The Ripened Heart

holistic health and human design

Coping with the Gloom of Grief & Heartache

Grief has shaken me many times in my life. From losing my brother as a teenager, to feeling shaken up by moving across the country and missing home, to losing grandparents and pets this past year, I am no stranger to the grieving process. All of this grief came in different forms but at the end of the day it all felt the same. Like a kick to the stomach. A rush of agony to the heart. A knot in the throat. The sensations of a body waiting for a safe moment to cry and cry and cry. All of this is really heavy, I know. But there are ways that you can love and support yourself to make this process a little easier.

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Build Me Up Vegetable Soup

I don’t know about you, but as soon as the temperature drops below 50 degrees all I want is soups, stews, and nourishing broths. In all honesty, while I love summer produce, I’m ALL about warming winter meals. This mineral rich vegetable soup has become my new go-to when I’m feeling stressed, run-down, or when I feel like I’m in need of some extra nourishment. This makes enough to sip on for a few days. Enjoy!

Ingredients
  • 5 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade)
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Japanese sweet potato, peeled & chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 3 celery stalks, finely diced
  • 8 oz shiitake mushrooms
  • 1 baby bok choy, chopped
  • 1 inch ginger, grated
  • 1 inch turmeric, grated
  • 1 tsp sea salt (I like herbamare, adds extra flavor)
  • 2 tsp all-purpose seasoning
  • 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
  • 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
  • Squeeze of lemon (optional)
To Make
  1. Add 2 tbsp of oil of choice (I like butter, avocado oil, or duck fat) to a large soup pot. Add onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, about 7 minutes.
  2. Next add garlic, ginger, and turmeric for a few minutes before adding sweet potato, celery, carrots, and mushrooms to the pot. Continue to saute for another 5 minutes.
  3. Now add seasonings and quickly stir to coat veggies so they don’t burn to the bottom of the pot. Deglaze pot with a little broth if necessary.
  4. Add broth and chopped parsley and cilantro and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes.
  5. During the last 5 minutes, add in bok choy and a squeeze or two of lemon.
  6. Adjust seasonings as needed and serve warm. I like topping the soup with gomasio, additional cilantro, and a touch of hot sauce for heat.
  7. If you want to add protein to this soup, gelatin, leftover shredded chicken, and white beans would make great additions.

Throat Chakra Activation // Three Ways

I believe that we have come to earth at this time for a very specific reason, all with unique gifts to share that impact the greater whole. Whether our gift is to teach, to practice medicine, or to build infrastructure, our voice is central to our success. Without being connected to our throat chakra, we may not be utilizing the gift of our voice to its fullest capacity. This can look like being too shy to speak up, not speaking with confidence, not speaking clearly, or being dishonest. It can be tough to speak with openness and vulnerability in a world that seems to police our speech more and more by the day. But ultimately, we all have the gift of free-will, which means it is up to us to cultivate the confidence required to speak our truth in the face of opposition.

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Why Weight Loss Shouldn’t Be Your New Year’s Resolution

The clock strikes midnight and you’re already thinking of how you’re going to start the first morning of 2018 with a green smoothie and a matcha instead of a bagel and a large coffee. Dread begins to make its way in and you block it out of your mind, returning to the party to linger in holiday bliss for just a little while longer. It will be worth it, you tell yourself. I’ll finally lose the 20 lbs that I resolved to lose last year. And the year before that. I’ll finally fit into that dress stashed away in the back of my closet.

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Everything Dies & Everything Ends : A Lesson from the Forest Floor

As the smoke continues to come barreling into Portland, I gaze out the window at a hazy sky. The sun is on fire and the forests are burning. Ash rains from the sky and covers cars, vegetable gardens, people, animals, everything. It is relentless and unforgiving. It does not judge or discriminate. It simply falls.

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A Letter to the Lonely

It was the fall of 1997. Gusts of wind were swaying the trees left and right and I watched them over my left shoulder as they waved goodbye to the stillness of suburban summer. It was my last first day of preschool and my mother was walking me across the parking lot to the line that formed outside the doors of my school. It was tradition on the first day to show up in your best, most colorful outfit. Hair all neatly brushed. Shoes double-knotted. Velcro if you were cool. All the kids would stand in line with their friends anxiously waiting for the school bell to ring and the doors to come swinging open. But before we were to run through the halls and into our new classroom, moms were taking pictures on 90’s film cameras to commemorate the day. I darted my eyes looking for my best friend Madison so that we could take a picture together. Then my mom broke the news. “Cailee…Madison doesn’t go to your school anymore remember? Why don’t you find another friend to take a picture with?” My stomach dropped. Another friend? I looked around at the sea of kids smiling and posing for pictures, finding no one I would label as “a friend.” My eyes broke out into tears.

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Feeding the Intellect in 2017

 I am absolutely one of those people whose bookshelf is filled to the brim with 50% unread material. Yet I continues to make lists of books that I MUST read day in and day out. My mind tends to grab on to and obsess over a certain subject for weeks at a time but the novelty wears off and I’m on to the next subject. NO MORE! Here is my 2017 checklist of what I will be feeding my brain(and mastering!) in the new year.

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