Always Do Your Best

Good morning to you on this rainy day in Littleton, Colorado. Sending loving light to you!   I love the smell of rain it cleanses and refreshes everything around us.  Everything turns green and we know that spring has truly arrived.  Today I want to talk a bit about Agreement Four from Don Miquel Ruiz’s book THE FOUR AGREEMENTS.  “Always Do Your Best”.

Wow what a concept to follow.  If you are like me, in the past when I did something, I didn’t always put my heart and soul and every fiber of my being into it, and I would end up doing a half-assed job.  The term “close enough for government work”, comes to mind.  After I finished reading THE FOUR AGREEMENTS and putting them into a daily practice my life changed immediately. I realized that when I do my best no matter what anyone said I was at peace with whatever I set out to do.

My creativity jumped into high gear especially with cooking and preparing healthy food for my family. I learned that my best was always doing something with absolute love in my heart.  I use to cook out of a box for convenience. It was so easy just to add a few ingredients to whatever the already processed box had in it and serve it up. Even worse open prepackaged food throw into the microwave and zap we are ready to eat.  The drive-thru was also so convenient means of providing for my family. Even going out to eat seemed to always be a better option.  As a matter of fact our living room wall use to be decorated with menu’s of all our favorite places. That was until I got sick once again.

 You see my friends I have been running the hamster wheel through this health cycle for a very long time.  The first pictures that I posted of me fat and sick were from the year 2000. I had an accident  in 1999 that my nervous system didn’t recover from.  My flight or fight system kicked on full time and I was in soooo much pain 24/7. The doctors called it many different things from RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.  If I were more aware of my body back than and it’s needs for proper fueling I could have used alternative methods for healing instead of relying on pharmaceuticals to get me through the day.  Instead I put my faith into Western Medicine and well, one pill led to another which led to another which led to another… I’m sure you all get the gist.  Before I moved back to Colorado I basically stayed in a hotel room detoxing from all of the prescription drugs. I didn’t have a lot of money as I was all alone, I had just left my husband  who was in the military and my divorce was final. I no longer was able to get prescription drugs because without military insurance it was an out of pocket cost of about $3000 a month so I went through a crash withdrawal.  I had  been living  in a cheap hotel room for 3 months in Virginia. I had my cat Cletus and a few credit cards with a few dollars open on them.  I was eating cheese and tortillas and ramen noodles for every meal heated in a microwave. That was when I felt like eating because the withdrawals were so bad some days I didn’t leave my bed. I had sunk about as low as I could go, and suicidal thoughts haunted me daily.  The judge basically gave my ex-husband everything and at that time I didn’t care because I still wanted the best for my daughter. I started losing weight in a very unhealthy matter because I didn’t have the proper nutrients to fuel my body with. I called the suicide hotline a few times when the detoxing got to be too much. I just wanted to die. They told me to call the local hospital. I had truly hit rock bottom.  In tears I called my mom and asked if I could please come home and start over.  You see I had been somewhat disowned because my secret of being a lesbian came out. When we buried my brother who died with ALS Lou Gherigs disease,  and my dad found out I was a lesbian, he buried two children instead of one.  So there I was malnourished, sick and literally dying in a strange hotel all alone with just my cat. I had to decide if I wanted to truly live or not.  That’s when I called my mom and my parents lovingly said “Yes, I could come back home.”  

When I moved back  to Colorado in 2004 I started acupuncture and was put on the Candida diet. I had a change of heart and wanted to live.  I looked for answers.  Being off the prescription drugs enabled me to function again.  My sister gave me an acupuncture certificate for Christmas and that opened the door for me to alternative medicine.  I started eating good nutritious foods that fueled my body and started to get my health back.  It didn’t take long after cutting sugar, caffeine, and yeast and any foods that grew yeast out of my diet to bounce back. 

That lasted for a while until I started eating fast foods again once again out of convenience.  Once again jumping on the hamster wheel of sickness.  Which I ‘ll talk about at another time.

I told you all of that to tell you this.  From the choices I made I obviously wasn’t doing the best I could for my body. I started doing all the research I could to find health so that I could live a quality life. Today I sit here telling you my story my life has turned around. I am in a very happy healthy relationship, I have a happy healthy family and instead of going around saying “I hate my life.”  I now go around enthusiastically claiming how wonderful my life is.

I prepare healthy quality food for my family and we are in bliss. I smile laugh and sing in the kitchen slicing veggies, and preparing foods that taste and look fabulous.  I meditate daily and send loving light to all those in need. Which in my book is EVERY MAN, WOMAN, and CHILD. I now strive to do MY BEST at whatever I take on.  I do this because I know deep in my heart that whenever that moment comes along when my ego tries to slam me back under it’s control, I can smile and quiet the voice by saying… “I DID MY BEST”.

I know that by following and practicing THE FOUR AGREEMENTS

1.       Your Word is Impeccable

2.       Never Take Anything Personally

3.       Never Assume Anything

4.       Always Do Your Best

I WILL ALWAYS HAVE LOVE, JOY, PEACE, HEALTH and ABUNDANCE every day of my life.

I ask for Love, Joy, Peace, Health, and Abundance, and what I ask for myself, I ask for EVERY MAN, WOMAN and CHILD. And so it is.  Namaste’ I love you.