As the year 2009 draws to a close and we approach the threshold of a new year, we can take a moment to look back over the year. It has been a very difficult year for almost everyone. Many are out of work or saddled with debt, schools are overcrowded and understaffed, the number of homeless persons is alarmingly high and charities are receiving fewer donations to care for an increasing number of people. There is hardly anyone who has not been affected in one way or another by the economic crisis.
~ 2009 ~
Help Your Neighbor, Help Yourself
November 21st, 2009 by Ifeoma IkenzePosted in Food for Thought
Food For Thought
November 21st, 2009 by Ifeoma IkenzePosted in Favorite Posts, Food for Thought
Take all your love that you are so eager to shower upon yourselves
And give it to your fellow man
So that a spark of longing will glow within him.
Then, you will easily make hundreds, nay, thousands happy.
And they will in turn, make you happy,
In the eternal reciprocity of the Laws of Creation.
For then, you will receive your love many times in return
From HIM, from God, and He blesses this love
With a thousand crystals from Heaven’s fountain!
~ Excerpted from A Glimpse into the Other World by Herbert Vollmann
Vaccinations – To Give Or Not To Give?
November 20th, 2009 by Ifeoma IkenzePosted in Homeopathy
Should I vaccinate my child or not? Is there mercury in the vaccine? Does my child really need all those vaccines? Do vaccines cause autism? What is the risk to my child if I don’t vaccinate him? These and other questions are raised by parents faced with having to navigate the increasingly complex array of vaccines recommended for their children, starting right at birth. Many families feel coerced by their pediatricians to vaccinate their children. They feel powerless to argue against the campaign for universal vaccination for as many diseases as possible.
Micronutrients: What are they and what can they do for you?
November 14th, 2009 by Ifeoma IkenzePosted in Nutrition
If you are struggling to return to your youthful pre-pregnancy weight and figure and are having a difficult time with it, you are not alone. For many women this is one of the most confounding problems. On the one hand you want to lose weight, but on the other hand you are hungry all the time because you are breastfeeding a growing baby who depends on you to manufacture a wholesome milk containing all the nutrients essential for his or her physical and mental development. So, how can you get the best of both worlds and lose some of the pregnancy weight and regain lean body mass, while at the same time ensuring that your milk has an optimal nutritional content?
Why the Pain? Why the Suffering?
November 3rd, 2009 by Ifeoma IkenzePosted in Spirituality
Everyone has at one time or other experienced suffering or the suffering of a loved one through illness or an accident. Each of us has probably asked the question “Why?” Why is this happening? And when it comes to our children, the “Why” is even greater.
We may do everything we can to safeguard our health; eat right, exercise, immunize our children, drive safe cars, enforce safety rules. And yet – one falls sick, a child has a hereditary disease, another is plagued with a lifelong depression or anxiety disorder. I appears that in spite of all out efforts there is more disease and distress today than ever before. Cancer strikes both young and old in alarming incidence. There is more pain medication and psychiatric medication prescribed than ever before, even in young children! Why??
Ask Dr. Ikenze: High Cholesterol
October 24th, 2009 by Ifeoma IkenzePosted in Nutrition
Q. I have been diagnosed with high cholesterol and I find that the medications disagree with me. Are there any natural ways to reduce my cholesterol?
A. Keeping your total cholesterol and your good/bad cholesterol ratio down requires a 3-pronged approach:
Get a Plant and Take a Breath
October 24th, 2009 by Ifeoma IkenzePosted in Health
Have you noticed lately how rapidly the air quality in our towns and cities is deteriorating? When I first moved to the Bay Areas from New York State I was struck by the clarity and cleanliness of the air in Marin County. But in the past 19 years it has become terrible. Going for a morning walk is no longer as refreshing as it used to be, with all the exhaust fumes one has to breathe. And if in our paradise of an enclave we are beginning to feel the choke, imagine what it is like in other industrial cities and other parts of the world.
Threads of Light
October 2nd, 2009 by Ifeoma IkenzePosted in Spirituality
Are prayer and meditation one and the same? Those of us who meditate find that practicing meditation brings an inner composure and peacefulness that helps us ride life’s ups and downs more smoothly and evenly. For many, daily meditation serves as a vehicle toward a higher self-awareness and a conscious connection with the pulsating life force that permeates the universe.
Reflexology’s Many Uses
September 21st, 2009 by Ifeoma IkenzePosted in Health
Recently a woman came into my office with severe abdominal pain. She had been under a lot of stress and had apparently developed a stomach ulcer which was causing her severe pain. She was angry, sad, and frightened all at the same time. In addition to the abdominal pain she had long standing back pain which was due to muscle spasm. Essentially, she was “all tied up in knots”.
Women Helping Women
September 7th, 2009 by Ifeoma IkenzePosted in Women
Every year as September rolls around I find myself thinking of women all over the world. September is the month for women and I think of the plight of women in different countries – mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, grandmothers, mothers-in-law. Women in Africa living with war, famine, and starvation. Women in the Middle East and Eastern Europe living through a war of hate that is permeating and destroying everything around them. Women living in slavery and oppression in Afghanistan, India, and Iraq. Women in South America living in poverty and squalor. And here in the United States, women experience physical and psychological abuse and discrimination every day even in the midst of affluence and plenty.