What the heck is Reiki?

From reiki.org:

"Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy."

Who among us wouldn't benefit by stress reduction and relaxation?  Not to mention healing energy?

There are three degrees of Reiki practitioners.  According to Reiki practitioners and Masters, at First Degree, a Reiki practitioner is able to heal themselves and others, at Second Degree is able to heal others distantly (commonly called distant healing) with the use of specialised symbols, and at Master/Teacher level is able to teach and attune others to Reiki.

I took a Reiki One workshop a few weeks ago at Essence of Self.  I really didn't know what to expect, I had heard about Reiki, but couldn't really explain what it was to anyone that asked.  Nancy Smith, the owner, is a friend of mine, and she taught the Reiki One workshop.  As usual, she did a great job, she's casual and fun, a very smart lady!  I have always been wanting to take this workshop, mainly because my life seems to be on a more mindful and spiritual path.  Life always seemed to get in the way, so I was happy to finally be able to commit to this training.  I'm very much looking forward to Reiki Two!

From Nancy's handout:
"Through Reiki, the practitioner has the ability to discern a person's troubled energy spots and rebalance them, providing profound relaxation and enhanced healing."

Reiki does not replace ANY of your traditional healing methods.  It is meant to relax and enhance those traditional methods, by bringing in positive healing energy.  Many reiki masters are nurses, nuns, priests, and other mindful everyday people.  I can only imagine the peace and relaxation that a reiki session would bring in a hospice situation.

Some resources:

Essence of Self

Holistic Online

Essential Reiki

Reiki Healing Yourself and Others


Live as if time is infinite!

I love to eat!

Christmas Eve Feast!

I love food.  I love to cook, I love restaurants, I love BBQs, I love to eat!  I've printed so many recipes online, I would pretty much have to quit my job and do nothing but cook if I had any plans to get to them all.

I also love my clothes, so I need to find ways to adjust my eating habits to stay healthy.  Let me tell you, it's getting harder and harder as those birthdays rack up.

I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite recipe resources.  I really try to eat healthy, and more recently, eat clean foods.  Less preservatives, less processed food. 

My very favorite recipe site is http://www.allrecipes.com/.  You can find recipes there for absolutely anything, and there are tons and tons of reviews, which makes it fun.  Here are a few of my favorites:

1.  Worlds Best Lasagna  OK so I'm Italian and I can cook up an Italian feast in my sleep. I'm shocked myself that I'm using someone elses recipe.  This is fabulous.  The calorie count isn't too bad as it's printed, you can use lower fat cheese and whole wheat pasta if you want to healthy it up.

2.  Strawberry Spinach Salad  Just because it's a salad doesn't make it healthy, and this does have a good amount of sugar in the dressing.  I love pure sugar, and almost never use sugar substitutes, so I love this recipe.  Give it a try this summer!

3.  Marinated Grilled Shrimp  Another great summer recipe.  There are a bunch of great shrimp marinades on this site, this is my favorite, maybe because it has two of my favorite ingredients, basil and garlic.

4.  Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread     This is so easy to make, freezes well, and is an unusual brunch type bread.  Served with some brie, and an assortment of fruit, and I feel as if I'm at the Mad Batter in Cape May!

I can go on forever, so maybe I'll do this again in a few weeks, but for now lets move on to cookbooks.

Silence

Silence.   It's so rare in my life!  I really can't count the number of TV's, video games, appliances, cell phones, and Ipods all constantly making noise around me!  This is just inside, then there's the outside noises, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, car alarms, and more.  You can't even have dinner at a nice restaurant anymore without cell phones ringing and people talking on them at full volume.

Today's noisy lifestyle is leading to higher levels of stress, and an increase in hearing problems.  I came across this organization while doing research for this blog, check out The Right to Quiet Society .  I have to spend more time looking into this organization, but I love their premise! 

It's not always easy to sit in silence.  After years of constant noise, it takes some practice.  It can be uncomfortable at first, white noise can numb your feelings, distract your thoughts, and cover sensations that the silence may reveal.  Start a few minutes a day, getting comfortable in your own company.  Increase the quiet time as you get more comfortable.  It will allow your energies to calm down, and instill self awareness. Silence is valuable, critical to our sleep, health and well being.  It creates clarity, and strengthens your ability to focus.  Eventually you'll come to love the sensations of being alone! 

Imagine those quiet evenings, just you and the night sky.  The air is still, the only sound is the clinking of your wine glass when you reach for it!  Sitting contemplative is amazing, sometimes silence like that even gets "loud".  You start out the evening high-strung and talkative, and finish it up restful and calm.


According to the World Health Organization:
 "Excessive noise seriously harms human health and interferes with people’s daily activities at school, at work, at home and during leisure time. It can disturb sleep, cause cardiovascular and psychophysiological effects, reduce performance and provoke annoyance responses and changes in social behaviour." 
http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/environmental-health/noise

There's also the added benefit of keeping silent to keep yourself out of trouble!

Live as if Time is Infinite!


"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence."


- Xenocrates (396-314 B.C.)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1631878.htm

http://www.alive.com/6122a15a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=5

http://www.newswise.com/articles/less-noise-at-home-better-adjusted-kids

Vitamin D

Vitamin D.  It's been all over the news for the past 5 or so years, being touted as a miracle to aging.  Have you tried it?

I have.  My primary doctor is an MD, practicing in holistic based medicine.  He routinely runs tests, checking to see that my health continues to be balanced and strong.  To be honest, sometimes I feel like I would need to take out a second mortgage to pay for all the supplements he recommends, so with his guidance, I pick and choose what makes sense to me.  Without fail, my vitamin D levels are low or low/normal, and I'm always supplementing with vitamin D pills.

To reference yesterdays blog, I CAN say that my levels are much higher in the summer, when I'm spending more time outdoors.  There is tons of research finding that first and foremost, get out in the sun to boost your vitamin D levels.  The balance you have to find, for yourself, is how much sun can your skin handle without burning, since the findings show that sunscreen blocks the absorption of vitamin D.  For sure discuss this with your dermatologist to find out how much sun you can safely handle.  It's too easy to supplement with over the counter vitamins to risk skin cancer!   I'm not a huge fan of slathering chemicals all over my skin, so I try to find a happy medium.  If I'm sitting on beach, I'm slathering.  If I'm out for a walk, I try to watch to keep from burning. 

How much supplemental vitamin D do you need?  LOTS.  This translates to multiple pills per day, which you not only have to remember to take, you have to be able to afford!  No matter how hard I try, I never seem to be able to be consistent in taking the multiple supplements.  There is a prescription Vitamin D supplement, 50000IUs/pill.  When I found out my 50 pills/week could be reduced to one,  I started with one pill per week early this year.  There is some controversy with prescription vs over the counter supplements, I'm still trying to see if it works for me.  The negatives being discussed about the prescription version is that the 50000IUs aren't as effective as 50000IUs of the supplement, but frankly even I have to take five per week, it's still much more doable for me than 50 pills per week.  In addition, most of the research I could find comparing the two are on websites associated with selling supplements or tanning services, so be aware of their motivation.  I had blood work done after about two months, and while my levels were much better than before I started taking them, they were still too low.  I'm now taking two per week, and I'm due for more blood work, I'm hoping it's helping!  I certainly feel a lot better than a few months ago.

Both conventional and holistic doctors are in complete agreement with the benefits of additional vitamin D to our overall health.  You should always discuss ALL of your supplements and vitamins with your primary care doctor, they should be able to assist you in determining the right amounts for you.  Be sure to ask you doctor for the simple blood test checking your current Vitamin D levels, and then monitor those levels as you adjust your supplements.  Every single solitary person I know, when finally getting their D level tested, found it to be low.  This may be less this in the summertime, so if your levels are OK, get tested again in a few months.

Lastly, Vitamin D does not discriminate!  Men, women, and children alike are all not getting enough vitamin D, so get your kids tested also.

This blog could go on forever with the long long list of benefits of proper Vitamin D levels, so I'll spare you and leave you with a few links to check out!  I would love to hear about your personal experiences.

Live as if time is infinite!

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/articles/2008/06/23/time-in-the-sun-how-much-is-needed-for-vitamin-d.html

http://health.learninginfo.org/benefits_vitamind.htm

http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/16353/

http://www.bing.com/health/article/healthwise-1250036537/Vitamin-D-Getting-Enough-Topic-Overview?q=prescription+vitamin+d&FORM=FFF

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20590122/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-soram-khalsa/vitamin-d-if-you-cant-get_b_83626.html

Time with nature

A very important component of my ideal lifestyle is my time with nature.  I love the beach, and I live by a lake in the mountains.  When life gets hairy, you'll find me lacing up my sneakers for a walk or a hike.  I'm pretty sure I've logged THOUSANDS of miles walking around Erskine Lake! 

Nature is spectacular.  From the views on top of my mountain trails, to the Botanical Gardens, Ringwood is nature at its finest.  I'm always finding new plants to add to my garden, trading perennials with friends and neighbors, I still have black eyed Susan flowers from Dorothy Bryan's rock gardens!  I'm pretty sure she's happy to be remembered by her gardens.  I'm a firm believer in the good karma sharing your garden brings!  Take a look at my latest deck renovation, what a fabulous way to enjoy nature in your own backyard.

As a seating arrangement:

To just flop and enjoy the sun and my yard:

Those of you that know me and my beach bum soul can understand what a great place this is to lounge out with a great book, some suntan lotion and a huge bottle of water!  Come join me!

This brings me to The Ocean.  There are no words to describe the peace that the ocean brings to my soul.  Winter, spring, summer and fall, the rhythm of the waves and the sparkle of the sand continues to mesmerize me.  While table salt is being banned from our diets, sea salt is encouraged.  The health and healing properties of sea salt are numerous.  Weren't we all told as kids to go into the ocean to sooth our mosquito bites, minor cuts and scrapes? 

I can't talk about the ocean this week and not mention the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.  I don't know how we're going to do it, but we really need to find a way to live with less oil consumption.  Off topic, but it's on my mind daily and my thoughts and intentions are always with those directly involved.

I've gone on and on about the wonders of nature in my own life, here's why I think this is so important.  I believe that the modern disconnection from nature has a detrimental effect on our own health, and on the planet.  I love a great night in NYC as well, so I get that its not all about the flowers and the trees, but I think its important for us all to find a better balance.  The definition of nature can be different for us all, some may think of nature as untouched wilderness, does that include your potted plant in your urban apartments?  Pets and insects? Or only wild animals?  Really, the answer will be different for each of us. 

It's so important that we remember that staying healthy is not just a physical endeavour.  Our body will be healthier if we remember to pamper our mind and soul as well!

Check out these sites when you have some time.

http://my-garden-world.com/?p=242

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/natural-settings-help-brain-fatigue/

http://www.healthywomen.org/content/article/back-nature-take-your-workout-outdoors?context=ages-and-stages/14&context_title=&context_description=


http://www.prevention.com/health/health/healthy-living/fresh-air-can-help-your-brain/article/3bf9b3eb1f463110VgnVCM20000012281eac____/

http://njbg.org/

My own prescription for health is less paperwork and more running barefoot through the grass. ~Terri Guillemets

Live as if time is infinite!

First week wrap up

Wow what interesting feedback on this blog!  I fear that the people that are in my life are going to be finding out all kinds of things about me that they never knew before!  Bring it on, I can take it. :-)  You KNOW I'm always up for lively debates!  Stay tuned, the topics get more interesting.  

I don't expect everyone to have all of the same beliefs as I do. I'm just hoping to encourage you all to remember to keep your minds open, especially as some of these topics relate to your own lives.  Most of the feedback came via email to me, it would be great if you all started leaving comments as well, so they can be shared with all.

Please let me know if there are topics you would like me to talk about, or even if you would like to "guest blog" and add your OWN thoughts on these or other matters. 

I decided to start writing this blog because it's important to me to keep my body and my mind strong as I rack up those birthdays. I'm always learning about new things.  I love to chat about what I have going on, but since my interests are so diverse, it's not always easy to match the conversation with the audience!  For example, this upcoming week I'm taking a Reiki workshop, and a class on Dreams.  A couple of weeks ago I took a 4 day class on Project Management for IP phone systems.  A bit of a dichotomy, wouldn't you say?  My right brain is frequently at odds with my left brain!  I'm always sharing my newest passions with the people around me, this blog allows them to pick and choose what topics they're interested in.  In any case, I see so many Baby Boomers/Generation Xrs feeling lost and discouraged as time goes on, I hope I can help motivate a few of you to change your mindset.  It's not too late to do ANYTHING!  Keep on keepin on. 

Thanks so much for all the kind words and encouragement!  Feel free to email me or call me if there's anything you want more info on, or just want to chat.  I'm feeling the love!

Live as if time is Infinite!

Portfolio Career

Thursdays topic will be education and career.

Charles Handy is frequently listed in the "Thinkers 50".  He coined the term "portfolio worker" in the early 1990's, stating that future careers will be made of up lots of small jobs rather than one big one.  He went on to say that Portfolio Careers offer greater flexibility, and especially saw more women taking advantage of this career type.  Here's a quote from Charles Handy book, The Age of Unreason: "individuals will maintain portfolios of their skills, abilities, and achievements with which they obtain temporary assignments in a variety of organisations, rather than securing permanent jobs.”

Many experts predict that the days of having one job and career for your whole life are waning.  In my family, most of my parents generation did just that, one job and career for life.  My dad was in education, working for the same school district for FIFTY YEARS. When you start moving down into my generation and younger, that seems to be changing.  For one thing, companies aren't as stable as they used to be, and jobs aren't as secure.  People are having to keep their portfolio of skills up to date, so that they can take advantage of those skills if and when they have to find a new job.

So exactly what is a Portfolio Career?  Here's a great seminar explaining:




This really resonated with me.  I've always worked, always learning and adding to my portfolio.  At the same time, I've raised kids and had a home to keep up.  I have a portfolio career, and I didn't even know it!  How great to be able to put a name to the years of assorted career choices I've made.  So many women can say the same thing, as they balance home and career.  Somehow putting a name to it adds validation.  I'm mixing "Portfolio Career" and "Career Portfolio" a little, there is a difference, but you do need a "Career Portfolio" to have a "Portfolio Career".  Hopefully that makes sense.

Clearly there are some skills needed if you're going to have a successful Portfolio Career, in addition to the career skills themselves.  You need to be organized enough to schedule your time well.  You need to plan your budget around fluctuating finances.  You need to fund your retirement plans without corporate help.  You need to be comfortable with the technology used by multiple businesses. Here's a nice concise "how to": http://www.quintcareers.com/portfolio_career_tips.html

This concept seems to be more popular in Europe than here in the US, mainly because of the health care system.  Without getting into the politics of THAT issue, I'm sure you can see how that can be true.  Here in the US, having a stable job means continued health benefits.  That may be changing here, maybe we'll be able to be more flexible with our careers if it does!

What does this mean to you and me?  It means we take a personal inventory of all the skills we've accumulated over the years, and organize them into a portfolio.  Even if you haven't had an official paycheck, you've accumulated these skills running PTA's and sports banquets.  Add in the Quicken class you took at the library to manage your household budget, the sign language class you took to communicate with the kid down the street, and you have ONE IMPRESSIVE PORTFOLIO!  In my mind, that is every much as impressive as the person with assorted accounting or secretarial jobs.  You DO have the skills and experience to manifest a lucrative career with that portfolio! 

Live as if time is infinite!

Some good articles on the topic:

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/402509_career06.html

http://www.quintcareers.com/portfolio_careers.html

http://www.careervision.org/About/Portfolio_Careers.htm