Carnival of Healing #125

Welcome to the Carnival of Healing #125! I’m absolutely delighted to be hosting again. The Carnival is a weekly round-up of personal blog posts on the topics of holistic health, wellness, spirituality, and self-empowerment. It’s coordinated by About.com's Guide to Holistic Healing, Phylameana Iila Desy.

Last week's Carnival of Healing was kindly hosted by World Healing. Astrid is a Reiki Master Teacher and as someone who also does reiki, I was delighted to read We Are One World Healing » Reiki- 10 Myths Debunked. Reiki is hands on healing and people have a lot of misconceptions about it, which this article clears up. Next week it will be hosted by Natural Pain Relief.

I’ve been celebrating self-love on my blog his week in honor of Valentine’s Day. In that spirit, I’ll present the articles as different ways you can show yourself love. I believe that taking care of body, mind and spirit is very loving. Having a Love Affair with Yourself is a strong catalyst for many other things that are beneficial to your soul. I learned to treat myself in special ways for V Day, and will continue throughout the year to nurture my self-love. It begins with my buying A Rose for Me. Many of the articles below can give you more ideas for ways to treat YOU more lovingly, which nurtures self-love and builds better self-esteem. So you improve, feel good, and grow into a healthier person! There are many great articles and I thank everyone for their submissions.

Self-love is nurturing your inner self. The most loving gift I’ve given to me was developing my spiritual mindset and getting in touch with who I am inside. Todd at We The Change posted an insightful article about his own journey to manifest spirituality in Spirituality: What I Have Learned So Far. Growing faith in whatever way works for you makes it easier to feel loving to YOU!

Self-love is finding peaceful ways to disagree with others.
Warren at Personal Development shares several reasons why mediation can be extremely useful for communication in his thought-provoking post, Why Mediation Can Be Very Useful. Having someone understand your point can be a very loving way to settle yourself down from the stress of not being listened to with objectivity.

Self-love is changing your thoughts or mindset for a healthier outlook and to get rid of negatives that attract more negatives. Ananga at Ananga Sivyer's Living by Design Blog says, “Some of my fellow bloggers have been writing lately on the subject of de-cluttering. De-cluttering cupboards, de-cluttering rooms, workplaces etc. And that got me thinking about another key area that really benefits from being free from clutter. The clutter in our heads. What are we tucking away in corners and lugging around with us that we don’t need anymore?” Amen! In her post, Have you De-cluttered Your Head Lately?, she has fabulous suggestions for clearing our heads. All cleaning is an act of self-love!

Dr. Gabriella at Psychology, Transformation & Freedom Papers discusses a very loving concept that’s in all my books, in Claiming Responsibility For the Self. That gives you power over your life—a very loving act!

Shirley at Brighter Days for you and me! talks aboutWhy Doesn’t Life Come With an Instruction Book?, with checklist for creating a more positive and orderly life. Doing that makes me feel more loved!

Self-love is developing better personal habits that make you feel more like a person worthy of love. David at Slow Down Fast Today! says, “I’m not sure being polite to convenience store clerks has ever been covered completely in self-help literature, but I think it may be one of the best things we can do to actually become, and remember, who we really are.” Maybe not yet, but it’s discussed in my next book, Nice Girls on Top. Since the Law of Attraction brings back what you give out, being conscious about being courteous to all brings it back to you, which is an act of self-love too. Check out more about why it makes sense in David’s post, You Don't Have To Be In A Good Mood To Be Courteous.

Self-love is watching your weight in healthy ways. When you become conscious of your eating habits, you give yourself love by feeling better about your body! Paul at Workoutebooks says, “If you choose to join a weight loss program to give you the support necessary to assist you to shed those extra pounds then you might well elect to join a web-based program. But just what can you expect from a web-based program?” He gives tips for choosing one in What Should You Look For In An Online Workout Program?

And if you’ve ever wondered whether men or women have an advantage for burning fat, Stanimir at All About Your Body And Spirit discusses Who burns more fat, men or women?. The more you learn, the more love you can give YOU!

Many people struggle to lose weight. The discouragement it can cause creates stress that isn’t loving to YOU! Healthy Tips For A Healthy Lifestyle offers Health Tip #32: Use the law of attraction to lose weight and get fit. A positive attitude about weight loss is much more loving!

Too much dieting isn’t loving! Dr Martin Russell at Self Help Blog addresses the serious problem of anorexia in The Strange Behavior Of Anorexia - Part 1.

Self-love is learning how to generate healing energy. Gia at The Science of Energy Healing explains how different types of energy that we all have in Energetic Integrity with the Three Primary Energies of the Body posted. When your energy is balanced, it’s easier to love yourself.

I love pearls! Wearing them makes me feel great, which is loving. So I was delighted to read Astrid’s article, Power of Pearl at World Healing. Now I have a good excuse to buy more pearls! ☺

Self-love is making an effort to reach your goals. Brendan at Brendan McPhillips compares the illustrious Oprah Winfrey to Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense and a big force on the American Revolution. He shares qualities from these 2 great people who share a birthdays that can help you reach your goals in Choose and Reach Your Goals with Paine and Oprah Power (POP). Giving yourself power is a loving gift.

Self-love is enriching your life with good friends. Life Balanced posted The Secret to Being a Great Friend saying, “The secret to having great friends is to BE a great friend. This post includes eight things we can all do to strengthen relationships with people who are important to us.” The right friends enable us to both give and receive love. Gotta love that! ☺

Self-love manifests from a smile, which is very loving in that it attracts people who are attracted to good energy, and it stimulates you body to release more serotonin and endorphins, which lift your mood. Kavit at Wellness Junction by Kavit Haria tells us How to make your smile more attractive. Prepare to curl your lips!

Self-love is doing things to become more fit, which helps you feel great! Lovelyn at The Art of Balanced Living talks about her experience with Thai Massage, which combines assisted stretching with an acupressure style massage. All massage is loving (I’d get one any time or place it’s offered!) and what a self-loving gift when great stretches are added!

Frederic at Frederic at Frederic Patenaude Talks offers some points about how exercise can help you age well in Staying a Step Ahead of Aging. Aging well is a great dose of self-love!

Self-love is finding healthy ways to improve yourself. Raymond at Money Blue Book shares his experience with laser vision correction in My Experience With Lasik Eye Surgery. Improving your vision is another act of self-love!

Petra at Medopdedia Medopdedia shares info about how a new technology can help you detect problems without invasive procedures in the future in Haptics Technology will Let Radiologists feel your Insides via Computer.

Self-love is finding healthy ways to stay fresh and clean. Michael at ControlYourImpact.com posted an overview of health risks that research shows can occur with from using most deodorants and all antiperspirants in Deodorants, Antiperspirants and Your Health

Speaking of odor, did ya ever back off from someone whose breath is pungent? You don’t want to be the one making others back off. Aparna at Beauty and Personal Grooming says “Temporary bad-breath can occur when one has savored delectable dishes interspersed with strong flavored foods like onion, garlic, or as a result of food particles getting trapped in the teeth cavities.” and gives tips for changing it in Beauty and Personal Grooming: Home remedies for bad breath.

Self-love is learning to find the lessons is life’s situations. We all experience loss at some point. Anna at Widows Quest has a short post, The True Tragedy In Grief, about how to learn and grow from your grief. Self-love helps you cope in healthy ways!

Louise at The Human Imprint has a short but interesting article, Maternal skills, on how having kids can each good lessons for being more assertive in general. Standing up for the one you love—YOU—gets you more!

Self-love is finding supplements that can improve your health. I began to take supplements as an act of love to improve myself. There are many out there and we can’t take them all so helpful info can help make decisions. Spencer at Colloidal Silver Secrets explains Why Take Colloidal Silver?.

Herb at Bee Propolis says, “Recent research indicates that bee propolis could be an effective treatment for burns.” He explains this in his post, Bee Propolis As A Treatment For Burns.

Self-love is laughter! I’ll end this Carnival with a humorous post from Madeleine at Mad Kane's Humor Blog about how many of us procrastinate about making decisions—Decisions, Decisions, Decisions. She has a challenge if you want to try and you may get a good laugh. Laughing is good for you!

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That’s it for this week’s Carnival of Healing. So, get up RIGHT NOW and do something loving for YOU! RIGHT NOW! Remember to check out the one next week at Natural Pain Relief. You can submit to the Carnival of Healing with the Carnival Submission Form. If you enjoyed the Carnival, please leave a comment and click on the bookmark and write a short review at some of the sites, especially Stumbleupon. Thanks!

Do You Have a Toxic Friend Like Lindsay or Britney?

Britney Spear’s friends go in TV talk shows to discuss her private business. On New Year’s Eve we saw pics of Lindsay Lohan being passed a bottle by people knowing she was in recovery from alcohol. It’s said to have happened again on Friday, when Lindsay was spotted sipping vodka cocktails, with “friends." Hmmm…. Not exactly the kind of support I’d want from my friends.

A real friend is someone you trust, who supports you and wants what’s in your best interest. Yet these pop stars can’t trust their friends to watch out for them. That certainly doesn’t bode well for their recovery from all the problems that plague them. People grab onto them for the wrong reason. Friends can become enemies fast in the world of pop stars. Toxic friends are exactly that. I do believe that both Lindsay and Brit have more problems than someone like Paris Hilton because they don’t have a solid support system of healthy friends and family.

It’s not just people in the spotlight that attract toxic pals. I’ve cut some off over the years. It can be painful but necessary for your happiness. Just as pollution is toxic to your lungs, friends can be toxic to your soul. When you recognize the people who pollute your life, you can take action to change it or cut them off.

My colleague Irene S. Levine, PhD, has a blog called Fractrured Friendships. She’s a freelance author and journalist who blogs about female friendship and is on the faculty of the NYU School of Medicine. Irene is currently writing a book about friendship and how it affects us. I asked her to be a guest today and share some signs that your friend may be someone to reconsider. She created a list of things to ask yourself about a friend who might not be good for you.

Twenty Questions: Spotting a Toxic Friendship
By Irene Levine, PhD

While most friendships have their highs and lows, toxic ones are characterized by consistent patterns of negativity.

Yet, the signs of a toxic friendship aren’t always obvious. Women tend to overlook, forgive, and forget to keep up our friendships---but here are some ways to determine if one of your friendships may be bad for you, either mentally, physically, or both. Ask yourself:

1. Does scheduling time to see your friend feel like an obligation rather than a pleasure?
2. Do you ever feel trapped when you are together?
3. Do you feel tense in her presence?
4. Does she often show off at your expense?
5. Is she never reliably there when you need her?
6. Is she self-centered, sneaky, deceitful, or disloyal?
7. Does she have habitually bad judgment?
8. Are you giving more than you’re getting?
9. Does the relationship feel out-of-sync?
10. Do you feel emotionally drained when you are with her?
11. Do you come away from her feeling depressed?
12. When you talk, does it feel like she isn’t listening or just doesn’t get it?
13. Do you dread her phone calls?
14. Do you hate when you see her screen name online when you look at your buddy list?
15. Are her emails too long to read?
16. Does she always choose to spend her time with men, over you, given the opportunity?
17. Has she flirted with the man in your life?
18. Has she done anything to undermine your position at work?
19. Can you trust her to keep your confidences?
20. Has she betrayed you?

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Check out Fractrured Friendships to learn more about the dynamics of how friendships affect you in order to create healthier ones!

If you enjoyed my post, please leave a comment and/or click on the bookmark and write a short review at some of the sites, especially Stumbleupon and Digg. Thanks!

Carnival of Healing #118

Welcome to the Carnival of Healing #118
I’m absolutely delighted to be hosting the last for 2007. The Carnival is a weekly round-up of personal blog posts on the topics of holistic health, wellness, spirituality, and self-empowerment. It’s coordinated by About.com's Guide to Holistic Healing, Phylameana Iila Desy.

Last week's Carnival of Healing was kindly hosted by The Reiki Digest and next week it will be hosted by Intensive Care for the Nurturer's Soul.

It’s my first time hosting a blog Carnival! I consider this one important because it has many wonderful articles with constructive suggestions you can take with you into 2008. People often make New Year’s resolutions but lose their resolve fast when they’re not prepared to make lifestyle changes. Last week I addressed why new year's resolutions can hurt you. There are many articles in this Carnival that can help you make the lifestyle changes that can help make resolutions that stick.

In the spirit of making New Year’s resolutions that can lead to healthy lifestyle changes, I’ll include a resolution I think is valuable with each topic. I find that a more realistic way to get started on a new habit is to declare that “I am willing to try to….” Instead of saying “I’m going to lose weight,” say, “I am willing to try to eat more healthy and do more exercise.” It can make the resoluhtion feel less daunting.

Here goes with all the great advice:

“I am willing to try to become kinder to myself as I make my resolutions.”
Ananga at Ananga Sivyer's Living by Design Blog gives some great tips for being more realistic and fair when you set and carry out resolutions, in her post, On Goals & Resolutions: Progress with Kindness.

“I am willing to try to become more conscious of whether my actions match my intentions.”
David B. Bohl at Slow Down Fast Today! says, “I’m always amazed at what people say about themselves sometimes, and how that really contrasts with what they do.” So am I. Often our actions contradicts the way we want to be. Awareness: How You Live is Who You Are, emphasizes the importance of being aware of making your deeds reflect the person you want to be.

“I am willing to try to CHOOSE to be happy.”
Happiness is a wonderful state to strive for yet it can feel illusive when life seems to be doing you wrong. Lorraine Cohen at Powerfull Living illustrates how to find reasons to be happy, even when circumstance aren’t going your way in Happiness Tip: Mining For The Gold. Lorraine inspires me with her story!

“I am willing to try to do what it takes to feel better.”
Many people suffer from pain but often resign themselves to living with it instead of being proactive to find a solution. Natural Pain Relief lists 19 Common Barriers to Effective Pain Control.

While you want to trust your doctor, sometimes you must be your own health advocate when the treatment you’re given doesn’t feel like enough. Chris Melton at Shoulder Performance & Rehab posted Shoulder Rehab, with suggestions for finding healing alternatives. It’s written by his business partner, Scott Kay. Scott’s desire to accelerate his rehab from a shoulder injury led him to invent the Rotater, a shoulder rehab and stretching device. It helped him recover so he and Chris offered it for sale and it’s getting support from many medical and sport professionals. He shows what a desire to take care of yourself can accomplish!

“I am willing to try to get more exercise.”
A popular New Year’s resolution is to get into better shape. Yet it’s one that gets passed on from year to year when it doesn’t happen. Often it’s because you see exercise as a tedious chore. Mike Remer at My Path To Fitness Blog has tips for reframing how you view exercise so it becomes an activity you happily choose to do in Wish Exercise Wasn’t so Hard?

“Push ups are one of the most simple and effective home exercises. There are many ways to do them. But there is one that stands out from the rest. With its technique and effects, it is the most "exotic" type of push ups,” says Stanimir Sotirov at All About Your Body And Spirit. His post, Hindu Push Ups includes a video demonstration is included. If you try them, be careful, as they look intense.

“I am willing to try to find more ways to relax.”
EVERYONE should make a resolution to practice relaxing more. Stress affects our well being on many levels. John at Where We Relax shares a ritual he’s found helpful for switching out of work mode into a mindset of play in Rumi For Relaxation.

“I am willing to try to be more open minded.”
Chris at Martial Development says, “According to the teachings of traditional spiritual schools, Subjective Reality theories may actually be holding you back! Learn why here at The Nondual Perspective on Subjective Reality.”

“I am willing to try to tap into the Law of Attraction.”
I live by the Law of Attraction and know personally how changing your thoughts can change your life. Akemi at Gratitude Magic explains how energy can flow through you to make the Law of Attraction and Thought Energy more effective.

“I am willing to try to claim my power to feel better.”
Matthew Spears at Loving Awareness says, “One of the most fundamental aspects of any growth or spiritual path is the trust in one’s own perception. There is no question it is an incomplete perception; so long as you have a body, you will not see even a minuscule fraction of the totality of the universe, or that of your Self. But it is still your perception. It is your link to your soul. It is the basis for all growth, for if you rely on someone else’s eyes and intuition, you are not living your own life, discovering your own Truth, but are being a guinea pig for other’s experiments with Truth.” He gives details in Trusting Perceptions and Higher Communication.

“I am willing to try to change my thoughts to feel better.”
Aparna at Beauty and Personality Grooming addresses how many people convince themselves they have illnesses that their minds create and how the Internet is helping to feed a generation of cyberchondriacs by giving people too much food for thought in Hypochondriacs over the net.

“I am willing to try to pursue ways to help myself be healthier.”
Abdulrasool Sumar at Mesothelioma Cancer says, In 370 B.C., the father of Modern Medicine, Dr. Hippocrates quoted, ‘Let food be your medicine, and let medicine be your food.’ And he said the best types of foods that protect your body from cancer risk are fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains. Recent research by scientists has proven that eating plenty of fruits and vegetables through the course of one's life greatly enhances one's ability to avoid developing cancer and many other diseases.” Suggestions are give in Good Nutrition Cancer Risk - Importance of Nutrition in Preventing Cancer

Dr. Steven Dell at Keyboard Culture has an interesting series of articles that provide understanding and alternative medicine treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis. It begins with What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Andrew Michaels at Lifecrafting details his quest to repair his vision in Relearning to See: My Plan to Regain My Waning Eyesight and Hurl My Glasses Off A Cliff I relate to his mission. I’ve used good nutrition and eye exercises and amaze people that at my age (well out of my twenties!) I don’t even need reading glasses.

James Chambers at Hyperhidrosis provides insight about the problem of excessive sweating and has links to resources that can help curb the problem naturally in Hyperhidrosis Causes.

Lucynda Riley at Flower, Field, and Forest discusses Mullein (Verbascum Thapsus), a plant she found helpful for healing her cold.

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That’s it for this week’s Carnival of Healing. Remember to check out the one next week at Intensive Care for the Nurturer's Soul. You can submit to this Carnival with the Carnival Submission Form.

If you enjoyed my post, please leave a comment and/or click on the bookmark and write a short review at some of the sites, especially Stumbleupon. Thanks!