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I think there’s a friendly ghost in our apartment. Every once in a while, she’ll knock some books over upstairs or I’ll feel her watching me as I draw up stencils. She’s not evil, just a little bored and curious. I haven’t talked to her. But, whenever she visits, she knows I know she’s there. I don’t talk to the dead much; it’s not a good idea. The more energy they get, they more they want. They have much less to offer than the living.
The Frightful Posts:
Live in the light.
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My father in law dumps out pieces of sugarless chewing gum on Halloween and even worse, Home Printed Heifer International Certificates for X-mas. For Halloween he’s a dentist for Christmas a Weird Kind of Reverse Scrooge. If he didn’t live in a gated retirement community he’d wake up with slimy egg yolks and wet toilet paper on his porch for sure.
Image by L. Marie via Flickr
Here are a few other Halloween treats that won’t trigger a hyperactive fits of rage in the tiny tots and rebellious teenagers at the front door:
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(Less water, makes a thicker “gel”. You can also replace the water with apple juice, orange juice, or other sweet juices for a flavorful treat.)
Directions
Mix the chia seeds and water with a spoon or electric mixer.
Wait about 15 minutes , then give the mixture another stir.
Uses for the SIMPLE CHIA GEL:
The Gel can be eaten raw; it has NO flavor whatsoever.
It can be used as a thickener in raw soups, fruit smoothies and fresh jams.
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EASY Ancient CHIA ISKIATE (Traditional Chia Energy Drink)
Ingredients
Directions
Stir the chia seeds into the water; let them sit for about five minutes. Stir again to bring out more gel. The longer, it sits, the more the seeds release the gel. Add the lime or lemon juice. Then pour in the agave nectar to taste.
(Did you know that Agave is also used to make Tequila?!)
Uses for THE ANCIENT CHIA ISKIATE:
Drink before a run or before mutually consensual activities that require high levels of friskiness.
Directions
Mix the gel, fruit juice and pulp together and place in freezer for 1 hour and serve.
Directions:
Combine chia seeds and apple juice and let soak 30 minutes until it thickens. Add the lemon and ice.
To turn it into a refreshing slushy, blend everything together in a Good Blender
Directions
Place dates in bowl of food processor; puree until thick paste forms.
Add cocoa powder, chia seeds, vanilla. blend until everything is well mixed.
Add nuts, blend until nuts are finely chopped and well distributed through the mixture.
Transfer date mixture to wax paper, and press / roll mixture into 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Wrap tightly with the waxed paper, and then with foil. Refrigerate overnight for solid bars or eat warm. Make sure you store them in the fridge, they’ll spoil of they’re left out too long.
[pullquoteleft] Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question.”Yes” is the answer.
—Anonymous Man
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Those who tread barefoot, shouldn’t scatter thorns.
Italian Proverb
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[pullquoteleft]
Repetition is a form of change.
—Card from the Movie Slacker
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[pullquoteleft]
Walk Hard.
—Dewy Cox
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[pullquoteleft]Full on Double Rainbow all the way across the sky
Paul “Yosemite Bear” Vasquez
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[pullquoteleft]Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.
—Roger Miller
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[pullquoteleft]
When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him.
—Thomas Szasz
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“What dreams may come…?” That’s the plot device Shakespeare used to stop Hamlet from ruining the tragedy. Death, Hamlet decides, is too mysterious; why “fly off” to new troubles? Instead, he stays alive and essentially kills everyone he loves.
But the dreams of today are not road blocks to suicide. Quite the opposite. The dreams of today are the automatic million dollar money machine cash bank, the instant rejuvenating, anti age cream that boosts metabolism while increasing libido and leads to world domination. The dreams of today are incentives.
Marketers sell hope and make desire. How? They speak to the heart, not to the brain. Logic comes AFTER the emotional decision to buy. It’s not good it’s not bad. But it’s the way marketing works. So, they appeal to our feelings, they tell us stories or better, yet they try to get us to tell ourselves stories.
The Barefoot Running Industry is no different. Take this commercial which stars long distance running super star, Anthony Krupicka.
The music, the scenic footage, the “all natural” feel are not accidental. The ad is designed to make you dream of injury free barefoot running. It sells the dream of being an all natural runner.
The reality of barefoot running is that you’ll probably get injured at some point. You’ll step on glass, aggravate your Achilles, stub your toe, or have pain on the top of your foot. The dream of injury free running is there. But the reality is too. There’s nothing wrong with dealing with running injuries. I have had my share from running barefoot.
It seemed that I traded upper body problems for lower leg problems when I started out. I’m still getting over a terrible tear in my right calf. Yet, I’m still running barefoot.
Am I crazy? Maybe a little. Am I glutton for punishment? Maybe a little. Do I secretly hate myself? Maybe a little less. But I carry on not because I’m chasing some dream of injury free running, but because running barefoot actually makes me ENJOY running. That isn’t a dream. That’s a reality. I look forward to my barefoot runs.
While I do think that many of my lower leg injuries have disappeared, I don’t think they’ll be gone forever. My feet are much stronger than before. But I think that constantly running on hard concrete regularly does test the integrity of the foot.
Maybe injury free running isn’t a dream, maybe this time next year I’ll have a different view. But won’t sell that dream until it’s real.
I’m not barefoot runner because I think it will keep me from being injured. I’m a barefoot runner because I love the way it feels, I like being connected directly to the earth, I enjoy feeling the wet cold asphalt, the squish of moist fallen leaves, and the rough texture of the road; heck, there’s even a part of me that enjoys the glowers from my neighbors.
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I created a silly dance called the “barefoot shuffle” to annoy and amuse my wife. But I also use it to loosen up and to make my neighbors roll there eyes even more. The barefoot shuffle is as simple as it is stupid. I simply kick my feet from side to side and hop around; sometimes I pump my fists from belly button to chest. The whole dance is natural; it just sort of bursts out like a peel of laughter. As it turns out, the dumb dance has some deeper truth in it.
In the video below, Alan Watts, talks about how natural running is a kind of dance:
Alan Watts YouTube Video about Running featuring Alan Singing to Plants.
I agree: Running should be joyous and good running form is not force of will; it flows from the spirit–from the inside to the outside, from outside to the inside; each stride as rhythmic as your pulse. Every toddler runs that way, they all do the dance and most of them aren’t running to win a race, they’re running because they’re thrilled to be alive.
It’s difficult to experience the world when there is a synthetic barrier between you and it, which is why I tread barefoot whenever possible.
And now, some Alan Watts quotes:
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
“… the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.”
“… the only thing you need to know to understand the deepest metaphysical secrets — is this: that for every outside there is an inside and for every inside there is an outside, and although they are different, they go together.”
–Alan Watts
Image by davida3 via Flickr
If you desire, you can walk on fire–barefoot running gives you thicker, stronger soles.
