The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy. Take a moment to imagine the feelings that others around you may be experiencing. This may help generate more empathy the next time someone or something upsets you!
Have you ever had orange flavoured chocolate? I know that the combination may sounds a little strange at first, but trust me when I say that the bright, clean and crisp flavours of citrus really adds a special sparkle to the natural earthiness of chocolate.
These fudge squares are much easier to make than traditional fudge, and does not require a candy thermometer or precise temperatures. All you need to do is melt a little chocolate, blend a few other ingredients, mix and you’re good to go!
I know that the instructions tell you to wait until this glorious mixture is cooled and set before consuming, but if you are a little too impatient to wait for that, we will understand.
Orange Chocolate Fudge
Ingredients:
Directions:
1. Line 6×6 baking dish with parchment paper.
2. Place cocoa powder, salt, vanilla and cinnamon powder in a bowl and combine. Zest orange zest into cocoa powder mixture. Peel orange and discard the peel.
3. Place coconut in high speed blender and blend until a smooth butter forms. Add your peeled orange and dates. Continue to blend until well combined. Add to your cocoa powder mixture
4. Place a small pot with 1-2 inches of water over high heat. Place a glass or metal bowl over the pot, making sure that the water does not touch the bowl. Add chocolate chips and almond milk and melt chocolate until fully melted. Stir melted chocolate into coconut orange date mixture.
5. Mix well then transfer to lined baking dish. Place in freezer for a few hours. Slice and enjoy!
6. Makes 1 6×6 baking dish worth. Can be frozen for several months.
Upanīyati jīvitamappamāyu.
Jarūpanītassa na santi tāṇā.
Etaṃ bhayaṃ maraṇe pekkhamāno,
lokāmisaṃ pajahe santipekkho.
Life is swept along, next-to-nothing its span.
For one swept to old age no shelters exist.
Perceiving this danger in death,
one should drop the world’s bait and look for peace.
Saṃyutta Nikāya 1.100
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Aloha Kakahiaka oukou. Hau’oli aloha Poʻaono. Maikaʻi la iā oukou.
Greetings and Good Morning; happy Aloha Saturday. Have a great day!
Without the label ‘fear’, what is fear? Without the word ‘sadness’, what is sadness? Without the thought ‘anger’, what is anger?
Instead of calling it ‘fear’ or ‘anger’ or ‘sadness’, drop those heavy, second-hand labels, pregnant with judgement and thousands of years of karma, and directly contact first-hand these raw, present-moment sensations in the stomach, the chest, the neck, the head.
Allow the sensations to burn, tingle, flutter, move, however intense they are. Allow them to live, to express, to be here, just for now. Contact the miracle of life in its raw state, before the layers of words and the war of opposites. Feel the vibrantly alive energy of what’s here, without the labeling. Can you see that this energy is not AGAINST life – it IS life?
Perhaps your pain is not what you think it is.
Strip away the words.
A powerful activator of mana ‘iho. An outgrowth of the strongest, most fundamental tenet of Pono: you create your own reality. Every situation is illusion. Choose to see it as challenge/strife, or lesson, opportunity and growth.
Recognize the lesson your spirit requires you to learn in order to grow. Greet the lesson/life experience with aloha. Honor it as a sacred spiritual teacher that shows you how to make necessary changes and truly experience Pono in all your moments.
Raw cookies anyone?
This recipe is ridiculously simple and healthy. Your kids (and you) will love it.
No-Bake, Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Preparation
1. Add almond meal, cinnamon and chocolate chunks into a mixing bowl.
2. Blend coconut flakes in a high speed blender until mealy, then add to the bowl with the almond meal mixture. Mix well with your hands or a spoon.
3. Add the melted coconut oil and mix with your hands until you get a slightly sticky texture. Then, using your hands, create four balls with your paste and carefully press them on a plate with your hand. Place in the fridge for a couple of hours to set.
NOTE: If you want these a bit sweeter, add a teaspoon of coconut sugar. Makes about 4 cookies.
Depression often has multiple causes, and these causes are generally intertwined — which means there is not just one way of dealing with it.
From what I’ve seen during 46 years of working with clients who are suffering from depression, medication has been the least effective treatment. In fact, many of my clients come to me because the medication isn’t working and is causing multiple detrimental side effects.
So what does cause depression, and what’s the best way to treat it? These are the five major causes of depression that I’ve discovered.
1. Emotional self-abandonment
The most common cause of depression is self-abandonment, both emotional and physical.
You are emotionally abandoning yourself when you stay focused up in your head — ignoring your feelings — rather than being present in your body, attending to your feelings.
You emotionally abandon yourself when you judge yourself, allowing your programmed ego mind to be in charge, rather than your present, loving self.
When you turn to addictions to avoid and numb your feelings, you are emotionally abandoning yourself, and you may be physically abandoning yourself — depending on the addiction.
When you blame others for your feelings and try to make another responsible for your happiness, safety and self-worth, you are emotionally abandoning yourself.
If you treated an actual child this way, he or she would likely be depressed. The same thing happens on the inner level with your inner child.
2. Physical self-abandonment
You abandon yourself physically when you:
Regularly eat sugar and processed foods
Overconsumption of sugar likely contributes to depression, and most processed foods turn to sugar in the body. You are physically abandoning yourself when you don’t eat fresh, clean organic food.
Don’t get enough sleep
It’s also well known that a lack of sleep causes depression. When you aren’t disciplined enough to get adequate sleep — or you’re putting too much caffeine or other stimulants in your body, preventing sleep — you are physically abandoning yourself.
Don’t get adequate exercise
Studies indicate that exercise itself is often enough to decrease depression. When you are not disciplined enough to get regular and adequate exercise, you are physically abandoning yourself.
Don’t drink enough water
A lack of adequate hydration can cause both anxiety and depression. You are physically abandoning yourself when you don’t drink enough water. Try to drink a half ounce of water per pound of body weight per day.
Expose yourself to toxins
Consistently exposing yourself to toxins, such as chlorinated drinking water, GMO products, pesticides, food additives, asbestos or household mold, is physically self-abandoning and can cause or add to depression.
3. Unhealed trauma
Severe depression can result from unhealed trauma from childhood abuse and neglect, or from unhealed traumatic events that occurred as an adult. You’re abandoning yourself when you don’t do all you can to get the help you need to heal trauma.
There are many excellent trauma therapies currently available to support you in healing trauma. When you allow fear or self-judgment to get in the way of healing trauma, depression may result.
4. Lack of connection with others
Loneliness is often a major cause of depression. Keeping yourself isolated from others, or not doing all you can to meet like-minded people, is unloving to yourself. We are social beings and sharing with others is vital to our well-being.
Being in a disconnected relationship can be as lonely as being alone — and sometimes even lonelier. If you are often lonely in your relationship, then you need to find a way to get the help you need to either improve your connection with your partner or leave the relationship.
5. Over-reactive microglia
Microglia are cells in our brain that are part of our immune system. In his book, Total Recovery, Dr. Gary Kaplan says all trauma to the body — whether it’s from self-abandonment, abuse, illness, surgery, junk food, chemical exposure or environmental toxins — has a cumulative effect on the microglia.
When trauma has accumulated in the microglia, a single triggering incident, such as a minor surgery, can cause the microglia to become over-reactive, which then causes depression and chronic pain. All of the causes listed above can be contributing factors in causing the microglia to up-regulate. In order to down-regulate the microglia, you need to focus on healing each of the above issues.
Instead of avoiding these issues with medication, why not learn how to heal them? The results might amaze you!
If you feel comfortable with technology, ask an elder in your life if there is a technology you can help them learn. If you do not feel comfortable with technology, reach out to a loved one and give them an opportunity to share some of their knowledge with you.
Seniors who feel like today’s technology has left them in the dust are hitching a ride with a philanthropic gaggle of students who, in their spare time, are helping older generations return to the fast lane with their iPods, iPads, smart phones and computers. A group of teenagers who never knew a world before computers launched Wired for Connections/Mentor Up … designed to help senior citizens understand the basics of modern-day devices.” Incredible stories are surfacing from these interactions. For example, the teens helped a 93-year-old man contact a Jewish friend he used to protect from bullying just before World War II and enabled a 69-year-old artist to find photographs of Monet’s garden in Paris which she has dreamed of seeing all her life. Sean Butler, the 16-year-old who initiated this program, insists: “I’ve learned more during these sessions than I’ve taught…for me, just talking with them and learning their stories is what draws me back every time.”
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
~ Henry Ford
–by DENNIS TAYLOR, syndicated from truthatlas.com, Oct 02, 2014
Featured photo: Sean Butler, 16-year-old sophomore at Carmel (Calif) High School, mentors Judy Dudley on how to use her smart phone. Photo by Dennis Taylor
CARMEL, CALIFORNIA – Seniors who feel like today’s technology has left them in the dust are hitching a ride with a philanthropic gaggle of students who, in their spare time, are helping older generations return to the fast lane with their iPods, iPads, smart phones and computers.
A group of teenagers who never knew a world before computers launched Wired for Connections/Mentor Up, a club at Carmel High School in California, designed to help senior citizens understand the basics of modern-day devices and bridge part of what they perceive as the intergenerational divide.
Sean Butler, a 16-year-old sophomore, initiated the program two years ago, offering to share his tech knowledge in 45-minute, one-on-one mentoring sessions with members of the nearby Carmel Foundation, a membership organization for people 55 and older dedicated to facilitating successful aging by providing a broad spectrum of interactive activities and services. The sessions are provided free to member of the Foundation, which was founded in 1950 and now has more than 3,000 members.
Carly Rudiger, 17, a junior at Carmel High in California, teaches Jenifer Bovey, 69, how to use her iPad. Photo by Dennis Taylor
Carly Rudiger, a 17-year-old junior, joined Butler at the beginning of this school year and took his concept to another level, creating a full-fledged club at Carmel High. The pair oversees a group of about 15 classmates who, in exchange for community service credits, volunteer regularly to share what they know with any member who signs up. The waiting list has close to 50 names.
“I was probably 5 years old the first time I sat down at a computer,” Butler said. “It didn’t take me long to start figuring things out because I wasn’t afraid to play. It’s easier to learn technology if you’re not afraid of it and what holds a lot of older people back is that they’re afraid they’re going to mess something up if they play around and experiment. They don’t realize that most of the time you can just undo what you just did and get back to the place that you want to be.”
Seniors register for the classes (usually held on Saturdays), bring their device, an iPhone, Android, iPad, laptop or virtually anything else they’d like to learn more about, and receive hands-on instruction from their young mentors.
“I don’t come with my own agenda,” Rudiger said. “They ask me questions how to do this or that and I try to help them understand as many of those things as possible during our 45-minute session. I try not to overwhelm them with too much information because they can come back for as many sessions as they want.”
Before entering the mentoring program, the Carmel High contingent goes through “sensitivity training,” which, among other things, includes activities designed to help them better understand their aging pupils.
“One thing we did, for example, was smear a pair of glasses with Vaseline, so we could get an idea of what it might be like to have the kind of vision problems that some older adults live with every day,” Rudiger said. “We also taped fingers together and put tape over fingertips to try to replicate problems they might have with their hands. It can be frustrating to watch how slowly some of them are when they try to type, but the sensitivity training taught us that typing can be very difficult if your fingertips are numb.”
The graying “students” say they tend to learn much more during one-on-one instruction than they do in group classes they have tried. The fresh-faced “mentors” engage with a generation of people they barely knew before.
“I mentored a 93-year-old guy one day who started telling me about a Jewish kid he knew back in high school, right before World War II,” Butler recounted. “I guess the kid got bullied a lot and this man used to protect him.”
“I helped him find an article about his old friend online, and his reaction was really cool. It was pretty amazing for him to discover what his old friend became, and that made it exciting for me. We even found an email address so he could reconnect with his friend after all these years, which made him very happy.”
Carole Bestor, a 69-year-old hairdresser from Pacific Grove, received an iPad from her husband as a gift, but never used it until she sat down with Rudiger for a pair of 45-minute sessions. Her eyes widened and sparkled as her mentor helped her discover the possibilities of the device.
“It was really exciting to learn how to use email. I’ve always been a person who sends a letter or a card through the mail, but now I can email my daughter and also my girlfriend, who I went to high school with,” she said. “But I think the most exciting thing I learned about was Pandora, a place on the Internet where I can listen to music by anybody I like. I listened to Adele and Jennifer Lopez today.”
Rudiger helped Bestor discover that her tablet has a camera and showed her how to use it. Together, they took a selfie. Bestor, an artist, then learned how to surf the Internet to find hundreds of photos of Monet’s garden in Paris, something she has longed to see all her life.
Judy Dudley, who declined to give her age, used part of her 45-minute session with Parker to get acquainted with “Siri,” the Apple Corporation’s “intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator” that uses a natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform other tasks by delegating requests to a set of Internet services. “Siri” (a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”) answers commands from a smart phone in a female voice.
“It’s amazing,” Dudley said. “I just got this (application), and my granddaughter showed me a little bit about it, but she told me I was going to need a lot of help. I took a class at the Apple Store, but it was very confusing. Then I found out I could come here. These kids who are mentoring us are much smarter than we are about this stuff. None of this is natural to me, but Sean grew up knowing it, and he’s taking me step-by-step, telling me exactly what to do, making it all very easy.”
Carmel resident Ellyn Gelson, 69, and her 79-year-old friend, Bill Roulette of Woodland Hills, brought a higher level of tech savvy into the same session (she has owned a computer since 1997 and once had a Palm Pilot; he still uses the first-generation iPad), but got a worthwhile education from Butler and 17-year-old Carmel High senior Caroline Lahti.
“I learned a lot of things today that I didn’t know before,” Roulette said. “I discovered how to access the app store, and how to maneuver around the different applications. I found out how to get rid of stuff I don’t want anymore. And these kids taught me how to use my iPad to email photos and also to Skype. I never realized I could do those things.”
The teenage mentors are two-time recipients of a $1,000 grant from the American Association of Retired Persons, which this year included an all-expense-paid trip for Butler and Rudiger to AARP headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“I can honestly say that I feel like I’ve learned more during these sessions than I’ve taught,” Rudiger said. “I mean, obviously they’re taking in all this information and hopefully applying it every day but, for me, just talking with them and learning their stories is what draws me back every time. I love having those conversations.”
Apple crisp was one of the first desserts I ever learned to make on my own when I was a little girl. I have fond memories of standing in my grandmothers kitchen in the summer time, chopping apples, mixing the butter into the oats and watching as my grandmother pull recipes together without ever touching a measuring cup.
As I grew up and began eating a healthier diet, I started to experiment with different ingredients in order to clean up the apple crisp my grandmother taught me to make. I found that apple crisp is one of the best desserts out there if you are in the mood to experiment, because it is not an exact science like baking is. Have fun with this basic recipe, adding in anything that you think would taste good to you and your family.
Apple Crisp
Ingredients:
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×9 baking dish with parchment paper.
2. Toss diced apples with 1 tsp cinnamon and pinch of sea salt. Place in lined baking dish.
3. Combine remaining ingredients. Mix in a large bowl with your hands until a crumble forms. Place crumble on top of chopped apples in an even layer.
4. Bake for 30-40 minute or until apples are fully cooked and fork tender. Allow to cool and enjoy!
Aloha kakahiaka oukou e hau’oli aloha Po’alima … I lā nani nou oukou. Hoihoi!
Good morning and Happy Aloha Friday to all … Have a wonderful day. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
For the cake:
For the topping:
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Line a muffin pan (I use silicone liners) and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and mixed spice. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together melted butter and sugar until pale in color and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla extract, beat to combine. Add the flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Don’t overbeat.
Lastly, add the buttermilk, and beat until just combined.
In a medium bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon for topping.
Fill the muffin liners to 2/3 full. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the tops evenly.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.
Vibrations …..
you can call these frequencies or vibrations or any other name to signify movement..
all things manifested, including us, are these vibrations that form into atoms..
Thought causes these atoms of frequency to appear as objects..
This ‘Thought’ is called Consciousness..
We are this Consciousness that creates by Thought..
We also create the false belief that we are the manifestation that We have created..
This is called the ‘ego’ or false self..
This state of mind called ego creates the mental pain of Fear..
This is because it is a false belief and is absent of the Reality called Love..
Love is the state of non-fear..
Love is the nature of Reality that some call “God”..
Non-fear is the state of non-ego..
Non-ego is the state of “God”..
“God” is Love..
When You have awakened into the Truth that You are Love,
You will also Realize that You are “God”…
As Yeshua said; ” I and the Father, are One “…
Albert Einstein was right when he said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
But why?
Because true imagination is pretty rare. Most NEW ideas aren’t NEW at all. They’re based on something that has already been done.
Where’s the imagination in that?
Here’s where it gets really interesting …
If all imagination is based on memory, who’s to say that particular memory has to come from this lifetime, or this civilization or even this planet?
Think about it, can you imagine a color that you’ve never seen before? Go ahead and try. Imagine a color you have never seen before.
Notice what your brain does? It starts trying to create a mix, based on what you already know.
You may be able to visualize your bedroom walls, and you may be able to imagine those walls changing color or texture. But that’s not true imagination, it’s creative visualization.
Every color that you see in your visualization came from something you’ve seen before.
Can you visualize your walls being the color of infrared?
No, because you’ve never seen that color. Not in this human body.
This is what makes imagination so important. The bigger your imagination, the more knowledge and memories you can access… it’s the key to past-life recall!
Not only that, it’s the key to opening your mind to see greater levels of reality. Levels that exist outside of what you’ve experienced in this life, into the great unknown.
Watch Miyoko as she recreates for you her famous UnTurkey with gravy and stuffing. Holidays are coming … this recipe will come in handy. Enjoy!
This makes one very large UnTurkey, enough to feed 12 and still have leftovers for sandwiches and UnTurkey Noodle Soup.
For the UnTurkey:
6 cups water
1/3 cup soy sauce
½ cup Light Yeast Flavoring
8 cups vital wheat gluten
My life and spirit have been cleansed for this new day. I am born again in the full light of love, peace and positivity! ”
A metaphor cautioning you not to sell yourself out to a false paradigm of enslavement. You are not a victim to anything. Do not become enslaved to outside circumstances or learned inner behaviors. Allow no one to manipulate you to powerlessness. Get up. Pick up that paddle. We’ve got some paddling to do!
Anger is part of human experience. Things denied are things buried, which ambush you when least expect it. A powerful force bearing valuable information from the past, we heal these past hurts when we shine the light of spirit on them. Shift to pono now.
Baking can be fun, but sometimes you just want a simple dessert that comes together quickly and does not require that you heat up the whole house by turning the oven on. If you are in a warmer climate or it is still summer weather where you are right now, I have a feeling you are going to really enjoy todays recipe.
This crumble takes advantage of the natural sweetness of dates and fresh apricots or peaches to create a stunning dessert that will take you less time to make than it would for you to preheat your oven. You can also use peaches, plums, pears, nectarines or even thinly sliced apples in this recipe if you do not have access to fresh apricots. Get creative and have fun with this one!
Ingredients:
Directions:
1. Place ½ cup dates, 2 tbsp maple syrup, ½ tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 pinch salt and 1 apricot in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour mixture over remaining chopped apricots, toss and set aside.
2. Place walnuts in a blender or food processor and pulse a few times to chop. Add your remaining dates and pulse until a sticky mixture forms.
3. Remove date walnut mixture from blender or food processor and place in a bowl. Add coconut, remaining maple syrup, remaining vanilla, remaining cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Combine with your hands.
4. Crumble date walnut mixture over apricot mixture. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Enjoy!
5. Makes 4-6 portions – can be frozen for 1-2 months if well sealed.
āpāthaka — sphere, range, field of perception
Kodhaṃ chetvā sukhaṃ seti.
Kodhaṃ chetvā na socati.
Kodhassa visamūlassa, madhuraggassa devate
vadhaṃ ariyā pasaṃsanti,
tañhi chetvā na socatī.
Having killed anger you sleep in ease.
Having killed anger you do not grieve.
The noble ones praise the slaying of anger
— with its honeyed crest & poison root —
for having killed it you do not grieve.
Saṃyutta Nikāya 1.71
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Aloha Kakahiaka kakou. Hau’oli la Po’aha! He lā nani keia lā oukou. Hoihoi e kuʻu aku!
Greetings and Good Morning to all. Happy Thursday! Today is a beautiful day. Relax and enjoy it!
This week look for inspiration — to write or create in other ways — from another part of yourself.
We are more creative than we think. Picasso was once asked whether his ideas come to him “by chance or by design.” Picasso responded: “I don’t have a clue. Ideas are simply starting points … What I capture in spite of myself interests me more than my own ideas.”
Every child is an artist. The problem is staying an artist when you grow up.
~ Pablo Picasso
Ingredients:
2 fresh or frozen bananas
1 cup coconut milk
2 medjool dates, pitted
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 inch piece fresh ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
pinch clove powder
pinch allspice powder
pinch vanilla powder or extract
Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Quinoa is a nutritional powerhouse. Packed with fibre, carbohydrates, amino acids (the little structures that make up proteins), iron and b vitamins, this little pseudo grain is great if you are looking for a hit of usable energy.
It is much easier to digest and absorb than traditional grains like barley and wheat because it does not contain any gluten, and its chemical structure is much simpler. This salad is light, refreshing and tasty, but won’t leave you feeling hungry again within the hour.
Salad Ingredients:
½ cup dry quinoa
1 cup water
½ small beet, shredded
1 small carrot, shredded
½ small cucumber, sliced or diced
2 cups spring mix
Dressing Ingredients:
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp coconut oil
½ tsp mustard
pinch Himalayan salt
pinch pepper
Directions:
Place water in a pot over high heat. Bring to a boil. Add your quinoa and reduce heat to medium low. Cook until quinoa has absorbed water. Allow to cool. Combine cooled quinoa and remaining salad ingredients in a bowl or on a plate and set aside. Combine dressing ingredients in a personal blender or high speed blender and blend until smooth. You can also simply whisk dressing ingredients with a fork into a small bowl. Pour dressing over salad, toss and enjoy!
*Note: It can save you a lot of time to make the quinoa the night before and store it in the fridge!
Is there anything more decadent than a warm, chocolate sauce drizzled over cool, sweet, creamy ice cream? Today’s dessert is going to have you licking your bowl clean – and don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone.
The sauce for this recipe is super fudgy and will have you forgetting all about the sugar and chemical filled chocolate sauces of your past. And you may even discover that you enjoy the way banana ice cream makes you feel so much more than the way regular ice cream makes you feel, that you make it a permanent fixture in your life!
When I was first transitioning towards a whole food diet, I actually ate banana ice cream with a different sauce every night for about six months, and never got tired of it! I am sure that you are going to love it was much as I do.
Ingredients:
Directions:
1. Place two frozen bananas in a blender or food processor and blend until it reaches a creamy ice cream texture. Transfer to a bowl and allow to set in the freezer while you make fudge sauce.
2. Place cacao or cocoa or carob powder, coconut or cacao butter, maple syrup, salt and vanilla into a blender and blend until smooth. The friction from the blending should heat your sauce.
3. Slice your fresh banana in half the long way. Place in a dish. Scoop ice cream in between the sliced banana, top with your sauce and chopped nuts
PREP – 8 minutes
COOK – 15 minutes
YIELD – 6 servings
100% guilt-free, low-to-almost-no-fat, super good for you CREAMY pasta sauce.
Ingredients
1/2 cup packed sun-dried tomatoes*
1 cup vegetable broth
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp. almond butter or 1/2 cup almonds
1 tbsp. olive oil, optional**
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
1 tbsp. nutritional yeast, optional
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 lb. dried pasta, cooked to serve
Instructions
Place all ingredients except for basil and pasta in the jar of a high-speed blender. Purée until completely smooth. Add the basil and turn the blender on low just to distribute.
Toss as much sauce as desired with cooked pasta and a little of the starchy cooking water, if needed.
Serve!
Notes
*If using sun-dried tomatoes that are NOT packed in oil, then you will want to soak them in boiling water for at least 15 minutes. Do not boil them- soak them in the boiled water. Or you can heat the vegetable broth and soak them in that, and then use the vegetable broth in the sauce for the added flavor from the sun-dried tomato soaking liquid.
**You don’t need the extra tbsp. of oil if you used sun-dried tomatoes that are jarred in oil. You can omit it completely if you’d like, but the sauce will be less rich.
Fear is first a gift of choice. Choose to be appropriately guided by your fears to strengthen your mana ‘iho. Move fear out of your kapu space to really hear its message. Then, thank fear for the lesson It offers. Your protector; fear now helps you shift to Pono.
Connect in aloha with every living thing and know that everything is living. Strengthen your connection by acknowledging & communicating your will and wishes for the highest good to all the spirit forces in/around us. Spirits often respond back thru signs.
Aloha kakahiaka kakou. Hauʻoli aloha Po’akolu. Maikaʻi la iā oukou.
Good morning and Happy Aloha Wednesday, everyone. Have a great your day!
You have probably heard of seed saving, where you save a plant’s seeds or tubers at the end of a growing season to serve as the seed source for the following year. This is great because choosing the proper plants and practicing proper seed-saving methods gives you to a free, self-perpetuating garden year after year. Saving seed also means you can share seeds with friends and neighbors, so everyone can start growing their own.
Many people, however, are not as familiar with the concept of a personal seedbank. A personal seedbank is like seed saving on steroids. You save seed for the coming season’s planting, but you also bank seed for longer storage, just in case.
What that “just in case” might be varies. Some people have created a personal seedbank as insurance against crop failures. Others believe a personal seedbank is necessary in the event of a partial (or…
View original post 1,317 more words
In our world, you should be able to have your chocolate and have your health too! These toasted coconut chocolate truffles are just what the doctor ordered if you are looking for something dense and satisfying that won’t totally weigh you down.
You may also be pleasantly surprised how flavourful these truffles are even tough they only contain 5 simple everyday ingredients. Enjoy these with a nice cup of tea at the end of your day, or as a pick me up snack during your day, or both!
Ingredients:
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place coconut in an even layer on baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes or until coconut is brown and toasted. Be sure to watch it as it can go from brown to black in a very short time!
2. Remove coconut from the oven and transfer to a high speed blender or food processor. Blend with coconut oil until a smooth butter forms.
3. Add pitted chopped Fresh dates and process again until thick mixture forms. It is OK if the dates don’t get full blended in, having a few date pieces in your truffles can be tasty!
4. Remove mixture from blender and let cool in the fridge for 15 minutes.
5. Roll your mixture into 1 inch balls and coat in cacao, cocoa or carob powder.
6. Place on lined baking tray and cool in the freezer or enjoy as they are!
Today, the importance associated with ritual rites of passage is on the decline. We often celebrate birthdays, weddings and other cultural occasions, but pay very little attention to the ways in which these events may mean more than simply an opportunity for festivity and drinking beer. Many of our cultural celebrations are in fact rites of passage, with a much deeper transformational meaning both symbolically and literally.
What is a rite of passage?
Rites of passage are often known as liminal spaces, that is, they usher an old state of being into a new state of being. The concept of liminality was first conceived of within the field of anthropology and was used to explain rites of passage which carried children into adulthood. In the Xhosa culture in South Africa, boys are ritually circumcised, after which they must live alone for several weeks in the wilderness. This rite is performed to signify the transition from boyhood to manhood.
However, rituals such as these are more than merely symbolic – they are considered to have real transformational power. The enactment of these rites doesn’t just represent your transition to a new state of being, but they actually and factually transform you. This idea was taken up in the field of psychology and is known as individuation.
Individuation process
Individuation refers to the process whereby a person becomes a psychologically separate unity or whole. For example, a baby starting to realize that it is not one and the same with its mother, but rather that it exists as a separate being. Therefore, whether one regards the liminal space as an important part of rites of passage on a collective anthropological level or individual psychological level, it performs the same function. The liminal space acts as a passage from a prior state of being into a new state of being. It is a space in which personality and agency can be shaped unrestricted by fixed ways of being.
How modern rites of passage have changed
Marriage is a rite of passage still practiced in most societies, but it is often reduced to a stressful box-ticking exercise that ends in a couple living together. This cannot be regarded as a rational reduction given the sky-rocketing divorce rates that we see today. The sentiment that true love does not need ceremonies seems to ignore the deeper wisdom that more ancient cultures afforded to liminal rites of passage.
The reason why we reduce the importance of rites of passage today is that we value objectively verifiable fact over subjective experiences. The transformational power of rites of passage is a subjective truth as it can only be verified through experience. A couple may report that their relationship feels different after the performance of a marriage ceremony, but this is not something that can be proven. Therefore, we tend to disregard it. Our “rational” approach to life runs the risk of ignoring the transformation potential of experience in liminal situations.
The idea that rites of passage can be truly transformational experiences may encourage us to look more deeply into the rituals we perform in our lives. We may be prompted to examine our actions and the meaning attached to them more carefully, rather than moving through these processes hollowly and without pause. So, the next time an important occasion is on the horizon, take some time to really feel it and the potential it has to change your life.
Find Your Magic
Tarot Readings, Inspiration, and Self-Empowerment
Making life on earth magick one moon phase at a time.
Astrologer ~ Mystic ~ Writer
of the Collegium Spiritus Sancti, a Golden Dawn Society
An affiliate of the Alpha et Omega Order of Melchizedek
All Knowledge Is Not Contained In Only One School
Connecting the grant community to #LearnGrants
Channelings & Articles
Magic Spell Books & Grimoires
Native Hawaiian Language Revitalization
Poetry & Tales of Love, Mystery, Magic and Spirituality
Organic Herbs, Herbals, Sustainable Gardening
Mother Nature: Feeding The Mind, Body & Soul, with Food, Medicine & Skincare.
"Inheritor of a Dying World, we call thee to the Living Beauty. Wanderer in the Wild Darkness, we call thee to the Gentle Light..."
Time is the most important thing we've been given
Embracing the Divine Within.
"...That I should bear witness to the truth." - John 18:37 // David E. Robinson, Publisher
Hālau 'Aha Hui Lānākila 