Taking a Chill Pill

Stress … everyone feels it to one extent or another.  Science knows that stress affects not only mental health but bodily health as well.  Long term stress can weaken your immune system, making you vulnerable to infections, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis and a host of other problems.  Although they haven’t figured out exactly why, people experiencing chronic stress are more prone to viral infections.

Lately I’ve been feeling more stressed than usual, thanks to a family member. I thought I was dealing with it quite well until I picked up a cold. I don’t normally get the usual viruses that travel ’round so despite my routine for handling the stress of daily living, this was my wakeup call – things were getting out of hand.

There’s nothing I can do about this person in my family but I can do something about their influence on me.  The first thing I did was change the shielding on our house. My normal shields are to protect us from bad things – robbers, people with other bad intentions, things like that.  I didn’t think I had to protect us from a family member. So, I changed the spell so that any negative vibes and the person harboring them simply bypasses us.

The second thing I did was remember my word for 2010 – “Faith”. (See my blog post entitled “My Word!”) I have to have faith that everything will work itself out for the best and not dwell on things or try to force some issues.

The next thing I’m doing is using scent more often. There are scents that are calming to some neuroreceptors in the brain. Call me crazy but I’m not a fan of Lavender (which is the most widely used). Ylang Ylang really floats my boat, though.  I always feel calmer when I smell that so I’ve got candles & oil warmers throughout the house that have that essential oil in them.

The last thing I’m doing is have a cup of Lemon Balm tea each afternoon. Melissa officinalis is an antidepressant and a nervine (having a relaxing effect on the nervous system – in this case, the nerves associated with the circulatory system).  Not only is it tasty but it helps relax me from the stresses of the day. Interestingly enough, it’s also used in magical healing spells directed at folks with mental or nervous disorders.

If you’re feeling the effects of stress, try

1. Scent  find something that makes you limp as a dishrag when you smell it. Get some candles with that scent in them, use an oil warmer, a reed diffuser or a nebulizer to get that smell throughout your house.  (If you can, use it in your workplace, too.)

2. Nervine Tea Lemon Balm works for me but others you might try are Scullcap, Valerian (will probably put you to sleep), Wood Betony, St. John’s Wort, Chamomile, Vervain or Lavender.  A cup or two a day should do it.

3. Do a Healing Spell on yourself and your house if you practice magic.

Since I started all this, my cold is gone and instead of dragging myself work, I feel like I’ve got enough energy to tackle all the things piled up on my desk. My chill pill is working.