#7daysforme Challenge Day 1

Day 1 in my #7daysforme Challenge starts today and it begins with choosing my word for 2016!

So I've thought a lot about my word for this year and I've finally settled upon COURAGE (to be a Catalyst). I chose this word and this phrase because when I look back on my life, the one thing that has always held me back from the biggest blessings is fear. Fear to try something and not have it go the way I want it to. That may sound strange and unbelieveable coming from me, but it is 100% true! So this year, I'm going to place COURAGE where there is fear :-). 

What's your word?

Heading into the New Year

And so we are a few hours away from the New Year and I’m sitting down to write you all. I’ve been trying to write this newsletter for 3 days now :-). However everytime I sat down to write, no ‘right’ words would come out. Every beginning felt contrived, not the right thing to say, lacking of soething. And since I’m a believer in divine timing and wisdom, I decided to let the shoulds go and just write what comes through when it comes through. And now, I’m sitting in my favorite spot, in a lull of the day and the time feels right. So be forewarned, this is a bit stream of conscious and I’m just going for it :-).  

I think it’s because it’s ‘this’ time of year. Our minds are tuned to the frequency of reflection, shedding, and renewal. We are winded down with the expectant energy of a new start, ready to jump forward into the newness, the rebirth, the doover of a new year.

I always am excited about this time. Particularly the feeling that I get to doover what I didn’t get to do exactly how I wanted to this year. What I mean is that I get to try again. Everybody wants a rockin’ year. Everybody wants to look back on it and say, man, I really rocked it out this year. I blazed through all of my goals. I was the me I wanted to be and I embraced happiness 99% of the time. I am 100% rockstar!

But the truth is that often times, we may make it to only 85% rockstar, maybe 75%, sometimes barely 30%. And all I’m saying is that it’s ok, because you know what, a new year gives you a new chance (actually a bunch of new chances) to do it over again – to get just a little bit closer to rockstar status :-).

New Tradition

I want to encourage you to take on a new tradition this new year. You may have already heard of this and if so, I hope you are doing it. If not, go for it, this is a great time to start. For the next 365, create a memories jar. Every time something awesome happens, big or small, write it out on a small piece of paper and drop it in your memories jar. You can get fancy and buy a cute little tin from the dollar store or you can go straight utilitarian and rinse out an old glass food jar for your memory keeper. I suggest keeping it somewhere that you can easily see, 1. to remind yourself to keep up the habit and 2. To remind yourself that good things happen :-).

#7daysforme Challenge 

So remember in last week’s newsletter, I said that I wanted to invite you all to do a very easy, very impactful ritual/challenge with me to set off our new year right? Well over the next 7 days I will be posting my challenge over on Instagram and sending you a quick daily email reminder about it. Don’t worry, I won’t make a habit of sending you daily emails :-D .I just really want our new year to start with a good burst of rah rah energy. And intentional focus is a good way to do that ;-).

Simply, we’ll be answer 1 question a day to help us reflect on what we want for this new year. I encourage you to share your answers on Instagram with a picture and the tag #7daysforme or leave a comment here. Participating makes the mental work that much more powerful ;-). You can find me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/leahrpatterson. Look out for my posts :)!

Best blessings lovely people!

Short and Sweet

Today’s message is going to be short and sweet :). I’m sitting here with my warm cup of tea, relaxing on my way too big but super comfy new couch (that I finally bought after almost a YEAR without one!), writing my weekly newsletter to a tribe of lovely beings that really want to receive what I have to give. My Christmas tree is all lit up to the side of me and my doggies are happily playing in the next room. I just finished a beautiful, empowering Tarot Reading for a dear soul and delivered it in a new (for me), more impactful and authentic format.

I love my new couch :D. 

And I feel good, really good. It’s in moments like this that I remember when I wished my life looked like this and I am thankful. I remember having so much less and striving for so much. I remember being painfully unhappy and unsatisfied and unclear about why. I remember wondering how things could get any better. And then, in moments like this, I look up and I realize better has come :-).

The lesson here is that better does come, if we let it. And if we recognize it and soak up the goodness of it, it can’t help but continue to flow. It’s just the way it is, lucky for us ;-).

Happy Holidays!

And if you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas!

 

Detoxing for the New Year

Hey dears!

How is all the prep for the holiday season going? How are you feeling? Are you making sure you get some #refreshme time in everyday? If so, awesome :-). If not, no worries – I’ve got another great suggestion for you on where to start.

This week I want to talk about herbal teas – specifically two that are perfect for this season of bustle, delicious food, and healthy doses of ‘run around’ stress.

These are also two of my favorite herbs, some of the first ones I learned about during my herbal medicine apprenticeship many years ago now :-). They are Burdock root and Dandelion root.

The  often hated Dandelion :-(.

Have you heard these names before? Dandelion surely. This tenacious little plant isn’t generally looked favorably upon since it’s considered an annoying weed.  Burdock too is a common weed, mostly considered annoying. Ever walked through a field and found sticky ‘burrs’ on your pants and such? Those are the seed pods of burdock. Annoying right?!

Well in today’s post, I’m going to challenge that view of these plants and hopefully get you to appreciate them as much as I do.

The Burrs of Burdock. Recognize these?

Two things prompted my choosing this topic – one, I’ve decided that I want to be more active with toning my body and getting back to a more optimal weight. Even us dancers and naturalistas can struggle dearies ;-).  And two, since it is the end of the year, thinking about old things to shed to make space for new things to come through is a perfectly fitting theme. These herbs work in this sort of way.

When you see Dandelion root and Burdock root, especially together, there will usually be some focus on detoxing. That’s because both of these herbs work with the liver. Your liver is one of the most important organs for your overall health. When I taught my herbal medicine classes, we spent an entire session on this organ and the herbs that help it function healthfully. In Chinese Medicine, your liver is considered the General, orquestrating the movements of all the ‘troops’. It is responsible for the balanced flow of qi through the body. The liver performs hundreds of tasks to keep your body healthy and basically processes everything that you eat – either sending it off to be used by your body or eliminated by your body. So it’s very important to keep it operating smoothly and this is one of the ways that Dandelion root and Burdock root work their magic. They provide a gentle cleansing and optimizing action on the liver.  

Dandelion root for instance, contains bitter constituents and fiber that stimulate the digestive system, filter toxins from the blood stream and out for elimination, balances intestinal flora, and soothes the digestive tract.

Burdock root is considered a blood purifier – this is how it helps liver functioning. It aids the liver in metabolizing fats and proteins and encourages the removal of waste products. Also, its high concentration of antioxidants is thought to heal and protect the liver as well when it’s been damaged by heavy consumption.

And this isn’t even the whole of what they do. In short, these are two of my favorite wonder herbs.  I promise I will tell you more about them soon!

So how do you get them into your life?

Well luckily the world has caught on to the fact that these herbs are pretty awesome and now you can find them pretty much in any local grocery store. You still want to buy a reputable brand however – I would suggest Traditional Medicinals or Alvita. Also, you might want to experiment with steeping two tea bags instead of one because the amount in teabags in general aren’t enough for real therapeutic benefit. The last important thing is that you must steep your tea with something capping your tea cup or else you will lose all of the beneficial components of the herb in the steam ;-). Oh and the last last thing, steep it for 10 minutes – at least! Especially because these are roots, it takes some time for the heat to fuse through the herbs and release the ‘good medicine’ into the water.

These herbs are tonics (we’ll talk about what a tonic is more later) and so they work over time. Because their action is so gentle, you can take both of these together as a tea 3xs a day for at least a month, preferably 3. That may seem like a lot, but trust me, after drinking this herbal mix consistently for a month, you won’t want to stop ;-). You’ll be feeling so much better – more energy, clearer skin, less bloating, even a little slimmer ;-). 3 months is good amount of time to give a tonic to make a difference and then you can start drinking it whenever you feel the need for a detoxifying boost.

So what’s on your grocery list for this week? That’s right – Dandelion root and Burdock root baby!

Get some!

And as always, any questions, ask away in the comments or via email – I’d love to answer them!

Self Love, Self Sabotage, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg

Do you ever have that feeling that things are starting to flow. Kind of like you’ve stepped into the river and for once, you are swimming with the tide instead of against it. And it’s Flowing, like a warm caress carrying you along. You’re not even exerting a lot of energy per say, mostly just gloating along in the ebb and flow of the currents warm embrace. And as you go along, you take in more beauty, more fortunate sights, more one of a kind moments, all the while moving forward with intention (for the river is taking you somewhere).

Do you have a good picture? It feels peaceful doesn’t it. Even joy filled right? Well sheesh, that’s how life has been feeling lately. Like things are coming together. Ebbs and flows and all in my favor, some giving me the gumption to go go go, others giving me the cue to take a step back, get my mind right, evaluate, and open my eyes to the next fortunate occurrence.

But I realize that there is a fear cropping up – a fear that some other figurative shoe is going to drop. That something out of my control will happen and smack, dab, bomb – back to the setbacks I’d gotten used to. Back to the complacent thoughts about certains things just not ever changing.

Does that happen to you ever?  You know what it can cause?

Self sabotage.

Yep, that uncanny ability to shoot your own foot in the effort to shoot the villain that you can’t see.  Self sabotage makes you do silly things that the unafraid you would never do. Self sabotage makes you doubt every single action until you’re crippled into no action. Self sabotage takes your sense of control and scatters it all over the place into tiny little pieces that now only resemble franticness.

That’s why self-love and ACTIVE practices of self appreciation are so valuable to me. That’s why this space even exists.

Lip service has never really been strong enough to combat self-sabotage. Thinking good thoughts sometimes just doesn’t cut it. Self sabotage is active even in its ability to shut down activity. We’ve got to be just as active to counter it.  

So I’d like to challenge you to think of all the things I suggest here for you as acts of self love and appreciation. Carve out time for them so that over time, you’ll have a memory file of how much you mean to you. And how much You are in control of you. And how much your active energy devoted to you has made an impact and a difference. Because it will – trust me. Do this and look back even 3 months from now. You will be different and better for it ;-).

And how does this relate to the fear of the other shoe dropping above?

Because it will show you how much is within your control. And it will show you that YOU are the important piece. Not the elusive “what if”. It will show you that YOU being an active participant is what was really moving that river’s current along all that time ;).

Today’s Mini LOVE Fest :-)

Christmas-y sweet mask anyone? How about with nutmeg, cinnamon, and honey?

Alrighty so Nutmeg and Cinnamon invariably remind me of Christmas – those smells drum up images of warm fireplaces, cozy oversized sweaters, hot tea and cocoa and a healthy cup of spiced eggnog :).

Cinnamon and Nutmeg - YUM!

So it’s a perfect time to realize some other ways to experience these lovely spices! Nutmeg and Cinnamon make excellent components of an acne scar healing mask. This mask is super simple to make and can be stored in your refrigerator for about a week or so. I would use it once a week at least and give it a month’s time to work its magic. Remember, skin cells take about 28 days to turn over, so that month is important! Curb your impatience dears ;-).

Why this mask is as awesome as it is simple:

1.       Cinnamon is a natural anti-microbial agent. It’s been used for centuries to fight viruses and bacteria. It also contains powerful antioxidants that help keep healthy skin cells from breaking down prematurely.   

2.       Nutmeg is also a natural anti-microbial agent as well as an anti-inflammatory. It has been used to heal many skin diseases and helps to reduce acne scarring and clear up infections and redness. It contains a number of vitamins that your skin needs for optimal health also.  

3.       Honey is a natural moisturizer that also has powerful anti-bacterial properties. It helps to heal current breakouts faster and also reduces the occurrence of more breakouts.

As an extra benefit, you can also add lemon juice to this mask. It will give an extra dose of anti-microbial activity and also will serve as a natural astringent to brighten the complexion, balance pH, and tighten pores. It also contains tons of vitamin C, a necessary component to building collagen in the skin.

This is one of those mask that you don’t have to worry about using exact measurements. Below is a good rule of thumb.

Cinnamon, Nutmeg & Honey Mask

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp honey

1-2 tsp lemon juice

Mix all of these together in a small glass bowl (glass is best if you are planning to store it).  Apply for 10 to 15 minutes and then rinse with warm water. Your skin should be glowing almost immediately :-)!

I encourage you to spend those 10 to 15 minutes of mask time meditating, reading something soul-nurturing, or painting your nails (my go to "love me" quick activity :-)). Just something to reaffirm that You are in control of YOUR time and that YOU are important enough to spend it on YOU ;-). 

Enjoy!

My 3 Favorite Herbs for Colds and the Flu

This cold season is really trying to get to me! Remember when I was sick last week? Well, I finally began feeling better this weekend and then today, can you believe I woke up with a cough, congestion, and a weird headache? Talk about annoyed, lol.

Truth talking here though, I actually love what’s happening. I love that my body is giving me all of this information about what’s going on with me. Let me explain :-). Theoretically, if my immune system was in good working order, it would be able to fight off the cold virus effectively enough for it not to come back, and definitely not so soon. Even if I was exposed to another viral strain, my body should be able to keep that one from taking hold as well.

However, that’s not what’s happening. Instead, I’m feeling a little weak, a little feverish, congested and sniffly again. No Bueno. So what this tells me is that 1. My immune system is obviously not in tip top shape and 2. I’m going to need to help it along again and address the bigger issue of an immune system in need.

So last week, I told you that I’d be talking about my favorite remedies for fighting off a cold or flu virus and apparently the timing is still perfect – I still need the advice myself :-).

My 3 favorite Herbs for Cold/Flu Viruses

Echinacea.

You may have heard of this herb before, as it’s become very popular in the last ten years; it truly deserves the esteem that it has. If used within the first day of the onset of a cold or flu, in most cases, that cold won’t stick around. The general consensus is that the best way to take it is as a tincture. Tinctures are alcohol based liquid extractions of the herb’s active ingredients. (Glycerin based tinctures are available as well for those that don’t consume alcohol.) Most health food stores will have tinctures available for purchase and it is possible to make your own – I will be showing you how one day soon ;-).

Echinacea helps fight the cold and flu viruses by stimulating the immune system. In particular, it encourages the production of more white blood cells. White blood cells are the immune system ‘warrior’ cells that swarm to a virus and break it down equaling shorter colds and flus.  
 

Elderberry.

Elderberry is another herb used for many years as a remedy for colds and flus. It works best if used when you first feel yourself getting sick and can cut the duration of a cold to less than 3 days!

 Elderberry is actually a tree and the part used most often medicinally for colds and flus are the flowers. They have antiviral, anti-catarrhic (decreases inflammation of mucous membranes), and general anti-inflammatory properties. Elderberry also promotes sweating, which helps to kill viruses as well as eliminates immune system waste from the body after the virus has been killed. Elderberry flowers can be taken as a tea (2-4grams per 8oz of water) 3 times a day. It’s also possible to find syrups made from Elderberry at health food stores and yes, you can make your own of this also ;-).

Pau d’arco.

Last but not least, Pau d’arco, also known as lepacho or taheebo, is a tree found in South and Central America that has great healing properties. The inner bark of the tree is used to fight all types of viruses because of its strong immune-stimulating capabilities. This is my personal favorite and when I have it, I can almost always stop a cold before it settles in. I make a tea with 2 grams of the plant to 8 oz of water, let it steep covered for 20 minutes, and drink this 3 times a day. 

So now you have my favorites. All of these are simple and safe to use. All of them will help stop a cold or flu before it develops so it’s a good idea to have at least one of them readily available in your medicine cabinet or kitchen just in case. You’ll be so happy that you do ;-).

In a later article/exercise, we’ll be talking about making an herbal first aid kit and medicine cabinet. Looking forward to sharing that with you all!  

***Important! As always, be sure you run any herbs you are planning to take by your healthcare provider if you are under one’s care. Just make sure they are open to the natural way!

Photo Recap: Naturally Hurd Hair Event in Little Rock

Hey dears! 

So a few weeks ago, here in Little Rock, we had an awesome event. It was the Naturally Hurd Hair Event sponsored by UnHurd Conversations, a new Little Rock company run by Merica Profit. 

Merica reached out to me about 4 or so months ago about participating as a vendor with my makeup line MOVE Makeup and I have to admit - I was skeptical. I have been involved with so many events as a small business owner. I've vended, I've been a guest speaker, I've paid for my booth, I've had my booth donated, and I've even been paid to have a booth and vend. And my local experience had typically been disappointing. Often times, events ended up being more about exposure than actual sales. If I measured success based on people talked to and brochures picked up - they were definite successes; measured by products sold, not so much. 

So needless to say, I wasn't exactly gung-ho about participating in another local event, especially with so much else on my plate. But Merica also asked me to speak as one of her guest makeup artists and she also seemed to have a good idea of what she was doing, what return she expected, and how exactly she was going to go about pulling it off. 

And so I decided to go for it and participate and am I ever so glad I did! 

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Merica pulled off a truly incredible event. I had not seen so many African American natural haired women in one place in Little Rock until then. The sense of anticipation, fun, and camaraderie was electrifying and could be felt throughout the afternoon. Merica chose a great 'celebrity' guest, vlogger Chime Edwards and kept the overall program flowing with interesting and engaging content.  

And as for MOVE Makeup, we had a record sales night! 

So you can imagine, the entire experience was loads of fun and I am looking forward to participating again. Above are a few of the pictures we took - hopefully you can view them and get a sense for how awesome of an event it was!

As always, I'd love for you to keep in touch. I don't only share about awesome events in town, I also share my favorite DIY hair and skin recipes plus my keys to living a naturally vibrant and fulfilled life. You don't want to miss out! Join the email list!

Cold and Flu Symptoms - what are they good for?

So it only seems appropriate this week for me to talk about cold and flu remedies, since I’m currently getting over a bad cold and spent most of last week sick in bed :-D. Yes, I could have stopped it BUT being a bad herbalist, I didn’t have the right herbs on hand and I had a LOT going on this week and so, um yeah..sick in bed it is :-D.

BUT I have been taking really good care of myself and for that I am grateful. I’ll tell you all about how you can avoid being in my situation this season in just a bit, but first I must share my beautiful news :-).

Aalayah Ramel - my beautiful new niece :-).

The big event of last week was the birth of my beautiful niece Aalayah Ramel! Crazily enough, I was actually there the exact second she was born. OMG my friends, talk about a magical moment. I’m sure many, or at least some of you, have shared similar moments. Looking past the obvious pass out factors, it’s a beautiful beautiful beautiful moment. I feel so blessed to have been lucky enough to be there for my sister and to see Aalayah enter our world. WOW doesn’t even describe it!

So that was a big part of my week – helping her get settled, getting to know the new baby, and keeping tabs on my other niece and nephew as well.

Needless to say by the time, Thursday, came around – my body revolted like – 'yeah, you need to spend a lot more time in bed. Lot more chickee. Try all day.'

And so I did. A good mix of guilt and gladness there, I must admit, lol. Who else feels guilty when they stop and make time for themselves. Crazy of us right?!

In any case, I finally have gotten back around to taking care of myself the right way – so let’s get back to that.

 

 

Knocking out that cold, the natural way.

I’m actually going to talk about cold and flu remedies over a couple of posts. This is going to be one of many series that I do when there is a lot of information to share. I know how hard it is to carve out even 15 solid minutes to read these days, so I’ll try to always keep my posts to a 5 minute read or so.

Coughing, sniffling, sneezing. UGH!

Otherwise known as symptoms, these typical signs of a cold/flu are more than just inconvenient. They sap you of energy and are downright irritating to say the least. If you can get rid of them, why not right?

Wrong dears! Let me tell you why. The reason is because symptoms have a point. They don’t happen just to make you miserable. They are actually immune system responses engineered by your body to get rid of the virus that is causing your cold/flu.

Here are three common symptoms and what they are actually designed to do.

Fever: When a virus is present, your body temperature will rise in an attempt to kill the virus. We are familiar with this concept in our everyday lives. We wash our hands with hot water. We boil things to sterilize them. Your body is doing this same thing by “heating itself up” in an attempt to kill as much of the virus as possible and “sterilize” your system. 

Chills: Chills are a sign that your body is in the process of killing off the virus with heat. As your temperature rises, you naturally perspire. As this perspiration evaporates, you lose a bit of heat as well, leaving your skin feeling cold and this is what gives you chills. It’s just an indication that your body is in combat mode!

Coughs and Sneezes: Coughs and sneezes are one of the ways your body expels the virus out of your system. Cold and flu viruses enter your body through your nasal cavities in most cases. As they begin to cause irritation, your body responds by trying to push them out, hence coughs and sneezes. This very same thing is what accounts for runny noses as well. Your body is attempting to rid itself of the invading virus. 

Makes you think a little differently about symptoms right?

Symptoms are NOT a bad thing at all and as much as you can, your focus is better spent on helping your body defend itself and NOT on suppressing symptoms. The symptoms will naturally subside once the virus has been effectively fought off (think about it – we don’t have a cold forever do we? Why does it eventually go away?).

So instead of using our go-to over the counter medicines that suppress symptoms – why not use medicines that help your immune system rock out its job better??

I thought you’d agree on the wisdom of that  and in the next post, I’ll give my top 5 natural remedies for cold and flu season. You definitely don't want to miss out on that one because in the Midwest, it's already snowing and here down south our breezy 48 degree days aren't feeling too warm either! 

Be on the lookout for it and it you want to make sure you don't miss it, be sure to join my email list. I always send out notices when I post something new. 

Until then,

Keep living it up the natural way!