Ok, I'm calling it, the crocuses are blooming, winter is over, and this is the first winter I can remember where I haven't gotten sick. While it was an unusually mild winter, I've been making some healthy changes over the last two years and I wanted to share my experiences with you.
I've always been prone to headaches, both sinus and tension, and for much of my adult life I was downing some kind of pain reliever (Tylenol and Advil mostly) at least four times a week. Two years ago I had a nasty allergic reaction to a prescription dose of ibuprofen and I decided to "Just Say No" to drugs (With Nancy Reagan's help there is nothing I can't do).
I started paying better attention to my diet and added extra neck and shoulder exercises to my day. I got some white willow bark tincture for natural pain relief, it is a natural form of aspirin, and started using Young Living's Deep Relief roll-on. I was getting fewer tension headaches, but I still got the sinus/throat crud last winter.
This year I got even more focused and I think what has allowed me to stay on this healthier path is that I didn't just decide one day that I was going to Change My Life! I made small changes over time and when I saw that I was feeling and looking better I made a few more.
This year I have exercised six to seven days a week, made sure to take my multivitamins every day and researched brands that seem to work best for me, drank lots of water and practiced yoga at least three times a week.
I have also started taking Young Living "Thieves" oil when I start to feel even a bit congested. One drop down the back of your throat, hold it for a moment and then wash it down with a bit of water and feel your tubes open up! If the idea of dripping concentrated essential oil down your throat unnerves you, the cough drops are almost as good.
I'm lucky, I have the kind of job where I can arrange my life around my sleep schedule, but I can feel myself start to fall apart when I don't enough good sleep. Everything is better and easier when I am rested and I consider it essential to my work.
This past week I was in Texas visiting family for a week and I could feel myself falling apart after just a few days off from exercise and my usual diet and while I ate some really delicious food, I came home craving veggies and greens – ready to work out. The really amazing thing was when I realized I used to feel like that a lot. The stiff neck and tight low back, the puffiness in my face and belly were familiar and quite normal when I worked in an office. My last year in NYC I did the Cayce apple diet cleanse 3 times and it never felt like enough, but with small changes I no longer feel that way.
I think we start to accept our aches and pains and belly aches and mental fog as normal, we just blame it on age and try to accept it as a part of life. When I give readings I often pick up on all sorts of physical ailments that are just normal to the clients, but seem horrible to me – especially when I see how simple it would be for these people to feel so much better every day.
Move, every day. Eat real food and avoid anything that makes to feel awful. Find solutions to those weak spots in your system and Pay Attention to what your body is telling you. Ron Roth used to say that every pain is a message, don't ignore those messages! They are your body's way of pointing out the parts of your self you need to work on and the hurts you need to forgive.