The smell of getting stuff done

We're both of us writing right now, my son and I, and we're helping each other stay focused and on task. He and I both tend to notice how everything is connected to everything else, which is a blessing and a curse all at once. Everything is full of wonder, and everything is a distraction; we have lots to write about, and writing is hard.

Before we got started we each put a drop of Clarity on our palms, and breathed deeply, to help us remember how to focus. This is what it smells like to take hold of our thoughts, to channel our creative energies toward our respective goals.  Crisp as basil, sharp as rosemary, and serene as jasmine. It's the beautiful fragrance of getting stuff done.

Postpartum Emotions

Integrating a new baby into the family is a big deal, both logistically and emotionally. It's a huge transition, and it always seems to happen at the same time as I'm recovering from childbirth. Funny thing about that. 😉

On days when I'm proactive about supporting my own emotions, I'm much better able help the whole family feel loved and nurtured during this time. On days when I forget... well, I'm learning to remember. Case in point: I didn't remember to turn on the diffuser this morning until I caught myself getting a little too worked up over a pair of jeans that didn't make it into the laundry. That was my cue!

All in all, the newborn phase has more sweetness and less overwhelm this time around. Part of this has to do with spending lots of time out in nature, part of it has to do with having wonderful teenagers to help out, and part of this has to do with oils.

Here's what I've been using:

Joy--this is what I've been diffusing in the mornings, to get the day off to a positive start. Makes a HUGE difference. The kids all love it, too, so that's win. Right now I'm diffusing  the blend as-is, but sometimes I add lemon or frankincense.

Progessence Plus--I've been kind of slow in jumping on the Pro+ bandwagon, but oh my gracious, I'm on it now! I've been putting two drops on my neck every morning​ since the baby was born, and if I skip a day, I definitely notice!

Clary Sage--while I was in labor, I used Sclaressence and Dragon Time, both of which are gorgeous  blends featuring clary sage. After Sibyl was born, though, I switched over to using straight clary sage, because I didn't want to risk decreasing my milk supply with the peppermint in Sclaressence, nor did I want to risk oversupply with the fennel in Dragon Time.

In those first few days while my tummy was shrinking back down (always an uncomfortable process, and this time almost as bad as labor!!) I rubbed Clary Sage onto my belly, and found it deeply soothing. Now I'm just putting a drop in my palm and breathing it in whenever I need a little more calm. I'm also putting it on the back of my neck to help with tension. Seriously, wintergreen has nothing on this amazing oil, and clary sage also smells absolutely gorgeous. It's quickly becoming a new favorite of mine!

Soothing Spray

Little Sibyl is one week old now, and she's an absolute dream, bright-eyed and snuggly and perfect. Birth was hard, but she is worth it, and while she snuggles sweetly in my arms, I thought I'd share a little recipe that's making life easier right now.

In preparing for the birth I put together a soothing spray:

* 5 drops copaiba essential oil
* 5 drops frankincense essential oil
* 5 drops helichrysum essential oil
* 2 Tbsp. V6 vegetable oil blend
* 2 Tbsp. witch hazel
*1/4 cup water

This spray was an absolute lifesaver in helping to prep my pelvic floor for birth, and it's very soothing now as I recover. It's also coming in handy for the sundry outdoor irritations that inevitably happen when the kids play in the woods all day, so I'm pretty sure it's going to be a staple in our home from now on. It doesn't hurt that it smells divine!

Frankincense and copaiba are some of my favorite oils to use on a daily basis. Helichrysum is something of an investment oil, but it is worth every penny--this is the oil that first convinced my skeptical husband that there's a lot more going on than just the placebo effect! I definitely wanted to make use of powerful oil in preparing for and recovering from birth, but for everyday use I may experiment with replacing some or all of the helichrysum with a more affordable oil such as lavender.

Little Magic

“Maybe, maybe not. Or maybe I’d cause a flood and people would be killed. That’s the problem with big magic. I only do little magic. Good cooking, my curing soup, my Tonic.”





Ella Enchanted is one of my very favorite read-alouds. It's light and fun and easily accessible, but each reading leaves me with something to ponder. I guess you could say that it is little magic, and in that regard, it makes a good case for itself.

Sometimes we need big magic, though.

Fourteen years ago, when I was pregnant with the twins, I had horrible nausea. It was so bad that I couldn't even hold down water, let alone enough nourishment to sustain two growing little ones. Without some extraordinary intervention, we would have been done for.

My doctor gave me an incredible potion that could completely stop nausea in a matter of minutes. It was big magic, and I'm grateful for it.

But big magic can have unintended consequences. Zofran helped me in big ways, but the side effects can be ghastly. When I was pregnant with the twins, it was too expensive to use except in emergencies. I had a sample pack of ten blissfully nausea-free days which I carefully hoarded and rationed. In a later pregnancy, however, the price had gone down enough that I could afford to be nausea-free every day. It was wonderful at first, but after a few weeks of consecutive use my digestive system shut down. It was a nightmare, and I regretted it for months after.

I'm so glad that there was big magic available when I was in danger of dehydration, but for lesser nausea, it did more harm than good.

Better stick to little magic whenever possible. Pressure to certain spots on my wrists, visualisation exercises, little tweaks to what I ate and when. Avoiding the many smells that made it worse and seeking out the few that helped. Ordinary, everyday safe things, strategically planned out to help me manage. It wasn't an instant fix like Zofran, and little magic wasn't enough all the time. Still, the little things added up, and without any awful side effects.

Big magic is sometimes necessary, but it is never entirely safe, and it requires a good deal of specialized knowledge to control.

Most of the time, we really just need some little magic. The tiny changes that send out big ripples.

Exercise.

Fresh air.

Lots of good clean water.

Is your perfume making you sick? Or helping you stay emotionally balanced? (It might be doing either one!)

Do you have enough beauty in your life?

Do you need a hug?

What are you cleaning with?

Are you eating good wholesome food, and in the proportions that make you feel good?

Even when big magic is necessary, it's important to tend to the little magic in our lives.

Essential oils all around

Even if you're brand new to the concept of essential oils, you probably have quite a bit of experience with them already. Essential oils are simply the volatile plant components that float off into the air, giving off a distinctive aroma. You could even say that essential oils ARE the aroma, since your experience of smell comes from inhaling these compounds.

If you've ever walked through an evergreen forest or smelled a rose, you've experienced their benefits aromatically, and if you've ever peeled an orange, you've absorbed its oil through your skin. At almost every meal, you are most likely ingesting the aromatic compounds from various herbs and spices.

Wherever there are plants, there are essential oils. They are a normal part of everyday life for all of us, and they are a factor in our health, whether we're paying attention to them or not.

Distilled essential oils allow us to access these fragrant compounds in a form that's convenient, shelf-stable, and easily portable. It gives us the chance to enjoy and experience the aromas of plants from all around the world. 

Generally speaking, getting these aromatic benefits in their natural state is ideal. Nothing really replaces the magic of a long walk in the woods... but by diffusing essential oils from aromatic trees, you can access many of the same benefits. It's a way to breathe in more of the joys of nature in the midst of modern life.