Article at Mothering Magazine On Self Care

Guest Blogger Cathy Cassani Adams on Self-Care as a Gift to Your Children

You tell me that you will do anything for your children. As a parent coach I hear this all the time. I know you love your children. Your heart is in the right place and your intention is good. You want your children to grow up healthy and happy–we all do. My advice is always the same. Take care of yourself. Make yourself a priority. Instead of searching for the perfect words, demonstrate what it means to live a life of happiness and meaning.

Read the rest here.

Journaling the Motherhood Experience with Mama Says!

Journal to the Self workshop is this Saturday November 14 at the Montpelier Library from 10-2.

Instructor: Joanna Young
For anyone who is, wants to be, loves like a, or has, a mother… Use the power of writing to:
• Heal
• Become Self-Aware
• Trust Your Intuition
• Empower Yourself
• Discover Your Natural Creativity
• Memoir
• Pray/Meditate

Based on the book Journal to the Self by Kathleen Adams, techniques such as Character Sketch, Perspectives, Captured Moments, and Inner Wisdom will offer you the joy of writing in a group while learning how to keep a journal for personal growth, creative expression and life enrichment.

"In moments of ecstasy, in moments of despair, the journal remains an impassive, silent friend, forever ready to console, to confront, to contain, to cheer on. Its potential as a tool for holistic health is unsurpassed."
-- Kathleen Adams, Journal to the Self

Kathleen Adams, author, psychotherapist, and Registered Poetry/Journal Therapist, is considered to be one of the most prominent and established voices in the field of therapeutic writing. Joanna Young is a Certified Instructor through Kathleen Adam's Center for Journal Therapy in Denver, Colorado through which she personally trained with Ms. Adams. A mom by day and a writer by night, Ms. Young lives in Rutland with her husband and two young children. Ms. Young offers workshops around the state and writes at jlucymuses.blogspot.com.

THIS WORKSHOP IS FREE TO THE COMMUNITY AND WILL BE HELD November 14 from 10-2 in the Hayes Room of the Montpelier Library.

Anger Management For Moms by Elizabeth Bruce, Article at Mothering

"It's a dirty little secret. Good mothers get angry. Sometimes they get really angry. Stay-at-home moms do it, working moms do it, all moms do it. Take it from me. I am the mother of four young children, two of them, er, "spirited," so I know a thing or two about maternal anger. Kids will be kids, and as such, they will get into trouble, fight, wreck things, and argue with you. As an adult, it is often hard to sympathize with children's irrational, destructive, messy, or loud behaviors.

Anger does not mean that you don't love your children dearly. In fact, just the opposite is true. If we did not care, we would never get angry. Anger is a natural reaction to reaching your limits. Even the venerable Dr. Spock admitted to screaming "Shut up" to his infant when it would not stop crying in the middle of the night. So why are we so ashamed to admit that we share this very human emotion? Unfortunately, as mothers we set often impossibly high standards for ourselves. It is, in fact, unrealistic to expect to spend our waking hours with children and never get angry. The important thing, it would seem, is how we choose to deal with anger."

Read the rest at the Mothering Magazine site.

REMINDER: Journal to the self workshop TODAY (with add. date Nov. 14)

Mama Says invites you to a very special workshop on Wednesday, OCTOBER 28 from
10-2 at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library, and an additional date on November 14:

Journal to the Self: Journaling the Motherhood Experience
Instructor: Joanna Young

For anyone who is, wants to be, loves like a, or has, a mother…

Use the power of writing to:
• Heal
• Become Self-Aware
• Trust Your Intuition
• Empower Yourself
• Discover Your Natural Creativity
• Memoir
• Pray/Meditate

Based on the book Journal to the Self by Kathleen Adams, techniques such as
Character Sketch, Perspectives, Captured Moments, and Inner Wisdom will offer
you the joy of writing in a group while learning how to keep a journal for
personal growth, creative expression and life enrichment.

"In moments of ecstasy, in moments of despair, the journal remains an
impassive, silent friend, forever ready to console, to confront, to contain, to
cheer on. Its potential as a tool for holistic health is unsurpassed."
-- Kathleen Adams, Journal to the Self

Kathleen Adams, author, psychotherapist, and Registered Poetry/Journal
Therapist, is considered to be one of the most prominent and established voices
in the field of therapeutic writing.

Joanna Young is a Certified Instructor through Kathleen Adam's Center for
Journal Therapy in Denver, Colorado through which she personally trained with
Ms. Adams. A mom by day and a writer by night, Ms. Young lives in Rutland with
her husband and two young children. Ms. Young offers workshops around the state
and writes at jlucymuses.blogspot.com.

THIS WORKSHOP IS FREE TO THE COMMUNITY AND WILL BE HELD ON Wednesday, OCTOBER 28
from 10-2 in the East Montpelier Room of the Montpelier Library (Kellogg-Hubbard
Library).
The November 14 workshop is on a Saturday for mamas who work 9-5 jobs
but still want to attend this. It is from 10-2 and will be in the Hayes Room of
the Montpelier Library.

If you have any questions please email Ame at amesolomon@yahoo.com

Tips For Healthy Living

- We do a daily dose of "elderberry sunshine." It is elderberry syrup and vitamin D drops - 4000 iu. The drops are tasteless and small, and the syrup delicious so my children look forward to it every morning. In the evening we just do the elderberry. I give them a full tablespoon this time of year.
I also give my children a multivitamin.

- Honey garden elderberry syrup can be purchased at the coop.
Carlson's D Drops (2000 iu) - I get online. The coop can order them, but you would have to buy a case and it actually is cheaper with shipping from Amazon if you buy more than 2 bottles. I will be placing another order in the next few weeks, so if anyone wants some - let me know. I think it is somewhere around $16-20/bottle

- My personal favorite is to use chinese herbs. We also do all the standard things like plenty of sleep, try to eat healthy, stay home when sick and so on

- I have a list hanging in our kitchen - a cold and flu season regimen - that includes elderberry daily and Wellness Formula tabs for my husband and myself. Vit. D is also very important for well-being. We do 2,000 ius per day children included, but some folks I know do more. Lydia Faesy sells liquid drops that are tasteless and easy to give to children.

- Upon first sign of any illness our kiddos take Wellness Herbal Resistance Liquid (3X/day) because it has echinacea, goldenseal, and Yin Chiao formula - it is alcohol free and tastes decent. We also increase the elderberry to hourly doses(or as often as works). By the way, elderberry syrup is incredibly easy to make and tastes better to some children when made at home without apple cider vinegar

Here's a link to home-made elderberry syrup: http://stitchandboots.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/elderberry-syrup-diy-apothecary
- Dried elderberries available at the co-op (in bulk) or Tulsi Tea Room. Use raw honey! It has antiviral and antibacterial properties when raw.

- We also do zinc lozenges at first sign of cold - that contain Vit. A, C and E. Studies have shown that these alone can reduce the intensity and duration of a cold by about 40%.

We also have posted a list of immune boosting foods to remind us to eat more of them in the fall/winter - garlic (raw or only slightly cooked), ginger, miso soup, chicken soup, and tumeric are a few. Also, more drinks that warm the digestive system and the body are helpful - like tea (find immune formulas at the co-op), sliced ginger with warm water, lemon, and raw honey (yum!). Chai is also a good one. Make chai lattes using coconut milk - which does not create mucous and phlegm like regular milk. For fever, teas made with lemon balm, yarrow and elder flowers are good (all available in bulk herb section at co-op or Tulsi Tea Room).

Most of this info. I have acquired from The Prescription for Nutritional Healing - which is a great book

We're doing Vitamins C,D, elderberry, and a rotation of immunity boosting herbs. Also trying to be very good about sleep, good food, and avoiding too much sugar. And definitely handwashing

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*

5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.