Wellness

Wellness speaks to a healthy person in mind, body, and spirit.

Began Yogurt Experience

by ladypbwiggins

When I gave up dairy I discovered how much I liked yogurt and cheese. Good tasting non-dairy cheese is hard to find. Non-dairy yogurt was almost impossible. Only certain stores carried it and they were not close to me. I discovered recipes from other vegans. Some were good and others not so much. Of course the good tasting were not time friendly. A few weeks ago I found a vegan cheese recipe that was simple so I decided to try it. I had already bought 1 young coconut but the recipe called for 6. I thought this is a trial and trying to get the meat from one was hard much less 6. I understood why most of the recipes used coconut cream or milk. I used the meat from the one I had and added a cup of dry coconut flakes and a cup of water. It never got it as silky smooth as I wanted I pureed this mix in my Vitamix. I wanted it raw but in my efforts to get it silky smooth the Vitamix heated it up. I did not add sweetener. I added some pure vanilla extract. I put the mix in a glass container and added the probiotic tablet. It was warmer than I thought. I was afraid I killed the bacteria in the tablet. Fortunately enough survived to ferment the coconut blend.

It worked. I have yogurt in my life once again. It tasted good but I would like some without the coconut flavor. What else can I use besides nuts to make yogurt? Seeds maybe? Anyone have a suggestion?

Coconut yogurt

NO REGRETS!

by ladypbwiggins

Always Some Regret

One day during my early 20s I stood in the middle of my livingroom and announced to myself that when I am old, I didn’t want to regret look back on my life and have regrets. My thoughts reminded me of Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken. That day I stood at my metaphorical fork in the road. Do I take that path or the other one. I look back on my life now and realize there will always be some regret. I do have “what if” thoughts. If I had gone down the other path, would I have been successful and satisfied in that other career. Very possibly because my hobbies bring me such joy. The down side is I most likely would not have met my husband. I would not have been a step-mother. That brought with it joy and pain. I would not have given birth to these two amazing children. I probably would not have lived the life I have led with all of its ups and downs. The life that has brought me so much joy. I would have regretted missing this. Ah, but how would I know?

I may not be able to have that long dream career but I can enjoy many aspects as my hobbies. One of them I am getting to share with my youngest grand-daughter. I have no regrets.

I realize in my new middle aged wisdom that regret is inevitable. Regardless of what you decide there will be some regret. It is a waste of time and energy wondering what was down that other path. All of the experiences on this path are profitable to make you a better, stronger, happier person. I know some of you have a very rough life and can’t imagine anything profitable coming from it. But it can. First, learn from the situation. Change what you can that is beneficial to you. You have been made strong from it. You may not realize it but you have. Second for the the things you can’t change do the best you can to work them for your benefit. The situation may not change but you will.

Accepting that no decision will create a perfect life brings a healthier state of mind. Shake off the what ifs and focus on what’s in front of you.

Enjoy the road taken.

“Better” Micro-Living

by ladypbwiggins

To begin my “Better” I completed several chores from my To Do list. You know those  nuisance things that keep getting placed on the low priority list. I also began organizing my projects. I am determined to enjoy my life inspite of the environment I live in. There are hobbies I enjoy that have been put on hold. They are released in my “Better.” My macro-environment has become toxic. So I will make the micro- as healthy as possible. First I asked myself what would my environment look like if there was no Covid 19 or weekly  unnecessary deaths or increased anger and hatred? What would it be like if it wasn’t a presidential election year? Is it possible to create this space and yet remain aware of the happenings. Knowing what’s going on is very stressful.  But we have to know to make wise decisions.

I have been given the ability to disassociate emotionally after I have been hurt by someone I trusted. I call it a gift because I can remain in a decent relationship with them without the concern of being hurt again. I don’t hold grudges and I don’t remain angry.   I have to figure out how to mentally disassociate and still remain aware.

Jehovah God’s got this. I believe by faith I am his child. If I believe those two things my shield of faith can be enlarged to protect me from the darts of all this madness.

Yep. That’s the ticket. Now to begin the process. Yes it is a process. Just can’t flip a switch. My goal is to be in the know without the stress. I’m entering my “Better.”

Trying To Lift Without Leverage

by ladypbwiggins

A few minutes ago I was trying to help lift my husband from a very soft sofa. For those who know us know that is no easy feat. He is 6’7″ at 240lbs and I am 5’4″ and we want talk about the other 😂. We have a system and he wasn’t using it. He removed my leverage. Once we got back on the same page I was able to help him stand.

I began thinking about this principal’s application in other areas of my life, our lives. No matter how hard we try we can not be lifted nor can we lift anyone else without proper leverage. There are different leverages:money, knowledge, physical strength, strategy and the Word and Spirit of God.

For those of us who are believers of the teachings of Yeshua, I believe we have the ultimate, the maximum leverage. The power promised to us is our leverage. This power is based and saturated in love but it should be handled with care. It is as explosive as nitroglycerin.

Let’s learn to use this powerful leverage with knowledge and wisdom, compassion, empathy and love. Not just for fellow believers but for those who don’t believe His teachings; for those who hate us; for those who live by different lifestyles or rules. This leverage does not give us the right or responsibility to condemn those that may have a different belief system. Yeshua said to share His teachings and love and He would draw all to Himself.

With this leverage we can lift many and ourselves to higher heights.

Limited Vision

by ladypbwiggins


The valley view from the mountaintop is far different from the view while you’re still in the valley. From the mountaintop, you can see the forest and streams, birds, green valleys, deserts, all in a sweeping survey of the land. You see all the possibilities that the valley offers. From the valley you only see what is before you. From the valley you also see the height of the mountains and the freedom it seems to offer from the problems of the valley.  How you long for the mountaintop. Is that assumption real?

What is God’s view of the valley from His position? He is surely on the mountaintop. I believe He sees possibilities not problems. I believe He sees the fertility provided by the waters and springs that run down from the mountain; These streams gathering minerals, and being cleaned of impurities as they rush across the rocks.  When the waters finally reach the valley, they are fresh and pure for the use of the valley inhabitants. The nutrients brought from the mountain fertilize every parcel of land it flows through that is below it and comes to rest in the ponds, rivers, lakes and streams and rivers on the the valley floor. Is the valley a place of restoration and healing or a place of pain and destruction?

While in the valley, I have access to fertile, productive possibilities as well as the problems of the desert. When I say desert I mean dry, unfertile places. While suffering the pain, I have access to healing and restoration. The One that sits on high sends down everything that I need to lead a peaceful, enriched, safe life in His living waters. If only I could keep His view of the valley and not mine. In His Natural all things are supplied for me. I just can’t see them. My view is limited. I only see what is before me and what my limited experience dictates. I can’t see all the possibilities that He sees. 

How then do I see as He sees? I let Him see and then tell me.  That requires a keener ear and unlimited, unbounded trust in Him, i.e. A much tighter relationship than I have now.  If I am able to move me out of the way then I can see with mountaintop vision while standing in the valley.  I can know the paths that lead to green pastures and calm, restoring waters as I walk through the deserts.

Excerpt from my book that’s in progress.

Deeper Perspective

by ladypbwiggins

Last week I completed a study on covenant and its relationship with God and mankind. Every culture has some form of covenant ritual and it is considered sacred, serious, eternally binding. Many included a shedding of blood. An example, cutting the wrist of the parties and mingling the blood. Two have become one.  God used the customs of Abraham’s culture to initiate a covenant with him.  The ratification of this covenant required animals to be cut in half and God to pass between them and consume them with fire. On man’s side it required the cutting of his foreskin. The new covenant with Yeshua required the cutting of his skin. On our side it requires a cutting away the foreskins on our hearts. But that entails not a literal cutting of our hearts but a submission to the will of God. It can be stated like this “Take up your cross and follow Me.”

What does it mean to take up your cross? I’ve heard many teachings on what Yeshua meant. I found nothing wrong with them. In fact, most made sense and were true. But this last week I saw something that shook my inner soul. To enter covenant with Yeshua I must become one with Him. I must take up my cross. What is the purpose of the cross? Crucifixion. Death. When I take up my cross I have accepted destination death. Death to self, death to my will, death to my life including physical death. So when you, I, picked up that cross we recieved and agreed to our death sentence.

We teach and preach about that abundant life and the promises of prosperity but that comes with the cost of our death. Don’t say Yeshua wouldn’t allow us to die because so many around the world have died already just because they took up that cross.

I’m What?

by ladypbwiggins

I have been called many things in my life and told who and what I was suppose to be but these last few months have been quite interesting. I was told I wasn’t a Christian. I was told I was a communist liberal. I was a fraud. All of this because I didn’t agree with some things some other Christians believed or said. So you know I couldn’t just let that sit there. What exactly did these words mean? I know how they are portrayed but what do they mean?

Liberal – 1.open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.

2. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.(often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.

Conservative – disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.

Progressive – favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters:

Communism – a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

So from the Merriam Webster Dictionary and Dictionary.com,

I am open to new behavior or opinions and willing to get rid of traditional values to reform or progress society rather than leaving conditions and limiting change as they traditionally are and I want to hold all property in common for the community.

Liberal, Progressive, Communist. Based on the definition that sounds like a description of Yeshua aka Jesus and the Apostles. Yeshua shook up the Pharisees (Conservatives) world. They taught the Mosaic law but did not live the spirit of the law. They even created new law restrictions that they say were extensions of the original. These were very pious men who exacted judgement on the people with little to no compassion or intent to help them change. They were more concerned with appearances than the truly living the Law. They would swallow a camel and strain at a gnat. Check out Matthew 23 to see just what Yeshua said about their hypocrisy. Yeshua even told his followers not to pray like them. There were so many things they did that violated the very law they sought to preserve. Here’s an example. Just one example. The woman caught in adultery. The Law said both the woman and the man were to be stoned but they only brought the woman. They asked Yeshua what to do. He said very matter-of-fact, let him who is without sin cast the first stone. Now if they had done nothing else they had sinned by not bringing the man. He did not violate or change the law but he did open up some new behavior pathways. Stone her but be sure you are guiltless. You want another one. Okay. All that dining with the sinners like Matthew and Zaccheaus. How about hanging out with the prostitute Mary Magdeline. And that unclean woman that touched him, how dare he let her do that and not stone her? Oh and how about turning over the money changers tables in the temple? Now that was a non–conservative act if every they saw one. You don’t mess with temple, church, money.

His 3 year minitry was one of reform and making progress toward that reform. He gave us instructions that were all based on Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor. That LOVE would reform and change the traditional behavior. If the Pharisees had taught that then Love would have been the traditional behavior. What we have now is “if your like me love”. If you meet my criteria love. If you are gay, I can’t show you love. If you are black, brown, white, immigrant, poor, rich, skinny, fat, whatever the reason not like me, I can’t show you love. Yeshua sought reformation on that thinking then and we need to reform our thinking now. Loving does not mean I agree with the person. Loving means I will care for you, I will share the Biblical truth with you and accept your decision. I will respect you and seek understanding of your perspective. I will offer you a safe space free from judgement. In that space I will show you His love; I will live my Biblical truth toward you. I will leave the judgement or condemnation to God. After all, according to Paul’s letter to the Corithians, that’s God’s job not mine. According to Yeshua’s commands we must love. Genuinely love. In fact the sum of His command was Go, teach and love. Oh, but first you had to live it. This was His progressive, liberal stance.

Now to that communism part. Yeshua took a little boy’s lunch and fed 5000 men. That count did not include the women and children that were fed. All things common so know one lacked anything. When the first century church sold all their possessions and brought them to the Apostles so that everyone’s needs were met, wasn’t that communism according to the definition? Hmm.

Now I know the purest form of these definitions have been perverted, but what if they weren’t? What if we were liberal enough to be open to progressive acts that would change our behavior to be more aligned with the Word of God. He said Love. Love would change this country. These religious mandates and judgments have only resulted in fear, anger and hatred. Yeshua showed Mary Magdaline love and forgiveness and she changed. He sat down in Matthew’s home and spoke truth with respect and love, and he changed. The same with Zacchaeus. He did not offer this selectively. Your sin is greater so I won’t deal with you. That’s not God’s love. The Law stayed unchanged but the improvement and reformation of peoples lives were changed forever. If we who say we follow Yeshua would be that kind of liberal, what we see being played out would not be necessary. So you conservatives who want everything to stay the same, your tradition stay that way if you like but I invite you to the freedom in being the kind of liberal Yeshua was. It is life reforming.

Yeshua was the most famous liberal, progressive, communist that ever walked this earth. So to you who thought you were insulting me, it was really the best compliment you could give me. Thank you. This is company I like being in.

My Vote Doesn’t Matter

by ladypbwiggins

How much effort do you put into stopping something that doesn’t matter? I suspect very little to none. If your vote doesn’t matter why are people working so hard to make it difficult for you to cast it? Why are they closing polling places near you? Why are they trying to institute disguised poll tax on you before you can vote? Why is mail-in being questioned during this pandemic. It’s been working in several states with no problem? Could it be that once that ballot is placed in the mailbox it is a federal offense to tamper with it? Seems like a lot of effort if it doesn’t matter.

There are very real reasons you should vote. I’m speaking to my Black family now. Many have bled and died so you could. It was a birthright that we were denied. Did they, your grandparents, great-parents go through that because it really didn’t matter. They recognized that it gave them a powerful voice that they had been denied.

Additionally, if you don’t vote you prove Massa was right. You aren’t capable of making such weighty decisions. You are triflin’ and lazy. You need the safety and protection of Massa on his plantation. You will get scraps to eat, a few rags to wear and a shack to live in and it’s not free. You will have to accept working hard for no wages, rape when he feels like it, beatings because you forgot and tried to express independent thought. This is what giving up your powerful voice will look like once again.

I, for one, will not return to this. I lived through the 60’s struggle. I lived in the Jim Crow south. While I was never beaten, I had friends who were. I lived under the daily threat. I went to the meetings and participated in local marches that could have resulted in that kind of brutality. I saw the look on my grandparents faces when they had to swallow their pride and go to the back door to get food at roadside restaurants. I had to watch my strong, proud great-grandmother say yes m’am to a white girl younger than me because it meant survival. I had to live with the colored/white only signs. The accommodations were separate but not equal. I lived the “back of the bus” experience. I also participated in the boycott. That was economic power in action. If am going to live and work on this plantation called the United States of America, I am going to have a say on how it’s run. I am going to have a say in the laws, privileges, benefits, punishments and my relative safety.

Your vote matters. Don’t give up your power. Don’t become a slave because of cynicism, past disappointments, a feeling of powerlessness. These are the tools Massa is happy to use to get you to give up your power. If nothing else vote to make him a lie.

VOTE! It’s your voice. It’s your power. It matters!

Too, Too Much!

by ladypbwiggins

It’s just too, too much. Everyday we are bombarded with stressful information. Information I want to turn from but it is important to my life to know. Covid 19 cases increase, voting the primary run-off, to mask or not to mask, more police brutality, White House, the global news, . The list could go on but as you can see it’s too much for one brain to handle on a daily basis. All of that and family needs have not been addressed.

Being overwhelmed in this confined space on the daily can lead to depression. Don’t let it get to you. Take care of your mental health. Find a way to make the data flow less or slower. Unfortunately it is going to remain too, too much!

Thank Henrietta Lacks You’re Alive.

by ladypbwiggins

Just watched “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” an HBO presentation on Hulu. I knew the story of her life from the medical perspective but I didn’t know the story from her family’s perspective. Her contributions to life is of global proportions. It is worth watching and not just for black people. I wondered while watching how many people who hate us have received life saving treatments made possible by the cells of Henrietta Lacks. I know there are more details not given in the movie. There always are.