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

Would You Rather Be Peaceful or "Right"? ;)

Recently, one reader, Gregory, sent me a very interesting list for some 'alternative' uses for cucumbers, other than eating them (which we have been doing with joy almost every day recently ;)
Here were a few of my favourite cucumber tips from Gregory - I haven't tried to verify any of these yet - I think they're interesting though - lemme know if they work for you ;)

* Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.
* Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.
* Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.
* Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!
* Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won't leave streaks and won't harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.
* Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

ENJOY ;)

on August the 13th I embraced:

1 quart water
3 cups goji juice with marine phytoplankton
2 cups greeeeen juice
bowl of yummy daaaaaark cherries
3 cups greeeeeeen juice
2 cups water
shared nori roll meal with Mr. M: *amazing* reed avocado, dulse, sprouts, chopped cucumber and curry-kraut stuffed into nori sheets with kale chip samples on the side, followed by 3tbsp acai powder ;)
2 cups water


It's that time again: voting is ON right now for the 2010 VegNews Veggie Awards :)

You can vote until August 31st on categories such as your favourite veg*n foods, restaurants, chefs, books and so on...AND there are quite a few raw food options amongst the answers to choose from ;) You can also ADD in your own raw-based answers by choosing the 'other' answer option on many of the questions, if you prefer ;)
There are some GREAT prizes on offer too, for those who share their votes, including a global getaway, veg*n foods, books and more...you can get in on the voting at this link HERE - enjoy ;)


on August the 14th I was blissed with:

1 quart water
3 cups greeeeeeen juice
bowl of YUMMmMmmmmmmy dark cherries
handful of fresh figs
2 tbsp spirulina crunchies
2 cups water
random cucumber salad meal with Mr. M and his family - cucumber salad stuffed into nori sheets, followed by 3 tbsp acai powder
mug of herbal tea
1 cup water


on August the 15th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
samples of stone fruit at market, followed by a fresh fig FEAST w/ Mr. M :)
3 cups greeeeeen juice
1 cup greeeen juice
shared nori roll meal with Mr. M: avo, curry-kraut, cucumber slices, sprouts, lecithin and dulse stuffed into nori sheets, followed by sample of vanilla bean living nutz ;)
2 cups water


LOVE, love, LOVE this passage I received by email recently from the Hazelden "Gift for Today" messaging service:

"In every conflict, ask, "Would I rather be peaceful or right?"

The power of detachment, the willingness to choose to be peaceful rather than make every conversation a battleground, is freedom at its very best. There is no mystery in how this is done. It's a decision any one of us can make as often as the opportunity to disagree comes up.

We don't really even have to hope for a more peaceful life. It's ours just as quickly as we make the choice to want something different in our daily interactions. Remember, those who come forth provide us with opportunities for practicing peace."

I *love* this concept of "would I rather be peaceful or 'right'?" ;) I've received the same message before via Abraham-Hicks too...I feel this is such a vital question to ask oneself in interactions with other humans... "would I rather be peaceful or 'right'?"
So many people seem to be remarkably attached to feeling that they are 'right' and/or have 'won' in a situation...yet who is really 'winning' anything, if someone in your context is feeling uncomfortable, unhappy or shamed?
I choose peace, for myself and those around me...what do you choose? ;)

All love and reverberations of delight,
A. Stokes-Monaaaaaaarrrrrrrrch. xxx