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February 18, 2013 Hi {!firstname_fix} Yesterday was a day of stillness. I sat on my bed in the early morning and watched the birds at the feeders. I wrote in my journal. Everything was quiet. I went out, went to a meeting, and then had breakfast with 3 women. Three of us were older, one woman is 50. She was talking about the struggle of getting older and the three of us were just laughing and laughing. Fifty seems so young from another place. The waitress could not figure out why we were laughing. I think it was just the joy of it...a beautiful day, that stillness everywhere and having people who love to talk about how spirit/ God guides us. I have been posting my *joy dots* on the depression list. Someone said she liked hearing about the details of my life - that would mean getting a used part from the junk yard and fixing my car...well Harold, the Handyman, fixing it and saving me $500. I am reading a book about raw foods. It is fascinating to me that all of us believe that what we know makes sense and is good. I love the idea that we learn more, learn more...and our process can be a living, growing exploration. I think this is why I like chats so much. We get to do the exploration together in a dialogue. All this time and it is still so much fun. This class will begin Wednesday, February 20, 2013. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:
This class will begin Wednesday, February 27, 2012. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:
The class schedule is online. Click here to see what is planned. 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 ** Words for feelings are not good or bad. They are simply a way to help you understand what is happening. **********************************************************************
**Testimonial of the Week ** Helllooooooooo Fiona!!! Oh yes, it certainly is wonderfully wonderful. :)) My reality is without it I don't quite know where I'd be!!! And honestly it feels so warm, fuzzy and comfortable being around the community. I'm just so grateful to be able to come here and chat with you lovely peeps. I've had a lovely weekend. DS2 has been in a fantastic mood. Hmmmmm, I wonder if that's got anything to do with me having breakfast....haha!! Steph **********************************************************************
**Radiant Ambassadors **  I've been having a bit of a rummage in the Files section of the Ambassadors list this week. I didn't realise quite how many resources we'd accumulated! So, what do you want to know? How about how to give a talk about Radiant Recovery in 5 minutes or less? What about a 10-minute version? Fancy having a look at copies of press releases, printed articles, letters to celebrities, book reviews and even a sugar sensitivity powerpoint made by Kathleen herself? Well, come on over :) Selena selenas@blueyonder.co.uk Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. **********************************************************************
**How I Found Radiant Recovery ** Hi! I’m Elaine. I have lived in Fremont, California for almost 20 years. Before that, I lived in Cleveland, Ohio. I am so very glad to be out of the snow and humidity but there are times when I do miss my old friends in Cleveland. I live with my husband, of 37 years, our son, Matthew, his wife, April and our two granddaughters, Amber and Madison. Amber is 6 and Madison is 2. We had another son, Jeffrey who died in 1996, 2 days before his 17th birthday by suicide. I tell people this because it is part of my life and makes it more comfortable to talk about him when people know. For many years afterwards, I was involved in a survival of suicide group which I helped form. I am a teacher and currently teach first grade. Before first grade, I taught kindergarten for many years since coming to California. In Cleveland I taught K, 1, 2, 3 and a short time of 4th grade. 4th was definitely not for me! I really enjoy the younger children and teaching the basics...kind of like step one here...it’s the basics...what you need to know before you can do all the other wonderful things in life. (smile) I love being the mentor for the step one list. I found RR in February 2000 and have never looked back. When I read the book, I saw myself and even more so, Jeffrey. I worked the steps and have really never veered far away from them. My journal has always been my weakest step, but has never faltered completely. I used to say that if it wasn’t chocolate, it wasn’t worth eating...and if it was ice cream, even better. Now, none of that has a pull on me at all...and I feel so much better. I had asthma and was constantly sick from pneumonia and bronchitis. I also had migraines and have had none at all since going off of sugar. Amazing!!!! I really enjoy traveling and will be going on a cruise in March for my 60th birthday….mine, my husband’s and all of our high school friends. I am amazed to be turning 60 as I feel like I should be much younger than that. (smile) As for traveling, I love going to Hawaii and am looking forward to a lot more travel in the future. Going to Albuquerque is always a highlight of my year. Last year was the first I missed since starting the program and I was really sad not to be able to go. I am definitely going this year. Elaine **********************************************************************
** Radiant Recovery® Store ** David manages the Radiant Recovery® Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son.
Kathleen was first introduced to our Joint Response a number of years ago at the national Golden Retriever Dog show. One of the vendors had Joint Response and was showing a video about it. It knocked her socks off. At that point in time, I had recently moved to Albuquerque. My 8-year-old rottie, Pippin, had severe arthritis. We gave him Joint Response and in 3 weeks he was acting like a puppy. So we started carry the dog stuff in the store. We kept getting great reports. I asked the company if they were going to carry a human product. They said yes. So now we carry that. And they recently added a cream. Click on the products above to get more information on each. As most of you know, Kathleen likes to learn about the things we carry. She started doing a fair amount of research about cetyl. Here is a pretty balanced discussion. http://www.glucosamine-arthritis.org/arthritis/cetyl-myristoleate-arthritis.html Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
**Radiant Kitchen ** I have thought about what foods to add to my collection of what I already keep in the car. I think I will put a box in the car with some of the following foods, but I will still keep my pretty small bag with nuts and crackers in it which I often take to restaurants. Who else has ideas of "emergency foods" to keep in the car? Do you think all of these foods will do okay with the heat in the trunk of the car? Proteins:
For more great program-friendly recipes, check out our cookbook in the store and visit our online Radiant Recipes site. **********************************************************************
**Radiant YLD ** I read something the other day that said 'No Pain No Gain' is out and from now on it's 'Pleasure is the Measure.' I thought this was fabulous! The focus on YLD is most definitely about having fun. Finding an activity that makes your heart sing, that brings joy in the moment together with being humorous and gentle with yourself about your weight, turns it into a whole new ball game :) Steph If you would like to join, come find us here **********************************************************************
**Radiant Conversations ** We have a new portal for the Conversations program. Come check it out here. Well, I think you may have connected to the fact that we are discussing the topics that are posted in the article for the week. So this week we are going to talk about the whole concept of addiction to misery. I love how vital and engaged these conversations are. If you would like to join us, you can do that below. Join YLD Weight Loss Now: click here - $99 Join Conversations 2011 Now: click here - $99 Join Both YLD and Conversations Now: click here - $149 Current YLD members wish to Upgrade to Both, click here - $49 Current YLD members who wish to Transfer to Conversations 2011 Only can do so for a $14.99 admin fee: click here If you are not a member, come and join us if you want to be a part of the latest and greatest or just have some plain ol' fun! **********************************************************************
**Our Online Groups ** The Radiant Depression group is all about support for the person who is depressed and trying to work Kathleen's 7 step program of recovery from sugar addiction. Many of us have struggled with severe depression for years without any hope of finding an end to it. But through doing the food we have found that hope returning and have found light where before there was only darkness. Some of us are taking anti-depressants while doing the food, so we talk about how the two are compatible and we also share about getting through the tough spots together, with support from each other. If you are feeling depressed please come join us. There is hope. **********************************************************************
**Misery Calls More Than We Realize ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
I have often reflected on why some people stay stuck in being miserable. No matter what life presented them, they would pick out certain variables to show that once again life was against them. This pattern went beyond your basic garden negativity. It was more like “I will continue my attachment to misery no matter what. It doesn’t matter what good comes to me, I know it is not real.” This pattern defied logic to me. Why would perfectly thoughtful, intelligent people want to live this way? My first clue in sorting this out came when I noticed my own physical response. I withdrew energy, disengaged and did not want to hang with misery or the miserable. When I realized that nothing I did or said changed anything, I just backed off. One day, in the shower, I had an incredible thought. My body was responding to les miserables just the way it does around active alcoholics and addicts. If someone commits to change, asks for help, listens and moves, I am there in a flash. But stay stuck, go round and round, whine, stay miserable no matter what, I just don’t want to spend time on the boat with it. The more I have healed my own codependency the less I can do rescuing. As I was rinsing the shampoo, I thought, “what if we can be addicted to misery?” As soon as that thought passed through, I knew it was true. It would explain the tenacious holding on, the energy, the devotion to it. So then I trundled off to do some research on this. My books, google and PubMed all gave clues. Yep, misery evokes beta-endorphin. Misery evokes the same brain chemical activated by alcohol, heroin, morphine and sugar. When we are miserable, our brains release BE so we feel better. It soothes us until it wears off and then we have to go back for more. We become attached to it. We get romantic and intense about all the bad things that have happened to us. We do “woe is me!”. And…significantly, we become tolerant to it, just like with any drug. Then we need bigger misery. More, more. We amp up the feeling of less than, not good enough, poor, not smart enough, not rich enough, not educated enough. And if life does not cooperate by offering enough brutal events, we create them in our minds. We need to feel worse to feel ok. We create catastrophe in our minds, we exaggerate, we munch to create drama and perpetuate the BE feelings. The increasing tolerance creates immunity to the little negatives, so we need more misery. We then take neutral events and shape them into desperate drama. For example. Perhaps you live on little money. You feel bad because you are poor. And you have low BE because you are sugar sensitive. So you overdraft your account, you pay late, you skip your taxes. And your tolerance grows so things get worse and worse. And when you try to change this pattern, you actually go into withdrawal. So you need to find other misery to grow. You stay in a horrible job, an abusive marriage, a bad apartment. You go round and round and misery becomes your way to being in the world. When you first hear this, it may be confusing. You don’t feel you are seeking it; you aren’t looking for a "high”. But think of it another way. BE is a painkiller. When life is hard, your natural tendency is to look for ways to soothe the pain. You unconsciously turn to things that do that, and then you get hooked. You didn’t know. Just like you didn’t know sugar was a drug until you were way in. Les miserables is a hard one to face. You might feel shame at first and think, “oh dear gawd, not more!” But the joy of healing is that now you understand. Now you have a name for what you thought was just circumstance. Now you can make sense and take action. You start to laugh at yourself. You get amazed at the skill your little inside addict has…it can find ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to make you feel ok. It has a good heart, it is trying its best to have you not feel pain. It is just a little misguided and now, in your recovery, you will do something a little different. You will kiss it on its little black nose, and say “ah, nice try, baby, but we aren’t doing that anymore…..” You will see that you do not want a life of les miserables. You are ready for something different. You can go to school, you can find ways to work with little money, you can leave abusive relationships, you can find a life of joy. This is what recovery is about. When you do the food, you do way more than give up sugar. You are HEALING addiction on a cellular level. Healing is real and it is yours for the doing. 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. Selena provides the weekly Ambassadors column. ©2013 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 |
