Got Good Scents ?

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   Your nose knows. Tied to memories, our sense of smell speaks to our hearts.
As human animals, our sense of smell guides us in many ways towards staying healthy.

    One of the most important factors impacting staying healthy or becoming healthier comes from your home's IAQ.

Indoor Air Quality, or IAQ, effects you, your children and even your pets. Good IAQ supports good physical and mental health and overall well being, while studies show that poor or bad IAQ contributes to a wide variety of maladies from acute to chronic, such as headaches, itchy eyes and skin, foggy thinking, irritability, asthma and much more.

Research has found that air pollution levels in our homes can be much greater than those outside (2-5 times greater,in fact). And most folks spend a great deal of time indoors, especially during the holidays.

    Among the many factors involved in IAQ, one may surprise you.

Did you know that those pretty candles with their enticing aromas can be quite toxic and have quite negative health effects? That is if they're made with synthetic, chemically derived fragrances. In our world today, our noses can be fooled!

    Candle companies are not required to disclose ingredients, and when 'fragrance' is listed on the label, there can a soup of hundreds of chemicals covered by that one word. One chemical group used to scent candles, called phthalates, has been shown to cause birth defects and reproductive problems, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

    Just by sitting there, without being burned, synthetically scented candles are still outgassing (emitting their chemicals into the air), adversely impacting your health.

    In addition to the scenting chemicals, the materials that the candles of are made of also determines how they can impact our health, and IAQ. Even without the soup of scenting chemicals, the soot and smoke from petroleum, the typical material of most candles, including birthday candles and tealights, presents another health liability and bad IAQ.

So, what to do?

    Candles are an integral part of many holidays, and across the year throughout our daily lives. Adding beauty to our spaces, they are a soul nourishing presence.

    Surrounding ourselves with wonderful, healthy aromas increases our well being.

No need to banish candles and scents from our homes, just stay away from the unhealthy ones!

Here are some delicious solutions for scenting your home:

1. Choose candles made of organic soy (unless organically grown, 91% or more of soy is genetically engineered), organic vegetable wax, or beeswax. All can be found in a panoply of sizes, shapes, colors, with a wide variety of scents. There are even beeswax candles of specifically for Channukah and birthdays. Beewax has its own innate sweet smell and is of course, unprocessed and natural.

2. Read the labels. Buy ONLY those that say they are scented with organic essential oils.

3. Bring nature indoors. Fruit and flowers, leaves and branches, along with pinecones, all carry lovely scents and can be beautiful decorations. Make sure to bring in only those that you know are not contaminated with chemicals.

4. Make or purchase organic potpourri from dried rose, lavender, hibiscus, calendula or other organic petals. Place in open or partially covered bowls, or wrap in small pieces of cloth. Add 1 drop of organic essential oil to the mixture to enhance and extend the life of your mixture. [Keep essential oils away from direct contact with your skin.]

5. Place a few drops organic lavender essential oil in a small bowl of room temperature water. For larger rooms, use several bowls. 

6. Place organic essential oil diffuser sticks in a beautiful glass or ceramic jar.

7. For a refreshing room spray: In a small glass bottle with a spray top, combine a few drops of essentials with water and a small amount of organic carrier oil such as almond or grapeseed.

By making conscious, health promoting choices, we can have great scents for the holidays and beyond!

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Evisioning A World Filled With Laughter & Joy!

Happy Solstice!

Whichever hemisphere and season you're in, each solstice marks a transition time, a threshold, a portal.  

Portals, be they physical, energetic or a cycle in Nature, carry potent possibility and the energy of  change.  

And right now, we are also all swimming in the energies of the recent Venus/Sun eclipse. 

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    So today, in honor of Venus and our Sun, and LIFE on this beautiful planet, let's begin/continue to Envision Our World Filled with Laughter & Joy!

    Stress, strain, struggle and excruciating agony, in human lives and throughout the environment on land and sea, are being experienced by so many.

    What if starting today, we - you and I, all of us in this caring Flourishing community - give ourselves the opportunity to deeply imagine, deeply focus on, the new world we want to see blossom into being?    

    What if everyone had Plenty? What if no one had to struggle for good food or clean air and water, including birds, bees and butterflies? 

    What if suddenly, we could all take a planetary deep breath and know that we are all in this together?

     And what if, as crazy as it may sound, what if we were to envision anyone and everyone involved in armed conflict for any reason, simply stepping away from their weapons, smiling at their perceived 'enemies'?   

     What if HUGS were given and received everywhere?!    

     What if the human sounds heard and felt across the planet could be of children and 'grown ups' 

everywhere Laughing Together, dancing together??

      What if Having FUN :- )) filled our lives?! 

     I invite you to take time to inwardly feel and see Delight Across the Land.

     And for a start, how about turning to someone, perhaps yourself in a mirror, and sharing a Smile? Remember, smiling strengthens you physically and emotionally and whomever you give a smile to!

     Feel your feet firmly on the ground (even if only in your mind), preferably barefoot. Take a deep breath and s t r e t c h your body in every direction you can. And smile some more ~ it feels good!

Then envision the juiciest, ripe-with-joyful-possibilities-for-All world you can imagine !
How 'bout it ? Waddahya say? :-)) 

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     Together, we are doing our parts to bring a Joyful, Healthy World into being.

     Thank you for joining me here ~ Please do leave a comment!

    

Please scroll down to enjoy a new selection of my Blessings From Nature Photographs, and to see my delicious, Quality-of-Life-enhancing offerings for YOUR Good Health & Well Being, under "Ready to Recharge?" ALL are available On site & By Telephone.

Thank You !

                                                   

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May all beings be well
May all beings be happy
May all beings be free

  

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Blessings From Nature Photographs

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Getting In Sync!

   Happy New Year! 

    Here in the SF Bay Area, we enjoyed clear blue skies and mild temperatures on New Year's Day.  

I'd stayed up so late for New Year's Eve that I didn't actually get outside until well into afternoon.  

So sleepy that I almost didn't go anywhere, but the redwoods tugged at my sleeves to come for a much needed recharging visit, so off to Muir Woods I went.  

    Mmm, sweet air, soft paths, silence.

      There's always a calm and a hush enveloping a redwood grove and all who venture near.  

      The brilliant sunlight from above danced through pockets of space between trees. A few birds darted about with little chirps. Breathing deeply, walking at a comfortable pace, my mind cleared, my heart settled. I felt revived, ready to jump into this new year.

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     How about you?  

     Are you recharged and ready for the dynamic ride of 2012?  

     Because quite aside from anything you may have heard about the Mayan Calender, 2012 is a 5 Year in Western Numerology, and a Chinese Astrology Year of the Water Dragon, both of which carry certain energies.  
                                                But first....May I tell you a wee, true tale?

 

Photo(C) by Alisa Rose Seidlitz

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       Once upon a time there was sensitive, exuberant little girl. She delighted in the world around her as little girls are wont to do, her curiosity abounding.
       She loved talking, and started telling and preforming her own original stories for her classmates in nursery school (this was many, many years ago, in the olden days before organized "preschool").
       But there was a secret that she never, ever mentioned to anyone.
       She has given me permission to tell you now.
  

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  Numbers     had     meanings.

       They had colors and qualities and    "emotions". They were all around, and could influence how the little girl felt. Numbers were very powerful.

   Some numbers felt comfortable and friendly to the little girl. 
Others felt the opposite. There was one mystifying number - sometimes it felt wonderful and "tasted" delicious, other times it upset her, and felt very, very bad.

        Years went by. The little girl grew up, still never telling a soul, because, well, she thought she must be crazy to think such things.
        One day she had occasion (meaning need) to read a book which someone else directed her to, about something called "numerology". There in that book was everything she had thought about numbers as a little girl, exactly as she had thought it!
         That little girl was me, and now I'd like to share with you some qualities of the numbers of 2012.

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        In brief, we each have our individual numbers, and everyone is also immersed in the Universal Number of the Year.
        2012 is a 5 year because 2+0+1+2 = 5. Every year carries the energies of its individual digits and its total. Each number is associated with an "element".
         Some KEY ENERGIES/ATTRIBUTES of 2012:
         5 : AIR: Communication, Adventure, Freedom, Excitement, Variety, Movement, Exploration, Discovery, Playfulness, Dancing, Uncertainty and Turning Point/CHANGE.
         2 : WATER : Sensitivity, Reflection, Receptivity, Togetherness, Diplomacy, Balance, Harmony, Intuition
         0 : Nothing, All-Encompassing, Essence of All Things
         1 : FIRE : Independent, Beginning, Creative, Ambitious, Determination, Courage, Impatience, the Beginning of a New Phase
         The dynamics of 5 are the overriding energies of this year.
         As we collectively sense/know, "things" are at a turning point for Life on this planet. Each in our own way, we're working to make changes for the better, and this year is a GREAT Opportunity for that!
        
         Many terrific things are possible and are happening in Healing, Well Being and Eco Design.
          (Stick around here to learn about lots of them! Among much more, we'll look at how we can use the 5 elements for great Well Being. )
         
          This year's two 2's support Togetherness, Diplomacy and Re-Balance. The 1 supports determined, courageous, ambitious beginnings. (Last year, 2011, had two 1s and one 2, so we saw a particularly intense, "eruptive", initiating energy, within a 4 Universal Year. 4 builds a foundation.) The 0 holds us all.
          So this is a year to playfully enhance active communication, for coming together, listening, being receptive and sensitive to each other and to the shifts that are happening around our world. The Chinese Year of the Water Dragon begins on January 23. Its energies underscore and enhance the western interpretation of the numbers of 2012.

These are some of the dynamics that will flow through Nature and our lives during 2012. Just knowing something of these dynamics, we're better prepared to go with the flow.

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          ~ What changes would you like to make in your life?
          ~ What changes can you chose to make, that support your heart's desires?
          ~ How can we all communicate more openly and how can we join together to make the changes we all need?
           From a Feng Shui Perspective, when you change your spaces, you begin to change your life!
         
           The numbers of this year highlight that We're All in This Together. Starting right now, let's be sure to be kind and gentle with ourselves, each other and the natural world around us!  :-))                                            *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *