Always be ready to have the time of your life.
~ Unknown

Joy Scale: 9/10

Dreams

Dreams digest the meals that are our days.
~ Astrid Alauda, Dyspeptic Enlightenment

Last night I was suppose to record my dreams. This is funny, I dreamt that I was writing down my dreams! I did write down some of them too.

Joy Scale: 9/10

Turtle Power

... Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.
~James Bryant Conan

Joy Scale: 10/10

Today I am honoring the turtle. It symbolizes heaven and earth. The dome of it's shell represents heaven and the flat bottom represents earth. The turtle is considered by some Native Americans to be one of their the oldest, most sacred symbols. They believed that North America was created on the back of The Great Mother, a turtle.
In the far east, turtle was carved and worn as a talisman for power over all forms of bad magic. Generally the turtle is seen to represent: self-containment, creative source, earthiness, being grounded, longevity, protection, shelter, and a steady approach to life. Thank you turtle for your powers and I will use them well.

Be a love pharmacist: dispense hugs like medicine - they are! ~The Quote Garden

Joy Scale: 9/10

She flew up to Heaven on the wings of angels
By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees
And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waiting
And I know she's smiling saying
Don't worry 'bout me
~ Alan Jackson, Sissy's Song

Today would have been Heather's 30th birthday. She is missed here on this earth by her loved ones. I have to believe that she is at a wonderful place now. Keep turning the lights on and off so we know you are there Heather. We love you and miss you!

Joy Scale: 8/10

Love the outdoors

Forget not the earth delights to feel your bare feet, and the winds long to play with your hair.
~ Kahlil Gibran

Joy Scale: 9/10

Memorial Day Honor

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heros and she-ros.
~Maya Angelou

Joy Scale: 10/10

On this day set aside to honor our veterans who gave their lives in the name of freedom....in honor of them, let's take a breath of peace. Let that breath soak into all the cells of your body and bring peace deep inside you. For the living veterans and those serving our country now I send prayers and thanks. I see the sacrifices that are made daily by my wonderful, brave husband Hal. I love you!

More Fibro Stuff....Massage & Bowen

Today I am going to share some of the myriad of treatments, modalities and experiences I have tried on my journey to wellness. I shared in an earlier post my list of supplements. As you will see I have tried many, many things. Some have worked, some may have subtley worked, some have not worked that I noticed. Where to start....hmmmmm.
First, it may be beneficial to share what kind of a lifestyle I now have. It is pretty low key. I only have to work part-time, which is good because stress makes the Fibromyalgia symptoms worse. I do have a stressor in my life, my husband has prostate cancer and I am his main cheerleader and advocate as we wend our way through his own healing journey. I noticed when he went in for surgery and during his long hospital stay that I had more of my old Fibro symptoms show up, well, mainly in my right leg. I had the same shooting pains at night that I used to have at the beginning. I used my old stand by Tylenol PM to get me through. What is funny is I didn't feel like I was stressed mentally, but obviously I was. I am a coper mentally, but then it shows up in my body. I want to send a BIG THANK YOU to Kim Elkins, my massage therapist, for always going above and beyond and really working on my tissues that have issues. What I love about Kim is the way I can say what is hurting and she tailors the massage to deal with the issues. This woman has talents! She also does Bowen therapy. I hadn't had Bowen for a few weeks and I truly feel that Bowen does good things for me, physically and mentally. While I am having a treatment I can get so relaxed and enter into a state I call "bliss", kind of like being in Lala Land, all floaty, almost asleep and so relaxing. It is WONDERFUL! So I have decided to make a commitment to myself and will have Bowen twice a month along with my weekly massages. Massages!!! They are what gets me through each week! Kim gives me therapeutic massages, they hurt most of the time, but then the next day or so later I feel soooooo much better. I do not know what a relaxing massage feels like. I have so many tender spots on my body that usually hurt during my massage. I know my body, so I am very excited when a spot no longer hurts. This has been happening more and more since I started to come to Kim. I started going to Kim in December 2008. I think there was Divine intervention here, she has become such an important part of my Team. My friend Hope actually went to Kim first and loved her. Hope mentioned that Kim did Bowen, my ears perked up and I soon met Kim and had my first Bowen treatment. The next day I felt like a Mack truck had hit me(this can be a normal occurance). Then the next day I felt better. I don't know how it works, or why it works, BUT it works! Here is a link to Bowen if you want more info. http://www.ketteringtherapeuticmassage.com/bowenwork_dayton_bowen_therapy.asp
Massage and Bowen are both a very important part of my healing now. A really neat thing that has happened is we have become friends too. See, Divine intervention. Besides having Fibro I have Chronic Myofascial Pain. This means that my fascia under my skin is not very fluid, it is hardened. Fascia is the connective tissue between our skin and muscles. It is the white filmy stuff when you pull the skin off a piece of raw chicken. Underneath the superficial fascia lies deep fascia, a much more densely packed and strong layer of fascia. The deep fascia covers the muscles in connective tissue aggregations which help to keep the muscles divided and protected. This deep fascia can create tight knots or connective adhesions which act as trigger points which can cause pain. A variety of treatments including myofascial release and stretching are used to treat this condition, which can be debilitating and extremely painful. I get trigger points and have had trigger points that have resolved. They can hurt so bad! Right now I have two on my right and left shoulder blades, I call them the twins. I don't mind these two because they do not cause me pain in my daily life or when Kim massages them. They just crunch and pop and say hello when they are massaged. In the past I had two very large trigger points on both of my shoulder muscles and they hurt and were pulling my shoulders up towards my ears. They kept growing bigger and bigger. At the time I had these trigger points I was getting my weekly massages at Miami Jacob School of Medical Massage's Serenity Day Spa. I had an awesome student at the time, Cody. I asked her what I should do at home because the weekly massage wasn't winning the battle of the trigger points. She recommended a tool called the Theracane. I researched Theracanes and decided to get a similar tool called a Back Buddy. I bought mine on Amazon.com. It worked, after about a month! I used it a couple times a day, pressing the ball of the Back Buddy into my trigger points 10 seconds at a time a couple of times each session. Here is the link for Serenity Day Spa if you want to have student massages at a reduced price. http://www.miamijacobs.edu/Serenity/ Serenity is a very professional place and it is affordable and you usually get a good massage. If you need deep body work, trigger point release therapy or muskuloskeletal work I would recommend a LMT, who has specialized in these areas. After all they are students and are still learning.
Sorry...I have run out of time for today and only covered a wee bit of what I have tried. So there is LOTS more to look forward to!
Have a wonderful day! I am!

If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned to live.
~ Lin Yutang

Joy Scale: 10/10

Graduation....

You have brains in your head.You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go.

~Dr. Seuss

Joy Scale: 9/10

Graduation wishes to Chrissy and Lacy. Be proud of how what you have done so far. It is awewome! I love you and am proud of you!

You, whose day it is, get out your rainbow colors and make it beautiful. ~Traditional Nootka song

Joy Scale: 10/10

To me faith means not worrying.

~John Dewey

This such a simple statement that can be so hard to do. But if you can do it life is much easier....I promise!

Joy Scale: 9/10

The formula for a happy marriage? It's like living in California: If you find a fault, don't dwell on it.

~ Jay Trachman, humorist

Joy Scale: 9/10

Mom and dad thank you for the shining example of what a marriage should be. I love you guys!

AND Hal I thank you for loving me despite my faults! I love you!

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.

~Buddha

Joy Scale: 9/10

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.

~e.e. cummings

Joy Scale: 9/10

Optimist vs. pessimist

I consider myself an unstoppable optimist. It is the way I approach life and I can't imagine living any other way. Life is good!

Joy Scale: 10/10

I have a new product I just discovered from Swanson Vitamins, but you can get it other places too. It is called Magnesium Oil. It has helped my leg cramps and knee pain go away. I sprayed the oil on my leg and knee and massaged it in and no kidding!!! in a few minutes the pain was gone. Yes, minutes. Where was this oil when I had my leg cramp(growing pains) as a child. I have now used the oil for a few days now and it has worked each time, just not always in minutes like the first time.

Here is some info on it: Magnesium Oil is a super-saturated spray of pure magnesium chloride and water-- nothing added, nothing taken away. It's mined from deep underground at the site of the ancient Zechstein Sea in The Netherlands. It's non-greasy and absorbs rapidly leaving little residue and no unpleasant scent. This link has some more info on Magnesium Oil. http://ezinearticles.com/?Whats-All-the-Buzz-About-Magnesium-Oil?&id=1718838

Hope

I believe in the sun even when it's not shining. I believe in love even when not feeling it. I believe in God even when He is silent. ~ Unknown

Joy Scale: 10/10

Friendship

A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.
~ Lois Wyse

Joy Scale: 9/10

I send love and gratitude to all my friends out there, you are the wind beneath my wings.....thank you!

Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

~ Mother Teresa

Joy Scale: 9/10

Have you noticed how a smile is infectious? Or how if you smile it can even make you feel better? Such a simple act can be so powerful. We should use it more often!

Plants give us oxygen for the lungs and for the soul.

~ Linda Solegato

Joy Scale: 9/10

I am going to go garden in the rain showers this morning. This is perfect, then I don't have to water! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Always remember to hug, to love, to trust, to feel peace deep within you.

Joy Scale: 9/10

Monday Morning Optimism

If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right!

~ Mary Kay Ash

Joy Scale: 9/10

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there...

Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.

~Ambrose Bierce

This describes my childhood! I was NEVER cold, but my mom was always cold and wanted me to wear a sweater.

Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother. ~ Oprah Winfrey

That's my mom, not by biology but by love.

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,

One is nearer God's heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth.

~ Dorothy Frances Gurney, "Garden Thoughts"

Joy Scale: 10/10

Hal is home FINALLY and I am going to garden today and do some of my own healing!

Rain showers my spirit and waters my soul.

~ Emily Logan Decens

Joy Scale: 9/10

Yes, it is another rainy day here in Ohio. I am not complaining, all the plants in the garden are slurping it up. I love the sound the rain makes on the metal roof of our garage. That is soothing to my soul too.

Life is what we make it. Always has been, always will be.

~ Grandma Moses

Joy Scale: 9/10

OK...I LOVE THIS QUOTE!

People are just about as happy as they make up their mind to be. ~Abraham Lincoln

Joy Scale: 9/10

Isn't this a neat photo? It is a flock of Flamingos making a Flamingo shape! Happy day to you all!

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you

~ Maori proverb

Joy Scale: 8/10

I am impressed that Helen Keller could feel this way about life...it gives me inspiration!

Joy Scale: 8/10

Have a simply super Sunday!

The Prayer for Protection :

The light of God surrounds me;

The love of God enfolds me;

The power of God protects me;

The presence of God watches over me.

Wherever I am, God is!

~ James Dillet Freeman

Joy Scale: 8/10

Don't get your knickers in a knot. Nothing is solved and it just makes you walk funny.

~ Kathryn Carpenter

I have used this saying before but said it like this, "don't get your undies in a bunch!" I never knew about the "it just makes you walk funny" part. I love it!

Joy Scale: 8/10

"He is most powerful who has power over himself."

~Seneca the Younger (5?B.C. - A.D. 65)

Joy Scale: 8/10