A new change: Lather Unusual
July 18, 2011
Wow, it’s been way too long since I posted here. In part because I started a new venture around the time of my last post in October. 
Lather Unusual is my new company. It’s a brick & mortar and online retail shop for handcrafted, artisanal bath & beauty products. I make everything and I’m finding it’s an incredible outlet for my creativity as well as for the chef in me since all of the products have a culinary slant.
If you follow me here I hope you’ll be kind enough to do the same for Lather Unusual.
Cheers,
Logan
Soap Siren
Have a Slavery-free Halloween
October 26, 2010
Assorted Fair Trade and Organic Chocolates
Yesterday the family and I attended the Northwest Chocolate Festival here in Seattle where “Chocolate Lover’s Unite”. Along with a nice mix of vendors hawking everything from small little purses from 3rd world countries to hand crafted cutting boards from right here in Seattle (no, none of which were made of chocolate) there was a decent representation of small to medium sized fair and direct trade chocolate manufacturers. Some companies, which you may or may not have ever heard of, were Taza, theo, Divine and Madecasse.
All of these companies produce high quality, Fair Trade bars available online and at most Whole Foods and similar stores. During one of the many panel discussions we learned about what Fair and Direct Trade means, how it pertains to the chocolate industry, what the problems/benefits associated with both trade methods are and how the above companies work with those structures. I should note that a representative from Starbucks was also on one of the panels and it’s good to know that they have a very aggressive program in place to ensure their chocolate farmers meet certain criteria (via a point system) in order to be considered suppliers for their chocolate product line.
One question that came up was how families and parents can access Fair Trade, Organic and socially responsible chocolates to give away at Halloween time. After all, nothing is scarier than giving away handfuls of Hershey’s chocolate made on the backs of slave or child labor* and economic slavery. Personally, that’s not the kind of scary I want to spread around.
So if you’re looking for a few options, give the following companies a thought.
Divine: Individual minis, 200pc box
Dagoba: Tasting Squares, 36 pc and 432pc boxes
Kuapa Kokoo: Fair Trade Gold Coins, 13pc bag
Equal Exchange: 150pc box and 40pc sac of minis
Natural Candy Store: a variety of offerings including some of the above items.
Coco Zen: assorted chocolates including pops and disks
Sweet Earth Chocolates: Assorted, individually wrapped pieces
Assorted Options at Whole Foods (might be your best option considering time and costs)
Are these items cheap? No, they are not but at least you won’t get a little bit of your soul sucked out with each piece you give away. So maybe the kids at your door won’t get big handfuls to schlocky treats but may instead get a single/few, cherished piece of true goodness. Maybe parents will notice the Fair Trade emblem, pause and give a thought to what that means and how that differs from the colorful crap around it. And just maybe this is one step towards a Halloween candy revolution that will eventually force giants like Hershey to wake up, grow some humanitarian, chocolate-covered balls and produce products not derived from slave labor. Ooooo, corporate responsibility and change…scary concepts, I know!
Of course you can also opt to go the non-chocolate route and find good hard candies that are healthy (errr..healthier) and made with soul as well.
So have a safe Halloween everyone and remember, we consumers hold the power..shop wisely and beat the status quo down with your money stick or handfuls of loose change. If your local store doesn’t carry Fair Trade and/or organic (ie GMO-free) products squawk about it to management.
For more soul-saving purchases for Halloween visit these other informative blog posts. Remember, if you can’t make changes in time for this Halloween, there’s always Easter!
Get Child Labor Out of Your Chocolates : includes access to the 2010 Chocolate Company Score Card
Eco-Friendly Halloween Candy Choices
Green America’s Online Petition telling Hershey to go Fair Trade
17 Alternative Halloween Treats
Grilling in Groningen
June 8, 2010
It’s good to get out of town now and again. Even if the town in question is Amsterdam and you’re new to said town. After 5 weeks of heavy networking, 2-5 meetings a day with new people, biking like mad in order not to be late to said meetings and telling my story over and over again..well, I really needed a break.
Enter good friend Richard Kastelein of Agora Media Group, Expathos and a handful of other fascinating businesses (the man has his own wiki page for Pete’s sake!) and his lovely family; all lovely ladies, which includes his wife, three beautiful little girls, the cat and the dog.
After a smooth and relatively short (by US standards) train ride I arrived at the lovely town of Groningen, which is the northeastern most province of the Netherlands. It’s a nice sized town consisting of just over 185,000 residents and a good sized college which makes for a busy and ever changing mix of inhabitants.
After dropping off my bags our primary mission was to shop for that evening’s dinner via the local fish and vegetable market where Richard promised we’d find everything we needed for our grill fest.
Thankfully his little girls (ages 4-7) all enjoy fish so fish it would be. Here’s a nod to feeding young children foods parents eat..no chicken nuggets in this household! So off on our bikes we went with grocery bags tucked away and the lovely Spring day surrounding us.
When we arrived we did a quick visual tour to plan the meal…we’d grab the whole salmon last and head to a nearby Moroccan shop for olives, pita, and hummus first then load up on veg, fruit, fresh herbs and local eggs.
Richard had a blast as I described uses for some vegetables he was unfamiliar with or whose uses extended beyond raw salads. I explained how the common red radish takes on a mellow, almost sweet flavour when tossed in olive oil and roasted in a hot oven; it’s red skin turning a beautiful pink with the slow caramelizing of internal starches. Same could be said for the long, white daikon radishes we passed. Roasted slowly in the oven, grilled over coals or sliced thinly for pickles, it really is a versatile vegetable whose radishness (I couldn’t help myself) is easily tamed with a bit of extra care.
Yet we opted to keep things simple, kids in mind, and try not to press our culinary luck too much with new additions to their existing repertoire. It was hard not to buy more than we needed because everything looked, smelled and tasted so good. I’m not afraid to admit that I spend more money on food than any other item in my life; more than shoes, clothes and cosmetics combined. To me there’s nothing more amazing, enjoyable or easy to share with others. Clothing styles come and go but great food is timeless and universal.
In the end we opted for simple side dishes of rosemary and garlic roasted baby red potatoes and grilled peppers with a little grilled fennel bulb. A cold cucumber and fresh dill salad was also included since the girls love cucumber. From the sea we chose to grill a whole salmon with a mix of fresh rosemary, red onions, garlic, fennel, olives and lemon; a blend of Mediterranean flavours that would perfectly match the weather, be easy to assemble and appeal to our young dinner guests.
Cycling back we stopped off at another square for a freshly made “Stroopwafle” which I have affectionately renamed “Crackwafle” since it’s my opinion that you can’t eat just one of these addictive, caramel centered, thin waffle-walled cookies. They are so addictive in fact that I have to force myself not to buy them when I go to the store..and yes, they come covered in chocolate as well! Pure sin.
Back at Richard’s we got to work prepping and talking shop. Seems cleaning fish and veggies goes quite well with talk of internet marketing, blogging, online publishing and social TV. Richard’s passion for Convergent Media, where all fields of on/offline communication cross to provide a true high point of social interaction, is akin to my love of fusion cuisine; where drawing from the various communication cultures blend into one harmonious and powerful way of connecting to each other. Where spices, herbs and raw ingredients blend in my world so does communication platforms merge in his. It all made for a great and delicious mix.
I’m not going to list any actual recipes in this post because we didn’t follow any. We used our collective experiences to create an incredible and simple meal that had us full-bellied and smiling by the end of the night. Breakfast the next day only extended the fun as we played “Duck, duck, goose!” with an incredible mix of duck and goose eggs from the market.
It was a weekend of pure food and shared experience that none of us will soon forget. Until next time gang!
Tapioca: going beyond pudding
April 17, 2010
If I say “tapioca?” most peoples’ responses would be “pudding”..
Cassava root
But is there more to those translucent pearls than just sticky sweets and weird teas? I like to think, yes. After moving a bag of tapioca pearls from one side of my pantry to the other I decided to play around a little bit and I hope you do too.
First off let’s consider what tapioca actually is. It’s a starch extracted from the flesh of the cassava root that is then processed into powder, dried pearls or dried sticks. Mainly used as a thickening agent and a dessert starch it’s a gluten-free food made up almost completely of starch (ie carbohydrates) and with close to no protein. The pearls come in an assortment of sizes from 1mm to 8mm.
From a gluten-free and low fat perspective it’s almost the perfect food..if it weren’t for all of that starch and carbs (not good for diabetics). Oh yeah, and that annoying lack of protein. To be honest I was craving pudding but I was also curious to see what else I could do with it. I opted to treat the pre-cooked tapioca pearls like any other starchy grain like rice, or barley. In the end the experiment led to four dishes: a cold, savory salad, a vegan caviar-like item, a hot dish with sauted mushrooms and a super quick, low-fat pudding.
Due to it’s high carb load and glycemic index it’s not a food you want to eat every day (unless of course you need that in your diet) but it makes for a fun treat now and again. The first step in almost all of these recipes was to pre-cook to tapioca pearls with a 6:1 (water:pearls) ratio. Depending on the next use of the pearls you can either rinse the pearls in a fine sieve with cold water (as I did for the salad) until they stop sticking to each other (for the most part) or cool them down in their cooking water for puddings and the like.
Have fun and get creative. After all tapioca is very inexpensive so if you make any mistakes it won’t cost you much in the end. After all tapioca is very inexpensive so if you make any mistakes it won’t cost you much in the end.
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Hill Country Barbecue & Market- NYC
April 16, 2010
When you think BBQ New York City probably isn’t the first place that comes to mind when conjuring up mouth-watering images of slowly roasting meat and giant smoke rooms. New York may not have verdant rolling hills, singing cicadas or pastureland filled with lolling cattle but we do have some mighty good BBQ hot spots.
One of which is Hill Country Barbecue & Market (30 West 26th Street), a surprisingly large restaurant with both an upstairs (mainly for chowing) and a downstairs where they have great live music on weekend nights. You won’t find much fare for vegetarians (2-3 side dishes max) but if you love meat in all of it’s many forms from ribs to breasts to all-in sausages, your collards with bacon and your beans with pork, then this place is for you.
The down home decor and rough wood furniture is delightful and keeps the fantasy of being in some other place, and time, in tact. The service is friendly when you get it and the “get in line” cafeteria style arrangement for ordering your food makes getting served a relatively quick event.
The meat is flavorful and abundant if not a little one dimensional. Maybe some day an artisanal BBQ restaurant will pop up where different woods will smoke different meats so that it all doesn’t taste the same. Until then if you want decent, stick-to-your-ribs BBQ in a down home environment, Hill Country Barbecue & Market is a good place to start. We were too full to have dessert but they are all made in-house (save for some of the ice creams) so worth the caloric consideration.
The pricing can get steep since you are ordering the meat by the pound so start light and try not to let your eyes order more than your stomach can handle. Even if you do you can get your meat to go and it will be great the next day as well in a sandwich. They also have regular “Recession Specials” all week so it pays to check those out before heading in.
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North Bergen Marble & Granite
March 18, 2010
Great customer service can often be hard to find, but not impossible. Today gave me a perfect example of this.
On the way back from a client meeting in Connecticut yesterday afternoon I got a flat tire in the middle of pre-rush hour traffic on CT 72. Thankfully the spare was inflated, stowed in the back and I was able to get home in one piece, albeit very slowly on it’s “Do not exceed 50 miles per hour!” limit.
Since the tire was too damaged to be plugged I got a new one put on this morning and decided to kill some time by walking around the neighborhood I was in. During my walk I noticed North Bergen Marble & Granite and decided to stop in and see if they had any remnant marble I could use for some light candy making and pastry work. I had a great slab for years that I gave to a friend after our last move; being over-tired and fed up with packing I opted to just part with it vs. trying to find a box strong enough and long enough to pack it into.
Now my second thought after deciding to stop in was that I better prepare myself to get brushed off. After all I wasn’t looking to have anything as grand as an entire countertop installed and my inquiry could be seen as a waste of time by a hardcore salesperson looking for a cushy commission. But I firmly believe in the motto “nothing ventured, nothing gained” so in I went. After climbing a short expanse of lovely, pale yellow, marble steps leading into the showroom I explained my situation to Jimmy who was manning the front desk.
Jimmy was exceptionally polite and didn’t mind taking the time to help me find the perfectly sized piece of marble for my needs at just the right price. After giving it a quick cleaning he even offered to carry it to my car for me. When I explained it was two blocks away he then offered to drive me over there if that would help. I declined, mainly because I wanted the exercise, but I really appreciated the offer. I left beaming because I had gotten exactly what I wanted, was given fabulous customer service and had trusted my instincts about stopping in. A truly win-win experience.
You better believe that if a friend or associate of mine is looking for great marble Jimmy and company at North Bergen Marble & Granite will be the first people I mention because even a small purchase like mine was treated with care and respect. After the high level of customer service I received today I can only imagine how great they would treat a client looking to outfit an entire kitchen, bathroom or commercial lobby.
Thanks again Jimmy!
5 kiwi for excellent customer service
North Bergen Marble & Granite
217 Palisade Avenue
Cliffside Park, NJ 07010-1226
(201) 945-9988
Su Restaruant
February 13, 2010
Su Decor
Living with a vegetarian can sometimes make eating out a challenge. Having spent some years eating vegetarian, raw and even Natural Hygienist, I’ve been in my husband’s shoes where eating out at a non-vegetarian restaurant often leads to lacklustre choices of “pasta” or “salad”. Not my idea of a great culinary experience unless you’re at Bouley, where even a vegetarian will be dazzled.
Living near Edgewater, New Jersey does offer a few more choices than we had expected before moving here, due in part to the large ethnic community comprised of Armenians, Koreans, Japanese, Thai and a smattering of Indians to name just a few. Varied yes, but not usually exceptional. So when we decided to visit “Su” in Edgewater we hoped it might be a of a higher calibre mainly based on online reviews. We had business associates visiting from out of town who are vegetarian, so it seemed the perfect opportunity to try this little restaurant out.
For starters, the location is a bit odd; nestled within a strip-mall comprised of various businesses varying from martial arts instruction to sushi cruises and the area’s only Trader Joe’s, it might be hard to miss if it weren’t for the bright red neon sign proclaiming “Su” in Papyrus font. The color and font style pretty much letting you know you’re in store for Asian fare.
Having stopped by for a take-out menu a few weeks prior (I was thinking of surprising my husband with a late birthday dinner there with friends), I was pleased with the interior of brown suede banquettes, cylindrical orange-red lights, wood inlaid tabletops and a sleek, linear design aesthetic one might find in a modern, upper to mid range Asian restaurant in Manhattan. The menu didn’t look overly exciting, but at least it was completely vegetarian. The menu is also kind enough to call out vegan (V), nut containing (N) and dairy (D) containing items.
The evening of our reservation, we called ahead to see if there was a corkage fee since it’s was a BYOB establishment and thankfully there wasn’t. This proved to be the sole highlight of the evening. We opted for New Jersey’s finest tap water in the face of a large $5 bottle of sparkling water.
Five of us opted to share two appetizers and chose the Handmade Scallion Pancake served with mango salsa $6 (as seen on their take-out menu) and the Tangerine Orange Infused Spiced House Guacamole served with taro chips” $7; say that 10 times fast.
This is where the service issues started. When we arrived at 7:15pm there was a large group of 10 or so guests seated against the wall and a couple opposite them, so I’d say it was relatively slow at that point. Unfortunately, it took quite a while for our appetizers to arrive which left us with time to chat but a nagging feeling that something was amiss.
When our appetizers finally arrived the presentation was nice but that’s where the fun stopped. Now I’m not sure who “hand-makes” their scallion pancakes, but I have never in my life had such a hard time cutting into a piece of food. It’s a good thing the “pancake” was pre-sliced into small, pie shaped wedges because if we had had to do all of that ourselves I fear we might have just given up then and there. The dough had either been over worked or was simply old. On top of the practically impenetrable and dry texture, but a bare trace of scallion could be found. After the prolonged wait for the appetizers, we just crunched and chewed away for what seemed like a painful eternity.
The guacamole was more of the same in terms of disappointments. Not only was the tangerine element non-existent, the zest of which would have gone a long way to improving this dish, but there was hardly any “spice” element to be had. That includes any hint of garlic. This left us with a bland, squat, cylindrical mass of green mush surrounded by a haphazard mess of taro chips (1” and less) that resembled the broken bits you get at the bottom of a bag you’re about to finish. Near the end we had to mush the guacamole with the chip bits and just eat it all with a fork; not a very good experience for the price.
Once our appetizer dishes were finally cleared, more unusual lag time here, we waited for over 20mins for our entrees to arrive. Again, not a good feeling after a very disappointing start, and to my chef’s eye I couldn’t understand why this would be. The larger party had already left and our dishes were far from complex. At this point the height of the table started to get on my nerves. It seems someone didn’t take into account that the height of the banquette was considerably higher than that of the chairs two of us sat upon. It was disconcerting to say the least and left us feeling like kids at the “adult table”; feeling awkward and self-conscious.
Eventually our entrees arrived and I was eager to tuck into my Stir Fried Whole Wheat Seitan with sesame sauce, kale and crispy beet garnish $16. My husband opted for the Nori Wrapped Bean Curd with semi-sweet tamarind sauce, chopped broccoli rabe on a rice puff wafer & pickled ginger $14 followed by our other three guests ordering the Thai Red Fresh Vegetable Curry slow cooked and served in an earthen pot $16 and the Malaysian Coconut Curry with braised vegetables & soy protein nuggets served with 2 roti bread $14. Sides of rice came separately at $2 per small bowl.
My entire entree, served on a 6”x4” rectangular plate, came comprised of a completely bland (most likely steamed) pile of chopped kale next to a brown pile of sticky seitan pieces topped with what looked like former pieces of chayoga beet cut to match stick size before being friend/dried into near non-existence. The beet bits were so shrivelled, so few and so devoid of flavor that they really shouldn’t have been mentioned on the menu at all. My seitan was so hard on the outside and chewy on the inside I was starting to wonder if some cosmic joke being played on me. Like the scallion pancake, I found it impossible to saw away into the pieces and ended up folding them over somewhat under my fork and placing the entire strips into my mouth. This resulted in a whole lot of chewing and my mouth feeling exhausted by the end of the meal. Had either my appetite or the price of the dish been less, I wouldn’t have bothered to finish at all but the thought of trying to eat the sticky, hard stuff for lunch the following day really did not appeal to me in the least. I just couldn’t imagine how much drier and stiffer the seitan would be after a few hours in the fridge and reheating time in the microwave.
My husband faired slightly better on the texture side of things and at least his broccoli rabe was seasoned with olive oil and his protein wasn’t as dry; though it was rather bland. The curries were average and I guess earthen pots must be really expensive if the price of your entree ends up being two dollars higher than the curry with protein nuggets and roti.
Another long wait to have our table cleared amidst table cloth changes and table reorganizations in the background. When we finally got the dessert menu our young waitress informed us that the kitchen was closed (it was 9:40pm by this point) so any desserts that required any level of preparation beyond slicing or scooping would not be available. Hmm, that would have been nice to know 20 minutes earlier when the kitchen staff was still around and we were waiting to be cleared. Heck, that would have been nice to know when we made our reservations. Seems that Su takes their closing time of 9:30pm very seriously and they really don’t care if you’re late in getting to the dessert menu due to their tardy service. We opted for tea $3 a cup (not a pot) and, I should have know better, a slice of Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake $7.
Needless to say, none of us were very surprised when a small, sad and dry looking piece of light brown cake arrived a few moments later. So dry looking in fact that the very tip of the wedge was lifting off of the plate. The whole affair was topped with a wilting piece of parsley; perhaps the waitress’ attempt at garnishing since the place was devoid of kitchen staff. We didn’t finish it.
The saddest part of this entire evening, food aside, is that I am sure “Su” is probably owned and operated by some very sweet, well-meaning people. The decor is nice and soothing but the food is in such stark contrast to their Zen-like aesthetic, where everything is balanced and precise, that it’s flat out jarring. “Su” has a great deal of potential so I hope this review serves as a wake-up call to management. Since our reservation was during the first week of the New Year I can only hope that our experience was due in part to some erratic change in staffing that left them without a head chef. At least for their sake I hope that was the case. Would we go back? Unless they contact me for some menu/recipe consulting, it’s highly unlikely.
If after reading this review you still want to check “Su” out then I suggest trying their less expensive Prix Fix lunch menu for $11.99 where you get a choice of one appetizer/soup and one main course, rice is included with most mains, though beverages and sides are extra.
Rating: 1.5 Kiwi
Su
725 River Road
Edgewater, NJ 07020
(201) 840-7988 phone
(201) 840-1688 fax
Last minute holiday gifts for inside and out
December 22, 2009
Happy Holidays everyone! If you’re still scrambling for some interesting gifts I hope some of the ides below will help. BTW, many of the products I review don’t have Canadian distribution deals in place so if that is your particular niche I hope the info provided here can be of benefit to any food product importers in the region. Many are also running last minute holiday sales, discounts and free shipping promotions and don’t forget, just because you can’t get a delivery by Christmas doesn’t mean you should pass up ordering if a deal is still good.
Great Spirits Mini Bundt Cake Gift Collection
First off we have The Great Spirits Baking Company based out of New York City. Great Spirits, as their marketing materials will tell you, “is a new gourmet specialty food company dedicated to creating the most sumptuous, all natural, handcrafted, packaged baked goods, extravagantly infused with the finest brand-name spirits.” Now there are a lot of bakeries out there that show up to food shows, some small some massive with high volume production capacities but I have to say that Great Spirits makes an amazing product. Not only do their mini bundt cakes live up to their claims of being “sublimely decadent desserts… generously soaked in brand-name, premium spirits..” they truly have the rich, buttery flavour of cakes made from scratch. You know, the kind we cake lovers used to make when we had time on our sides. The premium liquor adds a kick that contains none of the searing, artificial fumes often found in lesser quality products and keep their cakes moist and heavenly. With an amazing 6 month shelf life, liquor pairings including Patron Citronage, Patrón XO CAFÉ and Aged Ultra Premium Pyrat XO Reserve Rum, these “all natural” cakes will be a hit wherever they are served. Yum, yum, yum!
Next we have Organic Virgin Coconut Oil. Two companies in particular excite me, Nutiva and Tropical Traditions. Now this isn’t the god-awful stuff you get from your average grocery store which is derived from copra, the small, smoked (and often rancid) coconuts from various parts of the tropics. What sets these products apart from the a fore mentioned stuff is the treatment of the coconuts. For starters both companies make sure their coconuts are fresh vs dried/smoked. The oil is harvested as soon as possible from the freshly ground meat and the lowest temperature possible is used to help the oil separate from the mashed coconut mass. Now Tropical Traditions goes an extra step here by processing everything by hand (as the video will show you). They also use the water from the coconuts themselves to aid in the extraction process making for a truly sustainable product that further supports the collective of coconut growers in their region of Mt. Banahaw in the Philippines.
Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil from Tropical Traditions
When I recently received my sample jar from Tropical Traditions to review* I was immediately struck by the very powerful coconut scent from the product. Because I’m such a huge fan of coconut oil I had recently ordered a half gallon from Nutiva so it was great to be able to examine both batches of oil for a friendly comparison. These are both amazing companies with their own very exciting product lines ranging from hemp seed/oils/protein shakes and the like to grass-fed beef, chickens and even pet foods, I’d rather not pick favorites but list the attributes of both and let others decide on their own.
Nutiva or Tropical Traditions?: For starters the Nutiva’s oil is whiter in color which may be important if you use it for cosmetic purposes where you need a truly neutral base. Having said that both brands will melt down crystal clear. Tropical Traditions is ever so slightly less white when solid but this may be due in part to the hand made quality of the product and the difference really isn’t noticed until the products are placed side-by-side.
Nutiva Coocnut Oil
When I inhaled deeply I detected a faint sharp note that I couldn’t define. Now my husband didn’t get that so it may just be my nose. But when I did the same with the Tropical Traditions oil I was really taken with the intensely, dare I say it, tropical undertones and rich coconut scent. Again, this may be a plus or a minus depending on your intended use.
As with the scent the flavour of both due differ along similar lines. Nutiva is the milder, less tropical oil by far in my opinion. Again, my husband disagreed so others may find a difference of opinion here as well. When I sauteed half an onion in a pan with 2 tsp of each oil I again detected a more tropical and coconut flavour from the Tropical Traditions onion.
In terms of touch and feel I found Tropical Traditions was creamier on the skin and Nutiva not so much. I’m not entirely sure what would cause this and I’ve also found that extra creaminess makes it easier to ingest Tropical Traditions’ oil straight off of a spoon.
Benefits and Use?: Coconut oil has been contributed to doing quite a lot for the human (and animal) body. It’s high level of Lauric Acid is one of the primary benefits of the oil which can fight viruses and bacteria causing diseases such as herpes, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and even HIV. It helps in fighting harmful bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and harmful protozoa such as giardia lamblia. Many websites list the numerous benefits including, but not limited to, improving digestions, lowering cholesterol, improving skin elasticity and hair/nail health, etc. You can read more here and at both the Nutiva and Tropical Traditions’ web sites. I personally use coconut oil now for everything but salad dressings, mainly because coconut oil is solid when cold so it simply never works for a chilled dressing. But for all things baking, candy making, topical for face/hand/hot oil treatments for my hair and for cooking I am a huge, huge fan. You can also take part in their referral bonus program detailed at the end of this post.
Speaking of hair, I have got to mention Mixed Chicks. I have been battling my curly hair for ages now and I am incredibly grateful to have found their products, especially their Leave-In Conditioner for curl definition and their Deep Conditioner for use when washing hair. I have *never* used wash out conditioner that was this powerful or concentrated. I usually have to spend 10 mins. just trying to get through my hair with a regular conditioner (and bogs of it too) but just a tablespoon of this stuff allowed me to comb through my hair in record time. It’s seriously good stuff and leaves my hair feeling incredible afterward. The Leave-In is equally good and though there’s a bit of “crunchiness” when it dries I’ve found smoothing my hand over my curls takes this away without damaging my curls. I’ve also found mixing a little coconut oil and/or Argan Oil does wonders as well for leaving my hair super soft and healthy.
If you don’t use Argan Oil, you should start. It’s made from endangered almond trees in Morocco which produce one of the most luxurious oils on the planet for topical and culinary use. This lightly golden oil has a nutty aroma and a silk texture that absorbs into the skin like nothing else, even coconut oil. It’s expensive (averaging $3+/oz for 32oz. bottle) but my oh my is it worth it! If you do order it go for the bulk 32oz plastic bottle from Zamouri Spices. Their customer service is as outstanding as their products and since they are the primary importer of Argan Oil you know you’re getting a quality product. I’m looking forward to reviewing Zamouri’s other culinary and topical products as I try them throughout 2010.
Again, have a wonderful holiday everyone and enjoy your time with family and friends!!
Logan
Tropical Traditions also has a Referral Program, so if you place an order with them as a first-time customer, please select “Referred by a friend” and in the box that says “How did you hear of us?” enter my sponsor ID number… 5754075. By telling Tropical Traditions that I referred you, you will receive a complimentary copy of the book Virgin Coconut Oil: How it has changed people’s lives and how it can change yours! by Brian and Marianita Shilhavy with your first order! This book is filled with testimonies and research showing how healthy coconut oil is, and it also includes over 85 recipes showing how one can incorporate coconut into their diet.
*Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.
Food Allergies Cleared with EFT
December 4, 2009
Amazing article where 16+ years of food allergies and chemical sensitivities were cleared in a short period of time.
http://www.emofree.com/Allergy/multiple-food-allergies.htm
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor so please consult physicians on all medical issues.
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BackgroundI was chronically ill for 16 years, starting at age 10 (chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), recurrent sinus infections and systemic candidiasis), and have long thought that the food sensitivities I had were as a result of the effect of the illness and the treatments for it. My partner Rex and I have recently learned EFT, so we decided to take on my dairy and wheat difficulties, and see what we could do.
I have been dairy and wheat free for 10 years, with the exception of occasional tests with small amounts of dairy and inadvertent “tests” when I’ve been unknowingly exposed to wheat. The reactions to dairy are nearly immediate after eating, however not as severe as the reactions to wheat, which after the smallest exposure can leave me seriously debilitated for several days.
We began our journey with EFT and allergies one day after seeing Carol Look make a comment on one of the EFT Training DVDs, to the effect that underlying a lot of allergy issues, is a feeling of being unsafe. Given that, in addition to the food sensitivities I’ve long had chemical sensitivities as well, this resonated with me.
It prompted the memory of my mother telling me that I was born with the umbilical cord around my neck, and an email to confirm that also revealed that I had been administered a Vitamin K injection shortly after birth. I also remember my mother talking about her having fear during her pregnancy with me. Body dowsing (muscle testing) confirmed that this was the place to start.
The First Session
We began with the earliest issue, and worked on me not feeling safe in the womb. Instead of assigning a level of intensity we used body dowsing to check when we were clear. Next we moved on to the umbilical cord, and as soon as I started tapping I burst into tears and was filled with emotion. Two rounds took care of it.We then moved on to the Vitamin K injection, taking the approach that when I arrived in the world I felt unsafe as I was first nearly “strangled” (with the umbilical cord), then “stabbed” with the injection. While I initially started with no emotion I soon started shifting to interesting new aspects, which after lots of tapping and some imaginative testing on Rex’s part, resulted in a great by-product of me losing my fear of needles!
We decided to end the session there, as it had been quite emotional, and give me a break before carrying on the next day. However, my body had other plans! Later that afternoon I ate some pickled garlic as I have been doing regularly over the last few months. An hour later my abdomen was bloated and I felt very uncomfortable (I had not reacted to it on any of the occasions I’d eaten it before).
Rex suggested I tap on it, and all of a sudden I started crying as I flicked into when I had systemic candidiasis, and had been eating lots of garlic to try to kill the candida. This led to realising that my body had been a war zone for so many years, with my main metaphor being that we had to do whatever we could to kill the “bad guys”. This was a big part of me feeling unsafe for years, as I felt so vulnerable to the “bad guys” for so long. Later that night some of the minor symptoms that I used to have when killing candida came back, so I tapped on them, and they were gone the following morning.
The Second Session
We commenced the second session with the fact that (as told by my mother) I threw up every time she fed me, and she had to feed me again. We had concluded that perhaps after the initial traumas of my birth, I had just associated the next thing that came my way (milk) as traumatic as well, so tapped on, Even though soon after I was born I felt that food was unsafe for me, I now choose to feel delighted that my body can deal appropriately with all foods.
In arriving at this choice, (and dealing with the psychological reversal standing in the way of getting there!), I finally realised that my reluctance to let go of my reactions was because I saw them as warning signs that I was in unsafe territory, and therefore I saw them as my friends.
We then worked on the fact that I was weaned from the breast at three months and introduced to dairy and wheat (my two main food sensitivities). After that we did a positive round on “It is safe for me to let go of my reactions to food”. We continued with working on several aspects of feeling unsafe with food, then went in on dairy products (cows, goats and sheep separately).
At this stage I felt ready to try some cheese, and I was pleasantly surprised at my reaction to Rex saying “I’ll have to cut the mould off the sides and tidy it up, the only cheese I’ve got is a bit gross.” Normally something like that would trigger all sorts of warning alarms and there is no way I would eat it. The fact that it didn’t bother me gave me great encouragement that what we had done had really dealt with my feeling unsafe with food.
About an hour after eating two slices of cheese (and enjoying it!), I suddenly had itching all over my body. Rex body-dowsed and established that it was not a physical reaction to the cheese, but rather a reaction to my anxiety about the possibility of a reaction! We tapped a few rounds on the itching and there was no difference. Then all of a sudden my level of intensity shot up as I realised that I had a major issue with the “It’s all in your head” phrase that anyone with something like CFS has heard or heard implied many times throughout the years. We tapped on that, and the itching started to subside, but not disappear. The 9 gamut and floor to ceiling eye roll brought the itching down to 0.
Next I started thinking about how people have said that if you haven’t eaten dairy products in a long time, your body doesn’t have the enzyme to digest them, and so we tapped on that too, just to be sure.
That afternoon, something incredible happened. It was like I was all of a sudden redefining my whole beliefs about food. I realised for the first time in my life that, despite my lifelong battle with dairy, my body does not have a problem with food; it’s the subconscious beliefs that cause the reaction, not the substance itself. I wasn’t able to realise this until after we’d cleared the “It’s all in my head”, and as we cleared that, I ended up tapping on “It really is all in my head, and that’s OK!” (and got to the point where I could laugh about it!)
I later found myself asking Rex all sorts of questions on how he saw different types of food, and I began to sort my food beliefs into valid and untrue. I realised for the first time that white bread is not nutritionally useful, but it is not poison to the body (as I had long claimed). I found myself for the first time ever entertaining the idea of actually choosing to eat small amounts of food for their taste, even if they aren’t nutritionally great (I’ve been very strict with my diet ever since my candida days, and although I have enjoyed what I’ve eaten, I’ve now come to realise that my metaphor with a lot of food was the same as my metaphor with the candida – a war zone, with my body trying to “kill” the bad guys (like dairy and wheat.)) I actually found myself daydreaming about trying the chocolate croissants they make here in France, made with two former “poisons”.
The next evening, we decided to go for broke and really test it. Rex made cauliflower cheese, which for me was the greatest test – milk, butter and cheese all in one dish. I ate a good helping, and had no anxiety, except feeling a bit strange that I didn’t have any anxiety! I was a bit phlegmy the next morning and sneezed a couple of times, but that’s a reasonably regular occurrence for me, so we concluded there is no reason to believe that my body cannot handle dairy products, it being a far cry from past reactions to even small amounts of dairy.
I have had multiple chemical and food sensitivities for at least 20 years. For the first time in my life I can now see that it is not a case of something poisonous invading my body, but rather an overreaction caused by my seeing myself as unsafe, and under attack. This has been a major revelation to me.
My metaphor has for so long been that of the canary in the coalmine – alerting the world around me that what we are doing to the environment and our own bodies is not OK. The metaphor has now changed, and the canary is now out of the cage and flying free, however I still have real concerns about our bodies needing safe ways to alert us when what we are doing is not OK. This is something I think I will integrate over time.
Third Session
When we started the third session, we felt that we had made huge inroads into all my allergy issues, as a result of dealing with the issue of not feeling safe, and the realisation that it wasn’t actually my body reacting all that time, it was as a result of invalid associations in my subconscious.
I was however still quite nervous about trying wheat, as a result of the severity of past reactions. I still also felt I had an issue with not wanting to let go of the allergies due to feeling like if I did, nobody would believe that I had ever been sick (this is common for people with illnesses like CFS who have had the “It’s all in your head” implications throughout their lives).
As we tapped on this particular aspect, I realised that the main issue was that while I was very sick but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with me, I started to doubt my own sanity. We were unable to get past psychological reversal on clearing the wheat, until we addressed this aspect.
It was interesting to note here that once we started on this issue, I started crying and accused Rex of making light of the issue and not taking me seriously! It was very hard for him to understand, and I would imagine that any therapists who have not had severe allergies might not realise just how significant this was for me or others like me.
We also addressed the issue that once I no longer had reactions, I needed to choose to rely on my intuition to let me know if it wasn’t a good idea to eat something. And the lifelong dairy “allergy” had disappeared so rapidly and easily, I felt it also important to do a round on “It’s just too easy!” We also did a round with a choice, choosing to be free by learning to choose my own limits, instead of letting my body set them for me.
We then started on the wheat itself, and tapped on the three most recent and severe times I could remember reacting to wheat, and we tapped on Even though I recently heard an ‘expert’ say that wheat is incredibly difficult to clear even with EFT… We then worked on cravings, as I had noticed that I’d been craving cheese ever since the first bit of testing a few days prior.
By this time I was feeling ready to try some organic wheat bread we had purchased for the testing that morning. My only concern was that I wasn’t concerned!!! After enjoying a slice without any symptoms, we made some soup to enjoy the bread with for lunch, and the rest of the day was symptom free. It took a bit of getting my head around this, as past exposure to wheat had left me in pain and with all sorts of horrible symptoms for several days, starting within a couple of hours of eating the wheat.
I noted later in the day, that the cravings I had had for cheese since eating the first lot to test had stopped, and I was not craving the bread at all, which is very unusual as I usually even crave the wheat free bread I eat sometimes. Something else that really stood out for me is that I am normally very paranoid when handling wheat – I always wash my hands right after giving the dogs a biscuit to avoid touching anything that I could later touch before eating. After the tapping, I was very comfortable handling the wheat and had no desire to wash my hands or clean up every crumb on the bench.
That evening we decided to go for broke, and I ate wheat bread, together with three different types of cheeses, with dinner. I enjoyed it, no anxiety at all! A little while after dinner I noticed I was starting to swallow a bit of phlegm. I did a couple of rounds on it, and discovered that I was feeling guilty that I’d eaten so much and expected my “poor body” to be able to cope with digesting it all, for the first time in so long. The phlegm stopped.
A few days later we had dinner with a friend, and as I sat debating in my mind whether to ask what the dessert was, and what it was made of, I realised that it was the first time in 10 years that I had been able to trust that it was OK to eat something, without knowing exactly what was in it. I realised that I have used controlling my food as a way of giving myself a false sense of security, masking the feeling deep down that I wasn’t safe in the world. It was a real eye opener.
SummaryThis whole thing has completely blown me away. To think of all the hell I went through during all those years, and it was just because I arrived in the world feeling unsafe, and continued to “build evidence” that that was true as I grew up.
I’m having to revisit everything I’ve “learned” about allergies over the years, and am integrating the fact that it appears that for all these years, my body has not been reacting to substances, but rather to my perception of the lack of safety of those substances. It’s been hard for me to come to terms with, particularly as I’ve had occasions in the past where I have reacted when neither Rex nor I have known that I’ve ingested wheat, and only discovered after some detective work after the symptoms appeared that Rex had unknowingly used stock with a small amount of wheat in it.
However despite what my conscious or unconscious mind thinks I know I am now symptom free after eating dairy and wheat (and some chocolate for the first time in many years!), and looking forward to enjoying a life without so many limitations. The food is only a very small aspect of this, because clearing this issue has completely changed my understanding of healing and health, and I now feel that the sky truly is the limit. I’m excited about taking on a 20 year muscle spasm in my neck next!!!
Note on my use of EFT
While I use the word “tapping” in this article, in actual fact I don’t tap at all. I have practised and taught Reiki for many years, and have used Reiki to do a lot of emotional healing in the past. I now combine the two, and all of this work was done with me running Reiki through my fingertips at each of the EFT tapping points, for a few seconds each round. For anyone who does Reiki, I believe that combining it with the EFT makes it very powerful indeed.
Note on the aspects with fear of needles
While not of interest from the perspective of allergies, the side path we went down on my fear of needles might be of interest to some. As we were tapping on the Vitamin K injection soon after birth, the aspect of my fear of medical needles came up.
This led to all the countless blood tests I’d had that hurt but yielded no benefit as for so long the result was always “we can’t find anything wrong with you.” Then it moved on to the painful twice weekly injections of B12 I’d had during a 6 month period, when I was very ill. Then all of a sudden once that was cleared, I suddenly realised for the first time in my life that my fear of sewing needles being put down on the floor might be a little irrational (for as long as I can remember, if someone has placed a needle down while sewing, I haven’t been able to take my eyes off it, for fear of standing on it and it going into my bloodstream and killing me!)
After I thought we’d dealt with this issue, some deft testing on Rex’s part got my intensity level right back up again. Eventually after several lots of testing, I remembered I had been avoiding getting a splinter out of my finger, because I can’t stand needles, and suggested perhaps it would be the ultimate test. When Rex first got a needle out, I exclaimed that he wasn’t going near my finger with such a big needle, then after another round of tapping, it didn’t seem quite so big after all! When Rex had difficulty getting the splinter out with the needle, I surprised both of us by reaching out for it and saying, “Here, I’ll do it”, and proceeded to successfully dig it out of my own finger with no drama!
Jo Hainsworth
The Hero Technique
December 2, 2009
Ryan Kurczak, a licensed massage therapist, EFT coach and teacher in North Carolina shares his Hero Technique used to effectively achieve success with any major goal.
Here is a personal formula using EFT I discovered by accident that I now often use with my clients to help them achieve their goals. I call it “The Hero Technique”. I’ve used it for people who want to make more money, a client who has cancer, a client who wanted to become more fit, and personally in my life to improve my musical abilities.
In this article I will share how I discovered it and achieved what I never thought possible within my own life and also outline how I now use it with my clients. It is my hope that this formula will assist others in achieving their dreams. After all that is why we are really here, to live our dreams!
I decided to sell all of my musical equipment, including my most prized Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar. I had been playing guitar for over 16 years and had always dreamed of being in a rock and roll band. More specifically I idolized the guitarist Jimmy Page and the music of Led Zeppelin. So if I had it my way I would’ve been in a Led Zeppelin tribute band. I thought this dream I’d had for years was as likely to happen as it was for me to meet Jimmy Page himself at our community Mall. So I decided to put my guitars on Ebay and close this “fantasy” chapter in my life.
Oddly enough a funny thing happened while my guitars sat on Ebay racking up the bids. I had been reading Gary Craig’s The Palace of Possibilities. I thought to myself, could it be the writing on my walls that is preventing me from playing in a rock and roll band? (Remember, I had been playing guitar for around 16 years by this point and had the talent to play in a band for the last 10 years, but for some reason it NEVER worked out. Believe me, I had tried.)
I got out my live recordings of Led Zeppelin which includes 2 DVDs and over 5 hours of live music. So I sat in front of my computer screen with my guitar in hand and began watching and listening. I tuned into my internal feelings about playing guitar like Jimmy Page or being in a band as creative and passionate as Led Zeppelin. I began to notice a few things.
First I noticed that I did not think I had the talent to play as expertly as Jimmy Page (even though by most musicians he’s considered a sloppy guitar player live).
I noticed that I did not feel deserving to be in a band doing what I love. Thoughts of my father and memories of him telling me to turn my music down came to mind.
I then noticed that I got nervous and anxious inside at the thought of baring my soul in front of a crowd as large as Madison Square Garden with my guitar, or any crowd at all for that matter.
This all occurred during the first three songs on the DVD. So I tapped on the following phrases until there was absolutely no intensity. Most of these phrases actually brought an intensity of at least a 7-8 in regards to fear before the tapping.
Even though I could never be as good as Jimmy Page…
Even though I don’t deserve to enjoy what I love, playing guitar, because of my father…
Even though I could never bare my soul in front of that many people…
It took about 15 minutes of watching more videos and tuning into these feelings while tapping until the intensities were completely gone. Keep in mind I did what Gary sometimes recommends. I got really emphatic about these feelings and phrases. I put my heart and soul into this tapping session!Luckily the music was loud enough so my wife couldn’t hear me!
Since I had been at this for about a half hour I decided to take a break and just play my guitar for a bit. I immediately noticed that not only was I more relaxed, but I found that I could play lead runs that I had never been able to play before. When I noted this, I realized I had a few more days before my guitars sold to finish watching the remaining 4.5 hours of the DVDs and tap out all the rest of my musical insecurities.
Over the next few days it become more and more apparent how much baggage I had hidden in regards to playing music. (There were many phrases I tapped on, but the ones with the most intensity I’ve recorded in this article.)
A few other phrases I tapped on that stuck out included the following:
Even though I have no right to play that well because it would make other people feel bad…
Even though no one wants to hear this kind of music anymore…
Even though I’ll never meet any other musicians I get along with…
After a while, specific phrases no longer came to mind, but I did have gut reactions that stirred up my emotions as I spent the remaining hours imagining myself playing like Led Zeppelin live. So I just kept watching the video, imagining myself doing what I was watching, and tapped from the eyebrow point to under the arm until whatever emotion that surfaced subsided.
About half way through, negative emotions were more rare. I began to experience more uplifting and enlivening emotions about the prospect of expressing myself on guitar with a band like that. So I began tapping on some positive phrases:
I love knowing the world needs guitar players like me.
I love knowing, playing music like this is a gift to the world.
I love knowing it is OK to have that much fun!
I love knowing this can be just as spiritual as meditating!
This is how what I call “The Hero Technique” began to take shape. I had my heroes who had accomplished exactly what I wanted to accomplish. So I put myself in their shoes while watching a live performance of them and tapped out every contrary emotion that arose when I imagined doing this in my own life. Then I began affirming any positive thought that arose while I tapped. (This later developed into a specific formula, which I will outline in part 2 of this article so you can repeat the process.)
Now here is the great part. Remember, I had never successfully pulled a band together in the 16 years I had been playing guitar. I had tried to create bands that played both original music and cover tunes. Within one week of going through this exercise a drummer and bass player had found a random post I made on a web site (9 months earlier) looking for musicians and contacted me to form a band, not just any kind of band. What kind of band? You guessed it, a Led Zeppelin tribute band!!!
Then one week later, a singer contacted me for the exact same reason! So in two weeks what had been impossible for the last 16 years occurred without me even trying to create it. If you are a musician you will also note that finding musicians who can actually play what Led Zeppelin created is no small task in itself. Every one of the musicians who contacted me was fully capable. Needless to say, I needed to get a new guitar! I got one, and we’ve been playing together for the last year.
In the next installment I will outline how the principles expressed in the above article can be put into an easy formula to use on yourself or with clients to achieve the dreams worth living.
Best Wishes,
Ryan Kurczak
Part 2 of 2: How to Use the “Hero Technique” to achieve your dreams!Here is the process I’ve used with clients and myself to achieve goals. I also like to share this in EFT classes to help students with a format to begin working on their prosperity consciousness and to attract the kind of work they want to do. Apply this to yourself and teach it to others!
Step 1
Choose something you would like to achieve in life. This needs to be a goal that when you think about it, it just makes you giddy inside. This is a not a goal that others think you should want or achieve, or even something you think you should want to achieve because it is “good for you”, but something you really burn for, something that just makes you extremely happy inside. The type of goal I am talking about is the one that when you share it with a friend, they say, “If only you could see the look on your face when you talk about that! You’re glowing!”
Step 2
Now think of someone you greatly admire who has achieved this dream already. This will be your hero to assist you in the process. For example, to improve my guitar playing, my hero was Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin. The client who had cancer chose Lance Armstrong, because of Lance’s ability to heal his own life. A person working towards greater fitness may choose a famous athlete or a person aiming to attract more financial success might choose Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Oprah, or Andrew Carnegie. It is also helpful if this person is someone you already look up to and admire instead of picking someone at random.
Step 3
Find out all you can about your hero. Read their biography. Read books they’ve written. Watch video clips or interviews of them. Take note of how you feel when you think of achieving what they have achieved. Take note of how your feel when you think of being as powerful as they are in their chosen field of success. Listen to their words or writings and note your state of mind when you read them. Does it make you feel good, jealous, happy, sad, frustrated to think of being like them?
The key here is to be acutely aware of your thoughts about their successes and your ability to do that too. Reading about them, watching them, listening to them, etc. are all ways to get you in tune with emotions about achieving that same thing.
Start with one emotion at a time. Read a little about them. Then think of achieving what you want. When emotions come up, identify them and tap on them. For example: Think of achieving the wealth of Bill Gates. Find some information about how he did it and read it. Then think about being that successful again.
The emotion of futility may come up and you may think, I’m not that lucky. He was in the right place at the right time. So tune into that emotion and tap through the basic recipe on the following phrase, Even though it’s pointless to try being as rich as Bill Gates…
Tap until the feeling is gone. Then tune again to being that rich. A new thought/emotion combo may come up. You may feel overwhelmed by all the responsibility of managing that much money and decide it’s not really worth it. Then tune into the emotion of being overwhelmed and tap on the phrase, Even though all that responsibility is not worth all that money…
Continue thinking about your goal and your hero and tuning into the emotions that arise around achieving it what you want. Continue tapping on all the negative feelings that arise until you are bored with the process. In my experience this indicates, you’ve probably tapped out as much as you can for the day.
If you begin to get even more excited about being as successful as your chosen hero instead of coming up with negative emotions, tap on those positive emotions. For example: I love the idea of being as rich as Bill Gates … I love how happy it makes me to be open to this opportunity. (Say this while tuning into the thought of achieving your goal.)
Continue reading, watching, and thinking about being as successful as your hero. Tap on anything that arises. You really want to resonate with their state of consciousness and feel like it is completely natural for you to do that too. You want to feel as though you are in their circle and that they are really nothing special, because you are just as good as they are.
Step 4
Now to follow this up, make a list of all the things you think would be bad about achieving the goal you’ve chosen. I usually have clients pick 5 things at a time. For example: In regards to playing in a rock and roll band like Jimmy Page, I realize these 5 things would be unpleasant.
- Getting up in front of a crowd. (I was nervous!)
- I’d have to memorize and learn all those songs and solos. (That was more effort than I wanted to put into it.)
- I’d have to try and get along with other musicians. (In my experience, they were very hard to deal with)
- I was afraid of messing up the songs I loved.
- I’d have to play in bars until way past my bedtime and that would throw off my schedule I liked to be on.
So I took each one of these and tapped on what I thought was so bad about each aspect until they didn’t really seem like they were that important. If there are more negative concepts that would result from achieving a person’s goals after the first 5 were addressed I would have clients make a list of 5 more and work on those until there was really nothing they could think of that would be unpleasant.
Typically, after tapping on the negative consequences of achieving their goal, most people realized either what they thought was a consequence that didn’t need to happen, or they found an easy solution to manage it and weren’t paralyzed by the negative expectation anymore.
Step 5
After feeling clear and confident implementing steps 1 through 4, I recommend turning thoughts with more energy to the positive expression of their goals. So I have them think about all the great things that will occur from achieving the goal and tap on those positive feelings. Most clients find this really energizing.
For example: Here are a few positive examples from the client who emulated Lance Armstrong to assist in his healing process.
- He realized he would be able to go hiking and spend more time in nature with plenty of energy.
- He discovered that he would love to be able to begin and finish a book he’d had in his mind.
- He was excited about the idea of building a cooperative eco-conscious community.
- He was elated, that he didn’t have to go back to work where he was last employed.
The possibility of achieving all these things once he was healed provided some serious motivation. So I had him tune into the joy of achieving these goals, as if his body was already completely healed, and he had already achieved them and had him tap on similar phrases to the following:
I love knowing how good it feels to hike all I want in nature with boundless energy.
I love the feeling that I have finally completed my book.
I love the joy of being a part of this community I’ve always dreamt about.
I love knowing I don’t have to work in a job like that ever again!
I advise people to tap and really get into the positive side of their dreams and goals. It is my feeling that the more joy you can drum up and “tap in” the better!
Step 6
Now is the time for action. Once you have been doing this for a while and are starting to run out of things to tap on, the time has come to begin doing what is necessary to achieve your goal. This may include taking simple baby steps that you know will get you there or simply find out what a good first step would be. The key is to begin in some way to work towards what you want.
Once you’ve taken the above steps as far as you can, you are now energetically aligned to attract and achieve what you want. This part of the process acknowledges to the universe that you are ready to work for what you want. It also brings more awareness to aspects you need to tap on that you missed earlier.
The use of EFT and imagination are great, but what most people miss is that they also need to “DO” something to achieve what they want. Sitting around and waiting for an opportunity is great and may very well pay off, but if you find yourself sitting around too long, start doing something, anything, that will get you started toward your goal. Then more than likely opportunities will begin to appear, and the universe will help you out in ways you won’t expect.
What is EFT and how can I use it to improve my health and life? Read more here to find out.
Logan Niles
