Renew your dreams
“Dreams are renewable.
No matter what our age or condition,
there are still untapped possibilities within us
and new beauty waiting to be born.”
~ Dr. Dale Turner
Improve your view
I cherish my eye sight. I have two friends who have lost theirs, and that makes me even more aware of being protective of my vision. But, of course, only in natural ways.
I attribute the fact that my vision has improved each time I’ve had a check up in the past two years (despite the fact that I was diagnosed with keratoconus in my 20s and told I may eventually lose my sight) to two areas of being naturally well: mindset and natural remedies.
I’ve spoken to you plenty of times about mindset. You reap what you think, in short. Focus on the good more than the bad.
The natural remedy: For years I have combined boiled filtered water with sea salt to make a saline solution, then added part of a goldenseal tea bag. Steep, strain, use. (If you want specifics, feel free to ask.)
My natural eye drops have healed things I couldn’t even have dreamed they would heal. Since I started my natural concoctions to help my foster pets, that’s some of my success stories. A kitten who had so badly scratched his cornea that the vet thought the best that could happen was that he kept his eye. For him to see normally again? Nope, never was going to happen. What did I have to lose? I tried the eye drops. His cornea completely healed. Normal sight, normal look to his eye (that looked horrible before), happy kitty, happy me, happy new adopters. Win, win and win! Infections in kitty eyes. Healed. Even an abscess on a kitty neck … healed.
So I moved on to humans! Scratched cornea – healed in record time. My own eyes — vision improving, when it never had in the previous three decades. Lots of relief from all sorts of minor things.
Of course, this is something you have to decide on your own to try … or not. I am not a doctor, and I don’t even play one on TV! I share, and I know you’re wise enough to decide what to do with it. Or check with your doctor to see what he/she thinks.
But, even if your eyes aren’t bothering you, there are many natural ways to make sure they don’t:
- I learned this one in yoga. It feels amazing! Relaxing and renewing. Rub your palms briskly together until you feel the heat. Close your eyes, cup your warm palms over them for a bit. Repeat a couple more times.
- Another yoga move, in effect: With your eyes open, roll your eyes clockwise, trying to move them in a circle as slowly and widely as you can. Do this 3 times, then do it in the other direction. We (hopefully) exercise other parts of our bodies; we need to remember our eyes could use some movement, too.
- Take a break if you use a computer for hours. Focus your eyes on different items at different distances. Then close them for even just a minute and relax.
- Use your thumbs to massage your eyebrows, then switch to your index fingers to continue around the sides and under your eyes. This feels so good! We store so much tension there.
- The need for water exists here, too. If you want your eyes well lubricated, you need to help them out. Drink lots of water and also consider omega 3 fatty acids such as flaxseed or fish oil. Walnuts also provide omega 3s.
- Bilberry is a potent antioxidant for eye health and may improve your night vision.
- Like you’ve been told, carrots are good for your eyes because of the vitamin A. Taking this as a supplement can be dangerous if you get too much; eating carrots is not! Spinach and other leafy greens also are good for the health of your eyes.
As always, here’s my guidance: Don’t overwhelm yourself! What I do is help point you toward the right path and encourage you to make changes or add new ideas, one small step at a time. When you do, these things will become a normal part of living a healthy life you can easily maintain.
Give back
“Do something for somebody every day
for which you do not get paid.”
~ Albert Schweitzer
Bugs you should love
We have an unnatural aversion to bugs in our society. We’ll do everything possible to eradicate them … even at the cost of our health.
And I get that, to a certain extent. Bugs are a little icky, bugs are creepy at times, bugs … bug you! (Especially the little one that is attempting to keep me company as I write this, despite my best attempt to swat him or brush him away!)
And when it comes to them being in us? Even worse! But I’ve got to tell you – this aversion to bugs, as in bacteria, is harming us. We need to embrace the good bacteria in order to boost our immune systems and be healthier.
New science is finding that not only are all of us hosts to thousands of different species of microbes (ah, yes, I can hear your ewwwww all the way over here!), there are three distinct systems. And, like knowing our blood type, this news may help our health.
With this information, you may one day be able to have a way to boost the colony of good bacteria that exists specifically in you instead of taking antibiotics, which across the board wipes out all bacteria. And, no, that isn’t a good thing. You need the good bacteria to stay well.
This is great news! It’s safer; it’s natural; it allows our bodies to work as they are designed instead of fighting that normal process. I’ve long thought that our medical practice of killing out everything – good and bad – in an attempt to knock out the bad seems, one, like shooting a shotgun when you’re trying to kill a fly, and, two, ignoring how much we need those good parts to maintain our health, and even more so when we’re ill.
Of course, antibiotics have helped us. We’ve just taken it too far. And, the way it’s going, when/if you need them, they may not help you at all. So I’m thrilled to see science not only look at another way but look at a way that’s more natural.
For now, though, you still can boost your good bacteria. Yogurt contains bacteria (you want the kind that lists active cultures). But it’s a pretty tiny dose. Is it enough? I don’t know. I do know that you can get a good dose in a high-quality probiotic. You get both plenty of and a wide range of good gut bacteria in something like FloraGen, which is refrigerated to maintain the quality of its contents. Many of the unrefrigerated types have been found to be ineffective, though there are effective ones. You need to subscribe to something like Consumer Lab to get the actual info.
Boost those bacteria, and you may find yourself immune to the common whatever going around. It’s a small investment in staying well at a relatively inexpensive price and very simple to add to your daily routine.
Do you know your bug type as well as your blood type? You may one day soon! But you don’t have to wait, you can be proactive about being healthier right now.
Spring joy
“The earth laughs in flowers.”
~ E.E. Cummings
