An Attitude of Gratitude...

Three things I am grateful for today:

1. Waking up at 7am, running to the beach and enjoying my morning yoga and meditation with the seagulls in the black sand, crisp morning air and seaspray...
2. Speaking to a delightful crowd at a packed event in Auckland. Thanks to all who turned out – it was a pleasure to connect with so many of the kiwi raw tribe ;)
3. Eating so much seaweed. I recently declared to Mr Monarch that I would happily live on papaya and seaweed...I hold this to be true...the wakame and karengo seaweeds we have at the moment are just diviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine...we found it challenging to find seaweeds in Australia, so are very happy to be munching our way through bags of it again now...if you’d like more info about just WHY one might think it jolly to eat sea shrubbery, pls see this informative video courtesy of Dr Wolfe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkUrgi7pZlY

on February the 16th I had:

1.5 quarts water
30oz watermelon/orange juice
30oz celery/cucumber/zucchini/spinach/carrot/radish/cabbage juice
bowl of fruit salad with chia gel: banana/papaya/kiwi/goji berries/plum
1.5 quarts water
12oz celery/cucumber/zucchini/spinach/carrot/radish/cabbage juice
bowl of ‘apple flax’: blended apples mixed with groud flax/pumpkin seeds, with goji berries and karengo seaweed stirred in...yummmmmmmmmm
1 quart water

Three things I appreciate about New Zealand:

1. The greeeeeeeeeeeeeenery...this morning we drove through what seemed like a primitive rainforest to me – I found the trees and ferns and plant life just staggering in their beauty...I don’t think I’ve ever seen a stretch of greenery that looked so...pristine...I somehow had the impression it had barely changed in many centuries...it was like I imagine the scenery would be if one was to rock up on a deserted island in the South Pacific or somewhere – lush gorgeousness and SO many shades of green...mmmmmmmmm
2. Small population – YES :) I LOVE countries with small human populations...I find that people usually tend to be a lot nicer to each other in these countries...this was one of the things I loved most about Iceland, where I lived for 3.5 years, on and off...you can drive for hours on end in some areas of both these countries and not see a single other vehicle...there are many other similarities betwixt Iceland and NZ too, from my perspective – dramatic scenery, lots of sheep – in fact, quite probably more cattle than humans, glaciers and volcanoes, no major mammal life etc...
3. Maori culture – in no other country which the British and other Europeans decided to take over have I seen as much apparent embracing of the ‘native’ culture as here. Maoris seem vastly more ‘visible’ in society here than, for example, Aboriginis in Australia or Native Americans in N. America...there are Maori statues, sayings and place names all over, museums, businesses, artwork, jewellery, cultural gatherings and so on...not that there aren’t challenges still, I’m sure – I just find it interesting to see the way in which two very different societies seem to have found a way of integrating here, compared to similar scenarios in other parts of the world...

ommmmmmmmm February the 17th I had:

1.5 quarts water
30oz watermelon juice
bowl of fruit salad with chia gel: apple/kiwi/plum/banana
1 quart water
1.5 cups celery/cucumber/leafy greens/carrot/apple juice
½ serving of mung beans/tahini/seaweeds/pumpkin seeds mixture served in lettuce wraps
1lb of cherries
½ serving of mung beans/tahini/seaweeds/tomatoes/pumpkin seeds mixture served in lettuce wraps
1 quart water

The final thing I’d like to express gratitude for today is ‘Asana Kisses’. This cheekily named balm is one of the extraordinary products from yummy skincare company ‘Little Moon Essentials’. It is like a natural version of ‘Deep Heat’ and it performed incredible healing work on my body the last couple of days. I pulled a muscle in my back quite badly a couple of nights ago, when we were moving house. It was VERY painful. I’m not used to injuring myself much and find it a bit bizarre when I do. This injury left me unable to breathe fully into my left lung cavity without pain and any twisting of my torso was agonising. I assumed it would take quite a while to heal. I pulled out the aforementioned ‘Asana Kisses’ balm and slathered it over the painful area on my back before going to bed, for 2 nights in a row. By the third day, I was back to FULL functionality...I was amazed...this product is actually designed for ‘extreme sports enthusiasts’, to help heal injuries quickly...I’ve been carrying this pot of balm with me for quite some time on the road and had never had cause to use it until now...well, WOW is my verdict, this is potent stuff...I’d definitely recommend it for speedy, natural healing – you can check out all their products on the Little Moon Essentials site HERE and I do believe I’ve often seen their things in places such as ‘Whole Foods’ in N. America as well...we actually met Laura, the owner, many mooooons ago, in Arizona on a raw retreat – she’s a magical little raw pixie of joy and I for one am very grateful for these 'Kisses’ she offers the world ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx