Succulent Living

Today I watched this awesome Youtube video and it really highlighted my theme in life right now .. its all about SUCCULENT LIVING!  

SARK highlights how succulent living is about nourishing yourself from the INSIDE so that you can give LIFE and FULFILMENT to the outer life.  Its about being WILD and FREE.

SARK writes love letters to herself.. and from this she grows, thrives and GIVES... She dares to dream and be outrageous.

How am I living a Succulent life?

This week I made a HUGE decision for our family (with Hubby's blessing of course);  In 2014 I have decided to Home Educate my children - removing them from mainstream schooling.

Many people ask me WHY would I pull my kids out of mainstream schools?; lose my freedom and so called RISK my children's ability to socialise and fit into the world.

Its becoming clear to me how many of the people asking don't seem to live from a sense of freedom or self security but are controlled and stuck in a conformity to what they perceive is the "norm" of societies expectation.

Funny thing is most people who know me know I'm pretty much an alternative lifestyle person.  Rarely normal and rarely mainstream.  Very little in my life has been normal since I can remember .  My life has been built for purpose.. The Sarah WAY not the nice polite society way.

So... WHY am I pulling my children out of mainstream school and home educating?

Because I want them to live a SUCCULENT LIFE! Organic Free Ranging!

You can read a thousand papers on the pro's and cons of school based education and home based education and tell me your opinion but actually I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!.. the way we choose to raise our kids does not have to be confined to a political powered mob rules one size fits all regime of education.  This does not prepare us for "the world"  the only thing that prepares us for the world is exposure to many things, gentle guidance to how things work, sometimes confronting outrageous things too.  its about learning LOTS of information,  practising techniques of communication and basically BEING LOVED, APPRECIATED, RESPECTED and Courageous!

Modern educations methods are based on industrial revolution based methods where childcare needed to be done outside the home.. in a school so parents could work; people had the money to educate their children and many were not able to educate their child them self due to their own lack of resources.  

Schooling became the Battery Farm of Education.  Unless you can afford to find one that's alternative and fits you, you are stuck with sending them to the Battery Farms run by the Government or like me found an awesome Catholic education institute who have the community side of life I desired for my kids but lack resources for supplying them with individual attention for their personal needs.

My children are unique individuals and are a blessing and responsibility that I don't take lightly.  We are in a position where I can be their education provider using the resources widely available.  I wont be doing this alone and have employed a crack team of curriculum providers who will help.  BUT the difference is they wont be bogged down in the petty boredom of an invisible life they have been living AT A SCHOOL.    

Oh and also....I am COMPLETELY CAPABLE OF DOING THIS!

I will be raising FREE RANGE children;  Not ones stuck in a battery farm...They will be OUT IN THE WORLD, learning about communication through every day activities like Grocery Shopping, going to the pool whenever we feel like it, going to the library, travelling to see family interstate during TERM TIME.. , visiting other home ed families, going to church run activities and numerous other activities that we decide to be involved with - they will also be learning to cook, clean and LIVE every day not just stuck cramming those life lessons into the few pre/post school hours that at this point has been when they are most tired and cranky and unwilling. 

My kids will still be learning their educational lessons of Maths, English, Science, History etc but at THEIR level and THEIR pace.

Yes I am sure plenty of criticism is yet to come my way.. the nay-sayers and pooh-poohers will continue to scoff at my ability and alternative decisions but ya know what.. THEY ARE MY KIDS, THIS IS MY FAMILY and its my choice!.  

Education for us will be Organic and tailored to fit the individual 

My children won't miss out on anything because their life will be full every day.. and I get to watch it first hand and be involved.  

And don't spout that single word at me - SOCIALISATION... what does that even mean?.. seriously.. do you think just because a kid is in school they WANT to play with 100 other kids their own age.  Do MY CHILDREN even do this now.  Actually NO THEY DON'T.. at present my two kids in the small blocks of free time they get at school play with maybe one or two children - whom they have outside school relationships with also!   

Free Range schooling means during the day my boys will have each other.. learning to look out for one anothers needs is far more life sustaining than fly by night friendships that they have no control over.  Making a million friends in a school does not give you a guaranteed life time of not being lonely.  My boys are more the type that are lonely in a crowd than secure!

You see.. this is NOT about ME.. its about them and its about US... if you know me then you will know I don't see this as a LOSS to my child free time.. its a GAIN to my day.. I don't have to be alone doing it, and nor do they.. and we can be Free Ranging together!

PS:  This is NOT saying Battery Education is WRONG or that those who choose it for their kids are WRONG.. its just not RIGHT for US!

Consistency is the key

I am really learning (maybe the hard way) that the key to success in changing your life is being consistent.. Little and often is the key for me..

Its too tempting to jump in head first to a new venture, new lifestyle choice or new regime and then run out of steam when things seem mundane or seem to stop working.

Noticing change is easy at first as change is by very definition a difference.  But when the change becomes the normal its easy to lose sight of the benefits.

So this has been my focus of late.  Embracing change and its benefits by gentle reflection on the journey travelled so far.  Praising the change and its results and then redefining my goals so that the changes can develop and evolve.

Those who know me and have known me a long time will say I am NOT the person I was 5 years ago or even 12 months ago.  I have evolved into the person I am wanting to be and no longer the result of reaction and manipulations.  

Consistency is more than developing a habit because for me habits are boring.. and often offer no challenge or motivation.  Results are the key for me and these can come sometimes when life is more chaotic than habitually predictable.

Getting to know yourself is really important.. what makes me tick and what makes others tick are always different and the highlight of life in the last couple of months has been the learning of who exactly I am.. not just my personality and, my likes and dislikes but the core aspects of my temperament and nature.  My emotional needs and personality traits.  

I have an amazing Life Coach who I have known a very long time.  We have a personal history as work colleagues over 20 yrs years ago and yet working with him on a personal level today is refreshing...  as my Life Coach there are no preconceptions or judgements. He sees me as I am today and is helping me embrace life with new eyes.

Today I realised that having a tool kit for emotional health and well being are only as good as the frequency I use them.  If I don't use the tools then I lose their benefit over time.  The tools for me are not FIXING a problems they are helping me consistently live.  

I think I wanted a quick FIX for many areas in my life that I was not satisfied with.. but the reality is I don't need to fix them I need to see them with new eye, new perspective and be grateful for what I have in life.

Consistency in tools like Meditation, visualisation, grounding my soul, praying and gratitude all have an resonance that makes my life more satisfying, successful and peaceful.  But without consistently using these tools I have found slowly negative influences can creep in.

Complacency and laziness are probably the two potent vices I am vulnerable to.   I have found I need to be aware and use my toolkit to keep status quo in my life.

Chickens, Gardening, and Contentment..

Some times life is so busy you dont have time to stop and dwell.. you just LIVE and its such a nice place to be right now.. LIVING. .. LOVING... LEARNING..

Chickens...

I had the privilege of attending a Keeping Backyard Chickens workshop and it was the best motivator for starting our own backyard Egg Factory.. now known as Chooktopia

This is the Entry to Chooktopia

The residents of Chooktopia

Josie (she is the Queen), Valerie (second in charge) Wilma, Maude(sometimes called Julia) and Orphan Annie

My Chicken Coop war wound.. bending over and whacking my head on the coop entry flap door was not the smartest thing I have done.. I saw stars and the bruise has lasted a week so far!

I have learned so much from my chickens.  I appreciate them so much and my passion for eating fresh organic eggs is now a dream fulfilled   The energy those chickens spend on producing me these protein packs is amazing.. I have given them the best living space I can and they are in chooky heaven aka Chooktopia.

I have a table and chairs just near the chook run and watch them. They are so interesting to watch.. and its kind of therapeutic too.

This month I took the boys on a daytrip with www.loganfoodgardeners.org to 

Zaytuna Permaculture Institute Research Farm.  

We had a great day and learned so much more about sustainable living and permaculture.

On the Gardening front....

Locals were cutting down trees so Tom asked the lumberjacks for some of their mulch.  They turned up in a massive mulch truck and dumped Mulch Mountain on our front garden.  We now no longer have ANY grass in the front or back.. its all a thick 10cm+ layer of mulchy goodness!

My Trifid Cherry Tomatoes are producing massive amounts of fruit..

 I'm going to make a Relish.. 

I did some gardening with my sons Prep class at school.. We made a mini veg garden. 

I am very excited to be getting into the world of UpCycling in my garden and have created a vertical garden out of milk bottles.  Currently I have strawberries and Rocket Lettuce .

The plan is to cover this fence with milk bottle pot plants.

I had the privilege also of being a speaker as the Logan Council Environment departments workshop on Sustainable Food Gardening.   I gave a presentation on Upcycling and how gardening does not have to be expensive.  

Contentment....

This month has been a month of quietness in my heart.  Contentment.  I have been super busy between Chicken keeping, gardening, dog sitting my BFF's poodle,  we also have silk worm eggs hatching.  Basically life has been way too busy to be dwelling on negativity.

I am still adding nutritional value to my life, meditating and juicing.  My Gabriel Method learning has become part of my life now.  I am LIVING the Gabriel Method.. 

no longer the student but a participant!

Life in balance is a life well lived!

You know when its time....

Today I had my long anticipated phone consultation with the very special and most amazing Jon Gabriel.  It was the last part of my Case Study program that I had left.  A one on one consultation that I had waited and held off having till I felt ready to make the most of it.

Of late, life has been so good.  Yes there are ups and downs but my healthy handling of them has been a real achievement and testimony to the holistic benefits of the Gabriel Method.

As time goes by habits and life for me can get a little boring.  I am the kind of person always looking for the "next big thing" or the next bit of excitement.  I am learning this more and more about myself.

Recently I felt I was slipping back into some not so healthy habits, nutritionally, mentally and physically.  And I am so grateful that I now have such a good self awareness to address things before they become the next big failure!.  (habit of the past).

I have allowed Gluten to invade my life (especially wheat)... not so much like before but I'm realising that I have been giving myself permission to eat bad food (a food that is bad for my health) and this in turn has become a bad habit.  

Finding that fine line between Self discipline, self control and self loving can be really hard to do sometimes!

What I have to often do is STOP.. LISTEN .. LEARN .. then ACT... its a process that takes time to do sometimes and I don't always give myself space to do it.  But I knew 2 weeks ago it was time to STOP.. listen to my heart and my self talk... learn some lessons and ACT...

This lead me to seek help from the most amazing NLP (Neuro linguistic programming) coach and good friend Joel de la Cruz from:

 http://www.yourrelationshiporacle.com/ 

Joel and I go way back and its been such a pleasure to see how smart he is when it comes to people and relationships - so its no surprise he is known as "The Relationship Oracle". 

Joel and I had a NLP session where he helped me identify some stuff that I actually didn't fully appreciate about myself. 

After I had my NLP session with Joel I knew it was time to speak to Jon Gabriel.. to take my Nutritional and Body journey to the next level.. to REALLY show myself how important I am.. and worthy of living happy, content and healthy.  

Today was the day I had my consultation with Jon.  He is AWESOME, AMAZING, Inspiring, generous and totally "gets me".  I can chat easily and freely with him.. and he never judges but he never lies either.. he will tell you what he thinks.. and I like that!.

Today as expected (and if I am honest wanted) Jon told me if there was just ONE thing he wanted me to change forever that would be to NO LONGER eat Gluten.. which, I had adopted that lifestyle once before but it had crept back in when I got too lazy, life got too busy or too hard.. BUT.. I needed to hear this from the one person who could tell me to NOT do something and I actually DO listen to..  I allow Jon to have this power over me because I absolutely trust him.  Jon actually had a few golden nuggets of advice that I will be implementing them.  

The more I trust myself the more I understand that The Gabriel Method, though a program of adding.. there are some things I choose to ditch too.. BUT it does not need to seem like a DIET.. because there is NOTHING diet about it.  I can trust that its a tool box.. a tailor made set of value and principles that I have adopted to let me be the healthiest mind, body and soul.

I don't think Jon fully knows the power he has over me and the respect I have for him.. I know Jon as absolutely trustworthy and that is a place held by just a few people in my life.   

Over time I may not have so much contact directly with The Gabriel Method as I just take on the lifestyle as my own but I have decided that is OK..  When something becomes too conditional in my life I know then I have made it into a "diet" or diet mindset.  But the fact that its been well over a year since starting to learn the Gabriel Method and I'm STILL doing it.. STILL living it.. and STILL LOVING it. AND ITS WORKING!!   I know its a Keeper.. and that's what counts.. and its through CONSISTENCY and NOT complacency that I will achieve my goal of being a medically healthy weight, a well balanced emotionally stabled and loving friend, wife, sister, mother.

Consistent Living - Keep it, Switch it, Ditch it!

Today I was doing some gardening.. It is always good for my soul and helps me relax and meditate.

I found today's Theme that comes to my mind is "Consistency"  so I thought I would meditate on it some more and thought I would write about what Consistency means to me and why for me it's the Key to following the Gabriel Method.

I like to look for inspiring photos or quotes to go with my blog and this led me to this photo:

I decided to look these verse up and smile...

Philippians 1:27-30

New Life Version (NLV)

Fight for the Faith

27 Live your lives as the Good News of Christ says you should. If I come to you or not, I want to hear that you are standing true as one. I want to hear that you are working together as one, preaching the Good News. 28 Do not be afraid of those who hate you. Their hate for you proves they will be destroyed. It proves you have life from God that lasts forever. 29 You are not only to put your trust in Him, but you are to suffer for Him also. 30 You know what the fight is like. Now it is time for you to have a part in it as I have

As a Christian I know too well the Truths of the Gospel and living a Christ Centred life.. and one thing I have also known for the 35 years I have known Christ as my Lord; is that Consistency is a common theme. 

Consistency means to me developing GOOD habits that are LIFE GIVING, Loving and Honouring (to oneself and others).  

With my new life using the Gabriel Method, consistency is a common theme too.. which probably why it makes so much sense to me and why for the last year I have stuck with this as a lifestyle choice.   

Habits are a normal part of life a healthy life.  Choosing which ones to adopt and keep is something that I have discovered to be a process that can take time.

Habits can take 21 days to establish but Consistency is the KEY.  

The choice is yours if you want to develop a habit or change anything.  

It's my choice TODAY.. to live Consistently, honouring to my Beliefs, making good choices to improve and promote my Health,  and to increase my Happiness through loving!.

Anything that tries to sabotage you Consistently living is NOT life giving.. only you can decide if you should keep it, switch it or ditch it.    

1 year into the Gabriel Method and My Life Giving Garden

The physical change in One year of following the Gabriel Method

A big part of my Transformation Journey revolves around my Garden.

We live in Suburbia .. a 600sq block of bliss.  The house we bought had a 25yr old established garden with "rooms".  It endeared us from the start and helped sell the house to us.  

When we moved in we began to add to the garden, moulding and reshaping it.  We found great joy in personalising it.  We discovered new plants, added our own then Last year we decided that it was time to do a little permaculture - Vege gardens, practical planting, life giving.

We have a Pond that we transformed

Our new Veg Gardens have been created

These two areas are passions for me.  When I am feeling stressed just standing LOOKING at my garden soothes my soul.

As I have embraced a new adding regime of Juicing Live Greens Vegetables, fruits and Herbs my garden is even MORE important to me.   

On a whole, I find the Gabriel Method is MORE about the Soul Change and LESS about the foods and supplements.

Gabriel Method is about ADDING.. and this for me came in many forms.. Adding value is personal.. its not Prescribed and its not a Diet Regime.  

Life long change can come slowly at first and then when habits and attitude change then the body starts to Transform.

I had 40 years of being the Caterpillar.. the last year has kind of been the Cocoon - a quiet time of change and a slow emergence will happen when I am finished the process and maintain the lifestyle

 

Removing Toxins and Toxic Shock Syndrome

Today's theme is about Toxic People and those people you encounter every so often who always know how to poison your mood.

Today was one such day.....

I won't go into details of the circumstances surrounding my detox moment, as those are really not the issue.. but I will go through what I call "Toxic Shock Syndrome".

No I don't mean the nasty infection caused by Tampons, I mean the mental and emotional aftermath from interpersonal relationships that become poisonous to your soul.

I have had enough abuse dished out at me through out my life to easily sniff out a toxic person... a broken person who likes to whip out their bag of toxic baggage and inflict enough to be civil but enough to also be fatal.  But I am still learning to be brave, strong and mature enough to know when to say NO MORE!

Today.. I encountered a toxic person.. since meeting them online I have maturely ignored many things they wrote.  I held my tongue from engaging in defensive conversations.. Or I would write my thoughts and feelings down in a Venting fashion and then bin them without publication. 

Some days I had civilised conversations which gave me hope that things would be better, but then other days I would have interactions that would be a battle of wills... and today was one of those days....  Today was the last straw for me.. .. and I let go of that negative person once and for all with No apology and no regret.

Toxic Shock Syndrome is the time during the difficult encounters and after the events when you dwell and agonise over what to do.. Do I cut that person off.. Do I "fluff myself up" like the cat and continue to defend myself.  Then the self doubt kicks in.. Am I over reacting.  Is it MY problem.  

For me I have been getting huge amounts of self confidence and TRUST in myself.. I have finally decided its only ME who can choose the path of my life and happiness.

Its when you hit the self doubt stage that you need to STOP.. put on some meditation music and listen to your soul..   

We all have encounters with people who rub us up the wrong way.. and not all of them are Toxic to the point of needing to erase them from our life.. but for me.. TODAY... I knew it was time..  

Whist looking for inspiring graphics to go with my blog post I found this great article written by dotJenna called 100-traits-of-toxic-person  I think its awesome and really helpful and I think its ok to know people with a few of the traits.. we are all guilty of having TOXIC moments.. its what makes us human..   dotJenna concludes her list with this helpful advice:

"If you suspect that someone is toxic, chances are, you're right. The best thing to do is to go with your gut and trust your intuition. Ignoring your intuition can leave you in a state of confusion. Toxic people are good at playing on your emotions, making you feel ashamed, guilty or obligated to let them treat you with disregard. Don't let that happen! You are a worthwhile person and you deserve to be treated as an equal in ALL RELATIONSHIPS. Don't settle for less. Put up your boundary and pull back or permanently away."

Today I choose to LISTEN to my intuition.. 

I hope that my friends and nearest say of me that I am a Healer, a Giver, a Doer, Appreciator, Cheer Leader, Affirmer, Life Giver, Generous, Fun and Friendly. 

If I can be the essence of an Anti-Oxidant  I think I am on the right path.

Final sharing from dotJenna's blog

Relationship Spring Cleaning 

Do an overhaul of your relationships, a "Spring Cleaning" if you will. You will find that you're not really missing anything if you walk away from a toxic person. Here's an excerpt from Cheryl Richardson's book,"Take Time for Your Life."

Since soulful connections require an investment of time and energy, you'll want to choose the people you spend time with wisely. To determine whether a relationship drains you or fuels you, ask yourself the following questions.

1. Write down the name of a person in your life.
2. Am I able to be myself with this person? Do I feel accepted by him/her?
3. Is this person critical or judgmental of me?
4. Does the relationship provide an even give-and-take exchange of energy?
5. Do I feel upbeat and energized when I'm around this person, or depleted and drained?
6. Does this person share my values? My level of integrity?
7. Is this person committed to our relationship?
8. Can this person celebrate my success?
9. Do I feel good about myself when I'm with this person?