A little less tension a little more flow

Yesterday my sister, 8 month old niece and I walked the Seattle Half marathon. Since we had a little baby in tow, we took our own sweet time.   Instead of racing we strolled, carrying baby through Seattle and all the runners and walkers.  With our thoughtful pace we got the worlds best view of the Seattle marathon- they ran right by us!!  At one point it did feel a little like we were in a stampede but besides that. it was amazing

  While meandering, there was plenty of time to wonder and contemplate.  We got to see the beginning and the finish of the top marathon runners and most of the 1/2 marathon walkers

   As you can imagine the variety of running and walking styles were off the charts.  I really started to notice the different postures and gates of the runners and walkers.  Did their style look easy or did it look like the following day was going to be very painful?  Were they fluid or tight?  Did they have healthy posture or did they somehow look twisted or bent over?

  Towards the end of our walk, the marathon winner flew by us.  He was fluid, strong and looked as if he was out for a weekend run and not at the end of a 26 mile race.  His ran with little effort!!  Not everyone's race looked so easy.

   As I walked, I was ever mindful of my own posture and tensions.  When it comes to tension and constriction- less is more.  The same as it is in our homes.  Think of clutter as tension.  Lots of clutter causes stress and tensions in our homes and bodies.  As we clear out the clutter in our lives, our ability of flow becomes more like the marathon winner and less like those who finished- with maybe great toughness, but lots of tension and whole lot of struggle.

When you struggle life is harder than it needs to be.  By letting go of tension, clutter and anything that causes you to tighten up, your life can start flowing.  Your walks, runs and days can start to flow with an effortless and inspiring ease.

May you be blessed with less tension and more flow.  And congrats to the Seattle Marathon winner- beautifully done!!
         Denise

Finding inspiration in a frying pan

  This past week I have been prepping for an upcoming presentation.  My topic is:
 Less is More- minimizing your chemical exposure.  I'll be speaking at the Piece County's Cancer Survivorship Conference on Sept 13th- over at the University of Puget Sound. 
   
                 If you would like to attend- please do- I loving having friends around!!

                                                  Here is the link with details

Go to Web site for Cancer Survivorship Conference

  My talk was inspired by a frying pan.  Several years ago, I was in AZ with my mom visiting my grandma and grandpa Biddle.  My mom and I were cooking away- which we always did on these trips.  I think we were making pancakes.  My grandma had a 14 inch stainless steel skillet- it looked brand new.  I asked my mom when did grandma get this new pan?  Her reply is what inspired my presentation... Oh this skillet?  It must be over 50 years old!!!

  50 years old!!! That pan looked so good, it could have been purchased that same week.  At the time, I still had some teflon coated frying pans.  I was probably on my 3rd or 4th set.  They were cheap, chemically laden and totally un-sustainable.   What a waste of money!!  

  When I think of less is more in Chemicals what I really think about is Simple.  Simple means of living that are sustainable, healthy, easy, money saving, time saving and effortless.  Maybe a stainless steel pan costs more than a cheep teflon pan but think about it..    How many pans would it take to replace that one single pan over the course of 50 years?? 

 We would save a mint.  We wouldn't be throwing anything into our land fills.  We wouldn't worry about what chemical had chipped off the coating and where was that chip now?  We wouldn't have to go shopping and researching to find new pans.  How simple is that?  

Life isn't always that simple but when it is grab it!   Our home should be a place where we can thrive.  Where we can make pancakes with our mom and not have to wonder what chemical fell into the batter.  Where our time and energy can be spent enjoying our family. Being grateful for conversations around the breakfast table where we are present enough to enjoy every bite.

As always wishing you a happy, healthy and radiant life,
            Denise

Pause and smell the laundry

Spring is in full bloom.  This afternoon as I took my daily walk, my dog Sally and I crested a hill and instead of smelling young lilac blooms, we got hit smack in the face with a cloud of laundry fragrance!  Ugh!

Natural smells tantalize our senses, refresh our spirits and ground us into the present moment.  Synthetic smells do not support our energies,  They are not fleeting but on the contrary they are chemically created to embed their odor into our clothes.  

 Have you ever lived by a train track?  A funny thing happens, at first the train and horn are loud and disruptive.  You are jolted awake each time it passes, you wonder how will you live with such a racket?  After a while, not only do you not notice the horns and rattle but the sounds blend into your daily rhythm.  If you had a good experience, living in the house with a train, later in life when you hear a train, it will probably take you back to your childhood bringing about warm and fuzzy memories.

Well, this is what happens with fragrance. We become desensitized and connected to the fragrance all at the same time.  Our sense of smell is directly connected to our memories and emotions.  We become deeply and seemingly unreasonably connected to our fragrances.  This is not a problem when your memories are of fresh lilacs in the spring or the smell of mountain air.  But what if your memories are connected to the smell of bleach, pine sol or fabric softener?  You may laugh, it is crazy to think you would be drawn to something chemically created.  But in fact, if there is a vivid memory and emotion connected with a fragrance, the three will become intermingled in your senses and history.

 OK, back to the point of my blog today.... If you buy laundry products with fragrance you are in for more than you bargained for.  The fragrances in detergents, in fabric softeners and dryer sheets are made to linger and embed into your clothes.  This lingering odor is even advertised "your clothes will still "smell" long after they have been washed.  (Smell is my word not the marketers)  The longer you use those products the more likely they will become dear friends with your senses.

    Outside should smell like outside.  Sea breeze, lilacs blooming, pine trees.  We get so used to being surrounded by a false connection to our sense of smell, we no longer distinguish between what has life and what was made in a lab.

   The next time you use a product.  Look a little deeper.  What does it smell like?  Where did that smell come from?  What created that smell?  It the chemistry in this fragrance nurturing or detrimental to your health and the health of the environment?

   Not all fragrances are evil and not all smells are healing.  Learn to listen to your senses and ask questions.

As always, wishing you a happy, healthy and healing home,
              Denise

Mind your head

  

    Mind your head.  What does "mind your head" mean?  It means to be present and thoughtful.

   Our lives are more connected now than ever before.  What I do, what I eat, where I go and how I live affects more than just me.

  If I'm distracted and mindlessly throw away a plastic bottle, maybe it finds its way into the waters of Puget sound.  It might wanders through the sea and end up in Scotland.  If I'm lucky, someone in Scotland will gather up my plastic bottle and have it recycled.  But wouldn't it have been better if I never threw it away?

   We are connected and we are all responsible for the environment in which we live, mainly our planet. It is home to us all.  

   As I look out my window, the sun is shining.  I can count maybe 12 trees from where I sit.  Can you imagine a world where the birds didn't sing in the spring, the grass didn't grow and the trees didn't leaf out?  Unimaginable!

   When we are sick we look close to home, what we eat and drink.  We search out our homes- looking to create homes healing and nurturing, free of stress and toxins.  We look to our environment- air, water, soil- is it safe?  But do we look close enough and do we look far enough?

  I wonder...

As always, wishing you great travels in your life,

      Denise

Discovering your own natural rhythm

Day 195 of 1000 day journey

     Spring is sprung and life takes on new energy when the sun shines.  A little over a half a year has passed since I started this my 1000 day journey.  I started in the fall, journeyed through the winter and have popped out in spring.  With every season, my own energies shift.  This awareness is key.  In a journey or practice or habit or even a goal, it is essential to be aware and connect with the rhythm and energy of the day. 

   There is a natural order to life, a rhythm, a flow.  Our life is really about circles instead of straight lines.  To connect and use this energy helps whatever you are doing.  It isn't limited to just the seasons.  For centuries farmers tapped into the natural cycle, rhythm and energy of the moon. Planning their planting and harvesting on where the moon cycle was.  This is not news to us but it has stopped being part of our daily lives.  As we move indoors, spending upwards of 90% of our time inside. As we get our food from the grocery isles and not from the dirt.  And as our days are now made up mainly of man made materials, processed foods and florescent lighting, our connection to the natural rhythm and energy of life is diminishing.

When the value of each day is your mindset each and every day, this rhythm becomes your saving grace.  Mondays feel different than Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays are distant cousins.  How I feel on a full moon vs a new moon and what activities I do shifts with our natural cycles instead of against them. 

To find the treasure of each day, means you have to look into the day and realize each day is actually a unique gift.  No two days will ever be the same.  Each day is like a fingerprint or snow flake.  When you find there is a natural circle to each week, each season and each day, then the focus and energy of your days starts to connect naturally.

  My days are so much more productive, enjoyable and energizing when I flow with the natural energies instead of trying to swim upstream.  I find each day a source of inspiration and energy instead of a treadmill of day after day blurring into one big nothing.

At the end of each year, do you feel the time slipped through your fingers?  Time is consistent, it doesn't speed up or slow down.  Learning to connect to this natural rhythm may be the greatest gift of this journey.

  Wishing you all daily blessings on your own journeys,
               Denise

 To follow my 1000 day journey click here
    

Digestion is a practice in mindfulness

   How do you like that title?  "Digestion is a practice in mindfulness".  What to eat, what not to eat, when, how, why.... the questions go on and on.  There are a biz-zillion books on the subject, all with the answer!  Don't eat eggs, eat vegetarian, don't eat any grains, eat meat and no sugar... on and on it goes full of answers, leaving us all in a confused state of where to turn.

   Some of these authors are brilliant, some are really very good at marketing and making money. Most come with a sincere desire to help us all be healthy and vibrant.  But I wonder, how does someone who wrote a book 10 years ago, 3.5 years ago or even last month, know what my body, mind and spirit all need on this given day? How do they know the answers to my body at 11:30am on the 12th day in March, a Wednesday after working physically on Tuesday, but while working in the office today? How do they know I am hoping to mow our lawn in the sunshine this afternoon and last night I had salad for dinner?  I wonder.

   And yet if I pause and look a little deeper, the answers are probably with me always.  It has been my experience that the more I press, push, rush, and stuff the less my body can be heard.  Maybe what my body needs more than reading another book or listening to another's insight is to pause and listen to me.  Maybe less is more- once again.

   Maybe I would be best served by relaxing, breathing, pausing and asking my own body what it wants.  Maybe I need to learn to trust my own voice and insights again.  Maybe, just maybe my body and yours did come with an operators manual - the trick is to be quiet enough to hear it speak.

    As with all answers there are many questions but in a society of rushing, pressing, pushing, and stuffing we could probably all benefit from a good dose of quiet time, of mindful eating and listening and pausing for the answers.

   May you breathe deep and relax into your own answers.
           Happy traveling,
                Denise
 
 

Our body's operating manual

    I have one of those wonderful bodies that is always talking to me.  I may not always understand the message but it is quiet clear there is one!  I used to think my chatting body was somehow damaged or weak.  As I get older and hopefully a bit wiser I understand my body is a miracle and my gift.  We all are living in miracles.
    It would be nice if this living miracle came with a operators manual but it came instead with senses, wisdom, instincts, a natural feedback system and the gift of ongoing change.
    My personal reminder is: When a message appears, may I pause and listen.  May I remember not to judge or jump to conclusions but to pause, breathe, relax and trust that the questions I have always come connected to the answers I need.
    Here is to accepting ourselves at this given moment on this day - no wobbling.
        Denise

Your home is a reflection of yourself

   After 24 years in homes, I have come to many conclusions.  First of all, there is simply no such thing as a perfect home.  There may be perfect moments but a perfect home is a stressful and unattainable goal.  Some homes are full, some are almost empty, some dancing with people, some are peaceful, some are stressed and some are funny but perfect- nope!

    Have you ever heard the expression, "your home is a reflection of yourself"?  This would be like saying I am a little white house, built in the 1960s.  That is silly- of course I'm not a little white house.  Houses give us a reflection of where we are at the present moment.  I do believe our homes can be great teachers.  I can always tell when I'm too busy or too rushed- I start throwing my shoes in my closet.  When I see a pile of heels and laces, it is time to pause and breath! 

    Just like our bodies we are always in search of balance.  Our homes surround us, keep us warm, safe and let us rest.  Our homes are where we can be free to express our lives and enjoy our families and friends.  Sometimes our homes- just like our bodies- get a little out of balance.  They can get stressed and even sick.  Our homes are living structures, there is no such thing as perfection or completion.  They are every changing and in search of balance 

    Growing up we lived on a farm with cattle.  I always found it funny, that when a pen was empty of cattle it would quickly start falling apart.  Homes and pens need life and movement.  Seasons chance, energy changes and our lives change every day.  Using our homes to re-connect to ourselves is one of the simplest ways of finding our balance.  Using clutter clearing as a way to find your personal balance gives you the added benefit of accomplishing your to-do list at the same time!

  If your life or home feels a little out of balance, pause a second and breathe.  You are probably judging your life and home too harshly.  Take a few minutes and clean out a drawer.  The little tiny act of cleaning out often gives us comfort and de-stresses our beings!

Wishing you a home that nurtures and a life that flows with the seasons.
            Denise