EGO vs SOUL
by Elizabeth Gilbert
Dear Ones -
A woman asked Pastor Rob Bell yesterday how you can tell the difference between when your soul is talking to you, and when your ego is talking to you.
Rob started with an explanation of the ego, as a force that is never satisfied. Nothing will ever be enough for the ego — not enough money, not enough praise, not enough shoes, not enough Facebook likes, not enough donuts. (He didn't say the bit about donuts, but you get the point.) And when the ego DOES get something it wants (success, attention, a swimming pool), all it can do is crow about it.
As for the soul, though, all it wants is joy and light and love...and excitement. When you are living the life that your soul wants to live, you will wake up each morning and say, "Oh my god, I can't believe I get to do this today!" (Whatever "this" might be — write this book, work in this garden, live in this house, see this friend, eat this food, raise these children, walk in the woods with this dog, go to this job, visit this family member, etc, etc...)
There is a place in our lives for our egos. (As Martha Beck, another great teacher always says: "Don't leave home without it.") You need some ego, to shore up your boundaries, to give you a sense of self, to keep some fire in your belly.
But don't let your ego make the big choices for you. Because it will do nothing but forever demand more, more, more, more. It will always say, "We don't have enough yet."
Look for the things that make your soul say, "I can't believe how lucky we are to have this!"...and try to surround yourself with as much of THAT as you can. And don't sacrifice the things that make your soul come alive for the things your ego demands.
*MATERNAL MONDAYS*
Boosting iron
Some afternoons lately I’ve been feeling pretty sleepy. As a professional convalescer, I embraced cat naps with open arms. However when I received my third trimester blood results back last week and saw that my iron stores were on the floor, it all started making a bit more sense.
I’m not a vego by any means, but I just haven’t craved red meat through my pregnancy (plus I’m not great at cooking it) so I haven’t really thought about it.
THE PLAN
-Eat more beetroot, organic dried apricots and prunes, parsley, pine nuts, green leafys.
Red meat twice a week.
-Take BioMedica BioHeme capsules twice a day, then I’ll retest my bloods in about 6 weeks to make sure it’s having an impact.
-If I have a chai, make sure that I take my iron supplement and multi at least an hour away (black tea contains tannins that inhibit the absorption of iron).
-Each day I’ve been making up a pot of nettle tea, letting it cool and then pouring it into a couple of glass water bottles in the fridge. It tastes a bit barley grassy, but it’s really refreshing.
-Exercise is an awesome way of increasing your body’s red blood cell production.
-Increase vitamin C-rich foods to help the absorption of iron. Lemon juice in water before a meal is great.
Did you experience low iron during your pregnancy? What did you find the most effective way to get your levels up?
*MATERNAL MONDAYS*
The Name Game
My husband and I were completely sold on our baby-to-be’s name even before it was conceived. But in the last month they’ve completely gone out the window. As a matter of fact, our ‘boy name’ has become our ‘girl name’.
I can think of probably eight girls’ names I like, but only maybe two for boys. Then you have to make sure it doesn’t rhyme with anything like ‘snot’ (sorry to anyone named Scott reading this) plus it can’t be a name of someone you used to go out with or didn’t like at school.
We’re also avoiding telling anyone our names to avoid “Oh… *pause* that’s an interesting name…”
Did you name your child after someone? Did you tell your friends and family the names or wait til after the birth to decided what he/she looked like? Did you look up the meaning of the name?
Emma the Naturopath xx
(30 weeks –size of a butternut pumpkin… Dear Lord!)
"She did not need much,
wanted very little.
A kind word,
sincerity,
fresh air,
clean water,
a garden,
kisses,
books to read,
sheltering arms,
a cosy bed,
and to love and be loved in return"
-Starra Neely Blade
123. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:
1. Deep baritone croaks from frogs in drain pipes during the rain on Monday night.
2. Funny car names. My silver Nissan Bluebird is affectionately known as High Ho Silver and my husband’s white van is better known as Barry White (custom-made pirate curtains and all). What’s yours?
3. Mangoes every damn day.
4. An iPod full of new and old music. So many memories flood back of countless hours spent in highschool learning Pearl Jam’s Daughter on my guitar, living in Byron when I was 18 driving around in my old Gemini with Everyone Deserved Music by Michael Franti, lying on the beach in the Maldives listening to my new Jack Johnson album that I bought at the Singapore airport, singing along to Bob Marley with dad at the top of our lungs in our family car (yes it was High Ho) when I was little…
5. That feeling of satisfaction when you finally finish a book that you’ve had to re-borrow from the library four times. Don’t let me borrow your books, I am the sloooooooowest reader ever.
I WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING. IT MAY CATCH YOU OFF GUARD…
I have made a heart-based decision to close Essential Health. We have been open for 9 and a half years, founded by my parents in May 2005. I love the shop. I love our customers and clients, but it’s time to start the next chapter.
Years ago I remember watching an interview that Oprah did with Jerry Seinfeld about why he stopped filming his hit TV show because its success and popularity. He humbly spoke about elegant sufficiency. “You know when you’ve had a really delicious meal and you put your knife and fork down because you’re satisfied and know you’ve had enough? One extra bite would be too much and you just want to leave the restaurant satisfied rather than overdoing it.”
That pretty much sums up how I feel about Essential Health.
As soon as I made this decision on Tuesday night and said it out loud, my heart just beamed with happiness as I know that this is the perfect decision for my little family and I. I want to peacefully raise my child and give my husband back his calm happy wife. I have so much respect and admiration for women who do the whole baby plus work thing, but in the words of Elizabeth Gilbert “that’s somebody else’s dream”.
The ‘Emma the Naturopath’ Facebook page will keep still keep churning out the Top 5’s and Maternal Mondays plus my usual ramblings. You’ll still see me around town, but instead of rushing to the bank, carrying mail and invoices, I’ll be pushing a stroller with a smile on my face.
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it and enjoy the dance”
-Alan Watts
*MATERNAL MONDAYS*
Loving this...
124. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:
1. The thrill and anticipation of watching ominous storm fronts roll in each afternoon. Gotta love summertime in subtropical climates.
2. Wearing my super incredible heels –even if it does mean that I have to get my husband to do them up because I can no longer bend down.
3. Lovingly tending to my beetroot and oak leaf lettuce seedlings.
4. The most perfect dream catcher I’ve ever seen that my thoughtful friend made us for Baby Caller’s room. It’s got little pearl, turquoise and wooden beads and white feathers on the frame with a clear quartz attached to the centre of the hand-woven web. Go admire Chrystal’s creations on Insta: @seagypsytreasures
5. A morning spent eating buckwheat waffles, stand up paddle boarding at high tide, then tea and fresh banana bread in the garden. Happy bday Father Bear xx Hope you enjoyed your new goggles and locally made salami! Italians are easy to please.
Emma the Naturopath xx
PS. “When a woman conceives her true self, a miracle occurs and life around her begins again”.
-Marianne Williamson
Choosing my family over my business was easily the biggest decision I’ve made in the past 29 years, but my heart told me to jump, so that’s what I’m doing.
I’ve felt so touched this week by constantly being told by my clients, customers and friends “Congratulations, you’ve made the right choice”. I have received hugs, smiles and flowers from countless people each day for how grateful they are to have had Essential Health in their lives the last nine and a half years. The feeling is mutual.
Essential Health
Phone: 0266 514 533
Email: carrots_and_apples@hotmail.com
Facebook: Emma the Naturopath
