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April 20, 2015 Hi {!firstname_fix} 
It has been a creative week. About twenty years ago I bought a set of garden statues, one of the Lady of Guadalupe and one of San Juan Diego. You can read about the story
here if you like.Anyway, Guadalupe has fared well. Juan Diego had not. He fell off the step and his head broke off. The dogs played with the head and stepped on his shins. The head got lost, he was broken and scuffed. I found the head in the garden and tried 3 or 4 times to glue it on. It never worked. A few weeks ago, the guy who was fixing my roof saw his broken body and head sitting on the stoop and said, *I could fix that for you.* I asked him what he would do and he said he had a friend who could drill the body and the head and he would put a rod in to attach them. I told him I thought that was a great idea. Eventually he brought him back with his head attached. There were cracks around his neck, big cracks, and cracks on his shin and a gouge in his foot and his nose was chipped off and his chin was broken. But his head was on. I went to the hobby store and found some stone clay. I learned to use it. I filled the cracks, and shaped a nose and a chin and repaired all the scuffs and broken parts. And let it dry. Then I painted him copper and let that dry. And then I painted him with green patina paint that I watered down so the copper would shine through. 
I have about 20 stones that George of George’s Shake gathered from many places in the desert. They have been sitting in the corner of my yard. Pepper lies between them in the summer because they are cool and in the winter because they are warm. I will pile them differently and put Guadalupe at the corner, and Juan Diego at the edge, kneeling in reverence to her asking him to bring the good news to the people of her presence in the world. And I will go and get roses for the edges.I have always loved the story. Now it has even more meaning...that which was a dream, that got broken and lost by my inattention and not noticing. Now it will be a treasure. And it is funny, this came from the Clutter Class, believe it or not, LOL. Of course that is another story. Just take note, you never know what might emerge from one of our *extra* classes. Ranch is about on us. We have one spot left. The transportation from the airport is all worked out. David volunteered to drive the late ending arrivals (smile). He is a night owl and happy to be of service. The catered food is planned, the hotel is excited and I am thrilled with the people who are coming. The hotel has even assured me that the pool will be open. The trolly people have also said they can do a *Breaking Bad* tour if we want, LOL. All the planning in the details! I have decided to hold a beginning step two class using some of the principles we learned in the advanced class - i.e. using google sheets. So if you have struggled with journaling and want a quick and easy way to master *why* we bother to do it, now is your chance. This class will begin Wednesday, April 22, 2015. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:
No classes will be started the week of April 29th while we do Ranch A number of you have asked me how the classes work. Check the class list page for more information on this. And please go read the questions and answers before you write to me. If you have trouble getting through the process, write the tech forum. Be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery website and Community Forum regularly. Warmly, Kathleen **********************************************************************
**Quote From Kathleen ** Rather than simply giving up sugars, you are working on a life plan. **********************************************************************
**Testimonial of the Week ** This is total testament to this program, lol. There is NO WAY my day would have gone like it did if not for doing the food. So, originally I was supposed to play a piano piece for about 20 nursing students while they "walked" to get their nursing caps in a graduating ceremony. Did I mention that I am a beginner piano student who gets nervous very easily in front of people LOLOL??? Well, last night I found out that it was actually 80 people that would be there. It got me for a second, but, breathe, I dealt with it pretty well. When I arrived today I found out it was actually 200-300 people that I would be playing in front of!!!! Eighty people were graduating, and the rest were friends and family that were attending. First I'll describe how it would have gone before this program: I would have freaked out, literally, and gone flush and said over and over, 'I just can't do that....' I would have been FURIOUS with my friend for not knowing this and blamed her for anything that happened after the fact. I might have cried or come really close to it and would have tried desperately to get out of it. In my head I would have been convinced I couldn't do it, no matter what. If I had played anyway, not only would I have messed up, but I probably would have froze and then felt horrible after. I can guarantee my friend and I would have had a major confrontation. Yuck. But this is how it did happen: I had a fleeting flash of all of the above, lol, but quickly dismissed it. I realized almost immediately that there was nothing I could do to change it and in the end it really didn't matter. I would be nervous either way (smile). I practiced as much as I could beforehand and tried to visualize just the music and not who would be there. In short, I handled it with grace. Overall, I did great for me, lol. I messed up, but what was great was that I just kept on going and that's the hardest thing for me to do on a normal day! I am very proud of myself and for more than just my playing. It was a HUGE rush, though, and I'll have to be extra careful these next days. Journal journal journal and spot on with the steps. Thanks for listening! Heather D. **********************************************************************
**Notes from the Forum ** In Response To: meal planning Does everyone here pre-plan all their meals and snacks or can you just wing it? I feel like with any healthy eating plan I read about nowadays, there is an obsessive amount of time spent planning, shopping and preparing the food. It feels like I wouldn't have any time (outside of my job) for anything else. Please advise.I am a planner, I realise it's how I survived pre-steps, and in fact I have had the opposite problem of how to live more spontaneously,  so I am learning. Letting my rigidity go has been one of my lessons to experience.
I think the thing is with the steps, I learn a little gem of info here, and a little there, ideas to keep and make life easy. It all adds up over time and so then there's all this wealth of combined experiences for me to utilise. I wish the same for you!
For instance, I know that to make shake the night before is a great time saver, crock pot is wonderful when I am working late so it's just all there when I get in. Same-old breakfast is really a comfort and support. Home made coleslaw, roast vegetable salad and hummous all lasts for ages in the fridge and I can just grab a spoon.
Harvester restaurant has all the things I might need if we are out. Supermarket frozen curry is friendly to keep in the freezer. Double crockpot chili means freezing an entire meal for next week and no effort. I save everyone's ideas here  Do you plan breakfast or wing it? Plan for me, unless I am travelling and then it's a bit of both. Wing it, but with some protein powder in an envelope for just in case, and yam cakes in my pocket.  which has saved me a time or two.Mosaic **********************************************************************
** Radiant Recovery® Store ** I got a note from one of our members who said: I am following a brain protocol (healing/preventative for Alzheimers) which recommends the following:I have to admit that I really had not heard about *glutathione support* in quite this way, so I went and did some checking. Here is what Mercola identifies as the right type of PP. The overall top food for maximizing your glutathione is high quality whey protein. It must be cold-pressed whey protein derived from grass fed cows, and free of hormones, chemicals and sugar. Quality whey provides all the key amino acids for glutathione production (cysteine, glycine and glutamate) and contains a unique cysteine residue (glutamylcysteine) that is highly bioactive in its affinity for converting to glutathione.I am laughing. Yes, Restore is cold pressed derived from grass fed cows, free of hormones. And it has no sugar or chemicals added. In fact the cows are from New Mexico, LOL. Here is the story of how we got to it. 
I know you have been patiently awaiting the arrival of your Restore. I wanted to give you a personal update on what is happening with our back order. Essentially our vendor reneged at the last minute and informed us that they were unwilling to process our regular order. They have recently been purchased by a much larger operation and decided that they did not want to serve small business. Most of their runs do 20,000 to 1,000,000 units at a time. A little 1,000 unit run just was not interesting to them.And unfortunately, they gave us a very short lead time to deal with this. Had we known 4 months earlier, we would have been able to secure an alternative production company before our run-out date. That was the bad news and why you haven't gotten shake yet. The good news is that we found a blender who will turn things around in a very short time. I have been working 10 hours a day to find suppliers, get things ordered, determine amounts, change the label, get it printed and get all the materials to the blender. I am happy to report that all the ingredients are on their way to production and we are expecting to have shake in NM before the end of the week. The process has been grueling and has involved hundreds of emails, many, many phone calls and details beyond my imagination. And all of it has to be exactly correct. Change the type of jar ever so slightly, and you have to redesign the label and make a new die to hold it in place for printing. But I went through every single issue piece by piece or perhaps nano by nano. The other piece of good news is that we have generated the ability to order much sooner and with far more control over delivery date, which means WE WILL NOT RUN OUT. The last year has been a nightmare for me in having to go through these back-order blips. I can say that being *down and dirty* with the materials at this level has given me a whole different appreciation for how unique our product is. The blender says, *And what about the sweetener?* And I say, *We don't put any in,* and they are confused. They say, *You only have 3 ingredients?* And I say, *Yes...the power comes with the synergy of them...the formula creates a unique taste.* And now I can attest to the source of all the ingredients...and I learned that the whey protein isolate actually comes from New Mexico cows. That was a sweet twist for all the hassle of the last few weeks. The milk concentrate comes from Idaho, the egg white comes from Iowa. Everything gets shipped to California to be packaged. And the price of egg white has skyrocketed because McDonald's and Wendy's are now offering egg white sandwiches, LOL. I did not up the cost of shake. We have not compromised on the quality. Read other labels and see the ratio of the grams of protein to the total grams of product. Most companies are upping the *other* ingredients (rather than whey protein isolate) because they are cheaper. Most companies are putting all sorts of other things in. We are not. We were the first to make a *sugars free* product. We do not add sweetener. I developed a formula that makes an incredible taste. So you are getting a fabulous product from a woman-owned company using US ingredients from the finest suppliers. When David and I tasted the blend, we both agreed it tastes better than the old. I am deeply thankful for your patience with all this. Your loyalty and kindness is the reason I took on the task of making sure that OUR shake continues. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
**Radiant Kitchen ** This recipe has been around the community a long time. Everyone who tries it just loves it. Hope you do, too! Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Citrus and Mascarpone
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**Radiant YLD ** Would you like a joyful way to lose weight? Then come and join us! I don’t think I’ve seen those words in the same sentence anywhere else? There is so much fantastic information and Kathleen gives you the key to easy, joyful weight loss. Steph x If you would like to join us in YLD, come find us here **********************************************************************
**Radiant Living ** If you ever get tired of just talking about the food, come join us at Conversations chat where we do *life* talking. We often think of it as *fireside chats* with a cup of tea. Everyone always enjoys it, and it is a lovely mix of newcomers and seasoned players. If you would like to join us in Radiant Living, come find us here **********************************************************************
**Problem Solving for Sugar-Sensitive Dilemmas ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
People often ask me how they can sort something out. You say, “Kathleen, I just can’t figure out what to do.” Often you are desperate and feel that you have to know NOW. Well, first of all, the haziness, that sort of fog and cloudy sense of not knowing, is often induced by what you are eating, or by when you are eating. Skip a meal and get dumb. Have sugar and whites, and get foggy and not be able to make sense of anything. These are the times when you push forward trying to find answers and you feel as if you are pushing into cotton. Nothing comes, even if you wrestle for hours. The first way out, of course, is doing the steps. I know you thought that doing the food would just deal with cravings and your weight, and maybe mood. But there is a huge payoff...you get clarity as well. The fog lifts. Things make sense. Answers come unbidden without thrashing. But let’s say you have a problem now. You can’t wait for step 7. You need some practical skills today. So let’s do some of those. Usually, sugar-sensitive people munch – this means you say, "Is it this? Is it that? Is it this? Is it that?" You never find anything, you just fret for hours. The task is to go under what appears to be the question and seek a deep answer. Go under the surface, see what it conceals. When you start, you will often think you are too busy to sit with it. Or if you sit, you just munch, so why bother. This is different. You take one issue, and you decide to focus on it. You call a sense of clarity. You basically decide to leave the munch and ask the real question. Let me give you an example. I recently had a discussion with a friend who is trying to figure out some major life choices. Should she go to graduate school, what if she gets the new job she was interviewed for, should she stay with the old job, what if she has to move, how will she have enough money? Sound familiar? So I suggested this technique of going under the munching. I asked her what she wanted in her life in 5 years. I asked her to sit with that in stillness for maybe 30 minutes and let all the “stuff” quiet. This is going under the surface. Not the munching, but the real question. She did. And she discovered that she really, really wants to be an art therapist. You might imagine that all the munching faded away. Once she was clear, the choices were clear. She didn’t have to wait for step 7. And she realized that she had been munching for weeks and had never stopped to ask what was underneath. Once she was clear, she focused her energy, and in 3 days all those issues were settled. Concentrated focus is a mighty tool, but we rarely use it. We dissipate it with sugar or munching. This is a learned skill. We will talk more about it as we go. Practice the first piece. Warmly, Kathleen **********************************************************************
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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. ©2015 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 |
