Ronda Snow's Blog, page 25
February 3, 2014
Scattered Life Collective
If you ever find any posts that are part of “Scattered Life Collective”, I suggest giving them a read. On the surface it seems like a whole lot of mundane, self-involved details. That’s all it is: bloggers writing their day, as it is, right now.
On the other hand, these posts are pure diamond in the rough. The idea is to write about what you have been reading, writing, watching, listening to…with or without elaboration. From what I’ve seen the posts are cozy, homey, comfy…like visiting a friend…AND they have loads of good ideas to take for inspiration. New books to read, new music, TV and movie coolness. I don’t claim that any of mine are that interesting, but if you go to Cynthia Lee’s page, there are links to blogs doing the collective. A few are also on twitter, if you are willing to snoop them out. I think it’s #scatteredlife or #scatteredlifecollective. So what has your week been like?
On the TV: My daughter is old enough now to start discovering some of our favorite movies. Right now “Back to the Future” is occupying an unexpected snow day. Not long ago it was “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off”. Am trying to talk her into “Young Einstein”, but might be on my own with that one.
On the Kindle: “How To Be Dead” Re-re-re reading Dave Turner’s comic sci fi fun-in-book-form in anticipation of the next book in the series with the working title of “Paper Cuts” Just finished “Enders Game” at the hubster’s suggestion. The last chapter lost me for all sorts of flawed logic science-geeky reasons that I don’t know how to describe without spoiling the whole thing. If you like easy to read sci fi, and don’t mind a deux en mechina ending, go for it. Liked it enough that I’m curious to see the movie.
On itunes: my massive playlist. Remember mixtapes? Loved making those. Right now it’s Friendly Fires “Hawaiian Air”. Just bought “Dark Horse” by Katy Perry because I enjoyed it so much on the Grammy Award Show the other night.
In the oven: just made garlic cheese bread stix for lunch to go with soup for the snow day. Everyone gets their own pick from the stash of canned soups we keep on hand for just such an occasion.
On the keyboard: Am blogging today, but want to work on improving the formatting of my Kindle books, and formatting for smashwords. The free style guide on the website is just what I needed.
Out the window: pretty little snowflakes, coating tree branches. Lovely.
February 2, 2014
Happy Super Groundhog Puppy Bowl Day
Reblogged from Modern Oracle Tarot:
Wish I could be announcing a free reading winner from the monthly contest, but my inbox has been precisely empty of entries for two contest cycles (this one and the one before the holidays) sooo...
I can take a hint. Bye Bye contest. Instead, I'm giving the FREE to everyone, all the time. Please visit the "ASK THE EXPERT…
January 24, 2014
When the Bug Catches You
If you’ve read this blog for more than five minutes you know how important it is to try to live well and prevent illness as much as possible. You know, WASH YOUR HANDS. Eat well, exercise, get plenty of good quality sleep, oh, and did I mention? – wash your hands. A lot. There be GERMS out there!
But it happens to the best of us. Run hard as you can and sometimes the cold and flu bugs still catch you. Now what?
MIND: Don’t panic. For the vast majority of functional human beings, a cold, even the for-real flu, you know, the actual flu-flu, is not a huge deal. A week or two of misery, maybe, but not a disaster of asteroid-headed-to-Earth proportions.
The first place to use your awesome mental capacities is to figure out if it is a cold or the for real flu-flu-flu. Syracuse University created this handy-dandy comparison chart for their student health services: http://health.syr.edu/education/cold-and-flu.html. Basically if it starts in an eyeblink, makes you too tired TO blink, you have aches in body parts you forgot you had, with a fever…it is in flu territory. For this, you might want to consult your doctor. If you are interested in using an antiviral medication, then you have to get there and start the medicine within 24 hours of the symptoms starting or so (your doctor can tell you if it is too late or not). Dave Barry developed this handy-dandy description of how it feels to have the actual flu-flu: http://articles.philly.com/1986-04-02/news/26079798_1_electric-blanket-molecules-toothpaste. I recommend his article whether you are sick or not.
On the other hand, if you feel it coming, have a sore or scratchy throat (less common in flu), are tired but not decimated, and have no fever, then you are squarely in chicken soup territory. Keep an eye on it, choose your home remedy, and consult your doctor if things get worse, linger, or develop a fever.
BODY: Truth is, very few medicines will touch a virus, and the few that do exist are worthless unless you start them in that precious first day time frame. Antibiotics are worthless if you have a virus only. So what’s left? Chicken soup? It’s not as bad of an idea as you might think.
Drink plenty of fluids, be it chicken soup or tea with honey or whatever non-alcolhol form you choose (with all due respect to the “two hat cure” of yesteryear). Fluids not only will sooth your scratchy throat, but they help keep the buckets of mucus you’ll be producing thin and easier to cough and blow away.
Go ahead – take a nap! You know you want to! A lot of people a lot smarter than I am have done some complicated studies to prove that sleep really does improve immunity: (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3256323/). Explaining the hard-science part of that is enough to make both of our eyes cross, so you’ll just have to trust me on this one. Good sleep really is a healing thing. An October 2013 article in Science Daily talks about new studies linking sleep deprivation to genuinely serious diseases like diabetes and heart disease. So if sleep can impact your health at that level, imagine what it can do for a nose-sniffle.
Vitamin C, zinc gluconate and Echinacea (as long as you are not allergic to ragweed type plants) can help boost immune function. Like their mainstream medicine counterparts, Echinacea especially, they are most helpful in the first day or two of a cold.
Plain water or mild salt water (1/2 tsp salt per 8 oz water) gargles can be soothing as well as help reduce the number of viruses lingering in the back of the throat by a tiny bit. A 2005 study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine shows plain water gargles can help prevent minor upper respiratory illness. I’ve tried it this year with plain water and only twice a day – so far, so good *insert wood-knocking jinx-preventing superstition here*.
Diffusing real essential oils like eucalyptus can help un-stuff your nose. Pine is a good alternative if you don’t care for the scent of eucalyptus. Anecdotally, a blend of orange, cinnamon, and clove oil is antiseptic (and smells like the holidays). A dilute topical lotion with eucalyptus oil (like Vicks) can ease muscle aches and thin mucus (follow package instructions).
SPIRIT: We all know that colds and flu are really caused by viruses. Stress and lack of sleep can make us more susceptible to those viruses. That is the scientific process…but what is there to be learned from the experience of it? Is there a spiritual componant to something as straightforward as the common cold? Accpeted wisdom in the holistic world is that these minor illnesses are a lesson and an opportunity. They teach us where our limits are…just how much stress and sleep deprivation we can take. These minor illnesses bring a message that we’ve pushed to hard, gone to far, and that something is for-real going on with us. They are also an opportunity. Nobody wants your germs. Colds a flu are a perfect reason to disengage, stay home, rest, recuperate, and re-group…both mentally and physically. While you are slurping OJ on the couch binge-watching your favorite tv shows, it gives you a chance to see what is stressing you. Feed your soul a little while you are feeding your tummy that chicken soup. Where are you over-doing it? How can you just-right-do-it from now on? What in life is making you sick – figureatively as well as literally? How can you make that better too?
What do you do when the bug catches you? Use your mind to know when it is time to see the doctor, treat your body well with rest, fluids, (and herbs, aromatherapy if you like), and feed your soul a little something special too.
Be well and Best Wishes
January 23, 2014
Tao Tuesday – Chapter 34
Every Tuesday, Amy Putkonin posts a chapter from her version of the Tao Te Ching HERE, and invites other bloggers to offer their commentary as well. I always read the chapter, write my understanding of it, then read her and other posts to add to whatever direct insigh. I hope you will do the same. If you write a blog post, please link to Tao Te ching daily in your post, and join the links on the chapter page there.
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The Great Tao is like the ocean -
It flows in all directions.
It gives life to the Ten Thousand Things,
yet does not claim authority
When work is done,
it claims no credit.
It clothes the Ten Thousand Things,
yet does not want to be its leader.
Eternally desireless,
it is considered insignificant.
The Ten Thousand Things call it home,
but do not make it their master.
It can be called great
because it does not strive to be great.
Thus, it achieves the path of greatness.
The “Great Tao” here is the larger, un-nameable inclusive everything all-that-is Tao from earlier chapters. Author Richard Bach calls this same thing the IS or the IS-ness of all the universe.
The phrase “gives life to the ten thousand things yet does not claim authority” is the key of this chapter. In ancient China, where the Tao Te Ching was written, “Ten Thousand Things” was a way to a communicates huge, almost incomprehensible number…like we might say Trillions, or “bajillions” or some such thing. It is another way to allude to that “Great Tao”, the all-that-IS.
Here in the west, especially here in America, where old middle Eastern, Abrahamic religions are so dominant, when we read “gives life” to all things, we tend to think ”create” all things…as in a Creator-diety. I don’t think that is the case here. I think of it more in terms of “Source” or “Wellspring”. Only because the all-that-IS totality exists, can the ten thousand individual little things within it exist. Think of a spring coming from the side of a mountain. Does the mountain create the spring? No. They are intimately related parts of the totality of the cosmos…they are both part of Planet Earth. The rocks of the mountain channel the hidden groundwater to the surface, and in that sense “gives life” to the spring, but it didn’t “create” it in the dominant sense of Western theology. It created it because their mutual existence allowed the spring to be. No mountain, no spring. No water, no spring – it is a matter of co-creation really. Neither has authority over the other, both are essential, both are part of the larger picture.
The creator has power over the created, like the father in Bill Cosby’s comedy album “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out – and make another one that looks just like you!”. While not literally right, this the tacit meaning of the divine creator/destroyer kinds of creation mythologies.
In this chapter we see the Tao is just the opposite. It is a source, but all things within the great Tao are co-creators. Everything calles the all-that-IS home, not master. Without the Ten Thousand Things, there is no all-that-IS, no Tao. Without the Tao, there is no Ten Thousand Things. It isn’t a creaote-created relationship. It isn’t a matter of authority, it is a matter of coexistence as part of a larger wholeness. The Tao doesn’t strive for greatness, it simple is greatness. That wholeness doesn’t try to be everything, to create everything…it just simply IS everything.
January 18, 2014
Q&A: Are yes/no readings accurate?
Reblogged from Modern Oracle Tarot:
Q: Are yes/no readings accurate?
A. As short as your question is - it is a hard one to answer. There are a lot of parts to it. There is no yes or no answer to if yes / no readins are accurate.
Before we answer that, let me ask you this: "Accurate" compared to what? Predicting the future? How are you supposed to do the impossible accurately?
This is from my Tarot Blog, "Modern Oracle".
Since I've introduced Tarot here as a medication free stress reducing strategy, I'd like to post more Tarot articles to introduce you to my particular view of intuition and readings. Tarot and intuition is very much a part of the mind-body-spirit paradigm. It is a legitimately efffective personal growth tool, and can ease upset emotions. I hope this gives you some insight into how "Modern Oracle" and the tarot readings on this site actually work.
January 16, 2014
Ph of Debittered Brewer’s Yeast
I love to answer questions and know what your are thinking.
Please don’t hesitate to send free “ask the expert” questions. It makes writing the blog a kajillion times more fun!
But since that hasn’t caught on yet, I often read the top search terms, for ideas for blogs that are timely and relevant to my much appreciated readers (HINT: if you don’t find what you are searching for in the blog…please keep trying. I’ll get the hint and create what you are looking for eventually!)
But sometimes, I will wonder why anyone would want to know that? Holistic Health is a very practical, pragmatic thing. So you learn something, now, what are you going to DO with that tidbit of knowledge? Science for science sake, tight focus on numbers above all else…that’s allopathic type stuff.
I keep seeing an interest in th ph of debittered brewers yeast. From what I’ve found, it depends on how it is processed…how they “debitter” it: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16084365
Debittered Brewer’s Yeast seems to be largely neutral (ph around 7), especially if it microfiltered instead of akalai washed. BUT the process removes many of the trace minerals that are part of natural brewer’s yeast benefits. Chromium and selenium are key examples. Unless you are only looking for B-complex supplimentation, natural forms of the brewer’s yeast has more to offer despite the taste. It is bitter, but persoanlly I don’t mind the taste: I like dark stout and european beers. Obviously that is the taste the yeast evokes. Some powders really aren’t bad, having an almost cheesy kind of flavor. If I didn’t have to keep my intake very precise for my own health reasons, I’d be cooking with the stuff…it would add a fantastic richness and depth of flavor to sauces and gravies. Hmm, bet it would add some zing to fondue or nachos too. Anyway, NATURAL non-processed, non-debittered seems to be the way to go, especially if you are interested in any of the glucose tolerance that can be associated with chromium. You can read more in my original brewer’s yeast post HERE.
There is some interest in brewer’s yeast in conditions where the ph of the intestinal tract has been altered by medication or disease. As I understand it, the benefit comes from the B-comples vitamins in the yeast that are present in both yeast types. As I understand it, an overly acidic gi tract can result in a reduction in certain types of “good bacteria” like acedopholis. This decrease in the ‘good guys’ can affect levels of B vitamins, and taking brewer’s yeast would replace what is lacking while at the same time (through probiotics) helping the ‘good bacteria’ return to normal levels. This is true of both natural and debittered brewers yeast. If this is the effect you want, then debittered makes the most sense if taste is an issue.
I don’t see how the ph of the yeast itself would have any role to play in it’s benefits. The only known adverse effect from Brewer’s Yeast that I’ve found (it’s basically food, like mushrooms) is some stomach upset that comes from difficulty digesting the proteins, not from the yeast’s ph. It is possible to be allergic to the yeast, so do not take it if allergy symptoms emerge (see links below). Headache is rare with it, but can happen. Brewer’s yeast should not be used if you are taking MAOI medications or Demeral type medications.
Additional Sources:
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/brewers-yeast
http://www.healthline.com/health/brewers-yeast
All information in this post and blog is for general interest, entertainment and personal enrichment only: Can not diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease and can not replace professional medical care. Use at your own risk. Age 18 and over please.
January 14, 2014
Tao Tuesdays – Chapter 33
Every week Amy Putkonin posts a chapter from her version of the Tao Te Ching on her website http://www.TaoTeChingDaily.com and invites other bloggers to comment on the chapter as well as linking to her own excellent commentary on the chapter. I always write mine before I read hers as an exercise in authenticity. This is my unfiltered, direct understanding. I encourage you to read here commentary too. The beauty of the Tao Te Ching is in the way it gives different and wide-ranging wisdom to each pair of eyes that reads it. We are all indeed Sages, and we all have some insight to offer. If you would like to add your understanding, please do so by linking to her blog and adding your name to the list of commenters on the Tao Te Ching Daily link above. Thanks!
Chapter 33
Knowing others is wisdom.
Knowing yourself is enlightenment.
Mastering others is force.
Mastering yourself is strength.
Knowing contentment
is to understand wealth.
If you persist, you will always find a way.
The thing I love about Taoism is it’s clarity. It is simple, plain, straightforward and obvious. Nothing special to do or believe. Living wise and well is spelled out, eesy-peesy. It takes minutes to know, but a lifetime to execute.
This chapter holds no cagey secrets. It is profound at face value:
It’s easy to see what other people ‘should’ do or what may be best for the world around you. Knowing yourself is a whole other kettle of fish. Knowing your own nature opens the whole world and shows us the “Way”
Physical force may superficially conquer others, but it takes far more true strength and real courage to discipline ones self. Many times Taoism has a reputation for being a “do your own thing”, drink white russians and go bowling reputation. Self-dicipline has it’s place…perhaps not physical actions as much as mental outlook. As in Buddhism, it our nature to be un-content. It is our nature to impose our will rather than bend it. If we bend our will toward contentment then we have conqured ourselves, and see the abundance in the life around us.
There is andage along the lines of “you only fail when you quit”. If we remain open, then the way of knowing, enlightenment and contentement will find us somehow.
January 12, 2014
Handle With Care - Part 2
Reblogged from Modern Oracle Tarot:
"It takes two to tango"
"There are two sides to every coin"
Both adages are true when it comes to any kind of psychic reading (they are all basically the same - whether you use tarot cards, palm lines, tea leaves or just sit there - it's all still human intuition at work). Both the person doing the reading AND the person getting the reading have a role to play.
Stil from my other blog, Modern Oracle Tarot
January 11, 2014
LOL – blessed are the Geeks
They WILL inherit the Earth…if they haven’t secretly conquered it already…
Given that laughter is one of the world’s best anxiety-busting stress relievers, here are a couple of scince jokes for you:
Q. What is a physicist’s favorite food?
A. Fission Chips
There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those who understand bianary and those who don’t
Think about it…..think about it….there it is!
Jokes from The Guardian via http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/72898203675/scientists-pick-their-favorite-jokes
January 1, 2014
Happy New Year
