WAKE UP!

Blood sugar was a whopping 132 this morning. This is 33 points over where the doctor would like to have my levels and comes as no surprise. This is what happens when you eat pasta and cookies all day long, ending the night with a big bowl of ice cream and two cups of tea with sugar. This is what happens after a whole week of bad eating. This needs to be my wake-up call.

Mom is dead. Her services are this week-end. While this sounds callous, there is nothing I can do for her. Time to get back to treating her daughter right. Mom would want me to take care of myself. Today, I am going to make a real effort to choose my foods more wisely, to keep the carbs to a minimum, and make them healthy when I do have them.

When I get back home, I am going to get back to setting my alarm clock, getting up, and drinking hot lemon water before going for a walk or doing calisthenics. I am going to get back to healthy dinners, with most carbs early in the day. I am going to get my sugar and my weight under control again. I am also going to get back to logging my foods on My Fitness Pal, so as to keep better track.

For now, today, I am going to finish my coffee, then have a little oatmeal and some orange juice. Then, if the rain has stopped, I’m going for my walk. Baby steps, one day at a time.

Mysterious Monday: Lavender

Those of you who have been following my blog know that I’ve been under a lot of stress lately. With my mother’s difficulty adjusting to the nursing home after having to be moved from the assisted living facility, and my father’s stress over that and his brother-in-law’s sudden diagnosis with liver cancer, things have been more than usually crazy around my house. Needless to say, my blood pressure has been on the high end. Some days, I thought I would have a frikkin’ heart attack from the banging of my heart. I hate medicine, even hate taking aspirin or ibuprofen when I have a headache. Many years ago, I turned to natural healing as an alternative.

I began with essential oils and also with minerals, like the love stone of my previous blog entry. Essential oils are one of the ways to use alternative forms of medicine. Essential oils are the concentrated form of the plants from which they are derived. Many of these oils are very, very strong and should be used with caution (and often dilution).  

Lavender is one of my favorites. I love the scent of it and it has a very calming effect. I have used it for many years to help with anxiety. I tend to project and worry even when there is no cause, so you can imagine how much I worry when there is something to worry about. From all that I’ve read about lavender and its versatility, I highly recommend keeping this oil in your holistic medicine cabinet.

Image courtesy of Feelart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Lavender has helped my sleepless nights. I dab a little on a tissue and rub that tissue along the bottom of my pillow. Lay my head down, inhale, and I’m off to dreamland.

At times when I’ve thought my heart would explode from my chest, I’ve dabbed a little lavender on my wrists and other pulse points. Instantly, I could feel my heart slow down to normal.

Lavender is good for relieving pain. Add a little to a massage oil and work it into sore muscles. Pour a little into the bath and settle in for a nice long soak. Tight muscles? Cramps? Add to a warm compress and apply to the affected area.

Lavender oil is also good for coughs and colds. Add a bit to a vaporizer or put a dollop in a pot of boiled water. Place a towel over your head and form a tent from it with your head and the pot as the joining ends. Inhale the steam. Breath deep.

Lavender oil has antiseptic properties and so is good for minor burns and other skin irritations, including acne. If you use it on cuts or any open wounds, be sure you are using the pure, undiluted, therapeutic-grade oil. Most of the stuff sold in chain stores is not the pure kind. I’ve read that it also can be used as a deodorant, since it kills bacteria.

You can repel insects with lavender oil. Try rubbing some along the window sills of your home, as well as along electric outlet covers and other areas where bugs get in. You’ll keep out the ickies and your house will smell nice and be a relaxing place for all who enter. CAUTION: BEWARE OF USING WHEN YOUR MIL VISITS. SHE MAY FEEL SO RELAXED THAT SHE RETURNS, AGAIN AND AGAIN.  

As ever with these medical posts of mine, bear in mind that I am no doctor. I report things I have read and sometimes learned from experience. Please consult your doctor before using lavender in place of any treatment; if you do not do so, YOU are the one responsible for any negative results, not me or your doctor or anyone else. Also, since lavender promotes blood flow, pregnant women should avoid this essential oil. 

Mysterious Monday--the Power of the Love Stone

I’m sure this week’s theme for Mysterious Monday is not so much a mystery—as Valentine’s Day is closing in on us this week, all our thoughts turn toward our current relationship status. Whether you have a sweetie, are looking for a sweetie, just plain over the whole sweetie thing, or whatever, one thing we all have in common is our need for love. Whether that love comes in the form of romantic love or platonic love, you can quite literally hold the means to get that love in the palm of your hand. Gemstone magic can be that means.

There is a wonderfully beautiful type of stone called rose quartz, aka pink quartz or love stone. Its pink color comes from “impurities” that bleed into the naturally white quartz. The one that I had for many years was tumbled so that it was smooth to the touch. It was cool when I placed it in my hands, warming with the warmth of my body. When life seemed too rough to believe, I would hold this stone in the palm of my hands and close my eyes; gradually, my breathing would slow and positive thoughts would fill my head.

Quartz is a very powerful conductor of energy; rose quartz therefore is a powerful conductor of love energy. It is used for finding love, maintaining love, and helping one to love and forgive oneself. This stone attracts all sorts of love—romantic love, love for children, love of self, friendship, etc. It eases anger and sadness, and can even help you to feel at peace with the world in general, alleviating the stress of all the negativity that bombards us every day. A word of caution—no magic can force a particular “target” to fall in love with you; love stones will attract the one who is right for you, not turn Bobby from his love for Michelle, for example. This would be a negative use of a positive emotion, and could have whiplash negative effects in the long run.

In healing, it is used for healing emotional hurts such as grief or guilt, as well as balancing the flow of blood to cleanse the body of impurities. It has a powerful association with the heart chakra so that it naturally helps to balance body, mind, and spirit. If you’re feeling stress, do as I mentioned above and hold your love stone in your hand. Close your eyes, then breathe in and out slowly a few times; breathe in love and purity in the form of white or yellow or pink light, breathe out negativity in the form of black and darkness. Love stones are not a “cure” however for proper medical care—they help to alleviate symptoms and lower your stress while increasing your blood flow, but for any physical or mental health issues, you should always consult your physician.

There are many ways to use the love stone—it comes in a variety of forms, as well. Tumbled stones are polished with no rough edges and are therefore more comfortable to hold or to use as jewelry, either as a pendant on a necklace or in the form of a bracelet, earrings or a ring. You can keep these stones in your purse or your pocket, in the cup holder of your car or hanging from the rear-view mirror. Keep one in your desk at work if you work an office job or in your locker at school if you’re in school—should you be reading my blog if you’re still in high school? Untumbled love stones are just as powerful but would most often be found in a bowl or just set out somewhere in your home. Many people place them in their bedrooms or in the “heart” of their homes (this can be the physical center or the social center, such as the living room or the kitchen or the dining room). Love stones also come in towers, but they are not as common as the smaller variety and are definitely more expensive. Wherever you keep your stone, keep one close; think of it and hold it daily and see if you see any improvement in your stress levels or love life or both.