Miller Time Friday: Me, Deepak and Hey, whose molecules are these anyway?

Ah Friday!

If the weather person is correct, it will rain over night and then tomorrow, it will clear up and be warm.  If that is the case, I will don my rubber boots and head out to the great yard and start picking up all the row that landed on the lawn all winter long.  I can just imagine the sore muscles on Saturday!  But they will be good sore muscles!

Last night, as some of you know, we went to Moncton to see Deepak Chopra give a lecture.  Now I need to be clear: I like Deepak.  I have always liked Deepak, because he has been taking a holistic perspective of our health for many years.  Recently, I have started meditating thanks to Old Deepak and he has a gentle way of introducing you to meditation that is working for me.

He was in Atlantic Canada to talk about the concepts of his new book, Super Brain, which he has co-authored with Dr. Rudy Tanzi, who is a Neurology professor at Harvard.

Because Deepak is a doctor, and a bit of a science "geek" - and I say that in the most loving of ways - the first 20 minutes of the lecture was really a VERY short history of the universe and the inner workings of our body.  Very fascinating stuff.  What seemed to really catch the audience's attention was when he explained that when we breathe in, we breathe in 10 to the 8th power of molecules.  All of which are the molecules from all the world around you.  And then you breathe out ten to the 8th power of your molecules, all over people.  I won't go into the whole science of this because a) I can't remember it all and b) it's all in the book, but the gist of it is that the way this all works is that we have had every living being in our body via this exchange of breath. 

Now some people would be grossed out by that.  Me, not so much.  You all seem like nice folk and if I get a bit of you in me or on me, no big whoop.  But the reminder that we are all just bags of molecules held together by gravity is an awe-inspiring thing.  His latest research is on the new scientific frontier of trying to understand consciousness.  This is really freaking a lot of people out (if you read the Huffington Post you may have read Chopra's blog post on this yesterday).  I tend to be pretty open minded and intrigued by the concept of science and the belief in a higher power, but it does make some uncomfortable.  I leave it to others to debate this (and please not here!) but there is some really neat stuff in this new area of research that is intriguing indeed and if you are interested in the latest research on the brain/mind connection, you will enjoy his new book.

What I was most impressed by was his ability to speak science in a way that it is comprehensible and respectful in a room of people who were not scientists.  In fact, the vast majority of individuals there were not new age folks, but a LOT of nurses, mental health professionals and doctors, which intrigued me.  And heartened me.  Many had been encouraged within their professional systems to attend this lecture, which was entitled "The Future of Well-Being".  He talked for 2 hours straight, without notes and without a break and there was no break in thought.  Very impressive to me, whose mind wanders off at the drop of a hat!  At the end, he led the group through a short meditation and for 10 minutes, you couldn't hear a pin drop in the large room.  My husband, who was disinterested in meditation, found it so refreshing, he is thinking of beginning to meditate!

All in all, a great talk and well worth our ticket prices.  Whether or not you are a fan of Deepak or not, he has a great intellect and was refreshingly self-effacing, witty and unabashedly spiritual all at once.  If you do ever have the chance to hear him speak in person, I do recommend it.  The next best thing is his books (the man is PROLIFIC!) or interviews.

Since I spent so much time talking and thinking about the atoms of my body (and yours!) last night, why don't we make some atomic cocktails?

Atomic

Deliciously flavored with orange and mandarin, topped up with exotic fruit juices and decorated with kiwi, this eerie-looking drink tastes great.

INGREDIENTS:
1 ¼ measures cognac
¾ measure grand Marnier

¼ measure blue curacao

Ice
3 measures exotic fruit juice, to top up
1 tsp fraise
Kiwi slices, to decorate

METHOD:
1. Shake the first three ingredients together over the ice until well frosted.
2. Strain into a chilled highball glass and top up with fruit juice.
3. Float in a few drops of fraise and dress with slices of kiwi.
4. Drink through a straw.

As soon as I saw kiwi slices, I immediately thought of our friend over at About Last Weekend, who has such a great blog and fun attitude to life! 

Which made me think that last night was really:

  meet


Go figure!!!  Tomorrow, I will report back on my Ziggy Stardust Tribute Album concert!

Until then, stay safe out there and to quote my beloved Casey Kasem "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!"