Tag Archives: healthy

10 Natural Painkillers That Work As Good As Pharmaceuticals

Painkillers are one of the biggest and most expensive over-the-counter commodities. You need them for everything, from your little brother’s earache to your grandmother’s rheumatoid arthritis.

And while these medications are effective, they can leave your pockets feeling a little emptier and your health feeling a little strung out. What I mean by this, is that conventional painkillers can be destructive to other parts of the body while healing or soothing the ill part.

So what’s the solution to this? Dr. James A. Duke, author of the Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods says that we can almost always find a plant that has the same healing effects as a pharmaceutical without any of the risk.

Take a look at these ten all-natural pain-relieving substances.

1. Birch Leaf: The leaves from the Birch tree act much like a prescription drug called cortisone. Cortisone is used to treat endocrine disorders, arthritis, lupus, skin disease, autoimmune disorders, and more.

One of the main compounds found in Birch leaves is methyl salicylate, similar to salicylic acid used in aspirin. It is anti-spasmodic, analgesic, astringent, antifungal, diuretic, detoxifier, and it reduces damage to skin as well as enhances circulation. It is truly one of the first powerful pain relievers ever used.

2. Cherries: The presence of compounds called anthocyanins (same nutrients that give cherries their rich red color) gives cherries their pain fighting power. Continue reading

How to Recognize & End Toxic Fights in Your Relationship

Whether you like someone or not there are going to be times when you have disagreements with your friends, family, partners, spouse, co-workers, or neighbors. Here are some powerful tricks to make sure your relationships are healthy and balanced!

1. Bring Up Problems ASAP

Many people will try to walk on eggshells or avoid bringing up how they feel but this will actually cause a lot of extra stress and issues in your relationship.

When you don’t tell someone how their behavior made you feel it is actually a form of manipulation.  It is holding on to the power or energy instead of passing it back so that they can learn and grow.  If people don’t know how they are affecting you then they cannot fix it.

If you don’t catch it in the moment or it is not an appropriate time make sure you bring it up with them as soon as you can.  The quicker you address issues and resolve them the better everyone will feel.

ar134532768120402Have a hard time catching problems in real time?  One trick is to trust your gut.  If someone says something that creates a strange feeling in your stomach that is a sign that something happened that affected you.

When I get that feeling I will make a point to stop the conversation and if they are a close friend or loved one they will typically help me figure it out.

Example- In a calm balanced tone I will say: “Just a min please, when you said that I felt funny.  I am not sure why but I would like to figure it out before we move on so I can understand what you mean.”

Remember that what you say and what people hear is always going to be different.  This is because our mood, focus and perceptions are always filtering information.  Tone and energy can also be a huge factor in how information is transferred between people.

When issues are brought up stay calm and try to see what really happened instead of getting defensive.  I will go more into this later.

2. Be the Real You

It is very common to act different with friends and loved ones than you do alone or in public.  Part of feeling whole and being true to ourselves it to try and make these versions us as consistent as possible.

Be the real you, do what you feel compelled to do.  Say what you are really feeling.  If you aren’t interested in what someone is saying either find a way to truly get interested or find a topic you are both interested it.

Pretending to listen and be interested isn’t being true to yourself and is harmful to the people around you.  Be honest, polite and genuine in your interactions.

3. Treat People the Way THEY want to be Treated

choco_vanilla_swirl_answer_7_xlargeThats right, because we are all different we cannot treat people the way we want to be treated.  We have to learn more about the people around us and treat them the way they want to be treated.

We can’t feed a room of people our favorite flavor of ice cream and expect them to be as happy and excited about it as we are.  We need to reach out and make sure the people around us know that we know them.  We prove that to them by really getting to know them!

There is a very powerful article written by a hero of mine that goes into this topic more.  Check it out here!

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