The end of summer and the upcoming return to school for children, teens, and college students can be a stressful time for everyone involved, including parents. This seems to be true to some extent, no matter the age of the child or even how well the previous school year went. And then, the school day usually requires the student to focus and pay attention while sitting at a desk—something many children find quite difficult. Then there are the issues of getting homework done and back to school with the children, young or old!
The remedies focused on as specials and offered at discounted prices, were chosen with these issues in mind. However, as you will quickly see from the product descriptions, they address energy levels, the ability to focus and pay attention, and handling anxiety from any cause and in any type of situation.
Before we begin today’s discussion of essential oils, herbs, and Blessed Waters (homeopathics), I would like to provide a little bit of extraneous, but I feel quite necessary, information. I searched both the Butterfly Express and Butterfly Expressions sites and was disappointed to find that the information I have written and taught in various places over the years on the topic I am about to summarize briefly below is not to be found on either site. It doesn’t seem to be in any of the books I have written, either. (However, I made only a rudimentary search, so . . .) If this oversight is actually real, I intend to remedy the situation as soon as I can find a minute (or a few hours, as it will likely be).
Two key factors in understanding essential oils are recognizing the differences in healing properties among plant families and understanding how various parts of the same plant can offer different therapeutic benefits. It probably doesn’t surprise you that the medicinal properties of the conifer family (spruce trees, for example) are very different from the healing properties of the various herbaceous or ornamental plants (such as the Lauraceae, Labiate, Compositae, and Umbelliferae families).
Even within the same plant family, whether an essential oil has been created from the wood, the seed, the root, or the leaves, dramatically affects the healing properties of that essential oil, and does so to an incredible degree.
A well-built blend allows us to combine, synergistically, the benefits of several plant families as well as the healing capacities of various plant parts, all with the goal of increasing the capabilities of each single essential oil. Just as a chocolate cake is more pleasing—and tastes better—than the varying ingredients separately, an essential oil blend has the potential of being so much more than any of the single oil ingredients by themselves
Let’s keep this information in mind as we discuss various essential oil blends in the pages of this (and every) newsletter.
In December we will discuss Anxiety, Stress and Self-Reflection. I would like to begin today by recounting a story told by one of my favorite authors, Bruce H. Lipton, in his book The Biology of Belief. I will paraphrase as best I can, in the interest of keeping this segment brief—well, sort of.
Dr. Lipton uses the example of a track race to illustrate for his readers the effects of stress on the body. A well-trained and healthy group of sprinters steps up to the starting line. They hear the command, “On your mark,” and they drop to their hands and knees. Then the announcer barks, “Get set.” Their muscles tighten as they prop themselves up on their fingers and toes. In a normal race, the strain and tension they are experiencing lasts only a second or two before the command, “Go!” is heard.
But what if the “Go” command never came? These unfortunate athletes would be left at the starting blocks, their blood coursing with adrenaline, their bodies rapidly going into deep fatigue as they try to stay prepared for a race that never begins. No matter how healthy and toned their physical bodies are or how much they have prepared their minds for the race, every athlete would physically collapse from the strain.
Too many of us today live in a “Get set” world! Study after scientific study has shown that our hyper-vigilance is wreaking havoc on our physical health, mental stability, and emotional well-being.
So, what’s the solution? May I offer three quick pieces of advice, based on my own experience:
Count your blessings! A young son of mine, counseled during a family meeting to “count his blessings,” reported in church—over the microphone at the pulpit—the next week that he had counted his blessings and found 385 of them. (I’m not exactly sure of the number, but you get the gist.) There never was a happier, more contented, or more willing-to-serve child, nor man, than he has become.
Count your strengths instead of your weaknesses. Then get to work using your strengths in the service of others. Our suffering is too often more the result of our thoughts than our circumstances. We alone have control over our thoughts! Suffering because of our mindset is optional and up to us.
Replace fear with faith. It has been proven over and over—also in scientific studies—that meeting tragedy and difficulties with calm assurance, knowing we (with Heaven as our partner) have overcome challenges before and can do so again, reduces the impact on our health and well-being when life’s realities and obstacles inevitably come our way.
Anxiety is too often fear of the future and doubt in our ability to handle it.
The health benefits provided by proper nutrition, herbal remedies, and the impact of essential oils on our minds and bodies can have a tremendous effect on our ability to look to the future with courage and determination, helping us to be happy in the here and now. See the full list of topics.