As Carley Simon Sings, "I Haven't Got Time for the Pain!"

Today I start my new blog. My "Road to Raw" has been a winding and challenging one ... one begun a few years ago and still continuing -- but now in greater earnest. My road to raw has been challenging for me for a good number of reasons -- not the least of which is the fact that I grew up not only eating TV dinners, Velveeta cheese and 17-cent frozen pot pies as a steady diet ... but all within a household where everything from liverwurst slices and American cheese to "Scooter Pies" and "Ring Dings" were RATIONED and then bestowed as if gifts of the gods!

(Being raised by a pathologically critical father -- at times very much like the one portrayed by Robert DiNiro in "This Boy's Life" -- and by an intimidated mother, who battled mental illness, and was absent from the home either physically or emotionally about 80 percent of the time, did not exactly pave the way for smooth sailing ahead, so to speak!)

Yes, we're all products of our upbringing, its attendant traumas, and all kinds of challenging circumstances of our past, true. But one thing I personally regret is that for a good long while I allowed my upbringing and traumas and disappointments to be a huge stumbling block to my enjoying all that is possible for me in the present. In fact for a whole LOT of years in a whole lot of ways it felt more comfortable to live in either the past or future. That is, up until recently. Hitting my 55th birthday showed me that on this side of my life, I either figure out a way to become my own best friend in the right here and NOW, or else the best years of my life are not going to be ahead, but are already behind me.

So, having FINALLY figured out a way to BE my own best friend, I introduce you, curious reader, to my new blog -- "Rawsome Life Anew"!



Part of becoming my own best friend in the here and now is to honor and respect myself in every way, and for me that means staying clear of toxic food (the addictive foods I was once drawn to), toxic thinking (self-criticism) and toxic people (those who are insensitive, mean and oblivious to the feelings of others. I must be particularly diligent to stay away from people like this; they damage my heart too deeply.)

This will be a personal diary as well as (hopefully) an informative place for those reading who are on a similar path of getting healthier via those three means I mentioned above.

Right now I'm in a coaching group with Karen Knowler called Raw Magic and Mastery, and I have to say ... I LOVE Karen Knowler! (Those who'd like to explore Karen's work, just click the link at the top, right-hand side of this blog.) Out of all the raw "gurus" (she'd HATE that moniker), she is the one that inspires me most. Her view that going raw begins a "whole person journey" that unfolds at one's own pace and in one's own time has been so helpful to me. (I suppose because I've taken such a meandering route to be where I am right now on my own "raw journey"!)

I've begun this "part 2" of my original blog because I'm at a new jumping off point. My commitment level and motivation to become the fittest I can become has risen greatly since my recent coaching with Karen and I wanted a new blog just to record my progress and share my victories!

As the weekend begins (it's Friday night and I'm typing this from my office in NYC), I'm excited about setting up my "galley kitchen" in my new living space I just moved into and getting busy with some new raw food recipes, a whole new exercise regime (4 days a week -- either walking, biking or weight training) and doing some serious envisioning and manifesting!

I'll be sharing all about these in the weeks ahead, and hopefully it will inspire others to see that they, too, can achieve what is in their heart to do -- no matter how long it may take!

Here's to a great weekend!