Energetic Self-Care and the New Moon

I have found that when I am working with the cycles of Nature, instead of stubbornly trying to forge my own path, life flows gracefully, and I am able to accomplish what I want with ease. Here we are, with the energy of the New Moon reminding us to look within, and clean house. I am shining light on my dark corners, clearing and organizing cluttered spaces, and facing my personal demons head on.

A smudge a day keeps the Hucha away. Hucha is heavy energy. Everyone has "stuff", and that stuff can build up the same as the way dust bunnies accumulate in the corners of your home.

What do you do for your energetic self care?

My self care changes from day to day, but I try to pull from the following:
Affirmations
Smudging
Eating wild foods
Eating breakfast outside
Flower and Gem Essences to help with balance
Herbal Infusions
Carrying/wearing stones and crystals
Gardening
Soaking my feet
Reiki
Meditation
Singing to plants
Painting
Maya Spiritual Baths
Time in Nature

If you'd like help coming up with some self-care options that work for you, please don't hesitate to call or email. I would be honored to help you.

Verna L Luttrell 1926-2010

It's undeniable that my Grandma Verna was loved by so many who knew her. As a child, I remember that everywhere we went, she knew people. She was always running into former students, and they were so happy to see her.

My Grandma Verna was a big part of my childhood. She taught me about conservation, energy efficiency and the difference between a want and a need. She taught me to stand my ground, and hang onto what's important. She pointed out what it meant to be idealistic. She told me to treat myself once a week. She taught my Mother how to cook when my parents got married, and for that and much more, I was given her middle name. I have her nose, her eyes, her stature, and her metabolism. She told me once that I reminded her of her Mother, which I took to be an enormous compliment.

I think the most important thing that I have learned from my Grandma Verna is that I have choices. I may choose how to be affected by what happens in my life. I may choose my situations, my perspectives, my actions. Life is what you make of it. I was fortunate to have such a strong woman as a role model.

I have long thought that to make a difference in this world, you can do the most good by working locally, and working with kids. My Grandma Verna did exactly that. I will continue striving to live a life she would be proud of.

Article published January 20, 2010 VERNA L. LUTTRELL, 1926-2010
Teacher served on neighboring district's board
By MARK ZABORNEY
BLADE STAFF WRITER

LAMBERTVILLE - Verna L. Luttrell, 83, a retired Whiteford home economics teacher under whose watch boys and girls learned parenting and consumer skills and nutrition, died Friday in Marwood Nursing and Rehab, Port Huron, Mich. She had heart and other health problems, her son Bradley said. Mrs. Luttrell retired in 1991 after 23 years at Whiteford Middle School/High School. "She was very dedicated to her profession," said Jerry Wing, Whiteford superintendent from 1985 to 1991. She aced the transition from all-girl classes centered on home skills to the co-ed umbrella, "life-management skills." She once was honored as Michigan consumer educator of the year, said Richard Gunn, Whiteford Middle School/High School principal from 1976 to 2004. Sex education was part of her family living classes. She was on the committee to develop the curriculum. "Her kids respected her," Mr. Gunn said. "In the classroom, a lot of them called her 'Mom.' They would come to her with personal problems, because she created the climate of being open to them."

She volunteered readily for after-school committees, Mr. Gunn said. Next door in Bedford Township, where she lived, she served on the Bedford Board of Education from 1976 to 1984. After her last term, she received the Keys to Boardsmanship Award of Merit from the Michigan Association of School Boards.

Mrs. Luttrell was born Aug. 2, 1926, and grew up on a farm near Secor and Sterns roads. She was a graduate of Whitmer High School and Bowling Green State University. When her sons became Cub Scouts, she was a den mother. She continued to volunteer as they became Boy Scouts, and she received an award for her leadership, her son Bradley said. She and several BGSU classmates traveled the world. "Once she retired, she had a passion to go everywhere," her son said. She was formerly married to the late Hugh Luttrell. Surviving are her sons, Bradley, Richard, and Rodney, 10 grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter. The body will be in the Reeb Funeral Home, Sylvania, after 4 p.m. tomorrow. Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday in Lambertville United Methodist Church, where she was a member. The family suggests tributes to the church or the Whiteford high school library.

Fear

“In this age the fear of disease has developed until it has become a great power for harm, because it opens the door to those things we dread and makes it easier for their admission.”

Edward Bach, Heal Thyself

Self Care

Superwoman!!! Da dat da dah! I'm not Superwoman, but sometimes (lots of times), I forget that I am a mere mortal, and can't do anything and everything that crosses my mind or path. I like to be busy, I love getting things done, racking up accomplishments, being resourceful. And then I start to notice that I am always tired, my sense of humor is wearing a little thin, and all I really want to do is stay in bed with my dogs, watching cartoons. It's hard to pay bills when you stay in bed and watch cartoons, and the dogs aren't any help at all when it comes to rent.

So, times like these (now) are times when I try extra hard to remember to take my vitamins, and eat a really good breakfast. (high protein, what most people would consider to be dinner) I think I'll thaw out some lamb for tomorrow, and cook some sweet potatoes and lentils. Mmmm....... comfort food, nutrient dense, warm, delicious, building. I'll remember to meditate and do my self-care.

I may even go to bed early, and stay in bed just a little late, but instead of cartoons, I think I'll be dreamy-eyed over seed catalogs, plotting and planning for when the Earth starts to wake up again, and the soil is ready for seeds. It'll be here before I know it, seed sowing time.

That's the problem with staying busy, life moves faster when I move faster, and spring will be here in a blink. Even sooner is the co-op, we open February 3rd, and there are herbs to order, tinctures to make and cabinets to paint. Much much more to do, but that will suffice for now. Smaller to-do lists, and more naps. And breakfast.

Detox - It's the New Year!

Interesting post on Skeptoid about detoxification programs. Very timely, what with New Years Resolutions still fresh on our minds. This guy obviously doesn't like Natural Medicine, and that's a bummer, but his take on detoxification is right on.

Detox is a booming business, making lots of money from a lot of people who all suffer from the same delusion - that we are inherently dirty, and must be cleansed!

Yep, your bowels look like the inside of your cheek, that mucoid plaque is a result of the "cleansing products" you take as part of the cleanse, and it's all really expensive.

So, are you tired, sluggish, run-down, digestion is out of whack, your appetite isn't so good, you experience cravings, maybe your skin reminds you of your teenage years, lots of aches and pains, and the brain fog has you wondering what happened to your smarts?

These are not symptoms indicating the need for a cleanse. These are symptoms indicating the need to re-evaluate your diet, eliminate the foods that make you sick (it's different for everyone, but there are common themes), support your liver, move around more, find more joy, and love yourself. Eat food that looks like food, nothing from a bag or a box, produce in season (this is the season of root vegetables, warming spices and soups), organic grass-fed meats, and drink plenty of good water. Reduce the load on your liver by limiting or abstaining from caffeine, alcohol and stress. Drink a nice cup of chamomile tea, make getting enough sleep a priority, and don't forget to go out and play! (think back to when you were 7 if you've forgotten what that means)

If you need more, or would like to work one-on-one with me, I am available for consultations. We can work together on a nutritional program that works for you. One that you can actually stick to.

Green Blessings,
Heather Luttrell

Ahhhhhhhhhhh

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh................

That was what I needed! Wild time, quiet time, peaceful time, precious time, loved time.

It's another world down here, in the humid, salty, corrosive, restorative, refreshing presence of the Atlantic. I dug my toes in the sand, and allowed the waves and the foam to wash over me, cleaning away all that has built up, all that was getting in my way and needed to continue on. It was scrubbed off with every step I took, barefoot on the beach, navigating the waves and sandbars. I observed the birds, chatted with fishermen, smiled at children, digging holes to China, foiled by the Ocean. I nourished myself with fresh, vital seafood and local produce. I learned about Datil Peppers and green peanuts. I ate yams. I drank red wine. I shared long-overdue conversations with beloveds, and entertained children. I drove a fast banana :)

Now I am journeying home, eager to dive back into co-op planning and development. There are members to recruit, cabinets to refinish, and a practitioner room to build. I am so excited! This is a worthy project, and I love what we are creating - together.

My Thoughts On Death, Dying And Love

What a difficult post to write. The quotes may not be exact, but you get my drift.

When you find yourself in Hell, keep walking. ~ Winston Churchill

You are made to survive this. ~ Doug Jones

People don't talk much about death as a real event, have you noticed? We as a society (well, not me) make games out of human murder. We abstract death, put it on a video screen or on the TV, and desensitize ourselves to the painful reality of what it means when Humans die. There are video games like grand theft auto, and sniper games, the mobsters game on myspace, and a vast assortment of others. Kill another human, score points, gain status. There are horror flicks, full of blood and gore and gruesome, painful death. These are all meant to entertain us, to stimulate us, to initiate a cascade of stress hormones. Are we really so jaded by our lives that this is needed to make us feel alive?

I have learned that for me personally, death is on the level of politics and religion. I know how I feel, sometimes, and I don't want anyone else to tell me how I am supposed to feel or what I am supposed to believe. I have to figure it out for myself, search deep and feel deep and think deep, and keep moving. This is a sobering, foundation-shaking, life altering REAL experience. I am embracing this process. I can't avoid it, I don't want to put it off. There is no pretending it hasn't happened, although there is disbelief, and the waves of realization and denial and anger and grief and sad and ok but still sad alternate at their own rate.

What I have found, what I am so thankful and grateful for, is the revelation of a previously silent network of friends, family and acquaintances. I feel like I have been initiated into a new level of experience and understanding. Those who have never lost a very close loved one, despite their best intentions, can not relate to how I feel, and so I could not previously relate to how my silent network feels about grief, about death, about still being amongst the living. It has been so comforting to talk with these precious people, these surviving fellow suffers, about what is normal, and what I can expect as the future unfolds. This is different than being told how to feel. This is the sharing of deeply intimate pain, grief and suffering.

Love doesn't die. People die. Love is outside of that phenomenon. What is death, anyway? The body dies, but life is so much more than the body. I don't have answers for all of this, but I don't believe that death is the end. It's counterintuitive. I also don't believe that our short time on Earth earns us an eternity anywhere. I think it's a process, a cycle, an evolution of time and space and matter and energy and experience. We are such an integral part of nature, and nature shows us the cyclical nature of life, if we take the time to watch, look, learn, observe.

So, for now, for me, I am focusing on Life and Living and Love. Death is a lesson, a natural part of our process. All life dies. Plants and Animals give their lives so I may live. One day, if my wishes are followed, my body will feed the cycle. Until then, I consciously enrich the soil wherever I am planted. I want my dash to be significant. The love doesn't die, it swells and takes on a richer meaning, providing opportunities for understanding and appreciation and nuance.

It is so gratifying to meet people with stories about my Dad. He did so much in his life, helped so many, and worked so hard. He wasn't perfect, nobody is, and it doesn't help me to dwell on his shortcomings. He was loved by many, and he will be Dearly Missed Every Day. I am proud to be my Father's Daughter, and I treasure all that he taught me, and all that he is still teaching me now.

Please, if you don't have a will, do it now. This week. No later. It will spare your loved ones from unnecessary pain and troubles after you are gone.