Last night was the 10th meeting of the first SAD to GLAD three month course.
SAD = Standard Australian Diet... GLAD = Great Life Australian Diet.

We kicked off our shoes, sat around the fireplace and let the baked beans with apple butter, miso and mustard cook themselves and shared whether we had reached our individual goals.

For me, this course was something I had been thinking about for some time. I see many people come and learn the basics of whole foods cooking in a six-week course. But for some, it's not always enough time to get grounded in this way of living/eating naturally and wholly.

I recently heard a saying which struck a chord in me (on Celebrity Circus, believe it or not, by an Olympic athlete talking about what it takes to master a new skill.) That saying is: Repetition is the Mother of all Mastery. I love it. If you want to integrate something in your life, really make it part of you, it must be repeated over and over...like learning a trapeze stunt. Through this repetition, mastery can and will be achieved. So this cooking - balancing - planning, and all the other things that we keep repeating in the Sad-Glad Course for 12 weeks, has planted deep seeds in the participants that will continue to sprout for many years to come.

Seeds are amazing things. They don't all flower at the same time. Sometimes a certain climate is needed for a seed to burst open; you never know when it is that seed's time to flower. So it is with us human beings, trying to live our best on this planet - making life affirming changes in many areas to enhance our life experience, and to help us be the best that we can be and make a positive contribution in our community, our world. We lay the foundations, plant the seeds, nurture the soil and wait for our own individual flowering.

I want to personally thank all the people who participated in this first course for their commitment, their perseverance, their sharing and their inspiration. What amazing people live in Perth at the end of the earth! Because of this group, I have decided to run the course regularly. I can't think of anything else I would rather do then help someone learn this nourishing, nurturing and balancing way to eat and live simply with the seasons, with nature. I have seen first-hand how it can give people back their life-force and happiness so that they can go on to live their own personal dreams.