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Happy day everyone, n welcome to the beginning of the long weekend

August is a bountiful month for the majority of us, natures gifts are abundant in so many areas, we really  have lotts of fresh variety to choose from. All of the turns of the seasons offer us much, its great to be so filled with such choice and tasty sensations changing just as we get used to flavors. I have been traveling the west coast of Canada of recent and am really sucking up the berries n cherries n greens right from the earth, its been great. Wild foraging is a great way to get some extremely nutrient dense food for a great deal, free. Search your area, ask others and go pick the freshest of the fresh offerings you can get. We are abundant in berries greens n other edible good if we just learn more. So far this year I have foraged wild blueberries, raspberries, cherries, apricots, blackberries, Saskatoon berries, fire weed, cows parsnip, dandelion, salmon berries, mulberries, gooseberries oh my its been great. Its the best when you don’t need worry about any potential sprays and can eat at peak ripeness right off the plant. Tomatoes too n fresh greens anyone can grow indoors, or in your back yard. I currently have 4 varieties of tomatoes growing at home in Saskatoon, travels are fun, but I cant wait to get home.

While it can be the easiest time to stay raw in the summer with such variety, we learn the most from getting through the times that aren’t as easy, sounds familiar don’t it . Every time we come to trouble and choose the higher road, serving our higher self, seeing and dismissing negative thought/action, we strengthen our positive bonds of choice. Similarly every time we allow ourselves to slip, making a excuse (we know in our own hearts when this is true) or thinking it doesn’t matter, we are in fact cheating ourselves and draining strength from our being. While it is important to be realistic and travel the road that creates the least stress possible (thinking from past experience, taking how it will effect the present, near future and longer term), we all need tread that line according to our specific situation, needs and place on our own path.

Most of us need to learn the same lessons a few times, I know I did, be easy and know that a time will come were you are simply making a choice. I used to feel compelled by negative action and thought, over stressing myself, under eating total calories, eating too much of certain fatty or salty foods, all with time these became non issues. One of the biggest lessons I had to learn a few times was that “cheating” never made me feel better, in fact it always made me feel worse, at least in one respect, more often in many. When the cards I was dealt seemed too  unfair to deal with I would reach for my sedative of choice (beer high fat raw or fatty cooked foods) after a time this became more stressful than my perceived “bad hand”. Sure it took some time but seeing this and feeling it first hand made my past and present positive choices easy ones to make.

Life is going to stare you in the face at times, what will you do under that gaze, what will the bright light, or alternately the shadow of negativitydrive you to exhibiting? Will you dwell, whimper and cry, as we all do at times, or will you stand up and face the present, knowing it too will pass and blast through it with postive choice rising yourself higher? Each choice gives power to the next, lets stack our cards together and see the “game” in its entirety not in the idividual ”hands” :)

I want to share on of my in season favorite recipes

Sweet Peach Heirloom Tomato soup

Dice one or two heirloom or Cherry tomatoes and put in a bowl (enough to fill 2/3 of your chosen bowl)

place equal amounts sweet ripe juicy peach and heirloom tomatoes in a blender or food processor.

blend.

pour “broth” over diced tomatoes, delicious.

for variation belend or chop in some herb, mango/lime, or red pepper.

recipe inspired by Dr Doug Graham

hope you enjoy!!

Have a great weekend! and as always

enjoy

peacelovenseasonalfruit ck

Being in the moment, hmm..

oh no what am I going to do about dinner, oh I got to do this later, I hope I didnt forget anything, oh what if I messed this up… hmmm sound familiar? I know I recognize that thinking, it seems we are almost encouraged or funneled into thinking outside of the current moment, filled with worries, responsibilities, real and imagined obligations and concerns. The funny thing is when we find ourself in the moment we can handle nearly anything, the worry was for naught. I truly think that the thought or worry of future events is more a obstacle than the actually realities we are dealing with. We build walls, worries, fears, excuses why we cant do things and charge them with emotion. When we get near to our “obligation” “expectation” or “situation”  we are hesitant to, we feel this charge we put on it and get nervous. Everything is easier without expectation, just flowing and letting the moment take you were it will. Its funny our happiness often is based on outcomes we cant control.  We can get a idea of how it “should” be in our head and find ourselves worked up when it doesn’t go how we thought.

I love murfeys law,  ”anything that can go wrong usually will”, haha, at least what we perceive as wrong ahha. I find it helps alott finding life’s turns and challenges funny and unsurprising, that way we are apt to learn so much more from every situation as all is for our potential benefit. After all its not the circumstances that determine our happiness but how we react to them. Stress about the future, or focus on what we want, not what we get in this world only contributes to cultivating negativity, sadness, and hinders personal growth and lasting happiness. The wisest of the wise always are happy, as they find and focus on the flowers in the thorns, or are mindful at all times of the blessing they have received even in the side steps. How would life really be without the hardships, lessons and perceived difficulties? Do you really think you would be thankful of the ease and bliss that can become you in the other moments? What if you saw them all as blessings and opportunities to grow, a constant reminder maybe?

The other day on a raw health seminar I heard this quote by Gandhi ” Happiness is when what you think, what you do, and what you say, are in harmony.” How true this rings for me, especially in relation to my raw journey. In my early years I had discord with each in time, a separation of desire, need, and wants you could say. I knew intellectually what I belived, but it took time for my body, and then emotional and spiritual self to catch up, im sure I still am:). When the going got tough I found old patterns come up, mentally stressing myself by focusing on what I then thought “I couldn’t have”. Physically stressing myself with a inadequate way of doing the raw diet, then when I slipped chastising myself to the point of depression. Looking back it seems staying raw was more important to me than my happiness which can be especially hard when you arent loaded with the right information nor experience. While we can learn much from books, experience of self and others first hand experience can mean the difference between ease and hardship.

I find most people on the path to living raw wish to cultivate wider compassion, greater love of self, others, and better health of mind and body and spirit. It is poignant to always remeber to point that compassion, understanding, and patience at ourselves first. I feel comfort in knowing that I can have anything I want at any time, but prefer and indeed know I deserve the best every time. No longer would I wish to put stress on myself by focusing on that which doesn’t serve me, but instead focus on the bounty of love I have around me. While It took time, I now feel completely at easy with my thoughts, actions, and words. Im most definatly not perfect, nor claim monkish clarity, but am very happy with where and who I am. Appreciate where you are now, take the time to see the lesson in the difficult times. It took us all time to get where we are n it will take time to get where we wish to go. It is more about direction than speed, move at the pace that suits your highest needs. Don’t loose sight of the present, as life’s mysteries and lessons are enriched in every moment. The eternal now is the only reality, the more we cultivate happiness love and compassion in our own mind in the present, the better chance we have of being bliss as we float down the river of life.

I hope your wearing a smile as always enjoy

peacelovenseasonalfruit ck

I feel truly blessed and thankful to have been asked to do these two interviews.

this one came in a simpler form in sbc skateboarding magasine, but the full interview and sk8 pics are here on their website, thanks Owen

http://sbcskateboard.com/features?news_id=1146&uniqid

the second was for my good friend food Todd’s blog, www.spicymayo.com and is found here, thanks Todd

http://spicymayo.ca/?p=382=1146&uniqid

hope you all enjoy

peacelovenseasonalfruit ck

Happy Canada Day Everyone!

As today suggests, its a time of Celebration and being Thankful for what we have!!! We are so truly blessed to live where we do and have the opportunities we have. High quality of life, a safe environment, freedom of travel, abundant nutritious food choices, family, friends, so many personal freedoms, really unlimited potential and so much more, we are so fortunate. Of course we dont need a special day to celebrate, or feel thankful, this is one of the cornerstones of true happyness and in turn true health. Every day is a new day to be thankful and truly be grateful for our many blessings. Everything is connected, and everything is related to each other. That goes within your being, your thoughts, actions, and words, and also within the external we see around us. Its helpful to understand that our thoughts, or what we put our focus on dictates our being or level of happiness and ease in this world. When we come from a place of being grateful, and feeling blessed, focusing on all that we have to be thankful for, and the truth that others are in reality the same as us, we are filed with love, compassion, and light. Such a shift can seem strange at first, but not unlike any change, you have to try it on for a while before you feel at home within it.

Think about it, some foods requrie a few tries, or some time to allow your body to better recognise and enjoy (durian seems to fit this), some exersises, or clothing, and indeed thoughts fit this same pattern. We get accustomed to what we do the majority of the time. They say it takes 20-30 days to make any new pattern a habit. This is such a blessing in itself, we can break and make new habits so easily when our focus is on the benifits we will and indeed are gaining day by day. Would you rather sit in a habit or attitude that doesn’t serve you indefinitely, or for a short while initiate and try on change, possibly bearing some momentary discomfort, and become what you know serves your highest self? Wether its a new exercise routine, changing our eating habits, improving our relationships or communication, slowing down to breathe and see the beauty all around us, or a often overlooked changing of our mental self image and inner talk about ourselves and our surroundings, all it takes is desire and to simply do it. Even when it feels different funny or silly at first, it only takes time, patience with yourself, and persistence until you will become your desires and feel at ease in your new self. Our world is literally shaped by our thoughts, we decide what’s possible and impossible within our own minds, its true we create so much more of our reality than we are aware of.

I recently listened to a beautiful quote from Gandhi “Happiness is when what you think, what you do, and what you say, are in harmony.” I find this so poignant and eye opening. As all is connected, internal harmony is truly a large precursor to happiness. There is so much external in this world we cannot control, why not shift our attention to ourselves work with what we can. When we realize that our happiness, addictions, habits, and state of being depends not on what happens to us, but how we react to what happens to us, we become self empowered by choice. Everything is choice, we stand to benefit from everything this world gives us. I believe  we are here in fact to experience, learn, feel, and most of all help others and in turn grow in love and compassion. I have often found ease in my own mantra, “seek comfort in everything”, I now love change where I used to be resistant, change is the only constant, and through change we grow. Giving into the flow, being grateful by seeing the positive and potential to learn in everyt situation can indeed be life altering and illuminating. To growth

Hope you all have a great day and feel and find reason to celebrate and be thankful for every day as the present it is

always enjoy

peacelovenseasonalfruit ck