Welcome to the 107th Carnival of Healing
Now, on with the show...
We received an amazing response to the call for entries, and I want to thank everyone who submitted an article. Following you will find a collection of musings, advice and practical exercises touching upon all aspects of wellbeing -- mind, body and spirit. I have grouped them into categories, in no particular order, by topic:
Some Things to Think About, Some Things to Try:
In her post, Another Driving Meditation: Krishnamurti, Radio and Distractions, Isabella Mori of Change Therapy invites us inside her head to witness a spirited dialogue she has with herself while driving. The part of herself that is seeking distractions from the here-and-now debates the centered part that was hoping to do some driving meditation, while various expert voices chime in with their opinions! She comes to the realization that "thinking about meditating is not the same as meditating; it's just another distraction."
Raymond David Salas over at Zen Chill encourages us to turn to our “miracle activation” button when faced with overwhelming challenges. He then gives us specific instructions for activating it, his thoughts on how and why it works, then encourages us to trust in the wisdom of our higher selves. Read his post, How to Push the "Miracle Activation" Button, to find out more.
Matthew Spears of Loving Awareness offers a meditative exercise that can be done with a partner, or with oneself, to help overcome the false sense of separateness we often fall into. In his post, The Unity In Love, he states that "Love is always a journey towards oneness, toward unity. Loving yourself is loving another, and loving another is loving yourself. Realizing and living this attracts you to experiences that manifest it to you, rather than separation and conflict."
Drawing from the concepts of Imago Relationship Therapy, Alex Blackwell at The Next 45 Years discusses the power struggles that can occur in couples when one or the other partner feels that his/her needs are not being met, and is unable to ask for what is needed in an objective, emotionally-neutral manner. See his post, Power Struggle to Power to Love.
David B. Bohl over at Slow Down Fast Today! points out that we need to think twice when we discount our achievements, not just for our own sake, but for the sake of those around us -- When You Discount Yourself, You Discount Me. "Why can’t we just realize that discounting ourselves hurts others, and have more compassion for them than we show in our self-centered discounting? I believe that if we could just change this one thing in our lives, we could become people we can’t even imagine now."
Motivational Speaker - Craig Harper talks about The Power of An Idea, stating "My objective in sharing these short stories is to impress upon you that anyone can take an idea, build some momentum, overcome a few challenges, deal with the obligatory crap that life dishes out and create something amazing and at the same time re-invent themselves."
On the Metaphysical Side:
Shirley at Fun Spirit says, "We’ve all heard lots of stress relief technique remedies like exercising, eating right, getting enough sleep and relaxing. Now I’m adding one more to the list – meditation with crystals. Sure, to some it may sound silly, stupid, or like mere wishful thinking. How could a stupid rock help anyone relax?" In response to her own question, Shirley refers to some scientific evidence, along with her own observations in her article, Stress relief - rocks that help you relax.
Chris at Martial Development explains that "with the ability to see human auras, it is possible to understand the workings in the human body. Depending on the colors and the intensity of the aura around the individual, the condition of the individual can be deciphered." In his post Developing Your Ability to See Auras, he provides us with some practical exercises for developing our ability to see people's auras.
Addictions:
Jolynn Braley at The Fit Shack discusses a news article about a study on the combined effects of sugar, fat, and salt on laboratory rats. It appears that their brains responded to these substances the same way they would to opium or morphine. In her article, Fast Food, Heroin, and Food Addiction, What’s the Connection?, she reflects on how this may tie in to people's addictions to certain unhealthy foods.
And Tracee Sioux, author of Quit Coping looks back at her history of coping with stress from her new perspective as a non-smoker, and sees things in a different light. "Since a distructive behavior, smoking, clouds every memory and emotion since I was 13 years old do I have to reinvent my own history to let smoking go?" Check out her post Reinventing History.
Physical Health:
Tupelo Kenyon extols the virtues of five simple exercise that can be done by almost anyone for an investment of just 15-20 minutes per day. Read his article 5 Tibetan Rites - Easy Yoga for Busy People to learn about the benefits he has reaped from his simple, but effective daily practice.
Debra Moorehead at DebraMoorehead.com (who, by the way, will be hosting next week's Carnival). How Amanda Lost 35 Pounds in Six Months Debra presents her first podcast, an interview with Amanda Faris who lost 35 pounds in six months by following Debra's diet that she had posted last year.
Jeni at Savvy Skin reminds you to Protect Your Skin When You Fly. She encourages you to use moisturizer in order to offset some of the drying effects of airplane travel, and offers up some product recommendations.
Matt Wolfe, guest blogger at Be Healthy and Relax offers some tips on How To Relax for sports fans whose teams didn't make it to the playoffs, and anyone else in need of some stress relief :)
Fitbuff at FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog sings the praises of the New Wii Fitness Game Coming Soon (to a store near you in early 2008), which allows you to have fun while burning calories. While the current wii is very interactive, "the Wii Fit will incorporate a 'Wii Balance Board' that will sense the player's full body motion, allowing for jumping, leaning, and endless other possibilities."
Societal Health:
In her article, Socially Sustainable, Lisa Nave makes a case for social sustainability, saying that "When we practice environmental sustainability, we act in accord with what is healthy for the earth as a whole. We let our knowledge in science and nature guide our actions. When we practice social sustainability, we act in accord with what is healthy for humanity." She outlines some of the ways in which she envisions it, then invites you to contemplate ways in which you can make your life more socially sustainable.
Jimmy Atkinson at Nursing Online Education Database lays out some major healthcare policy issues and how 9 of the presidential candidates (Democratic and Republican) stand on those issues in his article Comparison: Presidential Candidates on Major Healthcare Issues.
And that's it for this week's Carnival!
For more information or to see past Carnival of Healing submissions and guidelines, please visit the Carnival of Healing homepage. And, if you didn't have a chance to view last week's Carnival of Healing, you can find it at Therapeutic Reiki.
Thank you, Isabella -- and you're welcome!
Pearl, I didn't receive your entry. Perhaps it went into the cue for next week's Carnival. You may want to check on that.
And, you're welcome, JoLynn!
Posted by: mary k | October 14, 2007 at 12:17 AM
what a fabulous carnival, mary! thank you so much for the effort you put into this - and what great results. and what great company - matthew, craig, jolynn, etc. it's such a nice way to build community ...
Posted by: isabella mori | October 13, 2007 at 09:32 PM
Hi Mary... those are some very interesting and useful articles to read.... thanks for putting them together!
PS: I had submitted 'being aware of now' a couple of days ago... and I don't see it here... am wondering if you received it on time or not ....
Posted by: pearl | October 13, 2007 at 02:33 PM
Hi Mary, thanks for including me in the carnival!
Posted by: JoLynn Braley | October 13, 2007 at 02:25 PM