**I actually doubled the recipe and cooked it slow for 6 hours before pressure canning it.Here is the recipe as it stands for stovetop cooking.
2 Tbsp olive oil 1-1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 medium) 2 cups peeled and chopped carrots (about 5) 1-1/4 cups chopped celery (about 3) 4 cloves garlic 4 (14.5 oz) cans Low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes (undrained) 3 cups peeled and 1/2-inch thick diced potatoes (about 3 medium) 1/3 cup chopped parsley 2 bay leaves 1/2 tsp dried thyme, or 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves Salt and pepper 1-1/2 cups chopped frozen or fresh green beans 1-1/4 cups frozen or fresh corn 1 cup frozen or fresh peas
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
Add onions, carrots, and celery and sauté 4 minutes then add garlic and sauté 30 seconds longer.
Add in broth, tomatoes, potatoes, parsley, bay leaves, thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Bring to a boil, then add green beans.
Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until potatoes are almost fully tender, about 20 – 30 minutes.
Add corn and peas and cook 5 minutes longer.
Serve warm
For more flavor add in more dried herbs (or even triple the amount of dried thyme). Other good herbs to add include basil, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, or italian seasoning.
Vegetable soup all prepared, now for it to cook all day.7 quarts of delicious vegetable soup. Plus I have 2 pints in the freezer.
Feel the thrill of the winds of change blowing through your hair. Smell the new blessings whispering from around the next corner. Sense that you are being summoned to level up to something magnificent. You don’t have to do anything rash like giving notice at your job, leave your relationship, or vacate your residence. This might just mean it’s time to get curious about an improved version of yourself. Meditate on how you can best align with the higher levels of wisdom, blessings, gifts, energy now emerging through you, and infuse that awareness into your here and now.
Mantra :: I release all that no longer serves me, so a better version of me can emerge.
Artwork by Rassouli
The Hero’s Journey dream oracle, by Kelly Sullivan Walden
You might have been taught that creativity is something you have to work hard to access, or that finding your life purpose is so difficult that you must search high and low for it. Yet what you are is within you and wants to come out at every available opportunity! You don’t have to struggle so much. It is more about allowing space for it to manifest and let the energy flow. The real struggle is not in finding something. It is more about letting go of the idea that you need to search for your path in the first place. You see, the process of activating your life path is a natural one. The effort is in getting out of the way, not in making something happen.
As for being yourself, that is the foundation from which your true life path will reveal itself. Being yourself becomes easier when you give yourself permission to love, honor and accept yourself in all circumstances, especially the ones where you might be more tempted to reject and judge. Give the sacred rebel within the opportunity to decide your values – irrespective of whether they meet with general social acceptance.
What you are dreaming of or seeking to do, create, live or manifest, is actually very natural for you. That is why you want to do it.
If you experienced controlling or manipulative forces as you were growing up, you could have found it hard to access your natural state at the time. You would have been too busy trying to adapt and get through the trials of childhood.
When you finished navigating childhood and started to let go of who you were taught to be in order to become who you really are, you may have found your life path was not easily accessible. That is simply because your true and natural self was covered by layers of shame from the early conditioning that you had to be other than you are in order to win love or be acceptable.
However, the natural self hasn’t gone anywhere. It is still there within you. Now it is just chipping away at the walls of shame, perhaps with a defiant, “Who the hell cares, I am here and I am going to love myself anyway.” This allows you to risk bearing the feeling of any shame that arises as you release old emotional wounds and break away from any restraints to unconditional self love. The scared rebel within can empower you to love yourself no matter what, simply because you want to. You might decide to declare, “I am still loveable – so put that in your pipe and smoke it!” This will send an energetic message to whoever shamed you in the first place, whether they meant to or not. You can be freed to realize that the shame is just an emotion, not a truth, and you can defy any hold it has ever had on you and your ability to love yourself.
You are now powerful enough to break the cycle. It is time to stop the shame and claim yourself with love instead.
What you want to write, sing, dance or become, is you. It is natural. Drop your defenses, get into the grit and confront the power that any old shaming has had over you. It’s finished now. It is time for you to be naked with yourself, acknowledge how gorgeous you are and get on with your work. What you want to create, wants to be created. The world wants to be written. You just need to let go of any remnants of the past that have been in your way. Step firmly over them and on to your path.
Healing process :: Say aloud, “I now choose to forgive and release any person, situation or circumstance that has ever been a source of shame or shaming for me, whether conscious or unconscious. I now release this from my body, mind and heart, through unconditional love. I choose to claim myself instead. I love, accept and claim all of me under the loving protection and wisdom of life. I choose to live as myself. Now. I call on the unconditionally loving assistance that life wishes to send me for this journey now. I honor my creative power and my innate worth. So be it.”
Be kind to yourself. Say this every day for the next few days or however long it takes for you to believe it. You are worth the effort.
Neuroplasticity happens when connections are made across the neural network in our brain. Essentially, our brain creates super-highways that it travels quickly in response to outside stimuli. Thought patterns that are repeated often create massive highways that the thought travels on. The more the thought occurs, the more it will occur.
One of the most effective ways to reprogram the mind, to reformat the consciousness, is through using affirmative statements. I share with you examples that you may find helpful should you wish to use them to assist in reformatting the thinking mind.
To the one who can perfectly practice inaction, all things are possible. ~ Ernest Holmes
Step back to find clarity.
Take a breather and honor your yin (feminine) nature. This is not always so easy to do in a culture that honors and celebrates the yang (drive/strive mode), while turning its nose at the virtues of the yin qualities of flow and letting go. In yang mode we get things done. In yin mode we fill our tank and reflect on our larger vision and purpose, so when its time to move, we do so with precision. If we are to live in balance, we need both action and reflection. There are times to do and times for inaction. To know which mode is most appropriate, step back, and practice discernment.
Mantra :: Divine discernment lets me know when to go, when to stop, and when to drop into the space in between.
Artwork by Rassouli
The Hero’s Journey dream oracle, by Kelly Sullivan Walden
I’m no scientist, and I have no Ph.D., but I do have experience with the effects of a properly hydrated and nourished body.
Hydrated cells are more easily flushed of toxins. Proper hydration allows for the cell to flow freely throughout the body system, allowing the cell to function at its optimum.
A well hydrated body makes for a more powerful reception to the energies around us, and in us. The human body is a biological antennae as well as a power source, a generator, which picks up on even the most subtle energetic flow. It is that which connects the heavens and the beings of it, to the earth and those that live here. The bridge between worlds.
As we age the cellular wall becomes hardened, and hydration does not enter in the optimum. The antennae slowly stops receiving ….. receiving what? Energy, life force, support from our unseen team who communicates in vibration … the cells wither, and so does the body, the mind.
Some time ago I was researching DMSO. I experimented with it. I found that the hardening of the cellular wall became more pliable. The cell was able to receive a proper flush with the water I was drinking. The cell became softer, and therefore did not need as much of the medicine I was taking … in fact, I was able to get off a medicine all together! Once the cells softened and were flushed, the inner workings of body began to function better. (If you choose to try this at home, remember to research your product, as there is industrial DMSO, and the type used for healing. Here’s the one I use from amazon – NO ODOR DMSO – Dimethyl sulfoxide liquid (3.4 Oz – 100ml), Pharmaceutical grade, High purity, Heiltropfen).
These days my favorite thing is to be hydrated, and to listen to sound meditations full volume with head phones. I bring my attention to the reverberation of sound as it enters my ears, as it send ripples of movement through my neck, my arms, my torso. Wherever I put my attention, I wait until the vibration arrives in that location, and I feel it for a time.
Sound vibration, in the water of the cells, and in all subtle bodies.
I talk to my cells as they vibrate, “Wake up cells! Wake up!”
We, my body, my chakra system, and my spirit self, my life force essence, my soul, have work to do, and we must function ideally.
These days, it’s not so much physical fitness …. that was for the days of my youth (who knows what the future brings). In these present moments, its all about energy … how healthy the flow is, whether there are any leakages or weak spots. This all ties in with the emotional body, for if one cannot manage their emotional output, they will forever be manipulated by those who will manage it for them …. and the “managers” prefer to feast on fear. (ie: the state of the world right now).
Here is one of my favorite vibrational pieces. I enjoy starting or ending my day with this.
If it is evening, I’ll sometimes listen to the above followed by this one.
There is nothing quite like feeling the cellular structure of the body dance!! I highly recommend it for everyone! It’s amazing for the nervous system and mind.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate my friends, and get activated!
Neuroplasticity happens when connections are made across the neural network in our brain. Essentially, our brain creates super-highways that it travels quickly in response to outside stimuli. Thought patterns that are repeated often create massive highways that the thought travels on. The more the thought occurs, the more it will occur.
One of the most effective ways to reprogram the mind, to reformat the consciousness, is through using affirmative statements. I share with you examples that you may find helpful should you wish to use them to assist in reformatting the thinking mind.
I ‘unhide’ myself.
My life is shifting and I move into a new field of consciousness.
I trust in the love of my heart.
I trust in my instincts.
I trust in the flow of life.
Light dwells within me.
I let go of judgement.
I accept my divinity.
I am unstoppable.
I cast off the works of anyone who seeks to torment me.
I move into balance, into harmony.
I utilize the intuitive approach.
I do what feels truthful.
I do not make myself small in the attempt to make others more comfortable.
I step out of fear and live more freely.
I let nature take its course.
The ancestors are supporting me and blessing me for all the time invested in spiritual healing.
I utilize the protective qualities of water in ritual bathing.
I call on the guides and ancestors to bring me protection.
I surround myself with positive people who make me feel safe.
I have been hurt and disrespected by others. I do not allow that hurt to consume me. I let it go.
Alice frowned and clasped her hands together as she did whenever she felt hurt.
“See?” replied the White Rabbit. “Now you’re going to start asking yourself what makes you so imperfect and what did you do wrong so that I can’t love you at least a little.
You know, that’s why I can’t love you. You will not always be loved Alice, there will be days when others will be tired and bored with life, will have their heads in the clouds, and will hurt you.
Because people are like that, they somehow always end up hurting each other’s feelings, whether through carelessness, misunderstanding, or conflicts with themselves.
If you don’t love yourself, at least a little, if you don’t create an armor of self-love and happiness around your heart, the feeble annoyances caused by others will become lethal and will destroy you.
The first time I saw you I made a pact with myself: ‘I will avoid loving you until you learn to love yourself.’ “
opensenseme 