If you are at all familiar with Louise Hay, then you know the wonderful work she’s done relating our illnesses to the underlying fears and negative emotions. Once she’s identified the fear to the illness, she then devised ‘new thought patterns’ around the underlying problem to help us reversing the impact of the illness. From time to time, I’ll share some of her wisdom.

Instead of doing random illnesses, I plan to use the Spinal Misalignments as a guide, as the whole body and the array of possible issues is covered here.

What: Vertebrae 4L
Location: Lower Back Region, Lumbar Spine

Areas Covered:
Prostrate gland, muscles of the lower back, sciatic nerve

Physical Effects:
Sciatica; lumbago; difficult, painful or too-frequent urination; backaches.

Probably Cause:
Sexual abuse. Guilt. Self-hatred.

New Thought Pattern:
I release the past. I cherish myself and my beautiful sexuality. I am safe. I am loved.

____________________________
Source: Louise L. Hay, Heal your body, Hay House, Inc. (c) 1982.

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Simple Living by Georgene Lockwood, 2000.

Chapter 11: In the Independent Republic of Finances

“The food I prepare and serve is meant to build healthy bodies, not to caster to corrupted taste buds that urge one to eat unhealthy things long after the claims of hunger have been satisfied. Enough is as good as a feast: better, in fact, because if you don’t overeat, you don’t get sick or fat.” Helen Nearing

The Least You Need to Know

1. Food buying, storing, preparing, and growing is an easy area to make changes toward a simpler lifestyle.
2. There are lots of ways to save money and cut down on time spent cooking, including eating more raw foods and buying in bulk.
3. No matter whee you live and how much space you have, you can grow some of your own food.

Some Ideas to Get You Started

1. Keep a list of everything you eat for a day. Notice when you were hungry or if you were hungry when you ate. Then try fasting for a day, having only water, herb teas, and small amounts of juice. Next try a day with only raw vegetables and fruit. Introduce some whole grains and see what that feels like. Next, try going without meat for a week. Introduce meat back into your diet and see what kind of difference it makes. Experiment.
2. Waste is one of the first areas we can begin to control and simplify. Look for alternatives that use less packaging. Buy in bulk. use cloth napkins. Have a different napkin ring for each person in the family. Start a compost pile. If you don’t garden, does your neighbor? Is there a community compost project? Are there other uses for your waste around the house? Can you recycle?
3. Take a food inventory at your house. Carry a pad and a pencil with you and write down what you discover in your pantry, kitchen cabinets, refrigerator, and freezer. What did you learn? Note the dates on canned goods. How long have some foods been there? Toss (or compost) the stuff with the green mold on it. Ask yourself hot that happened!

“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.” — Stephen R. Covey

“We go where our vision is.” — Joseph Murphy

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” — Goethe

“Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that’s where you renew your springs that never dry up.” — Pearl Buck

“When you give each other everything, it becomes an even trade. Each wins all.” — Lois McMaster Bujold

The following is an excellent article by tom walsh in his Living Life Fully Ezine. If you’re interested in getting your own weekly announcement of the online ezine, visit http://www.livinglifefully.com/signups.htm and click on “E-zine Announcement”

I recently took a fairly long trip in a rented truck, one that was full of our furniture. Because it was so full, it was pretty obvious that its gas mileage was going to be even worse than it would be for such a truck. In order to save on gas, my wife and I decided that we wouldn’t go any fast than 55 miles per hours in the truck, even when the speed limit was 75. Don’t worry–we pulled over often to let people pass us when there was only one lane.

But there was something quite nice about going our own pace, even when the people around us were going much faster. We knew why we were going the speed we were, and we knew that it would serve no real purpose to go faster–it would only cost us more money without accomplishing anything that we needed.

Going at our own pace isn’t something that’s valued much in today’s culture–everything and everyone seem to be geared for speed, going faster and faster, while supposedly accomplishing more and more. I suspect, though, that of the truly fulfilling tasks that we could be taking on each day, most of us are addressing very few of them with this speed that we’re allowing to take over our lives. We go faster only because we think that others expect it of us, and we’re getting stressed and worn out accomplishing things that don’t have much lasting intrinsic value at all.

Going at our own pace allows us to do many things well. First of all, if we take on a project at a pace that’s comfortable to us, we’re going to do a much better job on it. I’ve hurried through jobs before and ended up having to go back and re-do much of them because I’ve missed a step or did something poorly that made later steps impossible. Time saved? None–in fact, I often found that hurrying through a task made me end up taking longer at it, and not even doing as good of a job.

Going at our own pace allows us to enjoy the journey. If it’s a trip, we get to see the views and really soak them in, rather than flying by them and getting a quick glance at them. If it’s a task, we get to experience each step fully for exactly what it is–a step in a process–and that allows us to learn more about the processes involved in life. Many people, especially those who study meditation, have found that taking our time with individual steps is a form of meditation that allows us to truly experience the moment, whatever we may be doing.

If I’m cooking a stew, for example, I really enjoy cutting up the vegetables, even though there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to take the time necessary for the task. I find that once I start cutting up the potatoes and celery and onions, it’s very relaxing to do so, especially when I focus fully on the task and empty my mind of other things going on in my life. I may want to get them done in a hurry, but it’s better for me to take my time. It’s better for the finished product, too, for the vegetables cook more uniformly if they’re cut to similar sizes.

When I’m running, I witness more than ever just how important it is for us to go at our own pace. If I enter a 5k fun run and I try to go out with the leader at his or her pace, then there’s a good chance that I’m not going to be able to finish the run at all. If I go too fast, I’ll burn myself out and lose my ability to continue. If I go at a pace that works for me, though, I’m going to finish the race in good shape, not too depleted but not at all fresh. If I go too slowly, then the race generally isn’t much of a workout for me at all, and since running is a form of exercise for me, going to slowly isn’t an option.

Of course, there are times when it’s inappropriate to allow your desire to go your own pace to affect others. I’m constantly baffled by the people who travel in the left lane of freeways even though they’re driving five miles below the posted speed limit. They belong in the right lane, but by staying in the left lane–even when they’re not passing anyone–they’re creating dangerous situations that can have deadly results. And if you have a deadline for a project at work, settling into a slow and comfortable pace may make you feel better momentarily, but it could have drastic results when you miss the deadline for that project or presentation.

All in all, though, I find that when I find a comfortable but challenging pace, and when I stick to that pace, I experience a lot less stress and anxiety. Life’s simply too short to spend tons of time being stressed out, so it’s important if we’re going to live our lives fully that we make decisions that will allow us to do so, and not decisions that will keep us enduring stress. I know the paces that work for me because I’ve allowed myself to experiment and try new paces, and I know that if more people would explore other paces in their lives, they could find those paces that make them more effective while going through less stress.

1. Be humble. As Henry Thoreau once said, “Humility like darkness reveals the heavenly lights.”

2. Listen to the rain. The insistent rhythm of raindrops bouncing off a roof or onto a backyard can have a lulling effect. During the day, appreciate the rain’s ability to block out less welcome sounds; at night, relish the snugness of being warm and dry in bed as the rain falls.

3. Say the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference.”

______________
Source:
1001 Ways to Relax by Mike George

If you are at all familiar with Louise Hay, then you know the wonderful work she’s done relating our illnesses to the underlying fears and negative emotions. Once she’s identified the fear to the illness, she then devised ‘new thought patterns’ around the underlying problem to help us reversing the impact of the illness. From time to time, I’ll share some of her wisdom.

Instead of doing random illnesses, I plan to use the Spinal Misalignments as a guide, as the whole body and the array of possible issues is covered here.

What: Vertebrae 3L
Location: Lower Back Region, Lumbar Spine

Areas Covered:
Sex organs, uterus, bladder, knees

Physical Effects:
Bladder troubles, menstrual troubles such as painful or irregular periods, miscarriages, bed wetting, impotency, change of life symptoms, many knee pains.

Probably Cause:
Sexual abuse. Guilt. Self-hatred.

New Thought Pattern:
I release the past. I cherish myself and my beautiful sexuality. I am safe. I am loved.

____________________________
Source: Louise L. Hay, Heal your body, Hay House, Inc. (c) 1982.

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Simple Living by Georgene Lockwood, 2000.

Chapter 10: In the Independent Republic of Finances

“There are no emergencies for those who are truly prepared.” James Talmadge Stevens, Making the Best of Basics

The Least You Need to Know

1. Once you’ve lowered spending, eliminated debt, and started saving, you’ll need to invest to provide lasting financial independence.
2. Organizing your financial life is an important step toward financial self-sufficiency.
3. By preparing for emergencies, you add yet another key element to self-reliance and simple, low-stress living.
4. Health care is a major consideration to help “bullet-proof” your financial independence plan..

Some Ideas to Get You Started

1. Get all your materials together before you begin your financial organization blitz and set aside a weekend to get this done! Make labels that are bold and in large print (or use a computer label program). Do both hanging and manila folders so that if you take one out, you’ll know immediately where it goes when you want to put it back. If it’s missing, you’ll see right away.
2. If you haven’t seen your credit reports in some time, you should probably get them. It’s all part of “facing the facts,” and there may be some things you need to correct or amend. Arrange to get a copy of your credit report. it should be free if you’ve recently been denied credit. LMK: You can get a copy of your report free each year from each of the 3 top credit bureaus. Check out www.freecreditreport.com
3. Quicken software has a built-in home-inventory program. Check yours. If not, you can most likely get a shareware program for your platform at shareware.com. A search for “all platforms” yielded 12 different choices. There’s also some great free information about creating a home inventory and more on the U.S. Disaster Preparedness Council site at wsdpc.net/finplan.htm.
4. If you decide to go the electronic route with your financial stuff, keep a backup that you update every time you make changes! Better yet, keep 2!
5. Don’t save haphazardly and expect to have enough to invest. You know what will happen to it! Remember to “pay yourself first.” Put money into savings before you do anything else, even if it’s only $10, even less if that’s all you can manage. Then pay your bills and live off what’s left.

“There are pauses amidst study, and even pauses of seeming idleness, in which a process goes on which may be likened to the digestion of food. In those seasons of repose, the powers are gathering their strength for new efforts; as land which lies fallow recovers itself for tillage.” – J.W. Alexander

“Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.” — Henry David Thoreau

“It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence.” — Seneca

“At Christmas I no more desire a rose Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth; But like of each thing that in season grows.” — William Shakespeare

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” — Anne Bradstreet

Note from Louise: I know this is a little long, but the way you will be touched by the end of it is well worth the read.

Story retold by Ajay Kapoor on his Peace and Love page on Facebook. Also see his website at zmeditation.com.

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: ‘When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?’

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. ‘I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.’

Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys were playing baseball. Shay asked, ‘Do you think they’ll let me play?’ Shay’s father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay’s father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, ‘We’re losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.’

Shay struggled over to the team’s bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt . His father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father’s joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay’s life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman’s head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, ‘Shay, run to first! Run to first!’ Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, ‘Run to second, run to second!’ Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher’s intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman’s head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, ‘Shay, Shay, Shay, all the way Shay!’

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, ‘Run to third, Shay, run to third!’

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, ‘Shay, run home! Run home!’ Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

‘That day’, said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, ‘the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world’.

Young Shay would never forget what it felt like to be a hero that day.

Neither would the other boys.

“The decency of any society can be measured by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.”

1. Let music fill your heart. The ear is merely the gateway through which music enters your being. To receive it’s full healing benefit, open your heart and allow it to be suffused with magical sounds.

2. Buy a book of walks, whether in the city or the country, and schedule a program for completing some of them. View each walk as a mini-vacation. Wear comfortable walking shoes and carry your lunch and waterproofs in a small backpack.

3. Follow your conscience. Where moral isues are concerned, this can be a good way to cut through the confusion engendered by the conflicting voices of the outside world..

______________
Source:
1001 Ways to Relax by Mike George