When Comfort Foods are Good to Indulge

Comfort foods. A good idea at times? Or steadfastly to be refused and resisted? Let us reason together, for at times of stress, countless people find moments of at least partial relief by eating certain things.

What is the number one comfort food? Did you guess chocolate? Chocolate is (surprisingly) not the number one comfort food in the U.S., it comes in second to macaroni and cheese!

Today, October 28, is both national "I love you Day," and national "Chocolate Day." Seems a good excuse to get some yummy chocolate comfort food, or to take some to another as a surprise! The two go together well, along with flowers (an embellishment for today).

It all points to a loved one and maybe some good memories that after a loss are painful because missed. Food can be a two-edge sword, one side a trigger of memories, the other a bandaid of stress relief. Certain foods, called comfort foods, are believed to create particular "feel-good" chemicals that give about a 20 minute lift -- but sometimes a 20 minute lift is exactly what is needed. Sometimes, especially in either early grieving days or on special dates or holidays, just getting the next 15 to 20 minutes under control in a planned activity, is the perfect thing to do. Sometimes, partaking in comfort food will bridge you over an abyss of threatening depression. Then it is a good thing to partake. There must be a balance, however, and not overindulgence.

We must get our real comfort food from Spirit -- be fed by Love divine. God is Father and Mother, and we are His beloved children. He holds us close and angel messages help us awaken to where we are in the arms of the Infinite tender Love. It is like waking to find yourself safe in bed rather than in a dream where you may be running through a field to escape a mad bull! Waking up from a bad dream, we are in a higher conscious state, a clearer sense of the real. Waking from the mesmeric false sense of separation or loneliness, we find ourselves held by the ever-present, the Love that fills all space, that knows and cares for you every moment. Pray for more spiritual awakening because this is the true comfort.

WHAT TO DO. Everything really depends upon how we frame it in our thinking. What Scripture is most comforting to you? Write it down. How can you reframe the one memory that may be triggering sadness, stress, anxiety, or overwhelming grief? Write that down. Now go on a strict 24-hour "watch" of your thought regarding this one thing, and keep that verse active in thought as well as visible on that paper.

Example: My late husband, being Italian, was well-known in our family for his magnificent spaghetti sauce (he called "gravy"). I cried over spaghetti for a long time after he was gone. One day, I decided to "reframe" this trigger, this negative impact of missing him that plunged through me when it came to making or eating "gravy." As I put the ingredients together, starting with the good imported olive oil, the garlic and onions, I said out loud, "I'm making this for you." It was to HONOR him. It was to take a wonderful gift that he had given me and lifting my concept of it up to honor him -- and make him smile -- that's how it feels to me. I made his "gravy" and thank him, and we smile. So it is reframed. It is a comfort food to me now rather than a trigger food. It makes me smile instead of cry.

Everything is how you think of it, so choose one thing that feels difficult and sad right now, reframe your sense of it, stick to that, and be comforted.

If chocolate speaks love to you -- indulge in a balanced way today -- celebrate national "I love you" day, especially in the comforting act of bestowing a chocolate gift to someone with at least a smile that silently speaks of love -- God's Love.

Rate Your Present Moment

Rate your present moment. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 the lowest (most depressed or sad), and 10 the highest (normal joy and energy) -- where are you now?

Spiritual awakeness to the eternal now, determines the height of whatever good is being discerned, experienced, felt -- especially in the midst of dark, sad, shocking things. At the worst of times, the Light that is God, Love, still burns within you. There is no getting away from it. Therefore, the scale you are considering has no zero. Even if you think you are at a "one," that indicates the presence of at least a flicker of hope --  a tiny but perceptible realization of God's presence of Good.

How can we get more spiritually awake (increasing the number on the scale of normalcy and energy of joy)?

Here is how NOT to do it. When we have a nightmare, sometimes we tend to stay there in bed ruminating over it. We might go over what happened and think out ways to escape, fix, or change whatever bad stuff presented itself in the dream. This elongates that which is causing dismay.

The best course is to shake yourself from the bed and get up. Put on the light and start actively looking around to see where you really are. Become active in even the most mundane activity, and it will assuredly draw you away from the nightmare. You quickly come into your true sense of what's real and where you are.

Spiritual awakening can parallel this strategy. Turn away from the dark evidence for just one minute, and let's see where we really are. The Scriptures say, "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).
https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=move+and+have+our+being&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

If we are "in Him," we are now in Spirit, in the universe of Love that fills all space. Now get active. Engage in an activity of unselfish love. Ideas: ask someone what you could do to make their day better. Start a letter (or write a journal page) of forgiveness to someone. Give special attention to a pet. Call someone on the phone with intent to make them smile. Wash the dishes! Hold someone's hand. Do something.

Even the great prophet Elijah was so depressed once that he didn't want to live any longer. He ran away laid down under a juniper tree (I Kings 19:4). Angels came (the light, the awakening) and got him up -- provided food and drink. Be careful -- don't lay down again. Elijah was so distressed, that he did exactly that. But the persistent angels came again and forced him up. He went on the strength of the spiritual food, truths, and drink, water of life, provided, all the way to Mount Horeb -- (like the 10 on our scale). God's presence was seen and felt as a "still small voice." Elijah helped and healed many people after that, and so will you. "Rise and eat," as the angel said to Elijah. You, "rise and eat." Get your rating of present moment up at least one notch, then the direction upward shall continue. You are of great value to our Father and you are loved.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=juniper+tree&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

Expand Your Comfort Zone

How big is your comfort zone? You might think of this "zone" as a circle around yourself. Within the perimeter are all the things that you are most comfortable with, things you are most used to, or things of which you have most expertise. When something comes to your experience that is outside of your comfort zone, it can cause some degree of stress, from slight discomfort to downright dread, fear, or trepidation. In grief coaching, this uncomfortable thing is usually due to a loss, either of a loved one, someone that was depended upon in some way, or loss of a home, business, or relationship damage. Any change at all will cause stress -- but the huge changes -- like when my husband of many years passed away and I found myself alone -- hit like a tidal wave that smashes in all around that comfort zone perimeter. Jesus said that the "winds and waves" would come and "beat on [the] house" -- things will happen that are difficult and force change. In Hebrew literature, "house" means "consciousness," so these are things that occur which beat in on our consciousness. The "house" that "does not fall" is the one "built on the rock." This rock is Christ, and Christ Jesus illustrates our true dominion in every situation, shows our capabilities through oneness with the Father, Love, to stand strong like a rock through adversity. You do not stand by yourself through human endeavor, but you stand supported and impervious through oneness with God -- like a ray of light to the sun. It is through grace that you are carried through the emotional storm. Be still and hold to this truth -- God is All, and it is He that comforts (strengthens) you and holds you secure on the rock. Whatever comes to you, no matter how difficult or insurmountable it appears, operates to expand your comfort zone if you turn to divine Love and focus on the Light that is God, knowing He sustains and carries you through. Even Jesus said, "I can of mine own self do nothing," but he adds that "whatsoever I see the Father do, the son doeth likewise." You are the child of God, and as His image and likeness,  you reflect and repeat the good that God is, in every action, in every word and deed (when you turn your attention to Him). You are like a ray of light that gives attention to the sun, its source, nature, substance, and real being. In this allness of Spirit where we "live, move, and have our being," all is present, there is no separation -- and this is the eternal reality. WHAT TO DO: The first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes of your day (minimum) find a way to devote thought, heart, soul, and mind, to the Creator, our Father who loves you. Spiritualize your thought. In one week you will have turned from the tempter's despressive suggestions to a solid hour and 10 minutes of pure awareness of God's presence, power and love. Expand and include challenges, your comfort zone will expand, you will be higher and stronger, more comforted and able to better comfort others as well.

Change = Stress; One Power = Peace

Any change = stress

Any change, perceived as good or bad, is said to bring stress. I do not really want to bring such an unwelcome companion along with anything I do, anywhere I go. Stress is pesty and persistent; it seems to resist our best efforts to just stay calm or maintain inner peace.

After a loss of a loved one, a loss of a home, of a business, a marriage, and so forth, there is so much drastic change that stress can flood in like an uncontrollable surge through huge open doors -- an incoming flood that threatens to drown one, and for which there is no perceivable end!

There is a mental strategy.

And it works.

First, in order to have stress, you must have two powers, one pushing against the other. It's like pressing  the palms of your hands together really hard for a sustained amount of time. If you suddenly took away one hand, however, then what? With one power, not two, there is no stress.

Second, prayerfully meditate on God, Good, Love, as the one Power.

Third, after your meditation, consciously state the fact of one power operating in the universe to every circumstance and situation.

	Rom 13:1	Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=no+power&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

Looks like Nana

Beware of "triggers"

Moving between stages of grief we experience diverse feelings which are impacted by "triggers" in forms of certain places (or types of places), activites, persons, foods, drinks, painting, photos, books, things owned by or associated a lost loved one ... even voice tone, resemblance, or an innocent remark by a stranger.

I remember coming out of an opera some years after my 'nana' passed, and getting into an elevator for the garage. My nana was extremely distictive and extremely loved by me and my big sister. We grew up with her (and our Pop-pop) for the first years of our lives.

There are so many fond memories. Nana was only about 5 feet tall (that's a stretch), while she was about 4 feet wide (slight over-exaggeration) -- but you get the idea. Her wonderful voice tone was rather high and a tad shaky, but in an endearing way. She was always, always, always watching out for me and my sister, and loving us. She made sure there was that huge basket of toys and games in the closet, air in the old bicycle tires when we got big enough to ride, and that all "scraps" would be saved for my sister and me to throw in the air over the white fence to the scavenging sea gulls.

How could I have imaged she would have a clone! There she was (the "trigger") a duplicate of my nana in the elevator of the opera-house. I was flooded with emotion and tears came. What would this lady think if I suddenly hugged her! I resisted, of course ... now it is years later and it still makes me tear. This is normal. It's okay to miss a loved one a lot. Even knowing, as I am certain, that we will see them again some day, it's still hard to bear any barring separation. So, yes, we can be with the individual in our heart and soul -- and yes, this is real and tangible and good -- but it takes some training of thought and emotion coupled with spiritual understanding to achieve the strength and balance of this demonstration.

The Scriptures say that we are to "comfort" one another with the same "comfort" that helps us.

	2Co 1:4	Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=comforted+of+God&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

What is most comforting to me came with a near-death experience decades ago when my nana's sister, Aunt Lil, who had passed away early, met and stopped me as I was moving away from a very traumatic event into pure Spirit. She told me (words aloud in my consciousness) that I had more to do. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in recovery where they told me they had "lost" me for several minutes. So let me reassure you, all feels normal, our loved ones are there, and most of all -- the light and pure radiance of divine Love is present tangibly, ever watching over your experience.

Fear Freezes; Love Frees

The thing most feared, can be met best by reflecting that radiance of the One infinite Love.

Fear freezes us. Love frees us.

It's not human love that is needed, but the divine Love that "faith never" (I Cor. 13:8).
https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=first+loved+us&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

1Cor. 13:8 ¶ Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 

If you can, try to order a book by Henry Drummond, called The Greatest Thing in the World. It dissects the famous passages on love found in that chapter of Corinthians, and gives plenty of ideas for applying the ideas in your life. This book can be found on Amazon. It is small but mighty.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_42?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+greatest+thing+in+the+world+henry+drummond&sprefix=The+Greatest+thing+in+the+world%2C+Henry+Dru%2Caps%2C145&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Athe+greatest+thing+in+the+world+henry+drummond

While waiting for your tiny but powerful book (decades old, but timeless) prayerfully meditate on the radiance of Love, as soon as possible upon awakening, and each time you are settling in to rest or sleep. The universe is filled with the Being that is all-Love.

To take a few minutes or more to focus quietly on this light of Love (alone and still) will bring a measure of peace and comfort right away; further, it will seep into all that has to do with you in the most effective, gentle, and beneficial ways.

Our sense of personal love (which can be so vast, so deep, so amazing), when placed by the one Source of all affection that radiates this feeling, tangibility, and power, is as beautiful candlelight next to the fullness of the sun at noon. The apostle explains, "We love because He first loved us" (I John 4:19).  We love because we are His reflection, His expression -- one with the divine Love as a ray of light to its source.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=first+loved+us&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

Love will not fail you, and has not. Love is embracing all of us right now, and caring for us. Love sees each of us and holds us to Himself in tenderness.

Get in Sync the the Universe's Rhythm

NO HURRY: Prioritize

There is a rhythm of the infinitude of creation that is like the great heart-beat of the Almighty (the I AM, God, divine Love). This rhythm is never too fast or too slow.

A KEY element to peace, strength, comfort, accomplishment of right endeavors, and regaining  functional balance (for one's own sake and those around you) is to realize your eternal identity as "image and likeness" of the perfect One, the pure Being or Creator. 

Whatever the original does, the reflection moves right with it -- not before, not after. So the timing for your day is perfect, and is controlled by the divine Intelligence that fills all space. 

TO DEMONSTRATE OR MANIFEST THIS PERFECT RHYTHM OR TIMING:
1. Take 5-10 minutes after reading this offering, and prayerfully-meditate (in a quiet place if possible) holding to divine Love's rhythmic "heart-beat" -- in Spirit. You may find yourself gently rocking to it (without trying) as you calm, quiet, and bring conscious awareness to this gentle timing. You will feel it through your spiritual sense when gently turning thought toward it. 

2. WATCH (never think or say that anything is too fast or too slow). DECLARE that all things in the universe reflect and express the perfect timing of the perfect, Infinite One.

3. ACTION STEP:
What one thing -- one thing -- would be most important for you to do today? Take time to think this through. Write down that one thing you will do today. 
(It might be a task, or it might be an important communication with someone).

After your 5-10 minute prayer-meditation, begin to move toward doing that one thing (baby step). Know and feel that you are moving in sync with God, the all-loving and ever-present Love, and you are doing it by reflection (as image and likeness, Gen. 1:26). 

The power of Love itself gives you the gift of grace through spiritual sense. 

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=gift+of+God&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

Or as the Bible in Basic English translates:
... by grace you have salvation through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is given by God: (Eph. 2:8).