Wow! I just enjoyed a homemade hot ginger drink. Talk about a tasty way to open up my sinuses!
So far for me, ginger is my best natural decongestant. After one of my ginger drinks I usually get 1-2 hours of much clearer sinuses.
Love me some ginger!
Coconut Oil and Honey Ended My Junk Food Cravings
I’ve been working on making lifestyle changes to help my allergies and allergy-related skin problems and two big changes are introducing raw honey and coconut oil to my diet.
Although I started consuming both to help strengthen my immune system, I’ve found they also help cut my cravings for junk food.
This is huge and pleasant surprise! I’ve been a life-long lover of junk food, both chips and sodas, and my cravings for both are almost gone.
Eczema Relief or Why I’ve Fallen In Love With Coconut Oil
If you’ve ever had eczema, then I feel for you. I have outbreaks of it too and it’s directly related to my allergies (trees, grass, dust, and molds are my biggies). When my allergies are up, so is my itching.
My eczema has a cycle. It starts with an overwhelming need to itch…which I fight as long as I can. At some point, the need to itch becomes so compelling and demanding, I give into it and itch. And oh, it feels soooo good at first. The relief is almost orgasmic.
The problem is, once I start itching, even an itsy bitsy bit, I can’t stop. It’s like the whole impacted area wakes up and demands to join the itchfest. So I keep itching until, finally, I’m itched out. Of course, by the time that happens, my skin is irritated and raw so it hurts in a whole new way.
The secret then, is to avoid itching altogether. And if you think that’s simple, then you’ve never had eczema.
In December, my “need to itch” to “itch free” ratio hit a new high where the former was almost constant. I decided to take action by investigating home remedies to combat the problem.
Among my successes to help relieve or decrease the need to itch are:
Eating Raw Honey For Delicious Health
I may never completely rid myself of my allergies to tree and grass pollen, dust and mold but, starting in December, I made a commitment to find ways to lessen their affects on my body.
The reason? Between my watering eyes, constantly runny nose and incredible itchiness from allergy-related eczema, I couldn’t stand it anymore.
I’ve been doing a lot of different things since early December and one delicious change is substituting raw honey for refined sugars.
Aside from honey being a healthy substitute for refined sugar, it’s also having the delightful effect of helping to cut my cravings for junk food.
Going Green To Clean Up Allergies
Adding to that, I periodically have outbreaks of allergy-related eczema. The eczema isn’t continuous (thank god) and I have periods of dormancy. Then an outbreak will occur and I go through months to years of itchy itch.
This December everything came to a head. I reached a point of almost continual itch to the point of severe distraction. And I became tired of my constantly watering eyes and sore eyelids from the weeping. Not to mention my close attachment to a box of Kleenex.
However, I didn’t want to have to resort to a pile of drugs to help myself, for either my allergy or eczema. First, I prefer to take minimal drugs and second, they’re way to expensive.
So I resolved to find more natural methods to improve my health. I’m not a doctor but I am a hell on wheels researcher.
Stop Dumbing Down America
Today’s WSJ reported on the continued dumbing down of America, at least as shown by SAT scores.
Education in America today elicits mixed feelings from me but mostly I’m not impressed.
First I'm very much an intellectual. Twenty years ago, I would have impressed on any kid that college is a must. However, in today's world, high school kids face two issues – 1. Outsourcing, and 2. Expensive college educations that can leave them burdened with debt.
Thus, I find myself changing my view on college – and believe me it’s a shock.
Being Outrageous
I felt stuck in my life. Some parts of were going pretty doggone good. In other areas, though, I struggled along with blah results.
So I highlighted my hair blue.
Ever since, I’ve broken out into unprovoked grins of delight from doing one outrageously different thing in my life. It’s a little thing but it’s stimulating me to find ways to Live Life Bold.
Would love to hear your stories about your other acts of outrageousness. Dish!
P.S. Next haircut…I’m going with purple highlights. Can't wait!
Inspired Dreamers Versus Deluded Nutcases
Each of us have arenas in our life where we’re often struck with inspiration and see possibilities that don’t yet exist. Inspiration is good because it allows you to see beyond what's real into the depths of possibilities -- and in doing so, we also touch the divine.
The problem for some of us, or maybe all of us some of the time, is when we get caught up in deluded fantasy instead. If inspiration is the divine, then fantasy is the hell dimension that drags us away from our live and into its pit.
Every weakness is a potential strength
When I look back on my life, I realize I've made some whopper mistakes that are all traceable back to my weaknesses. As much as I’d like to blah, blah, blah about the value of experience, I’d rather avoid mistakes in the first place.
How to do, how to do. Then it hit me…life-changing epiphany.
Every weakness is a strength.
I realized however deep my failures are indicate the height of my possible success.
Warning: Rebels die (but awakeners live)
Ernest Terry, one of my old Exxon bosses and a savvy corporate player, once said, “The problem with rebels is they either die in the fight or are shoved put aside when it’s over. New regimes need builders and not destroyers.”
Ernest's wisdom has stayed with me a decade or so later because It's. Absolutely. True.
As “they” say, change is the only constant in life. Another truism is change is always stressful, even when it’s welcome, because change always, always requires some form of sacrifice. The magnitude of stress escalates, though, when change is imposed.
If you're like me and are a natural change agent, then how do you handle yourself to avoid the fallout of being a rebel while still being true to your nature? Let's talk strategies to be welcomed as an awakening change agent.
Strategies to stimulate creativity and leave control in the dust
I blogged previously on the Control Versus Creativity Continuum and how favoring control can lead to turning your life radioactive. In contrast, though, creativity is a good news energy that you can use as your personal nuclear fusion reactor -- and that's the sort of energy that powers the stars.
Being a reformed controloholic, I have a strategy to share that I learned from my friend Amanda that provides a dandy and practical way to maintaining a creativity mindset.
Control versus Creativity – A Continuum
Have you ever been accused of having control issues? If you say no (as in never ever), then get ready for my finger to point back at you. Everyone has some arena in their life where control issues erupt.
Some of us deal with control power issues more than others like…er….me.
It took a bunch of awareness and flippity floppitiness of attitude but I’ve moved away from control to embrace influence, a.k.a. empowerment.
And yahoo because my personal results with influence are much better than I ever scored with control. People don't like latter....you already know that. However, they don't mind being influenced just so long as they can make their own decisions.
My good friend Amanda gave me the secret that I’m going to share with you. Let’s dish.
Welcome to Big Cat Chronicle
Hi! Welcome to a place where I plan on doing a bit of roaring on personal transformation. I've got a slate of articles coming, although I need to finish polishing off the content. Here's what I have planned in the coming weeks:
- An ebook on personal branding.
- Creativity versus control.
- Inspiration versus fantasy.
- Revolution versus rebellion.
- Harsh taskmasters versus benefit teachers.
Stay in touch and let's have some fun together.