Happy New Year! What new experiences do you want to have in 2010?
Today is not only the start of a new year but also a new decade and one that fell on a full blue moon eclipse, so it seems like a particularly powerful and auspicious time to think about the life you want to create in the next one to 10 years. One of the best ways to do this is by listing your goals – the one’s closest to your heart so I’ve provided some tips to help you do just that:
Goals work best when they are SMART.
SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. You won’t be able to chart your achievement if your goal is too vague, too big for you to believe is possible, or has no timeline attached to it. For more information on setting SMART goals visit the online goal setting guide.
Balance your emotions naturally this holiday with flower essences.
Just as the holidays can be a time of fun and festivity they can also make us feel overwhelmed or even melancholy on occasion. The Bach Flower Remedies (a system of 38 flower essences that have been used in over 65 countries for 60 years) can help balance the emotions naturally and fend off feelings such as sadness, anxiety, confusion and fatigue. They can be used by people of all ages, as well as animals, and have no contraindications. They can be purchased at health food stores and taken directly on the tongue or in a glass of water or tea. Read on for some suggestions on which remedies might be particularly helpful for yourself, family or friends this holiday season.
Elm – For Feelings of Overwhelm
Tags: Flower Essences
Sometimes a practice can benefit from instruction or collaboration.
A practice is generally referred to as “habit or custom” as well as “a repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency.” While a practice can be a craft, skill, trade or profession it can also be considered a meditation, a discipline, or a commitment. In all cases, it involves continuous time and energy, as well as focus and patience which, with all the distractions of modern life, it seems that nearly everybody could benefit from. For these reasons I believe that “having a practice” of any variety, is a worthwhile pursuit for anyone.
Tags: Self-actualization, Wellness, Yoga
Have you ever noticed how similar the cross section of a carrot looks to the very part of our body that we know carrots help; the human eye?
By now most everyone has grown accustomed to hearing about the Law of Attraction. A great many folks associated with the new age movement have been teaching about it and many have adopted it as an idea that resonates. Recently I was talking with a homeopath in my area and he was telling me about one of the tenets of homeopathy; the Law of Similars. It struck me how similar (forgive the pun) the Law of Attraction is to the Law of Similars. Both strongly contend that like attracts like. In fact, Esther and Jerry Hicks, authors of The Law of Attraction even purport that our clichés, such as “Birds of a feather flock together,” hint at our innate understanding of the idea of like attracts like.
Tags: homeopathy, Supplements
Posted by Jenica on Oct 19, 2009 in
Self-actualization |
Comment on this post Times of great economic, environmental and social change, like the one we are living in, require more innovative thought and action than usual. One response I’m witnessing to this climate of change and barren job market (where the unemployment rate is 9% and the underemployment rate is more like 25%) is that of entrepreneurship. It is a response that I whole-heartedly support because I see the benefits it has brought into my own life and I feel that the inevitable result will be more people following their passions and using their gifts.
Watch for patterns to emerge as you look back at jobs you've held.
Tags: Self-actualized work
Fall is most definitely in the air and it’s time to make a healthy and joyful shift from sunny summer to a fun and festive fall. Make it a pleasant passage with these playful and pragmatic ideas.
Gear up for cold weather by making kindling bundles.
Go for an autumn walk and collect pine cones, pine needles and crisp autumn leaves. Wrap your finds in newspaper or used tissue paper and tie the ends with twine. If you’re so inclined, write wishes or affirmations on the paper before wrapping the bundles and focus on these goals when you burn them.
Pumpkins and squash are delicious, healthy and in abundance this time of year.
Eat up the orange and red.
Physical exercise can be a healthy and effective means for releasing negative feelings.
Conflict and confrontation can be two of the biggest balance busters, but having some coping mechanisms in your toolbox can go a long way toward helping you keep your cool and maintain your health and well being during a difficult difference of opinion. Regardless of whether a dispute is with a spouse, friend or business associate the following methods can be employed to help you stay balanced.
1) Get clear about how you feel. Are you feeling frustrated, disappointed, slighted or confused? If it’s hard to determine what you’re feeling, try using a feeling chart. Knowing how you feel is the first step in allowing your needs and desires to be effectively understood and communicated.
Tags: Communication, Expression, Feelings, Visualization
Organic yogurt is abundant with probiotics.
Given the origins of their name (Pro-Latin for “in favor of”-and biotic-Greek for “pertaining to life”) we can deduce that these organisms are advocates of vitality. Indeed, probiotics are our body’s tiny yet tremendously powerful balance boosters. For centuries probiotics were simply consumed by way of cultured foods. The book Nourishing Traditions provides a thorough account of how foods such as yogurt, kefir, tempeh, kimchi and sauerkraut were eaten regularly in their respective regions and thus supplied highly helpful bacteria to their consumers.
Tags: cultured foods, digestive health, probiotics, Supplements
Posted by Jenica on Aug 17, 2009 in
Conservation,
Cooking |
1 Comment 
A pot of garbanzo beans fresh from the solar oven
Solar cooking (harnessing the heat of the sun to cook food in a solar or sun oven) is a triple treat for me because it enables me to conserve energy, enjoy the outdoors more and cook delicious food all at once! If you haven’t yet tried solar cooking (or have never even heard of it) read on for tips on why and how to get started.
Aside from the obvious benefits; saving energy and therefore money, solar cooking has many other added incentives. It enables you to:
1) save time by letting food cook while you do something else
2) cook and pasteurize water wherever you are (on the beach, at the park, camping)
Tags: solar cooking, sun ovens
Posted by Jenica on Jul 29, 2009 in
Health Care |
1 Comment 
As a holistic health professional I am very interested in the future of health care and in the current debate regarding health care reform. In striving to understand what is at stake, what is being proposed and how I feel about all of it I have hit several roadblocks in my understanding. I heard questions raised about whether the government offering a public health care option would be socialist (but we have a public option in the education sector – our public schools and universities – and that hasn’t put private schools out of business). I also heard concerns about whether a public option would create a poor standard of care (but our standard of care in the U.S. already ranks so low and isn’t competition-even if it’s federal- supposed to drive innovation).
Tags: Health Care
