Say hello to radiance

I believe beauty can be invited in. One can cultivate their beauty. In my opinion, I can become more beautiful with time. Using the food I eat, the friends I keep, the thoughts I think, the love I feel, the habits I nurture, and the compound effect of all these I can alter my appearance from the inside out – for the better.

As per my previous post, diet is a big part of improving our beauty. But here are some other thoughts:

Wash with better water.

Showering with a filter is a must. Use a filter or become a filter. Remember, just because the water doesn’t look dirty doesn’t mean its clean. It’s important to protect yourself from the damaging halogens & other toxins found in tab water.

On that note, if a tap water shower is THE option, then take shorter, colder showers; avoid showering in shitty water if you can. Remember it’s the compound effect of these dirty showers that age us prematurely.

Use a potent iodine regularly: Apply a few drops to your skin (the inner side of your forearms). This saturates your receptor sites on your thyroid gland making it less susceptible to the nasty ass halogens (typically found in tap water) that could potentially set up shop there and wreak havoc..

I wash my face with Spring Water. I keep a little cup by the sink and use that for my evening and morning ritual. It seems like a sacred ceremony – using this special water to cleanse my face. And why wouldn’t I? I thank my friend Laura for teaching me this. She’s gorgeous and full of so many insights!

What to do when I travel?

Free radicals and radiation are a bitch for keeping your sacred suppleness. And with travel, there’s usually a surplus of this going on. Flying at night will help minimize radiation.

Using a product like MegaHydrate will help shield you from radiation, free radicals & helps with hydration. I take 2-5 caps daily if I can – I will for sure take 5-9 on travel days.

Skin Care. Literally.

In my opinion, the best skin care is super simple and made from natural products that nourish your skin. There are many options. Personally, I’m into Living Libations. There is something so luxurious cleansing & caring with these oils.

Other tips:

-When available rub fresh aloe all over your face & body. It feels incredible, especially when it’s hot out. And the skin LOVES it. Aloe really is beauty’s best friend. The Pharaohs were well aware of this, and that says A LOT.

-Exfoliate. I use a moistened, gentle, natural-fibre cloth with the living libations best skin ever skin oil.

-Use Ormus Gold on your face. Anecdotally, ormus gold has anti-aging characteristics and increases metabolic rate and cell rejuvenation. It’s not for the meek. I use it and love it.

-Wear the best available, natural sunscreen when necessary to minimize overexposure to the sun. Jane Iredale makes a great one – although this isn’t a great option for most guys.

Exercise: highly recommended

Rebounding & inversions like handstands and headstands are a great way to tone the face and stimulate circulation in this area. Do daily if possible. Rebounding (aka jumping on a mini trampoline) is an easy time-effective way to get a workout in. Plus, that fun jumping applies weight and movement to every cell causing body parts and functions to become stronger, more flexible and healthier. YAY!!

Breathe. Anything you can do to honor your breath will do wonders for your beautification process. Walking or hiking through pretty places is great for this. As is yoga.

Think sexy, loving thoughts about yourself.

Sure, that sounds like hippie talk at it’s finest, and it is, but ugly self-talk does nothing for your beauty quotient. As the saying goes: Treat yourself as you’d treat others (assuming you’re not a flakey douchebag). Practice positivity. And truly cultivate your beauty. Shallow Hal is one of those classic movies that exemplifies how beauty shines from the inside, especially if we allow ourselves to see it.

Surround yourself with people, places & things that make you happy. Ingest truly nutritious foods and minimize exposure to toxins. Turn yourself into a work of art.

Pictured above: in flight on my rebounder.

looking good, baby

My big thing is looking younger than I am. Besides wanting to continue looking attractive, keeping my youthfulness is important simply because it’s an output of information. Compound effects are largely what cause aging. An accumulation of xyz toxins in the body can cause things to look less vibrant. Maintaining a fresh radiance is simply a way of gauging how well I’m attending to my body-mind-spirit.

In that vain, I thought I would share my beauty protocol.

Here are some of the things that I do, want to do, aim to do as often as possible. At the very least, I know that doing them benefits me – and this is helpful in creating new habits. Having an objective accompanied with knowledge makes it easier to accomplish because when the opportunity arises to do one of the below protocols, all I have to do is act.

Diet:

-Eat sulphur (olives, cabbage, celery, cucumber, garlic, onion, broccoli, cauliflower) & silica rich foods (celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, nettle & horsetail (those last two are very rich in silica - you can find them dried and can take them as tea)). In this book Eating for Beauty, David Wolfe shares TREMENDOUS information on what foods to eat to transform yourself from the inside out.

-Use olive oil. The best you can get: ICE PRESSED. This is serious business. A quality Olive Oil in your life, ingested and smeared on you regularly can up your youth & happiness quotient tremendously. The olive oil I love most is Rallis Olive Oil.

-Drink this morning lemonade: freshly squeezed lemon, 1 tsp msm crystals, pinch sea salt, drop of honey. Blend in some fresh aloe if it's available. It’s a great way to start off the morning.

-Add fresh aloe to your (taste appropriate) smoothies as often as you can.

-Avoid cooked fats & oils, baked goods, processed foods. Eating something like caramel – which is basically sugars & fats cooked at high heat - is a recipe for premature aging. EW. Don’t do it. The technical term is Advanced Glycation End Products. There is NOTHING sexy about it.

Now geez, that kinda takes the fun out of life. But at the end of the day, we have to remember that it’s the cumulative effects that will really take us out, and also remember that there are SO MANY delicious options out there that won’t fast track the very opposite of what we’re going for that we may as well make the best choices always.

-Use schizandra berry crystals or drops (add these to your teas, smoothies) daily & add pearl products to your supplement regime. These have been used in China for thousands of years for their skin youthening properties.

-Do a cleanse. Even a short cleanse will help clean out the hatch. When your body is cleaner it runs more efficiently, and actually doesn’t want to ingest shitty foods. It’s true that when your body is cleaner it can’t tolerate junk food as well anymore. Suddenly crappy foods are easily relegated to the “sometimes foods” category….perhaps even the never category. This makes it easy to eat, feel and LOOK better. Be smart about it. Choose a time when you can lay low for a couple weeks. Shop around, get informed and even consult with a health care practitioner. It’s way easier to do a cleanse when you have professional support.

-Commit to drinking better water (spring water in glass or self harvested if possible) most of the time (95+%). This makes such a profound difference; you can only experience it to really understand what the fuss is about.

Besides ingesting a bunch of health foods, & designer supplements & superherbs and avoiding crappy foods, etc, there are other practices you can incorporate into your ‘beauty regime’, including skin care, exercises & attitude... Remember, it's all about the compound effect of our habits & practices. Stay tuned for part two.

Pictured above: A raw, unairbrushed self portrait of a 33 yr old aspiring beauty queen.

act out your life

Here's a thought: I'm going to write out a script for myself, for my life - the most fantastical, beautiful, fun script I could possibly conceive, and then act it out.

Sitting next to the world's cheesiest bar in the centre of Winnipeg, a friend was talking about writing a script for his big project, his vision: "Nothing's going to happen unless I script it out".

And the gong of my mind went off. Of course. The script takes getting clear to the next level. It facilitates the action steps that activate the manifestation process.

I feel like writing out a script can take the pressure off too: Suddenly I know what to do! I just act out my part in the script and see what happens.

Granted my life script will have to be revisited periodically for rewriting because I can't predict exactly how my life play will be acted out. That's the exciting part.

As Napoleon Hill said: "Reduce your plan to writing...The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire". Sounds like fun to me.

So my next piece of writing after I finish with this post shall be titled: 2012. The Year of Krystyna. It's a working title. I'll jazz it up at some point.

And in that writing I share share the fantastic blossoming that will take place. Just watch the transformation; be a part if it. Write your own script and join the fun.

Look at how much fun Hollywood is having with all those scripts and stories being turned into fully expressed productions. I want to be a part of that magic, and I'm going to start with my own personal 'movie'.

And the Golden Globe goes to.....

pictured above: some principles I'll work into my script. I know. I'm so deep.

she said, he heard.

George Bernard Shaw non-chalantly quoted some time ago, that the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

I recently experienced a full on communication breakdown with my laptop taking a "break" from being usable. This little shake up made me much more sensitive to communication processes, since I had to change up the way I worked and communicated with people in a big way...

That, and a friend of mine quoted GBS when I was teaching him how to use his zapper and he still didn't get it. Why? I had assumed he had some idea of how to use it....but he didn't know at all. This would certainly change my instruction.

Assumption can KILL a seemingly well thought out articulation.

Am I truly, CLEARLY communicating what I think I'm saying? Can I find the "illusions" and efficiently fill in the gaps where information is missing?

Yesterday, a group of friends got together to attend a discussion/performance/book signing for our friend Justin Bua's latest book The Legends of Hip Hop.

Part of our posse arrived early to save some primo seats. In my communique's with the outside parties yet to arrive, I mentioned that we were in the 5th row on the right side. The others showed up, but didn't take their seats. Later it was revealed that when they saw the jackets on the empty seats in the 5th row they assumed they were taken.

The information missing from my texts was: we've saved seats for you -they'll have jackets on them. Again with the assumption. Geez.

It's amazing how such a seemingly small detail could totally alter an evening. Instead of having our the rest of our posse right next to us, they were somewhere in the back. Sure everyone had a great time....but they evening was altered.

Another miscommunique. Again, I thought I had said what I needed to...but alas, critical details were omitted. And frankly, both times the details were very simple. I guess when I assume I really do make an ASS out of U & ME. Oh god. I actually just wrote that down and didn't delete it.

It makes we wonder what other things aren't being properly communicated - simple things that could make all the difference.

Breakin' it down: simple & straight forward, no assuming. It's the best way to let people know what the fuck is going on.

pictured above: Darrel (RUN DMC) and Justin Bua rap about hip hop at the LACMA

damn you, mercury

When mercury is in retrograde, the suck factor can rise pretty quickly. One minute I'm trucking along having the best day ever, the next minute I get cold cocked in the face unexpectedly by some trivial misunderstanding.

The thing about Mercury that people who don't give shit about astrology might not understand, is that the transit of this planet has a long felt historical pattern of behavior when it's in its "retrograde" position.

This pattern is basically expressed through VERY POOR COMMUNICATION. Emails might not get sent, texts not received, whispers not heard, etc.

While this seems quite simple....poor communication is the root of so many problems that really mercury in retrograde can really fuck things up if I'm not extra diligent with my interchanges...and I'm just one part of the dialogue.  Whether they're aware of it or not the other parties are affected too.

And even when I'm extra attentive I notice that things can get hairy anyway. This is when a "good attitude" comes to play.

I suppose the best attitude is to consider the three times of year when mercury IS in retrograde as superhero training. I'll work extra diligently to keep all discourses on the up & up...so that when it's finally over I'll have sharper communication skills when things flow through the channels more easily.

Yes, that sounds nice.

rich rich rich

Through death, I’ve learned how deep the vein of my life’s abundance runs. The eulogies and life celebrations of loved ones color the tapestry of my life and help to illuminate how rich I really am.

This wealth is less about the balance in my bank account, and more about the profound gratitude that I can actually feel expand my heart. Holy shit, I can’t believe how beautiful his life was. And he was a part of my life. And I was a part of his.

My Dido (grandfather) passed away two weeks today. This man who helped raise me, who was there at pinnacle and mundane moments alike, who drove me to my soccer games and delivered homemade hot soup right to our door has checked out. Sad.

I haven’t experienced the mourning process of someone close to me since I was teenaged and my grandma passed. Now older & wiser I hardly feel more equipped to handle this death. The discomfort of impermanence is a lot to swallow.

The pain I feel is a simultaneous twisting of that intense heart expansion I mentioned and the sad emptiness that comes when someone great is gone.

However, with my years I’ve cultivated a perspective that allows death to show me not only how alive I really am, but also how much abundance is infused into my current human experience.

This feels like real wealth. Being at a funeral surrounded by the many family & friends who came to pay their respects and say goodbye; hearing the stories of how this man thrived through adversity, turning a life shaped by war into a life shaped by peace; recognizing that a man who died illiterate was still able to create a beautiful, prosperous life for his family. ETC. My God. What a role model.

Yeah, sure, it's super to be balls rich, sailing the seas on a private yacht or luxury jet-setting with my man bitches. And I’m sure that experience is available to me. But somehow that feels so superficial to the gratitude I feel for having the pleasure of knowing this great man I called Dido.

This song is dedicated to my grandfather.

above: old school. grandparents & grandchildren

look, lady: just fricken do it.

I often have interventions with myself. I'll be trucking along having fun and suddenly I'll cut myself off from the flow with limiting self talk & actions.

"I'll do it later", or "next time", "maybe when I'm better at it", or I'll go for a nap. Classic.

HERE is a classic situation where I actually thought: I'll do it next time. Not in that epic moment where I was primed to do it....but at some uncertain time in the future. Assuming that a perfect opportunity would present itself again AND I felt the desire to do it. What the hell?

Anyway...from time to time I have to remind myself that the MOMENT is NOW. If not NOW, then when?

Really, I feel like I can handle anything. It's mostly about having the confidence in myself to follow through, or just give'er. Sometimes I wonder when I'm going to get over myself and exude that confidence every moment - to the best of my ability.

In fairness to myself, I am getting better.

But what about lapses in confidence that disrupt my flow and stop me in my tracks? What is it that needles my confidence so tauntingly? Fear. (lame). And feeling unworthy. (also lame).

What am I so afraid of anyway? Having fun? Having the best time ever? Experiencing life to the fullest? Seriously. What is my problem over here?

In her book Fierce Medicine: Breakthrough Practices to Heal the Body and Ignite the Spirit, Ana T. Forrest speaks of stalking your fear. Just turning around, staring whatever it is that I'm shitting my pants about right in the face and saying "fuck you, I'm going to do it anyway", etc.

And of course, as expected, what was scary never is as 'scary' as it seems.

In this space & time, it's important to not waste space or time. We must seize the moment and get 'er dun.

There really is no time for me (or anyone else for that matter) to indulge in low-self-esteemy ways of being.

There's just too much work to do on this planet.

pictured above: me after I performed Black Bird (Beatles) in front of an audience in LA. turns out, I like singing in front of a crowd dressed like a fashion victim.