Thursday, June 18, 2009

June

The days are clear,
Day after day,
When April's here,
That leads to May,
And June,
Must follow soon:
Stay, June stay!-
If only we could stop the moon
And June!


........................................................-Christina Georgina Rossetti

Friday, June 5, 2009

Make Room for the New


Ask yourself: "How do I want to feel?" and remember that we are what we surround ourselves with.

I've been simplifying my home....big time. Every room. Every closet. Even the garage (thanks John). He began cleaning the garage and I simply said, "Don't be afraid to throw things away - we have way too much STUFF!" And it feels so good to walk into a room and actually be able to see exactly what's there! It brings energy to oneself.

Here are some simple things to consider when going through all the stuff lingering in every corner of your house:

If it weighs you down, clogs you up or just plain makes you feel bad about yourself throw it out, give it away, let it go and move on.

If it just sits there taking up positive energy (contributing nothing to positive energy) let it go. If you're not moving forward you're moving backward.

If you agonize over it too long - throw it out. Don't make the decision a hard one.

Questions to ask yourself:

Do you really love it?

Do you need it now?

Can you imagine yourself or anyone in your family ever loving or needing it in the future?

If you can't answer yes to one of those questions sell it, donate it, or trash it.

Make room for the NEW and NOW!
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Friday, May 29, 2009

18 Steps to Vibrant Health

If there's on thing I love - it's learning how to improve ones overall health and sharing it with others...but first, here's what I've been dealing with which has led me to a deeper level of researching and understanding I never thought I'd tap into:
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I've been taking some serious steps to improving my overall health. My energy levels, zest for life, and even my relationship with Heavenly Father have all been negatively affected by prolonged stress and physical suffering which have consumed my life, using up the energy only one body can posses, as it all went towards negative things, and came to a head about a month ago.

I've been merely waking up from another unrestful night's sleep knowing I was to face yet another day in which I had to do my best to survive.

Thriving not surviving is what I want in life and therefore have begun to make some changes to my life as I've realized what my full potential is...(who knew that I truly have the power to change my lifes circumstances which have caused me so much misery for far too long?)

I have begun seeing a TMJ Dentist and am now going through the treatment to fix my TMJ - and my sphenoid bone. Yup, not only have I been dealing with pinched nerves, tired jaws and muscles within my face due to my TMj I also have an important bone within my head misaligned which has subluxated most of the other bones within my head (which is what has been causing me my physical grief)...needless to say, there have been days where I felt the need to take a baseball bat to my head!


But, fortunately, a baseball bat won't be necessary, my Doctor will fix me in a more... gentle way. Many years of stress has had a debilitating affect on my Adrenal system which I'm attempting to restore with Dr. Christopher's Adrenal formula. Also, my hormones have been off my whole life (which, in fact, could be due to that misaligned sphenoid bone) but, just in case it isn't, I'm also taking Dr Christopher's Hormonal Changease to help fix that as well.

I've learned so much through all of my reading and researching. So now I give a bit of info to you:

18 Steps to Vibrant Health
1. Pure water - at least 8 glasses per day - keeps fluids flowing, flushing out the bad - 75% of our bodies are fluid! (distilled, with pinch of sea salt - has lots of minerals our bodies need)
2. Fresh Juice daily
3. Eat Whole foods - Fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, and meat every now and then (our bodies need some of the vitamins which come from meat but we only need to eat meat ONCE a month in order to obtain those vitamins) Eat a salad at every meal. Fruit salads, green salads, whatever it be but, green salads, especially are necessary for a healthy body.
4. Bowel Cleansing - A good bowel cleansing is so refreshing and energizing. (blessedherbs.com)
5. Cleansing and Detoxification (herbdoc.com)
6. Breath Deeper - More oxygen means more life and energy.
7. Stretching, walking, moving
8. Water Therapy - Alternate hot and cold in shower 1 minute each 7 times - gets good things flowing and feels so good!
9. Laugh more
10. Natural cleaning - Clean with natural products. (Amway, Shaklee, Dr. bronner)
11. Stop Television - Talk, read, play games, go for walks instead.
12. Trashing - Dump old unused stuff and bad emotional memorabilia.
13. Love life!
14. Express yourself - Hold it in and rot!
15. Help Others
16. More physical intimacy - Yup, you heard it.
17. Listen to yourself - What is your self talk? Is it positive? What's your body telling you?
18. Love yourself

How to simplify your home, whole foods recipes, and more - coming soon!

I can't end this blog without giving a big thanks to my dad who has made it possible for me to see Dr. Wall.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Dabbling away

As like most people, life has been busy.


Aside from living every day with the symptoms of TMJ I've been keeping my spare time busy with working on the illustrations for a language learning book set which I have been dabbling with for the last year and a half but have put more serious focus on in the last 6 months as I finish writing the stories, plugging away at illustrating for those stories, and work on the details which will help make the set a success.

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But, concerning my TMJ - I found (more like was led to by a caring Father) to a "TMJ Dentist" who will, hopefully, rid me of something so....inconvenient and debilitating -once we're able to come up with the money neccessary to go through the whole treatment plan. But there's hope and I now realize that there is no other way - I have to face this head on and get rid of it once and for all.




But, as for some exciting news - Tyra was baptized and on her birthday of all things! It was a wonderful day. Most of our family was there to celebrate "Tyra's day." I love to see these little ones grow and progress. We set out a "Tyra table" with all of her favorite things sitting upon it for all to see.
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This table included: a scarf she knitted, books such as Julie of the Wolves, a unicorn book set, Ida B., The Last of the Whangdoodles, a few things she embroidered, a photo of her favorite people (Jesus, Beethoven, Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller, and Florence Nightingale), a photo of Katara "water bending", her oil painting, her piano music, horses, a large jewel and other things.


For those of you with kids, isn't it wonderful watching these little ones become who they are as they are drawn to things which naturally interest them and feel passionate about things which genuinely touch them? It's .... wondrous!


Homeschooling my children has definitely been trying (I'm not wanting pity - we chose this path, after all!) but, it's been trying in a good way. I am continually evaluating my strengths, my weaknesses, my selfishness, my pride, my ambitions, my controlling attitude, my desires etc. etc. and am always working towards creating a home that is a place my kids want to be - "...a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."

Thursday, February 26, 2009

"We are all pencils in the hand of God." -M.T.

I haven't posted on this blog for a while. To be honest, I'm not sure I want to keep this blog going. Sometimes the blogging world seems to suck me in and take me away from things that are more important - things that I know I should be doing and that make me feel good. But, I do feel good about sharing messages that have changed me for the better. And I share them in hopes that they might, just by a hair, improve someone elses life as well.

I've wondered, is life more about serving each other or teaching each other "lessons"? I've come to the conclusion that it's all about serving each other which, in turn, allows us to learn life's lessons through such service. How? Because you teach about selfless love. And love is fundamentally what our eternal journey is all about. It's what we're here to learn and understand, it's what brings us joy, it's what makes up Gods power.

I've been sick for nearly 3 weeks. Yes, three weeks! I caught a nasty virus that lasts for two weeks. About one and a half weeks through it I felt better for almost one day when suddenly fatigue, body aches, chills, etc. etc. came upon me again and lasted up until well, yesterday. I went to the doctor who gave me a prescription for a sinus infection and I'm on my way to good health again.

I've come to understand, in these last few weeks, how humans naturally yearn for someone to care about them while they suffer. When someone cares about you it feeds the soul, brings physical strength, and buoys the desire to live. I've realized how important it is to physically serve one another - touching, healing, and giving to one another to help ease each others burdens, sorrows, and sufferings.

Mother Teresa knew what she was doing beyond what we understand. As she nursed those suffering on the streets of Calcutta she nursed them knowing the chances of survival were slim. But, most importantly, she nursed them knowing they were given some love by a caring hand before they left their experience here on this earth.

Even though not all of us are sick or dying we all suffer in some way. Which gives us a perfect opportunity to go out and serve anyone, anytime, anywhere. We need to feed souls, bring physical strength, and buoy the desire to live to those around us as we care for one another. We need to pray to have our usual way of living and seeing things be opened up so we may be led to those whom we can serve and so we may be made aware of how we can serve them. Then we need to pray for courage to go forth and serve in ways that, more than likely, aren't deemed as being "normal".

Mother Teresa knew her calling - to be a nun living in the slums - was something which had never been requested or done before but she knew this calling was from God and after some patient waiting she was granted permission to leave her monastery of 20 years. Her face went pale when she was told she could go but promptly asked, "May I go right now?"

She began her work in the slums by lifting a dying woman in her small arms and carrying her from hospital to hospital - none of which accepted the diseased woman who, in this act of love, died in the small caring arms of Mother Teresa. This first experience of serving the suffering people in her city didn't stop her from doing what she felt called to do - a calling which has helped those who suffer (and those who are willing to serve) throughout the world.

This world is in need of caring hands, an open mind, and a willing spirit to set a new standard of service toward one another.

In the words of Mother Teresa-

"Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your own weakness."






Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Posts

My most recent posts can be found here.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Favorite Gift

One of my favorite gifts to give this year was my most recent oil painting. It was of my sister in laws three children. I used each child's favorite color to be their background color. All three were painted on a 12X24 canvas.


Madison's was my favorite. I love the expression on her face and I love the lighting on her face as well, not to mention, she has beautiful facial features.

I did this same type of portrait painting of my own children before I attempted this piece but, seeing as how it was my first portrait painting ever, and especially after having these work out much better, I think I'll dump my progress on that one and start over. I used too much brown in theirs.

I realized that children naturally have a lot of beautiful pink colors highlighting their faces....it's the adults which lack that pink luster.

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