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orenstern · 3 years

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Love, Miracles and Meditations: An Antidotal Reflection

“In this world you will have much trouble, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”

- John 16:33

If there is ever a time when you feel you have much trouble, and it feels overwhelming, try if you can to turn your mind away from the trouble.

Try if you can to turn your mind back to what is yours and what is unique to you, as it is without trouble, as it is inherently, or just simply what it is you have and who it is you are.

Try to perceive your own unique world and self without the references that others might provide, without their categorizations. Even further, try to perceive this without your own categorizations.

Use the barest amount of adjectives or adverbs when looking upon your world and self this way, and so then try to give yourself a break from self judgment or doubt.

Look now where you are and simply write or say out loud or to yourself what you see. Here where I sit I might say:

I am sitting outside

The sun is getting low

The sky is without cloud

The flag is resting in perfect stillness

The birds are chirping

Many different kinds

Many different songs

A motorcycle just drove by

My neighbors are talking

I cannot make them out

My water glass is empty

I can smell the deck flowers and the citronella candles

I am sitting upright outside

Both feet are planted on the ground

I am nestled in my chair

My back is arched the way it should be

I feel now no pain

I feel now the air enter and leave my lungs in long deep and slow breaths

I like the way this feels

I can feel all parts of my body as I visit them feeling at peace

I feel my feet make unity with the ground

I feel my back and elbows make unity with the chair

I feel my nose and lungs make unity with the world around me

I feel this unity bring peace to my body and mind

I want to say thank you now to my world and to myself for this unity and for this peace

For I do know that right now in this moment I am relaxed and tranquil and feel good and for this feeling I am grateful

An exercise like this is where you will see the goodness and balance you’ve assembled but lost focus of. More importantly, you will see that this goodness and balance have never left you, but in fact surround and reinforce you, and was right there the whole time you were paying attention to your bother.

The problem of managing yourself in times of your own worry or bothers can and often does compound when you are in the presence of others, whether they be strangers or people close to you. And that is simply because the problem then becomes more dynamic. Your risk of feeling unbalanced or not feeling supported in your abilities to reattain your feelings of balance, increases if you feel that others in someway, whether intentionally or accidentally, are unbalancing you.

You may not immediately have the opportunity to stop what you are doing and take note of what’s happening, to do a scan of your world and self, and an exercise in gratitude after you discover that what you feared you had lost was actually always there.

There is an antidotal solution for this dynamic equation as well. It comes first not by dealing with the presence of a bothersome person or persons before you.

It comes by remembering that unbalance, bother, worry is the default state of neither your being nor theirs.

It comes by remembering that the default state of all beings is balance, and that while systems may tend toward unbalance, there are extraordinary ways available to us to reset that tendency back to its default state.

Say to yourself now, and repeat it often for it is true:

There are people we meet who are wonderful

There are people we meet who are kind

There are people we meet who are lovely

There are people we meet who are pure

There are people we meet who are genuine

There are people we meet who are compassionate

There are people we meet who are caring

These people we meet are real

These people we meet are everywhere

Love for people too is our default state, from which we may sometimes become distracted. And when we are able to look at people with love, we are able to both know and feel the richness of their being.

And this richness is so fulfilling you can actually experience them anew in your mind endlessly, anytime you wish and every time you recall them when you have regained your own balance.

You will see that they are not just people, but they are blessings. Miracles. And that their arrival in your life constitutes a miracle in your life.

You may never have consciously known how miracle a moment it truly was, their arrival, for it is not uncommon to wait for developing factual records of experiences, which has not happened yet, before assigning any value to the quality of the arrivals in your life.

Consider now how many things needed to happen for that person to arrive before you, which includes every moment that precedes this moment, all the way back to the beginning of Time.

If you can look at every first meeting and subsequent meeting with a person this way, it should seem obvious that these moments are special, and can be called a Miracle, or, Scientifically, an extraordinarily incalculable improbability, right?

So then, either way, it is safe to say that their presence in your world is a gift of some kind:

To yourself their self is a miracle; and

To their self your self is a miracle!

Therefore, on low days, whether it is yours or theirs, when things don’t go right, or your mood is abysmal, or luck won’t spark, or your giddy up won’t giddy up and go, or you’re just a little too introspective and self critical, dwelling too much:

If you then start to count your blessings, and while doing so you happen upon a remembrance of those miracle arrivals in your life, you will see yourself replenished, by and by.

This practice too is a gratitude practice and very good medicine, and you can do this too any ole time you want.

For you or anyone may be one who grapples with many things. And if so, may often be preoccupied, bothered, worried or angry even about a myriad inequities and unfairnesses in life, both personally and as they exist in general.

You may see clearly how it bothers you. Or you may not yet have it so clear. Others may see that it bothers you too. You may wonder if you are alone in being bothered by such things. You are not alone.

Others, depending on who they are, may try to seize upon your overt display of being bothered or worry or dwelling and project their own insecurities onto you, admitting little or nothing at all of that which bothers them.

For whatever their own reasons they would keep such things to themselves. And sometimes they might go a step further and say that your being bothered, to the degree that you are, is not normal.

Yes, it is an accurate observation that sometimes a friend can seem to be more a thorn than a rose petal.

To this, I would say first, it’s extraordinarily rare when a person comes to the table having nothing unclear or unclean on their conscience that they would be universally Right to cast a stone of judgment at you. However small or large that stone may be.

In other words, it is the rarest and most special thing to be observed by another while you are bothered by something and it be true that that observer is not in at least some way participating in their observation of your bother or distress with bother or distress of their own.

So pay little heed to the accusation, or even hint, that one may make of your bother being unhealthy or abnormal or that something is inherently wrong with with you for feeling as you do.

You can reset your self back to balance and find peace again, at any time.

But now here they are, pointing the finger at you, and that makes you feel extra bothered, right? Maybe anxious on top of it. Maybe irritated, or angry for something entirely different which might be captured in a rhetorical question like is

“How dare they?”

And then possibly additionally worried at this rhetorical question

“How am I going to reset myself with this person, or persons, doing what essentially amounts to acting like a bunch of monkeys on my back?”

The answer harkens back to remembering that this person who’s bothering you so much is in fact a miracle who you love.

Recognize that there is the highest probability that they too are preoccupied by some kind of worry, are frustrated all kinds of ways about and by it, and in most cases, they really maybe just need a hug or a kind word themselves.

They came to you, after all, looking for something. But what they found was that you too were preoccupied upon their arrival. So then to themselves, a torrent of new emotions may be tacked on to what was already on their mind. Feelings of guilt, frustration, anger, or shame. And all these could very well affect what happens next:

They turn into monkeys, right before your eyes, and hop on your back and start gnawing on your flesh (Most likely metaphorically of course!)

How to get out of the cycle of their agitation getting under your skin which agitates you to the point where you get right back under their skin, a tit for tat that could jump into tit for tats and become a real bad situation real fast?

Answer: Pay heed to this too being a Miracle Moment. There is an opportunity here for you to come out of your shell. To, at least, temporarily defeat your own worry and snap out of your own dwelling. All you need do is show another person charitable love.

A kind word, soft tones, a hug or a smile. Snap them out of what ails them by a gesture of love, and right then find yourself too snapping out of your ailment, and more.

For to console is to be consoled;

To grant peace is to be at peace;

To find a purity within yourself and inspire it in others, so that it may spread, not only to them, but also find its way through their actions and on to others beyond both you and them, and so on and so on—a charitable promotion of Goodness;

The practice of which is the medicine of Love and the feeling of its healing power that pools itself and laps gently by peaceful, relaxing, and tranquil waves.

This is a Franciscan discipline that derives from understandings of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

- Oren Stern

Closing

Peace Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of Your Peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury -- pardon.

Where there is doubt -- faith.

Where there is despair -- hope.

Where there is sadness -- joy.

Oh Divine Master, grant that I may

not so much seek to be

consoled, as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

- Saint Francis of Assisi

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danielslawnsvc-blog · 7 years

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The Summer of Calamine Lotion: 5 Protection Tips for Mosquito Bites

Mosquito bites are the bane of my summer experience. Last 4th of July I went to a Disney golf course to watch the fireworks. It was wonderful until I got home and counted 42 mosquito bites – from my legs all the way up to my arms and my back.

I spent the next couple of weeks spotting calamine lotion on those spots, everyday finding a new one.

Unfortunately, because I have no self-control, I scratched those mosquito bites every day resulting in red spots on my legs that lasted for weeks; there’s only so much calamine lotion can do! Wearing shorts is not so fun when you feel like you’re walking around with chicken pocks!

While I didn’t prepare myself for 4th of July last year, I will this year. I suggest you heed my advice, and so does the Florida Department of Health! They keep a weekly, publically published tracker for mosquito -related illnesses that may be present in Florida.

With that said, your greatest defer for mosquito bites is protection; arm yourself.

Here are our 5 best tips for protecting your yard, home, and family from mosquito bites this summer:

1. Educate yourself on their attractors:

While you may not be able to help it, sweat is a major contributor to mosquito attraction. The reason for this is that sweat cultivates bacteria, which creates an odor irritable for mosquitos. This does not mean to load up on perfumes either. The artificial floral scents actually draw them to your skin too.

Mosquitos can catch hint of a scent from 100 yards away. Unfortunately, breathing gives off an attractive scent through carbon dioxide. Pregnant women actually produce more carbon dioxide. Obviously you have to breathe, so know how to properly protect yourself depending on your environment.

2. Use DEET- containing repellants:

DEET is the best chemical produced to repel mosquitos. It was made in 1957 and has been shown to be safe for over 40 years now. Look for mosquito repellant products that contain DEET.

As you might have guessed it, Off! Repellants are made of 25% DEET chemicals.

Be conscious of the time a repellant lasts. Much like sunscreen, they either need to be reapplied or restocked. OFF!produces a variety of products, so there shouldn’t be any excuse as to not use them.They sell products for a variety of uses: sprays for your skin, sprays for your yard, clip-on disks, candles, even a portable coil you can move around your porch/ outdoor living space.

If you are uncomfortable using chemicals, opt for essential oils. Again, the expiration of these oils is about an hour, so reapply as needed. Mosquitos also avoid smells like lemongrass, lavender, and peppermint. Use these oils at night, however, away from the sun. Oils increase skin sensitivity UV rays in sunlight. That direct contact can cause many other UV ray ailments.

Pick your battles!

3. Plant a protective garden:

Sometimes the best way to fight nature is with nature itself. Without spraying your home with chemicals (despite being safe for children and pets), use plants and their natural aromas provide a deterrent for mosquitos because they are not attracted to them.

Lavender: Lavender can serve as your yard’s garden perfume, and luckily for Floridians, they flourish in warm environments. Unlike manmade fragrances, lavender’s strong scent is strong enough to disorient and temporarily disarm a mosquito’s sense of smell, therefore distracting them from your scent and your yard.

Marigolds: Marigolds are universally useful for many pests. They are very easy to grow year-round and also defers mosquitos from its scent. Marigolds can protect your garden from flies, beetles, even weeds!

Rosemary: My mom picks her fresh rosemary for our annual holiday roast, so not only is it wonderful for cooking, it’s also a line of defense for mosquitos. Rosemary is easy to grow in hot climates and can be potted or planted in the ground. The woody scent is not one attractive to mosquitos so they fly away from the area they’re planted in.

Rosemary and basil both give off scents that repel mosquitos.

If gardening is something you want to give a try for your yard’s mosquito protection, consider consulting with Daniel’s Lawn Service for landscaping designs. Mosquito bites are itchy eye sores but your yard doesn’t have to be!

4. Remove physical mosquito attractions from your yard:

Your yard can be a mosquito’s favorite social gathering. What makes a social ground for mosquitos? Stagnant water. The reason for this is that small amounts of stagnant water are optimal areas for mosquitos to reproduce.

Dump water from your dog’s outside water bowl or kiddie pool when they are no longer being used.

Drill holes in open recycling or garbage bins so rain can drain through the bottom.

Check and clean your home’s gutters regularly for clogs because a mixture of water and debris will create that aroma of bacteria.

Keep your pool chlorinated year round. It is very easy for your pool to attract bacteria, turning your pool green.

5. Shop for repellant yard products:

Growing up, our favorite backyard mosquito deterrent were tiki torches lit with a repellant fuel. Not only do they look cool, the flame emits a natural repellant into the surrounding area. However, there are so many other safer options on the market. If you want something smaller, say for a small dinner party outside, consider just a small citronella candle. If you have children around and prefer not to have an open flame, lanterns that emit scents to mask the scent of carbon dioxide are available.

Unfortunately, not sweating in a Florida summer is not an option just like not watching Disney’s fireworks on the 4thof July! You shouldn’t have to sacrifice outdoor summer activities in fear of mosquito bites. My best advice is to invest in some of these products instead of investing in calamine lotion!

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danielslawnsvc-blog · 7 years

Text

The Summer of Calamine Lotion: 5 Protection Tips for Mosquito Bites

How to Prevent Mosquito Bites in Florida

I spent the next couple of weeks spotting calamine lotion on those spots, everyday finding a new one.

While I didn’t prepare myself for 4th of July last year, I will this year. I suggest you heed my advice, and so does the Florida Department of Health! They keep a weekly, publicly published tracker for mosquito -related illnesses that may be present in Florida.

With that said, your greatest defer for mosquito bites is protection; arm yourself.

Here are our 5 best tips for protecting your yard, home, and family from mosquito bites this summer:

1. Educate yourself on their attractors:

2. Use DEET- containing repellants:

DEET is the best chemical produced to repel mosquitos. It was made in 1957 and has been shown to be safe for over 40 years now. Look for mosquito repellant products that contain DEET.

As you might have guessed it, Off! Repellants are made of 25% DEET chemicals.

Be conscious of the time a repellant lasts. Much like sunscreen, they either need to be reapplied or restocked. OFF! produces a variety of products, so there shouldn’t be any excuse as to not use them.They sell products for a variety of uses: sprays for your skin, sprays for your yard, clip-on disks, candles, even a portable coil you can move around your porch/ outdoor living space.

Pick your battles!

3. Plant a protective garden:

Rosemary and basil both give off scents that repel mosquitos.

4. Remove physical mosquito attractions from your yard:

Dump water from your dog’s outside water bowl or kiddie pool when they are no longer being used.

Drill holes in open recycling or garbage bins so rain can drain through the bottom.

Check and clean your home’s gutters regularly for clogs because a mixture of water and debris will create that aroma of bacteria.

Keep your pool chlorinated year round. It is very easy for your pool to attract bacteria, turning your pool green.

5. Shop for repellant yard products:

Unfortunately, not sweating in a Florida summer is not an option just like not watching Disney’s fireworks on the 4th of July! You shouldn’t have to sacrifice outdoor summer activities in fear of mosquito bites. My best advice is to invest in some of these products instead of investing in calamine lotion!

The Summer of Calamine Lotion: 5 Protection Tips for Mosquito Bites was originally published on Welcome to Daniel's Lawn Service of Orlando

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