Another Reason I Love Lavender Oil

Yesterday was a long, demanding day for me. In the process, I did not get enough water to drink, became horribly dehydrated, started getting a headache, came home, grabbed a Gatorade, drank about half of it and had a short nap, thinking it might help.

Not so much. I woke up and my head was killing me. I was desperate enough that I took an extra-strength ibuprofen, drank the rest of the Gatorade, had a tuna sandwich for supper, and went back to the sofa with a movie on in the background, and a frozen "magic bag" on my forehead. After about 30 minutes or so, I was feeling much better. An ibuprofen alone doesn't seem to help when I'm like that, and Gatorade alone doesn't seem to help enough, but combine the two and a huge difference.

So, I thought I was out of the woods. Well...

My right eye was bugging me before getting ready for bed. I had a look in the mirror: pink eye. Shoot. (I seem prone to the viral kind.) It reminded me that I did have some unusual gunk that morning in that eye. I looked up essential oils and pink eye, learned about people finding lavender helpful--but then was so out of it and tired when I got to bed, I forgot to put any on or diffuse it.

This morning, I woke up to a bit of a cough, a sniffly nose and 2 pink eyes. *sigh* And we're talking it looked like somebody coloured the entire white of my eye a medium-light pink.

I didn't forget yesterday's post about my Daily Success Plan, so I did my morning prayer/meditation and exercise (well, just my shoulder stretches; I really feel the need for rest today which, unfortunately (haha, not) means I won't get the cleaning done I was planning on doing) and remembered about the lavender oil. I put some in the diffuser and then some around the eye along the bone, not actually coming too close to the eye.

I then moved to a new location in the house to finish my stretching and then do my uplifting/inspirational reading as part of my Daily Success Plan, but I went to the bathroom first to have a look at my eyes. The pink itself was gone, just a bit of bloodshot look. It had only been about 30 minutes since starting the diffuser and putting the lavender on. My eyes look a little like my allergies are bugging me, but that's it. Well, a little extra fluid that I don't have when my allergies are acting up. I'm not thinking the actual cause of the pink eye is going to leave sooner than normal because of diffusing and applying lavender, but if such a simple, man-made-chemical-free product can help relieve it, by golly, I'm going to stick with it! I tell people I know and I'm pretty sure I've shared here before that lavender is, imho, one of the essential oils to make sure you have on hand.

If you would like to try Young Living's Lavender Oil, or any of the other products, yourself, visit Young Living and put 1772120, my ID, in your order.

15 Days to Freedom Challenge--Day 1

In my desire to get back into--or just into--consistent blogging, I decided to start the 15 Days to Freedom Challenge by Natalie Sisson, Suitcase Entrepreneur . It's actually a contest, so check it out. In any case, I missed the start date--which was January 15--but it's not too late to start, so I'm starting. :)

This makes today Day 1 for me. She is starting strong and having us look at our daily plan--and to create our own Daily Success Plan.

What is my daily success plan? Not what I'm doing lately. Natalie talks in her video about starting the day off strong and I know I find the same--how I start my day makes such a difference in how I feel and what I accomplish. Not only that, but I know that some of the work that I want to get done requires that I set aside time specifically to do it, and mornings, before anybody else is really up, are the best time for that.




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I know I function best when I get some time in the morning, at least 15 minutes, for prayer/meditation. If I don't do it first thing, I tend to not do it, to be honest, or if I do take that time after having done something else, it's like I don't connect with it well. My daily success plan, therefore, needs to start off with time by myself to pray/meditate.

My energy levels--and therefore indirectly my success--are affected by my physical health. Exercise definitely makes a difference, and it's something I haven't been doing really lately. After prayer/meditation is a good time. Incidentally, Natalie says her best days are when she starts off with meditation followed by some sort of exercise.

If I were to think about my ideal days, they also have some uplifting or spiritual reading time incorporated into my early morning routine, before I get to any kind of work. These three components--prayer/meditation, exercise and reading--actually match up with Jack Canfield's "Hour of Power", doing each for 20 minutes at a time.

My days don't start like this when I get to bed too late or I have things on my mind, so an evening routine is important, too, but to really get my day going and feeling like I'm on the right track, making sure I have the time for these three things makes all the difference.

What about you? Do you have a way of starting your day that if you don't do it, you just feel off?

5 Reasons to Do a Detox

I have not forgotten about doing a detox. But I needed a reminder of why I should commit to doing one, even if it's just for a few days. Here are the top 5 reasons I've found to do detoxes:



5) Because your're feeling sluggish. If you've been feeling sluggish for more than just a few days, your body is saying it needs help. Cleaning things out with a detox can help.

4) For overall improved health. This is both immediate and long-term. If you are constantly getting sick, a detox can be a good way of flushing things out--and perhaps motivate you to get on a healthier eating plan. But a detox can also help with things like blood pressure and other issues, especially if you detox regularly.

3) Improved skin tone. And don't we all feel better when our skin looks great? Of course, this improved skin is the result of improved health, but it's still good to think of it as a reason on its own.

2) If you are overweight, then this is a reason. A short detox might not do anything for your weight, but a well planned one that lasts longer should. Not only because of the change in food consumption but because very often, weight stays on us because our bodies are too clogged up to deal with things properly.

1) Because your body just needs a break, especially after Christmas. All the junk we eat and the harmful substances around us that get into our blood stream end up in our blood. Our bodies can only do so much detoxing on their own and with our modern life, even those who eat nothing but healthy, organic foods are still recommended to do regular detoxes. You may not even have any symptoms that a detox would be useful, but that doesn't mean your body won't get something good out of it.

Of course, the next step is to decide which type of detox and how long--and how to manage it when you are responsible for the meals in a household of people...

Yearning for a -Free Life

There has been, naturally, discussion here and there of people not being ready to end their Christmas vacations. If you have already ended your Christmas vacation and wish you were still on it, I'm sorry to be admitting that we've had two weeks.

But it doesn't feel like enough.

I could really use another week. Or two. Or three. And I am looking inward to figure out why.

The only answer at the moment is that there is some sort of disconnect between how I am living my life and what I really want. What the innermost part of me says is how I was made to live. But what is it that I really want? Well, watching Pride and Prejudice recently, the version with Keira Knightley, I found myself going, "Yes, that is the life I would like." Not just like, but would thoroughly enjoy and love, I think. While they only show a bit of the involvement the family had in the goings-on of the household, it was all so much calmer and less rushed. Sure, there's laundry and some tending of the animals and some cooking. But other things, too. Go for walks. Hang out under trees with books. Travel by carriage--and not be in such a rush and it's not even that big of a deal if your carriage breaks down and affects your timing. Attend parties. Live fairly simply--yet still have enough to have hired staff. It was, as at least one site has described general life in the early 1800s, a leisurely life. Even for those who worked in typical lower and middle class settings.

from http://janitesonthejames.blogspot.ca/2011/08/trees-in-jane-austens-landscape.html

As this Christmas season comes to an end (it's the 10th day of Christmas, by the way), I find myself really longing for that kind of a -free life: constant-rushing-free; constant-outside-demands-free; too-much-excess-free. I'm not sure at the moment what the first step to take is for that--to attain a leisurely sort of life that doesn't slip into just plain laziness--but the desire is there.

What about you? Do you have similar thoughts about your own life? Things are too fast-paced? Too full of outside demands and even too much stuff? Will you join me this year in reclaiming the simpler, -free life that your inner self is asking for?