Check Your Grinch Attitude At The Door!
Hiiii again friends! A couple of weeks ago I introduced myself and said that I would be here every week sharing about my crunchy granola lifestyle….and then December hit and whoa! I’m still trying to find out where I hid my elf on a shelf from last year (read: shoved it in a suitcase in some closet where we wouldn’t look for it for another year) because my kids keep asking when he is going to come back.December hits and I sometimes can’t see up from down, left from right. Am I right?
Thankfully I have found a way to support my immune system, sleep better (when I do get the chance), and keep the Grinch-y attitude at the door. I’m going to circle back to the crunchy granola part of my life… specifically essential oils. I’m thinking that maybe you have heard about them? Are you wondering what the heck they are? How can ‘smelling’ something really help keep you healthy? I thought the same thing. Until I opened that bottle and really figured out how they worked. Since then, I have not looked back and have slowly incorporated them into every facet of my life.
So the first question I get is…..seriously though, what are they? Essential Oil’s are the very concentrated oils that runs through plants, that can be captured through a distillation process. Huh? They are the life blood of the plant. The oil can be collected from leaves, stems, flowers, or roots. Inside the plant they protect against fungi, insects, predators, they also help attract pollinators. Basically, they do all the things. And when all the things are good for plants, they can also help us friendly and needy humans live a little better. Naturally. Zero synthetics. Synthetics….. a whole other day, a whole other topic.But back to the oils for a minute, so we take the life blood of the plant, that operates in synchronicity with our own and just use it? How do we use it? I know, soooo many questions. You can use them aromatically. Strait out the bottle. Just take a whifff, or in an ultrasonic diffusers. Yes, SMELLING something can have a physiological effect of the body. Ever smell something and it takes you back to a place in time from your childhood? Yes, scent is strong. And it connects to parts of your brain. Again, whoa…pump the breaks, a whole other day, a whole other topic. You can also apply them to your skin or in recipes. They are made up of such tiny particles that they can enter the blood stream and do their thang there. You know, like some of those medical patches? You just place them on your skin and they do their thang? Pretty cool, isn’t it? The third way to use them is to ingest. I put them in my water or coffee and get it right to the source. But please be careful. There are only certain oils and certain oil brands that you can use in this manner.
I should tell you that I only use one brand of oils. That brand is Young Living. I will tell you more as the time comes. But it is important to know that not all oils are created equal. There are very few regulations on how they are grown processed, labeled, marketed, and sold. I will be here and PB&Whine answering any and all questions that you have. Support you and take you from start to finish. In the meantime if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at jamie@dragonflyandspruce. Because I LOVE talking about these oils. I could talk all day long.
In the meantime, we are headed out to get a tree, play some Christmas music….and try to figure out the next resting place for that freaking elf.
15 Comments
Cindy
I have a sample box of essential oils that I have not opened.
Rae74
I love essential oils and I need to start using them more they are great
Sarah L
I use essential oils every day. Right now I have some lemon eucalyptus in my diffuser.
Susan Smith
I love essential oils. I just started using them. My favorite scents are flower scents.
Edye
I love essential oils! Lavender and lemon are my favorites.
michele
Scent brings back to a certain time and place…Some scents bring back happy some sad memories….This is a great post to educate folks on the properties of scent. Thank you
Sandy Klocinski
Hello! We pay so little attention to the sense of smell and how it affects us. Essential oils really help me to stay focused
Nancy
This is an interesting post. It is fun to learn new things!
Connie
Jamie, what do recommend for depression?Are there certain oils that can help me with the Grinches??
Kim Avery
I love essential oils! My favorite is using Orange in my diffuser necklace! I also use peppermint to combat my migraines! Lavender of course for nights I just can’t sleep! Plus some one told me to put lavender on burns! It worked with the pain and healing! If course there is always lemon for my tea! I could go on forever!!!
Jennifer Boehme
I have been wanting to start using essential oils. My mom has them and it smells so good when I walk in her house. I could use some of this blend.
Rosie
I love to use essential oils to help me every day! I like to spritz it in the air, and if I have to do something stressful, I like to use good candles with scent. It really helps me with the task at hand that I’m stressed about.
Tamra Phelps
Scents definitely have an effect. I have heard that many doctors thing the sense of deja vu might actually be triggered by our sense of smell. We pay so little attention to smell unless the scent is overpowering, but even a slight odor can trigger that deja vu feeling that you’ve been there before.
Kate Sarsfield
I remember reading that smell is one of the first senses to develop, hence the young can suckle before their sight is fully functional. My grandfather was a boot & shoe maker in a tiny village in N. Wales and to this day I only have to get a whiff of real leather to be transported back there, even though I was very young when he died.
Rosie
Hello and hope you enjoy posting on the site!!! I love essential oils, but can’t afford much. I have lavender and spray it with a mix of water on my bed linens or just in the room. I also love tangerine.