Inspiring one Dreamer at a time!
If Oak Trees Could Talk05/18/2015
Christine Gilliam Hornback Author, Artist, Inspirational Speaker No comments posted |
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Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV) For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Sometimes I feel like a nut or maybe I should say Coconut or “Coconut Oil” to be exact! Oh my goodness, what to say about Coconut Oil? I am going to sound like Bubba Gump from the movie Forest Gump because just like Bubba came up with many ways to use shrimp, I can say that much about the many uses of Coconut! I honestly am not an expert that can prove Coconut or Coconut oil to be a super food, but this Mama says, “Coconut Oil is Super!” Although there are hundreds of uses for Coconut Oil, I wanted to share my top 10 uses. I’ve also included another one of Mama’s Concoction Recipes using Coconut Oil! I hope that you will enjoy it!
My top 10 Uses for Coconut Oil!
1. Coconut Oil is great for healthy cooking! Fry or bake, as replacement for all vegetable oil and margarines.
Mama’s Mandarin Orange Scrub
Mama’s DIY Recipes
http://www.covenantessentials.com
Ingredients:
1 cup Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
1 cup Sugar
2 to 3 tsps Orange Juice
5 drops Wild Orange Essential Oil (Doterra Essential Oil)
1 Glass Container ( I use pt Canning Jar w/lid)
Directions:
In a glass bowl combine Virgin Coconut Oil with sugar and mix well with a spatula.
Cut Mandarin Orange in half and squeeze juice ( usually yields about 2 to 3 teaspoons) directly into the bowl
Pour in the 5 drops of Doterra Wild Orange Essential Oil and continue to mix.
When all ingredients are mixed well pour into glass container or jar and enjoy!
I love to double the recipe and give keep one and give the other as a gift!
Simply tie a Ribbon around the jar and Voila! ( I love the little Embellished Jute Ribbon)
As you can see Coconut Oil is so very versatile. I love the fact that I get the wonderful benefit of replacing it to replace a lot of the unhealthy chemicals that are in the products that my family uses every day! If you have enjoyed my blog post and Mama’s DIY Recipes I would love to hear from you! Until next time, I hope that you to will feel like a “Nut, or at least a Coconut!”
Mama’s DIY Concoctions!
Don’t you just love it when you can be creative and it blesses your family or others? I hope so, as today’s blog is about giving! I am a giver! By stating that I am a giver people may automatically say “well give me this much money or give me this or that!” The fact of the matter is I’ve not always had money to give, but I’ve had my time and thank God he has given me a few talents that I can use to give to others! I am an Author and an Artist, so it gives me great pleasure to bless my friends and family with a painting or a book that I’ve written, but I also love to cook!
When a friend is sick I can do homemade chicken soup for them and a big ol’ pone of cornbread from my Grandma’s iron skillet! When I do something like cook soup and cornbread for a friend, It gives me great pleasure to do it! I am probably blessed as much as they are! I thank God that he’s given me my Southern Mama who was a wonderful Southern cook and taught me how to cook as well. The difficult thing is that she never used a recipe and so I rarely do either! In my home we have an ongoing joke “Mama’s concocting again!” Which by the way is a title to one of my forthcoming books! I love to get into the kitchen and “create” my own dishes. I’ve had a few epic fails, but for more times than not, I’ve created meals things that my family usually brags on. I’ve also been incorporating and using healthier ingredients with no complaints! But this is the real deal, I’ve also been putting them in recipe form with “estimated amount” so that I can actually pass them down someday to my grandchildren or great-grandchildren!
Anyway, back to giving. Do you know that some of my sweetest gifts came not when my family or friends purchased me a gift? The best gifts that I received were when they did something personally or made something for me. For Christmas my boys always make me gifts! I love and treasure them because they seriously put their time and effort into making Mama something special!Who wouldn’t love a homemade birdfeeder, or a beautiful stepping stone that says Mom on it? I love them!
In the spirit of giving I wanted to share one of my simplest “Concoctions!” or “Recipes!” with you today. This is an easy recipe and is great for your home or you can fancy it up and give it as a gift! Either way I hope that you will enjoy making it!
DIY AIR Freshener or Carpet Freshener
Ingredients:
I cup Pure Baking Soda
10 drops Lavender Oil or your favorite scented oils ( I use Doterra 100% CPTG)
1 Small canning Jelly Jar with lid or fancier jar if you have one
Directions:
Pour Pure Baking Soda into canning jar!
Pour in Lavender oil or your favorite essential oil
Place lid on the jar and shake to mix the two ingredients!
Now this is when it can get a little tricky because the lid for your jar has to have holes placed in it! I usually find me an old board, nail, and a hammer! I place the lid on the board, and I hammer the Nail into the lid in a few places to create holes. This allows you to be able to smell the wonderful scent Of the freshener, but also if you were going to sprinkle it on your carpets, then you have an instant shaker!
Variations:
Finally if you wanted to give this as a gift, say for Christmas, you could use Doterra Oils, such as Peppermint Oil I love the scents of fall, so I usually also do one with Clove and Ginger Oil. Use your imagination and “Concoct” your own Recipe! To give these as gifts, just tie a pretty ribbon or burlap twine with a little homemade tag! This spiffs it up fancy!
I would love to hear from you! If you enjoyed this blog with my DIY Concoctions, please let me know and I will post more of my Homemade DIY recipes. In the meantime if you would like to have this recipe to print, please contact me and leave your email and I will send You a free pdf by attachement!
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No Stress here!
Stressed? Blame it on Adam and Eve!
In my last post entitled “Inner Peace” I touched on stress a little bit, but I wanted to delve in just a little deeper as to why many times we become stressful! Face it fellow human beings…. We are not in the Garden anymore! When God created Man and Woman he placed them in a pristine Garden filled with all that they needed to be satisfied and sustained in life. They never had to work by the” sweat of their brawl.” They never stressed over what they were going to eat, wear, or where they were going to sleep!
Stress came in with Adam and Eve in the Garden, when they had all that they could possibly need, but was tempted when Eve lusted after something else! Yes, it was a wonderful, perfect stress free environment….So what the heck happened anyway?
Genesis 2:17(KJV) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die
We have a drive to always want more, especially in the society that we now live in! Don’t get me wrong, I believe that God wants us to have nice things as a blessing that adds something to our lives without sorrow or regret!
Proverbs 10:22 (KJV) The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it
But all too often we drive ourselves crazy wanting more and more things. With more things, comes more responsibility to take care of our things and so a vicious stressful cycle has begun! Regardless of what kind of stress we face, God does not want us to be fretful and worried, plainly stated stressful- full of stress, He wants us to live a stress free life!
Many of us have to actually learn how to stress-down! We need to create opportunities or take advantage of the knowledge that is available to us! I wanted to share some suggested techniques that I found written by Dr. Joshua Axe on his site on www. draxe.com
Below is a list of suggested ways to deal with stress!
1.Spiritual Triathlon. This is my personal method for keeping my focus throughout the day. Every morning when I wake up I spend 5 minutes saying all that I am grateful for, 5 minutes in prayer and 5 minutes reading my Bible or something inspirational.
2.Schedule relaxation. Write it down in your planner and stick to it. Make time at least once a week to do something you love–something that refreshes you. Maybe that’s a game of tennis, spending an hour alone with a good book or taking a yoga class.
3.Pour yourself a cup. Many varieties of hot tea have calming effects on the body and can help lower blood pressure. Try green or black tea or herbal teas with chamomile.
4.Take a deep breath. Try deep breathing for a few minutes every day. Tighten and release muscles. Hum to release nitric oxide and improve blood pressure.
5.Just say “No.” I promise it’s ok! Don’t spread yourself too thin or you won’t be able to give 100% of your efforts to any of the tasks you attempt. Your value does not depend upon how much you do for others at the expense of your own time, relationships and health.
6.Expel excess adrenaline. Before, during and after stressful situations, walk briskly for 5 minutes, run up a flight of stairs, do backward pushups on your chair, or do 5 minutes of deep breathing. A short burst of physical activity can expel anxiety and give you clarity and calm.
7.Ask yourself why. The next time you’re racing around trying to accomplish too many things in too short a time, ask yourself why you’re doing it, who it really serves, what belief it’s based on, whether this feeling is really what you want, whether this is a value or principle you want to base your life on. “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” ~Corrie Ten Boom
8.Nix the caffeine, nicotine and alcohol. Don’t add to nervous energy with stimulants and don’t mask stress with alcohol. The long-term effects compound the negative effects of stress.
9.Exercise regularly. Regular exercise helps expel built-up tension, stress hormones and clears the mind. Exercise helps to release endorphins, the brain’s natural feel-good chemicals. I recommend Burst Training for the most health benefits.
10.Sleep. Staying up late to get more done robs you of your total productivity. It dulls your mind, increases stress, promotes weight gain and contributes to mood swings.
11.Use your senses. Find colors that soothe you, wear fabrics that please you. Take a scented bath, play music you love. Paint, get a massage, or take a walk in the woods. “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.” ~Hilary Cooper
12.Connect with others. Making time for social connection is very important and restorative. Social connection is what makes us a part of something larger than ourselves and our worries. It gives us perspective.
13.Serve someone else. Related to connecting with others, try volunteering at a soup kitchen, making meals for parents with a newborn baby or helping with home repairs for an elderly neighbor. Remind yourself that it’s not always all about you. “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~Wayne Dwyer
14.Be prepared. You can combat alarmist or catastrophic thinking by being prepared. Keep a change of clothes in the car, create an emergency fund for car repairs, have an alternative proposal in mind at work.
16.Share responsibility. Delegating really is an important skill. Instead of complaining about how much you have to accomplish, teach your kids to cook, share the credit with a co-worker, or work out sports shuttling with another parent.
I hope that you take advantage of some of these suggestions and live a happier, healthier life! I would love to hear from you if this article has helped you. Until next time have a blessed week!
If you suffer from adrenal issues, thyroid problems, a slow metabolism, diabetes, autoimmune issues, food sensitivities or food allergies – check out Dr. Axe’s new book Eat Dirt on restoring your health from the inside out! {https://ju127.isrefer.com/go/edr/a5942/}
[1]Source: http://draxe.com/16-ways-to-bust-stress/
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