Hi {!firstname_fix}

Well, ok, now, the big day is upon us. "Little Sugar Addicts" should be on the shelves. Barnes & Noble is supposed to be putting it on the front table in all the stores. Let me know if you don't find it. Come to the forum and talk about your reaction to it. If you like it, go over to amazon.com and write a review. Let's have fun. I am really excited and hope you will be too. Please make sure your friends know about www.littlesugaraddicts.com. Next week I will talk about what you can do if you love the book.And yes, I will continue to shamelessly promote it (smile). In fact, I am hoping you will too.

This week's newsletter feature will be on a topic that is a little different from what I usually write. Let's see how it goes. I am opening up some step 7 ideas. I know you will tell me what you think.

Please feel free to pass this week's newsletter on to your friends and family. Don't forget to let me know what you like and would like to see.

A copy of this newsletter may also be found posted on the web at http://www. radiantrecovery.com/weeklynewsletter. If you wish to unsubscribe, use the link at the bottom of the page. Do not email me, do not get mad at me, just click on the link and you will be forever removed.

And be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery® website and Community Forum regularly.

Warmly,
Kathleen

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July 26, 2004
** Quote From Kathleen **

Can you take the risk of really living? Your healing is going to take you to a place you have never known. It may be scary, and it may change your life, but, my oh my, there is no turning back.


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** Testimonial for the Week**

I know we often talk about the earlier steps on this list and how to get started doing the food with our children. I wanted to take some time to share about what step 7 - getting a life - looks like in our home.

So maybe a bit of history will help you have context. Before radiant recovery I was Dr. Jekyl's wife - moody, irritable, screaming at my kids, fatigued. I couldn't understand why I had everything I had ever dreamed of and was miserable.

The girls were prone to melt downs. In fact, I was laughing to myself this morning driving to work thinking about how I used to refer to 5pm as the bewitching hour - the little werewolves appeared - every day! Bedtime was a struggle, morning was even harder. The girls bickered often.

And I was a stay at home mom - by choice.

Here's a glimpse into yesterday - I came home from work (from a job I adore), my husband was on the computer or something - the girls were playing outside with a neighbor's child. They had rigged the sprinkler onto the slide to make a water slide. They were laughing and playing.

Eddie helped me to make some salsa. The girls came in and made grilled chicken pizza for dinner for themselves while Eddie and I grilled mahi mahi. The girls thought they were light on protein and added a piece of zucchini pie to their dinner. No arguments, just very matter of fact. After dinner I did email and a bit of laundry, Lindsey helped Eddie to build some new shelves, Kayla took a shower and curled up with a book.

We giggled a lot last nite. Girls did their bedtime snack – they have been pretty much doing cheerios every nite for a while now.

At bed time we made up a new family oath the Radiant Potato Spud Oath. I made Lindsey repeat after me - I, Lindsey, do solemnly swear by the radiant potato spud oath (and we did the sign letters rps) to get up in the morning without giving my Mommy a hard time! We were laughing so hard by the end that tears were streaming down for me!

Then I taught it to Kayla, who thinks I am nuts! And when Eddie tucked Lindsey in, she taught it to him!

No melt downs, no mood swings, no drama and trauma! And it's like that all the time :) This morning Lindsey got up on her own, made her bed, no fuss. She said, *well Mom, I took the oath last night.*

OK, so do breakfast with protein and you may very well end up creating silly oaths too :)

Anyone else want to tell us about step 7 in your home?

Gail

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**David's Corner **
Check out Margot Silk Forrest's little book called "A Short Course in Kindness"... I love this book and its message. Actually, I was the one who suggested we carry it. I keep reading it. It sorta reflects my way of looking at my life.
Make sure you have a copy of "Little Sugar Addicts". You can even read the famous ice cream story of my daughter, Madison. Ah, the joys of living in an author's family. (smile).
Please send questions and suggestions for items you might like to see in our store. YOU are building our store. Tell me what you want and we will sort it out.

Thanks
David

And of course, we have something for everybody in our store


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**Featured Topic**
A New Look at Meditation and Prayer
by Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.

Those of you who have heard me speak at book signings or at Ranch know that I often include meditation and prayer as two of the best beta-endorphin raisers in the world. They are a key part of Step 7 and creating a life that is rich, full and loving. We have people in our community who come from many backgrounds with many ideas of prayer and meditation. And many folks who have been raised in more traditional communities think of meditation as either some esoteric thing that has nothing to do with them, or some new age thing that feels strange.

Let me say a little about the context I am using when I refer to these. For me, neither is denominational or scary and both can do many things. I think the most important thing is to know why one prays or meditates. It is the *why* that gives the quality of the prayer or meditation and makes it of one order or another.

You may pray or meditate to open yourself up to the Divine Force, you may pray or meditate to reject ordinary awareness, you may pray or meditate to enter the depths of your being, you may pray or meditate to learn how to make sense of things and integrate all you are learning. You may pray or meditate for others.

You may pray or meditate to enter into peace and calm and silence - this is what most folks do, and often with little success. But you can pray or meditate to receive an energy that heals you, to see places in your heart that are asking to be healed, and to learn to see how you are progressing. You may pray or meditate for very practical reasons: when you hit a rough time, when you are looking for an answer, or when you want some help in what choice to make.

I think all of us have our own mode of prayer or meditation. But if we want the prayer or meditation to be dynamic, we need to have an aspiration for progress as we sit in prayer or meditation. If we come to either with an open heart and ask that we be helped in our progress, profound change will emerge. Come to prayer or meditation with that sense of desire to grow, rather than wanting to escape.

And here is another idea, one that may sound strange. Ask for your body to be healed, this healing of our bodies is key. We need to see our bodies as having value, and we need to want to perfect them rather than ditch or run from them, or ignore them, or drug them with alcohol, sugar, caffeine or white stuff. If we see our bodies as instruments to help in our process, then we see our doing the food, doing the process of the 7 steps as part of that commitment. We do this, not to climb out of the hole of our addictions, but to discover this connection to what Star Wars called *the Force* - our healing power, a power that will nourish and sustain us.

Putting prayer and meditation into a healing body is a mighty tool for transformation - way beyond crawling through the day wishing just to stop hurting. Prayer and meditation create an inner silence of wonder, a beatitude and a way of being that is not possible in regular life. Both shape my day in a big way. It is the core of my step 7.

©Kathleen DesMaisons 2004.