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A few months ago I read "A New Earth..." , by Eckhart Tolle. One of the take home messages in his book is about living in the present moment. Before reading his book and watching his 10 week program with Oprah, I always thought I was one of the most "present" people I knew and, sometimes, painfully so. Boy, was I mistaken. Since reading his book, I had been gradually practicing being present in the moment. Well, like most things that take consistent practice I soon found myself back to square one. It occurred to me a few days ago as I sat on my porch and enjoying a beautiful sunny day that my thoughts were already two months (and then some) ahead of me. How could I possibly enjoy the warmth of the sun, the songbirds singing and the gentle breeze in the air when I was already living 2 months ahead of schedule? Honestly, I couldn't until I reminded myself about the importance of living in the present moment. I'm writing this in my journal today as a reminder to myself of just how important it is to be in the here and now. I have wasted too much of my time spent up in my head wondering, scheming, planning and worrying about things in my life before they have even happened. Now, of course we all must think ahead and plan our futures in order to have a fulfilling life, but what I'm talking about here is an almost constant rush of mind-thought that kept me up in my head. So, I am gently bringing myself back to practicing being present on a daily basis. The truth is that life is truly richer when living in the present moment with out the judgments of the egoic mind.

On the raw front... In preparation for my Green Smoothie and Juice Feast beginning in July, I am now eating my first two meals of the day completely raw. I will continue to eat my main meal (in the evening) cooked and maybe as evening snack. At least one day per week I will be eating 100% raw along with the others that may join the "one-day raw food challenge" on the new group that I created on the Daily Strength website. It is called Baby steps to Raw-Live Foods. On June 8th I will be adding an additional green smoothie in the evening to replace my evening snack. So, at that point I will be eating cooked foods only once per day. Also, on that date, I will be removing all foods containing wheat, gluten, processed sugar, eggs/dairy, meat (other than fish). I will eat this way for about 2-3 weeks and then transition to a raw diet before beginning my 2 weeks of only green smoothies and then onto only fruit and vegetable juices. I have not assigned a certain number of days to how long I will do this yet. My plan is to do it for as long as it takes to see an improvement in my health conditions, especially the severe psoriasis on my scalp and the insidious IBS symptoms that plague me daily. Many people I know plan a 92-100 day juice feast and I may, at some point, assign a number, but for now it will be for an indefinite period of time.