5 Great Advent Season Wellness Practices

Advent, the season of "joyful waiting" before Christmas, seems to me to be a good time to commit to a small practice that will benefit you in body, mind and spirit and keep you from getting all frazzled about shopping and gift-giving.  So here are just 5 suggestions to implement now until Christmas.  You may decide that it feels so good, you will keep it going through New Years' Day.

1.  Take your sneakers to work and take a walk during your lunch hour, instead of sitting at your desk.   An alternative might be to exercise while you are watching a great old holiday movie on television.

2.  Take a 10 minute break during the day or evening, sit down, close your eyes and do some deep breathing and relaxing in your favorite chair.  Add some soothing music if you like to do that.

3.  Temporarily eliminate some food or drink that you know might not be healthy for you on a regular basis.  I decided to wait until Christmas to have any more So Delicious Chocolate Coconut Milk frozen dessert.

4.  Give yourself at least one hour of free time during the week to sit down and read a good book, do some needlework, have a cup of tea or hot chocolate, or take a long, hot bath.  Feel free to do it more than once a week!

5.  Take a few minutes to write down all that you are grateful for: family, friends. good health, a job and anything else you can think of.  Do this as often as you like.

Do you Overeat or Over-Anything?

Whenever I think about dieting, I get all excited about trying something new and not extreme.  I hate "dieting" and I prefer just to eat healthy food without having to over-think it (calories, carbs, how often, how much, etc.)  That is why I love this scripture verse by Saint Paul so much - it is so sensible and true.


"Everything is permissible for me - but not everything is beneficial.  Everything is permissible for me - but I will not be mastered by anything."  1 Cor. 6:12

Are you mastered by sugar, chocolate, over-exercising, over-working, over-anything?  I try to remember this verse when I think I "have" to have what I crave, or what I "have" to do.  The fact is not everything is good for me.  And I don't want this craving to master me. Try meditating on this verse when you feel you have to go to the kitchen and get that late-night snack....or have to check your e:mail or be on the computer.

Do You Want To Get Well? Hope for those with CFS, fibromyalgia, and other chronic conditions

Did you at one time have doctor or doctors tell you that your condition will be chronic and that, basically, you will never get well?  That is was happened to me back in 1984 when my internist told me he had just read about a condition called, Chronic Epstein-Barr Virus Syndrome, and that is what he thought this mysterious illness was...No cure, no easy fix, just live with it.  I decided that I would find out all I could about this condition and work on making my immune system as strong as possible to keep the virus dormant.  I paced myself, took a nap everyday, ate healthy food, took supplements.  That is how I lived until about a year and a half ago.

I read a book by Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D, called "Coyote Wisdom" and it changed the way I thought about the illness.  There were multiple stories of people in the book who used what had meaning to them to get well or at least change their thinking about their condition.  I decided that I did not have to believe what the doctor(s) said and that I had to believe that I would get well.  Your belief becomes your biology.  I would change the belief that was limiting me.  I would still do all I was doing to stay healthy, but I would also go try some things I thought I couldn't do.  I would push myself a little when reluctant to push myself a little.  And it worked.  I felt stronger and healthier.  I let my body guide me, instead of blindly following what the practitioners were telling me. (see work by Byron Katie).  Granted, I still do all the things I was doing before to stay healthy, I just changed my thinking.

My Top 6 Natural Remedies for Cold or Virus

The last two weeks I have been battling an upper respiratory bug which included fever, cough, nasal congestion and fatigue.  It has not been fun and the cough still lingers on.  This is what I always do when I have one of these viruses (which doesn't happen very often):

1.  Start drinking my hot toddies (hot water, wedge of lemon and teaspoon of honey).  It always soothes my throat and cough and works as an astringent to clear the bugs (plus Vitamin C).

2.  Eat chicken soup, preferably homemade.  Great for healing and sinuses.

3.  Use a saline solution for nasal congestion in drops or spray.  I use "Little Noses" which my daughter used when my grandchildren were babies.  Works great!

4.  Apply Lourdes holy water on my throat, neck, nose and anywear else that needs healing.  It was given to me by a dear friend who got it from her aunt who visited the Lourdes healing site in France.  I also pray for healing.  Read about Lourdes here  http://www.awakening-healing.com/LourdesFR.htm

5.  I snuggle in with a good book.  This time I read "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" by Helen Simonson.  Such a great story - I didn't want to put it down.  Enjoyable, easy reading plus a love story.  Loved it!

6.  Last but not least - REST.  I didn't exercise for a week, which really bugged and worried me, but breathing hard when you have upper respiratory symptoms isn't smart.  Just makes you cough.  I am back to walking again - use good judgement with this.  Fresh air and sunshine are good for you, so some gentle strolls won't hurt if you are up for it.  But not in really cold air.

So those are my natural remedies for surviving the winter cough and cold bug.  Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season!

      

Grotto at Lourdes, France

                                                                                                                      My New Favorite Book


P.S.  I do take Tylenol or Ibuprophen for fever or aches

What Brings You Joy?

Today I have been contemplating what brings me joy in my life - what gives me life, what sustains me, what do I do when I am having a bad day - a day when I am hurting physically or emotionally or spiritually.  For me it is family first, especially spending time with my husband or my daughter and twin 4-year-old grandchildren.  I call a friend.  I also turn to scripture for inspiring verses from the Bible.  Scripture verses have sustained me in the worst of times - when I thought I would never feel well or happy again.  Being around horses at the stable or sitting outside with one of my two kitties in my lap calms me and always makes me feel better.  A walk outdoors in the sunshine.  Doing work that you find rewarding - mine is my part-time job at the FSU School of Medicine.  Finding what brings you joy and what has meaning to you can be a way of starting on the road to wellness.  It can focus your attention away from illness and not feeling good to feeling a glimmer of hope and purpose.  Give it a try - What brings you joy????

My grandson at horse show