Curing and Healing with Yoga

Radhika Khanna, fashion designer  and author of Pose

I just heard that Lady GaGa may be suffering from the debilitating autoimmune condition, lupus.  This is very sad news...although I won't miss her music.

I then heard from a new friend, Radhika Khanna (she tweeted me and the rest is history) who sent her lupus packing with a daily yoga practice—to say this in a somber medical tone, "her lupus is in remission" which is pretty amazing and very inspiring!   Lady GaGa needs to hook up with Radhika.

After Radhika started following me on twitter, naturally I stalked her before I "followed" her back.  And the more I read, the more I love her.  Not only has she sent her lupus into remission (a full-time mission in and of itself), but she's written & illustrated a useful yoga book for busy people called Pose: Yoga for Ambitious People.  She's also a successful fashion designer.

Excerpted from the Huffington Post: "Beginning with a 10- to 12-minute long set of exercises first thing in the morning, Khanna prescribes a series of three- to five-minute exercises that enhance one's sense of well-being using terms that are immediately understandable and readily applicable. She clearly

and concisely explains the benefits of different postures and breathing exercises that create a better balance of energy. Each heading is helpfully illustrated and illuminated with quotes from inspirational practitioners like Dr. Deepak Chopra who Khanna looks to as a spiritual guide."

Radhika's book is available on Amazon.

Can you Change a Bad Habit?

I think this chart is not only cute, but a pleasantly appealing way to begin to change a bad habit.  Click graphic or click here for full size printable chart.  I just printed this out and put it on my fridge.  I'm going to try and change one of my lesser vices—staying up late.  I often stay up until 2am contemplating the universe, worrying, watching movies etc.  When I go to bed early (10pm), I wake up refreshed, the day seems much longer, and by joe I get more done!  Also between the magical hours of 11pm and 2am your liver and other important organs are busy detoxing, so if you're watching Tales From The Crypt (like me) at 2am, you are really doing a disservice to your body and spirit.  So download this chart and see if it helps you get rid of a bad habit.  I wish you much luck!

Work in Progress...

When I started my TinyMischief store on Etsy I drew this wild-haired redhead and I just loved her, so I put her in my store banner and on my gift bags and now I've put her on a necklace that will be available for sale soon (I need to find and add a few more bits and bobs).

I Love Ribbon!

Just having ribbon around my office and home makes me happy.  Ribbon has a rich history and is one of the oldest embellishments used by both nobility and commoners alike.  What I love most about ribbon is the unique beauty it can give an item, from a piece of clothing to a gift.

I labored over and finally ordered a batch of ribbons to adorn my new Tiny Mischief bookmarks.  The ribbon arrived yesterday and I'm assembling bookmarks today!

Orders ship in a Tiny Mischief cotton bag...I'm still practicing stamping!
These reusable bags are sturdy and great for travel, odds&ends, and more.

My new Etsy store rubber stamp just arrived and I'm SO excited.  I plan to stamp just about anything that isn't moving!  It has a great Emily Dickinson quote that makes one ponder the bigger picture and I like that very much.

My new store on Etsy!  I'm really excited about this because for years I've been thinking, breathing, illustrating, and dreaming YOGA, but I have so many other ideas in my head that I want to share.  

My shop is small, but will continue to grow as I add new gifts.  

Use code: Mischief8 for 25% off your order! 

FREE RescueGirl Greeting Cards!

Just a few of my Greeting Cards (recycled, super-thick, come with a pretty pink envelope!

I'm giving away lots of my fabulous RescueGirl Greeting Cards until March 5th, 2013!

Here's the scoop:

GET 5 FRIENDS TO JOIN my RescueGirl Newsletter and get 6 RescueGirl greeting cards...FREE!

How?

You & your friends sign up here: http://eepurl.com/sR2Zb
(yes, you'll be included as 1 of the 5 if you have not signed up already!).
Please have your friends add your name to the "How Did you Hear about RescueGirl" field).  And that's it!

I’ll be keeping track and I’ll let you know the scoop March 6th!
Thank you for your support!

RescueGirl Greeting Cards come individually wrapped with a pretty pink envelope.  Super-thick recycled cardstock, blank inside for your own message.

Offer Expires: TUESDAY, MARCH 5TH, 2013

Thank you for sharing!

I Used to Think MSG was a Designer Like DKNY

OK, so I'm joking about the designer snafu, but I DID think MSG was just a flavor enhancer and not something too harmful;  I also used to think that MSG was only in Chinese food.  Oh, how silly and wrong I am!  I stumbled upon a brilliant site called "Truth in Labeling" (not the prettiest of sites, but very informative) and it gave me a window into a world I had no idea existed.
"Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) literally stimulates neurons to death, causing brain damage to varying degrees."
-Russell Blaylock, M.D. Board Certified Neurosurgeon
"Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills"
Now, I do know corporate food is a bit evil because their only purpose in life is to get you to stuff your face with their processed junk, from Doritos to Cheetos, but I didn't know that they disguise MSG in their foods by calling it all sorts of different names like "natural flavoring".  What I find even more shocking is that MSG is also in a lot of "natural" foods, as well.  For example, my all-time-favorite, quick, go-to bouillon, Rapunzel's vegetarian organic cubes, contains "yeast extract" which is a polite way of saying, "MSG".  Another excellent site is MSG Exposed.

The following list was taken directly from the Truth in Labeling website:
Names of ingredients that ALWAYS contain processed free glutamic acid (MSG):

• Calcium glutamate (E 623)
• Monoammonium glutamate (E 624)
• Magnesium glutamate (E 625)
• Natrium glutamate
• Yeast extract
• Anything “hydrolyzed”
• Any “hydrolyzed protein”
• Calcium caseinate, Sodium caseinate
• Yeast food, Yeast nutrient
• Autolyzed yeast
• Gelatin
• Textured protein
• Soy protein, soy protein concentrate
• Soy protein isolate
• Whey protein, whey protein concentrate
• Whey protein isolate
• Anything “…protein”
• Vetsin
• Ajinomoto

After reading the above list I foraged through my "healthy" kitchen and was shocked, Earth Balance to Tofurky is littered with MSG!  No wonder they have that other-worldly tasty punch.  Into the trash they went....well, almost; I finished up the Tofurky slices and will never buy them again and the Earth Balance was in the trash, but then I quickly retrieved it as visions of buttered toast danced in my head.  It's still in the fridge and once it is gone, I will never buy it again either!

I think the big lesson I learned is to eat whole foods and this is pretty much what I do now.  I thought it would be daunting, but it gives me a greater appreciation and connection to my food.  I now laugh when I think I used to buy cartons of almond milk which tasted pretty horrible and now I whip up raw, soaked almonds and water in my high speed blender with a dash of vanilla and sea salt and it is dangerously delicious.  I also make my own salad dressings.  I cannot believe I used to buy that stuff.  Now I have total control of what goes into my concoctions and they taste better than anything I could ever buy in a jar at the store.

Never a Dull Moment

It's just me—no employees, no elves!  This is often how I spend my evenings, assembling my yoga decks and other RescueGirl products for customers.  This one was for the fabulous Golden Door Spa in Carefree, Arizona.  My adorable Isabelle who looks a bit possessed in this photo is always by my side, unfortunately she never offers to help, occasionally she licks a hangtag though.

Donuts

Tara Stiles: What's a donut?

My issue with Tara Stiles...
Tara has a blog called "Tara Eats" and I think she needs to rename it "Tara Needs To Eat".  I don't mean to bash lovely Tara, but I do think she could benefit from a donut or two and if that is too extreme perhaps she could start off with a few modest donut holes and work up to a whole donut.

Why Do Yoga?

Marilyn Monroe said that yoga made her legs sexy and fabulous.  That would be enough of a reason for many to jump on the yoga bandwagon, but the main reason I do yoga and always will is because it makes me feel better.  I get so stressed, depressed, freaked out, overwhelmed, resentful (why do I have to do laundry? Pay bills? Do dishes?).  And if that isn't bad enough, life feels really dull sometimes, like I'm stuck in some bad movie.  If I can convince myself to stop in that moment of madness and lay down and float away in corpse pose or stick my legs up a wall (legs-up-the-wall pose) and breathe and just stay there for a few minutes, my energy and mood usually radically shift which always amazes me—completely amazes me--like I'm someone who just found out they won the lottery—"you're kidding, ME? I just won 6 billion dollars?  Woo-ha!"  So do a little yoga and feel better!  

I'm Going Over the Deep Edge

OK, so I'm obsessing about raw food lately.  I lie awake in bed thinking about how I can turn my favorite "junk food"(pizza, fries, mashed potatoes, cupcakes, donuts...) into a raw version, so I can eat them and still stick to my experiment of "can I lose weight on a raw food diet, without regulating how much I eat".  So far, I'm relying on the raw food experts who've been at this for many years because I don't have a clue how to mimic cooked foods.

Thank goodness, I added raw chef Juliano's dvds to my growing raw food library because he has a very simple and delicious mashed potato recipe.  He also has a mashed potato recipe in his "cook"book (RAW) that gave me an instant tummy ache (they call for 1/2 a cup of lemon juice and a tablespoon of garlic!) The NEW mashed potato recipe is crazy good and very simple.  2 cups of raw cauliflower (it doesn't have to be exact, I used about  2 1/2 cups), 2 cups of macadamia nuts (I used half cashew nuts...macadamias are VERY expensive!) and sea salt and pepper to taste (about a teaspoon of each).  The 2nd time I made them I didn't have macadamias on hand, so I used Brazil nuts and cashews (half and half).  They turned out, not as creamy, tasted more nutty, but still satisfying and good.  All you do is blend the nuts until smooth in a food processor, then put them in a bowl.  Chop up the cauliflower a little and whip that in the food processor, too.  Then mix the two together in a bowl and add the salt and pepper.  Drizzle with a little olive oil, swap out some of the nuts with pinenuts, add your favorite seasoning...experiment and have fun!  They taste even better the 2nd day and will last about 5 days in the fridge.

What I cannot get over is how quickly I get filled up with raw food AND how satisfying the food is (remember, I'm a devoted foodie, I love food and I have to enjoy most of my meals or ennui sets in quickly!).  Word on the street about raw food is that it delivers such deep nutrition that it satisfies more quickly and it extinguishes cravings and addictions over time (I find that I don't have any desire to forage for snacks at midnight and I did this frequently).  I will put a doll-sized portion of Juliano's marvelous mashed potatoes on my plate (2 or 3 rounded tablespoons) and I get very full from this weeny amount.  If they were real mashed potatoes, I could easily eat 2 cups...possibly more and not feel as sated as I do with the raw version.  Cauliflower is so good for you that I'm going to keep these magical raw "mashed potatoes" in my fridge as a quick snack.  Cauliflower is one of those amazing cruciferous vegetables and is known to be a good cancer preventative.  It is also high in antioxidants (C and manganese) and is excellent at reducing inflammation (high in K and omega-3 fatty acids), so make it a weekly staple!

Some of you might be wondering, hey what about all the fat in the nuts!  This is a controversial  topic for many.  Nuts are loaded with fat and some say they should be used sparingly.  Others say, as long as the nuts stay in their natural state (raw) and aren't roasted/cooked (changing the structure of the fat) your body can assimilate the fat way more easily, so enjoy your nuts!  And this is one of the very reasons I'm doing a weight loss experiment on myself, to get to the bottom of this nut mystery.  I'm eating nuts every day--nuts in my mashed potatoes, nuts in my lattes (better than half and half and any fake creamer on the market), nuts in my soups, and burgers, and wraps.  And so far the experiment seems to be working.  I'm not losing weight like Miss America right before the pageant, but I've lost 2 pounds in 3 weeks.  And this is a good thing.  My weekly weigh in is coming soon, stay tuned!

Go Raw, Lose Weight?

Like many people, I'm strolling around with unwanted pounds and like many of those same people, I LOATHE DIETS AND I LOATHE BEING HUNGRY & DEPRIVED!  So I've decided to be my own experiment on a brand new "diet" and I have the glowing redhead Judita Wignall to thank for being the catalyst.  I just ordered her colorful book, "Going Raw" and she says that simply by going 100% raw she dropped 15 unwanted pounds in 30 days.  Sign me up!

I realize that it is a crazy, outlandish amount to lose in such a short period of time, but who would be bothered by losing weight fast?  I chalk a portion of this rapid loss up to water weight and another portion to toxins being flushed out of the body quickly after being introduced to nutrient rich whole foods like raw cauliflower and the like.  The more I read about raw food, the more sense it makes to me.  The very least, I think, it is great to incorporate a jumbo size portion of raw into your diet and you'll start feeling the difference.  I do!

Also, worthy of mentioning—the founder of Planet Raw and the amazing raw chef, Juliano swears that you can eat until your heart's content, as long as it is raw, vegan, and hopefully organic.  He says you cannot get enough of the good stuff, and for him, that ranges from raw olive oil to raw macadamia nuts.  He's watched people lose weight by eating only his raw cheesecake all day.  I love this man!

At first, I thought a raw diet sounded like an alien endeavor, something not for me as I conjured up images of cold, uninviting salads of turnips and cabbage.  But oh, how wrong I am!  Judita's "cookbook" is filled with delightful and enticing recipes.  Some are a challenge to make and others are quick and easy and satisfying.  Juliano also has a brilliant cookbook (RAW), but the list of ingredients in many of his recipes would make any ambitious kitchen-dweller faint.

Where was I going with all this?  Oh, yeah....my new diet!  So far, I've been eating about 75% raw per day for about 3 weeks and I've lost 2 pounds.  OK, I'm WAY behind Judita, but I'm also enjoying wine with dinner ( I'm not sure if that factors into her day), I'm not 100% raw (yet!),  and I've rebelled a few times and have had mac n' cheese from a box.  Judita does not mention what she ate during those 30 days or how much she exercised, BUT none of this matters since she simply states that after "one month of eating 100 percent raw I lost 15 pounds, eliminated arthritis, and lifted my depression."  And that's good enough for me!

I have to admit that I've made my raw journey a bit easier by investing in a Vitamix high-speed blender and Excalibur dehydrator.  These are two great pieces of equipment, essential, in my opinion, to do a lot of yummy raw food, but totally not necessary, especially if you're really creative in the kitchen.  For weeks, I was without these items and I did fine with my Kitchenaid blender (sauces to smoothies to soups), a sharp knife, and lots of imagination.  I'd whip up a raw cheese with cashews, slice up an avocado and throw this into a cabbage leaf with a variety of chopped veggies and herbs and voila, I had a "burrito".  In thought, the cabbage leaf sounded awful to me, but it was shockingly satisfying and not the least bit cabbagey.  I also have to remind myself that to poo-poo something before I try it is silly and short-sighted, potentially robbing me of new great possibilities.

I hope to go 100% raw in the next few weeks (eating whatever I desire, as long as it is raw, vegan, and mostly organic) and really put Judita's weight-loss statement to the test, but for now after 3 weeks of spring rolls and banana deserts with raw cacao and never once feeling deprived, I'm pretty happy with my 2 pound weight loss.

'Tis the Season to Plant a Garden

One of my only experiences with gardening was a few years ago when I planted a variety of organic, heirloom vegetables, from swiss chard to cauliflower.  I nursed and cherished my garden like a baby and just when the little sprouts started to look like real veggies, a mysterious collection of  beetles descended upon them--covering every inch of green; they remained until there was barely anything left.  You'd think this would make me avoid planting a garden like I avoid doing my taxes, but I feel compelled to try again because I know how soul-enriching it will be to have an intimate connection to some of my food.  Also, my mom just bought me several varieties of collard green plants, so I must start planting!  I'm hoping if I plant enough, there will be plenty for both me and the bugs!  Sure, I could spray my garden with chemicals and keep the bugs at bay, but this goes against everything I stand for.  I don't believe in killing other beings, no matter how annoying they might be and  I certainly don't want to be ingesting toxic chemicals.  There are already enough in our air and water, so we all get plenty involuntarily!

In addition to my variety of collards in my platning bed, I'm going to try some container gardening.  A friend of mine grows herbs and lettuce in cute little pots and it's the easiest thing to maintain and gives her a surprisingly large harvest for the season.  The one successful stint at gardening I had was a few potted pepper plants that gave us an abundance of hot peppers all summer long and into the fall last year.  Gardening on this scale is manageable for everyone and it can be done almost anywhere.  Container gardening is also easy on your back!

OK, so I planted my collards a few weeks ago when they were only 2 inches tall and like magic they have trippled in size.  The only chore, which I don't even consider a chore, is to water them and to pull a weed or two that is growing near them  I also have a secret weapon this time around, Mycorrhizal fungi!  The following is an excerpt from the amazingly magical website:  Fungi Perfecti. If you want incredible vegetables and plants then read on!  "Mycorrhizal fungi are fungi that have developed a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship with the root systems of living plants, from garden vegetables all the way up to Old Growth trees. Networks of mycorrhizal filaments envelop the seedling's root structure, greatly extending and enhancing (by a factor of several hundred to several thousand times) the growing plant's water- and nutrient-gathering abilities and protecting the plant from disease.  Sadly, modern techniques for clearing and developing land for human use destroy mycorrhizal fungi, reducing the ability of plants to thrive in man-made environments and forcing us to resort to fertilizers and other artificial means of promoting plant growth."  So buy some MycoGrow from Fungi Perfecti and watch your plants truly thrive.  I guarantee my collards are shooting up twice as fast because of this wonderful little helper.

"When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden.”

 --Minnie Aumonie

We Are All Connected

With great relief I finished the Penguin Lives' book, Julia Child last night. Relief because I knew Julia had a pension for eating animals(she was the French Chef!), but I was amazed by her conscious disregard for them her entire life.  Towards the end of the book the author shares that Julia relished hacking up a whole chicken, timing herself while doing it, and with pragmatic glee would nail an eel to a board, so she could skin it more easily.  At this point I was reading with only one eye open and praying, hoping, assuming that the eel was not alive while this was taking place.   After reading the last page, I put the book down and marveled at Julia's unbelievable disconnect with other sentient beings.  Unintentionally, this book makes her seem like a barbarian and unlike other biographies that I have read and that have endeared me to the person more, this one makes me want to say "shame on you" to Julia when I stroll into heaven.

I picked the book up one day because Julia seemed like an interesting person and like Julia, I too have a passion for food even if we split at the fork in the road that divides carnivores and vegetarians (I must confess, I'm not 100% vegetarian.  Occasionally I go bonkers and need a little fish, but this may even change soon after I read the article my mother just gave me about Red Snappers and how clever they are).

Now, I'm not going to jam anything down anyone's throat—I did this enough in my early twenties as a vegan animal activist, alienating family during the holidays, and sporting, very often, my "I don't have any spare ribs" piggy peta t-shirt—but I just have to say that I'm totally astounded when people continue to liberally eat meat today knowing what we all know (or should know) about the horrific cruelty and greed of factory farming.  It is so wrong on so many levels and with the movies, Fast Food Nation and Food Inc. readily available, there is little room for excuse for not cutting back or cutting meat out of our diet all together.

Now, my husband loves meat and he's not alone, just watch the food channel for 20 minutes—meat, meat, meat—I love meat too, as a matter of fact, but its just that I prefer it intact on a live animal more than I want it on my plate.  My husband rescues sickly squirrels and other wildlife with me and we chase down stray dogs,  but he draws the line when it comes to his burgers and I am OK with it as long as we get the meat at our local, humanely raised, organic butcher (personally I think the "humane" part stops at the slaughter bit, but apparently there are more humane ways to do this part of the dirty work).

I actually prepare his meat for him and my vegan friends are astonished, but I've mellowed a bit as I have gotten older and I don't think this is a bad thing because I've noticed this mellowing has inspired more change in the ones around me than the angry vegan activist in me ever did.

What am I trying to say with all this?  It's as simple as the title says—we are all connected and this should be tucked closely to our hearts when we make decisions in our lives, from ordering the chicken salad to buying the bargain price shoes that perhaps a little girl assembled in Tawain.  Conscious choices make the world a better place and I'm going to strive to make more of them and I hope you do, too!

Forget the Grout and Sing with the Birds!

My sanity is being challenged these days...well, not really, but I like to be dramatic. I don't know about you, but I have a "to do list" that I need to start calling the "neverending-will-not-all-get-done-in-one-lifetime list." I have mountains of laundry, kitchen grout that needs to be scrubbed, letters that need to be written, yoga poses that need to be drawn and oh, yeah performed, and old relatives to visit before they die.

But as Spring starts to peek around the corner and I see buds appearing on the trees, I'm reminded of the beauty in this world and slowing down to enjoy it is key. But how, with my never-ending-to-do-list? Easy I say, just stop giving a hoot! I admit, I don't always achieve this state, but when I do a weight lifts off my shoulders and there's a spring in my step—who cares if the grout is grey? Who cares if I wear dirty socks?

I've also discovered invaluable timesavers. "Like with Like" and "Blender Soups." How many times do you look for something and cannot find it? I have saved myself hours by following one simple rule—keep everything together that is in the same category. Cameras go with albums and frames and camera straps and bags and photo corners. Mailing stuff from stamps to envelopes to pens to confetti to tape all go together. This might seem obvious to many of you (bravo for you!), but for me it was a lifesaver.

I also like to eat healthy, most of the time, but don't always like to cook, so I make blender soups. I bung everything from onions to kale to frozen lima beans to carrots into a pot of simmering water and bouillon cubes (Rapunzell are my favorite) and when the flavors have mingled and the veggies softened just a bit,  I whip it in the blender. To make the soup seem less naked, I lay a thinly sliced piece of toasted peasant bread on top. It is quite satisfying. And what makes it heaven for me is how quick it is to make—I can sloppily cut up all of my ingredients because at the end of cooking, the oddly shaped, tangled mess gets thrown into a blender and transforms into a fine puréed soup.

Happy Spring to everyone and please do ignore the dirty grout and get out in nature and sing with the birds!

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."

—John Muir

Do Yoga—Be Happy! Be Happy—Do Yoga!

Where does the time go? Why doesn't it sit quietly and patiently next to us until we have finished what we set out to do? ONLY 17 DAYS LEFT for my Rescuegirl giveaway (see post below). Also, please do consider donating a wee bit o' gold to http://causecommandos.com and you'll get a FREE yoga deck for a $50 donation! (Image from new iPhone app, YogaBeauty ©2010Amy Luwis)

Yoga on the Go iPhone Apps!

26 days left for my fabulously awesome giveaway--Yoga to the Rescue yoga decks to over-sized organic Rescuegirl totes to my new YogaBeauty app (see photo) that will make you more beautiful, inside and out. Just become a facebook fan. Already a fan? Send me a message--easy peasy details in last post!

The Greatest Contest in the Galaxy...and the Easiest!

What do women love almost as much as chocolate? FREEBIES!
RescueGirl is celebrating the new decade with a fabulous giveaway...

Here's the nifty loot that will be given away!!!

3 copies of RescueGirl's bestselling yoga deck, Yoga to the Rescue ($19.95srp)
3 RescueGirl organic boat totes ($36srp)
3 RescueGirl NEW YogaBeauty iPhone Apps ($3.99srp)
3 RescueMe! Flashcard Sets ($9.95srp)

Contest Details:
1. Become a Rescuegirl Fan on Facebook, it's simple, costs nothing, and has no calories: http://www.facebook.com/OriginalRescuegirl and click "Become a Fan." If you are already a fan, just send me a message and you'll be included in the contest!
2. Contest expires: February 28, 2010.
3. Random Drawing and Winners announced March 1, 2010.
4. Prizes will ship as soon as the winners spill the beans or send us their address.

Namaste and Good Luck!

Simple, Fun Tarot

I just bought the niftiest tarot card set by Kat Black (can that really be her real name?). I've wanted to buy a set for years after a friend did a reading for me; I finally got around to it yesterday (I always need a little extra "kick" to do something and the "kick" this time was an article about Tarot in my local Pathways magazine (Metaphysical Tarot and the Law of Gratitude by Geraldine Amaral). This is what caught my eye: "NO KNOWLEDGE OF TAROT REQUIRED." OK, I'm in!

Geraldine shares a simple and fun game called "Gifts & Gratitude." You can play this with 2 people, but 3 or more is ideal. Using 1 Tarot deck, shuffle the deck and then give each person 5 cards, including the dealer (face down). Look at all 5 cards. One person starts and the rest follow, one at a time for each card:

Card 1: Pull 1 card and let the imagery guide you, ask yourself, "what am I currently grateful for in my life?" Explain what you are grateful for to the group (group can add their thoughts too). Place card in front of you. Player 2, 3, and so on...take their turn.

Card 2 (wild card): Focus your energy inward and shuffle your remaining 4 cards. Pick one card with eyes closed and show it to the group (you don't look at it). The group then tells you what they see in regards to your life.

Card 3: Give one of your remaining cards to anyone (even someone you don't know) in the group (using your intuition) tell them how this card reflects their gifts and talents and why you appreciate and admire them.

Card 4: Pick one of your two remaining cards and give this to someone in the group and explain why you are giving it to them—something you wish for them? a gift you intuit for them? something you think they need in their life at this moment?

Card 5: Choose any of your 5 cards. Let it guide you to answer this question, "how can I best use my gifts to contribute something positive to the world?". Other players can add their comments.

Last bit: Once everyone has had a turn with their five cards, lay all your cards in front of you (the first card you kept at the beginning and the cards that were given to you); see which one draws you in and speaks to you the most. This one card should suggest an affirmation that will keep you focused on gratitude in your life. Consider this your tarot reading for the day!

Just have to share....
Eckhart Tolle said, "If the only prayer you ever utter is 'thank you,' that will be enough."

"As a person thinks, so she is. Negative thoughts will draw in negative experiences. All that you accomplish or fail to accomplish with your life is the direct result of your thoughts." —James Allen
Illustration, Queen of Wands by rockin' Kat Black from her Golden Tarot Deck which took 1500 hours to complete!