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Your First Wealth Is HealthVolume 3
Number 1
January 2011
A new year, a fresh start and resolutions abound.  The thing with resolutions though is that they're hard to keep, and you just end up feeling guilty.  So I nixed the resolutions, and I'm taking a different tactic to making changes.  My inspiration comes from the book The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz and an article in Psychology Today called The If-Then Solution.  Read on to learn how they can inspire positive change in your life.
In This Issue
The Four Agreements
The If-Then Solution
Preserve Your Windshield Wipers
Colds and Mucus
Recipe of the Month
The Four Agreements
by don Miguel Ruiz

The Four AgreementsBefore my husband, Dan, and I got married we did not go to marriage counseling.  Instead we attended a 5-part lecture series at the Lake Harriet Spirituality Center that was based on The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom.  Here's how don Miguel Ruiz describes this wonderful book:
 

"In this powerful book that has remained on The New York Times Bestseller List for over eight years, don Miguel reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. When we are ready to change these agreements, there are four deceptively simple, yet powerful agreements that we can adopt as guiding principles. The Four Agreements� offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love."


The Four Agreements really are deceptively simple yet powerful agreements. 
 

The Four Agreements are:

  1. Be Impeccable With Your Word.
  2. Don't Take Anything Personally.
  3. Don't Make Assumptions.
  4. Always Do Your Best.

You'll most certainly want to get a hold of this small, beautiful book and read about The Four Agreements in depth and make them a part of your daily fabric.

The If-Then Solution
by Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D.

SUCCEED Book CoverThe if-then solution works without having to call upon willpower.  Willpower alone doesn't often make resolutions successful, so another tactic must be called into play.

Heidi Grant Halvorson points out in the February 2011 issue of Psychology Today that resolutions are often not specific enough, i.e. eat less, exercise more.  How much less?  How much more exercise and when?

The if-then solution details exactly what you would do in a certain situation - described as "If X happens, then I will do Y."   So for the 'eat less, exercise more' situation you could say that when the dessert menu arrives (X), I will ignore it and order tea (Y).

'Work out more' turns into I will do yoga Monday, Thursday and Saturday mornings before breakfast.  A much more concrete plan.

Apparently the reason for the success of this type of plan is that it matches the way your brain thinks: "the language of contingencies."

This method resonates with me because many years ago I had a very hard time handling disappointment.  If I was really looking forward to an event and it fell through - I could hardly get over it.  Now I always have a Plan B in place in case my plans don't work as I anticipated, and I don't experience much disappointment at all.

Succeed is Heidi's new book - hot off the press.  I haven't read it yet, but based on her The If-Then Solution article, I may have to pick it up.
 
Preserve Your Windshield Wipers
VW Golf After the Blizzard
Our Minnesota weather this winter
has been battering cars left and right. . .from fender benders to side view mirrors being shorn from their doors and windshield wiper blades in shreds.

One easy tip to help prolong the life of your wiper blades is to lift the blades off of the window when you park your car when inclement weather is underway or on its way.  That way you won't have to wrest the blades from the crusty ice or snow, and it makes it a bit easier to clear your windshield.

 
The photo in the upper right is my car after the December 11, 2010 blizzard.  The windshield wiper blades made it easier to actually see where my car was in the snow bank!
 

VW Logo in the SnowWhen I was clearing the snow off of my front grill a big hunk of snow came off with an imprint of the VW logo.
 
Colds and Mucus

Person sneezing into a kleenexI'd like to clarify the seasons.  Marketers would have us believing that there is a fifth season, the cold and flu season, but there are still are only four seasons:  spring, summer, fall and winter.

Now it's certainly true that colds and flu are more prevalent during the winter season. We catch more colds in the winter because we're cooped up together, and there are more than 100 cold viruses to be fended off.  The flu virus, on the other hand, thrives in cold weather and can't survive the warmer temperatures of spring and summer.

No one enjoys having a cold, but colds can be beneficial to one's health - and it has something to do with mucus.  Mucus' role in the body is one of protection.  Mucus lines our stomach in order to protect the stomach lining from the acidic digestive juices.  One's nose will run a bit after being out in the cold because mucus has flowed into the nose to warm and protect the nasal passages from the harsh cold weather.

In the case of having a cold, mucus is enveloping the virus in order to rid it from the body.  It is very important when one has a cold to NOT suppress the symptoms.  The mucus must come out! Throughout the year, mucus has been coating all sorts of things - pollution, exposure to toxic emotions, etc. 
My herb teacher, Lise Wolff, states that everyone should have one good cold per year in order to expel the built-up mucous in the body - a detoxification of a sort.  More recently I heard Will Winter state that two colds per year is a great cancer preventive.

You can still help your body heal without suppressing the symptoms by sipping a powerful tea.  See Daverick Leggett's recipes below.
 
Recipe of the Month
Tea for Wind Cold or Wind Heat
 

Cup of TeaI do so enjoy tea.  Teas offer us so much:  flavor, nutrition, healing properties and a warm cup with which to relax and wind down.

In Recipes for Self Healing, Daverick Leggett offers up two tea recipes.  One for Wind Cold - if you are feeling shivery, and one for Wind Heat - if you are feeling feverish.
 
 As Always. . .Bird Bath in Snow
Your First Wealth Is Health,

Katherine Krumwiede, L.Ac.
Diamond Stone Oriental Medicine, Inc.
612 872 9133



Quote of
the Month


"The body is a sacred garment."
 


  Martha Graham



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