Healing Wise

How to Lead a Joyous Life

Joyous New Year to all!

How to Lead a Joyous Life:
I aspire to be a joyous human being. As with most aspirations: It is easier said than done. Easier imagined than put into practice. Easier to search for than to have.
I want joy to roll like thunder across the hills and valleys of my life; I want surging winds of joy to carry me through loss and disappointment; I want joy to be an electrical rush that lights up my entire body when I succeed. What does it take to create a joyous existence? Is it possible to experience joy daily, not just in special circumstances?
Joy, I was taught by my mentor Elizabeth Kubler Ross, is one of five primary emotions. (The others are fear, anger, grief, and love.) Joy is not the absence of pain, just as yellow is not the absence of blue. Joy may bubble up out of grief. (“What wonderful times we had together.”) Joy may underpin true anger. (“I am so thrilled to be able to stick up for myself.”) Joy may sneak into fear, at least I presume so, otherwise what are people watching scary movies? Or is fear’s joy the relief of discovering fear was unjustified? To lead a joyous life, one must be willing to see joy in every emotion and every situation.
Joy is sisters with happiness, gladness, and cheer, the niece of ecstasy, rapture, and bliss, and the mother of satisfaction and delight. Joy is lovers with beauty and order, abundance and harmony, safety and security. Joy adores spontaneity. Joy is gay. Joy dances. Joy sings a lively song in a major key. Joy rises up; it is elation. Joy spreads out; it is inspiring. Joy is hard to contain, and difficult to suppress. Delight is a bubbling spring that tickles the funny bone. But we must go to the spring; it will not come down off the mountain for us. One must court the joyous life; one must conspire with joy, entice joy, set a place at the table for joy, commit to joy.
Gratitude precedes and follows joy. When I am grateful for the gifts of life and a precious human body – even if it hurts – joy finds me more easily. When I am grateful for the presence of others in my life – even when they annoy me – joy considers staying for a spell. When I am grateful for my problems and recognize the blessing in adversity, joy signs the lease. Then it is up to me to see to it that joy wants to stay.

Read the rest of this article:
http://susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/August10/body-soul.htm

Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Nutmeg

Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Nutmeg

The aroma of winter is wood smoke and evergreen. But winter holidays smell spicy. Herbs that grow only in the tropics — such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, allspice, and vanilla — are called spices. Their aromatic oils and volatile esters entice us with delicious smells and mouth-watering tastes. And spices warm us from the inside, as if we had ingested the tropical sun on a cold day. Spices help preserve food and counter a variety of illnesses, too. Come, sit and warm your feet by the fire. Close your eyes and imagine the dense green forests where aromatic spices grow. ..

* A cup of Cinnamon tea .. eases menstrual cramps, soothes sore joints, relieves gas pain, and allays that feeling of fullness after a big meal. A sip or two of cinnamon tea before meals improves digestion and prevents acid reflux. Those who drink cinnamon tea regularly will have less cavities, stronger gums, and fewer insect bites.

* Chewing cardamom seeds freshens the breath and improves digestion. Herbalists consider cardamom effective for helping the liver, the appetite, the stomach, and the intestines.

* Modern medicine validates Nutmeg’s ability to inhibit diarrhea and slow down the action of the gastrointestinal tract. Folk medicine agrees, using nutmeg against diarrhea, dysentery, inflammation of the mucus membranes, flatulence, and vomiting. Nutmeg has also been shown to effect prostaglandin synthesis and to be a particularly potent antimicrobial. It may also be anti-rheumatic.

Green blessing are everywhere, especially in your spice chest.
Happy Holidays!

*
Join Susun on her Personal Mentorship site!
Learn how to be happy, healthy, and empowered.
Register now:
www.wisewomanmentor.com

*

Vegetable Soup Stock

Vegetable Soup Stock
A quart of this in the freezer guarantees hearty winter soups in half the time.

Skins and ends from 4-6 onions
Stalks from a bunch of parsley
Dill stalks and seed heads
Optional: Dried or fresh celery leaves
Optional: Carrot, parsnip, or beet ends
Optional: 4-6 leaves of beets, or chard
1 tablespoonful sea salt
3-4 quarts cold water

Save the ends from your vegetable preparation for a week, excluding cabbage-family plants, and you will be ready to make this tasty broth, with perhaps only the purchase of a bunch of parsley.

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Tightly cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2-3 hours.
Cool. Refrigerate or freeze. Should make at least 2 quarts of broth.

*
Join Susun on her Personal Mentorship site!
Register now:
www.wisewomanmentor.com
*