Soul Fires

We were starting to think this balmy tundra winter was going to stay warm...until this week. Welcome back frigid temps (moving in to -45F wind chills next week)!

While you're going to have to bundle up to keep the frost from settling on your toes this week, diffusing essential oils that are grounding and warming to the soul increases our winter happy! I pair these warm blends in the diffuser with a cup of our chai tea latte or hot chocolate in my mug, and snuggle inside for a few days.

We also love to bake when it's cold outside. A few weeks ago, I tried a gluten free cookie recipe and I cannot keep these things in the house long enough to get more than one or two myself. The better half may or may not have eaten four in a row. YES! Yum. This gal is a brilliant gluten free mama.

When you're mixing essential oils together scents are important, as are the positive properties of each oil. There are a few essential oils that are out there that aren't used that often, probably because we just don't know much about them, but they are oh so good! We use our favorite essential oils when diffusing, because, well, the purity of scent matters. You'll hang on to a scent memory far longer than others.

Ylang ylang is one of those essential oils that might leave you wondering what you can do with it.

Ylang ylang (ee-lang, ee-lang), supports emotional connection, joyfulness, and innocence (try this in a massage oil...zing!) It's a heart healer that pairs nicely with uplifting citrus scents and sultry flowery scents. Using it as the undertone grounds us in joy, something that I sure start to look for when day 15 of below zero temps are in the forecast!

Cinnamon is an interesting one. It encourages us to feel free and connected. Cinnamon is a hot oil, so definitely wash up right away if you get this oil on your skin (and never rub your eye if you do - youch!) Even the flavor is a connector in recipes. Cinnamon also supports our immune system and helps us kick the winter blues.

For many, lavender is calming to the mind, releases tension, and encourages expression. Around here, we use lavender before a big game or nerve wracking new experience. Not everyone is a fan of lavender. You might try juniper berry instead, which we love in our house for peaceful sleep. Either of these oils will bring a more flowery scent to this blend, juniper berry adding depth with its earthy tones.

If neither lavender or juniper berry are your thing, our other go to favorite is wild orange. You can blend wild orange with just about any essential oil and it smells wonderful! It's uplifting and connects with our playful side - if it's not yet frozen.

Some connect very deeply with the smell of clove. I like a little more clove than less, but you decide what works best for you. After learning more about it, I understand why the wild and free spirits in our house love this smell! Clove ignites our soul fire and stimulates the mind, which can much us feel empowered, independent, and safe.

We've use quite a few different cool mist diffusers, but this is our go-to diffuser. It's small enough that it can be moved around the house and has a auto shut-off feature.


For your diffuser: 
Soul Fire
-3 drops ylang ylang
-2 drops cinnamon
-2 drops lavender (or try juniper berry, citrus bliss, or wild orange)
-1 drop clove

A few more blends to try: 
Stay Warm
-2 drops cinnamon
-2 drops wild orange
-2 drops clove
*add one drop douglas or siberian fir if you want to add an up north kick to this blend

Bustin' the Blues
-2 drops bergamot
-2 drops eucalyptus
-2 drops wild orange


What I love most is that you can explore essential oils as often or as slowly as you like by diffusing. The blends are limitless. 

Stay warm!

Balance

I always look at the beginning of a new year as a new start for great things - diets, exercise, cleaning my house, saving for adventures. 2018 was an enlightening year. I'm not much for even numbered anything and even numbered years tend to take the cake. 2018 was no exception.

When life is going to switch gears on me, the message is usually a gentle whisper, like the wind, blowing me in a different direction. Not this time. The message came screeching around the corner leaving me without a doubt that it was time to listen. That happened in 2016 as well, when the best half of us woke up to a guard rail and found himself in the car floating across lanes of highway before dawn. (Definitely not a whisper). 

We've had growing pains, health issues, defining moments...all that good stuff that happens in a house with teenage humans. We've also had an evolution of self, as we're both searching for what brings us joy in our professional lives. 

I'm not sure that the joy is entirely missing, but the balance is. We can feel this on a long weekend, when there's enough time to get it all done and slow down enough to enjoy each other. When we're able to eat home cooked food together in the same place at the same time. When we're practicing self-care and enjoying our health, instead of trying to keep up and squashing the symptoms with meds. 

I've thought for a long time about balance. It seems like the last page in the parenting guide. The thing they forget to tell you about. Focus on success, family, bigger - better, bigger - better, but balance -- balance is what gets lost in the process.

So, we're on the path to balance. Something simpler. Being able to get it all done, spend some time with each other, and sleep. Crazy idea.

I'm starting with what does not bring me joy. That was easier to come up with. Things that I put a whole lot of effort in to, that bring me zero joy. I'm kicking those things (and people) out the door first. And, I'm adding more of the things that do bring me joy - being outside, being with my people, being flexible and free with my time, and focusing on who, not what. That's a big ask.

I think the hardest part of this is that to let joy in, I have to let stress out. Let stress go. For me, this is letting people and commitments that aren't working, for commitments that are. That's work of the heart. Letting go to hang on to something entirely unknown and unfamiliar, yet simple. 

I'm beginning to think simple is not easy. It may not even be less. I'm just hoping it's food for the soul. 

What am I diffusing this week to launch us in to joy? Douglas Fir and Bergamot to calm the soul and wrap us with positive energy. It's amazing how just a change in scent in the environment can activate the mind and our emotions in different ways. This is our favorite, never fails diffuser. We find our favorite oils here. 

Just sleep, kid!

One of the wonderful things that happens in motherhood, is that moment at night when your children fall asleep. Those beautiful little faces, resting peacefully and quietly, while you get 30 seconds to go to the bathroom alone before the dog or other people find you. Yep, you know the routine.

When my peeps can't sleep, neither can the mama. When this goes on night after night, there either has to be a solution or...well, there has to be a solution.

Enter lavender essential oil.

Lavender was part of our starter kit. We use it for so many things, particularly anxious children. We started diffusing it at night to promote relaxation and rest and we drag it along to sporting events - no anxiety there! I'm pretty sensitive to the scent of lavender, so I like to keep it light and diffuse or use a roller ball with fractionated coconut oil to apply it. Too much of anything can make it unbearable. 

We tend to like a more earthy scent in these parts, so when we discovered Juniper Berry essential oil, we definitely hit the jackpot! I always thought this would be a berry scent similar to fruit snacks. (Why? I don't know. Doesn't everything your kids like smell like a fruit snack)? 

It's a bit like lavender in scent, but has a depth that will ground your soul. Think clean, woodsy, and earthy plus a touch of lavender and you've got it! Juniper Berry is our go to night time diffusing oil and it goes well in a body butter or roller bottle if you want to carry it with you or diffusing isn't possible. 

Truth be told, we tried another brand of essential oil in the beginning. My tween, being our resident Juniper Berry expert reported that it was not as pure, not as strong, and didn't work the same. The scent is what lured her in, while the calming and ground effect of the oil is what keeps this oil at the top of her list. Right up there next to Starbucks Frappucino's and that's a tall order! 

Really, we're sleeping through the night and that's proof for me.