My life has been, as mentioned before, full of turbulence, hardship and pain but the one thing I have always had, as a gift, was the ability to love indiscriminately. I never really thought about it, it was just always there; a warm feeling in my heart.

Many times I have been scolded for this; for always seeing the best in people and choosing to trust. And yes, I am – in a way – a fool and have been “had” quite a bit through the years because of my “naiveté”. I don’t care, I don’t want to be distrustful…I love loving.

On the love between two people; this seems to be so hard. Instead of the professed love, I see hate, anger, distrust, controlling behaviour and possessiveness. I have had jealous men who made me so insecure that I found I had to protect myself against them and pay attention to my every word. They scared me with their unfounded anger and I could never accept that jealousy was a sign of love – it’s not.

As well as bringing out the best in us, love also brings out the worst. It touches our deepest fears and unleashes them. Since love is unconditional, it will release all kinds of negative emotions in us because it is a safe arena; only in an unconditional environment can you safely ventilate and let go of the negative stuff. And when the love is unconditional, this is possible…Love is healing and love is trust.

Today is my birthday and I give thanks for the grace of love.

As a boss you need to be very clear what you expect from your employe, and make sure that he knows exactly what his duties are and what is expected from him. The employe, in turn, must fill his duties. Most people have looked for their jobs, asked for them, so they should be prepared to fill the shoes. If you choose a high-performance job you must be aware of the fact that it probably will eat most of your time and the monetary gains will reflect this. To be able to cope with the burdens of such a position you need to be highly organized and disciplined or you will succumb to all kinds of stress-related trouble. Take for example a professional foot-ball player; he is payed a fortune but his life will be a life of discipline or he’s out.

If, on the other hand, you find that you can’t deal with the pressure or you find that you need more time for leisure, family or hobbies, you need to change your expectations. The monetary gains will be less and you will have to down-size your life and expenditure. It’s all about choices, there is no judgment here.

Constant availability is talked about a lot and it’s rubbish. It’s an impossibility. If your high-performance job demands constant availability, you deal with it and it should be made clear from the beginning. If not, you are creating something that doesn’t exist. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to.  So turn of your machines and enjoy some peace and quiet…Choices.

Finally, I consider work-time being just that – worktime. If I know I have a heavy schedule, I go to bed early, prepare my stuff the day before, eat properly and maybe I pop some vitamins I don’t crash during my lunch-break.

Sometimes life throws us unexpected things that need to be dealt with, that’s just life and we deal with it as it comes along. But basic line is: Do your stuff, pay attention and get on with it. More often than not I find people have all kinds of excuses why not to change their lives and the more I’ve heard the more I am convinced that it is a question of laziness and/or victimization ideas.

Yesterday a mother violated the right of her daughter by accessing her Facebook account and deleting some of her friends, me being one of them. It will not change the friendship the girl and I have, but it will change the relationship between mother and daughter and the girl will have learned distrust.

I grew up with a very strict mother who had hard and unrelenting rules. This was not always easy but she could be trusted in that she never violated my privacy; she didn’t search my room, read my diary or go through my pockets, even when she had (rightly) suspicions of rule-breaking such as smoking or alcohol. She allowed us children the sanctuary of our own space. Respect! More than that, she showed me a trust that I brought into my own motherhood and there is trust between my children and myself. Thank you Mother.

The Facebook affair had me thinking; Why is it that parents feel that they have the right to violate their children’s privacy? And demand that the child accepts and respects this? Would they accept any such thing from the child? Of course not, one unauthorized riffle through the jewellery-box and the child is told how bad it is…

The right to make choices without explaining ourselves…what about that one? For example if you say no to somebody, they might demand an explanation as to why. It’s none of their business, they should respect your right to say no. But maybe you are the kind of person that demands explanations? When we make personal choices, we are not accountable to others. If the choice is a bad one, we will have to live with the consequences – accountability is always to the self.

We violate the rights of others in so many little ways every day without thinking about it; by parking in the handicap-place, leaving the lunchroom dirty, demanding attention, cutting ahead in a queue, telling a lie… We all do it, unintentionally, because we take the right. But when somebody does that to us, we get upset and indignantly exclaim: “Who gave him/her the right!” or “You have no right to…”

Moral: If we can’t live within an arena of equal rights in our personal sphere, how on earth can we expect equal rights in a larger arena such as workplace, sexuality, gender, colour. Everything starts at home and it starts at a very early age.

At the time we talked about ethics; the ethics of aromatherapy, essential oils and vegetable oils. Ethics is also about sustainability; when you cut a tree you plant another one…Or two. Organic was not really on the agenda at the time, public knowledge about essential oils and aromatherapy was more or less non-extinct, and hard work was put in to create an awareness about ethical essential oils.

Fast-forward till today: Aromatherapy is a house-hold word, everybody knows about essential oils. By putting the word “aromatherapy” on a product, a promise is somehow made; this will do more for you, no matter if it is a washing-powder or a spa. It has become the great magic word; everybody wants aromatherapy. (And it’s always written, for some obscure reason, in italics ) Aromatherapy has become a marketing word, as far from the real thing as is possible.

Now there are all kinds of statements around the quality of essential oils; organic, bio, natural, certified pure therapeutic grade and so on. Most of this is pure marketing and have no value what-so-ever when it comes to defining the quality of an essential oil, without thorough analysis you can sell most anything under any flag and get away with it, quality is hard to discern without years of experience.

MLM-companies now sell “certified pure therapeutic grade oils“, check this link for the truth, or rather untruth, about that statement. Anybody can say anything about essential oils without any training whatsoever, selling oils under false pretences. Aromatherapy is about therapy and takes training. Essential oils are powerful substances that should be used with care. They are also a gift from nature and should be treated with respect and care. You do not take from nature without giving something back, she is not a money-cow.

The moment therapeutic essential oils became money-makers, ruthlessness entered the field. The magic of these precious substances is reduced to dollars and cents and the respect for nature went out the window. Here is to give you an idea: One year France exported 3 tonnes of lemon-balm (melissa officinalis), a very expensive oil, to Morocco. Morocco in turn exported 9 tonnes of lemon-balm that year. Only problem is; Morocco had, at the time, no production of lemon-balm…Makes you think, doesn’t it, what is really in the little expensive bottles you buy. And don’t be fooled by fancy labeling with certifications on them – often they are just marketing, nothing else. Inform yourself, get some basic knowledge and use your common sense. Demand information, ask questions and make sure that you get what you pay for. If somebody comes to your door to sell you essential oils…beware.

Finally; I would like to exchange all the rubbish certifications with the word ethical. And I would like to see traceability and documentation to this fact.

Check out my earlier posts on aromatherapy and essential oils profiles to get an idea of what true aromatherapy is and how much plant-matter is needed to get even a small amount of essential oils.

Aqua (water), Simmondsia chinensis oil* (jojoba oil), Alcohol, Glycerin* (moisturizer), Persea gratissima oil *(avocado oil), Rosa damascena distillate* (rose-water), Cetearyl alcohol (emulsifier), Theobroma cacao seed* (cocoa butter), Hippophae rhamnoides extract* (seabuckthorn), Lycopersicum esculentum extract* (tomato), Glycine soja oil and Tocopherol (soy bean oil and vitamin E), Hordeum vulgare extract* (barley germ), Algae extract (seaweed), Humulus lupulus extract* (hops), Cetearyl glucoside (emulsifier), Plantago major extract* (plantain), Calendula officinalis extract* (marigold), Chamomilla recutita extract* (chamomile), Stearic acid (emulsifier, stabilizer), Sodium hyaluronate (skin conditioning agent), Xanthan gum (stabilizer, emulsifier), Potassium hydroxide*** (pH-regulator), Aroma**, Citral**, Citronellol**, Geranio**l, Limonene**, Linalool**  (there is no indication if the whole essential oil is used or just isolated chemicals)

*ingredients from organic farming. **natural essential oils. ***inorganic substances.

Remember, water is about 50-60%, and all the other ingredients will make up the rest; 40-50% of the cream. They are listed in percentual order; highest first. I have put the questionable ingredients in bold, these are the ones we are going to look at first. Let’s start at the top:

• Alcohol: Moisturizers that contain a low molecular weight of alcohol fail to be effective because they quickly evaporate from the skin surface. In a cream alcohol speeds up absorption rate (how fast it goes into the skin.) Considering that this ingredient is in 3rd place, indicates a rather high %.
• Stearic acid: This ingredient may be derived from animals. From PETA’s Caring Consumer: Fat from cows and sheep and from dogs and cats euthanized in animal shelters, etc. Most often refers to a fatty substance taken from the stomachs of pigs. Can be harsh, irritating. Used in cosmetics, soaps, lubricants, candles, hairspray, conditioners, deodorants, creams, chewing gum, food flavoring.   Stearic acid can be found in many vegetable fats, coconut. (Skin deep)
• Sodium hyaluronate: Sodium hyaluronate is the sodium salt of hyaluronic acid, a naturally occurring polysaccharide found in connective tissues such as cartilage. This ingredient is listed in the PETA’s Caring Consumer guide as derived from animal sources. (Skin deep)
• Potassium hydroxide: Potassium Hydroxide is a caustic inorganic base. Classified as medium human health priority. Classified as expected to be toxic or harmful. Not assessed for safety in cosmetics by industry panel. (Skin deep)
• Cetearyl alcohol & Cetearyl glucoside are commonly used emulsifiers. Cetearyl Alcohol is a mixture of cetyl and stearyl alcohols that can come from vegetable or synthetic sources. Cetearyl glucoside is a surfactant and emulsifier produced from natural or synthetic ingredients. (Skin deep)

Now, let’s do the math: 28% of the ingredients come from organic farming; that’s the oils, fats, moisturizer and herbal extracts. Leaves 72% of other stuff; 50-60 % is water which leaves us with ca 10-20% for vitamins, some herbals and emulsifiers. 99% of the ingredients come from natural sources; animal or vegetable? And the last 1% is the Potassium hydroxide which is more or less the same thing as caustic soda – a highly corrosive agent. It is even higher in percentage than the perfume.

Another concern I have are the many different herbal extracts; how do they react with each-other? See my earlier post on blending too many ingredients together here. “All natural substances are alive, they react with each-other; sometimes they create a synergy that will do great things. Other times they enhance more negative aspects.“

Source: Skin Deep

The Lion Heart

This a Story about a young girl.
It’s not the kind of Story like all the others,
Filled with magic and mystery.
But it’s about the magic of a young girl.
Till today she is a mystery, the only miracle I have ever seen.
She didn’t fight against Dragons or evil warlords, she is not living in the world of fairy tales and myths.
She lives right here in this world like all of us.
You can picture her fight like a battle against monsters and demons. The real life! The creation of a life, is always tough.
Fighting against inner demons or the monsters of the everyday life.
You will meet them everywhere on your way.
If you go to the train or bus station when you go out shopping or even in situations with your loved ones.
There are just two choices!
Fight them and get clear and strong or get beaten and complain about your misery.
She decided to go the hard way and fight against panic, being insecure, being lonely.
It is never easy to fight because that what you fight against is stronger then any horror creature!
In a way unbeatable!
Then it’s you!
You can win and get yourself together.
Or you lose and be a victim but still you can fight again till you win or give up.
She had reason to give up and millions of reasons to fight for. And she did and still does it.
People will say: “yeah come on it’s easy to do that”
But they just see the picture when it’s done not how hard it was to do it.
With every mistake she did, every time she failed, she went one step back but three steps forward.
Think about how impressive it is to see a young girl fighting like that, not giving up, fighting like a warlord.
To see all this pain, nobody would just choose to go this way by them self. The people are too afraid for that.
But when I look at her I don’t see pain, I see her intent, her courage and the eternal desire to live. To live a life made by independence, by own decisions, without fear to fail. Hungry for experience.
A girl like that can just have a heart like a lion…
Meek And fearless

Written by Christoph Hartkopf-Baumer

Truths about skin care products:

• CLAIMS: There are no rules or regulations whatsoever around what you may say about skin care, this is the Wild West. You can claim anything you want as a producer and you don’t even have to prove it. Take the word hypo-allergenic; this means that if your skin is extremely sensitive or you suffer from allergies, this is the product to use. The claim hypo-allergenic makes you believe that it is widely tested and formulated for any sensitivities…WRONG. It is just a product like all others, but it sounds good. So you’re in the shit, or rather your skin is. The only way you can determine if a product will work for you is by reading the INCI-list.
• INCI-list: This is the only regulation that exists around skin-care, you have to list all the ingredients in order of amount, largest amount is at the top. Great thing, now you can check for the stuff you are sensitive to. The ingredients are listed with chemical and botanical names to be internationally viable. This definitely makes sense, but most people don’t understand what they are reading. Do you know what the botanical name of shea-butter is? If you want to know what is in your creme, google it. There is massive information on the internet.
• BIO or ORGANIC: Sounds good when it is stamped on a product, now you get the “real” thing, or do you? All it takes is one organic ingredient in the formula and you can get BIO-certification. There are no specific rules around this, each certifying body (and there are quite a few) can decide as they like. Or there might be ingredients chemically derived from botanical or organic sources, this will count for BIO as well.
• REGISTRATION: Each skin care product must be registered, at a fee of course, before it can be put on the market. Small producers of “clean” skin care most often don’t have the economy for this, so they are effectively shut out from the market-place leaving only the big players such as L’Oreal, Nivea, Dove.
• €€€: It’s all about the money; by keeping production costs down, there is a big return in money on every sale. Natural & organic substances are expensive and would radically minimize the monetary gain on products, so cheap ingredients are used instead, even in very expensive products. Don’t be fooled…An expensive product in a beautiful package does not mean it is necessarily any good.

…And so on and so forth. Get the picture?

Little children ask “why” all the time and it usually drives adults crazy because at one point we can’t answer anymore. This is the point where it is smart to say “I don’t know…”

While training to become a therapist, I learned about communication skills in relation to a client. In this training we were taught never to ask why; because it is too pushy, forces the client’s hand…Whatever. Instead you should ask round-about questions such as; “what would it do to you if…”. I am fine with this but I truly don’t understand the taboo around “why“. It is a simple, straightforward question that really puts things into perspective.

The why is what drives us, our motivation and our lust. Without a why, there is no forward motion. It is the best question if you are looking for information, any information; “why does the sun go up?” If you no longer have a curiosity to why things happen (or don’t) you are in a rut or a depression. You have stopped moving forward and life is probably rather bleak. You are not interested in knowledge, understanding or change and you probably lost connection with yourself.

When I ask you: “What is your dream?” and you need ages to think of something, you have a problem. If you finally come up with an answer but don’t understand why you want it, it will never happen. We move forward on our why’s; by knowing and understanding what we are looking for we can make it happen. If you are just looking to get rich, it won’t happen. But if you can figure out why you want to get rich, it might happen. The same goes for everything; if you don’t know why, how will you ever find a reason and motivation to do anything? Once you start asking why, you might even find that your wish or goal is quite different from what you originally thought and voilà! you learned something about yourself.

So; why am I writing this blog? Because it matters, the things I write about changed my life (and others) so much to the better and I want to share that. BUT, when I started writing this was not clear to me, I just wanted to make myself heard.

Go ahead; pick a topic in your life and ask the why’s, over and over again, until you reach your deepest want, lust or fear and you will find your road to success.

She is 8 months pregnant and has an abscess above her foot, right in the joint. It stays closed and she has not responded to treatment. There is no fever. As the owner (he breeds angus-stock for meat) works biologically with his cows, some forms of treatments are out of range. She has received anti-inflammatory agents and pain-relief but after a couple of weeks she is ill again. This has been going on for close to 3 months and in this time she lost 20-30 kg, her coat is dull and she is not shedding the winter coat. She is very shy and a bit insecure.

It took quite some time for her to allow me to come closer. Once she accepted me I could stroke her and keep her calm. She was obviously in pain and walks with a bad limp. The abscess area is swollen and warm, showing signs of an encapsulated infection. As it is sitting right on the joint, I had a feeling that infection was leaking into her synnovial-fluids, spreading it throughout the body, which would account for the whole-body reaction; nothing dramatic, just a slow deterioration. Her immune-system is obviously unable to deal with it. I know cow should be checked by a professional from a vet tech school but for now
something should be done immediately to comfort her.

I used the AromaLux Horse crisis oil to calm her down and get her into her body a bit more, shy individuals often disconnect from themselves when they feel insecure. She smelled the oils and rubbed her head against my oily hands, took a deep breath and sighed. Good Baby! (That’s what he said, the farmer) We covered the abscess area with AromaLux Horse Xtreme Protection Salve and let her go on the field. Now we wait and see. I will return with the results later. (AromaLux Horse are products I have formulated for horses, but they are useful for any animal)

I learned something terrible today while I was chatting with the farmer and his wife: A cow like Baby would, in most instances, be slaughtered if rapid healing didn’t occur, because you can’t sell such a cow. And she would be slaughtered even though she is pregnant! This tore my heart, they would actually kill a pregnant cow and her baby. How can this be allowed? Even if the cow was seriously ill and would need to be put down, wouldn’t you wait for the baby first and save it? This farmer could never kill his cow and baby, he would rather spend endless hours helping them survive. That’s why I was there. As we stood in the field I saw a huge herd of cows and a magnificent bull. The farmer pointed out all the cows to me and told me their names, specific characteristics and how old they were, to me they all looked the same

Follow up April 20: Baby is healing slowly, she has gained weight and finally shed her winter-coat. She carries her calf very well and though she is still limping she has less pain. Her overall state is much improved. Her leg is still swollen and the encapsulated whatever-it-is stays the same but without the heat or any signs of infection. Mr Farmer will continue using the products and we’ll see where it goes. Stay tuned for the next follow-up

This is the editorial comment in Medicinal & Aromatic Plants, Vol. 1 issue 1 2012. The editor is Paul Schnitzler,  Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Heidelberg Medical School, Germany.

“Plants produce primary and secondary metabolites, which have been exploited by humans for many different beneficial purposes. Many secondary plant metabolites, e.g. terpenes, terpenoids, alkaloids and phenolic compounds have been well characterized. Essential oils are considered the chemical weapons of plants, as their compounds may deter insects or protect plants against bacterial and fungal infections. They also act as plant pheromones to attract insects. In traditional medicine, lots of plant products have been widely used for the treatment of neurologic diseases, cancer, inflammation and infectious diseases and plants represent an abundant source of new bioactive secondary metabolites.

According to the Communicable Diseases Centre in the US, about one third of prescribed antibiotics were inappropriate thus stating an overuse and misuse of antibiotics. Essential oils are also highly active against multi-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), one of the so-called hospital super bugs, as well as more common and well-known infections like herpes labialis. In addition to antibacterial and antiviral effects, essential oils have been shown to possess many useful pharmacological properties, often being more effective than conventional drugs and revealing fewer side effects.

Oregano oil gland

Although the number of published papers on anti-infective properties of medicinal plants is increasing during the last years, most of these papers seem to somehow disappear and do not attract physicians and pharmacologists. On the other side, there is often lack of finance to continue research to the clinical trial level. This area is largely dominated by pharmaceutical companies, who can afford costly clinical trials. It also seems that natural and complementary therapies are pushed aside by pharmaceutical companies.

Although there is no shortage of research on the antimicrobial effects of medicinal and aromatic plants, it is somehow ignored in industrialized countries. Prescribed drugs are more convenient for patients and physicians, although natural products might offer an alternative in treatment of many different diseases. In resource-limited countries, conventional medications are often not affordable or not available and consequently natural products are the medication of choice.

Our goal is to provide scientific results that can be reproduced by others, thus standardized plant products are required. If more standardized and only high quality natural products are used in basic research as well as in clinical trials, the critics might be convinced and acceptance of medicinal plant products might be increased. Investigators are also encouraged to explore the potential of phytopreparations in combination with synthetic drugs in order to enhance pharmacological actions. High quality plant products and more clinical trials are urgently needed to establish rational phytotherapy.”