Take a New Look at Cloves/What’s Your Body Telling You?

by admin on February 7, 2012

A clouple of bytes I liked from Health.com:
4 New Uses for Cloves – by Leslie Barrie
This winter spice can clear up colds, mold, and skin problems too!
Congestion Prescription: Believe it or not a tea that contains cloves can help you kick a respiratory infection.  “Cloves work as an expectorant, loosening
mucus in the throat and esophagus so you can cough it up,” explains Neil Schachter, MD, professor at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.  After seeing your own doctor to rule out bacterial infection, try Dr. Schachter’s healing brew:
Combine 2 whole cloves, a stick of cinnamon, and 2 crushed cardamom seeds in an infuser.  Place in a large mug with a black tea bag (I
used a black/green tea bag).  Add boiling water and let steep for 1 to 2 minutes.  Then sip away your symptoms.  My note:  This smells like an old fashioned Christmas punch!
Breakout Buster: The spice helps clear acne (Have you heard of this Michelle & Christine?) thanks to eugenol, a natural antiseptic that balances the skin, stopping future breakouts, according to Cornelia Zicu, global chief creative officer for Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas.  Try her mask:
Combine 1 teaspoon of ground cloves, 1 teaspoon honey, and 3 drops of fresh lemon juice in a small bowl.  Apply to your entire face and
leave on for 20 minutes, then rinse with cold water for clear skin.
Eco-Cleaner: Apparently works on mold – eliminate it with cloves.  “Because it works as a natural antiseptic, clove oil can reduce existing outbreaks and prevent future ones in affected spots,” says Sara Snow, eco-expert and author of Sara Snow’s Fresh Living. (Wish we knew about this when my son and his girlfriend had mold infestation in their apartment. She is highly allergic and the chemical remedies were as hard on them as the actual mold!)   Her mold-slashing solution:
Add a dash of clove oil (about ½ teaspoon) to 2 cups of water and pour into a clean, empty spray bottle.  Scrub the area clean, then spray
on the solution and let sit to deter further growth.
If Your Body Could Talk - by Jennifer Abbasi
So that might be what it’s saying to you . . . That rash or funny bumps can be clues to health problems you may not realize you have.  Here’s what your body might be trying to tell you.
“No more gluten please.” – So if there’s this itchy, blistery rash on your elbows, shoulders, knees and/or butt.  Don’t just cover up with clothing,
it could be dermatitis herpetiformis – a sign of celiac disease.  If a skin biopsy confirms it your doctor will likely treat the rash with an antibiotic and advise you to adopt a gluten-free diet.
“Check your cholesterol!” – Got flat, bright yellow patches on your eyelids?  They are often a sign of high total cholesterol of low levels of HDL (the good cholesterol).  These patches are harmless, but not attractive.  A dermatologist can remove them but since they may come back if you don’t address the problem, help fend them off with a heart healthy diet and exercise; cholesterol medication will help too.
“Your thyroid needs a tune up.” – It’s normal for eyebrows to thin as we age.  But if it’s just the outer third getting sparse, you may have an underactive thyroid.  A thyroid check and medication if appropriate will get your levels (and your brows) back to normal.
T

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Heart, Skin Health, Mood: 4 New Uses for Cocoa!

by admin on December 2, 2011

Am always looking for natural remedies – thought it a little serendipitous that I found this article today in Health Magazine after talking about the benefits of chocolate masks with a student in class last night, then went home and had a cup of hot chocolate (and felt pretty good!).

Heart Helper: Treat your heart to some cocoa, it’s flavonoids are linked to a host of cardio perks, including lowering cholesterol (“bad” or LDL), and blood pressure, and decreasing your overall risk for heart disease says Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, director of Women and Heart Disease at Lenox Hill Hospital. To reap the benefits, sprinkle it on your breakfast smoothie or on your oatmeal; shoot for a tablespoon per day.

Cravings Crusher: Skip the candy and take a whiff of cocoa instead. “The powder has a rich, indulgent aroma, so you’ll often be satisfied by simply smelling it,” says Alan Hirsch, MD, founder of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation. In fact, the scent may activate the same neurotransmitters in the brain that are stimulated when eating chocolate. Even if you’re still longing for a Kit Kat after a few whiffs, you’ll indulge less because the urge will have been eased.

Skin Saver: Cocoa can help make past “skin sins” ancient history. “It’s packed with antioxidants that helps repair skin cells and neutralizes harmful free radicals,” says dermatologist Ava Shamban, MD. Mix up her rejuvenating cocoa mask: In a bowl, combine 1 tablespoon organic cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon honey, 1 tablespoon ground oatmeal, and 2 tablespoons full fat plain yogurt. Gently massage onto moist washed skin. Leave on for 10 to 15 minutes and rinse off. Repeat once a week for maximum rewards.

Mood Booster: Cocoa not only makes your taste buds happy but it can make you happy too! The powder contains more than 300 compounds, many of which have a positive effect on brain chemistry, explains Elizabeth Somer, RD, author of Eat Your Way to Happiness. Some of those compounds up your endorphin and serotonin levels, both of which generate a good mood. To feel warm and fuzzy, whip up some toasty hot cocoa. Sip and smile!

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Living in Alphabet City

by admin on November 3, 2011

Lately I’ve been feeling a little like a fraud (again). This happens fairly often. Not the forging checks, scamming your friends kind of fraud, but more the kind of fake it till you make it kind. And feeling like even faking it you’re not really making it. I used to think it would go away when I (fill in the blank) – got older, had more money, finished a degree, certification, got more clients. My doctor tells me it’s part of having ADHD. The whole lifelong self-esteem thing. And maybe that’s true.

I hesitate always to blame everything on ADHD, although one of the joys of finally identifying – what in many ways I’d always known I had – was that I could now stack my procrastination, inattention, lack of focus, and sheer scatteredness neatly against the ADHD door.

I do pretty well if I stick to a list, and with the recent changes – starting medical esthetician school 3 long nights a week and all day Sundays – I’ve pretty much had the list stuck to my butt except when I’m in the shower. But the voices in my head never desist for long and mostly when they aren’t telling me there’s no way this will all work out, they’re whispering at me to play hookey, run in a thousand different directions and shop instead of doing homework or virtual organizing.

So it’s not surprising to me that lately I’ve been feeling some rather serious mental whiplash or backlash. It’s been harder for me to stick to my guns and last night at school I found myself wondering what the cancellation policy was for getting my tuition refunded. And I LIKE going to class! It’s both conscious and unconscious, I think, but whether it’s part of midlife passage or just more wanderings through Alphabet City (ADHD/OCD???) I’m not sure.
There’s the emotional waves for example – fear, sadness, anger, envy – “why do I have to have all this s—t in my head?” I feel resentment because in my head I’m constantly working on crowd control of the “committee” – those critical gremlins who have my ultimate demise at heart. And I’ve got all this stuff to DO and I’m not getting it DONE and everyone else is zooming ahead of me (where they’re zooming to I’ve no idea).

And the committee’s mostly had the power to stop me dead in my tracks, make me second, third and fourth guess, keeping me from doing what I know inside I really love to do.
In organizing for health, I get asked to help people make some sense out of their environment and well, attempt to get their life in order. So they can move from chaos to calm and a sense of well-being and happiness. And sometimes I do pretty well doing this for myself.

But sometimes I can’t or don’t or won’t – and probably a combination of all three. And where I think I can help people the most is recognizing it, stop fearing it, and admit it will probably always be part of who I am. But it’s still ok to be me, and it’s ok (and really great) for them to be them. Because I do get things done, I do take care of my health (mostly) and I am always thinking about finding solutions to keep my life on track and stay positive and happy – and well, clean (did I mention I have OCD?).

I’m finally realizing that this is me. And no magic wand is going to make me into someone else (like Oprah, I’ve often wished I could be like Oprah – gee, hasn’t almost everyone?) I have my faults, but I’m not evil. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and will make a lot more. ADHD and OCD don’t define me but they do. I’ll never get from A-Z in a straight line but will always start at A then go to G then back to E – but I’ll get to Z eventually. Living in Alphabet City is challenging, but if I wasn’t doing that I’d find some other way to get into trouble.

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The Year I Discovered How Clutter Blocks Success

by admin on October 19, 2011

This article by Christine Kane is a wonderful example of how holding on to the past affects who we are in the present. The insidious part is that so often we’ve lived with it so long we don’t even see it anymore. And we can come up with a million “buts” – reasons we can’t let go. I went through a mindset similar to the one she describes after my divorce. I couldn’t bear to part with the huge collection of china (yes I’m a dish geek) I’d amassed during my marriage. It represented so many good times we’d had entertaining as a couple and family. But after lugging it around for 5 years I realized that what I cherished most were the memories, not the stuff. My lifestyle had changed, I had changed and it was time to let go. Like Christine’s coach tells her – everything we possess has energy. Every time I looked at all those boxes of dishes I was reminded of a chapter in my life that had ended. In order to break (no pun intended!) with the past, I had to move some of the stuff out of my present.

How Clutter Blocks Success by Christine Kane

I looked at my phone in horror. “You want me to what?” I said into it.

“It’s time, Christine. You’ve been talking about that basement for weeks now. It’s time to deal with it.”

I had been working with my very first life coach for months at this point. And even though I had reached certain levels of success in my work, I kept getting stuck in the same old ruts. I was about to record my fourth CD, and I was ready to move to a higher level.

Thom was doing what good coaches do: listening carefully, seeing clearly – and of course, pushing me to take conscious action.

So, he encouraged me to start small and completely clear out the junk in my basement. Thirty minutes a day. One section at a time. Building momentum as I went.

Each week, during our call, I’d report back on my progress.

Each week, I had a new reason why I simply could not let go of some clutter-y item.

“But I spent so much on it!” “I might need it someday!” “I could gain weight and need this again.” “I paid such a good price for it!”

To my credit, I did pretty well at letting go once Thom talked me through these old mindsets.

Then came the week I had to face one particularly significant section of the basement.

It was where I stored various pieces of furniture I had gotten at the Salvation Army and at local flea markets when I first began my songwriting career. A bookcase, a kitchen table, a dresser, and a few shelves. I no longer liked or used this furniture because my tastes totally changed. I had begun to cherish beauty and opulence in my surroundings. I wanted to fill my home only with items that I loved.

“So, Christine,” Thom asked. “Why don’t you want to let these things go?”

I was embarrassed. But I told him the truth. “Well, here’s the thing. If my music career doesn’t work out, I might need them one day. If I fail, and I don’t have any money, I might wish I had kept these things.”

Long pause.

“So, you’ll be on the street – but at least you’ll have that bookcase?”

I laughed.

Thom sighed. And what he said next has been a core lesson of creating my success and happiness.

He said that everything in our lives has energy. Everything has our thoughts and emotions embedded into it. Old furniture is no exception. In essence, what I was saying to the universe and to my subconscious, creative self was this:
I believe so deeply in my own failure that I’m holding onto physical things that represent that possibility. Every time I walk by these items in my basement, I will be reminded of my inevitable failure. Every moment I’m in my house, my subconscious will know that in the very foundation of my life (my basement), there are items that prove I don’t believe in my own success.

That week, I called Goodwill, and scheduled an appointment to have the old furniture taken away.
I’d love to report that I smiled and waved as the old clunky furniture was carried away. But the truth is I was terrified. I was letting go of my Plan B. I was saying to the Universe: “I thoroughly believe in my own success.”
I had never done that before in such a concrete way!

As I wrote earlier, I began recording my fourth CD as I was clearing out the basement. That CD went on to sell five times more than any of my other CD’s. It received rave reviews. Border’s Books featured it on a listening post that year, and named it the top CD of the year in my category.

Now, even though I know this success wasn’t ONLY about letting go of my old flea market furniture, I have become a firm believer that we each need to pay attention to the energy of the stuff that surrounds us. We need to pay attention to what we are telling our subconscious minds when we hold on.

Now you.

What are you holding onto? What thoughts and beliefs are you putting out into the Universe by clinging to it? Are you telling yourself you don’t believe in the inevitability of your own success and prosperity? Or that you don’t believe you can expand and create better things in your life?

Pick one thing – just one small thing – and let it go. Today!

Christine Kane is the Mentor to Women Who are Changing the World. She helps women uplevel their lives, their businesses and their success. Her weekly LiveCreative eZine goes out to over 20,000 subscribers. If you are ready to take your life and your world to the next level, you can sign up for a F.R.E.E. subscription at http://christinekane.com.

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Igniting Your Motivation Mojo – Is Your “BS” Keeping You Stuck?

by admin on September 28, 2011

How many times have you said to yourself – if I could just get motivated I could lose weight, exercise more, go back to school, get out of debt or get a job I love?

Life would be great if we could just get motivated right? Well the good news is motivation is internal. And that’s the bad news too – nobody else can do it for you. When you decide to commit to making yourself Priority 1 and taking ownership of your self-care, happiness and success you become responsible for the decisions you make. And that’s where a lot of us slide down that slippery slope because our BS gets in the way. Our belief systems I mean.
There are 3 secrets to the art of motivation.

1. You must BELIEVE that what you do matters.
2. You must TRUST that after you decide to do something it will happen
3. You must COMMIT to stay with it and not give up until you get your result.

Most of the time we have little trouble getting motivated. It’s staying motivated that’s the problem. You get an idea and excitement sets in. You make plans. But soon after the initial rush begins to fade, often so does our commitment. The minute we begin to doubt that we can make the changes we desire, we start down that slippery slope – losing confidence and belief in ourselves.

Life happens when you’re making other plans and the demands on us can make it seem almost impossible to find a way to change your habits. When you’re overburdened and overwhelmed, how do you find the motivation to take care of the dishes much less yourself?

That’s why I’m a believer in NOT adding another goal to an already full plate.

You start by looking at your “BS” – and how those belief systems are holding you back from what you want. They’re barriers to creating your soul-inspired life. They manifest as fear of success, feeling alone, feeling guilty or ashamed, low self-esteem, lack of focus or fear of failure. And they can drag us into a downward motivational spiral.

But even that’s not the whole story. Underneath that BS is the BIG BS that’s often the root of many of the others. It’s about self love. It’s not ACCEPTING and LOVING yourself right where you are. When your inner critic starts in on you, do you minimize the importance of who you are and what you came here to do? Do you feel that what you do doesn’t matter or won’t change anything? That’s what will knock motivation right out of you. It will defeat your spirit before you even start.

Grab a piece of paper and write out something you’d like to motivate yourself to do. Then write down all the barriers to achieving that goal. Can you see how motivation can’t help you until you bust through those barriers? You just keep hitting the wall until you know how to get through it.
The truth is, nothing happens until something moves, as Einstein sagely observed. Motivated people aren’t any different from you – they are successful because they believe in themselves – trust in the process – and commit to just do it – even if they don’t want to.

Please believe that everything you do matters. You matter. Believe you deserve to have health, energy, and abundance in every area of your life! Your future is not somewhere beyond you – it is inside you! Decide what it is you truly want to do for you – create a plan and then take little actions every day. Accept yourself right where you are and begin to believe – trust – and love yourself!

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Reinvent. . .Rearrange

by admin on September 22, 2011

Looking back over the past four months, I realized sort of after the fact that I’ve basically been on sabbatical.   After 10 years of professional organizing, it’s been more and more apparent to me that it was time to move on, but I couldn’t quite figure out exactly how I wanted to reinvent myself this time.  What my self-imposed sabbatical - confusing and depressing though it has been at times – has done for me is to slowly give  me a little more confidence to move into the “new me again” in a positive way.   Now more than ever I’m looking for purpose and happiness in this last third (at least I hope I’ve got another third left!) of my life and I discovered I’ve got a desire to try something new and share whatever God-given talents I have while letting go of  a lot of the doing  and try to relax into BEING.  Somewhere I read this was called the “realized woman”.

So how I’m arranging my own life for health and happiness is a goal of creating a wellness referral and resource arena for  women in the second act - like me – and adding medical esthetician to my bag of trades – fitness trainer, wellness coach and professional organizer.  I see them all as incredibly complimentary and I see lots of opportunities to share information and resources from other experts.

My coach and mentor, Christine Laureano (www.christinelaureano.com ) – a woman who is passionate about helping people create their vision was instrumental in helping me deal with some of my own personal blocks about where I am now and where I wanted to go – like

  • Breaking though stereotypes of  what a woman in mid-life looks like and define who you really want to be (I’ve talked about for years getting into the medical esthetician field – but felt I was too old!)
  • Exploring my creative side and meaningful ways to express it (didn’t think I had one)
  • Celebrate how far I’ve come in life and acknowledge the journey in a positive way
  • Discover how the changes we experience over 45 can be incredibly liberating (not debilitating)
  • Learn how to create more confidence and trust in myself through the choices I  make

There’s a feeling among a lot of people that we need more than ever now to get to what matters to us.  Be willing to give up what isn’t serving us.   Who knows, it just might work! :)

 

 

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by admin on May 2, 2011

A recent women’s conference featured a workshop entitled: “Passionate Prioritizing.”  I was intrigued. Prioritizing is usually something most of us don’t get very passionate about.  In fact, a lot of the time it’s an exercise we dread – it feels confusing, overwhelming, and tedious. 

It occurred to me that anytime we infuse passion into something it takes that idea or action out of the dry, dusty field where the chickens are scratching and up into the clouds where the eagles soar.  Passion reveals your brilliance – it energizes you.  Think about how you feel when you’re engaged in something you’re really jazzed about.  You’re on a roll.  Think Jim Carrey in The Mask – “Somebody stop me!”  Why shouldn’t that apply to prioritizing? 

 If you’re passionately prioritizing, you’re spending the majority of your time on the goals that, well, you’re passionate about.  For many of us, if we look closely at how we’re spending our time, we realize we’re spending a very small percentage on what we’re passionate about.  How you spend your time is how you spend your life.

  • How are you spending your time?
  • Is it hard to remember what you did today?
  • How many important activities did you put off?
  • How many times has the same activity resurfaced on your To Do list over and over?
  • What is it that you want to spend more time doing?
  • What would you like to spend less time doing?

Consider this.  Imagine you had a bank account that received a deposit every morning of $86,400 dollars.  Your account works like this:
• You can’t carry a balance.
• Every evening any money not used that day is withdrawn and the account goes back to zero.

So how would you manage such an account?  Probably withdraw every cent every day, right?

Well you’ve got a bank account just like that – your time bank.

• Every day you get a deposit of approximately 86,400 seconds.
• Every evening whatever time you haven’t invested wisely is gone.
• You can’t carry over any time to use tomorrow.

But the good news is that every day your account receives a new deposit.

How you use it is up to you.

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The Gift of ADD

by admin on March 31, 2011

I’m reading The Gift of Adult ADD by Lara Honos-Webb. It’s still kind of new for me – “coming out” so to speak – but I’m understanding more and more, my gift in the life organization realm is centered on helping people who have been “derailed” get back on track. It’s been sitting there right in front of me the whole time so naturally I didn’t see it. With ADD you’re always buzzing. You miss the cues and then you beat yourself up about it. But if you can appreciate yourself and focus on your strengths instead of spending all your time patching up weaknesses you receive the gift. For a lot of us that requires a major shift in not only how we think but how we live our life. Make a practice of constant appreciation. When you find a strength, articulate it to yourself. Yes, I talk to myself all the time – but I’m always guaranteed an audience of at least 3 – me, myself and I. Think gratitude. The power of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy can’t be overstated.

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Train your body for optimum healing

by admin on February 28, 2011

Inflammation. You breathe in and out and it causes inflammation. You strength train and you’ve got inflammation. Inflammation is a natural part of staying healthy and strong. But continuous inflammation can lead to what’s called chronic inflammation, which research shows can lead to diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Inflammation can also negatively affect certain mood disorders and people with ADD/ADHD, so it’s important to control it with what you eat and drink.
Diet does matter, but it’s a lot easier than you think to nourish your body with anti-inflammatory foods. And it’s not expensive.

Our nation’s fast paced lifestyle has the average American eating way too many highly processed carbohydrates, red meat, dairy, fats and trans fats which experts say is a root cause of inflammation. Lack of sleep and exercise will also have this effect. There’s real evidence that eating anti-inflammatory foods can help speed up post workout recovery, improve your overall productivity and health, and enhance fat loss by improving insulin sensitivity.

Components of certain foods have also been shown to help reduce symptoms related to chronic inflammation like joint pain, memory loss and high blood pressure.

The general guidelines are these:

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables from the rainbow – lots of different colors. They are loaded with antioxidants which reduce inflammation.

Minimize saturated and trans fat sources like butter, hydrogenated oils, prime cuts of red meat, high fat dairy products and fried or processed food. These types of fats directly increase inflammatory pathways and promote the oxidation of bad cholesterol – not good.

Eat fish, flaxseeds and walnuts or take high quality fish oil supplements. Omega-3 fats are powerful antioxidants that reduce inflammation.

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Know thyself. . .

by admin on February 18, 2011

I haven’t always lived the healthiest lifestyle and sometimes I still don’t treat my body with the utmost respect. Getting better though, and I do think about consequences a whole lot more than I did when I was younger.  But what I have learned is that it takes time and commitment to make long lasting changes in your health.  You have to be honest with yourself – the person you really are inside.  You need to get to know yourself really well – and the real reasons why you want to change - strengths, weaknesses, why you work out and why you eat the way you do. 

This kind of background work will help you set the stage for success.  You’ll be better prepared for the challenges that change can and will bring.

How do you get started?  Here’s 5 steps I use

1. Set your goal.  Make sure it’s SMART – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Based.  You can’t get there if you don’t know what you want.

2.  Create a powerful why.  Why is this goal important to you?  Jillian Michaels says “your why should make you cry.”  Meaning it needs to resonate strongly within to keep you motivated.

3. Know your strengths and weaknesses.  Do you get a better workout in the morning or evening?  When do you have more energy? 

4. Set up for success.  Big one for me.  I tend to think I can have the junk food in the house “just in case” and as long as it’s at the back of the pantry I won’t be tempted.  Wrong!  Surround yourself with good motivation.  Keep your gym bag packed and ready to go, get rid of the junk, create a simple home gym if working a trip to the health club into your busy schedule is impossible.

5. Be accountable.  Hire a trainer, keep a journal, workout with a friend, have someone check in on you once a week to make sure you’re on track.  It’s harder to lie to someone else than it is to lie to yourself.  I should know.  :)

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