We have had a lot of rain in the past two days but this morning dawns bright and sunny and warm. As I pulled out of my driveway to drive my daughter to school I couldn't help but be amazed at the miracle that has happened! The grass is a rich green suddenly, in two days, it has transformed from a drab beige carpet with a few green sprinkles to full blown green shag. The leaves on the trees suddenly have burst open and are starting to fill up the gaps between the grey branches to make shelter for the birds that are chirping loudly in the morning outside my bedroom window.

I've made some observations over the years about our relationship to water. I have been to many diet support groups and what seems overwhelmingly common is that something has happened culturally to interfere with our taste for water. We don't "like" it. Yet, like the green grass that needs it to spring forth from dormancy, water is our very life source.

Yesterday on the radio there was a discussion on diet and a very good point was made by the commentators. We apparently get 90% more calories from liquid sources than we did 50 years ago. Back then orange juice was a weekend morning treat and milk was only taken with meals, not as a daily thirst quencher. But then along came sugared flavours for water(Kool aid, Tang etc.), fun yes, but absolutely devastating to the teeth of the children who consumed them and their weight as well. From that there was a progression from the occasional pop as a treat to people consuming soda pop in place of water. When people decided to let go of sugary drinks they switched to "diet" soda. All of this resulted in a preference to have much of our water flavoured and/or bubbly or both. Or we justify juice because it has vitamins but to excess it's just as devastating. It has interfered with our taste for water and interfered with our health.

The radio show also made the point that liquid calories do not satisfy the hunger as solid food does so you become hungrier faster. So it's a double whammy, less pure water, diminished preference for pure, clear water, and more calories.

I have almost completely switched to pure water. I do drink a carbonated plain water occasionally with slices of lime for a treat, coffee in the morning and I also occasionally will have orange juice or milk(once or twice a month). I haven't given up anything but what I'm regaining is a taste for water again.

I think it's imperative to work at regaining the love for the taste of pure clear water. I think we need to attach positivity to it again and rewrite the messages that are symbolic of our preference for the sugary tasting drinks and apply them to our life source, water!

I wonder how many of us would throw cola on our front lawn to make it grow? I think we'd be concerned the acid would burn the grass, yet we throw this kind of thing into our bodies regularly.

Start enjoying water daily. Don't suffer through, make it a habit, a delicious habit. Talk yourself into it, identify yourself as a water lover and make it true!

Affirmation: I love to drink pure, clear, life-giving water. It is necessary and good and I appreciate every drop in my mind as my body appreciates every pure droplet it needs to keep me alive and well.
Namaste