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Dairy Free Carrot Raisin Salad

11/26/2019

"Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet."

Being, staying and remaining grounded is of most importance in this Digital age. As someone who gets stuck or lost in her head quit frequently, I've learned to master the art of being grounded. Whether its an epsom salt bath, meditation or just a short nature walk, there are many spiritual and physical ways to ground oneself.

Too often in the west we are concerned about diet from a caloric lens. We don't want to eat anything with too much salt, sugar, fat or carbohydrates. In the east, or other cultures, they are primarily concerned about food from a nutritional or medicinal lens. In some countries, like Eastern Europe, vegetables are only available during the summer season and live off pickled vegetables during the winter months.

Carrots, a root vegetable aides in the grounding process of our existence.

Carrot salad is a common side dish in many European cultures. All have their own version, and I recreated a form of carrot salad with Daiya's vegan plain Greek yogurt since they sent me a product sample. They did not pay me for this post.

Food is medicine, and even during the winter months we crave a mix of raw and cooked produce. With something simple and something sweet, this is a "four-seasons" salad for everyone to enjoy. If you desire a sweeter flavor, either add more sugar or try the vanilla yogurt, but it will alter the flavor.

From me to you, have a Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you find whatever to be thankful for in life, God and in this world.

Dairy Free Carrot Raisin Salad
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Soaking Time: 30+ minutes
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
1 cup raisins, soaked in 1 cup of apple juice
7 large carrots, grated
1 5.3 ounce Daiya Plain Yogurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1.5 tsp sugar

Directions:
In a bowl, soak the raisins in apple juice. Shred the carrots and mix all of the ingredients into a large bowl. Serve immediately or chilled after the refrigerator.

Check out my other side dish recipes. Enjoy!

Protein-Packed Kale-Chard Salad w/ Lemon Vinaigrette

Vegan Carrot Apple Fennel Soup

Agave-Mandarin Roasted Rainbow Carrots

Yum

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Empowerment vs. Dis-empowerment: Where are you?

11/12/2019

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Life is one long, crazy journey. Some of us work to live, where others live to evolve their soul and spirit on this planet. As we go, and grow, through life we encounter moments of highs, lows, loneliness, fulfillment and (dis)satisfaction.

It is common to fluctuate through moments of empowerment and dis-empowerment. Through my work, I've encountered many people from all walks of life who have various mindsets, life experiences and traumas. And as I've reflected events in my life, and pinged ideas off like-minds, personal empowerment is so important in the modern world. Everyone has the capability of gaining power, and what we've seen for thousands of years is the abuse of power and corruption of the heart.

Something is not working in the modern world. With the increase of infidelity, lust, drug use and open relationships, many people are craving depth, solidarity, monogamy, giving back and a healthy life.

The body, nature and society operates best in balance. The more unbalanced we become, the more-tsunami like our ripple effect will be to the world and the more we leave a trace of our carbon footprint on human emotions.

Personal empowerment breaks the chains of abusive power, constraint and compromising standards.

em·pow·er·ment - the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.

Empowerment is walking away from what no longer serves you.

Empowerment is being true to your life mission and walking away from the things that hold you back or put you done.

Empowerment is knowing yourself in and out and what works, what doesn't and what brings out the best in you. It is being the investigator in your life, and understanding the depths of your mind, body and soul. To some extent, I believe personal empowerment comes from God and doing the inner work. It is to know your worth and value, but you cannot be a hypocrite in the process.

Dis-empowerment is the low-ego or low confidence mindset that believes you are NOT worthy, capable of receiving healthy love, or continuously compromising your standards. This is the ungrounded energy that is grasping or grappling for any sort of confidence booster, which usually comes from external substances. Dis-empowerment is NOT respecting yourself. To some extent, darkness or demonic energy wants you to feel HORRIBLE about yourself.

What is empowerment vs. dis-empowerment?

Empowerment

Loving yourself enough to know you will not accept abuse, neglect or being mistreated, and loving yourself enough to have the strength to walk away.
Understanding your intuitive or God-given gifts and embracing them
Sticking to your convictions and/or uplifting people and their emotional state.
You strategize how to lessen emotional disappointment in all relationships with clear / concise communication and intentionally addressing issues in a diplomatic method.
Empower people to live to the best version of themselves.
Having and expressing gratitude and not being entitled.
Taking personal responsibility for your actions, behaviors and commitments.
You give back or feel you want to help others (stewardship) as others helped you along the way.
Reasonable with the stages and development of relationships: excitement, development, disappointment, growth.
Understand the silver lining regardless of outcomes.
Having clarity of purpose.

Dis-empowerment

Not respecting your boundaries or overcompensating just to be nice.
Comparing yourself to others and not being content in your life's path/progression.
Being too passive, putting off important conversations because of a fear of confrontation.
Letting people walk all over you.
Chronic worry about what other people think of you instead of embracing your gifts.
Victim mentality
Letting other people / society / systems control you or take away your autonomy / power.
Negative mindset - "I'm not good enough."
Not believing in yourself or your capabilities / life path.

It takes time and life experience to feel or to get empowered, and sometimes we need to experience moments of being dis-empowered to become empowered. It is important to not be stuck in the mud, but continue to heal and move through the inner fear to become an empowered lotus flower. Lotus flowers, in order to bloom, must grow through mud and dirty water.

Everyone has the ability to gain power, but it depends on how we utilize that power. For good or not. Life is like the ocean, it ebbs and flows. We may bounce in and out stages of (dis)empowerment, but once empowered, it is difficult to walk backwards.

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.” – Mulan

What are ways you empower yourself?

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The Human Heart: The Body's Most Vital & Delicate Organ Spiritually

11/5/2019

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In the world of anatomy, the brain is considered the body's most vital organ. Some professors claim that it is also the body's most delicate organ because the brain is about 75% water and has about 60% fat. It has the consistency of butter.

The brain indeed is soft and fragile and gives the body commands. Genius minds have advanced human life to the world that we know today.

However, on energetic and emotional level, the heart is what drives humans to do the most amazing and the most atrocious things. Some people have a heart that is white as snow where others have a heart that is black as coal, and linking that emotion to their mind and ego makes or breaks people, communities and the planet.

So yes, maybe the brain is the most vital organ; however, there are people who still live and are "brain dead" or in a coma. They are still a living and breathing organism although unable to perform cognitive and motor function. Life support is necessary.

Is it possible that the human heart is the most vital
â€‹organ in the body in a spiritual sense?

I noticed how powerful the human heart is at the age of sixteen. My grandmother had a second stroke that left her as a "vegetable." The decision had to be made to unplug her. This to some extent traumatized me, but more so for my mother who was in tears, screaming, "Mom I love you."

On some level, we were able to recognize that her brain understood the words we communicated to her. At the point of unplugging, we noticed her will to live. The breathing got deeper and the heart continued to pump electricity; although over time decreased, which eventually flatlined. The brain stopped its communication line to breath and once the heart flat-lined, that was the moment of death.

On this earth plane, the mind is riddled with fear, doubt, guilt and shame.

However, it is the human heart that drives us to the light or the dark. The heart is the gateway for many artists. By analyzing art one can sense the emotion, or pain, that lays in that person's heart. The heart is the doorway to what goes on in one's mind. And for those who believe in God, only God knows what goes on inside people's heads and hearts. He is our ultimate surveillance camera.

Some research states that it takes a man 8.2 seconds to fall in love at first sight.

â€‹Physiologically, if the heart is not functioning at an optimal level, the other organs including the brain will die from a lack of oxygen. The heart is a complex organ that completes many tasks while under pressure. The heart's pumping action moves many substances throughout the body including nutrients, waste products, hormones, oxygen and our chemical messengers.

The heart has four chambers, each one that pumps blood into a specific part of the body, and it also has four valves. In the world of spirituality, we have four directions, four seasons and four elements.

In the Bible, Genesis is the book of creation and God is the Creator. And the fourth day is very significant to our creation on earth.

Genesis 1 verses 14-19: And God said, â€œLet there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.â€ And it was so. 16 God made two great lightsâ€”the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morningâ€”the fourth day.

This is symbolic to the light and the dark features of many human hearts. The outer world is symbolic to our inner world. But God also created the seasons, elements and directions on this fourth day. The energy of our heart can move in various directions.

â€‹Humans have four limbs. Two arms and two legs that drive or direct us though life. The irony of Jesus being crucified on a cross dictates the power of the human heart.

YOU ARE THE CROSS!

View this post on Instagram

You are the cross. Something I realized while hiking the #caminodesantiago in Barcelos #portugal and staring at the cross. Right in the center or the crossing point of our body lays the human heart, and on an energetic sense is the most vital organ in the body. More thoughts on todayâ€™s #blogpost at mindbodysoul-food.com â¤ï¸ #heart #heartbroken #camino #caminoportugues #cross #jesus #jesuschrist #church #travel #spirit #spirituality #love #europe #europetravel #jacobsweg #wanderlust #blogger

A post shared by Elizabeth Kovar (@erkovar) on Nov 5, 2019 at 10:27am PST

Stand in front of a mirror, with your feet hip distance and reach your arms to shoulder height. These four limbs shape a cross and at the very center of the cross in the human heart.

In my life experience, I've endured much physical pain through pursuits like studying yoga in India, hiking the camino, playing rugby etc. and the irony is that the human body recovers from pain. The mind has the ability to numb pain.

The human heart, if not worked through, sometimes will never recover from pain. Energy work, therapy, meditation, yoga, support groups etc. can heal the human heart.

The human heart also has three layers of tissue that make up the heart wall. â€‹According tobiology dictionary.net the human heart consists of:

The Epicardium. The epicardium is also sometimes considered a part of the protective pericardial membrane around the heart. It helps to keep the heart lubricated and protected.
The Myocardium. The myocardium is the muscle of the heart. You can remember this because the root word â€œmyoâ€ comes from â€œmuscle,â€ while â€œcardiumâ€ comes from â€œheart.â€
The myocardium is an incredibly strong muscle that makes up most of the heart. It is responsible for pumping blood throughout the body.
The Endocardium. The endocardium is a thin, protective layer on the inside of the heart. It is made of smooth, slippery endothelial cells, which prevent blood from sticking to the inside of the heart and forming deadly blood clots.

Why is this important?

Symbolically, we humans guard our hearts and have protective layers and barriers that we hold because of our past and former pain. Getting to the root of many issues or gaining access to someone's heart is like peeling back the layers of the onion. The more layers you peel the stinkier it is, but also notice the balance between toughness of the core and the delicacy of the protective petals that is removed.

Deep down, our walls are "thin" like the endocardium, which is the seat of our emotions and love. Being vulnerable is not easy, and those who lack moral convictions often take advantage of the vulnerable. They are perceived as weak or prey to the predator.

And that is where the mind comes in. One must use the mind and analytics and guard the heart to know if the other party is genuine. Playing with people's hearts and emotions in my eyes is demonic, and continuing to destroy people's hearts and emotions will continue this negative cycle of violence and pain in society.

â€‹We all have a choice in this life. We can continue to follow the sheep of mind games, and toying with people's hearts, or we can walk against the grain and live a life with morality and convictions. This life is not easy as one can take many "spiritual bullets" for being different, but that is part of the process and the change one must see in the world.

Love is the most powerful energy on this planet. Love is what makes people thrive. Love saves lives. And love also takes lives. Wars have been started or created in the name of love. Musicians create songs in light of love. And wives have been murdered as the result of pain in love.

What do you think? Is the heart the most powerful and delicate organ in an energetic sense?

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Sunspiration #126: The Deep Reveal of True Colors

11/3/2019

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Fall is the season of exposing true colors. While the sun is in Libra, the ruler of beauty, nature reveals it's true colors prior to transitioning down its path towards the sign of death, Scorpio.

True colors is symbolic to the authenticity of one's soul. Humans are flawed creatures, so one's authentic self may not be of the light, but somehow during this season it is easy to discover who people are.

Like a beautiful peacock, let your soul, your talent, your skill shine in the light during this transition where darkness overtakes the light. How does one do this? Take the time to disconnect from the artificial light and walk into the natural light to let that creative energy bubble from within. And when it's time that energy will channel itself out to the real world. Be authentic. And never be afraid of taking new paths and directions in life.

As always, inspired by the sun,
Elizabeth

Join Mind Body Soul Food Every Sunday for some inspiration, or Sunspiration, where we analyze quotes and sweet nothings in 150 words or less. Get inspired everyday with our Instagram account, sunspiration_everyday with inspirational quotes, motivational messages & sweet nothings.

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A Journey into Thought & Spirit

Dairy Free Carrot Raisin Salad

Empowerment vs. Dis-empowerment: Where are you?

Personal empowerment breaks the chains of abusive power, constraint and compromising standards.

em·pow·er·ment - the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.

Empowerment

Dis-empowerment

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.” – Mulan

The Human Heart: The Body's Most Vital & Delicate Organ Spiritually

Is it possible that the human heart is the most vital
â€‹organ in the body in a spiritual sense?

YOU ARE THE CROSS!

Sunspiration #126: The Deep Reveal of True Colors

Author

Categories

Archives

A Journey into Thought & Spirit

Dairy Free Carrot Raisin Salad

Empowerment vs. Dis-empowerment: Where are you?

Personal empowerment breaks the chains of abusive power, constraint and compromising standards.

em·pow·er·ment - the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.

Empowerment

Dis-empowerment

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.” – Mulan

The Human Heart: The Body's Most Vital & Delicate Organ Spiritually

Is it possible that the human heart is the most vital â€‹organ in the body in a spiritual sense?

YOU ARE THE CROSS!

Sunspiration #126: The Deep Reveal of True Colors

Author

Categories

Archives

Is it possible that the human heart is the most vital
â€‹organ in the body in a spiritual sense?