Today is the 41^st celebration of Earth Day which marked the beginning of the modern “environmental” movement. Even though lots of activities are planned today doing all sorts of green conservation things, I’m not sure how much has really been accomplished in bringing environmental awareness and change to the world even though the UN declared April 22 International Mother Earth Day in 2009.

Whether you call her Pachamama, Gaia or Mother Earth and honor her or simply take her resources for granted, I encourage you to read HOT Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth by Mark Hertsgaard.

Love the world as your own self then you can truly                                                               care for all things. Tao Te Ching

We must set a new course of action for healing our biosphere (which is the part of our earth’s crust, waters and atmosphere that supports life, just in case you didn’t know).

Earth’s fate is our fate.

What steps can you take? Drive less, walk more, change your cleaning products, compost, eat vegetarian a couple nights a week, use dish towels instead of paper towels. The resources are endless for ideas of things we can do. Some cost money like having an energy audit or installing solar hot water; others cost nothing like eliminating “vampire energy” simply by unplugging small appliances when not in use.

The key here is to put ideas in to action.

Me? Recently, I bought several Smart Strip power strips which save energy by eliminating wasted “standby” power; I installed another rain barrel. My daughter walks or bikes a mile and a half to school instead of driving.

Make everyday Earth Day.

We must become the change we seek in the world. Mahatma Ghandi

As I planted kale and spinach today and picked some Red Sail lettuce, I thought about how soon I would be able to plant my Black Krim and Georgia Streak tomatoes. I also thought about how much easier it is to tend my actual garden in the back yard than my own garden.

During the winter, I think about what I want to grow and plant each spring. I begin to visualize how the garden will look; when I’ll make the first salad with my greens in April and when I’ll pick the first tomato in July. I think about the miracle of life and the power of potential of those seeds.

Your life/Your body is a garden. Think about what you want and plant those seeds, those ideas, with intention. Feed them, water them. Watch them grow.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the busyness of your life that you ignore the weeds, the stink bugs, the slimy slugs or you forget to water regularly.

What seeds are you planting? All seeds need a good start; just feed, nourish, water, weed and the natural process of growth and flowering will unfold.

If you don’t know what to plant, this is the reason you need to take the time to be quiet, to breathe deeply. You have abundant inner resources.

Seed thoughts of peace, moistened by love, tilled by right action, weeds of discord pulled by diligent action. The harvest shall be abundant joy sustaining future generations. From Voices of Our Ancestors: Cherokee Teachings from the Wisdom Fire by Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo

When your car runs out of gas, it’s expensive, inconvenient, irritating, makes you late, makes your mad, might be dangerous, makes you vulnerable and definitely stresses you out. My guess is you don’t let that happen very often.

My tank is about ½ full and while that may be good enough for my car, it’s not good enough for me.

I’m tired. I ate kettle corn for dinner one night. I drove 600 miles in 3 days. I slept fitfully two nights in a row and woke with a stiff neck and because of the traveling I only exercised once during the week and not my usual 4. And did I fail to mention no writing and no meditating for a couple days? In less than one week, I’m off schedule, irritable and cranky.

As much as I supposedly know about staying healthy and reducing stress, it’s still very easy to quickly get off track. Life is moving very fast. It seems like there are not enough hours in the day, as though time is compressing, and maybe it is. According to the Mayan Tzolkin Calendar, we entered the 9^th Wave which is called Unity Consciousness on 3/9/11 which for 234 days will be a rapid period of evolution and change.  (Solving the Greatest Mystery of Our Time: The Mayan Calendar by Carl Calleman).

Now more than ever, it’s time to take the time to nurture yourself, make sure your tank is full. None of us can afford to run out of gas.

Me? I’m taking a long walk on this beautiful spring day. I’m taking the time to breathe deeply. I’m making the time to just sit with a cup of tea doing nothing. I’ll spend a little time in the garden and pick lettuce, arugula and herbs for my dinner. I’ll slowly refill my tank.

You can’t always be perfectly balanced; it’s just the goal.

When was the last time you went to a playground and sat on the teeter-totter (aka seesaw or tilting board depending on where you live)?

If you try to do it alone, you’re stuck in one place. If you have a friend, a partner, there is at least some momentum. Sometimes up. Sometimes down. Sometimes you are perfectly balanced with your feet floating off the ground, eye to eye with your partner. This takes balance and concentration, both mental and physical, to reach this place. It’s exhilarating but then someone laughs or loses their concentration or shifts their weight and you’re back to the up and down.

Is it better to up or down? When you’re up you have a wider, more expansive, view but what seems like less or even no control. When you are down, your view may be narrowed and you may not see as much but you are grounded. Your feet are firmly planted even if just for a moment and you have the opportunity to stay where you are or to change and move forward (or up as the case may be). Sometimes you’re in control; sometimes you’re not and sometimes you’re in perfect balance.

As Eckhart Tolle wrote, Whenever you deeply accept this moment as it is, no matter what form it takes, you are still, you are at peace.

Stress Relieving Tip: Head to the playground for some fun and play. A trip to the playground is a great way to not take your self so seriously, to let go for just a moment. Can you release rigidity and control for a few minutes and play? Have some fun on that teeter-totter and maybe you’ll even get some insights in to where you are in the seesaw of life.

I got an ad in my inbox last week announcing…” Words, often being criticized as being too concrete, have been slowly falling out of favor, with authors preferring to tell their tales via pop ups, photographs, and interpretative ketchup blobs.”

Disclaimer: This was an ad for a “book” of personal photographs at a discount but I can’t help but comment….

I love words. I love writing. I love reading. As I’ve written before I think of writing as meditation, as a form of stress relief.

Sidebar here: We all need a stress relief “practice”, a number of tools in your tool box that work for you. Not your mother. Not your best friend. For YOU.

But back to writing and words….

While I agree that a “picture speaks a 1000 words”, and I must admit that 140 character tweets are here to stay (190 million people can’t be wrong), words have not fallen out of favor in my book.

Enough words from me….

”Write what’s in here (your heart) because you write because it pleases you but never because you want someone else to like what you’ve said.” “There are stories everywhere and the people who wait for the right one to come along before setting pen to paper end up with very empty pages.” “That’s all writing is, capturing sights and thoughts on paper. Spinning, like a spider does, but using words to make the pattern.” From The Distant Hours by Kate Morton.

I try to have 3 books going at once. Some take take just days to finish, others weeks even months. I like to learn something new every day, something that stirs my imagination or makes me have an “ah ha” moment.

I have two amazing sisters in law. One is my source for my morning books, my books for personal and spiritual development. Ones that help you expand your world, your appreciation, your awe, that affirm or rock your belief systems that make you grateful that you are in the here and now. The other is my source for my evening books which are often fiction but always for relaxation, entertainment, escape, that take you across the world, across time, that explore human nature. The mid day reading (books/journals/articles/studies) are for personal and professional development in my field (and sometimes not) because there is always more to learn and better ways to communicate and share.

Is this a luxury or a necessity that I do this? In my book, it’s definitely the latter.

No Time? Not an excuse in my book. One less TV show is all you need, especially the news, because it’s usually always bad news. If there is something you really need to know, believe me, someone will tell you.

Reading is about taking flight in your imagination, observing, discovering, exploring your world both inside and out.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. Henry Ford

I think of reading as part of my anti-aging regimen and definitely as a component of keeping my mental body healthy.

What I’m reading this week:                                                                                                     Inner Work by Robert A. Johnson                                                                                       The Perfect Gene Diet by Pamela McDonald                                                                         The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is not intended to substitute for medical counseling. Intentional Health does not treat, prevent, cure, or diagnose any disease or ailment.

Personally if my doctor insisted I take a “statin” drug, I’d run but that’s me.

More importantly, if your doctor wants you to take a statin drug (or you already are) but doesn’t insist you take coenzymeQ10 (hereafter known as CoQ10) please do more research and consider taking this vital nutrient.

In a nutshell, the synthesis of CoQ10 uses the same pathway as the enzyme that produces cholesterol. If you lower the production of cholesterol, you lower the production of CoQ10.

So why do you care? CoQ10 is found in virtually all cell membranes and protects cells and helps them regenerate. CoQ10 counteracts environmental pollutants and stressors. Levels naturally drop after age 30 and you are less able to repair cells i.e. lower levels contribute to aging.

CoQ10 is an essential component of the mitochondria (the “power-house” of the cell), playing a critical role in the formation of ATP, the body’s fundamental energy unit. Are you tired, think CoQ10.

It is standard operating procedure for doctors in Europe to recommend CoQ10 when prescribing statin drugs. Why? They understand nutrition and nutrient depletion; they’ve read the studies. They know that CoQ10 depletion can cause Alzheimer like dementia, cognitive disturbances, fatigue, muscle weakness, conjunctive heart failure and the list goes on. They also know that patients with cardiovascular disease, fibromyalgia, parkinsons and even cancer may benefit from CoQ10.

See more under Articles above to learn more.

Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is not intended to substitute for medical counseling. Intentional Health does not treat, prevent, cure, or diagnose any disease or ailment.

Most of us were raised hearing this children’s rhyme from our parents, “Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” To toughen us up for life? To numb us from our feelings? We all know how painful words are. Sometimes, words can leave lasting scars and can be as crippling as physical blows. Phooey to the psychologists who say, “emotionally healthy adults are comfortable with hatred and anger, their own and others.” What planet were they raised on?

Words do count. Kind words lift you up; mean words bring you down.

I’m writing this for two reasons: 1) I have gotten so many kind and wonderful comments from readers I don’t know, who did not have to take their precious time to say kind, encouraging words but they did. I don’t need research studies to “know” that kind words make you feel better and less than kind words can make you feel sad or hurt or angry or defensive. 2) the White House is having meetings today about cyber-bullying among students.

I have only gotten one (1) negative, rather mean, comment and it bothered me. Does this mean I’m not emotionally healthy or just that I’m human? I was hurt for a second then angry and with a knee jerk reaction wanted to write back some thing scathing. I didn’t but I also stopped writing for a couple days, temporarily doubting myself all because of one guy whom I don’t even know. Imagine how how these kids must feel who are under constant attack?

As a favor to yourself, if you don’t like what someone says or how someone writes, pause for a minute, take that deep calming breath. My dad had to remind me constantly, Think before you Speak.

If your words can hurt people you don’t know, think what they can do to the people you do know and care about but also what those words can do to you.

Back to The Golden Rule, the Brahman translation is, This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you. From Mahabharata 5:1517.