The past 14 days I have been on a fast with a few wonderful ladies from a Luminous Women’s Retreat I attended in January. The retreat was all about letting your light shine and we were blessed with a sugar-free and meat-free diet during our stay. This was a unknown to us… this diet, as were many other wonderful surprises during the weekend. This for me was a huge challenge because on my way there, I did not have a chance to grab my signature caramel macchiato with whip from Starbucks! But those oh so sweet white grapes had to satisfy me until I got home.
Debrena Jackson Gandy, my mentor and our retreat leader, suggested after the empowering event that we all go on a 14-day morning prayer and meditate challenge and an extra bonus of sugar-less and meat-less, if we could stand it. I jumped to the challenge as I have been struggling to get up in the early morning and follow my morning ritual which included prayer and mediation. I was so happy to be given such an opportunity to join forces with other luminous women in the journey!
My words for 2011 are Faithful, Fearless, and Focused. And this challenged pulled in towards those concepts every step of the way. My plan was to wake up 40 minutes earlier each morning, I headed up the rooftop of my apartment… my building has one of the best views in town… do my prayer outloud and to the heavens and then come back down for my meditation at my alter in my bedroom.
Day 1: I woke up and eagerly bounce up the 6 flights of stairs to the rooftop (I also decided to take the stairs in my building and at work each day) upon reaching the top, I was a bit winded and flung open the door to see… well, I was in the clouds! As I caught my breath, I was amazed, stunned, and honestly quite fearful… I mean, I felt like I was walking to the gates of heaven! I could barely walk to the middle of the roof and say my prayers… seriously, I was in heaven DAY 1. I humbly walked to the middle of the roof and softly said my prayer and thank God for showing up for me on the first day. I knew this would be a special journey and as I walked down the steps I didn’t realize how special it would be… that day at work, there was candy every where! It’s a main stay in the office, I didn’t realized how much I partake each day. I am now mindful of that.
I made it through the day, candy-free but when I got home I was so tired I just wanted to grab some rice and beans from Taco Del Mar and actually continue that diet for the rest of the 14 days. A dear friend encouraged me to head to the grocery store instead. As I walked past the frozen food section into the produce section my eyes opened wide… I can make salad, guacamole, snack on kiwi and grapes… I filled my basket in like 15 minutes with yummy eats and the confidence to make the meals each night and at work.
Now that day 14 is here and the challenge is almost complete, I feel more energized then ever and I honestly don’t want to go back to my old sugar whenever diet, although the occasional cupcake will be OK! I now have my eyes set on a 40-day Challenge that will include my morning ritual but allow for sweets. I am so blessed to have enjoyed this challenge with the luminous women I met back in January and feel great going into 2011 with my new diet!
