Sometimes we come across an article, song, quote, book etc… that make us stop in our tracks. If you are like me, I subscribe to a variety of blogs and have the best intentions of reading them, but don’t always get the chance. When I find a good one, I like to share it. Yesterday I not only received this in my box, but a friend also forwarded it to me to read. As a result, I felt inspired to continue to spread the message.

How many of you find a good message or have an idea that you want to share with others, but are maybe afraid of what someone else might think or day? And you ponder to yourself, should I? or shouldn’t I? Or maybe you think to yourself, who are the people I should send this to that wouldn’t really mind? Why do we do this to ourselves? It happens to all of us at some point or another. We worry about what other people think and don’t want to be judged or criticized.

If I ever had any doubt whether I was suppose to share this message, it has been squashed. There were various signs throughout the last 24 hours reminding me of the importance of this lesson. First the note from my friend, an excerpt from a book that I read yesterday and then first thing this morning, a verse in my Jesus Calling book reminding me about the evils of criticism and judgement and the power of encouragement.

The moral of the story below is to a reminder to encourage one another in our lives and not to judge. “We mom’s should pledge to encourage one another each day and never judge one another. We are all desparately trying to do this mothering thing right”

http://proverbs31.org/devotions/devo/moms-lets-make-this-pledge/

Whether you are a mom, wife, daughter, sister or friend, we can all learn something from this message. Encouraging words build up. We all know it. Any type of energy we send out into the universe comes back to us. We need to fill our lives with positive thoughts and energy. I encourage you to forward this along to any other women you know. You never know whose life you might touch.

Sometimes we come across an article, song, quote, book etc… that make us stop in our tracks. If you are like me, I subscribe to a variety of blogs and have the best intentions of reading them, but don’t always get the chance. When I find a good one, I like to share it. Yesterday I not only received this in my box, but a friend also forwarded it to me to read. As a result, I felt inspired to continue to spread the message.

How many of you find a good message or have an idea that you want to share with others, but are maybe afraid of what someone else might think or day? And you ponder to yourself, should I? or shouldn’t I? Or maybe you think to yourself, who are the people I should send this to that wouldn’t really mind? Why do we do this to ourselves? It happens to all of us at some point or another. We worry about what other people think and don’t want to be judged or criticized.

If I ever had any doubt whether I was suppose to share this message, it has been squashed. There were various signs throughout the last 24 hours reminding me of the importance of this lesson. First the note from my friend, an excerpt from a book that I read yesterday and then first thing this morning, a verse in my Jesus Calling book reminding me about the evils of criticism and judgement and the power of encouragement.

The moral of the story below is to a reminder to encourage one another in our lives and not to judge. “We mom’s should pledge to encourage one another each day and never judge one another. We are all desparately trying to do this mothering thing right”

http://proverbs31.org/devotions/devo/moms-lets-make-this-pledge/

Whether you are a mom, wife, daughter, sister or friend, we can all learn something from this message. Encouraging words build up. We all know it. Any type of energy we send out into the universe comes back to us. We need to fill our lives with positive thoughts and energy. I encourage you to forward this along to any other women you know. You never know whose life you might touch.

Health is more than just the food we eat, but the food we feed our souls.  Each week I have been providing ideas on healthy nutrition, but this week is a little more inspiration about healthy relationships and how to feed our souls.

As I sit here writing this week’s blog I started to reflect on the things that have happened in my life in the past year.  It will be one year this weekend, when tragedy hit our family.   Last year on Feb 3^rd we received a phone call no parent ever wants to hear.  My 8 year old son Danny’s teacher was killed trying to save his friends life.

Some may have heard the story, but Mr. Wild was the best teacher ANY of my kids ever had and he had a great influence on my son.  He had this way about him where he really wanted to make a difference in each and every kid’s lives. He died at too young of an age (24) and he was not able to reach all of the children he had dreamed he would. His death really impacted me in a way I didn’t know was possible. I knew God had a bigger plan for this tragedy and the story of his life made me want to be a better person.

Shortly after the event, I attended a church retreat entitled Christ Renews His Parish and feeding my soul became a priority. My dreams of focusing on health and nutrition started to unfold.

Just last weekend I gave a talk at church promoting the retreat.  I enjoy public speaking and wasn’t concerned about getting up in front of hundreds of people to share my story, but when I got to the altar and started talking about my son’s teacher, I could feel my voice tremble and started to cry as I began to talk about my son’s teacher.   I almost couldn’t get through the words.  After the talk was over, I went to my car and cried.  It was like this feeling came over me and I had to let myself feel the pain.   I wanted to go home and hug my son, but he wasn’t there.  So when I got home I told my teenage son Chris, I just needed to hug him and cried in his arms.  Of course, he looked at me like I was crazy at first wondering what was wrong.  I told him just hug me and I would explain after.  He could sense it was important and was there for me to let me feel his love and help to soothe the pain.

Sometimes we don’t realize how something that happens to us impacts our over-all health and well- being.  In this particular case it was a severe tragedy from 1 year ago and I needed to express my emotions and feel what I was feeling.  Everyone deals with emotions in a different way, but a simple hug and loving energy from my son was what I needed to make it feel better.  This experience made me realize, just how much of a difference an extra hug might actually mean to my kids.  I don’t know everything that happens in the course of their day, but if I felt this strong connection and sense of peace, I can only imagine how it feels on their end, especially when they really need that extra hug.

I was talking with a friend the other day and she was telling me a story about her 6 year old daughter.  She came home from school one day and was sad, so mom gave her an extra hug.  Mom told the daughter, if something bad ever happens at school she could always ask for an extra hug.  Well her daughter took her literally and made up a story of something bad that happened at school, just to get an extra hug.  When the mom realized what was going on, she re-explained to her daughter that she can receive an EXTRA HUG at any time.  It doesn’t only have to be when something bad happens at school.

While we need to feed our bodies, we also need to feed our souls.  What can you do to feed your soul today?  How can you help feed the souls of your loved ones?

Go and give your loved one’s an EXTRA HUG today.  You might not realize just how much an extra hug might brighten their day.

One of the things I have recently learned is that many of our “Favorite Chocolates” are made with fake or imitation vanilla, (known as vanillin) which contain synthetic flavors and toxic chemicals. Keep an eye out for this synthetic additive.

I used to think, I will buy imitation vanilla because it is cheaper, why buy something that is more expensive when it tastes and looks the same.  BUT DON”T BE FOOLED!  FAKE VANILLA IS A TRICK NOT A TREAT.  It is actually made with petroleum.   Yes, I said gasoline.  Check out more details from the Feinhold association.    http://www.feingold.org/Research/BLUE/Page-06-7-colorsBHT.pdf

Also, if you think its just the sugar that causes hyperactivity, think again.  “Hyperactivity can be triggered by synthetic additives – specifically synthetic colors, synthetic flavors and the preservatives BHA, BHT (and later TBHQ) – and also a group of foods containing a natural salicylate radical. This is an immunological – not an allergic – response. ”    Dr. Feingold.

When I told my kids there was gasoline in their favorite chocolates, my oldest son was  disgusted.  He said, “tell me what chocolate I can eat that doesn’t have gasoline in it.”  Ghiradelli is an approved chocolate in our house.

So this year, I told my kids I would buy their halloween candy off of them.  We decided we would give them .25 for each candy they liked and .05 for each candy they didn’t like.  They made a list of all their favorite candies ahead of time, so they didn’t try to trick us.

I was pleasantly surprised that all of my boys wanted to sell me their candy.  It was a fun experience.  They created 2 piles and all the boys participated in counting their candies.  I let them each keep 5 pieces of candy and I am certain they snuck some along the way.

One kid got $10, another $16 and my oldest (who stayed out the longest) earned $30.  My goal was about $20 a kid, and this worked out great.  We will take all the candy they collected to their school, where they are being donated to some other organization.

This strategy turned out to be a great TREAT for me as a parent as well as the kids.