Some sound advice from Dr Wayne Dyer as we approach this new year

I don't usually repost other people's material, but I have found these Facebook comments from Wayne Dyer so helpful that I wanted to share them here with you in their entirety ....

Post by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer.

Happy new year day moment to you all!

Winter Warmers: Easy Veggie Soups

Photo source: www.planktonsoup.co.uk

I love hot soup this time of year! 

OK, so who doesn't?

And at a time of year when there seems to be too much unhealthy so-called "comfort food" pushed in our direction, it's particularly important to keep our tummies happy with something that'll do us some good.

But I do think it's odd that there are so many soup recipe books on the market these days. I searched the website of a certain online bookseller for "soup recipes" and got over 12,000 results. How many of those titles will include virtually identical recipes and photos? How many ways can there be to cook and blend some vegetables?

To my mind, home-made soup is about as simple and satisfying as hot-buttered toast - but less inflammatory and more nutritious, naturally.

So here it is, just for you, my super-simple 6-point recipe to turn any veggies into a delicious, warming meal, in next to no time.

1. Dry-fry* some onions in a large deep saucepan.
   You may also want to add spices such as ginger root, chillies, black pepper, turmeric, cinnamon etc, depending on which veggies you're planning to "soup".
2. Add your chopped veggies. Choose flavours that you think will work together. It's easy to get a feel for it. For example, hard vegetables such as carrot, celeriac and butternut seem to complement each other, whereas softer veg like mushrooms, leeks and courgettes generally work well together. Or you may just use 1 single veg per soup.
3. Sweat* the vegetables and onions together on a low heat with the lid on, for 5-10 minutes.
4. Add water and turn up the heat, remembering that the lower your cooking temperature, the more nutrients remain in the soup. Avoid allowing the water or soup to boil if you can - but don't stress it if you can't. It's only soup.
5. Now add in any herbs you may want. If you do this too early, they can lose their flavour. Which herbs? Again, use your nose. We all know that coriander is often paired with carrot, but don't forget other great options like parsley, thyme, basil, and mixes like Herbes de Provence or just good old "Mixed Herbs". Fresh is good but pre-chopped and frozen herbs are much more convenient, and probably fresher, unless you grow your own.
6. Blend the mixture when all the veggies have become a bit mushy. I prefer a hand-held "stick" or "wand" for this because it makes less washing up.
   Choose the consistency you want. I like thick, smooth soups, so I don't add anything, just blend it right there in the saucepan, then serve. For a more runny texture, add some more water before blending. If you like it chunky, you can hold back half your cooked veggies before blending, then add them in afterwards.

Cooking Terms:
*Dry-frying is frying without the use of oil, either in a very good dry non-stick pan or using a little water. It is also possible to add a teaspoon of healthy oil to the water, and take care to ensure that the oil + water suspension doesn't become too hot.

*Sweating vegetables is cooking on a low heat with just a little oil, to allow them to release their juices. I've found replacing the oil with a little water works just as well - just enough to prevent sticking, but not enough to boil the veggies.

A note for OMSers:
I don't use any oil while cooking soup, but I usually stir a teaspoon of linseed oil into my bowl immediately before eating. This way the oil isn't heated too much, I'm getting some of my daily 20ml requirement, and I'm slowing the absorption of the natural sugars by including some healthy fat.

Stoptoberfest

Into the Woods, October 2014 (C) S.Dickens

Well it's that time of year again: the nights are getting longer, the mornings mistier, and the leaves are drifting into satisfyingly crunchy piles. And here in the UK thousands of people are beginning a month-long festival of abstinence, under the banners of Stoptober and Go Sober. Motivations are various: for some it's about raising money for charity, for others a chance to give our poor besieged bodies and wallets a chance to recover from the summer before the excesses of Christmas begin. For many, I'm sure, it's an opportunity to weaken the power that these horribly toxic yet socially acceptable drugs seem to hold over us.

I'm really glad that I was able to stop smoking over a decade ago. I don't say that to be smug but just to let you know, if you're still stuck on the other side of that river, that it is possible to get across, and the grass really is greener on this side! Alcohol, I must confess, has been a trickier customer for me, but I think I can now say with some confidence that it no longer has a place in my life.

Thinking about the important and self-empowering step that these Stoptoberons and GoSoberites are taking, I found myself wondering: what compulsions am I still clinging to, what habits that no longer serve me?

I didn't have to think hard to identify the thing that I'm most "addicted" to. In this body, it causes horrendous, potentially lethal mood swings (sorry hubby), not to mention weight gain, bleeding gums and acne, and as a known inflammatory may even be exacerbating my MS. I'm talking of course about my arch nemesis: SUGAR. Of all my vices, this is the one that I would never have dreamt of relinquishing. But I have successfully let go of so many things that I would have considered "sacred cows" years ago: pizza, bread, cheese, even chocolate. So maybe now I am ready to stop hurting my body with sugar.

As for habits, it's clear to see that the habit that has the most profound impact on my health and wealth is my tendency to spend hours iGlued to my laptop watching junk TV or flittering around on Facebook. I know that doing so is depriving me of so much. Sadly my imagination is now so soggy from too much of the "idiot box", that I can't quite figure out what, exactly, I'm depriving myself of. But I remember vaguely that BC (before computers) I enjoyed a very interesting and active life. I wonder if I can still remember how to do that?

So, in the spirit of experimentation and in solidarity with those wise women and men who are turning their backs on their own addictions this October, I have decided that this month I will also drop my remaining addictions. I will consume no sugar, no junk TV (i.e. no to "junk", but yes to the occasional documentary or talk) and, toughest of all ... drum roll ... no Facebook!

No sugar, no TV, no FB for a month is an idea that fills me with horror. This is proof enough that I have an unhealthy attachment to these things. There is a rationale for cutting them all out at the same time though. As the Stoptoberons and GoSoberites probably know, or will soon discover, it's difficult to change an ingrained habit while still plugged into the media machine that got you hooked in the first place. Easier to just drop the whole lot, and as the old kids' TV programme used to say "Go out and do something less boring instead".

With less time wasted in front of the goggle box, I hope I'll be able to write more, so you may see some updates about my experiment here on the blog. Or I may be too busy writing my book, finding a job, walking in the woods, or skydiving...

In the mean time, you know where to find me - I'll be in "real time". Maybe I'll see you there?

Watch and Learn

UPDATE

Tickets now available for UK Premiere: 9th Oct, London.

Online Release now expected: 15th Oct. 

The Connection: mind your body 
A new film about using your mind to heal your body.

Just a quick one to let you know about this new documentary due out next month. It's all about the connection between the mind and the body - and the good news that this offers all of us living with a chronic condition.

The documentary features inspiring success stories and international experts in this growing field, including Prof. George Jelinek, who devised the OMS programme. It also provides an overview of the current state of the new science of mind-body medicine.

Watch trailer here.

Online Release due: 15th October 2014.

Live cinema screenings in USA, UK and Australia.

UK screening: 9th October 2014, Kensington, London - details.

A moment of choice

Sometimes it’s amazing how easy it is to take for granted just how far I’ve come on this journey back to health, even to the point of sulking when this “miraculous” healing doesn’t fit my schedule. Sometimes I am ashamed of my own ingratitude at the great fortune I’ve had.

This is what depression does: it hides the good stuff and emphasises the bad. But I’m learning that life always gives me the opportunity to choose a different reaction, to step back and look again. That’s why I’m sharing this one with you, dear readers, because I think it’s good to be honest about just how stupid we can be sometimes, and how simple it can be to make a better choice.

I walked for over two hours today, across country, up and down hill, with nothing but a five minute sit-down along the way. I didn't use a stick or lean on my husband. I didn't stumble. I didn't feel pain.

I feel miserable, defeated. Why? Because after walking for over two hours, I am now too exhausted to walk back. I'm sitting here in the middle of nowhere waiting helplessly while my husband walks all the way back to the campsite alone to get the car so that he can pick me up and drive me back to base. I wanted to train for my sponsored walk today, but I failed completely, and ruined my husband's day in the process.

Just a few hours ago I was blissfully happy, relishing the warm autumn sunshine, the spectacular Carmarthenshire countryside, and the unfamiliar sense of freedom, being able to just keep walking without worrying, without pain. What changed? Has all that disappeared?

By dosh13, via Wikimedia Commons

Suddenly the early evening sun catches the leaves and grass around me, in four dozen greens and yellows, and I hear myself exhale deeply. A surprising little thought slips quietly into the back row of my mind: What if I chose not to see this as a failure? What if I could play "Pooh" in this story instead of "Eeyore"?

It's a seductive idea. I try it on for size, testing how it might be to feel "ok anyway", checking that it will take the weight of my cynicism. It holds; I can trust this. I realise that it's safe to make a new choice, and let go and relax into that.

I begin to notice more: the sounds of the kids playing in this park where I'm sitting, the heaviness beginning to release my tired feet and legs. I check my watch and realise that my husband will get here soon. I'd better make the most of this moment of quiet in the sunshine while I can. I begin to feel excited to be here in this little village park in the Welsh countryside, so far from the racket and tension of the city, and the gloom of my ordinary life. An hour where I can only sit and rest, and “just be” in this moment - what a gift!

I walked for over 2 hours today, across country and up and down hill, with nothing but a five minute sit-down along the way. I didn't use a stick or lean on my husband. I didn't stumble. I didn't feel pain.

I feel proud of a great achievement and grateful for my health. What a difference a moment makes.

K.B.O.

I'm a great believer in mottos. I love words and I am always collecting new favourites: words and sayings that grab me for one reason or another. I especially cherish the ones that make me laugh or help me to feel strong.

So it's quite fitting that I recently adopted a bon mot of the inimitable Winston Churchill, who would sign off his messages and phone calls with the acronym "KBO". It meant, of course, "Keep Buggering On" and brilliantly encapsulated the kind of grim determination that saw Britain through the war years. I thought I only liked it because it made me laugh, but I've just had a clear lesson in what it actually means in practice.

Yesterday, I was so exhausted, so totally debilitated by this MS fatigue, that I decided to scrap all my plans for the day and stay in bed. It was not a happy day. I don't fare well when I'm home alone for long periods, with no energy to do anything "useful". I don't imagine anyone does. And doubtless it contributes to my depression. So last night I made a gentler, less intensive plan for today. Crucially, it included my first visit to a mindfulness class that I've just discovered.
When I woke up this morning feeling even more exhausted than the day before, I was absolutely gutted. Another day of cancelled plans, mooching around the house feeling sorry for myself? Initially, yes, that's exactly how it was.

BUT THEN...

After a bit of complaining to the OH, a couple of hours of sulking, and a super-nutritious juice, I suddenly found the will to force myself to leave the house. Yes, my legs felt like lead weights, but I wanted to go to that class, dammit! And getting there has made all the difference to my day. I feel at least 20% more energetic than when I woke up, and 100% more positive.
Did I drop off during the meditations? I think so.
Am I still exhausted? Yes.
Do I now feel better, emotionally and physically, than if I'd stayed in bed? Absolutely!

Of course I'll now have to make sure I don't overdo it and I get appropriate rest tonight, but I'm beginning to understand that for me, self-care doesn't mean wrapping myself in cotton wool and it doesn't mean always pulling out of something just because I'm feeling rough.

Today I learned that KBO is more than just a wry motto. For Churchill's Britain, it meant fighting on even when they felt there was no fight left in them. For me, it means marshalling the power of my will to push through all the obstacles that would prevent me doing what I know I need to do to get better. Even if part of me doesn't want to do it.

Too stressed to meditate? Try this.

Since I started thinking about this post yesterday, I've had a perfect opportunity to test this out today, and can absolutely swear that it works!

If, like me, you ever find yourself too stressed or too busy to sit down and meditate, you can still calm your mind and your body using this insanely simple technique. I discovered it in Dr Andrew Weil's audiobook, "Breathing: The Master Key to Self-Healing", which has a whole toolkit of breathing techniques. But the one I'm playing with this week is, in my opinion, the simplest and most powerful.
Dr Weil calls it "Making your breath quieter, slower, deeper and more regular". Mmm, needs a catchier name perhaps. I'll call it the breathing magic trick.

All you do is exactly what it says. Sitting in the comfortable position of your choice - it's probably best with a straight but relaxed spine, but let's not get too hung up on that - you simply slow down your breaths, making each one a bit longer, a bit deeper, a bit quieter. Continue for as long as it's enjoyable. It doesn't matter what your mind does while you're doing this; it's a body-based practice. It's not even meditation, if that's a word that freaks you out. But it does have an amazing effect on your body, and then a knock-on effect on your mind. Try it and see what I mean!
To really have fun with this, I combined it with something I picked up in a course recently, which suggested aiming to slow your breaths to 4 per minute. That's 4 inhalations and 4 exhalations. It sounded a bit extreme at the time, but I tried it and it really isn't. I simply look at the second hand on my watch as I breathe in quietly, slowly and deeply for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 seconds ... pause for 2 seconds, breathe out for 6 seconds, pause for 2. Before you know it, you're breathing at 4 breaths a minute. Apparently doing this regularly calms the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the fight-and-flight response. So it helps to combat stress, adrenal fatigue and inflammation.

I don't know if that's true, but I do know that when I tried this today, in the midst of a stressful day involving a funeral, a 6 hour train journey and the London Underground at rush hour, it instantly calmed me down and kept me calm. And I was able to continue breathing slowly and calmly even while negotiating a path through the commuters in the tube station.

There's definitely something magic about this breathing business. I think I'm going to be hooked. I can think of worse addictions to have!