Mother’s Day Gift – 25% Off Sacred Glo Candles

While we should be honoring the Mothers of the world every chance we get, the day earmarked to do so officially is right around the corner. So what are you planning on to make the mom in your life Queen for a Day? Gift cards and perfume are nice, but why not give her the priceless gift of peace and serenity?

Gentle relaxation isn’t always easy to wrap. But when it comes to creating a beautiful spa atmosphere for your mother, all that is needed is a little ingenuity, and the ability to listen with your heart. Does she need to find a serene place, away from stress? Or would she benefit from a little spiritual rejuvenation? Perhaps her tired muscles need soothing.

The easiest way to nurture the woman who nurtures you everyday is to create a calming place just for her, using aromatherapy and body lotion candles. Sacred Glo feels so strongly about celebrating the mothers in our life, that through Mother’s Day all of their hand-crafted body lotion massage candles are 25 percent off! USE DISCOUNT CODE: Mother’sDay.

Start with some scented bath salts or essential oil: lavender and chamomile for serenity and relaxation, notes of orange blossom and grapefruit for energy and recharging the mind, or ginger, almond and vanilla to balance the soul. Then, try making a CD of her favorite music for her to relax to, an intensely personal gesture that will truly make her feel special.

Next, choose the body lotion candle that best serves her needs – or try them all for the never-ending spa experience. Choose Sacred Clarity with its light, poetic floral notes and lavender. Or get her Almond Glo, a blend of sweet almond, ginger and golden honey, perfect warm balance for her soul. She can refresh and banish fatigue with Nevis Island Breeze, a light, peppy scent of orange blossom, chamomile and petitgrain.

Sacred Glo’s products are soy bean oil with shea butter, and are completely paraffin free. The wax heats up to only 2 degrees past your body temperature, emits no toxins and burns without any nasty black soot or residue Blow the flame out, and you have a super-smooth, luxurious skin emollient. The glass can be reused.

Sacred Glo’s eco-friendly, luxurious body lotion candles are made of the finest all-natural ingredients to pamper mind, body and spirit – just what she needs this Mother’s Day. Lighten her private spa space, soothe and moisturize her skin, and calm her ills all in one special gift.

Nevis Island Breeze

 If you love the sweet, herbaceous scent of chamomile, it might not just be your pheromones in overdrive. Your body may be trying to tell you something. 

The apple-like smell created by these tiny blossoms has been used to soothe the soul for more than two thousand years. Monks in medieval times cultivated huge beds of chamomile as treatment for the sad and depressed. People would come and lay themselves down in the raised beds and inhale the sweet smell as therapy.

Our predecessors also used chamomile as a strewing herb, casting it along bare floors so that the scent would be released when guests stepped on the blossoms, filling the air with calm.

Today, research has shown that we can use the scent of chamomile for a number of things for mind, body and spirit. Inhaling the smell produced from chamomile, especially when heated in a bath or in candle form, relaxes the mind and body, including all the smooth muscles. It soothes emotions and even calms brain waves.

It eases the emotional highs and lows of both premenstrual syndrome and menopause, and calms menstrual and digestive cramping.

Brewed into a pungent tea, chamomile curbs intestinal upset and nausea, quiets colicky babies and promotes digestion.

Topically in any form, chamomile is a superb anti-inflammatory good for all skin types. It promotes healing, reduces swelling and quiets the pain of bruises. Burns, eczema and even varicose veins reap the benefit. Chamomile in a warm compress over the eyes is not only calming to the spirit, but brings down puffiness.

And in any form, chamomile promotes restful sleep.

You can include chamomile in your relaxation routine by adding a few drops of oil from your Sacred Glo’s lotion  candle to your bath, wrapping the dried herbs in a warm washcloth and placing on your forehead or over your eyes.

Try Sacred Glo’s Nevis Island Breeze, which combines the sweet chamomile with orange blossom and petitgrain for a mind and body-soothing experience.

Mind over matter: Benefits of positive thinking

With crises like the war in Iraq and the nation’s grim financial future looming, we truly live in frightening times. So perhaps there has never been a better opportunity to change our way of thinking than right now.
The power of positive thinking – or, seeing the glass half full rather than half empty – has long been the focus of how-to books and seminars. Not everyone accepts the theory; naysayers dismiss it as nonsense. Yet lately the methodology has been gaining in popularity, thanks in part to recent coverage on talk shows like Oprah Winfrey.

Positive thinking is essentially the mental attitude that anticipates good and successful outcomes of every situation and action, rather than seeing the negative. Proponents of positive thinking methods maintain that whatever the mind expects, it finds. We manifest in our physical body what our mental attitudes are.

No expensive books or seminars are needed to practice positive thinking; however it does take inner work and time. You need to persuade yourself to try it as much as possible to train your mind.

Here are some ways:

Always visualize only favorable situations.

Use positive words, both to others and in your inner dialogue.

Smile more!

Be persistent in trying to find the good in every situation. When a negative though or word enters your mind, push it away with a positive one.

And positive thinking is contagious. We all affect the people we come in contact with everyday, whether it is consciously or not. Don’t you find yourself gravitating towards the positive people in your life and shying a bit from the ones who are always negative? Just like water running downhill, it is passed on and on.

Positive thinking may not change your life immediately, but over time with perseverance you will notice a difference in the lightness of being.

Turning job loss into personal gain

The U.S. Labor Department released a report that showed a loss of over one million jobs in this country. Thousands of people are swamping job fairs trying to find work. Each week, it seems, the Sunday want-ads dwindle.

Necessity being the mother of invention, this is the chance to regroup and reinvent yourself. Find and identify the skills you already possess to launch your own business venture. Harnessing your inner entrepreneur may sound like a daunting task, but as with other journeys in life it starts with the first step.

And that first step, surprisingly, isn’t start-up cash. It is a matter of deciding what you want to do and what you can do. Choosing an idea that combines the two is the key to success with starting a business. And right now, there are several legitimate businesses that you can engage in with very little money up front, that with work and effort can being revenue into your household. We’re not talking about get-rich quick ideas, but ventures that could eventually pay the bills. About.com’s Entrepreneur site lists a few that cost $20 or less at start-up:

1. Webpreneur – Pick a subject that you know a lot about, and then choose affiliate programs to link to for revenue. Domain names and web hosting per year typically cost less than $20 combined.

2. Consulting – Do you know how to do something better than most people? All you have to do is be willing to teach other people to do, or so it for them. And network, network, network.

3. Housesitting – All you need are personal references and an honest, trustworthy demeanor. Charge reasonable rates, and throw in petsitting for free.

4. Desktop publishing – Have computer skills and a sharp eye for design? It’s amazing how many local companies don’t, and look to freelancers for help. Almost no overhead cost. And, you can make yourself a great portfolio at home to showcase your skills.

5. Avon – Don’t laugh, some of these ladies make a pretty penny through word of mouth and foot traffic. It only cost $10 for the sign-up fee and $10 for brochures and samples.

Dedication and a good start-up idea can make this dire unemployment situation a chance to change your life!

Depression and the economy

There is no where to hide from the economic recession. The news coverage of our nation’s grim financial crisis is overwhelming, and signs of people in trouble are everywhere. It is easy to feel hopeless and helpless; the home foreclosure rate is astronomical, unemployment is the highest it has been since 1983, and Wall Street just hit its lowest levels in 12 years. Predictions on the future are bleak.

It is no wonder diagnoses of depression are on the rise.

Millions are homeless and hungry. Nationwide, more than 46 million people have no health insurance, prompting President Obama to deem immediate healthcare reform a fiscal imperative. And according to the American Psychology Association, all of this is causing an increase in people being treated for depression. While a diagnosis of depression may be largely situation due to the current crises, the affliction may be life-long.

Clinical signs of depression include overwhelming feelings of sadness, hopelessness, sleeping too little or too much, mood swings, loss of interest in daily activities and thoughts of death.

When these things occur more than a few days at a time in duration, and interrupt daily living, it is considered major depression and requires physician intervention. Pharmacotherapy and cognitive therapy are two ways doctors treat depression.

Here is a small list of resources / support groups to explore if you or a loved one is suffering from depression:

www.psychfoundation.org
www.healthyminds.org
www.ndmda.org/

Experts do urge people feeling depressed and anxious over the financial crisis to not focus on the big picture – and instead to work on improving their own personal economic environment. Take small steps to save money in the here and now, and find one thing each day to feel hope for, even if it is seemingly insignificant.

As always in times of stress, finding time for relaxation and clearing your mind to accomplish these things is very important. Use of aromatherapy through candles or essential oils and having some quiet time for you can help with this.

Create a lavender haven

Finding pathways to relaxation may not just be important to your sanity, it may be crucial to your physical health and wellbeing. And creating a small haven for yourself once a day, far from the madding crowd, is actually quite simple. It’s as easy as shutting the door, closing out the world for 30 minutes, and surrounding yourself with lavender.

The health benefits of lavender essential oil are many. Its name comes from the Latin “lavare” meaning “to wash,” for its clean aroma. That aroma has long been celebrated for its curious ability to remove nervous tension and ease anxiety. Inhalation of lavender aromatherapy preparations is also connected to reducing pain and body aches, an unfortunate byproduct of stress. It can also help with headache and migraine symptoms like nausea and light sensitivity.

In women, it helps restore hormonal balance, promotes stable mood and increases mental capacity and clarity. A natural sleep aid, lavender’s light aroma is often used for the treatment of insomnia.

But did you know? Simply smelling lavender enhances blood circulation and reduces inflammation and workload in the lungs, helping you breathe better. No wonder holistic medicine practitioners have been using lavender essential oil for years to treat asthma, sinus problems, cold and even flu!

SacredGlo’s Sacred Clarity lotion candles contain a beautiful lavender essential oil blend, and are a fantastic way to jump-start your journey to wellbeing. Here are some other suggestions to create your lavender haven:

Make a 30-minute rule with your family: “This is my time.” No phone, no TV, no interruptions.

Find an area in your home, such as your bedroom or bathroom, where you can close the door and be alone.
Light several lavender-scented candles.

Take a warm, relaxing bath and add a few drops of Sacredglo’s Lavender oil blend to the water.

Rub some lavender into a warm washcloth, and drape over your eyes

Aches and pains? It may be lack of sleep

Let’s face it: there just aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything on our list. Between responsibilities from work and home and added travel time from traffic and other distractions, the day seems to be shrinking. And with our economic downturn of late it has become necessary for many people to put in more hours at work to meet growing financial pressures. Trimming sleep habits and grabbing meals on the go have become standard fare nowadays.

But shaving too much off of the time your body needs to recharge and be ready for the next day’s challenge can cause real physical ailments, like body aches, high blood pressure, weight gain, depression and anxiety. There may also be a link to diabetes mellitus and lack of sleep.

Everyone’s personal sleep needs vary. Healthy adults are physiologically engineered for around 16 hours of wakefulness and activity, with a reciprocal 8 hours of sleep per night. Some people can function on less, while some people seem to need more. With all of life’s many hands pulling at you from different directions, the idea of 8 hours of sleep may sound like a luxury.

Psychologists that specialize in sleep study and sleep disorders may differ in their approaches, but their clinical data all points to the same common culprit: Stress. And while we cannot erase stress from our lives, we must work on finding ways to alleviate it at the end of the day to spare our health, and be able to recharge our sleep banks.

Experts offer some tips to getting a restful sleep:

• Keep a regular sleep/wake schedule, even on off days

• No caffeine 4 to 6 hours before bedtime

• Avoid alcohol and heavy foods right before bed

• Make yourself a haven in your bedroom: eliminate noise, keep it climate-controlled and reduce light

• Try and wake-up without an alarm clock

• Aromatherapy

If you must use sleep aids as a last resort, remember that their intended usage is only for short periods of time. For more information, visit the National Sleep Foundation.