Personal Commitments

For the next month on Prosperity Project(See sidebar for link) the focus will be on personal commitments.

At first I was considering fitness or skin care, but the more I thought about it, I realized that neither of them fit with the rules. Skin care didn't fit because it would require me to spend money and fitness didn't fit because it would take more then 10 minutes a day to be effective and to be completely honest it wasn't something I really wanted to do.

So I decided on meditation. It is something that I have let slip for a while now, but I really want to get back to. I miss the feeling of peace that resonates afterwards. It is also a great baby step to help with spirituality.

For thirty days (starting yesterday) I will spend 10 minutes meditating everyday.

If you would like to work on keeping a personal commitment to yourself head over to the prosperity project and join in.

I is for Isis

Although ancient Egyptian culture has never been of any particular interest to me, I have always felt drawn to the Goddess Isis. Perhaps it is because she is such an all-encompassing Goddess. She is the Goddess of medicine, wisdom and magic. While many Gods and Goddesses are aligned with a certain compass direction, Isis is aligned with the center and rules all directions, as well as all elements.

Isis is the only Egyptian Goddess to walk among her people daily, teaching the skills like weaving and baking. Her husband Osiris taught agriculture. Together they had a son named Horus, who became known as the sun God.

I don't keep a permanent alter up in my home because I have no space, but occasionally when I want to feel more connected to my higher power I will erect an alter on top of my dresser. When honoring Isis, my alter is set up with a vase of lillys, a painting of an eagle, a stuffed lion and a few small quartz crystals. I also leave offerings of bread and wine. Isis is also represented by the woman's body, so I have been looking for some artwork of the female form to add to my alter.

Blessed Be

For more I posts visit ABC Wednesday

Baby Step Get Back to the 366 Days at My Own Pace

I have realized that trying to make the books schedule meld with my own was to forced. There are some days when I feel like a subject needs just a tad more contemplation time before moving on. Other days that are supposed to be ritual days, I just don't feel as magical as I usually do (like when the kids spend the morning throwing up all over the house). Doing spells requires a lot of mental preparation for me, so learning what spell I am going to do right before I do it just doesn't work for me.

This doesn't mean that I am going to give up on the book as a whole. I plan to work through each and everyone of the pages, just at my own pace. I may take a full week to contemplate one days work, or more. I may be able to complete it in a day. I also intend to continue to use the book for reference as I have been doing.

Blessed Be

Baby Step # 1 No More Soy

What: Eliminate Soy from our diet

Who: Myself and my children. I will also try to include my husband but he is an adult so he will make his own choices. I do most of the cooking so I will have control of at least one meal he eats a day.

Why :
Soy Depresses the thyroid and can cause thyroid disease. Thyroid disorders run in my family especially in the women. My mother had two miscarriages in her mid twenties that the doctors attributed to her thyroid. If you are trying to loose weight you should also note that a depressed thyroid will seriously slow down your metabolism. Not good for weight loss or energy. Just one glass of soy milk a day can cause your metabolism to slow down.

Soy is higher in Phytoestrogens than just about any other food source. Phytoestrogen is plant based estrogen. Now I'm sure a few people have heard studies that say that this is good for you, but these studies are funded by the soy industry. Independent studies show that high estrogen levels lead to many types of cancers including breast cancer.

Soy is high in Phytates. The best way I have heard Phytates explained is that they are anti-nutrients that prevent your body from absorbing the nutrients that it needs. They are present in all grains, seeds, nuts and legumes. In most cases you can neutralize them by fermenting or soaking, but in the case of soy the phytates are so high that it is virtually impossible.

Soy contains a large amount of trypsin inhibitors. Your body needs trypsin to properly digest food. Without it you can experience stomach problems such as cramps and diarrhea. Inmates in America are fed a mostly soy diet and this has lead to a very high number of inmates developing irritable bowl syndrome.

Another thing to note is that the American Heart Association has never recognized the FDA's claim that soy can reduce your chance of heart disease stating that the research was flawed. The FDA is now re-evaluating that claim.
How:

Reading Food Labels and finding substitutes for anything that has soy in any form in the ingredients.

I will let you know in a week how this baby step is working out.

Blessed Be

Baby Steps

My mother is full of advice in the form of cliches. Kill two birds with one stone. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. And one of her favorites is Baby Steps. Anytime you want to make a change in your life you need to take baby steps.

Cliche as they may be they do have value to them. So I think it is time for me to take my mothers advice. There are so many changes that I want to make but don't know how to start, so I will do as my mother suggests and take baby steps.


And yes I do realize that I am setting a goal to set goals, but hey, I got to start somewhere right.


Here are the areas that I want to change:


Eat Healthier - By healthier I mean more natural. My goal isn't weight loss at this point, just to develop a healthier relationship with food for both myself and my family. We do make an effort right now, here and there, but we have made no real lasting change. We tend to just grab a healthier option whenever it is convenient.


Earth Friendly - reducing my global footprint


Parenting


Spirituality


I am not sure if this will become a regular weekly post or if I will wright as it occurs to me. I don't want to get overwhelmed by taking to many baby steps at one time. My nutrition baby steps will probably take place on Friday so that I can take part in Food Renegades Fight Back Friday.


So stay tuned all of your support is welcomed.


I am also considering creating a Baby steps McLinky so that everyone can share the changes they are making in there lives as well. Let me know if there is any interest.

Thanks


Blessed Be