The Silver Lining

it’s been just one year since stu’s prostate cancer diagnosis.   a journey for sure.  this was not the slow-growing non-aggressive type that lots of guys are able to just let be.  it had to be dealt with.  so in addition to surgery we started a journey of wellness that is with us for the long term.  

first we soaked up the knowledge from The Truth About Cancer (video series).  revealing. eye-opening.  mind-boggling.  what really causes cancer and how to avoid it and deal with it.  all the stuff that you will never find out within the walls of the medical establishment.  

 

 next we participated in Food Matter’s Total Wellness Summit. validation and much more detail about the nutritional course we were following as well as the various aspects of wellness.  it all makes so much sense.  we are left wondering why this info is not more “mainstream”, but then there are lots of powerful forces keeping that from happening, despite the horrendous health risks our current culture is fostering.  (there are not a lot of dollars to be made from wellness but plenty from illness...)

 

to top it off we signed up for the Food Revolution Summit with john and ocean robbins.  fascinating information, all based on scientific research.  tips, recipes, suggestions, etc. totally practical and very hopeful and positive in its message.

 we have learned massive amounts of information about the current state of our soils and food supply, industry-induced food addictions, the american disease/drug epidemic (all so unnecessary!) the horrific treatment of animals in the meat and dairy industries, environmental impacts of these same industries and so much more.  

Precious Life Animal Sanctuary

 

truly, we were clueless.  once you know, you can’t “un-know”.  we are both loving the new way of life and how it promotes not only physical health but confidence, mental alertness and a clear conscience regarding what we put into our bodies. now instead of facing meal prep just thinking of what would be easy and taste good, i truly think in terms of what kind of nutrition i can pack in.  and it tastes great too!  we do not feel “deprived” in any way or miss the old foods.  happily, as a side effect, stu has been able to ditch all the medications he was previously on and we are both illness-free.

so…. while we wouldn’t have asked for cancer in our lives, we are deeply grateful for the path it has taken us down. so there you have it – the silver lining! 

My Year of Wild

i guess i’ve always been drawn to the wild.  it's evident throughout the history of this blog.  and it’s one of the biggest reasons we chose to relocate to the PNW. but i hadn’t thought of really diving into it by making it my word-of-the-year until i ran across this book.  it seemed so perfect for me and my plan was to use it as a kind of guidebook to chart me on my wild course this year.

 i have not been disappointed.  Mary Reynolds Thomspon writes beautifully and compellingly about the ways in which 5 “soulscapes” (desert, forest, ocean/river, mountain, grassland) can aid us in the process of self-discovery and also help us relate more deeply to our natural environment. 

 i had no idea when i started out of the ways in which “wild” would manifest for me this year, but here it is april and i am finding out.  besides the obvious draw that nature has for me to get out there and explore, there have been some other ways that wild has worked its way into my life and art. 

       even as a kid, i loved rocks, shells, pinecones, acorns and such, but this year i am paying even more attention to these little manifestations of mother earth.  picking them up, photographing them, re-arranging them, creating with them, letting them tell me their stories.

when i hung my mixed media pieces at pacific pantry for the months of february and march, i decided to give the show a theme of “wild wanderings” with a little sign and explanation. 

 i’m working on a chatbook which matches some of my favorite pics of this area with quotes (my own and others). i may offer it for sale and the title will be “wild western washington”. 

My other 2 Chatbooks

as i began reading through each of the soulscapes in the book, i realized that i have literally thousands of pics that could illustrate the ideas expressed there.  i decided to make photo powerpoint presentations for each soulscape.  so far i have completed “wild desert” and “wild forest” and i’m just starting to work on ocean. as with my other presentations, they contain images, written words and music and these are about 10 minutes each in length.  i honestly have no idea yet of their destinations or audiences, but i’m trusting the process… 

the wild focus has given me some new insights.  i’ve always craved wild and now i’m seeing that it’s truly my portal into the sacred.  it’s the link to my own spirituality.  church never did that for me, but this….these places speak to me of all that is divine and holy and nourish that side of my being as nothing else could. pure and simple joy.

so there’s still a lot of year left…. hopefully this is just the beginning.