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Aloe Vera Tips & Solutions - Holiday Eating, January 05, 2015 |
Aloe Vera Tips & Solutions monthly newsletter/ezine of www.aloe-vera-and-handy-herbs.com avavavavavavavavavavavavavavavav Vol. 4 #37 January 5, 2014 Contents: Taking Care of Ourselves - New Resolutions for Better Health Did you make new resolutions for better health in 2015? How are you doing with them? Many people poo-poo the making of New Year's resolutions altogether, because they know they haven't got the determination or will-power to keep those resolutions. That's sad. It doesn't have to be like that for you and me. First of all, we need to word our resolution wisely. If you state it as a sharp fiat: "I'm going to lose 50 lbs this year!" In my mind, you are announcing a dream or goal, but not a resolution about what you are going to do on a regular basis to reach that goal. That may be playing semantics with words, but I feel that if you can separate goals from practical steps you are going to take, you can make a resolution or a string of them, that you can easily keep with some self-discipline. The important thing is to make those steps a habit for at least 21 days or more, and then they will almost happen on auto-pilot. Personally, I like to review, in those days between Christmas and New Year's Day, how my past year has gone, and what changes or improvements I want to make in the new year. I carefully think through what it will take to reach those new goals and dreams, and to break them down into manageable stages or steps. I recognize that they won't happen unless I draft up a new daily and weekly schedule and PLAN sufficient blocks of time in to DO those stages or steps. Experience has shown me that I tend to be rather idealistic, and some years I have not reached my goals. But that doesn't mean I scrap everything and live "in the moment" waiting for good things to happen to me out of the blue, or for others to push and shove me to any kind of success. Instead, if I'm sure that goal fits in under my top priorities, I evaluate how to simplify my actions, schedule enough time - frequently enough, so that I SHALL be able to get to my goals. For example, I mentioned in fall that I was going to grow a variety of aloes from seed. Well, only the tiny seedlings from one variety are still standing. The others fell over and died. BUT - I had not used up all the seeds I received as a gift. So I've considered ways to improve my next try and I've seeded again - just a few seeds, in case I need to have a third go at this. Whatever doesn't work in any area of life, goes into my memory bank for things that do NOT work. That narrows down the number of mistakes I will repeat. That feels good; you would enjoy it too!
A Practical Tip/Solution - Aloe Heat Lotion Aloe Heat Lotion and Aloe Vera Gelly are the two Forever Living products that I keep with me at all times. I want them at home and I want them at the office, so I take care to pack them into my backpack for both directions. I keep a nearly empty Aloe Heat Lotion tube in my purse, so that even if I'm at church, or shopping in a store, visiting someone, I can whip it out and apply a dab of that very practical creme when I have an itch or pain of any kind. My hives have let up now, but they were what first drove me to make sure I carried Aloe Heat Lotion with me at all times. I never knew when they would strike. Scratching the hives would only make them worse. A dab of the lotion smeared over the itchy spot would stop the itch almost instantly, and grant relief. I still have the occasional itch under my waistband elastic - (elastics generally irritate my sensitive skin) so I quickly apply the Aloe Heat Lotion and can carry on as if nothing is wrong. The same when lower back pain creeps up on me. You might ask, what is the ingredient in that lotion that does such wonders? It is just about straight aloe vera lotion with some cayenne added. The cayenne warms the blood circulation to the area where the lotion is applied, and that can take care of most minor pains and itches. Actually, the blood carries it away deeper into the body too, so that one can have relief for several hours. You can feel totally safe in applying Aloe Heat Lotion, for it is not harmful to you (unless you rub your eyes with the finger you used to apply the lotion moments ago - Yikkes! Then your eye will burn for a while!). Nor is it addictive. If your pain is severe enough to last even after applying this lotion, then your pain is of another degree and may deserve some pain killer medication. Or at the least, some testing to see what is the root cause. MORE on this new page: Aloe Heat Lotion. It includes one caution from my personal experience over the Christmas holidays.
I Recommend - Herbal Decongestants Once the fever of my flu left, I spent the rest of my Christmas holidays battling with a cough, and the related phlegm that wanted to go down into my lungs. From experience I know that becomes pneumonia and I find that harder to shake. Very much I wanted to loosen up the phlegm so I could blow it out my nose and be rid of it for good. So I was looking up remedies and trying anything that sounded like it might worth a try. - You probably get a little desperate too, when sick, right? My brother Ernie called and he recommended a teaspoon of cinnamon with a teaspoon of honey in hot water. He bragged that it kept him free of all coughs and colds. I tried it. It didn't taste that bad, but the cinnamon made the back of my throat tickle like I need to drink something else to rinse it down. I checked on the internet and found a list of 18 remedies. I tried several, and liked the one with a finely chopped or pureed onion with about a quarter cup of lemon juice, and some hot water added. That quickly de-congested my cough, and brought the mucus back into my sinuses. It didn't taste bad at all. I called my sister Elsie, for a long distance visit, and she recommended ginger tea made from a "toe" (one of the knobs) of raw, fresh ginger. Add a bit of honey to taste and hot water. I had just recently bought a chunk of raw ginger with a number of those "toes" - so I tried this recipe too. This was soothing and cut down on the hacking coughs. The ginger was also settling to my stomach. When I finished the liquid part of the tea, and I'd made this in my very tallest mug or stein, I sniffed and the ginger still smelled strong, so I decided to make a mug of chicken flavoured soup, leaving the ginger slices in the bottom of the mug to be re-used. That tasted quite good! I tried that a number of times over the week, sometimes including the onion and lemon juice, or at least transferring a spoonful or two into the ginger/chicken soup mug. Elsie also reminded me that oil of oregano is great for reducing an infection in record time. She talked of putting some drops under my tongue. (I recall, years earlier, when a distant relative gave me some to try; what a stinging bitterness under my tongue! But it was powerful). I had switched to gelatin capsules of the oil of oregano, but Elsie said it would do me more good directly under the tongue. So.... of course, I tried that too, cutting a capsule open with a knife and dropping it under my tongue. That remedy isn't as much fun, but it does work on the root of the cough, so I've done it a few times. Today my cough is a minor little hack, nearly gone, and after struggling with my car not starting this morning, and getting a ride, I'm at work and things are just about normal again. These methods above are just to show you the variety of herbal decongestant remedies out there. If you are like me, you may have the nerve to experiment and see what works for you. May you soon be breathing free and easy, with no coughs at all!
Contact & Policies - Constant CONTACT INFO: Ruth Marlene Friesen (306)856-7785 Ruth@aloe-vera-and-handy-herbs.com
POLICIES: I am definitely against S/p/a/m! I Will NOT share your COPYRIGHT (c)2015 Ruth Marlene Friesen
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