Color Therapy, Real Wheat, A Collection of Moments
Inspiration to support your body, mind and spirit: your whole.
Color Therapy
Think about your favorite color. Notice how it makes you feel. What words would you use to describe that feeling? Now, do the same with your least-favorite color.
My favorite color is pink. When I think of it, I feel soft, comforted, pleased. My least-favorite color is black. When I think of it, I feel drama, emptiness, secretive.
Consider what happens, whether subtly or overtly, when you wear a color that appeals to you or, on the other hand, repels you. That's what this article by Tory Dube at Mind Body Green has me considering.
I guess it stands to reason I have only two articles of black clothing in my closet, in comparison to five articles that are, either fully or in part, pink. (I also have five articles that are or include a shade of purple; my second-favorite color.)
Maybe it's time for you to assess - or reassess - your wardrobe, to be certain it's a reflection of how you feel, and how you want to feel, about yourself and your life. Stretch that assessment to your surroundings - both living and working. A little color therapy may go a long way toward shifting your life in the direction you desire.
Real Wheat
A conversation with a friend over the weekend blew my mind. She was talking about the wheat we eat now here in the U.S., as opposed to pre-1950s. I've heard of the gluten-free movement, and yet didn't apply it to my own eating habits, and it still won't. It isn't necessarily about going gluten-free so much as making sure the wheat that's being consumed is real wheat, rather than Frankenwheat.
The context of the conversation was really about how she's changed her eating since the fall, and how it's led to a surprising 25-pound weight loss and to total relief from long-time joint pain. It was the last part - the joint pain - that really caught my attention, because, seemingly weirdly, my knee joints had been bothering me for a few days, and I'd noticed some bloating that I couldn't attribute to a specific source.
I had a flash of insight: The weekend before, I made myself two loaves of homemade bread using a combination of white and whole-wheat flour. I ate that bread all week long, a couple of times a day, and it was the only out-of-the-ordinary thing I'd been ingesting. Holy crap. Could it be? Yes, it could. I decided then and there that I wouldn't be making any more bread with either of those types of flour.
The discussion reminded me that I'd bookmarked a series of blog posts by Gary Young on the subject of modernized dwarf wheat in comparison to the ancient einkorn - wheat's original composition. Mr. Young's posts are succinct, and easy reading. If you're interested in learning more about "real wheat" from Gary, you can start here, and follow along using the links at the bottom of each post. It was eye-opening for me. Maybe it'll be that way for you, too.
A Collection of Moments
A week ago today, Linda Gauthier, one of my dearest friends - one of my Ya-Yas, in fact - passed, less than a month after her 62nd birthday. When I say she's gone too soon, I mean that in the truest sense. It truly wasn't her time to go at the soul level, and yet the frailty of her human body and the limitations of modern medicine dictated otherwise.
This quote has been helping me to deal with the grief of her passing:
Life is made up of a collection of moments that are not ours to keep. ~Rachel Brathen
Something else that helped me especially with her memorial service, which was this past Saturday, was the creation of a photo slideshow set to "Amazing Grace," the song I sang with my other surviving Ya-Yas at the service, per Linda's request.
To say that I - that we - will miss Linda is a vast understatement. We'll find comfort in the memories of our collection of moments... and the infinite reaches of love.
