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August 1, 2016 Hi {!firstname_fix} Gosh, what a week it has been. I have to admit that I was deeply moved by MIchelle Obama's speech at the convention. It just gave me so much hope. It really, really helped make sense of what I have been feeling. I have shifted into clearing out mode. I always do this every year when July shifts into August. This year is powered even more by all the thinking we are doing about *clutter,* but it feels even deeper. As some of the people in the class have said, *We have done this before.* This is true, we keep doing it. David and I went back out to the shed where we had put the leftover stuff from our spring yard sale. I was totally fine with letting go of almost all of it. And...we found a couple of things that were not supposed to be in the *give up* pile - my watercolors. More on that in a minute. As some of you may realize, David had been living in the other side of my duplex since he sold his house. Last month our neighbor across the street moved his mother from the casita into his main house. He and David talked about the idea of David moving into the casita. All of us thought that was a fabulous idea. David is moved and is working on getting the technology set up for TV and computer. I am reclaiming some space and planning to use some space for a quiet place for meditation and...some painting/writing. I am thinking I will make it a dog-free zone so I have no dog hair, no dog throwing up or having accidents, LOLOL, and maybe, just maybe, I will get a new carpet to do my new yoga DVD on. I also have access to my TRX since it is hooked up in that room. When we were clearing out the shed, I found my stair stepper, so I will get that set up. When I was in Maine, I was going up and down steep stairs several times a day and I noticed how much stronger I got by just the end of a week. I don't like summer heat, but I love, love the cool of autumn and I can feel it in the morning now. A subtle shift, the air gets softer. I always get motivated in August...it feels like a new beginning for a huge shift on September 1. This year is no different. These classes will begin Wednesday, August 3, 2016. Please Signup and it will take you to the registration page:
This class will begin Wednesday, August 10, 2016. Please Signup and it will take you to the registration page:
Check the class list page for more information on how the classes work. See the the Class Schedule here. Be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery website and Community Forum regularly. Warmly, Kathleen **********************************************************************
**Quote From Kathleen**You cannot heal addiction in isolation. **********************************************************************
**Testimonial of the Week**Truly was a miracle for me, the breakfast step! I began last summer very sick and clung to the hope that RR would help me physically. I was already journaling in detail and added the RR components. I struggled to be able physically to get out the blender, put all the ingredients beside it, remember what order to put them in, and make the shake without a big mess. Between the stroke affecting both the coordination and memory, I did have some times which were funny later - though perhaps not to my caregiver who cleaned up. I was determined to make one meal a day. Now I can do lunch as well. I stayed on step 1 'til after Christmas, went on step 2 a month even though I was already doing it for months, and spent more time on 3 than all other together 'til I got to 6. Now I am staying on it 6 months even though I detoxed from sugar years ago. I am using it to cut off caffeine, aspartame, and any other substance that's needed. I want to fly into the radiance of step 7 drug free! Yesterday I watered plants in the back yard, then swam. Total time for 2 activities: one hour. And no one had to watch me! Sue **********************************************************************
*Radiant Ambassadors **I have set up several Google Alerts which tell me when different phrases appear on Google such as "sugar addict" or "sugar cravings". While going through them the other day I came across this report by someone in the community: http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Am-A-Sugar-Addict/639627 It got me thinking. I remember that crazy feeling of scrabbling around going from diet to diet and doctor to doctor trying to find out what was wrong with me. I can't believe the solution was as simple as just doing the food! So what if we all started to share our stories in the way that we felt most comfortable? I'm going to add a report on the Experience Project like Yvonne did. But it doesn't have to be that grand, a few words here or there will be just as helpful to someone who is struggling. And come share about it on the ambassadors list - we love to talk! Selena **********************************************************************
**Radiant Recovery® Store**  This weekend, many newspapers are stuffed with ads for going back to school. We need office supplies, backpacks, containers, pens, paper. I figure it is just a great time to get your journals. Don't forget we have both the beautiful blue and the subtle all black. The journal is such a tool. Just the right size. If you need to write more, add in some of the special Moleskine note books that are perfect to tuck behind. Enjoy the quotes and know that the style is actually designed to support you in journaling. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
**Radiant Kitchen**I had posted a regular recipe this week, but then I learned to make mayonnaise. I thought I would share a little about this. I was staying with my sister-in-law in Maine. She is French and an amazing cook. She has a whole different experience with cooking and eating than most Americans. She makes salad by taking lettuce from the garden and bringing it in, washing it, spin drying it and the letting it rest on the counter. She gets a deep bowl and makes a vinaigrette in the bottom of the bowl. Oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and a few fresh herbs as you like. You let them sit together so the salt melts in the vinegar. I use really nice balsamic vinegar and light olive oil. I happen to like the flavor of Greek olive oil. She tosses the lettuce, and that is it. I cannot describe the flavor. It was exquisite. While I was there, I learned a few of these things. The task was to make mayonnaise. Again, First of all, it is essential for the egg and the bowl and the oil to be at room temperature. This means we have to think about making mayonnaise at lunch time... so we had. The egg was room temperature. Now, task one is to get the yolk into the bowl without any white in it. Master that, get out an electric mixer and start to mix the oil into the egg yolk very, very slowly. I think we would call it a drizzle. Danielle says the most important ingredient in mayonnaise is patience. Go too fast and it breaks apart. A tiny bit at a time and you get a miracle - sort of like the steps. The mayonnaise was good. I will do it again.
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**Radiant Your Last Diet**Someone asked me what you get when you join YLD.
If you would like to join us in YLD, come find us here **********************************************************************
**Radiant Living**We had some much fun in chat last week talking about regular life. I had not been at chat for 2 times and man did I miss it. The connection, it is all about the connection! If you would like to join us in Radiant Living, come find us here **********************************************************************
**The Gift of a Different Way**Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
I write a lot of articles for the newsletter. This one happens to be one of my personal favorites. I read it over and over and over. Many people come to Radiant Recovery saying they are already doing most of the steps and just need to add a potato. I often suggest they get the CD set that not only talks about the steps, but also includes what else is embedded in the steps. That discussion goes through each step and outlines the biochemical changes encoded in each step. But there is another key issue – one I haven’t really talked about. Structure antidotes blind lurching. When we are in active addiction, it is as if we lose our center and we stop being grounded. We lurch from one thing to another. Maybe from diet to diet, job to job, person to person, place to place or interest to interest. We have 6 knitting and crafts projects going on. We present ourselves as creative and curious, liking to try new things. We collect little things like office supplies or pens in case we need them. We lurch and resist being pinned down. We might say that structure ties us down, thwarts our creativity. Structure seems dull and old-fashioned. It seems routine and boring and who would want to do that? Nowhere in our brain have we thought of our behavior as lurching. We never really thought that a little of this and a little of that might be saying something about our sugar addiction. Why is it that we dream big and stay small? Why is it that those sparks of insight and knowing sputter and fade rather than bursting into our passionate flame? My hunch is that we have avoided the gift of structure. We haven’t considered that structure, doing things in an intentional order might actually shape us. And it might change the lurching to intention. If you do this, you will get this result. Now think about that. For so many years, we have worked how to forget the consequence of our actions. We forget that if we eat sugar, or skip meals we get cranky and unpleasant. We forget that we lose direction and we lurch. We forget a lot. So when we have structure, we stop lurching and we do not lose direction. Even early on in the program, when we are still forgetting because of our biochemistry, the structure itself guides us. The steps, those funny steps, led us into intention. They guide us with if you do this, you will change. If you do these steps, you will have a life you cannot imagine. Everything will shift. And it will shift in ways beyond anything you have considered. Now, many of you may feel that this is simply talk. It is not. We now have enough people who are doing the steps for a long enough time that it is really, really clear that there is a developmental pattern that emerges very predictably over time. The promises we make happen. The steps are bigger than the food. Don’t think of changing them. Do them, do them and get the miracle. **********************************************************************
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. ©2016 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://radiantrecovery.com/learn/newsletter/ |
This FREE class will teach you all the ins and outs of the resources in the community. You will learn to navigate the community forum, learn how to use the resource center, check out Radiant Ranch, and learn your way around the website. You will be on your way with an invaluable resource in your pocket!
A number of people in the Family and Friends group have asked me about doing a special class on the language of recovery. They have shared with me how useful it has been to work through complex family situations when they have practiced *recovery scripts* like, *I am sorry, that won't work for me.* Here will be your opportunity to come and do case studies of weathering dysfunctional family patterns and finding new ways to deal with what seem to be entrenched interactions. This class will be highly interactive so make sure to get your place.
