Lessons from my life part 7

Fight the frump

Why do we tend to let things go as mothers. We are tired, don't always feel like having sex I suppose, then we avoid looking sexy. Months or even years go by and we are depressed when we look into the mirror. This should not be, mama's.
This does not ONLY mean hawt clothing, make up and styles. We can still be humble earthy mama's, but we NEED TO FEEL BEAUTIFUL. (even if that means hawt clothing, make up and style)
If a patchwork skirt and a t shirt makes you feel beautiful, so be it.
If jeans make you feel hawt then of course wear them well.

But tight clothing really is not a healthy choice, so avoid any clothing that is tight as it will impede circulation. As we get older we surely need that system to be working well.
Also fibers.....if wearing those light polyester fabrics makes you feel beautiful, by all means wear them. HOWEVER, understand that most synthetic fabrics do not breathe, so maybe when at home or relaxing, you can choose a nice cotton, hemp, bamboo, or linen fiber that makes you feel good.
Your skin needs to breath.
Do you wear a bra? Take a bra break when you can and give those breasts a good massage. Oil of dandelion or violet is a good choice for breast massage. (dreamseeds sold out quick by the way)

Dry brushing may encourage weight loss and help slough off skin cells. This is nice to do prior to bathing. I use a shower brush that I never take into the shower, for this purpose. It is said that this method helps cellulite too.
The important thing to remember if dry brushing it so brush toward your heart again for circulation.

I am a natural mama. I rarely wear make up. I dont like the way it feels on my skin. I feel like I cannot breathe. But I do like some eye makeup and lip color on occassion.
And I do feel good when I buy myself one or two new items. I tend to thrift, which I enjoy most certainly. But I do deserve first quality when I can squeeze in a little to spend on me.
Ya know, for years, I would get birthday money and go buy my kids socks and undies, and my husband a paid of pants, etc... then I would feel so down after ward. It took me years to realize that it was ok to spend the birthday money on something for myself.
And just yesterday I went out and bought a new pair of sandals. I loved my old ones that were 2 years old and falling apart. I felt poor wearing them. I dont know why I hesistate in meeting my own needs. Maybe finances or the age old idea that we are to sacrifice everything for our family. Nourishment...that is the theme behind most of the herbalism I practice, yet yeah.....I forget about me sometimes.

How bout you? What makes you feel good? A massage? Some time to get naked and lay in the sun? Aerobics or yoga? A new necklace?
There are many thing I want..lol and those are not always attainable right now, but taking care of myself has to be a prioirty from now on in however I can squeeze it in each day. Life is way to short. Your beautiful! Take care of you~

Lessons from my life part 6

Fear.

Fear and stress go hand and hand, maybe along with caffeine consumption. For me, in March, I was due for another cancer checkup which up until then was every 3 months.

(thankfully that all checked out ok and I graduated to every 6 months)

There is something about those checkups that make it so hard. I fear doctors. I fear needles and poking and being naked in front of them and mostly I fear hearing those awful words of possible cancer again.

What do you fear? Do you fear going to bed at night?
Fear the safety of your children? the condition of the world? the government? Your neighbors? Job security? Your health? Things going on with those you love (or dont)

There is alot to fear, isn't there?

Yet tapping into the spirit of peace is just as important and good nutrition and clean water each day. Just as important as sleep.

Most of us live in countries where we can worship, maybe secretly, but seek our spirituality as we feel we should.
It took me months to come to understand just how important this principle is.

I asked wise healers, friends, and I just did not get it until I recently spent time with another healer in Jackson Hole.I watched her do something energetically and it was at that moment the revelation entered my brain that it is my my spiritual life that was in serious need of nurturing and it was not anything I needed to practice or learn from another.
I came home that night, in my motel room and it just happened. Something I have neglected for years, mostly due to the fact that others may disapprove of my way of nurturing spirit.

But forget it...let others opinions of you and your ways GO.....

I spend time alone now. I even put on tv or entertain my daughter somehow and go into my room and tap into the spirit power if I need to, and I dont feel guilt.
It is part of my survival.

I also feel that connection when working with the plants. It nurtures my spirit and soul.

How is your spiritual life? Are you engaging in it. Dont let it fall by the wayside.
So many troubles and issues may creep up because of this. And this part of our emotional/mental/physical/spiritual being seems to be one we often neglect as a whole person.

Back to my experience when this revelation occured, the intuitive side of me has been rebirthed. And I realized this is one of the lessons to share with you so that you can work on it in your life.
It has been almost 2 months of battling a strong physical condition, that the doc is not sure, I am not sure, friends are not sure. I have had people with giftings speak into my life and I am working on all the avenues. AND I AM HEALING and HEALED, really.

And maybe without the physical symptoms I suffered, I would not have been able to open my eyes and see these very important lessons.

I have more to share soon.
If you ever feel like the spiritual life in you is struggling, and you need to talk about it,I will surely talk or email you concerning it.
This is a hard thing sometimes to discuss, and bottling up your spirit will harm you.

And if nothing else, walk where the plants grow and observe them. Place a leaf between your fingers, gently rub and smell the fragrance left behind on your fingers.

Stroke the plant from the ground up. Observe the stem, leaf, flower, color, patterns, brilliance. Often times, these things will nurture our spirit and if that is all you can do, believe me, it will help.

I know this may sound kooky and that I may not have explained this as I would have hoped to, but "I know that I know" that our spiritual lives are essential to our day to day existance on this planet. And that is healing, now that I realize a huge problem in my life is not making that a priority. It is now!
I leave you with a picture from this weekend farmers market. Always a great time visiting with the vendors we have come to know. This is also spiritual and can renew the life within you.
And this picture I post today is special because it is my friend Joy, who has life within, looks beautiful and I love her so much.

In love,
KR

Lessons from my life part 5

So what does a working woman with children, a husband out of work, who is battling unaware seasonal depression because she is not geting sunlight or human contact struggle with the most?

Stress.

Stress of finances.

Stress over some of the bad choices my kids made in this time.

Stress of deadlines

Stress of failing

Stress of getting fat

Stress of the condition of the world.

And that is just the big stressors. What about the little ones like, "Why is the car overheating randomly?

or the old lady feeling like I may be hellbound and become a drunk because I am not attending church right now.


It is said over and over that stress is a slow and silent destroyer. The body cannot work in harmony like it should when stress alters the flow of energy.
The adrenals feeling the fight or flight response all the time is surely not healthy, yet that is the way our lifestyles are bent toward. Continual ongoing stress.

The only thing I can say about this, my friends is that we all need to find our own ways of coping and making peace with life. Pray. Live well. Do the best you can.
There are many good herbs to help with these things if we just dont stress so much that we reject the simple plants that ease.

Lessons from my life part 4

Here is the picture I promised. ;)

Well I do have to throw this in because it is part of the lessons, however there is a bit of a different expression of why. Todays lesson is DIET.
Yes, yes we always hear this, yet its a true problem for so many of us.

Now let me say that I battled weight all my life. I was always 10# overweight as a kid until I was a teen and chose some unhealthy methods to get thin.
Then I had babies and the rollercoaster ride began again.

I learned to let all the fashion and desire of being "something" go years ago. I became anchored to mothering like many of us, but don't let yourself get to far on the other end of just not caring for yourself. There is another lesson on this coming:)

After so many up and downs of weight loss, I decided to try low carbing because I saw a picture of a mama who lost a great deal of weight, she looked so much like me too. I send her an email on a message board and she told me she did Atkins.
So I bought the book, read it, and began my weight loss journey.

I had great success with it, but I must be honest, I felt like I had a yucky mouth all the time and sometimes I would not sleep at night with all that fat burning going on. Outside of that, I would not complain. You eat fats and protein to fill you, enough veggies for nutrition, and keep the carbs low so that fat burning occurs internally by a process called ketosis.

You see for about a decade I have been eating good carbohydrates and healthier foods, but it was not enough. Carbohydrates are a problem for me.
I either crave more food after consuming carbs, or hold onto some weight.
Low carbing did the trick, for a season. I at times felt emotional and not normal that I could not eat like my friends who could walk into the health food store, grab an organic chicken burrito and a juice and be ok. Or to indulge in a cookie now and then and not spiral out of control.

So I decided to go off low carb and try my hand at consumption in moderation.

Well sadly, I have 20 pounds on me again and especially with the lack of hormones and activity, my heart gives me a message via palpitations that I am in the danger zone again.

And getting back on the wagon has been hard!

Now some folks dont have a problem with what they eat and seem to do fine. Gosh I wish I were you! lol

But I see that carbs, even good ones are my battle. I hate it, but its true.

So, for those of you that may be heavy, please consider the health benefits of losing weight and consider if you may be insulin resistant or if carbs cause some problems for you.

BECAUSE, not only can carbs add weight to some of us, but as I found in my winter experience, that they may also cause Candida.

Candida seems to be a word thrown around so commonly for everything ailing mankind, it frustrates me. Yet, that was part of the lesson. I learned that candida can come very quick on you suddenly and that possible other problems could have been candida all along.
And of course what can cure you of candida? Well a low carb diet of course. So observe your body. Do you get vaginal yeast or bad scalp?
Is your tongue swollen and has any coating on it?
Feet problems with itching or athletes foot?
For males, jock itch?

Try changing your diet and dropping some of those carbs and you might fare better.
You can see more at my friend Darcey's blog

And if you need some inspiration, Kalyn is a South Beach Follwer. She has lost 30 # I beleive and is a faithful food blogger of low carb delights.

And I tell ya, mix together burdock root, milk thistle seed say a handful into a quart of filtered water and let sit about an hour in a stainless steel pot. Put the lid on too. After the house, turn the heat on and allow to start simmering, then keep the heat very very low for about 15 minutes or so.
Cool a bit, strain and drink.
You can save the herb mix and do it again once you have drunk the tea. I use mine 2-3 times over.
This will help a sluggish liver and protect liver cells.
If your skin is funky, soemtimes this tea will help clear that if it is liver related.


And we cannot leave this lesson without discussing CAFFEINE. Oh yes, caffeine the addictive substance most of us indulge in. I know I do.

So, what does a 12 hour a day woman in the cold months of winter do? Why she makes plenty of herbal tea:) But when hubby is home, well that turns to an extra pot of coffee.

Now in our younger years, that did not seem to be much of a problem. However, as I get older, boy does it tear me up.
Caffeine can really irritate the digestive system and the bladder.

And overconsumption can not only add stress, but also cause breast pain. I am not sure why that is, but when I drink too much coffee my breasts hurt.

I must say that in the winter, our health was great. Plenty of herbal tea warming on the woodstove and good eats, mostly bone broth soups and stews. We were very healthy and that part we did right, but toward the end, the sugary treats of spring holidays were around and coupled with excess coffee consumption, laid a prime foundation for disaster for me.

So just a word to the wise, examine your eating habits, track them on the free fit day calculator if you want to see your nutrition, calories, fat and carb counts.

What we put into our body is the foundation of health.

And good habits as we are younger may avoid some pitfalls as we get older and build our bodies to be stronger as we age.

Lessons from my life part 3

So, in this busy season I experienced, the mistakes I made were factors in poor health after the busy season was over. A crash I guess you could say.
I shared with you already about posture. I shared about human contact.

Today. Movement.

You see, 4 months of working at the computer, not going anywhere, not doing any physical work caused me to become weak and flabby. My muscles already battle with diet and trying to keep this thyroid in control, but the WORSE thing I could do is NOT use my muscles.
Of course when you are working nonstop, you dont realize this and in fact, because your brain is working so hard, the physical almost appears that it is moving along with your head. But it is not.
No, sending my husband to do all the chores while I worked, was not a smart thing. Sure he had no jobs, but maybe doing our work together could have made a difference in us both.

Those that know me, understand that I am not lazy. I have helped lay carpet, build decks and done many tasks alongside men with no problem.
And I think my body actually needs some hard labor like that once in awhile.

I use to member at Curves. They were so good to me there, but when work is not flowing, it is hard to commit to $30+ per month for excercise when there surely must be soemthing else that can be done.
So I quit a year ago when I waitressed.
But after that job, I never went back.

And the effect show. And I know better. That is the part that bugs me most. I could have done better in this area.

Most of you know that in 2006, I was diagnosed with 1b2 stage cervical cancer after dropping 50 pounds, working out at Curves...wow...life just seemed to be really getting good for me when the dx came.
And it was probably a miracle that the cancer was even found because I dont have health insurance, therefore dont usually have money for doctor visits.

I found out that a local retired nurse midwife that was also on the board of our health food co op was doing pap smears for other local midwives for a reasonable fee.

That gave me an open door to not only see her and feel safe, but also to take my daughter for her first exam.
She had to give me the news after some very tell tale signs in her office. I was devastated.
After another exam with a gynecologist, I was sent to a gynecologist oncologist and from there, after much research and praying I had radical surgery asking for my ovaries to remain so that I may continue producing some hormones and maintain some health benefit at age 40.
I recovered fairly well, save the fact that my poor bladder just gave up for a couple weeks. Then the pathology came that cancer was invasing the lymph vascular space so radiation would be required. That was devastating. The ovaries were going to be toast. But we got through that part ok. And the health care team all around have been wonderful and never condmening to any of my natural ideas.
But for me that was a huge change that made life very different.

For one, you worry about recurrance. There is nothing left really to be done except all the innards removed.
Yet, all the treatment recieved gave me a really good chance of no recurrance.

But what I do have is scar tissue physical changes and I was slammed into menopause at age 40.
I am almost 42 now and the effect of treatment over the past couple years have been noticed.
(all of this story is part of the lessons..I promise)

One of the things that happens as we age, and especially menopausal women is we lose tone in our muscles. Much because of hormones, gravity, time. Unless we are working these muscles and moving, they will become dormant and stiff and lifeless.
You probably would not imagine that, especially if you are young.

PLEASE FORGIVE MY MENOPAUSE TERRADE.
But since the symptoms of menopause are not usually discussed until you are about there, I feel it disserves our women because we do not have proper time to prepare.

For example bone building ends in your 30's and one herbalist actually stated in 20's.
Therefore, the bones we need for life, are built in our active years and yet that is the time we feel invincible and dont care for ourselves nor thinking of our future health.
Maybe awareness will help so I do share these things so that women can examine their lives, and read books if they are inclined to learn about the changes to come so they are prepared.

Movement, especially weight bearing excercise is essential to keeping muscles strong and to maintain and not lose the bone that has been built.

So, imagine sitting fairly idle for 4 months. Yes working, but not moving except to package orders, make soap, and teas. That is not enough.

Even my husband was tending to the household chores so that I could keep working. I probably vacuumed a couple times in the entire winter because my husband did the housework too.

So lesson number 3 is movement. Stretching, yoga, walk, tai chi,dance, work, something! For women, our modern day housework may not be enough because of our conveniences we dont use our muscles for the day to day activities very much.

We dont even cut our veggies anymore, but have fancy processors for them. Bread machines. And of course washer and dryers. Thank goodness for some conveniences indeed, but do not allow them to make you dry up. Allow them to benefit you and you get excercise somewhere else:)

And dont forget kegels. Heavens, things travel south quickly after menopause especially if you have had children.
If you would like to keep your vagina and or uterus inside your body, keep your bladder toned, and prevent atrophy of the pelvic muscles in menopause, work on this now and remember to do them often. It could save you embarrasing problems later in life.

Lessons from my life part 2

So as I shared in part 1, I tend to be solitary. I dont mind being alone. Possibly because I have so many children.
I enjoy quiet and feel completely nervewracked in social situations of magnitude. I want to literally crawl under a rock.

So spending an entire season, basically out of touch with the people around me, and just focused on my computer, caused not only an out of touch feeling, but depression.

The season is cold and dark, no friends around to light your way, to bring a smile or share a meal. Nothin.

So I got a small taste of seasonal depression this year, but of course did not notice it until after the situation was out of control.
I sent my husband to do everything that needed done, whether a grocery run or any outdoor chore, because he was out of work and I needed to work. That is ok, but that lead to lesson number 3:)

Now let me say too that I am active in online communities and they are great. Amitymama, for example is my home online for about 8 or 9 years now.
It is part of my life, and the mama's are part of my life. So there is some socializing, however it does nor replace the physical act of grooming, picking out your clothing, stepping outdoors and breathing the air,and going off to see another human face to face.
That need still is present, even if you spend all day visiting at an online community.


So the lessons today I bring you is that we all are community. When you visit your grocer, the post office, a friend, ar paying the power bill, these contacts are more important than we realize. Make their day by smiling at them and lightening their load.
We all have burdens and a happy heart if often the best strength humans need to get through it.



This picture is a social get together this month at my dear friend Joy's. We had an out of town friend come in and we all hung out at Joys community called Terra Studios This is Rowan, Joys dd in a hobbit cave that was created out there. Isn't it neat

Lessons from my life...part 1

I had one of those health battles that not only kicks your ass but causes you to contemplate deeper of who you are what you want to be. Change. In attitude and habits.
It felt like one of those times just tipping the underworld, much like childbirth when you feel you cannot go on and that you will be swallowed up by this experience.
Then the strength comes and you muster up the power to get through it.

This was one of those times.

Now I know that is some healing practice, shamans and village doctors did experience these things for others. I am not certain that is what happened, but I was broadsided by something I never saw coming! Oh so grateful for the little weeds to aid me along.

It all started with a stressful winter. Approximately 4 months of work, like mad, computer on day and night. Survival it was, and the core of the issue, I feel.
Ray did not have much work so I had to bear the load.
That is ok...we are partners and a team. But let me tell you, it took all day every day to make it happen for our family.

I am not opposed to hard work. I am not opposed to computers (obviously) but there comes a time when you pull away for even a hint of enjoyment for yourself, a time to say NO WORK. I am not always good at that, in addition to the fact that I am very solitary and introverted.

I will share this story in parts because the messages that came to me were so clear. In fact, I know that they would be easy to miss in a very long story, so today, this is the part and the lesson I learned first.

Posture.
Now I know that most people think of a thrown back forced awkward position, but really, just think of holding your body up and not compacting your organs.
How do you sit in front of the computer?

If you are anything like me, you may be sitting on your legs, which feels secure, but may disrupt circulation. Along with a slouchy body. Curled over the keyboard looking intently at a computer monitor....do you get what I am saying here?

Health is about taking care of everything we can. So your lesson today, from the mistakes of my own life, is good posture.

And just for fun, I am adding a pic of my grandbaby who was over visiting a couple days ago:)