crunchyandwise – Roots To Remedies

If you are still searching for a reason to be thankful this season, you may not be alone. Sometimes we see an encouraging t-shirt slogan or a light and love post and our inner monologue barfs. Others can’t see it, but we can smell the stench of our own private bitterness. Familiar?

Gratitude is tricky. We cyber socialize with angry and fearful friends. The divisive content gives us all something to focus on, but distracts us entirely from any reason we could see to be thankful. It never seems like the right time to appear boastful or to rub it in the face of others that you have cause to be satisfied.

Give it a Name

Being grateful is about much more than pride. When you pause for a moment to consider some morsel of goodness in your life, whatever it may be; you are also assigning it what appropriate place of honor it has in your journey. My child woke up this morning with no signs of serious illness. I had plenty of food to offer him for breakfast. He slept soundly, in a warm bed with clean linens.

These everyday details escape my grateful recognition sometimes. More occasionally than I’d rather, I let my own headache or household planning distract me from the reality that I am exceedingly thankful for every one of those things. The absence of any of them would be significantly felt. Say the names of the faces that pass through your imagination when considering that. Thank you that Ben is well and so glad that Katie has a loving home.

Par is the Course

For many of us, our feelings antenna only raises when we are displeased. We are all eager to recant the frustrating experience from the market earlier; but go into no detail if the trip went exactly as planned. It is a narrative that provides a skewed picture of what actually is. It’s almost like you are keeping score of your successes and disappointments, but not marking down any of the points accrued in the win column. In a natural audit of our lives, we too often attach bigger, more weighted imprints to the negative occurrences than the positive. Tiny adjustments in how you notice life around you can change your entire storyline.

When you get to take a sip of coffee or tea in the morning and it is still warm and comforting, notice the aroma. When your toddler asks a question because they believe you know everything, bask in the importance you have in their life. Pat your vehicle on the dash regularly and offer words of praise, you could be changing a tire on a narrow shoulder instead. When we identify reasons to be grateful every day, we shift our focus to a much better state of being. When we see the abundance all around us instead of the lack, more abundance naturally follows.

Everything is Contagious

There is a rising trend in Law of Attraction principled beliefs. Nature follows this pattern. First there are no ants, then one or two, then a whole colony. Cells divide and duplicate. It isn’t all that far fetched. Pretty scientific actually. Did you know even the Bible addresses speaking things into existence on several occasions.

If the words of your mouth are declaring lack and anger and disappointment, the following events are likely to continue that pattern. I suppose one could argue a chicken or the egg paradox. Does the crap attitude beget a life full of turmoil and struggle; or is it the circumstances that hatch the attitude? Does it matter?

You get to choose. First, you get to decide how you will view what is happening around you. Will you see the expected blessings and triumphs and be eager for what the next moment holds? Several studies have been done on the correlation between gratitude and happiness. Taking the time, and noticing opportunities to breathe a sigh of thanks has actual physical and emotional benefits.

Being thankful invites others to as well. If one person at the table is full of negative neurons, it is easy for everyone else to get sucked into that dusty vacuum. Similarly, one joyous and grateful person with a happy heart can encourage and uplift an entire room. Which feels better: a room full of hopeful and celebratory beings, or one where nothing is ever working out for any of them? Which do you think is a better environment to digest food and feed the spirit?

So without worry of whether or not anyone else got the memo, do your part to find little reasons to be grateful. You benefit directly from just feeling the thankfulness yourself. Others and their levels of awareness aren’t your battle, but they are likely listening and being influenced by your joy. As we approach Thanksgiving day and its season of gratitude, be the reason people are hopeful and content. Then watch more reasons to be grateful find their way to you, simply because you appropriately honored the blessings that flowed before by recognizing them in the moment.

May You Know Abundance ???? – Roots to Remedies

If you find yourself in need of a little extra support, we have formulas to address common issues.

High Strung is a new adaptogenic formula to help combat the effects of stress.

Relatives working on your last nerve? Nervine can help support the nervous system and reduce anxiety.

Our amazing Elderberry syrup has immune boosting power that keeps everyone in the house grateful and guarded.

The Root of All Awful

Most people know someone they would consider to be in poor health. If you asked them to describe the ailment set of their familiar, the labels would vary. Some would speak of obesity or heart disease or diabetes or cancer. Others would say they have an acquaintance who is just generally ill; lots of colds and coughs and aches and pains. While the symptoms and complaints may be many, the basis of nearly every disease is the same. It isn’t some super bacteria or novel virus; but something much more familiar and plentiful. The culprit is stress. Coping with stress, or perhaps not coping, causes all other safeguards which keep you healthy to be weakened and penetrable.

I know what you might be thinking. We all have sources of stress in our lives. There’s just no avoiding it entirely. We were even built for it. If we didn’t have the ability to quickly react and adjust to life or death situations, our species would have died out in the day of the sabretooths. Fight or flight is an amazing tool in our arsenal; but it has been overwhelmed. In the absence of actual wild animals trying to hunt us down, we have created a world where much of the environment is bigger louder flashier faster more more more. Lingering in this heightened state of stress for very long starts to take numerous tolls on the body.

Several disease states can be directly linked to stress. These include: high blood pressure, frequent colds, digestive disorders, circulatory problems, many cancers, mood afflictions and even obesity

Since I know that just the act of considering the far reaching implications of unresolved stress are making your jaw clench, let’s expand on what this means. You have an unbelievable degree of control over your health. That’s power. Think about it; for as effortlessly as you have contributed to your own ailments, you can begin to reverse them as well.

Enter Adaptogens

There is a class of herbs whose members have been intuitively used for centuries, and have gained the much deserved attention of researchers in recent years. These particular herbs are called Adaptogens. As I’m sure you can imagine, they are thusly termed because they have a unique ability to adapt to cellular needs. Herbs which are considered adaptogenic, can cause long-lasting effects on our hormonal and metabolic states. If nature made a magic cure all, these types of herbs would be the most likely suspects. Adaptogens possess the unique ability to offer custom personalized treatment. It sounds amazingly high tech but the programming was done long, long ago. They work by balancing the many hormones that are required to keep all systems operating normally. When our hormones become imbalanced, male or female, our bodies suffer. The Adrenal system was designed to process small bursts of stress hormones, but not long stretches of the overstayed welcome most of us have just become used to. This leads to Adrenal Fatigue. Depending on the person, adrenal fatigue eventually leads to the daunting disease list we discussed earlier.

There are dozens of plants classified as adaptogens. Some of the stand outs are:

Asian Ginseng – AKA Panax Ginseng, originated from Asia. Several scientific studies showed the effectiveness of this ginseng in improving cognitive function, resulting in more focus and better memory. It is also linked to increased stamina, immune function and heart health.

Codonopsis Pilosula – Codonopsis is used to treat HIV infection and to protect cancer patients against side effects of radiation treatment. It has also been observed to boost the immune system; and to treat weakness, chronic diarrhea, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, asthma, cough, and diabetes.

Maca Root – Maca contains antioxidant plant compounds called anthocyanins, which give the root its deep purplish/blackish hue. Research shows anthocyanins may ward off inflammation and help protect against cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illness.

Rhodiola – Health benefits of Rhodiola rosea include its ability to boost energy levels, boost the immune system, relieve depression, strengthen the nervous system, improve cognitive function, aid in weight loss, and increase libido.

Ashwagandha Root – Also called Indian Ginseng, studies from India shows that those who take this herb enjoy dramatic improvements in how they handle, and feel, stress. It’s also taken to keep the mind sharp, and to boost energy.

Astragalus Root – This Chinese wonder root has been used traditionally to encourage good health and fight stress. Its active compound, called TAT2, protects against aging, supports detoxification, and is nutrition for the kidneys.

We combine these and other incredible herbs in our new adaptogenic herbal extract High Strung.

Stay the Course

We tell you every week that herbs are awesome. They can be instrumental in repairing the damage stress has caused our bodies. We can further soothe a stressed system by implementing better personal coping mechanisms. You don’t have to be a guru or a monk to employ some daily simple techniques that will make a real difference in your overall stress levels. Hydrate, sweat, go outside, pray and edit your internal monologue to be a kind and supportive voice. For other effective ways to process stress before it takes a toll on your physical being, visit our entry on emotional health. Life feels like an American Ninja Warrior course some days and we are often wondering wtf is next? Whatever change awaits us next, we will adapt. Life truly is what we make of it.

Make it Flourish, Roots to Remedies