raw hope

Yesterday, Evelyn Prather of Eve’s Journey to Raw Foods nominated me for a Kreativ Blogger Award.  The nomination came on my birthday, a day that was quite a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows for me. 

In turn, it has been requested that I nominate 7 other bloggers, and also share 7 things that I love.  The latter part is such a wonderful exercise for me, especially given some of the more trying experiences I had yesterday, and it ties in so nicely with the youtube video I made for my birthday.  

I thank you so much Evelyn, for this opportunity to reflect, and I thank all of my readers for the support and encouragement that you give me daily.  I truly do have so much to be thankful for, and as we all know, gratitude is such an enormous tool for attracting success and fulfillment into your life.   

Seven things that I love (in no particular order):

•1)      Krishna.  Krishna is the name by which I know God, but perhaps you call Him/Her/It something different.  It makes no difference; we are all referring to the same entity.  Ever since I really started wholeheartedly believing in and seeking out Krishna, my life has changed dramatically and wonderfully.  I am a completely different and much better person than I was before I found Krishna.   

•2)      My family.  My family has endured a lot of the backlash of my rebelliousness and attempts to express uniqueness.  And they still manage to love me.   

•3)      My soulmate.  I would be lost without my beloved Gady. Krishna was very kind to me when he brought you into my life.  Each day I learn and grow as a person through my interactions with you, and I am continually awed by the ever-soaring love I feel for you, which never reaches an apex.  

•4)      My dog.  Phoebe is another soulmate of mine. She has brought me 12 years of continuous joy, fun, love, loyalty and companionship.  She truly exemplifies woman’s best friend.  

•5)      Education.  I am a perpetual student at heart.  I love to learn new things.  I have studied piano, guitar, glassblowing, knitting, SCUBA diving, chocolate making (before my raw food days), yoga, German, gardening, French polishing, poi spinning, marketing, nutrition, and of course, raw veganism.  You are never wasting your time or money when you learn a new skill or idea.  Can’t wait to see what I study next.   

•6)      The raw vegan lifestyle.  As I mention in my companion youtube video, becoming 100% raw has drastically changed my life and my health.  And the changes started appearing relatively quickly.  I relish the opportunity to help others implement the same changes in their lives, and I strive to be a source of inspiration and encouragement to anyone who would like to ‘go raw’.   

•7)      My friends.  I’ve never been particularly popular or had a whole lot of friends.  My philosophy has always been ‘I’d rather have one really good, true friend than 100 acquaintances or phony people in my life’.  This philosophy has served me well.  My handful of friends are a source of tremendous pride and strength to me.  Thanks for being there for me when I needed you.   

Seven bloggers I nominate:

•1)      Evelyn Prather of Eve’s Journey to Raw Foods.  I’ve only known her a short time, but Evelyn is really a soul sister to me.  She understands that raw veganism really is a journey and a lifestyle, and not merely a ‘diet’ or a weight loss plan (even though you will lose weight if you want to).  She also understands the importance of following a low fat diet.  She’s also supercute and spunky and makes fun videos.  And her daughter plays a mean xylophone.   

•2)      Frederic Patenaude of Frederic Patenaude Talks.  This man is truly an inspiration to me, and one of the primary reasons I have been able to finally stick to a raw food lifestyle after years of struggling.  He is a mentor, a font of incredibly valuable information, a polyglot, a marketing whiz, and an example of following your dreams.  He hands you the red pill.  Take it.  

•3)      Roger Haeske of Roger Haeske’s Superbeing Secrets.  Roger is another inspiring example of what can be accomplished with a raw vegan lifestyle.  He is tremendously fit, has an incredible amount of knowledge to share, and is not afraid to speak his mind about controversial topics that are seemingly unrelated to raw foods, yet should be a concern to all.  He is siempre joven.  Check him out to see what I mean.      3/13/09- Roger recently posted an insensitive comment about one of his overweight former students (he called her ‘a real porker’), and then failed to address my comment to him about it, but instead chose to just delete my comment altogether.  He did choose to retain the derogatory name in his post.  Therefore, I can no longer endorse or recommend his blog. 

•4)      Rama of Ever New Joy.  Don’t let the tie-dye and shaggy beard fool you.  This is no ordinary hippie.  This is an enlightened higher being, who can help you get high with raw foods.  Rama is on another plane of existence.  I aspire to attain his levels of joy and connectedness with the Universe. Catch the buzz.  

•5)      Shazzie of Shazzie.com.  My views about certain raw food issues are divergent with many of this self-described Doxtor’s views.  That being said, hers is one of the first raw blogs I started following regularly many years ago, and she definitely has a colorful, interesting, non-apologetic personality, which I really admire.  

•6)      Jinjee of The Garden Diet.  I’ve followed Jinjee, Storm, and their entire raw family for many years.  They’ve raised all of their 6 children on a raw vegan diet, and are creative, innovative, nature loving, spiritual and inspirational people.  I recommend you explore not just their blogs, but their entire site.  

•7)      Nora Lenz of Raw School.  I don’t know if you could technically consider this site a blog or not. Nora doesn’t appear to have updated it in years, and it has a finite number of articles, but I think it deserves mention, because it offers a wealth of good information and personal experience with a raw food diet that adheres to the Natural Hygiene philosophy.  If you are serious about raw foods, it’s worth a look.  

Once again, I want to thank Evelyn for this opportunity to share my gratitude and sources of inspiration with my readers.  I recommend that everyone take some time out today to reflect on your own reasons to be grateful and fulfilled.