[I must begin by saying, I am not a doctor. I am simply sharing some of the real science that is available for you if you want to do your own research. ]
Taking a deep dive into some of the science of essential oils here. I am sharing a scientific meta-analysis of some of the chemistry of various essential oils that we often use to help fight disease.  
Here is the article. 

I'm sharing this because there is chatter on the web about essential oils exacerbating covid by 'boosting' the immune system.  The belief is that the oils could cause auto-immunity imbalance leading to 'long covid" symptoms. 

My understanding of essential oils is that they do not create more immune cells, but they assist your immune system by providing an addition means of attack on foreign bodies. (bacteria, viruses)

As the attached article gets into a lot of chemical terms, I thought I'd translate some of those here first. 
Eugenol = Clove oil
Carvacrol = Oregano oil
Anethole = Anise, Star Anise and Fennel oils
Cinnamaldehyde = Cinnamon Bark oil
Thymol - Thyme oil
Pulegone = Peppermint oil
Farnasene = Apple skins and other fruit skins

I hope you take the time to read the attached article and give it some thought. Share it with your friends. We have to be smart here and not let our fears overrun our highest knowing. 
All the best
​Mary

Recently I was listening to a brilliant young man speaking about relationships. In his short career he has already coached tens of thousands of men and women on attracting and maintaining a strong relationship. So I was truly surprised when he said that he 'doesn't believe in that Law of Attraction nonsense'.  

At first I was shocked, but then I realized that he likely does not understand what the Law of Attraction (LOA) really is. 
So here is what many people believe and what LOA is not:
- LOA is not making a wish then sitting on the couch while you wait for the Universe to bring it to you. 
- LOA is not repeating happy phrases over and over to make magical things suddenly appear
- LOA is not making sure that you never think a negative thought
- LOA is not spending hours every day concentrating on the thing you want
- LOA is not beating yourself up for blowing everything because you lost your temper
- LOA is not meditating for hours every day
I'm sure there is more, but you hopefully get the idea. 

So what is Law of Attraction? How does it really work? 
You must first understand that you are a vibrational being - meaning that you are pure energy, and the cells in your body are constantly vibrating. Your body and everything around you are affected by your vibration which can range from low and slow (depression, grief) to high and fast (joy, excitement). (article)

The next thing you must understand is that you are an attractor like a giant magnet. However, unlike a magnet, you attract things/people/situations that match your vibration. When you are high on life, joyful, confident, etc. you attract other people who match that vibration. You might attract invitations to parties, speaking engagements, new jobs...  We tend to seek out others who make us feel good about ourselves. So someone who is depressed or living in 'poor me' energy, would not want to hang out with someone who seems really happy.  That would just make the depressed person feel worse. Wouldn't do much for the happy person either. 

Finally you must understand that only you are responsible for how you feel. Truly! You can not blame anyone else. You are a powerful being, and you always have choice. You choose how to respond to absolutely everything in your life. 

When things get tough, no one expects you to be dancing with joy. Emotions and feelings are natural and to be expected. There is no 'bad' emotion. It's how long you allow yourself to feel sad that is your choice. Bring yourself up little by little by focusing on something just a little better than where you are at that moment.  "At least I can breathe... walk... feel safe... get outside..." 
Focus for just a minute or two on something that feels a little better. When you do that, you are changing your vibration, and you are allowing the Universe to show you something even better. You are attracting other things/people/situations/thoughts/feelings by the vibration that you are holding in your body.  That is the Law of Attraction. It is a natural law of the Universe. You don't have to do anything to make it work. It is working all the time everywhere. 

So back to the young relationship expert - he was actually coaching his clients on how to use the Law of Attraction without even knowing it. When he had them be real, be open, be confident and easy in their conversations, actions, etc, he was coaching them on how to be in the best vibration to attract exactly what they wanted. And so it is. 
All the best ~ 
Mary

Are you done waiting for things to go back to 'normal'?  

I think it's time we embrace a new normal and find joy, excitement and expansion right where we are. For example - I've often said that I dread the snow. I live in WI so that's pretty dumb, right? I would face the long winters as something to just 'get through' and would tell myself that they made the Spring that much better. Hmmm...  ​So here is my new way of looking at Winter. 
​

We can apply the same philosophy to the pandemic. Look at your life, really look at it. What is one little thing that brings you JOY? OK, now what's one more thing that makes you smile? Keep going....
You know that what you focus on expands. 

WHAT YOU FOCUS ON EXPANDS!

Make note throughout your day of what you are focusing on. Does it make you smile? Does it make you feel grateful or lucky? Does it bring you peace? 
If not, change your focus.

You can start small, but I bet you'll find the list of good things in your life grows quickly when you change your focus. I'd love to hear what this creates for you. 

You are an AMAZING Creator so don't let anything hold you back. We can find joy in so much of what is around us. If you look, I know you'll find it. 
Wishing you tons of JOY,
Mary
The Joy of Being Well, LLC
608-245-9308

September 29, 2020 by Mekaila Oaks
Your home should be your safe haven — the place where you feel relaxed, happy, and at peace. But when bad energy is lingering around, your home can quickly become the complete opposite — a place of hostility and negativity. And when you have this negative energy in your home, it can affect every other aspect of your life. That’s why house cleansing can be an important part in your personal well-being. [read some great tips here]

​Tips To Help You Reclaim Your Health (Without Disrupting Your Life)
 
We all have the capacity to live healthy, happy, and long lives. Unfortunately, in the hustle and bustle of the world we live in, health often takes a backseat to pretty much everything else. But it should not, and it does not have to. With a tiny bit of restructuring, a few positive changes, and an open mind, you can change the way you live without losing out on the fundamentals that make you happy.
 
Understanding Energy
 
There is energy all around us. You can feel it when someone with a bad attitude walks into a room just as well is when you hear a baby giggle. And bad energy may be exactly what’s zapping the life right out of you. Start evaluating your space by looking at your home. If your house is cluttered, dirty, and hasn’t had fresh air breezing through the hallways in months, it may be time for a quick home overhaul.
 
You can almost immediately change the ambience of your home by simply giving it a good cleaning. You might also try smudging with sage or other herbs and getting rid of heavy window treatments to allow more natural light to come in. These small steps may reduce tension at home while injecting some positivity into everyone’s day.
 
Essential Oils Are More Than A Fad
 
If you have never used essential oils, you should. Not only can these help with aromatherapy, but many can be used on your body and even in your food. The Joy Of Being Well recommends doTerra because of their high vibration and energy. People have been using fruit, bark, and root oil for centuries to heal the mind and body.
 
One great example of how you can use essential oils in your own life is to simply add a fraction of a drop of peppermint oil to your daily tea. Peppermint is known for both its calming properties and its ability to exhilarate the mind and body.
 
Getting Very Close To Vegetables
 
If you paid any attention to the media the last few decades, you know that eating a plant-based diet is quickly becoming mainstream, and for good reasons. According to Vegetarian Times, eating a diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and other plant-derived foods may help you live a longer life and reduce your risk of food-borne illnesses. If you are a woman, you may even experience fewer symptoms of menopause, and everyone will benefit from a boost of energy provided by antioxidants and other nutrients in whole foods.
 
If you are not currently eating a plant-based diet, it does not take much to get started. There are plenty of vegan recipes online, and you can usually find a healthful variety of foods that will easily become your favorites.
 
Other Health Tips
 
Other ideas to help you remain at the top of your game are to:

• Exercise every day. Even if you feel like you don’t have time, pay attention to how much you move.

 

• Enjoy healthy relationships. Toxic people have no place in your life, and there is no shame in cutting cords that do nothing but wrap around your neck.

 

• Meditate. Meditation will help clear your mind so that you can best tackle whatever problems must be faced.

 

• Learn to communicate. Communication with your spouse, children, friends, and coworkers is essential for reducing stress and misunderstandings.

 
Little steps, such as changing the way you eat, moving more, and clearing the clutter from your life won’t turn your world upside down. What these strategies will do, however, is help you make the most of this thing that we call life. Don’t wait, today is your day and there has never been a better time than now to live at your healthiest best.
Guest author: 
Jennifer McGregor
mcgregor_jennifer@publichealthlibrary.org
PublicHealthLibrary.org

​Dear Human,
Did you know that we are the only species that continues to live in the past? If an animal in the wild is confronted by a threat, she will run or fight to survive. However, as soon as that threat is gone, she will go back to loving her life, enjoying the open range, the cool water or the dense woods, the trees, the birds, the plentiful food. She does not live in the high adrenaline state of fear. She does not replay the threat over and over in her mind. She will remember which circumstance provided the possibility of threat (the watering hole), and she will be alert, but she will relish the water, play in the water and thrive.
As humans we have the capacity to relive any memory. We often embellish these memories to keep them alive, and we live them over and over again. If the memory is good we enjoy going back to it. If the memory is unpleasant, we dread it and it often finds us in our sleep.
As humans we pride ourselves in being survivors. We have all experienced trauma at some point in our lives. It might have been beatings or neglect as a child, or the extreme of seeing someone you care for brutally murdered – trauma is part of every person’s experience.   
Another often unreasonable capacity we humans have that our animal friends do not, is the ability to attach guilt and or blame to the trauma. That then brings up anger and resentment, either toward ourselves or the perpetrator. Of course the anger and resentment fester in our souls creating a fetid swamp that eats away at our joy.
We call ourselves ‘Survivors’ with so much pride. We have been through the fire and we lived. We live with the pain, but we keep going. We keep pushing through. We keep surviving. What a sad way to live.
I believe, because I have seen it over and over in my practice, that we humans can release the energy of trauma. We can allow it to surface and then let it go. We can recognize it for what it was, a profound experience that showed us what we do not want in this life. It showed us what we do not want to create for ourselves or others. It also showed us what we DO WANT to create for ourselves and other.
For those who grew up in the 60’s, our trauma was Viet Nam and the horrors of segregation that we were so ready to abolish. We protested. We wrote songs. We experimented with different life styles. We tried so many things to create change, and it was the beginning of awareness. The focus was on LOVE.  
So I challenge you to STOP being a survivor. Stop defining yourself by all of the horrors you have lived through. Stop dwelling on the past, replaying it over and over so that it becomes the very essence of your physical life. This is not who you are! This is not who you came here to be.
I see you as an amazing BEING OF LIGHT! I see you as POWERFUL! You do not have to be simply a survivor, you can be a THRIVOR! You can live in the now instead of the past. You can be excited about the future and the possibilities for creating something even better.  Go back to your ‘wild’ nature and thrive in the now. 

Trauma is passed down on your DNA.
Those of us who work with energy and emotion have known this for decades, but now science is catching up. 
Imagine that your great grandfather was traumatized while fighting in WWII. It could have been a physical injury or the trauma of witnessing a massacre. The emotions of fear, panic, terror and more can be so intense that they are imprinted on the cells in his body. He then returns home and begins a family passing down these intense emotions on the DNA in his sperm. (see notes)

Fear may not even belong to you.
Are you afraid of heights? Snakes? Water?...  If you can't remember an incident in your life that caused this fear, it's likely that you inherited it. You might have an extreme fear of being hit by a car, even though you've never been in an accident - but one of your ancestors was. 
I've always had an unusual fear of driving over railroad tracks - especially if I have to stop close to them. Turns out my great grandfather was killed driving a wagon home late at night as he crossed a railroad track. Pretty good chance that panic was passed down. 

You don't want to keep these emotions.  
As an energy healer, I help you identify the emotion that your body is carrying, where it is stored, and then help you to call it out and release it. We now know that emotional energy trapped in your body can contribute to disease and pain. Fear trapped in your bladder can contribute to infections. Anger trapped in your liver or gall bladder can lead to all sorts of diseases. Every organ, gland, bone and tissue in your body can store strong emotional energy. This energy does not serve you. 
You are meant to experience emotions then release them.

You can release even the most intense emotions.
No matter what is trapped in your body, I believe you have the power to release it. I've seen it over and over again in my clients. In many cases, releasing the emotional trauma has helped them to reverse years of pain or illness. You are a powerful, amazing being of light. Maybe you need a little help cleaning up that light so you can shine the way you were always meant to. I am here to help. 

Schedule a free Discovery Session to see if this is work you would like to try. Anything is possible for an Infinite Energy Being like you. 

Namaste ~ 
​Mary
Notes: Just a few of many resources on this topic. 
"It Didn't Start with You" by Mark Wolynn

Alterations in sperm long RNA contribute to the epigenetic inheritance of the effects of postnatal trauma
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-018-0271-6

"Intergenerational Trauma:
Understanding Natives’ Inherited Pain"
By Mary Annette Pember
http://www.mapember.com/ICMN-All-About-Generations-Trauma.pdf

"Inherited Trauma Shapes Your Health"
https://www.unicefusa.org/sites/default/files/YemenTC1_Can%20Trauma%20Be%20Inherited%20Between%20Generations-The%20Atlantic.pdf

I’ve been sharing what I know about nutrition for decades, trying to keep up with this ever more enlightened field. What we know – what studies are now showing – is so much different than what we used to believe.

Soy is a great example. For many years we cautioned women not to eat soy as it would contribute to breast cancer and other estrogen-positive cancers. We cautioned men and boys not to eat soy as we believed the phyto or plant estrogens would give them enlarged breasts.
Boy were we wrong. We were just going with the knowledge of the time and that knowledge has changed.
We now know – due to many well-documented studies – that soy is a Super-Food and women especially should be eating it every day.

Turns out the phyto-estrogens in soy actually block the cells receptors for certain cancers. We now know that you have 2 receptors for estrogen – alpha and beta.  Alpha attracts cancer cells.  With 16000%  more affinity the phytoestrogens in soy bind to Beta receptors. When beta receptors are activated, the alpha receptors are shut down. Also – soy deactivates aromatase so there is less conversion of fat cells to cancer cells. 

The Shanghai Study of 73,000 Chinese women compared soy consumption and risk of cancer. Those who ate more soy had a 58% reduction in post-menopausal cancers.

Another study followed 6200 women with breast cancer for 9 years. They ate at least one serving of soy per week. Results showed a 21% drop in deaths, a 51% drop in estrogen negative cancers and 32% drop in estrogen driven cancers. Dr. Kristi Funk recommends 2-3 servings of non-GMO soy per day. This can be edamame, tempeh, tofu, soy milk or miso. Try to stick with the less processed soy products.

And MEN who eat 2-3 servings of soy per day showed an increase in fertility and a reduced risk of prostate cancer. This is huge because recent studies have shown a major decline in male fertility over the past decade leading to dire predictions of the end of our species. Eat more soy please!!

Here’s a tasty recipe to get you started. https://www.thespruceeats.com/vegan-tofu-lasagna-with-spinach-recipe-3377165

Did you know that the little button Mushroom is one of the best foods you can eat to prevent breast cancer? 

One of the drugs used to slow the growth of estrogen-positive cancers is an 'aromatase inhibitor'.  What it does is prevent the body from turning the androgen hormone into estrogen, thus limiting the kind of estrogen that feeds these cancers. 
The good new is that just 10 grams (about the size of your thumb) does the same thing with no side effects. 

Now, I don't claim to be a medical professional and never suggest you stop your meds; however, mushrooms are going to be on my daily menu going forward. An ounce of prevention... (or 10 grams :)

Do note that mushrooms should always be cooked - steamed, stir fried.. - as raw mushrooms contain a bit of toxin that is destroyed by heat. There are so many wonderful ways to enjoy mushrooms. Even if you don't love them, you and mince them and add to soups, stews, stir-frys and you won't even notice them.  I'd love to hear how you are enjoying your mushrooms.