Cleansing and Blessing a Home or Room with Sage Smudging

We moved into our new home about three weeks ago. It took almost two weeks to unpack boxes, find new places for things, get settled.  I was happy to have a new home, and actually be able to live in it, but I didn't feel "at home".   I think the process of moving out and going through all our belongings, donating or discarding what we didn't use or want to keep any more helped with my "attachment" issues.  Attachment is one of the of the causes of suffering in Buddhist teachings, and although I'm not Buddhist, the teachings have been very helpful to me.

After two weeks on a morning when my husband left early to golf with his group, I decided it was time to sage smudge the home.  I had purchased three 6" sage smudging sticks.  It's sage leafs tied together but not too tightly so that when you light the end with fire, the stick will smolder.

I didn't have a plan of how I would proceed.  I started in my home office, my most personal room.  The classic Reiki symbol came to mind, and I made the symbol with the smoldering sage in each corner, and verbally stated my hopes and wishes for the room and each corner.  Then I continued to all the other rooms, with the same blessing.  I was feeling quite blissful when I finished, and went through some spaces that are challenging to me, like the kitchen, my office and repeated with extra blessing.  I left the windows closed, and sat and meditated for awhile.  Then I went out to shop for home window treatments for an hour.

When I returned home, there was surprisingly no odor or smoke from the smudging.

I didn't mention the smudging blessing to my husband.  But later in the evening, he mentioned that this house was really feeling like a home to him and we both agreed that we were happy with our decision to have the old home torn down and a new one built after the storm damage.  It's been easier and more intuitive now to finish the little details in each room.

I learned about sage smudging at a Wicca retreat I accidently wandered into about 30 years ago.  I didn't even know what Wicca was, but it opened a new world to me.  My work as a psychologist and counselor opened my spirit more, and I was able to combine my cognitive-behavior techniques with more humanity and spirituality.  I have saged homes for other people, and taught them to do it themselves.   And I have some sage sticks saved for blessing the exterior: the porch, lanai, carport, storage shed when they are finished.

Taking Care of Yourself First (Especially for Home Business Owners)

I have finally been able to move into my new home, a replacement for the one that was damaged in the hail/tornado storm.  Although it's livable, there are a lot of things that weren't built or installed correctly, so I am "held hostage" by needing to be here when they arrive.  And they often arrive unannounced.

The biggest task I had to do, and which I did all by myself, was move the business inventory from the temporary office space to the room designated as office in our home.  It took four people to move it to the temporary location, but I wanted to move it to the home office because I needed to organize it, to be able to find it when customers place orders.  It took me a week, but it is done.

If you have a home business, you know that you can work 24/7 if you allow yourself.  It was nice that I had limits on myself when I had to travel to the temporary office, but it was also a hassle.  I couldn't respond to specific customers requests about some products immediately. With me new home office, I have pledged to take more care of myself working from home.

1) Take care of your inner world.  There is stress trying to run your business with perfection from home.  You are deeply involved in a project, and you suddenly have to leave it to respond to a family member's need, take a phone call and deal with it for someone else in your household, and plan meals, cleaning and other household tasks.  It can be exhausting.  And that makes it difficult to have that perfect business that you want.  Use your income to hire a business coach to point out ways to run your business more smoothly. Follow your intuition and listen to yourself rather than over-analyze to the point of exhaustion.  Feed your creative side so you can keep your business creative. 

2) Give yourself a break.  Sometimes I have to get up from my desk and go outside and take a walk just to have some time for myself.  And lunch is always a break.  I never take my work to the table.

3) Slow down, be mindful of your happy time and place.  I take a break in the late morning when my husband leaves for tennis to do tai chi, qigong, yoga, and or do a meditation.  It's an appointment I make with myself.  I never schedule anything else for late morning.  And it is so important to me.

4) You are not alone.  Networking groups can help you feel less isolated and be a support group for you.  One of the things I like about the Shopify ecommerce program is that every day I get an email from Shopify with hints and tips, stories from other online shop owners. 

5) Be gentle on yourself.  Set firm boundaries for yourself.  Like my late morning self help program.  Or rules like absolutely no work after 8 pm.  Make sure you take a vacation or day off occasionally.  Every year my husband and I take a cruise.  Once we are aboard the ship, there is nothing I can do about my online business.  It's time for me.  I can do and be "nothing" for the week or 10 days I'm on the cruise.  And when I return, I open my online shop again, and it was fine without me.

Habits of the Happiest People

Happy people don't just find happiness, they make it happen with action.  Happiness habits can make a tremendous difference in your life.

*Be deliberately optimistic.  When you think or hear something negative, think about how  you can make the thought or statement realistically positive.

*Keep positive and uplifting resources on hand.  I keep a book of spiritual readings handy, and when I start feeling down, I read a section, then meditate on it.  It really changes attitude.  I also keep playlists of music that "blisses" me, and listen to some every day.  When I feel like I need a lift, I put the music in my head.

*Imagine the worst that can happen in a threatening situation.  Often the reality of a bad situation isn't as bad as the illusions you imagine.

*Practice loving-kindness.  Compassion helps you to feel more kind, and feel better about yourself.

*Seek out the good in everything.  Even if it's something terrible, it's a learning experience.  And coping brings strength.  It helps you to see everything more positively.

These are examples from Kristi Ling's book "Operation Happiness:3-Step Plan to Creating a Life of Lasting Joy, Abundant Energy, and Radical Bliss".

What an amazing gift for yourself!

Prescription Medication Safety

Most people take at least one prescription medication for their health.

A friend spent a week with us and when I went to clean up the guest bedroom, I saw a line of nine prescription medicine bottles on the dresser.  During a discussion I asked him how he was doing physically, and he looked surprised as he told me he was doing good.  I told him I noticed all the medicines in the bedroom.  He smirked and then started a story about going to his primary care doctor for what was diagnosed as gout, and was given a prescription.  Blood testing also showed high cholesterol, which earned him another prescription, his blood pressure was high, one more prescription.   He was also going through some personal challenges in his life, and got an anti-anxiety medication.  When he returned six weeks later for his follow up appointment, he told his doctor about feeling worse.  His doctor told him sometimes medications cause side effects, and gave him more prescriptions for the side effects.

His story is a common story, unfortunately.  Most people trust their doctors and take their medications that are prescribed.

And sometimes they read about natural herbal medicines, vitamins and minerals that are helpful and takes these along with their prescription medication.

There is so much information about prescription drugs and natural herbs and supplements online. Some of it is not accurate, most of it is confusing.

I was recently notified about a web site that believes in educating the public about thousands of prescription and over-the-counter medications, many of which have the potential to cause serious side effects. It  has an  easy to navigate online database that is constantly being updated with drug recall news, and provides comprehensive, unbiased information about serious side effects, complications, and interactions of commonly prescribed drugs.

http://www.rxdangers.com/http://www.rxdangers.com/

The site has been added to Calm Spirit resources.  If you visit the website and have comments about it, please post them.

I hope it is helpful to you.

A Living Meditation Practice to Move on My Life Path

This morning I watched CBS Morning Show and there was a feature about Wanda, the Disney themed park in Shanghai, China.  It started with a man doing taiji (tai chi) with two Disney characters as part of the attractions. Wanda wants to keep Chinese culture in Western Disney.

I was drawn to the slow, deliberate movements of both the characters and the "human" as they showed a few seconds of the taiji.  I could "feel" the qi (chi) and internally visualize it as the man did his movements.  It was morning, so I went to the open space in our rental unit and did my taiji for the day.  I could almost feel the man's qi working with my qi.  It was one of the best taiji sessions I had.  I do taiji daily and by myself,  and have been doing it 20 years.  For me, taiji, yoga, qigong are part of my morning routine, not a "class" I go to once a week: it's part of my life,

My experience today relates well to the book I'm reading, "Wherever You Go, There You Are".  I did, and I was.  Still am.

The remnants of our storm damaged home were removed yesterday.  Watching it wasn't as sad as I thought it would be.  It was actually joyful.  I feel like I am accepting the circumstances and moving on.  Having more time as we are living in a rental space has slowed me down, given me more time for reflection, like a living meditation.

There was also a shot on television of Minnie Mouse doll for sale in the Wanda park.  Minnie was wearing a classic jade bangle bracelet, that was included with the doll for purchase.  Sweet!

Classic Round Chinese Jade Bangle Bracelets

I'm still reading "Wherever You Go, There You Are", a small portion daily prior to my meditation.  It's amazing that wherever I open the book, it's right where I need to be, the chapter pertaining to something very relevant, important to me. That's how I started the book: I opened it and read, and now I am following the format until it feels like it's time to do something different.

A recent section I read was about escaping from "the world" by doing your meditation.  When it's time to be doing something you need to do, and you choose to escape it by meditating, it's not helpful and is actually like taking a step backwards.  One of the reasons for meditating is to lose your attachments.  And escaping can be an attachment.

And that's exactly what I've been doing the past couple weeks.  Since we are moving out of our home and having a new one built because of storm damage, I have until May 30 to get everything packed.  My husband and I are both packing, but I have more "stuff" plus a business with inventory, so I have at least three times the "stuff" husband has, and I'm working a lot longer doing the packing.  He leaves the house to play tennis every day just before noon, when he leaves, that's when I do my meditation.  And instead of doing a meditation, then getting on with what I need to do, I've been making my meditation time longer.  My regular meditation is 20-30 minutes and I've been making it last an hour to avoid packing things.  And I've not felt good about it, but didn't understand why, because wasn't meditating an hour a "good thing"?  Yes, it is, according to Jon Kabat-Zinn, but not if you're using meditation as an escape, and letting meditation become an attachment.

Interesting how I opened the book to that chapter.

Color Therapy, Colors of Jade, Colors of Chakra

My first trip to China in 1999 was to learn Chinese medicine, Qi Healing, and tai chi and qigong.  Chinese medicine practices seem to agree with me, my philosophy, practice and go-to when I need healing.

My second trip to China a few months later was to continue a treatment the doctor had started with me and was working well.  That's when I learned about jade use for Chinese medicine practice, and about meridians.  Colors of jade are often used for balancing the meridians, and some of the Chinese jade that has all five colors of white, green, black /  charcoal, red ("hong") and yellow.  When I'm feeling out of balance, I look at and touch all my jade bangle bracelets, and always find one that "feels" like what I need.  And it usually does help.  The jade also gets a "glow" as I'm wearing it, so I know my body qi and the jade qi energies are working together.

I also do yoga as part of my daily practices.  Yoga also uses colors that relate to the Chakras.  The colors and locations have some similarity in both yoga and qi healing.  But yoga has more colors, because there are more chakras than meridians.

Sometimes people who are searching for their path in life try many different methods, and try to practice them all.  While trying them, if a person tries to practice them all, their life can get very out of balance, and can actually work against them.  So I chose Chinese medicine as my practice.  It's the Dao, being in harmony with nature, and is also were feng shui and yin and yang theories come from.

But I still do yoga and part of my daily practice.

Color therapy is becoming part of Western healing practices,  The US government and medical organizations are trying to cut back on prescribing opiod drugs for chronic pain and looking for alternatives.  Studies are being done about color therapy used with cognitive behavioral therapy to be helpful for both chronic and acute pain.  I read an article today "Color Therapy Yoga Offers Fresh Perspective".  The yoga teacher occasionally teaches a class that focuses on a certain chakra color and has colored sunglasses the students can wear to perceive everything through a certain color lens.  The class participants find that by focusing on a color they can see a lesson rather than a problem in a situation.  When interviewed for the article, the students felt moved by the experience, more focused and motivated.  They not only got the benefits from the yoga practice, but also from the color exposure.

Perhaps this is a trend now.  A Chinese practice that has worked for centuries now being incorporated into modern wellness.