Everyday Bliss For Women In Leadership

WIth this dish you’ll never miss pumpkin pie at the holidays. The "crumblebutter" portion is great for an Apple Brown Betty, cobbler topper or with spicing amendments, a spice cake or coffee cake streusel. You’ll have to fight even the kids off to finish this one. It is a foregone conclusion that as with all my recipes, this calls for all organic ingredients, or as many as you can find.  

The Pumpkin - Apple

1 baked squash of any kind. Pumpkin, obviously, but butternut, acorn and banana squash work just as well

Bake small, cleaned and quartered pumpkin in oven in a traditional manner or in glass dish with 1/4 c. water, covered with a towel for 6 - 8 mins in the microwave. For extra added goodness, toast the pumpkin seeds with a little good olive oil and sprinkle to top the dish. You have to chew these up and spit out the hull, but the meat of pumpkin seeds has too many vitamins, minerals and precious natural oils to simply throw out. Enjoy.

Scrub one firm fleshed organic apple such as Fuji, Jonathan, Gala or Granny Smith and slice into eighths, removing core, stem and seeds. Set aside.

The Crumblebutter Streusel

This is where the gluten-free gourmet gets to haul the sorghum flour out from wherever it’s been stashed for the last six months and really go to town. This crumble can be used as noted above for a variety of dessert toppings, just vary the fruit underneath. Or beans, if you prefer. The local mosque in my hometown made a mean navy bean pie that rivaled pumpkin in its taste, smoothness and protein count. Be creative with it!

4 tbsp sorghum flour
1tbsp + 1 tsp tapioca flour
8 tbsp finely ground coconut meal
8 tbsp finely ground almond meal
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp cinnamon or 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
4 tbsp Blue Agave syrup
4 tbsp softened organic butter

Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a fork until they form a crumbly mash. It’s okay to leave a few large pieces, it doesn’t all have to be uniform. Set aside.

The Puttin’ It All Together Method

Arrange large chunks of cooked pumpkin in an oven or microwave safe bowl. Drizzle the tops lightly with Blue Agave syrup which is very low in glycemic value and can be eaten safely by those with sugar issues. You may wish to substitute honey - either will do. Sprinkle the crumblebutter streusel over the pumpkin. Arrange slices of apple atop the pumpkin in a nice circular pattern. Sprinkle this with a little extra cinnamon or a light dusting of pumpkin pie  spice.

Drizzle a few extra teaspoons of Blue Agave syrup over the top. I like throwing a handful of pecans, broken into tiny pieces over the top for added protien and to round out the "brown betty" type of taste. So much the better if you’ve first roasted them with a little olive oil, but raw works just as well.

Broil on medium heat for a few minutes until the butter melts and apples go soft. Watch carefully - the baking time will depend on your oven. Alternatively, microwave uncovered for 2 minutes. If you microwave, the crumblebutter streusel will not brown, but will otherwise taste just fine.

Serve immediately. The decadent may wish to pour a dollop of heavy cream over the top, but artificial whipped toppings are absolutely verboten. This dish is remarkably low in sugar, high in fiber and protein. If you have it with a side of yogurt, (or mix a little honey and cinnamon into the yogurt and use it as a topping) Pumpkin Apple Crumblebutter makes a nourishing, hot and filling treat for winter morning breakfasts. A dish similar to this has long been our home’s standard Solstice and Christmas morning fare.

Enjoy!

I’m a pink ribbon kid. Mom, grandma and two aunts on both sides of the family all either had or died of breast cancer. I’ve decided I won’t be doing the same, thank you very much. Tapping on the acupoints around the breast, including the thymus, helps keep the breasts free and clear of toxins, and the emotional issues can also be worked on by tapping as well using EFT, or Emotional Freedom Technique.

Wonder of wonders too, last night I heard on the news that a compound found in cannabis, CBD, greatly slows the spread of aggressive breast cancer cells without the painful side effects of other treatments currently available.

Researchers at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco warn that this is not a recommendation to start smoking though, as you can’t get enough CBD this way. CBD, unlike that other cannabis compound, THC, does not get you high. The proposed CBD  treatment would be the first all-natural, non-toxic breast cancer treatment, without the serious side effects of radiation and chemotherapy.

Having watched strong and precious women in my life become shrunken shells of their former selves while on radiation and chemo, this news comes as a great comfort. This herbal form of medicine may in time come to replace chemotherapy if all test results pan out.

My grandmother, Grace Evans Ratliff, a natural herbal healer who herself battled breast cancer, said that there is no disease known to man that God did not put a plant in the ground to either help or cure.

How sad that the plant in question happens to be illegal. Perhaps this research will at least see cannabis admitted once again, to the American Pharmacopoeia and world-wide materia medica - as it has been, safely and effectively for thousands of years.

Read the full article here:

http://cbs5.com/health/breast.cancer.marijuana.2.571109.html

Below is a great article from the Happily Retired blog on how to find healthy ways to cope with stress, and when to call the doctor. Get educated, know what your body and mind are doing and when:

For example:

* Eat a well-balanced, healthy diet. Don’t overeat.
* Get enough sleep.
* Exercise regularly.
* Limit caffeine and alcohol.
* Don’t use nicotine, cocaine, or other recreational drugs.
* Learn and practice relaxation techniques like guided imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, tai chi, or meditation. Try biofeedback, using a certified professional to get you started.
* Take breaks from work. Make sure to balance fun activities with your responsibilities. Spend time with people you enjoy.

Call your health care provider if:

Your doctor can help you determine if your anxiety would be best evaluated and treated by a mental health care professional.

Call 911 if:

* You have crushing chest pain, especially with shortness of breath, dizziness, or sweating. A heart attack can cause feelings of anxiety.
* You have thoughts of suicide.
* You have dizziness, rapid breathing, or racing heartbeat for the first time or it is worse than usual.

Call your health care provider if:

* You are unable to work or function properly at home because of anxiety.
* You do not know the source or cause of your anxiety.
* You have a sudden feeling of panic.
* You have an uncontrollable fear — for example, of getting infected and sick if you are out, or a fear of heights.
* You repeat an action over and over again, like constantly washing your hands.
* You have an intolerance to heat, weight loss despite a good appetite, lump or swelling in the front of your neck, or protruding eyes. Your thyroid may be overactive.
* Your anxiety is elicited by the memory of a traumatic event.
* You have tried self care for several weeks without success or you feel that your anxiety will not resolve without professional help.

Read the rest of this excellent, high-quality article at the Happily Retired Blog.

Do you Yoga? Yin Yoga and power sessions of Vinyasa Flow keep me unstressed and working in the top level of my capabilities most days. I don’t get colds anymore - I credit yoga among other self-care methods with keeping me healthy.  And it helps us ladies of a certain age to keep limber, prevent joint and back pain and keep the body fit and flexible

And others in business have found yoga to be their secret stress-busting weapon. Just listen to these professionals:

_“If you asked him a couple years ago whether he’d be doing yoga, Eddy Kelly would have called you crazy.

"My thing, for exercise, was to lift weights, go for a run, maybe play hockey in the fall and winter - but no thoughts of yoga," the 36-year-old said.

To the untrained eye, yoga looks more like the stretching you do before exercising than the actual exercise itself. It’s the warmup, not the muscle burner.

"I won’t say I thought of it as feminine at the time, but certainly not the type of workout where I would get in shape - not that strenuous thing I look to do twice a week," Kelly said. "But my opinion’s changed.

"It looks like you are stretching, but 10 minutes in, you are sweating."

"(Yoga) balances your day," Brenda Brown said. An executive assistant at a Bayers Lake-based company, she came up with the idea of holding the class. Yoga was offered at her previous job, and when she moved to Halifax, she made it her mission to introduce yoga at work.

"You have stressful things going on outside the office, inside the office, and if you just take an hour of your day, it really is productive. You can go back to your desk and tackle what you have to," she said.

Every Tuesday, about a dozen - mostly women - of the more than 100 employees get together in the cafeteria, push back tables, and roll out their yoga mats._”

Read the whole article here.

Michelle Courtney Berry tells us (and boy don’t we know it) -

"….Several top banking executives in New York State requested stress management training for their employees during the historic merger with Chemical Bank in 1996. One of the more progressive CEOs in Rochester requested a hands-on stress management workshop that blended elements of storytelling, poetry and meditation for an evening soirée for employees. Although other business associates might have thought his desire to blend tactical information with humor and relaxation was odd, he was clearly a visionary ahead of the times.

Indeed, it is only within the last few years that trainers and corporate coaches have combined workshops with meditation, massage and reiki (a hands-on energy ancient healing method designed to relieve stress) for corporate employees. This is a decisively new trend but one with ancient roots certainly worthy of replication in our over-exhausted, harried society."

Read the whole article right here.

What kind of culture are you encouraging in leading your company? How well do you value your team members, your own health, your unbridled creativity and productivity? All come with a more blissful, reduced-stress life.  If you haven’t yet, go look at the toys I give you to play with and reduce your own stress, here.

Okay, so the Autumnal Equinox was a week ago, but you can still have yourself a merry litle spa break at this time of the year when the energies are changing like mad, crazy swirls of leaves caught up in a merry dance with the North Wind. Blow some clean air through your hair - open all the windows even if it’s cold  and let your home and office air out completely from morning to night. And…

Try this five minute complete System Recharge to jump up your energy a bit at a time when the earth’s energies are winding down, going deeper, pulsing slower. This practice, which invokes the basic elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, purifies the subtle energy system and invigorates all of your sensate organs. Spend but a minute or two on each of the four areas:

Earth: Facing North, look down at the ground and feel gravity, pulling your body downward. Palms facing the ground, breathe both in and out through your nose while feeling the soles of your feet as they touch the earth. Breathe in through your soles of your feet and the palms of your hands.

Water: Turning to face the West, lean your neck backward looking upward and allow your lips to part. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Imagine that you are standing in a shallow mountain stream with water raining down upon you. Water rolls off of your body, drips down into the stream and flows away, taking all that doesn’t belong in or on you, with it.

Fire: Facing South, stand erect with your elbows bent and hands raised to shoulder level, facing the front of your body. Breathe in through your mouth and out through your nose. As you breathe in, feel the breath stoking your internal fire or "dan tien" in your solar plexus. As you breathe out imagine you are sending the light of that fire outward, into a protective and energizing sphere which surrounds you.

Air: Facing East, allow your entire body to relax and soften. Feel yourself becoming less solid and more permeable. Your arms hang loosely with the palms facing to the front of you. As you breathe in and out through your mouth, feel the air flowing into and out of your body through the very pores in your skin.

Old circle-junkies among the reading audience might notice this goes in a counter-clockwise (or counter-sunwise if you will) circle. Yes. At this time of the year, the energies of the natural environment that surround us are moving more in these counter-sunwise spirals as the light of the sun itself grows less intense and weaker. This is one way to make a counter-sunwise spiral work for you, to energize and purify. Enjoy!

Last week I gave a speech to a group of technology workers about workaholism being the standard, not the exception these days. I also shared the statistic that women work longer hours than men do, traditionally in the home  and also at outplacement work sites. Remember mom putting in hours on dinner, cleanup and mending or other jobs while you and dad watched tv and hung out? Most moms worked up to bedtime when I was a kid. Work at home COUNTS as "work". We’re seeing this historical tendency transfer into the corporate workplace as well where women are asked to work longer hours and then come home to resume working. Reading a 1980’s women’s magazine, my mother was once heard to mutter "Time for myself? Whatever do they mean by that?" For many women world-wide, little has changed in the past twenty years.

The point I was making is that housework and child rearing are historically un-valued or undervalued jobs, and are typically taken on in a majority of households by women. Once a woman has worked a full day in the office, she potentially comes home to meal preparation, cleaning and parenting taking up her time in far greater proportions than do male parents. This is not my observation, but that of dozens of clients, industry research and formal surveys. I cited the article below and so am running it again for those of you who missed it back when…

This study cites how women in the UK are working longer, harder and as a result, are accumulating more stress. When you translate that to America, you can tack on a few hours and perhaps even add a quarter more bother to the stress load. Why? While they are fast approaching levels of job-stress we have in the U.S., Europeans tend to have more realistic work/life balance than Americans.

From:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3178554.stm

WOMEN WORK LONGER HOURS

A woman’s work is never done may sound like a tired old cliché - but it may be more true than ever.

According to a new survey a woman’s working week is now half a day longer than it was five years ago - and that’s without housework.

The increase is down to the growing number of women in more high-powered management and professional jobs, say researchers.

In contrast, the total number of hours worked by men has fallen slightly over the same period - from 45.5 hours to 44.8 hours.

Girls to work more

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (www.cipd.co.uk/default.cipd ) who conducted the survey, the shifting pattern is down to changes in the UK economy.

And these are more likely to become more magnified, not less, in the future, as the UK economy shifting from male-dominated manufacturing to the more female-friendly service sector.

Mike Emmott, head of employee relations at CIPD, said: "If efforts to secure equal treatment for women at work are to bear fruit we can expect to see their experience of work and working patterns aligned more closely with those of men."

However, men are still working much longer hours in paid jobs than women.

Compared to an average week of 44.8 hours for a man, women are working 33.9 hours.

Flexible friend?

The impact of the government’s campaign on work-life balance has had little effect, the report says.

The element of the report’s findings contradicts a recent report for the Office of National Statistics which said that six million workers were now benefiting from flexible work.

The government has introduced a range of family-friendly and flexible working measures.

It signed up to the European Social Chapter shortly after coming into power - and many European-inspired policies have subsequently been introduced.

In recent years: new fathers have gained paternity rights; women can take up to a year’s maternity leave - and parents now have the right to request flexible working patterns.

In addition, people working part-time have gained the right to equal treatment as full-time employees.

But according to the report there is an increasing proportion of people working long hours - more than 48 hours a week - up from 10% in 1998 to 25% today.

These long hours can have a negative effect on quality of life, with more than a quarter of those people who are working long hours admitting health problems as a result.

A quarter said had led to stress or depression and it had affected their sex lives and their relationship with their children.

More than four in ten workers say long hours "gets in the way of" their relationship with their partner or spouse.

"The only crumb of comfort", the report says is that one in four employees have cut back their hours in the past five years, although this is largely down to parenthood.

Just read about this at Sandra Ghalinger’s "Tittyology" website courtesy of Suzanne’s ezine - thanks, Suz!

Again scientific confirmation comes for a syndrome most have long known exists - stress at work = anxiety and depression. Family troubles. Failures in business. And there doesn’t seem to be much difference in occupation studied from this quote:

"The most toxic factor here is high psychological demands. That can be present in multiple professions: the media are always working under time pressure;  doctors, firemen, nurses, builders, plumbers - it applies across the board."

From New Zealand, generational research proves the  link between high stress on any job and the mental illnesses of anxiety and depression. Other studies have linked such stress to chronic pain perception as well. Keeping in a stressful situation does more damage than you may have thought. Just look:

Jeepers. But then, we already knew this…didn’t we?  Click to read the whole article here  and click to get relief here

Thanks to Krishna who tipped me off about putting this at my blog. You can read her sage suggestions here on how to use this research to market your self growth business!