Ronda Snow's Blog, page 19

Merry Monday : Rain

 

This is one of those Monday’s where it’s less merry and more meh…but this is exactly where the rubber meets the road with this kind of exercise. It is about finding little delights and simple pleasures even when you are just not feeling it. All along in doing this, it has been a temptation to go for the big and the obvious. Of course I take inspiration from the big things: family, love, compassion, nature, spirituality. Aren’t we all? That is an everyday constant. The Merry Monday project is about finding simple comfort in the small and inconspicuous as well as the big, profound and obvious.

I’m not feeling it this morning, and was pretty close to one of those “I got nothin’” moments.

So I’m going with what is right out my window – how’s that for obvious? It’s raining.

I personally love rain. I prefer cool mist to heat and humidity almost any day. Sunshine and blue skies are great, and we all need those kinds of days too – but sometimes, just sometimes, a nice coincidence will happen and the weather will match your mood. Some “meh” Mondays are really well suited to rain, and it’s gentle, soothing, comforting energy.

Whatever the weather where you are, I wish you a Merry Monday – even if it comes with a healthy dose of meh too.

Tarot for Mother’s Day

Love, Light and well wishes to everyone of any gender who cares for the little ones among us :)

Queen of Wands:
The best way to take care of others is to make yourself strong, healthy and well in mind body and spirit

(From #PeaceTarot by Ronda Snow, all rights reserved)

Allergy Add-ons

Sigmund Freud would have a field day with this: I’m all into natural health, but at the same time have pretty hefty pollen allergies. Like many people, they are better now that my immune system is heading into middle age, but they are still a nuisance on lawn care days, especially now that other medicine interactions don’t allow me to take much for them, natural or otherwise.

But over the years I’ve learned there are some non-medicine, non-herb things that can help make allergies more livable, or help to get more milage out of whatever herbs or medications you use. Of  course, you have to take your individual situation into account, and avoid any of this that doesn’t fit your individual situation.

Food: Any quercitin and flavanoid rich food can help by reducing inflammation. Garlic, onions, olive oil, grapes, tea, blackberries, and blueberries are tasty, classic examples. Who wouldn’t want plenty of these, especially in the summer? My kitchen comes to a screeching halt without EVOO, garlic and onions any time of year.

Supplements: I’ll leave herbs like stinging nettle, ginko, astragalus and melissa for the herbalists…or at least for another post.

Be a Geek: When I was a kid, allergies were often associated with the nerd stereotype of the glasses wearing intellectual who stayed indoors most of the time (Hey! I resemble that remark). No, I’m not giving you permission to skip the workout…but if the only time you can exercise is morning and evening when pollen counts are highest, you might want to consider a nice, indoor air conditioned alternative if you can find it. Avoiding the thing that gives you an allergic reaction is a legit strategy. When that thing is teeny tiny and all through the air, why not get into an air conditioned place where the air is filtered as much as you can?

Water: Keeping things vacuumed, and washed up can help as much with pollen allergies as it does dust mite allergies. If pollen isn’t sitting there on your mucus membranes, it can’t wreak havoc on them. A 2005 study by Satomura et al (as reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine abstract on PubMed) showed that plain water gargles reduced colds in the general population. It would stand to reason that a practice of hand washing and plain water gargles every time you come in from outdoors would help reduce the amount of pollen load much the same as it would help in reducing virus exposure, although,to my knowledge,  there hasn’t been any specific studies to that effect (anyone need a dissertation topic?). Ayerveda, Indian traditional medicine has used this same principle for, well, ever. Neti Pots have long been an allergy sufferer’s friend. It uses a mild salt or herb solution poured through the nose with a small pot, like a teapot, sized and designed especially for this use. How to use a Neti Pot is a little outside of this post, but it is easy enough to find information online, from a natural health practitioner, or even some yoga professionals.

It’s that simple. For some people, it may be enough. All of outdoors isn’t the enemy, a little good food and a good rinse can help us get along with all those green things out there.

Additional Reading:

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/features/relieve-allergies-natural-way

http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/quercetin

Tao Tuesday: Chapter 47

Every Tuesday, Amy Putkonen posts a chapter from her excellent version of the Tao Te Ching with a link to her commentary about the chapter. She kindly invites other bloggers to writer commentary and post links to them. If you would like to post a commentary, please link to Amy’s page and then put a link to your post with the Mr. Linky widget at the bottom of her page. That puts all the posts in one easy place for all to read. Amy is also working on a series about the I Ching (Book of Changes) that is just as delightful as her work with the Tao Te Ching. You might want to subscribe to her blog so you don’t miss out on those posts, if you are interested.

One can understand the world

without stepping out the door.

One can understand Heaven

without looking out the window.

The further one goes,

the less they know.

The sage knows without moving,

understands without seeing,

and acts without doing.

- See more at: http://taotechingdaily.com/tao-tuesdays-chapter-47/#sthash.x7utbzFj.dpuf

 

This chapter reminds me of an experience I had a few years ago. My husband and I play Taijiquan, and we were fortunate to be at the Taste of China finale for a few of the seminars. I was like a kid in a candy store going to lectures by Yang Jwing Ming and a meditation session with Shoyu Liang. I don’t remember the particulars, but was listening to my husband, our teacher Master Gracenin,Dr. Yang and Master Liang having a fascinating, wide ranging conversation. At one point, they briefly on the influence Taoism has in Tai Chi and all the Chinese martial art styles…in a general way. (Nothing like listening to a table full of sages, made my day!). I forget the particulars but Master Liang said two words that were an epiphany…”It’s obvious”.

Taoism is obvious. It is transparent. “It is what it is” Taoism is a diamond sitting in the middle of a dirt road for all to see.

Now juxtapose that to another conversation, where someone close to me was taking classes to convert to Roman Catholicism. They were so bright, shining, and obviously loved it. Respect to that. In their enthusiasm to support me, they said “if you like that kind of thing, why don’t you dig deeper, and really study it”

It’s hard to put this idea into words, but it is like an inverse proportionality in math. In some spiritual practices, the deeper you dig, the larger the ideas become, the more liberating it is. It is almost a bottom up structure. Taoism has it’s biggest, most liberating ideas on the surface, no digging required. It is like a top down structure. Both ways are good and fine, just different organizationally. When you dig deep in Taoism you get detail, but not the grandness. With dogmatic philosophies, you start with the detail and dig down to the grandness.

Because the most essential, the largest ideas of Taoism are at the surface, easy and obvious for all to see, which allows for us all to be sages:

The sage knows without moving,

understands without seeing,

and acts without doing.

 

Merry Monday: Naps

 

Let’s be honest. Some days the fuel tank is just on low. It happens. It’s one of the down sides to being human…we have to stop doing stuff and sleep. Not getting enough sleep is a bad idea. Some studies suggest insufficient sleep can do everything from make you absent minded, get you into accidents and  to make you fat. Or at least thwart your efforts at a healthier lifestyle. Studies or not, the less sleep I get the bigger my sweet tooth grows. And I get really cranky. Two year olds don’t have an exclusive on that market. Insufficient sleeps also makes you more vulnerable to feeling stressed, and the adverse effects stress can have. Nothing good about that.

From a holistic perspective, it’s about time science caught up to common sense in that regard.

And no, drinking caffiene isn’t the solution in the long term. That’s a recipe for either for addiction, an upset stomach or some would say “adrenal burn out” (from a functional/naturopathic point of view)

Personally, I just love the stuff…taste, aroma, and general joy of drinking coffee that is…but that’s another Monday

There is no real substitute for a good night’s sleep. But life being what it is, sometimes that just doesn’t happen. When it doesn’t – power naps to the rescue! Progressive employers, especially those who rely on employees creativity and problem-solving will even nod to a nap…like the famous Google nap rooms. And remember those Crab Captains who are so fun to watch? According to one of my other all-time favorite shows, Mythbusters, napping is part of crab boat routine to keep the crew sharp and lessen the chances of mistakes and accidents.

Around 20 minutes is considered optimum. You get rest, but aren’t so groggy and slow to wake if you have to get right back to work. I know, I know, even that isn’t possible for everyone. If napping just isn’t an option, at least try to get to enough sleep MOST nights.

Meanwhile…I’ll see you in about 20 minutes.

 

Merry Monday!

 

Sources:

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/10-results-sleep-loss?page=3

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/lack-of-sleep-weight-gain

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/adult-health/in-depth/napping/art-20048319

Spring and Summer Hours

May and June are shaping up to be pretty crazy. I have GOT to strike a better balance between family, writing, and blogging. Here is my best solution for the moment…

 

Blog posts will be weekends and Wednesdays, with Modern Oracle Tarot and RondaSnow.com getting priority.
E-mail Tarot readings are still 24/7, no appointment needed and get priority over in-person appointments. Click here to order
“Gift Exchange” special for email readings has been extended to the end of June…a reading is my gift to you, but if it helps you, I hope you’ll consider sending a gift to rondajsnow@gmail.com via https://www.paypal.com/be/webapps/mpp/send-money-online.
In-person readings, party entertainment, Mini Spa Home Visits * and holistic health work are all still available by appointment only in the Pittsburgh, PA area, but with a reduced number of appointments available mid May through mid June.

Please CONTACT ME  for any questions or to schedule

 

*Mini Spa Home visits include a 7 card Tarot reading, aromatherapy “aura spray”, and your choice of either a Reiki chair session or Bead Meditation Tutorial

 

All readings, tutorials, Reiki, aromatherapy etc are for entertainment and personal enrichment / stress reduction only. Does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease and is not intended to replace professional health care. Use at your own risk, no liability of any kind accepted.

Merry Monday: Crab Captains

Merry Monday is my project for this year: find one thing a week that is cool, interesting, or just makes me smile. I hope you’ll try it too, and share your little delights with us, and maybe keep a list too – at the end of the year, between all of us, we could have hundreds of happy things to bring a smile when we need it on some other day. But for now – Merry Monday!

For the past several years, “Deadliest Catch” on the Discovery Channel has been one of my favorite signs of spring. The only down side is watching those huge pots of crab makes me hungry for seafood…

An episode with an ill crew member a few seasons ago is what first drew my attention to the show. They showed the poor guy (who reportedly is well now) on the teaser ads. He definitely had “the look”. It made my old PA antennae twitch for sure. I can’t imagine being in the middle of nowhere with someone that critical looking. Major kudos to the captain, crew and coast guard for dealing with that one!

I even got to tweet with Captain Keith once. So geeked over that :) Especially since that is my favorite part – the people and personalities. It seems that all the poetic images about ship’s captains are pretty much too. No secret that I’m a huge fan of the sci fi show “Firefly”…these guys are the real-life version of Captain Mal and company.

My other favorite part is not only the deep competency of the better captains. Watching Captian Sig is really relaxing to me – we are the same age, and it reminds me of working with certain colleagues back in the day…you knew it was all OK because they were there, they were good, they had your back and sh** was gonna get done, and done right.

They are geniuses at managing stress. We’d all do well to adopt their attitude of “it is what it is“. Or, as Captain Hillstrand put it… it’ll be what it is”.

You could get all brainy about how it “is” what it will be because time is one, whole, extant dimension. You could get all philosophic about how staying in this present moment is a brilliant way to deal with stress – both the life and death situations in their job and the day to day stresses of ours. You could get all inspirational about how we are each captain of our own life-ships and how personal responsibility, hard work, caring for others like they watch out for their crew is the key to freedom and personal empowerment. You could get all poetic about ship’s captains and being the captain of your own (life) ship.

You could, but I have a feeling they would rather just go fishing.

Carl Sagan Quotes

Yesterday must have been Carl Sagan vibe day….found this in my blog reader this afternoon….lovely!

http://asapscience.tumblr.com/post/83829207464/favourite-quotes-by-person-carl-sagan

Really?

Ronda Snow:

This is what started all the science and tarot thoughts yesterday

Originally posted on Modern Oracle Tarot:

It’s a marketing thing, but I love the way the site statistics show some of the more popular search terms that are being used: it inspires me to write about the kind of stuff people are really interested in finding. Don’t panic – it’s private. It just shows the words typed in the box, not who typed them…totally anonymous. There’s a hint, folks. USE the search box to the right, don’t hold back! Type in whatever you are really interested in knowing. If it’s not here already, keep checking in…chances are it will turn up. Almost seems psychic, right? Actually its just a good stats package. Or, if you really want to get exactly what you need – be brave! Click the “suggest a blog post” tab at the top of the page and ask!

I have to admit, sometimes the searches surprise me.

“Carl Sagan Tarot” – really?

The…

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Tarot, Science and Imagination

Ronda Snow:

From yesterday on my Tarot-only blog, Modern Oracle Tarot.

Originally posted on Modern Oracle Tarot:

Tarot, intuition really,  is a lens for understanding the universe – the inner one of human mind, emotions and the experience of being alive. It discovers beauty, wonder and awe. It looks inward at the Cosmos of which we are a part, and which is contained within us. We are bright lights, we are stars. Science is lens for understanding the universe – the outer one of grandeur, complexity, and breathtaking beauty. It looks outward at the Cosmos of which we are a part and finds our part in it. We literally are made of stars. Science, invention, fabrication, art, intuition; All the best parts of humanity are close allies of imagination and are therefore close allies themselves.  Science and intuition are not at odds, but are brothers, standing back to back looking into the night sky and knowing the whole from different points of view.

“We are made of…

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