Chapter One: Awakening

 Nothing esoteric is intended here in the meaning of “awakening.” It simply means waking up from sleep. Ideally, it has been a peaceful, restful sleep. More about that later.

FIRST, GRATITUDE.

Regardless of any discomfort you may be feeling, including the need to pee, you have just received the incredible gift of another moment of time with which to optimize your life. As you awaken from any period of sleep, be it a full 8 hours or just a short nap, acknowledge your miraculous gifts and give thanks for them.

If you subscribe to any religious doctrine or discipline, employ the methods of appreciation that you learn there. If not, just express gratitude to the vast universe, or to anything. The action of being grateful is the single-most powerful affirmation toward health, abundance and fulfillment.

Some people keep a reminder of some sort in their environment to trigger additional, frequent periods of gratitude consciousness throughout their day. My wife wears or carries a special necklace of beads called a “Mala.” As she runs her fingers along each bead in the string, she thinks of something else that she is grateful for.

For several years I carried a small rock in a pants pocket. Each time I noticed the rock in my pocket I acknowledged how fortunate I am, and expressed my gratitude.

Such a device can come in handy when we meet someone who is having a hard time. If we tell them the story behind our “gratitude rock,” including any special place it came from and how much it has helped us, then give them the rock, it can turn their attitude toward gratitude. It is very difficult to feel “down” while we are thinking about our many blessings.

S—T—R—E—T—C—H.

One of our cats pulls the night shift in my office chair. He is usually still there, sound asleep when it is my turn to use it again in the morning. Each time I evict him he reminds me how important a good stretch is before putting our bodies into motion. Even if I become impatient and tip him out of the chair, he stretches on his way to the floor.

He is a young cat, and is amazingly agile, powerful and lightening-fast. If he knows that it is important for him to stretch with his impressive physical abilities, then it must be even more important for me.

My first stretch of the morning is while I am still lying in bed. Being as tall as my bed is long, I cannot do a full stretch, so I extend and stretch my legs before standing up, then stand, stretch my arms up over my head and then out from my sides on the way to the bathroom. As I do this, I feel most of the muscle aches that are left over from sleeping in a squnched-up position dissipate and relax.

I also learned a simple form of yogic exercise many years ago that I will share in another section of this book. These exercises are helpful for both “waking up” my body and for deep relaxation on the way back to sleep.

HYDRATE.

Do you happen to recall the episode in the Star Trek series wherein a mineral-based alien life form referred to humans as “big, ugly bags of mostly water”? Although I take exception to the “ugly” part, the “bags of mostly water” part is enlighteningly accurate. People are from about 55% to 65% water, depending upon how fat they are. Water ratio is inversely proportional to body fat index, or BFI.

(Hmmm — could there be a clue of some sort contained in that information??)

Immediately after rising, drink at least 16 ounces of clean water. This does not mean coffee, tea, cocoa, juice or—heaven forbid—soda pop. More about these later …

The “right amount” of water to be consumed daily is 1/2 ounce of clean water for every pound of your body weight. When I weighed 260 pounds I needed to drink a minimum of 130 ounces (one gallon plus 2 ounces) of water each day. Now that I weigh only 190, the minimum amount has reduced to just 95 ounces (twelve cups) per day.

DO YOU DISLIKE DRINKING WATER?

If you are one of many people who, for whatever reason, dislike drinking water, you may find THIS PROGRAM TO BE HELPFUL.

“Clean water” means water that has had the toxic impurities, pathogenic organisms and imbalanced, non-chelated minerals removed. Very rarely will this include anyone’s tap water.

So, what water is truly “clean?”

• Bottled water usually contains toxic resins and chemicals from plastic bottles.
• Distilled water tends to leach essential minerals from our digestive tract.
• Water from a reverse osmosis system tends to be acidic from stabilizing itself with available carbon dioxide molecules from the air.
• Water only filtered through activated charcoal may still contain heavy metal toxins and pathogenic microorganisms.
• So-called “Alkalinizing filters” add soda to the water to change the pH.

There just doesn’t seem to be an ideal solution to produce ideal water.

Personally, my wife and I use a combined carbon and reverse osmosis system to condition our water. We put a small amount of our highly-alkaline tap water in the bottle before filling from the filtered reservoir tank to give it an alkaline alternative to stabilizing with carbon dioxide. Some people with acidic tap water add a small amount of bicarbonate of soda to the bottom of their bottles before filling them. It only takes a tiny bit. If you can taste it, it is too much.

Which method should you choose? The best way to learn that is to test on each option that is available to you. The important subject of testing will be covered in the next chapter.

Coffee Infused with Organic Ganoderma Spores

Alternate beverages.

The only natural beverages are water and the juices of some fruits and cacti. Purely from the point of hydration, clean water is the beverage of choice. The body will interpret all other beverages as a form of food. Clean water is necessary for rehydration and cleansing.

NOTE: Drinking alternate beverages does not reduce the amount of clean water we must consume. In most cases, it actually increases it.

If you drink fresh organic fruit or vegetable juices, some people feel that you should also add an equal amount of clean water to your daily intake, but not at the same time. Allow at least 20 to 30 minutes for the juice or any food to digest before diluting your stomach with water. Another train of thought is that it has no impact on your clean water needs.

If you drink tea, add 2 additional ounces of clean water to your daily intake for each 1 ounce of tea. This can be consumed immediately before, during or after consuming the tea.

If you drink cocoa, choose only organic, raw cacao. Add 2 additional ounces of clean water to your daily intake for each 1 ounce of cacao consumed. This can be immediately before, during or after consuming the cacao. (HINT: Raw, organic cacao powder tastes wonderful without milk or sugar.)

If you drink coffee, choose an organic coffee infused with organic Ganoderma lucidum or Ganoderma spore powder. The Ganoderma has some magical ability to convert coffee—a beverage which is normally stressful to the body—into a beneficial and healing food. Still, add 2 additional ounces of clean water to your daily intake for each 1 ounce of coffee consumed. This can be immediately before, during or after consuming the coffee.

If you drink soda pop or processed, adulterated fruit juices, just DON’T! Pledge right now to completely eliminate those from your life forever, then do some online research to understand why.

If you sweeten your beverages (always try it first without a sweetener—it may taste better than you think it will) use a natural raw sweetener such as maple syrup, agave nectar, honey, stevia, or, at the least, raw organic cane sugar.

Breakfast any time of the day

NOURISH.

The statement “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” may be true, but it does not specify when it is most appropriate to break the fast. My feeling is that breakfast should happen after I naturally begin to feel hunger. It has nothing to do with what a clock happens to indicate.

Since one of the best choices for breaking fasts is raw fruit, most people could have their breakfast almost anytime—after they arrive at work, during “coffee break,” or almost any three minutes of personal time taken during the day. If your schedule is so stressful that this would be difficult, you shouldn’t be eating then anyway. Remaining hungry is far better than dumping food into a turbulent stomach. Wait and eat when you can relax and gratefully enjoy every bite.

Your mineral supplements are best taken without food. Vitamin supplements are best taken with food. Wash the minerals down with plenty of water. Vitamins can be taken with fresh juices or a small sip of water so as to not dilute your digestive processes.

NOTE: Vitamin and mineral supplements should be chosen through a testing process to be certain that they are what YOUR body needs. More about testing in the next chapter …

RELAX.

Keep in mind that an absence of good health is usually indicated by the presence of disease. Always recognize that the word “disease” is dis-ease squnched together. Dis-ease is another way of saying “tense.” Tense means “Strained,” “rigid” and “stiff.”

The opposite of dis-ease is therefore “flexible,” “loose,” “soft.” “calm,” “easy-going,” “laid-back” and “relaxed.” Gulping down a steaming-hot cup of toxic coffee, then rushing out to experience frustration while resisting the heavy traffic that is making you late again for that staff meeting that you hate to attend because the boss always points out that you are not adequately performing your duties because she or he has piled on too much work … is NOT contributing to your “ease.”

If the preceding paragraph describes your life, here are some ideas for reducing the stress and enhancing your healthy peace-of-mind:

1. Get to sleep earlier so that you can get up earlier, fully rested. TIVO any television shows that would keep you up past a reasonable bedtime so you can watch them another time.
2. Spend some time meditating and expressing gratitude for crowded highways, other people, your job and the management team you work with.
3. Casually leave in plenty of time to arrive at work early, even with unusually heavy traffic. If you arrive early, you will have time to continue your meditation and gratitude.
4. Keep a time management log for EVERYTHING you do during the day. This has two very significant benefits:
   1. You will learn where your time is being wasted or used ineffectively so you can improve your performance to get more accomplished, and,
   2. If you truly are being over-worked, you can look it over with your boss and ask him or her what to give up in order to complete the more important projects.
5. Smile, no matter what. If anyone there is actually “out to get you,” it will drive them crazy.
6. Find something to appreciate about everyone, no matter how much of an ass you perceive them to be.
7. Never buy in to someone else’s upsets. Don’t allow their “monkeys” to jump onto your back. Change the subject to something pleasant at the earliest opportunity.
8. If you feel the stress building to an uncomfortable level, go to the bathroom. Sit in a stall for a while and think about all your blessings.
9. During breaks go for a walk. If you have a friend at work who is always positive and joyful, ask them to walk with you. Share your joys—not your problems.
10. Be diplomatically honest in your communications. If it gets you fired, you should not have been working there in the first place. Breathe a big sigh of relief and move on to where you belong.

A similar set of instructions apply to relationships. Husbands and wives have their highs and lows—it is inevitable. Like an old country song suggests, “If you love (them), let (them) know. If you don’t, please let (them) go.” True love supports a great deal of tolerance for personal idiosyncrasies. Without love, it will not ever get better.