Author Archives: penny michaels

Nature’s Stress Buster

Here is something to think about. Nature is a stress buster. Remember when you were a kid spending all that time in nature? Remember feeling sooo happy and alive and worry-free? There is something to that. More than you realized as a kid. Being in nature is like taking a happy pill with only one side effect- feeling better. Add it to your list of anti-anxiety tools you use to bring down the angst. Make it a habit to realize the full benefit of spending time in nature.

There is a lot of talk about energy. Here I am talking about our energy meaning the Spiritual part of us- the prana, the qi- and the energy of the Earth. It may sound fluffy but it’s REAL.

We are energetic beings. More so than the physical part of us, the body. And we all know the Earth has an energetic field. Trees have an energetic field. The ground has an energetic field. The air has an energetic field. Energy is at the root of our living and breathing. And there are an infinite number of frequencies to this energy that pervades everyone and everything. Lower, denser frequencies create stress and dis-ease. Higher, lighter frequencies promote health and well-being.

Think about how you feel on a crowded freeway versus how you feel in a forest. Just the thought of being on a crowded freeway creates chemical changes in the brain and you can FEEL the stress and you are not even on the freeway yet! Same thing with being in a forest- just the thought of it for a few moments is actually relaxing. You can feel your blood pressure lowering and your heartbeat slowing down. Take some time – you are worth it!

~Give yourself the gift of being in nature every day!~

LOVE HEALS

LOVE HEALS, RIGHT?
What if you didn’t have any love coming from outside yourself? What if you were all alone in this UNIVERSE, completely ALONE, and ill.
Seriously ill. What then?

That is when the real work comes in-again. Self-love on a regular day is a necessary practice for healthy relationships, but what about when you have no relationships and you know you may not survive this one?

Hopefully, if this is your situation, you have already done the work. Then you have a chance because you have the tools, and you’ve been using them regularly.

Because I will tell you it takes a very strong person to handle this situation. You need a very large toolbox, a big knowing of how strong you are, and hopefully an unwavering faith.

You will have to use all of your tools in earnest, constantly, and you will have to stay disciplined enough to not fall into victimhood (which most assuredly will make your health decline further). Can you do it? I don’t know if I would be able to do it but I’ve come close enough to get a taste of how hard it would be.

This is yet another reason we study, we fill up our heart with self-love, and we gather all the tools we can. The path of healing is not an easy one, nor is it finite.

With All My Love, I urge you to fill up your Spiritual toolbox!

Stillness

I  like the feeling of movement. I like to do, to accomplish things. It makes me feel useful, valid even. I used to be much more of a “doer” than I am now. Now, I am much more of a “be-er”, now that I have found the benefit of stillness.

It’s such a paradox that in stillness I find I receive much more valuable information and clarity than in my mindless doing. Paradox can be defined as “a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true”. Curious.

How can being still provide us with so much valuable information? Well, in stillness we are pretty much mindless. Empty. And we find ourselves in what is referred to as the “receiving mode.” We are not thinking thoughts, we are just mindlessly sitting. This takes some practice and discipline for sure. The idea is that we practice not controlling our thoughts as much as observing them and letting them pass through us until perhaps there is no thought at all- stillness.

Interestingly enough this is when clarity happens, brilliance even. A solution to a problem comes, or we get a really good idea, or become clear about something. Those aha! moments happen with more regularity. One of the many benefits of a regular meditation practice.

For me, it’s almost the same feeling I get out in nature, alone. My mind seems to let loose of all the gazillions of thoughts and worries and judgements and opinions I may have about things, and I just “BE.”

Alas, I can’t always be out in nature alone. There is stuff to do, obligations, responsibilities. So, I sit, every morning, and wait for stillness to happen. For inspiration. Then I can go do with more clarity, more confidence, and much less stress and anxiety as I am not running around allowing my mind to just go rampant often resulting in running into one obstacle after another.

~Stillness is truly a Blessing!~

Integrity As A Spiritual Practice

Integrity can be defined as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness”. Sounds a bit stuffy. I define it as having the habitual pattern of behavior that ALWAYS makes you do the right thing- no matter what. And, of course that varies widely depending on your priorities.

It reminds me of the saying that I was actually taught in elementary school- THEGOLDEN RULE: do unto others as you would have be done to you. (something like that). Doesn’t that saying just make you do the right thing? Doesn’t it smack of karma? Like if you don’t it will come back around and bite you in the proverbial butt.

But it’s more than that. It’s more than doing the right thing to stay out of trouble. It’s doing the right thing because it feels good to do the right thing. It not only feels good on your part, it feels good on the recipient’s part. You feel better, they feel better. You raise your vibration AND theirs. Isn’t that a win-win situation?

Let’s look at the other side. What if (maybe for once in your life) you didn’t do the right thing, and you know it. How did that make you feel? certainly it did not make you proud. And you probably have no idea the ripple effect of your behavior.

Why would one not do the right thing? My guess is there is some negative emotion involved. “I’m angry so I’m gonna throw that at you since you are the source of my anger” type response. Totally natural. Totally human. But truly we must own our own emotions- there might be a subject matter or a person involved but your emotional reaction belongs to you. My emotional reaction belongs to me no matter what or who instigated it.

Policing everything you think, everything you feel, and every single reaction you have is exhausting. I am not here to berate myself or anyone else, I am just hoping to steer things, particularly how we feel and how we respond to one another, to a more positive, loving note. It benefits us all. And what benefits you or me, benefits the next person, and the next interaction, and the snowball effect takes over. Then you get to witness everyone’s vibe going higher, people being nicer and more compassionate with each other.
And if this was everyone’s intention would not that serve to create a more bautiful world? Yeh, I think so.
~Much Love~

Hurt People Hurt People

I love it when I realize that I have indeed developed some very healthy habits. And this is one of those times. The habit? Here it is:
when someone responds to me in a less than stellar way (let’s get real here- in a way that used to slay me for days, used to seriously trod on my sense of self-worth, used to take a lot of effort to regain my mojo), I now find myself automatically saying to myself “It’s Not Personal! It has nothing whatsoever to do with YOU”.

And ya know what’s the best thing about this? Is it is EASY to believe! Think about it. Think about the last time this happened with you. Somebody came back at you with something less than compassion and it hurt. Wait a minute, think for a minute. Do you have a clue what is going on in this person’s life? Do you really know how their past experiences have affected them? You truly have no clue. And there is a very large chance that their response to you had more to do with what is going on in their life and less to do with handing out a verdict on your value.

Hurt People Hurt People. It’s a Truth. It leads to the circle of pain that crosses generations, unfortunately. I mean seriously, how do people get like that? Nasty, mean, hurtful. Well, I don’t think people just wake up one day and decide that is how they are going to behave.

When people are hurt some people do go out of their way to be mean or seek revenge, but I submit that most of us are not like that and that most of us would be surprised if something less than compassionate would come out of our mouths.

But this blog is about US and how we respond to people, to the world, not so much about other people’s behavior (that is really none of my business). My desire is for you to bring attention to how YOU REACT to anything said or done that doesn’t feel good. I just want to make sure that your self-worth is intact and not on unsteady ground. I don’t want the “slightly crooked remark” to slay you for a minute much less ruin your day.
~Life is much sweeter when you don’t get your self-worth tossled about with the wind!~

Karma- Is This How It Works For You?

I’ve been thinking about karma for a long time. Years. Reading and reading and trying to glean some pattern out of my experience. Searching for someone who seems to have THE answer, to no avail. Many religions have their opinions about it, but they are just opinions. Like most things, I think karma is something that you have to decide about for yourself. I still have made no such decision. I’m still waiting to be convinced.

This morning I was listening to a podcast about karma, and like many this person was basically saying that if a person has a terrible situation brought on them and they react without retaliation but take the higher road and maybe even display some grace along the way, that they will be rewarded while the perpetrator gets his or hers. Is that the way it works? I mean I have always believed in the Golden Rule- ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’, just cuz. But does the Universe actually step in and make sure justice is served on your behalf? I don’t know. My proverbial “jury” is still out. I just take the high road because that’s what I do, not because I absolutely believe I will get rewarded for doing so.

Then there is the idea of familial or ancestral karma- whoa! You mean to say I get crap loaded onto me because of the doings of some far off relative I did not even know?! How unfair would that be? I should take some sort of responsibility because I share the same bloodline with some terrible person (s)??? Where the hell is the right or just in that?? I get that we all have lessons to learn while we are here, but why should we have to take on something that we didn’t start? It’s all a mystery to me but I do have to say that I see patterns of behavior in my family that seem to repeat themselves generation by generation. It’s odd to say the least.

At this stage in my life it has become obvious to me what the main life lessons I am meant to learn. I’d have to be completely oblivious not to recognize what is going on, and I am not that. They are crystal clear and I have learned well. Does that mean the Universe is now going to rain down Blessings upon me for the rest of my life? Wouldn’t that be nice!

Tell me your thoughts- how has Karma played out in your life? How do you think it works?

Don’t Tell Anyone! (Sometimes it’s Best)

Have you ever shared with someone or someones what is going on with you that is really, really difficult? What happened after that? You probably felt worse on some level. Like a victim perhaps, or that you just gave away your power. That’s how it is on our emotional journey sometimes. It doesn’t matter whether it is a matter of the heart or a physical problem that has knocked you down.

Sometimes it’s an extremely personal thing that is best dealt with in silence, solo. Sometimes when we share our pain out loud it dilutes our personal strength. It just does, have you ever noticed? Maybe not. I didn’t. But I know better now. I have consciously felt the diminishment of my own personal power by sharing with even the most compassionate people.

I’m still figuring out the why but I know it to be true. I think the why maybe so that we actually REALIZE our own personal strength and fortitude, our own very personal power. To realize this is a huge thing. It gives us more strength, confidence, and stamina in the face of some pretty tough things. Some times I get tired of being tough, being stronger than anyone I know. But it’s nice to absolutely KNOW my own strength, and sometimes in order to KNOW your own strength you have to go it alone.

For sure going through these immensely challenging times by oneself is eye opening at the very least.. In a lot of ways. And there are a lot of lessons along the way besides learning to deal with and heal whatever is going on. Growth and expansion of ourselves, who we are, is what happens when we pay attention to things like this. It’s not usually pleasant as we are learning these lessons but the good news is if you keep it up one day you wake up and realize how proud of you you are and how much you really appreciate that person staring back at you in the mirror! And that, my friends, is a REALLY good feeling!
~Here’s to You! You Are Badass!~

Lack Mentality

Lack mentality shows itself in a variety of ways. Being on a tight budget right now has reminded me of how important it is to be in the right mindset, despite the current seemingly limited circumstances.

For instance, maybe things are tight right now and you don’t feel that you can take yourself to your favorite local restaurant. Or maybe your car is ready for an oil change, but… Or, even bigger, you don’t want to leave the house because every time you do it costs money.
Don’t let yourself or your life get so small due to fear that you don’t have enough or you won’t have enough!
Remind yourself that everything is fluid- especially money! It comes and it goes, no matter how frugal you are! I don’t suggest crazy spending, I’m just saying don’t cut yourself off from the flow just because right now you are a bit fearful of an apparent lack.
And this can be financial lack, or lack of social contact or friends or loved ones. We must be generous with ourselves and we must believe in abundance! Maybe we do need to be frugal right now, but we need to not cut our own selves off from the flow of abundance due to fear of annihilation.
When I do this to myself, I recognize it, stop and tell myself that I deserve to eat well, or I deserve to have my car in top shape, or whatever it may be, and I go and do that.
And guess what? it NEVER causes me further financial distress. EVER! When I do this for myself, it’s like the Universe says “Ok, you believe you deserve this, let’s give you more”!
Money comes in from seemingly random places. Opportunities come in just now (after all this time and fret).
What you think about you bring about and if you are in lack mentality, that is what you are going to get more of.
Believe in yourself! And believe in the abundant nature of the Universe!

Times Have Changed For Sure!

I ran across my grandmother’s life story the other day (typed on a typewriter) and was rather amazed at how she carefully documented our ancestral tree several generations back with names, dates, and places. She obviously found this extremely important information for all of us. And it was obviously extremely important for people during that time.

I find these days many people like myself don’t feel so close to the family tree, it’s not of the greatest importance in our lives these days. I mean do I really care that I am some distant relative of Robert E. Lee? I feel no connection there. It is not significant to who I am. I respect my grandmother and what was important to her tremendously, it just does not feel like it needs to be important to me.

Then I thought about what ancestry IS important to people these days and the answer that came to me made me laugh, just a bit. These days social media is inundated with people trying to figure out their “real” ancestry. Not one hundred and fifty years ago, but millions of years ago. We are asking ourselves questions like am I a starseed? Am I Plaedian or Arcturian or did I have a life in Lemuria or Atlantis?

That’s where the laugh came in, just imagining my grandmother contemplating these things. I’m certain she contemplated Angels due to her studying the Bible but wondering if she was Plaedian? I seriously doubt it!

It just reminded me of how different things are 50 years later. Very different. Our thinking is different. Our interrogations in to this world, this Universe (now some call it Multiverse) is different. And it’s all good. I believe contemplating or at least wondering about the reality of this crazy, nutty, infinite Universe is kind of important- I mean do you think we as humans are the Be All and End All?

If you simply take a look at the space photos of galaxies and nebulas and what goes on out there and how many billions of light years away all that is, how can you not question our limited human vision of “reality”? Reminds my of those “Expand your mind” songs from the 60’s and 70’s. Perhaps we are doing just that.

~Thanks, Grandma, for the Thought Provoking Reminder of Your Reality just a few short years ago~

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Essential Oils 101

Hi Everyone!
I’d like to take some time talking about essential oils, what they are and how they can help us. They are powerful natural remedies that can address just about any ailment. And they are safe and natural (if you buy high quality oils- and we will talk about that in a bit). Since they are simply extracts from plants, they are totally natural and as such do not have the nasty side effects that many modern medicines have.

Essential oils are extremely potent so you just need a couple of drops of an oil to remedy an ailment. These ailments can range from simple bug bites to flus and allergies to removing toxins in your home to helping remedy even more serious ailments.

I would like to emphasis the importance of using high quality, therapeutic grade oils. You can purchase essential oils anywhere but in order to know that you are getting what you think you are you have to use products from a reputable company, as these oils are not governed by the FDA. So, cheaper, knock off products are not the way to go.

I have chosen to use DoTerra essential oils and blends because you can actually track the testing of each bottle of oil from the number on the bottom of the bottle to ensure you are indeed getting pure, beyond organic, third party tested product. The second reason I have chosen DoTerra product is because the oils are sustainably sourced meaning the Earth is not being depleted of these medicinal plants and farmers all over the world are being supported.

To give you an introduction to these oils, I made a FREE online Essential Oils Fundamentals class. Simply send me an email (penny@naturalhealing.blog) and I will get it to you! It is only 30 minutes long and it is packed with valuable information!

So, if you are ready to get started using essential oils for your health, there is now a free way to learn!