Gratitude is not the indebtedness or sense of obligation to repay for a service or an act of kindness. It is the opposite: the giving that allows more space for receiving.  Thanksgiving starts in every breath and with the conscious awareness of a repeated chance to sustain our life continuously, by letting go of what we are holding on to. Obviously, we cannot actually declare our gratitude in every second but our attitude shows our gratitude when we feel happy, content, and safe.

·         Acting with a deep inner feeling of stability, peace and calmness leaves behind a perfume like sense of awe, appreciation, and fascination as a breath is taken.

·         The perfume of gratitude is authentic and not artificially fragranced by satisfaction and happiness that result from dependence on material resources or anything that money can buy.

·         A true feeling of gratification and gratefulness happens only when our inside and outside actions are in harmony; just like a breath.

·         What we take in as love or hate, security or fear, hope or despair, and acceptance or rejection act like the air that we take in and the Carbon dioxide that we send out. 

·         According to what we take in, we send out waves of compassion and kindness or hostility and vengeance to those around us.

Gratitude with a Twist! 

It's Thanksgiving time! My most favorite holiday of the year; the time when we pause and reflect back at the year almost gone; the time when we give gratitude for all the things that are going well in our lives; and, even the things that are a bit challenging. Yes! Even our set-backs; for it is the difficult situations, the broken relationships, the unreasonable work place, the demanding life, and the unpaid bills that teach us to become who we are really meant to be. It is for these intricate periods that we learn our most valuable lessons in life. "Find a way to be thankful for your troubles and they can become your blessings."

It is easy to be grateful when things are sailing smoothly, yet, it's an art to accept, let go, surrender and flow with what life throws at us. Thus, let's create an attitude of gratitude; embrace it, live it, and thrive gracefully!

This Thanksgiving I am grateful with a twist:

I am grateful for all the things I desired but I didn't get; because I have something to look forward to.

I am grateful for all the mistakes I made, because they taught me valuable lessons.

I am grateful for all the difficult times, because they made me grow stronger.

I am grateful for all the things I didn't know, because they gave me the opportunity to learn.

I am grateful for all my limitations, because they gave me a chance to make improvements.

I am grateful for all my challenges, because they made me more creative.

I am grateful for all my duties and chores, because they made me make a difference.

I am grateful for all my actions, because they allowed me to live and create a life that I want.

Melody Beattie, the author of Codependent No More, says: "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

Happy Thanksgiving with love & gratitude!

Food has an amazing ability to connect and heal people.  That is what first inspired me to become a holistic nutritionist.  Whole foods, straight from the earth, without chemicals, have a life force in them that has no equal or substitute.  Eating them can connect us to the earth and to our bodies.  We live in a large city and I believe the connection between our food and us is of the utmost importance.  It's so easy to be distracted by IPods, internet phones, 24 hour news, long commutes, and gratification in shopping. All of these can interfere with taking care of ourselves, our community, and our earth. We eventually find our rejuvenating energy and the comfort of our souls in our food.

The beauty of holidays is in the remembering how to treat each other with kindness and put aside our differences.  Believe it or not with the help of food we can create and foster the holiday attitude all year round:  eat in season. It means that we eat what the earth is offering to us, in our area, and at that present time.  This ancient practice has been long forgotten since we have warehouse-sized grocery stores that offer strawberries in January and other miraculous eatable feats. While we have been able to accomplish feeding the mass population a huge variety of food products, which could be a blessing to generations not long ago, we are doing that at the cost of our health and our earth.   Eating in the natural flow of the seasons can create a more calm and centered energy and a healthier body.

 I help people find their nutritional center - that amazing place where their food and lifestyle choices begin to integrate into their daily life to bring optimal health. Those vital choices happily resonate with their new found realization that we are all connected to each other and to earth through our food! I have studied all the major dietary theories and help people to discover what approach works best for them at this point in their lives. I believe in the bio-individuality of each person and trust that what is best for our bodies is also the best for our planet. It's a win/win relationship.

In my practice, I approach food from a very holistic perspective. Rather than dwelling on calories, carbs, fats, proteins, restrictions and lists of good and bad foods, I work with my clients to create changes in their lifestyles. Such changes bring food to the table in a healthy, simple, and celebrated way and provide balance in everyday life. As the old saying goes, we are what we eat! When we find balance in our relationship to whole foods, we will find our bodies naturally return to a healthy state of wellness.

Your body is telling you what it needs and I can teach you that language. By noticing the connections among your relationships, career, exercise, spirituality and food intake, together we will discover what YOUR BODY needs to genuinely live a balanced and healthy life. If you would like more information about what you can do to holistically optimize your nutrition, call me or come in for a consultation. You will have more gratitude for what earth provides and be amazed by the grace in your food!

Erin M Hoopes LMT LE HHC