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If you are a giver and your giving has left yourself in need, it is time to re-prioritize.

In actuality, all the people you love, those that you have expended yourself to help and sacrificed your own well-being, will be better off after you re-focus on self help! This article by fellow SelfGrowth.com professional, Lori Snyder, covers 10 basic steps for getting back to daily care for yourself.

Lori admits that she herself was so busy with everyone else’s needs that she sidelined her own needs, only to discover that the reality was, by neglecting her own needs and not meeting them first, she was not able to give her best to those she loves. These are brief excerpts from Ms. Snyder’s article. Use the link in the footnote below to read the full article.

1. Start each day filled with gratitude for all that you are…Appreciate the beauty all around you. [I would suggest, at the beginning, to make a list of self appreciation points. If you’ve neglected yourself for a long time, it will be difficult at the beginning to really focus on your own value.]

2. Count your blessings for the people who you love and who love you…They all come, and some go, for a reason.

3. Take a moment of silence for yourself to meditate, and think about what your needs of the day are, and what you would like to accomplish.

4. Be mindful of your health, and incorporate a wellness schedule into your week. Exercise, eat healthy, get enough rest.

5. Look at your goals sheet quickly each week, and evaluate how you are doing with them. Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Do your worries cause you to react or do you overcome fear by being creatively proactive?

You can choose to respond to fearful situations in ways other than panic, being withdrawn, or some other solely, defensive protective mode. You have the option of choosing not to react to your fear, letting it manipulate you, but to think creatively, outside of the box, and discover responses that will actually enhance your life.

A recent study of the economy illustrates that most people react to fear instead of being creatively proactive.

The present economic situation in the US has affected all kinds of businesses, large and small. One of the categories of institutions largely affected is charitable organizations. Statistician George Barna of the Barna Group recently posted 3 articles with the results of his year long study of how the economy affected churches and other non-profit organizations, as well as how the churches responded to the fearful economic situation.

What stood out to me was Barna’s comments that most churches responded, in my terminology, by reacting to the economy, rather than seeing opportunities to respond creatively and actually enhance their situation and the lives of the people in their communities. Many churches adjusted budgets, cut spending, and cut staff. While it is the right thing to do to re-evaluate the budget and eliminate unnecessary spending, Barna notes, “For the most part, church leaders seem to have been in a hunker-down mode, attempting to get through the tough economy…”, a protective fear response. Similar to most people in fearful situations Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Natural supplements and lifestyle changes can bring significant improvement to lupus by strengthening the immune system and lessoning the risk of other disease with overall better health.

Due to the lack of progress in a cure for lupus and the frequent side effects from the long-term usage of prescribed corticosteroid, implementing a healthy diet, body cleansing, exercise, and natural supplements offer promising options toward a better life for those diagnosed with lupus.

Long-term use of corticosteroids, such as used in the treatment of SLE, can result in adrenal atrophy and suppression of the body’s natural defenses in the immune system. In addition, the treatment often results in side effects such as:

• mood swings
• depression
• generalized edema of body and face
• redistribution of body fat to the abdomen
• weight gain
• lethargy (1)

We are going to briefly cover lupus research results from 4 various health sites, and then take a detailed look at the research and lifestyle changes suggested by Dr. Ray Sahelian, which will be extremely helpful for lupus sufferer determined to improve his or her health.

**It should be noted that there are some slight variations in suggested supplements between the sites. I want to emphasize 2 main points in this regard:

1. I would suggest avoiding any supplement that is questioned as safe by even 1 of the following doctors unless you first discuss it with your physician and have a plan for discerning possible side effects.

2. Before taking any new supplement, research it for any possible side effects relevant to your health, such as allergies, interaction with prescriptions, affect on blood pressure, etc.  The first site is one I have used personally; the second is one I just came across.

Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia              Personal Health Zone

Prevention.com focuses on Omega 3 Fish Oils and Antioxidants for lupus improvement.

The omega 3 fatty acids in fish oil — EPA and DHA — has prevented autoimmune lupus in animals. Studies on humans have been shown to decrease inflammation. 20 grams of fish oil per day combined with a low-fat diet led to significant improvement in 14 out of 17 SLE patients in only 12 weeks. Lower amounts of fish oil did not help.(2) Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

What is Lupus?

Lupus is a condition that affects about 5 million people worldwide, 1.5 million of those being in the USA alone. 70% of those cases are systemic lupus; in half of the SLE cases, major organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, or brain are affected.(1) As Lupus is an autoimmune disease of unknown origin with no effective treatment, we are going to first take a look at the basics: its effect on the body, lupus symptoms, possible causes, and “why” natural remedies. This is Part 1 of a 2 part post. In Part 2, we will cover suggested lifestyle changes to improve and possibly overcome the symptoms of Lupus.

What Does Lupus do in the Body?

Lupus an autoimmune disease; it compromises the immune system, causing the body to attack healthy cells and tissues from within. There are many different types of Lupus, with no two people experiencing the same combination of symptoms.(2)

Symptoms of Lupus

The symptoms of Lupus vary greatly, depending on the type. Discoid lupus erythematosus is usually limited to effects on the skin while systemic lupus erythematosus attacks internal tissues. Hence the abbreviations DLE or SLE. SLE is then also divided into subgroups based on the severity of the disease. (5)

The symptoms of DLE are:

Chronic inflammation, sores, and scarring on the skin, including the face, scalp, ears, and body.

The non-organ-threatening type of SLE often has symptoms of:

severe fatigue, dyspnea, fever, swollen glands and joints, muscle and joint pain, and rashes or other skin conditions

The organ-threatening type has the same symptoms listed above, as well as negative affects on: Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Leisurely

Do you have a clear perspective of daily being grateful for the life you are now living—in spite of any unreached goals—and for what you already possess?  Or do you become easily disgruntled due to comparing your life and possessions with those of others’?

The other day I read an illustrated lesson for children on thankfulness in which the teacher had hidden various amounts of candy under the students’ chairs in the classroom. As the children came in and sat down, they settled in for the day’s lesson, content in their present circumstances, having nothing extra beyond that with which they entered the room. After the teacher announced that there was candy hidden under each chair, the students immediately became discontent upon discovering that the amounts of candy were not the same. The main points the teacher drew out for the students’ from that experience were:

1. Each student was content when he or she came in the classroom, having only the things that were already in their possession. They could have easily continued to be content by being grateful solely for what they already had.

2. When the students’ compared the varying amounts of candy they had received, they were immediately discontent; yet, each of them now possessed more than when they came in the room. Each of them could have felt appreciation for the fact that they had received a gift and had more than they did a few moments before.

When you start the comparison game between your life and the lives of others Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Gratifying

Do you feel that you effectively handle the loss of a loved one?

During a time of loss and grieving, what you choose to focus on will determine how effectively you transition to life without that person. I once read of a study on people who lived to be over 100. The only common factor discovered in that particular study was their ability to go on after tragedy and still find life worth living. Since stress and negative thoughts are physically damaging as well as emotionally, it is easy to see how this would be true. There is no doubt that times of loss involve grieving over the separation. There are a variety of psychological stages one goes through during grief. However, the choice of your focus drastically affects the effectiveness of your transition.

Choosing to focus on the aspects of that person which brought joy to your life is important to your well-being.

Instead of focusing on the traumatic circumstances which took place in the physical realm that caused you to lose that person, choose to live out your life rejoicing in the positive input that person had into your life. Meditate on the various joys that person brought to you. Rejoice that your life was fuller because of those joys. Rejoice that you are a better person because of those experiences.

The next step in effectively transitioning through a time of loss is realizing the source of those joys you experienced.

This week was one of high stress for our family as I almost lost my father to 3 severe intestinal bugs that he contracted while visiting the sick in hospitals, hospices, and nursing homes the week before Thanksgiving. Visiting the sick and elderly has always been a major focus of my father’s life. I was reminded of an experience Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Thomas Merton is well known for journaling spiritual meditations that have challenged countless people in bettering their daily lives and relationships with God and man. I enjoyed going through many of his quotes this week and wanted to share with you the ones related to:

• Self Esteem
• Forgiving Yourself
• Balance in Self Sacrifice and
• Rest

Merton on Self Esteem:

We cannot achieve greatness unless we lose all interest in being great. If we pay too much attention to [our idea of greatness], we will be lured out of the peace and stability…God gave us, and seek to live in a myth we have created for ourselves. We are truly ourselves when we lose the futile self consciousness that keep us constantly comparing ourselves with others in order to see how big we are.

We all seek to imitate one another’s imagined greatness….If I do not know who I am, it is because I think I am the sort of person everyone around me wants me to be. Perhaps I have never asked myself whether I wanted to become what everybody else seems to want to become. Perhaps if I only realized Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

There is no need to succumb to the typical ailments of aging and, especially, feel its affects early on as you can make easy lifestyle changes to creat an extended, healthier life!

(This is Part 2 of a two-part post.  In Part 1, we covered an example of how simple lifestyle changes affect your quality of life, as well as 8 tips on anti-aging.  To read Part 1, use the series link on Aging Gracefully above. Today we will continue with more simple lifstyle tips to increase longevity and quality of life.)

The online organization, Anti Aging Guide 2009, has a graph showing which lifestyle changes add the most years to your life! Here’s a sampling. Use the link in the footnotes to see the full chart.

Note: If you make all the types of changes shown in their chart (not all listed here) and begin in your 20’s, you can add 60-80 years to your life. If you start at 45-50, you can still gain 30-40 years. (A)

1. Periodic fasting and calorie restriction can add 40-50 years.

2. Good nutrition can add 15-25 years.

3. Quality of life – prosperity, relaxation, regular vocations – can add 15-25 years.

4. Regular exercise can add 10-20 years. (A)

The organization, My Health Span, has a list of over 80 Lifestyle Anti Aging Factors, some of which are often unheard of. It is well worth using the link to read the whole list. Here are 13:

1. Calm, but alert temperament

2. Short commute to work Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Anti aging is a hot topic as more people realize that you do have the option not to succumb to all the typical ailments of aging and, especially, not to feel the affects of aging as early.

My grandfather decided to make major changes to his health when he turned the age of 39. I am not sure what all food related changes he made, but I know he stopped drinking alcohol, cut back to one cup of coffee a day, and began taking supplements and power walking a mile a day. He enjoyed incredibly good health throughout his senior years. He had a brief bout of severe arthritis in his early 70’s but through research on supplements and faithful prayer it soon disappeared completely. He still had none of the typical old age illnesses, rarely even a cold, when he passed away at the age of 89. On the other hand, I have known people who eat the typical American diet of almost no fruits, vegetables, or water and never exercise. They have already had diseases common to old age in their late 30’s, 40’s, or 50’s.

Many of the lifestyle changes to create a extended, healthier life are easy to make!

I wanted to include abbreviated lists from a couple of different organizations on anti aging. Each website has vast amounts of information to surf through, so please make use of their links to click through and read more ways to have a long, satisfying life.

These 8 tips are from Simply Anti Aging’s pages on health and nutrition. Many more tips on their site.

1. Laugh More. Recent research has shown that laughter really does help us in managing stress. Adopting a humorous view of life’s difficulties can take the edge off everyday stressful situations. Laughter stops the release of damaging stress hormones into the body. (A)

2. Improve Cardio Fitness with Dance. Combining cardio exercise fitness with dancing is a great way to keep fit over 40. (A)

3. Swim Your Way to Core Strength. You need to improve core strength through exercise as you get older to firm up abdominal flab, build flexibility, and prevent back problems. Swimming offers you both aerobic exercise — flooding your brain with oxygen and raising your pulse rate – and greatly improves core strength. (A)

4. Get Antioxidants by Eating Raw. Raw foods are one of the keys to a great Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Ten practical points on improving the love relationship can restore a portion of joy in your life that may have been recently lacking.

Today I am going to share with you excerpts from an article by mental health therapist, Jennifer Jones.  Jennifer is a fantastic writer and has a couple of extremely popular relationship sites on the web with practical, beneficial insight.  I encourage you to use the link below to read her full post.

Excerpts from Ten Simple Ways to Fall in Love Again by Jennifer Jones 

1. Enjoy memories together. When we reflect on good, happy memories we recreate the emotions and feelings in our body/mind that went along with the experience…

2. Plan for the future and share your dreams. Having something to look forward to is one of the keys to living a happy life…

3. Live in the present. Don’t let even one minute of joy, laughter, or pleasure be taken for granted…Look for those moments of quiet peace, or vibrant joy, or wild excitement…

4. Demonstrate appreciation. Do everything you can to make sure your beloved knows that you adore and cherish him or her…

5. Look for the good in your partner. Remember when you first met? You saw nothing wrong with your significant other…Of course in time…that impression may fade just a tad so consciously find for the great qualities… Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Leisurely
Most Everyone Enjoys Hearing Some Practical Ways to Make Your Relationship More Loving.

Quick, practical tips on how to love effectively is something we all appreciate. And when it comes to writing styles, Richard Carlson, PhD, has perfected the art of quick, practical tips to improve your life with his “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” series of books. His books have been bestsellers for years now. Any in that series are well worth reading. They are small, easy-reading books. He and his wife co-wrote “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff in Love.” I’m putting some excerpts from the book below and the ISBN info at the end of this post. (1)

Here are 4 great tips on How to Love Effectively:

Wake Up and Think About 3 Things You Love About Him/Her - I’ve found that it’s nearly impossible to get too uptight or to sweat the small stuff with your partner when you have recently reminded yourself about why you love [him/her] so much. [The author describes seeing an irritating habit by his spouse on the way out the door in the morning.] What would have been my reaction to the unlocked door had I awakened and failed to think about such positive things? Or worse yet, what would have happened had I awakened and immediately began to fill my mind with my many responsibilities, to the point of putting myself in a stressful mind-set?…I would have become upset and irritated.

Make the Fresh Start Commitment – It doesn’t matter whether you’ve just met or whether you’ve Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Here is a quick check guide to enable the power of your words to produce good for yourself and those around you.

I’ve mentioned before in some other posts the power of your words; even scientific studies show how words affect one’s body. Your words are produced by your thoughts. Those words/thoughts tell your body how to respond, in addition to directing your mental and emotional focus for the day.

Use this quote as a quick check to see whether your words are producing positive or negative power in your life:

Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil words, nor unwholesome or worthless talk ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good and beneficial to the progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace — God’s favor — to those who hear it. Eph. 4:29

How consistently are your words worthless or beneficial, fitting to people’s needs, enabling your life progress, enabling others’ life progress, imparting God’s blessing and favor into your life as you hear them and others’ lives as they hear them?

Check your Word Power! You determine the outcome!

Reading Level: Leisurely

Do you consider yourself an optimist? If not, it’s time to join this noteworthy group!  Even if you consider yourself fairly optimistic, one always has room to improve on his or her optimism. Or, if you are pretty sure that being optimistic has not yet become a way of life for you, now is the time to change.

Admired People throughout history have been known for their optimism.

They inspire us with it.  We admire them for it.  It is time to join their ranks! In going through my personal file of famous quotes, I came across some that I had gathered from emails sent to me which I wanted to share with you. Benefit from the wisdom of these influential, optimistic people!

Sir Edmund Hillary was asked this question on goals. It may not appear to directly be on optimism, but I see part of his point being that your satisfaction is obviously in how you choose to view your achievements.

Question: “How does one know whether or not a project is worthy of his or her consideration?” Sir Edmund’s answer: “If you only do what others have already done, you will only feel what others have already felt. However, if you choose to achieve something that no one has ever done, then you will have a satisfaction that no one else has ever had.” (1)

Helen Keller on optimism dictating one’s goals or actions: Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Below are a variety of favorite suggestions by well-known physicians for natural ways to optimize your body’s natural health defenses through supplements and some common health practices. 

Dr. Holtorf  of the Holtorf Medical Group posted a question and answer session online from his interview with an international news network.  Here is a quote from his suggestions to prevent viruses and infections. Use the link in the footnote to read the full article.

Natural ways to prevent an infection include vitamin D 5000-15,000 per day (best to check levels), zinc 50 mg/day, vitamin C 3000 mg/day, licorice root extract and miataki mushroom D-fraction. There are good combination products available (Virunex, Immunostim). Nasal colloidal silver can be very effective. It is very safe, and no virus has ever been shown to develop resistance to silver. (1)

Dr. Joseph Mercola is also a strong advocate of optimizing your vitamin D levels, not just for flu prevention but daily health. It is also one of the least expensive ways to be proactive.

He makes 2 strong statements advocating vitamin D:

-Optimizing your vitamin D levels is the absolute best strategy for avoiding infections of all kinds.
-Vitamin D deficiency is the most likely true culprit behind seasonal flu, not the flu virus itself. (2)

Here are his 2 suggested standards for vitamin D supplements: Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

During the winter season, the flu virus is something we all desire to avoid. Let’s cover a virus blocker product as well as some immune system boosters.

Natural virus blockers are an effective way to prevent the flu from taking hold.

Last winter, when the some severe flu strains were taking over large regions of the US, we had stayed pretty flu free all season. Toward the end of the season, I evidently caught the strain from a coughing cashier and stopped by the health food store to buy extra vitamin C and see what else they had available. They had a huge display of a product called, Blockade. The store reps said that they had been selling a good deal of the product and people were bringing back good reports, so I decided to give it a try. If you recall, last winter’s strain of flu was holding on for 2-3 weeks at a time. I was significantly better in 24 hrs. and completely over it within 48 hrs.

Blockade is an all herbal virus blocker.

According to the write-up, viruses reproduce in the human body after entering human cells, as opposed to infections in the blood stream which can be treated with antibiotics. Since viruses reproduce within the cells, antibiotics do not work on them. The bioactives in Blockade coat the viruses and prevent them from attaching to and entering human cells. Since the viruses cannot reproduce, the illness does not progress. Laboratory studies have shown a 100% success rate in keeping the flu virus from entering cells. Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »