Tara Mackey - Cured by Nature: How to Heal from the Inside Out, Find Happiness, and Discover Your True Self

Copyright 2016 by Tara Mackey

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mackey, Tara, 1986-author.

Title: Cured by nature : how to heal from the inside out, find happiness, and discover your true self / Tara Mackey.

Description: New York, NY : Skyhorse Publishing, [2016]

Identifiers: LCCN 2015037362 | ISBN 9781634504010 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Mackey, Tara, 1986- | Naturopathy. | Nature, Healing power of. | Alternative medicine. | Well-being.

Classification: LCC RZ440 .M3335 2016 | DDC 615.5/35dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015037362

Cover design by Erin Seaward-Hiatt
Cover photo credit: The Organic Life, LLC

Print ISBN: 978-1-63450-401-0
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63450-884-1

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

For My Family

<3

The Earth supplies me with everything I need.

Paramahansa Yogananda (18931952), Indian Yogi and Guru, Author, Founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship, Cosmic Man

FOREWORD

by Todd Cooper

It was during a trip back to New York that Tara got the email. They want me to write a book! she told me. Who is they, I asked,and what kind of book?

Tara said the editors at Skyhorse Publishing in New York City had been following her blog and had offered her a book deal. You HAVE to write a book! The world needs to know about your experiences! they had said.

This is very rare, but it is not a fluke. Tara is almost always reading, researching, creating, or writing. She told me that some of her best friends from high school were the music teacher and the librarian. While doing research, I saw her get so excited about a book that she read all six hundred pages and returned it to the library the day after she checked it out.

Everything about this experience has been serendipitous for Tara. This book was meant to be; this story has to be told. Everyone needs to read Cured by Nature . It smashes conventional misconceptions about personal health, and it will change your life.

Three months is not a lot of time to write a three-hundred-page book, especially if you already work full-time. It has taken me quite a long time to write this very short foreword. But three months time is exactly how long it took Tara to startand finishher first draft of Cured by Nature . During those months she had a role in a feature film and was on set for over a month of that time. She was in a few major music videos, wrote blog posts, made ads for brands, and still managed to carve out more than forty hours a week to research and write.

At times Tara would tell me that it was like the book was writing itself. There were days she would say she could hardly even remember writing it, but that it all felt perfect. After a few tweaks, Tara produced an amazing, one-of-a-kind, must-read, inspirational, timeless classic.

Tara was living her life as she was writing about it, so the process was all encompassing. Her story is so real and so familiar that everyone needs to hear it. However dramatic and daring Taras life has been, everyone can relate to it in some way. All of the subject matter is so current and relevant that you can almost taste it. Its empowering and enthralling. No book has changed my life more.

I hope Cured by Nature revolutionizes your life the way it has changed mine.

Todd Cooper

CEO of Waxelene, Inc.

FOREWORD

by Josh Rosebrook

The clean beauty and wellness community is a collective of empowered, empathetic individuals. We are a tribe. We are beauty experts and professionals whove connected through a shared passion and vision for clean cosmetics, natural foods, and conscious, holistic lifestyle.

This tribe of natural beauty experts is truly special and includes writers, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and artists. Im honored to be a part of it, and Im continually amazed by the breadth of integrity, sensitivity, knowledge, and action each person brings to the collective. Whether we meet up with each other online or at a workshop, event, or conference, we corroborate, support, and empathize with each other steadfastly, which is the ultimate healing. Within this connected experience, theres an authentic framework that is built, and everyone inspires and supports each other. This type of real community is what we all need to manifest our dreams and passions and find or stay on our true path.

I became aware of Tara through our community, and one day I found myself on her website theorganiclifeblog.com. I was intrigued by her writing style. Her words seemed effortlessly executed and her authenticity drew me in. Her narrative revealed someone who was extremely confident, connected, and self-aware. I knew I liked her.

There werent many fellow green beauties (as we like to call them) living in Los Angeles at the time, so once we realized we were both Angelenos, we knew we had to meet.

On a sunny Sunday during the winter in LA we met up at Real Food Daily. It was one of those rare friendships that seemingly comes out of nowhere: you have a feeling that youve known this person before and you connect non-stop for three hours over tempeh and tea. It was glorious. She exuded the genuine joy, humor, and heart that makes everyone feel special. Today, I am honored to call her one of my great friends.

Cured by Nature is not just another guide on how to live naturally or telling you what makeup and skin-care products you should purchase; its much more than that. This book contains a vibration that has the potential to shift you emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physicallyif you are ready. This book was created with a grand intention to assist humanity in waking up to whatever might be keeping you down in any way. Whether its the food you eat or your relationship to it, the toxic beauty products you still use, your intimate relationships that are stuck, or whatever disconnected voice of fear that might be running through your head that needs to be released, Cured by Nature carries a vibration of Light and Love that calls us to take full responsibility for who we are and to integrate real, positive change while nudging us to remember that we are incredibly brilliant, divine, powerful human beings who can do, be, and have anything.

Thank you, Tara, for imbuing my life with such truth, clarity, and action via this book. You are a pioneer of healing for a generation and a leader for anyone ready to be inspired, grow, and make changes.

Josh Rosebrook

Founder, Josh Rosebrook Skin and Hair Care

INTRODUCTION

My mother was an Irish immigrant in the midst of achieving the American Dream. She was beautifula bold, bodacious, curvaceous redhead who had even earned a great modeling gig in the monthly business magazine from her Wall Street employer in New York City. She was the talk of the staff elevator rides and the envy of all her co-workers. Her steady boyfriend of seventeen years idolized and adored her, showed her off to all his friends. He bought her cars and puppies and extravagant gifts. They partieda lot.