Category Archives: Feelings

You are only as sick as your secrets

Sometimes secrets are intentionally kept. On birthdays we don’t want our friends to know what we are giving them because we want them to be happily surprised.

Sometimes wonderful, velvet memories are kept secret because they are intensely private and personal. We do not care to share what they are because they might be misunderstood and not cherished by others as we cherish them ourselves.

But then there are the prickly or even stabbing secrets that hurt us then and continue to hurt us now. Those secrets are best aired and released. We fear that to tell them would only burden others, so we keep them to ourselves.

Truman Capote, author of In Cold Blood said that he used to write and write to get all the horrible secrets from his childhood out of his memory and onto the paper. Many people write, sing, make videos, journal and blog to get their stories out of their minds.

Sometimes secrets are so secret that they are secret even from ourselves. We have buried them deep in our minds because we don’t want to ever think again of the terror, horror, grief, pain, shame, guilt, humiliation. Many of the deepest secrets we have kept hidden from ourselves originated long ago — in childhood and even before.

Unfortunately, secrets unavailable to the conscious mind do not just go away of their own accord. They are still securely stored in the human subconscious, the hard drive, better known as the body. Unreleased tension can be stored in every muscle and cell of our body.

For the sake of our health and happiness, we need to locate and release those tensions. It is not difficult to do and it need not be painful. In fact, releasing old traumatic memories it is usually experienced as pleasant, freeing and empowering.

Here, we focus on simple, safe ways to release forgotten trauma and unpleasant emotions. We are available to coach you to free yourself from the chains of the past. Once you know how, you can release fear as it arises. To gain that degree of control over fear is the most exciting adventure on planet earth.

Everyone is welcome!

A place of feeling good

Don’t do anything that
you don’t really want to do.
Keep yourself in a place of feeling good.
Reach for the thought that feels better —
and watch what happens.
Abraham*

According to Abraham-Hicks, it is in the place of “feeling good” where grace occurs. A Course In Miracles would say that we have only two emotions: love and fear — and that love would be the place of “feeling good” and fear would be feeling less than love, anything less than comfortable.

“Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.”

To have a human body means you will encounter pain — you will stub your toe or bump your head or experience any number of things that distract you from feeling good. But to dwell on the pain and remain in the pain, to bring yourself back to the pain over and over again in your mind is abuse, self-abuse. And it is obvious that we all want to feel good.

The ultimate in mental gymnastics is that masochists are masochistic because they claim they feel good when they hurt — “It hurts so good.” Not really. They are hoping for a breakthrough, a release, a transcendence from pain into love.

So now we can decide — coming back to the quote at the top of this post — to not do those things we don’t want to do or to not feel the feelings we don’t like to feel. Knowing we have an option, we may become determined to learn to release, let go, feel good in any circumstance. We learn to surf the waves of emotion, to walk on water, so to speak.

Imagine the implication for our world. Nobody would be following in the footsteps of Job… yet everyone would be helpful, because that is the nature of love. The world as we know it would change in a twinkling.

The importance of reclaiming the feeling that feels good jives with everything I’ve learned and have personally experienced.  A Course In Miracles calls it love or forgiveness or releasing fear, Dr. Hew Len of ho’oponopono calls it cleaning. He makes it clear that cleaning is an ongoing activity. Mary Baker Eddy says, “God is Love… God is the work of eternity, and demands absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire.” Our real job, our real work, is to reclaim our fundamental nature, which is pure, unconditional love.

Observing the judgmental voice between the ears, clearing, releasing, letting it go… getting back to “zero” or “neutral” or “feeling good”… that is our work and that is our fate, because since only love truly exists forever, our return to it is inevitable. Knowledge is the “know how” of how to go directly to the love that we are.

*From the workshop in Boston, MA on Sunday, October 10th, 1999 #563. This quote and much more at Abraham-Hicks Publications

Depression is not irrational – Suicide is not a solution

I was depressed from an early age. As a child, I always wanted to be dead. I know now that it was probably after my clitoridectomy. I was bereft. Life didn’t seem worth living. I went to the kitchen to get a knife to cut out my heart, but I was too small to reach the sharp knives – I didn’t even know where they were kept.

When I went back to my bed that night, I heard a voice say, “What makes you think it would be any different if you were to die?” I had to admit I had no guarantee. But I saw the implication was that I would have to live through those early childhood years again – no way! – and so I have stayed. My teen years and early twenties were no better. But after that, each year my heart has grown more full and rich and happy. I have no external possessions to brag about, but peace of mind and joy are my priceless treasures.

Depression is not irrational. It is a diagnosis that is like that drawer in the kitchen where you put everything you don’t know what to do with. Depression is an accumulation of legitimate, but unreleased fears, angers and sorrows. Our society does not allow grieving and does not offer anything much better than “you are born, life is for suffering, technology advances, and then you die.”. Religion often makes life on earth sound like a prison sentence, a valley of tears, after which – if you are perfect – you get to go to “heaven” and experience something that might or might not be all that much better than what you have known on earth… but there are no guarantees on any level.

lovely lady in flowersWhat finally brought me out of my depression was the discovery that when I was very very quiet, I could feel my heart.

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer… no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” ― Albert Camus

Another way to say that is, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” It is! And it can be known NOW. But only one thing can exist in one place at one time, so as long as we hold on to negative feelings from the past, we do not feel that beauty that already exists in our own hearts.

I came to understand that I had something important to do here on planet earth. Until I released all that old baggage, I might just come back over and over again – no way! And so I began to do my work and began to let go of all that old and ugly stuff.

We are fortunate in this age to have lots of help – from people and healing systems like Jed Diamond, Byron Katie’s “The Work”, Gary Craig’s “EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique”, Hale Dwoskin’s “The Sedona Method”, and many others. It’s all about healing – letting go of fear/anger/sorrow. It’s why we’re here and why “stuff happens” – so that we feel the old stuff and release the past – to “forgive”, which is “for giving ourselves peace of mind, joy and health.” Feelings got stuck when we held our breath in fear. So whatever feelings come up, breathe into them… that’s how we tell ourselves that we’re safe here and now.

See the “Tools” tab, above and release one little thing today, here and now. You will be so glad you did. Then move to another… and let it go…

EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique

Until you make the unconscious conscious,
it will direct your life and you will call it fate.
– Carl Jung

All healing is essentially the release from fear.
– A Course In Miracles

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), also called “Tapping”, does exactly what it says: it is a simple, easy way to release fear. It is a deceptively simple, yet effective tool for healing the mind, emotions and even the body.

To keep it simple, let’s call everything that is not at ease and peaceful, “fear”. Pain and dis-ease indicate a lack of ease, a lack of peace, and we can often track disease to its origin in fear.

We react to fear by contracting muscles in our body; we fight, flee or freeze. Synonyms for “fear” might include shock, terror, horror, dread, panic, anxiety, anger, rage, fury, sorrow, grief, angst, overwhelm, boredom, loss, frustration, irritability, loneliness, broken heart, longing, desire, jealousy, regret, envy, revenge, or any other feeling that is not peaceful and loving. Fear enters the mind, the body reacts by contracting. After that, if the fear is not released, it remains lodged in the muscles and even the cells of the body.

“Fear” is not our original condition – love is. Look into the eyes of any baby who was gently born and not circumcised and you will see eyes overflowing with unconditional love, aliveness, enthusiasm, and joy. Babies who have not been terrorized by intrusive medical procedures, drugs and scalpels, are relaxed. They can fall to sleep in a moment, no matter where they are or what is going on.

Yet a baby who was poked by sonogram, whose birth was medically induced, who was cut out or pulled out of his mothers, whose umbilical cord lifeline to mother was cut before he had downloaded his full allotment of oxygen and blood, who had monitoring devices attached to his head and body, a baby who was separated from his mother at birth and fed cow’s milk, not breastfed, a baby who was exposed to any number of unnecessary procedures such as blinding lights, heel pricks, injections of toxic chemicals into his pristine bloodstream, a baby who had surgery such as circumcision or open heart surgery… This baby, on the other hand, had a head start in the accumulation of fear. He learned to contract and withdraw, to distrust and expect betrayal.

After birth, fear messages are sent directly and indirectly, intentionally and unintentionally, from family members, friends, school, religion, television, movies, society; we make decisions based on things that happen to us and to others, etc and we carry all this fear forever – on our shoulders, in our stomachs or chests – until and unless we let it all go. We carry unconscious fear in the subconscious and the subconscious is the body. Muscles we tensed up long ago when terrible things happened, still hold the tension. They are the spots where we feel pain, tension, weakness. The good news is, we can let it all go and EFT is a very helpful tool in releasing fear. Letting go of fear is letting go of tension in the body and most disorders, disease, are caused by stored fear, tension.

Emotional Freedom Technique is the most effective way I’ve found to quickly and easily loosen and release uncomfortable bodily sensations from the mind and body – both ancient and current.

EFT is also called “tapping”, and you will be tapping on acupressure points to relax the inner organs that have been holding the “fear” you want to be free of.

Steps for using EFT to release fear:

1) Identify a feeling or attitude that causes you discomfort, a “fear” you want to release. Put it into words. If you cannot find a descriptor for it, just identify it by its location in the body. Examples might be: sense of anxiety, pain in my stomach, tension in my shoulders, anger at my mother.

2) Give it an intensity score. Zero means it does not bother you at all, ten means it is very much present, in your current awareness, and is occupying your mind and giving you pain and discomfort at this very moment. The goal is to use EFT until the intensity is gone and the score moves to zero.

3) Make it into a statement:

Even though I have this
[pain in my stomach],
I deeply and completely love and respect myself.

This statement serves a few purposes:

  • Naming the emotion or locating a feeling in the body is an important step in letting it go, for you are no longer unaware of it – you are now conscious of it. You have given the “demon” a name.
  • You can only release something that you already “have”. If you are unaware of a feeling, then you do not “have” it; it “has” you. But once you have it, you can release it.
  • “Even though” minimizes the importance of the “fear” you have named. It says that this “thing” that has been burdening you for a very long time is now inconsequential and you are ready to let it go.
  • To say that you love and respect yourself, even though you have carried this feeling, is a way of saying that you forgive yourself and love yourself enough to live without the burden.

4) The simplest way to perform this “exorcism” on yourself is to repeat the statement in #3, above, and tap 8-10 times on each acupressure point (see diagrams below). Some start by tapping on the side of one hand (karote chop point, in diagram below), using the palm of the other hand, and repeating the statement a few times, adjusting it for accuracy, if necessary. Then, starting at the top of your head, tap each point several times while repeating the statement. Some people shorten the statement after a few repetitions to the ‘complaint’, such as:

Even though I have this [sense of guilt], I deeply and completely love and respect myself…
Even though I have this sorrow, I deeply and completely love and respect myself…
Even though I have this sorrow, I deeply and completely love and respect myself…
this sorrow… this sorrow… this sorrow…”  – concluding with,
Even though I have this sorrow, I deeply and completely love and respect myself.

Now it is time to re-evaluate the intensity score you gave to the emotion in the beginning. On a scale from 1 to 10, how intense is the sensation now?
Some issues will resolve in one short round. Others may require several rounds, alternating tapping on both sides of the body. And some very old – or very fresh – issues may need to be addressed several times for several days. The good news is, it will all go away and stay away, once you have tapped it away. A little bit of attention now prevents years of discomfort in the future.

Here are two helpful sheets that you can access at any time from your phone or computer to remind you of how to use EFT:

EFT mini instructions

and

instructions


Emergency measures for PTSD

Trauma happens. Daily. To many. Those of us who have been suddenly exposed to terror, horror and shock, those of us who have lived in it for extended periods of time, all of us suffer at least some degree of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Sufferers of PTSD — even veterans — are not always correctly diagnosed and are even more often not treated. However, those who do receive attention do not always reap sufficient benefit from conventional treatment.

Sometimes it takes a child to say what no adult will — the emperor has no clothes and the medical field has no cure for PTSD. The conventional mental health system offers diagnoses and medications, but the mere labeling and numbing of symptoms does not equate to genuine healing. Terror and horror persist in the hearts and minds of victims and witnesses, both. The good news is,

All healing is essentially the release from fear.
Healing is always certain.

We can do it ourselves. Fact is, we must. No one else can do it for us; they don’t know what we have been through. Here is where we start. Here is where we learn to release the fear that has tied our minds and bodies into knots. Here is where we learn how to let go of fear.

We learn the principles of self-healing. We practice with ourselves and one another. We address one memory, one pain, one tense muscle at a time. Soon we are free of the shudder, the revulsion, the horror, the past. We feel real peace again. We have taken back our lives.

Search on the Internet for videos on “Emotional Freedom Technique” (EFT) or “Tapping” (they’re the same thing, just different names. This simple yet profoundly effective method of releasing fear might come in handy as you are reading, learning, practicing, identifying issues, and releasing them. Get this helpful stress-release tool under your belt and then scour and devour the rest of the healing methods here on this site. Any one of them might be enough to heal all your wounds. But one might “speak to” you more than another. Try them all.

As we release fear, we feel safer; as we feel safer, others will feel safer around us.

FREE, simple, effective healing tools for PTSD that anyone can use successfully…

“All healing is essentially the release from fear. ”
– ACIM

“Fear and sickness are identical.”
– Mary Baker Eddy

Some say that healing is difficult, or even impossible. Nothing could be further from the truth. Healing is simple, easy and fun. Healing is always certain… when you know how. The simple tools listed below, can help you reclaim your mental clarity, physical health, happiness, and peace of mind.

Anyone can learn and use the tools below. Children love them and benefit from them. If you want help, get stuck or feel a problem is too big to tackle alone, use the Contact tab and fill out the form. We will get back with you as soon as we can.

You need not master every method. Find the ones that appeal to you and use them. I always go for the simplest, most direct route to release.

We recommend the methods below because of their simplicity, efficiency and efficacy They have been tried and tested. They work! Some of them provide almost immediate relief.

We also recommend them because the price is right — they are free — unless you opt to buy a product, such as a book or CD, take a class or attend an event. We do not profit financially from any of these products, but we have used them all and appreciate them all:

Other helpful posts are

Tell your friends, especially vets suffering from PTSD about these helpful techniques. Tell them about this blog. We understand fear and know how to release it.

We support you to release the fear that is causing you distress. Contact us for coaching.

We wish you a pain-free body, mind and spirit. Thank you for your kind and generous support!

Food & Behavior – A Natural Connection

“No illness which can be treated by diet
should be treated in any other manner.”
Maimonaides

I love the book, Food & Behavior – A Natural Connection by Barbara Reed Stitt. It is so sane. The quality of food one ate used to be considered irrelevant. If you had a full stomach, you were supposed to be ok. But it has been proven that people who eat manufactured foods (or who don’t eat at all) cannot think clearly, do not feel good, and they behave in ways that are not healthy for themselves and society, while people who are fed high quality foods think clearly, are healthy, feel good and behave accordingly.

In the videos below, you can see how essential good nutrition is in schools. The happy results of a healthy diet are increased alertness, improved behavior, better scholarship, reduced antisocial behavior, vandalism, fights, dropouts and suicides. School budgets benefit too!

“We’ve got to stop using our most precious commodity – our kids – to make extra money.”


Tips from a very healthy vegetarian astrologer

by Patricia Robinett

  • How do you ground a hyperactive Gemini?
  • How do you get a Capricorn out of the doldrums?
  • How do you stop a Pisces from languishing long enough to do the laundry and vacuum the carpet?
  • How do you help a Virgo find the courage to go to a party?
  • How do you keep them all healthy?
  • How do you please their taste buds?
  • Where do vegetarians get their protein and calcium?

This article will answer these questions. But before we get into the astrological dietary specifics, let’s start by asking even more questions — questions we may have never, ever, even thought of asking before…

  • Why do cows eat grass instead of giraffes?
  • Why do lions eat giraffes instead of grass?

“Well, hmm,” we human beings explain brilliantly, “they’re doing what is natural for them.”

It’s true. Lions have the right digestive system for digesting meat. Cows have the right digestive system for digesting grass. Each animal’s food choices seem to be just right for them.

You may already know that carnivorous animals have distinctly different bodies from herbivores. Meat eaters have extremely sharp pointed teeth, not to chew but to break bones, puncture skin and rip flesh. Their stomach contains ten times the hydrochloric acid of herbivores. Their intestines measure only three times the length of their bodies so the meat can leave quickly before it decays and poisons them. To drink, all carnivores lap water with their tongues. They cool their bodies by panting, sweating through their tongues.

The teeth of herbivores have been designed for grinding and chewing. Their intestines measure from ten to twelve times the length of their body. To drink, all herbivores sip water. They cool their bodies by perspiring freely through pores in their skin.

How are human beings designed? Yes, we have two slightly pointy incisors that some people consider quite dangerous, but bare your teeth into a mirror and compare your itty bitty, insipid little incisors with a cat’s or dog’s sharp fangs. Enough said. We have weak stomach acid, and intestines twelve times the length of our bodies. We sip water and are seriously embarrassed when we perspire through the pores in our skin.

Animals in the wild are smart enough to eat the correct foods for their body types. But what happens to animals in captivity when humans are in charge of their diets? Unhappily, the animals do not fare very well.

Mad cow disease, for instance, is an example of what happens when people are put in charge of animals’ diets. It just doesn’t work when cows are fed ground cow meat. They get mad. They don’t like being forced to eat their own… would you?

I have long remembered a story about time when it was the custom to feed leftover processed foods to zoo animals. The animals developed human conditions such as cancer, heart disease and infertility. The zookeepers decided to try feeding the animals the raw foods they normally ate in the wild. You may have already guessed: the animals regained their health and the ability to reproduce.

What happens when humans are in charge of humans’ diets? Unhappily, the humans do not fare very well. Most people living in the United States still eat the same kinds of foods that made the animals in the zoos sick and they wonder why they are sick.We might assume that the U.S. is a very healthy country but it’s not. Despite a sophisticated and expensive health care system, in 1997, the U.S. ranks twentieth in the world in health (37th in 2000). We have epidemics of AIDS, heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, arthritis, impotence, infertility, diabetes, tooth decay, and many other serious maladies, just like the animals in the zoo once did.

And, happily, just as the animals were healed when they were fed simple, natural, raw foods, so can human beings heal their bodies by improving their diets.

I did. In my youth and early adulthood I was a miserable, sluggish, sickly, pimply faced little thing, often absent from school and work.

I remember a doctor telling me authoritatively that it didn’t matter what I ate, as long as I got enough calories. Of course, doctors used to star in cigarette ads too. And for many years the American Medical Association insisted that diet had absolutely no connection to heart disease, cancer or diabetes.

But one day I read a little book about the relationship of food to health. That book changed my mind and my life. I changed my diet and my health is now excellent.

Since that time I haven’t seen a medical doctor. That means that for 25 years I haven’t paid a medical bill. Haven’t visited a pharmacy except to buy dental floss. Haven’t seen the inside of a hospital except to visit others. Haven’t missed work due to illness. The good news is that we can all be healthier if we eat healthier, like people did before World War II.

It wasn’t always like this. Americans used to nurse their babies and eat vegetables from their own gardens with a chicken in the pot on Sunday. Only 50 years ago did it become common to raise human babies on cow’s milk from a bottle and cooked baby foods containing sugar, salt and monosodium glutamate. Only 50 years ago did we begin to eat meat with every meal. Only 50 years ago did it become common to farm with chemical poisons.

Why and how have we come so far from natural? What factors other than health, physiology, wisdom and common sense have influenced our food choices? Some factors are habits, emotions, TV ads, convenience, family traditions, biased education, the AMA, addictions and allergies.

Some foods and/or drinks we associate with love, good times, pleasure, excitement, and/or security. Milk, sugar, chocolate, beer, pizza, ice cream, greasy fried foods, big fat juicy steaks, popcorn smothered with salt and butter. I’m feeling sick just writing this.

I have become aware of a humorous pattern in TV ads. Imitation processed cheese spread followed by an ad for a nasal spray. Beer or soft drinks followed by an ad for headache relief. Hamburgers and fried chicken followed by an ad for a stomach remedy or a sleeping tablet. Says it all.

For decades the meat and dairy industries provided schools with free nutrition information that told children to eat — guess what! — meat and dairy products! Two facts you will not read in their literature:

1) The incidence of heart disease is highest in countries where the consumption of beef is highest and lowest in countries where the consumption of beef is lowest.

2) The incidence of breast cancer is similarly high and low according to a country’s consumption of sugar and dairy products.

The foods we are allergic to, we crave. Milk, for instance. My mom was the daughter of an old fashioned English milkman so I was raised on milk and cheese. Loved it! My childhood was full of colic, colds, sore throats and suicidal depressions. Now, when I even get an atom of milk in my food my colon spasms, my nose runs, I feel cranky and irritable, want to sob like a baby and wish I was dead. Not good.

Milk is not a natural food for humans. Cow’s milk is designed for baby calves to triple their weight in the first few months of life. Think about it, dieters.

And although cow’s milk is a very common food allergy, most adult Americans are not yet weaned. Humans are the only animals that nurse after they get teeth. Humans are the only animals that nurse even after they have turned old and grey.

“But if I don’t drink milk, where will I get my calcium?” I hear you protesting.

“Where do cows get their calcium?” say I.

“But what about osteoporosis?” you return.

“Osteoporosis does not exist in countries where they do not eat milk and dairy products,” I patiently explain, “Osteoporosis exists only in countries where they eat dairy products.” You get the idea. Sorry, but milk is bad for people.

Think on this…milk and eggs are used to make casein and tempera paints which retain their original brilliance after hundreds of years. They do not biodegrade. Think twice about eating anything that sticks to plates, forks, pans and stove. It only requires cold water to rinse off a plate that has held fruit, hot water to clean a plate that has held a salad with olive oil dressing or rice and vegetables. It’s a lot easier on your body to eat water soluble foods.

Experiment with a healthy substitute like rice or almond milk. You can make it or get it at health food stores. You can wean yourself from dairy. Your body will thank you for it.

How do you know if you are allergic to something? Chances are you’ll reach for it when you need a pick up. You will “love” it, crave it. We’re hooked on foods that hurt us, come running back to foods that throw us against the wall.

Salt and sugar are two extremes on the taste bud scale and eating one makes you crave the other. Sugar is hidden in luncheon meats, breads, salad dressings, almost everything. Salt (sodium) is hidden in sodas, soda crackers, cheese, almost everything. I once knew a rather pretty young lady who would ladle spoonfuls of sugar on her cereal in the morning and pour mountains of salt onto her macaroni and cheese at night. That was about the extent of her diet. Her emotions ran rather to the extremes as well.

So do you have to give up good tasting food to be healthy? No. Can you really retrain your jaded taste buds to love foods that are good for you? Yes. How?

How I changed my habits…

When I felt a desire for a certain food, I’d go into Sherlock Holmes mode, interrogate myself, and then consciously choose the closest, non-harmful alternative.

For example, when I’d get a Big Mac attack, I’d ask, “What do I really want? Would I relish a plain hamburger patty?” No. “Would I eat a plain bun?” No. So it wasn’t the burger and it wasn’t the bun. Was it the burger on the bun? No. It was the tasty condiments that I really wanted. Easy to fix. Almost anything, even just two pieces of whole grain bread stuffed with onions, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, mustard and ketchup gave me the flavors I wanted without the killer meat. Fortunately these days there are lots of tasty vegetable burgers available on the market, even at some fast food restaurants.

Some people think meat gives them strength. But meat doesn’t actually make us strong, it puts us in emergency mode. When an animal is killed, it panics and adrenalin (the fight or flight hormone) floods the flesh. We eat the meat and wonder why we feel anxious and aggressive and have high blood pressure.

“But if I don’t eat meat, where will I get my protein?” I hear you silently screaming.

“Where do cows get their protein?” I quietly reply.

“Hmm,” you reflect.

Just know that meat products are optional, not required. I have eaten no meat, fish or eggs for 25 years now, no dairy products for ten. I have observed the astrological dietary system described below for about ten years also. Consequently, I have more energy now than I ever had and look better than I ever looked. I’m almost ready to turn 50 and many people kindly pretend to be astonished when I tell them. OK, maybe they are sincerely astonished.

So if, even after reading all of the above you still feel that you wish to eat meat, fish, eggs and dairy just make sure that 1) the animal products are clean (not full of antibiotics and growth hormones and other icky chemicals) and 2) you get plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables to support your astrological energy requirements and to provide fiber because animal products contain absolutely no dietary fiber.

OK, back to being a detective. What if I crave fried, oily, salty potato chips? Is it the crunch I’m after? Raw vegetables crunch. The oil? Extra virgin olive oil on my salad. The salt? A few grains of sea salt. The potato itself? Then I’ll bake, boil or roast one.

Corn chips? Fresh corn. Same logic. Need something to scoop up salsa or guacamole? Good news! These days you can actually buy baked potato chips and corn chips.

What if I want pastries? Read the labels. Notice all the nasty dry old powders such as flour (aka library paste), sugar, baking soda, salt (none of which you would even dream of putting straight into your mouth in the worst of nightmares), a fat like lard to moisten it, plus something added for flavor.

Nature already did it better. Essene bread, made from sprouted whole grain wheat or rye with nothing added or removed, can be found in the cooler at health food stores. In the sprouting process the starch is converted to sugar. Sweet, moist, gooey, it honestly tastes like the best bran muffin in the world.

Candy? If it’s something sweet and chewy I’m after, I’ll eat some dried fruit. Sweet and juicy? Fresh fruit. Apples are the ultimate convenience food. Indulge yourself in cherries, blueberries, mangoes, papayas, kiwi.

Ice cream? Freeze peeled ripe bananas. With some juicers you can make a “soft serve ice cream” out of frozen fruit. You can buy fruit sorbet and frozen rice dream treats that rival ice cream for flavor and creaminess. Milk shakes? Whiz apple juice, frozen bananas & other fruits in a blender. Develop a flair for creating delicious, fulfilling treats.

Get the idea? You can satisfy your taste buds without poisoning your body.

Where’s the astrology?

I know. I know – you are asking yourself, “Hey! Wait a minute! This is an astrological article, but where’s the astrology?” Believe it or not, we are about to answer that question. In just a moment. But first, a few more leading questions…

What if food is not only a matter of calories? What if food is not just a matter of something that you put in your stomach to keep it from growling? What if food is not just something to titillate your taste buds? What if food is not even just vitamins and minerals and carbohydrates and proteins?

What if foods are drugs? What did I say? “What if foods are drugs?” Wait. Don’t “just say no.” Thank about it.

Foods are drugs…

What if foods are not just generic calories that give us generic fuel? What if each food is a unique combination of chemicals that affects our bodies and minds just like drugs? Some foods are good for getting things done, others for relaxing; some foods aid in thinking, others in relating.

What follows is an explanation of the four basic astrological food groups. (Not to be confused with the old model of meat, dairy, starches, fruits and vegetables.) You are now going to learn how to use foods as drugs. Certain foods support your inherent astrological energies. Others provide the energy required to do those things that don’t come easy to you.

We’ll divide foods into four categories from the ground up:

  • Earth – Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
  • Water – Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
  • Fire – Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
  • Air – Gemini, Libra, Aquarius

Don’t worry; this is easy.

Earth Foods…

Earth foods are those foods that grow under the ground, surrounded by dirt. Root vegetables include potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, daikon, peanuts, radishes, jicama, burdock, onions, garlic, ginger; the roots of herbs such as comfrey and ginseng.

Earth foods support practical physical activities relating to food, clothing and shelter, such as gardening, laundry, carpentry, cleaning, massage, healing, sewing, sculpture, resting. Earth foods support Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn energy.

Warning: An overly earthy diet can turn you into a lethargic “couch potato,” a party pooper, a prophet of doom and gloom, a workaholic and/or a drab, apathetic bore.

Water Foods…

Water foods grow directly on top of the ground and in water. Water fruits include strawberries, watermelon and pineapple. Water vegetables include cabbage, lettuce, celery, chard, winter squash, kale, watercress, sea vegetables, and freshwater algae; the leaves of herbs such as comfrey, mint, thyme, oregano, basil and alfalfa.

Note that dark green leafy vegetables contain chlorophyll, the chemical formula of which is only one ion different from blood. More good news! Even vampires can be vegetarians.

Water foods support emotions and feelings: nurturance, sensuousness, deep meditation, music, sexuality, poetry, romance, intuition, dreaming. Water foods soothe emotions. Lettuce contains lots of calcium and magnesium, nature’s tranquilizers. A small amount of spirulina in pineapple juice is a great cocktail for water signs: Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces.

Warning: An overly watery diet could make you excessively emotional, alcoholic, codependent, wimpy and/or a cry baby.

Fire Foods…

Fire foods grow between the earth and sky. They grow on bushes, vines, and stalks. Fire fruits include tomatoes, grapes (raisins), currants, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Fire vegetables include peas, cucumbers, summer squash, eggplant, beans, hot peppers, bell peppers, and sugarcane, broccoli and brussels sprouts. Grains such as corn, rice, wheat, barley and seeds such as sesame, sunflower, and buckwheat are all complex carbohydrates, a source of enduring, slow burning energy for athletes. Wheat germ is rich in Vitamin E for muscles, especially the Leo heart.

Fire foods support social people-to-people activities that involve competition, sports, fighting, selling, working with the public, being with the family and other groups, teaching.

Almost everyone in the United States eats a lot of extremely concentrated fire foods: white sugar, white flour, beer and hard liquor made from grains, and wine from grapes. Is it any wonder the world considers our country to be so aggressive? Yet there are gentler, health-giving alternatives to these explosive fire foods.

Sugar cane is sweet and fun to chew on, but your kids won’t get a sugar rush from it. Fresh grapes and raisins are delicious, refreshing and full of energy, but not intoxicating. Whole grains such as barley can be made into a hearty soup instead of beer, and rye can be made into a very tasty, nourishing bread instead of whiskey.

Fire foods support Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius energies.

Warning: Too many fire foods can make you rude, arrogant, pushy, obnoxious and perhaps even criminally aggressive, abusive.

Air Foods…

Air foods grow in trees, up in the sky. Air foods are primarily fruits such as apples, peaches, apricots, pears, plums (prunes), cherries, bananas, avocados, olives, dates, papayas, mangoes; and nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, coconut.

Eat the fruit but don’t throw away the seeds! The seeds of all fruits and nuts contain a small amount of the bitter tasting substance Vitamin B17 or laetrile which is used in foreign countries to treat cancer. Vitamin B17 is a substance that controls cell division in both plants and animals. Without it, cells divide wildly, unchecked. We need a little of it.

I think of cancer as a vitamin deficiency disease. Think about it, how many foods routinely eaten in the U.S. have a bitter flavor? One of my students knew someone who was diagnosed with cancer. The patient made one change: he ate the seeds in his apples and his cancer disappeared.

Air foods support mental activities, such as working with computers and other hi-tech equipment, artistic endeavors, communications, typing, writing, and talking; things that are interesting to people with Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius energies.

Warning: An overly airy diet could make you think and/or talk a bit much and people might consider you to be “fruity” or “nutty”.

Hint: Air signs might also practice deep breathing clean, clear air to center themselves. A negative ion generator helps to clean the air in less than pristine environments.

How To…

Applying this information is very simple. Use a computer chart based on the time of your birth to accurately assess your energy usage. We are all a mix of all the signs so do not eliminate any food group. But do feed yourself primarily the foods corresponding to the signs of your sun, moon and ascendant, the three most important personal points in your chart.

Sorry, there are no animal products that support your astrological energy requirements. Why? Because the water in the fruits and vegetables contain the astrological energies. (For this reason also you do not want to drink reconstituted fruit juices “from concentrate” or eat too many dried fruits.)

Foods are drugs guidelines…

Air foods and other fruits are good-morning, wake-up foods. Fire foods are go-go foods. Earth foods are grounding, slow-down, get-things-done foods. Water foods are relaxing, night-night foods.

A gentle guide to transition…

Using this information is very simple. Use a computer chart based on the time of your birth to accurately assess your energy usage. We are all a mix of all the signs so do not eliminate any food group. But do feed yourself primarily the foods corresponding to the signs of your sun, moon and ascendant, the three most important personal points in your chart.

Sorry, there are no animal products that support your astrological energy requirements. Why? Because the water in the fruits and vegetables contain the astrological energies. (For this reason also you do not want to drink reconstituted fruit juices “from concentrate” or eat too many dried fruits.)

Foods are drugs guidelines…

Air foods and other fruits are good-morning, wake-up foods. Fire foods are go-go foods. Earth foods are grounding, slow- down, get-things-done foods. Water foods are relaxing, nighty-night foods.

A gentle guide to transition…

First week, eat only fruit for breakfast, as much fruit as you want but only one kind. Examples: six apples, half a watermelon, a huge bowl of cherries. Then eat your regular lunch and dinner.

Second week, add a big crunchy, juicy salad for lunch. Example: lots of dark green lettuce, shredded raw beets and carrots, sweet red onion and/or minced garlic, peas, whatever raw vegetables you really like. With maybe some rice, pasta or whole grain bread. Then eat your regular dinner.

Third week, add ethnic foods for dinner, such as Chinese, Italian, Mediterranean. These cultures have developed very healthy eating systems. They have practiced for years. Rice, pasta, vegetables, salads. Good food. Good health.

If you’re used to eating processed foods, stopping is not easy at first. The third day you refuse to drink coffee, for instance, your body may scream that if you don’t have a mocha, you will surely die. Don’t listen, it isn’t true. After you get past the first week, it becomes easier and easier.

You might want to visit a health food store (the kind that sells organic produce) and get an idea of alternatives to supermarket fare. You will be heartened. There are lots of wonderful foods and cookbooks available. You need not feel deprived.

After a while, processed foods don’t even look good. If they do, then try this: think of them as roses, nice to smell but not to put in the mouth. I love to go to chocolate stores and enjoy the perfume.

Try this system. Analyze your own chart. Eat a variety of simple whole foods from your astrological food groups. Play detective. It is fun to outsmart your taste buds and the results are well worth it.

You’ll be healthier and more attractive than ever. Try your new information out on willing others. Let me know what you discover. I sincerely wish you health and happiness.

P.S. Since I first wrote this article, I have begun eating some goat cheese and eggs from the chickens who wake me up at 4 a.m. I focus heavily on raw foods and eat some cooked foods as well. Since I no longer have food addictions to sugar, flour, caffeine, etc, I simply listen to my body and give it what it says it wants and needs. I am older now, but still very healthy.

Copyright 1997 by Patricia Robinett. All rights reserved. This article was first published in the April 1997 Dell Horoscope Magazine and has since been published in several magazines, in the U.S., on the net, and abroad.

If you would like personal attention to improve your diet, I will be happy to be your coach. If you’re not sure how to implement the ideas in this article into your lifestyle, I will be happy to coach you in person or at a distance by telephone. To make an appointment for a private consultation, please email me.

No words, just a handle

Words are difficult for some of us, especially those of us who were badly traumatized. So we feel perplexed by words. We don’t know how to express what we feel. Is what we feel “panic” or “anxiety”? Is it “fear” or terror” or “horror” or “dread” or “regret”? We don’t know the exact words to use. But there is a very simple way to get at what we need to get at.

Forget about words and focus on the uncomfortable bodily sensations that comes up for you when you think about the issue. Where in your body are they located? Can you compare them to something you are familiar with? Is what you feel similar to having a heavy weight on your chest? Or is it more like a searing pain in your back? This is everything you need to do the work you came here to do.

The body is the subconscious and all trauma is stored in it. The sensations you feel are what you are here to heal, to release. A tension, a tightness, a contraction, a pain – these are the ‘feelings’ you are looking for.

Once you have a handle on a feeling, a sensation, then perhaps words might come: “it’s kinda like…” An entire story might come. If words don’t come, that’s ok. Just feel the feeling and, knowing you are safe here and now, allow yourself to breathe fully, freely and deeply.

Start today to release tensions now to reclaim your health and happiness. It works!