More From My “Delicious Food” Family
March 30, 2010
The other day I posted a story about my “Delicious Food Family”, a wonderful family who have adopted me and who make totally delicious middle eastern food.
I was over there the other day and they served what they called a ‘light meal’ – soup, salad, hummus, bread, tea, coffee etc. It was delicious and hardly a light meal!
But today I received a message from my darling Samar who said, “We hope you didn’t think that was IT! We will be serving your favorite dinner (we know what it is) on Wednesday anytime you want.”
Is that cute or what!!
I don’t even know what my favorite dinner of theirs is. I love everything. So I’m dying to find out what’s cooking here.
Then I got a second message that said, “Also Mamma’s not taking no for an answer.”
They know I’m going on a trip the next day and need to be packing but Mamma insists that I come for at least an hour.
Isn’t this just awesome! Believe me, I’ll be there. Anyone cooking dinner just for me is as close to Heaven as they come….
I’ll report back to you on my sure to be delicious meal. Stay tuned.
Thanks my family of delicious food!!
Ok Girls, Thank You But Back Off!
March 29, 2010
I love my girlfriends! I have some of the most loving, sharing women in my corner. That said, it’s time to tell my wonderful girlfriends to back off about my appearance!
Women cannot help themselves. We see every little nuance of appearance – hair, eyebrows, shoes, makeup etc. That’s a good thing. It’s part of our inherent beauty and our Love Goddess nature.
But sometimes it’s a bit overdone. Our culture is completely obsessed with feminine appearance and we are all part of this, even those of us who don’t want to be.
While I value looking good in the beauty aspect of i – sharing the power and grace of womanhood, on the other hand there are times when I can get too caught in that and feel off track.
Take for example my recent videos. When I started making weekly videos for my website, I quickly ran up against this invisible feminine wall.
Oh my god, what if I don’t look beautiful, great, perfect and lovely on camera?
What will I do then? I really had to ponder this deeply. It wasn’t an easy answer.
One the one hand I value looking good and having a face that makes the presentation enjoyable and beautiful, kind of the way I enjoy a beautiful painting.
But on the other hand, it takes tremendous time and effort to get yourself ‘picture-perfect’ in terms of camera view. In fact, it takes way more effort than I want to put in.
What to do??
What I decided to do was to strike a balance. I wanted to be one part Raw- and-Real-Me and one part Beautiful-Woman-Me, which is also me but without too much effort.
So the balance between the real-me and the real-beautified-me was a tricky one to find but I feel that I’ve done it. And I’m happy to share my Raw & Real Beauty Secrets with you for the very first time!
Here’s What I Do:
- I put on make-up but not too much,
- I use olive oil because it makes my face shimmer and attract light. An extra bonus is that Italian men love this :>)
- I get myself in an energized and upbeat state which is also part of my feminine radiance.
Things I Let Go Of:
- Wondering if my hair is perfect. The answer is no. It never will be. Imperfection includes showing a little gray hair (eek!) or having a bad hair day.
- Working too hard on the look of it all.
- Anything that takes too long!
So why am I bringing all of this up? Because at least 5 of my wonderful girlfriends mentioned something to me about my appearance in the videos! By the way, not one single guy mentioned anything other than they liked the videos :>)
One girlfriend mentioned my hair roots being a bit gray, another mentioned that I looked a bit fatigued and another said that while she likes my current hair color, she thought it might look better a little lighter!
Ok girls, thank you very much but please back off!
If I took all of your suggestions I would be: neurotic, crazed and obsessed with my looks and never get these videos off the ground!
So while I dearly appreciate your suggestions, your love of beauty and your love of me – I am going to make these videos no matter how I look or feel.
I am committed to making fun, inspiring videos every week even if I have gray hair, feel tired or really should be wearing something else.
I am certain you will still love me, that you’ll love the videos and together we’ll unshackle the feminine who can still be beautiful, power and awe-inspiring even in her pajamas!
Love you gals!!
Video: Open Up!
March 29, 2010
Meet My Family of Delicious Food
March 27, 2010
Lucky me! Several years ago I met a wonderful and adorable young woman named Samar whose family originates in Jerusalem. I’ve always been fascinated and enchanted by ancient cultures, particularly those of the Mediterranean. I love the food, the smells, the colors, the textures, the language. I love it all!
Samar and I become very close. As I was helping her find direction in life, she would regale me with stories about her family and their culture. I was amazed. I come from a very small family and she has over 300 family members. I wanted that!
Seeing the perfect opportunity to bring something great into my life, I asked her straight out if her family would adopt me.
She said that they would and I took her at her word. And you know what? It’s turned out to be totally true. Three years later, I am totally part of the family and I love it.
Her mother who is a total gem too. She makes the most delicious food in the whole world. Honestly, I’m NOT exaggerating. She is someone whom I would love to learn every little secret about life and cooking from.
Picture this – a table spread with exotic riced, home-made hummus creamy as butter, olives and homemade pickles of different kinds, delicious pita bread which is often homemade, vegetables, sometimes chicken or fish…..you get the idea!
A bounty of delicious, savory and exotic food. It’s exotic in taste, smell, color, texture – truly a delight of the senses.
Oh and that’s not all. That’s not even the half of it. After we eat there is always tea. But this is not just any tea. This is the most delicious tea in the world. I don’t know how she makes it. She makes it look so simple but my tea never tastes like this. It’s Mamma’s special blend.
She makes mint tea, ginger tea, sage tea and cardamon tea, always served in the most beautiful glass cups with just a hint of sugar. They are so amazing and delicious and the smell is absolutely to die for!
I just sit, smell and sip to my heart’s desire. Ahhh…..this is life at it’s best.
But we’re not just finished with tea. As if that wasn’t totally enough, then we have her very special hand ground coffee. Yes as you guessed this is not just any old coffee. It’s a very fine ground that she combines with just a hint of cardamom. It is dark, thick and rich like dark chocolate and comes served in the most beautiful gold edged cup. 
What could be better than this??? Nothing.
I leave their house feeling full, happy, loved, nourished and as if I just took a trip to an exotic foreign country. Ahh, life is good.
I always wanted to be part of a big family, but I never expected this unexpected bit of grace. So I am happy to say that I am part of a 300 member family who really knows how to make some amazing food!
One day I’ll learn myself and then share some of the secrets with you. Everyone should have a Mamma and a family like this. I send a big hug out to my loving, good-cooking family of good food.
Featured Video: Greatest Prank Ever
March 23, 2010
Alright I admit it, I love corny practical jokes like this one!
Argh! When Did Free Become a Ploy For Getting Something?
March 22, 2010
I am spitting mad. I hate, absolutely hate when someone tries to sell me something for ‘free.’ Free is free folks. It is not a sales ploy to get something.
Today I got an email that suggested that I was an absolutely perfect person for their completely free service. Given that their service was seminars and motivational speaking, I decided to take a look.
Now let me ask you this – when you hear the words - absolutely free – what happens to you? For me the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. It’s an immediate visceral response from my Komodo dragon-like lizard brain who leaps into defense mode. My inner lizard can’t help himself. He doesn’t like the word free anymore. He’s had too many bad experiences with it.
I wrote them back a polite reply saying something to the effect of – if you’d like to hire me to be a speaker for you, yes I’d be happy to talk to you. You weren’t thinking of selling me something were you?? (tee hee, this was my way to flush out the turkey waiting in the bush)
Her colleague wrote me back and said: “No, our goal wasn’t for you to take our classes, although you may feel free to do so. Our goal, hopefully realized by Barbara’s smartly worded email introduction, is to have you decide to lead a teleclass, on the subject of your choice, to between 500-1000 live listeners.”
Wait a minute here? Barbara’s ‘smartly worded email introduction?’ You know what this means don’t you? It is code for ‘schmaltzy dis-honest copy.’ I was starting to get annoyed now. He went on:
“At the end of this teleclass you can market any product or service you wish and keep 100% of the sales. It is our fervent desire you would also capture dozens of new email addresses.”
Fervent desire?? Puleeeze! This is something right out of one of those trashy romance novels. You have a ‘fervent desire’ for me to get new email addresses? Gross! Besides you don’t even know me. I’m having a hard time believing that you’d really care this much to be fervent about me. Now I was really mad. He followed with the clincher:
“In return we ask but a pittance. You send two emails to your newsletter list which we require to be at least 5000 stron).”
Ask but a pittance??? Wasn’t this phrase last used in the film Oliver Twist? Isn’t it a phrase that a beggar uses – may I have just a pittance sir?’ No one uses the word pittance anymore and it should definitely NOT be used in this context. Having access to my personal 5,000 person private email list is NOT just a pittance.
Arrgh! Now I was ready to fight back, but not yet, just one more little bit to top of his email:
“This is completely without cost to you, other than sending out the emails, and you can lovingly participate 3 or 4 times a year. Each time you would be exposed to a completely new group of people.”
Oh no. This guy read the book “Love is the Killer App,” and got confused. The word lovingly absolutely should NOT be used in this context. It just doesn’t work. Lovingly participate? What does that mean?
I think he got his scrabble game mixed up before he wrote this. Lovingly goes with words like wife, husband, child. It’s like pairing wine and cheese. Do not mix this word with someone you have never met before like me! I ain’t feeling so lovingly towards you. But he didn’t stop there he had to topped of his email with with, get this:
“If this sounds like a “heck yes” to you then let’s schedule a 10 minute phone call to fill in the gaps.”
Heck yes? Who are you Orville Redenbacher? No one uses the phrase heck yes anymore. I know what you’re trying to do – if you use the work ‘heck’ then you’ll sound kind of home-style and make me feel like you’re a buddy of mine right? I get the ploy but it ain’t working. I’m remembering that we’ve never even met before.
So the gist of it was that they would give me their absolutely free service of letting me lead a seminar if I would do them the very teensy weensy favor of sending out emails on my 5,000 person mailing list.
WHAT?????
First of all – when did free become the new – let me try to get something very valuable from you??
Second of all – when did giving you my access to my 5,000 person personal email list become a teensy weensy favor??
Last but not least of all – how dare you ask me for something like that and then tell me that I need to provide you with a specific number (5,0000 people). Weren’t I just doing you a favor a minute ago?
ARGH! I hate this kind of schmaltzy, fake, untruthful, snake-in-the-grass type marketing. Please don’t fake me out. Please use ordinary, plan old language on me. I’m just not smart enough for this type of ‘smart copy.’
So here is the letter that I wrote back to them. Names have been change to preserve the not-so-innocent.
Dear Mr. Bill,
I am sure that you are trying to do a good service for the world but may I be blunt? When you are offering someone something for ‘free’ that means free. Not free but…..(wheres the catch?) Get what I mean?
I don’t connect with that style of marketing at all. I know it’s used a lot in the business world but it’s not honest or authentic and one can smell it a mile away. That is why I asked you more specifically what you wanted, because it had the slight smell of a used car salesman technique and given the wonderful service that you provide, I’m pretty certain that is not what you want.
People feel the truth.
If you want something from me, anything, please tell me that at the top. NO smart wording, no tricky copy. It makes me suspicious and does not garner my trust or my rapport which I am sure you would want if you were to do business with me.
If you would like to have an honest business relationship with me of integrity than we can start over but working like this does not work for one as truthful as me.
warmly and truthfully yours,
Annie Hart
Free is free. It’s not a ploy to get something. The next person who tries this on me is going to be very sorry!
Video: About Change
March 21, 2010
How To Stay Hope-Full in Hope-Less Times
March 18, 2010
Hope =
Hope is belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.
Yesterday I got a call from a twenty three year old girl. The first thing she said to me was, “I just don’t want to live anymore. Life is so full of pain and so is the world.”
I know exactly what she means.
These are particularly dark times. We living in a dark age, one that has been predicted for thousands of years.
In times like these it’s easy to feel hope-less, but inside of every challenge is a hidden opportunity. These times challenge us to dig down under the layers of life and find our inner resources of strength and resiliency. These are skills that we need anyway but difficult times give us the opportunity to find them.
So how do we have optimism and resilience in these most challenging times?
To weather these times, we need to put on the hat of the optimist. An optimist is someone who believes in the inherent goodness in people and situations. It’s a way of seeing the world through knowing that all situations work out for the best in the end.
That doesn’t mean that we ignore events or situations around us. It’s not a head in the sand kind of optimism.
It is optimism based on the inherent goodness of life.
So how can we have this kind of optimistic faith when everything seems so bleak at times? The answer is we must. Optimism is not based on what we see, but based on what we know to be true about life itself. If we don’t have a basic unshakable faith in life itself, then we are going to be in big trouble during times like these.
If you don’t have it now, then start building this for yourself. Really dig down under the layers and ask yourself what is life really all about at it’s core. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it neither? Is it both?
This is the perfect time to find your faith and belief in life because if you don’t have that, you don’t have anything.
Dark times call for unshakable belief and optimism in the inherent goodness of life. They challenge us to the nth degree because they test us to dig down to our foundation and hold firm to that which is unshakable.
We can do it. We can seize the opportunity that these times have to offer us. To be happy, kind and hope-full about life in the midst of challenge is the greatest gift that we can give to ourselves and the world around us.
Today find that which is unshakable in you. Grab hold and hold firm.
Complain Complain – Which Train for Your Brain?
March 16, 2010
Complain complain, which train for your brain? That’s a nice little rhyme to say – which way do you want your thinking to go? Today, tomorrow and always.
Lately I feel like I’ve been hearing a lot of complaining. Here are some of the recent complaints I’ve heard in random order with my comments included:
- “Oh I hate the snow and wish it was spring.“ Wait a minute, isn’t it supposed to snow in the winter or am I confused?
- “I hate technology and wish it would go away” – You can hate it but it ain’t going away. I used to hate it too but that doesn’t help. In fact if you notice carefully that ‘horrible technology is actually providing the very link for you to read this.
- A general life is so hard - Yes life today is really hard. I am in total agreement of that and yet we have untapped resources inside of us that can be generated in times. So what is our focus? Life is hard or I am resilient?
Now I’m not saying that these isn’t a lot of reason to complain. We live in particularly difficult times, but the point is this – what really changes by complaining about it?
You already know the answer – nothing, nada, niente. Three different ways to say a big fat NOTHING.
Nothing changes when we complain. Well that’s not exactly true. A lot of changes happen but not the ones that we really want.
Here’s what does change when you complain:
- your heart rate excelerates
- your blood pressure goes up
- your mood dampens
- your depression meter just shot through the roof.
So my question to you (and myself) is – are those the changes that you want? If the answer is a big fat NO then here’s what to do instead.
- Feel your complaint whatever it is. First step is to ‘hear’ it and feel it inside. Then say to yourself – What can I do about it?
- Sometimes there is nothing to do about the complaint. Sometimes it’s more about – What else can I focus on that is good, beautiful and right here now?
- Be kind to others. This sounds strange and out of left field. How does being kind to others relate to not complaining. Well when you are kind and caring to others guess where your focus is? Not on yourself! Ah, that’s anti-complaining at it’s best. So ask yourself – Who needs me right now and who can I help.
In short, we can use ALL of the things that feel screwed up in our lives to make a better world. In fact that is our only chance for happiness.
There is absolutely no fixing this world. It is as it is and we must adapt. Not in a negative way but towards our greatness.
Today see how you can retrain your brain and get on the A-train towards happiness, fulfillment and dare I say it – joy!
Ah, now that wasn’t so hard was it? Get out there and share yourself today – love people, do more, be silent and witness the beauty of life going by.
Yours in getting on the right train,
Annie
p.s just so you know – I’m taking my own advice on this as well!
Retreat 42 Group: Gavin’s Updates
March 16, 2010
I am guiding a wonderful group of 24 adventurers through the 42 Day Creative Retreat process and they are doing great! Here are some insights from Gavin, one of our members. Very exciting! If you get excited watching this and want to be part of the group, feel free to email me.
Connect With Annie Hart
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