Friday IS Fun!

OK, it still feels like Winter here in Boston, even though the calender, the green shoots, and the singing birds tell me otherwise. To brighten my mood, ease my cold joints, and warm my heart as the sun attempts to break through the gray, gray clouds, I watch this inspiring video and follow along! May all of you practice this form of yoga in your body, mind, and heart.

Thoughts are Things

Yesterday morning I remembered something I hadn't done. I took a picture for a friend a few weeks ago and never sent it to her. Around 9 a.m. a thought popped into my head reminding me that I needed to follow through and send the photo. When I got on-line a few hours later there was an email from my friend requesting the photo. It was sent at 9:57 a.m. Of course, I could discount this this convergence of my thought and her email as a coincidence, if I believed in coincidences. I don't.

Yesterday, in the early afternoon, my friend Tara popped into my mind. I had been thinking of calling her and immediately picked up the phone. The timing was perfect. She had just walked in the door and her three children were at school. We had a wonderful time catching up on each other's lives and I thoroughly enjoyed our uninterrupted conversation.

About two weeks ago in the early evening a small, inner voice, said "Call Jess." I didn't know why, as we usually communicate via email or Skype and rarely pick up the phone to just chat. I trusted that voice, found her number and called. I started by saying, I don't know why I'm calling you, I just am. She responded, "did you just hear me screaming in the car 'I need a friend!'? Of course, I hadn't . . . or maybe I had?? Like a divine GPS that says "turn here", I am guided when I choose to listen to thoughts that pop into my mind unbidden and prompt me to act. I have many more of these stories to share and will do so here, soon. For now, I ask . . . has this happened to you? I'd love to hear your stories. Leave a comment below to share!

Oatmeal Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Oatmeal Pumpkin Spice Cookie!

Today's post first appeared at http://www.firstourselves.org/ on February 28, 2011. First Ourselves is a wonderful website containing information on body image, diet, weight loss, sugar, and overeating. Its founder, Karly Randolph Pittman, helps women overcome these issues in a healthy, compassion-filled, way. I recommend checking it out!

As a teenager, I recognized my sensitivity to sugar, but did not actively try to work with it until May 2005. Since then, I have spent countless hours in the kitchen devising sugar-free recipes to enjoy and share with others. Of course, cooking is a chemistry experiment and sugar-free cooking takes the challenge of creating a pleasing dessert-like recipe to the next level.

I have discovered three key things that boost the sweetness factor in recipes. First, I incorporate naturally sweet vegetables like pumpkin, squash, and carrots into my creations. Second, I create ingredient combinations that do not require baking soda or powder, both of which contain sodium bicarbonate, a salt that decreases the sensation of sweetness. Third, I add sweet spices like cinnamon, ginger, vanilla prepared in naturally sweet glycerin, and sometimes curry to jazz up my dessert recipes. I find that when a dessert tastes satisfyingly sweet, I am able to enjoy a little at a time, guilt-free.

One of my recent creations is what I call Oatmeal Pumpkin Spice Cookies. Pumpkin is a great indicator for where my taste buds fall on the sweetness appreciation scale: if I find it sweet – excellent; if I find it close to intolerable – my diet needs more vegetables, period. This recipe is gluten-free when prepared with gluten-free oats, vegan when prepared with ground flaxseed instead of egg, and is naturally dairy-free. Enjoy, and let me know if you have suggested modifications at episzczek@gmail.com (Subject: Oatmeal Pumpkin Spice Cookies).

Oatmeal Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit                              Yield: 20-25 cookies

1 cup instant oats OR 1 cup rolled oats (processed to a course meal)

2 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. sea salt

Dash allspice

½ tsp. finely grated fresh ginger,

1 Tbs. ground flaxseed meal plus 3 Tbs. water OR 1 egg, beaten

2 tsp. vanilla (I prefer alcohol-free vanilla)

1 cup pureed organic pumpkin (not the pie mix)

¼ cup raw sunflower seeds soaked for 5 minutes in steaming water to soften

Blend dry ingredients; add wet ingredients and mix well. Batter will be thick. Spoon by the tablespoon onto a parchment- paper-covered baking sheet. Bake at 350° Fahrenheit for 30-35 minutes or until slightly brown on bottom. Cookies will be crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, and will not rise. Enjoy!

Friday Fantasia!

Matrix Energetics moves in my life in surprising ways. My friend E just returned from a trip to India. I have been talking to her about my Matrix Energetics journey and, interested, she picked up a copy of Richard Bartlett's first book, Matrix Energetics. She has not read it, yet. She did carry it with her to India, however. While there she was invited by her mother-in-law to attend a seminar lead by a homeopath. The homeopath happens to be a Matrix Energetics practitioner who gave a demonstration of ME during the seminar. That is how ME works, in the background, connecting and awakening me and others to new insights and possibilities in their lives. May reading this blog post bring the magic of Matrix into your life, as well.
Here is a video slideshow created by Svetlana Pritzker, a ME practitioner in Chicago. I found Svetlana's ME inspired paintings truly beautiful and filled with positive energy. Enjoy!

Me Now, Me Always!

In discovering a new way of being, I have often struggled with self doubt over leaving my career as an attorney, wondered whether I am good enough, bold enough, "together" enough to really be successful walking a  new path. These times of doubt and worry have often been accompanied by a stream of consciousness rant that includes every reason why I'm not good enough, bold enough, or "together" enough to be a success. And, I had an eye-opening conversation on Friday morning that has changed my attitude about this - forever.

Suppose, just for a minute that I am the only person left on Earth. No one else exists to ask me why I would leave a lucrative, promising, secure life as an attorney to create paper mache bowls, tell stories, and become an energy practitioner. No one is around to comment on my haircut, my weight, or the size of my lunch. No one else is there to make me doubt my own self-worth, my choices as to how to live my life, or the authenticity of my proclaimed happiness, despite the appearance of financial insecurity. No one is there to create a whisper of doubt, a breeze of insecurity, or a firestorm of self loathing. No one is there . . . but me.

So, I considered, if no one is there to trigger my doubts, insecurities, and negative thoughts, why would I create them for myself? Why would I entertain these limiting thoughts of my own free will? Why would I choose to harm myself in such a destructive way? And, if I chose to shower myself with positive, loving, nourishing thoughts when no one else was there, why would I choose anything less when I am not alone? That, I thought, is an excellent question.

So today I choose to love me, all of me, right now, right here, as I AM. I have nothing to lose, after all. Absolutely nothing.