Awareness Calms Emotions

     I have a lot of experience with worrying. I was named after my great grandmother, who was often referred to as the family worrier. Worrying came naturally to me, so I just assumed I was carrying on the spirit of my namesake.
     I could “what if” my mind into a whirl of worry. Concern about things that might happen, were about to happen, or had just happened. Whatever it was, I could worry about it. And once we had kids, wow! There were no end of things to worry about.
     Several years ago, I realized how exhausted I was by it all. Worrying is a chore, and a largely unproductive one at that. I decided I wanted to stop worrying so much and gain some internal peace.
     The book The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer has been a key part in my efforts to achieve this. He explains the importance of being aware that we are separate from our mental chatter. We are the one listening to that chatter, but we are not the one creating the chatter.

     For a lot of people, myself included, that chatter is like having a crazy roommate in your head. One that you can’t get rid of, that won’t stop talking, that takes both sides of the mental conversation, and is often wrong about whatever it’s badgering you about.
     “She’s fifteen minutes late. Did she forget? No, she’ll be here shortly. Should I call her? Maybe she did forget. Give her a few more minutes. What if she got into an accident and doesn’t have her cell phone? Give her ten more minutes before you start panicking.....”
     To calm the worry and anxiety, it's helpful to be aware of what’s happening - that the chatter is something you can’t control. Going along with it gives it power. Being aware that you are separate from it and can pull away from it, causes it to calm. There’s no need to try to stop it, judge it, or rationalize it. Being aware that it's not you is enough to disconnect you from it and begin the calming process.
     When your mental chatter starts, take a deep breath, acknowledge that you are separate from it, and take a step back. By not letting yourself get sucked into it, and instead just watching what’s happening, it will begin to lose its urgency and power.
     Awareness of what’s happening will diminish the power of the chatter. In time, internal peace will become more common and worry will become less frequent.
     When I first read The Untethered Soul, the first few chapters made sense, but the rest of the book felt like new age woo-woo talk. With each subsequent reading, I've understood more of what he was saying. I just finished my fifth reading of the book, and for the first time the entire book seemed totally reasonable to me.

     As with all aspects of healing, it's beneficial to address an issue from multiple perspectives. Embracing healing foods to help your physical health will also help to calm your emotions and anxiety.

     Changing how you see and interact with your internal world can increase your internal peace, even when nothing about your life circumstances has changed at all.

Why Lemon Balm?

     She’s been called a warrior, an elixir of life, bee balm, heal-all, and heart’s delight. Those who know her well call her Melissa, the Greek word for honeybee. Humans love her healing power and bees love her nectar.
     I’m talking about Lemon Balm...botanical name Melissa officinalis. She’s in the mint family, which means she’ll grow readily and prolifically. And that’s okay, because we need her in our lives on a daily basis. As Anthony William says in his book Life Changing Foods, “Lemon Balm is a gift from God and Mother Nature to deal with our frazzling world.” So true. So true.
     As a soothing warrior, Lemon Balm calms our nerves while skillfully fighting every pathogen out there. Viruses, bacteria, and parasites all shake in their boots when they see Melissa coming.
     Lemon Balm helps to detoxify your liver, spleen, kidneys, and bladder...and she’s great for UTIs. If you have a sensitive stomach, she’ll calm the nerves in your digestive tract.
     Lemon Balm’s calming and soothing properties are especially beneficial for those who fear the future and what’s around the next corner. If your nights are disrupted by insomnia, Lemon Balm can help your body relax, so sleep comes easier.
     As an all-purpose healing plant, Lemon Balm shows us that we can be just as well-rounded. We can have many lives in our one lifetime. We can explore and make use of our many gifts to serve diverse purposes.
     Life is a challenging voyage with many storms along the way. We can’t always prevent the storms, but there are things that can help us ride the waves easier.
     That is the goal and purpose of this newsletter. To provide tools and information to help heal our bodies and calm our nerves. To empower us and make us feel capable. To show us that seemingly small and insignificant actions can inspire others and have powerful ripple effects.
     It’s time to discover the healing warrior within. Lemon Balm, with all she has to teach us, will help shine a light on that part of ourselves.

The Power of Simplicity

     Simplicity is good for people. Complexity is good for business. When people can make things, fix things, grow their own food, resolve their own conflicts, and heal themselves, there are fewer opportunities for a business to make money.
     That is why we’re sold complexity and professionalism. We’re told we’re not qualified to heal ourselves, teach our children, or resolve our conflicts. To enforce this, laws are often put in place to make it ridiculously complex, or even illegal, for us to do many of these things. In addition, the number of products being made today that can’t be fixed...by anyone!...is designed to keep us buying more.
     Complexity is now deemed better than simplicity. High-tech and factory made are valued over simple and handmade. Difficult and chronic health conditions are assumed to require expensive and innovative science, because we’re told that natural will not be powerful enough. If a conflict occurs, we’re told to call a lawyer. If we want to learn something, we’re told to go to a school.
     I’m here to tell you that we’ve been sold a bill of goods. Complexity subdues us and makes us dependent on business. Simplicity empowers us, increases our skill set, and shows us that we are capable. Simplicity is potent, powerful, and revolutionary.
     The current celery juice movement is a clear example of this. People around the world are healing long-term chronic conditions with celery juice as their foundation. Conditions that doctor after doctor could only manage, and often made worse, are now healing for the first time. People are getting off medications, seeing their anxiety calm, their depression lift, and their symptoms abate.
     There is no money behind celery juice. No monthly fee to be paid and no classes to take. Just get some celery, preferably organic, and a juicer. Drink 16oz first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, by itself with nothing else added. Drink it every day.
     As people have started healing with celery juice, the river of money that was flowing to all of the medication and supplement companies is reducing, and may eventually dry up. So these businesses are trying to convince us that the healing isn’t real. That people’s stories aren’t real. That YOUR story of healing isn’t real.
     It is real, though. People are healing themselves when doctors couldn’t. And they’re using a simple, common herb to do it...celery. Celery, like Lemon Balm, is simple, readily  available, and a powerful healer...all by itself.
     More often than not, complexity is the cause of our problems. We are then told that we need more complexity to solve them. Not so. Our cure is in simplicity. Our cure is in the foods and herbs around us, at the farmers markets, grocery stores, and in our gardens. When a problem looks complex, think simple when looking for the answer.

Disc Dinner Recipe

     This recipe is a variation on Anthony William’s recipe for “Nacho-Style” Baked Potatoes. I liked the baked potato discs so much, I wanted to keep going with the disc theme. Zucchini can be cut into discs. So can tomatoes. Onions are more like circles, and avocados can be cut into discs (or donuts), as long as you work around the pit.
     Go ahead and embrace the disc theme...or leave it to the potatoes and zucchini to establish the disc foundation, and just chop up everything else as a topping.
     Quanitites can be adjusted as desired, especially since produce can vary significantly in size. I like to bake extra potato discs, to have on hand for a future meal or general snacking. They refrigerate well and can be reheated or eaten cold.

3-4 potatoes or sweet potatoes
1 medium zucchini
1-2 teaspoons coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1-2 tomatoes, sliced or diced
1 medium onion, sliced or diced
1 avocado, sliced or diced
1/2 cup cilantro
1/4 cup Garlic Curry Cashew Aioli:
          1/2 cup raw cashews
          1 tablespoon olive oil
          1-2 garlic cloves
          1/2 lemon, juiced
          3/4 teaspoon curry powder
          1/4 teaspoon cumin
          1/2 cup water

     Preheat oven to 375°. Peel the potatoes and/or sweet potatoes, as desired. Potatoes tend to be okay with the peels on, but sweet potato skins can get kinda thick. Slice into 1/4” to 1/2” rounds. Slice zucchini into 1/2” rounds.
     Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt the coconut oil and brush half of it onto the paper. Arrange potatoes and zucchini on the parchment. Leave space so they are not touching or overlapping. Brush the remaining coconut oil on the potatoes and sprinkle with sea salt.
     Bake 20 minutes, flip, and bake for another 10 minutes, or until cooked through. The zucchini will finish cooking before the potatoes, so remove them to a plate when they’re done, then finish cooking the potatoes.
     For the Garlic Curry Cashew Aioli, put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. The aioli recipe makes 1 cup, so you’ll have leftovers.
     Slice the tomatoes into 1/4” rounds. Slice the onions into 1/8” rounds. Slice the avocados into 1/4” rounds. Arrange the discs on two plates, potatoes first, then zucchini, then onions, tomatoes, and avocados.  Alternatively, you can dice the onions, tomatoes, and avocados, mix them gently in a bowl, and spoon them onto the potatoes and zucchini.
     Drizzle Garlic Curry Cashew Aioli on top and sprinkle with cilantro. Serves 2-3.


Lemon Balm Times is written and published on an irregular basis by Jenne Hiigel.  Copyright © 2019 Jenne Hiigel  All rights reserved.

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