Healing Herbs

I have been busy for several days now trying to get my web site back into perfect working condition. Another example of letting something go until it is a major job. I feel like I am barely making a dent, but each dent must be made to reshape the whole.

Anyway, I found a couple of articles that I had been working on but never published so thought I would give you some links.

Bringing herbal lore into the modern home is always interesting.

Borage

Marshmallow

Comfrey

until next time - smile
Sharon
Answers For Your Health

What is Harder - Starting Over or Starting New

We have all been there. The new project, the fear and anticipation, the excitement of something new.

We have all been there. Trying to breathe life into an old project, the boredom, the failures, knowing in your heart that it is just no good. Knowing that you are just not good enough to do it.

These words bring to mind all the diets, exercise programs, eating healthy resolutions and promises to yourself and others.

It is the promise to mow the yard and plant some flowers that keeps getting put off until tomorrow.

It is the vacation that goes wrong from day one and has to be salvaged rather than enjoyed.

IT is the sub conscious knowledge that is working to protect you from some unknown fear that is holding you back, making you sleepy and forcing you to put off starting over. So much easier to start new. Problem is, eventually you reach a point that there really is nothing new.

Vacation to a new place still starts as a vacation - plan or no. Did you learn from the last one to pack differently, to have a larger budget, to buy tickets in advance?

Your first attempt at a diet was probably a vague I will eat healthier. I'll have more salads and stay away from sugar. When that failed you had to start over with a specific diet, Atkins, cabbage or what ever. When that failed you were too afraid to start again. You fell back on the statement - everyone knows those diets don't work.

Maybe you eventually tried a meal plan diet where your meals are delivered to you and all you have to control is how many you eat every day. Yes if you eat 2 days of meals in one day the plan won't work. And by the way, did you learn to count calories or recognize portion size.

Have you reached the point of realizing that the only way to control your eating habits is to control what is available to eat? Do you accept that you must plan menus and alternate menus and buy only for those menus? Does that food delivery plan look more appealing?

Have you reached the point of realizing that no food plan alone will get you to your true health goal? Without the exercise to build muscle and burn fat you are just washing dishes in cold water without soap.

Gloom, despair, what is the point of trying, I will just fail.

It is buried deep in our subconscious, the will to live. That subconscious desire to live keeps us from doing some of the things we need to do to live well. Sounds strange doesn't it. How could our minds keep us sick and fat and weak when the mind is supposed to be keeping us alive and well.

The mind can be tricked with drugs and with memories. Otherwise how could any one say they can't live without a cigarette or a drink or a fix from cocaine or sugar.

EFT can be a valuable tool in the detox of the mind to free you to go on to a healthier life. But freeing your mind does not change the fact that losing 40 pounds will not happen this weekend. That falls into the category of life goal - once you lose the weight you have to keep it off.

The body has to go through a period of cleansing -- detox if you will. In a hospital, they use drugs to help the body go through a withdrawal from cocaine. If they didn't you could be looking at heart failure just from the stress and toxins released.

Your personal addictions to sugar or cigarette may not require hospitalization to overcome, but they do put a strain on your body and mind when you take them away. Since your mind wants the body to feel good, it will demand those things that are not good for you. Your mind may be confused about what is good or bad, but it remains strong in the demand for what it is use to on a daily basis.

Every day you must start over. You may add some new experiences to the mix, but basically you are working from an existing starting point. Habits are now just unconscious actions. You don't think about brushing your teeth in the morning, you just do it. You do what you do every day because that is what you do every day.

Getting healthy does not fall into the category of new project or starting over project. To be healthy falls into the category of habit, each day doing the same things, eating well, exercising moderately, sufficient sleep and managing stress. Remember that the managing of your stress is a great place to insert strength training - punching a speed bag will do more to remove your stress than a cigarette and it will build muscle which will burn more fat.

Curtis Grant said,

Having the world's best idea will do you no good unless you act
on it. people who want milk shouldn't sit on a stool in the
middle of a field in the hopes that a cow will back up to them.

So maybe it is start new or maybe start over, but take some action today to build the habits that will take you to a long and healthy life.

until next time smile
Sharon

Natural is not easy

Eating natural foods in a natural state and living green. One would think this is a new concept instead of an ages old concept. Once it was just a necessity. There was very little in the way of processed food - just canned goods and smoked meat. Everything was recycled and everyone did the recycling.

Automation and factories took the canning out of the home kitchen. In fact, it took the cooking out of the kitchen. I wonder if the inventor of the TV dinner had any idea of the havoc he released. I see people at the store buying nothing but frozen dinners. No fresh produce, no fruit canned or fresh and beer and wine and sodas fill out the order. These meals are being fed to children as well as adults.

It is no longer just single mothers working 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet. Many couples no longer see each other because they are both working 2 jobs. The kids are left on their own or with a sitter. In this day of rising gas prices which in turn raises the price of groceries, I see more and more of the retired population trying to find some way to cut costs.

Processed prepared foods and take out have become necessities. Blame it on the time crunch. Blame it on the economy - it is cheaper to buy a TV dinner for one or two than it is to buy fresh and cook. Time and money equal malnutrition.

We priced out a new counter top for the kitchen. Going green using recycled materials was very much more expensive than the other options except top of the line granite. Recycled paper made into paper napkins is twice as expensive as the cheap brand.

Plastic -- once the best thing every invented -- now the scourge of mankind for multiple generations. Where is the scientist who is working on turning used plastic into vehicle fuel? Add plastic to the list of things that actually harm your body. Plastics leach toxins into the food they hold - especially when placed in the microwave.

All those things that were supposed to make life better, easier and last longer have turned into bursting bubbles. Carbons emissions from everything from light bulbs, vehicles and even humans is slowly destroying the earth. All the labor saving devices that were supposed to improve the quality of life turned most of us into flabby couch potatoes.

There is a lovely woman who comes into the store occasionally. She is fit, trim, well dressed, vibrant and somewhat snooty - has no patience with over weight people. She also has a live in maid who does the meals and she herself spends her time with tennis lessons, golf lessons, the gym and spa and trips to Bermuda. Her reality is something most of my customers only dream about.

It is an easy answer - go green, live green, recycle, eat natural healthy. But the reality is that it is a hard choice. It is a more expensive choice -- a more time consuming choice.

It means that instead of picking that parking space in the back of the lot, you leave the car at home and walk to the store. You can't carry as much when you are walking so that is multiple trips on foot to the store. Now you also have to deal with the budget and not over buy. In fact now you must plan your menus so you know what you need for a couple of days. Wait, is there a good side to the gas price crisis? Will this price crunch force people to walk, to get healthier?

My mother used to tell me the story about going to the store. I was not even walking and my brother just a year and a half older. She would put us in a wagon and pull the wagon to the store. My brother had to walk on the trip home so there was room in the wagon for the groceries next to me. She did not do this to be healthy, she did it because she did not have a car and we had to eat.

If the grocery store is too far away to walk to, then you must plan one major trip buying all that you will need for the week. Savings on impulse buying, saving gas by not making more trips. When you are going to the store, see if your neighbor needs something - milk or bread and be a friend and save them a trip or take them with you.

With a little thought and planning, we can make it through this crisis and perhaps become a little healthier and make our planet a little healthier.

until next time - smile
Sharon

Fear - Inertia -- What Stops You?

As you may have noticed I have not been posting very much lately. I have the worst possible excuse -- fear. A couple of months ago I received a letter from someone who had read one of my articles on the web site. She took great exception to it and was very verbally abusive. I do not expect that everyone will agree with what I write or publish. I have had letters in the past that questioned why I wrote something. I have also had letters that thanked me for my view point.

I am not a doctor nor do I claim to diagnose or cure any condition. I write about the natural health benefits available to everyone in this world. I take a positive approach to any disease. Yes, I understand pain and suffering but I do not focus on that pain. I believe that most people want something to believe in, to focus on, that can help them get better - get beyond the pain.

However, what her letter did was make me question my style of writing. It caused me to go back and look at some older articles. I hope I have improved my writing over these years, looking at some of the older articles - I needed improvement. I also found some pages that came up as errors when the link was clicked - my web site needed some long overdue maintenance.

With all the distractions in my life including work at the store, family drama and a broken swimming pool, I have done nothing. It is that over whelming--- too many things--- that causes inertia because it is easier to do nothing than to pick a problem and start solving it.

So today I start again. I gathered up my herbal supplements and actually took them. I ate a proper meal and did some exercise. I am posting to my blog - at least one of them. I deleted the letter from my email so I cannot go back again and again and read it. I welcome letters from my readers - even the ones that disagree with me. But, should I ever again get such an abusive email I will immediately delete it, forget it and continue writing about what I know about. And I will continue to write with a positive outlook and the possibilities available to change disease to health. Oh, and I am slowly getting all those broken links fixed.

And I apologize to you and to myself for allowing 1 email to upset my apple cart to the degree that it did.

until next time - smile
Sharon