Natural energy boosters - Escaping exhaustion (part 2)

Up until recently I was really struggling with my energy levels. Sleeping 18 hours a day. Getting up and after an hour crawling back into bed or making it till the afternoon then falling asleep only to wake up in the early hours of the following morning. Sometimes good sleep etiquette and routine aren't enough but I have discovered a great many things that help build energy back up and some things that give instant energy that almost seems to be a never ending supply. Wouldn't you like to feel as energetic and awake as a child after a full nights sleep. Or like your so alive that you don't think you would ever need to sleep again.

I want you to think back to when you were a child. You could play all day and stay up all night with your friends and then sleep for a few hours and get up and play again! The simple reason for this is that you were having fun and enjoying yourself so much and not bogged down by the weight of bills to pay and people to look after. You didn't worry about what your friend was going to eat for dinner or likely even what you were going to eat and who was going to pay for it. You likely just went home and someone put food on the table. After you grow up and take on responsibilities life gets a lot more complicated but there are so many easy and quick things you can do to instantly boost your energy. Would you give 5 minutes a day to feel refreshed and energized. Would you be happy if you knew you could easily do this for free?

Here's a list of things most people can easily do and most won't cost you a cent so read on and charge your batteries.

*Soaking up some morning sun - A few minutes of sun in the early morning resets your body clock, produces melatonin which helps you sleep and creates vitamin D in the body. (Vitamin D deficiency causes tiredness and pain.

*Listening to music you enjoy with a strong beat and lively rhythm.

*Have gratitude - Write a list of 10 things you are greatful for, read them before bed to sleep easier.

*Take a moment to meditate on the sounds in your environment and how you currently feel - switch off from the disappointments and yesterdays regrets and the worries of tomorrow, be in the moment and know that your ok.

*Pay a compliment - Brighten your own day by bringing joy to another.

*Get back in touch with your body by getting a massage or sharing a hug.

*Yoga - Connect with your body and move some energy, feel where your stopping it from flowing and release.

*Read an uplifting quote - Keep some on the fridge, on a work noticeboard or sticky notes around the house.

*Look at something beautiful - Art, nature, your favourite person or anything that uplifts you.

*Refresh yourself in a cold shower or take a dip in the ocean.

*Decide that your day is going to go well and plan to do something you enjoy - Having something to look forward to will keep you going so reward yourself.

*Create something - Make some pancakes, sketch a picture, sew a new dress. Creating things stimulates life energy.

*Get your shoes off and go stand on the grass, dirt, sand - connect with the earth and feel the stress melting away through your feet. Touching the Earth naturally allows you to discharge energy buildup that causes pain and inflamation. We are 80% water after all and we conduct electricity.

*Drink your 6 to 8 glasses of water - Dehydration will make you tired even if you don't feel thirsty.

*Move - Shake up your energy after you've been still all night, do some jumping jacks, stomp your feet or grab a hula hoop.

*Breathe - Often when we are stressed we spend long amounts of time holding our breath or taking short shallow breaths. Take a minute to breathe as slowly and deeply as you can then see how you feel.

*Forgive someone - Holding onto anger, hurts and resentments ties up a lot of energy. Let it go and find better more enjoyable ways to use that energy after all why waste it on feeling bad.

*Play - whether you find a new toy or activity to explore or you seek out some children to show you how to let go and have fun again, playing will make you feel alive.


I hope that gives you a few easy ways to increase your energy personally for myself  I find that expressing myself creatively gives me a huge amount of energy and if I can let go of emotions and manifest something I put heart and soul into then nothing can wear me out, anything i'm passionate about and have fun doing I can spend hours on without the need to stop or even eat. Energy is available to everyone no matter their bank account so plug into the universe because there's as much there as you could ever want.

Escaping exhaustion

Chronic fatigue or chronic exhaustion conditions are on the rise and it's not surprising considering we are working longer, have more stress and don't have the time or money to do what we'd like to anymore. But what can we do about it? Here's a list of things that can give you significant bursts of energy when you feel like the life has been sucked out of you.

Firstly we have to look at why we are so drained so it's easier to look at the main aspects of our life and how we've allowed ourselves to get this way. Work. If the sound of that word alone makes you feel tired then your probably in the wrong job. A job should not be something that makes us cringe, if we can we should be doing something we love and enjoy going to work after all most of us spend 6 to 8 hours working a day. So if you hate your boss and feel like your working with a bunch of idiots constantly fixing other peoples mistakes and working yourself to the bone in an unsupportive environment you need to rethink what your doing. If it's possible quit and find a better place to work where you can enjoy your day and get along with your fellow workers. If this isn't possible or is too much of a stress counselling, talking over problems with your boss and co workers or maybe dropping back to part time so you can pursue some interests you've been putting off may be a great idea.

The second place you probably spend the most amount of time that could be seriously draining you is your home. If your not looking forward to going home at the end of the day and you'd rather work late to avoid your family or go out instead every night of the week then you may need to consider how healthy your home environment and your family life is. Your home should be a sanctuary and a place of relaxation and loving support. If it's not sit down with your family ask for some help and talk over what's stressing or getting you down and how you'd like the family to get along and spend quality time together. Maybe there needs to be a more equal share of chores or possibly hire a cleaner if you can afford one. Also make sure your home is bright and comfortable a good clean and a couple of colourful new furnishings may give you a nice boost. Make sure your comforts are met that your bed and seating is comfortable and provides good support that you have warm blankets and a fridge stocked with a balance of nourishing foods. If you can't get quality sleep and a reasonable diet your not going to have any energy to face the day.

The third most common area to lose energy is to our relationships maybe you worry about what your children are up to or suspect your partner is having an affair. Worry, stress, codependency and negative relationships are a huge energy drain. Simply being around negative and anxious people is a stress in itself so try to make friends who are cheerful and uplifting. Try communicating more lovingly with partners and friends and learn to say no. One must look after themselves and have their needs met before they have enough to offer up to other people and there comes a time when we all must learn that each person is responsible for themselves and we can't keep assisting people who can't seem to manage for themselves. If you have a friend or family member that needs help maybe contact the rest of the family or other friends and share the load around and break things down into smaller tasks so that your not doing everything.

The biggest energy drain however is definitely not living your lifes' purpose. If you live to fish and consider yourself a great fisherman then make time to go fishing! If your biggest joy is to cook for others then whip up a meal and invite friends around, maybe make it a weekly thing. Whatever it is that makes you, you and gives you joy, whatever your passionate about if your not doing it then why do you exist? What's the point in working to earn enough money so you can keep working if you hate your job? Not having anything in your life that is worth getting up for in the morning is the biggest and hardest drain to overcome if you don't know what makes you tick. Simply having something to motivate you can bring in so much energy! So make more time for the things you love.

Lastly you need to look at physically what your putting your body through. So pay attention to where you live and the pollutants your breathing in and drinking. Consider what your eating and if your moving your body and getting exercise. Are you getting enough rest? If your chronically tired have you been to the doctors and made sure you spoke up for yourself and investigated all the possible causes? Some can be hard to find. Do you need to be taking all the medications your on and do you know the side effects of what your taking. Your body is most likely bombarded by chemicals, toxins and hormones in your food and cleaning products, makeup and soaps. Look at the ingredients in your hair dye and even your toothpaste. Become more knowledgeable about what your putting in and on your body. Many chemicals can be absorbed into the blood stream directly through the skin which bypasses most of the immune system which is activated during digestion.

So really the best way to cut energy drains out of your life is to reduce stress, worry and negative relationships. Take care of your body and make sure your passionate about something in your life and keep it up. Don't let the weight of the world and all the responsibilities crush you, share them around and get help if your feeling overwhelmed.

Just to recap here are a few quick changes you can make to cut back your energy expenditure
*Brighten your home with colourful furnishings
*Reduce time around negative people
*Learn to say no
*Reduce your work hours
*Do fun things with family
*Buy a better mattress
*Keep up a hobby or passion
*Reduce stress
*Ask for help
*Get a medical check up

It's not normal to be continually exhausted and the body is not designed to cope long term with huge amounts of stress if your not enjoying your life it will wear you down so make sure you know what your living for and do whatever brings you joy. So many things these days lead to a complete collapse of energy levels and motivation but you don't need to feel helpless when there are ways to get your life back and escape exhaustion. Just remember getting up is always the hardest but every little bit helps time flies by when your having fun so don't choose an eternity of simply surviving.

Meditation for when you can't stop thinking

When I can't stop myself from thinking or remembering things and have memories pop into my head I don't want triggered by sights, smells or songs especially memories of people who have hurt me and past arguments I have a meditation technique that I have been using for ages. It's been a huge help for years so I'll give you the step by step for how I get my piece of quiet and remove the constant nagging from my mind.

*Sit with your feet flat on the ground in a chair is easiest. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply and slowly 3 times.

*Notice how your feet feel, imagine your feet are glowing and pulsing. Feeling something pushing out the bottom of them and travelling downward. Let these roots grow downward more and more. Have them break easily through the floor, the ground, the rock right down to the molten centre of the earth.

*Feel the warmth there and anchor the roots into the earth wrapping them around the Earths' core. Allow the Earth to send up roots of its own right up to you and feel the warmth go into the bottom of your feet.

*Feel this warmth travel up through your body slowly through each toe, each foot, each ankle etc. Flowing upwards until it reaches the top of your head. Notice where the flow stops or slows down and where feels heaviest. Make those spots brighter and brighter and let the warmth grow until its red hot allow it to dislodge the heaviness so it can sink down your body out the roots and back down to the center of the Earth.

*When you feel lighter and full of warmth imagine a bright golden energy pouring into the top of your head and allow it to flow down into your body slowly bit by bit. Notice how this feels and let it grow brighter and brighter anywhere there is resistance.

*Allow both feelings from above and below to swirl and mix and continue circulating them until you feel ready to stop. This may be when you feel very relaxed and dreamy or you may feel a lot happier or more positive or just generally more calm.

*Now imagine you are in front of a large screen TV and you can change the channel to see anything you want. Flick the channel to the memory or thought that keeps popping up and bothering you. Watch it play. Take a slow deep breath and notice how you feel, do you have any sensations anywhere? Any heaviness or do you feel guilty or angry?

*Accept how your feeling and ask why this happened. Allow yourself to feel or notice any insight or lesson you need from this situation. Something may come to you or nothing may happen at all. When you have had enough take any sensations or feelings you felt that you didn't like and put them up on the screen.

*See some roots growing out of the screen and anchor them deep in the core of the Earth, see everything you put up on the screen get sucked through the roots back deep into the Earth.

*Notice how you feel again and see if you feel any lighter, if you have other things bothering you repeat the process as many times as you want until you feel less burdened.

*When you are done imagine the TV catching on fire and let it burn, crumble and turn to dust to fall back to the ground and been blown away by the wind.

*Slowly wriggle your fingers and your toes, bring your awareness back to your body and slowly open your eyes. Then go have a big glass of water.

This is a great meditation to do after a big fight with someone or a breakup, when you can't stop reliving events or have thoughts stuck in your head that are very unpleasant. It won't make you forget them permanently but it will stop you thinking about them randomly and having them come to your attention. 

Fibromyalgia in remission

So it appears my fibromyalgia is in remission and has been for over 2 years now! Oh happy day so with all this extra love I have from not being in insane pain every waking and sleeping minute of the day I would like to help others find ways to escape this horrible condition.

Also by escape I mean confront head on. Yea doesn't sound fun but it's the most effective way. So after going for test after test after test to discover what's going wrong in your body and being put back to square one with a much lighter wallet you most likely have been told that nothing appears to be wrong and life style changes are needed. Your Dr may have a series of things for you to try out, different medications, massage therapies, physical therapy. Yes there are many treatment options and I've tried a lot of them but now I'm going to share with you exactly what worked.

*My first important step was the purchase of a wii fit and playing the balance games and doing the yoga exercises. This really helped me connect with my body and listen to it in a way I'd never done before.  It also introduced me to yoga.

*Meditation this was probably the most important thing I did for myself. I don't have a set meditation I do or particular practice I do every day but rather when I feel very anxious or have some serious pain I sit, I breathe deeply 3 times and then ask myself where is this coming from? What am I feeling or noticing? What are my senses telling me? If I can find the emotion or situation that's stirred up these sensations and just allow myself to recognise and experience those feelings and let them go often the pain dissolves immediately.

*Go to a yoga class! this really saved me and got me functioning again.  The more yoga I did the more I learnt to recognise exactly where my pain was and when I was tensing. This was incredible because it took me from having an overall bruised tenderness to sensitivity to specific places similar to pain at an injection site. But really it was teaching me to be present, aware and give me a dialogue with my body and breath.

*So after doing Hatha yoga for 2 months I felt sooo much better but the pain always came back and I wasn't satisfied with the result of only having half a week of reduced pain.  This is when my yoga teacher suggested Kundalini yoga she said "give it a try I think it may be just your ticket, it will rebalance your nerves and detoxify your system and do so many things for you." So off I went and after 2 months of it and getting over how strange it was I realised I didn't have tenderness. I had specific aches that would come and go noticeably headaches,  back pain, shoulder and neck pain, leg pain and foot pain. But these weren't an everyday thing more like a my legs hurt at the moment but everything else is fine for a few weeks then my legs would come good and i'd get a headache. Much better than everything all at once!

*The next thing I really had to take responsibility for was following my gut. After doing yoga and meditation for a while I became increasingly aware of a sensation like a clang in the pit of my stomach as if someone had struck a very loud gong or scraped finger nails against a blackboard. Bad things always happened after that sensation. As I noticed it more I realised it always happened when a decision came up or when I was thinking about doing something and noticed I could decide to do something else and change my mind about my course of action to avoid that bad feeling. Which ultimately made my life a lot less complicated, eliminated so much stress and things just seemed to work better.

*Gut feeling was the first step towards letting my body help me and starting to love it again rather than feel prisoner to it. I started seeing energy healers to help with my body and stuff in my life that felt stuck. Anyone that could intuitively bring to my attention repressed emotions, situations, arguments that I had held onto. I guess it was kinda a super fast tracked form of counselling because they were able to make me remember things I had long forgotten that i'd been angry about or had deeply hurt me. They would talk me through my thoughts and feelings about these memories and help me find more helpful ways to view the situation and better ways to react to similar stimuli in the future. I'd come out of those sessions having substantially less pain,  feeling 10 tonnes lighter and super relaxed.

*The next thing I really had to look into was making sure I did things I wanted to do! I have a habit of collecting hobbies but giving up on them when I find out i'm not the best at it after putting in my best effort to conquer it. However some things have stuck that i'm pretty good at. One is sewing and boy do I feel amazing after i've imagined, sketched, cut out then stitched together a gift or gift for myself and brought something imaged into reality. But often I felt like I just didn't have the energy to tackle a project so I made myself a list of things that gave me a boost. Easy things was maintaining my appearance. Simply painting my toenails or getting dressed up to have dinner with a friend made a big difference in my mood. So I always have a little list of things that pick me up to rely on when I was exhausted and down in the dumps. Maybe it could be a favourite movie to watch in bed with your favourite ice cream, or a playlist of songs that has a good rhythm and gets you dancing in your pajamas (No one has to know). Or a really simple thing like a cup of tea.

Right now I am almost 3 years into my new yoga life and have had 2 years of no widespread tender points and for the past year I have worked over 50 hours most weeks. I was getting a weekly massage to help me keep up with my busy business schedule and made sure I kept exploring my emotions and talking them out and finding new ways to break outdated mental patterns but my existence is not a constant physical battle anymore. I have won my war and while I'm not 100% pain free who is this day and age?

It's a daily responsibility for myself but it's one i'm happy to apply myself to as I don't classify as having diagnosable fibromyalgia anymore! I'm free and I did it on my own steam out of sheer force of will with the help of some wonderful people showing me the way and being great friends. I wish every one luck on their journey to health and happiness whether you believe you deserve it or not.

I conquered my fibromyalgia and so can you!

Endometriosis

The NOT so silent killer

Endometriosis is that disease that some women have that make them not feel so well during their periods right? Yea I knew a girl who had that her Dr put her on some pills and she got better and it went away and now she's fine and has 5 kids.

I don't know any woman who has had endometriosis who would agree with any of that. The truth is endometriosis is slowly killing womens' chances to conceive, enjoy full relationships, work full time or simply want to continue living at all  that is if the disease itself does not kill her first.

What do we really know about this condition? Well it's a growth of the tissue that lines the uterus the endometrial cells that travel around in the pelvic cavity and fuse to organs, ligaments and structures in this pelvis. Drs don't seem to know what causes it or how to improve it but agree it may be triggered by hormones and seems to be a result of retrograde menstruation.

So what a little bit of growth in the pelvis what's the big deal? Well the big deal is that the disease is much like cancer it grows and grows and grows some more, it develops, cysts, tumors, lesions and infiltrates other organs. The endometriosis tissue irritates the structures of the pelvis and stimulate the growth of scar tissue and adhesions. Adhesions and endometriosis can fuse the pelvic structures together resulting in a condition called frozen pelvis. When you look at the function of the organs in the pelvis mostly it involves digestion and reproduction. The majority of these organs require contraction, spasms and movement for them to be able to function correctly. The bowels contract and move waste along them, guess what happens when they can't PAIN! extreme sharp stabbing pain, cramping, constipation, malnourishment and many other difficult symptoms. Growths in the pelvis cause the organs not to function correctly and like cancer if they interfere with a nerve can generate referred and widespread pain.

Endometriosis is a disease that can effect a womans' body on a daily basis and not only during menstruation however it is often worse when stimulated by cyclical hormones causing the cells to release hormones and chemicals themselves that cause the organs around it to cramp. The endometriosis itself generates more endometriosis so if you have a little it is reasonable to think that over time it may increase greatly, this is also not really understood yet as to why it continues to develop in some women and not in others. Growths located on nerves can stimulate incredible sciatic pain that shoots down the leg and other referred pain in the body.

Endometriosis is not well diagnosed as it takes on average over 5 years of incredible pain and extensive growth and cyclical disruption to be diagnosed. This is because it is often misdiagnosed as depression, anxiety, stress, irritable bowel, vaginismus, food allergies, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and a long list of other conditions when patients are not thoroughly examined and sent for the appropriate tests. Even though laparoscopy with biopsy is the only way to be certain. Ultra sounds and MRIs are capable of detecting endometriosis.

In the time a woman is not being diagnosed the condition can destroy her ovaries and uterus decreasing her chance of having children or making her completely infertile, cause her tremendous pain with daily activities such as voiding the bladder or stretching. Can you imagine being afraid to pee every day? Or fear not having a bowel movement for extended periods but also fearing the pain of them when they do happen. And what about the pain in losing jobs for missing work, losing friends when they don't understand and criticise for being a wimp. Or having no pain relief because the Drs don't understand that this condition has been described by patients who also had cancer as often being a lot more painful than cancer so they aren't given strong enough pain relief.

There is also limited understanding of how common the disease is and how widespread it can be in a womans' body. There are cases of endometriosis being found in the lungs, brain and eyes, but increasingly common these days is endometriosis of the bowel sometimes resulting in full bowel obstruction.

To add insult to injury to medications to help stop the condition from continuing to develop often cause intolerable side effects of depression, insomnia, sweats, mood swings, anxiety, weight gain, nausea, irregular bleeding and can increase the risk of some cancers. While pelvic surgery to remove the disease can drastically improve quality of life it often results in extensive scarring and adhesions similar to what the disease itself causes which can result in much pain and later cause more bowel obstructions.

More needs to be learnt about this condition and what causes it but some theories suggest it's the bombardment of hormones in our meat and pesticides in our produce as well as other chemical cocktails  added to produce to enable them to grow bigger and stay fresh longer, not to mention our polluted environment, lack of nutrition in western diet, poor over stressed lifestyles, lack of quality sleep and over exposure to toxins in cleaning products and body products over time.

While the disease can be mild and manageable in a lot of cases it isn't and shouldn't be considered an easy thing to live with. To anyone else who has this disease you are brave and you have lived through so much. To anyone who hasn't have you ever been stabbed or had internal bleeding? Because that's what's physically happening when organs are pulled apart and scar tissue, cysts and tumors are ripped and burst.

There is hope for this condition and with lifestyle changes and listening to your body and caring for it properly many have recovered a large quality of life so live well, love and seek a second, third, fourth, fifth and hundredth opinion if you don't feel right. You know your body and your deserve care when something is not right, not to be sent away and told nothing is wrong. There are also many other people who can help who aren't Drs so do some research and try some therapies you may discover something that works well for you that perhaps isn't so conventional.