DO YOU HAVE "TOXIC MUSHROOMS" IN YOUR LIFE?


In the rainy season in Newlands forest near where I lived in Cape Town, it was "mushroom time" after the rains. Dedicated gourmands and day trippers indulged in the gentle sport of… mushroom hunting, going into the moist leafy places under the trees, ferreting for the fungus that tickles the fancy and fuels the tastebuds.

One day I heard an obvious novice who had just picked up a huge white saucer of a mushroom, stop a passerby for advice. “Oh don’t ask me, “ he said, “ask my wife – she’s an expert in mycology (the study of fungi)”
“Is this an edible one?” he asked her.
“Well…” she said, giving it an expert twirl, “it’s only poisonous if you don’t cook it properly!”

I couldn’t help chuckling to myself as I continued my brisk perambulations that day. As I came across a few interesting specimens myself, I wondered: “When in my life have I eaten potentially “toxic mushroom?” A situation, a person – “potentially poisonous” and all the warning bells go off – but my thinking mind disregards the reality and plunges in for a toxic taste…potentially lethal!

How often do we put off making a change – because we have built up a tolerance for the toxicity of the situation? Like the frog that jumps into the cold pot of water that starts to warm up to a boil – we don’t notice the damage until it’s – almost – too late! We tell ourselves that the pain is only “slight” and we can manage it. After all, there’s some safety and protection in the pot – while jumping out means facing the cold and unknown.

I remember a time – only a few years ago – when I felt I had no choice… and stayed in what became clear to me was an increasingly toxic marriage. It took a fire (which symbolically started in the 20-year marriage bed and destroyed the whole top floor of our home) and physical and emotional breakdown on both sides, before we could stop ingesting the “uncooked” mushroom of our marriage.

After many years of deeply challenging emotional de-toxing to find my authentic self – and my soul – again, I have been given a second chance at life and seven years later remarried to live my perfect life. Day to day, I check out options, knowing instinctively what will serve my well-being and what is poisonous – cooked or uncooked! So ask yourself today: “where in my life am I eating potentially poisonous mushroom? And what action can I choose to do right now to change for my own well-being and peace of mind?

LAUGH YOURSELF WELL

A chapter from my upcoming book reminds us to laugh, chortle and chuckle through today! Doctor's orders!

LAUGH YOUR TROUBLES AWAY

Did you know you can laugh for no reason, feel upbeat fast and save a fortune on medical bills? You might feel a bit silly at first but the benefits are proven and worth it. For instance,did you know that 20 minutes of hearty laughter is equivalent to 10 minutes on an exercise bike? It's also a wonderful way to erase lines and look younger.

No joking, you can laugh your way to fitness and health of mind, body and heart, like thousands of people worldwide who take the “laugh-a-day” prescription of medical doctor Madan Kataria, famous for pioneering his Laughter Yoga therapy world-wide.

I trained with him as a Laughter Yoga Leader and for two days we belly-laughed till I ached. What a tonic!

I interviewed Dr Kataria and he told me:

"Laughter yoga is a perfect way to laugh and get exercise at the same time. It treats laughter as a body exercise so it’s easy to laugh even if you’re depressed or in a bad mood," he says.

Dubbed the “giggling guru” by The Times of London and featured in Time Magazine, CNN and National Geographic, Dr Kataria, with his wife Madhuna, founded Laughter Yoga more than 12 years ago and they've since seen it spreading like a tonic to more than 50 countries where people practise it in more than 5000 Laughter Clubs, Yoga studios, corporate boardrooms, as well as schools, hospitals and prisons.

“The Singapore police have introduced it for their staff,” said Dr Kataria who believes that learning to laugh "for no reason" is the modern day cure-all for both stress - and crime - reduction.

Scientific studies prove the benefits of regular uninhibited laughter for your immune system, heart, energy and vitality. People who are sick or who get sick often should laugh more as medical research shows that laughter strengthens our immune system and helps us to fight off disease, colds, flu and even cancer. Hearty laughter provides an aerobic workout that exercises the heart, diaphragm, abdominal, respiratory and facial muscles.

Laughter yoga workouts include flexing and exercise of the arm, leg, and back muscles. The exercises strengthen facial muscles and reduce wrinkles. Laughter yoga sessions stimulate the lymphatic system and boost our immune system, and can reduce levels of stress poisons in our bodies by 50% or more within an hour. Benefits include improved cardiovascular health and reduced blood pressure. Laughter is used in old age homes and in hospitals around the world to speed healing and improve patients’ mental outlook. It can be especially beneficial to cancer patients.

Growing up one of eight children in a small rural community in India, Kataria says people laughed spontaneously and often, but when he went to Bombay to study medicine, he found that city people need a reason to laugh… a mental understanding of why something is funny.

“I call it the difference between happiness and joy,” he says.

“Happiness has adult conditions attached and lies in the past or future. By contrast, joyfulness is childlike and present moment." Children laugh 300-400 times a day during their important formative years, but adult laughter has reduced to just 5-10 times a day," says Dr Kataria.

“Laughter really is the best medicine because it reduces stress and conflict, within and without, and it is important for ourselves and our modern society that we find ways to laugh more to cope with stress,” he says.

DR JOE VITALE AND ME

Miracles do happen - dreams do come true. I not only met, hugged, and spent a wonderful two days with Joe Vitale and his co-speakers and a wonderful audience at his Miracles Awakening weekend - I also got to be in his Mastermind Group for a memorable evening and ask him to write the foreward to my book, which is currently being edited for its upcoming launch.

For five years I have followed Dr Joe Vitale from across continents, admiring his writing, ideas and spiritual marketing I always visualised how wonderful it would be to sit with him in a mastermind group - real or virtual. To meet and network with him.
But I was in South Africa all this time and he was in the USA.
DREAMS DO COME TRUE - and to prove it: here's the picture on the balcony at the fabulous Catamarin Spa in San Diego taken in September.
I also loved his presentation which I got some of on my Flip and thought his co-presenters on this Miracles Weekend were great...
Generous - talk about giving more than we paid for!! It was like an early Christmas as Joe lavished us participants with gifts of his CDs, courses and books. What a great visionary and wonderful icon in the self-help field. Thanks Joe I love you

ST PAUL INSPIRES

MY TRIP TO EPHESEUS IN TURKEY RECENTLY CAME TO MY MIND WHEN I HEARD THIS STORY about ST PAUL, THE "13TH APOSTLE" read out at Mass today.

It reminds me of the truly life-changing miracles that can happen in anyone's life - when our Life Purpose kicks in. Writing my book on how the past eight years have transformed me from broke and broken-hearted to fulfilled and inspired to help others with emotional-energy healing...tells me that an Angel can break our chains (of hopelessness) and set us free just as happened to St Paul. And then when I reflect on his conversion on the road to Damascus ...I am inspired never to judge a situation on face value or give up the Divine calling for good.

Acts 12:1-11
On the very night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter, secured by double chains, was sleeping between two soldiers,while outside the door guards kept watch on the prison.Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him, saying,“Get up quickly.” The chains fell from his wrists. The angel said to him, “Put on your belt and your sandals.” He did so.

Then he said to him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.” So he followed him out, not realizing what was happening: though the angel was real he thought he was seeing a vision.They passed the first guard, then the second, and came to the iron gate leading out to the city,which opened for them by itself. They emerged and made their way down an alley, and suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter recovered his senses and said,“Now I know for certain that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herodand from all that the Jewish people had been expecting.”

BACK TRACK TO HIS CONVERSION

If you remember, this was not the first time St Paul was released from his "chains." The story of his conversion on the road to Damascus really can be described in that almost modern day cliche as LIFE-CHANGING.
Paul set out for Damascus a most aggressive persecutor of the disciples of Jesus, but suddenly became a champion of their cause. "The young man Saul was exceedingly mad against the pilgrims of the Way. He made havoc of them, and the word [used in Scripture to describe him] is that which would be used of wild boars uprooting tender vines. He devastated them with the fury of an invading army.”

Yet on the road to Damascus, in the company of many witnesses, Saul met and spoke with the risen Jesus - and went on to become totally devoted to being an apostle - the 13th apostle he was called - for Christianity.

Amazing huh? I have recently visited Epheseus in Turkey where St Paul made efforts to speak to and convert the Romans living there as part of his travels on behalf of Christ. In my next post I will share the story of our visit to the Mother Mary house up in the hills above Epheseus where both Muslim and Christian pilgrims go to pray at the spot where it is believed St John came to live out the last years of her life with Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

I wonder if any of you, like me, have had a "Damascus experience' - or had an Angel-like experience freeing you of your "chains?"

ROCK SOLID COUPLE

NICK AND CARYL WESTMORE on our wedding day December 16, 2007

For anyone curious to see a pic of Nick and I ... I just posted one of my favourites...Rock solid marriage built to last and built on a shared spirituality, sense of love and giving and so much more. We were married in Cape Town at Noordhoek and went down to the beach at sunset for this pic. It was one of the happiest days of my life.

VEGES GALORE

Abundant blessings. Abundant vegetables. Giving thanks for the bounty I just gathered this morning from our garden here at Sweet Echoes on the Isle of Wight. All thanks to my dearest husband Nick who spent three weeks while I was away in May moving huge stones and preparing the soil and then planting from SEED... carrots, spinach, lettuce and beetroot. I enjoyed the baby leaves of the beetroot, spinach and lettuce in salads and now the spinach is flourishing I will steam it for my meals. On the white plate are the baby coriander and parsley I put in my salads.

Do you want to know a secret? Why I haven't actually photographed the garden patch?

Well let me confess... a battalion of weeds have also flourished while I was writing. Look we writers have to prioritise our focus or we never get to put down OUR seed words and grow a book, okay? I've told Nick who is in hot Saudi Arabia I'm sorry... please forgive me... thank you... I love you. And he is okay with that.

But let's focus on the positive - a picture tells a thousand words. Mmmm and those carrots are sweet!

Best-selling writer Bryce Courtney from Australia once told us in a writing workshop.

"You want to be writer? Well you need three things:

1. A deadline

2. Bum glue (put your bum on the chair in front of the computer and STAY)

3. Say every day; 'I AM A WRITER"

You get the point!

NEW MOON...NEW BEGINNING

New moon soon... and a new beginning. So making a commitment to writing up my blog at least three times a week. Promise, commitment and a sense of right timing.

I've had my one-year sabbatical and am now deep in the throes of writing my book, alone at home on the Isle of Wight. My sweetheart and new husband Nick is away on a 6-month project in Saudi Arabia (he is a project manager in the oil and gas industry).

Summer Solstice, last weekend, I painted my second watercolour ever - the Druid-like landmark on the IOW Motterson Rock. Whether writing or painting, the creative process is challenging and delightful to me. But what helps is an encouraging mentor or teacher. I have lucked on Paul Hewson on the IOW for my painting and am excited with entering a coaching relationship with a new "writing/info product" coach in the USA, James Roche.
As the first weeks of the first draft of my book unfold, I am IN PROCESS with myself - or should I say all my Selves - The Creative, The Critic, The Perfectionist/Procrastinator and even the part of me I recognise as the Da Vinci multi-creative. All I can do is show up at the page and give it my focus.
My highest intention is to write authentically, from the heart, allowing the flow of Grace for freedom and joy to bless those who read the book. Aligned with my Source and Higher Purpose, may my passion and wisdom (and the amazing stories of my clients) shimmer through the words like healing gold-dust. For as the inspiring Victor Frankl wrote:
"Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued. It must ensue. And it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself."

MARRIED LIFE AFTER 50

I DID IT. And so can you! My life was stagnant... I dreamed a dream of travelling... meeting and marrying my soul mate and writing my book. And it all came true... well the book is still being completed...But considering how busy I've been having a MARVELLOUS LIFE... you will understand if I shelved it for a sabbatical.

I married my soul mate Nicolas Westmore on Dec 16 2007 in beautiful Noordhoek in Cape Town. I then sold, gave away and packed up my life thinking I was gone for good.
I had worked in the UK for six months before that...
But as Mrs Caryl Westmore... life is a new adventure. Nick and I first travelled on an extended honeymoon to Spain and Turkey. I now am based with him on the dreamy Isle of Wight and we will spend the UK winters in ... Cape Town.
We're part of the new -young over-50s on the go-go.

All I teach has come home to roost... and my book will describe I went from broke, divorced and alone at 50 to living this exciting life... and show you can fulfill your dreams too...step by step.