When you fight the troubles that come with life, you can drown in them. How many times have you heard not to fight the person rescuing you when you are drowning? There is no possible way that anyone can have a perfectly happy life all of the time. There will be troubles, I can promise that one. Learning how to relax into these troubles make them easier to bear. So bob your nose above water, stop fighting, and relax into it. Continue reading Nose Above Water
Don’t tell me I have to give up coloring my hair, not going to happen! The use of hair dyes is a modern-day phenomenon in America and Europe. Various data show 33-70% of women over the age of 18 and a minimum of 10% of men have joined the vanity train. Hair coloring has become so popular that it is barely given a thought by most. It is part of our schedule and we prioritize it right up there with breathing and eating. It makes our hair soft, shiny and vibrant in color, making us feel like we look better and giving us a bounce to our step. Who in their right mind would give that up? Not even a consideration for most of us. So how do we balance our health with our vanity? There are always ways to get around everything, even while maintaining our vanity comfort zones. If you are chronically ill, look at the facts and then look at the wonderful alternatives you have to keep coloring your hair.
Chronically ill people are going to have to step up and check out their homes for smart meters. Smart meters are supposed to be “smart.” Do you believe everything you hear? We need to consider the source of who is telling us that they are smart and then activate our own brains to look at the facts. It never crossed my mind until I became chronically ill and could not recover from my illness to actually look into this. You may have a “smart meter” on your home, even without notification. Have you looked at your home electric meter? Do you know the health risks?
Continue reading Smart vs Analog Meters – Your Health, Your Money
It is a rare human that does not have an occasional headache. Bad headaches have been a part of my entire life. This last three weeks I have had one long headache with spikes of pain that sent me to my knees. It feels like I have lost 3 weeks of my life. I logically know that I have not but it sure feels like I have accomplished absolutely nothing for 3 full weeks. Now that I am starting to come out of the headache I am starting to look back on this time frame and determine what actually did occur besides pain. There just has to be something positive I can declare from the last 3 weeks.
Our bodies have a genetic weakest link but that does not have to determine our fate. Now that we know tongue-rolling is not solely determined by genetics, let’s look at the biggest myth of all: our genes determine what diseases we will get during our lifetime. Genetics certainly is one factor but we have so much more control over our health than we give ourselves credit for. I hear it all of the time, “Such-and-such disease runs in my family so I will get it too.” This is not completely accurate and needs to be understood so more people can have a longer and better quality of life.
How many times have we been taught that tongue-rolling is genetic? Parents, friends, doctors, and teachers have been trying to convince us for decades. Family studies using twins demonstrated clearly that there are important non-genetic influences on tongue-rolling.
Sturtevant who completed the 1940 study suggesting that there is a large genetic influence on tongue-rolling came to a different conclusion after other studies were made. In 1965 he claimed we should not use tongue rolling to demonstrate basic genetics. In reference to his 1940 study, he said he was, “embarrassed to see it listed in some current works as an established Mendelian case.”
When was the last time you slowed down and sat on a swing, as an adult? Do you remember how much fun you had as a kid with the wind in your hair and getting a bird’s eye view of the playground? It is a ball. Swinging can be very relaxing and bring a smile to your face as an adult. When was the last time you saw an NFL player on a swing?
Waking up to mornings with a smile on our face, sunshine, and flowers seems like a good way to start the day. Regardless of what happens next in life, getting started with a good attitude helps. When we are ill and stuck in bed we can ponder the meaning of life with a smile on our face. What is life really about? Is life about what happens to you or about how you respond to it? As you well know, life is going to happen to you regardless of your attitude. Through anything you can imagine life still clicks away; illness, disease, pain, people, war, imprisonment, bankruptcy, employment or unemployment, relationships, adversity, and oppression. The list is endless and the fact remains, how we respond to life will always be more important than what we are faced with, flat on our back sick or not. So what can we do about life’s twists and turns?
You cannot even see the wind or air movement so how in the world can it hurt. Put air on devices and it creates just the right buzz to drive a chick to her knees in pain. Headaches are a nasty business and the oddest things can send a person plummeting into despair from the pain. Triggers like wind, even the slightest breeze can be more than one can bare during a bad headache. Let’s quiet our world a little more while we hurt.
Chronic illness and pain have a way of allowing us to see the world through a different set of eyes, seeing far beyond surface beauty and the shallowness of misperceived notions. During the months and years of illness, use your time wisely and find what is truly important to you. Beauty can be seen from the inside out, through the art of claiming your inner glow, even during chronic illness. Let’s look at how we can gain that inner glow about us through Cleopatra’s example of truly being beautiful.
