Is your life overcrowded and cluttered? Add Self-Care!
Do you ever somehow find yourself in a place where you know you need to get back to your basic self. Things remind you it’s time to return yourself to your heart.
These reminders may include fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, loneliness, burnout, or foggy thinking.
You wake up one day, or a moment in one day, realizing that you are spending 80% of your time scanning, scrolling, downloading, and editing. And you’re spending only 20% of your time processing all those things you’ve been inputting.
Or maybe you are spending 80% of your time frantically chasing tasks which have no meaning for you but are on the “necessary list” anyway.
Alas, it’s the old 80-20 law at work again. The essential processing is getting 20% of your focus and the scanning and scrolling are getting 80%.
There ARE things you can do to help you find your heart.
Try self-care. Self-care can be magical because it comes from inside yourself where you process important things better.
Suddenly, the 20% takes on renewed color and shape and form as it becomes the center-stage activity it should have been all along.
But, where do you begin? Begin with intention. Whatever you choose for your self-care therapy, if you begin with intention, inspiration will follow.
So, how do you start this new project?
Begin with trust. Trust that your intuition will inspire you to know what is calling you. Your intuition will allow you to try different things and focus on what appeals to you. Self-care can be many different things. It can be one thing.
As you begin to explore self-care, allow yourself to respond to what appeals to you. Let your heart guide you to what you need.
Let’s say that you are attracted to essential oils. Or, maybe you always wanted to begin a meditation practice. These two options can be followed one at a time or together.
The important thing is that you listen to what is calling to you.
Whatever self-care tools you explore and use, you connect to your body to support your spiritual, mental, and emotional self.
One good beginning option is to create a daily movement ritual. The options are many here: dance, walking, massage, reflexology, Reiki, exercise, stretches.
When you choose a movement practice, you connect with your body and build a relationship with your power.
This daily movement ritual promotes gratitude. It builds resilience and inspires your creativity. You will set your endorphins free! You will serve those around you better.
You will build a relationship with your power. Joy and mood stability become part of the package.
But, whatever self-care journey you explore, there is no perfect way to explore the options. Use what calls to you. Maybe you seek something which feels comfortable to you. Whatever calls to you, allow yourself to explore whatever feels natural to you.
Thanks for reading this article. Please share it with your favorite social media network and forward it to your family and friends.
You can learn more information about self-care from earlier blog posts. She discusses self-care in her three books “A Healer’s Handbook”
You can order copies of her books at www.thurmangreco.com.
Connect with Thurman at www.thurmangreco.com.
Thurman discusses self-care techniques with guests on “Let’s Live with Thurman Greco” on YOUTUBE
Intention – A Road Map to Your Future
Put your future in motion!
And, how do you do that?
Your first step is to set your intention. After all, you can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’re headed.
Take a few minutes to write an affirmation that represents you once you’ve reached your goal.
Your second step is to open your journal and lay out the change you want to see in your life based on your intention.
A Reiki session honoring your intention and the change you want to see is appropriate here.
For example, if you want to get a new job, you may write an affirmation such as “I have the perfect job.”
Visualize what you will look like and how you will feel when that change happens.
Visualize changes you may experience as you move toward your goal.
Next, consider a few things you’re going to do to make that perfect job happen.
They may include:
write a winning resume
search online
network with people
contact prospective employers
follow-up after each interview
Once you have your list of things you’re going to do, it’s time to act on your to-do list.
Occasionally, it’s important to take a look at your notes and see what things have happened. Are you progressing toward your goal?
You may want to include regular Reiki, reflexology, and meditation activities to stay connected with your intention and your journey.
Occasional questions will help: How is the universe intervening in your behalf? Do you need to adjust your intention?
As you begin to circulate your resumes and interview for your job, it’s helpful to remind yourself that you have a job when you have a start date, a specific place to report to work, and know the starting salary.
You may want to include these things in your adjusted intention.
As time passes and events occur, you may want to revisit your notes. Did you reach your goal? What twists and turns occurred along your path?
Finally, is it time to set a new wheel in motion as you adjust your intention.
Ask yourself this: How has the universe moved in your behalf in conjunction with your efforts?
Thank you for reading this blog post. If you have friends who might enjoy this post, please share it with them. Forward it to your preferred social media network.
For more information, check out my books, earlier blog posts, and selected YOUTUBE interviews at “Let’s Live with Thurman Greco”
Connect with me on facebook and at www.thurmangreco.com.
A Sacred Second Chakra Meditation: Inner Peace, Security, and Self-Acceptance
This meditation is ideal for relaxation because it supports inner peace, security, and self-acceptance.
Relax and get comfortable in a calm location where you will not be disturbed for a few moments.
Take several slow, deep breaths.
With each inhale, imagine your breath energizing the area two inches below your navel. Gently massage this point with two fingers.
With each exhale, imagine a small orange ball carrying fears, stress, and pain away.
Now, inhale deeply twice. Breathe into a point about two inches below your navel. Release this breath through your mouth.
Imagine you are lying on a beautiful, quiet boat which is just big enough for you. There is no room for anyone or anything but yourself.
While you are lying on this boat in the middle of a beautiful pond, things are still and peaceful. The pond has many flowers along the beach. As you focus on them, you see they are various shades of orange, and coral.
Let your body become heavy and relaxed as you get more comfortable on this tiny boat.
You feel the space, the peace, stillness. Breathe into the stillness and the abundance of the flowers and the water in the pond.
The overhead sky has a warm, glowing light allowing you to feel beauty, peace, energy.
A gentle breeze moves your small boat along the edge of the pond into a gently flowing stream.. As you look above, you see billowing clouds with a faint orange and gold tint. They move lazily overhead.
The flowers and clouds protect you so you feel safe.
You feel warm and at peace.
Breathe into the peace and gentle energy of just being yourself. Drifting down the stream, you relax even more and appreciate the energy, the peace, the flowers and the clouds.
You realize you don’t have to do anything, just breathe and enjoy yourself. As your boat gently drifts along, you feel warm. This warmth is healing. You feel quiet, peaceful. You breathe in peace, health, relaxation.
As you breathe out, exhale anything you want to release.
It’s time to return to your body and become conscious of yourself. Gently you move your fingers and toes to become more aware of returning to your location.
When you open your eyes, you remember the peace and energy you felt in the orange flowers and the orange-tinged clouds.
You know you can return to this place any time you want.
When you are ready, continue on with your activities.
Thanks for reading this meditation. Please refer it to your preferred social media network. Share it with your friends.
There are other meditations throughout this blog.
More information about healing is available in “Healer’s Handbook”. Get your copy of the book at www.thurmangreco.com.
Guided Meditations: 3 Ways They Change Your LIfe – Awaken, Transform, and Heal
Guided meditations awaken, transform, heal. Guided meditations are change agents.
But, whether a meditation awakens, transforms, or heals, it points you inward to your own strength. This is a direction which benefits us all. Many people focus outward for strength. They search for persons, actions, or objects when the goal they seek is right at home, within themselves.
I’ve used guided meditations to begin reflexology, Reiki therapy, chakra healing, massage sessions. I’ve also used them to end sessions. They are effective when you need action.
Guided meditations help classroom situations. If I feel my students are nervous or out-of-sorts in some way, I use a guided meditation.
Guided meditations are essential for Reiki attunements, and for any situation when a person needs to listen, rest, be still, and learn new ways to be and do.
I think we’re going to do many new things in the near future. Listening, resting, and being still are all prerequisites to embracing a new life.
Guided meditations help a person understand a new reality more deeply. For me, this pandemic offers each of us a new reality. A door is opening for us.
Guided meditations are good with grieving and overcoming fear. And thanks giving. And loving.
By now, you know I turn to guided meditations at every opportunity.
Guided meditation open doors of higher consciousness leaving the past behind. These open doors awaken us to answers which our inner spirits hold.
When we wake our higher consciousness, we transform our lives, improve the quality of our lives and tap more deeply into the higher self.
Transformation facilitates change. Put plainly and simply, transformation encourages calm, serenity, grounding.
The transformation provided by a guided meditation helps reduce stress, headaches, chronic pain.
A guided meditation focusing on healing can be a form of prayer. It taps into what your unlimited higher self can offer.
In the midst of this pandemic, a guided meditation can help you release tension, anger, fear, anxiety, and other illness-causing emotions.
A guided meditation focusing on healing will lead you to your inner strength. It will encourage you to become more comfortable with the new reality this pandemic may produce for you.
Current events throughout our planet convince me we are all on the brink of everything. The future awaits. A guided meditation focusing on healing will allow you to let go and enjoy the goodness to come.
A guided meditation can allow your to love yourself. When this happens, you will have a powerful healing tool. This can encourage your fearlessness.
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The next post will focus on how to create your own guided meditations to use in whatever situation you need.
Thank you for reading this post.
Please refer this article to your preferred social media network.
Thurman Greco
9 Things You Can Do for a Healthy New Year – Wellness!
These nine suggestions can transform your body, your kitchen, and your lifestyle. They are a living proof that wellness is not hard to achieve.
So, in this new year, GO FOR WELLNESS!
EAT MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
This is far easier than you might think.
Raw fruits and veggies are a good snack. Cooked, they can be a main dish or side serving. They can be a dessert, even! So, go for it.
EAT MORE WHOLE GRAINS
Foods made with white flour are lacking. They lack fiber, minerals, and other beneficial nutrients which you need. They also taste better!
USE CANOLA OIL AND ORGANIC EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
Replace all the other oils in your kitchen with these oils. Especially get rid of partially hydrogenated oils.
TAKE YOUR VITAMINS
This can be an overwhelming proposition. A good start is to ask your healthcare professional for guidelines. Or, contact Village Apothecary in Woodstock, New York, for some pointers. I get all my vitamins and supplements at Village Apothecary.
If you’re not comfortable calling Village Apothecary, find a place where you feel comfortable that the staff are well-trained and have customer wellness at heart.
If you like research, a third option is to study about one vitamin a month and add the vitamins or supplements monthly.
AVOID HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP
This is not a new piece of information. I’ve been writing and talking about this for years. But, this product is still in foods we buy. To really get away from it, read the fine print.
Go ahead. Do it. Read the fine print.
Then…once you’re doing this….
CUT BACK ON PROCESSED FOODS
Processed foods are loaded with products which aren’t even foods at all. These products shouldn’t even be in your kitchen, let alone in your body
Healthy food is not that difficult to find. In fact, it can be easier than you think.
EAT ORGANIC FOODS
Do this as much as possible. If the organic foods price tags in the grocery store give you sticker shock, focus on the “dirty” foods: strawberries, spinach, peaches, celery, greens.
It’s easy to wash pesticides off your produce. Put about 1/4 teaspoon of Dr. Bronner’s Soap (I use Peppermint) in a bowl of water. Dunk the produce in the mixture and swish it around in the bowl. Rinse the produce in clear water.
CUT OUT THE ALCOHOL, FIZZY DIET DRINKS, SODA POP.
Cut back, preferably to zero consumption. If this seems impossible to you, then you need to think about what these beverages mean to you. On the practical level, they do nothing good for you.
CUT BACK ON DARK MEATS.
Meats are not that good for us, really. Today’s beef, pork, and processed meats are loaded with chemicals, pesticides and herbicides.
Yech!
Thank you for reading this article! Please refer it to your preferred social media network.
Thanks again
Thurman Greco
Wellness, Our Planet, and the Winter Solstice
Today, on our Winter Solstice, or whenever you find a time that fits your schedule…
Sit quietly for a few moments and visualize a world where all beings know they belong.
See a world where we are all connected and work together in mutual respect , harmony, and honor.
Visualize a world where wellness for all is a reality.
Create a world in your spirit and your heart where balance is universal.
Focus on this vision of peace and food for all.
Thank you.
Thurman Greco
Please refer this article to your preferred social media network.
Spiritually, your back is your support for life.
Spiritually, your back gives you strength. It honors you. Your spine contains your central system and your central blood supply. You register every experience, feeling, impression, and thought in your spine.
Your lower back holds financial support and your core beliefs.
Your middle back supports your move forward in life as you release the past. Your middle back holds love.
Your upper back deals with your emotional support of others and self. It deals with guilt, shame, fear, anger, resentment.
Back aches are spiritual events. What may offer relief for one person may not work for another. In spite of all the modern, 21st century techniques, cures, and therapies available for back injuries and health injuries, you may respond positively to reflexology, Reiki therapy, and Chakra healing.
Lifestyle changes will help if you discover physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual causes of your discomfort. When that happens, you can make adjustments to get rid of the pain. Then, you can figure out what you need to do to keep the pain and discomfort from returning.
These changes may include things like developing a posture encouraging spinal alignment. You may learn specific exercises offering you relief.
Several times throughout your day, talk to your back. Is it in pain? Does stretching help? Are your shoulders scrunched up against your neck?
As time passes, you’ll find you are learning the language of your spine. Once you learn this, you can listen to what your spine says to you and follow its instructions.
To avoid back pain, respect your spine and don’t overwork it. The three basic rules of respect include proper lifting techniques, exercises to build strong back muscles, and proper fitting low heeled shoes. Following these three guidelines, you’ll prevent accidents and reduce spinal alignment stress.
When you consult with a physician about your back pain, select a person who gives you confidence. If you seek a massage therapist, acupuncturist, physical therapist, schedule your appointments so they’re 24 to 48 hours of one another to take advantage of synchronicity.
Yoga helps. I’m fortunate that there are many yoga teachers in my area. Through the years, I’ve found two teachers who know about spinal health and focus their classes on this specialty. Carolyn Abedor teaches Iyengar Yoga when she focuses on therapeutic spine health. Kathy Karey teaches yoga and focuses on repairing injured spines.
Massage and physical therapy are beneficial for chronic pain. Chiropractors work to improve your condition without adding more strain to the spine.
If you don’t know a yoga teacher, massage therapist, chiropractor or physical therapist, this is a good time to look for one.
CHAKRAS:
Lower back pain focuses on the first chakra. Middle back issues focus on second and third chakras. Your upper back deals with fourth and fifth chakras.
REFLEXOLOGY SYSTEMS TO WORK:
nervous system, muscular system, urinary system, skeletal system, sciatic nerve, liver and solar plexus
ESSENTIAL OILS:
basil, clove, cypress, eucalyptus, fennel, ginger, lavender, marjoram, nutmeg, peppermint, ravinsara, Roman chamomile, rosemary, spearmint, thyme, vetiver
OTHER THINGS YOU MAY TRY:
Throughout your day, check your posture, your seating positions, and the height and angle of your work surfaces.
Thank you for reading this blog post.
Please share this post with your preferred social media network.
Thanks again.
Thurman Greco
10 Tips Offering You a Longer and Healthier Life.
When you seek a longer and healthier life, you develop spiritual attitudes and habits which resonate with you. A longevity focused life is a lifestyle.
Before it’s all over, the lists in this blog may seem endlessly overloaded with things to do. But, that’s not the object of this series. My goal is to offer you information you can use to enjoy a longer, healthier life. Pick and choose from the choices, as you select the habits that resonate with your body, mind, emotions and your spirit.
EXCESS WEIGHT CAN RUIN YOUR LONGEVITY PLANS – So, what can you do about it?
For starters, realize that obesity triggers arthritis, asthma, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. These health conditions conspire to rob you of your longer and healthier life.
Getting the weight off and keeping it off is important. And, getting it off the sooner the better is what its all about. When I give my library talks about my wellness book “A Healer’s Handbook”, I spend a lot of time talking about all the things you can do.
Begin by eating fruits, soups, and vegetables, Eat as much of these foods as you want and eat smaller amounts of meats and breads as you work toward a longer and healthier life.
Skip chemical laden products that have been manufactured for you to eat. This means reading the labels. If you can’t pronounce the words on the ingredient list, then you don’t need to eat even one bite of that product.
USE A SMALLER PLATE – Pile it high with fresh salad greens or vegetables.
For a longer and healthier life, always begin your meal with a soup.
Plate up your food in the kitchen and don’t put serving dishes on the table with your food.
DON’T TRY TO LIVE WITH A SLEEP DEFICIT. – A longer and healthier life depends on a rested body. This is really the heart of the matter. I’ve written post after post after post about the importance of sleep for you and your life. And, after this longevity series, I plan to return to a few more blog posts about getting enough sleep.
It all comes down to this: If you get enough sleep, you are going to have fewer health problems. With fewer health problems, you are on a path to a longer, healthier life.
JOIN A CONGREGATION. – Statistics show us that attending regular religious services has a strong, positive health effect resulting in a longer and healthier life.
Congregations offer a community of acceptance to members, an atmosphere which encourages good mental health, a stable social circle, and good immune function.
What this says to me is that our spiritual health is positively affected by a community atmosphere supporting our mental, and emotional beings.
LIVE WITH PURPOSE – Living with purpose influences mental, spiritual, and physical health positively. The way you live with purpose depends on you and your interests. The way you choose to give meaning to your life is completely up to you. Your choices are endless.
Before you get overwhelmed by this, begin by asking yourself some questions.
Does my plant need watering?
Does my dog need walking?
Am I concerned about my environment?
Have I always wanted to……………….?
This amounts to developing a sense of purpose in life by giving of yourself in some way for the benefit of others as you seek a longer and healthier life.
GET REGULAR REFLEXOLOGY SESSIONS – Well, of course I would believe this. I’m a reflexologist. However, if you are reading this article and you’ve never received a reflexology session, you can still achieve your longevity and wellness goals without receiving even one session.
The important thing here is to receive body work sessions regularly. And, in all honesty, there are hundreds of kinds of body work being practiced on our planet today. What’s important is that you receive some form of beneficial body work regularly.
If you don’t feel like you have the money for this bodywork, barter the sessions. I receive a Reiki therapy session every Monday afternoon. I exchange this session with a student. I feel like this is one of the most important things I do every week.
And, one of the most wonderful barters I did in my whole life was when I exchanged a reflexology session with an esthetician every week. What a fabulous time that was! Alas, she moved out of the state.
The bottom line is that we all need doses of the right touch for a longer and healthier life. Touch is important to our spiritual development.
MEDITATION IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU AND YOUR LONGEVITY PLANS. Do you meditate? Do you meditate regularly? If the answer to these two questions was “no” then begin by taking yoga classes. Yoga and meditation work together very well.
Have trouble scheduling meditation time? Join a meditation circle or form one where you meditate together weekly.
Meditation is grounding and offers major stress reduction. The positive health benefits of meditation ripple out to everyone and everything around you.
Make meditation a part of your life.
BRING NATURE CLOSER TO YOUR LIFE – How?
Walks in the park tend to lower your blood pressure.
Plants in your office or home bring their own calm.
Wilderness walks can be restorative.
Add wilderness pictures to office and home decor.
Nature sounds can be soothing as you listen to waterfalls, bird songs or ocean waves. My absolute favorite music is a CD entitled “Dolphin Music” by Ken Davis. It’s ancient as CD’s go, but I don’t want to be caught without it.
When you do these things, you protect yourself from stress.
BE OPTIMISTIC – You’ll live longer and feel better about your life when you look on the bright side of situations.
Build good relationships.
Refuse to see a crisis as insurmountable.
Accept change as a part of life.
Seek opportunities.
Maintain a positive view of yourself.
Finally, try to see things in perspective.
Thanks for reading this article. Please forward this blog post to your favorite social media network.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, New York
