Claire Samuel

French #book #review or dare to #create #Asaliah by Justine Valais

Posted on 20 January 202020 January 2020 by Claire Samuel

Who was the first to write a review about my book The Knot in the Spiral? Justine the French blogger from Blog d’une partageuse.

This is such a pleasure to review her book now: Asaliah, a cute and fresh chapter book.

I found in Asaliah some sparks of the law of attraction and inspiration to draw from our personal power and imagination.

My 13-years-old daughter who hates reading said Justine’s book was easy to read and interesting with beautiful drawings.

My 10-years-old son who loves reading thought the book Asaliah looked very good even before reading it. Then he said: “I love that book!” and “I would love to read the following stories!“.

So I am sending good vibes to the author Justine so she writes the following adventures of her character Asaliah!

What was #patriarchy like? #hope for #harmony between men and women

Posted on 19 January 202019 January 2020 by Claire Samuel

My grand-mother’s sister was locked down in an asylum at her father’s request with the help of the family doctor. Because she was a woman and a daughter and because it was another time. She was 20 years old.

Yes indeed there are many things which could be improved for harmonious relationships between men and women, but I also would like to take a little bit of gratitude time for having been born during another time, with the progress made.

If you read French there is a great book called Patriarcat fin de partie by author Chantal Revault D’allonnes.

Making people feel #guilty so they obey or getting out of codependency

Posted on 18 January 202016 December 2019 by Claire Samuel

Did you see Randa’s interview about codependency and how to get out of toxic relationships “Live with Randa from L’audace d’être soi or #daring to be #yourself“.

We talked about manipulation in abusive relationships.

Recently, during a conference, I heard that Friedrich Nietzsche had criticized Saint Paul a lot accusing him of making people feel guilty for the sake of making them obedient.

It made me think about the way toxic people blame us for everything that goes wrong in a relationship.

So let’s drop guilt immediately my friend my sister! Guilt does not make you move forward and it is definitely not the sign of a healthy relationship! I prefer words and values such as responsibility and kindness.

Are you children eating #healthy? #raw #vegan? my reply

Posted on 17 January 202017 January 2020 by Claire Samuel

I was asked by a mother member of our beautiful community whether my children were raw vegan like me or not.

Let’s drop the pressure immediately: the reply is no!

My kids have been eating at the school canteen since they are three years old so it was difficult to compete with the canteen food loaded with sugar and gluten (even if before the age of three, they loved green smoothies and raw fruits and veggies such as apples, broccoli and mangoes).

Today they eat gluten, fish and meat at home, but I am not too bad at limiting dairy (they have dairy at school of course).

My best tip is to lead by example. They are very aware that I will never eat bread nor white sugar. They also know that if one day I feel like eating meat, I will. I listen to my body.

They also agree that vegetables and fruits full of vitamins and minerals are crucial to health, even if they don’t consume them as often as I would like. Sometimes I am surprised though. Yesterday for instance, they just ate fresh salad leaves with mayo and French mustard! Better than nothing!

What I learned at my writing class #hidden #talent

Posted on 16 January 202016 January 2020 by Claire Samuel

I feel bad when I see gifted people who do not realize how great they are, who keep putting themselves down and who do not share their creativity.

At the writing workshop I attend, there is such a woman. I now I cannot make her change about that.

It reminds me of the Wayne Dyer quote:

“Do not die with your music still inside“.

Therefore I will keep reminding you that you have something special, a gift, a talent, that you can share.

Let go of perfectionism because you are worth being creative and free my friend my sister.

Wayne Dyer wrote numerous books, notably You Are What You Think: 365 Meditations for Purposeful Living:

How to deal with #overwhelming #emotions? body and movement

Posted on 15 January 202014 December 2019 by Claire Samuel

It was a true revolution for my body and well-being to discover free yoga youtube videos five years ago thanks to the channel Yoga With Adriene.

Then something happened. I lost someone I love inasmuch as the man I was in love with decided to leave the country for ever. A similar situation had happened to me many years ago, leaving me feeling like a fly stuck on her back or like a person gasping for oxygen.

So I made a little experiment. Why not? I had nothing to loose anyway, I couldn’t feel any lower.

I did the video “Yoga For a Broken Heart – Unconditional Love“. The first time, I had so many tears running down my face that my yoga mat was wet.

I hung onto it. I did the same yoga video every day. After five days, I noticed a definite change in my mood. I was still sad but feeling empowered. I discovered I had everything in me to deal with such big emotions.

The secret my friend my sister is to remember that our body and our mind are connected. Then we can make the most of this beautiful union!

Live with Kay Ess from Raw Food Lisbon about the #history of #raw #food

Posted on 14 January 202014 January 2020 by Claire Samuel

Kay Ess from Raw Food Lisbon has written two articles on the French magazine Le Chou Brave about the history of raw food.

Today we covered how the knowledge of the importance of living food is not new at all and can be traced back to the 18th century in Europe, the synergy between raw food, fresh air, positive mindset and regular movement as the best preventive care for our body and the amazing raw recipes which marry creation and self-care!

We also mentioned the book Conscious Eating by Gabriel Cousens M.D., the raw chef Kate Magic and the bubbling Fully Raw Kristina.

Thank you Kay and please support her by visiting her website Raw Food Lisbon as she offers great resources and raw food workshops in English, French and Portuguese.

At the end of her second article, Kay reproduced a fantastic quote I really love:

“With true health knowledge, there comes about a freedom – and that is what life is about – physical, mental and economical freedom to become that which you are“
from the book The Foundation of all Reforms, Otto Carqué, 1904

Claire you are a machine! #efficiency #perfectionism and #selfcare

Posted on 14 January 202013 December 2019 by Claire Samuel

I have been told I was always studying/working so hard as if I was a real machine.

I take the compliment because I love feeling productive and hard-working.

However, I learned that I need to have heart as a foundation of everything I do. This is when I feel alive.

Lastly, if you want to be consistent and efficient my friend my sister, drop perfection. It leads nowhere. My favorite hashtag? #notperfect

Lots of love,

Claire

What happened when I stopped #eating #sugar?

Posted on 13 January 202013 December 2019 by Claire Samuel

What happened the day I stopped #eating #sugar?

I quit sugar because I needed to be 100% focused on my studies. I was a single mother going back to college to get a lawyer’s degree.

Not eating sugar transformed my life and my taste buds. I do not fancy eating the super sweet French pastries anymore!

As I explain in my book The Knot in the Spiral, I added simple little things to my diet like Japanese Miso paste in hot water. It is a good alternative to coffee when you study for long hours!

Furthermore, did you know that sugar causes wrinkles? Markus says it best in his video: Why Sugar Ages You.

How was December 2019 and review of the year 2019 #myownmonth

Posted on 12 January 202012 January 2020 by Claire Samuel

This is the last step of the monthly challenge initiated by the French blogger Justine thanks to which we were invited to look back at the past month each new month and in our case today, to look back at the past year!

What did I learn in 2019?

First, to find yourself, you have to loo for yourself!

Knowing ourselves comes with experiencing things, detours and attempts.

Our mission in life is not going to fall into our laps, but it is rather the result of life experiences which make our deep self more aware of itself. Then, we can always recreate ourselves.

Why? Because our body does!

Every seven years we renew our cells entirely. This is such an incentive to start afresh! I was taught such a thing by the amazing role model Karyn Calabrese.

Also, in this beginning of 2020, I decide to throw myself completely into entrepeneurship and launch a third youtube channel called French With a Smile for those of you who want to learn the language of Moliere!

Lastly, I must admit that I love to reflect on the past month and the past year, but I never keep track of my years nor my age.

I totally agree with the great OB-GYN and author Christiane Northrup who wrote the fantastic book Goddesses Never Age!