Tag Archives: health

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To Receive, First You Must Ask

giftIn the last year, I’ve made the commitment to myself, to eat organically grown food, to avoid chemicals as much as possible, to eliminate processed sugar, caffeine, and finally to transition to a vegan diet (currently in process). I want to preface the former statement by saying, all of these things I have felt guided to do.

I am by no means suggesting that this is the “How to eat a good diet” type of story. We’re all different, with unique metabolisms, no two people are going to eat the same way.  Always follow your personal guidance

I know without question,  that I have been divinely guided every step of the way to make dietary and lifestyle changes. I have become extremely sensitive, which also includes making the transition to non-chemical natural-based household cleaners. One of my favorite product lines for Natural cleaners is Seventh Generation. (More on that in another blog!)

This brings me to a story I felt guided to share. Yesterday, I went out shopping to my local natural health-food store. I have become a frequent shopper to this store, and I was given a gift certificate as a birthday gift from some friends. It had taken me a considerable amount of time to redeem the gifted amount, and in that time, amongst the shuffle of papers, I had misplaced my copy of the redeem slip for the certificate. I should mention, here, that for the last several months, my angels have been guiding me to work on my giving to receiving ratio, lovingly telling me that my capacity to allow myself to receive is far out of balance with my comfort level in giving to others. The angels also tell me, I am not alone.

Many of us struggle with this, which is the very thing that inspired me to write this blog. For many years, I have been acutely sensitive, to “bothering” people, worrying about “inconveniencing” them, “putting people out” or not allowing anything or anyone to “fuss” over me.

Another classic example of my inability to allow myself to receive was with complements. Even until very recently, (I’d say the last 2 months), if someone gave me a compliment, I would find a way to either deflect what was said, and shift the conversation back to the other person, or flat-out deny the compliment literally, and declare myself unworthy of it. In either case, I was refusing to receive or accept the love given from others. Isn’t that sneaky? In the past I didn’t even realize, I was denying myself. But, I sure have noticed, now that I am making a conscious effort to shift, allow and receive compliments by taking them in, and saying thank you!

Are you unknowingly denying yourself opportunities to receive?

As I waited at the till in the health food store for my grocery total, my intuition spoke so loud it was deafening. “Ask about your gift certificate!” I did just that. I had no attachment to whatever would happen, I simply trusted I was being guided. I explained how I’d misplaced the slip, but wondered if the store might have a record of a purchased gift certificate?

The clerk was happy to check for me, and after a few moments of searching, was able to produce the receipt with my name on it!  The store happy to honour my voucher.

The clerk herself unknowingly confirmed the intuitive voice of my angels and guides. She gave me validation, I had heard, and followed though as I was guided. “You don’t ask, you don’t get!” She smiled.

If I had spent time playing small and worrying about asking, as I have done so many times before, I would have missed out on a lovely opportunity to receive, thank you, Angels. xo

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Meditation – Am I doing it Right?

If you are anything like me ad you spent spent a good portion of your life feeling like you are s spiritual person, knowing you believe in the concept of God, source energy, the creator, higher self and spirit,  regardless of your religious beliefs; then maybe you are also like me and you spent a good portion of your life being weird ed out by the idea of meditation.

Hey its ok if you find meditation to be uncomfortable and strange.  That's the motivation behind this blog post. 

I hope that by sharing my own experience and growth with meditation, I can help soothe and simplify the process with you.

Meditation is gentle and all too often, whether we are new at it or whether we feel seasoned in our practice we all tend to judge our meditation ability.  There is no right or wrong way to meditate.  We are all unique people which is a beautiful thing to be embraced and celebrated.  Meditation is about quieting the mind.  It is about relaxation, peace and communication with divine energy.

 

 IMG_0552Our human tenancy is such that we have ideas about what we think mediation should be and if we hold those images up to our experience of meditation, we start to create the belief that we are doing it wrong.  I will use some of my own experiences with meditation as examples: 

When I began my meditation practice I placed a lot of expectation on myself to find stillness quickly,  I have perfectionist tendencies and so, sitting in the energy of expecting perfection blocked my progress. 

I got irritated with myself if I couldn't block out background noises or the sound of m own thoughts.  I was frustrated if a guided meditation called for me to visualize, and I couldn't seem to bring the image to my mind. 

The pressure I was putting on myself to be an expert at meditation was preventing me from creating the peace and communication with spirit that I was seeking, want to be clear though, that meditation is a journey not a destination.  Some days you will feel a stronger connection than others. 

divine

There may or may not be days when you feel a wonderful profound connection to spirit, and there may be days when things just don't gel, and you feel frustrated and uncomfortable.  That's completely natural.  As humans we tend to be very hard on ourselves, at least I know I am.  But as I progress with my daily meditation I've learned to relax more with it and accept that there is no set of rules for the way meditation is "supposed to be"  I have found the key is in gentle acceptance of what the meditation experience is for you.

Here are some brief suggestions that you may want to use to simplify your meditation process:

1) Focus on your breathing

Allow yourself the time and the comfort to feel your inhalation and exhalation breath.  You may want to close your eyes depending on what is comfortable for you.  Sometimes our human nature may get caught up in our "meditation tools" such as music, length of time, or how we position ourselves during meditation, I have found simplifying to breath to be really important,  When I forget to breathe, my body automatically tenses.  I have also helps when I remember to allow my exhalation breath to be twice as long as my inhale, my relation deepens and my connection to the divine energy deepens too.If you find it hard to focus on your breath, you might want to try taking your pulse and connecting first to the beat of your heart.  Next you can practice your meditation breathing though a straw – with your  exhalation breath being twice as long as your inhale,

2) Try a mixture of techniques and  meditation music styles.

 Pay close attention to how you feel while trying each type.  Notice the feelings in your body, choose what makes you feel most at ease.  Don't be afraid to change styles, techniques, teachers or background sound as time goes on.  Change is a natural part of the process as well, and stagnate energy is sometimes created when we established predictable routines,

3) Practice self love and acceptance of where you are at. 

Allow your mediation to be perfect as it in each moment.  The more you can embrace the feelings, thoughts and distractions that occur and simply allow them to be present without resistance, the more gentle, relaxing and peaceful your practice will become with time.

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Avocado’s – The Good Fat

On my personal journey toward spiritual work on myself, I was guided by spirit to change my diet a lot.  This was and still is a process for me.  But I know that I am being guided to eat foods that are healthy for me, and let go of things in my diet that were not serving me.(Cafine and gluten were big ones for me).  I've been a vegetarian since 2008 but now I am eating an organic menu and I'm transitioning to a more Vegan diet as I am guided.  Even though I considered myself a vegetarian for several years.  I really didn't eat enough vegetables, and they certainly were not chemical free organically grown vegetables.  Now, I've significantly increased my fresh organic vegetable intake daily.

Fresh Salad Avocado's have become a staple good healthy food for me. Aside from the olive, avocado's are the second highest fruit source of monounsaturated fatty acids, Avocado's are used in Chinese Medicine and are known for lung and intestinal health.  Nourishes and cleanses the blood.  Excellent for organ health and treats ulcers.  Contrary to belief that avocado's are "fatty"  the fats in avocado actually boost healthy metabolism and even reduce overeating.  Avocados contain 3 times more potassium than banana's.  Avacodo's are a high source of iron and copper as well as phosphorous and magnesium.  They are low in sodium as well as sugar and starch.  They are full of folic acid , vitimin A, Vitimin B complexes vitimin C & E. Avacado's are proven to:

  • Cleanse thr blood and regulate blood pressure
  • Protect eyesight
  • Improve Cholesterol levels
  • Moisturize and prevent dhydration
  • Increases he ability to absorb phytonutrients
  • Bossts the immune system
  • Prevent Morning Sickness
  • Prevent prostate cancer
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Oil Pulling

Oil pulling is a simple practice that has made a big difference in my health.  I am writing this blog with the intention of sharing my experience of the benefits of this practice, as opposed to "selling" the benefits to the reader.  I leave it up to you to explore.for yourself.  I will say, however, that I would recommend oil pulling to anyone. Oil pulling is safe, simple and cost effective.  I use 1-2 spoons of organic sesame seed oil a day.  One of the most immediate positive changes that occurred for me, was vast improvement in my dental health. 

As a pre-teen  I had braces and a retainer for a few years.  Ever since then I've had highly sensitive gums to the point where they were often red and inflamed.  Before oil pulling, I would rinse with salt water (when I remembered) and it would alleviate the issue to a degree, but I found my gum issues would often come back. 

 

After two weeks of oil pulling constantly for 15-20 minutes a day, my gums were pink and healthy.  This in and of itself was enough to convince me to adopt this practice and make it a daily health choice for my lifestyle. Dental health is not the only benefit to oil pulling, from my own experience it has killed bacteria that was causing soars to appear in my gums, it has helped with head aches, teeth whitening, and detox of my entire body. 

 

Research and medical scenes have proven that oil pulling has a plethora of health benefits including: bronchitis, tooth aches and pains, soars,, thrombosis, eczema, ulcers and diseases of stomach, intestines, heart, blood, kidney, liver, lungs and women’s diseases. nerve diseases, and encephalitis. It prevents the growth of malignant tumors, cuts and heals them. Chronic sleeplessness.

Oil Pulling

What is Oil Pulling?

  • On an empty stomach take one tablespoon of oil in your mouth without swallowing it.
  • Move the oil slowly around the mouth, swish, suck and pull the oil between the teeth without swallowing for 15-20 minutes
  • Swishing activates enzymes and these enzymes draw toxins out of the blood.
  • This is why it is so important not to swallow the oil. as it is now contaminated with toxins and bacteria
  • As the process continues the oil thins and loses colour from saliva.
  • Thoroughly rinse your mouth  with water and rinse the sink as they will both be full of toxins

Every person is different as we all have different things going on in our bodies, so if you intend to try oil pulling for yourself I encourage you to give ample time and daily exposure to the process before expecting results