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December 22, 2014 Hi {!firstname_fix} Today is solstice, the time when the darkness will start to shift toward light. It happens at 4:03 PM in Mountain time. It’s funny, this is the first year in my life I thought to look up the actual time. Nothing felt different. But tonight as I am finishing up the newsletter, I see my neighbors' house decked with a rope of light in the very, very dark sky and I am thinking that the light is growing now. I have been loving doing the Holy Night class. I think it always quiets us as a community. I light my candle with yours. Last night was so clear, I could see it forever. I went to see a movie called Wild yesterday. It was about a woman who confronted her pain and addictions by walking in the wilderness. Somehow I felt that starving and abusing yourself is not the way to heal. It was unsettling and pushed me to define anew what I care about so deeply. Today’s article is my answer to running from the pain. Connection, sharing, trusting, talking, learning. You will notice that I have no classes scheduled yet. I am deciding about the whole process - what to offer, how to offer it, how the classes fit into our large picture. Ranch is scheduled in in Albuquerque for May. Please note that the pricing changes on Jan 15, so if you want the early bird special, watch the time. Be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery website and Community Forum regularly. Warmly, Kathleen **********************************************************************
**Quote From Kathleen ** The fun thing will be to see how your feelings emerge as you do the program. **********************************************************************
**Testimonial of the Week ** I am including quotes from the men in our community so you can hear their voices. Our men’s list is growing. Do come join us. Hi. I'm glad to see everyone. Looking forward to your thoughts and ideas, as we 'do the food.' I am on Step 7 for a year and a half. The changes are remarkable, in many respects. I am 65+... still working full time as a trust officer/wealth management person (no, I do not qualify as such a client...). Have five children, five grandchildren... I am the oldest of six kids. Jeanne is my most wonderful wife. I am really enjoying what I do and what I've become.
Peace and Joy Jim **********************************************************************
**Radiant Ambassador **  It’s always fun to hear about people discussing Radiant Recovery with their friends/acquaintances. On the ambassadors list I asked who had mentioned RR recently and this was Heidi’s reply: “Only all weekend, LOL! But I think I was pretty much preaching to the choir at Ranch!! ;)I think the best thing with this kind of interaction is that this guy might have gone home and mentioned it to his girlfriend who might have then googled it and passed it on to all her friends. Such is the power of word-of-mouth , you never quite know who’s going to hear about it next! Selena selenas@blueyonder.co.uk **********************************************************************
**Notes from the Forum ** In Response To: How do I learn to be kind to myself? Great question, Margaret! I think your instinct is spot on. I used to be very self critical and my experience has been that as my biochemistry steadied, I felt better. I didn't have to work at this changeabout, doing the food did it for me quite gently. You'll also see quite a lot of us post a little joy dot above our posts and that may be quite fun to play with too. *lots of ginger at dinner in my vegetables *being met from work for a walk home How is breakfast? have you chosen something nice for today? Mosaic **********************************************************************
** Radiant Recovery® Store ** David manages the Radiant Recovery® Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son. 
Because I am sharing the recent chat about Journaling, it makes sense to ask David to feature Your Body Speaks once more. The more I use my journal, the more I love it. I recently finished a 90/90 on journaling...I committed to journal carefully every day for 90 days. Man, did I get a lot of information. There is a method to my madness in every part of how it is designed. It really works!
Also, we are running an unusual special. We have been thinking about the Blender bottles and how useful they are for taking shake around, Kathleen uses her to take shake to the gym. So for the rest of the year, I want to offer you a 2 for 1 special. Order one now, and I will send you a second one free. Tell me what color you want for the second one in the notes section
Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
**Radiant Kitchen ** 
In another bowl mix together oatmilk, eggs and butter. Add wet ingredients to dry and cook in waffle iron. For more great program-friendly recipes, check out our cookbook in the store and visit our online Radiant Recipes site. **********************************************************************
**Radiant YLD ** We will be sharing the theory of YLD. What is it that makes so much sense? Why is it so important? Why does it work so well? Why do we have so much fun? What is happening that makes this plan so successful? I am talking with the YLD team now, and will be talking with the main list next week. If you are having rumblings about wanting to join YLD, this is a great time to do it. And no, you do not have to be on step 7 to join. And no, you do not have to be fat to join. This is about wanting support, and the power of hanging with this level of commitment. If you would like to join, come find us here - $99 annually **********************************************************************
**Radiant Living ** We have a new portal for the Radiant Living program. Come check it out here. We talked about *empowerment* last week. It was an incredible discussion. Trying to tell you about the conversations chats is like trying to describe what falling in love is like. (smile) If you would like to join us, you can do that directly below. Join Radiant Living Now: click here - $99 annually If you are not a member, come and join us if you want to be a part of the latest and greatest or just have some plain ol' fun! **********************************************************************
**Our Online Groups ** Radiant Men is a group that we have restarted based on what you have asked for. It used to be called Radiant Guys, but that name is now taken. This group is designed to respond to the special and unique issues of being sugar sensitive as a male. We will look at style and tips for making your program work better. **********************************************************************
**Our Values ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
Chat last week was powerful. One of our new people was concerned that I was not being *structured* enough. She is used to teaching, goals and objectives. She was confused by the laughter. Of course all of us have been there with these feelings, but the goals and objectives part was a wonderful opportunity for me to share something that I don’t always talk about. I thought I would recap it here for all of you. In 1968 (whew that was a LONG time ago), I read a book by Paulo Freire called Pedagogy of the Opressed. Freire was doing a literacy project. The government had found that people seemed not able to learn to read particularly well. Freire’s premise was that if people were taught to read things they wanted to know, that learning would flow. He described traditional learning as one based on a *banking* model by which the ones who owned the money dispersed it to the those who were poor. So teachers were dispensing what they felt was right knowledge to the *poor* illiterates. Freire said, "Let’s ask them what they want to learn. Let’s engage them in their learning so that they teach us." He found that the guys who had cars wanted to be able to read the automotive manuals. Funny thing, they had no trouble learning. Freire believed that the learner should drive the learning. When I went to graduate school, I chose a school that had these same values even though it meant a tradeoff on the *prestige* factor. It meant I could take my passion of addiction and nutrition and do both, and convene a faculty to served what I wanted to learn. It was a life-changing experience as a result. I brought this value to Radiant Recovery®. It means we don’t have *rules* even though many of you have struggled against what you believed to be true about them. We are saying, "Look, here is what works, here is what has worked for thousands and thousands. If you do it this way, we KNOW you will heal. This is why we urge you to journal, so you learn your own way of knowing. This is why we don’t give you *plans* or what to do on day one or day 10. This is why I don’t tell you goals and objectives." I want YOU to discover your own story, to define what you want, to choose your own healing, and to become passionate about what happens when you do. I know that in the beginning, when you are used to being told what to do, to having a curriculum, it is disorienting. Sometimes you get mad. Sometimes you feel cheated. Or sometimes you make up your own rules, say they are from me and then you rebel and don’t do them. There is more...(smile) In the beginning sometimes you get so mad that we (and I especially) keep talking about breakfast. You want to talk about dopamine, and brain stuff. Breakfast seems so mundane, LOL, so ridiculously simple that you really do not need to spend any time on it because you already eat protein and you know what to do. You don’t quite get yet the level of compassion and tenderness that awaits you. You think the laughter means we do not care about your pain. You haven’t had anyone treat you this way before. LAUGHING! inviting you to be joyful in the face of pain, in the face of being fat. We laugh with the joy of knowing that we are valued, heard, seen, understood. We laugh at our connection, at your bravery, the joy of your willingness. The connection isn’t in the manual. It is however in our values. They are what I articulated 16 years ago, and reaffirm today. These are the values that have guided the development of our community. The primary values of radiantrecovery.com are:
Thanks for reading! If you know someone who could benefit from this, feel free to forward it to them. Not a subscriber yet? Like what you have read? Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you: http://www.radiantrecovery.com Until next time!
Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together:
Gretel, our webmaster, puts it all together. David runs the Radiant Recovery® Store. mosaic contributes to the Notes from the Forum column. ©2014 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 |
