Reflections On a 1-Week Internet/"Left-Brain" Fast :)

I am BACK :) 

As you may recall, I was on a week-long "internet/left-brain fast" this last week and it was an absolutely FABULOUS experience for me... Yesterday I shared in my newsletter three of the main insights/observations this "fast" brought up for me and I wanted to post these here too, for those who may have missed the newsletter... I sense that some of these thoughts shared below may be a little challenging to follow or relate to for some people - as ever, please simply take whatever might speak to you from this sharing and leave the rest... ;)

*I was very surprised to find that the main activity my energy was drawn towards during this "fast" was clearing/cleaning in our house ;O Over the course of the last week, I literally went through every single item in every single room of our home, organising, clearing, sorting and getting everything clear for *myself* about where things are, how things work and so on...I had no idea this would come up for me as an activity of interest and in fact it turned out to feel like a hugely cleansing, clearing and settling experience for me... It felt so empowering for me to get such clarity abt what is and isn't here, how it all fits together and so on...I understand that this might sound a bit strange to some people - lol - and it is certainly not smthg I anticipated being engaged in, or enjoying so thoroughly... I had no idea I would even have an interest in doing such a thing until I *actually* disconnected from the internet/left brain/schedule world and asked my being what it wanted to do...well, here I am on the other side of a wonderful week of clearing, with such an extraordinary feeling of *lightness*, clarity and joy in my being...
This is pretty much the first "home" that I've had as an adult - I was on the road for abt 14 years prior to us moving here to Vilcabamba...and our short time here so far has felt pretty PACKED with activity, people, stuff, expansion, projects...any clear sense of what was where in this house had long since escaped me, even though we don't own THAT many things and I didn't even *know* I felt this way until I disconnected and got quiet enough to tune into what I really wanted to focus on... Well, now my strong inner Virgo is definitely very happy, everything is in an order and place that makes sense to me and I have a huge sense of joy, lightness and "settling" that I didn't even know wasn't there before...a wonderful exploratory experience :)


On July 12th-19th I was on a week-long "left-brain/internet fast" and I appreciated the same kind of stuff each day - smthg like this:

1 quart water
1 cup mandarin/granadilla juice
handful of fresh strawberries/other fresh fruit
2 cups coconut water blended with Elixir of The Lake
little bowl of energy soup, nori sheets with Sea Clear, pistachio butter and sauerkraut on the side, followed by a sliced apple spread with almond butter
big mug of herbal tea
water of a young coconut
3 granadilla, chunk of papaya
1 cup water



*Going back online on Tuesday night for the first time in a week felt very odd... ;) I did not miss being on the internet *at all*, in fact it felt HUGELY liberating for me to be outside that reality for a while. Just like when someone does a fast from solid food and can finally get some perspective on their relationship with food, disconnecting from the internet/left-brain/schedule world for a week was amazing for me in terms of getting to clearly observe my relationship with the internet from a distance and to consider how I might love to restructure this relationship on the other side of this "fast". There were very interesting energetic sensations in my body and being from being back online...I noted how when I first reconnected, my whole being was still very calm, very relaxed, in no "rush" to get anything in particular done, taking things slowly, breathing easily...later as I got further into the connection, especially starting to work through the mound of emails accumulated over a week, I could feel my energy body getting tighter and it also felt more concentrated in my MIND, rather than lower in my heart and whole body - the experience was shifting... I worked through about half of the accumulated emails and then chose to leave it all and go to bed, yet discovered that my energy field was now altered...as I got into bed, there was a clear sense of agitation, restlessness, unsettled energy in my field...everything felt "higher up", in my mind, rather than a smooth sense of my energy field feeling evened out, serene and peaceful, as it had done the whole previous week...very interesting for me to observe... So, one conclusion I am drawing from this is the desire to outline for myself from now on specific times in any given day when I intend to be online/dealing with emails etc, then free myself from that connection completely the rest of the time...it feels especially in alignment for me right now to not be online towards the end of the day, as this seemed to have a distinct and unsettling effect on my energy field last night...


On July the 20th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
1 cup mandarin/granadilla juice
chunk of fresh papaya
2 cups coconut water blended with Elixir of The Lake
little bowl of energy soup, a little cucumber salad stuffed into nori sheets with Sea Clear and sauerkraut, followed by a sliced apple spread with almond butter
big mug of herbal tea
tastings of *amazing* raw creations at a delicious raw potluck spread: the "alfredo fettucine", pesto and pizza were all outstanding to my tastebuds, followed by some yummy frozen strawberry/mango cake :)
2 cups water


*I have been left with a new, even clearer sense of awareness of my energetic field from this "fasting" experience...this may be a little challenging to convey in words, let's see...there is a rich, full sense of stillness, presence and flow inside my being that was very nourished by this fasting experience - it feels very "filled-out" and more solid than ever before - call it the "still, small voice within", "intuition", "core being" or whatever word/phrase might make sense to you - there is a very full and expanded sense of that energy connection inside me after this fasting experience...and it feels clearly like smthg I want to maintain - it feels like a very strong "feminine" energy to me, which wants to be witnessed and involved...and interestingly I am ever-more able to notice small "disturbances" in this energy f!eld now, as and when smthg more "left-brain" is called to my attention, for example, or when the energy of a situation feels like it is getting "off-centre" in some way... This "feminine" flow energy feels very rooted in my whole torso, rather than up in my head/higher chakras... I feel very grateful for its presence and hold the intention to maintain this rich connection, choosing more time/space/flow in my life for "right-brain"/nourishing activities for me, rather than feeling more "fenced in" by left-brain things... ;) 

Ahhhhhhhh (deep breath)...I hope you enjoyed reading these musings and that perhaps smthg in here resonated for you too - I know for myself that this "fasting" has been a wonderful, very rich and nourishing experience, one filled with joy, gratitude, insights and upliftment and I feel that potentially my life will be permanently shifted into a different way of being after this week-long break - we'll see how things unfold from here... thank you :)

All love,
A. C. Stokes-Monaaaaaaaaaaaaarch :) xxx

With Gratitude

Mmmmmm, so...Thanksgiving tomorrow in the US...for those of you reading this who are celebrating this Holiday – ENJOY :) I hope you’re having a WONDERFUL time with loved ones, yummy delights and muchos gratitude flowing...
This seems to me like an ideal opportunity to share a few things I’m grateful for today...I’ll go for three things, as that’s the number I seem to most resonate with...
I’ll start with CLEARING :) As I mentioned recently, I’m in a major phase of physical clearing right now in my life – I currently have an enormous pile of accumulated stuff ready to give away – clothes, books, ornaments etc etc (including old coins from 30 different countries - hmmmm, what am I going to do with those...?)
I am SOOO excited to release all these things to whoever would love to receive them...and tomorrow night we’re actually going to have a girlie raw food potluck giveaway gathering, to give away/swap with each other whatever seems to want to flow onwards...and it’s a new moon in Sagittarius by the way tomorrow tooooooo – yummy time to connect with our si*stars* and release – I’m looking forward to it – and also to seeing the bare space on the floor that remains when all the stuff has moved on ;) FUN :)

on November the 25th I had:

1 quart water
1.5 cups greeeen juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, parsley, endive, fennel, ginger, lime
1 outrageously enormous and delicious hachiya persimmon
2 cups energy soup with flax crackers and okra on the side, followed by goji/carob yumballs
little mug of rooibus tea
3 cups water
1.5 cups greeeen juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, parsley, endive, fennel, ginger, lime
2 cups energy soup with flax crackers and okra on the side, followed by goji/carob yumballs
little mug of rooibus tea
3 cups water

Lalaalalalalalaaaaaa...
I am REALLY grateful that I’m soon going to be back in the arms of Mr. M, all being well :)
I have a ticket to take me to Mexico this Sunday, where the Monarch and I plan to find a little place to enjoy for the winter, or at least until we hear anything more abt my visa for the US... ;)
I’m visualising sun, beach, hammocks, coconuts, cucumbers, avocadoes, pineapples and papaya, thank you... :) FUN :)
Hmmmm, now where did I put the part of my brain that can speak Spanish...??? ;)

on November the 26th I had:

1 quart water
1.5 cups greeeen juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, parsley, endive, fennel, ginger, lime
15 spirulina ‘nuts’
1 persimmon and a chunk of gorgeous pineapple
2 cups energy soup with flax crackers and okra on the side, followed by goji/carob yumballs
little mug of rooibus tea
1 quart water
mug of rooibus tea

OOooOooOoo, I am VERY grateful for this video on Ted.com from school lunch chef Ann Cooper in California. WOW – this woman is AMAZING :) She is PASSSssSssSSsSssionate about feeding kids healthy food and she is making a HUGE impact on the way schools feed children in the Berkeley area. She makes food for over 7000 children a day, getting up at 4am to do so, all from scratch (with a team of course ;) She has brought in salad bars, ‘real cooking’, organic growing, composting, local food sourcing and so much more to the schools she works in...she has SO much info to share in this video – I’d really recommend it...it might not be an all–raw menu ;) – it is a MAJOR improvement though on what most kids seem to eat...
You can see the 20–minute video HERE.

ENJOY and happy waves of gratitude to all... :)
One love,
Angela. xxx


P.S. OOoo, by the way, I know some of you had issues with the link not working when you tried to sign up for a free account at PhilosophersNotes.com. Here is that link again:

http://philosophersnotes.com/rawreform

Hope that works dandy-ily for you now - mmmmm, another WONDERFUL free gift to give gratitude for... We are SO blessed... :)

Out with the Old, In with the New :)

If you’re on the main RawReform newsletter list, you’ll know already that there is a new RawReform Giveaway Contest underway - and it's all about creating the ULTIMATE Raw Food Kitchen :))) FUN :)))...here’s the info for it:

This month's RawReform Giveaway Contest is smthg I've actually been intending to put 'out there' for a very long time and...well, now feels like the time for it ;) I'm EXCITED to see the entries that come in for this...
The contest this time round involves designing YOUR 'ultimate' raw food kitchen space :))) Ideally we'd love to see drawings, if you're able to scan smthg and email it in; you could also DESCRIBE your ideal raw kitchen space, or I'm sure there must also be online programmes somewhere that let you design house spaces (oooo, HERE is one, for example)...however you're able to transmit your ideas to us, we're excited to see your input...
Please let your raw imaginations expand on this one ;) Most of us do NOT live in spaces that were designed with raw foodists in mind - so, forget tiny drying rack spaces and boarded over ovens - how would you create the ULTIMATE raw kitchen space, if you were starting with a blank canvas?
We very much look forward to seeing your ideas - please submit them to angela@rawreform.com before December the 20th.
The winner will be whichever design we feel resonates most as an 'ideal' raw food kitchen environment...and the prize will be either a $50 gift voucher for use towards any of the kitchen appliances in the RawReform Store OR a kitchen gift package of a spiral slicer, one of our amazing nut milk bags and a 'Raw Kitchen' permachart.
SO, get your pencils out and get scribbling, friends :)
FUN :)

(BTW – if you’re NOT on the main RawReform mailing list yet and would like to receive our (roughly monthly) newsletters, you can sign up HERE. :)


on November the 19th I had:

1 quart water
2 cups greeeeen juice: spinach, kale, Jerusalem artichoke, fennel, endive, celery, cucumber, ginger, lime
15 spirulina ‘nuts’
2 cups water
1 persimmon
2 cups energy soup with okra and flax crackers on the side, followed by a few yummy goji yumballs
little mug of rooibus tea
2 cups water
double shot of wheatgrass juice
a tasty apple
meal of flax crackers, tahini dip and veggie crudités with veggie-stuffed nori rolls, followed by a little raw chocolate spread on sweet flax crackers
3 cups water

Mmmmmmm, I'm going through a BIG stage of physical clearing right now. I find myself house-sitting alone in my parents' house in England. An opportune time indeed to lovingly cleanse out some of the antiquities of my youth ;) My parents moved to this house about 7 years ago, from the house where I'd grown up. I was living in Iceland at the time they moved and as I wasn't around, they simply packed up and brought ALL of my accumulated 'stuff' from that house to this. Eeeeeek ;) Now, I was quite a hoarder extraordinaire...even though my bedroom as a child was rather petite, it was PACKED to the max with stuff. Yesterday and today I have been delving into the process of working through all that stuff and releasing the majority of it.
It's so interesting to me to observe things now, as a 30-year-old, about the choices I made back then as a child/teenager. My book collection from back then, for example, is a peculiar mixture of girlie tales, murder stories, books on the 'paranormal'/after-life/ghosts, comedy books, pasta cookbooks, biographies of my 'heroes' (I doubt anyone could guess who is on that list - I'll give you one clue though - one of them was the English footballer 'Gazza' - LOL ;), travel guides, 'classics' like Jane Eyre and...Mills & Boon novels (??? what are they doing in there, I don't remember ever reading them - I guess I thought they were 'romantic' or smthg... ;)
As you might imagine, the vast majority of that book collection is on its way out of the door now ;) I do find it perturbing though to consider that this strange concoction was what I was 'feeding' my developing consciousness with back then...I'm not sure there was a single book I sorted through today that I would want to encourage any child/teenager to read... ;)
It was also very eye-opening (literally) to find a stack of postcards I used to have up on my bedroom walls - they were an equally bizarre collection of Salvador Dali landscapes, a child crying, pictures of old paintings - a battle scene with someone's head cut off, biblical scenes, people in stiff old clothes, looking rigid for portrait sittings and so on...very odd for me to think that those are the images I was feeding myself daily... ;)
Well, I am LOVING this process as it unfolds - so much to discover and release and enjoy...now, what to do with ALL my old childhood schoolwork - that's my next big question...


on November the 20th I had:

1 quart water
mug of rooibus tea
cup of greeeeen juice – celery, cucumber, cauliflower leaves, watercress, lettuces, lemon
2 cups energy soup with flax crackers and okra on the side, followed by some new goji yumballs, rolled in CAROB powder – YUMMMMMM :)
little cup of rooibus tea
1.5 quarts water (VERY thirsty today...)
2 cups green juice: celery, cucumber, lettuce, spinach, kale, Jerusalem artichoke, ginger, lime
2 cups green juice with apple: celery, cucumber, lettuce, apple
2 cups water


on November the 21st I had:

1 quart water
2 cups green juice: celery, cucumber, lettuce, spinach, kale, Jerusalem artichoke, ginger, lime
1.5 cups water
1 HUGE hachiya persimmon – DIVIIIIINE
1 cup water
2 cups energy soup with flax crackers and okra on the side, followed by some new goji yumballs, rolled in CAROB powder – YUMMMMMM :)
little cup of rooibus tea
1 quart water
1 cup green juice: celery, cucumber, lettuce, spinach, kale, Jerusalem artichoke, ginger, lime
1 pomegranate and 1/2 a mango
1 cup water

...and if you didn't see this in my newsletter too, there is also currently a new '15 for 15' Sale on at the RawReform Store right now...you can get 15 fun products for 15% off - here's the scoop:

I decided to pick 15 of our products that are either new and shiny OR that I feel would make great Holiday gifts - and we've put them all at 15% off for you... :)

Here's the list of what's on offer (in no particular order):

'Anastasia' book set
Lucuma powder
Dry skin brush
4-quart enema bag
Raw Foods for Busy People 2 - Green Magic
Sprouted cinnamon cereal
Macaforce vanilla spice
Hemp protein 50%
Luna nori crackers
Wild Power tea
Sproutein
Chia moon drops
Brazil nut protein powder
'Birth as we Know It' DVD
The Raw Revolution Diet book

I hope you stack up on any of those that sound yummy to you and ENJOY :)

CLICK HERE for the 15 FOR 15 Sale

MUAH,
All love and shiny cornerstones of joy to you...
Angelaalalaabababaabllalllaa. xxx