Scary But True

I have been struggling over the title for this blog.  Perhaps it should be called ‘N’er Wax Flippant among Thespians’.  This is a true story.

One day in July, my daughter asked me what I wanted to dress up as for Halloween.  Given that I was distracted, and given that it was JULY, I very flippantly answered “Marilyn Monroe”.  Well, that was it.  My theatre designer daughter was off like a greyhound chasing a rubber rabbit.  When she arrived home with a blonde bombshell wig within the week, I knew I was in for trouble.

C was busy creating costumes for herself and several others as well; I was hoping she would forget about me.  But oh no, I was lined up for fitting and subject to endless discussions about make up and nail enamel colour.  I think she settled on a colour called ‘red blooded’.  She was obsessed about the state of my fingernails and their growth rate for 3 months.

On the eve in question, I was subjected to the make up ordeal.  It took forever.  Then C did her own makeup, which took a Japanese forever.  Finally it was almost midnight and we were dressed to kill!  Nobody I knew was going to believe this. 

I phoned my neighbours ‘the Great Scotts; who had obviously been woken up by my call.  I said “I need to come over right now.  I have to show you something”.   

The Ms. Scott said “Right now?” 

I said “Yes, right now”. 

Thank goodness they were welcoming and generously manned the camera, or you would not believe me.

So once the neighbours were appropriately wowed, we were off to the party.  We were stopped within a block of our destination by the local constableatory, doing a ‘ride check’. 

 

“Hello Ladies” he says as he peers into the car.  “Are you going someplace special tonight?” 

Now between the mink jacket, the platinum wig and the makeup that is trowel thick, I have to wonder at the question.  Not to mention the other sex icon in the seat beside me. What’s a girl to do?  So with my breathiest, ‘Mr. President’ voice I can manage I say,

“Yes Officer”.  I threw in a couple of pats of the hair for effect.

“Have you been drinking tonight?” 

What?  Who can be thinking of drinking?  I am not only having an altered consciousness moment, I’m having an altered personality moment!  Ok, Nel, breathe, stay in character.  No one is arrested for wearing a wig. 

I answer a breathy “No Officer”.  ‘Pat' 'pat’.

“Well you Ladies have a good time”.

“We sure will”, says C enthusiastically from the passenger seat, without a trace of accent.

So I have to say it was an odd night.  I usually tend to run mostly invisible.  I noticed men’s eyes light up at the sight of me.  They wanted a conversation.  It was so weird.

C won first prize for her costume.  (An insulated duffle bag for cans of beer)  She doesn’t drink beer ever, and it was really odd altogether to see her carry it around.

We have a group shot of the costumes C did. 

What you can't see here is that Cerunus (guy with the antlers) is wearing fake-fur trousers that totally cover over his shoes.  There was a little strategic pocket built in them so he could stash some money.  This was a riot when he bought us all a coffee at the local Tim's.

The blue fairy in the middle is wearing huge beautiful sheer blue wings. She was a server and got wedged by the wings in the passage way leading to the kitchen. No one could go in or out for a few minutes.  (C later lent the wings to a professional photographer for a photo shoot.)

So I have learned my lesson.  Never be flippant around Thespians. They take your literally!

Some Earthly Good

I eat books.  Some are consumed at one sitting, rather like enjoying a morning coffee that is good to the last drop.  Some are savored like a dessert; be careful that you don’t eat to fast because when it’s gone, it’s gone.  Action adventure books are like chips, taste one page and you have to eat the whole thing! 

Sometimes I read a whole book for one single line, phrase, or one paragraph that contains a message for me.  I just finished ‘Eat Love Pray’.  It was a sweet little read for sure.  But there was one paragraph that jumped out at me.  The author realized how she would repeatedly fall in love with other people’s potential.  This really got me to thinking.

When we are gifted, unusually attractive, exceptionally musical, remarkably fleet of foot or blessed with the gift of gab; these are not of our own doing.  These abilities are the potential we are born with. What is left for us to do in our life time is to harness and develop these gifts and use them to do some good on the earth.

When people praise my gifts, my creativity, or my intuition, (this is where the pictures in my head are directly attached to my tongue), this is rather like praising the nose on my face.  I can’t help it.  It’s not of my doing; it’s the way I was made.

What I am developing in this lifetime is wisdom and a strong knowledge base for these other talents to play in.  This is when intention, self-discipline and drive come in. Although I was raised in a family who esteemed wit and sarcasm, I have chosen to be kind and temper my tongue.  Responsibility is not just for driving the roads.  The tongue is a power- tool and words of power can be used to ignite and bless the lives of others.

Every one of us has a gift that we are born with.  This, on its own does not give us strength of character, or automatically endow us with admirable qualities such as honesty, loyalty, discernment or solicitude. We are not automatically trustworthy. 

In many cases, these gifts are used for selfish purposes.  This is sad really.  I view this as a form of cancer in society.  Gifts that are used to take advantage or consume others have containment and a limited scope of influence. These people, while they may have some degree of success in their lives, will never really shine in the way that their Creator intended.

I believe we have a responsibility to realize our own potential in our own lifetime.  We also have responsibility to protect, nurture and champion the gifts in others. 

I think that the real joys in life come from when we freely and openly share who we are with others, gifts and all.

Increasing Immunity

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This is the time of year when we are most aware that prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Vitamin A is important for cell membrane strength and integrity.  Vitamin C acts as a co-enzyme for the liver and feeds the glandular system.

 Essential Fatty Acids nourish the glands, especially the adrenals and thyroid.  Alkaline ash supplements such as Vegge Greens nourish almost every tissue and system of the body.  Phytoberry is a network antioxidant complex that protects every system on a cellular level.

Probiotics such as acidophilus and live culture kefir or yogurt, fill the space in the intestine, discouraging pathogens from growing at a fast rate.  Oil of oregano and Bee Propolis are antiseptics that discourage bacteria and other microbes.  Bija Teas from Flora are wonderful for supporting as well as hydrating the body.  Good herbs for helping to clean the blood and lymph are Dandelion, Red Clover and Cleavers.  Yarrow can be added to support the body when feverish. Water with dilute cranberry juice or fresh squeezed lemon juice can really help the body flush out toxins.

Familiarize yourself with homeopathic basics and First Aid for the home, and have basics on hand for when they are needed.  Explore the homeopathic ‘Plexes’, which are very effective for helping the body process through a progression of phases in the healing process. Drosera Plex Cough Syrup is very effective when the bronchials or lungs are stressed.

Have a ‘natural’ antibiotic throat spray in your purse.  Give yourself a shot into the back of your throat when everyone around you is coughing and sneezing.  Have Homeocan “Flu Buster” as part of your home resource. 

Often I have heard ‘let an illness run its course’.  What this means is, let the body fight and fight and fight and hope that it wins.  Sometimes the infection will not be burned out of the body but harbour deeper in the systems.  Being aggressively pro-active at the first sign of symptom is my best advice.  Reduce the frequency of remedies gradually as symptoms abate.  Why not win the battle first as last.

What Brings You Joy?

Often, illness is a sign that we are not giving ourselves the quality of relationship that we deserve. Take the time to refresh the mind and spirit.  Find what brings you joy and do more of it.

A Visit to the Rabbit Hole

I was just doing the final tasks after doing a whole whack of the dreaded bookkeeping, and horror of horrors, my computer slowed, stalled and then went black! I had not gotten to the point of doing the final back up.

Now I tend to be a pretty level-headed individual. I’m known for good sense, and the ability to transcend most of our earthly cares. However, this easy going nature does not apply to numbers, the revenue department, and technology malfunction. In fact, this is pretty much my Achilles heel.

The hardware was professionally wiped and software reloaded. Equipment –check! I went back to the bookkeeping and yikes! The beginning balances were not jiving with the statements. By the time I had tracked back to 2007 and it was still unresolved, I was beside myself. Using the adage that ‘it’s not what we know, but who we know’; I called in my chum who has her degree in Combinatorics and Optimization, (a mathy/computer programming thing that for example, plots the flow of traffic through city lights using algorithms). So apparently the software was skipping a gear.

Now here’s the thing. While my chum tended to the computer, and was happily ironing out my files back to 2005, I was sucking back on the chocolate martini she had made for me so that I could survive the stress of the surgery. Oh the cares; the woes! Yes readers, I went right from being a mild-mannered holistic health educator, to a whimpering thing in the corner; hence, the’ rabbit hole’.

Deb Bermont is a more ‘holistic’ business consultant based in the US. She coined the term ‘rabbit hole’ to describe the experience of ‘when the rim of our rut becomes our horizon’. We all have times in our life where we find ourselves looking out upon our lives from the rim. Issues already emotionally loaded from the past lay like holes in the road waiting for us to fall.

Ms. Bermont suggests that we first have to recognize that we are in the rabbit hole. Any thoughts that run through our minds while in it are all the lies we tell ourselves. “I’ll never make it”, “I’ll never be any good at this”, “no matter how hard I try I’ll never….” She suggests that we “heard those lies from people we trusted when we were children, who were at that moment speaking from their own personal pit of lies”. Unfortunately, in our innocence, we believed them and then incorporated these messages into our internal programming. In daily life, at work and at home, we so often connect with the fear based stuff in-between, and then act is if this is truth.

During the darkest part of my three month saga of troubles I was wondering about what life might be like in Argentina. It was far far away, and I love the dance. Needless to say, it is not a good idea to make serious decisions from the rabbit hole.

Talk yourself out of the rabbit hole first or get someone to ‘pull you out by the pigtail’ If you wait until you are on the solid ground of sober thinking, creative solutions appear.

Note: I am now back on track, chunking happily through my numbers. Thanks Kat for pulling me out by the ‘pig tail’.

Mental Convoy Stalls

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A friend said something to me this morning that brought the convoy in my brain to a complete and utter halt. She said,

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“Serenity is a natural state of mind.”

Often we think that if we work our way through all our problems, we will finally find ourselves serene. This doesn’t work because there is always a litany of problems lining up. We will never be problem free on this earth.

Granted, the world is a curious and strange place. But what if worry was a learned perception? What if anxieties were subtlety rewarded over time by our families and teachers. Wouldn’t we think worry was normal? Mightn’t we feel kind of empty without it?

Our society seems to be a worry machine. Our worth is measured by the sweat on our brow; we are esteemed by our struggles. We have conversations that go like this; “oh yeah, well my worry is bigger than your worry”.

Worry, fear and anxiety are big business. On the news I am given at least 10 new things to fret about every day. We are out to prove that mental gymnastics will keep the chaos at bay and our world in some kind of order. Advertising probes the place of our insecurities. It’s clear how we don’t measure up and what we don’t have. For example, ‘If I just had the car, I’d have it made’ (read stress-free).

If our default mental outlook is set on anxiety, what then? It would be natural to assume that our mental axe would go on looking for something/anything to grind itself on. When I reflect back over my past five decades, what I notice is that most problems resolved themselves over time. Maybe its divine timing or maybe because people just figured something out, or somebody turned up out of the blue. I will guarantee that the world is not running smoother today because of my heavy emotional investment.

The point is, the world never sits up and flies right just because my mental monkeys hashed it over for a week. My mind may create strategies when it behaves itself, but it life never works just because of the worry I’ve invested into it. To be honest, most times when I finally gave up and said “uncle” the situation remarkably improved.

If we set working toward peace-of-mind as our highest goal, and we were to diligently align our thoughts to that focus, then perhaps life’s challenges would assume a manageable proportion.

Maybe we would find that serenity is a natural state of mind.

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Speaking Fluent Flake

Have you seen the movie ‘What the ‘Bleep’ Do We Know’? This movie had a 5 million dollar budget, complete with Hollywood state of the art special effects. It blew my hair back! Its subject?: quantum physics, how our thoughts and emotions change water, how our cells become addicted to dynamic emotions, how this dynamic mutates cells, how moving into choice changes our past and our future simultaneously, and how to reprogram our neurology through conscious intention.

According to Dr Oz, the next breakthrough in health is in the way of ‘energy medicine’. On a personal note, I am encouraged about this. I have been viewed as being part of the lunatic fringe for over 20 years. Hey! If I live long enough I might even be perceived as being main-stream.

Now, I want to make it clear that this information about energy bodies is not something that just arrived in my head. In Eastern medicine, there is recognition of the interface between the body physical and the body energetic. There have been a thousand years of study and observation in regard to chakras (energy wheels), meridians and energy and the meticulous use of acupuncture to open the flow of energy in a person’s body.

My interest in all things above the green has come about as a result of a natural curiosity, mixed with a driving need (see In a Tizzy). I ponder many things, such as; there is more space in our bodies than stuff. Question: is this just empty space? According to the new breed of scientists and researchers, this space isn’t empty, it’s full of energy. In fact, we are mostly energy. According to Bob Proctor, in the movie The Secret, there is enough energy in our body to light up a city for days.

Part of my educational background has been learning energy balancing techniques as well as the study of flower and gem essences and how they balance and relax the whole person energetically. So, here are my thoughts and ruminations.

Very early in our lives, when we find ourselves stressed beyond our ability to cope, we energetically fracture. I call these fault-lines. From that point forward, these stress-lines, even though they may be repaired superficially, are still there ready to shunt if the internal pressures become too great. The body energetic is still showing issues in the present from a past time. This is why we seem to have patterns that show themselves over and over (see Finding the Pattern).

The physical body and the mental body communicate. There is matter and thoughts that create matter. I believe that our thoughts attract the manifestation of matter that is in alignment with these thoughts. When our thoughts flow and are stress free, things manifest even faster. I also believe we can block the flow of the good coming to us, by indulging in negative thinking.

The emotional body and the spiritual bodies communicate. This is where we respond to poetry, music, and colour. Whereas homeopathics and gem essences work to shift consciousness of the physical/mental axis, flower essences work to shift consciousness of the emotional/spiritual axis.

Flower Essences help to charge up the spiritual-electrical blueprint. In its simplest form, the Vertical Axis, our South Pole, is connected to our source in nature. This is the root chakra, represented in the physical by our adrenals.

Our North Pole is connected to our source in spirit. It’s counterpart in the physical is the hypothalamus and pituitary glands. This energy flow follows the same pattern as our physical spine, and the whole endocrine system as well. Flower essences activate, charge up and make fluid the flow between our lower chakas (survival/animal nature) and our upper chakras (creative/human/spiritual nature).

Research, is a quest to observe and study through complete objectivity. It appeals to the linear left brain thinking. This thinking wants everything to be inside the box. Applying this research standard to flower essences would be like asking a chemist to quantify poetry, or the effect of a sonata. To use a quantum terminology, we would be ignoring the whole in our attempts to measure the part.

Often, those who like boxes and thinking inside them will say that’ if there is benefit, that it must be auto-suggestion, placebo, or psycho-somatic’. What I have noticed in the past is that that flower essences, have really helped to calm my anxious border collie and markedly perked up my daughter’s fish (see ‘What About Bob?’).

My Mom, who was one of the most practical souls on earth, had a favorite saying. “The Proof is in the Pudding.” In other words, if it works it works.

Tomorrow I promise I will be back to my non-flakey usual self.

Bio-Chemical Individuality

A friend phoned me the other day. She was all 'fired up' because she had heard that the powers that be had made an executive decision about not treating children with ear infections until 72 hours after onset. She vented at some length about what it would be like to listen to a child scream for days and feel totally abandoned, helpless and resource-less. She suggested that it was time that I got on the ‘cyber- soapbox' to tell the world about the natural alternatives. She said "people are ready for some serious information about natural remedies".

I do empathize with parents who are feeling frustrated while manageing their children’s health. Parenting is by far, our most demanding and time consuming role. The responsibily we carry on our shoulders is daunting. The irony is that this is the one role in our lives that we have little or no training in.

I know that this is the information age, and we are bombarded with it. But, dear readers, it is a harsh fact that 'fear sells' and this negative spin distorts most of everything we hear. Our challenge is that without a solid and practical knowledge base, we cannot discern if the information we are hearing is trustworthy. Further, how can we know if the information has specific value for us or our family.

Wellness from a holistic perspective embraces a totally different paradigm. There are a few challenges about giving specific instructions to a general audience. A Holistic Health viewpoint is not based upon the treatment, but upon the person. We are all different and every person’s overall state of being is subjectivly different. To encompass this 'whole person' view, we need to consider bio-chemical individuality.

What is Bio-chemical individuality? Natural therapists call this ‘terrain’. What this means is that we have different ancestors, with different genetic strengths and weaknesses. We have had unique birth and formative year experiences. Our nutrition and food styles are different. Our resistance to bacteria and viruses are uniquely our own. The emotional stressors we experienced and our resilience to these emotional stressors are different.

Trauma can be stored in our tissues. Many people have scars that interrupt the body’s electrical flow. It is interesting to note that no child under the age of two years old is allowed to be vaccinated in Japan. Many people have had vital organs and glands removed or tampered with.

Dental surgery has profoundly affected many people, bio-chemically and physically. Decades ago, the country of Sweden implemented a mercury-free policy for its children. Some individuals are more sensitive to mercury, heavy metals, radiation, or agricultural chemicals. Many people are using medications on an ongoing basis. It is unusual to find anyone over the age of 30 who is not on some form of prescription or over the counter drug.

When past health issues have been handled in a suppressive manner, some individuals may find that they do not respond as well to natural products as they had hoped. People’s expectations and attitudes are unique. We have different pain thresholds. Some people try natural products, expecting a drug type of response. Most people know more about the inner workings of their car, than their own bodies.

Part of my role as a Holistic Health Educator, is to help people to understand the basic functions of their bodies from a relational and holistic perspective. The more that we can understand about how our body functions, the more we can effectively support our body’s efforts. Education is an essential foundation. From there, specific resources will naturally fit into place.

The selection of natural remedies out in the world is vast, but what I have noticed over the last two decades is that families share an affinity. Some children will be more like Mom. Another child will be more like Dad, or perhaps a child will show a strong similarity to a grandparent. The acorn and the tree will respond well to similar remedies. For most families, their home-aid kits will consist of a small handful of homeopathic single remedies, a homeopathic plex or two, as well as few tried and true herbal products.

It may require a learning curve to become knowledgeable and may take time to become comfortable in your role as the health care provider for your family. It may stretch your mind and your faith a little. I can assure you from experience that there is a peace of mind beyond price that comes from understanding the basics that have proven their worth over time. Knowledge and wisdom are by far the most valuable resources.

Wellness & Vitamin C

I have wonderful friends. I am introverted by nature and they have really been putting the push on me to come out of hiding and put myself out in the world. My blog has been one of the things I have initiated in response to this encouragement. One friend suggested that I start putting out really ‘juicy’ information about remedies, and what to do about what.

My challenge as a holistic health provider, is that I cannot say that anything works to cure anything. For example, if I am asked what is Vitamin C is for, I can never answer that Vitamin C cures scurvy. Now you may believe that is true, and untold thousands of ‘Limey’ sailors sure believed it was true. From a holistic viewpoint, it isn't even the right question.

The point is, that we are bio-chemical beings. Our bodies begin to lose integrity, resilience and strength when our nutrition becomes scanty. When this lack of nutrition continues for long periods of time and in the extreme, our bodies can not function properly or efficiently. In the past, when sailors lacked fresh food in their diets, they noticed themselves slowly falling apart.

All human beings have what is termed ‘hypoascorbanemia’, which is to say that we are always potentially deficient in ascorbic acid, which is Vitamin C. It is a curious thing that all other mammal’s livers seem to create their own Vitamin C. We stand alone as being the only mammal that requires a dietary source of this nutrient on a constant basis. If you have cold hands and feet, poor circulation, bruise easily, or your gums frequently bleed, your body may benefit from Vitamin C and its Bioflavonoid companions (Vitamin C complex)

Vitamin C is ascorbic acid. Our bodies need to buffer the ascorbic acid to a base pH before it can be utilized effectively. This requirement may draw minerals from our tissues to achieve this. This is why I recommend a buffered or mineral ascorbate source, especially when you increase your Vitamin C intake beyond the usual recommended daily allowance.

In the summer and fall season we are blessed with fresh foods that contain Vitamin C. Vitamin C is very sensitive, and processing and cooking tends to deteriorate it. In the winter, we need to make more of an effort to include Vitamin C rich foods into our diets on a daily basis. This is when most people choose to supplement Vitamin C. This nutrient is most often depleted in our bodies by stress, and lifestyle excesses such as the over-use of tobacco, alcohol and coffee.

Mikhael Adams N.D. has formulated a brilliant buffered Vitamin C Complex using botanical sources of Vitamin C and bioflavonoids. He says that “While the maintenance of good health, the reduced incidence of colds and the profound antioxidant properties of Vitamin C are its most frequently touted benefits; the anti-aging properties are emerging as a very significant additional silver lining.”

To speak of 'wellness' means rather than focusing on disease and its treatment, we look at the restorative and nourishing aspects of food, and lifestyle. Nutrition is for life. I encourage you to make optimal nutrition part of your daily self-care as we move into the cold season.

A Life-long Relationship

We tend to ride our bodies hard. A lack of good self-care can result in our bodies being chronically under nourished, over stimulated, over worked and under rested. On top of this our bodies are expected to tolerate stresses self-created by our own personalities. Our own internal dialogues bombard the cells of our bodies constantly with negative, abusive and demoralizing messages on an almost constant basis.

Emotions have a molecular weight. In other words, they are real. It is almost impossible to heal the physical body in the presence of chronic negative emotional chemistry. It creates a constant toxic down load. Such emotions are natural to the human condition.

However, as Martin Luther said “we cannot keep birds from flying overhead, but we can keep them from nesting in our hair”.

There are many ways to work with the program of habitual toxic thinking. There are many therapies that work with changing the feeling/thought/mind connection that have proven their effectiveness over time. Flower essences can help tremendously, as they work within the emotional body directly.

But of course, the first major step is to be aware that you are doing it to yourself and sincerely desire a change. If we are not willing to dig deep and be brutally honest with ourselves, we can find ourselves giving away the small addictions and withholding the emotional addictions; the ‘pay offs’ we are not willing to give up. We dig the juice!

As we harbour and feed such feelings as resentment, bitterness, disappointment, unforgiveness, and self-righteous indignation, we essentially invest so heavily in our past; we rob ourselves of our own future. And we think our bodies don’t know

Imagine this if you will; we are at a horse race. After the race is run, we interview the jockey. “Great ride, a little slow at the start…really picked up on the home stretch…really pushed hard and we came through.” and so on. Then we interview the horse. That’s when we get the real scoop on how aware, attuned, appreciative and compassionate the rider is.

Ride respectfully. Your body is yours for life.