The Nature In Us

Oregano's Many Healthful Uses

2008-12-04T07:51:00.000-05:00

The leaves of various species of oregano (Origanum genus) have been traditionally used for respiratory and digestive system ailments, and as an antiseptic for fighting infection. These uses date back to the famous Greek physician Hippocrates.

Traditionally taken in tea form, oregano has been used to treat colds, flu, fevers, indigestion, gas and bloating and painful menstruation. It is also a mild sedative and can be used to promote sleep.

Because it is both antiseptic and expectorant, oregano is helpful for respiratory infections. This is why it is an important component of Seasonal Defense Formula.

The most popular modern use of oregano is in fighting yeast and fungal infections. The Oregano essential oil has been shown to have anti-fungal properties 100 times more potent than caprylic acid against Candida, mainly due to the presence of carvacrol. Read the entire article.

Frozen Squirrels Survive

2008-12-04T01:46:00.000-05:00

Researchers have discovered a species of mammal that can actually survive being frozen for several weeks.

Scientists were amazed to find that the little Arctic ground squirrel can allow its body to drop to 27 degrees F - that’s five degrees below the freezing point of water - for up to two weeks at a time during its unusual eight-to ten-month hibernation period.

After the two weeks at this very low temperature, the squirrel rouses itself, returns to normal body temperature, takes care of a few bathroom duties, and then returns to a state of nearly frozen hibernation for another two weeks.

The squirrel usually comes out of hibernation for its short summer in June. It has only two or three months before the ground freezes again and it returns to hibernation, so the squirrel is very busy eating and mating for two short months. You could say that the Arctic ground squirrel sleeps most of its life away.

Scientists say that the Arctic ground squirrel is the only mammal that is able to allow its body temperature to fall below freezing.

Source: Creation Moments.

Your Amazing Brain

2008-12-03T08:21:00.003-05:00

by Donna L. Watkins

I've read a fascinating book that held a lot more than what the title implies. Not only did it give me a detailed view of how our brain functions, but an amazing appreciation for what it accomplishes and makes of my life. And much of that is based on my own control through my choice of thoughts.

© 2008 Donna L. Watkins - Female Pileated Woodpecker Feeding Her Young

Jill Bolte Taylor was a 37-year-old Harvard-trained and published brain scientist when a blood vessel exploded in her brain. Through the eyes of a curious neuroanatomist, she watched her mind completely deteriorate whereby she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. Because of her understanding of how the brain works, her respect for the cells composing her human form, and an amazing mother, Jill completely recovered her mind, brain and body.

In My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey, Jill shares with us her recommendations for recovery and the insight she gained into the unique functions of the right and left halves of her brain. Having lost the categorizing, organizing, describing, judging and critically analyzing skills of her left brain, along with its language centers and thus ego center, Jill’s consciousness shifted away from normal reality.

In the absence of her left brain’s neural circuitry, her consciousness shifted into present moment thinking whereby she experienced herself “at one with the universe.” That place of peace we reach when we still the brain chatter and tune into God.

Based upon her academic training and personal experience, Jill helps others not only rebuild their brains from trauma, but helps those of us with normal brains better understand how we can ‘tend the garden of our minds’ to maximize our quality of life.

It's the essence of spirituality. Our free will of choosing what to think and believe. Choosing who we are by the thoughts we choose to think.

Jill pushes the envelope in our understanding about how we can consciously influence the neural circuitry underlying what we think, how we feel, and how we react to life’s circumstances. Jill teaches us through her own example how we might more readily exercise our own right hemispheric circuitry with the intention of helping all human beings become more humane. “I believe the more time we spend running our deep inner peace circuitry, then the more peace we will project into the world, and ultimately the more peace we will have on the planet.”

She has a website with forums for people who want to build a community around the ideas presented in Jill's best-selling book. Various forums are available for people who have experienced stroke or other medical issues first-hand or through a loved one; another forum focuses on techniques for how to achieve a balanced brain; and yet another allows people to share their stories of insight and the life lessons they have learned.

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey is a New York Times Bestseller and is published by Viking Penguin Group. It is available in hardcover, audio, and large-print edition. Foreign editions are also available and published in the UK, Germany, Brazil, Holland, and France. Other translations are scheduled to be published in 2009.

Copyright and Reprint Information
The photo(s) and article are copyrighted. You may use either or both of them on a website if you include the following credit and an active link back to this site:
© 2008 Donna L. Watkins - This article was reprinted with permission from TheNatureInUs.com.
Link URL is: http://www.TheNatureInUs.com

American Food Fertilized With Melamine

2008-12-02T08:45:00.004-05:00

James E. McWilliams, a history professor at Texas State University at San Marcos, points out in a New York Times article, there’s plenty of undetected melamine circulating around in the American food system, thanks to lack of regulation and testing. He explains:

"Fertilizer companies commonly add melamine to their products because it helps control the rate at which nitrogen seeps into soil, thereby allowing the farmer to get more nutrient bang for the fertilizer buck. But the government doesn’t regulate how much melamine is applied to the soil. This melamine accumulates as salt crystals in the ground, tainting the soil through which American food sucks up American nutrients."

More ominous, the United States imports most of its wheat gluten. Last year, for instance, the F.D.A. reported that millions of Americans had eaten chicken fattened on feed with melamine-tainted gluten imported from China. Around the same time, Tyson Foods slaughtered and processed hogs that had eaten melamine-contaminated feed. The government decided not to recall the meat.

Only a week earlier, however, the F.D.A. had announced that thousands of cats and dogs had died from melamine-laden pet food. This high-profile pet scandal did not prove to be a spur to reform so much as a red herring. Our attention was diverted to Fido and away from the animals we happen to kill and eat rather than spoil.

Be informed with this website providing news articles on melamine contamination of our food supply. You might want to begin gardening not only because of the cost of produce, but for your health of your family.

FDA Scientists Report Corruption

2008-12-02T08:09:00.000-05:00

A group of scientists working for the FDA have come forward, in a letter, against their corrupt managers, accusing them of committing crimes with this statement, "There is extensive documentary evidence that managers at CDRH have corrupted and interfered with the scientific review of medical devices."

These scientists also report, "It is evident that managers at CDRH have deviated from FDA's mission to identify and address underlying problems with medical devices before they cause irreparable harm, and this deviation has placed the American people at risk."

Congressman John Dingell, chairman of the committee which received the letter, made a statement that you can read here.

The NY Times has reported this story: F.D.A. Scientists Accuse Agency Officials of Misconduct

Pet Stress-Reducing Tips For The Holidays

2008-12-02T07:39:00.000-05:00

From Healthy Pet Newsletter

The upcoming season presents numerous instances for increased anxiety during a flurry of holiday-related activities. As you’ve probably seen time and time again, your sweet companions can be rattled by your own elevated levels of stress. Fortunately, there are some specific steps you can take to cope with the demands for your time and energies, to make the holidays merry for you and your pets.

Be sure to plan ahead, to reduce the likelihood of last-minute decisions, which often infuse activities with an unnecessary sense of urgency.

Take advantage of online shopping, so you don’t have to leave your companion animals alone for extended periods of time. And try to take care of multiple errands during each trip. You’ll not only save gas (and therefore, money), you’ll also spend less time away from home.

Consider planning more events at home, so your companion animals can be a part of the celebration. If you plan to have many visitors in your home, consider keeping your dog on lead inside the house. You’ll be able to keep an eye on her or him at all times, reducing the likelihood of possible injury amidst a gaggle of unfamiliar feet. Additionally, keeping them close-by may reduce your pet’s level of stress. Alternatively, if you have an anxiety-prone dog or cat, consider confining them to a safe zone (like a bedroom, or even their crate) for the duration of in-home celebrations.

Leave a note on the front door reminding visitors not to allow your pet to run out of the house. Nothing puts a damper on festivities like turning a holiday party into a search party.

To cope with heightened expectations of visiting family members, take time to consider how you might simplify the preparation and execution of seasonal parties and gatherings. For example, instead of a menu of eight items, prepare only five. Or, combine family and colleague get-togethers. By simplifying, you’ll help to eliminate some performance pressure off yourself, and thereby, your whole family.

Don’t try to do everything yourself, but rather assign specific tasks to other family members, even your children. You may be surprised at how seriously they take on the new responsibilties, and they’ll learn a lot in the process.

Remember that nothing is perfect – striving for perfection in all of your celebrations can have the unfortunate effect of increasing stress, not only for you, but for the rest of your family.

By implementing just a few of these measures, you can reduce stress for you and your companion animals.

Source: Healthy Pet Newsletter.

Help For Caregivers

2008-12-01T07:50:00.000-05:00

A new resource is available at the Ask Medicare website. Launched by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the site includes information on navigating through Medicare, health care services, links to partner organizations that assist caregivers, and personal caregiver anecdotes. Visit now.

Green Resources

2008-12-01T00:21:00.000-05:00

Jetson Green provides a links resource list a mile long. If you're looking for green info on building, design, daily living and more, visit now.

GM Crops Threaten Human Fertility and Health

2008-11-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

A long-term feeding study commissioned by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, managed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health, Family and Youth, and carried out by Veterinary University Vienna, confirms genetically modified (GM) corn seriously affects reproductive health.

Non-GMO advocates, who have warned about this infertility link along with other health risks, now seek an immediate ban of all GM foods and GM crops to protect the health of humankind and the fertility of women around the world. Read the entire article.

What we can do is simply try to avoid the GMO contaminants altogether and be extremely vigilant of how we spend our money and which companies we are choosing to support. Read five simple and effective ways to decrease your contact with untested, toxic and dangerous GMOs.

Choosing A Tankless Hot Water Heater

2008-11-30T03:54:00.000-05:00

Tankless water heaters, also known as "demand" or "instantaneous" water heaters, are indeed very efficient. In fact, they're up to 34 percent more energy efficient than storage tank heaters, because tankless heaters heat water as needed, unlike conventional storage heaters that heat water and store it in a tank where it cools and is reheated over and over until you get around to using it. That standby heat loss can account for up to 9 percent of your water-heating costs.

This says nothing of tankless heaters' water efficiency—particularly important when so much of our country is experiencing drought. According to a study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, households waste 6.35 gallons of water a day just waiting for water to heat up. Tankless heaters can deliver steaming hot water in as little as five seconds, as opposed to 30 seconds or more with storage tanks. Learn what steps to take to determine which one to choose.

Relief For Bad Knees

2008-11-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

Arthroscopic surgery may be no better than nonsurgical treatment to relieve arthritic pain in the knee, concludes a study in the Sept. 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers treated 178 people who had moderate to severe chronic knee pain with both physical therapy and medications such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen; 86 participants also had arthroscopic surgery. After two years, both groups reported nearly the same levels of pain, disability and stiffness.

“Exercise, weight loss, physical therapy and over-the-counter pain medications are first-line alternatives to surgery,” says John H. Wilckens, M.D., an orthopedist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Arthroscopy may provide some benefit to a very select group.”

Source: AARP article.

Dog and Cat Holiday Gifts

2008-11-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

Our Healthy Pet Net website has some great gift baskets for dogs and cats.

The gift packages include toys and treats. Something for under the tree for your special furr balls ... or maybe a grandpuppy or sponsored pet.

I wouldn't put them out until you've got the tree area under supervision. The aroma may get your furr friend a bit too anxious. Patience is not generally a pet virtue.

View gift options.

Evolution vs Creation

2008-11-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

Some time ago, a news article described how scientists had studied the genetic material of a magnolia leaf that supposedly died 20 million years ago.

It might seem amazing that scientists would be able to duplicate the genetic material of a fossil, but the technique does seem to work. However, we reject the 20 million year date in favor of a biblical history of life on Earth. In fact, what scientists found out about this leaf supports the biblical history.

The genetic information in living things contains the instructions for making that living thing. The color of your hair, eyes, skin, your height and all of your other features are contained in your genetic information. Scientists are not able to read that information in all its detail, but they can tell the difference between one kind of creature and another. They can also compare similarities and differences in great detail.

When they compared this supposedly 20 million year old magnolia leaf to modern magnolia leaves, they discovered that even in its genetic detail it was virtually identical to the modern magnolia. Scientists freely admit their surprise. No evolution had taken place!

As science increases its ability to study the genetics of ancient creatures, it will continue to fail to find evidence of evolution. That’s because all creatures were originally created in finished form, according to their kinds, just as the Bible says.

Source: Creation Moments.

Detoxing The Bathroom For Health

2008-11-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

Rub a dub dub, what's that in your tub? Soap scum may be annoying, but it's not as gross as what's in some common bathroom cleaners. And since skin-care and hair-care products aren't always quite as beautiful as they appear on the surface, we'll show you what look out for in those products, too. Get tips from the entire article.

Grieving For The Planet

2008-11-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

by Annie B. Bond

I am a bleeding heart when it comes to the Earth. I well up with tears when I see a deer dead on the side of the road, when I see a pond choked with algae from fertilizer runoff, when I hear of a newborn whale too entangled in plastic to drink its mother’s milk, when I think of polar bear cubs drowning without icecaps, when I think of maple trees dying.

The truth is, my grief about the disintegrating environment is overwhelming sometimes, it just seeps out of me. This must be what it means to be a bleeding heart. You feel like you are losing your life blood about something.

I am not sure how to manage the grief I feel for dying trees, when I hear that the songbird population is dwindling. It crushes my heart so that I can hardly breathe.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross introduced the five stages of grief as a way to help in the process of recovery from terrible loss. When it comes to the losses on the Earth I have long since evolved past the first stage, the denial stage. The “this can’t be happening,” stage. H-e-l-l-o. I read the newspapers and witness the destruction with my own eyes. I’ve also gotten past the anger stage, the “I can’t accept this” stage. I made that transition when I went from the rage I felt from being poisoned by pesticides that were so neurotoxic they were eventually taken off the market, to wanting to help others avoid being damaged by the accepted policy of putting products on the market until they are proven unsafe. I will forever be a proponent of The Precautionary Principle.

OK, so what about the third stage, the bargaining stage? In the case of the Earth, maybe the bargaining stage manifests in haggling with a school board to stop toxic VOC use in the schools, or with a neighbor to stop spraying their lawn with herbicides. I am not sure I am over this stage, because I know every little bit helps, and I will speak up when I am threatened or asked to help, yet in the end the greenhouse gases relentlessly keep growing and the haggling didn’t really make much difference.

I presume I am at least partially in the fourth stage, the depression stage, hence my need to share my feelings in this forum. I dip in and out of this. “We’re not going to be able to fix it, so give up.” Actually, I never dip into the “give up” part, so maybe I am not as depressed as I thought. Actually, that isn’t true. I am very depressed when I see a well-intentioned mom put toxic insect repellent on her child thinking she is doing the right thing. I am very depressed when I see politicians blindly squander our Earth’s resources, all for money in the now, not thinking of the future.

And the fifth stage of recovery from grief, acceptance? I wonder if I will ever be able to accept how human beings are degrading the Earth. But I know someone who has reached that high pinnacle of grief and been able to move on productively. I once went to hear the primatologist Jane Goodall speak. If anybody knows about the grief felt because of humans’ impact on the Earth, it must be her. How can she bear it when she hears about her beloved chimpanzee’s being slaughtered? How can she stand to hear about the bushmeat trade? When someone in the audience asked that question, she answered, “I just do the best I can every day.”

I had placed that quote on my desk for a number of years. I need to put it back, so I, too, can remind myself to just do the best I can for our planet. Every day.

Annie asked others to share how they cope with this difficult time in history. Read those comments here.

© This article is copyrighted by the author.

Green Wikia vs Wikipedia

2008-11-27T06:48:00.000-05:00

Green Wikia strives to become a trusted central place to share our growing and evolving body of knowledge about environmental topics and issues with people who want to inform themselves and live in a more sustainable way. The community also believes that the threats to our environment are real and that they require action.

Green Wikia content differs from that on Wikipeda in three main ways:

* The content is written from a green point of view.
* The content is focused on things you can do.
* The content is more accessible and relevant to an average reader.

Take a look.

Fight The Flu

2008-11-26T07:10:00.002-05:00

The flu strikes up to one-fifth of Americans each year, according to the National Institutes of Health. A yearly flu vaccine may help you dodge the dreaded virus, but gentle herbs and supplements also offer targeted prevention.

Remedy	How it works	Dose
Beta-carotene	Feeds the mucous membranes so they can better slough off viral invaders in the nose.	Drink an 8-ounce glass of beta-carotene-rich carrot juice daily. Or take an antioxidant formula with 10,000 IUs beta-carotene every day.
Echinacea	Boosts the immune system, preparing it for battle against viruses.	Take two dropperfuls of a tincture combination of Echinacea angustifolia and E. purpurea every 2-3 hours the first day you start feeling sick. If you don't feel better the next morning, resume dosing.
Rosehips	Strengthens immunity with antioxidant properties.	To make a tea, steep 2 tablespoons of dried rosehips in a cup of boiling water for 10 minutes. Drink a couple of times a day during flu season.
Vitamin C	Decreases oxidative stress on cells, making them more resistant to viral intruders.	During flu season, take 1,000 mg three times a day. Choose a supplement with bioflavonoids, which increase C's efficacy.
Zinc	Works similarly to vitamin C.	Take 30 mg a day during flu season.

Consult your health care practitioner for advice before taking any supplement.

Source: Delicious Living

Death In The Garden

2008-11-26T06:50:00.000-05:00

If life draws us into the garden, death—not to be too dramatic about it—waits there too. That’s part of the gardener’s education. Take leaves, for instance.

As the great Brit Graham Stewart Thomas wrote, with admirable English restraint, “If you garden hand in hand with leaves — either green and growing or brown and decaying — you will find gardening much easier.”

Blazing autumn colors reflect exposed sugars and carbs that leaves were producing all summer under their cloak of chlorophyll. When they fall, bacteria and fungi break it all back down into basic nutrients of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (the iconic N-P-K you see on fertilizer bags) that complete the cycle by replenishing the plants that produced them. Read the entire article.

Rosehips For Osteoarthritis

2008-11-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

Powder made from rosehips is more effective at reducing osteoarthritis pain than Tylenol, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of California, and Fredericksburg Hospital, Copenhagen University Library and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and published in the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis - painful joint inflammation - and is believed to be triggered by injury to cartilage. Rheumatoid arthritis, a different condition, occurs when the body's immune system attacks its own joint tissue. An estimated 21 million people in the United States alone suffer from osteoarthritis, with studies suggesting that nearly 50 percent of the population will experience symptoms of the disease by age 65, while 80 percent will have asymptomatic arthritis.

Researchers reviewed the results of three prior studies on a total of 287 patients and found that after an average of three months, powdered rosehip was nearly three times more effective at reducing osteoarthritis pain than paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen and marketed as Tylenol, Panadol, Anacin-3, Tempra and Datril. Combinations of paracetamol with other drugs are also sold under a variety of brand names.

Rosehip was also 40% more effective than the common alternative osteoarthritis remedy glucosamine.

Read the entire article.
Purchase Rosehips in capsules.

How to Help a Smelly Dog

2008-11-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

Does your dog smell wet even when he’s not? Is the odor getting worse? Does the odor return even after bathing? If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” read on for the causes and solutions by Amy Shojai in New Choices in Natural Healing for Dogs and Cats (Rodale, 1999) to help keep your dog from smelling like stinky old socks. Read the entire article.

My Recommended Product Suggestions On Article:

Flint River Ranch Oven-Baked Pet Foods have never had a recall.
Liquid Chlorophyll
Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids
Sunshine Concentrate For Baths

Stop Smoking Drug Risks Suicide

2008-11-24T06:40:00.000-05:00

the popular anti-smoking drug Chantix has been linked to an elevated risk of suicide. This warning comes months after the FDA first expressed concerns over the psychiatric effects of the drug.

Chantix helps people quit smoking by simulating the effects of nicotine in the brain, while at the same time making real nicotine less effective. As early as November 2007, the FDA warned that many people were experiencing changes in emotions and behavior, including depression and suicidal thoughts, within weeks or even days of starting the drug. By February, the agency had strengthened its message, saying, "it appears increasingly likely that there may be an association between Chantix and serious neuropsychiatric symptoms."

At least 40 cases of suicide and another 400 attempted suicides have been reported among those taking Chantix.

Read the entire article.
Quit smoking with herbs: Lobelia.

Video: Bee On A Sedum Flower

2008-11-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

What fun I have working on the screened porch. When I need a visual break from the computer, I walk a few steps to the deck to watch the butterflies and bees busy about their own work. This video shows the bee drinking nectar and also cleaning up while looking at my camera lens only 2 inches away. The audio from the forest provides the soothing backdrop of birds busy with their vocalizations. The crows sound like monkeys. View Bee Video.

Making Life Changes

2008-11-23T07:23:00.001-05:00

by Donna L. Watkins

When I met my sweet husband in 1976, I was working for IBM in Atlanta in the Sales Training Center. He came for a series of classes and swept me off my feet.

© 2008 Donna L. Watkins - Baby Bunny In The Woods
That was no easy task since I had always said I would never marry. Regardless, our first date was in November and we were married by April of the following year. Don't you love making 180 degree turns in life?

Randal was more career-oriented than I. My life choices were generally made from the heart, rather than from the mind or any structure of climbing corporate ladders. So, I decided I would be the one to move since I had lived in various states and Randal had lived in Oklahoma all his life.

Looking back it seems it was much easier to make life changes in younger years. Do you find that so? I have always enjoyed change to the point where I will rearrange drawers or cabinets just for a different look, not to mention furniture. When I discovered I was pregnant, my brain couldn't quite comprehend the amount of change that would bring, and having a tendency towards perfectionism, I knew I would insist on being an at-home mom. I was raised with a mom at home so to me it was right, although I also knew I was a high achiever and would need some kind of work to keep my brain stimulated and my administrative skills challenged.

Things I became involved in turned into a home business and being into natural foods, I also started food co-ops where ever we moved, so I flowed along creating our lifestyle around home and family, which included home schooling. Many choices, decisions and change of directions ... and then ... it was all over. Benjamin was grown and had moved out of state and we filled the empty moments with a new business venture of transferring our business from retail to an online environment. We stayed busy since we didn't know how to adapt to life without Ben. He was an ADHD profile so life was always high energy and challenging with his brilliant mind keeping us on our toes. It was good to have the challenge of The Herbs Place online development and then created Healthy Pet Corner as an outlet for our love of pets.

Being on a roll with major lifestyle changes, we made a move further north out of the heat of Alabama as we'd often talked about, and settled in Virginia. The area around Charlottesville is lovely and bucolic in many ways. A sense of true beauty for the soul rests upon me any time I drive anywhere. Although we down-sized greatly, I love my home, and we've worked hard to have what friends call a "lush garden" focused on attracting birds and wildlife.

My visual views are surrounded by beauty most of the year, but for 5 months, when the leaves are gone, we view a shopping center that's yards behind our home. Worse than that we're in a wooded community of 4400 homes and we've been battling for years to save the deer, which some homeowners want killed because they can't grow hostas, daylilies and rose bushes. It appears a decision is imminent on the deer kill, even though surveys have showed there's no overpopulation, disease, accidents, or any valid reason.

My Daddy used to say, "Let it roll of you like water off a duck's back." I've seen ducks dive and come back up with water just disappearing from their backs. It's such a fascinating thing to see and I've certainly wished my Faith level trusted God more and what I could do in such situations a lot less. But my Daddy also knew that I was high-strong and a high achiever and if there was something to be done or accomplished, I was in the heat of the battle working away.

That went well in my younger years ... with some health issues aggravated by stress, it doesn't work well. My husband's a duck. Not a drop of water on his back. Don't we generally marry the opposites? God gives us the half we're missing so we can both work towards middle ground. I'm definitely a dog in the rivers of life. I get saturated with whatever I'm wading in, and although I come out desperate to shake it all off, I still end up wet, dripping and bedraggled over issues I am passionate about.

As my body has slowed down with arthritis, I didn't have the resilience I once had, I misplaced the strong confidence I once carried around, and settled into this rut of a lovely place with wonderful neighbors and a husband happy with what he's involved in. But no matter how much you try to convince yourself that life is okay, to "be content with such things as you have," it doesn't work when it goes against your purpose and passions of life that God placed within. God created us uniquely and we're not from a mold.

I ask myself, 'If I can't have what I want, can I learn to be challenged by what I have?' High achievers have high expectations of themselves. It's part of their toolkit for God's plan in their lives, but it's often misunderstood as lack of contentment, or misused in being performance driven for self-esteem.

I'm naturally wired to plan, organize and administrate. I see details, so it's harder for me to ignore the environment around me. It all jumps and squirms in front of me begging for attention and some kind of order that aligns with my own values and desires. I realized the health issues were a result of my lifestyle choices. I may mental process it as okay not to live out my purpose, but inwardly, physiologically, my body is portraying the truth.

I've been reading, How Much Is Enough? Harness the Power of Your Money Story - And Change Your Life, by Pamela York Klainer. It's a book about money, but I thought I might get other direction from it since our lives tend to revolve around money decisions. In it she mentions:

"A big part of happiness is a sense of "fit" between you and the world around you. If you don't have that sense of fit, you're probably not happy and need to consider a change - even if a legion of others would give a lot to be where you are, and even if you hear voices in the background telling you you're an ungrateful wretch." Hang On To Passion!

God places desire in our hearts and when it stays steady and doesn't move no matter how much you pray to be somebody different, you've got the wrong prayer and wrong focus on life. Most of us don't trust our emotions or intuitions or dreams. If you've been a mom and wife for a long period of time, you're used to sacrificing and after awhile, it's a behavior pattern rather than a need, Sometimes people get into those roles because they need to be needed, but then do not feel appreciated no matter how much they do. Anybody there? If you're dissatisfied with what you do, you may not be doing what God's called you to do. Many times we have the answer at our fingertips but we won't consider the options.

It's never too late to change. Klainer, who began indoor rock climbing at 50, has this to say:

"You can't launch and hold on at the same time. You can easily get to the top of a beginner climbing wall keeping three points of contact with the wall at all times and stretching the other hand or foot until you grasp the next hold ... there will come a point at which you have to let go of two or even three points of contact with the wall. For an instant, it's like being poised in thin air. Then, counter to the pull of gravity, you thrust your body upward or sideways to grab the next set of holds ... You have to plot your course, and come up with a reasonable plan. Then, when you're ready, you have to let go of what you know - move counter to the pull of all the built-up expectations that hold you where you are - and go for it ... The goal is not to avoid falling, but to master how to fall and recover without hurting yourself."

If we get stuck in a life situation or health problem because we haven't recovered from a fall, it doesn't have to be lifelong. We can always recreate our life and begin afresh. It doesn't seem that way since it's easy to box ourselves up and see no way out even though the windows and doors are not locked around us. They may appear to be, but God always has a window of fresh air and hope for all who look to Him. Within us we know what we must do, but, like me, maybe you feel like you're not worth the trouble. Why should I expect to live out my passion and purpose if it means too much change, not only for me, but for others. It affects our husbands and sometimes other family members, but high achievers can also become overly responsible people, expecting so much more of themselves than anybody or God could ever want.

Whether it's age, health problems, loss, or grieving about the past, we don't have to slow down as we age. We don't have to let go of dreams, desires and passions for life. It's only the devil who would agree with that because his job is to discourage us and prevent us from being all that God placed within us to be. God is always saying, "Come!" There's more ahead. You're future is not bleak. The choice is yours!

"The last of the human freedoms is to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances." — Victor Frankl: was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist

Anybody been here? Share with us how you broke through your old messages and replaced them with new ones. That's what the comments area is for below. You will encourage somebody else to step forward.

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