I was wondering around Costco the other day picking up several items and ran across something I have never seen before, manuka honey.  My last blog gave a run down of some of the great things honey can be used for, so this caught my attention.  The price was quite high, so what is so special about this honey?  This is what I learned.

Manuka honey is a very special honey, considered to be on of the most healing honeys in the world.  It is produced by New Zealand bees pollinating the Manuka bush.

Most people, unless they are allergic to bees or honey, enjoy honey in their tea or substitute the sweet taste in other foods.    But it is so much more than that.

Honey has been around since the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, and Romans, more than 8,000 years ago.  It was valued not only for the sweetness, but for its medicinal values.  It contains more than 200 compounds that are quite useful for the body.  Some of which include:

-Antibacterial and antifungal and antiviral properties- this is perhaps one of the most fascinating features.

 

It’s that time of year when we begin to think about the new year and starting anew.  Many people choose to set new year’s resolutions.  Are you one of them?  Are you also one of them who has set the same resolution each year with the same outcome…failure?  So, how can you really break that cycle and bring success upon yourself?  Let’s get started.

1.     Prioritize what it is that you want to change in the coming year.  List all the changes and prioritize them from most important to less importance (because they all are important, right?

 

What is journaling?  Journaling, according to Susan Borkin, author ofThe Healing Power of Writing: A Therapist’s Guide to Using Journaling with Clients, is any type of writing or related expressive process used for the purposes of psychological healing or growth.

Remember when you were a young girl, you may have had a diary.   Your “dear diary” captured events and emotions in your life.  Now, as an adult, things happen, circumstances change, and those things are either good, bad, or ugly.

October is Breast Cancer awareness month.  One in eight women will experience breast cancer in their lifetime.  We, as women, take much better care of our hair and face than we do our breasts.  And yet, this part of our anatomy is extremely vital to life, in nursing our children, as well as our self-image, as dictated by cultural mores.  So, what can you do to take care of your breasts?

1)       It is important to know your body.  What is normal and what is not normal?

I have tried many diets throughout my life, and all have ultimately failed.  Since my breast cancer diagnosis, I have been on the hunt for the best diet since this is definitely part of the equation to health and healing.  I have been frustrated to receive little to no answers from physicians.  They are uneducated about nutrition in general, and seem to have no interest in learning about it.  Unfortunately, their training is geared to treating symptoms and in prescribing medications.

My husband and I recently came back from a vacation to Colorado where the air was fresh and clean and the outdoors was invigorating.  Our location had no television, radio, or phone.  For 5 days we were media free.  I admit the first day was a bit unsettling, but after that was quite liberating.  I found myself focusing on my health, actually paying attention to the world around me, and meeting and actually engaging in conversations with complete strangers.  My husband and I found each other again.

 

As I write this we are suffering with 112 degrees heat outside.  It’s been that way for more than a week.  It’s getting really old.  I have lived out here since 1972 and I can tell you that it is getting hotter earlier in the year and staying that way into October.    So, how do we survive during this time of year?

1.       Activities have to be done early in the morning, between 5-8 am.  Forget anything strenuous, like hiking or outside construction projects.

Today I’d like to talk a little bit about the news.  I am first going to digress a little bit.  I am of the boomer generation.  When I grew up in the 50’s, television was new.  Yes, that’s true.  Our family had a black and white TV first, and then a color TV.  We had only a handful of stations to choose from.  Back to the stone age, I am afraid.  Local, state, and world news was presented to the public twice a day, one the 6 0’clock news or the 10 o’clock news.

Attitude

 

Today I’d like to talk a little bit about attitude.  I recently watched the HBO special on John McCain’s life.  I was struck by the amazing positive attitude that he held while enduring horrific conditions and torture in the Hanoi Hilton.  Regardless of your political views, his fortitude and strength through all the adversity is admirable.

No matter who you are, life is not always a bowl of cherries.  We all have lessons to learn, disappointments, tragedy, and hardships throughout our lives.