It’s called a transition. I have come to believe that is it the only place that real change occurs.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the transition zone is the only real thing, and that the bars are the illusions we dream up to not notice the void. Yes, with all the fear that can accompany transitions, they are still the most vibrant, growth filled, passionate moments in our lives.

And so transformation of fear may have nothing to do with making fear go away, but rather giving ourselves permission to “hang out” in the transition zone–between the trapeze bars–allowing ourselves to dwell in the only place where change really happens.

It can be terrifying. It can also be enlightening.

Hurdling through the void, we just may learn to fly.

An excerpt from Warriors of the Heart by Danaan Perry

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