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Hippi CBD Teas Review

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DISCLAIMER:  This is a sponsored post.  I was asked by the brand to provide an unbiased review of their products in exchange for free product.

I love the idea of being able to sip a mug of tea which has all the relaxing, mellow goodness of CBD.  As it turns out, Hippi CBD Tea took the time to test teas from around the globe, different types and concentrations of CBD to develop proprietary blends and formulations which are flavorful and effective.

Hippi Teas contain a water-soluble form of CBD which allows the CBD to bond to the tea leaves, then release as the tea is steeping.  In addition, the CBD which they use is about 90% bio-available, and the effects kick in after about five minutes, which is faster than oil or gummies.  These teas are THC-free, so you needn’t worry about getting high from these teas.

Each pyramid sachet contains 10 mg of CBD, which is equivalent to 25 mg of CBD oil.  A key step either during steeping, or after allowing the sachet to steep for 3 to 5 minutes, is to stir the tea to help release any CBD from the tea leaves.  Once you stir the tea, it’s ready to drink.

Mellow CBD Herbal Tea and Daydreamer CBD Black Tea

The first variety of Hippi CBD Tea I decided to try was Daydreamer.  I absolutely loved the packaging, with the VW bus and hippie colors and flowers.  I have always loved black tea for its robust flavor, and I can definitely recognize the quality of the tea leaves which are used in Daydreamer. What’s especially cool is that Daydreamer is the first Black CBD Tea on the market, and can be consumed either hot or iced.  I actually started out with a hot mug of Daydreamer, then as it cooled down, I added ice and enjoyed the iced version.  It’s just what you would expect from a high quality black tea, with the added benefits from CBD.

I had been working on many different things on my to-do list the first time I tried Daydreamer, plus had some distressing news that morning and was on edge.  In addition, I was feeling sluggish because I hadn’t slept well the previous night, so it was nice to get a bit of a pick-me-up from the 75 mg of caffeine.  My nerves were frazzled, yet I honestly did notice after a few minutes of drinking Daydreamer Tea that I felt much calmer, and was able to power through my tasks without that gnawing feeling of anxiety which threatened to throw a wrench in my busy day.  Daydreamer made that much of a difference, instilling a sense of calm while keeping my mind sharp and on task.

A couple of nights later, I tried Mellow CBD Herbal Tea, which is a lovely combination of organic burdock, organic orange peel, organic licorice, organic cinnamon, and water-soluble CBD.  Ordinarily, I avoid all things licorice, because I can’t stand the smell or taste, but this tea was so well-balanced that I didn’t even notice it.  The aroma of this tea kind of reminds me of Good Earth Organic Original Sweet & Spicy Tea, which I have always loved, but which can be a bit sweet.  Mellow CBD Herbal Tea is the perfect blend of earthy, spicy, citrusy, and sweet, delivering a delectable flavor which is incredibly soothing.

I drank Mellow about 20 minutes before bed, and for the first time in a long time, I pretty much fell asleep the instant my head hit the pillow.  And while my eyes usually pop open at 6 am (a full hour before I like to wake up), with Mellow CBD Herbal Tea on board, I didn’t wake up until 7 am.  Now that’s worth the price of admission!

Since trying both Daydreamer and Mellow, I have enjoyed incorporating them into my daily regimen.  I reach for Daydreamer on the days when my energy is low, but need to get through a hectic day.  Daydreamer has been perfect for me, especially since I developed a sensitivity to caffeine a couple of months ago. Suddenly, I wasn’t able to drink even a half cup of brewed coffee without getting severe jitters.  What’s so strange to me is that I couldn’t tolerate even 45 mg of caffeine from a half cup of brewed coffee, but I don’t get the jitters at all from the 75 mg of caffeine from Daydreamer.  Add to that the CBD to erase the edginess I can feel while juggling tasks, and I am set.

Mellow has been a game changer for me with respect to how well I sleep.  I have noticed on the nights I don’t drink the tea that I revert back to my old habit of waking up at 6 am, while the nights with Mellow on board reward me with a deep, restful sleep which envelops me until I need to wake up at 7 am.  I might need to stock up on this wonderful tea!

Since I am a fan of both teas, I strongly recommend buying the two-pack, which includes a 14 count box of Daydreamer CBD Black Tea, and a 14 count box of Mellow caffeine-free herbal tea. What’s also nice is that you save some money by purchasing the two-pack as opposed to purchasing the two separately.

One last wonderful point about Hippi CBD Teas is that its co-founder Stephen Walker served in the USMC.  Because of this, Hippi is committed to supporting U.S. military veterans, so much so that you can designate 10% of your purchase to be donated to the Semper Fi & America’s Fund.  Simply use code USMC at checkout.

The Magic Of Kundalini Yoga

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I fell into kundalini yoga quite by accident earlier this year, when I decided to sign up for a class at a local yoga studio which was listed on ClassPass. From the first class, I was deeply moved, intrigued, and interested in continuing the practice. I hadn’t been aware of the fact that kundalini yoga is considered to be the most powerful and spiritual form of yoga, but I am grateful that it is now a part of my life. Kundalini yoga also complements my daily meditation practice.

How is kundalini yoga different from other forms of yoga? While it can be VERY physical, kundalini yoga is incredibly spiritual and meditative. You will spend a decent amount of time in “easy pose”, which is a standard pose for meditation. Kundalini yoga consists of chants, repetitive movements, and coordinated breathing techniques which are all designed to increase consciousness and activate the body’s energy centers. Because this type of yoga targets energy blockages, sessions can be emotional, intense, sacred, and filled with a sense of connectedness to everyone.

An article by James McCrae states that the objective of kundalini yoga is “decentralized and selfless – help people actualize their Higher Self”. The practice of kundalini yoga has been around since approximately 1,000 B.C. – 500 B.C. during the time in which the Upanishads were written. Kundalini, or “coiled snake”, refers to the energy of creation which sits at the base of the spine, and which can be activated and made to move up the spine and throughout the entire body. It was brought to the western world in the late 1960’s by Yogi Bhajan.

Kundalini yoga can be regarded as the fast track to spiritual enlightenment, and can bring about immense positive changes to one’s life. It increases awareness, brings a sense of well-being, and also creates a stillness and calmness which help to deflect the stresses of the modern world.

Two Breaths

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Regular meditation practice has shaped my life for the past eleven years, and I honor and value all it has bestowed upon me in terms of balance, harmony, calmness and peace. When I began practicing meditation on a consistent basis, I was at a low point in my life as a result of a long-term relationship which had suddenly terminated. As fate would have it, I met a wonderful person who became my meditation teacher, my spiritual guide, and my dear friend. He invited me to become part of a local meditation group which met one to two times per week, and I gladly accepted. Within a couple of months, I began to learn how to sit in silence, let thoughts and feelings go, and focus on being completely in the moment. I quickly realized what a gift it was to fall into awareness during these sessions.

After my meditation teacher passed away in April of 2014, I went through a rough period in which I was so grief-stricken by his death that I was paralyzed, unable to meditate for several months. When I returned to meditation practice, it was alone, without the comfort of a group, but I was able to quickly fall into awareness during my sessions.

At the beginning of this year, I encountered another difficult life challenge, and instead of shying away from my meditation practice, I decided to sit daily. One tool which kept me accountable with daily meditation practice was a phone app called Insight Timer, which I still use. It is no longer a struggle for me to sit daily in meditation, and I have noticed profound changes in my demeanor and my general outlook on life.

In an effort to fortify my spiritual practice, I added kundalini yoga, and have noticed even more profound changes in my energy and my physiology, especially in my breathing. A few days ago, I had noticed that my respiratory rate had become much slower, so I decided to assess it while I practiced relaxation breathing. I was astonished when I discovered that I am now able to slow down my breathing to two respirations per minute. The breaths which I take during meditative and relaxation sessions are very slow, with a pause at the end of both the inhalation and exhalation phases.

Most people are so accustomed to shallow respirations in their daily lives that they assume that 12 to 14 respirations per minute is considered acceptable. As a physician, I regularly encounter a respiratory rate in that range, and am trained to consider that normal. However, in my spiritual practice, I know that in order to take 12 to 14 breaths per minute, the breaths tend to be quite shallow.

Modern society keeps us on the hamster wheel and fosters anxiety, but it is vital to step off the wheel, slow down, and allow the trappings of daily life to fall away so that we can truly let go. If you find yourself constantly wound up, try slowing down your breathing on a consistent basis. It has beneficial effects on your mood and blood pressure, and decreases muscle tension.

A Devastating Spell

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It’s a bizarre and devastating experience to be trapped in a relationship with a narcissist. What is frightening is that by the time you realize that you are in a relationship with one, you are wrapped around their little finger, ensnared, and under their complete control. Narcissists know exactly how to invade your sense of self. They will lie to you, trick you and everyone else into believing they can do no wrong, then once you are solidly in their spell, no amount of struggling will set you free. It is only when you are completely drained and discarded by the narcissist that you can be freed. The narcissist always calls the shots.

Narcissists are abusive, manipulative, controlling, yet they will convince you into upholding the illusion they have created for themselves and those around them that they are great people. The rest of the world is tricked into believing that the narcissist is so wonderful, and that you must be nuts for not sharing that opinion. You will feel like you can’t reveal them for what they truly are, because they will threaten and bully you to the point where your fear of them will overwhelm your desire to expose them.

They will take away your power, slowly but surely. I used to refer to one ex as kryptonite, because he truly was that for me. Any time I tried to stand up for myself, I just lacked the strength to do so. What’s crazy is that I wasn’t like that in other relationships either, only with him. He would bully me, toss me aside, then pull me back to him all on his whim, and I would willingly allow him to do that to me repeatedly.

Narcissists lack the emotional equipment to genuinely love, and they are also incapable of feeling empathy. The driving force for narcissists to establish romantic relationships is to gain the attention they so desperately crave, and to have a whipping boy to throw all their angst onto. Having been the whipping boy, I can tell you it is pure torture to be under the rule of a narcissist. And since narcissists never want to play by the rules, some may stubbornly refuse to hold down solid, gainful employment because it is somehow beneath them. Never mind that they can’t make ends meet, their stubborn pride won’t allow them to suck it up and do what’s necessary, especially if there is an empath or codependent who is under their control and willing to rescue them. Narcissists always exclude themselves from the rest of the crowd, believing that they are indeed special and worth more than those around them. This exaggerated sense of self-importance never abates either.

A codependent or empath who is in a relationship with a narcissist strives constantly to obtain the approval of the narcissist. However, nothing is ever good enough for the narcissist, and the codependent is made to feel worthless. Everything is the fault of the codependent, and the narcissist always walks away unscathed.

The following passage which I found online blew me away. It is very descriptive of the attraction between empaths and narcissists:

“Empaths/Highly Sensitive people are hypersensitive to the emotions and energy of other people. They are often natural healers and caretakers, both admirable traits to have. Unfortunately, these traits often lead to being vibrationally attracted to Narcissists. This explains the recent focus on Empaths and Narcissists in a relationship. The Empath/HSP is a natural giver, while the Narcissist is in an infinite state of need. They literally attract one another like magnets.”

When I was in one relationship with a narcissist, I also suffered from adrenal burnout and severe hormonal imbalance. If I had remained in this toxic relationship, I am sure I would have met an early demise. Some researchers have determined that long-term stress causes changes in one’s DNA. Psychological abuse from being in a relationship with a narcissist is also considerable, and once the relationship has ended, the victim can experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and severe depression.

Narcissists walk through life with armor which functions as their façade or false self. They will present only those behaviors which will earn them attention and praise. The charming person who presents to the outside world and who also shows up right after an episode of bullying is the same person who will insult, invalidate and demean his or her partner every day. The partner learns to blame himself or herself when confronted with the narcissist’s abusive behavior, and will go to great lengths to appease the narcissist. However, once the narcissist has moved into the devaluation phase of the relationship, nothing the partner can do will win the narcissist’s favor. It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation in which any anger or frustration demonstrated by the partner will be construed as an attack, while sitting in silent suffering will cause the narcissist to view the partner with complete disdain.

Once the narcissist has moved into the discard phase, the abuser is in full view. He will reveal his complete cruelty and indifference to you as you are kicked to the curb like a dirty rag. All that shows is pure contempt and hatred, and your value drops to zero in the narcissist’s eyes because you are no longer of any use to him.

At that point, the best thing to do is to BLOCK the narcissist from your life and move on. Be thankful that you were finally set free from a hideous cycle of psychological abuse. Love yourself, value who you are, and heal.

Here is my final message to the narcissists who tricked me into being with them.

One day you will kick yourself for not recognizing what you had when you had it. I no longer care if you suffer, and know that it was never my responsibility to rescue you financially or emotionally, despite the fact that I did it for years. You constantly told me that I wasn’t what you wanted, and were so intent on destroying anything good, anything viable, anything that diverted even the slightest bit of attention away from you. I was never allowed to show my feelings, positive or negative. I wasn’t allowed to be affectionate, or tell you how much I loved you. I learned to expect you to reject every spontaneous hug, caress or kiss from me. Stupid me for not seeing that you didn’t appreciate ANYTHING I did.

You taught my heart that opening up was somehow naughty, something to be ashamed of or embarrassed by. You would get angry at me for the stupidest things, and you took me to Crazytown because that’s where you lived. I was never good enough, pretty enough, just never enough in your eyes. You treated me like the enemy because I now see that you were MY enemy. I could never do right by you.

The shackles are gone. I am free. Thank you.

Click Coffee and Protein Review

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Please check out my review of Click’s All-In-One Coffee and Protein Drink Mix review! I’m not kidding when I say this product is DELICIOUS! It also mixes well, and provides 16 grams of protein in a mere 120 calories.

This all-in-one coffee and protein drink mix is a delicious beverage!

IMPORTANT NOTE: I mixed the cold version in a blender bottle with a wire mixing ball. If you decide to microwave such a container, it is CRITICAL that you REMOVE the metal ball and vent or take the top off!!!

A better option is to pour the mixed cold beverage into a microwave-safe container and then heat it up.

BRAVO!

https://drinkclick.com/

The Origins Of Daylight Savings Time

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Now that most of the nation is taking a break from Daylight Savings Time (Arizona and Hawaii are exempt from the twice yearly clock shift) and is also recovering from the Presidential Election, I thought it might be fun to review the history of Daylight Savings Time.

ROOTS OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

The concept of Daylight Savings Time (DST) originated in ancient civilizations as our ancestors referenced the daylight hours and adjusted their daily schedules accordingly. However, the practice of conserving daylight hours over the centuries was sporadic. The idea resurfaced in the 18th century when American politician and inventor Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay in 1784 called “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” which he submitted to the editor of The Journal of Paris. Franklin suggested that candle usage could be minimized by adjusting clocks to get people out of bed earlier in the morning in an effort to use natural sunlight instead.

More than a century later, a New Zealand scientist by the name of George Vernon Hudson proposed a two-hour shift in time forward in October with a corresponding two-hour shift backward in March, but the idea never took off. Ten years later, a more dizzying concept of adjusting clocks was suggested by a Brit by the name of William Willett. Willett came up with the idea of setting clocks ahead 20 minutes on each Sunday in April, then switching them back on each Sunday in September. His idea was then introduced to the House of Commons in 1908, with the first Daylight Saving Bill drafted the following year and presented to Parliament. The United Kingdom did not put DST into effect until 1916, a year after Willett died.
More recently, Germany developed DST and introduced it on April 30, 1916 by turning the clocks forward by one hour. This was done in an effort to conserve fuel normally used for artificial lighting so that it would be used for the war effort during World War I.

The United States followed suit two years later by instilling the Standard Time Act, which ran from March through the summer. President Woodrow Wilson signed DST, also known as “Fast Time”, into law to support the war effort during WWI. However, it was not a popular idea and was revoked by the end of WWI. Other countries, like France and the United Kingdom, had also embraced the concept of DST but also abandoned it after WWI.

By World War II, however, President Franklin D Roosevelt implemented year-round DST, also called “War Time”, from February 9th, 1942, until September 30th, 1945 throughout the United States and Canada. The different time zones throughout the United States were referred to as “Pacific War Time”, “Central War Time”, “Mountain War Time”, and “Eastern War Time”. The time zones were renamed “Peace Time” in August of 1945 after Japan’s surrender.

The United Kingdom took a slightly different approach, employing the use of “Double Summer Time” during WWII which meant setting clocks two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) during the summer, and one hour ahead of GMT during the winter.

AMERICANS PLAYING WITH DAYLIGHT – 20TH CENTURY AND BEYOND

After WWI and WWII, the United States dropped the federal mandate on DST, leaving it up to individual states and cities to decide if they wanted to practice DST, and how to implement it. In 1954, only two states, California and Nevada, had statewide laws regarding DST. By 1966, there were 100 million Americans who observed DST based on their local laws, but a federal law was still lacking. Congress decided to end the confusion by establishing a pattern which applied throughout the country. The Uniform Time Act was signed into law in April of 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson, thus creating the modern version of Daylight Saving Time. It specified the beginning as the last Sunday of April and the end as the last Sunday of October. The law was not mandated, so any state which wanted to be exempt from DST could do so by passing a state law.

Congress revised the Uniform Time Act in 1972 to enable a state which was in two or more time zones to exempt one portion of the state in one time zone while observing DST in another part of the state. When the oil embargo of 1973 hit, Congress decided to extend DST to a period of ten months in 1974, then eight months in 1975, in an effort to save energy. Federal law was again revised in 1986 to change the beginning of DST to the first Sunday in April.

The current United States DST schedule, which was adopted in 2007, followed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which extended the period of DST by about one month. The current DST guidelines are as follows:

Begins at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday of March

Ends at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of November

There are over 70 countries worldwide which use Daylight Savings Time, with many variations on beginning and end dates. However, the European Union (EU) implemented a standardized EU-wide DST schedule in 1996 which begins the last Sunday in March and ends the last Sunday in October.

The Magic Of Meditation

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Meditation is something I have engaged in regularly for over ten years, but my practice had dwindled in the past two years to a session every few months. This was partially due to the fact that the death of my meditation teacher had rattled me so deeply that I was unable to sit in a meditation without being distracted at some point by my own grief.

It took a major life event from early April to wake me up and make me realize that by neglecting my meditation practice, I had made my spirit weary and unbalanced, Since the cadence of my life had changed rather dramatically and suddenly, I decided that adopting regular habits like meditating would be good for me. I have been able to carve out time in my schedule to meditate daily over the last few weeks, and the effects have been profound and positive. On some days, I only have a few minutes to set up my zafu (meditation cushion), light incense and the candles on my meditation altar, and sit in the moment for mindfulness meditation, but I still make sure I meditate before crawling in bed each night. I am not joking when I say I think more clearly, feel more calm, and experience less anxiety after meditating daily over the last few weeks. I now look at my daily meditation sessions as important daily workouts for my mind and spirit. I swear that even my gym workouts are better as a result of meditation, because I am more focused and calm during gym time than I used to be. Things which used to irritate me sort of glide off me now.

Regular meditation has made a tremendous difference in my general demeanor and my outlook on life, and now I honestly look forward to my sessions. I strongly encourage everyone to meditate regularly, especially anyone who feels beaten down by life or who deals with constant stress. Meditation provides an excellent outlet for stress, and can lessen symptoms of depression, reduce blood pressure and boost immunity.

Before you say that there’s no time to meditate, I am willing to bet you that there are a few minutes each day you can spare to nurture your spirit. You can either take a few minutes first thing in the morning to sit and meditate, or do it right before you go to sleep. If you feel intimidated by the idea of sitting on a meditation cushion, you can simply sit on the floor comfortably, close your eyes, and focus on your breathing. Each time you inhale, allow your chest to expand, and pull your shoulders back. When you exhale, imagine pushing away all of the stress of the day, out of your body, and into the air. Keep breathing slowly and deeply with your eyes closed, and try to empty your mind of any random thoughts or feelings which may come up.

For a more detailed description of a great breathing meditation, read on. The original link can be found here: http://www.mindful.org/a-five-minute-breathing-meditation/

A 5-Minute Breathing Meditation To Cultivate Mindfulness

Reduce stress, anxiety, and negative emotions, cool yourself down when your temper flares, and sharpen your concentration skills.

By Greater Good Science Center | February 26, 2016

How do you cultivate mindfulness? One way is to meditate. A basic method is to focus your attention on your own breathing—a practice simply called “mindful breathing.” After setting aside time to practice mindful breathing, you’ll find it easier to focus attention on your breath in your daily life—an important skill to help you deal with stress, anxiety, and negative emotions, cool yourself down when your temper flares, and sharpen your ability to concentrate.

Time required:

15 minutes daily for at least a week (though evidence suggests that mindfulness increases the more you practice it).

How to do it

The most basic way to do mindful breathing is simply to focus your attention on your breath, the inhale and exhale. You can do this while standing, but ideally you’ll be sitting or even lying in a comfortable position. Your eyes may be open or closed, but you may find it easier to maintain your focus if you close your eyes. It can help to set aside a designated time for this exercise, but it can also help to practice it when you’re feeling particularly stressed or anxious. Experts believe a regular practice of mindful breathing can make it easier to do it in difficult situations.

Sometimes, especially when trying to calm yourself in a stressful moment, it might help to start by taking an exaggerated breath: a deep inhale through your nostrils (3 seconds), hold your breath (2 seconds), and a long exhale through your mouth (4 seconds). Otherwise, simply observe each breath without trying to adjust it; it may help to focus on the rise and fall of your chest or the sensation through your nostrils. As you do so, you may find that your mind wanders, distracted by thoughts or bodily sensations. That’s OK. Just notice that this is happening and gently bring your attention back to your breath.

Find a relaxed, comfortable position. You could be seated on a chair or on the floor on a cushion. Keep your back upright, but not too tight. Hands resting wherever they’re comfortable. Tongue on the roof of your mouth or wherever it’s comfortable.

Notice and relax your body. Try to notice the shape of your body, its weight. Let yourself relax and become curious about your body seated here—the sensations it experiences, the touch, the connection with the floor or the chair. Relax any areas of tightness or tension. Just breathe.

Tune into your breath. Feel the natural flow of breath—in, out. You don’t need to do anything to your breath. Not long, not short, just natural. Notice where you feel your breath in your body. It might be in your abdomen. It may be in your chest or throat or in your nostrils. See if you can feel the sensations of breath, one breath at a time. When one breath ends, the next breath begins.
Be kind to your wandering mind. Now as you do this, you might notice that your mind may start to wander. You may start thinking about other things. If this happens, it is not a problem. It’s very natural. Just notice that your mind has wandered. You can say “thinking” or “wandering” in your head softly. And then gently redirect your attention right back to the breathing.
Stay here for five to seven minutes. Notice your breath, in silence. From time to time, you’ll get lost in thought, then return to your breath.
Check in before you check out. After a few minutes, once again notice your body, your whole body, seated here. Let yourself relax even more deeply and then offer yourself some appreciation for doing this practice today.

One of the most beautiful things about meditation is that you can be fully in the moment, without holding onto the trappings of your day. Work obligations, chores, errands, and any other mundane distraction can wait. It’s a wonderful escape from the physical world and the ultimate way to attain balance and peace. Plus it’s free!

When The Hunger Beast Strikes

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Every once in a while, I will experience hunger that never seems to subside, no matter how much I give into my body’s insistence on foraging for food throughout the day. Since this type of insatiable hunger is exceedingly rare for me, I generally will allow myself to indulge in greater amounts of fuel than what I would normally eat. I usually take strong hunger impulses as a sign that my body actually needs the fuel, and that I might be lacking in some nutrient. Sometimes a killer leg workout will spark this mad hunger, and other times it might be a cleaning spree which causes my appetite to ramp up.

I almost relish the times that my body craves food like this, because I am usually not too excited about food. When I was in my teens, I went through anorexia, and feared many foods. Though I became a bit of a foodie in my twenties, exploring gourmet foods whenever I could, I had to adopt an “eat-to-survive” attitude once I reached my thirties, as a result of the rigorous medical training I underwent. During medical school and internship, I lived by the credo, “Eat when you can, use the bathroom when you can, sleep when you can”.

Then in my forties, the world of competing caused me to fall in love with some of the foods which I had demonized back in my teens. Though I rarely cave into the powerful lure of chocolate, desserts, pizza, and fried foods, I definitely learned to appreciate them during my competitive years. These days, I can stock chocolate, nuts and nut butter in my house without fear that I will go hog wild constantly and consume them all in one sitting. They are even relatively safe when the hunger beast strikes.

When I experience hunger which I cannot satisfy, I do NOT turn to unhealthy foods. Instead, I keep eating clean meals like chicken and green beans. However, I will often feel just as hungry after eating a meal as I did when I reached for the meal in the first place! When that happens, I will wait about a half hour, then snack on something relatively healthy, such as a small handful of almonds, or some lowfat cottage cheese, in hopes that my hunger will abate.

However, all bets are off if the hunger beast is around on my carb spike day! There have been numerous times in which the two have coincided, and during which I have allowed myself to eat pasta, bread, a large amount of rice, or some other carbohydrate rich food. The aftermath of such a carb bump is that my weight will actually DECREASE 2 or 3 pounds the next morning. This is one of the reasons why I encourage clients to have a moderate bump in calories and carbs every now and then, to spark the metabolic furnace.

As long as the hunger beast comes around only rarely, and you are in tune with your body’s needs, you should be able to indulge it without any issues.

When People Are Full Of Hate

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One of the hazards of posting on social media is that you run the risk of catching the attention of complete sociopaths who seem to have nothing better to do than to spread hate by posting negative comments on other people’s posts. I was utterly shocked to see a very negative comment added onto a Tweet I posted just now. It was ugly and mean-spirited, and it definitely hurt me to my core. The gist of the comment was that I was a dime a dozen, and will never win anything (hmmm, good to know). This was posted by a guy who had the look of a sociopath in his soulless eyes. I briefly scanned his profile before blocking him, and noticed that EVERY single Tweet he had (I scanned about ten posts down) was hateful and negative.

It truly blows my mind that a jerk like the guy I had to block would exert such an effort to spread negative energy. I have no desire to fend off creeps like this, so I block them immediately. They are loose cannons who look for victims to cyberbully, and there is no way to predict how far they will take their hatred. I will not tolerate such energy and always automatically block them, and if they are especially nasty or threatening, I will file an official report of abuse. I realize that I am more susceptible to such contentious people because I have built a name for myself and I put myself out there constantly, but it is not fair to blast me when my posts are primarily meant to inspire my fans and followers and entertain friends. The fact that some people go out of their way to be mean and to spread hate is mind-boggling to me. I begin to wonder what kind of karmic load they are carrying to spread so much negativity.

What is the best way to defuse hostility? It is always best to refrain from reacting to it. Physically walking away, ignoring hateful statements, employing the blocking feature on social media sites, email, and cell phones, smiling at the person who is being difficult can all work in neutralizing the bad energy.

Those Days When Your Engine Stalls

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No, I’m not talking about your car. I am referring to your get-up-and-go, your energy, your motivation to do anything on a given day. We all have those days when we lack the pep to charge through the day, when the bed seems unusually cozy and warm, and when our ability to rationalize our way out of everything on our to-do list for the day is particularly strong.

On the more serious end of the spectrum, a lack of initiative can be indicative of depression, especially when it is recurrent. In other instances, fatigue could be a sign of stress, sleep deficit, over-training, dehydration, malnutrition, or hormonal imbalance. Some people will even notice a change in energy from weather fluctuations.

For the past three months, I have slept so deeply that I will remain in slumber, despite my alarm’s alerts, with no recollection of the device ever triggering. My dreams have been intense, complex, apocalyptic at times, and truly bizarre, causing me to wonder why my subconscious has meandered so much while I was in dreamland. The many months I spent battling night sweats and insomnia suddenly shifted to feeling (appropriately) very cold at night and sleeping like a rock, both of which I have welcomed. The only real problem now is convincing myself to get out of bed in the morning!

When I eventually begin to wake up, it is an agonizingly slow process in which I can barely move or open my eyes. The sudden dry eye condition I have been experiencing recently hasn’t exactly motivated me to open my eyes up quickly either. The bed is so cozy and so warm, especially because my cats have gotten into the habit of using me as a convenient heater during the night. They also pin me into a small space in the bed so that I have to shimmy my body out of the tunnel they create around me. It seems to be such a waste that I have a Cal King bed, because I never get to spread out on it!

When I absolutely MUST get out of bed at a specific time, I will change the alarm alert, and set more than one alarm, usually with one alarm in my bathroom. In order to shut off the alarm in the bathroom, I must get out of bed, but I have gotten so good at walking to the bathroom with my eyes barely open that I can shut off the alarm, crawl back in bed, and go right back to sleep.

These are the reasons which I have been using to remain in bed:

– The bed is nice and warm and the ambient temperature is cold (upper 60’s)
– The cats are warm too
– The cats are very affectionate and cuddly in the morning
– My bonding time with the cats can be considered a meditative exercise
– My bed is high off the ground and it is hazardous for me to jump down from it (it truly is high off the ground)
– My dry eye condition is a sign that I need to keep my eyes shut
– I need to make up for lost time when I had night sweats and insomnia (it was quite a sleep deficit!)
– I am most efficient at my morning social media posts when in a supine position in bed
– I want to make sure that I spend one third of my life in bed
– If I get out of bed, then I probably have to deal with people

At any rate, I have every intention of relishing the feeling of being in an insanely comfortable and warm bed. I’m sleeping in!