Blessings, Darlings!
Y'all already know that I consider spiritual health a part of health, and from the posts last year that I think that we humans have to put in effort to work on our relationships with the Gods (just like we do with humans). But in the lives we now live, who has the time?
It's not like our society makes it a point to notice when the leaves of the hawthorn are the size of a squirrel's ear, and then everyone in the village prepares and we celebrate Beltane together. Now, if we're lucky, we set the dates for all celebrations for the next year at our covens/traditions retreat. And while we give some thought to coordinating with the moon for them, we mostly work on finding good weekend day, or a night when no one in the group has classes. And if our car breaks down we don't go, because nothing is within walking distance and buses don't run after rush hour or on weekends.
So ... what kind of time and effort does it take for that personal work? It varies, of course, but on the whole it's like any other endeavor - the more time/effort you put in, the more you get out.
This year I've got a few 'regularly scheduled' home rituals going: Monthly ones aimed at the health of the earth (yeah, BP is showing just how good my magic is working there) and a weekly health/blessing ritual for those who have asked for healings and protection for those in the same magical/spiritual groups I'm in (ADF, ASW, Owl Mt, AMOK, family, etc). I often to the health/protection working several times a week, as the level of need has been high.
There's daily meditation, usually after I get up and feed the cats and before I face the rest of the day. Why AFTER feeding the cats? Clearly, you who ask that aren't staff to cats!
There's invoking the blessings of the Gods on food as I cook it. There are meals that I eat trying to focus totally on being grateful to the Gods for the food and other blessings in my life (not that common, as I don't do it when I eat with the family). There are the times a day when I talk to the High Ones .... and listen and note their answers, then act on any suggestions they have for my life.
Back in the day, before I bred, I tried to put in 10% of my waking hours 'for the God/dess/es'. That included volunteering, reading meditation, rituals, everything. I might try that again some time. Right now .... not counting 'cooking time' .... if I get 45 minutes a day I'm doing really well.
I think that this week I'm going to start work on expanding this. If I increase my time put into this by 15% - that's a time increase of 6 minutes 45 seconds a day. Surely I can do that!
Frondly,
Fern
All of which are, of course, part of the reason that most of our spiritual work is done solo, even when we are in groups.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
LW Monday - Supplemental Info
Blessings, Darlings!
Oh, the amazing synchronicity! I plan to do a post a vitamins and what happens: Kellene does a related on PreparednessPro on how she treats the common cold (http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/my-cure-for-the-common-cold/?utm_source=%40everythingprep&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=%40everythingprep) and Dr. Andrew Weil does Vitamin D again at http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400732/How-Much-Sun-Exposure-for-Vitamin-D.html.
Not exactly an original idea, eh?
So far in the Life Wellness posts here I've talked about eating, exercising, stress, etc, but haven't talked about supplements.
There's a reason for this - I'm of several minds about them.
I mean, let's face it: whether humans evolved or were created overnight by some Goddess or God, neither evolution nor the Divinity/Divinities in question provided a jar of prepared daily vitamins. We do not come with Recommended Daily Values for them tattoo'd onto us. But somehow humanity survived until vitamins were 'discovered' and until recommended values were established.
Therefore, given the wide ranges of habitats humans have thrived in on Earth, there is probably a wide range of 'optimum level' of each vitamin. And some interact in interesting ways, requiring more of others or masking deficiencies of others.
AND research keeps changing the idea of how much is the right amount - see a previous post on Vitamin D from .... sometime last year. And we'll get to that again later this post, too.
Still, even with eating 'better' than I have been, eating more 'intact' or 'whole' foods, etc, I take supplemental vitamins.
First, because my life is far far FAR more sedentary than my ancestors' lives were. Thus instead of needing up to 5000 calories a day (estimated calories a hard working peasant in Europe ate when they could get it), I only need like 1200 calories a day unless I push myself to exercise. That means a whole heck of a lot more nutrients would have to be crammed into a quarter of the calories.
Second, because some studies show that today's food in fact has LESS nutrients than previous varieties had.
Third, because my lifestyle doesn't expose me to the same levels of some vitamins as my ancestors were exposed to, particularly in the case of vitamin D, but probably in the case of vitamin K as well. I'm not working outside all day, I'm not walking where ever I go, etc.
But it's still frustrating. The article by Dr. Weil I cited above seems to rather contradict his previous articles on it (such as http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400732/How-Much-Sun-Exposure-for-Vitamin-D.html). In today's he says that it's easy to get all the vitamin D you need in a little sun exposure. In the earlier one, he says that he's increased the amount in his proprietary for-sale vitamins to 2000 IUs a day.
So, for the moment, I take a daily vitamin (usually one aimed at women over 50 for the extra calcium and such), and extra vitamin D, and some chewable calcium daily.
YMMV.
Frondly, Fern
synchronistic
Oh, the amazing synchronicity! I plan to do a post a vitamins and what happens: Kellene does a related on PreparednessPro on how she treats the common cold (http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/my-cure-for-the-common-cold/?utm_source=%40everythingprep&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=%40everythingprep) and Dr. Andrew Weil does Vitamin D again at http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400732/How-Much-Sun-Exposure-for-Vitamin-D.html.
Not exactly an original idea, eh?
So far in the Life Wellness posts here I've talked about eating, exercising, stress, etc, but haven't talked about supplements.
There's a reason for this - I'm of several minds about them.
I mean, let's face it: whether humans evolved or were created overnight by some Goddess or God, neither evolution nor the Divinity/Divinities in question provided a jar of prepared daily vitamins. We do not come with Recommended Daily Values for them tattoo'd onto us. But somehow humanity survived until vitamins were 'discovered' and until recommended values were established.
Therefore, given the wide ranges of habitats humans have thrived in on Earth, there is probably a wide range of 'optimum level' of each vitamin. And some interact in interesting ways, requiring more of others or masking deficiencies of others.
AND research keeps changing the idea of how much is the right amount - see a previous post on Vitamin D from .... sometime last year. And we'll get to that again later this post, too.
Still, even with eating 'better' than I have been, eating more 'intact' or 'whole' foods, etc, I take supplemental vitamins.
First, because my life is far far FAR more sedentary than my ancestors' lives were. Thus instead of needing up to 5000 calories a day (estimated calories a hard working peasant in Europe ate when they could get it), I only need like 1200 calories a day unless I push myself to exercise. That means a whole heck of a lot more nutrients would have to be crammed into a quarter of the calories.
Second, because some studies show that today's food in fact has LESS nutrients than previous varieties had.
Third, because my lifestyle doesn't expose me to the same levels of some vitamins as my ancestors were exposed to, particularly in the case of vitamin D, but probably in the case of vitamin K as well. I'm not working outside all day, I'm not walking where ever I go, etc.
But it's still frustrating. The article by Dr. Weil I cited above seems to rather contradict his previous articles on it (such as http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400732/How-Much-Sun-Exposure-for-Vitamin-D.html). In today's he says that it's easy to get all the vitamin D you need in a little sun exposure. In the earlier one, he says that he's increased the amount in his proprietary for-sale vitamins to 2000 IUs a day.
So, for the moment, I take a daily vitamin (usually one aimed at women over 50 for the extra calcium and such), and extra vitamin D, and some chewable calcium daily.
YMMV.
Frondly, Fern
synchronistic
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
LWMonday On Tuesday: Rehab
Blessings, Darlings!
Sorry about the delay in getting this Monday post up - I simply forgot to blog yesterday.
In this weeks wellness, let's talk about handling setbacks. Physical setbacks. Like the damn tendonitis I have in myknee at this time. And that I've previously had in my forearm, and in my shoulder.
For, you see, starting or increasing the difficultly of an exercise program can lead challenges. Tendonitis, sprains, strains, stress fractures, etc, are all possibilities. Fortunately the tendonitis and strains are the most common.
With tendonitis and muscle strains sometimes you know when you got it, sometimes you don't. I know when the tendon in my knee got pissy - when I increased the height of the exercise step. It felt bad, I went back to the lower step, finished the workout, and have had pain ever since.
On the other hand - uh, limb - the forearm tendonitis came from no obvious source. But suddenly lifting a glass of water from the floor while seated on a chair (and doing dishes, and some other tasks) hurt so bad that I'd drop what I was lifting.
How does one treat injuries like this? You use RICE. Plus anti-inflamatories.
REST
ICE
COMPRESSION (more used with muscle issues than tendon issues)
ELEVATION (More used with muscle issues than tendon issues)
Praise the Gods, and pass the ibuprofen.
Frondly, Fern
Sorry about the delay in getting this Monday post up - I simply forgot to blog yesterday.
In this weeks wellness, let's talk about handling setbacks. Physical setbacks. Like the damn tendonitis I have in myknee at this time. And that I've previously had in my forearm, and in my shoulder.
For, you see, starting or increasing the difficultly of an exercise program can lead challenges. Tendonitis, sprains, strains, stress fractures, etc, are all possibilities. Fortunately the tendonitis and strains are the most common.
With tendonitis and muscle strains sometimes you know when you got it, sometimes you don't. I know when the tendon in my knee got pissy - when I increased the height of the exercise step. It felt bad, I went back to the lower step, finished the workout, and have had pain ever since.
On the other hand - uh, limb - the forearm tendonitis came from no obvious source. But suddenly lifting a glass of water from the floor while seated on a chair (and doing dishes, and some other tasks) hurt so bad that I'd drop what I was lifting.
How does one treat injuries like this? You use RICE. Plus anti-inflamatories.
REST
ICE
COMPRESSION (more used with muscle issues than tendon issues)
ELEVATION (More used with muscle issues than tendon issues)
Praise the Gods, and pass the ibuprofen.
Frondly, Fern
Monday, May 3, 2010
Wrapped in Plastic
Blessings, Darling!
Plastics.
They are everywhere, apparently including leachates of 'em in our bodies. And these by-products are implicated in various things, including weight gain and estrogen-sensitive cancers.
So I'm trying to reduce my dependence on plastics in my kitchen, while spending no money on it. Which works as well as any other thing that I spend no money on.
I've switched most refrigerated liquids like iced tea from plastics to Mason jars. The lids still have some plastic, but it's less exposure. OTOH it's FAR harder to grip a half gallon Mason jar than a plastic bottle with indentations for use in grabbing.
I'm still using my beloved Gladware a lot, but moving more and more leftovers into jars or Pyrex or Corning Ware. I've had some spectacular breakages of Pyrex in the process - drop one and the glass goes EVERYWHERE.
Sometime I'll buy a stainless steel water bottle.
Biggest problem is that all my long-term grain/bean storage is in food grade plastic buckets. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this. Maybe work again on getting a friend to take me to the LDS cannery so I can store all future purchases in #10 steel cans.
We already eat off of china, not plastic, plates, and drink from glasses and ceramic mugs not plastic cups.
This goal is going to be one I work on over time. I HOPE to have made great improvements by a year from now.
Frondly, Fern
Plastics.
They are everywhere, apparently including leachates of 'em in our bodies. And these by-products are implicated in various things, including weight gain and estrogen-sensitive cancers.
So I'm trying to reduce my dependence on plastics in my kitchen, while spending no money on it. Which works as well as any other thing that I spend no money on.
I've switched most refrigerated liquids like iced tea from plastics to Mason jars. The lids still have some plastic, but it's less exposure. OTOH it's FAR harder to grip a half gallon Mason jar than a plastic bottle with indentations for use in grabbing.
I'm still using my beloved Gladware a lot, but moving more and more leftovers into jars or Pyrex or Corning Ware. I've had some spectacular breakages of Pyrex in the process - drop one and the glass goes EVERYWHERE.
Sometime I'll buy a stainless steel water bottle.
Biggest problem is that all my long-term grain/bean storage is in food grade plastic buckets. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this. Maybe work again on getting a friend to take me to the LDS cannery so I can store all future purchases in #10 steel cans.
We already eat off of china, not plastic, plates, and drink from glasses and ceramic mugs not plastic cups.
This goal is going to be one I work on over time. I HOPE to have made great improvements by a year from now.
Frondly, Fern
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