Deep listening is followed by loving speech. And loving speech is followed by loving cooking!

The next chapter in True Love is titled Learning to Speak with Love Again. It's a fairly brief chapter that basically states that after you've practised deep listening you must also have the ability to hear your loved ones suffering and empathize with it. Then express that empathy with loving kindness in your words. In order to do this the book advocates being able to recognize and embrace your own suffering. Next follow up by visualizing your loved one experiencing a similar form of suffering and in your mind offering them a smile and a loving embrace to ease their suffering. In practising this the author believes you will find freedom, joy and calm from acknowledging your pain along with your loved ones pain and then embracing the suffering itself. I don't feel this chapter does an adequate job of depicting the process. But, you get the general idea, feel your pain, know your loved one feels the same pain and offer them compassion.

Now onto cooking. October's soup was pumpkin soup, November's was both chicken and dumplings and Tx bbq chili. December's soup is taco soup. I've made it 3 times this month and with each batch it's gotten better and better! Thank you to Marianne for sharing a bowl with me last night, and to Nancy for sharing one with me tonight. I photographed the process of making it by using my timer, so my head is chopped off in one or two of them. Don't worry it's a headless soup.




The finished product. Top with a teaspoon of sour cream and cheddar cheese. Yummy!

The pot's a brewing.....or is it stewing??

Okay, I chopped my head off, but I screwed it back on nicely before it landed in the pot.

See all back to normal.

Getting ready to enjoy my soup. All dressed up with no where to go. But at least my head settled back onto my shoulders very nicely.

Marianne fixed my mac & cheese on Christmas Day and said it was a hit! I'm glad you got to enjoy it Marianne. Today I'm replacing it with my taco soup recipe. So, if you want to fix Lisa's Mac & Cheese you'll have to email me a request and I'll send you the recipe.

My recipe for you for the day is deep listening, loving speech and embrace your suffering. Then make a big pot of soup and eat up buttercups!