Vol. 1, Issue 1 Greenville, Maine Contents©Life WarriorMarch 2012 Complimentary

Tokugo Speaks from the Zen Den

Every Soul Needs Nourishment

Do It Now... Tell Someone You Love Them

A Message About Stress

From Picking Produce to Private Practice

Greetings! My name is Tokugo meaning “Devoted to En-lightenment”. I was given my Buddhist name at a Jukai Ceremony. I have been a practicing Buddhist for 5 years. My given name at birth was...you won’t believe this....Ralph! Okay so my people didn’t understand what was inside me at my time of birth but it’s never too late. I always knew I was a bit different from my littermates. While they were wrestling and playing, I was off by myself, pondering life. I was the “peace” keeper if you will. Always offering guid-ance and love. At 12 weeks I was adopted by a wonder-ful, loving family. It was with them that I truly learned what the word “Zen” means. My lesson for you today is assist you in finding your “Zen”. Zen practice is indeed simple, if not easy. Just practice being fully present, right here, right now. Perceive directly, without filtering perceptions through beliefs and preconceptions. Dissolve into the eternal now, and realize that the Universe itself peers out through your eyes, hears through your ears, and breaths each breath. Unity beyond all conception. If not now, then when?

By Tess Marshall My father had an 8th grade ed-ucation and my mother attended school through 6th grade. My life changed when our parish priest convinced me to enroll at the lo-cal university and attend college part time. I was born on an 88 acre pro-duce and trucking farm. When we turned five years old we were required to plant, weed, and pick produce along side our migrant workers. My sisters and I worked out in the fields in the sun, in the cold, in the rain and in the midst of lightening and thunder. On alternate days of the week we sold our produce at the Farmer’s Market. On the farm our studies were not a priority, work was. There was never time allowed for studying until the work was finished. The problem was it was never finished. Con-sequently, we were too tired to study, so when it came to grades my siblings and I slid by.

I never thought I was smart enough to attend college. My only goal was to leave the farm after meeting my boyfriend when I was 15. I was pregnant and married at 17. Without a plan for my life I was mom to four daughters at age 22. I had dug myself a deep hole. My husband had two jobs to support us. I began a flower business from home. We attend-ed church because it allowed us to sit still for an hour while the girls attended Sunday school. Father Don, young and hip, helped coach the women’s soft-ball team I joined. After the games the team would go out for drinks and listen to Father Don discuss his “hip philosophy.” It was Father Don who con-vinced me to go to college. I was afraid I wasn’t smart enough, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He helped me choose two classes, “How to Study” and “Speed Reading.” He showed me around campus pointing out the buildings where my classes were held. I aced my classes. Because being a good parent was my priority, I never carried more than two or three classes at a time. After nine years I graduated. Hemingway wrote, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.” I felt strong, and able to conquer the world on graduation day! The girls were in high school when I went on to graduate school where I earned my Master’s in Psychology. Two years later I opened a private practice.

A young lady confidently walked around the room while leading and explaining stress management to an audience; with a raised glass of water, and everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, ‘half empty or half full?’.... she fooled them all... “How heavy is this glass of water?” she in-quired with a smile. Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz. She replied, “The abso-lute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an am-bulance. In each case it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” She continued, “and that’s the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.” “As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden - holding stress longer and better each time practiced. So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night... pick them up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you’re car-rying now, let them down for a

moment. Relax. Pick them up later after you’ve rested. Life is short. Enjoy it and the now ‘sup-posed’ stress that you’ve con-quered!” 1 Accept the fact that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the stat-ue! 2 Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them. 3 Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. 4 Drive carefully... It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker. 5 If you can’t be kind, at least have the de-cency to be vague 6 If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it. 7 It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others. 8 Never buy a car you can’t push. 9 Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, be-cause then you won’t have a leg to stand on. 10 Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. 11 Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late. 12 The second mouse gets the cheese. 13 When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane. 14 Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live. 15 You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person. 16 Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once. 17 We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different col-ors, but they all have to live in the same box. 18 A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour. 19 Have an awesome day and know that someone thought about you to-day. 20 It was me, your friend! Save the earth.... It’s the only planet with chocolate!

By Dennis E. Mannering In a class I teach for adults, I recently did the “unpardon-able.” I gave the class home-work! The assignment was to “go to someone you love within the next week and tell them you love them. It has to be some-one you have never said those words to before or at least haven’t shared those words with for a long time.”Now that doesn’t sound like a very tough assign-ment, until you stop to realized that most of the men in that group were over 35 and were raised in the generation of men that were taught that expressing emotions is not “macho.” Showing feel-ings or crying (heaven forbid!) was just not done. So this was a very threatening assignment for some. At the beginning of our next class, I asked if someone want-ed to share what happened when they told someone they loved them. I fully expected one of the women to volunteer, as was usually the case, but on this eve-ning one of the men raised his hand. He appeared quite moved and a bit shaken. As he unfolded out of his chair (all 6’2” of him), he began by saying, “Dennis, I was quite angry with you last week when you gave us this assignment. I didn’t feel that I had anyone to say those words to, and be-sides, who were you to tell me to do something that personal? But as I began driving home my conscience started talking to me. It was telling me that I knew exactly who I needed to say ‘I love you’ to. You see, five years ago, my father and I had a vicious disagreement and re-ally never resolved it since that time. We avoided seeing each other unless we absolutely had to at Christmas or other family gatherings. But even then, we hardly spoke to each other. So, last Tuesday by the time I got home I had convinced myself I was going to tell my father I loved him. “It’s weird, but just making that decision seemed to lift a heavy load off my chest. “When I got home, I rushed into the house to tell my wife what I was going to do. She was already in bed, but I woke

her up anyway. When I told her, she didn’t just get out of bed, she catapulted out and hugged my, and for the first time in our married life she saw me cry. We stayed up half the night drink-ing coffee and talking. It was great! “The next morning I was up

bright and early. I was so excited I could hardly

sleep. I got to the office early and a c c o mp l i s h e d more in two hours than I had the whole day

before. “At 9:00 I called

my dad to see if could come over after work. When

he answered the phone, I just said, ‘Dad, can I come over after work tonight? I have something to tell you.’ My dad responded with a grumpy, ‘Now what?’ I assured him it wouldn’t take long, so he finally agreed. “At 5:30, I was at my parents’ house ringing the doorbell, praying that Dad would answer the door. I was afraid if Mom answered that I would chicken out and tell her instead. But as luck would have it, Dad did an-swer the door. “I didn’t waste any time - I took one step in the door and said, ‘Dad, I just came over to tell you that I love you.’ “It was as if a transforma-tion came over my dad. Before my eyes his face softened, the wrinkles seemed to disappear and he began to cry. He reached out and hugged me and said, ‘I love you too, son, but I’ve never been able to say it.’ “It was such a precious mo-ment I didn’t want to move. Mom walked by with tears in her eyes. I just waved and blew her a kiss. Dad and I hugged for a moment longer and then I left. I hadn’t felt that great in a long time. “But that’s not even my point. Two days after that visit, my dad, who had heart problems, but didn’t tell me, had an attack and ended up in the hospital, unconscious. I don’t know if he’ll make it. “So my message to all of you in this is: Don’t wait to do the things you know need to be done. What if I had waited to tell my dad - maybe I will never get the chance again! Take the time to do what you need to do and do it now!”

“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.”~Jean Shinoda Bolen In September of 2010 my soul was anything but nourished. My emotional account was bank-rupt. I had nothing left to offer anyone, least of all myself. For 20 year I had suffered through each day with Agoraphobia. I had times when life was good and I was able to stray from my one-mile radius but there were bad times as well when I slept fully dressed in the event panic overcame me in the night and I had to rush to my “safe zone”. All of this was made extremely difficult while raising a child alone. Somewhere over the years I discovered that alcohol worked well to help me cope with the anxiety and times I had to “get through” something that might cause me to panic. It worked well for a time. In September of 2010 it all came crashing in on me. My daughter was off on her second year of college. I was over-worked with my job as Editor for a small town newspaper, had just gone through my second divorce, and the alcohol was getting the best of me. My life revolved around getting through the day so I could go home and anesthetize myself with alcohol until sleep overcame me so I could forget about my life. I was

dying inside and could not take another day of my life as it was. I had read the book “The Al-cohol and Addiction Cure” by Chris Prentiss a few years prior to that fateful weekend when everything unraveled. I loved the philosophy of their views on addiction and just knew when I read it that I was meant to go there. Living in Maine, crippled by panic, I dreamt of how some-day I might be well enough to get to California. Finally, hav-ing had enough, I placed a call to them. I worked out their fees on my Credit Card, which I had just paid off by refinancing my home. I paid for someone from their program to fly to the air-port 3 hours from my home and then made the call to my fam-ily. I told them I was going to California and needed a ride to the airport. I also told them I would have to drink heavily to get there. I packed my suitcase, and we were off. It was the hard-est thing I ever did in my life. I had never been away from my family and was terrified of being so far away! I literally walked away from my life. What I got back from that ex-perience has changed my life forever. My dream when I came home was to start a blog and group to assist women in “nour-ishing” their souls. I am hoping you enjoy this “nourishment” as much as I enjoy providing it for you. Follow your heart my friends….you are worth it!

Nourishment For The SoulBehind The Scenes

Our EditorHeidi Martin St. Jean

nourishmentforthesoul@gmail.com

Contributing Ink SlingerLisa Appaneal

Page 2 Nourishment for the Soul

Contributors With Soul

Mediterranean Vegetable &Walnut Salad

Invest In Yourself

Snow, Chickens & Cherries?

Life Without Limits

“There are those whose sole claim to profundity is the discovery of exceptions to the rules.” ~Paul Eldridge

Exceptionists

There is a type of person thatI call “exceptionist”

They often miss the point and letTheir fear and doubt persist

Whenever there’s a message thatInspires and empowers

Exceptionists have one exampleThat makes them all cower

That one exception which holds backWhich whispers “It won’t work”

When you encounter these doubtersDon’t let your feelings lurk

Be sure to remind them that thereWill always be exceptions

But it’s important not to letThem control your perceptions

Exceptionists are driven byA goal that can’t be reached:

“Perfection,” which does not existIt’s something only preached

They miss the message, can’t inferGet stuck on one example

To them, it’s not the big pictureThat’s key, it’s the small sample

By their thinking, there would be noMore Christians here on Earth

They’d have to quit because the fewWho lived life not with mirth

Millions would be called to leaveTheir faith because the few

Who murdered, beat up, molestedAnd turned the faith askew

We’d all need to stop working outFor fear of injury“

I will not jog because I heardSome guy blew out his knee”

And I have heard so many ofTheir kind defend their smoking:“

I knew a guy who didn’t smokeAnd still he wound up croaking”

Small-minded are these peopleThey can’t seem to infer

They always seem to gravitateOn points that will deter

They do not seem to get much done‘Cause there’s always excuse

Something that will threaten theirComfort and cause abuse

The warrior sees exceptionsAs nothing more than fear

Warnings from the cowardlyWho can’t get ass in gear

They focus on the many whoHave faced a challenge andNot allowed exceptions to

Scare them, but took a stand

Rose up, conquered and grew in strengthAnd said “Bring on the next”All the while, exceptionistSits, watches and objects

~Miro

By Thea Beaudoin I believe that living a “desire-focused” life breeds creativ-ity, inspiration and action. My inspiration doesn’t fit into a box and it doesn’t adhere to a schedule. I can be inspired at 1am, 5am or during my nightly bath rit-ual! Most recently I was inspired during a wonderful winter run… With the snow crunching under my sneakers, the sun warming my face and breath fogging up around me I felt completely blissed out! It is often dur-ing my runs that the dust of my mind settles, lost puzzle pieces fall magically into place and I begin to see the forest through the trees. On this chilly winter after-noon, as running partners often do, my girlfriend and I began our rhythmic, sometimes wind-ed conversation. We discussed our woes with gluten and just how many glasses of wine is too many!. We talked about our admiration for so-and-so who can run a sub 7 min mile (while pushing a stroller)…and woo-zy-but who practically home schools her kids (after school). We stood in awe of the What-chamacallits who eats 100% or-ganic and work out absolutely everyday. Oh… the focus and dedication of these people! On the flip side we discussed friends who don’t overanalyze whether their kids watch too much TV….people who aren’t riddled with guilt if they miss a work-out and folks who happi-ly eat whatever they want with-out glancing at the label. (se-

riously they would not know a free range chicken if it hit them in the head) Oh…..to be sooo care-free! Contemplating the differ-ences in these lifestyles, I found myself experiencing an

epiphany! Simple yet profound. I saw myself standing on a ladder picking bright red cherries and hap-pily plopping them into a woven basket! Strange right? Hy-pothermia maybe? Exhaustion? Too many poppy seeds on my gluten-free bagel?? As I pondered this

rather random vision, I realized it was actually a literal interpre-tation. Clarity struck me like I should have had a V8! I can be 100% myself AND I have the ability to cherry-pick as many or as few qualities from others as I choose. At anytime I can weave them into my own life. I can be inspired both by the tenacity of one person and the laid back nature of another. I can lean towards being obses-sively organized AND leave my dirty dishes in the sink to go skiing! With so many traits to choose from, it’s like having an a la carte lifestyle menu….more choices than Amazon! As you interact with others, I urge you to shed feelings of judgement or envy. There are very few people who don’t have something to offer you! Be open, be curious and be grate-ful. I leave you marinating with this thought….who do you think you will inspire? Live Healthy, Live Well and Live your Lifestyle by Design!

Mom Cringes at Bad ExampleDear Warrior: My boyfriend has proposed. I love him very much, but I’m worried about my kids. I look at his children — his son is 23 and barely made it out of high school. He got a girl pregnant at 17, has been in jail a few times and is an alcoholic. His 15-year-old daughter is immature for her age and constantly getting into trouble at school. Their mother is an alcoholic and a drug user. Are my con-cerns for my children valid?Worried in West VirginiaDear Worried: Yes, they are, because your children will be exposed to all of the negative influences that his children will bring with them into your blended family. Be smart and hold off marrying your boyfriend until your children are old enough not to be influenced by his children. Your first concern must be for your children’s well-being.Widow’s Heart is VulnerableDear Warrior: One of my closest friends from childhood, “Penny,” lost her husband of 30 years five months ago, after a short illness.One of Penny’s relatives signed her up on some online dating sites, and a seemingly nice man from across the country immediately contacted her with a beautiful email. She responded to him once, explaining her recent loss, and he has been courting her with ex-tremely romantic daily emails ever since.Penny asked me for advice, and I told her that her loss is fresh and raw, and she should give herself time to grieve for her husband. However, I see big red flags and I’m worried about her. Should I stay out of it and mind my own business, or should I reiterate my concerns?Conflicted in Coastal CaliforniaDear Conflicted: I see nothing wrong with continuing to share your thinking with your friend. You gave her good advice. Although some beautiful relationships have been formed online, this one seems to have blossomed unusually quickly.Encourage Penny to take her time, invite him to visit eventually, and go visit him so she can meet his friends and family and get to know him better. If it turns out that remarriage is in the cards, then suggest that she contact her lawyer and have a pre-nuptial agree-ment in place before the wedding.

By Life Warrior Life Without Limits, by Nick Vujicic, is one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read in a long time. It left me feeling inspired and motivated to work harder to achieve my own goals in life. Nick Vujicic had to overcome physical challenges that few people face, but his emotional struggles are ones most of us can relate to. Born without arms or legs, he desperately wanted to fit in and experience the same things other kids did. His parents helped him achieve a certain amount of independence, and

he taught himself how to per-form many tasks that I’d never have thought possible for a per-son without arms or legs. An ad-ept swimmer, he also learned to surf. He even defended himself against a bully on the school playground. Yet his physical achievements aren’t as amazing as his emotional strength. During his youth, Nick faced and overcame serious depres-sion. He began reaching out to others facing tough circum-stances and helped them find hope for the future. His own sense of purpose grew stron-ger as he became acquainted with people all over the world that needed someone to encour-age them not to give up their dreams. Still in his twenties, Nick is already an accomplished mo-tivational speaker, Christian evangelist, and businessman. His positive attitude and in-sightful suggestions for over-coming life’s trials have made an impact on people wherever he’s travelled. One of the many comments he made in his book that had an impact on me is this: “You may not control what hap-pens to you, but you can control how you respond.”(p.33) Five Stars *****

1. When an agnostic dies, does he go to the “great per-haps”?2.Why is the time of day with the slowest trafficcalled rush hour? 3. Do you think Houdini ever locked his keys in his car? 4. Why is there a road sign that says “Braille Institute, Next Exit”? 5. Can atheists get insurance for acts of God? 6. If procrastinators had a club would they ever have a meeting? 7. If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2? 8. Have you ever wondered why just one letter makes all the difference between here and there? 9. When you go into a hotel you always see reception. Why do you never just see ception? 10. If time heals all wounds, how come the belly button stays the same? 11. If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper? 12. Isn’t it strange that the same people who laugh at gypsy fortune tell-ers take economists seriously? 13. If genetic scientists crossed a chicken with a zebra would they get a four-legged chicken with its own barcode? 14. If practice makes perfect, and no-body’s perfect, why practice? 15. Why is there always one in every crowd? 16. If all the world is a stage, where does the audience sit? 17. Is it possible to have deja vu and amnesia at the same time? 18. Why do hair shampoo instructions say “Lather. Rinse. Repeat”? If you did this, would you ever be able to stop? 19. Who decided “Hotpoint” would be a good name for a company that sells refrigerators? 20. How do you know when it’s time to tune your bagpipes?

Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with a $86,400. It carries over no balanace from day to day. Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out ever cent, of course? Each of us has such bank. Its name is time. Every morning, it credit you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off as lost, what-ever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the re-mains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against “tomorrow.” You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success. The clock is running. Make the most of today. “Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite. Or waiting around for Friday night or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil or a better break or a string of pearls or a pair of pants or a wig with curls or another chance. Everyone is just waiting.” ~Dr. Seuss

So nutritious. This salad is high in vitamin A (as beta carotene), vitamin C, folate and fiber.Diet Types: Dairy Free, Vegan, Vegetarian, Wheat FreeIngredients:1/2 cup chopped walnuts1/2 cup prepared, reduced-fat balsamic vinaigrette dressing1 tablespoon minced, pitted ripe olives1 can no-salt-added chickpeas1 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced1 large carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks1 small red onion, thinly sliced4 cups spinach4 cups arugula leavesServes: 6Cooking Time: Under 15 minutesInstructions:Heat walnuts in a dry skillet over medium-high heat 1-2 min-utes until walnuts are slightly toasted. Set aside and reserve. In a small bowl whisk together vinaigrette and olives. Set aside and reserve. In a large bowl toss spinach and arugula with re-maining vinaigrette; divide equally among 6 salad plates. Top with vegetable mixture and sprinkle with walnuts.