Holiday Blues: Halloween and Onward

Halloween/Samhain was rough this year. I knew it would be but I wasn't expecting several days of mourning. I'm guessing it was a combination of honoring Mom along with Dad this year and knowing that the anniversary of Mom's passing is just around the corner. Her last ICU visit immediately followed our family Thanksgiving dinner last year, which led to her passing on December 19th. I can't believe it's been a year already; the realization hit me so hard that although I did honor her,  I couldn't honor her in the way I wanted to, but I know that she knew my heart and my intention.

I decorated their shrine for Autumn with just a touch of Halloween and was pleased with the result.

The Halloween items have since been removed, leaving it very appropriate for November.

Coping Methods for the Holiday Blues

• Count Your Blessings. I've been doing this daily, and it really does help chase the blues away!
• Spend Time in Nature:  I've been taking nature photos to remind me of the blessings all around me. Nature is a great healer! I encourage you to take walks, snap photos, and enjoy the peace and beauty around you.
• Community Service: This Thanksgiving, I am volunteering at the local community Thanksgiving Dinner, but there are many ways you can give back to the community: volunteer at your local soup kitchen, food bank, or volunteer for story time at your local library or children's hospital, etc.
• Secret Santa: pick one (or more) people to secretly gift at Christmas/Yule, or maybe an entire family. This is great fun!
• Angel Tree: Make a child's Christmas and pick an angle off your local Angel Tree and donate the requested item. Doing this feels awesome!
• Create a holiday altar for your lost loved one(s), complete with candle and photo. I keep an altar year round; it's my way of remembering and honoring my parents, and yes... I talk to them, and cry. Crying is part of the healing process and perfectly normal, so don't worry about allowing yourself to grieve.
• Take care of yourself: meditate, do yoga, exercise, etc
• Pamper Yourself: take yourself to a movie, have a spa day, have a nice dinner out, buy yourself a present. You are worth it and deserve your love and appreciation!
• Decorate: Making your house festive for the holidays is a great mood lifter. If you have the house all to yourself, decorate anyway!
• Treat your Neighbors or Co-Workers: bake up some pumpkin bread or other holiday treats to give your neighbors and/or co-workers. Of course if you are like me and hate to cook, store bought goodies work, too!
• Counseling: don't be afraid to seek professional help if you need to

These are some of my photos, which were actually part of a recent project for Inner Goddess Revolutionaries). This project has helped me see the beauty all around me on a daily basis; it helped me move my thoughts from the depressing to the uplifting.

The holidays can be difficult, but stay positive, find uplifting activities to keep you busy, and practice giving. Giving back is an amazing experience! So chase those blues away and choose to make each day a good day!

Empowerment Through Self Gratitude and Sekhmet

This month we are working with Sekhmet in Soul Path Tribe. One of my recently completed assignments or challenges was quite emotional and empowering, so I though I would encourage you to give it go, too.

Write a gratitude letter to yourself. Do some soul searching and ask yourself what personal strengths, accomplishments, and attributes have helped you or others, have made a positive difference in your life for or someone else's, what is it about you that helps you get past your challenges, what are you secretly proud of? Write it all in a letter addressed to YOU expressing gratitude to YOU.

After completing your letter, take note of your emotions. How did this make you feel about yourself? Did it empower you, or free you? Did it bring you self acceptance and/or self love? Did it awaken something inside you? How did writing this letter effect your life?

Sekhmet

To assist me in connecting to Sekhmet I sketched this Mountain Lion, thinking maybe I would paint it, but that hasn't happened as of yet. Right now, I seem to be satisfied with the sketch, but when the mood strikes. I might just break out the watercolors!

For anyone that is not familiar with Sekhmet, she is a lion-headed Egyptian Goddess, a warrior, protector and healer with fierce self-confidence and determination. Sekhmet is depicted with the face of an African Lion, but being as I connect more with Mountain Lions, I chose the Mountain Lion as my personal depiction of Sekhmet.

Painting, Writing, and Journaling, Oh My!

I've been extremely busy lately, and my blog has fallen to the wayside as a result. So much has been happening! (1) my article for Soul Path Magazine was published this month (2) I've been working on weekly challenges with my Inner Goddess Revolutionaries group (3) I've been working on additional art projects with other inspiring artists at Hawk's Art Projects (4) I joined Soul Path Tribe and have been journaling and working on my monthly steps for October, and (5) I still work both my jobs and occasionally babysit my grandkids while battling the gloomies.

Yep depression has been attempting a comeback, BUT although I do have my "down" days, I haven't sunk into a full blown depression, thanks to my artwork, which continues to be great therapy, and of course staying busy helps keep the negative thoughts away, too!

 I thought I would share my recent works with you:

Project from Inner Goddess Revolutionaries

I AM, the challenge was to create an I AM statement to aide in embracing my inner goddess using any medium of our choice; I chose watercolors, of course and opted to do a multi-color self-portrait with my I AM statement, and here is the result:

Hawk's Art Projects

We've done three projects thus far (1) a representation of the Element Water (2) create a tarot card for Samhain (3) our patron deity, and our most recent, (4) a representation of our life purpose:

Medium: Markers and Pens

 I incorporated my Raven Woman painting and a Microsoft Word template to create my tarot card. I chose the High Priestess, mainly because I thought Raven Woman fits this card well and it's a great card for Samhain. The text at the bottom of the card says: 

"Open yourself to the Mysteries. Use your intuition and let your inner voice guide you."

My Patron: Gaia

Medium: Watercolor

Life Purpose 

My life purpose is overcoming depression and being happy; 

this depicts me rising from the darkness. 

Medium: Watercolor

Side Projects

Watercolor: African American Woman

 Watercolor and Marker: Experiment

 Watercolor: Raven Woman

Watercolor: Redhead

 Watercolor: My Cat, Tigger

Watercolor: Amethyst Woman

Walking Alone

Yesterday, in a moment of inspiration, I posted something on my Positive Warfare fb page, straight from my heart.  The more I read it the more I liked it, so much in fact, that I chose to add it to a pic of one of my sunflower paintings.

Why do I like it so much? Well, I'm a recluse, in a few different ways: (1) I'm single and don't date (2) I'm a homebody; when I'm not working, I mostly stay to myself, at home (2) my spiritual path and current circumstances led me to being a Solitary.

For some odd reason when I confess to (1) not having a social life, and (2) not dating and having no interest in dating or finding a partner, people just don't understand; they think I'm weird and some actually try to argue that I need a man in my life, and to convince me that I need to to date. My question is why? I'm happy being single and free from the complications of dating and/or a relationship. This is a personal choice for me; this is the path I have chosen and I would do it all over again. I am truly happy. 

This is a reminder that just because a person travels a different path, does not mean the path is wrong, or that the person is lost. Don't worry about what people may think of your path, do what is right for YOU. Be true to yourself.

Low Energy Days

"Low Energy Me"

Do you ever feel like you have just been drained of all energy? Today is that kind of day today; I feel sooo tired. I have often wondered what causes my low energy days. I got a decent amount of sleep last night, so you would think that I wouldn't be so darn tired. Granted, I do have health issues that sometimes causes fatigue, as well as depression that comes and goes (right now its on LOL), so this could be what is contributing to my lack of energy... and my diet; let's be honest here, I try to eat healthy but often slide back into the not so healthy pattern.

Other factors that may contribute to a lack of energy are: 

High Sugar Diet (sweets, pasta, bread, potatoes etc, including your energy drinks!) Carbohydrates turns to sugar, and too much sugar leads to insulin resistance, leading to Type 2 diabetes. Did you know that when you have too much sugar in your body, it thickens your blood to the consistency of ketchup, constricting your blood flow to and from your heart,  and damaging your arteries and your heart! ...and those energy drinks that some people are so fond of, are poison to your body; they are not healthy for you at all! Sure, they contain Vitamin B and Ginseng, but they also contain huge amounts of sugar and caffeine, as well as Taurine and Guarana. Our body naturally produces Taurine which helps regulate the heart, muscle contractions, and energy levels. It only makes sense that if you have too much Taurine in your system, it is going to cause irregularities. Guarana is even more dense in caffeine than coffee beans, which brings us to the second factor of low energy...

Too Much Caffeine Yep your endless coffee cup is a factor in your low energy days. Sorry guys, but too much coffee stresses and slows your adrenaline gland which in turn causes hormone depletion, which leads to fatigue.

A Fatty Diet We all know a fatty diet is bad for us. Too much fat equals high cholesterol, which leads to clogged arteries, heart disease, and strokes, but also fatigue because it causes our body to work harder, causing stress on our heart and lungs, which wears us down.

Lack of Exercise It is recommended that we exercise at least 30 minutes everyday, but even if we can manage 10 minutes each day, it's a plus! By exercise, it doesn't necessarily mean strenuous activity; take a walk, do yoga, do chair exercises, or go for a swim, just get your body moving! I'm blessed in this area because where I work, we have a diabetes program which includes an on-the-clock exercise program every day for 30 minutes. I don't always make it every day, but I also walk a little at work. My office sits 50 ft or more between two other buildings, which requires me to walk to the neighboring buildings to conduct job related duties. So I can honestly say, I get some sort of exercise 4/7 days.

Magnesium Deficiency our body needs magnesium to function properly. It aids in the healthy functioning of our muscles, heart, nerves, immune system, and strong bones, so if we are low on magnesium, our body feels depleted and fatigued.

Stress, Depression and/or Insomnia I lumped these three together because they tend to go hand-in-hand, and all three can factor in with fatigue.

Thyroid Disorder such as Hashimoto Disease (an autoimmune disease that attacks your thyroid), Hypothyroidism (low thyroid) and Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid). The thyroid regulates all your body functions. If your thyroid is out of whack, it throws off the hormones needed to regulate your heart, lungs, mood, skin, hair, eyes, reproductive system, bones, muscles, cholesterol, weight, and your energy.

Other health conditions such as Fybromalysia, Crohn's Disease, Adrenal Fatigue, etc also can cause fatigue. If  you are experiencing out of the ordinary ongoing fatigue, please see your doctor.

Remedies: 

(1) whole wheat products in moderation (2) get moving! (3) limit your coffee to no more than three 12 oz cups a day (4) Eat 1 oz of nuts per day, such as unsalted natural almonds, walnuts, and Pistachios, but don't eat them in excess; moderation is the key! (4) drink more water! (5) incorporate Edamame (green soy beans), fresh Kale, Spinach, Kidney Beans, fruit (in moderation), and baked Halibit into your diet. If you are a woman, you should include iron rich foods into your diet as well, just because women are prone to anemia during menstrual years (6) stay away from fried, fatty, and salty foods (7) meditate; it not only calms your body and clears your head, it also increases your energy (8) aromatherapy with essential oils such as peppermint, lemon, and mandarin orange also helps combat fatigue.

Videos:

Don't Forget to Smile!

The Path to Self Discovery and Growth

The decision to change, to improve upon yourself, is momentous! If you have made the decision to begin such a journey, congrats, I applaud you! Whether you have been on this path for awhile, or you are brand new in the venture, just keep going. It is a life long journey beginning with the day of your initial decision, not something that you will complete within the year. It's a challenge that takes years of dedication and work; it will not happen over night, but it will happen. Your path will be long and rocky, and you might find yourself occasionally slipping backwards, but keep climbing that hill! You CAN DO IT, and the results are SO worth the effort!

I first made the conscious decision to embark on my journey, ohhh around 1996 or thereabouts. What prompted my decision? Well truthfully, I didn't like myself, nor did I like life. I was not a happy person, depression had a strong hold on me, and life was a real struggle.  I always felt like I never fit in; I just didn't belong, and I wanted nothing to do with my current life. It was like I fought against it every step of the way but I had no clue as to the reason why. I was confused, angry, and lost from birth to early thirties. It was not a nice place to be, and eventually... well, I got tired of it. Here I am 17 or so years later, and although I've made huge progress, I am still working towards my goal. I still struggle now and then, but wow, the changes I have made; positive changes that not only I have noticed, but other people have noticed too, and if I can do it, so can you!

Where do you start? Self help books (preferably with work book companions or work sessions inside them to aide you in really getting to know yourself), guided meditations, journaling, making Wish Boards, do more of the things you love whenever possible, and... you KNOW what I'm going to say next, don't you... positive affirmations! You can also do counseling if your budget will allow and it is something you would like to try.

Book Examples:

What is a Wish Board?

A Wish Board or Vision Board is a collection of images (a collage) made with a specific intention, to attract certain things into your life. Decide what you want to attract into your life, or what goal you want to achieve, then collect magazine clippings and/or photos that represent your intention as well as a photo of yourself. Arrange the clippings and photos on your board the way you want them, then glue them in place, but make sure you leave space to add quotes, words/phases, and positive affirmations, etc. Once it's finished, hang it someplace you can see it everyday. Make a point to view your board each day, truly focusing your intention on it, while reading/saying your affirmations out loud. Other suggested materials include: markers, scrapbook materials, scissors, and hodge podge glue.

Introducing Soul Path Magazine

Let me introduce you to Soul Path Magazine, founded by Lyn Thurman, who by the way is awesome! Lyn is inspirational, nurturing, and wise. It doesn't surprise me in the least that she founded such a wonderful e-magazine written by people just like you, including bloggers, healers, soul coaches, and more! I absolutely love this magazine! Go ahead and check it out; you will find articles on spirituality, pagan parenting, gardening, the goddess, seasonal correspondences, and so much more!

You can read more about Lyn here, as well as her husband Paul (an author in his own right, as well as the editor of Soul Path Magazine) here.