Waking up to the magic of you can begin with caring for the self. We must encourage in ourselves,love,esteem, awareness and acceptance.It's as if we've been asleep our entire lives and we wake up one day and wonder, how the hell did I get here, in this situation, with this body and with level of health. How did this happen we ask ourselves. Well it happened right in front of our very sleepy eyes. There are many reasons that this happens. Here are a few.

1. We stay very preoccupied with whats going on outside of ourselves.

2. We have made up stories in our head of who we think we inherently are (ie: I'm worthless) and spend our lifetime trying to overcompensate for this false belief. again this takes us ouside of ourselves.

3. There is a heard like mentality in our society that keeps us moving along in a very numbing existance. Following what everyone else is doing because it is the "right " thing to do. Unfortunately we then, never find our passion which is what keeps us alive and awake.

So, a small step(might be a big one) to begin with is caring for this magnificient body that is home to our divine selves.

Imagine you have a five year old child that needs love,support and guidance and this five year old is you and you are also now the parent. ( go with me here I know this is a bit weird) So, this five year old you wakes up excited to start the day. You as the parent have many things plannned for the day and are anxious to get going. Would you forget to give your child breakfast? If you did forget , your five year old would loudly remind you that he is in need of food. Or you certainly wouldn't get very far into your busy day without a major meltdown out of hunger. Kids are great and painful that way. They are not shy about their needs. So the problem in all of htis is that the five year old is still alive in you and is screaming to get your attention. we have learned as adults how to drown out the little voice and not pay attention. We can choose many ways to begin paying attention and today I would like to address it through nutrition.

If you think about it food is a celebration. when we have a special occassion or a holiday it usually involves a special meal. Not that every meal has to be a major work of art but the thought that goes into it can make all the difference in the world.You will notice the difference and so will your five year old.

I personally went through many stages of self hatred and denial and would take it out on my body by starving it. I went for a week without food just to punish myself, for what? I'm not really sure. Then just to prove to myself and everyone else that I could be thin, I starved myself for over three months. Yes I lost 30 pounds but I also lost  hair, my menstrual cycle and my vitality. FOR WHAT! Something finally snapped in me and I turned my hatred of caring for my self into a passion. I became very interested in nutrition and cooking really good food for myself. I found that the more attention I put on caring what I put in my mouth it was much easier to love my body.

Go back to the five year old at breakfast again. You may be saying great, my five year old wants a big bowl of peanut butter Captian Crunch with chocolate milk! OK ,so think this through as a parent( even if you physically do not have children). A bowl of chocolate and sugar is not going to last very long in the system and the sugar rush and the meltdown afterwards is not going to be much fun.  So I am thinking something more along the lines of eggs,whole grain toast, oatmeal, home made pancakes with wheat flour, you get the picture. Breakfast foods can be a little limiting, so experiment with " non breakfast "foods like last nights leftovers. As long as there is some protien in the meal you will be better off for the day. Now for those of you without kids, I can tell you here and now it does't matter how big breakfast was, in 2-3 hours your five year old will want a snack. so, snacks must be ready at hand.  Healthy snacks like nuts, fruit, peanut butter, beef jerky, fruit or veggies. Steering away from simple carbohydrates will get you farther. And, don't forgat the water….. LOTS of Water

I hope you are getting the picture here…which is.. when we can nurture our five year old selves by  by being our own parent, we can be led onto the path of self awareness.

Some basic guidelines to follow when feeding your five year old:

whole grains when possible, stay away from refined white flour baked goods, they have no nutrition

fruits make a five year old smile, the juiceier the messier the better.

veggies dipped in peanut butter or hummus for snacks

protein: high quality(organic when possible) beef, chicken,fish or turkey

stay away from the Hi-C and sports drinks, loaded with sugar again more WATER

With all this being said we still have to fit this into our already busy day. It is amazing how when our children aren't thriving everything else gets put aside pretty easily and they become the priority. We find ways to fit this stuff in. What we need to become aware of is.. for most of us, our five year old is not thriving and we have our fingers in our ears and we are singing la la la la la la la  I'm not listening.

Once you start taking the time to prepare foods for yourself you will notice ,how much better you feel about yourself, how you feel when your are eating and how you feel throughout the day.

If you find yourself still struggling, keep coming back to the visual of nurturing yourself as a five year old. If you can't do this for yourself as an adult because the lack of esteem,love and or acceptance are in the way, do it for the five year old you. Get an old picture of yourself and tape it to the bathroom mirror, the fridge somewhere you will see it and be reminded. Remember kids are relentless, your five year old will  never give up trying to get your attention and that will be expressed physically in your body in many different ways.

Your five year old wants you to remember the MAGIC IN YOU!