A chickpea in a pot leaps from the flame, out from the boiling water,

Crying, "Why do you set fire to me?

You chose me, bought me, brought me home for this?”

The cook hits it with her spoon into the pot.

"No! Boil nicely, don't jump away from the one who makes the fire.

I don't boil you out of hatred.

Through boiling you may grow flavourful, nourishing,

and united with vital human spirit.

I don't inflict this suffering out of spite.

Once green and fresh, you drank rain in the garden;

you drank for the sake of this fire.

God's mercy precedes His wrath;

by God's mercy the sick ones suffer.

It has always been so; this is how God creates all that exists.

Without pleasure, no creatures would come into being.

Without creatures,

what could the burning love of the Friend consume?

Such sorrow may come that you might wish

to be free of this life.

yet the Grace of God will overtake His wrath,

once you are washed clean in the river of suffering.

Chickpea, you fed in the springtime;

now pain has become your guest.

Entertain him well, that he may return home grateful,

and speak of your generosity to the King.

Instead of your vision of good fortune,

the One Who Bestows Favor may come to you;

then all true blessings may be drawn to you.

Just as Abraham commanded his son:

'Lay your head before my knife

I see in a dream that I must sacrifice you,’

lay your head before God's knife,

that He may cut your throat like that of Ishmael.

He may cut off your head,

but only the one that is immune to death.

Such submission is the fulfillment of God's purpose

ó seek this submission.

Chickpea, continue to boil in suffering,

so that no self may remain in you.

Though once you laughed in the garden of earth,

you now are the rose of the garden of spirit,

you now are the eye of spirit.

Once you are torn from the garden of water and earth,

you may become food, and thereby enter the living world.

Become nourishment, strength and thought!

Once you were sap; now become a lion in the jungle!

You were born from God's attributes;

return eagerly to them.

You came from the cloud and the sun and sky,

then scattered and ascended to heaven.

You came as rain and heat;

you will return into the Divine attributes.

You were part of the sun and the cloud and the stars.

You became soul and action and speech and thoughts.

Our victory after the checkmate of death

gives truth to the words,

'Verily, in being slain there is life.' 

Action, speech and sincerity become food for angels;

they climb this ladder to heaven.

A morsel of food becomes food for humanity,

rises from its inanimate state and obtains a soul.

The caravan of spirit travels constantly between earth and heaven.

Join it gladly and freely,_not bitterly and full of hatred, like a thief.

I speak bitter words to you so you may be washed clean of bitterness.

The frozen grape thaws in the cold water

and leaves its coldness and hardness behind.

When you endure bitterness,

your heart will fill with blood like the grape,

and you will be freed from all bitterness.

A dog not kept for hunting wears no collar;

the raw and unboiled are nothing but insipid.

"The chickpea speaks, "If this is so, then help me to boil!

By this boiling you elevate me.

Hit me with the spoon; delight me!

Like the elephant, strike me and brand my head,

that I may not dream of the gardens of Hindustan.

Let me gladly submit to this boiling

that I may be embraced by the Beloved.

Men and women, imagining themselves free,

grow insolent and hostile, like the dreaming elephant.

When the elephant dreams of Hindustan,

he disobeys the driver and becomes vicious.

"The cook says, "I was once like you, part of the earth.

I drank the fire of self-discipline, fasting and prayer,

and became worthy and acceptable to God.

I boiled long in the world of time, and long in the pot of this body.

From these boilings I grew capable of strengthening the senses;

I became animal spirit, and then became your teacher.

While inanimate, I said to myself,

'You are running about in agitation

so that you might be filled with knowledge

and the qualities of spirit.’

Now that I have become animal spirit,

let me boil again and pass beyond that state.

"Pray unceasingly to God that you might not be misled by these words,

and that you might arrive at your journey's end.

For many have been misled by the Qur'an;

by clinging to the rope of words, many have fallen into the well.

The rope is faultless, O perverse ones ó

it is you who lack desire to reach the top.

Our bodies are like machines. If they are not used properly, parts of us stop working little by little. Aches and pains mean your body’s telling you that something is wrong, and it’s up to you to do something about it.

Bodies burn energy. In the old days energy was burnt through physical work – hunting, working in the fields and so on. Today many of us sit in front of a computer all day and rarely get up, except to eat or visit the toilet. 

Then we wonder why our body hurts and why we are not feeling well!??

Clear mental clutter, reset the body – it’s a no brainer!

And not only do we burn energy but we get rid of some of that mental clutter. Exercising is like magic – like resetting the body. To burn energy, we need to move on a daily basis. When we do, we feel balanced and good. There are plenty of ways to burn energy, be it walking, dancing, cycling, jogging, swimming, yoga, tennis, football or what ever we like to do. 

As mentioned above exercise is a very good way to clear the head, but also what is important is our space. To keep it tidy and clean makes a huge difference in our inner space, as funny as that might sound. But our environment does effect us in every way. Do you find your self stuck in a cycle where the same thought keep coming up bothering you and making you anxious, how to get rid of it? Perhaps try distraction first, a good movie, meet friends, read a book. The other way can be to keep catching that thought, as soon as it pop up, you put awareness to it and stop yourself from letting it run, eventually the mind grows tired of it and starts focus on what ever else you chose to focus it on.

The mind is really like a computer what we feed it is what stays. When overloaded time to delete some old useless files. 

Natural Highs for the body and mind – Next Page

Food is a great generator of our state of mind. That is I why emphasise on the word Life cooking, we are what we eat!

Notice the un nourishing ingredient's in your life and you will quickly find out how draining they are,may it be a negative friend, a bad habit, arguments ?  

Maybe time to eliminate this out of your life?

Food is just the same. We are all energetic beings fueling up on wholesome nourishment, it can be simple things as a walk in the forest Fresh sea breeze, a healthy meal. What is healthy to you?

Fresh kicks

Cooked food, is food with less energy. Try to eat salads and non-cooked vegetables on a day to day basis, together with your other dishes. 

Deep fried food and high sugar food, drains energy. You might feel ‘full’ and content for a little while but with awareness you may notice that not long after a low energy kicks in, making you feel sleepy and slow.

If you eat meat

I am not saying do not eat meat, just avoid eating too much meat. (Just like avoid too much of anything for that matter) Only you know what is good for your body and by observing yourself, and how you feel, you can quickly learn what suits you as far as food goes.

Naturally organic

If you can, try to buy organic food, especially meat. As the food industry is today the exploitation of meat and animals it is uncomfortable to consider what animals are fed in those large farms breading animals to grow and slaughter at minimum cost – keeping them alive by any means till slaughter day. 

The meat industry is not only a cruel life for animals but the consequence of cruelty is passed on to those eating produced meat. Animals are living beings. They have feelings and emotions just like humans. Their energy is transmitted to us when we eat their meat. Eating meat from an animal that has spent its whole life in a cage passes on traces of drugs and low frequency energy to the eater.

Supplements?

If you have a healthy balanced diet, there should be no reason for you to take supplements. Eating several times a day in small proportions is a good way to enhance the metabolism and the body teaches itself to burn food throughout the day and not put weight on. Eating large meals one or two times a day can be very tiring. Eating very little teaches the body to store food and not use it properly, resulting in less energy, too.

Soul Food – Next Page

The word for breath in Sanskrit is ‘prana’. Yoga teaches that intentionally using prana in different ways results in calming or revitalising effects. Through the breath you can learn how to control your mind and mood. Try it for yourself!

Breathing for feelings of anger or confusion

Sit on a chair or on the floor in an upright position, this is important, so that your breath can reach the deepest part of you. With one finger, press lightly your right nostril, breath in for the count of four,  now press your left nostril to exhale through the right side on the count of four. 

You can change the counts but maintain the length equal for the inhale as well as the exhale. Do this 20 times. This is a great exercise to do when feeling stress, frustration, negativity, and emotional.

Breathing for feelings of loneliness

Sitting or lying down, put one hand on your belly (to ground yourself ) and focus on the breath coming in and out of your belly.  Just breath normally and if your attention wanders, just bring it back to the breath. Count as you breath. One, for the in breath, two for the out breath, three for the in breath, etc. As you do this, imagine everything in the world that you love, such as people, dead or alive, sunshine, trees, blue sky, etc., and imagine that you are breathing all of these things in. And when you breath out you are expelling those feelings of loneliness.

Self Respect – Next Page

Most of us are taught to be ambitious and to always improve to stand out and become “something” in life, this can create a whole lot of pressure that we put on to ourselves. It  brings out the feeling of never being enough, probably the most common phenomena that I see amongst my clients.

We have to learn how to un-condition and be forgiving and accepting of who we are, we can only do our best.  Treating yourself as you would treat anyone else that you love is a good start.

Bringing awareness to the forefront is important, hearing and catching yourself when you start to “down talk” and judge yourself.

Notice when you judge others, that in reality it’s a reflection on yourself and that said person is highlighting something that you do not like about yourself. Ask yourself, “where did that come from?”

Body Maintenance – Next Page

Soul food to me means connection, connection with nature, with people and what is around me. 

To be present and breath in what IS. May it be a lovely old building with some magic details, a tree trunk that has been in the same place for hundreds  of years, people that I have an instant connection with, you just know that they will be a friend for life.

I also love conversations with complete strangers something is said and it hits an inner button, there   is a message in there for me that just makes totally sense.  But we need to stop to listen, to look, to enjoy, smell, breath and be present. 

Travel to a place you never been to, call a loved one you have not spoken to for a too long time, watch children play, do things that puts a smile on your face, it is all food for the soul.

Chickpea in a Pot – Next Page

Life is about balance in every aspect. In reality there is no such thing as right or wrong. Everyone holds their own limits and only you can really know what those limits are. How so?

By being aware and getting to know yourself. When I eat, how do I feel? When I exercise, sing, love, dance, laugh, cry, how do I feel?  

Tap into the sensations in your body, the mind, what is happening?     No one can tell you what is right for you, as we are all unique.

It is when we cannot find a good balance that life seems to get worse, when we are not feeling happy inside. And at this point, we need to act, and bring things back to a happy medium. This is not always so easy.  But this is where I come handy and can help you to pinpoint what is and what is not working in your present life. Together we look at where the scale is at, how to bring equilibrium back to your daily life.

Using certain tools and awareness.

Breath – Next page