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** Quote From Kathleen ** When your food is steady, your life is steady. When your food is wobbly, your life is wobbly. **********************************************************************
** Testimonial of the Week ** I love reading about your breakfasts. Nice job planning :) I used to ride horses, and one of the big things I had to learn was to hold my focus on where I was going. If I was approaching a jump, I looked over the jump instead of at the huge, scary obstacle looming ahead. If I looked at the ground, I ended up on the ground! And if I looked too far ahead, way down the line two or three turns and jumps ahead, my horse might refuse the jump we were actually approaching. And if I looked at all the other distracting things around, my horse got totally distracted, too. Focus made it happen, where fretting and distraction didn't. It sounds like a funny thing, to a less-confident rider like myself, it felt like a miracle. I remember someone once said throw your heart over the fence and your horse will follow. That is pretty much how I did this program. I threw my heart over the step I was on and took the rest of it on faith. No idea if that makes any sense LOL. But it's what I thought of. I think you are doing just great. Jeannie **********************************************************************
** Radiant Ambassadors ** I would like to say a little about what is happening over on Radiant Ambassadors. The team there has been working with the ambassadors about finding new ways to share the power of the program. The younger members of the team are teaching us about Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and all that realm that felt so daunting. Other people are sharing about how they speak up at schools, with their doctors, with their families, in the grocery store, and almost anywhere. So if you are excited about the program and would like to be a part of this, won't you come over and join us. **********************************************************************
** Radiant Kitchen ** I love the simplicity of this recipe. It is sort of the same as the heart of the program. Apple SauceThis recipe was contributed by Allison from the Radiant Recovery Community Forum. For more great program-friendly recipes, check out these great cookbooks in the store.
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** Your Last Diet - More Than What You Think ** It is a nice time in YLD. A lot of old people who drifted away have come back with new energy and enthusiasm. A lot of people who have been floating, some are re-energized. I love that we are doing beginners and seniors at the same time. Gee, I guess I just love YLD If you are not a YLD member, come and join us. Click here if you are ready to change your life or just have some plain ol' fun! **********************************************************************
** Radiant Recovery® Store ** David manages the Radiant Recovery® Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son.
Hi, I recently (at ranch) was able to buy the Radiant Recovery 3 CD set on the theory and practice of sugar sensitivity. If you go to the RR store it's the one with the big bright sunflower on it. Someone on one of the lists (I don't remember which one) had mentioned that she was listening to them in the car while driving places. And I thought, oh that's a great idea! So that's what i've been doing this week. And I just wanted to share, if you have not purchased this CD set I highly recommend it. If you can't afford it right now, it would only take about 42 days of saving $1.00 each day. And it would be well worth it. I'm currently working back through the steps and working on step three. I've been in Radiant Recovery since 2000. Back then and for many years I held such enthusiasm for the science and theory of RR. It got me excited and lit up my little heart. Somewhere in this last relapse over the last year or so, I lost that enthusiasm and depression, hopelessness, and a deep grieving took its place. Then when I'd hear someone talk about RR I'd just feel like, ok, whatever. That scared me and made me even more sad. Well, as I've been listening to these CD's my enthusiasm for recovery and the understanding of it has re-lit that spark in my heart. I thought I'd lost it forever, but it's coming back. And that is also helping my step three. I'm more stable on that step right now than I've been in the past year. So now it's like, let's see where can I drive to, LOL! Just so I can listen to the CD's! I might have room on my ipod to load them there too, then I could listen to them on my walks. Well, I just wanted to share this here. It feels so good to feel that enthusiasm and excitement about what is behind our sugar sensitivity once again. Patti Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
** Our Online Groups ** Hey guys, my name is Jim, and I'm the liaison for the Radiant Men group. I'd like to invite you to join the list. It's a great place to learn about the steps, and we focus on issues that are unique to doing the program as males. We also like to have some fun. Stop on by! Radiant Men is abuzz these days. For whatever reason, we have had a whole lot of new guys coming into the community this last month. If you would like a special place to learn program skills, how to work your PDA or Blackberry for the program, or want just the facts, LOL, come join us. Most of us underestimate the importance of breakfast and try to do all the steps in the first week. When that doesn't work, we begin again. We concentrate on Step 1, breakfast, and find our lives begin to change. Right now, we are also talking about what it means to be a sugar-sensitive man. **********************************************************************
** Reframing Misery Talk ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
I LOVE this post from Janice and wanted to share it with you. She has captured a really crucial issue. Hi all, I've been really thinking about the recent thread and what it was about the tone that touched a chord in me. Some have expressed the idea that it was *just talk* ...like the venting we all do. Maybe so, but I wondered why this particular idea makes me so uncomfortable. Then I got to thinking about what has changed for me in this area as I've grown in my own recovery. I've come to believe that how I talk and the perspective from which I meet the world around me makes a difference. Before I found RR my perspective was terminally pessimistic and negative. Engaging in *just talk* that was negative and pessimistic was the norm. My glass was always half-empty and everyone around me knew it. Through the process of doing the food I've learned that kindness, joy and hope are real, attainable, and sustainable. As part of my journey I heard many discussions about the idea of "misery addiction". Kathleen talks about sugar-sensitive people staying attached to misery for the BE response to the "pain" of it. At first I thought it wasn't a huge part of my story anymore, what with doing the food and all (smile), but I soon began to notice the many, deeply entrenched, ways misery was/is still very present in my life. I decided I don't want to be in the world this way. I want to meet the world from a place of kindness, joy and hope that is core deep. So I've pushed my recovery to include healing my own addiction to misery. As part of healing my misery addiction, I started noticing negativity and complaining, both mine and around me, and how easy it is to feel a connection by joining in. I saw how negativity seems to feed on itself and crowd out positive interactions. I decided to try a different approach, to catch my negative comments and attitude, then look for and express the positive. You may have heard us use the term *reframe* in the community. Reframing is a key part of healing the addiction to misery. I've embraced the idea of reframing my negative thoughts and ideas into solutions. It's made a big difference. This is an ongoing process and I ask myself - 'Does what I say send a positive, empowering message or does it add to the turmoil and negativity already too present? Am I contributing to the collective misery in the world or am I, in my own small way, changing the world for the better by being in it as a Radiant sugar sensitive person?' This has been a profound shift in my way of being in the world. And I take it with me wherever I go. So, since I learned this skill in the community, and since it has truly changed my life, I consciously bring it here to the list. I care about this list and the shift in my own life affects how I listen to the tone of the list. Kathleen's invitation to look at my own *talk* and her ongoing challenge to leadership to support the community in moving out of addictive patterns means that I listen to the conversations with a different ear. So for me, it's not *just talk* and I want more than *just talk* for you, too. I hope this helps you understand the bigger issues in why I wanted to redirect this conversation. Janice Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together:
Gretel, our webmaster, puts it all together. David runs the Radiant Recovery® Store. Selena provides the weekly Ambassadors column. The banner photograph is by Patti Holden. ©2009 Kathleen DesMaisons. All rights reserved. You are free to use or transmit this article to your ezine or website as long as you leave the content unaltered, use this attribution: "By Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. of Radiant Recovery®", and notify kathleen@radiantrecovery.com of the location. Please visit the Radiant Recovery® website at http://www.radiantrecovery.com for additional resources on sugar sensitivity and healing addiction. You are getting the weekly newsletter from Radiant Recovery® in response to your signup. A copy of this newsletter may also be found posted on the web at http://www. radiantrecovery.com/weeklynewsletter.htm. |
