When life gives you snow....

We had a huge snow storm just a couple of days ago. I woke up to a snow covered view outside my window. It continued to snow all day long. And we couldn't leave the house as the snow was just too deep for our little car.

I think in my SAD (Standard American Diet) days had we run out of bread or an animal product like milk there might have been panic.

Oh no, there's no milk, there's no bread, whatever will do? I can just imagine being the thought of concern.

Even though the family is not totally vegetarian like myself, they are accustomed to having fruit meals and many vegetarian meals, that running out of something like that is no big deal. In fact, creativity occurs at a higher rate when there is a limited selection of food in the house.

My son put a large bowl outside and collected some fresh snow. We had some great snow cones with strawberry sauce. Made me think of the saying - "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"... so when life gave us snow, we made snow cones!

The next day it was 68 degrees F again and most of it melted off. The kids had a blast sledding and making snow people on the rooftop.

The moral of all this is, don't only make the best of what you have, but have fun with it. I think people often feel like they are "settling"with what they have been "given". We create our own environment, really, so have a blast and enjoy life, whether you've been given lemons or snow.

A life of abundance is possible in any circumstance. Who is to say a family living on the street feels any less abundant than a family living in a Bel Air mansion?

It is all in the perception of how fulfilled and thankful you are, not what you've been given.

Here's the best fruit smoothie ever!!!


And the easiest to make.


I make enough for my family of 5.


Sometimes I make a whole quart for myself, so I'll double the recipe. Then everyone's glasses get filled all the way.

Sometimes I will add a handful of greens like parsley, spinach, or baby greens.

I started to get burnt out on the green smoothies, so I've been doing lots of fruit lately.

Fruit Smoothie

1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
4 ripe bananas
1 bag frozen strawberries
2 cups frozen mango

Blend. If you don't have a high speed blender, partially thaw the frozen fruits before blending, so you don't burn your blender out!

Fear!

Going into unchartered territory is always scary. You hear about how wonderful it is, but since you have never tried it yourself, there is a fear of leaving your comfortable existence even though the path ahead will only get better.

Why is this so? I believe that most of us are not risk takers, but dreamers. And it is so much easier to dream in our comfortable places without having to make an effort to make our dreams come true.

We may be afraid that we will fail, and then what do we do? How do we explain to others close to us who see us fail?

But most of all, I believe that we really fear succeeding, more than failing. When do we ever NOT fail? Most of our failures have brought us to a better place, because we've bettered ourselves from the learning experience.

Yet succeeding. Succeeding can be scary, because what will be expected of us when we are so much bigger and better? We will be out of our comfort zones of "perpetual failure". Or we do not want to appear better than others because it will make us appear un-humble.

The good news is, you are worthy of success and what your heart desires. There is no 'elite' who deserve anything more than you do. Instead of figuring out why you should feel this way, it is better to persue what you want. Because in the time it takes to learn that you are worthy, you can already be taking your first steps to acquire it.

Taking the first steps up makes success not seem so scary. Push through the mental block that is stopping you from moving ahead. Just push it out of the way, and it will make your future steps to succeeding so much easier. There is no trick to doing it, except to start.

Take the first step now.

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“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson

Where is the proof? Where are those studies? I need scientific evidence!

These are questions and demands often asked by folks who are usually hesitant to give up their favorite foods.

Perhaps the drive isn't hard enough to just put it into gear and go.

Or perhaps there is too much conventional medicine in a person's past to trust something so basic.

But many times it's people who are "hemming and hawing" actually using it as an excuse not to start down the raw food path.

Besides the many personal testimonies of healing on raw food, there are plenty of individual studies and experiments here and there that will appear on the news, a medical journal or on a website.

Here are some sites, info and studies about the benefits of a raw food diet.

http://www.iowasource.com/food/lenkastudy_0806.html


http://rawveganproof.blogspot.com/