Calm

So many find themselves experiencing anxiety these days as the world seems to “fall apart” and leave one wondering what is real and what is transient.

On this relaxation day, let’s all try to reduce our stress levels as much as we can by keeping calm and taking a break. And on a break, do these 10 things!

I recently wrote on citrus essential oils, my favorite oils for scent. Now, we’ll move on to conifer essential oils, another group I love. These are uplifting and motivating, and they blend beautifully with citrus oils for both scent and energetics.

Having a fear of flying isn’t fun. I can tell you this firsthand as it’s something I’ve struggled with for the past 12 years. I don’t know exactly when or why I started to panic during takeoff or turbulence, my hands gripping the armrests, my palms sweaty.

Spring is the season to clear out the cobwebs and nurture growth. It’s also the perfect time to check in with your environmental wellness—that is, your health as it relates to your relationship with nature and your environment. Environmental wellness is a holistic approach to maintaining your health, the health of those around you, and the health of our natural world.

I stood atop the first Vishnu temple I’d ever encountered in India, in the south, in Madurai. Upon entering the temple I was greeted by a priest who offered me leaves of tulsi and a few sugar cubes as an offering. I soon made my way up to the roof of the temple, after peering into the sanctuary. Though the inside was where worshippers gathered to “see the divine,” it was on the roof where I first encountered what I would call “Vishnu Consciousness” in me.

When you hear the term “timelines” your mind immediately wants to leap into sci-fi fantasy lands of dimensional blurs and several lives happening “simultaneously.” Though this is possible in the metaphysical and quantum perspective, it is a bit difficult to wrap one’s mind around and so is often dismissed as “impossible” or inconceivable. However, what if “another timeline” is simply one where you are experiencing yourself in a different mental state, attracting new solutions, or feeling better in your body?

Sattva: Balance. Purity. Calmness. Neutrality. Equilibrium. Peace.

Imagine a raging fire consuming a forest of ancient trees, the charred branches left after the fact, the newly fertile soil, and then the regrowth of the shrubs, bushes and trees over time to again reveal a pristine woodland of animal life and nature. After the burn and regrow, there is a space and time of balance that is achieved and seems to be maintained over time, during which you can hang a hammock in the trees and fall peacefully asleep while crickets sing and water flows down the mountain.

Whichever you focus on—either the arising, awakening, and creation of the new, or the havoc, eruption, insanity, and destruction of the old—is the reality you will experience. 

While an illusory world based on the beliefs of separation is coming to the surface to be disintegrated by the collective expansion of heart-intuited awareness, the collapse of these outdated systems will not go down smoothly. The good news is that you may experience that havoc, or not. 

Lemon balm, also called Melissa officinalis and “the Herb of Good Cheer,” has easily become one of my favorite herbs in the past year. It tastes like a mellow, citrus-y herb (exactly what you would expect from something called “lemon balm”) but what I love most is that it’s an “all-in-one.” Not only is lemon balm calming for your nerves but it also has powerful healing properties and is especially helpful for killing viruses and lowering inflammation. Here are just some of the many benefits of lemon balm: