Detox, Day 1

So, I'm doing this thing called the Master Cleanse. It's basically a detox program. I had a reaction to a medication and some of the symptoms are really sticking with me, so (with my doctor being fully aware and supportive) I am trying this.

What it is, is, once a day I drink a litre of salt water. A litre is a LOT when it comes to something gross, lol! The salt water has a ... ahem... a cleansing effect, shall we say. Other than that, all I consume is this interesting "lemonade" stuff. Its 8 ounces water, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, and a bit of cayenne pepper. I'm supposed to have 6 servings of that a day. And as much plain water as I want. And that's it. For a minimum of 3 days. Note: I have purposely started on a day when I have nothing scheduled for 4 days.
After the initial "lemonade" only part I will do a day or two adding home-made broths and vegetable juices, then purees and smoothies, and then regular foods. except, by "regular" food, I mean no allergens, nothing processed or otherwise un-fooded. Just ... food. Fresh legumes and vegetables and fruits and grains, prepared by actual people... by me, even!

Today is day one.  I'm going to need a lot more lemons! Squeezed by hand, one lemon only yields about 4 tablespoons of juice, it seems. That's one lemon per two servings of drink... 3 lemons a day! I bought 4 or 5, so I'll be heading to store later today, or maybe tomorrow.

3:30pm
So far I'm not all that hungry. The maple syrup is there to keep the blood sugar up (the lemon and cayenne are detoxifiers), and it is doing it's job. I'm not at all shaky or headachey. Of course, it's only 3:30pm... we'll see how I'm feeling later.

5:30pm
I'm having some rpetty impressive cravings, but I don't think I'm actually hungry. Mostly, I want pizza. Like, horrible delivered Domino's pizza. I read online, though, the difference between hunger and a craving: if you imagine yourself sitting down to a large green salad and that sounds good, you are probably hungry. If only the thing you are dreaming about eating (or a similar substitute) sounds good, it's a craving. So yeah... this is a craving. Apparently you crave the things you are detoxing, because your body thinks "ack, I need me some more of this!" So I guess I am currently detoxing salt and fat and gluten and dairy-ness. Be gone, bad stuff! It helps with the craving if I remember that a craving means I am getting rid of stuff that's bad for me.

10:00pm
I've only managed to get down 5 of my 6 servings of the lemonade stuff, but oh well. Still not really hungry, but I did get a bit of a headache a little while ago. I added extra maple syrup to my last drink, though, and that's taken care of the headache. OK, I'm a little hungry.... but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. One day down!

Looking For Something You Already Have?

A boat docked in a tiny Greek fishing village. A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

"Not very long." they answered in unison.

"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"

The fishermen explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children, and take siestas with our wives. In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. We have a full life."

The tourist interrupted: "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?"

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can
then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can
then leave this little village and move to Athens, Paris, Rom, or even Copenhagen! From
there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?"

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years." replied the tourist.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting, " answered the tourist, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the fishermen.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

"With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now. So what's the point wasting twenty-five years?" asked the Greeks.

It Really Is This Simple.

Great Things, Part 5 (I Think)

I'm sick. Been sick a while. Thought I was getting better, but it escalated in the wee hours of this morning. I'm hoping that means it's on its way out, but meanwhile I'm kinda down about missing some stuff I had planned (have a great first t-ball practice, lil J!). So I am listing some more great things to lift my mood.

www.mylifeisaverage.com

Birds singing in the sunshine outside

Bloo monsters

Old TV shows I used to love, that are now on DVD (even if now some of them are pretty cheesy!)

Bonus points if you can name these shows!

Haha, this TV shows one was really fun.

Who Needs Bones?

Bones as in the body part, not as in the TV show. Although I did decide to stop watching the TV show a few days ago. I just don't need icky dead bodies on my screen, no matter how amusing the Booth/Brennan relationship or squintiness of the squints is. But anyway....

I had a really interesting dream the other night.

It seemed to start kind of in the middle of the story. I was standing... somewhere. With... someone. Or maybe a few someones. I know it was people I am very close to, so probably my brother, his wife, and a particular friend who now lives in Atlanta. That's my guess, anyway. So I'm standing there and its kind of foggy. I can really only see the other person(s) from the waist down. In my hand is a plain white, rimmed dinner plate. and on the plate are perfectly clean bits of bone, varying from 2 to 4 or so inches. I told the person(s), "I know this is really weird, but I think these bones are mine." I went on to demonstrate how one of the bones looked very much like a spine, and that I was "squishy" at the top of my back/bottom of my neck. It felt like my spine there was missing. I was still fully functional, though. I didn't seem to be impaired in any way from the loss of these bits of bone. In fact, I wasn't even worried in the dream. I was puzzled, and a bit confused, but not anxious or scared at all. The people I was talking to didn't seem very concerned either. So as we're standing around looking at my plate-o-bones, another bone suddenly appears on it. This bone is a bit longer than the rest, a good 6 or maybe 7 inches. For whatever reason, it is immediately clear that it is a bone from a lower arm. I poke at my left forearm and sure enough, I am "squishy" there now. The squishiness feels kind of relaxing... loose like right after a massage or something. There was no pain when the bone left my arm and appeared on the plate. In fact, I didn't feel or notice a thing. I had to check my arm to be sure it was even my bone that had appeared.

That's as much as I remember of the dream. Note: I very rarely remember my dreams, so when I do, I believe its a dream I am especially meant to take something from.
My interpretation of the dream so far is that it's about letting go of things. Taking these hard/rigid things out of me that seem so darn important, even a part of my basic structure (like bones). They seem necessary but, in reality, once they are gone, I am fine. Maybe even better than before!

What do you think? Any ideas about this dream, did it bring up any thoughts or interpretations for you?

How Do We Overlook This?

O SON OF MAN! Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.

O SON OF UTTERANCE! Thou art My stronghold; enter therein that thou mayest abide in safety. My love is in thee, know it, that thou mayest find Me near unto thee.

O SON OF BEING! With the hands of power I made thee and with the fingers of strength I created thee; and within thee have I placed the essence of My light.

Do you not see that everyone has Light in them? Do you not see that you are a part of everyone?

We all have faults. You do, I do. But my God, we all have astonishing glories! Why do we insist on seeing the tiny gray specks of the faults against the massively shining Light?