Day 6 Juice Feast -- Back in the Real World

What my mind kept telling me all day (Source)

Monday, Monday. I usually have every other Monday off. Today was not that Monday. I woke up and enjoyed the process of getting my juices made and getting ready for work. With graduate school for the last year or so I often wake up late and just as often rush around with barely enough time to get myself ready and out the door. I've been arriving at work and leaving work on a sliding scale of 15 minutes (I arrive 15 minutes late, I leave 15 minutes late) so much that it felt almost odd to show up precisely on time today. That probably has something to do with daylight starting so much earlier. Nevertheless I felt great this morning when I walked out the door laden with 4 quarts of juice, a half gallon of water and a half gallon of fermented lemon cabbage water (didn't get to this one today) and 1 quart of Schizandra Warrior Juice (sipped a little here and there).  By the time I arrived at work I didn't feel so great and not from carrying all those liquids. I am hoping it's just the lethargy I feel from where my energy is right now. One thing this last week off taught me is just how tired I am.


I wasn't hungry today but once I took my JF into the real world I started to feel the old habits to snack popping into my head.  I had funny thoughts like oh...that bag of potato chips won't throw me off a JF. Yeah, "bad" me was in my head--telling lies! I tossed these thoughts aside over a dozen times today. The JF does permit some solids in small amounts. These are blue green algae, 1/4 tsp kelp powder and 1 TBL bee pollen. I am taking these daily, the first two mix well in drinks.  It helps to chew these things. Of course I chew the juice too--but there is little give and take in the process.

Reading about the abundance of the JF linked me back to a book I started this weekend. At a health conference last month Norm Shealy (I am seriously crushing on this cutie!) presented topics from his book Life Beyond 100. In his book he talks about what longevity really is. It was such a good definition I honestly had to stop and ask myself if I want a long, long life. I don't have an answer but I immediately thought about how I would have to reformulate my retirement plan if their was any possibility I live to 140 or 160.  Even the National Geographic is on to this longer life deal. Shealy goes on to to catch me in this common mistake and talks about this as an issue of abundance: "For many decades, the perennial fear of the elderly has been the poverty that seems to be associated with advanced age--another paradox. Overall, those over age sixty-five are, at this time in America, the wealthiest segment of our society. However, those over sixty-five who have not accumulated significant wealth live in states of constant stress, fearing they will outlive their resources." I have more reading and reflection to do but the real world has jarred me into realizing right now with this JF and my potentially long (strike out really long--I smoked) future I do not have an abundance mindset.

Setting my Juice Feast Start Date (Beltane)

Siberian Tiger Running Through Snow (Tom Brakefield)

I have set my start date for May 1, 2013. I decided on this date for several reasons: it's close enough to my graduation date, it's in the spring but most importantly for the Celtic holiday of Beltane.  As I started this post the image of a tiger came to me so I have decided to invite the tiger to walk with me and guide me with its potent energy on this Juice Feasting journey.

I wasn't sure what the tiger message was, so I looked it up in Ted Andrews' Animal Speak and Steven Farmer's Pocket Guide to Spirit Animals.  Even though my Chinese astrology sign is a tiger (I resonate with this description) I know very little about the animal. Andrews reminds us it is a solitary animal (a JF can definitely be a solitary endeavor), they are excellent swimmers (incorporate the water element), they have immense territories and can cover huge distances in one day (immense territories: that would be my personality; cover huge distances: that would be a JF). Farmer's take on a tiger showing up in your life is:

"You'll soon find  a way of healing from a physical condition or emotional disturbance very quickly, followed by a noticeable increase in vitality."

"You'll be taking a long journey soon, one that will be refreshing and restorative."

"Get ready for a new adventure, one that may present some challenges, but will introduce dramatic changes in your life."

After opening myself to my intuition and messages I am no longer surprised how things line up in the Universe to support me--and show me I am on the right trail.  Every one of these things describes JFing. My tiger meter is up and running.

Source

I have felt a strong connection to the ancient Celtic wisdom for sometime. One of it's major days of celebration for renewal is Beltane or May 1.  Beltane is a ritual ripe in fertility and renewal. It is also square in the middle between the Spring Solstice and Summer Equinox.

"This holiday signifies the beginning of summer in the old European growing season, the time for sowing seeds. Ritual's purpose was to ensure a healthy crop and a bountiful harvest in the late summer and fall." Sharon Hidalgo, The Healing Power of Trees.

Furthermore it is a period where dreams are planted and great attention is paid to listening and watching for messages and guidance. "During this time blessings are sought and gods and spirits invoked." And it is a time to light the sacred fire. John Matthews, The Summer Solstice.

The holiday is a metaphorical journey for me in celebrating the renewal of mother earth, abundance in planting seeds (i.e. my new life and dreams) and love for the rebirth of abundant new life that the sun brings. Fertility rites (copulating in the forest or on your garden) are something I'll leave for the rest of the Beltane celebrators.

Setting My Juice Feast Theme (Acceptance)

                                                     

With a lifelong love of literature, managing complex projects and studying organizational leadership I've come to learn the value of setting a theme around multi-step projects.  When it comes to growing spiritually through fasting its imperative I choose something about myself which I would like to improve. Doing so I find I root myself into a growth strategy that, even if it doesn't stick the first time around (and I no longer have that "bad habit"), it's a bit like a piñata and I've given it a good whack. I know myself and I know that in time I will overcome it.

I've set my theme for the upcoming Juice Feast. It is acceptance. I seek to accept everything exactly as it is.  This is not blind acceptance or stoic stiff-upper-lip acceptance, but an acceptance born of exploration of my emotions, my ingrained habits and thought patterns.  As I mentioned above it may not stick but I will vow to be accepting during my entire Juice Feast in the best and most honest way I can. I am not one who commonly makes lifetime vows. However trying on a good practice almost always impacts my entire life in a positive way.

I've chosen acceptance in honor of my grandfathers--both have passed.  My grandfathers were my lifetime guides to do the right thing and aspire to be a better person. And when I wasn't following that path all too closely--they accepted me completely. They accepted everyone around them.


My maternal grandfather retired early and I followed him around from the time I was four years old until I sat holding his hand while he was dying--all the while trying to write his eulogy in my mind.  He spent a lifetime wanting to (and succeeding) at being the best at what he did. He endured hardships yet he was kind to those who wronged him. He was kind to everyone.

He was one of many sons on a farm but volunteered to go to WWII because he recognized he had the fortitude (unlike his brothers) to do it.  He was one of the many in that generation who were truly heroes--smart with homestead common sense, principled and willing to work himself to the bone.  While on the Asian front his ship's lights were out one night and another ship plowed right through it--and everything sunk to the bottom. He and his unit were shipwrecked on an island with cannibals. Besides his first sergeant duties, to keep his mind occupied he made two airplanes out of spent ammo and an artillery shell for the base--he gave one to me. It's brass so I find myself polishing it when I need courage.

My paternal grandfather dropped out of high school and enlisted in the Marine Corps (of course lying about his age). As a former Marine myself (who graduated high school early and enlisted in the Marine Corps) I can only imagine he got his butt handed to him on many occasion during that condensed boot camp. Grandpa always credited the Marine Corps and good parents for keeping him on the straight and narrow--so I suppose he held no ill will towards his drill instructors. Grandpa was also a farm boy and found himself on his way to Iwo Jima driving an amphibious vehicle. Luckily my grandpa survived one of the fiercest battles.

Grandpa was the type of person who emanated country kindness. In his adult life when he returned from the war and started a family he was a cop in a small town. I met a man who knew my grandpa when the man was a boy. This man was regularly beaten by his father and my grandpa would often find the little boy crying and hurt. Sure my grandpa did his job but all the man remembered was that my grandpa cared for him and showed him kindness.  He was always the type of person who would show up when things looked bleak and ask: How can I help? Unfortunately grandpa couldn't hear a word I said (the tone of my voice isn't too friendly to artillery wrecked eardrums) but we had a life long correspondence and a family translator when we were in person.

Both of my grandpa's died the day after their birthdays. Both in June, and one year apart.  I was devastated. In the space of 3 years I was divorced, moved across one state, endured the startling death of my cat-daughter, completed university, lost my first grandparent, moved across the United States, started an internship and lost another grandparent.  I say my grandpas were my guides but I came to realize they still are. I missed them terribly until one day I realized they were in my heart and always would be. A year after their deaths I started to bounce back into life.  I tried many things to overcome the grief yet little progress was holding. I was grossly overweight for the first time in my life (50 pounds!) and started working on slimming down and healing. I tried many flushes, fasts and detoxes but I wasn't making much progress. The reason I say my grandpas are still guiding me is that in overcoming the grief I found raw foods. Through raw foods and my healing journey I've had to determine my own future rather than following in the footsteps of the two greatest men I've ever known. And here I am...committing to a practice of acceptance.


                                                               

More Fasting...

With the Juice Feast coming closer and closer (I am undecided on the actual start date but it will be sometime this Spring or Summer) I wanted to get in the swing of fasting. I am in my last course for graduate school and it is a capstone class requiring about 3 hours a week. This gives me a lot more time and energy for healing.

As I prepare I feel a bit like Hebert's Amazon Preparing for Battle which I saw last weekend at the National Gallery of Art. I fasted on tea and water for two and a half days two weekends ago, I am fasting for three days this weekend on teas, water, and Blue-Eyed Spirulina Goddess Juice. These were planned fasts. I decided to throw in an unplanned for juice fast next weekend after I saw New Family Naturals Juice Cleanses. I am so happy to find these services in this area!

I've also been reading up on fasting. I'm reading The New Life Fasting Guide and I love this passage:

     "With fasting your quality of life increases, and many illnesses can be halted, even healed. Fasting remains a true adventure in a world where the highest mountain peaks have been climbed and the deepest oceans have been crossed.  On a fast, if you are able and willing to travel, you will discover nothing less than the amazing and beautiful landscape of your deepest self, your soul and a new you will emerge, giving way to a life lived more fully."

Yes I am fasting three short times this month which may seem excessive if you are unaccustomed to fasting, however for me in my current condition it is just right. After reading Patricia Bragg's book on Apple Cider Vinegar and seeing that she fasts one day a week, I considered trying that. So far, it hasn't happened. Maybe in February. In the meantime I am still intent on living "a life lived more fully."