Retreating to find balance...

I've been planning on attending a meditation retreat for months. The time has finally arrived and I am more than a little excited. I haven't had time off in the form of vacation for some time, so I'm really looking forward to this.

Fortunately, I am also pretty much responsible for the menu at this retreat so I will be able to control what I eat. It's basically an organic, vegetarian menu so I'm not worried about overeating or only having a choice of processed foods to chose from.

This long weekend will give me a good chance to do some deep spiritual work and to try and work more on achieving balance.

As I progress on this journey, I'm finding more and more that the whole thing is about being in balance.

It seems that I have been out of balance for the past few years. I think, once I turned 40, that my hormones and metabolism started falling out of balance and I wasn't ready for that.

For the past few weeks, I've been attempting to make a major change in my diet. I have tried to not only eat whole foods but to make all the foods I eat very good quality. I am becoming more and more interested in organics. I have attempted to eat mostly organic but I've also made the switch with most of the products I put on my body as well (shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, moisturizer, body lotion, deodorant, etc.) and with the products we use around the house (dishwashing liquid, clothing detergent, cleaning products, etc.).

The more I read about the effects of pesticides, chemicals, and poisons on everything we eat and use, the more I'm thinking that I want to avoid these things as much as possible.

Case in point...I've had this "eye thing" for the past five years. My left eye would tear up constantly. It was weird and really annoying. I had it checked out a couple of times but both my doctor and eye doctor thought it could be an allergy or dry eye or something like that...they just weren't sure. Well, I did a little research about sodium laurel sulfate...and guess what? It's not good for us...not one little bit and guess what else...it's in everything that foams (re: shampoo!).

I'll spare you the details...just google it and you'll find all the arguments that it's a FANTASTIC product and perfectly safe as well as that it's a poison that is cancer-causing. You can figure out what you want to believe yourself.

But, my eye? Since I quit using shampoo and conditioner that contains that chemical, it has not watered. Not once. That's enough for me!

And on top of all of this...I'm really feeling so much better. Better than I have for a long time. I am really beginning to believe that I can achieve my health goals...