I See Myself in Other People

I see myself in other people and sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's not.

A long time ago I really thought that people were all like me so if they did stuff I didn't like I thought they were doing it on purpose to annoy or hurt me.  That's very immature and borderline crazy I later learned.

Now that part of recovery is to share with other people my experience with using the principles of the 12 steps in my life, I still identify with the people I share with.  I remember very well why and how I began to change how I thought and how I lived - I was hopelessly miserable and willing to do anything to get out of the emotional pain I was in.  I forget that I'm somewhat wimpy and can't really take a lot of pain.  I have a very low tolerance for it. 

So I think, "Why is this person so resistant to changing their point of view and doing things differently?"  I forget that although I imagine I would be living in hell in their circumstances, they might be doing okay and their complaining might just be their way of making conversation. 

I actually consider myself lucky to be able to identify with other people - that's the good part of seeing myself in others.  Maybe I'm also lucky that I have such a low tolerance for pain because I've been motivated to make a whole lot of changes that have led me to the beautiful life I have now. 

Nevertheless, I sometimes have outbursts of amazement and say stuff like, "Oh my God!  You must really be suffering!!  Here let me tell you all about the ways I got out of suffering like that."  Sometimes that's well received but a lot of times it's not.  People think I'm criticizing them, the poor babies. 

So, I just write posts like this and feel like I've done my duty to pass on what I've learned.

Here are a couple of things I've tried to give away recently that came back to bite me:  If someone is taking advantage of me, I have choices.  If I'm just complaining about it, I'm just as much at fault as the other person.  I'm really creating my own misery.  I have learned to do what I want, to give what I want, and if I stop wanting to give, I stop giving. 

Also, if the people in my life act ugly to me or even just in my presence, I can go somewhere else.  I have 100% of the control of how I'm treated by other people (which might partly explain why I've been married three times).

Of course, I have to pay attention to my own behavior too so that I don't take advantage of others and don't act ugly to them or in their presence.  I've also learned if I do that, I attract what I put out there.

Election Season - How to Promote Civility and Reason

I'm in the process of trying to decide how I want to handle the election season.  Last time I chose to just watch one television program that covered politics and then didn't vote for the first time in my life.  Where I live I'm so outnumbered that it doesn't really matter if I vote or not.  I was feeling physically not so good and just didn't bother.

This time I found myself dreading all the mud-slinging and hate and shaming on Facebook, email, and television.  Since I'm feeling a lot better physically I decided that to the best of my ability I will try to put my principles into election season.

For starters I'm going to change parties for the purpose of voting so that my vote does have impact in the primaries.  I'm going to look for candidates with the most civility and reason and truthfulness.  Maybe there won't be any with those characteristics but I'll find the ones that comes closest. 

I'm going to write letters to candidates asking them for clear positions on the things that matter to me and those that respond will get my vote even if I don't agree with them.

On social media I'm going to do my best to check out the truth of anything posted from either side of the fence and share what I find out. 

I'm going to promote solutions rather than point out problems.  I hope I can find candidates with solutions.  If not, I'm going to propose some to the candidates that seem to have their heads screwed on the straightest.

All this is going to take up some of my precious time.  However, I can't think of much that's more important at this stage of my life than being the best citizen I can be.

My New Mantra

I've decided that it's no longer necessary for me to be shocked and amazed when I hear about somebody doing something clearly nuts.  So my new mantra is, "People:  We be crazy!"

How is it possible that I either read about or hear about many, many utterly dysfunctional things that we do every day?  I would think that the majority of us are behaving in a fairly sane way most of the time.  Maybe we are, and that doesn't make the news. 

On the other hand, what I think is crazy is not necessarily the same as what everyone thinks is crazy. 

I think it's crazy for example, that when we try desperately to do everything to get everyone's approval (and some of us do this our whole lives), it never, ever works.  You'd think we'd notice this, but apparently we don't.

You'd think that by now we would have noticed that getting more and more stuff absolutely never, ever makes us happy.  After we've shown off our new stuff for a little while, we're back to square one wanting some more stuff.  Even considering the constant brainwashing of advertising, it looks like we would start seeing through it and turn our attention some place else - some place that would actually make us happy.

There's a huge amount of very reliable information about what will create a healthy body.  But either we don't believe it or we don't want to believe it.  Fresh fruit and vegetables.  Good protein.  Exercise and decreased stress.  Instead we take a lot of pills and gripe.  We're living longer but we're sicker. 

There's also an enormous amount of reliable information about how to parent, but it seems to me that most people just assume they already know how to do it.  Then we just do what our parents did without even thinking about it.  Hmmmm.  If we really wanted to create a better world, we'd be trying to find out how to parent so that our kids could grow up to be somewhat less dysfunctional.  I'm going to guess that if you chose ten people at random and had them explain what they thought a parent should do, all of them would have a different idea and be adamant that everyone but them was wrong.

Basic personal finance seems to be a mystery to a lot of us.  Things like paying for necessities before other things, saving for emergencies, how to earn more and spend less...Not a lot of us following these basics.

Then there's personal relations...Many of us seem to think that being critical, complaining incessantly, making demands on others, and trying to get others to be like we think they should be are the ways to have enjoyable relationships.  And, of course, those ways of being with people are destructive and cause nothing but trouble.

Health, relationships with others, basic finance and knowledge of how to be peaceful seem to be critical to our well-being.  But we seem to be ignoring them.
What's up with that?  People:  we be crazy.

My Crappy Nervous System

I keep learning new stuff.  Scientists are learning more about how our brains and nervous systems work every year and I'm fascinated.  Examples:  Our DNA changes in response to our experiences and then can be inherited by our children.  Our brains and nervous systems change in response to our experiences also. 

Generational trauma is passed down through the generations - so populations like our native Americans and African Americans whose ancestors lived in severe trauma pass down damaged nervous systems.

I'm pretty convinced that I was born with a damaged nervous system.  I think a whole lot of other people are too.  I think that we experience more stressful emotions than "normal" people because our brains don't work right.  BUT we think the feelings we're having are caused by what's happening around us rather than our faulty brains.  So we get more upset and try to figure out how to change the people and circumstances around us.  It never, ever works but we don't notice that.  We just keep trying, getting ever more upset. 

Of course, we are terribly annoying people because the people around us are getting blamed for our upsets and they have no idea what we're talking about.  Finally, they just distance themselves from us or ignore us because - what else would a sane person do?!  And then we used that rejection as an explanation for some of our upsets!

It's a painful merry-go-round that digs itself ever more deeply downward.  We can live a long life in misery unless the stress causes us to contract fatal diseases that cause death before our time.  Or we can get lucky and learn that we have faulty brains and learn how to manage with our disability.

The good news is that the beginning of a better life begins with just finding out we have crappy nervous systems.  It's turns our whole world view upside down.  We stop being intensely critical of everything around us and turn our attention to healing ourselves.

The scientists are learning many, many ways of re-wiring our brains and nervous systems.  A couple of ways that are consistently helpful are meditation and yoga.  I guess those ancient wise people that invented meditation and yoga without having any scientific evidence that they would work were incredibly lucky.  Modern brain scans have been showing changes in the brain in meditators and yoga practitioners for a long time now.  Oddly, not many people seem to be paying attention.

"Mindfulness" of all kinds seems to help messed up brains and calm painful emotions.  I've experienced some mammoth change in my day-to-day life - I'm pretty peaceful.  I sleep better.  I'm less challenged by trying to get along with other people.  I'm more purposeful with my time.

Any way to slow down and pay attention, let go of my beliefs about the negative in life, and choose my purpose for each day will make for a beautiful life instead of the swirling upset I used to live in.

Productivity and Busyness don't make me a Good Person

For most of my adult life I worked twelve to sixteen hours a day.  Some of it was my job. The rest was upkeep on my home and yard, child care, and personal care.  Even when I was supposed to be having fun I was mentally worrying about whether I was doing it right and trying harder and harder to do it right.

I never stopped to think about why I was doing it.  I just grew up believing that constant effort and productivity were what "good" people do.  You know, "Idle hands are the devil's work" and stuff like that.  Just sitting around, or wandering around or whatever were the marks of a person with no ethics.

Well, I have absolutely nothing to show for all that effort.  I think almost all if that time and energy spent were a waste except for the effort I put in to being a parent.  The rest - blaah.

Now I'm only willing to put a certain amount of effort into keeping myself as healthy and socially acceptable as I can without overdoing it.  I like a clean and beautiful environment so I'm willing to put some effort into that.  But I've made it my business to find ways to simplify all of that into a meditative practice that wastes no movement or time. 

I've watched a bunch of Rachel Ray's "30 Minute Meals" and she wastes not a moment or a movement.  I've studied how to do home care in the same fashion.  I'm still working on getting personal care into a tiny amount of time, but I'll figure it out.  I'm not very attached to how I look so it's easier for me than it might be if I was trying to look fabulous - socially acceptable is all my goal consists of.  I don't want people to be disturbed by my appearance!

By eliminating as much as I can of the unnecessary, I've got time to meditate, pray, read, walk, exercise and write.  I also spend time with friends and family - a lot of time, really.  I also listen to music.  When I can I teach classes on journaling, recovery, basic finance, and "Zen" housekeeping because I believe it's my responsibility to pass on what I've learned.

Last year I got sick and in order to recover I trimmed back on movies and a lot of other entertainment stuff.  I haven't seen a movie in over a year, I haven't been to a concert in over a year.  I don't miss the movies but I do miss the concerts.  I still visit art galleries and museums and go for walks in gardens.  I've lost interest in traveling also. That's about it for my life.  And it's a beautiful, peaceful life that delights me.

The Bible and Misunderstandings

It worries me a lot when religious people quote the Bible as instructions for judging people.  Over the years I've heard verses quoted (usually from the Old Testament) that justified slavery and the inherent "less-than" status of African Americans (the Curse of Ham), justification of putting people to death who had sex in other ways than the mainstream, and other very scary things.

I was taught at the church I attended that the Old Testament was just that - old- and that the New Testament was what we should pay attention to.  That would pretty much get rid of the instructions not to eat pork, put people to death who had sex outside marriage, put people to death who were attracted to their own sex, and to treat people of different races as less than.  I don't want to believe in a God that doesn't love His/Her own creations. 

I think after observing all these years of my life, that we humans like to judge others so that we feel better about ourselves.  (I include myself in this, by the way.  I'm always working to lose this negative trait, though.) We know we're not at all perfect but we don't like to face that.  So we cut others down.  What a crappy way to live that is. 

When Is Being Sensitive Good and When Is It Not?

I was and still am in some ways what I would call a sensitive person.  My sense of hearing, smell, touch and taste were all very sharp and I am grateful that it seems to me that my senses still are pretty sharp.  But I was also sensitive emotionally - if I was criticized I pretty much fell into despair.  This is one I still struggle with.

Over time I noticed that people in general are all sensitive in some ways and that this trait is not always helpful to our well-being.  I was troubled by all kinds of sounds because they were grating or too loud.  Certain kinds of odors felt hurtful and not just bad ones - those that I thought were too strong.  I especially had difficulty with hot weather.  I had trouble tolerating certain fabrics on my skin.  I spent a lot of time trying to arrange my environment so I would be physically comfortable.

I think I was lucky in that when I was in my late 30s I read a book that suggested using so much of my time and effort trying to arrange my environment to suit my sensitivities was pretty much a waste of time.  It's not actually possible to get everything around me to suit me.  Also, I think I was a terribly annoying person because I was always griping about something not being right.  I came in contact with other people who mirrored me and I saw how miserable they were if they couldn't get things right and how miserable they were making the people around them.

The book said that it was actually much more sensible to learn to accept rather than bitch, moan and try to control.  Of course, there are things that I need to do for my safety - sitting next to loud speakers wasn't good for my hearing, standing next to a fire wasn't just too hot - I also might get burned, and so on. 

But the book said I could just relax into whatever was irritating me and really increase my awareness of it and appreciate it.  One day I was standing on the corner downtown and a guy was using a jack hammer a few feet from me.  I immediately stiffened and mentally griped.  Then I remembered what I had learned and did my best to relax into the sound.  For the first time I noticed that sound was a vibration that I could feel in my bones and that it was actually a delightful experience in many ways.  I was convinced that acceptance was the answer.

Emotional sensitivity was another thing.  I have worked on this one for years.  I have learned that other people's opinions are just that - opinions rather than fact.  My husband used to say, "If I call you a whore, does that make you one?"  A little crude perhaps but definitely clear.  The answer is no.  It does not make me one.  I am an imperfect being with innate goodness who makes mistakes and cleans them up as I can.  No need to try to protect myself from other people's opinions.  I've noticed that my own opinions of others are usually (almost always) a reflection of my opinions of myself. 

Emotional sensitivity also helps me be sensitive to other people's emotions. That's a good thing.  However, taken too far, I become a slave to wanting to never hurt anyone's feelings - which is impossible no matter how hard I try.

I think all these sensitivities were given to us as tools to care for ourselves.  Our senses protect us from danger but we're not using them sensibly when we gripe about stuff in our environment that's not actually hurting us.  Our desire to be accepted and loved by others is healthy.  We are social creatures and need each other.  But being devastated by someone else's opinion is going way too far.  It's not in anyway helpful.

So, like a lot of other things, sensitivity is good when it's used in a way that is helpful

Being responsible for myself

One of the first things I realized when my mentors started to teach me how to recover was that they were telling me in a kindly way that it was high time for me to grow up and learn to be responsible for myself.  Part of me wanted to argue that I was already grown up, but I really knew it wasn't true.

So, although I've been in recovery for over 30 years, I'm still learning to be a responsible adult.  I've made a lot of progress, of course.  On the other hand I worry about stuff like violence against women.  It's never been lost on me that most men are a whole lot stronger than most women and that most of us females are easy targets for bad guys or even just drunk guys, or guys with uncontrolled tempers, etc. 

I didn't worry about myself much when I was younger because I had such a terrible temper that if any guy would have messed with me, I felt confident that I could effectively fight back.  I did deplore the very real fact that quite a lot of women did experience physical violence from men. I thought the solution was to get men to quit it.  The trouble with that solution was that it wasn't working.

My teachers in recovery have taught me over and over that solutions will usually come from me no matter what the problem.  Occasionally I would think about taking a class in self-defense, but that idea was very low on my priority list.

I've noticed in the past few years that I've definitely lost confidence in being able to defend myself and as a result I've stopped shopping after dark, getting gas after dark, and am even a little nervous when I pull my car into the garage at night. 

Recently there was a rapist breaking into houses in my neighborhood, and I got alarms and braces for all my outside doors.  But  taking that action brought my attention to how much I was restricting my life because I felt so vulnerable. 

So...thanks to Google, I found a class on self-defense for women and went to it yesterday.  It was amazing.  I got exactly what I had hoped for - ways to avoid trouble, ways to fend off trouble and ways to fight if those other strategies don't work.  It's another way of being a grown up and taking responsibility for myself.

So now I want to start a trend so that almost all women have had self-defense training.  I'm thinking it might make a big change in the world if the "bad guys" knew that almost any woman they tried to target would probably make them regret it.

20 Things I Wish Someone Had Taught Me When I Was a Kid

There's so much to know to have a happy life.  And at my advanced age I've noticed that a whole lot of us never got the instructions.  In fact we were taught a bunch of stuff that isn't true.

I was taught:  Do what you're told, get good grades, have the right kind of friends (whatever that is - probably those that do what they're told, get good grades and whose families are of the same social class as yours).

I guess those instructions were not terrible.  However, they were incomplete. Scarily incomplete.  Plus in a lot of ways wrong.

I heard somewhere that someone asked Siri (the voice on iphones) to say something wise.  She said, "Eat your vegetables, get plenty of sleep and be kind to everyone."  Those three instructions seem a lot more useful to me.

So here are 20 things I wish I had been taught before I had to act like an adult:

*Keep track of your income and outgo.  If you were keeping books for someone else, you would do it so aren't you as important?  Spend and earn according to your values, your well-being and your enjoyment. 

*Have an emergency fund so that your basic needs would be covered if you didn't have an income for six months.

*Plan for retirement.  Put a little bit aside consistently.

*Don't have any debt.  Having no debt means you have enormous freedom.  No debt means no debt.  No car payment.  No house payment.  No debt.

*Keep in mind that handling money boils down to two things:  Earn enough to cover your needs and some of your wants and spend less if times are tight.  Pay for necessities before you spend for stuff you want.

*Pay close attention to your physical well-being.  It will pay off now and later.  For starters - eat a bunch of brightly colored vegetables and fruit plus high quality low-fat protein.  Get plenty of sleep.

*Keep your teeth and your body clean.  This pays off now and later too. 

*Keep your back straight and your muscles strong.  Get your heart rate up so your heart muscle will be strong.

*Learn how to dress and present yourself in a way that you enjoy and that draws people to you rather than pushing them away.

*Develop the skill of mindfulness.  Study it.  Practice it.  Be aware of your thoughts, emotions, and behavior.  Be aware without judging yourself.  Just notice.  Notice everything around you.

*Be aware of what you really want for your life.  Be aware of whether your actions every day are steps toward the life you want.

*How other people treat you has a lot to do with your quality of life.  You can teach them how to treat you by deciding how you want them to treat you and encouraging them to do that.  Learn how to do this.  Get really good at it.  If they don't treat you well, and you've tried to teach them, go away from them and stay away.

*Treat other people with kindness; even when they're obnoxious.  Don't be afraid to do this.  Learn how and then practice, practice, practice.  The more kindnesses you do for other people, the happier you'll be. 

*Don't criticize - yourself or anybody else.  It doesn't work.

*Be aware of your environment at home and at work.  Make both nurturing and enjoyable.

*Keep everything simple - personal care, care of your environment, your activities.  Learn how to do this and practice, practice, practice.

*When someone is paying you to do something, be sure you understand what they want you to do, and then do it to the best of your ability.  Do a little bit more than they actually ask you to do.  (If what they ask you to do is illegal or unethical, get another job.)

*Romance and sexuality are incredibly complicated.  Mother Nature is driving us to make babies.  It doesn't actually have much to do with love and long term partnership.  Learn all you can.  Expect good treatment; give good treatment.  Being "in love" and/or being sexually attracted doesn't mean you've found "the one."  You are just being led by Mother Nature to make babies.

*Decide if you want to be a parent.  Not everyone has to be a parent.  If the answer is no, there are plenty of ways to keep it from happening.  If you do want to, be sure you learn how to be a parent.  We're not born knowing how.  How our parents parented us is not always the best model.

*Find what feeds you spiritually.  This is the most important thing you can do to have a happy life.  Learn all you can.  Practice, practice, practice.

Housecleaning without Stress Part 1 - changing your mindset

For those of us who have the responsibility for home care, the weight of it sometimes can feel crushing. Carrying around a crushing weight definitely causes a person's quality of life to stay at a low point on the scale. 

Either I worked like a dog for hours on end in order to get my house clean or I dodged the whole chore until I could hardly stand to live in my house!

I've often wondered why we still haven't solved this huge problem that wearies women/housekeepers all over the world.  Of course, I've also wondered if all of us just accept the weight because we thinks it's what we're born to handle and that there's no escape.

I think I was definitely one of those that just thought I was doomed to have a lower quality of life than other people because home care was my destiny.  Then in recovery I learned that problems have solutions and that maybe it wasn't my destiny to struggle.  I found out that the world is full of information about how to solve problems and the main barrier to solving them is not asking for help!

It turns out that professional housekeepers have figured out how to do a fabulous job in a tiny amount of time.  They do it in a meditative way, without wasting steps and movement, so that when they're finished they're not tired and are not stressed.

So...I took what those professionals have figured out and applied it to my own life.  Guess what?!  I no longer worry about home care.  Specific instructions in Parts 2 and 3.

How Unsolved Problems Can Ruin Our Lives

It took me a long time but after years and years I finally noticed that I had a long list of problems that I had never solved.  I complained a lot about them - to myself as well as other people. 

I often woke up in the morning worrying about them. 

Thoughts about them plagued me during the day. 

Guilt and regret kept my self-esteem from growing and kept me from going after my dreams. 

In fact, they were ruining my life, but I wasn't doing a thing to solve them.

My appearance and my health concerned me but I didn't know what to do about them.

My ability to carry out my responsibilities worried me.  I worried that I was just incompetent.

My problems with people disturbed me mightily.

Thanks to recovery, I actually followed suggestions and made a list of those life problems and asked for help in figuring them out and taking action to solve them.  I got the help I needed and I'm still working on some of them, having arrived at a place where patient improvement is good enough to keep me comfortable!

Prayer for Cleaning Up after Cooking and Eating

Dear God,

I was stuck with the dishes from the time I was seven and I was an incompetent dishwasher.  I never really finished and there were piles of dirty dishes in the sink, on the stove, on the cabinets and on the table.  I washed some of them every day but I never really learned how to do it and I never caught up.

Once I was an adult on my own, I continued to do clean up the way I had as a child, but eventually figured out stuff like soaking cooked on or dried on food, washing glasses first, etc.  But I always regarded it as a huge pain to have to do it.  Having a dishwasher only helped a little and my kitchen was always a mess.

So, now I try to clean up once a day, but I'm not very good at it.  I want to change my way of thinking and being.  I want to be present and grateful for the whole process of feeding myself, including the clean up. 

So, dear God, may I be at peace, present and grateful as I clean dishes and kitchen space whenever it's time.

Thank you,

Amen

Prayer for Preparing Food

Dear God,

I'm awfully lazy.  I spent most of my life cooking for other people.  It was an obligation.  It never even occurred to me to ask myself if I liked to cook or not.  I just did it.  Now that I only have myself to cook for I really don't know what to do with myself.  I actually would rather eat out for every meal.

The only problem with eating out at every meal is that I don't get nearly enough nutrition, I gain weight rapidly and it empties my pocketbook.  So I believe it's best that I prepare food for myself.

So, dear God, I ask you to help me willing to honor you and your creation - my body- by mindfully and gratefully and peacefully and cheerfully prepare the food for myself - to nurture and please myself for no other reason other than it's surely what you want.

May I be joyful in caring for your creation now and always.

Amen

Prayer for Grocery Shopping

Dear God,

I don't like going to the grocery store.  It seems like such a hard chore.  May I remember that gathering food is honoring your creation.  May I remember too that the huge and glorious mounds of delightful food in grocery stores is unusual in this world of lack.

I want to change my thinking so that I love the process of gathering nutrition for my body and pleasure for my senses.

I want to notice the other humans in the grocery store and remember to bless them.  Some of them may be like me and feel overburdened by the effort it takes to gather food for themselves and their family, so please help them remember their purpose as you help me remember mine.

May I not feel deprived as I pass up the refined and processed foods that are poison to my body even as they provide a false sense of pleasure.  May I look forward to providing my body with the beauty of eating delicious truly nutritious foods.

Thank you for your bounty, your power, and your guidance.

Amen

Prayer for the Grocery List

Dear God,

Please guide my thoughts and desires as I list the items to buy at the grocery store.  I hope you will help me remember to select the foods that will honor your creation and build my health and those I share food with.

I believe, dear God, that you want me to enjoy feeding myself and others so I am counting on you to help me choose nutrition that pleases as well as nurtures.

I want to always remember that you are the creator of both our bodies and the food that fuels our lives so that I will make a list that honors you.

I can't do this by myself.

Amen

Prayers and Ceremonies for Feeding Myself

I just 'googled' ceremonies and rituals for food and eating and nothing came up except descriptions of ways food is used in religious rituals.  Hmmm.  I was hoping for something that is used in some culture to honor food, the body and the company that is used with meal planning, shopping, preparation and consuming.  Of course, just because Google came up with nothing doesn't mean that there is nothing, but it does leave me to my own devices.  (I didn't forget about saying "Grace" but I was looking for more.)

Ever since I can remember I've struggled with food and eating.  I hated to eat when I was a kid.  Probably I was depressed.  When I started feeding myself and others as an adult, I felt a tremendous sense of responsibility and fear that I wasn't doing it well enough.  I over ate enough that I was somewhat over weight.  Once I started smoking, though, I exchanged overeating for smoking.  I realize I've never had a healthy relationship with food.

I had kids that were picky about food - some of them were extreme.  It was hard to feed them.  I struggled some more with what was right and what was wrong.  I never did figure it out.

For a short while after I inherited a little money from my dad, I solved my dilemma by just eating out most of the time.  Because I was a very heavy smoker I didn't gain weight.  Then I gained like crazy when I quit.  Then began the dieting phase of my life.  Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, various diets.  At one point I was at my goal weight in Weight Watchers but it lasted only as long as I worked an active job.

So...for the past several years I've been trying first one thing and then another, losing a few pounds and then gaining them back.  I've learned a few things about myself, though.  The problem is my lack of a spiritual connection with feeding myself.

The process is 1) planning what to eat  2)  Buying the food 3) preparing the food and 4) consuming the food.  So I am developing prayers and practices that remind me to honor the purpose of food --
 which is to care for myself, to call forth the Spirit of healing and the life force, and to be mindful of the blessing of having all the food I need when so many others on the planet are lacking what they need.