Archive for February, 2010
News alert: bacteria in yukky make-up bags
Author: Callie
Women warned of make-up bacteria risk as the average cosmetics bag is found to be four years out of date
Daily Mail – 25th February 2010
They might appear innocent components of the female armoury.
But beware. Those trusty pots of eyeshadow and tubes of lipstick can be dangerous.
Beauty products, like food, do not last forever.
Over time bacteria can infiltrate them, only to be transferred on to the face and cause irritation or even infection.
But the average make-up bag is a hoarding space for items that are four years out of date, a study shows.
And some women hang on to items for up to 15 years past recommended use-by dates.
Old mascara wands can breed bacteria that lead to conjunctivitis, which causes redness, itching and swelling.
They should not be used six months after opening – but women admit to keeping them for an average of a year.
Expired lipsticks, meanwhile, can make lips dry, irritated and blistered.
And dirty brushes are a breeding ground for micro-organisms that can cause herpes, ringworm and impetigo, an infectious disease that results in blisters.
Five years ago rules were brought in by the European Union requiring all cosmetics to carry advice on when they will expire.
Many manufacturers responded by adding ‘period after opening’ symbols to packaging to indicate how many months a product lasts.
To see the whole gory picture, please visit the Daily Mail
(c) Daily Mail
Callie says: “I have been puritanical about my make-up bag – and brushes – since qualifying as a therapist … how about you? How often do you wash your make-up brushes, or give your make-up bag a good clear out?”
read comments (0)Video: Appreciate your body
Author: Callie
A really lovely meditation video from Romancing Your Soul …
With love and gratitude to my wonderful friend, Pure-Ki, who shared this video with us on the Energy forum
Weekly InnerSight inspiration: Creativity
Author: Callie
~ CREATIVITY ~
InnerSight
You have chosen to work with the energies of creativity. Now is the time to allow your creativity to flow. Maybe you feel the need to express your feminine side, to use your creativity that may never have been allowed to flow before. Maybe you are planning to paint or write, plant out a garden or develop a new project. The time is now perfect to start. Your imagination can flourish and your creative energies can flow to their greatest potential.
Visualisation
Close your eyes and visualise yourself sitting on the side of a mountain on a warm and sunny day. You can see for miles and miles – rolling green and beautiful countryside for as far as the eye can see. An eagle soars overhead skimming on the air currents, free and unfettered. Connect with the expansiveness of the landscape. Connect with the freedom of the eagle and let the energies of creation flow through you, empowering and awakening your talents and skills conscious and subconscious.
Guidance
Know that you can do whatever you wish – you have the power of creation within you.
Your Ripple Energy Therapy is: Manifest
(c) Anne Jones / Ripple UK Ltd
Learn the trade of writing and publishing MBS books
Author: Callie
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I will be there, eager to learn from all the well-known authors and marketing professionals who will be eager to share their knowledge with us all. I do hope you can join us all!
Heal yourself in nature
Author: Callie
Do you find yourself feeling so much better when you are out in natural surroundings, such as in your garden or out walking in a local park? I know I certainly do – so I am delighted to share this great article by NaturalNews which shares just how nature can be a great healer for us all.
(c) MBKT721 - Wunderground
Do you suffer from a “nature deficiency?” If you’d like most people in modern society, you spend most of your 24 hours of the day indoors. You work under artificial fluorescent lights, you eat and sleep inside a house or apartment, you commute in the artificial environment of a car, bus or train. You rarely get outside and even when you do, it’s not real nature — it’s some artificial “planned” park with concrete sidewalks and maintained lawns.
I suspect you may have a nature deficiency. I know because I’ve been there. Probably much like you, I spent a lot of time outdoors as a child, but in my adult years, I found myself spending more and more hours indoors. It didn’t take long to realize that breathing re-circulated indoor air and having little or no time in nature wasn’t a good recipe for lifelong health.
Today, I’m a nature advocate. Time in nature is healing all by itself, and children are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of a nature deficiency. But few people in the field of conventional medicine embrace the idea that nature itself a healer, so the message of spending time in nature to improve your health doesn’t get much attention.
However, I believe that not spending enough time in nature promotes depression, obesity and even cancer. In fact, I believe that nature is so important to lasting health that I took up permanent residency in a country where I have spring-like weather year-round, just so that I can be outside in nature every single day of the year!
That’s not possible to do in most places, but wherever you are, more time in nature can help you heal. Here’s how:
How spending time in nature helps you heal
• Sunlight
Sunlight supports all life on our planet. Without sunlight, we would simply have no life on Earth. Your body is designed to be exposed to sensible levels of sunlight, and that’s why experiencing a reasonable amount of sunlight directly on your skin makes good sense for your health.
As you well know, sunlight also causes your skin to generate vitamin D — perhaps the most miraculous nutrient yet discovered in the modern world. Vitamin D prevents cancer, heart disease and diabetes. It boosts bone density and immune function, and it prevents infectious disease far better than vaccines could ever hope to.
To get more vitamin D, simply spend more time in nature!
• Natural sounds
The natural sounds of nature are, in and of themselves, healing therapy. Simply surrounding yourself with the sounds of real nature causes a scientifically-provable reduction in stress levels and blood pressure.
The most powerful healing sounds in nature seem to be those from water: Waterfalls, water running down a creek or stream, rain and thunderstorms, etc. You can mimic these sounds with “sound conditioning” devices that broadcast sound loops of natural sounds. They’re very effective machines, but still nothing equals the healing potential of real sounds experienced directly in the real world.
• Colors
The colors of nature are, scientifically speaking, different wavelengths of light striking your retina and being interpreted as colors by your brain.
These different wavelengths are, in essence, a form of energy medicine. Light is energy, and what your body needs to be healthy is exposure to a diverse assortment of those energy wavelengths. That’s why looking at all the various colors of flowers, plants and animals is, by itself, a healing experience. It also stimulates the brain to become more active and more intelligent.
Spending more time in nature allows your brain to explore a more diverse natural reality, causing it to function at a higher cognitive level. Dull people, in contrast, tend to spend a lot of time indoors where the scenery never changes.
• Movement
Being in nature makes physical movement almost mandatory. When you’re in nature, you’re often walking, running, biking or swimming. And yet because the scenery is so beautiful, it doesn’t feel like exercise! It simply feels like fun!
The health benefits of all this movement are tremendous: A boost in circulation, increased bone density and muscle strength, increased flexibility, lymph fluid circulation and much more. And yet being in nature allows you to experience all these benefits without it feeling like hard work.
• Air
There’s something qualitatively different about fresh air versus indoor air. Indoor air is contaminated with chemicals that have been off-gassed from all the synthetic materials used in the construction of homes and buildings: Carpets, furniture, paints, glues, dyes and so on. Plus, you often get mold spores from indoor air ducts.
The air in a living pine tree forest (or any forest) is refreshingly different! Some people attribute it to the “negative ions” in the air, but there’s much more to it than that. There’s something almost magical about fresh air in a natural environment — it’s “sweet” and energizing! The more time you can spend in nature, the more fresh air you can take into your lungs and enjoy as a healing experience.
It’s an innate thing to desire “fresh air.” Every person on the planet intuitively knows that fresh air is better than indoor air. Ever wonder why this knowledge is so deeply embedded in the human brain?
• Microbes
Western medicine believes that sterility is safety. They want people to live in a sterile environment, where all the microbes in your environment (or on your food) are killed by antimicrobial soaps and pharmaceutical drugs.
But certain microbes are very important for your health! Exposure to microbes in the real world is hugely important for the healthy balance and functioning of your immune system, and the best place to have exposure to these microbes is out in nature!
When I was a kid growing up, I played in the dirt. I swam in the pond. I camped out on the grass. Today, many parents would be horrified to allow their children to even touch dirt or swim in the “non-sanitized” water of a natural stream. This obsession with sterility is deeply misguided. Seek out nature and don’t be afraid to experience the real world even if it means getting your hands dirty.
• Bio energy
Beyond the light, the sounds, the air and all the other healing elements of nature, there’s also something less tangible: The bio energy of living systems. In some way that scientists still don’t understand, lush living ecosystems “recharge” the human body and mind. Spending time in nature rejuvenates your system, and when city life leaves you feeling depleted, nature can bring your energy back.
Part of the magic of the bio-energy in nature depends on coming into physical contact with nature. Walk barefoot. Hug a tree. Touch a flower. Lie down on the grass. Touch nature as your body intended and you’ll create a closed circuit with the planet itself. Some people say that being electrically “grounded” with the earth (through barefoot walking) makes an important difference in reducing the electric “noise” that interferes with your health. There’s merit to this thinking. Your ancient ancestors didn’t walk around in Nike shoes. They walked barefoot, and they were healthier for it!
Kids suffer from nature deficiency, too!
Most modern children live their lives indoors, banging away on gaming consoles and social networking websites. Few children are offered opportunities to spend any real time outdoors, in nature. The idea of “going to camp” during the summer seems to have been lost on the current generation of children, most of whom spend their summers in air-conditioned environments that are highly detrimental to their health.
One of the greatest gifts you can offer any child is time in nature. And the earlier you start teaching children about the joys of nature, the more success you’ll have in sharing outdoor experiences with them. Plus, introducing your children (or grandchildren) to more time in nature means that you get more time in nature, too.
One way to encourage time in nature, by the way, is to get rid of the TV. Television is the enemy of the natural world, and the more time children (or adults) spend in front of the TV, the less time they tend to spend in nature. Once children spend enough time in front of the TV, they won’t even want to venture into nature at all. Their whole “world” becomes the virtual world broadcast into their brains from the television set.
For teenage boys, time in nature has largely been replaced with time spent playing computer games and console games. While there’s nothing wrong with a little time spent gaming, when this act becomes the dominant focus of a child’s life, it is hugely destructive. What these children need is more time in the real world and a lot less time in virtual worlds.
Seriously: I’ve often thought that somebody should launch a “nature camp” business that would offer rehab services for teenage boys who are addicted to gaming. It would be a hugely successful business given how widespread modern gaming addiction has become.
In any case, whether you have kids or not, spending more time in nature will vastly improve your health! So make it a point to get outside, soak up some sunshine, breathe in the fresh air and get all the nature you can! You’ll be healthier, happier, more fit and even more intelligent for doing so!
(c) Natural News
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He has authored more than 1,500 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of energy efficient LED lights that greatly reduce CO2 emissions. He’s also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, ‘Email Marketing Director,’ currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and adult gymnastics. Known by his callsign, the ‘Health Ranger,’ Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
Meditation: Bringing Balance and Harmony
Author: Callie
Meditation by Anne Jones, taken from The Soul Connection CD
www.youtube.com/v/r22ml_i_aIs&hl
Buy me, buy me … said the book
Author: Callie
Do you ever have those weeks (or even months) where something will keep on coming up, over and over again. It could be a word, a phrase – even a person!
Usually when that happens you know its for a good reason. After all, there is not such thing as ‘coincidences’ …
“In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen.” ~William S. Burroughs
Over the past two weeks, I keep seeing mention of Byron Katie’s book entitled “I need your love”. On a daily basis I have seen newspaper articles, internet snippets and blog updates all reminding me of the existence of this particular book – a friend of mine is even going to attend her training when she is in the UK this year, so I have been totally surrounded by I Need Your Love!
The final straw, however, was seeing the book shining proudly amongst hundreds of books in our local charity shop this morning. At just £1 for a pristine copy, I had no choice but to pick it up and bring it home for a good read!!
In Loving What Is, bestselling author Byron Katie introduced millions of people to her simple and profound method of finding happiness through questioning the mind. Now, I Need your Love—Is That True? examines a universal, age-old source of anxiety: our relationships with others. In this groundbreaking book, Katie helps you question everything you have been taught to do to gain love and approval, and in the process find a genuine connection, revealing:
* Why the ways we have learned to seek love and approval only lead to disappointment
* How love is different from need
* How to achieve greater self-love and acceptance through
The Work
I Need Your love—Is That True? helps you illuminate every area in your life where you seem to lack what you long for most—the love of your spouse, the respect of your child, a lover’s tenderness, or the esteem of your boss. Katie reveals how unraveling the knots in the search for love, approval and appreciation brings real love and puts you in charge of your own happiness. ~ (c) Byron Katie
What on earth could this book be wanting to tell me?! I promise to come back and tell you if anything jumps out and smacks me on the nose!!
Have you ever had a book speak out to you so loudly, so relentlessly before … and did it make sense to you, after you finally caved in and read it for yourself?!!! Please do tell me …
Playtime in the rain: uplifting showers
Author: Callie
Rain is often seen as an annoyance, next time it rains visualize it cleansing both you and the earth.
The simple miracle of water falling from the sky has been interpreted in many ways by many cultures. In various areas of the world, rain was viewed as a nourishing gift, given by well-pleased deities. Rain also served as a symbol of emotional cleansing and represented the unending union between earth and sky. Today, rain is often seen as an annoyance—something to be borne doggedly while attending to one’s usual duties. But the arrival of one or more rainy days can also be interpreted as a signal to slow down and contemplate life. When Mother Nature darkens the sky and causes drizzle to fall, freshly opened buds close and many animals settle into their nests for a period of repose. We can honor rainy days by following the example put forth by the flora and fauna around us. Even if we must venture out into a shower, we can still slow down and appreciate our connection to nature.
A rainy day spent indoors can be wonderfully uplifting. As the rain pours down, fill your home with light, sound, and comfort so that you can fully appreciate the loveliness of being snug and dry during a downpour. Storms literally change the energy in the air, and you may feel driven to follow suit by burning incense or sage, ringing bells or chimes, lighting candles, or singing. You may even feel compelled to talk to each room in your home in order to express your gratitude for the protection they give you. If, however, you feel claustrophobic rather than calm because you cannot venture outdoors, you can clear away negative energy by getting rid of clutter, sweeping away dust, and freshening your up spaces. The happier you are in your home, the more beautiful and wondrous a simple rain shower will seem.
A sheltered spot like a covered porch, sunroom, or bay window can provide you with a wonderful vantage point from which to meditatively observe raindrops as they make their descent to earth. And the pitter-patter of rain on a rooftop or car window can even be a therapeutic and soothing sound—one that reminds us that while the unforeseen will always be a part of our lives, we should never forget that nearly every cloud that comes into our lives will have a silver lining.
(c) Tres.Jolie - Flickr
(c) Daily Om
I found this fascinating quote today:
Valentines day is generally the day when men out there demonstrate their undying love for the lady in their life. Apparently, the rest of the year is not good enough to demonstrate this consumer driven emotion called love. So while we are feeling so generous on this day, perhaps I should take the opportunity of highlighting some other ladies who need some love directed their way.biscuitinthebasket.com, Let’s show some luurrrve…. | It’s as simple as putting the biscuit in the basket, Jul 2005
You should read the whole article – it certainly lends a new slant to Valentine’s Day as we know it here in the UK.
Today is National Marmalade Day!
Author: Callie
I LOVE marmalade … “Paddington Bear sandwiches” were always a firm favourite during my City-days!
How will you be celebrating National Marmalade Day?
… and more importantly, what is your favourite type of marmalade?!!