Peaceful Living
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Stress: It’s Killing Us
Stress is a major contributing factor in most illness and dis-ease … research indicates upwards of 90% or more (including but not limited to cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, inflammation, depression, HIV/AIDS). But when was the last time your doctor talked to you about how to manage stress or even what might be stressing you? Understanding stress management is one of the best things you can do for your overall health and well-being. In today’s fast-paced society, we are exposed to more stress in a day than our ancestors of 50-100 years ago were in a month. While technology can instantly place information at our fingertips, it creates an enormous amount…
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The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health
Health experts say sitting can be hazardous to our health. In fact, prolonged sitting has been linked into a number of diseases and health issues. However, perhaps what’s more concerning is what we do while sitting – mindlessly scroll and browse through our social media feeds. Indeed, social media has become an important and inescapable part of our everyday lives. Yet a growing number of studies are showing that heavy social media usage might be significantly affecting our brains more than we realize. How Social Media Can Drain Your Brain Social networking platforms have provided an indispensable benefit to connect people and have allowed us to share thoughts and conversations. …
- Beliefs & Intentions, Encouragement & Inspiration, Healing Thoughts, Health & Wellness, Peaceful Living, Positive Thinking & Affirmations, Relax & Renew
Breathing Differently Can Make You Happier
“When you breathe, you inspire. When you do not breathe, you expire.” Quote from an 11-year-old’s science exam John Grinder, co-creator of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) talks about the link between respiration, physiology, internal state, and high performance. He calls this ‘the chain of excellence’. I recently read a book by Osho, the wonderfully non-PC mystic and guru. In the book, Osho instructed the reader to pay attention to their breathing rate when they were sad and notice the timing of the in-breath and out-breath. He explained that next time they were happy, they could re-induce the sad state by merely repeating the breathing pattern. Fortunately, he added, it works the…
- Ancient Wisdom, Encouragement & Inspiration, Finding Balance, Health & Wellness, Hurry Less, Peaceful Living, Quiet Spaces, Relax & Renew, Safe Sanctuary
Guided Meditation – Finding Peace in Chaos
In our fast-paced world, it is increasingly difficult to relax and de-stress. We pull up the internet and Google can return 22 million results in less than a second. This constant barrage of information, along with the hustle and bustle of our tech-driven era is enough to make anyone anxious. So how do you find calm amid the daily chaos? Guided meditation is one of the ways I most often recommend to my clients. All of my in-house Reiki sessions include guided meditation as part of the process and it has made a huge difference in helping people relax and come down out of fight/flight mode and be able to…
- Ancient Wisdom, Beliefs & Intentions, Encouragement & Inspiration, Finding Balance, Healing Thoughts, Hearth & Home, Peaceful Living, Quiet Spaces, Relax & Renew, Transform Your Life, Uncategorized
Darkness to Light
My house is quiet as it’s early and everyone else is still asleep. It’s not all that cold this morning, but I decided to use the fireplace as a focal point for meditation. The fire just started talking with its sizzling, crackling, and popping. The little white lights on our holiday tree add to the peaceful feeling. During this Season of Lights, we reflect on the growing darkness as we approach the time of Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. In about a week, the days will begin to lengthen once again. This ongoing cycle reminds us that darkness is but “for a time.” When the days grow…
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Relationship Woes
Every once in awhile, I receive a call from someone wanting to talk to a psychic. I’m intuitive, but don’t claim to be psychic and don’t feel we should ever rely on someone else to “tell us what to do” which is often the way those conversations start. I offered to do a coaching session. The young man wanted to know the difference between a psychic reading and a coaching session. I explained that coaching would help him make a decision for himself and asked what he was concerned about. A relationship. Should he choose Woman A or Woman B? And he immediately started telling me a little about both.…
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Angels at WalMart
While others seem to have negative experiences with people at WalMart, it seems to be where angels show up for me. It happened again yesterday when I was out grabbing groceries. We’d been putting off a grocery run for about a week due to other activities but couldn’t delay it anymore. I’d already stopped at Aldi and picked up most of the things but needed to pop in at the WalMart Neighborhood Market for a few fresh fruits and veggies that Aldi didn’t have. I stay away from the big WalMart, but this little market is always pleasant and it’s on my way home from Aldi. As I finished picking…
- Ancient Wisdom, Beliefs & Intentions, Encouragement & Inspiration, Finding Balance, Health & Wellness, Peaceful Living, Wellness
What is Reiki?
Reiki is a lovely Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation of the body and mind. It typically increases feelings of peacefulness, balance and wholeness. This, then, aids in promoting healing as it facilitates stress reduction and relaxation. By definition, Rei (ray) ki (key) is spiritual energy. We all have spiritual (or life force) energy. If one’s “life force energy” is low or not moving freely, we are more likely to become sick or feel stress. If our life force energy is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy. Reiki is a complementary approach to well-being and can safely be used in conjunction with other allopathic (traditional…
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Instrument of Change
Disappointment comes from expectations … typically our expectations about the things others should do or accomplish. Yet we have no control over the actions of others. We can influence others, but if we attempt to control them, we are manipulating, coercing, extorting, etc … and it’s really not our place to control anyone other than self. Yet we often find ourselves expecting others to make choices we think are best for them … ignoring what they want or feel and often placing our happiness in jeopardy due to their action or inaction. It’s often a challenge to accept someone for who they are when they are disappointing us. Yet we…
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4 Ways to Ward off Stress
As much as we enjoy the emerging flowers and warmer weather of April, there can be a bit of a dark cloud hanging in the spring sky. Often the first few weeks of the month are a rush of receipts and 1040’s as the April 15 Tax deadline looms, and a rush of new schedules as the kids’ sports seasons fire up. Maybe that’s why April is Stress Awareness Month; to remind us to take care of ourselves, and not let stress go unchecked. Meditation Meditation does not have to be about pretzeled legs, chanting, and reaching enlightenment. It can simply be about creating a moment of stillness in your…
