Sea-Reserves

Josh always finds cool things to post about. Today- Greenpeace rain boots doing double duty as an informational source depicting sea-reserves which can counter-act the effects of overfishing. Designed by Zeptonn (Jonah has started a collection of his artwork) the boots are limited editions and I can only find them availabe for euros through the Netherlands’ Greenpeace site. Check out the quintessential Zeptonn look:

Via: Joshspear.com

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World Peace Day

Beautiful video from HeartMath. I believe that when people are healthy they can be peaceful. Make this a wonderful, peaceful day full of appreciation for all you have in your life and for all the possibility for our world.

Buy Stock in Tissues?

For up to 20% of Americans, when the ragweed blooms so do allergy symptoms that include runny nose, itchy eyes, sneezing, itchy or sore and possibly asthma. Each ragweed plant makes about a billion pollen grains per season—and with the help of the wind, those grains can travel up to 400 miles, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, or AAAAI- how DO they measure that?  I always love and hate this season. Indian Summer is beautiful and also uncomfortable and I eagerly await the first frost which kills the ragweed, hurray, but means it’s time to turn on the heat and deal with the dust that is created from the radiators, even though I vacuum them. Hurray for my Nikken Air Wellness Power 5 Pro air filter. I’m offering 10% off when you order online AND the Air Wellness Traveler for your car is included FREE this month! With my air filter system my nights are peaceful, full of deep-breathing and calm sleep and no symptoms. Wish I had a mini- filter to wear outdoors, in the garden and walking in the woods.

Cellphone Radiation

I am very grateful to the Environmental Working Group  for their ongoing research into the safety of consumer products. Here is the latest cellphone radiation figures. On this page you can read their tips for safety as well as read  documentation papers. EWG’s comprehensive, 10-month science evaluation of the hazards of cell phone radiation includes data from more than 200 peer-reviewed studies, government advisories, and industry documents, to provide you with the latest information on cell phone safety. You can enter in the name of your phone and see its rating.

Here is the best and worst as rated by the EWG:

I definitely feel spacey and unfocussed after using my  iPhone for long periods, although I use a headset which doesn’t totally elimiate but somewhat limits my EMF exposure. I definitely feel it when in NYC among the vast numbers of cellphone users. I am interested in your experiences with cellphones. Do you have headaches, dizziness or confusion?

Creating Space

photo by- Micah Spear

We all speak or even complain about clearing clutter, don’t we? Our homes are filled with too much and most of it we don’t love, don’t want, don’t need, yet it is difficult for many to make the move to create the separation from the things, right? Motivation, time and attachment are 3 of the things that hold us back. Fear that the project will take too long is often on people’s minds- but what I have found is that, taken one small project at a time, it won’t take as long as you think. Of course, there are those of us who have looked at the clutter so long that we don’t even see it, in which case consult a friend who will tell you the truth!

Having many belongings is not a bad thing. It is how you feel about them, and how your living space feels with all of it. There is a difference between messy, disordered and dirty, and downright cluttered. If there is a place for everything, then you might be on top of things. Ignore this post.

For those of you feeling overwhelmed in your life- sometimes doing the physical clearing will help you mentally, too. Giving objects a place where they belong, to me feels like a Bach 2-Part Invention. Those notes so belong together, and playing it or hearing them played in their precise order is very harmonizing for most people who listen.

My friend, BJ, taught me a good way to work with the “stuff”. She would take the “things” away from the place they were living and to sort them in a new location. For example, if you are sorting out your junk drawer in the kitchen, dump everything into a box and take it all to the living room. Then you have literally uprooted it vibrationally from the place it had put down roots. You will also be considering everything outside of the kitchen where you normally see it all. Then, have 4 boxes ready; one for things to throw away, one for things to keep, one for things to put back somewhere else in the house where it belongs, and one for giving away. Then DO IT. It’s sometimes easier to do with a friend. Call someone! Now, when I am clearing more space in my home, I always think of BJ- and ask, what would BJ do?

One of the chief benefits for me is that once I clear something, I don’t have the thought “OMG, I have to deal with that….” hanging over me. But another benefit I have found is that the time I spend ordering a junk drawer, or tidying the linen closet is powerful mind-clearing time, too. I experience a similar thing when I am weeding the garden. Like Karma Yoga. Taking all the emotional baggage out and sorting it is something that does not have to be done alone; speaking with a good friend, seeing a therapist, taking a course are al way to sort through emotional clutter.

I went through my closet and ruthlessly (mostly) pulled out the clothes that I have been hanging on to but never wear, that look terrible on me but I paid a lot for and don’t wear and things that simply don’t fit and probably never will, boohoo. They have gone to the local Visitng Nurse Association Thriftshop, however, I brought a few choice items to the Rebecca Christine’s consignment shop in Gaylordsville. When we create a vacuum something will fill it- and I didn’t leave empty-handed. I have brought things of beauty into my home which for me is always in process and I love the journey or change and choice. Do you?

Unconditional Love

How were you raised? Did your parents set high expectations which you worked to live up to in order to gain their affection? Were you punished, given time-out’s or did they withhold their love from you if you had a failure? How has that translated into your parenting? In an article in the NYTimes , Alfie Kohn explores some child-raising theories and notes a few recent studies with interesting and not so surprising results.

Kohn opens his piece speaking about Carl Rogers, child psychologist, who, more than 50 years ago, supported the idea that children must be loved unconditionally.

Kohn later writes about forms of conditional love that are being promoted more and more lately:

“Some people who wouldn’t dream of spanking choose instead to discipline their young children by forcibly isolating them, a tactic we prefer to call “time out.” Conversely, “positive reinforcement” teaches children that they are loved, and lovable, only when they do whatever we decide is a “good job.”

…the problem with praise isn’t that it is done the wrong way — or handed out too easily, as social conservatives insist. Rather, it might be just another method of control, analogous to punishment. The primary message of all types of conditional parenting is that children must earn a parent’s love. A steady diet of that, Rogers warned, and children might eventually need a therapist to provide the unconditional acceptance they didn’t get when it counted.”

The various studies looked at college students, mothers of grown children with very interesting results. The findings were that both positive and negative conditional parenting were harmful!  “Internal compulsion” was a result of the positive reinforcement and  negative conditional parenting didn’t even work and created negativity towards the parents. That makes sense to me.

I am interested to know how you, the reader, were parented and how you think that has affected you. How do you parent your children?

I remember when I was in high school some of my friends lived in terror of getting a bad grade because of the punishment and verbal abuse that would accompany what their parents considered a failure. And in my own life, although I don’t remember my parents telling I should do well in school or sports I somehow picked up that was what was wanted.

I found it impossible to give my children time-outs. It was barbaric to me and as my kids got older they simply wouldn’t do it anyway. I didn’t see a reason to be angry with them for failures, although I did positively reinforcement their successes. I very much watned my children to grow into who they were as individuals and my husband and I realized that each child needed something different, as they were 3 very different individuals.

I agree with Kohn that we have to look at the results through the eyes of the children, not how the parents think they “did”. I hope I get good marks from my children….

Happy Anniversary to joanspear.com

This is the one year anniversary of http://www.joanspear.com! Just want to say that I still enjoy posting, I love your feedback and I appreciate all you readers who check in with my site regularly. My readership is consistently growing. Thank you to Josh for his encouragement. And viva the Lemon Cucumber! xo Joanie

This does everything but your homework, Micah

Everyone else is talking about it, so can I? The new Nano iPod has been announced with the new and improved Steve Jobs, Apple CEO. One is a video camera, radio and pedometer as well as music player and one is a now healthy looking genius.

“iPod nano is the world’s most popular music player with over 100 million sold and now we’ve added a video camera to its incredibly thin design, without any additional cost to the user,” according to Jobs.

Choose a RED Special Edition iPod nano and a portion of your purchase price goes to help fight AIDS in Africa. Good marketing strategy.

You can check out the video/ad at Apple.com.

via: Gizmodo.com

Micah and Container Houses

Micah has just sent me some great information about affordable and sustainable urban housing. Check out the photos of this home- hard to believe it’s made of containers- actually three 40′ units and one 20′ unit.  The large units house the bedrooms and living rooms of the home, while the 20′ unit is dedicated as a kitchen in total taking up 1,858 square feet. It looks great and creates a very small footprint on a very small lot, in this case 5,000 square feet.

Using shipping containers as a building block is such an interesting and useful concept to me. You can even do-it-yourself with the book from containers4home.com which will provide all the details from choosing the container to designing the space using a CAD program.

I think these buildings belong in a more urban setting although Micah feels otherwise and would love to build a studio here in the wilds of NW Connecticut. Would like the bicycle built for two, though!

Easy Dinner Ideas

Micah is a busy student on a budget. Extravagant dinners out are not an option. Here is the first of many ideas for a quick dinner:

Tacos, the old standby, with Broccoli

Ingredients:

One can organic refried beans

A few cloves of garlic, Organic cooking oil, Lettuce, shredded or torn, 1/2 avocado – diced, Carrot – grated, Grated soy or dairy cheese, Taco shells or tortillas, Salsa

Warm the cooking oil in your pan, add crushed and chopped garlic, low heat, stir, do not burn!

Add can of beans and heat on low flame. Stir occasionally as you prepare the other ingredients; Toast taco’s on low in oven or low in toaster oven. Don’t burn these either, please.

Meanwhile- wash, cut and steam broccoli.

Put together your tacos, add broccoli on your plate. Yes, you have to eat your broccoli. And enjoy simple dinner.

TOMORROW’s lunch: leftovers, or Avocado sandwich with leftover 1/2 avocado, lettuce, shredded cheese, add hummos or seitan. Yum! ( have a few leftover broccoli’s too)