You're Not Going To Believe This

Over last weekend my housemates and I went up into the Sierra Nevada mountains to Sequoia National Forest to hold a retreat. We stayed in what was formerly housing for lumberjacks. It wasn't as rustic as that sounds, as this was a modern lumber camp. This picture is not of that area. (This was taken in the park by the condominium complex we live in.)

I had left my camera in Santa Rosa during my last visit. We visited the 100 Giants trail which was about 10 miles from where we stayed. It was great to walk beside these giant Sequoias. Many of these were even bigger than what I saw when visiting the Ave of the Giants. My friend took a few pictures and when she sends them to me, I'll post them. Now that I got that out of the way, let me get back to what happened during the retreat.

If you are a reader of this blog, then you are use to reading about profound and miraculous events in my life. This retreat was not like that. I didn't work any deep issues through some emotional process. The whole point about working one's issues is about gaining personal power. What we learned this weekend just adds to that. This retreat was designed as a growth experience. We studied the five levels of intention and personal empowerment. We looked and studied seven ways we mismanage personal power and seven techniques to developing personal power.

During this retreat I came to recognize many of the ways I waste my personal energy. One of those ways is my addiction. And I have decided to change that. As of today. In the ways of all recovering addicts I shall just concentrate on today. Yep, you're not going to believe this, but I'm going to get off sugar.

Those of you who know me personal (and that's mostly who reads this blog) you know that I have been addicted to sugar for years, even decades. As I was recently told I am diabetic, this will improve my health as well.

I have had, do have a terrible, terrible sweet tooth that I over indulge. Twice in my life I have gotten off sugar when I was dieting. I hated doing so. This is a different mind set. It's about personal empowerment. The next 72 hours is usually the worse. I have a headache, I am irritable and grouchy. I have warned my housemates about this withdrawal period. They have joyfully offered to let me be as grouchy as I want. Which of course means, I probably won't be. (It's not nearly as much fun being grouchy if others think it's okay to be and even welcome it as part of your personal process.)

That is exactly why I am here living with these friends. I have been working on deep personal issues through many processes including very emotional processes. My friends have supported me through these processes just as they are with my withdrawal from my sugar addiction. We lovingly support each other. As much as it is possible we live in unconditional love.

Meanwhile, I have made progress on editing the book. The Author's Note, Introduction and Chapter One are complete. That's not how I wrote it. The Introduction was Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 is now Chapter 1. One of my friends in the house is proofreading the edited work and providing valuable feed back. I spent 4 days on Chapter 1. (I only work in the morning-early afternoon for 4 hours.) I like how the chapter came out. It is presently in my friend's hands to proofread.

I am left with only one thought out the editing process: if it took me 4 days to edit 10 pages, how long will it take to edit the two 90 page chapters that I have?

I'll report my progress on both my sugar addiction and editing.

The Journey continues.