I was going to head to bed a bit earlier tonight but I saw something on my facebook timeline that propelled me to speak. It's no secret that the black community has its issues when it comes to family dynamic in that we seem to not be together the way we were when our parents were coming up, and certainly before them. At a certain point we stopped valuing and placing emphasis on staying together and started this whole dynamic of quick relationships and even quicker separations and/or divorces.
Tonight I am not going to hit anyone with statistics or even a list of sources to back what I have to say up. I am going to go completely off of my experiences as a black woman in this current climate. I have been off and on in a relationship for the better of twelve or so years. We started out strong and then, as with any relationship that's not completely solid, things started going bad and eventually just ran off into a ditch. We are currently still in the ditch but working to tow it out.
In this whole experience of being in this relationship I have always had issues with my mates lack of respect for me as it pertains to disrespect from his family and, at times, disrespect from him. We can normally figure our issues out and correct miscommunication but when it came to his family being rude he was always very silent. I can't recall many times where he stood up for me and never stood up for me where I could actually see it. For all I know he could be lying about that as he's known to lie from time to time for various reasons that I don't altogether understand. Nevertheless one can only hope that this is something he's working on as we are in totally different positions at this time in life and anything less than respect will guarantee that not only is he going to get cussed out but so is his family. Gone are the days of never sticking up for myself in hopes that he does because I don't have any faith that he ever truly will however, with work on his end, that faith could change.
A similar situation happened on my facebook timeline. There was an acquaintance who was having a bit of a tiff with her brother in law. This man was calling her everything but the child of god on her own facebook page, under a story that had nothing to do with anything. It seemed like he just had an axe to grind and chose that time to be a bitch. Well, he rambled off the insults of her being a bitch, whore, welfare queen, etc and even called her mother a bitch. There was absolutely no respect in this situation. I have always been of the school that if you have a familial issue or grievance to hash out you work it out amongst yourselves, you don't include everyone in your business. He, however, added everyone in his business by posting on her public page so me and another woman decided to take up for her. The bigger situation here is that her husband was nowhere to be found on that post. Nowhere at all. He said nothing, nada, zilch, nine in her defence. I didn't even see a "hey bro, let's move this to messaging" or a call me message in the least. He just let his brother unload on his wife for a good two hours off and on with me and the other woman taking up for her, as well as her mother.
What's funny about this whole ordeal is that I was going down the timeline in a group that we are all in and came across a controversial post. I didn't see the big deal about the post and neither did 99% of the other commenters but he found a huge problem with it and let his feelings be known. He was calling people immature, "bitch niggas" and everything else. You could feel the rage emanating from the computer screen when you read his comments. After a while his wife jumped on and attempted to take up for her husband. It wasn't that big of a success but at least she tried, right?
Why is this a big deal? Well, both of these situations is surrounding the same people. In one situation you have a very quiet and meek individual who is allowing another man (brother or not) to disrespect his union, disrespect their newborn and disrespect the mother in law but in the next situation you have an angry and obnoxious man who is going at other women on the post and making his feelings known. This is a group and thread of people that, chances are, he doesn't know in person but he still spent the energy in trying to get them to understand why the post was offensive and then having an angry response when they failed to see his way of things and then you had a wife coming in to protect her man.
This is the current climate of the relationships in this community. It's almost like the roles have reversed and the black man is passive and scared while the black women are protecting their relationship and their mates honor. I am not a fan of this role reversal. When I think strong, black man I think of a man who can handle his own. He may not have all the money in the world but he takes care of his and will never be the type to let someone (family or not) negatively cross him or his union. It seems a lot of black men are not that these days but they are wanting and requiring a higher level of respect and submission than they have shown themselves worthy of having. Everything that this man has displayed reeked of scared little boy with a penchant to go after women he doesn't know in a forum he doesn't have to be in but when the drama was brought to his front door with a man he knows really well he ran with his tail between his legs. I could say that this is not typical but I am actually dating one like this right now. He can have all the disrespect in the world for me when he gets mad. I become every bitch and whore he can think of but when his family opens their mouths he has nothing to say, even if that means allowing those people to disrespect the union we are supposed to be in.
What I don't understand is how black men think that being with a black woman and not respecting her is going to serve them in the end. I want to know why they think that allowing other men to disrespect is going to gain them respect and submission. I actually just watched a video on YouTube about this earlier as well, the Zo What Morning Show. I will link that video with this blog.
I don't know what's going to become of the black man and, by extension, the black relationship but they are going to have to get it together. Get it together in the sense that they no longer agree with allowing people to disrespect their women and children. Get it together in the sense that they, themselves, hold each other to the same standard that they, themselves, won't be disrespecting women and children so much so that they will check other men if they witness it happening. It's easy to point out what others need to do but it takes a real man to look in the mirror and see what the issues are and work, actively, to change it. Until the black man gets his soul on the right path, get his spirit right and gain their dignity back this community will always be off in a ditch because, contrary to popular belief, black men are actually the forerunners in this community. It only looks like women are the forerunners now because the black man has checked out and started dating other races in hopes that the grass is greener but in the end the same issues they had with black women will always manifest in other race relations because our issues are embedded within us. No amount of running from self and hiding in the bosom of other races of women is going to erase those issues.
Black women, we are not off the hook. There comes a time in all of our lives where we have to require more of the men we are with. We have to hold them to a higher standard and actually require them to reach that standard while not settling for less. I am not speaking financially. You can have all the money in the world and still be in a jacked up relationship. Never get blinded by dollar signs. We need to make sure that once that man has elevated to a level of being able to lead us we actually let them lead us and not take over things he's actually handling. We need to make sure that the standard is set from the get-go that disrespect, lying and cheating is not going to be tolerated and then stick to our guns if they do it by leaving the situation alone. Stop trying to make a minute man into a forever husband because it won't work, their mindframe won't be in the real game. We need to also hold ourselves to a higher standard and work to achieve that standard as well. No longer is it cool to sit back and collect welfare when you're able-bodied to work or try and shack up with a "sugar daddy" to prevent actually working for self and doing for self.
All of this is the result of white supremacy. I know some will throw their head back and sigh but it's true. The deterioration of the black community was a plan. It was a plan that, unfortunately, has worked. To have the entire community together, in loving unions, is to have the possibility of us wanting change, collectively. Right now we want change and we know things have to change but we aren't in a position to actually come together and force the system to change because we are busy still going at each other over issues that was planted into our community by the white supremacists and worrying about dumb shit like hair weaves and who's more conscious. At the end of the day we need to get ourselves together and it starts at home. Ignore the programming we have been forced into and build up our community again. Once we become one again is when we can finally kill that system of lies and depression we call white supremacy and replace it with a system of justice. This will never happen until the black man and the black woman repair the relationship between us and that begins with first acknowledging that there is a serious issue and then actively working to unpack those issues and work through them.
Zo What Morning Show Discussing Black Relationships with Tariq Nasheed and Margo Hudson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edLXMzupk68
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Monday, July 11, 2016
Method to my Madness: Voting for Donald Trump
I don't normally blog much about current events mainly because I do all of my posts about events on my facebook page with like-minded people to prevent hurt feelings and bickering which oftentimes takes away from the purpose of the initial conversation piece. Nevertheless I am an African American woman who is fed up. Fed up with this white supremacist system we are operating under and fed up with people who seem to be blinded to that fact in spite of numerous black deaths at the hands of the police (race soldiers). In the last few days three men have been executed by the police either for absolutely no reason or for victimless crimes like selling cd's on the street. The main mantra after each death is "just cooperate with the police and everything will be fine". Of course, in all three of these instances, the three men were cooperating with the police and they were still murdered in cold blood.
This country has always had its issues with race relations. When you really dive in deep you find that this country was built on bloodshed, colonization and classism where if you aren't white you are not really given rights. My community has been raked over the coals the most. When you go back to Africa we were removed from our land and brought over to the American land through the transatlantic slave trade. We were mistreated for hundreds of years, forced to live on plantations where we worked day in and day out picking cotton. I wish it was as simple as picking cotton but we were also whipped with chains, raped, murdered and split from our family units, among other heinous things. People like to think that we were freed from being slaves because white people had a change of heart but this is not true. At the time there was a secession of the southern states in America from the northern states of America. The south was doing extremely well at the time, financially, on their own and they wanted to maintain being able to make their own choices which included expanding the slave trade amongst other things. Abraham Lincoln didn't like the idea of the south moving away on its own as this would null the Constitution and America would cease to exist so there was a war fought known as the Civil War. The south fought to keep themselves sovereign and the north fought to bring them back into the union for economic and constitutional reasons. Slaves were merely chess pieces, property to be owned, in the grand scheme of things as neither side really cared for the welfare of them.
Nevertheless we were freed as slaves a year or so later and was promised forty acres and a mule, each, to make up for the gross injustices that was carried out against my community. This was never delivered on completely and to this day we have never received reparations. We eventually moved into the Civil Rights Era where prominent leaders attempted to get us rights, and in some ways they succeeded, in a lot of ways they failed and we are reaping the consequences today of those failures. As of today we are still fearing for our lives. It seems as though this country truly hates my community and a valid reason has never been put forth. There has been racism in this country since its founding and the beginning of racism was, indeed, white Europeans. They have treated everyone of color bad but they seem to have a special hatred for my community. President after president has been appointed and black people, once we got the right to vote, has dutifully voted for who they thought was going to do the best job for us however no president has ever really stood up for us. Everyone else demands and issues get addressed and the black community is wading in the water just hoping to get even a small lifeline.
Everyone thought that Barack Obama was going to be a good fit and good look for our community but even though he's the first black president he has done nothing for the black community. The racism in this country runs deep. He is not even able to mention African American without white America getting upset and saying he's being divisive. So, what does he do? What everyone else does; he sold out to white supremacy. Suddenly whenever he truly addresses this community he refers to us as thugs and points out black on black crime which is a white supremacist talking point. Sure there's crime within the black community but name a community of people who don't have the same issues, and on a much larger level.
Well, it's election time and we are down to two candidates: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton is married to former president Bill Clinton. When Bill Clinton was in office he signed a lot of different policies into law that was a large detriment to my community, one being the three strikes law. Why is that a detriment? Let me give you the cliff notes. In this country black people are seven times or more likely to be stopped and profiled by the police. Due to the economic drought in a lot of our predominately black neighborhoods a lot of black people are selling drugs. Drug possession is punishable by jail sentences. One charge may not jam you up but it's enough to get a conviction on record which makes it impossible to get gainful employment. Once you are released from prison you have to live, right? So to live you need money. Where does one who needs money go to make money if they have a conviction? Back to the street to sell drugs. Once you get arrested two more times you are pretty much put away for an undisclosed amount of time (varies state to state but it's not a small sentence). Due to the fact that the police targets predominantly black areas they pick up and arrest more black people even though white people sell drugs at the same rate as black people. Therefore black people are being funneled into the private prisons to make money for the government which is a form of modern-day slavery. While Hilary's husband was busy ruining black lives she was not complacent. She coined the term "superpredator" during this time. This label was specifically placed on black men which defined them as being highly probable to commit violent crimes. Due to this term society became more and more afraid of our community thus racism increased ten-fold but the truth is black men are not being pushed into prison for being "violent", they are being placed in prison over victimless crimes which includes heavy incarceration over selling drugs.
Now, as you can imagine I have my concerns about Hillary Clinton becoming president which would put Bill back in office. They did a lot of damage in their eight year reign, I shudder to think what's up next for us. Now we get to Donald Trump. He has been very vocal in his hate for all groups that are not white. He's been brazen, disrespectful and has really cultivated the extreme racism we see going on to this day. Once he started speaking out about his hate all of the racists that was undercover started becoming more vocal and taking off the sheets, so to speak. Trump also has a history of racism regarding his apartment complexes where he was denying applications of black people who was qualified to lease out. He has successfully been sued over this.
That brings me to the point of my post. You are probably thinking "why on earth would you want to consider voting for Trump if he's been outwardly racist towards all people of color?" Simple. He's a white supremacist and he's an honest white supremacist. What I don't respect about Hillary is the fact that she will go to the "hood" and dance and use slang, trying to convince us that she's for us when she's assisted in demonizing us and won't admit to it. She was given a chance to apologize for coining our men superpredators when she had no justifiable reason to do so and she never did and her husband Bill backed her up. These people are liars, fakes and possibly the worst choice for president. With Trump we know what we're getting. We know he hates us and we don't have to sit back blinded, dazed and confused. This allows us to form together as a community and figure out a way to overthrow the white supremacist system to replace it with a system of justice. If a large part of our community is being lulled to sleep by the Clinton's because they think these people care about them when they don't that makes it infinitely harder to form together to push change. We are long overdue for a revolution. We have been beat down, murdered, discriminated against, as well as other crimes committed against us since we were brought to this country and not much has changed although the laws have changed to give the illusion that this society has progressed. I like to view Donald Trump as the reset button we need to force a war and get some of these matters out on the table so we can push for change. Things can't keep going like they are, we are literally being executed on the streets. I think that Trump would be a horrible president but he would give us the boost we need to finally get things going. He wouldn't be president for long because, no doubt, he's going to offend everyone and he might be impeached but before he gets impeached we would have started the process of overthrowing the system of white supremacy.
Don't get me wrong. I am not against white people. Most of white society have been lulled to sleep with the same lies and they need to wake up as well. White people are not the enemy. Our issue is white supremacy which is perpetuated by the government while white people merely benefit from this system but aren't much better off in the grand scheme of things when you really think about the possible goal with white supremacy. While it would be nice if white America would wake up, turn off their cognitive dissonance for a moment and really hear black people, in the end I think it's up to black people to get this ball rolling and I think Donald Trump is the proverbial bomb we need to get things started. This is the only reason why I would ever vote for him.
Resources:
Transatlantic Slave Trade
True Reasons for the Civil War
Forty Acres and a Mule
Civil Rights Movement
Three Strikes Law
Information on the Superpredator Myth
Former President Bill Clinton Taking Up For The Superpredator Myth
Regarding Trump Not Renting To African American's
Various Racist Comments From Donald Trump
The Unprovoked Deaths of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile
Alva Braziel Execution (He Was Shot 10 Times!)
President Obama Refers To Black People As Thugs
The Murder Of Freddie Gray (led to the Baltimore Riots and President Obama calling black people thugs)
What is Classism
What is Colonization
This country has always had its issues with race relations. When you really dive in deep you find that this country was built on bloodshed, colonization and classism where if you aren't white you are not really given rights. My community has been raked over the coals the most. When you go back to Africa we were removed from our land and brought over to the American land through the transatlantic slave trade. We were mistreated for hundreds of years, forced to live on plantations where we worked day in and day out picking cotton. I wish it was as simple as picking cotton but we were also whipped with chains, raped, murdered and split from our family units, among other heinous things. People like to think that we were freed from being slaves because white people had a change of heart but this is not true. At the time there was a secession of the southern states in America from the northern states of America. The south was doing extremely well at the time, financially, on their own and they wanted to maintain being able to make their own choices which included expanding the slave trade amongst other things. Abraham Lincoln didn't like the idea of the south moving away on its own as this would null the Constitution and America would cease to exist so there was a war fought known as the Civil War. The south fought to keep themselves sovereign and the north fought to bring them back into the union for economic and constitutional reasons. Slaves were merely chess pieces, property to be owned, in the grand scheme of things as neither side really cared for the welfare of them.
Nevertheless we were freed as slaves a year or so later and was promised forty acres and a mule, each, to make up for the gross injustices that was carried out against my community. This was never delivered on completely and to this day we have never received reparations. We eventually moved into the Civil Rights Era where prominent leaders attempted to get us rights, and in some ways they succeeded, in a lot of ways they failed and we are reaping the consequences today of those failures. As of today we are still fearing for our lives. It seems as though this country truly hates my community and a valid reason has never been put forth. There has been racism in this country since its founding and the beginning of racism was, indeed, white Europeans. They have treated everyone of color bad but they seem to have a special hatred for my community. President after president has been appointed and black people, once we got the right to vote, has dutifully voted for who they thought was going to do the best job for us however no president has ever really stood up for us. Everyone else demands and issues get addressed and the black community is wading in the water just hoping to get even a small lifeline.
Everyone thought that Barack Obama was going to be a good fit and good look for our community but even though he's the first black president he has done nothing for the black community. The racism in this country runs deep. He is not even able to mention African American without white America getting upset and saying he's being divisive. So, what does he do? What everyone else does; he sold out to white supremacy. Suddenly whenever he truly addresses this community he refers to us as thugs and points out black on black crime which is a white supremacist talking point. Sure there's crime within the black community but name a community of people who don't have the same issues, and on a much larger level.
Well, it's election time and we are down to two candidates: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton is married to former president Bill Clinton. When Bill Clinton was in office he signed a lot of different policies into law that was a large detriment to my community, one being the three strikes law. Why is that a detriment? Let me give you the cliff notes. In this country black people are seven times or more likely to be stopped and profiled by the police. Due to the economic drought in a lot of our predominately black neighborhoods a lot of black people are selling drugs. Drug possession is punishable by jail sentences. One charge may not jam you up but it's enough to get a conviction on record which makes it impossible to get gainful employment. Once you are released from prison you have to live, right? So to live you need money. Where does one who needs money go to make money if they have a conviction? Back to the street to sell drugs. Once you get arrested two more times you are pretty much put away for an undisclosed amount of time (varies state to state but it's not a small sentence). Due to the fact that the police targets predominantly black areas they pick up and arrest more black people even though white people sell drugs at the same rate as black people. Therefore black people are being funneled into the private prisons to make money for the government which is a form of modern-day slavery. While Hilary's husband was busy ruining black lives she was not complacent. She coined the term "superpredator" during this time. This label was specifically placed on black men which defined them as being highly probable to commit violent crimes. Due to this term society became more and more afraid of our community thus racism increased ten-fold but the truth is black men are not being pushed into prison for being "violent", they are being placed in prison over victimless crimes which includes heavy incarceration over selling drugs.
Now, as you can imagine I have my concerns about Hillary Clinton becoming president which would put Bill back in office. They did a lot of damage in their eight year reign, I shudder to think what's up next for us. Now we get to Donald Trump. He has been very vocal in his hate for all groups that are not white. He's been brazen, disrespectful and has really cultivated the extreme racism we see going on to this day. Once he started speaking out about his hate all of the racists that was undercover started becoming more vocal and taking off the sheets, so to speak. Trump also has a history of racism regarding his apartment complexes where he was denying applications of black people who was qualified to lease out. He has successfully been sued over this.
That brings me to the point of my post. You are probably thinking "why on earth would you want to consider voting for Trump if he's been outwardly racist towards all people of color?" Simple. He's a white supremacist and he's an honest white supremacist. What I don't respect about Hillary is the fact that she will go to the "hood" and dance and use slang, trying to convince us that she's for us when she's assisted in demonizing us and won't admit to it. She was given a chance to apologize for coining our men superpredators when she had no justifiable reason to do so and she never did and her husband Bill backed her up. These people are liars, fakes and possibly the worst choice for president. With Trump we know what we're getting. We know he hates us and we don't have to sit back blinded, dazed and confused. This allows us to form together as a community and figure out a way to overthrow the white supremacist system to replace it with a system of justice. If a large part of our community is being lulled to sleep by the Clinton's because they think these people care about them when they don't that makes it infinitely harder to form together to push change. We are long overdue for a revolution. We have been beat down, murdered, discriminated against, as well as other crimes committed against us since we were brought to this country and not much has changed although the laws have changed to give the illusion that this society has progressed. I like to view Donald Trump as the reset button we need to force a war and get some of these matters out on the table so we can push for change. Things can't keep going like they are, we are literally being executed on the streets. I think that Trump would be a horrible president but he would give us the boost we need to finally get things going. He wouldn't be president for long because, no doubt, he's going to offend everyone and he might be impeached but before he gets impeached we would have started the process of overthrowing the system of white supremacy.
Don't get me wrong. I am not against white people. Most of white society have been lulled to sleep with the same lies and they need to wake up as well. White people are not the enemy. Our issue is white supremacy which is perpetuated by the government while white people merely benefit from this system but aren't much better off in the grand scheme of things when you really think about the possible goal with white supremacy. While it would be nice if white America would wake up, turn off their cognitive dissonance for a moment and really hear black people, in the end I think it's up to black people to get this ball rolling and I think Donald Trump is the proverbial bomb we need to get things started. This is the only reason why I would ever vote for him.
Resources:
Transatlantic Slave Trade
True Reasons for the Civil War
Forty Acres and a Mule
Civil Rights Movement
Three Strikes Law
Information on the Superpredator Myth
Former President Bill Clinton Taking Up For The Superpredator Myth
Regarding Trump Not Renting To African American's
Various Racist Comments From Donald Trump
The Unprovoked Deaths of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile
Alva Braziel Execution (He Was Shot 10 Times!)
President Obama Refers To Black People As Thugs
The Murder Of Freddie Gray (led to the Baltimore Riots and President Obama calling black people thugs)
What is Classism
What is Colonization
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Essential Oil Beginnings
Lately I have been getting into essential oils. I received a couple on promotion and they got me hooked so I decided to invest in getting a few to mix up the fragrances. There are a ton of brands around, ranging from really cheap fragrance oils to really expensive $60 for 15 ml jars which can be a bit of a rip off if the essential oil is not great quality. I am happy to announce that I will never know if they are good quality because there's no way I could ever justify spending that much money on one small jar. What is essential oil? In short, it's a natural oil that's extracted from plants and trees. It can be used for crafting, water diffuser's, consuming (be very careful doing that!), inhaling, and even used for medicinal purposes along with a carrier oil. Since I have now used a cool mist diffuser and an electric essential oil burner I am proud to announce that for essential oils you want them in a diffuser, fragrance oils you can throw in a burner. By burning oils the heat breaks down the properties and it's less effective depending on what you're using it for and can also kill the fragrance after a while. Keeping essential oils cool is just, overall, better for the oil. I had to experience it to believe it because I was hardcore about my oil burner but now I barely use it.
One of my favorite brands of essential oil is NOW Essential Oil. I have done a bit of research on what others use and I know this is considered medium to lower-grade oil but I find it really useful and it does help me immensely. I tend to purchase my oils from Amazon since I have a membership and I will be damn if I don't use it! They have a nice selection of different oils and the price is moderate which is right up my ally. I stick to price mainly because you can get carried away and start going for different oils that have snappy and snazzy claims like rewinding your internal clock so that you can live forever like on Fame or claiming that the higher-priced oils can cure diseases and keep you healthy by consuming. Young Living Essential Oils and doTERRA comes to mind. They have really interesting claims and guarantees but if you research a bit deeper you will find that they can claim certain terms because they have trademarked the term to try and give it more credence and there is a bit of in-fighting between the two companies. The word on the curb is that Young Living Essential Oils and doTERRA was once one company. So, some disgruntled higher ups didn't like the direction the company was going in so they resigned and then started their own company. Apparently they have taken a lot of patents and idea's from Young Living so they have been in and out of court over it. It's quite the story.
When I use essential oils I like to be in relax mode. Who can relax with that drama going on, right? That's where NOW steps in. I can use the oils, think of something soothing and let the fragrance take me on a mental journey depending on the fragrance mixture. There are other brands of essential oil if you really search but just make sure they are selling you oil and not a dream/marketing/promotion. I do use fragrance oil as well when I feel like smelling something that's not so much essential oil but just something to scent the room. PB&J Trading and Eternal Essence are two of my favorite fragrance oil companies. The fragrances are very nicely concentrated and the scent doesn't dissipate very easy. If you purchase from Amazon they are very cheap but you often have to pay for shipping which can be about as much as the fragrance. So, say there's a fragrance for $2.95, the shipping might be like $2.66 and then all together you would be paying a little under $6. The good thing is they last a long time since you don't need many drops.
Mixing oils to make a fragrance is one of my favorite past times. I mix essential oils and I also do the same thing for fragrance oils. Once you build up a decent collection the combinations are limitless. Since I am really new to the game of essential oils I have not learned all there is to learn about them yet but I'm slowly gaining knowledge. Listed below are some of my favorite combinations. As I gain more information and come up with more recipes I will create other posts. Enjoy!
Recipes: All have been tested with 150 ml of water. Depending on the brand of oils you get you can modify how much oil you need. If I choose to fill the diffuser up to 300 ml I will often up each amount of oil by one to two drops.
Fight Nausea (also works for headaches and yes, it does work!)
5 drops of Lavender essential oil
5 drops of Lemon essential oil
5 drops of Grapefruit essential oil
Sensual Night
6 drops of chocolate fragrance oil
2 drops of strawberry oil
2 drops of Vanilla essential oil
Fruity (smells like Skittles)
5 drops of Lemon essential oil
2 drops of Lime essential oil
5 drops of Orange essential oil
5 drops of strawberry fragrance oil
Uplifting
2 drops of Cedarwood essential oil
4 drops of Clove essential oil
4 drops of Lemon essential oil
4 drops of Orange essential oil
Orange Dream (my favorite!)
5 drops of Orange essential oil
5 drops of Vanilla essential oil
1 drop of Grapefruit oil
Relaxing Medley
5 drops of Vanilla essential oil
2 drops of Patchouli essential oil
2 drops of Cedarwood essential oil
2 drops of Clove essential oil
2 drops Ylang Ylang essential oil
One of my favorite brands of essential oil is NOW Essential Oil. I have done a bit of research on what others use and I know this is considered medium to lower-grade oil but I find it really useful and it does help me immensely. I tend to purchase my oils from Amazon since I have a membership and I will be damn if I don't use it! They have a nice selection of different oils and the price is moderate which is right up my ally. I stick to price mainly because you can get carried away and start going for different oils that have snappy and snazzy claims like rewinding your internal clock so that you can live forever like on Fame or claiming that the higher-priced oils can cure diseases and keep you healthy by consuming. Young Living Essential Oils and doTERRA comes to mind. They have really interesting claims and guarantees but if you research a bit deeper you will find that they can claim certain terms because they have trademarked the term to try and give it more credence and there is a bit of in-fighting between the two companies. The word on the curb is that Young Living Essential Oils and doTERRA was once one company. So, some disgruntled higher ups didn't like the direction the company was going in so they resigned and then started their own company. Apparently they have taken a lot of patents and idea's from Young Living so they have been in and out of court over it. It's quite the story.
When I use essential oils I like to be in relax mode. Who can relax with that drama going on, right? That's where NOW steps in. I can use the oils, think of something soothing and let the fragrance take me on a mental journey depending on the fragrance mixture. There are other brands of essential oil if you really search but just make sure they are selling you oil and not a dream/marketing/promotion. I do use fragrance oil as well when I feel like smelling something that's not so much essential oil but just something to scent the room. PB&J Trading and Eternal Essence are two of my favorite fragrance oil companies. The fragrances are very nicely concentrated and the scent doesn't dissipate very easy. If you purchase from Amazon they are very cheap but you often have to pay for shipping which can be about as much as the fragrance. So, say there's a fragrance for $2.95, the shipping might be like $2.66 and then all together you would be paying a little under $6. The good thing is they last a long time since you don't need many drops.
Mixing oils to make a fragrance is one of my favorite past times. I mix essential oils and I also do the same thing for fragrance oils. Once you build up a decent collection the combinations are limitless. Since I am really new to the game of essential oils I have not learned all there is to learn about them yet but I'm slowly gaining knowledge. Listed below are some of my favorite combinations. As I gain more information and come up with more recipes I will create other posts. Enjoy!
Recipes: All have been tested with 150 ml of water. Depending on the brand of oils you get you can modify how much oil you need. If I choose to fill the diffuser up to 300 ml I will often up each amount of oil by one to two drops.
Fight Nausea (also works for headaches and yes, it does work!)
5 drops of Lavender essential oil
5 drops of Lemon essential oil
5 drops of Grapefruit essential oil
Sensual Night
6 drops of chocolate fragrance oil
2 drops of strawberry oil
2 drops of Vanilla essential oil
Fruity (smells like Skittles)
5 drops of Lemon essential oil
2 drops of Lime essential oil
5 drops of Orange essential oil
5 drops of strawberry fragrance oil
Uplifting
2 drops of Cedarwood essential oil
4 drops of Clove essential oil
4 drops of Lemon essential oil
4 drops of Orange essential oil
Orange Dream (my favorite!)
5 drops of Orange essential oil
5 drops of Vanilla essential oil
1 drop of Grapefruit oil
Relaxing Medley
5 drops of Vanilla essential oil
2 drops of Patchouli essential oil
2 drops of Cedarwood essential oil
2 drops of Clove essential oil
2 drops Ylang Ylang essential oil
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Aroma Designs Essential Oil Diffuser, So Much Win! A Review
I can't begin to express how much I absolutely love this diffuser. I had a bad experience with one before I received this so I went into it a bit hesitant as I am used to essential oil burners and had never had real experience with a water-based diffuser. When I received it the box was a bit tiny and I had bad flashbacks to the other one I had just finished boxing back up and throwing in the closet but I was determined to try anyhow.
What comes in the box? You receive the diffuser, an a/c adapter, a cup to measure and an instruction pamphlet. The instructions serve an important purpose as they not only tell you how to operate the unit but they tell you how to keep it clean and functioning at full capacity. You definitely want to make sure that you keep the instructions handy. Extra kudos for not making the instructions so small that you have to grab a magnifying glass to read them, I know a lot of companies do this to save on paper usage but it's a slight inconvenience to the visually impaired.
How does it work? To assemble this diffuser you simply plug the a/c adapter into the outlet located
on the bottom of the unit, and then plug into the wall. Add up to 300 ml of water and then you get to the fun part. You can add any essential oils you wish to use. For 300 ml of water, and depending on the oil brand, I would add anywhere from 5-10 drops of oil. Less for more potent and expensive brands, more for fragrance oils that are more synthetic than essential oil. Once you add the oilsyou
put the top onto the unit and snap it into place. You will know it's closed tight when the arrow located towards the bottom of the top securely aligns with the arrow on the unit. To turn on the light you simply press the button on the left. If you select it once it rotates colors. If you select more than once you can cycle through the different colors that's provided and the colors no longer automatically shift. Each color has a dim setting and a brighter setting, back to back when you're pressing the button. You know that you have cycled through all the colors when the light goes all the way off when you press the button again.
The button on the right turns the diffuser on. You press and hold that button down until the green indicator comes on. From there you can press the button to cycle through the timer settings. When the unit comes on it's automatically on thirty minutes. If you press the button again you move to 60
minutes. The next option is 120 minutes and then the last option is just plain on. When you select the "on" settings the diffuser will keep going so long as there's a sufficient amount of water in the machine. When the water dips to a certain level it automatically shuts off. Please note that you are able to turn the light selection on without turning the diffuser on if you're looking for a nice night light or you can turn the diffuser on without turning on the light if you're looking to use this at night and don't want a glow in your face. The led on the front of the diffuser is a dim green. You can see it just fine but it's not overbearing or bothersome in dark settings.Overall I absolutely love this diffuser and it's changed my mind in how I view them. Before this I was more into just using an essential oil burner which heats up the oils with either a light bulb, motor or tea candle but after doing some research on burners vs diffusers I find that a lot of the qualities in the oils are severely denigrated when you heat them. I am very happy that I was able to try out this diffuser and I loved it so much that I actually purchased another diffuser at full price to use in my bedroom. I'm contemplating purchasing a third one for my bathroom and completely doing away with the burners mainly because the fragrance is overall better coming from a diffuser.
Is this diffuser as good as one that you might pay over a hundred dollars for with all types of bells and whistles? Perhaps not but better is in the eyes of the beholder. Aroma designs set out to find a product that was simple and able to be priced at a reasonable point and I think they have truly succeeded. I highly recommend this diffuser because it works, it's quiet and it doesn't leak like some other models and it gets the job done without hassle.*Bonus* Cleaning instructions. Cleaning this device is truly not a difficult task at all. You would unplug the unit from the a/c adapter on the bottom of the unit, use a wet rag and a little natural detergent of a very small amount (I'm talking pea sized) of regular detergent and wipe the inside out. Make sure that you get all of the oil that's seeped into the little hole in the middle of the unit. I used a sponge but you can also use a wash clothe or towel. After that you add about 100 ml of water and
turn the machine on for 30 minutes with no oils at all and let it cycle through until it cuts off. Dump the remaining water and you're good to go. Add the water you want and the oils and go to town. This is pretty effort free and effective to keep things from getting clogged with oil which can diminish the quality of how the product works.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Anger Management: What Makes You Tick?
I have had this issue for a while, now. Anger. Sometimes I don't know what I'm mad about and sometimes it's a pointed issue that creates the anger.
There is a specific issue that I am dealing with right now that has my anger level at a pretty even six on a scale of one to ten. This is a situation that I must deal with, there's no way around it in spite of how much I would rather pretend the situation doesn't exist. The argument, on the surface, appeared to be my just not liking how the situation was happening and when you combine that with my general dislike of the person causing the situation it caused an argument. For days I have been walking around thinking it was the person that was upsetting me and all I could think about was "how could you do this to me, I don't deserve it!". As I relax and clear my mind right now I find that it's not the person who's upsetting me. It's the lack of trust that is being exhibited from people who are not trustworthy to begin with. It's almost like "for every stone you throw at me there's three more coming back to you for all that you have done".
Is that a healthy approach to dealing with anger issues? No, I'm here to tell you that it's not. I am currently working on dealing with my situation in as little anger and hostility as possible. One has to look at the bigger picture. "If the anger is not serving you a positive purpose then you are just letting negative energy bring you down and ruin your health" (Ralph from the YouTube channel 'Infinite Waters Diving Deep'). You can't change other people and how they deal with you but you can change how you react. Some may even upset you on purpose, pushing your buttons, but you have to find a way to see the whole picture which will enable you to know when they are purposely pushing buttons. Gaining control of your emotions is key to this situation.
This is all easier said than done, especially for someone like me. My emotions are very sensitive and easily manipulated by others, therefore they are able to elicit reactions from me that may not be in my best interest to act out. It's hard for me to admit this but when people pull anger from me and the only way for me to react is to lash out they have control over me and it's not something that I'm happy about or proud of.
What can be done to take back control of your reactions, emotions and anger? Limit the time you spend around that person. If you aren't having to be around them all the time, limitations means that you can prepare yourself and your reactions ahead of time. Make sure that you have thought out the possible situations and even figure out how much you are willing to speak to that person before you cut conversation off. If it's possible, try not to have conversation with the person at all. Some people aren't meant to get along with you, that's just simple human nature, therefore interacting too much with them will always result in an argument or confrontation. If the person insists on having communication with you even though they know there's no amicable end to the situation then you now have knowledge that the person is trying to speak enough to bring you out of your character. Don't give them the upperhand.
What else can be done? Take a deep breath and count backwards from a hundred, making sure that you breathe slowly between numbers. If you have increased breathing that's agitating your oxygen which can lead to building up more anger and hostility. Something else you could do is drink green tea and meditate before seeing the anger trigger. Ever heard of the phrase "calm as tea"? Green tea, even chamomile tea, have extreme calming effects and can aid in you having a quick and stress free interaction with the trigger. One way that I don't really recommend if you have a lot of anger is to take a deep breath and hold it while the person is speaking, allow their negativity to push your buttons but don't react, and then let out a healthy scream when you leave their vacinity.
This is definitely not all of the methods that you can use to contain anger but it's a good jumping off point. Remember, meditate and try to maintain control of your emotions through that. Some people are only around to bring out the worst in us, it's up to us to bring out the best version of ourselves and no one else should have power over that (Ralph from the YouTube channel 'Infinite Waters Diving Deep'). As I work on my anger issues I will continue to post and in the meantime, check out Ralph's channel, his video's are absolutely electric. Love, peace and blessed be )O(.
There is a specific issue that I am dealing with right now that has my anger level at a pretty even six on a scale of one to ten. This is a situation that I must deal with, there's no way around it in spite of how much I would rather pretend the situation doesn't exist. The argument, on the surface, appeared to be my just not liking how the situation was happening and when you combine that with my general dislike of the person causing the situation it caused an argument. For days I have been walking around thinking it was the person that was upsetting me and all I could think about was "how could you do this to me, I don't deserve it!". As I relax and clear my mind right now I find that it's not the person who's upsetting me. It's the lack of trust that is being exhibited from people who are not trustworthy to begin with. It's almost like "for every stone you throw at me there's three more coming back to you for all that you have done".
Is that a healthy approach to dealing with anger issues? No, I'm here to tell you that it's not. I am currently working on dealing with my situation in as little anger and hostility as possible. One has to look at the bigger picture. "If the anger is not serving you a positive purpose then you are just letting negative energy bring you down and ruin your health" (Ralph from the YouTube channel 'Infinite Waters Diving Deep'). You can't change other people and how they deal with you but you can change how you react. Some may even upset you on purpose, pushing your buttons, but you have to find a way to see the whole picture which will enable you to know when they are purposely pushing buttons. Gaining control of your emotions is key to this situation.
This is all easier said than done, especially for someone like me. My emotions are very sensitive and easily manipulated by others, therefore they are able to elicit reactions from me that may not be in my best interest to act out. It's hard for me to admit this but when people pull anger from me and the only way for me to react is to lash out they have control over me and it's not something that I'm happy about or proud of.
What can be done to take back control of your reactions, emotions and anger? Limit the time you spend around that person. If you aren't having to be around them all the time, limitations means that you can prepare yourself and your reactions ahead of time. Make sure that you have thought out the possible situations and even figure out how much you are willing to speak to that person before you cut conversation off. If it's possible, try not to have conversation with the person at all. Some people aren't meant to get along with you, that's just simple human nature, therefore interacting too much with them will always result in an argument or confrontation. If the person insists on having communication with you even though they know there's no amicable end to the situation then you now have knowledge that the person is trying to speak enough to bring you out of your character. Don't give them the upperhand.
What else can be done? Take a deep breath and count backwards from a hundred, making sure that you breathe slowly between numbers. If you have increased breathing that's agitating your oxygen which can lead to building up more anger and hostility. Something else you could do is drink green tea and meditate before seeing the anger trigger. Ever heard of the phrase "calm as tea"? Green tea, even chamomile tea, have extreme calming effects and can aid in you having a quick and stress free interaction with the trigger. One way that I don't really recommend if you have a lot of anger is to take a deep breath and hold it while the person is speaking, allow their negativity to push your buttons but don't react, and then let out a healthy scream when you leave their vacinity.
This is definitely not all of the methods that you can use to contain anger but it's a good jumping off point. Remember, meditate and try to maintain control of your emotions through that. Some people are only around to bring out the worst in us, it's up to us to bring out the best version of ourselves and no one else should have power over that (Ralph from the YouTube channel 'Infinite Waters Diving Deep'). As I work on my anger issues I will continue to post and in the meantime, check out Ralph's channel, his video's are absolutely electric. Love, peace and blessed be )O(.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Review: NatureBox Santa Fe Corn Stix
I heard a lot about these chips before I actually received them and everyone said the exact same thing: they taste exactly like Dorito's. So, since I love Dorito's naturally I had to have them in my first box. Little did I know that the chips actually did not taste like Dorito's. They tasted more like corn chips with a light cheese flavor, also very salty. I can't say that I hated them because I didn't but I don't think I would ever want to have them again. I think they could have went down on the salt a bit and still achieved the same flavor, which wasn't close to Dorito's. Since the two have been compared I am going to give a nutrition comparison.
Nutrition
Santa Fe Corn Stix
Ingredients: Yellow Corn Masa, Soybean Oil, Salsa Seasoning (whey powder, tomato powder, salt, maltodextrin, green pepper powder, onion powder, natural flavoring, spices and herbs, torula yeast, beet powder (for color), annatto (for color).
Calories: 140
Calories from Fat: 60
Total Fat: 6g
Saturated Fat: 1g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 250mg
Total Carbohydrate: 20g
Dietary Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 1g
Protein: 2g
Vitamin C: 2%
Calcium: 2%
Iron: 2%
Dorito's
Ingredients: Corn, Vegetable Oil (Sunflower, Canola, and/or Corn Oil), Maltodextrin (made from corn), salt, cheddar cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), whey, monosodium glutamate, buttermilk, romano cheese (part-skim cow's milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), whey protein concentrate, onion powder, corn flour, natural and artitificial flavor, dextrose, tomato powder, lactose, spices, artificial color (including yellow 6, yellow 5, and red 40), lactic acid, citric acid, sugar, garlic powder, skim milk, red and green bell pepper powder, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate.
Calories: 140
Calories from Fat: 70
Total Fat: 8g
Saturated Fat: 1g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 210mg
Total Carbohydrate: 16g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 0g
Protein: 2g
Vitamin A: 2%
Thiamin: 2%
Vitamin B6: 2%
When you look at the ingredient list you automatically assume the Santa Fe sticks are healthier but when you look deeper at the nutrition breakdown you may find that things will take a sharp change. The calories are the same and the calories from fat favors the santa fe sticks. However, when you get down to the carbs Dorito's are overall better for you if you're watching carbohydrate intake. Another thing that I found startling, and was the game changer for me, was the sodium. I, so far, have a bit of an issue with the saltiness of the chips from NatureBox. I feel like a lot of the time they could decrease their sodium and not lose the essence of the chips. In this case this is illustrated. Dorito's are supposed to be unhealthy, and they are if consumed too frequently, but when it comes to salt intake they are actually better for you and I would choose the Dorito's over the santa fe sticks.
Overall the Dorito's won this smack down, hands down. They won in carbs, sodium, and even sugar (Dorito added none where the santa fe sticks added a gram). This product is not something I would actively choose again but wouldn't turn my nose up at them if they came as a replacement for something I wanted.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Review: NatureBox Masa Crisps
So, I'm sitting at my desk a bit hungry but not hungry enough to cook something and I reach over and grab the masa crisps. On first taste they taste a lot like Fritos Corn Chips with a little hint of something extra and a little bit of a sweetness to it. The after taste is rather pleasant as well. My biggest thing here is the nutrition. Since these snacks are supposed to be more healthy it's only fair that we compare these crisps to what their competition is.
Nutrition
Masa Crisps
Ingredients: Yellow Corn Masa, Flax Seeds, Soybean Oil, Salt.
Calories: 140
Fat from Calories: 70
Total Fat: 8g
Saturated Fat: 1g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 170mg
Total Carbohydrates: 16g
Fiber: 3g
Sugars: 0g
Protein: 3g
Vitamin C: 2%
Calcium: 2%
Iron: 4%
FRITOS Original Corn Chips
Ingredients: Corn, Corn oil, and Salt.
Calories: 160
Calories from Fat: 90
Total Fat: 10g
Saturated Fat: 1.5g
Trans. Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 170mg
Total Carbohydrates: 15g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Sugars: <1g
Protein: 2g
Calcium: 2%
Vitamin E: 6%
Phosphorous: 4%
Vitamin B6: 2%
In light of the nutrition being very close in range I did a bit more investigating. In the masa crisps I looked more into flax seed and what the purpose is for it. Flax seeds have been consumed since about 3000BC. Some of the health benefits are omega-3 essential fatty acids which aids in having a healthy heart, soluble and insoluble fiber, as well as lignans which has plant estrogen and plant antioxidants. Eating flax seeds daily can cut down on cancer, cholesterol (lowering your LDL) and type-2 diabetes.
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 170mg
Total Carbohydrates: 15g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Sugars: <1g
Protein: 2g
Calcium: 2%
Vitamin E: 6%
Phosphorous: 4%
Vitamin B6: 2%
In light of the nutrition being very close in range I did a bit more investigating. In the masa crisps I looked more into flax seed and what the purpose is for it. Flax seeds have been consumed since about 3000BC. Some of the health benefits are omega-3 essential fatty acids which aids in having a healthy heart, soluble and insoluble fiber, as well as lignans which has plant estrogen and plant antioxidants. Eating flax seeds daily can cut down on cancer, cholesterol (lowering your LDL) and type-2 diabetes.
Nutrition for Flax Seeds
Amount per 1 tablespoon
Calories: 55
Total Fat: 4.3g
Saturated Fat: 0.4g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g
Monounsaturated Fat: 0.8g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 3mg
Potassium: 84mg
Total Carbohydrates: 3g
Dietary Fiber: 2.8g
Sugars: 0.2g
Protein: 1.9g
Calcium: 2%
Iron: 3%
Magnesium: 10%
According to a bit of research I did on sunflower oil, which is what was used in the masa chips, it's overall healthier for the heart than corn oil but only if it's oleic sunflower oil which has a whopping 83.6g of omega-6 fats. Linoleic sunflower oil contains 45.4g of omega-6 fats so that's the second best, corn oil coming in last with 27.6g. When you compare the two options it's clear that on first sight they appear to be neck and neck in nutrition. If you break the components down and look deeper into where the nutrition facts are being appropriated you can get a better idea of what the true healthy option is.
These two products taste remarkably the same however if I were to choose between the two I would be better off with the masa crisps. The only change I would like to see is, perhaps, cutting the salt content in half. It doesn't matter which option you look at, 170mg of sodium is a lot for chips that are supposed to be healthy. When I taste the masa crisps I feel like the sodium could definitely come down a bit and not ruin the integrity of the flavor thus overall maintaing the healthy factor.
Resources
Corn Oil vs Sunflower Oil: http://oilypedia.com/corn-oil-vs-sunflower-oil-choose-the-best/
Benefits of Flax Seeds: http://www.webmd.com/diet/benefits-of-flaxseed
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