Cooking Without Made Easy: All recipes free from added gluten, sugar, yeast and dairy produce. Barbara Cousins
our sense of self means that we are being, doing and thinking what others have taught us. Detoxification is about stripping off the layers and uncovering our core self, which is always a beautiful expression of our soul. I believe that one of the things we are all here to do is to peel off the layers in order to reach our intuition and true potential, and hence follow the path our soul chose.
Soul paths
I think that we all come into this world with the potential to be something special. I don’t mean famous or rich, but with a potential to be a good mother, a special friend, a great teacher…It’s as though our souls decide before we are born and they know what we are meant to do—but, when we are born, no one lets us in on the arrangement. However, if we can learn to trust a higher power and be in touch with our intuition, then the universe can guide us along the path we are meant to tread. There will still be difficulties along the way, as these are necessary in order for us to grow, but it’s when we rely on our heads and want to be in control that we create the most problems. When we flow with life and are open, the universe guides us gently forward, creating synchronicities and coincidences. Opportunities and directions appear and we know—rather than think—that we are doing the right thing.
Uncovering our life path
There are many ways of uncovering our intuition, the real us and our life path, and each individual must choose the right way for themselves. Everything that we need to know is inside us and we must find a way of going inside to find that information. What is right for me and what is my truth may not be yours. It’s as though we are all little spiders heading back to a higher consciousness on our own little threads. I cannot jump onto your thread and you cannot jump onto mine. Our intuition is the higher consciousness talking to us, so the ideas contained in this or any other book should only be considered right for you if they resonate with your truth.
The method I found of uncovering the real me, and the way I’ve used to help my clients find their truth, has been through diet and detoxification. The only way that I can know that an individual is better is when they have uncovered the reasons why they became ill and have found their path in life.
Julie
Julie came to me after an operation for cancer. The cancer was a wake-up call and Julie knew that she had to change if she was to survive. However, she didn’t know what changes she needed to make and the thought of making any filled her with fear. Julie embarked on a serious detoxification regime that, day by day, led her to new insights about herself and her lifestyle. She had a mundane office job that was way below her capabilities, but it enabled her to act as a support system for her husband and family. I remember Julie on her first visit: she had her blonde hair swept up in a very eighties’ style and was dressed in a flimsy suit and camisole on a cold winter’s day. I wanted to wrap her up in a warm sweater and jeans, but the image she portrayed was the one her husband liked—the feminine woman who needed him, was there for him and who didn’t rock the boat.
As Julie progressed she started to read alternative books, make new friends and became vegetarian. She studied counselling at nightschool and although she wanted her husband to be part of her new life, he was clearly not impressed because she wasn’t always there at his beck and call.
Julie blossomed and grew stronger as the months passed. Eventually the inevitable happened and she left her husband. She was willing to stay, but only if her husband was prepared to accept the person she was—but alas, he wasn’t. He wanted life to go back to the way it had been because that meant he didn’t have to face his own issues (Julie had always rescued him from these). Leaving was very tough for Julie, as she had to face many fears. Would she be able to support herself? Would she be able to stand up for herself and cope with the running of a home on her own? Would the children understand why she was doing this?
Julie not only survived, but went from strength to strength. She finished her counselling course and was asked to go back and do some teaching. She set up a private practice and became very successful—and guess what? She changed her hairstyle and threw away the flimsy suits.
Maralyn tells her story
‘I had suffered from bouts of depression for 30 years when I went to see Barbara. During these times I was incapable of work and lost interest in everyone and everything. I had tried all the usual antidepressant drugs and had seen psychiatrists and psychologists, but nothing seemed to help.
Initially, Barbara reviewed my diet and explained that with intolerances (I had become aware that I was intolerant to yeast) a restricted diet was important but until the emotions were dealt with, the allergy would not resolve itself. Through detoxification, vitamin and mineral supplements and dealing with my emotions relating to a very unhappy, restricted childhood, I slowly started to feel much better.
I can honestly say that since meeting Barbara I have never suffered a repeat bout of depression. That was over five years ago and now I really understand the saying ‘We are what we eat’.
Looking back at my own childhood
I was the second of two children, with a brother two years older. We grew up on an isolated farm and my parents worked very hard, so they had little time for looking after children. My father was moody, heading towards manic depression and locked in his own inner world of torment. He had lost his mother when very young and had had a tough upbringing. I soon learnt that it was best not to have any needs if I wanted to please my parents and, as a result, I began to cut off from my emotions at an early age. I learnt to smile rather than cry, even though I was hurting inside. I also learnt that if I did something exceptional I received some attention—and so I became a people pleaser and an over-achiever. I started losing touch with my intuition by spending time in my head trying to be what everyone wanted me to be and assuming that I was the cause of any deficit. Not surprisingly, this resulted in an unrealistically negative self-image, which laid the foundations for a life that would need many knocks to get me to examine, and begin to peel off, the layers I had developed through childhood and beyond.
Being in touch with our true selves and our intuition doesn’t prevent us from making mistakes, but it helps us recognize when we’ve made them, because things don’t feel right. I had stopped feeling, therefore it was very difficult to distinguish between what felt right and wrong.
Logic versus intuition
When I talk about being ‘in our heads’, I’m talking about using the left side of the brain, which is the logical side. This logical side works things out by analysing the criteria rather than by assessing how things feel. In contrast, our intuition whispers to us between our thoughts. When we go with our intuition we are using the right side of our brain and we feel comfortable with what we are doing. Frequently, when clients are trying to work out what job they would like to do, they make the mistake of trying to work it out by analysing what they are good at. They may think they are good at maths and so start looking at jobs where they could use this skill, such as accountancy or teaching. However, it’s more important to look for something that feeds the soul—if it doesn’t, it can become soul-destroying. We won’t ever reach our full potential in life or be really happy if we don’t follow our hearts. I believe that when we find our true path in life, our job will feel more like a hobby. When I discovered nutritional therapy I simply wanted to read and learn everything I could about the subject. It was a natural extension to turn it into a job.
Helen tells her story of a change in direction
‘I had a high-profile job in marketing when I first went to see Barbara. I was travelling the country, working long hours, and although I earned a good salary, most of it was spent sustaining my working lifestyle. By the time I reached 31 I had undergone four operations to remove endometriosis, but it always came back. I turned to nutritional therapy out of sheer