Well-Being through the Art of Yoga and Meditation 2

One of the greatest and most helpful techniques I have found is the form of meditation called Mindfulness.  It simple means being in the moment and that is more difficult then it sounds.

At first I found it very difficult and to be honest, a bit boring but I realised that something is only boring if you allow it to be, so I soon changed my attitude.  I practiced being in the moment over and over and I realised that this technique can be applied to almost anything and can in fact increase the pleasure in your life immensely.  I have now changed boring mundane jobs into fun activities using this technique.

I realised that my Yoga practice is in fact mindfulness because I am fully engrossed in it and no other thoughts intrude as I practice it. 

I have not always found it easy to fit in a full yoga routine every day, things have a way of coming up and taking my time.  I strive constantly to make time for myself as I know that my health and happiness is important, yet as a mother and wife I often find making the choice to help my family, overrides the choice to deal with my own needs.

Therefore, I set out to find ways I could build Yoga and the meditation technique called mindfulness, into my daily life without always needing to put aside large blocks of time.  For example, I will do some yoga postures and breathing meditations whilst waiting for the kettle to boil.  If I am stuck in traffic, I will enjoy the time by stretching out some of my muscles and practicing tension relieving techniques. 

Now when I am cleaning the house I put on music to help me enjoy the mundane jobs and I practice yoga dance methods.

I have found ways through yoga and meditation of making almost anything more enjoyable and at the same time increasing my energy levels, my fitness levels and my happiness and decreasing my pain levels

I am passionate about yoga and meditation because it helped and continues to help me live a wonderful quality of life.

Linda

Well-Being through the Art of Yoga and Meditation

I am passionate about yoga and meditation because it helped and continues to help me live a wonderful quality of life.

I used to be terribly depressed because I was in constant chronic pain due to acid reflex, IBS, migraine and arthritis.  The problems with my stomach controlled what clothes I could wear as during the day, as I ate each meal, my tummy would balloon up more and more so that by the end of the day if not before, I would appear pregnant.

This also controlled where and when I went out, I lived in fear of embarrassing myself and in fear of not being near any bathroom facilities.  I looked fat, I could not wear nice clothes and I worried about losing the affections of my husband.

Also, because of the arthritis, I couldn’t walk, dance or do anything active with my family.  I started to become phobic about leaving the house and would draw the curtains and hide away all day long, day after day.

I was in so much pain and there was no hope of ever getting better, or so I thought.

When the doctor first told me I had arthritis and that due to my other health issues could not take any drugs to relieve the pain, I felt very angry and that it was so unfair.  I started to feel more and more like giving up all together.

However, my doctor sent me to attend the pain management clinic at the local hospital, there they showed me yoga exercises and mind control techniques though meditation.  If I’m honest, I have to say my attitude was, this will not work.  I was in too much pain to do the exercises and the meditation stuff I thought was rubbish.  I was angry that the doctors could not relieve my pain with drugs.

To make these changes to my life instead of simply taking drugs was not easy.  However, I came to realise that it was up to me, not anyone else.

I finally understood that the responsibility for my well-being was mine alone and I had a choice to do something about it or continue to live with the terrible consequences of not doing so.

At first I thought meditation was just a religious or spiritual activity, however, I soon learnt it could also be used for better health and so started to practice it to change my negative attitudes into more positive ones, which gradually helped me to cope better with the pain.  I then learned how to use it to reduce pain also through breathing meditations.

I learned how to really relax and cope better with the stresses in my life.  I found by gradually increasing my activities with yoga the pain reduced and my flexibility improved.

I do not have the flexibility of a young fit woman, but I am not young, however, I can now walk, dance and practice yoga to a high level.

I was very close to being in a wheel chair permanently and ruining the rest of my life just because I didn’t know how to change the way I was.  I am so happy I did not give up, because, that was the start of an ongoing journey to better health, quality of life and happiness.

As my health improved, I gained in momentum and began studying meditation and yoga.

If you have similar health problems or if you want to stay healthy and the doctor can’t do any more with drugs and pain killers, try alternatives like yoga and meditation, like my doctor advised me to do.  Even better try the alternatives so that you don’t get to that point in the first place – as the old adage goes, prevention is better than cure and meditation and yoga are so much fun too!!

I tried the alternatives and I am so glad I did.  I now live and work in Spain, I have a great relationship with my husband, I am out going, active and happy and it’s all thanks to yoga and meditation!

Linda

Article on Yoga

Welcome to Hot Power Yoga by Linda R Halbert BA of Olive Branch Retreats.

Yoga can change you, reduce stress and help you regardless of your age or fitness level.

In our retreat program we integrate, breath and movement with intensive relaxation techniques.

Aiming to build suppleness, strength and improve general fitness in mind and body.

The hot temperature is important as it detoxes the body and warms the muscles, reducing the chances of injury.

The power aliment comes with each posture being done with purpose and full attention, therefore relaxing and rejuvenating the mind.

True power comes by focusing the mind on the breath and the postures,

Instead of chasing our thoughts around, thinking of the past or the future and worrying about things we can’t change.

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We at OBR teach with some of the postures flowing continually and some postures being held longer to enable building strength and grace.

We teach you to develop true strength of body and mind, better health, happiness, energy and control over the stress in your life, though the practice of ease of breath, steadiness of mind and the importance of respecting the limitations of your own body.

Yoga benefits everyone; there is no need to push ourselves.

It is more important to be consistent with our yoga practice.

This is why we teach you how to build yoga into your normal daily life without needing to put aside regular chunks of time every single day.

You can in fact do yoga in the car, sat at your desk or waiting for the kettle to boil, the choice is yours.

We all have choices to make every day, little ones we do all the time hardly being aware of them, such as cleaning our teeth or not, however if we don’t clean them we must take the reasonability and the results of loosen them.

Other choices are more urgent, like, we could choose to not pay our mortgage, however if we did this, we must take the reasonability and results of loosening our home.

You could choose do nothing to control your stress levels the choice is yours along with the reasonability and the results of developing health problems.

So come on an OBR and discover how you can learn (Hot Power Yoga) and so much more to reduce your stress and improve your well-being and happiness.

We are expert in well-being here at OBR please don’t ignore your stress levels, let us help you.

The Art of Well-Being

From Failing Health to Thriving Fortunes

For entrepreneurs Linda and Donna, passionate beliefs in the art of health and well-being were the inspiration for a thriving business concept.

Let’s begin by telling you a bit about Linda and Donna’s personal stories and what started them off on their paths to where they are now.

Linda celebrates every day because she is alive, has her sight, her voice and her hands and many other blessings that she greatly appreciates especially as she is an artist.

Donna rejoices that she is able to live a fulfilling and inspiring life, something that at one time she doubted she would ever be able to do again.

They are both passionate in their intent to live the best quality of life and that’s the reason their lives just keep getting better and better and are filled with so much joy, good health, peace and prosperity. Their lives are a success in every way.

However, this was not always the case.

Linda says: “I used to be terribly unhappy and inadvertently made my family unhappy too, even though I lived a comfortable life, all the good things I had in my life could not cast away the dark clouds that hung around me constantly. 

When the doctor first told me I had arthritis, and that due to my other health issues could not take any drugs to relieve the pain, I sunk into a deep depression.

I was shaking and could barely see through the haze of tears as I returned home and had negative thoughts, like becoming an invalided just like my mother and I was going to suffer constant chronic pain.

I felt very angry as I already had a long list of chronic health problems and felt it was so unfair to get yet another”

Donna who is beautiful in body, mind and spirit, was pensioned off at the ripe old age of 28.

She says: “I was pensioned off from one of the top companies in the UK.  I went from being able to go anywhere in the country (this was way before the days of Sat Nav!), work a minimum of 14 hours a day including most weekends, be away from home for sometimes weeks at a time, to not being able to walk out of my own back door without having a major panic attack. I had various gynaecological problems and at one time I was on so many different tablets that if you’d shaken me I’d have rattled!!  

I completely lost all my confidence and I felt as if my life had ended, which, as I had always known it, it had.

Then one day they both realized that things had to change drastically!

Linda’s life changed the day she chose to attend the pain management clinic at the local hospital following her doctor’s advice. It was the day her old life ended as she perceived it and it was the beginning of a life full of successful stories.

Donna’s life changed the day she met someone who was a homoeopath and as a last resort went to see her, that started her off on a completely new journey. At the time it felt that her breakdown was the worst thing that could possibly have happened but now she knows it had to happen to make her re-evaluate her life and set her off on a healthier and happier path.

One of the big lessons Linda and Donna learnt was that we all make choices every day, and our choices have an impact on our lives and on the lives of others around us. They didn’t realise it at the time and it wasn’t something they did consciously, but they had chosen to be the way they were.

They were both stressed within, and the joy of their lives was being sucked away by their perceived reality.
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Linda perceived her reality as, “it’s not fair, I suffer so much pain I might as well be dead”. She had the “poor me” attitude.

Donna’s perceived reality was, “I have to rush here and there all day every day, it is my responsibility to do everything and get it right”.  She had the “taking the weight of the world on her shoulders” attitude. 

Thriving Fortunes

However, from ‘Failing Health’ to ‘Thriving Fortunes’ is what this article is all about. Now you have read about their past failing health, please read on to find out some of how and what their ‘Thriving Fortunes’ are now.

One of the most important things they learnt and now teach is the power of thought. Negative thoughts are totally destructive to the mind and the body but positive thoughts are constructive and healing so this was one of their first challenges and changes they made to their lives.

Once they started to accomplish this change, health and happiness issues become their focus and they began to slowly work on the things they each needed to change.

For Linda this included where she lived, what she ate and how she passed her spare time.

For Donna this included where she lived, what she did for a living and to make time for herself.

After they found their individual paths to fortune they started to work on helping others in finding theirs. They began their new journey with research, individual studies and their independent years of qualifying and practicing in the art of well-being.

Linda and Donna independently moved to the same area of the Spanish countryside amongst beautiful mountains, vineyards and olive groves where they met when Donna attended one of Linda’s creative meditation classes and soon become firm friends.

They subsequently created Olive Branch Retreats a unique retreat in the stunning vineyard and nature reserves of inland Spain. There, they, along with other professionals teach you simple methods to enable you to achieve your own thriving fortunes.

Linda and Donna both talk about money as just a side effect in their lives and that the most important issue for them and what they consider to be a privilege, is to have the opportunity to teach and share their skills and expertise to help others on their paths to creating their lives, full of better well-being and happiness, their own fortunes and abundance.

They urge you to look closely at your perception of your life, even if you are in perfect health, what you think and believe to be your reality could be adversely affecting your happiness, health, peace and prosperity.

It is all too common in today’s society to live life with chronic and insidious stress and at a pace that ignores our body’s need to really relax and rejuvenate, we tend to think we are invincible and stress related health problems won’t happen to us and that we have everything under control.

However, when we find our health becoming a real problem and the doctors can’t help much, we get a very nasty shock. 

Linda and Donna are so excited to have the opportunity, to share with you what they have learned and help you experience what they have, which is total abundance and fortune in all areas of their lives.  They want you to have a wonderful experience in the stunning vineyards of inland Spain with Olive Branch Retreats, an experience that could affect all areas of your life in a really profound way.
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However, don’t do what they did and only look for an alternative as a last resort, grab the opportunity now before you reach the depths that they had reached.  Experience their wonderful, ultimately relaxing retreat. You can enjoy a great holiday at the beautiful spa hotel Casa Luzon and at the same time learn how to cope with stress and its effects, to cope better with pain and to live a happier, healthier and more prosperous life.

Please don’t leave it too late.

Linda and Donna

You know those feelings you have when you are away from it all and all the stresses and strains of everyday life just disappear – how would you like to experience those feelings everyday of your life?

www.olivebranchretereats.com

TAKE THE EMOTION OUT OF SPENDING

During the economic boom of the past 10 to 15 years I’ve watch many people make large amounts of money only to see it run through their fingers like water out of a sieve. Making money is only half the equitation, being able to save a portion of it is the other. I’m not advocating living like a miser, hoarding all your money and living on bread and water. That’s the other extreme, but finding a balance between the two.

Up until 1923 most people bought things for practical reasons like food, clothes, shelter etc. the basic human needs. All that was about to change when the major retailers of the time hired Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, to help boost their sales in the stagnant economy of post-WW1. He taught their marketing teams to link the purchase of goods and services to peoples ego needs, such as sex, status, prestige, and a sense of themselves as prosperous and successful. Thus, not only was modern advertising born, but also the curse of emotional spending.

This not only fuelled the boom of the 20’s but also the great depression of the 30’s. In modern times the techniques employed by modern advertisers are far more advanced and far more subtle. It has almost become the “art of selling without selling”, it has become so subliminal. Every time we turn on the TV or open a glossy magazine we are being subtly programmed to spend. Many of us have cupboards (or even whole rooms) full of “stuff” we have purchased, used for a week or two, and then put it into storage never to see the light of day again, until it’s thrown out, given to charity or sold for a fraction of it’s original cost. We don’t stand a chance in the face of all these sophisticated marketing champagnes telling us how perfect our lives will be if only we had this or that product.

However there is an antidote. Learning how your mind really works is like a kind of “consumer protection for the brain”. Emotional spending is an addiction. As with overcoming any addiction it involves reprogramming ourselves, changing our associations, our biochemistry and ultimately our actions. There are two main things you need to do: 1. Change your old associations; 2. Redesign your priorities

Think of all the things that make you feel good that money can’t buy. Some of the free things that make me happy are, being with friends and family, sunshine, listening to my favourite music, looking at a child happily playing and laughing…. Make your own list. The next time you are tempted to buy something non-essential to make yourself feel better, look at your list and do one of the things on it instead. With practice you will break the association between spending and feeling good.

Next get into the habit of categorising everything you buy into one of three categories as follows:

1. Essential; B. Important but not Essential; and C. everything else.

Every time you buy something, ask yourself what category it falls into, if it is not A or B then ask yourself why you are buying it. If it just to make yourself feel better, go back to your list and do something from it instead. You will be amazed how much money you will save without ever feeling deprived of anything.

Once you cut out emotional spending you’ll find you are able to save more. This is important because when you have savings you are less susceptible to the economic rollercoaster of life. If you had 100€ and you lost 10€, how would that make you feel? Would you feel the same way if you had 1,000€ or even 10,000€ and you lost 10€? See how the impact is lessened?

Money acts like a magnet. People who have no savings tend to feel anxious and focus on scarcity, which in turn affects their decision making. They tend to look for quick fixes like buying lottery tickets, or even worse get ripped off by “get rich quick schemes” that don’t work. When you have some savings, you will feel more relaxed and positive about money, and therefore more likely to attract more of it to you. Your focus is more on abundance and your thinking is calm, considered and more long term. So the chances of making good financial decisions are much greater.

Olive Branch Retreats offer you the chance to take time out from your everyday life. Whether you need to distress physically or mentally or both, the range of therapies on offer allow you to attain what you need in the tranquil setting of rural Spain. They operate from a luxury hotel near Jumilla Spain. For more information send an email to

Donna@olivebranchretreats.com

Gerry

The Value of a Thought

What do you think of when you think of being rich? How would you measure a person’s wealth? Your answers to these two questions will reveal your current thinking on the subject, which is either holding you back or propelling you forward towards a richer life.

When you are truly rich you will not only have more than enough money, you will know that you can always create still more. Therefore, you will never fear not having enough and you will feel an inner confidence and happiness. So perhaps being rich is not about the size of your bank balance or what you own, maybe being rich is…

…living life on your own terms, according to your possibilities, not your limitations.

But if you are not rich yet, it’s not your fault, it’s not your parents fault, and it’s not even the current economic climate or the government or fate that’s to blame. It’s just an indication that your current wealth generating strategies are not serving you well. Your mind is like a computer, it’s only as effective as the software programs its running.

Almost ninety years ago, one of the richest men in the world was the legendary industrialist Andrew Carnegie. He was convinced that he had discovered the real secret of creating wealth and commissioned a young reporter named Napoleon Hill to interview 400 of the richest men alive to see if they too had used this secret to create their fortunes.

Hill spent the next twenty years meeting up with nearly every person on the list, and discovered that, without fail, they had followed the same simple blueprint for wealth. The book he eventually published “Think and Grow Rich” has become one of the best selling non-fiction books of all time.

The secret Carnegie and all the great achievers used to create riches in their lives was simply this:

All wealth is created with the human mind.

Look around you – how many things can you see that began as a thought in someone’s mind?

Do you drive a car or travel by airplane? At one time, oil was not considered to be of any use – it was essentially a waste product. Someone’s mind turned it from a waste product into one of the most valuable commodities in the world today.

The world’s best selling drink, Coca-Cola, was originally launched as a headache cure and was a total failure, until someone had the crazy idea of selling it simply as a refreshing drink!

What will the next big idea be? More to the point who will come up with it? Even more to the point, why not you?

You often hear people say that rich people are just lucky, or that they work harder, or that they are dishonest. In fact the truth is much simpler:

The difference between rich and poor people is that the rich have learned to recognise the value of their thoughts.

Therefore it is more beneficial when measuring someone’s wealth not to look at the amount of money they have in the bank or the total of their possessions but rather looking at the quality of their thoughts.

Rich thinkers will be rich regardless of the current size of their bank balance – they will always be looking for possibilities and living life on their own terms.

Poor thinkers may have big houses and wear fancy clothes, but their heads are filled with fears about the future and mistrust of those around them. They are driven to continually try to protect what they have or grab more from others.

Making money is just a skill, like learning to juggle or riding a bike. Once you have mastered that skill you will be able to make money no matter what circumstances you find yourself in or what is going on in the world around you.

That’s why you could take away all Richard Branson’s money and in a very short space of time he would have it all back – simply because the one thing you cannot take away is his ability to think rich and make money as a result.

This is the first key to your success – recognising that your riches are not in some far off place but they are waiting for you to find them inside your own mind. If you are going to go inside your mind to find them it would be useful to have a map of the territory you are about to explore.

In my articles over the coming weeks I will talk more about the working of your mind and explore in more detail the characteristics of rich thinkers.

 Gerry

You probably experience unpleasant feelings when you’re overworked or under pressure, these feeling are often described as being stressed out.

When you experience these daily chronic lifestyle stresses, you can be effected in many adverse way’s..

They can affect your thinking, concentration and even your behavior as well as your emotional and physical health.

Often stress builds up so slowly, over many years, you are unaware of the reason for problems such as

• Anxiety
• Fear
• Emotional Eating and Weight Gain
• Feeling Overwhelmed and exhausted
• Cognitive Impairment
• Loss of sleep
• Head aches
• Indigestion
• Skin problems
• Heart Disease
• Blood Pressure and Stroke etc,.

Learning about the role that stress plays in your life, can help you to create a healthier and happier you.

We can offer you on going personal coaching via email after your stay with us here at Olive Branch Retreats.

Linda

Most of us think we know the importance of a positive mental attitude, an attitude of mental toughness to get us through the hard times. Most of us will never have to put it to the test the way Gary Faris did. Gary was a Life Coach in California back in the 80’s, long before it became fashionable. At 38 he was still an enthusiastic athlete and competitive runner at a decent level. He was a very positive person and life was good for him, but then something happened that would test him to his limits.

One day while he was out running on a country road he was struck by a truck. The impact threw him 120 feet into a field. In the emergency-room the doctors weren’t even sure he would survive, such were his injuries. He had the first two of six operations that he would eventually need. When he was out of danger the doctors told him he would never walk normally again, and certainly would never jog, much less run.

Over the next two years Gary was in sports rehabilitation. He rebuilt his damaged body, overcoming incredible physical pain as well as the doubts of his doctors. Within three years not only was he walking normally but he was back running at a competitive level. The story of how he achieved this is a superb example of the power of a positive mental attitude.

Gary had always had an interest in sports fitness, now he turned that interest to sports-injury rehabilitation. Let’s face it, he had a very personal and compelling reason for doing so. Rather than complaining about the unfairness of life, he decided to analysis the core characteristics of those athletes who succeeded with their full rehabilitation. During his own physiotherapy he talked to those making good progress, and read about others to see what they had done. He looked beyond their stories to examine their underlying mental attitudes.

He found that there were six distinct mental patterns or characteristics that were possessed by every successful rehabilitated athlete that he had met or read about. So he applied them to himself. They were invaluable in helping him keep a positive mental attitude all through his sometimes painful rehabilitation program. This was in spite his medical team repeatedly telling him not to get his hopes too high about the eventual extent of his recovery.

After his complete recovery he published his research in professional journals across many fields. He was surprised and delighted with the response he got. As others used Gary’s insights with business clients, health professionals and even teachers found that these six mental patterns could be applied to a whole range of situations as diverse as parenting, pole vaulting and politics. They turned out to be the core characteristics of any positive mental attitude.

Here are the six mental patterns that Gary found?

1. Inner Motivation; 2. The Value of High Standards; 3. Breaking Down Goals; 4. Combining Present and Future Frames; 5. Personal Involvement;  6. Self-to-Self Comparisons.

No one characteristic is more important than another. Rather it’s the simultaneous interaction of all of them working together that creates the synergy for a solid positive mental attitude.

Attitudes are a choice. They may not come in bottles or little pills from your pharmacy, but they are never the less real. We have all experienced how a negative attitude has held us back, and how a positive attitude has propelled us towards our desired goal. This is your chance to choose to have an attitude that can make a difference to the quality of the rest of your life.

In my next article in the New Year I will expand more on the six mental patterns and how to incorporate them into whatever you are striving to achieve. Have a very positive New Year.

Gerry

The truth is there is no one solution to being successful, however here are a few simple things that you can do to achieve success in your well-being, health and happiness.

The first step is to be specific about what you want. You can’t be indecisive.
If you want to feel better, healthier and happier, you need to be specific about what and how.
Why?
When you’re specific about what you want and how you are going to achieve it, you give your conscious and subconscious mind a very clear set of instructions for them to follow.

Your subconscious cannot attract the right people, situations and circumstances if you don’t have your mind focused on what you specifically want.
Your subconscious mind will only create more and more blocks for you if you remain uncertain about what you want.
So be specific about your well-being goals. And if you’re not sure about the, what or the how, perhaps we at olive branch retreats can help. ( ask us questions though this blog)

Keeping an Open Mind
The next step requires that you keep an open mind and learn as much as you can about how to achieve your goals. Talk to others who have had the success you want and see what they have done. Maybe you could do the same.

For example: suppose you have stomach problems such as acid reflux or irritable bowel syndrome due to over work and stress, and your doctor tells you to slow down.

Your initial reaction might be that it is not possible; you might think that the only way to slow down is to take a holiday, and that’s only short term help.
But the truth is there are probably many ways to improve your stress issues.
One such way is as the doctor may suggest; take a holiday, however, a holiday that could teach you how to deal better with your stress issues at the same time as enjoying yourself.
Many people have found the techniques we use here at Olive Branch Retreats  have amazing benefits.

You should look for different, new and unique ways to achieve your goals.

When you’re open to all possibilities you will be guided to the one that is most fulfilling and most rewarding for you.

If you are not open to any and all possibilities then you limit yourself, you limit the chances of achieve your goals in the quickest, safest and most beneficial way for you.

Being open minded and willing to explore all possibilities, helps you live the life you want, with the best possible well-being, health and happiness.

Making Better choices
Make your mind up to making better chooses for your best well-being, you deserve it just as others do.

This means that sometimes the choices that you want to make may not be what other want.

You may even have to make a choice that you didn’t want to make, however; it may be the best option at the time.

Remember – get clear about your goals – decide what you want. Be open to any and all possibilities – you never know how you may achieve your goal or what might work for you. Choose to make better choices for your well-being, health and happiness – so that you live the life you want.
Sincerely,

Linda

Olive branch retreats.

One thing that holds us back is feeling guilt.

Personally, I don’t believe there are very many things in life to feel guilty about. If you are honestly trying to do your best, why feel guilty?  Guilt saps our strength and our power. Allowing others to make us feel guilty is not productive. It is usually their own insecurities that cause others to try and make us feel guilty.

Choose right now, not to allow anyone to make you feel guilty.

List the things that you are feeling guilty for in your life right now:

1. _______________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________

4. _______________________________________________

5. _______________________________________________

6. _______________________________________________

7. _______________________________________________

8. _______________________________________________

9. _______________________________________________

10. _______________________________________________

I hope you didn’t have enough things to fill out all ten lines, but if you did, you will find yourself feeling amazing self-confidence once you have eliminated each of these things from your life.

Now, I want you to take each of those things that you are feeling guilty about and write what it would feel like (What you would feel like), if there was no reason to feel guilty about them anymore. How would it feel, if you weren’t carrying around all this guilt-baggage?

1. _______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________

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4. _______________________________________________

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5. _______________________________________________

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6. _______________________________________________

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7. _______________________________________________

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8. _______________________________________________

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9. _______________________________________________

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10. _______________________________________________

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Now, I want you to get real creative – real creative – and list three reasons why you shouldn’t feel guilty for each of these things.

1.

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

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Now, I want you to refuse to feel guilt from this point on. And notice how you life and feelings begin to change, especially your self-confidence.

I was sent this article and found it very interesting; I am passing it on to you though our blog, hope you find it interesting also.

Linda 

Christmas can be a time of great stress for so many people.  This is a copy of an article published in the Picture of Health Magazine, Winter 2004 written by Caroline Schuck RSHom.  Homoeopathy is a very effective tool to help us cope much better with times of immense stress of which Christmas is but one example.  I hope that you find the tale amusing but also as helpful information.

“A Homoeopathic Christmas Tale”

What is it that makes Christmas time so stressful for many people?  For some it is the pressure of all that has to be done while for others it is the extreme changes in the weather that affect them.  For others it is the changes they make to their diets.  Whatever your individual stress may be, homoeopathy is able to support you and your family over this period.

I would like to introduce you to the Green family who regularly use a homoeopathic remedy kit.  Jane Green is preparing for Christmas.  She works part time and has two small children, Emily, aged five and George who is three.  Jane is apprehensive as her in laws are coming to stay for Christmas and there has always been some friction between her and her mother-in-law.  David, Jane’s husband is a workaholic and a gone viveur who enjoys the rich Christmas fare.

Jane is having sleepless nights worrying about all that he has to get done before the big day.  She is anxious that she won’t get everything done in time, she feels hurried and worried about everything.  What if the turkey does not defrost in time?  What if the presents she ordered on line don’t arrive?  What if the children get ill?  She tosses and turns.  She takes a few doses of Argentum Nitricum, which calms her down immediately.  She is able to get on without feeling anxious, she sleeps soundly.

At the end of term Emily comes down with a cold.  She got wet on the way back from school.  She insisted on playing in the puddles and then would not take off her wet socks.  She is clingy, feverish and has candles of yellow mucous coming from her nose.  Luckily Jane knows that her remedy kit includes Pulsatilla.  She gives Emily a few doses and within hours she is playing happily by herself, no longer welded to her mother.

Just as Jane is getting back on track with her Christmas preparations David arrives home after the office party feeling very sick.  He goes to bed but feels distinctly hungover in the morning.  He is irritable, has a headache and is still feeling sick.  He had eaten very rich food the night before and drunk a lot of alcohol.  Luckily he knows that the best remedy for over indulgence is Nux Vomica. He takes a bottle of it to work and takes a dose every hour until he feels better.

Jane is doing last minute baking.  The children are squabbling and she has to get the mince pies out of the oven quickly before they burn.  In the process she burns herself.  She reaches for the lavender oil that she keeps in the kitchen cupboard and smothers it on the burn and gets instant relief.  She then takes a dose of Cantharis. The following day there is no sign of the burn and no blistering.

That night Jane is woken by George screaming.  She had just gone to sleep and it is midnight.  She finds him feverish and burning hot with bright red cheeks; she can feel the heat coming off him.  Despite his temperature he wants to be covered by his blanket and screams when she uncovers him to cool him down.

She gives him a dose of Belladonna, repeats this during the night and by the morning the fever has gone and George is his old self again.

Jane is preparing herself for her in laws.  Christmas Day passes without event but Jane is aware that she is feeling irritated by them.  She does not say anything.  By Boxing Day a stye appears on her left eye lid.  She wonders why this has come up again and then remembers that last time it happened was when she felt angry with her mother in law for behaving rudely in front of the children by humiliating her.  That time she had kept her thoughts to herself as she did now.  She took a few doses of Staphysagria and the stye went down.

A few days later David’s father, Peter, went out in the cold without a hat or a warm coat and got chilled.  He came down with a cold.  Jane gave him some Aconite and he was soon well again.  His wife, Marjory, had been complaining for some time of not feeling quite rights; she had a headache above her eye and started to feel achy down her spine, she had a sore throat and went to bed, wishing to be left alone.  Jane administered some doses of Gelsemium for this slow onset flu and Marjory soon recovered.  Despite the inevitable illnesses of this time of year the Green family weathered the season very well thanks to homoeopathy.

Christmas Survival Kit

Aconite

Sudden onset of any symptoms e.g. colds, flu.  Colds as a result of getting chilled or getting in cold winds.

Arg Nit

Anticipatory anxiety with a sense of hurry and worry.

Belladonna

Redness, fevers worse midnight, better for covering, desires lemonade.

Cantharis

Burns.  Also useful in cystitis where there is burning during urination.

Gelsemium

Slow onset flu with aching in the spine and pain above the eyes.

Nux Vomica

Number one remedy for hangovers and over indulgence with headaches, nausea and irritability.

Staphysagria

Ailments from suppressed anger or humiliation.  This can include styes, cystitis.

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