March 2013 News from the Nest

March 2013~ News from the Nest

Mar 9, 2013

I am sure that you will all agree with me when I shout, "Welcome March" and thank you for bringing your warm sunshine.
We have been getting some much appreciated light and warmth from the sun these last few days. I am happy to see the snow melting and our driveway coming back as well as some of the other things reappearing in the yard!
I am so hyped about spring coming! I am planning the gardens, and, believe it or not, thinking about spring cleaning and wanting to get at it! I have been having a purging again with things around the house. This past week, I took a bunch of books down to Peaceful Arts in Port Hope for Valerie to add to her used book shelf. I have had these books for years and they really helped me on my journey of self-discovery and healing and I felt that it was time to share their energy instead of having it stagnate here. I am feeling that way with alot of my things lately but mainly the books. Time to share!
I couldn't believe the sense of accomplishment as I dropped them off, knowing that someone else would be able to reap some benefit from reading them.
I would encourage any of you in the Port Hope area, or if you would like to take a day trip, to stop in to Peaceful Arts and take a look. Valerie has a quantity of lovely crystals, books, cards and more to help you on your journey. She also does Holistic treatments and teaches a variety of classes. You can visit the website at www.peacefularts.ca Tell her Gail recommended her, and give her a hug for me.

Hint of the Month:
I have been reading about hair loss this past few days as I find that I am having some thinning that I am not happy about. I know other women that are post-menopausal that are having the same issues. I have gone to the doctors and will be having some blood work done to determine if it has to do with thyroid or some other metabolic issue, but I found some interesting treatments in my aromatherapy books that I am going to try.
It might be a good idea for people to try these after being stuck mainly indoors during the winter too with stale air etc.
#1. This one is to stimulate the scalp and is fairly simple. Take a dixie cup or some type of paper cup and fill it with water. Place it in the freezer. When it is frozen,take a towel and wet it. Ring it out as much as possible. Put it in the microwave to heat is for a couple of minutes then wrap it around your head. (not covering the face). Leave this on till the towel cools, remove towel and then take the paper cup of ice, peel back the paper and rub the ice all over your scalp. While you are doing this, re-heat the towel in the microwave and after icing your scalp, re-wrap with the hot towel. This will stimulate the scalp and help to get nourishment to the hair follicles to keep them healthy.
(if you don't have a microwave, wrap the towel in foil and place in a warm oven, about 200F, until warm, I would think about 20 min or so.)
#2. Another suggestion to condition the scalp is to make a conditioner that goes on the scalp before shampooing.
Using a bain-marie method, (double boiler) use 12 grams of cocoa butter and 30 ml of almond oil over low heat. When the cocoa butter has melted and you mix in the almond oil, take off the heat and add 5 drops of Clary-sage. Mix and let cool.
Massage some of this mixture onto your scalp and leave on for 10 minutes before shampooing. Remember to use a good sulfate free shampoo with biotin and silica to help strengthen the hair shaft.
#3. My final suggestion is to use a leave on rinse after shampooing. Take some cold water in a bottle, just enough to put on your head, about 1/4 cup, and add one drop of rosemary essential oil. You don't have to rinse this out. The cold water stimulates the movement of the nutrients from the blood and into the bulb of the hair which feeds the hair. Use some clary sage instead of the rosemary if you have high blood pressure.

I hope that you will find these suggestions helpful. Contact me if you have any other questions at info@robinsnestretreat.com

I don't have any scheduled retreats at this time but feel free to come for a self guided retreat. You can pick a treatment or chose to have a class in aromatherapy, Reiki or Dowsing. Contact me for further details.

Thank you again for all of your support.
Gail

Words are they really the most powerful things?

Have you ever thought about how powerful words are? I have been doing a lot of that lately. I am a fanatical reader! Love it! Nothing better than a good book for me. As I have been doing this reading I have been thinking about the written or spoken word and the power behind those little squiggles that are on the paper or screen.
Think about it, the meaning that is there, or is it their or is it they're? Words, letters joined to convey a thought but it is more than that, isn't it? They don't just convey thoughts, they affect emotions as well!
When reading about a couple on a moonlit beach with the waves lapping at the shore, one could feel love and happiness inside, or a couple on a moonlit beach with the waves hammering on the rocks below as the wind howls and whips their coats around their legs as they stumble along the cliffs and you get a sense of fear and foreboding. See, words create the feeling.
But what about the spoken word? How does the spoken word affect us? Is it the word that evokes feeling or is the emotion or intent with which the word is delivered? How many times have you said, completely innocently of course, something that someone else interprets as hurtful? How many times have you said things that you felt were valid and someone else feels that they were said with malice? How many times has someone said something to you and you are left wondering what they meant by that comment and find that you get angry, or hurt, or annoyed, because of the way in which it was said.
Yes, words are very powerful. They can cause happiness, laughter, sadness, tears, anger, love, compassion, rage, and a whole lot more. When you think it through, you can see that the words themselves don't contain the power, it is the intent behind them and that is a whole other kettle of fish!

Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all.

Now, I know that perhaps some of you don't believe in Christmas. You are perhaps of a different religion, or maybe you just don't believe. I don't know how much that I really believe in an organized religion myself. I am more the when you gotta say thank you to the Creator (who or whatever you may believe that is) you say it. When you feel that you need guidance, you ask. When you just want to talk, you talk. Simple as that. Who is to say that there is nothing or no being there to hear or to answer? I don't know for a certainty that there isn't, so what is the harm? None really and what the heck!

What I do know is that the teachings of this man, Jesus, that lived 2000 or so years ago make sense to me. I especially like the one about "doing unto others as you would have them do unto you". Can you imagine a world where everyone did that! Wouldn't it be amazing?  There is also the story about having faith as small as a grain of mustard seed. Wow, what if we all had that kind of faith in a peaceful world where no one went hungry and we didn't try to take what we could before someone else got it, or if we were content sharing everything so that we were all comfortable. What a fine world it would be! 

Imagine a world where people respected each other to the point of not imposing their points of view on each other but respecting their right to their point of view?

What would it be like to replace the hate and fear in the world with love and peace? What would it be like to replace the constant toiling for the dollar to working and helping each other live a decent life?

December 25th isn't even the real birthday for Jesus. I think that he was born in the spring sometime. The church chose that date to bring in more people to the church. They combined the date for an ancient  rite that celebrated the Winter Solstice, the celebration of the return of the light, the lengthening of the day. What does it matter in the long run.

To me, this day symbolizes not the birth of a man, but the spirit of the words that he taught. This day symbolizes the idea of peace, joy, love and respect for our fellow man and hope for the future.

So, it is in this vein of thought that I say, Merry Christmas to everyone, no matter what religion, race, or creed.

Peace, Joy and Love for 2012.

Food Additives

I really like the fact that labels are required on our food now. We can read the ingredients and find out the percentage of sugar, calcium, carbohydrates etc are in each serving. First off though, have you ever measured out a serving size? Most of it is not much compared to what we would usually eat. Secondly, do you know what some of the ingredients are? I was surprised to find out that some companies put wood fibre in their products. It is listed as cellulose. Would you think that it meant wood pulp? I wouldn't, but then again perhaps I am a label virgin. Don't think so but who knows....
Food freedom has a good article on companies that put wood in their food. Give it a read and be enlightened.

What an Eye Opener!

I don't know where this came from as someone sent it to me via email but I did find it disturbing even if one tenth of it is true. And I do know that margarine lasts a very, very long time!
Read on.......

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys.  When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow colouring and sold it to people to use in place of butter.  How do you like it?  They have come out with some clever new flavourings...
DO YOU KNOW... The difference between margarine and butter?   Read on to the end...gets very interesting!
Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams;compared to 5 grams for margarine. 
Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and only because they are added! 
Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavours of other foods. 
Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.
And now, for Margarine.. 
Very High in Trans fatty acids. 
Triples risk of coronary heart disease ... 
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) 
Increases the risk of cancers up to five times..
Lowers quality of breast milk 
Decreases immune response. 
Decreases insulin response.
And here's the most disturbing fact...HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING! 
Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC...and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).
Open a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded area.  Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things:  * no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)   * it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value ; nothing will grow on it.  Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow.  Why?  Because it is nearly plastic . Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Teachers, teachers everywhere you look!

Teachers, teachers, everywhere. How many times have you learned something from the most unlikely person or source? I find that I am doing this quite regularly and have learned the most amazing things.
One of my cousins sent me an email about honey and cinnamon being great for arthritis, diabetes, colds, weight loss and much more. Another friend told me that she uses honey and turmeric for mental health as the cucumin in the turmeric helps the brain to stay healthy. My 7 year old grandson said the other day that sometimes change is good and sometimes it is bad, depends on the subject. Labels are great teachers. They tell us what is in the food we eat and all about the nutritional content. Too bad they don't tell us what some of the unpronouncables do to us!  Sometimes we learn great things on the TV too. Did you know that your life is  incomplete if you don't eat at certain restaurants.... buy certain clothes.....drive certain vehicles? Many many teachers........
How 'bout you? Have you noticed any teachers lately?

The Mind is a Powerful Think

Most of us don't realize how much creative power we have within our minds. This energy is so creative it can virtually materialize our desires. Hogwash you say. But I truly believe that this is so. We are creative beings and we have been born with this ability. Unfortunately, how to use it has been bread out of us!
Yes, when our ancestors from way way back were born, they were in tune with the universal energy that is all around us. They know that the universe was there to assist them in their desires. They knew that if they focused on something that was needed, say food, they would find it. Even though they knew this, they also knew that they couldn't just lay back and expect that all would be handed to them. They were wise enough to know that they had to go out and do something. The Wooly Mammoth didn't carve itself up to provide meat for the tribe, the tribe had to be active in the acquiring of food.
As time went on, the knowledge of action, has been slowly taken away. We have been told by the few that did know, that we had to go through them in order to be taken care of. We were made to believe that we didn't have the ability to venture forward without guidance of another human. And they bought it! Those that didn't were disposed of for creating opposition.
Now, we are realizing that we can do this on our own. We are creators in the largest scale. We are re-learning how to do this and some of us who have been exposed are getting the message while others are still stymied by it all.
Yes, we can visualize what we would like to have and accomplish in this lifetime but what some don't get is that it isn't enough to just visualize it, we need to work toward it every day. It needs to be the focus of what we are doing for a good portion of the day if it is to succeed.
We also need to be aware of the other signs that come our way and remember not to take things blindly for granted. We need to be skeptical. We need to listen, to evaluate and to come to a conclusion on our own. Process through our filters. What is manna for one is poison for another.
So, take time and listen to yourself. Pay attention to what your body is telling you. Learn to interpret the signs of a positive energetic jolt as well as a gut wrenching pull to reality.
The mind is tricky. It doesn't discern as the emotions do. What looks good and sounds good, may ultimately be wrong for you. The mind can help us with this if we let it. The mind is not ego, it is choice. Learn how to use this tool to create your own reality and make a better life for yourself. Visit www.robinsnestretreat.com/workshops.html for more information on this wonderful investment for yourself.