Don’t slap me with your negative energy!

Aug12

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I had a not so pleasant experience as i went to return an item at William & Sonoma today. As i walked in, I saw a sign about a baking sale.  I asked the clerk if the cooking item i was interested i would fall into that sale. He proceeded to say “no, that sell is over and no it would not qualify” in a very matter of fact way.   Kind of knew from this point he was slapping me with negative energy, but I got sucked in!  I turned over my items to return and he said “if you read the receipt, these items end in -99 and are final sale”. He turns the receipt over for me.  I ask him where will i find this since he is not directing me where to look.  He says without pointing “at the bottom.” After about 20 seconds of scanning, i finally see it. I tell him how frustrating that is as a customers and that  W&S should make that obvious before people purchase online.  He kind of shrugged his shoulders obviously annoyed by my complaining.  He offered to exchange the non-99, damaged item despite me saying I wanted it returned.  After clarifying i did not want the item, he accepted it to mail back.  Instead of returning the item on my credit card, i have to wait 3 business days to check my statement to make sure the $7 non-99, damaged item was credited back to my card. When I asked why not credit my account. I was told “you purchased online.” When I questioned him and explained to him Dillard’s, Nordstrom, bare minerals, etc will return items in their store, he just huffed “all stores have their own return policy. ” Obviously, I was not getting any where friendly with this dude and he was bringing out the worst in me.  The other clerk was trying to offer me olive oil on bread to lighten the mood, but it was not happening.  So many poor customer services issues on this trip.   There wasn’t  any gentle guidance or apologies for the misunderstanding.  It will be a long time before i shop in W&S any time soon.

As the episode kept creeping into my day, I kept looking for joy. I then thought of this quote that I love from Jill Bolte Taylor.  I felt responsible for my energy but its so sad how a grumpy person can deplete it. After some good ole meditating, I felt better.

suffering as a lesson

Jul28

turtle

Having recently read Man’ s Search For Meaning from Victor Frankl, the great Austrian psychologist, I was touched by another remarkable story of survival. He credits his survival to his logotherapy theory which he put to test the 3 years he was held captive in concentration camps during the holocaust. He ultimately believed his own life had a purpose which was to help others find theirs.

Part of the theory is …..
Despair =Suffering – meaning

Suffering sometimes called dukkha is always happening according to the Buddhist First Noble Truth. Happiness is transitory; actually everything is. If we can look at our suffering as a lesson and find a meaning for it, despair will cease.

On of my largest lessons for this came with the diagnosis of nasal cancer for our dog, Leia. It was earth and mind shattering. She was only 5 years old at the time. It catapulted me into research for alternative therapy over radiation which only promised up to a year survival, was pricey, and was painful. But with divine guidance, she miraculously survived 5 years with the alternative treatments. The meaning came almost immediately into the journey when I realized the new path this was taking me down. One of my favorite quotes is “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” I started to learn so much. This door open opened the next which lead down a new path and so on. From the beginning of that journey, I have said one day I shall write a book about what my dog’s cancer taught me about life. In this case the meaning infinitely outweighed all the mental and physical suffering. There was so much learned from this great teacher.

VF

I hope you dance!

Jul16

As my husband’ business conference started to wind down on a Thursday night, the attendees and their significant others began shedding  their business mentality and moving into a more relaxed state.  We all sat around in the slightly awkward Monkey Bar, the drinks poured for everyone around me, and Mr. DJ played some typical early hour music .   After a couple hours of the smooth cocktails and “Get Down Tonight”, people were moving furniture out into the hall and shaking their “junk in the trunk” to Pharrell’s “Happy” !   As I sat back and watched (and jumped in to my favorite songs every now and then), I realized how dancing is such a sense of freedom.  People from all walks of life were  just singing and dancing to  “playing that funky music white boy” and “She hit the floor”!  As a watched (and chuckled at some including my husband), I realized several drinks and the perfect wedding reception portfolio of dance songs creates the perfect cocktail of self-confidence!  You forget where you are, who you are with, and your age.   You might as well be at a college frat party strutting the dance floor to “Dancing Queen” because you are the dancing queen for this party!  So, as Lee Ann Womack’s lyric go, “if you have a chance to sit it out or dance” at your next activity, “I hope you dance!” Yea, your back may hurt in the morning, but the fun (and stories to tell) you will have!

ABCs of SPF

Jul8

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What are you putting on for protection? Not all SPF is the same.  The numbers can be quite confusing and give a false “burn prevention” security.

An SPF of 15 protects from 93%of the UVB rays (burning rays) and SPF 30 and SPF 60 protects from 97% and 98% respectively.  These have no protection against the UVA rays which are known to penetrate deeper and lead to premature aging.  Also, the higher the SPF, the more chemicals are needed which ultimately could be harmful to your health and you are increasing your coverage by only a small percentage.

The FDA is not allowing any waterproof labels.  Now products will be labeled with “sweat and water resistant”.  Despite the products not changing, these give about an hour protection.  Then they must be reapplied.  And to get initial protection they need to be applied 20-30 minutes before the activity. They need to dry on the skin in order to be able to offer their protection.

I personally recommend and look for brands with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as the main ingredient.  These are physical blocks that typically deflect or scatter the rays.  Chemical sunscreen ingredients are often added to get broader protection to a physical based sun block.  I personally do not like total chemical sunscreens.  Ultimately, they are all chemicals.  I think spray/aeresoal sunscreen should be banned!  Peronally, I gag when people use them around me.  Imagine what a child is inhaling we you are spraying them.  They are getting chemical sunscreen in there little lungs!  I suggest the rash guards for large body surfaces.  Second, you assume you are getting aerosol SPF on your skin.  If there is a slight breeze.  Oops! No sunscreen for you! It is too easy to miss an area.

Check out this site for safe sunscreen recommendations…http://www.ewg.org/2014sunscreen/about-the-sunscreens/?search=Search+for+your+sunscreen…&brand_id=3767&mineral=on

 

 

 

 

And he died 2 days before the 4th of July!

Jul5

unbroken 2

Every time I sing “America“, I cry.  I can make it up to the verse of “land where my father’s died,” but by then the tears have filled the eyes and they will begin to flow.   Then I usually just have to hum the rest.  If I just listen, I feel emotional but don’t physically sob.  So, I can only imagine the emotions that swell up in a previous POW if a simple little civilian gets this emotional.

If you recently received my personal specials from the office, you would have seen my recommendation for the book, Unbroken, as a summer read.   Louis Zamperini’s story was amazing and so well documented.  As I mentioned in my email, my grandfather, Ray Goodson, was also a Japanese POW.  This book brought up a lot up stories that I remembered my grandfather sharing with me as a kid and young adult. Stories that did not makes sense to me.  I did not understand how people could be so mean to other people and why.    At the first camp Louis Zamperini arrived in, there was an officer from my grandfather’s ship, the USS Houston.  That made me go grab my grandfather’s memoirs to see if he had ever mentioned the same people or the locations.  He did not.  My grandfather “worked” in the coal mines and the Burma railroad but had described to me over the years the same amount of torture.  Like Mr.  Zamperini, my grandfather, and his WWII buddies were survivors.  All of their stories amaze me.  It’s a part of history that needs to be told and we need to be grateful for all of their sacrifices.

Unbroken, is being turned into a movie.  It is scheduled to be released on Christmas day!  That will be a great gift!  I cannot wait to see it.  Sadly enough, Mr.Zamperini died 2 days before the 4th of July.  I think that is quite appropriate.  He was such a inspiration for America! I wish he could have seen the movie , but that may have bee too difficult to watch.  Physically watching something may be too much.  Simply bringing up a memory and talking about it was hard enough according to my grandfather.

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/040900/met_2719118.html

http://www.usshouston.net/stor/goodsonray/rgoodson.htm

ray

Ray Goodson beloved grandfather and personal hero

 

Bees, Bats, and Butterflies…Oh My!

Jul1

I truly understand the passion that Louie Schwartzberg speaks of when he talks about his “calling in life.”  I am happy to hear Obama will be having the EPA to fully investigate the reasons why all these miraculous beings are greatly diminishing and help create areas for conservation.  These sweet creatures pollinate a significant portion of the worlds crops.  Being primarily a vegetarian, I know my diet would significantly change without my fruits and veggies.  They are also very important to the almond crops.  You can search the web to see what you can do to help save the pollinators of the world!

Bruise my heart

Jun30

Marianne Williamson writes in the Gift of Change “Living in the realm of body identification rather than spirit identification, we are constantly at risk for the experience of loss. We think we lose every time something in the world of form doesn’t unfold the way wish it to……As much as a situation like that can bruise the heart, a higher vision of what really occurred can heal us. “

A few years ago I was close with 2 other girls.  One was making some very unethical decisions around her marriage that only I knew about.  I made it clear I was not happy about the choices she was making.  She turned it all back on me and then started talking to our other friend about the ‘lies” I was creating. In the end, the other friend chose the one making the very unethical choices and the friendship significantly changed if not ended.  Honestly, in the beginning it was hard.  I so wish I could show everyone the facts and prove what was happening.  Then I realized, sometimes God makes really tough decisions for me.  As much as I did not want to lose that friendship, it really wasn’t one to be lost. As we go down this path of becoming more awake and conscious, there will be toxic people in our lives that will consciously or unconsciously chose another path.  I like to think I surround myself with like-minded friends.  So I think this was a blessing God made for me even though my heart was bruised.

love917

 

Let it go….

Jun26

“What you resist, persists,” is one of my favorite quotes.  I have seen it attributed to several people.  So, I am not sure where to pay homage for one of my personal mantras.  Repeating this to myself during frustrating times has been helpful, but it came to a new spin when the Disney movie Frozen came out this year.  Being a mom of little ones, I have seen this movie an watched youtube videos at least a dozen times.  I do really like the movie and really love watching my boys belt out the songs!  Every time the song “Let It Go” comes on, it reminds me of the quote.  When you fight what really is gong on, BAD CRAP happens like freezing the world and people think you perform sorcery.  When you let it go and go with the flow, you can build an amazing ice castle and become the prettiest of the Disney Princesses yet! So, now I just sing the chorus line when things annoy me.  Thanks for getting on the new age train Disney! 🙂

Natural Perfume is a great health choice

Jun24

perfume

Perfume is like torture to me.  My head begins to pound and my sinuses ache almost immediately when I come in close proximity to it.  If a man is wearing a cologne, I can even taste it! I have had to have some uncomfortable conversations with my dad, mother-in-law, and colleagues because it really “stunk” to be around them.  When you start doing research, you will see how toxic the chemicals in perfume are.  They are reported to be skin allergens, respiratory irritants, cancer causing agents, and hormone disrupting chemicals.  So being such a fragrant sensitive and health conscious individual, finding a green and tolerant “perfume” was hard.  Luckily I came across this great company called Auric Blends about a year ago.  They have essential oil blends are are very reasonably priced.  So far I have tried three; the jasmine, rose, and Egyptian goddess with the jasmine my favorite so far.  I really wish they would make a gardenia since that is my favorite aroma, but I am looking at one of the other mixtures since it does have gardenia in it.  Look over all their lovely choices and consider a green choice for you olfactory pleasure!  If your friends are sensitive like me, they will desire and pleasure in your company more!

http://www.auricblends.com

Where has kale and quinoa been my whole life?

Jun22

 

heart-of-veggies

Despite being a pretty healthy eater, after reading Kathy Freston’s book called Quantum Wellness, it made me really start thinking about the things I put in my body.  She recommended avoiding all meat, dairy, gluten, sugar, and alcohol since these foods take an extra toll on bodies to digest and process.  By avoiding them, our bodies get a chance to work on keeping us healthy and repair processes that it may not get to focus on regularly .  So, I decided to use her recommendations to embark upon a “detox diet”.  I searched other information online a found this great link.  She had a lot of the same philosophies as well. Not sure if I would have the willpower, I committed for only 2 days.  I planned some food out and searched for more recipe ideas.  All in all, it was not bad.  I made it 5 days! Yeah me!  The hardest things for me were avoiding cheese and the 5-7 pm time window.  This is where I am usually a little frazzled after bringing kids home from school and switching from work mode to mommy mode.  Needless to say, it is when I usually need some comfort food which is in the sweet department.  Gluten-free pretzels and hummus saved me! After the 5 days, I can’t say I felt really any different but I was super proud of myself and had found some great new foods!  Where has kale and quinoa been my whole life?

http://bitchindietitian.com/